On Computers

INTERNET BLUES

Posted on October 8th, 2018 by Bob and Joy Schwabach

A reader wrote to say she can’t get fast Internet service from her Internet provider. They say it’s because she’s in a rural area, at the very edge of their coverage. “An update available on my iPhone 6s took a day and a half to download,” she says. “The update on my watch took even longer. My son got both done at his school in two hours! It’s ironic that in order to pay the bill I have to mail it in.” If you’re in the same rocky boat, go to speedtest.net to verify how fast your Internet connection is. (Just click “go” and they do the rest.) Our connection is pretty fast, with a download speed of 20 and […]

Filed under: environment, games, Internet, trends | Comments Off on INTERNET BLUES

GO GRANDMA GO

Posted on September 17th, 2018 by Bob and Joy Schwabach

A few years ago, our friend Ida got a smart phone so she could use Uber and Lyft. We wish there’d been a connection to “Go Go Grandparent” back then. Any cell phone will do. And imagine this: you can even call from what’s called a landline, whatever that is. Go Go Grandparent connects you to Uber and Lyft with nothing extra to do on your part. Register at GoGoGrandparent.com. Then call Go Go Grandparent from any phone. Press “1” to be picked up at home. Press “2” to be picked from wherever you were last dropped off. Press 3, 4 or 5 to be picked off at one of your usual locations. Press “O” for an operator you can […]

Filed under: apps, browsers, trends | Comments Off on GO GRANDMA GO

DEFEND YOUR PHONE

Posted on August 21st, 2018 by Bob and Joy Schwabach

Users and Apple say the iPhone is the safest smartphone out there, but you can make it safer still. Start with the log-on. Do you use a fingerprint? You should. Joy initially had difficulties getting her Android phone to recognize her index finger. The solution was to use more fingers. Now she uses her middle finger to get into the phone, and this one rarely misses. (No comments, please.) If you have an iPhone X, you can use your face instead of a fingerprint. It’s rumored that all iPhones coming out this fall will have “Face ID.” It’s inevitable. What about a hacker breaking into your iCloud account on the web? It’s a good idea to set up “two-factor identification.” […]

Filed under: apps, books, gadgets, Google, iPhone, photos, security, trends | Comments Off on DEFEND YOUR PHONE

THE DAY OF THE PAINTER

Posted on August 6th, 2018 by Bob and Joy Schwabach

All of the artists we know paint the old-fashioned way: with a brush. But we’re fairly awed by what you can do with a mouse or a tablet. The new Corel “Painter 2019” is out, and it’s worth taking a look at what artists are doing with it. Some of these people start with a photo, and produce the kind of work sold at art festivals. After some digging we found them on Instagram. Go to Instagram.com/CorelPainter to get a little awe for yourself. We were curious about trying it ourselves. So we installed the free trial version from painterartist.com, and clicked on “Discovery Center” inside the program. This was Joy’s job, and she encountered some difficulty right away. Tutorials […]

Filed under: apps, art, business, facebook, graphics, trends, video | Comments Off on THE DAY OF THE PAINTER

CUTTING THE CABLE, REVISITED

Posted on July 23rd, 2018 by Bob and Joy Schwabach

We asked AT&T how much it would cost to drop our TV service and just keep the Internet. They immediately offered to drop the monthly charge to $120 from $160. That’s better, we thought, but hardly the best. “Philo TV” has over 45 channels for $16 a month. These include A&E, Discovery, AMC, BBC America, Food Network, History, Travel, Lifetime, Food Network and Nickelodeon. You can watch them on your computer or your phone. Or, if you want to watch on a regular TV, you can plug in a Roku stick or player, Apple TV, or an Amazon Fire stick. Roku and Amazon Fire are fairly cheap, $28 for Roku Express and $40 for the Fire stick. Though Philo doesn’t […]

Filed under: Android, business, games, Google, Internuts, search, trends, TV | Comments Off on CUTTING THE CABLE, REVISITED

HERE THERE BE TYGERS AND ALL MANNER OF STRANGE BEASTS

Posted on March 19th, 2018 by Bob and Joy Schwabach

One of our frequent correspondents had a near miss. That’s a near miss from disaster when he got a phone call telling him his PayPal account had been compromised and he owed $340. The caller said they could fix the problem for $299 but they needed to take control of his computer. They said they needed his bank account number too, so he gave it to them. There was a lot of background chatter on the caller’s end of the line. The red flags went up, the rockets exploded and the bells started ringing. He turned off his computer, told the caller he just had a power outage, hung up and moved everything from his checking account to his savings […]

Filed under: education, games, security, tech support, trends | Comments Off on HERE THERE BE TYGERS AND ALL MANNER OF STRANGE BEASTS

HEY BOO BOO

Posted on January 16th, 2017 by Bob and Joy Schwabach

We’re going to talk some more about the digital assistants put out by Amazon and Google. Those would be the Amazon “Echo” and Google “Home.” They are small, relatively cheap (from $50 to $129), and they answer questions and do requests. This is the future. Essentially what we have are two devices that listen to what you have to say — with sometimes less accuracy than you would expect — and then respond. They can play music, occasionally with nonsensical results, and respond to more direct questions, such as “how many calories are there in an apple?” This is all new stuff, the edge of wedge if you will. It’s potentially an encyclopedia on your end table, along with lectures, […]

Filed under: Amazon, Google, music, robots, trends, YouTube | Comments Off on HEY BOO BOO

EASILY DONE

Posted on December 5th, 2016 by Bob and Joy Schwabach

Topics: A better way to do email, alternatives to cable TV, Internuts, trends, and kid’s coding book.

Filed under: email, health, Internuts, kids, programming, trends, TV | Comments Off on EASILY DONE

JUST THE FACTS

Posted on October 3rd, 2016 by Bob and Joy Schwabach

Get info about your local hospitals and nursing homes, see what they’re good and bad at. A “411” info app for your iPhone. A new photo editing program and more.

Filed under: Google, health, Internuts, maps, photos, trends | Comments Off on JUST THE FACTS