Computer Support Blog

While ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft have gained significant momentum, the most common way for most people to get a ride in a major city is still an old-fashioned yellow cab.   There is still a way to use technology to make it easier for people to find a ride even when they want to take a taxi.  Cool product Hailo is a mobile device that allows users to hail cabs with their smartphones or tablets.  Rather than calling a taxi company and potentially ending up on hold for a long time, people can just open up their phones and tap away to call a ride right away with Hailo.  This cool product wants to erase the uncertainty of trying to find a cab on the street.   The app lets people call cabs specifically for them, rather than hope to catch taxis that are simply passing by the area.  Hailo wants to revolutionize the urban transportation industry in order to get people service in an on demand capacity just as many other industries, such as remote computer support, have in recent years. Read more »

The majority of travel sites essentially handle their business in similar ways.  They focus on specific partners, book through agents that work for the site rather than the transit provider themselves, focus on flights over other forms of travel, and charge convenience fees for booking through the site in the first place.  Cool product FromAtoB is a travel site that doesn’t follow these conventions and attempts to give customers a different, more pure experience.  Rather than have customers book their transit through the site itself as a surrogate, FromAtoB acts more like a search engine. It connects users directly to travel providers themselves.  This difference means that customers avoid unnecessary middlemen, and even potentially avoid unwanted “convenience fees” or extra charges incurred by booking through a surrogate.  FromAtoB lets users search through hundreds or providers and then links customers to those sites so they can purchase their transit and accommodations directly from the source.  FromAtoB wants to de-complicate the process of using a travel website, and this feature is one of its main tools in doing so. Read more »

Networking is an important aspect of running a business, but finding times and places where one has an easy chance to do so without coming off as pushy or awkward isn’t an easy task.  Cool person in technology Nick Martin believes business professionals are making a big mistake by ignoring one particular place that could be a proverbial gold mine for networking: airplanes.  On most flights, professionals sit quietly or sleep. Some might read, but the hours spent on flights between major cities are usually time idly spent.  Martin thinks these hours are a prime opportunity to develop mutually beneficial business relationships with other professionals and build a list of contacts.  That’s why Martin founded Planely, a startup that tries to facilitate professional networking on flights all over the world.  With Planely, professionals can find out what other people they will be traveling with on their next flight.  Martin’s web app allows users to make connections pre-flight so businesspeople can plan to meet up at the airport or on the plane in order to start discussion and conversation.  If someone has trouble connecting to Planely on the web, there is home tech support available at all times.  Read more »

Car rentals from major corporations can be inconvenient and expensive as renters must often pay prohibitive costs and deal with huge amounts of regulation.  Cool person in technology Andre Haddad is running a company that gives drivers an alternative when they need to rent a car for a short period of time.  Rather than call a car rental corporation and traverse the difficulties of that process, Haddad’s company connects those who need cars with those who have unused cars available.  Haddad calls his startup RelayRides and uses it to allow people to rent their vehicles out for extra cash.  With Haddad’s method, people who need to rent cars can get them faster and cheaper with fewer obstacles.  Even more interestingly perhaps, RelayRides lets people with extra cars turn those vehicles into an asset that provides ongoing income.  In theory, Haddad’s system lets more people benefit from the car rental experience and removes much of the potential hassle.  This cool person in tech is pushing a very disruptive product that could have a major effect on the auto rental industry if it catches on over time.  Anyone who wants to rent out their car can post ads for it on the RelayRides website.  If they need help doing so, they need a solid online computer support company to guide them.  Read more »