RHFtech™ Write on Tech

How to best run updates on iOS devices

Richard Frisch — Sat, 12 May 2012 14:22:17 +0000

Apple released iOS 5.1.1 this past week. iOS is the operating system that runs on all iPhones, iPads and some iPod touch models. Since iOS 5.0, released in October 2011, we have had two ways to install software updates: via iTunes or over-the-air (OTA) directly to the iOS device. The second method, over-the-air, has the advantage of only downloading an incremental update. The iTunes method downloads the entire operating system and then reinstalls it to the iOS device. The OTA update patch is much smaller and generally faster.

To update via OTA:

Plug your iOS device into a power source.
Make certain you are connected to a WiFi network.
You don’t want to use up your cellular data on this.
Open the Settings app.
Click on the General button.
Click on the Software Update button.
Follow the instructions in the Software Update dialogs.

I saved $600 by reading the reviews

Richard Frisch — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:00:56 +0000

This morning I was met with an unhappy surprise. My home theater wasn’t working when I went to listen to the Radio Mozart stream.

I use Apple’s AirPlay to pass an Internet audio stream from iTunes to an Apple TV, which is connected to the home theater. The Onkyo audio/video receiver (AVR) was not delivering the video stream and so the audio stream was sacrificed as well. This issue was not new. The problem has been recurring for many months. In the past, I was able to play around with the input source to the AVR and get it working again. Once it was working again it would continue to work until the receiver was powered down, usually by CL&P dropping our electricity.

This morning was different. No matter how much I played with the input sources or re-seated the HDMI connections on the back of the receiver it just wouldn’t work. I figured it was time to give up after 15 minutes and buy a new AVR.

I was pretty happy with Onkyo so I figured I would get a newer model. After a bit of research at several sites, I settled on the TX-NR709. It had all the features I wanted, like 8 HDMI inputs and some I would never need, like the phono (turntable) input. I looked at several websites—Amazon, B&H Photo, Newegg and others. The best total price for the unit was offered by Crutchfield. I put the receiver in my shopping cart. Before I began the checkout process I thought to read the Amazon customer reviews.

68 customers had rated it on Amazon, for an average of 4 stars. 76 people “liked” it. (I don’t know what Amazon’s “Like” means.) The distribution of ratings skewed towards 4 and 5 stars.

I always check the more critical reviews, the 1 and 2 stars. This time was no different. The first 1 star review was from J. Walker. He complained that he had problems with the HDMI main output, on not one but two new units. That’s troubling.

J. Walker’s review had elicited 15 comments. The first one, from Brad, said:

Try this: To reset the AV receiver to its factory defaults, turn it on and, while holding down VCR/DVR, press ON/STANDBY. “Clear” will appear on the display and the AV receiver will enter standby mode.

It fixed the HDMI main out problem on mine. Keep in mind you lose ALL your settings when you do the hard reset.

I thought that might be just the ticket for my misbehaving Onkyo receiver.

I went to my receiver and did what Brad suggested. The word “Clear” appeared in the Onkyo’s display and the unit powered off. I pushed the power button to turn it on and everything works again!

I went to my shopping cart, deleted the new receiver, and closed the webpage. $600 saved by reading the customer reviews and comments. Thanks Brad.

Change Windows 7 browser downloads location

Richard Frisch — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:58:36 +0000

Did you ever want to change the default location where files you download in your browser go? Here’s how to do that for Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer 9.

These instructions work with Windows Vista, too. The instructions for Google Chrome and Firefox work with Windows XP, with minor modifications for the different Firefox Windows XP User Interface (UI). However, Internet Explorer 9 cannot be installed in Windows XP.

Firefox

Click on the Firefox button in the upper left corner of the browser window.
Select Options from the dropdown menu.
Select the General tab in the Options dialog.
Click the radio button in front of “Save files to” and then click the Browse… button.
Navigate to and then select the desired downloads location.
Click the Select Folder button.
Click the OK button to save your choice.

Firefox also lets you select where each file downloads on a file-by-file basis, instead of having a single download location. Select the checkbox “Show the Downloads windows when downloading a file” when you are in the Options > General tab.

Google Chrome

Click on the wrench icon in the upper right corner of the browser window.
Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
Select the Under the Hood in the left side panel in the Settings window.
Click the Change… button.
Navigate to and then select the desired downloads location.
Click the OK button to save your choice.
Close the Settings window.

Google Chrome also lets you select where each file downloads on a file-by-file basis, instead of having a single download location. Select the checkbox “Ask where to save each file before downloading” when you are in the Settings window.

Internet Explorer 9

Click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the browser window.
Select View downloads from the dropdown menu.
Click the Options button.
click the Browse… button.
Navigate to and then select the desired downloads location.
Click the Select Folder button.
Click the OK button to save your choice.

Unlike Firefox and Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 9 does not let you select where files download on a file-by-file basis.

Mac app – DragonDrop

Richard Frisch — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:00:36 +0000

DragonDrop is a Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) app that improves the cut, copy and paste functionality in Finder and the rest of the Lion operating system. It costs $4.99 and is available from either the Mac App Store or from the shinyplasticbag.com website.

DragonDrop is invoked by selecting an object with your mouse, e.g. a file, folder or image, then shaking the object left and right. An onscreen receptacle appears, where you drop the file or image. Your mouse cursor is now free and you can go to the destination in Finder, email or elsewhere. Once you reach the destination container you simply drag the object from the DragonDrop onscreen container to the destination location. The DragonDrop container disappears and you are done. It is that simple. Check out the " target="_blank">video below to see DragonDrop in action.

Deleting multiple emails from your iPad

Richard Frisch — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:53:41 +0000

How do you clear multiple emails simultaneously from your iPad’s inbox? There is no way to delete all the messages simultaneously other than removing the email account in the Settings app .

However, there is a way to select and delete several emails at the same time.

Open the Mail app
Hold the iPad in landscape mode.
An Edit button appears above the list of emails in you inbox.
Click the Edit button.
Click on each email you want to delete, one-by-one.
A check mark will appear next to selected items.
Click the Delete button in the lower left to delete the selected items.

You say you want a revolution

Richard Frisch — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:03:03 +0000

The title of this piece echoes the opening line of the 1968 Lennon/McCartney song Revolution. The song was originally released as the B-Side of the Beatle’s 45 rpm single Hey Jude. 45 rpm records were introduced in 1949 by RCA Victor as a market response to Columbia Record’s 33⅓ rpm long-playing records, which went on sale in 1948. Both formats allowed for much longer play times than the previous 78 rpm standard. The maximum playing time for a 78 rpm 12” record side was about 3½ minutes.

Rotational speeds have been an issue for recorded media since Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. His original invention used cylinders as the recording and playback media, which allowed for constant rotational speed. The lateral-cut disc, AKA the record, was introduced about a decade later to play on gramophone devices. Early discs were recorded at speeds from 60 to 130 rpm as well as on an assortment of record sizes. The early playback devices had to allow the owner to adjust rotational speed or the music would sound wrong. The industry finally settled on the 78 rpm standard in 1925, almost 50 years after Edison’s original invention.

Motion pictures use the measure of frames-per-second (FPS). Today we use digital files but motion pictures dating from the 1890s to the early years of this century used rolled film. Rolled film incorporates thousands of still frames on strips of celluloid. The strips have holes along both edges for sprocket wheels that advance the film. The earliest movie cameras and projectors were hand-cranked. Early films were captured at rates from 16 to 24 FPS. The playback speed rarely matched these rates. Cue sheets were distributed to projectionists that advised them of the “correct” playback speed. The cue sheets generally suggested that movies be played faster by 2 to 3 FPS than the shooting rate. Projectionists could do whatever they or the theatre manager wanted. They might slow down some scenes and speed up others. Afternoon showings were generally played back slower than evening showings. Different projectionists used different speeds for all or part of a film. The introduction of talkies, motorized cameras and motorized projectors changed this. Talkies required fixed playback rates lest the sound be too high or too low pitched.

We continue to use thousands of still pictures in digital video played back at rates that fool our eyes and brains into seeing motion. Digital videos are shot at a variety of speeds. The two most common are 24 FPS used in movies and 29.97 FPS (often rounded to 30 FPS) used for TV and home video. The 29.97 FPS synchronizes well with the 60 Hz scan rate of traditional and most high definition TVs. Europe uses 25 FPS rates rather than 29.97 FPS because their TVs are designed for PAL which scans at 50 Hz.

Even these rates are changing. Peter Jackson, who is directing and producing The Hobbit (a two movie adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s book, part 1 is slated for release this coming Christmas) shot the movies at 48 FPS. I suspect this is because the movie will be available in 3D and he wants a full 24 FPS for each eye. James Cameron (Titanic and Avatar) is working on sequels to Avatar. I understand he is shooting them at 60 FPS.

It seems appropriate to end this piece with the Peter Seeger song, “Turn! Turn! Turn!”

Help, please! Unhide Google Search “Everything” control

Richard Frisch — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:12:52 +0000

Does anyone know of an add-on, tweak or other method that overrides or disables the default hidden Google Search controls, exposing them automatically?

The latest design meme is to hide things designers think clutter the look of a webpage. If you want to see the hidden controls and their functions you need to click once, twice or more.

Google recently changed the search page to hide the left-hand, vertical controls under a drop-down menu labeled Everything. I use these controls all the time to filter out miscellaneous information and get better, more focused search results. It is irritating to constantly click one, twice, three times to see the controls I need to use.

You don’t see it.

Now you do.

And after two clicks even more!

Going anti-social

Richard Frisch — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:08:25 +0000

Social is the mantra of the post-web 2.0 Internet. We are bombarded by Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Path, Instagram, Pinterest…. New social networks seemingly form daily. A truism about free social networks is that we are the product not the customer. Social websites spy on and track users’ posts, relationships and behaviors because they can sell the harvested information. There are more pernicious uses of this information. We should not forget the communist witch hunts Senator Joseph McCarthy spearheaded in the early 1950s. Imagine what he could do with today’s data.

Google offers lots of great services, many free. I use several of them all the time. I’ll bet you do, too. I understand that the quid pro quo with Google is that they will display ads based upon my use of their services. Google primarily makes its money from selling advertising. In some ways, Larry Page, Google’s founder and CEO, is the Don Draper of the 21^st century.

What began as an innocuous advertising-paid, free search service is morphing into a scary all-encompassing data mining company. Google is not alone. Facebook tracks its users when they visit other websites even if they are not signed in to Facebook at the time. Those ubiquitous Facebook Like buttons do much more than you think.

So what can you do if you want to use Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and other social services but minimize their spying on you?

You can use your browser’s private browsing session feature to automatically delete any information saved to your computer, smartphone or tablet during a browsing session. (If you don’t understand what private browsing is and how to access it on your browser, I suggest you use a Google or Bing search to get an answer. Ironic ain’t it?)

That is not the most convenient way to surf the web. There are some alternatives. You want to stop third party bugs from getting onto your computer or to kill them when you close a page, if you need to allow them onto your computer to view the page. Third party tracking bugs are posted to your computer, primarily but not exclusively by advertising servers that put ads on the pages you visit.

Below are a few steps you can take to defeat some of this spying:

• The latest version of Firefox has a configuration setting that will automatically kill third party bugs whenever you close the page.

Go to about:config in the Firefox address bar.
Search for cookie.
Find network.cookie.thirdparty.sessionOnly in the search result list.
Double click on the item to change its value from false to true.

• You can install the following add-ons in the Firefox and Google Chrome browsers:

Spying is not limited to browsers. Many email companies like Constant Contact, MailChimp or others track whether or not you open the email they send you and probably track much more. Most smartphone apps also provide mechanisms for tracking your behavior. Some of them even upload your whole cellphone’s address book to their servers. So be careful about which newsletters you subscribe to and what information you give to your friends, acquaintances or relatives, and be extra careful about what personal information, yours and your contacts, that you store on your mobile devices.

It would be nice if we were on the cusp of a change in privacy regulation regarding the web. The FTC recently called for “privacy by design” in web sites and applications. Bloggers are heralding their defections from social services, such as this article, I Quit Path. Congress is making noises too.

Yet, it is difficult to believe that Washington will change its ways and ignore corporate lobbying for keeping the status quo. Until it becomes a felony for companies to spy on us I suggest you batten down your personal defenses.

Emailing multiple pictures from an iPhone or iPad

Richard Frisch — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 18:00:46 +0000

The iPhone 4 and 4S models have great point-and-shoot cameras. The new iPad (3^rd generation) has a rear camera comparable to the iPhone 4 rear camera.

So you use these devices to take pictures and you want to email them to your friends and relatives. How do you email more than one photo at a time? Hint: you don’t start in email.

Here’s how:

1. Click on the Photos app on your iOS device home screen. (Alternatively, you can start the Camera app and click on the Camera Roll button.)

2. Select the Photos or Camera Roll tab.

3. Click on the Share (arrow-in-the-box on the iPad) button.

4. Select the photos you want email by clicking on them. A checkmark will appear in the lower right corner of selected images.
You can select up to 5 photos if you want to email them directly from the Photo app Camera Roll. (See below for a work-around to this limitation).

5. Click the Share button (upper left of the iPad screen or lower left on the iPhone) when you are done selecting photos. The iPad will display two other buttons—Email and Print. The iPhone will give you the additional choice of Message. If you selected more than 5 photos the Email button will not appear.

6. Click the Email button and fill in your message.

Workaround to 5 photo email limit

You can send more than 5 images by email. In step 5, above, don’t select the Share button, chose the Copy button instead. You can then paste as many photos as you want into an email message, up the maximum email message size of your email provider. Gmail, Yahoo and AOL limit the message size to 25MB. The Hotmail / Live maximum size is 10MB. Optonline / Optimum limit you to 5MB. Apple iCloud / MobileMe / .mac has a maximum of 20MB. Check with your email provider for their limit.

Before Oscar and After Film – You’re invited

Richard Frisch — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 12:41:55 +0000

Tuesday evening, March 27 at 7:30 pm I will present a one hour, two part program:

Before Oscar: a moving history of motion picture technology from its inception in the 1870s to 1907.
After Film: a brief demonstration of how to compose and edit a digital video using Apple’s Final Cut Pro X.

You will learn how motion pictures were invented and turned into a business in the first part of the presentation. You will see some of the very first motion pictures ever made, dating from the 1870s.

I will demonstrate how modern motion pictures are composed using Final Cut Pro X, one of the big three, professional video editing programs, in the second half.

My presentation is the main program at the Connecticut PC Users Group March meeting, which is open to all and begins at 6:30 pm.

The meeting will be in the east dining room of the Silver Star Diner, 210 Connecticut Avenue, Norwalk. The program is open to all. If you come by stick around after and join us for pizza, salad and beer.

I hope to see you there.