The post Vodafone email is gone appeared first on Computers and Beyond.

The learning hub came about from the feedback of our customers who wanted technology advice. Either they find technology baffling and the complexities of the technological age overwhelms them or they are motivated learners however the technology advice resources they find confuse them and they promptly give up.

The vision for this hub is to build a community by gathering motivated technology beginners and answering their questions and troubleshooting common problems. Educating them regarding the capabilities of technology and troubleshoot common problems our clients face. This is all done in language they understand. So users can have a peaceful, more enjoyable experience with their technology through friendly, understandable technology advice.

Let this website be a testament to the fact the internet provides amazing resources. This website was built by our son, Jonny, who previously had no website design knowledge. Within a few months and a lot of instructional videos later we had a new website.

Our Guiding Philosophy for Approaching Technology

Working with technology day in, day out, we know all too well the trials and tribulations of trying to get it to behave. Believe it or not, we were not always experts and the only reason we are able to fix your problems is because we have encountered them before. Like everyone we have had to scratch our heads, try everything we know under the sun and after a few curse words and imagining throwing it out the door we try something that works. It’s fixed, we learnt something, in a better position to give you technology advice and the world keeps turning. Sometimes this process entails rolling up your sleeve and going into the very depths of internet and our resources.

I am absolutely confident that given enough time everyone can become competent with technology. Some have more time, some double down when they encounter difficulties, some have access to better resources and some have young malleable minds – dam those younguns. If I had to impart a guiding philosophy it would be:

If you can follow a recipe you can get a handle on technology even design a webpage like this one.

Computers Do What You Tell Them; A Blessing and Curse

The reason for my conviction is the simple fact that computers run on yes and no commands, there is no wiggle room. If you tell a computer to turn up at 6pm for dinner. It will turn up at 6pm, time and time again until you tell it to stop.

At no time is this more obvious when you are “coding” or writing instructions for the computer. If you miss out one full stop or one semi colon, tough luck! The computer will not understand your set of instructions. That’s how computers are built. Small set of instructions stacked on top of each other until we have the incredible machines we have in front of you today.

Recap

If you can follow a recipe then you can use technology. A recipe that will make you want to tear your eyes out and drop kick your kitten through a wall until you realise your password isn’t working because you left caps lock on.

Please keep in mind that we are a busy business with over thousand clients to service. This blog one of many aspects to our growing business.

What are you waiting for? Get exploring.

The Beginners Block

These articles are essential for beginners. Make your way through the entire block to get a grip on the fundamental, most used tools available on your computer through the internet.

• “Getting Started” – An Introduction to the Learning Hub
• “First Things First” – An Introduction to Google Search
• “The People’s Encyclopedia” – An Introduction to Wikipedia
• “Snail Mail? Why?” – An Introduction to Email
• “The Only TV Channel You Will Need” – An Introduction to YouTube
• “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends” – An Introduction to Facebook
• “Show Me The Money” – An Introduction to Banking Online
• “Inform Me” – An Introduction Getting Your News Online

The post Getting Started appeared first on Computers and Beyond.

Time for a mini history lesson. Back in the late 90s – early 00s, internet users faced a problem. Websites littered the internet and people were excited at the potential to share information and potentially sell goods. The dilemma that faced internet users is they would have to remember the website address which was troublesome, you would have people pondering was it “.com” or “.co.nz”. If you didn’t get it exactly right then you wouldn’t find the webpage. So Google and hundred other companies engineered “search engines”. Long story short, Google’s search engine was the best for many reasons and hence the behemoth we know today.

How is Google Search useful?

Imagine you have a query like “When did woman get the vote in New Zealand?”. You have a few options. You could look it up in an encyclopedia, you could phone a friend or you could enter your search query into Google Search and see what is on the internet. This third option is the preferred method because of the convenience and accessibility as you can use Google Search on your phone.

How does it work? Bear with me. Google has what are called search bots that scout the internet and index webpages by keywords that appear on the webpage so the webpages are searchable. So when you search, Google complies the most relevant results based on keywords used in the search query which in this case is “when did woman get the vote in New Zealand?” and the keywords are “when, woman, vote, New Zealand”.

The beauty of Google Search is coming up with creative keyword combination when searching for obscure information. Say you were searching for our website but you couldn’t remember our name. You could search for one of our names such as “Steve Hobo-Tuck computers” or “computer repairs”. If “computer repairs” returns US business you could refine the search to “computer repairs new plymouth”. We should be there on the first page.

Ever had a burning question like what is the largest city in the world and how many people live there? Google is perfect for this. Go have fun and learn something new with Google Search.

The Beginners Block

These articles are essential for beginners. We advise making your way through the entire block to get a grip on the fundamental, most used tools available on your computer through the internet

• “Getting Started” – An Introduction to the Learning Hub
• “First Things First” – An Introduction to Google Search
• “The People’s Encyclopedia” – An Introduction to Wikipedia
• “Snail Mail? Why?” – An Introduction to Email
• “The Only TV Channel You Will Need” – An Introduction to YouTube
• “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends” – An Introduction to Facebook
• “Show Me The Money” – An Introduction to Banking Online
• “Inform Me” – An Introduction Getting Your News Online

The post First Thing’s First – Learning About Google Search and Search Engines appeared first on Computers and Beyond.

Let’s begin. Back in the early 2000’s, if you wanted a comprehensive overview of an subject, concept or event you had limited options. You were limited to your textbooks, resources contained in the library, news reports and the occasional internet resource. Air chair intellectuals, real intellectuals and university students would spend hours searching and compiling information for a general overview of an obscure query.

Enter Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia purely comprised of user contributions. Wikipedia allows any internet user to edit any Wikipedia content. Right now you could edit the Wikipedia page of Trump and explain how he is a giant Cheeto. This ease of edition and the amount of internet users has caused an explosion in Wikipedia content. It has pages describing the in and outs of Aortic Dissection to tracking the career of Justin Bieber to the pros and cons of Artifical Intelligence. As of the end of May 2017, Wikipedia in it’s English edition has over 5 million articles is now a one stop shop for knowledge and information on a nearly every subject imaginable.

But it wasn’t smooth sailing for the “People’s Encyclopedia”. Naturally the academic community were worried about the academic integrity of Wikipedia and the fact that any old joker could change the page. The information sources of the day, the Encyclopedia Britannica and expensive textbooks were all curated by experts in their fields and arguable this is the preferred method for knowledge dissemination but it it expensive and therefore less accessible than Wikipedia. If you have a computer and an internet connection, you can learn about quantum mechanics, the Moari land wars or the American Electoral Process or whatever else takes your fancy. For this reason, Wikipedia is the fifth most visited site on the internet and the equivalent of the internet’s library.

So, Wikipedia became the vehicle for information dissemination. Contributors were made up of university students with access to those expensive textbooks, people who practiced in the field and all those who could explain these ideas in layman’s terms even with all the references. The content of Wikipedia was vetted based on conciseness and the ability to understand therefore qualifications meant nothing therefore the explanation of someone in Dannevirke could trump a Harvard professor, theoretically.

So get started on anything you are interested in. You can browse for now and learn to contribute later. You can go directly to “https://en.wikipedia.org” and use the search bar or you can just type in your query into Google with the last keyword being “wiki” and it should be the top search result.

Happy computing.

The Beginners Block

These articles are essential for beginners. We advise making your way through the entire block to get a grip on the fundamental, most used tools available on your computer through the internet.

• “Getting Started” – An Introduction to the Learning Hub
• “First Things First” – An Introduction to Google Search
• “The People’s Encyclopedia” – An Introduction to Wikipedia
• “Snail Mail? Why?” – An Introduction to Email
• “The Only TV Channel You Will Need” – An Introduction to YouTube
• “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends” – An Introduction to Facebook
• “Show Me The Money” – An Introduction to Banking Online
• “Inform Me” – An Introduction Getting Your News Online

The post The People’s Encyclopedia – An Introduction To Wikipedia appeared first on Computers and Beyond.

Welcome to weird and wonderful world of email. We have found our customers enjoy the convenience and speed of email to the point where it has replaced letter writing for our older clients and for our younger clients letter writing is a lost art.

What is email? What is it role in the modern age?

It’s role in the technology landscape varies largely from person to person and their specific needs. For most people is their formal way to be contacted by friends, organisations which they belong and are interested in and, of course, advertisers. Like Google is for searching for information, email is to written communication. Accessible, cheap and wide reaching form of communication. Have a list of 100 in your mailing list. Type out a newsletter. Send it to all of them, everything taking less than hour. Imagine trying to contact the same 100 people through hand written letters.

How can you get an email and how can I set it up?

Good question. Ultimately the process of getting an email address is the same and in most cases, free unless you are a business. There are a range of email provider such as Gmail or Yahoo or go through your telecommunications provider such as Spark or Vodafone.

This is where the services differ. Now you have two choices. “Webmail” like Gmail which you access through your web browser or “mail software” like Outlook which you access through an icon on your desktop. Oh, there are also apps for your tablets and phone but let’s not go there. So advantages and disadvantages computer-based email, webmail can be accessed on any computer with an internet connection but you have to put your username and password to access your emails. Mail software is more automated and after opening the software your new emails are one click away but it also takes a computer technician to set up. So it really is what suits your needs.

Here is an instructional video to guide you through setting up a gmail account.

If you prefer mail software like Outlook, please call us to discuss options. See how “call us” is blue. You can click it to go to be directed to our phone number.

The Beginners Block

These articles are essential for beginners. We advise making your way through the entire block to get a grip on the fundamental, most used tools available on your computer through the internet.

• “Getting Started” – An Introduction to the Learning Hub
• “First Things First” – An Introduction to Google Search
• “The People’s Encyclopedia” – An Introduction to Wikipedia
• “Snail Mail? Why?” – An Introduction to Email
• “The Only TV Channel You Will Need” – An Introduction to YouTube
• “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends” – An Introduction to Facebook
• “Show Me The Money” – An Introduction to Banking Online
• “Inform Me” – An Introduction Getting Your News Online

The post Snail Mail? Why? – Introduction To Emails and How It Can Help appeared first on Computers and Beyond.

Let me introduce you to YouTube. If it’s a video and it’s not copyrighted most likely it is on YouTube. These include music videos, great moments in sports and Fluffy Bum the Cat chasing lasers. So how has YouTube changed the game? Well firstly because anyone can contribute, YouTube diverse range of content to satisfy any need or curiosity. One of advantages about YouTube is the contributors make the money for the videos they produce. So you know the money goes to where it should; to the people making the content.

Interested in David Attenborough documentaries; just type his name into search bar. Think you could learn more about how our changing planet; then climate change is your search phrase. Is the war on drugs lost? There are debates galore on the topic. Explore. Try something and see the results you get. Make a mistake that’s how you learn about something new with little guidance – through trial and error.

With YouTube, the idea that you sit in front of television as you endure ads to watch a program that we are semi-interested is becoming increasingly absurd. Young people these days will most likely not have a television in their homes and if they do its to show movies and videos they have found through the internet. The only things limiting your enjoyment of YouTube is your curiosity and your imagination.

Talking about using YouTube is really difficult because it’s like recommending ice cream flavours, it’s difficult because I don’t know what you like. All I can say is YouTube is a platform for your enjoyment and do with it as you wish whether that is building something with instructional videos, broadening your mind with documentaries or personal development through health and fitness videos. It’s all there waiting and it’s free.

Type “youtube” into Google or “www.youtube.com” into the address bar. A whole world of videos is waiting for you out there.

The Beginners Block

These articles are essential for beginners. We advise making your way through the entire block to get a grip on the fundamental, most used tools available on your computer through the internet.

• “Getting Started” – An Introduction to the Learning Hub
• “First Things First” – An Introduction to Google Search
• “The People’s Encyclopedia” – An Introduction to Wikipedia
• “Snail Mail? Why?” – An Introduction to Email
• “The Only TV Channel You Will Need” – An Introduction to YouTube
• “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends” – An Introduction to Facebook
• “Show Me The Money” – An Introduction to Banking Online
• “Inform Me” – An Introduction Getting Your News Online

The post The Only TV Station You Will Need – What Is YouTube and What Is It Used For? appeared first on Computers and Beyond.

Allegedly stolen by Mr. Zuckerberg, a software engineer, attending Harvard at the time. Who built the first draft of the website in his college dorm room. But what is Facebook? Why do people use it? Why is it worth 350 billion dollars? Yes, that’s billion with a “B”.

Facebook is a network that connects friends, family and acquiescences or a social network. What do they do on Facebook? They chat and share content on the internet. These things are pretty much everything the internet has to offer from cat videos, thought-provoking articles, scientific discoveries or emotionally charged rants.

Historically, Facebook existed complementary to the internet and was a forum for sharing information as time has gone on to many people, Facebook is the internet and the method by which information finds them. How does this happen? By a friend making you aware of a picture, a video or an article or a page based on one of interests that you have in common. Much like Google has become the standard for searching the internet, Facebook is the predominant technique people use to identity themselves online with many website having the ability to “Log In with Facebook” but that is a whole another article.

How is it worth so much? Mainly because it plays such a pivotal role within the world wide web and internet traffic. For young people these days, if they have a spare five or ten minutes they are on Facebook. All this traffic and attention can be used by marketers to promote their products and for Facebook to make money. It’s prominence is only growing with estimates that it will some day be a trillion dollar. The only question is who will get there first, Google, Apple or Facebook.

So you want to join up. It’s really simple. Google search “facebook” or put in www.facebook.com” into your browser address bar. I could walk you through the specifics of everything you need to do but I would only writing what someone could show you.

Basic tutorial

Comprehensive tutorial

Happy Computing.

p.s Add me on Facebook or like our Facebook page. Here is a link to our Computers and Beyond Facebook Page. Click the blue text right before this picture. It best if you have account before doing this but you can have a nosy anyway.

The Beginners Block

These articles are essential for beginners. We advise making your way through the entire block to get a grip on the fundamental, most used tools available on your computer through the internet.

• “Getting Started” – An Introduction to the Learning Hub
• “First Things First” – An Introduction to Google Search
• “The People’s Encyclopedia” – An Introduction to Wikipedia
• “Snail Mail? Why?” – An Introduction to Email
• “The Only TV Channel You Will Need” – An Introduction to YouTube
• “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends” – An Introduction to Facebook
• “Show Me The Money” – An Introduction to Banking Online
• “Inform Me” – An Introduction Getting Your News Online

The post I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends – What Is Facebook and Why Should I Use It? appeared first on Computers and Beyond.

Online banking has been revolutionary. Try telling a teen these days that not so long ago the only way you can transfer money was by a written piece of paper you had to sign and this service was only available 9am – 4pm Monday to Friday, they will start to question whether you are from 1900’s. You can almost hear them now, “Did you also get around on horseback?”

So why has online banking taken off and changed the world of banking? Two reasons, convenience and cost effectiveness. Convenience has been outlined above 24/7 access to your money anywhere that has an internet connection but also people forget online banking is the automation of processes because if we can make a machine provide a service, you only have to pay for the maintenance costs of that machine-based process. So we have ushered in the days where savings are accessible around the clock but no longer do we have to visit the bank red faced as your groceries sit in Countdown, is a convenience most people can’t turn down.

In the world of online banking, the banks have taken the responsibility of providing online banking services. So no new names to learn, it’s simply Kiwibank, ANZ, Westpac, ASB, BNZ and TSB. What is new is the medium you use to move and allocate your money. Two techniques, the first is internet based banking through your web browser which is accessible through any computer and the banks take reasonable steps to make sure your money and banking details are secure. The second, is an application or app for short, these run on tablet and mobile phone although they follow the same principles the mobile platform operates slightly differently. This platform is worth learning because as long as you have an internet connection, you have a personal banker in your pocket.

Tutorials and advive about this technology is all part of their service experience after all the banks provide the service and they deal with most likely hundred of thousands of dollars of your money. So ask them about internet banking next time you drop in, hopefully not red faced from the supermarket.

Here is a video from our ANZAC brothers for the visual learners.

Happy computing.

The Beginners Block

These articles are essential for beginners. We advise making your way through the entire block to get a grip on the fundamental, most used tools available on your computer through the internet.

• “Getting Started” – An Introduction to the Learning Hub
• “First Things First” – An Introduction to Google Search
• “The People’s Encyclopedia” – An Introduction to Wikipedia
• “Snail Mail? Why?” – An Introduction to Email
• “The Only TV Channel You Will Need” – An Introduction to YouTube
• “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends” – An Introduction to Facebook
• “Show Me The Money” – An Introduction to Banking Online
• “Inform Me” – An Introduction Getting Your News Online

The post Show Me The Money – Introduction To Banking Online appeared first on Computers and Beyond.

Introducing online news media. The days of the morning and evening paper are quickly coming to an end. The consumption habits of readers have changed. No longer do they don’t read everything up to page three before we head off to work. The big boys are Fairfax Media’s “stuff.co.nz”, NZME’s “nzherald.co.nz” and Government of New Zealand’s “tvnz.co.nz”. Check them out.

But a word of caution. Journalism is not the same beast when on the internet. Suddenly news outlets can not be rely readers to read from beginning to end. So headlines are suddenly the main distinguishing feature of a website being clicked or in important journalism piece, not clicked. An informed technologically able newsreader, now sits at the table browsing news stories on his cellphone or on the couch on his tablet. The entire platform of the newspaper will be phased out by 2050 so the prized advertising spaces of the first three pages no longer exists. Now the most expensive real estate is on the stories that are getting the most views and this just happens to with headlines such as “Chauffeur among arrested Kim K suspects”.

I’m not going to lie. I… appropriated all these ideas from this video.

Despite these criticisms, news media is using the internet to reach more people, it saves mollah on newspaper subscriptions and the awkwardness of dealing with flimsy A1 newsprint sheets.

To get started, just type in the website names above, “www.stuff.co.nz”, “www.nzherald.co.nz” and “www.tvnz.co.nz” or conversely just pop “news stories new zealand” into Google.

Happy reading.

The Beginners Block

These articles are essential for beginners. We advise making your way through the entire block to get a grip on the fundamental, most used tools available on your computer through the internet.

• “Getting Started” – An Introduction to the Learning Hub
• “First Things First” – An Introduction to Google Search
• “The People’s Encyclopedia” – An Introduction to Wikipedia
• “Snail Mail? Why?” – An Introduction to Email
• “The Only TV Channel You Will Need” – An Introduction to YouTube
• “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends” – An Introduction to Facebook
• “Show Me The Money” – An Introduction to Banking Online
• “Inform Me” – An Introduction Getting Your News Online

The post Inform Me – Getting Your News Over The Internet appeared first on Computers and Beyond.

Ever heard of the young complain there is no “WiFi”. That’s because without the internet they can’t connect with the rest of world and access content such as photos and videos of friends. Without the internet, you really haven’t even begun to take advantage of your computer’s potential.

So if I don’t have the internet, how would my life change if I were to get it?

Hmmmm, nothing major, it would only change every single one of your consumption habits apart from maybe buying fuel for your car. From the things you watch, to how you get your news, to how you bank, to how you find answers to nearly every question you can think of. The internet is the largest existing body of knowledge we have created with nearly half of the world, 3.7 billion people, engaged on the platform.

So what are the reasons against connecting to the internet?

• I don’t understand it. It’s scary. I don’t know how secure my information is. Especially with banking. These scammers and tricksters are stealing money off people everyday.

I totally get where you are coming from. The internet has scammers and tricksters, no doubt. For this reason if you are starting out, stick to the big names. Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube, the news outlets I will recommend. I can say with 100 percent certainty they will not scam you. The only way you will figure out what is dodgy is spending time on the internet. One big giveaway is something that is “too good to true”. I would also recommend not banking online until you have your confidence up and can recognise the scammers.

• It’s all too much. This Google and Facebook is all new to me and I can see myself struggling to learn it all.

In the beginning we all struggled. Learning something comes with frustration but there is loads you can do to reduce this and the resources I will direct will give you the training wheels you need to get started. But it is a testament to usefulness of the internet that so many people have double down and learnt how to navigate it.

• It’s a young person game. I have missed the boat plus there is probably nothing on there for me anyway.

It is by no means a young persons game. Young people may have the advantage in that they pick things up quicker. As you will see in the following articles about Wikipedia – the one stop shop for knowledge, Youtube – which has nearly every video you could want. Have you wanted to learn how to play the guitar or change the oil in your vintage car? It all there on YouTube. How about plot your family tree: there is a website for that too.

• It’s too good to be true. It will end up costing me loads money, I just know it

You have your internet connection fee which is between $40 – $75 dollars per month. The reason for the difference is heavy users need more data, if you are just starting out then a basic plan will be more than enough. Once you are connected to the internet there are loads of free resources. The purpose of this series is to show you how to get the most out of the net safely and cheaply.The only time you spend money is when you choose. If you are a beginner, I recommend not using your credit card until you have a feel for what’s genuine and what’s a scam.

The post The World Wide Web and Me – Should I Connect To The Internet? appeared first on Computers and Beyond.