Category: Articles

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Tips and Tricks: Windows Phone 8 Keyboard

WP8keyboard copyThe keyboard on the Windows Phone 8 is pretty awesome and really easy to use especially if you know some of the tips and tricks that can make your keyboard much faster. Whether you are a seasoned pro or a newbie these tips and tricks are quite helpful. Let’s dig in!

 

1.       Word Flow

What is Word flow you might be asking yourself? Word Flow helps predict text as you are typing. If you have a word that you frequently use but it is not in your Windows Phone 8 Word Flow then here is a simple tip in order to add it. Type your word then click to select it. A plus sign will appear so go ahead and tap it to add it to Word Flow.

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2.       Emoticons Continue reading “Tips and Tricks: Windows Phone 8 Keyboard”

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AT&T Releases new cheaper Family Plans with focus on data

ATT logoAT&T’s Mobile Share plans have been criticized in the past for being too confusing. It looks like they’re working to improve that situation while offering up less expensive plans for families to share data.

Rather than having a bunch of sliding scales, picking how much data, how many texts, how many minutes, this new base plan picks all of that for you. The only thing you need to pick is the number of phones you’ll be activating.

All plans now come with Unlimited Talk & Text and 10GB of Data. Starting with two lines for $130 a month, and climbing up to five lines for $175. Each additional line after that fifth is an additional $15. Much easier to understand, and depending on your data requirements, potentially less expensive as well.

ATT Family Plan Rates

What’s interesting is how AT&T is positioning this new plan. Continue reading “AT&T Releases new cheaper Family Plans with focus on data”

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FOX Sports streaming Super Bowl XLVIII Online for all for free!

Super_Bowl_XLVIII_logoI know a lot of people who have cut the cable cord over the last couple years. For the most part services like Hulu and Netflix can satisfy TV and movie viewing, but live sporting events can sometimes present a challenge. One pal in particular lives in an area where he can’t quite get good reception over the air with an HD Antenna.

Well for The Big Game™ ®©, Fox isn’t taking any chances with people not watching the game or the ads, and are allowing everyone to stream over Fox Sports Go. This is a service similar to HBO Go and normally requires authentication from a cable provider. Today they’re waiving that requirement.

Starting at 12pm ET, pre-game coverage will start streaming for free. It’s a brilliant move, as sports fans will get to try out the service, and it makes those expensive ad buys even more valuable as more eye balls will be on data driven screens.

Thanks to Derek Ross on G+ for the tip, and he also mentions that streaming the game over a computer and sending it to your TV via a Chromecast works well!

Super Bowl XLVIII on Fox Sports Go!

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Just For Fun: Young Rival – Black is Good (Magic Eye, 3D Music Video)

Young Rival - Black Is Good - Magic Eye VideoIt’s not a schooner...it’s a Sailboat.

Remember those stereogram “Magic Eye” posters which were all the rage in the 90’s? It caused an entire generation of people my age to get really good at going cross-eyed at a moments notice.

Young Rival is going retro, making the entire music vid out of that blurry 3D technique. I think the song is pretty decent too.

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Photo samples: Kodak PIXPRO AZ522 (Camera Review Coming Soon)

Color saturation out of the box is a little hard on reds, but thankfully detail isn’t overly sacrificed.
The AZ522 does a solid job of exposing in this back lit scene. Detail in white isn’t lost.
The AZ522 does not have the closest minimum focus for Macros, but shots come out nicely detailed.
Another close up shot from the AZ522.
Using a point & shoot image sensor, depth of field is respectable. Background blur is pleasant.
Solid color saturation and dynamic range. The AZ522 manages good exposures even on auto settings.
Reds and yellows tend to over-saturate slightly, but we still see detail in this flower pic.
Another good example of dynamic range. The sky is still blue, clouds still have detail, and the shaded side of the palm tree is not under-exposed.
At the longest end of the zoom however, details can start to soften. It’s difficult hand holding the camera unless you’re in very bright light.
AZ522 field of view fully wide.
AZ522 field of view fully zoomed in.
Direct sunlight pics come out well exposed with a minimum of fuss.
Indoor and lowlight pics showcase some aggressive noise reduction, but the OIS does a great job with hand holding. This pic was taken with a 1/4 second shutter and is still pretty crisp.
AZ stands for “Astro Zoom”, and Kodak isn’t joking…
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Honda Let’s You Download a Car, Makes 3D Printing Design Files Available.

honda 3d printing nsxYou wouldn’t download a car would you? Well, if it’s a Honda, that might not be such a serious issue.

Honda is making 3D printing design files available for five of their older concept vehicles. As part of their Super Ultra Daydreams branding project, if you’re inclined to DIY, you could print out all the pieces for your very own NSX.

It’s kind of a crazy idea, aknowledging that IP law is going to have a difficult time reigning in consumer behavior once 3D printers become more commonplace, but crazy ideas seem to be right up Honda’s alley at the moment, if this video of theirs from the 43rd Tokyo Motor Show is any indication.

Yeah… I totally downloaded the NSX by the way…

Honda 3D Printing files.

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SomeGadgetGuy 2.0 – Faster, Stronger, Better

bluehost 01

Yesterday was an interesting day…

I was planning on wrapping up a few videos, maybe doing a live hangout, and I had some articles I wanted to write. Trying to log into the site, I could barely type a handful of words into WordPress without getting kicked off the server.

See, when you host a site through a company like Bluehost, they’ll set aside a certain amount of server power for you. Cross that threshold and the server will throttle your site. When I moved SomeGadgetGuy over to Bluehost, it was kind of an emergency maneuver. I never really took the time to properly optimize this site. Surprisingly even my plain, old, white-backgrounded theme was a humongous resource hog.

As the site has grown in popularity, all of that inefficient code has exponentially exacerbated those throttling issues.

Continue reading “SomeGadgetGuy 2.0 – Faster, Stronger, Better”

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Samsung Intros Galaxy Tab Built for Education

375_Galaxy-Tab-for-Education_Front_Horz_1-27Google and Samsung really are working on their relationship.

Featured at FETC 2014, Samsung is showing off a Galaxy Tab 10.1 which focuses on Education markets, and they say it’ll be ready for the 2014-2015 school year.

Starting off with a fairly normal Galaxy Tab 10.1, it’s software and services which separate it from the herd. Piggybacking on their recent gains getting Android devices ready for corporate IT, these new tablets will feature simple set up and device management for teachers to utilize tablets in the classroom.

This also highlights Google’s push into the education market by working with Google Play for Education. This division of play focuses on teacher approved apps and media, gives teachers the ability to filter content by grade level and topic, and allows schools to order content via PO. Once content is purchased, it can be quickly pushed to students tablets.

Hopefully the controls are more robust than what we experienced here in LA using iPads last year…

Full press release below.

Continue reading “Samsung Intros Galaxy Tab Built for Education”

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