Personal Technology Tips in Plain English
On The Go / Travel
Wake Up And Remember By The Coffee
Sep 17th
So I was headed into Starbucks for my Grande Pike Hazelnut Cold Soy and plopped down onto one of the stuffy armchairs to take a load off my heels.
I cracked open my laptop and started to wince because I didn’t remember if I used my Starbucks registered gift card within the last 30 days or not and I just paid cash.
Why is this important? Because you get up to 2 free hours of WiFi daily at any Starbucks if you just use a registered Starbucks prepaid card within the last 30 days. Otherwise, pay up pal.
But then it hit me and I remembered!
And in fact, there was no real need to remember, because my browser screen told me everything I needed to know right then and there:
YUP, Starbucks finally got rid of that last forced-loyalty obstacle and is giving away free one-click WiFi to anyone that seeks it out.
The connection is still on the AT&T Wireless network — which means my iPhone gets free coverage anyway there. But my laptop can now jump on the net instantly without any authentication nonsense.
Whew. One less thing between me and my emails.
BONUS TIP: When you’re out and about, Starbucks isn’t the only national chain to offer completely free WiFi these days. Check out McDonald’s too — you now have access to free AT&T WiFi at those locations as well. That’s not enough? How about Barnes & Nobles? More you say? Ok, stop by any Office Depot or Staples or even Panera Bread nationwide. Heck, you don’t even have to go into a store many times — like when you’re in the NYC metro area, you might find yourself in a free wifi zone in town. Enjoy!
QUESTION: What other national chains are offering free WiFi?
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.
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!