Computer Support Blog

There is a plethora of options for mobile users who want to use their smartphone as a GPS navigation system.  However, most of these navigation apps are essentially the same.  The only differences you are likely to find are in their user interfaces and perhaps the accuracy of their specific mapping systems.  iOnRoad is a cool product that breaks this trend of homogeneity.  Instead of merely relying on the old conventions of GPS navigation and mapping software, iOnRoad uses your smartphone’s camera to create an experience based on augmented reality instead.  Users mount iOnRoad so it can take video through their cars’ windshields.  The app then overlays its interface on top of the video while it navigates drivers to their destinations. Read more »

While many people make an attempt to grow healthy food at home, it can be difficult to optimize the growing conditions for fruits and vegetables.  Without the correct expertise, many who grow food in our gardens are merely making educated guesses about the best methods to treat plants.  Jason Aramburu is a cool person in technology who wants to change this by giving people the power to measure things such as the nutrient content, pH, temperature, and moisture of their soil accurately.  Aramburu wants to give people the appropriate help so they can grow healthy, sustainable food at home.  He calls the device and system that he’s developed to give people this help Soil IQ. Just as good computer support makes using technology easier for many people, Aramburu wants Soil IQ to have the same effect on those trying to grow their own food. With Soil IQ giving people the data they need to ensure they’re doing everything right to cultivate their own fruits and vegetables, Aramburu is hoping that more people will choose to grow healthy food at home in the future.  Read more »

Anyone who wants to use licensed music for a project such as a website or video game knows how much it can cost and how much of a hassle it can be to implement.  Licensing music for commercial use is a costly process and can involve many legal headaches.  While many may want to utilize such music to make their project more engaging to users, they often forgo doing so due to the effort and cost involved.  Feed.fm is a cool product in technology that is looking to streamline the process of licensing music for commercial projects.  Businesses that want to use licensed music can avoid much of the hassle by using Feed.fm’s large database of licensed albums and songs for whatever project they desire.  Feed.fm is a service that handles all the legal issues surrounding licensed music for you and presents companies with an easier option to utilize music on their website or in their games. Read more »

One of the key aspects of marketing a book has always been holding book-signing events.  These events help to create hype a writer’s work and allow authors to connect directly with their biggest supporters, which increases the chances that those supporters will spread the word about their favorite author’s books.  Book signings have always been an effective way for authors to communicate and promote their books to their readership.  However, with eBooks on the rise over the last several years, traditional books are taking up the less of the market.  This introduces a serious problem for authors: how do you continue to promote your work through book signings when more and more content is digital in nature?  Cool product Autography provides a solution to this conundrum.  Autography has created a system for the digital signing of eBooks.  With new advances in technology, Autography allows authors to personalize eBooks for their readers and attach digital signatures and individualized messages so readers can receive personalized copies of books just as they would at a physical book signing.  Read more »

SAT prep is a major business market with several major players dominating, such as The Princeton Review and Kaplan.  The majority of SAT prep companies use methods revolving around large instruction booklets and classroom instruction.  While some companies have begun using technology to support their curricula, it is often an afterthought and they focus their efforts mainly on web-based testing.  Cool person in technology Michael Weiler believes that a different approach will be more effective on today’s high school students.  Weiler’s company Edupath handles SAT prep with a mobile-first strategy.  Most students these days spend immense amounts of time on their smartphones and tablets so that is where Weiler wants to make SAT prep tools accessible for them.  He believes a mobile-first strategy encourages a constant connection to the materials students need to improve their scores.  Weiler wants to leverage the popularity of mobile technology to help kids get into the colleges they want to attend. Read more »

When your company or organization is holding an event or sponsoring a conference, you want your visitors to engage as much as possible.  Lawrence Coburn is a cool person in technology who wants to help you keep attendees involved at all times by creating special mobile applications for your business’s events.  Coburn founded DoubleDutch in 2010 and since then has been helping companies get a better return on investment for every major social event or conference they hold.  Coburn’s company create apps that aim not only to help visitors get the most out of a company’s events, but also help each company optimize its events as much as possible in the future.  Coburn’s goal is to ensure that each event or conference a business holds provides as much benefit to the business as possible in the long run.  Read more »

One of the most convenient and attractive benefits of staying at a quality hotel when you’re in a new city is having a knowledgeable and helpful concierge to give you advice on the different restaurants, bars, and attractions nearby.  The ability simply to ask for the best sushi restaurant in London or the most affordable steakhouse in Miami when you’re staying there and receive a reliable answer quickly can greatly improve your quality of life.  However, there are plenty of situations outside quality resorts and hotels where you may want access to a concierge for advice.  What about when you move to a new city where you don’t know anyone locally, or maybe you’re backpacking across Europe and saving money by staying hostels rather than hotels?  That’s where cool technology product Agolo can help you.  Agolo is a website that uses crowd-sourced info from Twitter to give you informed advice and recommendations about places to go and things to do wherever you are.  Agolo is trying to be people’s personal concierge no matter where they’re staying. Read more »

So suppose for the moment that you are not driving your fully automated vehicle that drives itself where you want to go. How can you still get the greatest benefit from technology linked to your car?  You may already have a dashboard system that manages your onboard communications and security, but what about something that monitors your driving style?  Sure, user-based insurance policies have helped make safe driving cheaper.  Yet the cofounders of Driveway Software take issue with the current system.  The team has developed a completely free app, Drivewise.ly that helps “create new, safe drivers.” Read more »

If you’re like most people, you are keeping an eye on the national and global economy while increasingly enjoying science fiction-like technological advances.  These advances are creating “more wealth with less work.”  But where are the new jobs going to come from? Read more »

How far has identity authentication come?  From formerly high tech methods such as face unlock to retinal scanners in action-packed spy movies, technology is moving toward a system that requires “putting your heart into it.”  Imagine coming home and, without any action on your part, pulling into an unlocked garage, entering your unlocked home, and entering a room where your music of choice and even your room temperature of choice welcome you home.  Add having your favorite dinner on the table and the candles lit and you’d have the perfect picture! Read more »