Author: admin

How to Fix Hardware Issues That You Might Not Understand

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No matter what happens to your system, it usually has little or nothing to do with the hardware but with the software that is powering it.

Even if you don’t know how to go about fixing the problem, there is a simple trick that one can use to fix most if not all simple hardware issues that you might face. In particular, if one of your PC components stop working, then you can try this too.

For starters, you have to open Device Manager in Windows 8.1 if that’s the operating system version you are using.

Now let’s say that your USB Port is the problem and for which you get an error code 43. Remember that this error type isn’t just for USB drives but for any software component on your system.

Once you have opened Device Manager, then look for Universal Serial Bus Controllers which when selected will throw up a list of USB drives on your PC. In this list, you will find an item with a yellow triangle titled “Unknown device”. Select it and another window will open.

If you see the message “Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems” in a window titled ‘Device Status’ which is in the General tab.

Now, in order to resolve this particular issue, click the Driver tab and the Uninstall button. This will uninstall the low-level software that is used to run the hardware on your system. Next, go back to the main Device Driver window and select Action and Scan for Hardware Changes. Windows will reinstall the missing driver.

Finally, go back to the General tab and check the Device Status which should say that it is working properly now.

How to Use Gmail’s Hidden Colored Stars to Organize Your Inbox

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While there’s no doubt that a clearly organized Gmail inbox can give one a sense of order, there are other aspects, such as its Starred section, that can improve it further.

Labels can prove to be very efficient when it comes to categorizing and storing certain emails but there are important emails that can be found by Starring them. It’s much easier to access these emails too.

Of course, there’s more to Gmail than just yellow icons that are used to indicate starred emails. Accessing your Gmail settings will show you a number of colored stars such as green, blue, red, orange and purple too. If that’s not enough, you can use colored exclamation points, check marks among other items that are available.

While you can each colored star to indicate an action that you would like to take, there’s no way of personalizing each star with a particular purpose or name.

To set up this feature with Gmail, click the cog in the upper right hand corner and select Settings from the dropdown menu.

When the Settings screen opens, look for the General tab and then the Stars section that close to the top. Google’s presets that are in place include 4 stars or all stars and that should include more starred colors to you.

Also, you can drag and drop each star from the In Use to the Not In Use category when necessary. This will help you get the number of stars that you need. Of course, dragging and dropping stars from within the In Use section can be done to get the exact lineup that is necessary.

Make sure you hit Save Changes at the bottom and get back to your inbox to start using these stars.

That said, if you want to use a yellow star, then click once or just once more to get a list of colors that you can pick from. That’s it.

Are Medical Device Coatings Safe for the Body?

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Written by: Denton Vacuum, LLC

Summary: Are medical device coatings actually safe for the body?

As medical science evolves, the need to put objects into a patient’s body increases. There are more gadgets that do more to keep patients alive and comfortable for longer periods of time. Consider just how much tubes like the catheter have changed. They are still not a pleasant experience, but aqueous coatings have made them easier to slip in and out of the patient’s body.

These chemicals bring up important questions about the safety risks posed to your body. Are these device coatings actually making patients safer?

Consider the Device

There are several kinds of anti-reflective coating possible for eye glasses. Each is good for a specific kind of user. Index-matching, for instance, functions like tarnishing a lens. So it is with coatings, each coating being suited to a specific purpose and carrying out a specific duty. Anti-microbial coatings, for instance, are designed to fend off bacterial infections that can seep through open wounds created by tubes into the skin.

Without these devices, patients still need a catheter or eye glasses, but their site or comfort levels may be diminished. In some cases, their health is jeopardized as they are at risk for infection.

Alterations to the Device

If the coating inhibits the device from doing its job, the coating is ineffective. That’s why medical manufacturers utilize a thermal evaporation system when applying coatings to a device. The finish is thin-film, often only micrometers in thickness, which presents almost no difference to the patient.

Thin film is a little different from the effect yo get with UHV sputter deposition. This process acts more like a spray can, and can give a smooth surface but it more often used to metalize something. You might find metalized plastic in joint replacements or acting as anti-static shielding for medical equipment in the patient’s room.

Why Mobile Video Ads Will Prove Effective in 2015

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Ads compete with many distractions in order to get a user’s attention. Banner ads, for instance, compete with content. Radio ads compete with the ability to change stations, and television ads compete against the ability to fast forward. Only our smartphones manage to captivate our attention for any significant length of time, and that makes the mobile video ads an important part of the landscape in 2015 and beyond.

Hard Stats

It is common knowledge that smartphone adoption is up, but video consumption on these devices grew a staggering 400 percent during the latter part of 2014. That’s a significant chunk of all hours spent viewing videos online. It’s had such a significant impact that it’s triggered a debate over how to manage all of this traffic within the marketing community, and a debate over faster connection speeds at the government level.

A large portion of the videos seen are ads. Most of them are short, which explains the volume, but they must still have strong messaging to be successful.

Making Video Ads Effective

In order to make a video ad effective, you have to employ some of the same tactics TV shows and movies use themselves. Namely, make the ad hook the viewer in within the first few seconds. Keep your messaging simple and the video brief until you’ve developed a solid understanding of what your audience responds to.

Mobile video ads do have the built-in advantage of holding the user’s attention. Consider how we use mobile: while in transit or waiting in line. During times when we are seeking distraction. Use that time wisely and your engagement and conversion rates might see a bump in performance.

Bio: Ted Dhanik is the co-founder and CEO of engage:BDR. Ted Dhanik is passionate about digital advertising, and has been in the business since the early 2000s. If you want to buy targeted traffic to build your business, talk with Ted Dhanik and the team at engage:BDR.

What You Need to Keep in Mind When Traveling with a Laptop

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Almost ten years ago, traveling with a laptop across international lines was much easier than now. With a number hardware compatibility issues resolved, there are new challenges that has to be considered such as protecting your files and even just crossing international borders.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that custom officials will take you aside every time to check the contents of your SSD or hard drive. However, this could happen from time to time and for this reason, you should be prepared.

Encrypting your files is not the way to go as this might arouse suspicion among officials. Instead, copy your sensitive files to media that you keep at home or even in its encrypted form into the cloud. After this, you can wipe them off your internal hard disk completely.

Of course, apart from this, the files that you will need during your travel should be backed up in the cloud just in case you lose your laptop or something goes wrong.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you wish to stay for a long time in another country, you might have to pay duty tax to use your laptop when you are there.

There are a couple of ways by which you can determine the fees involved: one, search for ‘duty tax’ and the name of the country or even try the Duty Calculator which is free to use for the first time.

One last thing: different countries have different electric outlets and voltages. For this, you should purchase an international plug adapter for as much as $10. There are universal adapters for as much as $30 and even have a USB port.

Having said that, most laptops can handle voltages varying 100 to 220, and so that shouldn’t be that much of a problem to deal with.

What You Need to Know About Cameyo

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A company known as Cameyo has created software where one can run programs not only from a USB stick but also in a browser as well.

There are a number of open source programs that are offered but one can also upload EXE files to the Cameyo account so as to run these programs that you might need wherever you are.

Of course, there are issues that come with using Cameyo because some programs tend to run slow while others will not work at all.

So, what should you do at first?

Sign for a Cameyo account and then link your DropBox account to it. After you do this, you can access the files that are located in the folder with the path: \Apps\Cameyo\Desktop. It must be said that any files that you create will also be saved at this location as well.

Starting a program is really simple. You can click on any of the programs that should display a ‘Play’ button and use it just like you would on any Windows system.

Of course, it goes without saying that when you are navigating through the file system, you will not be able to access any local files on your system.

As for the programs that are available for casual users, Audacity, 7Zip and Irfanview can be used for audio editing, file compression and video editing tasks.

That said, it wouldn’t be much of an everyday solution but Cameyo does come in handy if you are away from your computer.

3 Podcast Apps for Android Phones

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Podcasts continue to be a popular form of broadcasting even though the era of the iPod goes way back.

Obtaining podcasts can be easy for iOS users yet this isn’t necessarily the case for Android phone users up until now.

So, here are 3 podcast apps for Android phones:

#1: Pocket Casts
Considered to be an app that is easy to use with its tile-formatted layout, its overall interface is an excellent example of Material Design with both a finger-friendly layout as well as a slide-out side menu. The main menu is probably one of the app’s best design elements.

You can use the featured or trending sections to find podcasts if you are new while search and the category filter if you’re looking for a particular podcast.

#2: Player FM
Without a doubt, this podcast app is well-designed and bears similarity to Pocket Casts. The app itself offers a full set of features and which includes using it on your desktop as well. Of course, for this you will have to create an account but the option of Google sign-in makes it easier than ever. Given that it is free of cost, it is an excellent option if you are a light podcast users and aren’t ready to your favorite paid app just yet.

#3: DoggCatcher
Costing $2.99, DogCatcher is an excellent option for not only tracking down but also discovering new or previously undiscovered podcasts. While it breaks up the discovery section into news, audio or video, the easiest way for one to find podcasts is from the Subscribe section right from the slide out menu.

Not only can you set a sleep timer that will cause the podcast to fade away when you sleep but it also allows you to create as many categories as you’d like so as to keep your list of subscriptions neat.

3 Things to Remember Before Switching Browsers

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Switching between browsers used to be easy – not anymore. However, with a number of actions which involve customizing these programs with extensions, run apps or even sync open tabs to mobile devices.

Having said that, here are 3 things to keep in mind before switching between browsers:

#1: Syncing browsing data between all devices
Moving quickly and easily between open tabs in a browser is a feature that Chrome offers. However, this is available with other browsers too with Firefox having Sync and Opera having Link  for Android users, in particular. While Firefox is available on Android, Opera has mobile browsers for Windows Phone, iOS and Android. As for Safari on Windows PC and on an iPhone, you have lesser options when it comes to syncing but iCloud can help you with that.

#2: Bookmarks
While it’s difficult to go anywhere without your bookmarks, this issue was probably solved a long long time ago. Moving bookmarks between browsers is rather easy, and can done for all four popular browsers by using the Import or Export options available on all of them.

#3: Look for alternative add-ons or extensions
If you browse a lot (and who doesn’t these days!), there’s no doubt that using a few add-ons can make your experience all that better. Of course, before you switch your browser, make sure that critical services such as a password manager or even options for Evernote are available. What you must remember is that you will have to give up some add-ons for other as you might not find the same extension on another browser. That said, a number of popular services will be available on all browsers but not so for the niche stuff.

Boost Your Mobile Advertising

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Mobile saturation has finally reached a point where more companies are devoting significant resources to marketing on mobile devices. These ads still offer the same rich experience for the user, but they are tailored to fit smaller screens and devices without being obtrusive. Even though mobile marketing is a new field, these tips will help give your first campaigns a small boost.

About Mobile Users

Mobile users are usually on the go, and are often taking to the Web to find something they need. This might be the location of a store, a price check or a query about whether the item they want is even in stock. Mobile ads tend to do best when they satisfy a need for the user immediately.

Calls to Action

Once you understand more about why the user is surfing in the first place, you can tailor a call that moves them toward some action. Phrases like “Order Now” or “Play Today” bring home that sense of immediacy, and they tell the user what she is about to do. This is far more specific than the generic “Click Here” of yesteryear.

Also, design your button to be easy for someone to push. Even though they are clicking on the entire ad, the button gives them something visual to connect with.

Messaging

Mobile is notorious for being very limited on space. Mobile ads tend to function best when the copy and the call to action are as succinct as possible, so this is a great opportunity for marketers who have a flair for one-liners.

Bio: Ted Dhanik is the co-founder of engage:BDR, a digital advertising company based out of Los Angeles. Ted Dhanik sells engaging advertising and grows businesses online. To get started with engage:BDR, contact Ted Dhanik.

4 Annoying Skype Issues That You Can Fix

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Without a doubt, Skype is an important business tool for communication yet there are certain glitches that make it really annoying. However, it’s good that there are a number of solutions available.

Having said that, here are 4 Skype fixes that can help you:

#1: Webcam, Speakers or Microphone cannot be found

In some cases, Skype cannot find the webcam, speakers or the microphone and for this, navigate through Tool>Options>Audio Settings>Show advanced options. You’ll find all the audio devices that you’ve used appear here. This also applies to Video devices that you can find under Video Settings too.

#2: Terrible Call Quality

There are a number of reasons why this can happen without it being Skype’s fault. Maybe you are too far from your router, Wi-Fi is too slow or even that your bandwidth is being used by other people too. It’s a good idea to work through each of these possibilities before blaming it on Skype.

#3: Replaces Phone Numbers with “Click to Call” buttons

Quite admittedly, this occurs regularly but it can be fixed in a few steps. For this, you have to uninstall Skype Click to Call located in the Windows Control Panel. Also, check your browser addons so as to disable any items that might have to do with Click to Call. Finally, within Skype, visit Tools, Options and Advanced so as to uncheck the top two boxes.

#4: Unused Credits Disappear If they Aren’t Being Used

If you’ve used Skype to make calls to a landline, you’re bound to have a few credits around. If you don’t use it for 180 days or more, then these credits disappear. But they aren’t deleted, as you might assume but are hidden. To activate them, look for a ‘Reactivate credit’ button where you credit balance was displayed.