SAY GEEK!!!

Say Geek - Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2012

2012-01-16T13:39:00.000-05:00

Enjoy my article on Techie Buzz today!

http://techie-buzz.com/tech-news/google-honors-martin-luther-king-jr-with-doodle.html

Say Geek - My Favorite Android Apps

2012-01-13T15:03:00.000-05:00

Occasionally I get asked questions about Android apps that I would recommend for a beginner. While I feel I get around pretty good on the Android phone I have, I am not going to pretend to be the "Jedi" of Android. For that I would refer you to my friend and fellow Techie Buzz writer Rajesh Pandey.That being said I would like to share a few of my favorites and ones that I feel confident telling others to try.

Evernote for Android

This is far and away the app I use most on my phone. The beauty of Evernote is that you can access anywhere from any computer. Imagine you've jotted down a recipe and forgot to take it with you to a friend's house. They beg you for the recipe and all of the sudden you realized you left it at home. Now imagine putting that same recipe into Evernote and being able to log-in at www.evernote.com from your friend's computer and easily pulling that recipe up. Even better what about pulling out your phone and accessing it right there for your friend to see. If you are scatter-brained like me, this is the app for you. I can't say enough about this app. You can take pictures of notes on a board and in a small matter of time those handwritten notes are full searchable within the app. There is also a really cool add-on that you can install in Internet Explorer or Chrome that will let you clip a web page and upload it to Evernote. You'll never lose a recipe again!

Dropbox

This application will let you put files in a folder on your computer, which will in turn upload and sync them to a secure folder on the web. Once they are synced, you can access those files from any computer by going to www.dropbox.com or simply using the app on your phone. Now my wife can write a grocery list and put it in our Dropbox and voila! I have it right there on my phone. You can upload 2GB for free. It is a great way to back up files on your computer and make them accessible anywhere.

PicSay Photo Editor

PicSay is a real fun picture editor and one I would recommend for its ease of use. Now let me say that Evernote has a companion app called Skitch that you might want to try. However, I don't find it to be as robust and simple to use as PicSay.It is very simple to add little captions to your photos and you can do pretty common picture fixes too. This one is worth a look!

I am sure that I will have more to offer soon. I highly encourage you to try out these apps and let me know how your experience goes. Have a great day!

Say Geek - Help Fight Leukemia!

2012-01-10T09:55:00.002-05:00

My Sister-in-law, Julie, is putting on her running shoes and running for an important cause. She is running to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This is personal for her as well as myself and many of our friends. She runs in memory of a dear friend's daughter Cambrey and in honor a good friend's daughter April who is fighting strong against this devilish disease! Please take a moment to check out her team page and consider donating a little. Heck lunch costs $10 anymore so why not have a bologna sandwich and donate the money to the cause. Even $10 is a big help when we combine our efforts. Thanks for reading this and please share with someone. Let's make a difference.

Say Geek - Holiday Gift Ideas for Guys

2011-11-16T16:12:00.001-05:00

Shop Amazon's Holiday Toy List

Are you shopping for the guy who has it all? Does your guy have a little geek in him or does he love gadgets? Well, so do I! Since I happen to be a gadget loving geek, why shouldn't I be able to write a quick gift guide? So here goes!

Recent Update!

Voice Activated R2D2!! Seriously do I need to explain this one?

What's Hot in Electronics!

Amazon's Kindle Fire - Amazon's killer new Android tablet. It's loaded, it's awesome, and it's inexpensive! Read more on my blog post "Say Geek - Tablet Suggestions for the Holiday Season"

The iPad - I also tell more about the Cadillac of tablets in the article mentioned before. Pricey, but good!

What's Hot in Books!

Steve Jobs Biography - The book about the ultimate Geek, Steve Jobs! It's an inspiring, entertaining, and very up front look at the life of this amazing man.

Throw Them All Out - If your guy likes politics, then he's gonna love this book! Very compelling look at how government politicians are circumventing laws to make huge personal investment gains.

Video Game Lovers

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 - Let's face it, if they like video games, they like blowing stuff up!

Uncategorized but Generally Cool Stuff

Wireless Headphones - I really want some of these! Bluetooth stereo headphones. NO WIRES!!!! ( hint hint honey :) )

Logitech Harmony Link - Turn Your iPad into a channel guide and remote control for your TV!

Boogie Board Paperless LCD Writing Tablet - Write notes without wasting paper!!

Can You Imagine Time Machine Tabletop Clock - This one just makes me smile!

If you have some ideas you would like to share, please drop me a line. This is a lot of fun! Happy shopping!

Say Geek - Tablet Suggestions for the Holiday Season

2011-11-08T15:12:00.000-05:00

This time of year I get a lot of questions about upcoming gadgets for the holiday season. One of the hot topics this year is going to be tablets. I will give you my quick run-down on tablets and I hope it helps you guys in some way.

#1 The iPad 2-

This is the Cadillac. It is tried and true and you have the support of the Apple Stores and a lot of people have them. It is the king.

Pros:

· Great design that is simple and intuitive and just plain works.
· Integrates with iTunes and iCloud so you have a backup of your music and pictures
· Nice 10” Screen
· A lot of cool accessories and apps are available

Cons:

· Price

#2 The Kindle Fire-

Exciting new tablet based on the Android operating but with a lot of extras.

Pros:

· The ability to choose from thousands of Kindle books for your reading enjoyment.
· Beautiful color screen that lets you browse the web, download apps, etc…
· Free storage on Amazon’s cloud for all your content like Kindle Books, MP3s, etc…
· Works with Amazon’s Prime service which for an annual fee of $79 you get the following (You get a 3 month trial free with purchase)

o Free unlimited streaming movies and TV shows from Amazon Instant Videos

o One free Kindle book from Amazon’s owners lending library can be checked out with no due dates.

o Free two day shipping from Amazon.com

Cons:

· According to your tastes, this could be good or bad. It has a 7in screen.
· No camera

What about other tablets? Well for the money and features, I don’t think you can beat the two listed above. The reason I say this is because these two have the power of two major companies behind them with Apple and Amazon. Most of the “cheap” tablets out there are cheap for a reason. You can rest assured they skimped somewhere. If you’re looking for an Android based tablet that is 10” like the iPad then I would suggest the Samsung Galaxy tablets. This is probably the most competitively matched to the iPad and has a good rating.

If you are looking for a simple e-book reader then I would suggest the original Kindle. It is inexpensive and it has something that none of the other tablets can boast, and that is E-Ink display. E-ink allows you to read in bright light where other tablets will glare out. The Kindle is a unitasker though. You basically can read books on it and that’s about it. However, for that purpose, it’s excellent.

Say Geek - iPhone 4 Can't Receive Calls After IOS5 Upgrade

2011-11-05T11:06:00.000-04:00

Shop Amazon's Holiday Toy List

There have been some rumblings lately about people not being able to receive calls and texts after they upgrade their iPhone 4 to IOS 5. A personal friend of mine is on AT&T and she had this same problem. I found very little information and she was very frustrated because AT&T said it was Apple's bug. After some research here's what I found for her that worked. Apparently the issue has something to do with iCloud. If you deactivate the iCloud and reset your network settings, calls and texts will start coming back in. Some people also stated that simply turning off their WiFi connection was enough to fix it. I hope this helps someone out there struggling with these same issues and Apple gets this bug resolved soon.

Shop Amazon's Holiday Countdown Store

Say Geek - Remote Control Your PC from Your iPad

2011-10-21T13:24:00.000-04:00

Today, I posted an article on Techie Buzz about how you can remote control your PC from you iPad. Check it out!

http://techie-buzz.com/tech-news/remote-control-your-pc-from-your-ipad-with-splashtop-remote.html

Say Geek - MC Hammer Creates Search Engine - WireDoo

2011-10-20T21:00:00.001-04:00

Please check out my article on Techie Buzz. MC Hammer has now decided to become an internet mogul. He introduced a new search engine, WireDoo, at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Read more at the following link.

http://techie-buzz.com/tech-news/cant-touch-this-mc-hammer-introduces-new-search-engine-wiredoo.html

Say Geek - Blackberry Outage Continues

2011-10-12T14:23:00.000-04:00

Check out my Techie Buzz article relating to the Blackberry outage. RIM has had intermittent outages since Monday of this week, and they don't seem to be bouncing back very quickly.

http://techie-buzz.com/tech-news/rim-service-outage-frustrates-blackberry-users-worldwide.html

Say Geek - How Do I Find Google Doodles?

2011-10-04T16:36:00.000-04:00

Did you hear about the really cool doodle that Google did for Jim Henson's 75th birthday? What about the really cool Les Paul doodle? Well, if you missed it don't fret! You can find all of the old Google Doodles by going to http://www.google.com/logos/. They have a nice little calendar there where you can go back and see all the Doodles they have published. You can even see Doodles that weren't published to your area of the world. Pretty cool!

Say Geek - Using Tab Stops In Word

2011-10-04T11:23:00.000-04:00

If you get a chance please check out my Techie Buzz article about using tab stops in Word. I think you will like it. Please share with a friend. If you have suggestions for other tutorials you would like to see, please let me know. I want to make this as relevant for my readers as possible. Thanks.

http://techie-buzz.com/how-to/using-tab-stops-in-word.html

Say Geek - Amazon Announces Kindle Fire

2011-09-28T11:33:00.000-04:00

It's all the rage! Amazon announced their new line of Kindles and the much anticipated Kindle Fire. Check out my colleague's article on Techie Buzz with more to come! Exciting stuff!

http://techie-buzz.com/gadgets-news/kindle-fire-amazons-199-android-tablet.html

Say Geek - Facebook Sets the Record Straight On Charging Customers

2011-09-26T10:43:00.002-04:00

Facebook announced on its official page that Facebook is "free and always will be"! Many people were taken by a viral post that showed up over the weekend. You can see it quoted below:

FACEBOOK JUST RELEASED THEIR PRICE GRID FOR MEMBERSHIP. $9.99 PER MONTH FOR GOLD MEMBER SERVICES, $6.99 PER MONTH FOR SILVER MEMBER SERVICES, $3.99 PER MONTH FOR BRONZE MEMBER SERVICES, FREE IF YOU COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. WHEN YOU SIGN ON TOMORROW MORNING YOU WILL BE PROMPTED FOR PAYMENT INFO...IT IS OFFICIAL IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND FACEBOOK WILL BE FREE FOR YOU. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DO NO PAY

Please share this information with your friends and let them know this was all a big hoax.

Say Geek - Big Changes Coming to Facebook News Feed

2011-09-21T09:44:00.000-04:00

Today I wrote an article for Techie Buzz about new changes that were announced yesterday to the news feed. Take a moment to read my article and share it with a friend.

http://techie-buzz.com/tech-news/facebook-makes-changes-to-news-feeds.html

Say Geek - Facebook Scam Ha Ha Looks Embarrassing Video

2011-09-09T22:18:00.000-04:00

There is a new Facebook scam making its rounds today. It is a phishing scam. Below you can see a picture of what one will see on their Facebook wall.

This scam seeks to play on your curiosity about whether you're in a video or not. This is clearly a scam from the get go. First, look at the link. The link is very random looking. This should be your first warning. If you try to click the link you will be taking to a phishing website. Phishing websites are designed to try to get personal information from you by tricking you with a page that looks legitimate. A good example might be a banking website. Below you can see a picture of the site that I went to using Google Chrome's Incognito Window. Notice at the top of the picture that the website is not the xilxvekx etc... like you saw in the picture above.

Be very wary of links like this on Facebook. A good rule of thumb is to ask the person if they meant to put something like that on your wall. More than likely you will find out it is a scam.

Say Geek - “HaHa… I would hate to be this person” Facebook Scam

2011-08-18T20:23:00.000-04:00

Yet another virulent Facebook scam is going around. This one plays on the typical curiosity of people. It is a very dangerous one though. It tries to steal your Facebook password. Read my article on Techie Buzz. It is linked below.

http://techie-buzz.com/social-networking/haha-i-would-hate-to-be-this-person-facebook-scam.html

Say Geek Store

Say Geek - Get Quick Answers Using Excel's Status Bar

2011-08-17T16:13:00.000-04:00

In this article I wrote for Techie Buzz, you can learn how Excel's status bar can help you get quick answers from your spreadsheets. I hope you enjoy. Spread the word. Thanks.

http://techie-buzz.com/how-to/get-quick-answers-using-excels-status-bar.html

Say Geek - TabCo Tablet Revealed: Grid 10

2011-08-16T09:39:00.000-04:00

If you get a chance check out this article I wrote for Techie Buzz. Yet another really cool gadget that I can't afford. It looks promising though. IPad killer? Probably not.

http://techie-buzz.com/tech-news/tabco-tablet-revealed.html

Say Geek - Facebook Releases Mobile Messenger

2011-08-10T12:25:00.000-04:00

Facebook announced a new mobile service called "Messenger" yesterday. It is supposed to make communicating with Facebook and phone contacts easier. Read my article on Techie Buzz to learn more.

http://techie-buzz.com/tech-news/facebook-releases-mobile-messenger.html

Say Geek - Microsoft Safety Scanner

2011-08-09T09:04:00.007-04:00

Microsoft is on the offensive when it comes to fighting malware. A great FREE tool in this arsenal is the Microsoft Safety Scanner. This is a stand alone tool that can be downloaded and installed on your PC. You can download the scanner at this link: http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx. In the picture below you will see the page that this link takes you to.

There is a large "Download Now" button. Click this button and it will begin the download process on your PC. Once you have the file downloaded, double click it to open it. You will have to accept the typical license agreement. Next, you will the following screen pictured below.

Click next to begin the scan. Below you can see that you have three options for scanning. Quick Scan, Full Scan, and a Customized Scan. The "Quick Scan" looks at files and folders that are commonly known to get infected. The "Full Scan" takes a long time and scans every file on the system. The "Customized Scan" allows you to scan a particular folder of your choosing.

Once you begin the scan, you will see a window like the one pictured below. The scanner is very fast.

There are a couple of things you need to keep in mind about this scanner. It doesn't provide real time protection. It has to be run manually. The second thing to remember is that the scanner goes out of date every 10 days. Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't have an update feature built into the scanner so you have to download the scanner in full every time you want to run it. This is a little frustrating as it is about 70MB.

The great thing about this scanner though is that it is FREE! I think it is worth giving this tool a try. If you think your computer is running slow or a little buggy, give this tool a try. I hope it helps.

Say Geek - Express Your Life with Pinterest

2011-08-08T18:27:00.002-04:00

Today I had the privilege of writing an article for Techie Buzz. It is about a social networking site with a twist called "Pinterest". I think it is pretty neat stuff. Please take a moment to read my article. Leave a comment too. I love to hear from my readers! Here is the link:

Express Your Life With Pinterest

Say Geek - Weekend Fun 8-5-2011

2011-08-05T14:32:00.004-04:00

Gosh it's the weekend again. Seems like yesterday I was making this same post. Here are some funnies to get you through. Enjoy!

I have to give a shout out to my friend Zach for finding this one. Hilarious!

Wow! Can You Say Static!

This has to say something sad about my mental state but I could watch this all day.

Say Geek - Weekend Fun 8-5-2011

2011-08-05T14:32:00.002-04:00

Gosh it's the weekend again. Seems like yesterday I was making this same post. Here are some funnies to get you through. Enjoy!

I have to give a shout out to my friend Zach for finding this one. Hilarious!

Wow! Can You Say Static!

This has to say something sad about my mental state but I could watch this all day.

Say Geek - Buy A PC, Get a FREE Xbox 360

2011-08-04T15:09:00.001-04:00

Microsoft has an incredible promotion going right now for high school seniors and college students. If you purchase a PC for $699 or more at a participating retailer, you get a FREE Xbox 360. If you go to Microsoft Windows' Facebook page you will see the image below.

Once you are on that page you can click the "Shop Now" link. You will see a page that looks like the picture below.

There are links to retailers and a map where you can find a Microsoft store in your area. Amazon.com also is a participating retailer. You have to be a member of their student program to get the deal. You can also follow this link if you would like to take advantage of Amazon.com's student program.

Sign Up For Amazon Student Here

There is also an offer on down the page for those who may not be interested in the Xbox 360. You can receive an additional 10% off at participating retailers. Please note that you have to be a student and that there is a verification process. As you can see from the picture below, if your Facebook isn't associated with a .edu email address it will give you "sorry" message.

Spread the news around. This is a pretty exciting offer. It only lasts until September 3, 2011.

Say Geek - Keep It Forever Using Evernote's Web Clipper

2011-08-04T10:42:00.000-04:00

Have you ever found website so cool that you wish you could just package it up and keep it? Maybe you have felt the frustration of losing something that used to be posted on the web but isn't anymore. Allow me to introduce you to Evernote's Web Clipper. I have written an article for Techie Buzz today and I think you'll love this feature. Enjoy!

http://techie-buzz.com/how-to/keep-it-forever-using-evernotes-web-clipper.html