December 4, 2017

How to Send a Screenshot

Filed under: Main — Tags: , — admin @ 12:01 am

“I’m having difficulty understanding what you see,” I write. “Can you send me a screenshot?” Invariably, the next email I receive includes a screenshot. Sadly, about 90 percent of the time, the screenshot arrives as an image pasted into a Word document.
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November 30, 2017

Goodbye to My Beloved Pixel C Tablet

Filed under: Main — Tags: — admin @ 12:01 am

It started out subtly. The screen dimmed. So I tapped the display, thinking the tablet might be locking itself. But, no, tapping didn’t un-dim the screen. I restarted the device.
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November 27, 2017

Welcome to the Microsoft S..t…o….r…..e……!

Filed under: Main — admin @ 12:01 am

No, it’s not just me. It’s not just my fancy new Dell laptop (which I’m glad I have despite paying through the nose for it). It’s the Microsoft Store. It’s slow. Not just “wait for the spinning cursor” slow but glacially slow, geological time slow.
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November 23, 2017

A Phone with a Mechanical Keyboard

Filed under: Main — Tags: — admin @ 12:01 am

It was called the Droid. Yes, from the word “android,” just like in Star Wars. But way back when, the Droid was considered the Android phone. It was incredibly popular, then suddenly gone.
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November 20, 2017

To Log or To Sign

Filed under: Main — admin @ 12:01 am

I first say the term on the old What’s My Line game show, which you can still watch on YouTube. The celebrity panelists were blindfolded. The announcer said, “Mystery guest, sign in please!” And you saw someone off camera write their signature on a chalkboard (this is in the early era of television). The studio audience would hoot and applaud, because they could see who it was. Then you saw and, O, it was delightful.
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November 16, 2017

What I Hate About the Raspberry Pi

Filed under: Main — admin @ 12:01 am

It was fun to assembly the Raspberry Pi and it’s 7-inch display. What wasn’t fun was getting the thing to run. This episode reminded me of everything I dislike about the Raspberry Pi hobbyist computer thingie.
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November 13, 2017

A Major PorchCam Improvement

Filed under: Main — Tags: , — admin @ 12:01 am

Originally, I used webcam software. It captured and uploaded an image automatically. When the software wouldn’t do what I wanted, I wrote my own. In both situations, the same problem occurs: When I’m out of town, my computer is turned off and the software doesn’t run; the PorchCam is down.
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November 9, 2017

Yes, Wambooli is Quite Safe

Filed under: Main — Tags: , — admin @ 12:01 am

As I played with my new laptop, I stumbled across the various features offered. One was a free year of Office 365, which I’ve already paid for. Another was McAfee security. That’s where I learned a valuable lesson.
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November 6, 2017

Hooking Up the Dell XPS 13 to a Monitor

Filed under: Main — Tags: — admin @ 12:01 am

Now that I have an enjoy a new laptop, and I’ve installed all my favorite (non-Microsoft) software and disabled many of the annoying features in Windows 10 (adios, Cortana), I’m ready to hook the gizmo up to a nice, widescreen monitor. So where’s the video port?
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November 2, 2017

The Dell XPS 13 I Didn’t Want

Filed under: Main — Tags: — admin @ 12:01 am

Costco had quite the selection of laptops. The price range for full-powered Windows 10 laptops ranged from $500 up to $3000. The models were varied, including one from my favorite, Lenovo. Some laptops were light and diminutive, some where as large as serving trays.
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