DEC 2012• VOLUME 4• ISSUE 12

Its our holiday

issue! We’ve put

together 20 holi-

day gift ideas to

help make your

shopping easier.

2 & 3

10 things we do

better than our

competitors

4

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WHAT’S INSIDE Wow, it’s been a great year in tech-

nology with things changing at lightning

speed. While there are always new things

and hot trends that emerge, we’ve been

watching closely to see what has impacted

our clients the most.

Here’s what we see as the most im-

portant developments in 2012.

The Fall of Blackberry – we’ve all wit-

nessed and many have experienced the fall

from grace of Research in Motion (RIM)

and the Blackberry. Once a market leader,

many people turned in their Blackberrys

and shut off their BES servers this year.

An Ipsos Reid survey reported that Black-

berry’s smartphone user market share this

year went from 41 percent to 27 percent

and the free fall is bound to continue dur-

ing the holiday season and into next year.

The Rise of Android – the main bene-

ficiary of RIM’s woes has been devices

using Google’s Android operating soft-

ware. Android devices are now the market

leader in Canada with market share of 36

percent (up 10 points this year) according

to the same Ipsos Reid survey. We’re see-

ing tons of our clients move to Samsung

Galaxy or other Android devices.

But Don’t Forget Apple – even with-

out Steve Jobs, Apple continues to grow

its market share and bring out new devic-

es. While some question whether the pace

of innovation has slowed, for those of us

with the iPhone 5 we’re still pretty im-

pressed. Mobility has been primarily a two

horse race this year between Apple’s iOS

and Google’s Android devices.

Speaking of Apple, Where Did All

These Macs Come From? Another in-

teresting trend we’re seeing with many

businesses is that it’s no longer a PC only

world. Many companies (including ours)

have some Mac computers in their office

for design work, video editing or simply

because their staff prefer using Macs. This

is creating more challenges to integrate

these devices into Windows-based net-

works and making it more important to

have an IT partner with experience with

both Macs and PCs.

Tablets – you can’t talk about 2012

without talking about Tablets. There are

so many new ones out on the market that

the choices are endless. But the real de-

velopment this year has been in how

businesses are using these devices. They

are no longer just toys; many business

leaders are using them for day to day

work and leaving their laptops at home.

Any IT strategy looking forward has to

include how to manage and integrate

tablets into your network.

Bring Your Own Devices – Having

staff bring their own computers or mo-

bile devices into the office used to be

unheard of, now it’s commonplace.

We’ve seen this trend accelerate in 2012

and pose challenges to many businesses

that have to balance security with the

privacy of their staff and their personal

machines.

- Continued on page 4

Here’s Our Take On The Year In Tech

Monthly Tips and Tricks on How to Prevent Pesky Computer Problems While Improving the Security, Performance and Reliability of Your Technology (Plus a Little Fun From the Team!)

Managing Uptime

Our Mission is to use technical wonder to wow businesses.

OUR THIRD ANNUAL

The TDCNet Team Has Put Together We know how difficult holiday shopping can be so we put

Below is a selection of fabulous

PAGE 2

Shikha’s Ideas: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 - The 10-inch Galaxy Note adds capabilities that no other tablet, not even the Apple iPad, currently offers. The Galaxy Note 10.1 nearly matches the superb battery life of the iPad and has a memory-card slot not found on Apple’s tablet.

ANSR Beam Light Therapy - The ANSR beam is a small skin therapy device that uses red and blue photo-light to treat acne and reduce wrinkles and pore size. It’s a super simple at-home treatment that only takes a few minutes everyday. Brian’s Ideas:

Nikon Coolpix S800c - This 16-megapixel, Wi-Fi-enabled point-and-shoot camera is the first that runs Goog-le’s Android operating system and the apps that go with it. The apps enable us-ers to edit an image, quickly and easily, post it their FaceBook and create a slideshow with music.

Apple iPad mini - A beautiful display, powerful A5 chip, FaceTime HD camera, iSight camera with 1080p HD video recording, ultra-fast wireless, and over 275,000 apps. iPad mini is an iPad in every way, shape, and slightly smaller form.

Megan’s Ideas: Bodum Cham-bord Aluminum Stovetop Espresso Maker – Bodum’s stovetop espresso maker brews really good espresso, is super easy to as-

semble and clean up, and running it costs next to nothing. Vizio CinemaWIDE XVT3D – This ultrawide TV is aimed

at movie buffs who want to see films on a 21:9 display that mim-ics the shape of a movie-theater screen. This means most wide-format movies will fit on the screen without the black bars you see on other TVs.

Stefan’s Ideas: Corkcicle Wine Chiller - This nifty little BPA-free, gel-filled icicle will keep white

wine at the desired cool tempera-ture, so you don't have to keep running to the fridge to get refills or fuss with a too-freezing ice bucket on the dinner table. Lenovo Twist with Windows 8 - Lenovo IdeaPad Twist is a laptop/tablet hybrid that is aimed at the more serious-minded end of the Windows 8 audience. The screen of the device rotates wide to convert it into a tablet, allowing people to seamlessly move from keyboard to touch.

Shannon’s Ideas: Godiva Con-noisseur Choc-olate Gift Bas-ket - Offering an alluring assort-ment of dark chocolate truf-

fles, chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate bars and chocolate biscuits, this gift basket is the perfect companion for moms in dire need of some “me time” after a hectic morning of present opening. Windows Surface - From touch to type, office to living room, from your screen to the big screen, you can see more, share

MANAGING UPTIME FOR <MM_COMPANY_NAME>

DEC 2012• VOLUME 4• ISSUE 12 Page 3

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Great Holiday Gift Ideas to Help You Out our heads together to come up with a bunch of great ideas!

techie and non-techie presents! Graeme’s Ideas:

Waterproof iPad Cover - This cover is designed specifically for the Apple iPad tablet computer, which means you can op-erate the keyboard and navigation interface through the case with ease. It protects against water, dust, dirt, sand and other ele-ments, ensuring your children will not ruin

the iPad by dropping food all over it. Create your own Photo Watch - Design your own watch from a variety of styles features on the ArtsCow website. Whether you are looking for stainless steel, leather, or charm straps, ArtsCow offers them all, even including key chain watches for some special event. John’s Ideas: It’s a Man’s Man’s World - The Liquid

This recipe book features manly recipes by famous chefs like Tom Colicchio and Mario Batali. Now you will be able to cook up delicious meals like bourbon and brown sugar salmon during the times you want to treat your wife to a rest. GoPro HD Motorsports

HERO camera - Offering professional quality 1080p resolution, this high-performance camera takes both video and still photos, and can be easily mounted to helmets, motorcycles, ATVs, cars, boats and more. Jose’s Ideas:

iSafe Laptop Messenger Bag – Perfect for the professional in your family, the iSafe Lap-top Messenger Bag keeps precious contents—and their carriers—safe with a built-in alarm system designed to deter would-be thieves. eWood Watch - Invest in some sustainable

fashion this holiday season with this watch, a stylish timepiece made of 100% natural wood. Light, and hypo-allergenic and completely free of toxic or artificial materials, this is a watch for the environmentalist in the family. Matt’s Ideas:

ProToast NFL Toaster - This is a Two-slice toaster, that features your favorite NFL team’s logo on the outside and toasts your bread in your team’s logo. It works with bread, as well as, frozen waffles and English muffins.

Beats by Dr Dre Studio High Definition - The CyberPad is the ultimate notepad for anyone and everyone that takes notes. It is the only solution that links handwritten notes and graphics to the PC, providing a digital reproduction for future reference. You can easily view, edit, organize and email your handwritten notes on your computer. Brendan’s Ideas:

E-books - The best thing I could get this Christmas are e-books or Kobo Gift cards. I’ve read a bunch of great books this year. Here are 3 of my favourites:

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

Great by Choice by Jim Collins

The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson

Chris’ Ideas: Sonos Play: 3 - Compact stereo systems are a dime a dozen, but this one is a great, easy way to enjoy music throughout the house. With one speaker, you’ll get very good sound quality. If you set up two in one

room as a two-speaker pair you’ll get excellent sound that rivals what testers have heard from any home-theater system.

MANAGING UPTIME FOR <MM_COMPANY_NAME>

885 Don Mills Rd., Suite #112, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3C 1V9 Tel: 416.913.8998 | Toll-free: 1.866.483.2638 | Fax: 416.479.4157 Web: www.tdcnet.ca Email: helpdesk@tdcnet.ca

DEC 2012• VOLUME 4• ISSUE 12 PAGE 4

Attention Business Owners: Check out 10 Things We Do Better Than Our Competitors

We are the leaders in IT services for businesses in and around

the GTA. Here are 10 things we do better than our competitors:

We’ll Have a Technician Working on Your Issue in

60 Minutes or Less – Our Guarantee. Our experienced

qualified technicians will answer immediately or will re-

spond to your service request in less than sixty minutes –

Guaranteed.

Ultra Speedy Repairs. We know you don’t want to

waste your valuable time waiting for your computer to be

fixed so our remote network IT support services are the

answer. We can fix 93.5% of problems immediately by

taking control of your computer from our office. For any

problems that require an onsite visit, we’ll send a techni-

cian over.

We Talk Like You Do. If you have any problems or

computer support questions, you can ask and we will

answer in PLAIN ENGLISH. Don’t worry – there is no

“geek speak” by our team of IT support technicians.

We Guarantee Absolute 100% Satisfac-

tion. Complete satisfaction will be yours with our prod-

ucts, technology services and IT Consulting. With our IT

management services, nothing will get in the way to

make sure you are a happy customer.

We protect your critical business data and back it

up offsite. The most important part of your network is

your data (hardware and software can always be re-

placed). We back up your data securely offsite in case of

fire, flood, theft or hardware failure. We completely man-

age and monitor the process so you don’t need to worry

about taking tape or hard drives home with you and you

won’t lie awake at night wondering if your data is proper-

ly backed up.

We are far less expensive than hiring a full time

computer support staff. By outsourcing your computer

support to us, we can save you thousands of dollars on

hiring salaries and benefits. We have a proven track rec-

ord of reducing IT and internet costs, sometimes by

more than 50%!

We will give you fixed quotes on all work and prod-

uct. This ensures your project gets completed on budget

without any surprises at the end.

We proactively look for ways to improve your busi-

ness. We monitor your network 24/7 to prevent prob-

lems before they occur and will give you proactive sug-

gestions regularly to improve the way your business runs.

We integrate your IT and Internet services. When

you have an email or internet problem, you don’t have

to worry about calling five different people. We take care

of everything whether it’s your internet services, Black-

berry, server or individual computers.

We are always here to help. We have technicians on

call 24/7.

The Year in Tech (continued from page 1) Cloud Computing – the increasing trend of companies putting their IT assets in the

Cloud continued this year, however we saw a cautious approach and many companies

smartly doing the homework and ensuring cloud solutions are a fit for their business.

It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution and the most common thing we’ve seen is compa-

nies moving their Exchange servers off-site or using hosted services like Office 365.

Windows 8 – last but not least, we can’t forget about the launch of Windows 8 to-wards the end of this year. This is Microsoft’s hail mary pass to become relevant in mobile computing. It’s too early to see its success but it’s a huge development for 2012. For our clients, we’re suggesting a wait and see approach before making the leap to Windows 8.

In our next issue, we’ll give you some advice on what you should be exploring for 2013!