Data Doctors Tech Tips

If you are a parent of teens, you're familiar with the frustration of getting them up to speed on doing their own laundry. The biggest excuses is always "I don't know what to do" If that's a fair excuse, well there's an app for that! A free app called Complete Laundry Care for the iPhone has instructions for proper washing, ironing, folding and includes a chart to explain what those 'machine wash symbols' on the tags mean. The app will walk them through the step-by-step process from sorting, setting timers for washing and drying and provide timer alerts for each load as them are done so they aren't forgotten. It's a pretty solid way to ensure your new college freshman doesn't destroy their wardrobe in the 1st semester of school using the 'throw it all in together' method of laundry. The app can also help save your child from burning holes into their clothing if they decide to attempt ironing. The Complete Laundry Care app is for anyone of any age that just hasn't gotten their arms around the whole 'laundry thing'. It could end up saving thousands of dollars over the years. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/complete-laundry-care/id833637165

Hyper Text Markup Language or HTML is truly the base language of the Net. If you have have a youngster that is interested in learning how to create websites, starting with an understand of the basic code that's used to build things is the key. While you may see companies telling you that you can build your own website with their easy-to-use-tools, the reality is that it's limited to their pre-designed templates and tools for creating a site. HTML may look like a foreign language at first, but once they get started learning the primary building blocks, it suddenly becomes a lot less mysterious. A great way to start learning web skills is from Mozilla's Webmaker web resource where you can use simple pre-made test sites to tinker with to see what happens. It turns out that breaking things can be a really great way to learn basic web skills and Webmaker allows you to it without causing any problems. A solid understanding of HTML has become a primary skill for more than just website creators and Mozilla's aim is to move millions of people from just using the web to helping create it. Mozilla's project is at http://Webmaker.org and it is a good place for anyone that's inquisitive about how the web really works!

A pretty consistent question that I have been asked by businesses, is where to send employees to get software training. Old timers like me, generally think about taking a class or reading a book to learn what we don't know, but that isn't the way most people learn these days. The Internet allows for a much more interactive and visual way to learn things and a website that offers a comprehensive online library of easy to follow lessons is at Lynda.com. They have over 2,500 courses using video that range from common programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel to 3-D animation and virtually every type of web programming language or platform in use today. 10's of thousands of training videos are categorized as beginner, intermediate and advanced and also offer videos with the close captioning option. Lynda is a subscription service that starts at around 25 dollars a month for unlimited access to all their training videos. They also offer mobile apps, which allow you to watch courses on your laptop or mobile devices, and switch back and forth without losing your place. If you are part of a business that's looking for an inexpensive online visual training system, give http://lynda.com a good look.

Just about every 'reality show' incorporates some form of 'makeover', but not many of us want to become a public spectacle while doing it. If you have ever considered some radical new hair style, a complete makeup makeover or just wanted to see what you would look like with different color eyes, I've got a tool for you! A site called Taaz, that's T A A Z.com has an interesting virtual makeover platform that is really simple to use and generates results in just minutes. You simply upload a head shot of yourself and then start modifying your lips, skin, eyes, hair or even add accessories. Better yet, if you have always wondered what you'd look like with a certain celebrities look, you can get that look on your head shot with a click of a button. They even include Halloween ideas so you can see your Mad Hatter look, become a character from Avatar or see which one of Lady Gaga's styles fits you best. While Taaz is clearly setup to help women in makeover decisions using specific brands of makeup, us guys can also use it for more subtle makeovers as well.

If you've got younger kids, using some sort of a baby monitor is standard practice these days. If you're looking for something that's really convenient or as an alternative for when you take your little ones on a trip, look into an Android app called Dormi. The Dormi app can turn just about any 2 Android devices into a fully capable baby monitor system that can work from any distance. Unlike those traditional baby monitors, the Dormi app works with either wifi or cellular connections, so it works in the next room or the next state. You even have a push button to speak to your child if they need to be calmed by your voice and the app also keeps you posted on the battery level of the monitoring device. The free basic service allows for up to four hours of monitoring per month or for a one time $7 purchase, you can get unlimited usage forever. If you have an older unused Android device sitting around somewhere, this is a perfect way to bring it back to life.

If your smartphone is on a limited data plan, keeping data usage under that limit is important. One really good way to do that is to switch to the Opera Mini browser on your smartphone for your web browsing. Opera has a built-in ability to switch to "off-road" mode which automatically reduces your data usage while surfing the web and displays how much data you saved by using it. Opera Mini incorporates sophisticated compression before your phone starts to download the info, thereby using less data than other browsers when you use the off-road mode. Often times, this extra compression will actually speedup your page loads especially when you're on a slow connection but it can cause issues on dynamically generated sites, which is why there's an option for turning it on or off. Opera Mini also incorporates speed-dial for your most visited websites, like a more visual display of your traditional bookmarks. If you want to give Opera Mini a, just use any mobile device and go to m.opera.com and you'll automatically be provided with the proper link.

Most of us pop between a computer and a smartphone on a daily basis, so wouldn't it be helpful to be able to push information between these two devices? We constantly find ourselves in a situation where we find something on our smartphones that we'd like to push to our computer and vice versa. Well you can if you use the free solution at Pushbullet.com Pushbullet is a Google Chrome add-on paired with an app for both Android or iPhone users that makes sending things between your computer and your smartphone a snap. Whether it's a note, web URLs, physical addresses, lists, pictures or even data files, they can be sent from one device to the other with the greatest of ease. Pushbullet eliminates the process involved with services such as DropBox or Google Drive because what you ' ush' can easily be accessed without having to go through the download process or go to special apps. Pushbullet also allows you to send directly to family, friends or co-workers. If you have an Android device, you can also mirror the notifications on your smartphone on your computer screen. If you are intrigued by this service, the direct links for getting the mobile and web apps is posted at DataDoctors.com/radio Android App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pushbullet.android iPhone App: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pushbullet/id810352052 Web App: https://www.pushbullet.com

If you're like most people, you use Microsoft Word on a daily basis, so you may be familiar with something called 'macros' which allows you to work with large portions of text that you use on a regular basis by simple keyboard shortcuts. Since we are all spending so much more time online creating content, having this same type of option right in your web browser can be very handy. If you find yourself starting to use Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word more often, check into the Auto Text Expander add-on for Google Chrome. With this free add-on, you can create your own shortcuts for long e-mail addresses, sentences or other commonly used chunks of text as well as various signatures for e-mail messages that can be easily inserted using your own custom keystrokes. For example, you can create a 'bizadd' shortcut for your business address or 'persig' for a personal e-mail signature or create anything else you might use on a regular basis. The best part of this add-on is that when you create a shortcut, you can use it anywhere, on any text field for just about anything you use on the Internet. Get it here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/auto-text-expander-for-go/iibninhmiggehlcdolcilmhacighjamp

If you're noticing strange items that just seem to pop-up on your computer screen from time to time, it is likely they're from new apps or programs that you recently installed. A general practice now a days is to hide third-party programs into a utility such as Java or printer install programs within the installation routine. The key to keeping these unwanted programs and other changes to your system is to pay really close attention to what's happening during the installation process. Most of these companies are counting on you not paying attention and hope you'll just keep hitting next, next, next and I agree. Another common trick which allows junk software into your computer is convincing you that a standard installation is the best and recommended one. They'll make it appear as if you have to be a rocket scientist to select the custom installation, but if you do, that;s where you will get to see what they really want to sneak past you. From now on, make it a point to choose the custom or advanced option whenever you are installing anything new on your computer so you have a shot at stopping it before it happens. Doing so is the key to keeping software companies from messing with your browser by adding extra toolbars or worse, changing the default search engine or your start page.

Do you seem to be more productive when you're at your local coffee shop than you are at your home or office or home? Does coffee made by other really make it more productive or could it be the environment? Research seems to suggest that it's the ambient noise that can make you more productive and creative. A really quiet environment or a really noisy and distracting room can be counter-productive, so the low rumble like you'd hear in a typical coffee shop is maybe just right. If you're interested in testing out the warming vibe of a coffee shop without leaving your home or office, there's actually an app (and a website) for that. It's called http://coffitivity.com and it's a quick way to generate ambient noises that mimic a coffee shop, lunch lounge or campus cafe whenever you're trying to boost creativity or productivity. If the website works for you, you can download the app for your smartphone, so you can take the ambience with you everywhere you go. Some people have even used the Coffitivity tool to drown out the noises in their own place of work.