iMPATiCO Technology Blog

GetHuman.com provides us with 100’s of companies and the quick & easy method for getting connected directly to a human on the phone. Forget long messages and multi-layered voice enabled menus.

Some Examples:

• DTE Energy - Say "Operator" (Saying "Customer Care" used to work)
• Comcast - Press *# at each prompt, ignoring messages.
• Capital One - Press 0.
• Medicare - Say "agent."

Another quick tip to always remember when you are stuck with the silly voice systems that make you talk to the machine, jibber jabber will usually get you connected straight to a human.

Enjoy…

Let’s take a look at six popular Internet browsers and find out which one we’d recommend the most. Keep in mind that we’re not claiming this to be a thorough review of the products, we’re just offering up our personal opinion based on our time spent with the products. If you want a deeper level of review, check out the 2008 Internet Browser Software Review.

Flock v1.2

This browser has an interesting concept of being the "Social Web Browser". It offers many features and integrates itself with social sites like Digg, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. When you sign into the web browser and set up your accounts, you gain access to your friends lists and various administration abilities for these social sites. You can be surfing through some MSN news and know instantly when you receive a message on Facebook. This is the basic concept and they hope to add many more social sites to their list of supporters. Overall this is nothing more than a browser with a very specific goal with support for specific sites. If you have nothing to do with the membership aspects of Digg, Facebook, YouTube, etc… than this browser isn’t much use to you and would probably just feel over cluttered. The browser itself is decent but it’s over branded by the sites it supports. Flock is based upon Mozilla FireFox

Maxthon v1.6

This one will be quick… Maxthon is the worst web browser I’ve ever installed on my PC. It’s visual style is is horribly executed and sloppy looking. There is a "Utility" toolbar that gives access to your local computer programs such as Add/Remove Programs and RegEdit (Registry Editor). RegEdit is not something a normal PC user needs access to. Other quirks… The browser will continue to ask you to make it the default Internet browser and it gives no options to "Not ask Again" like all other major browsers do. It will also beg you for money randomly, telling you that while the browser is free, you should still support the programmers efforts… perhaps to learn the art of style and structure?

Opera v9.51

Opera has always been a nice browser, I believe it was the first to introduce tabbed browsing. The visual style is very clean and simple. The options and features are rich but may require some "getting used to". Overall this is an exceptional browser.

Safari v3.1

Apple likes to boast a lot about Safari’s speed… and it’s because that’s the only positive thing about Safari. When taken away from it’s native environment on the Macintosh, Safari is nothing more than a simple, basic web browser. The speed gain when compared with other browsers like Firefox is measured in only milliseconds. However, to be fair, on a Macintosh, Safari is nice.

FireFox v3

People tend to think that FireFox is some new up-and-coming web browser that is going to topple Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, but it’s not (on either accounts.). FireFox is just another stage in a battle long fought between Microsoft and Netscape for Internet dominance. That’s getting off subject a little though… Let me start over, FireFox is an exceptional web browser all around. My only true quirk with FireFox is that it’s visual appeal is still very low… Opera, Internet Explorer, Safari and Flock all have a certain and distinct look that shows they are apart of the modern era. FireFox still looks very old and dated. Yes there are templates and custom options to change the visual appearance (of all browsers), but it’s the point of 1st impression and also that we don’t want to mess around with templates. FireFox is definitely a choice for primary or secondary web browsers.

Internet Explorer v7

Still the best for your web browsing experience. IE has and will always offer the greatest level of comfort for the basic user. If you’re still lingering with your IE v6 or earlier, now’s the time to upgrade to the new and improved browser.

We have officially launched Impatico Technology today (7-11-08) and we will be available at the Trenton Mid Summer Festival, Wyandotte Art Fair and Meijer Taylor Summer Festival to answer technical questions and pass out over $50,000 in discount coupons for first time customers. Below is the flyer you should look for to receive your $10 off coupon. (You cannot print and use this coupon, you must have the original flyer)

Today is the official cut off for Window’s XP. Microsoft will not longer sell the 7 year old operating system after June 30th, 2008. If you have a retail copy, hold onto it, if you don’t, get out there and grab it before it’s gone.

Don’t be to sad though, it’s part of the technical process. Your won’t be stuck with Vista (even though it has become better since it’s original release.) cause Microsoft is working on two things, one, codenamed Fiji, is a revamped version of Vista to tackle the downfalls of Vista much like Windows 98 SE did for Windows 98. The second thing they have been working on is codenamed Windows 7, the successor of Vista. Which is similar to how Windows XP quickly corrected the hate for Windows ME.

If you havn’t heard yet, Hulu (Hulu.com) is the latest edition to the every growing community of sites that offer video on demand through the web. Hulu was founded in March 2007 by NBC Universal and News Corp. Hulu brings together a large selection of videos from more than 50 content providers, including FOX, NBC Universal, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner Bros. and more. Users can watch current primetime TV such as The Simpsons and The Office the morning after they air, classics like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Married…with Children, movies like The Usual Suspects and The Big Lebowski, and clips from Saturday Night Live and other popular TV shows and movies.

Hulu is easy to use and share. Simply go to the site and click on a video to watch right away. Hulu is free and legal through an advertising supported model.