0 Crystal Radio Instructions

What is a Crystal Radio?

Crystal radio's were popular back in the early 1900's when the rectifying property of crystals was discovered and applied to radio receivers (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_radio). Since then the crystal component has been replaced by a diode.That's where the name "crystal" radio came from. Now-a-days a better name might be the diode radio.

So, why would anyone write a hub on making a crystal radio? Because it's FUN! They are simple to put together with items you can find around the house. They do not require batteries either. Their power comes from the radio waves picked up by a long antenna. There's something intriguing about being able to make something with household junk and pick up radio waves with it.

Let's get started. The following table is a list of everything you will need to build the crystal radio.

Parts List

Parts & Tools	Quantity	Purpose
Paper Towel Tube	1	This will be used to construct the capacitor.
Tape	1 roll	For attaching wires and foil
Tissue Tube	1	This will be used to construct the coil.
Magnetic Wire	1 spool	This will be used for the coil.
Wire (blue)	6"	This is connecting wires.
Wire (red & white)	12' (depends)	The red is will be ground and the white will be the antenna.
Glue (super or elmers)	1 bottle	Adhere objects to the board.
Piece of cardboard or wood	1 = 6" x 8"	This will be the base for the components.
Screws or paper fasteners	3 each	Fasten the connections

Helpful Tools

These are a few tools that you may, or may not, need:

• Screw Driver
• Scissors
• Wire Cutters
• Drill
• Drill Bit

Construct the Variable Capacitor

The capacitor acts like a magnet for electrons. Electrons collect on the outside foil, then move to the inside foil and back again, and again, and again. This one is called a variable capacitor because it will be telescopic, one piece sliding inside the other.

Here's how we make it:

1. Take your paper towel tube and cut a piece of foil so it will wrap around it, about 7" by 5". Allow the foil to overlap itself.
2. Tape it in place.
3. Now take a piece of plain white paper and cut it so it will wrap around the paper towel tube. It should overlap itself.
4. Cut a another piece of foil so it is longer than the white paper, yet not as wide.
5. Tape the foil at the ends to the white sheet of paper. Wrap the rest of the way around the tube, allow the longer end to overlap onto itself and tape to secure. Do not place tape on the length side of the foil, only on the ends.
6. Slide the white paper with foil over the paper towel tube with foil. This is your capacitor.

Coil

The Coil

The coil receives the electrons from the capacitor and works with the capacitor by slowing down the electrons. The more coils, that you put on the coil, the slower the electrons will move.

Using the coated magnetic wire and the tissue paper holder, leave about a foot of leader wire and wrap the wire around the tube 100 times. For this I use super glue to hold the starting wire in place while I wrap the wire around the tissue paper. You can use tape or super glue, which ever works best for you. It's important to wrap the wire closely with as few gaps as possible.

Your Board Should Look Like One of These

• A piece of scrap cardboard or wood will do fine. It 
• should measure somewhere in the neighborhood of 6" x 8".
• You'll need something to put the parts onto. Let's construct a base.
• Now set-up where the connections are going to be. Using either three (3) small screws or three (3) paper fasteners attach them to the board, all three in a row. If you opt for a wood base then make sure you pre-drill the holes or the wood may split.
• Attach the diode between the first and second screw/paper fastener.
• Expose the wire, on each of the two wires of the earphone and connect them to the second and third screw/paper fasteners.
• Attach the capacitor and the coil to the base board in a fashion convenient for you. Two different set-ups pictured.

Coil WiresAdd Wires to the Capacitor

Now it is time to attach wires to the capacitor.

1. Take two pieces of wire about 6" long.
2. Expose 1/2" wire at each end.
3. Bend one end of each wire into the shape of a hook.
4. Take a 1" piece of tape and tape the hook onto the foil at one end of the capacitor (the stationary foil).
5. Get another piece of tape and tape the other hook to the other end of the capacitor (the sliding piece attached to the paper).
6. Attach the other end of that wire to the third (3) screw/paper fastener.
7. Attach the other wire from the capacitor to the number one (1) screw/paper fastener.

Add the Coil

Now it's time for the coil to be attached.

1. On the extra lengths of wire we allowed for the coil, scrap off the very ends to remove any enamel coating.
2. Attach one end to screw/paper fastener one (1) and the other to screw/paper fastener three (3).

Final Steps

The final steps include attaching the ground and the antenna.

The ground can be attached to any source of ground such as water pipes under your sink, metal case of a computer that is plugged in, ground tong only on a plug, etc. The other end will attach to the third (3) screw/paper fastener.

The antenna needs to be long to give it the best opportunity to pick up sound waves. Hang it from the ceiling or across the room. Attach the other end of the antenna to the first (1) screw/paper faster.

Put the ear phone into your ear and slide the outer foil on paper, of the capacitor along the inner foil. The foil must overlap at all times or it won't collect the electrons. Listen carefully for any transmissions you can pick up
!

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0 How to Choose an Awesome YouTube Username for Your Channel

So, you've decided to start a YouTube channel. Everything is new and exciting, and video ideas seem to just keep flowing endlessly into your mind. However, soon enough you hit a speed bump called the "Enter Username Bar". That incessantly blinking cursor seems to be mocking you and making your mind go blank.

'This should be easy,' you're probably thinking, 'I'll just use my nickname!'

Unfortunately, there are billions of users on YouTube, and some of these users have multiple channels, also. When you think you've got the perfect username, you may be frustrated to discover that your awesome, unique username has already been thought up by someone else!

Never fear. You are truly unique, and there's a reason why you're creating a YouTube channel: because you believe that you have something special to give to other people, whether it's advice, laughs, and/or criticism. Take a deep breath, clear your mind, and follow these tips.

Tip 3: Write down "prototype" names.Tip #1: Step AWAY from the computer.

All sorts of thoughts may be running through your mind while staring at that bar: panic, frustration, indifference, confusion... neither of these is better than the others. If you're panicking or frustrated, you'll type in something random, and will wonder later on, 'Why the heck did I pick THIS?' If you're indifferent, people will be able to tell that you don't really care about your channel and will keep it moving to someone else's channel. When you're confused, you won't be able to make the best judgments about your own identity, and your username won't properly express who you really are.

Get away from your computer screen and chair. While a gem might not come to you automatically, relaxing will allow you to get your mind in the proper mindset to make good decisions you'll be proud of later. Go do your dishes, or take out the trash. While you're doing chores around your house, let any emotions roll off your shoulders and calmly think about potential usernames.

Tip 2: Write down things that make "you".

While your channel may be about something other than yourself, it's still YOUR channel. Why should little Timmy want to watch your cooking channel and not Bobby Smith's cooking channel? You've got to put a piece of yourself into your username, even if it's not all about you because most people who watch YouTube are attracted to (or repelled by) the people behind the channels, whether they like it or not.

Sit at your computer and open up Notepad, and start typing a bunch of things that make you who are you are. Describe your personality! Write down words that tell about your love for your hobbies. Describe what sets you apart from others, or your most attractive features. Before you know it, you'll have a list full of things that will keep viewers coming back for more!

These aren't permanent, so have fun with making potential usernames. Think outside the box! Using the list you created earlier as a brainstorming tool, think of a catchy username that will:

1. Describe your channel's main topic

2. Tell people about you

3. Let people know what to expect

4. Set you apart from the others

Don't worry yet about making your username short and/or perfect. This tip is just to give you ideas about usernames that will possibly lead to other ideas about other usernames. When you've generated a huge list, choose your favorite ten, then whittle that list down to five or so, and then three.

Tip 4: Make your username choices catchy and condensed.

No one is going to remember, "JACKGAMINGFOREVER2013DABEST". Try to say the most that you can with the fewest amount of words possible. If you need to, use a thesaurus and research more simple words that may have slipped your mind earlier.

Things that work well with creating catchy usernames:

• Alliteration
• Rhyming
• Rhythm
• Play on Your Name's Meaning
• Cuteness
• Boldness
• Extreme descriptors (ex: "psychotic", "remarkable", "extreme")
• Capitalizing certain words/letters

Tip 5: Use a "channel" word.

Nowadays, more people seem to watch YouTube more than cable television. YouTube channels are like episodes in a TV series! Your first "episode" is probably an introduction (or a "pilot" episode), and your second may be a tutorial of some sort.

If you're coming up dry for ideas, play off of being broadcast to viewers. Your name plus the words "'s world", "TV", "-vision", "channel", "telly", "video", or "tube" are some possibilities.

Tip 6: Make a short, sweet, catchy nonsense name.

While a five-letter channel name may not adequately describe your channel to the fullest, it sure is easy to remember! If you've got a nickname that no one in the universe has, sell it! Also, this tip works very well if your username is fun to say. Short, sweet, catchy usernames are fun to repeat, fun to share, fun to type, and will stick in your viewers' heads--whether they like it or not.

Tip 7: Make a username from your viewers' point of view.

This seems kind of strange, but think about Hello Kitty. It's catchy, sweet, and we're totally in love with her decades after she was born.

For your channel, think of something a viewer would say to you. Would they say, "konnichiwa"? Would they say, "Heya, heya"? Put your own name (or nickname) after a greeting for a cute and easy username. This tip may be a bit much for a shy YouTube user, but you can fake confidence if you need to! There are many viewers who are attracted to lovable, confident, big sis or big bro-type YouTube personalities.

Tip 8: Don't use x's or lots of numbers.

Unfortunately, people don't like to have to say a complicated username to their friends when they're describing a great channel. For example, "I've been watching xXBilly65GamingBrosXx all weekend!" will probably never be said out loud, and typing it won't be too much easier.

If you discover that your username has already been taken, don't try to make up for it by adding a bunch of "unique" symbols and numbers. Keep it simple to read and say!

Tip 9: Flexibility is a good thing.

Unless you know EXACTLY what you're going to make your channel about for all time and know that you're never ever going to stray from the same type of videos, don't be too specific. If your channel is going to be more general with ranging topics, make your title about yourself mostly and not about your hobbies.

If you put "crochet" in your title but want to start doing videos about hair and makeup, people are probably not going to come back to your channel for those videos because they think that all you do is crochet

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1 Common Lotus Notes Problems - and A Few Solutions

Introduction

Lotus Notes has been voted among the top 10 hated software applications by multiple surveys. It was rated the fourth worst in a 2012 Tech Radar survey. In 2012, Lotus Notes, a company purchased for 3.5 billion dollars in 1995 earned about a billion dollars in revenue. Lotus Notes in entrenched with many companies that don’t have the money to migrate or don’t want to pay more for a separate email service in addition to their payments to IBM for ERP software.

Despite its large marketplace presence, Lotus Notes has a reputation for problems. Lotus Notes tried to solve the problem by renaming itself to IBM Notes. (This is a standard solution for IBM, who renamed the Lotusphere 2013 conference to Connect2013.) Instead, let’s look at some of the more common Lotus Notes problems and a few solutions for them.

A Proprietary Tool in a Standards Driven World

Lotus Notes is a proprietary software solution in a world dominated by standards based software applications. Many user problems come from trying to copy their standard habits to Lotus Notes, which only creates confusion. Lotus Notes doesn’t refresh when you hit F5 like most other software – you have to hit the refresh button. Hitting F5 locks up Lotus Notes, which you can only unlock by re-entering your password. Using control-enter won’t send an email as would work with Outlook and web mail applications. Instead, you have to use Alt-1. And the Insert key toggles messages between read and unread.

Why does Lotus Notes have its own tricks and controls? Lotus Notes doesn’t always run off of Windows standard shortcuts. In part, this is because Lotus Notes was developed independently of the Microsoft OS, and IBM has cared as little about Microsoft’s shortcuts as standard internet ones. To make matters worse, Lotus Notes requires expensive specialists to customize the application.

Lotus Notes Instability

Lotus Notes is rather unstable. It also has a tendency to lock up, leading to the development of the KillNotes application. Recovering from a system crash may require the surgical deletion of cache NDK or the bookmarks.nsf file.

Post crash messages in Lotus Notes that were opened when the application crashed revert back to an unopened state. Opened messages revert to their previously saved location and state.

Limited Lotus Notes Integration with Other Tools

Lotus Notes doesn’t handle meeting invites from Microsoft Outlook. Users often get an error “You cannot process this notice because this meeting is not in your mailfile or has not been accepted”. A work around is creating your own Lotus Notes meeting with the information from the Microsoft meeting invite so that the time is blocked out on your calendar and the information is saved locally to your machine.

You can view your Google Calendar through Lotus Notes, though verification must be enabled. However, viewing webmail through Lotus Notes is difficult if not impossible. Lotus Notes has PIP3 and IMAP email interfaces but typically doesn’t play well with Internet mail clients.

Limited Search Capability in Lotus Notes

Lotus notes don’t give you the ability to create complex queries of messages. Quick filtering is limited to single attributes like the person the message is from and the subject line. When you filter by a subject line, you can’t exclude additional criteria.

The “All Mail” option only searches the currently selected archive or mail folder.

When you want to do an advanced search with more search criteria, click on the “More” button on the Search bar. On the Basic preference panel, select the “Use Notes (not Web) query syntax in the view search bar”. It is buried in the Advanced Options section of your Notes Preferences, and unfortunately, it is hard to find and not well advertised.

Lotus Notes won’t let you save the results of a complex query search and save it to a virtual folder.

Lotus Notes only indexes emails upon command. If you index the messages and do a search, a new message meeting the search criteria won’t show up until after you clear the results and search again.

You can have an archive of your emails to save them somewhere that they don’t get deleted by regular sweeps. However, you cannot search across multiple archives, just one at a time.

Handling Messages in Lotus Notes

Lotus Notes lacks a “come back later” option for received messages. Unread messages remain in Lotus Notes in the order they were received. Users must be careful not to continue working on the latest received messages neglect messages received earlier.

There are complaints that you can’t reply to a message you’ve put in the Lotus Notes trash bin before it disappears in two days. However, you can reply to it without restoring it. Simply select “Create” and “Reply” or “Create” and “Reply with History”.

When you select several messages, Lotus Notes doesn’t give you the total number of highlighted messages. This is more of an inconvenience than a serious problem.

Lotus Notes Mail Filtering Rules

Mail filtering rules tend to start to malfunction after a fifth rule is added. You cannot just edit the mail filtering rule. If you have more than one action according to your mail rules and you find it necessary to change one of the rules, you have to delete that item. Then re-add it.

Lotus Notes Message Threads

Lotus Notes shifts message threads around with indentation and keeps the headers. The hard part is cutting and pasting message threads, where Lotus Notes makes it hard to cut out part of a thread and forward only that section. Lotus Notes won’t let you manage messages individually through a virtual ghost.

Problems with Lotus Notes Meetings

Lotus Notes meetings sent to people without Lotus Notes tend to look bad. Lotus Notes has poor integration with meeting room invitations even generated within its own application. It doesn’t always properly process meeting room invitations, permitting several people to book the same room.

When you schedule a multi-hour meeting in Lotus Notes but only require a particular person for an hour of that time, Lotus Notes will block out that whole multiple hour block of time for the person though they are only needed for a portion of it.

When you delete a meeting invitation, it doesn’t always allow you to delete the files attached to the meeting invitation. This is annoying when it takes up space in your inbox and Lotus Notes warns you to reduce your mailbox size. Even deleting the attachment itself doesn’t always mean that Lotus Notes recognizes that the object’s file size is smaller.

Task Management Problems in Lotus Notes

Deleting recurring tasks is hazardous, since failing to go back to the original task and instead selecting to delete all of the tasks results in an error and a recurring task that cannot be deleted from Lotus Notes.

Updating Mail Templates in Lotus Notes

Mail template updates can be painful. Lotus Notes cannot update the user’s Mail template for an individual folder within an archive. Users must apply the update from the Lotus Notes Workspace. This creates problems if users only update a few archives and folders and miss one. If mail template is applied to the user’s active mail folder but not immediately propagated to the archive, users risk a replication or save conflict error for all messages in the archive.

Lotus Notes Backups

Lotus Note backups are slow. This is partially due to its segmented file structure, not necessarily large database size. And due to its file structure, users of backup software like Connected must be careful to deliberately include the Lotus Notes mail file in their backup.

Lotus Notes Color Coding Limitations

Lotus Notes doesn’t have a simple way to handle color coding. You can make meetings in Lotus Notes a specific color, but you don’t have the option to color code meetings for different groups their own colors. You can color code messages such as by sender by selecting “Preferences”, “Mail”, select the Mail tab, and select “Sender Colors”.

Spell Checker

Lotus Notes has a spell checker. If it finds a word it considers misspelled in the subject line and is told to ignore it, it often flags it again in the message body. This is more of an annoyance than a serious problem. A long term solution is to add commonly flagged terms to Lotus Notes’ spell checker dictionary.

Why Do People Still Use Lotus Notes Despite All Its Problems?

Given all of these problems with Lotus Notes, why do they still purchase and install it? First and foremost, IBM is one of the large enterprise software solution providers. IBM software is standard for data management, data analysis, purchasing, human resources and content management. If you’ve already bought most of your ERP software from IBM, why not install their email solution, too? The convenience of Crystal Reports may be worth the hassle of Lotus Notes
.

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0 10 Things I Hate About BlackBerry Smart Phones

BlackBerry smart phone have gotten a reputation for being reliable and functional. It does the job and it does it well. However, you rarely hear about it's problems.

1. BIS Surcharge

The first thing I hate about owning a BlackBerry is paying an extra $10 a month for BIS. Most BlackBerry users on a contract will not notice this but it is there and it does add to the cost. They may transfer the cost of BIS by adding an extra $10 to your bill or the cost of your phone. They may even offset the cost by capping data. Those of you that are using a prepaid BlackBerry knows exactly what I'm talking about. Most prepaid smart phone carriers offer BlackBerry smart phones. Virgin Mobile, Boost, MetroPCS all offer BlackBerry smart phones but there is always a $10 per month surcharge for BIS. For new smart phone users, it seems like it's much more appealing to choose an Android smart phone over a BlackBerry simple due to the extra $10.

2. Web Browsing

The web browsing experience on the BlackBerry is so bad, it's craptastic. My BlackBerry Curve 8530 has OS5 and it is outdated. The browsing experience is slow and primitive. It feels like it's just good enough and today, that's not going to cut it. It may be good enough in the turn of the millennium but today, it looks like a toy. BlackBerry has improved web browsing with OS6. OS6 is the new OS that will run on all future BlackBerry smart phones but the majority of users are still using OS5. The browser does not handled Javascript very well. Some sites have a Javascript menu bar that appears when you mouse over it but this will not render in OS5. This is especially annoying if that menu is something important like a log in text box. The browser is simple. Hit “i” to zoom IN and “o” to zoom OUT. Use the trackpad/trackball as your pointing device. There's no Flash and sites load slow. Painfully slow.

3. Filesize Download Limit

The third thing I hate about BlackBerry is something that I discovered recently. There is a 2.3MB cap for downloaded file through the browser. This is due to BIS compressing. They limit the max download size to save bandwidth. It ticks me off. For one, I'm paying an extra $10 per month in order to get BIS and then I have a file size cap? That is annoying! I did some digging and most people suggest downloading a third part browser like Bolt and Opera Mini. Neither of which solved the problem for me. This problem cut a bit deeper because I paid for unlimited data. If I wanted to download a 500MB file, I should be able to. I paid for unlimited so I should be able to download large files.

4. Constant Rebooting After Uninstall

Adding and installing apps is easy but removing it is a pain. Every single time I uninstall an app, it tell me to reboot the phone in order to complete the removal. Every single time! In comparison, Android does not ask me to reboot the phone after I uninstall an app. Why do I have to reboot my phone on BlackBerry? This brings me to my 5th point.

5. Long Bootup

I hate the boot it. It sucks hard! It takes so long to boot up. It's like owning a Pentium 2 computer running Windows XP filled with spyware and virus(no doubt from downloading porn). It can take as long as 5 minutes to boot up. Once, I rebooted my phone, went to the bathroom, took a crap, came back and it was still booting up! It amazes me how slow this phone boots. It's not like the OS is heavy. In fact, the OS looks very basic. This is tolerable if I was removing 1 app a month but sometimes I have to uninstall an app and do it multiple times in order to get it to work. Now whenever I am uninstalling an app, I always choose “reboot later” so I can find other apps to remove so I'll only have to reboot once.

6. Not Enough Apps

No time to waste, lets move on. Apps. What apps? Where are the apps? There's no apps. Or rather, there's very little apps available for BlackBerry. The BlackBerry App World has over 15,000 apps and that number is growing each day. However, this number pales in comparison to Apple's App Store which has over 400,000 apps and Android which has over 230,000 apps. Many of the apps on the BlackBerry App World are pretty good but there's just not enough. Sometimes I find a good app but I still look in the BlackBerry App World to see if there's another option. More often than not, there isn't another option. Although there is certainly competition out there, they are few and far between.

7. Wireless OS Upgrade

I dread updating the OS. Once in a while, I will dig through the menus and find my way to Wireless Update. Seeing that there was an update available for my phone, I proceeded to update my OS for the first time. It gave some warning saying it could take some time. How long could it be? A few minutes? 10 at the most? No. It took over an hour to download and install the updated OS. That is painfully long. Not to mention after you update your OS, it has to reboot. See #5. After that experience, I've managed to update the OS another time. I don't plan to do it again unless I have a few hours free or if I really have to. It all seems rather pointless now to spend over an hour to update the OS when you don't get any of the good stuff that comes with OS6 like a better browser.

8. BBM Lockup

BlackBerry Messenger(BBM) is a great messaging platform. It's fast and reliable. It offers some great features like confirmation of delivered and received messages. Its not perfect though. Sometimes, it would lock up for no apparent reason. It's especially annoying when you click on BBM but can't open the conversation box. There were a few times when I would get messages and see the message appear but I can't open the conversation box. Why BMM? This is really annoying. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason why this happens. It happens rarely but when it does, it can be really frustrating. BBM is a staple part of BlackBerry. To see it having issues is disappointing.

9. Spinning Clock/Screen Lockups

Another thing I the about my BlackBerry is the spinning clock. When you perform a task, sometimes there is a little clock animation that appears in the middle of the screen telling you to wait. Think of the old clocks on imacs. Anyways, once in a while, the phone will lock up and this little sand clock with be spinning in the middle of the screen forever. Sometimes you would get back control of you phone and other times, it will lock up the BlackBerry. This requires you to reboot the phone either with the keyboard or a battery pull. This has only happened a hand full of times but its enough for me to mention it here.

10. Refreshes

The last problem I have with BlackBerry is not with the phone, but rather the company as a whole. They often practice what many people call, “refreshes”. A refresh is releasing a phone that is the same in many ways but slightly different. This makes all new phones just a slight upgrade with nothing too revolutionary offered. An example of this is the Curve 8530 and the Curve 9330. Both phones look pretty much identical but the newer 9330 has a feux chrome outer edge and OS6. Aside from a few minor internal upgrades, it's basically the same phone but not quite. This is what many people consider a refresh. It makes me and many other consumers mad because now RIM can sell this phone as a new device while using many of the same parts as the old 8530. It's borderline dishonest. To be fair, RIM has made some dramatic updates to their BlackBerry lineup with the Torch and the Style but all Bolds, Curves, and Storms pretty much look like the same phone. Don't get me wrong, refreshes can be a good thing. As the old saying goes, “Don't fix it if it ain't broke.” The candy bar design is good and has hold true for many years but using the same parts of older phones is just cheap and cutting corners. I am however looking forward to the upcoming touch screen Bold which looks like a refresh of the Bold 9000. Another example is the Tour and the Bold 9650. Add more RAM, WiFi, and a trackpad to the Tour and you've got a Bold 9650! Same exact body.

Final Thoughts

BlackBerry smart phones are great devices but these are some of the things I cannot stand about them. Granted that many of these thing have been addressed with OS6, it makes me feel a bit cheated. OS6 isn't THAT big of an upgrade to OS5 yet here I am suffering from 2.3MB file download limits and a crappy web browser. Given all of the things I hate about BlackBerry, this Curve still remains the best phone I've ever owned. This title, of course, is flexible and subject to change. Thanks for reading. What do you hate about BlackBerry?

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0 10 Things I Hate About Android Smart Phones

After doing a nice little hit piece on the 10 things I hate about BlackBerry, it's time for me to do one on Android. While I struggled a bit coming up with flaws on the BlackBerry, I didn't have much of a hard time with this list. Just a quick overview, Android is the new OS on the smart phone block. It's very flashy and flamboyant. Android is a highly customizable platform and the main competitor to Apple's iPhone and iOS. Google's brainchild has reached mainstream status penetrating into the top 3 smartphone OS. Some people would say, being popular doesn't always make it good. Case in point: Justin Bieber. Because Android has made its way to one of the top 3 smartphone platforms, people are bound to have opinions. People love to hear the pros but lets take a minute and look at the cons.

Android's growth is remarkable. In just a year, they went from 15% market share to over 25%. I was even a part of that statistic last year when I owned an Android smartphone.

1. Freezing/Force Close

No time to waste, lets get started. The first thing I hate about Android is the constant freezing and “Force Close”. Whenever an app freezes up or doesn't respond, you are prompted to force close the app. I wish I could say my experience was an isolated incident but it's not. Just by browsing some Android forums, you will read of many annoying incidents of force close. Even though Android is based on Linux, it feels more like a smartphone version of Windows Vista. Always crashing and freezing.



2. Terrible Keyboard

The stock Android keyboard is terrible. I know there are plenty of better soft keyboards out there. One of my favorites is Swype. Why can't the standard keyboard be good? The soft keyboard on Apple's iPhone is much better than Android's. The predictive text on the stock Android keyboard is terrible. The point of using a soft keyboard with predictive text is so you don't have to go back and fix all the jumbled words.



3. Fragmentation

One of the more serious problems with Android is their fragmented platform. Most apps depend on a newer version of Android which means you either have to upgrade your OS or buy a newer phone. Since most carriers take their time to release an upgrade, you are left behind while newer phones enjoy these cool apps. I suspect most carriers delay their upgrades in order to provoke people to buy newer phones. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised. Besides the different versions of Android, you also have manufacturer specific skins on top of Android. HTC has SenseUI, Samsung has TouchWiz, and Motorola has MotoBlur. Each manufacturer takes Android and turns it into their own unique version. This makes the experience on each device different. The result? Fragmentation.



4. Accept/Reject Meetings

Accepting meeting requests on BlackBerry is simple. After you get an invitation, you can either accept or reject it. This is a problem on some Android phones but not all. I don't want to dwell on #3 but this is another example of fragmentation. For me, the problem was specific.



5. Poor UI

The next problem I have with Android is its user interface. At first, I thought it was great. It felt like having a little computer in your hand. After using it for a while, I had a chance to objectively look at it. I found it to be very counter intuitive. After a while, it did become like a computer. I would often times have icons littered across my home screens. It reminded me of saving all your files to the desktop and quickly seeing lots of “trash” that needed to be cleaned. After I cleaned it, they were still unorganized in the huge menu. One could say that's my own fault and it may be so. Lets move on. Lots of Android apps function differently. When you hit the “back” button, you would expect to go to the previous screen. Keep hitting back and each app acts differently. Did the application close? Some apps will close when you hit back all the way but not all. Now you have to open up a task killer to see if this app is closed or not. Each app behaves differently from the back button and also the menu button. Each settings for each app is different so there is nothing intuitive or uniform about the UI.



6. Memory Hogging Widgets

Part of the reason I think Android has poor UI is widgets. Widgets are like micro apps that run on the “desktop” of Android. These widgets are memory hogs and they add to Android's messy interface. Lots of apps comes with widgets that you can put on your home screens. Android has some preloaded and HTC has many SenseUI widgets. These widgets are like early HTML pages. When the web was in its infancy, many people thought it was cool to build webpages with flashing text and neon colors. That's how I describe Android widgets. Some are plain, some are functional, some are ugly and some are just stupid. All of these widgets look out of place unless you follow a strict color scheme. Even then, consistency is still hard to achieve unless you have a theme. I used to have tons of widgets on my home screen until I found out they bogged my phone down, it was almost unusable. Widgets may be cool for computers but for now, they suck for phones.



7. Awful Battery Life

Probably my biggest complaint with Android is its terrible battery life. It's pretty consistent across all manufacturers. When I had an Android phone, I would be lucky to get a full day's use out of it. I had to buy extra chargers for work and the car just to trickle in a few watt hours into these little lithiums. 8 hours of use is common. I would pull my phone hot off the charge at 10AM and it would be red by 6pm. What good is a huge touch screen and all these smartphone luxuries when I have to turn off WiFi every time I leave my home? Why do I have to turn my brightness down just to squeeze in an extra hour? Why do I have to get a task killer and babysit these background apps? Probably the biggest question that comes to mind is why do companies make these awesome smartphones and put tiny batteries in them? All touch screen smartphones should have at least a 2Ah(2000mAh) battery. At LEAST! Most smartphones have at the most, a 1500 mAh battery which is pitiful considering they're powering GHz speed smartphones. Those that say their Android's battery life is fine is kidding themselves. No one should expect 8 hour of real-world usage. A smartphone should last at least a full business day. Each person has their own requirements but suffices to say, 8 hours was not good enough for me.



8. Feels Sluggish On Good Hardware

Speaking of GHz speed processors, I still feel new Android phones aren't living up to their spec sheets. Back when 528MHz processors were the standard, we should be thankful we have 1 GHz processors. The problem is things still feel sluggish with 1GHz Snapdragons, Hummingbirds, OMAP's, and whatever the new Arm A1000 architect they've released. I love watching countless 'iPhone 4 vs Latest Android” videos. The iPhone often holds its own with weaker hardware. I'm not an iDrone by any means. I don't even own an Apple product. However, I can appreciate Apple optimizing their software with their hardware. This means many Android phones feel sluggish with good hardware. Yes, the new breed of GHz speed processors are fast but I always detect a hint of stutter here and there that bothers me like a hangnail.



9. Shady App Opt-ins

Most third-party Android apps have a weird opt-in that requires you to give up your privacy. These apps often get access to your data and location. Why does a third-party app need to know where I'm located? The problem is you cannot install these apps without giving them access. After a while, it becomes so common, you don't even think about it anymore. Click next, next, accept, install. You want access to my GPS location? Sure! Why not...



10. Illusion Of Being Open

One of the bigger things I don't like about Android is the illusion of open. Android is free and open-source. The phone carriers and manufacturers lock down the OS. This isn't exactly a new thing. RIM and Apple do it too but it's not a secret. When they install preloaded apps like SprintNav, VZ Navigator, and other bloatware, its not a surprise. With Android, I can't remove this bloatware unless I root my phone. Rooting is Android's equivalent to jailbreaking an iPhone. In Linux talk, getting “root” access means getting administrative access. Think sudo. For example, I can't install software unless I am root. This requires me to type in a password. Back to Android. They market themselves as being free and open but that is only half the story. In order to get root access, you'll need to perform risky ROM flashing that may brick your phone if not done properly. I had to root my Android in order to get a flashlight app to work because it needed root access to control the LED flash. The procedure was easy to follow but it can be intimidating for newbies. Because Android is so “open”, cell phone carriers are capable of modifying and locking it down. Don't believe me? Look at AT&T's first Android device, the Motorola Backflip. They modified Android's default Google search and replaced it with Yahoo! search. I'm sure you can think of other examples. The point is, if Android is so open, why do I have to Flash a different ROM in order to get administrative access? Last time I checked, I purchased an “opened” phone. That's their illusion. Their marketing. Sure the platform is inherently open but the carriers lock it down. By the time it gets into your pocket(literally), it's closed. Don't like having a Vcast app? Too bad.



Final Thoughts

These are the 10 things I hate about Android. While some are more serious than others, I think its a good thing to evaluate the flaws before we, as consumers, make expensive purchase decisions. No platform is perfect and I don't claim that. I wrote this in order to inform consumers and possible fanboys that Android is not perfect either. Lots of people develop an emotional attachment to their phones in which they'll defend it with prejudice. While being popular doesn't mean it's good, I cannot deny the huge impact Android has on smartphones. I hope they work hard to improve their platform for consumers. Enough about what I think. What do you hate about Android?

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0 How to connect iPad to TV - Some iPad 3 Accessories you might need

Hi there friends. Connecting your iPad to TV is simply the most amazing thing that you can do with this device, because suddenly, the 9.7-inch display becomes a giant 32-inch Full-HD display or to the size of your TV, precisely.

So, let me tell you some ways that you can use to connect your beautiful and powerful iPad to your amazing Full-HD TV.

Things that you will need:

• Apple iPad 3, 2, 1, iPhone 4 and later versions, iPod Touch.
• Full HD TV or Normal HD or No HD at all. In short, it will connect to all types of televisions that you might have.
• Based on type of connection, HDMI adapter, HDMI Cable, Composite cable, Component Cable and Apple TV.

Breakdown of Things that You Will Need!

So, first of all, you need to make sure that you have at least one thing from each list and in case of HDMI; you must have HDMI adapter and HDMI cable.

So, let us begin: For Wireless Experience via Airplay

• To avoid all clutter and enjoy a complete wireless experience. You need to have Your TV and iPad connected to the same wireless network.
• You need to have Apple TV to stream videos from iPad to TV via Airplay.
• You can mirror everything (absolutely) that is going on in your iPad on your TV.
• Video streaming in 1080p is possible.

For HDMI experience and watching movies at 720p

• Unfortunately, iPad streams movies at 720p via HDMI cable, but it retains the resolution to 1080p and gaming looks amazing because of that.
• You need HDMI adapter to turn Apple dock to HDMI output and then, HDMI cable goes from your iPad to your TV.
• Select the source from your TV’s remote and it should detect the connection and display the content.
• Just chose mirror button while playing video or music in your iPad. It looks like a TV icon and is visible only when you connect the cable.

For 480p experience via Component and Composite Cable

• This is the least preferred method to connect an awesome device and an amazing TV.
• However, if you don’t have an awesome device, like you own iPad first gen or something and you have a pretty old TV, you still have options to connect both of them.
• You need these types of cables that go all the way from dock connector to your TV’s composite and component inputs.
• So, no adapter is required.
• Remember, both are different and they don’t do mirroring like Airplay and HDMI cable.
• The video will look distorted or blurry if your TV is big because 480p (component) and 480i (composite) aren’t made to deliver amazing quality on big screens.

Conclusion

I don’t think that this section was necessary but let’s talk anyway. As you can see, you do have multiple options to connect iPad to TV and you will require some iPad Accessories, so it would be best if everything is top notch.

I mean, you must have at least iPad 2 and at least a Full-HD LCD TV if not LED. Connecting both devices is meant to be fun and you don’t wish to ruin it by having the wrong hardware.

Please tell me if you face any problem. I will be very glad to help you out.

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0 How-to: Connect iPad to TV with HDMI or Wireless Airplay

Connecting an iPad to a TV display can be really useful. Whether you want to show photos or videos to family members or bring movies to the big screen. The iPad supports video out naturally and can be connected to an external display easily.

Comparison: Connect your iPad to TV using cables or Wi-Fi?

Connect iPad to TV: Lightning HDMI Adapter vs. Apple TV comparison
Connect iPad to TV: Lightning HDMI Adapter vs. Apple TV comparison
Decide first: Do you want to connect your iPad to a TV or projector either with or without cables? Both solutions are possible. What is best for you depends on your use case:

Connect your iPad wirelessly with an Apple TV: Good when you are planning to use your iPhone to TV connection at home for watching videos, sharing movies or hanging out with friends.
Connect your iPad with an HDMI cable using the official Apple Digital AV adapter: Good if you intend to use the iPad to TV/projector connection for travel purposes (hotel rooms) or business presentations.
Remember!

« Before you start to connect your iPad to TV, make sure you decide if wired or wireless is better for you! »

Comparison: iPad Wireless vs. HDMI connection

	Apple TV Airplay	Lightning Digital AV HDMI Adapter
AV Quality	1080p HD (compressed)	1080p HD (compressed*)
Set up	10 mins	2 mins
Transmission	Wi-Fi network	HDMI cable
Features	Mirroring, Airplay, Apple TV native apps, iCloud, iTunes Match	Mirroring, Airplay
Connectable devices	iPad, iPad Air, iPad mini, iPhone, iPod touch, Macbook, iMac, Mac mini	iPad, iPad Air, iPad mini, iPhone, iPod touch (30-pin)
Portable?	No	Yes
Costs	~ $100	~ $50

Ultimately you have to decide on your own which approach you want to take. In this guide we will explain both solutions starting with the Apple TV Airplay solution. Although the wireless Apple TV solution is more expensive than the Digital AV adapter, Apple TV is recommend it for home users because it is so much more convenient.

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