Computer Support Blog

Social media is one of the most prominent uses of the Internet, and almost everyone online connects to friends and family through at least one.  Many people have a wide variety of social networks on which they share many different things including personal thoughts, family photos, check-ins to places they visit, and much more.  Zalongo is a startup that helps you create your own private social group or family website, and it offers a bit more to help you share everything you want to with specific people.  There are limits to social media, and you may find yourself using different apps or networks for different purposes, not to mention keeping different profiles for different groups of people.  With Zalongo, that is no longer necessary. Read more »

Social networking often carries a stigma indicating that it limits people and prevents them from experiencing other aspects of life away from the computer. So much of social networking has to do with sharing content on the web and collecting digital imaginary benefits such as “likes” or “favorites” that it’s easy to see why some people feel this way.  Cool person in technology Justin Parfitt believes that social networking doesn’t have to limit people from experiencing the “real world” but can, in fact, be a useful tool to open people to new experiences.  Parfitt designed his social network HeyLets around the concept of providing people with the chance to discover new experiences they may enjoy while out of the house.  Parfitt’s product doesn’t focus on one sort of experience or event exclusively, but instead allow users to share all types of places and activities they enjoy.  HeyLets users simply post small status updates and photos as they would with other social networking sites, but also frame those updates with data that indicates where their experiences were located and how others can enjoy them too.  Anyone who has issues connecting to HeyLets may want to seek online computer support for assistance. Read more »

People have been creating personalized playlists since before music was digital.  Thousands of people still remember recording personal “mix tapes” on cassettes and sharing them with their friends or giving them as gifts to loved ones.  Digital playlists are, in many ways, the modern version of these personalized mix tapes and just like the mix tapes of old, people have a desire to share the playlists they create today.  Enter cool person in technology Darius Fong who has created a new service designed around the idea of everyday users crafting personalized playlists and sharing them with the world.  Fong’s product goes by the name of weeSPIN, emphasizing the social aspect of the service by using a play on the plural pronoun “we”.  Read more »

Social networks were once online spaces that people used to communicate only with their friends and others in their immediate social circle.  That is no longer the case as companies like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr have all made social networks completely open and public.  Now, when a user shares an update, link, or set of pictures on any of these sites, they are sharing it with the world, not just their friends.  People still want private online spaces to communicate only with their close friends.  Cool person in technology Brendan Mulligan has responded to this demand with his mobile app Cluster.  Cluster allows users to create digital spaces that are invite-only.  People create a Cluster space on their smartphone and then invite all the specific friends and family they want to have access to that space.  Each invitee receives a notification on his or her phone to join the new Cluster group.  In these private spaces, users can share pictures, links, media and other information that they want to share but would not be comfortable doing so on publicly open sites such as Facebook.  Anyone who has trouble inviting people to their spaces via Cluster should find a source of mobile tech support. Read more »

People often look at social networking sites and public blogs as a way of journaling or recording one’s life online.  However, there is one inconsistency with the “journal” metaphor.  Most people have never posted the content of their physical journals or diaries in a public place for anyone to see and add comments whenever they want.  Meanwhile, social networks and blogging sites such as Facebook and Tumblr set everyone’s status updates and photos to public by default so that anyone can see or comment on them.  Cool person in technology Siqi Chen has created an app that seeks to address this inconsistency by giving users a truly private multimedia journaling experience.  Chen calls this new app “Heyday”.  While users can update their Heyday profiles the same way they would update their social network accounts and even set automatic updates, none of the information on Heyday appears to a public audience.  Chen wants Heyday to be a private experience, unlike so much of what social media is on the rest of the web.  Read more »

While many people consider reading books to be a solitary activity, that doesn’t always hold true in reality.  For lots of readers, books are as social of a hobby as anything else.  People create book clubs, use social media and engage in events such as author signings and Q&A sessions just to meet other avid readers and discuss the nature of their favorite texts.  Conversations range from speculation about character motivations to complex academic discussions about story themes.  Now, a cool product in technology wants to harness this social aspect of book reading for profit.  Bookmate lets readers take notes, leave questions, and copy quotes in every book that they read with the app and then share all their notations with all of their friends on social media.  Users can read their friends’ notations within a certain book as they read it on Bookmate and then engage those friends on social media to discuss how they felt about those notes.  Bookmate integrates with popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter so people can even share their notes with friends who don’t use Bookmate.  Anyone who cannot connect his or her Bookmate account to Twitter or Facebook should get help from a remote computer support provider. Read more »

Brands of all types have made social media marketing a priority in the last several years.  From large corporations to small mom-and-pop businesses, companies have turned to sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram to promote their product and remain in the public eye.  Social networking has become an important part of strategy for many companies in the current environment of the business world.  However, social media presence works primarily as a way to remain in the public consciousness and less so as a direct route to sales or new customers.  Soldsie is cool product in technology that may start changing that situation for many businesses.  With Soldsie, companies can sell their items and services directly from their social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.  Rather than link to outside promotions or simply post marketing material, businesses can pull in new customers right on their social media pages and sell their products directly.  With Soldsie, brands can use Facebook not just as an avenue for advertising and branding, but potentially as a direct source for revenue as well.  Any companies unsure of how to manage their social media pages should make sure they have good business IT support before using this cool product. Read more »

Making plans spontaneously is difficult.  Even with the advent of social media like Twitter and Facebook, trying to get hold of friends on short notice isn’t easy.  People aren’t always online and often don’t check social networks until it’s too late to take advantage of a spontaneous plan.  Cool person in technology Raji Bedi created doingtonight, a mobile social network, so that people have a specific place to go to when they want to make last minute plans.  On doingtonight, users post their potential plans for the evening and can tag specific friends and locations in their posts.  Those friends receive notifications about each proposed plan and can either call the original poster or simply show up if they are free that night.  By creating a social network exclusively for these occasions, Bedi is making it easier and less awkward to use social media for spontaneous outings and get-togethers.  Currently, doingtonight is available on iPhone.  Users who have issues installing it from the App Store can contact Apple tech support for help. Read more »

Craft breweries depend heavily on word of mouth for most of their business.  Unlike major corporate beer brands, people can only find specific craft beers in a limited numbers of bars, restaurants and retail stores.  Small breweries also do not have the proper resources to put large amounts of money into national advertising campaigns.  Enthusiasts telling others about specific brews and smaller companies is what keeps many of the regional craft beer companies alive.  Cool person in technology Kevin Bradshaw wants to help craft breweries extend their marketing reach and make it easier for craft beer fans to find particular beers they enjoy or discover new ones to try.  Bradshaw’s company Beerdog produces an iPhone application that that has customers take pictures of the beer they are buying. Bradshaw’s app the automatically recognizes the beer’s brand and tags the brand with its location using the smartphone’s GPS.  Users can search for particular brands in their area and see where others have found craft beers they enjoy in nearby bars, restaurants, and stores.  Craft beer fans simply load up the app to see what locations have the brews they want instead of having to ask around awkwardly.  Users who want to download the app should find iPhone IT support if they have trouble.  Read more »

Despite the rise of digital music and the continual shrinking of the physical media business in the music industry, there still remains a healthy section of the market that prefers vinyl records.  Companies continue to print vinyl records for collectors and disc jockeys despite the fact that the technology is half a century old.  Many enthusiasts still claim that vinyl records sound better and then seek out records rather than choosing to switch to digital music.  Regardless of whether those claims about sound quality are true, there is no denying the modern market for vinyl.  Cool product Vinylfy now wants to give record collectors a way to interact with each other and promote their collections via the Internet.  This cool product gives collectors an online space to show off their collection on a personalized profile.  Users can also maintain wishlists on the site to facilitate record swaps. Users who cannot create an account on the site may want to contact remote tech support to see if it’s an issue with their technology.  Read more »