Computer Support Blog

Video editing is a tasking process for many computers.  For a reasonably smooth experience editing videos, you must have a somewhat powerful PC. Furthermore, if you want to do serious editing, professional software can cost hundreds of dollars.  Vidmaker attempts to solve these problems by giving you a video editing option performed in the cloud.  This cool product provides web tools that you can access from any Internet-connected device, allowing you to upload your videos and edit them right in your browser.  When finished editing a project, users can post videos on social networks, e-mail them, or save them on cloud storage services like Dropbox.  Vidmaker gives you powerful video editing tools that you can access through the web, so you can edit your videos even on an underpowered device.  Those who have trouble accessing or using Vidmaker should contact computer support when they need help. Read more »

While there are a lot of funny pictures or moments that we like to share with our friends on social media, we don’t always want those pictures permanently archived on the Internet.  Evan Spiegel, the CEO of Snapchat, has created a mobile application that tries to resolve this conflict between the desire for long-term privacy and the need for social connection.  Snapchat is an app that lets users send pictures they take back and forth in real-time in a conversational manner, but also deletes those pictures forever after specified period of time.  Spiegel’s vision has resonated with consumers all over the world.  This is clear from the fact that Snapchat is consistently a top ten app in Apple’s App Store for the iPhone.  Spiegel has worked to create a space where people can share their day-to-day moments without the fear of long-term embarrassment.  Many users concerned with online privacy and Internet security have clearly been waiting for a service to provide that opportunity.  Spiegel is definitely a cool person in the tech industry who has capitalized on a simple but effective idea. Read more »

Online services have helped empower content creators in several major industries.  The music industry has arguably seen the largest shift of all since the Internet became ubiquitous.  Software exists that can turn a home desktop computer into an adequate recording studio.  Online music services like iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon Music allow musicians to make their music globally available.  However, there are still difficulties getting your work onto those online music services. Philip Kaplan, founder of Distrokid, is a cool person trying to fix that problem.  Kaplan, a musician himself, has been successful building Internet businesses in the past and is now turning his attention towards helping musicians with his new service Distrokid. Read more »

Research firm IDC made a recent forecast regarding wireless technologies in the PC marketplace.  The report opens with a rather dramatic statement about the traditional PC market’s recent struggles.  The document reads that the business for traditional computing experiences is currently “in the midst of an unprecedented slump.”  There is no question that the PC industry is in a transitional period.  Tablet and smartphone sales continue to rise while desktop and laptop sales have dropped significantly.  Rescuecom even added tablets to its reliability report recently to account for this shift in the industry.   What’s most interesting however, is the prediction that IDC makes regarding how manufacturers must adjust to this new paradigm.  IDC believes that the inclusion of new wireless technologies to promote interoperability with other devices will be important in the years to come. Read more »

Kickstarter, the website that popularized the crowdfunding model on the Internet, recently announced that it has surpassed 100,000 total launched projects.  This milestone indicates the effect Kickstarter has had on both today’s creative and startup cultures, as the website gives many would-be artists and entrepreneurs the chance to fund projects when more traditional means aren’t available.  The Kickstarter model is simple.  Someone launces a project in any number of fields that Kickstarter lists on its site, including music, film, technology, games, art, and so on.  Once a creator launches a project, other users pledge specific amounts of money in a fundraising effort so that through many donations, they completely fund the project.  Those who fund a successful project are rewarded by the creator with “perks” for their support, which are often early versions of a product.  Only completely funded projects receive pledged money and Kickstarter itself takes a small cut from those as well.  Of the 100,000 plus projects launched to date, roughly 43% have been successful, putting the odds for a new project to reach funding goals at a bit less than one in two. Read more »

Many entrepreneurs and innovators have tried to find ways to utilize social media to enhance the educational experience.  One such man is Michael Lucia, CEO and President of LanguageTwin, which is an online service that connects students from different countries so they can improve their conversational skills in foreign languages.  Lucia founded LanguageTwin because of his experiences studying abroad as a college student.  He found that despite his many years studying French at the college level, actual French conversation was still a struggle. “A lot of conversational exposure is needed for true proficiency,” Lucia told Rescuecom. With the rise of video conference technology, Lucia saw an opportunity to connect native speakers of different languages easily and use that connection in a classroom setting. Read more »

Many businesses use a number of online services in tandem for their operations.  However, a common problem many companies have encountered is the wasted time and productivity from having to input information into all of these services separately.  One example would be creating a lead in Salesforce manually for every HTML form filled out on Wufoo.  Even something as simple as manually uploading every e-mail attachment to a cloud service like Dropbox could become tedious for a small business after some time.  Wade Foster created Zapier as a solution for this dilemma.  Zapier is a tool that automatically integrates services together for you, taking tedious steps away from several processes.

Foster told Rescuecom that he came up with the concept for Zapier when he was working in marketing.  As he was working, he found himself repeatedly using the same integrations over and over again.  When he asked if there was a way to automate these processes, people told him to “go check out the API.”  Unfortunately, as a marketing employee, that was not very useful to Foster, who knew very little about programming code.  Foster then set out to hire his own coders and start Zapier in the hope of making service integrations easier for businesses. Read more »

Most people do not even realize that using a computer mouse too often or for too long can cause injuries to the wrist or hand. These types of injuries are called Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSIs) and can be very painful. The wrong position of the hand when using a computer mouse can cause an RSI, and the injured person might not be able to use his or her hand for quite some time.

There are many different types of mice to help prevent these injuries. They range from those that look like a normal mouse turned on its side to those that resemble joysticks. Each one has an ergonomic design to support your hand and wrist in a manner that will help prevent RSIs.

Many of these oddly shaped ergonomic mice are for use with either the right or the left hand exclusively and are not interchangeable. Before purchasing an ergonomic mouse, it is important to realize that only some of these mice can switch back and forth between right-handed and left-handed and to purchase accordingly.

One new design that attempts to save your wrist from an RSI, and to be easy to use, is the AirMouse. AirMouse is wireless, is worn on the hand, and it only has to be recharged about once a week.

AirMouse is an optical mouse but mostly uses its position relative to the ligaments in your hand to move. This mouse can work more precisely, faster, and with less effort than other mice because you wear it as if it is a glove. It should save your hand and wrist from the damaging effects of an RSI because you can hold it in a comfortable, healthy position as well as change positions frequently.

For anyone who works on a computer all day long, these ergonomically designed mice would be a great investment in order to save you from injuries down the road. But if you cannot afford an expensive new mouse, then here are a few tips from SeatingErgonomics that you can use to help keep your wrist healthier:

• Make sure your hand and wrist are straight when using your mouse. Do not hold the mouse at an angle in any direction.
• Keep the mouse close to your keyboard and to your body so that you are not reaching for it.
• Hold the mouse loosely and comfortably.
• Move the mouse with your entire arm, not just your wrist.
• Do not hold your index finger up when not clicking.

If you have any doubts about what kind of mouse would work best for you, it is always a great idea to get help. The computer experts at RESCUECOM would be glad to help you with any computer upgrade or computer repair questions you have.

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 popularity of Apple products has been skyrocketing in the past few years. New and returning Apple users stand in line for long hours, even days, in anticipation of the debut of the latest product. In fact, the Apple obsession has arguably developed into a new form. Recently, for example, over two-thousand-five-hundred fans waited in line for the opening of Apple’s latest retail outlet in Grand Central.

Though the last two blogs in this series discussed the social—perhaps even psychological—components of loyalty to the Apple brand, to claim that Apple users are attracted to the brand merely in order to form unique social identities or to gain membership into Apple’s welcoming technological family is an unfair statement that ignores the fact that Apple products are powerful, sturdy, innovative, and simply put, very cool. Even people who don’t like to admit it know that Apple products have a much stronger security infrastructure, making using them for web related activities much less threatening. People who use Apple iPhones, iPads, or MacBooks face far fewer Internet security problems. Apple technology also comes with slight but significant technical advantages like longer battery lives and rarer needs for virus removal efforts.

Still, beyond all this, the biggest advantage that Apple has over its competition is the fact that it has so few products. Yes, at first, it seems counterintuitive to attribute success to limitation in choice. In this age of intense materialism and capitalism, we have all come believe that variety means freedom, that multiplicity in smartphone models, for example, ensures something for everyone; and, most of all, that competition is good for the market. But when examined in depth, this too is a counterintuitive approach—why should we want a million different models and brands with scattered features? How is it a good thing to have one smartphone offer half of the features we want and need, but not the rest? Ideally, what we need is a smartphone (or tablet or computer, etc) that combines all our technological wants and desires. Oh wait…

Therefore, culture and identity aside, we’ve arrived at the other major component of Apple’s success—its ability to offer immensely sophisticated technology in such a simple consumer-ready package. The moment a user decides to buy Apple, he or she is practically done—there’s no need to spend endless hours researching choices. If you’ve been in a mobile phone story recently, you have probably seen the confusing and bombarding choice of smartphones! When it comes to iPhones, on the other hand, there are very few choices that you need to make—storage capacity and model generation. Occasionally you might have to choose between black and white, but that’s about it.

What makes falling in love with Apple products so easy is their simplicity. In a perfect example of “less is more,” Apple gives users everything they need in one product and takes the difficulty of deciding out of the equation.

As we approach the end of the series, we will shift back to discussing the non-technological component of Apple’s success: brand marketing. So read the entry on the 10th for the next blog in the series.

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 always amazing how quickly the remote control seems to disappear! Even when you’re the only one using it, it just seems to have an affinity for dark spaces deep within the couch or other large pieces of furniture. The problem definitely gets worse when kids are involved, since the remote migrations expand beyond the living room and into the kitchen, bedroom, and the inside of an easy bake oven. Of course, losing things like remote controls is a problem that affects many other products. Trivial as it may seem, constantly misplacing items is frustrating and time consuming. So if you know someone who is constantly losing keys or other important items, then now would be a good time to offer him or her a Click n’ Dig item finder as a gift.

This easy-to-use gadget helps you or your gift recipients find those things you misplace most often. Using a small transmitter with up to four buttons, you simply press the corresponding button on the transmitter causing the appropriate receiver to beep and flash. Click n’ Dig comes with up to four receivers that you can attach to a key chain or a pet’s collars, for example.

Also, both the transmitter and the receivers are about the size of a car remote control, so no one has to know about your forgetful habit.

The Click n’ Dig remotes come with batteries already installed, although you need to remove the insulating tab from the receivers before you can start using them. They also come with replacement batteries. Because they are small devices that don’t require too much battery effort, the batteries are expected to last between three and twelve months. The product is easy to attach to other items, as it comes with both double sided adhesive tape and key rings. According to the manufacturer, the remotes have a radio signal range of about 60 feet, which is more than enough tech support for finding keys in a forgotten coat pocket or underneath a couch.

Over 73 percent of reviews on Amazon rate the product with four stars or more, so it’s gotten the popular approval. There are several other products out there that do similar things, but Click n’ Dig’s price tag is especially attractive. The remote and two receivers package sells for around $26 on Amazon. If you’re looking to buy wholesale, you can do that directly though the Click n’ Dig website for a 40 percent discount. So if you or someone you know just won’t learn, get them the Click n’ Dig, if only to prove a point.

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