Tame Your Technology - Computer Repair Zone

Does your phone make a noise when you press a button? Mine too, but can you do this as a result…?!

Popularity: 17% [?]

Summer is here and with it the vacation season. Millions of us will be jetting off abroad for some summer sun and so the question of how to receive our voicemail arises.

In short, how do I listen to my messages when on holiday?

While the answer will differ slightly depending on what provider you are with the process should be pretty similar.

Essentially your voicemail has it’s own telephone number. You don’t normally need to know this because it is accessed from your own phone by just keying in a short code but you can also access this mailbox number form any other phone line if you know the number and the pin code to access it.

Typically you choose the pin initially and can then just dial your voicemail number followed by your pin code from anywhere in the world to listen to any messages. Contact your network to find out your specific mailbox number.

Lastly, be aware that when abroad it will typically be cheaper to call this number from a landline that to try and access your voicemail on your mobile phone. The reason for this is that your mailbox is actually based in your home country so accessing it on your mobile is like making a call back home from a mobile phone so can get very expensive.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Since the introduction of the Apple iPhone last year, competing phone manufacturers have been scrabbling to stay ahead of the wave. The original iPhone, and more recently the 3G version, have both sold out in stores shortly after launch proving how popular this model is.

Luckily for competing manufacturers like Samsung and LG, it’s not perfect, and taking the general theme of a large, touch-sensitive screen then improving on the iPhone’s limitations has managed to create a number of phones that, whilst that may not have the street cred of the iPhone, are actually better phones to use with more impressive features.

Take for example the LG Viewty. LG of course are known for their stylish phones like the classic “chocolate” that was so popular a few years ago.

This new model (you can shop for LG Viewty deals here) features the same touch screen, but with a massively improved camera. We’re talking a 5 mega pixel beast - that will allow printing of pixel perfect pictures up to A4 in size, coupled with a flash which is also pretty uncommon in camera phones these days.

This is therefore a handset that is as much camera as it is phone, and infact will replace most common digital cameras of today altogether if you so want it to.

Increasingly users are demanding Internet access on their handsets though the old 2G networks can be painfully slow to load today’s web pages - especially as there are so few “mobile friendly” pages currently. Of course, this slow speed also covers the old iPhone, though they have finally introduced a 3G version which should speed up Internet access. LG though seem to have gone even further for their customers and the LG Viewty boasts HSDPA speeds meaning that it is almost bradband speed internet in HSDPA areas - and so runs considerably faster than competing products (including the iPhone).

Lastly, you’re not limited to O2 as you are in the UK as LG’s latest baby is available on all UK networks giving you further choice.

So it would seem that so long as you don’t mind the lower street cred of the LG Viewty (though LG is still viewed as a “cool” brand by the younger generation) you would do very well to take a closer look at the LG Viewty and you can find out more from a number of genuine reviews at this LG Viewty review page.

Popularity: 50% [?]

Well, tech-freaks, today I bring you news of an exciting new competition that has the potential to fill your pockets with free gadgets.

Here’s what is currently on offer:

• Flip Mino Video Camera
• Nintendo DS Lite (along with Cartoon Network Racing and The Grinch Stole Christmas)
• $50 Prepaid Amex Card
• 2GB USB Pen
• USB Missile Launcher

In other words that’s a whole lotta goodies - total value over over $350!

These prizes have been sponsored by the excellent Affiliate Confession blog (also great for advice on the Build A Niche Store software), Market Leverage and Vat19. The result will be pulled on June 25th so if you want to get involved, just head over to Affiliate Confession and apply.

Popularity: 71% [?]

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I’m slowly trying to move everything I can online at the moment because now that I am travelling quite a bit I don’t want to be tied down to any particular computer or geographic location.

This means things like swapping to web mail rather than a stand-alone mail client and using del.icio.us rather than Forefox standard favorites.

So I’ve been experimenting with Google Calendar to help keep life organised.

What I want to be able to do is access Google Calendar on my PC while I’m working (easy) but then when I’m away from my computer I want to be able to still access it. And this is the problem I have had in the past - one calendar on my cell phone, and another paper version at home. And keeping the 2 in sync can be a real pain.

What I *can* do is log into Google Calendar using the browser on my cell phone, but even running 3G the connection is so slow it’s painful - and I want to be able to make quick decisions. Worse - the data network isn’t as reliable as voice so sometimes I find I *can’t* access the net on my phone.

But now I think I’ve got the solution and it’ll be interesting to see how it works out.

As before, I enter dates and appointments on Google Calander when at my PC. But I have also found and installed a little application on my Windows Mobile-powered Palm Treo that syncs the Windows Mobile calendar function with Google Calendar.

So if I’m heading out for a meeting all day, I just turn on my Treo before I go, power up the synchronization software and - POW! - within moments everything is on my Palm.

This synchronization happens via my phones internet connection so I don’t need to be plugged into my PC in order to carry this process out.

Even better - the synchronization works both ways so if I add some dates at the meeting, I just resync at the end of the day, and my Google Calendar account is updated.

Perfect! Google Calendar will even send me SMS messages ot remind me of upcoming events!

The application I’m using is called OggSync - I’m using the freeware version at the moment but there is a paid version - though to me it wasn’t very clear from their website what the differences were so I thought - why pay the extra?!

Popularity: 78% [?]