I’ve been using the T420 for several months now and it seems to be a great laptop, up to the standards I’d expect from Lenovos business range.

However, one issue has been plaguing me, which, seems only to be a problem with this particular model. Unlike the T410 I had previously the button on the DVD tray is not flush. The result of this is whenever I pick up the laptop to say move from my desk to go to a meeting the tray pops open.

The button seems to be located in just the “right” position to be triggered whenever I pick the laptop. Ok, this isn’t the end of the world but its pretty inconvenient. Whilst scanning various forums for this problem I stumbled across a solution in the program called Toddler Keys. Toddler Keys is actually designed to stop children messing with you laptop but suits this problem perfectly.

Toddler Keys runs in the background in your notifications area restricting access to whatever you choose:

In this instance I’ve simply configured Toddler Keys to “Lock Drive Doors” with that setting enabled the button to trigger the DVD drive is completely disabled.

For the amount that I use the DVD drive, which, is very very rarely this is the perfect solution for me. Just a shame Lenovo didn’t get this right in the first place!

Todder Keys can be downloaded here

What a week, a lot of loooong days in office! Can now add Access control system repair to the CV. Wires and PCBs everywhere this afternoon!

As I was reading through my probably too large collection of RSS feeds this morning I stumbled across a video taken from the International Space Station.

Take a look at this link for a stunning time lapse HD video of Earth taken from the space station!

Enjoy!!

Yes they’re back!!!

Before iOS 5 was released I like many others downloaded xCode to enable gestures on my first generation iPad. After upgrading my iPad to iOS 5.0 I discovered that gestures had gone. Don’t get me wrong there are bigger issues in the world but ever since updating my iPad I’ve found myself trying to close or switch apps using the gestures that just aren’t there anymore!

I don’t know whether gestures were intentionally ommited for the first gen iPad or it was a defect but I’m so glad they’re back!

After upgrading to iOS v5.0.1 (which of course you can now do over the air!) you’ll need to follow these steps to enable gestures:

1. Go to Settings
2. Go to General
3. Enable the slider for “Multitasking Gestures”

Can’t believe the Xmas decorations are up in town already #bahhumbug

We’ve all done it, sent that e-mail telling the intended recipient to do something with the attachment. Only to realise moments after hitting send that you forgot to include the actual attachment…doh!

A colleague mentioned this at work the other day. After someone forgot to attach a document in a mail that was being sent round to a large distribution list. Not long after it was followed by the “Sorry! Here’s the attachment!” e-mail. It got me thinking that a solution must exist to this! A quick Google led me to Forgotten Attachment Director for Outlook.

I’ve had it installed for about a week now and it works very well! It’s configurable allowing you to choose the keywords that the plugin checks for before sending e-mails.

Once installed the add-on simply runs in the background and checks your outgoing e-mails.

If you then attempt to send an e-mail containing one of the keywords but you have not included an attachment it displays a warning message before actually sending the e-mail.

Give it a try and it’ll save you from those embarrassing moments!

So, if you’re anything like me, you’ve been experimenting with Siri since picking up your 4S but still aren’t quite sure of everything it can do!!

I have to say I’m very impressed with its speech recognition abilities. It doesn’t seem great with a lot of background noise, but, to be fair I was walking along quite a busy road when I tested that. Ill give that another try in a more forgiving environment later on. It’s also a little disappointing that a network connection is required for Siri to work but again I’m willing to let that slide being a first attempt at this.

What it does do it does very well. My main gripe at the moment is business searching. This seems to only be available in the US. I tried asking where my nearest Starbucks was only to be told this only works in America. That aside I’m very impressed.

Below is a list of commands that will get you started. Enjoy!

Address Book

Querying Contacts

What’s Michael’s address?
What is Susan Park’s phone number?
When is my wife’s birthday?
Show Jennifer’s home email address

Finding Contacts

Show Jason Russell
Find people named Park
Who is Michael Manning?

Continue reading “Siri Commands” »

After upgrading to iOS5 I had all kinds of issues syncing apps.

No matter what I tried in iTunes apps failed to sync correctly. After the upgrade all my apps had lost their groupings, rather than being organised they were split over some 15 or so pages!

Despite reorganising the apps in iTunes several times the apps reverted back to their unorganised state.

How to fix this scenario?

1) Reset the iPhone back to factory defaults (Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings)

2) Restore the backup taken when the iOS 5 upgrade started

I spent much of yesterday expectantly waiting for 6pm to arrive. This was the time when it was widely anticipated that iOS5 would be officially released for download. The previous night I did everything I could to prepare for the upgrade; installed the latest version of iTunes, updated all my apps, performed a backup and sync of my iPhone. I even had a cull of some of the many apps I’ve downloaded, used once, and never gone back to. Which for those of you that know me and have seen my iPhone there are many!

So at 6pm I was all prepared ready and waiting for my device to be transformed. 6 hours later and my computer and iPhone had nearly found themselves new homes on the street….!!

The upgrade as expected started slowly. After two failed download attempts iOS5 finally downloaded at around 7.30pm. iTunes took me through the usual motions and all appeared to be going well. After the update was applied and the phone had restarted a wizard appeared taking me through several configuration options; Wi-Fi network, Location services, iCloud backups. Brilliant all looking good!

Then came the restore part of the process and it all went horribly wrong! After the wizard had collected all the information it required the backup taken prior to upgrade is restored. This seems to restore everything with the exception of your apps. The restore went well and the iPhone was back up and running and usable within around 10 minutes. iTunes then flashes up a message with a progress bar (if you could call it that) indicating that it was syncing apps. Slowly but surely my apps started to appear on screen.

After around 5 minutes an error popped up, the restore process had failed, I feared the worst and I was right to. I began the restore process again. This took me back through the new iOS5 setup wizard, performed a restore and tada! Only this time it didn’t seem to sync my apps. So I selected my iPhone in iTunes switched to the apps tab.

This is where the pain really started. All my apps were there, but unorganised and spread across 16 or so pages somewhat exceeding the maximum 11 pages! After much unhappiness I began sorting my apps in iTunes. After spending an age doing this I synced the phone, unplugged relieved that it was all over. That was until I realised that the sync had not worked and in fact most of my apps were still missing from my phone.

I repeated this process several times until I could cope no longer. In an extreme and desperate measure I resorted to resetting the phone back to defaults completely! I wasn’t particularly happy but I at least had a working iPhone complete with iOS5

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here. I’m not really sure where the time has gone.

Anyway…..It’s time that I start posting again. And I figured what better way to start than with the news of the long awaited Apple press conference. Which surely can only be to present the next revision of the iPhone. Excited? I am.

This image has reportedly been sent out by Apple inviting people to the media event.

Whether this is for iPhone 5 / iPhone 4S or both I guess we will just have to wait a few more days to find out.

More details over on 9to5Mac

I’ll certainly be keeping a close eye on this as it unfolds. Hopefully the days of my 3GS are numbered