Author: Trevor Ayers

Weather Underground Broken Fix – XBMC (Kodi)

Edit 2: Weather Underground has a full replacement you should get instead called OpenWeatherMap.

Edit: As a partial alternative to the below, you can install a Weather Underground zip file found here. You will still need to generate the WU API key per instructions below. This key will be added in the new add ons settings. Both solutions work; I suggested picking the one you anticipate being more permanent, but neither should be overwritten in updates. I’m using the below method and not the zip file to help avoid bloat, which my install already suffers from.

Edit 2: … Read More

October 18, 2014

AweSEM Advice / Blog / Tech Tips

The Basic Necessities of a Google Analytics Setup

Google Analytics is a great, though flawed, tool. It has endless potential and can accomplish most of your website tracking goals for the low price of free. Without diving into advanced setup or getting into unique situations I cover the basic necessities of a Google Analytics setup. I do not use Google Tag Manager, which is great, for this example.

The steps below will get you off the ground with accurate tracking and some recommendations of mine for cleaner data in Universal Analytics.

Necessities of a Google Analytics Setup

Log into Google Analytics – Click “Admin” – “Create

October 16, 2014

Blog / Tech Tips / XBMC

Seamlessly Launch Steam Big Picture Mode From XBMC (Kodi)

Update:

These instrustions to launch Steam big picture mode from XBMC do not work for Kodi, the DO still work for XBMC 13.2 and older. Please visit my resource here to launch Steam from Kodi.

There are many ways to launch Steam Big Picture Mode from XBMC (Kodi) including Angelscry’s versatile Advanced Launcher, but there is another, more efficient, way to seamlessly launch Steam Big Picture Mode from XBMC (Kodi).

Below are the steps to easily launch Steam Big Picture Mode from XBMC (Kodi)

If you are familiar with XBMC (Kodi) then this is low hanging fruit. I want … Read More

October 8, 2014

Demographics and interests in Google Analytics

AweSEM Advice / Blog

See Demographic and Interest Information in Google Analytics

Many don’t know that it is now possible to see demographic and interest information in Google Analytics of their site visitors, but it is. I have also speculated in the past that this is why Google hides organic keyword referral data because you can only see this information for users logged into a Google property. The same quick steps below can be used for building a remarketing audience through Google Analytics.

Below is How to See Demographic and Interest Information in Google Analytics

You’ll need an Analytics account – create one if you haven’t already!
Go to Adming > Property

September 30, 2014

Blog / Tech Tips / XBMC

Add Custom XBMC Splash Screen to Windows Machine

Adding a custom XBMC splash screen is easy, but I, too, needed a resource to locate the root file. These instructions are for a Windows machine, but should apply to most XBMC installs on most machines.

What’s the XBMC splash screen? It’s the opening intro you may or may not see for a long time based on the speed of your machine.

Grab yourself a high-resolution custom flash screen for XBMC. The one I used can be found on XBMC’s wiki here.
Make sure you have “show hidden files” enabled in your OS
Navigate to the below

September 26, 2014

AweSEM Advice / Blog

Google Product Listing Ad Fail – PLA Fail

I’ve seen plenty examples of online ads go wrong, but this Google Product Listing Ad Fail (PLA Fail) was so egregiously bad that I couldn’t help, but share.

Check out the below snapshot of the ad. I was shopping around for an ergonomic mouse pad, and to my astonoshment I see a listing for a $1,000 and $500 mouse pad. I posed the question to my social media friends (well, connections really), “who’s in the market for a $1,000 mouse pad?”

Check out the Google Product Listing Ad Fail below:

That’s a Google Product Listing Ad fail if I’ve … Read More

September 23, 2014

Blog / Kodi / Tech Tips / XBMC

How to Set Up Rom Collection Browser XBMC (Kodi)

This tutorial will be as quick as possible to set up Rom Collection Browser in XBMC (Kodi) to launch all your favorite emulators. I will walk through all the emulators I have installed. I was disappointed a resource wasn’t available when I was putting together my install.

Here’s a video of my Rom Collection Browser setup that is several months old, but give you an idea.

Nav:

Set Up Rom Collection Browser in XBMC (Kodi)
Emulator Parameters in Rom Collection Browser
Add Gameplay Videos to Rom Collection Browser
Tips for Your Rom Collection Browser Setup

Steps to Set Up Rom

September 21, 2014

Blog / Tech Tips / Wordpress

Fix WordPress Fatal Error Allowed Memory Size Limit

Today is a quick tutorial on how to fix the error message: Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 67108864 bytes exhausted

If you’ve never seen this message, good, you’re hosting provider is good. I, however, have elected to go with free hosting at 000WebHost and while it’s a good free host, it is not a good host. Not to say I would hit these same barriers with a paid account.

Fix WordPress Fatal Error Allowed Memory Size Limit

To fix the Fatal error: Allowed memory size of error message all we’re going to do is add one line to our … Read More

September 18, 2014

AweSEM Advice / Blog

Easily Test Website for All Outbound Broken Links

Today will be a quick tutorial on how to quickly check any website for all outbound and internal broken links. Basic modifications to these steps will let you see a plethora of other important site health statistics.

To test a website for all outbound broken links you can either wait for Google to discover site errors and fix ones identified via Google Webmaster Tools or you can proactively check your site to ensure none of your linking domains have changed.

What you’ll need:

Screaming Frog SEO Spider

The URL for the site you wish to check

Check a Site for

September 12, 2014

AweSEM Advice / Blog / Tech Tips / Wordpress

Add Custom Favicon to WordPress Site

In this post, I will quickly walk through how to add a custom favicon to a WordPress site. If you are not aware what a Favicon is it is the tiny image that rests in your tabbed view in most browsers. It will also show in bookmarks and social bookmarks.