With Christmas only a few days away, HOPEFULLY, you have gotten all of the Holiday shopping done for the tech-lover in your life. Popular tech items are typically high ticket items, such as HDTV s, cameras, laptops, tablets, and smartphones and we all are looking for bargains in today's economy. So, what are we to do? Below are some tips that can help you find the bargains when purchasing these items, as well as help you get a head start on next year by taking advantage of online sales many retailers put out starting as early as Christmas Day.
Where to find these Bargains
Christmas day is a great time to keep an eye out for the online sales many retailers post, so timing is essential when trying to find the best bargains. This means you can buy that item for your tech lover (or let’s be honest, yourself..) at a great price, and be ahead of the game for the 2015 Holiday season. Popular tech items typically see the best bargains after the New Year and March. Websites and mobile apps, such as fatwallett.com are also becoming an amazing resource for smart, and savvy online shoppers. They work closely with popular retailers, such as Best Buy and Target, to publish store discounts, coupon codes and Cash Back rewards to its members. FatWalllet is also the place for you if you like to stack deals and coupons. The FatWallet forums have become a place for smart consumers to share and learn in this evolving online marketplace. Additionally, keeping on trend, their?Deal Hunter app?enables the mobile shopper to compare current bargains, and the new?FatWallet Express?allows for quick cash back activation while shopping online.
So, get going on your shopping, get the best bargains on those gifts for the tech-lover in your life, (or yourself) and look like a rock star this New Year!
So all the rage today is going to be about the iPhone 6. I know it, you know it, but fret not, ye who are not eligible for an upgrade on their iPhone 5S, it’s not all that bad. ?iOS 8 is here for all iPhone models. I am currently downloading it for my iPhone 5s, and I am boiling with excitement. Honestly the only difference that we are going to see between my old iPhone and the new iPhone 6 is the better camera, the fact that the screen is bigger, thinner and it has an optional 128 GB HDD. Other than that, my phone will still have the camera improvements, Quicktype keyboard, Health App, Spotlight and Mail improvements, a newly renovated Siri along with map improvements and of course the most important upgrade of all BUG FIXES. We here at Computer Geeks?have compiled a list of all of the iOS 8 upgrades for you to peruse and check out. Make sure you go on your phone and download the new iOS 8 and have a blast with it!
If you are thinking of buying the new iPhone 6 you can read our iPhone 6 launch blog?and check out all the cool features.
?iOS 8 Message improvements
o??? Smart editing tools to adjust light and color with a swipe
o??? Fine-tune controls?to adjust exposure, brightness, contrast, highlights, shadows and more
o??? Search by date, location, or album name or use smart suggestions
o??? Smart albums for Slo-mo videos, Bursts, Panoramas, and Time-lapse
o??? Third-party photo filters and editing tools supported directly in Photos
o??? Your photos and metadata from iPhoto will be migrated to Photos. Books, Journals and Slideshows will be converted to albums containing only photos.?iPhoto for iOS is not supported on devices running iOS 8 or later.
Camera improvements
o??? Time-lapse mode
o??? Capture timer
o??? Adjust exposure with a simple nudge to lighten or darken a photo prior to capture
o??? Burst mode on front facing camera on iPhone 5s
o??? Panorama for iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display
QuickType keyboard
o??? Predictive typing personalized to your writing style, and customized based on the recipient and the app
o??? Predictive is available in English (Australia, Canada, UK, US), French (Canada, France, Switzerland), German (Germany, Switzerland), Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Thai
o??? Third-party keyboard support
iOS 8 Health app
o??? New Health app with easy-to-read dashboard of health and fitness data
o??? Ability to share health data with apps to provide a more comprehensive way to manage your health and fitness
o??? Add a Medical ID with information about allergies, medical conditions, and more with the option to make accessible from the lock screen
o??? Available on iPhone and iPod touch
Family Sharing
o??? Share iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases with up to six members of your family.
o??? Pay for family purchases with a single credit card and approve purchases by children with Ask to Buy
o??? Easily share family photos, a family calendar, locations and more
iCloud Drive
o??? Store all your documents in iCloud and access them from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC
o??? Share the same file across multiple compatible apps
o??? Edits you make on one device update on all your devices automatically
Continuity features so your iPhone, iPad, and Mac work together more seamlessly
o??? Handoff to continue what you?re doing as you move from one device to another
o??? Make and receive calls and send and receive SMS or MMS messages on your iPad or Mac
o??? Instant Hotspot to automatically use your cellular connection to get online with your other devices
o??? AirDrop compatibility with OS X Yosemite
o??? Available on iPhone 5 or later, iPad (4th generation), iPad Air, iPad mini, and iPod touch (5th generation)
Spotlight improvements
o??? Displays suggestions from Wikipedia entries, places nearby, movies (US only), popular web sites, App Store, iTunes Store and iBooks Store
o??? Safari also supports Spotlight suggestions alongside Top Hit and search suggestions
o??? Supported for local languages in US, UK, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland
Mail improvements
o??? Easily jump between drafts and your inbox with a simple swipe down on the draft
o??? Intelligent suggestions for Calendar events and Contacts
o??? VIP threads
Siri improvements
o??? Improvements to responsiveness, reliability and accuracy
o??? ?Hey, Siri? option to initiate Siri using just your voice when your device is plugged in
o??? Streaming voice recognition
o??? Works with Shazam to answer ?What song is playing??
o??? Purchase content from iTunes Store
Safari improvements
o??? DuckDuckGo search engine support
o??? Private browsing per tab
o??? Subscribe to RSS feeds in Shared Links
o??? Use Camera to scan and enter credit card info
Maps improvements
o??? Flyover city tours
o??? Maps place cards in Phone and Contacts
o??? Inline map view and travel time notifications for Calendar events
App Store improvements
o??? New Explore tab for easier category browsing
o??? Top trending searches displayed in Search tab
o??? Scrolling search results
o??? App video previews
o??? Expanded data protection to Calendar, Contacts, Messages, Reminders, and Notes in addition to Mail and 3rd-party apps
o??? Per message S/MIME email controls
o??? Improved UI to make it easier for users to understand the remote management of their device
o??? Automatic reply for Exchange
o??? Free/busy lookup for Calendar invitations
o??? MDM Managed books can be automatically pushed to users
Accessibility?features
o??? Redesigned Zoom with one-handed control and multiple zoom modes including picture-in-picture
o??? Built-in timer and Touch ID support for Guided Access
o??? Speak Screen to read out contents of the screen via gesture or Siri command
o??? VoiceOver improvements including Alex voice option and Braille input support
o??? Multi-device support for MFi hearing aids to seamlessly switch from one paired iOS device to another
You heard it right ” Get a free year of LastPass Premium!”
If you are like me you have a ton of user names and passwords, on a lot of different sites. Using the same user name and password over and over is not only stupid, but it is dangerous and impossible. Every site has different naming rules for your passwords, must have 1 capital letter, needs a symbol, can’t have a symbol, needs a number and a capital letter, this list goes on for ages. Who can remember which variation of your user names and passwords that you used for 50 different web sites? LastPass can.
I was like most people, I knew my main password and the variations to an extent, and honestly relied on my browser to remember my password on a lot of things. But then disaster struck, I needed computer repair at my office in Boston. It was a bad hard drive and although data recovery was successful, my browser settings were reset and all my stored passwords were GONE.
I spoke to my boss about this and he immediately chimed in with “why aren’t you using LastPass?” To which I asked what it was, and he told me that LastPass stores all your passwords in 1 spot. All I would need to remember from now on was my LastPass password and I would never need to learn another password again. I was excited, but skeptical at the same time. What if someone hacked my LastPass account? Then they would have a smorgasbord of information from my student loans, to my credit cards even my bank account.
So I did my homework. ?LastPass has NEVER been hacked, NEVER. They are a security focused app, dedicated to securing passwords.?Furthermore, like any other service,?you should be using two-factor authentication with LastPass. If you do, someone with your master password still will not be able to access your account, even in the event of a breach. If you want to take it to the next level, you can?put together this awesome thumb drive-based system?and?enable these features?for extra two-factor security. LastPass is available for your desktop, and all smartphones and tablets! LastPass is also great for any types of businesses, like Law Firms or Dental Offices where you have a lot of different places you need to log in to.?
#1- You’ve Been Searching for Hours, but still can’t find the “Any” Key
Chances are if you think that the “any” key exists, when you get hit with a virus, you’re not going to be able to remove it yourself. And to the best of our knowledge here the “tab” key never dispenses soda, as awesome as that would be. If you are having problems setting up a new computer, Computer Geeks is the one to call!
#2 Someone told you “the files are IN the computer” so you smashed it open, only to find nothing..
The files in your computer shouldn’t be hard to find, if you are having issues with Data Recovery, I suggest calling Computer Geeks to get the files out, just a bit more gently.
#3 If you cannot describe your issue, chances are you can’t fix it
If this is you, then we can still help. The key to giving your Computer Geeks representative the information he needs, is to simply ask yourself “What does the computer do when you turn it on?” Do you get a blue screen? Does it say Hard Disk not found? or are you just not connecting to the internet? Whatever the issue, we’ve got you covered.
#4 You’re Knowledge of how your business network functions may not be at 100%
Business Networking is a complex thing. Something as simple as sharing a file with a coworker, rather than sharing it with everyone could be the difference between you having a job and not having one. Even though you get more phone numbers from it. Computer Geeks specializes in Business Networking and can make sure you and your staff are properly trained on all of the inner-workings.
#5 You want to buy a new computer, but don’t understand what all the techy stuff is.
Buying a new computer can be a scary thing. How much RAM do you need? What kind of Processor is best? How big of a Hard Drive do you need? If any of these questions alludes you Computer Geeks can help. Not only do we do any computer repair you may have, we also sell computers too. We can have a professional tech assess your computer needs and make sure you get into the right machine for you, at the right price.
Suppose you go to check your email. And you can’t because it’s blocked. It’s blocked because you provider stopped service. But you’re not the only one. You find out everyone in your neighborhood, and eventually, everyone in your nation can no longer use a certain email provider.
This isn’t a movie plot. It’s really happening in China. Yahoo email in China is now no more. An announcement was made in April, so at least people had time to prepare. But now, that announcement is a reality. Yahoo China users are now emailing through an alternative provider. You can thank Chinese online titan Alibaba. They want to wean people off Yahoo and jump on their local Aliyun?email service. Yahoo will sill be used?in China, but only as a search engine.
Maybe wean isn’t the right word. This sounds more like force. There’s a part of me that admires Alibaba for this move. No disrespect to Yahoo by any means, but this is why China’s economy is growing the way it is. They’re slowly, but surely getting off foreign products and onto their local services. Meanwhile, they’re making products and exporting it to everybody else. And it’s happening in technology too. Can we learn a lesson from this?
In this era of constant merges, like US Airways acquiring American Airlines, another one has happened. I’m not that happy about this one.?The app Mailbox, which helps me organize my email, is merging into Dropbox, an app that makes sharing pictures and files?easier. I like both these apps, so why am?I?not?happy?
It’s my fear that this merging is going to ruin the quality of both?Dropbox and Mailbox. I guess Dropbox has that power; this young company is worth $4?billion dollars, has 100 million users, and only 250 employees, most of whom look under 35. But according to Mailbox’s website, in just a?month’s time,??they’ve grown to process about 60 million emails…a day! I know what some of you are going to say…One company organizes email. The other one brings documents, files?and pictures anywhere. This should be a great merger, right?
Not so fast. Dropbox is going to have to drop approximately $100 million dollars in cash and assets to make this merger happen. This money could have been spent making Dropbox, the Dropbox they already have, better. It’s going to take a while for these companies to feel each other out. In this fast pace technological ‘get it done yesterday’ world, people need their emails and docs organized now. And I wonder how many jobs will be lost because of this merger, everybody’s tight lipped on that one. They’re always casualties to mergers. Am I being too paranoid about this? Is this really a good thing and I don’t see it? Am I wrong about this?
