Day 3 without a mouse

I'm 3 days into my week without a mouse challenge (which I'll probably extend to two weeks). At the start I found adapting to performing everyday tasks without a mouse to be very hard I found that after just a few hours use it became much simpler and I've been flying along without a mouse ever since.
Now for the problems. In the past two days I've had 3 major problems, two of which are more tiresome than restrictive, but the third severely limits how far I can go without a mouse.

Problem 1 - Some websites have WAY to many links. When you're using the tab key to cycle between links missing a link can cause huge problems, especially when you have to cycle through over 200 links to get back (I just refresh the page). These problem with these pages isn't just that I have to cycle a lot to get to links but that the page often takes forever to render just due to the sheer amount of data on it.

Problem 2 - A lot of tasks aren't designed to be performed without a mouse. Though there are keyboard shortcuts to right click try closing minimized versions of Skype or uTorrent without a mouse. It's absolutely aggravating and I often just resort to opening the task manager and killing the program.

Problem 3 - FLASH DOESN'T WORK WITH A KEYBOARD. This past weekend I had to enroll in driving classes but the website was coded so that the links were inside a Flash animation and try as hard as I could I simply couldn't access it so I had to cheat and resort to a mouse. While Flash does make some parts of the internet better its impossible to use without a mouse.

So far the challenge is going great and apart from being unable to play Minecraft I'm not even missing being unable to use a mouse. Stay locked for my next article where I'll talk about some of the great keyboard shortcuts I've found that I'll continue to use come the end of this challenge.

A week without a mouse

When I was in 7th grade to stop me from using my computer my mother would take away my computers mouse. If the same were to happen today I'm well versed enough with a keyboard to perform basic operations. But just how well versed am I?

Back in the day, when computers were serious business and science tools, the keyboard reigned supreme. In fact the mouse as we know it today didn't exist at all. Hell the Commodore was an entire computer built into a keyboard.

All that changed when Apple and Microsoft *cough* borrowed *cough* the concept of a graphical user interface from Xerox and computers, as we know them today were born. And between iOS, Android, the iPad and Windows 8 tablets the physical hardware keyboard is bordering on extinction.

To test if keyboards are as relevant today as they were 30 years ago I'm going to go a month without using a mouse. I've taken the battery out of my run of the mill Logitech mouse and handed the mouse itself to my friend. Yes I use a laptop which has a built in track pad but it sucks and for the sake of the challenge and the sake of my own sanity I'm just going to avoid it. Its there only for emergencies.

I'll write updates every second day as well as a conclusion article and share any tips I pick up from my time away from a mouse.

The Power of the Nexus

The Nexus. That fabled device that runs Google's newest Android OS. In it's stock form. The phone that is supposed to set the tone for all phones coming in the near future. And it is an important phone indeed.

First introduced in 2009 with the HTC Nexus One three generations of Nexii have been released to stronger support with each iteration, the latest of which, the Galaxy Nexus, has been not only a success among developers but with consumers too. Being awarded the contract to design the next Nexus is a prestigious honour and often reflects the state of the Android market at the time of it's release (noticeably that HTC was awarded the first Nexus due to it's strong start and Samsung has been awarded the subsequent two). However, with the latest Nexus, I feel Google has passed up an opportunity to weild the power of the Nexus in the face of the OEM's and has allowed the name of the Nexus to become diluted.

Last week a report claimed that Samsung was the forerunner in the bid to design the 4th generation Nexus device. While I agree that with the present state of the market Samsung rightfully deserves the next Nexus,
doing so would anger the other OEM's and perhaps cause discontent in manufacturers who are already looking at alternatives. They would rightfully (in my eyes) claim that Samsung is being given preferential treatment and taking over the Nexus as one of it's own. For instance, the 3rd generation Nexus, the Galaxy Nexus, places the emphasis on Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones rather than Google's Nexus line. If Google was in the drivers seat over making the decision they should have insisted the phone be called the Nexus Galaxy (as stupid as it may sound). If the point of equality of OEM's is to stand Google can not give Samsung a semi-exclusivity over the Nexii simply because it is the leading Android manufacturer.

What Google should remember is that the point of a Nexus phone is the Software, not the Hardware. Google can use the Nexus to tackle arguably Android's biggest problem, fragmentation. Google should use the Nexus as a sort of cattle prod awarding the contract to the company who, along with providing excellent hardware (which all the major OEM's barring LG do), provides timely software updates and are regular in honouring commitments to smartphone buyers. The Nexus allows the chosen manufacturer extra time with Google's latest offering before competitors get their hands on it, a big advantage that neither have taken so far. Google releases a new Nexus every winter. Assuming it takes a manufacturer 6 months to design and manufacture a phone from scratch Google could award the newest Nexus to the manufacturer who is most regular in issuing software updates and promoting Google's OS. This means for the first 6 months of the year, right when a new update has been releases you'll have OEM's rushing to appease Google by actually issuing updates.

 

If we look at today's market, where 5 months from the release only 4.9% of devices run Ice Cream Sandwich, we can see just how much of a problem timely software updates are and truly understand the power of the Nexus in helping end fragmentation. Hopefully Google sees that power too.

Camera Stand

Anyone who has seen any of my videos may have noticed that the camera was a "little" bit shaky. So far I've either been asking someone to hold the camera for me or I've been doing the video one-handed, camera in the other. The problem is once I start recording I focus less on the camera and more on what I'm actually doing and the camera goes haywire from thereon. 

Also those of you who know me know that when I get bored I like to play with Lego and build crazy things which I'll promptly dismantle to start on my next build. Today I decided to build something a little more permanent that would rid me of shaky shooting for the rest of my life....or until I realize I should just go out and buy a tripod. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty hard to build especially since I didn't want to damage the camera  yet still wanted the stand to bend like a yoga master. After 3 hours, 5 design changes and one heated argument with my sister over whether I had finally lost my marbles (she's now decided to call me "different" - I'll take that as a win) I managed to complete a fully functional camera stand.

The stand consists of 3 parts, a camera holder which holds the camera snugly and rotates 360 degrees, a stand for raising the holder and a base which also turns a full 360 degrees. I had originally wanted to make the height of the stand adjustable but I ran out of pieces along the way so I can only raise or lower it a couple of centimeters. To give myself full control over tilt of the camera I added a small gear to the tilt mechanism which slows down the speed at which the holder pivots allowing for far greater control (the gear also prevents the weight of the camera from tipping the holder sideways). Since the tripod mount isn't going to be used I even added a small axle to hold the camera in spot.

When I finallllllly thought I was done I realized I had 2 problems. The first was relatively minor - I couldn't charge the camera in the stand, which I rectified by adding a door to allow me to remove the camera with ease. The second - that I couldn't hit ANY of the buttons - was slightly more severe. I ended up adding axles which can be pressed and in turn press the buttons and added little knobs at the end to make it looks better. The best part was after making these minor adjustments I can actually remove the camera holder leaving the rest of the stand in case I want to use a different camera - which I'll have to build a separate holder for - which is not happening!

AND I WAS DONE. I now have a camera stand that rotates 360 degrees vertically and horizontally and should (hopefully) rid me of unsteady camera shooting for the rest of my YouTube career.

13" MacBook Air Unboxing

I unbox the 13" MacBook Air. Currently one of the thinnest laptops on the market, the laptop has a premium feel to it while being extremely thin and light. The OSX interface takes a while to get used to if you're switching from a PC but is extremely quick and fluid to use. 

The laptop doesn't come with much in the box, but includes everything you'll need and the packaging is absolutely wonderful. The Solid State drive is a great addition to the laptop as it offers extremely quick boot-up times and application load times. The overall package leaves you with no doubt as to why PC makers are replicating the design with "Ultrabooks" and I hope this thin and light trend continues for a while.

For more news, articles and reviews stay locked on the site.

Weekly Updates

Over the last 4 weeks I've been busy studying for my Board Exams which will conclude on the 24th of March. Until they conclude my mind is focused on studying for the exams and I haven't been able to concentrate on my blog. I apologize for this but a month isn't a lot in what will be a long future ahead. Till then keep locked on the site for weekly updates and round-ups on the latest news.

Wireless Home: Keeping it in Sync

Now that you've got all your content in place and your Hubs set up its time to get it all in Sync. In this guide I'll give the best way to make sure that you always have your content wherever you want whenever you want it. Unfortunately all these methods use your home's wi-fi to sync your data so those devices which don't have wifi are out of luck. Before starting I know that man of you will have a lot of songs, having ripped all your CD's so I recommend making two playlist, one personal playlist with all your favourite songs and one with just the songs you want synced to your devices.

I'll break the sharing into four parts to make it easy to set up all your different devices -

1) Syncing your iDevices: 

Fortunately for me Apple has made syncing these devices very easy. Since most of your content is in iTunes select the device you want and choose all the content in iTunes you want synced to the device. For devices running iOS 5 or higher enable wireless syncing and every time you charge your device it should automatically sync any new data (provided iTunes is open on your central computer and both are connected to the same wireless network). To wirelessly stream content in iTunes open Settings>Music and enter your Apple ID and Password. Then fire the Music or Videos app and and click more and you should be able to see your library from where you can access all your content.
For devices incompatible with iOS 5 or for the audio and video formats Apple does not support I recommend the use of Air Playit. Install the free app on your iDevices, install the Air Playit Server on your computer and direct it to where you store all your content. Fire up the app and you should automatically find your computer. If it doesn't you can manually add it on the device using the information provided by the server on your computer. Once they are connected, if both devices are on the same wireless network you should be able to access all your content wirelessly on your devices.

2) Syncing Android devices:

While most manufacturers offer their own unique syncing fixes there isn't one, unified way to sync your Android devices. Since most of the content is managed by iTunes I set out to look for a syncing solutions that works well with the content stored in iTunes.
 By far the best alternative I found was DoubleTwist with AirSync. The DoubleTwist app itself is free but the Airsync option cost $5 which I found to be quite reasonable for the features it offers. You will also need to download the DoubleTwist program onto your computer and set up each device with the password you can find within the application. The entire process take about 5 minutes and once you're done you can choose what content you want to sync whenever your device is charging. Similar to syncing your iDevice DoubleTwist needs to be open and both your computer and your Android device need to be connected to the same wireless network for the syncing to work.
You can also stream content to your Android device using Air Playit the same way you would with your iDevice and it works just as well. It's the best way to stream your content to your Android phone or tablet.

3) Streaming to your TV Hub:



Open Windows Media Player and open the stream menu. Select all the devices you recognize (it will be helpful in the next part) and choose to "Allow" streaming those devices. Now when you go to the Picture, Music or Videos sections you should be able to see your computer and you can select any item you want to stream.
For Mac's download Rivet which is free software that acts as a server to allow your to stream content. Once the software is installed you should be able to access all your content in the Picture, Music or Video section similar to when you stream from your PC.

4) Transferring data between PC's and Mac's:
If all the computers have iTunes installed in the Advanced menu enable Home Sharing and put in the same Apple ID and Password and all your computer's libraries hould show up in the left panel where you can stream and copy content between computers.
The fastest, safest way to transfer conent between Windows 7 computers is to set up a Homegroup. Set a password that's easy to remember and connect to the Homegroup. Once they are all connected you should be able to access all your content between your computers and wirelessly stream it.

For transferring files between Windows and Mac's your safest bet is still to access different computers on your network and to manually look for the files (which isn't that hard if you've organized your files properly.
Overall this is the easiest set up while sharing your files as it doesn't actually require any additional software.


Unfortunately trying as hard as I could I couldn't find a good solution to wirelessly sync and stream to Blackberry devices and that is why I haven't included it in my guide. If I find a solution I'll be sure to include it in it's own piece.

All the software mentioned can be found at the following links:
a) Air Playit - http://www.airplayit.com/
    Air Playit App for iOS - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/air-playit-streaming-video/id449212860?mt=8
    Air Playit App for Android - http://www.airplayit.com/download/airplayit_android.apk
b) DoubleTwist - http://doubletwist.com/
    DoubleTwist App - https://market.android.com/details?id=com.doubleTwist.androidPlayer
    Airsync App - http://bit.ly/wVlss9
c) Rivet - http://thelittleappfactory.com/rivet/
d) iTunes - http://www.apple.com/iTunes
I hope you've enjoyed this guide and you've been able to create your own "Wireless Home" Please leave a comment if there's any device you'd like me to add.


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