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Q&A: Can you recommend a good camera repair service?

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Question from Barbara T.:  Rick, I have a Canon DSLR camera that I absolutely love, but I need to have it repaired.

My 4 year old got her hands on it somehow when I was out of the room and she broke the door to the battery compartment off. The memory card slot seems to be damaged as well because the card won’t stay in place.

I bought this camera from a local camera store that has since gone out of business, and the nearest camera repair shop is 110 miles away.

Do you know of a place I can ship my camera to in order to have it repaired? The cost isn’t my primary concern, but cheaper is always better as long as the service is good. There are tons of places on the web, but I have no idea who to choose. Thanks for your advice!

Rick’s answer:   [Read more…]

Scam alert: Don’t fall for the “Deadline Tomorrow” hoax on Facebook

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scamScams and hoaxes of all types pop up every day on Facebook, and some of them have a habit of rearing their ugly heads time and time again.

These recurring hoaxes are often more annoying than dangerous, but it’s still good to avoid them whenever possible.

I have received several messages over the past few days asking about the legitimacy of a recurring hoax that’s currently making the rounds again.  [Read more…]

Heads-up: Apple now blocking health information for ALL iPhone batteries that were installed by third-party techs.

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If you’ve been using an iPhone for a while you probably know that you can check the health of your phone’s battery by selecting an option on the Settings screen.

This battery health information basically lets you know if your battery is wearing out and needs to be replaced.

For years Apple refused to allow iOS to reset the battery health info back to “Healthy” after a new third-party battery was installed, but according to our friends at iFixit they’re now even refusing to reset the health information for genuine Apple batteries unless they’re installed by Apple authorized techs.

[Read more…]

How to disable auto-playing videos on ALL sites by default with Google Chrome

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If you’re like most people you hate it when a video begins playing automatically just as soon as you load a web page into your browser.

Yes, it’s true that many of the most popular sites allow you to toggle a setting to disable auto-playing videos, but not all of them do.

What’s more, it’s a major hassle having to wade through every site’s settings pages to just to disable auto-playing videos, especially on sites that you don’t visit all that often.  [Read more…]

Q&A: Do nano size USB Wi-Fi adapters work as well as the larger ones?

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edimax-nano-usb-wifi-adapterQuestion from Alexis F.:  Hi Rick. I’m very interested in ordering the Edimax USB Wi-Fi adapter you mentioned in this post, but I’m concerned that the small size might keep it from working as well as a full size adapter might.

Is that something I need to worry about?

The Wi-Fi signal in my basement office isn’t super strong, but it’s definitely usable. I just need to make sure I’ll be able to establish and maintain a good connection.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Rick’s answer:   [Read more…]

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