Computer Support Blog

When Adi Tatarko attempted to remodel her Silicon Valley home several years ago, she ran into many roadblocks and has since described the experience as rather miserable.  However, realizing there was a problem with how insular the interior design world was, this cool person in technology set out to create an online service that would be part of the solution.  In 2009, Tatarko and her husband Alan Cohen launched Houzz in hopes to create an online platform that would help those going through the process of designing and renovating their homes.  The site allows users to create “ideabooks”, which they fill with designs and photographs posted on the site by design professionals and other users.  Users can then also create “projects” where they upload pictures of the renovations and designs in their own home.  Each project or posting also has a discussion forum where people can ask questions about a design’s specifics.  The site works to create a dialogue between members and promotes a collaborative effort in the difficult task of designing and remodeling your home. If you want to use the site, but find yourself overwhelmed for any reason, tech support is available to make your experience more pleasant.  Read more »

With so many professionals using mobile and touch technology nowadays, it was inevitable that someone would make software to optimize presentations on such devices.  That cool person in technology is Brent Brookler, the CEO of Treemo Labs.  Brookler and his company have created an iPad app called Flowboard.  Flowboard allows users to create dynamic presentations right on their tablet.  Brookler and his company designed the app to have an easy-to-use interface.  In theory, Flowboard allows people to create presentations more easily by avoiding complicated menu systems.  Brookler wants to make it so laptops aren’t necessary for professionals making presentations for meetings on the go.  In some ways, Flowboard is his attempt to let people replace their work laptops with iPads in certain situations.  Those who want to do so should make sure they have iPad support to help with the transition. Read more »

Developing and designing a mobile app for your company can take an excessive amount of stress, time, and money.  Scott Wasserman, the CTO of Artisan, is working to reduce the issues many companies have developing an app for their business.  Wasserman originally founded Artisan under the name of appRenaissance in Philadelphia in 2010.  His goal has always been to improve the mobile app development and design processes for businesses.  Wasserman calls Artisan a “mobile experience management company” which offers tools to companies that allow them to make their app as optimal as possible for their target audience.  Wasserman’s mission benefits everyday customers as well.  Consumers who have needed mobile tech support to properly handle the apps on their phone know all too well how sloppy app design can be frustrating.  Clearly, Wasserman is a cool person in tech who is trying to improve the app development process for the benefit of businesses and consumers.  Read more »

Kickstarter, the website that popularized the crowdfunding model on the Internet, recently announced that it has surpassed 100,000 total launched projects.  This milestone indicates the effect Kickstarter has had on both today’s creative and startup cultures, as the website gives many would-be artists and entrepreneurs the chance to fund projects when more traditional means aren’t available.  The Kickstarter model is simple.  Someone launces a project in any number of fields that Kickstarter lists on its site, including music, film, technology, games, art, and so on.  Once a creator launches a project, other users pledge specific amounts of money in a fundraising effort so that through many donations, they completely fund the project.  Those who fund a successful project are rewarded by the creator with “perks” for their support, which are often early versions of a product.  Only completely funded projects receive pledged money and Kickstarter itself takes a small cut from those as well.  Of the 100,000 plus projects launched to date, roughly 43% have been successful, putting the odds for a new project to reach funding goals at a bit less than one in two. Read more »

Yahoo has been making big moves lately, possibly attempting to rejuvenate its image in the modern market by revitalizing some of its brands and acquiring new ones.  The first major move by the company was the acquisition of the social network and blogging site Tumblr.  Yahoo acquired the New York company for $1.1 billion dollars, which one could break down into roughly $3.67 per each of Tumblr’s 300 million unique visitors.   The two companies made the deal almost entirely in cash, with the exception of a small amount of Yahoo stock for Tumblr CEO David Karp.

What does this change for Tumblr users?  Not much will be different, according to official statements by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.  Mayer claimed on Yahoo’s own Tumblr page that her company is “delighted” about the acquisition of the social network and candidly promised “not to screw it up.”  She has also said that Tumblr will operate independently and the entire team will remain in place under their CEO David Karp.  However, Mayer has also publicly said that her company is committed to monetizing Tumblr, which means some changes, most likely in advertising, are bound to come eventually.  Read more »

Many businesses use a number of online services in tandem for their operations.  However, a common problem many companies have encountered is the wasted time and productivity from having to input information into all of these services separately.  One example would be creating a lead in Salesforce manually for every HTML form filled out on Wufoo.  Even something as simple as manually uploading every e-mail attachment to a cloud service like Dropbox could become tedious for a small business after some time.  Wade Foster created Zapier as a solution for this dilemma.  Zapier is a tool that automatically integrates services together for you, taking tedious steps away from several processes.

Foster told Rescuecom that he came up with the concept for Zapier when he was working in marketing.  As he was working, he found himself repeatedly using the same integrations over and over again.  When he asked if there was a way to automate these processes, people told him to “go check out the API.”  Unfortunately, as a marketing employee, that was not very useful to Foster, who knew very little about programming code.  Foster then set out to hire his own coders and start Zapier in the hope of making service integrations easier for businesses. Read more »

The ability to video conference is a very modern one that was once the stuff of science fiction and spy shows. But now, the achieved technological level affords individuals and businesses the ability to actually teleconference from anywhere in the world. While there are many companies that manufacture and develop remote conferencing technology, Polycom continues to make some of the most innovative. One of their premiere devices is the Polycom HDX 4000 Series. Read more »

The tech sector finds many people with exceptional skills able to apply those skills in uncommon ways.  While many other industries are run in a way that is heavily dependent upon specific training and certifications, the tech sector abounds with success stories from people who have great ideas and strong business acumen who surround themselves with teams that make their visions possible.  While some executives in the tech sector have an amazing technical sense or idea, other companies spring up and find success out of applying a great business model to someone else’s innovation.  As CEO and Founder of Marin Software, Christopher Lien has found a way to make his business savvy profitable throughout the tech sector. Read more »

Managing a company in the tech sector can be extraordinarily difficult, even for a seasoned businessperson.  Given how many tech sector geniuses peak early with their industry-changing ideas, many CEOs in the tech sector rely upon the expertise of more established leaders in business.  Facebook, for example, was a great idea that did not begin to rise to its financial potential until Mark Zuckerberg hired Sheryl Sandberg.  But Sandberg is not the only financial expert using her talents in the tech sector.  Mark Rubash, for example, is an impressive voice for Heartflow, Inc. Read more »

The tech sector and the business world continue lack gender equality at the highest levels of the corporate ladder.  Many of the biggest tech sector companies – and some of the largest, most profitable, companies in the world – have upper management and/or Boards of Directors that have no women.  While change is coming slowly to the tech sector, some companies are moving at a more progressive pace.  A few companies, like Xerox, are able to proudly tout the fact that their Board of Directors and upper management are more diverse than others.  Ursula M. Burns makes that case easily for Xerox. Read more »