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We’ve all heard the term before, perhaps way too many times. In fact, it’s become the computer universe’s equivalent to swagger (which is another term I deplore for its never-ending misuse). So what is “The Cloud,” and more importantly why do we need it?

Cloud computing has existed for many years long before Apple had the iCloud, and even before those cheesy Windows advertisements. Cloud computing started around the late 1990’s as a way of shifting workload and resources off of companies so they could operate more efficiently and inexpensively.

Take Amazon, for instance. While many people are just now discovering their consumer-level storage services, Amazon has been offering cloud products and services for the last decade. That’s right folks; not everything you see on television is true. The cloud is not a big magic hard drive in the sky that keeps all of your instagram pictures and pirated mp3s backed up. The cloud is much more.

That’s right, cloud computing is everything, but th- Oh wait, there’s the kitchen sink.

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To look at it from a corporate view, the cloud is a huge network made up of lots of computers, but only certain computers are required to have software and licenses and storage space. Those computers allow access to those products and services to other computers through any specific type of software (it can be as simple as a browser). For companies, this means they don’t have to purchase expensive corporate licenses or make their IT guys waste valuable time installing Microsoft Office on all their computers. Instead, they could use something similar to Google Docs, where all the software, licensing, and storage are on a networked computer that can be accessed via browser.

For consumers, many of these services have slowly crept up on you without you even knowing it. Gmail, Dropbox, and yes… even Facebook; it’s all considered cloud computing. So while tech companies may have you believe it’s only recently been possible to store and access our information, we’ve been doing it for years. What has been more recent is the ability for companies to offer some of the heavier duty services available to consumers.

For the last two months, ScreenTek has provided services to repair broken iPad and iPad 2 screens. The process is inexpensive, fast, and easy for our customers. Today we are announcing that we’re going to make it even easier.

UPS and ScreenTek have partnered up to take one less headache out of the process. Now when you choose to have your iPad/iPad 2 repaired by ScreenTek, you can simply drop it off at a UPS store with no fuss. After your repair order is placed, ScreenTek will e-mail you a shipping label to print out. From there, you can find The UPS Store® location closest to you, and send it in.

Go to http://www.theupsstore.com/locations if you’re having trouble. You can also call 1-800-789-4623 to request the nearest Corporate Retail Solutions location. UPS will provide all the shipping materials, and will box it up for you so won’t have to worry about any of that. All you have to do is mention that you are part of the Corporate Account program for ScreenTek.

The repair process still takes just 24 hours, so you’ll have your iPad/iPad 2 back in no time.

Software can be a real pain in the neck. You don’t have the time to figure out which software you should stay away from and which ones you should embrace with open arms. More importantly, you don’t have the money to pay for all of that fancy schmancy software. That’s where we come in. We’ve got 5 awesome pieces of software for you, and they’re all FREE!

5.) Dropbox – Quite possibly the best way to store things in the cloud. Dropbox is super simple, and it allows you to retrieve your files no matter where you are, or what device you’re using. As long as you have access to the internet, you have access to all your stuff. The software is a small download that you can put on your desktop and your smartphone. With Dropbox’s free account you get 2 gb automatically, and if you invite friends to get accounts you’re given extra space. There are other companies that provide free cloud storage services, but none of them are as simple and elegant as Dropbox.

4.) Open Office – Open Office is an open source productivity suite that offers word processing, presentation, database, and spreadsheet programs. If you’re looking for anything more complicated than that, however, it may not be your best choice. The best part is if you have a work computer that uses Microsoft, but you need to take a project home, you can edit and save your work in Open Office with no compatibility issues.

Google Docs is another great way to create and edit documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. The files are uploaded to Google’s servers so you can access them from anywhere. Additionally, like Open Office, Google Docs is compatible with Microsoft Office.

3.) Spotify – Spotify provides free music streaming software through desktop and mobile apps. The service has only been in America for three months, but it’s caught on like wildfire. The desktop client is easy to use, and allows users to search from a library of millions of songs. Users can create their own playlists, share with friends, and even listen to a customized radio station based on artist, song, or genre.

2.) GIMP – GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is a photo editing program. Free photo-editing software usually falls pretty far from the Adobe Photoshop tree, but GIMP appears to be the exception to the rule. The program is feature-rich, and integrates a lot of the tools found in Photoshop. It’s a great way for beginners to learn photo-editing and an excellent way to save money on the ever-changing Adobe Creative Suite.

1.) Ad-Aware – Security is way overpriced these days. It’s one of those things that should be available to everybody, and now it is. Ad-Aware is immensely popular for its free version of malware, spyware, and virus protection. The interface is clean and easy to navigate, and the database is updated constantly. If you have anything of value on your computer you NEED Ad-Aware.

We love our laptops at ScreenTek, and we wanted to show them some love! Our “Laptop Love” infographic shows you how much people adore their laptops!  Do you own a laptop, or a desktop? Have you ever dropped it? How have you fixed it? Let us know in the comments section!

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Ultrabook:

A term coined and trademarked by Intel to define a higher end, more powerful line of subnotebooks. These ultrabooks are a direct response to the emerging tablet market, as well as to compete with the popularity of Apple’s Macbook Air. Previously, the demand for super portable laptops was pacified with the netbook. Netbooks were small notebooks that weighed very little and gave its user limited functionality because of the lack of power and speed.

Ultrabooks differ because they retain the lightweight, super portable aspects of netbooks, but carry processors with enough power to complete more complicated tasks. In addition, these processors are capable of conserving more battery life, therefore increasing portability.

Intel defined hardware requirements for PC makers to maximize performance and power. Most of these specifications include:

1) Slim size – Less than 0.8 inches thick

2) Lightweight – Less than 3.1 lbs

3) Power – 5 – 8+ hours of battery life

In addition to these specs, many manufacturers also include solid-state hard drives and 13″ screens, although there has been a recent shift in ultrabooks toward 14″ and 15″ screen sizes. Ultrabooks are supposed to stay within mainstream pricing and retail for anywhere in between $700 and $1500.

Apple’s iPad has taken mobile computing by storm. Its sleek design and user-friendly operating system allow users to pack up everything in their lives into a thin slate-like computer. Not only that, but the insurmountable success of Apple’s App Store has made the iPad’s potential limitless. These devices can be used to read books, watch movies and television, create presentations for work, and even take pictures and video.

Now, if you’ve attempted editing video on the iPad, you have no doubt learned that the capabilities for most apps are limited at best. Not to mention the controls are typically awkward. Avid, the company responsible for the most widely used audio engineering software in the world, has created an app called Avid Studio that takes many of the best features from other apps, and adds a few more.

At first glance the primary functionality will remind many of Apple’s own iMovie app. Upon further inspection, users will notice features exclusive to Avid Studio. These include greater template variety, more precise editing control, and even an audio editing feature. The first generation iPads are capable of downloading Avid Studio, but many users have expressed frustration with freezing, and crashing.

The app allows professionals and beginners alike to experience a fun, powerful video editing tool for the iPad. While it will not replace a desktop editor, the family vacation should turn out just fine. Avid Studio is available for a limited time price of $4.99 in the App Store.

Are you having trouble getting the colors of your printed designs to match the color on your screen? When your screen makes you look as orange as a Jersey Shore cast member, it might be time for you to calibrate.

Calibration serves several purposes. It helps give you a true color display, and aligns the color of what you see to what it really is. In addition, proper calibration can help reduce strain on your eyes if you tend to stare at computer screens all day for work. Color calibration can sound intimidating, but there are a couple different ways to do it, and they range from easy to really easy.

Before You Calibrate…

There are just a couple of steps to take before we get underway. First, make sure your monitor has been running for about half an hour so it’s had time to warm up. Make sure the screen is running at its native resolution and reset your it back to factory setting before calibration. Any adjustments you’ve made prior to this point are now useless, so ditch them. Lastly, make sure you’re aware of how to change the color, brightness and contrast controls manually. You may need to use these later.

Free Calibration

Regardless of whether you use Windows or OS X your computer has a calibration program built into the operating system. Calibrating this way will not be as accurate because you’ll be depending solely on your eyes, but it will help a little bit. In order to get to the program in Windows, go to the Display Control Panel. In OS X, the tool will be found in the Display System Preferences in the Color tab. They’re pretty self-explanatory so just follow the instructions.

Accurate Calibration

Okay, so let’s say you’ve done the built-in calibration, but when you try to print out that awesome Incredible Hulk poster, he’s looking a little too lime green. You need a more accurate calibration. This can be done relatively cheap with a colorimeter. These handy little gadgets stick to your display and connect to your computer via USB. They sense the colors being output by the screen and use software to adjust accordingly.

One of the most popular, and wallet-friendly options is the Pantone Huey Pro. It has an ambient light sensor so it only calibrates the color emitted from your screen. It can also do multiple-monitor calibrations. The Huey Pro is easy to use, and it can be found online for about $69.

There are several other colorimeter options out there, so look around for the one that best suits your needs. Whatever you decide, even the most basic color calibration can save you a lot of headaches (literally).

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Love is in the air as Valentine’s Day approaches. Don’t rack your brain trying to think of the perfect gift for your significant other. Let ScreenTek give you some tips for Valentine’s Day in the digital age.

USB Flash Drive

USB drives can be a fun personalized present. Choose a design that matches your Valentine’s personality. Maybe your significant other is a sushi fanatic; The 4GB tuna sushi might be the perfect choice. There’s one for every interest under the sun and they are capable of storing large amounts of data for a small price.

Roku2 Streaming Media Player

Streaming media players are great gifts for the valentine that loves consuming content on Hulu, Netflix, and the like, but wants to watch all of it on the television. Take the Roku 2 for example. This box has over 300 entertainment channels and allows its users access to movies, music, television, social media, and games. The box is small enough to fit in your hand, and it starts at only $49.

Nike+ FuelBand

Have a valentine that’s all about being healthy and staying fit? There are plenty of ways to track your activity, but the new Nike+ FuelBand may be the coolest. It starts with setting a goal. You tell the band how active you want to be and how many calories you want to intake.

The band tracks your movement all day recording calories, steps, and achievements. All the information gets synced via USB connection to your Mac or PC, or wirelessly to the FuelBand app for your iPhone. The band even acts as a watch and displays all your information in a beautiful display of LEDs. Pick one up for only $149.

Samsung SH100

What better way to capture all of those precious moments with your loved one than a digital camera? The SH100 by Samsung takes gorgeous photos at 14.2 megapixels, and can shoot high definition video. It even has Wi-Fi built in so you can post those pictures to Facebook just as fast as you can shoot them. The camera prices at around $130-$180.

Online Dating Membership

So let’s say “a friend of yours,” is going to spend Valentine’s Day alone. For the internet savvy, the arduous task of finding that special someone becomes as easy as the click of a button. Online dating is huge right now, with some sites even offering their services free of charge. The two big sites, eHarmony and Match charge fees for their services, but they seem to be pretty popular nonetheless. There’s no reason you – or that friend of yours should be single this time next year.

Backlight:

The main light emitting power source of a typical LCD panel. The backlight is typically a long, narrow cold cathode fluorescent light located behind (the “back” in backlight) the glass and various polarizing filters of an LCD panel.

The iPad should be considered a world wonder. With its ability to be portable, enjoyable, and a tool for learning, and development, it’s no wonder Apple dominates the market with a 63% share of all tablets being sold. That’s right, between the Nook, the Kindle, The Galaxy, the HP TouchPad, the Blackberry Playbook, and all of the other tablets finding their way out into the market, the iPhone outsells them all by far.

Apple can also boast about their App Store. With over 500,000 apps out there, there’s something for everyone and we love that.

We have a few apps that have been our favorite in January:

1) The Calorie Counter App – Health & Fitness

For those of you running strong with your New Year’s resolution to stay happy and healthy, The Calorie Counter app keeps you in check. With a large database of foods, drinks, exercises, and a forum for accountability, the Calorie Count app helps you track your food, your weight loss, or gain and your overall nutrition with a few clicks. It’s one of the best (and free!) ways to say on track, and keep up with your New Year’s weight goals. The app also has an online companion, so you can always view your results on a big screen!

2) Fruit Ninja – Games

If you’ve never played Fruit Ninja on your mobile device, then you’re missing out. It’s an addicting game that has you racing against the clock to slice fruit while avoiding explosions and racking up points. It sounds just as crazy as it is. You can easily spend 30 minutes on Fruit Ninja, and not even realize where the time went. For such an inexpensive app (It’s $1.99), the visuals are incredibly developed and you get to enjoy every inch of your iPad screen while playing the game.

3) SoundNote -Productivity

Have you ever been sitting in a meeting, or in class wishing you could just record what’s going on? SoundNote gives you that opportunity. With this app, you can, record and organize lectures, meeting notes, and any other kind of notes you’d like to jot down in one place on what looks like a digital version of a legal pad.  You can also create high quality recordings of your meetings, or presentations, and send it to yourself (or other people asking for notes) later if you need to. SoundNote is also compatible with Dropbox, so you can store, and transfer your note files with ease, and have them anywhere you want to go. The app is available in the app store for around $6, but for the sake of organization, it’s totally worth it.

With the countless amount of Apps out there, what are your favorites to browse, and relax with when you’re carrying around your iPad?

Don’t forget! We also offer iPad repair for both iPad 1 & 2. You can make sure your screen stays free of cracks while you’re using your apps!