Recently, there’s been some published articles about Facebook not being happy that Apple’s latest iOS upgrade, 14.5, will offer some privacy options not previously available. Namely, to be told about an app wanting to track you and the option to opt out of that.

An article on that subject is HERE. 

So while I can sort of commend Apple’s “privacy concerns”, it’s really a drop in the bucket and I am doubtful it will change much, if anything. Facebook is currently making adjustments to conform? to this requirement from Apple. But let’s be frank, tracking is going on at a scary level, if you think too much about it. There are traffic cameras all over the place, neighborhood cameras on everyone’s doorbells, cameras on the insides and outsides of businesses. Then, everything you are doing on your smart phone has the ability to track where you are, what you’re browsing, what you’re buying. I don’t mean to worry you, it’s currently a part of life and the intention is consumerism. It is that consumerism that makes capitalism work, you can’t have one without the other.

That leads me to 3 movie references, Batman, the one with Heath Ledger, referenced Batman using everyone’s phone in Gotham to find the Joker. The second is 12 Monkeys, where Brad Pitt is in a mental hospital with Bruce Willis, telling him that if you aren’t a good consumer then you must be mentally ill and that’s why you get put away. And third, Ex Machina, where the AI inventor references his tapping into Google’s, Facebook’s, Apple’s photos & cameras, so he could get more data on facial expressions to make a more subtle and accurate robot, and those companies couldn’t complain since they were secretively using the data as well. Three great movies, check them out if you haven’t seen them already.
Finally, there’s another article on the idea behind Apple’s software changes and Facebook’s reaction you can read HERE. I thought it was probably a bit more in depth on what’s really happening between Tim & Mark.

And a fourth movie, “Commerce is our goal here at Tyrell. More human than human is our motto.” 
Hopefully you already know that reference.  

I get asked about spreading internet throughout someone’s property. Sometimes it just a big Adobe house, sometimes it’s to the house and a nearby Casita, and sometimes it’s out to a garage or casita that isn’t terribly close.

There are lots of ways to do this, and some are better than others, and some are more expensive than others. At our house we used to use a pair of devices that put the internet into our house electrical wiring. This is called a Powerline Adapter. Read about them HERE. 

We then used a pair of WiFi devices to bridge the space between our house and our workshops. If your workshop (garage, etc) is on the same electrical panel as your house, then a Powerline adapter may work. If not, then a cable and a trench may work if it’s close enough. Otherwise, going WiFi may be the best solution. It’s a bit of setup on the front end, but once it’s going, it works great.

We use a device called EERO, which is an Amazon product. It’s a bit spendy but it’s been flawless. We got 3 devices for about $300. There are less expensive add-on devices too, which we got one of, just to fill a space around the corner on the porch. Here’s a link to the 3 pack. 

This 3-pak is the base unit plus 2 beacons. I see that the 3-pak of all pro devices is now $500, which is quite a bit more than we paid 2 years ago. There are other options that are cheaper, like getting Ubiquiti brand of devices, you can see HERE. 

​While I have found Ubiquiti devices to be very reliable, they have been more complicated to set up. I do recommend them though. There are other brands and connection methods. Some are a bit more involved but use less expensive devices, which can be fine if you are on a budget. First things first though, you will have to have a good internet signal to start with, in order to distribute the WiFi on your property. None of these products will make the internet better.  

The headline caught my eye, as it is meant to do, however, it was a useful article. If you don’t want to spend the money for a yearly subscription to Office, and I don’t blame you, but you still want to use Word, which came free with your Windows computer back in the day, then there might be a work around.
Read the article HERE. 

While few of us are Teachers or Students at this point, with the necessary school ID, you are apparently allowed to use many Office products in a browser. Since we are usually connected to the internet anyway, that seems a useful solution. I recommend Google Docs or Sheets to folks needing a word processor or spreadsheet program for free. It seems that the same type of solution is free from Microsoft. You need a free MS userid to start, but that’s simple enough. If you don’t have one, create it. If you are a Skype user, then you can use that sign in, since Microsoft owns Skype. Once you have a MS account, you can use it to log into Office 365, and use the available apps.
There are some limitations, but I doubt I would notice them as I am a pretty basic user.

While a couple of these are laptop specific, they are generally good tips. I’ve published the keyboard shortcuts many times already, like cut & paste, so these are different, a bit more involved but still useful.
Read about them HERE. 
 
For me, the Snip & Sketch was the best tip. I’ve seen the results but didn’t know how easy it was to perform. Sometimes I have wanted to take a snapshot of my screen and then draw on it to send to someone else to show them what I am talking about. It’s very handy.
 
If you’re even more nerdy on your computer, then a link to some more technical apps you can use on Windows 10 is HERE. 
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There are a number of utilities that tell you what your computer is doing in detail, what your computer is made up of, and many useless but some useful tools to help figure out what’s going on with your computer. Power Toys has been around a long time, and amazingly, it’s still available. Some of those toys are actually helpful. 

There has been an important iOS update recently, 14.4.2, hopefully you have completed that. It was somewhat urgent due to it being a security patch for some ‘holes’ in the last release, 14.4.1, which was meant to patch ‘holes’ in the prior one to that. Read about it HERE. 

The next release is out in beta, 14.5, and that’s the one to talk about. Among other things that weren’t particularly interesting to me was one, Battery Recalibration, that caught my eye (and dragged it 15’)

My phone isn’t too old, so when it runs out at 4pm I’m a bit annoyed. Of course FaceTime is a HUGE drain, I get that. But I don’t use that till about 4:30, and my phone is way too drained by then. Battery recalibration will hopefully help me out with the battery, looking at usage and possibly altering battery drainage and making some improvements. We’ll see. Read all about it HERE.