Onetechtip.com has been around for over a year and to celebrate this achievment, we have come up with a new design for the website. The redesigned website features recent post feeds at the top of the site. In addition, the site we hope you agree with us, is a bit sleeker and cleaner. With the top posts topic sections. At the bottom you may subscribe to Onetechtip by just submitting your e-mail address. Also, we have expanded our social networking efforts, you may now find us now on Digg, Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube! Let us know what you think and what you would like to be a feature on our site. Or if you would like to contribute feel free to send us an e-mail with a Tip you feel a normal user should know that will enhance their technology experience. You could become a contributor for a day!! Or maybe a regular!
Just recently, Facebook released a new way to look at pictures through their new picture viewer. Many do not like it, including myself, but maybe it just tales time to get use to. The new viewer centers the image with a black background and also allows you to easily download the image, share, comment, and tag someone. I bet you just want to know how to get rid of it. Well if you hit F5 on your keyboard when it the viewer shows up it will just go away. That simple. F5 is your answer.
In previous post, I briefly discussed Scratch as a great way to learn about programming concept and principles without learning the nitty gritty. If you are an educator or just a common user it's a great way to be introduce to some basic programming knowledge. If you delve into the Scratch website, you would notice that one of the companies contributing to the development of Scratch is Google!!
Now if or when you are ready to make a jump from Scratch to something bigger, consider APP Inventor by Google. Inventor utilized the same interface as Scratch and would feel right at home. Inventor's purpose is to enable those with out the background knowledge to develop applications for the Android OS. Sure, I will admit that initially I figured that there would be influx of not so great Android Applications, but I could see how it could be used to introduce users to mobile application development.
Fortunately you do no need an Android Powered phone to test any applications you make since Inventor enables you to download an emulator to use and test out your application. Subsequently, the Inventor has an online tutorial with a a step by step on how to make HelloPurr, which is equivalent to hello world program that many programmers are familiar with. HelloPur is a simple introductory app that enables you to create an Android application in which when you touch the picture of a cat on the phone and it purrrs. Application Inventor has a bit of a learning curve but you could make some complex applications with the right intiative.
You will need a Gmail account to access Application inventor.
[/caption]Google is known to be a search engine and a huge advertising company. Recently, they are know more and more for there Android OS but did you hear about www.google.com/wedding. Yes, Google and a wedding. Google has a dedicated page to weddings, were you can add a wedding website, edit wedding pictures, share pictures, and what I believe to the most useful, spreadsheets of many types. Some are
- Wedding planner
- Address book
- Guest list
- Budget planner
- To-do list
- Seating chart
- Reception menu
- Music list
It is very easy to forget crucial things so list are very helpful. Especially when you are nervous for that amazing day. Head over and check it out. You do not know when that amazing day is coming. ;o)
In today's world, we are seeing many tablets and eReader emerging to replace newspapers and books. Another thing emerging and growing is Facebook. What do you get if you mix them? You get a Social Newspaper. If you head over to PostPost.com you will see that you may see all your Facebook updates and wall posts in a newspaper style. This makes it more interesting and more viewable. You may easily customize your social newspaper to not see posts from friends that usually spam. In your newspaper you will see articles, videos, and photos from your Facebook friends. Have fun and absorb the type of media in this world.
One of the goals of OneTech Tip is to provide useful information and cool tech tips for non tech savy users. For those readers whom are not tech savy have you ever thought about writing your own program or even just something cool? Or if you are a tech savy user have you ever wish you could teach someone a peer, or a younger sibling how to program or introduce them to various programming concepts?
MIT has created a programming language that is user friendly, Scratch.
| Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.T
The language was mainly developed to encourage young kids and students to feel comfortable with programming through a drag and drop interface. Do not take this lightly, if you have never done any programming before you should try it out. Since the interface is mainly drag and drop you see the basic structure of how to write a program.
On the official site there are highlights of some user generated projects. Here's a OneTechTip Challenge Create a game using the scratch programming language and we will highlight it here. Just send us an e-mail with your file.
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[caption id="attachment_2670" align="aligncenter" width="460" caption="courtesy of phandroid.com"]
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The past few months i am sure you have heard a lot about how wireless cellular data 4G is the successor to 3G. Today, I would like to advise my not so savy tech people as well as the tech people against 4G despite the growing market for 4G.
For starters, when you acquire a 4G phone you must have 4G service from which you cannot opt out of. This would not be a problem if only wireless companies did not charge at the minimum $10 extra for the 4G service.
Subsequently, 4G is not everywhere, yet. Although I have had a few friends contemplate purchasing a 4G phone; unfortunately, the area we currently reside only provides up to 3G!!! Sure there are places where 4G is probably great but in most places at this present it is sporadic.
In addition, what are you paying for? Faster downloads? Better service? Well, for the most part you are paying for an increase in download speed but not necessarily for better service. Another important question to ask as well is, do you need the faster download speed? Do you use your cellphone as your modem or as a replacement computer? If not, maybe an extra G may not be as great, especially if you have to shell out an extra $10. You may say it is only an extra $10 but have you seen the changing of price on your phone bill?
Hopefully within the next year or so, consumers would not have to pay extra for the service as it becomes widespread and the standard for all cellular purposes.
Facebook, on a daily basis, is fighting spam, scams, and hijack. I bet all of us at one point havebeen scamed over once or even become a victim of these malicious posts but here is the crucial question. Did you know that it happened to you? Or did you just ignore it? Facebook is very popular and you need to know what to watch out for. Here is an example of a wall post that hijacked your Facebook by clicking on it.
When you clicked on the post, it posted itself to your friends wall. This one you can say is pretty obvious but there are other that say," Here is a picture of you from last night, LOOK!". These are not so obvious and you must be careful because you're so anxious to know what they caught you doing last night. Do not fall for these traps.
The rule of thumb, DO NOT CLICK ON THINGS YOU ARE UNSURE OF! This includes emails and just anywhere when you use a computer.
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Many of the times we are on Google Maps looking if our own house is visible. Unfortunately, they are outdated and not live because of security reasons. What if you could get notified when a certain aerial image was updated at a certain point? That would be awesome! So, you did not have to go back constantly to check if it was updated. If you have a Google account and can click this link , followyourworld.appspot.com you may tell Google to notify you when there is a new image.
It is easy. Just give it the location and an email address. That is it.
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Can you actually stay in one place for two minutes? I know we are all busy and we are always on the go. Now imagine this, you looking into the sunset on the beach while hearing the waves come in and out. Sounds peaceful and relaxing. Well, that can be achieved from your computer. Go to www.donothingfor2minutes.com and take the challenge. Here is what you have to do. Once you click on the link do not touch the mouse or keyboard for 2 minutes! Sounds easy huh. I do no think so. Have fun.
[caption id="attachment_2627" align="aligncenter" width="216" caption="via Rockmelt"]
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Are you a social media butterfly? Or would you like to enhance your browsing experience by combing the integrating the best of social media like Facebook and Instant Message right on the browser? There are several social media browsers but today I will be highlighting one promising new entry Rockmelt based on Chromium source code (think Chrome). Rockmelt enables you to login with your Facebook account and from there you could FB chat, update your status, share links and/or write on your friends wall without being in the actual facebook page. Rockmelt also has integration with Twitter, but I am not a twitter user (yet?), I cannot say its my favorite feature.
Subsquently, being based on the Chromium code enables users to take advantage of many Chrome features, therefore if you are already a Chrome user and an avid FB user perhaps Rockmelt well enhance your browsing experience.
In addition, the browser features integration of Google search feature right in the browser enabling the user to discover new sites without being redirected to the Google search page.
At the moment, Rockmelt is invitation only. You may request an invitation by simply logging in via Facebook at their site http://www.rockmelt.com/
Many of you have a Gmail account but do you use Google Calendar? If you do not, it is a very good way to organize everything, especially if you have smart phone. I have been using Google Calendar for about a year now and wherever I go I can plan trips, reschedule meetings and get reminders that I need like change my tires on my car. Today, I saw these reminders and thought to my self. I bet there are more calendars out there that can become useful to me, like when does my favorite team play. Indeed, I found many. If you sign in to your Google Calendar and look at your left column, you will see a section that says "Other Calendars". Under that section there is a link that says "add" . Click on it.
After you click on it you will get a small pop-up and select "Browse Interesting Calendars"
You will be taken to a screen like this:
Here you can subscribe to any Calendar. Google has subscriptions to ...
- Country Holidays
- Sport times
- Phases of the moon
- and much more.
Have you ever found yourself bored and/or have friends whom are disinterested in doing something you would like to do for a change? Meetup enables users to interact with like minded individuals and groups in the same area. All one requires to do is create a group/event on Meetup and people will join or attend that are interested. For example, you could set up a hiking event and invite all those in area whom are interested to meet you there. Now, you do not need to know the people intially, therefore it is a great way to meet new people. Subsquently, if you are new to a community it is a great way to meet people whom live in your area with the same interest.
Some groups such as 'Masterminds of Los Angeles' meetup to push a specific cause for a month. Therefore whatever you interests maybe, you could meet up with individuals with Meetup.com.
OneTech Tip has addressed alternatives to Windows and Mac OSX but what about the software. There are hundreds if not thousands of software that is free to use without a cost to the user. In some cases the open sourced software is sometime better, more efficient or meets your specific needs in comparison to larger, bloated commercial software.
Open Source Alternative is a great place to start if your looking for some free and open sourced software ranging from office software to games as well. Now, the site I noticed does not have an exhaustive list but it does provide some good suggestions for alternative software. For example, you may search for an alternative to Photoshop and it will yield Gimp.
If you are looking into becoming a more part of the open sourced movement consider this site to help you meet all your needs. Here's a challenge, try only using open source software for a week or a month.
Open Source as Alternative: http://www.osalt.com/
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Recently, I was setting up router. I was going to put a password on it using encryption but I realized that it really does not matter on the encryption if you do not have a strong password. I have heard of people use simple words as their password which is not secure. I will list some passwords NOT to use. Remember this applies to any site and any account. Keep your information safe. Also, if you would like to test your password go to our post: How secure is your password?
- 123456
- 12345
- 123456789
- Password
- iloveyou
- princess
- rockyou
- abc123
- qwerty
- letmein
- monkey
- myspace1
- password1
- facebook1
- (your first name)
Ever needed toaccess your computer to do some work from afar? LogMeIn enables the
user to access their computer from another computer with the remote
access software LogMeIn. Why would you want to do this? Perhaps
your on vacation and you need to access your computer for a business related emergency or you do not want to be
carrying your notebook computer everywhere you go.
LogMeIn Free includes:
- Access from any Internet-connected web browser
- Access to a Windows PC or Mac
- Remote control and desktop viewing
- Copy and paste between computers
- Wake on LAN
- Reboot/reconnect (including safe mode)
- Basic reports (remote access sessions and user access)
- Chat
- AES 256-bit encryption
- SSL/TLS intrusion detection
- IP address lockout
- No need for firewall, router or proxy configuration
- No requirement for remote PC admin rights
Subsequently, there is a premium version that enables you to do more while accessing remotely.
As we leave the season of gift giving. Some of us may have received a few gifts in the form of cards, gift cards that is. The question is what do you do with the gift card? One thing you may do is go use it at the store it is for.Subsequently, what if your not a fan of the store or you rather have the gift card money to be use for something not available at the store. Plastic Jungle is a website that enables the users to:
- Swap gift cards for CASH - via check or PayPal.
- Turn gift cards into Amazon.com Gift Cards*.
- Exchange gift cards for Facebook Credits.
- Trade gift cards for Gamepoints - a virtual currency you can use on hundreds of social games.
- Even donate gift cards to your favorite charity!
Consider checking it out especially if you have had that gift card burning a whole in your wallet.
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This new year is nice and fresh but if you look over the past years to all the accounts you have created, there are probably many. Whats the risk with all these unused accounts? Your personal information is exposed to the company that has it. An example is Myspace. It was popular years ago and we all uploaded photos, maybe gave our phone numbers or other really sensitive information. As this year gets older I say to look over all your old accounts. Myspace is a huge one. Most of us just moved over to Facebook and left Myspace as is. I would go over to those old accounts and shut them down. Delete all the information that you would not want the company to sell or take advantage of. Delete all personal information from old accounts!
Related Articles
- MySpace to 'shut down the majority of its international operation' (telegraph.co.uk)
Are you a fan of power point presentations? If yes, then you haven't seen anything yet. If no, here's a tip on a utility that will help impress your audience when giving a presentation beyond the standard power point slide show. Prezi enables the presenter to create a far more detailed and creative presentation by ditching the slides. Prezi enables you to create a slide show of sorts that flows from one idea to another, smoothly, through convert a white board presentation into a slide show presentation that focus on specific parts as you present similar to a slide show. Best of all if your are a student you get the ability to create far beyond a regular free user. Try it out for your next presentation!! Prezi:
http://prezi.com/index/
Every windows computer has an add/remove programs application under Control Panel but it's not as efficient as Revo Uninstaller. Revo enables you to remove or uninstall program in addition to removing all any trace you may have. Therefore going above and beyond the standard uninstaller process. Subsequently, I came upon this specific uninstaller program when trying to uninstall a program that did failed to uninstall with its own uninstaller. In addition, Revo enables one to clear cache, kill process and edit process that maybe effecting your system performance.
Revo Uninstaller: http://www.revouninstaller.com/