Washington Works Blog

Google is all-in on artificial intelligence, as evidenced by their creation of Google Gemini, the company’s AI platform. As one would expect, this means that Gemini has a substantial list of capabilities that today’s businesses can take advantage of.

Let’s run through some of them as a refresher and, perhaps, introduce you to new opportunities.

Sometimes, one of the most effective ways to be productive is to step back for a moment. Consider how long a chess grandmaster will sit and stare at the board, planning the moves and maneuvers for the next seven turns.

So, to boost your productivity, approach your tasks like a chess grandmaster. Let’s discuss how to go about doing so.

Windows 11 introduces a new look by centering the taskbar, similar to the style used in macOS. While some users may appreciate this fresh design, others might prefer the traditional left-aligned taskbar found in older versions of Windows.

Business cybersecurity is increasingly important for every organization in operation today, to the point where it could very well be the difference between your business’ survival or failure. While extensive things must be accomplished to ensure your overall business continuity, you have to start somewhere.

Let’s review some of the most essential things you can—and need to—do to keep your business secure.

The Android operating system offers a litany of additional features and shortcuts in most applications… all you have to do is long-press an application’s icon to pull up a contextual menu of shortcuts. Naturally, Google’s applications are no exception.

Let’s review some of Google’s application capabilities as they appear in these shortcut menus.

We live in a world where technology is central to everyday life, yet unfortunately it does not last forever. Eventually, your smartphone, laptop, smartwatch, or other device will reach its end of life, or EOL. This is when the manufacturer stops supplying critical updates—including security.

Artificial intelligence is a hot topic nowadays, making data an even more valuable resource. After all, AI platforms rely on data to function.

Due to this, many platforms and services collect data from their users to feed these algorithms. LinkedIn was recently discovered to have started doing so—by default—without informing users or updating its terms of service. 

Nobody likes the thought of the device they rely on daily suddenly dying, leaving them without a phone, a laptop, a smartwatch, or whatever the case may be. This is why it is important to stay conscious of when these devices are due to reach their end-of-life date, or EOL, when the manufacturer will no longer support them or provide crucial updates.

Fortunately, there’s a resource that makes this monitoring far easier to manage.

The fact is that phishing messages are all over the place. It doesn’t matter if you are a large corporation or a small business with only a dozen employees; the threat of phishing attacks is real and should be prepared for. Thankfully, one of the easiest ways to avoid phishing messages is as easy as moving your mouse. We are, of course, talking about hovering over links.

It might not be as obvious as with a desktop computer, with their visible fans and external components, but laptops also must be kept clean and tidy, free of dust and debris. There is a bit of a different process to keeping a laptop clean compared to a traditional desktop, though, so today, we want to highlight these differences and walk you through how it’s done.

Setting up Google Alerts is a useful way to stay informed about topics that interest you. This tool allows you to receive notifications whenever new content related to your chosen keywords appears online. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up Google Alerts effectively.

AI might be able to pull off some crazy things, but it’s far from perfect. Depending on the service or solution, it can dramatically increase your output or change your workflow for the better. If you’re not up-to-snuff with your Photoshop skills, you can rely on AI to help you fill in the gaps, both literally and figuratively, in your photo editing skills.

If you want your business to thrive, then you need to set goals that allow it to do so. Today, we want to explore a framework for goal setting that your business can benefit from: the SMART goal framework.

Google Drive is an extremely useful cloud storage and file sharing platform that many businesses use as a part of the Google Workspace productivity suite, or as a stand alone cloud storage solution. We thought it would be useful to give you a couple of ways to use Drive to share large files.

Utilizing a form to gather data for your business offers myriad benefits, including insights into customer impressions, service needs, and employee feedback for collaborative decision-making. However, the challenge arises when it's time to consolidate responses—unless you're proficient with the available tools.

With technology being such an important part of doing business, making the right calls on how to spend your IT budget is important. Before diving into any technology purchases, take a step back and assess your business’ specific needs. What are your goals, challenges, and pain points? Understanding these aspects will help you narrow down the technologies that truly add value to your operations. Let’s take a look at a few technologies that can help a business spend wisely on their IT. 

All things considered, Windows 11 has received favorable reviews, although it can also be considered a somewhat unnecessary upgrade from Windows 10. Upgrading has significant benefits, provided you have the hardware to handle it. Microsoft wants users to have accounts to install the operating system, but there is a way to install Windows 11 without it.

You love your pets. They are part of your family and bring you more joy than most other things. Unfortunately, pets and technology simply don’t mix. In today’s blog, we thought we’d go through a few tips that can help you protect your technology from your furry (or not-so-furry) friends. 

One of the nice things about software platforms is how well the applications within them interact with one another. Take, for instance, the applications contained within Google Workspace.

Because of the interconnected nature of the Google Workspace platform, there’s a lot that the different programs can do in tandem. As an example, let’s consider how the word-processing application Google Docs can be used to generate events in the associated account’s Google Calendar.

Back in 2022, Microsoft coined the term “productivity paranoia,” referring to the fears that many managers have that remote workers aren’t working to their full productivity. However, as remote and hybrid work has continued for many companies, a different form has emerged: the feeling a worker has that they have to prove they are still productive while working from home.

Here are some tips to share with your team, so they can use them to avoid these feelings.