Computer Support Blog

Finding bookings as an independent musical artist has always been on one of the biggest struggles of the profession.  Even if artists use the Internet to promote themselves, building a solid, loyal fanbase pretty much requires playing constant live shows.  Live performances are also one of the best sources of income a band or artist can count on, assuming they get bookings frequently.  Without finding a manager or agent and paying them a significant amount of money, most artists struggle to find venues and promoters who will hire them to perform.  However, cool person in technology Danny Fiorentini is working to change that reality.  Fiorentini has created a platform named Muzeek that artists can use to connect with many promoters and venues without the need for an agent or manager.  This cool person’s startup looks to make it far easier for independent artists to find opportunities to perform live. Read more »

Making movies is an expensive undertaking.  Film production costs can grow excessively high.  Obvious costs like crew salaries and equipment are only part of the issue. Less apparent costs such as IT support for the computers used in editing and sound mixing also add up for independent filmmakers. Fortunately, there are online resources that can help independent projects find the funding they need. Cool person in technology Stephan Paternot is the CEO of Slated, a company that aims to give independent productions a better chance at finding the financing they need for a successful release.  Paternot’s site is a special directory of films looking for investors.  Slated hosts profiles for each film that detail the project’s plot, creative history, and production team.  Potential investors can browse through these profiles to find films that they want to help fund either for financial return or for artistic patronage. Read more »

Frequent online shoppers know that keeping up with their orders and can be an exercise in frustration, especially when ordering items from multiple sites.  With each order they place, customers receive new receipts in their inbox.  Someone making numerous online purchases a day can often find themselves lost in online confirmations and receipts and unable to keep track of when they bought what items.  This problem becomes exasperated if a shopper already has a flooded inbox due to their work or social life.  Cool product Slice offers people a solution that will prevent them from having to search through their email every time they need to find the details of a specific online order. Read more »

Many entrepreneurs and young businesses waste time on faulty business models or make early mistakes that all but destroy the potential of a promising core idea.  One of the best steps in forming a new company is creating a detailed business plan that lays out every step of a startup’s business model, as well as the purpose behind each step. Detailed business plans can help people gauge the potential costs of their company, including things like business computer service and operation costs.  When a startup team has this information laid out, challenges and opportunities become clearer to them. However, the process takes an extensive period of time, and it’s difficult to find ways to gauge a plan’s success before implementing it. Cool person in technology Cynthia McCahon founded Enloop to help businesses gain insight to their potential success based on their plans.  Read more »

The computer programming field looks about as exciting to most people as mowing their lawn with a pair of scissors. We imagine a field dominated by spastic geeks, hovering in lightless rooms over screens full of green Matrix code zooming past their eyes while they somehow magically decipher it. CodeNow is a nonprofit that decided to make computer programming accessible to inner city high-schoolers by making it fun!  Read more »

Many people assumed that smartphones would make life easier to manage.  However, in many cases, all mobile technology did was replace physical address books, appointment books, and travel itineraries with virtual versions of the same things.  People still have to manually manage their contacts, calendar, and travel plans.  They just manage them by tapping on their phone instead of writing in a notebook or typing on a desktop.  Cool product EasilyDo aims to deliver users a way to manage their lives that actually does change how people do things.  Read more »

Many professionals have useful skills that they could pass on to others, but they don’t have the time or credentials for an official teaching position.  Cool person in technology Michael Karanjanaprakorn wants these skilled professionals to have an outlet where they can spread their knowledge.  That’s why he founded Skillshare, an online platform where professionals can apply to teach short video classes in subjects ranging anywhere from archery to sound mixing.  Karanjanaprakorn’s site doesn’t cater to one particular niche or industry, but to a wide variety of disciplines.  With experts teaching their disciplines on SkillShare, Karanjanaprakorn looks to build a more skilled global workforce.  This cool person’s website has video classes that can help people land new jobs or do better in their current roles, regardless of whether those people are laptop repair professionals, marketers, or even entrepreneurs themselves. Skillshare’s main goal is to spread knowledge by allowing experts to share what they know online easily. Read more »