Hi friend,

First, some fun: a king with a dead tooth

Bluetooth is named after Harald Bluetooth - a tenth-century Danish king who united Denmark and Norway, and had (depending on who you ask) a dead, blue-ish tooth. He was also famously good at getting people to talk to each other, which is, conveniently, what the technology does.

The name was an engineers' idea, not his: Intel's Jim Kardach proposed it as a code name back in 1996, and it stuck. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group tells the whole story - dead tooth and all - at bluetooth.com/bluetooth-origin.

Sync: We moved our own email off Microsoft 365

GMW Systems moved its own email off Microsoft 365 this month. Started in September - working version in 19 days. It's called GMW Systems Subspace, it runs on our own servers, and this is the first time I'm telling the world about it.

Why? Honestly, frustration. You use 5% of the functionality 95% of the time. The other 95% just makes things slow, confusing, and bogged down. That's an opinion - but I'm an expert, so I get to say it.

There's a personal side too. Microsoft is retiring text-code and voice-call logins in February 2027 - a genuinely good security move for most people. But my mom has a landline. A voice code on that landline is her only way in, and it's going away. So we built something she can use. We know every client by name, so the security burden sits on the system, not on you. And someday it'll be my turn to need it - I'm building for that person now.

To be clear: we're not anti-Microsoft. We still support M365 for clients who use it. But if you've ever felt the bloat, there's another road. Clients can get GMW Systems Subspace if they want it - just reply and ask.

Sync: GMW Systems Subspace - a peek inside

The living proof that the open source road is real. GMW Systems Subspace is our own mail, calendar, and contacts platform - one clean interface that does the things a family or small workgroup actually needs, and does them well.

Calendar sharing, just like the big guys: shared calendars render color-coded on the same grid with a legend - the whole team reads each other's calendars, live, without any complexity. It's the calendar sharing you'd expect from Google or Microsoft - except it's yours, on your own server.

Also worth a look: link stewardship - every link in a message gets a second look at the real address before it opens, so a disguised "click here" never catches you off guard. Plus junk-mail training that learns what your junk looks like, and a dark mode that's easy on the eyes at midnight.

Sync: Passkeys, explained - what if I change computers?

You've probably seen "passkey" on a login screen by now. The good news: they're stronger than passwords - Google reports passkeys are 40% faster to sign in with and, by design, can't be phished. The confusing part is how they travel with you.

There are two kinds. Synced passkeys - stored in your Apple, Google, or Microsoft account, or a manager like 1Password or Bitwarden - follow you to a new computer when you sign in with the same account. Device-bound passkeys - like Windows Hello - don't. Lose the machine, lose the login.

So, how do you manage them? Simple version: use a synced password manager, keep your phone enrolled as a spare key, and set up your recovery options before you need them. If you haven't taken the password-manager step yet, that's the one to take - it handles passwords and passkeys alike, and it'll tell you when a site you use shows up in a breach.

Sync: Backup testing could become an insurance requirement

Cyber insurers are quietly starting to act like security auditors - and the direction matters even before it's a rule. Coverage questionnaires increasingly ask for documented evidence: MFA on email and admin accounts, endpoint protection, DMARC, and backups you actually test. It's not a universal requirement yet - but it could be some day, and here's why: insurers are the ones who pay out when a business can't recover, so they have every reason to start asking whether your backups would actually restore. Some carriers already refuse or raise rates without those controls. (iFeeltech's 2026 small business tech trends report lays out the trend well.)

Note that word: test, not just have. That's why I test your backups every week, and why disaster recovery is a practice, not a pile of tapes. If your backups have never been restored - ever - they're a hope, not a backup. Ask me, and I'll prove it with yours.

Sync: Holiday scam season - the preview

Scam season peaks between November and December, and it's coming for your staff and your customers: fake delivery texts ("your package is stuck - click here"), lookalike shopping sites that copy a store's logo, and gift-card "payment" requests. The new twist is QR codes - "quishing" - fake stickers on menu boards and parking meters that lead to credential-stealing pages. If you run a bar or restaurant, that one is aimed squarely at your customers.

The rules never change: slow down, don't click links in texts, check the URL before you pay, and if anyone asks for gift cards as payment - it's a scam. Consider this the October early warning: brief your team now, and you'll sail through.

Sync: GMW Systems updates

GMW Systems Easy Manage keeps improving:

Hours, menus, specials, and photos straight from the Client Portal - no wp-admin required - still free on all GMW Systems hosted sites.

One personal note - a small tribute:

The Arlington Fly-In ran for 56 years. I volunteered for more than three decades of that run, and the last show was 2025. The organization closed in 2026. Thousands of volunteers, early mornings, too many volunteer shirts. It was a privilege to be part of it. The whole story is on the website - gmwsys.com/arlington-skyfest - if you want to see how a small-town airshow goes online. And if you run an event that needs a tech hand - websites, ticketing, WiFi that survives a crowd - I've got decades of practice. Call me.

A couple perks

Referral bonus: Send someone my way who becomes a client - get a free month of hosting or a free hour of consulting.

Non-profits: Discounted pricing year-round. Always happy to support the community.

Questions?

Just reply - I read every message. Or call: 425-320-5823 (VM goes straight to my email, so I will get back to you quickly.)

Until next time: stay secure, enjoy the fall, and back up your data!

AI for speed. Human for trust.

Built for a few hundred people we know - not a billion we don't.

-Garrett