Blog: Tech News & Tips

11 Ways To Save On Your Entertainment Budget

When we decided to get rid of DirecTV, we were paying over $100 every month. Lots of times we would flip through hundreds of channels and find nothing interesting to watch. We talked about it for months and eventually, of course, we cancelled DirecTV right before the Rockies were in the World Series, but who would have thought they’d get that far?!

Since then, we’ve found that there are a number of different websites and applications that allow you to watch movies, news shows, and weekly or nightly TV shows without having to subscribe to a cable or satellite service.  All of these services come with a free trial.

Netflix – Starts at $7.99 for one viewer/ $9.99 for 2 / $11.99 for 4 viewers – Netflix is what we primarily use at our house and we’re pretty happy with it. Downsides?  There are times when it “thinks” and we watch the little red circle spin round and round for minutes on end. They also don’t seem to like when you watch two many movies back-to-back-to-back.

Amazon Prime – $99 per year – Not just movies, Amazon Prime includes free two day shipping, streamed music, Kindle books, etc.

Hulu – $7.99/month, $11.99/month without commercials – You can watch current episodes and entire seasons of TV shows. The fine print says that some of the more popular shows still have commercials, but they are limited to the beginning and end of the show as opposed to interrupting the show two or three times with commercials.

YouTube has always been free, but there is the time hassle of finding what you want. Increasingly, there are commercials either before or during the video. Commercial shows are generally not available on YouTube.

HBO Now – $14.99/month – You no longer need to subscribe to a cable or satellite service to get Home Box Office!

Acorn TV – $4.99/month with first month free – For folks who like British shows. A friend of mine has been streaming Acorn for quite a while now. She and her husband really like it.

A lot of news and comedy shows are available online the day after they’ve been broadcast live. Shows like:

Some news stations provide taped videos and  live streaming of their news programs. Some of these include:

  • ABC News
  • CNN – you can watch various videos.  Live CNN news is only available to cable or satellite subscribers.
  • MSNBC – has a number of regular programs that you can watch the day after they have been aired.  Like CNN, you can only watch MSNBC Live as a subscriber to cable/satellite.
  • CBC -Canadian news
  • BBC -British news

And finally….

Roku – works with your existing TV to stream whatever apps you’ve signed up for.  In this case the cost is for the hardware – $50 – $130 plus the cost of streaming apps.  Roku works with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, PBS, Acorn TV, and many others.

Apple TV – Works like a Roku or Amazon Fire TV, where it needs an internet network connection to retrieve content, and has an HDMI jack which contains video and audio which outputs to an HDMI-input port on your television.  It has a small and narrow shaver-like remote control and can display video from apps such as Netflix and Hulu.  The differentiator of Apple TV is that it can be used to remotely display the content of your Apple computer.  But the computer must be within about 10-15 feet of your high-end WiFi router, or else the video artifacts will make the display look very blocky.

Which of these services do you use? Are there others that you use that I didn’t include? Let me know your favorites in the comments below!

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report on what to look for to protect yourself from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years.  We like the free and fast shipping.  With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Laptop Trivia (Portable and lug-able computers)

I’m up next for a new laptop at Geek For Hire, so I’ve been thinking about all the computers I’ve had. Here’s some laptop trivia.

HP Luggable:

I remember carrying my first laptop through the Pittsburgh airport. At the time it was called a “portable computer”, and technically it was, although Chris called it a “luggable”. The computer was made by Hewlett-Packard, had a separate disk drive, a separate printer, and may or may not have had an internal battery. (We can’t remember.) It had a very small (5″?) black & white screen and ran on DOS 2.11. Of course, I needed to bring all of this with me on my business trips. All together they probably weighed 25 or 30 pounds and I would have deep indentations in my shoulders when I arrived at my destination!

The HP 110 laptop used the MS-DOS 2.11 operating system
The HP 110 used the MS-DOS 2.11 operating system

My new laptop will weigh about three pounds and will be a gazillion times faster.

More Laptop Trivia:

First Portable Computers – a precursor to the Laptop:

The portable computer was first imagined by Alan Kay of Xerox in 1968. He wrote a paper at that time and called it a “Dynabook”. A commercially available portable computer didn’t appear on the scene until 1975 when IBM released its SCAMP 5100. (For you acronym junkies, that’s Special Computer APL Machine Portable, and it was based on the PALM processor or Put All Logic in Microcode.)

Those first portable computers weighed around 24 pounds, had a 5″ CRT screen and a 5.25″ floppy drive for storing your data. Following Moore’s Law, laptops became faster and lighter relatively quickly.

Moore’s law:

The observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years.

Zeos 386:

Chris’ first portable machine was a Zeos 386, which he got when he was a consultant for Chase. It ran the DOS 5.0 operating system, had a backlit screen, and a battery that lasted for two hours! And, at only 9 pounds, it was light as a feather compared to my HP. Of course, we still have it:

Zeos 386 laptop - MS-DOS 5.0 - manufactured in 1990
Zeos 386 – MS-DOS 5.0 – manufactured in 1990

All of the Utilities for the machine were kept on the boot disk:

Zeos laptop Boot Disk
Zeos Boot Disk

Today you can get all that processing power and more in the new iPad! (Note: As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases with no increase in price to you.)


When did you get your first laptop or portable computer? Which operating system did it use? What other laptop trivia can you share with us? Let us know in the comments below!

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report to protect you from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years.  We like the free and fast shipping.  With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

12 Smartphone Apps

There are some great applications out there for your smartphone – and a lot of them are free to download and use.  No matter who your carrier is, or which phone you have, you can find apps that appeal to your interests.  Here are some that I use, or that have been recommended to me.  I’ve also included the links so you can add them to your smartphone!

Any.Do – Organizing your life – Apple/ iTunes   or Android

Cocktail Flow – because not everyone still has a copy of Mr. Boston De Luxe Official Bartender’s Guide in their liquor cabinet – Apple/ iTunes   or Android

Dropbox – connect all of your devices (laptop, tablet, phone) and access all of your files in one place!  (Did you remember to backup your data today?  Dropbox does it for you.) – Apple/ iTunes   or Android

FxGuru – add special effects to your boring home video – Apple/ iTunes   or Android

Google Translate – This app translates text, symbols, and speech! – Apple/ iTunes   or Android

IMDb – Best place to find out what your favorite actor/director/producer is working on this year – Apple/ iTunes  or  Android

NASA – lots of archives, links, pictures, and video – Apple/ iTunes   or Android

Peppa’s Paintbox – because you’re still a kid at heart – Apple/ iTunes or Android

Shazam – you’re listening to a tune, but can’t remember the title?  Shazam it!  – Apple/ iTunes  or  Android

SwiftKey Keyboard – “super-accurate autocorrect and intelligent next-word prediction”.  I’d like some of that!  – Apple/ iTunes  or  Android

Twickets – lets you buy and sell extra tickets at (or below) face value.  Scalpers go elsewhere! – Apple/ iTunes   or Android

Weather Underground – one of the best weather apps out there – Apple/ iTunes  or  Android

Which apps are your favorites?  Let us know in the comments below!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more at www.GeekForHireInc.com. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides (Tier 3) onsite service to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

Data Recovery vs. Data Transfer

We’ve been doing a lot of Data Recovery lately so I asked Chris to tell us what is involved in Data Recovery and how it is different from Data Transfer.

Updated: October 2020

Although Data Transfer and Data Recovery are similar phrases, they are different in important ways.

Data Transfer:

Data transfer is the act of copying data directly from one device to another. (For example when you purchase a new Mac and need to transfer your data from your old PC.) Data transfer tends to be much faster than Data Recovery, because it uses the native copy function provided by the Operating System. But, if there are physical problems on the device, or if the file system on the device is corrupt, data transfer will not work because it is not tolerant of errors.

Exploding Disk Drive!
Exploding Disk Drive!

Data Recovery:

Data recovery is performed by specialized software that is tolerant of physical disk errors and errors in the file system. It takes much more time to perform Data Recovery because the process has several steps.

Although Data Recovery is much slower to produce a Gigabyte of data, it is tolerant of errors so it is capable of getting to files and putting them back together.

There are five main steps in Data Recovery:

  1. Is the device accessible?
    • if the disk controller is unresponsive, we would need to replace that and retest;
    • Sometimes the disk does not physically turn. We will not attempt to fix;
    • if the disk “clicks” when it is turned on, this indicates internal damage within the hard drive which we will not attempt to fix;
    • The data could be overwritten. We will not know this until after the data is recovered and you have inspected your data
  2. Media Analysis (to find where the good data blocks and the bad data blocks are)
  3. File Analysis (to discover what disk blocks comprise which files and folders, and in what order)
  4. Data Selection (to choose which files and folders should be recovered because they are interesting and necessary, and which files and folders should not)
  5. Data Production (the act of creating new files from the recovered data onto an external hard drive).

How we do Data Recovery:

Our method of recovering data is “Read Only”, meaning that we will not open the hard drive to get to your data; We will connect your hard drive to an adapter, and attempt to access the data through the disk. We will not open your hard drive because we don’t have a “Clean Room”, and we don’t have the spare parts or the specialized equipment necessary to transfer your platters to another drive in a way that would work and not damage your data. If we were to physically open your hard drive, we would introduce significant contamination to your disk, and this would not improve the chances of getting back your data.

What if we can’t get your data?

We are usually successful, and we can determine in a reasonable amount of time whether Data Recovery is something we are likely to be successful in doing or not. If we find that we cannot access your data, we will stop work. Proceeding will not improve the chances of getting your data.

If we cannot get your data, and you have a business case for getting your data, we recommend that you send your hard drive to one of the major data recovery companies and not to a local company which says they can do it. Because you only get “one bite of the apple” to recover your data. They would need to be able to open the disk in a “clean room”.  In addition, they must have the resources to get your data, because there is a serious risk that your drive will be polluted by their attempt.

There are a handful of Data Recovery companies in the country which specialize in recovering data from physically bad hard drives. They have a clean room, spare parts, and invasive methods of getting your data. They charge a lot more than we do and are almost always successful. Just a reminder that we sometimes recommend resources that we love. Some of those resources may pay us a small commission if you click on the links, at no additional cost to you. 

We’ve had a long relationship with DriveSavers and are pleased with their work. We refer one to three people to them every year. Here is their info and a discount code:

And if you want to see how DriveSavers works, watch this video, then click on the link above for the discount code:

Success!

Our most exciting Data Recovery story happened several years ago.  There was a fire near Gold Hill, Colorado.  Our customer’s home survived the fire. The next spring, however, with all the snow melt and spring rains, a mud slide buried their basement.  Their computer was covered in several feet of mud.  Chris carefully cleaned the machine and then started the data recovery process.  Success!

Windows or Mac?

We can recover data from Windows or Mac hard drives.  The device can be formatted using the Windows filesystem or for the Mac filesystem. It doesn’t matter to us if the computer that the device came from is bootable or not. The device will be removed from the “source” computer. It will then be connected to an adapter. This will allow the data to be accessed directly.

Let us know if you have any questions about this process. Give us a call or send an email.

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website.  Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area. We provide remote service throughout North America.

Internet Searching Tips

Do you ever find yourself frustrated when searching for something on the internet?  You either get too much information, or it’s hard to find exactly what you’re looking for.  Here are some tips that I use to streamline my searching:

EXACT MATCH:
When you use quotation marks, you only search for what is inside the quotes.  For example:

Coffeehouses “live music”

will bring up all the coffeehouses that have live music.

EXCLUSION:
When you use the minus sign, you’ll exclude that information from your search.  For example:

“Republican candidates” -“Donald Trump”

will bring up information about all the Republican candidates except Donald Trump.

WILD CARD:
When you use the asterisk with another word or phrase, you’ll get lots of different options. For example:

Hollywood *

will provide results like “Hollywood Bowl”, “Hollywood Blacklist”, and “Hollywood movies”.

SPECIFIC WEB SITE:
Do you want to search within a specific web site?  Use “site:website”. For example:

“Jerry Lewis” site:nyt.com

will bring up articles relating to Jerry Lewis on the New York Times site.

MORE:
Have you used Google’s Search Tabs? Underneath Google’s search bar, there are a number of options:

WEB     NEWS     IMAGES     VIDEOS     BOOKS     MORE     SEARCH TOOLS

NEWS:
If you are looking specifically for a news story that occurred in the last 24 hours,  follow these steps:

  1. Enter your search terms in the search bar.
  2. Click on the News tab.
  3. Click on the Search Tools Tab
  4. Click on “Anytime” and select “24 hours” from the drop down menu

IMAGES:
If you’re looking for an image, enter a description in the search bar and click on the Images Tab.  If you want to fine tune your search, you can add other criteria.  Click on “Search Tools” and select the color, type of image, usage rights, etc.

LOCATION:
If you want to find something in a particular location, click on “Search Tools”, then click on “Location”, then type in where you would like to search.  For example:

“Hot Springs” California

will bring up a list of all the hot springs in California.

Have you used these tips before for searching?  Are there other tips you use?  Please share them in the comments below!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website.  Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

Wi-Fi Anywhere

Did you ever try to connect to WiFi and see a Hotspot choice like “Sam’s phone”? The fictional Sam has set his SmartPhone up to “tether” to the cell system so that his phone can send out a WiFi signal.

What is tethering? MobileBurn explains it this way:

“Tethering is the process of using a cell phone or smartphone as a modem for a personal computer of some sort – typically a laptop computer. The term gets its name from how a phone is attached, or tethered, to the computer via a USB cable, but wireless technologies such as Bluetooth can also be used for tethering. Typically the network carrier and the user’s account (contract) have to support tethering before it can be used. Many networks charge an additional fee for users that wish to connect their phones as tethered modems because it typically uses far more data than using the phone normally would.

There’s more information about tethering on Wikipedia.

Chris’ iPhone recently stopped working and he had to get a new one. (Just don’t ask him when the last time was that he backed up his old iPhone and please, please don’t ask him about all the photos on that phone!) He got a new cell phone with Verizon service. We wanted to know how the coverage differed in the Geek For Hire service area. He also had tethering turned on so that he can use his laptop in an area without WiFi. So far we’re pleased – not only with the WiFi tethering, but also with Verizon’s coverage. Plus, there doesn’t seem to be an extra monthly charge for the service, so long as we don’t use more than the 3gig of data we signed up for.

If you do decide to turn on tethering, remember that it will drain the battery of your SmartPhone much faster than just using that same phone for cell service. Think about getting a battery case. (Mophie and LifeProof are two that come to mind.)

Here are some other articles that describe tethering:

If your current SmartPhone allows tethering, you may have to call your carrier (or bring it in to a store) to get the capability turned on.

Do your use tethering? Are you using an app, or do you have your SmartPhone switched on to allow it? Let us know about your experiences in the comments below!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website.  Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

Chris’ Favorite Websites

It’s important for Chris and Geek For Hire to keep up new technology, different trends, and any up and coming changes in technology.  That’s why Chris is constantly reading and learning about what’s going on in the tech world.  Some of his favorites include:

Ars Technica – http://arstechnica.com/ – Founded in 1998, it caters to the “alpha-geeks”.  Their vision was to be “technically savvy, up-to-date, and more fun” than what was currently popular in the space. ”  One of their current articles is about Google’s new OnHub router.

Fast Company – http://www.fastcompany.com/ – Launched in 1995, Fast Company has “a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, ethonomics (ethical economics), leadership, and design.”  FastCo has the technology news that the other sites have, but that’s not their only focus.  Here’s an article about comic books turned into movies.

Morning Ticker – http://www.morningticker.com/ – is relatively new Founded in 2014, MorningTicker covers the latest news, offering breaking news and analysis of the biggest trends and happenings around the world.  Chris has been following the Jeep hacking issue and was interested to see that Uber seems to be taking advantage of this flaw.

Slate –  http://www.slate.com/articles/technology.html?wpisrc=burger_bar –  is a daily news magazine founded in 1996.   With so many people still insisting that Mac’s and Apple iPhones are impervious to malware, Chris found this article very interesting.

Wired – http://www.wired.com/ – We’ve been receiving Wired Magazine since the very beginning – 1993.  They made the jump to the internet early on and is one of Chris’ go-to sites for news.  More Uber news – this time involving the NYC taxi system.

Where do you get your technology news?  Please share in the comments below!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more at www.GeekForHireInc.com. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area. They can provide remote service throughout North America.

WHEN Should I Back-up My Data?

We’ve been doing a LOT of data recovery work lately. Hard Drives are crashing. Computers are getting really bad viruses. It’s stressful and can get to be pretty expensive. So, please, please, back up your data!

When? Here’s a handy chart:

20150831 When should I back up my data Infographic jpeg revised

If you need help setting up your backup system, just let us know.  We can help you backup to an external hard drive, to the cloud, or both!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website.  Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

Windows 10 Advice – Revised

A few weeks ago, I asked Chris about Windows 10. Should I upgrade right away, or wait awhile?  What should I tell our customers and readers of the blog? His answer was basically:

“Unless you have a reason to stay with your current operating system (and especially if you have Win8), it should be fine to upgrade.”

Well, he’s changed his mind.

Windows 10 has been plagued with issues, especially for computers without the capacity to properly run it. So, if you have Windows XP, or Windows Vista machine without a modern processor and upgraded RAM, you should do those upgrades first, or consider a new machine with Windows 10 already installed.

Chris has also talked with other people that have upgraded with zero problems.  One guy said that the upgrade “breathed new life into his laptop”.  Chris added:

“Of course, it could just be that we’re only getting calls from folks who are having issues!”

Another huge issue with Windows 10 that is just starting to come to light, is the amount of information that Microsoft collects. The collected data isn’t just for targeted advertising  A recent article in Wired states:

“Of course, Microsoft’s privacy statement outlines all the data that is collected, and you agreed to this when you downloaded Windows 10 and checked the terms of service.

In this Age of the Unread Terms of Service Agreement, it’s important to, well, read the ToS. It’s too easy for our technologies to gather personal information without our realizing it. Microsoft is far from the only perpetrator…”

Of course, in order to actually use Windows 10, you do have to agree to the Terms of Service. Once the new Operating System is installed, you should change the privacy and tracking settings.

So Chris’ new advice is to wait until you have a real need before installing the Windows 10 Operating System. Windows 10 doesn’t really give you much more than Windows 7. You don’t really need to run right out and get it now.  If you’ve already upgraded to Windows 10, what was your experience?

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website.  Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

How To Spot An eMail Scam

The scammers are getting better and better. The text of the email looks legit; the email address looks legit; the graphics are professional. How can you tell when your phone company is contacting you vs. when a scammer is impersonating your phone company?

A client received this email last week and gave us a call.

 

CenturyLink email scam

Everything looked good on the email that she forwarded to me. I hovered over all of the links to see what website they actually pointed to. I looked at the logos, and they actually looked like the real ones. A quick search shows that both “Digital Vault” and “@Ease” are real CenturyLink services. Even the deadline, almost three months in the future, seemed like a legitimate phone company corporation deadline.

The only trouble was that our client had no recollection of signing up for a CenturyLink cloud based storage or “Digital Vault”.

She said that she was going to call CenturyLink about this and I urged her to call a number that she already had, rather than any phone numbers included in the email.  When she called CenturyLink, they told her it was a scam and asked that she forward the email to them.

So that’s my advice this week – If you receive an email from a company you have a business relationship with, AND, you’re not expecting an email from then, give them a call on a number you already have saved for them.

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website.  Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.