Computer Support Blog

The tech sector finds many people with exceptional skills able to apply those skills in uncommon ways.  While many other industries are run in a way that is heavily dependent upon specific training and certifications, the tech sector abounds with success stories from people who have great ideas and strong business acumen who surround themselves with teams that make their visions possible.  While some executives in the tech sector have an amazing technical sense or idea, other companies spring up and find success out of applying a great business model to someone else’s innovation.  As CEO and Founder of Marin Software, Christopher Lien has found a way to make his business savvy profitable throughout the tech sector. Read more »

With smartphone technology and mobile computing technology constantly changing, it can be exceptionally difficult for a communications business to remain competitive.  By the very nature of discovery, if your business is not the first to market with a product or technological advance, you end up following someone else.  In the tech sector there are few things worse than being a follower and in the mobile phone carrier industry, that is especially true.  So, when Sprint-Nextel and Verizon developed 4G networks for their customers, they left the other telecommunications companies in the dust.  That, however, was not enough to stop Neville Ray.

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The first things that come up in an Internet search of computers and chocolate are computer-shaped novelty chocolates, but the relationship between computers and chocolate is a lot more complicated than that!  Computers are involved in almost every step of the chocolate manufacturing process.

All mass production in the chocolate manufacturing industry is done now on assembly lines.  The role of computers in chocolate manufacturing begins well before the first drop of chocolate hits the mold.

Whenever a manufacturer wants to produce a new chocolate, they create computer models of the manufacturing process.  By imputing the ingredients and the desired final shape of the chocolate, chocolate manufacturers can engineer the entire process of making the candy virtually before they start production.  If they intend for the chocolate to have a filling like nuts or nougat, the manufacturer programs additional steps into the computer model.  Through the computer models, chocolate manufacturers are able to accurately project both the cost and time it will take to produce a new chocolate.

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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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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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One of the chief concerns of environmentalists is with the carbon footprint left by individuals and industry.  Because carbon dioxide contributes to global warming, the development of industries that reduce the expulsion of carbon into the atmosphere have been growing.  Most businesses that are serious about reducing their carbon footprint must use elaborate computer models to factor in all of the variables pertaining to their carbon emissions.  In the effort to reduce one’s carbon footprint, the chief goal is to create a carbon-neutral system.  In a carbon-neutral system, there is no net output of carbon dioxide in any of the elements pertaining to the system.  The United Arab Emirates has plans to create a new suburb of its capital, Abu Dhabi, one that is carbon neutral and the developers are using the most sophisticated computer modeling yet to design that city.

Masdar City is the planned new city proximate to Abu Dhabi and computer models of the city project it to be carbon-neutral.  The idea behind the entire project is to create a city that in no way contributes to the generation of greenhouse gasses in both its operation and construction.

To achieve this goal, the city planners designed the entire city around the carbon-neutral goal.  Masdar City will not have any cars within its borders.  By removing such a random and carbon-intensive element from the environment, the models the developers are using are much more accurate.  The solution to moving residents and visitors around Masdar City is an elegant one.  The city will run an elaborate subterranean vehicle network.  The vehicles called Personal Rapid Transit are essentially six-person pods that combine the efficiency of a subway with the independence of a taxi.  When users get inside a PRT, they will be able to designate where they want to go within the grid and the PRT takes them there.  Because batteries that harness solar energy power the Personal Rapid Transit system, they leave no carbon footprint!

Perhaps the most brilliant aspect of the Masdar City design is how the layout of the buildings, their orientation in relation to one another, is designed to cool the desert city!  The city’s designers intend for Masdar City to lower carbon emissions by reducing the need to use air conditioners.  The layout of the city was one of the key elements that computer design models helped to create.

To make Masdar City a success, the designers had to factor in an exceptional number of variables.  In addition to having years’ worth of temperature records and weather patterns programmed into the computer models, the designers had to record light patterns in the area Masdar City will occupy.  Factoring in the carbon footprint of the construction of Masdar City led the developers to strategically place trees within their model to offset those emissions.

Right now, Masdar City is little more than a sophisticated computer model.  That computer program is a blueprint for a healthier world.

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 its faults with repeatedly recommending the same hundred people to be your friend, Facebook remains a very cool social network.  Facebook is a social network where you can communicate with friends far and near and even people you just wish were your friends, all at once.  The social network that Mark Zuckerberg founded on the concept of exclusivity is now a universally-recognized facet of United States popular culture.  One of the nice elements of Facebook is that it serves as a platform for applications that do not take Facebook all that seriously.  Two of the coolest such applications are Face-Invaders and the Photo Booth Friends video slot machine.

Face-Invaders is a very simple application for Facebook.  The Face-Invaders game is a recreation of the classic 1980s video game Space Invaders.  The difference, though, is that instead of generic aliens, the creatures descending from the sky are made up of Facebook photos of your Facebook friends!  You use your own Facebook photo in Face-Invaders as the defensive weapon to save the world.

The game is very simple to play, just as Space Invaders was.  As your friends float down from the sky, you shoot them until the rows of friends are all gone.  Moving your avatar is easy, as you simply tilt your tablet computer or smartphone in the direction you want to go. To fire your weapon, you simply tap your portable device’s screen.  Face-Invaders can be a nice cathartic tool when people you are friends with on Facebook have annoyed you in real life!

For a more positive spin on using your Facebook friends’ photos, the DoubleDown Casino application on Facebook has Photo Booth Friends.  Photo Booth Friends is a standard video slot machine on Facebook, except that all of the symbols are profile photos from your Facebook friends.  Photo Booth Friends is a cool application in that you may let the program choose which friends it represents in the game or you may associate specific friends with different winning values.  Suddenly, your loved one may help you win big at the virtual casino!

Photo Booth Friends is otherwise a very typical video slot machine on the DoubleDown Casino platform.  Photo Booth Friends is a twenty-line video slot machine with eleven different symbols, including Bonus Game and Scatter symbols.  The bonus game for Photo Booth Friends is the aptly-named “snapshot bonus” that makes further use out of your friends’ Facebook photos.

Facebook profile photos can be fun or troubling, but with applications like Face-Invaders and Photo Booth Friends, you can see a lot more of your friends while gaming on Facebook!

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 is home to innumerable cool websites, most of which are free to use.  As the computer pervades almost every aspect of life in the United States, few off-line pursuits have been as threatened as the lifestyle of a visual artist.  Artists face an escalating threat from the Internet in that the rise of the computer has developed and propagated new forms of visual art, threatening to make traditional visual art obsolete.  While there are many websites for visual artists, including art-themed social networks, no site works as hard to present and develop art careers of contemporary artists like Art.net.

Art.net is a gallery for professional artists and it is entirely free to visit.  As a virtual gallery, Art.net has a distinctly anti-commercial feel to it.  The site won a lawsuit against the state of New York over freedom of speech issues in part because as a non-commercial website, it did not have a way to authenticate visitors’ ages!  The purpose of Art.net is not to sell artwork; it is to display artwork and provide a common platform for artists to share ideas as they improve their proficiency in their medium of choice.

Currently, there are over 450 artists who have virtual galleries on Art.net and just as humor is subjective, so too is art.  While many of the artists on Art.net have embraced some form of digital art, most use their virtual gallery space to present images of physical projects that exist in the real world.  Art.net is a great site to spend hours carefully combing through the works of artists that you might not have a chance to see elsewhere.  While many of the artists do have galleries or studios, most of the artists on Art.net do not have standing showings in the real world like they do on this site.  Browsing through the virtual galleries can open your mind and expose you to some great new artists.

Art.net is not preoccupied with any form of ecommerce, which sets it apart from sites like DeviantArt.  What Art.net offers art enthusiasts is incredible access to the artists you see when you visit the site.  Art.net provides each artist with a mailbox and most every artist’s gallery includes a direct link to e-mail them through the site.  Art.net in no way restricts its users from contacting artists to make offers on any pieces an artist has presented.

If you are on the other side of the creative process, Art.net offers a decent level of exposure to artists at a very reasonable price.  Because the site is entirely nonprofit, a $60/year membership fee is charged to keep the servers running.  In exchange, you get seemingly unending storage space for your art and a platform that has been running since 1994!

There are many individual artists’ websites, but there is no multi-artist platform on the Internet so concerned with the pure creation and presentation of art as Art.net.  That commitment makes Art.net exceptionally 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

One of the greatest aspects of the United States is that the United States allows its citizens unrestricted social mobility.  There is no caste system in the United States and potential exists for every person in the United States to develop their talents and lives as they see fit.  However, because of the vast disparities in economic conditions, some citizens are born into circumstances where they cannot easily reach their potential.  In the poorest parts of the United States, Americans remain impoverished due to their poor education, especially when they have an inability to read.  Fortunately, computers may now help combat illiteracy, which is one of the leading challenges in adult education.  Merit Software is a leader in computerized literacy programs and their Reading Skill Builder is a program designed to aid adults who want to learn how to read.

The Reading Skill Builder is a web-based program for Windows, Mac, and Linux computers, making it ideal for any educational institution or home.  Merit Software created an easy-to-monitor curriculum for adult education and continues to refine it with the Reading Skill Builder.

It might seem odd to teach people to read using a computer; after all, if the student can type or read on a computer monitor, they should be able to read a book, right?  Part of the theory behind the Reading Skill Builder is that most adults, by simple virtue of having lived in the world for a few decades, will have a basic knowledge of English characters.  Because most adults will recognize most letters and numbers, the graphic interface on the Reading Skill Builder focuses on combining the letters into words.  In addition to teaching basic reading skills, the Reading Skill Builder strengthens vocabulary through easy word exercises.

The Reading Skill Builder prioritizes reading comprehension.  Because the focus of this literacy program is teaching adults to read, it comes with a very stark interface.  Unlike literacy programs that promote reading for children, the Reading Skill Builder is not cluttered with a lot of imagery.  The stories the Reading Skill Builder presents are not computer-based picture books.  As a result, students must focus on the words and what they mean, as opposed to simply recognizing or inferring based on pictures associated with the story.

For teachers working with adult students, the Reading Skill Builder provides a number of tools for monitoring your students’ progress.  The Reading Skill Builder easily informs you of what your students’ problem areas are, which allows you to adapt your lessons to better educate them.  All of the tests and tools are part of the basic Reading Skill Builder.

Educators who want to use computers to help their students overcome basic literacy deficiencies will find the Reading Skill Builder invaluable.  The Reading Skill Builder from Merit Software educates adults with a mature interface that respects their dignity and desire to learn.

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 is truly a place where magic is alive.  The magic of creativity goes unstifled by the demands of studios, producers or networks, making it an ideal venue for the releases of independent animated projects.  Over the years, those pioneering new technologies and bored animators have captured the imagination of their niche audiences through the Internet.

What is most striking about the most successful animated phenomena on the Internet is how the overwhelming priority of their creators is to make something different and creative.  The most successful Internet animation phenomena have not sought to monetize the works the animators created.  That gives the creators of Internet animation a huge creative outlet that remains free to the fans.  A whole subculture in the animation industry has sprouted of animators who have never been associated with a major, commercially-successful enterprise.  Their works endure solely, purely, as their Internet animated phenomenon.  Some of the most notable are:

Salad Fingers.  Salad Fingers was a web-based animated series that David Firth produced and released in 2004 and 2005.  Firth is a British cartoonist who prioritizes message and content over a flashy style.  Firth created Salad Fingers using the relatively unsophisticated Adobe Flash for the animation.  Salad Fingers went viral in 2005 and is now the subject of extensive merchandising, like t-shirts and toys.  The original nine episodes of the crudely-drawn Salad Fingers remain free online to this day.

Joe Cartoon.  Joe Cartoon is a decent example of how a viral animator’s work may become a gateway to more mainstream opportunities for an animator.  Joe Cartoon was the platform upon which “Gerbil In A Microwave” and “Frog In A Blender” were released.  More than simply disturbing Flash-based animations, they became a phenomenon.  “Frog In A Blender” was downloaded over 110,000,000 times before the hosting site it was on crashed!  Since then, Joe Cartoon has appeared on independent platforms, the television channel G4 and now YouTube.  Having been producing since 1998, Joe Cartoon illustrates a longevity few other Internet phenomena may claim.

Dancing Baby.  The Dancing Baby was a weird bit of animation and most fans of Ally McBeal probably had no idea of its origins.  The appearance of the Dancing Baby on Ally McBeal made the graphic, animated baby a mainstream phenomenon.  However, the programmers who originated the Dancing Baby developed the program two years prior and it was a hit on the Internet!

Because the Internet is clearly here to stay, mainstream culture is growing to accept that animated Internet phenomena are only likely to spread off the Internet and into the real world.

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