Computer Support Blog

It is developer’s conference time!  Following on the heels of Apple’s Developer’s Conference and the All Things D D10 Conference, where guests from all across the tech sector and media spoke, Google’s annual I/O Conference will start on June 27 in San Francisco, California.  The three day conference is sold-out and is expected to include a slew of new product releases that should reach the marketplace by the end of the year.  Rumored products being announced at the I/O Conference this year include: Read more »

Computer programmers are essential to the tech sector, which is why many tech companies try to recruit talented programmers right out of college and many tech companies provide their programmers with uncommon perks (the legendary Google cafeteria, for example).  The life of a software programmer can be a series of odd contradictions: long solitary hours of working alone on coding paired with massive collaborative efforts where a single programmer’s work is buried, without credit, within a larger project.  Most programmers seem to accept that as the reality of the job, joining large firms for the job stability and regular paycheck, content with the tradeoff that their names are unlikely ever to be recognized, even in the software programming community.  That, however, is not the path that Thomas Tempelmann took! Read more »

While there are many companies in the tech sector whose names and products are easily recognizable – Microsoft, Google, and Apple, for example – there are other companies whose names are frequently mentioned, but their product lines remain a mystery to the general population.  For example, many Americans would probably say they have heard of Oracle and know that it is a big business within the tech sector.  The population would be dramatically smaller, though, of Americans who could identify a specific product from Oracle.  In a similar fashion, “Quest” often appears on technology and business updates, but what the multibillion dollar company produces is unclear to many who do not have direct dealings with the company. Read more »

One does not have to look very hard at the managers of tech companies, small and large, to find a company that is run exclusively by men at the highest levels.  Apple Computers, the most profitable company on Earth, has only one woman on its Board of Directors and none of the executives at the Senior Vice President level or above are female!  In many ways, the tech sector remains a “boy’s club.”  Working very hard to change that is Shaherose Charania. Read more »

How would you feel if every time you made a telephone call, you had to listen to an advertisement?  What if, periodically, while you spoke on the telephone, your conversation was interrupted by advertisers trying to sell you on their products and services?  Would it be possible to feel anything but outrage if that sort of advertising not only occurred, but was based upon the topics of the private conversation you were having?  This sort of privacy violation seems utterly, almost indisputably, wrong when it comes to a hypothetical situation involving telecommunications, yet each and every day, Internet users accept that exact circumstance.  Why? Read more »

Today’s software companies face a number of challenges that software companies did not have, or were not as extreme, thirty years ago.  Now, in addition to increased competition, software companies face licensing issues, increased piracy, and more intense marketing campaigns to remain commercially successful.  That is why software companies need corporate leadership from an individual who truly understands the complexities of international economics.  Software manufacturer Avanquest has Roger Bloxberg! Read more »

A few years ago, it probably seemed like a silly idea to license from popular franchises in order to produce flash drives.  The Boston-based Mimoco, however, did just that and they had a pretty impressive success with their Star Wars line of character USB flash drives.  Science fiction geeks can now be joined by comic book geeks as Mimoco’s popular MIMOBOT line includes an extensive selection of characters from DC Comics! Read more »

California is the home to so many tech sector jobs that it is almost hard to believe that anywhere else in the country would have any tech jobs that needed filling!  Part of the reason so many start-ups and enduring tech sector businesses take root in California is because of the colleges.  Some of the world’s most renowned universities for science and technology are located in California: UCLA, Stanford, and the University of California at Berkeley, to name a few.  Many businesses work to recruit ambitious, technical-minded employees right out of college.  That is what happened with Alicia Chen. Read more »

Earlier this year, earnings reports from 2011 revealed that Apple had become the world’s most profitable company.  Exceeding the profits from Exxon-Mobile, Apple Computers reached the zenith of both the tech sector and the business world.  Ever since, every major player in the tech industry has worked to chip away at the exceptional market dominance Apple possesses in almost every niche in which it competes.  While some manufacturers hope to sue Apple out of the number one spot, others are simply offering Apple more competition.  Part of Microsoft’s strategy is to more directly compete with Apple products in markets it had ceded.  With that, Microsoft is re-entering the tablet computer market! Read more »

Water is a resource many people take for granted.  After all, it is the exception to the rule when you turn the faucet on and nothing comes out.  Some of the neatest gadgets on the market – for scientific, municipal, and personal, use – pertain to monitoring various aspects of water.  From high tech gadgets like the YSI ProODO Dissolved Oxygen Sensor to the low-tech water filters many people use, water has inspired many useful products.  One of the neatest water-related products is the PR-32 Pressure Recorder. Read more »