Freedom Press, an AXICOM client since 2001 is a media company that publishes award-winning books on health and the environment as well as "The Doctors' Prescription forHealthy Living" magazine, distributed to health food stores nationwide. Freedom Press also develops new websites for their partners and has built 10 websites in the last six months. In January 2008, FreedomPress began to produce "Green Patriot Radio with David Steinman", a weekly Internet show with an audience of more than 30,000 listeners per week. Every episode, Freedom Press owner Steinman  (pictured right) conducts phone interviews with politicians, green business leaders and experts on the environment and natural health. And, he does it all from his PC with two peripherals. The PC was specially selected and set up according to the requirements of the radio show including a special audio card installed with AXICOM's help. Jake Nonnemaker, president and CEO of AXICOM, said "We enjoy helping clients like Freedom Press with the variety of technical needs they might have. Every client is different and there are different technologies to suit their needs."  Like the majority of AXICOM clients, Freedom Press is on the AxiGuard 24x7 preventative monthly monitoring, maintenance and management system which keeps their network optimized. "It has been wonderful to be able to rely on Axicom as we grow our media projects", says Sheila Huettl, marketing director and broadcast producer. "We have just started working with video, and as we continue to grow, it's great to have Axicom on call to advise us on how to meet our technical requirements, and to help out in the case of technical emergencies. The guys at Axicom are also helpful and friendly." To learn more about the many health and  environmental publications of Freedom Press, the "Green Patriot Radio" show, or their other related business, visit the following websites:

www.healthylivingmag.com
www.greenpatriot.us
www.greenpatriotradio.com
www.nutritionfreebies.com
www.omegathreerevolution.com
www.hyaluronicacidinfo.com
www.probioticrevolution.net

 AXICOM's second Lunch 'n Learn held on Friday, March 27,  focused on mobile technology.  The greatest topics of interest were the Blackberry v. iPhone dilemma (i.e. "Which one should I get?") and the notebook v. netbook question.  While iPhones are gaining market share, they are not uniformly embraced by all business owners.  In fact, for many the Blackberry's little keypad is still preferable over the slip 'n slide factor of the touch keypad on the iPhone.  Blackberries are great for heavy email users while iPhones seem to be a good answer for the power  web app/Internet user.
     In terms of the much-heralded netbooks, they are light, portable and inexpensive, all to the good.  However, most come with XP Home installed as the operating system, have a limited amount of memory and they don't have a CD/DVD drive.  If the memory and OS need to be upgraded, then the cost equals the equivalent of many notebooks, thus it may not be worth the purchase price.  However, both the OS and the memory configuration might change in the future which would make them more attractive to the business owner.   All in all, it's a "wait and see" kind of position with the netbooks for many business owners.
     The photo above pictures some of the attendees seated and from left standing is Marianne Caprino, AXICOM Account Executive, Christa Nonnemaker, COO of AXICOM, Shon Bjornberg, CEO of Sandler Training, and Jake Nonnemaker, CEO/President of AXICOM.

 

For those clients who are NOT AxiGuard clients but have AVG Free 7.5 installed on their computers, please note that a new version has arrived.  If you get a notification from AVG about the new version 8.5, uninstall Version 7.5 first before installing the new version.  AxiGuard clients can disregard these instructions as all anti-virus updates are deployed automatically.

And now, an update on the Conficker (April Fool's) virus.  Good news!  We didn't hear from any of our clients on April 1st that their PCs were running especially slow or that their identities were stolen.  So, we can assume that those AXICOM clients on the AxiGuard program received the promised protection against Conficker and our other clients, many of whom contacted us to do a manual check and update in the days prior to April 1st, were diligent about making sure they were protected.  Lessons learned?  Always have adequate protection, whether the virus attack is well-publicized or not, so that you can focus on what you do best and not on whether your PC is going to be turned into a zombie!