Computer Support Blog

ABC’s Once Upon A Time has captivated millions of viewers.  Once Upon A Time bounces viewers between a mythical fairy tale past and a somewhat surreal present day to tell its story.  While the series may appear to be set in a folksy New England town or an ancient nature setting, there is an extensive amount of technology from Zoic Studios involved in making Once Upon A Time come alive for viewers.

Zoic Studios is responsible for the most important special effects on Once Upon A Time.  It is the artists and computer programmers of Zoic Studios that create the virtual sets needed to bring the fantasy kingdom in Once Upon A Time to life.  ABC Studios had what appeared to be a cost-prohibitive series to produce when the writers first pitched Once Upon A Time.  The show requires two vastly different settings for every episode.  While the producers could not cheat some of the elements for those settings, most notably costumes, Zoic Studios made the project feasible through their pioneering work in virtual sets.

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The rise of the personal computer has not been accompanied by any profound change in the human animal.  As a result, humans frequently suffer pain from prolonged computer use.  Between computer eye strain and sore neck muscles from improper monitor/screen placement, the effects on your health may undo the convenience of a laptop computer.  While scientists for years have worked on ways to combat computer eye strain, there have been fewer efforts to reduce muscle fatigue specifically caused by computer use.  Osim changes that with the creation of the uPixie!

The uPixie by Osim is the world’s first laptop massager.  More than a simple massager, the uPixie connects to your laptop computer.  The uPixie interacts with your digital music player and offers you a safe, convenient way to relax your muscles even when you are still working on your laptop!  The scientists at Osim created a functional, fun and unique product with the uPixie.

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Internet humor is, arguably, an acquired taste and it is certainly dominated by youth!  Because young people tend to be fickle, staying with something only so long as it is trendy, many Internet humor sites and Internet humor phenomena are not enduring.  They rise up, the novelty of their form of humor captivates an audience and then the audience dissipates and the contributors go on to the next big thing.  One of the real exceptions to that cycle came from the creative mind of Sherrod DeGrippo.

Sherrod DeGrippo is the creator of Encyclopaedia Dramatica and, before you go looking for it, don’t bother; Encyclopaedia Dramatica is no longer on the Internet.  The site closed down in 2011, but what makes Sherrod DeGrippo so impressive is that she almost singlehandedly held together the perverse, edgy and often disturbing Encyclopaedia Dramatica for seven years.  That makes Encyclopaedia Dramatica one of the biggest successes in Internet free speech and Internet humor yet.

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We all know Google, Bing, and Yahoo are the most popular search engines. Why, when there are hundreds of other possible choices, do people choose these three? Maybe there is a better choice out there, but how will you know? How do you choose a good search engine?

According to comScore’s latest press release, Bing now controls 15.1% of the market share for search engines in the United States. Yahoo, which dipped to 14.5% in December, has been decreasing in market share for quite some time now. Google, unsurprisingly, reigns supreme with 65.9% market share. If Bing continues to rise in popularity though, it may eat slowly away at that impressive number.

But what makes one better than another? Why did Bing finally surpass Yahoo? Why is Google the most popular?

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In the rapidly-changing world of consumer electronics, there is one undeniable fact: without power, your gadget is worthless.  It’s true.  No matter how fast your smartphone, tablet computer, e-reader, laptop computer or PC is, when it’s out of juice, it’s just an expensive decoration or fashion accessory!  While virtually every major company is in a race to create better batteries, one company is preoccupied with making a better charger.  That company is the Swedish company myFC.  The breakout product for myFC is the Powertrekk fuel cell charger.

The Powertrekk fuel cell charger represents a significant leap forward in recharging technology and myFC deserves a lot of credit for pioneering the technology.  Just as creating gold from another element is the alchemist’s dream, the holy grail for power supply generation is the ability to use water to generate electricity.  MyFC now offers a hydrogen cell charger that powers USB devices simply by adding water to the cell.  You may use the Powertrekk fuel cell charger to recharge electronic devices or power them.  The Powertrekk fuel cell charger can keep a smartphone like the iPhone powered for days, regardless of the weather.  That makes the Powertrekk fuel charger an asset to those who want to use renewable energy sources, but cannot depend upon the sun.

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In the current economic climate, it is hard to imagine that the profession of “inventor” still actually exists.  There are so few companies that invest in pure discovery and so few tinkerers who can afford to devote their time to projects that may take decades to pan out.  But inventors still exist independent of any corporate structure and one of the coolest contemporary inventors is Stephen Kurtin.

Stephen Kurtin is a bona fide inventor who has spent almost forty years puttering around.  In the process, he has made some significant inventions and improvements on other people’s work.  Kurtin graduated from MIT in 1966 with concurrent S.M. and S.B. degrees in Physics.  After receiving a Howard Hughes Doctoral Fellowship to Caltech, Stephen Kurtin studied Applied Physics in California, amid the boom in transistor and microchip discovery.  After earning his doctorate in Applied Physics, a world of opportunities opened up to Kurtin.

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Power.  Power is what every company wants, on one level or another, and it is the defining factor of success in the technology sector.  The computer that is the most powerful, as defined by speed, computing ability and consistency, is considered the very best one on the market.  But more and more, the computing ability of smartphones, laptop computers and consumer electronics at all levels are at the mercy of battery power.

Battery power, or the failures of it, nearly sunk the release of the Apple iPhone 4S.  Apple worked quickly to solve the battery problems in the new release and even revealed a battery problem with first-generation iPod Nanos to prevent future customer service problems.  Batteries store energy to keep electronic devices going and right now, it is one of the hottest industries in which to be.  Three of the most significant battery projects are:

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When it comes to creative building, most people think of Legos.  But the virtual worlds created by computers actually have far fewer limits than the block toy that most people associate with construction play.  If Legos have an entire adult subculture, it is easy to postulate that someday, a subculture will exist built around Crazy Machines.

Crazy Machines is part puzzle game, part free play building platform.  Viva Media created Crazy Machines for computer enthusiasts ages eight and above.  The single CD-ROM easily installs onto any personal computer that is running Windows Vista or XP or any Macintosh computer running OS X.  Because of how graphics-intensive and color-rich Crazy Machines is, it is highly recommended that you have a good computer monitor hooked up to get the most out of the game.

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There are few job sectors where women are overlooked for hiring, promotion, and leadership roles compared to their male counterparts as in the technology sector.  Despite intense gains in social equality in the legislative arena, concerted efforts to provide computers specifically to impoverished girls, and rising test scores for girls in math and science, jobs in the technology sector have remained scarce for women.  But because the Internet has helped women to network, the barriers to women in the technology sector may be broken down.  If they are, it will be in no small part thanks to Carolyn Leighton.

Carolyn Leighton earned her bachelor’s degree in human development at Pacific Oaks College.  In her studies there, she became passionate about women’s rights, specifically in the workplace.  An expert on the gender gap and the glass ceiling, Leighton’s studies revealed to her a profound inequity in the treatment of women in the technology sector.  As a businesswoman, Leighton was baffled at how slowly women were making progress in companies responsible for computer development and electronics manufacturing.  Having had several successful businesses since college, Leighton was building Criterion Research when she conceived of the International Network of Women in Technology.

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Yahoo was a leader in the formation of the Internet. Millions of people used Yahoo mail, set it as their home page, and searched the Internet through Yahoo. These users trusted Yahoo for everything, and it repaid them with tight Internet security and a great experience at the time. Over the last few years, however, Yahoo’s popularity has dropped considerably in favor of Google and other websites that offer similar services.

Yahoo fell behind and there is a multitude of reasons why that happened. Small decisions and large ones both have brought Yahoo to the point the company is currently at – a struggling former leader that is slowly losing ground to the newer companies. Some people have begun to blame Jerry Yang for these problems.

Yang, the co-founder of the company, has been on the board of directors since the company’s inception. In 2008, while Yang was Yahoo’s CEO, he rejected an offer from Microsoft to buy the company. This decision was not popular and was a major factor in Yang stepping down as CEO.

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