Computer Support Blog

Today, more and more is being expected of headphones.  Back in the day, you plugged headphones into your stereo or portable tape player (or portable CD player) and the headphones brought you music at a level that didn’t annoy those around you.  But now, consumers are plugging their headphones into more sophisticated electronic devices and they are demanding more from their headphones.  Koss proves that they are up to the new expectations of music enthusiasts with their Porta Pro KTC headphones!

Koss Porta Pro headphones have long been an industry standard for audiophiles who have enjoyed the high-quality sound and fashionable, not bulky, appearance of the Porta Pro.  The addition of KTC, Koss Touch Control, upgrades the popular Porta Pro headphones for the current generation of music enthusiasts.  The big breakthrough with the Porta Pro KTC headphones is that the cord that connects the headphones to your Apple music player – iPod, iPad or iPhone – now includes a discrete control panel and a microphone!

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What is the release date for the iPad 3? What will it look like? What new capabilities will it feature? These speculations have been floating around for a while on the Internet and it seems that everyone has something to say about the topic except for Apple.

There has been no official word from Apple about the possibility of an upcoming iPad 3 release, but the rumors are flying about when that might happen. All over the Internet, people are guessing about the official announcement of the iPad 3 and the consensus is that the release will be in March.

An article on Bloomberg states that production of the iPad 3 is already in progress and will reach maximum output in February. There will be a break for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year holiday for the factory workers, but production will begin again immediately afterwards. The article does not name any direct sources, but the information is consistent with the rumors and speculation.

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Apple Computers, employs an elegantly simple strategy to dominate the mobile computing marketplace.  Apple’s strategy is built largely on a hope that you will buy their entire product line, not just one or two of their devices.  That is to say, products from Apple, more than any other company in the technology sector, are designed to interact easily with one another.  For example, Apple makes it very easy to connect an iPad to an iTV or a MacBook Pro.  But, as many people have discovered, there are more affordable high definition televisions with more options than the iTV.  But why should you be inconvenienced for wanting a great HDTV and an iPhone and wanting them to interact?  Scosche does not think you should be inconvenienced!  That is why Scosche made the sneakPEAK HD Cable!

Scosche’s sneakPEAK High Definition Audio/Video Cable for iPad, iPhone & iPod is a fairly simple cable that allows you to connect virtually any Apple i-product that has a screen on it to a high definition television.  By connecting your Apple products’ output port to the HDTV’s input ports, you are transforming your Apple product into a media player, like a DVD or Blu-Ray player.  This will allow you to play media from your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad on your high definition television, even if you are streaming it from the Cloud!

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For Rescuecom’s dedicated Blog readers: An Exclusive first look at this year’s Computer Reliability Report! The results are in for RESCUECOM’s Annual 2012 Computer Reliability Report; Lenovo/IBM returns to dominance while Samsung grows significantly!

“Entering 2012, Lenovo/IBM’s rise in reliability will be an important boost for the company.  Although Apple’s market share has risen over the last 12 months, its reliability has declined. The comparatively smaller Toshiba and Samsung are illustrating interesting reliability trends worth watching over the coming year,” stated David Milman, CEO of RESCUECOM.  For 2012, Rescuecom now includes all manufacturers with a market share of at least above one percent in this report.

The Computer Reliability Report scores for 2012 are:

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With all of the rapidly-changing aspects of computer technology, it can be very hard to keep up.  Indeed, for those who are casual computer users without real investment in the computer hardware industry, it was not so long ago that the USB port became the dominant interface port.  Suddenly, when you upgraded your computer and wanted to use your favorite old keyboard or mouse, you discovered there were no ports in the back of your new computer for it!  Like compact discs to records, the USB port has pretty much eliminated most specialized ports on computers.  In the world of USB ports, USB 3.0 is slowly creeping up in popularity.

But, you might be wondering, just what is USB 3.0?

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If you have been around an Apple store lately, you may have heard a lot of jargon shot at you.  Apple has such a pervasive subculture that those who are in it seem to find it inconceivable that anyone could not be a part of their subculture.  As a result, Apple salespeople often rattle off specifications and jargon at such a speed at to appear daunting to those who are not technically inclined.  One of the most frequent words Apple salespeople toss out with the expectation that you know what they are talking about is “FireWire.”

You may have been too afraid to ask, but you are not foolish for not knowing what FireWire is.

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Have you had enough with portable technology devices?  If you said ”yes,” it can hardly be considered a surprise.  More than any other time in history, the consumer electronics market is overflowing with options . . . so many that it is easy to fail to see what the point of it all is.  Media players alone have become a market where the options seem to be designed more for competition between products than actually filing a niche that is desperately yearning to be filled.

For small-screen devices, you have your smartphones.  While many of the smartphones have screens that are less than 2” for the diagonal screen measurement, the iPod Touch changed the nature of such devices when Apple released it with a 3.5” screen.  This created a niche of handheld devices that could surf the Internet and perform all sorts of media functions, including playing movies and music.  The Apple iPhone added telephone communication to that and with that, Apple firmly entered the smartphone wars.

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For all of the gains in social equality and advances in technology, women still account for a staggeringly low proportion of executives in major corporations.  Samsung, for example, does not have a single woman on its Board of Directors, even for its U.S. Board!  Apple Computers was in the same boat for quite some time, though all that changed in 2008 when the company elected Andrea Jung to its Board of Directors.

Andrea Jung was the CEO and chairwoman of Avon Products, the beauty product company, when Apple elected her to its Board of Directors.  With almost a decade of experience on the Board of Directors at Avon, with various roles from President to Chief Operating Officer, Jung came to Apple Computers with a stunning portfolio of successful business experience.  Even now, Jung embodies a higher level of business ethics in her dual roles with Apple and Avon; when Avon Products found itself embroiled in allegations of bribery overseas in 2011, while Jung denied the allegations, she was quoted as taking responsibility for the actions of her subordinates who might have acted without her knowledge!  That level of corporate responsibility is refreshing.

For Apple, Andrea Jung is the chair of the compensation committee.  While Jung gained a great deal of prestige as a co-lead director of Apple’s Board, chairing the compensation committee gives her an exceptional amount of power.  As the chairperson of the compensation committee, Jung oversees the body that determines the incentive and compensation plans for all of Apple Computers!  This effectively means that Jung is the one who has the final word on all proposals that include providing executives with raises or severance packages.

One of the unique duties that Jung performs as the chair of the compensation committee is performing a review of the CEO’s performance each year!  While virtually everyone knew Steve Jobs, few knew that Andrea Jung was the one who had to rate his performance and judge how his proposals would affect the company for years to come.  Now, Jung performs the same duty on Tim Cook and has to present her findings to the full Board of Directors each year!

Few women rise to the top in the business world and the technology sector is one in which it remains especially difficult to women to break the glass ceiling.  With her proven track record of success at Avon and her fearless evaluations of corporate powerhouses like Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, it is no surprise that Andrea Jung is breaking down the gender barriers at the top of Apple!

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 blossoms and you consider your New Year’s resolution, you may find that you have, metaphorically, bit off more than you can chew.  Two of the most popular New Year’s resolutions are to lose weight and to quit smoking.  While technology can be used to help you lose weight, what you might not know is that there are now ways to use technology to help you quit smoking.  Livestrong, the marketing and merchandising arm of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, helped to develop the MyQuit Coach application for the Apple iPhone and it may help you to quit smoking!

MyQuit Coach is available through iTunes for all variations of the Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch running iOS 4.0 or above.  The application runs as a blend of a motivational program and journal function designed to help you rid your body of nicotine!  The MyQuit Coach app will help you quit smoking if you do not want to use medicines or other smoking cessation methods and no data yet exists on how effective the program is.  However, for those who believe in the power of mind over matter – but just need a partner in the process – the MyQuit Coach application may be just the ticket you need to quit smoking this year.

The motivational aspect of the MyQuit Coach application comes in the form of screenshots and slogans.  Each time you access the MyQuit Coach application, you are greeted with a statement, like “Smoking affects me and my loved ones,” to help keep you aware of the consequences of your actions.  The application also includes videos that help detail the consequences of smoking.  The MyQuit Coach acts as a “good-cop, bad-cop” routine on your iPhone encouraging you and warning you of the consequences of slipping from your plan.

Perhaps the more useful function of the MyQuit Coach is the journal function.  Using the MyQuit Coach, you may program your iPhone to detail specific benchmarks in your goal to quit smoking.  If you have tried and failed in the past as quitting smoking cold turkey, you may use MyQuit Coach to wean you from cigarettes incrementally.  Under such a plan, you use MyQuit Coach to keep track of how many cigarettes you have had in a day and the application warns you when you are about to pass the goal number you have set for yourself.

The MyQuit Coach application is actually a very smart use of smartphone technology.  Because one of the common complaints smokers have when the relapse and smoke again is that they did not know what to do with their hands when they were not smoking, the MyQuit Coach comes up with an elegant solution.  By keeping the smoker’s fingers busy on an iPhone, the application helps break the physiological connection to smoking that seasoned smokers might have.  That is a clever idea and makes the MyQuit Coach application a very cool app!

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

With the iPad dominating the tablet computer market, it is very hard for Apple Computers to claim fiercely individual people as their key demographic any longer.  Such is the price of fame; if you market to the outsiders and your product becomes mainstream, it is virtually impossible to win back the demographic that built or revitalized your company.  As those who value their sense of individuality depart from the Apple brand, they are left to figure out what company’s product will fill the same niche.  The best choice for tablet computers may come from Sony, which is ironic considering how massive a company Sony is.

The Sony Tablet S is the best option for those who want a tablet computer that offers a lot of the computing power and style of an Apple iPad without the expense or issues that accompany the iPad.  Sony Tablet S tablet computers start at the same price as the equivalent iPad, though Sony puts them on sale with greater frequency than Apple discounts the iPad.  The Sony Tablet S is about the same size and weight as an iPad.  The Tablet S features a bright 9.4” (diagonal measurement) touchscreen.

Sony’s Tablet S has a 16 GB storage capacity, though the higher-end Tablet S has 32 GB available storage space.  The Tablet S has an innovative design as it almost appears like a magazine rolled back on itself.  Thus, the thin screen rests on a thin platform.  This design serves two very cool functions.  When the Tablet S is oriented in a landscape orientation for watching movies, surfing the web or composing written works, the rounded, raised top helps reduce neck strain.  When using the touchscreen keyboard in this configuration, the design also reduces finger stress like an ergonomic keyboard would!  When oriented in portrait orientation, the design of the Tablet S makes it very easy to use as an e-reader.  The rounded side is comfortable to the grip, especially when you are holding it that way for long periods of time.

Perhaps the key selling point of the Tablet S is its compatibility with Android smartphones.  As the Android OS has become exceptionally popular, many programmers are using the OS for their new apps.  As an Android-compatible device, the Sony Tablet S has a wide array of apps currently available and many, many more in development.  Because of the stability and popularity of the Android platform, the Tablet S will remain a relevant tablet computer for years to come!

The Tablet S is able to stream movies and music from the Cloud, offering you an incredible selection of available media works.

The Sony Tablet S allows anyone who already has an Android-powered smartphone to synergize their tablet for a powerful computing and communication’s tool.  For those looking to get away from Apple, Sony and Android present great options, with the Tablet S as the tablet computer cornerstone.

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