Computer Support Blog

Communication between professors and students at the university level is extremely important, but not always easy to facilitate.  Even with digital services such as email, getting in touch with a teacher can be difficult for a student.  Students’ messages will often get lost within a large group of messages that are in a professor’s inbox.  Universities also discourage teachers and students from using public social networks like Facebook in order to communicate, eliminating that option.  Read more »

Social networks like Pinterest have grown subcultures within themselves where users post and share craft projects and do-it-yourself scenarios.  There has proven to be great interest in social networking as a tool to help people create and not just entertain themselves or communicate.  Foodzai is one such social network that is joining this trend.  This cool product allows people to post, share, and review recipes.  While Pinterest has started to help people create crafts, Foodzai wants to harness similar energy to help people share and create different types of food.  Foodzai encourages users to create personal “cook” profiles and post recipes publicly on the site.  Each recipe contains detailed instructions, an ingredients list, and pictures of the final product.  Cooks can also post pictures of the process on their recipe pages, but that is an optional addition to each post.  Anyone who wants to join Foodzai, but has trouble creating an account can seek the appropriate help through a computer support company. Read more »

Most social networks dedicate their features to helping people communicate with others that they already know, or who live nearby.  Facebook connects people with friends and family and LinkedIn connects users with professional associates.  Geonick is a cool product on the Internet that takes a much different approach to social networking.  Geonick is a social network meant for travelers.  Its features, design and implementation all cater specifically to the needs of international travelers.  The designers of Geonick mean for it to help people connect with new people and experience new places rather than simply reinforce a person’s already established social groups.  Geonick takes advantages of things like mobile technology and GPS in order to focus on the mobility of the travelers and give people ways to use the social network while out experiencing the world.  Users who have broken smartphones or tablets will not be able to utilize Geonick to its fullest capabilities.  To use this cool product as its creators meant it to be, those with broken mobile devices should get mobile computer repair service. Read more »

If you have seen The Social Network, you know the Hollywood version of the history of the creation of Facebook.  In the movie, Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook for the programming challenge and the status of creating the “next big thing.”  When Sean Parker comes into the mix, the priority with “The Facebook” is keeping the site cool and hip, as opposed to monetizing it.  This is actually one of the details from the film that jives with reality.  However, there came a time for Facebook to monetize and when it did, it was Sheryl Sandberg who made the cool Facebook into a multibillion dollar advertising platform.

Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook.  Sandberg arrived at Facebook in 2008 after being wooed away from a potential job at Google.  That hiring was seen as a real coup for the Facebook team and shortly after joining the company, Sandberg initiated the advertising program that changed Facebook from a potential cash cow into a multibillion dollar moneymaker.  By 2010, Facebook was showing a profit, which was virtually unheard of in Internet social networks.

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The great contribution of social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter is connectivity, social connectivity, that is. Although Internet users everywhere used a variety of network services to connect, social networking sites would have us believe that we simply were not fulfilling our social potential. Many of its 800 million view Facebook  as a fundamental social networking tool. According to HighTalk, a third of all people with access to a network service are on Facebook. In many ways, teens and young users are growing up believing that Facebook is the ultimate social network service, but is Facebook actually helping us become more socially connected?

When it comes to connecting with old, lost friends and relatives, social network services are a simple and fast resource. In a matter of minutes, you can look through a friend’s friend list, locate a common friend, search his or her friend list, and voila, high school sweetheart found. In fact, for many people, websites that offer social network services are a great way to combine business and pleasure.

Clearly, Facebook  and other social networking sites offer us some form of connectivity—they allow us to be in each others’ lives much more prominently (often excessively). The real issue, though, is the kind of connectivity that Facebook enables, not its strength. In other words, do social network services actually enhance our social interactions and connections or do they merely create a delusional, alternate world in which we all roam with complete disregard for our privacy and Internet security, taking pride in the fact that we have 500 + friends?

Even in real life social settings, almost everyone is constantly checking Facebook via smartphones and other devices. If the purpose of social network services is to enhance our social connections, why do we still log-in when we are in perfectly healthy social settings?

Still, if you are convinced of the unparalleled rewards of social network services, consider the threats that these network services pose to users’ Internet security. Using social network services comes at a cost to Internet security. A previous blog discusses how vulnerable users’ Internet security can become when social network services are granted permission to share users’ data. Some people might try to defend social network services like Facebook  by claiming that users have the option to limit apps, hence protect their Internet security. However, the choice to block all third party apps is similar to the choice not to use a cell phone! Sure, no one is forcing you to allow Facebook apps access to your information, but without such apps, Facebook becomes boring and limited.

On the surface, sure, Facebook is making us more connected, but in reality, it is isolating us, increasing our addiction to life on the web, and constantly threatening our Internet security. Perhaps it’s not that great after 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

If you’re looking for more music variety than what your MP3 player or iPod/iPhone can provide, consider tuning into the radio. Not just any radio, though—Internet radio. In fact, if you’re already one of the 13 percent of weekly American Internet radio lovers, you’ve probably heard of big names like Pandora and NPR. Many Internet radio stations offer streaming services that allow you to customize your music preferences and listen to unlimited music all day for free, albeit with some ads. One particularly interesting Internet radio provider is Jango, a service that combines free music with social networking and a comprehensive listening experience that includes artist bios, videos, and relevant links.

For users concerned with Internet security, Jango’s biggest advantage is that it doesn’t require any risky or potential harmful downloads. The interface is entirely online, and listeners can even listen to music without creating an account. Of course, creating an account has its advantages, not to mention that it’s safe and easy; Jango states that emails are not shared or spammed.

To start using Jango, you need to create a station based on an artist or song preference. Next, Jango asks you a few quick questions like how frequently to play the selected song or artist. The website also suggests similar artists in a tag cloud form. When it comes to giving you the music you want, Jango seems to do a better job than Pandora; it’s more straightforward. For example, if you want to listen to songs by Adele and create an Adele station, Jango seems to play Adele—as opposed to similar artists— more frequently than Pandora would. The more artists you add to a station, the “smarter” it gets, guaranteeing that your actual selections play more frequently than merely similar ones. You can also ban artists that you don’t want to hear, as well as rate the songs you do like.

Another cool Jango feature that doesn’t exist in Pandora is the ability to tune into other users’ stations. This feature, among others, is what makes Jango a more interactive site than Pandora. On Jango, you can see who shares your music taste (called “Like-Minds”), invite friends, and talk to other users.

If you’re an independent or rising artists, then add Jango to your list of favorite places immediately. Jango gives emerging artists the chance to directly submit their music online and have it play along with the mainstream music that appears on the website.

As of 2008, Jango had a million users, compared to Pandora’s 80 million, but those numbers are bound to change as legal battles over royalties, copyright issues and antitrust issues move forward.

Jango has been highly praised by the Wall Street Journal, PCWorld, WIRED Magazine, USA Today, and CNET. The interface works in many countries (where Pandora currently only works in the US), and seems to have extensive tech support. Jango’s website offers an extremely helpful Q&A section that covers many things from how Jango works to privacy and security issues. Jango is also available in app form for Apple OS and Android phones.

Overall all, despite a clunky interface and occasionally annoying ads, the website offers so many fresh features that it’s definitely worth a listen.

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