Computer Support Blog

Location-activated triggers are becoming a major part of the future of marketing in technology.  Technologies like GPS and NFC have made it so that specific locations and items can activate smartphones and tablets.  This technology can deliver text messages to mobile devices and even turn on certain apps.  Proxible is a cool product that inserts this technology into a company’s mobile application.  Proxible’s service turns everyday objects and locations into potential marketing tools.  As potential customers travel through the real world and interact with different locations and items, companies can engage them with their brand or product.  Proxible can’t have objects activate users’ phones without permission.  However, they can have objects trigger the sending of text messages or the activation of specific apps when the user has agreed to allow it.  Proxible enhances other businesses’ apps with these features and allows its clients to use the technology as they see fit.  By allowing this customization, Proxible ensures that each brand that can construct their customers’ experiences exactly how they want them.  If anyone has a Proxible enabled application but its features aren’t working correctly, mobile computer support may be helpful.  Read more »

According to cool person in technology Pascal Mathis, booking activities for your vacation should be easy to do from any computer whenever you want. The travel industry already uses websites to book hotels, flights, rental cars, and most everything else that has to do with tourism. Therefore, it’s no surprise that someone would want to give people a way to browse through and book different tours and location-specific activities online as well. Mathis calls his service GetYourGuide. On GetYourGuide, users can search for specific activities that they would like to book while on vacation. They can also browse by location to see what is available if they already have a destination picked out for their trip. Mathis wants to offer travelers a more convenient way to book activities and plan their trip ahead of time with GetYourGuide. That’s why he gives users the option to add things like hotel pick-up to their bookings. Mathis aims for his customers to be in complete control of their trip before they even leave their homes. Computer IT support is available for customers who have trouble with bookings on Mathis’s website. Read more »

Car rentals from major corporations can be inconvenient and expensive as renters must often pay prohibitive costs and deal with huge amounts of regulation.  Cool person in technology Andre Haddad is running a company that gives drivers an alternative when they need to rent a car for a short period of time.  Rather than call a car rental corporation and traverse the difficulties of that process, Haddad’s company connects those who need cars with those who have unused cars available.  Haddad calls his startup RelayRides and uses it to allow people to rent their vehicles out for extra cash.  With Haddad’s method, people who need to rent cars can get them faster and cheaper with fewer obstacles.  Even more interestingly perhaps, RelayRides lets people with extra cars turn those vehicles into an asset that provides ongoing income.  In theory, Haddad’s system lets more people benefit from the car rental experience and removes much of the potential hassle.  This cool person in tech is pushing a very disruptive product that could have a major effect on the auto rental industry if it catches on over time.  Anyone who wants to rent out their car can post ads for it on the RelayRides website.  If they need help doing so, they need a solid online computer support company to guide them.  Read more »

Video security is an essential aspect of security for many businesses.  However, video cameras are difficult and costly to deal with most of the time.  Businesses have to attain camera equipment, install the equipment, and pay security guards to keep watch of multiple video monitors imperfectly.  Even worse, most of the time companies end up reviewing security footage only to get information on a crime that already happened. VideoIQ is a cool product that wants to change how companies use video security.  Using what they call “B.R.A.I.N. technology”, VideoIQ can recognize suspicious events in real-time with specialized software in their cameras.  This technology allows VideoIQ to help companies prevent crimes as they happen rather than use video footage to review a theft once someone has already committed it.  If it works as the company advertises, VideoIQ could save businesses significant amounts of money in loss and theft prevention.  Even with video footage to capture thefts-in-action, many crimes go completely unsolved for storefronts.  A video security system that can actually detect suspicious activity and alert security when it happens could prevent many of these crimes from succeeding in the first place.  Any enterprise interested in utilizing VideoIQ should have solid business IT support to help install the cameras and connect them to the security system.  Read more »

There are many corporatized reading experiences available on mobile devices.  Amazon’s Kindle platform, Barnes and Noble’s Nook platform, and even Apple’s iBooks all offer eBook solutions that connect the shopping and reading experiences for users.  However, none of these platforms has successfully combined the mobile reading experience with the advantages of social networking.  Cool person in technology Henrik Berggren has set out to create such a platform with his company Readmill.  Readmill produces an app that works as both a mobile eBook reader for either iPhones or Android devices and lets book readers interact and discuss what they read in the manner of a social network.  Berggren lets readers review and comment on books they read on his app.  Readmill users can then share those reviews publicly with the rest of the Readmill community.  Users can also comment on others’ reviews to promote discussion around specific books.  This social aspect sets the Readmill app apart from other eBook experiences, which focus almost entirely on the purchasing and personal reading aspects of the experience.  While Berggren is entering a somewhat crowded area with Readmill, he does so while filling a gaping hole in the market—a socially connected eReader app.  Any user who has trouble downloading the app to their phone should have mobile PC support services try to resolve the problem. Read more »

What if the web worked the same way your smartphone apps did by sending you notifications every time something relevant to you updated?  That’s a question cool product Resultly is trying to answer.  With Resultly, people don’t have to constantly actively search for items or frequently return to web pages in order to see if they’ve updated.  Resultly allows you to “follow” different interests on the web, as opposed to always seeking them out individually.  When you follow an interest on Resultly, you get updates on it through e-mail, on your web browser, or from the Resultly app on your smartphone.  These updates keep you informed when one of your interests has had a status change. On Resultly, you have the ability to follow everything from blogs to musical artists to a pair of boots on an eCommerce site.  Whenever something on the web changes regarding one of your interests, Resultly makes sure you know so you can follow up on it.  This could allow you to keep up with all the aspects of the web you want without having to manually look everything up all the time.  However, anyone who still needs help navigating the web as a whole will want comprehensive home computer support before trying something like Resultly. Read more »

Helping people accomplish their goals is a difficult task.  Psychological barriers and stress often demotivate people from changing their lifestyles or going after things that they really want.  Frank Yu is a cool person in technology who wants to gamify people’s goals and motivate people to accomplish more.  Yu runs a startup and website called Kwestr.  On Kwestr, users add different Kwests to their profile from a list of available options.  Kwests lead to an ultimate goal, such as losing fifty pounds, running a marathon, or writing a book.  However, Kwestr has each Kwest split up into several smaller tasks and accomplishments.  This helps overcome users’ psychological barriers by taking a seemingly insurmountable goals and making them appear less intimidating.  Kwestr also rewards users with notifications and congratulations each time they complete a step of their Kwest.  These small reminders and pats on the back encourage users to push further on each Kwest.  When someone completes a Kwest completely and accomplishes a goal, they receive a badge to show off on their Kwestr profile.  These badges can act as social motivators for people as they can put their accomplishments in a public space online.  Users who encounter problems creating a Kwestr account or creating Kwests for themselves will need computer support services to help them.  Read more »

Internet security concerns seem to grow more and more problematic every year.  Many people find themselves deeply concerned about phishing attempts and hackers gaining unwanted access to their PC or service accounts.  This also means large amounts of people constantly worry about the quality and security of their passwords.  PixelPin is a cool product in technology that allows users to replace the password function on their PC with picture passwords.  A picture password forgoes the usual text-based procedure for an authentication system where users click on four “passpoints” within an image to gain access to their computer or digital service accounts.  Users choose a picture from their computer to use for authentication.  Leaving the picture choice in the hands of the user is deliberate.  It allows people to choose an image where they are most likely to remember the specific four passpoints that they need to click on to get by PixelPin’s protection.  Users can sign up for PixelPin directly.  Service providers and manufacturers do not have to partner with the company directly for someone to use PixelPin to access accounts or devices.  Read more »

CoachUp CEO Jordan Fliegal played basketball as a kid and while he loved the sport, he wasn’t very good at it—not at first anyway.  On the CoachUp website, Fliegal speaks about how he was lucky enough to find a personal coach to help him train in his favorite sport.  Through the private coach’s help, Fliegal managed to improve enough that many top colleges tried to recruit him.  He even went on to play professional basketball in overseas leagues.  Fliegal attributes his success to his private coach, and that’s why he founded tech startup CoachUp.  CoachUp is an online service that conveniently connects parents and kids with private trainers and coaches to help them with a sport or activity.  Fliegal attributes finding his private coach when he was a kid to pure luck.  It seems he wants to take luck out of the equation and make private coaching available to as many young people as possible with CoachUp.  This cool person in technology is using the connected world to try to help kids achieve more in their athletic activities. Read more »

Despite the thousands of SAT preparation books and college admissions guides available on the market, the most helpful information for high school students applying to college often comes from either former admissions officers or recently admitted students.  Getting help from a former admissions officer usually means hiring them as a college admissions coach.  This situation can get very expensive for parents and is therefore prohibitive for many students.  However, cool product AdmitSee wants to offer college applicants more affordable help by leveraging information from the profiles of recently accepted students.   AdmitSee obtains information from current university students and recent graduates and compiles that information into admissions profiles.  AdmitSee then stores that information on its site and gives access to those still in the college application process.  By viewing the profiles of successful graduates, high school students can find out what different schools are looking for specifically.  This information can then help AdmitSee members in forming their own successful applications.  This advantage will help kids get in to a great school for whatever career path they choose, whether they want to be a writer, aviation engineer, or even a cloud computer repair professional. Read more »