Computer Support Blog

While universities are centers of education, they are also a business in many ways.  Reputation and student enrollment are major pieces of the puzzle when keeping a college successful.  However, both of those things drop when a college is unable to retain students from year to year.  Whether young people are dropping out of school completely or transferring to other colleges, it always hurts a school significantly.   Fewer students coming back means lower enrollment and therefore lower tuition.  Low retention rates also hurt a college’s reputation and make it more difficult to recruit new freshmen the following year.  Read more »

When someone buys or rents a home, one of the most personal and gratifying aspects of the process is designing the interior of the house or apartment.  Everyone imagines things in their own personal style and wants to make their home their own.  Of course, interior design is not always practical or easy, which is why professionals exist to help people when deciding how their home should look.  However, hiring an interior designer for personal purposes is prohibitively expensive for most people.  Read more »

Ticketing through major outlets like Ticketmaster is mostly a bland and uniform experience.  Corporate ticketing sites limit the extent of individual branding to a single logo or a banner.  This makes it difficult to sell a performer or venue with a unique brand or identity, which is exactly what any newer artists or venues want to do in order to compete with larger or more prominent competition.  Cool person in technology Scot Richardson offers both venues and performers of all types the ability to build brand identity into their ticketing system with his company CrowdTorch.  Read more »

Accounting is one of the least engaging aspects of running a business, but without good accounting, any company will fall apart.  Computer technology has been a key tool of accounting for a long time, and now with cloud computing taking over the business world, a cool product that marries accounting with the cloud is helping people run their businesses.  Cloud-based services have exploded on the tech startup scene due to their appeal to consumers.  Cloud computer support services are easier to reach.  Cloud-based software is more convenient since it’s accessible from everywhere.  Cloud storage is beneficial since it doesn’t depend on a piece of hardware that needs multiple backups.  So, in theory, why wouldn’t cloud accounting also be a more convenient, easier solution for many small businesses keeping track of their finances?  The folks at Intacct believe that accounting software based in the cloud is part of the answer for small business and that is why they offer this cool product. Read more »

Having to live far away from loved ones at any given time, whether it’s someone’s parents, siblings, or significant other, can be very hard to handle on a personal level.  The Internet has made the struggle much easier to cope with thanks to all the communication tools it provides.  Video calls, instant messages, and social networks all provide communication with loved ones when they are far away.  However, one of the original forms of Internet communication remains one of the most popular for long-distance communication—email.  Now, a cool person in technology wants to turn all the email conversations people have with their loved ones into meaningful mementos. Read more »

Hotels often live and die by their reputation.  The famous star rating system and referrals from previous travelers are what bring most people to the lobbies of hotels all around the world.  Reputation is key in the hospitality business and the opinion of a hotel’s guests dictates its reputation.  Now, there is a cool product in technology that helps hotels connect better with their customers.  GuestDriven gives hotels the tools to engage and provide for their guests to gain insight into what they need to improve their experience.  GuestDriven then also encourages guests to become brand ambassadors, spreading the good word about particular locations to other potential customers and improving overall business for the hotel.  GuestDriven accomplishes all of these goals through mobile technology.  Read more »

While many creative professionals have benefitted immensely from cloud-based services, product designers and concept artists who render their work in 3D have been stuck using the same complicated and expensive software that would require extensive tech support for any non-professional to use.  Products like Google Docs and Adobe’s Cloud Suite have allowed writers and designers, respectively, to do all their work without even needing a native program at times.  While dedicated programs like Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop are more robust and provide more overall options, many writers and designers take advantage of cloud alternatives every year.  Creative workers who use software that requires more computing power, such as product designers who create 3D rendering of prototypes, have had to deal without such convenient alternatives.  However, that does not appear to be the case any longer.  Cool person in technology Thiago Costa founded his company to provide photo-realistic 3D rendering in the cloud.  Finally, product designers and 3D artists can experience the same conveniences enjoyed by other creative professionals. Read more »

Before the Internet, people’s only real option for finding a respectable quality babysitter or nanny was most often simple word-of-mouth.  Times have certainly changed, as babysitters and nannies often advertise their services on sites like Craigslist.  However, the results from these general posting sites come out mixed at best.  Families are just as likely to get an awful sitter as a great one.  However, cool product UrbanSitter may be able to change the situation for families that seek babysitting help on the Internet.  Read more »

Outplacement for employees after layoffs is never easy for anyone.  It means a period of frustrating uncertainty for the unlucky worker and potential public relations or legal problems for an employer if handled poorly.  The difficulty surrounding the state of the U.S. job market only exacerbates this situation.  Whether someone works in the office computer repair, healthcare, sales or anything else, the difficulty of finding new jobs can seem insurmountable.  Fortunately, cool person in technology Sanjay Sathe doesn’t believe that it has to be that way and he has created a product that helps both companies performing layoffs and laid-off employees during the outplacement process. Read more »

The percentage of Internet traffic that comes from mobile users steadily increases every business quarter and every year.  People engage with the web on their phones and tablets just as much as they do through a standard desktop or laptop.  In many cases, people use their mobile devices even more than their PCs or Macs. Companies need to do as much as possible to accommodate the growing mobile marketplace if they want to advertise their products, services or content successfully.  While major corporations have the resources to develop mobile applications  for themselves and their subsidiaries, privately owned small businesses find themselves at a disadvantage in the age of mobile technology These smaller companies often don’t have the internal business computer services and resources to easily develop mobile versions of their website.  However, thanks to cool product PadSquad, these companies have another option. Read more »