Computer Support Blog

Yahoo has been making big moves lately, possibly attempting to rejuvenate its image in the modern market by revitalizing some of its brands and acquiring new ones.  The first major move by the company was the acquisition of the social network and blogging site Tumblr.  Yahoo acquired the New York company for $1.1 billion dollars, which one could break down into roughly $3.67 per each of Tumblr’s 300 million unique visitors.   The two companies made the deal almost entirely in cash, with the exception of a small amount of Yahoo stock for Tumblr CEO David Karp.

What does this change for Tumblr users?  Not much will be different, according to official statements by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.  Mayer claimed on Yahoo’s own Tumblr page that her company is “delighted” about the acquisition of the social network and candidly promised “not to screw it up.”  She has also said that Tumblr will operate independently and the entire team will remain in place under their CEO David Karp.  However, Mayer has also publicly said that her company is committed to monetizing Tumblr, which means some changes, most likely in advertising, are bound to come eventually.  Read more »

Managing a company in the tech sector can be extraordinarily difficult, even for a seasoned businessperson.  Given how many tech sector geniuses peak early with their industry-changing ideas, many CEOs in the tech sector rely upon the expertise of more established leaders in business.  Facebook, for example, was a great idea that did not begin to rise to its financial potential until Mark Zuckerberg hired Sheryl Sandberg.  But Sandberg is not the only financial expert using her talents in the tech sector.  Mark Rubash, for example, is an impressive voice for Heartflow, Inc. Read more »

Networking within a big business is becoming a pretty huge business in its own right.  The companies that are aiding big businesses with their internal communications have found a niche that they are very effectively filling.  The business networking companies continue to grow, despite the rapidly changing corporate and economic landscapes worldwide.  One of the most dynamic networking companies is Yammer.  Yammer continues to grow, in part, because of Dee Anna McPherson. Read more »

The tech sector is, in many ways, the final frontier for driven individuals who have innate talent and simply need an outlet for it.  On the production end, having a great idea and learning to program it can make you the next Mark Zuckerberg or Martin Kleppmann.  On the business side of the tech sector, many companies reward experience and success over formal education.  Tom Jones is an executive who is proof that experience, charisma, and consistent success may be more of a commodity in the tech sector than a formal degree. Read more »

Following the rise of consumer and privacy activists to defeat the Stop Online Piracy Act earlier this year, the reaction to the defeat both online and in the tech sector has been interesting to watch.  Many of the leaders who organized the fight against SOPA have formed organizations, like the Internet Defense League, to create watchdog positions and communications networks to prevent future SOPA-like legislation from passing.  Many businesses decided to beef up their legal department so they could better understand the potential consequences of such legislation to their specific business.  Amazon.com hired Jamie Gorelick to its Board of Directors. Read more »

Even with the rise of the smartphone, the need for specialized personal safety devices persists.  For sure, a smartphone may be very helpful in a medical emergency or when there is a threat against your life.  However, with so many smartphones running sophisticated programs, one must often unlock their smartphone and wait for it to boot to a menu screen from which you select the applications you wish to use.  The time it takes to unlock your smartphone may be the moments – especially in a heart attack or assault situation – you need to actually be able to make an emergency call.  Fortunately, as communications devices have become more sophisticated, so too have the specialized emergency/personal safety devices.  One useful personal safety device is the ZOMM Wireless Leash Plus. Read more »

Connecting advertisers and potential customers through all of the digital devices the average person has today is a daunting task.  In fact, very few companies have effectively managed to exploit every possible device and network as a viable revenue stream.  Even sites traditionally known for their success using ad revenue on the Internet, like Facebook, have had some issues with monetizing on a mobile platform.  PubMatic is a company that, in 2006, saw how the Internet was branching into a multiplatform media no longer simply utilized on home computers and developed software that allows advertisers to spread their message effectively across every type of computing device.  Mukul Kumar is the software engineer who makes the PubMatic vision work! Read more »

Online and mobile payments are a growing industry.  One of the most recognizable names in the virtual payment industry is PayPal.  PayPal rose to prominence as a spin-off of eBay and as eBay grew, PayPal synergized with it in such a way that it rapidly gained the dominant market share for online payments.  However, with the rise of the smartphone, new mobile services like Dwolla, are steadily eating into that market share.  While the Technical Officers at PayPal work to increase PayPal’s mobile influence, it is Ranjana Clark who is retaining and winning over new customers for the company. Read more »

The concept of a social network is actually a very simple one: you log into a network, provide information about yourself and develop a channel to share interests and information with other people in your life.  As well, you may use a social network to expand your circle of friends by starting conversations with likeminded people who share some of the same interests as you.  One of the coolest products on the Internet, is expanding the perception of what a social network can be by offering options that make for a very real photo network!  The service is the Ceiva PicturePlan Photo Delivery Service and it is innovative, fresh, and very cool. Read more »

With the rise of digital photography, people have a vastly easier ability to take pictures and store them than ever before.  Taking photographs is no longer a costly or time-consuming process and with today’s digital storage methods, you can create a virtually limitless repository of images from your life and experiences.  What has not kept pace with the ability to take digital photographs is a normalization of technology used to display digital photographs.  In many offices and even at home, people have prints of pictures or they will furtively look through the images stored on their smartphone when they need to feel connected, but while digital picture frames have existed for years, the market has not grown nearly as fast as the technology by which you take digital photographs has improved.  Aiptek aims to change that and with their P8i26 Portable 3D Display, they make it easy to display and enjoy digital photographs! Read more »