Computer Support Blog

One of the common misconceptions many people have when they hear the advertising about smartphones is that “4G” refers to the speed of data transfers across a network.  “4G” does not actually mean something like “four gigabytes per second” or anything of the sort.  Instead, “4G” is a simple term referring to the fourth generation of standards that guide transfers over wireless cellular networks.  But even as 4G networks are the key selling point to current hardware like the Samsung Infuse 4G or the Sony Xperia 4G, if Broadcom has its way, 4G will soon be passé.  Broadcom has innovated the fifth generation of cellular wireless standards. Read more »

In January, activists from all across the political spectrum came together to inform Congress that they did not want the Stop Online Piracy Act to pass.  Through actions like a coordinated blackout on January 18 to businesses lobbying heavily in favor of the bill, the defeat of SOPA stands as a great example of how representative democracy can truly work.  Despite the defeat of the bill, there have been lasting reverberations from Congresses attempt to legislate the Internet.  One of the changes that will become more evident when Congress reconvenes is an active presence of concerned citizens and companies.  The presence is the Internet Defense League. Read more »

Everyone wants to live in a safe world.  That is natural and it is a healthy instinct.  However, there is a pretty broad line that separates healthy concern for one’s wellbeing and outright paranoia.  Unfortunately, the latest Securities and Exchange Commission documents and Hay Group analysis indicate that the tech sector may be plagued by paranoia.  Many large Internet and IT companies are spending exorbitant amounts of money on personal security for executives which, arguably, they do not need. Read more »

With the 2012 election cycle heating up, more and more voters will be hearing about lobbyists and corporate influence in Washington, D.C.  Every industry has lobbyists, including the technology sector.  Few companies, however, keep their lobbyists in prominent positions.  Comcast Corporation, the nation’s largest cable, communications and entertainment company, keeps their principle lobbyist as one of their corporate executives!  Her name is Melissa Maxfield.

Melissa Maxfield’s official title is Senior Vice President of Federal Government Affairs for Comcast.  Comcast, as a large communications company, has a keen interest in legislation involving copyright protection, Internet distribution and manufacturing relationships with subcontractors in foreign countries.  In order to ensure that Comcast’s interests are respected and existing laws are enforced, Melissa Maxfield spends much of her time for Comcast in Washington, D.C.

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Facebook loves to make changes. Facebook is always updating, rearranging, and adding new features to the site, but sometimes the changes come a little too rapidly. People are only just starting to use their Timelines, and now Facebook has another new feature – verified accounts.

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Wilmington, North Carolina is the first town in America to implement a newly approved method of wireless Internet access. The White Space network will eventually allow Internet access to be available everywhere, such as rural towns in which broadband Internet companies will not lay wire. Claudville, Virginia had a White Space network during an experimental phase of testing a few years ago, because no companies would provide the area with high-speed Internet, but the Wilmington network is the first to use the new FCC-approved devices after testing.

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We all hate Spam. Not the processed meat in a can, the email messages that we did not want to receive. Whether they appear as advertisements for products we do not want or emails for services we have no interest in, everyone has received spam at some point. Sometimes, though, spam emails can be far more dangerous than annoying ads – they can contain phishing links that appear to come from a legitimate source.

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Every new computer comes with at least a free trial of one of the many popular security scan programs. People recognize that security scan programs are important and tend to not take the time to fully read something that appears to be one of them, but which is in fact a scam, because they are afraid of getting a computer virus. By not reading everything that pops up on the screen, many people unknowingly infect their computers with malware and viruses. Many scams pretend to be legitimate security programs by telling you that you are unprotected or have a virus already, in order to gain access to your computer.

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As if the public needed another reminder to be careful what they publicly share on social networking sites, the FBI is currently working on a new project that will monitor Twitter, Facebook, and other popular sites for keywords related to terrorism and other criminal activity. The FBI is asking companies to create a means of sifting through all the tweets, posts, and pictures in order to identify present and future threats.

The main purpose of the software, once developed and put into place, will be to allow the FBI to identify terrorists and criminals by highlighting social networking posts that include certain keywords. Some of these keywords will include “small pox”, “leak”, “gangs”, and “2600” (the name of a popular hacking magazine).

In order to sort through the data, the FBI wants to have the flagged posts appear on a map. Ideally, the data would be color-coded according to threat level to make it easier to identify possible incidents of criminal activity.

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Google Plus has finally opened its virtual doors to the teenagers. Anyone ages 13 and up can now create a Google+ account, although for teenagers, Google has added more safety precautions. It was not that Google did not want teenagers to be able to use the site previously – there was no “mature content” – but simply that Google wanted to get things ironed out and ready before letting in the teens.

Since teenagers and young adults are the more avid social networking users, and the most avid Internet users, it makes sense for Google to allow teenagers to join its social networking site. According to Bradley Horowitz, the Vice President of Google, “We want to help teens build meaningful connections online. We also want to provide features that foster safety alongside self-expression.”

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