Tutorials On Demand

Tutorials On Demand

Don't get left behind, the digital age is moving rapidly and it is safe to say none of us can afford to be left behind.

The TECavd Tutorial Matrix

If you have ever said I can never keep up with this new technology if you refuse to get a smartphone because you are afraid it is smarter than you. Or you give your phone, tablet, the remote to the t.v. to your five year old grandchild to setup it up, update it, add features, undo the mistakes you have made, maybe you just want to make a phone call.

A few years ago you could have gotten by with just handing those pesky electronics to someone else or maybe avoiding them gifts from Satan's treasure chest altogether. In recent years it would seem that everything we touch now requires a manual {the size of the old yellow pages} to operate and enjoy.

I would like to ease your pain a bit, I would like to offer my years of experience to help you better understand todays technology. I have been building, trouble shooting, and repairing peoples electronic and digital woe's for thirty plus years.

Most people do not have time to scourer the internet looking for a tutorials on how to work their gadget or gadgets. The worst part is when you think you have found a decent tutorial, you either end up having to sign a contract in blood to get the advice or there is the real threat of getting a virus, which creates a whole new basket of evil.

It is likely true that ever question you have about todays nuisances  when it comes to the digital age and our use of new age electronics, there is probably a tutorial on the internet somewhere.

With tutorials on demand, I am offering to do the research for you or create the tutorial for you. Here is an (example) as to the detail and ease of understanding, when you have a tutorial made to your specification or limitations. I completed this step by step tutorial (where are my apps) for a client a little bit ago. She was so elated, if she was comfortable leaving a comment she would have.

Digital Communication Devices

Streaming Devices and Data Services

Internet Publishing

Home Automation

Social Media

If you have a digital conundrum, and you are ready to toss your digital or electronic device up against a wall, email me at tecavd@tecavd.com and give TECavd's tutorials on demand a try first.

TECavd Tutorials on Demand

Most tutorials are free of charge and only take thirty (:30) minutes to complete. If it takes more than thirty (:30) minutes or if the first tutorial is submitted and you need more instruction. See the prices below.

Levels of Service for TECavd Tutorials on Demand

Please use the drop down button below to select the level of service you will be needing, per our discussion.

TECavd TOD

Free $0.00 USD 1 Hour $10.00 USD 2 Hours $20.00 USD 3 Hours $30.00 USD

If you have any questions Do Not hesitate to email me at tecavd@tecavd.com.

TECavd Store

TECavd Suggested Products

These products are recommended because staying up to date, should be affordable.

Smartphones may be the choice for communicating and keeping in touch, however you do not need an expensive phone or an equally expensive contract. Go with an inexpensive unlocked phone and a qualifying pre-paid plan and cut your wireless needs in half.

We all have to plug in sometime and somewhere get a sleek portable charging device that is ready to charge when you are. A cheap and possibly free way to recharge is as close as the sun. Why not look at solar gear as a source to charge your everyday devices.

Looking to cut the cable or just want to slash that high entertainment bill. One of the many choices for streaming could come in handy. A streaming device with the capability to support the latest streaming channels as well as a usb port for external connections maybe your answer.

If your smart phone is just too small for streaming the latest hit show, viewing last night girls or guys night out or typing up a quick draft for work. Then you should invest in a low cost but reliable tablet.

Where are My Apps

In the event, the unfortunate happens to your smartphone or tablet, and your device has to be factory reset.

Another scenario is that your device met the sidewalk, or decided to take a swim in the toilet.

Or just maybe you need to update your apps.

The question has been asked: Where are my Apps?

The answer; The cloud, now wasn't that easy.

Ok, maybe this will require some explanation. Here are the steps needed to find and update your apps.

iOS

Step 1 Touch the App Store icon

Step 2 Find and Touch the Purchased Button

Step 3 There They Are

Step 4 Are You Looking to Update your Apps

Find and Touch the Update Button.

Step 5 Update those Apps Here

Android

Step 1 Find and Touch the Play Store Button

Step 2 Select the Options Menu

Step 3 Touch My Apps and Games

Step 4 There They Are

Complete

If you have not backed up your device either on a PC (who does that anymore) or in the cloud, then these steps could help you restore your device back to the way it was before tragedy struck.

You could also use these steps to update your Apps. Updating your Apps are most important if there are security updates needed, or critical updates, otherwise it is good to update them to get the latest features.

If you have any suggestions for a specific tutorial.

Please let me know via email, or leave a comment.

If you just got your smart device click here.

                                               Store                                            Service

How to Connect to a Wifi Network

So, you have chosen to save your Cellular Data Stipend. In effect saving yourself or if someone else is footing the bill, that surprise at the end of the month. You know the cell bill with lot's of Zero's.

The question is: How do I access a Wifi Network, yours, theirs or anybodies?

You will be surprised to find that this process only takes a few steps. For your convenience I have provided the steps for iOS and Android devices.

iOS Devices

Step 1 Find the Settings icon.

Step 2 Select Wifi and Turn it On

Step 3 Choose the desired Network 

Enter password if required, Touch the Connection Button.

Android Devices

Step 1 Choose Apps  to access the Settings Menu

(Note you may already have a quick access to the settings icon on your home page.)

Step 2 Find and Select the Settings icon

Step 3 Select the Wifi Setting

Step 4 Choose the desired Network and enter the password if required, Touch the connection button.

Complete

After you have complete the finally step in both scenario's touch the connection button.

Wait a few seconds for the handshake to be complete ( your device may say acquiring ip yada yada) just be patient, in a few seconds you will be connected to the Wifi.

Until the Cellular companies start understanding that we as a society of Data Users need more than a stipend of 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 Gigabyte of Data. Using an available Wifi Network will save you quite a bit of heartache and possibly some marriages, family relationships, roommate squabbles and a lot of money.

If you have any suggestions for a specific tutorial.
Please let me know via email, or leave a comment.

If you just got your smart device click here.

In The Beginning there was the Abacus

In The Beginning there was the Abacus

In the beginning there was the abacus and then the mainframe computer it was a huge computer that processed and stored data on magnetic drums, punch cards and then tape. 

Then there was the personal computer, really though the personal computer did not last long quickly to be replaced with a laptop then handheld devices. 

And now we have the smartphone and tablet pc.

Now let's welcome you to cloud computing. But is this really new or have we seen it before?

What’s next? Yes, we will soon speak into the air listen for the reply, learn it, buy it, teach it, record it, play it, watch it, listen to it, and read it.

Until then though!

No matter what they call it no matter how they package it, it is still an abacus.

What we do is take information or data turn it into a digital code and then store it so it can be recalled, changed, manipulated, and stored again.

So let's briefly cover storage.

In your electronic devices there are megabytes, gigabytes of data. Did you know that you have access to terabytes of data (cloud computing).

What is a megabyte? 1 million 

What is a gigabyte? 1 billion

What is a terabyte? 1 trillion

What does that mean to you? It is the amount of data your device can store. 

Note: The terms can also be used to describe speed.

What is data? Data (not to be confused with the character on star trek), use to be facts, statistics, charts, details found on a chart or in a huge manual.

Now data is your emails, songs, movies, books, documents, pictures, and facts, statistics, charts, details found on a chart or manual. And all of this data can now be accessed from the palm of your hand.

Let’s consider just 16 gigabyte of storage and how much data you can store on an electronic device.

Of course each example must give consideration to the individual size of each item.

You could store 50,000 to 55,000 books, try putting that in you book bag.

Up to 4,000 songs, do you have a cd case that can carry all those albums.

Depending on the length of the movie, the quality of the movie, and the format, approximately 16 to 60 hours of moving pictures, how many movie reels would you need to store that many movies.

You could carry just about all of your photo albums on your 16 gigabyte device, imagine that. Of course, we would have to take in consideration whether the photos are black and white or full color, as well as the quality of the photo which is measure in megapixels. Thank about this, you could store 200 to 9,000 pictures on your device.

That is a lot of data, just remember if you choose to put 8 to 30 movies on your device, you will not be able to store anything else on your device.

No need to fear you can always expand your memory.

Most smartphones, tablet pc’s, laptops, or PC’s have to share their storage with other files, applications, software, operating systems. 

With that being the case you could run out of storage pretty quick.

Why is storage so important? Because of the following question.

I am often asked, what type of tablet or smartphone should I get? 

My first consideration would be the processor, next the internal memory, which includes the ram as well the memory for data storage (this will be broken down into three categories memory the device uses and memory you will use to store your data and the memory used to transfer data from the processor to the ram). I would also consider how much expandable memory the device can handle.

So, what does the cloud have to do with storage and gigabytes?

Most major companies now offer to store all of your data in the cloud, the cloud is nothing more than a warehouse with great computing power and lots of storage. If that sounds like a mainframe computer, then you are not far off base.

The circle of life.

Your device connects to a database, that database connects to nodes and computer networks, which connects to servers and the internet.

How does this help you?

Imagine all of the data that we spoke about above was stored on your device, and that device met a catastrophic end. What would happen to all of those emails, songs, movies, etc.?

You could have backed it up to your home computer, or you can back it up to the cloud.

Even if you did not care about all of your personal data stored on your device. Your user information, your purchase history and other pertinent data is stored in a cloud somewhere.

The business application of the cloud is far more greater, consider this. At your finger tips you can purchase just about any commodity known to man with a few taps on your phone. Where is all of that data stored? 

In the cloud, companies like amazon.com, google.com, sony.com, walmart.com, microsoft.com, target.com, bestbuy.com, apple.com, sears.com, use the cloud to store merchandise codes, personnel data, store locations, your personal data, and so much more in the cloud.

Welcome to the cloud and cloud computing. 

What’s next? Yes, we will soon speak into the air listen for the reply, learn it, buy it, teach it, record it, play it, watch it, listen to it, read it. 

So that leads me to the question what is IT.

In the beginning there was the abacus.

I Finally got a Smartphone and Tablet PC Now What

So you finally got a Smartphone or Tablet PC Now What?

Whether you decided the time was right to take a chance and give up your “dumb phone” and replace it with a smartphone. Or, your family, friends, co-workers or strangers have been pushing you to step into the digital age.

Perhaps you are tired of being tethered to a desktop PC and decided to take your work, play, music, videos, and entertainment with you.

What ever the reason, I welcome you to the future, and know this; that it is only the beginning. After all the internet age is only twenty something.

Yes, for you who realize that the internet has been around a lot longer, I hope you would agree that, those early years, when the government military and large corporations only had access, Do Not Count.

I will turn my attention back to those hold outs, you know who you are. You have said, “I do not need a smartphone, I only want to make and receive calls” or “I do not need a phone that is smarter than me” or “those devices are such a waste of time, whatever happen to having a regular conversation with another person” and my favorite, “those things are just too complicated.”

Some of your apprehension is that you feel as though the rest of the world has left you behind. The majority of you though are afraid that you will break your new device or get stuck and miss something very important.

What was wrong with doing things the old way right?

Whatever the reason you are stuck in the past, it is time to get unstuck.

When was the last time you have seen someone start their car by cranking it? Maybe you recall the last time you rolled out a scroll to read your favorite novel, or just the daily news. Perhaps you still cook over an open flame outside, and ring a bell, when dinner is ready.

My point is, the smartphone, the tablet pc, and a multitude of other digital devices are here to stay and they are very much apart of our daily lives.

Please take advantage of this step by step guide to getting to know and becoming comfortable with the digital age.

We will be covering in this Tutorial the iOS or iPhone, iPad Devices and the Android Devices.

Step 1

So your first step is to pull it out from under your bed, or the closet, attic, crawl space wherever your favorite hiding place is, charge it up and turn it on. It is time to really let your fingers do the walking.

Normally there are three buttons a power button and two volume buttons one for up and one for down.

On some Android devices the power button and the volume buttons are on the TOP.

Hold down the power button for a couple of seconds.

At this point take a breath, the nausea will past, pull out the bounty paper towels and dry the sweat from your hands and forehead. Do not worry the more you play with it, the more likely the shaking and intimidation will subside.

Step 2

Touch or swipe the start, begin or next button.

Step 3

The next step swipe and begin the setup procedure, just follow the directions on the screen. 

In case you forgot what a swipe is (touch your finger to the screen and slide in the direction of the arrow).

Note: if you are working on a smartphone it is likely that the store personnel has already completed the first 3 steps.

If your son, daughter or grandchildren decided to surprise you by sending you a smartphone or tablet in the mail, then you may have to start at step 1.

Step 4

This is really part of step 3, but should be mentioned separately. You will need to setup a user account which normally consist of setting up an email account related to the type of operating system on the device.

iOS = apple I.D. (could be an apple email, or other email)

Android = google I.D. (gmail)

Windows = outlook or hotmail

Linux (Ubuntu) = any email you already own

These are the most popular.

Note: At this time do not worry about giving out your credit card information.

Step 5

Understand the difference between Wifi and Cellular Data Usage. Raise your hand if I lost you.

The difference will add up in the monthly cost of owning this little dynamo or at least the amount of 0’s on your monthly cellular/wireless bill.

Cellular is based on the service provider.

Verizon

AT&T

Sprint

T Mobile

The list goes on and on, but these are the major service providers.

Normally you are allotted a limited amount of data 2 gig, 5 gig, 8 gig 10 gig, 16 gig, and if you go over these limitations, be prepared to pay for that extra data.

This data is different from the data used to make calls and or to send a text message in most cases.

We will discuss what a gig is later, for now understand data usage over the cellular network is very expensive if abused.

Wifi is based on a service that is provided via a separate internet source which normally adds no extra cost to use it.

You will find Wifi networks everywhere.

Starbucks

McDonalds

Wendys

Service stations

Dept. Stores

Restaurants

Book Stores

Librarys

Some cable plants provide Wifi at no extra charge, if you subscribe to their home internet service.

If given the choice use Wifi data before using or depleting your Cellular Data, do this by making sure your Wifi is turned on, and that you are connected to a wifi connection.

See images and icons provided below to determine what type of data you are using.

Step 6

Let’s get to know your new friend, we are familiar with the power button and the volume buttons, these are referred to as hard buttons.

All other buttons are soft buttons (except for the iOS devices and some android devices they have a home button that is a hard button).

These soft buttons appear as icons on the main display some android devices have a triangle, circle, and a square located at the bottom of the screen, if you do not see these icons, swipe up from the bottom and they should appear.

The triangle will allow you to go back to the previous screen.

The circle will take you home.

The square will let you see all the apps or screens you have opened recently. This will allow you to move between apps and screens with less effort.

Swiping left or right will allow you to move forward or backwards between pages or screens ( it is like flipping pages in a book without the pages).

Swiping down will allow you to access features like wifi, blue tooth, notifications, settings and other useful features. On most devices you can personalize these features.

Almost all devices have multi touch capabilities now, like pinch to zoom in and out, double tap to open applications and long press which normal allow you to customize your device. Some devices can even detect when for fingers are touching the screen, this is normally reserved for advanced features (Do Not Try this at Home).

This is a very good start for anyone who feels like they have been pushed or forced into the digital age.

Please stay tuned for part 2.

While you wait, see what else we are up to, by clicking the links to the right.