Category Archives: Ask J.D.

Prevent iTunes from opening when connecting iPhone

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It can be super annoying when iTunes keeps opening every time you connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC 🙁 Fortunately, there is a very easy solution 🙂 Stop iTunes opening every time you plug in your iPhone or iPad Start iTunes Open Preferences Click the Devices tab Check the box marked Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically Voila, after that you can connect iPhones, iPads or iPods with impunity and not have to worry

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OnePlus 5 Return RMA Instructions

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If you need to return your OnePlus 5 phone, please find below the official instructions from a OnePlus employee. First I tried their website’s support ticket section, and these are the specific instructions they gave me 🙂 I added screenshots to illustrate the process and I hope this helps! -J.D. […] if you really want to return your device since it’s still within our 15-day return warranty you need to create a return request. Once we approve your request and

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Can’t find network printer [SOLVED]

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Recently my mother-in-law could not get a network printer added to her Windows PC. The solution was fairly simple: #1 Connect the printer via WiFi (this involved going to the setup menu on the printer itself and pressing the WPS button on the internet router) #2 Changing the Windows 7 PC’s WiFi connection from “Public” to “Work” #3 Add the printer via Windows “add printer” button Thus, the solution involved: connecting the printer to the network and making sure the

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OnePlus 5 Sample Portrait Photos

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The OnePlus 5 is an interesting phone released at an interesting time. Specifically, a phone with two cameras, when two cameras are a new big feature. Personally, I am a fan of the dual camera concept. The ability to have two focal lengths in a single phone is wonderful. There are a couple approaches: 2x zoom This is the route Apple went with the iPhone 7 Plus and its ~28mm wide and ~56mm telephoto (35mm equivalent) Ultrawide This is the

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Inexpensive antique lighting for Timber Frame homes

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Lighting a timber frame home can be a challenge. Thankfully, after some experimentation, we found a solution that worked for us. We settled on a simple and inexpensive method: +Paint EMT conduit to match fixtures +Use existing colored fixtures +Use “Edison” style LED bulbs The overall cost is very low and we have been happy with the results. Here are some photos from the initial installation in 2015: (I will take some “finished” photos soon and post them too :-))

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What are .smi files?! [SOLVED]

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There are myriad file formats out there and recently I received the following question about a .smi file: What is a .smi file and how do I use it? It was a file with a movie and I am concerned it may be malicious or a virus. -Mae Bennett Good question Mae! The .smi file you encountered is most likely a Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange file or “SAMI” file. These files allow for captioning for video files and the basic format

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