Computer Support Blog

As the new year arrives, it is time to both look back and look forward.  Just as you consider the best video games of 2011; it is worth getting excited about some very cool video games coming out this year.  No matter what your video game platform, there is ample reason to be excited about gaming in 2012.  The games most worth looking forward to (in no particular order) are:

Final Fantasy VIII – 2.  There are few video game franchises that have the longevity that Square Enix does with its Final Fantasy franchise.  The latest installment promises the best-ever graphics, which is saying a lot as the Final Fantasy games have pushed the envelope on video game graphics.  In addition to returning players to one of their favorite fantasy settings, this game promises some exciting changes in the game mechanic that will keep gameplay fresh.

XCOM.  You play an agent in the 1960s fighting aliens here on Earth.  Enough said.  No?  XCOM is a first-person shooter game with a government conspiracy/alien invasion feel to it.  On the plot front, this game has more potential than most video games in the last few years.

Mass Effect 3. Just as the Harry Potter Saga ended and the Twilight Saga is ending in 2012, the Mass Effect video game franchise is coming to a close.  Bioware is promising to have the game series go out with a bang as you fight off an alien invasion of the galaxy in the distant future.  The multiplayer function of the game promises to be very cool and make for a natural transition for players who get tired of Gears Of War: Modern Warfare 3, but still want exciting combat.

Minecraft.  Sure, there is a new Halo game coming out, but Minecraft just seems like a cooler premise.  During the day, you build structures, so players with a creative instinct get to express themselves artistically.  When the game turns to night mode, you have to stop all of the creatures that want to destroy the building you just made!  The very cool premise overcomes any sense that the graphics for the game are utterly ridiculous.

Metal Gear Solid Rising. Fans of the Metal Gear franchise have been on the edge of their seats for this sequel since 2009 when Kojima Productions first announced it.  The time has come, though the game for PS3 and Xbox 360 does not yet have an official release date.  Leave it to the video game producers to announce it, give screen shots and then keep you waiting to tell you when it will ship!

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

According to the IFPI Digital Music Report from 2011, the music industry is a 15.8 billion dollar industry.  In 2010, legal digital music downloads generated $4.6 billion.  That number, which represents 29% of the music industry, has a vast number of analysts reaching very different conclusions.  The report, which notes that the music industry suffered a 31% loss between 2004 and 2010, is enough to give audiophiles pause.

Digital music in the form of digital downloads – audio files traditionally found online – have been on the market for over fifteen years.  However, the music industry started more carefully tracking the market share of digital downloads in 2004, following the collapse of Napster.  The influence of digital music in the marketplace has only increased; since 2004 the value of the digital music market increased 1000%!

Even with the convenient access to music that digital music affords its listeners and the lower production cost digital music offers producers, the music industry has seen widespread revenue losses.  Most in the music industry want to attribute the loss of revenue to pirated digital downloads.  Trends of pirating of digital music vary with every country, but some areas with less stringent intellectual property protections contribute more to the loss of revenue from pirating.  In the UK, 76% of music obtained online in 2010 was obtained illegally.  Industry experts estimate that digital music sales would be 131% greater if all piracy ended.

But the industry analysts may be making too many stretches in blaming digital music piracy for the industry’s woes.  The Digital Music Report attributes the 12% drop in global Top 50 concert revenues to pirating.  That connection may be a false one.  There is no evidence to suggest that those who pirate music either were attending concerts before they became music pirates or are less inclined to attend concerts once they begin pirating.  A much more likely factor contributing to lower concert attendance is the global financial crisis which has left many without the disposable income to spend on attending concerts.

Moreover, the report acknowledges that at 30% of their revenues, the music industry invests more heavily than any other entertainment sector in marketing and A&R (artists and repertoire, which is essentially talent scouting and artist development).  The report and analysts are quick to blame music piracy as the overwhelming cause of 31% drop in the value of the music industry since 2004.  Again, this is a simplistic view.  In that same time frame, pop music has all but died, replaced by rap, hip-hop and R&B on most Top 40 stations.  It is just as likely that the A&R sector of the music industry radically misjudged what music customers would pay for as it is that the piracy of digital music has precipitated the loss of revenues.

New services like Google Music continue to bolster the legal propagation of digital music downloads; there is no corresponding A&R avenue to so vigorously promote new, quality artists.

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

Recently, we explored the growing phenomenon of digital comic books.  One of the coolest products for digital comic books is the Comixology Guided View digital comic reader.  Available for free through Comixology.com, the Guided View digital comic book reader is an easy-to-use application that comic book readers use to buy and read digital comic books on any or all computer devices they own.

Guided View is a reader, much like the well-known Adobe readers, but to date Guided View is exclusively for digital comic books.  Guided View has two distinct advantages other digital comic book readers do not have.  The first is that because Digital View is through Comixology and not an individual publisher, readers may easily and inexpensively purchase digital comic books from various publishers with a consistent platform.  It is a huge advantage for readers who have favorite characters from DC Comics, Marvel and the independents to not have to switch platforms or create multiple accounts just to read the comic books they love.

The other serious advantage of Guided View is that the Comixology-created platform is fully transferable.  When you create an account with Comixology.com, that account is accessible from all of your computers, smartphones or other mobile devices.  That universal account access provides you with the ability to read your digital comic books with whatever device you have on you at the time.  If your laptop computer runs out of battery power, that is not a problem!  Simply continue reading your digital comic book on your tablet computer or smartphone.  That access is a convenience that allows readers to be assured they will only pay for their digital comic book once, but have the ability to read it in perpetuity.

Guided View has two reading modes: full page and guided.  The full page reading option provides the most true comic book experience, as readers are able to see the full two-pages of panels and may easily follow the movement and depth of the panels the way the artist originally intended readers to experience it.  The full page option is ideal for larger devices, like reading the digital comic books on your widescreen television through your Internet-connected game console.

The second reading mode is the guided view option from the Guided View reader.  The guided view option transforms every digital comic book into a panel by panel movie.  Readers see a panel; they click “Forward” and Guided View slides to the next panel or does a wipe into the next panel.  The guided view is ideal for smaller devices, like reading digital comics on a smartphone.  Serious readers are likely to miss the way the artwork connects, but the simple sense of motion the guided view provides will engage children.

Guided View requires no computer support to install or operate.  Comixology is doing a real service to the environment and independent comic books by advancing digital comic books.  At the forefront with their Guided View, Comixology is undeniably cool.

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 you rabidly check every computer-oriented or technology-related site on the Internet to keep up with the most current events in the technical world, you may well be confused by a name you keep seeing there.  For the last few weeks, one name keeps appearing with a frequency that has not appeared on technical news sites and blogs since the death of Steve Jobs.  The new name on the tip of virtually every technology geek’s tongue is Louis C.K.

Louis C.K.?

Louis C.K.?!  Who is Louis C.K.?  If his name is on the technical sites, he must have taken over one of the big computer companies!  Is Louis C.K. the new CEO of Microsoft?  No, Louis C.K. is none of those things.  Louis C.K. is a stand-up comic and comedy writer.  He has, to date, illustrated no particular aptitude for anything computer-related or innovative in the electronics field.  Why then, are so many technical sites that usually focus on Internet security issues, forthcoming computer product releases and everything concerning the minutia of smartphones paying so much attention to Louis C.K. all of a sudden?

In mid-December, the 44 year-old comedian decided to skip the networks, bypass potential FCC censorship and all of the other potential middlemen who might have profited off his talent and presented his latest stand-up comedy special, Louis C.K.: Live At The Beacon Theater.  The reason this has become such an issue for the computer sector of the blogosphere is that Louis C.K.’s direct-to-consumer offering has several significant technical aspects that have been untried until now.

On the most technical side, Louis C.K. has attempted to make his program exceptionally easy to view.  Louis C.K.’s website sells the program directly and after paying via PayPal, you return to the site where you get access to the video and have the ability to download it.  Louis C.K. presents the video without digital-rights management programming or regional encoding, which means you may view it on any computer or smartphone around the world.

The computer and electronics industry place a huge premium on intellectual property rights and protecting those who create programs and media.  The reason so many technical sites are interested in Louis C.K.’s direct-sale from his website experiment is that Louis C.K. is counting on fans to not pirate his work for free distribution.  That’s it; Louis C.K, is using the most advanced technology on the planet to test the most basic human instinct.

The experiment appears to have worked.  After almost a week on the market, Louis C.K. claims that 110,000 paid downloads streamed from his website.  To date, there appears to be only one pirated source of the program on the Internet and that means Louis C.K. might have hit on something many of the multi-billion dollar media companies have not.

If people like what you produce, they will buy.  Maybe it truly is that simple.  Louis C.K.’s success certainly makes that argument.

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

What do wild conspiracy theories and overheating laptop computers have in common?  Dean Haglund worked on both!  Dean Haglund is an actor and artist who portrayed Langley on The X-Files and its unfortunately too-short-lived spin-off The Lone Gunmen.  As Langley on the two shows, Haglund delighted geeks of all ages with the idea that bizarre theories could be reasonably pitched to otherwise professional people and that you can grow up, but you do not have to cut your hair.

Haglund is less commonly known for inventing the Chill Pak.  Almost a decade ago, Dean Haglund invented the Chill Pak and it remains a cool product (pun intended) to this day.  Like many laptop computer users, Dean Haglund spent a great deal of time on his laptop computer.  As a result, he would notice that his laptop computer’s fan would run excessively and that his computer would become physically hot to touch.  After correctly observing that the warmer his laptop computer became, the slower it ran, Haglund set to work solving the problem.

The Chill Pak was Haglund’s solution to laptop computer overheating and it is a surprisingly elegant one.  The Chill Pak is a patented mat for under your computer.  The Chill Pak comes as a mat filled with gel and when you first receive it, you need to place it in your freezer.  After about twelve hours of freezing, the Chill Pak works like an ice pack for your laptop computer.  Placed underneath your laptop computer, the Chill Pak significantly cools down your laptop computer’s internal components.  The result is that your laptop computer’s fan will not engage, so your laptop runs quieter as well as faster.  The Chill Pak operates for four hours at normal room temperature before the gel fully liquefies and needs to be refrozen.

But what about moisture in the air condensing on the Chill Pak as it heat up?  Dean Haglund thought of that!  The Chill Pak is made of a special fabric designed to absorb and wick away moisture.  As a result, the Chill Pak cools down your computer without getting it wet and necessitating laptop computer repairs!

There are a lot of solutions on the market now for cooling down your laptop computer, which was not true when Haglund invented the Chill Pak.  External laptop fans are noisy and use up a USB port on your laptop computer.  Similar crystal/gel mats do not keep laptop computers as cool for nearly as long as the Chill Pak.

Dean Haglund brought one of the first, most effective, laptop computer cooling devices to market with the Chill Pak.  The fact that it is still a relevant, functional product almost a decade since it was first released makes the Chill Pak very cool.

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 you are doing last-minute shopping for a video game player this year, it might help you to know what video games, across all platforms, have been the bestselling of the year so far.  While Mario Kart 7 has been tearing up the global gaming sales charts for the past week, Nintendo came shockingly late to market with the game.  It did not even register on the top ten bestselling games of the year!  Sure, that could change in the last few weeks of the year, but it would have to overcome several titles like Batman: Arkham City and Just Dance 3, which are desperately clawing their way up the Top Ten list for the bestselling games of 2011.  What might well surprise video game enthusiasts is that in 2011, three of the top six bestselling games of the year were not released in 2011!  The Top Five bestselling video games in the world (across all platforms) for 2011 are:

5. Wii Sports.  Beating out Wii Sports Resort by just over one hundred thousand units, the exceptionally popular game for the Nintendo Wii managed to add over five million sales to land in the top five, even after five years on the market!  Nintendo rightly realized that video game enthusiasts are not adverse to moving around and people who like sports enjoy them even as a video game!

4. Kinect Adventures! A late-release in 2010, this adventure game had a strong 2011.  While it might have only sold 5.3 million units in 2010, Microsoft has a real hit on its hands with over 12.5 million units sold total!  It might not have sold as many units as the Wii Sports games, but Microsoft is showing it knows how to produce successful sports games as well.

3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.  Who says every sequel stinks?!  Not video game players!  Bethesda Softworks hyped the fantasy role playing game for over a year and when it released in mid-November, the market was primed for it.  With just under six million units sold, Skyrim is a very safe bet for fantasy game enthusiasts if you need a late gift!

2. Battlefield 3. Almost seven million people decided that being a first-person shooter along the Iran/Iraq border sounded cool.  As U.S. troops were withdrawing from Iraq, gamers across all platforms were experiencing virtual combat situations through this game.

1. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. This first-person shooter game buried its peers.  With over 16.3 million units sold, the latest installment in the Call Of Duty franchise outsold even Battlefield 3 by almost ten million units!  With the Internet-based companion service, Call Of Duty: Elite, it is unlikely that video game enthusiasts will run out of interest in this game and franchise, promising Activision a good 2012 as well!

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

Despite all of the negative connotations about geeks, geeks generally like to have fun.  They are smart, imaginative, clever, and they like to have a good time.  Most geeks do not thrive in the stuffy confines of the business world, especially office environments where their creativity is stifled.  For those geeks who won’t be fired for a little healthy rebellion from the ordinary, there is the USB Rocket Launcher from ThinkGeek.

ThinkGeek puts the fun in office warfare with the USB Rocket Launcher.  The USB Rocket Launcher is a desktop device that launches four small foam darts.  Fear not!  The small foam darts will not cause any damage that necessitates computer repairs!  In addition to being very soft, the USB Rocket Launcher does not fire the projectiles at a force powerful enough to even scratch a computer monitor.  Truly, ThinkGeek has created a harmless projectile for those unwinding a little at work.

The USB Rocket Launcher connects to your computer or laptop through a standard USB port.  The USB port both powers the Rocket Launcher and allows the Rocket Launcher to be controlled.  You control the USB Rocket Launcher through software that ThinkGeek provides; there is no additional computer support or accessories necessary!

With the USB Rocket Launcher plugged into the USB port and the software installed, you may control your Rocket Launcher through the software on your computer.  The software allows you to turn the Rocket Launcher 360 degrees horizontally and up to 45 degrees above the launching surface.  This provides you with a great range of fire to target anyone in adjacent cubicles.

The two inch long foam rockets launch with a touch of the button!  By pressing the launch control through the computer interface, you may launch your foam rockets one by one or all at once.  The launcher quietly projects each rocket using forced air and each foam rocket has a range of approximately nineteen and a half feet.  With such range, the USB Rocket Launcher provides adequate office defense for any fake conflict that breaks out in the workplace.

Safe and easy-to-use, the USB Rocket Launcher can help any creative geek blow off steam in the workplace, without destroying anything or alienating anyone.

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

Computers are ubiquitous items in United States society today.  As much as the millions who bought the Apple iPod might want to believe they are being counterculture, defiant against big business and otherwise cool, they have bought into one of the most popular product lines in history.  In other words, if you own an iPod, you are more a part of the majority than you might realize.  It is not your fault; so much modern technology is geared around instant recognition, as opposed to a sense of uniqueness.  There are no computer-oriented devices that are more homogenized and less customized than the computer’s keyboard and mouse.

But now, you can change that, thanks to artist Tom Gerhardt and the Japanese company, Evergreen.  Evergreen makes a bamboo mouse.  Tom Gerhardt has pioneered a device that can make any rock into a fully functional mouse.

Evergreen’s bamboo mouse fits perfectly into any environment dominated by light wood or lighter earth tones.  Each bamboo mouse is an optical mouse with scroll wheel.  It is a corded mouse, so those looking for wireless cannot yet enjoy the style of this mouse.  But Evergreen makes the minimal clutter of a cable cool by presenting a mouse made of smooth, polished bamboo panels.  Curved to fit your hand the bamboo mouse is solid and durable, as well as stylish.  Because the two mouse buttons are made of thinner, flexible bamboo over a minimal slit, the bamboo mouse actually is easier to keep clean than most traditional plastic mice!

For those who have more of a stone theme to their work space, Tom Gerhardt has the answer.  Gerhardt has pioneered a mouse ring, upon which one may place any medium sized rock.  The rock, when placed upon the ring, becomes a functional mouse!  Simple pressing the rock at the top left or top right performs the function of a left or right click!  This amazing technology makes any rock into a computer mouse, so if you have a favorite rock, one you want to feel connected with for the long hours you find yourself working at your computer, this is an ideal option.  Or, if you like the idea of changing your style up frequently, Tom Gerhardt’s stone mouse can allow you to shake it up frequently.  You could have a different rock as a mouse each day!

Since the rise of the personal computer, style concerning computers has frequently focused on modernizing one’s workspace to match the new computer.  Tom Gerhardt and Evergreen seem to realize that some homes are complete and amazing as they are.  Through their mice, we can start reclaiming a more natural sense of style that matches a warmer environment than the mass-produced computer companies would have us accept.

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 Internet has the capacity to be many things from an entertainment source to an off-site data storage facility to a powerful tool for education.  The Internet remains one of the most powerful resources for communication and understanding from people of all ways of life, all around the world.  But the Protect IP Act threatens that freedom, and it does so under the guise of improving Internet security to intellectual property owners.

Right now, the United States Senate is considering S. 968, the Protect IP (Intellectual Property) Act.  The Protect IP Act bolsters Internet security by creating new punishments for Internet providers who have any pirated material pass through their servers.  This means that the United States government would begin policing the Internet and making online data storage sites of material it believes are pirated inaccessible before prosecuting those accused of pirating.

The Protect IP Act empowers the United States Federal Government to punish service providers who may not know about the contents of their data storage units.  In fact, the more popular a site is, the less likely the service provider is to know about all of what is on the servers.  Given the vague language of the bill, the U.S. Government potentially becomes the biggest threat to Internet security by assuming a Big Brother type role.

But the Protect IP Act version of Big Brother comes armed.  Sites that welcome photo sharing or other online data storage are particularly vulnerable.  Hypothetically, the Protect IP Act could allow the U.S. Government to shut down Facebook because a photo a user posted infringed upon the copyright.  Given that copyright laws, data storage agreements and Internet security protocols are not uniform throughout the world, the Protect IP Act could easily force the U.S. government into a police action in a place where it has no jurisdiction.  Perhaps the Senate has forgotten that the first two “w’s” in “www” stands for “World-wide.”

For sure, Internet security is important and due vigilance must be maintained in defending intellectual property rights.  Unfortunately, the Protect IP Act is a dramatic overkill, analogous to chopping a person in half to remove a tick on their arm.  The bill commits the U.S. to wield such a large machete to the world and with such flimsy language in the bill and the lack of a reasonable way to enforce it overseas or where the data storage hardware is inaccessible or dangerous to reach, it is hard to see the passage of the bill as anything but disastrous.

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

As anyone who has gone to the movies lately knows, product placement within movies has exploded in the last few years.  It is little surprise, then, that the forthcoming blockbuster Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol utilizes product placement in its advertising.  What is most striking in the trailers for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, however, is how few of the products are actually identifiable.

Both of the major trailers feature a device that looks like an iPod Touch.  However, the Apple logo is not visible and for those who look closely at such things, the controls are different.  Is Apple hoping the iPod Touch is such an instantly recognizable item in the public mind that viewers will not notice when the device on screen is not actually an iPod Touch?  Or is one of Apple’s competitors making one of the least successful product-placement bids of all time?

From the trailers, though, there are two very cool products that are clearly identifiable: the MacBook Air and the BMW i8 Concept car.

In the latest trailer, a thin, Mac laptop may be seen for several seconds.  When Ethan Hunt needs computer support he just calls Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn who delivers it on the MacBook Air.  Those who want to emulate the Impossible Missions team, though, may have to wait; the Apple website does not have the MacBook Air available in black, as it appears in the trailer.

BMW is investing big with its use of the BMW i8.  The vehicle with the distinct doors that rotate up appears prominently in the new trailer, which makes it easy to mistake it for a car commercial when flipping channels.  Mission: Impossible fans will not be able to purchase this hybrid concept car until 2014.  At that time, Mission: Impossible fans with an extra $175,000 (rumored) to spend will be able to drive like Ethan Hunt.  The rest of us will just have to gawk at it in the movie.

Ironically, the most-featured device is a giant touchscreen computer that appears in all of the trailers.  The display with distinctive handles and controls does not feature any brand names or logos and looks like a massive tablet computer.  The device is featured prominently in the advertising campaign for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, but what company is promoting it remains a mystery.

One might expect Ethan Hunt to have tech gear that is custom made for him, but reason takes a back seat to commercialism for some of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

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