Computer Support Blog

When Instagram launched in 2010, it changed the way many people approached mobile photography.  While anyone could snap pictures just for themselves and their close friends to see, Instagram offered users a simplified way to make artistic-looking photos that people wanted to share publicly.  Instagram’s filters gave people a sense of performance when taking and uploading their pictures and allowed many people without photo editing skills to feel like pros with their smartphone camera.  Magisto is a smartphone app that wants to recreate this experience on mobile, but this time for video rather than photography.  Magisto is a cool product that lets you upload your mobile videos to its app and choose a “theme” to apply to them.  Each theme dictates an automated editing process, which gives your video a more artistic look.  Themes add different visual filters to your video, not unlike Instagram does with photos, but also actually edits the video itself to make it more dynamic. Those who have have trouble recording videos with their mobile devices can get smartphone IT support to help them with their camera. Read more »

Most travel or concierge style apps target the lower and middle market of consumers, as that’s where you find most mobile users.  However, cool person in tech Matthew Rowe founded iVIP to cater to a very specific, premium piece of the travel market—the very rich.  Rowe created his suite of iVIP apps as part of a service that gives targeted advice, information, privileges and special offers to individuals of high net worth who prefer luxury accommodations and services.  Rowe believes there that the upper tier of the market is looking for a mobile app that caters specifically to their taste and lifestyle.  The iVIP apps come with a service where luxury companies offer members exclusive upgrades, products, and services to members of the app.  Rowe’s iVIP apps connect users to these services based on their specific location, as the app’s offers vary from city to city.  If you were interested in checking out the iVIP app but have trouble with your mobile device, a mobile tech support service would be the best option for you. Read more »

The holiday season is only a few months away and for many people that will mean the buying and receiving of copious amounts of retail gift cards.  Thickening your wallet with these cards and even remembering to use them all can be inconvenient and troublesome—not the sort of experience you want to have associated with gift giving.  Cool person in technology Vinny Lingham founded his startup Gyft in 2012 to attack the problem of physical gift cards.  Gyft uses mobile technology to make storing, keeping track of, and using gift cards a seamless process for consumers.  Users download an app on their smartphone where they can enter the information from their physical gift cards.  Lingham’s app stores the information and lets users access it directly from their phone so they can toss all the plastic versions of their cards away.  Read more »

One of the most touted features of Google’s mobile operating system Android is the level of customization that it offers to users.  With the help of many different settings available as well as specialized Android applications, Android users can redesign their phone or tablet’s entire interface.  Cool person in technology Ashvin Dhingra knew that many Android users like himself were passionate about their own customized Android designs.  Dhingra acted on this passion by creating MyColorScreen.com, an online community that lets hobbyist Android customizers share their own design with others.  Users post images of their different Android interface designs and tutorials on how others can create and install them on their own phones.  Dhingra’s website features the most viewed and talked about designs on its main page and runs a blog with tips, guides, and opinions as well.  Dhingra even placed a special section on the site for those who have hacked their iOS devices to customize their home screen as well.  The website claims that its community has uploaded over 49,000 designs so far.  If you want to learn more about Android customization, find an Android tech support provider to help you. Read more »

Voice control is a growing trend in the smartphone arena.  Both of the two biggest smartphone operating systems—iOS and Android—have voice-activated virtual assistant features built in to their system (Siri and Google Now, respectively).  However, these virtual assistants often don’t work within many specific applications, limiting how many actions they can actually perform.  This is why cool person in technology Stuart Patterson is making virtual assistant style voice control available for individual mobile applications with his company Xtone.  Consumers have responded well to the ease-of-use presented by Siri and Google Now, so Patterson sees an opportunity for app creators to transplant that experience into their own mobile software.  Patterson targets Xtone’s services at small and medium-sized app developers who want to add a Siri-like experience to their product.  Xtone’s own website lists various potential applications of such a feature.  One could use Xtone’s technology for booking hotels and rental cars quickly with a travel app, transferring money or paying bills with a banking app, or even connecting to an online tech support service when you have trouble operating an app.  While virtual assistants like Siri and Google Now can only let you open certain programs or access specific OS commands by voice, Xtone’s technology lets people commit these essential tasks the same way.  Read more »

There are many cases where having a private phone number can be beneficial and increase personal privacy.  However, setting up a second cell phone line can be costly and require more effort than it’s worth.  Cool product Burner makes the process far simpler.  Burner is an iPhone and Android application that creates private numbers for use on your smartphone when you need them.  You can either set up a separate number indefinitely or make it active for a specific period of time.  This creates a wall of privacy between you and general public.  For example, if you ever need to give out a number on Twitter or Facebook for business reasons, Burner allows you to create a private number specifically for those calls.  If that number is ever compromised somehow, you can just “burn” it by deleting it from the app.  Users can keep as many extra phone numbers as they want in the app at any given time.  If you have trouble getting your Burner numbers to integrate into your phone properly, you will need smartphone computer support.   Read more »

If you have a smartphone, there’s a solid chance you have several mobile apps that you can’t imagine living without.  In fact, with so many programs and applications sticking exclusively to mobile operating systems like Android, you may even wish you had the ability to run your apps on all your machines, even laptops and desktops. Cool person in technology Rosen Sharma is relying on the idea that this is true for many users.  His company Bluestacks has developed a program that allows users to run Android applications on their PC or Mac.  Sharma’s software gives users access to hundreds of thousands of Android apps directly on their computer, allowing people to integrate their favorite apps into their lives even further if they so wish.  Read more »

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 »

It’s always the right time to throw a steak on the backyard grill.  An app from iDevices takes some of the pressure off the grill chef by monitoring your food via your Apple or Android device.  The app developed by iDevices may be the perfect solution for your next party or just right for the non-stop schedule you keep.  Read more »

While there is a plethora of ringtones available for all types of smartphones via online music stores, there are times when you want something more personal as a ringtone but have no easy way to create it.  Fortunately, Audiko is a cool product in technology that gives you the ability to create a ringtone from any audio file that you own.  Audiko offers a simple set of tools that allow users to take a clip of up to thirty seconds from any audio file and convert it to ringtone format.  Users simply go on the website, upload the audio file they wish to use, and edit it directly in their browser before converting it into a ringtone.  Audiko lets you utilize any audio format you want to create your ringtone, including high definition audio formats like FLAC for those who want their ringtones’ sound quality on par with the rest of their music. PC support can always help you if you find yourself struggling to upload a file to Audiko’s website. Read more »