The Tech Loft

Hi folks, one of the most disappointing things I found on the Google’s Nexus Player was the LACK of an ethernet port. Even though we operate in a world dominated by wifi, an ethernet adapter is something that is a MUST HAVE media playing device. Lucky, Google and Asus have made it easy for us to add an ethernet adapter to Google’s Nexus Player. So the title of this article suggests, I will tell you how to add an ethernet port to Google’s Nexus Player. Let me introduce you to Plugable’s USB 2.0 OTG Micro-B Ethernet Adapter . This great adapter is a must have for those who NEED to be hard wired into the home network due to weak wifi signal strength. I can confirm as an owner of Plugable’s USB 2.0 OTG Micro-B Ethernet Adapter that this adapter DOES INDEED WORK and it works VERY WELL! My media speeds across my network and the internet have obviously improved for the better. My review on this adapter is coming shortly and will be posted on this article from my ...

My over the air setup is very basic and anyone can get involved and start receiving FREE HDTV in their homes. What I have done is write this ota buyers guide based on my ota setup which is currently up and running. When I first began receiving over the air TV, my setup was the following (October 2006): Channel Master 4 Bay Antenna –  http://amzn.to/1XWD4if  *I no longer use Channel Master 2 Way Splitter/Amplifier –  http://amzn.to/1WIAzgT I had my antenna hanging in the attic and had it fed into a amplified splitter. Not sure if my setup was correct but it worked. I placed the amplifier near the antenna so the signal was strong as if traveled to my TV. Think back, I should have added a pre-amplifier…which are supposed to be installed at the antenna. Oh well…live and learn, but it worked. In 2012 we moved into our new house which was a 5 minute drive SOUTH of where we lived. After living in the new place for 3 years, I’ve finally got off my ass and installed...

Readers, I started looking into OTA broadcasts in 2004. At the time, I was living in a small town house in Oak Ridges…actually, more accurately, Temperance Ontario. Which is a km West of downtown Oak Ridges. At the townhouse, I was using a Channel Master 4 Bay antenna and 2 way amplifier. From what I recall, the most channels I was able to receive at the time was 22 channels. A mix of Toronto and U.S. broadcasts from Grand Island NY. The U.S. stations were hit and miss. Some U.S. stations broadcast at high power while others, low power. FOX (29-1) was a tricky little channel to receive but WNLO (23-1) was an easy one to pick up. We had our ups and downs but 20-22 channels is not a bad deal. Fast forward to 2015 and we’re back with over the air hdtv! We moved in 2012 and been antennaless since then. I was fortunate enough at the town house to pass a cable from the attic, down an air return vent into the basement. I the new house, I wasn’t so fortunate. I knew, for an at...

Here’s a list of iOS 9 battery tweaks to help your iPhone battery last longer. One of the main design features of iOS 9 is it’s better battery usage. For those that want to go the extra mile and trim and cut a few features out. Switch off Location Services Switch off Background App Refresh Switch off Push notifications in your email settings Disable iCloud Keychain Complete a battery drain once a month Set Auto Lock to 1 min Switch off keyboard clicks and extra sounds When listening to music,  use headphones instead of speakers Turn down for WHAT…just kidding, turn down screen brightness Turn off Bluetooth (if not using it) Turn off WiFi (if not using it) Turn off Dynamic Wallpaper Try rebooting your iphone If this is a fresh iOS 9 install, give it time to complete any app updates and data restoring If you have any tips you’d like to share, please leave them in the comment section below!

Hi folks, here’s a short tutorial on updating your Amazon Fire TV to the latest version of Kodi. As of this post, Kodi is at version 15.1. Here’s what you’ll need for the update: adbFire (software to connect and push the Kodi installation pack) latest version of Kodi know your Copy and Paste keyboard shortcuts (hehehe, just a little humour) After you download the latest Kodi APK (choose the Android ARM version from the Kodi website ). In the next step we need to Push the file to our Amazon Fire TV. We will use the “temp” folder for that as follows: Start ADBFire , select “ temp ” under “ Push/Pull/Delete Files ”, click the “ Push ” button and select the downloaded APK file . Once the push completed (ADBFire will show a message), click the “ ADB Shell ”. In the shell, type    cd /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/temp   and press ENTER. After that type, in the shell:   adb install -r kodi- 14.1 -Helix-armeabi-v7a.apk   (the APK filename depends on the Ko...

For those that have installed Kodi on their Amazon Fire TV, here’s the ‘How To’ to add Kodi to Amazon Fire TV Home screen. While watching the video, you’ll see the application we used is called ADBFire , however, you cannot link the app shortcut icon to Kodi..it no longer works, and this could be due to updated firmware on the Fire TV boxes. So what we did in the second half of the video, was manually link the shortcut to Kodi. Was done by using Lama which is installed when using ADBFire to replace the icon with a Kodi icon. For all the details, what the video, should be very simple to follow. If Llama import fails: Manual setting Llama … If import fails, then you can do this also manually as follows: “Events” (scroll right), and select the “+” button at the bottom (click “down”, “right”). On the next page, click the “Add Condition” button (click 4x “down”), where we select “Active application“. In the popup window select “Choose an app” and choose “IkonoTV” and...

The day has finally arrived that I pulled the trigger and ordered an Amazon Fire TV . Yes siree, after doing a little bit of research I found that Kodi can be side loaded on to an Amazon Fire TV ..very easily I might add. The video below will explain the hardware that’s packed in this neat little device. please watch and enjoy the Amazon Fire TV Unboxing! If you’re looking to order your own Amazon Fire TV , please the links found on this page. It’s a simple way of supporting The Tech Loft in all that we do for our readers. I’ve also added a media box comparison chart as a quick reference between the hottest media boxes as of this posting. Seems like the Fire TV comes out ahead in terms of hardware power.