You: “I’d really like to learn Photoshop. Ugh! There aren’t any classes when I am not at work. Private tutoring is so expensive, I guess I’ll just have to get a book and learn it on my own.”

Later, at the store…

You: “Man, there are so many books on Photoshop! I had no idea! I guess I will just get the book labeled “FOR DUMMIES” because I want to start from the beginning.”

Does that scenario describe your own experience? If so, you are reading the right post. Many people choose to buy a book when they want to teach themselves something on the computer. This works wonders if you are technically minded, a self starter, and extremely disciplined. The worst offenders are the “For Dummies” books. Have you even read one of them, actually read one? They may work for some people, but for most, they are too wordy and more technical than us “dummies” need. Their counter parts are the “Missing Manuals“. There was a reason they were missing. They come across as the bible of whatever subject their title boasts. However, upon further examination, they fall into the same mindset that anyone reading a technical book must be technically minded.

But, you are reading this to find out which books are the good ones.

The “Teach Yourself Visually” series is one of the better ones. They give you lots and lots pictures. There are some step-by-step instructions, but mostly pictures. I recommend this to my clients who are visual learners and those who learn by doing. The “Simplified” series come in a close second. Another great series for someone new to a certain subject is the “Plain & Simple” series. It is a great short book to get your feet wet in any subject.

“Visual Quick Tips” series is always a great reference. “Sam’s Teach Yourself” is good if you are attending a class where someone can explain what Sam fails to explain. It is a great supplemental read.

Portable Genius is a great series of how to and quick reference guides for anyone with an iPhone or iPad only. (Your parents, grandparents, etc.) It is a great series for those who just want to learn the basics and not be bogged down with too much outside info. Que came out with a “My…” series that rivals the “Portable Genius”. The “My…” Series covers all types of tablets, computers, phones. They even have a book on the Chromebook.

“In Easy Steps” and “In Easy Steps For Seniors” are two amazing series out of England. They are some of the best step-by-step and easiest to understand for seniors. I recommend both of these series to all seniors. The books are light, uncluttered, and a larger print; perfect for the Greatest Generation.

As you excel in your studies, “Digital Classroom” and Adobe’s “Classroom in a Book” series takes you to the next level. “Step by Step” is another series that can bring your skills from a 3 to a 7 in a matter of hours. They can be wordy, but they are easy to understand.

The O’Reilly books are not to be topped when it comes to the best in the business. If you are at a higher level and need that extra push or want to learn something new, O’Reilly is for you. They are comprehensive and serve as great desk references as well as paperweights when needed. They are worth every penny, and now available in non-paperweight edition (eBook).

When purchasing a book, Rule #1 is to always make sure you are getting the book that is right for you. If you have Mac OSX Lion, but the book you have in your hand is Mountain Lion, put it back. You should be getting the exact book for your exact program. If you have MS Word 2013, an MS Word 2010 book will not be kind to you. Close enough only works in horseshoes and hand grenades. Now that we know to match our book to our program, what about when the book was written? Was the program updated since the book was written? Take Facebook for example. People buy a book about Facebook, get it home and realize that nothing looks the same. Facebook doesn’t have a new “edition” out, but the program has been updated.

Rule #2 is always check the copyright! If a book was not published in the current year (ie: 2013), it is not worth looking at. When it comes to technology, everything changes so fast. It can take up to one year to bring a book to press and distribute it to the stores. If you have a book in your hand that says it was copyrighted in 2011, the info could be up to 3 years old!

For those of you on a budget, the library is a great resource, but remember to check on Rule #2! Many public libraries also now offer eBooks that can be “checked out” on a tablet or computer with an Internet connection. It takes a bit of time to figure it out, but it is a great alternative to the $60+ some books can run.

Another alternative is used bookstores. Sometimes, if you are trying to learn a program that is 1-2 versions back, the regular stores do not carry books on that software anymore. (See Rule #1.) Another option is a nifty little website called ALLBookstores.com. They have a one stop shopping approach to book buying. The site compares all other bookstore sites to find you the best price on any given book. They compile a list of well-known sites like Amazon, eBay, and Half.com, as well as the little guys like WonderBooks, and Textbookx.

If you still can’t find the right book, try this tried and true test. Grab three books off the shelf on your subject. Open each one into the middle. If you can comprehend and understand what they are asking you to do, and it makes some sense, it is the book for you! Not all writers write books for everyone. Find one that has a writing style you can learn from, hence the test.

Happy Hunting!

Graph via Something of that Ilk.

This week on the Deemable Tech podcast, the bowels of hell reopened and spat out more fun printer questions! Also, Ray and Tom helped a listener understand what to look for in a new computer, and helped another listener understand why her phone is better at being a computer than her computer is. All that and more on this week’s episode of Deemable Tech.

Episode 37 – More Evil Printers!

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT

RAY: From WJCT studios in Jacksonville, Florida, I’m Ray Hollister, I’m Tom Braun, and this is Deemable Tech, technology worth talking about, and tech help worth listening to.

TOM: Got a question about your computer, smart phone, tablet or the Internet? Give us a call us at One Eight Eight Eight, Nine Seven Two, Nine Eight Six Eight, or send us an email at questions@deemable.com.

RAY: This week’s episode of the Deemable Tech podcast is brought to you by A Small Orange, Homegrown Hosting. A refreshingly different approach to web hosting. On the web at asmallorange.com.

And, by audible.com – get a FREE audiobook download at audibletrial.com/Deemable Over 100,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player.

TOM: This week on the podcast we’re talking about… what are we talking about, Ray?

RAY: Well Tom, this week we’re going to talk about how to shop for laptops, but first we’re going to talk about your favorite topic.

TOM: What’s that?

RAY: Printers!

TOM: NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

RAY: Listeners from last week’s podcast may remember that Tom has an – aversion – to printers.

TOM: They are from the devil and should be burned.

RAY: Well, people still have questions about printers. Let’s see if we can help the nice people out.

TOM: Oookay…

Melissa asks, my HP Photosmart C5100 printer says that I need to insert a new ink cartridge (the pink) even though we already have. It won’t let me choose black and white printing either, which it usually does when one color is out. I’ve tried two different pink ink cartridges so I know that isn’t the problem.

RAY: Printers are probably the most-hated pieces of technology ever created, and at no time are they more hated than when they pop up the dreaded ?Ink Cartridge(s) Are Empty” error message. Fortunately, with your model, you can override that error message without hacking into the printer. It does take a few steps though. Here’s how to get rid of that pesky error message.

Before you start this, you should bookmark this page or open it on another device. You have to reboot your computer during this process, and since you can’t use your printer you’ll need a way to get back to this information. A fast easy way to bookmark this page is to press Ctrl-D on your keyboard. That will start the save this page as a bookmark dialogue in almost every web browser. Now that you have that saved, you can move on.

First, if the computer and the printer isn’t turned on and plugged in, go ahead and do that now. This will sound ironic in a minute, but trust me, it’s important.
Now, disconnect the Ethernet Cable or the USB cable from the back of the printer. (Disconnect both if you have them both plugged in for some reason.)
Restart your computer. (Make sure you’ve already bookmarked this page before you do that so you can easily get back here after the computer restarts.)
Once the computer is back on, and with the printer still turned on, unplug the power cord from the printer.
Now, wait 30 seconds. Listen to Her Majesty, by The Beatles to kill the time. (Technically, it’s only 23 seconds long but by the time you fire up the CD or record player or YouTube, you’ll have burnt those extra 7 seconds.)
Put all your CDs or records back in the closet, or stop watching cat videos on YouTube.
Insert the power cord back into the printer, and turn the printer on.
Clear any error messages.
Now, you shouldn’t have that pesky error message in your face, and you should be able to go back to printing. Until the next time.

If that doesn’t work, try repeating these steps again, but perhaps try substituting Her Majesty for one of these videos. They won’t improve your odds, but they’ll probably make you laugh, and you might forget about your evil printer for a little bit.

Joe D. writes,

Hello Ray and Tom,

I also have a printer problem but not related to operation. It’s the cost of operation. We have been using 2 Canon inkjet printers for the past 4-5 years – the entire time my kids were in college they used these printers. While the printers were very cheap to purchase, they have been very expensive to operate (granted that’s subjective). I am not sure which costed more – the college tuition or the ink for the printers! I recently started looking for replacement printers with the goal of getting the operational price down, but there is so little information on this, it’s hard to determine what models are cheapest to run. While I realize that all-in-one inkjets aren’t the least expensive to operate, I really would like to find the least expensive in this category while still getting decent print quality and speed for occasional home use only. Thanks for any help you can provide.

RAY: Lauren writes, Hi guys,

So I’m in the market for a new laptop. (After much wailing and gnashing of teeth over my still new-ish old one which went kaput for absolutely no reason other than that it hates me. I’m only a teensy bit bitter.)

I’m not a gamer so I don’t foresee needing tons of bells & whistles, but I do want to stream video on things like YouTube, watch TV shows on Hulu, chat on Skype and store pictures and music. I’m pretty sure I don’t want a Chromebook.

Can you give some pointers about:

processors (does it really matter which kind?)

GB Memory (is there a basic number to shoot for? Like 4? 4 sounds good…)

GB Hard Drive (same as memory; basic ballpark for functionality?)

Thanks! If you’ve already covered this in a different show never mind…

RAY: No Chromebook? Aw, come on, that’s no fun.

TOM: The lady has spoken Ray. No Chromebooks. I mean, I can see where she’s coming from. Would you necessarily want your Chromebook to be your only computer?

RAY: *vamps*

TOM: Well, so Lauren’s in the market for a Windows-based laptop. These can be pretty murky waters to navigate for the casual buyer. But she’s asking the right questions.

RAY: Oh yeah. First of all, she’s not hung up on brands that really don’t matter. So many times when I ask someone who is having problems what kind of computer they have they tell me ?HP” or ?Dell.” Those are just brand-names!

TOM: Right. That’s like if you go to your mechanic because you’re having car problems and when they ask what kind of car you have you say ?Ford.”

RAY: When you’re shopping for a car you look at things like whether it’s manual or automatic, how many cylinders the engine has, what kind of MPG it gets.

You’ve got to do the same thing when you’re fixing a computer, or in this case, shopping for one. You need to know what numbers matter, and what they mean.

TOM: Lauren’s email hit on several of the important ones. Why don’t we make a quick list of things you need to know about your laptop and then we can dive into more detail on some of them.

Windows or Mac (or Chromebook)*

Amount of RAM (in Gigabytes)

Processor

Who made it?

How many cores?

How fast?

Size of hard drive (in Gigabytes)

Type of hard drive (SSD vs. SATA)

32 bit or 64 bit*

Screen resolution*

Slots (USB/HDMI/Ethernet/Card Reader)*

*(elaborate)

TOM: Ray, I love your explanation of RAM versus hard drive space. Can I use it?

RAY: *vamps*

TOM: Thanks! So as Ray has elegantly put it, if you think of your computer like your desk at the office, then RAM is like the size of your desktop. If you have a really large desk you can work on a lot of things at once. If you have a small desk, you can maybe only work on one or two things at a time. Am I doing okay so far Ray?

RAY: *vamps*

TOM: Now your hard drive space is like the filing cabinet next to your desk. Stuff you’re not working on right now goes in there. The bigger your filing cabinet, the more notes and papers and stuff you can stash away in it.

To bring this back to computers: if you have a computer with a big hard drive but a small amount of RAM, that’s like having a big filing cabinet with an itty-bitty desk. You can save lots of your old folders, but you may only be able to get one out at a time.

You can fill that big hard drive up with music and video and programs and games, but you can probably only actually run one or two programs simultaneously.

RAY: Even if you’re not a power user, having a decent amount of RAM is a good idea. More RAM simply makes the computing experience better. Your operating system will run more smoothly, programs will open and close faster, and you’re a lot less likely to run into mysterious slow-downs as your computer keeps running out of places to put things.

TOM: Right. So what’s a good amount of RAM, Ray? Lauren suggested four. Is that enough?

RAY: I think you definitely want at least four. Right now if you have four gigs most things will run smoothly. Two gigs or one gig is definitely too little. If you can get six or eight, though, I’d say go for it. That will future-proof your laptop a little bit.

TOM: Newer programs and operating systems almost always want more RAM.

RAY: Absolutely.

TOM: Now hard drives are also measured in gigs, but instead of a few gigs they usually have hundreds of gigs, or even a terabyte.

RAY: A terabyte being a thousand gigs.

TOM: Bingo. Remember, this is your filing cabinet. Or, if you like downloading movies, this is your DVD shelf. The bigger your shelf is, the more movies you can store.

Hard drive space is really cheap. If you get a laptop with a normal, SATA hard drive, I wouldn’t get anything less than 500 gigabytes. It shouldn’t cost you that much and it should be enough space to keep the average user happy for a long time.

RAY: But if Lauren is really into music and movies, I might recommend getting a full terabyte.

TOM: True.

RAY: Also, some newer laptops come with SSD hard drives instead of or in addition to the classic SATA drive. SSD drives cost more per gig, so you’re probably looking at getting a 50-100 gigabyte drive for the same price.

TOM: That’s not nearly as much space. What’s the advantage of an SSD drive?

RAY: Well a) they are much faster and b) they can take more of a beating. Oh and c), they’re smaller. So your really thin laptop is likely to have one because they take up less physical space and aren’t likely to be jostled when you carry the laptop around.

TOM: But with a fifty gig hard drive, your computer will barely have space for its operating system. You’re not going to be downloading many movies.

RAY: A lot of high-end laptops now offer a small SSD drive and a larger SATA hard drive next to it. That way you get speed and size.

TOM: But if you’re looking at laptops on a budget, you’re probably looking at standard SATA hard drives. And in that case, you want a few hundred gigabytes at least in my opinion.

RAY: Definitely.

TOM: OK, so let’s talk about processors.

Processors are a complicated subject. You get into things like busses and transistor counts and onboard cache, stuff that no normal human being should have to think about.

But here are a few guidelines. All processors have a clock speed, which is a really big number. Bigger numbers mean faster clock speeds. Clock speed is NOT the final word on how good a processor is, but it helps when you’re comparing two processors to each other.

There are also cores. Almost all processors these days are multi-core. What that means is that they have two processors in one chip. Or four. Or eight. The more cores that are on the chip, the more processes the computer can accomplish simultaneously.

Finally, the brand matters. For all intents and purposes, if you’re buying a laptop, it should say Intel Inside. Intel still dominates the personal computer market and the fact is they still make a mean CPU.

RAY: Right. So let’s recap. When Lauren is shopping for a laptop she should consider RAM

TOM: 4 gigs or more

RAY: hard drive size

TOM: at least 500 gigabytes for a normal hard drive

RAY: and processor

TOM: Intel Inside!

RAY: So Lauren, I hope that helps you out.

Hi guys! Loving the show!

I have a question for you guys today that is more knowledge-based than needing help.
I recently was working on ordering something online from Africa. I worked on it simultaneously on my laptop and my iPhone. My laptop just kept taking so long, and my iPhone was able to make everything happen and complete all of the page refreshes the way that it was supposed to. Why is my cell phone so much better at being a computer than my laptop?

Thanks! Geri

And the other Geri asked,

I bought a used iPhone from a friend. I have ATT go phone unlimited talk, text, web. I can access wifi from anywhere on my phone. I can text and receive plain messages.
I can’t however send or receive texts with photos or videos. They won’t send and they don’t show up when I receive. The text doesn’t even show up either. My friend has an earlier iPhone 3 and she has all capabilities.
Is there a fix? thanks.

Thanks for all your questions, and keep them coming. Call us at our toll-free number, 1-888-972-9868 or you can send us an email at questions@deemable.com. Also, subscribe to the show! Search for Deemable Tech on iTunes or point your favorite podcast app to dmbl.co/pod.

Our producer is Sean Birch. I’m Ray Hollister, I’m Tom Braun, and this is Deemable Tech.
Thanks for listening. Have a great week.

Q: You mentioned a few weeks ago that people could back up their information to “the Cloud.” I hear that term thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean? What is “the Cloud”?

What Is The Cloud?

A: That’s actually a great question, Alex. The funny thing is, most of us have actually been using “the Cloud” for years now. Anyone who has ever used an email service like Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail has already used the Cloud. For a normal, non-technical user, “the Cloud” is just storing your data on the Internet instead of just on your home computer.

However, the actual technical definition of a cloud is a little more complicated than that. You see, the danger with storing documents, media or files on any single computer is that no matter how powerful they are, computers can (and do) break. But imagine if you could store your file on three different computers. Then if one or even two broke, you’ve still got your document. The only problem is, every time you updated your document, you would have to update it on all three computers. That’s a pain.

But now imagine that you could treat those three physical computers as one virtual computer that your file is stored on. The actual, physical computers would essentially become invisible. Take this setup and multiply it by hundreds of computers, and that’s basically what a cloud is.

Now, you may have noticed that we said “a cloud.” The reason is that there are actually multiple clouds. In fact, tons of different companies offer their own clouds. They may work differently from each other, but they are all similar in that they allow you to store your files on the Internet instead of your computer, and they allow you to access those files from anywhere.

So how does this affect you? For most of us, cloud services are a really great way to back up documents, pictures, music or whatever to the Internet. And once it’s out on the Internet, you can access it from other computers or devices you own. For example, we use Google Music to back up the MP3s on our computers. All we had to do is download the Google Music program, and it automatically started uploading everything we had in iTunes to the Google Music cloud. When we add a new song or playlist to iTunes on our computers, those get uploaded too, and we can then listen to them on our phones straight from the Internet.

Clouds aren’t just good for music, though. Google and Microsoft both offer ways to do word processing in the Cloud, from anywhere, without even having to install a program. Google has a web application called Google Drive (we use it for Deemable Tech and love it), and Microsoft has introduced Office 365 which you can access through your web browser as well.

For Apple users, there is iCloud, which automatically synchronizes your files across all of your Apple devices.

If you’re looking to backup and share your files, Alex, you should consider using Dropbox. We’ve mentioned it before, but Dropbox is a service that allows you to select a folder on your computer, and anything you put in that folder will be automatically uploaded to the Dropbox cloud. If you install Dropbox on another computer, it will automatically mirror the folders between the two computers. There are a lot of other excellent cloud services as well (like EverNote, SpringPad and SugarShare), and there are more out there every day.

In a nutshell, why should you care about “the Cloud”? Because the Cloud allows robust backups of any data that’s important to you, and it makes that data accessible not just on one computer, but on any computer or device that you authorize. You know, pretty much just like email.

On this week’s episode, we have a new toll-free phone number (1-888-972-9868) and a bunch of questions.

Questions

• How can I control what my kid can access on an Android tablet?
• What is the best option for kid safe email?
• What’s the easiest way to share a tablet like an iPad?
• What is the best antivirus software money can buy?
• Which Macs can do Airplay Mirroring on the Apple TV?
• Why isn’t my Rosetta Stone software working?
• What do I need to do to get my GS3 to stop talking to me?
• Why is every window I open only half-size?
• Where can I upload 20 GB of photos for free?

All that and more, on this episode of Deemable Tech!

Make sure to subscribe to the show in iTunes by clicking here, or subscribe to the show in another podcast reader by clicking here. Also, make sure to leave us a review in iTunes. The more reviews we have the higher we’ll be listed in iTunes and the more listeners will see our show!

Need tech help? Got a problem or tech question about your computer, phone or tablet? Give us a call and leave us a voice mail at 1-888-972-9868, or send us an email to questions at deemable dot com. We’ll take the best questions and answer them on the show.

Episode 26 – Keeping Your Kids Safe Inside Small Windows!

We’re back and we’ve got spam! Yes, folks, even we here at Deemable Tech get spam now and then. But, this is a new kind of spam scam, so tune in to find out more about it so you don’t fall victim to it. Also, we have our predictions for 2013 in the tech industry, and we have apps to help you keep your New Year’s resolutions. And one listener wants to know, can a laptop be used as a desktop? All that and more, on this episode of Deemable Tech!

Make sure to subscribe to the show in iTunes by clicking here, or subscribe to the show in another podcast reader by clicking here. Also, make sure to leave us a review in iTunes. The more reviews we have the higher we’ll be listed in iTunes and the more listeners will see our show!

Need tech help? Got a problem or tech question about your computer, phone or tablet? Give us a call and leave us a voice mail at 904-372-3336 (DEEM), or send us an email to questions at deemable dot com. We’ll take the best questions and answer them on the show.

Episode 25 – Single-Handedly Fixing New Year’s Resolutions and 2013 Tech Predictions!

What are your resolutions for 2013, and what apps are you using to keep track of them? Also, do you have any tech predictions for 2013? Tell us in the comments down below!

Deemable Tech – Episode 20 – What’s Black and White and Read All Over?

On today’s episode Tom got all the laughs, and Ray got all the crickets. There’s bad jokes, good apps, bad smart phones, and an eagle going through a midlife crisis.

Make sure to subscribe to the show in iTunes by clicking here, or subscribe to the show in another podcast reader by clicking here. Also, make sure to leave us a review in iTunes. The more reviews we have the higher we’ll be listed in iTunes and the more listeners will see our show!

Need tech help? Got a problem or tech question about your computer, phone or tablet? Give us a call and leave us a voice mail at 904-372-DEEM (3336), or send us an email to questions at deemable dot com. We’ll take the best questions and answer them on the show.

Today’s Questions:

• Which is better? eReaders or tablets?
• How do I setup an external hard drive as a network drive?
• I want a small smartphone. What do you recommend?
• Why do I have to keep resetting my wireless router?

Debunkable

• Do eagles go through a midlife crisis, too?

Links we mentioned on today’s show:

• 10 of the best feature phones
• Gizmodo – After iPhone 5 the Only Small Phones Left Are All Horrible
• iPhone 4S
• Galaxy S III Mini
• Droid Razr M
• Glympse
• Medhelper
• TextGrabber
• Google Search App on iPhone
• Lifehacker – Why do I have to keep resetting my Wi-Fi router, and how can I fix it?
• DD-WRT – Linux based alternative OpenSource firmware suitable for a great variety of WLAN routers
• Snopes – Eagle Rebirth
• Truth or Fiction? Eagle
• Hoax Slayer – Rebirth of the Eagle Hoax