Computer Support Blog

Sometimes, the coolest places on the Internet are not the flashiest or the best known places.  When it comes to online shopping, most people look to eBay or Amazon or they log into specialized shops where they have specific products they are anticipating buying.  But the big online retailers are not the ideal place to buy art.  Art – fine art and homemade – has never had much traction on eBay.  There are some wonderful, specialized, websites and social networks for artwork online, like Art.net and Elftown.  But the place to buy and sell artwork on the Internet is Etsy. Read more »

If “people who need people are the luckiest people,” what does it make people who need to find out all they can about people?  Perhaps a better question would be, what does it make people who make the tools for people to find out about other people?  Perhaps that question could be best answered by Saad Zniber, co-founder of Yatedo. Read more »

Those who use Amazon.com’s Amazon Prime service for streaming videos have had a good few months recently.  The Amazon.com library of available videos has only been growing in recent months.  While Steven Kessel, the company’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Digital Media, deserves a lot of credit for the arrangements that provide users with more and more digital video files, there is an unsung hero of Amazon who deserves equal praise.  No matter what arrangements Kessel makes, no relationship between Amazon.com and production studios or distribution companies is complete until is passes muster with L. Michelle Wilson! Read more »

There are few entrepreneurs, even in the tech sector, who have the ability to create a hit product with every one of their major releases.  Mike Harrington, creator of Half-Life and Picnik, is one such innovator.  Interestingly enough, Harrington’s partner in co-founding Picnik, Darrin Massena, also has had an uncommon number of successful ventures, especially for his young age. Read more »

Sometimes, new technologies require additional interactions with the company that produces them.  For mundane issues, virtually every company has a customer service department.  But for complex products, many companies have a department that focuses on the user experience with the product and they develop services that better meet the needs of customers utilizing their equipment.  In the case of Avid Technology, which makes quality audio and video production equipment, there is a Customer Success Department.  That department is headed by Jodi Sweeney! Read more »

In the last few years, there has been a wireless revolution; virtually every computer peripheral or electronic device has wireless access.  With so many wireless devices operating in a home or office setting, it is easy to lose track of the range on each device.  Moreover, if you and other family members are accessing the Internet through a home wireless network, you may experience lag.  Nothing restores the functionality and speed of a wireless network like a good wireless router.  One of the most versatile wireless routers on the market is the AirStation HighPower N600 Gigabit Dual Band Wireless Router! Read more »

It is interesting to watch how the market reacts to a change.  Sometimes, the influence of a product or service is not realized until the product or service is removed from the marketplace.  Watching the market react to the shutdown of Picnik, a niche market online digital photo editing tool, has been a study in corporate loyalty and opportunism.  Fans of Picnik vociferously resisted the integration of the Picnik tools into Google+.  The market responded with the birth or promotion of several services similar to Picnik.  One of the frontrunners to replace Picnik in the Internet zeitgeist is Aviary. Read more »

Sometimes, it is unclear what a business did before a certain point in its corporate history, even by researching the company.  Sometimes, a company exists for a time before it hires an individual who turns out to have a great impact on the company; that is the type of hire that puts a company on the map! Joyce Fleck had exactly that level of impact on the Navarre Corporation. Read more »

One of the big stories in the technology sector at the end of 2011 was the initial public offering of stock for Zynga.  Zynga, the creator of some of Facebook’s most popular games, was all set to leap into the business of making money off its popularity and the IPO sought to raise billions of dollars for the company.  Amid news reports of other video game companies experiencing financial hardships, the Zynga IPO was viewed by many as catastrophic, with the stock losing value its first few days.  While this might have made a lesser CEO cringe and get out of the game, it was nothing to Mark Pincus. Read more »

One of the most interesting aspects of the World Wide Web has to be that it has forced companies to truly work on an international level, as opposed to simply within one country.  The fascinating corollary to that is that many companies have a vastly different presence on the Internet, depending on where in the world one is accessing them.  So, even as Yahoo! has made a decline in the United States, it remains a powerhouse company in the Pacific Rim countries, despite a few setbacks with failed attempts to acquire existing companies there.  Part of the reason for Yahoo!’s continued relevance in Asia is Rose Tsou. Read more »