Consultsteimel blog

Google drive is here

Google now in the cloud storage game, much like dropbox and microsoft's skydrive.  Google's application is called drive and it avaialble today.  It offers 5GB free storage to start with tiered monthly plans.  I currently use dropbox and have 57GB.  50GB @ $99/month plus 7GB i got for free through varias promotions.  I will let you know what the tiered plans are as soon as they are final.  People's drive accounts seem to be updating slowly.  This seems like it might be more expensive than dropbox from what people are saying, but if you already use google services then the integration factor but be the tipping point.  I just recently moved to an all cloud solution with a vareity of applications.  Picasa, Google docs, Google Music, gmail and dropbox.  This seems really promising but I'm not holding my breath as the pricing plan might not be the best.  Either way you get a free 5GB and that could supliment other storage options. 

Link to get started
https://drive.google.com/start#home
I found this graphic on gizmodo here:

http://gizmodo.com/5904739/google-drive-icloud-dropbox-and-more-compared-whats-the-best-cloud-option
Great compare of available options

Jailbreaking and Unlocking your iPhone, iPad, iPod

I did this for the first time and found that it was actually relativly easy.  I'm going to go through jailbreaking your iPhone first then explain how that process differs on other idevices, then I have a chart that shows what is currently available for jailbreaking.  Not all devices can be jailbroken and unlocked and not all jailbreaks are the same.  I'm coming from jailbreaking and unlocking a 5.1 3gs.  This guide mentions other options but mostly focues on that operating system and phone version.  I would recommend NOT upgrading to OS version 5.1 to have the most success.  There really isn't much in the upgrade anyway.  

Definitions:
Jailbreaking is the process of removing the limitations imposed by Apple on devices running the iOS operating system through the use of custom kernels.
Unlock: Removing the lock put in by cell providers to restrict the use of these phones to specific countries and network providers.  Currentyly you can only unlock phones that use a SIM card, so Verizon, Spinrt or other CDMA networks don't apply.  

Why jailbreak?
Jailbreaking allows the installation of applications that aren't approved by apple.  This doesn't mean there bad programs they just may adjust settings that make the phone less apple.  I have used cydia and jailbreaking to provide better backups for my apps, updated settings I wish apple would update and unlocking my phone.  
Why Unlock?
This is a bit more straight forward.  Unlocking your phone allows you to move to other providers for service. In the US that would be moving between T-mobile and AT&T.  In other countries it means a lot more, some countries could have as much as 10 or more different providers.  For internaltion travelers this is alos a great reason to unlock.  I will be traveling to Canada and that's why I embarked on this endeavor myself.  I'm going to be doing a lot of driving and not having pandora or yelp would be a huge detriment.  

Read more...

Big changes at apple today

The apple store website is down, and there is an event today.  Look for the annoucnement of the Ipad HD new Apple TV, new iphone.  I think it's the new iPad a lot of bus lately around that



Update:

• New ipad released with a faster processor and retina display.  
• New version of iTunes out
• iOS 5.1 is out too
  • iOS 5.1
    
    This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including:
    
    • Japanese language support for Siri (availability may be limited during initial rollout)
    • Photos can now be deleted from Photo Stream
    • Camera shortcut now always visible on Lock Screen for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
    • Camera face detection now highlights all detected faces
    • Redesigned Camera app for iPad
    • Genius Mixes and Genius playlists for iTunes Match subscribers
    • Audio for TV shows and movies on iPad optimized to sound louder and clearer
    • Podcast controls for playback speed and a 30 second rewind for iPad
    • Updated AT&T network indicator
    • Addresses bugs affecting battery life
    • Fixes an issue that occasionally caused audio to drop for outgoing calls
    
    For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:
    
    <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222>;

I'm going totally cloud Part 2, Documents

As I said before I'm taking you through my transition from traditional media storage to the modern "cloud" storage.  At this time not one company houses a great infrastructure for all types of media.  Sadly I'll be splitting my media between different companies for the type of media it is.  The first is the easiest decision and that includes documents.  

    Google docs - Winner   

I have been signed up and using Google Docs for awhile now in a small capacity.  Google docs supports all files as basic storage.  They also provide pretty robust editors for the common files, PowerPoint, docs, spreadsheets, forms, drawing, and table.  

Most of my documents are spreadsheets, docs and presentations. the other are pdfs.  The editors with google are not as powerful as Microsoft Office but they are powerful for the 95% of tasks you ask of them.  If you need a more powerful editor you can download your document, edit, then re upload.  

When you get a gmail account you get a free 2gb storage with google docs.  The added bonus is that any document you convert to a google doc format does not go against your total storage.  I upload all of my document which is thousands and after converted I'm only using a scant 396mb.  This provides plenty of storage for most of people's documents with a couple gigs for rare pdfs, zip files or other files you don't want to convert.  When converting I found that most files don't present any problems, even converted from pdfs as well.  

For doing the mass upload I simply selected upload folder and selected my documents folder on my computer.  I also chose convert to google doc and convert pdfs.  The folders I had created in my documents folder were conveniently translated to google collections.  Collections is what google uses for folders and organizing.  If your familiar with GMail labels it works the same way.  Make sure you assign all of your documents to a collection or else it will be hard to manage after you have a few hundred documents in you repository.  For commonly used documents I use the star feature that you can span across multiple labels.  Kind of like a favorites folder.  Likeyou would guess with google  you can share these docs with certain permissions with other users across the net, all you need is an email address.  I find this is awesome for tasks, party plans or shopping lists.  

My only grips are that you cannot find all of the files that are currently shared.  I wish I could search shared docs so I can make sure I'm updating my security.  My other grip is that you can't search for documents that are not contained in a collection easily.  You can, but you have to say that the document your looking for is NOT in every label.  This is exactly how GMail works too, which is also a huge grip but that is a different article.  

Some other alternatives to take a look are

ZOHO

Zoho is very feature rich and provides a huge swath of tools for all kinds of editing.  It's free for personal use.  The reason I did not go with it was that I use gmail and am not looking for a new mail program.  Zoho offers a lot of tools which email is one.  Because a lot links through your zoho account, having another email account was not an interest to me.  Zoho only offers 1GB of free storage whereas Google docs offers 2GB

  Feng office formally opengoo

  Buzzword 

I'm going totally cloud Part 1

So i've made a huge decision in my life "I'm going totally cloud."  I have decided to stop having a huge cache of media sitting on the different computers.  Having this information in the "cloud," will enable me to be reelived of more then a few things.  Not be tied to a physical machine is a huge bonus.  At this time a lot of the services available are available for free or at low cost.  Having a machine with a large amount of space that is properly backed up, is annoying, having someone else manage this is a huge releaf.  I'm also on the go and currently have a laptop, desktop, iphone, and a tablet, syncing data between these devices is exhausting.  

Over the next few weeks I'll take one media problem at a time and tell you my decisions, trials, and problems.  I will explain how I manage moving from the physcial, to the local to the global cloud.  

Part1: Intro (your reading it)
Part2: Documents
Part3: Music
Part4: Photos
Part5: Video
Part6: Other files
Part7: programs and services
part8: conclusion and thoughts.

Free 5gb Dropbox space

I have been using dropbox for a few years now and use it for all of my "my documents."  I am a pro member and use about 50gb to store and synch data across all of my devices.  I just ran across a currently running promotion to gain an additional 5GB worth of free space with dropbox.  You need to download and install there latest beta build.  This will give you one key feature Dropbox Photo Importer.  I have not seen any downside to this beta build, but it would be good to be cautious.  
Steps to get your free 5gb

1.  Download the latest beta from the dropbox forums here
2.  Load 5GB of pics or video onto a portable device.  I used a spare USB drive
3.  Load My computer, right click on the device and select autoplay
4.  From the list select dropbox
5.  Let the magic happen and collect 5GB.  

If you want, feel free to edit or delete the media this does not effect your free space.

I really want this shirt. The end of IE6 lets celebrate

Microsft is celebrating the end of IE6 with commemorative T-shirts.  IE still dominates the browser wars with Chrome gaining speed and firefox still has a solid foothold.  It looks like microsoft might be sick of supporting IE6 as the rest of us.  read more here edbott

2011/2012 E-Reader Buying Guide

Read more...

Ccleaner - best tool to Clean your registry and temp files

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

 

 

This tool cleans temporary files from windows as well as most common programs.  This is including your Internet browser which can amass a lot of junk

This tool will also clean your registry with any cobwebs from old programs you un-installed long ago.  Speaking of that this program will also do a better job of un-installing programs then windows does.

Cost, Nothing

Open source to boot

Best Free antivirus - Security Essentials

Windows Security Essentials

 

What more can i say it's free, it works well, and it's easy.  If your looking for a free antivirus software stop here and collect $50 (avg cost of subscribtion AV software)