Computer Support Blog

In the Internet age, social media is taking over traditional media in sourcing video content for major news events.  This is because it takes major news networks hours if not days to prepare to source a story, and hundreds of thousands of dollars as well, while citizen journalists, semi-pro and professional freelancers can spread the news in minutes.  Often, anyone with a camera can find himself or herself covering a story as it unfolds without much preparation.  Cont3nt.com is an open real-time market for breaking news, one its creators say can enable media companies, journalists, and citizen reporters internationally to get their story told to the world and receive payment for their work. Essentially, in its developers’ words, it is building an open market for a free press. One source refers to it as “e-commerce for citizen journalism.” Read more »

YouTube is no longer just an amateur video site.  Many people produce high quality content for the massive Internet video platform on a regular basis and even manage to earn a living purely from the advertisement money coming from their YouTube channels.  YouTube has gone from an interesting novelty to a major platform for many different types of media—from talk shows to independent dramatic web series.  However, for potential YouTube personalities, the task of building an audience large enough to sustain a regular show or popular channel can be daunting.  Cool product VidIQ wants to give users a better chance at getting enough regular viewers to make their YouTube videos profitable.  Building an audience takes far more work than just content creation and VidIQ is a platform that streamlines that work.  Read more »

One of email’s biggest limitations is the fact that only smaller files are transferable through attachments.  One of the reasons that cloud storage services have had such success as products in office-based situations is that workers can’t send larger files through email.  Cool person in technology Mike McEvoy runs a company that has made a product that allows people to send files of unlimited size to one another as easily as they send emails.  McEvoy’s product, Scayl, works just like an email messaging system, expect that it allows people to send files of unlimited size through attachments.  Whereas email will prevent people from sending very large files or giant folders of data, Scayl gives people the ability to share any amount of data with their colleagues or clients quickly and simply.  McEvoy’s product could make life easier for many people working in media and technology.  Any interested users who have trouble while trying to download McEvoy’s program from the Scayl website should find a remote tech support service to assist them. Read more »

A constant complaint from those that switch from Apple mobile products to Android-based ones is the loss of iTunes.  While Google Play is useful for streaming music, it lacks many of the features that iTunes fans love.  These features include the ability to sync several devices quickly and easily as well as a centralized local music player software for users’ home computers.  Dazzboard is a cool product that includes these features so that Android users can have an experience close to what Apple users have with iTunes.  The Dazzboard team makes their product open so that any Android user can use their software regardless of what device they own.  Dazzboard has software available for users’ computers that links to the Android apps they download for their phone.  The Dazzboard desktop program manages a person’s digital music library locally, organizing it in a convenient fashion for users in a single program.  The Android app does the same for mobile devices and syncs up directly with the Dazzboard app.  This level of convenience is something many people who have switched from iPhone to Android will appreciate.  Any users who have trouble handling the Dazzboard app should get Android tech support service. Read more »

The tech sector is, in many ways, the final frontier for driven individuals who have innate talent and simply need an outlet for it.  On the production end, having a great idea and learning to program it can make you the next Mark Zuckerberg or Martin Kleppmann.  On the business side of the tech sector, many companies reward experience and success over formal education.  Tom Jones is an executive who is proof that experience, charisma, and consistent success may be more of a commodity in the tech sector than a formal degree. Read more »

Following the rise of consumer and privacy activists to defeat the Stop Online Piracy Act earlier this year, the reaction to the defeat both online and in the tech sector has been interesting to watch.  Many of the leaders who organized the fight against SOPA have formed organizations, like the Internet Defense League, to create watchdog positions and communications networks to prevent future SOPA-like legislation from passing.  Many businesses decided to beef up their legal department so they could better understand the potential consequences of such legislation to their specific business.  Amazon.com hired Jamie Gorelick to its Board of Directors. Read more »

The relationship between media – movies, music, and television – continues to get closer and closer.  In fact, one of the most significant channels with which to promote new movies or programs is the Internet.  The Internet has numerous sites that act as repositories for clips, news, and historical archives for film, television, and music.  One of the most prominent sites for cinephiles is the Internet Movie Database, but for those who are much more interested in critiques and analysis, Rotten Tomatoes has rapidly grown into one of the coolest sites on the Internet. Read more »

Companies in the tech sector most frequently rise using a single service or main product line.  With success comes emulation – or imitation – and many times, the pioneers in a field find themselves surpassed by new companies that offer a newer or better version of what the pioneering company originally innovated.  Companies that want to remain viable in the tech sector have to adapt and usually diversify in order to grow and survive.  Yahoo! has been having a rough couple of years in the shadow of Google’s ascendency.  But Mickie Rosen is working hard to turn Yahoo’s fortunes around. Read more »

Demand Media had a pretty rough 2011, though its Fourth Quarter earnings were actually better than expected.  A provider of videos, blogs, and other media over the Internet, Demand Media has been working to transform the way people use the Internet for education and entertainment.  While the company has been growing, Demand Media’s Board has been buying back its stock and the company is not quite where the executives and analysts thought it would be.  Dave Panos is the man who will change the direction of Demand Media!

Dave Panos is the Chief Strategy Officer of Demand Media and his plans for the company are ambitious.  Because Demand Media is known for delivering original Internet video content the company is in competition with many distribution channels, like YouTube.  Panos organized a strategic partnership with competitor CoverItLive.  By pairing Demand Media and CoverItLive, Panos helped increase the video base of Demand Media dramatically, which allows Demand Media to reach a much wider audience.  Having the vision to partner with potentially vulnerable competitors is part of what makes Panos a truly great Chief Strategy Officer.

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Internet videos have made overnight celebrities.  Most of the viral videos that have launched obscure people into the collective consciousness of popular culture have resulted in a very fast rise and fall for the subject of the video.  In fact, there are very few subjects of Internet viral videos who have had real success following their peak popularity in a viral video.  One of the few to actually have a successful career following their viral video’s inevitable flameout is Amber Lee Ettinger.

Amber Lee Ettinger grew up as a dedicated student who was deeply interested in fashion.  After high school, she was accepted to New York City’s prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology, where she began to study fashion and clothing design.  At that point in her life, she wanted to be an entrepreneur and design her own clothing line.  After a brief stint on the beauty pageant circuit – she was Miss NYC in the Miss Hawaiian Tropic pageant – she set her sights on the performance arts.  Ettinger appeared in a music video for the John Popper Project and appeared on a very popular segment for the Internet show The Onion News Network.

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