Monday - June 02, 2008

 redesigned digital art and photography page; mac rants and raves, have you seen the photoblog?

i've redesigned the layout for my photography/digital art page.  it now uses a really cool javascript called lytebox for a slideshow (with transitioning effects) of the images.  the thumbnails were created using a cool free app called thumbscrew that I found on versiontracker.com.  since i just got a new camera, and will be headed to thailand and vietnam in a few weeks, expect to see tons of pics added soon.

i also just realized that i never mentioned my txitxr photoblog in this "news" section.  if you want to see what kind of work i'm doing on a day-to-day basis (although I do forget to update it sometimes), then you'll definitely want to take a look.  i use my iphone to take a picture of the drop-off or on-site work I'm currently doing, along with a very brief job description, and it's updated instantly.

my corewerkz blog is also doing pretty well (especially when I update it regularly), with around 200 hits a day!  of course, my torrent article is still the most viewed page on the corewerkz site.  i started another (much smaller) blog (really to learn how to use the "social networking" site called ning) called mac rants and raves, where you can shout out anything good or bad about macs, accessories, or mac related companies, in a forum setting.

Friday - March 07, 2008

new online chatting interface

for the next 9 days i'll be demoing the providersupport.com chat client on my web site.  unlike meebo, "live support" has many more features and a stand-alone application for the mac.  although there is no "instant chat" window, after clicking the chat button - chatting will begin in less than a minute.  please let me know if you like/dislike this chat and if you have any suggestions for improvement.

Sunday - February 17, 2008

free computer testing for drop off repairs! 

today I've added a free addition to any drop off computer repair: leave your computer with me for 24 hours after any completed repair to have your computer thoroughly examined and tested to ensure stability and trouble-free functionality!

Sunday - February 17, 2008

read my blog: "CoreWerkz"

I've started a blog entitled CoreWerkz (new business name?) to share some of the little tips and tricks I learn and discover in my work and play (so they are mainly mac related).  Please join the discussion and leave comments!

check it out here!

Wednesday - January 02, 2008

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008 Everybody!

Just last week I was pleased to accept the Angie's List Super Service Award® 2007!  I currently have 10 A ratings on Angie's List along with some really great reviews from past clients.  

As you can see, I've redesigned the main home page a little bit.  Made it a bit smaller and added some quick links (oh yea, and I'm standing on my name!).  Also, there is now a webpage dedicated to paying with a credit card - it includes step by step instructions and a direct link to paypal (keep in mind, you don't need a paypal account to pay with a credit card).

My business is ever expanding, so recently I've hired a few PC techs to help with my PC repair workload.  While I used to refer PC clients to another company, now I'll be able to have one of my techs available to help them immediately.  My PC techs have exceptional computer and people skills and make a wonderful addition to Brian Cometa's Computer Repair!

Coming soon... web hosting/e-mail hosting services webpage!  These services are already available, so contact me you need a host for your web site or an imap/pop email account for you or your entire office.

Monday - November 19, 2007

a great week and faq page added

last week was great, here's why: i recovered 3 out of the 4 hard drives i received, diagnosed a bad imac (sorry linda), seemlessly synced a powerbook/blackberry/treo, installed os x a few times along with some software, helped a few clients via apple remote support, setup web hosting/e-mail hosting services (web page for hosting services coming soon) for media savvy, and installed leopard on my own powerbook (which i'm loving despite a few bugs).  i also added a faq web page to address the common questions i receive regarding computer services. 

Friday - November 09, 2007

just back from st. john, vi...

and i'm ready to work!  i've actually been pretty busy since returning on monday.  i want to thank all my clients for waiting until my return to get their computers fixed!  

see videos from my st john trip

coming soon... brian cometa teams up with go go techs to provide web hosting, ftp hosting, and email hosting services.  i'm working on the web site now, but if you're interested in hosting services, please call (818-358-8541) to receive more info.  

Thursday - October 04, 2007

new logo, new web pages, new services!

i have a revised logo.  there is now an apple, instead of a pair of headphone, inside the cometa "o."  this reflects the increased apple computer repair business and makes it clear that first and foremost, i'm an apple computer tech.  

apple remote support now available!  all you do is download and open a program called "help me brian" (less than 1mb).  in less than a minute i will be directly connected to your mac.  i'll see your monitor and be able to use your keyboard and mouse.  this will allow me to resolve most software issues, and diagnose several hardware issues, without the need for on-site support.  for more info, check out the apple remote support page. 

you may have also noticed that you can chat directly with me on the main home page (www.briancometa.com).  this direct chat portal replaced the numerous chat client logos which have now moved to the "contact" section.  with the new chat tool, you don't need to sign up for yahoo, aol, jabber, or msn.  you can simply type your message and start chatting with me instantly.

on the left column of the main page, you can catch up on the latest os x hints and tips straight from macosxhints.com, the best mac hints site on the web.  

oh yea, don't forget to check out my new page, helpful apple links, to find info about things like optimizing your notebook battery, looking up your apple serial number to identify your computer, and mac keyboard shortcuts.  this page will be updated whenever i find web sites that i think my clients will find useful.

Wednesday - August 22, 2007

web site updates 

recently added to www.briancometa.com

• creative pursuits section updated

• street art photos: in the form of a video slide show with my original music - in the creative pursuits section

• photos/digital art: several of my latest creative art pieces - prints available - also in creative pursuits 

here's some things i've been doing lately: diagnosing and repairing ibooks, powerbooks, and imacs, fixing and upgrading ipods, os x and pro tools troubleshooting, on site windows xp repairs and dsl setup, exploring creative art projects, mixing hip-hop tracks, and i've had beats placed on all 8 episodes of the Court TV show LA Forensics.  

Thursday - August 16, 2007

coming soon... "creative pursuits"

 i'm in the process of making a creative pursuits section of the web site for my music production, art projects, and web design.  the music production section is ready to go (it hasn't changed), the art and web design pages should be up shortly (just need to make them first!).

p.s. my beats have now been on every episode of the second season of LA Forensics on Court TV, make sure to tune in!

Tuesday - August 07, 2007

briancometa.com has switched servers  

 does anything look "off" or is something missing?  it's probably because i've just moved my website to a new server and the links aren't updated completely.  if you see something wrong, please drop me a line and let me know.  

thanks!

p.s. lately i've recovered a few dead hard drives, done a complete filemaker upgrade at motormouth media's office, went to the rock the bells show in ny, and setup a new iphone for "jim morrison" - life is good :)

Friday - July 20, 2007

please note: i will be unavailable from July 25th - Aug 1st - please schedule your appointments accordingly

Friday - July 20, 2007

 another court tv appearance... be sure to watch   -   and small updates to the web site

L.A. Forensics (Episode 205: “A Friend’s Betrayal”) will be featuring my music once again!  Wednesday, July 25^th at 9:30 p.m. on CourtTV.  YEAH!

You might have noticed that I've added another method for contacting me for questions or appointments: online chat.  You can use just about any chat program available to reach me, including: AOL, ICQ, .Mac, iChat, Google Talk, MSN, Yahoo!, and Jabber! 

I've also updated my resume, adding my computer skills/experience to my pre-existing audio resume, and made small changes to the "computer services" section and the top navigation menu.

Monday - July 09, 2007

hear one of my beats, Weds (7-11-07) on Court TV at 9:30pm

 been too busy lately for a comprehensive update, but most importantly, watch and listen to LA Forensics to hear one of my beats (don't know which one yet).  

Wednesday - July 04, 2007

 ... i just added a "client list" to the "about" navigation tab

Saturday - June 23, 2007

This past week: A Couple PC Issues, Data Recovery, Audio Editing, & Music Production (and of course the beach!)

Well, it appears that my desire to only fix Apples has been superseded by my desire to make money! :)  

This past week I worked on a few different PCs (Window's XP machines).  One such PC was located in the Glendale Galleria at a restaurant called Red Robin.  Their office PC had suddenly stopped being able to connect to the internet (dial-up AOL).  They thought it had something to do with their recently upgrade POS servers and/or their external dial-up modem had died.  I checked all the (hundreds) of connections with their new servers and they seemed to be completely separate from their office computer, so I ruled that out.  I was able to hook up the external modem to my computer and dial out, so I ruled out the possibility of the modem not working.  The computer itself was VERY slow and it was very difficult to open applications and simply navigate around.  I figured there had to be viruses.  So I installed Avast and scheduled a boot time scan.  It ended up eradicating more than 70 viruses.  When the computer started back up, I was able to connect to AOL.  As I guessed, the viruses were indeed blocking the computer from accessing the internet (both ethernet and dial-up).  ** BTW... thanks for the free food Red Robin!!  I highly recommend the Teriyaki Burger! **

I got another PC this week from Francisco.  His daughter's PC was having some problems connecting to various web sites (sounds like a virus to me) and Francisco thought he would be able to fix it.  He ended up reinstalling XP, but something went wrong, and the computer became completely unusable.  Francisco was exhausted and his daughter needed her computer and files for school.  After dropping the tower off with me, I removed the hard drive and backed up all his daughter's important files to a spare drive.  Then I replaced the hard drive, reformatted, and re-installed XP.  I spent about 2 hours installing updates (including SP2) and finding the appropriate drivers for the various devices in the computer.  I also installed Avast, saved a Restore point, scanned for viruses, moved the backup up files to the desktop, and verified proper internet connectivity (the reason for the computer's problems in the first place).  

I got three drives this week for data recovery services.  From John I got another Lacie Bigger Disk (the long drives with 2 internal hard drives inside - STAY AWAY FROM THE LACIE D2, i think that's the name - if one drive goes bad, you can't recover the data from either drive, you lose everything!).  Unfortunately, the primary drive inside had mechanical problems and I was unable to recover any data.  I got two other drives from Stan... one with the same fate as Johns - mechanical failure.  However, the other drive from John didn't have mechanical problems, instead it had a very corrupted file system.  Using special data recovery software, I was able to grab just about everything from the drive (45gb), but it took about 16 hours, as just about every file had to be repaired because of the severe corruption.  

I gotta thank Craigslist for hooking me up with Bill who had a 10 hour mp3 from a doctor's conference that he needed normalized and cut up into 7 separate mp3s.  The original MP3 was extremely low quality, almost inaudible, and had lots of transients (clapping, speakers hitting the mic stand, coughing).  I ended up spending about 8 hours so I could do a great job for Bill.  First I separated the mp3 by speakers at the conference.  Then I edited each speech, removing transients and dead air.  I used WAVES X-Noise to remove a lot of the background noise, then normalized the files.  I used WAVES Q10 for EQ, RVOX for compression/limiting, and another EQ for final mastering - I also changed the mp3s to mono to decrease file size.  Since the mp3s might be posted online, I ended up giving Bill two sets of mp3s - high and low quality.  

I think this is a good time to mention that lately I've been working on the music for the LA Alliance conference coming up in September.  It's been really fun to get out of the hip hop style and move to a more cinematic/classical style.  So far I've got 2 songs completed and hope to have at least 12 done by the date of the conference as I plan to sell these songs at the conference (with a portion going to the LA Alliance charity) - they will also be playing in the background of the conference in the morning, lunch, and evening.

Wednesday - June 13, 2007

Italy Photos are Up!  + Helping Steven the Switcher!

 For anyone interested, pictures from my Italy trip are at:

www.briancometa.com/italypics.html

I also got the chance to stop by Steven Hanson's house to help him with his XP-->OS X switching issues.  I helped him with SuperDuper, OS X Mail, Address Book, Word, and with making gmail his default e-mail app on his PC, plus more.

Wednesday - June 13, 2007

Movies from Italy trip are up... photos coming soon! 

http://www.briancometa.com/italymovies/

Monday - June 11, 2007

I'll be back in town tomorrow!

I'm back in Maryland from the best vacation in my life - 2 weeks in Italy.  I can't express how much fun I had and how much I love all my extended Italian family.  I'm making a web site for all the photos and movies I took in Italy, which will be up soon.  Check back soon if you want to see.  

I'll be back in LA tomorrow and ready to get back to work.

Monday - May 14, 2007

Harmony Studio's New MacBook Pro

Once again I was at Harmony today, one of LA's premiere Palates' studios.  Today, I was there to set up their new MacBook Pro, as a secondary upstairs office computer.  Here's what I did to get it up to speed with the "main" office computer: installed all MacBook Pro updates, imported the main computer's address book, mail and mail accounts/rules/etc, quickbook accounts/data, itunes music, desktop file, and documents.  I set up the "main" computer to share it's printer with the new MacBook Pro.  For convenience when burning discs, I also installed Toast 8, and for opening/editing documents, Microsoft Office for Mac.  Oh yea, that also got a bluetooth mouse which I set up on the main computer, so the usb mouse could be used on the new MacBook Pro.