Computer Support Blog

Hiring in specialty industries such as computer repair or food service can be a tricky situation.  Finding the best employees in these fields doesn’t quite work the same way in other, as resumes and static lists of qualifications mean much less than demonstrable skill in a certain area.  When employers post specialized positions in these fields on public job boards online, they often end up with many applications from unqualified people who do not have the specific experience and skillset necessary for the job.  Cool person in technology Mike Wagner wants to make it easier for employers to find qualified applicants in one of these specialized industries—restaurants and food service. Read more »

No one likes going to restaurant and having to wait to sit down at a table.  It’s even worse when disorganization or inefficiency makes the wait longer than it needs to be.  Cool product in technology NoWait is a service that uses smartphones to help restaurants seat people more efficiently and quickly.  By making the seating experience better for customers, NoWait is helping both the restaurant patrons and restaurant management.  Read more »

One of email’s biggest limitations is the fact that only smaller files are transferable through attachments.  One of the reasons that cloud storage services have had such success as products in office-based situations is that workers can’t send larger files through email.  Cool person in technology Mike McEvoy runs a company that has made a product that allows people to send files of unlimited size to one another as easily as they send emails.  McEvoy’s product, Scayl, works just like an email messaging system, expect that it allows people to send files of unlimited size through attachments.  Whereas email will prevent people from sending very large files or giant folders of data, Scayl gives people the ability to share any amount of data with their colleagues or clients quickly and simply.  McEvoy’s product could make life easier for many people working in media and technology.  Any interested users who have trouble while trying to download McEvoy’s program from the Scayl website should find a remote tech support service to assist them. Read more »

RESCUECOM released the results of the computer reliability report for the first quarter of 2014 today.  The report revealed that Samsung has once again risen to the number one position in the reliability rankings.  In the previous reliability report, Amazon debuted in the number one ranking with an extraordinarily high reliability score.  While Amazon managed to maintain a strong score this quarter, the company could not keep the top spot in reliability.  Instead, perpetual top performer Samsung once again became the most reliable computer manufacturer on the market according to the study. Read more »

Brands of all types have made social media marketing a priority in the last several years.  From large corporations to small mom-and-pop businesses, companies have turned to sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram to promote their product and remain in the public eye.  Social networking has become an important part of strategy for many companies in the current environment of the business world.  However, social media presence works primarily as a way to remain in the public consciousness and less so as a direct route to sales or new customers.  Soldsie is cool product in technology that may start changing that situation for many businesses.  With Soldsie, companies can sell their items and services directly from their social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.  Rather than link to outside promotions or simply post marketing material, businesses can pull in new customers right on their social media pages and sell their products directly.  With Soldsie, brands can use Facebook not just as an avenue for advertising and branding, but potentially as a direct source for revenue as well.  Any companies unsure of how to manage their social media pages should make sure they have good business IT support before using this cool product. Read more »

Small independent retails stores local chains face an uphill battle when trying to compete with national chains and large corporations.  Bigger companies can hire large teams to manage social media and email campaigns on the web for branding and marketing purposes. However, many small retail businesses do not have the personnel or time to dedicate to online marketing.  Cool person in technology Ted Teele founded his company SnapRetail to help independent retail stores maintain an online presence without having to dedicate many resources to the task.  Teele’s company provides stores with a social media and email platform that uses well-known promotional tactics and marketing concepts to provide small retail businesses with email and social media campaigns that they can set up easily. SnapRetail actually gives shop owners pre-created promotional templates and social media posts that only require minor customization.  Shops can schedule these prefinished emails and social media posts for weeks at a time using the SnapRetail dashboard.  Using Teele’s product, one person can manage long-term online campaigns with minimal effort and time involved.  Any storeowners who are unclear on the basics of social media sites will want to speak to a business computer services company to learn about the issue before trying Teele’s service. Read more »

Selling artwork or photography is not an easy profession.  Finding interested buyers, promoting one’s work and finding a viable model for distribution are all obstacles for visual artists trying to make a living off their work.  The Internet provides an opportunity for photographers to reach a wider audience and sell more pieces, but setting up the infrastructure needed to do those things is not always part of an artist’s skillset.  Cool person in technology Matt Munson has created Twenty20 in order to solve this problem.  Twenty20 is an online marketplace where graphic artists and photographers can sell their work with little to no technical expertise.  Twenty20 lets users create galleries where they offer the public either digital copies or physical prints of their work.  Munson’s company handles the printing and shipping of each physical item and splits the profit of each sale with the artists on the site.  Read more »

People often find themselves in unfortunate circumstances when traveling with their cellphones and ending up with no signal.  When driving long distances or heading to remote locations without wireless network connections, smartphones essentially turn from incredible tools of communication into fancy paperweights. However, there is now a cool product in technology called FireChat that allows users to chat wirelessly on their smartphones without any Internet connection.  FireChat is a smartphone application that uses a proprietary technology called “mesh networking”. Mesh networking lets smartphones communicate with other mobile devices in proximity even when there is no Wi-Fi or mobile signal connection available.  FireChat does not completely replace the need for an Internet connection or allow users to text people from very long distances without a connection.  Still, this smartphone app has many potential applications for consumers who travel.  Read more »

While many people use digital projectors at home for their excellent pictures and cinema-like feel, most home projectors are less than convenient.  While the machines are small, the requirement for users to install large viewing screens into their houses makes them a problem in many cases.  In addition, many projectors require special remote controls sold separately, making it more expensive if users want to control their devices from a distance.  Cool person Pierre Lebeau has founded his company Keecker to create a new product that changes the status quo for home projectors.  Lebeau has reimagined the product from the ground up to try to give users an easier and overall more satisfying experience.  Read more »

Most calorie counting technology, whether it’s a smartphone app or a dedicated wearable device, provides people with pure data.  That data usually includes calories burned, steps taken, and numerous other cold hard facts about the user’s daily health statistics.  However, the problem with this system is that most users of these fitness tracking apps and devices do not know exactly what to do about the data they receive.  Without being extremely well educated in the subjects of nutrition and personal fitness, people have no context to what the data they collect actually means for them.   Everyone’s body is different and the same data will mean very different things to people depending on age, weight, gender, athleticism, and various other factors.  Cool product Fjuul is a fitness tracker that tries to solve this problem by taking a different approach.  Rather than provide users with massive amounts of data that they don’t even understand properly most of the time, Fjuul provides people with one easily understandable metric that they can follow: Fjuul points.  Users who want to try Fjuul’s system can download the app on their iPhone or iPod.  If someone has trouble installing the app on his or her device, contacting Apple tech support would be the best course of action. Read more »