Tag: tech support

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Ask Juan: Why do Dark Lines Form on Photos Shot Under Fluorescent Lights?

Got a question from a reader on Twitter over some strange camera performance.

The first time I ran into something similar on my DSLR I had a minor panic attack that my sensor was damaged. While it can be frustrating to deal with, it’s a fairly common issue we face with consumer fluorescent lights.

The light that comes from a bulb is not constant. The electricity we use is AC, or alternating current, and cycles between 50 or 60 times a second. This refresh rate is fast enough that the human eye perceives it as constant. You can also think about film and video, where 24fps and faster frame rates produces fluid movement, even though each individual frame is a still photo. Continue reading “Ask Juan: Why do Dark Lines Form on Photos Shot Under Fluorescent Lights?”

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Another Tech Support Joke infographic from 4chan targets XBox Owner’s PCs

xboxone fake compatibility jokeLet’s just make it a rule that we don’t follow tech support advice from infographic pictures on the internet? Cool?

Following some epic pranks, like convincing iPhone owners their phones were now waterproof, sights were set on the XBox One. Backwards compatibility for our consoles is always a sticky subject. Our next gen consoles are not able to play the games of last gen off of the discs in our collection. The desire to do so though can lead people to do some rather silly things. Preying on that desire, a pic circulated detailing a set of instructions  to enable backwards compatibility. Instead following the steps in the pic hard bricked the console. Anyone else find it strange that Microsoft would include such an easy to find auto-destruct sequence? Just me? Ok.

Well now 4chan is following it up with an attempt at wrecking a few PCs. The steps outlined in a new “tech support” pic would have users cut out all the files on their C: drive in an attempt to fix their bricked XBox. Again, preying on people who are JUST tech savvy enough to find these things, but who don’t really understand what they’re doing. Thankfully this joke will probably prove less effective as Microsoft has done a much better job of protecting Windows OS files. You’d have to be an Admin, and savvy enough to disable UAC (Microsoft’s protection software), and if you could do all that, you’d probably know better. Even if you didn’t however, Windows can often re-populate the files.

xbox one joke fix infographic

Microsoft probably got tired of fielding tech support calls from folks who deleted their OS. Even I have an Aunt who once went tearing through Windows 98 and threw out a bunch of “junk” files trying to free up space on her PC.

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re smarter than the average bear. It’s that time of year where we’re often tasked with fixing family computers and tech, while doing this, how about we all sit our relatives down again and have a little chat…

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Ask Juan: Why won’t my Moto X show up as a USB drive on my Mac?

surface connected to lg g2 file management transfer somegadgetguyFrom our Facebook page, Robin asks:

Here’s a question relating to Android… When I plug my Moto X into my Windows PC using the supplied USB cable, it shows up as a storage device and I can copy stuff to/from it with no problems. But when I plug it into a USB port on my wife’s MacBook Pro, it’s not even recognized as a device. How can I access my Moto X from Mac OSX?

Hey Robin,

It’s because Apple can be frustrating about supporting standards like MTP. Apple refuses to natively support the USB Media Transfer Protocol. It’s how you can plug your phone into a PC and see files on your phone and computer at the same time.

There are two different ways to share files between a phone and computer, MTP and Mass Storage. If you use Mass Storage, the storage on your phone becomes a standalone drive for your computer, and your phone will no longer be able to see any of those files. That was fine during the Windows Mobile and early Android days. You’d plug in your phone, and it would essentially become a dead lump of a USB drive. Now though, we don’t want to lose access to our precious communication tools, even for a brief file transfer. That’s why Android and Windows Phone now utilize MTP. It comes with some drawbacks like slower file transfers, and you can only move one file at a time, but your phone wont be separated from its storage while connected to a computer. Given the trade off, I’d rather be able to connect my phone to my computer, and still being able to use it as a normal phone with all of my files and apps intact.

The iPhone just doesn’t work that way, so Apple doesn’t feel any great pressure to support other mobile device file management protocols. As far as they’re concerned you should be using iOS and iTunes.

Google did release an Android file manager program for Mac users which might work for you – http://www.android.com/filetransfer/

If that doesn’t work you might need to look at cloud solutions. The nice thing about Android, it’s silly easy to move files on and off via services like Google Drive, Box, and DropBox.

You could also do a local network sync via an app like AirSync –http://www.doubletwist.com/airsync/ or Air Droid – http://www.airdroid.com/ which will use your home WiFi network. It wont be as fast as a cable connection, but it’ll be faster than Bluetooth. 

But yeah. Short story long, this is basically Apple’s fault.

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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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Ask Juan: Should I Upgrade my Desktop (non-touchscreen) to Windows 8.1?

Screenshot (1)From one of our readers using our contact page:

Hey,I have an older quad core AMD desktop running Windows 7 and was going to put in a SSD. While I was doing that I thought maybe I should upgrade to Windows 8. I don’t have a touchscreen though, so I was curious if you thought that would be a good idea? Thanks, Alex

First of all, I run an older quad core in my workstation, and installing a solid state drive (specifically a Kingston HyperX) made my system feel brand new. I think you’ll really dig it.

The upgrade to Windows 8.1 is a slightly trickier question. It’s pretty obvious that Microsoft is using this new interface as their first attack on tablets and touchscreens. Microsoft’s job moving forward isn’t to “save” the PC market, but redefine the what a PC is. If you’ve read much on this site, you would know that I’ve been fairly positive on their progress so far.

Stepping outside the tablet-y stuff however, I think Windows 8 can offer up some benefits to non-touchscreen users as well.

First of all, boot times are seriously improved. The combo of Windows 8.1 and an SSD will feel like an absolute screamer compared to Windows 7 and a spinning disc hard drive. My low power Windows 8.1 ultrabook with an SSD cache boots in about half the time as my desktop did with Windows 7 and a proper SSD. My Lenovo absolutely destroys my Nexus 7 in a cold boot race.

windows 8_1 file transfer dialog boxSecond, I think Microsoft has made some solid improvements to file management. It’s not the sexiest aspect of an OS upgrade, but you get substantially more info when moving files, better estimates for completion, and the entire file browsing experience has been more stable. I would run into issues on Windows 7 with folders that had tons of files. As my computer would scan through creating thumbnails it would occasionally just get stuck on a file and never finish the scan. What ever file it would lag on would just become completely inaccessible, and I’d have to jump through CMD prompt nonsense to fix it. I haven’t had any issues like that with Win8.1 so far (knocks on wood). Continue reading “Ask Juan: Should I Upgrade my Desktop (non-touchscreen) to Windows 8.1?”

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iFixIt Tears down the iPad Air, Scores low for repair-ability

ifixit ipad air teardownNot terribly surprising, but still something of a bummer.

Not for the Apple faint of heart, but iFixit has worked they’re dissecting tools over Apple’s newest iPad, and the results are somewhat poor. The new iPad Air scores a 2 out of 10 for repairing. It’s part of the trade off for having a powerful and sleek slate, cramming all of the guts into a package that slim is a serious feat of engineering. One which also requires the use of some pretty hardcore glue on the battery.

We should be able to count on a similar score and disassembly process with the new iPad Mini as well.

This continues Apple’s trend of gluing devices shut and locking the consumer out of hardware. It’s standard operating procedure for most tablets, though it’s a touch troubling on laptops and desktops, as their proper computers are becoming more difficult (if sometimes impossible) to upgrade.

Check out iFixit’s tear down, they do a great job of including a little wit while they eviscerate your favorite tech. They also posted this cute little video to show off the iPad’s new guts.

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PSA: Only Two Years left to Update from Windows 8 to 8.1 to Continue Receiving Support

Screenshot (1)Better get to it folks! The clock is ticking!

Looks like Microsoft is getting a touch more aggressive in making sure consumers stay up to date on OS updates. The Windows 8 support life cycle is scheduled to end in 2023, but to continue receiving support, it looks like Microsoft is going to require people stay on top of updates.

Announced on Microsoft’s site:

Windows 8 customers will have two years to move to Windows 8.1 after the General Availability of the Windows 8.1 update to continue to remain supported under the Windows 8 lifecycle.

Well, “General Availability” started last Thursday, so at the time of this blog post, you have less than 727 days to jump on the Windows 8.1 update to continue receiving support.

It would appear Microsoft is trying to be a bit more proactive in communicating with consumers when products hit End Of Life. There’s still a substantial base of users still on Windows XP, which could create a nightmare scenario for many when support officially ends April of 2014. The fear being that those who create malware for Windows could be waiting for support to end before unleashing new attacks on the XP platform.

So now, Microsoft is not only communicating what the total support time is, they’re stipulating more consumer participation in keeping the Windows ecosystem a bit more up to date. As for those of us on Windows 7 and Windows 8, we’ve got PLENTY of support time left, so long as we keep up with our updates…

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Are 2011 MacBook Pro GPU’s failing?

Macbook proThe cool thing about Apple is how hard they work at software+hardware integration. The bummer is you can only buy an Apple from Apple, so if there’s a problem with a certain batch of Apple products, you’re kinda stuck.

Currently on the Apple message boards, a post has racked up over 136 pages of replies from folks having, and trying to fix, issues with older MacBook Pros using discrete graphics chips. Computers freezing, information getting corrupted, locking up, even some stories of blue screens of death. With a thread this long, it’s difficult to establish a clear pattern of what might be failing, but enough people are pointing to logic board and GPU issues that it might just be a theme.

No official word from Apple regarding any potential issues with this line of MacBooks. Do yo own a MacBook Pro from 2011? Are you/ were you having problems?

MacBook Pro 2011 17″ hard freeze (136 pages)

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