Tech Talk at ShieldsGroup

Can’t turn on the Party Mode on a Google+ Event? No checkbox?

If you have a checkbox, the answer is supplied by Google here:
https://support.google.com/plus/answer/2618640?hl=en

If that doesn’t work, come back here and read the following.

If you have more than one Google account on your device, that may be the problem.

I had my own account, syncing everything on my Android device. But I also had my wife’s Google account on the device — to let her get email when she wanted to. Somehow, when I tried to go into party mode, Google thought I was her. My phone was set to AutoUpload my pictures via my Google account.  Not hers.

That’s why there was no checkbox evident. Solving this required I switch from being her to being me.

To switch users on Google+:

1. Select the Menu icon
2. Select the small down-arrow (down carrot) next to the name of the active user
3. Select the new user

Google+ should then allow you to enter the Party Mode on your Google+ Event.

The last time Verizon updated my Android, the Mobile Data Widget stopped functioning.

JuiceDefender tech support told people to remove the JuiceDefender.backup file in the download folder on the SD card, and then to install the latest beta of JuiceDefender. What I was doing was uninstalling JuiceDefender first, and then when I looked for the backup, it was nowhere to be found. Still – they were right. The culprit was the JuiceDefender.backup file. I just couldn’t delete it because the uninstall deletes it for you.

What I didn’t think of was that Google holds the file in the cloud. When I reinstalled any version of JuiceDefender, the corrupted backup was restored to the folder and the problem persisted.

The solution was simple.

1. I reinstalled the beta and did not run the app. The reinstall pulled the backup file from the cloud to my SD card.
2. I navigated to the download folder on my SD card (Sure enough, it was over a week old — about as old as this problem) and deleted the JuiceDefender.backup file. This action evidently deleted it from the cloud.
3. I uninstalled JuiceDefender and rebooted (power down and back up) the phone.
4. I reinstalled JuiceDefender.

I can now turn data off and on via the JuiceDefender “Toggle mobile data” widget.

I love Google’s “Instant Upload,” but suddenly it stopped working last month

After poking around the web, I found a suggestion that you login to Picasa and then it will work.  Yeah, right — how can that fix it?

I don’t know, but it did.

I fixed Google+ Instant Upload simply by logging into Picasa on my desktop.