Computer Support Blog

Around the holidays each year for the last five years, there have been two recognizable business trends.  The first trend is that more and more people are purchasing Christmas gifts online.  For 2011, Cyber Monday sales totaled $1.3 billion, making it the strongest online shopping day in history.  The trend toward shopping on the Internet as opposed to going out to crowded brick and mortar stores has been steadily growing since 2005.  Even as online shopping increases, brick and mortar stores have made it harder to return unwanted gifts after Christmas.

The trend against universal returns is an irksome one.  Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart as a customer service-driven retail store.  One of the principles Walton used when establishing Wal-Mart was that “the customer is always right.”  The advertising campaigns used to promote the first Wal-Mart super centers in the late 1980s restated that principle frequently.  At that time, Wal-Mart actively advertised a return policy so generous that they would accept returns, even if the item came from another store.  Now, however, Wal-Mart’s return policy is far less liberal or customer service oriented.  Wal-Mart.com’s return site requires order numbers and shipping information, even for gifts!  Wal-Mart stores accept returns without a receipt, even if the item was purchased online.  However, most returns without a receipt are only valid for store credit or exchange.  The only post-Christmas change to Wal-Mart’s return policy is that the store extends the return date for electronics to increase the amount of time you may return or exchange electronics.

Other major electronics or computer vendors are following that less customer-friendly return policy.  Apple Stores only accept unopened items with their original or gift receipt.  If you get an Apple iPhone as a gift, returning it after the holidays does not necessarily cancel your service commitment.  As a result, returning an iPhone means returning the physical phone and contacting your carrier to cancel service, and, with some contracts, you may not be able to cancel early without fees!

With most major stores requiring a receipt and your gift to be unopened in its original packaging, now it is more important than ever to be careful about dropping gift hints.  If you want a new laptop, smartphone or other computer device this holiday season, be precise when requesting it and be careful not to ask more than one person for the same thing.  The best defense against the miserly return policies of stores is to not have to make a return at all.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

Have you ever had an argument with someone you do not trust?  You know the kind, the person with whom you want to settle an issue through the flip of a coin, but you know they’ll find a way to cheat.  Just as the Internet provided us with increased data storage options, Cloud-based entertainment and more sophisticated mapping services, now it provides unbiased coin flips through Random.org’s True Random Number Service.  Settle bets, stymie psychics, or simply confound your friends by showing interest in a random number generator with Random.org’s True Random Number Service!

Random.org is a cool, entertaining, website and the coin flipper is only one interface that the site offers.  Random.org’s True Random Number Service is an esoteric bit of random number generators that may be used for fun or science.  Distinguished from other random number generation sites, the True Random Number Service from Random.org does not come from a complex equation that may be predicted with enough sampling (and a mathematical mindset).

Instead, creator Mads Haahr generates the random numbers through a complex radio receptor array that uses atmospheric noise.  In fact, the software for the True Random Number Service is not available because it requires the non-computer input it receives from the radio wave observations!  This is true randomness and Random.org makes it very cool.

The True Random Number Service has a variety of interfaces, the best of which are entirely free.  The coin flipper presents simple “heads” or “tails” for one to sixteen coins at a time from an inventory of eighty-eight different coins.  Virtually every country connected to the Internet has a representation of its coins.  There are also a few ancient civilizations and novelty coins available.  There is a playing card shuffler which allows those who need to settle an issue through a game of high card (or anything else for which you would select a single card from a 52 or 54 card deck) to randomly pick a card.  There are also random dice rolls, which could make your games of RISK or Yahtzee go much more unpredictably than playing with actual dice.

There is also a very simple, very direct true random number generator at Random.org that may generate columns of random numbers from -1,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000!  It does not take much playing around with the system to discover just how well it works!

Random.org is an easy site to use and it does not require any additional computer support to operate any of the gadgets and widgets it provides.  With over a billion random bits generated, Random.org is the most stable random element on the Internet!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

Happy Holidays from Rescuecom!

Today, as you spend time with friends, family and loved ones, we urge you to consider the less fortunate.  If you are reading this, you have access to the Internet and one of the most extraordinary technological tools in the world.  Not everyone is so fortunate.  In fact, the poorest Americans live without computer access or even telephones.

You have the power to use your new technology to help out a person in need.  96% of the population of the United States has a mobile phone.  You may have even gotten a new mobile phone or smartphone for the holidays!  While a part of the 4% that does not have a mobile phone includes people who just do not want the technology, a growing portion of the population simply cannot afford a cellular phone.  If you have looked around for a pay phone lately, you know that those who relied upon that traditional phone technology to spread holiday wishes may have disappeared from your area.

That is where you can make a difference this holiday season.  Many poor people have family members in other parts of the country or the world.  You can help connect poor, phoneless, people in your community with their distant loved ones, even if only for a phone call.  Smartphones with Internet access truly do make the world a smaller place and access to social networks through those smartphones may make for some real holiday miracles, even if you are just helping two people connect.

If your community has a large transient, disenfranchised or poor population, odds are there is a place they congregate.  Today is a great day to go there; bring a friend or several friends and your smartphones.  Politely introduce yourself when you arrive and ask the people there if there is anyone you could help them contact.  With your smartphone, you may be able to look up friends, family members or loved ones for the poor people there.  With social networks, you may even be able to connect two poor people without phones through friends in distant areas taking the same initiative!

For the cost of a phone call and the time it takes to help an impoverished person find contact information for another person on the Internet, you can make a real holiday miracle happen.  You have a cool phone that you might well upgrade by this time next year; helping to connect two people, even for a few minutes, can give you a joy that will last much longer.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

Happy Holidays from Rescuecom!

For the last few weeks, we have been presenting you with cool gadgets, awesome websites and neat products.  The holidays are a great time to give and get all manner of technological wonders.  Today, we would like to share a special Holiday Cool Product Of The Day: it’s you!

You, your time and your simple presence can make the day better for those around you or even a stranger.  Today, take some time to be with your family.  It does not matter what religion, race, creed or color you are; your friends and family deserve the gift that is you.  And you deserve to get the gift of loved ones!  So today, why not put down the smartphones, disconnect from the Internet and sit face to face with the ones you love and let them know how important they are to you?

For those Santas who need last minute technical advice, computer support and computer repair, we at Rescuecom are here 24 hours.  We are happy to serve you and check back tomorrow for our next great gadget.  But today, the best product we can recommend is you!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

As the new year arrives, it is time to both look back and look forward.  Just as you consider the best video games of 2011; it is worth getting excited about some very cool video games coming out this year.  No matter what your video game platform, there is ample reason to be excited about gaming in 2012.  The games most worth looking forward to (in no particular order) are:

Final Fantasy VIII – 2.  There are few video game franchises that have the longevity that Square Enix does with its Final Fantasy franchise.  The latest installment promises the best-ever graphics, which is saying a lot as the Final Fantasy games have pushed the envelope on video game graphics.  In addition to returning players to one of their favorite fantasy settings, this game promises some exciting changes in the game mechanic that will keep gameplay fresh.

XCOM.  You play an agent in the 1960s fighting aliens here on Earth.  Enough said.  No?  XCOM is a first-person shooter game with a government conspiracy/alien invasion feel to it.  On the plot front, this game has more potential than most video games in the last few years.

Mass Effect 3. Just as the Harry Potter Saga ended and the Twilight Saga is ending in 2012, the Mass Effect video game franchise is coming to a close.  Bioware is promising to have the game series go out with a bang as you fight off an alien invasion of the galaxy in the distant future.  The multiplayer function of the game promises to be very cool and make for a natural transition for players who get tired of Gears Of War: Modern Warfare 3, but still want exciting combat.

Minecraft.  Sure, there is a new Halo game coming out, but Minecraft just seems like a cooler premise.  During the day, you build structures, so players with a creative instinct get to express themselves artistically.  When the game turns to night mode, you have to stop all of the creatures that want to destroy the building you just made!  The very cool premise overcomes any sense that the graphics for the game are utterly ridiculous.

Metal Gear Solid Rising. Fans of the Metal Gear franchise have been on the edge of their seats for this sequel since 2009 when Kojima Productions first announced it.  The time has come, though the game for PS3 and Xbox 360 does not yet have an official release date.  Leave it to the video game producers to announce it, give screen shots and then keep you waiting to tell you when it will ship!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

The Toshiba Satellite L735-S32310 offers as much or more than many of the more expensive tablet and ultrabook laptop computers on the market.  With the flood of tablet computers hitting the market in the $200 to $829 range and the Toshiba Portege Z835 Ultrabook laptop boasting an online retail price of $899, it is hard for laptop computer buyers to not feel like they are being fleeced.  The Toshiba Satellite L735, in contrast, offers as much for as little as $439.83.

The Toshiba Satellite L735 boasts a 13.3” monitor with the same 1366 X 768 pixel resolution the Portege is bragging.  The Toshiba Satellite L735 has 4 GB RAM, like the most Ultrabooks, and it is unlikely users will need much computer support as the Toshiba Satellite L735 can handle most programs adequately.  Moreover, for hundreds of dollars less, users get almost four times the hard drive space.  The Toshiba Satellite L735 features a 500 GB hard drive that will store more information and programs than most users will ever need.

The big difference between the Toshiba Satellite L735 and the Ultrabook laptop computers coming on the market, ignoring the price, is the weight.  At 4.6 pounds, the Toshiba Satellite L735 is hardly an anchor.  Ultrabooks and the MacBook Air advertise the benefit of being less than three pounds, but most users will find the 4.6 pounds of the Toshiba Satellite L735 to be an almost imperceptible difference in weight from the Ultrabooks, even if they are carrying their laptop computer for hours.

With its built-in camera and the DVD drive, the Toshiba Satellite L735 makes multimedia conferencing and entertainment easy and efficient.  The MacBook Air requires users to network to digitally share DVDs and CDs, whereas the Toshiba Satellite L735 allows users the simplicity of using the media they already have in their home theaters in the laptop computer.  The convenience of being able to access the media users already have without additional steps is an idea not lost on Toshiba.

Because Toshiba laptops have been on the market for years from an industry leader, as rated by the latest RESCUECOM Computer Reliability Report, it is easy to find laptop repair for the Toshiba Satellite L735 as well.  Despite the durability of the laptop computer, accidents happen.  It is much easier to bear the expense of repairing a Toshiba Satellite L735 than it is to wrestle with both the sticker shock and repair bills from the more expensive Ultrabooks.

In the current economy, thrift is cool. Status comes as much from staying connected as it does from the device one is using to connect.  The Toshiba Satellite L735-S32310 allows greater functionality than the lightweight laptop computers at a much more reasonable price.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

According to the IFPI Digital Music Report from 2011, the music industry is a 15.8 billion dollar industry.  In 2010, legal digital music downloads generated $4.6 billion.  That number, which represents 29% of the music industry, has a vast number of analysts reaching very different conclusions.  The report, which notes that the music industry suffered a 31% loss between 2004 and 2010, is enough to give audiophiles pause.

Digital music in the form of digital downloads – audio files traditionally found online – have been on the market for over fifteen years.  However, the music industry started more carefully tracking the market share of digital downloads in 2004, following the collapse of Napster.  The influence of digital music in the marketplace has only increased; since 2004 the value of the digital music market increased 1000%!

Even with the convenient access to music that digital music affords its listeners and the lower production cost digital music offers producers, the music industry has seen widespread revenue losses.  Most in the music industry want to attribute the loss of revenue to pirated digital downloads.  Trends of pirating of digital music vary with every country, but some areas with less stringent intellectual property protections contribute more to the loss of revenue from pirating.  In the UK, 76% of music obtained online in 2010 was obtained illegally.  Industry experts estimate that digital music sales would be 131% greater if all piracy ended.

But the industry analysts may be making too many stretches in blaming digital music piracy for the industry’s woes.  The Digital Music Report attributes the 12% drop in global Top 50 concert revenues to pirating.  That connection may be a false one.  There is no evidence to suggest that those who pirate music either were attending concerts before they became music pirates or are less inclined to attend concerts once they begin pirating.  A much more likely factor contributing to lower concert attendance is the global financial crisis which has left many without the disposable income to spend on attending concerts.

Moreover, the report acknowledges that at 30% of their revenues, the music industry invests more heavily than any other entertainment sector in marketing and A&R (artists and repertoire, which is essentially talent scouting and artist development).  The report and analysts are quick to blame music piracy as the overwhelming cause of 31% drop in the value of the music industry since 2004.  Again, this is a simplistic view.  In that same time frame, pop music has all but died, replaced by rap, hip-hop and R&B on most Top 40 stations.  It is just as likely that the A&R sector of the music industry radically misjudged what music customers would pay for as it is that the piracy of digital music has precipitated the loss of revenues.

New services like Google Music continue to bolster the legal propagation of digital music downloads; there is no corresponding A&R avenue to so vigorously promote new, quality artists.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

Recently, we explored the growing phenomenon of digital comic books.  One of the coolest products for digital comic books is the Comixology Guided View digital comic reader.  Available for free through Comixology.com, the Guided View digital comic book reader is an easy-to-use application that comic book readers use to buy and read digital comic books on any or all computer devices they own.

Guided View is a reader, much like the well-known Adobe readers, but to date Guided View is exclusively for digital comic books.  Guided View has two distinct advantages other digital comic book readers do not have.  The first is that because Digital View is through Comixology and not an individual publisher, readers may easily and inexpensively purchase digital comic books from various publishers with a consistent platform.  It is a huge advantage for readers who have favorite characters from DC Comics, Marvel and the independents to not have to switch platforms or create multiple accounts just to read the comic books they love.

The other serious advantage of Guided View is that the Comixology-created platform is fully transferable.  When you create an account with Comixology.com, that account is accessible from all of your computers, smartphones or other mobile devices.  That universal account access provides you with the ability to read your digital comic books with whatever device you have on you at the time.  If your laptop computer runs out of battery power, that is not a problem!  Simply continue reading your digital comic book on your tablet computer or smartphone.  That access is a convenience that allows readers to be assured they will only pay for their digital comic book once, but have the ability to read it in perpetuity.

Guided View has two reading modes: full page and guided.  The full page reading option provides the most true comic book experience, as readers are able to see the full two-pages of panels and may easily follow the movement and depth of the panels the way the artist originally intended readers to experience it.  The full page option is ideal for larger devices, like reading the digital comic books on your widescreen television through your Internet-connected game console.

The second reading mode is the guided view option from the Guided View reader.  The guided view option transforms every digital comic book into a panel by panel movie.  Readers see a panel; they click “Forward” and Guided View slides to the next panel or does a wipe into the next panel.  The guided view is ideal for smaller devices, like reading digital comics on a smartphone.  Serious readers are likely to miss the way the artwork connects, but the simple sense of motion the guided view provides will engage children.

Guided View requires no computer support to install or operate.  Comixology is doing a real service to the environment and independent comic books by advancing digital comic books.  At the forefront with their Guided View, Comixology is undeniably cool.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

If you rabidly check every computer-oriented or technology-related site on the Internet to keep up with the most current events in the technical world, you may well be confused by a name you keep seeing there.  For the last few weeks, one name keeps appearing with a frequency that has not appeared on technical news sites and blogs since the death of Steve Jobs.  The new name on the tip of virtually every technology geek’s tongue is Louis C.K.

Louis C.K.?

Louis C.K.?!  Who is Louis C.K.?  If his name is on the technical sites, he must have taken over one of the big computer companies!  Is Louis C.K. the new CEO of Microsoft?  No, Louis C.K. is none of those things.  Louis C.K. is a stand-up comic and comedy writer.  He has, to date, illustrated no particular aptitude for anything computer-related or innovative in the electronics field.  Why then, are so many technical sites that usually focus on Internet security issues, forthcoming computer product releases and everything concerning the minutia of smartphones paying so much attention to Louis C.K. all of a sudden?

In mid-December, the 44 year-old comedian decided to skip the networks, bypass potential FCC censorship and all of the other potential middlemen who might have profited off his talent and presented his latest stand-up comedy special, Louis C.K.: Live At The Beacon Theater.  The reason this has become such an issue for the computer sector of the blogosphere is that Louis C.K.’s direct-to-consumer offering has several significant technical aspects that have been untried until now.

On the most technical side, Louis C.K. has attempted to make his program exceptionally easy to view.  Louis C.K.’s website sells the program directly and after paying via PayPal, you return to the site where you get access to the video and have the ability to download it.  Louis C.K. presents the video without digital-rights management programming or regional encoding, which means you may view it on any computer or smartphone around the world.

The computer and electronics industry place a huge premium on intellectual property rights and protecting those who create programs and media.  The reason so many technical sites are interested in Louis C.K.’s direct-sale from his website experiment is that Louis C.K. is counting on fans to not pirate his work for free distribution.  That’s it; Louis C.K, is using the most advanced technology on the planet to test the most basic human instinct.

The experiment appears to have worked.  After almost a week on the market, Louis C.K. claims that 110,000 paid downloads streamed from his website.  To date, there appears to be only one pirated source of the program on the Internet and that means Louis C.K. might have hit on something many of the multi-billion dollar media companies have not.

If people like what you produce, they will buy.  Maybe it truly is that simple.  Louis C.K.’s success certainly makes that argument.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

What do wild conspiracy theories and overheating laptop computers have in common?  Dean Haglund worked on both!  Dean Haglund is an actor and artist who portrayed Langley on The X-Files and its unfortunately too-short-lived spin-off The Lone Gunmen.  As Langley on the two shows, Haglund delighted geeks of all ages with the idea that bizarre theories could be reasonably pitched to otherwise professional people and that you can grow up, but you do not have to cut your hair.

Haglund is less commonly known for inventing the Chill Pak.  Almost a decade ago, Dean Haglund invented the Chill Pak and it remains a cool product (pun intended) to this day.  Like many laptop computer users, Dean Haglund spent a great deal of time on his laptop computer.  As a result, he would notice that his laptop computer’s fan would run excessively and that his computer would become physically hot to touch.  After correctly observing that the warmer his laptop computer became, the slower it ran, Haglund set to work solving the problem.

The Chill Pak was Haglund’s solution to laptop computer overheating and it is a surprisingly elegant one.  The Chill Pak is a patented mat for under your computer.  The Chill Pak comes as a mat filled with gel and when you first receive it, you need to place it in your freezer.  After about twelve hours of freezing, the Chill Pak works like an ice pack for your laptop computer.  Placed underneath your laptop computer, the Chill Pak significantly cools down your laptop computer’s internal components.  The result is that your laptop computer’s fan will not engage, so your laptop runs quieter as well as faster.  The Chill Pak operates for four hours at normal room temperature before the gel fully liquefies and needs to be refrozen.

But what about moisture in the air condensing on the Chill Pak as it heat up?  Dean Haglund thought of that!  The Chill Pak is made of a special fabric designed to absorb and wick away moisture.  As a result, the Chill Pak cools down your computer without getting it wet and necessitating laptop computer repairs!

There are a lot of solutions on the market now for cooling down your laptop computer, which was not true when Haglund invented the Chill Pak.  External laptop fans are noisy and use up a USB port on your laptop computer.  Similar crystal/gel mats do not keep laptop computers as cool for nearly as long as the Chill Pak.

Dean Haglund brought one of the first, most effective, laptop computer cooling devices to market with the Chill Pak.  The fact that it is still a relevant, functional product almost a decade since it was first released makes the Chill Pak very cool.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com