Erich Stauffer

Category: Technology

  • Email Missing?

    It’s possible for email to not be delivered when spam filters anywhere along the line detect and remove spam server-side. There are two ways this can happen. One way is if the email itself is blocked by a filter. The other way is if an entire organization is filtered for a history of sending emails like in the first example.

    The spam you see in Gmail is just a fraction of your actual spam. Most is pre-filtered and you don’t even have the chance to see it. Spam filters have white, black, and gray lists.

    • White lists allow every server on it to send them mail.
    • Black lists are the opposite, blocking all mail from servers on the list.
    • Gray lists are like white, but are built when an email is sent from your server to theirs, meaning, to prevent blocking, send an email to them first.

    Good practices to avoid a spam filter are to keep your first email to a person “link and attachment”-free. For example, if you want to send an attachment to someone you’ve never written before, simply ask if you can send them an attachment first and then wait for their reply. Once they reply you are on their gray list.

    Having said all that, there has been a DNS attack going on lately that exploits a bug found in BIND. There’s a chance that the email crossed through a network mode affected by the attack and it went to the wrong server.

    The most likely cause though is human error where the email address was typed in wrong OR a new device or app was added to check their mail and it wasn’t configured to “leave messages on the server” making them exist only on the device that got their first.

    One thing to do is to change their password in case their account has been compromised.

    If the organization you are on has been marked as being too spammy, you may have no other option than to switch hosts or email providers. We recommend switching to Google Apps and support Google Apps for most of our clients.

  • Facebook Book Printing Companies Review and Analysis

    Back in June, Mashable wrote an article on 7 Facebook book printing companies. As Christmas is now approaching I remembered that article and wondered if any of the companies let you print other people’s Facebook walls. Not everyone wants a book about themselves for themself, but if someone else gives it to them – hey, that’s a gift.

    Facebook Friend’s Wall Book

    Out of the seven Facebook book printing companies, only two let you print a friend’s Facebook information: Book of Fame and Ego Book. I also added Social Print Studio, which doesn’t print books, but does make posters and photo albums of your or one of your friend’s Facebook pictures. Between Book of Fame and Ego Book, the biggest difference is not price, but layout. Book of Fame will print one status message per page, essentially making a customized notebook for someone, while Ego Book is more of what you would expect in a Facebook book: pictures, wall posts, and comments of you and your friends. You’ll pay more for Ego Book, but you get what you pay for.

    Ego Book – Choose who you want the book to be about.

    Your Facebook Wall Book

    For those interested only in printing their own Facebook wall, Ego Book is still a good choice, but you might want to compare it with Jot Journal and Year Bound. Jot Journal is less expensive, but offers fewer options. Year Bound had more options, but it’s software seemed buggy. I had to try it several times before it would stop ‘blueing out’ the screen.

    Jot Journal

    Life Tracking Stats

    For those interested in printing their stats for the past year, Social Memories is the only choice on the list. Even if you don’t choose to buy it, you can still create the book and post it to your wall as an album for free. To print the 25 page book it costs $27 US.

    Social Memories

    Here’s a link to the Facebook Book Printing Chart I created in Google Docs.

  • Apps and Services to Find Your Phone or Mobile Device

    Have you ever lost your phone or laptop? It’s a horrifying feeling. Thankfully there are some things you can do about it before it happens to you.

    The following apps or services will help you find your smartphone or notebook if they are lost or stolen. They can also be used to find the person using them if you’ve lost them – whether or not they want to be found.

    Some of these are free and some are not. Whichever one you choose, it must be enabled before your phone or laptop is lost – and you must understand the security risks you’re taking to make your mobile devices more secure.

    Platform Device App or Service Description Price
    iOS iPhone Find My iPhone Displays your phones location on a map. Must use from another Apple device Free
    Android Smartphones Where’s My Droid Text the phone to get its GPS or Google Maps location via text. Free
    Android Smartphones LookOut Security and Antivirus Antivirus, Phone Locator, and Data Backup app. Free
    Android, Blackberry, iOS, OSX, and Windows Smartphones, Laptops, and Tablets GadgetTrack Find your mobile device and see who’s using it. Takes and sends pictures of it’s location. $19.95 per year
    OSX and Windows Laptops LoJack for Laptops Remotely locate, lock, and delete the data on your laptop. Service is guaranteed. $39.99 per year
    Windows Laptops Laptop Cop Remotely locate, lock, and delete the data on your laptop. Requires police report to enable. $49.95 per year
    OSX Laptops Hidden Find your mobile device and see who’s using it. Takes and sends pictures of it’s location. $15.00 per year

    The Hidden app, whose name itself makes it hard to find, got notoriety when a blogger posted pictures online of the man who allegedly stole his Macbook laptop (below), but for Android, Blackberry, and Windows users, GadgetTrack does something similar. Hidden is only for Mac operating systems, OSX.

  • Geospatial Providers for GIS

    GIS stands for “Geographic Information System”, which is a technology that allows the user to produce and interact with many types of maps. This is a list of geospatial providers that use GIS.

    GIS Geospatial ProvidersEsri: Tools and data by the company that helped develop geospatial information systems, Esri is firmly entrenched in government IT shops where they help make decisions based on GIS data about the environment.

    GeoData.gov: Data clearinghouse This government site features lists of the many local and federal sources of data like climate, coasts, conservation, environment, geology, hazards, hydrology, topo maps, weather, and wildfires.

    Google: Google Maps is only five years old. It shot to prominence quickly by making geospatial data a household commodity, by facilitating mashups that brought geospatial apps to the masses. Need information on Google Maps query strings?

    Navteq: Data provider One of the “big two” (Tele Atlas) for geospatial data, Chicago-based Navteq is considered by some to be the main provider of geospatial data in the United States.

    OpenGeo: Open source GIS OpenGeo’s business model, like many open source-focused organizations, is to sell support around open source offerings it maintains.

    OpenStreetMap: Crowdsourced map data It describes itself as “a free editable map of the whole world. It is made by people like you.” Think of it as Wikipedia for geographic data.

    Pitney-Bowes Business Insight: Pitney-Bowes is known for postage meters, but in 2007 it acquired MapInfo, for many years Esri’s top rival. It has put substantial resources behind MapInfo’s GIS software like MapInfo Professional 10.5 (Learn the latest features and functions).

    Pushpin: Map tools Pushpin’s JavaScript API for embedding maps into any Web site got really interesting in 2009, when Placespace was acquired by Apple. The move was seen as Apple reducing its dependency on Google for geospatial software.

    Tele Atlas: Data provider The other “big two” (Navteq was the other one) of geospatial data, Netherlands-based Tele Atlas has been in business for over 20 years, with substantial expertise in Europe and Asia.

  • ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Only Syncs 2 Weeks to a Month Worth of Gmail Calendar on Android Calendar

    The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer running Android (Honeycomb) seems to have a problem syncing with Gmail for it’s calendar. It only grabs 2 weeks to 1 months worth of calendar data. Learn how to sync your full Gmail calendar with the ASUS Android calendar.

    If you are using Google’s Calendar Sync to put Outlook’s calendar into Gmail, then ASUS’ Eee Pad to pull the calendar data down from Gmail’s calendar with a sync, it sometimes only pulls two weeks to one months worth of calendar data. This is how to get all of the Gmail calendar data to sync on the ASUS Eee Pad running Android.

    Some people have had success by making sure the time zone on the tablet and the time zone in the Google calendar are both set to the same time zone, but this only really fixes when calendar entries are showing up for the wrong time, not for when they aren’t there at all. The calendar syncing problem existed on early Android phones and the fix then was to change your date back to a month proir to your earliest date, and re-syncing, which also works now with the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer running Android (Honeycomb).

    Here is the process:

    1. Set the date back to a month prior to today’s date on your tablet.
    2. Goto > Settings-Applications-Manage Applications-All
    3. Find “Calendar Storage” and hit “Clear Data”
    4. Goto “Accounts & Sync” and choose your google account.
    5. Hit the Sync button in upper right corner. Let it finish.

    Now at this point reset your tablet date back to the actual date, and perform the Sync again. It will take longer this time depending on how much calendar data needs to be transfered to your tablet from your Google Gmail calendar. Your calendar should now be fully synced.

    The search functions work great, and are very fast. With a slim, lightweight design, the versatile Eee Pad Transformer is the perfect tablet for anyone who wants to compute on the move with easy access to the web, email, calendar, and thousands of apps from the Android Market. A custom user interface provides easy access to the many features of the Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) operating system, while the NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 chipset provides full support for Adobe® Flash® and smooth HD video conferencing and playback. The optional docking station turns the Eee Pad Transformer into PC mode with a QWERTY keyboard, but there is also an on-screen, touch keyboard. 2 Front and rear cameras make for easy video chat and digital photography, which can be played back in video on HDTVs via a mini HDMI output port, making it a true mobile entertainment device. A 10.1-inch WSVGA IPS capacitive display made from durable and scratch-resistant glass which is viewable at angles up to 178° makes this tablet PC a great buy for it’s class. Compare other tablet PCs at Tablet Comparison.

    For Android help in the Indianapolis area, call Erich Stauffer at 317-572-7521 or send us an email to setup an appointment. The first hour is $95, followed by $65 an hour after that billed at 15 minute increments. We look forward to being your Indianapolis Android assistance.

  • Syncing Outlook Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks with Android Using Gmail

    Tips for Outlook users wanting to sync their calendar, contacts, and tasks with their Android mobile devices

    People wanting to sync Outlook with their mobile devices are going to soon discover that syncing software has not quite gone “mainstream”. What programs and apps that are currently available may seem more like a hack, but they will get the job done.

    The Run-Down

    With the iPhone, iTunes is used to sync Outlook, but with Android devices, you have Gmail. Android users must use Gmail to sync Outlook to their mobile devices, which generally occurs in two steps:

    1. A program on the computer running Outlook uploads and downloads information to and from Gmail.
    2. An app on the mobile device running Android that pushes and pulls information to and from Gmail.

    Programs and Apps

    Syncing the Outlook Calendar with Gmail

    For syncing the Outlook calendar with Google Calendar, the most widely used program is Google Calendar Sync (free) from Google. This program runs on the computer running Outlook and can sync 2-ways or 1-way from Outlook to Gmail or from Gmail to Outlook. It works with XP 32-Bit, Vista, and Windows 7 for Office 2003, 2007, and 2010.

    Once Outlook’s calendar has been synced with Gmail, your Android mobile device will sync up the Android calendar app natively, provided the same Google account is used. In this way, your calendar is synced from your computer running Outlook to your Android mobile phone or tablet computer using Gmail as the ‘middleman’.

    Syncing the Outlook Contacts with Gmail

    There are two popular programs to sync your Outlook contacts with Gmail (both free) and they both run as an add-in inside Outlook rather than a stand-alone program like Google Calendar Sync. The first one is GO Contact Sync Mod and the second is Outlook4Gmail.

    Each have their options for syncing such as who wins out when their is a discrepancy and whether or not to delete a contact when deleted in either place. One thing I noticed about GO Contact Sync Mod though is that discrepancies cause a Window’s pop-up and Outlook asks for permission to allow the add-in when it begins to run. If either of those annoy you, you might try Outlook4Gmail.

    As long as the Gmail account used to sync from Outlook is the same as the one in use on the Android device AND the account is enabled in the contacts list (People), the contacts will be synced. Please note that if you chose to respect the deletes from Gmail, there is a chance that if you delete a contact on your phone or tablet that it will be deleted from your Outlook.

    Syncing the Outlook Tasks with Gmail

    Outlook tasks can be synced to Gmail with Gogtasks ($9) and gTasks is the app used on the Android device to retrieve and view them. It’s worth noting that in Outlook, tasks are organized by “Categories” and in Gmail tasks are organized by “Lists”. gTasks defaults to showing all of your categories/lists at once, but there is an option to show one at a time if you want.

    Looking for one program that does it all?

    CompanionLink (pictured) has Outlook to Gmail syncing software ($49.95), but it’s going to cost you over five-times as much as the other three solutions alone. A less costly option is gSyncit ($19.99) from Fieldston Software, which also syncs Outlook’s calendar, contacts, and tasks, but it also can synchronize notes and tasks with Toodledo, Evernote, Simplenote, and Dropbox.

    For tasks, regardless of if you go with CompanionLink or gSyncit, you’ll still have to use gTasks to view Outlook tasks on your Android device. This is because Android has no native app for tasks even though Tasks are native to Gmail.

    Want a comprehensive list of all of the Android sync programs?

    SyncDroid is a great resource for all of the apps and programs used to sync items on your computer to your Android device. Their metrics include: Price, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, Encrypt / Password, Email, Android Apps, Uses Gmail, Uses USB, Uses Wireless, Uses Wi-Fi, Uses Bluetooth, Exchange, Auto Sync, Outlook Version, Platform, Support, Android Version, Calendar Subfolders, Contact Subfolders, Calendar Categories, Contact Categories, Multiple Contact Folders, Multiple Calendars, Sync Contact Notes, Sync Contact Photos, Sync Direction, and Free Trial. You’ll find that no one program or app does it all, but this is very helpful for honing in on the what you need synced and what level of support you need for the syncing.

    For Android support in the Indianapolis area, call Erich Stauffer at 317-572-7521 or send us an email to setup an appointment. The first hour is $95, followed by $65 an hour after that billed at 15 minute increments. We look forward to being your Indianapolis Android support technician.

  • Nook Color Rooted

    I had a call last week where the customer asked me to help them root their Nook Color. We used the instructions found here. It requires purchasing a MicroSD card and having a way to read it on a PC, Mac, or Linux computer. She had both so we got started.

    I did a little research first to determine that what she wanted was a simple root, not to boot from a new operating system like Honeycomb. To make it simple to understand, the process uses a temporary operating system boot to change the files on the Nook and ‘unlock’ it, which is what rooting is.

    Because the customer’s Nook Color was on version 1.3 we had to do both ManualNooter-4-5-18 and ManualNooter-4-6-16. It’s okay, you just do 4-5-18 and then 4-6-16 right after. As long as you follow the generous poster’s instructions, everything should go fine, but there is always a risk you could ‘brick’ your device rendering it useless. The customer understood this risk and chose to do it anyway – and she was then able to download any app she wanted from the Android Market.

    The customer’s Nook Color had a nice pink, leather cover that I had to take it out of to access the MicroSD slot. If you’re looking for Nook Color covers, check out Nook Share, which highlights a wide range of Nook covers, cases, and accessories.

  • Sprint Gingerbread 2.3 Update for the HTC EVO

    Even though Sprint announced the Gingerbread 2.3 update in June 2011, I just got it installed on my HTC EVO phone two days ago. If you don’t have it yet, you can still get it by going to the home screen/Menu/Settings/System updates/HTC software Update. This will initiate the upgrade process. According to the website, “Gingerbread restores HTC EVO 4G’s ability to sync multiple Gmail™ accounts, display email attachments in the email client and fixes battery discharge issues.”

  • Indianapolis Computer Repair

    Indianapolis, the Crossroads of America, is home to the Indianapolis 500, the Indianapolis Colts, and the Pacers. It’s also an area where Erich Stauffer technician, Erich Stauffer, has spent a lot of time in helping clients with their computer needs, which is why Erich Stauffer serves the greater Indianapolis area with Mobile Phone Support & PC Repair Services for Android™ & Windows®. From high rises on the circle to businesses in Park 100, Erich has helped small businesses with their computer needs all over the city.

    Erich Stauffer offers both on-site and off-site computer services for home and small business users in and around Indianapolis. We are available by appointment for on-site labor, which is charged at $100/hr. We may pick up your computer or mobile device if it is decided to continue with off-site service, which are billed at a flat-rate.

    A lot of the time we can fix your problem on-site, but if it requires more time or specialized tools, sometimes it’s more cost effective for us to take your computer to work on off-site and then return it. Usually this process takes no more than 48 hours, but situations vary.