Computer Support Blog

The relationship between media – movies, music, and television – continues to get closer and closer.  In fact, one of the most significant channels with which to promote new movies or programs is the Internet.  The Internet has numerous sites that act as repositories for clips, news, and historical archives for film, television, and music.  One of the most prominent sites for cinephiles is the Internet Movie Database, but for those who are much more interested in critiques and analysis, Rotten Tomatoes has rapidly grown into one of the coolest sites on the Internet. Read more »

Security is a concern in the tech sector that only continues to grow.  The growth of security services pertaining to computers, smartphones and mobile computing devices is not a reflection on the industry’s unwillingness to adapt; technology continues to change at such a fast rate and hackers continue to adapt as well, necessitating an almost-constant development of new security-related products and services.  While many computers have been protected by the most robust anti-viral software ever created, as hackers take on smartphones and mobile computing devices, many of the major software developers have been slow to react.  Instead, consumers are discovering the benefits of mobile computing protection software, like Reliaty55. Read more »

When one thinks of online social networks, the names that tend to be on the tip of the tongue are Facebook, Twitter, the emerging Google+ and (usually in the past tense) MySpace.  Very few people remember or consider LinkedIn a social network.  While LinkedIn’s slogan is “The World’s Largest Professional Network,” few consider it a social network. Most LinkedIn users utilize the site as a place to learn about potential employees or employers and to have a centralized place for one’s resume on the Internet.  LinkedIn, however, is working hard to change that; it wants to be a social network that users use for all manner of social networking activities. Read more »

When the Apple iPhone 4S was released, there was much ado made over Siri, the talking virtual butler program that was integrated into the new iPhone.  Siri receives input through verbal commands and inquiries and responds in a pleasant, feminine voice.  While Apple has been lauded for the technology (and criticized for its flaws), it is not the only company diligently working on voice recognition and vocal delivery software.  In fact, compared to LumenVox – a company working in the vocal engine software industry for over a decade – Apple is a relative newcomer!  Currently pushing the envelope of all that LumenVox creates is Nigel Quinnin. Read more »

Strategic partnerships are, largely, built upon the needs of groups, companies, or individuals at the time the partnership is made.  As is frequent in the business world and tech sector, times change and the needs of companies in both fields are dramatically altered.  As a result, strategic alliances between tech companies and prominent businesses are occasionally dissolved.  One of the latest partnerships to call it quits is the alliance between Microsoft and NBC which resulted in the MSNBC news channel and website. Read more »

Finding staff for a tech sector start-up can be a challenge beyond what one might otherwise expect.  After all, human resources specialists have to woo highly-skilled workers from whatever company at which they are currently employed to a project that, odds are, is a virtual unknown to the worker.  Equally important, the human resources specialist for a start-up company is assembling a team that will define the initial corporate culture of the new business.  That is a lot of pressure and responsibility and it takes an extraordinary recruiter to pull off effectively staffing a start-up.  Farri Ouraie is that type of human resources specialist! Read more »

Unlike some of the clone sites of Pinterest that sprouted up when Pinterest’s meteoric rise to popularity began, most notably Shopalong, Pinterest has been stumbling through monetizing the site.  While the executives at Pinterest are not at all resistant to the idea of monetizing, like Facebook’s founders were when they were simply focused on creating something new and cool, Pinterest has been slower than some similar sites to figure out how to make money off its own popularity.  For the last month, though, Pinterest has taken steps to stop others from making money off the site, even as it figures out how to better generate revenue itself.  Some of the ways Pinterest is working, under the guise of stopping spam, to prevent other individuals and sites from utilizing Pinterest include: Read more »

Summer seems to be doing good things for some troubled, but popular, Internet businesses.  Facebook, whose stock had been dropping pretty steadily since its IPO, not only leveled off, but has begun a rebound.  In the streaming media market, Netflix, whose stock has had an almost year-long decline, bottomed out on June 1 at $60.70/share.  Since then, however, Netflix investors have had a lot to cheer about and their investment has been bouncing back in the right direction. 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 »

Even though Facebook continues to grow and dominate the social network market, the Internet giant has had a pretty rough first half of the year.  The Facebook stock offering was fumbled and the value of the company remains below where it was when the IPO occurred.  Even before Facebook went public, one of the nagging concerns to both the corporate executives and potential investors was how Facebook was monetizing on mobile platforms.  No company, Facebook included, has yet produced a reliable, consistent, and strong revenue stream from advertisements launched on smartphones and tablet computers.  However, Facebook may be prepared to change that, which is making Facebook users wary. Read more »