Switch from Google Apps for Business to Microsoft Office 365? Definite yes

I’ve been a Google Apps customer since 2008 but I recently decided to switch from Google Apps for Business to Microsofts’ Office 365 Small business edition. It took weeks for me decide if this was the right thing to do because I had been familiar with Googles interface and wasn’t quite sure if I wanted …

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Understanding “For Loops” in VB.NET

“For Loops” are the most common type of loop that most application developers use when coding. The good thing about “For loops” is that you get to tell the program how many times you want it to loop in advance. I personally think “For Loops” are the easiest of the three loops to become familiar …

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Built my first “Hello World” app for Windows 8 today.

Today I learned how to design, build, and publish apps for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. The hands on workshop was great! I have now just completed the first app that every beginner programmer learns to create titled, “Hello World”. I learned how to change the font size, the text color, and to change …

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Sony Music Unlimited Android App Review

Rating: 3 out of 5 Used On: Sony Xperia Ion Model #: LT28AT Android Version: Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 Build Number: 6.1.C.1.105 Music Unlimited Version: 1.5.2 This mobile app has potential but it is plagued by to many problems that should have been detected during beta testing. I will list the issues users can expect …

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Samsung, A knockoff brand in electronics

There are numerous articles regarding Samsung and how great their devices are and how successful the company is all over the web. In a non bias way, I dont think the company is as cool as its main competitors. The only edge it has an advantage in, is marketing. Innovation however, does not exist in …

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Switch from Google Apps for Business to Microsoft Office 365? Definite yesUnderstanding “For Loops” in VB.NETBuilt my first “Hello World” app for Windows 8 today.Sony Music Unlimited Android App ReviewSamsung, A knockoff brand in electronics

May 21

Switch from Google Apps for Business to Microsoft Office 365? Definite yes

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Personal Opnion

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I’ve been a Google Apps customer since 2008 but I recently decided to switch from Google Apps for Business to Microsofts’ Office 365 Small business edition. It took weeks for me decide if this was the right thing to do because I had been familiar with Googles interface and wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to learn a lot of new software and memorize new website address. But, after switching, the majority of the small annoying problems that I had with Google seem to have disappeared. Below are the reasons why you should switch.

Reason # 1: Better User Interface
Hey i’m a Tech Guy and if its one thing all tech people are taught in introductory programming class is that software should be visually appealing to the eye. Microsoft beats Google here. Office 365 has a very minimalistic design and is very responsive. I’ve found that Google Docs becomes really slow after having about five pages worth of information.

Reason # 2: Immediate access to advanced editing features
Cloud computing has now become the norm. Microsoft beats Google here when it comes to editing documents/spreadsheets/powerpoints etc when you need to add advanced customizations. Just click the option to open a document in the desktop version of the Office program you are currently working in. The best part about this is that it stores the file in your Skydrive Pro account and once you are done editing the file in the desktop version, it saves an updated copy directly In your skdyrive store. That eliminates the need for downloading and then re uploading.

Reason # 3: No conversion is needed any longer
This was the most annoying issue with Google Apps for Business. It was annoying having to save a document to a Microsoft Office compatible format, make edits In Microsoft office, save, and then re upload the file back to Google Apps and prey that the advanced edits I made was not lost in the conversion process. This was very unproductive and an unnecessary step. Installing GDrive partially eliminated the issue but the other part of the problem that remained is that it would still be in the Microsoft office Format and not converted back to the original Google Apps format. Why is this a problem? Because if I would have kept it in the Microsoft Office format, what would be the point of using Google Apps for Business in the first place? I could just use Office 365…

Reason # 4: More convenience to students/professors/clients I work with
Most businesses and schools still use Microsoft Office 2010. Since I am currently a student (at the time this entry was written) I found it very difficult to get my professors and a few students to make the switch to Google Apps for document collaboration. Believe it or not, Yahoo and Hotmail (now officially called Outlook) Is currently what most students use as their email address and don’t have a google account. (Technically they do if they have an android phone) The problem is that they didn’t want to have a few documents stored in Google, and some on their hard drive and they were willing to stick with what they are currently familiar with (Microsoft Office).

Reason # 5: The full suite of Microsoft Office is now affordable!
At $9.99 per month, most people can have the full suite of Office 2013! Before you make any comparisons, keep in mind that the desktop version of Microsoft Office 2013 has more features than Google Apps for Business and this I am aware. But now, people can use Skydrive in combination with Office 2013 with their personal Hotmail/Outlook accounts as well as Office Web Apps. So, you get a double win. You get basic Microsoft Office Web Apps as well as advanced editing features of the desktop version of Microsoft Office 2013. It’s a double win!

Tech Guy Chris

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May 03

Understanding “For Loops” in VB.NET

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Coding/Programming, VB.NET

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“For Loops” are the most common type of loop that most application developers use when coding. The good thing about “For loops” is that you get to tell the program how many times you want it to loop in advance. I personally think “For Loops” are the easiest of the three loops to become familiar with.. You can use a “For Loop” if you declare at least two variables with an integer datatype.

Syntax of “For Loops”

For InsertDeclaredVariableHere = InsertStartNumberHere To InsertEndNumberHere

VariableName=VarialbeName+InsertDeclaredVariableHere

Next

Above is just a standard syntax to help you. Make adjustments if you are doing multiplication, division, etc.

Example of For Loop In Action

Say you want your application to loop until as many times as the number you enter into a textbox and give the total of the sum of the number entered. Well as I mentioned earlier, a “For Loop” would be ideal because you already know how many times you want it to loop. You want it to loop as many times as the number you entered in the textbox. So if you input 3 in a textbox, you know that you want it to loop 3 times. Remember again that you need at least two variables declared as an integer data type to use a For loop. “Counter should at least be set to 1 in your for loop statement.

Option Strict On
Imports System.Convert

The code below here should be entered into an event handler that handles Button Click event. (Just create a button and double click it to create the procedure handler)

Dim Number, counter, Answer as Integer.
Number=ToInt32(txtNumber.text)
For counter = 1 to Number
Answer= Answer+Number
Next
label1.text=answer.Tostring

If you run this code and enter 5 in the textbox, the label will return 25. If you enter 4, it will return 16. If you enter 3 it will return 9 and so forth. . If you entered five, it will loop five times and keep adding five to the variable named “answer” every time it loops. 5+5+5+5+5 = 25. If you entered 4, it will loop four times. 4+4+4+4=16. if you entered 3, it will loop 3 times. 3+3+3=9…. if you entered 2, it will loop two times. 2+2=4. if you enter 1, it will loop one time. 1+1 = 2. Basically if you enter any number in the textbox it will loop that many times.. Try entering 50 and watch what number you will get. You will get 2500 because it looped 50 times and each time it looped it added 50.. The reason you are the getting sum of the loops is because in your loop statement you said Answer= Answer+Number. The variable “Number” becomes the value you enter in the textbox. That is a basic addition problem.

The Variable “Answer” = 0 by default since you didnt say it equals anything but as it loops, “answer” first becomes the number that you entered in the textbox, then when it loops again, it adds the same number and then that gets stored and so forth. This is why its called a loop. If you entered, 2 in the textbox, 2 would get stored in the variable “answer” but then as it loops it ADDs 2 again, so 2+2=4..

Tip: Answer=Answer+Number can also be written as Answer+=Number. If you are not familiar with loops just yet, I would suggest just writing it as Answer=Answer+Number so you can get a better visual.

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Apr 27

Built my first “Hello World” app for Windows 8 today.

Categories:

Coding/Programming

by

Today I learned how to design, build, and publish apps for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. The hands on workshop was great! I have now just completed the first app that every beginner programmer learns to create titled, “Hello World”. I learned how to change the font size, the text color, and to change the background. I am always excited to learn how to code on new platforms. I’m a beginner programmer and am still learning the ropes. I’m currently also learning how to code in VB.NET so this should be a challenge that occupies the majority of my time when I am not out with my friends.

If I get really comfortable with this, I am thinking about publishing an app titled “Tech Guy Chris”. It will be a better way to keep my followers up to date on my tech life.

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Oct 20

Sony Music Unlimited Android App Review

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Mobile App Reviews

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Rating: 3 out of 5
Used On: Sony Xperia Ion
Model #: LT28AT
Android Version: Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4
Build Number: 6.1.C.1.105
Music Unlimited Version: 1.5.2

This mobile app has potential but it is plagued by to many problems that should have been detected during beta testing. I will list the issues users can expect when installing this app on their mobile phone.

Bug/Issue # 1: Will not play music if you used the service on a different device.
This app will not let you play music if you were using Music Unlimited on a different device. If you launch Music Unlimited on your Playstation 3, listen to your music on the console, then decide you want to resume listening to music on your phone, It will not let you. You will get the error message,
“Playback has been stopped. Another user with the same Sign in ID has started playign content. This application will close.”

    This occurs even when you have logged out of the previous device you were playing your music on

. You will be locked from playing your music on your mobile phone for an average of about 8 – 10 hours. This is very annoying and defeats the purpose of using the service in general. This happens when you listen to Music Unlimted via the web browser, or through the Playstation 3.

Bug Issue # 2: Crashes when switching to Offline Mode
This app will crash when you attempt to switch to offline mode. If you were streaming music earlier in the day, and then decide to switch to offline mode later in the day, The app will crash, forcing you to force close the app. You then must relaunch the app and then switch to OFfline mode again in order to get to offline mode.. This is an incovenience, especially when you are getting ready to head to the gym for a quick workout or when you attempt to listen to your msuic collection when driving.

Issue # 3: App takes to long to start
Again, this is an incovenience to the user.. I’m not sure why the app takes to long to start when you are in Online mode. It should work more like the “WalkMan” app that is preloaded onto your Xperia phones that launches immediately.. A suggestion would be to give you immediate access to your music library while the service is still loading in the background. This is how it works when you are in “Offline Mode” with Music Unlmited but it should be the same if you are in online mode as well.

Suggestions,

1. Fix the bugs listed above
2. Move the “Recently Updated Playlists” section above the “New Releases” section on the main screen so users can immediately flip through their playlists…

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Sep 17

Samsung, A knockoff brand in electronics

Categories:

Personal Opnion

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There are numerous articles regarding Samsung and how great their devices are and how successful the company is all over the web. In a non bias way, I dont think the company is as cool as its main competitors. The only edge it has an advantage in, is marketing. Innovation however, does not exist in the company.

Personally, i’m not to big of a fan of Samsung devices. As much as I want to like Samsung, I cant. I dont know of any device they’ve created that hasnt been stolen from a competitor. They have stolen from the iPhone with their 1st generation line of Galaxy devices. They stole from RIM and their blackberry line of devices with the BlackJack. They stole the floating glass design in their televisions from Sony..

I dont think the galaxy S3 is a device to be bragging about having. #1 its made of plastic. #2 a dual core smartphone outperforms it. If you look at the benchmark for the Sony Xperia T, it outperforms it in every category. The Samsungs AMOLED display is beautiful but the colors are not as sharp on images or movies..

The Sony Tablet S was the first tablet to have an integrated IR port to control all the devices around the home. When Samsung updated their Galaxy Tab and released the new version, the IR port was included.

As big as Samsung is, many would think that the amount they spend in research & development would give them a leg up against their compeititors but this doesnt seem to be the case…

Whenever I hear people say they have a Samsung, I always reply (mentally) ‘you have a knockoff’. I will give Samsung credit for its marketing prowess.

Until Samsung can come up with an innovative product that hasnt been stolen from their competitors, they will always be considered a knockoff brand in the world electronics.

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