Data Doctors Tech Tips

SMS or "text messaging" is now the go to communication method for just about all of us because of its ease and efficiency in having multiple conversations throughout the day. But as with all technology, the "flies" gather where the "honey" is... aka, spammers and scammers are stepping up their attempts to trick users using text messages. Another problem with text messaging is often times, you just don't know who senders are because they aren't in your address book. Anyone looking for a solid way to manage both situations should try a free app called Truecaller. The Truecaller community is made up of over 100 million users that collectively report scams and spam to help automatically block junk messages. The app also uses the community to help identify who might be texting you when they aren't already in your address book, so you can avoid the 'who is this'? reply. It's far from perfect, but if your want some help with this growing problem, I've posted the link at DataDoctors.com/radio. https://www.truecaller.com

The Pandora music service great for discovering new artists based on the tunes you like, but you'll either have to put up with commercials or pay for a subscription. If discovering new music is something you like to do, but you'd like to avoid subscriptions or commercials, there is another less known service available called 'Earbits'. Earbits focuses on discovering new lesser known artists, so you expect to hear tunes from the heavyweights of the music industry. Their playlists are compiled by music experts and posted as 'genres' that lets you quickly listen to music that fits your taste. One of my favorites is the 'Festival Guides' because I'm a regular at music festivals where I always discover new artists in person. This genre lets you listen to playlists that represent what you will hear when you go to many of the popular music festivals in the world. You can skip the actual festival and discover these new artists from the comfort of your office or home. Checkout the service and their downloadable apps at http://EarBits.com

The flu season is upon us so doing what you can to avoid others that are infected is on everyone's mind. Doppler radar scans the skies for bad weather indicators and the Sickweather app likewise scans social networks to collect posts from users near you to help determine signs of an outbreak. The app makes it as easy to check for the chance of sickness in your area as easily as we all check for rain. The Sickweather tools searches Facebook and Twitter for posts that include phrases such as "I'm sick," "I have bronchitis" and "My son's got chickenpox." Public posts which include location info automatically get added to their database in real time combined with reports from users of the app. Sickweather was actually able to detected the early start of the flu season 6 weeks before the CDC in 2012, so this app may be what the doctor ordered! The free app is available for both iPhone and Android users or you can view live maps online at http://sickweather.com

Most of us have become slaves to our e-mail programs to one degree or another, so, discovering more efficient ways to manage the incoming message storms can vastly improve productivity. One of the ways that several companies are offering to improve efficiency is by turning the Inbox into a "CRM tool". CRM which stands for "Customer Relationship Management" is the basis of the primary offering from SalesForce and other expensive services. If you have yet to find something that helps you manage email loads, checkout this interesting tool from a company called 'Streak' to turn your Inbox into a CRM tool. It was created out of the constant frustration of having to pop back and forth between email and variety of other programs in order to keep track of things. 'Streak' is a Gmail add-on that's free and it has CRM templates for tasks that range from sales to customer support, bug tracking to the hiring processes. It also includes 'snippets' which are pre-formatted bits of text that can be used to quickly reply to your common interactions. There is also an app for iPhone users which allows you to use the tool while you are on the go. Anyone using Gmail and struggling with the overload should checkout 'Streak' at Streak.com.

Trying to shoot a video using your smartphone is useful as long as you aren't moving around while you're shooting it. We have all seen videos online that are nearly unwatchable because of the movement. Movie producers can solve this problem by using very expensive stabilization gear, like a Steadicam while others have attempted similar contraptions for smartphones. But did you know that you don't need to buy any special hardware if you are using an iPhone? The engineers at Instagram created a free app that makes taking smooth video even if you are moving around a lot very easy. The app is called 'HyperLapse' and it doesn't require you to be an Instagram user in order to download and use it. HyperLapse uses the gyro in your smartphone in a very clever way to totally stabilize your video without having to involve some expensive video editing process afterwards. The app also has the ability to create various speed time lapse videos, so it's a great app for anyone that shoots video with an iPhone. It's a really simple app to use because the only setting you have to mess with is the speed of the playback. Just search for 'Hyperlapse' in the Apple App Store to get started!

Anyone that works in an office full of cubicles, aka a "cube farm", knows that their computer is potentially accessed by any passer-by while they are away from their desk. Worse yet is when you are surrounded by pranksters, it can become a constant annoyance when you forget to lock down your computer before you leave the desk. If you can get into the habit of locking down your desktop with a few simple keystrokes, you can save yourself a lot of grief while keep snooping eyes off your private items. Windows users can simply hold down the 'Windows Icon' key while tap[ing the letter 'L' as in lock. Mac users can do the same by holding down 'Control+Shift+ Eject' or for those that don't have an 'Eject' key, try 'Control+Shift+Power' to do the trick. None of this is of value if you don't have a login password setup, which you should have regardless of your environment. Parents can also use this habit at home if they want to prevent a child from using their administrative profile without permission.

I love all things tech, but still nothing compares to curling up to a great book on a lazy fall afternoon. No matter the topic - business, self help, science, history or fiction, discovering lots of new exciting books from fellow bookworms is a pretty good way to go. Amazon's long ago, created a system for recommending books based on what you have already read, but a web resource called "GoodReads.com" offers yet another way for book discovery. You not only get book suggestions based on what you have already read, they'll connect you with your bookworm friends to see what they do and don't like that they've read. It's a kind of virtual book club that makes discovering new books to read much easier to find than hours in the aisles of a physical bookstore. Goodreads.com also allows you create queues of the books you have read, the books you are currently reading and any books that you want to read in the future. The site works best when you get a group of your reader friends to join-in as a private book club. Anyone can also join or start new discussion groups that can be public or private. Check it all out at https://GoodReads.com

All of our digital cameras, smartphones and tablets are capable of taking extremely high-resolution images, but with all those extra pixels comes a major side effect. Super crisp pohotos means very large files, which can easily fill up your computer if you aren't paying attention and can lead to big problems. Depending on how long you've been storing hi-res images on your computer's hard drive, it is entirely possible that you're wasting a lot of space with lots of duplicate images. Trying to track down duplicate pictures manually would be incredibly time consuming, so you will want to look into one of the many duplicate photo finding programs. Since most duplicates aren't stored in the same file folder, these programs will scan your entire drive to determine how many and where your dublicates are stored. It's a much easier way to clean up large amounts of space on your drive from your duplicate photos. I have links posted to a couple of free programs for both Mac and Windows users at DataDoctors.com/radio. Windows (this will start the download of the program immediately): http://www.freepicturesolutions.com/files/duplicatephotofinder_setup.exe Mac: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photos-duplicate-cleaner/id592704001

Passwords are still the weakest link in online security and you've heard me repeatedly warn about the dangers of using a single password everwhere online. There are numerous password management programs available to help, but for some users, it's still too much to figure out. If you don't find a program that works for you, I've got another simple low tech system for tracking all your passwords; just write them down! I don't mean for you to use sticky notes on the front of your monitor, I mean jot them down and store them in a relatively safe place, like somewhere on your smartphone. You obviously shouldn't use the word 'password' anywhere in then name of the document and you should include your own encryption system in case it's ever discovered. Use four random characters, for example, in font of your real passwords, so only you will know that you should ignore them. Truly, if you're going to choose between using the same password on every account or writing them down so you have unique passwords for each site, then write them down! It's the best way to avoid becoming a victim on many accounts from the breach of a single account.

You've probably noticed that some phone and tablet chargers seem to take noticeably longer to charge then others? Well, in this case, you are not just imagining this primarily because the "output current" of your chargers also known as "amperage" or even a bad cable can make a huge difference. The lower the amperage output, the longer it will take to charge any of your batteries. For the best results, use the charger included with your device, but if it's not possible, use a charger with the proper matching amperage rating. Generally, you'd have to have special equipment to measure your output current, but owners of Android devices can use an app called "Ampere" that makes it simple to see the differences in your various chargers and cables. Ampere can monitor battery charging rates and drainage rates along with temperature and the overall health of the battery. Using the app while using various chargers and seperate cables can quickly show you the combination that'll work the best. The free Ampere app is available via the Google Play store