If the answer is no, let’s tell you what social media you should have an eye on with your cell phone monitoring software.

All You Need to Know About WhatsApp

If your child always has their face contorted up in concentration and you’re pretty much sure their newsfeed isn’t the reason behind it, chances are they are reading all their messages on WhatsApp. WhatsApp is essentially an instant messaging app.

Here’s what you’ve learnt about WhatsApp so far:

• you can send instant messages
• you can share pictures and videos
• you can have group chats
• you can make calls
• you can talk to your contact list
• you can even talk to strangers

Now that you’ve got your WhatsApp 101, let’s explore other apps your kids are using.

What is Viber, Really?

Viber’s basically an app through which you can make calls and send messages over the internet. Which basically means you’re not using your data plan, just your Wi-Fi connection. No wonder kids love it so much. Here, they can also share pictures. And you know the sort of trouble that comes with sharing pictures.

So if your kid is not on Facebook talking to mates, they are probably on Viber, talking about their favorite TV shows. And if they’re not on Viber, they’re probably on Line.

What’s a Line?

Line is a similar app to the ones mentioned above your kid uses to share multimedia (video clips and photos) send messages and make calls. Granted it is not as popular as the other two, it is slowly gaining popularity, so it’d do you good to know about it.

Kik? Never Heard of It.

Kik is a place where one person can talk to the other even if they are not on someone’s contact list. Now here is what you need to worry about. Ask.fm gives the asker the option of anonymity. And that is the breeding ground for sexting and cyber bullies.

So when things have the potential to go so wrong, you need to step in as the parent.

What Can I Do?

Always talk to your kid first. It helps if you have them know about internet safety and talk through the dos and don’ts.

Now that you are aware of the apps they are using, you need to keep an eye on them, too. Try monitoring their IM chats using XNSPY. It is pretty much a cell phone monitoring software through which all their IMs are visible to you. Know what they are posting elsewhere so you can be on top of your parental game. Click here for more details.

The post Keeping an Eye on Kid’s Social Media Activities With Cell Phone Monitoring Software appeared first on JonesPC.

This is actually a very common scenario. Not only downloading media, even things like failed software updates or some hardware failure in the laptop or desktop can lead us to a situation where we can’t access our data. Instead of panicking in such a situation, or maybe running to a repair center, there are a few things you can try out to rule out the basic questions. But then what are the basic questions? Read on and find out all you need to know about what should be done if your hard drive fails.

Answer the basic questions

The first thing to be done is finding the root cause of the problem by trying out some handy fixes and evaluating the damage. For this you’ll need to answer the following basic questions:

#1 – Is it really the hard drive that has failed?

The situation is often not as bad as we imagine it to be. More than half of the times, if a machine doesn’t boot up, the problem tends to lie in the equipment not the hard drive. You can assure yourself of this by removing your hard drive from the faulty machine and plugging it into another working machine. You could even mount the drive on a hard drive dock and plug it into a working machine.

A word of caution – Before connecting the failed drive to a working machine, make sure the working machine has proper anti-virus installed so that if some sort of virus has hit the drive, it doesn’t spread.

If your data can be accessed, well you don’t need to panic after all! A basic mechanical repair at the service station will make your laptop good as new. However, if you can’t access your data even on a different machine, your drive actually might be in trouble.

#2 – Is it a mechanical failure or a logical one?

There are actually two levels of damages that can hit your hard drive – mechanical and logical. A mechanical failure occurs if physical damage has occurred to the drive like a broken platter maybe. If this has happened, you’ll most likely hear clicking sounds on connecting it to a working machine and trying to open it. If this happens, you can still recover your data but you’ll need professional help. It will cost you nicely but then the real question is – how much is your data worth?

If your drive doesn’t make any sounds on connecting to a working machine, you’re in luck as you can easily recover the data using data recovery software easily available online.

Choosing recovery software in case of logical hard drive failure

Before choosing a hard drive recovery solution to salvage your files from a logically failed hard drive, there are some things to acquaint yourself with. Generally, some of the best hard drive recovery software follow the same procedure for data recovery. After an easy install, they scan the drive for recoverable data. Some of them provide a demo version through which you have the option to preview files after the scan to see if you can actually recover what you desire.

Consider this scenario

To analyze the effectiveness of a data recovery solution in a case of logical hard drive failure, we picked up a colleague’s crashed hard drive and connected it to a desktop via a hard drive dock. Then we downloaded the trial version of Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Home and installed it.

The software had an easy to understand and follow interface and we could preview the files on the hard drive post a “Quick Scan”. On attempting to recover the files we were asked to purchase the license, which we did for a nominal cost and boom; all data was successfully recovered without any hassle. The Mac version of the software – Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery – also worked perfectly on a crashed Mac hard drive.

To sum it up

If you’ve come to the conclusion that your hard drive has indeed suffered a logical failure, choosing one of the best hard drive recovery solutions would be the ideal approach to salvage your data. It would save you time and even cost as sending the drive to a recovery center could prove to be quite expensive. So choose wisely! The ultimate way to safeguard yourself from such a situation however would be to always keep your crucial data backed up. That way if your hard drive suffers a logical failure, a simple format could do the trick and you could easily recover data from your backed up copy.

The post How to Do External Hard Drive Recovery after Failure appeared first on JonesPC.

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I recently got the dreaded announcement that my place of employment is planning to shut down early 2010. After about a week of shock and disappointment, I started looking at the  things I need to do to prepare. Of coarse that includes getting rid of bills that I don’t necessarily need to have, or could do without. As I go down the list, I come to my  internet service. Right now I pay $60 a month for a 20down/5 up connection.

Now lets not be silly, I’m not gonna get rid of my internet service…I’m not even considering getting rid of broadband or going to the lowest tier. That doesn’t mean that I cant look into other options.

The problem with the “Other options” option is that basically, there is really no other options. Well there are, but they are basically the same. In my area, you have Cox cable internet, Verizon DSL or Verizon fios. When it comes to price, they are all basically the same. Yea you can get lower speeds for cheaper prices but you cant get a “cheaper” service. If you want a certain speed, it will cost the same regardless of the company you choose to get it from.  There are no bargains.

There is an option that I looked into briefly, wireless broadband plans. You have sprint, AT&T and Verizon but if you have ever looked into those offerings, you’d know that your gonna pay about $60 bucks a month for an “unlimited” data plan.  A plan that will put you at a lower speed than the lowest tier that is offered by most wired broadband services and isnt really unlimited because they all have 5gb a month limits.

If you do want to get a look at your options without having to go from website to website, where do you go? Well there are a few websites out there that compile prices or just give you an idea of prices so that you will know what you are looking at if you arent already familiar. Websites like http://www.broadbandexpert.com.au, http://www.broadbandreports.com/, or http://www.thebroadbandguide.com.

Truth be told, with as much as I do on the internet, and now that I will be in the job market and will be using the internet to look for a job and some training, I wont be getting rid of my broadband service anytime soon. Cox will have me for a costumer till I run out of money…or until I find something equivalent but cheaper

The post Gonna be laid off…but I still need my Broadband service! appeared first on JonesPC.

WAGGLE!

What is waggle you say? well its the term many use for the Nintendo Wii’s method of control. The motion controller, where you hold something in your hand and wave it around to interact with your video game. Many of these games require you to look and feel silly while you are playing. A lot of times you actually have to stand up in your living room or bedroom in front of your TV to get the most out of the motion controller. swinging or waving your arms.

Nintendo.

As you know, the motion (waggle) controller has been around for a few years and is probably the biggest draw and selling point of the Wii console. I bought my stepdaughter a Wii a few years ago and she loves it, but I have absolutely no interest in the console. At first, I thought “well Nintendo usually doesn’t release games that I’m interested in, but I’ll probably find some fun here and there with that motion controller”

I tried, but I just don’t like that method of controlling.

Microsoft.

At Microsoft’s E3 press conference, they announced and showed off what they are calling project Natal for the Xbox 360. Don’t get me wrong, Project Natal looks amazing. Their method of control consist of a special camera that acts as your very own motion capture unit. You stand, kick, jump, swing your arms, run…anything you do in front of the camera can be translated to some type of control or interaction with the game you are playing. Little things such as pretending to put on glasses, and even voice and face recognition can be detected and incorporated into gameplay. It really looks amazing.

Sony.

Sony also unveiled its motion option for the PS3, which looked to be a mixture of what Microsoft showed and what Nintendo has had all along. You use a camera and hold a “remote like” in each hand. The combination of those items give you a very accurate, 1:1 motion control experience. similar to the Nintendo Wii with the motion plus addon you can swing swords or golf clubs with great accuracy.

The problem?

Like the title of this blog post suggest, I just dont want to waggle. the way things look, video gaming looks like it want to head in a direction where you stand and jump around in front of your TV. I just dont want to do that. I want to sit in my comfortable recliener and relax while playing games. I want to press A to throw a pass, I want to steer a Ferrari with a analog stick and shoot baddies with my trigger finger….Not jump, point, wave and lean.

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You can find it at this URL

http://www.javascriptkit.com/script/script2/charcount.shtml

Here all you have to do is copy and paste what you are typing into the box and it will count the words for you. There is even code on the website if you want to embed the script into your website.

The post A simple word counting tool appeared first on JonesPC.

Now that I have a Blackberry Bold, Ive been looking for apps and games to put on it. yea coming from the iPhone, where there are a ton of apps at your fingertips, there has to be a little bit of a search and research effort for things to put on your blackberry but I have found a few apps/games that, for right now, is must haves for me. Figured Id let you know.

VyMail.

One thing that wasn’t a big deal for me on the iPhone that I find I miss with my Blackberry Bold is visual voicemail. Luckily, you don‚Äôt have to look far before you find a Blackberry replacement. Vymail is a visual voicemail app that I have found to be a must have app for my blackberry bold. Its simple, pretty much does the same thing as the iPhone feature. It lets you know when you have voicemail, it retrieves it so that you can play it on your phone, instead of having to call your voicemail system. You can delete or save it right in the app and it displays the caller information. Vymail isn‚Äôt a ‚Äúpush‚Äù app, so the app has to check for voicemail at an interval that you set. Also, to use Vymail, you have to create an account with Youmail (this is awesome and free).

Visit the vymail page or if you are on a blackberry, here is the OTA download link

Facebook

The facebook app worked pretty well on the iPhone, but on the Blackberry platform you get a little more integration. On both platforms it does pretty much the same thing, you can view friends, status updates, send messages etc. On the iPhone, the facebook app is working only when you have the app open, the Blackberry app is running in the backround at all times (until you turn it off) so you can use your phone like you always do and you will get update notifications if there are new messages etc  just like you would get a sms or email notification.

Go here to get Facebook for Blackberry Smartphones

Pandora

Yea theres a Pandora App for your Blackberry. If you ever used Pandora, you know how this works. You start by adding a few of your favorite music groups, then Pandora will start playing songs from that group or similar groups. You give each song a thumbs up or thumbs down and Pandora uses that information to try to deliver you music that you like. It isn’t perfect, but it works pretty well. all the music is streamed over your internet connection. Pandora for blackberry allows you to log into your Pandora account and listen to the channels you have created‚Ķstreamed to your blackberry.¬† This app is Free

Visit Pandora’s Blackberry page for download information

This app is not free, but it has definitely been a very addictive Blackberry Game

Puzzlequest Warlords

If you’ve never played Puzzle Quest before, think a puzzle game…like Bejeweled, combined with RPG elements and a story. You pretty much have to go on missions to save a town or something similiar, but to battle enemies, you have to play a bejeweled style game againts them. Be warned, this game is addictive and you will drain your battery if you arent carefull.

It cost $6.99 and you can get it from Bplay.com (click the link)

With all of these apps, make sure your Blackberry and/or your Blackberry’s OS version is supported before downloading.

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When I first heard this I thought it was a joke. The Sci Fi channel is changing its name to…. SyFy. pronounced the same way but spelled different. There is even going to be a new logo associated with the name change (will happen in July).

According to Cnet, looks like the name change is all about wanting to trademark the sci fi channel property. and since “Sci Fi” cant be trademarked because of how commonly the name is used and has been used in the past, they decided to change it.

hmmm

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Well as you know, that show is no more, but it lives on at revision 3. Rev3 picked up the show and there are 2 episodes available to watch right now. The name of the show has changed, its now call COOP. many of the members of the 1up show are there but some are missing. the show is still basically the same and if you liked the 1up show, you will like COOP.

Check it out at Revision3.comcoop

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