Computer Support Blog

In an age of seamless global connectivity thanks to increasingly powerful network services, it seems that the last remaining communication obstacle is language. Aside from the actual costs, travel across the globe in a day is no longer a problem, while high quality, instant, audio-visual communication is quickly becoming a matter of clicking a button on a tablet or smartphone. Language, on the other hand, still limits how we communicate. Tourists and travelers often face a hard time communicating with others if the two do not speak a common language. Of course, there is always the good old pocket dictionary, but anyone who has ever tried to rely on that while on vacation knows that it’s hardly any help. Free online translation tools also have limited usage. They require a computing device, an Internet connection, and the ability to enter and read a language that you don’t speak!

Fortunately, if you don’t speak a word of French and are planning a trip to see the Mona Lisa, or if you regularly need simultaneous interpretation in a work setting, Jibbigo can make your life easier. Jibbigo is a speech-to-speech translation app that works on Android and iOS operated devices. To use the application, you simply record what you need to translate while pressing a record button. Jibbigo then says it back in the target language. The application is currently available in nine language pairs. Jibbigo can translate between English and Arabic (Iraqi dialect), Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Tagalog. It can also translate between German and Spanish.

Jibbigo uses advanced Speech Recognition Technology and has a vocabulary of over 40,000 words. The apps’ website states that it uses statistical machine translation and natural voice output using SVOX speech synthesis technology.

Perhaps the most intriguing feature of Jibbigo is that it works offline without an Internet connection. It is self-contained and does not rely on cloud computing or other services that require a connection. This is especially useful for tourists who do not have access to Internet tech support or who do not want to get billed with massive roaming charges.

The app is founded on advanced scientific research in language at Mobile Technologies. Jibbigo and Mobile Technologies, in turn, continually collaborate with InterACT, the International Center for Advanced Communication Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.

The New York Times has praised the app as one of the most advanced on the market, and it has been featured in travel guides. The app is quite inexpensive, costing under $5 for most languages. For a few bucks, it might even be fun to just buy the app and test it out at home.

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

Facebook users log into the social network over one billion times a day. Hackers and imposters trying to access other users’ accounts make up 600,000 of those log-ins according to The Telegraph. With over 800 million users, it’s not surprising that the website gets so many daily hacking attempts. Hackers try to take over other users’ accounts to post images, send out spam or phishing links, spread malware through Facebook content, and access users’ private information.

Just recently, Facebook suffered from an extensive flood of porn and violent images that appeared across the website. CNN reports that Facebook had a security team work to identify the source of the spam and remove it.

As Facebook becomes increasingly aware of the Internet security issues it faces, the website is taking significant steps to inform users about such threats, as well as add new defense mechanisms to its already sturdy arsenal.

Facebook has issued a detailed infographic full of interesting little facts about the numerous steps involved in protecting users’ security. The first step towards accessing an account is, naturally, logging in. The graphic points out that users can enable an HTTPS connection for all Facebook related activity by adjusting their account settings. In case of a forgotten password, the website asks a user to identify tagged friends, a task which a hacker would not be able to do. Other initial security checkpoints include keeping track of a user’s location and log-in device to detect anomalies or sudden changes.

The social network giant is also introducing some brand new features to strengthen password security and resolve threats that emerge when users are locked out of their accounts. The “Trusted Friends” feature allows you to confirm your identity with the help of trusted friends. If you can’t log in, several pre-selected friends receive a code that they pass on to you. You then use the code to create a new password.

Still, despite the occasional spam that slips through Facebook ’s many security precautions, last week’s being the most graphic example of this, the website claims that less than half a percent of users experience spam, a remarkably low number compared to email spam, for example.

If you’re really interested in the details of Facebook security, check out the infographic. For now, there’s no full-proof method for ensuring Facebook security, unfortunately. Be vigilant in your online interactions, post and respond carefully, be selective in what links you click on, and change all your passwords every few weeks if possible.

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

If modern history continues to head in the direction Firefly predicted, we should all start learning Chinese.  Fortunately, there are some very cool programs that help teach Chinese and other programs that provide computer support to reinforce what you learn!  There are almost as many different ways to learn Mandarin Chinese on the computer as there are teaching styles.  Some of the best software for learning Mandarin Chinese follows:

Active Chinese may well be the most comprehensive computer-based tool for learning Mandarin Chinese.  With clear delineations for different education levels from Kindergarten through fourth-year college levels, Active Chinese takes a multimedia approach to teaching Mandarin Chinese.  Through pictures, movies and audio clips, Active Chinese provides a comprehensive approach to learning different levels of Mandarin and provides the tools to reinforce and test the lessons.

Learning styles differ and CCHAR Chinese Character Software is for those who learn best through writing and reading, as opposed to hearing and speaking.  CCHAR’s program teaches users the finer points of Chinese calligraphy and how to recognize the characters in written Mandarin.

Most people who want to learn Mandarin want to learn to speak Mandarin Chinese.  The L-CEPS Free Chinese Lessons software online has a very direct word with phonetic translation interface that teaches users key phrases.  While this might teach users a very limited set of Mandarin Chinese lines, it does reinforce them well and provides a very clear progression of lessons to make the process fun.

For those on the go, there is the HNHSoft English-Chinese Talking Dictionary for smartphones.  Less of a learning tool and more of a support mechanism, this dictionary may be installed into your smartphone including the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.  This dictionary offers fast translations of English words into Chinese and features an interface that clearly illustrates how to pronounce each word.  Even if you learn Chinese with one of the other programs, the HNHSoft app can be a real lifesaver for travelers to fall back on.

Regardless of what the future holds, anyone who wants to learn Chinese will find the software to learn Mandarin Chinese less expensive and less intimidating than private lessons or classes.  With computers, smartphones and these programs, learning Mandarin Chinese can be cool and fun!

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

People are listening to more music than ever before, and free Internet radio is all the rage these days. Millions of people rely on Internet radio like Pandora and Jango to provide their daily dosage of tunes. Internet radio continues to garner more popularity as it offers listeners free music, as well as the chance to more-or-less customize their music preferences. It’s a great way to discover new favorites while remaining in your musical comfort zone. But what happens when you don’t want to just tune into what’s playing and want to listen to a specific song? In case you are wondering, no, the answer is not to illegally download the music, a practice that poses an immense threat to your Internet security, among other inherent reasons not to. Well, one option is to buy songs and use Google Music or iTunes to organize your library, but what if you don’t own that much music and you don’t want to pay every time you want to listen to Adele in the background? The answer is Spotify, an Internet music streaming service that lets users pick the exact tracks they want to listen to!

The first question that comes to mind is price. The good news is that Spotify offers a free version. Naturally, subscribers to the free plan experience occasional radio ads and other limitations like a lower sound quality and no offline mode. According to Wikipedia, after an initial grace period, the free version supports only 10 hours of music streaming per month, which is not that much for many people. Still, most Spotify users, around 7.5 million, currently use the free version, and given the service’s popularity, these numbers are certainly going to increase!

Upgrading to an unlimited account has the advantage of better music quality, fewer ads, and ability to listen in an offline mode. Spotify also boasts smartphone apps iOS and Android. So, similar to Google Music’s online storage feature, Spotify can act as a cloud music library. Regardless of which version you use, Spotify offers more than 15 million songs, having reached agreements with the big four music labels.

The service is quickly expanding to many European countries, and despite only having been active in the United States for a few months, it’s gaining immense popularity. Spotify recently announced in a blog post that is has reached 2.5 million paying users. Another recent major development has been the collaboration of Spotify and Facebook. To register for the service, you must use a Facebook  account—there’s no way around it. Once you sign up, you can share playlists and songs with friends, see what tracks others are listening to and follow your friends’ recommendations.

There are plenty of ways to listen to music. Spotify is just one of them, sure, but it’s also drastically different. Finally, we have a service that actually lets us listen to the music we want, share it, and instantly stream it for free.

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

With all of the changing technologies and new products, having computer support is no laughing matter.  When you need computer repairs, you want a company that provides efficient, professional service that addresses all your computer repair and computer support needs.  Even so, there is a rich amount of humor found in customer service calls to computer support technicians.  Communications problems frequently hamper computer repair over the phone or through online computer support. The inability of the technician to see and directly interact with the equipment they are repairing also creates issues.  The communications issues between computer support personnel and customers are the subject of a number of websites on the Internet.   Here are some of the best:

Computer Stupidities: Calls From Hell – This site features excruciating computer support calls from customers who take every word literally or do not understand the purpose of the disc for the game they just bought!  The computer support technicians attempt to aid customers with support issues and computer repairs with frequently hilarious results.  This site has some of the most in-depth humorous dialogues between computer support workers and actual customers.

Tales From The Techs – For more random computer support calls, technicians upload their humorous stories here.  Less technical than many of the computer repair humor sites, this features stories from the customer support technicians themselves and is worth a few good grins.

Funny Support Calls – Tech Support Jokes – This is a great site for quick jokes, as opposed to in-depth humorous stories between customers and computer support technicians.  These jokes from the perspective of computer repair technicians and computer support professionals are quick zingers that will make you smile and are work-safe.

The Joy Of Tech – For the visually-inclined, this is a tech-themed Internet comic strip that features daily geek humor.  While not limited to computer support jokes, this comic strip is intended for those who see the humor in computer repair and the oddities of computer design.  Anyone who understands the frustration of the computer support technicians on the other humor sites is likely to be computer-literate enough to get a real kick out of this comic strip.

Computer support and computer repair should be done by technicians who are patient, kind and professional.  While there is humor in the foibles of over-the-phone and online computer support calls, be sure to get your service with a company that respects your business and your dignity.  Rescuecom hires their computer support professionals and computer repair technicians with that in mind; our sense of humor is just an added part of the service!

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

With so much new technology bombarding us left and right, it’s hard to decide on the right time to upgrade to a newer model of a product or even try out something new. Many people are aware of the fact that brand new technology often needs quite a bit of initial tweaking to fix production glitches that are missed in the testing phase. It’s often the case that a few days into a new product’s debut, problems start to emerge, as was the case with Apple’s iPhone 4S, where Siri and battery problems began to show.

For many enthusiasts, this is hardly a problem—many enjoy being an indirect contributor to the success of gadgets by testing them out. If you’re so eager to try out a new product that you’re willing to work through any initial limitations, then by all means, go for it. Certainly, if you’re an experienced technology lab rat, you probably know what to expect. You might be such a loyal Apple or Android user that you actively push your new smartphone or tablet to its limits in the attempt to discover its strengths and weaknesses. Still, dropping your device or trying every single app you can get your hands on aren’t exactly the best approaches. Trying out too many apps, especially, can clog-up your device, not to mention pose security threats. Over the last four months, for example, the number of apps with malware in the Android market went up by over 400 percent!

On the other hand, if you’re just getting into the tech market and are thinking of standing in line for the new Windows phones, Nokia Lumia 800, for example, keep in mind that as cool as the latest technology is, it often costs more than just big bucks. You could find yourself waiting anywhere from a few weeks to a few months for software upgrades and security patches, which could limit your new device’s initial functionality.

Another thing to keep in mind is supply and demand. As more manufacturers push their products onto the market, competition will grow. The heightened competition will benefit consumers in more ways than just lowering prices. Companies will face each other in the OS battlefield, each trying to beat the others in quality and elegance.

Manufacturers learn from their mistakes, which is a good thing in the end, but it also means that consumers willing to buy the latest gadgets have to agree to be technology lab rats, for a short while, at least.

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

For several months, the Occupy Wall Street Movement has been going on in New York City.  The protest, currently physically clogging up New York City’s Zuccotti Park, seeks to bring attention to how the 1% of the wealthiest people control the fates of the remaining 99% of the population.  There is a strange disconnect in the literature provided by Occupy Wall Street through their website and the physical protest; it is unclear how the protesters hope to bring change to economic inequality through randomly clogging up a park near the Wall Street financial buildings.

What is fascinating is how every sector of the media is trying to make a statement about Occupy Wall Street.  On November 15, the Wall Street Journal posted a video online in which three reporter/commentators discussed a spike in Twitter activity the night before.  Twitter has been an invaluable tool used by members of Occupy Wall Street to communicate with one another through their smartphones.  The story focused on how Twitter traffic quintupled from about 100,000 tweets with Occupy Wall Street hash tags to 500,000.  This occurred when police came into the park in the middle of the night to clean.

The attention social networking media gets through stories like this is enough to make legitimate journalists and private citizens blanch.  A quick Google search of November 15 and Occupy Wall Street leads readers to surprisingly little information.  Legitimate news sites note that an eviction happened and that authorities allowed protesters back into the park by morning.  In a protest that has had moments when the major news outlets have covered police violence and significant crowd actions, a spike in Twitter traffic pertaining to Occupy Wall Street seems like a non-story.

The Wall Street Journal tacitly admits as much in the podcast when Zachary Seward notes that much of the traffic that contributed to the Twitter spike did not come from people actually in Zuccotti Park.  This is a textbook definition of hearsay and is more an illustration of how fast small events can be blown out of proportion.  When the Wall Street Journal treated what was essentially a high-tech game of “Telephone” as a legitimate news story, Edward R. Murrow rolled over in his grave.

Twitter could be a great asset to the media or to Occupy Wall Street, but the way people who are not involved in stories use Twitter to relay messages as if they were present sets a dangerous standard that journalists today, at the very least at the Wall Street Journal, seem content to follow.  The non-story from the Wall Street Journal calls to mind a brilliant parody done by The Onion News Network about assumed casualties from a train wreck.  At least viewers for The Onion know to expect humor as opposed to serious stories; we expect better from The Wall Street Journal.

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

When Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 dropped on DVD, a big part of the advertising campaign was that the fully-loaded version included an UltraViolet Digital Copy. UltraViolet uses the Cloud platform and with popular movies streaming from it, this is becoming many consumers’ first experience with the Cloud. While the idea of the Cloud may seem like a strong one, it has a number of risks to consumers.

The Cloud, as it pertains to media, is a form of online storage where companies produce material and give access to it to paying customers.  As a form of online storage, users have access to files without downloading or uploading them.  For those who buy the DVD and Blu-Rays that have UltraViolet copies, they access the online storage vault from UltraViolet when they want to watch their movie.  The file then streams from the online storage point in the Cloud to your computer, smartphone or other cloud-connected device.

The Cloud is banking on customers not wanting to use up hard drive space for digital copies of their media.  Companies using the Cloud see online storage as a way to prevent pirating.

Consumers have many reasons to be wary.  Because the online storage of the Cloud requires a connection, Internet security issues are a very real concern for users.  Threats to Internet security through viruses may be easier to control with the Cloud, but they are also easier to disseminate.  As soon as the Cloud-based version of a file is corrupted, every computer using that file may be infected.  To date, Internet security providers have neither illustrated such a problem nor a defense against it.  Users who are unsure of their own Internet security measures are wary of online storage like the Cloud.

The vendors using Cloud-based media are also are arguing that the Cloud-based media will not wear or scratch the way traditional DVDs, CDs and Blu-Ray discs do.  But Cloud-based vendors are neglecting the basic psychology of ownership.  For sure, an online storage vault is a convenient idea, but it leaves consumers without something physical to feel they own.  The Cloud-based online storage concept suffers the same defect as the MiniDisc in the area of the psychology of ownership; consumers pay more for something they do not see and cannot feel, making them feel like they overpaid.

Internet security issues aside, Cloud users have every reason to doubt the long-term viability of the scheme.  Technology changes fast, and paying more money for a service or company that may not exist in a few years makes consumers less likely to try new technologies.  The music store The Wall used to guarantee CDs with their sticker on them for life.  Those who still have CDs from The Wall now have a worthless guarantee.  Between the Internet security issues and the fact that online storage methods like the Cloud have not been tested in the long-term, users have every reason to remain wary of spending the extra money now.

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

The next time you find yourself thirsty for something to go along with your Pandora (or Jango) station, turn to Drinkify for a suggestion. Drinkify is a playful website that offers drink suggestions to match the type of music you are listening to! Drinkify’s attractive interface is elegant and simple. There are no buttons and fancy options, just a simple text-box that follows the words “I’m listening to.” Once you enter your music, you click on “What should I drink?” The black and green website doesn’t offer an option to log in, nor does it need to. The website is more like a playful smartphone app, serving an occasional entertainment purpose. It does let you tweet your suggested results, though.

Drinkify, barely two weeks old, is the nascent creation of Hannah Donovan, Lindsay Eyink, and Matthew Ogle. The three came up with the idea, designed it, programmed the interface, and presented it in 24 hours at the “Music Hack Day Boston 2011” event between November 5 and 6.

According to the event’s website, the goal of the 24-hour project is to cram together creative and innovative people to “explore and build the next generation of music applications.” Rest assured, the term “hacking” doesn’t have the same negative Internet security connotation that we’re used to hearing. In this context, it merely means being creative with computer programming.

Drinkify combines information from the Echo Nest Project with data from Last.fm to create the appearance and content of its suggestions. For example, if you’re listening to Adele, Drinkify retrieves data about Adele’s music, such as tempo, genre, speed, and other factors that describe the artist you select, and matches it with an image of an Adele album (21, for example). Echo Nest provides the backbone of the project with its powerful platform—The Musical Brain. Echo Nest essentially gathers information about music in a variety of complex ways and offers the resultant database to music-related app developers like the group behind Drinkify.

When it comes to matching drinks with the raw data from Echo Nest, Drinkify relies on a custom developed database (presumably by the creators), which might explain some of the quirky results that come up sometimes. Mozart, as well as quite a lot of classical music, requires red wine, according to Drinkify. Adele, gets the “Adele,” which is 2 oz. Vodka, 2 oz. coconut milk, and 1 oz. honey while Chris Daughtry gets “The Daughtry,” a draft beer.

It’s not clear if the creators will put more work into the website, but if they do decide to invest more time into it, we can be sure to expect some kind of ad support down the road. On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine that Drinkify would ever survive as a subscription-based service. Though the website is creative and entertaining, it’s one of those resources whose novelty is connected to the fact that it is free.

Next time you’re jamming to some tunes and decide you need a drink, ask Drinkify and let it Drinkify your music into a drink! You might want to pass on the Mariah Carrie (vodka, egg, Hennessy).

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

Social networks come and go, especially with changing Internet security concerns stemming from identity theft, but one of the social networks that never truly came of age and is having a slower collapse than others is Elftown.  Elftown – www.elftown.com – is an online artistic community and it was one of the earliest social networks online.  Founded in 2002, it predates both Myspace and Facebook.

Despite Internet security concerns, the site is not dead yet!  Many artists are still discovering Elftown as a viable off-site option for data.  In the last year the reference photography page on Elftown has become a resource for digital artists with tens of thousands of images that users have made available.  Despite concerns over Internet security, Elftowners use the site for data backup of their artistic works.  As a relatively unknown site, Elftown does not have as many Internet security issues, making it an ideal place for artists to store digital copies of their artwork.  This makes it an ideal site for data backup for artists who are storing their works on older systems.  Using Elftown for data backup and data recovery is certainly what Elftowners do with reference pictures.  A simple Google search of “reference pictures” puts Elftown as the second result out of 283 million results!

Elftown is most analogous to deviantART, though Elftown follows a less commercial model.  Elftown has never effectively monetized the site and relies upon donations of funds and equipment to keep the Elftown servers running.  Elftown’s distinction is that it focuses on the creation of art, while protecting artists through reasonable Internet security, screening methods and protected data backup options.

What Elftown has that the other social networks lack is a strong sense of community involvement.  When you sign up for Elftown, your application has to be approved by the site’s founder, Hedda.  After Hedda approves you, Guides greet users, and artists on the site randomly say “hello.”  A bar on the right side of the Elftown page shows a list of the Elftowners who are currently online.

As artists, artistic integrity is very important, as is Internet security to protect their intellectual property. The social aspect of Elftown is visible by Guards who patrol the site to enforce the terms of use and prevent violations to copyright laws, as well as guard against Internet security violations and threats to data backup on the site.  Elftown runs contests where users are encouraged to generate original art for specific themes, encouraging healthy competition.

Elftown started as a virtuous idea: to connect artists of all mediums with one another to encourage art and the free spread of ideas.  As Myspace.com and Facebook decline, perhaps the Elftown model will have its day simply by enduring through Internet security threats and by providing reliable data backup for artists.  Social networking is about connecting, not monetizing, and Elftown has endured when others on the Internet have not.  Elftown is still ahead of its time.

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