Technology

Family That Kills Computers

By Vinny O'Hare

A few days ago my nephew and his cousin come over to get their laptops fixed by “Uncle Vinny” since he is a computer person. Since I spend all day online my family assumes that I fix computers for a living. Yes I am good at seeing what is broken after they tell me what they were doing and I am usually successful in fixing their computers.

This week my nephew Joey’s computer wasn’t playing nice after a windows update and Norton’s decided they didn’t want to play nice together. That happens from time to time. We did a roll back and all was well until the windows update happened again and we went right back to square one. We have a new computer shop around the corner from my house, we took the laptop in. I gave up on it.
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WordPress for Android

By Vinny O'Hare

Today I downloaded the new app on my Droid that allows me to post right from my smartphone. This post is a test to see how it turns out.

I am not sure how I will be using this but it can come in handy for times I don’t have a laptop with me. So far I can tell that between this app and notepad I will be using this to post.

Update:

I have made two post to this site using the WordPress for Android app and I am loving it. I have made a post directly from the app and also made a post using notepad and copy and paste directly into the app which I can see becoming the normal way I will post.

Droid and the Harper Valley PTA

By Vinny O'Hare

This morning when I got off the subway in Bed-Stuy I see the homeless guy with a coffee cup and he is singing songs trying to get a few bucks for his morning coffee. This guy is there every morning and I am sure he makes a few bucks as he is very entertaining. He sings songs that are not the normal songs, one day its nursery rhymes and the next day it could be Nirvana. He makes everyone smile as they walk by with these crazy songs.

I go into the coffee shop like I do every morning to get my breakfast and talk with the old timers like I usually do. The homeless guy comes in and starts singing “Harper Valley PTA”. The whole place is in laughter as they want to know why out of all the songs in the world this guy chooses this song to sing.

Two of the old timers start a discussion across the room from me about who sang the song originally, the guys are starting to work up quite a discussion and its getting heated. These guys are usually disagreeing with each other, they are like an old married TV couple. One of the guys is insisting that the song was sung by a guy and the other was saying it was a woman. I know of course that the song was sung by a female but the name escapes me as it was a one hit wonder.

Now I was cuurious so I take out my Droid and do a quick Google search for “Harper Valley PTA” and I see it was sung by Jeannie C. Riley so I let the guys know and of course the guy that said it was a male singer disagrees with me.

He didn’t realize I had looked it up online, actually he probably doesn’t even know what a computer is as he is still stuck in the 1960’s. I went into my pocket again and pulled out my Droid again and searched for “Harper Valley PTA video” and sure enough the video of her singing was on YouTube.

I start the video and show him the lady singing Harper Valley PTA and I thought he was going to have a heart attack. I didn’t realize that the two guys had a wager for breakfast on it. It seems that the guy already owed the other guy a breakfast and he was betting double or nothing. Well he lost and everyone in the place knew it and was rubbing it in. Apparently this guy is one of those that boast when he wins so it was a change of pace that everyone liked to see.

You should have seen the reaction from everyone as the video was playing. Some guys were asking me why do I keep a jukebox in my pocket, all of a sudden I am standing among 7 or 8 people showing off the features of the Droid. People were amazed that it was a phone, I got tired of this as my breakfast was ready and starting to get cold but people were so intrigued I couldn’t just walk away. I spent about 10 minutes showing off the phone. It was quite a site to see.

All because of a guy singing a one hit wonder from the 1970’s. Can’t wait until tomorrow to see what he sings, maybe I can get a free breakfast out of the deal 🙂

My Upgrade to Verizon Droid

By Vinny O'Hare

I got my new Droid phone two days ago and I am just loving it so far. I was one of the holdouts that was still using a regular cell phone with Verizon, this phone came along at the right time. My contract was up on October 25th and I was in a debate with myself about what to do. Did I want to stay with Verizon or jump to an IPhone.

My town is well know for cell phone dropped calls and everyone I spoke to hated the service they had with AT&T so I was on the fence about what to do. With Verizon I rarely had a dropped call so I was very happy with the service, I just didn’t want to go through the hassle of testing another cell phone carrier. I really needed the service that an IPhone delivers to run my vast network of websites. I was in a catch 22 so to speak.

When Verizon announced that they were coming out with the Droid (Hate the name) I decided that I would just go and get one and hope for the best. It has been two days and I am more then thrilled with it. Although I am still finding useful apps an such I am finding it easier to be connected by using my Gmail and Facebook and especially Twitter. I am now in contact with the world almost 24/7.

While I have not done so just yet I am planning on writing my webpages using the Droid when I am traveling or just heading into the city by train. The battery life is good except when you have the GPS turned on. That is a huge drain on the battery. The app that I like the best is Cardio Trainer as it acts as a pedometer and tracks your steps. I have been walking about 8 miles a day with it. It updates to my workout plan and I am just loving it.

Some things I don’t like are the glass, I am not use to having that so a screen protector is a must have. I have it in a nice rugged case that clips to my belt. I didn’t like the choices Verizon has for the cover as I got two of them so I improvised.

All in all I am very happy that I didn’t get an IPhone, this came about at the perfect time for me. I am sure you can see me twittering happily about out it on Twitter.