My iPad gets lonely – Android vs iPad

I have both an iPad and a Samsung Galaxy Note 2014 Android device.  Both are 10” tablets and both are pretty nice.  The iPad has IOS 8.1 and the Samsung has Andrioid Version 4.4.2 (Kit Kat).  I teach free technology classes so I need to have both.

When I just want to look something up or when I leave the house I have a choice of which tablet I will use or take with me and I always choose the Android tablet.  This got me wondering – Why?   The iPad is clearly more popular in the marketplace even though it is more expensive than the equivalent Android tablet – so why do I prefer my Android tablet?

Here are some of the reasons:

1.       Cost

An equivalent Android Tablet is typically less expensive than the iPad.  The iPad Air 2 with 16GB of memory is $499US and a Nexus 9 is $399US.  Although cost is not my main consideration, balancing cost for function is; I prefer to get the most function for the best price.

2.        Widgets

I like Widgets.  I like the fact that all the icons on the screen are not the same size and that some show the data without having to click on the icon and bring up the app.  Some common examples are the Weather, YouTube and News app Widgets.  You can size them and move them on the screen.  They also organize and make the screen look much friendlier.

3.       The Pen

I bought the Galaxy Note with a pen thinking that I would never use it but now I find myself taking notes about all kinds of things - groceries we need, ideas for the blog, measurements of windows so we know what size blinds to get and tons more.

4.        The GPS                             

Every Android tablet I have used recently has a built-in GPS.  Yes, a real GPS.   Unlike an iPad, there is no need to be connected to a cell tower to know where you are.  Somehow, when I get lost I seem to be in an area where there is no cell reception.  A real GPS allows you to download one of the many apps, like Navigator, that will allow you to navigate when you are not connected to the internet or near a cell tower.

5.        A Real File System

I guess it is my Windows background.  I like to group the things I do in file folders.  Here is an example - I was recently on a trip to Europe and I have airline tickets, boarding passes, hotel confirmations, photos, videos, brochures, travel insurance documents, costs and many web links.  I like to have all of these in a folder called “My Trip to Europe.”  I could, for example, use my tablet for my boarding pass for the flight or provide the hotel with my confirmation number at check-in.  Everything is in one place. 

On the iPad, for some reason, everything is stored by the app that runs it, a PDF is stored with the app that can run PDFs, JPGs are with a photo app etc.  I don’t care if my boarding pass is a JPG or a PDF - it’s my boarding pass.  I want it where I can find it.

6.        The SD Card

Probably the most important reason is the SD card.  Every tablet come with a limited amount of memory - say 16GB.  You can purchase a tablet with more memory but that costs about $100 per 16 additional GBs.  This memory has to store all the apps you download as well as all of your books, music, videos and files you need.

Most, not all, Android tablets have an SD or Micro SD card slot that will allow you to store up to an additional 64GB of info on your tablet.  Yesterday, I purchased a 32GB Micro SD card for $16.  Given that a movie can be 1GB or more, 32GB will allow me to keep a few movies, a few thousand songs, a small library of books and a file folder containing my European trip information with me.  I can swap the card out and put a new one very simply.  This allows me to keep the internal storage of the tablet for apps only. 

The best part is that I can put the SD card in my laptop and drag and drop the files, folders, music and video I want to the card.  I then simply place the card back in the tablet and the information is accessible “as is”.  Compare this, with using iTunes to copy your media and data to an iPad. You have to first find the cable that will connect your iPad to your laptop and then figure out how to sync each group of items to it. I find this much more complicated and less intuitive than dragging and dropping items to an SD Card.

There are many other reasons I prefer Android to IOS on the iPad.  I prefer Google Search to Siri, I love Android’s Screen Casting and the ability to attach a thumb drive, just to mention a few, but these are topics for another day.  I hope I have given some good things to think about the next time you’re in the market for a new tablet and some says “Buy an iPad.”

Windows 10 Enhances Snap

Windows 7 and 8  both had "Snap" capability,  Snap allows you to take one window and "Snap" it to the left side of the screen and another to right, splitting the screen into 2 equal pieces. When this first came out with Windows 7, I didn't think I would ever use it but now I use it every single day.  I snap the browser to one side of the screen and Excel or Word to the other.  This allows getting info like stock information or a recipe in a browser and write into the other app while the information is right there in the  browser.

The way you snap a window is hold down the Win key and click either the left or right arrow.

In Windows 10 you can now do that with as many as 4 screens - again, I can't think I will every use that many screens at the same time but I didn't think I would use the 2 screen snap when it was available in earlier versions.

With Windows 10, you drag each window to the corner you would like it snapped to.  Four corners - Four Windows.

First look at Windows 10

First, I have to admit that I am a Windows 8.1 user and that I love Windows 8.  I work with Windows 7 as well and I like it too.

When Windows 10 first booted up - there it was the Windows 7 Start Menu that everyone in the enterprise community was screaming for.  It had the metro like screen attached to the side of it.  This is best described it the picture.  There are a couple of things missing though.  The menu item "Computer" which, in Windows 7, takes you to File Explorer. The other thing that I think the Windows 7 crowd will miss is when you click on the user, at the top of the menu, you no longer go to a screen with "Documents, Picture, Music and Videos."  This is where most people go to get their stuff.  All this is still there though in "File Explorer" but people like enhancements not change.  The "All Programs" item is now changed to "All Apps."  This is not that big a change but the menu system now will include apps downloaded from the Microsoft Store as well as your Windows 7 like Programs.

Windows 8 users (and lovers) will like the fact that Microsoft kept the Start Screen.  You can actually use the new (old Windows 7 like) start screen or chose to you the Windows 8 start screen.  Just right click on the task bar, select "Properties" the "Start Menu" and un-click "Use the Start Menu instead of Start Screen.

When using Windows 10, everything now runs as a task on the desktop - programs and apps side by side.  They can be snapped to the sides and you can reduce the height to show 3 or more at the same time.

There is a new icon on the task bar - the "Task View"  Click this and it will show all the current tasks running on your computer.  You can use choose between things you are working on.  Here is a thing that is taken from Linux that I love to use.  When you click on the Task View you can add another desktop.  You can have a bunch of things that you are working on on

one and you don't have to interrupt it to work on something unrelated.  You can simply switch to another desktop and use it there.

So far Windows 10 looks pretty cool.  By the time it is released, in late 2015, given all the user feed back and maybe the integration of Cortana, it should be pretty awesome.

Installing the Windows 10 Preview

Last night I installed the Windows 10 preview.  Windows 10 won't be available to the general public until the second half of 2015 but Microsoft has allowed the tech community to download and evaluate it.  Hopefully, with customer input they can avoid the controversy they experienced when they released Windows 8.

Installing was relatively easy.  I used my Windows 7, IBM T61 laptop. .It has an Intel Duo Core T7300 processor with 3GB of memory and a 320GB hard drive.  These are way below specs available on new computers today.  My everyday laptop, with Windows 8, has 8GB of memory and an SSD.

The installation took 2 1/2 hours but didn't involve much intervention.  Basically, I registered on the Microsoft site and downloaded the preview loader.  After running it, I rebooted and it brought up the Windows Update screen.  After that it was a couple of hours to download install the nearly 3GBs of updates.  I have a recommendation here - Don't start this at 10:30PM as I did.

Windows 10 is now up and running on my laptop. More info to come.  Stay tuned if this interests you.

Still Rollin' at 94

Many of the people I know, take up RVing after they retire and join an RV community.  My RV community, the Ontario Trillium Travellers (OTT), is made up of people who love RVing.  Many of the members are not yet retired. Members come from a wide variety of backgrounds and expertise - executives, mechanics, big rig drivers, carpenters, home keepers, etc   We share a single passion, our love for RVing.  And, that keeps us all young.

I would like to share an inspiring story about one of our members that will be published in the OTT newsletter this month.

  Still Rollin’ at 94

Age is no limit, at least not for Clayton.  Clayton Ruppel is now 94 years old and is an active member of the Ontario Trillium Travellers (OTT).   Clayton is the oldest active member of OTT and my guess is that he is also the oldest member of WIT.   Born in 1920, Clayton served in the Canadian army during WWII.  He was overseas from 1940 to 1946.  Semi-retired at age 65,  he built his dream home.  He loved driving big rigs and now has transferred that love to RVing in his Winnebago Chieftain.  Clayton and Dorothy (W # 086492) have been active members of Ontario Trillium Travellers since May of 1996 and served as Treasurer 1998 - 2004, Vice-President 2004 - 2005 and President 2005 - 2007.
A new knee last year allowed him to continue his passion for golf and his Saturday night dancing with his wife Dorothy. When not RVing in the winter, he curls, even skipping for the team. Clayton and Dorothy drove over 200 kilometers to participate in OTT’s September outing at Shangri-La Campground in Ontario wine country.  Dorothy is famous for her "Butter Tarts", a true Canadian classic, and they arrived at our most recent outing with two dozen tarts for a pot luck supper.

I am glad to announce that Clayton and Dorothy are my GDOPs of the Year for 2014.

Turn OFF Facebook's Video Auto-play - Save your data plan

If you are a Facebook user and travel with your laptop, or tablet or you just use Facebook on your smart phone you may have noticed that Facebook is automatically playing any videos that are posted.  Not just those videos you want to see but all of the videos in your News Feed including Ads.  That is not usually a problem but if you are connected to a cell phone network through your phone or through a hotspot, you are paying for all that video data being sent over the network to your device(s).  You may have noticed that your phone bill has increased lately.

This is called Auto-play on Facebook and you can turn that off or at least restrict it to only play when you are not connected to a cell network.  I will show you how for 3 devices - a Windows laptop, an iPad / iPhone, and an Android tablet.

First lets talk about Windows - This probably will likely work on a Mac, with Safari, but I haven't got a Mac to try it on.

Click for larger view

1.  Launch your browser - I have used Internet Explorer

2.  Sign in to Facebook.

3.  In Facebook there are a group of almost invisible icons to the right of "Find Friends"

4.  Click on the far right icon (see picture) then select :Settings"

5.  On the bottom left - click on Videos and then turn off Auto-play Videos

Second,  Android (Tablet or Smart Phone) 

The video can be changed within the Facebook App

1. Launch your Facebook App.

2. There are 3 control buttons in Android - Back, Home and Settings

3. Touch the "Settings" control

4. Then touch the Settings gear that appears

5.  Touch Video Auto-play 

6.  You can now select "On", "Wi-Fi only", or "Off"  (I recommend "Off" especially if you are using a hotspot)

Third on the Apple iPAD / iPhone

In IOS there is no control within the App itself all of the controls are done in "Settings"  Do not launch the Facebook app.

1.  Touch the Settings Icon.

2.  Scroll down to Facebook on the left (select it)

3.  Under the Facebook Icon you will see "Settings" (select it)

4.  Touch "Auto-play"

5.  Select "On", "Wi-Fi only", or "Off"  (again I recommend "Off")

Windows 8 wants to save to the cloud - Just Annoying

You know,one of the things that annoys me in Windows 8?  It defaults to storing everything on OneDrive.  Every time I say select "Save" or "Save As" in a Word Document or a Spreadsheet or anything else it wants to save it in "Documents."  So, I select Save and move on to the next thing not having realized that I have stored it in Documents on OneDrive (the cloud) and not on my computer where I expected it to go.

I don't want to store everything in the cloud!  I only want to move things to the cloud when I specifically want it there to share with other devices or friends.  When I select "Save As" and realize the Windows 8 is going to store it there I have to scroll through options to "This PC" and "Documents."

Here is how to fix that:

Go to the "Charms Bar" (Win key plus C will get you there)
Select "Settings" - "Change PC Settings"
Now Select "OneDrive"
Turn off - "Save Documents to OneDrive by Default"

The Hacker's Email

Here is a snipped picture of the email that caused all my password problems.  When I clicked on the link it brought up a window asking me to sign in to my GMail account.

When I did they got my password and sent out messages to many of my contacts.

Good News - Google now recognizes this as phishing and has blocked it.

Afternoon changing passwords

I just made the stupid mistake that nobody should make and gave away my GMail password.  Here is what happened:

I got an email from a friend.  It really had nothing in the subject line other than random words.  Inside the message was a link and nothing else.  The fact that there was absolutely no personal info should have been an alert.  I did what I tell everyone else NEVER to do - You should not click on that link.

What came up next was a box requesting that I sign into GMail - I must have been half asleep because I entered my user ID and Password.  Up came a site I didn't recognize so I shut it down. Way to late.

This is the oldest trick in the book and I am ashamed that I actually feel for it.  The hacker put up a screen asking for a user ID and Password and I filled it in. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.

I changed my GMail password and then spent the afternoon sending emails to all my contacts telling them what happened and not to open any emails from me with junk in them.  This was followed by a few hours of changing every password I own.  Luckily, all of them were not related to my GMail password.  I just changed them anyway.

How do you get to Safe Mode in Windows 8

When I had versions of Windows prior to 8, it was easy to get to Safe Mode by rebooting and selecting F8 when the cursor started flashing.  Windows 8 comes up so quickly and that function no longer works.

Here is what you now have to do.  Go to the Charms Bar and select the power button.  Then hold down the Shift Key and Select "Restart."  You will then go into a new menu of items - Select "Troubleshoot" and "Advanced Options"

This will allow you to boot into Safe Mode or to repair your system. 

My PC Was Hacked?

It was a quiet evening in May and being retired, I have lots of time and I was just relaxing when I received the call.  A nice man with a very strong accent called - "I am from Windows and I called to tell you that your computer has been hacked."  What?" I asked, Hacked!  How?

He didn't answered the question but offered to help me.  "Great", I said "How can you help?  Go to your computer.  As I was on the way, he transferred my call to a nice lady, "Christine", with a gentler accent.

Christine directed me to turn on my computer, sign in and she said she would be helping by taking over control of my system.  She asked that I go to www.teamviewer.com and download the team viewer program.

After deliberately fumbling around on the download, I installed Teamviewer, 10 minutes or so of conversation and looking for the app I launched and let her take over control of the system.  I saw the mouse moving and she actually managed to start System Settings.  It was obvious that she had no idea what she was looking at.  "What do you use the computer?" for she asked.  Well I do a little web surfing, read a book or two and maybe a movie.  Do you online banking or facebook?"   No, I answered.  I do access Facebook but not very often.  She looked at the desktop for a while, obviously confused and moved the mouse around, not knowing what to do with the desktop she was seeing.

I asked where the problem was how was I hacked?  "I'm not sure" she said, "but there is a problem between your computer, the network and the server."  More mouse movement on the screen.  "Where is the problem?"  "I'll have to talk to our technicians can I put you on hold for 2 minutes."

By the way did I mention, I was working on my Linux machine.  I have a fresh new version of Ubuntu installed (14.04).  It's very nice.

Two minutes later, she says "the problem seems to be in the network somewhere"  "Oh good.  I can shut down my computer now" and proceeded to do so.  Thank you so much Christine, I appreciate you spending more than a hour with me.  Goodbye

Spending that time with me kept them away from some other senior who might have had their financial information stolen.

Why do we run free computer classes?

It's a beautiful Monday afternoon in Florida.  I am always amazed how many people show up for our computer class.  We are talking about golfers, bikers, kayakers.  This late in the season people are packing up and getting ready to head north yet they take two hours on a beautiful sunny afternoon to come to class.

This was not an easy learning week, we were covering more advanced topics than usual.  How to get rid of Adware, Spyware and generally clean up a computer.  Our classes are typically 2 hours - one hour of presentation and one hour of answering questions and fixing problems. The presentation piece with all the questions went a lot longer than we expected but people were able to follow with their laptops.  After class people just stayed to talk and to listen while we responded to others asking questions.

These are the things that make doing these class really rewarding.

Celebrating the Ides of March

Et tu Brute
Click here to see more pictures

One of our long family traditions has been to celebrate the Ides of March by killing a Caesar or two,   Well now, we brought that tradition to our friends at Rock Crusher Canyon.
We spent a fantastic day enjoying Caesars, some nice appraisers and some of Bettyann's great chili.
Two couples, Buck and Lisa, Charlie and Mary and George and Sheila couldn't be with us.  Lisa had to be home, in spite of the bad weather in Indiana, to be with her daughter for the birth of her first baby and Charlie and Mary had to be in Myrtle Beach to see there grand child.  Everyone else gathered outside our motorhome and had a great day that lasted well into the evening.  They all did great damage to Caesar.

Turkey Fry at Rock Crusher

Click here to see more photos

This is my second year enjoying the Turkey Fry here at Rock Crusher.  The event gathers 40 or 50 of our neighbours for conversational afternoon followed be a great turkey dinner.  Fritz and Casper organize the event, cook the turkeys and provide the gathering place outside their motorhome.  Richard and Paulette provded a big cooked ham and to enhance all of this everyone contributes somehow with a dish or two in "pot luck" fashion.  Even with all those people there is not chance they will run out of food.
After the very filling dinner it is nice to relax around a nice warm fire, enjoying the star filled sky and the not too cool air.  Overall, a great day.

Window 8 Anti-virus - Don't buy one

Is seems that our classes are getting more and more popular.  I am not sure whether it is because technology is changing so fast or just because the more people want to learn and take control of their technology purchases.  Either way, our attendance has double since last year.

Today we are discussing "Backup and Recovery", transferring data to a new computer and Anti-virus.  Many people in the class had recently purchased new Windows 8 based machines and almost in every case they were sold an Anti-virus program like Web Root even though the manufacturer of the laptop had added Norton or McAfee to their standard bloatware.  None of these are necessary - when you purchase Windows 8 with or without a computer you have already
a great Anti-virus included in the price.  It comes with Windows and is call Windows Defender.  Much of our time after the class was spent removing the Anti-virus that was installed on the system and letting Windows Defender take over.

iPad Class

Today's iPad class was a lot of fun.  We had about 40 people show up and spend an hour learning how to use their iPad.  We started with the very basics and ended the session with a demo of Siri.  I had done one class previously but started with the assumption that when someone owned the iPad they already knew how to use it.  I later found out that that was not so.

Starting with the very basics - A hardware tour, some basic setting, how to organize the iPad apps, and setting up Email was very popular.  Even those who had used their iPad for a couple of years admitted to learning a lot.  Most of the 40 people had never used Siri and didn't even know it was on their iPad.

At the end of the hour, when asked if they learned any new things and if it was worth the time they spent - EVERYONE raised their hands.  That is why I love doing this.  Thank you all.

Windows 8 Class at Rock Crusher Canyoun

Bettyann talks about transitioning to Window 8

Windows 8 really isn't that difficult but it is a big change for many people who purchase a new computer.  Having someone spend an hour telling them the basic and the folks at Rock Crusher Canyon were a lot more confident using it.  They also got very excited about some of the Windows 8 apps that weren't available in earlier versions of Windows.  Apps like Google Search that allow you to talk to the computer and let it do your searches were very popular as were new games like the Free Sudoku app.
We also spent an hour answering questions and addressing individual concerns people had with things they were trying to accomplish with their computer.  Overall, a very successful class. It is always nice when people leave the classroom and tell you how much they have learned and how much they appreciate opportunity to learn.

Some early results of a two year old with a computer

I know when I first posted that we were giving our grandson, Travis, a computer for his 2nd birthday many of you silently chuckled. Especially when I said it was a big Windows 8 HP Touch Screen computer.  Well it's been three months now and here are some early results.  This is a 40 second clip with a great deal of cuteness packed in.  Here is the link:

Travis Age 2 years 3 months