Computer Support Blog

Urban professionals often work sixty to eighty hour weeks if they’re part of a major industry.  That schedule leaves very little time for errands like housework, furniture assembly, and moving.  Cool product Handybook is using the Internet to try to make getting these services booked as faster and easier.  Handybook lets users book home services through their website by simply filling out a quick online form.  The site then connects its customers to one of their pre-screened home service providers.  The idea is to eliminate the time and hassles required to do proper research on home service providers, make several calls, get quotes, and choose a provider.  Read more »

Anna Lewis left her government job as a policy advisor in 2008 to pursue her personal interest in entering the publishing world.  However, this cool person in technology didn’t take the traditional path and apply for jobs at major book publishers or even small presses.  Instead, she used technology to tackle book publishing from a different angle and launched CompletelyNovel, her first tech startup.  CompletelyNovel provided authors a platform for communication, advice, and self-publishing—all via the web.  Lewis worked on CompletelyNovel with her business partner Oliver Brooks for several years, expanding the site’s features and user base before deciding that what they were doing wasn’t enough.  Lewis apparently wasn’t satisfied with just changing how people publish books with the web, but also how people purchase and read eBooks online.  That’s why she founded ValoBox in 2011, a company that allows users to pay for cloud-based eBooks by chapter or even by page if they so desire.  Those who have ever needed a computer data recovery to retrieve lost eBooks on their hard drive will see the possible benefits of the ValoBox service.  Both of Lewis’s startups leverage the Internet to provide new models for the book industry on both the publishing and consumer sides.  Read more »

Budgeting your time to work on learning a new language is difficult.  Keeping up-to-date on vocabulary, studying flash cards, and working on your reading comprehension don’t always fit into a busy schedule when you’re trying to balance work and life.  Cool product Lingua.ly aims to make learning a new language a more convenient option by allowing people to work on their language skills as they browse the Internet.   The theory is sound.  Most people spend massive amounts of time web browsing both at work and in downtime they have at home.  Building the process of language learning into something we already do so often could certainly make it easier to add learning Spanish, French, or Italian to the daily routine.  It may not work for people who need computer support just to handle a web browser properly, but it could break down some barriers to learning a language for most of the connected world.  Read more »

When you have a service that you believe people in multiple markets throughout the world will appreciate and buy into, the clear and obvious goal is to make your business global.  However, doing so requires a massive amount of work, but cool technology product Startling wants to make one part of that process easier.  Startling offers companies translation management software that allows them to translate their content in both websites and mobile apps, allowing them to open their service to a global user base.  Smartling’s software helps companies manage all translation and localization projects and supposedly makes it easier to keep your content updated properly across different local markets in multiple languages.  Smartling uses a cloud system to ensure that uploaded website content and updates about various translation projects is always accessible via the web.  Smartling’s translation turnaround times vary based on the scale of a project, but companies can also pay premiums if they need a project finished in a certain amount of time.  Smartling’s goal is for companies not to have to worry about customers in foreign markets calling phone tech support because of poorly translated instructions on a website. 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 »

Artsy, a cool product on the web, has made it its mission to use the Internet to make the world of high art accessible to anyone that wants to experience it.  Artsy collects art internationally by partnering with major galleries to keep an online database where anyone can search for, learn about, or view specific artwork that is for sale.  They have also formed partnerships with several museums and foundations to provide online access to public art that is not for sale, but enthusiasts may still want to view and discover online in high quality. Currently, Artsy claims to have over 50,000 pieces collected on their site for viewing.  The site offers users a multitude of ways to filter the content on the site to suit their specific interests.  The site sorts works by medium, subject material, style, price, movement, geographical origin and time period.  Artsy tries to ensure than anyone can easily find their specific tastes within the site’s ever-growing database.  If you have trouble navigating the site, call for PC support services. Read more »

People sharing and renting each other’s property is a growing trend in the consumer web space.  Companies like Airbnb have people share their apartments and extra rooms so others don’t have to use hotel services.  Cool product Qraft wants to take this trend and apply it to recreational vehicles and items that its website refers to as “adventure” related.  This includes alternative transportation like boats, planes, RVs, and motorbikes.  Qraft also has a section for users to rent out hiking, climbing, and camping gear for those who prefer to have their adventures on foot.   What makes a Qraft potentially very profitable for its users is that these items and vehicles often go unused for months at a time.  That means that people can rent their items out often and make a profit on their recreational toys.  These items are often very costly and see very limited use, but with Qraft, a user could theoretically get much more out of their investment in an item like a boat or RV.  Recreational vehicle owners who want to rent their items out but struggle with the web will want online PC support to help them. Read more »

There is constant discussion in education circles about how to use technology to improve students’ experience and performance.  New startup and cool product Quizlet is directly addressing this issue with its online tools to aid children in studying.  Quizlet attempts to take the stress and tedium out of studying by solving two problems: the consolidation material that a student needs to study and the engagement of the student in the studying process.   Quizlet solves the first problem by allowing students, teachers, or parents to input their own study sets so only the necessary information gets into Quizlet’s system.  This cool product solves the second problem by turning the information provided into a series of games that randomize the material to optimize it for multiple playthroughs.  Each time a user adds a study set to the Quizlet website, they also post it publicly for any others who may want to use it.  This makes it easier for teachers to utilize Quizlet for their classes, as they can simply link students to the appropriate study set to ensure all students are studying the correct material. If you ever have trouble uploading study sets onto their website, remote tech support should be able to help you. Read more »

Have you ever been to a restaurant or retail store and realized the same five or six songs were playing on repeat over the PA?  Cool person in technology Garrett Dodge wants to stop that from happening at restaurants and retail stores.  Many commercial and retail businesses play music while they’re open so their customers can enjoy it, but the vast majority of the time it ends up being a passive exercise.  Businesses simply put on a Pandora station or iTunes playlist and customers eventually tune out.  Dodge created Rockbot to find a better way to use music in commercial business.  Rockbot licenses a database of songs for businesses to use in their stores, but adds a twist to the streaming service model: it also has a mobile app that allows customers to rate and request music played at your business.  This means your customers can help influence your venue’s music selection, incentivizing them to stay longer and engage with your system.  Customers who have issues using the app can get mobile tech support to assist them.  Dodge believes this will help businesses get more productive use out of the music they play. Read more »

There are many question and answer services on the Internet, but cool person in technology Chester Yeum believes that there is an inherent flaw in all of them: they don’t let you choose who can answer your questions.  In response to this problem, Yeum founded Quextit, a question and answer website that lets users set restrictions on who can answer the queries they post.  Unlike public question and answer sites where anyone can answer users’ inquiries regardless of their credentials, Quextit lets users target potential answerers by age, gender, ethnicity, language, educational experience, job, marital status and location.  This means that users won’t get unfit answers from a man with only a high school diploma if the question they’re obviously aiming their question at women with PhDs.  Yeum wants users to be comfortable asking questions on his website.  He believes targeted questions are the best way to do this, as well as ensure that users get answers as relevant as possible when they use the site.  If you have problems creating your profile or using the Quextit interface, contact online tech support to get help.  Read more »