Category Archives: how to

Not sure how to do something? Hopefully something in here will help!

Windows 8 Trials and Tribulations

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I’ve heard from one or two people that the Windows 8 experience may be less than optimal and that the new Metro UI is a bit of a pain.

Normally, my stock answer when asked for advice on using or buying a Windows machine is simple, “Please don’t, get a Mac!” but, in this case, I realise that this may not be that helpful so I’ve summarised some information below that, I hope, is of help.

Microsoft is only one of many companies that see the future as touchscreen driven so Metro is built with this in mind; however, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be used with a mouse and keyboard, it’s just a case of becoming accustomed to its foibles and learning a few new shortcuts.

A quick Google search for windows 8 disable metro ui shows that there are many people keen to remove Metro and revert to the good old ways. There are also plenty of freeware and paid-for programs that aim to re-skin Metro and provide a more traditional interface. I’ve listed a couple below but please note that I haven’t tried any of them, don’t endorse any of them and certainly don’t offer any sort of help if you install them and they eat your machine!

To be honest though, like anything new, I think it’s worth persevering with the UI. Cast your mind back to all the furore around Facebook when they changed to the new Timeline interface; did it really stop people using it? How many of you closed your account? Not many I’m sure; we just accept it and get on with it.

There are many Windows 8 tutorials online and reverting to trusty old Google again with a quick search for windows 8 tutorials will yield numerous results. Take a look, work through them and embrace the new UI (or get a Mac)!

Poppa G

AirPlay? No play!

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So Apple have gone and changed the connector on the iPhone 5 and new iPads. As irritating as it is for those of us with spare charging cables and docks all over the place it does precipitate a move away from a dependency on cables.

With that in mind, and the fact that the kitchen dock was no longer any use, I thought it was time to dip a toe in the watery pool that is AirPlay (Apple’s proprietary technology that enables you to wirelessly connect to a device and stream content from your iDevice to it).

AirPlay enabled devices are quite expensive but prices are coming down. After a search of the internet, the reading of several dozen reviews and, most importantly an assessment of who actually has what in stock, I decided on the Sony SA-NS410. According to the reviews it was a good quality, easy to set up speaker that provided good quality sound.

Setup was relatively simple via an app on the phone and before long the speaker was connected to my wireless network and playing music that sounded good. Great I thought, now to show the family how it works. Look it’s easy, you just go into the music app and click on the AirPlay button and then select the… hold on. Where’s it gone!

There then followed about three hours of manual set up through a browser. Numerous resets. Assigning a manual ip address. Periods of brief working and relief then followed once again by a disappearing speaker.

I hate to admit defeat but I really couldn’t find a reason for the issue and, for once, the Internet let me down with nobody else reporting problems with this particular device.

At the end of my tether I decided the only option was to contact Sony support. I promptly registered, filled in the form and crossed my fingers.

I needn’t have worried! There was a slight delay due to timezone differences but I received a reply from a very helpful technician who went through a few options with me via email. It turns out that despite the user guide mentioning a WEP security key clearly in the “Setting Up for a Wireless Network” section WEP is actually not supported (which isn’t actually a bad thing as it is a very old encryption protocol from the very early days of WiFi). Simply changing my network to use WPA-PSK has fixed the problem and the speaker is now working as it should (as well as making my network more secure).

Whilst preparing this blog entry I returned to the Sony site and found an entry on trouble-shooting WiFi connections with this particular problem now very prominently mentioned!

Poppa G

iMovie 11 Photo Problem

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What a fun couple of hours I’ve just spent going around in circles!

The task was to create a video of a recent family celebration consisting of a couple of bits of video and a few photos. Not an onerous task I thought and one that was eminently suited to the integrated iLife suite on my Mac.

With all the source material in iPhoto it’s into iMovie I go; create the new project, import the material into the timeline from iPhoto, apply the theme, transitions and titles and preview the finished article.

It all looked great up until the point when the photos started to appear. Although the photos showed correctly on the timeline when it actually played it just previewed the same photo each time. Okay, maybe it’s a preview issue so I rendered the movie out to check; forty-five minutes later and the problems still there!

A thorough Internet search ensued and it seems I’m not the only one seeing this problem. That’s good I thought as there’s bound to be a solution somewhere; so started my quest to find it. There were many entries discussing clearing iMovie caches and removing .plist files and I tried them all to no avail; iMovie resolutely refused to show the actual photo that was clearly visible in its timeline.

Finally, in a desperate last-ditch attempt I exported the photos from iPhoto to a folder on my desktop (as mentioned in the penultimate post on the third page here). I then imported them into the timeline from there and replaced the originals from iPhoto. Success!

It’s interesting that the integrated iLife suite isn’t entirely integrated but at least I found a workaround that meant I could finish the movie and share it with the family. I love the internet!

Poppa G

e-reader or tablet?

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So you like the feel of holding a real book and turning the pages; you can’t see the benefit of an e-reader and know that you would miss the physical feel and pleasure derived from simply holding and reading a book. If that’s the case then this post probably isn’t for you but I’d recommend reading through it because I know many people who thought like this initially and are now e-reader converts!

What is an e-reader?

Put simply, an e-reader is a device loaded with books of your choice that enables you to read them when you want, in any order, remembering your place in each without the need to carry around the physical book itself. The books on the e-reader are loaded from your computer or from one of many e-book stores on the internet.

What type of device do I actually want?

Before deciding on the e-reader to buy, there are a number of questions you should ask yourself:

  1. Do I want a colour or black and white screen?
  2. Do I want to read it in a darkened room?
  3. Do I want to download books to my device from anywhere in the world?
  4. Do I want to do other things in addition to just reading a book, for example, watch movies, run apps etc. (read my tablet post for more information)?

Screen Choice

There are two choices to make here, e-paper or LCD.

– e-paper

These screens are the closest you’ll get to an actual book-reading experience. The display looks like a printed page and can easily be read in direct sunlight because the technology actually reflects light just like conventional paper. These displays also offer the best battery life because once a page shown no energy is required to maintain it (you’ll often see figures quoted in weeks or months). By default, you can’t read these devices in a darkened room because the displays don’t emit their own light so you need some sort of external light. This can be in the form of a case with a built-in reading light or what we are now seeing in the newer models which is an actual glowing layer to the screen so that it is evenly lit all over. Very useful if you like to read in bed and your partner wants to sleep!

– LCD

A LCD screen is the same as in a traditional laptop screen so these displays can be difficult to read in direct sunlight but they do have the advantage of higher resolutions and colour. The major trade-off with this technology though is the battery life; the weeks and months quoted for e-paper reduces to mere hours for LCD. Obviously though you can use the device in a dark room so night reading or movie watching is easy.

Connectivity

It’s all very well having the device but it’s no use without content to read so how do the books actually get on to the device?

In the early days of e-readers you had to do this via a computer; you’d download the book you wanted and then transfer it to the device over a wire. Things have moved on considerably and most of the devices are now backed by online bookstores from which you download the books directly to your device. The majority of devices need to be connected through wi-fi to the internet (either through your home connection or a wi-fi hotspot when you’re out and about) and whilst this means you can download books on the go you are limited by needing to be in wi-fi range which may be impossible if you’re abroad.

Amazon have circumvented this problem by providing some of their Kindle models with 3G access. This basically means that the device connects to the internet through the mobile phone network at no additional cost to you (or rather the cost is built-in to the upfront device cost and book prices). Not only does this work in the UK but Amazon have negotiated with foreign providers so that this works globally. So if you finish your last book sitting on the beach in Thailand you can simply go into the bookstore on the device, find a new book, download it and start reading! I know someone who actually did this and reported that it worked seamlessly; in addition, the Kindle devices have an experimental internet browser built-in and she reported that she was able to use that without any problems. This was especially useful because she and her family were stranded by the weather and she was able to find alternate flights all without leaving the beach!

Flexibility

The last thing to consider is whether you want to do more than just read books and magazines on the device. The traditional e-paper based devices are really limited to just reading books and magazines due to the screen technology used. e-paper doesn’t refresh in the same way as a traditional screen and so isn’t suited to anything where the screen needs to update quickly. LCD based devices on the other hand are bright and colourful and are just tablet computers by another name so they are more than suited to running apps, watching movies etc.

Two of the largest manufacturers have tablet devices in addition to their traditional e-readers. Amazon has the Kindle (e-reader) and the Kindle Fire (tablet) whilst Barnes & Noble have the NOOK (e-reader) and the NOOK HD (tablet).

I hope I have provided you with some information to help you in deciding on what to buy but please post a reply with any questions you have and I’ll answer them.

Poppa G

Just keep taking the tablets

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I’m often asked about tablet computers and which one to buy. As with any buying decision the first things to think about are what you want the device for, what are the key features you need and what features are nice-to-haves but not essential. Before I outline my advice here’s a brief potted history of tablet computing.

Tablet computers certainly aren’t new but all the early attempts relied on pen/stylus input rather than touchscreens and much of the technology just wasn’t up to the job; the devices were heavy, text input was complex and handwriting recognition was just too unreliable. It wasn’t until Apple released the iPad in 2010 that the market took off. Although Apple ties you in to their ecosystem completely (something that quite a few people dislike) it is the fluidity of the user interface and overall design that has moved this class of computer device into the mainstream.

I don’t propose to offer a detailed technical comparison of tablet computers because other people do it better than me and the information is changing all the time (also it’s incredibly dry!) but here’s some key pointers for you to consider when choosing your tablet.

Which Operating System?

The Apple iPad is the current market leader so iOS, the iPad and iPhone’s Operating System, is as well! This is one of its major selling points and many consider iOS to provide the most user-friendly interface on the market.

The majority of the iPad’s rival tablets run the Android Operating System although with the release of the new Microsoft Surface, Windows 8 is now entering the market.

A key feature of these Operating Systems is that they are also available on phones. iOS is only available on the iPhone but Android and Windows appear on phones from all the major manufacturers. In fact, where the iPhone used to be the undisputed smartphone king recent releases from Samsung and Nokia are delivering more features for less money and these phones are increasing popularity and market-share.

Is bigger always better?

The first iPad was released with a 9.7″ screen and, up until November 2012, that was it. The resolution increased in 2012 with the inclusion of the Retina Display on the 3rd and 4th generation iPads with more pixels per inch making images very clear and vibrant and text smooth and easy to read.

Android tablets were initially available with 10″ screens; however, manufacturers were quick to spot a gap in the market and tablets with 7″ screens started to appear. Apple initially dismissed this screen size stating that 9.7″ was the ideal size; however, this month they appeared to back-track on this and released a 7″ tablet with the same screen resolution as the non-Retina Display 9.7″ model.

Sometimes size does matter?

When deciding on the storage capacity of your tablet you must consider what you plan to do with it. Various sizes are available but generally you can buy them in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants.

Most of us use our tablets to watch movies, listen to music, view photos, read books, run Apps etc. so you need to consider what you will put on it and the quality settings of the source material (song, movie, photo etc.) The quality here isn’t a subjective assessment on your musical tastes but refers to the quality at which the source material was converted to make it suitable to play on your device. The key point to note is that the better the quality of the conversion the more of your storage it will use up. Taking a typical 90 minute movie as an example then when converted at low-quality settings it may be around 500MB in size whereas if it was converted at high-quality settings it may take as much as 3-4GB (if you use a rough conversion of 1GB = 1,000MB then you can work out how many movies you can fit on your tablet – two or three on a 16GB device). Songs are generally between 1MB and 4MB and photos can vary even more depending on the conversion used (but that’s a whole other topic!)

My advice here is go for the largest capacity you can afford.

What applications do I need?

Applications (or Apps as they are more widely known) is an area where the tablet really comes into its own. There are literally thousands of Apps out there covering every topic you can think of.

Apple has the largest App catalog available via the iTunes App Store. Apple controls this marketplace very tightly and the applications listed have to pass a number of tests conducted by Apple before they go on sale. This is a very restrictive approach and has been used by Apple to stifle competition (where a third-party App directly competes with an Apple-produced variant) in the past; however, the upside of this is that you can be assured that the Apps on sale reach a minimum standard and are likely to be free from any viruses or malware.

The Android Market (or Google Play as it’s now know) has fewer Apps available but you find that the key ones (such as Skype, Facebook, Angry Birds etc.) are available with developers delivering for both iOS and Android platforms concurrently now so this is becoming less of an issue.

Other things to consider

This is by no means an exhaustive list but may help in your decision by thinking through the other features the tablet has and whether you need them:

  • Do I need a front and rear facing camera (I find it strange to see people holding up their tablets to take a photograph but for something like Skype these really come into their own)?
  • Do I need a detachable keyboard (see My Favourite Gadget)?
  • What about the processor speed and graphics capability (useful if you play some of the more recent graphics-intensive games)?
  • Do I want to connect it to my TV to view photos and movies?

Summary

I hope that the above notes help you in your tablet-buying decision. At the end of the day the device you buy and the spec you choose should be solely driven by your requirements, how you plan to use it and perhaps most importantly, what you can afford.

Poppa G

Home networking – an alternative to WiFi

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In the early days I had a single internet connection in one room with a desktop computer tethered to it using a single cable providing all the internet nourishment I could want (as long as I didn’t want it quickly).

Things progressed and I started to want access from more devices. This complicated things slightly but fortunately WiFi arrived and touted as the answer to my connectivity prayers.

This was fine in the early days with one or two devices using the connection but nowadays everything is internet-enabled, smart TVs, Blu-Ray players, games consoles, phones, tablets; everything is always-on and fighting for a little bit of my internet connection.

The other problem with WiFi is more fundamental. I live in an older house with thick walls so there are areas where the connection is patchy or even non-existent. I struggled with this for a while until I discovered a wonderful technology called Powerline Networking. This really is true plug-and-play technology and one that I have had very few problems with – it just works!

The fundamental premise is that you put one of the plugs in a power socket in the room where your internet connection comes in and connect the two together. The signal is then sent around the whole house via your wiring to any number of plugs in other rooms (even across different wiring circuits). There are various manufacturers of these miraculous devices but I recommend that you stick to the same manufacturer for all plugs. Although there is a widely adopted standard for these devices and, in theory, you should be able to mix-and-match it’s not something I’d recommend doing.

There are a number of different products out there depending on the type of connection you need. There are plugs with multiple network sockets and there are even plugs that can act as WiFi hotspots so extending the range of any existing WiFi network. Personally, I have a number of single Powerline plugs in various rooms that connect to simple network switches and enable me to have multiple devices connected to the single Powerline plug.

This technology is incredibly easy to set-up, flexible and reliable and highly recommended if you’re finding WiFi just isn’t delivering what you need.

Poppa G