Author Archives: Bill Stebbins

Nexus 4 Orb Charging – It’s finally here!

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n4orbchargerIt is quite a simple device. It looks like a Nexus Q chopped diagonally in half, and its sole purpose is to sit on your desk or nightstand and wait for you to place your Nexus 4 (or possibly other Qi-compatible device) on its face and charge it without plugging in any cables to your phone. Super convenient!

The Orb Charger uses magnets to hold the Nexus 4 in place, and once placed, it is angled in such a way that using it is easy, and well, useful (this was a common complaint I’ve heard about the LG wireless charging pad – you can’t use the device when it’s lying flat on the table). It is capable of activating DayDream mode (I forgot to show that in the video, but check out my Nexus 7 dock video for footage of that in action).

How does it work in real life? Fantastic. It charges quickly, and it holds the Nexus 4 firmly. It also looks mighty nice. It’s quite pricey at $59.99, but if you’re in need of a wireless charger and you want an OEM accessory, this is the hot ticket. Grab it from the Google Play Store right now!

Watch the video below:

Onanoff Leather Skin for MacBook Air

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In this video I show you the orange leather skin available for the 13″ MacBook Air. It includes a top skin, palmrest, screen protector, and bottom skin. It’s available in several different colors.

It goes on very easily, and it gives a nice tactile feel to the Air. My only concern with the skin was the cutout around the Apple logo (which was really just a circle). I felt that if that had been a precise cutout around the logo it would have given a more “finished” feel to the top skin.

It’s available from onanoff.com for $69.95 for the kit.

Thanks to them for sending me a review sample!

Fantom Tempered Glass Screen Protector for Galaxy Nexus

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This is an unboxing and installation video for the Fantom tempered glass screen protector from xgearlive.com – I purchased this directly from the website with my own money, and install it on this video.

The screen protector is only 0.4mm thin and is supposed to be very resistant to scratches. I’m not going to try scratching this since I plan to keep it for a while, but you can find videos of it being torture tested if you look. Since it’s glass, it feels and works just like the original screen.

It fits fine with my CruzerLite and bumper cases. You can’t even tell there’s a screen protector on it!

Sixaxis Controller for Android – How to Set Up

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This video walks you through the setup of the Sixaxis Controller app for Android. It allows you to use a PS3 wireless controller to play games.

You do need to be rooted for this to work (watch my rooting video for instructions on that).

I show you how to use this app with game that support native gamepads such as Dead Trigger and Shadowgun. You can use this app to control games without native gamepad support such as NOVA 3, but that’s more complicated and I didn’t include here.

Hope this is helpful, and thanks for watching!

Nexus 7: How to Root

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This video shows you a basic overview of unlocking the bootloader, flashing a custom recovery, and obtaining root access on the Nexus 7 tablet from Google.

It is not meant to be an all-encompassing guide, and yes, I know there are plenty of ways to accomplish this. However, if you root, I believe you should know the basics of doing it so you can fix it when you break it.

I did provide the basic commands, but YMMV depending on your computer’s operating system and setup.

Google Now vs My 7 Year Old Daughter

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I’ve seen lots of videos of people interacting with Google Now on Android Jelly Bean 4.1, and it works very well. However, my 7 year old daughter Miranda and I were playing around with it this weekend and I discovered that it doesn’t always work well with her voice.

The results are pretty funny.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad!

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Things my Dad taught me: 

No good deed goes unpunished, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do good deeds. 

Sometimes after I do something to help someone, I immediately regret it. We all know those people – give them an inch, they’ll take a mile. You should still help those people; what you see as them taking advantage of you is actually a compliment to your time and talent.

If you don’t make time to do it right, you’ll always make time to do it over.

I used to not be some obsessive-compulsive(no really). I always did well in school, and I was always a bit of a neat freak. However, when working on cars, I sometimes cut corners to make things work. My dad taught me to pay attention to all of the details, even the ones nobody would ever see. I guess with him working on top fuel dragsters, funny cars, and airplanes, the hidden details were the most important

Now, I take extreme proud in the most minute detail of my projects (especially those that no one will ever see).

The only helping hand you’ll ever find is at the end of your own arm.

Being self-sufficient isn’t a hard skill to learn. It seems to be harder for some than others but the most important part is to only blame yourself for your situation. Don’t blame your parents, your spouse, your kids, your boss, or your friends.

Don’t expect people to help you or to care about you. Give them reasons to, and they will.

I’m very thankful that my Dad taught me these things, and I think my life reflects the quality of his teachings. I’ve been married to my wife for almost 17 years, and together with her for over 20. I’ve worked at the same company for 21 years, and I have a ton of great friends I know I can depend on if I need them. I have 2 wonderful daughters who love and adore me, and help me drive my wife crazy.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad.

Thanks for all the lessons you taught me – the intentional ones, and the unintentional ones.