How to Fix Your Android Phone If the Google Play Store Won't Install Apps

I was recently talking to someone who was complaining that his Nexus 5 wouldn't install an app. He said that the progress bar just sat there, not showing a percentage or changing the status to install. It turns out that this is a common problem that many people have had while using their phones.

If you are experiencing this problem, there is usually a very simple way to fix it. Most of the time, people installed an app that was quite large, and didn't realize that they set it to download on WiFi only. To fix this, you must either connect your phone to a WiFi spot or go and cancel the download.

1. Open the Google Play Store
2. Click up at the top left to open the side menu, and go to the "My apps" option
3. Look under the "Downloading..." section, and manually click into each of these apps and click the X beside the status bar to cancel them.

And there you have it. Doing this will remedy the problem for the majority of people. If this does not fix your problem, another solution many people do is to go into the app settings and force close the Google Play store and uninstall the updates. This is just a bit more complicated, and since I've never had to do it on my Nexus 5, I'll leave it at that and let you do the research if you have to try something else.

Crunchbang Linux: Enabling Tap-to-click For Synaptic Touchpads

I recently installed Crunchbang Linux on an old laptop, and realized that the tap-to-click on the touchpad wasn't working properly.

It is quick and easy to enable this option. First, we want to copy some files before we edit them or the system will likely end up writing over any changes in a future update. So, open the command line and enter:

cd /usr/share/X11/

Now, enter:

sudo cp xorg.conf.d/ /etc/X11/ -R
cd /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/

sudo nano 50-synaptics.conf

Now, in the part of the file that looks like this:

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "touchpad catchall"
        Driver "synaptics"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"

we want to add Option "TapButton1" "1"

like this:

# Example xorg.conf.d snippet that assigns the touchpad driver
# to all touchpads. See xorg.conf.d(5) for more information on
# InputClass.
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE, your distribution will likely overwrite
# it when updating. Copy (and rename) this file into
# /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d first.
# Additional options may be added in the form of
#   Option "OptionName" "value"
#
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "touchpad catchall"
        Driver "synaptics"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        Option "TapButton1" "1"

# This option is recommend on all Linux systems using evdev, but cannot be
# enabled by default. See the following link for details:

.

.

.

To exit nano, just hit control-x and then type y and hit enter.

Now all that is left to do is restart the X11 system. You can just log out and log back in to restart it (or control-alt-backspace, not sure if that works on this distro).

Have fun breathing new life into your old computers with Crunchbang Linux!

Formatting A Flash Drive with an HFS+ Filesystem and Putting it Back to Fat32

Recently I tried to use a flash drive that I had used TransMac on in the past. Since TransMac had expired, I could not format the flash drive from within there. Luckily, Windows has Diskpart, a command prompt tool that makes getting my flash drive back to fat32 relatively painless. Here is how to do it. (Warning: Do at your own risk. I am not responsible for any damage you may cause):

Step 1: Go to run, type in cmd, and then, when Command Prompt opens,
type:diskpart

Step 2: We must now find the disk # corresponding to the flash drive. To do this,
type:list disk
There will be a number of disks that pop up, depending on how many hard drives you have. If your usb drive is plugged into the computer, one of the numbers will be your USB drive. It shouldn't be hard to identify since it is probably much smaller than the rest of the hard drives. Just really make sure it is your USB drive (make sure the size corresponds to the size of your USB drive).

Step 3: Now that we have your USB drive disk number,
type:select disk #

Step 4:To see the partitions on the USB drive,
type:list partition
If you don't know what  a partition is, you probably should not proceed. Anything past this point could result in the loss of the data on your computer if used improperly.

Step 5: Really be sure that the partitions make sense and that you do have your USB drive selected. Then, type:clean
This cleans all the configuration information off the drive.

Step 6: type:create partition primary

Step 7:Assuming you want a fat32 filesystem,
type:format fs=fat32 quick

And that's all there is to it. If you check in "My Computer", you will once again see a flash drive, unlike when it was formatted with an HFS+ filesystem.

Fixing Scaling / Black Box Issue on Trine or Trine 2 for AMD/ATI Video Cards

Note: Try this at your own risk. I don't know what kind of monitor you are using, if there is any risk in changing briefly to different Screen refresh rates. Also, this seems to only apply to HDMI connected monitors, so if you aren't connected by HDMI, this probably isn't the solution for you.

This fix is for Trine and Trine 2 if you have a black box around the screen. Thanks goes to RyuKent on Technology and Life for pointing out the fix, although the Catalyst Control Center seems to have changed since it was written.

Ok, the fix is quite straight forward. There is a scaling issue when we launch the game, wherein a black box appears around the screen. This is thought to be caused by the Catalyst abandoning its settings when the game is launched at a different framerate than the one you are using for your desktop.

Step 1: Launch the Catalyst Control Center. You can probably find it down on the task bar (Start menu) on the botton right. It will be a red and white looking thing. Double clicking that will launch it, and you should get a screen like this:

Note that this is in advanced view. If you don't get a screen with all the options on the left side, then you are probably in Standard View, and should go to Preferences at the top and change it to Advanced View.

Step 2: Go to the tab, "My Digital Flat-Panels", on the left, and click "Properties (Digital Flat-Panel)". If you have more than 1 display connected, then select it on the top drop down menu. Next, click Enable GPU Scaling, as pictured.

Step 3: Go back to the Tab, "My Digital Flat-Panels", on the left, and click "Scaling Options (Digital Flat-Panel)". If you have a black box around your desktop already, adjust the scaling options until the black box disappears and click apply, otherwise, continue to the next step.

Step 4: Leave the Catalyst Control Center Open. Go to the desktop, right click, and select "Screen Resolution". Then, select the monitor that you are having the black box issue on, and click "Advanced Settings", as pictured.

 Step 4: Note: This is the step that concerns me. I am not sure if changing the Screen refresh rate can damage your monitor. I did not run into any problems, but do this at your own risk.

Click the "Monitor" tab. Take note of the refresh rate you are at, because you will want to put your settings back to this when you are done. I believe this is typically 60 Hertz. Now, pick a different "Screen refresh rate" and hit apply. If a message asks you if you would like to keep the new screen refresh rate, just click Ok. Then, go back to the Catalyst Control Center and change the scaling options to make the black box disappear (assuming one appeared), and click apply there. Go back to the Advanced settings of your Monitor and change to yet another Screen refresh rate, then go back to the Catalyst Center and change the Scaling option again to get rid of the black box. Do this for all your refresh rates and make sure to click apply. Then, once you are done, change back to your original refresh rate. This last step is important, so make sure you change back to your refresh rate. Having the wrong refresh rate can be really to look at.

Congratulations! When you launch Trine, you should now have a full screen, no black box playing experience.

Acer Iconia A500 Sleep of Death and How I Fixed Mine

First off, this is not meant to be a guide. Do your research before you do anything to your tablet. Realize that by changing your tablet from its manufacturer state, it is possible to brick your tablet, from which you will be left with an expensive doorstop. By reading any further, you agree that I will not be held responsible for your bricked or damaged device.

 So, now that you understand the risks involved in modifying your tablet, I will get my explanation of what I did underway. First off, just to restate the obvious, in this article I am talking about the Acer Iconia A500.

If you are like me, after waiting for what seemed like forever, Acer finally released Ice Cream Sandwich, but upon installing it, you found that if you left your tablet for a while, it would become unresponsive, leaving you no choice but to hold the button in for around 15 seconds to hard-power it off and then start it up again. If you aren't aware already, this problem is called the 'Sleep of Death' problem, or just SoD for short.

There are various ways of artificially fixing this problem (by keeping your tablet from falling into a sleep mode), such as with Wakelock or Wake my Android Pro. I did not try Wakelock, but Wake my Android Pro did not work for me. While Wakelock will probably do the job, one downside is that you will take a hit in your battery life, as the tablet is prevented from entering a deep sleep.

Like a lot of people I've read about, I needed my tablet on a daily basis and could not afford to part with it, so I ignored sending it in for warranty, and this month discovered that I had waited too long, and that the warranty had ran out. If you are having the sleep of death problem and still have warranty on your tablet, I would recommend you call Acer Support and deal with them. Some people recommend putting a little note with the tablet when you send it in saying that it is experiencing the Sleep of Death problem.

So, for me, now that I had no official recourse to fix my tablet, I decided to turn to the unofficial development scene. Xda-Developers has been indispensable on my journey to fix my tablet. I would recommend you do your reading there to learn about the proper procedures to follow when modifying your tablet. 

Note: I am trying to recall all the steps I took in fixing my tablet, but I may miss a few that I took on my journey. Do not use this as a step-by-step guide. Use it as a reference to help you understand what to expect.

You will need your Acer USB drivers installed to be able to do any of the things below. See http://support.acer.com for the USB drivers.

Now onto what I did to fix my tablet:
1. First I rooted my tablet using a very nice tool created by blackthund3r. You can read about it and find a link to it here. I simply had my tablet connected to my computer in usb debugging mode (turned on), opened up the program, and clicked the Do It! button (note, rooting your tablet, unless you change it back, can be considered voiding your warranty). The root went fine, and it installed some useful apps to the tablet.

2. Next, and this is very important, you must obtain your CPUID. From this, you can generate an SBK for which you will use later. In case something goes seriously wrong, I am told you will need this saved. Then, in my case, I ended up flashing an Ice Cream Sandwich bootloader (V8 Thor's to be exact). All the steps to do the above are outlined very nicely in this guide. Read it over as many times as it takes until you feel fairly comfortable in the steps. I did Option 2, but Option 1, using AfterOTA, looks like it would work, but as it says, you must have never made changes to your tablet before, and are on the Ice Cream Sandwich update that you downloaded from ACER (the Over-the-air one, that you got from a system update). If you follow that guide, on step 4, it says to choose an ICS rom to use. I used one from here, the 4.0.4-RE-FLEXxx_Rev5.2-public rom. It includes a kernel that overclocks your tablet to 1.5 GHZ, so if you don't feel comfortable with using that, use one of the other roms on that list. After you have all the things downloaded and transferred to your SD Card that it said, I used the Automated flashing Tool steps, and not the manual flashing method.

3. When you have completed those steps, you will find that your tablet has become quite different (I think for the better). But sadly, if you are like me, you will find that you still have the Sleep of Death problem. It took me a while, but I finally fixed it by flashing ezterry's kernel. I have been up and running for over 5 days now, and I haven't had a problem. The FLEX Rom I used is very awesome, and I am no longer dreading my purchase of the Acer tablet.

Please note: This is a simplification of the steps I took. I did a lot of stupid things trying to fix the issue, including flashing back to a stock rom, from which something could have contributed to the fix. But I don't believe this to be the case, because when I went back to FLEX, I was still getting the SoD's. I tried many kernels, but it was only after flashing ezterry's kernel that my problem became solved.

If you have this problem, I hope my giant spiel of what I did helps lead you in the right direction. I know how frustrating it is to have a tablet that doesn't want to stay on. When in doubt (but only after doing your own research), ask in the forums at XDA-Developer.com. Make sure to post in the Q and A part and not in another section. I have nothing but awesome things to say about the people there, and really hope you can manage to fix your tablet as I did. Good luck.  


TOOLS AND THINGS I FOUND USEFUL:
- ICS Root 7.1.1 
- AfterOTA 
- APX_v0.4A-flashTool-500Manager1.0.2 (can be found here)
- 4.0.4-RE-FLEXxx_Rev5.2-public
- ezterry A500 Kernel  

The Light in the Night

While reading my June 30th copy of New Scientist, I came across an interesting article (Better than Sunshine by Jeff Hecht) on the effects that artificial light has on us, as well as the effects it has on the animals around us. To sum it up very quickly, our current artificial light is not entirely beneficial to our lives. By using LEDs, in the future, light bulbs may be made that can change over time, providing different compositions of colors in our light at different times of day, helping to improve our energy levels and sleeping habits (by mimicking the behavior of the Sun). I'm not going to go into it, but a quick Google search brought up many research papers using these kinds of lights already.

While I was searching around though, I found a program called f.lux, which is a neat little app that changes your screen color throughout the day according to where the sun is. Obviously, such a program would be bad for someone who is a digital artist, but for someone like me, who spends a lot of time at the computer reading and working on things that don't depend on exact colors, its a nifty little app. During the evening, you really start to notice the screen's changes, although it does not affect the usability.

If you're the sort of person who uses their computer all day, it couldn't hurt to check it out. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

f.lux