Computer Support Blog

In the tech sector, there are many important companies whose influence is not felt as widely in the United States as it is in other parts of the world.  One company that is still gaining footing in the United States is Archos.  Archos has a significant market share in the consumer electronics market in Europe, especially France.  Archos produces its own line of portable audio and video players, tablet computers and netbooks.  The man who pioneers the various technologies for Archos is Yves Gregoire and he is an impressive engineer! Read more »

Hasbro is planning a busy 2012. First, there is the partnership with Zynga, which emulates the Mattel-Angry Birds collaboration. The toy company will be able to bring online games to the real world as well as making toys and accessories based on popular Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia Wars. Now, Hasbro has announced that it is updating some of its classic board games. Read more »

Anyone who has visited a historical site or virtually any tourist destination has seen graffiti.  At many destinations, unsightly graffiti covers most available surface. Often, graffiti is just names and dates from former visitors, but it can be much more than that. Some people even write or carve poems or song lyrics into whatever space they find available. Usually there are several visible layers of the graffiti and more underneath. It can be very tempting to add your own mark to that wall, bench, or tree, but what if there was a better, legal, way to leave a piece of yourself behind? Read more »

Virtually everyone in business knows that discovery and invention are the keys to future success.  Ironically, while most businesspeople know that invention is critical to the future of any company’s long-term health, very few businesses reinvest as radically as they need to in research and development.  The profession of “inventor” is all but dead in the United States.  Intellectual Ventures is one of the few companies that are investing heavily in revitalizing the American spirit of invention.  No one is more committed to the importance of investing in shaping the future than Intellectual Ventures’ President and Chief Operating Officer, Adriane Brown. Read more »

It is hard to play down the significance of the transistor in modern technology.  The transistor makes so many electronic devices operate and so many emerging technologies possible.  A single smartphone or laptop computer might have billions of transistors.  The transistor is integrated in virtually every major technology in the world and new developments in transistor technology may transform the tech sector yet again. Read more »

2011 saw some real changes in the world on online video streaming.  As the Cloud rose to prominence thanks to Apple and it advertising juggernaut, some of the traditional leaders in home media found themselves in drastically new positions.  Netflix, for example, was quick to reinvent itself as a digital streaming company, but in the process of price hikes and trying to distance themselves from their DVD subscribers, the company had a much more erratic year than many in the industry thought they would.  With Netflix faltering, Amazon.com was able to make significant strides in the digital video streaming market.  Amazon.com now has a service called Amazon Prime that allows members to stream unlimited videos and receive free two-day shipping on all orders, for only $79 for a year.  Amazon Prime’s video streaming service is now a very cool way to get your movies and television programs on your computer.

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The diverse and specialized markets within the technology sector change with alarming frequency.  With the demands that come with operating within quickly-changing field, it is almost surprising just how many strategies there are for a business to survive.  While some tech sector businesses invest heavily in research and development in order to survive the erratic fluctuations of the market, others make frequent incremental updates to their product line to continue to inspire consumers to spend.  Voxx International has managed to survive the turbulent technology market by buying its competitors.  That is a strategy developed by Patrick M. Lavelle. Read more »

Low wireless reception can become very frustrating when you really need your wireless service. Holding your phone in the air and waving it around looks silly and can be pointless. Sitting in one specific spot in the house with your laptop in order to get wireless Internet can be just as annoying. We may not have to do that for much longer. Chamtech Enterprises, a technology research company that deals mostly with the military, has developed a nanotechnology that it claims can boost any kind of wireless signal exponentially and uses the heat energy a device already generates. Google’s Solve for X conference, where companies present extraordinary ideas and current projects, featured a first public look into Chamtech’s new technology.

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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 first big threat to traditional advertising models on television came from the development of cable tv.  Advertisers liked it even less when premium cable channels like HBO, Cinemax and Showtime offered viewers both original programing and advertisement-free television viewing at a price customers appeared willing to pay.  As advertisers struggle with how to monetize streaming television technology, HBO is working to adapt to the digital transmission framework.  For that, they have Alison Moore.

Alison Moore is the Senior Vice President of Digital Platforms for HBO.  In that role, Moore is responsible for all aspects of HBOs online and streaming presence.  It is her job to oversee the creation of a viable online subscription service for HBO, especially marketing its original content on the Internet.  Her responsibilities also include promoting and positioning the HBO digital services to compete with established streaming services like Netflix and Blockbuster Online.

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