Computer Support Blog

Given how vast the tech sector is, it is very easy for workers at all levels to find themselves suddenly working in an area in which their expertise is limited.  Keeping up with the tech sector can require quite a bit of continual training and often workers who are focused on their work-related tasks do not have the time to learn about the very latest practices or developments in the tech sectors.  That is why many companies utilize professional trainers who both update workers on current events and instruct workers on how to utilize programs with which they have limited prior experience.  One of the best trainers in the business is Jennifer Page! Read more »

When the Apple iPhone 4S was released, there was much ado made over Siri, the talking virtual butler program that was integrated into the new iPhone.  Siri receives input through verbal commands and inquiries and responds in a pleasant, feminine voice.  While Apple has been lauded for the technology (and criticized for its flaws), it is not the only company diligently working on voice recognition and vocal delivery software.  In fact, compared to LumenVox – a company working in the vocal engine software industry for over a decade – Apple is a relative newcomer!  Currently pushing the envelope of all that LumenVox creates is Nigel Quinnin. Read more »

There are very few boardrooms in the tech sector that can boast about gender diversity.  One of the notable exceptions to the disappointing trend that has women kept from managing or directing many of the top companies in the world is Google.  Google has three women who serve on its ten-person Board of Directors and with 30% female direction, Google represents one of the most gender-integrated Boards in the tech sector!  Ann Mather was one of the earliest members of the Google Board of Directors and far more than a diversity hire, Mather represents one of the most active presences in the business world today! Read more »

Despite its many successes in the software field, it is virtually impossible to deny that in many ways, Microsoft has been chasing Apple for years.  While Microsoft was still utilizing keyboard-based DOS, Apple had a mouse-based interface that captivated its users and made life easier for them.  That Microsoft Windows largely made PC’s more like Macintosh computers is a pretty old argument.  But as more and more details are leaked from Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows 8, it is hard not to see the parallels between the new operating system from Microsoft and Apple’s iOS. Read more »

Even though Facebook continues to grow and dominate the social network market, the Internet giant has had a pretty rough first half of the year.  The Facebook stock offering was fumbled and the value of the company remains below where it was when the IPO occurred.  Even before Facebook went public, one of the nagging concerns to both the corporate executives and potential investors was how Facebook was monetizing on mobile platforms.  No company, Facebook included, has yet produced a reliable, consistent, and strong revenue stream from advertisements launched on smartphones and tablet computers.  However, Facebook may be prepared to change that, which is making Facebook users wary. Read more »

The telecommunications industry, like most of the tech sector, continues to change much more rapidly than most people within the industry expected ten or twenty years ago.  As a result, many of the cutting-edge companies within the telecommunications industry utilize a wide array of computer-based products and services, like voice recognition software and Cloud-based storage.  Those are some of the many tools utilized by the voice message and Short Message Service, ShoutPoint.  To continue to keep the company growing, ShoutPoint needed an expert sales manager and that is why they hired Rob Guastucci! 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 »

Jargon, words specific to an industry, profession, or setting, tends to pop up with what a layperson might find to be an alarming frequency in articles that pertain to developments within the tech sector.  As a result, readers are bombarded with numbers and terms that many writers simply assume their readers are familiar with: USB, FireWire, Ivy Bridge, etc.  To help demystify the tech sector and make technical jargon more accessible to non-tech readers, we occasionally explore a common jargon term.  Today’s exploration is API. Read more »

Every year, Time Magazine does a “Man Of The Year” spotlight feature in December.  While the feature article has morphed into “Person Of The Year,” “Woman Of The Year,” and “People Of The Year” over the decades and individual issues, the criteria for the newsworthy person to nab the prestigious cover article has remain unchanged.  The Time “Man” Of The Year is the person who received the most news coverage in a given year, which is why both beloved U.S. Presidents and despised world leaders have frequently made the Man Of The Year list multiple times (Joseph Stalin, for example, was a Time Man Of The Year twice and FDR received the honor three times).  If a similar principle were to be applied to the stock market, it is hard to imagine a Stock Of The Year for 2012 other than Facebook. Read more »

Google has become known throughout the tech sector as one of the biggest companies from which engineers with good ideas may launch a business of their own.  Perhaps that perception developed because as Google defined itself in the early days of its company, its leadership did not want to be distracted by side projects.  Google did not start out as a company that was trying to be everything to everyone.  As such, the creative engineers that Google hired to build its revolutionary search engine often had ideas that they could only act upon when no longer with Google.  Sean Knapp was one of those engineers with a vision that did not quite fit Google’s plans. Read more »