Macro Systems Blog

People use and reuse old passwords time and again, and then they get two-factor authentication to augment their fifteen-character passwords. Wouldn’t it be great if your computer could recognize you just by how well you recognize others?

If you use Google Chrome as your browser of choice, you know that Chrome’s extensions provide a certain level of versatility. Basically, they’re add-ons to your browser, which can perform a number of functions. They’re mostly used for enriching your browsing experience or adding new features to your browser that might not be available on other platforms. Here are four useful browser extensions to help you get the most out of Chrome.

Entertainment has grown so synonymous with smartphones and technology that it’s almost impossible to think about these innovations without considering their entertainment value. Virtual reality augmentation, while slightly different, is an emerging technology that brings elements of virtual space to the lives of everyday users. So, how does virtual reality work, and can it be used for more than just entertainment purposes?

It’s one thing to stretch the budget by implementing money-saving IT solutions, it’s quite another to limit your staff by not providing the technology they need to effectively do their job. In situations like this, a business owner would be better off spending extra for quality equipment.

When was the last time you provided your business with improved technology that offers a great return on investment? If your business is using software and hardware that hasn’t been updated in several years, the same technology that’s necessary for your operations could be holding you back from achieving optimal efficiency.

As technology grows more advanced, humans turn to robots to replace certain monotonous jobs. The goal here is to create a society where people are free to spend more time enjoying life. However, technology is prone to both technical problems and user error, which can lead to disastrous consequences.

By now, most businesses have implemented a cloud solution or at the very least took a long, hard look at one. Some businesses might not even realize some of their data is in the cloud. For the small or medium-sized business the benefits are too numerous to ignore. Not only can the cloud cut your capital technology costs, but increasing mobility can provide anywhere access to crucial IT systems. It provides a ubiquitous data delivery system to improve organizational mobility. With its proverbial laundry list of benefits, including cost reduction, have you taken a close enough look at the cloud for your business?

There’s no denying that smartphones are the predominant consumer technology in the world at the moment. Over a billion smartphones were sold each of the past two years, with growth coming in at a fairly impressive 23 percent from 2013 to 2014. Growth is projected to decrease slightly in future years (around 12 percent in 2015), but it’s obvious by now, smartphone usage will be the principal manner people will access the Internet going forward.

When it seems like every idea has already been patented or brought to fruition, that’s a key indicator that innovation in your company is lacking. Traditionally, advancements in business technology have driven innovation for companies. If your company’s innovation well is running dry, then there are measures that your business can take to become more innovative.

Remote workers are changing the way that both employees and their employers are viewing their workspace. It’s been proven that businesses can mitigate their overhead costs and increase their employee retention rate by allowing their team to work from home, but without the proper technology, they have no chance of being as productive as they can be if they were in the office.

Does your office still use a fax machine? You know that it’s an outdated piece of equipment, but this fact might not deter its continued use if you don’t care about the latest technology (we admit that not everyone does). Perhaps by taking a look at all the money wasted by using a fax machine, we can convince you otherwise.

Technology has the potential to make the future of your business a success. Although, if you don’t manage your company’s technology properly, it can hinder your business, causing you to miss out on future success. In order to take full advantage of what technology can do for you, you’ll have to keep the future in mind.

Today’s civilization might be the most technologically advanced in the history of the world as we know it, but this also comes with the burden of properly disposing outdated technology. Unfortunately, the world faces a significant e-waste problem that cannot be ignored. As consumers of technology, this responsibility falls on your shoulders.

The technological landscape of the office environment has evolved significantly over the past few years, especially in terms of technology that fosters inter-office collaboration. What could only be accomplished by sitting down together in the same room, can now be done remotely through the use of video conferencing and VoIP technologies. It’s a true golden age of business technology achievement, and if your business isn’t fully leveraging your communications technology, you’ll quickly fall behind.

With technology being so important in the modern office, there are thousands of gadgets produced each year that are designed to work with existing technology to deliver marginal-to-significant increases to an individual’s productivity. Each year, many of these gadgets fail in some way or fall out of public consciousness quickly, becoming nothing but the answer to a trivia question a decade from now at your favorite watering hole.

Your business needs technology to function properly, but it can be unpredictable and challenging to manage. The slightest discrepancy, like an unexpected hardware failure or software hiccup, can throw off your business’s IT budget and potentially cause disastrous downtime. This doesn’t mean that upgrading your hardware and software has to be hard, though.

The world might not see legitimate artificial intelligence for quite some time, but that doesn’t mean developers aren’t taking baby steps in the right direction. A current example of this is Google and its automated vehicles. If Google is capable of successfully making a self-driving car that’s aware of its surroundings, we might see them on the roads as early as 2020.

Technology is a wondrous thing, allowing your business to achieve greatness and change the way you approach business. However, it has also brought about an extremely wasteful society that tosses old technology aside in favor of the latest and greatest devices. This is a habit that society has yet to break, but it’s not too late to do the right thing and commit your business to environmentally-friendly practices.

By its nature, technology is always changing, evolving, and moving forward. Organizations that understand this and plan for these changes end up making the most out of their technology. Those that don’t, get left behind. Here are three ways to make sure that your company’s technology will best serve your future needs.

Windows 95 changed the way that consumers saw personal computing, and it heavily influenced future versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Over twenty years later, you can expect to see significant changes and improvements, to the point where those who weren’t exposed to older technology don’t have any clue what it is. Nowhere is this more painfully true than watching how teens react to Windows 95.