Showing 61 - 70 of 146
How to be a Scrivener
Life, James Hein, Published on 31/08/2016
» As readers might appreciate I have been writing in some form or other for many years. This includes two-and-a-bit novels the first of which I am in the process of final editing and until recently I was using Microsoft Word. In the world of self-publishing and preparing for Amazon’s Mobi or for everyone else’s ePub, Word is not the right tool. My recommendation is Scrivener which is available for Mac or Windows. This appears to be the ultimate tool for the writer, be they fiction, non-fiction, researcher or blogger. The application is inexpensive even for a lifetime licence that covers everyone in your household. It handles everything you will need to prepare what you are writing for publishing apart from your own creativity. My only criticism is the lack of a version for Android but hopefully that will come. You can get a 30-day free trial from www.literatureandlatte.com and there is a lot of free training materials available.
How to be a Scrivener
Life, James Hein, Published on 31/08/2016
» As readers might appreciate I have been writing in some form or other for many years. This includes two-and-a-bit novels the first of which I am in the process of final editing and until recently I was using Microsoft Word. In the world of self-publishing and preparing for Amazon's Mobi or for everyone else's ePub, Word is not the right tool. My recommendation is Scrivener which is available for Mac or Windows. This appears to be the ultimate tool for the writer, be they fiction, non-fiction, researcher or blogger. The application is inexpensive even for a lifetime licence that covers everyone in your household. It handles everything you will need to prepare what you are writing for publishing apart from your own creativity. My only criticism is the lack of a version for Android but hopefully that will come. You can get a 30-day free trial from www.literatureandlatte.com and there is a lot of free training materials available.
Let it all go with Pokémon
Life, James Hein, Published on 20/07/2016
» The Pokémon Go game is taking the smartphone world by storm. Like Ingress before it, it is a real world location based game so you physically have to get out of the house to play it. Unlike Ingress, it has a cartoon character so kids love it but mums and dads don't so much because they have to drive their kids around to out of the way places to get the next Pokémon. This is another game by Niantic, a group within Google and the ones who built Ingress. The game was also quite insecure on iOS phones but that was apparently fixed with a patch. There have been no issues reported by Android phone users.
Google wants your Android
Life, James Hein, Published on 15/06/2016
» Which is the world's most valuable brand? A number of them should pop into mind like Coca-Cola, Apple and Cartier. The new leader of the pack however is Google taking the slot from Apple based on the recent BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study. With a 32% increase in brand value they were a big mover since last year, while Apple dropped in value over the same period. Other IT names are in the top 10 like Microsoft at third, Facebook at fifth and Amazon at seventh place.
Look before loading
Life, James Hein, Published on 01/06/2016
» Loading a couple of Android apps on the new tablet, I was about to load Facebook before I stopped to read the permissions required, something unnecessary if you use a PC. The list is 56 items long and reading through them it seemed to be about the same as holding your computer out in the street and saying: "Take me". One question I have is: "How many people actually read the required-permissions list?" Some scary permissions you might miss include "Find accounts on the device" and "Send email to guests without owner's knowledge". Then there is "Read your text messages", "Modify or delete contents of your USB storage", "Record audio" and "Full network access".
Upgrade now for free Windows 10
Life, James Hein, Published on 18/05/2016
» On July 29 this year, the free upgrade path to Windows 10 will be shut down by Microsoft leaving you with something like US$119 (4,200 baht) to pay if in the future you ever decide to upgrade. Like most aspects of the digital world, there are things you can do to "reserve" your copy of Windows 10 if you do decide to upgrade after that date.
Plugged in, but not all wired up
Life, James Hein, Published on 27/04/2016
» So I was talking to a young couple the other day who expressed some surprise at me having a fixed line ADSL connection as my primary internet source at home. They were part of the ever-growing group of younger users that do not have any fixed line services, phone or data. According to the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for example they have found that in the past two years American households having no fixed line services and relying on mobile networks instead has doubled to 20%. This has been accompanied by a drop in ADSL and satellite connections. So while wired connections are still in the majority in the US they are falling.
MS Windows' new OS nota perfect 10
Life, James Hein, Published on 06/04/2016
» Outlook users wanting to upgrade to Windows 10, beware -- you could be facing some trials ahead. One error commonly seen is send/receive error 0x800CCC13, warning of an inability to connect to the network. If you see this or something similar try the following. Right click on the Start button and choose the Admin Command Prompt or PowerShell. At the command prompt, enter sfc/scannow which runs the Windows File Checker Tool. When this is complete -- and it can take some time -- restart your computer. Try Outlook again. While this works for some, others have reported that the only way they could get Outlook working again was to revert to the previous Windows version.
Windows 10 sales decline
Life, James Hein, Published on 23/03/2016
» Microsoft's Windows 10 was always going to be somewhat of a "Hail Mary" as far as PC sales were concerned. In recent analysis from IDC both PC and notebook sales are expected to be lower this year but only at around the -0.5% mark. If governments and organisations suddenly decide to all upgrade to Windows 10 then this could move into positive territory but we will need to see what happens this year against predictions. The free upgrades didn't help hardware sales either with the obvious result that replacements are deferred. Smartphones and tablets continue to be blamed for poor sales but the general global economy is a better source to assign cause and in reality PCs and notebooks are still the staple of business users in offices.
Samsung's 7s ain't too bad
Life, James Hein, Published on 02/03/2016
» The new Samsung Galaxy S7 duo has been announced, bringing to mind the Meatloaf lyrics, "two out of three ain't bad". Some will remember I sent a letter to the Korean electronics giant some time back, but the letter was returned to sender. At first I was confused by this until I remembered that job titles are of high importance to the Koreans and I had used the general term product manager instead of what the exact title was, hence the return. Despite that I suspect others had also contacted Samsung and provision for the SD card was returned, along with the S5 waterproofing. There's still no replaceable battery but for many that is not really an issue.