tech

lifestyle tech The Pink Mac

What’s In My Car Emergency Kit


Hey Everyone!

I recently made a video on my car emergency kit and what I keep inside. A car emergency kit, for those of you who are new to the concept, is a bag that you keep in your car that is filled with items you may need like hairspray, lipgloss, extra feminine supplies, etc. It is not the same thing as a roadside emergency kit that you would use in case your car broke down! This car emergency kit is just a bunch of extras you may need while your away from your home that you can keep in your car instead of having to carry around a heavy purse full of extras. I hope you enjoy the video and let me know, what do you keep in your emergency bag?

lifestyle tech The Pink Mac

How to Choose a Mac for College

The most frequent question I get asked on YouTube is how to choose the right Mac computer for college. So, in order to answer this complicated question, I have made a YouTube video discussing the most important things you will need to consider and which options are right for which people. Because money is a complicated issue, I have created this video under the assumption that the viewer is going to college and has enough money to buy any mac, but wants to know which is right for them. Obviously, I do not work for any colleges or Apple itself, so if you have additional questions, it would be best to ask your college and major department for any additional specifics I did not touch on as each program and school is unique and has their own requirements!

lifestyle tech

Adventures in Customer Service: X-Doria

When the iPad mini launched, there were a number of different companies that immediately announced cases for the new device. The major players like Kensington and Belkin had iPad mini cases available from day one, but I wasn’t exactly impressed with the options available. I knew I didn’t want to order an expensive DODOcase or buy a smaller replica of an iPad case I had already owned. So, I figured I would search around the internet and find a nice case that would fit my needs and in the meantime, ordered a very inexpensive but cute case off Amazon.

It wasn’t long until I found my dream case, the X-Doria Smart Jacket. It’s slim folio silhouette with a hard back and smart cover like front was very appealing, and the teal and grey color combo added with the pillowed grip texture were like nothing I had seen before. So, I scoped out the site to order the case which was currently out of stock. So I waited and waited and waited a few weeks until it came back in stock and I ordered it for about $35. It wasn’t a bad price for such a cute case and to me it was worth every penny.

Once the case arrived, I was so eager to get my iPad mini into it, I forgot to take unboxing pictures and video! The fit was a little odd though. The case snapped in, but it was very hard for me to get the edges to snap into place. With a little force and some time, I finally worked the iPad into the case and was pleased at how wonderful it looked.

Then, a few weeks went by and I began noticing little hair line cracks at the corners. In the beginning I ignored them until one of the cracks broke open and created a gap in the case. Worried, I began wondering if I should call customer service and find out if this was a production issue. Of course, being me, I didn’t want to part with the case so I held off for a few more weeks until the cracks were at every corner and starting to look dangerous to the safety of my iPad. I was even fearful of removing the case, worried it may crack open and injure the device.

With the fear of real danger to my new mini, I decided to take a chance and email customer service to see if they had any other reports of such an issue, assuming that it may have been a production problem. I also asked if there was a way for me to get a replacement since it had been less than 2 months since I purchased the case. Initially, I was worried my email would be ignored but after a day or so I got an email back asking for some pictures of the issue. So, I snapped a few and sent them back for evaluation. Almost immediately I received an email that said they would send me another case and only a few days later my new case arrived.

When I slipped on the new case after carefully extracting my iPad mini out of the defective one, I noticed an immediate difference. This case snapped right on perfectly, no use of force required to get it in place. Overjoyed, I immediately sent a thank you email to the customer service team who helped me with my issue. They made everything incredibly simple for me and replaced my case immediately. I am so glad I ended up choosing to purchase from X-Doria because they really showed that they were willing to earn my trust and my business and I am going to make it a point to buy from them again in the future.

If your looking for a case for one of your apple devices, iPad or iPhone alike, make sure to check out X-Doria because they have some great looking cases and their customer service is outstanding!

tech The Pink Mac

Disinfect Your Tech

I read somewhere recently that your cell phone carries more germs than your toilet- yuk! As it is flu season and we all seem to be carrying around an infestation of germs and bacteria in our pockets, one which we use over and over, coughing and sharing with others, I thought I would take this opportunity to go over some basic tips for disinfecting your commonly used gadgets.
The thing about gadgets is that they end up going in the oddest places and pick up nasty germies along the way. Your earbuds actually stick in your ear and even if you use over the ear or on the ear headphones your still forcing the material of your gear against your dirty hair and skin. Your phone gets a mix of saliva and dirty breath forced upon it and then gets removed from pockets, picked up off tables, falls on dirty floors and back into your unsanitized hands. Your keyboard and mouse as well get touched constantly with an array of germs that you transport around from your face to your hand to your mouse, back to your mouth to block a cough and unless your disinfecting your hand again before you touch your mouse, the bacteria is just sitting there- multiplying!
On top of being incredibly dirty after a long day of use, your gadgets are also very delicate and not exactly water resistant, which makes thorough cleaning a bit difficult. If you want to kill germs, your going to have to use a source of moisture to break the bacterias hold from the surface of your gadget, but you have to make sure not to drown your item in wetness or else it could short circuit!
I find that cotton balls and q-tips dipped in a bit of rubbing alcohol and then compressed to release excess liquid seems to be a good way to clean small items like earbuds and around the keys of your keyboard. For larger items or areas, however, I think the best method of cleaning is through wet wipes as they are pre-moistened with no excess moisture and able to clean a good amount before needing to be tossed. There are multiple types of tech wipes on the market which are safe to use on your gadgets. One very cute brand that I have been noticing lately is Well-Kept which package their tech wipes in stylish colorful and patterned baggies made to be thrown into your purse or briefcase. Of course, style comes at a bit of a price and these wipes retail for about $5 per pack of 15. Another great brand, Wireless Wipes are not nearly as stylish, but they do retail for about $3 per pack and come in a variety of scents.
Although both of these brands are very nice for cleaning your gadgets, they don’t seem to have any anti-bacterial qualities, which is half the problem with our dirty devices. So, I found a solution to this! For about $1-2 per pack, I have been using anti-bacterial Wet Ones! You may already be familiar with Wet Ones, as they are a very popular brand that aren’t geared towards tech and gadgets, however, I have been cleaning my phone, keyboard, mouse and headphones with them and they are excellent. Not only am I confident that I am removing dirt as well as bacteria from my gadgets, but I am spending only a dollar or two on the pack and they have been drying perfectly without any smudges or wipe marks on my iPhone’s screen. They also haven’t caused any harm to any of my gadgets so far, although I am careful of my use around openings on my gadgets. Overall, I am extremely impressed with these inexpensive wipes and I would highly suggest that you pick up a pack of the Citrus Scent immediately. They actually smell like pineapple and have a great fresh scent, unlike some wipes that have a chemical scent!
lifestyle Productivity tech The Pink Mac

NaNoWriMo 2012 Resources

It’s that time of year again! November has come and it’s the National Novel Writing Month in case you haven’t heard! Whether you are a NaNoWriMo vet or a newbie, there are many resources out there to help you get to 50k success at the end of the month. I have rounded up as many of these resources as I could find for you, so hopefully something or other down below will make the month a little easier for you. Happy Noveling!

For Mac Users

Macworld has a number of staff members who partake in nano, here is their article series for success!

Not to be outdone by Macworld, MacLife also has a mini guide to nano-ing that includes some iOS apps as well.

Here’s a Mac app that turns off the internet for a set amount of time, for those of you who are easily distracted by the Internet. Aptly named SelfControl.

For those of you who have an iPad and want to use that to assist you with your noveling efforts, here is a link to a site with some great app suggestions for iOS.

For Linux Users

For those of you out there running Linux, this is a link of 5 Essential Linux Applications for Nanowrimo.

For PC Users

Here is a link to writer’s software and resources for PC users, not nanowrimo branded, but still useful for wrimo’s.

Popular Applications

Here is the link for the Nanowrimo trial version of Scrivener. In case you don’t know, Scrivener is a great application for writers of all types. They are also a sponsor of NaNoWriMo and if you win you can get half off the software!

Here is the link for WriteRoom, one of the distraction free writing applications that full screens your manuscript so you can focus on nothing but writing.

Here is a link to Write or Die, one of the full screen apps that prompts you to write with settings that can prevent you from backspacing, and can even start deleting your work if you procrastinate too long. This also has an iOS app in case you are interested.

Other Misc Resources and Motivation

This link is for timeline-mapping software that may help you keep track of events in your novel.

If you are having trouble naming characters, this website is very useful.

Here is Written? Kitten! Which appears to be a web app where you get a new picture of a cat/kitten once you have hit the interval word goal of your choosing. Helpful for those of you who require a dose of cuteness as positive reinforcement.

Found this series of articles from the Guardian on how to write a novel in 30 days.

tech The Pink Mac

Summer of Tech: Accessory Giveaway

To Celebrate the Start of Summer I am going to be holding a Summer of Tech Accessory Giveaway on my YouTube Channel!

I will be giving away 3 items in the course of 3 videos:

A M-Edge Trip Jacket
     -Pink with Orange Details
     -For Kindle 4, Kindle Touch, or Kobo Touch

A Merkury Innovations iPad Sleeve
     -Fits all models of iPad

An Incase 13″ Macbook/Macbook Pro Sleeve
     -Magenta/Raspberry Color
What do you have to do to win?
Leave a comment about what your favorite summer gadget is and why!
Only one entry per user per items, please don’t spam the comments. But you can enter to win each item, however, you will only be picked once to win an item!
Also, you must be subscribed to my channel and like the video!
Once the Video’s each reach 500 views, I will randomly pick 1 winner for each video/item and contact the user in a private message.
This means if you want me to pick a winner sooner rather than later you will need to share the videos as much as you can! If you tweet the link make sure to tweet @misstrenchcoat as well so I can see the tweet and reply and retweet it!
Who is eligible to win?
Anyone with a US mailing address because I am sending the items out via USPS. Sorry to anyone outside of the US but as you may already know its a little more complicated to ship outside the US and I don’t want to mess anyone up with customs fees or anything else that would make this giveaway more complicated than it needs be.
Who has provided the items?
I purchased these items myself with my own money and I am running this giveaway myself as a thank you to my viewers!