Blue Ridge Technology

Make It Last Longer ​Get More out of Current Hardware to Avoid Sky-High Hardware Prices Hardware prices are skyrocketing, and there’s no end in sight to the ongoing memory shortage. That memory is in everything you use these days, but even beyond flash memory, everything from rare earth minerals to plastic components to microprocessors is affected. We’ll get to some of why, but here’s the more important takeaway: now’s a better time than ever to look for ways to extend the life of your existing hardware. That’s what we’re covering in this week’s post, with a specific focus on what you can do within Windows 11 to get a few more months or maybe even years out of the PCs already populating your business. Why Are Prices Rising? The news headlines on any given day tell a big part of the story. The increased demand for AI compute power is causing a huge demand for memory. Those big and heavily capitalized companies are paying a premium for access to the memory getting produced, leaving con...

Phishing Attacks ​Phishing attacks are nothing new, and we’ve probably published 10+ blog posts over the years warning against them in one form or another. Now it’s time to get ready for yet another evolution in AI-powered phishing attacks. Here’s what you need to know for 2026. Catching Up: Current State of Phishing Attacks We’ve already warned about how generative AI is making it easier for scammers to create convincing, legitimate-looking content at scale. 10 years ago, phishing emails almost always had tell-tale signs like weird writing, typos, and graphic design that just looked off. But today those red flags are much harder to spot. The grammar is as good as your favorite genAI model’s, and it’s easier than ever to spin up a fake website thanks to those same tools. So we’ve already shifted our guidance away from looking for visual evidence. Now we warn businesses to look for directional evidence instead. Things like: Urgent calls to do things: “Click now to login or your accou...