Posts Tagged ‘iPhone’

Fix Your Updated Windows 8 PC to Charge your Tablets / Smartphones

Posted: December 13, 2012 in Android, Apple, iPhone
Tags: gigabyte, ipad, iPhone, iPod, Microsoft Windows, Motherboard, windows 8, Windows Vista

updated 14 December 2012
Melbourne Australia

Updated 13 December 2012

Quick back story,

When windows 7 was released in July 2009, many people were pleasantly surprised to discover it ran better than its predecessor Windows Vista. Love or hate Windows Vista, the new version of Windows made the most of the current PC hardware. Skip forward a few months to April 2010, and the release of the iPad1. What many discovered was that the USB ports on many PC’s would not charge the iPad, or if it did would only offer a trickle feed (100mA), though the ports can supply 1500mA, and what the iPad1, and many of todays, smartphones and tablets require.

A fix was offered to power up the USB ports safely in 2010, for Vista and Windows 7.
Many like me that have done a clean install of Windows 8, may not remember this flaw, and driver a simple software patch, tweaks the USB port to offer a little over 1A (between 1000mA and 1500mA).

Obviously PC’s newer than 2010 (running motherboards built after this) will not likely have the issue.

A bit more about the driver is here on Gigabyte On/Off Charge Site - http://goo.gl/OdGJ9

The actual driver is here http://goo.gl/bQulv

The driver requires nothing more than an install and restart.

Note: For those that installed the earlier update of this this newer version increased the power again a few %. Due again to the increased power demands on the ports, and power needed by newer devices.

Enjoy

Mr Internet
Melbourne Australia
tech-news.tv

Updated 14 January 2011

This proved to be a popular blog when I ran it 8 months ago. It addressed a new driver from motherboard manufacturer gigabyte, that allowed you to charge you iPad on your PC (not something possible before). This updated free driver, also allows you to charge other devices that worked before even faster and this update adds a few updates to all of that, and it makes that pesky ‘this device is not charging nag screen go away.

By pure coincidence, I went to reinstall this driver and found an update released today ok I am a bit psychic (& psychotic) , but the driver solves some other problems as well such as clearing your USB trash, caused when you remove USB devices all the time. Here is the link, it goes to Chinese first but should offer to translate to your native language depending on your browser. You are looking for on/off charger driver but ~~here it is~~

Installation Update
I note on download and installation it is a bit different than the original driver .
it took 1 minute to download, extract and install.

The driver is 1.61 mb (very small takes a few seconds to download)
It is a compressed exe file so you will need to extract it to a folder on your desktop etc.
When extracted, it creates 1 folder called ‘on/off charge’ and creates 2 files inside setup.exe and setup.iss
Run the set-up, reboot your pc and you are done

How to Tell it is Working

When you installed the driver it would have asked you to re-boot your PC if properly installed.
It is very discreet there are no whistles, or bells.
If you have an iPad you would notice on the iPad it would have said it was not charging before now it is charging
If you start to re-run the set-up.exe it will ask you if you want to modify or reinstall the software.
It is a driver so there is no anti-virus software issues
Anything more technical speak to gigabyte, I am just a blogger not the manufacturer
If in a corporate environment consider speaking to your system administrator, he might enjoy using this across the company it is pretty sweet.
Tell your freinds
Enjoy

Motherboard manufacturer Gigabyte are Gods.
They have introduced a tweakdown-loadable , that allows iPads to now be charged from PC’s and laptops, via the USB port . An issue many were not aware they had and plague others that were aware of this.
I will use gigabyte motherboards for ever more because of this, it is a BIG deal.

On the site is a list of the motherboards it works for but mine is older and it worked just fine.
The additional upside is it charges iPhones and iPods faster as well.
Update

Judging by the coverage of this page Gigabyte was getting slammed so moved the link of the driver (nice). I have updated it.Worth noting that though this driver is specfic to gigabyte, I have heard from dozens of folks it works on motherboards other than gigabyte.

~~Happy for you to share the story please be nice and give a shout out to news-knut/mrinternet when you do. Mac bloggers (you know who you are)~~

Retailers Taking a Hit in Outdated Price Haggling Mentality

Posted: August 20, 2012 in Cloud
Tags: Apple, Australia, ipad, iPhone, iPod, JB Hi-Fi, Roger Montgomery, United States

Loren W
Melbourne Australia

Is JB Hi-Fi Market Recovery Short Sighted?

I have to admit I read with some interest a recent article (worth a read) by Roger Montgomery, founder of Montgomery Investment, in the weekend Australian. His observation on JB Hi-Fi and the concealment of a more complex reality, though I admit I agree with, I believe missed a few key points, though some were touched on.

Firstly, the US and UK market and the majority of the online market unlike the Australian brick and mortar market, is not built on haggling. This means that almost anyone walking into JB and making even the smallest of purchases can haggle their way to a lower price. This is starting to show its age. I cannot walk into an Apple store and haggle a price, though they also are seeing the light and offering to price match against the likes of JB Hi-Fi and others, adding to the market competition.

Price haggling in this way as JB and others do is a dying trend but one that falsifies Roberts own perspective on JB being higher than the US market on list price alone. The point you missed is that because the perception in some cases and reality in others and the advent of online business means a haggled price though the norm does not help with perception regardless. Consumers are more market research savvy than ever, and an item that is $400 at JB say a new tablet, might be 20% less online. For many consumers, it is not worth trying to haggle when you can buy even from the US and have an item delivered 10-15% cheaper (even though JB would might have matched it if asked). In regards, to competition Apple recently announced they would price match other retailers on their own products, making the competition even hotter, there. Finally there is the dreaded Moore’s Law impact which observes the speed the market changes due to the speed the underlying technology improves. This means with new technology coming out so fast it makes the previous items outdated faster than ever, that the level of inventory required (and a risk) and resulting impact on profits is not surprising going to take a massive hit. In the last 3 weeks alone we have seen a new Operating System for Microsoft, and Apple; a new iPhone beater for Samsung, a new office suite for Microsoft, a new tablet by Google all being released and a rumored new iPod, iPad, and iPhone (and Samsung again) in the next 3 weeks. This trend and speed to market has resulted in many of the JB Hi-Fi’s peers in the US and UK going bump and many others going online only to reduce their product overheads. Pricing is a mindset; when was the last time you walked into Coles and negotiated over a bottle of milk. This duality of looking for a better price online and not knowing for sure what the lowest price is in your own retailer is silly at best, or market suicide, and the times have changed.

I recently had a chat with an area sales rep for Canon Camera Australia, that I cornered when I found the latest camera the 7D, had an RRP of $2100 in Australia, $1700 in the US and $1200 in Hong Kong and a cost to JB for $1600 but I was able to purchase it from an importer across the street from Canon HQ in Victoria for $1300, with the full warranty supported globally by Canon (cheaper if you buy online direct) Previously some folks would not have supported the gray import warranty. Canon had a different view and does not use the ‘Gray import’ label instead opting for a ‘Parallel import’ label. Their view is simple and one that folks like JB have to be worried about. Canon’s view was that though the retailer in Australia might not like it, a market savvy consumer should not be punished for their purchase by not having their warranty supported. It was highlighted that this trend is growing and folks like JB Hi-Fi will not be the only ones impacted.

Instead of price deflation what Australia needs is honest price reality, so the lowest price is always offered. Expect to see many other stores impacted in the same way.

Loren is founder of tech-news.tv and a self-proclaimed ‘technologist evangelist’, introducing new products and services for the likes of British Telecom UK (BT) and NEC Australia Japan, including business broadband for BT in 1994, and Data Centre Service for NEC. He is a beta tester for Google, Microsoft, and Apple. His twitter followers (over 65,000) follow his views and blogs from all over the world He is contactable on twitter @mr_internet and on email at loren@loren.net.au

Most Overlooked Part of Mat Honan Hacking: Easiest To Fix

Posted: August 10, 2012 in Hacking, Security
Tags: Apple, Domain name, ICloud, iPhone, Mat, Security, twitter, Wired

Loren Wiener aka mrinternet
Melbourne Australia
10 August 2012 (tomorrow for many of you)

Convenience vs. Security You Do not Have to Choose

We are all grateful for Mat Honan from Wired full story here raising to our attention the ease that we sometimes offer hackers. I was in charge of Business Internet Products and Security in a previous life for a large Telco and I wasn’t even aware of how easy some of this was, for the hacker. The daisy chain effect where accounts are linked etc. was part of the issue, and not a relatively new event (5 years or less old) the not so tight processes at Amazon and Apple (now changed thanks to Mat ) was another part also not new. But the part where it pretty much all started is the part many take for granted, and the oldest issue, that many is that of the domain name. Mad had linked (daisy chained) various accounts) in the process of identification a home address was needed, and this was freely offered by looking up Mat Honan’s address from his domain name. Public addresses, for all domain is public by default as technical, billing, and domain owner name is required. There are options for all domain names to hide this information, and you can usually just not put in address in this. If we learn nothing else here (besides doing back-ups) is hide, use a PO box, or do not offer your address on your public domain name info.

Note: I hope Mat gets back his data, and I for one would contribute to any costs in helping him do that. We need more Mats’

SPB 3D Shell UI Adds Great Interface for Android Honeycomb Tablets

Posted: December 23, 2011 in 3D TV, Android
Tags: Android, Apple, ICS, IOS (Apple), iPhone, iPhone 4, p7510, samsung 10.1, Samsung Group, spb, tablet

Update: (video at 3pm EST 23 Dec 2012)

SPB 3D has landed on honeycomb adds refreshing UI to Tablets

Requiring a bit more power than the early Android phones, this UI is a sight to behold on a 10” tablet.

The app is here http://bit.ly/vI1F8k

This might be very special on ICS as well

One reason I bought my first Android Phone the Atrix 4G was also due to my bad timing.

I had the iPhone 3G but was bored with it, was too late for an iPhone 4 (with the 5 or 4s looming), and I had an iPad2 so had my iOS fix.

I purchased the Samsung Omnia 7 WP7 phone (pre-mango) but got quickly frustrated with the lack of eco-system, and pre-mango issues.

I am a strong believer as well that if you are a truly connected soul, then the mobile operating system you have should be mirrored by the desktop or tablet OS.

Based on that, WP7 was homeless to be as it best goes with windows 8 (was not out in beta yet), but still has some syncing issues for me.

This meant choosing the Apple OS model, once the 4S was released giving me the iPhone 4S, a Mac, and iPad2, so I have followed my own model mentioned above.

I just sold my Atrix 4G (as the Atrix 2 has just been announced), but kept my Samsung 10.1 Google i/o Tablet running Android Honeycomb, and to be honest I still find Android OS Gingerbread on the phone a bit ugly, to the point of despair, and mind boggling at the lack of Apple-esque ‘updatablity’ to a new OS on Androiddevices, painful, never knowing when or if with ease a phone / tablet will get updated having to deal with the 3 way pain of carrier, google/android and hardware manufactuer.

Here in Australia we have been let down in the past by the likes of Samsung with their 1st 10.1 Tablet (the 10.1V P7110) not getting the same updates as the first USA released 10.1 the P7500 series.

The other reason I bought my 1st Android app, and what pushed me over the edge, like a moth drawn to light was the SPB Software 3D Shell. A Russian company I have been fascinated with their beautiful products for years, when they were offering apps for windows mobile phones.

Their Android offering of the SPB 3D shell, though not without its own issues (like being a bit CPU hungry), did beautify an otherwise ugly Android phone.

Enter Ice Cream Sandwich a unifying OS from Android, that will offer the same OS on the tablet as it does on the mobile phone.

This also means (as confirmed in an exclusive conversations with the SPB Software devleoper), that Android tablets running IceCream Sandwich, will also benefit enjoy running, SPB 3D Shell. SPB is currently working on their ICS version, and scaling issues to the larger size.

I cannot wait

Here is a video of their mobile app

Tablet Wars 2011: Four Different 10.1 Android Tablets Running Google Honeycomb Compared

Posted: November 30, 2011 in Android
Tags: Android, Apple, galaxy, ipad, iPhone, Motorola, Motorola Xoom, samsung, Samsung Galaxy Tab, tablet, Tablet computer, Windows Home Server

Loren | aka @mr_internet | Melbourne Australia
30 November 2011

I originally posted this months ago, when the Samsung 10.1 tab and Motorola Xoom had gone on sale in the USA but had not in Australia.
The Samsung Tab 10.1 has still not gone on sale yet in Australia, accept via the grey market (some ok some more risky).

With the buying season upon us, and more pertinent now than ever, so hope you enjoy.

Is An Android 10.1” Tablet on Your List ...

I had a friend ask me recently, a simple question in theory.

What type of Tablet PC to get?

I use the word ‘PC’ loosely as these currently aren’t quite replacements for the
Personal Computer for most people at least not yet. I have to admit I
have multiple Android devices as well as Apple and a Windows Home
Server / PC, so offer no bias to a brand.

Well having an iPad2 already, my thoughts were there initially with Apple, but
having just bought my first Android phone (the Atrix 4G by Motorola) to try it
out before the launch in Australia, my thought then turned to considering
that perhaps the OS of the phone might make the OS transition (if
there was one) initially easier. In my friends’ case, husband has an
Android and wife and iPhone. I quickly ruled out a Windows Tablet (don’t get me
started there).

With Apple having a single design of iPad2 (barring colour and capacity of course),
it was hard not to make a case for the iPad2 (e.g. I have one and there are
some things it does very well). Unfortunately for me
the realization that the iPad2 is really running a 5 year old
Operating System

But knowing what is out within the last 4 weeks or will be soon, in the Android
Tablet space I would be remiss had I not mentioned the Android Tablets. I go on
about this as the Android Tablet Space of 10.1″ tablets, is perhaps more
fast pace than Sebastian Vettel is around an F1 Grand Prix race track, with so
many models coming out a review is a bit confusing.

Instead of taking away from the great detail other have offered, I am looking more at a
top level view comparing more the aesthetic pros and cons of various models
compared to each other PHEW

Here are the 4 Android Tablets

Acer
A500 32GB with MicroSD Card, WiFi Only 5x2MP Camera
(10.1″)
Samsung
Galaxy Tab 10.1G (or GT or GTp7510) 32GB with No MicroSD Card , WiFi Only ,
3x2MP Camera-
Samsung
Galaxy Tab 10.1V 3G/4G / WiFi Only 16GB no MicroSD Card 8x2MP Camera
Motorola
Xoom WiFi Only with WiFi Card , 5x2MP Camera 10.1″
Apple
iPad For Size Comparison – & it is getting jealous and
nervous
Part One – Does Size Matter?

Part Two – Tell Me more Pros and Cons

Part Three – Summary

iTunes Match Great Cloud Service for Your Music Library – Wherever You Are

Posted: November 22, 2011 in Apple, Cloud, Data Center
Tags: Apple, Cloud computing, iOS, iPhone, iTunes, iTunes Match, Music library, United States

When iTunes Match launched, the world celebrated. Apple offering cloud services we could all use.

Uniquely, iTunes Match, lets you use your own music library and Apple, looks at the music and if it already exists in Apples extensive cloud library, it moves none of your music but associates your music in the cloud so you can listen to it on any of you iOS devices like the iPad, Mac, iPhone, and AppleTV.

This is a better way for those that have broadband (with sometimes slow upload speeds) and especially if you have a large existing music library. Amazon and Google offer similar choices, but require you to upload all your own music. Amazon charges for storage above 5GB.

Unfortunately iTunes Match does not work outside the USA.

Actually that is not correct, it does not work unless you have a US address, & US credit card. The assumption is you must therefore live in the USA. Apple has not said why. However there are companies offering these minor details, allowing iTunes Match access for all across the globe.

It is believed Apple did not want to launch the service globally as it does not have the cloud infrastructure in place to handle the traffic this would cause if used in mass.

How it works: Once you log into to your iTunes account and register your US credit card and details, you can pay the $25 per annum to apple. iTunes uses any outstanding vouchers or credits you have before it uses your credit card. There are only 3 steps after that

As it says you can use iTunes whilst iTunes Match is doing its thing. I have just under 10,000 songs, and this takes up 53GB of space. Apple is limiting space to 25,000 songs, so I find this very generous.

That aside there are downsides, though they are few but the first one is a biggie.

1) Your Own Corrupt Music Data – It is believed many people will have corrupt data (or meta tags) associated with their music tracks. This means in the traditional garbage in and garbage out world of IT, that Apple might miss associate some of your music library with the wrong songs. This can be dangerous if you over write your master library with that from your new found cloud friends Apple. Note there are some good programs that fix the meta tags either automatically or manually (like Tag and Rename and Tune Up Companion, with the later attaching itself to iTunes so you can drag and drop your music into it to cleanse and correct meta tag issues) . So it is worth backing up your music library so it cannot be over written. If you can wait it is worth cleaning you music tracks to make sure all your meta tags are in order.

2) Music Quality- Audiophiles that enjoy the new remastered tracks of everything from the Beatles to the Who, may have ripped their music in raw or high quality that is better than the 255k that Apple is offering (that is overall better than most have with 64k and 128k tracks), but an issue none the same (it might be possible to keep the higher-definition tracks in the cloud I am still testing that now). I estimate 5% of my music is above 255k, or around 25 albums or 500 songs).

Time: This is not a quick process but I hope well worth it. I am currently over 2 hours in and will update this after it is complete. Step 1, The diagnosis phase took 1 hour, Step 2, the matching phase took an hour also matching about 3 songs a second Competition: The Google Music Service as mentioned is similar but it took 21 days to upload half my music, a daunting task indeed, but the service works very well, also globally, and on any browser (phones, tablets, pcs, or macs)

Is One of the Best Features of Ice Cream Sandwich a 3rd Party App

Posted: November 3, 2011 in Android
Tags: Android, Apple, google, Ice Cream Sandwich, ICS, IOS (Apple), iPhone, iPhone 4, iPhone4S, Tablet computer, WP7

Update:

SPB 3D has landed on honeycomb (video at 3pm EST 23 Dec 2012)

Requiring a bit more power than the early Android phones, this UI is a sight to behold on a 10” tablet

This might be very special on ICS as well