The Braun Blog ← for when you have nothing better to read.

What to do when SkyDrive takes a faceplant

Jun

2013

I have a number of machines that synchronize with SkyDrive. Last week, things went sideways and one of my machines was reporting errors and quit synchronizing. After the next reboot (which naturally fixes most issues), the SkyDrive application would initialize, trying to start processing the changes, and then do a faceplant in the form of ...

A few quick pointers on Windows 8 System Recovery

Nov

2012

If you’ve used the “Create System Image” functionality available in Windows 7, you’ll be surprised to see that its missing in Windows 8. Well, it’s not actually missing, but the functionality is hidden in the Control Panel and is now called “Windows 7 File Recovery”. Once you locate it in the Control Panel, the options ...

Issues Installing Windows Phone IsoStoreSpy on Windows 8

Nov

2012

Windows Phone IsoStoreSpy is a great utility for interrogating the Windows Phone Iso Store when developing applications. It usually if you want to check to see if files are being created correctly, and identifying what is in a file on the phone’s local store. IsoStoreSpy can pier into both the emulator and physical device. It ...

Twin Cities LTE Performance: Not too shabby

Nov

2012

With Twin Cities AT&T customers getting an added Thanksgiving gift of LTE, I decided to run a handful of tests to see what performance looked like. This was performed on a Samsung Galaxy SIII using the app from speedtest.net. The results are pretty impressive. Almost 40Mb/s down and over 10 Mb/s upload speeds.

AT&T Rocking 4G LTE in the Twin Cities

Nov

2012

Looks like today is the day when AT&T flips the switch on full-time LTE for the Twin Cities. I noticed back in September that the State Fairgrounds was lit up and providing some nice download speeds. Also the U of M campus and a few other northern suburbs have been enjoying that functionality as AT&T ...

Start8 fixes the missing Start button dilemma 1

Nov

2012

I was reading the article: “Will Microsoft restore Start Menu to Windows 8?” in the Tuesday edition of the USA Today newspaper. This was an interesting headline that piqued my interest given the announcement that Microsoft Windows head, Steven Sinofsky was making a quick escape so close to the launch of Windows 8 and Microsoft ...

Running with the Crucial M4 SSD

Nov

2012

I decided to do some hardware upgrades this weekend, and as prices on SSD continue to drop, I found a pretty good deal at my local MicroCenter. The Crucial M4 256GB SSD normally retails for $239, but you save $50 instantly, and an additional $20 on a rebate, so you can take it home for ...

Windows Phone 8 DevCenter Membership for Just $8!

Oct

2012

From the Windows Phone Developer Blog: “Windows Phone 8 is out, the tools are available, and devices are about to be released—it’s time to get coding. As an added incentive, for the next 8 days individual developers can register for a Dev Center account for just $8 (a 92 percent savings). Please note because this ...

Windows 8 in 3 minutes

Oct

2012

Quite honestly, having been in the TAP for Windows 8 and having logged a lot of time using the product, I was frustrated because I felt lost when it came to finding something or executing a task. I shy away from the “Start” screen, the screen you see after you’re logged in to Windows 8. ...

Stupid Mouse Tricks with the Dell XPS13 1

Oct

2012

I love my Dell XPS13. It’s by far my favorite machine ?that Dell has created. Prior to the acquisition of Compellent by Dell, I regularly used a MacBook Pro as my primary machine for both home and work. I like using the Mac OS, but I found the hardware to be my favorite. Battery life ...