Friday, July 30, 2010

PDAnet - Setup for Macs

So for some of you mac users you may have found that although the installation went alright, PDAnet is still not connecting the way you had hoped it would. For those of you that are having problems there are a few, simple, extra steps that you need to go through in order to get things running smoothly.

The first thing you need to do is to open your preferences
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Once you have your system preferences open you should see the above screen. From here click on Internet and you will be presented with this screen

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When you see the above screen it is helpful to disconnect your wireless and ethernet(internet) cable so that all of the lights in the system settings are red. Now connect your phone to your computer and open PDAnet and click to enable the tether. Now go to the top toolbar and you should see the PDAnet icon (the black phone icon from the previous post) Click it and select connect. After you connect, your internet settings should look like the above image with one of the red lights now green. Click that one so that it is highlighted and click advanced. Doing so will bring you to the following screen


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When at this screen click the proxies tab and you will be brought to this screen.


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When at this screen scroll to the bottom and you should see a check box labeled automatic proxy configuration. Check that box as seen below and then close the settings and check to see if you now have internet.


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Hope that helped and if not let us know and we'll try to walk you through it

Thursday, July 29, 2010

How To Use PDAnet to Tether Your Computer With Your Phone

Recently there has been a lot of talk about using your droid to tether with your computer so you can get internet on the go or if the power goes out. The process is pretty simple once you know what you're doing and have the right tools and we're going to show you how its done.

First what you want to do is to download PDAnet from the market. There is a lot of talk about whether PDAnet or EasyTether is better, but we have found that PDAnet is a better choice and therefore will be showing you how to set it up.
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After you download the app open it up and you will be presented with this screen.
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If, instead a screen pops up asking you whether you want to download the application for your computer or not, click yes and you will be taken to this site.
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select which operating system you have and it will download the file to your sd card

Connect your computer to your phone using your USB cable and on your phone click in your toolbar to "mount" your phone. Now open up "my computer" if on a pc or go to your desktop on a mac and you should see what looks like a new hard drive listed. Open the drive and go to your "download" folder and you should see a file named PDAnet242 or something similar.

Open that on your computer and you should see this dialog box
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Continue through the installation until you reach this point.
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Follow those steps exactly as listed and a few things will be checked to make sure everything is going to run smoothly

If you see this screen instead and have already installed drivers for your phone then click "no" otherwise click "yes" note: if you followed our webcam tutorial then click "no"
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After the checks are completed then you should be presented with this screen which lets you know that your installation was successful.

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If you reach the above screen then go to PDAnet on your phone and click enable usb tether.
After you enable the tether PDAnet will verify that there is an available internet connection and will then prompt you to connect on your phone.
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To do this, go to the bottom right of your screen (on windows) and look for this icon
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Yours should initially be all black without the globe on it, but if you right click it and click "connect" then it will get the globe icon when successfully setup.

Now you just need to open your browser to see if it is working.

*PDAnet free doesn't allow "secure" sites so some logins as well as AIM, MSN, Yahoo chat, etc. wont work*

If you have a mac and it doesn't work immediately send us an email at 2guys1droid@gmail.com and we'll show you how to get it running

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

How To Customize Your Droid's Unlock Screen


To Begin
-Download lockbot pro or free
-Open lockbot
-Click Theme Gallery
-Choose your unlock style
-Browse the gallery for an unlock screen you like
*If you can't find one you like look in the galaxy section for a larger selection*
-Tap the lock screen that you want and it should download

To Choose Your Lock Screen
-Go to My Themes and make sure your theme is there
-If it isn't, download it again
-Hit the menu key and select playlist
-Check the one you want to use
*you can select more than one as well as times/dates you want to use them. If you don't choose a certain time/date it will cycle your lock screen randomly
-Exit lock bot and lock your phone
-When you unlock it you should now have your new unlock screen

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

How to Avoid Multiple E-Mail Notifications

A few people have had a problem with getting multiple notifications when using two different e-mail or text messaging applications. We're going to show you how to stop recieving notifications from both applications with these easy steps:

First, open the application that you want to stop recieving notifications from and click the menu button.

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Next, if you want to stop recieving e-mails from gmail, you're going to have to select the "more" option and then "settings". If you want to stop recieving notifications from the default e-mail application which comes on the phone, you just have to click "menu" then "settings".

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In settings you'll see a bunch of options. For gmail scroll to the bottom while in e-mail you should be able to see what you're looking for immediately.

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As you can see, there is a check-box for e-mail notifications. If you uncheck it, you will no longer recieve notifications from this application when it recieves an e-mail.


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When you uncheck e-mail notifications, it will gray out the other options so that you know it was done correctly. That's all there is to it.

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How to Keep Your Droid Running Smoothly Using Advanced Task Killer

A lot of new Droid users are realizing that as they add and open multiple apps on their phones, they are experiencing some degree of slow performance. This, of course, is very easy to deal with and is caused by processing power being used up by the apps that are being opened. To keep your Droid running smoothly and cleanly, follow these easy steps:


To use the App
-Go to market and download "Advanced Task Killer" by "ReChild"
-Open App
-Check apps you want to end and uncheck apps you want still running
-Click "Kill Apps"

To use the Widget
-Tap a blank space on the home screen
-Choose the Advanced Task Killer widget
-Tap widget to kill previously checked apps

How to Set an Automatic Signature When Texting

We've been getting a lot of questions on how to set a signature for your default text messaging app. Basically, a signature is any line of text automatically displayed at the end of all of your text messages. To set a signature, follow these easy steps.

First, make sure you have downloaded Handcent from the Market. After you have downloaded this app, open it and click on the menu button on your phone.

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The option tab for Handcent is now opened. Click on "Settings". The settings list for Handcent should now be opened. Click on "Send message settings".

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The send message settings list should now be opened. At the top of the list, check the box that says "Enable signature".

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After you have checked the box, click on "Personal signature".

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At this point, you are ready to type in whatever you'd like to set as your signature. Enter the text and then click "OK". From now on, whenever you send somebody a text from Handcent, your customized signature will be displayed at the end of the text!




How to Stop Your Droid Contacts From Disappearing

A lot of new Motorola Droid users are reporting that they are entering their contacts into their phones, and then finding that when they go into their contact list nothing is there. This is a common problem and is easy to fix with a few steps:

First, click on "Contacts" and then click on the menu button on your phone. The contacts option tab should pop up. Click on "New Contact."
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Your account list will now pop up. If you have no registered gmail account, create one for the sake of storing your contacts and syncing them with your Droid. If you already have a gmail account, select it from the list.

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Your contact add screen will now open. Enter all of the information you'd like to store and then click "Done".

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Finally, return to "Contacts" and click the menu button on your phone, again reopening the options tab. Click on "Display Options".

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The final step is to make sure that your contacts are being synced with your new (or already existing) gmail account. Click on your gmail account and a few options should drop down. Make sure that all 3 boxes are checked off. Then click "Done."

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And there you have it. Your contacts will no longer randomly disappear. Just make sure that whenever you add a contact, you do so under your gmail account. Enjoy.

How to Use Your Droid as a Webcam


To begin
-Go to www.placaware.com and follow the first few steps there.
-Click on Start, then right click "Computer" and click "Manage"
-In computer management click on "Device manager" on the left
-Make sure your phone is plugged into your computer
-Click Android Device and see if it says "Android COMPOSITE ADB Interface"
-Right click the driver you have and click "update driver"
-Choose the bottom option, browse for drivers then click choose from a list
-If you have more than one driver click the COMPOSITE one
-Click the driver then click next to update
-When it finishes, close the update box and either do or don't restart your computer, its up to you.

After Driver is Installed
-Open task manager (ctrl+alt+delete)
-End "adb.exe" process
-Open USB Webcam on your computer (from placaware.com)
-Wait for config window to open and make sure that it says everything was working and ready
*If there is an error retrace the steps above*
-Open the program you intend to use your webcam with and choose your webcam
-If screen is green then you are ready to open USB Webcam on your phone
-Phone screen should show that it is initializing and will shortly display video.

Enjoy your new webcam


Monday, July 26, 2010

Adding and Removing Widgets and Icons



Video Notes:

To Add Widgets

-Go to a blank area of the screen

-Tap and hold until phone vibrates

-Select what widget you want to use

-Change options to suit your needs

Remove Widgets

-Tap and hold finger over widget until phone vibrates

-Drag widget to trash icon until it turns red

-Let go of screen

Add Icons

-Open icon tray (slide arrow up on default 2.1 firmware)

-Select your icon

-Tap and hold until icon tray disappears

-Release Icon anywhere on screen

Remove Icon

-Same as removing widgets

-Tap and hold icon

-Drag to trash can at bottom

-Release

Notes

*To drag icon or widget to a different home screen simply hold the widget or icon and move it towards the side of the home screen you would like to place it on

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Welcome to 2 Guys 1 Droid

Hey Guys it's Will and Marty from 2 Guys 1 Droid
We created this as a place where both new and experienced Droid owners can come to improve their phones as well as learn about new tips, tricks, and apps for the Moto Droid and how to use them with the help of video tutorials.