Posted on February 8th, 2021 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
A couple of months ago I started using the free app “WhatsApp” for sharing pictures and making free phone calls. Now millions are angry with the app, turning instead to “Signal” or “Telegram.” Switching from WhatsApp to Telegram is like switching from sugar to corn syrup. Telegram has had problems with foreign terrorists, neo-Nazis and white supremacists. It was recently used for hacking into Facebook accounts. And it’s not that private. Telegram allows businesses to collect data on you so they can send you ads. But what’s so bad about WhatsApp, anyway? I don’t care that it’s owned by Facebook. Starting in May, businesses will be able to collect data on you so they can send you messages. But that’s […]
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Filed under: apps, cheap calls, digital, games | Comments Off on WHAT’S APP WITH THAT?
Posted on June 16th, 2019 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
A reader writes: “Do you have any idea why Google stopped supporting the free photo organizing/editing system called Picasa? How would we contact them to plead for it to be brought back? Do you know of any system that could replace it?” We hear you. Once you know your way around a program, it’s tough to switch. Google thinks their online editing tool, Google Photos, is better. It lets you crop, enhance light, and save photos to your computer. But not everyone wants to work online. If you’re a Windows 10 user, try the built-in photos app. Click “start,” then “photos,” to get started or search the web for the phrase “How to Use Microsoft Photos,” to get more detailed […]
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Filed under: apps, art, digital, photos, troubleshooting | Comments Off on TACKLING PHOTOS
Posted on December 12th, 2016 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
Topics: DOS reconsidered,
gadget transfers photos from PC to iPad or the reverse,
Gamer’s Keyboard
Password Manger
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Filed under: digital, gadgets, keyboards, passwords | Comments Off on A HARD MASTER
Posted on February 1st, 2015 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
BitCoin is a much bigger deal than we thought. In the new book, “The Age of Crypto Currency,” by Vigna and Casey, two veteran Wall Street Journal reporters, we learned that Bitcoin is used all over the world where banking is a problem. An Afghani teenager, for example, traded her Bitcoins for an Amazon gift certificate and bought her first laptop. Without Bitcoin, her earnings would have disappeared into her father or brother’s bank account. In Mali refugee camps, people receive Bitcoins as text messages on $5 phones. Without crypto currency, workers often have to depend on strangers to carry money back home to relatives. “The Age of Crypto Currency,” $28 from St. Martin’s Press, also gives us a concise […]
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Filed under: books, digital, electronics, trends | Comments Off on THE AGE OF CRYPTO CURRENCY
Posted on January 6th, 2015 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
A colleague emailed us a hilarious Christmas greeting video from JibJab.com. It featured featuring faces from her family placed on the bodies of Santa’s elves. We couldn’t resist making JibJabs of our own. There are several styles and they are all hilarious.
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Filed under: digital, video | Comments Off on ANY-TIME GREETINGS
Posted on January 29th, 2014 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
Having magazines on an iPad or Android tablet is a nice idea and costs just $10 a month with an app called “NextIssue.” The app came out two years ago but has improved a lot since then. Back in 2012, there were only 27 magazines available. Now there are 119 for the basic price, and more if you’re willing to pay $15 a month. A free 30-day trial gives you an idea of what’s available, and a new feature allows you to print out the articles (handy for recipes). Our favorite magazine, “The Economist,” isn’t there, but then, several of its articles are free online each month at economist.com.
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Filed under: digital, magazines | Comments Off on MAGAZINES ON PARADE
Posted on September 9th, 2013 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
“Heard” is a free iPhone/iPod/iPad app that continuously records anything you can hear. But instead of one long file, it fills the buffer and then clears it for more recording. Only when you hit “save” does the recording move into storage.
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Posted on February 24th, 2013 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
“The Book of GIMP,” by Lecarme and Delvare, $50 from nostarch.com, is a great guide to the GIMP photo-editing program.
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Filed under: books, digital, graphics | Comments Off on THE BOOK OF GIMP
Posted on November 27th, 2012 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
Here’s something for the person who hates typing. It’s the LiveScribe “Sky WiFi Smartpen,” and it digitizes your handwriting, records the lecture you’re listening to and stores it all in the cloud.
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Filed under: cloud computing, digital, gadgets, notes | Comments Off on A PEN FOR THE CLOUD
Posted on November 17th, 2012 by Bob and Joy Schwabach
Captricity.com digitizes documents at 20 cents per page, whether they’re hand written or typed. The first 25 pages are free. They use humans, not scanners, and here’s a tip Bob got from someone who uses this kind of data entry service extensively: To assure accuracy as much as you can, have the same documents done by more than one person, because it’s very unlikely that two people would make exactly the same mistake. Yes, it doubles the cost, but for many uses it’s worth it.
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Filed under: digital, Internuts, word processing | 1 Comment »
