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Topics - Xairbusdriver

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 65
1
Tech / NameDrop Confusion
« on: December 05, 2023, 11:55:29 AM »
Some of my friends have iPhones (or even iPads, earPods [or whatever they are called]) and are also "social" media and commercial "news" watchers. Some of them are excited/concerned/ignorant about a new function added in iOS 17 called NameDrop.

First of all, as Apple is want to do, it is enabled by default. The Settings are not in a unique/separate item in Settings. But as many of you will anticipate, it is the "AirDrop" settings:
   Settings->General->AirDrop
Scroll down a bit to find "START SHARING BY" section. There you will find "Bringing Devices Tog..." O know, why didn't they just call it "Allow NameDrop"?! :wallbash: All I can figure is that the menu designers don't use iPhones!

Second, when you hear people say "it transfers you Contacts" correct them, if you can, by stating that it dose not transfer "contactS", it only transfers a single contact, your "My Card".

Third, it even allows you to choose which items in your single, personal Contact can be transferred. My info includes only: first name, last name, mobile number and home email. How do I know? Go to your "My Card", scroll down to "Share Contact" and read the list. Uncheck any item you don't want to share.

Fourth, here is a list of links for further reading/learning:

If you are meeting a lot of new people and want to add them to your Contacts, I can see this as useful. Otherwise, being fairly anti-social and also retired, I have no need of this capability.

Note to designers/developers: Figure out a way to allow iOS to have a real, accessible filing system. And, while you are at it, add the control, option and/or Apple keys. Stop dumbing down the Mac OS and fix the iOS. :yahoo: :clap: :thumbup: :doh:

Next?!

2
Community / If it flies, it spy's
« on: September 13, 2023, 09:02:12 AM »

3
Community / New Exciting Game!
« on: September 11, 2023, 02:55:04 PM »
Do you get tired of having your data collected? Fight back by not accepting those Terms and Conditions!!
Terms and Conditions Game/Test

Here's how I did:
Thanks for visiting Evil Corp
  • We attempted to access your data 29 times
  • and you were kind enough to give it to us 10 times.
  • That's better than 32% of players
  • You took 348.49 seconds to complete the game
  • That's faster than 10% of players
  • You did particularly well with easy questions
  • We caught you out with logical questions
  • Thanks for playing Terms And Conditions Apply
  • Please share with friends so we can extract their data*
*Disclaimer: Game does not extract real data

I'll list failures tomorrow if you will simply accept my Terms & Conditions! :doh: :whistling:

4
Community / IMPORTANT NEW SHOE TYING METHOD DISCOVERED!!!!
« on: August 16, 2023, 09:53:53 AM »
STAND UP for your rights
and lefts, too!!

5
Tech / Important Information that Could Benefit Our Forum
« on: August 12, 2023, 09:35:50 PM »
I assume "Kriss" is the "Administrator" often posting info about TS and this forum. I think "Paddy" is also a volunteer sub-Admin. At any rate, I think it would serve our group well to investigate a recently released update to a security system/process. Please pass along the following link to anyone who might be administering this forum.

6
Community / Taking bets on date of "X" legal action(s)
« on: July 25, 2023, 06:31:50 PM »
So the 24th letter of the Latin alphabet is now replacing the little blue bird. Have to find a new derogatory word for twits. I think Monty Python probably already has one. They did discuss an "X" bird some years ago. :Thinking: But another major "social media" company has claims on that letter after M$ sold it to Meta back in 2020. :doh: Of course, with Elon's legal skills, he will probably sue the Rome Empire. :WOW: :wallbash:

I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop! It's hanging by a thread!!! :scram:

7
Tech / Shortcuts (iOS)
« on: May 10, 2023, 08:42:06 AM »
I somehow created a "Facebook" shortcut on my wife's iPhone (14). After buying the new phone, she didn't have a "Facebook" icon on any home screen. Apparently, I downloaded the Facebook app?!! EDIT: I did find a FB icon in a "Social" folder which I probably created some years ago. :blush-anim-cl:

I am attempting to get her to use Safari to access Facebook. The FB app is known to be an energy hog as well as probably having much better tracking capabilities than Safari would allow. Anyway...

I "assumed" that editing the shortcut would be the simplest way to change its behavior. Apple's "Intro to Editing Shortcuts" shows the following options:
  • Reorder shortcuts
  • Quickly duplicate a shortcut
  • Delete a shortcut
  • Share shortcuts
  • Sync shortcuts between devices
  • Create folders
Strangely, "Edit" seems to be totally missing! I don't even see a way to list the actual 'actions' the shortcut uses!

It appears that the only way to change the shortcut is to delete it and (hopefully) create a new one to open Safari to a FB web page? :wallbash:

I don't think my wife has ever "pinned" a tab on Safari. That's what I do if I want a site always available. Part of the problem goes back to not understanding what a 'web browser' actually is. :coolio: :whistling:

8
Tech / New iPhone: What is this screen called?
« on: April 05, 2023, 05:07:04 PM »
Working with SWMBO's new iPhone...
more to follow, I'm sure :wallbash:

9
Tech / Who Says YouTube Cannot be Educational?!
« on: December 30, 2022, 10:14:16 AM »

I rest my case
of Extra Virgin Olive Oil!

10
Tech / How Good Comes from Terrible Events!
« on: November 20, 2022, 11:49:02 AM »
How monoclonal antibodies lost the fight with new COVID variants

Quote
[R]esearch on and rapid development of antibody treatments has opened up possibilities beyond COVID. "It has improved the production of monoclonals for cancer, for immunologic diseases," says Dieffenbach, "It's going to be easier to produce monoclonals in the future because of the lessons learned from SARS-CoV-2. Nothing was wasted here."

11
Tech / For Twitter Users
« on: November 20, 2022, 09:50:11 AM »
Like Facebook, Twitter doesn't believe you could ever want to delete your account. :wallbash: Somehow they both think you must have made some kind of mistake. :doh:

The following link explains what has to happen before your account is actually "deleted". It will take 30 days of complete inactivity before your account is "deleted". Be sure any other app that is using Twitter has completely eliminated its Twitter activity, especially any activity that would be using your username and/or password.
    How to deactivate your Twitter account

NOTE:
Quote
Twitter may retain some information on your deactivated account to ensure the safety and security of its platform and people using Twitter. More information can be found here.



BTW, if you simply can't stand not knowing the trivia in the life of your "friends", here are some links to Mastadon:

12
Tech / Big Sur Update slower than snail!
« on: October 31, 2022, 10:18:21 PM »
I'm about to Shutdown my Mac as it can't get past "About 15 minutes remaining" in the Preparing function. I suspect the real problem is Spotlight; I deleted hundreds of files today. Quit/re-opened System Prefs, it now says 'only' 10 minutes remaining. :wallbash:

13
Tech / Who sent the first email from the ISS?
« on: October 29, 2022, 06:02:55 PM »
And, what computer did they use?

Answer: Next week!

14
Tech / Interface Fun! (not)
« on: October 28, 2022, 02:51:12 PM »
My old Apple WiFi box is getting a little 'long in the tooth', hasn't even been offered for many years! I can only get two bars where I usually sit to operate our Apple TV box. That means the software remote can not connect so I could select anything. Although getting up to change channels does recall the "good old days" of watching the little black and white, often 'snowy' TV images, I have enough real-world irritations already. :wallbash:

So, I sprung for a less expensive and much newer WiFi router. The aptly named(?!) TP-Link Archer AX3000 6G box seemed to have the best reviews. (I assumed the higher the number [300, 450, etc.] the better! :whistling: ) Ordered it from Newegg (no shipping fee) and it arrived within two days! I could hardly wait to start the assumed difficult installation process. :coolio:

A day later, I decided to try to get it set up. I read through the complete installation booklet; all two pages and reserved the morning hours for the install... which didn't work, of course. Now I needed to look at some videos from TP-Link Support. Of course, I could not access the web until I reconnected the old Apple hardware and the Ethernet cables to my Mac. :doh:

Two vids promised "No problems!". The first, basic vid was only two sections long! Aha! They learned from the Apple method; step one, turn it ON, step two — there is no "step two"! Not so fast young Will Robinson! Actually, the first "step" has 6 distinct actions that include a restart of the cable modem ( a good 4 minute coffee break). The second "step" was five more actions ending with clicking the ubiquitous "Save" button. Naturally, the "Quick" install did not work, either.

The last vid had seven "steps", each with at least four actions and several "if this doesn't work, skip to step X and do not collect $200" actions. They left out the many "count to ten and check your blood pressure" actions. :clap:

To make a long story longer, I put everything away for two days. In this "restful" time, I listened and copied all the spoken directions of the two vids for reference. After all, I couldn't watch the vids while not being connected to the Support site!! :wallbash: This only took a few hours and three pages of text.

Apparently, copying and printing all those instructions convinced the router that I really wanted to have it work, even if it would be surrounded by Apple devices. I also hid the old Apple router for good measure! :Thinking: I am happy to say that I am now using a new (and apparently slightly better antennaed [is that a wurd?]) WiFi router! I still get three bars at the preferred Apple TV controlling location! :notworthy: :yes:

Just to take up some more TS server space, take a look at what was a confusing interface from the router. I stared at the little orange dot on the 'world' icon waiting for it to change to green — it never did/will! BTW, you cannot use the power strength bars on your devices to indicate web access. Once again, those are simply 'power strength' bars! :Devilish:

15
Tech / USPS phishing message.
« on: July 12, 2022, 02:30:15 PM »
I have the USPS send me a message each day that shows an image of any mail coming to my physical mailbox. We quite often get mail that should have gone to others on our street. I know that some of our mail has gone to the same house number but on different streets. :whistling: So the morning email gives me a "heads up" that there may have been another "erer". :wallbash:

However, the USPS servers are probably no better protected than any other. There are reports of malicious messages claiming to be from USPS; I got one today:
Quote
From:USPostalService
Subject:USPS ticket No.3965

We've got a new message for you

An email containing confidential personal information was sent to you
Of course, the "from" url is not www . uspsoig . gov/...  :WOW:
All links resolved to "http: // miami . cvqualitybuilders.com / wp-content/..." Don't even care if that's a hacked site. Simply marking as SPAM in SPAMSieve.

Just another reminder: Never, EVER click a link in an email (nor a text message). :doh:

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