We’re all waiting eagerly for an untethered jailbreak of iOS 5, and word is that it’s around the corner, but some ambitious scammers are out and about with a promise of an untethered jailbreak right now for a measly $25. Perhaps that price might be worth paying for a few impatient jailbreakers, but their solution—labeled FastRa1n—is just a fake.

William –

Step 2: Pick your carrier, not all carriers are created equal. Service is the backbone of any good phone, after all what good is a phone if it will not work. Do a little research what carrier works best where you live, and travel.
Step 3: Do you need a smart phone? Sure Smart Phones are great but they are not for everyone. There is typically an extra charge for the data portion of the smart phone, and if all you want to do is Text and Talk on a phone, they may not be for you, and this will decrease your choices to a handful of handsets.

Step 4: what are the features that you want in your new phone, for most of us, a phone needs to last eighteen to twenty four months. So I say don’t short change yourself, or you may end up regretting it later. You can pick the screen size, If there is a keyboard or not, speed of the phone, and the speed of the internet.

Step 5: Do Some comparing, By now you have you choices down to about five phones, Now do some looking around, and check the reviews for the handsets you are looking into. After all you don’t want to buy a phone that is plagued with problems. Amazon is a great place for reviews.

Step 6: Is the most important, Make the purchase and love your new phone. Most retailers have a fifteen to thirty day return policy, if the phone is not everything you think it should be then return it and get one that will be. After all, the phone will be by your side for the next two years.

As you can see if you take the time to follow these steps you will find that buying a new phone cannot only be stress free but also fun. By taking your time in selecting a phone not only will you not fall into the trap of following the sales person around the store, but also the choice you make will be your own.



Eric Salce
Gem State Computers

BIG Launcher

Big easy to read and touch button or simply A more simplified interface for users who want less..

it can be found on the Android Market

Looking for more useful Android Apps and tips? Checkout Android App Addicts on the Podnutz Network

“It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.

This means no change: one website, one account, one password…in other words, no Qwikster.

While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.

We’re constantly improving our streaming selection. We’ve recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax. Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we’ve added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS.

We value you as a member, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get your movies & TV shows.

Respectfully,

The Netflix Team”



Well, I’m glad they got it out of their system… Now back to the show

William Tidwell -Gem State Computers

Hello All

     I have had the un-fun experience of trying to make a apple into a orange this past week. I had a concept in my head of what I was wanting a website to look like and I kept telling myself I can make a simple WordPress site look like it. I am not extremely dumb or a slow fellow but boy I felt like I was after 2+ hours of banging my fat fingers on my keyboard.

     I truly believe and agree WordPress is one of the most simple solutions but I am always reminded when I forget some things are on opposite ends of a un bendable pole and you can only have/use one end at a time. When it comes to a CMS (content management system) for websites it is either simple or setup and use (aka easy) or it is wide open to changes of format, structure and layout (aka hard)

     And I made the mistake of thinking I could hammer a square peg into a round hole and I failed, I failed hard, so it looks like I am going to uninstall WordPress from my site and go with another CMS system, of which the choices are great.

     I could use ohh a hundred or so other PHP/MySQL based CMS’s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_content_management_systems#PHP I believe I am going to use Drupal, I honestly believe it has the most to offer someone on my level, someone who understands code but is not a coder, someone who understands basic plug architecture and someone who really (no realllly) couldn’t design a proper layout to a site to save my life.

     I have used Drupal 2-3 times before and sure I had painful experiences but the Drupal community is vast and rich with knowledge, so finding solutions is possible just sometimes you have to do a little digging and if you ever have to get into a file on your server and do some editing it always seems to be very well documented.

     So in the end I do believe WordPress is a great product and can be the backend on great sites, I just think if you have a concept that looks “too different” from the basic theme you either have to become a php/theme/Wordpress hacker or dig into your pockets and pay a site/service to step in and do the dirty work

….. now if I could only decide on a good theme …. I might go with this one http://demo.symphonythemes.com/index.php?theme=conch
–
Thanks

Stephen McLaughlin

www.DoorToDoorGeek.com
www.LinuxBasix.com
www.Podnutz.com/LinuxForTheRestOfUs
www.Podnutz.com/AndroidAppAddicts
www.PodBuntu.com
www.LinuxForTheRestOfUs.com

We will miss you Mr. Jobs…

William Tidwell –

     We have all been there. You knock your iPod of the counter into the dogs water, your cell phone ends up in the pool thanks to a friendly toddler, or coffee is spilled in your laptop.

     Now what? That depends on the device. Follow the steps below to minimize your chances of damage to your device.

     Immediately pull the battery. Can’t get to the battery? Turn it off and get it to someone who can take it apart. DO NOT turn it back on, charge it, or try to use it!! Pull the device apart as much as you can and set the individual parts in rice or some other dry grain to help pull the moisture out of it. DO NOT try and dry it with a compressor or hair dryer this will only force the liquid deeper into the device. DO NOT put it in an oven or under a heat lamp. The heat will only speed up the corrosion or your electronics. Do flip it upside down so it can drain out the same way it got in.

     The main thing is to have a plan and to know how and what to do if your device(s) get wet/immersed. Learn how to get the batteries out. Take off your phone case and put it back on a couple of times. It can be harder than you think, and those things trap water really well…



Liam Tidwell – LiamTek
Longview, Texas
903 686 0200

Liam Tidwell is a Laptop & Cell Phone repair technician in Longview, Texas with over 11 years experience in IT and owns two Computer Repair Businesses. Liam can be found on Nutz@Night almost every Thursday night working hard to bring you the LULZ.

     Welcome to my Outlook FYI series of blogs. We will be covering these topics in a series as there is just way too much information to handle in one blog. I felt that these FYI’s were important to discuss because so many people use Outlook every day, for so many things. And Outlook is just not for email anymore. I also apologize, there are no “How to” in my blogs, just FYI’s. This blog will just explain things hopefully better for you to understand.

     Many of us use Outlook in our everyday computing needs. It’s a wonderful tool, but very misunderstood by the common user. And maybe by some not so common people. Many of us are really married to it and I am all for it because it’s been my favorite software program since 2000, but it can be tricky and problematic.

Topic covered today
PST-General FYI

     Last weekend one of my clients took a computer to a “big box” place to buy a new computer and in a panic, had them do a data back up from his old computer to get the files quickly. When he got his computer back, he asked many times about the Outlook files and they told him, “We couldn’t get those files, they were corrupted”. He panics and comes back to us, where we find his files in no time flat. Why is that? Because we know where Microsoft hides the PST files, their technician must not have known. Years of data, calendar appointments, tasks, contacts, emails, archives…all could have been gone in one fast “Nope” type answer. Let me explain…

By default, when you set up Outlook for the first time, it creates what is called a PST (personal storage). You usually complete a set up wizard, fill in all of your email account information and happy days, email is back and running again! Email is working fine, but…Houston, we have a problem.

     Again by default, the Outlook PST file on older computers that have XP and Windows Vista are set up in a hidden folder (not in Windows 7, it’s in the Documents folder now), way deep in some folders that are not shown by default. Windows says “click here to show hidden files” the average person would never think of going to find. Nor do they really make it easy to find unless you know how to navigate around the Outlook properties and settings. To be honest, very few of my clients know where this file is or know it exists.

     So you may ask, why should you need to know where that PST is? Because it stores everything you do in Outlook. If you are using Pop3 for email, that’s where your email probably is being downloaded. Using the calendar? That’s where your calendar is. Contacts, Tasks, Auto-fill name, archive files….Yep, all there and hidden. And please never assume your emails are being kept on your server because that is not the truth in many cases either. (That will be our topic next Wednesday though, email).

     I think of Outlook like this, it’s like buying a house but you don’t know where the furnace is. You know you have heat and can manage the thermostat…but don’t know where the furnace really is. Could you imagine that? Buying a house with no furnace, then one day you notice something is wrong and you can’t find the furnace at all. But you Google it and find the house builders buried your furnace underneath your basement. That is what Microsoft does with your default PST, hides it under the basement pretty much. And when you find the furnace, let’s say you can’t get it out of the basement because the house builders never told you how to get in and find it nor do they allow you to just open that basement door and see your furnace. You can see the outside of it, but you can’t see the pilot light to know its running. Your PST is in those deep hidden folders and you can’t just double click them to open them. You must open them through two or three special ways and the common person, again…doesn’t know how to do this. (I hope I didn’t lose you on the furnance comparison, but it’s the only thing that I could think of this am!)

     Whenever I am remoted into a client’s machine and they are missing an archive folder, I go and find it open it. Most times I get this, “How did you do that”. Such a mystery that Microsoft really didn’t need to do to people.

To close, today’s topic of the infamous Outlook PST file was a just a start of my series of Outlook blogs. I will try to keep up with these every Wed and will continue to post in this blog, so favorite it and come back next week! Please share with your friends on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Newsletters, etc. If you or a loved one are in a need of an Outlook intervention (haha), or just need assistance, I am the Outlook gal here at Call That Girl and I know it well. Let me help you and quickly!

     When your Outlook is not playing well… Googling repairs is fine and I recommend you do that to learn, but when it comes to actually repairing it, call your tech to fix it right. They can help you get back to work fast..

Lisa Hendrickson
Call That Girl

After all it’s like mamma used to say, if it’s too good to be true, then it most likely is.

Eric Salce
Gem State Computers