Computer Support Blog

Making an impulse decision to do something nice for a loved one or a family member is hardly a rare occurrence.  While expending extra effort to do something thoughtful for another person usually isn’t really an inconvenience, it is unlikely that anyone will complain about a service that tries to make it easier to do so.  Cool person in technology David Bladow has created such a service with his Internet company BloomThat. Read more »

Screen space is precious to many people when using their phones or tablets.  Most of the appeal of mobile devices is their convenience, but it is anything but convenient to have a giant virtual keyboard block your view while trying to input information into an app or website.  The standard QWERTY keyboards on smartphones and tablets are often clunky and infamously lead to countless typos.  The problems were so severe that all mobile keyboards had to start using artificially intelligent grammar and spelling correction systems. These autocorrect systems and imperfect keyboards have caused many to seek help from mobile tech support professionals in the past. It only makes it worse that mobile keyboards take up so much screen space, making it hard to both input information on the keyboard and read information on the screen at the same time. Read more »

The quantified self is becoming a more and more popular concept in the world of technology.  Metrics, analytics, and measurements are no longer only the domain or marketing professionals and salespeople.  Consumers use fitness measurement tools like Fitbit to see how active they are and measure their health down to the calorie.  Taking data about the physical self is only just the beginning apparently.  Cool person in technology Nicholas Felton has created an iPhone app that measures your preferences, activity, productivity and personality as well.  This cool app goes by the name of Reporter and collects any data that a user gives it voluntarily to create a detailed profile about that person’s life. Read more »

Creating engaging advertising is one of the hardest challengers that most marketing teams face.  Banner ads and invasive video ads often do more to turn off viewers than actually interest them in a product or service.  This situation gives marketing professionals a particularly difficult challenge when it comes to advertising on the web.  The good news for them, however, is that there exists a cool product in the tech industry that can help them create interactive ad experiences that are far more likely to get viewers’ attention.  That cool product goes by the name of Jivox. Read more »

Pet health can often be a complicated issue for pet owners, especially when it comes to nutrition.  Many pet owners are disappointed to find out that much of the standard pet food found in grocery stores is bad for their animals—the equivalent of eating McDonald’s hamburgers every meal.  Many pets even have bad allergic reactions to the standard pet food one buys at the supermarket.  Finding good food for a cat or dog can be very challenging as many pet stores have wildly variable brands and not much guidance on what may be right for someone’s particular animal.  Fortunately, there is a cool person who has created a service that users can join online in order to keep their pets eating healthy while avoiding confusion and frustration.  Read more »

Schools do not generally allow teachers to have direct communication with their students outside of class due to privacy and safety concerns.  Unfortunately, this mistrust of teachers makes it difficult to keep students and parents informed about what is happening in class at school.  Students do not have permission to share cell phone numbers, so mass texting is impossible; despite the fact that many young people use their phones as their main means of communication.  Some services provide an Internet-based hub or website where teachers can post assignments and updates, but there is no guarantee that students are going to visit the site and check their assignments.  It is equally unlikely that parents would check for their children.  Read more »

Subscription services are quickly becoming the norm in several industries.  Services such as Spotify and Netflix have made music and movies a service rather than a product. People have even switched to subscription plans for things like online computer repair service. However, what if people could turn something more essential and important into a subscription service too?  Pillpack is a new startup that wants to switch pharmaceutical medication to subscription-based service.  This cool product would replace customers’ weekly or monthly trip to the local pharmacy with a delivery of their medications in one simplified package, which is where the name of the startup has its origins.  This new model certainly disrupts a decades-old system of using brick-and-mortar pharmacies for prescription medicine.  Even online pharmacies have never quite tried anything like the subscription service that Pillpack offers patients.  Read more »

As the Internet continues to thrive and social media expands its reach into every aspect and details of our lives, there is a continuing marginalization of people’s desire for privacy and secrecy in their communications.  With every aspect of our daily lives, including what we say to our friends and family, constantly monitored by sites like Facebook, it is easy to forget that there was once a time when people could leave messages or communicate with one another without considering public ramifications.  One cool person in technology who realizes this change is affecting people and wants to present a solution is Howard Lerman. Read more »

One of the biggest downfalls of shopping for clothes online is the inability to try something on before a customer makes a purchase.  With the exception of casual clothing like t-shirts and sweatpants, trying on clothing to see how it fits is an essential step in choosing someone’s wardrobe.  While shopping online beats out going to a store in convenience, it will always remain an issue that people cannot try on the clothes they purchase first.  Cool person in technology Ankus Seghal founded BranDiD to erase this problem and introduce a service that allows people to try on the clothes they want to buy even when shopping on the web.  Read more »

Local businesses that use social media have a common problem: targeting local customers who are more likely to use their services.  Even if a restaurant, shop, or local service company such as a plumber or electrician uses Facebook, they often receive friends and followers that cannot convert into customers due to geographic location. Targeted advertising through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus can help to deal with this problem, but it is not a permanent solution.  Cool product UMeTime wants to offer local businesses the permanent solution that they need to target people most likely to become long time customers through social media advertising.

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