Posts by Marcel Brown
Tech Toy of the Month: Back to School Gadgets
When I was a kid around this time of year, feelings of dread would start to creep in on me. It was back to school time and nothing could stop the inevitable march back to the jail cells they called classrooms … well at least it felt that way to me! Anyway, some kids would get excited about back to school shopping, but I never really did. Pens, pencils and notebooks just didn’t seem all that interesting to me. I guess I was ahead of my time. Perhaps I would have been more interested in back to school time if we had the types of tech gadgets available to kids today!
I came across an article with a top 10 list of back to school gadgets. The article is about a year old, but most of the gadgets still apply today. I really like the alarm clock and I actually own a MimoBot Chewbacca USB drive. I would probably add a laptop or iPad to the list myself, but that’s just me. So go ahead and read the article and let me know what you think. If you have other ideas for back to school gadgets, let me know what they are as well!
Q: What would you recommend as a smartphone from Verizon?
– submitted by Nancy Slater
A: This question could be rephrased, “which smartphone besides the iPhone do you recommend?” Users who don’t have AT&T’s service (i.e. Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.) can not yet get an iPhone, so I get questions like this quite often. However, answering this isn’t so easy. But I do have some advice for those of you pondering this thought.
The first thing to ask yourself is “do I really want an iPhone?” As mentioned above, a lot of people want an iPhone but don’t have AT&T. If they stay with their current carrier, they can’t get an iPhone so they are looking for “the next best thing.” Having lived and breathed this industry the last several years, I can honestly state there IS NO next best thing. Rather, there are “different things” out there, but none truly come close to the iPhone at this time. Some phones may look like iPhones at first glance, but looks only scratch the surface of what an iPhone is all about. If you really want an iPhone, take the time to consider if you should switch to AT&T. Don’t gloss over this point – it’s so important, let me say it again – if you really want an iPhone, you MUST consider if you should switch to AT&T. If an iPhone is really what you want and you purchase another phone you will be disappointed.
To this end, I share these observations with my clients: I’ve had many people tell me they don’t really like their various non-iPhone smartphones or are indifferent about them. They either are difficult to setup and use or they just don’t do anything that gets them excited. Almost everyone I talk to that owns an iPhone LOVES their iPhone. That speaks volumes. In fact, a recent study found that over 77% of iPhone buyers would buy another iPhone, a number that is far above any other smartphone brand. So let me state this one last time before moving on – if you want an iPhone get an iPhone or you will be disappointed.
But assuming you must get a non-iPhone smartphone, the next questions to ask yourself are 1) what do you want to do with a smartphone 2) what features are important to you 3) why are those features important to you? The answers to these questions will help determine which direction you want to go.
In my opinion, the two main players are Android (Droid) and Palm Pre, with Blackberry coming in a distant 3rd. Yes, there are also “Windows” phones, but I simply can not in good conscience recommend a Windows phone at this time. Usability issues aside, Microsoft’s mobile strategy is currently in a serious state of disarray and transition (read about the ill-fated Kin phone to get a feel for Microsoft’s troubles). The Windows phone you purchase today could be completely obsolete in a few months (beyond what I would consider “normal obsolescence).
The reason I put Blackberry in third is because for all the advances in the smartphone industry in the last few years, in my testing it seems that the Blackberry phones are still based on years-old technology. The user interface and software are still rooted in designs that made the Blackberry phones top-notch five to ten years ago – but designs that have since been leapfrogged. Once you have used an iPhone, Android, or Palm Pre phone, using a Blackberry seems cumbersome and restrictive. However, many people swear by the design of the hard-key Blackberry keyboards for heavy e-mail and texting use. It is worth testing various Blackberry phones just to see what they are like.
Android and Palm Pre phones are difficult to describe because there are so many different types of phones based on these systems that there is no single answer. Unlike the iPhone, where so far Apple has introduced only one new model every year, many different manufacturers release many different models throughout the year. So where someone can say “iPhone” and there is no question which phone they are talking about, referring to Android or Palm Pre phones must be much more specific because each model can be quite different than the next.
The best advice I have for Android and Palm Pre phones is testing the various models available on your carrier and determining which models “feel” better to you. Do you like a hard keyboard or a touchscreen better? Does a particular phone fit better in your hand? Does the interface seem intuitive and easy to use? How do the web sites you frequent look on the phone? For a device as personal as a smartphone, all the tech specs in the world really don’t matter. If the phone doesn’t “fit” you like a glove, then it’s not really going to be all that useful to you. Incidentally, this is exactly why so many love their iPhones (see the beginning of this article once again). Combined with the three questions above, getting a hands-on feel for the various models of smartphones should help you narrow down your choices.
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One for Help, One for Fun
This month, I’d thought I would highlight a couple of apps that run on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. One app I found to be very helpful and the other I found to be lots of fun. Even if you don’t own an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, it is worth reading about these apps so you can start to get an idea of how you could be using these devices.
One thing I have a lot of trouble with is remembering when to perform routine maintenance on my car. Oil changes are not so bad because they are frequent enough, but things like tire rotations tend to slip my mind. I’m not organized enough to keep a separate car maintenance log. However, I do have my iPhone on me almost all the time. So luckily I found out about the app Car Minder, which helps you manage all your routine maintenance needs as well as a log of repairs and gas fillips. The main feature I like about Car Minder is the fact that it will remind you ahead of time when your next maintenance is due, based on either time or mileage. All the maintenance reminders are customizable so you can modify when your next maintenances are due. Because I have my iPhone on me almost all the time, it will be a lot easier to remember to record when the car is maintained and the reminders will be very helpful. If you’re like me, I would certainly recommend giving Car Minder a try. For a few dollars you could save yourself an expensive problem with your car.
Board games are fun, but seriously, when do any of us have time to sit down to play them with our friends? Luckily, with the help of technology, now we can play virtual board games with many of our friends at any time. For example, I recently started playing the app, Words with Friends, which is basically a Scrabble game. However, rather than sitting down and playing in real-time, the game is turn-based. That means when you take a turn, the other person’s device notifies them that it is their turn. When they have a moment to take a turn, they do so and then you are notified. In this way, you or your friend don’t need to carve out a lot of time to play the game. You each just take turns when you have time and the game progresses over the course of a day or more. I think I’ve played more “Scrabble” in the last few weeks than I played in my whole life combined. There is also a Chess with Friends game that uses a similar turn-based method of play. It’s almost like the old “chess by mail”, but just a lot faster and it doesn’t require stamps.
If you use any useful or fun iPhone apps, let me know about them!
June 2010 FYI – Best … Bleeping … Commercials … Ever
For some reason, I crack up when words are bleeped out. I don’t know why exactly, but I think I find it funnier than if the words were just left un-bleeped. Perhaps the bleeping invokes a Pavlovian response? Regardless, if you find bleeping as funny as I do, then you’ll love these commercials for the Powermat charger. What’s really bleeping funny is that the “uncensored” version simply uses the actual word “bleep”, so they were just bleeping out bleeps. Are you bleeping confused yet? Just watch the bleeping videos.
Tech Toy of the Month: Energizer Flat Panel Induction Charge System for Wii
I have written about inductive chargers before but it has been a long time since I had seen any new developments in this technology. I had begun to think that inductive charging was not going to gain significant traction in the marketplace. But that was before I discovered the Energizer Flat Panel Induction Charge System for Wii. Now here is an excellent use of inductive charging technology in a product that very much hits the mainstream user.
As with other inductive chargers, charging occurs simply by laying the device on a special induction charging pad. In this case, you simply lay the Wii controller down on the pad. There is no need to plug the controller in, take out batteries, or make sure that any contacts are touching. In simple terms, the device charges wirelessly. Besides the simple fact that wireless charging is just a really cool idea, there are a couple of highly relevant uses in regards to Wii controllers.
First, if you have little kids and own a Wii (or any other game that uses rechargeable controllers), then you know that it can be frustrating to frequently swap out and charge batteries. Small children can have trouble doing this so they must get their parents to help them. The Energizer charger is so simple that kids of any age can use it – and so can adults! Just teach your kids to lay down the controllers on the pad when they are done using them and the controllers will be fully charged by the next time they play. A red light indicates that the controller is charging. The light turns green when the controller is charged. The Energizer charger even has magnets that will ensure the controllers are lined up correctly on the pad.
Second, most Wii controllers now come with a protective silicone sleeve as a safety feature. It provides extra grip and some cushioning for the controllers. However, this sleeve is a bit of a pain when it comes to swapping batteries because you must partially remove the sleeve to get to the battery compartment. Again, if you have kids this really becomes a pain. However, because inductive charging is wireless, it works even if the Wii controller has a protective sleeve over it. Again, simply laying the controller on the pad will charge it. This also holds true if the controller has a Wii Motion Plus attachment. So simple!
The Energizer Flat Panel Induction Charge System for Wii comes in models that can charge either 2 or 4 controllers at one time. Energizer calls them the 2X or 4X models. Compared to other inductive chargers on the market, I found the prices of the Energizer chargers to be extremely reasonable. The 2X model is around $30 while the 4X model costs around $50. Because I believe most Wii owners have more than 2 controllers (or plan on it), I would recommend the 4X model in most instances. For the price, you get the induction charging pad and either 2 or 4 induction battery packs. The battery packs replace the rear battery cover and include an external button that pushes through to the internal sync button on the Wii remote. This actually makes syncing a Wii remote easier!
Please be aware that Energizer had previous induction chargers on the market. They did not receive very good reviews. However, from what I’ve read the new flat panel chargers are getting high marks. So if you are shopping around make sure you are looking for the “Flat Panel” models. It should be easy to find the Energizer Flat Panel chargers because they are sold at places like Wal-Mart and Best Buy as well as many on-line retailers. However, take note at the time of this writing it appears that Best Buy only sells the 2X model while Wal-Mart sells both the 2X and 4X models.
If you have any questions on this or any other technology gadgets, please contact me today!
Q: How do I stop all those annoying FarmVille and Mafia Wars updates from my friends on Facebook?
A: I have gotten this question a lot recently. The key is trying to stop updates only from those particular apps, not all updates from a friend. I seemed to recall that there was a way to do it, but it involved a few non-intuitive steps. But once I researched it, I found that as with many things Facebook, things have changed. And in this instance, the way to stop these notifications is now actually quite easy!
The method to stop these notifications is so simple that I almost felt embarrassed for not already knowing this. But I stopped to realize that most people miss this as well and I think I know why. Ironically, if you don’t pay attention to the updates, which most people don’t, you won’t see how to hide them! A button labeled “Hide” appears to the right side of all Facebook updates – but only if you move your mouse over the update! Click the hide button and a few more buttons will appear, giving you the choice to hide that friend, hide the app, or cancel. Assuming you only want to hide the updates from that app, click the corresponding button. Now all updates from that app, regardless of which friend it comes from, will be hidden. Of course if you click the hide friend button, you won’t see any updates from that friend at all. But that’s just not being very friendly, is it?
Repeat this procedure for each app update that you see in your news feed and very soon you will have conquered all the common apps that send out numerous updates. Of course, over time new apps will be created that will start sending you updates, but all you need to do is hide the first update you see and that app will be taken care of as well.
Once I did this to only a handful of apps, I was amazed at how much cleaner my news feed became. It felt like I had control over my Facebook again. Unfortunately, this trick does not seem to transfer to Facebook on mobile devices. I’m sure at some point, this will be fixed as well, so stay tuned.
If you have a technology question, ask me and I will feature it in a future newsletter!
What’s up, Docs?
The future of computing may be in the clouds – at least partially. What I’m talking about is the idea of “cloud computing”. Cloud computing is a term that can mean many things to many people. But for the intent of this article, I’ll define it as the idea of running software from and storing data on servers that reside somewhere on the Internet, i.e. “the cloud”. Probably the most visible example of a cloud computing service is something called Google Docs. It’s been available for a few years now, but I feel it is just now worth investigating. In fact, I think for a lot of situations, Google Docs may be – excuse the pun – just what the doctor ordered.
Google Docs is an office suite that can be run entirely in a web browser. Imagine being able to run a program like Microsoft Word without the need to install any software. You just open a web browser like Safari, Firefox, or Internet Explorer, go to http://docs.google.com, log in, and start a new document. On top of that, any documents you have previously saved are available no matter which computer you log in from. On top of that, the service is free for the standard service. If nothing else, that should make it worth checking out.
One of the more common needs I hear is the ability to access company data remotely. With a service like Google Docs, all data saved on Google Docs is by definition remotely available since it is already on the Internet. I think that with the increasingly mobile nature of workers today, a service like Google Docs starts to make a lot of sense.
Usually the first question asked about Google Docs is along the lines of, “is it secure?”. Certainly the service appears to be very secure and data can be encrypted in transmission. Without going into the gory technical details, I know that Google Docs has many government clients and obviously security is high on their priority lists. It is probable suffice to say that if Google can satisfy the bureaucratic security requirements of government entities, then it probably qualifies as secure for most needs.
Obviously, this article only scratches the surface of Google Docs and cloud computing. However, I felt it was worth mentioning as the applications can be very beneficial in the right situations. I’ve successfully deployed some Google services including Google Docs to many of my clients lately. If you have any interest at all in what cloud computing could do for you or your business, please contact me and we can discuss what options may be right for you.
May 2010 FYI – Whisper Ads?
I found this video on The Onion’s web site, so we must assume that it is a parody … we hope. Still, many things that were considered at one time unthinkable have now come to fruition. So hopefully this remains a parody and not a harbinger of the future. Click here to view the video.
Tech Toy of the Month: Infinite USB Plug
I spend a lot of time reading about new technology products. Most of the time, the new products I read about are simply upgrades or new versions of old products. Yawn. But every so often I see something that makes me wonder why I didn’t think of it first. This month, I came across a concept product that I hope will make it to production soon. I think you’ll think the Infinite USB Plug is a good idea too.
As with most good technology products, the design is simple and obvious. Just look at the picture. Each USB cable has a pass-through USB port so you can stack a few USB devices into one port. Simple and convenient! This idea is great for laptops that have limited USB ports as has become the trend with many very small laptops. In one of the pictures on this page, it appears that they show a MacBook Air which does actually have only one USB port.
Unfortunately, the Infinite USB Plug is only a concept at this time, so don’t run out looking to purchase this product. But hopefully enough people will think it is a good idea and we will see this product out for sale sooner than later.
If there is a new technology device that you would like more information about, please contact me today!
Q: I have Windows XP and it is time to move on. What should I do?
A: I always feel it is better to control your technology than to let it control you. I preach to my clients to plan for technology upgrades on their terms. This is much more preferable than to suddenly be forced into an unprepared upgrade because of an unexpected failure. And failures do not always mean that something has crashed. It can also mean that a piece of technology became outdated and it no longer works as it did before. With this in mind, my recommendation is not to wait until your current computer fails you, but to start planning and budgeting now. Not only is it better for your budget, but you also get to prepare for the downtime and transition of data from the old computer to the new.
First off, there are a few exceptions where you may want to stick with Windows XP. Mostly, these cases would be in business environments, but if you really think you need to stick with Windows XP, please contact me and we can discuss your details. I think for most individuals and many small businesses, the best option is to purchase a new computer. The question of which computer to purchase is well beyond the scope of this article but let me leave you with two thoughts.
First, in today’s day and age, do not assume you must purchase another Windows-based computer. More and more people everyday are purchasing Macintosh computers and are by and large very happy with them. Certainly the fact that Macintosh computers do not get viruses is a huge benefit, but users are also very appreciate of their ease of use and compatibility with the data they used on their Windows machines. One fact that many people do not realize is that modern Mac computers can actually run Windows operating systems as well. This makes a Mac the only type of the computer in the world that can run all Mac and Windows software. It is very much like purchasing two computers in one.
Second, if you do decide to purchase a Windows computer do not purchase one with Windows Vista (or do not install Windows Vista on a Mac). Most new computers sold today now come with Windows 7 but a few inexpensive models still remain pre-loaded with Vista. Just double-check before you commit to the purchase that you are in fact getting Windows 7 and not Windows Vista.
Again, the bottom line to to start planning now. You do not need to run out and buy a new computer today, but do be prepared to move away from Windows XP before you are forced into making a decision.
If you have a technology question, please let me know and it will be featured in a future newsletter!