Why Apple Pay Is The Start Of Something Great

With the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus recently, a huge incentive to upgrading to these devices was the ability to pay for your bill at select retailers while using Apple Pay. While this may not seem like a very captivating point, lets elaborate on Apple Pay and why it is going to change the way we pay for things. 

Photo by Forbes

Many people are saying that swiping a card is easy enough, why would I need to upgrade to just scanning my phone? While this may be accurate, it is not simply the time it takes to swipe/scan each time you purchase something. In 2015 swiping your card will be replaced by inserting your card so if scanning your phone doesn't seem like the best way to pay, it will soon. 

Security.  It comes to everybody's mind when analyzing Apple Pay. With the breaches at retailers like Target and Home Depot in the recent news, people are more concerned than ever about the security of their data. Well Apple took this into deep consideration when developing Apple Pay. Many say that it is in fact the most secure from to make payments. Not only do you have to scan your fingerprint before using, but perhaps more importantly your card numbers are no longer transmitted across the network or stored by merchants. This can be attributed to a concept called tokenization. Tokenization uses a special number or "token" that is sent from your device instead of your actual card number. This token is basically useless to a hacker or another third-party individual. Not to mention, a hacker or their would not be able to use this token to their advantage without your fingerprint anyway. 

What does this mean for the rest of us? Well I believe this is the start of the next generation of payments. While many consumers today believe that swiping a card is already easy and that they don't need a digital wallet like Apple Pay, there is so great of an upside that people need to look at what lies in the future. The great Steve Jobs once said, "People don't know what they want until you show them". I think people will not feel the need to update to a digital wallet until they realize what is possible. To think that in the future you could walk into a store and select what gift card/credit card/debit card you want to use and be able to pay in seconds with state of the art security is an opportunity we have to take advantage of. The sky is the limit with all of the big data analytics emerging today. Digital wallets could even incorporate various spending reports, personal account analyses, predictive spending, (etc.) all at the touch of your fingers. 

Whether we as consumers adopt Apple Pay or other similar products is not the question at hand. I believe that eventually this will become the main form of payment amongst all consumers. On a relevant note, people were skeptical with paying on credit cards when they were first introduced into the market. Consumers will (hopefully) soon realize this change is more than just a new way of doing things. It is a new door of possibilities in which we should explore and elaborate this advancement in technology. 

7 Easy Ways To Maximize Your Phone's Battery

Electronic devices are becoming so essential to our everyday lives, that you may find it hard to notice somebody that does not have an electronic gadget (phone, tablet, computer) on them. With the growing dependence on these devices to perform throughout the day, it is essential that you maximize the battery life of your gadget. Here on some tips to keep your phone's battery at full potential.

Photo by Huffington Post

1. First off, make sure the brightness of your screen is not draining your battery. This can be adjusted in the settings menu. Most phones have an auto-brightness which sets that screen backlight to an appropriate brightness depending on your environment. 
2. On a related note, look to see how long your auto-lock setting is set at. This determines how long your screen shuts off after inactivity. I recommend setting this to the lowest time setting available to save battery life. 
3. Live wallpapers, excessive widgets, and other animations are a really cool feature but they also really suck up your battery. This is a judgement call that you will have to make for yourself. Static wallpapers are my recommendation as well as only widgets that are important to you. 
4. Turn off unnecessary background settings. Some popular ones include location tracking, bluetooth, and background app refresh. These are simply not needed for every situation that you will encounter. I recommend turning them on when you need them that way it isn't always sucking your battery dry. An example would be to only turn bluetooth on when you are going to pair it to another device.
5. A somewhat basic strategy to save battery life is to ask less of your phone. Let me explain. Some apps take much more "energy" from your phone to run. Apps that play movies or videos that are streamed online require much more from your phone than using a text messaging app. Do you really need Pandora playing while you are browsing the web and downloading a new app? A real life example would be asking somebody to read a book, run in place, and make lunch at the same time. It is simply too demanding. Be easier on your phone be asking to do one thing at a time and it will reward you with a much better performance.
6. One fact that many people might not know is that your phone battery will last longer if it is kept in a cooler temperature rather than a warmer one. Phone batteries don't like the heat so any time you can let your device cool off, especially after prolonged use, do it.
7. Lastly, and possibly the most simple way to improve your phone's battery performance, is to shut off your phone every now and then. Your phone may be one impressive machine but giving it a break occasionally will help preserve the battery. An Apple genius said in order to maximize battery life, you should turn off your phone from time to time, especially when you go to bed at night. Even a simple reboot should boost performance. 

Of course there are more possible ways to preserve your phone's battery but these 7 steps sum up the vast majority of the battery-saving strategies you will find. Take these steps to ensure that your phone battery is getting the best treatment possible and it will end up rewarding you in the end! 

5 Steps to Safeguard Your Personal Information

Every month we are learning about a new data breach that happened to sneak past anybody's immediate eye. Some of the latest news includes hackers accessing our very own personal information. We have all heard of the Target data breach that happened almost a year ago, and not too long ago another company was hit, Home Depot. 

We believe that these companies are making sure our personal information is being kept in a secure, fail-proof location. Companies spending millions of dollars on software that is suppose to be protecting our information seems like the most logic thing to do. With that being said, many companies fail to notice warning signs that are noticeable if some effort is put to look for them. Here are some safety proactive precautions to take to make sure you are not the next victim of data breach.

1. First make sure your IT department is acting in a manner that makes you feel comfortable, but 

2. Next, look beyond your IT security. Make sure HR has steps to take when employees are leaving the company. This can prevent leaving employees from taking critical information outside of the business. 

3. Establish a plan if a breach does occur. This shows the consumers of your company that you are taking every possible action to protect your ever so important personal information.

4. Do not collect personal data that does not need to be collected. 

5. Finally, and possibly most obvious, conduct occasional assessments now and then to make sure your personal data is exactly how it is supposed to be.

Attacks can happen to basically anyone, and sometimes it is neither you nor your company's fault. Be sure to take action to make sure you are not one of the unfortunate individuals that get their identity stolen.