Computer Support Blog

If you have had M&M’s lately, you might be contributing to a growing problem without even knowing about it.  M&M’s has a current promotion on many of its wrappers advertising the chance to win free movie tickets.  This is very exciting; in addition to getting some candy, you have the chance to get into a movie for free!  How cool is that?  Your response might be a little different after you pull back the curtain and look at what MARS/M&M’s is actually doing (and they are not the only ones!).

When you go on the Internet to enter the code found on your wrapper of M&M’s, the site requests your birthdate and state.  This is a very odd redundancy as the M&M’s website requires you to provide your birthdate just to access the site (it reconfigures for different age groups, which is admittedly pretty cool).  After you have added your date of birth and state or territory, you may enter your game code.  When you enter your game code, you are compelled to provide your e-mail address before the site will tell you what you have won.

And lo!  The vast majority of winners who win anything from M&M’s.com have to enter their address . . . so M&M’s may mail you your movie coupon.  This may seem like a very exciting process that has you eager to go to the movie, as well as eat more candy (you could win again!).

But what has really happened?  In the space of about one minute, you have provided the MARS/M&M’s Corporation with your name, address, e-mail address and birthdate.  You have given the company everything they need to put you on a mailing list!

Virtually every company with an online presence now gets their data directly from their customers in this fashion.  Why pay for a mailing list from a competitor when you can simply have your customers furnish their contact information under the guise of winning something?  The bottom of the receipts for Taco Bell and Wal-Mart promise the chance of money each month when you call and inform the company about the service you received.  Some users online have reported spikes in e-mails from companies like Wal-Mart following filling out those surveys!

It used to be that businesses kept customers in the dark about how their names ended up on mailing lists.  With the rise of Internet contests and surveys that require you to give your contact information, the process is being redressed poorly.  But kudos to the big companies!  They have realized they do not need data miners; they just need to offer the possibility of getting something more with your seventy-five cent candy!

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

With the holidays behind us and many struggling already to keep their New Year’s resolution, it is nice to know that one of the most common subjects for a resolution has a little help this year.  If you are one of the millions of people who made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight, technology is coming to your aid.  You might achieve success this year with the DietMate Weight Loss Computer.

The DietMate Weight Loss Computer is a handheld computer device designed exclusively to help you monitor your eating and exercise habits and keep you focused on achieving your weight loss goals.  The best aspect of the DietMate Weight Loss Computer is that it is a very simple specialized device.  Ideal for those who are easily distracted, and for whom a weight loss app on an otherwise cluttered smartphone or tablet computer could be ignored, the DietMate Weight Loss Computer helps you remain focused on a single goal.

The DietMate Weight Loss Computer is a handheld computer with a simple monochromatic LCD screen.  When activated, the screen has a clear, sharp readout and easy-to-use interface.  One of the striking aspects of the DietMate Weight Loss Computer is its lack of a keyboard.  The entire system works off seven buttons in conjunction with the screen.

The brilliance of the DietMate Weight Loss Computer is that it does the thinking about food and exercise so you do not have to.  Many diets fail simply because it takes so much work and effort to count calories each and every day.  Proper dietetics is a skill set like computer programming or accounting; asking most people to be so attentive to all of the nuances of nutrition is folly and the manufacturers of DietMate understand that.  The DietMate Weight Loss Computer comes programmed with all of the information on nutrition and aspects of dieting you need, so when you turn control of your diet over to the DietMate, you no longer need to be preoccupied with food.

Using the DietMate Weight Loss Computer is very easy and truly only requires a bathroom scale to use it successfully.  Each morning, you simply weigh yourself and then activate your DietMate Weight Loss Computer.  After inputting your current weight, simply carry around the DietMate and do what it tells you!  The DietMate Weight Loss Computer will tell you when to eat, it helps you choose your meals and it calculates the most efficient forms of exercise to help you reach your weight loss goals!

Approved by the National Institutes of Health, the DietMate Weight Loss Computer uses a powerful database and computer to take the thinking out of your diet.  By adapting your diet more to your existing life and patterns, you maximize your chances of weight loss success.  The DietMate Weight Loss Computer helps you change some of your patterns to help you lose weight!

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

While scientists work to engineer a completely artificial hamburger, computers are actually improving the agriculture industry in more appealing and practical ways.  Computer usage and ownership has been increasing in the United States steadily since 2001when the USDA began first seriously tracking computers on farms.  But just how do farms and computers relate?

In 2011, the USDA reported that 65% of U.S. farms have access to a computer, with 63% owning or leasing their own computer.  That statistic is significant in that it indicates that the agriculture industry is the most vital industry in the nation with the lowest computer penetration.  While large-scale farms have adopted the computer to aid in the business of agriculture, many family farms and farms run by an older generation of farmer have actively refused computer integration.

The farms that use computers largely use them for their Internet capabilities.  95% of farms that have a computer have Internet access.  The World Wide Web is being used to connect farmers across the country.  Oddly, it is the resistance of traditional farmers that may be hurting their own business.  The Internet provides local farmers with a new avenue to reach specialized local markets.  However, the USDA found that farms making sales between ten and one hundred thousand dollars only use their computers for farm business 41% of the time!  This is in stark contrast to the farms with sales above $250,000.  Those farms used the computer for farm business 72% of the time.  The willingness to use advancing computer technologies allows larger and specialized farms to continue to grow.

The most common use for computers on farms involves data storage.  Farmers use computers to keep track of workers and inventory.  While many of the smaller farms, the ones that resist the computer, still use traditional bookkeeping methods, most computer-connected farms use computers for keeping track of workers and payroll.  As well, computers help tech-savvy farmers keep a closer eye on inventory and supply chain issues.  By computerizing their feed and fertilizer inventories, farmers using computers provide more precise estimates to economic forecasters.  The estimates developed by economists from data supplied by farmers has been more accurately able to predict price spikes in the price of a gallon of milk, which is one of several key indicators in calculating the poverty line!

Farmers are also using their computers to get more accurate meteorological and climatological data.  Getting data on the weather is vital for farmers, especially crop farmers.  Livestock farmers are also helping to provide environmental scientists with data that is helping to predict and regulate more accurately the environmental impact of agricultural production, like the beef industry.  The flow of information both ways has helped to create sophisticated models that have prevented further outbreaks of Mad Cow Disease.

The agriculture industry may be the last big holdout in accepting the role of the computer, but those farmers that have adapted to the times are discovering the benefits of the computer outweigh the discomfort of change.

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

In revamping the aviation industry to revolutionize air travel, many new products and technologies are being developed.  One of the Federal Aviation Administration’s highest priorities is to replace outdated systems that have been in place since the 1950s.  To that end, the FAA has developed products like the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast and it is working on revolutionizing the communications systems between air traffic controllers and support workers at airplane terminals.  Another product integral to the NextGen program for changing the airline industry is the System Wide Information Management system.

The System Wide Information Management system is a new software system for the airline industry.  Created as a new, uniform operating system, SWIM is responsible for correlating data in the new vision of the aviation industry.  SWIM has essentially created a National Airspace System intranet and it is one of the NextGen programs that is already up and running.

The aviation industry employs a ridiculous number of computer systems to gather and correlate data.  In addition to plane movements, weather patterns and atmospheric conditions, the FAA receives data from the military, the government and small civilian airports.  Many of those organizations have their own intranets and when they provide data to the FAA, it is not in a form that is easily usable by the FAA.  For the past fifty years, there have been many jobs in the military and civilian sectors manually re-entering data from those disparate sources for the FAA.  Remedying the problems that come from trying to mediate between all of the systems aviation computers is why the FAA developed SWIM.

SWIM eliminates the need for manually re-entering data into an FAA-based program.  The innovative System Wide Information Management software collects data from the National Airspace System affiliates and correlates it into a standardized database.  SWIM provides a new, uniform interface, which will make jobs in the aviation industry much more portable.  With SWIM fully realized, a technician working for the Air Force would not need to retrain on a new system when they re-entered the civilian work force!

The System Wide Information Management system stands to make the aviation industry much safer by providing all of the information collected by members of the National Airspace System and presenting the data to all members in a universal interface.  SWIM will make flying easier and safer and software that can do that is undeniably cool!

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

Recently, we pitched the idea of sharing your smartphone with someone less fortunate in order to give them a holiday connection with a distant loved one.  With the holiday season behind us and the new year looming with all of its potential, we wanted to share an idea for lasting change.  A recent study found that over 100,000,000 homes in the United States are not connected to the Internet.  While politicians debate remedies and devise programs to change that, we have our own proposal.  Volunteer to help the underprivileged learn to use computers.

Why do people who live in poverty need computer access?  The Internet has enhanced the quality of life for billions of people the world over by providing reliable interpersonal connections, job opportunities and educational materials.  The poor and underprivileged have as great a need for the benefits of the Internet as any of us do.

Many communities have public Internet access, usually through your local library.  If your local library provides computers and Internet access, volunteering your time to help the less fortunate becomes very easy!  Librarians may be a great asset in finding individuals you might be able to help.

Showing another person how to use social networking tools over the Internet may give them a foothold to start their climb out of poverty.  Many poor people have friends and/or family outside their current location.  By taking the time to help a person establish an e-mail account and accounts with major social networking sites like Facebook and Google+, you may help an impoverished person become more visible to those who might be looking for them.  With an online presence, you may help another person find someone who may be able to help them.

The Internet is a wealth of educational materials as well.  Those who have basic educational deficiencies like illiteracy or the inability to do basic math are highly unlikely to approach a computer on their own.  You may make a profound difference in another person’s life by getting them online and hooking them up with Internet programs that help them develop their reading, writing and mathematics skills.  You do not need to be a teacher; online there are many teachers and programs looking to help others; they just need students!

Perhaps the greatest benefit of donating your time to helping the less fortunate get on the Internet is that you may help someone get back to work.  Many employers, especially for minimum wage or undesirable jobs require applicants to apply online.  Homeless and transient individuals seldom follow up when they are turned away from a prospective employer when that employer wants all applications to be digital.  By patiently guiding a less fortunate person through the online application process, you may well be able to help that person get a job.

By patiently guiding a less fortunate person through the process of becoming computer literate, you may provide them with a valuable skill that could change their life for the better!

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

With advances in technology like the camera and video camera on the Apple iPhone 4S, it seems like smartphone manufacturers continue to forget about the basic purpose of the phone.  The telephone and mobile phone were devices used for person-to-person communication before they were data storage tools, music players or cameras.  Touch, an app for smartphones manufactured by the small Canadian company Enflick, seems to recall the origins of the smartphone and makes texting cool again, by providing more chat options and blending some of the most successful elements of social networking.

Touch, which went by the name Pingchat until recently, is an application for Apple iPhones (or any other iOS-driven device), Android powered smartphones and Blackberry products.  The Touch app is designed to make texting more flexible and to provide options for group communications over your smartphone.

The texting options Touch provides are a bit more sophisticated than standard text programs.  In addition to not having the strict character limits of traditional texting, the Chat function through Touch provides vastly faster back-and-forth messages between you and the person with whom you are chatting.  The interface has more in common with a chat program like Instant Messenger than it does a texting program, including being able to see when the person or people you are chatting with are typing.

The group aspect of Touch is another distinctive aspect of the app.  Touch allows you to chat or share photos with other individuals or select groups of your friends.  You may have a multi-person chat session with other Touch-enabled friends.  During such multi-person chats, you may share photos and videos through Touch with all of your friends.  As a result, Touch becomes a great way to get feedback from all of your friends at once.

As well, Touch allows you to send private messages to individuals or groups outside the Touch conversation.  While obscure social networks like Elftown have had systems where you could see when someone had read your message, a lot of the newer networks and apps leave you in the dark about what happens to your messages after you send them.  Touch goes back to letting you see just how your friends react to your messages, including having status updates noting your friend drafting a response to a message you sent!

By combining some of the best old ideas with some of the newest innovations in social networking, Touch reinvents texting and file sharing for smartphone users.  Touch makes intimate group texting cool and it is a welcome app for smartphone users . . . at least until we all have videophones!

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

It is hard to argue that any computer or electronics company has tried to tie itself to cutting edge popular music more than Apple.  Apple Computers reinvented itself on the strength of their portable music device, the iPod, and has been at the forefront of the legal digital download market with iTunes.  While Apple has leased many classic tunes for its advertising, appearing in an Apple commercial can truly jumpstart the career of an emerging musical artist.

When the first Apple iPod commercials began playing in 2001, each of the four different commercials used a different song.  While Smash Mouth’s “All-Star” remained an overplayed hit when the commercial was released and Seal’s “Crazy” showed no change in sales by being featured, newer acts fared better.  Sister Hazel, who had been written off as a one-hit wonder, managed to turn their floundering album Fortress into a gold record by letting Apple use the single “Beautiful Thing” in their first commercial!  Even the Dave Brubeck Quartet successfully promoted using those first iPod commercials.  Inclusion of the classic jazz song “Take Five” bolstered the sale of three Dave Brubeck Quartet albums in 2001!

They cannot all be winners, of course.  The Apple iPod 5G commercials featured a U2 song, “Original Of The Species” that failed to break into the Top 40.  U2 had little to complain about in its relationship with Apple, though; in 2004 the band teased its album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb on iPod commercials using the single “Vertigo.”  The commercials using “Vertigo” used dancing silhouettes that pushed the album’s sales up to nine million units sold, in a year rap and hip-hop music dominated the music industry.

Arguably, no one has benefitted more from an association with Apple advertising (outside Apple itself!) than the artist Feist.  Feist released her album The Reminder in April, 2007 to little fanfare and very little radio support.  Feist’s song “1 2 3 4” from The Remainder was featured in the 2007 iPod Nano 3G commercials promoting the different color shells of the Nano.  Following the launch of the commercial, sales of The Remainder skyrocketed to sell over one million copies!  “1 2 3 4” has sold 1.2 million digital downloads, most of them through iTunes!

Apple ties its products to trendy music in a way that has a proven record of revitalizing careers as well as pushing struggling artists to the forefront of the public’s attention.  Perhaps that is why Grouplove is so happy to have their song “Tongue Tied” featured on the new iPod Touch 4G commercials.  The iPod Touch 4G will undoubtedly be one of the bestselling Apple products this Christmas season; it remains to be seen how Grouplove fares!

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

Sometimes, the coolest products are gadgets that are exceptionally specialized.  Advances in obscure fields like water reclamation, climatology and the study of aquatic environments often come because the technology associated with the field advances.  A very cool product that is advancing the study and measurement of dissolved oxygen in water is the YSI ProODO Handheld Optical Dissolved Oxygen Instrument.

The YSI ProODO is a handheld sensor array that comes with all of the sensing probes and hardware needed to do in-the-field dissolved water tests.  The YSI ProODO is a handheld device with a LCD display that can be backlit if you are doing dissolved oxygen tests at night.  The YSI ProODO looks somewhat like a tricorder from Star Trek: The Next Generation with its sleek design.  One of the smartest benefits of the ProODO is that the handheld device is both waterproof and buoyant.  To those outside the industry, it seems like common sense that you would want your equipment for testing water in the field to be waterproof, but that is not the case for all dissolved oxygen instruments!  YSI seems to understand that accidents can happen in the water and making the ProODO buoyant helps researchers protect their investment.

The YSI ProODO is available in several kits, most of which are determined by the length of the cable you want for the probe.  The ProODO has sensor cables ranging from one meter – ideal for laboratory work where you are close to your samples – to one hundred meters, ideal for testing deeper environments where it is impractical to visit or where disrupting the environment would prejudice the readings.

The ProODO is all about not disrupting the environment and ensuring accurate readings.  The accuracy of dissolved oxygen sensing equipment is often called into question because each testing area in an environment is considered unique.  Scientists in the dissolved oxygen field do not want unique; they want representative samples.  To that end, the ProODO’s sensor features a self-stirring mechanism that mixes water only at the point you want to read in order to provide a uniform representative sample.  Equally important is the fact that the sensor on the YSI ProODO maintains its calibration from deployment to reading.  The stable calibration is especially important when you are experimenting at depths that would require the 100 meter cable!

With a test memory of 5000 sets, the YSI ProODO eliminates the need for additional data storage.  Even so, the YSI ProODO comes with YSI’s Data Manager Software which allows users to upload their data from the ProODO to a computer.  In addition to providing powerful analytical tools, the use of the Data Manager frees up memory on the ProODO.  The ability to reformat the memory makes the YSI ProODO an essential long-term tool.

Field-tested for durability, innovative to provide representative samples and easy-to-use for clear data retrieval, the YSI ProODO delivers the cutting edge for the dissolved oxygen industry.

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

Around the holidays each year for the last five years, there have been two recognizable business trends.  The first trend is that more and more people are purchasing Christmas gifts online.  For 2011, Cyber Monday sales totaled $1.3 billion, making it the strongest online shopping day in history.  The trend toward shopping on the Internet as opposed to going out to crowded brick and mortar stores has been steadily growing since 2005.  Even as online shopping increases, brick and mortar stores have made it harder to return unwanted gifts after Christmas.

The trend against universal returns is an irksome one.  Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart as a customer service-driven retail store.  One of the principles Walton used when establishing Wal-Mart was that “the customer is always right.”  The advertising campaigns used to promote the first Wal-Mart super centers in the late 1980s restated that principle frequently.  At that time, Wal-Mart actively advertised a return policy so generous that they would accept returns, even if the item came from another store.  Now, however, Wal-Mart’s return policy is far less liberal or customer service oriented.  Wal-Mart.com’s return site requires order numbers and shipping information, even for gifts!  Wal-Mart stores accept returns without a receipt, even if the item was purchased online.  However, most returns without a receipt are only valid for store credit or exchange.  The only post-Christmas change to Wal-Mart’s return policy is that the store extends the return date for electronics to increase the amount of time you may return or exchange electronics.

Other major electronics or computer vendors are following that less customer-friendly return policy.  Apple Stores only accept unopened items with their original or gift receipt.  If you get an Apple iPhone as a gift, returning it after the holidays does not necessarily cancel your service commitment.  As a result, returning an iPhone means returning the physical phone and contacting your carrier to cancel service, and, with some contracts, you may not be able to cancel early without fees!

With most major stores requiring a receipt and your gift to be unopened in its original packaging, now it is more important than ever to be careful about dropping gift hints.  If you want a new laptop, smartphone or other computer device this holiday season, be precise when requesting it and be careful not to ask more than one person for the same thing.  The best defense against the miserly return policies of stores is to not have to make a return at all.

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

Happy Holidays from Rescuecom!

Today, as you spend time with friends, family and loved ones, we urge you to consider the less fortunate.  If you are reading this, you have access to the Internet and one of the most extraordinary technological tools in the world.  Not everyone is so fortunate.  In fact, the poorest Americans live without computer access or even telephones.

You have the power to use your new technology to help out a person in need.  96% of the population of the United States has a mobile phone.  You may have even gotten a new mobile phone or smartphone for the holidays!  While a part of the 4% that does not have a mobile phone includes people who just do not want the technology, a growing portion of the population simply cannot afford a cellular phone.  If you have looked around for a pay phone lately, you know that those who relied upon that traditional phone technology to spread holiday wishes may have disappeared from your area.

That is where you can make a difference this holiday season.  Many poor people have family members in other parts of the country or the world.  You can help connect poor, phoneless, people in your community with their distant loved ones, even if only for a phone call.  Smartphones with Internet access truly do make the world a smaller place and access to social networks through those smartphones may make for some real holiday miracles, even if you are just helping two people connect.

If your community has a large transient, disenfranchised or poor population, odds are there is a place they congregate.  Today is a great day to go there; bring a friend or several friends and your smartphones.  Politely introduce yourself when you arrive and ask the people there if there is anyone you could help them contact.  With your smartphone, you may be able to look up friends, family members or loved ones for the poor people there.  With social networks, you may even be able to connect two poor people without phones through friends in distant areas taking the same initiative!

For the cost of a phone call and the time it takes to help an impoverished person find contact information for another person on the Internet, you can make a real holiday miracle happen.  You have a cool phone that you might well upgrade by this time next year; helping to connect two people, even for a few minutes, can give you a joy that will last much longer.

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