Tim's Blog O' Tech

Unlimited Photo Storage on Amazon Prime!

2014-11-04T10:37:00.005-05:00

Amazon Prime now offers UNLIMITED cloud storage for all of your photo needs! (Yes it even supports RAW formats, so even the most hardcore of photographers can make terrific use of this new feature).

I've been an Amazon Prime subscriber for ~2 years now, and have absolutely no regrets. The two-day shipping alone was enough to sell me, even after the price hike to $99/year. It's an incredibly useful service offering a multitude of features including (but not limited to):

*Unlimited, ad-free streaming of over a million songs
*Instantly watch over 40,000 movies and TV episodes
*FREE two-day shipping (no minimum order size)
*Borrow Kindle books

If you're not already an Amazon Prime member, there's no reason not to give their 30-day free trial a run. Heck, even if you have no intention of keeping the service after the 30 days, at least you get free shipping for all of your early Christmas shopping needs ;-)

PS: I know the banner above prominently advertises the music streaming, but it'll still get you a 30-day Prime subscription trial for free, which includes ALL Prime benefits and features!

Moving? Stay connected!

2014-05-28T12:29:00.002-04:00

Find cheap Phone, Cable, and TV providers in your area!

Not only will this site help you find trusted providers in your area, but it will get moving quotes for you as well!

CableMover

Office Posture Matters - Vimeo

2013-08-16T12:50:00.002-04:00

Below is a great little animated video outlining the negative (and potentially deadly) effects of long-term sitting, as well as how you can actively help counteract them to maintain a much healthier (and longer lasting) life.

Office Posture Matters: An Animated Guide from Flikli on Vimeo.

Stay Safe and Private!

2013-08-12T19:05:00.001-04:00

Via http://www.whoishostingthis.com/blog/2013/07/29/private-internet-usage-infographic/

Search for files on your computer... FAST!

2013-07-02T19:35:00.000-04:00

Looking for a way to find a file that you downloaded ages ago, but simply cannot remember where it is located?

Tired of waiting ages for a Windows file search operation to complete?

Sick of the new 'Windows Search' indexer eating up your system resources and slowing your machine down?

Wish you could search your computer as fast as you can search on Google?

Look no further...

Search Everything is a super light-weight utility that creates an index of every file on all of your hard drive(s). What this does is allow you to search for any file on your system instantaneously.

I've been a heavy user of this program for years now, and have yet to find a faster search utility for Windows.

Don't believe me? Give it a shot and download it here

For the more advanced users, this program also features the ability to turn your computer into a local FTP and/or HTTP server, allowing you to browse your entire system from another computer.

Internet Explorer 10: Having problems?

2013-04-26T13:50:00.002-04:00

Many people have experienced issues after upgrading to Internet Explorer 10, particularly with older sites that are not actively updated/maintained (government sites, school sites, etc). I personally have had tremendous luck resolving most of these types of issues simply by enabling the Compatibility mode feature. This is incredibly easy to use for any page that appears to load incorrectly. Simply click the icon [to the right of the address bar] that looks like a paper ripped in half horizontally.

<----- The icon looks like this.

Pressing it once on any page that appears to be loading incorrectly will automatically refresh the page in compatibility mode. After that, you shouldn't have to activate it again, IE saves this setting so that each time you return to the same page it automatically loads correctly.

Alternately, you can tell your computer to prevent it from installing IE 10 at all. There is a registry tweak that will tell Windows Updates to block IE 10 from showing up, thus preventing accidental installation.

Here is a link to download a pre-configured registry file that will add the appropriate changes for you automatically:

Download Here

If you are more comfortable making the registry changes yourself, below are the changes that need to be made:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Setup\10.0

Add a DWORD value named:

DoNotAllowIE10

Set it to 1 to block, Set it to 0 to unblock.

Who doesn't love beef?

2013-04-02T11:08:00.002-04:00

After the jump is a nice infographic created on visual.ly - It's a cheat sheet for different meat cuts and the typical method(s) of cooking them.

View Original Here

Food Shelf Life

2013-02-28T11:47:00.001-05:00

Hello Again everyone! It's been way too long since I've posted anything... But here's to hoping I can start making more regular posts again.

Here's a nifty info-graphic [after the jump] that outlines the average shelf life (based on storage location) of many common foods. Hopefully it helps you as it has helped me in reduction of food waste!

The Shelf Life of Food infographic by LindsaySnowOsborn.

Office Posture [Infographic]

2012-10-08T16:00:00.002-04:00

Get health and fitness tips at Greatist.com

Android App Review: Swype Beta Keyboard

2012-07-06T17:02:00.000-04:00

As I'm writing this review, I'm actually using the Swype Beta keyboard from my Droid Razor. I have to say it's my favorite keyboard so far.

I used the older Swype for a short period of time, but it simply left something to be desired... It wasn't always super fast, word recognition was mediocre, and the aesthetics were nothing special. After that I moved to the 'hacker's keyboard' in favor of the sleek design and additional keys/features (like the directional arrows on the full keyboard).

Recently I read that Swype had released a new beta version. What initially caught my eye was the Dragon integration for voice recognition/speech to text (for those who don't know what that is, Dragon is a product by Nuance that has been around for ages. They are easily the top company in voice recognition. IPhone's Siri is actually built off of it).

There were a few small hoops that I had to jump through to get the keyboard, as it is not yet available in the market. I had to register for the beta, confirm my email address, download the "beta installer" then use that to actually download/install the keyboard. You'll want to make sure you select the option to allow you phone to install apps from unknown sources (this can be done in the applications manager found in your Android's settings page).

Using an android? Give Beta Swype a shot :) http://beta.swype.com/

Reseal your 'un-resealable' bags with a water/soda bottle

2012-06-07T10:08:00.000-04:00

Image from Lifehacker

I know it's been a while, but here's a tip I thought was absolutely clever. I remember reading about it in the past, but it was brought to my attention again, and figured I should start actually doing it. Basically, you cut the top 1/3 of a bottle with a screw top lid (probably can't use the latest and greatest water bottles that are using those ultra thin lids), feed the top of the bag that you want resealed through the bottle (pushing it up through the 'bottom'), open up the bag and drop the sides down over the top of the bottle. Then put the cap on. Poof, your bag has been resealed for freshness!

That may sound a little confusing, but hit one of the links below for a better picture of what I'm actually talking about.

My credit goes to [Re-nest] via Lifehacker

Cable Storage - The right way

2012-04-25T14:42:00.000-04:00

It's common practice to wrap long cables using your elbow and hand, making big loops over and over... However this leads to twisted cables, knots, and tangles... Below is a link to an excellent tutorial video using two alternate methods (both based on the same concept of alternating the 'loop' of the cable). Check it out, it could very well make your life a lot easier.

Thanks Adam over at Lifehacker for the great article

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEd7ru24Vx0

Ultimate Home Theater Setup

2012-04-10T11:28:00.001-04:00

Lifehacker has published an excellent article on how to set up a kick ass home theater setup using an awesome streaming software called XMBC (which can actually be ran directly from an old school Xbox gaming console!)

Take a look at the link below for the full article and walk-through for the set up.

http://lifehacker.com/5900626/create-a-kickass-seamless-play+everything-media-center-the-complete-guide

Scratch my last stylus...

2012-04-03T13:43:00.000-04:00

Granted, it was a pretty easy/simple design. But after a little while of using it off and on and stumbling upon a better concept, I've decided to ditch the 'chips bag pen stylus' design and opt to use a much higher quality material. One I've been a fan of since I first heard about it's release and MANY various uses.

SUGRU! - Fix/Mod/DIY substance of the GODS!

http://sugru.com/gurus/categories/sugru-hacks/topics/conductive-sugru-capacitive-stylus-for-iphoneipad

That is a link to a sugru community user's concept design of a smart phone compatible stylus. Wow, that was a wordy sentence.

Anywho, the link above is a MUCH better idea. Why? Because Sugru is fricken awesome. Seriously. Just check out what it is and what it's capable of doing HERE.

To sum it up, all you'll need is some conductive foam (can be found HERE), some sugru, and a core of some sort (a used pen, long wooden dowel, etc. could apply here)

Unfortunately I'm currently out of Sugru, so I'll have to comment on this post down the road once I've ordered some and have had a chance to try it out. CAN'T WAIT!

Stylus for your smart phone anyone?

2012-03-23T16:42:00.000-04:00

I've been playing around with a game recently called 'Draw Something.' It's basically an app version of the classic "Pictionary" where users draw pictures based on a preset word and try to get another player to guess what it is they are drawing.

Now, the unfortunate thing about this game, is you have to use your finger... Which makes the more difficult words even harder to portray because you do not have that fine precision that you would have with a pen. Fortunately, I stumbled upon a tutorial on Youtube on how to make a stylus for the newer smart phones (aka: iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, etc). Your regular pressure based styluses won't work here as they are non-conducive.

Fortunately it's quite simple to make a conducive pen-stylus. And the only materials you need are as follows:

Foil Template (Located HERE)
Foil bag (most kinds of chips use them)
Pen
Scissors
Razor/box cutter (for small precision cuts in the foil)
Tape

The actual tutorial is located HERE

He's a little difficult to understand because of his accent, but the design works well. Also, I plan to make my own video tutorial (hopefully in the near future) to help make it a bit easier for those of you having a tough time understanding everything he says/does.

Good luck and have fun!

Passwords - Again

2012-03-15T09:56:00.002-04:00

It's been a while. QUITE a while, and for that I apologize. Life's been crazy busy, and I've been side-tracked with other things of randomness... But I digress...

Thanks to XKCD's comic a while back on how to generate a secure, yet memorable password, a new site dedicated to exactly that has formed. It automatically selects several words of no intrinsic meaning to each other. This helps not only with you remembering the password, but also prevents dictionary-type password attacks against whatever account you may be using it for.

Check it out! - http://passphra.se/

STOP using Windows Copy and Paste

2012-02-21T14:22:00.001-05:00

Please do not use the built in Windows Copy/Paste tool. It constantly requires you to ‘baby’ it by clicking any popup windows pertaining to the copy.

Instead, use the following FREE utility that performs a MUCH quicker and more efficient copy.

Roadkil’s Unstoppable Copier (http://www.roadkil.net/program.php/P29/Unstoppable%20Copier)

There are two versions of this program: ‘Installer Version’ and ‘Stand Alone Version’

It’s quite convenient to use the installer version on your own workstation, however if you carry a flash drive, I highly recommend downloading a copy of the Stand Alone version to keep with you. Whenever you need to copy a large amount of files from one location to another, this program will not only copy faster, but will help eliminate the annoying pop-up windows and allow you to ‘walk away’ from the copy rather than worrying about if you will have to respond to any prompts.

If you have any questions or need help using the program, the following link is to the Unstoppable Copier’s User Guide:

http://www.roadkil.net/support.php?ProgramID=29

Change your password day!

2012-02-01T10:09:00.000-05:00

Lifehacker (and it's friends) have declared today to be 'Change your Password Day.'

What does that mean for you? Nothing really, unless of course you're actually concerned about the safety and privacy of your online personal data.

If you're not concerned? Shame on you. Shame on you BIG TIME. It's beyond easy to steal someone's personal information through the use of various hacking/phishing methods that any hacker could easily produce.

That being said, head on over to Lifehacker (link below) for a great article on how to truly secure your online life.

Today is Change Your Password Day: Celebrate by Upgrading Your Password System:

'via Blog this'

Interview Questions - What do they REALLY want to know?

2012-01-16T14:13:00.001-05:00

I'm sure everyone has wondered this. Interviewers always ask you very open-ended questions with the intentions of not only getting to know you better, but to truly understand your inner-workings and to see if you'll be a good fit for their office culture. Below is a link to a great article outlining several very common questions that you could be asked during an interview, along with an explanation as to what exactly they're trying to find out about you...

If you're out looking in the job market for something new (or you're currently unemployed), now's your chance to take your search a step further and properly educate yourself so that when you do land that interview, you'll be well prepared, and that much more likely to actually get the job.

http://mashable.com/2012/01/15/interview-questions-decoded/

First post from my new Droid razr

2011-12-23T12:39:00.001-05:00

Well, not much to say other than this phone is amazing!

How To Break Out Of A Car's Trunk

2011-12-20T18:00:00.000-05:00

You just never know when you will find yourself being held captive in the back of a car... It's always best to be prepared. The following link gives a great walk through for different types of car trunks, and how you can break yourself free of them.

How To Break Out Of A Car's Trunk:

'via Blog this'

Learn the Limits of Your Electrical Outlets to Avoid Fires

2011-12-20T15:52:00.000-05:00

Image from HowStuffWorks.com

With the Holidays upon us, it's likely you've already decorated your home. But have you set yourself up for a fire hazard? Will you be homeLESS for the holidays? I recommend giving the following article a good read to learn the safety precautions you should take before overloading that outlet...

Outlet Overload

'via Blog this'

Most Popular Repurposing Tricks of 2011

2011-12-20T15:51:00.000-05:00

Below is a link to an great article on how to use a multitude of things for a different purpose, giving it new life! Like how to make a lunch box from a gallon milk jug, or how to convert a chest freezer to a kegerator for under $20

Definitely worth the read, I'm sure you'll find something useful!

Most Popular Repurposing Tricks of 2011:

'via Blog this'

Free Shipping Day is Today! - Friday, Dec. 16

2011-12-16T08:27:00.000-05:00

Anyone still planning to make some last minute online gift purchases should take advantage of today's awesome deal. FREE SHIPPING offered by thousands of online retailers!

Please be aware that there are quite a few stores, however, that are notorious for having 'delays' in processing/shipping orders... Here's an article about that.

Free Shipping Day is Today! Official Site - Friday, Dec. 16 is Free Shipping Day 2011:

'via Blog this'

Top 11 Games to give for the holidays

2011-12-15T16:00:00.003-05:00

EVERYONE has at least a handful of friends who are borderline obsessive of their gaming. Take a look at the list below of some excellent ideas to help feed their craving.

Gaming: Top 11 Products

Battlefield 3 (Playstation / XBOX360)Released in October, this game is still moving quickly.http://www.amazon.com/Battlefield-3-Xbox-360/dp/B003O6G5TW/
Call of Duty SeriesOut today – 1 of this season’s most anticipated games!http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Modern-Warfare-Xbox-360/dp/B00503E8S2/
Super Mario Brothers AccessoriesT-shirts & plush toys were popular w/ readers in Oct.http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D166461011&field-keywords=super+mario+brothers&x=0&y=0
Wii Controllers (Nunchuk / Zapper Gun)Take your Wii gaming to the next level w/ 1 of these.http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse/ref=sr_tc_2_1?node=14218871&ie=UTF8&qid=1320704248&sr=8-2-tc
Batman Arkham City (Playstation / XBOX360)The Oct sequel to Batman Arkham Asylum!http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Arkham-City-Playstation-3/dp/B002I0F5M8/
Xbox 360 Live SubscriptionsThe best in entertainment & games right on your Xbox.http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_13?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=xbox+live+subscription&sprefix=xbox+live+sub
Forza Motorsport 4 (XBOX 360)Yet another Oct release your readers are scooping up!http://www.amazon.com/Forza-Motorsport-4-Xbox-360/dp/B003O6E986/
Gears of War 3 (XBOX 360)Released Oct 24th exclusively for the Xbox.http://www.amazon.com/Gears-War-3-Xbox-360/dp/B002I0H79C/
Xbox 360 ConsoleKinect ready — the only console to make the list!http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-4GB-Console/dp/B003O6JKLC/
Rage (Playstation / XBOX 360)First-person shooter game released Oct 4.http://www.amazon.com/Rage-Xbox-360/dp/B00354NAYG/
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (Playstation / XBOX 360)BAFTA award-winner & only 2010 game to make the list!http://www.amazon.com/Need-Speed-Hot-Pursuit-Xbox-360/dp/B003R783IY/