Tips, Tricks, and Technology for better living in a Digital World

Sync Google Docs To Your Computer

Many of you are familiar with Dropbox and how great it is to sync across multiple platforms. Dropbox is the most popular file-syncing app for the desktop while most remote workers prefer to work with Googe Docs for their online office suite. Up until now, many have been clamoring for the integration of these two services. How cool is it to edit documents on the desktop and sync them to your Google Docs account?

This is the beauty of InSync, an app that lets you sync your Google documents across all your devices. Insync’s desktop client lets you add documents to a shared folder within your documents folder, and have them load to your Google Docs account.

You can also share your files to your coworkers much like Dropbox, which then allows them to edit those shared files via GDocs. Users can also set up file permissions, nested sharing, and individual file sharing. Unlike Dropbox, your Google storage becomes your online file manager for InSync, where you can also add multiple Google accounts.

InSync is a useful tool for anyone who needs the usefulness of Dropbox with the extra convenience of Google Docs.

Features:

Desktop client that syncs file to Google Docs
Lets you edit files from Google Docs
Allow multiple Google accounts
Individual file sharing available
Uses Google’s Storage Service
Facebook Feed For Files Coming Soon

Check out Insync – https://www.insynchq.com

Stream Wirelessly Without iTunes

I have an Apple WDS network setup and I use my Apple Express to stream my music wirelessly from my primary computer to my living area speakers. (This can work without a WDS network, as long as you have an Apple Express.) I love this setup but it only works using iTunes. That’s a big blow when you want to stream music, say from your playlist on Grooveshark, Last.FM, or Pandora.

That’s when I found the Musicality app. This app costs $9.99 from the Apple Store but is well worth every penny. It logs into your Grooveshark, Last.FM, or Pandora account and streams to our speakers plugged into your Apple Express. This is a great app for streaming your music and getting away from iTunes. It also saves you from having to buy the music on iTunes!

Link: Musicality App

Send Large Files

Like most of us, I’m sure you’ve ran into a situation when you needed to send a large file. Sure you could share the file on Dropbox, but that takes space on your account and isn’t exactly ideal for sharing with strangers. So what do you do?

I recently stumbled upon this great website when I needed to send a file that was too large for email. I’ve used it a few times now and I love the way this site works. You simply drag a file from your desktop to the file upload on the browser. Enter the email of the person you want the link to be sent or enter your email in the both email fields. The website then sends an email to the recipient to download. It also sends the same email to the sender but it includes a link to delete the large file from the site. The max size per file is 300MB for free users and up to 10GB if you become a PRO member.

http://www.sendspace.com

Sync Multiple Folders Across Multiple Computers

I recently came across a problem of having a single folder on multiple Macs that didn’t have the same information. I wanted this single folder to have the same information regardless of which Mac I used.

So I started my research online and ended up on Apple’s App Store. There are many apps that sync a single folder or have decent UI’s. But then I found it. The app is called Folder Sync!

Folder Sync

This app is great! You can create multiple Presets, which allows you to save your folder sync settings for each sync job you create. The user-interface also provides an easy-to-use sync manager so you can program what day and time you want your sync job to run. This app worked great for my situation. I was able to sync my single folder on both Macs across my wireless network. For $8.99, I highly recommend this app.

LINK

Extending Your Internet with Apple’s WDS

I recently ran into this problem and decided to share my successful results. This was my problem, I wanted to extend my wireless internet. But I wanted to do more than that. I wanted to extend my wireless internet and have my second router to have Ethernet capabilities. Here’s what I had to work with and what I did.

I have an Apple Extreme (1st Generation) directly hooked up to the cable modem. I am using the Apple Extreme to 1) distribute wireless internet and 2) connect my desktop computer via Ethernet. This is a great setup. I plan on upgrading to the 2TB Time Capsule at some point but for now, I love this setup!

Apple WDS Network

Now I have an Airport Express (amazing little unit) in my living room. I use this guy to connect my desktop computer’s iTunes and use Airplay for wireless music. Again, this is an awesome setup. If you don’t have a great wireless setup in your living situation, this is one to setup!

Recently, I purchased an Apple TV (yes, I love Apple products) and I wanted to use this in my living room. In order to do that, I needed the Ethernet port on my Airport Express to be active. Now, I’m not an Apple Genius or a networking Guru by any means, hence part of the reason of this post…so I can remember how to do this again in the future. The only way to extend internet and enabling the Ethernet is to participate in a WDS Network (Wireless Distribution System).

Ok, enough of the back story details, here are the settings that I used to get my WDS to work and love Apple products even more!

Note 1: Before getting started, if you’re running OS X Lion, download Airport Utility (AU) 5.6 in order to customize your Airport settings.

Note 2: It’s easier if you know the MAC address of each unit before you begin. This number is listed when you start up Airport Utility on the Airport Summary page – Airport ID. It’s also located on the bottom of each unit.

Airport Extreme (Main Unit)

Base Station Tab:

I have “Allow setup over WAN” unselected.

Wireless Tab:

Wireless Mode: Select “Participate in a WDS Network”
Check “Allow this network to be extneded”
Radio Mode: 802.11n (8802.11 b/g compatible
Channel: 6 (your preference, but it didn’t work when I chose channel 1)
WireLess Network Options: I chose 11 Mbps Multicast Rate and Transmit Power 100%. WPA Group Key Timeout at 1 hour.

WDS

Select WDS Main
Select “Allow wireless clients”
Enter the MAC ID of the Relay or Remote device(s)
Click Update (Don’t worry about the other WDS modes)

That did it for this unit. On to the next device.

Airport Express (Remote Device)

Wireless Tab

Wireless Mode: Select “Participate in a WDS network”
Choose the Wireless network name that you have configured in your Main device. It’s important to choose the same Radio Mode, Channel, and Security Password information as the Main device

WDS Tab

WDS Mode: Select “WDS Remote”
Select “Allow wireless clients”
WDS Main: Enter the MAC ID of your Main Device (for me, it was my Airport Extreme)
Leave the other WDS Mode’s alone and click on Update

You should be Rocking and Rolling!!! This is exciting! Now you have a wireless system that extends your Ethernet capabilities to another room or area and extends your wireless internet. Hope this helped you more than the other web pages out there. I was hoping to find someone to map it out for me but this took me a few hours of trial and error before I had success. Hopefully this limits your time spent to less than what I did.

I would highly recommend exporting your config settings on each device in case you ever upgrade or have to reset your devices.

Cheers!

Boost your Android Battery Life

As more of us are upgrading our phones to smart phones, we find ourselves choosing one that best fits our needs. Unfortunately, there is not a “perfect” phone out there so we typically compromise on some aspect of the phones features, right?

This article is for the Android users. I’ve had an Android phone for some time now and love it. But recently one of my close friends purchased the iPhone 4. In my opinion, the iPhone 4 has a better camera, screen display, and battery than most Android phones. I’m fine with the camera and screen display, but the battery is a hard feature to comprise.

So I’ve found a solution to increase the battery life on any Android phone with this simple technique. It involves a free app called the “Advanced Task Killer.” There are other task killing apps on the market which should have the same features, but in this example, I’ll be using this app. Once the app is installed and running, you can view all the apps that are running in the background. Some of the apps you’ll want to always run in the background. On these apps, long press on the app and select “Ignore.” You’ll want some of these apps to continue running. After you select the apps you want Advanced Task Killer to ignore, select the settings menu.

Near the bottom, you’ll notice three sections that add TONS of battery life to your phone.

The first menu option and most likely the most important is the Auto Kill Frequency selection. This menu item provides auto kill options for all the apps running in the background. I selected “When Screen Off” for my personal phone. I’ve noticed at the end of the day, I have 50% battery life compared to my usual 22%.

The second menu item is Auto Kill Level. In this menu, there are four options: Disable, Safe, Aggressive, and Crazy. Safe only kills the apps that aren’t running but still consume memory. Aggressive kills the apps running in the background and apps that aren’t running. Crazy kills all apps you are using that you have not selected to ignore. These options may vary for each user, I have selected the Aggressive setting.

The third menu option is the Security Level. You can select low security to show more apps but you need to know more about the apps to decide which ones you need to ignore.

Do you have battery issues with your phone? How do you manage your battery life?