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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/computer-12.gif)
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experience, like the cartoon above, the blind leading the blind, :) or list places you CAN find help.
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader!
Here you can ask those questions you feel hesitant to express in public, perhaps, and get some advice from fellow readers, based on their own experiences. That's all we can guarantee, and the result may be what you see in the elephant cartoon in the heading hahaa, but we can at least join you in addressing the truly dizzying brave new world of technology we find ourselves in, and give excellent links to safe sites which may help, and even phone numbers for any I product which may help.
Here it's ok to ask "what IS a text message." Nobody will laugh. We're all in this together, so feel free to ask what an I Phone is or I Pad or the difference in an I Pad and an I Touch or why you want any I at all. :)
How about the Nook, the Kindle, any e reader? What are the advantages or lack of same, why does anybody even want one? Can you do email and surf the internet with the new color Nook? The Kindle?
We're in a changing world. We keep hearing about these things, what's wrong with our old phones, why do we even WANT any of this stuff?
Feel free to ask and if somebody can answer they'll be here.
Welcome, this is our discussion for those who wonder what all the shoutin' is about.
Feel free to ask!
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ginny, aren't you wonderful?! And I've just gotten a question this morning. I got a smart phone (Verizon Droid X) a couple of months ago. It synched up great with my Kindle, and I could read from the Kindle on it.
A couple of weeks ago, my Droid died, and Verizon replaced it. I've gotten most of the stuff back on it - at least what I could remember. Today, I tried to read from the Kindle on it, and it wouldn't synch to my book list. It recognizes that I have a Kindle, and signs me up, but that's all.
I haven't checked with amazon or Verizon online yet - I was going to do that when I finished my regular internet rounds. And then I saw that you were here waiting for me! ::)
Help?!?!
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haha I've put out a call in the Library but till people get used to looking in, you are eons ahead of me, I can tell you that.
Verizon here says if you will dial *611 (that's a star 611) on your phone Verizon will be able to diagnose your phone and fix it and if they can't they will then transfer you to somebody who can help with your specific problem.
Is this any help?
Or you can call it "tadpole" as in the heading and I want to hear more about the Droid, every techie who comes out here absolutely loves it.
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Thanks, ginny. I'll check out the sites to be sure, and then I'll try the *611. I just bought the "Old Filth" book and it asked me if I wanted it on my Kindle, my DroidX or my second Droid X. I didn't see an option that I could pick two of them. I'll press on to try to do this myself....before I give up and run screaming to the store. ;D
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I think your problem is you're so far ahead of the rest of us nobody else knows, and that's a specific problem. I bet they could tell you in a heartbeat.
So YOU have now become our Droid Expert! That makes me happy because the Droid is the coming thing.
I talked to Apple the other day, they have a good number to call for any apple product and the lovely young man kept assuring me it was not a "stupid question," but he had to get his supervisor's help to answer it. Apparently he's not been asked about the (stupid) bookshelves before but he did solve it. :)
Good now we have a Droid Expert on hand, it really makes you "feel good," to "help." hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa It does. :)
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Just marking my place - I hope to learn - I got stuck in the mud about 5 years ago and the tech world passed me by. Maybe it isn't 5 years but everything happens so fast it feels like 20 years.
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This site is a wonderful idea. Who doesn't have questions? And who knows, someone may have answers.
When I told my 14 yr-old grandson I didn't really understand what all these pods were, he sent me a little list -- below. Of course, knowing technology's warp speed, they may be out of date by now. The list from Brian --
as to technnology... Apple (company) makes I-Pods (newer versions of Walkman, MP3 players)
There are several types of I-Pods
I-Pod Classic is the oldest one with lots of storage
I-Pod Nano is smaller than the Classic, but with less storage
I-Pod Shuffle is the smallest I-Pod, without a screen, it just shuffles through your songs
I-Pod Touch is the newest I-Pod, with a touch screen, internet (via Wi-Fi), camera, and gaming
I-Phone is an I-Pod Touch, with a phone built in, and has the option of 3G, which is internet through cell towers
A Smart Phone is essentially a phone with internet, for the most part
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MaryZ, would Amazon be able to help you out. On those Kindle discussions everyone raves about Amazon's wonderful customer service and knowledge -- as far as Kindle's are concerned.
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The one thing I really miss about the loss of the old seniornet site access is the absence of the technical help we had there. Even so I think this will be a popular site. More important I also think it will be a useful site making the experience of some available to others facing similar problems.
I have never owned a smart phone though I have come to rely on my plain vanilla Cell for most of my communications needs. I have had PC's since 1986 and was using CompuServe by 1987 and the Internet before 1994. I currently have a modern two year old dell desktop and a Nook. I recently lost my 6 year old Dell Media laptop to a careless cup of coffee. My next purchase will be either a replacement small but equipped notebook to replace the one I accidentally lost or an I-pad 2, eventually probably both.
I will make another post here later about my experience with the nook.
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Maryz - just wondering if you can get the Lady Vols on your Droid? ;D ;D
I started watching their game tonight on ESPN2 and then they switched to the Phila region and Penn St game.....so all i'm getting is the score.....boo hoo .... Jean
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I'm hardly an expert on the Droid, but I'll happily share what little I do know and find out. I did contact amazon by email, and have gotten a reply. Jean, we were at the Lady Vols/Marquette game when the e-mail came in (on my Droid!!!), so I haven't read it carefully. And we worked so hard in the game (Lady Vols 79, Marquette 70 in a hard-fought game) that I'm not going to try to deal with it tonight.
However, like Larry mentioned elsewhere, I think it was telling me to un-install the Kindle, and then re-install it. I'll bring you up-to-date tomorrow.
Again, jean, I haven't looked to see if I could watch the game, but I do have an ESPN score app so I can get score updates for our favorite teams.
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I'm hardly an expert on the Droid, but I'll happily share what little I do know and find out. ]
Mary, that is wonderful! Thank you so much! I don't know anybody with a Droid other than the techies, so you will be a valuable resource!
Harold, welcome, I know you are really into technology and will be a great addition here.
Pedln, you are so right: Who doesn't have questions? And who knows, someone may have answers.
Absolutely right. And I like being able to come here and ask. Thank you for that list showing the differences in IPods, who knew? I-Pod Touch is the newest I-Pod, with a touch screen, internet (via Wi-Fi), camera, and gaming
I-Phone is an I-Pod Touch, with a phone built in, and has the option of 3G, which is internet through cell towers
Welcome, Barbara! Here you'll be up to date! :)
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For my part, I have a new IPhone. I've had it about a week. I saw Patwest's ITouch and had to have one.
AT&T has just come out with a $49 I Phone. I replaced my Blackberry with it.
I'm just learning how to use it but here's what it offers me that a regular cell phone does not:
1. I can surf the internet and do email
2. It has a fabulous compass. I have always wanted a compass, this thing looks like a million dollar sextant type of thing. Now when somebody says go west I can.
3. It has voice calling. I can say "Call Home," and it will call home once set up and I don't have to fumble to type in numbers, you can set it to call any number of people this way.
I am going to England this summer.
1. I have Frommer's Guide book on it.
2. I have the the London (Tube) map on it and it's marvelous, it also contains alerts when a train is delayed and/ or a station closed.
3. I have National Rail on it, if you've ever been to England you know you need to know train schedules and you can easily go to the wrong station, expecting, say, to take a train to Exeter from a station which does not offer it. This shows (the National Rail site is fabulous online too) what the stops are, where to change, what the schedules are. IS there a train which comes back late in the day? This will show you.
4. I have Vicinity which works anywhere. It tells you where you are if you push a button and then you can choose from a variety of items. For instance you can push Convenience Stores and it will tell you the nearest one. It will even pinpoint them on a map and show you a map of how to get to them and how far they are. I just did it here in my outback location and it showed me the 5 nearest places I could find convenience stores.
You can NEVER be lost again!
5. I have several games and Solitaire games on it.
6. I have two other guidebooks for France and Italy on it which I can erase when the trip is over. No more printing out guidebooks, or guidebook pages, and carrying around a huge stack of papers with hotel info on them or directions, say , to Highclere, it's all on the tiny phone, but it's easy to see and enlarges better than a typed paper does.
I can use the memo pad for hotel confirmations, phone numbers, websites, etc. Everywhere I went in Europe last year was wired, so you can ride on a train and get the information you need, stay in touch with people, etc.
7. Of course I have books on it for reading.
8. I have a phrase book for Italian on it, which not only shows you the Italian for what you want it speaks it aloud.
9. I have the UK weather.
10. I have the National Trust for information on places I might want to see, times of opening, how to get there, etc.
11. I have QuizQuizQuiz which is a Trivia Game which you can set up any way you like, beat the clock, etc. I'm a trivia fool.
So far that's what I've got so far, in a week. I'll download some of Rick Steves's free audio tours for Italy next.
Already I am wondering what I ever did without it.
That's what I've got in a week, it's going to revolutionize my trip this year.
And maybe my life.
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I still don't text and I really want to start doing that. the cell phone I have has the little buttons with both numbers and letters on the same key. I don't like that. I would love to get a IPhone but it isn't the cost of the phone so much as it is the monthly fee with texting . I'm hearing that it runs about $80 or $90. Is that true?
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Jeriron, I think it depends on the plan you get? Since I "upgraded" my phone from a Blackberry to an IPhone, I'm using the same plan. I don't text and so that's off, you pay for that separately apparently. It totally depends on what you want in the way of usage and data transfer. I chose a pretty big plan, it looks as if it's running about $81.00 per month, but that covers the new service just added, and internet service too as well as phone. I think it depends on what plan you select and I got one I probably need to scale down a little bit. I don't use the PHONE as a phone that much. My husband hates technology and he pays $12.00 a month for his regular cell phone.
But we live out, way beyond any wi fi or wireless antennas. And this covers also International calling. If I lived IN a city or anywhere near where wireless was, I could use that free. A lot of people have disconnected their land lines and use cell or these mobile phones only too.
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I think everyone's bill will be different because of the plan you get but I still think it's going to be in the 80's or so. Because why have it if you don't have the Internet or testing. You have what you use the most so that's the way the bill will be.
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I got this phone for myself because I wanted a new toy - and it was my birthday. That's probably the most honest reason. It has a virtual keyboard, so I've also added texting to my plan (to the delight of our daughters and grands). John teases me because I haven't learned to "thumb type". After all those years of being a secretary/transcriptionist and a whiz of a typist, this one-finger or thumb typing is a bit frustrating. And I refuse (so far) to get into what I can only think to call "twitter speak". We shall see. As to cost, the monthly cost is about $20 more than I was paying on our plan before.
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Just how easy is it to READ what comes up on these phones and touches, etc? I can read on the computer at 100%, but anything smaller would be difficult.
Another question -- you all know that the NYTimes is going to start charging Mar. 28. I got an email this am, supposedly from NYtimes saying that Lincoln is offering me a free subscription for the rest of the year. Whoa???????? I have been looking (dreaming) at cars -- mostly GMs because I want OnStar (lets hear from those of you who have that), but just for fun I did do a search on Lincolns, and I have used the NYT Car Search. My concern is, I want to be sure this is a legitimate offer and not some scammer from Nig***** wanting to plant spy software in my PC. (How's that for being paranoid?) What do you think. Offer expires on Sunday.
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pedln, on both my devices, I can change the size of the font, so that's not a problem. I keep my computer at 125% for most things.
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Nothing is free...
Anything in life that is offered free I have learned several times the hard way that those who offer to “relieve” us of ‘struggle’ do not have our best interests at heart, even though they may act, or pretend to act, out of a sense of compassion. We will have opened ourself to being cheated and betrayed. When folks take from us a responsibility we inwardly perceive that we are helpless, not able to act on our own behalf. They appeal to our lessor nature to achieve their end and we let them. They justify their actions by pointing to our relinquishing our better nature.
And so as simple as it sounds and not the millions or even thousand or hundreds of dollars that pass from one to another on many levels of society you just have to decide what risk you want to buy and for how much you want to sell your better nature.
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The amazon helper suggested (like Larry) that I unstall and then re-install the Kindle app. I did this, and fumbled around a bit more, and finally found my list of books, and can access them. So thanks to all concerned.
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maryz, glad to see you found the solution to your Kindle problem.
I certainly don't hold myself out as any kind of expert but I love computers and electronic gadgets. I have the second generation iPod Touch (there are two new models out now), which does not have a phone or camera on it and is not 3G capable but has wi-fi. I would love to have an iPhone but really don't need it as have a cellphone. You will probably think I am a cheapskate because I will mention, from time to time, applications I have on my Touch that are free and work very well.
One of the programs I have is called Text Free Voice, which allows me to send as many texts free as I want. I have also made phone calls (not very many) using the Voice part of this. When you register you get to choose a telephone number that they provide and you can text to any other telephone number of a phone. They can then respond back to you with the number you have. I really am not into texting but do one at least every 25 days to keep my account active as they send an email saying they will take back my number if I don't use it. To make a telephone call you need either a separate little microphone (which you can order from eBay very inexpensively to pick up your voice and then you hear back on the built in speaker in the Touch. I also have a set of earphones that have an inline built in speaker and then can talk and hear with the earphones.
I find that while I have many applications on my Touch there are a few I use everyday. I can access Twitter, Facebook, news, music sites such as Pandora and Slacker, and my ebook readers, of which I have several that are free applications such as the Kindle, Nook, iBook, and the OverDrive that gives me access to the library books.
I have a very good friend and we each got our Touch devices at the same time and have a lot of fun with them including playing a word game like Scrabble. I could go on and on but probably have bored you all enough. I will just end by saying I have never regretted this purchase and it works beautifully.
Ginny, thanks for starting this topic.
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This may come in handy for all of us sometime in the future:
the dgt of a cousin begged for help on her facebk page, she had dropped her phone in water, you guess where! All of her cousins and friends gave her lots of advice, all directing her to take the parts apart - cover off, battery out, etc. , put them all into uncooked rice for a couple days; not to try to use it until it appears absolutely dry. Apparently, if you use it while still wet it fries the phone.
One person said to use the silicone/gel (?) packages put in shoe boxes, etc. He suggested she find a friend who works in a shoe store to collect a handfull for her. Maybe we should all be thinking ahead and save all of those packs we get in anything.
She reports today that the phone is working properly. One poor soul asked "why rice"? Guess
she never worked in a restaurant..... I thot every college student had worked in a restaurant
at some point in their lives :D ;D ...... Jean
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Pedln: We got the first year free...so we had time to evaluate it. Ask if that's the case with the car you're looking at.
We have had On Star on two vehicles now and will not be without it. We had the use of the "Concierge Package" for a year free and it was not something we continued. With the GPS that comes with the truck we have, the Concierge Package was a waste...and very, very wrong on several occasions. (Yes, the built-in GPS can be as we've found out...but real people looking at maps, shouldn't be hundreds of miles off in the distance between two cities in TN, nor be totally unable to get us out of a town of 3,000 when the main street they wanted us to use was tied up for a couple hours with a parade! I knew how to get us out...and finally told the operator..who insisted we shouldn't do that..it'd be 3 miles out of our way...geez...as opposed to sitting on a side street for several hours until the parade was over? ).
However, we do have the Safe and Secure or whatever they call the $18.95 a month plan and we buy minutes to have the in car Onstar cell phone thing. We're in a rural area and want the safety of calling for help if we need it. We regard it as "insurance." And, yes, I've used it...to call in a truck traveling at us on a divided highway when he was going northbound in the southbound lane. Again, they took longer than it should have and in another situation, I'd use the phone thing to call 911. However, if we're in an accident and the air bags deploy, they know that and can call for help, etc.
jane
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This is clearly going to be our most popular page ever!!
Just to show you how un-tech and anti-tech I am, I have just been to Tesco's where there was not one single checkout open (at 8am) so I was forced to use the hated self-service thing. Honestly, if there is anything that would encourage me to shoplift, that is it. As soon as I put my own bag down on the packing area, the disembodied voice started ranting about "unexpected item" - I snatched it up, whereupon very patronising assistant arrived and told me I should have left it there. I said "is there not one single person who can open a proper checkout?" -"not at this time in the morning" came the reply, as if it was 3am or something. In the end, she put my items through for me. I hate, hate, hate these stupid things - even my husband, who is obsessed with technology, won't use them. Tesco's profits are humungous, so why can't they pay one assistant to provide a "human" checkout?
Re cell phones, coverage in Scotland is still extremely patchy. I am on Orange and have no signal whatsoever out here, 25 miles west of Aberdeen but certainly not in the back of beyond. My friend has Vodaphone, which seems to be better. There are still some areas with no wi-fi signal.
I know that i-phones can tell you exactly where you are - I know this because husband insists on referring to his in the middle of Edinburgh, when IMHO it would be a lot less trouble just to look at my pocket size A to Z!
I do love my very cheap Nokia phone because I text all the time, but when I have to use his i-phone I find the touch screen absolutely infuriating - I don't know how anyone manages to touch the right letters, I am pretty good at normal typing but I inevitably touch the wrong thing on that i-phone, and within milliseconds I find myself on a page I haven't even heard of, let alone requested.
One last thing - I had lunch yesterday with a friend who is a very experienced hill walker. In May she and her partner are going to Skye, and she told me that they had hired a guide. I wondered why this was so, as she is no novice - but she explained that there is a magnetic field in Skye that throws out your compass readings, so you can easily get lost (they will be doing serious Munroes, not my kind of little hill...). I wonder if that would make any difference to cell phones, etc?
I have heard nothing but good about Kindles, and am sorely tempted.....
I have had my MacBookPro for about a month now and am gradually getting used to it, so if anyone has any very easy questions about one I will try to help, although I am still feeling my way around and frequently calling upon my 12 year old to bale me out!
Rosemary
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This is clearly going to be our most popular page ever!!
How true, Rosemary.
Jane, I appreciate that info. I don't really need a new car, but like the idea of someone knowing I'm in trouble if I'm travelling, or who can remotely unlock it if I'm locked out. How useful it it for someone who doesn't hear well, I don't know. Is it on only GM cars?
My son tells me I should get a cell phone that has an extended keyboard -- I think it pulls out from someplace. What kind of phone would they be on?
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I too have trouble texting because of my large weather beaten arthritic hands. Even typing on a good keyboard is difficult and with a virtual keyboard on a screen it seems near impossible. I am amazed how fast some people can text. A few weeks ago my reader's theater group visited a high school theater group at at a yuppie North San Antonio Catholic high school. It was in an amphitheater classroom and girl student in the seat below me put on a truly amazing texting demonstration. She held her I-phone clamped between the index fingers of her two hands with her two thumbs free to enter text at an amazing speed. I'm convinced it was something like 40 words per minute. Though I have no idea how accurate her entries were, i suspect it was pretty near perfect.
In contrast I've wasted at least 15 minutes composing and editing this comment on a fine regular keyboard.
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Pedln...I believe OnStar is a GM product. Other auto companies may have something similar now; I don't know.
When we bought cell new phones in Dec., I wanted one with a keyboard...the ones I saw slide out from the back of the phone, but I was talked out of it by a salesman who told me T9 use is faster. NOT in my case. I've tried to do the T9 and it's just not what I like. I'd buy a keyboard phone again instead of listening to the "expert." I'd guess most of them have keyboards now.
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My DroidX has a virtual (on-screen) keyboard. I'm gradually learning to use it. I've had trouble hitting the right letters, but when you get a couple of letters in the word, a line comes up that gives you possible words they think you might want - and you can just tap that word. Then it appears in the message box, complete with the following space. I'm getting better. John kids me and says that I need to keep "thumb-typing".
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I'm still in the dark ages, with just my computer. I'm glad to be able to check here to learn more about your experiences with these newer technologies.
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MaryZ, I have a Droid X from Verizon. It has a flip out key board, which I love as it was too hard to type in the accurate letters on the other. I have downloaded the Kindle Ap (I also have a Kindle), but am not sure how to use it on my smart phone. How does it sync with my Amazon account on my laptop? Do I have to have an amazon acct on my phone? I haven't figured out how to do email on the phone either.
Pedl--I would definitely recommend the extended key pad (much easier to use imo).
Sally
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Sally, I've only tried to read on the phone a couple of times. The first time it cycled right to where I was on the Kindle. However, when I went back to the Kindle, I had to page forward to the last read page.
As I've said, I had to un-install the app from the new Droid, and then re-install it before it would pull up the full list of my books.
I've only looked for the book I'm currently reading on the phone. It went to my list of books, and then to the specific book, but not to the specific page. I was just checking, so I didn't take the time to fiddle with it. I'll try it again today and report back.
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salan, with your Kindle app you will need to go to the setting page and put in your Amazon account information and then it should sync with your account at Amazon as does your Kindle computer application or the Kindle ebook.
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GOLLY NEDS!
LARRY HANNA! I just saw this site and it was yesterday, I could swear, that I asked you for help with my computer. But on further thinking about it that was 1997.
Where have all the years gone! You were so experienced then and here you are, helping others again!
I am tempted by the Kindle. Time will tell; meanwhile with my land line and an emergency cordless phone in my purse, I am happy with the gadgets I have.
Thank you Larry! It's good to say hello to a friend, I deleted the "old friend."
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I, too, am still in the Dark Ages, with a computer and a NOok. Helpful hint from the store rep for Nook, and I guess for all ereaders. if you are going to polish your screen, TURN OFF your reader. Your touches on the screen will be giving the reader all kinds of contradictory signals and it will try to do them all, and you will not be able to do anything until it sorts itself out.
and if you think you are charging the batter too often, she says to make sure your WiFi search button is "OFF" Other wise the Nook is using a lot of battery power searching for a connection. And keep the brightness level as low as you can for comfort. The backlighting uses a lot of battery power.
I like my Nook, but there sure is a learning curve.
My husband and I each have cheap prepaid cell phones. they are fine, but I think maybe we will go to just one. Whoever is taking the car can take the phone. I never answer it when I am driving, but want it for emergencies. Budget downsizing as retirement stretches on.
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Hi everyone from a gloomy and probably soon to be rainy Atlanta area. I have somewhere I need to go in a few minutes and hope I get back before it starts to rain.
Ella, so nice to see your posting and yes it was a few years ago that we first met and it would have been perfectly fine with me to be called and "old friend" as I have now reached 70. It has always been a joy to me to be able to help folks with the computer if I had any experience or knowledge that I could share.
bellemere, my wife and I have used prepaid cellphone plans for several years and know it has saved up a considerable sum as we both use them sparingly but have them handy when needed. I often will call her from the grocery store to ask about something she wants me to get. I have given the number out to very few people. I have to add a minimum of $10 a year to keep my account active and to be able to rollover my minutes.
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Larry, that sounds like a fantastic cell phone plan.. to be able to add only $10 a year. Do you know if it's only available in your region?
My mother has a plan that we thought was the least expensive where she pays $25 every three months.
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Marcie, the plan we use is the prepaid plan from T-Mobile. Initially we had to purchase in increments of $25, or at least we did until we had purchased $100 worth of minutes. At that point we got a 15% increase on any minutes and then have to add minutes at least once a year to avoid losing the carryover minutes. The more minutes you purchase at a time the less expensive each minute is but the last time I have a lot of left over minutes or just did the minimum purchase even though those new minutes cost me a little more per minute. Since my wife and I each have an account it has saved us many dollars over a monthly plan. However, we do have a house line with unlimited local and long distance calling as my wife likes to talk with her sister for long, long periods of time. With the upcoming merger of T-Mobile and ATT I have no idea what might happen to the plan we have but hope we can keep it.
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Larry, I don't understand your prepaid plan. You have to go to a telephone to use it? Is it a credit card of some kind? You don't have a cordless phone in your car?
I have a cordless phone I keep in my purse for when I am out and about. I have used it once, but I know I am paying too much for it, it's a Verizon and I pay a monthly charge. My sister has one of those phones that just have so many minutes on them and she just pays $10 a month - uses it as I do for emergency when out of the house.
I am thinking of going to her type of phone, right now, I cannot think of the name of it, but it is often advertised.
LARRY, you are a young man; I am perched further up the ladder at the age of 82.
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/Technophobe.jpg)
Cartoon used by permission of the artist
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experience, like the cartoon above, the blind leading the blind, :) or list places you CAN find help.
I have a cordless phone I keep in my purse
Ella, when you say "cordless" phone, are you really talking about a "cell" phone? When I think of "cordless" it's an extra "landline" phone that uses the same number as my landline phone.
My NewYork girls were here this weekend. They no longer have a landline phone, but they do have Skype which costs them about $30 a year. Apparently when they get a call, the computer dings and then they talk. I don't know. When Judy was here at Christmastime, she put somethig on my laptop (which has a webcam) and we could talk to and see the Seattle family (my granddaughter had received a webcam for Christmas. I'm totally clueless about how to use it and I missed my opportunity to learn because the girls left at noon (we were so busy doing other stuff.)
I've mentioned before, Sprint web captel, a captioned phone service, free for anyone, and available anywhere online, and works with any phone. I usually use my cellphone with it, as my landline isn't close enough to the computer. I use it when I'm making a call I might want to save, like customer service or help lines.
Web CAPTEL (https://www.sprintcaptel.com/index.asp)
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Thanks very much, Larry, for the information about your plan. And thank you, Pedlen, for the link to the Web Captel site.
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Ella, no our cellphones are just like those of a monthly plan except we get charged for every minute we use them. I just don't have to pay anything monthly, only when I want to add some minutes to my account (which must occur at least once a year or I lose my carryover minutes.) I am sure that some months I don't use more than 10 minutes on calls. I carry it in a case on my belt so have it where ever I am when I leave the house. If someone calls me on it and it is not an emergency or quick call I will ask them to let me call them right back using my house phone and explain I use a prepaid cellphone plan and I find folks are very understanding. Here is a link that shows the different prepaid plans. Initially we did get a phone with the plan but since then have changed phones by taking out the little sim card and putting it in a different phone. http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/prepaid.aspx (PS, I don't sell T-Mobile or get a rebate by taking about them. :)
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Thanks, Larry, for the information. Yes, I was referring to cell phones; I don't know why I erroneously call them cordless phones which is a different thing.
How much do you pay for each minute on that T-Mobile? I don't know if it would pay for me to switch as I have two sisters that both live out of state and I call each of them at least twice a month if not more. Perhaps you are familiar with two women talking on the phone? Hahahaha We must catch up, you know.
It was years ago when we got our first cell phone and we had a good laugh over the experience. My husband and I went to a Verizon store to get it and the young salesman talked for at least a good 15 minutes describing each plan; we were so confused after listening to that sales pitch we walked out without buying one at all. It took our daughter to go buy one for us for Christmas and decide on the plan. I am smiling at the memory of how we both laughed coming out of that store.
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Ella, if you talk for a long period, as my wife does with her sister, it might not be the wise thing to do. I usually purchase the minutes in $50 increments and get 460 minutes , which if I recall, costs about thirteen cents a minute. If you buy $100 worth of minutes your get 1,000 minutes plus the 15% when you have spent $100. If you think about it and compare to what you pay on a monthly plan for the minutes used if provides a pretty good idea of which would be cheaper. I can add minutes online in a hurry or call on the cellphone and add minutes.
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Oh, goodness, Larry, I barely made it through math class!
Thanks for the comments.
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Oh I love this vibrant informative and truly interesting discussion. I am so pleased to see so many of you here, just in reading the posts I've learned a lot. I really think that if you have people who have had experiences with things their frank experiences mean a lot.
I have to tell you my heart also leapt up, Ella, when I saw Larry here. We here in the Books go way back with Larry, he's our original Father of the Books. :) We are so glad to see you, Larry! I would say Larry taught me everything I know about computers but that would embarrass him because I know nothing hahaha, but truly Larry's the man. He keeps up as you can see with the latest stuff, most of which I can't even pronounce. And he's SOO patient, I will never forget him trying to teach me to FTP if I live to be 100. :) That was SOOO funny.
But oh there's Jane and Marcie, too. They also have to take the blame for my computer prowess. hahahaa Listen, if you've got Larry and Jane and Marcie, Mary on the Droid, RosemaryKaye on the MacBookPro, and all of you with your wide range of experiences, good AND bad, you can't miss. We need PatW back, because she's the missing link here, and then we'll be perfect; there's nothing we can't handle together.
Pedln what did you decide to do on the NY Times "free" subscription?
Just how easy is it to READ what comes up on these phones and touches, etc? I can read on the computer at 100%, but anything smaller would be difficult.
It's a strange thing. Here I sit with a giant monitor blown up so big the letters are truly gigantic. My eyes are that bad. But I like the IPhone's screen. If you get a chance and are ever near an AT&T or Apple store or...does Walmart carry them? WalMart has the old ITouches and they are the same size as the I phone, I am forever getting them mixed up. I'd look at them and see what you think.. I find I like the small screen, it's twice the size my Blackberry was, and have no problem reading it. You can turn the screen and the print defaults lengthwise too. And if I make a stretching motion over the screen with my fingers, presto it's HUGE.
I am still learning it, but the joy of that is, it's so user friendly that you enjoy every step.
It IS true that the I Pad is a lot bigger. They are about 5x7 and I have to say that newspapers on them are fabulous looking. I just don't want to carry around something that big and clunky. And they can't call.
But I got USA Today free and BBC World News free and those will be nice for lots of situations. I have an APP called Where's My Car? which finds your car in the parking lot. One does run the somewhat dangerous risk of having one's face in an IPhone and missing the curb or missing the mugger standing by, but HEY!
I have the 3 G and it works just fine for 49 bucks versus the several hundred of the 4G and the former price of the 3G. Works out here in the hinterland which no remote anything ever did before.
I have three Parcheesi games on it I absolutely love. I am a fool for that game and I am currently losing, which I don't like, but it's just amazing what they are doing now with these automated games. Even makes the sound of the dice in the little cups. Love it!
I have a dumb question but I want to know, if anybody here does. I might not ask this at the Apple Store tho, I've already exposed my ignorance to them many times. I must say they are about the nicest people you'll meet, and so every experience is a good one. They are like the staff at Disney World.
Anyway, I just removed the App little symbol for Text from my main page. I am not paying for Text, which was extra..
I don't know what TEXT is? How is TEXT different from email which I have also on the phone? It downloads my email automatically and I can send it right away.
Why do I want to text? What IS it?
OH and guess what ELSE it can do? I put OUR website on the main screen!!!! It looks like a little App. There you are sitting on my main screen! It gives you that choice!! Cool, huh?
Now if it would just pay my taxes I could enjoy the site even more. hahahaa
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Ginny, I had to think about this one, but I suppose the difference is that if you text someone, they receive the text on their phone, fairly instantly (though not always! sometimes they turn up hours later) - whereas an email is sent to their computer, which they may well not have with them (unless they too have an i-phone that can receive emails.) I do not have a phone that can receive emails unless I pay lots more for internet access, so I can only read emails on my computer, hence I use texts all the time. My husband, however, has an i-phone and can also read emails straight from that.
There are probably other aspects to this, but that's all my pea-sized brain can think of :)
Rosemary
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Pedln what did you decide to do on the NY Times "free" subscription?
I asked my son about that, and he said companies do that all the time. "So I'm okay with that?" YES, NO PROBLEM. So I did and was told I'd receive an email confirming. Which I never received, but may have inadvertently deleted. I finally found my way to my "account" page at NY Times (Judy told me they didn't make it easy to get to, she's right) and it said my subscription started 3/22/11 and that's the day I signed up, and it gave a subscription number. So, we shall see. At any rate, if you don't want to pay $15 every four weeks you can have 20 articles per month free. Which means you can freely read suggestions to certain links.
Now my problem is whether or not to sign up for Facebook. Liz showed me hers and we spent half the morning looking at pages of several friends and family members. My son has no "friends." Granddaughter Lizzie allows only very select -- of which Liz and I are not. The whole thing is very addictive. I'm afraid it's just one more link for nosy people.
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Ginny, I had to think about this one, but I suppose the difference is that if you text someone, they receive the text on their phone, fairly instantly (though not always! sometimes they turn up hours later) - whereas an email is sent to their computer, which they may well not have with them (unless they too have an i-phone that can receive emails.) I do not have a phone that can receive emails unless I pay lots more for internet access, so I can only read emails on my computer, hence I use texts all the time. My husband, however, has an i-phone and can also read emails straight from that.
Oh well of course! That makes perfect sense, you can explain to me anytime. So if you do have email on your phone you don't need text but most people don't have email on their phones ...I see!!
Pedln, let us know how that NY Times thing works out? I already subscribe to the Times, I can't remember if you have to pay more or an adjusted rate to read it online, I think you do. I haven't even read Sunday's paper yet. :) But I do like it.
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Ginny, if you subscribe to the PRINT NY Times you can read it online for free, plus you can also have "Times Reader" for free. Judy and Liz used to get the "Weekender" 3 day edition, but now subscribe only to the Sunday paper. Supposedly they will be able to read online for free. Take a look at their FAQ.
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That's good news, I'll check it out! Thank you.
A note to those of you who have gmail and an Apple product:
As some of you know I've changed my email address due to Gmail being inaccessible for me. Please change my email address if you need to contact me, that is, to gvinesc@wildblue.net, which is what I'm using now. It is actually an old account. It works, however.
I had the Gmail account first. I got an I phone. Everything was wonderful. I canceled bellsouth and on that very day Gmail went down for me. First online and then on the IPHone. It says my password or login is incorrect. Apparently there are tons of people with this problem and there is no solution.
You can elect to reset the password using the "Security Questions." The question you are asked is "temporary question." That's the question. It's not a question, it asks: "temporary question," so unless you recall the security question you used originally you're sunk. How would you answer this question? Temporary question_____________ fill in the answer. It's like a mad house.
There is no one to talk to or with, nobody to write. One of my phone providers DID give me the phone number of gmail and it was a woman in Ireland whose phone rang two rings at a time and whose very cross announcement kept saying enter your...something like source code. Turned out it was for administrators, so there is a human somewhere behind it, but you can't get help.
Then you can elect to send off for another password. Here's what happens: (1) If you don't select the default email address you signed up with, for your protection you get to jump thru a million hoops. You get to fill out a long long form, list 5 people you've been corresponding with and 4 of your folders, and a million other things, and send it off.
A day later you get a cordial form automatic letter to which you can't respond, reassuring and giving you instructions. No password, just instructions, and you guessed it the instructions take you to the page where you can give the famous security question or you can email again, the same route, after supplying all the info again wanted.
Around and around you go.
It's like a fun house. There are help forums and you can see quite a few people have had this problem, some of the moderators say you may never regain the email account, and now somebody who seems to be posting from their end says there IS an issue with Apple, the I Phone and they are working on it.
I liked Gmail. I had the account for some time. Now that I have the I Phone and have canceled bellsouth, neither password works. I don't know which one is at fault. I had not thought of the I Phone/ Apple connection until they mentioned it in the help forums themselves. I had written the passwords down (I've come to do that lately, there are so many) and I know they are correct, and now that account and the emails in it are lost to me.
I guess the moral is, if you have gmail and you have changed the original email you signed up with, be sure to change that setting the minute you cancel the account or even before while you still can get in, or you may never be able to access that account again.
As for me, I'll keep trying to get whatever's on gmail, but wildblue works just fine, and like bellsouth was, there are real people to talk to who will help. Of course Gmail is free and they are not. The I Phone guy himself suggested changing my mail and now everything works like a charm. I hate I will never see that Gmail account or those letters or get them back again but I would also never trust gmail again after this.
Just FYI.
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Just marking my place.
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Ginny - I am so glad you told me this, as I have a yahoo email address but this does not work with the "mail" key on the Apple Mac. You can still access your yahoo emails, but you have to enter them via the yahoo website, ie you can't use the shortcut that says "mail". My husband told me that I should just set up a new g-mail address, and the only reason I haven't done so is my usual procrastination with anything technical. now I'm glad I haven't, as all that stuff you have been through would drive me demented. I hate these sites where you can't contact anyone and all you can find is gobbledegook. I had enough trouble with the WH Smith website telling me my credit card had been rejected when I hadn't even entered it.
Thanks again - I will stick with yahoo (which is still free so far)
Rosemary
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Hi everyone.
Ginny, I well remember those early days in Books and putting up the new topics every few days. I think I didn't do a very good job of training if I didn't suggest that you keep a little notebooks with all the passwords, usernames, secret questions and answers. I still have mine that is pretty well marked up but I still refer to occasionally, although I use a wonderful program called LastPass where I can keep all of my password information and control it with one master password.
Ginny, I am really confused as to the problem you have with your Gmail account. I take it that when you go to the Gmail website and put in your username and password it just doesn't work anymore. I would be lost without my Gmail account and I also use the Google online documents to keep a lot of my files. Changing ISP's should not have anything to do with the Gmail account.
With regard to texting did I mention the program for the iPhone (iPod Touch) that is free texting. It is called Text Free Voice and you can also make telephone calls from that app with the little microphone.
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:) Larry, I'm sure you did in 1996. Note that I do write down the passwords, so that much stuck. Who knew they would not ask the question itself? That part seems to have gone in my mind, the writing of the security question itself, to the great grey beyond where so many of my brain waves have presently gone.
I've never had a problem till now. I got complacent. I took a lot of things for granted. I don't now. I hope this experience will be of some use to somebody and a warning, if nothing else: don't be as I was, naive.
Ginny, I am really confused as to the problem you have with your Gmail account. I take it that when you go to the Gmail website and put in your username and password it just doesn't work anymore. I would be lost without my Gmail account and I also use the Google online documents to keep a lot of my files. Changing ISP's should not have anything to do with the Gmail account.
I can see why, reading that post.
hahaha
Yes it does not recognize the password.
So everybody tells me, they keep saying it's nothing to do with the bellsouth changing. Wildblue tells me that, AT&T tells me that, Apple tells me that. You're in good technical company.
I guess the reason I think it does have something to do with it because that's the only thing that changed.
Get this, if you want to really be confused, I was logged in to both the Apple gmail and the online gmail server when this happened!!
Can you believe that? You can if you have an IPhone.
I was online on the gmail server looking at the mail, through the computer and playing a game on the I Phone. The I Phone had just downloaded 30 messages, which it does if you are on. And THEY are still there. I clicked on one to answer it and it said your password is wrong.
I said so much for you, I'll do it online. I turned to the monitor and hit reply. It would not let me reply saying my password was wrong. I was IN the account and it had just downloaded mail!!
You tell me? The only thing that had changed in the last 10 minutes was bellsouth eradicated the account on the phone which they don't normally do but I insisted.
It gets better: in the last two months I have replaced two HP harddrives, one printer (also HP) and this day o days Clipmate went down.
The difference is Clipmate (without which I would truly be dead, it has Latin headings and info back to 2004) , has somebody who will help. Turns out the blobpng files were corrupt. They told me how to get rid of them and bingo it's back.
That's the difference.
I can say that up until now I've never had the need to reference a blobpng file. I did absolutely nothing different from all the previous years with Clipmate.
Nor do I know what blobpng files are.
Suddenly the blobpng file did not work, it had become corrupt.
And I am sure if something else goes wrong, they could fix in a heartbeat. It's true I was remiss in not writing down the question for gmail, but usually they are the same questions over and over, your mother's maiden name, your first pet, etc., etc. (Tho I hit a strange one with wildblue, your childhood super hero. I didn't have a childhood super hero. The helpful phone attendant gave me the first letter). THAT was a puzzler, indeed. (Obviously I had not written that one down, intending never to use it). Mistake.
That's the difference, I got it from that, but there is no helpful phone person or anything beyond a form response at gmail. That surprised me.
Oh Larry, yes, I did see your great post on the free Text thing and that you can also make phone calls on it, that's amazing. Since I have the I Phone I don't need it and so wanted to know the difference in text, that's all you hear about. I like the sound of your LastPass! I now just put them in the old timey (looks like a card catalog the libraries used to have) Rolodex. If the computer hackers who break into my house can wade thru an eons year old Rolodex they can figure out my passwords. hahahaa
Rosemary, I would never trust gmail again. I know a lot of you use it, and are perfectly happy as was I, and have not had the first problem. If you currently use gmail, while you can, go in there and make sure you know all the security stuff and be ready because since AT&T has flooded the market with the new cheap Iphones there IS an incompatibility with Gmail which is one of the email programs the IPhone is happy to download instantly at a click for you, one of the choices on the mail page. And more of this may happen.
I lost author email addresses, which I've had since 1998 and some important (to me) letters, but if I have to choose between any program with real help in some form and one without, hands down I'm going with the one who will respond individually.
The only reason I put this here is as a warning. Whether or not I will prove to be a Cassandra we'll soon see.
And in other Learn by my Pitiful Experiences Dept: the computer geek who came out said they are replacing HP hard drives (they aren't made by HP) by the score. If you get any product from HP including a printer which is new, DO take out the warranty service thing, and then extend it, on the PC, it's cheaper (despite Consumer Reports saying you don't need it) than replacing a hard drive (if you need help to do so). With HP you'll be glad you did.
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Yesterday the subject of the WSJ's Walt Mossberg technology article was the new version 4 Mozilla Firefox that is now available for free download. The article gave a pretty positive review ranking it generally favorable or superior to Google's Chrome and the new Microsoft Internet Explorer. I went ahead and downloaded it, a decision that at first I much regretted. Wow the look and feel was quite different from the previous 3.xx version that I have been using for the past 2 1/2 years. I couldn't even find my bookmarks. The Mossberg article had mentioned that its look and feel would be different but I was not prepared for the difference that left me unable to navigate to or through the internet .
To day things do look better as I have founded my bookmarks and figured out the basics of navigating with the new program. also it seems faster than the old version. I think the chances are good that I will end up liking it.
I really have little other options . The most likely would be the Google Chrome browser that Mossberg also rates very favorably. I know I can't use Internet Explorer because there is an old inoperable version already on this machine that I can't remove. Microsoft has a very complicated procedure for removing it, but it would not work for me. The new I.E, version can not be installed until the old one is removed. So I must use either Firefox or Chrome.
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Harold I too must keep internet explorer on my computer as an older version - I have some old very expensive software that will not operate with the newer versions of any browser - and so I elected to add Firefox and I have been quite satisfied - wish there was an easy way to bring over all my bookmarks but this forced me to clean them out.
Ginny your email phone escapade sounds like the saga of the century - good grief...
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Harold, I, too, have Firefox4, and while it works OK, I'm not fond of where the Favorites, etc. are located. I guess I'll have to see if it can be customized at all.
jane
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I have used Chrome from about the time it was made available and really like it. You just have to get use to the layout of the various browsers since they all have about the same things just located in different arrangements.
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I had Chrome on the Blackberry, they recommended it when I was overseas and could not pull this website up, it and it was fast. We are finding that Firefox seems to be very fast on this site, Jane's the one who told me about it. I see a huge difference in it and IE.
I do notice some differences in Firefox4, but the customization of Firefox is something I have become addicted to, as I write this I have bright yellow daffodils on top of the page and pretty green stalks below the page. Very bright and spring like. I had Christmas decorations in December and snow in January. I'm addicted, it's so colorful.
Barbara, yes, last week was quite the experience. Happily it's over.
I keep thinking about Harold and his remarks on the fast thumb typing he saw demonstrated. I swear my oldest can type on his Blackberry as fast as I can on a keyboard. I think of this while painstakingly picking out letter by letter on the IPhone, because if you have big hands the Iphone or I Touch might cause you to make more mistakes than the I Pad. I still like it. I like the sounds it makes when you type just as if you were typing a real typewriter. I'm hooked. :)
We live in such a brave new world, technology wise. I am amazed that even at my age I can do so many things I want to with the IPhone. Now I have a new APP on it which synchronizes all my travel reservations, all you have to do is put in the flight number and it enters everything in. Should there be an alert or a delay, it notifies you. (Should you want to know about the subway system in London I can tell you every 15 minutes. hahaaha)
Absolutely love it and am so glad we here are keeping up with the new things out there.
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Learned something new today. A young cousin and her family drove up from Ga yesterday. He has an ipad which they used to keep track of where they were on their journey. She said "we'd pull in behind a truck and get online." apparently most truckers are wired these days and you can piggy- back on their wifi while traveling!?!..... Jean
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I have a 2 year old version of Microsoft Chrome on my desktop. I downloaded it after I had already started using Firefox 3.xx. I too was impressed by its speed, but Firefox seemed fast enough; I liked its look and feel and I understood its navigation techniques so I never used Chrome. Mossberg in his last week's wsj article also rates the new Chrome very favorably (even better than Firefox 4.0). I think I will download Chrome for a look.
Hey Ginny one thing seniorlearn techies might do to make the Nook more friendly to seniorlearn browsing is to relocate the amazon.com links from their present position quite close to the left margin all the way to the right margin. In its present position near the left margin all the screen area to the right and below the link is interactive. The slightest touch anywhere on about 85% of the touch screen will immediately switch the screen to amazon.com. It would seem that if the link were against the right margin only 5 % of the screen would be effected. I think this much of the screen could be avoided.
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Mabel, that is interesting. I had no idea that 18-wheelers had WiFi. Also I'm surprised that in is open to piggyback access without a a security password. The more expensive I-Pads include 4-G access which requires an AT&T or Verizon contract to use but would provide internet access most anywhere.
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"18-wheelers had WiFi" a moving Starbucks without the coffee??
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Barbara, :-X
All this new technology. Has anyone seen one of these new combination monitor/TVs.
From my brother's email . . . .
My old monitor failed. Mark suggested that I get a combination monitor and TV. I didn't know they made such devices.
Went to Fry's and got a 23" (diagonal) monitor/TV by LG. View-wise, it's like sitting in the front row at the movies. Now I can flip from PC to TV and back(from e-mail to Law and Order and back) just by hitting a button on the remote.
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Amazing!
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That really is amazing - although in our house that would mean buying 5 new TVs :D
Rosemary
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In searching for more info about a tv/pc monitor, I found a how-to article about using a special "box" to turn a PC monitor into a TV monitor at http://www.cnet.com/1990-7387_1-6341848-2.html?tag=dh;dh_m
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I had my Dell17 inch notebook Media computer purchased in 2006. It had an external TV tuner and used the Window XP Media center software. It would record TV broadcasts off air and store the program on the hard disk drive for future transfer to DVD. It made extremely good near HD DVDs. I still ever so often run some of my now 4 year old off air symphony recordings for a real visual and audio treat.
I used the past tense in the above paragraph because alas the Dell notebook fell to a careless cup of coffee that I spilled over it last month. It would take some 4 plus hours to burn a 2- hour DVD but the product was truly approaching High definition quality.
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Our pc is almost full and apparently has viruses that we can't clear. It at least 8 yrs old, so as i write, my DH is at Staples buying a new one. They are so much cheaper than they were when we bought the first three over the last 30 yrs. I'm writing on my ipad, since he took the pc to transfer files. I'm so dumb abt these things that i didn't know i could use the ipad if the pc is undone. Guess as long as the web is coming to the router i can keep working on the ipad.?!? ..... Jean
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I read that article Marcie. Interesting. From what you and Harold say, it doesn't like that combo monitor/TV is anything new. Harold, could you play recorded TV right from your hard drive or did you have to put it on a DVD? Sounds like that might be one way to get a DVR.
You can't find a DVR to buy and I don't want to pay the cable company megabucks just for the privilege of recording a TV program. Just looking ahead to when the VCR dies.
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Pedin, yes I could play back the recording immediately after the recording was completed from the hard drive. Of course it was most desirable to make the DVD so it could be deleted from the hard drive. The 2006 hard drive was measured in gigabytes but a much lower number that hard drives today, meaning it was necessary to make the DVD so the file on the hard drive could be erased to make room for others.
I now have a DVD player/recorder that records directly from the TV. Again the new DVD can be played immediately after completion from that devise. In order to play it on other DVD players it is necessary to go through a simple finalizing operation that closes the Disk for other recording and makes it playaable on other players. .
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Harold, how many times can you record on one disc?
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Pedin: The disks I have been using I don't believe can be add to or written over at least not after I go through the finalizing routine that makes them playable on other players.
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Before I tell my latest tech problem or problems, I must say----HELLO LARRY HANNA!Its so great to have you posting again with us. Its been too long. Hope you are making this a habit. Is your wife still reading all those quilting magazines that I sent to her?? Hahaha!
Ginny, what a great idea! I haven't had much time to be on my MacBookPro lately but I just finshed reading all of the posts and I can certainly connect with them. Seems we all have our technical problems but I love the sense of humor that everyone has about all this stuff that has invaded our lives like gangbusters! Its sometimes overwhelming to all of us but now we have company!
I have an IpodTouch which I am not too sure about. It seems to have its problems. I miss having my link bar at the top and the Aps.one at the bottom that is always there on my laptop. I also am not too good at texting but am trying the free text site that Larry mentioned. I have lost my connection to it because I forgot to text every 25 days and
THEN
Yahoo email decided to better their email program and now they take away any post that they think I am done with it because I read it; plus the check box tells me I have no unread email in my box when there is a bunch in there for me to deal with. I am afraid not to deal with each one as I read it, because Yahoo is going to remove it from the box as soon as i go to the next one and they haven't revealed where they are holding it.
Now, having said that, because I have the Apple mail program which I cannot rid myself of, all that lost mail can be found there. In fact, in that program, I can't get rid of anything. Nor can I send any mail from that program with any promise of it arriving where i have tried to send it!
I know, look at your preferences, but I did! And they are all correct according to each program. And, to make this even more fun, Yahoo has decided to place these huge unremovable ads right in the middle of my mail display and its can't be removed. You can slide it over to the far right to hide for the time being.
Have any of these things been happening to anyone here?
OH, somewhere in my Password book, I have the telephone 800 for Yahoo and I have talked to them. That was when I had them cancel the Yahoo Plus that I was paying for and not getting anything for my money. Hmmmmmm, maybe this is payback time for Annie!! Nothing would surprise me anymore!!
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Hi Annie - I have a MacBook Pro but not an i-pod. Are these problems occurring with the MacBook or the i-pod? I have a yahoo mail a/c (free) on the MacBook and yahoo have not so far removed any messages - although i do have to put up with annoying waits while some of their mindless adverts play (notably the especially mindless Jackpot thing). I do also find that the message counter is unreliable - sometimes it says you have no messages, then when you open the inbox you have several.
I was going to set up the Apple mail account, as there are some things you can't do with the yahoo one, but someone - I think it may have been Ginny?- posted on here about the problems they had been having with that, so I thought better of it.
Sorry, that is not much help, but I thought I would share my experiences.
Rosemary
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Hi Rosemary,
My problems are happening on my MacBook Pro and probably on the IpodTouch,too. I don't use my yahoo.com very often on it.
As to the adverts, why are we getting them at all if we are blocking all popups in our preferences? Anybody know? And its more than a long wait---they just won't go away! So I slide them over to the right, almost off the page and try to read around them but sometimes can't make sense of the emails. I was going to try gmail but after reading of the Apple owners' problems with that, I decided not to complete the forms for that. Its still waiting for me to finish--its been two weeks!
Why am I texting or learning to text?? My grans who live here in downtown Gahanna don't and won't use their email ever again since they go their own phones on which they do nothing but text or talk. Even their parents text most of the time. Its the pits!
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Two weeks ago I said here that I was going to download the current Google Chrome browser package to compare it with the New Firefox that I was using then. I noted then that based on a previous 2 year old comparison I doubted that I would find it better than Firefox. Well I was wrong and I have been using Chrome ever since. I really think it is materially faster than Firefox. Also I had no trouble in navigating through the Web with it or with saving my bookmark that are are easily accessible when needed. In total I like it and plan to use it until something better comes along.
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Adoannie - yes, it's the same here, the only way my teenagers and their friends communicate is (a) in grunts (esp. boys) and (b) by text.
Actually no, they also IM on Facebook, which is a way of having an instant conversation if you are both on line and on Facebook - it's a bit weird (at least to me), as a line of text suddenly appears, you answer (and sometimes while I am still composing the answer, the rest of the first message appears because you can't tell if they have finished or not).
When they get bored, they just disappear - very like life really!
The only people I know who still email are all 40+. My son sees it as the kind of effort we maybe used to feel we were obliged to put in to write Christmas thank you letters.
Posting a real handwritten letter is such an oddity to Freddie that, when he had to post a cheque to us the other day, he actually phoned to see if it had arrived - when I said no and asked him when he had posted it, he replied "This morning - but I sent it first class"!
I still prefer email, but most of all I prefer handwritten letters, which I still do write, and love to receive.
Rosemary
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/Technophobe.jpg)
Cartoon used by permission of the artist
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experience, like the cartoon above, the blind leading the blind, :) or list places you CAN find help.
Annie, it is nice to see familiar names and also to get to know some new folks. My wife is still very much into quilting and I believe she passed the magazines on to others after she had gone through them. Believe me she has plenty of books and publications on quilting, gets quilting info from the Internet discussion sites and watches quilting videos. She recently completed a lovely quilt and gave it to a good friend of hers. She loves putting the quilting blocks together but doesn't look forward to putting back on quilts. A couple of days ago she made a couple of neck pillows to replace some we had used for a long time.
I do not use Yahoo mail so really can't speak from experience. I do use the Chrome browser and have also used G-mail as my e-mail address for two or three years and really like it. They provide so much storage space that you don't have to worry about saving too many messages.
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Larry...did it take you a bit to get along with no toolbar in chrome? I seem to have to stop and hunt for my Favorites, etc. I've only downloaded it again recently, but not sure about the lack of a toolbar and ease in finding my own links, etc.
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Rosemary, are you saying that for the younger crowd email is "passe?" (Pass say). Good grief.
I have an analogy to your tale of your son Freddie and his snail mail dilemma -- the lack of knowledge about how some things we take for granted work. I was riding with my DIL when she received a cell phone call from her daughter. Catie, who had only recently got her driver's license, was at the gas station. She needed gas. "Well, get it," said her mother. "How do you do it with cash?" Catie asked.
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Pedln - that is funny :D, and sounds all too likely. (My own problem at the petrol station is coming to terms with those awful self-service pumps, which are appearing more and more in this area. I remember when we lived in Newfoundland, the boy not only came out and put in the petrol for you, he also cleaned your windscreen for nothing. Now you are lucky if there is a person to take your money.)
Yes, I'm afraid email is passe for the young. Anna uses it to communicate with Old People like me, but never with her friends. Freddie only uses it when he wants money and knows he has to communicate in some way that I can cope with. I don't think Madeleine (youngest) uses it at all - it's all Facebook and texting with her. Even some of my own friends seem to be abandoning it, although when they buy smart phones (which I don't have) - which seem to enable them to read emails on their phones - they seem to go back to it a bit. They don't want to have to sit in front of a screen, even a laptop - my best friend wants to be able to read her emails whilst watching TV.
I wish people still wrote letters. Joyce Grenfell used to churn out several every day before she got up - though of course they had 4 or 5 postal collections a day then, and she also had a housekeeper who did everything for her, so could stay in bed scribbling till lunch time if she wanted to. Having said that, even on the rare occasions when I have that opportunity, I find myself wasting time messing about on the laptop - I start off thinking I will just check my messages while the kettle is boiling, then an hour later I realise I really should get dressed... ::)
R
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Jane, I use the Speed Dial feature and have the main websites I visit shown as small graphics on the new tab screen. I also use Bookmarks Bar above the reading area of the screen for the folders of bookmarks I use often and they are always available to click on and select the bookmark I have in it. I used to have several hundred bookmarks but eliminated most of them a while back and just keep the more active one. I find using the Google or Bing search engine to find a site works very well.
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Thanks, Larry. That may solve my problem!
jane
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It'll be interesting to see if this trend continues:
Article is dated April 15, 2011:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The publishing tide is shifting fast: E-book sales in February topped all other formats, including paperbacks and hardcovers, according to an industry report released this week.
E-book sales totaled $90.3 million in February, up 202% compared to the same month a year earlier, according to a study from the Association of American Publishers.
Rest of the article is here: http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/15/technology/ebooks_beat_paperbacks/index.htm?hpt=T2
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Whether you are a quilter or not, you will probably enjoy this animated graphic video which symbolizes the creativity and variety that quilters can give a piece just by changing the placement of a patch or a square. I'm going to use it in my women's history course to talk abt "women's art".
http://www.nfb.ca/film/quilt#
Jean
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Fascinating, Jean!
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delightful film on quilting patterns Jean
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I was writing a post and it just disappeared! Well, what I said was that the link of the quilting patterns were delicious, Jean. When I was quilting, I thought in the patterns that I was making at the time. I was constantly contriving the scene before me into a quilt pattern.
Larry,
Tell your wife I said "hi"and happy quilting days!!
I wish I could do all those marvelous things with my computer. Bookmarks on tabs?? Whoa! I can't imagine having that much time. or that much brain power with which to focus on the problem.
Rosemarie,
I had to laugh at you ending up on your computer way past where you planned. Have you burned anything yet? I was searching for something the other day and someone called me and I realized I had been there for 2 hours! And was starving plus very thirsty!
All of my grans text. They never look at their email and getting them to return your call is the pits. So, I did try to text but it isn't my favorite thing to do and now I have to rejoin the free text site and sign up again.
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Has anyone had experience with a Trojan or virus named Rebate Informer. It showed up on my computer. with obnoxiously annoying sign in screens. There was a shortcut symbol on my desktop. I removed it using the program removal program in my control panel. The removal apparently was successful even though at start up the sign in screen still appears, and it is still listed in my all programs list. But further attempts to remove it yields a message that the program does not exist.
A Google search on "Rebate Informer" yields many hits andcomments on removal including the procedure I followed but there are others that are quite complicated.
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My experience has been once you get trojan you are in for it and I end up having to call my computer guru because none of what I have to clear out my computer affects it and they have a cd they put in my computer that cleans it out - I have Open Advanced SystemsCare as well as AVG and Spybot
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I'm sorry that you were infected with that Trojan, Harold. I browsed through a bunch of sites about it and I didn't see a definitive fix for it.
Mabel, that's a fantastic little film about patchwork quilts!!
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Regarding Rebate Informer, I think I've got rid of it. After I made my post this morning I used my Norton start up manager to remove it from the start up routine. Now there is no reference to it in the All Program List, the control panel listings, and more important no start up screen when the computer is started up. The latter was corrected with the edit removing it with the Norton start up Manager . I THINK it's gone.
I learned one thing out of this. Every time I start up my computer I will check my Norton securrty Program to make sure all phases of my security system are functioning.
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Good thinking, Harold!
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Glad you got rid of your virus, Harold. I use Norton Security too, so far very pleased with it and hope it does what it's supposed to do.
The item below is from a WSJ tech news alert. (I get gazillions of them). It boggles the mind to learn what businesses are being created and how people are investing their money. It seems that advertising must be all. I understand Google, ads, etc -- sort of. But $50 million for a company that exists to help people use Twitter? And here I've been wondering how companies like Twitter and Facebook make their millions. I guess I'm behind the times.
Twitter is in advanced talks to pay $50 million for TweetDeck, an add-on program that helps Twitter users view and manage tweets. TweetDeck has at least 15 employees and contractors, most of whom are located in the U.K., according to its website. Twitter has been recruiting engineers and others in London and plans to open a U.K. office this year.
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I just saw something about a PDF download for Internet Explorer9. I know what a pdf file is, but am not sure what at pdf Internet Explorer would be. Anybody know?
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pedln, that doesn't make any sense to me either. You certainly couldn't browse from a PDF file since that is a static document.
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Pedin, from the description given in your message above, I suspect the PDF download for Internet Explorer9 referred to a PDF file giving instructions or help regarding the installation or use of Internet explorer9.
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That makes sense Harold. Has IE9 come out yet?
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pedln, yes IE9 is out. I have downloaded it on my computers but really don't use it as prefer the Google Chrome Browser and have used it for quite awhile. Before that I used Firefox as my preferred browser.
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Larry, Pedln, I had downloaded Explorer 9 to my computer - and from that time on I had trouble with my Macafee virus protector. After a long go-round with the technician, I was told that because Explorer 9 is only a beta program, that either McAfee or Vista, can't remember which, was not yet ready for the beta program - to wait until the Exp. 9 was out. Don't know what to believe, but do know that I went back to Explorer 8 and all my problems were resolved...
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Thanks for the info, JOanP. I haven't downloaded IE9 and won't do so until they have the non-beta edition ready to go. Still use XP also, on the desktop.
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Well I'm pleased to report something of a miracle and also it may be an eye opening tale.
This past week I was in the Apple store with a friend who was having an issue with her Ipad. You can make an appointment with one of their "geniuses," who will assist you with whatever issue you may be having. While we waited and I was browsing the Iphone 4 up came a young man (the store was virtually empty which was a shock, perhaps it was a fluke, have never been in there it wasn't overflowing) and here came one of their staff, a young man with a ball cap on and earring and inquired if he could help, conversation led to conversation and the issue I had with gmail and the long story.
OH? Says he, lighting up?
I can fix that. No you can't, many have tried. Yes he did.
Get this: armed with nothing but the email address, and nothing more, he managed to:
(1) skip the password
(2) skip the security question
(3) change the password,
Login to the account and display it!! On the Apple computer in the store. I was IN to the account online (the server) and I could read the 500 plus emails sent to it? And respond online.
He could NOT get it on the i phone AS a default email service, , but on the i phone I can get it on the gmail server on Safari. As to the gmail account on the i phone, he did try over and over, could not understand why it would not work, finally saying the geniuses can do it, if you make an appointment. But I can and could work it from the gmail server online and change the password, read the email, add a new email address, and make it now work and redirect to my new account.
He was a genius, himself, and he also fixed my friend's problem as we stood waiting.
So, what did we learn from this apart from my own stupidity of course? I learned how easy it is for somebody (I stood there and watched him and have my friend as witness) who really knows computers to get INTO an email account.
Which he DID do. People sending sensitive emails should consider they are not safe from somebody who really knows computers..
So I'm very grateful and now I understand why my bellsouth account was "compromised" as they said before they deleted it.
Amazing.
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Regarding the Apple Stores I have been visiting one of the local Apple stores checking out the I-pad 2, and last Monday I ordered one. I ordered it on line in order to get it equipped like I wanted. It is scheduled for May 9th Shipment. My order will include 3 extras including the cover, a gadget for connecting it to my camera, and another one for connecting it to my HD TV. The model I ordered is the 32 GB storage for WiFi access. I considered the 3G access, but after checking the details of the required AT&T or Verizon contract I ordered it with the WiFi access only. I have a fine local personal wiFi network here and just don't feel I need for the 3g with the accompanying contractual commitments.
And so much for the Nook! It works but even as a book reader I have found it tends toward being unstable and not always reliable.
Harold
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You will enjoy your ipad Harold. It's like having the library of congress and the rest of the world on your lap. I have had no problems w/mine since Sept until the last few weeks when i have had it loose connectivety about every 2or3 days. I have to disconnect the the router and the modem and reboot. It could be something about one of them and not the ipad..... Jean
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Disaster has happened! I left my Kindle on the first leg of a two-flight trip yesterday. (Moral: do NOT put your Kindle in the pocket of the seat in front of you!)
I realized the loss when I looked for it at the beginning of the second flight, and knew exactly where I had left it. I asked the flight attendant if there was a form I could fill out. She told me that I needed to go to the Southwest baggage claim office at my final destination to file a report. I did this, and fortunately, even remembered which seat I had been in.
The next step was to contact Amazon and put a "stop" on any purchases from the Kindle itself. I did that as soon as I got home. It took three e-mails (mostly for ME to understand what information they needed), but by this morning, the device had been disabled. If it is ever returned to me, I can have it reactivated. In the meantime, I can read my books on my Droid phone (not my favorite, but doable). I'll give it a while to see if it comes back home before I think about getting a new e-reader.
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Oh MaryZ, darn darn darn. I'm sure we all tell ourselves that we'll never do that, but it's so easy just to put it in that pocket while you get organized, and then forget about it. No matter how many times the warning.
At least no one can use it to buy anything from Amazon. Hopefully the airlines will find it and send it to you, though it may take a while.
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Yikes! Mary, that sounds like something I'd do. I hope the airlines find it or that your homeowner's might cover the loss if it's not returned to you?
jane
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Hadn't thought about homeowners, jane - thanks. We are in the midst of filing our second weather-related claim this year. And we have a $500 deductible, so it might not be worth it.
I hate the thought of "shopping" for a new e-reader. I know I have to have one. I wonder if I'd be able to get access to my already-purchased books on Kindle if I decide to get a Nook or an I-pad. And, now that there are different versions, if there is someplace where I can look at different Kindles? Oh, dear. I really DO hate to make decisions.
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Oh, Mary, what a frustration! My first thought was how many books you had on it and would you have to buy them all a second time? I can see Amazon's next move - to sell an "insurance" for the books you buy :D :D .....jean
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jean, I already "own" the books - and they're in Amazon's archives. If I get a new Kindle product, they will just activate it to my account and restore all my books - I won't have to re-buy them. I would doubt that I could get them if I got a Nook or an Ipad - but I don't know that.
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Mary...I'm far from an expert, but it may be that there's an Amazon app that can be had on the Ipad. I know that people have "rooted" the NC and have it more like a tablet. The new update also allows for apps and all of that.
I would guess there's an Apple store somewhere in your area and somebody who could answer for you your questions.
I gather, from the talk at B*N NookColor discussions that a new Kindle is expected quite soon. You might want to check on that, but since you have an Android phone, you might not need all those bells and whistles on your ereader.
Lots to consider, for sure.
jane
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It's going to be really hard to wait a week or two to see if mine shows up before getting a new one. Of course, if I get a new one for myself, then John can have the old one when-and-if it shows up. ::)
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Maryz, I should think it would be a matter of changing the password on your account after having it blocked and that everything should then work as before with your prior purchases. I have the Kindle application on my iTouch and it syncs with my Kindle application on the computer. I also have the Barnes & Noble application on my iPod Touch and on my e-book reader and access the same information.
Sheila, my condolences on the loss of your dad. This is a time that is never easy and in your situation it certainly wasn't improved when you were not notified at the time. I expect many of us share dysfunctional family situation, I know that I sure do, although nothing like what you have experienced.
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Yes, Mary, i have a "kindle" app on my ipad.
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I've just called the airline, and of course, they can't give me any idea of when or if it might be found. I'll just have to set and arbitrary deadline to hear something, and then just get me a new reader of some sort.
There's an article in our paper this morning that our library is going to start having e-books available for Kindles (don't know a start date). It didn't mention other e-readers. :D
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Here is an Interesting picture. It is my home town, San Antonio,TX, sitting for its picture. I was surprised by the amount of greenery with so much of the street details obscured by trees. I know it is San Antonio by the two lakes in the southeast (Lower /right )part of the pictures. These are the Braunig and Calaveras Power Plant cooling lakes where much of San Antonio's Coal and Natural Gas Electric Generating plant are located. I was involved with the Engineering Team planning the construction of these lakes and the early Generating units constructed at these sites. My involvment was in the cost estimates and the economic studies justifying their installation. To view the picture double click the link below.
http://geology.com/satellite/cities/san-antonio-satellite-image.shtml
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Wow! Harold, that looks like an abstract painting. How cool that you were a part of building the city.
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/Technophobe.jpg)
Cartoon used by permission of the artist
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experience, like the cartoon above, the blind leading the blind, :) or list places you CAN find help.
Thanks, Harold. The picture looks like an abstract painting of bluebonnets and wine cups!
Sally
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It does indeed look like an abstract painting. And how neat to see your project from this view, Harold!
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Harold, it sounds like you were an important part of the process of constructing those lakes. How exciting! I love that image. It reminds me of a modern quilt.
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Harold, you never cease to amaze, I remember you well and the aqueducts in Texas, you are a man for all seasons and modest on top of it!
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There are some mysteries in the San Antonio pictures that I can't account for. One is why the airport runways don't show up. There are two major airports and several small ones. The Air Force base at old Kelly Field would be the largest ; the SA Municipal too ought to show. Another mystery is the several predominately red areas. I can Identify the large lake in the far Northwest area as Medina lake.. Also though the rivers don't show as exposed water I can identify the course of both the San Antonio and Medina rivers by the vegetation and other topographical appearance. Also I can identify many of the major free way routes amid the green or other color cover I estimate that the rectangular picture covers an area about 60 X 40 miles, 240 sq miles about 150,000 acres.
Ginny when you and Barbara were here in San Antonio and we toured the Mission Expada, did we run into Brother Jerome? Last January I took a group of residents there to see the Xmas decorations at the church. Brother Jerome gave a 45 minute stand up comic routine covering the subject from every conceivable view point. The were laughing, cheering, crying. Finally the discussion cooled off a bit an I seized the occasion to close it out shouting, "ok lets hear it for Brother Jerome." They clapped and cheered so loud that he lapsed into another 45 minute encore. Brother is seldom available to spend so much time and I don't remember seeing him when you were here.
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Harold was it Brother Jerome who came to the door of the one small mission that was closed - seems to me we were allowed to peek in or maybe not - but one of them was closed and it was the one located near the viaduct.
My friend Charlotte and I have been down a couple of times to the Mariachi Mass at Mission San Jose - last I heard it was closed for renovation - is it open again?
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Barbara, I do remember we did stop at the Espada church and I think the ranger did com out to meet us. Since it was the last stop it was late in the afternoon. Quite likely we did at least see Brother Jerome. It would not be unusual for him to say hello but not have time for a lengthy lecture.
Yes the San Jose Church is closed for Maintenance repairs though the site with the grounds and many appurtunant buildings is open. I think the Mariachi Mass is now available at Conception while San Jose is closed..
I think my math in the above post has a misplaced decimal point. If the picture rectangle dimensions are 60 X 40 miles the area is 2,400 sq miles. There are 640 acres per sq mile and 2400 X 640 = some 1,536,000 acres.
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Ginny when you and Barbara were here in San Antonio and we toured the Mission Expada, did we run into Brother Jerome? Last January I took a group of residents there to see the Xmas decorations at the church. Brother Jerome gave a 45 minute stand up comic routine covering the subject from every conceivable view point. The were laughing, cheering, crying. Finally the discussion cooled off a bit an I seized the occasion to close it out shouting, "ok lets hear it for Brother Jerome." They clapped and cheered so loud that he lapsed into another 45 minute encore. Brother is seldom available to spend so much time and I don't remember seeing him when you were here.
Hhaha I think I would have remembered HIM!~ What a cute story. There WAS somebody tho, who let us go in one of the churches when it was supposed to be closed? Or am I dreaming this one? I remember we did meet a ranger somewhere who spoke very highly of you, but I am thinking that this was not a priest who came out. I could be wrong but I can't seem to get a picture of a priest in my mind and I do seem to see a ranger somewhere.
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This article is in today's USA Today -- describing two phones put out by ATT. One (Samsung) is BIG, the other by palm (HP) is LITTLE. Somehow i can't visualize 4.5 inches as being "enormous."
Two phones for you (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/2011-05-11-hp-veer-samsung-infuse-baig_n.htm)
I'm guessing I really won't understand what all is out there until I read up a bit more in.
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Pedin I regarding Smart phone screen size I think they are all to small for all the great things they are capable of doing. Even the 4.5 inch phone screen which is considered large for that application, I would considered much too small for use. Particularly if it relied on a screen displayed virtual keyboard. My finger tip would cover 3 or 4 letters at once.. Even the larger 7 inch Nook (not a telephone) is to small for me to easily use the screen keyboard. On the larger 10 inch I-Pad screen keyboard I can barely handle it.
I now have an I-pad 2. I ordered it 3 weeks ago today from the I-Pad store on the web. It shipped 2 weeks later last Monday and was delivered last Thursday. I had no problem activating it after I printed the first 50 pages of the detailed on line instruction Book. The only instructions included in the box were about 6 pages on 4 X 4 inch onion skin paper printed in very small 6 pt type; completely unreadable. I have the model with the 32 GB storage and the wifi connection. I had no trouble with the activation and set-up with connection to my wifi and installation of short cuts to my E-mail and major web sites.
It is definitely better than the nook in most but not in all situations. Most certainly the bigger 10 inch screen results in a more impressive view. It also permits a larger virtual keyboard making typing easier. It is probably more stable than the nook although the user must be careful where he touches the screen least he brush some embedded interactive link. Also the way it provides the user with control of the screen including text and pictures size is wonderful. In particularly I like its screen display of my regular on-line Wall Street Journal subscription. In fact I've been reading it on-line and sending my print copy to a friend here at Chandler unopened.
I was not real impressed with the I-Pad's magnet attached cover. It covers the screen, but not the back or sides and it provides no shock absorption if it is dropped as the Nook cover does with the instrument snugly wrapped in its book like jacket on all 6 sides. Also the I-pad though its weight is only a pound and a quarter is not as easy to comfortably hold as the Nook. Finally on my first appearance in the I-Pad Book store I was unable the find the key to navigation for browsing through a large list of available books on any particular subject. I am sure such browsing is available for me to figure out on subsequent visits.
I plan to use the I-Pad as a replacement of my 6 year old Dell notebook that I ruined last January by spilling coffee over it. I will however, due to the fact that I will be carrying it around rather carelessly, resist the temptation to put my banking and other sensitive business material on it.
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I agree w/ a lot of your analyses Harold. The only two grievances i have w/ my ipad is the sensitivity to touch and how a knuckle can inadvertantly touch the screen and take me away from the page i'm working on, and that it doesn't accomodate Adobe Flash videos/games.
The cover i have has protection on the sides w/ a hard frame, which isn't great, but i love that it can sit on my lap w/out my having to hold it. Much easier on my hands.
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"There ought to be a license to use technology." So says, NY Times techie David Pogue. But since there isn't, he's come out with an article (and more) with some quick tips for cellphone, camera, and PC users.
For example, I just learned I probably don't want to switch my cellphone service from Sprint to ATT because I'd be out of range when visiting daughters in Manhattan and San Francisco. Does that mean ATT cells don't work there?
Are you tired of typing ".com"? -- just hold down Ctr l+Enter?
Nothing really earthshaking here, but fun, and maybe helpful. Have you tried QR codes?
Basic Tech Tips (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/technology/personaltech/19pogue.html?pagewanted=2&nl=technology&emc=cta1&ref=personaltechemail)
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Ella, both my wife and I have a cellphone with our own numbers. However, rather than a monthly plan we have used a prepaid plan where we just buy additional minutes for that cell number and the minutes are good for a year. Also, as long as we add minutes at least once a year we can carry over any unused minutes. It is just like a monthly cellphone plan but it is all prepaid and we pay like 10 cents per minute used. Hope this helps explain the situation.
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I have two Kindle problems, and I know I'm probably going to have to call Amazon and see if I can find a real person to talk to, but in the meantime.....
1. I have a new Kindle (to replace the one I left on the airplane :'( ). It's worked fine, but all of a sudden, it tells me that I have to enter the password to hook up to my home WiFi. I've never had to do that before, but I enter the password. And it won't hook up. I've tried and tried - just wanting to get my old books moved out of the archives into the new device. I finally went to a WiFi Hotspot (Panera), and got a bunch moved. But it needs to be fixed.
2. And now arises another problem. Our girls gave John his own Kindle for Father's Day (bless them - but I did suggest it ::) ). I've gotten him set up with his own amazon account (he's hopeless at this sort of thing, and I'm only slightly better). Now I want to hook him up to my account so he can read my books. One of our daughters and I share an account, and that works okay. How can I add his Kindle to our group?
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I have a similar problem: my kindle doesn't recognize the password to my wifi network. When I want to download a book, I have to use a neighbors that is not password protected. I feel guilty about this, and am careful to log on and off quickly.
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JoanK, nice to know I'm not alone. ;)
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JoanK and MaryZ, it's been a long time since I set up my wireless, and over a year since I added my Kindle, so am not sure of my memory and hope I don't have to do it again.
Attaching Kindle to wireless -- is it your password that is needed or your router number?
When friends or family come with laptops and want to get online, they have to key in the router number, which you're given when y ou get the router.
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pedln, I thought what I was using was a "password". Whatever it is, it's always worked for other folks who come to the house and want to use the WiFi. I just came home from Panera - it hooked up fine with their WiFi.
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I just came home from Panera - it hooked up fine with their WiFi.
That's probably because your wi-fi is secured and Panera's is not.
I keep gazillion codes and passwords on my rolodex and just looked at the one for my router. It has a password too, as well as a router number, and also something called a passcode.
Good luck, MaryZ.
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On another note, does anyone use Google as a payment collector? I've cancelled my print subscription to our local newspaper, and have been reading it online. Now they are charging a fee for online subscriptions (which I think is reasonable and am willing to pay), but the only way you can do it is through a Google account.
I'm a little leery about third party collections. Google offers a 2-step verification process -- password and a code that they send you. It sounds complicated and you have to key in every 30 days. What a pain. I do need a local paper, bad as it is, and have determined that print is not an option.
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pedln, I knew that Panera has open wifi - that's why I went there. I've done it befoe. ::)
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Ginny.
Hope you have a nice trip over to Uk. Was reading all that your phone does. Sounds great for when traveling. May look into that one. Not gotten into the IPhones yet. Seem so small. Using my Mobile phone drives me crazy with the small buttons. I watch my Granddaughter Texing away with her thumbs. Don't want to get into that. Took me awhile to like the Laptop keyboard.
I just have to get into more Technology. Family say I am way behind.
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Hi. This is my second visit to this site. I just read all of your posts. Lots of information. I have some questions.
1.....What is the difference between an I pod, and an I pad?
2.....What is a Droid?
3.....How much does a new app. cost?
I have a cell phone, and a Kindle. I only use the cell, for emergencies. I love my Kindle. It is so easy to hold, and I can change the font size. I have arthritis in both hands.
Thanks in advance for answers to my questions.
Sheila
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Hi, Jeanne, so good to see you here! It's strange with the i phone, I absolutely love it, was just looking at a London weather site, it's so fun! I don't know why I like it, because to do the computer I have to have this giant monitor and everything blown up. But for the iphone, which IS small, it seems quite easy to see with my reading glasses. When you type, unlike the Blackberry, it makes nice little tapping noises. hahahaa
I think it's the convenience. You have everything in one slim cell phone package, a library, a camera, a phone, the internet, email, a small computer, anything you need and it slips in a pocket.
If you're ever near an Apple store, go in and try one on for size, they've got everything out there that they sell and plenty of friendly sales people who will explain what needs explaining. They want people to try them, hands on.
You will feel TOTALLY up technically with either the i pad or the i phone, I guarantee it! hahaha Even if you aren't. Mine now calls verbally, I don't dial anything, I programmed in some numbers and now all I have to say when driving is CALL XXX and it does. It also calls 411 for me for information if lost.
I also now can give voice memos, like don't forget to buy apples and it records it, no need for pencil or paper, absolutely love it.
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Shelia, I am no expert but maybe somebody will correct me if I make a mistake on your questions, here goes:
1.....What is the difference between an I pod, and an I pad?
The I Pad is large, like the Nook. An I pod is small, and it is two things: it's a small device which looks like a cell phone on which you can listen to music or recorded things and it's also what they call the I Pod Touch, (at least the words "i pod" are on the back of my I Touch). The I Pod Touch is likewise small (as a cell phone) but does a lot of the things an I Pad does. Neither the i pod or the i pod Touch will call like a phone.
An I Pad is much bigger. It does everything but call as a phone. I am not sure if it takes photos, but somebody here will tell us. They are wonderful for reading the newspapers or free magazines or even watching the news live or reading a book or surfing the web or getting email ...just lots of things.
2.....What is a Droid?
It's a new generation of I phone, offered mostly by Verizon, people who have it say it's very simple to learn and they love it.
3.....How much does a new app. cost?
They vary in cost. Most are free. Some are 99 cents. Some can be more. I have a lot of free ones and they have given me a great deal of pleasure. At the moment am obsessed with Angry Birds, which I think did have a fee, but it's worth it: it's the #1 app in the world. For a good reason.
Free apps include Newsweek, Time, US News, BBC (which also includes BBC radio) and tons more, pretty much anything you'd like. There are games...it really is endless. If you are ever in a B&N store you can see lots of magazines which show the latest apps by category and there are literally tons of them which do just about anything you like. I've just gotten a great Hearts game, I have 4 Parcheesi games (because I like Parcheesi), Free Cell, Trivia Games, there's a labyrinth game with a ball rolling thru a wooden maze with great sound effects, there really is an app for just about anything.
Maybe some people here might like to list their favorites, I'd like to hear about new ones, myself. Entertainment Magazine has started listing the "must have" new apps every Friday.
I have a cell phone, and a Kindle. I only use the cell, for emergencies. I love my Kindle. It is so easy to hold, and I can change the font size. I have arthritis in both hands.
The keys for the I Pad are much bigger than the I phone. I think Harold talked somewhere about arthritis and the I Pad, maybe he'll come back in or somebody here with arthritis can compare them. The little keyboard on the i phone is VERY small.
You would probably love an I Pad. Maybe some people here who have it can talk about how difficult or easy it is to type. I know a lot of people use it TO get here and surf the internet. Quite a different experience sitting in your easy chair with feet up and sitting at a desk. The only thing it won't do IS call on the phone. (Not sure about the photos, the i phone takes photos and movies as well).
IF you live in an area with WiFi you don't need a contract to pay monthly with an I Pad, you can pick up the internet on the WiFi. I do not live near WiFi and I do have a paid contract with the i phone, I do not with the I pod Touch.
Otherwise you can't get the internet without some sort of paid contract.
Now those of you who know, correct me. :)
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JoanK, I called the Amazon tech service yesterday, and they had me hooked up to my home wifi in about 1 minute. Give them a call, and I'll bet they can do the same for you. The techie also got John, our daughter, and me all hooked up to the same account - that took another five minutes. Amazon tech service rocks!
Sheila, I have a Droid from Verizon, and really like it. I don't do nearly as much as it is able to do, but I love being able to check my e-mail when I'm not at home (just to see if there's anything I need to deal with quickly). I got my Kindle because of arthritis in my hands. I had trouble holding a book, and the Kindle certainly takes care of that problem. Also, when we travel, I don't' have to take a whole sack full of books. ::)
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Mary, that's great that you and John and your daughter are all on the same account. If you're reading a book, and either John or your daughter wants to read it, do they have to wait until you finish reading it, or can they read it at the same time?
Every once in a while I'll pop into some of the Kindle discussion groups on Amazon. Just about everyone has high praise for the Kindle support people.
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pedln, we can read books simultaneously. Also, we each pay for our own books - except when we forget to look before we click. It happens, but not often, and it all balances out. For instance, as soon as I heard about Jean Auel's latest (and last) book, I bought it. Then I e-mailed Kate and told her that she didn't need to buy it.
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GINNY, thanks much for all of the information which you posted for me. I have read it, but will be rereading it, when I am not so tired. It is a lot to aborb. I do appreciate, very much you taking the time to give me the information.
Sheila
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Regarding the I-Pad's Cameras: The I-pad 1 did not have cameras. The I -Pad 2 has front and back cameras for still and motion photographs. I have not yet tried this feature on my I-pad 2, however, I note from the specifications that both are less than 1 Megapixel Resolution. This makes them woefully inadequate for still pictures since today 10 to 14 Megapixel resolution cameras are available for between 100 and 200 dollars. Apple claims the cameras are optimized for movie shots and true the specifications read better on this account. I do want to try these cameras on my I-Pad as soon as I can find the time that may be a week or more, and when I do I will report more here.
Recently I was asked to print some color still pictures taken at a Chandler event that I was unable to attend. They were literally terrible with very poor resolution and color. Later I found out why. They were take with the camera in a run of the mill android cell phone. In order to make decent still pictures in my opinion at least a 2 megapixel camera is required. The best I-Pad 2 camera is 0.9 Megapixel resolution, significantly short of decent quality.
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Just marking my place.
Evelyn
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Yesterday, I took the plunge. Ordered an ipod touch. Discovered that I had reward points with my bank, that I had enough points to buy it. Whoopee! Now, I can hardly wait for the delivery. Thanks for the feedback.
Sheila
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Have you seen the History Channel's "101 most important gadgets"?
I saw it last night. It is really fun! I just wish they had taken a little more time to talk about it gadget. The most onteresting part, other than the list, was how many of them did not start out being invented for what we now popularly use them for - e.g........are you ready?.......the chain saw?......was developed for a surgeon of brain surgery to cut thru bone!
I'm talking about it here bcs the number one gadget incorporates 15 of the other gadgets ....... The smart phone!
Jean
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Yeah the i phone is really hard to beat. I could use a little more memory but I've got 6 GB left on the 8 GB I got with it. Remember when we thought 1 GB was all we'd ever need? hhahaaa
Sheila, I hope you enjoy your ipodTouch, it's quite small but I love that you got it with reward points, that makes it a prize indeed. The minute I saw Pat West with one I had to have one, and they are not cheap!
I hope you enjoy it!
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GINNY, I, too, am really happy about using reward points for my new ipodtouch. I had never "purchased" anything with my reward points. So, I had more than 90,000 points. Now, I only have 50,000 +. Guess I will be going shopping, again, one day.
Sheila
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Mabel, I saw the 101 most imp. gadgets and thoroughly enjoyed it. For those of you who didn't see it; I am sure the History channel will be repeating it. It is well worth watching. I agreed with most of it and had many "aha" moments.
Sally
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Very interesting discussion and explanations. Ginny, just one comment about the Droid versus the iPod or iPad. The difference is basically in the operating system that each uses. The Droid uses the operating system developed by Google while the iPod or iPad and iPhone uses the Apple operating system. Microsoft also has a separate operating sytem. I think basically most of them work very similarly I loved the iPod Touch and used it for a couple of years. I am now using an Android smart phone that does all that the Touch would do plus it is a phone and has a 5 meg camera in it.
Just a word about the cameras. For viewing on the computer or smart phones you don't need a really high definition photo. However, printing is a different matter. Also the higher the megs on the camera the larger the size of the picture.
I am finding I really prefer to use the Nook or Kindle application on my smart phone versus the e-book reader I have. A simple touch on the screen turns the page and I can hold it in the palm of my hand and turn the pages with one hand.
I am glad I am living in this time of new technology and these amazing devices that are affordable and available to us.
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Larry, I like reading on the i phone too, on the Kindle there, or the i phone (apple) books store, but I've never had a "real" Nook or Kindle (they seemed too limited to me) and I don't have an I Pad (they seem fabulous but too big).
Now on the Droid, Larry, what company do you use for a contract? Or do you use one at all? Apple told me that ATT does not offer a contract on the Droid, but rather only Verizon. Does Sprint (I am not sure what they offer?) have its own Droids? There are several on the market. You never hear of Sprint in association with the I Phone. The Apple connection with Verizon is relatively new (I am getting all this from the Apple technicians in the Apple store near here) and only concerns the I Phone 4, not the 3 GS which I have.
I do know (and this may not affect anybody here) that the I phone 4 which Verizon offers does not work overseas, so if anybody were planning to go on vacation overseas, you'd want another option. The technology of the 4 is also dicey and is not fully available in all situations, tho new upgrades have taken care of the volume issue.
I had an ATT tech person tell me get a Droid, he loves the Droid, it's the latest and best thing.
But I am so grateful to have the I phone it's not even funny and I'm also glad to be living in this age where so much is possible technically to enjoy.
Am I the only person here obsessed with Angry Birds? hahahaa
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Ginny, I've heard so much about Angry Birds, and always thought it was a game for little kids, but I guess not. I've never seen it, so I really don't have a clue.
I guess it's all what you get used to, but I can't imagine reading a book on a cell phone. But then, I've never tried it. I love reading on the Kindle. It's lightweight, it fits right in my hands, easy to hold, easy to turn pages. So it's a surprise to me to hear so many say they prefer reading Kindle apps on their iphones. They sound so small.
When it comes to searching for something, like I frequently did during the Clara and Mr T discussion, I prefer using my PC, as it's just much easier to type that to thumb away on those little Kindle buttons.
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pedln, I read mostly on my Kindle, but I almost always order books on the computer. I'm definitely NOT a "thumb typist". :D I have read on my Droid phone, too, though, and it works just fine.
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Ginny, I do have a two year contract with AT&T and yes, they do have both iPhones and Android phones. I think the reason I prefer reading on the Nook app is that the phone fits in the palm of my hand and is very lightweight. I finished reading a book on it last night.
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/Technophobe.jpg)
Cartoon used by permission of the artist
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experience, like the cartoon above, the blind leading the blind, :) or list places you CAN find help.
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I enjoy reading on the i phone, too, Larry. Like you I love the compactness of it, and the fact it's always with me, that's powerful in today's world. I did NOT know ATT offered Droids, too, and I seem to see that there are different APPS for the Droid than the I phone, are you missing any essential ones? Are there some you would want you can't get?
Mary, did you ever get your...was it an ereader? Back from the plane? You are not the only person to do that, I know several people who have lost I Pads, I phones and a lot more in the seat pocket of a plane. I once left something ON a plane and pretty much demanded to be let back on but they pretty much said no, we'll go in and see. Nothing came back out.
________________________Games:
I must admit to being kind of hooked on some of the games, I find them relaxing and enjoyable and like to play them in sequence tho am always on the look out for new ones. I like Angry Birds and the Ludo Pro Parcheesi, Hearts (a very good Hearts game is available), Labyrinth 3D, QuizQuizQuiz, and the newest one for me is Cut the Rope. These are cute (I'm not sure if Angry Birds is only for children, Pedln hahaha) but I love the commercials on Cable TV for some product which keeps repeating," and you'll have more time for Angry Birds," hahahaa.
All of these I can play against a computer. Last night I found a Checkers game called Checkers Free which I hope to install in a minute.
Cut the Rope is probably the most childish of the APPS I have for adults, but it's so cute, and devilishly difficult. I love games, they are harmless and fun and funny diversions. There are several versions of backgammon, chess, Yahtzee, Uno, and lots of other things. And when my 2011 trip is over I'll sweep all my travel stuff from this year into its own group called Travel 2011, and it will always be there unlike prior trips stuck in boxes somewhere in my junk room.
Some of these games can be played against live opponents just like we used to do. I like a computer opponent hahahaa.
__________________Weather:
One problem we have here is, in a storm, which we've had pretty much daily so far, in the evening, my computer of course is turned off so the fancy interactive radars are not available for me, and we must rely on NOAA Weather Radio. You can get that, too on an APP and yesterday I was able to watch on a radar APP the storm approaching (and going by us to the West) on radar on the i phone.
____________________Battery Life:
I do hope they can do something in the future on the battery life. They have a whole page on it on the ATT site, and what drains it and what to turn off and how to fix that.
____________________Wifi:
I am not sure I understand the part about the WiFi and the ATT. You can turn on WI Fi. If you DO, and the WiFi logo and whatever one is close appears on the top, then does ATT stop charging? Do you then have to turn OFF ATT3G also?
I can get Edge out here which is amazing to me, and all over just about anywhere else. Does this mean if I see Edge that I am using ATT or not?
I think this thing is going to revolutionize the world as we know it. I love the voice notes you can make to yourself.
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Ginny, the only app that I would really like to have on the Droid that I had on the iPod Touch is the one for Netflix. However, I know it will be available before too long as is already available on a few models of smart phones. The Droid will play flash video where the Touch would not.
I read where Angry Birds is the best selling game in the world at this time and it certainly isn't just for children. The higher the level you go the more difficult it becomes. I don't play many games but occasionally will play a few card games or do a word find puzzle. I do not like the timed or action type games. I agree with you on preferring the computer as an opponent.
Ginny, I agree with you on battery life. I have a charger next to my easychair, my bed and in my office since if you use the display it really drains the battery. This phone doesn't seem to recharge as quickly as the iPod Touch did but you can use it while plugged in and always leave it charging overnight so start the day with a fully charged battery.
On the Wi-Fi, yes if you have a wi-fi connection (such as at McDonadl's) it turns off the 3g or 4g feature and has no effect on your minutes in the data plan. In the setting I can control whether to allow the 3g or 4g or wi-fi to work or not. Thus I have some control over the minutes used on the data plan. The Edge is the 2g version on the AT&T system and work like the others but just isn't as fast. I read that it is also less draining on the battery. Sometimes I can get 3G (don't have a 4G type phone) but often it shows the Edge network. The voice feature is great but I have to remember to use it or it doesn't do much good. The Touch didn't have a built in microphone but the later version does have it and the Droid has the built in microphone so it is always available.
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ginny, I never heard anything from Southwest about my Kindle. I wound up getting myself a new one - and then our girls got John his own for Father's Day. I really expected the old one to show up as soon as I got a new one - but it didn't happen. Oh, well....
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Mary: oh well, I'd like to see sometime a heap of what's been left behind in an airplane, do they ...what do they do with it?
Larry, that's a bombshell to me! E is ATT? Edge? So if I'm traveling somewhere and E comes up, and it's ATT am I paying for that or not? (In other words, if I'm trying to do email or the internet and it says E, then does this count on my ATT data plan? Now here you seem to be saying, turn the 3G off? In the setting I can control whether to allow the 3g or 4g or wi-fi to work or not. Thus I have some control over the minutes used on the data plan This data plan roaming thing info I really need to know about.
Edge is all over everywhere, I found, and I did not know it was ATT, thank you! I thought it was like WiFi out of the blue free.
I am shocked to see I have E out here, maybe I should turn off the 3G all the time.
The Checkers Free turned out to be super! It's a wonderful fun game once I adjusted the level! hahaha I started out overconfident because I'm used to winning checkers, and it took one very VERY short and snappy game for the computer to put me in my place, so I put it on the lowest level to see if I could even win ONE and am happily winning right along and feeling smart. hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa It's probably on a first grade level. hahahaa
Angry Birds is amazing. The never repeating sequence of how things fall and the sound effects alone and the thinking you have to do are out of this world. I was interested when I got stuck on one level and my youngest, a structural engineer, came over and nailed it right off the bat, without ever having seen the game. He then showed me where I needed to aim on that level due to the angle where the "building" would be weakest, who knew? It's a lot of physics which is not my strong suit. But there's another Player you can get to help: the Eagle. The Eagle costs more but they ask if you need it (obviously one of us loses a lot!) I did need it. If you get stuck the eagle will do it for you, but only once an hour. hahaha It actually has a counter and counts down. Otherwise you might be tempted to use the Eagle all the time. They have a new one out about gas guzzling, but I think this one will occupy the rest of my days. I can just see the nursing homes of the future resounding to the birds and music. hahaha
The Cut the Rope when you finally manage somehow to win one level, then rates your performance. Here you are so proud of finally getting the stupid piece of candy into the mouth of the whatever it is, and it IS timed, cute little Tribble or something, and it says FAIR! Any victory on that thing is a good one.
On the battery, my oldest said just carry a spare like I do (he, however, is talking about his Blackberry). This option so far as I know is not available on the i phone? I don't think I have even seen the battery. And I also leave it in pretty much charging wherever I am, just as you've said.
And as you said somewhere one could also take the I Touch and alternate, it's amazing how fast it runs down. I am getting kind of tired of having to double load everything on the ITouch tho and am leaving it for my grandbaby, it seems to have even less battery life, actually.
I left the i Phone on just displaying normally and used it to call and play a game or two once and from 9-3 it stayed on but barely by 3. Does the Droid have a good battery life? I have heard they do?
Now Larry, when you talk about the Netflix APP, do you stream the movies then? I don't have that kind of speed out here, tho ATT has volunteered to send me a sort of standing sort of modem thing that will make the reception super here in this marginal area. But it works OFF your current broadband or satellite connection apparently. I dunno, I am wary of those things, just like we hear the phones should not be against your head for long periods of time.
And then there's RSS. What IS RSS, does anybody know?
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Ginny, yes the Edge would charge to your data plan. If you have the unlimited plan then you wouldn't need to worry. I have the $15 plan that gives me 200 whatevers. Yes, the Netflix streams the movies to the iPod Touch or iPhone. You could give it a try and see if you have enough strength of signal. It is just like watching them on your computer. I really miss that feature on the Droid.
The battery life isn't great but found that I wasn't using the charger except at night when I thought I was with a data cable. It recharged fully last night in an hour or less with the right charger.
I found this on RSS: RSS (most commonly expanded as Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, ... This came from Wikipedia.
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Ginny, haven't you ever heard of the Unclaimed Baggage Store in Scottsboro, AL? (not too far from Chattanooga).
http://www.unclaimedbaggage.com/
We've been there several times. It's amazing to see what's left on airplanes. You expect to see suitcases, books, raincoats, umbrellas, e-devices (nowadays), clothing, cosmetics, etc., etc. I guess what got the biggest laugh from me was the number of crutches!!!!!! I guess folks got healed while on the flight (or something).
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An interesting site, MaryZ. I checked it briefly, not sure I can find my way around, but got a good laugh over in "Interesting bits."
Barbie bonus. . .
A woman bought a Barbie doll for her little girl who promptly pulled the head off. Probably the only thing that kept her from a sound scolding was the roll of $500 in bills hidden inside. (Business was brisk on Barbie dolls for weeks following this incident!)
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Mary, nooo, I never heard of that. I don't know why they just can't give you your property back if you ask for it? They know you were in the seat. Funny interesting bit, Pedln! hahaha Wow, somebody was definitely moving money!
Larry, thank you for the Edge information, AND the RSS! Now that I know what it is, I don't need it. hahahaa
On the Netflix, I am sure I don't have the connection, I do well with one bar. I wonder what that means for download stuff, I would think it would really ramp up your 200 whatevers (I also don't know what they are talking about but I got a special deal once from ATT on a mobile card... (no longer offered)... and just coming here to SL I exceeded it in no time which scared me).
I am loving the Checkers free, it is SO fun and in looking at the logo it seemed there was a smiling little guy standing there in sandals wearing short toga (tunic/ chiton) with Greek border and it was only then that I noticed the name of the Company: Optime hahaha The Best!
I like their stuff. I downloaded their free Crack the Code. I don't know if any of you remember the game Mastermind, but that's what it is, an electronic Mastermind, lots of fun to figure out the sequences of only 3 colored balls. :) Took me half of forever to do, the first one. No Eagle here. :)
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Hi, I have a Kindle and would like to know if there is any way I can delete books that are
listed in the Archived Items?
Fran
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Fran, if you select the item, and push the 5-way to the left, I think that will delete it, or give you the option. You'll still own it somewhere in the bowels of Amazon storage, though. :D
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Thanks Maryz, I'll give it a try after lunch. Fran
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Regarding Book reading from digital; devices, there is an interesting article in the Personal Journal section Wall Street Journal this morning on digital book readers. More specifically it addresses summer reading at the beach in day light and particularly in full sun light. Not surprisingly versions of the Kindle and Nook that feature the so called E Ink Pearl display are the most recommended for this purpose.
The back lit devices such as the I-Pad and Nook color are most inappropriate for this purpose. I was surprised that B&N now has a Nook E- Ink display device with a touch screen. This preferred navigational technique is not yet available on the Kindle leading to the article currently recommending the B&N offering over the current Kindle. The release of a Kindle touch screen device is planned later the year that may alter this conclusion.
I am now using the I-Pad for reading books, magazines, and newspapers. I particularly like the I-pad for reading Magazines and Newspapers. This is largely because of the availability of specific app software that permits easy navigation through the various sections of the publication. Also they allow setting text to a reasonable easy read size. For me this makes the reading of the digital edition newspapers much easier than the print copy. For books, I’m not sure that I don’t like the book size page display on my Nook color a bit better than the I-pad, but either are OK.
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My ipod arrived today. But, the print on the instructions is so small that I cannot read it, even with my glasses and a magnif ing glass. What must I do, to get it carged, and begin doing it?
Sheila
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Sheila! Congratulations!
In Edit: See below, have erased the part about how to charge first because the manual has everything you ever wanted to know about them, in nice big print, with illustrations. I'm changing this post since we have THE authoritative manual online and the 800 number as well. You'll know more about it than I do in a minute. I love the way they explain every single thing on the screen.
Here is the Apple Page for I Pod Touch and on the bottom right they have I Pod Support 800 numbers and they can help. Apple actually will talk you thru anything and they are very nice with it too.
http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/
In Edit: see post below, the manual explains all, even some of the keys I didn't know, very useful reading!
Keep us up to date on your triumphant or not progress! Such a learning curve these i things are but once you've got them down you wonder what you did without them.
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And here is the I pod touch User Guide Manual:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iPod_touch_iOS4_User_Guide.pdf
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And THAT is an excellent manual with great size print! I've saved it on my computer because that screen is essentially the same for the I Pad, the I Pod, the I PodTouch and the I phone. Of course there will be some differences but I'm enjoying reading it myself, maybe I can learn something. This is fun!
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And while I'm at it, I did continue to have problems with the login of the gmail account? I was challenged on the password probably 7 or 8 times in the last month when trying to access it online or by i phone. I finally found out the problem but I didn't do it by myself.
I have several types of gmail accounts other than gmail from the parent company, G-------. You can go to the home page of G------- and see at the bottom what types of accounts they offer? When you are logged IN to one of those accounts (whether or not you are IN the account or have been in a long time, you still have to hit "logout" when you leave) or you can't access gmail, (and vice versa). The account passwords are not the same nor can the parent company (who DO have personnel manning the phones and will help) access your gmail account, but you still, on the same computer, can't login to gmail unless you log out from both other accounts.
Once I was told that, everything works fine. I knew there was a simple answer somewhere but since you can't get any help by email or phone for gmail then you're pretty much stuck until somebody figures it out. I've also had about 40 emails "phishing," pretending to be from gmail and wanting to know information about the account. The last one asked "Is your account active, yes or no?" hahaha
Trash bin. I love the trash bin on the i phone for the mail. You hit the little icon, the lid opens up, the entire letter swoops in, contracting as it goes, and voila! Love it, the lid closes and everything is perfect.
Ah the modern age of technology! Are we up to it? hahahaa
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Sheila congratulations on your new I-pad. I'm sure you will find it an interesting and worth while instrument. I agree that those two or three 4X6 inch instruction sheets they ship with the instrument are scarcely readable and at best not much of a start up guide. You might Google "I-pad 2 users guide" and you will find I-Pad 2 specific instructions material. As Ginny said that I-pod manual will in many cases apply to the I-Pad, but I -Pad specific material is available. Also when I registered mine, I had an opportunity to down load a free "I-Pad 2 Starter Guide." This 210 page instructions has been my prime source for start up information.
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Sheila, what I'd probably do is take the small-print-instruction sheet somewhere and get an enlarged copy made. That way I'd have a hard copy to refer to.
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I think Shelia got a new free i pod touch from her bank points, which sounds fabulous to me. The manual online (and on the Itouch once you get it operating is super good. That's a good idea to enlarge that instruction, Mary, but the one online is absolutely wonderful and takes you step by step. Mine is no longer online, I saved it and it's right here.
Harold is right that I Pad2 and I Touch and I phone are different. I think Shelia unless I misuderstood her prior post, has the IPodTouch.
How's it going, Shelia?
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Clearly Sheila said I-Pod, not I-Pad. And they are two different instruments though related. I guess I just think I-Pad. Sorry
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Oh not a problem, Harold, everybody with the I Pad thinks I Pad, they are really something! :) What amazes me is the face of it. If you look at the face, the icons etc., on the I Pad, I PodTouch and I phone are the same, or very similar to each other. I am enjoying reading what each is for. We need those here with the different ones so we can find out how they differ, because as you point out, they do.
On the I Pad (I Phone, I PodTouch), if you want to get rid of a book in their i book (the one with the wooden shelves, not the Kindle or Nook APP) how do you do it? I see what Mary has said here but I don't have what she described? I have a couple from their ibook store on my wooden shelf which I would like to get rid of, anybody know?
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Thanks for all of your feedback about receipt of my new i pod touch. My housecleaner helped me to hook it up, for charging. That is as far as I have gotten, so far.
I have been having computer problems for about a week, and today all of my electric power went out. It was out for several hours. I called a Tech business and they will come out tomorrow afternoon. They have agreed to give me some lessons on using it.
GINNY, thank you for the two websites, on getting started. I will definitely be using them.
MARYZ, that is a great idea. I will see if my printer can enlarge things. If not, I will take it to KINKOS.
Sheila
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Ginny - to delete an ibook, touch "edit", touch the book you wish to delete touch "delete" and " done"........jean
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Super, Shelia!! It sounds as if you're good to go!
Jean, it worked!! Yahoo! Many thanks! Now to get rid of some of the Kindle APP's books and I'll be all set. (Ahem, perhaps if one (me) got to that part in the manual herself, it would explain, but it's so nice to ask and receive!)
Yay for us!
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I have been on my computer all day. Playing with i tunes. Have been trying to order some classical music, but have not succeeded! Frustrating. Tomorrow I will try reading the users guide that you provided the url for, GINNY. At this late time of the day, my eyes are bothering me.
When the technician was here yesterday, I talked with him about getting a new cell phone. I have some interest in the Android (sp?). The tech said that it would be easier for me to get a new i phone, as is uses the same apps as my i pod. He also said that newer versions come out every late summer, and once they are out, I would be able to get last year's model, at a reduced price. Did/do any of you know anything about that?
I have also grown tired of listening to the two albums I bought on i tunes, yesterday. So, I will sign off now, and lie down and watch some simple thing on TV. I hope everyone is having a nice, 3 day weekend.
Sheila
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Sheila - I actually gave my i-pod to my son because I just could not cope with the i-tunes site. Even my husband, who is very computer-savvy, says it is a nightmare. I am saying this to reassure you that it is not you! The site is - or at least the UK version is - very complicated and IMO badly designed. I frequently thought I had downloaded things - especially radio programmes from the BBC site - only to find nothing had happened, but you couldn't tell that from the computer screen.
Husband also has an i-phone. he loves it, but my one caveat would be that they have touch screens and the letters and numbers are tiny and very sensitive. Whenever he asks me to call anyone on it (eg if he is driving) I nearly end up throwing it out of the window because I always manage to mistype the names, etc. I am really not bad at typing normally, but that thing just drives me demented. However, as I say, he loves it, and my children would give their eye-teeth to have one, so it's probably just me ::)
Rosemary
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Shelia, you sound as if you're really getting in the groove! I've not downloaded any music yet, you can be our classical music expert once you master that! It's a learning curve but it's fun, and it does make you feel smarter than the average bear as they used to say. Perhaps unwisely but smarter. :)
I spent a lot of time with Apple yesterday on the phone, very nice woman, a reader, too, while waiting we discussed all kinds of books and stuff. She was the supervisor, because I had messed up my I phone to the point it needed a restore. Boy did I learn a LOT, and one of the things I learned is you can customize that hideous I tunes page when it comes up not to show what you don't want. Your husband is right, Rosemary.
I found out that if you go up to the I Tunes menu on the top of the page under Edit there's a tab called Preferences and there you can select what you want to see as choices (none of the choices which ever presented themselves to me, actually pertained to anything I wanted). It's just little boxes to click, makes a huge difference, tho.
Whenever he asks me to call anyone on it (eg if he is driving) I nearly end up throwing it out of the window because I always manage to mistype the names, etc. Here's what I've done about that. Before I leave if it's possible I have to call somebody on a driving trip and I'm driving, I use the Voice Dial.
This is easily activated by holding down the little circular button on the bottom of the phone. Up will come Voice Control. You then say "Call Bill" pr whoever and it will call the number you want. I have of course programmed in the names of children, husband, home, etc, but Thursday I used it to call the golf cart shop we were taking one of the carts too and I swear it saves your life when driving.
To put the number IN, you go to the Contacts little icon, tap the plus, Type in the name like Bill Home and then put the number under the "Mobile" category. When you then say "Call Bill Mobile" it calls whoever. If you have two or three numbers for Bill (home, work, mobile) you just enter Bill Home Bill Mobile Bill Work and bingo.
Takes 1/2 second and is very fast. You can always remove it later.
You can also avoid typing lists for shopping by using the Voice Memos icon found (this is I phone) in Utilities, which only has 4 things, a compass, the clock, a calculator and a microphone. You can then press the microphone and when it comes up hit red and record away: today I need tomatoes, cheese and bread. Then when you get to the store you puress the little grate icon on the same screen and voila there you are talking, not typing.
There is also something I have not explored where it turns voice into text.
Another new thing I learned is that now the I Tunes has a new Books category and you can add it to the menu on the left and if you have purchased a book they have it there, and they will display them on the screen. And there's a handy button on the right which will enlarge or shrink the covers so one takes up half the page if you like. So they are there always, which I like too.
I love mine, too.
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Another suggestion, Shelia, if you don't like reading from a screen is Barnes and Noble have wonderful books, very colorful, lots of slick color photos etc, and they are step by step directional books. I've got the one called My I phone and it covers all of the I phones out there, it's not big in size but is 528 colorful pages, and you can look things up by subject too and it will tell you step by step. This is also available free for the I phone and they have them for the Touch, too. I like to hold something in my hand when I'm fooling with a screen too, so maybe this is a good answer.
Happy Fourth, Everybody!
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I have used the iTunes program with my iPod Touch for a couple of years and did get frustrated with it as it was slow when you plugged the device into the computer cable and always had to backup and then you made your changes on the screen and resynced the device. I now have the Android and love it. It is simple to install programs or uninstall them, is easy to use and the data cable lets you access and download music or books or other files. You can also use bluetooth with it to transfer files as well as over the wi-fi. I think the Apple products are very good but the interface with the computer could be so much better.
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Yes I have heard the Droids are much easier and user friendly and I heard that from an ATT guy who was in charge of helping people with the I phone. hahaah He raved on and on about them.
I came back in to say if you have an I phone and your sound suddenly will not play for any games, that there are two volume controls which they don't mention in the manuals but I did find them in a Mac help forum. One is for everything else, you can press volume any time and see how loud you have it set. But it's separate tho the same button for the Apps or games. If you wait until you're in a game and then press volume, you may be surprised to see THAT one turned way down. When you turn it up, the volume returns. Sometimes the games themselves have in their set up or options menu also controls for sound, so if it still does not play you can turn it on there. That was hard won advice. I figure if I can do this, anybody can. :)
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Another frustrating day with my i pod. Yesterday, I was able to play the two albums I had downloaded, but wasn't able find/buy anything else. Today, I discovered how to find, and buy Bolero, the 1812 Overture, and Herb Alpert. Then, I could not find a way to play them.
GINNY, I am too tired at this point to understand, and aborb your last post, about the volume. So, tomorrow is another day.
Sheila
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Today, my i pod and I are doing better. I now know how to both start my music, and change the volume. I have also discovered some new places to check out. Each day is a new adventure. Most of the time I am enjoying the learning.
Sheila
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Yahoo!!! Lookit you go! When I get back I could use some instructions on the music thing, just to feel in sync with the rest of the world, I'll know where to come! I do have Four Seasons on my ringtones but I lost volume there for a bit in the APPS. It's back.
Each day is a new adventure. YAY!
Good for you! I'm proud of your perseverance and it's paid off. And what a world it opens up!! I just read a new magazine Friday with all kinds of other things it does and all I can do is marvel at this stage, till I try one. It's too bad it won't clean the house. hahahaa
The Tech person at Apple said she was addicted to Angry Birds Rio, so I thought I'd try it. I love it, and up to a point it's easier. The birds in this one are trying to save their friends in cages in Rio, and it doesn't take as many birds and they are more powerful. Up to a point. :) I like it, very much, too. My checkers game, however, which I was enjoying winning, albeit on the most simple level (probably for 5 year olds) is now learning my own moves, how can that be? It almost beat me yesterday! It's astounding really.
Whoopee!
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Ginny, very frustrating when the computer beats us in a game like Checkers but if it didn't have that capability it wouldn't be any fun or challenge.
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:) I figure I can learn from this, yesterday it did THREE jumps on my own men, I guess I need to wake up a little. hahahaa
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I have been reading all the posts in here about the iPad and the iPod, both touch instruments but I have to tell you what my grandson told me yesterday about his wanted iPad. (He's saving for it but needs it for school in 4 weeks). He is hoping to get only money for his birthday which is in August. To me, this is amazing! AMAZING!!
HERE WE GO! He can get his school books online and download them. NO MORE HEAVY BOOKBAGS!! Then he can do his home work on his iPad, take it home and make his own hard copy on the computer! How great it that!!
Then his sister, a new freshman this year, told me about her friend who has muscular dystrophy and her special school provided her with the iPad for using instead of having to carry books as she it too weak for that.
Talk about incredible technology, Ginny! This just bowled me over! Jarred me, as my grandmother used to say.
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Adoannie, I read recently that Amazon is going to be introducing rentable texbooks. I would expect them to be compatible with all of the various ebook readers. Sure we will be seeing more about it.
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Ann, isn't that amazing! What a brave new world we live in. It won't be long before they will be fitted with recording devices which can do more than a shopping list like the i phone can now, they will be able to do entire lectures, what a trip.
I'm back from my trip where I found for trying to type online I really could have used a bigger keyboard than the i phone, like an I Pad. I could not edit some of the text here for instance, the screen would not scroll, but the i phone saved my bacon more than one time, it's truly a lifesaver. The National Rail APP in England is a must for anybody traveling by British Rail, it has all the time tables and station changes even down to the platforms, simply amazing.
They really need to do something with the battery life in the next iphone, maybe make it so you can insert one you've charged. Once the "locator services" are on the thing just eats batteries. But what an amazing little thing it is. Just love the games, have moved up one notch in the checkers which makes me feel very smart till I fail at Angry Birds, of which I now have three kinds on the i phone. hahahaa
The little map thing APP on the front which shows an interstate works overseas just as well so you've got your own GPS as it were and locator. The program Vicinity does too, at least in the UK and will point out the local whatever you need, drug store, grocery store, etc.
I think it's an idea whose time has come. I'm trying to figure out how I could use an I Pad out here with no subscription service and no wifi. :)
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/Technophobe.jpg)
Cartoon used by permission of the artist
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experience, like the cartoon above, the blind leading the blind, :) or list places you CAN find help.
Ginny, doesn't your iPhone have the voice feature where you can dictate the words rather than writing them? I haven't gotten use to this feature on the smart phone but it works very well.
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Yes and I love it, but I don't think it would do an hour lecture, that's what I'm saying,but I could be wrong. If they can do that they can do the other.
I love that and the one about calling a phone number, so fun. :)
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PUzzle that maybe someone knows the answer.. I have an IPAD. I am going to Scotland in September. I am taking the ipad and of course the plug thing... Now I have the converter plugs for all of the countries.. Can I simply plug the IPAD into that plug and then in to the wall.. You can on cameras, etc, but I am not quite sure on this sort of gadget.. Cant seem to get an answer from Apple.. At least one that makes sense to a normal human.
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Stephanie, I just did that with the i phone. You need another piece. You take the UK plug and put it in the socket, and then take the converter box, (the bigger piece in the set...if you don't have a set go look at them at a Mori's or something. That converts the current, they don't run on our current, and then plug the white I pad Apple plug and Ipad cord into the little box?
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Thank you Ginny. Since we bought a set years ago and Tim always did it, I suspect there is a little box, but will get it out and check today.. I knew someone would know..
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My daughter and I tried to use Skype today. First time for both of us. The programs are downloaded. I could hear her, but not see her - that problem turned out to be that her new-to-her-but-refurbished iPad didn't have a camera. OK - understood, and she'll try to find one to use.
She could see me (camera works okay), but not hear me. Is that problem in my computer? I have a Dell Inspiron 14, running windows 7. Do I need to have a plug-in microphone. I would have thought that one was built in. When I go to the Start menu and search for microphone, it tells me about plug-in devices. Is it that all it is - that my laptop doesn't have a built-in mike?
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I've done some more investigating, and my laptop does have a port for a microphone jack - so I guess that means I have to buy some sort of plug-in mike.
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Don't read this if I am repeating myself. I just don't remember. Tee hee!
We just returned from a family evening of celebrating the birthday of our oldest grandson here in Ohio. He turned 16. They do grow up so fast. He's a bass drummer in the marching band. He's trying to save enough money for an iPad 3 which is due out in the fall. He hopes to relieve his sore and tired back due to those full book bags that they have to lug around all day. Lots of kids are doing this. You can download your school books, do your homework on the iPad and email it to your teachers. Ain't technology great?? Wow! There are some schools applying for grant through the TARP program to help students pay for the iPad or something like it.
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You did and I responded that I think that's fabulous! Thank you for letting us know!
Mary I am so sorry I have no idea. My laptop and desktop need a mike but my i phone seems to have one built in tho initially it seemed to say I needed one, but then started to work. Good luck with that and let us know?
I am astounded at the APPS for the I phone.
I just got Dragon Dictation. You speak into the phone, it types it. And it's accurate. Then you can send that in email. It seems that it's available for the desktop. It is absolutely amazing.
I noticed in Europe that the Map feature, the APP which comes with the iphone showing a map and an Interstate sign also works in Europe. In fact I have THE most beautiful map satellite view, buildings, street, rivers, with labels of Rome on it right now. I was not smart enough to bookmark this and save it so I have to leave it alone till I go back. Meanwhile I have downloaded a super GSP talking device which will get me anywhere and tell me where to turn, and is free for a while, the talking bit.
I have another GPS device from Garmin but this one is on the iphone.
I also have another super APP which, believe it or not, takes a photo of a sign in a foreign language and translates it into English. You won't believe it but it works. You just point and click the camera and the original picture shows and then one shows with the translation. Very helpful for a laundry or train station perhaps or street sign. At present the paid version has only Spanish. I hope it will expand to other languges. The concept is amazing. At present the free version will reverse letters which is quite interesting but not helpful for, say, Italian or Chinese.
The program Vicinity does work in the UK by the way but hesitated in Rome, I am not sure why. I MAY have been out of range and it just stopped. Vicinity will tell you where the nearest restaurant or gas station or 7-11 is, and a lot of other things. It's very impressive.
It IS a brave new world we're living in and it technologically keeps getting better and better.
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Ginny,
The apps are just incredible for the iPhone/Iphone. Son, David, has one for not only finding a product at the store, giving you the names of the stores that carry it and then telling you where the best deal is. And its not just for grocery stores but dealers in electronics and other stuff.
Last night my DIL's Dad was telling us that there are over 220,000 or was that 220,000,000 apps available out there in space. Who has the time? Our 16yr old grandson and two of his friends are writing an app as we speak and will try to have it accepted at Apple??? well, somewhere!
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DON'T MISS THIS!! ITS SO INSPIRING!
http://www.wimp.com/goingto/ (http://www.wimp.com/goingto/)
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I took my laptop to Staples with the intention of buying a small plug-in microphone. The guy who was helping me said that I did have a built-in mike, and got it turned on for me. Also, Staples was offering a laptop "tune-up" for $10.00 (check for viruses, clean out unneeded stuff, etc.), so I left it with them. The bad part is that it'll be Friday or Saturday before I get it back. :'( I'll have to make do with John's desktop, and find all my favorites manually (horrors!!!).
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Ginny - I think I remember that you live way out in the country, and I just wondered what your internet service was like? Having lived in the city ever since I had a computer, it has only been on moving house that I have realised how patchy the service is here in the UK - even in East Lothian, the county east of Edinburgh to which we have moved, the signal is only OK-ish as BT have not so far upgraded the local hub. E Lothian is heavily populated and one of the main commuter areas for Edinburgh - hardly the back of beyond.
Parts of West Lothian are even worse, as we really wanted to buy a lovely house overlooking the Pentlands (but only 20 mins from the city centre) and found that it had no internet service at all. The only way you could get it was by a special satellite service at £100 per month. (This would be on top of the usual charges). As my husband does a lot of work at home, this was just not on.
So I just wondered how people managed in the remoter areas of the US.
Rosemary
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Rosemary, you have a good memory. Yes, it's not as isolated as a lot of areas in the US are, tho. I've been through New Mexico and parts of Texas where there was no cell phone service or any tower or anything else, but here we are in some kind of a rural pocket and thus have nothing: no DSL, no cable. Everything is satellite.
Gosh what horrendous prices you have to pay, tho? The costs here, adjusted this morning for the current value of the US dollar against the British pound, start at 30 GBP and work up to 49 and 79 GBP. But those are the total costs and I thought THEY were high. haahaa
The house you did not buy sounds to me like a paradise! I absolutely love the UK, tho I have not spent enough time in Scotland, I loved it too when I went. Only spent 9 days, this time, mostly in small villages and not London so much, as I had a 9 day Brit Rail Pass and was determined to go everywhere I could. Came back just enamored of the British all over again with a serious addiction to the food including Maynards Wine Pastilles and a lot of other food I should not eat.
I ate better in England than in Italy (heresy!) Found a local source for Rountree's wine pastilles and a mail order source for Maynards hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa OH man. I really wish I had a house somewhere in England, wouldn't that be heaven, but one glance in the Estate Agent's windows was enough to let me know rental would be my lot. hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa And now riots! I can't believe it!
I bet I went thru Clapham Junction and changed trains there a million times in those 9 days. There were a lot of athletes visiting too, I guess for the Olympics, and everybody seemed so happy! And courteous. And I mean everybody. I just can't get over it.
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Ginny I am delighted you have found Rowntrees pastilles, I have lived on them for years, always have a packet in my handbag and beside my bed, if I am exhausted two pastilles eaten together will give me back my energy, I have felt for a long time that Rowntrees should be paying me I have got so many people addicted to their Pastilles.
I am glad you had such a lovely holiday, it is hard to beat the the lovely English villages, though I think the Irish countryside more beautiful not so controlled. My ideal place would be a lovely English village in the midst of the Irish countryside....Bliss
Nancy
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"I ate better in England than in Italy (heresy!)" Don't let any Italians hear you say that.
My SIL, who grew up in England, is addicted to English chocolates. Wherever he lives, he manages to find a store that sells them. There is one store in the Los Angeles area that specializes in English candy: maybe they have these Roundtree Pastilles that you mentioned. What are they like?
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Great meals at local pubs in small towns. But the best for me was sticky toffee pudding. And there's actually some you can get in the US. Click the web site to find local stores that carry it.
http://stickytoffeepuddingcompany.com/
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Ginny, I wrote an erudite :D :D reply to you last night, then Madeleine's very temperamental laptop lost it....Now it's 7am and nothing I write will be sensible, let alone erudite, but here goes.....
I think before WWI people in the country "knew their place" - the workers accepted the wealth of the landowners as a God given right, and the landowners looked after their staff, provided the latter didn't get above themselves. Even before war broke out, people were beginning to question this arrangement (viz Downton Abbey). In the cities, things were different - there was terrible poverty, a huge social divide, and mass exploitation of the poor (viz The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, a wonderful novel and my old Labour socialist FIL's all-time favourite book). My grandparents lived in London, had nothing - no benefits, no free or subsidised housing - but still believed that the wealthy were somehow entitled to be rich. Their children were brought up to think that they were not worthy of anything better, even though there was no reciprocity of care of the kind found on country estates - it was all exploitation.
As attitudes changed after the war, people saw their way out of poverty, in the cities, as through education. They did not, I think, covet consumer goods (after all there weren't so many of them then); they sought to "improve" themselves through night school, etc. Both of my parents did this.
What I feel is different today is that many people seem to see their only goal in life as the acquisition of status symbol consumer items. It is not enough
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Rosemary, I am watching Upstairs Downstairs (from which viewpoint my question in the Library about WWI emerged), and was struck by just what you say. You've nailed it perfectly. Hudson talking about "your betters," and happy in this distinction, that was what I meant by "dated." This is such a good post! Can you copy it over to the Library too? It's plenty erudite, and makes good sense.
This really makes the point needed in that discussion, we are so glad to have you! (So you did get good internet access in your new home?)
Nancy, your willpower is much better than mine! 2 wine pastilles would last exactly 2 seconds in my bag or night table. I am delighted to find another enthusiast! If the bag is open (and the bags are not small) I am drawn to it like a suicidal moth to the flame.
Oh Ireland!! I've never been, can you believe that? Like the park bench says overlooking the Continent from Dover: "Some day, Ida." Every time I come there is so much to see I end up not seeing IT much less going farther afield. Some day I'd like to go back to Hadrian's Wall and Abbotsford, too. And I've never been to Glamis. Or Castle Howard, the list is LOOONG.
JoanK, the pastilles are like sort of gummy bear type things, similar to but yet not like Haribo, larger, in strange flavors but not so gummy (help me out somebody) but they have a coating of sugar, I guess it is. Or is there salt in it? I know that sounds beastly but it isn't. (Or maybe it is, who can stop eating them?) The Roundtrees are fleshier...and the Maynards are slimmer, they are strange shapes, not like gummy bears and extremely good. I just ate some yesterday which were obviously about 10 years old and they were still good. hahahaa
It's hard to describe, it's junk food which you can't stop eating. Nancy can, I can't!
One year I became addicted to Coach...some kind of little cake. Coach was sort of a maker of snacks and they were sold in train stations, sort of a layered bar (maybe I should do a book about British train station fare). hahaha At any rate it TASTED exactly like American caramel cake bars and I was totally addicted to it for years (they have quit making it, I think one tiny bar had something like 500 calories and heaven knows what trans fat etc.,) and Branston is it, pickle, which you can also get in the States... which is sort of one of their....er.....chutney type things? Tasted like a pickled mince meat which I also love and which no person, no person at all will eat but me when I fix it every Christmas. My oldest used to try some drowned in ice cream but nobody else will.
Cheese and pickle sandwiches. Would you believe Virgin Atlantic actually served a small Bacon Buttie made famous by Prince Harry after the wedding as part of the choices of the flight? Should have gotten it.
(In the interest of keeping up the theme here, the technical APP Vicinity will tell you in a heartbeat any food store you need locally in the UK and you can stock up on these items, at least till you get to American customs). hahaha
Mary, I've still got 2 in my freezer! Aren't they GOOD!
Another thing is nougat. I had never liked nougat till I had it at Port Isaac, Cornwall. There are very few shops there but one used to make candy and I have never before or since tasted anything like their nougat. It's fresh. Apparently I had never had any freshly made before and you can have your choice of flavors. This is a town with a restaurant on the water where you have to wait and watch the catch come in before the cook decides what to prepare that night, very few seats in the restaurant and mussels you have never before (or ever will) taste again.
The whole country is like this, never in my life have I seen such a place. I'm hooked. I admit it. :)
More Grab 'n Go Grub: Sultana. M&S has a Pro-biotic yoghurt with granola mixed with sultana. I did not know what sultana WAS! Do you all? I was shocked to discover we know it as "Thompson Seedless!"
And everything is about "free range," and "organic." Paradise.
We need a Joys of Eating Travel folder to follow up on the Travel topic in Talking Heads. :)
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Ginny, I think you were the one who told me about being able to get the sticky toffee pudding here. I need to get some more. ::)
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I just had lunch, and I'm so hungry after reading all this, I'll have to go get another.
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Just read a post on suggestions for future discussions. Did any of you also receive the post from Healthy209 about bikini swimwear???? What on earth was it doing on this site?
Sally
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Thank you Salan. The spammer slipped thru our screening process somehow, but JoanP caught him/ her. If you ever see anything like that, feel free to report it by clicking Report to Moderator on the bottom right of the post.
We don't permit spammers to even register much less post, so that one somehow slipped thru because they were not a known spammer (Databases of known spammers are kept). We're a very vigilant site but sometimes things happen. We can be our own Community Watch if we're all looking out for these people so we can remove them immediately.
Joan and Mary, :) I am ashamed to be talking so much about junk food when I ate SO many great meals and great food, but hey! hahahaa
I just can't get over Dragon Dictation. I have never seen anything like it. What a wonderful thing technology can be. I am toying with putting it on my computer and using it all the time, because it's amazing. And apparently what I was talking about to Ann above has already come to pass as a new commercial shows a student listening to a lecture which is then typed on his laptop as he watches. What a wonderful boon THAT would be and would have been when we were young!
WILL it replace the typewriter/ keyboard? Now we can all, like Gore Vidal, write that book we've always intended to write without typing or a secretary to take down dictation!!
What new APP have you found? Or program? Or something you really are excited about? Tell us, we need to know!
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Ginny, regarding Dragon Dictate. Does the person who is speaking need only a mike? And would this mike be connected with wire or wireless to my laptop (Like the student receiving the lecturerer's words on his laptop) So would it be like getting captions -- from speaker to laptop?
Does this mean I can prance around town with a mike, an i-pad and dragon dictate and catch on to what people are saying?
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pedln, I'd love to see you "prancing" about town. ::)
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Ginny - Madeleine's laptop actually cut me off in mid-flow in that last post, and I thought it had been lost like the other one - that is why it appears to end with one word. However, I have no idea what the other words were going to be!
I was writing it at my parents-in-law's house, and they are total technophobes, so we were logging into someone else's internet, presumably a neighbour's. Back in Scotland now and have - AT LAST - got own wi-fi again. The signal is not brilliant but it's fine, and at least it works in all the rooms - for the first time in literally months I am able to sit at a desk and type instead of standing up next to the kitchen window!
Rosemary
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Rosemary!!! You really have come to the right place, hahaaa I love that story, many here can tell similar ones of varying positions and places trying to connect to the internet. Maybe we should get up a book of them. hahahaa
I am so glad you are finally where you can sit down in comfort, and wi fi in ALL the rooms! You're light years ahead of me!
Pedln: Ginny, regarding Dragon Dictate. Does the person who is speaking need only a mike? And would this mike be connected with wire or wireless to my laptop (Like the student receiving the lecturerer's words on his laptop) So would it be like getting captions -- from speaker to laptop?
Does this mean I can prance around town with a mike, an i-pad and dragon dictate and catch on to what people are saying?
Oh man. I had NOT thought of that!!!
The only use I personally have tried is the iphone which has a built in mike which of course is tied in to the Dragon Dictation program. Yes, it would be like reading captions: it takes the words and types them on the screen!!! What the range of that built in mike is, I don't know.
If I were you I would look further into it, including trying to find out what program that commercial is using where the guy is sitting and reading the lecture being given in front of him.
Dragon Dictation seems to have different applications for different products. I use the i phone one, so there's no extra mike. I speak into the iphone and my words appear on the screen. BUT I can see you handing somebody the phone and them speaking into it and handing it back and you reading it.
I don't know how much text it will take. It's intended to send that in email but why on earth couldn't somebody use it to read what people are saying? The I pad the wireless the computer lecture are all things I don't know about but I DO know the iphone works in this context.
And if they can do that, and a commercial can show somebody watching a computer screen as the lecture he's listening to appears there in print, somebody is already doing it with a laptop. I did not see the professor talking into a mike connected to that individual computer, so your "wireless" idea may, in fact, BE working out there and somebody somewhere has this technology.
See what you can find here, there appear to be several different versions, including an expensive one for desktops, but that's not the use you're seeking?
http://www.nuance.com/for-business/by-product/dragon-dictation-iphone/index.htm
I don't know if you can prance around town (like Mary I'd love to see that!! hahaha) but it's entirely possible if the mike is sensitive enough, and close to the speaker, that you CAN see the current speech of the person talking!! It's certainly worth looking into because it DOES work on the i phone.
I wish I had seen this before everybody came over yesterday, I could have tested it out with range and speakers but I'll try later today and see what happens.
Do let us know if this proves viable for you?!?
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The whole thing of Dragon Dictate could open up a lot of possibilities technologically for those who need assistance with writing, communicating, etc. I haven't seen that commercial of the student and the lecturer, but will be looking for it. I had thought there might be some connect between Dragon and captions, but there is ONE company (I forget the name) that supplies phone captions throughout the US and it is not DD.
We had a student with muscular dystrophy several years ago who had trouble writing, and he tried DD, which was then in it's early stages. It had to be trained -- to one voice and way of speaking, and as I remember, was very rudimentary. No doubt things have improved considerably. Training is also necessary for the phone captions (I don't know how the TV/Film companies do it) and an intermediary relays the caller's message to the software which then translates it into text for the person receiving the call.
Speech recognition offers a lot of possibilities, but has a long way to go before it can handle "you all," "y'all" and "allyu" in one full swoop.
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Pedln, (http://www.seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/dragondictation1.jpg)
Can you read that? I just this minute dictated it into my iphone.
To try you all and y'all, "allyu" tho I was not sure what that was, I simply said them into the phone.
Result:
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/dragondictation3.jpg)
I don't see a problem. This is what it does? There's no computer, no microphone, nobody kitted out like they are going on safari? But if it were two friends talking this is what you'd see. You could speak into the iphone and pass it over. One on one.
I think if a person had difficulty in hearing it would be a wonderful thing.
The free program is the one I have. I think it needs a good phone connection to work or wi fi, and I have neither out here, but on what I do have you can see the result.
This morning I tried a real test on it, waiting for the children at an auto shop. I talked into it and it typed what I said. I imagined passing it over to you. I then talked more, would you like to go to lunch? And then to the bookstore? And let's have dinner at six. It typed all that perfectly. I continued to add speech to it, and it continued to fill the page.
I was talking into it as a phone. There were no microphones and no long distances. It would be lovely for conversation between friends, who would pass it back and forth. It works. I don't know about the other thing, the guy watching the lecture unfold on his computer , or how to get that, but carrying around a computer and mike would be a bit cumbersome. The iphone is not. It probably has some drawbacks in a crowd or if you want to hear 3 or 4 people talking.
I'm going to find out? I'm going out to lunch on Friday and will try it then with a friend across the table in a crowded restaurant and we'll see what happens. We'll see what the range is. I can't imagine it would pick up something across the room, it's a phone.
I'll let you know what happens, but it works. The directions say it may take a while to recognize your own voice patterns, it seems to have my 'cut it with a knife" Southern accent down.
I just held it out the length of my arm and spoke loudly, and said "holding it at arm's length..." it typed holding at arms length.
See if you can find somebody you know who has an iphone? Ask them to dowload the APP Dragon Dication, the free one, just that title. Try it yourselves?
PS: I just tried "Pedln." It didn't know what to do with it. So it did nothing. And it also refused to type the rest. Lesson learned: don't start with a name. I then said "Ann." It wrote "an."
I laid it down on the desk and stepped back about 7 or 8 feet. I did speak loudly. It typed what I said: Can you hear me now can you hear me now can you hear me now.
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Ginny,
I have a program upstairs in the office that I have never tried to use as it wasn't presented very well and I wasn't interested.
Now, Ralph tells me yesterday that I have a very similar app to the DRAGON DICTATE in that program.
I will try it tonight when I get back from visiting the ol'e man who is very likely to come home tomorrow afternoon. Without the IV but with the AirVAC. Will need a visiting nurse for awhile but they haven't given us a time it will need to be in place.
Yaaaaaaaayyyyyy!
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Well give it a try! If it's an old program it may not be as good as Dragon Dictation but you never know.
I am glad your husband is getting to come home!! I hope he will soon be as good as new. :)
Let us know what the name of it is when you have time and if it worked?
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Ginny, your pictures are great. They really show how accurate the Dragon is. My main question is -- is it a one-man program? Could Obama, Sarcozy, Merkel, and David Cameron all be understood on the same machine -- all speaking English, of course.
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Ginny, there is a built in microphone in your iPhone or you wouldn't be able to use the dictation program. It utilizes the built in capability of the device you have.
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I don't know, Pedln. I think it's one on one, I can check that aspect Sunday a week at a full table, and this Sunday with a smaller group. It seems to have quite a range but I have a feeling it's definitely a one on one application. So if one were sitting at a table with three others it would not act like a mike for the whole group (tho I don't know that) but rather would want to be used with one person speaking at a time. However it's possible if each person spoke in turn it might work too. THAT I have no idea about. It's a phone so I would expect you would each need a turn.
I've found that it does better one sentence at a time too, it's quicker. Then you can keep adding to that sentence till you have quite a paragraph.
Like "I'd like to go see the new exhibit at the Met at 4, are you in?" Pass over. Response. Pass back: then I'd respond to whatever the answer is: "Sure, let's eat first at Pret?" and so forth.
You are right, Larry, when I said microphone I meant separate plug in microphone as we were talking about, it's pretty amazing too. I wonder if the IPad has a mike built in, do you know?
I'm off to test it out in a noisy restaurant application.
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I don't know if anyone can help me with my MacBook - when we moved we arranged new internet. At first my MacBook was working fine with it, but the last few days I have been repeatedly cut off, and today it is not connecting at all, even though the signal appears to be strong - I am typing this on our ancient desk top computer, which is connecting perfectly well, and my daughters' laptops (which are not Apple) are also connecting fine.
Husband told me not to buy an Apple laptop in the first place, so he is not too sympathetic :). I don't know what to do, because despite Apple being famed for its support service, this has not proved to be the case - the last time I went into the Apple shop to ask a very simple question, I was told that I could not speak to one of their so-called "geniuses" unless I had (a) purchased the laptop from them (I bought it from John Lewis because their general service is so good) and (b) arranged their special support thing at the time of purchase - this costs £80+ pa, and according to the very nippy salesgirl, I can't have it even if I want it now, because I did not comply with (a) and (b).
I am so frustrated by this - this laptop cost three times as much as my daughters', and now I can't use it for the internet at all. If anyone has any suggestions, I would really appreciate them. Madeleine and I have tried googling this problem, and from what we found a lot of people have had the same issues, and have found Apple similarly unhelpful. One suggestion was to "change the channel" of your internet, but needless to say I don't know how to do that, husband is away, and if I mess up everyone else's service I will be so unpopular... ::)
So please, if anyone can help, let me know!
Thanks lots
Rosemary
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Rosemary, I'm so sorry you're having this problem (and would sure like to tell that snippy little salesgirl where to go.) If you google "change iternet channel" you get a raft of stuff, but it sounds complicated. Good luck, and I hope someone comes along here soo who can help you out.
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Thanks Pat - no dount I will have to wait for husband to come back - and he will have a lot to say about Apple ;D
I wonder about calling one of those people who advertise their services locally as computer fixers. I will see what Anna thinks when she comes back tomorrow night. All so frustrating - but I keep reminding myself that it is really such a minor problem compared with what a lot of people have to put up with. As I am forever telling my children "Nobody died" :)
Rosemary
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I do, too. I don't have a MAC, but I sent an urgent SOS to Marcie who knows all things MAC, maybe when she comes in she can help.
I would have said, based on my own experience that the internet service you are paying for should be of great techincal help in getting your MAC connected to their service? I know that every service we've had out here has been very helpful and would stick with the issue till it was solved.
They more or less owe you that, no matter what OS you use. I'd pester them . Shame on the snippy girl, report her to Apple!
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Rosemary, I'm upset for you that the store clerk was so unhelpful. Maybe you could go back when someone else is there and try asking again.
Have you tried calling your Internet service to see if they can help trouble shoot with you?
I looked at the Apple Support Communities site (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1352518?start=1035&tstart=0), as you indicated you had, to see that others are having similar problems and the problem seems very inconsistent--hard to track down! Lately some of the members seem to be trying to figure out what hardware/software works and doesn't work.
Do you have the following info for your MacBook? I'm showing what one person filled in:
CONFIGURATION WHEN WIFI CONNECTION DROPS
Apple product: MBP 2011 - 13inch - default configuration (shop)
OS version: Snow Leopard 10.6.7 and Lion
Router: Sweex LW-055
Have you tried connecting to the Internet when no other computer/mobile in your house is connected?
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Thanks Ginny!
I did think about reporting the girl when it happened, but if you go on to the Apple website they are very careful indeed to provide absolutely no addresses you can write to or people you can phone - all they want you to do is look at their FAQs, none of which is any help whatsoever.
From what I can see from our Google results, many people are equally fed up and particularly narked at being (as they see it) abandoned by Apple, who do not want to get involved at all once they have taken your money.
Husband and many friends have i-phones and love them, but this MacBook thing is a nightmare and I would not buy one again - am thinking of donating it to Anna and buying myself something straightforward!
Will be so grateful if Marcie can assist!
Thanks again
Rosemary
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/Technophobe.jpg)
Cartoon used by permission of the artist
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask away!
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Pedln, I have returned with the results of my "research," which was somewhat dulled by my forgetting the i phone at home hahashaa but my friend has a new 4G one and so we used that. The program downloads in seconds, and it's free.
Results were interesting. My friend does not speak loudly and/or enunciate. It got my speech perfectly, we initially spun it on the table then picked it up, but it was unsure of many of her words. Accuracy for what I said was about 99 percent, but I WAS projecting; hers, it got most of it: you could make out the gist. When we then held it and passed it back and forth hers improved dramatically, in fact she loves it and when she found out that not only could you put that text in email (she hates to type) you can also copy it and save it in the notes area OR paste it online, she was hooked. When she discovered that she CAN correct the few errors it made with the little keyboard, she was in heaven.
She said, before she was hooked, I wonder what it would do with Shanghai? I said let's give it a go. She said I'm sitting here in Shanghai, China, and looking forward to going to Thailand. I said and Cairo and Paris. And it got all the cities perfectly. When she realized what that meant for travel email she was over the moon impressed. haahhaaha
Then we (being only 2 people) placed it flat on the table and did not move it, and simulated a conversation of 4 people. It was Panera's and incredibly loud. The recording was unfazed and the noise did not come up and did not affect what it typed. I would speak, she would answer, I would move to the left seat, leaving the iphone on the table facing her, and speak as person number 2, she would answer, I would move to the right seat, as person number 3 she would answer. Perhaps we should have spun it around like a game, but we did not.
I looked like a fool, but it did work, amazingly, picking up everything said but again faithfully recording the way she DOES pronounce words. But 4 people could speak and respond (I initially thought, and still do, that short sentences are the best), and it could be passed for reading.
That was a simulation of 4 "people" speaking in their turn. I don't know what would happen if everybody spoke at once. We do think, that instead of leaving it on the table where the microphone faces only one person, it would be better if, say, the iphone were passed first to one than the second person and then that conversation passed for reading, and the next two people responded or recorded or whatever order: whoever wanted to speak. The novelty of it is wonderful and it would be great fun: a great conversation piece.
People who are extremely quiet or who sort of speak with the clenched jaw type of thing would be perfectly understandable if they talked into it like a real phone. And there's nothing wrong with people enunciating, either.
It actually was a lot of fun, and it would be a simple way for somebody to know what was being said. I will try with a roundtable of people next Sunday. As it turned out today I could have done it, fun unexpected company, but I just found the i phone in the farm truck late this afternoon.
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Rosemary, looks like you and Marcie were posting at the same time, did that help? I used to get sooo frustrated out here but the Technical Support people on your internet provider (not Apple) can have you check this or that and usually they can pinpoint what's wrong with your system, I sure hope you can get it fixed!
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Gosh, Rosemary. I'm very sorry about the way you've been treated by that person at Apple and I'm sorry that Apple isn't responding to the connection problem. There usually is someone among the Apple people who responds. I've loved my Macintosh computers since 1981.
I found what someone thinks is a fix to the problem at http://michaelhyatt.com/fix-for-wireless-connection-problems-on-macbook-pro.html
It required "zapping the PRAM" and he gives step-by-step details for the simple procedure.
That might be an "old" fix but I hope that it works for you.
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Ginny, thanks for that fun report on your research. What a great product!
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Hi Marcie
Thanks for your advice. Madeleine and I just looked at the site you referred us to, and we tried to go through the instructions, but unfortunately I think they were written for an older model, as the things it told us to click on simply weren't there on my machine.
I have looked at the Mac Users support sites and all I find are post upon post of people tearing their hair out over the same problem. A lot of people have posted suggestions as to how to resolve it, but they are all very "teccy" and complete mumbo-jumbo to me. I think in the end I am going to have to go out and buy a simple netbook with Microsoft and abandon this thing to my daughter. I really don't like to think of effectively saying goodbye to £1000, but I just don't think I am competent enough in all these so-called "intuitive" things to use it properly. I have thought about calling Plusnet, the internet provider, but husband will go nuts if I do that before he comes back (last time when we couldn't make the entire system work, they said it would cost £140 if we called them out and it turned out not to be their fault - luckily husband solved it and it wasn't their fault but something wrong with the router), and it seems unlikely to be their fault if all the other laptops and this old computer ae working.
I am not having a good run with technical things - last night I was completely flumoxxed (?) by the oven in our new house, first I could not get it to come on, then I could not turn it off, then I thought I had - only for Madeleine to find it still on at nearly midnight (she managed to turn it off). I just feel so useless when these things happen. Then this morning I opened the oven door (that is all - did not turn it on or touch a single button) there was a big bang and the fuse blew.
Meanwhile, the saga of my mobile phone continues.
I am just so not technical that I think I should have stuck with this old desk top and the landline phone.
This morning I went to the church in Haddington for the first time - went by myself as Anna is away singing and Madeleine was still in bed - can you believe that I couldn't even find the church in what is a small town with only two main thoroughfares (and I had already found it in advance a few days ago so that I would know where I was going...)? i was so frustrated by all this technical stuff that almost burst into tears! Luckily I asked someone who sent me in the right direction, and I got there in time - and everyone was very friendly.
Tomorrow I intend to start back at my swimming - I think I need it!
Rosemary
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can you believe that I couldn't even find the church in what is a small town with only two main thoroughfares (and I had already found it in advance a few days ago so that I would know where I was going...)?
Yes, I can barely find my way out of my own driveway, no joke. I am so directionally challenged it's unbelievable, but look at it this way: supposedly that trait (and the inability to spell) (and probably a healthy disdain for all technical things) signals (to probably the sufferers only) brilliance! So there! :) Nobody is perfect in all things. hahahaa
Speaking from the viewpoint of a woman who pats the hood of the car when it starts, I literally jumped in my seat when I read about your oven: bless your HEART!
It's not YOU!
Swimming! I kept telling self this summer on the trip when things kept going wrong, just keep swimming (metaphorically) and it worked, somewhat amazingly so. I find a brisk walk such as you've described before really clears the head, for me. At least you're not eating brownies, which I would also tend to do. Nothing frustrates like the modern marvels supposed to make our lives easier, huh? I sympathize, we've all been there (except for the OVEN!!!) Write that down; your experiences would make a best seller.
Technophobes, Unite! hahahaa
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Marcie, seeing you post brings back great memories of the "good old days".
rosemarykaye, I also can be of no help as have had no experience with an Apple computer. I do think it was a good suggestion to seek help from the internet provider although I know that can be an unpleasant experience as well as they read through their sheet of instructions and have you do a lot of things you know are not needed. I would strongly encourage you not to buy a Netbook. I got one for my wife that she used for about 6 months until I repaired an older regular laptop. I then thought I would use it but just wanted to throw it in the trash and have since given it to my DIL, who just wanted to check email. I also have two other friends who have them and really don't like using them. They are under powered and the keyboard was quite difficult to use on the one we had.
Ginny, sounds like you need a GPS in your car to help you navigate. :)
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Thanks Ginny and Larry, you have both made me feel better.
Thanks Larry for the advice about the Netbooks - it is so useful to hear that from someone who has tried one. The thing with the MacBook is that I only bought it after several people I know said how super-duper they were, but when I think about it they are all rather computer-minded people - the one I know best is a (female) engineer who thinks in the way that I presume one needs to to understand these things.
Larry, is there anything you would recommend for someone like me, who is totally ignorant about technical matters, but who wants to check and write emails, use sites such as these, type quite long letters, etc? I do not need anything to do with i-pods (given up on those), but I do like to surf the internet and I would like to be able to look at our photos if I ever learn how to. The very helpful man in John Lewis advised against an i-pad, he said they would not be great for the amount of typing I do.
Thanks again both of you - moral support much appreciated!
Rosemary
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Rosemarykaye,
How long have you had your MacBook? Is it still under warrantee? If so, I would be returning to John Lewis Co and telling them there is something wrong with it. Or at least calling them about it to see what they say especially since your other house computers are working just fine. That would be my first thing to do.
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AdoAnnie, you have got a point there, I think I will call them in the morning. Thanks.
Rosemary
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I hate Internet and printer connection problems. I'm not very technical in that regard. I love Macs and hope you can find a way to keep yours, Rosemary. Great idea to go where you bought it and indicate that you want to return it unless they can help you make it work. It seems like a very weird problem, sporadic and with various kinds of configurations-- from what I've read on the Apple support site. That's so frustrating.
Won't the Internet service provider help you at no cost over the phone? You could say you have a new computer that you want to connect to their service. I would not pay them to make a home visit.
Hi, Larry. You always give great advice.
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Ginny, thanks so much for the report on the dragon and the iPhone. I copied it so I can find it again easily, and am going to send a copy to my son, as I was trying to tell him about it the last time he called. I'm still inteested in finding more also, about the commercial with the lecturer dictating to the student with the laptop.
Rosemary, I hope your MAC troubles will soon be over. In the meantime -- SWIM. My city opened a Water Park a year ago and it has really done well. I'd never been there, but last night the library had a fund-raiser splash party there and it was really a lot of fun. Loved the tubing in the moving water stream, once I got myself situated in the tube. Getting out of it was another matter. Floating seems to help make problems go away.
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Ginny, thanks so much for the report on the dragon and the iPhone. I copied it so I can find it again easily, and am going to send a copy to my son, as I was trying to tell him about it the last time he called. I'm still inteested in finding more also, about the commercial with the lecturer dictating to the student with the laptop.
Rosemary, I hope your MAC troubles will soon be over. In the meantime -- SWIM. My city opened a Water Park a year ago and it has really done well. I'd never been there, but last night the library had a fund-raiser splash party there and it was really a lot of fun. Loved the tubing in the moving water stream, once I got myself situated in the tube. Getting out of it was another matter. Floating seems to help make problems go away.
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Water parks are just the thing for real relaxation, Pedl'n. I had a summer family pass in Atlanta's best park where my grans and I went every night. We loved it. Tried all the slides and rides and the wave pool and then floated all around the park on the Chattahoochie.(their name for the float stream)I think just being in a pool in the evening is delightful even if you only float around on your back looking at the stars. I took all of my visitors to that place at least once or twice when anyone visited. They all loved it.
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AdoAnnie - at first I thought you meant you and your grandmothers were floating around :)
The water parks sound marvellous - we don't have anything like that here, I suppose our weather is too unreliable. However, I do now have two pools each within 10 mins drive, so I'm looking forward to trying them out.
Survived my enforced drive to and from Edinburgh last night! I'm sure lots of frustrated drivers were complaining about that PT Cruiser that drove like a snail on the A1 - I think when I change my car I'm going to get something less "obvious" :) On no - another technical issue on the horizon - which car?!!!! I will want somethng reliable with large boot and 4 wheel drive for snow, husband will want an Aston Martin.....daughters just say do not emabarrass us by buying a SmartCar (teeny city cars with no boot). I think there must have been some advantages to living in pre-glasnost Russia, with only a few Skodas to choose from.
Rosemary
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Rosemary, if you decide to get a PC I would recommend not spending a lot of money on one. Basically any PC should come with what you need to do the things you indicated you use a computer to do. It was just announced that Hewlett Packard is going out of the computer, tablets, etc. business and will concentrate on Enterprise efforts, which are apparently more profitable. They have been one of the top manufacturers for a long time and my current desk top is a Hewlett Packard and my wife's is a Compaq, which is also made by them. I have had good luck with the Levnovo laptops, which both my wife and I currently have. They are the old IBM PCs that are now made by a Chinese company.
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Rosemary,
Hahahaha! I was the grandmother! And I might add, a very popular one. Having a family summer membership made lots of kids who visited us happy campers. And if they were happy, I was happy.
Larry,
I like you advice to Rosemary on not spending a lot of money on a PC. They are reasonable here in the states. And Best Buy offers help with anything now. And no more charges for restockng! That's a boon!
Ginny,
I have laughed myself silly at you and your friend in Panera's with the Dictation Dragon and pretending to be four people. Of course, Ralph, The Engineer in the family, wanted to know why you didn't just turn the phone in the direction you wanted it to be in, instead of moving yourselves. Men understand nothing!
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Marcie, isn't it wonderful?
Pedln, I think if you could see it in action you'd be hooked. Does your son have an i phone?
Larry :) I have two GPS's, one a Garmin and one actually on the iphone, it also talks, in addition to the great map there. But if I am with my grandbaby John, he objects to "that woman" talking and so we have to strike out by instinct. In my case, it's pretty easy, if I have a strong inclination to turn right, it's left. Works every time. hahahaa Can you IMAGINE how many miles I walk or drive out of the way? I do get to see a lot of interesting sights, however.
hahaha Ann, one thing I DO know is the engineer's mind, being surrounded by them here and definitely outnumbered, so I'm always ready to respond. hahaha The reason I did not pivot it around was because I was thinking in a real situation you would not turn it each time, but I could be wrong. I wanted to see what happened if you did not and simulate a real lunch. It WAS kind of hard to simulate 4 people talking at once however but I gave it my best. hhaaa
Well here we all are waiting to hear if our Scottish connection has MADE the connection with her Macbook OR what she's decided! The internet is an amazing thing, isn't it?
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Ginny - the Scottish connection's husband came back and says he "will look at it because it's bound to be something simple" - !! This after Madeleine and I spent all weekend on it, then Anna came back on Sunday with exactly the same approach as her father - "I'll sort it out for you" only to admit an hour later that it was impossible!
So I have left him to it but he won't look at it till the weekend - this desktop is working fine (everything crossed when I say that) and in many ways I prefer it - the laptop is just so over-sensitive and I sometimes feel i only have to breathe on it for it to do something I didn't want it to. Also I cannot get the hang of Pages, the Apple word processing programme, and I more comfortable back with Word.
Technophobes unite, as you said! In the past 48 hours the following have broken in this house: laptop, vacuum cleaner, TV remote and oven. Husband has fixed TV remote. No vacuum cleaner is a good reason not to vacuum, so that's OK. Main oven is working (it was the smaller one that went bang) so no big deal. And I find I can live without that wretched laptop, so the only thing that is bothering me is how much I spent on it! I think I will probably give it to Anna or swap it for hers (not Apple) - but I will have to think up a good reason or my other 2 children will have apoplexy - luckily she has just got top marks in all her Standard Grade exams so I will have to dress that up as the excuse (though I'm sure son will quickly remind me that he got nothing like that for his - though he also got nothing like her marks!)
Oh the joys of family life ;D
Rosemary
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Rosemary, if you continue to use a Mac, OpenOffice.org is a free word processing program that you might like. My SIL installed it on my new Mac to tide me over until I could buy a new version of Word--my old one was too old for system 10.6. Don't know if there are country/continent restrictions.
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Rosemarykay,
I hope you get your MacBook problem solved. As you can have already figured out, I am also using a MacBook Pro and not having too many problems. I have been using it for 3 years. I also run three more older MACs upstairs in our office. I am a MAC person.
Having said that, I want to mention that when Ginny said that there were similar problems over on the Apple blog but different solutions, I thought that's because each problem caused a shut down but to fix it, Apple had to use different solutions because those MacBooks were all broken differently. Huh, you say? Oh well, that's my thought for today.
Good night, all!!
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Ginny, when you are with the grandson just turn the volume off but you can still see the directions on the Garman in terms of a right or left turn.
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As I may have mentioned before, if I go to the supermarket with Anna she makes me go through those self-service checkouts - but she turns off the sound to stop her old bag lady mother from shouting back at it :)
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Whose sound was turned off? The machine's or . . . ?
Rosemary, you have my sympathies. I do not like those things, and they always yell at me if I try to put something in my cart before I've paid for it.
Now, we're all on pins and needles here, wanting to know if your hubby fixed the "something simple" on your Mac.
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Larry, good point!
I yell back at all of them, the "woman" on the GPS, the one in the store (can you turn that one OFF?) Inquiring minds want to know. :) It's the weights. The platform with the little shopping bags sense weight. When the overseer sees moi coming thru they just keep hitting pass pass pass so that the thing doesn't give me a lot of grief. hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
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Pedln - she turns off the disembodied voice, but I bet she'd rather silence her embarrassing mother...
Ginny - yes, you can turn the voice off in some shops - Sainsbury's and Tesco here, but not, I think, Asda. The thing that annoys me most is the almost constant cry of "Unexpected item in baggage area" - I frequently reply "there will be more than that if you don't shut up" - and then there is the even more annoying one, "Do you wish to continue?" which always begs the answer "No, I have officially lost the will to live" :D
Now, the news you have all been waiting for - yes, the MacBook has been fixed! Husband did indeed manage it - though it took him till 1am this morning (I did not ask him to stay up so late, he was just Grimly Determined). He said he looked at a lot of the sites on which people had discussed similar problems, and one of the suggestions was changing the settings or something. I know he did not change the channel on the router, nor reboot the PRAM, whatever that is - but I'm afraid the rest of his explanation went right over my head. Anyway, it's fixed, so I am humbly grateful - but I have to admit I am still typing on the old desk top, because I've kind of got used to it again - at least it's not so sensitive!!
Drove all the way to Longniddry library this morning (not our local) to get my hands on the next Louise Penny - I am addicted. I noticed that this particular library puts little wrappers on some of the books with reviews written on them - apparently most are written by the librarians, but they are keen for other people to join in, so I must give it a go - they said it really encourages people to borrow books they might not otherwise have considered. I must say I have been really impressed with the libraries out here so far - the librarians are so nice and so interested, nothing is too much trouble. It's very different from the city.
Better go and do something about tea now,
Rosemary
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Rosemary,
I am so glad the Mac is fixed but I do understand staying on the old one. Some of these new fangled things have too many things to remember and I DO UNDERSTAND NOT WANTING TO FACE ANOTHER NEW THING TODAY!! ::)
I didn't know that those check yourself outs could be turned off? What would we do without her directions??? ::)
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Shriek! hahahaa
The thing that annoys me most is the almost constant cry of "Unexpected item in baggage area" - I frequently reply "there will be more than that if you don't shut up" - and then there is the even more annoying one, "Do you wish to continue?" which always begs the answer "No, I have officially lost the will to live."
haaaaaaaaaaaaa Oh man, I needed that laugh and it is a great way to start the day. hahahaa
Ann, What would we do without her directions???
We would have a much happier life! hahahaa She barely gets out a word with me, as I said, the overseers see me coming and keep hitting the button which makes it advance. :)
But isn't it interesting the difference in countries and machines? My check out machines seem obsessed that I have not put the "item in the bag." "Please place the item in the bag. Please remove the item and place it in the bag. Please wait for assistance," but I never get that far lately, it's "Please...." and the screen clears. They know one when they see one coming. :)
Logically why would the stupid thing care where I put the item? Are they afraid that I'm going to sneak past the person standing there with a cart full of concealed stuff I've paid for and include some I haven't in my cart 5 inches from their faces? Where would one put a huge bag of dog food? In the "bag?"
Rosemary, so glad Grimly Determined got it fixed, what a HOOT, you must write this stuff somewhere and keep it.
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Ginny - all that constant bullying to put things in bags has been blamed for the increase in use of plastic carrier bags in this country. Until recently use had been falling - we are constantly exhorted to use our own bags and save the planet, and people were getting quite good at this - but just try doing that on the self-service checkout; that woman in there can't stand it and immediately goes into her Unexpected Item rant - so everyone is giving up and accepting the plastic bags again.
Glad I gave you a laugh ;D
Rosemary
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Rosemary, wonderful. I'm going to do that. But instead of Local Supermarket Bag, I'm going to plunk down The Gap and Trader Joe's and maybe even First Presbyterian. That ought to shut her up.
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Rosemary, I love your descriptions. I'm sure that you have a book in you. Hooray for your husband. I'm so glad that he was persistent enough to work on your Mac, even though it seems he is a PC person.
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Serious question here! IS THERE A SPECIAL BUTTON ONE PUSHES TO SHUT HER OFF??
I am always answering her when she orders me around. I love the new one at our Krogers in downtown Gahanna. Place your item on the bag holder. So I plunk my bag up there and she 'what'? weighs it? Got me. I am forever calling the helper and asking her what I do now? Buuuuuut, there are many times when I am so glad to check out my stuff rather than standing in a line of 5 or 6 people at the front of which is someone with 22 unidentifiable coupons, usually creating a call to the manager.
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Rosemary and other Mac people. I'm not a Mac user, but recently started browsing the tech page on Seattle Times and just today came across this weekly column (Saturdays) devoted to Macs.
Practical Mac (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/practicalmac/)
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Thanks, Pedl'n, for the link to the Seattle Times and "Practical Mac". Having said that, I want to ask you questions. Two:
Did you read the article bout Harry and David Co. being able to cancel 2700 pensions? Take a read when you get a chance. This could happen to any of us who have a pension from a large or small company. Just file for bankruptcy and claim that you don't have the money to continue the pensions and the court sides with you. Disgusting!
Also, is the Seattle Times free online??
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is the Seattle Times free online??
So far. You might have to register. I've been getting its "foodie" emails -- All you can eat -- for years. Usually find some side bar articles to read.
Hadn't heard about Harry and David, but now understand that some pension insurance firm will take over the pensions.
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Last night at Knit Night at my local yarn store, one of our knitters, a professor at a nearby college, was telling us about her smart pen. It's a recorder, it has a memory thingy that can be uploaded to her computer to share with all the class, etc. And, for about $100.00. She thought all students going off to college should have one. I'd not heard of them. I found this, if you've not heard of it and are interested. It'd also be great for a meeting where you want to recall what others have said and maybe didn't get it all in your notes.
http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/?gclid=CJm6h4C0_6oCFUSW7Qod9UQYNw (http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/?gclid=CJm6h4C0_6oCFUSW7Qod9UQYNw)
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Jane,
Wow! I just spent 40 minutes playing with the Penscribe. What a tool! What will they think of next!!
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Incredible, huh, for a student who has lectures or someone who has business meetings to attend.
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Wow!~ I watched two of the little films and was blown away. Wow wow wow, where was that when I was young? I want one! Thank you, Jane!
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/Technophobe.jpg)
Cartoon used by permission of the artist
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
I am typing this post from my I-pad connected to a Belkin physical keyboard. The connection is wireless through the Ipad's bluetooh feature. It is certainly easier typing for me than the virtue key board but for me I would not want to use it for a multi page writing.
The devices called a Keyboard Folio. The I pad is held firm in the frame giving it the appearance of a small 10 inch mac notebook.
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What happened to my above post made from the I-pad last night. It appears to have been in line to be the first post on the new page 8 but the way it appears on both the I-pad and desktop it is a part of the heading without identifying the posting party???????????????????
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YOU ARE IDENTIFIED AT THE TOP LEFT OF THE WHOLE HEADER. DO YOU HAVE A IPAD II?
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Harold, your post was taken up when the heading was inserted, it's still there, and, as Ann says, it's in the upper left hand corner of the screen.
I just bought an IPAD2. I am interested in this Belkin keyboard thing. Does the IPAD (it hasn't come yet) have a USB port?
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My gosh, Ginny, I would think so. Does it take a USB port to use the Belkin keyboard?
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Apparently not according to the Apple site, you need a wireless and you activate the Bluetooth feature but Apple also makes a keyboard FOR the Ipad, but it lacks some things. I'm going to get a Belkin today and see if I can do it. I'll let you all know, I can't wait for this to come, it will end my dependance on the satellite in a storm. I hope! Fingers crossed!
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Ginny, I 'm really confused about how the iPad communicates. A friend has one and she says she has DSL from ATT&T just like I do, but that doesn't make sense to me. She's kind of new at Internet so we may be speaking of apples and oranges.
When you say wireless do you mean like in cell phones -- 3G and 4G, whatever that means?
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Pedln- there is something called a router that is attached to our cp and server. Ours sits on the book case, near the computer, it's about 5"x6". With no attachments to it my DH can use a laptop upstairs and i can use my ipad anywhere in the house or on the patio. Yes, like a cell phone.
Jean
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I don't know, Pedln!~ It came today and I wasn't here so Fed Ex will bring it tomorrow. So maybe I will know what Jean does tomorrow. I didn't know it worked on DSL but I don't have DSL, so I hope what I end up with (but I have no contract so can cancel any time) is either wireless or...is it 3 G with Verizon?
I don't know but I'm about to find out!
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Jean, I have a router and wireless similar to what you speak of. My DSL connects to it, but I can use my laptop anywhere in the house, and when family come to visit they key in a WEP code to their laptops and they can be used anywhere in the house.
What confuses me is how the iPad gets to the Internet because Ginny has said they don't have that kind of wireless out in the country where they are. So is it the cell phone kind?
My Kindle works with my wireless. I don't have the 3G or 4G kind that downloads like cell phones.
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I think if you have a server - a computer service that brings the internet into your home, like Comcast or Verizon, or AT andT, etc, you can use arouter to give you access to ipads or laptops anywhere in your home. Whether it is regular, or 3 or 4 G, i believe it works the same. Wifi is contingent on the router, it is not a service to your house.
The only "output" USB-type on my ipad1 is the connection to the computer and/or the electrical source.
Jean
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Wi-fi (wireless) and 3G and 4G are entirely different things. The wireless operates from a modem that transmits the internet signal within a certain range like throughout your house or perhaps to the street. The 3G and 4G are done through data plans on your cellphone plan. Some devices (and I haven't checked on the iPad2) will have only Wi-FI to connect it to the outside world whereas the 3G and 4G connect through cell towers and would be available anywhere you have cellphone service. I hope this helps explain the different. Some of the devices have both Wi-FI and 3G or 4G connections. If you don't have a modem you should still be able to use the USB cable with your device and put content on your mobile device from the computer using iTunes for the iPad or having the device recognized when connected to the computer as another drive.
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I don't know what I have here. The IPAD2 is going to require 4 hours of updates or something over the internet and unfortunately the weather is not going to permit that today or tomorrow, but I called them to activate it. He says it was activated yesterday. It says 3G in the top left hand corner and there is a WiFi turn on button just like the i phone. He says that 3G means nothing except that it just shows the coverage in my area which IS 3G. So I don't know a whole lot more than I did except I do like Apple and if I ever get to the point I can download without interruption from weather for 4 hours I will report back. :)
The plan I have is a monthly one, no contract, for broadband (this has no phone connected with it) you can get 2G per month for $30, 1 G is $20 and 5 G is $50. There are no other charges as Verizon is not our phone company, so I'll report back as I go. I just saw something interesting about international rates, I'll have to read that more carefully.
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I'm really, really a "techno-tard". I have DSL. What is the difference in DSL, Wi-fi, 3G and 4G? I have a Kindle that I programmed using my router #. I can use it here and at my library; but when I went to Dallas to visit my daughter
I had to program her #.
While I am at it, what is Blu-tooth?
Sally
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Sally, we're in the same club, but I'm glad we're having this discussion, even if I don't understand all of it.
Larry, thank you for your explanation about the differences between cell phones and wireless. I think I'm beginning to understand, but am gong to have to write it out first for myself.
Ginny, keep us posted on your iPad.
Question No. 1, with more to follow ---
1. PCs are run by an operating system, such as Windows, Linux, whatever runs Macs. What is the operating system for an iPad?
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pedln, iPads use an operating system developed by Apple.
Sally, DSL is the way you get Internet to your home unless you use a cable provider for Internet. Wi-Fi is another device that sends that Internet signal out wirelessly so that other devices, such as laptops or other desk computers or wi-fi capable devices such as iPads can access. The 3G and 4G are related to data plans from cellphone providers that allow devices so equipped to access the Internet via their cellphone towers. 3G is slower than 4G and the companies keep enhancing and speeding up the service. You don't need to be where you have wi-fi to use the 3G or 4G. Hope this helps explain the situation.
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Larry,
Doesn't using Airport make it easier? I have Airport and run all of my MACs plus my iPod wireless plus my printer. I can use the office laptop upstairs but can hit print and it will be printed by the downstairs printer. My upstairs printer is dead so this is very convenient.
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I don't have an iPad and right now don't plan on buying one, maybe later, when my laptop dies.
Question2:
I have DSL, which of course has a monthly fee, and wireless -- if I had an iPad would I also need to have a monthly data plan, or would my wireless (and the wireless at other places I frequent) be enough?
The fee structure sounds complicated. Ginny's gigabytes -- is that at any one time or a total for the month. 1G isn't a whole lot any more.
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Thats a month. It's for download broadband. I dont watch movies so it should be more than enough. At last I can sit here in the living room and enjoy typing here. My grand baby is on the computer.
My understanding is that the 5 Gs refers to the paid 3G download. Wifi would be free. I have a friend with an iPad and no plan but where she lives is wireless so she does not pay. I can't believe this day has come!
Now to s ee how fast it adds up. So far so good. :)
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We have DSL. Our monthly fee covers whatever gadget we have on it.
Jean
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That's what I was wondering, Jean.
I think where I been confused is that I've always thought DSL was coming over on a phone line. It is or it isn't? It's just something else?
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Oh man I love the IPAD, first thing this morning in bed yet I read the Times of London. It's lightning fast out here, it SAYS it's 3G and 2 bars but it's faster than lightning, and I can access the website in rain (last night) or shine. The 3 G thing is from Verizon as a phone company I guess, we have no cable or wireless here, and the IPAD has a phone number. But since I can't call on it as it HAS no phone, I have a monthly charge for the number of G's I think I'll need to download from Verizon with no contract. I don't use that many from wildblue so I don't think this will be an issue. Who knows? I may take up movies from Netflix. :)
I downloaded all the APPs and games and have them all arranged. I showed my husband the Dragon Dictation with a view to his mother who doesn't hear well and he was impressed.
I am impressed. And I love Angry Birds on this huge screen. :)
I had bought a keyboard which is intended for the IPAD and which operates in a kind of stand, that's next.
Free, I'm finally free of having to say storms are here I have to get off. I don't have to get off. :)
YAHOO!
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Pedln...our DSL comes over a phone line. The spliter has our phones attached in one plugin and the main line to the modem/router in the other plugin thingy. The router-modem is now one unit from the phone co. (they upgraded that when they bought the former phone co) so I can use wireless for my laptop and for my NookColor to get onto the internet.
We get our internet through our phone co. My neighbor gets his through the cable provider.
Here there's a constant war between the phone co. and dish network (for TV) against the cable company who provides TV, internet, and telephone.
It gets very confusing. The cable people, however, are out far more often the the phone people, so I've stayed with the phone co.
jane
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I believe all DSL is delivered via the phone line and just gets Internet to your home. From there you can attach it to a device called a router that that is what sends out the wireless (wi fi) signals around your home or business. Some folks receive their internet via cable and that also can be attached to a router to provide wi fi. I happen to have a combined box that is both the modem to receive the internet and the router to send out the wi fi.
Jenny, glad to see you finally have a good speed access to Internet via the 3G. You have had to wait a long time.
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For those of you with ipads, mine froze yesterday after updating an app. When i called, even tho my warranty had expired THREE weeks ago, the person was very helpful. To reboot hold the on/off bottom and the "home" button and hold for about 20 seconds. I hadn't read that anywhere in the guide.
Jean
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Do any of you use Blio? It's an ebook program that came on our new computer and i'm not sure how it's different from reading books on my ipad, or using the "kindle" app or the google books app? Anybody know?
Jean
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For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on.
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated,
'If Ford had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.'
In response to Bill Gates's comments, Ford issued a press release, stating:
'If Ford had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):
1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash......... twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single 'This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation' warning light.
(I love the next one!!!)
7. The airbag system would ask 'Are you sure?' before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.
9. Every time a new car was introduced, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as in the old car.
10. You'd have to press the 'Start' button to turn the engine off.
PS - I 'd like to add that when all else fails, you could call 'customer service' in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!!!!
Please share this with your friends who love - but sometimes hate - their computer!
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Love it! Especially #9! I get so frustrated w/ each new version of whatever is more complicated than the last one which i just learned!! I'm still reading the "guide" for windows 7 and i see windows 8 is about to appear. I think i will forego #8!
Jean
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hahaha, it's good to have a good laugh. I agree, Jean, Windows 8!!
I've just downloaded Pastebot for the IPAD. I missed ClipMate and this seems to do the same thing for IPAD, and IPhone, tho it may take some getting used to, are any of you using it?
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What is it? Tell us more, Ginny.
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It's a clip utility like ClipMate but for the IPAD. With ClipMate which I don't know how anybody gets along without online or for writing papers, you can copy anything, you can copy 100 lines of quotes, you don't have to copy/ paste one thing each time immediately, you can copy an entire book and then paste the parts you want, etc., and then choose among them as to when you want to insert them, and that includes any pictures, etc., they arrange themselves if you like in folders, it's pretty impressive.
But it's not available for IPAD. So I found pastebot which purports to do the same thing. It does copy and it looks sort of the same, so it does work but it's the part about choosing the paste which has me somewhat stymied and also you can't have it (or I can't so far) on your "menu" so it's always visible when you're in the compose window.
I hoped somebody here was using it so I could get some advice. :)
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Ginny,
I can't use some apps on the iPod either due to the fact that ADOBE FLASH isn't included for it and it can't run it anyway. My iPod guru told me to use iTunes in place of anything Adobe.
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Thank you Ann, I did not know it was Adobe! Shows you what I know. hahaha
I got my first bill on the IPAD, I have downloaded 0.13 of the Gigabytes I paid for. Once I have a full month I can check again but that's way less than I am paying for, I may slide back the plan a little.
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Larry I have a question and I would appreciate your thoughts on it. Since it pertains to the Latin students and they have asked, I wonder if you could help?
I have made mp3 files of vocabulary for the Latin students. A couple have asked if there's a way they can " download Ginny’s pronunciation/audio files to disks and a mp3 player?"
I also have made different Mp3 files for CD's and put them on a CD which can be used in a car or something like that, but they are huge files which we haven't put on the server for that reason.
Using the smaller files we do have on the server, is there a way to take something like this: http://seniorlearn.org/latin/Audio2011/2011vocabularypage8.mp3 and somehow download it to an ipod or something without putting it on a disk?
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Ginny, it is certainly possible to do what you would like to do. However, I think a new webpage should be created that the person could go to and download the links from the webpage. However, they can right click on the link that you currently have posted and download the mp3 that is playing by clicking on the "save as" menu item. I don't think you need to worry about filling up your server with the mp3 files you have on your CD. It has been so long since we worked on that project I don't have any information as to how to access them on the server. I will be glad to try to help if you need it to accomplish this project. I have sent you an e-mail with my telephone number as it may have changed since we last spoke on the phone.
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Thank you Larry, much appreciated! I've emailed you!
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Does anybody travel with your laptop? Have you ever packed it carefully in your checked luggage? Or always carried it on the plane?
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Mary, yes, many many many times. Laptops, and now IPADS.
I would not put anything whatosever I ever wanted to see again in checked luggage.
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I would love to pack it, but am not about to take that risk. And also, there is something about packing things with batteries -- that they can ignite?
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Thanks - I really didn't think checking should be done - just didn't want to have to carry it. I guess the next "laptop" will be a tablet or a "pad". ::)
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/Technophobe.jpg)
Cartoon used by permission of the artist
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
Can the I-Pad ( or other tablet computers) replace the notebook of other Disk storage/Keyboard Computers? Walt Mossberg the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Editor discussed this question last year with regard to the needs of a business traveler. His conclusions at that time were that while it came close, it yet fell short of the needs of most business travelers. As I remember his article it gave a pretty strong implied impression that it would meet the E-mail and other travel inquiry needs of most individual vacation travelers.
Based on my experience with my I-pad 2 (wifi only, 32GB storage) iit probably meets most of my travel requirements. Of course to access the internet I would have to rely on the availability of a wifi hot spot to access the internet with resulting exposure to possible security problems, but most hotels and many other places worldwide provide this service.
I think the most obvious problem with me and my I-pad is the virtual key board that requires me to minimize the length of e-mail and other text messages sent from it. I now am able to peck out two or three sentence messages but when pecking out longer tries I generally mess up in a flash that erases forever a 20 minute draft leaving me no alternative other than starting over from scratch.
Incidentally I have a Belden Keyboard that connects to the I-Pad converting its form appearance into that of a small note book computer. The Keyboard connects tirelessly. It does improve my typing to some extent but it is smaller than the standard size desktop keyboard. It is even smaller than most notebook keyboard. For me it is a small improvement over the virtual screen keyboard but not much. My hands are much too large and clumsy for it. Also it is clumsy to use the touch screen to navigate and the truth is the beauty of the I-Pad is its portability. It cries to stand on its own, and for the most part I am happy to accept it that way.
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Harold, thanks for the interesting assessment of you iPad and iPad needs. This question may have been asked before, but . . . When flying, do you have to remove it from its case and show it like one has to do with a laptop? If you don't, that's certainly a plus for the iPad.
I'm still puzzling over the way the iPad adapts to programs/software many of us have used for years. For instance, I'm a heavy user of WORD, EXCEL, and Quicken. I don't know if the iPad, at this stage, would meet my needs. It sounds great for books, films, and the Internet/email, but can it be a utilitarian workhorse? No doubt the answer to that would come from using one.
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The ipad has a "notepad" that i use quite often. It looks like a yellow legal pad and divides into pages/files w/ titles on the opening page. I have no idea how big it is, i haven't yet come to an end. Apple had also come out with some type of "office" program for ipad after i got mine. I have not investigated that, but i was told it that it would include excell, etc.
I posted this in "library", thought some of you might not see it there........
I think i mentioned many months ago the learnoutloud.com site that has thousands of audiobooks and lectures from universities you can download. They have just sent out their newsletter that says they now have many of the CSPAN interviews and the Charlie Rose interviews and have a new youtube site.
http://www.youtube.com/learnoutloud
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That youtube site has art masterpieces and "lectures" on them, i'm sure they will be adding many more very soon.
Harold, i am still pecking away w/ one finger on my ipad because i have a cover that stands the ipad up as on an easel, so it's not conducive to two hand typing for me. It is slower than 2 hand typing and i tend not to capitalize as you've noticed but it suffices.
Jean
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Does an E-Reader grow heavier when you add more books? Ask yourself if you really want to know.
The Weight of Memory (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/science/25qna.html)
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Love it, Pedln!! I figure since I only have a little over 200 books on mine, and it'll hold 6,000 without adding an SD card, I haven't added much. I've never heard of those minute weights... "atogram,” or 10–18 grams. My pathetic math brain can't even imagine that...like looking at the sky and trying to grasp distances in "light years." I just take the word of scientist that it's a looooong time.
jane
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I'm not as strong as I was, but I think I can still lift an "atogram".
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There seems to be a lot of "buzz" out there about a new KindleFire coming out Nov 15.
The website says it also has WiFi, like the NookColor...and cheaper at $199.00
KindleFire (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051VVOB2/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=8302881517&ref=pd_sl_7gl7b2uwu2_e)
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Our son-in-law who has had a Kindle for about a year is chomping at the bit to get a Kindle Fire.
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Well, if he does get it, MaryZ, be sure to tell us all about it. This is the one that's like an iPad? but is about the same size as a kindle?
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I just read all the above posting. I wonder if I can even use a IPAD at home as all can get for computer is dial up. Old telephone lines with no Fibre optic planned for this area for few more years.
Now our local library has gotten a Loan program just starting. Comes under the name. "My Media Mall" Not quite understanding how they work and so I will sit with them for awhile before I decide. Don't want to invest $499 if not what I want.
Looks like you still have to have a computer in order to use this service. My desktop I believe will be to slow as I only have Dial up on it.
I do have a laptop so can get WiFi at the library. Fact it now seems that one can get it all over town. The library is just 3 min. away from me and so I use it a lot. Impossible for me to download anything using Dial up.
Friend just put name down to get the New Kindle Fire that will be out middle of November. It will do lot more than the orig. Kindle they say. Also coloured but still only a 7 inch screen. I like a 9 inch. This Kindle fire will be only $199.
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I ordered a Kindle Fire several weeks ago after my wife read about it and was interested in it. It is suppose to be delivered after November 21st since I didn't shell out the extra $6.95 to get during the first week. We are looking forward to getting it. I have a pretty good idea about what it is going to do as have the android smart phone and also the Pandigital e-book reader that has some android programs on it. So maybe about three weeks from now I will be able to give you a preliminary report.
JeanneP, you could certainly use the iPad at your library but doubt you would be able to get online at home with the dialup. You might want to do a Google search on that question or contact an Apple store or write to Apple and ask them if it would work with dialup.
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Sigh. I'm technologically behind again. My kindlr is obsolete after less than a year. But I still love it!
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My Kindle is an old 3G model with a keyboard. It is no longer made, of course, but neither are any of the accessories apparently. I was hoping to get a different cover for it, but the newer Kindles are taller. This morning, when I went to plug it in to recharge the battery, I discovered that the cable is crumbling off of it. It looks like that was a big problem for the original cable. Lots of other people complained about it. Anyhow, I found one on Amazon that everyone is praising, and it supposedly fits into the wall adapter nicely too. It appears much more sturdy. Hopefully it will fit like the others claim.
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Jeanne P, I would call Verizon and ask them if in your area you would have a good enough signal to use an IPad with them. They offer for those who do not have a phone with them but can get their signals (me) where no other is available a very economical plan where you pay as you go for what you use, you can see it on their website. But I'd call and find out. I'm now paying $30.00 per month for 2 Gigabytes of download and I, to date, am only using 1, but we may not want to do the same things. I'd check it out with them?
Good luck with that, Frybabe, I had not heard about the cable crumbling, it's good to have this place where we can hear these things. :)
I came in to report on my IPAD and the charge I pay since I don't have a phone line or anything connected to it, it's a pay as you go per usage thing. I took out originally 5 G a month plan for $50.00, but I'm only using 1 G a month and I'm doing what I thought was a good bit of downloading, so I've lowered the plan to 2 G for $30.
My question IS, I think it would support Netflix and I understand from reading the information about it that these movies are somehow zipped to your device and the software you have installed on it, so there is no long drawn out watching the loading circle spin. Does anybody know if this is correct and what sort of Gigabytes a download of this kind uses?
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I know some of you are classical music fans. I saw this in my Openculture newsletter today, thought you might like to add it to your "browsing" bookmarks. In the first sentence there is a link to free scores for classical music. In the last phrase of the first paragraph is a link to audios. Just keep clicking thru the pages til you get to what interests you.
http://www.openculture.com/2011/02/classicalscores.html
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A few months ago I began to think about acquiring an e-reader, and I was leaning toward a Kindle. And once I began looking at what was available on the market my choice became more difficult. Color or not, sound or not, keyboard or not, etc. Soon I realized that I needed to narrow down to just the specifics of my needs. Reading books is all I wanted, so I determined that the e-ink technology of the Kindle is what I preferred. Sound was not necessary, nor was color.
Along the way I determined that the keyboard would be useful in ordering books by author or title. So that was included. Then someone told me that if I had a home computer I did not need a keyboard on the Kindle, as I could use the computer for looking up and ordering books to go on the Kindle.
I will be using whatever unit I purchase around a limited home base so the need for the 3G connectibility is not an issue.
So I’m leaning towards the basic Kindle at $79. It’s an easy way for me to get my feet wet. Does this make any sense?
I have read numerous customer comments on the Amazon.com website, sometimes I feel I have too much information to deal with.
I would appreciate any comments. :)
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GeneJ - i don't have the Kindle bcs i have an ipad, but all that have commented here have been very happy w/ their Kindle, and that's a great price.
Jean
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Gene, I actually like browsing and purchasing my Kindle e-books on the computer rather than through the link to the Kindle Store on my reader. It's a lot faster to browse and find things I want. When I purchase it that way, the ebook downloads automatically to my reader as soon as I turn on the wireless connection.
My Kindle is a 3G with a keyboard. I rarely use the keyboard now that I got rid of the two word games I downloaded. I like word games, but I was playing them way too much. My Kindle got to to point that it was rebooting itself and not shutting down correctly. After I trashed the games, it works so much better. The other sources of ebooks that I get are from Project Gutenberg, and Manybooks.net. Both are free ebook sites. I download the appropriate files to my computer and then copy them into the documents folder on the Kindle without any problems. I have not used the audio, but may try an audio book some time in the future just to see what the sound is like. I do not share, or use the bookmark and highlight features - at least not yet.
Oh, one thing a lot of Kindle customers are coming up against is that cable coating cracks off after about a year or a year and a half. I don't know if that has been corrected for the newer units. The replacement I got is sturdier and fits just fine. Needless to say I did not order Amazon's brand. I'll have to wait and see how long this one lasts.
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Like Frybabe, I browse and order books on the computer rather than on my Kindle. All I do is read books on mine. I had a Kindle 2 originally, but left it on a plane last spring. :'( I bought a new one to replace it. I only am connected to their net when I've bought a book and want to download it, so my battery lasts a long time. For just reading, I'd think the $79 one would be all you would need. I've not had any problem with any part of mine cracking or deteriorating - not the old one or the new one. I did get a cover for it - not an expensive one, just one to protect it. Good luck with yours.
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Mary, it's not the reader itself that cracks, it is the cord you plug into it to recharge the battery or connect to the computer. I should hope that they got enough complains to have rectified the problem with the cord they send with the newer models.
I wish I had a book cover style for mine, but they don't make any for my model anymore. What I have is one of those ones you slip the reader into. I rarely use it.
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I have the kindle and use it. I do use the keyboard to order books, because with the keyboard, you can order a free sample, read that, and decide if it's worth buying the whole book. You can't do that on the computer.
I love my basic kindle. Can't imagine living without it. Only a few problems. The keyboard is hard to read. since I'm not a touch typist, sometimes I have trouble finding a letter. And mine needs recharging fairly often. I use it a lot: if I'm careful to turn the wireless off as soon as I'm finished getting a book, and turn the kindle off (not sleeping) when not in use, a charge will last a week: otherwise, three days.
Recently, I had trouble charging. I left it on the charge all day, and it didn't charge at all. I tried again, and had no trouble. Maybe the cord is developing a crack? Where did you get your new one?
When you lost your kindle, did Amazon replace all your books? I have 200 books on mine: many I won't read again, but many (especially the anthologies) i would hate to have to replace.
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Joan, I had no problem with the cord on my "old" one, which I'd had a couple of years. Anyhow, maybe I just don't read as much as you do, but a charge for me will last a couple of months. I always turn it completely off when I'm not reading, and have it connected only for the few minutes it takes to download a book.
Re your books on Kindle: they're always yours and always available from amazon. Even if you "delete" them from your book, they'll just go into your archives, and you can always retrieve them. As soon as I got home from my trip, I called and cancelled the lost one, so the finder couldn't order things on my account. When I got the neww one, all my books were automatically there. So, if you should decide sometime to upgrade to a new one, you'll still have your books.
Re ordering on line: you can order samples on line, too. I do it all the time. Sometimes I decide to buy the whole book, and sometimes I don't, but it works either way.
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JoanK, I got my cord from Amazon, but I bought a Mediabridge, not theirs. Mine is black. I just checked, and see that they also have a USB 2.0/Mirco B cord in black at the same price that I paid for mine, but is out of stock. It fits the wall plug adapter and the Kindle just fine. I looked under the Electronics section, not the Kindle Store accessories. For some reason, they don't list them there.
I found some info about charging batteries in the Kindle Forum. There seems to be a debate as to whether or not to let the battery fully deplete before recharging. Also, it reminded me that you can "hard-boot" the reader by holding the button on for 15 seconds. I had to do that once when mine was acting up. Apparently a few had to do that to get their readers to function again after recharging after the batteries went very low. To get to a list of the accessory forums, go to the Kindle Accessory section and scroll to the bottom of the page. There is almost always someone who has posted had similar problems or questions about the accessories. Also, the Kindle Guide installed in you Kindle is a little helpful regarding maintaining and troubleshooting. It's a good idea to read over it before something happens and you can't access it.
Mary, I don't believe I have tried the free sample download yet. I usually just take a look at the "Read Inside" feature online.
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Mine puts up a notice on the screen that says when it's time to recharge. Then I plug it in. You can still read while it's charging.
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Thank you all, for your comments on the Kindle. I’ve learned some new things. The information on previewing a Kindle book before ordering was quite useful.
I would have ordered my Kindle a month ago, but a little procrastination crept in. Maybe I should have ordered right away. At one point in time Discover card was posting in emails that their bonus point dollars may be used against Amazon purchases, and I believe they indicated the dollar points would be doubled. Unfortunately, when I clicked on the link in my saved email from Discover just the other day the link did not work.
I believe I had about $30 in points, doubled it would make $60, and that would make quite a dent in a sale price for the basic Kindle of $89.
I will probably try contacting Discover on this subject before I completely give up on the possibility.
I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of conversation that went back and forth on the subject of the Kindle, and all in such a short time since my initial post. I thought I might not see anything till after the first of the year. Yes, definitely pleasantly surprised. :)
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I’m back again, sooner than I expected. I went on the Discover web site and found that the program for using the cash back bonus points was still in effect. I tried using it and followed instructions for linking my Discover card to my account in purchasing. I need to clarify some of my previous misstatements: my points are only at about $15, not $30; the double points only are double the points usually associated with an Amazon purchase, and are not doubled for the purpose of making a purchase.
I would have completed my purchase but I could not get the associated link in place. At checkout I could not confirm any such link, so I will try in the next few days.
:)
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GENE: be sure to let us know how you like it when you get it.
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Come right on in, those of you who got electronic items like IPADS and Kindles, etc., for the holidays, and let's talk about what's new or old that we like on them and share tips.
The biggest tip I know about any i device (iPad, i phone) is to be sure you've turned it off. That does not mean clicking the top once, it means clicking and holding that top button down until you see a red arrow, THAT turns it off. Why run out of batteries?
We've had several requests for games we might enjoy free or otherwise on our new devices, and they are getting lost in larger discussions, so since this one is for this purpose, let's list some we really like.
These do not have to be played with any other person online:
Some super games you can enjoy entirely by yourself and play against a computer are:
1. Parcheesi: If you, like me, like Parcheesi, then get Ludo Pro, it's fabulous. The pieces are so big on an IPAD it's like playing the real thing.
2. Checkers Free by Optime software allows you to play a computer at several levels.
3. Crack the Code Free is what we used to call in the old days Mastermind and it's really fun and supposedly is good for the brain.
4. There's a wonderful Hearts+ Free which is as real as any real card game, sounds and all and it's lots of fun.
5. Quiz Quiz Quiz is a Trivia challenge which is also very addictive.
6. 7, 8, 9, and 10: There's Tic Tac Toe Free and Free Cell, and Cut the Rope, of course many versions of Angry Birds, none of these have to be played with anybody else. I actually like some of the children's games my grandson (5) plays on the IPAD, like A Monster Ate My Homework. .
Optime has some great games and most of them are free.
What do you like to play on YOUR device?
(This is not something to play with but I do have to recommend GPS Plus which is free from the Nav something people. It's a marvelous GPS system, better, in my opinion, than the Garmin or the Magellan, and for 9.99 a year it will talk to you as you drive. That's the only cost so far and it has saved my bacon more than once: you've always got your phone with you and now you can have a GPS on that phone, free).
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Despite reading the London Times every morning and BBC World News, sometimes downloading videos from the BBC, I still have not exceeded 1 G in downloading per month, so I have again adjusted the Verizon package I pay for to get internet access, down again. I am only paying $30 per 2 G downloaded per month, that's an incredible bargain, and there are no hidden fees.
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Ginny, with two teenagers + me in the house, we had to increase our package to 6G per month - husband said that was so much we could never exceed it.
This month son has been home for 10 days and permanently glued to his laptop, plus daughters have been on school holidays - and guess what? We've gone over. I am beginning to think I should make more use of the free wi-fi at the library, but of course they are closed till 4th Jan.
Rosemary
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I can get hung up on Seven Wonders which is the typical match 3 or more colors, w/ some twists. It was free or very inexpensive from the app store.
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How do you get games on the kindle?
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I know this is probably a very dim question, but how on earth do you get free books from things like ManyBooks.com onto the Kindle? I managed the downloading onto the MacBook fine, but then it just said 'now transfer it to your Kindle using a USB cable'. I have got the cable in place, but now I don't know what to do. If anyone does know, could they explain it very very slowly ::)? Thanks lots,
Rosemary
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Rosemarykaye, I am not sure how you get to it in MacBook, but in the menu that shows what drives are connected to your computer, you should be able click on the drive that designates the Kindle, open the drive to see your folders, open the document folder and then copy the download into it. I am assuming you downloaded your file to the Mac desktop. Someone who has a Macbook can probably give you better instructions. I am going from memory from when I used a Mac computer at work. I don't know if the MacBook file system is set up in a similar manner.
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6 G!!! Rosemary, are they viewing movies? Downloading music? I don't understand why mine is so low, obviously I don't know what to DO! hahahaa Seriously, what am I missing? Perhaps they are watching videos? I know when I traveled this summer I really racked up the G's, maybe just reading the newspaper etc., is not enough to make a difference, I don't use the IPAD for regular computering, that's probably the issue. I don't know how anybody types on one unless they use one finger. I do have a set up where a regular keyboard attaches to it, but I could not type on it normaly.
I do know that setting up email on it when mine went down on satellite took 3 seconds, literally.
Mabel, Seven Wonders sounds great, thank you!
Joan K, I've learned something! I didn't realize Kindle HAD games, but it does. I found this on Amazon: "You can download them just as regular books"
Apparently you put them in your cart just like you do a book? It's the same process as getting a book?
But apparently also the Kindle Fire does not support the games, this is for the earlier versions (2010), here's a partial list, I see a lot of new ones on Amazon itself, who knew?
http://www.kindle-apps.net/category/games/
I am so glad we have this place to talk about these things because I read Frybabe's explanation twice and since I don't have a Macbook or a Kindle, it looks admirably complex and fascinating.
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To find the games on the Kindle you need to click on the "apps" link at the top menu line and this will take you to a screen where it says "Store" at the right hand top of the page. Click on that and when that page displays you will see a menu by type of app and you can click on "games" then you will probably see a screen saying free app of the day and under that about mid-way on the page it will say "Games" and that will bring you to the App market for free and paid games. If I am looking for a certain type of game I use the search botton to make my experience a bit quicker.
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Thank you Larry. I don't have a Kindle so am not sure what you said but I like the sound of it. :) I'm so glad we can get advice here from people who know.
I have a new Solitaire game! After hearing all the talk about them n the Library I went looking out of curiosity because Solitaire is like the people who play it: individualistic, and I stumbled right away on something I thought I'df never see again.
Remember the old Microsoft Solitaire? The one which took the cards at the end if you won and they covered the screen in suits? I used to absolutely love that game and played just to see the suits. The new Windows 7 has one very similar to it but at the end it does something very neat too.
Well I got Solitaire from Mobilityware, there is a free version APP for Iphone and IPAD, and one for 99 cents, and it's the ONE! I nearly fell off my chair. It's very difficult, too, a bit different in that nothing but Kings can lead off empty spaces, but you can deal the pack as much as you like. You'd think that would be easy: it's not, but it IS fun fun fun and there is a hint button (I can't seem to play any of these games without the "hints,"_) and it does not remove points from your score in using it. It's a bit different in play but it's fiendishly addictive.
You can configure it a lot of ways but in the 2x setting the cards are huge, just like the Parcheesi pieces, and I love the way you can move them into place. It's a definite winner, like reuniting with an old friend, really.
I love playing games, you'd be amazed how many I actually have. hahahaa :) It's fun to pick up and play if you have a moment, during travel, etc.
Happy New Year!
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JoanK, I don't know about "games" per se on the kindle. The only computer game I play is FreeCell. But I did buy two New YorK Times Crossword Puzzle books when they were on sale for about $1 each. I think each book has 30 puzzlesl They're great and what I like best is the button you can press to see if you've made any mistakes.
Now, what about OLD technology. My trusty VCR, purchased way back in 1993 would NOT let me set the timer to record Downton Abby. The clock only goes to 11:59:59 on 12/31/11. Ain't that the pits.
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LARRY: you lost me at the beginning. What is the "top menu line"? But I found some games through the link above. Thanks!
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/Technophobe.jpg)
Cartoon used by permission of the artist
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
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Pedln, you're going to hate me. Mine did the same thing so I waited till 9 pm and turned it on, then hit the red record button till it showed two hours on the screen, in 30 minute increments, turned the TV off , and it got it. :)
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I can't help you with that one Pedln. The timer controller likely will either have to be reset by a service technician or a new clock/timer board put in. Either way, it is probably not worth the cost of fixing considering the prices of the DVR recorders. I've been trying to find some info on the net, but so far no luck.
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Yes, Ginny, you're right. >:(
Frybabe, I think I would pay to have the clock reset, if possible. Have been looking at DVRs online, forget getting a VCR to record -- they are either megabucks or unavailable, or used -- with an expired clock, no doubt. Good reviews on DVRs are few and far between. It all sounds like you need a PhD in High-Fallutin Consumer Electronics. What has happened to SIMPLE? >:(
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JoanK, when you are on the home page you should see on the second line at the top a search box and then several links like "books", "videos" and "apps". If you get lost in the navigation on the device you can always get back to the home screen. The settings are found in the little gear icon at the top line above the menu line on the home page.
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I assume by "the home page" you mean what my kindle calls "The storefront"? Mine doesn't look like that: we may have different versions of kindle. But mine does have a section "featured" and under that "Popular games and active content". Going there, I found a sale, and was able to get a dozen games at 0.99 apiece. My grandkids love them. So do I.
Unfortunately, it seems that my battery discharges even faster bsince I got them. Without the games, I had to be really careful to turn off the wireless and the kindle when not in use. to make my battery last a week, much shorter than others report. Now, I recharged yesterday, haven't used it today, except to check above, and the battery is already one quarter down.
Does this sound familiar?
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JoanK, I removed the games from my Kindle because partly I was spending way too much time with them but mostly because my Kindle started to reboot itself excessively. I needed to recharge my battery much more often. Also, it started having trouble shutting off; instead, it would decide to go into standby mode or reboot. It is working much better now, although it still acts up now and again. I wonder if you can defrag the drive on these things or if you even need to. There is nothing in the manual about it. I ran a virus scan on it, once, just for the heck of it.
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I suppose most of you have heard that B&N is looking to spin off or sell its Nook business. Will they survive without it? Here is something from the LATimes. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/01/barnes-nobles-nook-news.html I am surprised to discover that they were looking to sell themselves before Borders went belly-up.
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Interesting development, Frybabe! I've become a dedicated convert to the digital book, but my husband is still liking his printed nonfictions. I know the bricks and mortar B&N have made serious changes to the locations I'm familiar with. There are far more educational games for kids, "stuff" like the lines from Vera Bradley and several others I don't recall at the moment...i.e., fancy gift type items...fancy pen and pencil sets, bookcovers, etc.
I would not want my "nest egg" invested solely in any bricks and mortar bookstores anymore or even the books industry, I guess. The future doesn't look good for the printed book industry, if two of the biggest retailers (Borders, now closed) and B&N wanting to be bought by someone else.
In the closest Borders to me, Books-a-Million has moved in to the same space and seemed like a nice store. Again, the content seemed diversified. In fact, I bought two toys...stuffed animal and a finger puppet set for babies in my family for Christmas...there.
If that leaves only places like the small independent book stores, which won't come within a 1/10 probably of carrying the inventory of the big B&N's, and places with used books or remainders, like Half-Priced Books (which is always busy, in the couple I've been in), then the future of the printed book is even dicier, I guess.
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GENE: be sure to let us know how you like it when you get it.
Joan, I haven't bought it yet, but I will be purchasing the basic kindle in the next day or so. I definitely will share my experience. Just received a flyer from my local library touting their e-book and audio-book capabilities.
I've also been reading the posts here in Technophobe and the e-books sure seem to be on the march. :)
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I placed my Kindle order and used the Amazon link here at Senior Learn. I guess I went into action while I was jabbering about it. So now I just wait till I get it.
The discussions here at Technophobe are extremely interesting. I give full weight to the opinions and experiences that I read. ;D
Update in a few weeks.
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Before I involuntarily left Fry Comm., they started and were busy increasing their on-demand printing business. This is mostly for small subscriber publications or members only publications. I have one that was printed for the American Geriatric Association. Very small inventories are kept, often not printed unless ordered, and Fry often mails them directly to the buyer from here. It may well be that the printing industry will be reduced to high-speed copier/collator/printers similar to Kinko's.
One of the biggest expenses in the printing industry is the cost of plates. So, as more and more presses are converted to a computer-to-press rather that a computer-to-plate format, prices of books and magazines should come down or at least not keep rising. Whether or not it is enough, now, to compete with totally digital offerings remains to be seen. BTW, I have noticed that some print books are actually less expensive than the same in e-book form. I thought the whole idea of the e-book was to by-pass the hard copy expenses, thus making it less expensive. Silly me!
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Frybabe...Interesting observation from you as an insider on the printing industry. I can see where the expense should be less, as you say.
I haven't yet found a book I was interested in that was more expensive as an ebook than as a new print book (paperback or hard cover)....the used ones, yes, can be less expensive, but once shipping and handling are figured in, I don't know. I have seen some odd pricing on both print and ebooks, though....and I can't understand some of those prices. However, I also saw some weird things when I tried a search at B&N on date and found some books with publication dates of the year 2059! I can't imagine any author is really planning NOW for a pub date then. I'm quite sure I won't be around to buy it, at any rate!! I about hurt myself laughing at that date.
jane
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I have a question about the IPad. Is in only available with AT&T or can you use other servers. I am with Verizon. Do they have an equivalent or can IPad be used with Verizon?
Can it be used like a Kindle or Nook for downloading books? Is it easy for a novice to use? I live in a small town and don't have access to stores to go to for help.
Sally
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I have a question about the IPad. Is in only available with AT&T or can you use other servers. I am with Verizon.
I have Verizon for my IPad only. It's wonderful. Since I don't HAVE a Verizon account I pay monthly depending on what amount of Gigabytes I download. I barely download 1 G a month, so I'm changing my plan again, to less money. I've been paying $30 per month..
I don't know what they charge if you already have a Verizon account to add the IPad to it.
I bought my Ipad from Verizon over the phone. I absolutely love it and am obsessed with it. The plans and options are all online at Verizon.com.
Do they have an equivalent or can IPad be used with Verizon?
Verizon is better in my opinion in this area because ATT blacks out in some spots here, I'd ask and be sure of the coverage. If you have Verizon now and you have a mobile phone which does work you will be home free signal wise, but the salespeople will tell you all that.
Can it be used like a Kindle or Nook for downloading books?
Yes, but it also has its own bookstore, so you don't need them. You can install if you like an I Pad Amazon Kindle app, and an I Pad Nook app if you want a book only available on Amazon, say. It's quite easy to download books from any source, and I like the little bookshelf you get with Ipad when you download books, myself.
I hear the Nook app for I pad does not offer the same freebies, etc. you could get at B&N.
Is it easy for a novice to use?
Yes, amazingly so. The genius of Steve Jobs, I guess.
I live in a small town and don't have access to stores to go to for help.
You've got us, a lot of us have I Pads, and you've got Apple, too, once you get an Apple product you can call them toll free and they will help technically and they're very nice. I would ask how long this free technical advice will last. I actually took out a sort of service contract with Apple initially and so can talk on and on. I haven't talked to them in ages.
Also there are wonderful magazines and books ON the Ipad which will take you step by step thru each and every process with lots of photos. There is literally no question they won't answer. There is also a manual loaded on the IPad if you need it. I like books with lots of step by step photos. Are you looking for an IPad 2 or?
As one who just played an hour of games on it this morning through Verizon and read the London Sunday Times, I don't think I can recommend it more highly.
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In general I agree With Ginny's rather favorable I-pad commentary above, however, as great as it is, it falls short of perfection. I'll mention two annoying annoying tendencys. First After taking some 20 minutes peckin out a post here or an e-mail, I am ready to hit the post or send button, suddenly it's GONE. In a flash it just disappears. Similarly on a seniorlearn board I scroll down to the bottom to read the last post. I start to read it. Flash, it suddenly scrolls back to the top.
I attribute both of these anoyances, to the way I am holding the I-pad. I tend to pinch it tightly from the upper left corner. Even though my fingers are on the edge ( on the black margin) not the screen, the unwanted action is initiated. To avoid the problem I have to be sure I hold it lightly on the edge, or better, as I am doing now no hands at all with the I-pad layin on my lap with no hand contact.
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Would someone post here how to illustrate posts with jpg pictures? I don't have my home page any more. I do have a Facebook page but I am not active there since I find It rarther difficult to navigate and use.
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Harold...one idea...sign up for a free photobucket account. http://www.photobucket.com
You can then upload your illustrations to that account (as you probably did when you had server space with your webpage) and then you can link to that photobucket account to use the illustrations.
If they're illustrations for a heading for a book discussion you're doing, Ginny, Marcie or I can upload those illustrations to the SeniorLearn server.
jane
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We have Verizon as server for our phones and computers. It costs us nothing to add my ipad.
Harold, you may want to consider getting a cover for your ipad that will let you set it on your lap like an easel. You don't need to hold the tablet at all and i think it's easier to type on it that way.
Some web sites about seniors and ipads:
The one "error" he thinks has been made on the ipad, i never even noticed - my face reflected in the screen!?! Pshaw!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joanlappin/2011/09/28/three-things-apple-ipads-do-well-for-seniors-and-the-one-huge-error-its-design-failed-to-consider/
Ten apps seniors must have, i don't agree that i need all ten, but i do love Pandora Radio
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2010/11/08/10-must-have-ipad-apps-for-seniors
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/for-seniors-delete-appointments-in-ipads-calendar.html
Article
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/05/03/MNDT1D7JQP.DTL
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The page about removing appointments in itself is not important, but the site in general has good info and the article below that is interesting.
Jean
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Harold, I have precisely the same issues with the Macbook - it is just too too sensitive, things jump about all over the place when I don't think I've "told" it to do anything at all. The built-in mouse seems to me to have far too many functions, so that you've only got to hit it in slightly the wrong place for all sorts of shennanigans to ensue.
Rosemary
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(i put this post in parentheses bcs it has NOTHING to do w/ what is being talked about, but if i don't post it now, i'll forget about it and it's so interesting i thoight you might enjoy it.......
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/sunday/steve-jobss-genius.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=todayspaper
An interesting article by Issacson, recent biographer of Steve Jobs, previous biographer of B Franklin and A Einstein, writes about intelligence and ingenuity. What are the different kinds of "smart"? My husband, a microbiologist, and i have had more than one conversation about that topic. - we have also had more then one conversation about the humanities vs science. Amazing that we've been together almost 50 yrs! Issacson also alludes to the simplicity of Apple products v IBM's pc. I started my computer life on an Apple IIE and when i went to work for Dept of Army, who were, of course, using pc's, i asked "why is this so complicated?")
Enjoy!
Jean
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There are now SEVEN books on my I-Pad bookshelves! All were free. Selected poems of Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare's Sonnets, Verses by Rudyard Kipling, 3 volumes of Emily Dickenson's poems, and Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery. I am having SO much fun reading them this way! I will never need a Kindle or a Nook or any of those.
That bookshelf is so cute!
So is the magazine rack with 2 magazines on it. The latest edition automatically pops up on it!
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Exciting, isn't it?
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Yes and no. Ups and downs like a roller coaster.
At the moment I am back into about to die of frustration. This time it is all about Senior Learn. I am trying to set it up on my new IPad and it does not even recognize my name. AND apparently I have forgotten my password, though I am having a hard time believing that. Has anyone else had trouble getting Senior Learn on their IPad?
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I download books from several different apps.. Sometimes one will have a free book and the others wont, so I check.
I printed out the entire instruction book.. 144 pages , punched holes and put it in a three ring binder. I tend to like to follow along the written word to do new stuff.. I also got a little gadget form the original IPAD that allows me to download pictures from my camera direct to the IPAD..
I have dozens of fun apps.. google earth,, a wonderful space app, that is 3D and spectacular.
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Smart ideas and good suggestions, Steph. It looks like you're going about the IPad with the right idea. IPads sound like so much fun, but with a Kindle and a laptop, I'm having a hard time justifying one for my needs. Maybe someday, but maybe need an Iphone first.
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My goodness! What happene here.? I counted something like 14 poats yesterday and today.
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MaryPage, i have/had no trouble w/ Seniorlearn on my ipad other then the ipad is so fast it has spoiled me! Sometimes i am now too impatient. ;D ;D
Jean
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No doubt you've seen list after list, ad nauseum. But this NY Times list of Best IPad apps has me wanting an IPad. That interactivity / interactiveness certainly sounds like fun.
Best IPad Apps of 2011 (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/technology/personaltech/amid-an-avalanche-of-ipad-apps-the-best-of-2011-app-smart.html?src=me&ref=general)
Recipes, photoediting, etc. For the uninitiated, like me, this whole Apps thing sounds very inviting. MaryPage, I bet you're going to just love your IPad.
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An enbarrassment of riches arrived in my email this morning. Learnoutloud has sent out their
"learning guide" of free materials. It will take me weeks to browse thru it, but i have excited anticipation of having something to do in these cold winter nights of tv re-runs. My only problem is that some of them won't run on my ipad, so i'll have to sit at the pc instead on in my lounge chair..........siiigghh, the trials of life ;D ;D ;D
http://www.learnoutloud.com/content/blog/archives/2011/07/free_learning_guide.html?utm_source=FROTD&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Free%2BResource%20of%20the%20Day
Enjoy!!!
Jean
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Pedlin, Funny I really dont want or need an iphone.. I love the IPAD though. I like my Garmin GPS in the car.. I can unhook it and take it with me if I am in a strange town and want to walk to somewhere. I do not like the GPS, I can access with my phone. Too darned small..
I love the App on myIPAD that gives me free Wifi sites where I am.. and I have another one that does the same thing with gas stations and restaurants.. Sort of fun. But my Garmin does gas stations as well.
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Nothing to do with books, but....
I've been trying to skype with our daughter. The camera works, but it tells me that the microphone (built in) is muted. I've used it before with no problems, but somehow I've managed to mute the mike. I can't seem to figure out where to find it to "unmute" it.
I have a Dell Inspiron 14 (2 years old).
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Wish i could help, but I dont skype..
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MaryZ, look in the lower left-hand corner of your monitor screen for a little speaker icon. If it is there it will probably have a slash across it. Just click on it and it should turn the mute off. If that doesn't work look at your keyboard to see if it has a mute button (mine does). You can also go to the control panel and click on the sound and see if your speakers are muted. Hope this helps.
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Larry, I keep the computer muted almost all the time, but I do, of course, turn that back to sound when I skype. I can hear my daughter. She can't hear me.
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Is there a little slide or button on the microphone itself that needs shifted? I don't mine, so it is packed in a box somewhere, but I seem to remember a little slide switch to turn the mike of and one. Also, did you check to see if the mike is plugged into the right slot on the computer? I've plugged into the wrong place several times over the years. All I can say is thank goodness for color coded plugs and slots these days.
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Frye, the mike isn't separate - it's in the computer itself.
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MaryZ, I hope you get your sound problem solved quickly. This is a little off-topic, but timely. IN the WSJ this week, Mossberg has a review of TelyHD, which is a foot-long gadget that's put on the top or your TV and allows the whole family or roomful of people to Skype at the same time. I assuming that the folks at the other end have the same piece of equipment.
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Sorry, Mary. I'm not familiar with computers with mikes right in them. There is probably some software set-up program in there somewhere, then. Larry's suggestion to check the in the control panel is a good one, look in either hardware or devices when the control panel opens. You may be able to find it and open a settings window from there.
I do hope it isn't a problem with the computer itself. You could go into the help and support window and click on troubleshooting tools. There is a hardware diagnostics program you can run that might pick up a problem. However, considering you are getting a mike muted message it sounds like a software setting rather than a hardware problem.
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/Technophobe.jpg)
Cartoon used by permission of the artist
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
Maryz...I saw your muted Skype problem - don't know if you've resolved it yet. My son is living in London these days and I'd be really upset to lose his Skype voice. I've got the microphone built in the computer too.
Did you try this path?
Go to the Skype home page
Click "Tools"
Click "Options"
Click "Sounds"
Check to be sure the mute button is not clicked.
Good luck - hope this works. Let us know?
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JoanP, I found that, and indeed the mute button was pushed. Now to see if that was the problem. I'll set up a time to talk to our daughter and see if that works. :)
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Wow, the mute was in Skype and not in the computer? I don't know a darn thing about Skype except its name and that it is some kind of video phone type thing. I hope that solved your problem, Mary.
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Ihave muting problems with my laptop. It reverts to mute when turned off, which drives me nuts. I have changed the setting so many times. Sigh..Just like trying to correct my email greeting to just Stephanie.. I do it and it bangs itself back somehow. Ah computers.
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JoanP, that didn't work - but thanks for the suggestion. I'm pretty sure the problem is in my laptop, so I guess I'll have to call Dell tech or go to the tech guy at Staples.
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I have been using the Google Chrome Browser until Friday there suddenly appeared a problem in booting it.. Apparently an essential file was missing. Since I also had the Mozilla Firefox browser with my favorites already listed on the computer, I updated to the current version and am now using the Firefox Browser. Question does any one have comment concerning the relative security of these two browser programs?
My Desktop is a well equipped Dell with 6 gb memory and a good graphic card running the Microsoft Vista operating system. Despite the common problems experienced with this operating system I have never had any of the common problems experienced by others, and have never had any reason to install the newer Windows 7.
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Harold, I found this recent comparison of Chrome, IE and Firefox. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/report-finds-firefox-security-lacking/17029 As a Firefox user, I found it rather disturbing. I do have several security plug-ins which seem to work well. I believe the tests were done on the basic Firefox without extra plug-ins. I am going to have to look into this further when I have some time (assuming I remember by then).
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Even though all of my firewalls are functioning and detect nothing, I am having a stupid problem..I have it on seniorlearn as well as any other site. I will click on my bookmark and the site will come up and then boom.. a sort of survey thing will pop up.. It will somehow hang the computer when I delete it ( am not a survey sort of person). It will finally c alm down, but I cannot do anything until I get an arrow again.. What is it?? Oh, I did check, my popups are blocked as always.
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I used to have a problem with Netflix ads popping up even with all my pop-up blockers. I don't know what I did that finally got rid of them, but I have added a plug-in to Firefox called Better Privacy. It focuses on what are called "flash cookies" (LSOs/supercookies) that ordinary cookie blockers miss.
I also have a program called SlimComputer that I use occasionally to get rid of little extra programs that some companies add to their downloads. I got rid of a lot of added programs that came loaded onto the computer that way. I can find and delete them easily from there. It tells you what the programs are for so you can decide to keep or delete. If you make a mistake deleting something you don't want, you can restore it. The only thing I don't like about it is that when you do the scan, it checks off everything, so you have to uncheck all the programs you want to keep. You have to do this for each tab before deleting what is left. If you don't it deletes all the checked items in the other tabs too. I made that mistake once, and had to restore a bunch of stuff. This is a Windows Certified program, but not a Microsoft product.
One more program that I like immensely is Secunia. It keeps a look out for program and security updates for your programs and automatically updates them. It works great.
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For me the most frustrating thing is,, sometimes it does and sometimes it is just fine. No problem this morning at all. Why..oh ...why...
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I have been away from the site for a while but I run an android phone and recently received a Kindle Fire and could not resist this area. I love my Fire.
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Has anyone found an answer to how to delete a single photo or a bunch of selected photos from PHOTOS on the IPAD?
I could not find a way to do it at all, so I went on line and researched it and the best I could do was
go to Photos on the IPAD
click on Photos up above
click on the shooting arrow at the top right
tap a photo and it gets a little check mark on it
and up above it says 1 photo selected
then tap delete
nothing happens for me! Yet this is the ONLY place I can even get delete to show up!
Anybody?
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MaryPage, do you mean from your photos in your computer? When I want to delete one, I right click on the photo to get a menu. Then click "delete". It asks me if I really want to do that, and when I say "yes", it goes away. Or else, select the photo, and hit the delete button on the keyboard.
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Sorry, I was so busy thinking IPAD that I forgot to say so.
No, you are right, of course: it works perfectly on my computer, and always has.
But it does NOT work on my IPAD.
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Saw this in the Washington Post today, and just loved it:
"You can spill water on a book and it will still work!"
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Mary Page, I printed out the whole manual for the IPAD, so will try and remember to check it this morning later and maybe get an answer for you.
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Mary Page Manual says.
deltel a photo: You can delete photos from the saved photos album which contains photos you save from email or the web. For photos synced from your computer, you need to delete the photo from the album on your computer, then sync IPAD again.. Hope this helps.
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Thanks a bunch, Steph. I kind of felt that might be the problem. Well, my son took my photos off my computer and transferred them to my IPAD. I am not only technologically challenged, but I am utterly hopeless with photos. All of mine were emailed me or put on by one or another of my family members.
But sincerely, Thanks for the trouble you took to solve this question for me!
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N o problem. I simply have not been putting any pictures on the IPAD. They are on my computers. But I find it difficult in that I can put my Kindle books into a file of mine when I finish reading them, but on the Ibook site, I can either have them on the site or delete, no storage that I can find. Darn.
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I have quite a few pictures on my I-Pad. Though both Pad cameras are woefully inadequate compared to current digital cameras,the screen shows still pictures real good. I have used the I Pad to show camera made pictures. In particular I have used it to show continuous repeat slide shows during public open house events here.
Also despite their resolution shortcomings, they are optimized for making movie picture strips. I have made over a half dozen 5 to 45 minute movie strips of sing alongs, an Apache drum/flute concert at the ITC, and other events, including an interesting strip off the TV screen of a NASA Space Station/Shuttle docking event. These can make impressive viewing particulatlr if player on the TV from the I Pad through the HDMI link.
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An interesting NY Times article by computer guru David Pogue -- what miraculous things you can do for and with your iPad.
Windows 7 On The iPad and Speedy (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/technology/personaltech/onlive-desktop-plus-puts-windows-7-on-the-ipad-in-blazing-speed-state-of-the-art.html?src=me&ref=general)
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I loved my IPAD, but there are things that I would rather do on a much larger screen. Maybe its my age.
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Wow! That's exciting stuff, thanks for posting that Pedln.
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That sure is!~ Thank you so much, Pedln! I'm going to have the APP before the day is out. I don't have that 2M speed you'd get the best advantage out of but that doesn't mean I'm not in places from time to time that don't!
I think that's the most exciting thing I've seen in a long time. My son was talking just the other day about the need for Office stuff on the Iphone and apparently that's in the works!
It will revolutionize a lot of things in the computer world.
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Watching CNBC financial program the other day, and one of the participant's said "data is the next oil." And I interpreted that to mean that he who shapes, manages, stores, interprets, and provides data will be the next baron(s). With all the data coming at us from all angles, the guy who knows what best to do with it will rule the roost.
What do you think?
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Pedln, have you seen the news items about the new Google Glasses? Wear those and a bob of the head will get you info on what you happen to be looking at at the time. Facial recognition is involved. So the idea is that you are walking down the street (hopefully not driving), bob you head, for example, at a store front and get info about the store. I read the other day that it also uses facial recognition. So does that mean that if I am wearing one of these gadgets, and I see someone interesting or suspicious, I can get that person's vital statistics. Great! What I really want is a bunch of strangers bobbing their heads at me and finding out my name, address, age, etc.
Oh, wow! Another chance to look out my window as I cruise the net and see the crescent moon with Venus and Jupiter in close proximity. Beautiful.
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Dont need or want a set of extra
glasses.. I suspect that in the next 20 years, privacy will disappear completely.
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What happens if you get the hiccups while you're wearing those glasses? Do you get a sudden flood of ads and data?
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;D ;D
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PatH you are wicked. You made my day with that one.
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Oh,the image is irrisistable.. I am having a technophobe week.. This am, the chirping has stopped, but I have a handyman coming to help with what is wrong..Will let him come anyway.. Also after experimenting, the VCR works , but the remote doesnt. Sigh.
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What I really want is a bunch of strangers bobbing their heads at me and finding out my name, address, age, etc.
And your weight! ;D
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That settles it.. No glasses for me..
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My Chicagoland brother just got a new cell phone and says he has to go to school to learn how to use it. :D
It's an HTC, whatever that is, and US Cellular is the teacher providing the 2-hour class.
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Ah, the joys of tech.When I was in the Apple store looking at their PC.. Very nice indeed. They mentioned that you get a free series of classes.. Thought it was a nice touch.
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Steph - i don't know how it is in the US, but here in the UK you can only get those classes if you buy the MacBook from the Apple shop. I bought mine from John Lewis (our highly respected national store) and the people in the Apple shop refused even to speak to me about a query I had, much less enrol me in their classes - even the ones you have to pay for.
Rosemary
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Wow! That's very strange, Rosemary. Our Apple stores are very helpful and i've never had to show a receipt or say where i bought my device.
Jean
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Well, I may try the one here in Edinburgh Jean (when I work out where it is) - the one I went into was in Aberdeen, I purposely went on a weekday morning when they wouldn't be busy, and I was met half way into the shop by a very officious young lady, who clearly just wanted to get rid of me. I left the store feeling like I was too old and unglamorous for them to bother with. I was going to contact Apple to tell them, but when I went onto their website there was just nowhere for you to write to - it was all FAQs and that was it.
I hope I just caught them on a bad day, but it put me off going back I can tell you.
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Like Jean, our Apple shop is overwhelmingly friendly. They have never asked me about where I bought the IPAD.. The last time I was in, I had a man who was probably in his late 50's or so and I was so comfortable with him. He was calm, careful and explained about something on my IPAD for me and then took me through the big PC, when I indicated an interest. I said, how about the data on my current computer and he said, you simply bring it in and we will take care of the transfer for you.. Plus the free lessons.. I am startled at your person, since Apple in the US is known for their great retailers.
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I watched the CNET presentation from the Apple affair yesterday introducing the new iPad (third generation). Last night both my friend and I placed our orders with Apple and should have the new iPad a week from tomorrow (at least it is scheduled to be delivered then). Since I had the iPod Touch I am familiar with using iTunes and am now updating the apps I already have on my account to the iPad versions where available. I am also going to look into using the iCloud available.
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/Technophobe.jpg)
Cartoon used by permission of the artist
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
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Let us know how you like it, Larry. Supposedly the graphics are incredible. I was tempted too but I have the "new" IPAD 2 so it would not make any sense to upgrade again.
I love mine and am now obsessed with Temple Run. My grandson only just turned 5, has so far a score of 246,487 ...no, no, hold the phone, just now he got 273,562... which is about 200 thousand more than I've ever been able to get. :) If you've ever played that game you know how impossible that is!~
In my opinion I PAD is going to revolutionize the world, possibly making computers obsolete. They only lack 2 things to make them perfect: a phone connection and Word documents and those are in the works, already available as we've seen as an APP for iphone. My iphone saved me the other day when an accident closed the interstate and I was late. I switched on the free GPS ,which for 9 bucks a month talks to you and it safely navigated me thru the country to where I wanted to go.
Just amazing. You always have a phone with you, again just consider a few years ago, if you were lost you were lost. :)
I'm taking my IPAD on my next trip overseas and will find out how easy it is to work there.
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iPads sound wonderful, and I hope to own one someday. The new one apparently has something like Dragon Dictate on it, too. But I hope computers do not become obsolete as I love my big monitor. Probably some day there will be a way to connect the iPads to big monitors.
We're travelling at a high rate of speed technologically, so I no longer doubt that anything is impossible.
Have fun with all your new toys folks.
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Can anyone tell me if a UK mobile phone will work in the USA? Do I have to do something to it?
Thanks
Rosemary
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If you want to call back to Scotland, you will need some sort of international phone.. You might already have the capability in your cell phone.. It depends on the service. If not, buy a disposable phone when you get here. You pay for only the time you use it..
IPAD. I have the original and still love it.. but yes Pedlin, since you sync your IPAD to your computer, anything on the IPAD is also on the big PC.. You simply connect t he two . I do it once every two weeks to keep everything on both computers current and before I leave for Franklin this summer, will try and pull the laptop into it as well.
Ginny.. I have the run, but am really really bad at it.. I love the journeys that are App games.. Have a whole bunch of them. You visit all over and perform various types of problems.. Also have a killer Free Cell type.
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I think the keyboard of the IPAD is the biggest liability right now. The portability is such a plus, and they do make a little sort of folding case into which you slip the IPAD and type as if on a regular keyboard. Stephanie is right, but have any of you tried to actually use the large desktop monitor AS the IPAD monitor? That is, use it to see the IPAD more clearly? I know a lot of people do that with laptops, and I also want/ need that huge monitor, normally.
Once Larry gets his hands on one we'll be able to cross mountains with it.
I did see that on Dragon Dictation, Pedln! And it's not all games and toys, some of it could be life saving, like the NOAA weather radio.
I very much like the NOAA weather APP. Here if a storm comes up at 1 am, we cannot turn ON the TV or the internet, to try to find out where it is, due to the satellite knocking out. So theoretically we could have something coming at us and never know it until it's too late. However the IPAD not only has several APPs for weather, including the Weather Channel and IMAP where you can see radar for your own town, but it has NOAA weather and, if you like, NOAA weather radio live, and it always works. I have used it several times since I got it. Kind of reassuring to have it right there, and be able to hear the broadcast and SEE the radar.
Especially since here in the southeast our storms come up so suddenly often at night, and you, if the TV works, turn on the local channels and you're lucky to get one talking about the storm, or one band across the top with 2 hour old news, interrupting the 10 year old reruns. Nobody is talking about the current storm which may only be affecting your area but which may be rattling the shutters which is why you woke up in the first place. It's so good to be able to SEE something and KNOW something.
(And yes, I do know about weather radios, we do have one but you can't leave it on, unless they've made some changes in the way it broadcasts recently, because with every severe storm warning, much less a tornado watch or warning, it goes into hysteria and broadcasts every 5 seconds and you would never ever get any sleep. And you would not be able to separate the forest from the trees.)
Steph my reflexes and Temple Run are not quite in sinc hahasha However they do say these things are very good for the brain, so I keep trying.
And it IS addictive.
IPAD also has an APP for the best solitaire I have found. And I like getting my news that way. I like picking from the million and one CNN stories which I want to watch: the CNN APP allows you to do that.
Rosemary, I don't know about UK phones and the US, but if the reverse is true, our phones will work overseas with an added on international package, I don't see why yours wouldn't work here. I'd check and see what the rates are, they may be extreme. Maybe somebody else knows something better. Stephanie's idea of the disposable phone or one that runs on a card (chip inserted) set to a certain amount sounds good, I don't know which is more expensive. I think Best Buy and WalMart sell them here in the States.
Are you coming to America?!?
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Ginny, I just realized that we can have a video chat with the iPad sometime. That would be nice. I got an email this morning that Apple has shipped the iPad from China to be delivered on the 16th.
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Since I have the original IPAD, I have purchased a small gadget that inserts in the top and you can download your pictures from the camera and now also a small keyboard that you can use instead of the built in one. I find the little one hard to use if I want to send a longer message on email. I do not have the capability to hook into the extra systems , but simply use the router at home and the free wifi everywhere.
Speak?? Now that one is interesting.. But then I am not tech oriented.
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Ginny, I posted a reply yesterday but it has disappeared into the ether - that's the second one to go in 2 days ???
Anyway, yes, I am coming to Philadelphia on Wednesday, staying with my friend Susan from the Barbara Pym group. Then on Friday we go on the train to Cambridge for the Pym annual conference, which looks like it will be fun (Susan has been before). It's all a bit scary for someone like me who never goes further than North Berwick, but I am looking forward to it - more so now that I know that Susan can meet me at the airport (she thought she might not be able to at first).
And I have managed to work out that my phone is 'internationally enabled' (got my password right after 3 attempts - why on earth do I need a password for Orange?) Will be using it as little as possible as it will cost a fortune, but it's nice to know I have it.
I'll tell anyone who wants to know all about the conference when I get back.
Rosemary
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Larry! How exciting! I must lose weight! hahahaa
Rosemary!! How exciting II! No NYC? Philadelphia is my hometown, but I haven't been back in years, unfortunately. The last time I was there, I went to what WAS Wannamakers (department store downtown) to hear the organ. They have a grand pipe organ there in a lobby many stories high and my mother and I used to have lunch when I was quite small overlooking the organ when it played during the day. I can't recall who owns that store now, it was Lord & Taylors when I went back, it's not now, but it was still nice to have a sandwich and hear the beautiful old organ play, again, overlooking the huge eagle statue where people used to meet on the main floor. Brought back a lot of memories.
Have a wonderful time! We'd love to hear EVERYTHING about your trip, too bad you can't stay a month!
I do know what you mean about having a phone, expensive or not, should you need it.
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OMG (as my teenagers would say...) the perils of Skype. When my husband was working in Edinburgh and we still lived in Aberdeen, I resisted his attempts to get me to go on Skype, because then he would have been able to see me trying to do several other things during the gaps in his conversation :)
Rosemary
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I have resisted Skype since I really dont use the phone much.. and am not quite sure who I would want to see in person and talk to..
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Someone posted this in another of my groups:
Poem of the Year
The computer swallowed grandma.
Yes, honestly it's true!
She pressed 'control and 'enter'
And disappeared from view.
It devoured her completely,
The thought just makes me squirm.
She must have caught a virus or been eaten by a worm.
I've searched through the recycle bin
And files of every kind;
I've even used the Internet,
But nothing did I find.
In desperation, I asked Jeeves
My searches to refine.
The reply from him was negative,
Not a thing was found 'online.'
So, if inside your 'Inbox,'
My Grandma you should see,
Please 'Copy, Scan' and 'Paste' her
And send her back to me.
(This is a tribute to all the Grandmas and Grandpas who
have been fearless and learned to use the Computer.........)
******************************************************
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That is sooooo cute! Do you know who the author is?
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No, Frybabe, I don't know the author. I'll ask the person who posted it and let you know.
Marj
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Marj: that's great!
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It is amazing what we Grandmas have learned over the years..Think about it.. When we were teens, we never even heard computer as a word.
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Aarrgghhh! I upgraded my ipad to iso5 yesterday and LOST all my mail and contacts on the ipad and it now says everytime i try to do mail from the ipad that my password is incorrect or that the server isn't working!!! Fortunately, i have almost all of the mail info on the pc also, but it is infuriating. It is especially so since when i go on line to get some help it's obvious that this has been happening for people since at least Oct and there appears that Apple hasn't publicized a fix, or an strong alert ahead of time to back-up info.
On top of that i'm finding none of my passwords at websites are working, even though i know they are correct! Only Seniorlearn let me in w/out frustration!
It was even a person in the Apple store who told me to do the upgrade, and he didn't mention the potential of a problem. That disappoints me.
Jean
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jean...are you close enough to the Apple store to go back in, hand it to said person and say...fix it?
That's so frustrating, I know.
jane
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Jane - yes i am! And that's exactly what i'm going to do. I could call them and fiddle around w/ someone telling me what to do, but i just don't want to bother trying that.
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When I upgraded to the cloud a bit ago, I thought I had lost every single app..Turned out that in the App store, there is a button for purchased and they were all neatly stacked there. IPADs are weird in how they store..
I did the IO5 and all seems fine, but I had better check.
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Yes, most of the apps that i "purchased", (most were free) were in the "cloud", but my mail just won't work.
Jean
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For some reason, I still prefer to read my email on my big computer. Love the big screen..So I rarely use the IPAD for email.. I checked everything else, but will check that as well.Have you tried syncing the IPAD on your other computers.. Just go on ITunes and plug the two together.
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Reading all this, one can see that "school" will be necessary for a lot of things. I wonder if "telephone school" was ever considered back in AG Bell's day.
I can still be shocked when confronting privacy and the Internet. Yesterday I registered for a retail account and all went well, but the national retailer wanted to check my identity, so I had to answer three multiple choice questions. A possible answer for all three was "none of the above."
First question -- home address, past and present -- the answer was one I had 35 years ago. 2nd question -- phone number, easy. 3rd -- and really shocked me -- What year was my Toyota Camry?
These came up in a matter of seconds. What kind of databases can commercial enterprises buy? How can an individual find out what info about him/her is being circulated? This is for everyone. Even the most stalwart luddite who has never even seen a computer.
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Yes Steph, i had to go on itunes to download the update to iso5 - i giggled to myself at that sentence, 25 yrs ago i would have no idea what it was saying....download? Iso5? Download the update? Sounds like a puzzle. What a whole new language we've earned in the last 25 yrs.
Anyway, after the update i synced -another new word - everything (i thought) to the ipad.
Anyway, if you are going to update, be forewarned and you probably should backup much of your present info, altho i'm not entirely sure how you do that w/ the email.
Jean
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Pedln...I think that "they" know everything about us. I know, for example, that property assessments and even property taxes are online in lots of states, and other stuff people think is "private."
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Recommendation: there is a "Free App" app that each day sends you a list of the days' free apps. Today they have "Video Time Machine" and "Holiday Time Machine" which is so much fun! You can choose a year and get videos of that year. In the VTM, you can choose "music, tv or movies" and on the HTM you choose a year and get videos from those same sourcesbut you don't get to choose. i haven't looked at it completely, but in the HTM the yrs go back to at least the '20s..
The VTM was sitting on 1942 when i opened it so i just choose music and got a movie of a German chorus and symphony w/ a Nazi banner on the stage, regardless, the music was very good. Check them out, have some fun
Jean
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Free Apps are so neat. I have a three d one of space and the earth and all of the satellites, etc. I love it.. So neat. I can go up to one of the satellites and then turn it all different ways to look at it.. Same with the planets.
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OMGosh! If you have a Apple device, you should download the 2 two free apps i mentioned earlier! One is "Video time machine" and the other is "holiday time machine". I have spent all evening having such a good time watching the videos on them. The holiday app has Christmas tv shows, or parts of them. The whole show of Your Hit Parade Christmas 1955 is there, go to the year 1955 and the to #14 of the set of that year. I loved the Hit Parade Show, Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, Gisele McKinsey. Of course, i went looking on youtube and found videos from other Hit Parade shows! They also have Ch-mas episodes from Ozzie and Harriet, Hazel, Bonanza, Alfred Hitchcock, etc, etc. And all kinds of ch-mas music videos from movies or tv of the year you choose.
On the video time machine, as i said, you can choose news, movies, music, tv and ads. Some of the ads are fun to look at. I also found a 30 min movie - i guess it was shown in theaters as a short - from General Motors to tout their " craftsmenship" in their 1950s cars. It was quite interesting, talking about craftsmenship thruout American history and then they walk thru the process of making a car door. I thot it was interesting. Of course today it's probably all done by robots.
You can pick any year, or just start at a year and work your way forward or back. It is very easy and works very well, both apps do.
ENJOY! Jean
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Hit Parade..Snooky, Giselle, etc. Oh I do remember that. We watched it on TV, although Grady and Hurst, who predated Dick Clark out of Philadelphia were my afterschool favorites.But those Philly girls were a shock to this little farm girl.. Heavy eye makeup.. tightest skirts in creation.. Wow... My Mom would look and go.."Forget it, no decent female wears makeup until their 20's and their mothers should never let them wear those skirts. Sigh..I felt very very homely. Then grown, I met a lot of them grown in Philly and boom.. Realized I would never have wanted to look the way they did.
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EVERYBODY who grew up in Philly (ahem) does or did not look cheap or is or was not over made up or looks like Jerseylicious. :) (http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/ginny.jpg) (Remember the spit curl?) hahahaha
And not everybody on Bandstand and Dick Clark came FROM Philly, either. When we moved to NJ they used to get busses up and recruit kids for that broadcast, even from where we lived in NJ. That was a different time.
I still have one of those pencil skirts, I am thinking perhaps my right calf would fit in it now. hahashaa
(And some of thsoe girls who did go were TOUGH and I mean tough). That was the era of the DA and the real Fonzies of the world. Different world at least from the one I live in now, or from our little Quaker town in NJ which was full of preppies, the twinset and the bob, and the field hockey and lacrosse teams for the girls.
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I'm talking about all of these things in my April course on the 1950s, 60s & 70s, so i've been looking at and remembering them. I used to show my college students a film about the fifties which had some of the movies that we saw in health classes about etiquette and dating, etc. One was about Suzy who "thought" she was popular w/ the boys...... she wore pencil skirts and tight sweaters - remember those pointy bras? - and "parked w/ boys in cars." But when she tried to talk to them in the cafeteria, the boys snubbed her!!!! So There! The college students thot they were hilarious.
If you get the Time Machine app, take a look at 1957, music, #3 in the set. It's titled "Swing Dancing from the movie Untamed Youth." I think it was a major "B" movie, i don't recognize anyone in it, and it never got to Shippensburg, Pa. There is a young woman who is obviously "Suzy" grown up, in her pencil skirt and very tight sweater w/ very pointy bra......LOLOLOL. Just the very essence of the "bad girl". Ohhhhhh my.... I laughed! ...... but then i remembered how sad it was for girls who were labeled "bad girls."
Well, Ginny, your picture shows you as the perfect M-town teenager. You're lovely.
Jean
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Oh Ginny, Spit Curls.. Whew.. Grady and Hurst ( one of them it seems liked young girls and they got pulled eventually). I remember there were favorite dancing couples..and then some of the girls wore what looked like a uniform skirt, but it was hiked way way up. I was adult before I realized that they had rolled it up from the waist.. It was the eye makeup that fascinated me.. Any and all eye make up was considered just way way cheap for young girls in lower Delaware. and the girls on Tv made up something, I always called raccoon eyes. All dark and lots of it. Funny what you remember.
Now.. does anyone figured out how to print from an IPAD..
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I don't really understand IPADS, I guess. Are they complete computers? Can you make folders and write and save documents to them? As asked above, can you print from them...documents or boarding passes, etc?
On my NookColor I can connect to any WiFi, surf the net, post to discussions like this, order items, get my email from both google and my ISP, answer email, but I can't make a document or save to a file or print. (At least I haven't found a way to.)
jane
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Jane - the ipad does all the things your Nook does, even in its original version. Since i downloaded the new operating system, iso5, it tells me i can do all those other things you asked about now if i configure it thru itunes. (docs, files, printing)
Steph- you must have a wifi function in your printer, which our recently purchased one has. I'm anxious to try it, but i don't do much on the ipad that i want to print. I do one-fingered typing on the virtual keyboard and that's waaay to slow to do documents or files. It does have a large "notepad" that looks like a yellow legal pad. I have put many notes on it. I may want to print some of those at some point. It tells you how to print in the new online howto guide.
I think Mary has a real :) keyboard for her ipad, maybe she can tell you more about this.
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I recently bought the regular key pad..Apple is wonderful. you simply turn it on, go to Bluetooth on the IPAD , turn it on and boonm.. you are connected. Like you I do little with the little keyboard, but knew I could do more if I wanted with the real keyboard.
My older son bought a IPAD 2 and he says there are apps for notes, etc. He uses it for GPS a lot since his job requires him to go to a lot of places to look at stuff. He also keeps notes on it for what he is looking for. I have the original, am retired, so rarely use it for that.
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Thank you Jean. :)
Yeah they keep telling me, too, that I can print with IPAD2 which would be very nice for travel, by turning on the Bluetooth thing and having a wifi printer which I have but I have not.
Ann, dreck is Yiddish (or German) for crap, dirt, trash, excrement, filth, nasty stuff. :)
You don't realize until you get much older, the influence on you of what you hear growing up.
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Yes, having married a New Yorker, he used yiddish expressions for a number of things and both of my sons picked it up and use it.. Always funny.They love shmatta.. which is rag..
A wifi printer. Hmm. have to check that out.
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Have you Kimdle users heard about this? They have a publisher who lets the reader determine the story line.
In January, a new publisher appeared on the Kindle. It's called Coliloquy, and its books are a little different -- at certain pre-defined moments, readers are asked to make a choice. Which character should the protagonist date? What event should they go to? In which narrative direction do you want to travel? The books, which are primarily aimed at a young adult and romance novel-reading audience, are like a digital version of those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books from the 1980s.
What most people haven't realized is that the technology works two ways -- as you make a choice in the story, Coliloquy's books read you back. They send anonymized data about your decision, as well as about how often you have read a particular chapter, and which characters you have followed the most. They are the first third-party publisher to receive such data from Amazon. They surely won't be the last.
Do you think you would like to do that? I don't think i would, but i'm not sure why not. ???
Jean
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Hmm.. I once read a mystery that did that.. Once you picked a character, it directed you to a page number to continue. Didnt like it.
My all in one printer is getting very very tricky.. Tried to delete a print job yesterday and it took an hour to make it behave and now it is printing very slowly indeed, but nothing is showing strange. Oh well.
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Jean: sounds a little creepy to me.
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Does anyone know -and if so can they explain in words of one syllable - how you delete books from your Kindle?
Apple seems to have a huge aversion to deletion - I can't delete things from my MacBook and now I can't see how to get them off the Kindle via the MacBook.
Any advice much appreciated!
Rosemary
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Rosemarykaye, highlight the book you want to delete. push the navigation cursor slide button to the right. You should come up with a menu that includes go to items, search, and add to collection. The "Delete this Document" is at the bottom (at least on my Kindle). Highlight and press the button. If it is one of the freebie books from somewhere else, the book will delete completely. If it is a Kindle downloaded book or game, all the delete will do is add it to the archived folder. You will have to go up to your Kindle account online and delete it from there. Keep in mind, my Kindle is an older model so these instructions may not be exact. I am assuming that Amazon/UK has similar account management features online.
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On my kindle, if it's something you've paid for, it says "remove from device" and it goes to your archives (which are not stored on your device). I have over 200 books in my archives: I can get them back any time by turning on the wireless, going to archives, and clicking to download. I have them listed by author. (ocasionally a book will be listed by authors FIRST name, not last, if the person who put it on kindle made a mistake. But not often)
The same menu has "add to collection". you can create "collections" on your kindle that organize your books by type: Whatever you want. The collections can be ordered by recent use, title, or author. I've always wanted to have my books organized, but there is too much physical work involved. Now I can do it! I have another 100 books in my collections. It was fun figuring out what catagories I wanted.
The instruction manuel that came with the kindle has instructions for that
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JoanK -- did you get an actual manual with your Kindle? I didn't - with any of the three we've gotten in this household. I certainly wish I had one.
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Thanks everyone. No, there was nothing with my Kindle either.
Rosemary
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Your can download your Kindle guide/manual here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_cn?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200317150
Follow the instructions at the bottom of the page. It downloads to your computer, then you can copy it to the documents folder in your Kindle. It is exactly the way I copy all my freebie ebooks from other sites.
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Thanks, Frybabe. I'll see about loading it into my computer. I just don't want instructions on the Kindle itself - that just doesn't work for me. ::)
p.s. Just looked at the web site - now I have to figure out which version I have. Sighhhhhhhhhhhhh
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Frybabe, I had a look at my Kindle - but it didn't have any of the things you mentioned! So I was resigned to not being able to delete things - then I accidentally pressed the left hand side of the little square button at the bottom - and miraculously, up came "remove this item?" - so I pressed the middle for "OK" and it worked. I don't know how they expect you to know all this without any instructions. I appreciate that it is all on the Kindle site, but the box didn't tell you that. Anyway, I will have a look at that site you mentioned as I may find I can do a lot more with the Kindle than I do now - although I already love it dearly and can't understand why i withstood having one for so long.
Thanks for your help,
Rosemary
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My Kindle on my IPAD device has the archive button.. Which I love.. My ebook however does not seem to do this. I can get to the archive button on it, but it does not seem to take it off my active list.. I printed out myIPAD stuff.. PUnched holes in it and put it in a three ring binder. That way it is there no matter what.. I love it when you have it on your device and then cannot get your device to turn on, etc.. Then I tend to get really annoyed.This way, I can just look it up.
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My kindle came with the instruction manual already on the kindle, along with two dictionaries. (not a paper one).
Rosemary: press the right side of the same square button, and you'll see the menu we were talking about that lets you archive a book, or put it in a collection. If you pres to put in a collection, it gives you the option of creating one.
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Thanks Joan, that's a great tip.
I have got another problem now. This afternoon I "bought" 2 free books for Kindle from the Amazon site. I received the emails confirming that the books had been sent to my Kindle. I plugged my Kindle into my laptop but the books are not appearing in the list on the device. What have I done wrong this time?
Thanks in anticipation!
Rosemary
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Steph, sometimes my Kindle does that, too. However, if I open another book and then go back to main page, the book magically appears. I don't know why it does that as other times the book appears automatically......
Speaking of technology, I bought a new car that has all kinds of bells & whistles and voice commands. Now if I can just figure out how to use it. I have about three manuals; so will have to read up on it when I am in the mood. My "snip" of a daughter said she didn't know why all us "older" people were always buying technical devices that we didn't know how to use. I told her that I planned to keep this car a long time & I wanted to make sure that it had what I might want to use at a future date. I think I will start a journal with all her comments for her to read once she turns 60!!!
Sally
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When I buy something new for my kindle, I hook up to the ethernet, then click "home" to get to my list of books. Once there, I click on "menu", scroll down to "sync and check for new items" (or something like that) and, voila, the new book appears.
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Ialways buy the book on the IPAD, then it magically appears within a second or so..
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Thanks again everyone. Madeleine has pointed out that I have to have pressed "Wi-fi On" on the Kindle to make it update, even if I have the cable plugged into the laptop. I expect that is patently obvious to everyone except me ::). I still don't really understand why - does it not go through the cable, and if it doesn't, what's the cable for? But who cares, it's worked now. To misquote Babi's tag, I don't pretend to understand the virtual universe......
Rosemary
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Rosemary, out of the mouths of babes. A friend just bought a smartphone and her grandchildren are teaching her how to use it.
My brother has been attending cell phone classes -- his latest trick --
As you know, my new cellphone can read barcodes. Came in handy the other day. The halogen bulb burned out in my desk lamp. Went to Ace Hardware. They had one, but marked $7.99.
That seemed rather high, so I scanned the barcode. It showed that Radio Shack had one for $2.49 (over three and half times cheaper than Ace). This is probably an extreme example, but it pays to shop around. quote]
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I just lost 2 posts. One on this site and another on fiction. I clicked reply and it did nothing. Kept clicking, but still nothing. Hope this one goes thru and someone can tell me what is happening. I've never had trouble posting before.
Sally
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Sally - this has happened to me from time to time. I think some clever people save their long posts as word documents before they post them; of course I never remember to do that. I'm sure it wasn't anything you did or didn't do - most frustrating though.
Rosemary
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Sally, sometimes the website decides to recheck on whoever is on.. YOu will see that you are not connected, but are a visiter..At least that is what happens to me once in a while.
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There could have been a glitch, I think we got a notice of interruption, and if that happens that post may be lost, I am sorry for the problem, Sally.
One thing I do and it depends of course on what your own browser is, etc., and I doubt this works on IPAD, but it might: as I type, like this, I may pause and right click which gives me a menu, I choose Select All and then right click again and select copy, that takes less than 2 seconds and then I merrily proceed. Should something happen to the internet connection, I've got almost all of my former post when I can get back to posting: it's just a click away.
So long as I don't copy anything in the meantime, I have almost all of my former post and all I have to do is get back to the posting box, right click, and select paste.
Voila: I've put it in bold to set it off here); There could have been a glitch, I think we got a notice of interruption, and if that happens that post may be lost, I am sorry for the problem, Sally.
One thing I do and it depends of course on what your own browser is, etc., but as I type, like this, I may pause and right click which gives me a menu, I choose Select All and then right click again and select copy, that takes less than 2 seconds and then I merrily proceed. Should something happen so long as I don't copy anything in the meantime, I have almost all of my former post and all I have to do is get back to the posting box, right click, and select paste.
So there's no tedious pasting in a Word document or then transferring it, I do this all the time. Yes in the rare cases you might lose a sentence or two but it's certainly better than composing from scratch.
So LONG as you do not copy anything else you're good to go. Interneet interruptions can occur any time for a lot of reasons including local service.
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When the wi-fi is on, it runs down the battery, even if you aren't using the wi-fi. If I forget to turn the wi-fi off after I download a book, I have to recharge twice as often as if I keep it off except when I'm buying books.
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Joan, I think my husband told me that - which is why it was off, and I hadn't a clue that you had to turn it on to receive delivery of something....
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JoanK, I've found out the same thing about wi-fi and the battery. I haven't downloaded many books lately, but when I do, I forget to turn off the wi-fi.
How do you turn off the speaker? I must have pressed something because when I go through the "Home" pages it speaks when I first turn each page. But it doesn't seem to do it when I'm reading Bleak House. I can hear it, but I don't understand it, and would like to get it off before using it in the doctor's office or someplace like it. I tried pressing what the manual told me but it doesn't seem to help.
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pedln, on my Kindle, the voice thing is reached by pressing the "Aa" button that you use to change the font size. On that menu is a thing that says "text to speech" or something like that. That's what works on mine, anyway. Good luck.
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IPAD has a little switch and volume control on the upper right hand.. Yes, my IPAD uses more battery, so I plug it in every few days..Works perfectly then. If I am not using it at home, it does not use so much battery.. It is the router and wifi on in the house.
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MaryZ, I tried your suggestion. Text to sound wasn't turned on, so I turned it on, and then turned it off again. Sound still comes. I hear it, but can't catch the words. My home page is actually 7 pages, and I get about 15 seconds of speech at the top of each page.
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Guess you have a different Kindle edition, pedln. I've had reason to call the Kindle tech people on the phone, and they've been exceptionally friendly and helpful. You might give that a try.
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If you have hearing aids, Pedlin , sometimes they pick up echos that are not generally heard.. Something to do with the wavelength..
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OK... tried to change my picture and managed to eliminate the old one, but cannot download the new one.. Help...
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I was on this site some months ago and indicated I was thinking of buying a Kindle. At that time someone encouraged me to come back to the site when I obtained the Kindle and tell about my experience. It may have been Joan.
Well, I got the Kindle and had problems with settting it up immediately. I thought somehow that I was defective for I had many problems in following what instructions there were. Fortunately I learned from the Users Guide loaded on the Kindle about the Kindle support location. So I went there and printed out the booklet, which is very much like the guide that is on the Kindle itself.
So I tried my first download and worked with a freebie. Everything went fine. So then I downloaded a book and paid for it. Still all OK. I am impressed with the capablities of such a basic device, however it will take some time to become fully proficient in its use.
The transfer of files from my personal computer to the Kindle interests me. Yet I have much to learn by trial and error.
It was encouraging to read some of the posts and see that I am not alone in my initial encounter. As an example, the guide suggests turning off the wireless when not needed in order to conserve the battery. The only problem is that the guide does not tell you how to do it. I know now, but it was hit and miss before I found out how. It seems that there are other things that I will be hitting and missing as time goes by.
I bought the basic Kindle and I am not disappointed, now the task is to fully utilize the little devil.
Gene
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I'm so glad you got over the initial "hump" and can start to enjoy your kindle! Now that I've had mine a year, I can't imagine being without it.
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I know Joan - as a committed technophobe, I love my Kindle and am never so happy as when I get stuck somewhere waiting for something, and discover that reassuring leather case in the bottom of my bag :)
Rosemary
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My daughter bought me a Kindle 2 yrs ago, with me protesting that I did not want another technical device! She set it up for me & got me started. I absolutely love it! I find it very easy to use and appreciate all the free books and the 99 cent ones. I splurge every now & then and purchase more expensive ones. My small town library recently started offering ebooks and had a workshop showing us how to download them. I have used it a few times and find it most satisfactory. I also have downloaded several word games and enjoy using them. My only complaint so far is that sometimes the letters are hard to distinguish, especially if the light is poor. Mine is an older model. Are the letters on the newer ones easier to read? I am thinking of getting the latest model. Are the letters easier to read on the newer ones?
Sally
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Mary, My attention was riveted on you comments back in Reply #504; so I copied and printed your suggestins to pedlin. I have the very basic Kindle, the one that sells for $79.
I did as you suggested but my menu options only gave, type size, typeface, line spacing, words per line, and screen rotation. No sound. I do not believe my Kindle is equipped to do sound, but it was worth a shot.
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Oh, well - sorry it didn't work for you GeneJ. I've called them on the phone a couple of times and found their tech people very helpful. It might be worth a phone call for you.
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Sorry Gene, the Kindle Basic ($79) does not come with sound. I checked the specs and the manual. I am not sure what my Kindle is, but it has a keyboard and sound. It is only two years old, but I can no longer get a cover that fits it. They changed the keyboard and button configuration a while back and resized the thing just enough that it does not fit the newer covers. I do have a sleeve jacket for it, but would much prefer a book cover type thing. Oh, well.
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Gene, I'm glad you're enjoying your Kindle. I use my Kindle only for reading, but I also have the Kindle app or whatever it is on my desktop and laptop and have found the search features much easier to use on those two latter items. (Bigger screen, bigger keyboard.) It's really been a big help while reading Bleak House as I can easily find any of the several characters throughout the book.
E-Readers must be making a big hit in the libraries. On my Facebook Page Seattle Public Library had a note saying they had overtaken NY Public Library and now had the largest E-book circulation.
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Thanks for the info. Frybabe and pedlin; I did not buy the Kindle with the intention of using it for sound, but I was intrigued by the possibility that it might have sound capablity.
I will keep the Kindle app in mind if I ever wish to speed up my searches. Also, the local library here in central Massachusetts now carrys e-books. Thus far I have not availed myself of them.
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Libraries have jumped on the ebook applications.. Makes it easier than buying the books and quicker for circulation.
I still cannot get a new picture installed. Even got my granddaughter to try and she couldnt either. She thinks there is something wrong.. no uploading of the pictures. Anyone know why???
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/computer-12.gif)
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
Stephanie, I'm sorry you are not able to get a photo to show here (is that what you mean?)
We are a little short of technical help at the moment, but I'll try to help (we all should shudder at the very thought).
I just did a test run on putting one on my own profile and it worked so I can help after all.
First off:
1. Click on the word Profile at the top of every page
2. Look on the left for these words:
Modify Profile
Account Related Settings
Forum Profile Information
Look and Layout Preferences
You want the one in red. Click on it.
You will see this:
--- Personalized Picture:
--- I have my own pic:
Specify your own avatar by URL. (ex: http://www.mypage.com/mypic.gif)
---I will upload my own picture:
You want the red one.
People can't upload photos to SeniorLearn's server so the only one available for photos is that one.
Before you can proceed you need a small photo uploaded to something like photobucket which is quite easy.
This photo needs to be 65 pixels for the first setting, the width. So once you get it the right size, upload it to photobucket, name it and then look on the right and they will tell you the link so you can share it. Copy that link, you need the one which starts out http://
Then come in to your Profile as above, tick the I have my own pic box and paste in the link as shown above. VOILA! It will appear to you at the top of every page on the left and under your name in posts.
Have you uploaded a small photo to something like photobucket?
If so can you then link to it using this type of link? Where is your photo uploaded?
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I have changed the instructions above to Stephanie to include more steps, let me know if they help?
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Hmm, no photobucket. Simply do not use anything like that.. I do wonder how I uploaded the original picture, since that was no problem.. I will try and downsize it and upload from my pictures page. We will see.. Funny, I upload to facebook all the time and have no problems with that one.
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Sorry.. One of those I cant do that sort of things. Sorry I eliminated the other pictures.. but it is not important and I cannot get my pictures to move over in this format for some reason.. It is in a new folder all its own, but it does not upload or transfer and copy is not something I do a good job at.. Ah computers..
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Stephanie, can you send the photo you want to me, gvinesc@gmail.com, and I will put it up for you?
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Ginny, NOw that I can do.. Later today.. I am already running late according to the two dogs..
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Super!!
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Ginny..Thank you so much. You are a whiz kid for sure.. Sooner or later, I must find out how far you are from Franklin.. NC. that is. I will be in residence from May 22 through October..
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I'm so glad you like it, Stephanie, it's a beautiful photo, so dear.
I appear to be about 3 hours from Franklin, NC, but we might consider meeting in Asheville, that's doable for me as a day trip if it is for you.
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Am not sure, but I think I am about two hours from Asheville.Will know more when I try it and let you know.
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Yeaaaaaa!
I now have my Linux OS up and running downstairs and connected to the net. I am using the newest Mint version just out called Maya (Mint 13). Now, if it gets too hot upstairs, I can pest everyone from down here.
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Well now that's interesting! I have not heard the word Linux in years. What type of computer, is it on and how is it working? I now have a new DOS Window 7 HP notebook with a decent chip, 2GB RAM and a good graphic card. I can't say the break in period was easy since it took some six weeks to get it really working good.
The HP tech telephone help was always there in minutes, but too often there were too many 3 plus hour sessions without solution. The principal problem was not the computer but a wifi wireless mouse. In all they sent two replacement mice all of which refused to pair properly with the computer. Finally after a 4 hour telephone session they were going to start over the next day by restoring the computer to its as shipped state. That afternoon I happened to notice that a short cut to a Mouse Control Center had been placed on my desktop. One of the options provided from this link was labeled "Paring Wizzard." I clicked it and in minutes the mouse was paired and was working fine a situation that has continued since.
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Wow, don't you just love it when everything is supposed to work just fine out of the box - and doesn't? My Linux machine is an older (5 years?) desktop - Systemax with 64bit dual processors. Originally it had Windows Millennium working under (or over?) Vista which refused to update to Windows service pack 3 without totally screwing things up. So I had my fun time with the service tech for days too, until he completely reinstalled the original.
Over the years, I have tried partitioning my Windows based machines and installing one Linux version or another and using a dual boot. Windows never would play well with Linux, so eventually one, the other, or both would crash. Of course, the last major catastrophe could have been a bad drive, but it was an excuse to upgrade to a new system. ;D
When I got my newest machine (HP with Windows 7) almost two years ago, I decided to dedicate this one to Linux. Originally, I had Ubuntu on this one, but when I decided to hook it up wireless I had to upgrade to Mint. The wireless USB drive I got would not play with Ubuntu without a bunch of workaround programming. Mint saw the drive immediately. So far, I like the Mint. This version is not the debian version, so it is more user friendly for those who don't program much if at all.
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Came across this article today.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18440979
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My six year old Dell desktop computer died July 2nd. I am sure it is a final hard drive failure' but a friend with more Computer tech experience than I will look at it. I suppose I could replace the hard drive and reinstall windows. I will look at the cost since a new purchase might well be cheaper.
Also I have an alternate computer available. Perhaps in anticipation of of this event this spring I purchased a well equipted HP notebook. Also there is the I-Pad .
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Regardless of the alternatives you have available, it's always frustrating to have a piece of IT equipment not working. :)
Jean
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My nephew sent me a link which will tell you if you are infected with "malwear". If you're clean, it comes up green, if not, red
http://www.dns-ok.us/
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JoanK, I went to that website and came up green, but this was also on that page. Have you been to the fbi.gov site yet?
Had your computer been infected with DNS changer malware you would have seen a red background. Please note, however, that if your ISP is redirecting DNS traffic for its customers you would have reached this site even though you are infected. For additional information regarding the DNS changer malware, please visit the FBI's website at:
FBI site (http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/november/malware_110911)
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No, I haven't. thanks.
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Thanks Joan - I just had a go, and it was green - hooray!
Rosemary
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I was amazed to discover that free wi-fi is available all over Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. All of our hotels offered it free, and they all had at least one and usually two computers for guests to access. The numbers of people of all nationalities we saw in airports with Ipads and laptops continues to boggle the mind.
jane
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I am still having a lot of trouble with my Kindle, which is not yet a year old.
It keeps saying the battery is flat. I connect it to the laptop, the red light comes on at the base, I leave it to charge, eventually the green light comes on - seems to be fully charged, then within a couple of hours at most (with no usage at all) it is completely flat again.
Any ideas? All advice much appreciated - I presume it is still under warranty (thank goodness) but if I have to get it replaced, I will presumably lose all the books I already have on it. Or do I?
Rosemary
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/forums/kindleqna/ref=cm_cd_search_res_ti?ie=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1GLDPZMNR1X53&cdPage=1&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx26QURMTRBEIUS#Mx2H351YF17UA1E
The above is an answer to the battery not staying charged, below is the forum I got it from.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/forums/kindleqna/ref=kindle_help_forum_search?cdQuery=battery+doesn%27t+recharge
You may have to log in to your account see it. Hope someone has answer for you.
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Rosemary, if you got the books for your Kindle from Amazon then you will never lose them as they are in your archive. If you were to access them using your computer with a Kindle app you can get all the same books. If you have put on books from other sources those I don't think are stored by Amazon in your account. The Nook works the same way with any books acquired through Barnes and Noble. I haven't checked the links in the message by Frybabe, but think your unit would charge better using the charger that came with it rather than via the usb cable to the computer.
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Thanks so much Frybabe and Larry. I followed those links and deleted 2 books that were waiting to be indexed, and I also turned the wifi off - the trouble is, it was previously very obvious when wifi was on or off on my Kindle, but now they have 'updated it' and you have to go into settings then do something with 'airplane mode', whatever that may be - I wish they could just leave things simple!
I will see what happens now, and if it's still not working properly I'll try to find the charger (though I don't remember there being one with it - but that means nothing, there probably was!)
Thanks again
Rosemary
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I hope that works for you RosemaryeKaye. I understand that leaving the Wifi on uses more power, so I rarely have it on. Also, I turn my Kindle off at night and don't turn it on again until I want to read on it next time. Usually, once I turn it on, it is on for most of the day.
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Frybabe, I know this is a really stupid question, but how do you turn it off? If I press that little button on the end (ie the base if you think of it as a book) I just get the screensaver - it doesn't actually go off.
Can't ask teenagers that one, the patronising sighs will be too much to bear :)
Rosemary
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Rosemary, on my Kindle (not the Fire), I hold the slide for 10 seconds, then it goes off (blank screen). Just sliding and releasing the button turns it to the screen saver.
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MaryZ. My Kindle works the same way. Hold the button for 10 sec or so to completely turn it off.
Sally
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Same here.
A User's Manual was already downloaded with my Kindle when I got it as a gift. When I went to check the User's Manuals on Amazon, I discovered that you must buy one unless you are a Prime member, then it is free. What is up with that? Doesn't a basic user's manual come free with all new Kindles?
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Frybabe, I've had two kindles, John's had one - none came with a paper user's manual. It's in the machine. And I HATE!!! that.
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They apparently didn't think a print manual was necessary since one is loaded into the Kindles. That is a problem if something goes wrong enough you can't get to it, but then I guess they expect you to returned it for repair or replacement if that happens.
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I've never turned my Kindle off. Duh, guess I thought "sleeping" was off. Haven't had any battery problems so far. When I remember, I keep wireless off.
But after your comments, I wanted to read what the manual had to say, and if you're like me, when you want specific instructions, it's easier to search on the computer than on the Kindle itself. So after I read your comments about turning off, etc., I went to my computer to see what the manual had to say. My Kindle for PC wouldn't open. Nor my Kindle for PC2 (laptop). The Kindle itself seems to be working.
Sent an email to Amazon support and they sent back saying "we need to talk more," with a link for them to call me back, so now after a good night's sleep, I'll tackle that one.
I'm thinking maybe it was those blasted Windows updates that come along every now and then. Or maybe when I renwed my Norton and they had to get on my computers by remote.
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Well, that's interesting. Let us know what happens.
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Curioser and curioser....
Well so far mine is still charged today, but it is refusing to let me open any of the items downloaded in the last couple of weeks, says I need to delete them and reload them from the laptop. It will happily open older stuff. It's been so simple until now - I've only had it 8 months so I'm not too thrilled that it's acting up already. And I do feel it could well be something to do with their having 'updated' it without any say-so from me. I didn't want it updated/upgraded or whatever, I liked it perfectly well the way it was.
Too much technology!
Rosemary
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Amen, Rosemary. My Droid phone is constantly updating programs, some of which I didn't even know I had and did not want. Grrr!
Sally
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I don't know what Amazon is doing. Finally got on the phone with them yesterday and they said the reason my Kindle for PC and Kindle for PC2 (laptop) wouldn't open is because Amazon updated its software.
So they sent me an email with a link, I clicked on it, it downloaded something and now I can get Kindle for PC. Everything was as it had been before, collections and archived items still the same.
Will do the laptop tomorrow.
This is the first time I've had any real problem since I bought the Kindle almost two years ago.
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Interesting that the Kindle for PC didn't automatically check for updates. Many programs can be set to either check for updates or automatically update. Occasionally, I find one that doesn't.
Actually, I had a bit of weirdness happen with my Firefox browser. It kept saying I was up to date, but I knew they were advertising the newest update several numbers past my version. In the end, I discovered that for some odd reason, one of my last updates turned it into the Enterprise version, not the normal version I have always used. Anyhow, it turns out that the Enterprise version doesn't have all the security features of the regular version according to Mozilla. That upset me a little. All is well now that I have it updated to the newest regular version (14).
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Just a note about battery life on electronic devices. Most devices will darken the screen if there is no use for a set period of time, which you can change in settings of the device. While this doesn't turn the device off it does save the battery as it is the screen, including screen brightness, that creates the impact on the battery usage. It is a good idea to keep the wi-fi turned off in the settings unless you want to access your archive in the clouds to download a book or get to the bookstore or to archive a book which you have finished. It certainly is fine to turn the device off completely and the Kindle and my iPad reboot very quickly. However, my smart phone takes a few minutes to completely reboot and become available for use again.
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I've found with my kindle, if I don't turn the wifi off when I'm not downloading, then I have to recharge the battery every few days.
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/computer-12.gif)
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
Joan, I only turn my wifi on when I'm downloading. No reason to otherwise.
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Because it takes so long to browse through the books via the Kindle wifi, I almost always browse and order online and then turn my Kindle on to download either while I am browsing or immediately after. If the Kindle isn't on when I order a book, it is in the que and downloads when I do connect.
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That's what I do, too, Frybabe.
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Would someone give an instructions in how to use the spell check facility when typing a seniorlearn post. It sure don't work on this new window7 HP notebbbook. In fact if one tries to use it after typing a post, it results in immediate loss of the intended post.
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I just tried it with my Dell Win 7 laptop. I typed into the reply box (quick reply actually) and then misspelled a couple words. I clicked on spell check and it found my words, I changed them and clicked on post.
My post did not leave during any of this spell checking.
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There was a mention in the Library of how to make an app of Senior Learn. In case you missed it, here's how:
Go to http://www.seniorlearn.org
Look on the top row for what now appears to be a page symbol with an arrow curving out of it
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/ssapp.jpg)
Click on it and you get a drop down menu as shown
Click on Add to Home Screen if that's what you want
Voila!~
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Ginny, thanks for the tip. I had never noticed that as something I could do as would just set a bookmark but with this you don't need to bookmark as that is what the shortcut is.
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Ginny, Larry, the directions above look as easy as can be...but what if I don'[t see any of the icons in front of the browser window that I see in the directions...no open book, no page symbol with an arrow curving out of it nothing to reach that drop down window. Do you think they appear on a tool bar that I don't have open? Can you think of anything I can do to find that drop down window with the "Add to Home screen" option? Thanks! Hate to be a problem...
Wait -are you talking about looking for the symbols on the iphone or ipad - and not the computer? Let me go try that!
Did it! On ipad and iphone! So cool! Thanks!
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Thanks, Ginny, et al. I haven't done it yet, but I've at least found it, and it's on my list of things to bookmark. Lots to do and still to learn.
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Right, absolutely right, and Steph called me on the name app in the Library, it's not an app, but it's nifty, isn't it? :)
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I then created an app to my library account. No stopping me now!
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hahaha :)
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I'm hearing a lot about the new Ipad3. The most interesting thing I've heard is the microphone. Like the Dragon Dictation, it will type your words. Unlike the Dragon, it would type the words wherever the keyboard comes up, so I'm told.
If that's true, being the execrable typist I am, I really want one. Does anybody out there have one yet?
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The new Firefox (or I blame the new Firefox) is doing things I'm not crazy about. I have clicked I don't want ads, but I am getting all kinds of popups that I've won something, screaming audios CONGRATULAIONS, etc., and new windows opening when I haven't done anything.
It's happening here, too, and I know these are not from us.
Sometimes I get warnings the "script" is holding things up, do I want to cancel the "script?" I have no idea what it's talking about.
Last night one too many of these ads crashed the entire computer, froze it up. It would come on but nothing appeared on the monitor. If my youngest hadn't been here saying that happens to me at work, let's try this, I'd probably not be here except by ipad.
Is anybody else having this issue with the newest Firefox and if so, can you recommend how to get rid of it?
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I've got the latest Firefox (14.0.1) and have no problems with it, Ginny. It almost sounds like you got some kind of malware that installed itself. Of course, I also have the Better Privacy and Adblock Plus add-ons installed. Recently I also added DoNotTrackThis to my arsenal. All are freebie addons found on the Firefox/Mozilla download site.
And yes, go ahead and cancel the script. Sometimes that has to do with the ads that try to popup.
I assume you have an antivirus program. Run that and if it has a boot sector scan feature, do that too. The boot sector scan runs the next time you start up the machine. It runs before the Windows sign on.
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Oh, another great utility program to download is Secunia PSI. It keeps track of your programs and lets you know when something is out of date. Mine is set to automatically update what it can, it schedules others for update, and it lets me know when I program is no longer supported (end of life).
Make sure your Adobe Flash Player and and Shockwave Player are up to date. Also, some Java script programs will give you script errors if you are not up to date on that.
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Has anybody bought a refurbished ipad? Since they are sold by Apple, i'm sure they are good. My son and dil want to get one for grandson.
Jean
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I'm not having that problem with Firefox, and we have the IPAD 3 that we bought for my husband two weeks ago. It's ideal for him. He does email and surfs for info on the net. Period. He doesn't keep folders of stuff, etc.
He can dictate his emails. Names are the hardest thing it seems for it to get correct. You say the punctuation you want as well.
You can also use the voice thing for notes, etc.
Very handy for those who are not touch typists. You can, of course, manually make any corrections that are needed.
jane
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I also have the iPad 3 and have used the dictation sparingly. There is a Dragon app that I have but haven't really used as I like to type. However, my friend, using the dictation all the time and it works well for him. I think you can actually train it to your voice. I also have used the Secunia program for a long time and it does work very well.
Jean, I would think the refurbished iPad would work well.
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Thank you all for the great advice, definitely appreciated.
No I don't have malware, Frybabe, and have a good anti virus program, but I appreciate hearing about those programs like Secunia PSI. They sound interesting. There is a place you can turn off the pop up ads in Firefox 14.1 but I can't find it, they keep referring to it on the internet but I can't seem to find it. Very annoying even tho I HAVE the don't allow pop ups box checked already.
Jane and Larry, thank you for the info on the Ipad3. Is there any heating problem like there was with 2? Do you find it overheats and how is the battery?
I love the Ipad I have, and am going to give it to my grandson who wants one for Christmas and get the Ipad3, because the very idea of it typing for me is just beyond super. I type so much (and so poorly) I've gotten to where I can barely write a note in pen to anybody, my handwriting is absolutely unreadable. Kind of like a maiden aunt in our family years ago whose letters were much anticipated and discussed even tho it was almost impossible to make out what she'd actually said, much fun trying to figure it out. My hand (as they used to call handwriting) is the same.
We've gained so much technically and lost so much in the area of communication.
Is the 3 the same size and is it heavier? I may go look at them tomorrow at the Apple Store in Greenville.
Larry what fantastic things are you doing on your new Ipad? I know you are doing something interesting. I love the games but play a computer instead of a live person, tho I have been on trains where people played each other, both on their own devices, with great hilarity.
Jean, are the refurbished ones a lot cheaper?
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Yes, $399 and $499, depending on features.
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That's quite a difference!
I restored Firefox to its original settings. It was taking almost one word in every sentence and underlining it twice. When the cursor passed over the word a pop up, usually a loud one, would appear.
If you clicked on this link which was not one, you'd open in the pop up's website. I have no idea how this happened. I've also lost my colorful banner on top but I think I'll leave it off a while and see if this stays.
Can't imagine what that was but it's not there now.
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Apparently it's a known problem. It was raised on Firefox's help forums.
Did you guys put Text Enhance in the Firefox browser?
I now have really annoying green underlined text with pop ups all over the place, did you guys put this into the browser? i didn't want such a stupid annoying thing. how is this supposed to enhance firefox?
remove toolbar that is installed by Vuzedownload software. and all undeline text disappears :-)
I can't see how to delete that toolbar. None of my toolbars refer to Vuzedownload software. Any advice on how to find which toolbar to delete? --Sorry by the way if I'm asking an obvious question
David
this conversation and a lot like it occur on :
http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/871383#answer-242947
This is recommended as a very complicated set of solutions:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-extensions-themes-to-fix-problems?redirectlocale=en-US&redirectslug=Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes
Maybe this will help somebody along the way, it's maddening, it really is.
There is an opt out page as well which I just did for good measure:
http://optout.textsrv.com/optout.php
Frybabe was right, too, one of the suggestions is to scan for malware.
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Ginny, I have had no problem with the iPad 3 overheating. It does get warm as has a very large battery but not a problem, especially since I have it in a cover. It runs 6 to 8 hours without a charge or longer depending on what you are doing. I always recharge it every night as I do my smart phone. I believe there will be a new iPad out before Christmas, perhaps next month. I don't know how they can make the device any better than it is and it soon will have Siri available on it as will get the new operating system that will be on the new iPad.
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Ditto what Larry said, Ginny.
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I've also heard that a new, smaller IPAD is due out soon...maybe this is the same one Larry is speaking of.
Ray's IPAD3 hasn't overheated. He did buy a new case (not cover) that Apple brought out in the last month. We had a friend who had grabbed his by the magnetic cover, and it slipped out, crashed into the corner of a coffee table and the glass shattered. The new case holds the IPAD in it and has the folding magnetic cover that turns the IPAD off when it's closed, opens it when you open the cover.
jane
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Jean, our daughter got a refurb iPad 1, and loves it. Doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but does what she wants.
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Thnx for the info Mary.
Hope all of you in the Miss area are doing o.k.
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This just in from Kim Kommando's newsletter: http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/08/28/unpatched-java-exploit-spreads-like-wildfire/
Because there isn't a fix for this malware secuity flaw yet, I've just removed the JRE7 from my computer as recommended. JRE6 is not affected.
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Thank you, Jane, and Larry and Jean. I think I'll wait till nearer Christmas and see what's coming out then also, I'm glad to know about these things and the battery.
I guess I have Ipad2. I am confused over the numbering system.
Thank you Frybabe, that was scary, I ran to look and I have 6, thank goodness for not upgrading like I should. hahahaa
I went to the default firefox and lost my pretty heading (can't recall the word they use so you can customize the top of firefox, I had daffodils), but there's another one there which seems blueish (which I like) and which has what appear to be blobs of pink flowers, but it's very hard to see. But the bookmarks line is now legible so I think I'll leave it. Is this some kind of seasonal thing put out by Firefox? I didn't choose it.
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Persona, Ginny. There are tons of them, but they aren't always compatible with the latest and greatest Firefox, which I am told has just released 15. Sigh, I just updated to 14 a few weeks ago. Lost my Cool Iris add-on because it wasn't compatible with 14; don't know if they ever updated it. I haven't checked out 15 yet.
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Here is another article from Kim Kommando about the malware and Java7. This one gives some instructions on how to find and get rid of or disable the Java 7 (JRE7) if you have it. Includes Mac OS.
http://www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?id=13191&utm_medium=nl&utm_source=notd&utm_content=2012-08-30-article&utm_campaign=end-b
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Wow. Frybabe, you seem really up on this stuff. Would you know what an AMD Catalyst is?
I keep getting prompted to upgrade from 11.5 to 12.8. I don't know what it IS, and I would prefer not to implement something that was causing some of the problems I have.
Right now I have a strange problem about the going to sleep mode thing. It won't wake up. Nothing you do causes it to come back.
If I then turn it off completely, make it shut down, wait a bit and restart it, even if I unplug it, it returns to the page I was on. That is, instead of opening as it normally does, it opens in full prior operation, opening web pages and email pages, and not the starter page. Sometimes does not want to start back at all and does not: blank screen.
I am not sure what's going on, does this sound like something anybody has going on or does anybody have any advice on this?
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Ginny, I did a quick Google search on the AMD Catalyst and found a lot of information. You might find this link helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Catalyst It appears there is nothing to be afraid of as it is just updating the driver on the video card you have in your computer.
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Ginny, I had a similar problem with a computer years ago. I don't remember if I ever got it fixed. Seems rather common.
I found this eHow article which addresses sleep mode problems. I don't know how helpful it will be. It mentions a key with a half-moon on it. I never heard of such a thing, looked at my keyboard, and sure enough, there is one (F2 on my keyboard). Huh! http://www.ehow.com/how_7251784_computer-wake-up-sleep-mode.html
The battery they are talking about is probably the computer clock battery. It's in there somewhere, never looked for it, never had to replace one. Oh, I did buy one once thinking I would need to, but never did. It looks like one of those flat disc shaped camera batteries.
Here is another one which reminded me that I did in fact turn off the sleep mode function on one of my old computers (the one with the problem, maybe?) just as this article suggests. I don't think sleep mode is a necessary item, it just is a power saving device while you are not using the computer. http://www.whatthetech.com/2009/07/02/computer-wont-recover-from-sleep-mode/
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Oh my, thank you Larry. It looks as if I could have just looked that up myself instead of following their link to their page which absolutely made no sense at all, who knew? Thank you so much.
Perhaps the video card is what's messing up my computer. I'll upgrade it!!
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Interesting information posted at the World Wide Web Foundation. You can mouse-over the map or check out the chart below. http://thewebindex.org/
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Frybabe, I totally missed your post for some reason on the sleep mode thing but I am SO grateful to you!!! Yesterday it did it again, what a bother. Thank you for that info, I have printed it out and sure hope it works, the only thing getting a good night's sleep around here so far is the computer. hahahaa
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;D ;D ;D
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From my History Channel newsletter.....
Today is Natl Read a Book Day! Imagine! Here's the page, scroll down to see links to Books That Changed America and Best Selling Authors of All-time.
http://recp.mkt32.net/servlet/MailView?m=7595003&r=MTIyMzE5MTA2OTcS1&j=MjA0NzE3NDI5S0&mt=1
I think reading a book on an ereader qualifies also. :D
Jean
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/computer-12.gif)
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
For me, every day is read a Book Day
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For me too, Joan and probably for everyone on this site. That's why i said "Imagine!" there had to be a day!?! Lol.
Of course, its nice that there is some emphasis placed onreading, but my guess is only we who are interested in reading would notice. :o
Jean
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WSJ had an article this week describing and comparing Amazon Kindles and tablets. The top of the line tablet, if I recall correctly, was KINDLE FIRE 32mg LTE.
I have since seen other items with LTE attached. What is it? I assume it's some sort of wi-fi or telecommunication bandwidth.
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Hello!
I am one of the new kids on the block that are starting tommorrow Latin 101.
I am considering buying a refurbished tablet for my class. Any suggestions type, model, gig, etc? Is the Kindle better than the Nook or the new one from Google? Your suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thank you for assistance.
GB
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Pedln, LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. It is a standard being used with the new 4G networks. It should mean speeds closer to wired broadband network services and increased VoIP capabilities among other things. Looks like they are going after the iPad and tablet market.
GB, your initials startled me. My best friend is a Junior and his initials are also GB. Sorry, I can't help you with a tablet comparison. My Kindle is one of the old keyboard ones. Have you looked at CNet's reviews? They seem to rate them about the same. E-book readers: http://reviews.cnet.com/best-ebook-readers/ Tablets: http://reviews.cnet.com/best-tablets/ Kim Komando has a comparison chart or two and a buyers guide: http://www.komando.com/buyguide/ I like her newsletters a lot. She and her staff check out every site and app she recommends (so she says).
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This online video shows the most amazing work of how a book becomes an online book
Scroll up - the upper right hand corner it says Couch Mode hit that and the video will start
http://vimeo.com/47656204
Yes, the words written are all Polish...
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Can anyone help me with yet another issue with the Kindle?
I have 'bought' several free books from Amazon, and they are clearly shown on my 'Manage your Kindle' page on the Amazon site. They are also listed on the home page of my Kindle, but when I try to open them I get a message saying that the device can't open them, and that I should delete them from the Kindle and re-download them from my Amazon Kindle page.
I've done this and I still get exactly the same message.
Has anyone else come across this?
Thanks,
Rosemary
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Rosemary, I recently ordered 2 book for my Kindle. They show up on my order, but not on my Kindle. I have never had problems before. I am going to try to reach their technical team and see what the problem is. Has anyone had this problem before?
Sally
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Not had that one - mine show up on the Kindle but refuse to open. Will be interested to hear what they tell you - if your mission to find a real person is successful - good luck!
Rosemary
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RosemaryKaye, did you try a hard reset/reboot? Press (mine is a slider) and hold the power button for 20 seconds. The reboot will take a few minutes.
US Kindle troubleshooting page: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_200127470_trouble?nodeId=200829000
Find the Kindle version you have and click. Go to the troubleshooting menu and find your problem.
You are welcome, Ginny!
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I hope, Rosemary and Salan, that you get that settled, it sounds very frustrating! Nothing is more frustrating than computers when they don't work!
:)
Frybabe, I came in to say you are genius! It was the Sleep thing. I don't have Vista but I followed the instructions on the last one and went to Control Panel from the Start Menu. I have Windows 7. I found the Power Options and it was easy to turn the sleep mode completely off. Sure enough it tried to shut down and threw up a box of the Control Panel and the choices again and I clicked them again. It stayed on like a charm!!!
No battery to change (which I could not have done anyway) no key with a half moon on it (I'm in my third keyboard, no half moon, this one's from Logitech), but all you have to do in 7 is turn off the bubble machine...er....the sleep mode and the hibernation and voila!
THANK you, it was getting really bad there for a while. It's a miracle I didn't damage the thing permanently, because when it will not come back no matter what you do, you have to shut it down the wrong way.
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Yea! Problem is fixed. I called Kindle technical support and got a very nice woman. She told me to unplug my wifi connection, then turn it back on and when all lights are on, then reboot byKindle by holding the button for 30 seconds (a long time!), then wait until it downloaded. It worked. I don't know why I had this problem as I have had the Kindle for several years and never had this happen before.
Sally
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That's interesting Sally. I've never had your problem, my 2-yr-old Kindle still working well. But I wonder why you had to unplug your wi-fi connection. But I guess I do that every time we have a really really bad thunderstorm. Why wouldn't just a reboot work?
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I don't know why the reboot wouldn't work. I tried that before I called. The woman who helped me told me I had to unplug my router from the power source, then plug it back in and then reboot. I'm just glad it worked. Just thought I would share this info in case some of you have the same problem I did.
Sally
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Hello Frybabe!
Thank you for sharing the link of Kim Komando comparison chart and guide. Most likely I am getting the Color Nook.
Have a great weekend!
GB
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Hello BarbStAubrey!
Thank you for sharing the video how a book becomes an online book. Amazing!
Cheers!
GB
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Sally - the reboot did not work, so I am going to try the router thing - thanks for that. In this house disconnecting the router causes major mayhem, so I have to warn/get the agreement of all other users before I do anything so disruptive! When, however, husband turns off entire electricity supply to change light in his study 'because the old one's annoying' we get no prior notice - wonderful if you are in the middle of cooking! 'I won't be long' actually translates as 'I will be hours but if I say that you'll all go nuts' :D
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Rosemary, your "router mayhem" comment has set me to thinking. I periodically have to do the same thing when I go to my son's. I key in the magic WEP number of his router to my laptop, but there have been times when I couldn't connect to his wireless. The only solution was to unplug the little gray router cord and plug it back in -- 10 seconds and all was good. The router must be thinking that your Kindle (and my laptop) are foreign objects.
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Pedln, that may well be it - we did have issues with the router and the MacBook for a time, again with the router not accepting the MacBook - and after all my grief with the MB I don't blame it!
But - let joy be unconfined - my husband has said that for my birthday in November he will get me an i-pad and swap me that for the MacBook, which he will then use. (I think he wants one actually...)
I know the i-pad is also made by Apple, but everyone seems to find it a lot easier to navigate. If any of you has an i-pad and doesn't like it, please make yourself known before November! I can't afford two expensive mistakes!
Thanks.
Rosemary
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Rosemary, I have loved every minute of the time using my iPad. The display is great and it is very easy to use. I have not a single regret in buying it.
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let joy be unconfined
hhaaaaaaaaaaaaa I'm going to remember that one.
Larry you use a keyboard with it for typing, right? I can't wait to get the new one and talk into it happily and watch it type. The hunt n peck is murder in a Latin class.
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Ginny, do you think the dragon will understand Latin? I'll bet he spells via with a w.
Daughter Judy is coming next week with her July birthday iPad. She loves it, and is foregoing a rental car from the St. Louis airport in favor of a puddle-jumper flight here, just so she can cuddle up with it. I hope she lets me play with it.
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Pedln, Jane tells me you don't need the dragon on the IPad3. A microphone appears wherever the keyboard does, in email, online, whatever, and you just talk INTO it and your words appear. Jane posted about it here somewhere. See if it works that way on the one Judy has! :)
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I've got the microphone thingie - so much fun seeing what it hears and thinks you said - especially names! You need to be prepared to edit - a lot! :o
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Ginny, yes I have a separate blue tooth keyboard but if I am only going to write a few lines I usually just use the built-in keyboard as the letters are large and not difficult to use. I have dictation on the iPad that I have but really seldom use it. My good friend Rod uses it a lot. It can give you some funny sentences.
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DIL has the dragon on hers and when the family was gathered this summer, the dragon understood what everyone said --- except for my son -- who the family has been on for years because he MUMBLES.
I think I need one for medical reasons. ;D The poor foot doctor was reduced to writing because I didn't catch what he was saying. With iPad3 could I just shove it in his face and say Please dictate, doctor.
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The new operating system, IOS 6, is being released by Apple today for the iPhones, iPods and the last two iPads. I read this morning that it has greatly improved accessibility features. Pedln, I should think it would work with the doctor dictating into it although one couldn't expect the doctor to take the time to correct anything that was interpreted and printed incorrectly. It will even have a setting where you can have it be able to access only one application, which would be great with small children. I am looking forward to checking out the new features but I won't be able to try to download it until after noon eastern time.
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Oh,boy. It took me 6 tries to upgrade to OS 5,as our internet frequently shuts off and the starts again for no reason I can see. The thunderstorms I get,but why it just blinks on and off...who knows. I suspect it may be because I have the only Apple technology and the wireless router seems to prefer Windows. At least,my husband and son have less trouble with it using Windows. Have considered getting an Apple router just for me. Is that silly? I am rather at a loss in all this tech stuff; my son described my video game playing abilities as those of a 'diseased river otter'. I am so glad I am not 16 again!
Oh,and I have a first gen iPad and absolutely love it! I hardly ever use my desktop Mac Mini anymore. I would love to upgrade to a new iPad,but we just had to get a third car,and mine (a 2000 Toyota Sienna minivan,with > 245,000 miles on it) is next. Been thinking about a PT Cruiser,cuz I like the way it looks,but it would be the first non-Toyota I have owned. Anyone have complaints about the Cruiser?
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I have an original Kindle,and I have been trying to email myself free texts from the Baen library,but I don't know where to find these emails,if they ever do show up.
I have only gotten that message when I have tried tosend the wrong format to Kindle, the Nook or iBook format,by mistake.
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Lorac, I don't think you can email texts from a library. At our library you have to select a format for Kindle and check it out. Then it will be available in the Kindle when you sync it to the actual Kindle device with the Kindle application. The same is true with iPad and other ebooks.
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Lorac, on the PT Cruiser, I liked the way it looked, too and I got one as a rental once and I thought it was cute. I really liked it at first.
They told me they are not making them any more. After a week it seemed to me like it rode like a bucket of bolts, that was just my impression. You are aware of every piece of metal in it.
I still think they're cute but I don't think they make them any more, and I bought something else I like much better. Have you seen any for 2012?
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I had a PT Cruiser for some years - just sold it last year because the garage man said the next MOT would be v expensive.
I bought it just because I like the way it looked, but I still liked it after several years of driving. I found it very easy to drive, and it was very spacious inside - the children found the back seats a lot more comfortable than those of my new car, which is a Suzuki Grand Vitara (which I love but then I don't have to sit in the back).
We can't buy them new in the UK any more, so I had no trouble selling mine, lots of people like them.
I suppose it depends partly what you want the car for - I bought the Suzuki because I now live in the country and wanted a small 4 x 4. I no longer needed so much 'people space' now that only one child lives at home full-time. When I had the PT Cruiser I lived in the city centre and therefore if conditions were bad I simply didn't drive anywhere, so i have no idea what it would have been like in snow.
Rosemary
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Ah,yes,well in the land of flowers (also known as SW Florida) I do not have to worry about snow. Incredible amts of rain and heat,but no snow. I hope it will have good AC. I just wanted a used PT cruiser for errands and light running about, groceries and such. Occasionally I talk myself into driving to Tampa or Orlando,or even Atlanta,GA,(usually for a class or something my son wants to do) but I could always trade with my husband -who just got a 2010 Hyundai Sonata -for a trip. I used to drive to Ft.Myers (about 30 miles N) on a regular basis,but as my mother and sister both passed away in the spring of 2011, I usually just tool about in Naples,when I actually get myself to leave the house and my lovely wifi.
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Lorac, I have a 2009 Hyundai Sonata and it is the best car and most reliable car I have ever owned. I have a 20 year warranty on it so expect to drive it for as long as I am able to drive provided there isn't and accident somewhere along the way that makes it undriveable. My wife's cousin down in Florida has (or had) a PT Cruiser and really liked it. We rode in it once and it was very comfortable.
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Thanks to Larry and Rosemary on the PT Cruiser question. Has anyone updated an iPad to the new iOS? The last one had lots of revisions,etc,so I didn't know whether to wait or try updating.
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Our IPAD3 updated automatically as did my sister and BIL's Iphones.
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Ah. See,I have an old iPad,gen1,actually. It took me 5 tries to update to 5. Also,how do you get a photo on here? Would like to put one in my logo and also one of my athenian owl (replica,don't have that much cash!)
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Lorac...to put in an avatar so it'll show under your username here, you can either upload it from your computer to the site, or put it at a third party place...like Photobucket and then put the link in the Profile area. Go to PROFILE/Forum Profile Information and you'll see where you can upload or you can put in the url to the third party place. You can't use it from your computer since we can't see things on someone's own machine.
The same is true of the owl...you'd need to put that at a third party site...like photobucket and then use the url they give to post in your Latin area.
jane
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Thanks! As usual,spot on advice. ;)
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Glad it helped!
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/computer-12.gif)
Confused about Ihpones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
Lorac, you will not be able to update to IOS 6 unless you have an iPad 2 or later and I don't remember what models of the iPhone can be updated. I went in the first moments the update was available for my iPad and updated it. Other than the SIRI feature I really haven't noticed much new. Some of the new features are just for the iPhone.
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Thanks,hadn't looked at it yet. Means I will have to get a new iPad or all the new apps will be for 6 and I won't have it. That's the main reason I updated to 5!
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Lorac, actually the applications should be backward compatible with the exception of the new features like SIRI.
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Ok,but now I have a new question. Is there an iPad1 keyboard that will allow me to put the appropriate accents in my Latin? I'm just in 101, so we aren't really using them yet,but I recall it being useful to learn the accents with the vocab,rather than trying to add it in...(But if I can't sit on the couch and do it on my iPad,well,why bother?)
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Lorac, do you mean in addition to doing it on the IPad keyboard which is on the IPad itself? If you hold down any of the vowel keys on the Ipad, a menu will come up with the various diacritical marks on it for your choice.
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I'm thinking about getting a kindle or something similar, basically to take with me when I go abroad so I can read my email mainly, and keep up with my Spanish on line class which has a new spoken program every week.
How do these things connect to the internet? Like the telephones do? Can you get some kind of package for the US which you can upgrade to Europe when you're going there?
Apart from that, I might use it here in the US to down load netflicks movies.
Is there such a thing as some kind of cloud library from which you can download books on loan?
I think $10 is too expensive to get some book I may not like. I get all my books second hand from amazon, or from the library.
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http://allthingsd.com/20121023/hardworking-tablet-with-pc-chops/
Click the above link for a technical review and a comparison of a new Microsoft Tablet computer in comparison to the current Apple I-Pad offering. This is an interesting tablet offering running the new Windows 8 operating system. Mossberg is the Wallstreet Journal‘s technology editor. Over the past 2 years he has published reviews of the Apple I-Pad and most of the competing offerings that have been offered by other manufacturers. These reviews have been generally available to the public through the allthingsdigital.com site.
All have been highly supportive of the I-Pad and universally critical to the available alternates most of which ran a version of the Google Android operating software. In the above review Mossberg has for the first time judged the new Microsoft Tablet that runs the new Windows 8 Operating System a worthy alternate. Costwise these tablets seem pretty competitive. One of the plusses of the Microsoft offering are two covers that double as a physical key board, and the most serious negative attaching to the Microsoft tablet is the availability of only 20,000 aps in contrast to the ½ million I-Pad apps now available.
In any case there just might be more serious competition now appearing in the Computer Market. Also the new Windows 8 operating software now on the market is the most intensive change since the release of Windows 95; that’s been 17 years. Last Week I received a printing from Dell indicating their thoughts regarding new hardware adapted to the touch Screen capabilities of Windows 8. In particular there was a Notebook with an ingeniously rigged screen element that would flip over to form a tablet. It appears we can expect much new innovation in the new year
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Thanks Harold, that looks interesting. I have to find out how its accessed when abroad. I don't want to buy some expensive package that I only need a couple of months in the year, max.
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Dana...if your ereader or Ipad has WiFi connection, you can connect to any WiFi anywhere. When we were in Scandanavia in July, people with ereaders with WIFi and IPADS with Wifi connected in every single one of our hotels...and it was free there. It may be that hotels elsewhere charge for WiFi, depending on where you're going. I know some of these devices also have 3G capability, but I don't know how that works so will that to others to answer.
If you know where you're staying, you might be able to check their online website and see if they have WiFi and if there's a charge.
jane
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I have a stupid hiccup and hope someone can tell me how to fix it.
Two days ago, I made a mistake in an address, misspelling part of it. Normally it would kick back and I would change it, but somehow Road Runner took it in and now has it in the outbox and of course it wont go through. There seems to be no way to retrieve the message from there.. I know I can in my lap top, but not the PC..I assume that either Bill gates or Road Runner has somehow managed to screw it up.. I keep getting a message when I am in internet express that there is a message that cannot be sent, but there is no way that I can get to the message. I must have tried every single window, etc and nothing erases or brings the message back to erase it. Any ideas???
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Sounds odd. I never had any problem getting into my sent box and deleting the files. However, I don't use Internet Express or Roadrunner. So I can't help. I will be interested to see an answer to your question, though, for future reference.
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What email program are you using, Steph?
I assume you've tried RIGHT clicking on your mouse on the message in your outbox and seeing if any options come up?
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Once upon a time I knew how to use the clone brush in Adobe Photo Shop...but now that I need it, I cannot remember the steps involved, nor can I follow the instructions. Is anyone familiar with this?
I need to remove the house across the street in the background of this photo...would like to clone the tree leaves next to the house so that there are all leaves, no house.
(http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/oo55/jonkie2/familyOctober2012.jpg)
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It's been a long time since I've done any Photoshop. I am not sure if you can "erase" the house first or must use the silhouette feature to get rid of it. I have a really ancient version. I can play around with it a little this afternoon and see what I come up with. Oh, and I have some old Photoshop tricks books around. I'll see if I can find something there. Since they went to CS, I wonder if Adobe has any old tutorials that may help still available. Do a search and see if anyone has a how-to out there. And don't forget the forums over at S&F. I'll bet Soapy Bubble and a few others know exactly how to do it.
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Oh thank you, Fry! I've an antique copy of Photoshop on my sluggish laptop too - sometimes it works, sometimes it freezes. I think it's version 5 - from 2000.. I'm wondering if I can load the software to my hard drive.
Please let me know if you have time to play with it - and exactly what you did? Thanks! It's so hard to get everyone together for a group photo - everyone in the same state - in the same country!
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I think it depends on the OS you are using now. I am using Windows 7 which I was able to install Photoshop Elements 2. I didn't even try to install my regular Photoshop 4. When I migrated to 7, some of my old programs installed okay, some didn't.
Now to make lunch, then I'll be ready to see what is what.
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When my old computer died it was right BEFORE windows 7 came out and I was forced, literally forced to buy this Vista OS... I had heard so many negatives about it - and really didn't want it. Still don't , but it works. Had to get a new printer, scanner and other programs wouldn't work with it...something about drivers. Everything works pretty well now, except every once in a while I come across programs that will not work.
Maybe I'll find some time to try my Photoshop5 on this - but I do know that when I went to the laptop with the XP operating system - it was working, but I couldn't remember how to clone the trees with the clone brush.
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Good heavens, Pearson!!
Talk about Mother of Nations!
I should have had 4 boys instead of two!
:)
In Paintshop pro 5 you look for the two brushes symbol and click on it and then right click on the trees you want to reproduce and then left click on the house and the trees appear.
Personally I think it will be difficult because it will look odd, you'd want to copy the trees at the base line above, is it David's head? Because you'd have high level trees in the wrong place I'd leave the house.
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Hi, I haven't been on here for many, many months. Last time I asked about a kindle and I finally bought one. I find it handy. Thanks all who helped with comments.
Now I'm thinking about buying an Apple product and I have many, many questions. Too many to put in one post. So I have decided to work with several. A relative told me that if I bought my Apple product in an Apple store I could always go back there to get instructions on the use of the device. However, that's where the first snag comes in. How do I find such a store. I googled and got nowhere. I live in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. If anyone knows where I might find such a store please advise. The possible product on which I'll say more in a later post is an IPod.
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http://www.apple.com/retail/
Gene, put in your zip or city and state. It will come up with four apple stores in MA and one in NH.m It looks like the closest one to you is in Natick (A) on the map.
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http://www.apple.com/retail/
Gene, put in your zip or city and state. It will come up with four apple stores in MA and one in NH.m It looks like the closest one to you is in Natick (A) on the map.
Thanks Frybabe, I will follow up. :)
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Frybabe,
Just what the doctor ordered. I have visited the site and I will be able to ask all my numerous questions at the store. This information has been extremely helpful.
Thanks again,
Gene :)
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My dgt is bugging me to get an iphone. I have a cell phone but it has to be charged frequently even tho i keep it in the car to use for emergencies and hardly ever use it. I have an ipad which does many of the same extra things i could do on an iphone. I know some of you techies must have iphones. Tell me your experiences, pro and con and any suggestions you have.
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I know that some of you told me - some time ago - how to resolve problems with my Kindle, but now I can't find the post, so I am here hoping that you will take pity on me again.
When I purchase items from Amazon, many of them won't open on the Kindle. It says they were successfully downloaded, and they appear on the home page, but if I try to open them I get a message saying they won't open. I have gone onto Kindle Help on the Amazon site and have followed their instructions about deleting the item, restarting the Kindle, then re-downloading the item - and it gets me absolutely nowhere, just the same message when I try to open the item. I don't think it's a problem with one particular item, it's happening regularly. The items are still in my 'archive' so I can download them again, but to no avail.
Any ideas much appreciated (and this time I'll bookmark your words of wisdom ;D)
Thanks
Rosemary
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And while I'm here - another problem!
My MacBook Pro (grrrrr...) has suddenly started to refuse to download anything. I click on documents from known senders (eg my daughter's school newsletter) and which have always downloaded fine in the past, and nothing happens. I've tried re-opening the documents, etc but it just seems to be unable to download anything. Although the items I want were sent to me via my email server, I don't think it's a problem with that, as I went into the email programme on our ancient desktop computer, and the items downloaded just fine.
Any help much appreciated!
Thanks,
Rosemary
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Rosemary, you might try calling Amazon's tech service. I've called them in the past, and they were very helpful, and fixed my problem quickly.
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RE: your MacPro problem. Did you run a virus scan? Don't forget to do a boot scan, which scans before the operating system comes up. Don't ask me how you do that on a Mac.
Did any of your software get upgraded recently? Occasionally, not so much these days though, a software upgrade or update doesn't install correctly or interferes with another program. Did you try installing your email browser and reinstalling it? Also, check with your email server. Does their website have a toubleshooting or tech support section? Occasionally, the servers are upgraded and sometimes it creates an incompatibility with some computers. There may be a fix posted or a work around posted in tech support or one of the forum groups.
Those are my best thoughts, but keep in mind I am not Mac OS fluent.
I also have had good service from Amazon's techies.
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Thank you so much Frybabe, I will try all those things - it must be something!
Mary - you are so right about Amazon. Having tried everything on their 'help' page for Kindle, I emailed them and they immediately replied offering me a phone call or an online 'chat'. I opted for the latter, and was immediately contacted by a very helpful lady, who talked me through the whole thing and eventually told me I would have to return the device to 'factory settings', which she explained how to do. She was so patient and unpatronising - Apple could certainly learn a thing or two from Amazon's service. Of course the whole Kindle thing had to stop when I couldn't remember the password for our home wi-fi - but husband has now supplied this, so I'll carry on with the re-setting up, and the Kindle lady told me to get straight back to her if it didn't work.
I told her I would tell all my book friends how good their service was - so here I am!
Rosemary
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Hooray for Rosemary and Amazon!!!
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Mary, i think i remember your saying you had the original ipad and now have a newer version? Is the audio better in the later one? The volume of the first one can not always be turned up loud enough - and i dont have a hearing problem - and the tenor tones are not good. ........ Just curious.
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I had a kindle2, then got a later version. I don't think I ever used the sound on that one. I've never particularly liked audio books. I have an iPad 3 now, my first, and do my reading on it now. Gave the kindle to our daughter.
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Mary, do you like the I-Pad? My husband has offered to take the hated MacBook off my hands and buy me a 'tablet' for my birthday, but I am nervous about buying anything from Apple after all the trouble I have had from them. Also we are not sure if the keyboard on a tablet (even if you buy an external one) would be enough for writing documents (as opposed to short emails and posts), and whether I could get used to not having a mouse - I really don't like the way you are supposed to 'drag' everything on the MacBook, my hands never seem to be big enough and I am always losing things half way to the 'trash' icon.
Rosemary
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Rosemary, I really like the iPad, but our daughters bought it for me. It's an early Xmas present, plus something I could use more easily after I fell and broke my upper arm, near the shoulder, last summer. Reasoning being it would be easier to manage one handed than my laptop. This it is, but there are still some things I prefer to do on the laptop.. Like most longer writing. I've gotten pretty good at one finger typing . I had the second surgery on the shoulder on 25 oct. there are cases for the iPad that include a keyboard, but for me, I think that would make it too heavy. I like using the mouse, too. Two daughters with iPads have all but given up other computers, but I'm no ready to do that. It's great for travel, though. And I have completely given up my kindle, though . All my books are on the iPad now. Hope that helps.
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Thanks Mary, that's really helpful. You mentioned the mouse - can you buy one for the i-pad or were you referring to another computer? I don't mind the built-in mouse on the MacBook keyboard, but I'm not sure about not having one at all.
Rosemary
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Rosemary, I don't know about a mouse for the iPad - the one I was talking about is for my laptop. I want to get to the Apple store (Mac place in our area) for some iPad classes, but it'll probably be another month or so (or into next year) before I can do that. I still haven't been released to drive, and the store is at a mall across town. I'm sure there are lots of things I could do with the iPad that I haven't figured out on my own. I was a secretary/typist/etc in my working life, so I know I'll always be more comfortable with a slanted keyboard for my typing. But I can do the one-finger then fairly easily for short things. I wouldn't want it to be my only computer - at least not without an attachable keyboard. If possible, go to an Apple store and try one out - and see what accessories are available.
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Rosemary, I have a very light keyboard that I bought for about $16 from eBay that is blue tooth and it works very well if you want to type a longer item. However, I don't have much trouble with the keyboard on the iPad as the letters are big and I usually use that rather than the keyboard. I don't see any need for a mouse as it is a touch screen and very easy to use.
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Thanks Larry - is the touch screen easier to use than an i-phone one? The trouble I have with that is that I am forever touching the wrong letters - am getting a bit better now I have an android (not Apple - Huwaei (?sp)) phone, but I'm still not that good at it.
Rosemary
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I'm not Larry, of course, but.... I think the iPad type pad is much easier than a phone - much bigger. Again, Rosemary, try to find one to actually hold in your hands and give a trial run.
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Mary, I certainly agree with you on the iPad keyboard being much easier to use. Howver, I find I most often do one finger typing versus what I do on the keyboard.
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Agreed, Larry.
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/computer-12.gif)
Confused about Iphones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
Can you believe, after all that help I received from some of you and then from the nice lady at Amazon, my Kindle is once again refusing to allow me to open any of my new purchases. They are listed on the front page but unopenable.
I will have to contact Amazon again, but I'm off to London for 4 days tomorrow, so it's going to have to wait. I hope Amazon are as nice to me as they were last time...
Rosemary
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I splurged and treated myslef to a Kindle Fire. It arrived this afternoon.
I'll have to get used to the touch screen thing. It is heavier than my 2nd Gen Kindle and gets pretty warm. Not sure I like that much. So far, it works pretty well. This should do nicely for books that have lots of illustrations and photos. My other Kindle didn't very often show photos and illustrations even though I specified the version with illustrations. They just rarely showed up even if they were B/W rather than color. Don't know why.
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yaaaayyy! I just figured out how to connect my new Kindle to SeniorLearn. Now all I have to do is learn how to type on this darn thing without mistyping every other letter.
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Frybabe, I suggest you might want to get a cover for the Kindle Fire. They are not expensive and you can use them as a stand and it helps with the heat from the battery. I got the one for Pat and Stacey from eBay and it was less than $20. You also might find it easier to type on it with a stylus and you can find those on eBay or Amazon for very little. The retail stores charge many times the price you can get them online.
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Hi Larry,
I am planning to check out what the Under $5 store has at George's suggestion. As far as Amazon goes, I have until the 10th to use a 30% off voucher on accessories. I haven't decided on what all I want to get yet.
I am slowly learning my way around, mostly by trial and error since I don't think the users guide is especially helpful in many areas. My battery was really getting depleted fast which at first I attributed to downloading all the apps I wanted. Well, that was only part of it. I set the brightness back a little and learned were to turn off the wireless connection when I don't want on the net. I also found out I wasn't turning the thing off entirely unless I hold the button for a few extra seconds. I also got a free app called Cleaner to clean out my cache/temp files. It works well. I paid a small amount for an app to import my Firefox bookmarks before I found out I could set bookmarks on the thing without. I like the sound quality. It is much better than my 2nd gen Kindle.
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Ginny tells me that somewhere in here is info on how to use copy/paste on the forum boards. Any hints where?
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Lorac...
Below are some places that will explain/show you....a written explanation and a YouTube one. If you don't like any of those, just put words like "copy and paste explanation" into google and you'll get a lot of hits.
YouTube shows how to do from notepad, but the process is the same, if you're copying from wherever and then pasting into a posting box here.
http://www.webmasternow.com/copyandpaste.html
http://buildfree.org/copyandpaste.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c66pvfilotA
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You may recall that I mentioned that my Kindle had once again gone wrong, after the lovely lady at Amazon had helped me fix it.
Today I had an on-line 'chat' with another Amazon employee. He went through everything it could possibly be, then said it was clearly defective and I should receive a new replacement in the post by next week! What great service! I asked him if Amazon were thinking of making their own brand of laptop, as I would definitely switch to theirs when they offer such good back-up. Unfortunately he says they have no plans to do so just now.
So 10 of 10 to Amazon, 0 out of 10 to Apple. I know Amazon has been getting lots of flak recently, but they certainly know how to keep their customers.
Rosemary
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Has anyone had a problem having a Kindle or a Nook...or both on their IPAD with IBooks?
I'm wanting to add a Nook app since I have several hundred books purchased from them when I used my Nookcolor. {Santa is coming here early...on Monday when I'm driving 3 hours (each way---what you have to do in rural America when there's only ONE Apple store in the entire state!) to pick up my new IPAD. I know, I know...Santa usually delivers, but us big girls get impatient and work around him, sometimes!! hahaha!!}
jane
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Rosemary...HURRAH for Amazon!! I'm glad your replacement is enroute. Good customer service is so hard to find these days that when it happens, it's such a treat!!
jane
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I have the kindle app on my ipad and have had no trouble reading the books on it.
Hooray for Amazon, Rosemary.
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jane, all my kindle books transferred seamlessly to my iPad. I just put the kindle app on the iPad, and Voila!!!! I don't know if that's the problem you're having or not.
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I haven't picked up my IPAD yet...have to drive to West Des Moines (3 hours each way--only Apple store in the state) to get it Monday...but I'd been reading a forum and people in 2011 were complaining about IBooks interfering with their Nook app and their Kindle app. Since it's working for Jean and Mary, I'm guessing that problem has gotten straightened out, or the complainers were doing something amiss.
jane
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Can you believe it? My replacement Kindle has arrived less than 24 hours after I concluded my on-line conversation with Amazon's Kindle trouble-shooting department.
We once sent back an expensive and defective phone to some phone company - they argued and argued and it took weeks to extract any positive response from them at all. As you can imagine, I've never gone near them since. Why are some companies still such dolts about customer service? I don't suppose that phone company cares tuppence about my custom, me not being their ideal, high-spending, teenage client, but it's about time they realised that it's parents like me who end up funding their offsprings' phones (at least during school years) so we do have more clout than they maybe imagine.
Rant over, and as you say Jean, hooray for Amazon!
Rosemary
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Jane, I have both the Kindle and Nook applications on my iPad along with the iBook application and have had no problem using any of them. While I have an iPad store within 15 to 20 miles from me in a big mall I ordered mine from Apple and got it on the day the iPad 3 was released. They were very prompt on their delivery.
rosemarykaye, we have had wonderful service from Amazon and have love the 2 day delivery. I have had a couple of times when I accidentally clicked on a book I thought was free and found it wasn't but had already been charged to me. All I had to do was go to my orders on the website and there is a drop down box and you can cancel the purchase and a refund is issued to your credit card. I am sure we will remain a Prime customer as have far exceed the $79 it costs in the savings in shipping costs and sales taxes by ordering online.
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Thanks, Larry.
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Gollee, Rosemary and Jane -- it looks the world is being your oyster. Fantastic. Enjoy.
Can anyone help me with a "wireless" problem. All the lights on my router come one -- Internet, DSL, Ethernet, Power -- all but the wireless. And I can't download to my kindle, nor will my laptop connect.
When this first started it even knocked out the internet, but I unplugged, replugged, lovingly stroked the wires, then everything came back. But now the wireless won't work at all. I'm grateful I still have internet, but want to get the wireless back up and running.
any suggestions? Do I need a new router? Could this be a software problem?
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OK>. my early birthday present to myself is a new computer with windows 8 and a wireless printer.. Now.. trying to get someone out here to hook it up and transfer data is like pulling teeth.. I cannot lift the old big fat box.. Just too heavy and awkward.. But I thought if I could figure out the router situation, I could unplug the old computer and maybe get a neighbor to lift it into the car, but if so, I wanted to be able to use my laptop and IPAD.. but my connection to road runner and the router are both plugged into the main computer.. Is there a secret here?? Can anyone tell me what to do first without really messing up the whole thing. I hate hardward??????
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Pedln, I'm afraid I can't be of much help on this one. Has it been fixed yet? Periodically, I have to disconnect my external wireless router from the modem and reconnect. My wireless USB device on the downstairs computer sometimes doesn't connect to the net. In that case, I reboot the machine and it usually comes back up.
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Steph, I have heard of Road Runner, but I didn't know you had to plug something into your computer to use it. Is it like DSL or cable? My cable modem and the wireless router are both external on my machine. My router is connected to the modem, not the computer. The cable modem is what I plug into the computer. I used to have DSL. In that case, my modem was connected via a splitter to the phone line. But that was years ago.
Most machines have a diagram of the computer showing where and what the plugs are for. Also, most of the computers have little tiny, hard to see symbols beside the plug denoting whether it is for phone, audio, microphone, etc. I think this is a case where I'd have to see it to help since the new computer is likely to be configured differently than you old one. Not all set up and users guides are all that helpful. Sigh!
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One more note.
I downloaded two free ebooks, one from Gutenberg and one from ManyBooks to my Kindle Fire. The notifications said they were sucessfully downloaded, and indeed from the notifications notice I was able to open them. However, since I read the notification they don't show up anywhere that I can find. So how do I get to them and like them to an icon (which they apparently don't have). I used the kindle .azw format. Should I have used something else?
Ah,HAH! I found something. Always check before downloading. Who knew. Kindle Fire has made it hard to download any books except for through them. SOOOOOO! Project Gutenberg has come up with an app to bypass that "little" problem. Here is the link to how to download and install it for anyone out there with a Kindle Fire. http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:K_Download The instructions are easy. I just downloaded two books and it works. Good! I wanted to download some free books with illustrations and photos which my regular 2nd Gen Kindle didn't want to do (that is the photo/illustrations didn't show up).
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Frybabe, I appreciate your effort. The wireless still is not working. It's an all-in-one modem router -- Gateway 2wire -- got it when I signed up with ATT broadband. An ethernet cable connects it to the computer, another cable connects from the modem/router to the DSL filter that connects to the phone. It's worked fine for almost four years. Don't know what the problem is now.
I've unplugged and replugged so many times to no avail. I don't want to lose my Internet again before I head out of town for the holidays, so am just doing without wireless or going to the library if I really need it. I'll struggle with it when I get back, and go visit the ATT store.
Is technology shooting itself in the foot? It seems to be getting so complicated for the man in the street. Get a new version of something like a Kindle and you need an app to do what you used to do easily?
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I am loving this IPAD...and have both Kindle and my extensive Nook Library are on it and, as Larry said earlier, they work just great.
We will need to get a wireless "air” printer to use with the iPads.
jane
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Ah, sounds similar to what I had. I noticed over the years that modems don't last too very long without acquiring problems. I think it has something to do with eventual compatibility problems with upgrades done at broadband servers that don't necessarily go well with older modems. Comcast, which is what I have now, sends updates to modems that sometimes don't "take" very well, or the modem is no longer supported. I think my last one lasted about three years.
Comcast tech support usually has a fit because I turn mine off at night or when I am away for any length of time. Apparently they are meant to run 24/7 even when the computer is off. Off and on all the time apparently can cause problems, not to mention missing modem updates. I am funny about leaving electric or electronic devices on when I am not home, not to mention saving money on electric bills.
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Frybabe - thanks for that app, although unfortunately my Kindle is far too old a model to work with it. I am reassured, however, as I found it virtually impossible to download books from Gutenburg and manybooks.com, and I thought it was just my usual incompetence. Lately I have given up and just get stuff from Amazon, although my daughter did work out how to download from the other sites, and indeed I have her written instructions pinned onto my noticeboard.
Rosemary
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That's a shame RosemaryeKaye. What version of Kindle do you have?
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I know I need someone to come look at what I have and how it fits with the new computer. I just dont to upset the applecart so close to Christmas.. Sigh.. A new computer with all sorts of bells and whistlers and there is sits in the box.. Darn.
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45 minutes under the desk yesterday , sorting wires.. but i got it unplugged and my lap top plugged into the router and modem.. then I still cannot believe but sheer stubbornness got it downstairs and in the car along with the new one.. Then I went to Office Depot and they got it out of the car.. I should have my new computer back tomorrow sometime. But I am not happy that the new windows 8 will not allow Microsoft Office to be loaded. Must find a something that will let me write letters, etc. It always surprises me when stubborn wins the day.
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You mean Windows 8 doesn't come with MS Office installed? How odd for MS. I just looked up Windows 8 program compatibility and MS Office Home and Student 2010 are listed as compatible. If you are trying to install an older version, it probably won't work.
You could try Open Office which is a free open source program very similar to MS. Version 3.4.1 is compatible with Windows 8. http://www.openoffice.org/ Not only that, but you can open Windows documents in it as well as the other way around. I've used both.
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There is a newer program that is free called LibraOffice that is also completely compatible with Microsoft Office documents. I have used OpenOffice as well and it works fine and it is also free.
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Oh man this is amazing. Siri is incredible. I am dictating all this by Siri, just as Jane said and it's coming out perfect!! I'm here in the new iPad mini.
This the most amazing technology I ever saw!
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I thought Siri was part of a GPS system???
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Could be...she (?)'s also the dictation thingy on IPads {and maybe IPhones?} So, emails or posts here can be "dictated" and she'll print out what you said....or what she thought you said. ;D
If you speak slowly and carefully, she's amazingly accurate.
jane
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I saw some commercials for Siri a month of so ago, but none lately. It reminds me of the home AI system on the TV show Eureka, only portable.
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Well, the little app I got from Project Gutenberg in order to download their books to Kindle Fire works fine - as far as it goes. I had to blow it off because I discovered that once a Gutenberg book got bumped off the carousel I couldn't find it. It does not show up in the device library or anywhere else that I could find to retrieve it to read. They list another program, somewhat involved to install, that will allow "side-apps" to be installed on Fire so that apps other than what you can get on Amazon. I may try that after a closer look at what it does and if there is a program which sets up a separate library for outside ebooks.
Kim Komando had a video on her latest newsletter on how to make a beer can WiFi booster. Interesting, but I wouldn't want all those sharp edges just sitting on my wireless router waiting to cut someone (me).
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More on the KDown app from Project Gutenbergs site. George found the downloaded files for me. The are going into the Docs folder. I could have sworn I looked there. It is possible that my cleaner app is deleting them. Will be on the lookout for that. So I CAN read my Gutenberg downloads without all the fuss the other way they suggested. This evening I also downloaded a file manager app that should make things more helpful.
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I have not been following this discussion so my question may have been handled in an earlier post - if so just guide me - Not sure I like the kindle and so my grandboy's choice to get me a Paperwhite was perfect - however, I cannot find anywhere - can someone help me...
- How to get rid of a Sample when you do not want to buy the book after reviewing the Sample
- How long can you free rent a book?
- How do you get rid of it when you have finished reading what you want from the book?
- Can you Prime free rent more than one book at a time.
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Hi Barb. The following link should help you with your last question about removing a book from your Paperwhite (see the bottom of the page for video).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_200953940_basics?nodeId=200954000
I think I tried a free sample once. If I remember correctly, when you get to the end of the sample, it gives you the option of buying or not. I am having trouble confirming the procedure. Some of the others in the group have used it, so hopefully someone will speak up.
There are two ways to borrow a book for free. One is through the Kindle Owner's Lending Library which allows one book at a time (or a month?) for an unlimited time. This is offered only to Prime members. The particulars are here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-4?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200757120&qid=1357083813&sr=1-4 The other is set up for someone who wants to lend one of their books to someone else. Let's say your grandson has a book in his library he wants to lend to you. He sets up a loan to you in his Manage your Kindle page with the specifics of what book and who is to receive it. You get an email with a link to the book and you have 14 days to read it. Here are the particulars for that: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_200549320_receive?nodeId=200549320&#receive In either case, not all books can be borrowed. It depends on the publisher.
I have Lendle bookmarked but I have not joined yet so I can't say how good it is. Lendle is not part of Amazon, but they use an associate account so that you can draw from a wider community of readers who want to lend and borrow their Kindle ebooks. As always, read the FAQ and terms so you know what you are getting into: http://lendle.me/ If anyone has actually used this site, let me know how you like it.
Sorry about all the links, Barb. I just think they explain it all better than I can (especially since they have videos) and you may find answers to other things that crop up. If your Paperwhite doesn't already have a User's Guide on it, you can download a copy (see sidebar on the left hand side of page).
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Thanks after I opened the guide I realized that was what my grandson pulled up on the Kindle but he went so fast and I thought I understood then I could never figure out what he touched to pull back up the guide - this is great now I can sort this out and understand -
I have tried reading a book and so far I do not find the experience that satisfying - I have the print a bit larger and you cannot see the entire page as you can when reading a book so I feel lost at sea in a raft with no idea where the shore is located - and the size of the kindle in my hand reminds me of a small paperback - we shall see - there are things about it that appears to make reading and saving spots while looking up information easy but so far I think I love the feel of my books and like going to other books and the Internet to find more information - we shall see like anything new it takes time to see the benefits as greater than what you know.
I thought I was pretty technically savvy but it was about new ways of negotiating information where as this seems to be trying to replace something I love. Tried to read on the plane but there are times you have to shut off all technical devices and so out came the book that I just never put back when I could switch because I was so engrossed in the read.
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I understand about the larger font size. I tried that and didn't care for it much either. I guess it takes a little getting used to.
I switch back and forth between print books and ebooks. Since I've been cutting back on my expenses, buying books is a rarity. Instead I download all those wonderful old books I missed when I was younger plus more from free ebook sites or I borrow the newer ones from the library. My Kindle comes in handy when the cats insist on making it difficult to hold a larger or heavy book over their furry presence. So far, I don't think getting the Fire was any big advantage over my 2nd gen Kindle except for playing games and a few other apps. It also is better for reading newspapers and magazines. Unfortunately, the battery drains rather quickly, and my eyes get tire and fuzz out much more quickly with that screen than with the 2nd gen. That was a surprise. I thought the lighted background would be a boon. I've mitigated that somewhat by changing the background color of the "paper" to a pale yellow. I do like getting around on Amazon a lot better with the Fire and being able to go out to the net. The sound quality was a pleasant surprise too.
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/computer-12.gif)
Confused about Iphones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
Can anyone please give me the heads up - I know with Kindle you can borrow a Prime book - can you borrow more than one at a time or is this just a one a month deal or can you return it - need to find out how - and upon the return borrow another.
Someone said in another discussion something about a free book a month - is that with a special membership or is it for everyone - I have prime for years now but have not paid for any additional service.
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Barb, see post 717. The second like is info about the Kindle Lending Library through Amazon Prime. It looks like you can borrow one book a month with no time limit. The third is how you can lend Amazon books you own or borrow books from friends or others; Amazon Prime is not needed for that feature. The fourth link is about Lendle which is a lending site, not run by Amazon, but where you can borrow and lend your Kindle books. I haven't joined yet, so I don't know what their procedures are. Hope that helps.
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Shoot the advantages of age?!!?? I used the first link and after I tried it out and removed a couple of samples I got caught in another thought that ended up spending hours looking up one thing after the other so that I completely forgot there were more links - I did not remember though if it was one book a month Since i borrowed one in December it appears to me if I hurry up and finish reading I can delete it and them borrow another - still not understanding if I can borrow a second book the next month if I have not returned yet the book from the month before.
I need to read more - oh how I hate reading instructions - my hair stands on end and i get so impatient - I just want to be shown or someone to answer just what I want to know rather than what I need to know - uhhg - I will just have to get into those links tomorrow when I have a bit more patience than late at night. Frybabe thanks really thanks...
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It took me a while to locate all of that. I like the screenshots with the instructions. I wasn't clear on whether you could have more than one book out or not either. Also, the "as often as one book a month" phrase kind of indicates you can only borrow one a month, but with the "
no time limit" after that confused the issue for me a little.
I love my Amazon Prime. I cut back on my cable and bought a Roku box which gets me a lot of movies and TV shows - lots of old, but some new. They keep adding things. The latest is that they converted a lot of the CDs I bought from them to MP3 and added them to my Cloud Player - for free. Roku added an app for it, so now I can listen to my music on the TV, computer or Kindle Fire. I understand that other outfits have already done this for their customers, but I forget who. It was just in the nick of time because my multi CD (25) player had just crapped out on me. I don't know if I can fix it. The free two day shipping on many items is nice because I order a fair amount of things from them. Top that with the Lending Library. Can't beat the price. I just love it. I use most of the services available and was able to cut back on my cable bill considerably.
The next thing on my agenda is to see about cutting back on my phone bill. More likely I will only be able to get something with about the same as I am already paying, but will lots more features than I have on the land line.
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I recently went to look for a new phone and significantly reduced our cell phone bills. The woman at Verizon suggested the plan which i thought was very nice of her. I didn't get an iphone so i can't get online w/ it. My DH and i use our cell phones infequently and not to go online. We were paying about $40 a month for our two phones, about $480/ year. She suggested that we prepay a $100 for each of our phones and then it tells us how many minutes we have left as we use them. Since i had used only 4 minutes in 3 months, i'm way ahead w/ the prepay plan. My husband had used about 20 minutes in the previous 3months. At that rate it would cost me about $10 per year. :) i think it's $.25 a minute. You might want to check out that plan if you don't need to get online w/ your phone.
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Jean...we've had prepaid for years...and, while our plan differs from you, it costs us much less than it did when we were new to cell phones and were with Verizon. Now, we don't use ours a lot either...and we still have a landline. That would go, if I had my way, but my husband is not willing to give that up yet. Our prepaid is a pain in the derriere when we're out of our home area, however. The $$ savings, overall, though override that and we can use them when here in S. Texas, but just not as easily. We have to enter the phone no. we're calling twice...and our calls show up with a Lexington, MA no. when we call from out of our home area. Nobody at U.S. Cellular can 'splain that to me, but that's the way it is!
Another downside is that we have to pay cash to the office to get more $$ on our accounts. I guess prepaid was for people with no credit, and so they stick by that cash only thing. Still, for the savings, I do that and put a lot down before we leave since the closest office while we're in S. Texas is some 1400 miles away!
jane
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I use a prepay cell phone which costs me $100 per year for the service and a bunch of minutes that keep accumulating faster than I can use it. I bought it mostly for carrying for emergencies when I worked 2nd shift. Now, I use it mostly for when I call someone long distance, which isn't very often.
My land line is costing around $32 a month. The only feature I have is caller ID. I can reduce it a little by going with Comcast's phone with a bunch of extra features. Verizon is trying to bully everyone to move over to FIOS. They want to get rid of all the copper wire connections. If you go with FIOS, you pay extra electricity to keep the battery powered and every two or three years you have to buy a new battery. Also, they cut the copper, so you can't hook back up to it if you don't like the FIOS.
From what I gather, eventually everyone will be forced to take the fiber optic root. The last call I got from one of their CSR's, the guy started out by saying he was responding to a phone repair call. I immediately was on guard because I never requested one. Oh, no, he says. It's just that a lot of people in my area are having problems with connections and line static. I am having no such problems, says I. Then he tells me that switching now will not cost me whereas if I wait until later I will have to pay connection fees. Or, I think to myself, I can got the root my best friend has - off land line entirely, cell phone only or I can go with VOIP from Comcast or another such without having to deal with batteries. Anyway, Verizon still acts like they are the only game in town. They are not.
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I hate to show my ignorance, but what is Prime? how much does it cost, and what does it give you?
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/prime/signup/videos/ref=nav_menu_combined
You can stream video to you computer or Kindle.
I bought a steaming media player to attach to my TV set so I can also stream Amazon's instant videos to my TV (along with lots of other "channels" not Amazon related including Netflix and Hulu+, TED, my Cloud Player (music) on Amazon, Smithsonian, and oh just a ton of other movie, TV, music, educational and religious channels.
I don't know if anyone else offers such a plan.
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JoanK Prime is lots of perks from Amazon that includes 2 day free delivery on anything that comes from their shipping center - outside vendors for instance used books the charge of 3.99 is still to be paid but sometimes an outside vendor has their books and other merchandise with Amazon and you can get that free shipping. There are free movies - you can borrow using the Kindle free books one a month - when I joined it was a one time payment of $79 - now I understand that is to be paid every year - you just have to figure how often you shop and the cost of shipping and how often you watch a movie that the free movie would offset renting from a Blockbuster etc. to see if the annual fee is worth it - for me it was with the number of orders for books alone. Now I can simply hit the one click check out without going to the order page - I have a credit card registered so everything is very easy.
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Barb, you can do the one-click check out on Amazon without belonging to Prime. I do that all the time. ( but I don't get free shipping ::) )
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MaryZ - I try to avoid that one-click thing unless I'm 'buying' free books for Kindle. I tell myself that going through the traditional buying process makes me think twice about whether I really need the item. I often save books on my wish list just so that i remember what they're called, then see if the library has them, - or I just leave them for a few weeks and sometimes I decide that that whim has passed. I know I sound like a terrible skinflint, but in my defence I already have so many more books than I am ever going to get read :)
Rosemary
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Rosemary you are not alone - I leave them in the cart as Saved For Later - I am forever realigning the list of books because I try to buy only a max of 4 a month - sometimes I go over to as many as 8 or 9 but then some have to be used - my plan has been for a couple of months now to sell back some but I still have not gotten the job of entering them underway.
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Barb, can you sell ebooks back to amazon?
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No and that is why I do not plan on getting many - I am a skinflint about buying books because I buy so many - if I find a used book that adding the shipping amounts to more than the Kindle than I go for the kindle - some books I know are going to be keepers before I buy them and so I want the book - most of the current fiction ends up being less expensive on the kindle - i have not done it yet but I understand you can share your kindle purchase with other kindle users -
Frankly I am not in love with the hand held devise - first my thumb gets a cramp if I read for more than an hour and I usually settle down at night for at least 3 to 4 hours and so I am constantly interrupting my reading time to message my finger -
Then while reading I am using the 3rd up from the tiniest fonts - not very large as compared to the next 5 or 6 sizes but I cannot see a whole page and that bothers me -
Bothersome is I have no idea where I am in the book since again you cannot see either by page number or by looking how far you have read -I like to know if I am half through without having to remember the names of each chapter and then remember how many chapters etc. It forces me to be an acrobat with math.
Finally I like to read putting bits of paper between the page I want to go back when I complete a book because of a phrase or some thought - again all these technical ways but they are all hidden inside the kindle where I cannot see - I find this a technical gadget that is not providing a joyful experience - like the difference between a cloth napkin and a paper napkin - cloth adds to the meal where as paper is very utilitarian.
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I'm reading almost exclusively on my iPad now. I cannot hold a "real" book very long - have to sit where I can prop it up on a pillow or something else. I do object to having to buy books, though. I don't want to continue having "things" - even books - and I almost never buy real books. Those we do have usually wind up at the library book sale, or passed along to someone else.
Heaven knows, we still have enough of them that we don't want to part with, and the children will have to deal with some day. ::) John and I share an Amazon account with each other and with two of our daughters. So we not only have any books we want to purchase, but anything they purchase.
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I guess like many products to some they are a big advantage and others - well all that tapping to turn a page is not my idea of fun - it is driving me nuts. However, I can see how the kindle could be put on a pillow like you were doing with the books and maybe my thumb would not cramp.
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The readers have their downsides as well as up. I prefer my Kindle 2ng gen. for reading books that don't have a lot of illustrations. I discovered that I can't read my Fire for long without my eyes "fuzzing out". I even set the book background to ivory and cut the brightness back. Really strange and disappointing. On the Fire, I like being able to go out to the web and directly download Project Gutenberg books with the little app they provided, the few games I downloaded work better on it, and getting around the stores is a lot faster, too. My Kindles come in handy when the cats pile on; it is often difficult to hold a book up high to see past them. I've never taken the time to learn how to bookmark or highlight passages.
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Frybabe when you read a book do you underline or highlight?
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I don't do either with a real book anymore. Textbooks are a little different, but now a days they have textbook buy-backs at the colleges so I tended not to contribute to any more than someone else had done previously. I've used both though, highlighters mostly for textbooks and underlining for some of my books (mostly reference, self-help or psychology).
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I get 99% of my books from the library, and i prefer a book to my ipad. I'm very angry w/ Newsweek magazine for going digital, for i put them in the bathrooms and read them when i'm doing other things in that room:). I had just renewed my subscription in November when we got the notice that they were going digital in Jan. Two weeks of subscription have come to the ipad. I realize i am probably never going to read it there, so i may cancel my subscription.
Having said all that about my preference for a book in hand, i have frequently wished i had my ipad in bed w/ me when something has come up in my reading of a book that i'd like to do more research on, or see a picture of, or have a better understanding of..............as my Mother used to say "it's always something............" :D
Jean
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You can bookmark by tapping in the upper right corner oh the page. I always try to remember to tap again when I start to read again to turn that bookmark off.
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Thanks Larry, that will probably work with my Fire but I think I have to do a menu thing with the 2nd gen Kindle. I'll take a look later this afternoon.
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I do a menu thing with my kindle, but it's straightforward.
ROSEMARY: you aren't alone: I read so many books, if I weren't cost conscious, I would be bankrupt. I love my kindle, but it is a money pit, even with the reduced prices.
I go to the library every two weeks, and try to make a rule that I can't buy kindle books until I've finished all the library ones.
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My Kindle is a "Generation 3," I think they call it -- purchased 2010. So far I have access to every book I"ve purchased, but my understanding is that some are on the Kindle and others are archived.
My question is, as I think an iPad would be nice, would books work the same way on an iPad as they do on the Kindle? Would it be an advantage with the iPad to get maps and illustrations that currently would not appear on the Kindle?
Another question -- all these readers, tablets, etc get frequently updated. Where are we with the iPad, not the mini, but the one with the 10 inch screen? Something about retina display. Is that something new?
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pedln, all my books from Kindle are available on my iPad. In fact, I've given my Kindle to one of our daughters. I have a regular iPad, not a mini. The illustrations are great compared to the way they showed up on the Kindle. And you can make them bigger temporarily, to check out something on a map for instance.
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My sister got an IPad. I'm a little envious. She can read a magazine at a reasonable font size AND the whole page is visible. I cannot do that on my little Kindles, so I don't do magazines.
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My kindle was updated to enlarge pictures. Don't know about magazines.
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X Marking my spot so I can come back and read through all the posts, plus keep up with the new ones.
Right now, I have a p c and a basic cell phone that stays in my purse - turned off except when I'm planning to meet someone. I don't need to check in with anyone or have anyone checking in with me - what DO all these people need to talk about every 15 minutes!!!
Family wishes I could/would text "because it's faster". I don't want "faster"!!!
I think I want a hand-held "multi-purpose Something" but have no idea which kind. I just want something I can use like my p c while I'm sitting in the recliner.
Still not convinced I want to read anything on a screen of any kind. (Am furious with Newsweek!) I don't sit and wait anywhere frequently enough to need entertainment.
Looking forward to seeing what y'all have talked about and will be talking about.
Callie, the cranky old lady :D
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We should have a cranky contest. I bet I'd win. :D
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Callie, our daughters gave me an iPad after I broke my arm last summer. I still have my laptop beside me while I type on my iPad . There are a few things for which I prefer mt laptop, but mostly I'm using my iPad now. It'll go anywhere and do almost everything, except phone calls, but I can use it for Skype too. See if you can find someone with one who will let you try it out.
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I've had the first generation ipad for more than two yrs. i use it every single day. I'm having a problem w/ some of the vowels on the keyboard. It seems i need to hit them pretty deliberately or sometimes they don't "type." so i'm zooming along in my normal one-finger "typing" and when i look up at the screen, i discover that several "o's" are nt on the screen - just like the "o" that should have been in "not". LOL . I'm wondering if some letters can "wear out" on the touch screen? Has anybody else experienced this?
Jean
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Haven't dealt with your problem, jean, but I got a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard last week. I love it! Well worth the @$75. ( including tax) at staples.
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Maryz, my son is supposed to bring his iPad over for me to "play with". We shall see.
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Have fun, Callie.
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No JoanK - I'm sure I would come out top!!
Jean, I've certainly have letters stop working on my mobile phone, not sure if that's the same thing - it's so annoying.
Rosemary
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I have had the iPad 3 since it came out and it has the retina display, which is just great. I also have a blue tooth keyboard that I paid about $16 for an it works very well. Mary, I am sure your keyboard is probably a lot nicer and heavier than mine. My friend bought the iPad Mini and tried it out and didn't care for it so took it back and got the iPad 4 and gave his iPad 3 to his sister. I read news articles from an app called Flipboard that shows a paragraph or two of an article but if you want to read the whole article just tap on the article and the full one opens up. Mabel, I expect the reason you are having trouble with one or more of the letter on the iPad keyboard is that they operate with little electronic pieces that sense the touch and that may have become a bit damaged with extensive use. I find on my iPad that a light touch works as well as a heavy one and sometimes it works too well and I get extra letters.
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That is all useful information, Larry. But still more questions . .
What is the difference between iPad3 and iPad4?
And never having had an APP (no cell phone until they come with captions), how do you get them, how do you learn about them, are they "device specific," and they range in price from 0 to ?
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pedln, I can't see much difference between the iPad3 and iPad 4, which was put out about 6 months after the iPad3. They both had the great display and supposedly the 4 has more pixels per inch and thus a sharper picture but I don't see it. I think it mainly was a marketing ploy by Apple that used to issue new devices only annually.
An app is an application for a specific type of device. These may be browsers adapted for the iPad or Android tablets or phone, or games, or news readers. There are thousands of apps and each device usually has its own store where you get them. They are very easy to install or delete.
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Thanks all for your responses, a keyboard may be an answer if it gets too annoying.
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/computer-12.gif)
Confused about Iphones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
Yes, thank you. I'm learning so much here. Is the keyboard something that connects via a USB port? I guess what I'm asking is -- can you carry your iPad without the keyboard, and attach the keyboard only when you want it.
Are there USB ports on the iPad, for things like printers and whatever?
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pedln, my iPad keyboard is "bluetooth" - no wire connection needed - just set the iPad to accept bluetooth, and turn on the switch on the keyboard. The touch keypad magically disappears, and the regular one is ready to use. It's stored in my basket unless I actually need it to type something.
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pedln... I bought a Zagg folio for my IPAD.
www.zagg.com/iPad4+KeyboardCase
It has a place in the top for the IPAD and a keyboard on the bottom. It folds up and fits in my large purse with kind of a protective covering. As Mary said, you can connect/unconnect the bluetooth wireless connection for the keyboard.
There are no USB ports as you're thinking of them. We were told at the Apple Store we will need to get a printer that is an "air" printer and then we can print from the IPAD.
I absolutely love mine. I've got all my Nook books (500)+ available with the Nook app and I've also got a collection of Kindle books with the Kindle app and I could get IBooks, too, if I chose. My husband prefers to get his books that way. We don't want our "collections" mingling, since our tastes are so different. We do share apps....so if any minimal charge involved, we both can have them for the price of one. Music, books, apps sharing can easily be turned on or off.
I have a cloud account, but I honestly don't understand all of that yet. I do keep notes and documents on the IPAD, but nothing that's a big deal. When I get home, I'll use my desktop for our family $$ business, Quicken, etc., and probably not mess with a laptop again. I know I'll not travel with one again. I can easily catch up on Quicken when I'm home. I can monitor the bank accounts, pay online, etc. easily with the IPAD. I've done it several times and it's as easy as with any laptop.
jane
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Regarding the I-pad you can sync (connect) it to a usb port on a dos computer using the I-Pad's charger cable. The end that plugs into the charger connects to regular dos computer USB input port. It will take a few minutes to complete the sync operation after which the I-Pad appears on the computer's my computer list Ana files can be transfered
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I've got to try that, Harold. Thanks!
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MaryZ, what kind of keyboard do you use?
Jane, is your iPad easily removed from the keyboard?
I went to the Zagg site -- lots of interesting stuff there. Looking at the pictures, when it's in the keyboard case and closed up it resembles a laptop. But I'm assuming it's much lighter and easier to carry.
I don't need one, I want one, but don't know how practicable my idea for its use would work. I want dragon dictate so when I don't hear or understand someone, can just shove the iPad in his or her face and say "Speak." :P
Thanks for all the info. I've copied it, saved it, and will probably send it to my iPad carrying friends.
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pedln, mine is a Logitech Bluetooth. I opted not to get a cover that was also a keyboard because of the extra weight it would add to the device. Since my keyboard is wireless, I don't have to have it with the iPad all the time. It's a trade-off - just what you think would work for you.
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I don't know if it's easily removed...I haven't tried to remove it. I want the keyboard since I post here and at other discussion websites and do email, so a keyboard is a big deal to me. Yes, it does add some weight, but it will still fit in the special pocket my travel handbag has for a tablet.
jane
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You may have said this, but what size is the keyboard? Is it the width of the ipad? Isit smaller, bigger? I sit w/ the ipad on my lap in a stand-up cover and i can't quite imagine how i would position the keyboard.
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Mine is a little bit wider than the iPad. I, too, sit with the iPad on its stand on my lap. I can fit the keyboard between it and my belly, or maybe a little bit off to the side. It's 5 x 11 1/2" - about the size of a regular piece of paper folded in half length-wise. Your best best is going to go to a Staples or Office Max or someplace like that and compare them.
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Thanks Mary.
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Ok, this ITunes thing has me a bit confused. Ginny posted a free Ibook link that I followed to download it. I should say that I have an ITunes program on my Windows computer which came with the Quicktime program. The Ibook is apparently only for ipad and iphones, so I am guessing I can't see it on my computer.
What bothers me, though, is that ITunes wanted me to register, so I did, thinking I would be able to see the free book. Odd, because I am sure a year or so ago I was able to see free podcasts without registering. At least I thought I did; but they may have been through other links.
Now, it wants me to give my billing information before I can really do anything with the program AND it appears this is for the music, which I won't use. I cannot find a way to cancel my registration, and I definitely don't want to give them my billing info. When I have some time I guess I will have to call them.
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just enjoyed reading all about your iPad problems and many successful helpers. I found the iPad somewhat bulky so Ralph bought me the iPad mini and I am enjoying learning how to use it. My main gripe is the loss of Adobe Flash. I spent an hour or two reading up on how to solve that. Very expensive and hard to understand. There many solutions but I would appreciate input from here. Any thoughts, anyone?
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I agree w/ you about the loss of adobe flash. I would think Apple could have figured out a way to have that work on such a great/expensive gadget. It must be a licensing issue. It is aggravating to try to look at a video or game or other and not being able to.
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To get around the flash problem with my iPad I use a browser called Puffin that I got from the Apps store. There is a free version you can use a trial period and then I paid a small amount to get full access to the browser and it works very well. I tried to see what it cost but since I have purchased it it doesn't show the amount in the Apps store anymore. I also use another Browser called Maven+ that I really like when I am writing responses or postings in our discussion groups.
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Puffin - $3.00! I'm going to check it out. Thanks for the info.
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Thanks, Larry!!
I found two free apps that let me upload my Excel spreadsheet of my Book Journal to Dropbox and then get it on my IPAD where I can edit it, add to it, and it uploads back to Dropbox so my IPAD and my PC are synced with this spreadsheet.
I use Dropbox on both the PC and IPAD and CloudOn on my IPAD.
I'm off to get Puffin!!
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Just this morning I was discussing the Puffin browser with my good friend and it had a message that until a problem is fixed from their last update that the free version will not be subject to the time limit of usage. I have no idea of how long that will be in effect. Mabel, I felt it was worth the $3 as it removes one of the negative of the iPad or iPhone.
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Me too, Larry. I got it and have already used it very successfully.
Jean
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I thought I had posted here a few days ago, but I guess it didn't make it. Probably hit cancel instead of post. Sigh!
Weirdness with my Kindle Fire: I was logged in through my Kindle and typed a post. I hit the post button. The message I got was disturbing. It said something like "Sorry Frybabe, you are banned from using this site." I have not been able to log onto SeniorLearn from my Kindle since then. It has not affected my computer. Any clues? Could it be because I made a comment about the Boston Marathon using the "b.....g" word? Could it have been a banned word? It so, it might be difficult to discuss any war stories like the new book Dresden, which I hope to read some time.
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I don't think you were banned for anything you said. I wonder if somehow your IP address for the Kindle is the problem??
Try logging in again with the Kindle Fire.
IF you get that same banned message, go to the following site and find out what your IP address is for the Kindle fire.
http://www.iphacks.com/index.php
THEN, copy that IP address on the right sidebar and send it to me in an email to the address under my name. I can see if it's an address that was banned because of a large number of spammers from that IP address.
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Email is on its way, Jane. Let me know if you need anything else.
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I've sent you back an email with something I've tried. Email me and let me know if that worked...or didn't work.
:)
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Thanks Jane, MArcie, et.al.
It was the cookies.
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Glad it's working OK now.
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I recently bought a Kindle Paperwhite and find the instructions that came with it don't answer my question(s). I have created collections (entered a name for the collection and entered DONE). Now I don't know how or where to access these collections. Have seen pictures where the word collections appears on the menu bar -- but I can't find it. HELP before I throw it out!!
Also I live in Mountain Standard Time and the time on my Kindle shows Pacific???
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Kidsal, here is a discussion forum with info on how to see your collections on the menu bar. You are not the only one who has this problem. Too bad that the user's guide is lacking in specific information about collections except for basic set-up.
http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle/ref=cm_cd_search_res_rm?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdPage=1&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=TxOHBXBKV5WS7Z#Mx29D4J06U9TMLC
I don't see anything about the time difference. You may want to contact Amazon customer service about it. Their CS people are outstanding.
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Thanks for the info. Every time I select something from the menu a different selection appears. It appears random. Wrote down the how-tos and the next time an entirely different set of menu options appeared. Do seem to have the right books in the right collections and can access the collections -- although it seems by lucky chance.
Odd about the time but quess it doesn't need to be fixed --
thanks again -- will wear out the battery on this thing until I have a solution as to how it works. They should have written a Kindle Paperwhite how-to book for dummies.
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kidsal, go into the settings for your Paperwhite and you should see something that will let you change the time to your time zone.
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Kidsal, regarding the Mountain time question, based on my 1st generation Nook, look for a"settings" page and open this page, select Time, then click select Time Zone, and choose Mountain Time.
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On my older older kindle, you don't use the main menu at all. It has a choice on how you want your home page displayed (in the top right corner of the home page). You can go up to it and RIGHT CLICK (CLICK ON THE RIGHT ridge of the button at the bottom. Right clicking on any item will bring you a menu of choices.) Choose "by collection". Then, when you hit "home", you see a list of collections followed by any books that aren't in a collection. If you go to the collection name and click, you see all the books in the collection. To add a book to a collection, go to either the book name or the collection name, and RIGHT CLICK to get a menu.
Don't know if yours works the same way or not.
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I can't click on anything on my old Kindle. It uses the little button for menu and back, and one that you push down or to either side to move around. It still works fine, so that is the one that has most of my free e-books from other than Amazon.
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The "pushing to either side" is how you get menus on mine. Put it on the name of a book in home, and push to the right. See what you get.
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thanks
Found the way to set the time.
Also, am doing better now that I have selected COVER rather than LIST to view books. It brings up my collections.
Their How-To Manual is in serious need of work.
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I agree Kidsal. Maybe they think it will encourage people to buy the low cost tips and expanded users manuals they offer. I've never taken a look at them, so I can't say if they are any good or just state mostly obvious or unuseful things.
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Yesterday I wanted to check out the first Cara Black mystery -- Murder in the Marais -- but my library had it only as a downloadable electronic source. So I asked the librarian for help, as I have never checked ebooks, etc out from the library.
She took my kindle (purchased 9/2010) and tried to "thumb scan" it. Of course that didn't work on my "old-fashioned" kindle -- you have to bring up menu or home.
She told me I couldn't check it out while AT the library. I had to use my HOME computer. (Fortunately I have one.) Bring up my library ID number, and I'm sent to AMAZON -- that was a surprise -- and I checked it out, just like buying a book for my kindle. Sure enough, there is was, in a jiff. I could opt for either 7 or 14 days (I took 14) and I guess it will just disappear when my time is up. Now I'm curious -- I wonder if the library has to pay for each patron download. I think this is a state-wide thing, not just the local library.
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Pedln, my Library uses digital lending uses Overdrive. I only borrowed one book for my Kindle through it and can't remember if it goes out to Amazon or not. If you have an old Kindle, like my keyboard Kindle, there is no way you can sign into your library account from it. My Kindle Fire is a different animal altogether. It has a web browser, so I can sign into my library account from it and borrow or buy without having to go to my computer. Usually, because I am a Prime member, I just go directly to Amazon and borrow from the Kindle Lending Library without going through the library or my computer.
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pedln, I am pretty sure your library has to pay a fee for each digital book that is checked out but they may have a license that gives they a very good price.
Frybabe, we also have an Amazon Prime Account but I think the lending library on it is limited to Pat's account even though I can order through the Prime Account for the free shipping.
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Yes, the books available on the kindle that are Prime seem to be either old classics or books that cost $2.99 or less - actually from a business viewpoint it seems reasonable - what I wish they would do is for a nominal fee be able to have a kindle version of any prime book you buy - example if you buy Paulo Coelho's new book, Manuscript Found in Accra for an additional dollar or two you could receive the addition of a digital version.
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Often they are Barb, but all of the ones I have borrowed are relatively new. All three of the genealogy mysteries and the current one, a scifi, are pretty new. The scifi was published in 2012. Often, these are new authors who offer their books free or to lend hoping to gain a following.
I noticed that Amazon has a book buy back program. Has anyone tried it?
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/computer-12.gif)
Confused about Iphones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
I looked into Prime. It said you can only borrow one book a month. And none of the books I buy seem to have the Prime sign on them. When I buy a real book-book, I buy it used, and I don't think Prime covers the shipping then.
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No, it doesn't JoanK. I don't mind the one book a month restriction because I can fill in with the free ebooks, library books, and the books already here in my TBR piles (yes, piles). If it is something I want to read that isn't in any of those, I head for my used local book store and to ABE Books. Last resort any more is to buy from Amazon or B&N at regular prices. Every little cost cutter is welcome these days.
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My problem is bookcase space. Gave away about 100 books lately so could get books off the floor. Now that I have figured out how to add books to collections on my Kindle I have given up fighting with it and just read the books. Imagine if not in collections it would be difficult to find a book if had too many to scroll through. Now Kindle has a software update so will call them to help download.
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Kidsal, I was under the impression that the updates download automatically when you connect to the them. However, they do give instructions on how to download manually somewhere in their support pages (I happened to run across it looking for something else).
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Some of you might be interested in a daily newsletter from www.bookgorilla.com that features many low cost and free books for the Kindle application. When you sign up for the newsletter you can select the area of interest in books and have these included in the offers. I always look forward to quickly looking through the list of available books.
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Thanks for that Larry - I have joined!
Rosemary
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I joined, too. I spend way too much on books: especially at night: I finish the book I'm reading, and can't resist ordering the next in the series.
now to look for my conformation.
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frybabe: Yes the books automatically download but they do not go into collections such as Classics, Mysteries,etc. If you have quite a number of books it would be difficult to find them if you don't sort them into Collections.
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Kidsal, I know about the books; I was referring to the software update that you mentioned. Sorry for not being clear.
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I meant confirmation, of course. Haven't gotten it yet.
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I've been having intermittent problems with losing my internet connection. I finally called Comcast and had the tech check the signal. He said it was good and strong. He had me clean out my DNS cache, but that didn't help the problem. Even though he spent a lot of time checking things, we ended up concluding that I might have a bad modem. Then I got a brainy idea (who me? ??? ). I disconnected the router and reconnected the modem directly to the computer. Instant internet back. So it must have been the router. I contemplated that for a few minutes and then swapped out the patch cable between the modem and router. Instant internet AND wireless. So, unless the machines are playing games with me, it appears the problem was the patch cable. Who would have guessed. But time will tell if the problem comes back or not.
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Good sleuthing out the problem! Hope it's all fixed for you.
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I only thought of the cable, because I ran across bad cable problems before. Those darn things fool you into thinking you have to replace an expensive piece of equipment. Of course, you buy the new equipment which has a nice new cable with it, and you all you really need is an inexpensive length of cable. So far, so good. Still working.
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My problem isn't really a technical one, but one that's driving me crazy, and sometimes even has me not wanting to answer the phone. The past few weeks I've received about 5 or 6 calls from different individuals all claiming to represent some aspect of a computer -- I'm from Windows, or CC operations, 51% of your computer has been taken over by hackers, and so forth. I know that they're some sort of scam -- so far I haven't let them get to the asking for money phase.
The problem is compounded by my using a captioned telephone, and they're halfway into their spiel before my captions start showing. Has anyone else experienced any of these?
It's been a little unnerving, and brings out the worst in me. One even said, "calm down old lady." Some seem to know my last name. I called my state's Attorney General's office and was told that they were from outside the country and used some setup that couldn't be tracked. All the ones except one sounded like young men without any accent. Today was a woman with a very strong accent.
I thought that I was rid of them, but after a week without any I had two calls today.
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Pedln - we had a plague of these here in the UK a few months ago. I think they call from India, the screen always says 'international'. My husband found another way of blocking them - we had already subscribed to the 'no cold calls' number for UK calls, but a lot were getting through - since he used this new method, we've not had a single one. Tonight I will ask him how he did it, though I don't know if it would work in the US. I'll report back.
Somebody suggested that you should place the phone on the table and walk away, thereby running up their phone bill until they realise you're not there.
My mother was very upset a while ago by calls she kept getting when there appeared to be no-one there. She thought it was burglars checking out the property to see if anyone was in. I then read in the newspaper that many of these call centres have their workers call several numbers at once - then they speak to the first one who picks up, and leave the others waiting. I passed this on to my mother so at least she's been able to stop worrying about that, but really these places infuriate me.
Another scam I heard about on the radio this week was elderly people being sold 'warranties' over the phone. One confused old lady had been sold FOUR warranties for some TV service she didn't even have, plus several others for other things. Her son only realised when he looked at her bank statement. He was more than willing to take over her banking for her, and she was happy for him to do so, but our banks have now made it so difficult for a 3rd party to operate your account that families struggle to do this. In theory the person can sign a Power of Attorney in favour of someone else, but even then the banks make a huge song and dance about accepting them.
This reminds me of something else that happened this week. I am the secretary of the local arts & crafts centre (a charity run by volunteers). Last September we completed a new bank mandate to change the signatories on the bank account to me and another guy, as the existing signatories were no longer involved. We took all our ID into the bank, they sent the form away, we heard nothing - but our banks never do confirm anything. So after a while, Colin & I started signing cheques to pay our tutors - all of these cheques went through the system and were paid. This week I had to call the bank about something - the person I spoke to was actually from another bank, as the original bank has farmed out the work to them because they 'have a backlog'. He discovered that the mandate we sent in TEN months ago had never even been looked at (still in a queue). I asked how, in that case, these cheques signed by us hadn't been rejected. He said 'signatures aren't checked on cheques any more' - can you believe that?!!! So now, when these same banks are making a humungous fuss about genuine, concerned, families trying to help elderly parents with their banking, they are at the same time letting cheques go through with just about any signature on them. And we wonder why there is a banking crisis.
Rosemary
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IT has been going on for months now - my way is never answer the phone unless I can see the name or number that I know - if it is important they will leave a message - if I do pickup the phone and no one answers in the firs second or two I know it is a machine and I hang up - I get another one who does immediately start with his spiel in another language - I am no longer polite to any of this - I used to try and engage them thinking they were very low paid trollers for a contact to either sell their stuff or pass my name on to who ever hired them - one of my friends does not answer and then tried calling back getting a message there is no such number - often there is no number showing in the window on my phone - all clues - too bad it has gotten so bad that I am afraid to answer my own phone - more and more I understand the many who are giving up their land line. No wonder the kids either skype or twitter their calls.
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I would like to get rid of the landline, but my husband wants to keep it. Another point is that our landline rental includes 'free' calls to/from landlines, whereas - of course - everything costs money on cell phones, and calls to/from premium numbers are exorbitant. All such a racket, and all about profit, profit, profit.
Sometimes I would like to return to an older, simpler, world - but then I have to remind myself that back then, things were good for some people but really, really bad for others. My grandparents and parents grew up in abject poverty - at least I don't have to worry about the price of a pint of milk.
Rosemary
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Rosemarykaye, I didn't like the idea of losing my landline either. However, to save money and get more features as well as long distance, I switched to a wireless home system. Essentially, my regular phones get turned into a wireless system via a wireless base. My old landline price included only caller ID which cost me $10 a month over base price, I was allowed only a certain number of calls before paying extra, and I didn't have long distance, not even local long distance. Now I have all kinds of features, plus long distance for $7 less than what I was paying before. So far, it is working well. The only thing with the wireless system is that the emergency phone system will not automatically see my address, so I will have to tell the dispatcher. Oh, and if I want to take the phone with me somewhere, like on vacation, it is portable just like a cell phone. I don't know if you have anything similar to that or not. Verizon and ATT, as well as a few others, offer it here. Most, however, do not advertise it well.
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I appreciate your comments, Barb, Rosemary and Frybabe.
It looks like things are tough all over, affecting many. The sad thing about these technological intrusions is that they often force us to turn away from the tried and true -- like those who want to get rid of landlines. That's not an option for me. Or they cause us to worry about who is trying to intrude on us and are they succeeding. Have the hackers arrived? Is this a phished page? I clicked on a link the other day (from ATT) and Chrome popped up with a message that I was about to go to a phished page, so I didn't go there.
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Frybabe,
That's probably because it saves you money. I have a little device called an "Easy-Hang Up" connected between my base phone and the connection to the service. When I see who is calling and don't want to hear them selling their wares or offering me whatever, I push a button on my "Easy Hang Up" and it answers the phone with the nicest male voice, telling the person who is calling that we don't take phone calls from whoever is calling and please take us off their call list.
Now, having said that ::), it doesn't prevent them from calling back if they want to but nothing is perfect. I will not answer my phone if there's no name and number listed on my screen. We get numerous calls listing area codes that I am sure are from out of the country plus names listed as: service, client, a list of capitol letters that are meaningless. And then there are already political calls happening. Good grief, the next presidential election isn't until 2016 and these calls will increase as the the 2014 elections get closer.
So, when I read the last few posts about this problem, I looked up the device site so that I could leave a link here for you all to buy one, if you so desired. Guess what?? They aren't online anymore and probably not in business anymore. Now there are many companies offering you a service for a monthly fee. Its all about money no matter what they say, not service! Buuuuuuut, my friends who have one say they bought it at Walmart. There is a Walmart online store and maybe they still carry it. I've had mine for 15 years so it might not be made anymore. Probably the company who offered made a big pile of money and they retired to a warmer climate.
Now I have forgotten why I came to this site but I do have computer and iPad problems and will return later.
Speaking of advertising, any of you who are involved in the Short Story discussions, I am doing one at this time and hope you will join us to read "The Bear Came Over The Mountain" which is a love story. No downer, for sure! I know, I'm shameless! ::) ::)
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This question will demonstrate the depth of my ignorance in technology but I really would like to know.
What is "streaming?"
Netflix offers instant streaming. What is required in order to do this? We do not have Wi Fi here. I do have an Ipad and an Iphone (which is too small to see a movie on). We use satellite (yes people still do that who live way out of range of any kind of cable or DSL or WiFi) for the TVs and the computer.
I do see that DISH now offers something called Hopper which will allow your ipad or any device to watch TV episodes you may have missed, apparently in any number recorded even when playing opposite each other, but I have a feeling that requires Wi Fi, too.
Does anybody know what's needed for this "streaming?"
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Ginny, as opposed to downloading something and then being able to watch it later, you watch (or listen) to streaming media in almost real time. Almost because a little is downloaded into a buffer before the video starts. Remember the slower machines where you watched something and all of a sudden the little thinking wheel would rotate before the video resumed? Faster speeds and better networking coordination have practically eliminated that old problem. Nothing is permanently saved to your computer or media player. I suppose that some outfits let you save to DVDR, but since I don't have one so I never looked into it.
http://searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.com/definition/streaming-video
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Ginny, you really do need wi-fi connected to your modem. I love watching Netflix on my iPad with earphones and the picture is great and I can have the volume wherever I want it. Wi-Fi is really simple to set up and if you have questions on using it with Dish just give them a call since you have satellite internet there may be a bit of difference from cable or DSL. The wi-fi's pretty well set themselves up anymore.
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I know very little about satellite, but isn't that kind of a WiFi of it's own? I looked into satellite, briefly, when I moved to this house. I say briefly because at the time the satellite company (forget which one) wanted $99 a month for internet connection.
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Thank you Larry!!
Remember the slower machines where you watched something and all of a sudden the little thinking wheel would rotate before the video resumed?
Yes I sure do, I've still got it! hahahaa
Oh it does sound nice. I'd love to do that. I'll call them next week. I think Verizon offers some sort of wifi thing for the modem, I'll call them too and see if I can figure out what's wanted. Thanks so much!!
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I'm in the process of checking out new web browsers. Right now I use Firefox and Chrome. Firefox is a little flaky in the font department lately. I think it happened when I cleans something out of system cache that shouldn't have. Anyhow, updating to the newest version does not help. I love Firefox, but the pixelated fonts are annoying.
I just read on Kim Komando that Chrome has a serious saved password issue that the developers are not planning to fix. HUH? Also, I am not sure I like that Google might be following me around everywhere. Even though I have do no track add-ons, I don't trust them to keep Google tracking out entirely.
Right now I am trying out Opera. I also want to try out Safari for Windows and Sea Monkey. Sea Monkey may end up being my final choice because they are supposedly set up along the lines of the old Netscape formating. I liked that, but not the set up AOL uses now for all us legacy Netscape users now.
Any thoughts on any of these browsers is welcome input. Thanks.
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Frybabe, you might want to look at this website as you can find a huge number of fonts that you can install on your computer: http://www.1001freefonts.com/ as perhaps that will replace some of the ones you deleted that you would like to have back.
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Thanks Larry, I am not sure it is a font problem, per se. It only affects Firefox. I would think that if it were a font problem, it would affect just that particular font on whatever websites they are used. This seems to affect all websites when I use Firefox. Upgrading to the newest Firefox (23), the problem is still there, but doesn't seem so acute (yet). Also, if it were a system font, it would affect everything that uses that font regardless of browser, wouldn't you think?
I can try completely wiping Firefox and reinstalling (but I think I already tried that several months ago, my memory is not clear on that). Meanwhile, I discovered that Sea Monkey is a lot like Firefox and many of the same add-ons and extensions are available for it. Instead of using a mail client separately, Sea Monkey includes one.It also has an IRC, but again. I don't use instant messaging or chat channels any more. Sea Monkey is also a Mozilla project (as is Firefox) so I am a little surprised I didn't run into the fuzzy lines like on Firefox. Oh, what else really weird about the fuzz outs is that it follows the mouse or scrolling so that a one point a line is clear and at another it gets the fuzzy/raster treatment. Like I said, WEEEEIIIIRRRD!
I tried Opera, and although I haven't blown it off yet, I doubt I'll keep it. It is fast, but I am a list person rather than a button person. The quick buttons are larger than I would like. Also, their version of the bookmarks folder (forget the name) saves a really big snapshot of the webpage rather than a small button or list, way too big to include much in the folder without being a pain in the tush. Next up will be to try Safari.
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I am considering buying Amazon Prime for my grandson for his birthday to use on his ipad. Those of you who have Prime and have an ipad, does the streaming work on the ipad? I looked at some reviews that said it wasn't so good, but they were all posted 18 months or more ago.
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Hey Larry! I found out that other people are having the same problem as me with the newer Firefox updates. I don't have time to read all the forum posts just now, so I don't know yet what the fix is. Will check it out later today. It really does help to check out the browser support pages. I think the last time I looked, I wasn't putting in the right keywords. Anyhow, I'll be back at it this afternoon to see what the fix is.
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Got it, Larry. The answer is to go into the options menu and under advanced, uncheck Hardware Acceleration. Someone said there is an incompatibility with the IE10 and up that is interfering. I didn't chech his link because this fix worked. Happy, Happy!
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We're up to IE 10!?!?
Is it worth it to relearn everything one more time?
Jean
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Frybabe, glad you found an answer to your font problem. I find that searching often gives me the answer to something that I want to know or with which I am having a problem.
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Right, Larry. The first time I tried to find something, I must not have put in good keywords; nothing came up. Firefox is on my Linux too, but didn't have any problem with it there. I really thought I had accidentally cleaned something out of a cache or temp file that was needed.
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John has a virus or something on his laptop. Anytime he turns it on, he gets a popup that says he needs to buy their security protection - and it won't let him do anything else. We tried to do a system restore, but it wouldn't let him do that, either. Admittedly, he inadvertently let his Norton protection expire, and this got it. He's assuming now he'll have to go buy a virus-ridding disc. Any other suggestions?
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Mary: My Problem with my year old HP notebook is with the same rouge software that you described in your post. I removed It and for a while it was free but after a day or two It came back and I don't seem able to remove it now. But the worst is that other even more obtrusive programs have installed making any use subject to the sudden appearance of weird commercials. At this point I have pretty much retired this otherwise ideal Windows 7 DOS machine save for the occasional playing of DVD's on the TV screen through its HDMI output.
Meanwhile I am using the I-Pad and a 6 year old Dell desk top running Dos SP. (the alleged bad one). ON this machine I have never had any problem with dos possibly because I bought it with plenty of memory and other premium feathers.
OH WHY DIDN'T I BUY AN APPLE!
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Thanks Harold. He went and bought a "virus remover" (my term) disc, and just went back to install it. We'll see what happens with that.
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Sorry to here about John's virus problem. This is one of the newer malware nasties that is going around. It is called Ransomware. Here is information from Microsoft on what it is and how to get rid of it with their Windows security software.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/resources/ransomware-whatis.aspx
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Thanks, Frybabe. That sounds like what he had. He's been working on it, and somebody on the phone has been "inside" it working away, too, and I think they've gotten it fixed. I'll let you know.
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Good luck Mary. Technolgy is wonderful when it's working, isn't it?
Jean
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/computer-12.gif)
Confused about Iphones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
His computer is working just fine now. He got a virus removal and protection program from Staples (easytech), and it was done over the telephone. The program is good for clearing three computers, so we'll do my laptop, too.
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Whew! Good to know where to turn for help when the worst happens and you can't get in to do anything.
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Hello Everyone,
I'm in the IT field and have been for over 20yrs and would like to provide what knowledge I have to help anyone that may have questions or issues with their technology. I'm presently enrolled in the Latin course that begins in Sept. and seen this page relating to IT issues that we all go through and thought I would throw my hat in and provide what knowledge I have to help those that may need it.
Thanks and have a wonderful day. :)
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Welcome, UKLA13. I do hope you enjoy Latin class. Ginny is a wonderful and enthusiastic teacher. I will be in 205 this fall. In case Ginny hasn't mentioned it yet, we also have a forum to nomination and or discuss Classic books at
http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=2395.0 It is pretty quiet there right now. We've done several Greek plays, Travels With Herodotus, some Plutarch so far and have been toying around with doing something else soon, well semi-soon anyway.
Thanks for the offer to help with our tech questions. We can always use more input. Right now, I have a mission to find out how to, if we can, copy streaming video to the computer. The question came up today at my local library. I've never done it, so I couldn't help the guy. That's probably a good thing considering the possibility of infringing on copyrights.
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Welcome UKLA13 and many thanks for your offer of technology help. We can sure use it.
Congratulations on being a Latin student. I was in Ginny's classes for eight years and loved it. She is a wonderful teacher and makes Latin a very "alive" language.
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Hello Frybabe,
Great question...You can download streaming videos from the internet but what is needed is a Browser (Add-On/Plug-In) which will give you the capabilities to copy/save the video to the PC or an external device (USB, Hard Drive, Etc...).Theirs a lot of software out there that can perform this but remember that even though it say's it's FREE (Toolbars, Coupon sites, and other NON-related software) also get's installed so when installing read each window prompt to avoid this.
But One I like is the Firefox Add-On - Video Download Helper 4.9.17 which can be found here and only works for Firefox not for Internet Explorer
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/
Hope this helps :)
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Thanks, UKLA13. I plan on getting a few suggestions together and printing them out for the guy. If I ever get interested in doing it for myself, it is handy to know that Firefox has a plug-in for it. Actually, there is a Vimeo video of aurora that I like a lot. It is posted by a commercial site, so I doubt they will allow a download, but who knows.
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I don't know if this fits your discussion FryBabe, but i got the Puffin browser that supports flash videos on my ipad/safari. It works very well.
Jean
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hello there
this is my first post in this area....am interested in buying an e-reader mostly for free downloads, library etc.....want to have easy access to dictionary, pages numbered as to real book so to be able to compare if in a reading group...highlighting features, note taking ability sort of 'marginalia' idea....have been considering a kindle or sony (like the idea of being able to write on e-reader)......so many options it is confusing....also would appreciate reasonable price
any thoughts on this would be appreciated....really do enjoy the book discussions and think something like this would be a wonderful tool to aid my reading enjoyment
if this has been covered in some other area please let me know as only at pg 8 in this discussion area
thank you
Deb
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Deb...I own 2 Nooks, but I'd not recommend buying that. I often find that Amazon and their Kindle reader have far more free items available and that Kindle often has a lower price (sometimes in the .50 range...other times in the $$ range). If you can afford it, I'd strongly urge an IPAD. I bought one and so can have three choices for adding books...I can get all my Nook (Barnes&Noble) books, buy at Amazon and read through my Kindle app, and iBooks.
I have probably in the range of 500-600 books on the IPAD that I can put in my purse and take with me wherever I go.
In addition, I can access the internet as I'm doing now with the IPAD.
There are other tablets out there, and I'm sure others here can tell you their success with them.
WELCOME to SeniorLearn!
jane
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I haven't tried many of my Kindle Fire reading features, but I believe it allows you to take notes, bookmark, highlight,etc. As far as page numbers are concerned, while the pages themselves are not always numbered, it does have a feature that tells you % read and number of pages read. I doubt that corresponds to page numbers in a print book. I use the Lending Library a lot to read books ordinarily you'd have to pay for. These change out occasionally, but many always seem to be free.
My sister has an iPad. She likes to read magazines. The larger size screen is much better than the Kindle for that. Plus, you can get different apps for downloading books that Kindle might not support. Kindle doe not support ePub files, for instance. Also, take a look at the Samsung Galaxy. I have several friends who use it and are quite happy with it. I think the screen size is a little bigger than iPad and it does pretty much the same thing.
If you don't want to pay the price for an iPad and don't need a lot of what it can do, but like the larger screen, Kindle DX might work well. It's B/W screen is 9.7" which, I believe is about what the iPad is. It runs on 3G, and according to the blurb, has a rather long lasting battery. I am likely to consider the DX if my Kindle 2nd Gen dies on me.
Does anyone use Google Books? Does it use real page numbers? It seems to when I am on the computer, but I don't know about the downloadable e-books from them, and I don't know if they offer freebies.
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I wonder if the page numbers vary with the digital format the publisher/whoever uses? Some of my books have them; some don't.
I have no idea how they compare to page numbers in a hardcover or a paperback. Are those the same? I've never owned the same books in the different formats, so can't compare.
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thank you for your input
love reading, and find enjoy it more if able to highlight, underline....look up words....and since reading with seniorlearn various books, find some people using various e-readers commenting/complaining that they are hard pressed to determine where their passage comes from as pages are not ??numbered or numbered according to a book??....something to think about ...presently have a blackberry playbook and am able do download books (tend only to download free ones;libraries are so good with getting books one wants; mind you then cannot really highlight etc, only use post it notes)
am in no rush to get an e-reader, but fascinating to think could do all of above and link to seniorlearn with books we are discussing
take care
Deb
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Has anyone tried the free new browser app Curiyo (http://www.Curiyo.com) ?
It reminds me of a digital Readers Encyclopedia as it defines things you come across in your reading without making you leave the page. It downloads inabout 2 seconds.
For those with the WSJ, Mossberg reviewed it the other day and gave it his stamp of approval.
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I have several questions about the ipad. I think I would like one; but I am not very "technical". Are they easy to use? Can I teach myself to use one? Can I use it with my verizon internet (seems to me that when they first came out, you had to have AT&T). Can I use it with my current internet or will I have to pay a separate fee.
Thanks for answering my questions.
Sally
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MY OPINION:
My husband had a very hard time with his laptop; he loves his IPAD.
He does only email, surfing the net, reading his newspapers online, and reading books online he's purchased from iBooks or Kindle, etc.
I do Quicken, FTP, etc., and I've found those things hard/impossible with my IPAD. I need a laptop for those functions.
If you're near an iStore, they offer free classes and help.
I think you could easily teach yourself with one of the help books available from places like Barnes and Noble.
My IPAD does not have cell phone coverage.
Someone else will have to speak to this issue and the costs if you buy an IPAD with cell phone coverage use.
My IPAD works only on WIFi and I can use any WiFi like any computer can. I use only free WiFi and have found on recent trips in the US and in Canada that all the hotels/motels we use offer free WiFi now.
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Very, very, very easy Sally! I am far from being a techie and i just got my second ipad, an ipad2, and i easily transferred all my data from the first one with the online instructions that came up when you start it. There is also a comprehensive manual that you can download. I got my first ipad in 2010 and downloaded the manual at the time and i still haven't read the whole thing, but i'm not very disciplined about those things. My husband would have read the manual from beginning to end before starting using the ipad. ;D i tend go looking for an answer when i want to do something i haven't done before.
I am on Verizon, yes, you can use it and there is no additional charge. You must have a router which gives you "unconnected" wifi access, so you can sit your ipad on your lap anywhere in or around your house without being hard-wired to your internet. I have said since i got my first ipad "it's like having a library on my lap, not just the books of the library, but all the info, and more, available."
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I'm glad we're talking about iPad's again 'cause I've been looking at them and have questions too. How do you know what size to get -- they come with 16G, 32G, 64G, the more gigabytes, the higher the price. How do those gigabytes transfer into use. I would guess that streaming movies would need more than what you'd need for reading newspapers. Do they all come with the same speed, too?
As far as I can tell, most folks get them for just Wi-fi, not worrying about or paying extra for cellular aspects. Cellular seems awfully specific. They can't be used as cell phones, but cellular would give you internet access out in the street? on the beach -- if you're lucky?
What really boggles my mind is that if you go the cellular route, even though it won't be for phones, you have to designate a carrier that will be with you for the life of your iPad. That sure is a lot different from someone picking up an extra landline at Walmart or Sears of even the drug store, that can be used with any carrier.
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I have an iPad 3 (I think) - our daughters got it for me when I broke my arm about a year ago. They opted for just the wifi since I already had a smart phone. We have wifi in our house, so it's no problem here. When we travel, I can use it just like my laptop, as long as I have some wifi access. Otherwise, I can get my e-mail on my smart phone. The two work just fine for me.
All my Kindle books automatically transferred to the iPad, and are stored in their cloud. If I want to read anywhere there is no wifi, I do have to download the books to the device. It's no problem, but there's a finite amount of space for books. So when I finish reading a book, I delete it, and it goes back into the cloud - freeing up that space for another book.
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Having my books with me...and between Kindle and Nook apps on this IPAD 4 I have over 600 books and I still have
8.6 19.8 gigs of storage left. I only delete books I no longer want available. On the Nook app, if you delete, as opposed to archive, you've taken the book out of our library and would have to rebuy it. If you archive it, you still have it at the B&N site. So, I archive Nook books if they are something I would never re-read.
I've found so many new-to-me authors with Kindle's free and .99 books and through BookBub and BookGozilla. Some, as you might expect, aren't very good...but at free, I can't complain...and some have turned out to be excellent.
The IPAD is great for those long car rides and waiting room waits.
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Jane, et al, how many GB (gigabytes) do you have?
Has anyone downloaded and stored a film to watch for later?
I don't have an iPad yet, but am hopeful. We're looking at a long weekend in the boonies, no wi-fi and probably no cell either -- would like to have some films on board.
Re: iOS7 -- I came across a website with a bunch of techies complaining about iOS7 making their iPads run slower.
What is "jailbreaking"?
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I have 13.8 gigabytes and am using only 7. I don't download movies and music, so i don't know what you need to do that.
Jean
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My iPad is the 16 Gig one and I have found it to be more than adequate. Unless you actually do a download of a book you will just be seeing the book cover when you use either the Kindle or Nook or other book readers. Since the books are kept on the servers (cloud) of Amazon or B&N and are easily accessed there is no reason to have many books actually on your device. Regarding movies, if you use the Netflix app or one of the others the content is streamed to your device via wi-fi or cellular so it is not saved on your iPad or smart phone. If you buy the movie and download it to your device then it probably is stored there but again Amazon and perhaps other providers will store your purchase and so wouldn't need to keep it on the iPad after you have watched it or would not have access to wi-fi.
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I have the 32 gig IPAD 4 and, unlike Larry, I like my books downloaded to it. I don't have/use cellular capability so I need to be where there's a good WiFi to read my books if they're not downloaded. When I'm waiting somewhere or traveling long distances in the car or visiting relatives , I don't want to find out my books aren't available to me.
I still have 19.4 gig (I believe I said much less above) available, according to the IPAD.
I don't do movies, so I can't answer that part of your question.
jane
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This seems to be a helpful article about storage (including movies) on an ipad
http://ipad.about.com/od/iPad-Tutorials/a/How-Much-iPad-Memory-Do-You-Need.htm
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Thanks Marcie for that link, it lead me to a link about "Dropbox" which i've been considering.
I have a question about "cloud" saving. I got a new ipad. If i delete the info on my first ipad will it delete it from the "cloud"? If that happens will it delete it from my ipad2 or keep me from getting it on my ipad2?
Jean
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Jean...I like Dropbox and then Cloud-On for looking at spreadsheets and docs I do on my PC laptop and I can bring them up on my IPAD. It's not perfect and it takes some getting use to, but it works for me.
jane
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Jean, it sounds like you can erase what's on your ipad without deleting it from cloud. See the steps at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5661
I'm assuming the first step "backup your device" can refer to backing it up on iCloud
Note the caution on that page: Important: Do not manually delete contacts, calendars, reminders, documents, photo streams, or any other iCloud data while signed in to your iCloud account, or the content will also be deleted from the iCloud servers and all of your iCloud devices.
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Thank you Jane, Marcie, Larry, and everyone with your helpful comments. The link about iPad storage looks really useful -- keep you busy for a month at least.
I'd heard of dropbox, but didn't really know what it was until I looked at Facebook this morning. My cousin had been on Fox Business News on Sunday and posted a Dropbox link to the show (I'm guessing she recorded it and sent it to dropbox.) for those of us who hadn't seen it. It worked like a charm, just clicked on the link and there it was -- an hour TV program.
Here's a link that looks like it will explain more about Dropbox and how it works.
Dropbox Tour (https://www.dropbox.com/tour)
Technology does keep us on our toes. And here I thought cumulus and nimbus, etc. were all that we needed to know.
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Marcie, that is pretty much the same with my Kindle Cloud account. I can delete from my device but it will still be on the cloud unless I sign in to Amazon and delete it from there. In fact, most of my music is stored on the cloud. Occasionally, I will download a few pieces to my computer (and, once, to my Kindle). When I borrow a book, it appears that I must sign into my Amazon account and return it from there. Otherwise, it won't let me borrow another until I return to last one. In that case, it allows me to return it from my Kindle. I am sure there is a way to return a book early through the Kindle, but I haven't figured it out. When I finish a book, it automatically goes to "gee, wouldn't you like to revue the book now that you've read it". I don't see a simple return book feature.
Unfortunately, Pedln, Fox Business News is one of the stations that got dropped when I cut back on my cable. It is the only station I miss.
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Are these cloud accounts free? It seems like Amazon Cloud and Dropbox are free, but I'm not sure, and then I wonder how they earn their keep if they don't charge for them. What about iCloud -- is that just for people with Apple products?
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The icloud I have with my Ipad is free. I think there may be a charge if you want more storage than the free account, but I'm not sure of that. I'm sure others here will know.
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I think so Pedln, because when you buy a book, movie or music it goes to the Cloud storage. My books also download to my Kindle automatically, but the music I must download it manually. I don't know about videos, I haven't bought any of them. If you want more than the free storage, then there is a fee. Initially they said I could only store three hundred music pieces, but when they ripped my old buys and put them up on my Cloud (part of some kind of lawsuit settlement I think, but not sure) it went way over that limit. I've bought several since, and was never flagged for being over.
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A word about cloud storage. There are several sites that provide up to 5 gigs of storage for free. I use Google for storing most of my documents in Google Drive and and use many other of their features such as their office suite to do word type documents or spreadsheets. I also store my music collection in in Google Music where the limit is based on number of songs and not size. I think I have about 16,000 songs saved there and no longer worry about a computer crash and losing my music. I can then stream them back to my iPhone or iPad or the computers without having to actually download them. I believe Microsoft offers up to 5 gigs of free cloud storage through their Live account. There are a number of other places as well.
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I read about Dropbox and decided that I didn't want my important info or pictures or private things stored anywhere when I am not in control. I do know that many universities also store their docs and all important info which probably means all the students and their parents are stored somewhere out there. I have an external hard drive which has crashed. This means that I am now depending on my Mac Pro's HD for now. According to the experts around me, external HD's never crash. Well mine did, two days after my extended warrantee ended. Of course! But, I will buy another external HD and hope for better results.
Now, I do have iCloud on my computer and my iPad and could probably duplicate my Mac HD and then load it on my iCloud. Not when I'm not sure that they both won't crash eventually. Yes, I think a new external HD is the answer for me.
Free might not mean free, in the end. Are they planning on Ads paying for all that storage? That's what FB and Twitter are doing. For all the computers in the world, security is the most important job out there.
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I'm with you Annie. I won't put any backup files, documents, or records of any kind on the cloud. There is already too much personal information floating about on the net that can be hacked into as far as I am concerned.
Addendum: I just discovered an email from Comcast, that they are discontinuing their Backup and Share program. Anyone using it has until Nov. 30 to retrieve their files and back them up elsewhere. Since I don't use that feature, I am unaffected.
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Annie...I just use Dropbox to share non confidential things of my own that I want on both my PC laptop and on my IPAD. Since I'm using both Microsoft and Apple products, connecting the two isn't easy.
I, too, only use ICLOUD for nonconfidential things. I believe that to be much more "open" to others to see so what goes there isn't personal/confidential.
I use an external harddrive on my PC for the confidential things. I'd read that they have only so many "recycle" periods...that is saving and backing up over and over, so a year or so ago, I bought a new one and new flashdrives and retired the old ones to a safe place--a safe deposit box at the bank. I back everything important up to that external harddrive and do not use any sort of "online storage"...be it a commercial site, icloud or skycloud or whatever Microsoft calls theirs.
I guess we each have our "trust" levels about confidential information.
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Jane and Frybabe,Glad I am not the only one who is slightly paranoid about where I store my private files.
Aren't we just too much? Here we are, have been on SN and SL for over 16 years and WE are keeping up with the race to the top! I love it. Who would have thought that we would even care about technical things at our time of life? Better than watching TV! :D :D
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About the only thing that I really want to keep private is 20+ years of Quicken Financial data which fortunately fits on a flash drive. I'm going to follow your good idea, Jane, and put one in the safety deposit box, maybe change it every sic months or so.
This week I bit the bullet and bought a smartphone -- Samsung Galaxy, and yesterday I bought (if you can believe) Samsung Galaxy 4s for Dummies. There really is such a book. I can't go back and pester the nice young man at ATT again, although he was very polite when I came back with my list of questions. But really, a whole book to learn how to use a telephone. And even it can't help me key in multiple phone numbers for one person.
My thinking is that if I'm going to get this phone, I'm going to use it for everything. Aren't there gadgets that you can attach and they'll do blood pressure, heart rate, sleep modes?
Right now I'll be happy if it does captions.
Yes, Annie, it's good to keep up with the times.
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I have an old laptop with XP on it which I need to use for next semester in a classroom to show PowerPoints and film. I can't find the cord so I called Dell, and it's a 2009 version but it's got PowerPoint and Office on it and the cord was cheaper to replace than buying a new one.
My question is, is there a really good free antivirus program I can use in it? Isn't there something called AMD or AEC or something, which I can use? I used to have one called something similar but can't recall what it is. (Tell you one thing, those old timey laptops are HEAVY!)
Anybody know a good free antivirus program?
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Welcome to The Technophobe Reader
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/computer-12.gif)
Confused about Iphones, Ipods, Ipads, Itouch, Androids, or anything else electronic? Don't know what a "text" message is? Don't have a Nook or a Kindle and don't know the benefits of an e reader? Feel left out of the rush of the new technology and wonder what all the shouting is about?
Have a new Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook, Kindle, or I headache or are considering same?
Ask your question here! Other sufferers may be able to direct you to a source for help or help with their own experience.
This discussion has no "expert" moderator, we offer here no professional advice but we may be able to answer out of our own experiences, so ask or comment away!
Ginny, there are several good free antivirus programs out there, but I think Avast and AVG get some of the highest ratings still. Go to CNet.com and you can find all kinds of programs with their ratings as well as ratings from users.
This link will get you to the download section of CNet. http://download.cnet.com/windows/
I see they have added Android and iOS programs as well as Windows and Mac. As you can see, the top two programs are the ones I just listed. Also listed is CCleaner which is a super utility program for cleaning up temp files, etc. and fixing registry problems.
I do not know how well any of these programs will work with the older XP OS any more.
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Ginny, there are two different free anti-virus programs that I have and currently use. They are AVG and AVAST. Microsoft also has Microsoft Security Essentials that I found worked well for a long time.
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Thank you both! One of the laptops has AVG on it but since they are both dead in the water and I can't charge them till I get the replacement cord, I don't know which it is and couldn't recall the name. Since I will only be using these for in class stuff I couldn't see paying for an anti virus for that little bit of use, so thank you both VERY much.
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Ginny, the folks from Velocity Repair put Microsoft Security Essentials on my XP desktop and it seems to be working. I'm glad to hear Larry say it worked well for him. Doesn't work with Windows 8.
I feel like such a dunce with my new cell phone (Android) and am going to have to make another trip back to the nice young man at the ATT store, even after studying the Dummies book and Samsung's online manual.
My keyboard shrunk and now it sits on top of Enter Message Here, so it's too small for my fingers and I can't see the message I'm typing because it's covered by the keyboard. I've tried working the volume buttons, but that doesn't seem to help. Oh wow is me.
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On my Win 8, it's now called Windows Defender, apparently, because a search for Microsoft Essentials brings up nothing. My "Action Center," however, has Windows Defender listed as the Security thingy.
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Oh boy. This is a first for me. My new cell phone. I'm glad I don't have to post on this keyboard all the time, even tho it thinks for me and comes up with the right word to swipe cr. I
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Pedin, just. A suggestion that might help you type on your phone. If it is a smart phone with on on screen keyboard be sure and rotate it horizontally. It should show the keys as a little larger. I also find using a stylus helps me hit the right key as my finger will sometimes shake a little and hit the wrong key. The stylus are very inexpensive on eBay or in the stores for a much higher price.
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Larry, thanks for that tip. I will try that. It makes sense because I find I like reading email and news on the horizontal position. What amazes me is how fast some people can text. My DIL -- you blink and there she's already typed a message.
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You can get a stylus at Walmart for less than $15.00. Love mine!
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I got mine in an everything $5 store. I didn't know that store existed until George pointed it out to me. I don't know how widespread they are, nor do I remember the precise name. They had a lot of electronic gadgets and accessories.
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It's dumb question time again. Buying a smartphone and a tablet around the same time probably isn't to smart, especially if one is an Android (phone) and one iOS7 (iPad Air). So, am trying to learn the ins and outs of both -- the pinching, the patting, the swiping, etc.
The iPad Air is ATT cellular. Dumb Question -- should have asked in the store, but didn't think of it --
What do I do if I don't want to use cellular when wi-fi isn't available? If I just want to play a silly game, write an outstanding masterpiece, or just read a Kindle book retrieved from iCloud?
Can I prevent it from hopping over to LTE or 4G when I go sit in the park?
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I don't think that's a dumb question at all, and I wish I could answer it. I've got one of those neato que books called My Ipad Mini, great book, one of those with all the colorful slick shiny pages, too bad I can't seem to find the time to read it.
I thought you could turn off the Wifi? Is your cellular plan limited as to data? Can you look under settings and see if you can turn them both off if not needed?
I have heard of the AIR, I'm anxious to hear how you like it.
Am personally obsessed with Jeopardy for the Ipad and Iphone, it's SO much fun. :)
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OK the book says that you can turn off the cellular data in Settings to specifically prevent it from using your 3G or 4G connections. Mine reverts to the 3 G I think it is on the ipad, not sure, when it can't find WiFi, which is all the time. :)
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Thanks for the info, Ginny, and I found an iPad manual that said the same thing. My plan is set for two Gigabytes shared data between phone and iPad. I don't want to be doing something that doesn't need wi-fi and have all my data used up for nothing. Or is it only used when you send and receive?
Ginny, you shouldn't have told me about Jeopardy. That sounds like something really fun -- and addictive.
My six-year-old granddaughter has been calling me from California before heading off to school, asking questions for a first grade project about what I did as a kid, and what things I didn't have that she has. What a list that will be.
"How did you listen to your music?"
"Did you ride a bike?" "Wear a helmut?"
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That's another good question. I share data with my grandson, it's two ipads and MINE for some reason ran amok one month and I called and said there's no way I could have done that and she said something about pushing the little circular button twice and see what happens and behold a lot of things appeared on the bottom of the screen and she said that's what is eating up your hours, but I haven't changed my habits at all and that situation has not continued so I am not sure what was going on. I know a lot of the apps want to up date. I don't let anybody send me push notifications, but some of these games do anyway, so I am not sure WHAT is going on.
(I tend to get something, enjoy it for what I need, and be unaware of any other capabilities.) I have too many games on it.
Absolutely love Jeopardy, it's got the music and everything. In fact I've played it SO many times I've had to get a new pack or two of new questions. The Jeopardy for the phone is different in several ways from the one for the ipad. I like the Ipad better, but they both are good. Multiple choice!!
You can also play it ON the Jeopardy website, every day they put up questions from that day. I'm an absolute whiz on the Ipad and Iphone ones but I don't think, should they be monitoring the website game playing, that they are going to be inviting me any time soon! hahahhaa It's AMAZING how many things pertain to Laitn tho. :)
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Oh dear, little circular button? I think I'm a tech wimp, scared of touching and trying for fear I'll be frozen (as I was the other day) or get a bunch of error messages. So I'm being cautious until I see the DC family later this week and can pester them with questions and let them fix everything I get out of whack. I'm sure AT&T must groan when they see me walk in the store, I've been there so many times.
The one thing that has been really nice is that I can get captions from Hamilton Relay on my cell phone. Of course I can't see them when the phone is by my ear, so need to get set up with bluetooth or something similar.
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I thought you could turn off the Wifi? Is your cellular plan limited as to data? Can you look under settings and see if you can turn them both off if not needed?
Ginny, I think my data 2G plan is just for cellular usage, and the wi-fi use is not billed or charged. I don't think there is any reason I would want to turn off the wi-fi.
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pedlin, I have a 300 megs of cellular available in my plan from AT&T and I leave it on all the time unless I see I am getting close to the limit and when that happens I get a text message telling me so. I am not out where I use cellular too much and try not to use it to do much downloading. However, with 2 gigs of data limit I would doubt you would ever have a problem. You can set the cellular setting so it won't do updates of the apps unless you are on wi-fi.
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Larry, thanks for that info. I am really clueless as to how many megs and gigs one uses. That's good to know that you get warned when you're close to your limit. The salesperson at the ATT store said he thought I'd only need one gig, but worry-wort chicken me held out for two.
Do you stream films on yours? I'm thinking of joining Amazon Prime after the first of the year (should have done it a long time ago) and that program offers free films. My wireless speed is the lowest of the low -- 3 mbps, but everyone tells me that Netflix and Amazon adjust the films to your speed.
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ALERT!!
"Microsoft" is not calling to "fix" your computer. This old scam is making the rounds again and the people doing it are very aggressive. Stand in their way and watch, they will almost curse you.
They say your computer is giving off problem signals, they want YOU to give them YOUR access codes and personal information so they can get inside your computer. Do not talk to them, tell them where to go.
More on it from the Better Business Bureau:
Better Business Bureau says don't talk to them:
http://www.bbb.org/blog/2012/01/scam-alert-microsoft-is-not-calling-to-fix-your-computer/
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Yeah...and one of Ray's old cronies said he got a message that "they" would help him sign up for Medicare/health stuff. Uh...I don't think so. He's in his 80s and been on Medicare for some time now. He said he just got rid of the message quick. It's sad people fall for these things. I think our people here are too savy, but I have friends who aren't very computer literate...still don't know how to do a google seach...seem to use the laptop ONLY to forward on hoaxes and other "stuff" we've seen a million times.
SIGH!
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No one has posted on this site for a while. I got a Kindle Fire from my daughter. All the books on my old Kindle have been transferred & I have ordered some new ones & some games. Not sure what all I can do with this Kindle. Is is like an IPad? Can someone recommend some fun games? I think I will really enjoy it.
Sally
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Hi Sally,
I am very fond of Cubistry. Two good word games I have are Jumbline 2 and Cryptogram Puzzles. One game I liked but blew off because it really drained my battery fast, Buttons and Sissors(Pro). I check the apps site every day to see what they are offering freebie. I rarely buy any of them. A super program (not a game), if you like Astronomy, is Distant Suns. I had that program on my Amiga way, way back when. It is excellent and worth paying for. I've been waiting for the Pop Cap people to make an app for BookWorm that is compatible with the Fire, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen.
You can go out to the web with your Silk Browser. If you have favorite websites, bookmark them. Check to see if the app store has apps (like many entertainment and news channels) which make it even easier to get to where you want to be. There are some search engine apps; I use Duck Duck Go Go . And no, I have no idea why they call themselves that.
I use a cleaner program to clean up temp files and such, but once in a while I go into the "More" menu click on Silk Browser and do a clean up from that submenu. It helps to free up space and can speed things up a little. If you don't have a anti-virus program on your Kindle, I recommend getting one.
If you want an app that isn't in the Kindle app store, it can be done, but it can be a tricky procedure to get Kindle to recognize it and not cause problems.
I hope this info is helpful to you.
Margie
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I am sad to report, as some of you may have already learned, that Stacey, daughter of our LarryHanna and his wife Pat, has passed away after lingering illnesses.
Larry and Pat....we all hold you close to our hearts during this difficult time.
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Oh dear, I am so sorry. So sorry. It's been a long road and she's been so ill for so long.
To lose a child at any age is devastating. Larry and Pat, I am so sorry for your great loss.
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I also would like to offer my condolences to you Larry and Pat. I am so very sorry for your loss, and am thinking about you a lot at this terrible time. I know that so many people on this site and on Seniors and Friends will be keeping you both in their thoughts and prayers.
Rosemary
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Thank you all for your prayers and kind thoughts. Jane, thank you for making that posting.
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Larry...Joan Ginny, and I thought you would appreciate the thoughts and prayers of your friends here during this difficult time for you and Pat.
Jane
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Jane, you are right we do appreciate knowing that others care. Thanks.
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This is strange, the reply button in the Blue Highways discussion group is missing. Anyone else with that problem? Seems to only affect that discussion.
UPDATE: Got my reply button back after about 10 minutes.
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There's several things that could cause that, I'm glad that you got it back. If it ever happens again, check in the upper left corner of your screen and be sure it's recognizing you by name.
If you see your name and you still can't see a post button somebody has inadvertently done something to the discussion. Any time something like that happens write the webmaster so we can be aware of it in your situation. :)
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Great excitement - I've just treated myself to a Lenovo Yoga 2 (11.6") and so far I love it. It's one of those laptop/tablet things that you can use as a laptop or swivel round to make a notebook. I got it on the basis that Madeleine could have my ASUS laptop, which I didn't like too much, as her own had packed up. Needless to say, the Lenovo then disappeared into her bedroom all yesterday evening - 'just setting it up for you' - which she did, but I think a few games may have been played too....never mind, it's the price I pay for technical assistance!
Rosemary
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Oh how exciting! I don't know anything about those, you're the first I know to have one. You'll have to be our expert on those here, and keep us posted, it sounds wonderful!
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Yes, it's nice to have experts around and I'm glad to see them here. I'm lost and need help badly.
Windows XP will not have support after April 8. My Dell has just served me so well for nine years and I'm really not ready to give it up, but not sure yet if it will support Windows 8.1 If it was just installing 8.1 it would be okay, but don't know if the keyboard, mouse, dvd drive will need lots of tweeking. I don't want to end up with a patch system for a computer almost 10 years old.
One daughter suggests a Chromebook, but that's a different operating system. Not sure I want that, and don't know about the Apple system either.
Would my Quicken (2209--I would update) work with another operating system, Jane?
Another daughter says that no one buys desktops anymore, but I need my big monitor. Would like one even bigger. I know people use big monitors with laptops. Do they just plug in with a USB?
I used to be on the cutting edge, but no longer.
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pedln, if your computer is 10 years old I wouldn't try to put Windows 8.1 on it. I don't think you would have any problem with the keyboard, mouse or DVD drive as long as it is USB. You would likely get a new keyboard and mouse with any desktop you would buy. You would notice significant differences in the 10 year old computer to those of today in terms of speed. Just my opinion.
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Ginny - so far this little Lenovo is excellent - seems very sturdy compared to the rather wobbly Asus, and does everything I have wanted to do. I love how portable it is, and Madeleine loves the touchscreen on the tablet side.
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Pedln...I agree with Larry. 10 yrs is ancient...and I doubt it would handle Win8 well.
To the best of my knowledge, Quicken works ONLY with Windows machines. There is a Quicken app for the IPAD and it gets horrendous reviews. I won't even load it on my IPAD. [ I wait, when we're in Texas, until we're home to update my Quicken 2010.]
[When I got my new laptop with Win 8, the local guy from whom I bought it, also put on something called Classic Startup that makes it open like Windows 7 that I had on my Dell that went belly up after 18 months. The motherboard went out.]
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Thanks Larry and Jane. I appreciate the good advice I'm getting here. Definitely will NOT attempt to update the operating system on my current ancient desktop computer. My laptop is 5 years -- Vista, and HP and I don't really like it very well.
I've used Quicken since 1993 -- definitely do not want to give it up. Didn't know it was only compatible with Windows.
Which Windows is the best one to use? 7? 8? 8.1? What are their differences.
My son says
I would encourage you to move everything to "the cloud" regardless, e.g., use Google drive instead of local storage and keep everything in one place (which occasional backups someplace else, i.e., copied down to one of your devices).
That's another thing I don't know much about, other than my Kindle books that aren't on the Kindle or the iPad are there. I have no idea how one gets personal files -- photos, memos, etc. -- up there.
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Oh Pedln - you are not alone! I am constantly hearing talk about these Cloud things, and I do understand the concept (I think...) but it is a complete mystery to me how my files get into it and how I would get them back. So I do the usual intelligent thing of hiding my head in the sand and hoping it will All Go Away.
Rosemary
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At the recommendation of the tech guy at Staples computer repair department, I bought Carbonite cloud storage. It automatically stores in its cloud everything I put in the computer, and is there unless I delete it. As I remember, it's about $50.00 per year, and totally unobtrusive. It's like a continuous "back-up". Might be worth checking out.
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MaryZ, let me caution you about changing operating systems with the Carbonite. I was using it when I went to a new Windows 8 computer thinking it would be easy to reinstall files on it from the Carbonite backup. It would not work. I was very upset when the tech told me it wasn't going to work. I would never use them again.
pedln, I use the Google Drive for my files. You download a little program that puts a folder on your computer called Google Drive. Then just move your other folders of your files that you want to be sure and save into the Google Drive folder and it will back it up to the Google Drive cloud servers. The files are always available whenever you sign on to your Google account, regardless of the computer. I can also access them with the iPad or iPhone. I also use the Google photos and now use the Google documents to create files like word files or spreadsheets and they are backed up at the time you create them. I believe we now have 15 gigs of free storage at Google. I have also used the Gmail program for a number of years and really like it.
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On the other hand....yep, there's always one!! ::)
I'm still a cloud-less person. Yes, I'm paranoid about having financial data out there on somebody's "cloud." I won't store financial data...ie, Quicken and our Investment folder anywhere but on external harddrives and flashdrives that I have here at home. I don't even keep a copy of the Investment folder on this laptop. It's on the flashdrives and external harddrive exclusively. I make a print copy of the investments one every so often and store it and the flashdrives/harddrives in a bank safe deposit box when we go away for Jan and Feb. Paranoid much? Yeah, I am.
If hackers can get into Target data and the Univ. of Northern Iowa and get refunds on income tax that the various employees should have gotten, and into the various banks, I simply don't trust the "security of the cloud." For my books, and for photos, fine to be on a cloud or whatever...I couldn't care less if others see that.
One of the libraries in this area was saving all their data to a "cloud storage company" and found out, after a computer crash that nothing was there. Their computers all said they backed up, it looked like they'd backed up...but nothing! They've had to redo their entire collection and patron databases. OUCH! Our local library uses one, but the Director also manually backs it up every week or so to external harddrives she has on the site.
Cloudless jane
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I am another "cloudless" one who uses flashdrives for storage. I don't see the sense of storing things on anything that can "go down" or be hacked.
I won't do ANY kind of financial work through computer programs. Closest thing I come to that is using the Calculator because it doesn't need batteries.
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Thanks again for the good pointers. I'm pretty paranoid about financial stuff, keep my Quicken backups on flash drives.
Another question -- What exactly is a touch screen -- is it like what's with the iPad -- pinch and expand? Then I see things that say 10 pt. touch, 5 pt. touch. I'm clueless.
Have been looking at All-in-Ones -- I like big screens, big print. My kids think I could do everything on the iPad. I don't, but am only in the pre-kinder class at the iPad school.
Rosemary, I saw a picture of your Lenovo-yoga -- very cool! No wonder you love it.
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pedln, the touch screen works like the iPad in terms of not having to use a mouse. I have never used one but fairly certain of how they work. I think that the Windows 8 Metro icons on the desktop were really designed with the touch screen in mind as they are large. A touch screen might be fine for a laptop but don't think I would care for it on a regular monitor.
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On Thursday, with help for the set-up, I turned on my new Dell Inspiron 23 Al-in-one. Touchscreen, which I do like. A few ups and downs. Spent two hours with Dell support from India yestereday getting the kinks out of MS Office. They answered quickly and were hellpful. No complaints there.
Windows 8.1 -- seems to be very Microsoft dominated. My helper advised against creating a Microsoft account, but there I things I can't access without one. Like Mail from the start screen, so I go thru Chrome to get to either gmail or att mail.
Biggest hurdle right now is learning how to find things, terminology, a good manual, setting up easily accessible folders.
Why did they change so much from XP?
Larry, I'm going to try Drive.
Jane, one big bright spot -- I was afraid I might have to buy a more up-to-date Quicken, but my 2009 is working just fine. And backed up on flash drives.
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Great! My 2010 works fine on Win8, too. My old printer works fine, too, and I loaded my old, old Office on it without a problem, so I have Word and Excel.
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I don't understand why you were told not to get a MS account. You wi need it to download apps from the MS store or to use the drive. I have experienced no problems having an account.
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I've been following this new Heartbleed security threat. This is the first article that lists some (major sites) of the sites affected. Note the IRS is included. Super!
http://www.komando.com/blog/247660/here-are-the-accounts-you-need-to-change-your-passwords-to?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=notd&utm_content=2014-04-10-article_1-in-body-a
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Did they list the place you can check your choice of secure sites? You go to that site and run the url ....I did for my banks and the online brokerage we use. My local bank got a "broken pipe" which is explained as they're working on it, etc.
In an interesting aside, I emailed our bank CEO at the "main branch" in another small Iowa town and then a gal at the local office I know well. She emailed IT and got right back to me. I'm still waiting to hear from Mr. CEO. Grrrr!! I wonder if he even knows what Heartbleed is...or maybe even what the internet is??? :(
The site I read said change your password AFTER the site has been fixed.
This site ran a list of the top 1000 sites a few days ago and are supposedly doing another scan now.
https://github.com/musalbas/heartbleed-masstest/blob/master/top1000.txt
There is a online tester here:
http://filippo.io/Heartbleed
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I thought it was very nice that i got an email from Pinterest to say hey had fixed their problem and that i should now change my password.
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I didn't get any info from them. I don't have "sensitive" data there, so I guess it's not an issue.
jane
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New scam alert. I can see how this would snag a lot of people. At the bottom of the article it says that scammers are even buying ads for their scams.
http://www.komando.com/blog/250091/copycats-bring-back-the-netflix-tech-support-scam?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=notd&utm_content=2014-04-25-article_1-in-body-b
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Geez....
Thanks, Frybabe.
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Uh, Oh! I don't use IE but I know plenty of you do. If you haven't heard about the new, HUGE flaw, here it is, once again courtesy of Kim Kommando's website. http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/04/28/internet-explorer-bug-homeland-security-clandestine-fox/8409857/ Even homeland security is recommending you not use it until a fix is in.
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Uh oh, all of a sudden I cannot get into Seniors and Friends. I am getting an invalid/unknown certificate notice. When I try to overide and put it into the exception folder, it wants a username and password for the server Oldiesman's server, but it isn't the same as my login. Does anyone know what is going on? I don't have Oldiesman's email to inquire. It was working fine earlier this morning. Perhaps it will be fixed later on.
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They're working on it, and most of it seems to be back up.
My Show New Replies there still takes me to that same cPanel login I think you're seeing.
Be sure to refresh your browser. I had to several times before it connected correctly.
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Thanks for checking Jane.
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I received an email from Publishers Weekly offering a free online seminar called "Making the Most of Your Digital Collection". Some of you may be interested in signing-up.
https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=796283&sessionid=1&key=B75DBC93BC942039EDCBACE4E1ADF5F9&utm_source=Publishers%2BWeekly&utm_campaign=e16f8a08e5-PW%2B-%2BWC%2BRecorded%2BBooks%2B-%2B20140530&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0bb2959cbb-e16f8a08e5-304806741&sourcepage=register
Under "Title" in the registration, I intend on using Volunteer but I see there is a "None" selection too. Well, I was going to sign up. It is on June 12 at 1pm which is a Thursday, one of my volunteer days. Maybe I can leave a little early so I can check in.
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A computer geek in Silicon Valley recommended OOM telephone service to me (he has it) but it was not available until recently. Has anyone any personal experience with OOM?
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I bought Rosetta Stone and it came with a CD for use in MP3. Have no idea how to use this as most MP3 gadgets don't accomodate a CD.
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Kidsal, if you don't have a desktop or laptop with a DVD/CD player, see these instructions. Good luck.
http://support.rosettastone.com/english/articles/Installing-Rosetta-Stone-Version-4-TOTALe-without-a-CDROM-drive/
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My iPad Air, purchased slightly less than a year ago (11/18/13) seems to be dead. I was reading The Hot Zone on it yesterday and when I went to get it to read some more it was just nothing. Nothing happened, no matter what buttons to press. No little apples, no "slide to unlock" messages, nothing Just a dark screen. And I can find nothing about any kind of warranty. We don't have an Apple store here. I bought this at ATT beause a wanted a cellular model.
Has anyone else experienced this "sudden death." Does anyone know what the standard warranty is, if there is one. All I can find online are plans to buy now.
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Pedlin, I found these instructions for you. Resolution #3 seems to be what you want. Click Reset your device for the instructions. If that doesn't work, go to #5 and follow those instructions.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3281
Here is another site with info on the 15 most common iPad Air problems:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/ipad-air-problems/
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pedln, if the battery runs completely down you will get a dark screen. I have this happen occasionally and just plug in and recharge. Once it gets enough charge you can use it while plugged in as it will reboot.
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Thank you very much Frybabe and Larry. I've bookmarked both those sites and made a note to try turning on while plugged in. I had tried recharging, but obviously didn't charge it long enough. And I had unplugged it prior to trying the turn-on.
But there is a happy ending. I ran over to the ATT store where I bought it and the "sales consultant" pressed both home and start buttons at the same time and it opened up. Apparently Miss Smarty here thought she had been turning things off, but that wasn't really the case. You have to hit the home button to do that. At any rate, things are well now, and I hope I learned a lttle bit.
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pedln, that is how we learn and just happy to know there wasn't a problem with your iPad. Occasionally they do need to be rebooted, as the man at the AT&T store did.
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SINCE YESTERDAY I HAVE BEEN REFUSED ACCESS TO SENIORLEARN ON MY KINDLE FIRE HD. WON'T ACCEPT LOGIN
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How strange. Have you checked the option set to accept cookies?
I wonder if there was an update for it that changed your settings? That has happened to me with my IPAD. Updates seem to turn on my bluetooth and turn off saving cookies.
jane
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I have IE and have never had a problem. My desktop computer is old but reliable - I have Vista on it. I am very ignorant of technology; particularly to all the new gadgets.
But I am getting popups stating I have an outdated browser and need to download a new one. Im not even sure what a browser is???
I've ignored them as all is working just fine.
Should I be doing something?
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Ella...your browser is what you use to get around the internet. In your case, that's IE [ Internet Explorer.] There are others that are popular....Firefox, Chrome, etc.
If yours is working, then that's fine, but I suspect IE has a newer version out. The problem is if it will work with your Vista. Sometimes the newer versions don't work with the older operating systems.
I looked around the internet and nobody talks much about Vista anymore, but it looks as if version 7 or 8 is the best...or at least it was in 2008 when people still talked about Vista. I saw that 10 doesn't work with Vista [your operating system].
I don't know what version of IE you have. To find out go to HELP up at the top of your IE and then to ABOUT Internet Explorer and it'll tell you what version you have.
I'd say again, if it's working fine, I would ignore the update things.
jane
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Thanks much, Jane. I did that and I have Version 9.0.8112 -
Update version - 9.0.36 with a site afterward, I suppose to go there.
I think I'll just stay where I am at; I have that "won't fix it if it isn't broke" mentality.
Someday I suppose I may have to get a new computer, dread it though as I know this one so well.
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Ella...that's odd. It looks as if the update "version" is older than the one you have if those numbers are accurate. Usually going to the update is a good thing. The updates fill holes or gaps in security they've found.
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Jane, I wonder sometimes if the update programs pick up some odd residual bit left in the registry and get confused. I've had the same thing happen. My update program was saying I had an older update than I actually had on it. I think the last time was just a few weeks back with Adobe Flash.
What is even more interesting is that I now have two programs that supposedly show if I need an update or not. Sometimes they don't agree. Nothing like having helpful utility programs confusing the issue. Sigh!
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That could be, Frybabe!
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Another problem, why? I've never had problems with my email server befor, but today I'm getting this:
The message could not be sent. The authentication setting might not be correct for your outgoing e-mail [SMTP] server. For help solving this problem, go to Help, search for "Troubleshoot Windows Mail", and read the "I'm having problems sending e-mail" section. If you need help determining the proper server settings, please contact your e-mail service provider.
The rejected e-mail address was 'wjcaspar@caspariius.net'. Subject 'Turesday', Account: 'pop-server.columbus.rr.com', Server: 'smtp-server.columbus.rr.com', Protocol: SMTP, Server Response: '554 5.1.8 - Invalid email domain for: wjcaspar@caspariius.net [R0109007]', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 554, Error Number: 0x800CCC79
This is my sister's email and I know it is correct. I called my server and after the tech got into my computer he said it would be $150 to correct the problems and then he reduced it to $79. I said no.
Any help????
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Ella....roadrunner wants to charge you that amount?
Have you completely shut down your computer recently? I mean total shutdown and let it off for 5 or so minutes? Sometimes that sorts things out and when you restart everything is fine.
Another option, depending on what windows you have, is to do a restore back to some earlier date?
I can't think of what might have changed in your settings to cause this change. Maybe someone else has some ideas for you.
Jane
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I did restore it Jane, thanks for the suggestion, and it is working fine now.
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Good news, Ella!
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Special Announcement
Our website will be down, beginning Monday evening, June 29, GMT, for a large update.
Please do not post at this time as your post will probably disappear.
We do not know how long it will take the computer expert to load this update and have it working.
The website will not look as it has when it comes up until we tweak it, so please be patient. Please continue to check back for news. We hope to be up and functioning by Tuesday, but if not, it shouldn't be too much longer.
Thank you for your patience
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I read here earlier that Jeopardy can be played on the IPad. Is it an app? a game to download? anybody --- help??????
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Hi, Andy... it's an app:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jeopardy!-americas-favorite/id377127117?mt=8
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I've got it, it's fun!
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I'm going there right now. I should be emptying suitcases but you know how it is- Scarlet :)
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Will it work on Android or is it just for iPhones?
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Trivia Crack is very similar to Jeopardy and has a free version. I love it! If anybody wants to play, I'm Jean Laidig Perry on the game, request me. You can get help like switching a question, or pick your category in the final, but i prefer to just take the question that comes next.
Jean
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Oh my, I am beyond frustrated. All of a sudden yesterday, both this site and facebook have become huge print.. and my handy dandy get to everything has disappeared. I suspect it Is windows 10 and a bug, but I cannot find anywhere to reduce print size and regain the entire screen, this way I see part of the screen, since it is so big. I will welcome all advice since my computer guru is in Clermont and I am here in North Carolina..I have turned the laptop off and on several times in the hopes of returning to a real screen and am getting nowhere. I cannot even access my maintenance program.
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Here's something that may or may not help. It's from Jack, over at S & F:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbYOHh1Jkdg
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The icons are not the problem the print is for me, so the video is not being helpful
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Does hitting the control button and the minus sign at the same time on your keyboard help, Stephanie?
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Steph..I'm sorry that didn't work, but I'd hoped when he showed how to get to the Change font size, that would fix your problem and you wouldn't need to go to the icon thing.
A google search for how to change font size in Win 10 brings up some hits. Maybe one of those would work for you.
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My computer wizard back in Clermont sent me some instructions. The main problem now is simply Seniorlearn. It is still huge. everything else, I have been able to change one way or another, but windows 10 is a true mess as far as I can see. My fault, I should have rejected the very idea.
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I've spent several hours trying to fix different features on W 10 and some are just not fixable. I lost a favorite mahjongg game which plays from a disk in my E drive. Altho it appears on the menu, it won't load. Aarrggghhh. I also can't play a full page of Luxor, it just flickers like crazy!
My husband hasn't been able to get into W 10 on our PC, so i'm going to uninstall and reinstall. He did get it on his laptop.
I thought i had also lost the ability to enter my K drive, which really upset me because i use a thumb drive for my power point presentations for my classes and i was scared i had lost the ability to get to them. I finally, after an hour, hfigured out how to get there. They didn't come up im my "file" menu, so i went to "apps", previously known as "programs", and went in thru Power Point.
I suppose in a few months i will like it fine, but oh my! I had suggested we wait for a few months to download it, after they worked out the kinks, but my DH jumped the gun on me.
Jean
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Lots of people are having problems. It looks like Cortana failed to install on my machine. I don't have it, and can't use the search, the start menu, nor that notifications button. I can't find Settings, which is what a lot of the "fixes" say to use, so I can't "reset" the computer from there. I found instructions to do it in safe mode, but after I select the reset button, it disconnects my mouse and keyboard. To top it all off, the computer does not shut off. I've scheduled a Microsoft tech to call tomorrow. Hope he can help.
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My ipad 2 died yesterday ( i haven't talked to Apple yet, it may be fixable) but I know some of you use the Kindle Fire, do you know if it can do most of what the ipad can do? Amazon has some good prices for it compared to the ipad, so I'm just checking with you in case I have to get something new.
Jean
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I got the ipad air and like it very much.
My problem today is with our pc. Twice today with got a page saying the Windows firewall security had noticed a problem. DO NOT SHUT DOWN YOUR COMPUTER YOU MAY LOSE DATA. Then it provided a phone number. I called the number. She said they were a "Microsoft partner." When she got to the point of saying "I'll try to help you if you will let me.........." At that point I stopped her and said "no I'm not going to do that, we will take our computer to someone we know. I din't know who you are." She was nice about it and said if I had an iphone i could go to Microsoft and check them out. The pc wouldn't shut down, so I just manually shut it and when I turned it back on it was fine.
A couple hours later we got a different, but similar page with a long list of horrible things that could happen if we didn't "fix" the problem. We've also been getting notices that two of our "drivers" are not working and out of date. When I go to the "update" it asks for a credit card to pay the $40 that it will cost. Do any of you know if any of this is legitimate, or have such scams been reported?
My husband still hasn't been able to get onto Windows 10. He was planning to take the pc to a guy we've used before to straighten out as much of this as possible.
Jean
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Jean, I would say that anything which popped up unwanted on my computer screen is something to never click on and beware of. You did the right thing in cutting off the woman who would have, once she got into your computer, gotten anything such as bank passwords stored there, credit card info, etc., she wanted off it. I'd take it to the shop where they can remove this...I've forgotten if it's called malware, Trojan Horse, or what it is. But I know people who click on it suddenly find their computer disabled down the road.
I assume you have a good antivirus program installed, there are free ones, like AVG I think it is, Jane knows all the good ones, and that you keep it up to date.
Don't, as a rule of thumb, click on anything which pops up on your computer screen warning you of anything. You can pick them up on websites and it's a means to get inside any information you may store (not a good idea) for banking or anything else on your computer.
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Jean..I agree with everything Ginny said above. It sounds as if you've picked up a virus or malware somewhere. Updates from Microsoft don't cost you $40.00.
I agree with getting it to a shop you trust.
My husband got a call from "Microsoft" telling him his computer had problems and they were calling to "fix" it. He played along for a bit, and then said he didn't understand since he didn't have a computer. Silence on the other end. This con man had our address, etc. and stumbled around before finally hanging up. Our neighbor fell for this and ended up paying more again when they had to take it to the shop. [The good news there is the "fixer" would have gotten nothing but a gazillion email forwards in her computer because that's all she knows how to do.].
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Thanks for reenforcing my thinking. We do have both Norton and windows defender on our pc.
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Having trouble with accessing my Latin class on Kindle. Can get the first page but have to fight to get to last page -- page numbers too close together!
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Kidsal, I find that I have better luck getting around here if I flip my Kindle sideways. Then the page is a little bigger. You have to have "lock" off for it to flip. Also, you can expand the page size by placing your thumb and forefinger close together on the screen and then moving them away from each other a little. Hope this helps.
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Thanks -- will give it a try!
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I hope you're all aware of the vulnerability of Adobe Flash to ransomware. This has been all over the news, so I hope you've seen it and have checked for the latest patch. I chose to uninstall mine and to follow the advice of those with how to disable it on Chrome, which can apparently use it even if it's uninstalled. [I don't understand that, but there's a lot I don't understand about software.]. The following is from Computerworld.
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3053959/malware-vulnerabilities/adobe-flash-player-cerber-ransomware-itbwcw.html
Do a google search or read Kim Komando, if you're in her Club or look at other links for step by step.
I'll search for some more links.
Edit: links that may be helpful
http://www.howtogeek.com/188059/how-to-enable-click-to-play-plugins-in-every-web-browser/
http://time.com/4286588/adobe-flash-player-security-update/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3053090/security/adobe-fixes-24-vulnerabilities-in-flash-player-including-an-actively-exploited-one.html
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Thanks, Jane, for posting that helpful info about Flash.
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I just got a news alert that Yahoo had a huge data breach, affecting 500 million accounts. So, if you use yahoo a lot, you may want to check on that.
However, it happened in late 2014! And they're just telling people in late Sept. 2016????
Incredible. I'm glad I use their email only for ad stuff .
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/09/22/yahoo-to-announce-massive-data-breach.html?via=mobile&source=copyurl
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For those of you who are using a WiFi connection, I found a neat little program that keeps track of what devices are connected to your wireless router. It is called Wireless Network Watcher (scroll down, it is in the Network Monitoring Tools section). There are plenty of other FREE little software programs here for Windows. http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/
I had this on my desktop Windows for quite some time, but just installed in on my new laptop several weeks ago. Yesterday, it discovered two devices, not mine, connected. I disconnected the router temporarily to drop the interlopers and then went through and changed my wireless router password. That, of course, meant I had to go through and change the passwords on my devices to correspond. I hope that takes care of the problem for a while.
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Something else must be going on, changing my router password did not work. I just got another hit. This time from an oriental company. Sigh!
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Okay, I'm back from feeding George's kitties. Here is more of what I found so far.
Part of the problem is that I wasn't reading my little Watcher problem right. While I was doing a virus scan (and then after, when I forgot the laptop was still on) I brought up both my Kindle Fire and my Kindle e-reader at some point. The Watcher found them but didn't drop them from the list when I disconnected. I didn't have the window expanded enough to see that they were no longer active. I discovered, this morning, when I linked my Kindle Fire it did not drop it from the Watcher list when I disconnected until I closed Watcher and then reopened it.
I am not out of the woods, so to speak, yet, though. This morning there was some Chinese (or Korean maybe?) company that popped up. And this was after I changed my password. I went upstairs and turned the WiFi Router off for a few minutes. Too bad I didn't write the name down to see who it might have been. Anyway, it did accomplish one thing, it got me to change my router password which I haven't done in years. Like everything else, it should be changed occasionally. The annoying thing is that you have to figure out how to reset the password on the devices too. It took me a while to figure out that I had to click the forget button in several of my devices' settings for it to come up and ask for the new password.
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Not sure if this is the place to ask about a Windows 10 issue but thought I might see if I can get some help. I just purchased and DELL computer with Windows 10. I uploaded a few pics and wanted to edit and save the changes. I keep getting a message I do not have permission to do this. I went to Google and found numerous people have had this same problem. I did the step by step instructions on changing the settings in properties and still it will not allow me to, yet it shows I have full control of doing so in the settings. Anyone have this issue and can help me out? I would truly appreciate it.
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AH, HAH! The Chinese company I found showing up on my little router watcher program is Hon-Hai Precision Ind. Co. Ltd., otherwise known as FoxConn. It makes some of the innards of for tons of companies, including Amazon and Sony. It turns out that this belongs to my SmartTV. Funny, I didn't see it popping up as such previously, but then I rarely have both the TV and the laptop on at the same time.
Bellamarie, are you using the Windows Office pic editor or something else? I haven't tried it yet.
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Frybabe, After I posted this I went back to attempt to find a solution and lo and behold, there had been an upgrade to the photo editor program overnight, and everything works like a charm. I told my hubby I think they were tracking me on Google and saw my issue and fixed it. I mean come on, how could it be a coincidenc? I still like Windows 7 much better than 10, but there is no going back now.
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I used a flip phone Consumer Cell and was happy but now everyone is using Text. Hate it and hard to type on a flip. So bought a Smart phone. The Tracfone. Had it few months as never have figured how to set the thing up to the things I wanted it for. Can't get them on the phone anymore and the instructions not good that come with it. Its all press button this number and then that number. Never did I feel so dumb. and then I bought a new auto. Its even bad. So many buttons to press. I need one of the Grandkids living near. They know it all. I am not to pad on the Ipad but then only use for certain things and I think Apple easier.
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I switched back to an easy phone that is ONLY a phone with a flip case that actually fits in my pocket - and not planning on a new vehicle - a used one that has a CD player is my limit on technology as well Jeanne - enough!
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I've had TracFone since about 2003. The phone was, and the replacement they sent (free) in 2009, is voice and text only. I do not text and only rarely have to access the text for an expected incoming. Yes, I noticed a year or so ago that it is getting harder to talk to a live body at TracFone anymore. I usually just go up to the website to check on things, but haven't needed to do so for quite a while. My billing is set up to my CC once every quarter. I don't know if they offer that anymore. George seems to like Straight Talk, but that, I haven't pointed out to him, is run by the same company. TracFone used to be owned by the big Mexican Telecom company, but I don't know if that is so anymore.