When turning on an older HP Pavilion laptop computer, at boot up, you’ll briefly see a list of function keys and their uses. Here is that list:
Not shown in the on-screen list is the F8 key which will start Windows in Safe Mode.
Here’s a cool feature hidden in Apple macOS Sierra. If you double click on the left, right, top, or bottom of a window, the program window will expand to fill the width or height of the screen.
If you’re using an Apple Cinema Display as a secondary monitor for your MacBook laptop computer or iMac, you may have noticed that sometimes the brightness control is missing from System Preferences > Displays.
There may be a variety of reasons for this, but one cause is easy to fix. If the USB cable from the display isn’t attached to your computer, the brightness slider will be missing. The display will continue displaying the brightness that it last had until you connect the USB and change the brightness level again.
This was tested and documented using a 2008 era 24″ Apple Cinema Display connected to an Apple iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013). The issue likely impacts other system configurations.
When you update your iPhone apps you’ll notice under each app there’s an option to read “What’s New” to find out what has been introduced with this new update.
It’s good to read those notes for the following reason:
It doesn’t take long to read the update notes, and most of the time it’s worth it because you’ll learn about some important new features and bug fixes.
For this reason, you may want to disable any automatic updates not just on your phone, but on your other devices and computers so you can be fully informed about the updates and make sure there are no known problems associated with the updates.
Below you can see an example of how important update information isn’t visible until you tap “What’s New” to reveal it. In the example below, the app developer suggests users make a backup of their data before updating.
A common question people have these days is with regard to which mobile device to purchase. I typically recommend the Apple iPhone using AT&T. I’ll briefly share about my choice of phone and carrier, then get down to choosing which iPhone is best. For Fall 2016 the choice is relatively easy.
Verizon has good nation-wide coverage for making voice calls, but in my own testing for my area, I found the high speed data services have been about the same or better with AT&T. The ability to use wi-fi for phone calls on AT&T has made the effective coverage and usability inside of buildings and other areas much better. The Verizon pricing seemed much higher than AT&T for what you get, and their shared data plan (last I checked), had limits per device. So, even if you have 15 GB shared, no device could use more than 3 GB in a month (for example). The prices and offerings are always changing, but in general I’ve found AT&T to be the best out there.
On a side note, we had a weird customer service experience with Verizon where it took us months of emails and phone calls to get our service disconnected – long after we’d returned the Samsung phones to their store they were still billing us for wireless service. They said their records didn’t show that we’d returned the phones, even though we had receipts and paperwork to prove all this (and a sales person who confirmed it). We finally had to bring in the district manager to get it all straightened out. Even then, they kept promising it was taken care of, and weeks would go by and nothing was taken care of. Finally they stopped charging us for the service and we got the money refunded. Anyway, not the best experience.
I tried Android for about a year and still have an Android device for testing. In general, I find the Apple hardware better and the Apple operating system more secure. The Android environment is very similar to a desktop computer operating system which has advantages (customizable with multiple brands of hardware to choose from) as well as disadvantages (viruses, and less standardization). So, overall, for people that just want to get their work done, I’d recommend the Apple iPhone.
If you go to the iPhone page on Apple’s website you’ll see that as of Fall 2016, the iPhone 7 is the latest model available. The iPhone 6s and iPhone SE are also available.
The pricing of these phones is as follows:
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
The reason to choose the iPhone 7 Plus is to have a mobile device that is very fast and water resistant, with a large bright display and great camera.
The reason to choose the other models would be primarily to save some money – there are no other advantages. Their processors are now a year old, so their usable lifespan will be reduced. The few hundred dollars saved now is actually equated with a year or two less usability down the road. So, no savings in terms of long-term cost of ownership.
In the video below, starting at the 54 minute mark, is a presentation about the iPhone 7.
The SoundCloud pricing plan will force anyone who is a regular content creator into their Go Pro Unlimited offer which is normally about $180 a year. Their Pro plan is $84 and only includes 6 hours of uploaded audio.
These rates are a lot of money to pay considering you could host your own website and upload unlimited audio for about $5 per month. Given that many audio content producers are non-commercial indy musicians or news podcasters, this price starts to push what most people feel they can afford for a hobby, and given that many people already have and need a website that already includes huge storage capacity, SoundCloud is charging a lot of an add-on.
SoundCloud offers a 30-day trial and money back guarantee which is explained on their site. However, cancelling the trail and getting your money back isn’t easy.
Unfortunately, like many other companies, SoundCloud makes it a little difficult to find how to cancel your subscription or get a refund.
There’s no easy method to contact any customer service representative, even from within their fairly expensive paid account.
On your account subscription page, there’s no button that says ‘cancel’ or ‘refund’ but instead you must ‘edit’ your subscription and then downgrade it. Once downgraded, there’s no message about any refund.
If you do a Google search on ‘SoundCloud Refund’ you’ll find a page that describes Canceling or downgrading your Pro subscription. Here are the instructions from that page.
For SoundCloud Pro or Pro Unlimited subscriptions, you can cancel at any time by going to your Subscriptions page.
Go to the pencil icon next to your current subscription status like this:
Next, click on ‘Don’t want to renew your plan?’:
You will then be shown the date that your plan will return to Free, and what the Free plan offers in comparison to your current Pro or Pro Unlimited plan. Click ‘Confirm & stop renewal’ to cancel your current subscription. If you change your mind, you can upgrade back to a Pro subscription at anytime here.
If you’re within the 30 days money back period after your first purchase, a refund will be processed automatically.
Please note: When you downgrade to a free plan, we will not delete anything from your account. The oldest uploads exceeding the limits of the free account will be hidden. You will be able to view these hidden tracks on your Tracks page.
All your hidden tracks along with their stats and comments will be saved so that whenever you choose to re-upgrade, everything will be restored.
Below is the pricing model for SoundCloud Pro and Pro Unlimited subscriptions.
This is a live page being updated regularly with a list of iOS 10 legacy operational issues -problems that existed in previous iOS versions that have persisted and not been fixed yet in iOS 10. Additional items will be listed here as they are discovered.
There is a firmware update for the Zoom H2n recorder. Recently purchased recorders may have the 1.20 update. To install the new update, follow these instructions.
__________
The above instructions are surprisingly nowhere to be found on the Zoom website or anywhere else on the Internet, so we’ve written them up and provided them here.
We’re all familiar with the warning to be cautious when accepting emails or social media requests from people we don’t know. Now it’s important to use caution when accepting friend requests from those we do know. Here’s why.
At this point, the snowball effect begins. The people behind these scams seek to build massive databases of names and personal information for identity theft, social engineering, and hacking into accounts.
You and those you know, who may have their Facebook content marked as ‘viewable by my friends and their friends’ are exposed to having all their content and list of friends stolen and misused.
So, for this reason, be VERY careful when accepting friend requests on Facebook even from people you know.
If someone has setup an imposter account pretending to be you, don’t post a message saying “my account has been hacked” because then your friends won’t know which account to trust. Explain that your account hasn’t been hacked, but that someone setup a new ‘fake / imposter’ account in your name and that you’re reporting it. Then follow the instructions on this page to report it and have it shut down.
Here are three easy steps to identify and prevent fake accounts. (source)
If it’s fake, take a moment to report it quickly before the scam spreads. Use the steps below.
Because this is becoming a very prevalent problem, Facebook has improved the mechanism for reporting it. Follow the instructions shown below. Click the image for a larger view. In step 4 you can indicate whether someone is pretending to be you or someone you know.
Here are some additional articles on the topic of Facebook safety and how to avoid Facebook scams.
Facebook has an official ‘how to report things‘ page.
You can view all Facebook support requests in your support inbox, including reporting of user accounts.
Internet service providers typically give you the option to purchase or rent equipment from them. Most will allow you to buy your own equipment from a third party and they will help you configure it. Mediacom supports a variety of Cable Modems described below.
If you’re requesting equipment from Mediacom, for rent or to purchase, you’ll want to get their combined modem and wireless router XTREAM solution which supports the latest high speed wireless standards.
There are several benefits to renting equipment:
The primary benefit to purchasing is that it supposedly will save you money over two or three years. However, if the equipment fails or becomes obsolete, there will be replacement costs that outweigh the small savings.
That said, when purchasing a modem, one may want to consider purchasing it from the Internet service provider. This could provide the technical support and customer service benefits described above.
For those wanting to purchase a cable modem from a third party, buying a separate cable modem and router can be a good way to go. Here’s a good combination:
Purchasing third party equipment could offer some advantages. For example, if the components are separate, you can upgrade them independently as needed. Also, you can choose to go with a more powerful or more feature-rich wireless router.
Note: There is an ARRIS SURFboard modem with wireless built-in but it has 33% of reviews that are either 1-star or 2-star. For whatever reason, the combined cable modem and wireless solution doesn’t seem to work well according to many people.
Iowa City Technology Services 