Data Doctors Tech Tips

Have you ever experienced charging problems when you jump from one charger to another? Do some chargers seem to work better than others? Well, the fact is that if your charger isn't the proper amperage for your device or you have a connecting cable that is starting to go bad, the charging times can be quite different. If you think of amperage like water pressure, the lower it is, the longer it's going to take to fill the bathtub. The best results are achieved by using the factory shipped charger and cables; if you can't, you really need to pay special attention to the rating of the substitute charger. Fancy electronic devices can actually measure the true amperage and current, but for those with an Android smartphone, there's an app for that! An app called 'ampere' is an excellent way to monitor all the important aspects for charging your battery the proper way. You can use the app while charging with your various chargers to see which ones are properly performing the task instead of just guessing. Check out this free app for yourself at: http://bit.ly/2WtZdJK

The power of Amazon's business is impacting so many of us because you can find just about anything you could ever want to buy. But did you know that not only can you buy the latest and greatest, you can trade your old stuff in to help pay for it. Their online trade in guide will provide you with an estimated trade for your older electronics, books, video games and more. Choose a category for your trade, use the filters to narrow it down or use their search by name option to find your exact item. Once you're there, you'll be asked various question that will help to establish an estimated trade value along with a range that will be determined once your item has been inspected. To have it inspected, you'll need to ship it to Amazon, but they cover the shipping costs to get it there. Anyone that wants to declutter their house or office and save money should look into this option before the value of those items gets even lower: https://amzn.to/2DLzAwR

There is no shortage of options for storing things 'in the cloud' with options from Apple, Google, Dropbox, Microsoft and more. Most of them incorporate a 'freemium' model by giving you a small amount of free space with hopes that you'll fill it up and buy additional storage when you do. While you can get as much as 15gbs of free storage, which sounds like a lot, you can quickly max out if you are constantly taking pictures and video with your smartphone. If you're one of the millions that finds themselves maxed out of their current cloud storage choice, I have a suggestion that you may not thought about. Google's online photo and video storage offers unlimited space for free by installing the 'Google Photos' app on any smartphone. It's not just for Android smartphones, so even iPhone users can take advantage of this awesome storage option just by installing the app and setting it to automatically backup. This is especially good news for the many long suffering iPhone users that keep running out of space on their phones... move them to Google Photos and free up lots of valuable space!

Depending upon your age, you may have viewed text messaging as being impersonal at some point in the past, but you've figured out just how efficient it is as a communication tool. Apple iPhone fans probably don't realize how unique their messaging platform, known as iMessage, is in the smartphone world. If you have a lot of friends and family that also use an iPhone, iMessage provides some exceptional features that you don't have to learn how to use. The first is that encrypts everything for you and the second is that it doesn't require a cellular connection in order to work with other iPhone users. This means you can still get text messages if all you have is a wifi connection, like when you travel to other countries. There are a host of other options that many of you may not even know exists, so that's what today's tip is going to point out. Even if you use a lot of the extra features available in iMessage, you may not know about all 15 of these power user tips: http://bit.ly/2PFkQUJ

Language translation apps for your smartphone have been getting much better. One of my early favorites was an app called WordLens primarily because of it's ability to translate items that appeared via your camera. Fortunately, they were acquired by Google some time ago and turned it into a free feature that is now incorporated in the Google Translate app. What used to take multiple apps to accomplish, written, spoken and visual translations can now be achieved in this one app It offers hand writing recognition, two-way real-time verbal translation and visual translations of signs, menus and other important items in your environment. As helpful as the app can be, it's far from perfect, so try to keep your translations to short couple of words for the best results. It now supports 32 languages on the fly, while recognizing 103 languages by text and 38 in the image conversion mode. Anyone headed to a foreign country should put this app front and center on their smartphones to make communications much easier.

Popular online services such as Netflix, Hulu and Spotify that offer a buffet style option are popular for a reason: you get lots of choices for a fixed price. If you like these kinds of offers and you also like to read magazines, there's a service for that and it's called Magzter! The primary "Gold" option provides an unlimited collection of over 5000 magazines from around the world to its subscribers. For about $10 a month, you can read your favorite magazines from any of your devices as long as you have an internet connection. For about $5 a month, you can go with their 'Lite' option which gives you the option of reading up to five magazines. There are lots of popular magazines available on the service, but premium magazines that have their own subscription package, such as the Harvard Business Review are not included. You can checkout the plethora of options including lots of lesser known magazines from around the world at: https://www.magzter.com

Today's tip is for all of you that love music but have no idea what the lyrics are for just about every song you know. An app called Musixmatch could be the best thing that ever happened to you and make it possible to know that words you should actually be singing. The app can work with just about any other app that plays music including popular streaming services like Spotify. It does require you to be connected to the Internet in some way or it can't pull down the lyrics for the song while it's playing. One of my favorite features of the app is the ability to 'Identify' songs playing in the background in a public place, like a coffee shop or club and bring up the lyrics for those songs as well. It's a free app that works on both iOS and Android devices as well as your desktop computer: http://bit.ly/2UWHe1R

Setting up 2 factor authentication will keep others from getting into your accounts because it sends a special code to your phone when it doesn't recognize a device, location or browser. and#8232;and#8232;Hopefully, you've listened to the advice of many tech security experts and activated it on all your important online accounts. If you have, you need to do one more thing to make sure you can access your accounts when you're on a flight or if you lose your smartphone. If you're in either of these situations, you won't be able to get the special code because you can't get text messages on while flying or if you no longer have your phone. To prepare for these events, it's important to have backup codes available to you to get back into your accounts. The steps for what to do if you don't have access to your phone should be in the same place that told you how to initially setup the security. In most cases, you can generate a number of one time backup codes that you should stash in your travel gear or password protect in a file on your computer, smartphone or tablet, especially if you're a road warrior. Here are the instructions for some of the most popular services: Google:and#160;http://bit.ly/2XJqJ63 Facebook:and#160;http://bit.ly/2XIyj14 DropBox:and#160;http://bit.ly/2XABNTc Twitter:and#160;http://bit.ly/2XFRxEr You can also do a Google search for backup codes and include the name of the service you're trying to setup.

Today's tip is specifically for those road warriors that are on the road constantly and want to avoid all the hassles of packing and doing laundry for every trip. A service at https://www.dufl.com was setup to provide an easy way to hit the road. Once you get setup and registered, the company will ship a large suitcase to you so you can pack what you'd like for future trips. When you're packed with all the items that you may need for various types of trips, they'll come pick it up from you, launder your clothes and store them for your next trip. You then 'virtually pack' for any future trips by picking the items that your previously packed and provide the address where you want the bag sent. This means you'll never have to haul a big bag around again or even worry about getting everything washed for your next trip, because they take care of shipping and cleaning after every trip. Of course, anything this convenient isn't going to come cheap, but if you're already paying checked bag fees every time, their $99.95 fee per trip may be worth considering. See how it works at: https://www.dufl.com

Fully functional maps on your phone are awesome when you're on the road and have a solid connection, but if you spend any time off the grid, they can be pretty unhelpful. If this scenario is something you experience or expect to experience down the road, an app called Anchor Pointer might be something to consider downloading. It's essentially a very powerful compass program that makes use of the GPS that will still function without a signal from a cell tower. It allows you to create waypoints or 'anchors' along any path that you can use to help you return back safely. You can place anchors all around the back country areas you're visiting to help you keep tabs on where all the important locations are and how far away they are. Just like the old timers that navigated the entire world with a compass, the app makes it easy to keep your bearings wherever you go. It's also helpful for creating a meet up point with others that have the app. Check out the reviews and download it at: https://apple.co/2VKlB14