Computer Support Blog

The rise of video games on smartphones and tablet computers has led to many changes in perception about video gaming.  People who used to despise video games now make Gardenville and Angry Birds exceptionally popular.  With the change in both attitudes toward video games and the rise of untraditional video game platforms comes the need for new business models.  One of the new attempts to make money off these new forms of gaming comes from Roy Liu.

Roy Liu is a co-founder of the new company GimmieWorld.  Liu is also the company’s Chief Technology Officer.  GimmieWorld is the innovative new site that rewards video game enthusiasts for trying new games on their mobile computing device or smartphone.  Liu’s idea for the platform was to have incentives for trying new games and GimmieWorld provides points to users for trying new games.  Those points may be redeemed for freebies both within the games and on the emerging GimmieWorld site.  To lure more developers to GimmieWorld, Roy Liu has illustrated a strong connection between mobile computing customers and giveaways that gives developers a real incentive to try the new service.  As a developer himself, Roy Liu recognizes the importance of getting your product in front of the intended consumers and his GimmieWorld provides that service for emerging mobile video game developers!

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Ever since Twiggy and the rise of the supermodel, the fashion industry has conditioned women to hate their bodies.  While the philosophy of the 1970s was one of love, acceptance and self-improvement, with the proliferation of size 0 in modeling, the “you must always be thinner” philosophy has replaced the “love your body” mindset.  Fortunately, computers are finally coming to the rescue in the area of women’s body image!  From designing clothes to modeling them, computers are making ultra-thin models obsolete.

Computers have become integral to the fashion industry.  More than simply being used for inventory control and online shopping, the fashion industry relies heavily on computers.  While computer aided design and computer modeling are the most important computer-related innovations in the fashion industry, computers have made easier much more mundane tasks like materials procurement.  The Internet is a wealth of resources for fashion designers and manufacturers, as they are able to find all sorts of textiles and designs through the Internet that are not available to them in the capitals of the fashion industry.

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It is still early in the new year, so advertising on television still contains reminders to drink responsibly.  That type of advertising virtually disappears right after the Super Bowl until the winter holidays (I suppose the beer manufacturers know that many people consume alcoholic beverages when confronted with either football or family), despite alcohol-related drinking deaths being a year-round problem.  And while there are numerous forms of technology that may help you find where the trendy places to drink are or what the best new alcoholic beverages are, there are few products that can help prevent drinking and driving.  Outside outright prevention, the best weapon against drunk or buzzed driving is education.  For that, HDE has a portable breathalyzer!

HDE’s Digital Breathalyzer is a blood alcohol level tester that is available for consumer use.  The specialized electronic device is very simple to use and runs on 3 AAA batteries (which HDE does not provide).  The Digital Breathalyzer runs on the same principles that the breathalyzers used by law enforcement personnel operate on.  The small black device has a tube into which you breathe and the Digital Breathalyzer determines your blood alcohol content.  Registering from 0.00% BAC up to the almost-lethal .19% BAC, the Digital Breathalyzer is an exceptional tool for preventing the operation a motor vehicle while impaired or influenced by alcohol.

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A few years back, Microsoft had some legal troubles.  The U.S. government decided to aggressively pursue the Microsoft Corporation for antitrust violations.  This resulted in a restructuring of much of the way Microsoft does business and as Microsoft progresses past that dark chapter in its corporate history, it is once more growing steadily.  The results of the government probes and prosecution would have been much worse, had it not been for Mary E. Snapp.

Mary E. Snapp is the Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel in the Law and Corporate Affairs branch of Microsoft.  She specializes in providing legal advice for the Products and Services Division of Microsoft.  As Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of the vital Products and Services division, Snapp oversees 150 lawyers working to protect Microsoft’s legal claims for some of the most widely-used Microsoft products.

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The biggest problem in the tech sector is not supply chain problems, environmental regulations, lack of creativity or even limited battery life.  The biggest problem in the tech sector, like so many industries, is hubris.  Hubris, the pride that leads one to believe that they are invincible, flawless, destined for greatness/market dominance/perfection, is the true scourge of the tech sector.  Why?  Quite simply it is the vainest form of hubris wherein the largest technology companies come to believe that because they have hired the absolute best and brightest tech school graduates, that the pool is empty, no other geniuses exist.  Virtually every major tech company believes that they have the individuals and teams who are the most skilled and most creative.  That belief makes them blind to the creative programming geniuses who work outside the corporate structure.

Symantec was so blinded when hackers cracked into their servers and downloaded the source code for Symantec’s pcAnywhere and Norton Antivirus.

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After the federal government took down the file-sharing website MegaUpload, many people have renewed the copyright debate. MegaUpload, and the associated site MegaVideo, were some of the most popular websites on the Internet, with millions of page views a day. The Justice Department’s quick and efficient takedown of MegaUpload has scared many of the other major file-sharing websites.

FileSonic and FileServe have both suspended users’ ability to download any content that the users did not upload themselves. This reaction, immediately after the MegaUpload takedown happened, is meant to save them from the same criminal charges the owners of MegaUpload are facing.

Other than file-sharing sites changing the way they function, there have been many mixed reactions to the Justice Department’s actions. Some say that it was unconstitutional, as users who had legal files on MegaUpload cannot access those files anymore. Others praise the decision and swift action for stopping online piracy.

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With all of the emphasis on USB flash drives for portable storage, it is easy to forget that portable hard drives are even a viable option for consumers any more.  Portable hard drives, however, offer you more stable digital storage and, usually, greater capacity than can be found on the less-stable flash drives.  LaCia makes it impossible to deny the power and coolness of portable hard drives, though, with the Rugged Triple USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive!

The Rugged Triple Portable Hard Drive is a state-of-the-art portable hard drive from LaCia, one of the leading computer hardware manufacturers concerned with computer security.  LaCia is synonymous with data protection the world round and the Rugged Triple may well be their masterpiece product.

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With a new year comes a plethora of corporate shake-ups.  2012 is no different and Intel, the world’s leading manufacturer of microchips, was one of the big companies to celebrate after the annual Consumer Electronics Show by moving key personnel around.  While several well-known members of Intel’s executive staff moved around – like David Perlmutter, whom the Board promoted to Chief Product Officer – there was perhaps no greater beneficiary of the corporate shake-up than Brian Krzanich.  Brian Krzanich is now the Chief Operating Officer of Intel!

Brian Krzanich was Intel’s Vice President and General Manager for Manufacturing and Supply when he was tapped to be the new Chief Operating Officer.  Krzanich served as General Manager for Marketing and Supply since 2007 and before that, he worked for four years as part of the Assembly Test team, ensuring quality control at Intel was up to the company’s lofty standards.  Brian Krzanich first came to the attention of Intel’s executives when he devised a process to manufacture technologies at the .13 micron-process level.  This was a breakthrough at the time and helped put him on the radar of those he will now work with as Chief Operating Officer.

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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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One of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions in the United States is to make a commitment to lose weight or improve your health through better management of your diet.  To that end, there are a lot of impressive ways that technology can help you in your fight to lose weight.  Sites like CalorieCount and devices like the DietMate Weight Loss Computer can be real assets if you are trying to lose weight.  But, if you do not want to buy a new computer device or if you eat out a lot, those products may not work well for you.  For you, there is the YumPower app!

YumPower is an application for smartphones from HealthPartners.  The premise of the application is ridiculously simple; when you tell the app your current location and the type of diet you are on, it finds proximate restaurants to you that will meet your dietary needs.  Even more impressive, YumPower not only indicates which restaurants you can eat at, but it informs you of the menu items that meet your dietary needs.  So, for example, YumPower asserts that for those who are on a low calorie diet, Denny’s has nine options for your dining pleasure!

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