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Android Corporate Sync Issues [Troubleshooting]

The corporate sync feature on Android isn’t perfect, and while Android 2.2 was supposed to bring a host of fixes for the feature, I’ve found that synchronization issues continue, specifically on the Droid X. Below are the fixes I perform, in order, to revive broken sync:

NOTE: Proceed at your own risk. While performing these steps should be harmless, I cannot be held responsible for your choice to proceed if bad things happen.

1. Restart your device. Be honest, you haven’t done that,  yet, have you?
2. Clear data for the program that is not syncing (e.g Calendar, Email). Typically, I’ve seen sync issues with only one program. Then, restart the device.
   

   Select "Applications" from Settings Menu

   

   Select the "All" tab, then click the "Clear Data" button for each program with the sync issue (e.g. Calendar and Calendar Storage)

3. Remove then set up the Corporate Sync account (don’t do this unless you have all the details for connecting to your account again)
   

   From the Settings menu, select Accounts, long-press on the Corporate Sync account and then remove.

4. Wait it out. I’ve had users where the first two procedures above didn’t correct the issue with sync, however, after ignoring it for a few days, the sync returned.
5. The nulcear option: Reset to factory defaults
   

   Found in the Privacy menu under the Options menu, the Factory Data reset should be regarded as a last resort and only if you know exactly what a Factory Reset entails.

Crap in Advertising – Part 1

This crap has to stop.

Also, have you noticed how “moms” are discovering all the shocking and weird stuff that’s changing everything? I need to open a lab. Srew the scientists, this lab will be staffed by moms!

Finally! Video Backgrounds in Microsoft Office PowerPoint [Office 2010]

It’s been the one thing thats kept a lot of churches away from using PowerPoint as their video projection software of choice: motion backgrounds. Previously, you could insert a video on a PowerPoint slide, but you couldn’t show any text on top of it (without weird plugins that didn’t work), regardless of layering. Now, with PowerPoint 2010, part of the Microsoft Office 2010 suite of applications, you can send a video to the back layer on a slide and display text or images on top of it. Though, technically, this is not the background of the slide.

There is, however, one major flaw that will keep this new feature from being truly useful; there’s no way to keep a single video looping through several slides, even if you insert the video into the slide master. In other words, assuming you’ve inserted the same video on subsequent slides, each time you change a slide the video will start over. Therefore, unless your video is looped to the exact time you want to change each slide, there will be a noticeable jump in the video each time you change a slide.

Alternatively, this can be overcome by keeping all the text you wish to display in association with a particular background loop on one slide and make heavy use of custom animations to hide and show blocks of text. This, certainly, becomes very troublesome when dealing with more than two or three “slides” of text, but that could be just enough.

Looking for motion/still backgrounds to use for your PowerPoint slides? Check out my previous post: 100s of Free Worship Backgrounds & Graphics (and videos!)

Update: I found it is possible to keep a video running across multiple slides through the use of video options in the custom animation task pane, however, doing so will cause the video to move to the front, covering any text on the slide. So, while this feature is still useful for video thats inset on a slide, it will not work for full screen motion backgrounds.

Keep Flash Fullscreen on Dual Monitors

Alright, your desk is decked out with dual screens, you’re rocking hardcore productivity, but now you’re ready to use those two screens for their intended purpose: watching YouTube/Hulu videos fullscreen on one monitor while trolling forums telling people how wrong they are on the Internet.* Alas! The fullscreen Flash video immediately scampers down to its original size as soon as you click anywhere on your other monitor. What gives Adobe? If I want a video at full screen, I don’t want it closing just because I clicked somewhere else.

Adobe doesn’t provide official support to prevent this behavior, but when the Internet wants a feature, the Internet gets the feature. You have three options:

1. Get a hex editor and muck around with DLLs to change a single byte.
2. Find a version of the DLL that someone else has already mucked with and replace your version of the file (as long as its for the same version of Flash)
3. Use FlashHacker or DrizzlyChrome from Jmaxxz

FlashHacker is a program to automate the task of hacking Flash to force fullscreen in IE and non-IE Flash installations. Since Chrome now comes with its own built-in version of Flash, DrizzlyChrome does the same thing as FlashHacker, only for Chrome. Beware: As with any software hack, its possible it will break when a new version of Flash is installed.

* 365D does not condone trolling for any reason.

Dell Monitor Won’t Turn On

Photo by yum9meMy Dell G2210 22″ LED  widescreen monitor refused to turn on this afternoon. This had happened once before, only a month or two after I purchased the refurbished monitor from Dell Outlet. Previously, I thought by simply unplugging the monitor for a few hours then plugging it in again, the monitor would somehow reset and it’d work. Well, that time, I’d gotten lucky. This time, it wasn’t working, so I set out to comb the Interwebs for solutions.

According to this post from Dell’s support forums, if you manually turn off your monitors after putting your system to sleep, your monitor may not wake up with the system. If your monitor isn’t turning on after you put your system to sleep and you manually turned off the monitor, the solution is as follows:

1. Power off the PC
2. Power off the monitor
3. Disconnect the power cable from the monitor
4. Disconnect all video cables from the monitor (USB, DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI, etc.)
5. While disconnected, press and hold the monitor power button for 5 seconds
6. Reconnect the video cable to the monitor
7. Reconnect the power cable to the monitor
8. Power on the monitor if it didn’t power on after connecting the power cable
9. Power on the PC
10. If no video is displayed, ensure the correct input is selected.

If this procedure doesn’t get your monitor to come back to life, follow the procedure again, but keep the monitor off longer. If that still doesn’t work, I hope your warranty is still valid!

I have two identical, refurbished Dell G2210 monitors and only one has caused the issue I describe here. Because I love using the (newly stable) sleep mode in Windows 7 and I dislike phantom power draw from “sleeping” monitors, I will continue to manually power off my monitors, but I will have to see if it makes a difference if I make sure to power off the the monitors before the computer enters sleep.

Roommate Agreement / Contract

So, you’ve busted free of the parents house and you’re ready to live a full, independent life in your dorm, shared apartment, or ( for the lucky) shared home. You and your new roommates may be best friends, but nothing tests those friendships like living with them, their weird guests, and their quirky habits. The best way to ensure conflicts are kept to a minimum is to be clear about what is and isn’t okay around your new shared home. Start by reading this guide on college roommate etiquette tips. One good way to ensure everyone is on the same page is through the use of a roommate agreement or, more ominously, contract. A contract can also be important when your living situation requires significant money to pass hands as everyone pays their part of the security deposit and rent is paid each month; you want to make sure you get that deposit back, right!?

First, you should discuss what the agreement should cover. You want to make sure everyone likes the idea, and is in agreement over how the agreement binds them. A simple agreement may only cover some ground rules, and things like chores. A more involved contract would also cover rent, utilities, and what should be done in the case of a vacating roommate. If you own or rent the home and are sub-leasing rooms, you’ll definitely want a contract that discusses more items related to payments and tenancy dates. The contract should be a required legal document before someone even moves in their first sock.

Below, you’ll find a contract I created for my roommate days. You’ll find it can be very thorough in some areas; I wanted to be sure it was very clear! In hindsight, it didn’t need to be, I had trouble-free roommates, but perhaps your situation isn’t so rosy. At any rate, take the contract, and the chore list I’ve provided and fit it to your needs!

• Roommate Contract (PDF)
• Roommate Contract (DOCX)
• Roommate Contract (DOC)
• Chore Assignments (PDF)
• Chore Assignments (DOCX)
• Chore Assignments (DOC)