Category: Articles

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New YouTube options for channel owners, merging comments with Google Plus.

YouTubeIt looks like YouTube will be rolling out some new useful features for its channel owners in hopes to curb the trolls when comments are made on a channel.  There is nothing like going to see what new content your favorite YouTube channel has posted and seeing rude or degrading comments that may discourage the channel owner and friends of that YouTube channel. After all it is the internet and trolling is inevitable. Could this be the end of the Wild West like trolling? Possibly.

YouTube will be giving channel owners more options to moderate and block comments while a new sorting system will move the most relevant discussions to the top making for a better engagement with your subscribers. The new options can be customized for each YouTube viewer. Each YouTube user will be able to start a new conversation which will only be seen by their friends on Google+,their subscribers and an option to follow a particular thread by Gmail.

With these new options in place you will have the ability to block certain words to help keep a family friendly environment on your YouTube channel with another option of auto approving comments from your favorite subscribers and friends on Google+. I believe these new options will make for a better YouTube experience.

Official YouTube Blog

Some Gadget Guy YouTube Channel Continue reading “New YouTube options for channel owners, merging comments with Google Plus.”

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Top 5 for the week starting November 4 – Thor Red Carpet, and why you should shake up your tech habits…

thor dark world skype marvel somegadgetguy red carpetWhew! Another week and a bunch of exciting stories hit the web. Here are the most read and most shared stories from this here lil old blog.

5. On the Red Carpet for the Hollywood Premiere of Thor: The Dark World

A little shameless plugging here. Skype hooked me up with a pass to the red carpet premiere of Thor: The Dark World. I got to jump into the pit, and got a bunch of great pics of the film’s stars looking fabulous.

4. Why now is the perfect time to diversify your technology portfolio…

It’s becoming a weekly tradition, my cranky technology rant. I’m like the Andy Rooney of internet commentary, but I’ve figured out how to use the Start Button in Windows. Anywho, this week I turn my sights on fanboyism and why it might not be a bad idea right now to try something different than what you’re currently using.

Lenovo-Miix-2-Windows-8.1-8-inch-tablet3. Lenovo Announces most affordable Windows 8.1 tablet at $299

Tablets are going to be all the rage this holiday season (Our holiday tablet buying guide comes out tomorrow)! Lenovo is double dipping in both Android and Windows 8 slates. Funnily enough, this week more of you looked up info on their Windows offerings. The Miix 2 looks like it might be a decent way to jump into a mini-Windows portable with some decent computing power.

2. Review: The HMDX Jam Classic portable wireless Bluetooth speaker

A blast from the past, this post got shared around a lot! Our review of the HMDX Jam Classic showcased what this tiny little wunder-speaker was capable of. Utilizing our full audio test suite, and a hands on video, this review proved mighty popular.

0741. App Review: Top Task List for Windows Phone 8

Welcome to the list Chris! Mr. Trimble is a new contributor here on SGG, and he’s a fan of Windows Phone. His second app review for the site scored this week’s number one spot.

We’re nothing without you readers, and we certainly can’t compete against the big blogs by ourselves. We always greatly appreciate not only the likes, but the sharing on social sites like Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit. The more we get to talk with other tech fans, the better we get, and soon we’ll be able to reward that participation with some fun contests coming up soon!

Thanks for reading, and if you feel we missed a big story this week, or you have a hot tip, please drop us a line on our Contact Page!

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Real World Battery Test: The LG G2 – 47 hours to “Critically Low”

lg g2 battery critically low run time test 47 hours somegadgetguyThis is the longest it has ever taken me to run a battery test.

Run time is a difficult feature to test. Benchmarking usually means throwing high usage scenarios at a device to see how long it can last under “worst case” usage. The phone runs hot, which means it runs somewhat less efficiently, and you end up with a number that you can share. If you test all phones the same way you can somewhat compare how all phones perform when they run hot.

The problem with real world testing is it takes longer, and your testing isn’t going to be consistent. Maybe I took more calls on my HTC one than I did during my Galaxy S4 during a similar 24 hour period. Maybe I gamed longer on the iPhone than I did on the Moto X. Basically I’m saying you should take the following with a small grain of salt… Continue reading “Real World Battery Test: The LG G2 – 47 hours to “Critically Low””

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Blackberry: An interim CEO and the illusion of action…

blackberry os 10 handsets z10 q10 smartphonesI wanted to take a minute to look at the Blackberry situation before reporting on it.

Earlier this week it was announced that Blackberry would not be bought out by Fairfax Financial, the company would not be going private, and that CEO Thorsten Heins would step down. Fairfax and other investors will be offering up instead a $1 Billion bond to help float the company, as its cash reserves are starting to dwindle. John Chen is stepping up to the plate as interim CEO, receiving a $3 million salary and over $80 million in restricted stock. John Chen was responsible for fixing up Sybase, a corporate data solutions company.

At its core, Blackberry has been facing a crisis of identity. Like Microsoft, BB missed the boat on the consumer driven data services market. Our favorite little tic-tac keyboarded phones were corporate sweethearts, but BB was late in attempting to crack into the general consumer demographics where Android and iOS dominate. The new BB Z10 was a first step towards offering up corporate friendly mobility which would be pretty enough for consumers to enjoy.

Of course it was not successful. Continue reading “Blackberry: An interim CEO and the illusion of action…”

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Microsoft Support: If your Surface wont turn on, Tap on Settings…

LB_8705This is just funny.

Occasionally things bork. Happens to all gadgets. It’s frustrating, but you find some support and you get the problem fixed. For those times when your shiny brand new Surface tablet wont turn on, Microsoft has some helpful advice.

From the MS Support page:

If your Surface RT or Surface 2 won’t turn on, here are several steps you can take to pin point the cause and fix the problem.

Before you begin
***Step 1: Unplug the Surface power cord from the electrical outlet, and if you have any of the following remove or disconnect them from Surface:

  • Power supply
  • Surface Cover
  • microSD card
  • USB devices such as printers, keyboards, or mice
  • Video or audio cables or adapters

***Step 2: Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and tap Settings.
***Step 3: Tap Power, and then tap Shutdown.
***Step 4: Next, make a few preliminary checks:

Is the electrical outlet you’re using to charge your Surface working properly?
Try plugging something else into the outlet and see if it works.
Are conditions right for recharging?
It’s best to charge your battery near room temperature. Surface is designed to work between 32° and 95°Fahrenheit (0° and 35° Celsius).
Are the magnetic charging connectors clean and free of damage?

Wait what… Rewind that…

It doesn’t look like Microsoft really thought out steps two and three there…

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Star Wars Episode VII scheduled to open December 18, 2015

star_wars_logo_640_large_verge_medium_landscapeTime to dust off your lightsabers!  Star Wars is coming back to the big screen!

Announced today on StarWars.com, we’ve got the official date for our return to that distant long ago galaxy:

With pre-production in full-swing, a confirmed release date of December 18, 2015, has been set for Lucasfilm’s highly anticipated Star Wars: Episode VII.

“We’re very excited to share the official 2015 release date for Star Wars: Episode VII, where it will not only anchor the popular holiday filmgoing season but also ensure our extraordinary filmmaking team has the time needed to deliver a sensational picture,” said Alan Horn, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.

Star Wars: Episode VII will be directed by J.J. Abrams (Super 8, Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek) and is being scripted by Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi). Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, with Tommy Harper (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Jack Ryan, Star Trek Into Darkness) and Jason McGatlin (Tintin,War of the Worlds) serving as executive producers. John Williams is returning to score Star Wars: Episode VII.

Shooting is scheduled to begin spring 2014 at Pinewood Studios.

I’m actually really looking forward to a new series of films helmed by J.J. Abrams. I kinda felt the Abrams Star Trek films better resembled the kinds of space adventure movies that the Star Wars universe deserved.

I wonder when I’ll be able to pre-order tickets…

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Ask Juan: Why is Google Text-to-Speech a separate app now?

Screenshot_2013-11-07-10-38-28Starting today you’ll start seeing an app to update you’ve probably never seen before: Google Text-to-Speech.

This is Google’s software engine which drives all of the speech capabilities on your phone. Every time your phone talks to you, it’s using some kind of software library to translate text into that helpful robotic voice which gives you turn by turn directions in Google Maps or answers your questions in Google Now.

This is a service which until now was built into Android and only updated whenever an update for the OS was pushed to phones and tablets. Like the  Google Keyboard, now this service lives on its own in the Google Play app store.

Google has had issues with device and feature fragmentation, and other companies often install their own TTS engines, which is why Samsung and LG phones have a slightly different “personality” than their Nexus counterparts.

Let’s take a look at the what the service does, and what it sounds like!

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Can Los Angeles light up Fiber for the whole city? Free broadband internet for all?

Los Angeles winterDamn I hope this can work.

LA City Council officials are working on a Request for Proposals. They want companies to offer bids on an extremely ambitious project, namely lighting up fiber optic broadband internet for every business and residential area in the Los Angeles city limits. No piecemeal, staged, “testing” of the viability for the potential, to maybe, some day, consider, trying a starter market in one corner of a McMansion in Beverly Hills. They want to go whole hog, all or nothing.

The plan for the proposal so far would be to offer up a baseline low level service for everyone for free. It could be ad supported to offset costs, and most likely speeds would top out around 2Mbps, yet it would be available for everyone. This could be a huge boon for those in lower income neighborhoods, areas not often well supported by current ISP’s, and tremendously helpful in an economy where many have to choose between home internet and low cost cell phone service to remain competitive in the job market.

For those who can afford it, higher tiers of service will be made available, most likely topping out at gigabit bandwidth, resembling services like Google Fiber. This backbone could also be used to power WiFi hotspots in public areas.

The implications of such a move could be remarkable.  Continue reading “Can Los Angeles light up Fiber for the whole city? Free broadband internet for all?”

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