Personal Technology Tips in Plain English
On The Go / Travel
17 Must-Know Habits of iPhone Super-Users That Save And Extend Battery Life
Aug 31st
If you’re an iPhone 4 power user like me by the time lunch-time comes around, you start to get concerned about just how much longer you can last without an outlet and phone charger. . .
While the battery in the iPhone 4 far surpasses the older generation models supposedly, I find that I use my iPhone so much now that it has so many features (and apps!). So seriously, there are times where I’m done to 20% battery life by lunch time!
How do you keep your iPhone charged to extend the battery life when you’re out and about?
Well, I checked with a bunch of self-proclaimed iPhone gurus that I’ve connected with in the recent past.
Check out some of these tips below. Hope you find some new ideas to save the battery on the iPhone: Read the rest of this entry »
How To Get Free Access to 3 WiFi Hotspot Networks
Aug 12th
Last time, I blogged about getting access to Comcast’s WiFi hotspot network for free. It’s a little known secret that the marketing department over at the cable internet company hasn’t really pushed for some reason.
But today, I found out that there’s more to the story!
Comcast customers now get free access to two other cable internet wifi networks, completely free…and vice versa.
If you are a Comcast Internet customer like me, all you have to do is log onto one of the three wifi networks: xfinitiwifi, optimumwifi or timewarnercablewifi with your comcast email address and password like you do with your own Comcast wifi network
If you like Free, this is like FREE TIMES THREE.
If you don’t believe me, just look-up the coverage map for Optimum Online’s WiFi network and Time Warner see for yourself!
This is a huge win especially those that live in the tri-state New York City area since each company dominates different geographies around the City. So now when you travel about the region, you are most probably near either a Starbucks or McDonalds — or one of the three major wifi cable company wifi networks — You’re covered!
Check out this quick video that shares the details of the wifi network collaboration, worthy of to be called the real triple-play deal!
QUESTION: IS IT TRUE? DO YOU SEE ANY OF THE THREE WIFI HOTSPOTS IN YOUR AREA? LEAVE A MESSAGE TO SHARE THE RESULTS IN YOUR AREA!
How To Get Free WiFi Hotspot Access If You Are A Comcast Internet Customer
Aug 10th
Ever been out and about wishing you had a wifi connection?
Of course you have!
Instead of trolling for open wifi signals, you might want to consider a more reliable solution. Of course, you could sign-up for Boingo, Wayport or other WiFi networks, but if you are a Comcast Hispeed Internet Customer (randomly branded Xfinity recently to confuse customers as much as possible of course), you might want to check out this option before you go out and spend any more money.
I recently found out that I can get access to a free WiFi hotspot roaming account just because I’m a Comcast customer — and so can you!
In fact, through this largely unpromoted feature of Comcast Internet accounts, you already have it! There’s no need to turn anything on, upgrade or change anything on your account.
If you take a look at the coverage map of NYC and the Tri-State Area, you’ll see that there are TONS of Free WiFi Hotspots available for you to connect to in almost any general vicinity.
Check out the quick video blog update below which I recorded today and uploaded using the free WiFi connection that details how to get free WiFi access across town and while traveling:
Read the rest of this entry »
DIY Passport Photos for $0.19
May 22nd
If time flies when you’re having fun, I must be having a heck of a time.
It’s been 10 years already, and now it’s time to renew my passport.
In the past you would go to a photo booth or a local pharmacy photo center and get a passport photo made up for 10 bucks or so for the duplicate photos you need to submit with your US Passport Application at the USPS post office or through the mail.
But these days, you don’t have to cough up that much money to get the photos done with all the digital magic we have available at our fingertips.
Here’s how I got my required duplicate passport photos created and printed for a mere $0.19. You can too!
First, I got out my digital camera and computer and went to work (well, it wasn’t really much work at all actually).
While in the past I used manual online passport photo generators to create the photo image, this time, I relied on a fully automated face-detection enabled website to properly crop the headshots for me.
IDphoto4You.com does it all. Just upload a decent headshot with enough background to play with and it automatically crops the photo and creates a single 4×6 photo file for you to download and bring to the photo store. They even have options so that you can have it sent online to get printed quickly for you as well.
I opted not to print out the photo at home on my photo printer and instead wanted a “real” photo that came out of a photo processing machine at Walgreens. $0.19 and the single 4×6 has the required two copies of the photo on one photo sheet.
It won’t be long till I get my passport back I hope – or at least track. . .
QUESTION: HOW MANY COUNTRIES HAVE YOU TRAVELED TO IN TOTAL?
Is Your Laptop Worth Pampering?
Mar 16th
AmazonI guess it was only natural.
We do live in an age where luxury products are being applied to anything that moves.
Are laptops considered in the set of “things that move” that need to be pampered?
I wonder if it really qualifies to be treated like a pampered travel guest or not.
Anyway, last week, I saw one of these for the first time.
And soon thereafter, I have been seeing them pop up in various places. Just today, I saw another 3 people using these accessories to live a pampered lifestyle. . .
Is this a new fad? Or was it totally random that I’ve never seen one in my life before and all of a sudden I see 4 in 2 weeks?
Supposedly, this item is pretty functional, (although it is debatable just how critical it is to carry one around):
- It protects the lcd screen from cracking if you accidentally put too much pressure on the laptop when it is closed — if you step on your laptop, if you put it into a backpack and stuff it with books, etc.
- The laptop keyboard cloth blanket would also prevent your fingerprint smudges from transferring from the keyboard to the screen every time you close your laptop up. If you notice, your screen is probably in need of a good wipe with one of those eyeglass microfiber clothes right now. You can keep a crystal-clear screen by using this keyboard cloth.
- If you wear glasses, you’ll always have clean, clear vision.
- It removes fingerprint oils residue from the keyboard passively every time you pack up. You’ll reduce the erosion on the keyboard keys so that they don’t become “shiny” in certain spots or have the letters of the keyboard wear off — all because of the acidic oil fingerprints you leave behind each time you type away.
I’m still pondering about this additional accessory you need to keep track of whenever you pull out your laptop.
Do you have a laptop keyboard blanket? Tell me about your experience! Would you pay again for another one if you had to do it over again? Please leave a comment below.
First Look: Twitter Peek Dedicated Tweeting Device
Mar 10th
Seems like the Twitterverse is expanding at break neck speed these days.
If you’re tweeting from your cell phone using text messaging, most likely you’re on an unlimited texting plan. Or so we hope.
Tweeting is fun, and it sure is convenient to tweet on the run via your phone.
BUT if you’re anywhere close to being an ubertweeter, or just someone that has come to embrace the Tweetworld, tweeting via text messaging ain’t going to be enough.
You need something that can store and easily shuffle through the hundreds of tweets you received daily. You’d also need a quick way to scan your own @ messages and DM (direct messages) received via Twitter so that you could respond.
Enter the Peek Inc’s Twitter Peek device. Billed as the world’s first (and only so far) dedicated Twitter device, it is a simple do-on-thing-only device. And did we mention there’s no contract, or expensive billing plans either? They even have a lifetime service plan so you can forget about costs for the rest of your life!
Here’s a first look at the product I received from Peek Inc recently to review for you here on essistme.com. Over the next weeks you’ll hopefully see more of the TwitterPeek as I tweet with it and find out what it’s good at . . . and NOT.
I’m looking forward to trying out this device since I get A LOT of Tweets on just one of my accounts and have lots of interaction with the thousands of tweeps on my following/follower lists.
GOT A TWITTER PEEK? Leave a comment below with your own thoughts about the device and share your experience.
I love tech, gadgets and the web. Hope you pick-up a useful tip or two here today that helps you use technology to your advantage! Better yet, why not share your own expertise in a comment on a post today to help the other readers that land here for answers!