Videos by Andy Slye

Category: iPad (Page 1 of 4)

iPad

Chromecast 2015 Review: How to Set Up a Chromecast 2

The Chromecast is one of my favorite devices. For those of you wondering how to set up your new Chromecast 2nd generation, look no further. This is my quick review and setup tutorial for the 2015 Chromecast.

What is a Chromecast?

A Chromecast is a small dongle that connects to your HDTV and enables you to use your smartphone, tablet, or computer to wirelessly stream video or audio to your TV. So if you want to make your TV “smart” then this $35 Chromecast is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to do it.

The box comes with everything you need: the Chromecast, a USB cable, and a power adapter along with simple instructions that I will walk you through in this tutorial.

How Set Up Your Chromecast

First, make sure you have the following:

  • WiFi connection
  • HDTV with an available HDMI port
  • Smartphone, tablet, or computer (Chromecast works with Android devices, iPhone/iPad, Windows, Mac, and Chromebooks)

Next, connect the small end of the USB cable into the Chromecast. Then connect your Chromecast to your TV’s HDMI port using the HDMI connector. If your TV has a USB port you can plug the USB cable into it to power your Chromecast. If your TV does not have a USB port, you’ll have to connect the USB cable to the power adapter and plug the power adapter into an outlet.

Once you see the Chromecast light up, that means it has power and the next step is to turn on your TV if it’s not already on and change the Source (or Input) to the HDMI port where your Chromecast is connected. For some TVs like mine it will say Chromecast next to the HDMI port so you know which one to go to.

Now once you see your Chromecast screen on your TV you can go to your phone, tablet, or computer and visit Chromecast.com/setup. Before doing this, however, make sure your phone, tablet, or computer is connected to your WiFi network.

If you’re on your phone or tablet, it’ll ask you to install the free Chromecast app. Once that’s installed, open it up and go to Devices and follow the prompts to set up a new Chromecast. Verify that your TV screen is displaying the same code. Select your Region and give your Chromecast a name.

The next part is where you will select your WiFi network and enter your WiFi password in order for the Chromecast to connect to your WiFi successfully. It may take a minute or two to finish the setup and once it’s finished it’ll most likely start the update process.

During the update the Chromecast will show a short instructional video on your TV so go ahead and watch that to get a little more familiar with it. The update may take a few minutes so just be patient.

Now when it’s finished you should see your TV displaying “Ready to Cast”. Take a good look at the casting icon because whenever you see that icon in any of your apps that means it’s able to stream to your Chromecast. Another thing to remember is that your device that you’re streaming from must be connected to the same WiFi network that the Chromecast is connected to in order for it to work.

Using Chromecast with Apps

Let’s take a quick look at the new Chromecast app which now offers more features. From this app you can see which movies, TV shows, and music you can stream from your installed apps. You can search for entertainment titles in the app as well, and it will give you recommended apps that are compatible with Chromecast. You can also manage your Chromecast device from the app.

Now let me show you how to stream from some of the more popular apps that you probably have on your phone. Of course it works with YouTube, when you open it you should see the casting icon at the top and if you tap it and select your Chromecast from the pop-up menu it should connect to your TV. Now you can tap on a YouTube video from your phone and it will play on your TV. You can create queues of videos to have them automatically play after each other, and yes it will keep playing if you lock your device or go to another app.

You can also use apps like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, and Pandora just to name a few. To see a full list of compatible Chromecast apps I will have a link in the description below so check that out. And an often overlooked feature of the Chromecast that I absolutely love is the screensaver feature that has some of the most amazing photos on it. Sometimes I’ll just have the Chromecast on so I can look at those pictures on my TV.

So there you go, you now have a smart TV thanks to your new 2015 Chromecast 2nd generation. If you have any questions leave a comment below and I’ll try to answer them for you.

By Andy Slye

Best Portable iPhone Charger? RavPower Savior Review

RAVPower RP-PB18 Savior 9000mAh battery review
Click here to buy on Amazon

If you’re an iPhone user you probably realized by now that iPhones don’t have the best battery life. What can you do about that? For me I like to carry around an extra battery pack so I can charge my phone wherever I’m at in case the battery starts to drain down.

That’s why I wanted to do this review over the RavPower RP-PB18 Savior 9,000 mAh external battery pack with the built-in lightning connector specifically made for Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod) but you can also charge other USB devices with it as well.

I’ll quickly go over the contents of the box. Of course there’s the main battery pack itself. We also have a user guide, warranty card, USB to micro USB charging cable, micro USB to Samsung 30-pin connector, micro USB to mini-USB connector, and a cool little travel pouch.

The main battery pack has a really solid build to it. It has a nice matte suede-like finish to it, and it’s supposed to have a scratch-resistant surface. It does feel really soft. I do like the way it’s built. The size is pretty portable. It’s small and lightweight, just over 8 ounces.

You may be asking yourself “Why is this 9,000 mAh battery a little bit more expensive than say a 12,000 mAh battery sold by the same company?” That’s because the Savior has all these built-in features such as the built-in AC power plug on it so you don’t have to carry around any other cables or accessories. It just plugs right into a power outlet and charges itself.

It’s also mainly made for Apple devices: iPhone, iPad or iPod. It has an Apple lightning cable on it so again you don’t need an extra cable to take with you. All you need is the battery pack. It has everything you need and if you do have another USB device it comes with the cables that you need to charge it.

Like many other external battery packs this has built-in overcharge protection and auto shut-off. It has a USB port on the bottom so you can charge other USB devices. It has a power button on the front along with the power indicator light so if you press the power button once it will show you how much battery is left on the pack (4 lights is 100%, 3 lights is 75%, 2 lights is 50%, and 1 light is 25%).

Let’s talk about some of the results I’ve seen using this RavPower Savior battery pack with my iPhone 6. The first time I charged my iPhone 6 with the battery pack it was at 42% and it took it to 96% in 57 minutes. The second time I charged it I went from 41% to 90% in 47 minutes so that gives you an idea of how fast the battery pack charges the iPhone 6. After those 2 charges I still had 75% of the battery left on the Savior.

With that 5 volt output it’s not going to be the fastest charge, but it is pretty decently fast in my opinion for a battery pack of this size. The iPhone 6 battery is 1800 mAh so the Savior can charge it about 4 times from 0 to 100% so it does pack a pretty good amount of power.

In my opinion if you own an Apple device: an iPhone, iPad, or iPod then the RavPower Savior battery pack may be one of the best options that you can get for an external battery because it has everything built in and it is way more convenient than other battery packs. It’s portable, small, has a nice finish to it, and I see it lasting a very long time.

Top New iOS 8 Features (in 5 Minutes)

Here are the top new features in iOS 8, which will be released to the public on September 17, 2014.

The new Health app in iOS 8 lets you track and monitor your health and fitness all in one single app. You can track things like body fat, calorie intake, fitness activities, and a whole lot more. You can also let 3rd party apps link to this health and fitness data which will take fitness and health apps to whole new level. You can also create a personal Medical ID that has certain info like your allergies for emergencies.

The photos app in iOS 8 got new search features. Search through your photos for certain keywords like where or when the photo was taken. Smart albums are new too with Recently Added and Recently Deleted albums so you can actually recover a photo if you accidentally delete it. The camera has new editing controls with the new rotate dial, decent list of filters, and the ability to adjust the brightness, color, and B&W levels. There’s a new timelapse video mode, and there are manual controls for exposure now.

You can share voice, videos, and photos from within any message conversation (kind of resembles SnapChat). Tap and hold the microphone icon and say your voice message. For photos and videos hold down the camera icon and swipe up to take a photo or swipe right to take a video and it will instantly send it. You can share your current location through texts, view all the attachments sent on that conversation so all photos & videos are in one place instead of having to scroll through all the old messages. You can name group texts, leave group texts, and edit group texts. You can also send multiple photos & videos at once.

The new iOS 8 design has interactive notifications so for example you can reply to a text right from the notification itself without leaving the current app you’re in. When you double-press the home button you have quick access to your favorite and recent contacts at the top so you can quickly call or text them. The mail app has similar features to the Mailbox app. You can swipe left or right on an email for options, such as trash and flag. In Safari you can request the desktop site of a website if you don’t want to see the mobile site. With the new Battery Usage section you can view which apps are using the most battery life. The weather app now uses The Weather Channel instead of Yahoo Weather and shows a 9-day forecast with more details about the weather. You can insert photos in notes, and the Control Center got a slight redesign.

iOS 8 now has predictive text called Quicktype. It learns the way you type and gives you word suggestions. There are also 3rd party keyboards available now so you can swipe to type or get a custom keyboard.

A new feature called Family Sharing lets you share purchases from iTunes, iBooks, and the App Store with up to 6 family members without sharing Apple accounts. Parents can approve kids’ purchases and families can share photos, calendars, and locations with each other.

iCloud got upgraded to iCloud Drive which you can use to store and access your documents from your iOS device and any computer with iCloud Drive installed. So you can create a document on your iPhone and continue working on it on your computer.

iOS 8 has a new feature called Continuity, and it benefits people who own a Mac. You can use Airdrop to drag and drop files between your Mac and iOS device. Handoff lets you pick up where you left off. So if you start writing an email on your iPhone you can go to your Mac and finish it. What’s awesome is you can answer or respond to phone calls and text messages from your Mac as long as your iPhone is on the same WiFi network. If you have a tethering plan with your wireless carrier you can turn your iPhone into a WiFi hotspot for your laptop.

Spotlight got upgraded similar to the Spotlight upgrades on Mac OS X Yosemite. It not only searches your iPhone but it can search things like Wikipedia, news, nearby places, movie showtimes, iTunes, iBooks, the App store, and suggested websites. The new spotlight search also works in Safari.

Siri got some updates in iOS 8. Now when your phone is charging you can say “Hey Siri” to activate Siri. It has visual real-time voice recognition, and it can identify song names with Shazam music recognition.

By Andy Slye

Amazon Music App Review: 1,000,000+ Free Songs on Any Device

Amazon Prime Music app review
Free 30-Day Trial of Amazon Prime ► http://amzn.to/WCV6vT
Get the app: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html…

Video Transcript:

In this video I’m going to show you the Amazon music app where you can get access to millions of songs and hundreds of playlists for free directly on any device. If you are looking for a way to download free music legally onto your smartphone or tablet then this is the app to go with. This is the Amazon music app and it gives you access to like millions of songs, hundreds of playlists for free if you are a Prime member. So if you’re an Amazon Prime member you will be able to get this. If you’re not a Prime member you can get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime by visiting MyTechMethods.com/prime. That will take you to the page where you can sign up for that free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime where you can get access to all this music. I’m gonna show you this app real quick and how it works. So when you first open up the app and you login to your Amazon Prime account you see this little screen here. And this is the songs, albums, and playlists screen where you can browse through all the most popular songs and albums. You even got the genre drop down menu where you can select individual or specific genres or leave it on all genres. And then you got your playlists tab over here. You can go through the playlists. You got your albums. You can check out all the albums, and you got your search function here where you can search any phrase like any artist name or song name or album name to see if it’s available on the prime music app. And if you tap the Menu icon you got more options here. You can view your library so anything that you saved to your library from the prime music you will be able to view here by artist, playlists, albums, and songs, genres. Then you got your Downloads. So let’s go ahead and download a song or an album just for the sake of this video. Let’s say I wanna search for, No let’s say I wanna go to the alternative rock albums and see some albums here that I want. Or I can do my search function. I’ll just tap on an album here. And this album is available on Prime. It’s got that little check mark and the Prime logo here. So that means I can add this album to my device for free, download it. So what I want to do is add album to library, and it’s gonna add all the songs on the album to my library. And I just go back to my library and I can go on artists or albums to find that. I’ll just go to Artists and find Fun. This is the album that I just added to my library. And I can stream it for free by clicking the play button or shuffle button. Then I can also download all the songs by swiping to the left on each individual song and then clicking Download. So if I do that I can download songs from that album directly onto my device for free, and I can listen to it wherever I’m at. So not only do you have unlimited access to all the prime music for free you actually have this thing called Prime Playlists as well. You can go in here and choose all the playlists that are on prime and listen to them for free on your device. So that’s my review of the Amazon music app. You can click the link in the description below to find the link to this app for your device. Also again you can find the link to the free 30-day trial for Amazon Prime if you’re not an Amazon Prime member so you can get access to this app and all this music. So I hope you enjoyed this video, and I wish you all the best with your brand new music. Thank you so much for watching. Make sure you give this video a thumbs-up and subscribe to my channel. Keep having fun out there, and I will talk to you later.

How to Save Battery on iOS 7

In this video I’ll show you how to save battery on iOS 7. All of these tips apply to any iOS 7 device: iPhone, iPod, and iPad

Tip 1: End all background running apps once a day. To do this all you have to do is is double tap the home button and swipe up on each app to end the background process. This will save battery when you’re not using it.

Tip 2: Enable airplane mode when you’re not using the network or the cellular data on your device. So normally when I go to bed I just swipe up to enable airplane mode by tapping on the airplane icon. It shuts off all data connections and saves battery life.

Tip 3: Enable auto brightness or just lower your brightness level overall on your device. Go to settings then go to wallpapers and brightness and you can enable auto brightness if it’s not already enabled. Also you can just turn down your overall brightness there using the scroll bar. Keep auto brightness enabled to extend battery life on your iPhone, iPod or iPad.

Tip 4: Disable Bluetooth and Airdrop if you’re not using those features.

Tip 5: Disable any unnecessary notifications in your notification center. Go to Settings then Notification Center and disable any of these that you do not need notifications for. You can choose to disable all of them or just certain ones depending on which app it is so you can customize it to your liking.

Tip 6: Disable unnecessary location services. So in Settings go to privacy and then location services you can choose to turn location services on but only turn it on for certain apps. I disabled location services for any app that does not need it. A lot of these apps don’t need your location information. That’ll save battery life for sure.

Tip 7: Disable unnecessary system services. Scroll to the bottom and tap on system services and disable these three options: diagnostics and usage, location-based iAds, and popular near me. These three apps are basically unnecessary for the majority of iPhone users so turn those off. Also turn off frequent locations.

Tip 8: Limit ad tracking. Under Settings go back to privacy and at the bottom you see an advertising tab. Tap on that and make sure that your limit ad tracking is enabled. You want to limit the ad tracking that your iPhone is doing in the background.

Tip 9: Disable Diagnostics & Usage reports. Go into Settings go to General go to About scroll to the bottom and go to diagnostics and usage and make sure that the “Don’t send” is checked. If you want to send that stuff and be a good citizen you can leave it on “Automatically send” but if you want to maximize your battery life you can change that.

Tip 10: Reduce motion. If you don’t care about the parallax 3D effects on the background and the transition effects for the app’s closing and opening go to Settings go to General, Accessibility go down to Reduce Motion.

Tip 11: Disable background app refresh. Go into settings then general and then tap on background app refresh. Disable it for all apps or enable it and then enable certain apps like I have. I turned off background app refresh for apps that I do not want to update in the background. That’ll save battery life especially when you have a lot of apps open at the same time.

Tip 12: Disable automatic updates by going into Settings go to the iTunes and App Store option. Here you can disable automatic downloads and automatic updates for music and apps. Also you can disable cellular data so it doesn’t use your cell data to do automatic downloads.

Tip 13: Configure Spotlight search settings. Go to Settings then go to General tap on spotlight search and here you can disable spotlight search for any app that you want. You can customize this list for any app that you do not need spotlight search for. Uncheck it and spotlight search will not index that app which will save battery life.

That is how to save battery life on iOS 7. I hope you enjoyed the tips. If you have any other tips that I didn’t cover or I missed just leave a comment below. Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel. Thanks for watching!

By Andy Slye

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