The holidays are upon us, and with their arrival come lots and lots of photo ops. These days, almost everyone has a smartphone, and some people have more than one. Almost every smartphone comes equipped with a decent digital camera, which you’ll probably be using to take your holiday pictures this year.

Reliability and longevity are of special importance to business owners. The longer equipment can be made to last without needing repair or replacement, the better a company’s bottom line looks. A good rule of thumb is that the more moving parts any given device has, the more likely it is to break, and thus, need repairs.

In recent months, there’s been a tremendous amount of attention focused on upgrading corporate IT security, and with good reason. Hacking attacks are growing in both number and sophistication, and breaches are becoming increasingly commonplace. The hackers appear to be winning, at least in the short term.

Audits. Nobody likes the term, and often, the mere mention of an audit is enough to make business owners cringe. It doesn’t have to be like that – audits can actually be opportunities. They highlight potential points of weakness that, when corrected, can actually enhance your bottom line.

Apple jealously guards its ecosystem. That’s been true since the first Macs rolled off the assembly line, and some people love it. Others, however, find it a bit restrictive. If you’re one of those and have been eyeing the freedom and flexibility of the Android platform, but you don’t want to lose all your contacts and important data, you’re in luck! There are ways of getting (most of) your critical data out of the Apple ecosystem and into an Android device.

As a business owner, you know how important it is to take advantage of every tax deduction you can. Section 179 can be a huge boon to you, but only if you act before December 31 of this year.

What is Section 179? It’s a fairly recent amendment to the tax code that allows business owners to deduct the full purchase price of up to $25,000 worth of qualifying equipment (almost all equipment qualifies, by the way, including PCs, laptops, smartphones, servers, printers, network switches, and off the shelf software, so make a list and check it twice). No hassles about figuring out what percentage you can deduct, just take the full value of the equipment right off the top, and save a bundle on your tax bill.

Did you know that smartphone theft is the fastest growing crime in the world? If it happens to you, it can be more than a mere inconvenience, it can cost a pretty penny in device cost, lost time, and possible recovery. Our smartphones have quickly become indispensable tools and are filled with all manner of sensitive information, both business and personal.

Since the release of Windows 10, Microsoft has designated every Tuesday as “Patch Tuesday” and has made it a point to consistently release updates to their software that fixes vulnerabilities. This most recent Patch Tuesday saw a number of other companies getting in on the fun.