Computer Support Blog

Yahoo was a leader in the formation of the Internet. Millions of people used Yahoo mail, set it as their home page, and searched the Internet through Yahoo. These users trusted Yahoo for everything, and it repaid them with tight Internet security and a great experience at the time. Over the last few years, however, Yahoo’s popularity has dropped considerably in favor of Google and other websites that offer similar services.

Yahoo fell behind and there is a multitude of reasons why that happened. Small decisions and large ones both have brought Yahoo to the point the company is currently at – a struggling former leader that is slowly losing ground to the newer companies. Some people have begun to blame Jerry Yang for these problems.

Yang, the co-founder of the company, has been on the board of directors since the company’s inception. In 2008, while Yang was Yahoo’s CEO, he rejected an offer from Microsoft to buy the company. This decision was not popular and was a major factor in Yang stepping down as CEO.

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With the recent underwhelming performance of Siri, it is clear that no matter how many “smart” devices technology companies create, the keyboard is not in danger of becoming obsolete just yet.  The keyboard remains an essential tool for interfacing with your computer.  As a result, typing skills are still an invaluable skill to have.  Adults, especially, may be reluctant to take a typing class for fear of feeling embarrassed at not knowing such an important skill.  For teenagers and adults who want to learn to type on their own, there is Typing Instructor Platinum software!

Typing Instructor Platinum is a comprehensive typing program that helps users master typing by breaking the process up.  Users learn to type in an academic section for part of the program, but move on to games that involve typing as they become more proficient.  In this fashion, the software guarantees that you will retain the lessons that the software initially teaches.  Typing is a more complicated skill to learn than some people understand.  While typing may be taught in an absolute sense (key positions and hand placements), the act of typing requires a higher level of abstract thinking.  Typing words and sentences is very different than typing individual characters.

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Internet social networks are still a relatively new phenomenon and as a result, programmers, businesspeople and the public do not yet fully understand the nature and impact of them.  For sure, Myspace, Facebook, and Google+ have all grown and attracted people to them, but there are few people who understand why.  To unravel this great mystery of why people use Internet social networks and how to retain users, there is Paul Adams.

Paul Adams is fascinated by sociology and studied social media on the Internet as it developed.  Adams holds a Bachelor’s degree in Design in Industrial Design and he earned his M.S. in Interactive Media.  Armed with those credentials, he initially entered the workforce as an industrial designer.  As a free agent, Paul Adams designed car interiors for Faurecia and he designed the vacuum that became Dyson’s best-selling vacuum in Japan!

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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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There is a strange irony to the way technology develops independent of how humans will actually interface with technology.  Take, for example, recent high definition televisions and computer monitors.  They create incredible images that are vibrant, bright and interesting . . . and using them for prolonged periods of time can create an all new form of eye strain!  The irony comes in the fact that the manufacturers do not change their technology to prevent this sort of strain, but rather companies emerge to create even more gadgets to compensate for the problem.  So, for those of you suffering from computer eye strain, suffer no longer!  Now there are computer glasses.

Computer glasses are custom-made glasses that are designed to reduce eye strain and prevent headaches associated with using a computer monitor for long periods of time.  While traditional models for eye care treat vision as a function of nearsighted or farsighted, eye care professionals developed computer glasses based on a middle distance.  Because most computer operators have their monitors further away than they would traditionally have a book, yet perform many of the same mental and optical functions they do when reading, their eyes strain to read what is on the screen.  Computer glasses adjust the eye’s focus for this extended range!

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Internet videos have made overnight celebrities.  Most of the viral videos that have launched obscure people into the collective consciousness of popular culture have resulted in a very fast rise and fall for the subject of the video.  In fact, there are very few subjects of Internet viral videos who have had real success following their peak popularity in a viral video.  One of the few to actually have a successful career following their viral video’s inevitable flameout is Amber Lee Ettinger.

Amber Lee Ettinger grew up as a dedicated student who was deeply interested in fashion.  After high school, she was accepted to New York City’s prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology, where she began to study fashion and clothing design.  At that point in her life, she wanted to be an entrepreneur and design her own clothing line.  After a brief stint on the beauty pageant circuit – she was Miss NYC in the Miss Hawaiian Tropic pageant – she set her sights on the performance arts.  Ettinger appeared in a music video for the John Popper Project and appeared on a very popular segment for the Internet show The Onion News Network.

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Windows 8 is just around the corner. Microsoft released its new operating system for the developer’s pre-beta testing phase in September and a beta version will come out in February. The reviews so far from the pre-beta phase are extremely encouraging about Windows 8.

According to developers who are already using the pre-beta version, Windows 8 is a very different operating system from its predecessors. The entire operating system is a rethought and redesigned product to fulfill the needs of users better on all platforms.

That is right, all platforms. Instead of using a different operating system for smartphones and tablets than they use for computers, Windows 8 will be available for all devices. It will to work the same on every device, as well as be able to synchronize your trusted devices so that you can pull up the same programs when moving from one device to another. This should simplify computer support for any of your devices.

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The rise of video games on smartphones and tablet computers has led to many changes in perception about video gaming.  People who used to despise video games now make Gardenville and Angry Birds exceptionally popular.  With the change in both attitudes toward video games and the rise of untraditional video game platforms comes the need for new business models.  One of the new attempts to make money off these new forms of gaming comes from Roy Liu.

Roy Liu is a co-founder of the new company GimmieWorld.  Liu is also the company’s Chief Technology Officer.  GimmieWorld is the innovative new site that rewards video game enthusiasts for trying new games on their mobile computing device or smartphone.  Liu’s idea for the platform was to have incentives for trying new games and GimmieWorld provides points to users for trying new games.  Those points may be redeemed for freebies both within the games and on the emerging GimmieWorld site.  To lure more developers to GimmieWorld, Roy Liu has illustrated a strong connection between mobile computing customers and giveaways that gives developers a real incentive to try the new service.  As a developer himself, Roy Liu recognizes the importance of getting your product in front of the intended consumers and his GimmieWorld provides that service for emerging mobile video game developers!

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Ever since Twiggy and the rise of the supermodel, the fashion industry has conditioned women to hate their bodies.  While the philosophy of the 1970s was one of love, acceptance and self-improvement, with the proliferation of size 0 in modeling, the “you must always be thinner” philosophy has replaced the “love your body” mindset.  Fortunately, computers are finally coming to the rescue in the area of women’s body image!  From designing clothes to modeling them, computers are making ultra-thin models obsolete.

Computers have become integral to the fashion industry.  More than simply being used for inventory control and online shopping, the fashion industry relies heavily on computers.  While computer aided design and computer modeling are the most important computer-related innovations in the fashion industry, computers have made easier much more mundane tasks like materials procurement.  The Internet is a wealth of resources for fashion designers and manufacturers, as they are able to find all sorts of textiles and designs through the Internet that are not available to them in the capitals of the fashion industry.

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It is still early in the new year, so advertising on television still contains reminders to drink responsibly.  That type of advertising virtually disappears right after the Super Bowl until the winter holidays (I suppose the beer manufacturers know that many people consume alcoholic beverages when confronted with either football or family), despite alcohol-related drinking deaths being a year-round problem.  And while there are numerous forms of technology that may help you find where the trendy places to drink are or what the best new alcoholic beverages are, there are few products that can help prevent drinking and driving.  Outside outright prevention, the best weapon against drunk or buzzed driving is education.  For that, HDE has a portable breathalyzer!

HDE’s Digital Breathalyzer is a blood alcohol level tester that is available for consumer use.  The specialized electronic device is very simple to use and runs on 3 AAA batteries (which HDE does not provide).  The Digital Breathalyzer runs on the same principles that the breathalyzers used by law enforcement personnel operate on.  The small black device has a tube into which you breathe and the Digital Breathalyzer determines your blood alcohol content.  Registering from 0.00% BAC up to the almost-lethal .19% BAC, the Digital Breathalyzer is an exceptional tool for preventing the operation a motor vehicle while impaired or influenced by alcohol.

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