But I finally found the solution and it cleared up the problem completely! What you need to do is this (these instruction are for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich but the principle is the same with Android 2.x and 3.x):

Go to settings

• Tap “Apps” (in left menu)
• Tap “All” (last tab on top right hand side)
• Scroll until you find “Google Play Store”. Tap it.
• Tap “Force Stop”, tap “OK”, tap “Clear data” and if possible (but it might be disabled)  tap “Clear cache”.
• Tap the back button to get the list of apps again.
• Scroll until you find “Google Service Framework”. Tap it.
• Tap “Force Stop”, tap “OK”, tap “Clear data” and if possible (but it might be disabled)  tap “Clear cache”.
• Now reboot your device.

And that’s it! You may need to re-enter your Google account details but everything should be working fine!

64kbps was brilliant, surfing the web became enjoyable and large downloads became a reality (if I let them run over night). Of course at that time (this is back in 1999) there was no YouTube, no streaming of live video webcasts, no iTunes, no NetFlix. Fast forward a decade and a bit and I know have 10Mbps which is 160 times faster than what I had in ’99. Is 10Mbps useful? Yes. Downloads from iTunes would be unrealistic without at least 2Mbps and now with kids in the house there are lots of devices sharing the same connection.

But do I need 100Mbps or even 120Mbps. 100Mbps is 10 times faster than what I have now and 1600 times faster than what I had in 1999. If I buy a movie from iTunes it is normally about 1.5GB in size. My top download speed is about 1MB a second, so to download it takes 25 minutes. Downloading the latest version of Ubuntu Linux takes about 11 minutes. This is quick. If I wanted to watch a film, and it was a “on the spur of the moment” thing, I could start the download, boil the kettle, pop some corn and the film would be downloaded. If I had 100Mbps broadband then it would download in 2.5 minutes. Do I really need to download a whole 2 hour movie that quick? I think the answer is no. Recently a different broadband provider in our area tempted me to change to their service. They offered 50MBps. Did I change? No I didn’t. I like what I have, it is reliable, economical and does exactly what I need.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

The Mac Sale was launched today and for a limited time only you can get $450 Worth of Apps for $49.99. The bundle of 10 applications combines the products of both established Mac powerhouses and startup indie developers.

The full list of applications in this exciting new bundle is:

1. REALBasic Personal – The exceptional rapid development environment. Designed to appeal to newcomers to software development and also old hands looking for another tool to add to their arsenal.
   
2. Iris – A new image manipulation app with a beautiful user interface. It’s uncluttered user interface makes it a joy to work with on everything from photos to logos.
   
3. Interarchy – The ultimate file transfer tool. With support for FTP, SFTP, Amazon S3, WebDAV and more.
   
4. Flux – The powerful web design application. Flux supports just about everything your can throw at it from XHTML/CSS to JavaScript and Flash.
   
5. Scribbles – The innovative sketching program, with a remarkable user interface ideal for anyone needing to make quick sketches or fun paintings.
   
6. TaskPaper – The amazingly simple but flexible task manager. With a restrained user interface TaskPaper focuses your mind on your tasks ahead, and not a complex application.
   
7. WriteRoom – The remarkable word processor aimed squarely at writers. It’s full screen mode has become famous in the Mac community and even got plaudits in the New York Times.
   
8. Stuf – The clipboard manager tool which lets you copy and paste over your local network. You’ll wonder how you ever managed with it!
   
9. Mariner Calc – The lean and mean spreadsheet. This established and mature spreadsheet application is long standing Mac workhorse, and with good reason.
   
10. HoudahSpot – Don’t search, find. HoudahSpot adds the missing “Advanced” function to Spotlight…
    

The Mac Sale is built on a few basic principles, to first give an honest and fair deal to all developers, and also to have an “all killer, no filler” line-up. The Mac Sale bundle partners span the range of amazing applications for the Mac, from programming to graphics, from network utilities to web design.

Even if only a few apps catch your eye, this bundle still represents truly excellent value. And, as each developer is getting a fair share of proceeds, you’ll know you’re doing your bit to support the Mac developer community.

The bundle will be available to buy for 14 days… and if you are quick you can get an even better deal on this bundle with this 10% discount code: EARLYBIRD. Only catch is that it’s valid only until 23:59:59 MST on the 6th August, so act fast and get an even better deal!

Click here to view more details on the Mac Sale

The Mac Sale has announced their brand new Mac software bundle, offering a great deal to both the developers of the applications and customers alike. The Mac Sale combines the products of both established Mac development houses and independent startup developers.

The Mac Sale bundle goes on sale on the Tuesday 4th August 2009 for $49.99, so head on over to The Mac Sale to register your interest and also get the chance to win a brand new iPod Touch without any purchase required.

Click here to view more details

I don’t often “recommend” software but there are two critical bits of software that everyone needs a good anti virus and good backup.

For the anti virus I take the bold step of recommending AVG Free and for backup I just found out about GFI Backup…

GFI Backup for Windows handles traditional folder and files backups, but it also has special options for backing up your registry, email, and program settings (including setting for programs like Skype, Putty, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Winamp, Firefox, IE and Opera).

Backups can be saved to CD/DVD, removable drives, LAN folders, or remote FTP. Scheduling, compression, and AES encryption are also supported. For those who use an external hard drive or a NAS, GFI can also handle synchronization tasks.

Related links:

Free GFI Backup Home offers powerful-yet-simple backup and sync

The great news is that FreeNAS has been chosen as a finalist in the ‘Best Project’ and the ‘Most Likely to Chang the Way You Do Everything’ categories.

Now, the “second round” is open: Vote for FreeNAS!

Also Olivier Cochard has released a personal message to get out the vote for FreeNAS.

Related links:

FreeNAS: Sourceforge CCA 09: Vote for FreeNAS!

The blog will also cover news and tips about the various NAS technologies including iSCSI.

You can find the new blog at Network Attached Storage News.

“This is a world where Windows runs on virtually every computer and putting on a carnival show for an operating system is not helping these children at all. I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older version of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service to those receiving them…”

Read more here: Enemies of GNU/Linux?

Using virtualization a system manager can run several virtual computers on one single PC or server. This provides an excellent resource for testing new versions of system software without endangering the live systems as well as allowing for server consolidation.

Using a virtualization product like VMware or VirtualBox a single PC can run a number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (XP, Server 2003, Vista), Linux, Solaris/OpenSolaris and OpenBSD.

The site covers VMWare, VirtualBox, Parallels, Xen, KVM and much more.