Technology Fails Me Again

Once again I've been having problems with almost all the gadgets in my possession, to the point that I'm even considering crossing that path to Apple!

- My Sony Vaio laptop (had it for about three years):

Won't even boot up into Windows (we're talking Windows 8 here). When it does, it freezes, or I get a whole lot of notifications telling me various key files are missing. Admittedly my laptop was fine when it was running Windows 7, and Windows 8 up till the last couple weeks. I didn't exactly install Windows 8 properly though, having reformatted my laptop before realising that for Sony Vaio laptops you have to download some sort of install app that will sort out the drivers for you. In the end I had to install the drivers individually, missing some along the way.
Bottom line, my laptop is dying on me!

- My Galaxy Note 8 tablet (had it for a few months) :

Battery life is meant to be at least a day. Lately, the battery has been dying on me within an hour, sometimes in a matter of minutes! Just today, I turned it on after charging it, and I witnessed the battery drop from 100% to 65% within about two minutes! Fortunately I have warranty on it so I'll be taking it back tomorrow!

- My Samsung Galaxy S3 phone (had for just over a year):

I've had problems right from the start. From the LED light not working, to constant freezing problems, now my phone keeps overheating whenever I keep 3G on! I was originally waiting for the Note 3 but now I'm a bit weary of Samsung.

What's going on Samsung!

Now I'm considering buying a new laptop for under $2000. It looks like the options will be Macbook Air vs some Windows 8 ultrabook. Time to get investigating!

Technology Hates Me

Once again, technology has bit me in the backside.

I switched my phone off to save battery life, and when I turned it on later tonight, it told me my microSD card was damaged, and that I needed to reformat it!

I tried putting it in the computer, and got this message:

Nooo!!! The last time this happened was when I was in Hong Kong! Fortunately I was able to recover almost all of my files.

This time around, I've tried some data recovery software but it can only recover about 500 out of 3000 files, and some of them are damaged!

I don't know whether reformatting my card and then trying again will make any difference. That's what I did last time.

I'm just hoping Google+ auto-uploaded most of my photos and videos so I haven't lost all of my memories from the past year or so.

This should teach you all a valuable lesson: BACK EVERYTHING UP!

Old Already?

I didn't realise Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 is already outdated..

OK Who's Been Playing with my Phone Again?

Dumping Some E-Waste

The local Korean church was collecting e-waste today (electronic junk that no one wants), so it was time for me to get rid of all my old laptops!

The Vaio is my current laptop. I didn't dump that one!

We found Hamish's super-old laptop too.

The collection point was set up as a drive-thru, so we just drove up to the guys, opened the boot and they took away our junk for us. I was sitting at the back of the car, just to make sure they didn't take away anything they shouldn't!

Why Does Technology Hate Me?

I think I've had it with Samsung, Android or maybe just technology overall.

Today while I was in Hamilton picking blueberries, my phone (Galaxy S3 for anyone wanting to know) gave me some notification about my microSD card being disconnected/dismounted, and I didn't really think much of it, as it happened once or twice with my previous phone (Galaxy S2) and I just had to restart my phone for everything to be fine.

I restarted my S3, but to no avail! My phone didn't even recognise that there was a microSD card in it! I tried taking the card out, wiping it, blowing the slot, leaving the phone turned off for a while, and still nothing!

Tonight I put the card into my laptop to make sure it wasn't the card's problem, and it was working fine! I'll have to try put another microSD into my phone to make sure it is my phone's problem.

This isn't the first problem I've had with this phone since I bought it earlier last year. Let's see..

1. The LED light wouldn't switch off, so I had to send it back to Samsung to get it fixed. I didn't get my phone back for three weeks because Warehouse Stationery didn't send it off straight away.
2. When I received my phone back from them, my 'home' button was stiffer than it was before. I've been tempted to return it to get it fixed again, but I'm a little weary of how long it will take.
3. I kept getting pop-up boxes telling me that some Samsung service had ended. Fortunately that stopped after I upgraded to Jelly Bean
3. I upgraded my phone software to Android Jelly Bean, and now my phone is extremely laggy! The camera would also keep crashing too, telling me that it failed to record! I probably should have done a clean install.

Along with this,

- my very first phone the Sony Ericsson K800i joystick button wouldn't allow me to scroll down, which meant I'd have to scroll to the top of the menu and then come back up the menu from the bottom.
- my HTC Desire began looping the start-up screen.
- my Samsung Galaxy S2 kept freezing, with a Samsung service fail pop-up box constantly appearing after I updated to Gingerbread.

Don't get me started on laptops as well! I just upgraded my Sony Vaio to Windows 8, only to find it plagued with these little problems, such as the cursor jumping around as I typed. I called Sony, only to discover I wasn't meant to do a fresh install of Windows 8, but was meant to upgrade my laptop via their Vaio Utility software. In the end I had to install each driver one by one, and then was met with even more problems after when I was told my battery might have problems! Fortunately people on the net had faced this problem before and provided a workaround.

Is it just me, or do I attract problems?

Hello, Windows 8!

I've just reformatted my laptop, and installed Windows 8! It's still taking a little getting used to, especially the new start menu. I figured, we'll all eventually have to use it, so I might as well start now!

Phone Upgrade!

After being told that it would take about a week or two for my phone to get fixed, I decided I better find another phone to use till then. I've already had to go two days without texting (I know...WOW)!

We do have a few spare phones at home, like my ancient K800i or the even more ancient Nokia brick, but the problem is we don't have chargers for them! My old HTC Desire is currently sitting there unused ever since Aonghas upgraded, but he hasn't reset it yet.

In the end, I went for the quickest and cheapest option. Introducing the $29 Samsung GT-E1081T!

My third phone in two years...

My Dragon

Call it an impulse buy or whatever you want, but I was at PB Tech and saw one of these USB drives, apparently a limited edition Chinese New Year Dragon! Because it's Chinese New Year and well...I'm a dragon...

Here he is!

I know I probably don't even need a USB drive (don't  even ask me where my current one is!), but I couldn't resist!

Now let's just hope I don't lose his body!

Freezing Time

I've got today off work which has come at a good time as it is Aonghas's 21st birthday party tomorrow night and there is a lot of work to do.

We did a bit of filming for Aonghas's birthday video today, and all I can say is it involves a Time Machine Freezer...

New Facebook Profile!

The new Facebook profile design has arrived here in New Zealand!

I'm still trying to decide whether I like it or not though...

The Worm Hates You John Key

The Ray Morgan Reactor, aka 'the Worm' featured in tonight's TV3 Election Debate between John Key and Phil Goff. 

Basically, it is a line that shows the reaction of members of a studio audience as well as the home audience as the two party leaders speak. Home audience participants use an app downloaded on their smartphone while the studio audience use something similar.

I thought I'd participate and set the dial for whenever John Key spoke...

Hacked!

This morning I had to lead children's worship, so I stayed up late last night till 3am practising a couple Chinese songs (looks like I'm not very good at dancing and singing at the same time, especially when I'm singing in Chinese!).

I also tried to come with something meaningful to link all the songs together instead of just singing one song after another:

In the Bible Jesus told his followers about two men. One was a wise man – he listened to Jesus and built his house on rocks. Another man was foolish – he didn’t listen to Jesus and he built his house on the sand. Who knows why he did, maybe he wanted to get a nice view of the ocean!
When the rain and the storm came along, the house that the wise man built on the rock stood firm and didn’t crumble. As for the foolish man’s house on the sand…well the rain came down and as the flood came up it washed his house away!
Jesus is the wise man who knows how to build good houses. More importantly, He knows the right way for us to live our lives, so if we listen to Him, we won't get into trouble like the wise man. If we ignore Jesus' wise instructions and try to live by our own rules, we may have a disaster and no one else will be able to help us. 

SING WISE MAN BUILT HIS HOUSE UPON THE ROCKS 

Hands up if you’ve ever felt saaaaad, like when when someone at school was being mean to you. You know, sometimes these kinds of things happen and you don’t know what to do, but one thing you can always rely on is Jesus being there for you, as long as you let him into your heart.
With Jesus in your heart, you can stay strong and overcome anything!
So the song we’re about to sing is about a time when Jesus got on a boat with some of his disciples. Now a storm came along and as Jesus slept in the boat, the disciples started to freak out! Jesus reassured them everything would be OK and Jesus being Jesus, he calmed the storm and everything was OK! 

SING WITH CHRIST IN THE VESSEL 

So when you don’t know what to do and you’re having a tough time, there will always be someone who can help you. He’s so great he created everything around you, the Earth, the stars, your mum, dad and even your cat!
Can anyone tell me who he is? 

SING AH LORD GOD 

God loves us so much and if we truly love him we should praise him. Make sure you let him into your heart, and love him with all you’ve got – pray to him and listen to what he wants you to do, as he knows what is best for you. 

SING PRAISE HIM  

Let me know what you think! The feedback I got from a couple of kids was they had learnt all this years ago! Well thank. You. Very. Much! Apparently my Chinese eeerrrrrmmm....I admit I forgot some of the Chinese words and mumbled through those songs. I told the kids to sing as loud as they could to cover me up!

Today was a special day, as it was Ada's farewell party after the service. Ada has been at our church for a long time, and was in fact Hamish and my first Sunday School teacher when we joined the church way back in 2002.

We sang a few songs to start off, then watched a photo slideshow which was quite touching (I was in one of the photos boo-yah!), before a few people came up to share their stories. (I'll post some photos as they become available)

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zgmSTl_CEI)

Us Oddfellows had to leave slightly early to help set up tables and food for afterwards. This is where it all started...I let someone play with my phone and they got into my Facebook account and posted stuff on my wall:

People were still commenting on it even after I posted that it was a hoax when I got home! I don't think someone's messed with any of my social networking accounts since a few years ago when SHE changed my Bebo page!

As for the food, it was very nice! It didn't last too long once everyone came out!

We all had a mass group photo with Ada, before smaller groups had photos with her. Our youth group and our family managed to get photos taken together with her.

She's not leaving immediately so there's still a little time to say our goodbyes to Ada but hopefully she will do well in Hong Kong. We'll miss her!

After teaching the kids music, a few of us went to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant for an early dinner (and when I say early I mean 4pm EARLY!). I had a big bowl of meat noodle soup and felt full after it, but right now I'm starving!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLZ13oG7iCM)

So It Wasn't Broken Afterall..

This weekend has been tough on me - my phone died on Sunday and I've been using Grace's old phone. Today though I put my foot down and decided that enough's enough! It's time to end this misery and buy a new phone!

It almost didn't happen yesterday though as I tried ringing the shop in the morning and only got the voicemail message. I was thinking that maybe the shop was closed due to Labour Day.

Later on in the day I decided to try again, and was surprised to have my call answered! They said they would be closing in half an hour. I grabbed Aonghas, jumped in the car and took off!

We only just got to the shop in North Shore just as it was about to close. You can now say hello to Samsung Galaxy S2!

Along the way home we stopped off at a KBB Music Store so that Aonghas could check out the electronic drums that were on sale, then badum before you know it, we were directed to their Henderson Rock Shop and ended up buying an electronic drum set!

We came home not knowing how to break the news to our parents that we had just bought a drum set. We didn't even know where we were going to put it yet either! We thought maybe we'd put it in our bedroom, so we told our parents when we got home that we were going to clean up our bedroom! They thought it was a little fishy that suddenly we were keen to tidy up the house.

You end up realising you can't hide anything from your parents, so by the end of the day we manned up and told our parents about the drum set!

Today I ended up passing on my old HTC Desire to Aonghas and told him that he could have it if he could get it to work, and he could then pass on his HTC Legend to Hamish so Hamish could finally jump on the Android bandwagon.

It turns out all Aonghas had to do was wipe the data (or something like that) and my (old) phone was working again! He rooted it like a true engineering student does and it's working and doing a lot more than I ever managed to make it do!

Back to the Future

I've been saved! Grace lent me her old Sony Ericsson K700 phone to use till I get a new phone! It's brought back many memories of texting with a keypad! I'm slowly getting used to it again. Thanks heaps Grace you lifesaver!

Here's a little bit of Rugby World Cup magic I captured at the West Fanzone last night using this phone!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypcn9l2Fmo4)

A Day Without a Cellphone

Yesterday I finally signed up to Vodafone's Smart $45 plan during my lunch break. I thought that it might take less time going into a shop and doing it in person, what with the credit check and everything. I was surprised at how fast it took for the credit check to be done! 

I was asked to switch my phone off and turn it back on in ten minutes though, and this is when the problems started.

I turned it back on after work, and the HTC boot sound sounded, which I thought was weird as I had put the phone on mute. I then noticed all my text messages had disappeared.

It was not until I was on the bus that I decided to switch my phone off and back on when I started having real problems. My phone would show the HTC boot screen and make that sound, then it would go black and show  the boot screen all over again. This would just continue in a loop! The unfortunate thing was that I was on the bus as this was happening, and it was embarrassing having this sound keeping on going! I had too many things in my hands to take the battery out and so I managed to endure the embarrassment and take the battery out once I got off the bus.

I was going to use my old Sony Ericsson K800i as a back-up phone for now, but I can't seem to find it, and the old Nokia 3315 phone doesn't seem to want to charge up! This meant I had/have no phone to use all day today!

I went out shopping with my mum, visiting a couple Chinese grocery stores and then Lynn Mall. I have to say it reminded me of back in the days before we used cellphones frequently to keep in touch with others. I felt a little isolated! I guess I did bond a bit more with my mum though...

Maybe this is just what I needed - an incentive to finally buy that new phone I've always wanted. Now the only decision to make is whether to get an iPhone, the Galaxy S2, or wait longer for a better phone!

Going Mobile

I just discovered the official Blogger app for iOS and Android which was released just recently, so I thought I'd test it out!

This was posted via the Android app!

Let There be Internet!

I finally managed to get mobile internet going on my phone six months after buying it, and in the end it wasn't my phone or my problem at all, but Vodafone's!

I rang up technical support and got someone from New Zealand at the other end. I explained the situation to him and straight away he offered to email me the APN settings to follow. I immediately told him I had already tried that! 

He then put me on hold for five minutes.

When he returned, he asked me to try connect on my phone and you won't believe how I felt when I saw it connected!

I tried to ask him what went wrong and he told me some settings weren't correct at their end! I had been thinking it was my problem all this time! 

He asked me if there was anything he could help me with before hanging up on me abruptly! He wasn't exactly the friendliest person to talk to. I was hoping he would have felt sympathetic and give me some sort of compensation for not being able to connect for several months!

Mobile Internet Horror

I've had a long and frustrating experience trying to get my phone to connect to Vodafone's mobile internet ever since I first bought it!

I bought my phone earlier in the year, but soon discovered that while I could access the net on my phone via WiFi, I couldn't do so via the 3G mobile internet, despite using the settings on the Vodafone website. I managed to find settings that would let me connect to WAP but not mobile internet, so my apps couldn't connect to the internet!

I tried contacting Vodafone and they just referred me to the same page on their website with the settings I had already tried! I tried ringing technical support as well and got someone from Egypt and they gave me pretty much the same advice. I also emailed the shop I bought the phone from and they gave me the same settings.

At this point I gave up and tried to make peace with the fact that I wouldn't be able to use the internet on this phone, and would eventually have to buy another phone sooner than I would have liked.

It was only recently after someone suggested I go back to the shop I bought the phone from, so I replied to them saying the settings didn't work. They told me I should hard reset my phone, then try the settings, so that's what I did and it still didn't work!

I then tried something I probably should've started right at the beginning - isolate the problem. I put in a 2 degrees sim card and it connected to the internet perfectly fine. Next I tried a Vodafone sim card and it also worked fine with the settings that didn't work for my Vodafone sim card, and it also worked fine!

I rang Vodafone again and they said maybe my sim card was old, and that I should go into a shop and ask to transfer my number to a new sim card. I did that today (which cost me $30!). Guess what? It didn't work!

I rang Vodafone AGAIN, and this time the lady told me it might take up to 24 hours. I'll have to wait and see, but I'm not holding out hope!

Hello My Vaio!

After a month of deciding, I finally decided to go with the Sony Vaio!

I went to JB HiFi yesterday to ask someone what they thought was better between a Macbook Pro 13" vs Sony Vaio SB 16 Series. The lady reckoned the Macbook Pro was the best. She also told me about a cost+GST sale that would be taking place the following night (tonight), and that I'd be able to get either at a lower price.

So all night I was deciding which one I should go with, trying to get Aonghas to help out with my dilemma. Today, I took Aonghas with me to JB HiFi after work to check out the sales. It was really packed! I managed to find someone, and after a bit of a think, I finally decided to go with the Sony Vaio! It's not like I'd use iOS anyway!

I spent about 10-15 minutes in the huge queue, but finally I bought the laptop, and we went home quickly so I could make it in time for a music rehearsal at church!

Introducing the new member of my family...