Links for Giving good guys access to encrypted messages may give it to bad guys - January 1, 2016

This column will appear online Saturday, January 2nd, 2016 at 9 AM EST.

When it is posted, it will be on this website.

It is available before in the January 1st issue of Prince William Today on sale at these retailers beginning this Thursday, December 31st in the afternoon.




Wired article on Juniper

Wikipedia on One Time Pads

Phil Schneir (noted security expert) on Juniper

Reminder: Don't let your garbage lead to burglary

Be careful about displaying boxes of what you received for Christmas when you put out your garbage after the holidays.  It can clue off crooks as what to look for in your home.

Its best to hold on to boxes anyway for a month or so in case you have to return a defective product.

Here’s some tips on operating some holiday gifts - December 25, 2015

Think of this as a stocking stuffer column.

When 7-Eleven starts selling drones, you know it’s a hot holiday gift and perhaps you received one this year.

What now?

I do not have a drone, but I was listening to a podcast recently from a drone owner. One thing he strongly recommends is not to try learning to fly one outside, certainly not an expensive one. You will inevitably crash any drone you have.

You might be better off setting the expensive one aside for the time being and finding an inexpensive one in an after-Christmas sale or online for under $30.

Learn to fly that drone safely before trying to fly your more expensive one.

And, at first, fly both kinds inside as you learn how to maneuver them. If it gets away from you, it cannot go far and won’t end up in a pond. Air currents wreak havoc with flying these lightweight aircraft so learning in a benign environment is a better idea.

The Federal Aviation Administration recently decided to require many drones to be registered. Drones weighing more than .55 pounds must be registered. It can be done online and only costs $5. If you do it by Jan. 20, the registration fee is waived.

The FAA will assign a number that you must put on your drone.

Be aware, when you fly a drone, you are a pilot and there are rules that must be followed and consequences if you fail to follow them, especially around here with federal sites and other no-fly areas. Check out this week’s link post at www.FamilyTechOnline.com for some information from the FAA.

Also, since it’s the holidays, you likely have some new devices around. There’s a few things I always do when I receive some new gadget that makes my life easier down the road.

Take a moment to read the manual before you play with it. Then, once you’ve played with it and are ready to put it aside for a moment, take a photo of its label; the one with the model number and serial number.

Next, go online and search for a PDF of the manual that came with the device. Some items no longer come with a manual and the purchaser is directed to find it online.

If you didn’t receive a manual with the item, download it and store it and the photo you took in a folder, or better yet, in Evernote.

You may set the device aside for a while before you actively start using it. Take a few minutes and run through the operation of the device. Do it a couple times so its operation approaches second nature. That way you can operate it safely and well in a stressful moment. For example, if it is a new camera, you want to be able to just whip it out and grab a quick shot before the moment is gone. If you’ve learned the camera well beforehand you’ll be able to do so.

And finally, after you have used it for a while, sit down with it and the manual again. The manual will make more sense to you now. You will realize you failed to notice some features and you will get more use of your item.

With you and everyone around you taking photos this holiday, several people will ask you to email them the photos you’ve taken, and you in turn will ask them to do the same. Rarely does this actually happen.

Just in time for the holidays, Google added Shared Folders to Google Photos. Now you can move photos you want to share with others to a shared folder. Better yet, they can move photos they’ve taken to that folder and then everyone with access to the folder see all the same photos.

If you have the Google Photo app on your Android or iPhone, your photos automatically get uploaded to Google Photos and then you just simply move them to the shared folder.

More information is on the link post including a short video from Google explaining how it works.

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Links for Here’s some tips on operating some holiday gifts - December 25, 2015

This column will appear online Saturday, December 26th, 2015 at 9 AM EST.

When it is posted, it will be at this link on this website.

It is available before in the December 25th issue of Prince William Today on sale at these retailers beginning this Thursday, December 24th in the afternoon.

Drones

FAA : Registering your drone

FAA: FAQ on registering your drone

FAA: Model Aircraft Operations



Shared Photos on Google Photos

Don’t leave a digital roadmap when you leave for the holidays

Are you are going away for the holidays and do you plan to share your adventures via social media? There is a group who will pay rapt attention – and most importantly – when you will be home.

Burglars.

I’ve always found it unsettling how much information about being away from home some share online. Recently, a young couple we know avidly documenting their cruise.

Another friend, who travels frequently on business, uses Tripit to manage his various itineraries. Tripit will share your travels to Facebook, if you choose. I always know when he is leaving, and I am alerted when he’s on his way home. I worry about the wife and teenage daughters when he leaves at home.

A recent Facebook post from county police confirmed the danger of sharing your travel information online. It points out posts mentioning travel or showing check-ins at airports or airline lounges can indicate travel – to bad guys.

And social media sites like to post your location, as given away by the GPS in your phone. While it is an option, many people may not know it is on or have forgotten they left it on. The bad guys will see you are not at home and know precisely where you are. From that, they can easily deduce the soonest you will be home and the amount of time they have to gain access to your home.

This puts your belongings in danger as well as anyone still in your home, should burglars break in, expecting the home to be empty.

Your phone also records the location photos are taken directly into the photo. Facebook and Twitter do strip that data out of photos before it posts them. But if you send someone a photo, or share it on a photo site like Flickr, if will have that data embedded in the photo. That data is easily retrievable with free apps or displayed right along with the photo on a photo website.

Even if you are careful to block location data, the photo of you standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, or Niagara Falls is a dead giveaway to your location.

Thieves are adept at searching Facebook looking for public posts you might have made showing you are away. Are the posts you make for just your friends or are they visible to the public? You may think it is to friends, but Facebook's settings are byzantine and easy to get wrong. You may not know who is seeing your posts.

A common setting is to allow not only your friends to see your posts, but also the friend of friends. Who knows what some of your friends’ friends are about?

Even leaving the house for a few hours can make you vulnerable. Ever note in Facebook you’re watching a film at a theater, or brag you are at a concert, or a NASCAR race?

So what can you do?

Don’t post while away from home. Wait until you are home to post photos or even mention you’ve been away. That lets you choose the best photos and make a cohesive story from the many photos you have taken. If you store your photos at Google Photos, its assistant will even produce a photo story for you a day or two after you are back.

And avoid posts before you go saying you’ll be gone and off social media for a while.

You can also change your Facebook settings so only friends see your posts and not friends of friends. As I said before, Facebook settings are tricky and it is easy to make an error. And, Facebook is but one social service you may be using.

Finally, to judge how widely your posts are getting out there, reverse stalk yourself.

That is, use an Incognito Tab on your browser and Google your name, your name and employer, your name and city etc., to see what others can find out about you.

The Incognito Tab does not send cookies to Facebook and others telling them who you are, so it makes for a search as someone else would see it.

Safe travels – and hopefully a happy return to a secure home.


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Links for Don’t leave a digital roadmap when you leave for the holidays

This column will appear online Saturday, December 19th, 2015 at 9 AM EST.

When it is posted, it will be at this link on this website.

It is available before in the December 18th issue of Prince William Today on sale at these retailers beginning this Thursday, December 17th in the afternoon.


There are no links specific for this week's column.

Psst, Santa: This is what geeks would like for Christmas

Dear Santa,

I realize I am a bit old to be writing to you but I thought perhaps you would like a few suggestions on what to give self-professed geeks like me. Apparently, we are not easy to shop for.

Not everything we covet is expensive. For example, Google Cardboards begin at $5. They are cardboard headsets – much like the old View Masters – that hold your phone. It lets you watch 360-degree videos. Youtube even has a special section for the videos so they are easy to find. Cardboard lets you experience something close to Virtual Reality for just a few dollars if you already have a smartphone.

Where it can get expensive is if you want to begin making your own videos or have 360-degree photos. Ricoh makes the Theta S, a small camera that does just that. It cost about $350.

If your records show anyone coming close to being naughty for cursing about the phone battery giving out too soon, you may want to consider giving them a spare battery and charger for their Android phone, if it has a removable battery.

For iPhones and those Android phones without removable batteries, consider a portable battery charger. The checkout lines at pharmacies have little ones for $20, but they only charge the phone once before they have to be charged. Bigger – 15,000 to 20,000 mah – ones can be had for $30-$40. They can charge a phone six times or so before needing recharged themselves.

Amazon makes a clever little device, the Echo, which brings Star Trek-like conversations to our lives.

These $149 devices sit in your home and listen for you to say “Hey Alexa.”

“Hey Alexa, set a timer for 10 minutes.” Or you can ask it about the weather, to read you the news, to reorder paper plates from Amazon or a host of things. I’ve used one and it works really well. Home chefs love it for the timer aspect, as you can have it set multiple timers all by the command of your voice.

If you have an automatic automobile diagnostic device, it can interface with the Echo. You can say “Hey Alexa, how much gas is in my car?” and the Echo device will tell you.

The automatic and devices of its ilk work with most cars since ‘96 models, talk to an app on your phone and tell you the reasons behind your check-engine light, tell you the mileage you are getting, how fast you’ve gone as well as other useful data about your driving. Teen drivers beware. You do not have to have an Echo to take advantage of it.

Amazon also has a $50 7-inch tablet this Christmas. It’s no iPad or high-end Android tablet, but it is good enough for reading books, watching movies, Facebooking and playing games. And at that price, it is something you could give your kids with less fear should they lose or destroy it.

It doesn’t come with Google Apps or Google Play store, but if you search the web, you will find ways to load those on this tablet.

I know drones are an invasion of privacy and dangerous if they drop out of the sky or interfere with an airplane, but dang, they look like a lot of fun.

I do not know much about them, but I’d want one with a camera. There are ones for thousands of dollars, but there are cheaper ones for about $60. Maybe as a gift, you should give ones without a camera that cost less than $50. These are good to learn to fly without risking big bucks for when you inevitably crash.

Of course, schlepping around these cameras, extra batteries and tablets can get tiresome. Consider gifting a small shoulder bag for men. My wife calls them a “murse” – man purse – but I‘d rather carry a “murse” then have a dead phone.

Keeping a multitude of cables and small do-dads in the bag is a challenge. Grid-It organizers help. They are small boards with elastic straps on them. I have had a small 5x7 inch one for a while now.

The biggest problem I have in normal use is that items work their way out from under the elastic and drop free in the bag. That’s a hassle. Grid-It now has Grid-It Wrap cases. They are Grid-It boards inside a cover. The covers often hold a tablet too. It should keep items together, and organized.

Links to many of these items are on this week’s Link post at www.familytechonline.com.

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Links for this week's column.

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Links for Psst, Santa: This is what geeks would like for Christmas

This column will appear online Saturday, December 12th, 2015 at 9 AM EST.

When it is posted, it will be at this link.

It is available before in the December 11th issue of Prince William Today on sale at these retailers beginning this Thursday, December 10th in the afternoon.



Google Cardboard

Ricoh Theta S at Amazon

Anker brand Portable Chargers at Amazon

Amazon Echo

Automatic Car Diagnostic System at Amazon

Amazon Fire Tablet

Grid-It Wraps at Amazon



Amazon links here are Amazon Affiliate links.

Make photo books to preserve digital photos in your phone - December 4, 2015

We are awash in photos. Once, families took a roll of 12 pictures on a week-long vacation. Today, some people take 12 photos before breakfast – mostly selfies and shots of their breakfast.

Yet, our children may have fewer pictures of us and their own childhoods then we do of our own parents and our childhoods.

The digital cameras in our phones are always with us. With no cost for film and the delay of processing, we are able to take multitudes of photos. Burst mode in many camera apps let us take a dozen photos of one single shot to get the one with the best look on the subject’s face or the right moment in an action shot.

We send the photos to Facebook to share with friends. The rest reside on our phone, until we replace the phone.

Perhaps you use an app such as Google Photos, Amazon, Facebook or others to back-up your photos to the cloud.

So how can I say few photographs will be available for the next generation to view?

The sheer number of photos will be daunting. Imagine pulling up a loved ones photos and scrolling through the first hundred, and you’re still looking at the same vacation trip. That would get old fast.

That is even supposing the photos will even survive.

Who knows if Facebook or Google will even exist in 30 years. Internet companies rise fast – Facebook would still be in elementary school if it were a kid – and fall even faster.

Even juggernauts such as Google – only 17 years old – might have a change of ownership or control and decides to get out of the photo storage business.

And, technology changes. Will the formats we store photos in, such as JPEG or .jpg still be readable by computers in 30 years?

I’ve been mulling this problem for a while as have historians. Historians are fearful our generation may be recording more information than any other, yet leave less behind that historians can use in a generation or two.

Stored data will be lost due to technology failure, corporate changes and loss of support for the technology storing the data. The same is true of our photos.

I heard a tech mogul turned professional photographer speak about this problem on a recent podcast. His solution was an elegant one.

And old fashioned.

Photo prints. More than that, photo books.

He suggests that once a year, your family sits down and selects from their mass of photos, a small selection that best represents your year.

It will be hard, but who better to gauge the best photos then the ones who took them. Gather not only the photos shot by the parents, but if your kids are taking photos too on their own phones, ask them to send you ones they would like to keep. Give them a quota to force them to be selective.

Once you have the photos, maybe a hundred at most for the year, take a look around at photo book services.

Most stores with a Photo Department such as Walgreen’s, CVS, Costco, Walmart can make a photo book for you.

The professionals strongly suggested printing to acid-free paper. Acid-free paper will decay much slower than conventional paper. We are in this for the long haul; we want our great-grandchildren to have these photos. Pay a little extra to preserve these photos.

I searched online for “acid-free photo books printing” and found many sources.

Many come with apps for designing your book online. Just upload the photos, position them on the pages, add captions and hit submit.

The books come in a variety of sizes and covers. Looking forward 10 or more years, you can’t be sure the same company will be available or there will be the same cover choices. I’d keep it simple, so that if covers do change, it won’t be so glaring on the bookshelf.

And as easy as it is to make one book, you can make copies for grandparents or one for each child to take eventually with them to their own homes.

And despite what I said about long-term survivability of digital photos, I’d still make a DVD of each year’s collection of photos. They will be enjoyable for the next several years at least.

And, I’d consider taking a photo of each page, and post that to Facebook for friends to share your year-in-review.
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Links for Make photo books to preserve digital photos in your phone - December 4, 2015

This column will appear online Saturday, December 5th, 2015 at 9 AM EST.

When it is posted, it will be at this link.

It is available before in the December 4th issue of Prince William Today on sale at these retailers beginning this Thursday, December 3rd in the afternoon.



I searched online for “acid-free photo books printing” to find sources for photo books printed on paper expected to last the longest.


And Walgreen's, CVS, Costco, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart all offer photo books as well through their photo departments.  Check their websites for details.

There is no Family Tech for November 27, 2015

Brief paper this week, so no Family Tech.

Check the paper on December 5th for the next one, or online here at 9 AM on the 6th.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Family Tech readers.

Wifi is now essential to our lives – here’s how to maximize it - November 20,, 2015

For something most of us didn’t even have 10-15 years ago, wifi has become virtually indispensable in our homes. Sixty-one percent of American homes have wifi.

And wifi can be maddening if it fails to reach all rooms in our home.

Wifi provides the internet to more and more devices every year. Our first router back around 2003 served two laptops. Today, in an average home, many more devices are linked to wifi routers including laptops, mobile phones, game consoles, portable gaming machines and more.

And more devices will continue to login. Devices such as your refrigerator, washing machine, light bulbs, door locks and those little Dash Buttons from Amazon that let you reorder things at the push of a button.

Does your wifi reach all areas of your home? If it doesn’t, you are losing valuable functionality.

In this column, we’ll tell you how to easily find dead spots in your home and what you can do to get the internet throughout your home.

You may already know what rooms don’t have internet, but perhaps you haven’t ever tried to use your wifi connection in your guest room or in the basement. Guests who have slept there might have been too polite to mention it.

There are apps for your cell phone that will measure your connectivity as you move about the house.

First of course, you have to connect your phone to your own wifi. If you need help with that, check this week’s link post at www.familytechonline.com for help.

Once that’s done, go to your phone’s app store, and search “wifi.” You will find a variety of tools. I have always used Wifi Analyzer.

The app shows you the strength and channels your wireless router uses. Make a quick hand-drawn map of your home’s layout. On the app, touch the icon that looks like an Eye at the top right and chooses Signal Meter from the menu. Near the bottom, touch the button and choose from your wifi name from the list. Then, walk around the house and record the signal strength in each room.

Ideally, the meter should be in the green throughout.

When you are done, make a list of the rooms that had less than -60 dbm. Are they rooms you need to have internet access in?

If your router’s signal cannot reach rooms where you need the internet, there are extenders and other devices you can purchase to extend the reach of your wifi signal.

An extender is a small box that plugs into an electrical outlet. It receives the signal from your wifi and then rebroadcasts it on another channel. The idea is to put it somewhere between your router and the room where you do not have a strong signal. Where you place it should still have a good enough signal and the new signal it puts out should hopefully reach the poorly covered area.

Netgear and TP-link are manufacturers I have some experience with and they make extenders. This week’s link post will have Amazon links the products mentioned here.

Earlier this year, I moved our router to the upper level since we did a lot of our computing in the bedrooms there. That demolished coverage in our basement, and we had occasional need for cover age there.

An extender would not be a good solution in that situation. Instead, I opted for a powerline extender.

A powerline extender has two boxes. One box plugs into the wall near your router and connects to your router with a network cable.

It takes the internet signal from your router and actually sends it to the second box through the powerline in your house.

The other box sits in the room that otherwise wouldn’t have internet connectivity. Some extenders you have to plug a network cable between it and your device. Or, you could buy a second wifi router and hook it in and have a strong wifi signal in that room.

Some of the newer ones have their own wifi signal on the other end. Read the product descriptions carefully before choosing one.

The ideal solution would be to have an electrician run network cable throughout your home. That is on my list for the custom home I’d build after winning the lottery. That, and heated bathroom floors.

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Links for Wifi is now essential to our lives – here’s how to maximize it - November 20, 2015

This column will appear online Saturday, November 21, 2015 at 9 AM EST.

When it is posted, it will be at this link.

It is available before in the November 20th issue of Prince William Today on sale at these retailers beginning this Thursday, November 19th in the afternoon.



How to connect your wifi to iPhone and Android

Signal strength apps at the Google Play Store

For apps for iPhone, to to ITunes and search the app store on "wifi strength"

Speedtest.net at the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store

Wifi extenders [Amazon Link]

Powerline Extenders

Powerline Extenders with Wifi

Running Ethernet cable through your home

Column Update: Don’t trust yourself to be your computers’ back-up plan - October 2, 2015

In the column "Don’t trust yourself to be your computers’ back-up plan - October 2, 2015" I suggested one cloud service to backup your computer to could be Microsoft's OneDrive.

That recommendation hasn't changed, but Microsoft did recently make a fundamental change to OneDrive that might make it not the best choice for some.

I wrote then how Microsoft had promoted in October of 2014 that OneDrive was going to be unlimited storage.  

Unfortunately, Microsoft has withdrawn the unlimited storage promise because, well, some people were using it for unlimited storage.  The cited some users storing as much as 70 gigabytes.

Now the most you can buy is one terabyte.  It is included with an Office 365 subscription.  A terabyte should be sufficient for backing up most people's computer.  It is for mine, and for my family members.

What's truly unfortunate, is they also took the option of downgrading their storage plans.  Now they will no longer offer the 100 gigabyte and 200 gigabyte paid tiers. And new users for the free service will only get five gigabytes, not the previous fifteen.

Microsoft has made some positive steps recently by abandoning their Microsoft platform first strategy and actually producing good products for the Android platform.  And they have made a couple of excellent acquisitions recently with products like Sunrise and Wunderlist; two apps I use daily.  This OneDrive announcement is a big step backwards.  As other companies race to add more value to their cloud storage opportunities, Microsoft steps back.

As I mentioned in the column, there is one unlimited storage offering that is truly unlimited; at least unlimited from the get go, and not an add on as was Microsoft's.  

That is Amazon's Cloud Drive.  For $60 a year you get truly unlimited backup.  Some Amazon customers have received offers from Amazon for a free trial year of Amazon Cloud.  Everyone gets at least a 90 day free trial.

And I found it backups files faster use Arq Backup then did OneDrive.

Drones in Prince William County

Do you operate a drone or thinking of getting one for Christmas?

If you live in Prince William County, you will want to read this recent article from InsideNova.com.


This map shows the approximate no fly zone around Manassas Airport. It is not part of the article. I created it from tools at www.freemaptools.com.

Family Tech tips for family tech issues - November 13, 2015

This is the time of year for traditions. A tradition of this column is helping techies get ready for the inevitable requests from family members to take a quick look at their computer.

It’s never quick.

Being the family tech is a thankless job. If you do one thing to help someone, for years after you will hear comments/requests such as, “I can’t find a file I downloaded” or “What did you do wrong when you fixed my computer?”

That column is still relevant. I’ve posted it to www.FamilyTechOnline.com if you want to check it out.

Despite the thanklessness, those of us not intimidated with technology often want to help our family. For seniors especially, having working technology keeps them in contact and engaged with family via Facebook and email. It helps them not feel isolated if family is not nearby.

Here’s a few new thoughts this year on that topic.

If a family member’s computer is hopelessly infested with viruses and malware, or so old as to be dreadfully slow, it is time for them to consider new hardware. If you find a PC running XP or Vista, that’s a sign. XP was last installed on new PCs seven years ago. Vista was an awful operating system.

Vista machines may be upgradable to Windows 10, but the cost should make one consider spending more and buying a whole new PC. Vista is not one of the previous versions eligible for a free Windows 10 upgrade.

It’s like putting a new engine in a car. Sure, it costs less than a new car, but now you have a new engine driving old parts.

And XP machines probably would not make good Windows 10 PCs. They wouldn’t be fast enough nor have enough memory.

If a PC should be replaced, ask questions about how they use a PC. If all they do is use Facebook, email and online games such as Words with Friends then perhaps they do not need a full PC.

Viable alternatives would be an iPad or Android tablet. Although I’m deeply entrenched in the Google/Android ecosystem, for someone with only one device – a tablet – I’d urge them to choose an iPad. They are easy to use and if there is an Apple store near a relative, their Genius bar offers excellent and patient support when you are not around.

If they want to a more traditional PC device, and perhaps are not comfortable with touch screens, a Google Chrome device might be appropriate.

These are inexpensive laptop-looking devices that run just a browser. It is more than suitable for Facebook and email. The one app a senior might use that is not supported well by a Chromebook is Skype. However, it does support the free Google Hangouts if you want to continue video calling them.

The beauty of Chromebooks is they are essentially virus and malware free. And, the operating system upgrades automatically. While it does not run Word, or other Office apps, for the kind of user Chromebooks are best for, Google Docs works just fine. The documents are stored on the web, and Google makes copies of them so backups are not needed.

Their low maintenance is why they are popular in schools and could be good for some users such as seniors needing Facebook, email, photos and other services that can be served up on the web.

Another thing you can do for your family members is check their internet connectivity. On a PC, go to speedtest.net and click the “Begin Test” button. Do not click the “Scan Now” button; that’s an ad.

SpeedTest.net also has apps for iPads, iPhones and Android devices. Check the speed at various places in the house. If you do not have connectivity, or poor connectivity, in parts of their home, check next week’s columns for ways to improve connectivity.

The column mentioning this column will be posted Saturday, November 14 at 9 AM here.

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Links for this week's column.

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Links for Family Tech tips for family tech issues - November 13, 2015

This column will appear online Saturday, November 11, 2015 at 9 AM EST.

When it is posted, it will be at this link.

It is available before in the November 10th issue of Prince William Today on sale at these retailers beginning this Thursday, November 10th in the afternoon.

Previous column mentioned

SpeedTest.Net

Chromebooks

a Past Family Tech: A few tools to get a family tech through holiday visits - December 4th, 2014

This Family Tech from 2014 is mentioned in this week's column. It has tips on performing tech support when visiting relatives over the holidays.



Did you hear anyone on your Thanksgiving visit with family say, “Hey, you are so smart with computers, can you see why my PC is running so slow?” If so, while the rest of the family visited or watched football, you slaved away over an infected PC, maybe with 15 toolbars running in Internet Explorer.

Being the family tech is a thankless job. Do one thing to help, and for years after you’ll hear things such as “I can’t find a file I downloaded. What did you do wrong when you fixed my computer?”

Whenever someone poses the question on an online forum, “What is the biggest mistake you’ve made in your life?” Someone always answers, “Let my family know I know more about computers than they do.”

Maybe I can help other family techs by offering a few tools to get them through the Christmas holiday visits with family.

The first thing to do when sitting down at a sick PC is to learn something about it. Go to the Start button, and choose search. Type in “System Information.” It will give you an option to click for system information.

The report that comes up on the screen tells you a lot of information. What you are concerned with is the operating system, amount of memory and processor.

If it is an XP machine, diplomatically wash your hands of it. Explain that XP last shipped PCs in June 2008. Their PC is now at least 6 years old and maybe as old as 13. It would be far more economical to purchase a new computer, than upgrade their existing one, if that is even possible. At this point, tell them you have to limit your help to helping them choose a new computer.

If all they do is get email and web surf, nudge them in the direction of a Chromebook. With Chromebooks, you do not have to worry about backups or viruses.

If they can’t afford the $200, a minimal PC will cost, let them know where they can get free computer access, such as at the library. Trying to maintain an XP machine is soul-suckingly awful. If you must, you can run some of the processes I’ll describe later.

If it is Windows Vista PC with at least a 1ghz processor and a couple gigabytes of memory, you could help them buy a copy of Windows 8 and install it. Or, they can wait a year to see what the system requirements of Windows 10 are going to be, and then either upgrade to it if their PC allows or purchase a new machine.

If they have Windows 7 or 8, and are having problems, then there are things you can do to help.

The first thing to do is backup their files. Login as each of the accounts on the PC and use File Explorer and navigate to their c:\users folder. Right click it, and choose Properties to find out how big it is.

For most people who primarily use their computers for email and web surfing, the contents on their hard drives are usually very small. Most often, smaller than an affordable 16 or 32 gigabyte USB drive.

Buy them one of the drives, and backup the contents of their c:\users folder. You will need to login as an administrator, or login as each user on the PC and copy their c:\users\their_name folder individually.

If you do nothing else for your family member, do the following. Most likely they are not backing up anything, ever. For about $10 you can save them should things truly go south. Leave them the USB drive so they don’t worry about you being nefarious with their files, but tell them not to do anything with it. It is only for you to use when visiting.

Before you leave for your relatives, go to Ninite.com and download some utilities to your own USB drive. Ninite is about the only safe download site left. Get a copy of the Chrome browser, and under security, Essentials, Malwarebytes, and Spybot 2. Under Utilities, get WinDirStat.

Check to see if they have an antivirus software installed. If not, install the Microsoft Essentials you downloaded from Ninite.

Reboot the computer to Safe Mode and run a virus scan, and after a MalwareBytes run and Spybot 2 scan. These can take time, so start it fairly soon after arriving, and let them know the computer is off limits until they are done.

If things are still flaky after you run these scans, byte the bullet and do a restore.

The column mentioning this column will appear online Saturday, November 14, 2015 at 9 AM EST.

When it is posted, it will here on on this blog.

It is available before in the November 13th issue of Prince William Today on sale at these retailers beginning this Thursday, November 12th in the afternoon.

Tips for shooting and editing family videos - November 6, 2015

Last week, we talked about interviewing family members with a story to tell. This week, let’s talk about how to make a good video of the interview. Surprisingly, we can do a good job with just our smartphone.

Even if you do not want to record a family member’s memories, there might be times you will want to shoot a short video interview. Whenever I watch a reality show about a family, I always enjoy the interviews with the small children, and their unfiltered answers.

What a delight it will be for the parents long after the show goes off the air to have these memories. How fun it will be to show some of them at their wedding reception one day. We can interview our own children at different points of their lives or after major events. Talk to them a week after a vacation to find out what memories stuck. After a major family event, such as a wedding, interview them about their understanding and feelings about the event.

One of the favorite things I do when I video a wedding, is a pre-wedding interview done separately with the bride and groom.

The first thing to know about shooting a video with your camera is to hold the phone horizontally. Vertical videos look odd, while horizontal videos look more like the aspect ratio we are used to from television.

Also, a horizontal format lets you shoot two people side by side easier and more naturally.

While you can hold the camera, it is best if the camera were steady. You can mount your phone on a small tripod for stability.

In this week’s Link Post at www.FamilyTechOnline.com, I link a number of tabletop tripods for cell phones. Most are under $10. And there are cell phone holders that will mount on a traditional tripod you might already own.

You can use the StoryCorp app we talked about last week or you can use the camera app on your phone, set to video to shoot the video.

You can set the camera a little out of the subject’s line of sight so they are not constantly reminded they are being videoed.

If your subject worries about rambling, assume them you can edit the account later if needed.

Your camera should pick up the sound adequately. A quiet room is essential. Go off to a private room or wait until the house is empty to conduct the interview.

It is important to test your setup before the person you want to interview arrives. Setup the camera as you’d like it and hold a practice interview with another person. When you play it back, check lighting, focus, composition and the sound to make sure it will be adequate. You would hate to shoot a compelling interview with horrible production values detracting from the story you are telling.

The interviewer should be willing to ask follow-up questions, but needs to concentrate on listening closely first.

Editing the video afterwards can take out awkward moments, interruptions, off topic discussions and just tighten up the interview. Also, some graphics can help with the storytelling. Perhaps photos found on the web in the public domain that show what the place and period was like that the subject is talking about.

Also, introductory titles are always useful.

There are free video-editing programs available that are easy to use. Mac users have iMovie included with their Macs. Microsoft Movie Maker is good for Windows 7 and 8. It is a little trickier for Windows 10 users. Movie Maker is not supported for Windows 10 and Microsoft has yet to release a free editor for it.

WeVideo.com is an online video editor that will work for this purpose.

Once you are done shooting the video, you can broach the subject of sharing it, if you haven’t already. Assure the subject their name does not have to be associated with the upload. Interviewers can be careful during the interview to make sure the person’s name is not used or can edit it out later.

Once the video is complete, you can upload it directly using the StoryCorp app. Or you can edit it on your computer and upload it to StoryCorp via their website. Or to Youtube if you want to share with the world or only those people you designate.

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Links for Tips for shooting and editing family videos - November 6, 2015

This column will appear online Saturday, November 7, 2015 at 9 AM EST.

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It is available before in the November 6th issue of Prince William Today on sale at these retailers beginning this Thursday, November 5th in the afternoon.



Last Week's column about capturing memories at Thanksgiving

Amazon selection of tripods for Cell Phones

iMovie video editor for Mac

MovieMaker video editor for Windows 7 & 8

WeVideo online video editor

Holiday gatherings are a great time to capture the past with video - October 30, 2015

Everyone has a compelling story.

Just in the last couple of weeks, I’ve talked to a retired Marine about his service in Vietnam. And another told me about being a young bride in Germany and her move to the U.S. with her GI husband.

The next several weeks brings family together for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is an opportunity to ask family members to tell their stories.

StoryCorps, an organization that has made an educational project for adults and children, is holding “The Great Thanksgiving Listen” project.

The nonprofit has long gathered individuals stories on video in kiosks in New York’s Grand Central Station, and other cities. It also has an app for iPhones and Androids that videos an interview, and if you choose, uploads it to its site as well as to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

A man at a Woodbridge continuing-care facility recorded interviews with residents about their World War II memories. The interviews were submitted to the Library of Congress’ Veteran’s History Project.

These first-hand accounts enrich our understanding of history and will be of value to researchers.

Involving young people in the interview process can give them an appreciation of their elders and the road they have travelled.

It will also teach them history, research skills, interview techniques, listening techniques and improve their video literacy by making something with more thought than a seven-second Vine video.

It also shows respect.

While it would be great if your child’s teacher would promote the Great Thanksgiving Listen in the classroom, this is something your child can do.

It can be as simple as asking a loved one to sit for a minute and asking if you can video them answering a few questions.

But, a good video requires some preparation. The student should research the era or events they will be discussing so they have a basic understanding.

They should make a list of questions, but also be willing to move away from their script depending on how the interview goes.

Broaching some subjects can be difficult. Sometimes the person is reticent to talk about their memories. Combat veterans, however, often find it difficult to talk with non-veterans. For them, promise them you’ll limit the topic to non-combat times in the military, if they are more comfortable with that.

Modesty and shyness often interferes. The person may feel their story is not worthy of telling. On the other hand, it is hard to refuse a curious grandchild.

Perhaps you have to sneak up a bit on some subjects. Sit with the person and just chat. Gently broach the subject you want to cover, and then as they begin to get into it, stop them and gently ask if you can video the conversation since you consider it important.

An alternative to a video is going to Reddit.com, an online discussion site, and to its AMA subreddit.

AMA stands for Ask me Anything. I often see where a 20-something is sitting with a grandparent and begin with, “I’m here with my grandfather, who is 95 and was a medic on Guadalcanal. Ask him anything.”

Others on the site pepper them with questions. The grandchild reads the better ones aloud to their grandparent and then dictates responses.

Some are quite compelling. This week’s link post at www.FamilyTechOnline.com has some examples of good AMAs.

Next week’s column will be some thoughts on shooting the interview and perhaps editing tips.

Even if not uploaded, this type of video can be a valuable family heirloom. I wish I’d learned more from my grandmother before she died. She had worked for a man who’d been in the Civil War around 1912 when she was 20.

How I would have loved to ask her about the memories he might have shared with her.

Those memories were never properly recorded. How I wish they were.

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Links for Holiday gatherings are a great time to capture the past with video - October 30, 2015

This column will appear online Saturday, October 31, 2015 at 9 AM EST.

When it is posted, it will be at this link.

It is available before in the October 30th issue of Prince William Today on sale at these retailers beginning this Thursday, October 29th in the afternoon.


StoryCorps

The Great Thanksgiving Listen - Teachers packet (PDF file)

The Library of Congress American Folklife Center

The Library of Congress Veterans History Project

Reddit AMA :  94 Year Old ex-OSS Member

Reddit AMA : I lived in Germany during World War II

Reddit AMA : Normandy/Battle of the Bulge War Photographer

We are living in the future – let’s enjoy - October 23, 2015

I glanced over at my son playing on our gaming PC. He was speaking into his headset, talking to other players. They were from all over the world of various ages and backgrounds.

I was struck yet again with a sense: we live in the future.

The video games are not the only trigger for me. I have a new app on my phone, FlightRadar 24, which amazes me.

It shows all airplanes overhead. Select one and it tells you its type, airline, flight number, origin, destination and route. If a plane declares an emergency, it alerts me if I want to follow its story.

What’s really cool is if I aim my phone at a plane overhead, it identifies it for me.

All this is done using a database of aircraft under Air Traffic Control, but also the GPS sensor in my phone telling it where it is, plus the other sensors that tell the software where the phone is pointing to and how it is oriented.

There are also devices like Microsoft’s Kenect 2 for the XBox. It has a series of cameras and microphones that could almost be living in the future. It recognizes who is watching TV at a given moment. And it understands hand and arm gestures.

And who isn’t amazed by their smartphones. We carry a powerful computer hooked up to the knowledge of the world, in our pockets.

The iPhone 6 runs 3.36 billion instructions per second. The computer in Apollo 11 did 43 instructions per second. That is 43 instructions per second.

If you watched the original Star Trek, you recognize the communicator as the predecessor of the cell phone.

Encyclopedia Galactica, the fictional encyclopedia of all knowledge of the galaxy, that Asimov first wrote about and most of heard about in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, begat Wikipedia.

Much of the futuristic devices that give me the We-Live-In-the-Future vibe were all first imagined in science fiction.

Author Neil Gaiman, a writer of sci-fi books and Doctor Who episodes, was a speaker at China’s first government sanctioned sci-fi convention in 2007. He had the opportunity to ask a government official why they had finally chosen to encourage science fiction after years of discouraging its reading.

The official explained China builds wonderful devices like the iPhone and other complex devices for consumers, medicine and other purposes. No other country can make such detailed, tiny and complex devices.

What China cannot do, said the official, is invent the products that are changing the world.

China sent a delegation to the U.S. and spoke with innovators at Apple, Google and Microsoft. The one constant these forward-thinking people had in common was they read science-fiction when young.

Gaiman said, “Fiction can show you a different world. It can take you somewhere you’ve never been. Once you’ve visited other worlds, like those who ate fairy fruit, you can never be entirely content with the world that you grew up in. Discontent is a good thing: discontented people can modify and improve their worlds, leave them better, leave them different.”

Hopefully parents encourage their children to read for pleasure and let their children read whatever draws their interest.

Back when parents struggled with letting their children buy a game console, in the early Nintendo days, one friend grudgingly gave in.

He subscribed to the Nintendo magazine and he decided over time it was worth buying the game console.

Find what you child wants to read, and make it available.

Encourage your children to at least sample science fiction. It won’t be for everyone, but don’t be like China and consider it meaningless fantasy of worlds that do not exist.

The worlds your children read about may become a world they want to help build by becoming an engineer, programmer, game designer or in another high-tech profession.

While not as spectacular as the NFL Google hires more engineers every year then the NFL hires players.

Teachers, doctors and social workers can change the world. Starry-eyed dreamers of faraway planets and the explorers seeking them out can as well.

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You don’t have to give out your phone number, there are apps for that - October 16, 2015

The telephone is often the bane of our existence, yet it is the necessary enabler of business and personal interactions. If you sell things online, have a home or family-run business, or if you are a single wanting to talk to someone you met online, you need the telephone.

Yet there are risks to giving out your own phone number you should avoid.

For example, you sell a bicycle online. You don’t want to give the person your phone number to avoid the possibility of them calling you a year later telling you the bike has broken and they feel you sold them a defective item.

Or you want your one- or two-person family-run business to look like a bigger company but don’t want to hire a receptionist, what can you do?

There’s an app for the iPhone and Android called Burner that lets you purchase a phone number that is good for a time period you choose. That way, you can list that phone number in your online ad. Any calls coming into the app from that phone number, come into the app where you can answer or let them go to a voicemail setup for just that number and use.

Once the transaction is done, you can simply cancel the number and future calls to that number do not reach you.

Text messages can also be sent and received using a Burner phone number, so if you hand out the number to a someone, there is no reason they have to know that you have not given them your regular number.

If you need to call someone but do not want them to see your caller ID number, a Burner number shows only that phone number, not your own. This is valuable if you need to call a business you fear will put you on their telemarketing list. The number will only be good for a short while.

You may wonder why I do not recommend the service I use and have talked about before, Google Voice. Burner phones are better for a one-purpose use such as an online ad or dating service. My Google Voice is the only number I hand out. If a telemarketer does get hold of it, I can block that number from reaching me.

Blocking a number only prevents calls from that one number. A Burner number, once it expires, means the person who had that number to call you, cannot reach you from any phone, so there is that added security.

If you are running a business from your home, or your family has a small business and you’d prefer your customers not know how small you are, or that you are in your home, a service like Ringcentral might be good for you.

Ringcentral lets you setup a virtual PBX. That is, it gives you one phone number people can call and then type in an extension to reach a specific person or department. Transfers to the sales department, shipping or support could all go the same person if need be. The call is forwarded to a landline or to a mobile phone. You can even have it ring multiple phones such as your home office line and your cell, so no matter where you are you can answer it.

The auto attendant can route calls based on rules, or by the caller entering in an extension number.

It can even give your tiny business a toll-free number, as well as call recording and conference calling.

Ringcentral can tie into Office, Dropbox, SalesForce, ZenDesk and other systems to give you an integrated communications system.

And instead of paying a receptionist for 40 hours a week, you pay once for just the time it is taking your calls using services like My Receptionist.

Additional services let it book appointments for you using an online appointment system you can use. The appointment system can send out confirmations and reminders to your customers via email, text message and even Twitter.

It can even take orders for you and process credit card payments. All this is setup to be an add-on to a Ringcentral phone system.

All of these services give you a managed telephone system for a set cost per user, per month. You can have large business services, without having to have staff and equipment of your own to manage it.

I’ve used Burner, Ringcentral, My Receptionist and Google Voice as examples. There are many providers for these services. Check this week’s Link Post at WW.FamilyTechOnline.com for resources.

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Links for You don’t have to give out your phone number, there are apps for that - October 16, 2015

This column will appear online Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 9 AM EST.

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Burner app

Ring Central

My Receptionist

Google Voice

Now it is Google’s turn to release new phones and other devices - October 9, 2015

Last month Apple announced new phones and the iPad Pro. Now it’s Google’s turn.

Google has two new phones, the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P. The chief advantage of a Nexus device is that it is first to get new operating systems. These phones come with the latest Marshmallow version of Android, announced a few months ago. When the next version of Android comes out, these phones will be first in line for them. And the upgrades come direct from Google.

Other Android phones have to wait until the phone’s manufacturer releases a version of Android for the phone, and your carrier approves and transmits it out to you. Some current phones won’t get Marshmallow for months; some older phones not at all.

The 5X is made by South Korea’s LG and sports a 5.2 inch display. The 6P, made by Chinese maker Huawei, sports a bigger 5.7 inch screen.

Both phones have a fingerprint reader for secure access, high resolution front and back cameras, and come unlocked so they can be used on all the major US carriers including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. And both phones can be used on Google’s own service, Project Fi. Fi runs on both the Sprint and T-Mobile networks, switching off from those and Wi-Fi, whichever is the stronger network at the moment.

The 5X comes in 16 gigabyte and 32 gigabyte models starting at $379. The 6P comes in 32 gigabyte, 64 gigabyte and 128 gigabyte models starting at $499.

Both phones use the new C type USB connector. This small connector does not have a right way and a wrong way to go in, saving us from the agony of trying to plug in an upside down cable.

They also come with a $50 Google Play credit if ordered before Dec. 15. And also 90 days of Google Music service.

And for the first time, Google is offering a two-year protection program, Google Protect, guarding against mechanical breakdown or accidental damage for the two phones. It is $69 for the 5X, and $89 for the 6P. No word yet on if, or how much, of a deductible there might be.

Google also upgraded its Chromecasts. Our Chromecast is the best $35 item we’ve ever bought. Google has sold 20 million of them.

Chromecast hooks to your TV. You use an app on your phone, tablet or computer to select something to watch from Netflix, Hulu, TV networks and many other sources. You push a button on the app, and it tells the Chromecast to go get that program. Once that’s done, the phone is no longer required. It can even leave the house and the program continues.

Although with the phone, you can pause the program and resume it. You can even do that from an Android Wear watch.

Choosing and controlling my TV from my phone has always given me the strongest “we are living in the future” moments I’ve ever had.

Google updated the Chromecast with one that receives Wi-Fi signals better. It even lets you play some games on your TV. And a new version of Google Photos app lets you display your photos on the TV so you can share them with others. It’s sort of a 21st Century slide show to entertain dinner guests.

There also is an entirely new Audio Chromecast. It attaches to speakers and lets apps send it music via Wi-Fi. It plans to do for music, what Chromecast did for video.

Google also previewed a new tablet coming out before Christmas. The Pixel Tablet is a high-end Android tablet with an optional keyboard that attaches with magnets. The Pixel is clearly intended to compete with the newly announced iPad Pro, and Microsoft’s Surface.

Google also announced a family music plan, similar to Apple’s and for the same price, $15 a month.

It will stream music to your device and recommend music for each family member depending on their musical tastes.

A new photo app lets users copy photos to another’s phone. That way, if family members all take pictures while on vacation, they can copy the photos into one collection. And other family member, like grandma, can subscribe to the photos and see them and be notified when there are new ones.

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