Category: Microsoft

Maintaining Contact Syncing with Gmail on iOS Devices

Google is starting to flex its muscle a little bit in dumping Exchange ActiveSync for its Gmail service unless you are a paying customer or you have existing devices setup on a free basis. This might be problematic if you’re using a new iOS device or a Windows Phone handset in the future. At least …

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How to Soft Reset a Windows Phone 8 Handset

No operating system is perfect and Windows Phone 8 is no exception particularly given its relatively recent introduction into the marketplace. That said, issues should be addressed and ironed out in due course. However, a conundrum may be encountered if your handset locks up completely and you cannot pull out the battery. You may think …

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What’s the Dot in a Circle Icon in Windows Phone 8

You might notice when you fire up particular apps on Windows Phone 8 that you might see an icon at the top of the screen that looks like a circle with a dot in the middle of it. Perhaps not the most self-explanatory icon but here’s what it means. All it means is that an app …

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Steam’s Big Picture Looks Awfully Familiar

Just wanted to share an observation regarding Steam and one of its latest updates. In the top right hand corner of the Steam client on Windows there is something that says “BIG PICTURE” with four arrows surrounding it just adjacent to the three icons representing the different views available. Of course, being curious about it …

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Error Adding SharePoint Online to Windows Phone 8

If you use Office 365 and the Sharepoint Online functionality included as part of your subscription you may find that you are unable to add your Sharepoint site to Windows Phone 8 in the Office hub. When attempting to do so, you may encounter the following error: We encountered a problem and couldn’t complete this …

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Nokia Nostalgia for Lumia Handsets

Once upon a time, Nokia was the kingpin when it came to mobile phones and mobile photography was very much in its infancy. The quality was rather average at best but it helped spur on MMS traffic before data took off in a big way. Anyway, Nokia has been known to provide a raft of …

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Syncing Time on Windows Phone

Not so much a tip but an observation. Most smartphones these days will sync their time off the cellular network to which they are connected but sometimes they can be out of sync with the time on your computers which are set to sync against time servers out on the internet. If you work in …

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Intermittent Keyboard Functionality with Microsoft Surface

Here’s a quick tip for those with Microsoft Surface tablets. You may find that despite the touch cover or type cover being connected that it may no longer register keystrokes or will do so intermittently. Removing and reattaching the keyboard might get you up and running again but this can become a bit of a …

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Windows Phone 8 – Bing Beats Shazam

There’s an app for nearly everything these days but sometimes there are features built into the operating system that will do the job of a dedicated app. Shazam is one of those very popular apps which broke ground on the iPhone with its ability to determine what song is playing just by listening to a …

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Microsoft Surface – You’re Locked Out!

I think I may have let my Microsoft Surface run dry of power at some point over the weekend as I used it without a problem on Friday but my Surface refused to switch on Sunday and Monday. I believed that I had charged it up yesterday but it appears that I hadn’t connected the …

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