Computer Support Blog

Have you been considering upgrading the storage capacity of your laptop? Are you thinking about data backup? Since different laptops store data in various manners, there are actually quite a few options to consider when upgrading your laptop’s storage capacity.

The oldest type of storage, and the bulkiest, is the traditional hard disk drive. Hard disk drives have been around since the 1950s, though they are drastically smaller now than they were then. Hard disk drives use a rigid spinning disk to store information and they have been growing in storage capacity at a pace that has kept them relevant for the advances in technology.

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Wireless power, or at least the idea of it, has been around for centuries. Nikola Tesla invented the first “Tesla coils” that produced an electrical field able to wirelessly power light bulbs up to fifty feet away in the late 1800s. Unfortunately, this did not lead to widespread use of wireless power.

Constantly, every day, there are thousands of wireless energy signals being sent back and forth across large distances, but we have yet to perfect easy methods of wireless electricity. That might be about to change.

For a while, there have been wireless charging stations available for cell phones, but those come riddled with many mobile computer support problems. Most of the time, these wireless-charging stations will only work with certain products, or they become obsolete when you upgrade to a new model of phone because of incompatibility.

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When you are not a member of a certain subculture, you may be entirely ignorant of its existence, much less what the principles and beliefs are for that culture or group.  As the Internet has effectively made the world smaller by connecting people from obscure subcultures, it has made learning about different groups of people much easier.  One of the most intriguing subcultures that has a surprising interest in computers and technology is the steampunk movement.

The steampunk subculture is preoccupied with reimagining the modern world as if steam power was still the dominant form of power.  The steampunk movement glorifies the sense of style of the Victorian Era and redesigns our modern conveniences to fit that style.  One of the very best resources on the Internet for those looking to understand steampunk is The Steampunk Workshop.

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Alpha Consumers, we need you!

In just a few days, Victorinox will release one of the coolest products to hit the portable memory market ever.  However, like so many initial product releases, it comes with a pretty hefty price tag.  As a result, many of us will rely upon the fact that Alpha Consumers satisfy the initial demand and absorb the expense of producing the next, less expensive, round of the product.  The cool new product is the Victorinox 1 TB USB/eSATA II flash drive!

Victorinox, most famous for creating and selling the Swiss Army Knife, has been making and selling USB flash drives of a similar style for years.  Incorporated into their trademarked fold-out design that allows you to essentially keep several different tools within a common handle, Victorinox included a USB flash drive to keep the tool relevant in the 21^st Century.  Victorinox is pushing the envelope forward now with their 1 TB USB/eSATA II flash drive.

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There are plenty of different options for data storage available on the market and many of them work great. So why do we need a new device for data backup? The Samsung Optical Smart Hub is not quite the same as any of the other options, although it is not yet for sale. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Samsung unveiled the Optical Smart Hub SE-208BW along with their many other great new products.

Until now, the options for data backup were CD/DVDs, tape drives, external hard drive, or a Cloud (a method of online storage for data). These are all great methods of backing up your data and programs, but they usually require you to connect to some other device in order to work such as a CD/DVD burner.

If you are looking for a more secure, off site method of data backup, however, look no further than Rescuecom. Rescuecom provides online backup on our secure servers so that you will never lose your valuable information.

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In the past Vizio has dealt exclusively in televisions and, within the last year, tablets. Their products have always been reasonably priced and of durable quality, hardly ever requiring any kind of computer repair. With their sleek designs and Smart TVs, Vizio has long been a reliable company from whom to buy good televisions. They constantly try to push the boundaries. Even this year, they released two mind-blowing televisions: an 84-inch Smart TV with a resolution of 4000×2000 and their Cinema Wide TV, which shows videos in 21:9 widescreen just like at the movie theaters.

This year, though, Vizio stepped dramatically out of its comfort zone and began making computers. They introduced three new laptops and two new all-in-one desktops at the Consumer Electronics Show. The sleek look and silver coloring of these computers give them a widely impressive design.

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The Kinect for Xbox 360 has been the ‘next big thing’ for gaming since it came out in November of 2010, but now it may become the ‘next big thing’ for computers too. Microsoft recently announced that they are releasing a Kinect for Windows in February of this year.

According to Todd Bishop on MSNBC, however, the Kinect for Windows are “more likely to show up first in business settings, such as car dealerships and retail stores. This is not coming to your home computer in a couple weeks.” He says this because what Microsoft was announcing was the release of the software development kit so that businesses could develop programs for the Kinect for Windows.

At this point, The Kinect for Windows has limited or no computer support with your personal home computer unless you develop the software for it yourself. Down the road though, the Kinect for Windows has great potential to change how we think about computers and their functionality. With its ability to detect movement both close up in Near Mode and farther away like the Kinect for Xbox, the Kinect for Windows will be a great new way to interface with the computer.

The Kinect for Windows is able to more accurately detect movements than its predecessor, so that when companies develop software for it, this technology will be useful and precise. It will also be able to recognize voice commands more accurately than ever before. This new user interface device will be a truly revolutionary product, when it becomes available widely to the public.

One of the downsides, however, is that because Microsoft owns the Kinect, this technology will only be compatible with Windows computers. Most likely, it will only work with Windows 7 and 8 (to be released this year). Other companies are working on this kind of motion sensing devices for televisions and other electronic devices, but Microsoft may have a monopoly on this type of technology as it applies to computers for a while.

There are plenty of other applications for this technology, as demonstrated on the Xbox Kinect website itself. There are videos there presenting the innovative ways people are already using their Kinects, including helping doctors look at MRIs and CAT scans, teaching autistic children, and helping stroke patients regain motor skills.

The Kinect for Windows could lead to some completely new applications as well. With its ability to track movement and recognize faces, the Kinect for Windows, might be the latest step in moving towards completely immersive gaming and computing. Admittedly, that is a long way off still, but it cannot hurt to dream!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

One of the chief concerns of environmentalists is with the carbon footprint left by individuals and industry.  Because carbon dioxide contributes to global warming, the development of industries that reduce the expulsion of carbon into the atmosphere have been growing.  Most businesses that are serious about reducing their carbon footprint must use elaborate computer models to factor in all of the variables pertaining to their carbon emissions.  In the effort to reduce one’s carbon footprint, the chief goal is to create a carbon-neutral system.  In a carbon-neutral system, there is no net output of carbon dioxide in any of the elements pertaining to the system.  The United Arab Emirates has plans to create a new suburb of its capital, Abu Dhabi, one that is carbon neutral and the developers are using the most sophisticated computer modeling yet to design that city.

Masdar City is the planned new city proximate to Abu Dhabi and computer models of the city project it to be carbon-neutral.  The idea behind the entire project is to create a city that in no way contributes to the generation of greenhouse gasses in both its operation and construction.

To achieve this goal, the city planners designed the entire city around the carbon-neutral goal.  Masdar City will not have any cars within its borders.  By removing such a random and carbon-intensive element from the environment, the models the developers are using are much more accurate.  The solution to moving residents and visitors around Masdar City is an elegant one.  The city will run an elaborate subterranean vehicle network.  The vehicles called Personal Rapid Transit are essentially six-person pods that combine the efficiency of a subway with the independence of a taxi.  When users get inside a PRT, they will be able to designate where they want to go within the grid and the PRT takes them there.  Because batteries that harness solar energy power the Personal Rapid Transit system, they leave no carbon footprint!

Perhaps the most brilliant aspect of the Masdar City design is how the layout of the buildings, their orientation in relation to one another, is designed to cool the desert city!  The city’s designers intend for Masdar City to lower carbon emissions by reducing the need to use air conditioners.  The layout of the city was one of the key elements that computer design models helped to create.

To make Masdar City a success, the designers had to factor in an exceptional number of variables.  In addition to having years’ worth of temperature records and weather patterns programmed into the computer models, the designers had to record light patterns in the area Masdar City will occupy.  Factoring in the carbon footprint of the construction of Masdar City led the developers to strategically place trees within their model to offset those emissions.

Right now, Masdar City is little more than a sophisticated computer model.  That computer program is a blueprint for a healthier world.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

There are many very cool products that businesses use to improve a customer’s shopping experience or life.  From products that monitor waste water to computer programs that monitor toxins in the air, almost every major industry contains gadgets that perform a vital function.  Many of those devices work behind-the-scenes to deliver superior results on a project or as part of a service.  It is often important that a business have the best possible equipment to help you get the results you want on your projects.  When it comes to house painting, the Auto-Match III is one such essential device.

The Auto-Match III is a sensor produced by BYK.  The Auto-Match III is a safe-like box under six inches square and nine and a half inches deep.  The box weighs just over seven pounds and has a small door in which you place a paint sample.  The safe-like design of the Auto-Match III prevents any light interference from entering the sensor and polluting the results of a scan.

The Auto-Match III is very easy to use.  When you bring a paint sample with the color you want to the Auto-Match III and place the sample inside, the spectrophotometer scans the sample.  One of the key selling points of this sensor is that it operates at 45/0 circumferential illumination, so it scans the sample at precisely the way your eye breaks down light.  In addition to being exceptionally accurate with the precise breakdown of light for color matching, the Auto-Match III renders colors in a way that you will perceive them as identical.  Because temperature affects the way light travels, many spectrophotometers require constant calibration.  However, the closed-system nature of the Auto-Match III eliminates temperature variables to give you clean, crisp results every time.

Why is the Auto-Match III such an important, cool device when it comes to matching paint colors?  The Auto-Match III sensor works in conjunction with the Auto-Match III software to accurately evaluate and replicate colors in a way no other single system does.  At least two different paint manufacturers feature applications for the Apple iPhone that allows you to match any color you photograph with paint from their line.  Unfortunately, the results wildly differ based on the amount of light in the room when you take the picture.  Other color matching programs for the PC fail to take into account that most computer monitors are not calibrated to the expert standards professional photographers or painters use on their equipment.  Thus, you may take a picture and look at it on your monitor and denounce it as the wrong color simply because your monitor is not properly tuned.  The Auto-Match III sensor and software eliminate those variables.

No matter how big or small your painting project is, you deserve to get the color you expect when you purchase paint.  BYK’s Auto-Match III sensor ensures you get accurately-scanned, precisely rendered, information on any paint sample so that you may replicate the color you want without flaws!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com

As technology and communications systems improve, all levels of society feel the effects.  In the case of young women growing up, the world is nowhere near as limited as it once was.  Now, instead of dreaming of being a happy homemaker or a teacher, girls are learning that virtually any career path is open to them.  Now, girls dream of growing up to become scientists, CEOs and President.  One girl who grew up believing that the sky was the limit for her future was Catherine Coleman; she became an astronaut!

Catherine Coleman is an American astronaut who had one of the most prestigious tours of duty aboard the International Space Station.  In her 159 days in space, most of which were aboard the International Space Station, she served with distinction during the most traffic the International Space Station encountered since its creation.  As the lead robotic arm operator for the International Space Station, Coleman was indispensible with docking the supply ships, space shuttles and other vehicles when they came close to the Station!

How did Catherine Coleman get to the position where she could become such an important astronaut?  After getting her B.S. in chemistry from M.I.T., Coleman worked hard and pursued her Doctorate in Polymer Science and Engineering.  She received her PhD in 1991.  While pursuing her higher education, she joined the Air Force.  While volunteering for centrifuge experiments for the Air Force, Coleman set new endurance and tolerance records that brought her to the attention of NASA.  She was hired by NASA shortly after receiving her Ph.D.

Initially, Coleman’s position at NASA was intended to be one of support, aiding in the technical development of systems that would be used in space by other astronauts.  When she illustrated real aptitude with manipulating the robotic arm and other robotic systems, NASA prepared her for spaceflight.  After waiting as a standby for a few missions, Coleman went into space as part of one of the Microgravity Laboratory missions and later as the lead specialist for deploying the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.  Her successful execution of those missions, in combination with continually developing her expertise in robotics and other sciences, made her an ideal choice to serve on the International Space Station.

As chief science officer during her mission to the International Space Station, Catherine Coleman conducted important experiments in physics, biology, chemistry, and robotics.  While in space, she even had time to practice her flute, which she played for a performance on National Public Radio!  With her well-rounded career, scientific and artistic interests, and determination to excel, Catherine Coleman is a great role model for girls and young women everywhere!

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit https://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.

For More Information, Contact:

David Milman, CEO

315-882-1100

david@rescuecom.com