Computer Support Blog

Ephemeral messaging—sending messages where the content disappears after a certain period of time—has become a major trend in the tech world ever since the immense success of Snapchat.  Vocal is a cool product that continues this trend by expanding the scale beyond a message between two people.  Vocal is a mobile messaging app that supports chats between large groups of people.  One user starts a live group chat and anyone else can join through the app or by following a link.  Once a host closes a chat, Vocal deletes the text of the chat permanently, leaving no record of it.  This ephemeral approach to communication is likely the product of an Internet age where companies record and save almost everything you do say online.  Many people, especially in younger demographics, prefer the idea that their daily conversations won’t be around to haunt them well into their future.  This philosophy provides users of apps such as Vocal with a feeling of freedom to say what they want without worrying over consequences.  Embarrassing moments are less likely to become viral jokes on the Internet and job recruiters won’t comb through every single statement someone makes in a conversation, unlike what might happen if the conversation was on Facebook.  Users who have had problems deleting data or messages from social networks in the past can call a remote tech support company if they want assistance.  Read more »

Mobile advertising has become an important aspect of marketing in this era, where it seems everyone spends most of their time on their smartphones.  Unfortunately, most mobile advertising is more intrusive then engaging.  Some mobile ads are reminiscent of Internet banner ads, taking up valuable real estate on a phone’s screen while someone uses an app.  These ads distract and annoy people more than anything else, but even worse are the ads that take up your entire screen for thirty second intervals, interrupting the use of an app completely for a period.  What’s even worse about these mobile ads is that when people click on them, they only bring them to the store page of the software they’re advertising.  There is no context or way of knowing how much a user may like the advertised application.  Cool person in technology Tim Cheng has developed technology that he hopes will make mobile advertising more engaging for users.  Cheng’s company Voxel sells cloud-based technology that turns ads into live demos as opposed to static banners.  With Cheng’s program, users can actually demo an app and try it within an advertisement.  This interactivity should encourage users to engage with ads rather than ignore them.  Users who have trouble with streaming on their phone should get smartphone tech support service. Read more »

Auto insurance claims are never fun or enjoyable experiences.  However, cool person Brad Weisberg has created a system that at least makes the process a lot more convenient and easier for auto insurance claimants.  Weisberg wanted to use technology to find a faster way for people to get quotes from auto body repair shops when they need to make an insurance claim.  Weisberg saw that opportunity when smartphones became ubiquitous devices in the public sphere.  With his service Snapsheet, Weisberg has made it so anyone with a smartphone can streamline the process of getting quotes for auto insurance claims by performing all of it directly through their mobile phone.  Users simply take pictures of the car or truck in need of repair and send it to body shops directly through the Snapsheet app.  The body shops then deliver a quote directly over the phone so users can make a claim with their auto insurance.  Users can even request direct deposit or check-by-mail from within the app when the insurance company settles their claim.  Users who have difficulty using Weisberg’s app to communicate with repair shops and insurance companies can get mobile PC support to find the source of the problem. Read more »

Job interviews can be harrowing experiences.  Nervousness can negatively affect people’s performances and cost them the job they want, but it’s almost impossible to avoid getting nervous for such an important event.  Job interviews require people to think fast when coming up with answers while also appearing confident.  In many ways, performing well in an interview is a skill in itself.  Prept is a cool product that lets people work on this skill by contacting professionals who will perform mock interviews with them.  Jobseekers can use Prept to get help from experienced pros that will evaluate users’ mock interviews and give helpful feedback on their performances.  On the website, jobseekers can search through the company’s database of interviewers and select one appropriate to their career field.  They can then schedule a specific time to do a mock interview online through video chat.  In theory, these interviews simulate the experience and pressure of an actual job interview so users can prepare themselves mentally for the real thing.  Users with broken webcams will not be able to take part in the online mock interviews unless they get onsite computer repair to fix their cameras. Read more »

It seems there are countless new messaging apps popping up every month for mobile devices.  Mobile chat is currently one of the most popular platforms in consumer technology and many different companies are trying to jump on the bandwagon.  However, most of these apps aren’t very different from each other.  Many use basic text, others use photos, and some even use videos.  However, with such an explosion of options becoming available, it is very difficult to find a messaging app that does something truly different or unique.  Cool product Pingtune is a messaging app that manages to stand out from its competition due to its creative medium for messaging: music.  Pingtune lets users send messages in the form of songs to their friends.  Pingtune users can take music available from SoundCloud and YouTube and embed them in special messages to send to others.  Users who have difficulty getting songs to embed correctly in their messages should seek help from a mobile IT support service. Read more »

Networking is an important aspect of running a business, but finding times and places where one has an easy chance to do so without coming off as pushy or awkward isn’t an easy task.  Cool person in technology Nick Martin believes business professionals are making a big mistake by ignoring one particular place that could be a proverbial gold mine for networking: airplanes.  On most flights, professionals sit quietly or sleep. Some might read, but the hours spent on flights between major cities are usually time idly spent.  Martin thinks these hours are a prime opportunity to develop mutually beneficial business relationships with other professionals and build a list of contacts.  That’s why Martin founded Planely, a startup that tries to facilitate professional networking on flights all over the world.  With Planely, professionals can find out what other people they will be traveling with on their next flight.  Martin’s web app allows users to make connections pre-flight so businesspeople can plan to meet up at the airport or on the plane in order to start discussion and conversation.  If someone has trouble connecting to Planely on the web, there is home tech support available at all times.  Read more »

It’s difficult for any small business to become profitable without taking credit cards as a form of payment.  So many people pay exclusively with their debit and credit cards that incorporating some sort of credit payment system is pretty much a requirement, even for one-person ventures.  Unfortunately, integrating credit card payments into a business can incur both extra costs and complications.  Flint is a cool product that takes the recent advances in mobile technology and uses them to make adding a credit card payment system to a small business model much easier.  Flint turns smartphones into credit card scanners with no extra attachments.  Rather than forcing salespeople to carry around a separate device for credit and debit payments, Flint simply uses a cell phone’s camera to scan cards visually.  Users simply act as if they’re taking a picture of the front of a card.  The app then scans for the credit card number.   All users have to do after that is input the verification code from the back of the card to complete the transaction.  This system could save many one and two employee businesses much of the hassle that comes with accepting credit cards.  Any users whose cameras are broken will need iPhone repair or Android repair services to use the Flint application. Read more »

Gift giving is often a stressful experience for the giver and disappointing for the person receiving the gift.  No matter how well someone knows a friend or family member, there will always be times when that person chooses an awkward, inappropriate or just plain bad gift.  Jifiti is a cool product that uses mobile technology to try to get rid of this problem.  Jifiti makes a mobile application that facilitates gift giving for both givers and receivers.  Jifiti works with Facebook to help friends give each other items that they actually want.  Users can add gifts from any store or vendor to their wish list.   They can add potential gifts either through e-commerce websites or by taking a picture of the gift in a physical store.  The Jifiti app will recognize the gift from the image and label it appropriately in the wish list.  Other users can then browse friends’ wish lists in order to find gifts that their friends actually want.  Then, when people find gifts they want to give, they can simply click the gifting button on Jifiti app.  Jifiti charges the giver and sends a voucher to the giftee immediately.  Each voucher is instantly retrievable through any online or in-store vendor with whom Jifiti partners.  This process removes a lot of hassle from gift giving experience and ensures that users receive items they actually desire.  If the Jifiti app doesn’t work properly, users can always contact smartphone tech support. Read more »

There are several tech startups that aim to digitize the gift card industry, but most of them focus entirely on the consumer side of the equation.  These businesses focus heavily on convenience for those receiving the gift rather than the convenience of the giver.  Cool person in technology Leif Baradoy runs Kiind, a digital gift card startups that addresses this problem.  Kiind considers issues such as needing to issue gift cards in bulk conveniently, as well as the potential needless cost of unredeemed gift cards.  Baradoy’s company even has solutions that cater to businesses that use gift cards as a form of marketing.  Baradoy doesn’t believe that the gift card business should exclusively center on consumers’ use of the card.  His company aims to address every aspect of the gift card business rather than hyper-focus on one piece of it.  Read more »

One of the most appealing aspects of professional sports is the feeling of community fans get when they all cheer for the same team or player.  Hardcore sports fans often tie their team loyalties heavily into their identities.  Because of this loyalty, sports fans can often develop deep and lasting bonds with the rest of a team’s community of fans.  John Wagner is a cool person in technology who is encouraging this bond between sports fans with his iPhone app FANCRU.  FANCRU acts as a hub for sports fans on gameday.  With his app, Wagner combines the features of social networking and a sports news app to keep fans up to date and connected. Wagner’s app both connects fans with up to date scores for their favorite teams, and lets them interact with other fans digitally on gameday.  FANCRU offers real-time scores for all major American professional sports leagues, as well as several international soccer leagues such as the English Premier League.  Each fan on the app also has their own profile where they choose which teams they support so they can proclaim their loyalties to other users.  Those who have trouble connecting the app to a wireless network should call a service for phone computer support. Read more »