Speed up a slow Android phone

Your Android smartphone/device is a computer. Like most computers, it can get slow after a while and benefit from a periodic cleanup. Here are some things you can do to speed up your Android phone if it's acting slow: RebootMaybe this is obvious, but if you haven't powered off your phone in a while, go ahead and reboot it (or power it off and back on again). (Nexus and HTC One phones only) Try LagFixThis only applies if you have a Nexus or...

Moto G: A phone worth buying

A plethora of phones have come out over the years, but none have really been worth recommending. Until now. Motorola has just announced the Moto G. It's a mid-range phone that's going to cost less than $200 brand new and unlocked. Can you buy a cheaper Android phone? Sure, but not with these specs, and not with such a recent version of Android. Can you buy a nicer Android phone? Sure, but you're going to pay at least twice as much, and most brand...

com.google.process.gapps has stopped

If you are getting the above error on your Android device, try the following to fix it: Go Home → Menu → System settings → Application manager → All Scroll down to Download Manager and click on it If it's disabled, click Enable to enable it If it's not disabled: Scroll down to Internet Click Clear cache Click Clear data That should do the trick. If it doesn't, try narrowing down the problem: Go Home → Menu →...

Why I'll never buy a Kindle, or an eBook from Amazon or Apple

I've long stayed away from buying an Amazon Kindle or buying eBooks on Amazon or Apple. I recently read something that sums up my own reasons for doing so really well. Rather than rewrite it, I'm just going to copy and paste the whole thing: Here’s a quick and dirty summary of what ADEPT EPUB is and why it’s important (footnotes at the bottom for extra stuff that isn’t required knowledge but is still interesting). The first...

Flashing your BIOS in Linux using a USB flash drive

These instructions are specific to Ubuntu and Ubuntu derivatives (like Xubuntu and Elementary OS), but they should work on just about any version of Linux. Just modify the steps for installing GParted and UNetbootin as necessary: Get the current version of your BIOS by running this command in a terminal:sudo dmidecode -s bios-version Find the BIOS update file for your computer. These are generic, but should point you in the right direction: Get...

Using WebEx desktop sharing on Ubuntu 64-bit

Edit: for the most up-to-date solution, see my answer here: http://askubuntu.com/a/363400/18665 Solution: After much trial and error, I was able to get WebEx desktop sharing working in 64-bit Ubuntu just by installing a few packages (I confirmed this works on Ubuntu 14.04 and 12.04, but I imagine it would work on other versions as well): Remove unnecessary packages that cause conflicts:sudo apt-get -y remove icedtea-7-plugin:i386...

The best podcast app for Android: AntennaPod

It's about time! I've been looking for a decent Android podcast app for a while. The only ones I've seen up to this point are either: Free but really lousy Decent but cost $7 But my search is finally over. Say hello to AntennaPod. It has all you'd need and want in a podcast app, plus it has a nice, clean interface, no ads, and it's free. There really isn't much more to say. Check it out, and if you like it, send the developer a buck or two. Here's...

Try out Xubuntu/Xfce from a normal Ubuntu installation

I've blogged before about Xubuntu/Xfce, but what if you've already got regular Ubuntu installed and want to try out Xubuntu without reinstalling? Thankfully, it's actually pretty easy, and you can have it up and running in a matter of minutes: Install Xfce and the settings to make it look like Xubuntu (if you prefer it to look more like vanilla Xfce instead of Xubuntu, leave out xubuntu-default-settings):sudo apt-get install indicator-application-gtk2...

MP3s ripped from CDs in Ubuntu have incorrect track length

If you rip a CD in Ubuntu 12.04+ using the default program provided for this (Rhythmbox), the track lengths will be incorrect. This is because by default, Ubuntu will rip your mp3s using VBR, but it doesn't add the VBR headers. Rather than go into the details, here's the easiest way to fix it: Install vbrfix by running this command in a terminal: sudo apt-get install vbrfix Now CD to the folder where the mp3s are that you need to fix: cd /path/to/mp3s Run this command to add the VBR headers to the mp3s: find . -type f -iname '*.mp3' -exec...

No cover when uploading to Google Play Books

If you upload a book to Google Play Books in EPUB format and one of these things happens: The cover isn't showing up The cover looks like the above image The book doesn't open/gives you a 404 error Here are some things to try: First of all, wait! Google has to extract the cover from the file, and for some reason it can take a long time for it to show up. I would recommend waiting at least an hour, if not longer. Yes, this might...

Import playlists into Google Play Music

I've already covered getting playlists out of Google Play Music, but what if you want to import your playlists into Google Play Music? The easiest way to do this would probably be to get your playlists into iTunes or Windows Media Player and use Google's Music Manager to sync your playlists. Being a Linux user, that's not the best option for me, so I came up with another way. This one's not for the faint of heart, so be sure you've...

The best alternative to Astrid Tasks

Update: see here for a better alternative: The best task/to-do app for Android Yahoo recently purchased the excellent Astrid Tasks app and discontinued its development. I've looked high and low, and the best alternative to Astrid Tasks appears to be (drum roll) ... Astrid Tasks. Yep, there really aren't any good alternatives. I've tried: Any.do Checkmark To Do & Task List GTasks Task List by taskos Wunderlist and more, and none of...

Dell iDRAC: The Virtual Media native library cannot be loaded

If you get the above error when trying to open the virtual media on a Dell iDRAC console session (Virtual Media --> Launch Virtual Media) and you're running 64-bit Linux, you may need to install 32-bit Java. Here's what I did on Ubuntu 12.04: First of all, I happened to run into this issue on an iDRAC that was running old firmware, so before continuing, I'd recommend updating to the latest firmware if possible and seeing if that fixes...

Typing Arabic vowels/diacritics on Android

If you would like to type Arabic vowels/diacritics/harakat on Android, you first need a keyboard that supports it. I've tried most of the keyboards available, and I've listed the ones that fit the bill. Most surprisingly, my keyboard of choice (Swype) doesn't support Arabic diacritics. Guess it's time to switch! The first thing you'll need to do for all of these keyboards is install Arabic in the settings for each keyboard, which is normally...

Import Catch notes into Evernote

If you haven't heard, Catch Notes is shutting down at the end of the month. It was one of the nicest note taking apps for Android. There are a lot of alternatives out there. In most cases I opt for whatever Google has to offer, and in this case they have a note app of their own called Google Keep, but it only allows you to organize notes by color instead of Catch's useful spaces and tags. I don't know about you, but trying to find a note by a...

The failed Apple experiment

The setup I've long admired Apple products from afar. With the switch to OS X (based on Unix) and Intel processors, my interest was further piqued. The stability and security of Linux with a clean UI and consistent UX make Macs a very attractive choice. The problem: price. At two to three times the cost of equivalent PCs, Mac prices simply aren't competitive. But I began thinking. If Mac hardware really is better (as most Apple fanatics would...

Xubuntu vs Lubuntu (Xfce vs LXDE)

While looking around for alternatives to Ubuntu, I stumbled upon two lightweight derivatives of Ubuntu: Xubuntu and Lubuntu. They're both derivatives of Ubuntu, which means they get the same great up-to-date packages, community support, and can benefit from PPAs. Plus they're both lightweight enough to be run on older computers, which is a nice change of pace from regular Ubuntu, whose Unity interface is too bloated to run well on older machines. Lubuntu is...

Running Android Jelly Bean (4.1) on a Galaxy S Advance

The Samsung Galaxy S Advance (I9070) is a nice phone.  It's one of the very few Android phones that has a reasonable screen size (just 4 inches--the same as the iPhone 5) but's also fairly powerful with a dual core processor.  The only problem is that it only has 768 MB of RAM, which should be enough for Android JB (Jelly Bean 4.1), but Samsung's build of JB is pretty poor, and performance suffers. One solution is to keep the phone...

An open letter to Android smartphone manufacturers

Dear Android smartphone manufacturers, Android's got a bad rap, and it's your fault.  You have built some really amazing phones, but you've also built a ton of really crummy ones, and quite frankly, we don't want to buy them.  Your focus is all wrong.  But I have some suggestions: Battery lifeIf we have to charge our phones more than once a day, we're going to be dissatisfied, period.  This...

Spotify Linux woes

I recently (okay, almost 2 months ago) updated Spotify on my Ubuntu Linux machine, and the new version is having lots of problems: Dragging from search results into a playlist crashes spotify Dragging items to the top or bottom of a playlist crashes Spotify Artist radio isn't working (or it's taking so long to load that I gave up waiting) Searching doesn't display instant search results like it used to My solution: downgrade spotify. Here...