Posts by Marcel Brown
Why not? Some iPhone Tips & Tricks Goodness
There’s been a lot of news lately regarding the iPhone. Most of the news revolves around the rumored new iPhone that may be released very soon. Other news discusses the upcoming Palm “Pre” device, of which many are playing up the potential competition between it and the iPhone. With all of this iPhone news in the air, I thought this might be a good time for some iPhone tips.
In doing research, I found a very nice article highlighting several iPhone tips. Rather than reinventing the wheel, I’ll simply direct you to this article at taptaptap.com.
If you have any good iPhone tips (or tips on any technology), feel free to share them on The Tech Spot’s own social networking site, http://thetechspot.ning.com
May 2009 FYI: Slide to Unlock?
Really, the picture says it all. Very funny, if you recognize the metaphor! What could be even funnier would be a hidden camera to see how many people actually do what it says! Read more about it here.
Tech Toy of the Month: Incase Power Slider
This month’s Tech Toy is a pretty simple device, but for the right type of user, it could be incredibly useful. At first glance, the Incase Power Slider seems to be a normal case for an iPhone 3G. Upon closer inspection, it seems a little thicker than most cases. Closer inspection reveals that this case is more than just a case. It is in fact this extra functionality that makes the Power Slider so unique.
The reason the Power Slider is thicker than most cases is because it holds a supplemental battery, in which the manufacturer claims that it more than doubles the battery life of the iPhone 3G. Additionally, the Power Slider allows users to charge and sync the iPhone without needing to remove the iPhone from the case. For users who heavily use their iPhones, the additional battery life could be a godsend. And unlike other supplemental batteries, the convenience of having the battery encased within a fairly slim protective case that also allows charging and syncing can make the Power Slider a great solution.
The Power Slider is an example of the type of accessory that we can carry at The Tech Spot. If this Tech Toy interests you, please contact us so that we can gauge interest. Or if you know any heavy iPhone users, pass this article along. Regardless, we can special order almost any technology product, so please don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything.
Q: How do I connect my computer to my TV?
– Submitted by many
A: For a myriad of reasons, people often want to connect their computers to a TV. Depending on the type of computer and TV one has, this can be very simple or quite difficult. The good news is that as more people own HDTVs, this task becomes easier and easier. But even those users that own older TVs can still often connect their computers to their TVs.
Ideally, if your computer has a DVI output, you can connect your computer to your HDTV with the use of a DVI-HDMI converter cable. Since both DVI and HDMI support digital signals, this type of connection delivers the best possible picture quality and ease of use. Some computers on the market and a few laptops actually have HDMI connectors, which makes the connection even simpler.
If your computer does not have a digital output or your TV is not an HDTV, then things can become tricky. Some TVs have a “computer” or VGA input. If you are lucky enough to have a TV with a VGA input, then simply connect your computer to the TV with a VGA cable. If your TV does not have a VGA input, then you must resort to attempting an s-video or composite connection from your PC – if your PC has these types of outputs. If your computer only has a VGA output and your TV does not have a VGA input, then you may be out of luck. There are adapters available to convert a VGA signal to an s-video or composite signal, but these can be fairly pricey and the quality of the signal only so-so. You’d probably be better off purchasing a new video card that supports a more direct connection as described above.
As usual, you can submit any technology questions you may have to me by e-mail, but now you can also post questions on The Tech Spot’s new on-line community!
New and Improved!
Last month was the 7th year anniversary of Marcel Brown Technology Services. This month marks the the 1st year anniversary of The Tech Spot. We’d like to take a moment to thank all of our customers and clients for all of your support during all these years! The world has changed a lot during the time we’ve been in business. Just think, in April of 2002 there was no such thing as the Geek Squad at Best Buy. The iPod was only 6 months old. But perhaps one of the most significant things to happen in the last 7 years is the continued growth of the Internet. The Internet has become ubiquitous enough that average people are now comfortable socializing and keeping in contact with others through online social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Businesses now must pay attention to this emerging virtual world. It is in this realm that we would like to introduce some new ways that we can help you stay on top of the latest technology tips and tricks.
First, we would like to re-introduce our social networking site on Facebook. If you are on Facebook, make sure to become a fan of The Tech Spot so that you may stay on top of the latest promotions, events, and any advice we may share on this page. Second, if you use Twitter, you may follow The Tech Spot at http://twitter.com/thetechspot. For some people, Twitter is a more convenient way to stay on top of those people and businesses they wish to stay connected to. If you are not on Facebook or Twitter, it is probably time that you become familiar with these social networking sites. We will be hosting trainings on social networking at The Tech Spot in the month of May and probably beyond.
Finally, we have started a new on-line community for The Tech Spot at a social networking site called Ning. In this new site we have an area for tips and tricks, a place to post tech items for sale or trade, a questions and answers section, and a general technology discussion forum. The site will also feature a calendar of events and promotions, plus articles from Marcel’s technology blogs, including his new one, State of the Tech. Our plan is for this new site to be a thriving virtual community for those who wish to stay informed about technology. Please visit and sign up today!
April 2009 FYI – Worst Inventions in History
This time, it wasn’t the kitty picture that made me want to write about this article. Honestly. It was that I also like top 10 lists and “The Top 10 Worst Inventions in History” sounded like a fun article. As a bonus, it also debunks an old myth. So go read all about it now and let me know if you disagree with anything on their list.
Tech Toy of the Month: Atomic Bass Earphones
I am usually not easily impressed. I had a client ask me the other day, “you don’t get excited about much, do you?” I had to answer honestly, “no, not usually”. It’s just in my nature to remain calm and try to think things through rationally before coming to conclusions. So when something actually makes me say “wow” out loud, I think that says a lot. I had a “wow” moment when trying out the Radius Atomic Bass Earphones back at the MacWorld show in January. Don’t let the name fool you, these earphones (more acurately earbuds) are not just for bass-heavy music. I can see that many people will appreciate these earbuds for reasons more than the sound.
Let me start off by saying that the first thing that impressed me was not the sound from the earbuds, but the way they fit into my ear. I am very picky about earbuds. Most low-cost earbuds don’t fit quite right, seem to fall out too easily, and leave my ears feeling sore. These earbuds seemed to fit like a glove, so to speak, and are incredibly light. I can’t see a way that these buds will fall out without actually tugging on the cords. Once set into my ears, they seem to “disappear”, as I can hardly tell I am wearing them. The cords connecting the earbuds seem heavier than the buds themselves. So my first impression was that these earbuds were very well designed and as long as they sound decent, I’m going to be happy with them.
More than sounding decent, however, my “wow” moment came when the music started playing. The name Atomic Bass is quite accurate. I could not believe that such little earbuds could produce such a big sounding bass response. Honestly, words can not do these justice – you must try these earphones yourself to understand. One problem with many bass-heavy speaker products is that they sacrifice overall tonal quality to highlight the bass response. However, I feel that these earphones have a very good tonal quality to them. I also conferred with one of my employees who is also a musician and much picker about audio equipment than I am. He also agreed that these earbuds gave a very good quality sound for the price.
Which brings us to the last reason that I think people will appreciate the Atomic Bass Earphones. Most earphones of this quality cost at least $100. The Atomic Bass Earphones are only $40. There is also model with a microphone for iPhone users that are only $50 (the microphone models also work with any iPod that can use a microphone, such as the iPod Touch 2G). It is going to be very difficult in my opinion to find a better overall pair of earphones for the price. But if you’d like more opinions than mine, Radius‘ web site has links to other reviews as well.
I was so impressed with the Atomic Bass Earphones that we are going to carry them in our store. We will carry the black color earphones to start with and special order the other colors that are available – maroon and silver in the earphone only models; pink, red, and silver in the microphone models. If you’d like to try them out, we should have demo models arriving soon, so feel free to stop by and check them out.
If you have any ideas for future Tech Toys of the Month, send them in today!
Q: Should I purchase one of the many registry and driver utilities for Windows?
– Submitted by Danny Ruppert, Bright Commercial Lighting
A: It seems that there have been a rash of utilities being released lately that promise to fix various Windows problems, primarily revolving around the optimization or “cleaning” of the Windows registry. The registry is basically a central database of Windows settings and configurations. It is true that if the registry gets corrupted many problems can result. However, whether any of these utilities actually help or hurt is another question.
Generally, I view with distrust any utility that claims it can automatically keep the Windows registry “clean”. The registry is quite complex and different for every computer. While general techniques can be applied to clean out unneeded entries, the truth is that you can do more harm than good by fiddling with the registry. Even if you do succeed in keeping the registry trim without causing any direct problems, any benefits you receive are probably minimal. In general, only significantly corrupted registries cause any performance or reliability problems, and by that point, most automated utilities aren’t going to help. It generally takes an experienced technician to be able to narrow down and fix a particular problem with the registry. At The Tech Spot, we take the approach of doing a very simple registry clean up with our Computer Tune-Up service. Our thought is that small, periodic clean-ups are most effective at preventing registry problems. In addition, we perform our Tune-Ups only after we’ve done a complete computer backup plus an additional backup of the registry before we clean it. This way if any problems occur we can revert to the backups, keeping your data and computer safe.
Another similar software making the rounds are automatic driver update utilities. These utilities keep you informed of driver updates and may even automatically apply the updates for you. “Drivers” are the software that control various hardware and peripherals in your computer. Similar to my thoughts on registry cleaners, I feel that drivers are best left alone unless you have a particular reason to update. I take the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. New drivers, while they can contain fixes and performance improvements, can also introduce new bugs or performance issues. Newer isn’t always better and again, mucking around with drivers can cause more problems than it can solve.
One way you can generally tell if a company’s software is legitimate is by the way they advertise. The more hyped up they make their claims seem, the more I distrust them. Also, if you ever see software like this being advertised by a junk e-mail, be extremely careful. If a company stoops low enough to send spam, I become very wary of any product they are selling.
As usual, please submit any technology questions you may have and your question may be featured in this newsletter!
Spring Cleaning
Spring is finally here (although right now it doesn’t seem like it – stupid cold weather). Along with spring comes the annual tradition of spring cleaning. Obviously people think of spring cleaning as a time to clean out their garage, tend to their lawns, spruce up the house, and any number of odd jobs around their home. However, I am here to add a new tradition to your spring cleaning ritual – your technology! With all the recent hype regarding the Conficker worm, now is as good of a time as any to make sure your technology is properly “cleaned” and maintained. This article will detail a few things you should consider during your technology spring cleaning.
As long as you’re cleaning the house (or estimating when to schedule a maid), you might as well clean up the fans and vents in your computers. While you could blow out the fans and vents in your computers, canned air really just spreads around dirt and dust. You must be careful to actually blow it out of your computer, not back into it. I much prefer to vacuum out the large majority of dust in a computer, then save the canned air for the stuff that resists vacuuming. However, to be completely safe, vacuuming the inside of your computer should be done with a vacuum designed to safely do this. Vacuums can generate a large amount of static electricity and electronic-safe vacuums are designed to properly and safely discharge this static away from the user and computer, so as to not zap your computer. Most people don’t have electronic-safe vacuums, so if you would like this done properly, we can do this at The Tech Spot.
Is it time to replace the battery in your battery backup unit? Most batteries have about 3 – 5 years of useful life in them. A dead or weak battery does not allow the unit to do its job properly. If your unit is older than 3 years, this may be a good time to replace it. Also, how old are your surge protectors for your home theater equipment? If they are several years old, this might be a good time to replace them, especially if you are getting or recently purchased a new HDTV.
If you haven’t yet updated to the latest Service Packs for your Windows operating systems (SP 3 for XP, SP 1 for Vista) or the latest system update for your Mac operating system, give it some thought. With all the information regarding the Conficker worm highlighting how important it is to keep your OS updated, this is a good time to be sure you are up-to-date. A word of warning, however. Please be sure to have backed up before attempting a major OS update like a Service Pack. And don’t do a major update if you are on any sort of a deadline. If there are any underlying system problems they can cause a system upgrade to fail, possibly leaving the computer in an unusable state.
Of course, if you’re not comfortable doing all this stuff yourself, and I don’t blame you, pretty much all of these tasks can be completed with a Computer Tune-Up, exclusively from The Tech Spot. One of the benefits of letting us do a Tune-Up for you is that we fully back up your computer before we start the Tune-Up to keep your data safe. Let us do the dirty work for you while you spend your time soaking up the spring sun!
If you have any questions about keeping your computer maintained, please don’t hesitate to contact me!
Free Battery Check for MacBook and MacBook Pro Owners
New Diagnostic Software Tests for Previously Difficult to Determine Battery Failures
If you own or know anyone who owns a MacBook or MacBook Pro laptop that is still covered by standard warranty or AppleCare Protection Plan, The Tech Spot is now offering to test the batteries in these laptops for free. A new diagnostic software tool provided by Apple can definitively detect bad batteries in these laptops. If still under warranty, users can have their failed batteries replaced at no charge.
Previously, MacBook or MacBook Pro owners who believed their batteries were malfunctioning had a difficult time proving their batteries were actually problematic as compared to batteries which were simply “consumed”. With the new diagnostic software, Apple Authorized Service Providers, such as The Tech Spot, can quickly and easily determine if a battery qualifies for a warranty replacement.
Contact The Tech Spot by replying to this e-mail or call us at 618-288-7321 as soon as possible if you own a MacBook or MacBook Pro. This diagnostic test can only be performed at an Apple Authorized Service Provider and for a failed battery to qualify for replacement, the laptop or battery must still be within warranty and not used beyond what Apple considers “consumed”. As many of these laptops are probably approaching these limits, it would be in the owners’ best interest to have this test performed sooner than later.