Rick Hall » Computers

Mom Pays Student to Stop Facebooking

Rick Hall — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:55:37 +0000

Modern day parenting here folks! A mother in South Carolina offered her daughter $300 to stop using the social media site Facebook for one month. The way the deal worked, Alyssa Rushing, 20, had to stay off of Facebook for a month, pour the hours she would have spent on the social networking site studying, and in exchange her mom would give her $300.

Like most her age, Alyssa indicated that she typically spent three to four hours on Facebook, logging on whenever she has a break in her day.

To keep Alyssa accountable, her roommates changed her account password prior to the 30 day period and refused to share it with her.

Alyssa said that it became difficult to abstain from the social networking site. She jokingly said she missed the site so much that she felt like she was going through “Facebook detox.”

How to Clean Your Cell Phone

Rick Hall — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:40:03 +0000

About two weeks ago, we learned that cell phones are 18 times dirtier than toilet handles. Have you stopped using your cell phone since then? Of course not! Since then, I think I have wiped my phone down with Lysol wipes at least five or six times. The story freaked me out. So what’s the best way to clean your cell phone?

According to DIYLife, here’s what you need to do to keep your phone clean!

1.) Wipe it down and kill the bacteria- Dampen a cloth with a mixture of water and alcohol on keyboards, buttons and solid parts of the device. Do not use this solution or household cleaners on touchscreens. Instead, use a damp water cloth. Use a Q-tip to reach tiny crevices and hard-to-reach areas.

2.) Blast the keypad- Spray a few bursts of compressed air or use a small paint brush to whisk away dust and dirt that cause keypad numbers and trackballs to stick.

And for my last trick…disgusting!

3.) Battle earwax buildup- Dirt and earwax settling in earphones can lead to a reduce in sound quality (um…and it’s gross!!). If the covers are removable, pop them off and soak them for about 30 minutes in a bowl of hot water and a few drops of dish washing liquid. Rinse and dry before putting them back in place. Use an alcohol-dipped swab to go over one-piece headphones.

DIG DEEPER: Click here to learn additional tips on keeping your cell phone and other electronic devices clean.

Oh no! There goes my laptop!!

Rick Hall — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 21:25:32 +0000

You can already see where this is going, can’t you?

I had the day off work today. I attempted to sleep in but was forced to wake up at 7:30. Those pesky cats just don’t like me to sleep in! Based on the way that my day started out, I should have known that today was not going to be my day!!

I got out of bed, put a bagel (my favorite food, by the way) into the toaster, made a pot of coffee, and headed up to my ‘study.’

Here’s where everything went wrong…

I reached for the power cord to my iBook. As I pulled the cord across my desk, I tipped my mug over. There was coffee EVERYWHERE! It was one big sticky mess.

Of course, today was the day that I had to make the coffee too strong for my liking, and had to load it up with sugar and milk!

As tears began to build up in my eyes (ok, well maybe i’m being a little dramatic here), I applied towel to my iBook. There was coffee coming out from every end…of the computer, that is.

About 20 minutes later, I tried turning it on. No avail. I tried it again about 10 minutes later. SUCCESS!

Lesson learned: Never keep liquids near your computer.
Ha! Like we’ll ever do that, right?

Ok, real lesson learned: Always keep an eye on that mug.

Oh yeah…backup your data now, while you still can…
I did…I took me all morning, but at least I’ll have my data if this thing does die from an allergic reaction to coffee. :-/