My Slingbox is my best friend. We've been together for more than six years, goin' on seven. Yet after all these years together most of my other friends still question his worth. Really? I don't care, I know it's nothing personal, just ignorance - on their part.
Slingbox is basically my tv wherever I go. My tv. From my house. My DVR, my cable line-up, my channels, my tv. Even my caller ID on my tv when it happens. That's right, if I am watching Slingbox at any given time and the phone in my house rings I actually see it on my screen.
So. What am I watching? A network connection. My home tv is uploaded to Slingbox.com via their device, Slingbox Pro, $299. I then login to my Slingbox account via any web browser; used to be a laptop, but now it's any connection, even my phone. And there it is, NESN in Miami, Patriots football in Palm Desert....The Young & Restless on DVR at the gym... MY TV, anytime and any place that I want it.
If you are a television fiend and you have to have your local programming then Slingbox is worth a look see for you too!
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Friday, January 29, 2016
The 2.0 Technology, QR Codes Pave the Way, How Smart is Your Coffee Maker? Time for a New Coffee Maker? Single Serve or Carafe?
Moving on, I am also a little bit picky. I like a short, 4oz brew which I brew into my mug of steamed and frothed fat-free milk. So I am looking for a machine which allows me to select the ounces for my brew.I found that Keurig had my best options and was surprised to find more... first of all the Keurig K450 Brewing System, Black
2.0 brewing system is the
first Keurig system that allows you to brew a piping hot 4-cup carafe
with the same ease and convenience of brewing a single-serve cup — all
at the touch of a button.
The Keurig K450 Brewing System, Black
brewer also features revolutionary Keurig 2.0
Brewing Technology, designed to read the lid of each K-Cup or K-Carafe
pod to brew the perfect beverage every time. STOP. RIGHT. THERE. Read that one more time? It reads the top of the K-Cup's label for the QR code, and then what? It knows what you are making and how to proceed, automatically.The brewer also features a large 70 ounce Water Reservoir, 2.4 inch color Touch Display, programmable clock, an auto brew option, and a strength control setting for brewing bolder coffee. There’s even a separate setting for hot cocoa and other specialty beverages like chais and mochas. So many choices. Just look for the Keurig logo on your favorite K-Cup pod and K-Carafe pod varieties. The Keurig 2.0 K400 brewing system also includes a Keurig Carafe and K-Cup and K-Carafe pods to get you started.
Anything else? oh yeah, I wasted a lot of time shopping at Bloomingdales, Williams-Sonoma and BBB only to fing that the best retailer for both price and availability was Amazon! Sure...Keurig K450 Brewing System, Black
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Verizon Cloud or Motorola Migrate? Content Transfer a Snap With New Droid Turbo
Mother's Day, 2015. We had just landed in Saint Martin, grabbed a cab and checked into our hotel. It was then, in the cool, Italian style bathroom that my Droid Turbo fell into the toilet.
It worked briefly before going out with a strong finish by crackling and popping during a final call to the states. That night I finagled my way around the internet via my laptop and had a new phone being delivered on Tuesday. One catch, it was going to my home address, and required a signature. This was avoided by changing the delivery address to a family business with a receptionist to sign for the package. Tuesday morning, immediately following its' delivery the phone goes to the local Fedex center for an overnight trip to Saint Martin. It arrived about 2:45pm on Wednesday and I plugged it in to charge.
Thursday was spent driving around the island trying different towers for an activation. No success; a phone call to Verizon told me that I could only activate a new phone with a Verizon tower, and there were none here. Quick thinking led to a swap of sim cards, old to new, hoping that the sim card was not damaged in the dunk. After the card exchange the Verizon agent was able to link my old sim (account activation) with my new device. That was like magic.
Over the next seven days I redesigned my home page and added apps. Once home my old phone came back to life when hooked to the PC. I was able to execute both Cloud and Migrate features for the first time and transfer my content.
First I tried the Cloud method. For this you have to have backed up your content to the Verizon Cloud. My device said the most recent backup was just a few weeks prior so I felt lucky and proceeded. The device led me thru simple steps and took little time. All finished and most stuff made the transfer, but not all. Frustrated, I repeated the process again with Cloud.
Same results.
Researching the issues online led me to the mention of Migrate, Motorola Migrate. Back to the phone, and app store for Migrate. I open Migrate and follow their steps to transfer content. A short time later it's finished. This time I have all of my content.
A miracle.
Lucky for me I had purchased some equipment replacement insurance back then on Mother's Day because that phone took a tumble onto rough blacktop outside the nail salon. Serious cracks.
( At this point I had no knowledge of the one time only Screen Replacement provision offered by Verizon) I file a claim with Asurion for a replacement phone.
Thursday night, July 29th UPS dropped off my new Droid Turbo. ( I shouldn't say new because it is clear that this phone is a reconditioned item.) Set on the charger overnight, I also backed up the cracked phone to Cloud to prepare. In the morning I started the Cloud transfer again. It was frustrating to again find missing contacts and content. Feeling comfortable with the Migrate app I repeated and quickly restored total content.
Great. Until the 31st of July when the device starts showing clear signs of defect. Volume issues plague both the phone ringer and the earpiece making calls somewhat crippled. I contact Asurion customer service and they respond by shipping a sim card. A sim card? Two weeks later and the phone is no better. Finally I make another call to customer service with the same issues remaining unresolved. On August 17th Asurion sends me another replacement phone, this time a new, factory sealed phone.
On the charger and ready for a morning transfer. This time I opt to try Migrate first, hoping to see total content the first time around. Migrate works smoothly and I check the results. Nope, disappointment again. At least I tried; so this time the only way to transfer everything was to now run Cloud. That worked. So in the end it didn't matter which one was first, you had to run both apps to get all content restored.
It worked briefly before going out with a strong finish by crackling and popping during a final call to the states. That night I finagled my way around the internet via my laptop and had a new phone being delivered on Tuesday. One catch, it was going to my home address, and required a signature. This was avoided by changing the delivery address to a family business with a receptionist to sign for the package. Tuesday morning, immediately following its' delivery the phone goes to the local Fedex center for an overnight trip to Saint Martin. It arrived about 2:45pm on Wednesday and I plugged it in to charge.Thursday was spent driving around the island trying different towers for an activation. No success; a phone call to Verizon told me that I could only activate a new phone with a Verizon tower, and there were none here. Quick thinking led to a swap of sim cards, old to new, hoping that the sim card was not damaged in the dunk. After the card exchange the Verizon agent was able to link my old sim (account activation) with my new device. That was like magic.
Over the next seven days I redesigned my home page and added apps. Once home my old phone came back to life when hooked to the PC. I was able to execute both Cloud and Migrate features for the first time and transfer my content.
Same results.
Researching the issues online led me to the mention of Migrate, Motorola Migrate. Back to the phone, and app store for Migrate. I open Migrate and follow their steps to transfer content. A short time later it's finished. This time I have all of my content.
A miracle.
Lucky for me I had purchased some equipment replacement insurance back then on Mother's Day because that phone took a tumble onto rough blacktop outside the nail salon. Serious cracks.
( At this point I had no knowledge of the one time only Screen Replacement provision offered by Verizon) I file a claim with Asurion for a replacement phone.
Thursday night, July 29th UPS dropped off my new Droid Turbo. ( I shouldn't say new because it is clear that this phone is a reconditioned item.) Set on the charger overnight, I also backed up the cracked phone to Cloud to prepare. In the morning I started the Cloud transfer again. It was frustrating to again find missing contacts and content. Feeling comfortable with the Migrate app I repeated and quickly restored total content.
Great. Until the 31st of July when the device starts showing clear signs of defect. Volume issues plague both the phone ringer and the earpiece making calls somewhat crippled. I contact Asurion customer service and they respond by shipping a sim card. A sim card? Two weeks later and the phone is no better. Finally I make another call to customer service with the same issues remaining unresolved. On August 17th Asurion sends me another replacement phone, this time a new, factory sealed phone.
On the charger and ready for a morning transfer. This time I opt to try Migrate first, hoping to see total content the first time around. Migrate works smoothly and I check the results. Nope, disappointment again. At least I tried; so this time the only way to transfer everything was to now run Cloud. That worked. So in the end it didn't matter which one was first, you had to run both apps to get all content restored.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Create a Pinterest Widget for Your Blogger Pages
Adding widgets and links to your blog will not only help it get a nice fat rank in search engines but also gives interest and entertainment to your readers.
As you customize your blog you will undoubtedly find yourself looking for options to add a Pinterest link of some sort.
It was finding myself in that place which led me to find the two most popular options. First you have your basic Pinterest button. The big "P" so to speak.
If you want to just add the button to your blog follow these simple steps: Pinterest Buttons for Blogger. This button will just suggest Pinterest to your readers without being too flashy.
The other option allows you a little more flash by showing a sample of your boards. You tweak the widget to build a Pinterest billboard which allows readers to enter you Pinterest pages. As you can see below this is a beefy chunk of real estate that showcases your Pinterest pics... nice.
Try it here, Widget Builder - Pinterest for Business
by Linda Maintanis
As you customize your blog you will undoubtedly find yourself looking for options to add a Pinterest link of some sort.
It was finding myself in that place which led me to find the two most popular options. First you have your basic Pinterest button. The big "P" so to speak.
If you want to just add the button to your blog follow these simple steps: Pinterest Buttons for Blogger. This button will just suggest Pinterest to your readers without being too flashy.
The other option allows you a little more flash by showing a sample of your boards. You tweak the widget to build a Pinterest billboard which allows readers to enter you Pinterest pages. As you can see below this is a beefy chunk of real estate that showcases your Pinterest pics... nice.
Try it here, Widget Builder - Pinterest for Business
by Linda Maintanis
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