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Customizing Your Android Experience
Android, Chuck Gray, Customizing, LibraryPoint Blog, Tech, Teen Blog, Tech Answers, Science and Technology
08/17/2012 - 12:07pm
Customizing Your Android Experience

Our smartphones are our lives.  Go ahead and deny it, but deep down you know you get jittery when you aren’t caressing your tiny portable computer that basically hands you the digital world on a tempered glass tray.  As I pointed out in my Must-Have Android and Must-Have iPhone apps articles there are a lot of apps out there that’ll do just about anything.  But there’s lots more that we can do to customize our smartphones and our tablets, especially for Android.  Sorry Apple users, your fantastic apps may bring all the boys to the yard, but Android has you beat fair and square on the customizability front.  Sure, you could jailbreak your iPhone or iPad (Google it if you dare, just know you’ll be put out in the cold if you take a busted jail-broken device to the Apple Genius Bar), but I’m not going to risk going there, so Android users, this one’s for you!

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Rescuing Your Documents with Linux
Chuck Gray, Computers, file backup, LibraryPoint Blog, Linux, Tech, Teen Blog, Tech Answers
08/14/2012 - 3:43pm
Ubuntu logo

Sometimes catastrophe rains down on our PCs.  We turn them on and . . . nothing happens.  Could be any number of factors: virus; aging hardware; broken software update.  And, of course, sometimes things just go bad.  Sad thing is, we're never ready for these events when they happen.  Our files aren't backed up to any external media, and, with our PCs not running properly, we don’t have any easy way of retrieving them.  Sure, you could take the computer to a repair shop or run the factory recovery discs that may have come with the machine, but you run a very real chance either way, especially the latter way, of losing your files.  So, I'm going to tell you how you how you might be able to salvage your files, if not your computer, for free using Linux.

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Back Up Your Stuff!
Android, Chuck Gray, file backup, iOS, LibraryPoint Blog, mac, Tech, Windows, Teen Blog, Tech Answers, Science and Technology
08/13/2012 - 10:00am
Back Up Your Stuff

I've written a few articles advising our users to back up their data.  Every so often, usually when we need them the most or when the warranty has expired, our computers stop working.  This wouldn't be so horribly bad if we'd backed up our files first.  So, let me reiterate for anyone who has read me before that backing-up your data means that the same files are stored in two completely different places.  If you've copied all your important files to an external hard drive, but then erased them from your laptop, they are not backed-up; maybe your external hard drive goes kaput,  and, even though your computer is still working, all those files are lost from the external device, aren't they?  To back up your files they absolutely need to be in two different places.  Redundancy is the name of the game, and I'm going to teach you how to play (wow that sounded corny).  

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My Favorite Chrome Extensions
Chuck Gray, extensions, Google Chrome, LibraryPoint Blog, Tech, web browsers, Teen Blog, Tech Answers, Science and Technology
07/26/2012 - 3:11pm
Google Chrome logo

Google Chrome is arguably the most popular Web browser currently on the market.  It took a few versions before I made the switch from Mozilla Firefox to Chrome, most notably due to Firefox's rich browser extension offerings.  Chrome is finally catching up to, and in many ways, surpassing Firefox with its extensions library.  A browser extension is special program written specifically for a Web browser that, as the name implies, extends its functionality.

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Android VS iPhone
Android, Chuck Gray, iOS, iPhone, LibraryPoint Blog, Tech, Teen Blog, Tech Answers, Science and Technology
07/19/2012 - 9:04am
Android v. Apple icons

Something I get asked a lot as the librarian tech guy is whether a person in the market for a new smartphone or tablet should buy Apple or Android.  This is a far more nuanced question than most people realize, and the answer will depend on a number of factors.  Read on for a detailed comparison of the two.

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DRM and You
Chuck Gray, Computers, digital rights management, LibraryPoint Blog, Tech, Teen Blog, Tech Answers, Science and Technology
07/16/2012 - 5:10pm
DRM and You

I've bemoaned the existence and use of digital rights management, or DRM as it's more commonly known, in previous Librarypoint articles, but I'm not certain that I've gone point-by-point over what it means for you, the library user, and us, the consumers.  DRM is a means by which music, videos, eBooks, documents, software, and just about anything else digital are restricted from being copied, transferred, or used on unapproved hardware.  The American Library Association's Digital Content Working Group has recently put out a wonderful tip sheet regarding DRM that I can’t recommend more enthusiastically.   It goes over what DRM is, some of its consequences and legal ramifications, and what you can do to help work against it.  Reading through it is one of the best ways to arm yourself as a digital consumer against some of the more consumer-unfriendly tactics of today’s content providers. 

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