Computer Support Blog

Privacy is becoming a more and more frequently discussed topic these days.  This is likely because online services like Facebook and Google continue to collect large amounts of data on their users.  Some users do not seem to mind trading a bit of their privacy for free online services. Others have been less than enthusiastic about the way users seem to be paying these companies with their personal data instead of cash for their services.  Brian Kennish, cofounder of Disconnect, is most certainly in the latter camp.

Brian Kennish formerly worked at Google as a software developer.  However, in 2010, Kennish left Google due to increasing dissatisfaction with their mass data collection and the secrecy around how that data is used.  That is part of the reason Kennish developed Disconnect, a browser extension that blocks third-party sites from tracking you when you use the web.  Disconnect is available to download for four different browsers—Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari.  If you have trouble installing Disconnect, you can always ask computer support for assistance.  Read more »

Recently, there has been a malicious browser extension discovered that is threatening the Internet security of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox users.  The browser extension has been hijacking users’ Facebook accounts and gaining access to many people’s personal information.  However, the extension doesn’t only access your information.  It also actively takes complete control of your Facebook account and performs multiple actions without your consent.

This Trojan, identified as Trojan:JS/Febipos.A, can perform many actions when it gains access to your Facebook profile.  These actions include liking pages, commenting on pages, sharing links, inviting friends to new groups and even directly chatting with your friends through Facebook Messenger.  The Trojan uses these capabilities make posts that link other Facebook users to malicious websites.  People have also reported this software as posting links to a website for automobile sales on infected users’ profiles.  Read more »

Google recently announced that they have integrated app activities into their desktop web search service.  This means that when Google users search for specific sites or services that use web apps—such as popular movie site Fandango—they will see aggregate information related to the web app.  For example, if you search for Fandango, promotional posters from popular movies among Google users at that time will appear to the right of your search results.  Clicking on one of these movie posters will link you directly to the film’s Fandango page.  If your search is more specific, the aggregate data will also be more specific.  Google means for the function to erase some steps when you’re searching for content in certain web apps.  Read more »

In the tech sector, businesses evolve or they die.  Given the rapid pace of technological development since the Internet became a mainstream communications platform, companies founded on the Internet seem to have even greater volatility; there are very few sites that remain cool and well-trafficked year after year.  YouTube.com is one the sites that has worked very hard to maintain its strong presence in the minds of Internet users.  Best known as a library of viral videos and videos that never achieved such renown, YouTube is working to reinvent itself by creating original programming in the form of regular web-based series’.  Working to make that vision a reality is Ivana Kirkbride. Read more »

There are very few boardrooms in the tech sector that can boast about gender diversity.  One of the notable exceptions to the disappointing trend that has women kept from managing or directing many of the top companies in the world is Google.  Google has three women who serve on its ten-person Board of Directors and with 30% female direction, Google represents one of the most gender-integrated Boards in the tech sector!  Ann Mather was one of the earliest members of the Google Board of Directors and far more than a diversity hire, Mather represents one of the most active presences in the business world today! Read more »

Google has become known throughout the tech sector as one of the biggest companies from which engineers with good ideas may launch a business of their own.  Perhaps that perception developed because as Google defined itself in the early days of its company, its leadership did not want to be distracted by side projects.  Google did not start out as a company that was trying to be everything to everyone.  As such, the creative engineers that Google hired to build its revolutionary search engine often had ideas that they could only act upon when no longer with Google.  Sean Knapp was one of those engineers with a vision that did not quite fit Google’s plans. Read more »

At last week’s Google I/O conference, many new products were introduced, not all of them ready for the marketplace just yet.  Most of the products were very much to be expected from the search giant who now seems to have its hands in everything.  Google, through its Android operating system has become more associated with gadgets in recent years, instead of just being considered an Internet software/search pioneer.  As a result, the fact that the I/O conference was used to generate enthusiasm (and preorders) for new products like Google Glass and Nexus devices was predictable.  What was truly audacious was the way Google declared war on Amazon and the Apple iTunes store by unveiling a new shopping platform: Google Play Store. Read more »

No company, within the tech sector or outside it, is able to handle rapid growth without having an incredible staff in place or hiring individuals who fast become a team that achieves amazing results.  Neither the assembly of a great staff over time or its rapid development happens as an accident; it is the result of great human resources management.  Choosing personnel who will be successful and might make your company successful is a skill that is mastered by individuals who understand people, understand the specific workplace for which they are hiring, and have incredible instincts.  Michelle Lo has a great track record in staffing tech companies for exactly those reasons. Read more »

It should not be of any real significance when one of the earliest employees for a company happens to be a woman.  However, in the tech sector – especially with Internet start-ups – there are remarkably few women working or achieving positions of real prominence.  So, it is somewhat unsurprising that of the first twenty employees Google had when it was incorporated, only one was a woman.  That woman was Marissa Mayer! Read more »

As privacy concerns and free speech issues become part of almost every news cycle, it is unsurprising that the relationship between technology companies and governments around the world has never been more important.  Scientific progress and the speed of social media have been growing at a far faster rate than the U.S. Government has legislated.  So, it makes more sense than ever for tech companies to hire individuals who have experience in the Federal Government.  For Twitter, that made Katie Jacobs Stanton a very smart hiring choice. Read more »