Computer Support Blog

With so many people investing heavily in better and better high definition television sets, it is getting hard to recommend new computer monitors.  For sure, if you keep your PC segregated from your HDTV, a new computer monitor is necessary.  But, if you are spending a lot of money on a fancy high definition television, many of your peripherals will interact with it.  In other words, you can get the most for your money out of both your computer and electronic devices and your high definition television by connecting your gadgets to your HDTV.  For those who have a Sony Cyber-shot digital camera, that means getting a VMC-MHC1 High Definition Output Cable.

The VMC-MHC1 High Definition Output Cable serves as an adapter for the Cyber-shot digital camera.  Designed for high definition video signals, the Sony VMC-MHC1 converts the images on your Cyber-shot digital camera into a format that your high definition television may recognize.  Because of its simple configuration, the VMC-MHC1 cable is exceptionally easy to use and requires no software to reconfigure your images.  This is a true plug and play device and it allows you to see all of your photographs on a giant, high definition screen!

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Regardless of what one may think of 3-D movies, 3-D technology is undeniably cool.  Visual effects may only be one component of popular movies and television works, but it is an increasingly important component.  Visual effects are also created more and more through the use of computers.  A significant number of the computers used to create special effects for blockbuster movies and popular television shows run Autodesk.  Carl Bass is the CEO of Autodesk.

As CEO of Autodesk, Carl Bass is responsible for developing and marketing the Autodesk tools to keep them the industry standard for special effects.  Infatuated by 3-D effects, Bass recently made many Autodesk 3-D applications free to Autodesk users.  By increasing the availability of the 3-D tools, Bass hopes to keep Autodesk dominant in the market.  So far, his plan is working quite well.

Bass came to Autodesk when Autodesk bought his first company, Ithaca Software, in 1993.  Having marketed HOOPS, an important 3-D software, for Ithaca Software, Carl Bass was a great asset to Autodesk and was part of their interest in the smaller software company.  Carl Bass ascended from Executive Vice President of product development to Chief Technology Officer of Autodesk.  When Autodesk promoted Carl Bass to Chief Operating Officer, Bass developed his abilities at worldwide marketing and marketing.  From there, he was the natural choice when the Board started looking for a new CEO.

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ABC’s Once Upon A Time has captivated millions of viewers.  Once Upon A Time bounces viewers between a mythical fairy tale past and a somewhat surreal present day to tell its story.  While the series may appear to be set in a folksy New England town or an ancient nature setting, there is an extensive amount of technology from Zoic Studios involved in making Once Upon A Time come alive for viewers.

Zoic Studios is responsible for the most important special effects on Once Upon A Time.  It is the artists and computer programmers of Zoic Studios that create the virtual sets needed to bring the fantasy kingdom in Once Upon A Time to life.  ABC Studios had what appeared to be a cost-prohibitive series to produce when the writers first pitched Once Upon A Time.  The show requires two vastly different settings for every episode.  While the producers could not cheat some of the elements for those settings, most notably costumes, Zoic Studios made the project feasible through their pioneering work in virtual sets.

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The rise of the personal computer has not been accompanied by any profound change in the human animal.  As a result, humans frequently suffer pain from prolonged computer use.  Between computer eye strain and sore neck muscles from improper monitor/screen placement, the effects on your health may undo the convenience of a laptop computer.  While scientists for years have worked on ways to combat computer eye strain, there have been fewer efforts to reduce muscle fatigue specifically caused by computer use.  Osim changes that with the creation of the uPixie!

The uPixie by Osim is the world’s first laptop massager.  More than a simple massager, the uPixie connects to your laptop computer.  The uPixie interacts with your digital music player and offers you a safe, convenient way to relax your muscles even when you are still working on your laptop!  The scientists at Osim created a functional, fun and unique product with the uPixie.

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Internet humor is, arguably, an acquired taste and it is certainly dominated by youth!  Because young people tend to be fickle, staying with something only so long as it is trendy, many Internet humor sites and Internet humor phenomena are not enduring.  They rise up, the novelty of their form of humor captivates an audience and then the audience dissipates and the contributors go on to the next big thing.  One of the real exceptions to that cycle came from the creative mind of Sherrod DeGrippo.

Sherrod DeGrippo is the creator of Encyclopaedia Dramatica and, before you go looking for it, don’t bother; Encyclopaedia Dramatica is no longer on the Internet.  The site closed down in 2011, but what makes Sherrod DeGrippo so impressive is that she almost singlehandedly held together the perverse, edgy and often disturbing Encyclopaedia Dramatica for seven years.  That makes Encyclopaedia Dramatica one of the biggest successes in Internet free speech and Internet humor yet.

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We all know Google, Bing, and Yahoo are the most popular search engines. Why, when there are hundreds of other possible choices, do people choose these three? Maybe there is a better choice out there, but how will you know? How do you choose a good search engine?

According to comScore’s latest press release, Bing now controls 15.1% of the market share for search engines in the United States. Yahoo, which dipped to 14.5% in December, has been decreasing in market share for quite some time now. Google, unsurprisingly, reigns supreme with 65.9% market share. If Bing continues to rise in popularity though, it may eat slowly away at that impressive number.

But what makes one better than another? Why did Bing finally surpass Yahoo? Why is Google the most popular?

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In the rapidly-changing world of consumer electronics, there is one undeniable fact: without power, your gadget is worthless.  It’s true.  No matter how fast your smartphone, tablet computer, e-reader, laptop computer or PC is, when it’s out of juice, it’s just an expensive decoration or fashion accessory!  While virtually every major company is in a race to create better batteries, one company is preoccupied with making a better charger.  That company is the Swedish company myFC.  The breakout product for myFC is the Powertrekk fuel cell charger.

The Powertrekk fuel cell charger represents a significant leap forward in recharging technology and myFC deserves a lot of credit for pioneering the technology.  Just as creating gold from another element is the alchemist’s dream, the holy grail for power supply generation is the ability to use water to generate electricity.  MyFC now offers a hydrogen cell charger that powers USB devices simply by adding water to the cell.  You may use the Powertrekk fuel cell charger to recharge electronic devices or power them.  The Powertrekk fuel cell charger can keep a smartphone like the iPhone powered for days, regardless of the weather.  That makes the Powertrekk fuel charger an asset to those who want to use renewable energy sources, but cannot depend upon the sun.

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In the current economic climate, it is hard to imagine that the profession of “inventor” still actually exists.  There are so few companies that invest in pure discovery and so few tinkerers who can afford to devote their time to projects that may take decades to pan out.  But inventors still exist independent of any corporate structure and one of the coolest contemporary inventors is Stephen Kurtin.

Stephen Kurtin is a bona fide inventor who has spent almost forty years puttering around.  In the process, he has made some significant inventions and improvements on other people’s work.  Kurtin graduated from MIT in 1966 with concurrent S.M. and S.B. degrees in Physics.  After receiving a Howard Hughes Doctoral Fellowship to Caltech, Stephen Kurtin studied Applied Physics in California, amid the boom in transistor and microchip discovery.  After earning his doctorate in Applied Physics, a world of opportunities opened up to Kurtin.

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Power.  Power is what every company wants, on one level or another, and it is the defining factor of success in the technology sector.  The computer that is the most powerful, as defined by speed, computing ability and consistency, is considered the very best one on the market.  But more and more, the computing ability of smartphones, laptop computers and consumer electronics at all levels are at the mercy of battery power.

Battery power, or the failures of it, nearly sunk the release of the Apple iPhone 4S.  Apple worked quickly to solve the battery problems in the new release and even revealed a battery problem with first-generation iPod Nanos to prevent future customer service problems.  Batteries store energy to keep electronic devices going and right now, it is one of the hottest industries in which to be.  Three of the most significant battery projects are:

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When it comes to creative building, most people think of Legos.  But the virtual worlds created by computers actually have far fewer limits than the block toy that most people associate with construction play.  If Legos have an entire adult subculture, it is easy to postulate that someday, a subculture will exist built around Crazy Machines.

Crazy Machines is part puzzle game, part free play building platform.  Viva Media created Crazy Machines for computer enthusiasts ages eight and above.  The single CD-ROM easily installs onto any personal computer that is running Windows Vista or XP or any Macintosh computer running OS X.  Because of how graphics-intensive and color-rich Crazy Machines is, it is highly recommended that you have a good computer monitor hooked up to get the most out of the game.

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