During one of the bigger updates to the Operating System using on Fire HD tablets (called “Fire OS“) Amazon changed the way that you buy eBooks on your device. Here’s how –

1. Select the Home tab and then locate the Kindle icon. When you find it, tap it to launch the Kindle app.



2. In the navigation bar at the bottom of the Kindle app window, tap STORE



3. You may be prompted to give the Kindle Unlimited service a try. Click here if you’d like to learn more about it (link opens in a new tab/window) – otherwise just tap the Continue to store without Kindle Unlimited link.



4. You can now search for a book or browse through the categories. When you find a book you like you’ll be able to purchase it through the Kindle app on your Fire HD. That’s it!

Check out this guide if you’d like to customize your Amazon Fire HD home screens so that your tablet is personalized the way you want it.

The post How to Purchase a Book on the Amazon Fire HD appeared first on Simple Help.

There are a couple of ways to get there, but we’ll go with the fastest –

1. Open the browser by tapping the Silk Browser icon.



2. Tap the “3 dashes” button (see screenshot below) found towards the upper-left corner of the app to open up the Amazon Silk menu.



3. Select Settings from the Amazon Silk menu.



4. Select Privacy from the Silk Settings menu.



5. This time select the Clear browsing data line.



6. The Clear browsing data section will open up. If it isn’t displayed by default, select Advanced so that you can see all of the options. First you’ll need to decide how far back you’d like to clear the history and/or cache etc. Tap the Last hour item (see screenshot below)



7. Choose the timeframe you want to clear the history, cache and other data from. If you want to clear all of your browsing history, make sure to select All time



8. Now decide what you’d like to have deleted. Place a check in the box next to the item you want to ensure gets wiped clear. If you want to make sure all traces of your browsing history are removed, place a check in every box. Click the Clear data button when you’re ready.



9. You may also get a ‘confirmation’ window – click the CLEAR button if you do.



10. That’s it! Keep in mind that any sites you visit on your Amazon Fire after you clear the history and cache will reappear until they’re cleared again.

If you’re looking for more ways to get the most out of your Amazon Fire, why not check out the ways you can customize the home screens?

The post How to Clear the Browser History and Cache on the Amazon Fire appeared first on Simple Help.

Your Joy-Con isn’t limited to playing Nintendo Switch games – you can use it with your computer, iPhone or iPad and yes – your Amazon Fire. With that said, it’s important to know up front – not all games will support an external controller (Joy-Con or otherwise). The good news is that there are a lot of games that do, and they’re even more fun when you use a Joy-Con or Nintendo Switch Pro Controller. Follow these steps to pair your controller with your Amazon Fire:

1. If your Switch is anywhere nearby, make sure it’s turned off. Otherwise your Joy-Con or Pro Controller will continue to try and connect to it instead of your Amazon Fire.
2. On your Amazon Fire, tap the Settings button.



3. Tap the Connected Devices item.



4. First make sure that Bluetooth is turned on, and then select Pair new device



5. Grab a Joy-Con and press the “bluetooth” button (sometimes called the SYNC Button) located in between the SL and SR buttons (see image below). If you’re using a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, the bluetooth button (SYNC Button) is right next to the USB connector.



6. Back on your Amazon Fire take a look at the Available devices section – you should see a new entry titled Joy-Con (L) or (R) – select it.



7. The Joy-Con and the Amazon Fire will now pair.



8. After a moment or two, the Joy-Con will appear in the Currently connected list.



9. The Bluetooth icon will also appear in your Menu Bar.



10. Now you’re off to the races! (bad pun intended).

While we’re on the subject of Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons, did you know you can update them? Keeping them updated helps with game compatibility, battery life and adds other new features as they’re introduced.

The post How to Connect a Joy-Con to an Amazon Fire Tablet appeared first on Simple Help.

Let’s just jump right in –

1. Open the Appstore on your Fire.



2. Search for the word accuweather and when AccuWeather with Superior Accuracy comes up, tap the Get button. If you’d like, you can read more about AccuWeather here – it’s a small, free, well-reviewed and trusted weather App.



3. Once the installation has completed, tap the Open button.



4. Now you’ll need to grant the App some permissions on your device. Tap the Continue button.



5. When asked if AccuWeather can access your location, tap the AGREE button.



6. When asked the same question for a second time, tap ALLOW



7. And when you’re asked the same question a third time – you guessed it – tap ALLOW



8. Ta-da! The app will open up and the weather (temperature) will be displayed in the Status Bar of your Amazon Fire right away.



9. If you want to change the temperature units from Celsius to Fahrenheit or vice-versa, tap the “3 dots” button found in the upper-right corner of the AccuWeather app and then Change to X from the list of options.



10. When you expand the Notifications section, the weather will also be displayed, with a bit more info.



11. You’ll also find the weather is now displayed on your Lock Screen. If you’d prefer it not be there, you can disable it within the App settings.

While you’re here, be sure to check out the rest of our Amazon Fire guides, tips and tricks.

The post How to Add the Weather to the Amazon Fire Status Bar appeared first on Simple Help.

Using a fantastic little app named Typeedo you can use your Mac’s keyboard to control other devices – like an iPhone or iPad, Android phone or tablet, an Apple TV, a Windows PC – even a gaming system. As long as the device supports bluetooth, you’re good to go.

Typeedo is available to use without any restrictions for 7 days before you’ll be required to purchase it, so if you’re not happy with it you can just delete it and carry on. After 7 days it’ll cost $7.99 on the Mac App Store. If you purchase Typeedo via the link available in the trial version, it costs $13.96. According to a representative from the company, this is the intended behavior, even though both versions are identical (it makes no sense to me either). So if you do decide to buy Typeedo, save yourself a few dollars and buy it on the Mac App Store.
 
Let’s get started! Head over to the Typeeto home page and download the 7 day free trial. Once the download has completed, open the .dmg file and drag the app to your Applications folder to install it. Now just follow the instructions for iOS (iPhones and iPads), Android phones and tablets or “other” (Windows, gaming devices, media centers etc).

1. First things first, open your System Preferences and select the Bluetooth icon. Make sure that Bluetooth is turned On.



2. Now launch Typeeto. If this is your first time opening it, you’ll be taken through a quick tour. On the last screen, you may wish to remove the checkmark from the box labelled Open at login until you’re sure you want it to start up each time your Mac does.



3. The Typeeto Preferences window will open automatically.



4. Switch over to your iPhone/iPad and select the Settings button.



5. Choose Bluetooth from the list of options.



6. Make sure that the bluetooth toggle is switched to ON so that bluetooth is enabled, and then select your Mac from the list of available devices (it may take a few seconds to appear).



7. Back over on your Mac, a confirmation window will appear. Click the Connect button.



8. Your iPhone/iPad will now be connected to your Mac.



9. Typeeto will confirm you want to use your Mac’s keyboard on your iPhone/iPad – click the Start typing button.



10. A small window will appear on your Mac letting you know that you’re now connected to your iOS device.



11. Open an app on your iPhone/iPad and type using your Mac’s keyboard. Ta-da!



12. At any point in the future you can quickly connect your Mac to your iOS device by clicking the Typeeto menu bar icon and selecting your iPhone/iPad from the list.

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1. First things first, open your System Preferences and select the Bluetooth icon. Make sure that Bluetooth is turned On.



2. Now launch Typeeto. If this is your first time opening it, you’ll be taken through a quick tour. On the last screen, you may wish to remove the checkmark from the box labelled Open at login until you’re sure you want it to start up each time your Mac does.



3. The Typeeto Preferences window will open automatically.



4. On your Android device, open the Settings and select Bluetooth from the list of options. Make sure that bluetooth is turned on and then select your Mac from the list of nearby devices.



5. A Bluetooth pairing request window will appear displaying a PIN code.



6. Back over on your Mac, a Connection Request window will appear. Make sure that the PIN code matches the one that’s being displayed on your Android device and then click the Connect button.



7. Your Mac will now be listed as a Paired device



8. Typeeto will confirm the connection has been made and that you can now use your keyboard to control your Android device. Click the Start typing button.



9. A small window will be displayed letting you know that your keyboard is now being directed to your Android phone or tablet.



10. Open an app on your Android device and start typing with your Mac’s keyboard. Ta-da!



11. Going forward, you can connect to your Android device much faster by clicking the Typeeto icon in your menu bar and selecting your device.

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In general terms, to connect your other devices (Apple TV, a Windows PC, gaming system etc) to your Mac’s keyboard, open that devices settings and make sure Bluetooth is enabled and turned on. Do the same with your Mac. Initiate a connection from the device to your Mac rather than the other way around.

Your Mac may be listed as a “keyboard” rather than a Mac when the other device is searching for it.

You may be prompted to enter a PIN and not just confirm that two are identical.

For additional support see the Typeeto help page/user guide or contact their support team.

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The post How to Use Your Mac’s Keyboard With Other Devices appeared first on Simple Help.

In order to print from your Amazon Fire you’ll need to use a network connected printer and have your Amazon Fire connected to that same network.

1. Start out by tapping the Settings button on your Amazon Fire home screen.



2. Select Connected devices from the list of options.



3. Select Printing



4. Select Mopria Print Service



5. Make sure the ON/OFF toggle is switched to ON which will allow your device to search for nearby printers.



6. After a few moments your printer should be displayed. If it isn’t, proceed with the next step – otherwise jump down to step #10 below.



7. Tap the “3 dots” icon towards the upper-right corner of your screen and select Add printer



8. Tap the “plus sign” ( + ) button.



9. Enter in a name for your wireless printer in the Preferred Name field and then enter the IP address of your printer. If you’re unsure of your printers IP address refer to the documentation that came with your printer. Click OK and then follow any additional instructions.



10. Now that your Fire tablet has discovered the printer, try printing something.



11. When prompted, tap the Select a printer option.



12. Choose your printer from the list.



13. Finally, tap the yellow “Print” button.



14. Tap OK to confirm you want to use the Mopria Print Service.



15. Your document will now print! The status will be displayed in your Notification screen.



16. All done!

The post How to Print From an Amazon Fire appeared first on Simple Help.

Somewhat surprisingly, there are quite a few ways you can customize the Fire. Here are a few –

Remove the “New Items” Section
Remove All of the Recommendations
Change the Wallpaper
Group the Apps
Remove the Search Bar
Group Notifications Together
Hide Specific Content
Make the Font Larger or Smaller
Additional Amazon Fire Tweaks

1. If you’d prefer to have your main home screen a bit less cluttered, you can remove the New Items section entirely.



2. Tap the Settings icon.



3. Select Apps & Notifications



4. Select Amazon App Settings



5. Select Home Screens



6. Switch the toggle next to Show New Items on the Home Page to OFF



7. Now the main Home screen only has your App icon shortcuts.

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1. On the For You Home screen there are sections full of things Amazon thinks you might be interested in. Most of the time they feel a lot more like ads for stuff you don’t want to buy. Fortunately, you can remove them. Start by tapping the Settings icon.






2. Select Apps & Notifications



3. Select Amazon App Settings



4. Select Home Screens



5. Switch the toggle next to Recommendations to OFF



6. Now return to your For You Home screen and check – a bunch of the sections have been removed and the screen is a bit less cluttered and more useful.

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1. Tap the Settings icon.



2. Select Display from the list of Settings.



3. Select Wallpaper



4. Select the Wallpapers item.



5. If you’ve saved a photo on your Amazon Fire that you’d like to use as the home screen background image/wallpaper, tap the Pick image icon and select that picture.



6. Otherwise you can choose one of the included wallpapers – swipe from right to left to view them all. Select the wallpaper you want to use by tapping on it once and then the Set button.

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1. Out of the box, before you even install any of your own Apps – the Amazon Fire has a pretty cluttered home screen/desktop. Here’s a quick way to organize it and tidy it up at the same time.



2. You can group Apps into their own little box by dragging and dropping one of them onto another. Tap and hold one of the App icons, then drag-and-drop it onto another App icon.



3. As soon as you let go, a window will appear asking you to give this new App ‘collection’ a name. You can name it anything you want, but something descriptive will be helpful.



4. Continue to drag-and-drop other App icons into this newly created collection.



5. Create different collections for different App types and before you know it your Amazon Fire home screen will be a lot less cluttered.

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Note: several readers have mentioned that they don’t see the option to remove the Search Bar. The cost of the Amazon Fire is often discounted slightly on the condition that some features can’t be disabled – this is one of them. If the option to remove search isn’t available to you, it’s for this reason.

1. I’m not sure about you but I’ve never grabbed my Amazon Fire and tried to search for something using that search bar on the Lock Screen. Here’s how to disable it:



2. Tap the Settings icon.



3. Scroll down and select Device Options



4. Select Search Bar



5. Toggle the Display search bar on lock screen setting to OFF



6. That’s it. The search bar will now be gone from the Lock Screen.

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1. You can keep the notification bar a bit more tidy by grouping all of the notifications into one. Here’s how –



2. Tap the Settings icon.



3. Select Apps & Notifications



4. In the NOTIFICATIONS section locate the Collapse notifications item and switch the toggle to ON



5. Now when there’s more than one pending notification they’ll group themselves into one.

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1. Some of the items on the various home screens can be ‘hidden’. For example, if you tap one of the books in your Library and hold your finger down, a small menu will appear. Select Remove from Home and the book will be removed from the home screen. It hasn’t been deleted from your device, it just won’t show up on your home screen.



2. The same holds true for the apps listed in the Recent Apps section. If you tap one of the icons and hold your finger down, a similar menu will appear. Select Remove from Home and the icon for that app will disappear. Again, the app itself hasn’t been deleted, it’s just not listed in the Recent Apps section.



3. Try this with the other items on the various home screens. Some can be hidden, some can’t.

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1. You can increase or decrease the size of the font for most of the text on the Amazon Fire home screens. To do so, start by tapping the Settings icon.



2. Select Accessibility



3. Select Font size



4. Use the slider at the bottom of the window to either increase or decrease the size of the font. The text on the screen will increase or decrease as you make the change to help you decide which setting is the right one for you.



5. When you return to your Home screens you’ll find most of the text has resized based on your preference.

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– Add the Weather to the Amazon Fire Status Bar
– Change the Default Search Engine on the Amazon Fire

The post How to Customize the Amazon Fire Home Screen appeared first on Simple Help.

1. With the browser (currently named “Silk“) open, click the “three dashes” icon in the upper-left corner of the window (see screenshot below)



2. Select Settings from the list of options.



3. Select Advanced from the list of settings.



4. Tap the Search engine section.



5. Choose the search engine you’d like to use on your Amazon Fire.






6. Now when you perform a search on your tablet, from any of the possible ‘search locations’ (the home screen, the browser itself) …



7. … the search will occur in your search engine of choice!



8. All done!

If you’re looking for other ways to personalize your Fire, we have a pretty detailed guide on how to customize the Amazon Fire Home Screen.

The post How to Change the Search Engine on an Amazon Fire appeared first on Simple Help.

1. Tap the Settings icon on the home screen of your Fire tablet.



2. Select the Connected devices menu item.



3. Tap the Bluetooth section.



4. From here, toggle the Bluetooth setting to ON



5. Once it’s turned on it’ll start to discover nearby devices (if there are any), and become discoverable itself.



6. On your Windows computer, click the ‘Start’ button and then Settings. From the Windows Settings panel, select Devices



7. Make sure Bluetooth is switched ON and then click the ‘plus sign’ button ( + ) next to Add Bluetooth or other devices



8. Select Bluetooth from the Add a device list.



9. After a few moments your Fire Tablet will appear. Select it.



10. Make sure a PIN number is displayed.



11. Back on your Fire tablet, a notification should be waiting for you. Select it and then choose PAIR & CONNECT



12. Enter the PIN that’s being displayed back in Windows 10 and then tap OK



13. Once the devices have paired, click Done in Windows.



14. Now there will be a Fire Tablet listed in your Bluetooth & other devices



15. If it wasn’t there before it will be now – locate the Bluetooth icon in your System tray.



16. Click it and select Send a File



17. Choose your Fire Tablet and click the Next button.



18. Click Browse



19. Navigate to the file(s) you want to transfer to your Amazon Fire, select it and click Open



20. Click Next



21. An Incoming file notification will pop up on your Fire tablet. Select it and then tap ACCEPT



22. The file will now copy from your Windows computer to your Fire tablet.



23. Once the transfer has completed, click the Finish button.



24. Your Fire will notify you the transfer has completed as well.



25. You can find your newly transfered file in the bluetooth folder on your device (you can access it via the Docs App).



26. All done!

The post How to Use Bluetooth to Copy Files to an Amazon Fire (Windows) appeared first on Simple Help.

1. Tap the Settings icon on the home screen of your Fire tablet.



2. Select the Connected devices menu item.



3. Tap the Bluetooth section.



4. From here, toggle the Bluetooth setting to ON



5. Once it’s turned on, it’ll start to discover nearby devices (if there are any).



6. Switch over to your Mac. Open the System Preferences by selecting the Apple button from the menu bar and then System Preferences… from the drop-down list. Once they’re open, locate and click the Bluetooth icon.



7. If Bluetooth isn’t already turned on, click the Turn Bluetooth On button.



8. In the list of devices, locate the one named Fire Tablet and click the Connect button next to it.



9. A message window will appear and contain a verification code.



10. Switch back to your Fire tablet and there will be a message waiting for you that should include that same code. Tap the PAIR link.



11. Wait a moment and your Mac will appear in the PAIRED DEVICES list.



12. Yet again switch back to your Mac. Right-click anywhere in the Fire Tablet field and select Send File to Device. Note: do not worry if the status of your Fire Tablet is Not Connected, it’s a bit misleading and should be ignored.



13. Navigate to the file you want to copy to your Amazon Fire, select it and then click the Send button.



14. A status window will pop up and let you know it’s waiting for a response on the tablet. So…



15. Switch back to the Fire and tap the ACCEPT link in the Accept incoming file? window.



16. The file will now copy from your Mac over to your Fire.



17. Once the transfer has been completed, your Fire will notify you.



18. You can find your newly transfered file in the bluetooth folder on your device (you can access it via the Docs App).



19. If you’re going to send files to your Amazon Fire fairly often you may want to make it a bit easier on yourself and make Bluetooth available via your menu bar. Place a check in the Show Bluetooth in menu bar box located in the Bluetooth settings section of the System Preferences.



20. Now when you want to send a file to your Amazon Fire you can just click the Bluetooth icon in your menu bar, select Fire Tablet from the list of Devices, and then Send file to device…

The post How to Use Bluetooth to Copy Files From a Mac to an Amazon Fire appeared first on Simple Help.

Intro to Plex

While most of you probably already know what Plex is, for those of you who don’t… In a nutshell, Plex is a piece of (free) software that organizes your media, makes your collections look great, and lets you access and stream all of that content from other computers, TVs, gaming consoles, tablets, smartphones, etc. It supports virtually every media file format you can throw at it (including hi-fi music and video formats), it supports Chromecast – you can even share your content with friends and let them stream from your collection.

This guide takes you each and every step of the way through installing and configuring Plex on a Windows PC. Plex works on all modern versions of Windows (Windows 7, 8 and 10). Between the amount of effort and thought that went into making Plex so easy to use and the level of detail in this guide, absolutely anyone can install, setup and start using it in no time at all!

click to enlarge

Table of Contents

1. Your Media Files (Before Installation)
2. Installing Plex in Windows
3. Setting Up Plex
4. Configuring Plex Settings
5. Using Plex
6. Plex Apps for iOS, Android and Xbox Overview

It’s possible that the part of this process that will take you the most time is making sure your audio and video files are easily identifiable by Plex. Hopefully that won’t be the case though, and Plex does a lot of helping :) When you add a media file to Plex it automatically tries to identify that file so that it can download descriptions, cover art, background art etc. Generally Plex looks at the file name itself for information. For example, the best way to make sure that Plex can identify a movie is to name that file the title of the movie.

As illustrated in the above image, I have ‘dots’ between each word in the title rather than spaces (Plex recommends having spaces). Fortunately, Plex is incredibly good at figuring these things out, and it doesn’t actually matter that I use dots instead of spaces.

One thing that will ‘help’ Plex to identify your files is to make sure the year of the movie is in the file name, although it’s only really important if there are two movies with the same name. As you can see in the screenshot below, I had to include the year of the movie Sisters, because there was one made in 1973 and one in 2015.

When it comes to naming the files for TV shows, Plex follows the “standard” of:

Name of Show – S01E01

where Name of Show is the name of the TV series, S01 is Season one (01) and E01 is Episode one (01). Again, it allows for some leeway – it has no problem with my dots instead of spaces and dashes –

In fact, Plex is so good it’s able to disregard information that isn’t important. For example, if you have things like “dvdrip” in the file name, it doesn’t care. All that it’s really looking for is the name of the show and the season and episode numbers.

You can see all of the naming rules, suggestions and info here. Don’t worry too much about the file names as long as they generally adhere to the ‘rules’ we covered above. Anything it has trouble identifying is easily fixable after the initial setup.

1. The very first thing you’ll need to do to install Plex is to sign up for an account. It’s is completely free, but you do need to create an account. Just visit the Plex Sign Up page and fill in the required info.
2. Once your account has been created (instant) you’ll be sent an email from Plex with a download link. Click that link (if you have any issues you can always head directly to the Plex Downloads section of their site).



3. Select the Windows version of Plex and then click the DOWNLOAD button.



4. Once the download has completed run the file to start the installation.



5. Click Install when prompted.



6. Let it do its thing. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes for the installation to complete.







7. Once it’s has finished installing, click the Launch button to run Plex for the first time.

1. Your default browser will open and you’ll be prompted to sign into Plex for the first time.



2. Enter your user/pass in the space provided and click the SIGN IN button.



3. Click the GOT IT! button.



4. You’ll be asked if you want to upgrade to a Plex Pass. For the time being, close this window. Once you try out Plex for a while you can decide if you want to pay for the additional features (I do, but I’d still advise you to try it without a Plex Pass first).



5. Now you’ll need to give your Plex server a name. Something descriptive is best. Make sure there’s a check in the box labeled Allow me to access my media outside my home and then click NEXT.



6. Now it’s time to add some actual media to your media center.



7. By default, Plex includes two partially configured “libraries” – but we’re going to work from scratch, so delete them by clicking the red “X” next to Music and Photos



8. Yes, you’re sure you want to delete it.



9. Absolutely positive. Click YES, I’M SURE



10. Now we’ll add your first real library. In Plex-speak, a Library is a collection of ‘similar’ content. For example, your Movies would be considered one library, your TV Shows another, your Music yet another, etc. Click the ADD LIBRARY button.



11. First let’s add your movies. Click the Movies icon.



12. If you want to call this library something other than Movies, enter that name in the Name field. Then click the NEXT button.



13. Click the BROWSE FOR MEDIA FOLDER button.



14. Now navigate to the folder you keep your movie files in. Don’t worry if that’s more than one place – we’ll cover that. Make sure you’ve got the correct path in the top field (see screenshot below) and then click the ADD button.



15. If you only have one folder that contains your movies, jump down to step #17. Otherwise, click the BROWSE FOR MEDIA FOLDER button again.



16. This time, navigate to the other folder that contains movie files and then click the ADD button.



17. Click the ADD LIBRARY button to create your movie library.



18. As soon as you create a library, Plex will start to index the media files. Don’t be at all surprised if you start to receive on-screen notifications like the one pictured below. Ignore them for the time being.



19. Now that you’ve created a movie library, it’s time to create one for TV shows. Click the ADD LIBRARY button again.



20. This time, select TV Shows as the ‘type’, edit the name that it will use if you don’t like the default of “TV Shows” and then click the NEXT button.



21. Click the BROWSE FOR MEDIA FOLDERS button.



22. Navigate to the folder that contains your TV show files and select it. Then, click the ADD button. Repeat the previous two steps if you have more than one folder that contains tv shows.



23. Once you’ve created Libraries for Movies and TV Shows, you’ll probably want to make one for your music as well. Click the ADD LIBRARY button again.



24. The process for adding music is pretty much the same as movies and TV shows, with a few exceptions. When asked if you want to Create a premium Plex music library! or Create a basic music library, select Create a basic music library. The premium version requires the paid version, and since you can always upgrade your music library later – let’s go with the free one for now.



25. There are also a series of Advanced options for adding music files. The two you’ll want to pay particular attention to are: Import from iTunes and Use embedded tags. If you’ve taken a lot of time to tag your music files in iTunes – place a check in that box. If you’ve put a lot of effort into tagging your music files with the exact info you want – place a check in the Use embedded tags box. Again it’s worth mentioning that Plex is really good at identifying files, so don’t worry too much. When you’ve reviewed all of the options, click the ADD LIBRARY button to create your music library.



26. Now that you’ve added movies, TV shows and music to your Plex media center, it’s time to finish up. Click the NEXT button.



27. Click the DONE button. The length of time it takes to identify your media and then download corresponding information and artwork/image files depends almost entirely on just how many files it has to index.



28. Once it’s completed the initial indexing you’ll be presented with the absolutely gorgeous Plex dashboard – the main window to all of your now-streamable media :)


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Before you jump in and start using it, let’s take a quick look at some of the settings and preferences. Select the Settings link from the column on the left side of the window.

As you can see, there are a lot of things you can configure. One of them is the ‘name’ that you set way back at the beginning of this guide – you can change it any time.

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Another item you’ll want to take a look at before you start getting familiar with the interface is how Plex will look for new movies, TV shows and music that you add in the future. Click the Library item from the navigation column. From here you can set it to ‘watch’ your media folders and update Plex as soon as you copy new files into one of those folders. Or you can have it scan for new content at a preset time.

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You can also manually tell Plex to scan for new content at any time – just click the … button directly to the right side of the LIBRARIES item in the main navigation column and select Scan Library Files.

Enough looking at settings and configurations – let’s jump in and use it.

The fun part!

In addition to being able to access your media remotely – you can of course also access it locally – right on the machine you just installed Plex on. Navigate through your content, take a look around and get familiar with the Plex dashboard. While you’re looking through Plex for the first time, you may notice some of the artwork isn’t correct. No problem. We have a detailed guide that explains how to change it (opens in a new window/tab).

The column on the left side of the main window lets you quickly navigate to your “libraries” – TV Shows, Movies, Music etc.

iPhone/iPad (iOS)

The Plex App for iOS is available on the App Store. The App is free but it’s very limited in functionality unless you’re a Plex Pass subscriber or pay a one time fee of $4.99. If you plan on streaming to your iOS device a fair bit but you don’t want to pay the monthly subscription fee for all the bells and whistles – the one time $4.99 fee is worth every penny.

The App itself is very straight forward and easy to use. If you were watching a movie/TV show on another device, Plex makes it super-simple to resume watching it on your iPhone/iPad.

The layout is beautiful.

The navigation itself is totally customizable.

Similarly to the music and TV show views, the music view also includes background art, info about the artist and album etc.

Android

The Android App for Plex can be found in the Google Play Store. The App is free, but functionality is very limited unless you’re a Plex Pass subscriber or pay a one-time fee to ‘unlock’ it. If you’re planning on streaming from Plex to your Android device fairly often, it’s absolutely worth the purchase. As it happens, the Plex App for Android is also a ‘local media player’ – so any audio or video files already on your Android phone/tablet will also be playable in the Plex App.

Similar to the Plex App for iPhones, the Android App also lets you resume playback from whichever video it was you were last watching.

The layout of the App for Android is quite similar to the look and feel of the Plex Server itself.

Each movie, TV episode and album comes with detailed descriptions, background art, ratings etc.

As you’d expect, all of the features in a great video player are present.

Plex for Xbox

The Plex for Xbox App is completely free. You just need to make sure you’re signed into your Xbox Live account and go through a very simple installation.

The ‘home dashboard’ is a bit less flashy than the Android and iOS versions of of the app, but completely functional and remarkably easy to navigate using a gaming controller.

Less flashy, but still fun and very customized.

You still get detailed info about all of your content – even on the Xbox.

Of course there are many other devices that you can use for streaming Plex (full list here). Using Plex with an AppleTV works fantastically, and I’ve never had issues “casting” my stream to Chromecast. Though I haven’t experimented with it yet, there’s also a Windows app (available via the Windows Store) which provides support for controlling the app via remote control, gamepad, and even using your voice (through Cortana). All in all, it’s a wonderfully easy to use, stable and reliable media server.

ps. You can also share your Plex libraries with friends.

The post The Complete Guide to Setting Up Plex in Windows appeared first on Simple Help.

It’s a fantastic “arm” that easily clamps onto your smartphone or tablet and acts as a stand. The photos will describe it best :)

Let’s get this out of the way up front: I was given a free unit to review. As with all of the reviews here, I’m brutally honest about the product whether I paid for it or not. OK disclaimer out of the way.

This thing is amazing. I’m paying for another one out of pocket so that I have two. In a nutshell, one end of the flexible “gooseneck” or “arm” has a clamp that holds your tablet or smartphone. The other attaches to your desk, table, nightstand or … almost anything. The price? $15 via Amazon.

The clamp can hold just about any smartphone on the market. You’d have to be using a freakishly small novelty device or a gigantic “cell phone” from the 80’s for this clamp not to hold it securely. It also rotates 360 degrees, making it that much easier to get the perfect view.

The “spring-loaded” bracket can hold a tablet up to 10 inches wide (or tall). In theory it will hold one of the Samsung 10.1 line of tablets, I don’t have one to try it out with. The list of devices that I own that worked perfectly include: the iPhone 6, an iPad Mini, a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7″, the first Kindle Fire and my old iPod.

The padding that holds your tablet/phone in place is a soft but firm silicon that couldn’t possibly scratch your device.

The same holds true for the padding on the clamp that attaches to your desk/table/anything. It isn’t going to scratch or leave a mark of any kind no matter how tightly you attach it (alright unless you really go out of your way to do it on purpose) :)

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The reason I’m buying another one (aside from me being too lazy to attach/reattach it a few times a day) is that for me, it has 2 fantastic uses. The first is to clamp my tablet to my desk and have it hover above my laptop screen. Then I can use my tablet as a second monitor. I also frequently use my tablet or iPhone to run Spotify and wirelessly send the audio to my Beats Pill speakers (seriously love them too, another review for another day). That means I’m running one less App on my Mac but I can still easily access Spotify itself.

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The other use that I can no longer live without is to attach my iPad Mini or Samsung Tab to my nightstand and watch Netflix in bed. Or stream movies/tv shows from my media center. No more trying to balance the iPad on a pillow so I can watch TV in bed! The 360 super-rotating clamp and bend-y but strong neck means you can get your iPad/tablet to the exact right angle for maximum viewing laziness.

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I’ve saved the one negative for the end. While the neck is both strong and flexible, you’re not going to want to tap out long emails when your device is clamped to the device. It’s going to ‘sway’. If you clamp it to a desk and then kick the desk hard enough, it’s going to make the device swing a bit. All you have to do is lightly put a finger on it and it’ll stop swaying right away, but using the touch-screen aspect of your phone/tablet becomes annoying quickly if you’re trying to do anything that involves intensive “tapping” on your screen. That said, it will not ‘slowly bend’ under the weight of your device, unless you’re using something that’s just too heavy and was never intended to be used. For example, the first generation “regular” iPad is too heavy to support.

The device is only $15 via Amazon

The post Review: The Gooseneck Phone Holder appeared first on Simple Help.

1. When your Kindle Fire powers up, press and hold the Power button for about 5 seconds.



2. The TWRP Main Menu will appear. Tap the Restore button.



3. Select the backup package you wish to restore from.



4. Swipe the Swipe to Restore slider to begin the restoration process.



5. Generally it doesn’t take very long to revert to the backup. The length of time will depend on how large your backup files are.



6. Once the backup has finished, tap the Back button.



7. Now tap the ‘back’ button in the upper-left corner of the TWRP window.



8. Tap it again.



9. Tap the Reboot button…



10. … and finally, tap the Power Off button.



11. Now power your Kindle Fire on again. It will boot up into the exact state it was in when you created the backup. That’s it!.

The post How to Recover Your Kindle Fire From a TWRP Backup appeared first on Simple Help.

Before we get started, there are a few important things to know up front.

1. This will wipe everything from your Kindle Fire. You will be creating a backup but you’ll need to move/copy any files you want to have on your Kindle before you install Android, so that you can put them back on your Kindle afterwards.
2. This process only works on the first generation Kindle Fire. It will not work on the Kindle Fire HD or any of the second generation Kindle Fire devices.
3. You’ll need to be using Windows Vista or higher and be connected to the Internet to use the software required in this tutorial.
4. It’s possible that you will have to revert to a backup if something goes wrong. Make sure to follow the steps carefully (yes, this tutorial shows you how to make a backup).
5. The entire procedure takes less than an hour, but it’s still a good idea to make sure you have at least an hour set aside.

Ready? Lets get started!

1. Make sure your Kindle Fire is currently unplugged from your PC.
2. Download the following files to your Downloads folder:
1. The file jb-kfire-hashcode-10-10.zip
2. Kindle Fire Utility v.0.9.6 or higher (scroll towards the bottom of the first post for the download link)
3. gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip
3. Unzip the Kindle_Fire_Utility_v0.9.6.zip file. After unzipping the file, open the Kindle Fire Utility folder. Double-click the install_drivers.bat file.


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4. This will launch the Kindle Fire Driver Installer. Click Next to begin the installation.


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5. If you’re prompted with a Windows Security Alert, click the Install this driver software anyway button.


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6. Files will be copied…


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7. Click Finish.


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8. If another Driver Software Installation window appears, let it do its thing until there’s a “green checkmark” next to each item, and then click the Close button.


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9. Now, plug your Kindle Fire into your PC using a USB cable.
10. Return to your Kindle Fire Utility folder, and double-click the run.bat file.


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11. This will bring up a Command Prompt window with a list of options.


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12. The first thing we want to do here is Install Permanent Root with Superuser. To do so, enter the number 2 (using your keyboard…) and then hit Enter.


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13. A bunch of text will scroll on the screen and …


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14. … you may have to wait for a minute. Your Kindle Fire will reboot/power off and on again. Ignore it.


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15. When the Root Installed message appears, tap any key to continue.


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16. Now it’s time to Install Latest TWRP Recovery. To do so, enter the number 3 and hit enter.


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17. Again, some text will scroll on your screen. When the installation has completed, you’ll see an All Done! message. Your Kindle Fire will reboot/power off and on again. Ignore it. Tap any key to continue.


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18. This time we’ll Install Latest FireFireFire by entering the number 5 and hitting enter. You guessed it – your Kindle Fire is going to reboot again.


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19. Same as always, tap any key when it’s done.


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20. Time for the fun stuff! Enter the number 1 and hit enter.


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21. Your Kindle Fire will now be sent a message to start up in Recovery Mode. Leave your Command Prompt window as it is (for now) and pick up that Kindle Fire.


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22. Your Kindle Fire will boot up into the TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project) Menu. Tap the Backup button.


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23. Make sure that System, Data and Boot are selected. Recovery and Cache are optional. When you’re ready, swipe the Swipe to Back Up “slider”.


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24. The backup process will take a few minutes. Be patient :)


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25. When it’s done, tap the Back or Home button to return to the Home Menu. This time, tap the Mount button.


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26. Tap the Mount USB Storage button.



27. Back on your PC, a new ‘drive’ will appear (very likely named Kindle). Open it, then open the TWRP folder.


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28. Drag/Copy the entire BACKUPS folder to your Desktop (or other safe place on your hard drive).


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29. Depending on how large your backup files are, this can take a minute or three. Should the need arise, you now have a full backup to recover from if anything goes wrong. For instructions on how to recover your Kindle Fire from these backup files, see the tutorial How to Recover Your Kindle Fire from a TWRP Backup.


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30. Once you’ve copied the BACKUPS folder to your PC, you’re going to copy some files over to your Kindle ‘drive’. Locate the two files you downloaded way back in step #2 – jb-kfire-hashcode-10-10.zip and gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip – and drag/copy them to your Kindle.


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31. Shouldn’t take too long to copy them.


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32. Now right-click on your Kindle drive and select Eject from the menu.


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33. You’ll probably see a Safe to Remove Hardware message in Windows. Don’t unplug your Kindle just yet.



34. Back on your Kindle, tap the Unmount button. Now you can unplug your Kindle Fire.



35. Return to the TWRP Home Menu, and this time tap the Wipe button.


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36. Tap the Factory Reset button.


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37. Now swipe the Swipe to Wipe “slider”.


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38. The ‘wiping’ process will now execute.


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39. Tap the Back button when it’s done.


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40. Heading into the final stretch! Tap the Install button.



41. Tap jb-kfire-hashcode-10-10.zip from the /sdcard menu.


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42. Swipe the Swipe to Confirm Flash “slider”.


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43. Give it some time …


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44. … and when it’s done, tap the Home button.


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45. Once again, tap the Install button.



46. This time, select gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip from the /sdcard menu.


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47. Again, swipe away and watch the boring installation.


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48. Return to the Home Menu and this time – tap the Reboot button.



49. Your Kindle Fire will now start up, and you’ll have Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) on your device!!!



50. When you installed/flashed the gapps-jb-20121011-signed.zip file to your Kindle, that installed the “Google Apps” (sort of) on your Kindle Fire. They may not have all (Google Maps, Gmail, etc) installed. The Google Play Store however, will have installed. From within it, you can search for and install all the Google Apps – Gmail, Google Maps, Google Music and so on.
51. If anything went wrong, or you just don’t like Android 4.1 vs. the Kindle Fire OS, you can use the the tutorial How to Recover Your Kindle Fire from a TWRP Backup to restore your Kindle Fire to its pre-Android 4.1 state.

The post Installing Android on Your Kindle Fire: The Complete Walkthrough appeared first on Simple Help.

1. The first thing you’ll need is the Google Apps package. You can download a copy here. Connect your phone or tablet to your computer, enable USB Mass Storage, and copy the file (Gapps ICS 4.0.3 11.12.22.zip) to your phone/tablet. It doesn’t matter what folder you copy it to, just remember which one. I used the folder cminstall because I had previously used it for something similar.

   Disconnect your phone or tablet from your computer. Power it off and then back on again, and make sure you boot to the “mod” boot screen. This can vary from Android mod to Android mod – in this example I’m using an HP TouchPad that I’ve installed Android on, so the default booting software is moboot, as seen in the screenshot below. Whatever your mod is, boot into ClockworkMod. On the HP TouchPad you can use the Volume Up and Volume Down keys to navigate, and the Menu button to select or “click” an item.



2. Select install zip from sdcard



3. Select choose zip from sdcard



4. Now navigate to the folder that you copied the file Gapps ICS 4.0.3 11.12.22.zip into (back in step #1).



5. Select the Gapps ICS 4.0.3 11.12.22.zip entry



6. Scroll down to the line Yes – Install Gapps ICS 4.0.3 11.12.22.zip and select it.



7. A bunch of text will scroll by on your phone or tablet. Once the process has completed, you’ll see Install from sdcard complete at the bottom of the screen.



8. The menu will have returned to the top of the screen. From it, select +++++Go Back+++++



9. This time select reboot system now and boot back into Android.



10. Now you’ll see (and can use!) the Google Apps such as Market, Gmail, Maps etc.


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11. Finished!

The post How to Install Google Apps on Your Android Device appeared first on Simple Help.