Workaround To Extend Your Phone's Capacity (Nexus 4 & LG Phones)

Is 16GB really enough to store all of your apps and media without the need to worry of exceeding? If you’re a 100 app or a 1000 songs kind of person, like me, I’m afraid that amount of space won’t cut it.

I suffered a 50% storage cut after switching over from a 32GB iPhone, and without the option to expand my phone’s internal memory through SD cards with the Nexus 4, I knew there has to be another workaround; cloud storage.

Just so you know, I was already running a Dropbox account to store my documents online and that itself left me not much space for my Nexus 4 to utilize. Luckily, I got to know about LG’s 50GB promotion after reading through various forum postings.

Any new Box user will receive a free 50GB account when they download and log into Box for Android on any LG Android device. Existing Box users will receive the upgrade when they log into Box for Android on their device.

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You might be wondering, why not use Google Play to upload all your songs and stream it to your phone on-the-go similar to iTunes Match? Unfortunately, Google Play music player is currently unavailable in my area. (Boo!)

Moving along, after you’ve uploaded your files onto the free Box account, you’re done. Enjoy your free 50GB of free permanent cloud storage!

But what if you want to stream music from it, assuming that you have quite a large library of legally purchased songs? My answer to that question would be CloudAround; there’s free and paid versions.

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After you’ve got it installed in your phone, you’ll be presented with a large selection of cloud services, including your local storage to stream the music from. Once you’ve set that all up, you may now stream your beats on-the-go.

Unfortunately, there are a couple of disadvantages to this method. The most obvious one would be that it requires an Internet connection for you to stream your music on your phone. Subsequently, it depletes your battery rapidly if you’re streaming for hours at a stretch.

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Also, it consumes a considerable amount of data if you’re a heavy user. The picture above shows about 1GB of data consumed within a week where it reflects approximately 35 hours of usage.

If you’re not bothered by it, or more of a Wifi kind-of-person, then the upside of using CloudAround definitely outweighs the downside of it.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

iMessage Held My Conversations Hostage After Converting Away From iOS

So I got the Nexus 4.

More about that in a later post. One of the opportunity cost when converting to Android from an iPhone, would be forgoing the iMessage feature exclusively made available between iOS devices.

As much as it is a joy to have, it is also a pain to remove. There were no clear instructions on how to stop receiving iMessages from friends who are on iOS devices despite deactivation. And since I'm on another mobile platform, I was not able to receive these messages despite being sent to my service number.

 

Enable-imessage

 

The general solution, after scouring through a couple of forums, was to sign out of my Apple ID on the iPhone and also switching off iMessage through the settings panel. That does not work. After much tinkering, I manage to find a solution:

And we're done. iMessage is definitely a solid feature in the iOS department but trapping personal conversations in the case a user chooses to switch over to another mobile platform, not cool.

Suspended Animation

One could only put themselves under so much pressure. My mind is ready but the physical body refuses; disaster ensues.

Pulled a hamstring while trying out fartleks, sprained my ankle while playing football and strained my calf while swimming, all in a week. Instead of nightly runs, I'm bounded to the house icing my injuries.

Mornings are the worst. Whenever I see a runner, my heart cringes and I look at them in envy and disdain; knowing fully that could be me if not for this incapable exterior. It's been a week since my last run and I am officially clinically depressed.

She calls it crazy, I'd say it's a better drug than nicotine. Speaking of which, I'm smoke-free for half a year now. 

10K

Been running regularly these past few weeks. I can't even count the number of times I keep telling myself to stop, take a breather, rest, take a shortcut, run another day, I need to rest early for school tomorrow and tons of other excuses not to run.

Not succumbing to these excuses made me feel so much better after a run. I look forward to the end, constantly. But, during these runs, there's one thing I noticed about people. They are inconsiderate, rude and downright daft.

I need to set a goal. A marathon I suppose? I'll think about it. As of now, running is my avenue to destress from the pressure of studying.

With An Empty Heart

Nearly a year has past since the last post and the only thing getting more rigorous is my heart.  I am one person at home, another with the parents, various other personalities depending on which colleagues I am with, and even have an online personality.

All I want to do is stick my head out and make a difference, but I fear. I am scared. Scared of perceptions, scared of repercussions. I am locked into the machine in which I have made to feel ashamed of what I am doing.

A cog, just another one; that's what I am, now.

Tell Me What You're Selling

“Here take one.”

I raised my palm towards her direction to show that I wasn’t interested in whatever she’s selling. On the way back, I walked past her again; same thing happened. Only this time, I took the flyer she was giving out due to her persistence.

It was a promotion for a certain food place nearby. If only I’ve taken the flyer earlier, I could have dropped by the place for lunch instead of eating somewhere else. But then again, how would I know what she’s promoting when she doesn’t tell me what it’s for.

The same theory applies for businesses. Tell us, the consumers, what you’re selling from the start instead of being vague. Because, not everyone is going to wait around hearing whatever fluff you’re spewing and even if they do, by the time you come to the gist of it, most of them have already walked off.

Limitations Are Good For You

While we all dreamt of having the limitless freedom to be and do anything and everything we want, the hard truth is that we can’t and even if we could, we would be disappointed with the end result.

Take Twitter for an example. With the availability of services like Twitlonger and Deck.ly on Tweetdeck, users are presented with the opportunity to tweet longer than 140 characters. But do we really want that? Not me. I feel that the beauty of Twitter is the character limitation itself; it helps me think in a clear and succinct way prior to posting an update.

The same applies to running. If you set a limit to the length of time you’re running today and the distance you would like to cover, you’re far more likely to hit that limit than if you had run at your own time, own target.

We like pushing ourselves to the limit but if there is none, we tend to switch off and declare that we have done enough without really trying.

If you want your best users to do more, one way to do it is to announce the most they can do. While this may dissuade a few people from pushing ever farther, it will in fact motivate a large number of people to up their game. – Seth Godin

 

Wait, I thought you were against personal blogs? What gives?

I know that my close friends would be wondering why I am creating a personal blog now. Even more so, when I was the one who insisted that it was silly to be sharing personal information to the vast unknown of the Internet. One could only imagine where the content would be reproduced but I digress.

Yes, it was insular of me to think that way but we were all once young and foolish right? As my understanding on personal blogging widens, I begin to understand that not every blog is a tool to vent your frustration over trivial matters but it could also be used to establish your personal branding.

Here are 3 ways that I believe personal blogging would help me or anyone for that matter if one wishes to build an online persona for themselves.

1)    A Journal to House My Voice

Every other day I come across interesting articles through Twitter, Facebook or friends’ recommendations but I’m limited to only sharing it with others with maybe a few lines of opinion attached to it. I believe that by having a place to chronicle my findings, I am able to expand beyond those few lines of insight by constructing a whole post dedicated to the related matter. In other words, it gives me the opportunity to pen, or type if you prefer, down my cerebration.

2)    Encourages Individuality

When producing content from your own perspective, it makes the whole process of blogging easier. On top of that, it tends to be more unique as I shed my inhibitions about sharing my point of view or making suggestions based on personal experiences. Only through this, I can ensure that I am constantly developing a better judgement and as a result mature overtime; both my blog and myself.

3)    Keeping It Real

Only by lowering the barriers to communication, by being myself, can I form personal relationships with others; not behind an artificial front. Through this, it gives others insight into my thought process and personality. There are a couple of ways that I can achieve this: by drawing upon personal experiences and through sharing of anecdotal stories. And I hope that I am able to inspire, captivate and motivate others through this point.

Why should anyone care what I think? I don't believe you have to be super successful or influential to have a blog. No one may read it, but my goal isn't to create a large audience. It's to reinforce my identity on the web, start a conversation, and build a brand.

The above quote by Alexander Mimran reflects my exact sentiments. I hope you enjoy reading my future posts. If you don’t, do tell me!