Digital

Tag: Thought grazing

  • Welcome to the Computer Group – 12th September 2019

    Welcome
    Introductions
    What do you want / expect from the Group?
    Please tick your attendance, pay £1.50 and agree that you want to join the “Thought grazing” website I run where the notes of the meeting are posted, and that you are interested in joining a WhatsApp Group.
    For those who’ve expressed an interest in “Thought grazing” and establishing a WhatsApp Group, I’ll send out an email following the meeting with UserIds and Initial Passwords for new members. [You can change your password if you want to – I’ll write a post that explains how you can do that.] The Password for Password Protected pages on the website is the same as everyone’s initial UserId Password, namely – Ca3rdyddU3A
    Do we all know the difference between Google and an Internet Browser?  – Don’t be shy. This is perhaps the most important thing to be sure about before we go any further. Two links to look at – Just google it … and the notes from the first meeting last year.
    What’s happening to Digital Projects?
    Helping others in Cardiff U3A with Computing/IT issues …

    • a WhatsApp Help & Advice Group? We agreed to do this and I’ll write to the Committee for them to consider.
    • opening-up Thought grazing to non-Group members? We agreed not to do this

    Visits. We agreed visits to the Barclays ‘Maker Space’ which Mario will arrange for us, see details below …
    In addition, as part of our community commitment,  we have also opened a new office in Cardiff designed to help businesses grow and start up in Cardiff. Great for budding Entrepreneurs (which statistics show can be high in the over 50s)  and inventors. Part of the Eagle Lab office hosts  a “Maker Space” that houses laser cutting, vinyl printing, 3D printing, electronics equipment including soldering etc. It has a distinctly digital feel too with a really switched on Engineer running the lab. We can host groups there and would be happy to chat with your Digital Projects group and your Science groups coordinators, to discuss with them what is available there and whether they would like to bring members along to take a look at the facilities, or host a meeting there. Please feel free to ask them to contact me and I can discuss what they need, what we have, what we can do to support your members.
    … in the approach to Easter, and also a visit to the new BBC Centre after Easter. I’ll approach Cardiff Uni about the possibility of a visit maybe before Christmas, and Fred suggested a visit to Brains new brewery site as an alternative.
    Boot-up
    There will be no News section this year – I’m moving it to Flipboard, unless there’s a really big news story when we’ll take it as part of Boot-up.
    Only “really” big news (tongue-in-cheek) is of course the Apple Autumn event streamed across the world last Tuesday afternoon. Available on YouTube and from Special Apple Events (if you’ve got an Apple TV).
    Update your Bus Pass – Transport for Wales have taken over the issuing of concessionary bus passes for all of Wales from the Local Authorities. Your current bus pass will not be valid after December 31st 2019.
    Gear Guide
    Members are encouraged to talk about a new piece of computing/digital technology, or software that they’ve purchased or recently started using.
    Paul’s gear experience this summer …

    Our Windows 7 Medion Laptop in Holland slowly died after over 10 years, it was originally running Vista.
    I looked at what we (Dolly) actually used it for …
    • Emails
    • Google Photos
    • Banking
    • Bit of Surfing
    • Some Games
    I concluded that we could use a Chromebook for all this, apart from  2  Windows specific Games.
    I purchased an ACER 15.6″ Chromebook for €260 (it runs Chrome Operating System (Nougat 7.11) and with the saving from not getting a Windows 10 Lap Top , I bought a Lenovo 10″ tablet (TBX104F) for €120 (16GB / 2GB, it runs Android Oreo 8.1).
    The Chromebook set up was really easy, you follow the on-screen instructions, and connect to your WiFi. It did an Update when started  for the first time, then, if you already have an active Google Account and were using a Chrome Browser, you enter your details and it loads up and mimics what you had before. It works with Google Drive (or Cloud ?) and is easy to use for all the Google apps in the Google suite.
    The Android Tablet was also simple, again you follow the on screen instructions & once logged in to your Google Account, it asks if you’d like to Clone  your nearby Android device; hence it loads all the Apps you have on your phone. Dolly loves the Tablet, and is sorry she resisted my efforts to get her one for years!!
    We came back to the UK and have now bought a SIM-free HONOR 8A phone for £120 from CarPhone Warehouse, although they are easily available elsewhere.
    HONOR is part of Hauwei , but any current phones will continue to be supported with Google products (thus there should be no problem with the current Import Restrictions placed upon Huawei. This device runs Android 9.0 and is a DUAL-SIM device so we can install a UK and a Dutch Sim and she can use a single phone.  [She is waiting for me to go over and install the Dutch Sim.] Set up on the phone was again easy. I logged into her Google account, and it mimicked all the apps she already had. I resisted the offer to sign up to Hauwai app “for a better experience”. 🙂
    The HONOR also has some nice features … take a photo, and answer a call by just touching the Finger Print Sensor, on the back.
    Currently all is working well.

    Marilyn approached me for advice on which Mac to buy. She had a Windows laptop which was slowly dying. I advised her the most important thing when buying new gear was to write down very clearly what it was that you wanted to do with the gear, and where you wanted to do it. The upshot of that debate with herself was that she got an iMac desktop instead with faster internal Solid State Hard disk, an external hard disk for her photographs, and a bigger (and better screen) to watch YouTube photography videos on … and a re-organised flat!!!!
    Apps Galore
    That slot in the meeting where members are encouraged to share their experience (and possibly excitement) at a new app they’ve started using for their smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop machine.
    What’s IT all about?
    An opportunity to occasionally go into a little more detail about how something works – eg how the internet works, how does a website work, how does email work, etc etc
    Thought grazing, Flipboard and WhatsApp
    Demonstration of using Thought grazing – there is a Guide, but I know you’d all like a demonstration.
    Using Flipboard – for the best experience, register, follow Thought grazing and install it on your smartphone or tablet. You can add content yourself as well.
    Creating a WhatsApp Group … for the Group. If you’ve ticked-the box on the sheet I’ve circulated, I’ll send you an invite to join the Group. You’ll need a mobile phone number to participate (I believe), and have installed the App on your phone. You can then also use if from your laptop/desktop (if your phone is  to hand). Currently, it’s not available on a tablet (I believe).
    [Update: Paul has written a post detailing how you can add WhatsApp to a Tablet.]

  • Creating a "magazine" – 25 Oct 2018

    Boot-up
    Meeting – 11th October. Ted Richards was the Convenor of the Group that day looked at Family History software – any questions or issues arising?
    Changes to Thought grazing – https://digital.cardiffu3a.org.uk/
    Logging in to Thought grazing – any problems or issues.
    Password: Ca3rdyddU3A
    Sextortion!!!!
    Email scam threatens to show you watching pornography to your friends
    An old scam with a new “flavour”

    How safe are you online? 10 Questions to ask yourself
    Another Facebook security breach
    What to do if your Facebook account has been hacked
    Google gets itself into trouble too by not telling users of a security hole and kills off Google+
    The Brave browser – follow-up
    also The best secure browser

    News

    Apple and Samsung fined for slowing-down older smartphones
    Deleting your search history if you use Google
    Fake review factories on Facebook
    How to spot a fake five-star review on Amazon
    Creating a magazine using Feedly, Pocket and Flipboard
    Public article will follow – “Creating a Lightroom magazine”
    Curating the web
    Step 1 – create a Feedly account
    Step 2 – select websites you want to get an RSS feed from [What is an RSS feed?] Step 3 – check periodically to see what has “popped-up” in your feed reader.
    [NB You can also download an app for your phone or tablet for Feedly] Saving for another day, or for off-line reading (bookmarking+)
    Step 1 – create a Pocket account
    Step 2 – save to Pocket from your browser (perhaps using a browser extension), or from a feedly sharing icon
    Step 3 – tag your articles, and read at your leisure, or when you want to
    [NB You can also download an app for your phone or tablet for Pocket] Creating a magazine to share with others
    Step 1 – create a Flipboard account
    Step 2 – create a Magazine, and decide whether to make it Private or Public
    Step 3 – add articles to your magazine from Pocket, or from your web browser
    [NB You can also download an app for your phone or tablet for Flipboard]

  • Thoughtgrazing, Brave and DuckDuckGo – 27th Sept 2018

    Boot-up

    Email problems – two members do not like the new gmail interface. They advised the Group that even though they could revert back to the old interface, this would be removed shortly. It was suggested that they read their Gmail through a mail client on their device. This would be called Mail for iOS and MacOS (Apple) devices, and through Outlook on Windows devices. Just set up the Mail client to pull the mail down from Google. Instructions follow.
    Use of Security Programs such as McAfee or Microsoft Defender. For users like us who are unlikely to play games, and know how to avoid scams, and are easily frightened off installing any strange software on our devices – it is certainly a good strategy to use Microsoft’s Defender progam which is part of Windows, rather than paying for anti-virus and security software. Always be mindful that downloading programs from the Internet has an inherent risk. Research the software before you download and install it just using a search term like “<software name> malware security”. Read the posts that come up and make your decision based on those reviews.
    Online banking. One member was having problems reading online statements and balances linked to from an email. My advice was to go to the bank website, or use their app, rather than try and open a link in the email, or read text in the email. Distrust mails from banks anyway is good advice (Ted). They’ll always contact you again if it’s important.
    Office applications (free). A member asked the question whether they should purchase the Office 365 suite – initially offered for free after buying a machine. Generally my advice is no – don’t purchase Office, unless you really have to. It’s just too bloated and is geared towards corporate use. The Google suite of apps is free, and the file formats are compatible with Microsoft as they use a common Open Source standard (Open XML). Another option would be to use Microsoft’s Office Online, which will work as long as you’re connected to the Internet, or alternatively to install LibreOffice on your device. Both of these also use the Open XML format to store the document, so one saved in one applications, should be readable in another..
    Feed-back on using Evernote with Calendar. I posted a Comment under the Meeting Notes which gave a link to the following integration that Evernote has with the Outlook calendar – https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208314168-How-to-integrate-Evernote-with-your-calendar
    If you want to integrate Evernote with any other calendar you may have to use IFTTT – which I’ll come back to another day!!!
    Meeting – 11th October. Ted Richards will be the Convenor of the Group that day and will be looking at Family History software.

    News

    Twenty years of Google.
    Google proposes data protection legislation!!!!
    How to check the health of your Windows 10 PC (and keep it in shape).
    How safe are you online? 10 Questions to ask yourself.
    All this and more in the Thought grazing magazine (on the Home Page)

    How to use “Thought grazing …”

    Browsers and Search Engines

    There is still confusion over what an internet browser is. It’s the software that you can use to “surf the web”. There are a number of browsers around.
    The first (in 1993) to gain widespread use was called Mosaic, which then was re-badged as Netscape Navigator when the developer broke away; it then morphed into Firefox, as it changed ownership from Netscape (the company), through AOL, to Mozilla. Essentially it is open source software financed through making Google it’s default search engine. [For a while it was financed by Yahoo when Yahoo had its own search engine.] You can download Firefox (safely) here.
    Microsoft launched its Internet Explorer (in 1995) – it caught on to the internet rather late – and replaced it with Edge with the release of Windows 10.
    The next entrant was Apple’s Safari in 2003 – up until then they’d been supporting Netscape – and they have stopped providing a Windows version now so that it’s only available on Apple devices.
    The final and most successful browser (nearly 66% adoption) is Google’s Chrome browser. It was developed from an Open Source project called Chromium funded by Google to provide the code-base for Chrome. It continues as a separate browser on Linux, and forms the basis of a number of other browsers such as Opera and Brave, which is what we will discuss next.
    In the post about Google and the difference between the Google app, on your smartphone, and the use of an internet browser such as Chrome (from Google), Firefox, Safari, Edge (or Internet Explorer, from Microsoft) I mentioned that I was using  Brave. As I suspected, Brave is financed in crypto-currency, with an opt-in model for advertising that the user wants to receive. A subject for another day?!?!?
    So let’s download it and set it up …

    I referred to alternative search engines in the article – eg DuckDuckGo and I am now using and testing that extensively. The combination Brave + DuckDuckGo is faster, does not track where I go – thus no annoying ads; there is an ad blocker built-in and pop-ups are prevented as well.
    DuckDuckGo earns revenue by serving ads from the Yahoo–Bing search alliance network, and through affiliate relationships with Amazon and eBay.
    Spread the word – if you like it, or learn a little more if you’re contemplating doing the same as me by looking at How to live without Google.
     

  • A new year starts … and finally we look at Evernote – 13th Sept 2018

    Boot-Up
    Welcome
    Issues & follow-up
    We had a demonstration of the Beacon member website from Alison Firth;
    David Hughes described the latest scam he’d been alerted to as it appeared to come from him and was going to a friend in the same membership organisation. As this person was a hotmail users, I suggested it was more likely they had had their email account hacked, rather than his gmail account. Last year we looked at Have I been pwned which allows you to check whether an account you have might have been compromised.
    Digital Projects – I explained the idea behind Digital Projects – I showed this list as possibilities or examples of projects …

    • Buying a new computer;
    • Building a website for a project, hobby or for the family;
    • Family history software;
    • Under the hood – breaking down a PC into its components;
    • Building a server;
    • Using Linux to bring life to an old laptop;
    • Adobe Lightroom Training;
    • Video-editing for beginners including on a tablet (iPad);
    • Audio – analogue and digital working together;
    • More with Google Photos – further steps to link cameras and computers, and working with tablets.

    News
    Apple event yesterday – new iPhones and a new Apple Watch. You might like to watch the keynote speeches on your computer.
    New privacy and security features in Google Accounts – you might wish to review your privacy settings in the light of GDPR legislation.
    BT hike costs of email offering – ways of avoiding the increased charges for an email service from BT. IT’s going up from £5 a month, to £7.50 if you don’t have a BT line/account.
    Fact checking – a review of websites that are allegedly “fair” and which have no obvious political leaning and also ones that debunk “fake news”.
    Split-ticketing – an article that explains how a group managed to save c.£950 on a return journey by using the split-ticketing website. [Sianed told us that some train managers are happy to do this as well !!!] Topics for today
    What is a browser? Look at this article which I wrote this week “Just Google it…” – it essentially suggests you should use a browser, ie Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Opera or Brave rather than the Google app on your smartphone or tablet for a better internet experience.
    Thought grazing – features and demonstration. I explained the difference between the Public-facing pages on the site and the Private area available for Cardiff U3A Computer Group members (and past members). I’ll write some notes on how to post a note on the site and how to comment on posts before the next meeting.
    Evernote – Here’s a Guide/manual to using Evernote. I gave a demonstration of how I use Evernote. Colin (I think) asked whether it could be linked to a Calendar – I said I would check and I’d report back in a reply/comment to these notes.

  • "Thought grazing" and the U3A

    This blog is one way I am offering to share with fellow Third Agers, what I have learned, and have experienced, through a lifetime of using IT.  I think of this as  ‘thought grazing’ by us ‘silver surfers’ – click on the link above for a fuller explanation – particularly for those members of the University of the Third Age in Cardiff.
    The two most recent posts to the Blog appear in the feed below. To see them fully and either Comment, or Reply to a Comment, you will need to click on the title of the Post first so that it opens in a window by itself.
    If you’re a Cardiff U3A Computer Group member, after Login, you will also see Private posts in the feed below, and be able to read the content of Member Posts, or Meeting Notes, from the Menu above.
    Once you’ve logged in you’ll also be able to view some guidance on how to use the site from the Cardiff U3A Computer Group menu.
    Enjoy!
    David Harrison