More Techie's Tool Box Videos Coming Up!

I have been getting numerous requests via our Facebook page asking when more "Techie's Toolbox" videos were going to drop on the YouTube Channel again...  

My response is officially, 'Coming Soon!  Very Soon!'. 

A little background on the 'Tool Box' videos: I started posting a couple videos highlighting tools and free/cheap software that can be a valuable asset to those in the IT field.  It doesn't matter if you are only repairing friend's or family computers in your spare time.  Or if you are a field technician needing a few more flexible options in your tool kit.

After making a couple of these videos, the response was somewhat small, and people seemed to want help with more Linux/Ubuntu based issues.  So we spun several series of videos based on Linux and Ubuntu.

Unfortunately, life has been pretty busy for a while and my attention had to shift off of the website and videos for a little while.  Now I'm shifting gears in my spare time and trying to start contributing again.  So hang on tight, we've got more good stuff up our sleeves.

Here is what I need to ask from my loyal readers/viewers: FEEDBACK.

I need to know what you folks would like me to cover?  Want help finding the proper tools to analyze hard disk space, cloud backup/storage services, backup solutions, antivirus support, remote support, etc.  Drop a line in the comments section below or swing by our Facebook page and leave a suggestion.  If you drop a suggestion, be sure to leave a username and I'll give you a shout out in the video.

Drop by our Facebook Page and leave a comment at: TechieSmarts on Facebook

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Launching New Weekly Video Series!

Later today we will be launching a new weekly video series entitled: "TechieSmarts Tech ToolBox"!  And it is exactly as it sounds!  I receive emails all the time asking for recommendations for tools, software, etc.  Some people ask what I prefer to use for certain circumstances or computer issues.  So what better way to answer that question, than to just discuss it?



So with the following goals in mind:
#1- Offer reliable and valid information pertaining to various pieces of software (most open source) that I use.
#2- Help other people discover the "magic behind the curtain" per say.
#3- Let my readers and viewers help me learn their favorite tools!

As you can see this will be a two way street.  As I hope to provide you (my loyal watchers/readers) with meaningful information on how to get things done; I also hope to better understand some of the things you guys like to use too.  So please, do me a favor and leave some comments suggesting tools you use or questions on things I use and I will incorporate those into the weekly episodes.  If you don't want to leave a public comment, feel free to email me at: help_me@techie.com

As a perk to our followers on the YouTube Channel each new episode will be posted there first for viewing.  After a day or two the video will become available here on our website as well.  So if you want to stay up to speed be sure to subscribe to the YouTube Channel or our website's RSS Feed!  When new videos go live we will send out a Tweet about it!

Look for the first episode to arrive today around 3:00p! @ TechieSmarts on YouTube

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Manually Setup a Dual Boot with Ubuntu & Windows 7

This video is a response to some questions I have recently received concerning setting up a dual boot system.  I have covered this topic in two other videos/blog posts.  However, both of those videos approached this goal by two different methods as does this video.  Previously we setup our dual boot with 'Wubi' and by using the 'Side-by-Side Install' method.  But what happens if you are using an older Ubuntu Live CD or a different Linux Distro entirely?  Those options may not necessarily work for you.  In this case you'll need to manually setup the partitions and let Ubuntu install to a new, empty partition.  So how do we do this?

There are a few things you need to do first.  And these are good things to do even when setting up your dual boot via the ways we have already covered.
#1- Defrag your computer.
Why? Easy! When you use your computer on a daily basis files and data become fragmented.  This simply means that the data is becoming somewhat scattered across the free space of your hard drive.  This adversly effects your hard drive in that it may slow down read/write times of your drive in relation to your computing tasks and it can take up excess hard drive space.

By running a defrag on your hard drive, a lot of this fragmentation will be cleaned up.  So in short, even if you have no plans to dual boot; running a defrag every once in a while is still a good idea.

#2- You'll more than likely want to have Windows installed first. The installation of GRUB tends to play along better if it can see Windows first.

#3- If your Windows install isn't a freshly installed version, you will want to backup any important data on your Windows machine.  Just in case things go south or you accidentally format the wrong partition, etc.  Believe me, things like this can happen if you're not cautious during these installs.

If you're good to go with the precautions mentioned above, then follow along with the video:





Manually Setup an Ubuntu-Windows 7 Dual Boot

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As always thank you for watching and be sure to swing by our YouTube Channel and Subscribe.  That way you can stay up to date whenever we add new content!
http://www.youtube.com/techiesmarts

You can also follow me on Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/techiesmarts

Or you can find me on Facebook & Google+!
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/qwpd4i
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If you have any questions or comments feel free to drop us a comment below or on any of the social networks we use.  You can also email me at:
help_me@techie.com

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How fast will Ice Cream Sandwhich be Adopted?

This is a common question I keep seeing pop up across the web over the last couple of days.  So here is my small opinion on the matter.  Like every other Android release for any device already on the market, user's are forced to wait for the update to rollout to their devices.  Some manufacturers are better at this than others.  So obviously the adoption rate of Ice Cream Sandwhich; at least as far as existing devices out into the wild are concerned, will solely rely upon how fast smartphone and tablet manufacturers take to go through it and optimize it for their devices.  And no doubt add their own mix of bloatware to the update prior to sending it out to customer's hardware.  And as far as manufacturers are concerned they will obviously place the majority of their attention on their new products and filter the update to existing devices once that is done.

If manufacturers made it easier and more accessible to manually update our devices then you would see a much faster adoption rate for every future Android release.  But I definitely don't foresee that ever happening.  Just some food for thought.

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So what is the Honeycomb 3.2 Update for the Acer Iconia a500 good for?

So, as mentioned in a previous post; I received the Honeycomb 3.2 OTA Update last night on my stock Acer Iconia a500.  It weighed in a little over 350MB's, and took four attempts to download before completing successfully.

One of the big questions with every Honeycomb Update is: 'What does it do/change/fix?'

Apparently, there isn't too much significant included in the update.  It improves SD and USB notifications when attaching these devices, smoother scrolling, and proper stretching/zooming for apps designed for smaller screens (the a500 sports a 10.1 inch screen).  So far, that seems to be about it.

I have one recommendation for Google or Acer concerning Honeycomb Updates: How about including a change notice with the Update Dialog when the device gets prompted for the new OTA Updates?  Theoretically, it should be fairly easy, it could be handled the same way permissions are displayed prior to installing a new app or .apk file.  Right now we just get to see the name of the update and what the download size is.  A little more info would be nice, just a thought.

For those who root or run ROM'd versions of the Acer Iconia a500; you better hold off on updating (as of this writing) since there currently isn't a way to root Honeycomb 3.2 on the Iconia yet.  And you will loose your custom ROM should you apply the OTA 3.2 upgrade.

And it appears that Netflix still isn't supported on the Iconia a500 (as we guessed).

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