By:  Cathie Briggette with lots of  help from the  US SMB Microsoft Team

Mark Zuckerberg was back in the news recently when word got out that his Twitter, Facebook and Linked-In accounts had been hacked. While there is something ironic about the CEO of Facebook having his own Facebook profile hacked, there is also something very concerning. If one of the biggest names in tech can have their personal information stolen, what’s to stop it from happening to the rest of us?

Every year, Cisco holds a large conference for IT and communications professionals alike called Cisco Live. Multiple events take place around the world in various geographies to meet the large demand. Many more attend online and download content like technical breakout sessions and specific technology deep-dives. With an eye towards the future, many sessions are geared at keeping IT professionals mindful of emerging technologies, new product updates, and general refreshes. With education and networking opportunities like no other conference, Cisco Live has grown in popularity over the years. Cisco Live stays connected to the technology community offering updates through social networking outlets like Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. Preparing you with the knowledge and skills that play an crucial role in delivering new innovations, the conference is a great opportunity to join in and discover the ideas that are transforming the future of IT.

Everyone is talking about Managed Services. The number of IT organizations working with MSP’s has been rising steadily – fully half of all IT organizations in a survey conducted by Business Solutions magazine are engaged with an MSP. By all accounts, IT spending is only ever expected to increase, and an increasing portion of those budgets are being spent on, or earmarked for engaging with an MSP to handle ‘the plumbing’ of their IT infrastructure. All that said, there’s no shortage of reasons not to use an MSP – let’s review some of the most common ones.

The Huffington Post recently published an article discussing the future of apps for smart phones. The article focused on the recent decline of app sales and how we may be entering a “post app” era. Meaning we may be looking at a future where our screens and screens of apps are all replaced by artificially intelligent operating systems.