Computer Support Blog

One of the most touted features of Google’s mobile operating system Android is the level of customization that it offers to users.  With the help of many different settings available as well as specialized Android applications, Android users can redesign their phone or tablet’s entire interface.  Cool person in technology Ashvin Dhingra knew that many Android users like himself were passionate about their own customized Android designs.  Dhingra acted on this passion by creating MyColorScreen.com, an online community that lets hobbyist Android customizers share their own design with others.  Users post images of their different Android interface designs and tutorials on how others can create and install them on their own phones.  Dhingra’s website features the most viewed and talked about designs on its main page and runs a blog with tips, guides, and opinions as well.  Dhingra even placed a special section on the site for those who have hacked their iOS devices to customize their home screen as well.  The website claims that its community has uploaded over 49,000 designs so far.  If you want to learn more about Android customization, find an Android tech support provider to help you. Read more »

Influential people such as celebrities, CEOs, former political leaders, and other prominent figures often find that there is a large demand for their time.  People swarm them with fan mail, tweets, e-mails, and other requests for their attention, advice or consideration.  Since this is often overwhelming, people of influence don’t take the time to respond or address these requests for their time in any meaningful way.  Cool tech product Huddlewoo attacks this problem by allowing influential people to advertise their free time and receive offers for personal video chats.  Huddlewoo allows people to charge an hourly rate for their time to keep requests only from those with serious inquiries.  If someone is a particularly famous celebrity, they can even make conversations they have public so others can share the experience as well.  Those who want to connect with influential people via Huddlewoo will need to know how to set up and use a web cam for video chatting.  Those who are inexperienced with video chat should seek an onsite computer support service for assistance to get started with Huddlewoo. Read more »

It is hard to gauge just how hyped the public is for certain products.  Whether it’s in tech or entertainment, advertising and press coverage can often be misleading indicators of how much people anticipate an upcoming product.  Cool person in technology Grant Yim founded HypeJar to garner more accurate ideas about how much the public is looking forward to different product releases.  HypeJar does this by aggregating the opinions of everyday consumers itself for insight.  Yim’s website invites users to vote, comment, and tag upcoming products to share their opinions on them.  HypeJar then takes this data and uses it to measure how much “hype” a product actually has.  In theory, one can gain a more accurate idea of the buzz surrounding a product by seeing what users think on HypeJar, rather than what journalists, critics, or advertisers think in their respective bubbles.  For example, while a tech blog may be hyping an upcoming phone release, users may actually be unexcited by it because it seems confusing and would require smartphone tech support just to complete simple tasks. Read more »

Digital distribution is a growing standard for the release of video content.  It is becoming common for consumers to forgo disc-based media altogether and view all their movies, TV shows, and other videos via web streaming or file downloads.  This market shift has the potential to give filmmakers and artists far more power and control over their own work’s distribution.  Cool product in technology VHX helps to facilitate that shift of power with their digital distribution platform, which erases any middlemen between filmmakers and their audience.  VHX users receive all the tools necessary to create their own customizable website where they can sell and distribute their movie both through streaming and digital downloads.  VHX lets artists distribute their video in multiple formats that are cross-device compatible so they can reach as many customers as possible.  VHX’s avoidance of DRM practices also prevents frustrated consumers from calling remote computer support services because their video won’t play on their device.  Filmmakers who want to give their customers complete flexibility and have a direct channel for selling their product will probably find VHX very useful. Read more »

Finding the right company to enjoy a game of football, baseball or basketball and talk about your favorite teams usually isn’t much of an issue for local sports fans.  Sports bars and restaurants are littered throughout every major city with a professional sports team and even many that aren’t, but what happens when you move away from your local team for a new job or another opportunity?  You suddenly find yourself separated from everyone you can talk to about your favorite team.  That’s why cool person in tech Leigh Goldstein has founded Exiles, a social networking site designed specifically to cater to communities of displaced sports fans.  Exiles hosts several micro-sized social networks on its site, and each one is specifically dedicated to a particular sports franchise and its displaced fans in other areas of the country.  Goldstein and his team are aiming for these microsites to replace the community feeling of a local sports bar or club.  Fans can share team-specific stories, ask questions of the community, share related news articles, and even form local meetups if you find other displaced fans in your area.  By transferring teams’ fan community online, Goldstein believes he can recreate the communal experience that local sports fans have for fans that live away from their team. Read more »

Cool person in technology Alex Austin used to send emails to his parents and attach his recent pictures to them every month so his family could keep up with his activities.  However, this proved awkward and cumbersome, especially since his parents had to take the effort and time to print out their favorite photos locally. Austin felt that there had to be a better way to handle this process.  As a solution, he created Kindred, a mobile application that collects all your digital photos and lets you quickly and simply design print photobooks to send to whomever you want directly from your phone.  His app lets you automatically send photos to those family members who might need hours of computer support to print one out normally. Read more »

Losing your keys is not a fun experience.  You end up locked out of your home and unless someone who lives with you has a spare key, you have to go to great expense and effort in order to enter your house or apartment again.  The August Smart Lock is a cool product that removes the risk of this happening to you.  The team at August claims that, with their product, the only thing needed to enter your home is your smartphone.  The device uses the combination of a mobile app and Bluetooth technology to recognize your phone when you approach and automatically unlock so you can enter as soon as you get to your door.  You can log into the app from any mobile device, so you won’t have to worry about problems if you change your phone.  However, it is probably best to make sure you have a smartphone computer support service available in case your phone breaks at an inopportune time.  Read more »

Keeping track of your life, remembering every detail and keeping your calendar updated can be a seriously tedious task.  This is so much the case that those who can afford it often hire personal assistants to handle the job for them.  Unfortunately, many people do not have the means to outsource their life upkeep.  That’s why the people who work on cool product Gini believe they can reach an untapped market.  Gini is software that utilizes AI technology to sort a person’s life automatically based on their documents.  Whenever someone gets a new batch of paperwork, whether physically or digitally, they can input it into Gini and the software will recognize the important pieces of text in the document—dates, names, and addresses.  The software will then automatically sort this information into a digital calendar and address book.  Users then get alerts, reminders and updates about events, appointments, and bills so they never have to worry about keeping track of this information manually.  Gini lets users upload documents of multiple different file types.  However, that does mean users have to scan physical documents to make digital copies that are uploadable to the software.   If you have difficulty with your scanner, you will need computer tech support available to take full advantage of Gini. Read more »

Most eCommerce depends heavily on a discounted mass-market model that focuses on items produced in very high volumes and shipped from big warehouses.  It’s a very functional, but very dry system.  Wherein the world of physical retail, there are often specialty shops that depend on unique products and craftsmanship, these types of products and retailers commonly get lost in the shuffle on the Internet.  Grand St. CEO and cool person in technology Amanda Peyton wants to change this and help the visibility of unique, specially crafted products on the web.  Her company works a curator for eCommerce, seeking out and partnering with makers of specialty items and offering a limited number of these items as deals through the Grand St. website.  Rather than fill warehouses with everyday products, Peyton wants to give exposure to unique items.  For example, Grand St. has featured a Bluetooth thermometer for your grill that alerts you when your food finishes cooking, an inflatable solar-powered LED lantern, and a digital pen that records your handwritten notes and syncs them wirelessly with your smartphone.  Clearly, these are not everyday items you’ll find in Wal-Mart, but specialized tech toys that focus on niche markets.  If you ever need help with an electronic item purchased from Grand St.’s website, you should find a good tech support provider. Read more »

There are many job listing websites on the Internet, but the vast majority of them amount to a simple position and résumé aggregator.  While they make it easier to find potential jobs and candidates by pooling them all into one place online, most sites don’t try anything that significantly affects or changes the hiring process.  Elli Sharef is a cool person in technology who believes this is a missed opportunity to take advantage of the Internet and new technology.  To address this, she founded HireArt, a startup focused on finding ways to enhance the job application process.  Like other job listing sites, HireArt has companies post available positions and applicants make personal profiles to apply.  However, applicants do not simply upload or copy over their résumé when making their HireArt profile.  HireArt requires potential applicants to provide work samples and complete an interview that is specific to the type of work they wish to find.  Sharef herself is the main developer of HireArt’s interviews.  Generally, Sharef’s interviews include two written responses and two video responses for each candidate.  If you want to create a HireArt profile, but have trouble using a webcam for video replies, you will need home computer support to assist you. Read more »