It’s Mother’s day again, and our thoughts turn toward all they have done for us – and what they deserve in return.
This is the time of year where boxed chocolates reign supreme, and gift certificates are sold in droves — and chances are that some of you waited until the very last moment. Now, you find yourself frantically running around trying to find a gift for dear old mom, and finding there’s nary a bouquet of roses to be found throughout the land.
Stop panicking! Mom doesn’t want all the things listed above! After all, aren’t they all rather stereotypical? Doesn’t mom deserve something uniquely special from you?
How about applying some tech-savvy to your Mother’s Day gift-giving this year by taking her to a private screening of a movie — all about her?
Say it in a Video
You can’t go to a wedding reception these days without seeing a personalized picture montage of the happy couple (usually set to Aerosmith’s “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”), tricked out with cool effects and great transitions. But did you know you can do the same thing yourself, online? On the cheap?
Sites like Animoto (www.animoto.com) and Flixtime (www.flixtime.com) make it simple. Upload a few pictures or videos to the site, choose from their music (or upload your own), click the button and presto! A customized video to your mom. Add text where it fits, tweak how long the photos/video appear, and it makes it all look (and sound) professional.
Both sites give you the chance to do shorter videos for free to test it out, and the cost of outputting something longer is fairly reasonable. Post the result to YouTube, or download the file to your desktop, and surprise your mom this Mother’s Day.
Yes, Mother’s Day is a day to celebrate our mothers, and all that they have sacrificed to give us the lives we know and love. While chocolates are nice (serotonin buzz alert) and flowers smell lovely, they are here and gone within a few days. Giving the gift of memories, lovingly created by you via the sites listed above, will give her a gift she can treasure forever.
‘Tis the season to give the gift of portable concert halls.
Now that you or the person you are giving gifts to will be running, or enjoying time on the beach, it would be wise to make the trip more enjoyable with music. MP3 players have become as common to carry as your wallet — which means if you don’t own an MP3 player, you need one. Which one should you get though?
The One that Rhymes with “Dapple”
When it comes to thinking of MP3 players, one player comes to mind. (You know, the one by a company that rhymes with “Dapple”). This player has become so popular that the term “MP3 player” has taken a back seat to the aforementioned product. This company has created a device far ahead of its time; it has a capacity of up to 160GB, comes with amazingly easy-to-use software, and now comes in a touchscreen version, which is completely intuitive to use. Combine this with an application store where you can download thousands of free-to-fee applications (music, gaming, GPS, etc), and you’ll quickly realize this is not your mom’s media player anymore. (Well, at least until she gets her hands on yours, in which case, it very well might be.)
Android.
New to the market, Android (Google’s version of software for mobile devices) is slowly working its way to standalone media players. Samsung is one of the first to take the horns, with the introduction of their Galaxy Player. The device works similarly to any phone running Android, with the difference being that it doesn’t make calls. However, any Android-capable phone will of course have the ability to do the same as any other media player (Galaxy and iTouch alike).
The difference is that with both types, you will experience a different experience across both platforms. This includes UI tweaks, different interactions with the software, and diverging availability of Apps in their respective application stores.
Summary
Spring is the season of giving, just like any other season. People have birthdays, and scholars graduate. We all have a chance to start fresh, and the ability to give the ones we love and care about inspiration and health. Music is the food of love, and fitness is the love of eating healthy food. Combining the two makes for a great combination, and with some of the suggestions we’ve made in the past three blog postings, you and your loved ones can live a beautiful and happy life.
Agent Salvatore A. Deputy of Counter-Intelligence, Precinct 1129 (Maryland)
Deputy Salvatore has been fixing computers for 12 years, and policing technology at Geek Squad since 2009. He is “Chuck”: one minute he is working in the black and whites, and the next minute, he dons a tuxedo and heads to a concert (14 years on the violin, with a Master’s degree in Music) to play for Ambassadors and Dignitaries. Finally, he returns to his computer, and gives wisdom to the world through the Counter Intelligence Blog.
Ah, Spring is here (and Summer is close behind). Who doesn’t love the sound of surf crashing on shore, the warm sun and a light breeze? With your new camera (discussed in our previous post), you can capture every moment! But what if winter has ravaged your physique, and you find yourself dodging the camera’s lens?
Technology is here to help.
Personal trainers can be expensive. Fortunately, personal trainers have recently gotten an upgrade. Meet, Personal Trainers v2.0:
Fitbit saves the day
Fitbit is a radical new device that syncs to your smartphone or computer to deliver real-time data on your daily workouts! Using the app developed by the makers of the device, it will monitor your exercise intensity level, calories burned, steps taken, and even your sleep quality when you’re done for the day! All of this data will then be uploaded to your personal Fitbit website so you can track your progress, and reach the goals you’ve set for yourself.
Nike+ gives your shoes Artificial Intelligence
If you are an avid runner, you know that it is sometimes hard to keep track of where you have been and how far you have gone. Personally, I have found myself lost in the middle of the woods after a run, armed only with my smartphone, and not knowing how I got there or where I was. Using Nike+ and its maps application got me home safe.
Nike+ is a dongle, smaller than a 9-volt battery. To use the device, place it in your shoe, and connect it to the app (limited to iOS devices). It will track your steps (acting as a pedometer), and sync to your device’s GPS to create a map of where you have been. It’s like being thrown into a real-life video game.
The Nike+ Watch is an upgrade to the still-powerful Nike+ dongle. The watch has a built-in GPS by TomTom and can track your time, distance, pace, heart rate and the number of calories you’ve burned. Couple it with the dongle and an iOS device for even more powerful tracking.
This blog is now going to inspire you by getting on its virtual soapbox… ready?
You should probably go for a walk. (Heck, we all could use it – especially those of us in the tech industry.) You look great and everything, but running clears your head, and releases endorphins, which gives you a very natural high feeling (minus all the drawbacks of an artificial one). All of this technology is great, but you need to put the work in if you want results. There is nothing that can replace good old-fashioned work. You can burn calories doing anything, like:
Go dig some dirt in your backyard and plant flowers — and then use your new point and shoot to take a picture of it.
Go for a run in the woods and not get lost because you have been empowered by an iPhone and Nike+.
Cook a healthy meal which you just got the recipe for from your new tablet and cooked correctly because you made it while looking at the tablets screen to get the method and ingredients, all while listening to your favorite album and taking pictures of your masterpiece to then upload to your favorite social network. You also just won everything for excellence in multitasking.
Summary
In the future, when robots become conscious and start to do everything for us, just think back to this article. As a human, technology can only help us so much. The robots will not be able to run for us. They cannot lift the weights for us. At the end of the day, we rule over technology (hopefully, and if not, we salute our future robot overlords), and harness it to make our own lives better.
Tune in May 6 for the final posting in our tech gifts segment, when we tackle ultrabooks and portable audio!
Agent Salvatore A. Deputy of Counter-Intelligence, Precinct 1129 (Maryland)
Deputy Salvatore has been fixing computers for 12 years, and policing technology at Geek Squad since 2009. He is “Chuck”: one minute he is working in the black and whites, and the next minute, he dons a tuxedo and heads to a concert (14 years on the violin, with a Master’s degree in Music) to play for Ambassadors and Dignitaries. Finally, he returns to his computer, and gives wisdom to the world through the Counter Intelligence Blog.
As flowers emerge from a long winter’s nap, the promise of new, useful technology is already in full bloom. Spring is the time that many of us shake off our seasonal affective disorder to embrace the sunshine, all while capitalizing on the opportunity to add to your personal arsenal of gadgets in your quest for technological dominance.
Not sure you have the chops to step into this gladiatorial arena? Our 4-part series this week will give you what you need to know to help friends and family win that fight. First off – Cameras.
Cameras
With forests regenerating, cherry blossoms coming into their glory and young adults graduating (finally!), there is no better time to upgrade your camera. Whether you are a crafty veteran looking for a DSLR, or an up-and-coming photographer looking to just point-and-shoot, the world of digital photography has radically changed how we take and share pictures. Most cameras currently on the market make taking consistently good snapshots very easy. So how do you know what you need? Here’s the breakdown.
Digital Single-Lens Reflex Cameras (DSLR)
Traditionally, single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras have always had the connotation of “only-to-be-used-by-professional-photographers-with-art-degrees”. With the growth of digital photography, the SLR has become much easier to use.
Film-based SLR cameras of yore (Nikons, Canons, Pentax, etc) were complicated to use mainly because the film that captured the picture was sensitive to light and temperature. Good photography required a darkroom, special equipment (chemicals, space, more chemicals), knowledge of how to mix developer and fixer, , skill in “dodging and burning” in the darkroom – in short, time, skill and patience.
Digital photography has made it much more simple. Gone are the vats of chemicals and expensive equipment, replaced by computer programs like Photoshop and GIMP. Cameras have gotten much smarter, with some of the photo processing effects that used to be achieved in the darkroom now living on-board the cameras themselves. These techniques include aperture and exposure adjustments, white balance, and even special effects like gray-scale, sepia tone, point-of-focus effects, and cropping.
Because DSLR cameras use an actual mirror mechanism and a dedicated sensor to capture the image, pictures processed on-board will be of a superior quality to a point-and-shoot. This comes in handy when watching your child (or grandchild, niece or nephew) walk across the stage to collect their diploma, as you now have the ability to capture the moment almost exactly how it looks to your eye.
But what about all those settings? Don’t I need to know how to set it up to get it to work right?
One of the best things about new DSLR cameras is most of them have an Auto setting! With all those advanced settings on the camera, someone who knows how to use them can create some unique effects on their photos – but for the complete beginner, Auto can handle those decisions for you, enabling you to take a beautiful picture with just the click of the shutter button.
Point-and-Shoot
Point-and-shoot. Taking a photo can be that simple. With the right camera and accessories, your biggest photographic challenge could be figuring out how to get your pictures uploaded to your favorite social network.
Point-and-shoot cameras are designed to produce top-quality photos with absolutely no effort. Using the technology developed for their DSLR cameras, Nikon, Canon and other camera makers have simplified the process of picture taking. Using on-board sensors and data capture techniques, these cameras are built to make all the decisions for you. (Best of all, the camera is smaller, and you don’t even have to set it on “Auto.”)
Summary
Modern digital cameras have made taking good photographs easier than ever. The main difference between DSLR and ‘point and shoot’ cameras is the ability of the photographer to adjust image-capture setting on the device. Though they don’t require it, DSLR cameras allow users to adjust exposure and other factors to give photos special effects. But if you don’t see yourself playing with those kinds of setting, a point-and-shoot camera is likely your best choice.
We hope this helped you understand the differences between DSLRs and Point-and-Shoot cameras, and how both can help meet your needs at any upcoming family reunion, vacation, graduation, or other special event. Check out the DIY section on geeksquad.com for tech tips and videos on how to get your photos off of your camera and make basic edits, and tune in tomorrow (May 5) for the next post in this series: fitness tech!
Agent Salvatore A. Deputy of Counter-Intelligence, Precinct 1129 (Maryland)
Deputy Salvatore has been fixing computers for 12 years, and policing technology at Geek Squad since 2009. He is “Chuck”: one minute he is working in the black and whites, and the next minute, he dons a tuxedo and heads to a concert (14 years on the violin, with a Master’s degree in Music) to play for Ambassadors and Dignitaries. Finally, he returns to his computer, and gives wisdom to the world through the Counter Intelligence Blog.
ace the facts: filth is everywhere. We spend a significant amount of time in our ongoing battle against filthiness. Shower, scrub, soap (lather, rinse repeat) as we sluice the dirt away from floors, counters, dishes, and windows. Don’t our electronic devices deserve the same care and attention?
With the fresh scent of spring blowing our cares away and awakening us from our sluggish winter torpor, now is the perfect time to treat your electronics to a refreshing spring cleaning .
Just as dead skin can clog pores and lint can block up lint traps, dust in our electronics can cause major malfunctions. Laptop and desktop computers, with their cooling fans and contained cases, are especially notorious for being dust magnets. Grime covered fans can jam, causing machines to overheat. Dust blowing from the vents in your computer can cover your furniture with unsightly grey fuzz. An especially filthy computer could even be a fire hazard if left on for an extended period of time!
Fortunately, a vigorous application of compressed air will send the dirt packing and make your PC feel years younger. We recommend taking your computer into the garage (or any other dry, sheltered outdoor area) for this task, or have a vacuum handy, lest you desire to breathe deeply of the billowing clouds that may result.
Have a can of compressed air primed and ready? Yes? Ok, stop trying to scare the cat with it, and follow these simple steps:
Turn off and unplug your computer. (If it is a laptop, remove your battery as well.)
If it is a desktop, remove the screws holding the side of the case on, and remove the side cover, exposing the interior.
With gentle, steady spurts from the can of air, blow any exposed vents or fans that you can see on the back or bottom of your computer’s case.
Watch dust come out. (If you aren’t wearing an air filter, proceed to cough and choke.)
Be amazed!
Now that the interior is clean, let’s look at the outside, shall we? Make the screens of your electronics more beautiful and renew their original luster and brilliance by treating them to a gentle scrub as part of your spring cleaning. A microfiber cloth and screen cleaning solution is all you need to free your televisions, cameras, cell phones, and computers from the built-up smears and smudges of a winter spent indoors.
With your electronics powered off and in a brightly lit location, try this:
Spray cleaning solution on a clean microfiber cloth (not the screen!) until it is lightly damp.
With back and forth motions, gently wipe down the surface of your screen until it is clean and bright.
If necessary, re-spray cleaning solution on the microfiber cloth and repeat steps 1 & 2.
Be careful! Pressing too hard could result in damage to your screen.
Computers and television screens aren’t the only devices that could use a fresh start this spring. The things we touch every day naturally accumulate dirt! It’s a good idea to wipe down your mouse, your keyboard, and any shiny, dust-collecting surfaces of other home electronic devices.with antistatic electronic cleaning wipes. Always remember – clean electronics are happy electronics. (At least, in our world they are.)
Have a computer that’s really dusty? Don’t want to get your hands dirty? That’s ok. The Agents at your local Geek Squad Precinct are equipped with stout hearts (and rubber gloves),. andwill banish the dust from your PC without fear. Bring your computer to us today for a tune up that includes cleaning, or consider investing in a Tech Support subscription that offers virus removals, physical cleaning, and other services for up to three devices.
An important part of the life cycle of your electronic devices is ensuring that when the time comes, you dispose of them safely and properly. Modern electronics can have all kinds of dangerous and hazardous materials. Today, Agents Nicole and Ish give us tips and tricks to help you ensure you dispose of your devices safely.
As always, Geek Squad Agents are standing by to help you with your technology needs; whether that’s questions about recycling, tips for staying efficient, or helping you get up and running again. Chat with an Agent at Http://www.geeksquad.com, give us a call at 1-800-GEEK-SQUAD, or visit us at your local Geek Squad Precinct. For trade-in or recycling options at your local Best Buy, visit Http://www.bestbuy.com/TradeIn.
For more 2 Minute Miracles from Geek Squad, visit our YouTube page, or check out our Do-It-Yourself page on GeekSquad.com
“Macs don’t get viruses.” A common thing we hear around the Geek Squad – and a common misconception. One that is playing out at this very moment, as a large portion of Mac users in the United States are at risk of being infected with the Mac Bot-Net infection.
Originally started off as a fake Adobe Flash Player plug-in installer, in recent months this infection has grown to exploit Java vulnerabilities on Mac computers.
How does it happen? By simply visiting a malicious site, users run the risk of their Mac computer being infected by the “Flashback” infection, and unknowingly becoming part of a bot-net network. When accessing a compromised site, the malware will install itself via a Java exploit.
It happens one of two ways. One: It either asks you to enter in an administrator password, and promptly installs the malware code into the Applications folder. Two: if a password isn’t required, the malware simply installs to the user accounts on the machine, where it can be run in a more global manner. Once installed, the infection injects code into web browsers and other applications (such as Skype) to gather passwords and other personal information from those program’s users.
“How can I prevent this from happening?”, you may be asking. Answer: by making sure you regularly install all critical Apple updates on your Mac. Apple released a patch that fixes this issue and removes the vulnerability. As of April 3rd 2012, all you need to do is perform an Apple Software Update to prevent this issue. With this patch Apple has been able to fully addressed any vulnerability and prevent it from spreading.
As always, it is good practice to update all of your software — not only to keep up with changes in functionality of the operating system, but to also help with bug fixes and vulnerabilities such as the one experienced in the above infection. Should you require assistance, Geek Squad Agents are standing by 24/7/365 online, by phone at 1-800-GEEK-SQUAD, or at Geek Squad Precincts in a Best Buy store near you.
April Fools! Yes, April Fools’ Day is finally here and what better way to prank someone than targeting the technology they love so much? And who better to prank that those lovely children of yours?
You know how focused on their tech tools your kids can be. In this case, their dependency on their devices (and the ease of changing settings on those devices), makes them the perfect target for April Fools’ Day Pranks.
Our Agents have compiled a list of amusing tips to maximize your pranking ability without causing any real harm. (Aside from a little bit of embarrassment when your targets realize they’ve been had.)
Change the background of your child’s computer, smartphone or tablet.
What better way to ensure you will always be on their minds than to change their background picture to a family portrait? (To make it more special, use a picture from when they were children and were dressed in a matching outfits.)
How To Do It: Find the photo you’d like to use. If you’re on a computer, right click on the photo. Select the option of setting the photo as a Desktop Background. If you’re on a tablet or smartphone, click on the photo. Select the option of using the photo as the Wallpaper, Home Screen or on the Lock Screen. (To reverse this prank, follow the same steps and reset it to the original photo.)
Change the ringtone.
Want to expose them to your superior taste in music every time their phones ring? Or maybe change their ringtone to a personal message from you, so they hear “Mommy loves you” every time their phones ring?
How To Do It: You can change ringtones on the smartphone by clicking on “Settings” and then “Sounds.” You can also create ringtone of your voice using apps such as QuickVoice® Recorder (iPhone, free) or AL Voice Recorder (Android, free).
(To reverse this prank, click on “Settings” and then “Sound”s to revert to the original ringtone.)
Change the autocorrect function on their cell phone.
Here’s a fun one – change the autocorrect feature on their phones so whenever he/she types LOL, it says “Lots of Love.”
How To Do It On an iPhone: Select “Settings,” then ”Keyboard,” then “Add New Shortcut.” At this point you can add in a phrase, such as “Lots of Love” and assign it to a frequently used shortcut, such as “LOL.”
How To Do It on an Android device: Select “Menu,” then “Settings,” then “ Language & Keyboard and Android Keyboard Settings.” There you can assign new autocorrect phrases that will appear whenever they type a certain word.
(You can reverse this prank by changing back the settings in the same menu.)
That should do it! As always, if you need any assistance in completing these pranks, or reversing them, Geek Squad Agents are standing by Online, on the phone at 1-800-GeekSquad or at a Geek Squad Precinct in a Best Buy store near you.
Social Media, it seems, is the new frontier for keeping in touch with your friends and family. It’s become such a common place in our daily lives that sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are typically the first place web go to share the latest news, upload photos from their mobile devices, and even vent about their day. The problem is that most of us rarely giving any thought to who can read, share and otherwise interact with our posts.
ZoneAlarm, with the help of a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, has compiled some interesting data around how users manage who is viewing their content. The infographic also contains 5 basic tips for ensuring that you are keeping in control of who can see your posts.
As always, for help ensuring your personal information, your computer, and your mobile devices are secure, Geek Squad Agents are standing by to assist. Find us Online or on the Phone at 1-800-GEEK-SQUAD 24/7/366. Or, find us standing by at a Geek Squad Precinct near you.
Last week, Google started rolling out a set of important changes that will affect devices that use its Android Operating System. The biggest change they made was to the name of their service, which is now known as Google Play.
Why the name change? Google wants to become content-centric and has decided to make their Android Market service into an “entertainment hub”, offering music, films and books on top of the Android apps and games already supplied by the service.
What does this mean for me?
The most noticeable difference is the name and icon change. You will now need to keep an eye out for “Play Shop” as your source for new apps and the icon is now more colourful than the original green and white shopping bag. Google Play can be accessed from your computer’s web browser in the same way as Android Market and visiting www.market.android.com will divert you to the new address of www.play.google.com.
You will start seeing digital books, music and films appearing in the Play Shop which are available for sale or rent. This content can be downloaded to your Android phone or tablet in exactly the same way apps are downloaded. In fact, you don’t even need an Android device to enjoy the new services! You can download media content from Google Play using any computer that can access the internet.
When will you see the new Play Shop?
Play Shop has already started rolling out across the globe, and the website has already been updated. If your phone or tablet still shows the Market icon, open the app and agree to the new terms and conditions (once you’ve read them and are happy with the changes, of course). Shortly after you accept the terms, the Market icon will change and you will be granted access to the Play Shop.
-Agent Peter C.
Covert Agent, Geek Squad UK
Agent Peter C. is a Covert Agent and contributor to Geek Squad UK’s knowledge Vault. See the original article on GeekSquad.co.uk, available here.
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Sunday, May 13, 2012