Computer Support Blog

Video conferencing and calls have become commonplace in the world today.  Video messenger services like Microsoft’s Skype, Apple’s Facetime and Google’s Hangouts have made what we used to see only in Science Fiction an everyday reality for consumers.  However, the developers of the Spreecast video Internet broadcasting service believe there is still untapped potential in the video conference concept.  With this service, users can make public “spreecasts” where other users can join in and drop out at any time.  Once in a spreecast, anyone can come in and interact via text chat while watching, but the host can approve any user to join through video as well.  Spreecast creates a public broadcasting forum where users can search for interactive video broadcasts the same way they access viral videos on Youtube.  If you have issues getting Spreecast to work on your browser, computer support is always available. Read more »

Both on-demand music streaming and Internet radio services seem to be taking the music industry by storm.  Many streaming service options have flooded the market, including Spotify, Rdio, and Rhapsody, among others.  However, these services don’t do much to distinguish themselves.  They all tend to offer mostly major-label music, and they split their services into a limited free option that includes many advertisements and a paid option that limits the devices on which you can stream your music.  Joey Flores, CEO of Earbits, believes in a different model for Internet music streaming.  Earbits.com offers both Internet radio and on-demand music streaming free of cost but focuses on new and independent artists as opposed to the usual major-label music you find elsewhere. Read more »

Google recently announced that they have integrated app activities into their desktop web search service.  This means that when Google users search for specific sites or services that use web apps—such as popular movie site Fandango—they will see aggregate information related to the web app.  For example, if you search for Fandango, promotional posters from popular movies among Google users at that time will appear to the right of your search results.  Clicking on one of these movie posters will link you directly to the film’s Fandango page.  If your search is more specific, the aggregate data will also be more specific.  Google means for the function to erase some steps when you’re searching for content in certain web apps.  Read more »

As businesses grow and more people discover that the Internet is not as daunting a tool as they might initially suspect, you might be inclined to build or maintain your own servers for your business.  While the initial set-up of your own server farm may be out of your league if you are not especially computer savvy, monitoring and maintaining your servers has become easier in recent years.  One element that may make it easier to maintain your servers in-house, without the need to hire a specialist, is server-monitoring technology.  Tripp Lite makes several pieces of server-related technology and the Minicom SmartRack 116 16-Port KVM may make monitoring your servers very easy. Read more »

Networking within a big business is becoming a pretty huge business in its own right.  The companies that are aiding big businesses with their internal communications have found a niche that they are very effectively filling.  The business networking companies continue to grow, despite the rapidly changing corporate and economic landscapes worldwide.  One of the most dynamic networking companies is Yammer.  Yammer continues to grow, in part, because of Dee Anna McPherson. Read more »

In the tech sector, businesses evolve or they die.  Given the rapid pace of technological development since the Internet became a mainstream communications platform, companies founded on the Internet seem to have even greater volatility; there are very few sites that remain cool and well-trafficked year after year.  YouTube.com is one the sites that has worked very hard to maintain its strong presence in the minds of Internet users.  Best known as a library of viral videos and videos that never achieved such renown, YouTube is working to reinvent itself by creating original programming in the form of regular web-based series’.  Working to make that vision a reality is Ivana Kirkbride. Read more »

Samsung Electronics, in addition to making very reliable computers, is one of the largest, most effective, multinational corporations on Earth.  With strong products in the personal computer, smartphone, and tablet computer markets, Samsung seems to have its fingers in all of the most profitable pies in the tech sector!  The success of the company is no accident, though; it comes from having a strong management team, both in Korea and the United States.  Dale Sohn is an integral part of Samsung’s leadership in the United States. Read more »

In the tech sector, major fields can change with alarming speed.  A few years ago, for example, the idea of streaming movies and music from the Cloud was a far-fetched notion and even the leaders of big businesses in the tech sector were unsure how to capitalize on such an idea.  Now, there are several companies and services that offer streaming video and it is a huge business.  Given the rapidly-changing nature of technology, human resources personnel for media technology companies, like Netflix and Hulu, have their work cut out for them.  When they make a hire, they have to evaluate how the candidate will work for the company as it is now and how it might radically change in the future.  In the case of Netflix, managing the personnel is made much easier thanks to Tawni Cranz. Read more »

The tech sector is, in many ways, the final frontier for driven individuals who have innate talent and simply need an outlet for it.  On the production end, having a great idea and learning to program it can make you the next Mark Zuckerberg or Martin Kleppmann.  On the business side of the tech sector, many companies reward experience and success over formal education.  Tom Jones is an executive who is proof that experience, charisma, and consistent success may be more of a commodity in the tech sector than a formal degree. Read more »

The notion that each person wears many different masks in the course of their lifetime and in different groups, is a very old idea.  How you interact with other people and what you choose to show one group of person in your life changes based on very old social mandates and ideas.  With the rise of the Internet and the subsequent explosion of social networking sites, you put quite a bit of information about yourself online every year.  Unfortunately, all of that information may create a much jumbled view of who you are and may be mixed in with information about other people who happen to share the same name as you.  Now there is a new site that has the sole goal of helping you create a single, focused, online profile that collects all of your disparate elements in one place.  That site is Vizify and it is very cool. Read more »