The following example sets the Tax Rate on your Sharp EL-330A to the UK standard rate of 20%, there is no need to enter any decimals when setting the rate…
CA
C.CE
C.CE
RATE SET(+TAX Key)
20 (No need to enter decimals)
RATE SET(+TAX Key)
Note; Previously the current tax rate was 17.5%, which would have meant replacing the 20 with 175, as decimals are not used to set the rate.
The other day my phone rang while i was in another room, and as usual i knew that if i didnt answer it i would be polite enough to ring the caller back as soon as i could. So i let the phone ring and carried on with what i was doing.
To my surprise i started hearing a voice coming from my phone… it had for some reason gone and answered the call by itself and placed the call onto loudspeaker!
Sure enough i took the call, mainly because i had no choice!
Thinking afterwards i just assumed that it was a one-off thing, as it had never done this to me before.
Later that day another call came in…. i was again busy at the time so let it ring… and yes my phone done the same thing!
Scratchng around on some android forums showed other people were having the same issue with their Galaxy S3 answering calls by itself, but all of the suggestive replies of help seemed based on people guessing on a resolution.
So anyway, after a bit of self analysis etc i removed the fact that it was any background or running apps. I dont tend to use call-based apps such as caller ID or other so called “essential phone apps” as the S3 has all of the sort of fancy stuff built into it (yes just dive deep into your menus and you will see).
The problem is caused from having the ‘voice cmd for apps‘ enabled, as this listens out for any noises or sounds being made in order to take a voice command.
While your phone rings from an incoming call you are able to answer the call by simply telling your phone to do so, which also means that any background noise such as a television or general conversation around you can be mistaken for a voice command… thus answering your phone without you knowing!
To access the option press the menu button while your phone is showing the home screen, then you can find it as follows…
Settings / Voice / S Voice settings
Just dissable the ‘Voice cmd for apps’ option and your problem is solved!
menus on Samsung Galaxy S3 to resolve the auto-answer problem
Waking up the other morning i discovered that somebody had knocked my Kinect from off the top of my television, okay so i was foolish to leave it balancing there like this would never happen. The damage caused is that the stem between the base & head has snapped.
And just as suspected none of my children can remember knocking it down or who done it!
So anyway, theres no point in moaning…
Tools required…
T9 & T10 Torx bits.
Flat-ended screwdriver or similar tool.
Strong glue or resin suitable for nylon/fibreglass.
Unplug the Kinect from your console and place upsidedown onto a flat surface to work on it.
You need to remove 6 screws (shown in photo) with your T9 Torx bit.
For some strange reason just one of the screws in my unit required a T10 Torx bit, hence why its in the list of tools required.
The ones marked red can be found by removing a couple of stickers.
The screws marked with green can be found under the two (thin metal) vents, which can be carefully lifted with a flat-ended screwdriver or similar tool.
the underside of a Kinect showing where the screws are
Now your unit has been undone carefully pull the casing apart to reveal the guts
Kinect with casing removed
Now turn the unit over so you can locate the single screw which is holding the base to the main unit.
You should not need to remove the front cover as i have only done this to show things clearer. But if you find that you do need to remove it and gain more access then its just a matter of removing the four screws (2 on either end) from the metal cradle.
Now by removing this single screw the nylon/fibreglass stem should be released and can carefully be pulled out of the main unit from the underside, or push it from the upperside using a small pointed tool and poking it through the screwhole.
You will only need to remove it out as far as required in order to glue the break.
Broken stem of Kinect revealed
The actual repair job is very simple and far easier than what you might first think.
Here’s a photo of my Kinect in pieces…
Kinect in pieces for repairs
Sure, let me join this fantastic social network it sounds great, oh wait hold on… it might be best if i made my account private, you never know these days!?!?
Sound familiar?
While its all great and fantastic to join and interact with a social network, is making your account private really the best thing to do?
Go back to the first statement here, you joined a social network. That simply means being social and networking with others.
Using such a network where you restrict your contacts to those whom you are close to is fairly pointless, if you were that close then why would you need a common network platform to communicate?
Most of us these days understand what a QR code is and they are increasingly being used more within marketing for products or services.
This all sounds very good, but given what a QR code actually does a lot of people are misunderstanding how to market them.
Visit many websites these days and you will find them plastered over quite a few pages in an attempt to simplify the site visitors efforts in targetting what the code is intended to do.
Okay, it looks good on a webpage, sure it makes a company appear to be in touch with the digital demands from todays consumers. Placing a QR code inside a webpage can be quite pointless…
A growing number of consumers these days are using mobile devices for web browsing, its a proven fact, and over time they will almost certainly become the majority in comparison to conventional browsing methods.
So placing a QR code within a webpage is, and will more over time, a pointless task.
Its a waste of budget to have somebody stuff a website full of fancy code icons, a waste of payroll to conduct the meeting that decided on the idea, and a lack of experience for the individual that came up with the ‘fantastic’ idea of using QR codes on their website.
To market them properly they should be placed within flyers, leaflets or other means of promotions where the viewer can physically scan the code with their mobile device to follow its intentions.
If you are going to throw money at investing towards having QR codes inside your website then at least chuck most of the finances towards inserting browser detection and redirection, and understand the analytics attached to your site. It may seem like common sense to do this, but its surprising how many people do not follow these simple rules towards their marking or brand targetting.
Well even if the only reason you would want to do this is to be competitive against your mates its probably a bit lame, but regardless of the morals heres a few ways to gain higher achievement ranking/status for your profile.
Play Harder
Ok so its not really a helpful tip, but have you tried it? Struggling in a game is something we all come across, but hey its a game so just keep trying.
YouTube
This doesnt of course play the games nor do the hard work for you, but a heck of a lot of people in this world video themselves playing a game to prove that theyve done something or how they done it, so make use of this fantastic source of knowledge. Very handy for knowing how to get those secret achievements many games insist on having these days.
Software Hacking
It may be against a lot of morals and other reasons that could make you yawn constantly. But there is software around to do this so why not? If your mates complain that you shouldnt hack the gamerscore for a game for reasons like “its just a game” then just remind them that “its just a game” so why would they be moaning!
Most of the software available will require a Data Transfer Cable to communicate with your xbox, and in general is designed for use with a PC running using Windows operating system. There might be software out there available for Linux, Mac and other operating systems but to be honest i dont need them myself so ive never bothered to find out.
Heres a few bits of software available, a quick search on the net should find you sources to download them from…
Modio
One of the easiest bits of software to use. You can upload and download your profile data and gamesaves to and from your xbo360 either directly or by having the data stored onto a memory card.
This software is not as versatile as other stuff around, you can however use it to download gamesaves via the internet that many others have contributed to the community, these saves have been uploaded by others when a game has been completed or had other content attached with it, all you need to do is download the save (you will need to register but its free) and the rehash the save and store it directly to your xbox via a data transfer cable or onto a memory card that you can plug into your console and load the data that way.
Xport360
A bit more comprehensive bit of kit, and well worth getting. It is worth downloading the drivers for your data transfer cable to use properly. This software lets you backup and restore data.
Profile Editor
As the name suggests, this lets you edit data from within your xbox profile etc, which also includes data related to games played.
Please note…
Modifying your gamerscore can result in your live account being banned or restricted by Microsoft. Achievements may also be reset to zero where you will not be able to gain achiegekents from any of the games youve already played. You have been warned.
Microsoft has released an official version of the Xbox app for Android… and its FREE!
Its been quite a relief to know tgat Microsoft have released an official version. I have always been doubtful about entering my xbox login details to other apps, and lets face it the other apps insisted that you pay for features!
This official app beats all of my expectations. With it you can view your friends, message them, check your achievements, compare achievements, change your avatar and probably other shit that i dont even know about yet!
I aint gonna blow the trumpet on their behalf too much, Bill Gates earns enough dosh to do that himself. But heres the link for the download directly from the Android Play Store…
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.xle&hl=en&referrer=utm_source%3Dgoogle%26utm_medium%3Dorganic%26utm_term%3Dxbox+official+android+app
While writing posts with Google+ you can use bold or italic text etc in a similar way to having a basic word processor at your fingertips…
Bold text can be used by enclosing the required word(s) with * at either end.
For example… this is bold text.
Italic text can be used by enclosing the required word(s) with _ at either end.
For example… this is italic text.
Strikethrough text can be used by enclosing the required word(s) with – at either end.
For example… this is strikethrough text.
There may be other text formatting tools, but to be honest they are widely advertised by Google+, and what i have shown you here has only been discovered by accident.
If your ever on Twitter then you’ll understand the issue. Whatever you use the networking platform for whether its to keep in touch with updates from celebs and other wanabes or to stay in tune with the latest technology updates etc, the choice is yours of course, but there are occasions when your timeline becomes cluttered with ‘promoted’ tweets regarding some super fantastic product or service.
What is it?
Companies often rely on advertising and promotion for their wares, and using a popular social network is no exception. Chucking a lot of money to someone that can tell everyone how good you are or why they should use your services is surely a good thing right?
Do we need it?
Frankly the answer is NO! To me i see it as spam in my timeline, in my early days of Twitter i would block any of the offending companies that have paid their wasted budget to having a promoted tweet. Yes blocking the crap has worked to some degree, but you soon realise that this is going to be an endless task.
Do they need to do it?
We could all argue the toss on this, but from my own experiences all the promoted tweets that ive seen or blocked have come from large companies or well-known brandings. So do they really need to spam every Twitter user to tell us how good they are when they are already a well-known household name or have been established so firmly into the ground all throughout your entire life we already know about their brand, goods or services?
What can we as a consumer do about it?
Nothing, yep you heard it right. Yes you can block each offender everytime you receive such unwanted crap, but theres no way of filtering out this stuff from your timeline whether you view on a mobile device or directly through a browser.
As an alternative to endlessly blocking each ‘offender’ why not simply send them a nice polite tweet thanking them for the spam? If enough people done this i’m sure they would get the message clear enough!
Will it ever end?
You’re joking right? How would Twitter exist and keep maintaining its services for you without generating some kind of income to keep its supply, so no it will never end and not ever when advertising/promotion is probably seen as someones main source of income.
Lets face it, with regular system and game updates these days, not to mention additional game DLC or other game content, there will come a time when you need to create more storage space for your beloved Xbox.
The older your Xbox its more likely that you have less storage space, and if you feel that the data on your storage is valuable to you dont panic, there is still other ways of making space…
Cloud Storage
Activating the Cloud Storage will not make any difference, as it still consumes the same 512mb space on your harddisk so that it can sync your data.
Clearing your Cloud however is a good option when your struggling for more room. Go to system/storage and transfer the content to your system hd disk. Once youve done that you can then deactivate your Cloud and gain back the 512mb it sucked from you.
Videos
Many system updates, especially the initial setup or earlier updates, contain videos and trailers which are not needed. Visit system/storage and locate the videos section. Without going into the video folder and removing the media individually you can click the folder options and select to clear the shit out.
Believe me none of the videos or trailers in that folder are worth keeping, they just sit there wasting your valuable space.
Music
Theres a good chance that this folder is already empty or the media in there is not worth keep because youve got it elsewhere on other devices etc.
If you feel that you wish to keep the media here then you can always transfer the content using the Media Player app, but to be honest you can obtain almost any song you want these days without any trouble so it may be worth just deleting the stuff.
External Drive
Attaching another drive is very easy, and a quick solution to getting more space. However, cloning your main drive contents onto an external one will not achieve anything in terms of storage space, as the cloned external drive will be the same size as your original even if you are using a larger capacity external drive. For best results you should let your xbox prepare the external drive for use and then transfer content manually to it, this will give you its maximum capacity.
Memory Card
Most of us have plenty of old memory cards around the house, even older cards which have a small capacity are good enough to transfer profiles or gamesaves with.
If your a bit skint and struggling to find a spare card just consider taking a look inside an old digital camera, old mobile phone or even a childs ‘tab’ toy as they are often packed with some kind of storage which you can use via adapters etc.
Use your external drive or memory card attached via the usb port to transfer gamesaves and other content which you no longer use or havent used in a while. If you feel you need to play a game in the future that requires this content you can simply insert the memory card while you play it and tell the game to use that storage device, this is also handy for using your game content on another device instead of using the cloud.
Deleting DLC
Remember its not the end of the world if you delete any of your DownLoadable Content. The profile recovery feature will bring back with it almost everything you’ve purchased, even shit from years back that you’ve long forgotten. And for any other odd bits you should be able to re-download stuff again free because the original purchase was linked to your profile.
Digital World of Darius 