WiFi Basics and Why it Will Remain the Primary Means of Internet Connectivity

Everyone knows what WiFi is, or at least what it does for them. It is something more people use now than ever before in human history, and the number continues to grow. It has pervaded everyone’s life and brought us the world in a way never possible before the modern age of technology. WiFi gives us the potential to see and know more than we ever thought we could and communicate with people around the world with which we would never have had contact as recently as a few decades ago. What exactly is WiFi, though? Many people who know the ins and outs of what it does would find this a difficult question to answer, as simple as it seems. The dictionary defines it as “a facility allowing computers, smartphones, or other devices to connect to the Internet or communicate with one another wirelessly within a particular area.” Most think it basically is the Internet, and almost everyone knows it at least as something allowing us to connect to it. There are many nuances and specifics to it, however, ones this definition cannot really clarify. Its purpose, certainly, is to allow us to connect to the world of the Internet which allows us to see, hear, and know more than previously imaginable. It allows us to do this anywhere at any time, as long as a connection is possible. It is the specifics which can confuse people, and only the more technically-minded can really know exactly how WiFi works, the difference between it and the Internet, its history, how it can evolve in the future, and its various applications. If you are not a tech-savvy person, chances are you do not understand these things, but it is really not particularly difficult once you know the essentials. Read more »

As the Internet continues to thrive and social media expands its reach into every aspect and details of our lives, there is a continuing marginalization of people’s desire for privacy and secrecy in their communications.  With every aspect of our daily lives, including what we say to our friends and family, constantly monitored by sites like Facebook, it is easy to forget that there was once a time when people could leave messages or communicate with one another without considering public ramifications.  One cool person in technology who realizes this change is affecting people and wants to present a solution is Howard Lerman. Read more »

Buying a home is a complicated and difficult process if you have no experience with it.  Many first-time homebuyers make mistakes or run into complication and trouble either during the process itself or after they’ve purchased their houses.  It doesn’t make it any easier when the process is different depending on where someone buys their new home, meaning there is no one easy checklist or solution to help first-time buyers.  However, there is help out there thanks to advances in web technology.

Cool product Closing Time is a web-based tool meant to help those inexperienced with the home buying process.  The product provides a checklist to buyers to ensure that they’ve completed every necessary step and are truly ready to close on the purchase of a home.  Just as tech support services provide help and advice to those who are inexperienced with computers, Closing Time provides help and advice to those inexperienced with buying houses or apartments.  Read more »

According to cool person in technology Pascal Mathis, booking activities for your vacation should be easy to do from any computer whenever you want. The travel industry already uses websites to book hotels, flights, rental cars, and most everything else that has to do with tourism. Therefore, it’s no surprise that someone would want to give people a way to browse through and book different tours and location-specific activities online as well. Mathis calls his service GetYourGuide. On GetYourGuide, users can search for specific activities that they would like to book while on vacation. They can also browse by location to see what is available if they already have a destination picked out for their trip. Mathis wants to offer travelers a more convenient way to book activities and plan their trip ahead of time with GetYourGuide. That’s why he gives users the option to add things like hotel pick-up to their bookings. Mathis aims for his customers to be in complete control of their trip before they even leave their homes. Computer IT support is available for customers who have trouble with bookings on Mathis’s website. Read more »

Static and bad sound quality commonly plague conference calls.  However, group calls themselves are often essential for efficient communication within a company.  Cool person in technology Stephane Giraudie has set out to fix this problem by creating Voxeet.  Giraudie claims Voxeet offers a better solution for business owners than standard conference calling due to the high quality experience that the product offers.  On the company’s website, Giraudie states that users will find a much higher quality of sound when using Voxeet.  Also on the website, Giraudie’s company cites “3D immersive sound” and HD audio technology to remove unwanted static from group calls as key factors in Voxeet’s user experience.  If Giraudie’s product live up to his claims, business owners could avoid miscommunication from misheard calls due to bad sound quality. It’s easy to imagine that most owners and managers would greatly appreciate higher quality audio in their group calls. Voxeet runs as computer software rather than a product you integrate with your phone, much like consumer-focused conferencing products such as Skype and Google Hangouts.  That means businesses will need access to good PC tech support if they have technical issues with the product. Read more »

Many education-based tech startups are trying to offer online courses and content directly to students through their own brand and website.  While these companies do occasionally collaborate with certain universities for course content, 2U CEO Chip Paucek is a cool person in technology believes in a different path for online education. Paucek wants to provide universities the tools and resources they need to create their own online degree programs.  Rather than offer online education directly, 2U works with schools to help them provide online classes and degrees to their students through a university’s own site and with a school’s own branding.   Paucek and his company concern themselves with forming complete courses and programs that fit into a genuine degree track rather than offering piecemeal educational content or single classes.  Paucek wants to help colleges utilize online classes to increase their reach and produce substantive courses that are in line with a college’s traditional offerings.  Because of this, Paucek doesn’t market 2U towards the public or students, but rather at universities themselves.  2U provides both technology and consulting to help colleges integrate large-scale online programs into their infrastructure quickly and efficiently. Read more »

Spambots, hackers, and other intruding forces constantly create problems for businesses that provide online services and products.  That’s why companies are constantly looking for new solutions to verify their users.  RingCaptcha is a cool product that adds phone verification as a feature for any website or app.  Companies only have to add a few lines of code to their site or program and RingCaptcha automatically integrates phone verification security into their product.  RingCaptcha contacts customers who try to create new accounts or sign in from unfamiliar locations by phone.  By providing these customers specific verification codes by phone, the service confirms that a user’s phone number is both real and their own.  Theoretically, this keeps out spambots or any fake accounts that people create to use for illegal or questionable means.  RingCaptcha means to provide an added security for companies that want to avoid the hassle of illegitimate user accounts and fraud.  Any business that has been the victim of a malware attack, knows how costly office virus removal service can be if they don’t have the proper security measures on their site. Read more »

Most eCommerce depends heavily on a discounted mass-market model that focuses on items produced in very high volumes and shipped from big warehouses.  It’s a very functional, but very dry system.  Wherein the world of physical retail, there are often specialty shops that depend on unique products and craftsmanship, these types of products and retailers commonly get lost in the shuffle on the Internet.  Grand St. CEO and cool person in technology Amanda Peyton wants to change this and help the visibility of unique, specially crafted products on the web.  Her company works a curator for eCommerce, seeking out and partnering with makers of specialty items and offering a limited number of these items as deals through the Grand St. website.  Rather than fill warehouses with everyday products, Peyton wants to give exposure to unique items.  For example, Grand St. has featured a Bluetooth thermometer for your grill that alerts you when your food finishes cooking, an inflatable solar-powered LED lantern, and a digital pen that records your handwritten notes and syncs them wirelessly with your smartphone.  Clearly, these are not everyday items you’ll find in Wal-Mart, but specialized tech toys that focus on niche markets.  If you ever need help with an electronic item purchased from Grand St.’s website, you should find a good tech support provider. Read more »

Many founders and CEOs can attest to how running just one business can consume someone’s life.  That’s why cool person in technology Tony Stubblebine stands out in his field.  For him, one tech startup was not enough, he actively runs two.  In 2007, Stubblebine founded CrowdVine, a company that creates web-based social networks for conferences and company events.  That company grew over the years and remained successful, but in 2011, Stubblebine decided that he needed more.  He had another idea that he wanted to nurture and grow into a successful business.  That idea was Lift, an iPhone app that assists users in forming and maintaining good habits such as exercising, eating healthy, and keeping in touch with old friends.  Some founders and CEOs would have left one company to start another, or even sold their first venture to support the next, but Stubblebine continues to work as the head of both businesses. Read more »

People often need extra motivation or encouragement to achieve the goals that they set for themselves.  Without keeping track of their progress or setting a deadline, many people will forget about their goals altogether and never complete the necessary tasks to accomplish them.  Wishbomb is a cool product on the web that’s aim to prevent this from happening.  The website acts as persona l progress tracker for your goals.  Users create a profile on the site, add goals, create deadlines, and track every step of the process through the site.  Wishbomb users have “wishblogs” in which they write about their efforts to complete their goals and the challenges they personally face.  The site also offers specially tailored online resources for your specific goal when you need help knowing what to do next.  The site encourages users to join for goals as varied as starting your own business, losing weight, running a marathon, learning more about computer repair or redecorating your home.  Read more »