Posted on March 30th, 2020 by Joy Schwabach
Joy’s women’s club went virtual, starting with a group video chat on Facebook. It was great. Joy felt none of the shyness she often feels at ordinary women’s club parties. She could be blunt, telling the group to stop focusing on technical aspects of the conversation. “Let’s just have fun,” she said and so they did. But sometimes the sound quality was poor, causing the group to say they’d switch to Zoom software next time. Zoom is hot right now. It’s designed for video get-togethers and works beautifully. It uses the computer’s built-in camera and microphone, or you can use a tablet or smartphone. When you use Zoom on your phone, computer or tablet, you see the face of the […]
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Filed under: books, business, computers, Internuts, kids, Mac, social networks, tablet, virus | Comments Off on ZOOMING IN
Posted on March 23rd, 2020 by Joy Schwabach
A reader sent us a link to “24 hidden Android features” from PopularScience.com. Here are a few. They apply to Android 8 and up. Get Shortcuts. When you swipe down from the top of your screen, you see icons for stuff like “Do Not Disturb,” “Bluetooth,” and “Mobile Data.” Swipe down again to expand the list. If you tap the icon for a pen in the lower left, then swipe up, you’ll see a list of other shortcuts to add. For example, “Screen Cast,” makes it easy to cast whatever you’re looking at on your phone to your TV screen. Otherwise, you’ll only be able to cast from select websites where you see the casting icon. This lets you cast […]
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Filed under: Amazon, Android, cameras, Internuts | Comments Off on CASTING CALL
Posted on March 16th, 2020 by Joy Schwabach
Normally, we use the editing tools at Photos.Google.com to crop or enhance our pictures. But recently we discovered PicsArt.com for free special effects and templates. You don’t have to create an account to use the site, and you might not want to. We saw several complaints at commonsensemedia.org. Some users said that after using the link at PicsArt to share their creations, they were bombarded with pornographic images from other members. One user complained of signing up for a “free trial” for certain templates which turned into a $48 charge on their credit card. We tried signing up at the site but none of that happened to us. The PicsArt app has 130 million active users, according to Wikipedia. We […]
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Filed under: Amazon, art, graphics, Internuts, photos, video, virus, word processing | Comments Off on REPLACING THE BACKGROUND
Posted on March 9th, 2020 by Joy Schwabach
We’ve been trying out Google’s free “Backup and Sync” app. That’s how we discovered its sister app, Google One. Google One backs up the stuff on your phone that isn’t automatically saved to your account online. That’s handy when you switch phones, since you can get everything back. Thanks to Google One, we found an audio clip we thought was long lost. It was Bob’s best recounting of the time he faced a firing squad off the coast of Morocco, when soldiers on a remote island mistook him for the enemy. Before being shot over a cliff, the color of his passport proved he was an American. True story. You can get Google One at the Google Play store or […]
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Filed under: apps, backup, Gmail, Google, Internuts | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 2nd, 2020 by Joy Schwabach
Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah. Blah! Blah, Blah, Blah. If you say this when you call tech support, you could be practicing a George Gershwin song. But in fact, you want to talk to a person. We got this tip from a savvy reader who told us that if you just keep saying “Blah” when the robot comes on the line and asks you what you want, you’ll eventually get a person. The robot’s initial response will be “I didn’t understand. Would you please repeat it?” Go ahead. Give it more Blah. If you keep at it – not for long – the robot will say “Let me get you someone to help you.” Hallelujah! That’s why you called in the […]
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Filed under: gadgets, Internuts, word processing, YouTube | Comments Off on GETTING A HUMAN
