Geek Choice would like to take this time to wish all of you and your families a Merry Christmas! We hope all is well and everyone stays safe this holiday. Lets hope that Santa was nice and got you a fancy new tech gadget, or a new computer! If you are having any issues with your new technology device feel free to call us. Our call center is open all day today and we are available for service calls starting Friday the 26th!
We’d also like to thank all of you out there that have supported our business and our staff throughout the years that you have been great, loyal customers. It has been an honor and a privilege servicing the Beacon Hill and Boston community every day for the last 18 years! We look forward to a great new year in 2015, but for now, let me summarize some of the new, and old services Geek Choice can provide for you
So I wanted to do something funny for you guys on Xmas and give you the 12 Days of Geek Christmas. This is an assortment of “gifts” our customers give to us throughout the year. I’m going to fill it with lovely pictures, and memes, and just overall fun things that should put a smile on your faces for the Holidays!
On the 12th Day of Geek Christmas my customer gave to me, 12 Trojan Viruses!
Please don’t trust him. Never open something when you don’t know what it is, or else they’ll getcha.
Here at Geek Choice we are the nation’s leader in Dental IT Support, and there are days where everything goes haywire, and Dentists panic, till they call us!
Another thing we have all done, whether we dropped it, kicked it, stepped on it or just closed it real hard when there was something on the keyboard, we all need laptop screen repair.
http://youtu.be/1gyzSdGjJU8
On the 4th Day of Geek Christmas my customer gave to me, 4 water damaged laptops
On the 3rd Day of Geek Christmas my customer gave to me, 3 Paper Jams
?Tis the seasons to be traveling ? We all know that traveling, whether or not it is for business or pleasure, can be stressful. The packing, the preparations at home to be sure all the loose ends are sorted out before going away, and keeping organized, are challenging when we are on the go. NOT ANYMORE!
Your smart phone or tablet has found a way for us to have the stress free travel with Apps that will make our lives a little easier on the home and on the business front while traveling. The old saying, ?There?s an App for that,? certainly rings true in today?s day and age. There are Apps for our phones and tablets that help us secure a car at our hotel, house, or apartment right from the convenience of our devices, Apps that will virtually eliminate roaming charges when we are overseas, and there are Apps that sync all of our calendars, to-do lists, and reminders. Did I mention that they are FREE? Below are some very cool Apps for the tech savvy traveler on-the-go.
Best Stress Free Travel Apps
UBER is an up and coming, and very popular App for today?s traveler. Download the free App, and you can hail a cab from the convenience of your Hotel, office, apartment, or home. Your location is saved, and UBER will quickly send the nearest car. No cash? No problem. Tip and fare are automatically charged to your debit or credit card.
Wi-Fi Finder is one useful little gem while on the road. With all of the data restrictions on most cell phone providers, one often resorts to feverishly searching for a hot spot. Not a problem if you download Wi-Fi Finder. This App finds a local hot spit worldwide.
Voxox is a must have for the business traveler. Thus App eliminates, or drastically reduces, the roaming charges one incurs while on the road overseas. All you need is a hot spot ? don?t forget Wi-Fi Finder above to help you in that department. With this, you get a free Voxox number to use worldwide, the ability to e-fax all of those important work documents, language translation and the ever so convenient voicemail transcription. How can you beat that, and it?s all FREE!
Happy stress free travel all you techies. Your phone or tablet has you covered while you are away.
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!
This is the time of year to look back and see what the past 12 months or so have brought us. Let’s take it a step further. Let’s look at the top websites…of the last 18 years.
In 1996, the top five websites were AOL, Webcrawler, Yahoo, Netscape, and Infoseek. AOL and Yahoo had the number one and two spot from 1996-2000. Google doesn’t even make the top five until 2002. That year, AOL, MSN, Yahoo, and Ebay were at the top. Google has been in top five every year ever since. And then there’s Facebook. When it started in the mid-2000s, it didn’t even crack the top 20. In fact, everybody was in love with My Space. But in 2010, Facebook finally made the top five and has been there ever since. The 2014 list haven’t come out yet. But here’s the 2013 top five list: Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and AOL.
What do I say then? Like all things, web fads come and go. When was the last time you heard of Webcrawler, Netscape, or Infoseek? It’s been a long time for me, too. But some, like Yahoo and America Online/AOL, have been at or near the top every year. And despite some of the problems of the last few ?years, Yahoo still holds his popularity. What do you think will make the top five most popular websites in 2014?
A Bitcoin promoter is sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the ‘Silk Road’ money laundering scheme. The promoter’s name is Charlie Shrem. Despite Mr. Shrem’s pleas to the judge that he needed to remain free, the federal court didn’t give in.?Shrem was given an opportunity to speak to the court. He said, “The bitcoin community, they?re scared and there is no money laundering?going on any more. They?re terrified. Bitcoin is my baby…”. But in this Manhattan, New York court, prosecutors didn’t buy the act that Silk Road was some youthful accounting mistake. The judge didn’t buy it either. Shrem was also ordered to pay over $1 million back. The judge in this case said Mr. Shrem knew exactly what he was doing and was willfully involved and such serious crimes required prison time.
Despite this tragic end, it could have been worse. Charlie Shrem was looking at as much as six years. Bitcoin is only a fraction of what it once was, but there is still some life there. I’m not suggesting investing in it, but I don’t think Bitcoin is dead either. I hope they’ve learned and can move on. Will you be investing in Bitcoin?
The Sony hacking scandal and ramifications are going nowhere in a hurry. In fact, it’s opening cans of worms and re-starting rivalries everywhere. One of those rivalries is Google vs MPAA.
For years, Google and the Motion Picture Association of America have been at each other throats, especially over piracy issues. They’ve even fought each other in public. Earlier this month, a report revealed the MPAA bringing website blocking to the US. Website blocking is unpopular with Google, and most other people, for that matter. They even called on Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood (whose a staunch supporter of SOPA, Stop Online Piracy Act) to attack Google. This attacking letter painted Google as some kind of big bad ‘Goliath’. After a week of silence, Google executives struck back, reminding MPAA and the world that millions of Americans signed petitions and took to the streets to protest the SOPA act, in fears that it would lead to censorship. They also criticized MPAA of basically using a state politician to do their work. The MPAA didn’t go out quietly. They called Google portraying themselves as free speech defenders ‘shameful’.
Why do I bring this up? Because I think of where the MPAA and SOPA supporters stood this week. I don’t remember one MPAA executive or representative even try to talk Sony or the major theater franchises out of cancelling The Interview. I don’t remember Attorney General Hood or any other SOPA supporters remind Sony how they were giving in to terrorist hackers. I don’t know how far or long this war of words between Google and MPAA is going to go, but something tells me it’s not going to end quickly or very peacefully. But you would think MPAA would get it after millions of people showed them how unpopular this legislation is. What other old wounds and rivalries will the Sony hacking scandal open up?
Yesterday I talked about the cancelling of New York’s premier of the movie The Interview. Then Carmike theaters pulled the plug. In the 20 some hours since I wrote that blog, the situation has gotten a lot worse. The final score: tyranny 1, freedom 0.
As most of you probably know by now,the Sony movie house and all the major theater chains have pulled The Interview. That means on Christmas Day, you will not be able to see this movie anywhere in the US. You can thank Guardians of Peace for this. They made threats of a 9/11 level event ?and everyone got so cautions that they all pulled the plug, despite Department of Homeland Security’s insistence these threats aren’t even credible. Though some intelligence agents believe North Korea is involved behind the hacking, there is no hard evidence to prove this. But Sony went further: they removed The Interview from their website. ?Some suggest Sony should put it on DVDs and on streaming sites like Netflix. But Sony says they have,”No further release plans”. Nonetheless, The Interview is expected to be released in international markets starting in late January 2015.
What more is there to say? This is the first time, well, at least in my lifetime, that a movie has been cut because of international political concerns. If someone knows of a recent incident like this, let us know about it. So we’re looking at world history here, and it’s not good. Remember the early 2000s, when everyone said phrases like: “We won’t negotiate with terrorist”, “We won’t surrender to terrorist”, and “We won’t cave in to terrorist.” With this move that Sony did, and the movie theaters did, they negotiated, surrendered, and caved in. It made our whole nation looks weak. And there’s no hard evidence North Korea is behind this. For all we know, these could be teenagers in some basement in rural Mississippi. How foolish would these mega conglomerates look if they surrendered to a bunch of teenage hackers? ?And when you open the door for censorship like this, where do you stop?
Remember the hacking group called Guardians of Peace? They’re the ones who started the Sony hacking scandal a few weeks ago. Now, they’re making terror threats so severe that New York and Carmike theaters are cancelling upcoming movie The Interview.
The Interview premiere in New York City was canceled thanks to a 9/11 level threat issued by hack group Guardians of Peace. Carmike Cinemas, one of the largest theater chains in the US, are pulling The Interview from all 278 of their theaters. Los Angeles and other major cities still plan on showing the film. The message sent by Guardians of Peace says anyone living near a theater showing The Interview should leave their home and also said, “The world will be full of fear.” It’s believed that the North Korean government is behind the hacks and messages, but they vehemently deny it. The Dept. of Homeland Security says there is no credible threat posing for any theater. ?The Interview stars James Franco and Seth Rogen as two journalist called on to interview, then assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
This is a sad day for American freedom itself. American philosopher Benjamin Franklin used to say, “Those who give up liberty for security deserve neither liberty nor security“. Even Homeland Security said there’s no credible threat. They could have stepped up security and if there was a hard, credible threat to a certain theater, then cancel it for that local theater. Don’t cancel it for everybody! This was a bad move on the part of Carmike Cinemas and everyone else who approved this decision. They just gave Guardians of Peace (interesting they call themselves that when they’re making these kinds of threats) exactly what they wanted. ?They caved into their wants. Who is this group anyway? Are they really from North Korea? Are they from another nation that doesn’t particularly like us? Or are these high school or college kids in some dorm or basement? Don’t you think it’s time to find out who these Guardians of Peace are?
The question that we go through every holiday season, “what do I get the tech guy for Christmas?” It’s not always clear what the hottest new gadgets are, and it’s nice to have a little help every now and then. So we here at Geek Choice have decided to use our Geeky expertise and give you some suggestions. Because we are always here to help when you need us!
Top 10 tech gifts
10. UE Boom
The UE Boom is a great outdoor speaker to get as a tech gift. It’s Acoustic Skin with Plasma coating, makes it both stain and water resistant. Which means you can actually wash it when the outdoors has an unfortunate accident on it. the UE Boom is compact, and durable, with Bluetooth and 15 hours of battery life! It also has speakerphone capabilities and if you buy a second speaker you can make a wireless pair of true stereo speakers by using the UE Boom App for both Android and iOS devices!
Price: $229.39
9. GoPro Hero 4 Silver
For its latest Silver edition, GoPro seems to have taken the specs of 2013’s Hero3+ Black edition, added new features like HiLight Tagging so you can quickly find that cool thing that happened, improved low-light performance and, perhaps most importantly, a touchscreen on back! This is a great on the go camera for the price, making it much more affordable than the Black edition, without a huge drop off in performance.
Price: $399.99
?8. Samsung Galaxy Note 4
Another great tech gift is the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. And Before you Apple users blow me up with hate comments, read the whole blog first. The first smartphone to carry Qualcomm’s fastest 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor and quick-charging technology, the Galaxy Note 4 is also the only one of its kind to give you a stylus for writing and multitasking. Like many phones these days, it’s crammed with a 1,440p quad-HD screen and a high-performing camera that uses optical image stabilization. With its faux-leather backing, this is one device that really comes together. For Android users this is THE PHONE you want, Large screen, sleek design and super fast!
7. Xbox One
Talk about a tech gift that your geek will love, here it is. THE XBOX ONE. The Ultimate gamer experience, when you want the best in graphics and online gameplay, you have to go with Xbox One. The PS4 may be better for solo gaming, but in today’s gaming world, we don’t just want to kill AI over and over. We want to destroy someone on the other end of the headset and then dance on his lifeless body. And now Microsoft has dropped the price and promised us more games in 2015 which will be a treat. Also the Xbox One allows you to integrate it fully with your home entertainment center and control everything by voice, which comes in handy when your remote decides to walk away and hide under the couch
Price: $349.00
6. Vizio E0i-B Series
The models of the Vizio E series equipped with local dimming deliver superb picture quality for a very affordable price. The image evinces deep black levels with little to no blooming and great bright-room performance, and it provides for plenty of adjustments. The Smart TV component combines ample content with a simple design. With picture quality that outdoes that of numerous more-expensive TVs, Vizio’s E series likely represents the best value of 2014.
Price: $528.99
5. Apple iPad Air 2
Apple’s formula for success includes a high regard for design. The Apple iPad Air 2 continues a legacy of high-end aesthetics that help propel the tablet’s popularity. From gaming to steaming movies and TV Shows this device does it all
If you’re already wrapped into the Apple ecosystem, the iPad is meant to easily sync with your digital content, and if a slimmer design isn’t enough to appease those looking to upgrade, Apple also designed a speedy new processor just for the iPad Air 2.
Price: $499.99
4. FitBit Charge
The Fitbit charge is for those runners and health nuts in your life, that also love technology to take their fitness to the next level. *spoiler alert* I actually bought one for my wife for Christmas this year. The FitBit Charge Tracks steps, distance, calories burned, floors climbed, active minutes and sleep. It even includes Includes Caller ID.
Price: $129.95
3. Apple iPhone 6 Plus
Here it is Apple lovers your beloved iPhone 6 Plus. I have done an extensive review of this which you can check out HERE. This phone has all the bells and whistles, from a beautiful display, to a superfast processor, and if you can find one in the stores it would make the perfect tech gift for the geek in your life.
Price Starting at: $199
2. Death Star Bluetooth Speaker
Meet the iHome Death Star Bluetooth Speaker. When you’re not using it, it’s a lovely c. 4 1/2″ diameter Death Star on an acrylic stand. When you are using it, it’s a wireless speaker with one-touch connectivity to your Bluetooth device. Oh, and did we mention it also lights up? Yup. It can also play music from devices with a standard 3.5mm audio out jack (if it has a standard headphone jack, you’re good). Unfortunately, the model we got does not include Concave Dish Composite Beam Superlaser, but you know, them’s the breaks.
Price: $69.99
Star Trek Phaser Remote Replica
Sometimes after a long week filled with landing parties and surprise Klingons, you just want to prop your boots up and watch a little mindless television. Or maybe you’re ready to catch the weekly adventures of those wacky kids on-board the U.S.S. Enterprise. What sort of mischief will Captain Kirk get into this week? Aim that phaser at the TV and…. pew pew pew!
This ST:TOS Phaser Remote lets you harmlessly blast your home entertainment system into submission. Recreated from 3D laser scans of the last known screen-used hero prop, it looks good, but it’s also a fully-functioning programmable infrared remote control. And when we say “phaser” we aren’t getting away with just giving you the Phaser I. Nope. It does include the Phaser I which functions as a standalone gesture-based universal remote control but also slots into its Phaser II pistol-grip base, which provides additional controls. You can store up to 36 programmable gestures: plenty to control all of your Earth-based entertainment equipment. The combined unit (Type I and Type II together) features a wide range of settings and beam strengths, including different Phaser firing sounds (including Phaser Overload sequence) and authentic Starship Enterprise sounds.
Just be sure you’re not wearing a red shirt while aiming this at your TV set. We’re pretty sure that voids the warranty.
