Computer Support Blog

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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There have been some truly intriguing combinations of computer devices.  The Sony VAIO Mouse Talk, for example, very cleverly combined a computer mouse with a cell phone.  It takes a lot of imagination to combine a standard computer peripheral with something else to make a new device that is more useful than it is clever.  Inventors risk making something that is more of a gimmick than a worthwhile gadget.  Genius, a Taiwan-based company specializing in devices for the information technology field, managed to create an unlikely combination device that is surprisingly practical with its Ring Presenter.

The Ring Presenter combines a computer mouse with a laser pointer.  This unlikely combination proves to be remarkably useful due to the way that it was designed by Genius.  With a clever ring design, Genius gives you hands-free control of your presentations.  Equally important, the Ring Presenter allows you to control your presentations without having to be at your computer.

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Once upon a time, there were three fields of vision.  Normal vision was considered a range around twenty feet away and with ideal vision you could see everything there clearly.  When humanity was hunting to survive, seeing farther way became important.  With the invention of the written word and, especially, printed text, the ability to see close objects became essential.  With the rise of technology tends to come new problems and for computer users, one of the most serious is computer eye strain.

Computer eye strain is a condition reported by fifty percent of computer users.  Computer eye strain can manifest itself in symptoms as benign as slightly dry or itchy eyes to the more extreme migraine headaches.  There are several causes of computer eye strain.

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As technology has improved, it is easy to recall the milestones in terms of experience.  Those who were alive during the transition between black and white and color television often recall the first program they saw in color.  Similarly, those who were raised on older color televisions can usually recall how awesome their first experience with a true high definition set was.  Now, the next leap forward has hit the market with an ultra-high definition 3D television from Samsung!

The best part is, with this 3D television, you do not need special glasses!

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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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Alpha Consumers, we need you!

In just a few days, Victorinox will release one of the coolest products to hit the portable memory market ever.  However, like so many initial product releases, it comes with a pretty hefty price tag.  As a result, many of us will rely upon the fact that Alpha Consumers satisfy the initial demand and absorb the expense of producing the next, less expensive, round of the product.  The cool new product is the Victorinox 1 TB USB/eSATA II flash drive!

Victorinox, most famous for creating and selling the Swiss Army Knife, has been making and selling USB flash drives of a similar style for years.  Incorporated into their trademarked fold-out design that allows you to essentially keep several different tools within a common handle, Victorinox included a USB flash drive to keep the tool relevant in the 21^st Century.  Victorinox is pushing the envelope forward now with their 1 TB USB/eSATA II flash drive.

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