Computer Support Blog

With advances in technology like the camera and video camera on the Apple iPhone 4S, it seems like smartphone manufacturers continue to forget about the basic purpose of the phone.  The telephone and mobile phone were devices used for person-to-person communication before they were data storage tools, music players or cameras.  Touch, an app for smartphones manufactured by the small Canadian company Enflick, seems to recall the origins of the smartphone and makes texting cool again, by providing more chat options and blending some of the most successful elements of social networking.

Touch, which went by the name Pingchat until recently, is an application for Apple iPhones (or any other iOS-driven device), Android powered smartphones and Blackberry products.  The Touch app is designed to make texting more flexible and to provide options for group communications over your smartphone.

The texting options Touch provides are a bit more sophisticated than standard text programs.  In addition to not having the strict character limits of traditional texting, the Chat function through Touch provides vastly faster back-and-forth messages between you and the person with whom you are chatting.  The interface has more in common with a chat program like Instant Messenger than it does a texting program, including being able to see when the person or people you are chatting with are typing.

The group aspect of Touch is another distinctive aspect of the app.  Touch allows you to chat or share photos with other individuals or select groups of your friends.  You may have a multi-person chat session with other Touch-enabled friends.  During such multi-person chats, you may share photos and videos through Touch with all of your friends.  As a result, Touch becomes a great way to get feedback from all of your friends at once.

As well, Touch allows you to send private messages to individuals or groups outside the Touch conversation.  While obscure social networks like Elftown have had systems where you could see when someone had read your message, a lot of the newer networks and apps leave you in the dark about what happens to your messages after you send them.  Touch goes back to letting you see just how your friends react to your messages, including having status updates noting your friend drafting a response to a message you sent!

By combining some of the best old ideas with some of the newest innovations in social networking, Touch reinvents texting and file sharing for smartphone users.  Touch makes intimate group texting cool and it is a welcome app for smartphone users . . . at least until we all have videophones!

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

It is hard to argue that any computer or electronics company has tried to tie itself to cutting edge popular music more than Apple.  Apple Computers reinvented itself on the strength of their portable music device, the iPod, and has been at the forefront of the legal digital download market with iTunes.  While Apple has leased many classic tunes for its advertising, appearing in an Apple commercial can truly jumpstart the career of an emerging musical artist.

When the first Apple iPod commercials began playing in 2001, each of the four different commercials used a different song.  While Smash Mouth’s “All-Star” remained an overplayed hit when the commercial was released and Seal’s “Crazy” showed no change in sales by being featured, newer acts fared better.  Sister Hazel, who had been written off as a one-hit wonder, managed to turn their floundering album Fortress into a gold record by letting Apple use the single “Beautiful Thing” in their first commercial!  Even the Dave Brubeck Quartet successfully promoted using those first iPod commercials.  Inclusion of the classic jazz song “Take Five” bolstered the sale of three Dave Brubeck Quartet albums in 2001!

They cannot all be winners, of course.  The Apple iPod 5G commercials featured a U2 song, “Original Of The Species” that failed to break into the Top 40.  U2 had little to complain about in its relationship with Apple, though; in 2004 the band teased its album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb on iPod commercials using the single “Vertigo.”  The commercials using “Vertigo” used dancing silhouettes that pushed the album’s sales up to nine million units sold, in a year rap and hip-hop music dominated the music industry.

Arguably, no one has benefitted more from an association with Apple advertising (outside Apple itself!) than the artist Feist.  Feist released her album The Reminder in April, 2007 to little fanfare and very little radio support.  Feist’s song “1 2 3 4” from The Remainder was featured in the 2007 iPod Nano 3G commercials promoting the different color shells of the Nano.  Following the launch of the commercial, sales of The Remainder skyrocketed to sell over one million copies!  “1 2 3 4” has sold 1.2 million digital downloads, most of them through iTunes!

Apple ties its products to trendy music in a way that has a proven record of revitalizing careers as well as pushing struggling artists to the forefront of the public’s attention.  Perhaps that is why Grouplove is so happy to have their song “Tongue Tied” featured on the new iPod Touch 4G commercials.  The iPod Touch 4G will undoubtedly be one of the bestselling Apple products this Christmas season; it remains to be seen how Grouplove fares!

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 many different games moving from the real world into the digitized realms of computer gaming, it is unsurprising that pinball games have been a staple computer game almost since personal computers became popular.  Unlike those who play video slot machines, pinball players tend to like some sense of order to their gaming.  Pinball players want their game to conform to the physical laws of the world and they play to thrill over the speed at which the game changes.  While a video slot machine player may play the same game in the home as they do in the casino, seasoned pinball players will tell you that playing a physical pinball machine and playing a computer pinball program are two very different experiences.

The line between the physical pinball machines and the computer pinball machines is getting a lot more narrow, thanks to Future Pinball.  Future Pinball is a freeware game construction program for Windows XP and subsequent editions of Windows.  The program requires only 19.2 MB of free drive space, but because you get to import many of your own graphics, you will want more space available.  Future Pinball is a construction program that has everything you need to create your own virtual pinball machine!

Future Pinball is best envisioned as a workshop for pinball machine enthusiasts.  You start with the empty frame of the pinball machine and then you select all of the elements you want to add to the virtual pinball machine.  All of the classic design elements of a physical pinball machine are present in Future Pinball, from bumpers to ramps to targets to additional flippers!  You are able to lay out a 3-D pinball machine with all of your favorite elements.

Once you have the basic “physical” elements of your personalized pinball machine loaded, you get to work on the style aspects.  Future Pinball makes it possible for you to load in any graphics you have on your computer.  You can make a personalized, unique pinball machine from your favorite media franchise or superstar or accent it with pictures and themes from your personal life!  After that, you may assign points to each component.  The game supports the addition of music files as well, so this can truly become your ultimate pinball machine.  If at that point you still have the willpower to resist playing your new creation, Future Pinball allows you to create the leveled games and challenges most pinball players have come to expect with pinball machines.

What makes Future Pinball so incredible is the already existing programming.  While there is a lot to configure within this game, Future Pinball comes programmed with the advanced laws of physics that guide pinball gameplay.  Each item you add to the machine has a specific composition and shape that comes programmed with realistic properties.  When you make your Future Pinball game, the virtual metal ball inside reacts as a real metal ball would, making this the most lifelike pinball game yet!

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

Geeks love swag.  It’s true.  The only thing that truly separates the shopaholics who cannot resist when their favorite department store bundles an obscene number of cosmetics together at a discounted price and the geek community is what the different demographics are spending their money on.  Comic book geeks thrill over variant covers, cinephiles will hunt down exclusive packages like the Inception briefcase and fans of Katy Perry shelled out extra cash for a bonus package of her c.d. Teenage Dream that included a baby-t.  Video game enthusiasts are no exception to the overall geek culture.  In 2011, there were some exclusive packages and incentives that will make video game geeks salivate.  The best include:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Collector’s Edition.  Video game fans wildly anticipated Skyrim in advance of its mid-November release.  To build on the hype and merchandise it, Bethesda released a Collector’s Edition of Skyrim that includes a statue of one of the primary characters from the game, a book on the artwork of Skyrim and a “Making Of Skyrim” DVD, none of which are available elsewhere.  This remains fairly available, probably because it is still such a new game.

Batman Arkham City Collector’s Edition.  Comic book geeks and video game geeks truly synergized for the release of Batman Arkham City this year.  Warner Brothers banked on the long history of comic book readers wanting exclusives to boost the video game’s sales.  The Collector’s Edition appeals to the comic book-loving geek with its inclusion of an exclusive statue.  The Collector’s edition also includes a DVD of Batman: Gotham Knight, collectible art book, digital album of music inspired by the game, a map and an exclusive skin.  This has been very popular with both types of fans.  Past history with this sort of exclusive has illustrated they appreciate well after they sell out in the primary market.  Because of the sheer number of exclusives, this is likely to be a great gift even for those Batman fans that do not play video games.

Battlefield 3 VIP Kit.  EA, the producer of Battlefield 3, produced a limited edition VIP kit for celebrities.  This rare item is highly sought after, as Battlefield 3 was one of the bestselling games of the year.  Only fifty of the kits were made, which makes sense because the exclusive package is a metal military trunk!  Inside, EA – the producer of Battlefield 3 – included the game, a controller, an Apple TV, a watch, dog tags and a hollowed out grenade.  Unless you know a famous rapper or game player who got one of these, odds are this will remain the holy grail of video game exclusives!

Fans of video games will want to hunt for the best possible version of the game they love . . . or suspect they will love before they make their initial purchase.

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 in the news about the recent death of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, it might be hard to believe that the Apple Corporation is still running at all!  Indeed, if the media attention was the sole indicator, the public would believe that Apple was a headless company.  That is not the case, as Tim Cook has been Apple’s CEO since late August of 2011.

Tim Cook was a logical choice to succeed Steve Jobs, for many reasons.  The most obvious reason Tim Cook was handed the reins of Apple was that he had done the job twice before.  While Steve Jobs recovered from surgery in 2004 and 2009, Tim Cook became the temporary CEO and Apple ran just fine.  Since Cook became CEO in August, Cook has led Apple through the release of iCloud, the iPhone 4S and the new generation of MacBook Pro laptop computers!  While Steve Jobs may have founded Apple, the company continues to innovate and produce under Tim Cook.

Stockholders and the Board of Directors are responsible for naming a company’s CEO and they are largely satisfied with Apple’s growth under Tim Cook.  Employee approval of Tim Cook is 99%!  When the overwhelming majority of your work force enjoys working for you, it bodes well for the company. Apple stockholders should be heartened by Cook’s approval rating.

Tim Cook’s rise to CEO was the result of a lot of hard work.  Before becoming Chief Operating Officer of Apple, Cook made Apple more profitable during some of its leanest pre-iPod years.  Before 2007, Cook strategically closed factories and warehouses to reduce inventory and eliminate issues in Apple’s manufacturing processes.  By stripping the company of waste, Cook laid the framework by which Apple could reinvent itself, which it successfully did.  With Apple’s infrastructure streamlined, Cook assumed more responsibilities as the Chief Operating Officer.  In that capacity, Cook ran the operations of Apple in such a way that made the manufacture and distribution of products like the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad exceptionally profitable.  Under Cook’s leadership, the environmental standards of Apple manufacturing have become more stringent and the company has reduced its carbon footprint.  Steve Jobs may have had the vision to make Apple products like the iPod into a cultural phenomenon, but Tim Cook had the responsibility to execute significant reforms in corporate stewardship.  Cook met those challenges, which made him an easy choice for Chief Executive Officer for the Board.

The world can never replace the mind of Steve Jobs, who founded Apple Computers.  But in Tim Cook, the world sees hope that the legacy of Steve Jobs will endure.

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

One of the coolest products in the world is not one that will be available directly to consumers, but it will benefit everyone who travels by plane.  The Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast is that cool product and it is making air travel much safer than it ever has been.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, the woeful state of air traffic technology became public knowledge.  For the first time, most people in the United States learned that most of the computer systems that monitored and regulated air traffic control were from the 1950s!  The last vacuum tube computers were mass produced in 1962, yet the airline industry continued to use those outdated computers.  In 2003, the United States Congress established the Joint Planning and Development Office to revamp the outdated technologies the air traffic industry has been using.  The JPDO proposed NextGen and the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system is an integral part of that initiative.

The Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system is an innovative tool that works much like GPS.  The ADS-B system keeps track of each and every plane outfitted with the system.  One impressive leap forward that the ADS-B system makes is that the display for the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast includes images of both planes in the air and on the ground.  Because the ADS-B system monitors planes still in the terminal, it will help prevent runway conflicts.  The other important leap forward that ADS-B includes is an interface that is universal.  Unlike previous, radar-based systems that showed air traffic controllers only the airspace around their terminal, with plane positions relative to them, the ADS-B provides universal displays.  This means that your departure airport, your destination airport and every airport in between has access to the exact same images and the same training to know how to properly interpret it! The ADS-B comes in two parts, the ADS-B In and the ADS-B Out.

The ADS-B In is a receiver.  The Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system is a satellite-based network that monitors weather information, geographical locations on the ground and ADS-B Out transmitters.  In many ways, the ADS-B system is an airborne computer network, specifically designed for aviation.  The ADS-B In system is what pilots use to access the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system.  Using ADS-B In, the pilot receives weather information, telemetry on other planes and guidance information.

The ADS-B Out is the transmitter.  The ADS-B Out is like a combination of GPS and the plane’s black box.  The Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out system transmits all data about the plane and flight from the equipped plane to the ADS-B satellite network.

Australia is, to date, the only nation that has fully upgraded entirely to ADS-B technology.  The United States is overhauling its aviation industry and by 2020, the intent is that the United States will be entirely on the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system.  Finally, the aviation industry is getting out of the 1950s and into the 21rst Century!

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

Around the holidays each year for the last five years, there have been two recognizable business trends.  The first trend is that more and more people are purchasing Christmas gifts online.  For 2011, Cyber Monday sales totaled $1.3 billion, making it the strongest online shopping day in history.  The trend toward shopping on the Internet as opposed to going out to crowded brick and mortar stores has been steadily growing since 2005.  Even as online shopping increases, brick and mortar stores have made it harder to return unwanted gifts after Christmas.

The trend against universal returns is an irksome one.  Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart as a customer service-driven retail store.  One of the principles Walton used when establishing Wal-Mart was that “the customer is always right.”  The advertising campaigns used to promote the first Wal-Mart super centers in the late 1980s restated that principle frequently.  At that time, Wal-Mart actively advertised a return policy so generous that they would accept returns, even if the item came from another store.  Now, however, Wal-Mart’s return policy is far less liberal or customer service oriented.  Wal-Mart.com’s return site requires order numbers and shipping information, even for gifts!  Wal-Mart stores accept returns without a receipt, even if the item was purchased online.  However, most returns without a receipt are only valid for store credit or exchange.  The only post-Christmas change to Wal-Mart’s return policy is that the store extends the return date for electronics to increase the amount of time you may return or exchange electronics.

Other major electronics or computer vendors are following that less customer-friendly return policy.  Apple Stores only accept unopened items with their original or gift receipt.  If you get an Apple iPhone as a gift, returning it after the holidays does not necessarily cancel your service commitment.  As a result, returning an iPhone means returning the physical phone and contacting your carrier to cancel service, and, with some contracts, you may not be able to cancel early without fees!

With most major stores requiring a receipt and your gift to be unopened in its original packaging, now it is more important than ever to be careful about dropping gift hints.  If you want a new laptop, smartphone or other computer device this holiday season, be precise when requesting it and be careful not to ask more than one person for the same thing.  The best defense against the miserly return policies of stores is to not have to make a return at all.

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

Have you ever had an argument with someone you do not trust?  You know the kind, the person with whom you want to settle an issue through the flip of a coin, but you know they’ll find a way to cheat.  Just as the Internet provided us with increased data storage options, Cloud-based entertainment and more sophisticated mapping services, now it provides unbiased coin flips through Random.org’s True Random Number Service.  Settle bets, stymie psychics, or simply confound your friends by showing interest in a random number generator with Random.org’s True Random Number Service!

Random.org is a cool, entertaining, website and the coin flipper is only one interface that the site offers.  Random.org’s True Random Number Service is an esoteric bit of random number generators that may be used for fun or science.  Distinguished from other random number generation sites, the True Random Number Service from Random.org does not come from a complex equation that may be predicted with enough sampling (and a mathematical mindset).

Instead, creator Mads Haahr generates the random numbers through a complex radio receptor array that uses atmospheric noise.  In fact, the software for the True Random Number Service is not available because it requires the non-computer input it receives from the radio wave observations!  This is true randomness and Random.org makes it very cool.

The True Random Number Service has a variety of interfaces, the best of which are entirely free.  The coin flipper presents simple “heads” or “tails” for one to sixteen coins at a time from an inventory of eighty-eight different coins.  Virtually every country connected to the Internet has a representation of its coins.  There are also a few ancient civilizations and novelty coins available.  There is a playing card shuffler which allows those who need to settle an issue through a game of high card (or anything else for which you would select a single card from a 52 or 54 card deck) to randomly pick a card.  There are also random dice rolls, which could make your games of RISK or Yahtzee go much more unpredictably than playing with actual dice.

There is also a very simple, very direct true random number generator at Random.org that may generate columns of random numbers from -1,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000!  It does not take much playing around with the system to discover just how well it works!

Random.org is an easy site to use and it does not require any additional computer support to operate any of the gadgets and widgets it provides.  With over a billion random bits generated, Random.org is the most stable random element on the Internet!

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

Happy Holidays from Rescuecom!

Today, as you spend time with friends, family and loved ones, we urge you to consider the less fortunate.  If you are reading this, you have access to the Internet and one of the most extraordinary technological tools in the world.  Not everyone is so fortunate.  In fact, the poorest Americans live without computer access or even telephones.

You have the power to use your new technology to help out a person in need.  96% of the population of the United States has a mobile phone.  You may have even gotten a new mobile phone or smartphone for the holidays!  While a part of the 4% that does not have a mobile phone includes people who just do not want the technology, a growing portion of the population simply cannot afford a cellular phone.  If you have looked around for a pay phone lately, you know that those who relied upon that traditional phone technology to spread holiday wishes may have disappeared from your area.

That is where you can make a difference this holiday season.  Many poor people have family members in other parts of the country or the world.  You can help connect poor, phoneless, people in your community with their distant loved ones, even if only for a phone call.  Smartphones with Internet access truly do make the world a smaller place and access to social networks through those smartphones may make for some real holiday miracles, even if you are just helping two people connect.

If your community has a large transient, disenfranchised or poor population, odds are there is a place they congregate.  Today is a great day to go there; bring a friend or several friends and your smartphones.  Politely introduce yourself when you arrive and ask the people there if there is anyone you could help them contact.  With your smartphone, you may be able to look up friends, family members or loved ones for the poor people there.  With social networks, you may even be able to connect two poor people without phones through friends in distant areas taking the same initiative!

For the cost of a phone call and the time it takes to help an impoverished person find contact information for another person on the Internet, you can make a real holiday miracle happen.  You have a cool phone that you might well upgrade by this time next year; helping to connect two people, even for a few minutes, can give you a joy that will last much longer.

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

Happy Holidays from Rescuecom!

For the last few weeks, we have been presenting you with cool gadgets, awesome websites and neat products.  The holidays are a great time to give and get all manner of technological wonders.  Today, we would like to share a special Holiday Cool Product Of The Day: it’s you!

You, your time and your simple presence can make the day better for those around you or even a stranger.  Today, take some time to be with your family.  It does not matter what religion, race, creed or color you are; your friends and family deserve the gift that is you.  And you deserve to get the gift of loved ones!  So today, why not put down the smartphones, disconnect from the Internet and sit face to face with the ones you love and let them know how important they are to you?

For those Santas who need last minute technical advice, computer support and computer repair, we at Rescuecom are here 24 hours.  We are happy to serve you and check back tomorrow for our next great gadget.  But today, the best product we can recommend is you!

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