Random Question Thread: Tech

[Boyiee]

Posting this in like 3 places to get a larger variety of answers.

Kindle Fire or Ipad2 for college textbooks? The tablet will be paid for via grant/loan and hopefully the textbooks will be free if not as cheap as humanly possible.

I have a jailbroken iphone. I have no android devices. Yes, I'll do more on it, just remember I can probably do it on my phone already - so the main purpose is textbooks and maybe replacing my laptop for class (not every professor lets us use laptops - but tablets are fine.)

[madpersian]

iPad 2 without a doubt. Much better device overall. Flipping through the book will be much faster. It can do a lot more. Browsing the web will be a pleasure instead of a rage inducing experience.

I think the only reason you'd get a Fire is for the price. Even at that price point I'd pay $50 more and get the Nook.

[Not Kuno]

I got an android phone and I'm having a lot of weird issues with it. Issues that could probably be solved if I knew anything about android phones, so I'm asking here:

Is there any way to have it alert you more often than every 10 minutes when you miss a call/text? Any way to set custom ringtones/sms messages for people based on the music I have on it? I downloaded an app for that but it doesn't really work well. :/ Is there any way to have it ring + vibrate when I get a call? It seems to be one or the other no matter how much I try.

[Celeras]

To setup an audible reminder more than every 10 minutes you'll need an app(missed call, missed reminder, etc there's a million of them), but if your device has a notification LED you can set that to pulse indefinitely if you miss something. For custom ringtones for specific contacts, you just go to your contact and there will be an option to set their ringtone. Ring and Vibrate is under Sound settings, second option at the very top on my device ("Vibrate"). Youll be able to chose: Always, never, only in silent mode, and only when not in silent mode.

[Not Kuno]

I got missed call reminder but the lowest that has is 10 min. Ill get a better one I guess. Ill try some out and let you know how it goes.

Edit: When I go to edit contact theres no option for ringtone.

[Niya]

most options (and even if they exist or not) can depend on what brand and custom UI your phone has. I checked mine, which is a HTC desire with the Sense UI, and it has custom ringtones for every contact. every manufacturer can change the menu contents and looks as they please.
btw, for most androids they won't accept any MP3 on the phone as a ringtone. just cut them to the length you want and put them on the SD card in the folder media/ringtones (create that in case it doesn't exist). same goes for custom alarms (folder alarms on the media folder) and notification sounds (folder notifications).

[Souj]

So my PS3 has been short on hard disk space recently. I have a 60gb ps3 and my current free space is 1414MB/55GB.

The problem is I can only account for about 10GB of data on my PS3. Save files, game data, messages, downloaded media. I have no clue where the other 40some Gigabytes are at.
Does anyone know how/why this is and a way to rectify it without me just reformatting my ps3, losing all of my saves and then only maybe possibly fixing this problem?

[hey]

So my PS3 has been short on hard disk space recently. I have a 60gb ps3 and my current free space is 1414MB/55GB.

The problem is I can only account for about 10GB of data on my PS3. Save files, game data, messages, downloaded media. I have no clue where the other 40some Gigabytes are at.
Does anyone know how/why this is and a way to rectify it without me just reformatting my ps3, losing all of my saves and then only maybe possibly fixing this problem?

Any game install data? Some games will install large amounts of data to the hdd for faster loading.

[Souj]

yeah, that's Game Data Utility isnt?
I have literally gone through all icons and menus (except for all the Settings and still can't find the missing 40GB

[hey]

Try rebuilding the database from the recovery menu.

[Sodalitas]

Did Firefox Nightly update break Adblock Plus for anyone else?

[jmc]

Any rumors as to apple upgrading the macbook air line anytime soon?

Tax return is in early feb, and was gonna purchase one so I can start biking into work with it instead of the 17" laptop monster I currently have.

[Caiyuo]

Any rumors as to apple upgrading the macbook air line anytime soon?

Tax return is in early feb, and was gonna purchase one so I can start biking into work with it instead of the 17" laptop monster I currently have.

Sounds like good news for you: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...arly_2012.html

[Caiyuo]

Also, does anyone know if I can use a smartphone with a data plan? I was looking into buying a used one and swapping my SIM card in, but I can't afford nor would I want a data plan since I'm okay with just wifi. Carrier is AT&T, can only hold out for republic wireless so long.

Presuming so, planning to make a separate thread about recommended places to buy used smartphones, assuming the answers aren't just ebay and CL, if anyone has advice on that too.

[Isiolia]

Also, does anyone know if I can use a smartphone with a data plan? I was looking into buying a used one and swapping my SIM card in, but I can't afford nor would I want a data plan since I'm okay with just wifi. Carrier is AT&T, can only hold out for republic wireless so long.

Presuming so, planning to make a separate thread about recommended places to buy used smartphones, assuming the answers aren't just ebay and CL, if anyone has advice on that too.

It used to be that you could, but these days the carrier will be able to detect that it's a smartphone and force you to upgrade to a smartphone data plan.

[Caiyuo]

well that put the shits on my aspirations, good to know.

Also, does the S.M.A.R.T. notice that hard drive failure is imminent a pretty conclusive report? Should I bother attempting to fix this or is this a death knell?

[Callisto]

Any recommendations for a webcam that can be mounted to the top of your monitor?

[Caiyuo]

I've heard this is supposed to be the top of the pop: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Quick...N%3DB000RZQZM0

[Niya]

Also, does the S.M.A.R.T. notice that hard drive failure is imminent a pretty conclusive report? Should I bother attempting to fix this or is this a death knell?

Depends on what SMART parameters are getting a warning. If it's something like "reallocated sector count" or in general something that refers to (defective) sectors it's most of the time a last warning. Rising sector fails are a sign that the disk is close to completely dieing.
Just for comparison: one of the HDDs in our server got SMART warning because of sector fails. According to the management software 3 fails per month would still be OK, but we got ~10-15 fails every few days.

[Caiyuo]

Depends on what SMART parameters are getting a warning. If it's something like "reallocated sector count" or in general something that refers to (defective) sectors it's most of the time a last warning. Rising sector fails are a sign that the disk is close to completely dieing.
Just for comparison: one of the HDDs in our server got SMART warning because of sector fails. According to the management software 3 fails per month would still be OK, but we got ~10-15 fails every few days.

I actually couldn't find this out, I was looking for specifics through crystal disk info and hddscan but neither were even seeing the disk, which sounded more like a program issue. I guess HP has something built into the bios that reports any SMART alerts before booting, but beyond that I couldn't find anything else, even through their own diagnostics. I was able to image it and the person gave the go-ahead to replace the hard drive, I'd just feel bad if it still had some gas in it given the prices right now.