A Bluetooth-Connected App to Solve Your Puzzle Cube?

Posted on October 31, 2021November 27, 2021 by Gail Eddy in Entertainment Apps, Games, Smartphone Apps

What with Bluetooth this and Bluetooth that, have you ever thought about a Bluetooth-connected app to help with solving a puzzle cube? Last year, Santa dropped a non-smart, non-Bluetooth puzzle cube into everyone’s stocking. They were all different. Some were super easy, and others, like the triangle-shaped one, were diabolical! We had fun sharing them, but they are all so mixed up now. I don’t think that they will ever get solved again!

UPDATED: originally published on 5/26/2021. We sometimes post links to products where we may earn a small commission. This won’t change the price you pay, in fact, sometimes we know about additional discounts! As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

A little history:

The original puzzle cube was invented by Erno Rubik in 1974. It took him a month to solve it! Mr. Rubik is Hungarian and has degrees in Architecture and Design.

“Puzzles bring out important qualities in each of us: concentration, curiosity, a sense of play, the eagerness to discover a solution.”

You can read more in his book Cubed.

What’s interesting to me is that Rubik spawned a whole new puzzle industry. There’s a snake cube puzzle, a puzzle ring, even puzzle cubes with famous paintings!

Is there a Bluetooth-connected Puzzle Cube?

I’ve just found out that there are several STEM toys that keep your brain active with improved cognitive mapping skills, increase eye-hand agility, AND help you solve the cube. There are several. The most well-known are the Rubik’s Connected Cube, and the GoCube. They are both physical cubes that connect to your smartphone. They track your progress and help you learn how to solve the puzzle faster.

Want to see how the GoCube puzzle works?

The GoCube was introduced back in 2018 with a Kickstarter campaign. It was designed to help people learn how to solve the puzzle cube faster, and, more importantly, to learn where your logic is breaking down. Before long, you’re moving up to higher and higher levels. GoCube also has a community of other “cubers” worldwide. They’ll match you up with someone at your level to compete against. Awesome!

Here’s their original video from the Kickstarter:

You CAN do the Cube:

If you just want to learn how to solve a Rubik’s Cube fast, head over to Ruwix. Have you been wondering: how does a Rubik’s Cube work? Ruwix is dedicated to helping you learn the logic behind the madness. This site will even show you how to form the Rubik’s Cube White Cross and the yellow cross. I think if you keep at it, you’ll learn how to solve a Rubik’s cube in 20 moves or less too. Hashtag: #YouCanDoTheCube

What I love about the GoCube:

I love that the GoCube lights up
I like that it can sense the position of each square exactly and help you “see” the position spatially. Then, it helps you solve it without making you feel like an idiot.
I love that it helps kids of all ages learn logic and spatial awareness.

What I don’t:

My only knock is that the GoCube seems a little expensive. Keep on the lookout for discounts. If GoCube has a Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal, I’ll update this post.

Conclusion: Should you get a connected Puzzle Cube?

These connected puzzle cubes are great STEM toys that help you learn at the same time. This would be a very cool gift for the holidays! You can purchase it directly from GoCube or Amazon. If you’re thinking about getting more than one, scroll down on the GoCube page for their BOGO deal.

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

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More Tech Tips:

Are VPNs worth it? More here.
Are you interested in learning more about Extreme Privacy?
We have seen a lot of Facebook hacking lately. Here’s what you should do ahead of time to keep your account safe.
And here are the 10 Password Mistakes you don’t want to make!

How to Select a Great DSL modem

Posted on May 15, 2021November 29, 2021 by Gail Eddy in Cell Phone Service, Modems, WiFi

UPDATE – Selecting a great DSL Modem for 2021:

Chris has changed his tune about the best way to get a great DSL modem. Now he recommends getting the best DSL modem that your Internet Service Provider offers. If you get a modem independently and then have issues with your WiFi, your ISP will tell you to replace the modem because it is faulty. (Whether or not the modem is the problem.) If you have a modem from your ISP, then they are able to look through the network to see what the problem might be and get it fixed for you.

Original blog from September 2016:

Two weeks ago our blog was about getting a great cable modem. Today I’ve asked Chris to enlighten us about DSL modems.

The two major Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the state of Colorado are CenturyLink (previously known as Qwest), and Xfinity (previously known as Comcast).

Note that CenturyLink is the only provider of DSL internet service. Within the past week, I saw a standard DSL modem with “DISHnet” printed on the top of it. I know for a fact that Dish subcontracts with CenturyLink in the state of Colorado to provide DSL internet service, but you would have to call Dish to have any DSL troubles or questions resolved – because CenturyLink will not have a record of you or your account. So in general, if you want DSL internet service, you will be best served by going direct and getting this service through CenturyLink.

What is the easiest way to get a DSL modem that is compatible with CenturyLink?

is to get a CenturyLink branded DSL modem, for about $100. The CenturyLink branded DSL modems have an “Auto-Configure” capability built-in, which will automatically get the configuration it needs using the Caller-ID from your phone line.

However, contrary to the general advice of CenturyLink, you can use other DSL modems – but there are some “magic values” that will need to be entered into the DSL modem.

The magic DSL values are:

DSL VPI: 0
DSL VCI: 32
Authentication uses PPPoA.
You will need to manually enter the Userid and Password, after you obtain it from CenturyLink.

The WiFi in the CenturyLink modem is okay, but not great. There are a few DSL modems that can improve your WiFi service. Some specific recommendations are:

Want more technical information about DSL? Read more in this separate article.

Common DSL problems:

One of the common problems with DSL is that the service becomes Oversubscribed. We love where we live, and in general, we wouldn’t change a thing, except if only the internet service wasn’t so slow sometimes. The best way to solve this lack of available bandwidth problem is:

You call the ISP about poor performance,

and

You talk with your Town and your County about poor internet performance and ask them to begin to have conversations with the ISP – because sometimes Politics can be put to good use to incrementally improve aspects of Your life.

Need an Advocate for Great Internet Service?

Sometimes you call and complain to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) about your slow internet speed and they tell you it’s not their fault – it’s your equipment. If you need help talking tech to their support center, give us a call. We’ll be happy to advocate for better service for you!

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Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has provided 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 at 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

Here’s a link to our Covid19 Policy.

Speech to Text Punctuation

Posted on October 18, 2016October 17, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Tips

I’ve been using my phone’s speech to text feature more and more. I use the feature to compose emails, send text messages, and search on my phone’s internet browser. I have experienced some frustration that the phone doesn’t always do what I tell it to do. I’ve modified my instructions somewhat so that more and more often, the text result ends up looking more like what I intend for it to look!

For example, when I want to begin a new paragraph, “Return” and “next line” don’t work, but “New Line” does, and so does “Next Paragraph”. Note that “Next Line” will give you one standard return, but “Next Paragraph” will give you two lines in between the paragraphs.

Other symbols include:

? – “Question mark”
. – “Period”
( – “Open Parentheses”
) – “Close Parentheses”
@ – “At symbol” doesn’t work but “at sign” does.
* – The asterisk is really tricky. Even with perfect diction, it gets confused. I’ve found it’s easier to edit that after I’m done speaking.
+ – “Plus Sign”
– – “Minus Sign”
& – “Ampersand”
% – “Percent sign”
# – “Pound Sign”
! – “Exclamation point”

I’ve also had issues with the word “to”, “two”, and “too”. It usually translates it as “to”. I’ve learned to say “Too Many”, or I just edit when I’m done speaking. I’ve not been able to reliably get it to correctly type “two”.

Other numbers under 10 will almost always translate as the number word and not the symbol itself. Numbers over 10 translate as the number symbol.

On a teeny tiny phone screen, sometimes using the speech to text feature makes life a whole lot easier. I hope these tricks help you too!

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.

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What to do with your Samsung Galaxy Note 7

Posted on October 11, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Cell Phone Service, Samsung

If you have a Galaxy Note 7, right now is the time to turn it off and bring it back to the store. Why? Here’s an excerpt from an October 9th story in CNET:

“Samsung’s exploding phone woes continue with more reports of replacement Galaxy Note 7s exploding.

A Minnesota teenager told a Minneapolis-St. Paul TV station that she felt a “weird, burning sensation” in her thumb while holding her Galaxy Note 7 Friday afternoon. That report was followed Saturday by news that a Kentucky man had to go to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation after another replacement Galaxy Note 7 caught fire earlier this week.”

Since the phone was introduced on August 2nd, there have been reports of fires, explosions, smoke, and extreme heat. The first reported explosion occurred on August 24th in S. Korea and on September 2nd, Samsung issued a full recall of the phone citing a faulty battery. (A full timeline is provided on Fortune Magazine.

When I first heard about this problem a week or so ago, Samsung was advising customers to bring the phone in for replacement. They exchanged the original model of the Galaxy Note 7 with a newer version of the same item. As of October 10th, Samsung has advised all Galaxy Note 7 owners to bring their phones back to where they were purchased.

However, when this article was published, Samsung is still selling the 7 on their website, but does offer tips for maintaining normal operating temperature for your device.

I think the best advice is just to bring it back and pick out a new phone. Since it has only been available in the US since August 19th, and most of our readers are not early-adopters, you may still be under a 30 day exchange policy offered by your place of purchase anyway.

And, another chance for a reminder from Geek For Hire, Inc., to make sure you back up your data, especially the pictures on your phone, on a very regular basis!

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18 Keyboard Shortcuts for the Mac

Posted on October 4, 2016October 11, 2021 by Gail Eddy in Keyboard Shortcuts, Tips

Two weeks ago our blog was about some of the Windows shortcuts available. This week, it’s all about the Mac. The Command Key is the “key” to most of these shortcuts. This is what it looks like:

This by Tinrocket 1.0.2 (101)
Command Key | Geek For Hire, Inc. |

Shortcuts

Command + A = Select All

Command + B = Bold

Command + C = Copy

Command + E = Eject the disk

Command + F = Find

Command + G = Find again

Command + H = Hide

Command + I = Italics

Command + M = Minimize

Command + N = New

Command + P = Print

Command + Q = Quit

Command + S = Save

Command + T = Show/Hide the fonts window

Command + U = Underline

Command + V = Paste

Command + X = Cut

Command + Z = Undo

Are these helpful? Let us know in the comments below!

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More Tips Here:

Are VPNs worth it? More here.
Are you interested in learning more about Extreme Privacy?
We have seen a lot of Facebook hacking lately. Here’s what you should do ahead of time to keep your account safe.
And here are the 10 Password Mistakes you don’t want to make!

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Technical info about DSL service

Posted on September 27, 2016September 23, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Cell Phone Service, Modems, WiFi

After Chris described how to choose a good DSL modem, I thought our readers might want some more technical background about DSL.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) “piggy backs” a data signal onto the already existing telephone wire pairs that come to your house. It’s a way for CenturyLink to add another service or “function” to their already existing infrastructure without retrenching the roads to install new wiring infrastructure – which is a slow and expensive process.

There is a physical distance limitation in the DSL specification which is 18,000 wire feet.

However the wiring “snakes” around from the DSLAM (DSL Access Multiplexer) located at the Telephone Company (Telco) Central Office (CO) to get to your house, the total distance limitation to carry the DSL signal must be less than 18,000 feet of wire.

Telephone wire comes in different “gauges”, which is the physical diameter of the wire; a larger diameter wire has less “resistance” than a smaller diameter wire, and a larger gauge wire allows more signal to travel farther.

Telephone wiring has a “twist” to help reject “hum” and other induced electrical noises. (Noise is bad for DSL.)

There will be “breaks” in the wiring where two or more sections of wire join together.

These “joints” are usually made by crimping two wires together with a “button” like connection; this is fast and efficient for a Lineman to do, but each joint is a possible source of corrosion and signal noise if the joint is not kept in a weather-proof and critter-proof container.

Note:

If you see a squarish metal green box in your front yard about 3-10 feet in from the road, about 6 inches on a side and about 2 feet tall, this is a CenturyLink container.
If you find it open, please /Do/ call CenturyLink and report this, because this helps everyone in the neighborhood that has Phone and Internet service from CenturyLink.
If you don’t call them, they will either think that they have achieved perfection, or will have a mystery problem that they just cannot get a handle on and don’t know where to begin to fix it because they can’t find it.

Each joint in the wiring is an opportunity for electrical “noise” to be introduced.

The farther the distance, the smaller the gauge of wire, and the more “joints” there are in the wire path leading to your house, the less clean signal will reach your equipment.

There are ways for CenturyLink to extend this DSL distance limitation, and this is commonly done using a “Terminal”. The Terminal can be used as a relay to amplify and repeat the DSL signal to make it go farther. There will be a limit to how much “bandwidth” can delivered to the Terminal, mainly because there is a limit to the number of cables that have already been run to the Terminal.

Most CenturyLink infrastructure uses copper wire pairs, because they are “The Phone Company”; working with copper wire is what they do, and they do it really well. Sometimes they will dispatch a “Wire Guy” (aka a Lineman) to your location, to physically inspect the entire wire path from the Telco Central Office to your house; they will try to reduce unneeded wire length by changing the details of the wire path to make it shorter and more efficient; they will also electrically measure the wire path for damage using an expensive piece of equipment called a Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR), which operates on the fact that wiring damage can be measured because it will reflect a signal back before the end of the wire is reached. They will physically inspect the wiring joints along the way to see that they are tight and free of corrosion, and that the enclosure which contains the joints is reasonably weatherproof.

Read this article about selecting a great DSL modem.

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20 Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows (plus 1 bonus!)

Posted on September 20, 2016September 19, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Keyboard Shortcuts, Tips

Two weeks ago our blog was about some of the shortcuts you can use with your Windows Logo key. This week, I’ve got some more basic keyboard shortcuts.

The Control (aka Ctrl) is the “key” to most of these shortcuts. This is what it looks like:

The Control (aka "CTRL") key — The Control (aka “CTRL”) key

Shortcuts

CTRL + A = Select All

CTRL + B = Bold

CTRL + C = Copy

CTRL + I = Italics

CTRL + N = New

CTRL + P = Print

CTRL + R = Refresh the active window

CTRL + S = Save

CTRL + U = Underline

CTRL + V = Paste

CTRL + X = Cut

CTRL + Y = Redo or Repeat

CTRL + Z = Undo

CTRL +F4 = Close the active document

CTRL +F5 = Refresh the active window

CTRL + Left arrow = Move cursor to beginning of previous word

CTRL + Right Arrow = Move cursor to beginning of next word

CTRL + Up Arrow = Move cursor to beginning of previous paragraph

CTRL + Down Arrow = Move Cursor to beginning of next paragraph

CTRL + ESC = Open the Start Menu

Are these helpful? Let us know in the comments below!

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Tips To Getting a Great Cable Modem

Posted on September 13, 2016October 11, 2021 by Gail Eddy in Internet Service, Modems, WiFi

We’ve had several customers ask us how to find a good Cable Modem, so I asked Chris to enlighten us:

Here in the sunny state of Colorado, the two major Internet Service Providers are Xfinity (aka Comcast) and CenturyLink (previously known as Qwest). Xfinity provides cable service, while CenturyLink provides DSL. This article will focus on Xfinity Internet and cable modems.

I’ve found them to both be reasonably reliable services, and am comfortable recommending either one of them for service. (I have occasionally had a bad phone experience with Customer Service from either company, and my personal favorite method for dealing with this is to reassess the progress of the call at the 2-3 minute mark, thank them for their time (yes, do it), then hang up – and call back about 30 seconds later. Because you will probably get someone different who is in a completely different mood or skill level, and find your call will then go swimmingly.)

We currently have CenturyLink DSL service at 12Mbps (Megabits per second). This is the fastest plan that CenturyLink tends to offer. I have seen CenturyLink provide 25Mbps once or twice, and in the past year have seen two customers who have actually received the new Gigabit internet service (one was in a new neighborhood in Commerce City, and the other was in a new neighborhood near Stapleton).

Note that there is another recently new Internet service called NextLight in Longmont which is Super Fast! They provide Fiber To The House. They are currently deployed in South Longmont, South and East of Oscar Blues. We have several customers in this area, and I have measured speeds between 250 and 800Mbps there.

Longmont’s Nextlight ServiceIn general, Xfinity (Comcast) tends to provide The Fastest internet service in the state of Colorado. I will routinely measure 50Mbps at customer locations and am seeing an increasing number of customers with 100+ Mbps service. This is good.

Xfinity Cable Modems

The newer cable modems offered by Xfinity have generally good WiFi service built into them. It’s as if Xfinity has finally gotten the concept that their customers do tend to have many tablets and notebook computers that are being simultaneously used at their home, they are surfing the internet and using Facebook and streaming movies from Netflix or Amazon, and a better built-in WiFi card and better antennas tends to make the general customer experience a good one.

The new cable modems are mostly black plastic, stand about 12″ tall and about 2″ wide, and have 5-6 vertical white lights on them which are about .5″ in diameter each.

All new Xfinity cable modems will come with 2.4Ghz WiFi.

But try to get the new cable modem which also has the 5Ghz WiFi built into it.

WiFi comes in two frequencies, 2.4Ghz, and 5Ghz. 2.4Ghz WiFi has been around a long time, and that band can be crowded. If you live in an apartment or condominium, or another high-density area, you will find that everyone and their mother has a 2.4Ghz WiFi router. However, the 5Ghz band is relatively new and unused – and therefore quiet. So if you’re having trouble connecting to your WiFi router, see if you can connect using the 5Ghz band, because that band tends to be much less congested. Note that not all WiFi-enabled devices are 5Ghz capable, such as some printers which are more than a couple of years old.

About 2 years or so ago, Xfinity began to offer their “new at the time” 105Mbps service, which was a nice improvement over their 50Mbps service. Getting the faster service required that the customer get a new cable modem because it had the newer technology to make use of the faster service.

There used to be an orange band across the back of the new Xfinity cable modems that said “105+” on it, which differentiated them from the “old style” cable modems. I haven’t been seeing this recently on the back of the new Xfinity cable modems, yet they still do provide a fast download speed of 100+ Mbps.

Here are two modems that Comcast has approved and Chris recommends:

NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 (24×8) Wi-Fi Cable Modem Router (C7000) DOCSIS 3.0 Certified for Xfinity Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, & more

and,

NETGEAR AC1750 (16×4) Wi-Fi Cable Modem Router (C6300) DOCSIS 3.0 Certified for Xfinity Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, & more

If you are replacing your Xfinity cable modem with another one, make sure you get a “DOCSIS 3.0” compatible cable modem. Otherwise, Comcast will nag you to death with pop-up messages. Read more in this article.

Let us know if you need help setting up your new modem, or if your printer or computer can’t “find” the new Internet signal.

Information About Geek For Hire, Inc.

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

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More Tips Here:

Are VPNs worth it? More here.
Are you interested in learning more about Extreme Privacy?
We have seen a lot of Facebook hacking lately. Here’s what you should do ahead of time to keep your account safe.
And here are the 10 Password Mistakes you don’t want to make!

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10 Shortcuts with the Windows Key

Posted on September 6, 2016September 8, 2016 by Gail Eddy in Tips, Windows

I know a couple of the shortcuts that you can use with the “Windows” key. I was wondering the other day if there are more that might make my life easier. Turns out, there are!

I like knowing the shortcuts because I’m a keyboard user. Taking my hands off the keyboard to negotiate with my mouse is “time consuming” in a world where every second counts. If you’re a keyboard user like me, you’re welcome!

In case you don’t know, the Windows key looks like this:

So, here goes:

The Windows Logo Key all by itself will bring up the “Start” menu. You know, the icon you tap when you want to cleanly shut your machine down.
Windows Logo Key + L will lock your screen. You’ll need to log in again, but all your open Windows will still be there.
Windows Logo Key + M will minimize all of your open Windows. This is also known as the “Boss” key!
Windows Logo Key + E will bring up your Windows Explorer page so you can see how much space you have left on your machine and where all of your files are.
Windows Logo Key + D will show you the Desktop.
Windows Logo Key + Space Bar will show your Desktop for as long as you press down the Windows key.
Windows Logo Key + T will cycle through your running programs on the taskbar.
Windows Logo Key + a number will bring up the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
Windows Logo Key + Tab will cycle through your open programs using 3D. (Try that one. It’s pretty cool!)
Windows Logo Key + Home will minimize all your open windows except the one you’re currently working on.

If you’d like to learn more shortcuts, check out this page from Microsoft, or this one from Shortcut Mania.

There are so many keyboard shortcuts. Look for more tips in the coming weeks!

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Is It Just Me, Or Is My Favorite App Down?

Posted on August 30, 2016September 8, 2016 by Gail Eddy in AT&T, eMail, Entertainment, Games, Passwords

Does this happen to you too? I head over to a certain app, whether for business or just goofing off, and I can’t log on! I try again and again, being very purposeful entering my password. I shut down the application and restart it. I shut down my phone/laptop/tablet and restart it, but the problem persists. What is going on?!

In some cases, it could be the application itself which is having the issue. Their servers are not infallible, despite what they might claim.

But WordPress can go down. And so can Facebook, Twitter, Quickbooks Online, and many other. To check the status of your app when you are having issues head over to any of these sites:

Down Detector – I like the visuals of their graph. Very easy to understand. Down Detector tracks Facebook, Netflix, AT&T, Verizon, eBay, Twitter, and many others: http://downdetector.com/
Down Right Now – I like the visuals of this site as well. They mostly track Social Media and email sites: http://downrightnow.com/
Outage Report – Not only does this site provide a graph of down times, but they have a map to show where the outages are occuring. In addition to Social Media and entertainment sites, this site also tracks online gaming apps: http://outage.report/

If you are experiencing difficulties getting on to one of your favorite apps, remember to check one of the above sites. and record your problem too.

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