Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Know how to protect your pics - learn how to back up your phone

This is a too common issue I see on  my social media feed... Dude.. Where's my phone?? and "I hope the person who has my phone will return it?" followed by a =( ..

This to some people is a simple problem with a very simple solution, but to other they have no idea!!!

I don't know if the type of people who always loose their phones even read my blog, and the one who do, this may be common knowledge... or you may learn something new.

Now if you are running iOS (iPhone), then during the setup turn on the "Find iPhone GPS Locator" during the setup of the device. What the location services will do is allow the GPS to track your phone. Most people who own an iPhone probably also own an iPad, this is a very common combination (see my previous blog about tech combinations) of Apple iPhone owners. Install the "Find my iPhone App" which is created by Apple and is located in the apple App Store and it looks like a radar screen (see pic below). What this will do is show you, very accurately, where your phone currently is, thats if it is on and give you the ability to turn on a ringer and also remote lock your phone. If the user has turned off your phone then the service/app cannot locate your lost phone making this section of the article useless. In the event that you loose your phone, you have the ability to "Remote Wipe" (Erase) your phones data and content as soon as it is online. If your not going to get your phone back, might as well lock it up and Erase it so the phone is pretty much dead weight. IOS is loaded with new upgrade features that give the owner a lot of control so in the even of a lost phone the devices is pretty much useless and also discourages thefts of these items because of the tracking.

If you are running Android, then there is a web based service created by Google to help locate all your devices and can be located

 https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager, 

and using your gmail/google account to sign in, all your Android devices will show up on a map also
 utilizing the GPS feature on your phone. this is used for remote locking your phone and also, if used
correctly, stalk your significant other. 

The other issue that I keep seeing in my news feed on Social Media, especially Facebook, is that also with 
all the phones being lost is also the pictures with it. Now the first and easiest solution to this problem is 
to upload all your pictures to Facebook and put them into albums because, hey it FREE storage right!!!
Using the correct settings that is a tutorial itself you can organize all you pictures in albums and it will be there like a vault... also it what Myspace is still used for.. anyway... the less obvious way is to use iCloud if you are an iOS user, however with 5GB storage and 1,000+ pictures, this isn't going to be a lasting solution. 

My recommendation is to download and use Google+, 

even if you don't use this Social Network it is beneficial because of the fact that it will automatically backup all your photos to your Google account and with 15GB and better privacy setting its a better way to go, and best of all it is free. Also using Google+ will keep the pictures in a higher resolution and you can also download them, may take a while, but that is an option where Facebook is not.

So in conclusion.... what did we learn today??? if on iOS enable the GPS feature, if on Andriod remember the android device manager website and also if you want to mindlessly protect your pictures from being lost use Google+ and also Google Drive to automatically save your pictures. It sucks enough that you need to get a new phone, but it sucks more when you loose all your pictures too...

Thanks for reading... and more episodes of the Podcast coming soon... 



Thursday, May 15, 2014

Filter the Noise - Twitter announces Mute and how to declutter your social media

Twitter has announced that it has enabled a new feature on its social media  app that can filter the unwanted noise of social media posts.

Twitter has now implemented a "Mute" Button that can silence peoples posts so it doesn't clutter your feed without unfollowing them. Im sure a lot of people are like me and use multiple platforms of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Tumblr etc.) and since many of these media platforms are connect through another social media platform you tend to follow the same people. This brings up a problem I haven't seen addressed yet....

HOW DO I UNCLUTTER MY SOCIAL MEDIA FEED??? I SEE THE SAME POSTS IN EVERY NETWORK!!

I follow my friends and family on most of the social networks, except the best one (Google+ because no one is on it taking Selfies Foodshots of their lunch and workout updates and Memes, thankfully!) and I see redundant posts and pictures of the same things because people use apps to share to multiple networks at the same time, this is also true for celebrities and also businesses that you follow.

Not that I am the Social Media Expert but I like to follow different people on different platforms so each platform I get a different experience.

Family = Facebook
New People that are interesting = Google+
Tumblr = things I Stalk
Instagram = Not Family because they post the same stuff on Facebook
Twitter = Stores, businesses and news people.

By separating the social networks I don't have a feed that is redundant and I am not seeing the same things over and over again. I spend a lot of time on Social Media to build a following and I also post different content to different sites because I don't want to be redundant and also you should not treat all social media the same.

Pics of your Family = Facebook
Motivational Material and interesting pics = Instagram
Google+ = Informative Material on marketing and other stuff
Twitter = a good mix of stuff - usually involves tagging people and use of  hashtags.

In closing don't feel that you have to follow everyone on every platform, most people are not that interesting and just want to post pictures of themselves all the time on every network nor are posting different content and material to different networks... That's okay, but I don't want to see it everywhere!

Thanks for Reading!!!!


Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Try and resist the temptation of the early upgrade!!

As the sale of the iPhone 5S and 5C continue to be sold at discounts and on sale, it is reported by CNET - Apple Byte - that Apple is going to contact owners of earlier versions of the iPhone to offer them an early trade-in at various Apple Stores around the U.S.

To many this is a good deal right??? I can trade in my old phone that is getting worn down and has significant wear and tear and possibly not functioning at 100%. It is not!!!

This is a tricky promotion and depending on where you are on the techy scale of must haves vs. value purchases. For the techy must haves this is a no-brainer, do not go for this offer since we all know a WWDC announcement and also an anticipate release of the next iPhone should be around the September-October time frame right around the time to be the Holiday Christmas Time Hot Item.

Some of the things that are reportedly in the new iPhone - i should say is speculated to be in the new iPhone since Apple is really good at keeping secrets, is the fact that the new iPhone is expected to come in 2 sizes to compete in the "Phablet" market as well as still satisfying its current slimmer phone market. Also things like touch ID and integration of wearables and the anticipation of Beats Audio - Not confirmed but rumors - will likely make its way into the new iPhone.

Now to the other side of the argument, if I was a value minded person to get the best bang for your buck, than this is a good offer. Recently there were promotions from Bestbuy that will sell you/ upgrade your account if you wanted to purchase the new iPhone 5S for free, less the taxes. Soon you will see Apple offer the iPhone 5S for a very discounted rate and if you don't have to have the latest and greatest tech, this is an awesome buy for you and I would encourage you to pick one up when the opportunity arises.

Instead of being a disgruntled Apple owner that complains about the new strategy of how all their products are being discounted, be a smart buyer and recognize a good deal when you see one! or avoid a really bad one.....

Some of the things to expect in the new iPhone if you are considering upgrading is the fact that the new iPhone will be iPod touch thin, which is really thin. The new iPhone will give customers the option to choose from 4.7" and 5.5" models, how ever the speculation is the fact that the screen of the new iPhone may have a Sapphire screen, but this may only be on certain models and my guess is probably the upper end models such as the 64GB. Expect the iPhone 6 to be geared more into Health Apps instead of improving screens and cameras, Apple maybe in the works with putting sensors in headphones to monitor heart rates and with the speculation of Apple buying Beats By Dre, this may be very interesting.

Thanks for Reading