Are People Overly Dependent on Technology?

**This is a Guest Post written by Tyler. See footer for details**


Are People Overly Dependent on Technology?

You know you've got too much technology in your life when you and your significant other are sitting together on the couch, having a text-message conversation with each other. Who ever imagined that "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" could actually refer to our vocal cords?

Admittedly, it's a very convenient form of communication and entirely appropriate at times, like during weddings, funerals, and tests. But it's not just text messaging, it's the entire technology spectrum that has zombified us, and it only seems to be getting worse.

I know a handful of people who can't get into their cars and onto the road until they've synced all their Bluetooth devices with their car's Bluetooth system, have texted several people to let them know they've just left, will be rolling shortly, and will text them when they get there, and checked their multiple email accounts once last time. And by one last time I mean before they get to the next stop light where they'll check it again, just in case something important from a rich, retired army general with banking connections in Zimbabwe has shown up.

Do any of us really wonder why our auto insurance rates are through the roof, and portable technology can be cited as a prime factor in accident after accident on our highways and byways? Bet you didn't know that many motorcycle helmets are now equipped with Bluetooth capabilities, for those times when a call just can't wait until you've slowed your bullet bike to 150mph. By any definition you choose, this is an unnecessary overreach of modern technology.

As a society, on the whole, have we truly become too dependent on technology, or does it only seem that way because crotchety old technophobes keep telling us that? Consider your daily routine as insight into the answer.

What would your day be like without a computer, without a smart-phone, without 600 channels of cable television, without Facebook and Twitter, and without your Kindle Fire? Would your entire day be thrown out of kilter if the first thing you didn’t do each morning was check your email on your smartphone before you turned on your laptop to check those same emails? What would a day without Facebook be like for you? How about just an hour?

Admittedly, I'm writing this article on my computer for people to read on their computers, which might make me part of the problem, but if I could create a daily "hardcopy" following, I would.

It's a simple fact of the 21st century that we depend on technology for everything, and those who eschew it are somehow called backwards, out of touch, and quite often my parents. Still, do we require so much technology to function in today's society, or do we just tell ourselves that in an attempt to continue feeling relevant? Is it really important that my Facebook friends know that I just sat down for dinner at my favorite restaurant?

I think the impetus for so much of this is fear of not keeping up with the new Joneses, who are frequently teenagers and young adults who couldn't possibly give you directions to the library because they have no idea what a library is.

How many times have you stood in line, possible for hours and at the expense of your beauty sleep, to get a new smartphone that is slightly better than the smartphone you stood in line for six months ago? If you blushed and feel a little cheeky, there's a very good chance you're addicted to technology for the sake of technology, and not for what it can actually mean in terms of increased productivity in your life.

So, what can be done? Well, if you're unwilling, then nothing. You'll probably be one of those eventual parents who raises a child who will never leave the house, for any reason, because he'll never have to. Everything he will need will be a mouse-click or a voice command away, including virtual vacations, long distance learning, and a girlfriend who looks awesome at 30 frames per second.

If, however, you're sick of it all, or at least sick of it some, then here's something you can do that has been a success in our house. Every evening, for one hour, we turn off our cell phones, shut down our computers, and find something to do as a family. Sometimes it is television, but most of the time it isn't. We go for walks, we hang out in the back yard, we play card games, we chit-chat about how we really wish we could check our Facebook status just about now.

Additionally, each Saturday we live as technology-free as possible. We do shut our phones and computers off for the day. It's extreme, and sometimes it doesn't always work out, but for quite some time now we've been successful at this because we've recognized in our own lives how easy it is to lose sight of the analog world when we're so engrossed in the digital one.

It only takes a desire to want to do something different, and a willing spirit. Before you know it you'll find it easier to set down your smartphone, easier to walk away from Facebook after two hours of searching for the funniest LOLcats on the planet, and easier to say no to that next frivolous purchase that will probably have you standing in line in freezing temperatures, texting back and forth with the guy standing in the line in front of you.

Tyler is a tech enthusiast and writer for CableTV.com

3 Must Have Wordpress Plugins for Local Business Websites

This is a Guest Blog Post by Casy Haslem (see bottom for bio).

WordPress has made it simple for any business owner to create a professional looking website. This has opened up new ways to advertise, connect with customers and increase the customer base of your business. One of the most powerful features of WordPress is its extensive plug-in library. These plug-ins allow you to make changes to your site and add features with just a few mouse clicks. If you are looking to take your business website to the next level, these three WordPress plug-ins are essential.

Going Mobile with WPtouch

As smartphones become increasingly common, so does the chance that customers will be searching for your business from their phone. If your website does not support mobile browsers, you are missing out on a large segment of potential business. Optimizing a website for mobile browsers used to require specialized themes, sub-domains and other expensive investments. However, with WPtouch, making a mobile website is as simple as installing the plug-in. WPtouch automatically detects which browser the user is running and displays a mobile site or traditional site accordingly. Making sure you are a part of the smartphone trend could not be easier.

Increasing Traffic with WordPress SEO

Of course, for users to find your site on their phone or computer, you have to show up in the search listings. WordPress SEO offers in-depth analysis and a user-friendly interface to help your site climb the search listings with ease. Simply choose the keywords for which you want to rank and the plug-in will make suggestions and help you optimize each page, post and element of your site. No more need for editing complicated meta tags manually or analyzing your articles. Simply install the plug-in, configure a few settings and follow the steps for each post you wish to optimize. 

Creating Cohesive Service Lists with Easy Restaurant Menu Manager

Do not let the name of this plug-in fool you. It is not just for restaurant owners. Easy Restaurant Menu Manager offers a powerful, easy to configure way of creating and managing price lists and menus. With integrated options for displaying images, categorizing services and products, creating themes and more, you can list any product or service your business offers in an attractive and organized manner. No more hassle working with tables and PDF files or having to completely redesign your listings each time an item changes. Just enter your items, configure your display options and let the plug-in do the rest. If you need to change an item, the plug-in makes it easy to edit the settings for each item as well.

Author Bio:
Casey Haslem is in the online survey software industry and is currently helping with a 360 evaluation software. When she isn't working, she enjoys blogging on various technology related subjects.

Why I Don't Use Google for Search Anymore

Google Search. The internet. You probably have Google.com set as your home page at the moment, in that browser you use, which could be Google Chrome, and maybe that Social Network, Google+ which you'll share this article on. We've written before about how Google is the internet, for all intensive purposes.

It is mine, and many other people's opinions, that Google search results have decreased over the past year, since the integration of social and search were combines. I use the internet every day for a variety of things (as do you), but a good search engine is essential to me.

I switched to another search engine. No, not Bing, or Yahoo!, but something you've probably never heard of;
DuckDuckGo. I found that to be a great little search engine. with a lot more customization options as well as everything integrated into one search result.

Let us know what you use for search and why!

team@thegeekpanel.com

Instagram Comes to Android!

You may have noticed that a few weeks ago, Instagram put a form online to allow you to sign up and get notified when it was available on Google Play. Yesterday, I was going through my email inbox and just literally, at the top, sent to me a few seconds before I opened it, was an email from Instagram telling me I could get it on Android!

In case you don't know, Instagram is 'A Fast, easy and Beautiful way to share photos with family and friends'. Monday was my first experience with Instagram, but I have to say it was really easy to use. I took a snapshot with my camera, loaded it onto Instagram, selected a filter and published it to my personal blog, which runs no Tumblr (as does the Instagram Blog).

A few of my friends who run iOS have been using Instagram for a long enough time for people like myself as with everybody else to know that it actually exists. I will probably be using this as the default way that I share pictures on my personal blog.

Comments Welcome.

team@thegeekpanel.com

Best WordPress Themes for Bloggers

This is a guest Blog Post, written by Tyler. He is a writer for SatelliteInternet.com

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Great WordPress Themes for Bloggers

WordPress is that wonderful, hosted web package that has brought design to so many who don’t want to take the time to learn HTML. Beside the fact that WordPress is free, the site owner can easily post blogs, create interactive panels to communicate with visitors, and design a site that looks like a staff of coders created it.
Well, it fact, a staff of creators did. Through a feature called, “themes,” a WordPress website can take on the look and feel of one of hundreds of templates. Some themes look like a slick electronic business brochure, some can help promote and sell a product, and others just tell family and friends what is happening in the owner’s world.
Another helpful feature of WordPress themes is the ability to preview a theme before activating it. After working for hours to get the site just right, creating it over again just because another theme is desired would be discouraging. Using preview, the content of the current site is reformatted within the previewed theme.
Here are just a few themes and what they offer:BlogoLife – Published by Wplook, Blogolife features include Widgets, Menus, Custom Backgrounds and Custom Headers.

• Widgets are components that help to customize the website. Some widgets include calendars, recent posts, archives, and the ability to interact with other applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and Mail Chimp.
• Menus - Custom menus allow the creation of drop down selections. A particular site may have Home, Contact Us, Directions or other items particular to the organization of the site. The menus feature gives organization to the site allowing the visitor to quickly choose what portion of the web site they wish to see.
• Custom Backgrounds – The backgrounds feature allows the web site owner to fill a certain color or perhaps a graphic such as a picture or logo.
• Custom Headers – The custom headers feature is one of the more dynamic options. Using logo graphics and custom colors, the designer can integrate pictures or banners that are particular to the website. One of the more effective features is the Random Header that will allow the visitor to see a different product or graphic every time they change pages.

Duster – A creation of Automattic, the Duster theme is a very organized theme with a great deal of white space. While it supports many of the customizing features listed above, Duster offers a useful search feature as well as a “sticky post.” If the website administrator/owner wants a particular post to be the first one seen anytime the site is visited, the sticky note option makes that happen.Fresh Ink Magazine – Fresh Ink Magazine, by Adazing Web Design, gives the web site the look of a published magazine hot off the press. With many of the features already listed, Fresh Ink lends an inviting look to bring readers back time and time again.IFeature – IFeature by CyberChimps is designed to resemble Apple applications with drag and drop capability as well as slider picture and graphics displays. With front page icons connecting to Facebook, Twitter, Google + and RSS feeds, this theme will connect the website with the entire social media strategy.

Selecting a new theme is easy within WordPress. As a prominent option on the WordPress dashboard, selecting “Manage Themes” will provide the option to activate the themes installed.
To install more themes, clicking on “Install themes” will enable the user to search for the type of themes they are interested in. The search can be filtered by color, the number of columns, width, features, and even by holiday or seasonal.

As a website developer, WordPress becomes a very low cost solution to creating an attractive website. Once created, ease of maintenance will allow the developer to train the owner and then pass off day-to-day administration keeping the cost of an ongoing website very manageable.

Tyler is a writer for SatelliteInternet.com

Top Reasons Netflix Will Fail

This article is written by guest blogger Tyler. Comments, as always are welcome. If you want to blog on TheGeekPanel, simply shoot us an email at team@thegeekpanel.com. 

Tyler is a writer for USCharterService.com

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Top Reasons Netflix will Fail

The Netflix subscription-based digital distribution service was innovative back in 1999 when they first got their start. In today’s world, Netflix may be a dinosaur with one foot in the proverbial door. Between rising prices and customer complaints, this DVD-mail and media streaming company might be looking at the end of the end despite partnerships with heavy hitters like Nintendo and Apple. Here are a few reasons why Netflix may be headed for trouble.
Price Increase

Netflix took a big hit to their subscriber list when they decided to segregate the pricing system for streaming and DVD rental programs. In other words, choose; do you want to stream or get DVDs in the mail. If you want both, you have to pay for both. The company claims they have recovered from the initial drop. They are regaining some of the trust from their loyal subscribers plus adding new customers all the time. It is yet to be seen whether they really came back as strong as they are claiming, and if it will be enough to save them. Asking your customers to pay twice as much for the same service is not conducive to staying afloat in the business world. In fact, it may be a deal breaker for many people.
Legal Issues

It is hard to forget that little issue Netflix had with their algorithm contest. They wanted their system to have the best features possible, and to achieve that goal, the company started a contest to create the perfect algorithm. Companies were encouraged to develop a formula that could predict user preferences and movie recommendations. The payout was big and the competition stiff. The problem is by giving these contestants access to their customer database; apparently, Netflix may have accidentally given away your account information. This oops led to a class action lawsuit, just one in a number of legal problems plaguing Netflix in the last few years.

More recently, the company is facing a class action suit filed by the National Association of the Deaf. The complaint is based on a lack of closed caption options for streaming videos. The suit states that deaf people sign up for the service expecting captioning but are unable to watch a large bulk of the movies. It doesn’t take many multi-million dollar class action lawsuits to kill a company.
Throttling

Netflix has a throttling policy. This means it gives priority to those subscribers who rent less each month. If you are one of the customers who uses your unlimited service, you may end up waiting longer. If shipping DVDs costs more each month than the subscription fee, there may be a problem with their business model. One way around this issue is to throttle the shipments. If you are making a nuisance of yourself, then Netflix may accidentally divert your shipment or have an unavoidable delay.
Streaming

One way to get around throttling is to stream your videos; this means no delay. The problem is the streaming quality from Netflix is inconsistent. How well your system streams depends on many factors. Streaming is reliant on bit rate, for instance. It may be that your connection cannot handle this method without having annoying buffering to deal with constantly. Isn't that why you went for the mail option? Oh wait, you got throttled for renting too many, which is why you are streaming.
Only Playing with the Big Boys

Netflix relies on both Microsoft and Apple, so it is understandable that they don’t want to support the Linux operating system. The problem is the world is moving beyond the big boys, especially when it comes to operating systems and Internet browsers. The increase in availability of development software has led to some interesting applications that are not Windows or iOS. If Netflix refuses to grow with its subscribers, it may not have any in time. Computer technology is a river that is constantly changing. They need to accommodate those customers who think outside of the conventional box.

Netflix is a good news/bad news service. The idea is still innovative enough that eventually someone else is going to do it better than Netflix. With the problems they are having, right now that wouldn’t take much. Ultimately, a competitor that does not throttle or limit its customers will probably be more effective. In the mean time, if they want to stay in business, Netflix needs to start acting like the customers matter. Building up a solid, reliable subscriber base is what has the potential to save this company. That isn’t going to happen unless they work out some of the kinks in their interface and mailing program. Getting more current movies might help too. The selection on Netflix tends to be stale at times.

What Can You Do With a Custom Domain?

What can you do with a custom domain? Let's say you register your-last-name.com. There are many things you can do with that. For example, you can create a custom email address for everyone in your family. This can be done for free, if you have less than 10 people in your family, through Google Apps. Below is a step by step guide on how to set this up:

1. Head on over to Google Apps and click the 'Get Started' button.
2. If you've all ready bought a domain (which can be done here), go ahead and enter it. If not, Google gives you the option to buy one right from within the setup page.
3. Enter the rest of the required information and click 'I Accept, Create My Account'.
4. You should now be on a page asking you to set up/verify your domain. Google provides clear instructions on how to do this. If you are stuck at this point, contact your domain registrar and they'll be able to help you.
5. Click on the Organization and Users tab. Once you've clicked on this, you sould see one account; that is yours from the previous step. To create users, click the 'Create New User' button, or create a CSV and upload it. The CSV must contain the following: 

email address | first name | last name | password

This can be created in Excel or Google Docs.

   6. Once all the users are created, you can create shared calendars, have an IM client set up to your family or many other things within the Google Experience.

   7. Make sure to tell your family members how to access their email/calendar etc.

One of the other things you could do would be to create a website for every member of your family. You can create things called subdomains which are essentially "something.your-surname.com". For example, let's assume that you have a family member called Mary. She could have an email address (as mentioned above) like mary@smith.com and a website like http://mary.smith.com. You can create hundreds of subdomains and point them to many free services that offer website creation like Tumblr or Blogger. 

With the TLD (Top Level Domain, i.e your-surname.com) you can have a family intranet of sorts. An intranet is a central place for files, pictures and other things that you might want to share with the rest of your family. Google offers a free intranet service within Google Sites. You can use these in association with your new Domain Name/Google Account. 

There are multiple possibilities of what you can do with a personal domain. We have only mentioned a few, but here are some reasons (besides the ones above) why you moight want to get a custom domain name anyway.

• It looks better than an @gmail.com or @hotmail.com email address.
• It stands out on a CV or Resume
• You can keep it forever (in case Google/Yahoo/Microsoft ever dies!)
• People tend to pick up the differences on a piece of paper, whether it be as simple as "My email address is john@doe.com. 

If you have any suggestions, you can leave a comment below. We are always open to suggestions and questions, email us at team@thegeekpanel.com.

Why I like .COM and .NET over Other Domain Names

You've probably been handed a business card which has a somthing.co domain. You think to yourself  "Is that a typo?". That's what I would think. Domains ending in .CO are a prime target to spammers and "squatters" because of your ability to make typos while putting addresses into the URL bar. Google has been sensible by buying Google.co before any spammer gets it, but trust me, there are many other sites that have a domain squatter behind the controls!

Why You Should Be Paying Attention to Google+

Google is a huge company. They probably provide your web browser (our highest amount of traffic comes from Google Chrome), your search engine,

Become a Member!

We have now officially set up a members website which is only for members. You can sign up to become a member for free.

When you are a member, you will receive exclusive tips and tricks, a custom subdomain (you.thegeekpanel.com) a private IRC chatroom only for members, free technical support tickets, unlimited Q&A and lots more.

The best part of this is the price. It's free! All you have to do is fill out the page (Become a Member) and we will add you to the list.

Best Server Options

The best server options don't need to cost thousands of dollars or pounds.

How to Remotely Manage a Team

If you are a website, blog or other online business, you may not actually have time to meet your team face to face. For example, you could have writers from all over the world and still need to discuss their roles and jobs.

There are ways that you can maintain good communications with your team, even if they aren't in the same building or they are spread out all over the world.

Here are some that we thought up:

• Set up a Private Business Intercom. 

This can be free to do, or you could rent a server off of another company. I have an intercom set up in my home, which is running on an old PC as a server. We use TeamSpeak for this. It runs in the background and you can set push to talk, so that you can hold a conference call with as many people as you like.

You can download TeamSpeak Client and Server here.

• Hold Daily Meetings with your Team.

You don't actually need to be in the same rom as your team to hold a meeting. There is both free and paid software out there which can help you do just that. Citrix GoToMeeting is a great example of paid software that allows the presenter to share his or her desktop with the team, as long as they have an internet connection.

I use TeamViewer Meeting for this. It works wonders for sharing a presentation over the internet, and ost of all, it's free.

• Have a Business Intranet

An intranet is basically a private internet. You can upload files to it, write on a whiteboard, contact employees and submit ideas. Google Sites has an intranet template which works very well for a simple intranet. 

A private Facebook Group can also wok well. You can share files through there as well as post on a wall. This is the simplest route to go.

• Publish a Weekly Plan and Share with Specific Groups.

Set up groups within your business email/filesharing server. You can have an Admin group, Users, Bloggers, Editors, Support etc. Send a weekly email out to each seperate group outlining a weekly plan on what you, the business owner expect of them, your employees.

• Having Trouble Organizing Times for Meetings?

There is a great free web-based app that allows you to schedule a meeting by using the times that your employees and you are free. The instructions are on the website. 

WhenIsGood.net

If you have any more tips, simply email us or leave a comment.

team@thegeekpanel.com

How to Organize Your Life

There are many ways technology can help you to better organize your life. You can use GTD (getting things done) software or productivity tools to help you keep a clean head and a well-maintained life.

Mini Blog: eBooks vs. Paper? Let the Battle Commence!

Ebooks have been out in the tech-o-sphere or sometime now. With the Amazon Kindle and several other competitors like the Nook on the market, they are becoming more and more popular.

Here are some of the good points of each...

A QR Code Experiment...

After a lot of discussion on what new features we are adding to the blog, we decided on this. In every article we write, we will embed

How Technology Could Affect your Future Dining Experience

People today are becoming more and more reliant on aspects of technology; for example, many people, including myself use a mobile device or a smartphone of some sort as our primary method of communication. Now, being what I am, a technology strategist, I use technology for a lot more than communicating.

Download our App!

We have recently developed an app for Android, called (would you believe) TheGeekPanel. The app is not listed in the Android market, but it is available to download.

To install the app, simply send an email to an automated robot (we do not collect email addresses) and instructions and links to download are send to you immediately.

The app is free of charge and most likely will be as long as it remains.

We hope to release regular updates improving what we have just now. You can contact us by email (contact page) at team@thegeekpanel.com.

TO DOWNLOAD THE APP: EMAIL DOWNLOAD@THEGEEKPANEL.COM.


This email is not monitored by a real person, but we take full responsobility for it as it is managed by us.

Subscribe to our Email Newsletter!

You may have noticed a new tab in the Pages above you^^^. This is a SUBSCRIBE link to our email newsletter, powered by FeedBurner. Subscribe to this newsletter to get instant access to our content from your email inbox.

http://go.thegeekpanel.com/SUBSCRIBE

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Geeky Content for Disquizitive People"

4 Ways to Make Tech Support a Less...Stressful Experience

If you are a geek, you likely get bombarded with technical support queries and other people's problems from within your family or friends. I've been there, and now I'm ready to share some of the top ways you can make technical support a less... stressful experience.

1) If you are running Windows 7, you can use the 'Problem Steps Recorder'. You might want to use this to help someone with a slightly complicated problem in which you cannot, for some reason, view their screen. Basically, they click on the start menu, Type PSR, hit return on the keyboard, Click on Start Record and reproduce the steps that they did before. It automatically takes screenshots and saves them in a ZIP file which can be viewed by the person on the other end, as long as they have a web browser.

You can either email the files, or if you do not have an internet connection, use a USB drive/CD etc. to transfer the media.

2) Remote Desktop Connection tools are one of the life-savers in the technology industry. Not only do they reduce the hassle of trying to explain to some one that a 'Right-Click is not the correct click to a left click which is not the other click...'. It foes on forever. Basically, you connect to the recipients computer by way of a software program either built in to the machine that you are using or third-party. Some good solutions used by enterprises and personal people alike are those by Citrix. Citrix provide services like GoToAssist,  a great software tool that automatically downloads to the other persons computer and after they verify it, you have complete control over their machine. You can run remote diagnostics to find out what programs are running, version number and much more from using this tool.

We wrote an article a few months ago about one of the free tools we thought was good; TeamViewer - How TeamViewer can help you when Assisting Family and Friends. Teamviewer is not as advanced as GoToAssist, but it certainly is a powerful too for what it does. It has meeting capabilities as well as remote control. Read the article to find out more.

3) Email. A method of communication I rely on every day of my life to communicate with friends, family and other bloggers. There are great email solutions out their for both personal and business, so you will have no trouble with this.

You can either buy a custom domain and hosting for your email address or simply use a free one by Google (my former email address, which I love), Yahoo!, Microsoft Hotmail, Mail.com or multiple other options which you can try.

If you have any other tips to share with us, please email us at team@thegeekpanel.com  and we will get back to you.

4) Social Media is a great way to reach out to stores and companies, as well as close friends and family. But when it comes to tech support, social media can be a great resource. Simply posting your questions on a forum (like LockerGnome.net, one of my favourites) can get your problems answered by people who have either more experience than you in IT or have encountered this problem before. Best of all, it is mostly free and it causes the family Geek (i.e You!) from getting 'bombarded with questions and support requests' when you most likely have other things to do with your time.

Comments are welcome, as always.

Android Phones: Are there Too Many?

If you are technology literate, you have probably been keeping up with the ever-growing smartphone market. Android phones are like dust; they are really, really common! There are thousands of different phones running the Android OS.

MKBHD from YouTube has dug deep into the issue of there "Being Too Many Android Phones" and has covered both sides of the argument. Note that he is (as I am) an Android user,

http://Youtube.com/MKBHD
MKBHTYT@gmail.com

team@thegeekpanel.com
twitter.com/thegeekpanel

How to Keep on Top of Email

If you're like us, you've probably had more than one email address on the go. That is to say that as well as a personal account, you have several business accounts. Maybe you have one from your ISP for official stuff like bills, payments, banking etc, one that you give to your friends like "coolchick123@hotmail.com", one that you give to official people like your boss "j.smith@gmail.com", and finally a business email, like team@thegeekpanel.com.

Up until recently, our communications department had a few problems managing email. I had suggested that we use only 2 business email accounts (one mail one and one for each employee). That  dwas out of the question, until tonight when I decided to play around with Google and it's wonderful GMail features. Here is what I found...

I had planned to have only one email address; team@thegeekpanel.com, but as you know, we've all ready had various email addresses, all of which were active at the time. I decided to take the time to go through a list of all the online services we use including Twitter, Facebook and even Blogger. I edited the email address and we now have one address for all the blog/business side of things.

I also decided to set one email address for internal communications, which was easy enough using Google Apps for business.

Now there was only one thing left; to organize my personal email account. I have registered a domain name and have an email set up on that, which is now my primary email address, but only 2 months ago, I was using Google's free email service, which I know and love and have done for many years.

The email I had before (@gmail.com) was easy to set up forwarding to another email address; simple going to Mail Settings > Forwarding > Enter the Email > Confirm the Address > Enable the Forwarding and Done!

That was really simple. Now, all of my email goes to both accounts at the same time, making it a lot easier to manage.

Here are a few tips on email:

• Buy a custom domain and pay for email hosting if you are scared your email might go away over night...
• Use a desktop client if you deal with a lot of email per day. This can significantly increase productivity. I just can't do web mail. I use Thunderbird on the desktop to manage all my email.
• Send replies in bulk. If a lot of people are sending the same questions, reply to them all at once. Also consider setting up a template telling them to go to your forum/live chatroom or forward the email to someone else who has a better understanding of that query.
• Don't just select all and delete. This can be a complete waste. If you're note managing to keep on top of your email, consider employing a "Social Media Expert". Here at TheGeekPanel, we offer Social Media services free to any one of our followers. Contact us for info.

We hope that these tips make your life easier. As always, comments are welcome.

How to Add a Trusted Site to Google Chrome

If you use Google Chrome, you've most likely seen a page telling you a site is not secure when you know it is. There is a way to add this site to Google Chrome's proxies so you don't see this warning again. To do this follow these instructions:

Spotify Premium

So, we're back after quite a long holiday. There have been many interesting things that have happened (technology wise) over the past few weeks.

Spotify Premium
I love listening to music. Every day, my smartphone is connected to my speakers or something else that allows me to broadcast music from a great application, Spotify. The first time I used Spotify was in 2009. I wanted a solution that would allow me to quickly open an app on my desktop and search for a piece of music and then play it within seconds. It worked first time.

There were a few draw-backs though:

• I had to wait 9 months for an invite (yes, this was some time ago)
• The library was not as big as it is now...

This was called Spotify Open. It was a free version of Spotify that gave you 20 hours a month of playing how ever much music you liked. I fell in love quickly.

Now, a few years on, until a few weeks ago, I was still using Spotify Free. There were a few things that I didn't quite get. Why on earth do I care what my Facebook friends are listening to? Why do I want them to see what I'm listening to? And the most annoying, why was I only allowed to play the same song 5 times before I had to purchase it? A lot of people complained about ads, but I was getting it free, so I didn't mind them.

From now on, I no longer have to deal with these issues again (except the social ones). The ads are gone, I can stream music through my mobile device, I can get music offline on my PC, Tablet and Smartphone and The library is still as big as it was.

Spotify Premium is £9.99 a month in the UK. I love it and I think it is worth the money.

While there are other free alternatives out there, none of them match up to Spotify. GrooveShark, one of my favourite free music platforms runs in a browser. I like to keep the web browser for the things that it's designed to do i.e surf the web.

The options for Spotify Premium are endless. I can play as much music as I like (the only thing that is capped is the data connection from my mobile internet provider), I can create playlists, I can stream to my TiVo box using the Spotify App and as always, share the music to Facebook if I wish.

I've never really been a Pay As You go music man. I always prefer to pay a steady fee and rent it rather than spending £10 on a whole album from iTunes or Amazon.

Spotify, for years, has been the best solution for me. Is it the best solution for you?

Spotify Free: http://go.thegeekpanel.com/spotify

Email: team@thegeekpanel.com

Twitter: Twitter.com/TheGeekPanel

New Wacom Bamboo Pen Review

You may remember the review we did a few months ago on the Wacom Bamboo Pen. Since that review, Wacom has released several new models of Bamboo Tablet including the Capture, Connect and Create.

TheGeekPanel has recently purchased a new edition Bamboo Create or Bamboo Pen. Here is our verdict:

ViewSonic ViewPad 7 Review

As stated in a previous post, TheGeekPanel has acquired many new gadgets and gizmos which we will be reviewing over the course of the upcoming weeks. One of these gadgets was the ViewSonic ViewPad 7. Here is our CEO, Patrick's review of it.

iHome Notebook/Netbook Cooling Pad

Do you need to cool your notebook or netbook? If you do, here is one option for you.

5 Reasons you Should be Using QR Codes

Qr Codes are great. They are a type of "smart" barcode that can store links, numbers, email addresses and text, unlike the barcode which simply holds a number which is then searched for in a database. QR Codes are a great way to get from point A (something like your computer) to point B (probably your smart phone).

Here are a few reasons explaining why you should be using QR codes:


1. You can track who is viewing your content (stay tuned for a later article)

When someone scans your QR code, you can check what platform they are on (iOS/Android/Windows etc.), what browser they use and what country they are in.

2. You can get to the same webpage on your smartphone faster

You scan a QR code on your computer with your smartphone, click the link and you are on the same webpage in seconds rather than keying in the URL. There are several web-browser extensions that offer this capability.

3. Save paper

Have a business card? Thought so. Instead of printing out 500 at a time, print out about 20 for your conference. The chances are that most of the people there will have a smartphone and the ability to read your QR code. This helps to save the environment.

4. Share things with friends easier

We've all done this. Went to bit.ly, created a shortlink and told it to our friend or family member. DON'T DO THAT! It's a lot easier to create a QR code and have them scan it.

5.  They look good

Create a custom QR code, print it out onto sticker paper and stick it to your laptop. This looks good. I've also had an idea of getting a QR code tattoo! Now that's geeky.

As more and more people start using smartphones, QR codes are becoming more and more popular. Share this article with your friends by scanning the qr code below!

Comments Welcome.

What's next for TheGeekPanel?!

Merry Christmas! We hope you all had a great time yesterday (or whenever it was, depending on where you are...). This article is simply going to enlighten you in "What's next for TheGeekPanel".

Merry Christmas!

From everyone here at TheGeekPanel, merry Christmas to everyone. We hope that you got lots of Geeky Christmas presents...!

If you have something you want to share with us, click on the contact link on the top of the page, or go to contact.thegeekpanel.com.

Adios!

TeamViewer (How to Support Family Members for Free!)

We've all had to deal with family technical problems. Most of the time, they can be severely painful, but with TeamViewer and QuickSupport, it can be really easy.

Why is the iPad not Always Awesome?

Lockergnome have recently published an article: Four reasons You Don't need an iPad, which was featured on yesterday's TLDR episode, which is live every weekday at 3.00pm Pacific Time (America) on YouTube.

Four Reasons you Don't really need an iPad:
http://www.lockergnome.com/social/2011/12/22/four-reasons-you-dont-really-need-an-ipad/

Subscribe to the Lockergnome E-Mail Newsletter:
http://Lockergnome.com/Subscribe

Twitter:
Twitter.com/ChrisPirillo

Sponsor: KDE Corporation/DiamondFour

As you know, we have a great logo designed by the folks over at DiamondFour.webs.com.

DiamondFour are a design and marketing company who make absolutely gorgeous logos in a really short period of time.

This blog post will feature samples of the logos designed by the KDE Corp.

Will Facebook Replace Email?

Will Facebook replace email because of it's ability to receive and reply to external messages if you have a Facebook email address?

How To Get Things Done...

I love GTD or, as you may know it, Getting Things Done. I love organizing a workflow, having a plan ready for me to follow he next day and other things of the sort.

Today, we have compiled a list of 5 tools to help you get things done.

Netgear ReadyNAS Duo Review (video)

TheGeekPanel have purchased a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo to store a lot of files, documents and other data. Please expect a review within the next 2 months.

In the mean time, we have found an excellent video by Geekanoids YouTube Channel (please subscribe and let him know we sent you) giving a very detailed review on the product:

How to Design a Logo

Whether you're a website owner, brand marketer or just a YouTuber that wants a custom channel, a bespoke logo is of the utmost importance.

There are several "Logo Generators" out there which produce very standard graphics that several people all ready have. If you don't have the time to create your own logo from scratch, you might want to go this route.

How to Enable the New Google Bar

How do you Blog?

Technorati Tags: Blogging,Free,Domain,Name,Blog,Write,For,Us,Patrick,TheGeekPanel

How do you blog?  There are a variety of ways to produce the content for you blog:

• Via your blog control panel
• By email
• By text (I don’t know why, but it is possible)
• Via an iOS or Android app
• Or by a desktop blogging client like BlogDesk or Windows Live Writer.

I find it a lot easier to do this via a desktop client because, like email, I prefer to keep my web browser specifically for surfing the web. Not producing content or reading/writing email.

When  you blog, you may use RTF (Rich Text Formatting) or you may use HTML tags which are the “old style” of formatting a post.

Nowadays, people tend to use the “RTF style of formatting.

You can blog for us by filling out the “Write For Us” form.

 

Comments Welcome.

Can You Blog Without a Blog?

You may want to be a blogger, but don't have the time and can't put hundreds of effort into how your site looks and feels to the user. Fortunately for you, there are ways to "blog without a blog".

Here, specifically for our loyal readers, we have compiled a few services that do just that.

Do you Have a Back-Up Crash Plan?

We have spoken many times about how important it is to backup your data. There are many options out there for backing up your data. Discs, CD's, DVD's, External Hard Drives, USB sticks, NAS servers or even online cloud storage are all viable options for backup.

I personally back up my system on a monthly basis;

How you can help to prevent Identity Theft.

Kelly Clay from LockerGnome wrote an article yesterday about MelonCard and how it can prevent identity theft.

Want to know my full name, address, phone number, relatives, age and date of birth, and my entire address history? If you have a few dollars and know a few of these details about my life, you could find out all of this — and so much more.
But don’t go searching Google just yet. With websites like Spokeo, ZabaSearch, and Radaris, any one of your friends who knows anything about you can do the same, potentially gaining access to and control of your social security number. Scared? You should be. Identity theft is a huge problem. The FTC estimates that as many as nine million Americans have their identities stolen each year...[Read full article on LockerGnome.com]

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Your Guide to Successful Videos: Free Teleprompter Alternatives

Do you make videos for YouTube? The chances are that you probably do. When you record your videos, you most likely use a webcam, unless you are a real video geek.

When recording your videos, you

Mini Blog: No. 1 | Online Storage Solutions

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Steve Jobs Passes Away

Sadly, last evening, Mr Steve Jobs, Co-Founder and ex-CEO of Apple Inc. passed away. This is 

Apple launches New iPhone and More at Keynote

Two Days ago, Apple held a keynote in their headquarters releasing several new products including the all important new iPhone: The 4S. Personally speaking, I was not disappointed with the new launch. Just because it looks exactly like the iPhone 4 does not mean that the internals of the device are not better and that is exactly what happened in this case:

• Dual Core Processor
• 2X faster CPU
• Increased Graphics Performance
• Siri (see below)
• iO5
• Fixed antennae issue
• Better Call quality
• 1080p Video Recording
• Apple also released iOS 5 which has been in BETA for some time now. iOS 5 boasts several new features to enhance the experience you have with your iOS device whether that be an iPad, iPod or iPhone. 

The most exciting feature in my opinion was the launch of their new BETA voice recognition app, Siri. Siri is an "intelligent personal assistant" which helps make everyday tasks like sending text messages, setting alarms and checking whether you need an umbrella or not a whole lot easier.

In the demonstration, Siri was asked: "Do I need a raincoat today?"

The weather for that particular day was rainy and so Siri replied:
"Sure looks like it!"

Watching the keynote, I was amazed at the vast knowledge of this app. "Remind me to call Mum after work" would be replied to as "I have set the alarm for when you finish work to call your mother".

This is not just what you ask, it is how you ask it. Instead of asking: "What is the weather like today?" you could say "Could you give me the hourly forecast please?" and the reply would be the same: "The weather is as follows..."

Apple have done a great job on this feature and I think this will shape the way that we interact with technology in future.


Apple made several other improvements to devices such as the iPod Nano which was launched (improved version) at the keynote and now available for purcase. The iPod touch was also upgraded to include a White version and will be launched along with several other products and services on the 12th of October 2011.

iCLOUD, Apple's cloud-based service will also launch on the 12th of October. It allows you to sync several  things like your iTunes library across all of your devices.


So far, we have no other Apple announcements, but remember to stay tuned for future updates.

Follow us:
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Comments welcome

Facebook launches Drastic Changes to User Experience

If you have not noticed, Facebook has made some drastic changes to their users profiles. They have added a

Top Music Streaming Services (free)

We all like music. Especially free music. NOT illegally downloaded from YouTube or somewhere else. I personally (being a musician) listen to

Google+, Facebook and More!...

So now that Google Plus is finally released to the public, I thought it was time to write about them. Maybe bring them into the picture again. Anyway, I was on Facebook earlier on this evening (Yes. I said Facebook...) and I saw a setting that made me think: Is that copying or not? It had integrated so called "Smart Lists" into there friend lists. They were very similar to Google Plus's circles, but Facebook has made a "complicated" job of it whereas Google has again, done there work and made it user friendly.

Google Plus is now open o the Public (aka: all of you "uncool" people reading this post) which means you can now join and add me! (TheGeekPanel) to your circles. http://Plus.Google.com is where you can sign up. It is an incredibly easy process; only a few clicks, Name, email address etc. and you now have a profile with G+.

I particularly like the feature that you can set each post to who you want to share the content with. I think that Facebook also copied this feature too... no disrespect though Facebook.

One of the main reasons for me to write this post today was the disadvantages of G+. I absolutely LOVE it but here is what I have found:-

• All of my Facebook friends do not want to change to Google Plus
• Not all of my friends on Facebook understand the capabilities of Google +
• Not all of them are very "tech savvy" and example being that they believe the pictures of the so called iPhone 5 (see blog post about iPhone 5 rumors)   that EVERYTHING they see on the web is true.

I asked one of them "Do you actually believe that?" Do you know what he answered? He said "They were the real pictures. Not the fake pictures." 

HOW DOES HE KNOW THAT THEY ARE REAL? SOMEONE COULD HAVE USED A PROGRAM CALLED ADOBE PHOTOSHOP TO EDIT THEM OR JUST MAKE A STICKER WHICH SAYS iPHONE 5 AND STICK IT ON AN iPHONE 4! HOW STUPID COULD HE BE?

I was actually yelling at the computer as I wrote this. Basically, don't believe everything you see on the internet. NOBODY KNOWS. 

Anyway, if you haven't all ready, join Google+. You can get a "Facebook, Twitter experience". It is basically a Facebook page with the Twitter update thingy. Yes. THINGY. Got a problem with that? Just kidding. 

I have made up my own...'equation' to Google Plus:

FaceBook+Twitter+Circles+People=G+

All of you know that this is true.

Follow me on Google Plus (search for TheGeekPanel in Google search and you will find us) and on Twitter:

http://Twitter.com/TheGeekPanel

10 Year Anniversary of 9/11