Disable the Google Grid Navigation, Revert Back to Top Bar Navigation

If you’re a Google user (which most of us are), you’ve probably noticed an annoying new navigation system that they’ve slowly been rolling out to the public. It takes the tried and true Top Bar navigation with quick, one-click access to their most popular Google Products…

Google Top Nav

and groups everything into what they are calling the grid…

Google Grid Navigation

Which is irritating because, among other things, it adds an additional click to get to where I need to go (e.g. Getting to Google Calendar from Gmail). Their welcome message is equally as annoying:

Welcome to the new way to find your favorite Google products. Click the grid to have a look.

I noticed though that my Chrome sessions varied from computer to computer (some showed Top Nav action while others showed the stupid Grid). So I did a little toying around and may’ve found a possible solution. Although not ideal and possible temporary (until Google really decides to force this down our throats), here’s the simple solution that brought my holy Top Nav back.

The Solution

1. In Chrome, go to Settings


Google Chrome Settings

2. On the left nav, click on History and click the Clear browsing data… button


Google Chrome History Settings

3. On the Clear browsing data popup, check all boxes and click on the Clear browsing data button.


Clear browsing data popup window

4. Close your Chrome session and go back to Google where you’ll find your Nav back where it should be… On Top!

A few notes/caveats:

• As mentioned above, this is by no means a permanent solution. Once Google decides that this is the (ill-advised) direction they’d like to go, there’s nothing we can do to stop it.
• I’ve also actually once did this before and the Grid nav returned! I don’t recall how or when, but I’ll try to update this article once I figure it out after the next occurrence. For now, this seems to work at least for a little while.
• On step 3 above, you don’t necessarily need to check all boxes. If you want to preserve your settings for some of these and have the time, by all means, feel free to experiment with which checkbox exactly resolves this for you. I’m guessing it’ll be the cache one. I just tried to simplify things by checking all boxes.
• Not sure if it makes much of a difference, but in my tests, I used the standalone Google Notifier app for Windows with HTTPS patch installed. I am logged in through the app/Program, and double-click to launch Gmail within a non-Incognito Chrome session.
• Google ideally needs to make this an option in your account settings. For a company whose main focus seems to be speed and efficiency, they should know better than to add an extra click in everyone’s main navigation path.

I hope this helps you out! Feel free to leave your feedback below.

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How Remote DVR Saved My Life

OK, so the story I’m about to share is not as dramatic as my title suggests, but let’s be honest… for many of us TV fanatics, forgetting to set our DVR to record our favorite show(s) often does seem like life or death.

Let’s take a few steps back and talk about what Remote DVR is. In fact, maybe I should moonwalk a little further and talk about what DVR itself is because, believe it or not, I still get asked this question on the regular.

DVR, which stands for Digital Video Recorder, is the greatest thing since sliced bread. And I’m not just saying that because I work for the company. 😉 It’s basically a smarter, “nu skool”-ier version of the beloved VHS recorder. Instead of using tapes like the VHS, it uses an internal hard drive (like a computer). And instead of relying on you and your fading memory (let’s face it, we’re getting old) to check the guide in the daily paper and set your recordings manually, the DVR automatically syncs to the on-screen guide through which you can set all of your recordings. You can even set it to record a whole series of shows, adjust start and end times, and much more!

Remote DVR, which was recently launched here in the Hawaii market, takes this convenience to the next level. Thanks to the power of the Interwebs, you can now log in to http://dvr.timewarnercable.com (using TimeWarnerCable.com’s MyServices portal) from any Internet connected device, and manage your DVR recordings even when you aren’t home.

For Apple iPad users, you can leverage the power of our uber popular TWCable TV iPad App to similarly manage your DVR recordings. As a new father, I’ve found this service particularly useful & convenient because once baby goes to bed, the wife mandates that the TV be off. Not a problem. If I forgot to set a recording, I’ll just whip out my trusty iPad…

TWCable TV App on the iPad

fire up the TWCable TV app…

TWCable TV app launching

go into the DVR screen, and record away.

On this particular occasion, I forgot to set all of my UFC 137 related recordings. As a HUGE UFC and MMA fan in general, this event is of particular interest to me – as well as the rest of the state – because our local boy BJ Penn is headlining the card. (Read an interview I did with BJ Penn back in 2009.)

Since the “no TV when baby is sleeping” rule was in full effect, I simply did a search for “UFC” in the TWCable TV app and found all shows in the next 7 days with “UFC” in the title.

Searching for “UFC” in the TWCable TV app

From there, I simply selected the shows I wanted to record and, bingo-bango, they were all automagically set to record without even having to turn on my TV. Sweet right? Here’s what one sequence looked like when I scheduled a show (UFC 137 Prelims) to record on Spike HD.

Selecting UFC 137 Prelims in the search results brought up this options window

Selecting the HD version brought up this window that displayed additional show info and the Record button.

Pressing the Record button brought up the options screen where you could adjust the Save Time (“Until space needed” or “Do not delete”) and the Start and End times.

Pressing the Confirm Changes button set my recording

Not exactly life saving, but definitely time saving. Now, with all this extra time, I can concentrate on preparing for my UFC 137 BBQ/Party! 8) Goooooo BJ!

UFC 137 Poster (Poster Art Courtesy: UFC)

For Oceanic Time Warner Cable customers here in Hawaii, you can follow along through our UFC Video Content page. For more information on how to order, click here.

VH07V!

Where In the Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – October 26, 2011

K, if y’all don’t at least get one of these, I don’t know what else fo’ do! LOL! Number two might be hard for the non-golfers out there, but 1 and 3 should be duck soup… No? Hehe! Chance um!

Photo #1

Where In the Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – October 26, 2011

Points for Photo #1…
* Location: 2 points
* General area?: 1 point
* Closest street(s)?: 1 point each
* Google Street View link?: 2 points
* Significance of the photo: 10 points!
* Month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the week photo was taken?: 1 point
* Year photo was taken?: 1 point
* Exact time photo was taken?: 5 points

Photo #2

Where In the Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – October 26, 2011

Points for Photo #2…
* Location: 2 points
* General area?: 1 point
* Closest street(s)?: 1 point each
* Google Street View link?: 2 points
* Month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the week photo was taken?: 1 point
* Year photo was taken?: 1 point
* Exact time photo was taken?: 5 points

Photo #3

Where In the Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – October 26, 2011

Points for Photo #3…
* Location: 2 points
* General area?: 1 point
* Closest street(s)?: 1 point each
* Google Street View link?: 2 points
* Name of dish?: 2 points
* Month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the week photo was taken?: 1 point
* Year photo was taken?: 1 point
* Exact time photo was taken?: 5 points

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2nd Annual Hawaii Social Media Summit – Social Media Personality Award Winners:

Last week, I had the great privilege of winning an award at the 2nd Annual Hawaii Social Media Summit held at the Hawaii Convention Center. Known as the Social Media Personality Award it:

“honors the individuals who best portray that of a social media influencer; the people who stay top of mind in the social sphere and is consistent in keeping up with the trends of social media innovation.”

This year was the first year that the Hawaii Social Media Summit held the Socialite Media Awards and they were bombarded with more than 70 nominations. Technology News Bytes (the organizers of #SMSHI) had the difficult task of narrowing it down to the top 15. Wow, what an amazing first class I have been included with and I am very honored to be a part of this inaugural group of social media leaders. They are:

• Rob Bertholf (@rob) – Founder of ClearlyM LLC
• Melissa Chang (@Melissa808) – Nonstop Honolulu, Blogger
• Tara Coomans (@taracoomans) – Social Media Club Hawaii
• George Del Bario (@HIWellnessMag) – PMG International LLC, CEO
• L.P. “Neenz” Faleafine (@NEENZ) – Oceanit, Community Developer
• Esme Infante Nii (@EsmeInfanteNii) – Momsinhawaii.com
• Nathan Kam (@nathankam) – McNeil Wilson Communications, Vice President, Travel & Tourism
• Burt Lum (@Bytemarks) – Hawaii Public Radio, Bytemarks Café Host
• Rick Nakama (@RickNakama) – East Oahu Realty, Inc., Realtor
• Ryan Ozawa (@hawaii) – Hawaii Information Service, Webmaster
• Gene Park (@GenePark) – Star Advertiser, Online News Producer
• Edward Sugimoto (@worldwideed) – Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Oceanic Time Warner Cable, Time Warner Cable Untangled, Blogger
• Russ Sumida (@ParkRat) – AdStreamz, Inc., President and CEO
• Toby Tamaye (@atmarketing) – Owner of AT Marketing
• Valentino Valdez (@valdezign) – Owner of Valdezign

Accepting my award from (the very tall) Miss Hawaii USA 2011 Angela Anela Byrd [Photo Courtesy: Travis K. Okimoto]

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Have a happy VH07V Wednesday y’all! Don’t forget to post your guesses below k? Shoooots!

2011 Socialite Media Award Winners #SMSHI

This afternoon, I had the great privilege of winning an award at the 2nd Annual Hawaii Social Media Summit held at the Hawaii Convention Center. Known as the Social Media Personality Award it:

“honors the individuals who best portray that of a social media influencer; the people who stay top of mind in the social sphere and is consistent in keeping up with the trends of social media innovation.”

This year was the first year that the Hawaii Social Media Summit held the Socialite Media Awards and they were bombarded with more than 70 nominations. Technology News Bytes (the organizers of #SMSHI) had the difficult task of narrowing it down to the top 15. Wow, what an amazing first class I have been included with and I am very honored to be a part of this inaugural group of social media leaders. They are:

• Rob Bertholf (@rob) – Founder of ClearlyM LLC
• Melissa Chang (@Melissa808) – Nonstop Honolulu, Blogger
• Tara Coomans (@taracoomans) – Social Media Club Hawaii
• George Del Bario (@HIWellnessMag) – PMG International LLC, CEO
• L.P. “Neenz” Faleafine (@NEENZ) – Oceanit, Community Developer
• Esme Infante Nii (@EsmeInfanteNii) – Momsinhawaii.com
• Nathan Kam (@nathankam) – McNeil Wilson Communications, Vice President, Travel & Tourism
• Burt Lum (@Bytemarks) – Hawaii Public Radio, Bytemarks Café Host
• Rick Nakama (@RickNakama) – East Oahu Realty, Inc., Realtor
• Ryan Ozawa (@hawaii) – Hawaii Information Service, Webmaster
• Gene Park (@GenePark) – Star Advertiser, Online News Producer
• Edward Sugimoto (@worldwideed) – Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Oceanic Time Warner Cable, Time Warner Cable Untangled, Blogger
• Russ Sumida (@ParkRat) – AdStreamz, Inc., President and CEO
• Toby Tamaye (@atmarketing) – Owner of AT Marketing
• Valentino Valdez (@valdezign) – Owner of Valdezign

Congratulations to my fellow honorees! 🙂

Accepting my award from (the very tall) Miss Hawaii USA 2011 Angela Anela Byrd [Photo Courtesy: Travis K. Okimoto]

(Official Press Release):

10.21.11
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts:
Quincy Solano 808.542.9408
Chimaine Pouteau 808.636.1512

SOCIALITE MEDIA AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

HONOLULU, HI (October 21, 2011) – Technology News Bytes recognized social media gurus who are making waves in the industry at the 2011 Social Media Summit on Wednesday, October 19.

The Social Media Personality Award honors the individual whom best portrays that of a social media influencer. This person stays top of mind in the social sphere and is consistent in keeping up with the trends of social media innovation.

Technology News Bytes had more than 70 nominations, all of which were very deserving of this award. The winners were:

Gene Park – Star Advertiser, Online News Producer
Nathan Kam – McNeil Wilson Communications, Vice President, Travel & Tourism
Valentino Valdez – Owner of Valdezign
Burt Lum – Hawaii Public Radio, Bytemarks Café Host
Russ Sumida – AdStreamz, Inc., President and CEO
Neenz Faleafine –- Oceanit, Community Developer
Ryan Ozawa – Hawaii Information Service, Webmaster
Melissa Chang – Nonstop Honolulu, Blogger
Rick Nakama –East Oahu Realty, Inc., Realtor
Rob Bertholf – Founder of ClearlyM LLC
Toby Tamaye – Owner of AT Marketing
Esme Infante Nii – Momsinhawaii.com
Ed Sugimoto – world-wide-ed.com, Blogger
George Del Bario –t PMG International LLC, CEO
Tara Coomans – Social Media Club Hawaii

For more information please visit tnblive.com
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Where In the Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – October 19, 2011

Sorry peeps. Totally falling behind this week. Here’s a SUUUUPAH duck soup one that I know many of you will get immediately.

Funny thing is your boy will actually be there a little later today because I won an award: Social Media Personality Award 2011. Yay! Have a great week y’all!

Photo #1

Where In the Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – October 19, 2011

Points for Photo #1…
* Location: 2 points
* General area?: 1 point
* Where in the building was photo taken?: 2 points
* Closest street(s)?: 1 point each
* Google Street View link?: 2 points
* Major event coming up held here: 2 points
* Why will I be there today (duh! read above!): 1 point
* Event name: 3 points
* Month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the week photo was taken?: 1 point
* Year photo was taken?: 1 point
* Exact time photo was taken?: 5 points

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Have a happy VH07V Wednesday y’all! Don’t forget to post your guesses below k? Shoooots!

Where In the Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – October 12, 2011

This one’s for all y’all who monku that my pictures stay too hard. Go straight to Photo #3 and thank me later. LOL! Actually, Photos 1 & 2 are kinda easy too. See, I care. Hehe!

Photo #1

Where In the Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – October 12, 2011

Points for Photo #1…
* Location: 2 points
* General area?: 1 point
* Closest street(s)?: 1 point each
* Google Street View link?: 2 points
* Funny name for group on stage: 3 points
* Funny name for big headed guy who got in my way: 3 points
* Month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the week photo was taken?: 1 point
* Year photo was taken?: 1 point
* Exact time photo was taken?: 5 points

Photo #2

Where In the Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – October 12, 2011

Points for Photo #2…
* Location: 2 points
* General area?: 1 point
* Closest street(s)?: 1 point each
* Google Street View link?: 2 points
* Name of dish I usually get here?: 2 points
* Month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the week photo was taken?: 1 point
* Year photo was taken?: 1 point
* Exact time photo was taken?: 5 points

Photo #3

Where In the Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – October 12, 2011

Points for Photo #3…
* Location: 2 points
* General area?: 1 point
* Closest street(s)?: 1 point each
* Google Street View link?: 2 points
* Name of cone?: 2 points
* Funny/Cute name of character on cone?: 3 points
* Month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the month photo was taken?: 1 point
* Day of the week photo was taken?: 1 point
* Year photo was taken?: 1 point
* Exact time photo was taken?: 5 points

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IG2 Unboxing Video

My new blog on the corporate “Time Warner Cable Untangled” site is out. It’s an unboxing video (titled You, Party of Eight) of our latest wireless hotspot device, the IG2. Let me know what you guys think! 🙂

IG2 Unboxing

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Please “Like” Our Photo!

Last Thursday, some friends and I participated in Lanakila Pacific’s The Good Table, an island-wide dining event to benefit Lanakila Meals on Wheels. Our restaurant was Ola at the Turtle Bay Resort, where we enjoyed each others’ company (with wine in abundance 8) ) and ate some ono kine grindz prepared by Chef Fred DeAngelo. Some of the photos taken that night (from all participating restaurants) were selected by Lanakila Pacific and entered into a photo contest to win a “staycation” package at the Royal Hawaiian valued at $1,500. Ricky Li’s photo from our time at Ola is currently in the lead with 106 Likes. Please “Like” the photo and help him maintain the lead to win himself a nice little staycation (the contest ends this Friday). Rumor has it that he may turn it into a hotel party with all those in the photo. 😆

Lanakila Pacific The Good Table event – with Rick Nakama, Kelli Nakama, Ricky Li, Shay F, myself, & Jessica Ogihara at Ola at the Turtle Bay Resort. [Photo by Ricky Li]

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Have a happy VH07V Wednesday y’all! Don’t forget to post your guesses below k? Shoooots!

Sierra Wireless IG2 Unboxing Video: You, Party of Eight

Sharing your connection with 5 of your friends is so 2010.

Recently, Oceanic Time Warner Cable, along with the rest of the Time Warner Cable regions, released the Sierra Wireless IG2, the 2nd coming of the wildly popular personal mobile hotspot device called the IntelliGo.

Where USB-type devices wirelessly connect individuals to the Internet while on the go, these hotspot type devices utilize WiFi technology so you can share your connection with now up to 8 friends.

Here’s a cool unboxing video of our newest device:

Sierra Wireless IG2 Unboxing

So what are you waiting for? Sharing is caring. Gather your 8 closest friends and party like it’s 1999 2011! They’ll be glad you did.

Sort/Group Your Outlook Email by Conversation Like Gmail

I’ve been using this “trick” for quite some time, but finally got around to posting a blog about it. This basically outlines, step-by-step, how to make your Outlook email act like your email in Gmail. That is of course, grouped by conversation.

I’ve grown so used to having all of my email conversations grouped into one set in Gmail (so I don’t have to go chasing them all over the place), that I wanted the same convenience for my work email, which uses Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. Not only will it make you 10 times more productive, it will also help to prevent that embarrassing late response to an email that has already been answered (since all messages in that conversation will be grouped together visually).

Anyway, here’s how to set up your Outlook to act like Gmail:

1) Be sure that your inbox (or folder) is not already arranged in a group (it is often grouped by date by default). To make sure this is off, right click on the header bar, go to Arrange By –> and make sure Show in Groups is unchecked.

2) Right click on the header bar and select Field Chooser. The Field Chooser window appears.

3) In the Field Chooser window, select Conversation and drag it to your header bar.

4) Close the Field Chooser window.

5) Right click on the header bar and select Group by Box.

6) An area above the header bar will appear that says, “Drag a column header here to group by that column.”

7) Select the Conversation column header and drag it into that area above the header bar.

8 ) Your inbox (or folder) is now sorted and grouped by conversation like Gmail.

Awesome right?

Sometimes, when you’re looking for a specific email, you’ll want to sort by “Received” or “From” or “Size”, etc. What do you do then?

• Just drag the Conversation box back to the header and you can sort by any column.
• When you want to group by Conversation again, just drag the Conversation column header back to that area above the header bar (step 7 above).

Hope this helped y’all! Have fun!

How Hawaii Gets Extreme

Ask anyone about surfing here in Hawaii and you’ll probably get some sort of answer containing “waves”, “breaks” and “boards”, with a “brah” and a shaka sign sprinkled in between.

But when you talk about surfing on the Internet, we Hawaiians – the geeky ones in particular – tend to get even more excited, especially when it comes to our speeds.

So when Oceanic Time Warner Cable launched a new tier of broadband Internet called Road Runner Extreme, you can bet our customers were “stoked”! With download speeds of up to 30 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 5 Mbps, Road Runner Extreme takes Internet surfing to another level.

Here’s how one local techie uses Extreme in his day to day:

How customer Brian Dote uses Road Runner Extreme

And we’re not done there! Hawaii has recently introduced another level called “Wideband” where you can expect up to 50 Mbps down and up to 5 Mbps up to start, with the potential to hit up to 150 Mbps and beyond!

Here’s Oceanic Time Warner Cable’s President Bob Barlow to tell us a little more.

Oceanic Time Warner Cable President Bob Barlow talks about Road Runner Extreme and Wideband

So as you can see, we Hawaiians love our surfing, even if it doesn’t involve waves, breaks, or boards.

Surf’s up brah!

Disable the Zone Alarm Security Options Pop-Up Window

This article is to help any of you ZoneAlarm users get rid of that annoying “ZoneAlarm Security Options” window that keeps popping up when you start your computer.

A Little Background:
Quite a few updates ago, the good people at Check Point Software Technologies, LTD (formerly Zone Labs) decided to sell out and get all commercial on us cheapskates who continue to mooch off of them by using their free ZoneAlarm Firewall. They decided that a friendly pop-up/reminder (to upgrade to their for-pay Security Suite package) every stinkin’ time we start up our computer would be the way to go. D’oh!

ZoneAlarm Security Options Pop-Up Window

I’ve just been living with it for the last, I don’t know how many months, but finally got fed up. Searched for the solution and found one that worked. Finally stopped being lazy and put together this article to share with you what I’ve learned. Enjoy!

The Non-Solutions:
– There is nothing in the pop-up itself that allows for an opt-out to this. Clicking “Tell Me More” or “No, Thank You” or even “X”-ing out of the window entirely will not work.
– There is nothing in ZoneAlarm’s Control Center settings that allows for an opt-out to this. At least I couldn’t find it.
– There is nothing to disable in Startup processes (in msconfig), and I don’t even want to attempt to touch the registry for something so small.

The Solution:
1 ) Right click on the ZoneAlarm icon in your taskbar (bottom right corner of your desktop) and select “Shutdown ZoneAlarm”

Shutting Down ZoneAlarm

2 ) Go to the ZoneAlarm folder in Windows Explorer (Windows Key + E). In Windows 7, it should be here: C:Program Files (x86)Zone LabsZoneAlarm .
3 ) Right-click on zlclient.exe and select “Run as administrator”. It may ask you for permission. Just agree and allow it to run.

Run as administrator

4) Now double-click zlclient.exe to run ZoneAlarm.
5 ) Once it’s done starting up, reboot your computer.
6 ) Walah! The pop-up should now be gone.

Hope this helps y’all! Happy mooching! 😉