Small IT tips

Problem deleting images: "Could not delete. Please try again"

2017-09-12T14:41:00.002-07:00

Since the last update (Android 7 something), I had this crazy bug where I could not delete a picture on my Sony Z5.

After weeks of research thinking that my phone was somehow stucked in "Read-only" mode or something and spending countless hours reading useless answers to other people with this problem (some with Z3, others with Z5 compact, ...) I was getting really irritated.

When I say useless answers, I am thinking about solution like "factory reset" (sure, why not buy a new phone as well), rebooting your phone (you seriously think we haven't thought about it?), upgrading your android (we just did that, this is why we have the problem in the first place!!),...

Finally, I have found something that worked for me (and I hope it will work for you too):
1. Go to "Settings"
2. Scroll down to "Apps"
3. Use the 3 dots on the top right of the screen and use the option "Show system"
4. Go to "Media Storage"

5. Click on "Storage"
6. Use the button "CLEAR DATA"
7. Reboot your phone

Since I have performed this miracle solution, I can delete a picture. Yes, I know, that's crazy right? Almost feel like my phone is smart or something.

Anyway, hope this helps. It will probably take some weeks/months before this post gets ranked on google search but, at least I did my part (inform people about a solution to this frustrating bug).

In-app Purchases Restore Missing, Strange Gray Icons and Billed for Apps I Didn't Authorize: Faith Restored in Apple

2014-11-15T08:54:00.001-08:00

I am not an unconditional Apple fan but I do think they have some nice products and a good customer service. The last few weeks I got many problems which could easily have changed my mind about this company...

First thing first: I bought the ipad2 when it went out (was sold out in Norway so I had to buy it online). My son who is now 4 has never really realized that electronic devices can be fragile and has stepped on it, jumped on it, thrown it accross the room. And despite this, this ipad is still working.

So when I was in New York last month and thought it was time for us to get a new tablet, I decided to go for the new ipad air 2. I was pretty confident that I could restore things I wanted myself and didn't looked into any kind of restore services.

1st problem: in-app purchases missing

How on earth was I supposed to transfer my in-app purchases from my old ipad to the new one? Purchased apps are available on itunes store but things I bought inside an app? Looked on the net, saw I was not alone to ask me this question. Apple help page was not very clear with the only conclusion that if there wasn't a restore button I had to contact the developer. The developer answer was even less clear. I had to use the same iTunes username otherwise they couldn't help me. I *was* using the same username, so how could I get the in-apps purchases again?

No more answers from the developer so I took contact with Apple support. The first few answers were general and did not help. The latest include this sentence:"you are free to redownload the non-consumable content without incurring any additional charges." It was then a "leap of faith test.

Solution to 1st problem: you just need to ignore the message saying you will be billed

After I got the message "Confirm Your In-App Purchase / Do you want to buy xxx for yyyy?" I pressed "Buy" and got the message: "You've already purchased this. Would you like to get it again for free?", ie you just have to ignore the billing confirmation message.

Had I known this from the beginning, I wouldn't have wasted my time in mails to the developer of the app and to the itunes support. Believe both should have known this and informed this of it and most importantly, Apple should have FIRST checked whether the purchase had been made or not and only IF NOT asked for a confirmation that the user was ready to spend money on it.

2nd problem: strange grey app icons

A few days after, I had another issue where I couldn't download apps anymore. Any try would lead to a strange grey app icon with circles and lines and nothing more would happen. Would happen for any app and removing it and downloading it again would not help

In the picture above, you can see this for two apps.

Solution to 2nd problem leading to 3rd problem

This is where things got a bit tricky. I just thought this was a refreshing bug of some sort. I restarted the ipad entirely (pressing the on/off button long enough for the powering off screen to display and swiping the turn-off-slide).

No more strange icons but suddenly out of nowhere tenth of apps appeared on the dashboard and started downloading. The screen before I turned it off only had 2 grey-icon-apps. Not 10-15 of them. And when my ipad restarted, it asked my itunes login/password and I gave it as I wanted these two apps. Not to allow 10-15 apps to suddenly appear out of nowhere.

Supposedly those new apps had been in some sort of downloading queue. The problem here?

3rd problem: billed for apps I didn't authorized

Some of those apps were not free! I DID NOT authorize these purchases. I entered my login/password when asked at the ipad start but was never asked to confirm apps purchases. Not before the icon issue, not after, ...

I did not know some of these apps charged me for anything (as I was still confident I would be asked for my password to purchase anything or at least get a purchase confirmation message). The day after, I got 3 mails, each with a receipt for apps purchases. A total of 9 non-free apps.

Solution to the 3rd problem... almost

In the mail, I had the option to "report a problem" with the purchase of the apps. I pressed it and quite quickly came into contact with Apple support by chat. After the usual "apps do not get there by themselves, are you sure you didn't buy them? You did not forget about it?", I got told I would be refunded but that for security purposes my account would be closed and that I would need to talk to the security support of Apple (by telephone) to get it open again.

No problem (I thought). I arranged a time where Apple would call me. Strangely, the call came late (wasn't sure it would come at all and was afraid at one point that the system was not working and that I was just wasting my time waiting for them). When I finally receive the call, I was put in a queue... Not sure why you need to agree on a time then. And this was not over. When I got someone on the line, I was told that this person could not unlock my account and had to contact someone else and there was a 10 minute queue for this. And no, I was not able to simply deal with it themselves, I had to be on the line... So I decided to call back the day after as I was in a rush that day.

3rd problem bis

Still following? Remember my account had been closed for security purposes. Well it did not help much as the day after, I got again a receipt for apps I had apparently purchase (with a locked account). By the way, the first mails came at 06:41, the mail the day after came at 06:47. When I make a purchase in itunes, I generally get the mail in the following 5 minutes. And I don't download apps at 06 in the morning...

This time, the problem was worse. Without an itunes account, I was unable to get in touch with the support by chat and simply had to wait for the support call I had planed (and where they would have to call someone else).

Solution to the 3rd problem: Apple reopening my account and refunding me

Fortunately, this call was pretty good. The guy on the phone told me he was sorry about what was happening, that the new purchases had probably happened when my account was not closed yet and just had not been processed. This makes sense IT-wise but I have a hard time believing it.

For a clearer view of the time:

- Day X 06:41 I am billed for 9 apps through 3 mails. I am sleeping and don't notice it

- Day X about 09:00 I see the mails and contact Apple support. They refund me and close my account

- Day X+1 06:47 I am billed for 2 apps

So basically, someone is supposed to have downloaded these two apps between 06:41 and 09:00. Very unlikely.

Anyway, the support takes the action to reimburse me for these two apps and after some security questions they reopen my account.

Remaining problems?

The only minor thing remaining is that those paid apps are still in my icloud. I don't want them as I didn't pay for them and would like to remove them but Apple does not give this possibility to users. Would probably contact them again about it but for now, I have spent enough time with mails, chats, and on the phone.

Conclusion

After all this, many would jump to the conclusion that Apple is bad but if you look at it objectively, I will get my money back, it wasn't that hard either (there was a button on the mail to complain about a purchase, the chat was easy to access, etc...), especially the first time when I still had an itunes account. And the support did apologize for it.

About in-app purchases, they are easy to restore, you just need to know that you have to ignore these scary "purchase confirmation" messages.

Hope this helped for those of you with these problems.

NB: The info in this blog is for information purpose only. I am not working for Apple and won't be able to reimburse you in case of any Apple charges.

Not All Photos Are Displayed When I Connect My Phone to My PC

2014-05-15T09:46:00.002-07:00

I have a Sony Ericsson phone with Android 2.3.4. I take pictures with it and when I want to get them on my PC (to use them on my blogs, etc...), I just connect it to the PC with a standard USB cable and go to Computer-Phone-DCIM-100ANDRO.

Never had any problems with it until recently. A month or so ago, when doing it, I got 10-20 photos displayed in the directory while my phone had several hundreds of them. I tried many things like restarting my phone, restarting my PC, I even deleted some photos to see if it would help. Maybe there was too many of them... to no avail. some photos simply did not show up in the 100ANDRO folder.

I googled the problem a bit, found many people having the issue, no matter the phone (even some with the iphone had it) and the only solution I found was to change the transfer protocol which did not help me at all. I played with the phone settings and... I wasn't able to transfer anything anymore.

At the end, the only solution I found was to use dropbox. It lets you transfer pictures from your phone to your dropbox space which is available from your PC.

Maybe not the perfect solution as it takes some time to upload the photos I take from my phone but retrieving them from the PC is immediate and available through normal web browsers.

I still use the traditional cable solution most of the time but when some images are missing, I use Dropbox.

Just thought I would write this post to help those in my case. You will notice that I don't even include a link to Dropbox. My aim is not to advertise a particular app/software. But this saved my day (well my photos at least) so they deserve to be mentioned.

Good luck with your photo transfers!

Enabling the 'Conservation mode' on the Ideapad

2014-03-17T09:10:00.001-07:00

Today, I got the following error message:

"The Battery is charged to a high capacity

Staying above 70% capacity for a long period of time is adverse to the battery's health. Enable 'Conservation mode' in settings."

And personally, I don't find it obvious how to do that, namely to enable the Conservation mode in the settings. I wasn't even sure where the settings are... (sorry got to get used to this operative system).

After a bit of research, I found how to do it and thought I would share it with you guys. So here is a step-by-step guide about how to do that:

1) Use the Microsoft button (the four squares/rectangles). It will give you the metro interface

2) Type "Energy Manager" anywhere in the metro interface. This will activate the search. After you enter a few letters, you should get the "Energy Manager" app show up.

3) Launch the Application "Energy Manager". It will give you some information about energy use on your PC

4) Click on next until the end (take your time if you want, I just skipped it to the end). At the end you should get a button to start the app.

5) Find the extended mode button (or whatever you want to call this button)

6) Under settings, you can enable the Conservation Mode

And here you go, that's what you were looking for (hopefully). Enjoy!

Adsense Current Balance Reset to 0 After Being Moved to the New Payment System

2013-09-29T04:05:00.000-07:00

This morning, I was notified that I was moved to the new payment system, where a couple of words have been changed (Unfinalized payments changed to Current Balance, etc...). The problem? My current balance is now showing 0.00!

I had money on my account and was actually close to the redemption. I hope this is a bug and my current balance will show soon. I have also notice that the form of payment is missing. No more bank account information.

I will update this post as soon as I get more information myself.

*Update*

After I wrote this post, I posted the question in the Google Adsense forum and the Current balance got fixed after a few minutes! Either it is a coincidence (most probable) or a tech admin or something was lurking in the forum and fixed it for me. In both case, I know have the proper amount shown on my Adsense account. My bank account info was still missing though and I had to re-verify it.

Getting a Wireless Router

2013-03-31T13:49:00.001-07:00

I just thought I would let you guys know that a few weeks ago, I got fed up with the "Turn on Internet connection sharing" option missingproblem and I decided to buy a wireless router.

How does it work? It is actually quite simple. Instead of cabling the internet to your PC, you do it to this box and then this box will create a wifi zone. You can then connect to the internet through this wifi zone.

Here is the router I bought (NetGear WNR 1000, I see a v3 on my box, not sure if it is relevant):

I am happy with it, it cost me 30 bucks and I have not had any problems with it.

I would recommend thought to:

- update the software on it as soon as you install it (takes about 5 minutes and after that you are set)

- change the default password (to the web interface). You don't know how nasty some people are and how easy it is for them to get access to a box with a default password

If you are comfortable with internet configuration, wireless options, etc... then it is straight forward. If you PCs and you don't mix well, then you should probably ask a friend but really don't believe anyone would need more than 1 hour to set it all.

Problem with Asian characters in Skype (Chinese, Japanese,...)

2012-10-16T03:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (16 October 2012), the problem happened again to me and I was actually happy about it as I was able to test a bit more about the solution I wrote here:
http://smallittips.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-to-solve-skype-japanese-characters.html

Here is an updated version of the solution.

1) Make sure you log out of the active user who has the problem. I tried by simply closing all the programs and going to the admin account but the problem was not solved. I really had to log out with the current user.

2) Log in as the admin user of the computer.

3) Delete everything in: C:\Users\user-with-the-problem\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Internet Explorer
(change "user-with-the-problem" with the username of the user having the problem, ie the user you use when you have the problem)

This may be a bit tricky. First, why Internet Explorer? You may not even use this browser. Well, it seems that Skype is using some shared folders with Internet Explorer. Then, you may not see the folder AppData. Just type it after the username of the user with the problem.

4) Log back on the user you were using and launch Skype. The problem should be solved.

If the problem is not solved, please check the original solution here: http://smallittips.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-to-solve-skype-japanese-characters.html.

How to solve: Skype displaying Japanese characters as boxes

2012-09-16T14:40:00.003-07:00

Problem with Skype not displaying Japanese/Chinese/Korean characters? Here is the solution that worked for me.

Today, when I started Skype, I had something strange happened. The name of the contacts in Japanese were replaced by squares, ie Skype was not displaying Japanese correctly anymore. I could still type some Japanese text in the message but the name of the contacts were not supported. The menu was gone too (choice between square-square-squre and square-square-square).

The problem was only with Skype, the rest of the computer was working fine: notepad, the name of the directories and folders were fine etc...

I tried to reinstall Skype: did not help. I tried to Google the answer: did not help. Most websites would simply ask you to use another font (under settings, IM and SMS etc... and change from Tahoma to Arial Unicode MS) or to change the settings of your new PC). I still could not read Japanese characters! Just a bunch of boxes/Squares or whatever you want to call them.

Incredible test

I logged off the user I was using, logged on with the admin user and ... Skype was working! Completely fine, with Tahoma (?!!) and with the global settings of the computer set to Norway/Norwegian. How come. I logged again to the user that had the problem: it was still failing. So the problem was only happening for 1 user. It does make sense as many websites were saying that they had problems with some users only or some PC only.

Step-by-step solution

Update 16 October 2012: I have had the problem again and wrote a new post about it. Check it here:
http://smallittips.blogspot.com/2012/10/problem-with-asian-characters-in-skype.html

Of course, I was still not happy, as I wanted to use Skype for both users (admin and the one failing), so here is what I did:

logged in with the failing user
closed every program including Skype
logged off this user (not just switch user, completely log off)
logged in as admin
opened a directory and went to C:\Users\failing-user
added \AppData at the end of the address: C:\Users\failing-user\AppData
deleted everything in

C:\Users\failing-user\AppData\Local\Temp (mind the "Local")

C:\Users\failing-user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Internet Explorer (Skype uses Internet Explorer)

C:\Users\failing-user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files (you have to type this one too)
C:\Users\failing-user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
C:\Users\failing-user\AppData\LocalLow\Microsoft\Internet Explorer (mind the LocalLow instead of Local)

logged again as the failing user
it was working

I really hope this will also solve the problem you have with Skype not displaying Asian characters properly (only squares/boxes).

1000 thanks to Servermin for a post he wrote about Chinese characters not being displayed by Skype (had a hard time finding it but it was mostly the solution I described here).

Linking Adsense to Analytics: updated howto with screenshots of the new interface

2012-09-07T15:37:00.001-07:00

Want to link Adsense to Analytics and you are stuck? You don't find any "get started" link or have no idea where the "data sources" is? Welcome to this article! It took me forever to manage it by myself and I spent literally hours looking on the Internet without finding any good article on this topic.

This article supposes that:
- you have an Adsense account
- you have an Analytics account
- you want to link both
- you don't do anything stupid (delete stuff) and accuse this article afterwards for having done it. This is just some info to help you, you are 100% responsible for what you do on your computer

Before, we get started, please note, that you can only have 1 Adsense and 1 Analytics. Google mentions some multiple account possibility in its help guide but forget about it, it simply won't work. If you have linked to the "wrong" Analytics account, follow this link to unlink it.

1) Go to your Google Analytics page

2) Select the Analytics account you want to link to your Adsense account

3) Click on Admin on the right

4) Here is what you should have:

OK, then what? Where is the Data Sources button? Why is it so hard to place a button "Link to Adsense" here? Arghhhhh... Don't panic, I am here. Continue reading...

5) Click on the name of your domain/website (here Mysite) on the top, to go back two steps:

I am really sorry if this is obvious to many people or if many websites/blogs/official Google help pages mentioned it, but it was NOT obvious to me and I did not see it mentioned anywhere precisely.

6) Magically, a tab called Data Sources should appear:

7) Click on Data Sources, then on Adsense

8) Click on the link account button

9) Thank me on the comment section below, click on the Google +1 button below, give a 1 dollar donation to this blog (paypal donation button on the right) and enjoy your day :-)

"Your browser does not support all features of Google drive": Google and Internet Explorer compatibility issue

2012-08-26T08:37:00.002-07:00

I wrote an article recently about how Opera had some compatibility issues with Google services and how I was afraid that in the future Google will try to force people to use their browser. I could not have been more right.

The warning message is now present with Internet Explorer too:

The complete message:
"Your browser does not support all features of Google Drive. If you are having problems, try Google Chrome. Dismiss"

On the other hand, Google seems more tolerant towards Internet Explorer than it was towards Opera: when you dismiss the message, it does not appear again and again.

Anything to do? 2 possibilities:
- you ignore this message and continue using your favorite browser in the hope that the functions you need are fully supported (I don't think Internet Explorer is a good choice, though)
- download and use Google Chrome

I even found a third solution. I did not want to use Google Chrome as it seemed a bit "forced" to me, so I am using the Comodo Dragon browser. It is based on Google Chrome, so it worked fine with Google services.

What's your opinion on this? Don't hesitate to share it in the comments section.

Blogger widget that shows all posts

2012-08-26T08:17:00.001-07:00

I just had a stupid problem: I couldn't find the Blogger widget to show all the posts of my blog ordered by date. I knew it existed but did not know the name. I tried looking for history, all posts, ... and couldn't find anything. Just a recent posts widgets.

First, there is no search bar in the Basics section of the widgets:

Then, in the "More Gadgets" section, there is a search bar BUT it only search in the third-party developed widgets. So don't even think about using it to find Google widgets.

Finally, it is not easy to find something specific when you don't know its name. What you are looking for is called Blog Archive. It is in the second page of the basic gadgets (notice the next button):

And here was the widget I wanted:

Just thought I would share it in case someone is looking for it too one day.

Comodo Dragon review

2012-08-17T16:42:00.002-07:00

There are many web browsers available: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, ... I tested all of them and even though I have a personal preference for Opera, I have had a hard time with it recently. Compatibility problems with Google services (the blogger platform that hosts this post, the Google drive service which I recommend) and more recently I even started having problems with some other websites (my bank website, InfoBarrel, ...). Opera just came up with a new update today so maybe everything is working fine now.

Anyway, I was quite curious when recently, someone using the web browser Comodo Dragon accessed this blog. I had never heard about this browser before and I had to check it out. Right now, this is the web browser I am using to write this post and I did not think a web browser could convince me so fast! Everything I have tested to now is working fine. Google drive, Google blogger, InfoBarrel, my bank website, ... internet browsing is so fast, the beautiful design reminds me of Opera, so almost only advantages.

The only small things I did not like:
- the help function here and there return a help page about Google chrome! So imagine you try to find out how to configure Comodo Dragon for this or that, you may suddenly have a web page explaining the settings for Google Chrome. This is quite ugly.
- the browser came with the language of the country I currently live in (Norway, so Norwegian). Even though I speak Norwegian, I would rather have my browser in English. Easier, and also better when I take screenshots to show on my blogs. I may have missed the option during the install but I have the feeling that, like some Google products, Comodo Dragon tries to guess your language from your local position
- finally, some small messages can be irritating. For example, do you want to translate this page, or that page? I had to deactivate it (click on the eye of the dragon on the upper left corner of the browser, then go to settings and enter language in the search bar)

Even though, my conclusion is that this browser is good and it was a really nice discovery for me. If you are not happy with your current browser or are a bit curious I invite you to try it. Oh and in case you wonder, the name of the animal is Komodo dragon with a 'K' while the browser is called Comodo dragon with a 'C'. Probably some pun intended but I thought I would clear this out as Google may suggest you look for Komodo dragon instead of Comodo dragon.

"There are no calendars selected" error message

2012-08-17T16:12:00.002-07:00

I recently had this error message appearing from time to time on my phone and I had no ideas why/what/how. I am not using calendars too much so I did not care too much about the problem but the error message was annoying. What was I supposed to do? Which application was involved if any? I looked on the Internet and began to panic a bit. Some people were advising to factory reset the phone and reinstall the apps one by one and see if the problem appeared again... Fortunately, I was not happy with this solution and found that in my case, the problem was easy to solve.

My problem was coming from the app "Business Calendar" and this is what I needed to do to fix it:
1) Launch the app (if you have the calendar on your desktop, just click on it)
2) A calendar should appear. Click on the option button (your android phone button)
3) You should have the following options: Agenda, Search, Today, Go to, Show Bars and More. Choose More
4) Select the first entry called "Calendars"
5) Check the check box corresponding to the calendar you want to use

6) Save
7) Enjoy

Notice: the problem may come from something else on your phone, so I cannot guarantee that this will fix your problem. At least it did for me.

Report your own bug/problem!

2012-07-30T01:16:00.000-07:00

Problem with your PC or mobile? Describe it in the comment section and I may have a look at it.

What I am most likely to look at:

general problems that impact many people (example: windows bug when creating an ad hoc connection)
problems I can reproduce myself (example: blogger.com displays an annoying error message when used with opera)

What I am less likely to look at:

problems that are badly described (example: my smartphone does not work... what do you mean by that? What is it that is not working? In which scenario? What version of software?)
problems that I cannot reproduce (not that I don't trust you, but I need to reproduce the issue to document the solution)
problems with a solution available with an easy Google search (first result)

How to change the language of Mypaint in Windows

2012-07-29T07:24:00.002-07:00

Mypaint definitively needs some tuning about language settings. I downloaded the software, ran it and it was in... Norwegian! My OS is in English, every programs I use are in English. I have no idea where this software got the idea it should use Norwegian.

Looked in the settings: no way to change the language. Looked in forums: nothing worked. Many people said you only need to rename a folder. Believe me, I change the name of every possible folder with no, NO, norway, or whatever that looked like Norwegian.

Nothing helped. It can be that the language was cached somewhere and that the program would have worked in English after a restart of the PC but I found another solution:
1) Uninstall your program (be careful if you already have done some work with it, you may lose all the data)
2) Reinstall it and be careful. At what point, you will be asked what you want to install
3) Simply uncheck "Translations"
4) Enjoy :-)

How to get the product ID of something on Amazon?

2012-07-17T12:44:00.002-07:00

So you are writing for Hubpages, Squidoo or whatever writer community website and you are wondering where to find the Amazon product id of an object you want to promote (and get some percentage of the sale through your Amazon affiliate link).

The answer is simple. Look for the product you want to promote on amazon and look at the URL. The URL should be something like:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0086DBE62?ie=UTF8&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B0086DBE62

You may need to highlight the URL to see it complete but the most important, the product id is probably visible. It is the code that follows product. In our case B0086DBE62:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0086DBE62?ie=UTF8&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B0086DBE62

Don't include the question mark.

If, for some reasons, the URL does not look like this at all, you will have to find the product ID in the "product detail" part of the page. Here it is called ASIN:

If you want to link to a book, you have to provide the ISBN-10, not the ISBN-13

So, in this example: 0345529057.

That's it. Don't hesitate to ask if you have more questions. Also, if you are only writing for Hubpages, you are welcome to join me on InfoBarrel (great community, nice forum, ...). Here are more details about InfoBarrel and why you should join. If you want to join Squidoo (quite fun to write there with achievements, level, ...), you can use this link. Also, don't hesitate to have a look at my article about how to get more readers.

Higgs Boson joke

2012-07-06T06:57:00.001-07:00

Just a small joke inspired of agrovista, bzishi, Jason Weisberger and Brian Malow...

Opera and Blogger compatibility issue: get rid of the warning message

2012-07-05T08:14:00.000-07:00

If you are using Opera and Blogger (Blogspot), you may have noticed recently the warning message: "Your browser is no longer supported by Blogger. Some parts of Blogger will not work and you may experience problems. If you are having problems, try Google Chrome. | Dismiss."

The warning message in itself is fine. It simply warns you that some parts of Blogger may not work as intended. But, how to get rid of this message? You can dismiss it but it will appear again and again until you give up and download google chrome... Unless... Here is a simple trick to make the message disappear. Warning: you will then have problems editing your posts (viewing them, checking the stats, etc... will still be fine).

Principle of the work-around:
Blogger knows you use Opera because your browser tells him so. What if your Opera browser were to tell blogger "hi, I am Internet Explorer" or "hi, I am Firefox"? Then you won't get the error message anymore. Well, some parts of blogger will still fail (posts editing), but at least, you won't get this annoying warning message anymore. In the IT world, we call the identity of your browser the "user agent". It is a known fact that you can change it to more or less whatever you want and the good thing with Opera is that you can do it for a specific website and don't need to change your register for that.

Work-around, step-by-step:
1) Go to blogger.com (or actually any websites you have problems with, it can be adsense in the future for example)

2) Right click on the page (around the middle of the page should be fine)

3) Select "Edit site preferences"

4) Verify that the site address is correct (for example, if you wanted to change the behaviour of Adsense, put "www.google.com/adsense" instead of just "www.google.com"). Here, "www.blogger.com" is the correct address.

5) Go to the tab Network

6) Change the Browser identification parameter. You can ask Opera to identifies itself as Internet Explorer for example or Firefox. "Identify as Internet Explorer" is the one I use to get rid of the warning message. When I want to edit my posts, I get back to "Identify as Opera" (message editing is then working fine but the warning message comes back).

The good thing about this fix is that it only concerns the website you have problems with. It will not change anything to your normal surfing experience in general. The bad thing is that you will experience problems with Blogger, especially with posts editing... Oh well, at least, you were warned.

Thanks in advance for everyone giving a +1 to this article (google button above)

How to make money on the internet: the easy way

2012-06-07T09:01:00.002-07:00

This article is a bit outdated. I leave it here for people who were used to it and would like to check something, but for more updated info about Infobarrel, what it is and why you should write for it (to make money online), please see here.

There are many ways to make money on the internet but it generally requires patience, perseverance and knowledge of the internet.

One easy way to make money on the internet, at least to get started is to write articles for InfoBarrel.com. How does it work?
1) You register to InfoBarrel.com, Google Adsense, Chitika, Amazon affiliates and optionally to Barlrol.
2) You write articles (plenty of possible topics: what you like, what you don't like, common misconceptions that make you mad, how you see the society, tips and tricks you know about, ...).
3) InfoBarrel.com will take care of publishing the article (through an approval process), of the ads around the article, of the visibility of your article through google search, ...
4) People will read your articles.
5) The money made through the ads (if people clicks on the ads or if some advertisers are paying to simply display the ads) are then split between InfoBarrel.com and you (75% is for you).
6) Optionally, if you register to Barlrol, you could summit your InfoBarrel articles there to get extra readers

Notice: promoting your articles on Facebook, Tweeter, etc... is an advantage but it is not mandatory.

Some common questions
Why not write on my own blog/website?
Actually, you don't need InfoBarrel. You could write your articles on your own blog/website and get 100% of the ads revenue. The advantages of InfoBarrel are:
- they take care of the website maintenance (get it up and running at all time, take care of hacking threats etc...)
- they take care of the ads, facebook like buttons, etc... which means you only need to take care about the article itself
- they are ranked well on google, so if someone tried to find the info you are writing about, it will be easier to find the article on InfoBarrel than on your blog/website (unless you know very well SEO techniques, spend a lot of time with your blog/website, ...)
- they have a good community of people writing for them. Those people can give you some advice, rate your articles, motivate you etc...

Any alternatives?
Yes, hubpages, squidoo, xomba, wizzley, etc... but InfoBarrel seems to have the best percentage of revenue sharing, positive atmosphere, seriousness of articles (non serious articles deteriorate the site reputation, hence the visibility of your articles).

Why Google Adsense?

Because it is the one available in most countries, because it is one of the very few to care about you even if you don't have a big website (>500 daily page views) and of course, because it is integrated with InfoBarrel (you just need to register to Google Adsense and enter your id in InfoBarrel to be set).

Why Chitika?
Simply because it is one of the very few programs you can use in parallel with Google Adsense. Also, it is integrated with InfoBarrel so you just need to register to Chitika and enter your id in InfoBarrel to be set.

Other ways to earn money on the internet?
Yes, you can be paid to answer polls, receive and read mails, surf on the internet, ... But generally speaking, this is not worth it. Too much time spent, too little interest and too little money. Other alternatives that are already more interesting are: taking and selling your photos, finding names/slogan for Pickydomains.com, etc... A more detail guide about those alternatives will be available soon.

How to write the backslash antislash symbol '\' with android default keyboard

2012-06-07T07:57:00.001-07:00

Back slash on android

It is actually easy to do once know it. Go to the symbol keyboard by using the "12!?" button and then go to page 2 of the symbol keyboard by using the 1|2 button (this is what people generally miss).

Here the 12!? is the second button on the bottom line

Please notice the 1|2 button on the second line from the bottom (on the left of '!')

Java: what is it? do you need it?

2012-06-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

Java is a popular programming language based on objects. Basically instead of saying to the computer "do this, then do that, then if something, do this thing too", we tell him "this is an object. It has this and that attribute. It can do this or that". The benefits or not completely clear to non-programmers but modern experience has shown that it was a good approach to programming, basically because if you want to review the code (add a feature, change something), you will not need to got trough the whole code, you will simply focus on the object you want to change, or maybe you will simply add another object.

I know, this is very abstract for most of you, I am sorry about that, but I thought a quick introduction to Java could be nice. Now, what does all mean to you in practice? Do you need Java? How do you install it? Do you need to upgrade it? etc...

One of the problem of Java, is that to run a java "application" (game, utilities,...), your computer needs to know Java. Not all computers come with Java by default, so it will be your responsibility to install it and maintain it. Don't panic, it is not that bad. Java is installed as any other programs and will warn you if an important update is available. Also, you only need to install it if you are going to use it. Generally speaking you don't need to install it, until you get to a website you regularly need and that is not working because you don't have Java on your computer. You will generally get the error message that Java is not installed and that you need it to view the page.

I advise you to install java from their main website, ie www.java.com. Click on the Free Java Download and you are set. Wasn't it easy? If you get a message once that a new version of Java is available you can also simply go to the mentioned page and follow the instructions there.

I would NOT download java from other websites, peer-to-peer programs and so on, because the version of Java you will find may be corrupted (or simply incompatible with the version of your PC). I would also avoid clicking blindly to links when you get a message that you need to install java from here (this could be a fake message from a hacker).

If this page helped you, recommend it (+1 button below)! It will help other people find this page. Thanks!

How to downgrade Java on Windows

2012-06-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

So, you upgraded Java recently and something is broken? Some important sites are not working anymore? Here is how to downgrade the Java software on your PC (for more basic info on Java, please click here).

I am writing this article because I had problems last time I upgraded Java on my PC. After the java upgrade, Internet Explorer and Firefox were working great but I had troubles with Opera. I had Java version 7.0.40 and Opera version 11.64 BUT this article is about how to downgrade Java in general and is not specific to Opera or to this version of Java.

Actually, it is pretty straightforward. When you update Java, it will simply install the new version and will not care about the old one(s). This may sound messy (you will have old Java versions installed for nothing) but in our case now, this comes really handy, as we will simply have to uninstall the newer version of Java and the old version will become the active one automatically.

To uninstall the newer version of Java, go to "Programs and Features". To do this, click on the windows start button, then "Control Panel", then "Programs", and finally "Programs and Features.

You should see a list of programs appearing on the page. Wait a little bit to have all the programs. You should now see a list of Java programs.

What is important is the Java (TM) programs. In the picture above, you can see I had 2 versions: Java 6.0.29 and 7.0.4. The new version I had problems with was 7.0.4, so I simply clicked on it, uninstalled it and I was left with version 6.0.29 which was working fine, like before the upgrade.

The only warning I have is that Java is upgraded regularly to improve security issues. Running old versions of Java is not a perfect solution, just a temporary solution, hoping that the next version will be released soon and will fix the particular problem you have.

If this page helped you, recommend it (+1 button below). It will help other people find this page. Thanks!

Free wifi in Fukuoka (Japan) and Seoul (South Korea)

2012-04-22T13:28:00.004-07:00

If this page helps you, recommend it (+1 button at the end of this article)! It will help other people find this page. Thanks!

Major Update concerning Fukuoka (19/05/2012):
It seems that Fukuoka has now implemented several free wifi zones under the name "Fukuoka City Wifi". This started 26/04. I have no information of how stable or how fast it is. For more information, you can try this link but it is in Japanese only: http://www.city.fukuoka.lg.jp/wi-fi/.

I have just returned from a 2 week trip to Fukuoka and Seoul and wanted to share the results of my hunt for free wifi in those cities.

Seoul:

I stayed only 2-3 days in Seoul and it was a last minute thing so I did not prepare anything. Knowing that South Korea is really big in terms of smart phones, Internet gaming and so on, I was really expecting to find wifi spot easily. I could not have been more wrong. All Wifi spots I found were protected by a wpa2 key and I then decided to go to the Starbucks coffee of Myong-Dong, expecting to find a free wifi spot there. On the front door, I could see something like "free Internet here", inside, I could see a lot of people with smart phones and tablets but again this was false hope. The wifi spot was depending on you having an Internet subscription with some local mobile provider and both Starbucks staff I asked told me there was no wifi. A wifi provider was even clever enough to call its wifi spot something-Starbucks so that most people thinking a free wifi spot would be available would connect to it, and may eventually have paid for the Internet (this wifi spot was not free and was not managed by Starbucks). I decided to try McDonald but before I reached it, something I had to do in real life showed up and I had to give up my hunt of free wifi in Seoul.

Fukuoka:

I stayed about 10 days in Fukuoka. I had looked on the Internet beforehand for info about free wifi spots but found only 2 locations in Tenjin: tenjin chikagai and Seattle Best Coffee.
Not living near Tenjin, I tried again to find a free wifi spot by myself first and found out that Softbank (a Japanese mobile provider) had wifi spots in many places (Starbucks, fast-food, ...) but that you needed a subscription with them in order to use one of those wifi spots. They are all named FON and your mobile phone will connect to them instantly if you have the wifi on (you don't need to select them or choose to connect to them). However, as I just said, you won't be able to surf on the Internet, unless you have a subscription with Softbank.

(the sign says "Wifi available" but you have to notice the small SoftBank icon at the bottom of it, meaning it is only for Softbank customers)

(the page you will get if you try to surf on the internet after being connected to this wifi, which basically means "only for SoftBank customers")
Next step in my hunt was Seattle Best Coffee. Unfortunately, this shop is now closed and does not seem to reopen anytime soon (the reason may be that Starbucks opened a shop just next to it).
All in all, my last hope was the Tenjin Chikagai (underground shopping area just next to the Tenjin station). There was effectively a free wifi there (select the tenchika wifi, not the FON one) but as people mentioned in some forum, there is no bench. So you either have to stand up while surfing, sit down on the floor or find a coffee shop. You will find several ones in this area, including a Starbucks.

You will also have to deal with another problem: this wifi is a bit slow. Probably ok if you are used to it but personally I just had to give up. Pages were too slow to load and this was for normal web browsing, I just cannot imagine watching some YouTube videos there. This was the end of my free wifi spot hunt, too much hassle, too slow connections, not enough updated information about where to find them, ...

I ended up in an Internet coffee and for those who are interested, you can find it at the exit 13 of the Tenjin station, just next to a karaoke.

The place is a but outdated (keyboard where not all letters are visible) but cheap enough for me. I spent about 1 hour there and only had to spend 380 yens, the equivalent of the coffee I had in the Starbucks of chikagai.

There are free drinks on the third floor (free drinks are common in Internet cafes in Japan), so all in all, I think it is a good option. I have also seen a lot of ads about the popeye Internet cafes. They look nice and new but I did not try them myself.

Jack Tramiel is dead

2012-04-17T22:58:00.000-07:00

Jack Tramiel passed away on Sunday, 08/04/2012. This is a little news that you may have missed. In case you wonder, he was the man said to be behind the commodore 64 and in case you still wonder, the commodore 64 was one of the first computer for personal use and a big hit at that time. On a side note, it was also my first computer. If you think about Steve Jobs as a pioneer (which I think he was), please also think about Jack Tramiel as one. He did think about the computer as something people would be able to use for private purposes at a time people thought of them only on a research perspective. Without Steve Jobs, no tablets ? Well, without Jack Tramiel we may not have had personal computers either (please note this is just a comparison, I do believe that both computers and tablets would have come to the private market, even without those two persons).
And for the nostalgics of the commodore 64, please note that this computer has made his comeback: http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_C64.aspx (this is old news, but you may have missed it too)

About mobile phones screen/display

2011-07-06T14:14:00.000-07:00

Have you had an issue with a phone who fell down and whose screen got completely broken ? Or maybe a friend of yours has ? Or maybe it wasn't a phone, maybe it was a tablet...

Somehow, it happened to me quite recently (HP desire HD) and I am surprised about a couple of things:
- how fragile the screens are
- how bad the insurances are
- how bad this is covered in blogs, news, and so on

- How fragile the screens are:

My phone fell down from my sofa. I was sitting. So the fell was really not from a high altitude. I did not smash it to the ground and I really did not expect it to break. I made some previous phones fall from higher or while running and so on. Never had been an issue. The novelty ? Touch screen !!! It seems to be the excuse to have fragile screens. Or is this a hidden marketing to force people to buy new phones ?

- How bad the insurances are:

So soon the screen is broken, will the insurances refuse to pay anything. That is clever from them but I find it a bit too good for them. I am wondering if a customer-protection company will someday do something about it...

- How bad this is covered in blogs, news and so on

Finally something interesting for me. Because that means I can write something that may help you in the choice of your next mobile phone. When I lost my HTC desire HD, I needed a new phone. But I did not want to do the same mistake and buy a phone with an easy-to-break screen. So I looked. Mobile-phone comparison websites, technical specifications, ... nothing. Not a damn thing about how hard or soft the screen is.

Let's see for example this page:

http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n8/specifications

It speaks about the screen of the phone: size, amoled, ... but nothing about resistance of the screen.

So you will probably think: "oh, every phones must be the same, then". And this is where my blog is helpful, no, every phones are not the same. The strange thing is that this has been forgotten in the specifications. Nobody speaks about it but it is there.

There are 2 types of resistant glass on the market that can be used for mobile phones: the gorilla glass and dragontrail. Please feel free to google them, a lot of information is available on these glass (you just had to know the names). Here for example, some quite convincing video/article:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVxj6gRYwS0

http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/gorilla-glass-has-a-new-competitor-called-dragontrail-20110120/

So, where to find them ? The dragontrail is not yet in the market as far as I know and will more target tablets. As it goes for gorilla glass, nokia N8 and samsung galaxy SII are two examples of mobile phones using it. The full list is available here:

http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/featured-products

The only remaining question is when will we have this kind of info included in the technical description of smartphones/tablets/PC... :) ?