The Desert Computer Tutor

Tag: facebook

  • Listen Up Sports Fans… There’s An App for That!

    RememberThis week a client asked me if he could watch college football on his new tablet.  Yes!  “There’s an app for that.”  Actually there are a lot of apps available.  There are many free and paid options to watch football, soccer, basketball, tennis and other favorite sports.

    You can download an app through “the company store”. (Google Play for Android devices and The App Store for Apple devices.)

    Here are a few suggestions to get you started. Two good apps for streaming live sports are offered by television stations.

    WatchESPN (ESPN Inc) offers live streaming of events from the ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU networks. You can enjoy access to events from the NBA, MBL, U.S. Open, The Masters, college football and basketball, Grand Slam Tennis and Euro 2012 Soccer — as well as original ESPN programming like SportsCenter, Pardon the Interruption and SportsNation. WatchESPN is user-friendly, making it easy to search for your favorite teams, leagues and shows.

    To access WatchESPN’s live stream, you’ll need a cable subscription through a participating cable provider (e.g., AT&T U-verse, Cox, Time Warner Cable or Verizon). The app will prompt you to enter your TV provider, TV subscription user ID and password.

    CBS Sports (CBS Interactive, Inc.) features a live stream of video of top sports, including NCAA and SEC football games. Scores of games that cannot be streamed live are updated very quickly. CBS Sports also offers on-demand access to game highlights, analysis and original programming, as well as a live Twitter feed of commentary from players, writers, analysts and bloggers.  The CBS Sports mobile app features extensive college football coverage including live streaming of some games on Saturday.

    Note:  You may need to download and install Adobe Flash Player, the leading video and animation player. Downloading Adobe Flash Player is free, quick and easy.

    NBA League Pass Mobile allows you to follow the league through live NBA game viewing in addition to on-demand game replays and league highlights. The league Pass costs $16.99 per season and is available through the NBA Game Time mobile app.

    MLB.tv offers the At Bat 13 subscription service, which features home and away broadcasts, HD quality video, full game archives and in-game highlights and stats. A season pass is $19.99 and premium subscribers have access to live video feeds.

    In addition to apps, you can find websites that can connect you to an online broadcast of the sporting event you want to watch.  Just do a search in your web browser.  You may want to check out Ustream, FirstRow Sports and Stream2Watch.

      

    Note:  Streaming sports live does limit the life of your battery because it requires you to use your data connection plus the audio and video components of your device’s hardware.  To prolong the life of your battery, try dimming the screen and turning off any unnecessary features (e.g., Bluetooth). Make sure to have a power adapter on hand to juice up your battery when the need arises.

    If you, or someone you know, needs to learn more about how to search for good apps, or websites, I’d love to help. Call me today!

    Share your favorite apps and websites for sports in the “Comments” below.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Pre-purchase Consultation Questions

    One of my services is consulting with people to help them choose the best computer or gadget for their individual needs.  So much frustration can be avoided by buying the right product in the first place, and I have already test-driven quite a few of them in order to pave the way for others to have a more pleasant experience.  See my previous posts for the gruesome details.  LOL

    Here are the questions I use for my consultations.  Please forward this to your friends and relatives so they will have it when they are considering a computer or gadget purchase.   They will thank you for it.

    1. What is your budget?

    2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?

    3. What screen resolution do you want?

    4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?

    5. How much battery life do you need?

    6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low, Medium or High)?

    7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, etc.)

    8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?

    9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.

    10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?

    11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer, Blue Ray ROM/Writer, etc ?

    12. Please tell me about the brands that you prefer and the brands that you don’t like and explain the reasons.

    13. What country do you live in?

    14. Please tell me any additional information if needed.

    Additionally… you should consider available support options in your area. If you buy something abroad, will you be able to have it fixed near where you live? Does the warranty apply? How quickly do local accredited technicians fix laptops?

  • This Might Surprise You

    As you may know, I have not been a big fan of Facebook, and I always empathize when my clients talk about all the reasons it’s bad.  I don’t have extra time to “mess with it” either.

    Well I must confess, I’m having second thoughts.  Yes, it’s true.  I downloaded the Facebook app to my smart phone, so I could see what it does.  After posting a few things on my page, I heard from people that I hadn’t been in touch with for years. They loved the photo of Katie and me at the beach this summer and it was really fun to reconnect.  Then I started seeing all the inspirational and hilarious things that my friends were posting on their pages.  It’s amazing how much love and inspiration is circulating via Facebook  Seriously!  It’s a great antidote to the news!

    One of the posts that moved me to tears was a video of an 82 year old woman’s audition on “England’s Got Talent”.  (See the link below.)  I guess it moved me so much because I’m getting older, my Mother is 92 now, and I work with many amazing elderly people like her, who are enthusiastic about learning techie things. I’ts just so great to see people follow their passion right up to the end of their lives.


    Watch video

    Another inspiration for me was a fun lady, who had me come work with her every week last season so she could learn Facebook and keep in touch with her 4 children and 12 grandchildren.  We had so much fun!  She joked about how some of her friends spent way too much time on it and she just wanted to see all the latest photos and make short comments.  She got really good at it.  Can you imagine how much that means to the children and their parents?!  So many times, our children end up living out of state, and Facebook can really help to keep the family together.

    I’m eager to share what I’ve learned and to show you how rewarding it can be.  I think you will be surprised at how much you will enjoy it.  You don’t have to spend a lot of time, or sift through a gazillion emails notifications.  I can show you how to adjust the settings to calm it down and make it manageable.

    So to this end, I’m planning to offer some Facebook playshops in the new year and I hope you will join in the fun.

    We can do my usual private sessions or you can invite up to 7 friends to a “Play Shop” at your home or office.  (8 gadgets is the maximum for home Wi-Fi routers).  The host is free and the other participants only pay $20 for the 2 hr. play shop. (The minimum requirement is $80)  I will also be happy to do more Play Shops at the Mastermind Seminars’ office on Date Palm.  Just let me know the best days and times for you.

    I hope you are having a lovely holiday season with your loved ones.  I hope you will give Facebook a try, so you can re-connect with loved ones you haven’t seen and keep up with the ones you have.  Let’s keep that love and joy vibration going all year long!