tkc.io Blog

Chip Shortages Continue

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT

The Neverending Chip Shortage

It's August 2026 and the tech industry is still hurting from a chip shortage that is not slated to end any time soon. It's due to a mix of issues from manufacturing pivots due to AI and ongoing geopolitical tensions. While the demand for electronics like laptops and mobile phones hasn't changed much, availability has.

Most semiconductor manufacturing is concentrated in a few countries, making the supply chain fragile. Meanwhile, the growing need for chips in everything from smartphones to AI-powered devices has outpaced production capacity. Although new chip factories have been built, it takes years to fully ramp up production and countries like the US have thrown up roadblocks and tariffs that influence pricing.

Most importantly, manufacturers are seeking the biggest payouts and those are coming from AI vendors and datacenter vendors.,

Delays in Getting Your Devices

The chip shortage has caused frustrating delays for anyone waiting for a new laptop or phone. If your company needs a new server, prices have doubled and tripled in the last year.

Manufacturers have pivoted to AI buyers, leaving the SMB market with limited stock and long waitlists. Popular models sell out quickly, forcing buyers to choose between inflated resellers, hardware alternatives, back stock, and used equipment.

If there is a bright spot here, it's an ecological one: more businesses are opting for refurbished and used equipment, which inadvertently cuts down on e-waste.

What's Next?

Delay, if you're early into a refresh cycle. You're probably looking at 2028 or later for any pricing stability. However, if you're working on a corporate capex plan with rigid equipment models, buy now to have stock on hand.

Plan well ahead, as prices between 2026 and 2027 are expected to increase. We recommend lead times of two to three months for new equipment purchases. Prices are not going down, so you may need to adjust your budgets accordingly. Stock is low on many items and it changes rapidly, so if you see what you need, at the right price, don't flinch.

It's not just new equipment. Service contracts, upgrades, and repair parts are more costly. Don't forget to check the refurb sections.

Mac Malware Sites

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 12:00:00 GMT

AppleInsider's Andrew Orr has an informative article on a new way to get your Mac infected.

This newer variant is trying to catch users off-guard by delivering its payload via Mac Script Editor.

Mac users can avoid this technique by recognizing that macOS doesn't rely on browser-triggered scripts for maintenance tasks. Websites that claim they can fix storage issues or optimize your system by opening Script Editor are red flags.

As always, our advice is to ignore all panicky warnings, regardless of the machine.

What’s Going on with US Pricing and Availability?

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 12:00:00 GMT

If you’ve bought a new computer in 2025, you likely noticed that the price was higher than expected. Worse, it may not have been available at all.

Fluctuating equipment pricing has led to shortages and hoarding. It’s affecting parts and components in ways you might not have expected. This week we placed a large order for wireless mice and keyboards at double the price from two months ago.

Stock and lead times have forced US companies to change buying habits. Even refurbished systems are seeing an uptick in demand.

The US tariff situation is mostly to blame, as the supply chains—mostly from China—have been disrupted. Despite the administration’s sales pitch, there are no domestic manufacturers capable of stepping in.

Price gouging has happened in numerous areas, based upon speculation and not on available stock. Lead times for some products have been volatile. We have had to avoid certain products due to wildly delayed shipping dates (no one is going to wait six months for a laptop).

The Microsoft / Crowdstrike Outage

Sat, 20 Jul 2024 12:00:00 GMT

Microsoft certifies third-party drivers through its Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) program. Drivers submitted by hardware manufacturers and vendors like CrowdStrike undergo testing to ensure compatibility, stability, and security with Windows operating systems. But sometimes, things go horribly wrong.

Like they did this week.

Our monitoring and helpdesk started lighting up early last Friday (made more ironic by the fact that we practice “Read Only Fridays”). Servers were down, systems were reporting offline, and critical software had gone nuts. The issue? A Windows patch and a driver by popular security vendor CrowdStrike.

The thing is we don’t use CrowdStrike. What we were seeing were chain reactions, as well as the outages with the customer brands that we work with. This meant that smaller offices were largely unaffected, while chains and corporate hotels were in a world of hurt. Eventually, there was a trickle-down effect, where scores of additional, seemingly unrelated services were affected by their own, internal failures.

A day later, all of our clients have been remediated, but there is a lingering concern about unforeseen downtime and security risks.

Our team had no internal issues. We’re all on Macs.

"Our" AI Generated Holiday Card

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 12:00:00 GMT

We didn't use it but here is what the image generation AI by Playground came up with.

What is a BEC Attack and Why Should You Care?

Tue, 23 May 2023 12:00:00 GMT

BEC stands for Business Email Compromise. And we promise that it's the last acronym that we'll us in this blog post.

Everyday, spam filters deal with an onslaught of emails that are either:

a) Definitely fake

b) Possibly legitimate

That's it. There is no "100% bonafide" option here. Email is always suspect, when it comes to security filtering. Even the best spam filters are applying a series of rules to try to determine the legitimacy of an email. Hackers will compromise an account, read previous emails, copy/paste language, and then go to work.

You can't be sure, no matter what filter you're using. Legitimate looking emails are used to trick the recipient into sending funds or sensitive data to the attacker. Typically, the hacker will impersonate the CEO or a company executive and send an email to an employee or vendor requesting a financial transaction or some other urgent action.

Some of the common characteristics of a BEC attack include:

Emails that allegedly come from high-level executives like the CEO requesting urgent money transfers or wire payments.
Requests for sensitive employee data like W-2 or payroll information.
Email addresses that appear to be from a legitimate company domain but are slightly off, for example, john@xyzcompany.co instead of john@xyzcompany.com.
Poor grammar and spelling errors since some attackers are not native English speakers (keep in mind our original point thought, that the email might be a copy of previous language to get around this issue).

Employee education is key here. Fraud prevention starts with company policies that can adapt to these attacks. Here are some things to pass on to employees:

If the email is asking for any action, no matter how benign, check with the sender outside of email (call, text, whatever).
Ask other employees if they got a similar request.
Don't act. Wait for a resolution before proceeding. If the request is urgent, wouldn't they call you?
Check with an IT professional. They can verify the source of the email.

Beware of Fake Support

Fri, 27 May 2022 12:00:00 GMT

CEO scams, phishing emails, fake texts...the companies that we work with are always on the lookout.

But managed service providers can be part of the problem. We've been diligent about letting users know but it pays to reinforce a couple of our rules. These are the things that we'll never do.

We'll never email, message or call you to ask for access to your PC. This is because we have an established protocol with each client. We won't contact your users for access.
We don't send remote support links. All of our services use a special protocol that allows us to contact you and request access. We won't ever send a link asking you install software.
Check the email address. Our systems are protected and our employees will never contact you via a personal or other email address. If the email domain isn't ours, it's not real.
Doublecheck with us. If you receive a message from us and you're not sure if it's legitimate, call your primary contact and verify the information first.
Emails from us. We will never send you links to webpages. Ever. If you get a page that points to Microsoft or Google login, it's not real. All of our information sharing is done through established systems and we'd never ask for your email password to authenticate.

Any questions? Contact your favorite tech directly. 🙂

Cybersecurity: 5 Weaknesses That Hackers Exploit

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 12:00:00 GMT

NOT AS EASY AS "SET IT AND FORGET IT"

Keeping your business safe isn't a one-time thing and it's not just a matter of adding firewalls and antivirus software. Cybercriminals take advantage of all sorts of vulnerabilities in your company. Some are digital. Some are human.

Ransomware meltdowns have grabbed headlines but a lot of businesses suffer less catastrophic invasions. Fraudulent money transfers, stolen business information, and days of lost productivity. Even the smallest business can be targeted by automated attacks and hacker farms.

It's always more affordable to prevent these exposures than it is to recover from them. A good percentage of businesses are so affected that they resultantly fold.

Checking for weaknesses is an ongoing task. Here are five things you should know.

FIVE COMMON VULNERABILITIES

VULNERABILITY #1 - YOUR EMAIL

Let's start with three facts:

Too many logins are tied to corporate email accounts.
The majority of users cannot tell if their email email account has been compromised.
Phishing for email logins is the #1 hacker target. By far.

You need to have multi-factor authentication enabled for all business accounts. Why is not enabled in your business?

It's a pain and it requires too much getting used to.

We need to share an account login.

Some employees will require a bit of support to get it setup.

The setup process is weird and no one knows what apps we need.

True but it doesn't matter. It's worth it. It's not perfect but know this: we've yet to have a client with a compromised email account where multi-factor authentication was enabled. All of the exploited logins have been phishing related, on an account without a login challenge.

Your email accounts are a gateway to all sorts of financial and business information. You need to lock them down as much as possible.

VULNERABILITY #2 - WEAK ENDPOINT DEFENSE

Some companies fail to set up managed endpoint defense software by rote. A common issue: expired antivirus tools that shipped with the Dell PC or came pre-installed on a Best Buy PC. The owners think they're cover but they're not. This means that the organization is more susceptible to cyberattacks, allowing malware to install.

Centralized reporting and monitoring is critical because it allows for IT professionals to document issues, causes and potential patterns.

The best way to address these issues is to invest in a platform that offers in-depth behavioral inspections, managed alerting and security that extends beyond traditional antivirus.

VULNERABILITY #3 - POOR ACCOUNT PRIVILEGE CONTROL

Limiting the access privileges of daily users helps in several ways:

Ensures that the apps on the machine are verified for business purposes.
Prevents the installation of many malware types by disabling software installation.
Apps that could affect compliance aren't installed by unknowing users.
Helps to avoid breaking applications that are for business use.

The less information they can access, the less harm they can do. The problem comes if your company doesn’t control your user account access, enabling practically any user to have administrator-level privileges. It gets even worse if your configuration allows unprivileged members to set up admin-level accounts.

You should grant access only to those team members who can’t carry out their duties without the access.
You also need to ensure new accounts don’t have administrator-level access. This setup might be difficult to implement so it's best to lean on your IT resource for the initial configuration.

VULNERABILITY #4 - COMPROMISED OR WEAK CREDENTIALS

Your password and username may be the most widely used access credential. And cybercriminals can easily compromise them, exposing your user credentials.

This usually happens when an unsuspecting team member falls victim to phishing and enters their login information on a fake website. And with compromised credentials, an intruder gains insider access.

Here's how it goes:

Password and email address are stolen via phishing (or leaked publicly due to a hack).
Thief uses the credentials to access the website.
Thief then tries the same credentials, sometimes with an automated attack, on various popular sites -- banking, credit cards, etc. If the same password was used, they're in.
One login can lead to all sorts of access. Business credentials offer administrative access to systems and devices that consumer ones might not, creating a higher risk of exposure.

To avoid this scenario, you should implement stringent password policies for business accounts, enforce complicated passwords, and enable multi-factor authentication whenever possible. Remembering passwords isn't necessary if you use a sophisticated password management app.

User training helps too! We often provide how-to information to our clients regarding their role in keeping business accounts safe.

VULNERABILITY #5 - OUT-OF-DATE SYSTEMS

You cannot protect older systems from intrusion. As technology ages, more exploits are discovered. It's critical to make sure that all devices are using the latest operating system and application patches.

Many personal computers are set to update automatically but it's more difficult to ensure that the same happens to devices that you don't work on everyday. Examples: firewalls, servers, Internet-of-things (IoT) devices, and wireless access points. All of these should be regularly updated to make sure that they cannot be compromised by a known exploit.

Out-of-date systems and old operating systems are easier to break into. There are so many exploits in the wild that there are websites dedicated to researching device vulnerabilities.

WHAT TO DO NEXT

The risk of losing precious data and risking your corporate reputation is too high. To ensure your organization isn’t a sitting duck for cyberattackers, we recommend four things:

Work with your IT provider to take appropriate precautions and do this on a recurring basis.
Know what the standards are for your industry and make sure that you're meeting them. Governing bodies drive compliance standard like PCI, HIPAA, and SEC. Often your business insurance relies on you maintaining compliance.
Make sure that you have monitoring in place to detect and alert knowledgable IT professionals.
Document your technology and make a plan for keeping things current.
Offer security awareness training to your teams. Programs are available for things like phishing.
Create policies for things like cybersecurity so you're prepared if something goes wrong.

Remote Users and Security Updates

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 12:00:00 GMT

With everyone settling into work from their home digs, it’s important to make sure that the attitudes surrounding good computer security aren't falling by the wayside. One of the unfortunate side effects of people becoming more decentralized is how much harder it is to focus on things like antivirus alerts and system updates. If your systems aren't being proactively managed from afar, new security holes are being introduced.

While it’s possible that your system will update itself automatically, it’s equally as possible that restart requests or other updates might go ignored. Many times a simple reboot at the end of the night is sufficient. If there are odd warnings or alerts, it's likely that regular maintenance isn't happening on your remote system. Sometimes the messages are subtle. Is your machine running slowly? Are applications crashing frequently?

There are environmental factors that can impact a system as well. Is there adequate space for air to move under or around your laptop? Do pets have access to power or system cables? Kids, well, they're kids so who knows what might happen. Physical security should be practiced in the home too. Be mindful when using systems and try to remember to exercise the same caution as you would with an office machine. When not using it, shut it down and secure it whenever possible.

Finally, if you're saving a lot of company data on your home-based laptop, backup becomes more critical. If you don't have access to cloud storage or your company's servers via secure access, you should bring up the subject with IT support. It's important that your documents don't get stranded.

Need anything clarified? Let us know!

Top 5 Five Tips for Coronavirus IT

Sun, 19 Apr 2020 12:00:00 GMT

As a 100% cloud based company, we have a long history of helping clients transition to remote work. Over the last month, we've supported hundreds of users who were suddenly working from home. For many, it was easy. They had the tools with them, on their own devices. For the ones who are reliant on in-house servers and legacy apps, we've worked on seamless remote access to office PCs and networks.

We've learned a few things along the way too (the top five list is below). If your company isn't working with us, tell us what you need and we'll see if we can help.

We've ranked this list, with number one being the biggest issue so far.

Power Issues
We manage battery backups on servers and networks but what about office PCs? You can't remote into a workstation that's offline. What happens if the power is out for a long period of time? Who can help onsite? Power issues have been our number one gremlin, especially in non-urban areas where power isn't consistent.

Home Internet
Remote workers need decent Internet connections at home. It can make a big difference in their remote work experience. In many cases, users were never set up for a home office scenario. We've spent time trying to optimize user access and address glitchy scenarios. Remote security has been a focus too.

App Problems
Apps like Zoom have basic needs: you can't have a meeting if the desktop doesn't have a microphone. Also, on-the-fly deployments meant that users struggled with new logins, hardware and subscriptions. We've been helping them via remote support sessions.

Permissions
In the office, connections were easy to administer. But what happens when your workforce is rapidly changing and users cannot get to the data they need? Enforcing policies and permissions can require new thinking when your team is on the outside.

User Training
When you have to rethink your office, after years of familiar patterns, there is always a learning curve. Internal mentoring can help. Our team is a resource for training too.

We've Got Some Fancy Masks

Sat, 04 Apr 2020 12:00:00 GMT

Our confinement hasn't changed our approach to technical support. We try to do it with a little flair.

Coronavirus IT Update - Remote Workers and Covid-19

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 12:00:00 GMT

With an office and workforce in France, we've been coping with the pandemic for a few weeks now. We just wish they were under better circumstances.

On March 9th, our office had a company-wide planning call. We started planning for remote work through the end of April. On-site visits were still a necessity for some clients, but our goal was to limit our teams' exposure. As a cloud based company, this shift was easy. We already use:

Slack - This is our primary communications tool and it covers messaging, voice calling and screen sharing.
G Suite Hangouts Meet - We use this for large team meetings and client calls.
GoToMeeting and Join.me - For clients on the platforms, it's easier for us to adapt.

During the last seven days, we've set up over a hundred users to work from home (dozens of companies that were already cloud-based made the adjustment quickly). The tools for this were mostly baked into their G Suite and Office 365 accounts. No additional costs needed.

The most daunting issues have been: legacy servers in offices and quirky computers in homes. Luckily, the disaster recovery plans that we worked on with clients have covered the servers. The home PCs are a different matter. It introduces a lot of variables--old PCs, unprotected systems, poor wireless--that lack easy solutions.

What have we learned so far? Four takeaways for setting up home workers more quickly:

Have employees without laptops contribute to your DR plan and make sure they have workable systems.
Ensure that your DR plan includes equipment setup and enough time for IT to gain remote access.
Have your communication tools in place ahead of time and well-documented (Slack, Teams, Meet).
Start planning how you'll migrate meetings for remote workers (you don't want miss deadlines or critical meetings).

If you need some guidance, send us a message. We'd be happy to help.

Pricing: How IT Vendors Get it Wrong

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Companies like ours use a lot of web-based technology. When the tools work well, there is a huge payoff in productivity. When they don't, it's a nightmare and that puts in the same boat as our clients: how much are you willing to pay for efficiency?

IT providers are obsessed with getting clients to buy into their "stack." This stack being a group of apps that clients have to buy into to work with the managed service provider. It's not because the products are the best in the industry or essential to your business. It's because they know them and they enjoy a sizeable resale margin.

Little of this is driven by customer need. You want G Suite? Sorry, they're a "Microsoft house." You running something other than PCs? Sorry they don't support them. On top of this, you see inflexible contracts and bizarre ROI figures.

In these days of app overload, it's becoming harder for companies to justify their burgeoning cloud expenditures.

Last year, we were using 11 different cloud apps to run our business (we don't have a client "stack"). By 2020, we'll be down to 5. Are we saving money? Not really. But we are focusing on one of our core principals: keep it simple.

Secure Passwords

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Okay. I think we're good.

If you'd like to give your passwords are checkup, the cloud password management company Bitwarden has a fun site for you.

Of note, the password you enter isn't sent to their site. It uses computational analysis in the browser.

In Our Neighborhood: Salon Lavender

Fri, 13 Apr 2018 12:00:00 GMT

We recently had the pleasure of working on a wireless project for our new neighbor, Salon Lavender.

As they mention on their Facebook page, "Lavender is a botanical, holistic salon providing quality hair care and color through one-on-one, customized experiences." Laurel and Andrew have put a lot of work into the space and it looks fantastic.

We'll let you know how it goes with Andrew's offer: "perms all around for the tkc.io team."

What Happened to Our Facebook Page?

Tue, 20 Mar 2018 12:00:00 GMT

Years ago, we didn't have a Facebook page.

In 2017, we started an experiment. Basically, we wanted to research the traffic type and influence that Facebook had on our business. As a security driven company, this was risky. The goal was simple: see if, within 12 months, what appreciable change Facebook had (positive or negative).

We were prepared to document the results. What we were not prepared for:

In 2018, the events with Cambridge Analytica would prove that our initial suspicions regarding data security and integrity were correct.
Advertising directly affected website traffic but mostly in a deceptive way. It was obvious that the numbers were driven primarily by bots.
Engagement on the Facebook platform was guided solely by existing friends and employees (all awesome people!).

Well, time's up. The Facebook page is down. We saw zero benefit from the Facebook business model. If anything, the traffic generated seemed to be noise. Primarily though, as a company with compliance concerns, we had serious concerns that we weren't able to allay.

Dropbox Rebrands. Google Rebuilds.

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 12:00:00 GMT

Good news, business users. Dropbox and Google Drive are finally competing on cloud file sync.

Back in April of 2016, Dropbox posted this “A Revolutionary New Way to Access All Your Files.” It was a first look at their “Project Infinite” which touted the ability to access all of your files stored in the cloud without having to sync up the file on your local device. The goal was to address the primary pain points that users experience with any cloud storage service: local hard drive space gets chewed up, syncing takes forever and Internet speeds are unnecessarily bogged down.

Since the posting of that article, Dropbox has rolled out some of these features but not all. They have however visually rebranded while releasing other existential features like Paper.

Google's competing cloud storage service, The Artist Formerly Known as Google Drive, has finally gone live with some long-planned changes. Earlier this year, they announced to ditch the Google Drive Desktop app. File Stream, their corporate replacement, is in many ways the application that Dropbox promised. We have been using it internally and are rolling it out to clients across the country.

What makes File Stream so different? It offer the exact type of file access that Dropbox spoke about back in April of 2016, while mimicking the look and feel of the old app. I have cleared up roughly 15 GB of what synced files on my computer. Yes, accessing and collaborating with these files has never been easier. There is no longer a need to worry that if someone adds a massive file to your Google Drive share that you'll end up with it on your system. Once the file is uploaded and synced in the cloud, you’ll have access to it. It’s as simple as that.

Learn More about File Stream

Smishing: It's Phishing for Your Phone.

Mon, 10 Jul 2017 12:00:00 GMT

Next time you get an SMS, you might want to think twice before clicking a link in it.

SMS-based phishing has been on the uptick. It's email brethren often hits your spam filter but who's filtering your text messages? Smishing often takes the form of an official looking password reset, account notification or security alert. You click the URL on your phone, login and voila! Your password is sent to the scammer.

Like email, our recommendation is simple: next click a link sent to you. Instead, go directly to the supposed source.

USA Today put together a short video about smishing (brought to our attention by the good guys at KnowB4).

Boost Your iPhone®'s Privacy

Fri, 30 Jun 2017 12:00:00 GMT

The fine folks at the DuckDuckGo Twitter account posted a great guide to iPhone security practices.

The infographic covers basic common sense steps you can take to protect your privacy, along with some tips for more advanced and pro active security. DuckDuckGo is the most popular search engines for the privacy minded user, as they store little user information on their end.

The printable PDF (perfect for that bare spot next to the coffee machine) can be downloaded from DuckDuckGo: https://goo.gl/tprBt1

New Company Car

Wed, 21 Jun 2017 12:00:00 GMT

Our VW Jetta isn't cutting it lately so we've been searching for an iconic vehicle to represent us.

Waiting on a site visit by one of out team members? Did we say 15 minutes? Please be patient as our acquisition--while it may have a distinctive paint job--possesses the engine of a lawnmower.

Cinco de Mayo

Sat, 06 May 2017 12:00:00 GMT

We celebrated in the best way we could think of: attending the soft opening of Portland food truck El Corazon's new restaurant.

Play with a 1991 Mac® Online

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 12:00:00 GMT

Thanks to a tip by John Gruber, we've been playing around with an online version of a Mac® from 1991.

Back then:

The Mac® OS was mostly black and white
You had to click and hold the mouse button to select anything
The OS came on 15 floppy discs or, for the first time, a CD
The Mac gained a functional trash feature
Networking debuted

Boot it up here: https://archive.org/details/mac_MacOS_7.0.1_compilation

Why Does the US Lag Behind in Fiber?

Wed, 25 Jan 2017 12:00:00 GMT

Fiber optic deployment in the US lags behind many other countries. Current estimates show about only 24% of the US is serviced by fiber. Our Portland, Maine HQ is in a state that is typically ranked in the bottom when it comes to broadband availability. Why are we so behind (except for you, Rhode Island, good on ya!).

Mainers with access to fiber? 1.7%

Our office is in Nice, France's fifth largest city, where the province has announced that fiber is now running to 100% of its residents. Not just businesses. These are homes (be they in the foothills of the Alps or in the narrow streets of the old town). It took a few years to accomplish and the reason? A municipal initiative. Towns in the area have contracted with major providers to build the fiber backbone and then, as part of the program, the cities provide private companies access to the infrastructure. It's a version of the old-school phone line infrastructure in the US.

The primary difference in France is that the ISPs aren't given a monopoly on the lines. Those fiber runs are deemed to be in the public interest and the bill is footed by local and federal governments (aka the taxpayers). Competition is heady when it comes to the end-user's service though. Unlike the US, the consumer is offered more choices and providers, as multiple providers service the same area.

A 100MB/down and 100/up connection in Nice is just $22/month. In Portland, that's a business line and it's 45x the cost, around $1000/month. France: forty bucks a month will get you a 500MB/down connection. We've used it. It's ridiculous.

While we're on the subject of France, a quick shoutout to a few of our friends: Herve's Illia Pasta, Nadim's Oliviera and Stéphane's La Cave de (you guessed it) Stéphane.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="2" gal_title="France"]

We Support Girls Who Code

Wed, 07 Dec 2016 12:00:00 GMT

"Computing skills are the most sought-after in the US job market, with demand growing 3X the national average. Computing is where the jobs are -- and where they will be in the future -- and yet our girls are being left behind. Girls Who Code's recent #CracktheCode research report shows that if we act now, we can actually triple the amount of women in computing by 2025.

This holiday season, Girls Who Code is asking supporters like you to donate to their campaign to help further their mission to close the gender gap in tech."

It's pretty simple: there is a gender bias in STEM. It starts in the lower grades, extends through college and slams into high gear in the job market.

For every new hire we seek, we see a 1 to 70 ratio of women to men. Several times, we've had no women apply. None. The worst part for us, as a tech company, is that noting the numbers doesn't fix anything. It's frustrating and sad. Girls Who Code creates programs to support young women interested in tech. It creates an environment where their talents are normal, where they can experiment without the intrusion of gender roles.

It makes so much sense to us that we're aiming to raise $1000 for their holiday campaign. Want to help us?

Chocolate Nerds

Mon, 22 Aug 2016 12:00:00 GMT

At tkc.io, we have zero tolerance for body shaming. That’s why you can imagine the squeals of delight at the office when we learned that chocolate-for-breakfast not only improves brain function, but also keeps us svelte!

Hands down, “more frequent chocolate consumption was significantly associated with better performance” on tests. In other studies, chocolate in the morning was found to help people lose weight! We didn't need to read any more. We are convinced.

Mercifully, we are surrounded by amazing chocolatiers. Enjoy awarding winning whoopie pies by the Frisky Whisk at CBD or the Hilltop Superette. Indulge in some “unreal hot chocolate” at Sip of Europe on Congress Street. Or the pièce de résistance...a chocolate cream pie from Two Fat Cats on India. Meow!!!

If chocolate isn’t your thing, experts say that you can enjoy the same brain ballooning benefits of the flavonoids found in chocolate, from other sources such as red wine (maybe not for breakfast).

Shut. The. Front. Door.

While known for its more stouty offerings, The Snug - cheerfully close to our HQ - delivers with amazing house and by-the-bottle reds that will have you drawing all the homeomorphic irreducible trees of degree 10, just like Will Hunting!

Long story short; if you see a tkc.io tech...feed that bear - or rather, offer them a piece of your Hershey bar. Your laptop will thank you!

We Are OK

Fri, 15 Jul 2016 12:00:00 GMT

All of us--our friends, our clients and our employees--are tremendously sad but safe.

A big thank you to everyone for checking in. The Niçois have a profoundly resilient history.

Windows 10 Revert to Windows 7?

Sat, 02 Jul 2016 12:00:00 GMT

"I'm going to chuck this thing in the river" - Actual Client Quote

Things were working fine. Then one morning, everything went to hell.

At the end of July, Microsoft will be ending its controversial, semi-forced upgrade to Windows 10 for eligible users. Over the last year, we've spent a lot of time warding off this upgrade for users. For us, the concerns have been mostly centered around compatibility and privacy. Here are our quick tips for you, based upon what we've seen with hundreds of PCs.

#1 Rollback to Windows 7

If you're within the 30 day window, it makes sense to uninstall the update if you are having issues. The majority of compatibility problems have been related to printer and peripheral drivers. Also, users have been dismayed by the visual changes as well as the removal of their programs. The upgrade can automatically prevent older software from running, leading to costly upgrades.

#2 Prevent Windows 10 Upgrade

We recommend two programs to remove the upgrade application, updates and nag screen, Steve Gibson's Never10 and the GWX Control Panel. Both are free and easy enough to run. Bonus: they free up quite a bit of drive space by removing the Windows 10 download.

#3 Windows 10 from Windows 8 and 8.1

This one has been a bit more straightforward. In general, the upgrade process has gone smoothly and benefitted users (especially on Surface devices). You can still roll it back if it was an auto-upgrade, just like Windows 7.

#4 Windows 10 on a New PC?

If you have critical business applications that require specific versions of applications, Java, browsers or peripherals, do your research before buying. You can still get Windows 7 on a new system (not from your local Best Buy, though). Dell, for example, offers a Windows 7 downgrade option on their corporate lines (it will ship 7 installed). Act quickly though. Microsoft keeps restricting buying choices and their tactics with Windows 10 have been almost malware-like.

Our office manager is...

Tue, 03 May 2016 12:00:00 GMT

...horribly lazy.

Bad Day at The Office

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 12:00:00 GMT

For now, we've moved all meetings to the coffee shop next door. Anyone have a spare room?

NOTE: This was an April Fools day joke. We didn't actually get evicted.

NOTE 2: We even went so far as to change the locks.

Our Traditional Saint Patrick's Workday

Thu, 17 Mar 2016 12:00:00 GMT

Years ago we started the tradition of moving our office to The Snug for the holiday. 2016 is no different. Feel free to stop by.

A Beginner's Guide to Malware

Fri, 25 Sep 2015 12:00:00 GMT

Spyware. Malware. Ransomware. There are a lot of different names for viruses today. Let's start with the terms.

Spyware

Spyware is a creepy virus that is designed to pull information from your computer. Spyware is designed to run on your computer without your knowledge. Sometimes it will masquerade as a "beneficial" software (you get the weather in your browser and they get your search history). Spyware is always designed to steal something, even if it's just information on how you are using your computer.

These infections do not spread like a virus. Frequently they're installed with some consent of the user. That weather toolbar mentioned earlier, free game or cleanup utility. Spyware is usually designed to exploit the infected computers for commercial gains. It creates pop up advertisements, steals information or monitors web browsing activity.

Malware

Malware is a different beast. It's designed to have an noticeable effect on your computer. Basically, malware is a synonym for a traditional virus. It could be fake antivirus that you can't uninstall or a tool that redirects all of your web searches. Got a security warning that your system is riddled with viruses? That's malware. It is created to have a detrimental effect. Usually, they're looking for money.

Ransomware

Infections like ransomware are on the opposite end of the spectrum: they're designed to be obvious. Heard stories of people that had to pay $500 to get their Christmas photos back? That's ransomware. It's usually designed to lock your computer or corrupt the data on your hard drive by encrypting it.

They're All Viruses

A decent antivirus program should block spyware and malware. Many don't. The majority of the computers we clean had current, commercially available antivirus software on them. Paying for security software doesn't always translate into a safer computer.

Why do we need cleanup programs to remove malware when antivirus software has failed?

The problem is that antivirus software is always late to the game. The best antivirus programs will at least question that download you just clicked on. After that it's up to you. If it's legitimately spyware or malware though, your antivirus should do its best to block it. If it's not, it's time for a change.

We Took the Afternoon Off

Fri, 17 Jul 2015 12:00:00 GMT

Some teams build up camaraderie with ropes courses and afterwork shindigs. Not us.

We build it by watching beer ferment.

Recently, we shut down for the afternoon to get a behind the scenes tour of one of Maine's favorite breweries, Allagash. Rob Tod's creation is celebrating its 20th anniversary and in that time, Allagash White has become one of the most beloved beers on the east coast. Part inspiration, part Maine history, it was a great way to see how Portland has grown up.

Some of us sampled. Some drank water. Regardless, the brewery's barrel room was pretty stunning. Some have been aging for 6+ years. It's a reminder of how patience sometimes pays off.

Thanks to Sully from Nappi and Margaret from The Snug for hooking us up.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="1" gal_title="Allagash"]

Google Apps for Work. Small Business.

Mon, 22 Jun 2015 12:00:00 GMT

Our business runs on Google Apps for Work. Well. At least our email.

We have a soft spot for the stability and simplicity of the platform even though we work with Office 365 almost equally.

We don't spend a lot of time editing and sharing documents in Google Apps. It doesn't suit our model and use Podio for those tasks. We lean on the Gmail and Drive though. It's uptime has been great and its cross platform tools are quite robust.

It's interesting for us to see how SMBs use Google Sheets and Docs heavily. Here's a video about bubble milk tea gurus Boba Guys. Interesting to see what they did with these tools.

Want more info? We can help.

Should We Be "On The Cloud?"

Sat, 13 Jun 2015 12:00:00 GMT

We create new ways for our clients to access information from offices, airports and homes.

We do this by connecting cloud services with more traditional office IT software (yeah, we're looking at you Quickbooks Enterprise). We can bridge apps that were never meant to be on the cloud with apps that truly were. We can also craft connections between cloud providers to share data seamlessly.

Need to get your customer data into your accounting software automatically? Need to connect your sales data with your website? We can connect all sorts of things.

There's always the question though: "will this actually help our business?" To answer this, we have created a cheat sheet. Answer yes to more than three of these and you might benefit from a cloud makeover.

1. "We work from more than one place."
You and your employees want to travel, visit clients or work from home but accessing office data is a chore.

2. "Everybody wants to use different devices."
Phone, tablet and laptop preferences abound. You have a hard time getting all of your systems to work flawlessly.

3. "Tasks feel cumbersome."
Basic business tasks like entering bills or invoicing customers seem to be too manual. There must be a better way.

4. "We don't know if our data is safe."
You have some backups but you don't think you have everything. You aren't sure how you get things running if a certain computer had issues.

5. "We would like to have less equipment."
Giant servers and old desktop machines haunt you. Streamlining sounds great but you're not sure where to start.

How'd you do? If you answered yes to only one, you're probably okay where you are. Two and three, we should start talking. More than three? We have some solid opportunities here to make your business hum.

Need a bit coaching? We can help. Call us or email your questions to hello@tkc.io.

5 Free Websites You Should Be Using

Fri, 08 May 2015 12:00:00 GMT

Some of our favorite web services are utterly free (though you might have to cope with an ad or two).

Here are five solutions that we use everyday, from photo editing to PDF creation to text editing. While not as powerful as their pricey counterparts, these freebies are great for the tasks that you rarely do. Faxing, for example. How often do you need to send a fax? Like twice a year?

[kleo_icon icon="attention" icon_size=""] Heads up! We cannot vouch 100% for the safety of these sites as we don't administrate them. They've been good to us in the past but things change. Check with Norton if you're unsure.

Free Photo Editor
PicMonkey [kleo_icon icon="link-ext" icon_size=""]

You can't get much better than PicMonkey. It has a solid toolset for quick photo edits. You don't even need to register to get going. Just upload a picture and start messing around.

Free: Easy, no registration, basic edits are solid
Paid: More filters and a stronger toolset

Free PDF Editor
PDFEscape [kleo_icon icon="link-ext" icon_size=""]

A great way to tweak your PDFs. Our favorite tool: whiteout. It handles PDFs quickly. Doesn't require a lot of info from you and, once your done editing, you just download your new PDF. It's incredibly handy.

Free: Quick to upload and edit, great features
Paid: No ads on the pages, online storage

Free Online Fax
FaxZero and HelloFax (Tie) [kleo_icon icon="link-ext" icon_size=""]

This one is a tie. FaxZero is easier for a quick send but we like the HelloFax interface. Both allow you to send up to 5 pages for free. If you need to send more, FaxZero let's you purchase a one-off upgrade for 1.99. HelloFax makes you subscribe for a month or more. Both will want you to confirm your email to prevent fax spam (yeah, that's still a thing).

Free: Good for less than 5 pages
Paid: Longer faxes

Free Writing Tool
Hemingway [kleo_icon icon="link-ext" icon_size=""]

Brevity is the key to effective communication. Hemingway (the app, like its namesake) is all about succinctness. If you're sending a newsletter or email, this is a useful tool. Just paste in your text and it will suggest some ways to cut out the fluff.

Free: All you need
Paid: The apps are useful.

Free Online Storage
Mega [kleo_icon icon="link-ext" icon_size=""]

Everyone knows about Dropbox. They give you 2GB of free storage for your online life. Mega gives you 50GB. That may be enough but what we like most about Mega is that everything is encrypted on your system not theirs. It's a good security model. To boot, their mobile apps are solid too.

Free: 50GB of solid storage
Paid: Huge amounts of storage for less than its US counterparts

TKC Announces New CEO

Wed, 01 Apr 2015 12:00:00 GMT

As we've grown, we've found that we needed fresh direction and coordination. Today, we are happy to announce our new CEO, Jerry McLusky.

Jerry comes to TKC from several Silicon Valley startups after a recent move to Maine. Jerry's focus is on "top-down, old-school management," as he calls it. "I come from a strong business management background at DEC and IBM. Worked my way up after years in the US Marines. My goal is to buck the trend of IT startups that lack hierarchical management and focus on wringing what I can from employee performance."

Jerry's most recent venture, InitoPRO, was sold to Pine Tree Partners Capital for $3M in February 2015. Prior to that, Jerry was CIO and CFO at Ruga LLC in San Francisco. Ruga was a developer of SQL analysis engines for mid-tier solutions.

"Ruga was a mess when I came in. I left it a better place. Same thing with InitoPRO. We cut waste, removed costly perks and put our noses to the grindstones. The result was a 200% increase in profit. I look forward to bringing this kind of forward-thinking management to TKC."

Jerry lives in Portland's East End with his two cats, Sammy and Frank. In his free time he enjoys reading management books and volunteering at career training programs for underprivileged youth.

Our St Patrick's Day at the Office

Tue, 17 Mar 2015 12:00:00 GMT

Stout and remotes.

Today's guests: Sully and a giant pint of Guinness.

Free Post-Its

Tue, 03 Mar 2015 12:00:00 GMT

You probably recognize these little guys.

Some folks still have stacks. Others have run out. If you're in the latter category, don't freak out! We'll send more. For free.

Just send us a message by clicking here.

#badweathermaggedon

Thu, 05 Feb 2015 12:00:00 GMT

Roughly three feet of snow. Sidewalks be damned. Here's the scene outside our door today.

Google Sells Domains Now

Thu, 15 Jan 2015 12:00:00 GMT

Heads up, GoDaddy and Web.com! Your days of anti-customer service and price gouging may be numbered.

This week, Google finally unveiled its own domain registry service to the public. For $12 a year, you can register a domain and get a few features that few competitors can match (excepting you, beloved Dynadot). The service has tested well and, at less than a third of the cost of veterans like Network Solutions, it's no wonder the Web.com properties (Register.com, Network Solutions, etc) are missing their numbers financially.

That twelve bucks includes features that the others upsell too. Things like whois privacy, domain forwarding and email forwarding. The tie to Google's DNS and a future integration with Google Apps just sweetens the deal.

We'll stick with Dynadot, Namecheap and Hover for now but this upstart Google company is worth watching out for.

New Year. New Service. More Cats.

Mon, 05 Jan 2015 12:00:00 GMT

We're always looking for ways to speed up websites but people love eye candy. And cats doing crazy things.

Adding features bogs websites down. So we asked ourselves--aloud, in a public square--What if we started with the cleanest slate possible? In December, we spent three weeks testing the most performance driven hosting platform we could make. Dozens of providers and hundreds of blown away installs later, we finally found something that we liked. Then we put it to work. The end result was a customized server build that could deliver content at roughly 10x the speed of a stock install.

Now we're using that knowledge to drive some of our newest projects. When you couple it with our shiny new low-cost, managed-by-a-human web service, it's looking to be a fun 2015 (if, for example, you need to deliver a large volume of whacky cat GIFs to your customers).

Yeah. Like that.

Holiday Schedule for TKC

Tue, 23 Dec 2014 12:00:00 GMT

Hi all.

Our offices will be closed Dec 24th through the 26th. Back in on the 29th. Emergency staff is still available (though they may arrive via Lyft, half loopy on eggnog).

Have fun!

Image by Howard Lewis Ship

Our New Office Space? Haunted.

Thu, 04 Dec 2014 12:00:00 GMT

We're in the middle of moving to a new, larger space in Portland, Maine.

Henri, the office dog, didn't seem into it. Now we know why. Office chairs rearrange themselves without human involvement. Worse, the desks haven't arrived yet so the whole place is basically bumpers cars for ghouls.

Seems the next installment of Paranormal Activity could be filmed here. Here's a sample:

https://tkc.io/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Haunted_Office_TKC_2014.mp4

2014's Holiday Cards

Tue, 25 Nov 2014 12:00:00 GMT

Since the beginning, we've always made our own holiday cards.

This year, we wanted to try a cartoon despite that fact that none of us are decent cartoonists (except maybe David). Well, Serbian artist Vuk Mikalacki to the rescue. We found Vuk on Fiverr, an Etsy-like site that allows freelancers to sell their services starting at $5.

We gave him a concept and he came up with this:

Here's last years creation.

Have a fun holiday season, everyone.

Online Project Management with Podio

Sat, 22 Nov 2014 12:00:00 GMT

From 2014

It's always easier to explain with pictures.

Whenever someone asks me to define "the cloud," I usually pull up our Podio site. It's a 100% cloud-driven world that links our projects and client details together. It's simple interface and obvious flexibility are easy for novices to grasp.

Podio is a collaborative project management tool that's been around for five years now. Citrix bought it a few years ago, and it's well-funded with a diverse client base (if a bit neglected as a product).

For you corporate types, Podio's ancestors will be obvious: Microsoft SharePoint and Lotus Notes. Its flexibility defies those roots, though. It's Facebook with an infinitely tweakable database behind it. Online project management with Podio feels instantly familiar.

Want to share and discuss a file with a coworker? No email needed. Need to add a new contact field for birthdays? It takes less than ten seconds. Starting a big project with a contractor? A new workspace is up and shared with them in a few minutes (no additional cost). Documents, contacts, chats, tasks...it all goes in Podio.

We are developers as well as users so we can jumpstart your team.

Update 2024

Podio has bounced around between owners. In 2024, it was acquired by Progress Software. We no longer use it ourselves, but we still support a few clients who use--and like--it.

"No Coding Knowledge Necessary"

Thu, 20 Nov 2014 12:00:00 GMT

Back in October, Techcrunch wrote an article on Ex-Google AdSense Director of Products Brian Axe and Medium Designer Leigh Taylor's new service, TheGrid.io, which aims to conquer the hassle of coding a beautiful and professional website with the use of artificial intelligence. Simply put, the service acts as a personal in-house web designer for the small fee of $25 per month, no batteries necessary.

Sadly, no technical demo has been released by the Grid team to show off functionality, but they are allowing backers early access late Spring 2015. Early access isn’t the only benefit of becoming a backer. Backers receive a 1 year membership to the service at a reduced rate of $8 per month, that’s $204 in savings — not bad.

As a Web shop that uses WordPress very frequently for client websites & projects, we at TKC are curious to see how this service will perform and compete with user-friendly web solutions like WordPress. Customization of themes, layouts, and unique features are common requests by many clients. With WordPress, executing these requests is simple because of the human element. One can simply go into the code and manipulate it as needed, but with TheGrid the human element is eliminated; aside from telling the machine to do x,y, and z.

How will it handle these requests? Will a developer still have to tweak code produced by the TheGrid? Right now it is too early to tell how it will all work, but with an Ex-Googler at the helm we are sure that TheGrid will surpass past failed attempts with an intuitive solution to the “No Coding Knowledge Necessary Website Problem.”

Back To Dongles We Go: Google's Security Key.

Wed, 22 Oct 2014 12:00:00 GMT

Déja Google Security Key

If you've ever worked in a corporate setting, you've probably had a few of these kicking around:

While not a true dongle, the RSA SecurID was a way for banks and security-heavy companies to introduce two-factor authentication to the layman. It was a good idea; if not 100% secure.

Google's new Security Key builds on that idea by offering a USB key that needs to be plugged into your system to automatically authenticate you with Google's services. It's a more seamless option than two-factor on your smartphone.

It looks a bit too much like a software license dongle for my tastes (torture devices invented by mad scientists, those are). Motherboard's Jordan Pearson isn't concerned about that though. Jordan's worry: people are just too lazy to use this thing.

Public Wifi: Still Risky

Sun, 19 Oct 2014 12:00:00 GMT

Public Wifi Safety = Nope

In a recent story on Medium, Maurits Martijn had his mind (and passwords) blown by a hacker.

Not every coffee shop holds a sinister kid in a hoodie but you should get in the habit of securing your connections regardless of where you are. The only way to be 100% safe? Disable the wifi on your phone (helps your battery too when out and about) and leave your laptop turned off. Granted, this is a bit over the top but at least it's darn simple.

Is the allure of checking your email while downing a Chocolate Dalmatian Frappuccino too strong for you? A VPN service like HotSpotShield or Cloak (our favorite) can help.

Public wifi safety tips: CNET

New Site, New Blog

Fri, 10 Oct 2014 12:00:00 GMT

For years we have resisted having a website that was anything more than a seasonal photograph. We'd hear about the irony of this when someone was trying to find our phone number.

Now that we've decided to move past 1993, we thought we'd start with what we considered to be a blog we'd enjoy: short ideas, links to things we find interesting and the occasional risky click.

Something you'd enjoy seeing exalted and/or debunked? Send us a message. Thanks for reading.