Android: Amazon App Store Free App–ATARI GREATEST HITS PRO

The Free App of the Day, Christmas Day offering from the Amazon App Store is ATARI Greatest Hits Pro.

The regularly free version of ATARI GREATEST HITS only comes with 1 game (Missile Command). The pro version of the app includes the following games

Missile Command
Missile Command 2600
Pong
Centipede
Centipede 2600
Millipede
Millipede 2600
Basic Math
Flag Capture

“You can also purchase additional Atari games quickly and easily from within this app. Choose from 25 separate packs, each of which contains three to four individual Atari games. (For example, the Adventure 4-pack contains the well-loved game Adventure, as well as Haunted House, Return to Haunted House, and Save Mary.) “

I loaded the app on my Acer Iconia Tab 500 (16gig), and it ran just fine. The Controls for each game are easy and responsive. The look for each game is that of the original Arcade version. If you are an ATARI fan this is a must have.

You will see on the Amazon page some negative comments about the app, from what I can make out, most of the negative comments are people who did not read the part that says it comes with only 9 games and you have to buy others. Even then, the remaining game packs for the app cost $0.99 each, for games like (Listed in their packs)

Major Havoc – Secret Quest – Sentinel – Yars’ Revenge
Lunar Lander – Codebreaker – Sky Diver – Video Pinball
Liberator – Human Cannonball – Star Raiders – Star Ship
Gravitar – Demons to Diamonds – Radar Lock
Crystal Castle – Maze Craze – Surround
Black Widow – Space Duel – Desert Falcon – Space War
Battlezone – Red Barron – Air Sea Battle – Submarine Commander
Asteroids – Asteroids Deluxe – Canyon Bomber
Combat – Combat Two – Warlords
Tempest – Outlaw – Atari Video Cube
Super Breakout – Breakout – Circus Atari – Off the wall

Software: Fix for Microsoft Money not installing

I ran into an interesting error yesterday while trying to reinstall (LINK)Microsoft Money (http://www NULL.microsoft NULL.com/download/en/details NULL.aspx?displaylang=en&id=20738) on my pc. When launching the installer, I would get a message that said “The AUTORUN.INF file is missing or corrupt” when trying to reinstall.

(by the way, YES I know that in this post I’m talking about a product that Microsoft no longer offers or supports)

The AUTORUN.INF file (which is part of the installer) is supposed to tell the pc what to do when a CD is installed. After doing a little research, I found the hang up causing this error. It is actually a simple fix, HOWEVER IT WILL REQUIRE YOU TO GO INTO THE COMPUTER REGISTERY. GOING INTO THE REGISTRY AND CHANGING THINGS WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING WILL BREAK YOUR COMPUTER. FOLLOW THESE STEPS EXACTLY AND DO NOT MAKE ANY OTHER CHANGES TO YOUR REGISTERY UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING. (THAT’S MY WARNING, NOW BACK TO THE POST)

Steps to fix install issue –

– Go to start – click on run in Windows XP or search box in Windows 7 and type REGEDIT (doesn’t have to be in caps) –> Then hit enter or click ok

Windows XP

Windows 7

This will open up your register window. (ONE MORE TIME, FOLLOW THESE STEPS AND DON’T CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE IN THE REGISTERY UNLESS YOU ARE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING)

– In the registry – click on the arrow next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE –> followed by clicking the arrow next to software

- Now Click on the arrow next to Microsoft

- Now click on the arrow next to WindowsNT –> Followed immediately after by clicking the arrow next to CurrentVersion.

- Lastly, look for InFileMapping and click on the arrow next to it. Under InFileMapping, you will find Autorun.inf. This is the cause of the error.

- You want to right click directly on Autorun.inf and select Rename.

- Once you rename it you should see the registry look like this

- At this point, reboot your pc. As soon as it restarts (before you start surfing the web or checking email), Install Microsoft Money. You will find that it will install without any issues.

- Lastly after you install Microsoft Money, Reboot 1 more time, so that Windows can recreate the key you renamed.

Phone: HTC Event for those in the So California area on Wed. 12/14

Just came across this one today. For any HTC cell phone fans in the So. California area, HTC USA is holding an event at the Lexington Social House in Hollywood tomorrow night 12/14/11 from 7p to 11p (Pacific Time).

Information about the event, and where to RSVP if you want to attend can be found on the HTC (LINK) Facebook page (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/153841771383150/)

The event, which is 18 and up, will have “bites and cocktails for all”, plus “there will be the latest HTC phones on display for those of you with dreams of megapixels dancing in your heads”. The event is “Dress to Impress” (Based on comments on the Facebook page).

(*Note – Tech Geek and More has no involvement with this event, just sharing the information)

Have you Overlooked your ‘Other’ Facebook Messages? (Via Facecrooks.com)

The following post comes from (LINK) Facecrooks (http://facecrooks NULL.com/). Facecrooks considers itself “THE Social Media Watchdog!” From their site -

“Our mission is to monitor and chronicle the seedy, unsavory and silly side of social media. We provide current news, educational resources and alerts on social media privacy, safety and scams”.

The following post cover a Facebook feature that unless you are paying attention, you could miss. A 2nd inbox in Facebook for messages, where some of your messages could be ending up. The post was originally posted on (link) Facecrooks (http://facecrooks NULL.com/Internet-Safety-Privacy/have-you-overlooked-your-other-facebook-messages NULL.html), in their Internet Safety and Privacy section.

(http://facecrooks NULL.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/other_messages NULL.jpg)Mashable (http://mashable NULL.com/2011/12/09/facebook-hidden-messages/)revealed yesterday that many Facebook users have been unaware of the “Other” inbox located beneath the standard ‘Messages’ tab on Facebook.

Facebook, in its infinite wisdom, created this folder to automatically sort the messages you receive that they deem to be spam or not important due to a lack of connections to you. They committed a similar act earlier this year when ‘Smart Lists’ were introduced. Users were none too pleased to find that Facebook had added friends to certain lists based on their previous interactions and relationships.

I checked my folder and was pleased to find that the only thing I had missed were messages from Facebook Pages that I have ‘liked.’ I’ve missed a few webinar invites and event notifications. Not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but it would have been nice to know the ‘other’ tab exists.

This whole incident came to light when a Slate (http://www NULL.slate NULL.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/12/facebook_s_other_messages_mail_you_are_probably_missing NULL.2 NULL.html) reporter received a message from someone who found her lost laptop. Due to the fact that there was no connection between the two Facebook users, the message was sorted to the ‘Other’ inbox. Of course she was outraged that she didn’t receive the message in a timely manner. Upon further investigation, she discovered that both she and her colleagues had missed other important messages.

So, what can you do to make sure something like this doesn’t happen to you in the future? To make a long story short, the only remedy is to check the ‘Other’ message tab often. You can’t set up your account to receive email notifications for messages sorted to this Social Inbox.

It’s really easy to check to see if you have missed any important messages. Just Click the ‘Messages’ link located under “Favorites”. (located in the left column of your Facebook page) – this will reveal the ‘Other’ tab.

Facebook’s logic and reasoning for this behavior makes sense, it would just be nice if they did a better job of communicating subtle nuances of features to their users.

Android – How to keep phone from “sleeping” (timing out) when plugged in

All cell phones have a “timeout” feature that is in place mainly as a battery saving measure. After a specific amount of time, your phone just “goes to sleep”. When I’m using the battery I don’t mind this feature, but there are times when having the phone timeout is not what I want to happen.

Using the phone as a GPS in the car or Streaming Video while traveling (I take a lot of airplane flights) are just 2 of the many reasons when the timeout setting could become annoying. In both cases (among many others), I would have my phone plugged in via the car charger or airplane charger (having power at the airplane seat is the best invention EVER!).

The normal timeout setting (that everyone seems to know about) can be found in Android –> Under settings –> Display

On the display screen you will see –> Screen timeout. Usually this setting is set to between 1 and 5 minutes or off if you just don’t ever want to have your screen turn off.

So the question is “How can I keep my phone from timing out without having the change this setting over and over”?

The answer is actually simple, if you know where to look. (And here is the answer)

In Android –> Go to settings –> (Scroll down to) Applications > (Click on) development –> (And finally) check the box that says ‘stay awake’

Once you do that, this setting will override whatever is in the timeout setting, whenever your phone is plugged in.

12/6/11– Tech Geek and More – Site issues

Tech Geek and More moved to a new web host yesterday. We are in the process of fixing a few small Oh !^#!$. We hope to have everything back to normal shortly.

Thanks

Alex

Head of Tech Geek and More

TGM How To: Converting Video from your pc to play on a DVD player

I regularly get “How do I do this” questions. A lot of what you see posted on Tech Geek and More, comes as a result of those questions. Tonight’s post is another example of “How do I……”, and this questions revolves around taking videos that are already on a pc and being able to copy the videos to a DVD disc and have that disc recognized on an average DVD player. Tonight’s question comes from a teacher who would like to be able hand dvd’s with study material to his class as part of an overall lesson plan.

These instructions will list the FLV format (which is the file format for flash videos, like what you would find on sites like YouTube). If you have videos in other formats (AVI, WMV, MOV, etc.) these same steps apply, just adjust for your video type in the instructions.

The biggest reason FLV is popular is because of its compression rate, in other words, how small the video can get. The smaller the video, the less bandwidth required to play which is both a cost savings and also allows for the video to play faster. A few DVD players I’ve seen recognize flash files (or other non-DVD formats), but that seems to be rare, so to take the FLV file and play it on most DVD players would require the video to be converted to the format a DVD play would understand. All DVD players read the MPEG 2 format, which is the standard for DVD players.

Since I know we all live on tight budgets these days (computer guys are not immune from not getting paid enough), these instructions use Open Source, as in Free software, to accomplish the goal. So how do we convert the video so that it can be used on DVD – Here are the steps.

Requirements

Download and install WinFF (From http://winff.org/html_new/downloads.html (http://winff NULL.org/html_new/downloads NULL.html))

WinFF is available for Windows 95, 98 , ME, NT, XP, VISTA, 7 and Debian, Ubuntu, Redhat based GNU/Linux distributions

*If you are running Windows XP you can download – Windows Movie Maker 2011 (From http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker (http://explore NULL.live NULL.com/windows-live-movie-maker) )

If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 – You have Windows DVD Maker already installed by default. (The example shown will be from Windows DVD Maker)

Blank DVD (Could be either DVD-R or DVD-RW)

Pt. 1 – Converting with Winff

1. Start Winff and select the “Add” button.

2. In the window that comes up appears to find your FLV file. When you find it, double-click on it. In the example (below), I’m using a William Shatner comedy bit about Facebook. (If you hold your CTRL key, you can select and convert more than 1 file at a time)

3. Now at the bottom of the main WinFF window, click on the drop-down menu where it says “Convert to” and select “DVD.” Then click on the drop-down menu next to where it says “Preset,” and select the DVD format and location version (NTSC or PAL) you wish to use. If you are in the USA/Canada it will probably be NTSC and in Europe it will be PAL). In addition, most users, will probably want to select Fullscreen for the type of conversion. (You probably will want to play with that one to see what works for you)

4. Next step (at the very bottom), select where you want your converted video to be saved. You do this by selecting the a location on your pc, where it says “Output to Folder”.

5. Last step, click on the “Convert” button and wait for your video to be converted.

That completes the conversion part. There is a 2nd part to get that newly created file onto a DVD itself. Here are those steps……

Getting a .MPG (MPEG) file onto a DVD disk

For some of the more advanced users reading this, you will wonder why I’m using Windows DVD Maker. Well, its simple, if you have Windows Vista or Windows 7, the program is installed. In addition, the most important part, ITS FREE. There are other software packages from companies like Nero and Roxio among others. If you have a DVD creator program, you can use that at this point if you don’t want to use the Windows DVD Maker.

PT. 2 – DVD Burning Instructions

1. Click the Windows “Start” button.-> Under programs look for “Windows DVD Maker” and click on it to open.

2. Click “Add Items” in the program window and browse your computer to the folder with MPEG files.

3. Click on the MPEG file you converted. (If you want to add multiple files then click on each MPEG file while holding the “Ctrl” key to select multiple files) Then click the button “Add.” Selected files will appear in the DVD Maker window.

4. Now click on “Next” and select a desired menu style on the right panel. This is also where you can customize Menu’s and add Slide Shows to your DVD.

5. Now put a DVD-R or DVD-RW on your drive and click “Burn” in the DVD Maker window to start recording the video DVD.

Once the process has completed, you can put the DVD in your DVD player and it should be ready to go.

And More – I Survived Black Friday 2011 – What was I thinking!

Just under 24 hours ago I decided to go into battle. Did I join the military, NO. Did I dress up as a super hero and take down bad guys, NO. I went shopping, more specifically I went shopping for BLACK FRIDAY. For starters, WHAT THE !%#$ WAS I THINKING! For the record, I wasn’t even in the Black Friday trenches for a high ticket item. I went to Battle to save $30 on an Xbox360 game which was on sale at (LINK) Best Buy (http://www NULL.bestbuy NULL.com/site/Batman%3A+Arkham+City+-+Xbox+360/2173065 NULL.p;jsessionid=37B8AC12039C8DB9FB04525A3D12B1EC NULL.bbolsp-app05-26?id=1218312458670&skuId=2173065&st=batman&lp=3&cp=1) (The game is for my 13 yr. old son, what a parent does for his kid)

So I got to my local Best Buy about 10p, and from the start I knew this was going to be a long night. The 1st thing I came across was the long line that circled the entire parking lot. In addition, the squad car and local police officer trying to keep order.

This is where I started in line

I guess it could be worse as this is the line behind me and I was told by a Best Buy staff member (about11:30 p) that the line reached the parking lot in the back of the store.

Eventually, about 12:30 a, I was finally able to make it into the store. The people you see in these 2 pictures are now in line that were created inside the store for each high value area. So if you wanted a TV or Laptop, you needed to get in line again for them to help you.

Once you got your merchandise, then you got inline to pay. That line started in the music section and required you to go up and down each row of the music area until you got close to the register.

While I was in line with all these people, I did discover that Best Buy sells Vinyl (for those born in the 90’s, that the thing that came before CD’s) and I guess they are considered classics as they all ranged around $20 each in price. OUCH!

Eventually I made it to the cash register, about 1:30 a. I must have been tired as I think I see cows…..

With all that being said, yes I was able to get the game I was trying to get. It was one of the last ones they had in stock. I guess I was lucky, my local Best Buy was controlled chaos. At other stores the chaos was not so controlled.

I’ve seen 2 story’s about Black Friday that makes be grateful for the controlled chaos I had to deal with

- In the So. California area, seems a shopper at a Wal-Mart didn’t like the chaos to the point that 20 other customers ended up pepper sprayed. (This So. California news story is from KCBS 2 (http://losangeles NULL.cbslocal NULL.com/video/6489444-shopper-starts-pepper-spray-melee-at-porter-ranch-walmart/) in Los Angeles – Reporter Suraya Fadel). News report does include a cell phone video of the chaos.

- In Puerto Rico, at a Best Buy store, it seems there were so many people that the staff could not (or would not) completely open the gates. They would only open it just enough to allow a handful of people to crawl under the gate at a time. (Video by Que nos pasa (http://quenospasapuertorico NULL.com/), Puerto Rico)

Black Friday 2011

Shopping: Black Friday 2011 Deal–Acer Iconia Tab (Refurb) $269 w/Case

Currently on the (LINK) Best Buy (http://www NULL.bestbuy NULL.com/site/searchpage NULL.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=-2385739114435906649&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=iconia+tab&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960) website, they are offering a refurbished Acer Iconia Tab 16 GB Tablet with Case for $269.99.

As someone who has tried virtually all 10” tablets, and owns an Iconia Tab (That I paid $399 without a case), I can highly recommend this tablet. I know it lists as a refurbished model, from the Best Buy (http://www NULL.bestbuy NULL.com/site/Electronics-Promotions/Refurbished+Product+FAQs/pcmcat249600050017 NULL.c?id=pcmcat249600050017) site, here is what that means

The Iconia Tab looks and feels well built, and comes well equipped. The Iconia Tab has the follow specifications

Product Height

0.5″

Product Width

10.2″

Product Weight

1.7 lbs..

Product Depth

7″

Processor

NVIDIA Tegra 2

Processor Speed

1.0GHz

Display Type

Widescreen WXGA high-definition multitouch (1280 x 800)

Screen Size (Measured Diagonally)

10.1″

Storage Capacity

16GB

SD Card Slot

Yes

Adobe Flash Compatible

Yes

Front Facing Webcam Pixels

2.0MP

(Rear) Digital Camera Pixels

5.0MP

Wi-Fi Built In

Yes

Bluetooth-Enabled

Yes

USB 2.0 Ports

HDMI Output

Yes

Operating System

Android 3.0 Honeycomb (at boot up)

(Will upgrade to v3.2)

The Tablet comes with Honeycomb 3.0 installed. Acer has released the 3.2 upgrade for the tablet, so you will be running the official LATEST version of Android. You will get prompted for the upgrade when you 1st boot up and get connected to the internet. In addition, for those of you who like to Root your Android devices, this is one of the simplest tablets to Root. Rooting instructions are on (LINK) Tech Geek and More (via XDA – Developers (http://forum NULL.xda-developers NULL.com/showthread NULL.php?t=1138228)).

Software: Update your Non-Tech friends pc day…. 11/25/11

Microsoft via their (LINK) Windows Team Blog for Internet Explorer (http://windowsteamblog NULL.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2011/11/23/get-ready-for-update-your-parents-browser-day NULL.aspx) is calling this coming Friday 11/25 “Update your Parents Browser” day. However, in the opinion of Tech Geek and More that idea is narrow minded. Every Tech, Geek or just knowledgeable computer person has a few people (because no one has just 1) that call regularly whenever something goes wrong on a pc. You know the call, “I wasn’t doing anything and then all of a sudden………” . So Tech Geek and More is actually asking its readers to expand on the idea, and use Friday while your visiting non-tech friends and family, and update all software on the pc. Just remember, the more updated they are, the better chance you have of them NOT calling you to fix it.

Just an idea of what should be updated

- Adobe Acrobat

- Adobe Flash

- Adobe Air

- Adobe Shockwave

- Oracle Java

- Anti-virus (If they don’t have a current one install a free one)

- All Windows Updates

- All Office Updates

- All installed browsers (Not just IE)

- **Plus review for any other installed programs that you know should be updated.

If you don’t want to take to long doing this, you can visit (LINK) Ninite (http://ninite NULL.com/), where you can install the latest version for a majority of the software.

If you need ideas as to when, the (LINK) Windows Team Blog (http://windowsteamblog NULL.com/ie/b/ie/archive/2011/11/23/get-ready-for-update-your-parents-browser-day NULL.aspx) lists Top-10 Moments to Update…. (Windows Team Blog story by Scott Armstrong (http://windowsteamblog NULL.com/members/sarm34/default NULL.aspx))

Top-10 Moments To Update Your Parents’ Browser

10. When they’re manning the fire extinguisher dealing with the yearly deep-fried turkey accident.

9. When they’re telling your cousins “when I was your age” stories.

8. When they’re face down in the eggnog punch.

7. When they’re fighting over the right way to carve a turkey.

6. When your mom kicks you out of the kitchen for peeling potatoes “the wrong way.”

5. When they’re sent to the grocery store at 2PM on Thanksgiving Day for extra cranberries.

4. When they’re sitting at the Adult’s table (rally the other kids to help).

3. When they’re standing in a Black Friday line.

2. When they’re untangling Christmas lights.

And the number one time to update your parents’ browser is…

1. When they’re distracted by grilling you about when you’re going to get a real job, when you’re going to settle down, and when you’re going to give them grandchildren.

So watch for these moments and many more to help them make the upgrade to a modern web browser today. Web developers everywhere will thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving from the IE team!