Month: April 2015

Minecraft Pocket Edition Issues with Samsung Galaxy S3

On By Michel McDonaldIn GamesLeave a comment

Screenshot_2015-04-30-11-51-40

I blogged the other day that I was having issues with Minecraft PE on my new phone, but I didn’t really get into what the problem was. I bought Minecraft PE on the Google Play Store about a month or 2 ago for $6.99. I have a app called Google Rewards that reward me in actual cash for surveys, and I don’t even have to wait a month for it, I can use the money to buy Android apps.

So I bought Minecraft PE specifically for when I’m not home and I am having Minecraft withdrawals. The struggle is real people LMAO!!! Of course when I bought it, I intended to only play it on my Nook HD+ because of the bigger screen, but as it turns out, I don’t bring my Nook to doctor’s appointments. My old HTC One V smart phone was a bit small, but it installed just fine and I have played it there with no issues. When I bought my Samsung Galaxy S3, no bueno! It installs, as you can see from the image above, but it just won’t play. Let me show you the screens that I get screen by screen.

Screenshot_2015-04-30-11-51-40Screenshot_2015-04-30-11-51-56

Screenshot_2015-04-30-11-52-03Screenshot_2015-04-30-11-52-11

So the first screen you see is the main screen when you first load the game. You click the Play button, obviously. The next screen is supposed to show your worlds, if you have created any, so you click the world, but since it’s new to my phone, I haven’t created any yet. So I click NEW at the top right corner and you get the 3rd image above. You can choose survival or creative, you can hit advanced and go through that menu. Once you hit Create World, you should see a world come up on the screen and you rush to get your shelter in order to stay alive, but instead, I’m seeing the 4th image. No bueno!

Screenshot_2015-04-30-12-06-45Screenshot_2015-04-30-12-09-31I’ve researched the issue, and one admin of a website mentions files, or the lack of rather. I went into the file manager and sure enough, in every folder where I see the word Minecraft, there are zero files. And there are several folders too, but what’s odd is that it shows that there are 44.38mb total, 14.69mb is application and 29.50mb is SD card app. Then of course the data, which should show a number since I tried creating a world, or 20.

I know people are going to suggest that I clear the cache and clear this and clear that, but trust me, I have done that. I have even copied the files from my Nook and even copied the worlds from my Nook to the Samsung phone and they still don’t work.

Just so you know, this is NOT a huge issue or deal. I can still play this game on my Nook HD+ and my PlayStation 4, but it’s just the idea that something won’t install that bothers me. I can’t upload images to Twitter and I’m not sweating over that one, it’s just that I don’t have an addiction to tweeting pictures as much as I have an addiction to games.

I am still researching every time I remember to and I’m hoping I can find out how to fix it because it does bother me that I bought something that I can’t even use on ALL of my Android devices.

Once again I am using a Samsung Galaxy S3 with Snapdragon. It’s a refurbished phone that I bought for $99 from Choxi (formerly Nomorerack). I’ve tried all the tricks I’ve seen in the message boards like uninstalling it and reinstalling it, unmounting the SD card, installing, then remounting the SD card. I’ve tried rebooting, then installing. Nothing works because it is not installing specific files, remember the empty folder? Every folder that has the word Minecraft in the title is empty on the device and on the SD card.

If anyone has answers, please comment. In the meantime, I’ll continue with Minecraft for PS4.

New Samsung Galaxy S3 Phone with FreedomPop Service

On By Michel McDonaldIn TechLeave a comment

phones

My new Samsung Galaxy S3 came a couple of days ago. I was going to activate it as a pre-paid phone with Sprint, but the Quick Start card that came with the phone was from FreedomPop. It said FreedomPop on the Nomorerack (now Choxi) website, and I dismissed that since I figured I would activate it with Sprint. Anyway, check out the difference from my old HTC One V (left) from Virgin Mobile compared to the new phone (right). Huge difference!

The sound quality was HORRIFIC when I made my first phone call to our landline lol. Well, first of all there wasn’t any sound at all. My partner could hear me just fine, but with a ton of static, but I couldn’t hear him at all. We hung up and tried again and it was still bad, but I figured out how to turn the mic volume down and suddenly he could hear me just fine, and no static. I called my aunt and it sounded like she picked up the phone, but there wasn’t anyone on the other line, and then the line was dead. I called her the next day and the timer was going, but I couldn’t hear anything. I figured perhaps she could hear me, I just couldn’t hear her, but when I called her on my Virgin Mobile cell phone which is still active for another month, she told me she could barely hear me at all on my new phone. She said it sounded garbled. Ugh!

By the way, my aunt has a Samsung Galaxy S2 and she told me that when she turns her head, no one can hear or understand her. This is supposed to be the crème de la crème of phones, so why do they suck for making phone calls?

Today I went to the FreedomPop website to get help. I found out that this is a common issue. Well shit, why is it that I always seem to get something that has a common issue? I installed Minecraft PE on the new phone and for some odd reason it wasn’t installing specific files, and guess what? It’s a common issue. So here I am with this awesome phone that I can’t make calls with.

Several people on the message boards on the FreedomPop website said that they could not make a phone call without wifi being turned on, so I thought what if that is my problem? What if I turned OFF the wifi on my phone and see what happens, so I called my Virgin mobile cell phone and it was perfect. I could hear myself on both phones. I can call my new cell phone from another phone and it works with WiFi turned on, but I can’t call out with it turned on. Well, that’s still not right that I have to remember to turn the WiFi off just to be able to make a phone call. Oh and by the way, it was garbled. I could hear myself perfectly fine on the Samsung speaker, but on the Virgin speaker, I could hear myself garbled from the Samsung mic. It’s also too low, and now I can’t find where the mic volume is lol. I can’t win!

I have a Bluetooth watch that I just bought last month and it seems to work with my new phone, but the call quality, not so much. I tried calling my Virgin mobile phone with it and I couldn’t hear anything. Ugh! Perhaps a Samsung bluetooth ear piece might work?

When I first activated the phone on my computer, it told me it was sending me a new phone. I can’t even remember what kind of phone it was, but I figured it was probably something they do for customers who want service, but don’t have a phone, but then again I did activate an actual phone, so I don’t know. I thought that perhaps it was a mistake, but then I got this today.

image

If they actually do send me a new phone and it works, I would be curious to know if Choxi would give me a refund and allowed me to send their refurbished phone back to them. The point of me buying the Samsung Galaxy S3 was to get a kick ass phone with 16GB, not to get a phone that probably only has 1GB, then I’d be back to where I was before with my Virgin Mobile phone. I can forgive the Minecraft issue because I can just play that on my Nook HD+, but I need to be able to make phone calls, and if the Samsung one will just work as a phone, then I’d like to just use that and not a free phone from FreedomPop. I wonder if I can keep both and just use the new one for calls, but the Samsung one for apps and texting and data. I don’t know if they would allow me to have service on 2 phones though, so that’s a good question. I just don’t want to have to go back to a phone with 1GB lol. I bought this Samsung one for a reason dammit!

Ugh, I’m so beyond frustrated. Why does this always happen to me? Why is it that the thing (technology) I love the most, hates me the most? I will definitely be back if/when a new phone comes and I get to speak with someone over at FreedomPop about my issue.

Sashay Away

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cell PhoneLeave a comment

sashay away

Virgin Mobile, I’m sorry my dear but you are up for elimination.

I’ve been using a Virgin Mobile phone for the last 2 1/2 years. The phone was fine for the first year, but then after that it started to suck big time. I can’t use it outside, meaning using the 3G, because it takes forever to load an app or a website. I’ve stopped using it ever since I got my Nook HD+ tablet. Also, I think something is wrong with my phone because all I hear is that annoying auto tune sound that singers seem to be using to make their voice sound like they actually have talent. Also, my phone keeps rebooting, and it never finishes the reboot cycle, it just freezes with the HTC logo.

So here is my solution, I bought a new phone from Nomorerack. It’s a Samsung Galaxy S3 Snapdragon with 16GB storage with 4G instead of just 3G. It said on the Nomorerack website that it works with other services using the Sprint network, but of course it didn’t specifically say Virgin Mobile, and VM just told me that it won’t work because it has to be a Virgin Mobile phone. So that sucks, but on the other hand, I have terrible service and maybe it’s time for a change.

I went to the Sprint website and found out that their prepaid service is only $35 a month, which is what I am paying Virgin Mobile. I don’t even need to bring the phone to them, I can activate it directly on their website. I know Virgin Mobile uses the Sprint network, so I take a chance of having slow coverage, but on the other hand, it’s the same damn price and I already bought the new phone, so what have I got to lose? Well, besides Virgin Mobile.

So now Virgin Mobile, it is time for you to lip sync… FOR YOUR LIFE! Don’t frak it up! Oh wait, you already told me that I can’t use the new phone, so I guess you don’t have to lip sync, but it is time for you to sashay away… next month lol. I’ve already paid for a new month and there is no getting that money back, so I will just have to wait until next month to activate the new phone, and deactivate the VM phone. I really hate doing that, breaking up with a company, I mean it’s not like companies are people, right?

I’m going on my diet AGAIN

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Noom, WeightLeave a comment

breaking the scale

Have you ever been in the situation where you are always struggling with your weight, but the person you live with can eat whatever, or decide they aren’t going to eat anything at all for days and end up losing tons of weight with little to no effort, but you are working your arse off to lose weight, but you end up gaining weight? Yeah, I’m there.

2 years ago I lost 70lbs with Noom and Weight Watchers frozen dinners. My partner was very supportive, and by supportive I mean he didn’t wave bags of potato chips or cookies in front of me and he didn’t constantly ask if I wanted to go to McDonald’s or Taco Bell. I felt like he was doing exactly the thing you are supposed to do when someone you live with is struggling with something.

Unfortunately, when the weight stopped coming off, he started wanting to go to certain restaurants and buy certain foods like cookies and chips and leaving them out in the open for me to eat. Sometimes he would try to hide food, but I would find it and end up eating it for him. I’m an addict. It’s like leaving bags of heroin on the coffee table for a drug addict, or stocking the fridge with nothing but alcohol for an alcoholic. He got sick of not being allowed to eat the foods he wanted to eat, so when I got down to a certain weight, he felt I was finished. I’m sorry, but when you have an addiction to something, it’s never over.

So here I am, having almost gained back every pound I had lost 2 years ago. We went to Food Maxx yesterday and bought 20 Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinners. Tomorrow we are going back to the 99 cent store to buy 20 cans of Progresso soup. I can have a bowl of cheerios for breakfast with my almond and coconut Silk, a Slim Fast shake for my 10am snack, a bowl of Progresso Soup for lunch, another Slim Fast shake for my 3pm snack, a Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinner with extra veggies added to it for dinner, and then another Slim Fast shake to curb my appetite when I get hungry again late at night. Once my stomach shrinks again I can remove that late night shake.

I don’t feel comfortable being out in public because I feel ugly. When my face is thin and my neck is trimmed down, I actually feel good about myself and my self esteem goes through the roof, but when I see my big round fat face and no neck again, I feel worthless. It’s a terrible feeling when you look at yourself in the mirror and you can’t stand the person you are looking at. It’s an even worse feeling when you start to cry. Why can’t I just be happy with how I look? Some people actually look good when they are fat, but I don’t feel that way about myself. And here’s the thing, it’s not like I’m morbidly obese like the people you see on My 600lb Life. I’m not anywhere near that weight. I’m talking 260lbs and the only thing fat on me is my face, neck, chest and stomach. And my stomach is a typical guy gut, that’s it, but somehow I feel morbidly obese. I feel like I’m lucky that I’m not 600lbs by now. I’m telling you, if it weren’t for willpower, I probably would be that fat right now.

The nutritionist at the clinic told me not to deny myself anything. Like if I want some ice cream I can have some ice cream, I can eat 1 serving of ice cream even every day if I want to, but you know what the serving size of ice cream is right? Half of a cup! Seriously? A half of a cup? That’s like 2 bites for a fat arse like me. It doesn’t even put a dent into my stomach. But you know what? I would rather have half of a cup a day than no ice cream at all for the rest of my life. I can’t buy ice cream because there is no way I’m just having 1/2 a cup, I end up packing a 8oz coffee cup with ice cream at least 3 times a day lol. It’s cheaper to buy the big cartons of ice cream, but it’s better to just buy one of those little tiny cups that only cost $1. That way I get ice cream, and I don’t have that temptation waiting for me in the kitchen.

Anyway, enough of me rambling on about it. Talking about it isn’t going to make it happen, I have to actually work my ARSE off to make it happen. That means I have to get back on my bicycle, or walking, or both.  I have a lot of work to do and I intend on doing it. Enough talking, start doing.

Time for a new cell phone

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cell Phone, Products I Like, TechLeave a comment

image

Call me an excited nerd, because I am so beyond freaking excited to be getting a new cell phone lol.

Today I woke up, got the mail and saw a flier on our screen door for “MetroPCS.” The ad was $29 for 4G phones, and in the picture are the Alcatel One Touch Fierce 2, LG Optimus L70 and Hydro Life by Kyocera. The small writing at the bottom of that side says:

“Phone Instant Rebate Offer: Limited time offer, while supplies last. Requires new line activation or a phone upgrade. Between February 11, 2015 and April 30, 2015 at participating MetroPCS stores purchase and Alcatel ONETOUCH Fierce 2 phone, an LG Optimus L70 phone, or a Kyocera Hydro LIFE phone and receive an instant $120 rebate off of regular price.”

Ok, I’ll bite… The other side of the flier says our best deal ever. $30. Unlimited data, talk, text on the nationwide T-mobile Network. So that means if I went to MetroPCS today and bought a $29 phone, I would say goodbye to Virgin Mobile. Well, I was ready to say goodbye to Virgin because all these years that I’ve had my HTC One V phone has been a living nightmare of only being able to actually access a website or use an app using the Sprint network about 10% of the time. Yes, 90% of the time I have tried using my phone has been a complete failure. I was so ready to leave Virgin and go back to T-Mobile, which used to be what I had when I was using my old Nokia 3390 phone.

I went to their website and typed in the LG Optimus L70 and found that it only has 1.3GB of hard drive space, meaning I would be right back to where I am with my HTC One V which is a 1GB phone, and what a nightmare that has been having to deal with constantly having to clear the cache every time an app wants to do an update. While I was at the MetroPCS website I noticed that they give you an instant $70 rebate, but then you have to fill out paperwork and wait for a $50 mail in rebate. So instead of only being able to pay $29 for a phone, I’m paying $79 and I have to wait, I’m guessing 3 months for the $50 rebate. So basically the flier lied to me, even in the small print. The website specifically saying “In store only” so that means that if I went in the store, I’d get screwed. I can see how the conversation would be, “but your flier specifically says I get a $120 instant rebate” then they make up some kind of excuse as to why I have to pay the $79 and wait for the $50 rebate. No! Screw that!

I remembered that Nomorerack had a sale on their Samsung Galaxy S3 Snapdragon MSM8960 for only $99 and it has 16GB hard drive installed, and I got free shipping. Yes, by me saying “got free shipping” that says that I did buy it lol. So that’s what you see in the image above. My HTC One V on the left and the new Samsung Galaxy SIII on the right. The phone I got says it is CDMA unlocked & refurbished. It’s unlocked meaning I can go to the Virgin Mobile website and add the serial number to swap phones. I’m not sure I will have to worry about any fees, I hope note, but if I do then life’s a bitch and then you die lol.

The thing I am most excited about is the front facing camera. I will finally be able to use some apps I haven’t been able to use because I didn’t have that camera. I’ll now be able to Skype with people who never want to Skype with me and I’ll now be able to take selfies without having to delete about 20 because I couldn’t find the button and ended up taking a blurry picture of my forehead.

What was wrong with my old HTC One V you ask? Well, what wasn’t wrong with it is the better question. It was constantly rebooting on its own. Whenever I would call someone, or that very rare occasion when someone called me, the speaker was so messed up that it sounded like Kanye West trying to sing with auto tune. It sounded horrible, just awful, and so did the phone calls. I couldn’t stand it, but at the same time, I was stuck with it because I didn’t have the money to upgrade to a better phone because they were always like $300 or more.

My HTC One V was nice to have for the first year or 2, but then it just started getting frustrating. I mean, literally, frustrating. I find myself going UGH every time I heard it reboot. There were times I left it at home because it was pointless to bring it anywhere since I could never get it to work right. Oh and don’t get me started on the apps constantly crashing. I have an app where I scan barcodes and have to submit my grocery list every time I go to the grocery store for points to buy prizes, but practically every time I go to use it, I have to reboot my phone and wait for it to allow me to load the app to use it. I do that so it is a fresh reboot, so I don’t have to worry about it rebooting or crashing, but it still does it anyway.

So thank you MetroPCS for your flier and thank you for being so dishonest in your advertising that you drove me to buying a new phone somewhere else and staying with Virgin Mobile.

Nook HD+ Unlock Your eBook Prompt

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, Nook, Reading3 Comments

nook unlock ebook

I went into a slight panic attack yesterday when I saw this message. I highlight several eBooks in my Nook, and I was looking for one particular highlight so I could copy the quote. I saw the quote in the “Your Highlights and Notes” app on my Nook HD+ and clicked open, but it wouldn’t because the eBook was no longer downloaded. I guess after so much time, your eBooks get deleted from your tablets to save room for more stuff, and to read them again you simply download them again. I can see that being a good thing, but I personally don’t want to have to do that. If I decide I will never need the book again then I will archive it, but otherwise, I see no reason removing it from my Nook.

This is my issue with this particular problem. I bought this particular eBook when I bought my very first Nook back in 2007, or was it 2008? I can’t recall, which brings me to my next point, the credit card number that was used is long gone since it is long expired and I was issued a new card. My credit card or debit card number changes from year to year or every couple of years, that is of course depending on if I lost my card and had to get a new one. At any rate, the card I have now is definitely not the same card I had way back when I bought this particular eBook. So how the heck am I supposed to download this again if I don’t have that old credit card number?

So this is what I did. I went to Google and typed “Nook Unlock Your eBook” and found a website that said to archive that eBook, then make it active again. I had to use my computer for this because I wasn’t sure if I knew my Nook password lol. It’s stored in my computer rather than my Nooks browser because I very rarely visit the Nook website. I went to Nook.com and clicked MY NOOK at the top, then signed in and clicked My Library. Then I found the eBook and clicked move to archive. Then I had to scroll up and tick where it says Show Active Items or Archived, and clicked Archived. I found the eBook and clicked Move to Active. I was able to download it without issue on my Nook HD+ after that.

I’m sure no one has had this issue, but just in case someone has and haven’t a clue what to do, this should help, at least I hope it does. If it did, let me know.

Happy reading! Smile

Geek U8 Bluetooth Smart Watch

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cell Phone, TechLeave a comment

Screenshot_2015-04-09-17-38-57

Facebook has had some really interesting ads lately. One particular ad is for an Android app called Geek where they have hundreds of products at a huge discount. Take for instance this one particular watch that is a Bluetooth Smart Watch that connects to your iPhone and Android phone. I haven’t worn a watch in years because I don’t want to just wear any old watch, I want my watch to not only tell me the time, but also give me many options. I’ve been known to wear calculator watches as a teenager, but they weren’t just calculators, it also stored all of my contacts, like a little address book. Since I don’t need that feature because it is all in my smart phone, there really isn’t much reason to have that old kind of watch.

My partner bought a subscription to a couple of magazines, and they sent him a watch, which he didn’t like so he gave it away to someone, not me Sad smile. When I saw this Geek ad on Facebook, I saw the watch and that was when I knew this was my next watch. Of course I didn’t have the money or the courage to spend money I really don’t have, so I waited for it to go down in price. It was $24 when I bought it, and since I am trying to raise my credit score, I figured what the hell, go for it. It was normally $50.

It came yesterday and I nearly posted a long rant about how much I hate this watch. First of all, it took about 30 minutes to finally connect to my phone, even though the app they told me to install on my phone was already installed. Then I had an issue with it not turning on when I pressed the button on the right. I don’t know why it has been doing that to me, but it was apparently just a fluke because it’s no longer happening to me. Then last night I did the dishes, and totally forgot to take the watch off. It didn’t get too wet, but I guess it did get wet because it started glitching out on me. I would look at my watch and it would be in the dialer pressing random numbers, and then it would go into the calculator pressing random numbers. I would push the button on the right to shut off, and it would come back on. I thought for sure I had screwed it up, by today it is perfectly fine, as if nothing bad (water) had happened.

I personally like wearing this watch because my phone has some real issues. When I am speaking with someone on my phone, it sounds like they are using auto tune. Imagine having a conversation with your aunt and it sounds like Cher singing Do you believe in life after love? It’s not great, and I don’t understand why it is doing that. When I am using the smart watch to talk to someone, it is loud and clear, and no crazy sound issues. Plus it looks sort of cool that I’m talking to my watch like Dick Tracy lol.

Anyway, it was only $24 plus $3 shipping and it came all the way over here from Japan. It came a lot quicker than I was expecting, which I’m happy about because I hate waiting for packages lol. I highly recommend it if you are a huge technology geek or nerd lol. Expect problems at first, but know those kinks will work themselves out.

Here are some pictures. I don’t know why but it is always in military time, which is why I’m using the analog watch image. It would be awesome if I could have more options, but that’s ok.

IMAG0904IMAG0905IMAG0906

Epoch-Man Arrived

On By Michel McDonaldIn GamesLeave a comment

IMAG0896

I received my Epoch-Man several days ago, but I didn’t blog about it immediately because, well, I mean who really cares? Am I right? Do you? Probably not.

When I bought my Epoch-Man, I blogged that I bought it from eBay really inexpensive for only $10 plus shipping from Japan. The reason it was only $10 was because it has scratches and some of the LCD graphics don’t show up when you are playing the game. Well, I discovered that if you press the front and back near the Alarm button, those graphics will appear. I noticed that the case isn’t completely closed from the bottom, and I thought perhaps if I unscrewed it and took it apart, perhaps I might relieve something that is stuck inside the game that is causing this to happen, but as I was trying to open the case, the sides started to crack, old plastic and all, so I aborted the mission and put the screws back in. It’s not like I’m going to be playing the game or anything.

Anyway, it’s wonderful to actually have it in my hands and to be able to look at it once again after all these years, even though my original Epoch-Man game did not say Pak Pak man on the top in red letters, it said Epoch-Man. That doesn’t matter, it’s the same thing, so who cares.

I am very happy that I was able to get it and at such a great price. I will keep it in the plastic to keep it from getting dirty and dusty and to prevent more scratches.