Rick's Daily Tips

USB 3.1 to make USB cables standard for all devices

Posted on December 6, 2013

The Universal Serial Bus (commonly referred to simply as USB) is one of the great innovations of modern technology. The proliferation of USB ports has made interconnecting most common devices with one another far easier than deciding what to have for lunch.

But even with all the wonderful advantages of connecting devices via USB, there has always been one headache associated with it: the plethora of different cables used by different devices. While the small USB Micro-B connector has helped standardize the cables used to connect most smart phones in recent years, there are still a number of other non-compatible cables in use today.

Now for the good news: [Read more…]

How to prevent the iOS 7 Control Center from popping up while you’re using an app

Posted on December 5, 2013

Have you ever been playing a game or using an app in iOS 7 and had the Control Center pop up at a very inconvenient time? I’m guessing that you probably have.

Unfortunately, it’s very easy to cause the iOS 7 Control Center to pop up when you don’t mean for it to simply by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. And usually when it does happen, it interrupts the flow of your game and/or breaks your concentration.

If you find this behavior irritating, here’s how to prevent it from happening again: [Read more…]

How to close an app in iOS 7

Posted on December 4, 2013

If you have recently updated your Apple device(s) to iOS 7 you might be confused about the new procedure for closing a running app. It really isn’t that difficult a task, but it also isn’t one that can easily be “figured out” by trial and error.

Follow these steps to close an app in iOS 7:

1 – Double-tap the Home button to display a horizontal row of icons representing all of the currently running apps.

2 – Swipe to either the left or right until you find the app you wish to close.

3 – Tap and hold the icon of the app you wish to close, then swipe upward towards the top of the screen. You should see the icon “fly” off the screen to indicate that the app is now closed.

Make Ubuntu Linux work the way you want it to with Ubuntu Tweak

Posted on December 4, 2013

If you have recently taken the plunge and replaced Microsoft Windows with Linux, you are probably marveling at the increase in your computer’s speed and appreciating the fact that you don’t have to run an anti-virus program. For sure, Linux offers plenty of advantages over Windows.

One advantage it has never offered however is a simple way to tweak your Linux installation to your liking. You can easily use Google to find command line tweaks for most anything that you can think of, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a GUI system tweaker that uses the mouse instead of the keyboard and command line?

Well, if you’re running the “Ubuntu” flavor of Linux you can now download a very good one, for free. [Read more…]

Q&A: Why won’t my external microSD card work with my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1?

Posted on December 3, 2013

Question from Randy S.: I recently found out that my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet has an external microSD slot. I found a 4GB card in my desk that I had once used with a digital camera that no longer works, so I took it out and plugged it in.

The tablet recognizes the SD card as being installed, but I get an error message every time I try to save any files to it. Can you tell me what I need to do to get it to work?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]