Computer Support Blog

In case you have not yet encountered it, Apple Computers currently has a product available called the Apple TV. Despite what you might think from the product’s name, it is not a physical television.  Instead, Apple TV is a media-streaming device that connects to a television. Apple released the first incarnation of Apple TV in 2007.  The current iteration of Apple TV was released by Apple Computers in 2010 and is more popular and much smaller. Since then, the design and basic capabilities of the Apple TV device have stayed the same, with only incremental updates over the last two years.

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The social network landscape continues to change.  With Facebook going public and changing their privacy policies and the rise of Google+, the media would almost have you forget there are any other social networks on the Internet!  Despite that perception, there are several other Internet social networks and many of them have benefits and intriguing aspects that the major social networks lack.  The differences in how the Internet social networks look, feel and operate are the result of each networks engineering department.  For Yammer, Kris Gale is the engineer in charge.

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So far in computer technology, there remains one enduring truth about laptop computers.  It seems no matter how advanced laptop computers become, they all warm up and get so hot that one either needs to cool the laptop off quickly or risk damage to the chips and drives within.  Unfortunately, that means that almost immediately after investing in a new laptop computer, you are likely to need to buy a cooling peripheral.  Given that this is a pretty necessary expense, you might as well go with one of the best cooling products for laptop computers.  The Arctic Cooling Pad is a great way to keep your laptop computer cool!

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In a world with rapidly changing technology, it is rare when one encounters a truly good idea anymore.  Indeed, many emerging technologies simply seek to improve upon already existing devices or technology.  So, when FXI Technologies virtually reinvented the computer with the Cotton Candy 3” computer device, it was newsworthy.  The brain behind Cotton Candy and FXI Technologies is Borgar Ljosland.

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It is hard to imagine a cooler connector than the USB port.  Seriously, USB connectors truly live up to their name as being a Universal port.  USB flash drives can be cool and stylish and the ability to connect them to virtually any computer device has made the exchange of data and media exceptionally easy.  In fact, with so many different devices that use a USB port and contain a male USB jack, you are much more likely to run out of USB ports than ever before!  With the USB hub from iBuffalo, fear of not having enough USB ports may be safely set aside.

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Not too long ago, Apple and Adobe (the software company that publishes Flash and Photoshop software) were in conflict because Apple’s iOS would not run Adobe programs. This failure of functionality was be design, though; Adobe and Apple’s Quicktime video formats have long been in conflict and Apple hoped to force programmers and websites to use their coding as opposed to Adobe’s. So, for some time, you could not play most YouTube videos on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. But then, Apple and Adobe settled their differences and now Adobe is writing programs specifically for the iOS operating system. One of the first truly meaningful Adobe programs to be recoded for iOS functioning is Adobe Photoshop Touch for iPad.

As one of its flagship software programs, Photoshop is a big moneymaker for Adobe. Adobe Photoshop Touch is the pared-down program for mobile computing devices; already there is an Android-based Photoshop Touch that has made Photoshop tools available to the wealth of Android customers. Adobe Photoshop Touch for iPad allows Apple iOS users using an iPad to create, alter, and publish images based on Adobe programming. This gives visual artists and photographers a huge opportunity to continue their art. No longer do Apple Computer fans have to choose between their preferred mobile computing device and the opportunity to become more proficient at their visual art.

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The Internet has become a free-speech battleground.  On the one side of the argument are people who believe that Freedom Of Speech is an absolute and information should be freely disseminated.  On the other side of the argument are those who see copyright protections as essential to protecting intellectual property rights.  While the Internet has enflamed this old argument, it also provides many remedies to the conflicting philosophies.  One of the remedies is to make clear exactly what is available for free use without any copyright protections.  For people who wish to avail themselves of works that are in the public domain, there is Public Domain Sherpa.

Public Domain Sherpa is a guide to all things that you may find on the Internet for public use.  “Public domain” is a term in copyright law that refers to a work – be it a song, story, film, book, photograph or other work that usually could be copyright protected – for which there is no copyright owner.  That means that items that are “in the public domain” may be used by artists, publishers or in any other medium freely.  There is no one you would have to pay royalties to in order to use an object in the public domain.  Because works on the Internet may not be properly annotated with the copyright information, and ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law, you might need a guide online to what is in the public domain.  That is where Public Domain Sherpa comes in!

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Like so many industries, the consumer electronics sector has a vibrant secondary market.  Thanks in no small part to Alpha Consumers frequently upgrading and the consumer culture that fosters the mindset that this year’s new products will be obsolete or uncool by next year, the used electronics market has grown in recent years.  Buyers who are more interested in substance than style or who are simply thriftier than their peers can enjoy significant benefits from buying their electronics in gently used condition.  One of the biggest sectors in the electronics secondary market is in cell phones and smartphones.

However, just like when you are considering purchasing a used car, there are some good rules to live by when purchasing a used cell phone or used smartphone.  Both as a buyer and a seller, you should consider the following:

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Even during the current worldwide economic instability, most everyone would like to be able to donate to charity and help out others.  But just as educated consumers consider the corporate philosophies of big businesses, it is also wise to educate yourself about charities to which you donate.  While a charity will always try to put the most positive spin on themselves in order to solicit donations, objective criteria should be used to determine whether a charity is worthy of your donation or not.  For that, there is Charity Navigator.

Charity Navigator is an Internet site that provides information on charities, much the same way Open Secrets provides information on political donations.  Evaluating objectively using records supplied to the government for tax/accounting purposes, Charity Navigator uses a series of consistent criteria to evaluate the health of a charity.  This allows you to both compare charities and view charities that come close to an ideal using Charity Navigator.

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Puzzle games are exceptionally popular among casual computer game players.  The rise of smartphones has made video games accessible to a much larger audience. Puzzle games like Hexic and Angry Birds have effectively captivated smartphone users and opened entirely new markets up in the video game industry.  But while Angry Birds has remained comparatively static – Rovio has effectively merchandised Angry Birds beyond the popular game, but not released any new expansions for some time – a new game has come to dominate the puzzle game niche.  That game is Cut The Rope.

Cut The Rope is a physics-based puzzle game similar in several ways to Angry Birds, which might be why it so easily took over the same niche.  Developed by Chillingo, Cut The Rope features bright colors and simple animation that makes it ideal for playing on a smartphone or tablet computer, where one does not need the most advanced monitor to get the most out of the game.  When Chillingo released Cut The Rope to the Apple App Store during the fourth quarter of 2010, it sold three million downloads before the end of that year!  Since its initial release, Chillingo has continued to release Cut The Rope for different video game platforms, as well as a new expansion, Cut The Rope: Experiments.

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