Things you should know by now, but only just discovered

Haakon7 wrote:

Phone screens can break when you drop them on the floor.

Not really a lesson, but the fact is that when we have all our lives on one device (music, email, text, phone, chat) - and that device breaks - it can be crippling. Particularly when you need to let other people know that your phone is broken.

I've found that most cracks come from the edge hitting the ground. Put a case on it and you can drop it all you want--the case takes the hit instead of the glass and nothing breaks.

McIrishJihad wrote:
PRG013 wrote:

After 20 years of cursing and hanging things wrong I recently learned the following.

When you attach something like a surge protector or shelf or anything else that needs 2 screws in the wall...

The old way was I would measure the distance between the mounting holes on the back of the item and then try and replicate those measurements on the wall.

Result: Fail

New way, take a piece of paper and place it over the holes on the back of the device. Poke a hole through the paper (centered over the mounting holes). Now you have a template that you can hold up on the wall and mark the spots for the screws.

YOU ARE A GOD AMONG MEN!

Do you have a pamphlet or 'zine that I could subscribe to?

Definitely. That's awesome.

Grenn wrote:
Garden Ninja wrote:
TheHipGamer wrote:
Archangel wrote:
HedgeWizard wrote:
clover wrote:
Jonman wrote:

Technically, I think I'm double-assing. Subtle difference. :)

Cheeky.

I'm cracking up over here. Butt we digress.

This thread has officially bottomed out.

The end.

[size=5]FART[/size]

:ninja:

Anus.

This made me laugh far more than it should.

BlackSabre wrote:
McIrishJihad wrote:
PRG013 wrote:

After 20 years of cursing and hanging things wrong I recently learned the following.

When you attach something like a surge protector or shelf or anything else that needs 2 screws in the wall...

The old way was I would measure the distance between the mounting holes on the back of the item and then try and replicate those measurements on the wall.

Result: Fail

New way, take a piece of paper and place it over the holes on the back of the device. Poke a hole through the paper (centered over the mounting holes). Now you have a template that you can hold up on the wall and mark the spots for the screws.

YOU ARE A GOD AMONG MEN!

Do you have a pamphlet or 'zine that I could subscribe to?

Definitely. That's awesome. :)

I wish, but I could never figure out how to fold and cut it to make it like a book.

PRG013 wrote:
BlackSabre wrote:
McIrishJihad wrote:
PRG013 wrote:

After 20 years of cursing and hanging things wrong I recently learned the following.

When you attach something like a surge protector or shelf or anything else that needs 2 screws in the wall...

The old way was I would measure the distance between the mounting holes on the back of the item and then try and replicate those measurements on the wall.

Result: Fail

New way, take a piece of paper and place it over the holes on the back of the device. Poke a hole through the paper (centered over the mounting holes). Now you have a template that you can hold up on the wall and mark the spots for the screws.

YOU ARE A GOD AMONG MEN!

Do you have a pamphlet or 'zine that I could subscribe to?

Definitely. That's awesome. :)

I wish, but I could never figure out how to fold and cut it to make it like a book.

Just print it out, take pictures with your phone, and save those images as PDFs - you'll be good

Phone is borked. Swedish-chef borked. About 80% of the screen unusable, including the bit that unlocks it.

Ah well. I've got a loaner and O2 are going to send it off to a repair center. Life lesson learnt.

Haakon7 wrote:

Phone is borked. Swedish-chef borked. About 80% of the screen unusable, including the bit that unlocks it.

Ah well. I've got a loaner and O2 are going to send it off to a repair center. Life lesson learnt.

Ah, too bad. I don't want to exchange the broken screen mainly because the repair costs more than the phone itself. Also, works without problems.

That Louis C.K. is Irish/Bulgerian/Mexican and grew up in Mexico till age 8 and was an ESL student like I was.

Edwin wrote:

That Louis C.K. is Irish/Bulgerian/Mexican and grew up in Mexico till age 8 and was an ESL student like I was.

Really that's pretty cool. I'm surprised I never saw him do some sort of I'm from mexico, no really, bit.

Hungarian, not Bulgarian, IIRC..

Tanglebones wrote:

Hungarian, not Bulgarian, IIRC..

Yeah, I was poorly summarizing this piece for him which was pretty interesting. Mea culpa!

Edwin wrote:

That Louis C.K. is Irish/Bulgerian/Mexican and grew up in Mexico till age 8 and was an ESL student like I was.

Also, "C.K." are not his initials, but how he pronounces his last name.

sometimesdee wrote:
Edwin wrote:

That Louis C.K. is Irish/Bulgerian/Mexican and grew up in Mexico till age 8 and was an ESL student like I was.

Also, "C.K." are not his initials, but how he pronounces his last name.

Yeah, Szekely doesn't just roll off the tongue for most people.

clover wrote:
sometimesdee wrote:
Edwin wrote:

That Louis C.K. is Irish/Bulgerian/Mexican and grew up in Mexico till age 8 and was an ESL student like I was.

Also, "C.K." are not his initials, but how he pronounces his last name.

Yeah, Szekely doesn't just roll off the tongue for most people.

"Says Kely"?

Gremlin wrote:
Haakon7 wrote:

Phone screens can break when you drop them on the floor.

Not really a lesson, but the fact is that when we have all our lives on one device (music, email, text, phone, chat) - and that device breaks - it can be crippling. Particularly when you need to let other people know that your phone is broken.

I've found that most cracks come from the edge hitting the ground. Put a case on it and you can drop it all you want--the case takes the hit instead of the glass and nothing breaks.

You can go one up on that and put a Zagg invisible shield on it too. It won't prevent breakage from extreme falls, but I've dropped my phone onto the pavement face down and there was no damage at all. Those shields are pretty damn awesome.

Serengeti wrote:
Gremlin wrote:
Haakon7 wrote:

Phone screens can break when you drop them on the floor.

Not really a lesson, but the fact is that when we have all our lives on one device (music, email, text, phone, chat) - and that device breaks - it can be crippling. Particularly when you need to let other people know that your phone is broken.

I've found that most cracks come from the edge hitting the ground. Put a case on it and you can drop it all you want--the case takes the hit instead of the glass and nothing breaks.

You can go one up on that and put a Zagg invisible shield on it too. It won't prevent breakage from extreme falls, but I've dropped my phone onto the pavement face down and there was no damage at all. Those shields are pretty damn awesome.

If Zagg shields for iPhones are anything like the Zagg shield I have on my Galaxy s3, they're hardly invisible.

For iPhone, I just got with the "high definition matte screen protector" that they stock at the Apple store :/

I don't actually have anything on the screen itself. It's probably different across different Android models, but the iPhone edge just needs some padding so the screen can't get hit directly. The case just adds a lip that prevents the screen itself from taking the blow.

McIrishJihad wrote:

For iPhone, I just got with the "high definition matte screen protector" that they stock at the Apple store :/

You bought iPhone accessories from the Apple Store? Ewww...

Chumpy_McChump wrote:
McIrishJihad wrote:

For iPhone, I just got with the "high definition matte screen protector" that they stock at the Apple store :/

You bought iPhone accessories from the Apple Store? Ewww...

Eh, $20 for a 3-pack, they're less "grippy"/"gel-ly" than ZAGG protectors, and you can put them on immediately after removing the factory plastic cover so there's a lower chance of dust getting trapped.

My wife gets them online for ~$2 a pop, and they work surprisingly well. (Also, iPhone cases should never cost you more than $5 unless it's a specialty case - leather, Otterbox, etc. )

After having both an Otterbox and LifeProof, I've really enjoyed being case-less on my iPhone 4 for the last year.

My wife has been rocking cases from Speck for her iPhone 5, and they seem to also get the job done - just a little lip above the screen to protect from face plants, and plastic around the rest.

Where are you getting cases for $5 and screen protectors for $2?

McIrishJihad wrote:

Where are you getting cases for $5 and screen protectors for $2?

Monoprice, most likely.

Miniinthebox.com (sorry no link; I'm on my phone). Good prices, good service. My wife gets a new allotment of cases every couple if months - she has a problem, I know - and we've never had an issue.

I love how Monoprice is starting to carry more and more things that I need in my life.

Not just cheap HDMI cables, but iPhone cases, and 27" Korean IPS monitors

Shazam has a 33% hit rate with the hold music that my company uses...

You can stick a fully-functional Recycle Bin in the taskbar in Windows 7, and get it off the desktop.

This is something I've wanted to have work this way (i.e. like my Mac at home) for ages, so it's a "thing I should know by now" because I should have just Googled it—which I finally did this morning.

Morning made, every time I see it down by the system tray. It's the little things.

Gravey wrote:

You can stick a fully-functional Recycle Bin in the taskbar in Windows 7, and get it off the desktop.

This is something I've wanted to have work this way (i.e. like my Mac at home) for ages, so it's a "thing I should know by now" because I should have just Googled it—which I finally did this morning.

Morning made, every time I see it down by the system tray. It's the little things.

That people actually use the Recycle Bin in windows and don't just select things and press the Delete key.

kaostheory wrote:
Gravey wrote:

You can stick a fully-functional Recycle Bin in the taskbar in Windows 7, and get it off the desktop.

This is something I've wanted to have work this way (i.e. like my Mac at home) for ages, so it's a "thing I should know by now" because I should have just Googled it—which I finally did this morning.

Morning made, every time I see it down by the system tray. It's the little things.

That people actually use the Recycle Bin in windows and don't just select things and press the Delete key.

+1

The only time I "use" the recycle bin is when I right-click it to empty it.

kaostheory wrote:
Gravey wrote:

You can stick a fully-functional Recycle Bin in the taskbar in Windows 7, and get it off the desktop.

This is something I've wanted to have work this way (i.e. like my Mac at home) for ages, so it's a "thing I should know by now" because I should have just Googled it—which I finally did this morning.

Morning made, every time I see it down by the system tray. It's the little things.

That people actually use the Recycle Bin in windows and don't just select things and press the Delete key.

Shift-Delete actually skips the recycle bin. Delete puts the files in the bin.

I learned if you watch this video, and then play this song at exactly the 0:33 second point, you get a much better soundtrack.