Computer Support Blog

If you have been around an Apple store lately, you may have heard a lot of jargon shot at you.  Apple has such a pervasive subculture that those who are in it seem to find it inconceivable that anyone could not be a part of their subculture.  As a result, Apple salespeople often rattle off specifications and jargon at such a speed at to appear daunting to those who are not technically inclined.  One of the most frequent words Apple salespeople toss out with the expectation that you know what they are talking about is “FireWire.”

You may have been too afraid to ask, but you are not foolish for not knowing what FireWire is.

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There are few industries where you can rise to become a billionaire with little in the way of formal education.  In fact, outside the entertainment industry, the most probable way to become a billionaire fast is through the technology sector.  The innovation of computer devices and electronic products requires intelligence and creativity. The technology industry still rewards people who have a great idea without a lot of formal education on their resume.  Marc Benioff is one such creative and intelligent mind who has used the technology sector to amass a fortune.

Marc Benioff is the founder and CEO of Salesforce.com.  In 1999, Benioff saw the potentials of the Internet to deliver software to customers in a non-traditional way.  Believing that the Internet represented a vast pool of data and computing power, Benioff conceived of the idea of computer users operating software that they did not actually have installed on their computers.  Yes, Marc Benioff is generally considered to have conceived of Cloud computing long before it was effectively marketed!

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The Internet is a remarkably shifty place.  Like the most clique-oriented teenagers, the Internet is home to overnight successes and equally fast crashes in popularity.  The Internet is, in many ways, the ultimate medium for those who have short attention spans.  Perhaps that is why there have been remarkably few Internet music phenomena.  The latest celebrity in music to have gotten her start from exposure on the Internet is also, arguably, the one who has gained the most from her time as an Internet phenomenon.  That person is Rebecca Black.

Rebecca Black was thirteen years old when she became an Internet phenomenon with her song “Friday.”  ARK Music Factory produced the song “Friday” and its creation was a gift from Black’s mother to Rebecca.  When the video for “Friday” was released on YouTube, it languished for a month before exploding with popularity.  On March 11, 2011, “Friday” started picking up millions of hits and the song and Rebecca Black became trending topics on Twitter.  Despite having a vastly disproportionate number of “dislike” ratings by viewers, “Friday” became a legitimate Internet success when YouTube users downloaded the video over 165 million times. The video earned tens of thousands of dollars in royalties and revenue-sharing from advertising through YouTube.

But how did Rebecca Black become an Internet phenomenon and what did she do with her sudden celebrity?

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If you have seen The Social Network, you know the Hollywood version of the history of the creation of Facebook.  In the movie, Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook for the programming challenge and the status of creating the “next big thing.”  When Sean Parker comes into the mix, the priority with “The Facebook” is keeping the site cool and hip, as opposed to monetizing it.  This is actually one of the details from the film that jives with reality.  However, there came a time for Facebook to monetize and when it did, it was Sheryl Sandberg who made the cool Facebook into a multibillion dollar advertising platform.

Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook.  Sandberg arrived at Facebook in 2008 after being wooed away from a potential job at Google.  That hiring was seen as a real coup for the Facebook team and shortly after joining the company, Sandberg initiated the advertising program that changed Facebook from a potential cash cow into a multibillion dollar moneymaker.  By 2010, Facebook was showing a profit, which was virtually unheard of in Internet social networks.

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Every good idea has its time.  Sometimes, the window for that idea can be very small and a business that fails to enact the good idea in a timely fashion, it can find itself in a world of trouble.  Similarly, when a business uses a good idea well, it often has to remain ahead of its competitors.  Blockbuster Video knows what it is like to wait too long to get on board a good idea; Netflix, with its innovative business strategy and product delivery method virtually buried the video rental chain.  Much of the success Netflix has had is the result of Neil Hunt.

Neil Hunt is an accomplished software engineer who rose to become one of the most vibrant executives in the technology and entertainment industries.  As the Chief Product Officer of Netflix since 2002, Hunt helped Netflix rise to become the industry leader in DVD rental services.  As a shrewd businessman, Hunt helped to build the platform for Netflix that has made it one of the most flexible and successful media delivery services ever.

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Serious photographers who live on the cheap and use computers for their digital photography are feeling the squeeze.  One of the best sites for altering digital photographs is closing down on April 19, 2012 and the virtual world of the Internet will be a little worse off for it.  The site is called Picnik and is has announced that it will be ending service soon, sending many photographers scrambling.

Picnik is, at least for the next few weeks, a free website where you could alter photographs you took.  The site was simple.  You uploaded a picture to their site, where Picnik provided tools to crop, resize, alter lighting and color settings, reduce red eye and do several other alterations to your photograph.  When you had the picture looking the way you liked it, you could download your altered picture and move on to more pictures.  This was a wonderful alternative to expensive, licensed programs like Adobe Photoshop or Photo Explosion.  Through Picnik, you could transform the photo you actually took into the photo you wanted it to be.

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When you are not a member of a certain subculture, you may be entirely ignorant of its existence, much less what the principles and beliefs are for that culture or group.  As the Internet has effectively made the world smaller by connecting people from obscure subcultures, it has made learning about different groups of people much easier.  One of the most intriguing subcultures that has a surprising interest in computers and technology is the steampunk movement.

The steampunk subculture is preoccupied with reimagining the modern world as if steam power was still the dominant form of power.  The steampunk movement glorifies the sense of style of the Victorian Era and redesigns our modern conveniences to fit that style.  One of the very best resources on the Internet for those looking to understand steampunk is The Steampunk Workshop.

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Sometimes, a good idea is as simple as making a product easier to buy or rent.  What is the value of an idea that simplifies the buying experience?  In the case of Redbox, making DVDs and video games easier to rent made the company billions of dollars.  Much of the success of Redbox is the result of the hard work of Mitch Lowe.

Redbox was a novelty pilot program outside McDonald’s restaurants when Mitch Lowe joined the company in 2003.  Lowe was one of the co-founders of Netflix and he saw in Redbox a real threat to the company for whom he was working.  Adopting the philosophy of “if you can’t beat them, join them,” Mitch Lowe decided he wanted to see the Redbox model succeed.  He left Netflix and joined Redbox as a consultant.  Lowe quickly rose to Vice President of Purchasing and Operations of Redbox before the Board promoted him to Chief Operating Officer.  In 2009, Mitch Lowe was promoted again, this time to President of the company!

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Google+ has some real challenges to overcome as it becomes the new kid on the block of social networking sites.  Even so, Google has shown resiliency in its corporate history, so there is every reason to believe that Google+ could become the next Facebook at the top of the social network food chain.  Here is why Google+ may well succeed:

1. The social network market is dynamic.  Google+ enters the social network race exceptionally late.  Even so, the rise of Facebook and Twitter over Myspace illustrates that users have remarkably little brand loyalty to their social network.  Users have Facebook for friends and family contact, Picasa for online photo storage, and LinkedIn for professional networking.  Google+ combines all of those aspects, especially the data storage options for photo albums, all on one platform.  With over 40% of social network users belonging to 3-5 social networks, it is clear that social network enthusiasts enjoy the process of exploring new networks.

2. The Google+ interface.  The Google+ social network is based on the idea that people have several different groups or cliques to which they belong.  You make your own groups and associate your friends and acquaintances with whatever group you want.  You can watch as people move you between different groups.  The advantage is that you have the ability to compartmentalize the different people in your life and that is a clever way to run a single profile over many different interests.  The ever-changing nature of the Google+ relationship model encourages you to check in frequently.

3. The advertising.  Google+ advertising constantly during prime time this holiday season hits all of its key demographics fast, making it seem like it is an already established phenomenon.

4. A solid revenue model.  Google+ arrives on the social networking scene with its fundamental advertising revenue model in place.  Because Google’s AdSense is already in place and integrated with the Google+ platform, Google does not need to devote nearly as many resources to courting advertisers.

Google wants a piece of the social networking business, but they are coming very late with Google+.  Even so, it seems the platform has everything needed for Google to have another success in its portfolio.  Because social network users are fickle enough to constantly change their relationships, Google+ seems to have an interface that speaks directly to its target demographic.  Just as Google+ allows users to move friends among different groups the user creates, Google hopes to woo users from the other social networks.  Hopefully, it has a model to keep them there once they land on Google+!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

Over the last few years, millions of Angry Birds have attempted to rescue their stolen eggs from the evil green pigs. They fling themselves repeatedly at the pigs’ enclosures, attempting to knock them over and kill the pigs inside. Each time they succeed in killing all of the pigs they are one stage closer to the return of their precious eggs.

We have all heard of the Angry Birds game, and probably most of you have played it at least once. Have you ever wondered how this simple game of flinging birds at pigs became a nation-wide trend? Who thought up this game and why?

Rovio Entertainment Ltd created the hugely popular game Angry Birds in December of 2009 and launched it as a smartphone app. The game was a final effort to bring the company back from bankruptcy, according to Business Insider. Their efforts certainly paid off, with their small puzzle game launching a $50 million business built around the merchandising from one game.

There are Angry Birds plush toys, t-shirts, board and card games, blankets, headphones, backpacks, and so many other products. Rovio knows how to make money from their products – that they have created a game that so many people play is an accomplishment in itself, but to sell so many unrelated products simply because they have Angry Birds on them is phenomenal.

The game itself is very easy to learn how to play, but can be quite difficult to win. A basic understanding of physics and a lot of trial-and-error can take you far in the game, but the stages are progressively harder as you move further into the game. It could be said that Angry Birds has the popularity it does because of this method of game design – anyone can play it, but it takes determination to win.

There is currently an Angry Birds game available for all of the popular operating systems, including Windows, Mac, IOS, and Android. As an added incentive to buy their other products, Rovio has recently made the Angry Birds game completely free on Android.

Users should take caution, however, of possible Internet security threats from pirated copies of the Angry Birds game. With its huge success come many pirated copies of the game, some of which could contain malware and other threats to your Internet security. If something happens to your mobile device because of these Internet security threats, do not wait, get help from professional computer repair specialists at RESCUECOM.

Rovio is still keeping their focus on Angry Birds for now, but they have hinted that they are working on a new game, but it will be a while before it is ready. It is very likely that Rovio’s next game will capture the world’s attention the same way the Angry Birds has.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com