I’ve occasionally done this myself, making certain I abide by the following rule. From my perspective,  common courtesy and respect for privacy of others dictates DELETING  all the names and addresses  that show within the body of the email.

Keep in mind also, by passing on others people’s names in group emails, you are subjecting their email addresses to the possibility of being picked up by spammers.

The usual way that people often pass on these messages is to simply click the “forward” icon, or arrow, in the piece of email received. They, then,  start typing in all the addresses of their friends in the new email form that comes up.

When the list is complete, they simply click SEND.  Many times, it seems, that they do not pay attention to all the other addresses from prior forwards that have remained in their email body.

Even if they delete them, unless the names of their friends are placed into the BCC: (blind copy) field, it’s likely that their friends’ names will show up in someone else’s forwarded email.  (If you do not know how to do it, see my post on how to set up your emails to include BCC field)

Again, please be sure also to delete the sender’s name and email address and delete all the names and email addresses that might have been picked up when you hit forward.

Final Note on this post:
1 – Be sure to check that the email addresses you’ve entered are, in fact, those of the people you do mean to address.  Sometimes, as we type, the computer picks up an address similar to the one we think we are including.  It could turn out to be a totally different person.

Fortunately in today’s world of technology we have countless opportunities for virtual connecting through various based web programs. More than likely in recent days/weeks you’ve heard about Zoom Video Conferencing service, a program I’ve been using for several years. And, as many of you know, I’ve been encouraging others to use it to connect with family members and friends during holidays and other celebratory (as well as sad) occasions.

Thus, when I heard that cousins of mine were doing a virtual First Seder**, Wednesday evening, April 8th, using Zoom, I asked my cousin Dena Lake, the hostess, if I could interview her. She graciously agreed. You can hear how she and my cousin Ed decided on doing the Seder in in this way by tapping/clicking on https://youtu.be/kam5YAW0Sj0 or on the image above.

Briefly, in our interview, as you’ll hear in the video, Dena shared that she and Ed have been hosting Seders with 12 to 28 people for over 45 years and that they loved it. With “sheltering in place” due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), she knew that they would not be able to do that this year.

Dena sent out an email to their guest list, writing that somehow they would do it virtually this year. Serendipitously, shortly thereafter, their Rabbi sent out a notice that he was going to do a Zoom workshop on how to do a Seder on Zoom.

She said that a good portion of the Rabbi’s presentation was reassuring them of what was important in these extraordinary times, not to be concerned with being unable to manage some of the usual Passover preparations during normal times. “Do the best you can”.

He said that the only two things needed for the Seder are matzo and wine. He then shared slides that showed the 14 steps of the Seder and what they mean. Click here to see the list and how participant parts were assigned

Dena, said that before they start the Seder they will go around and each guest will share what’s been going on with them. The most important part of this time on Zoom is their connecting and being together.

Traditionally the ceremony, follows descriptions and prayers in a Haggadah, with “tastings” of items (with their meanings discussed) on the Seder plate. See the 14 steps below. Then there is ordinarily a festive dinner, followed by prayers after dinner.. For this Seder on Zoom individuals may follow, if they wish, Haggadahs they may have at home.

Dena also sent out a PDF download to an interesting Haggadah that thoroughly and easily explains the holiday, history and all the parts of the service. Even if you are not Jewish you might find it interesting.

You can get the free download by clicking/tapping on the cover image, or go to https://www.jewbelong.com/holidays/passover/

You’ll find when you are on the site that Jewbelong will doing a free Virtual Seder on Thursday night, April 9th at 7:00 PM. There is a no charge registration link on the site if you wish to attend.

In the video Dena mentions a “super-easy guide” to using Zoom. I don’t have permission to share that here. If you need help with Using Zoom see my post (in the process of being updated) Use the Internet to Easily Talk to Friends, Family, Business Associates.

The 14 parts of the Service as listed by the Rabbi. Where I have “Designated Person” the names of the individuals were included in what was emailed to the guests.Tap/click on the image or on this link to see it enlarged.

** The Seder is a ceremonial dinner that commemorates the Exodus from Egypt and includes the reading of the Haggadah and the eating of symbolic foods. It is generally held on the first night of Passover by Reform Jews and Jews in Israel and on both the first and second nights by Orthodox and Conservative Jews outside of Israel.

Recorded with the Voice Memos App on an iPhone

How to Audio Record Memories on your iPhone Using the Voice Memos app that comes already installed on your iPhone and Upload the Recording to DropBox

Write to Sheila at sheila.youruntoldstories@gmail.com to learn more about recording memories, preserving your legacy, sharing with your loved ones.  Do it yourself, or get support.
or
Book a complementary exploratory session by emailing
sheila.youruntoldstories [at] gmail.com

Default settings on our mobile devices and video programs on our computer are usually set for “mirror view” as the default… the way we see ourselves in the mirror.  If you’ve ever bothered to hold up anything that has text on it when you are looking in the mirror, you likely noticed that the words we see are “backwards.”

Following are how-to’s for managing this on 3 different devices.

iPhone

On the iPhone when you take a “selfie,” and possibly on an Android, the image that you see is in the camera screen is “reversed” by default, showing it as you would see it in the mirror. (Image on the left.)

Once you capture the photo, the iPhone and some Androids, if not all, automatically reverse/flip it to what we would expect to see. (Photo above on the right.) There are photo apps that will do the reversing if your phone does not do it automatically.

When doing Facebook Live videos, the mirror image stays, with text reversed, unless you make an adjustment using the tool bar. To get to the tool bar tap on the “Wand” on the lower left. This brings up the tool bar with the “Tools” icon in the lower right.  

Tap on the “Tool” icon on the right, then on the “Flip” icon on the lower right (see below). Once set tap on “Start Live Video” and you’re ready to go.

on iMac and Photo Booth –
By default, images are automatically shown in Mirror view.

In order to reverse image, set the Edit dropdown menu to “Auto Flip New Items” before you start, or “Flip Photo” when you are ready to use it.

On Zoom Conference Video Recording 
go to Settings and select the Video icon.

If “Enable mirror effect” is checked you will see text “backwards”.  Uncheck it and the text will read “normally” from left to right.

The book shown in the video is my Real Seniors Using iPads: 0ver 100 Easy Ways to Learn Connect Communicate. It’s a compilation of interviews with 31 seniors 65 and over, their brief stories on how they use their devices along with their favorites apps. You’ll note within the 26 five-star reviews that this book can apply to any mobile devices, Androids as well as iPads and iPhones. Tap or click on Real Seniors Using iPads to purchase and learn more.

I am one of the featured authors in “SO, WHAT DO YOU DO? – VOL 2: Discovering the GENIUS Next Door with One Simple Question” compiled by best-selling author, Joel Comm. For more information and to purchase, tap or click on So, What Do You Do?

For information on support services offered here, tap or click on Coaching/Tutoring.

This happens to me often, especially when I’m on my iPhone or iPad.  During a house call from my Apple computer tech guru, I discovered that on a large number of sites we can get text, photos and links only, without automatic redirection. And, it’s SO SIMPLE!!!

NOTE: If you are a Windows and/or Android user stick with me. What follows applies to you also. Usually I am on Safari when I’m on one of my Apple devices, but I also use Chrome and Firefox on my computer.

The “magic” that disappears them is the “Reader View” option in the URL space on many pages in Safari, the default web browser on iDevices [computer, iPhone, iPad]. I had seen it and for some unknown reason, I had never clicked or tapped on it. You’ll know on which pages Reader View is available when you see 4 parallel lines on the far left in the URL space. Sometimes you’ll even see the message, “Reader View Available.”

It’s “Reader View” also in Chrome [see further down this page] and simply “Reader” in Firefox. I have experienced pages where it has been available in Safari and not in Chrome.

When you click, or tap (on mobile devices), the 4 parallel line image, the page alters to article and photos only as shown below. The space behind the lines becomes black. To get back to the original page, simply tap/click on that 4-line icon again.

CHROME – Adding Reader View 
Rather than it automatically being on your web pages, Chrome and Firefox offer Reader View as add-ons. To add in Chrome Extensions on your computer, click here on Reader View and you get the option to add Reader View.  

Once added the letter R will be added to the extensions bar.

Not all pages have Reader the View option. If the web page you are on does not have it enabled (seemingly not the Browser decision) clicking on it will simply bring up a window which shows a lot of information about Reader View. Clicking on it will show a pop-up window, with the green box that says it has been ADDED TO CHROME.

If the page does have Reader View option, you will see the same 4 parallel lines that we saw above in Safari.

Again, when you click on it, the article only will appear, as shown in the sample earlier in this post.

FIREFOX – Adding Reader
In Firefox, the Add-On is called “Reader”. To add it to your Firefox add-ons bar click on Add-Ons – Reader.  Once you select “Add to Firefox” an orange letter R will appear in the row of icons… top right.

Clicking on the orange R at the top brings up the article in the format you see in the screen shot below. Note, even the reading time is estimated.

Enable Reader View in Chrome on Androids –
In the absence of my having an Android device, I’m simply giving you a link which details how to enable Chrome on Android devices.

Simply tap or click on Reader View on Mobile Devices.  This will bring up the information I show below. I cropped it from the screen shot I took of a portion of the page. Be sure to click on the link above, or the image, to get full details on what to do.

Again, be sure to click on the image or text link above to get the full set of instructions.

If you found this post helpful and would like to learn more or  get support and clarity with using technology, particularly on your mobile devices, please check out Technology for Seniors Made Easy coaching page on this site. Click on TECH COACHING or contact me, Sheila Finkelstein, directly at easyseniortechnology [at] gmail.com

This has happened to me often, especially when I’m on my iPhone or iPad.  Imagine my excitement when my Tech Guru who came to fix something on my iMac pointed out how I/we can get articles only on many of the sites.  It is SO SIMPLE!!!

In the URL space in Safari, on any of the iDevices [computer, iPhone, iPad] many pages, particularly news, there is a “Reader View” option which I never bothered exploring. When Reader View is available, you will see 4 parallel lines on the far left in that space.

To demonstrate, I randomly selected the New York Post article page that came across my computer desktop, or iPad, yesterday. As you can see in the screen shot above, the page is quite busy and challenging for a quick read.

Conversely, when I clicked (or tapped on my mobile devices) the 4 parallel line image, the page altered to what you see below.

CHROME – Adding Reader View 
Although this option seems to be an integral part of Safari, and very easy to use, Chrome and Firefox offer Reader View also as add-ons. To add in Chrome Extensions on your computer, click on Reader View and you get the option to add Reader View.  

Once added the letter R will be added to the extensions bar.

Not all pages have Reader the View option. If the web page you are on does not have it enabled (independent of Chrome, I think) clicking on it will simply bring up a window which shows a lot of information about Reader View. It will show at the top that it has been ADDED TO CHROME.

When you are on a page which does have Reader View as an option, you will see the same 4 parallel lines as in Safari.

Clicking on it, will bring up a window with the article only as seen in the sample shown earlier in this post.

FIREFOX – Adding Reader
In Firefox the Add-On is called “Reader”. To add it go to
Add-Ons – Reader.  Click on “Add to Firefox” and an orange letter R will appear in Add-ons bar at the top right of the page.

Simply clicking on the orange R at the top will bring up the article as shown below. It even gives the estimated reading time.

I hope that you find this as enlightening as I did when I first learned about it on Safari and then went on to explore Chrome and Firefox for readers who use those browsers.

If you would like to learn more and get support or clarity with using technology, particularly on your mobile devices, please check out Technology for Seniors Made Easy coaching page on this site. Click on TECH COACHING.

I always viewed it as an “insurance policy”, so-to-speak, should I ever lose either one in the big outside world. It never occurred to me that I could be using the App to find my iPhone or iPad that I had mislaid someplace in my home.

Surprisingly, as large and bulky as it is, in its heavy leather case with keyboard, I often have a challenge remembering where I last used it in my home.  And, I can’t telephone it, as I usually can when I can’t find my iPhone.

Recently I spent a half-hour or more looking for my iPhone at 1:30 AM. I had put it on vibrate early in the day and never changed it back to sound, so calling it from my landline didn’t work.  I needed it for a client appointment for which I had to leave my house early so I couldn’t leave the search until I woke up in the morning.

I had the vague thought, “I wonder if ‘Find my iPhone’ would work“, but it never occurred to me to stop my going down the same tunnel, repeating my steps from room-to-room, to check Google.

Then, a couple of days later, I asked a friend if she had ever found her Android phone. She had and said that in the future she would leave her bluetooth on and use a Tile App on her computer.  That set me checking to see what I could do for my iPhone AND I discovered how incredibly EASY it is.

One does need to:
1 – be set up with iCloud for which you need your Apple ID and Password.
2 – have enabled “Find My iPhone” or “Find My iPad” within the iCloud options in Settings for the appropriate device.

Then to locate the device, simply go to http://iCloud.com and log in.  One of the options once there is Find iPhone. The same icon serves for the iPad.

When you open the Find iPhone you’ll first be asked to enter your password. Then you’ll get to a page which maps out your location and shows your device(s). Click on iPhone at the top center to bring up All Devices pop-up window.

Click on your lost/misplaced device in the center.

Another pop-up window will open on the right with your selected device in the center and three choices at the bottom –
Play Sound – Lost Mode – Erase iPhone

Select Play Sound. Walk around your house, if that’s where you are. As you get near your iPhone or iPad, you will hear a repeated binging sound which will continue for up to 10 minutes.

You can now Breathe a sigh of relief.

When you pick up your phone or iPad you’ll see a Message “Find My iPhone Alert” or “Find My iPad Alert”. That’s it. Log back into your iPhone of iPad and you’re back in business.

Locating your iPhone of iPad from a Mobile device.

There procedure is that same as from the computer. The action locations are slightly different.

Again, go to http://iCloud.com and log in.
1 – Select Find My iPhone.

 2 -Tap on Actions in small print bottom center of the page that comes up

3 – Select Play Sound from the bottom of the page that opens.

And, as described above in instructions with the computer, simply walk around until you hear the binging sound.

Note – In order for these steps to work, your device needs to be connected to the Internet.  My iPhone will always be connected via Wi-Fi or data.

My iPad is dependent on being connected in a WiFi establishment. It is almost always connected automatically in my home AND unbeknownst to me, somehow it had gotten knocked off of Wi-Fi. Thus when I was testing this out later in the day, it could not be located using iCloud to Find My iPad.

Need Help? – If you want help or support in discovering new ways you can be using your iPhone or iPad, tap or click on Coaching for options or Contact Us for more information. I can work with you on Zoom and answer your questions, showing you my iPhone or iPad.

Last Note – for Android Users – Before finishing this article I checked Google to see how one can find his/her Android phone. I found that Google has a device tracker. Since I am not familiar with it, this is not a recommendation. I simply wanted to cover all base bases.

Disclaimer – The Kensington Case and Keyboard are what I purchased along with my iPad when I first got it. There now are less costly combinations. I do highly recommend the Kensington keyboard,  which can be bought separately.  I’ve had occasion to call the company a couple of times and they are great. Though simple to set up, I called and they walked me through the initial installation and answered a question another time.

The Purple Otter Box case is the one I have on my iPhone. Both products are on Amazon.com from which I derive a small commission when purchases are made on my affiliate link.

Recently when working with an 81 year old client on her iPad I remembered the possibility of using Keyboard Shortcuts. Shirley, my client, had never learned to type. How much easier it would be if she could simply type in few letters that, when you type, will instantly type in the whole statement, email address, anything you choose.

With the many useful features SmartPhones now possess, even technophobes, most notably seniors citizens, are now joining the craze with many buying their own mobile devices. In Older Adults and Technology Use, a report presented by the Pew Research Center, it revealed that 77 percent of seniors were willing to adopt the technology so long as someone would help walk through the various processes. Although SmartPhones are sold today as a great tool in tracking health with their built-in sensors, new cellphones are also a great tool in strengthening the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren.

Here are some of the fun activities you can try with your loved ones via SmartPhones even when they live many miles away:

Stay connected
For those grandparents living far away from their grandchildren, mobile devices provide them with a way to connect with their loved ones.

There are SmartPhones that are pre-built with their own propriety video calling services, like iPhones and the FaceTime feature that allows Apple devices to make and receive calls, messages, and files easily. In addition, the iPhone 6 comes with a bigger screen for easy viewing and a clear front facing camera for seamless video calling.

There are also various apps that you can install on your mobile device, whether Android or iOS. Here are some of our top suggestions:

• Skype – One of the most popular apps for video calling, Skype is widely used by more than 700 million people worldwide. It works on almost all platforms – desktop PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and even Internet TVs. It even allows the user to make calls to unregistered users for a small fee.

• ooVoo – Free to install, this application is a great for those who will be on a call (voice or video) with more than one person. The ooVoo app (click or tap on ooVoo) allows users the ability to chat with up to 12 people at the same time, and even add your Facebook contact list to your contacts.

• Zoom – For high quality virtual conferencing, Zoom Cloud Meetings is a trusted video conferencing app that allows up to 100 people in a single call. Its best feature is its HD screen sharing where you can view each others display like you are not far from each other. Tap/Click on Zoom to sign up for free.

[Ed. note: You can learn more about how Technology for Seniors uses Zoom in the Zoom Playlist on our YouTube channel. Top photo is one example.]

For a comprehensive list of apps that you can install on your mobile device, click here to view an Apps list by Digital Trends.

Play and have fun
Distant relatives can also maximize mobile devices and make connecting more attainable. Some apps allow you to play games while on a video call, allowing users the capability to enjoy mobile games in real-time – this is an ideal feature for grandparents who want to bond with their grandchildren.

If you are dealing with children ages 2-8, then consider the USTYME app for the iPad as an ideal application for seniors, as it allows you to share books and games while in a real-time video call. It creates a video chat box at the upper-left corner, while you get to play online game. Another app that may interest you is the Kindoma Storytime that allows the grandparent to read virtual storybooks along with their relative while on a video call.

Afternoons can also be filled with creative activities with the help of Drawing Together! Where family members are able to draw on a single digital page while on a live call. You can either draw, paint, or even play usual paper games, such as Tic-Tac-Toe.

How do you think grandparents and grandchildren can maximize their quality time, even when they are miles apart? Share your thoughts and stories with us in the “Reply” section below.

For more tech tips for seniors, bookmark our page.

IMAGES:
Top Photo is a Screen Shot of Sheila Finkelstein with her grandson and granddaughter visiting on Mother’s Day.

Insert Photo is Screen Shot of photo of editor on the FaceTime Screen.

Written by AC Techie Sapphire
Exclusive for Technology for Seniors Made Easy

One of the most useful shortcuts is one I rarely remembered until recently.  That is “Find” – Control>f (on Windows); Command>f on the Mac the easy way to search for a word or phrase on a web page, in a Word document and/or even in an email post.

Since so many people are using iPads, I went on a search to see if individual web pages could also be searched for specific words or phrases when using the iPad. I was excited to learn that, in fact, Safari web pages do have a search function within them.

Following is what I discovered (from the Tutorial that I plan to include in my upcoming book with Interviews with Seniors Using iPads):

How to Search a Web Page on the iPad –

Open the web page on which you want to do a search for a word or phrase. In the example below I had TechnologyforSeniorsMadeEasy.com/communicating-for-seniors/how-to-easily-save-voice-recordings-and-photos-using-evernote/

STEPS:
1 – Tap the URL to highlight it. You may need to do a “select all” and “cut.”

2 – Then type your search word or phrase in that space. For this example I typed “recording.”

3 – The search gives options to go to various web pages AND as you go down the page you’ll see an “On This Page” option, with “Find “[your search word or phrase]”. To the right you will see either “no matches” or the number of matches.

4 – Simply tap on “Find….” and you will be back on the page with all of the words or phrases for which you searched highlighted.

5 – Note: At the bottom of the page, on the left, there are brackets, < >, and a notation on the number of matches found. You can either scroll down the page to look for other highlight OR tap a “move right” or “move left” symbol to be take to the next or previous word or phrase.

6 – Note also: In the box on the right the word or phrase for which you searched is in a search box. You can “x” out the work for which you searched and add a new one to continue your search on the page.

Continuing from here, I then checked my iPhone to see if, and how, we can do a search on individual web pages on the iPhone. What I found, follows:

How to do a Word Search on a Safari Web Page on the iPhone
Instructions are very similar to those for the iPad. The main difference is that there is not the added search option once you are back on the page.

1 – Go to the web page. For this example I am on a page on PhotographyandTransformation.com, another of my websites.

2 – Highlight the URL at the top of the page and “cut” it.

3 – Then type in your search word or phrase. I used “treasure” for this page.

4 – The first results you will see are for web pages with that term or phrase. Do NOT tap “Return”. It will take you to the search for various sites.

5 – Move down to the “On This Page”. Tap on that which brings you back to the original page from which you started.

6 – Again, your searched for word or term is highlighted. Use the “move” symbols at the left on the bottom of the page to navigate through.

7 – Tapping on “Done” will remove all of the highlights.

8 – If you want to search for something else on the page, repeat the above process.

NOTE: To be inspired, learn how 30 seniors (from 67 to 101 years old) are using iPads or other electronic devices in my Amazon Kindle book REAL SENIORS USING IPADS. To read the 20 plus 5 Star reviews and see inside the book, click or tap on REAL SENIORS USING IPADS

Your comments and experiences are always welcome in the “Leave a Reply…..” section below.

Once enabled a few of the email shortcuts you are most likely to use are:

In the images below, note the nice clean appearance… the difference in looks between a page showing results of a Google search compared with a DuckDuckGo search.

Go beyond appearances – As I was completing a Quick Tech tip mailing, I double checked Evernote in my computer for notes I had tagged with Duck Duck Go.  And I found a page that lists 12 Things DuckDuckGo Can Do that Google Can’t presented by NDTV Gadgets .

One thing that popped out for me was #3 on the list… a way to shorten URLs (web addresses). By putting in the long page link in the search box, starting with “shorten http: [and the rest of the long link]”, I got the following shortened URL – http://is.gd/1eClil which will bring you to the “12 Things” post.  How cool is that!

NOTE: I also mentioned above how easy it was to go to Evernote in my computer to find the site with the now-shortened URL I’ve given you. Below is an image of the note as I found it.  At the time I was on the above-shown page, I used Evernote’s Web Clipper to “clip” it to have for future reference in my computer, iPad and iPhone. In the screen shot below, you see the result of the now- clipped page in a note in my Evernote.

You can see in the image where I did the search for the note; where tags show up that I had labeled at the time of clipping; and a listing, on the left of the notes that came up when I did the search for “Duck Duck Go” in my Evernote. And, I was delighted to see that the live link to DuckDuckGo actually stayed with the clipped page.

To learn more about what is available when using Evernote, click on Kickstart Guide to Using Evernote for a listing of the contents – PDFs and Videos – and a special offer.

As always, your comments are welcome. To do so, click on the “Leave a reply …” link below or email me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com.

]]> http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/communicating-for-seniors/how-to-easily-save-voice-recordings-and-photos-using-evernote/ http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/communicating-for-seniors/how-to-easily-save-voice-recordings-and-photos-using-evernote/#respond Thu, 28 Aug 2014 02:08:02 +0000 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/?p=2672 Continue reading →]]> Today, were he still alive, my beloved, late-husband Sam and I would have been celebrating 54 wonderful years. Thus, in today’s tutorial, I am including a photo of us celebrating our 45th anniversary at a surprise party that our children and grandchidren gave for us.

I’m blessed to have beautiful written messages from Sam over the years AND one of the things I MISS, is something I could easily have had… HIS VOICE.  For demo purposes, the screen shot below is a note  I created that looks like one I could have made while he was alive.

While  Sam was still alive I was doing recorded seminars. I could have used that same technology and recorded interviews or simple fun conversations with him. Today it’s even easier with the smart phones we have, as well as many other options.  One of them is EVERNOTE. It’s a simple FREE downloadable application that I love for many reasons. Follow the images above and below and you’ll see why.

In the image you can see the steps and how simple it is to click on the Microphone icon, a RECORD button (not showing in photo) appears. Click on that and simply record a conversation if you are together, or a phone conversation with a speaker phone. As it’s recording you can type notes and attach documents or photos.

In the image above, you’ll see the Paper Clip for attachments.  On the computer click on that to search your computer for the photo or photos you wish to attach.

On the iPad it is a camera icon. You can take a photograph as you’re creating the note or you can add a photo or photos from your Photo collections on your iPad.

NEXT SCENARIO – Even simpler use –

Have you ever heard of someone’s saving phone messages on their answering services  or machines that they thought was special. Sometimes it’s a message from someone talking before he or she passed away. How long can you save this and be sure it doesn’t get erased?  Not to worry.

If you have a phone or handset that has a speaker, you can simply open a note in Evernote, hit the Microphone icon, then record and capture the message.

I did this today with a message my friend Shellie left on my answer call a couple of months ago.

In commenting on a photo I had posted, Shellie spoke highly about my appearance, my “glow and energy” and positive changes over the years, especially since I dental work done. I felt a lift in my spirits when listening to it, so I wanted to keep it.  It was getting challenging to have to listen to it, and other messages playing, before I could hear new ones.

Now that put it in Evernote it is finally deleted from my phone.  And whenever I need a boost, having synchronized it to all three, I can simply listen to it on my computer, iPad or iMac and even on the web.  If you click on the image and you, too, can hear it on the web.

If you are one who likes to learn all the aspects and advantages of a program, I do have a Kickstart Guide to Evernote available with an special $20 savings for readers of this post. Click on EVERNOTE GUIDE.

And if you appreciate someone working with you as you learn and answering questions, I have a cost effective one-on-one coaching program. We can do one session, four or eight on any of your electronic device questions. Click on COACHING for more information.

Your comments are welcome in the REPLY box below.  Are you a “Memory-Keeper?”  If so, what do you do?  Is there someone special you would like to honor here?

And there are times that I love being able to have a few conversations going at the same time using the “Message” tool.

Usually a box opens on the lower right with a space to type in your message. In the case of the image below, I was already in a chat which you can see had a lot going on in it.

The simplest way to read a message, as well as what we are writing is to open up the window that shows the “full conversation.” The messaging then opens in a full column width. To do this:

1 – First click on the gear in the box header.

2 – A drop down menu opens
3  – Select “See Full Conversation” and you’ll see the message opens to the full width of the column.

That’s all there is to  it. Enjoy your chats.  Remember they are private, only visible to you and the person with whom you are messaging.  And, for easy reference, they stay in that message stream as long as you wishEach of the above rectangular spaces holds a prior message chat with your friend. To protect the privacy of my friends I cropped the box so that you don’t see names or photos.

When you click on one of the names or spaces, the chat will open up in the lower right side of the page, where the message space usually opens. Then for easier reading you can open to the “Full Conversation”, again, following the instructions at the beginning of this post.

Please note in the “Leave a reply” section below: Was this post was helpful to you? Were you aware that you could open to full conversations?

Also, are there other questions you have about Facebook or any of your electronic devices? If so, again, please ask them in the comments section.

A quick investigation, which is play for me, came up with the answers.

First, to manage you page select your Page Identity from  the Dropdown menu by clicking on the arrow in the upper right. Then choose the Settings you wish, including the one to allow posts to your page.

Now go back to your Page. Any posts made by others will be appear in the column on the left. Click on the arrow to open up a list of the posts with the option to Like, Comment or Share.

Listing of Posts on the PageDoes this answer questions you may have? Please leave comments in the “Leave a Reply” box below.  Other questions?  Ask them there in that space also.

After the interview, I decided to create this MUST DO TIP LIST to consider when presenting an iPad gift to a senior.  You can download the list itself, without the images, at iPad Set-Up Tips. I also visited my YouTube channel and found that most of it is covered in a series of 8 very short, simple-to-follow videos. Fortunately I’d had the foresight to document what I did when I first opened my own iPad that I had gifted to myself!! 

Must Cover Information to Make Certain The Gift Recipient Understands his or her iPad.

1 – The Apple ID – Make sure you Save someplace and be sure they Save, and know where to find it, the Apple ID they create AND their password.This will be, as you undoubtedly know, necessary for them to get into the iTunes Store to download any Apps.

2 – Show them
a – How to Power the iPad Off and On
b – How to change orientation of the iPad… from vertical to horizontal… either locking it in position or leaving it unlocked.. My preference is to leave it unlocked so it will rotate when I turn the iPad. I usually keep it in horizontal mode.
c – Where the Settings icon is.

3 – Where the Home Button is and how double tapping it brings up the open Apps on the bottom

4 – Since more than likely one of the reasons they will most want it, or will grow to love it for, is using the Kindle App.
a – Show them how to set up an Amazon Account, if they don’t already have one.

5 – How to set up an email account AND how to have it be inactive so all their mail is not coming into the iPad unless they want it there. I keep some of my accounts inactive unless I’m traveling.

6 – How to use the Internet
a – Click on Safari icon
b – Tap in address space to do a search or enter a full domain name.com

7 – Show the Share icon – for emailing, bookmarking, and/or adding what will be a frequently used site onto the Home Page. They might particularly want to understand this feature in order to share photos. It is also great for saving web pages and emailing it to a friend or associate. one

8 – How to close open Apps by double-clicking the Home button and swiping the Apps up, from the center of the app window, not the icon.

Open Apps drain the battery if they are running in the background. Also setting the iPad to “Never” lock drains the battery. See Video 8 in the series. You can go to the videos individually or click on the video image and the whole Playlist will start and continue on the each of the videos, without your having to click on each one. And, you can always pause as you are watching.

Click or Tap on Links Below
to get to the
INDIVIDUAL VIDEOS
in the
iPad TUTORIALS SERIES

1 – Opening the iPad – Removing the Packaging –

2 – Turning iPad on – Setting it up 

3 – iPad Password Lock – Setting up Location Services   

4 – Completing iPad Set-up and Registering it

5 – Using the iPad with IOS 7  

6 – iPad Clock and Setting Time Zone

7 – Moving and Deleting App Icons on the iPad

8 – Important Settings in iPad (including Lock time)  – 

Again, you can get these tips and links in a PDF to print out and save. Click on Must Know iPad Tips for Seniors.

Watch the whole series, one after another by clicking on the iPAD TUTORIALS Playlist link.

If your parent, brother, sister, friend needs another senior to talk to, I invite you to add to the iPad the gift of one of my coaching packages. To order, click on Coaching.

I’d love to know what your experiences have been with Seniors Using iPads. Your comments are welcome in the Reply box below.

Lastly – Questions? – Post them below also, or email
easyseniortechnology@gmail.com.

With today’s being Mother’s Day and it’s also being the time of year for graduations, I once again remind you of the power of our various built-in cameras to be and stay connected with our loved ones – family members and friends.

Throughout this Technology for Seniors Made Easy blog, I reference using iPhone or other Smart Phone video cameras to make these connections. I make it a practice to sing Happy Birthday, or other greetings, on video to my family members and close friends. Any videos under a minute in length are easy to email or text directly from the iPhone.

For this post I did the quick video above to demonstrate acknowledging Mother’s Day. Early in the day, I “text” messaged my granddaughter with a note along with a singing congratulations video on her graduation from college. Both were done with my iPhone, the camera lens tapped to face me.

For other examples and instructions, see How to eMail a Video from the iPhone another post on this blog. In the post Use Phone, Camera, or Computer Video for Celebration and Preservation of Special Occasions you’ll see an example of one of our followers who set up a special celebratory background scene to sing Happy Birthday to her mother.

Elsewhere on the blog I show How to Use Photo Booth on the iMac for creating videos and emailing them. The lower video on that page has my singing “Happy Birthday” to subscribers.  There I also point out the importance of maintaining eye contact with the recipient.

Our inclination is usually to be looking at ourselves and our own eyes in the monitor when we do videos. Rather, it’s important to remember, when addressing your audience through the camera, be sure to look at and focus on the lens of the device… on the side of our phones and tablets and top center of our computers.

Referencing the video above, in terms of the mechanics of it….

Usually I’ll simply hold the phone in my hand and simply stretch my arm as far out as I can go.  In the case of this video I used my Joby GripTight GorillaPod Stand sitting on a box to bring it up closer to eye level.

NOTE: If you do not have a video camera, or are uncomfortable videoing yourself, the are several ways you can send audio messages.  See Audio Recording Loved One’s Voices. Although the focus is on preserving another’s voice, the alternative processes described would be the same for sending audio messages.

Joyous connecting, making a difference for those you are reaching, as well as yourself. Please share your experiences with audio and/or video greetings in the “Leave a Reply….” box below.

And, certainly, if you have any questions email me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com

My personal preference is to use Zoom.us, an easy, one-time download, to connect with one another by computer, iPhone, iPad or other Android phone or tablet for seeing one another, sharing celebrations. If no electronic devices are available, you can even use a mobile or land line phone to call in.

One of the things that makes this program extra special from my perspective is that you can record your conversations, gatherings, events… whatever is shared and you’ll be preserving the memories for whomever/whenever in both video and audio!

On this past Christmas day, my cousins gathered from nine different locations, including at an airport, as well as by phone from India. We were together for over an hour.

In the above image on the left, I was setting up a computer in my son’s office to record our gathering for those people who could not attend. On the right, four of us were gathered around my iPad on his family patio.

The next image on the left is a gallery view of several of us, from Florida, California, Rhode Island and a few from the Philadelphia home where most of my cousins and their families were gathered. On the right you’ll see a portion of the note I was writing and sharing from my iPad.

Internet and screens can be shared one at a time from any of your devices. So if one wants to show family photos, or anything else, this can be shared with the full group. So you can get an even greater sense of the intimacy of the experience, above is the one minute video I did of candle lighting on the last night of Hanukkah.  My son and grandson who live a half-hour from me in Florida had called to request our lighting candles together while on the phone. Instead I suggested we include my son, their brother and uncle, in Georgia.  Given his webcam wasn’t set up, you’ll see an icon only when he was talking.  Even though he did not have an operational webcam he could see us on his computer.

As many as 100 participant devices for up to 40 minutes are free when using Zoom.us. The host can also pay $14.99 a month for unlimited time.  If you are using the free service, you will be notified when the 40-minute end time is approaching. You do have the option to come back in again for another 40 minutes, if you so choose. If you elect to pay for a month’s service, you can cancel at any time.

Again, both video and audio recording are optional at no charge. The facilitator can record it AND he/she can give the participants permission to record also. When the gathering is over the recordings download to the computers of each person who clicked on “Record.”

You can access the Zoom program by using the DOWNLOAD link at the bottom of any of the http://Zoom.us pages.  If you have an iPad or iPhone, it will direct you to the App store for Zoom.us download. You can see a complete tutorial for setting up and/or attending a Zoom gathering on my Zoom Tutorial page.

I also have series of Zoom videos on the YouTube Technology for Seniors Zoom Playlist.

If you have any questions, please leave them in the “Leave a Reply” section below or address them to me easyseniortechnology@gmail.com. I will be checking regularly, should you need help this weekend.

To joyous and loving communications on holidays and any and all days!

]]> http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/communicating-for-seniors/holiday-celebrations-with-widespread-family-and-friends-in-many-locations/feed/ 1 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/communicating-for-seniors/how-to-add-home-screen-icons-on-ipad-and-iphone-home-for-favorite-sites/ Sun, 02 Mar 2014 14:23:03 +0000 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/?p=2467 Continue reading →]]> (Above image shows link on my iPad to the Home Page of this site)

Do you ever wish, when your using your iPad or iPhone, that you could quickly get to your most frequently used websites and pages?

Recently I was asked, “How can I get an icon on my iPad desktop?”  I had never thought about it. Always curious, I immediately went on an investigative tour of my iPad and then my iPhone. I found the answer was “Yes” AND it was soooo easy.

The “share” or “send-to” icon (see #1 in the image above) is the way to easily send photos, notes and links to web pages gives far more choices than I had paid attention to.  I’d only been using it for mailing or messaging photos and web page links to myself and friends.

As I looked more closely on my discovery journey, I notice the “Add to Home Screen” choice (#2 in image above) in the bottom row. And, so I did. To my amazement, it was instantly on my home screen!

When you’re on a web page, you’ll find the “share” icon (rectangle with vertical arrow pointing up) at the top of the page. For Photos and
Notes (if you use this application) the icon is in the bottom left corner of the page.

ADDED NOTE:  When it comes to the share choices in the top row, I personally prefer not to use send to Twitter or Facebook from applications where they ask if they can access our files and contacts.  I do all my posting on those sites directly from my computer, iPhone or iPad.

Please share in the “Leave a reply” box below, any shortcuts and apps that you especially like using on your iPhone, iPad or any other phone, tablet or computer.

And, any questions of your own.  Place in comments below or email me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com.

I have written here onTechnologyforSeniorsMadeEasy.com blog, in the past about using the phone and video to preserve memories. I was really moved the other day to received the following message for a friend, with this video attached.  I have regularly been using my iPhone and sometimes Photo Booth in my Mac to send birthday and anniversary greetings to friends and family members. And my friend went all out in this video to her mother on the latter’s 91st birthday.

The above video was done with Photo Booth.  The same friend wrote the following to me, along with a different video:

“ONLY because of YOU YOU YOU YOU… did I make my mother some videos and she LOVES getting them. I sent a special one for her 91st birthday!!

I LOVE sending Video cards now!! And people LOVE getting them even More than a regular card they tell me!! THANKS AGAIN for your endless Patience with me until I was ready!!”

And, last night, another friend to whom I sang Happy Birthday in an iPhone message wrote:

“That was a beautiful video, you’ve got such a great voice. [I was always told I couldn’t carry a tune!]  I am so moved that you sang to me, just like all my sisters and family!

I loved it! It was the cherry on the cake of my day!”

This is only the tip of the iceberg. What if you were to regularly be recording these special moments, including holiday celebrations?

For sure, you wouldn’t  be left like I was/am ruing the fact that with all my knowledge and ability to do it, I do not have anything with my late husband’s voice… something I so miss not having.

At least now I know enough and have the simple tools to preserve family memories.

As seen and heard in the above video recording, my two sons and one of my grandsons, were able to share the last night of our holiday together, from three different locations. Note, one son did not have a digicam, so you’ll see an icon when he speaks.

We got on a Zoom.us meeting and I simply pushed a button to record it.

On February 24th, in my weekly Monday, Evolving Seniors FREE Hour Q and A calls, I will be showing ways you can do the above, preserve and send these celebrations and memories. Get details on the EVOLVING SENIORS page.

If you’ve missed this session, register anyway to get details of future sessions. Then email me a request for the recording of the 2/24/14 meeting.

Reply to me from the welcome email with the request, or email me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com with that request or with any other questions you’d like to see addressed here on this blog or in that weekly gathering.

Several years ago, through groups found online and connected via email and phone only, I made quite a few friends with whom I still interact today.  I especially love the Zoom.us app because it allows more direct contact and visual sharing of our own persona and photos and information from our computers, iphones, android, iPads, other tablets and even a phone only.

Periodically I offer free Q&A Mondays, from 11 AM to Noon US Eastern time, on all the ways you can use Zoom to enrich your personal life and business life.  One of the things I did in preparation for this is a video showing the various Zoom controls to Morgine Jurdan.  Morgine is one of my friends whom I met online about 8 years ago.  She lives across the country from me. We thus find Zoom a fun and easy way to connect.

To schedule a Free Q&A Monday visit, email me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com with Zoom Q&A Monday in the Subject Line.

See Evolving Seniors for details on how to join in.

where every table had an iPad!!!

Not only were the iPads there for the patrons general use, they served as the “waiters,” offering the menu, taking food and beverage selections. The final step to placing orders is swiping your credit car on the machine attached to the table.

While waiting for her food to be brought to her, Terry was able to surf the internet or play games!

Would you have been as excited as Terry if you had sat down in this restaurant?

I recently was introduced to Toggl,  can be used for simple tracking of tasks for yourself:

“What are you Working on Now”, and then timing it with the built-in timer or adding, or adjusting, the start and end times manually, if I forgot to start or stop the time.  It’s very easy to go in and make changes to the times.

You can be listing multiple projects and then run reports.  If in
business you can also be tracking “billable hours” as well as more
in-depth tracking.

And, while I’m writing about tracking….

Several people recently have talked/written about how much more
they are accomplishing by using a timer, allotting specified amounts
of time for particular projects or activities.

There are the “traditional” timers you’ve most likely used in the
past… the “kitchen timer”… a dial one that you set to number of minutes you want to count down from.

Then, in later years and
currently, a timer you can set with your microwave or oven (even if
not cooking).

Given I generally address “computer/internet” tech tips here, I’ll add my past and current favorites for setting time notifications. Prior to my iPhone, I used “Class Timer” for timed writing prompts and other activities in my office when near my computer. I just discovered a link on that page to a variety of other timers, including a “Chess Timer” – See http://www.timeme.com/

My most favorite now is the timer on the iPhone. You can select, and change at any time, the ringtones you’d like to hear at the end. Fun!

Then, whenever I need to be using an alarm clock, it’s my iPhone I choose! Prior to my iPhone it was my cell phone that I mainly used.  One of the most frustrating things for me when I first got my iPhone was not being able to find the alarm feature!

No longer do I use a radio clock, or any other standard clock …. I simply set my trusty phone, usually placing it on my dresser across the room, ensuring I’ll easily get out of bed.

Not to be left out, as I mentioned above, even if you are not an iPhone user, as you most likely know, the “alarm clock” is an integral part of any basic cell phone. It doesn’t have to be a “smart phone.”

Lastly, while I’m talking iPhone clocks, let’s not forget the World Clock.

How often I’ve been tempted to the Web to check the time out for a cousin who lives in India, or search for where I noted down the time difference somewhere in my computer.

Same thing with a friend in England.  Then I REMEMBER.  “Oh, yes.  I do not have to go any further than the built-in Clock app on the iPhone and iPad!”

I was recently asked if I use the iPhone (and Android) Application for uploading photos directly to Flickr.

Flickr is one of the most widely used programs, by both professional and amateur photographers, for sharing and storing photographs.  The photos can be public or they can be designated for viewing by a limited audience. You select your own criteria.  Although I generally use it only when I’m facilitating a photo telecourse, I did immediately jump on to my iPhone to experiment with the application.

The steps for setting up and using the Flickr App with your Photo Album are:

1 – Go to the App store on your phone to search for and download the free Flickr application.

2 – Register it with Flickr using your Yahoo ID.  If you do not have a Yahoo ID, you can find the how-to post here on the How to Set Up Yahoo ID for email and other purposes.

3 – Open your Photo Album. Select one photo (see photo on right)

4 – When you select one photo you’ll see the “Send” icon on the lower left.  Tap on that and you’ll see several choices of locations to which you can send the photo.

Then tap “Next” in the upper right.

5 – You will have the option to swipe through your photos to select more than one.  Tap on each photo you want and a check mark will appear.  I suggest no more than 2 to 4 at a time. When you are satisfied, again tap “Next” in the upper right.

A new screen opens, along with your keyboard, to type in the title of the photo (which you can add or change once it’s on Flickr).

You will be given a choice to upload it to a preexisting “set” if you have already created one or more, or you can leave the space blank.

Once you have entered a title and chosen a “set” (both optional at this point), simply tap on “Post” and wait.  You will get a quick notification on your phone that the upload is complete.
And you can go up to your Flickr account online –  http://flickr.com – Log in there also, if need be, and click on YOU in the upper left to get to your photos. I will do a future tutorial on using How to Use Flickr. It has drastically changed since I did a complete PDF tutorial last year, and before.

Lastly, if you’d prefer to listen to this tutorial you can click on the video below.  The same images are used in it as the ones above.  I simply talk you through it.

As always, I would appreciate your feedback in the “Leave a Reply…” box below.  What was most helpful for you in the above? Do you have further questions?

Is there more you would like to see on this Technology for Seniors Made Easy blog in relation to your working with your photographs.

And you can always send me questions in an email to EasySeniorTechnology@gmail.com

Recently I discovered a couple of new uses for my iPhone in documenting things I want/need to remember.

One was to use the Voice Memo App for recording the “whooshing” sound being made in a toilet tank. So often noises we hear in our appliances or cars never seem to appear when we try to explain them to the repair people. It occurred to me if the sounds were recorded, they certainly could be shared with the service man when he came. As it turns out they were present when he was there and he could immediately see and show me what it was.  Nevertheless he was impressed with the recording.

The second actually relates to the first.

THE STORY – There had been an internal leak in the tank resulting in an unexpected large increase in the monthly water bill. The leak had actually consumed an additional 5000 gallons of water beyond customary usage.

This time, in order to have a meaningful conversation with a customer service person when I called the water company, I went out to my water meter to do a reading on the gauge.

I did not realize that only one of the two different dials was the meter for my home.  Concerned with how I’d remember the two sets of numbers by the time I got back into my house, I decided to pull the iPhone from my pocket, intending to type the numbers into a memo.

Then I realized it would be even simpler to use the iPhone camera to photograph the two dials. And, that’s exactly what I did, as I got down on my hands and knees to get clear pictures.

Back at my desk, I made note of the numbers. Then with three months of past invoices that I put into Evernote (process from web to note will be described in the next post), I was able to have an easy-to- understand and follow, satisfactory conversation with the rep.

SIMPLIFYING – HELPFUL HINTS and ACCESSORIES
When I went to gather images for this post, I decided it would be great to have a photograph showing the iPhone in action.  I did this with my iPad.  I could not figure out, though, how to manage getting down on my knees to replicate what I did for purposes of photographing with the iPad.

Then, while juggling the phone, switching hands to take pictures, I remembered I had a Smartphone Monopod that I could use to hold the phone steadier. This is what you see in the topmost photo here.

Ironically, I never thought to use the Monopod while doing the initial photos for the needed information when calling the Water Company Service department. How much easier it would have been!

What creative uses have you found for your SmartPhone? Please share with us in the “Leave a Reply … ” comments box below or send me an email at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com

The added “wow” for me was Camara’s mentioning that she was able to share images  from her iPad with her client. I’d been wondering if there was an even easier way than Google Hangouts. I was so excited when I discovered it a few months ago. I was mainly drawn to it for the screen sharing possibility and then the fact that there could be up to 12 people in a Hangout, contrasted with only 2 people on Skype.

When working with my clients, I found it challenging to explain the different steps in the other seemingly more complex programs, especially since so often there are updates and changes. I was also frustrated because mobile phones and tablets did not seem to have all the capabilities on Hangouts as the more robust computer applications. In any case, “chat” was not possible in the latter, at least not in what I was able to find.

Zoom.us seems to be able to do it all – text chat, voice chat AND you also have the option to VIDEO RECORD. What a great way to have small family gatherings and preserve the memories for those there, as well as those who could not attend.

And, one of the most surprising features is that for 40 minutes, or less, of time spent together there is NO charge for the service.  If you want an unlimited amount of time for up to 50 people, then it’s only $14.99 per month. You can also choose a yearly plan which factors out to even less per month.

So, I invite you now to join me in understanding how to use ZOOM.us for your needs. The screen shots below will show you step by step and explain some of the variations with different Apple devices.  I’m assuming the PC and Androids would be similar.

As you you can see from the e-mail invitation above you can join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device. There is a direct link to join on the email you will receive as an invited participant. The participant ID is also shown separately. You will need that if you choose to respond to the “Join Meeting” option.  Or, you can conference in by phone and be heard by everyone in the meeting as well as hear them.

When you click on “join a conference” on any of your devices you will be asked the first time only to download the ZOOM application.  It is amongst the quickest, easiest downloads I, and anyone with whom I tested this, have experienced.

How to Host a Meeting –

First – Go to http://zoom.us and click on Free Account.

Then click on Host a Meeting and Sign Up Free if this is your first time, or Log In.  All that’s required of first-time hosts is first and last name, email address and agreement to terms of service.  Participants responding to an invitation by link or conference ID do not have to sign up for anything.

After Logging In

What you see in the image on the right is the Dashboard with an Options Panel that will open on the right of the screen of the one who will be Hosting the meeting.

You can choose to Schedule a one-time meeting or it can be recurring. When using this option you will be given the choice of putting it on one of the major calendars and inviting from there, or you can choose to start with a Video Meeting or Screen Share Meeting.

Selecting Video will bring your image up on the screen.

If you do not see the menu on the bottom on the computer, place your mouse in the window and it will appear.  Tapping on the Window in Mobile Device brings up the Control Panel there.

You can now invite participants from the Invite link.

A window will open with options for Default Email, which will open up in your mail program,  Gmail or Yahoo Mail or you can click on Copy URL on the bottom for the “Invitation URL” and put the link in a Social Media post or wherever else it might make sense.

Using ZOOM features for both hosts and participants –

In the process of going through all that I could to make it easy for you, I wound up having fun using all three of my Apple devices.  In the photo above are the “participants” I saw when on my Mac (the main view), my iPad and my iPhone. You see me chatting with myself! (Chat explained below.)

Screen Sharing –
On the iPhone image to the right there is only one other participant photo on the bottom. The iPad had left the meeting.

What you are seeing in the  center of the phone image is the Screen Share being done by the  Mac participant.

To Screen Share on any of your devices, simply click or tap on “Screen Share.”

On your computer as seen below, an image of all of your open windows will appear. Simply click on the window you wish to share.

To share something on the Internet simply select an open browser.  Both host and participants can screen share.

Screen Sharing on your Mobile Device – As you see from the image on the right, tapping “screen share” brings up a Menu.  Choices on a Mobile Device are to:
Share Photos,
Share from Dropbox,
Share from Box,
Share Web,
Share from Bookmark.

When you share from the web the participants will see all of your activity along with hearing any of your comments.

Sharing Travel Experiences – In my exploration of Zoom with a friend, I went to Flickr photo sharing service on the Internet. Though my friend’s PC does not have a camera,  she was able to follow my movement as I as I cycled through photos she had posted in her free account on FLickr. With excitement and delight, she talked about some of the highlights from a recent trip.  What a great way to share your trips or family events with those who could not be there. Everyone can see and ask and answer questions.

To Chat –
On your Mobile device tap on “Participants“. A window with open with a list of all of the participants.  You can select one, or “Chat with All” (upper right on the phone or iPad)

On your Computer the option is in the menu bar on the bottom of your screen.

Ways of Viewing Participants (and Screen Shares) –
You can choose whom you wish to see enlarged on your screen. Simply click or tap their image in the control panel.

As dialogue is going on, you can choose to be viewing the video of the person speaking either in small size or full screen.

1 – For a gallery view, where you see images of all the participants, click on the first of the two icons at the top right of your screen (as shown in the image above).

2 – On your computer, clicking on the icon in the far right of the control bar at the top will bring any image full screen. To go back to default size, use the escape button on your keyboard.

To Record the meeting – Simply click on the small record icon bottom right on the control bar.  To stop recording, click the button again or it will complete when the meeting ends.  Shortly thereafter an MP4 will be created and downloaded to your computer in whatever folder you’ve designated in your settings.

If a participant wishes to record, he/she will get a message to get permission from the host.

If any recording is to be done, I urge you to get permission of everyone in the meeting, especially if there’s a possibility that you might post it on YouTube or other public place.

Computer Settings for Zoom –
You might never need to go to the Settings Control and I’m bringing it to your attention should you have challenges, especially in hearing someone talking or in their hearing you.

Clicking on Settings brings up the window shown below.  By default, the Built-in Speakers will show. Clicking on “Test Speaker”(and speaking) will show your volume in green.

If someone says they can’t hear you well, test your “Microphone” by speaking into your external microphone, or talking at your computer. Make sure you have the green bar moving well, toward the upper end.

Controls and Settings for Using Zoom

Using Zoom on PCs and Android Devices – I am assuming that the system and controls are pretty much the same and that you should be able to follow along from what’s been covered in this post.  If there is a big difference, please let me know.

To sign up for a FREE account for up to 60 people on an unlimited number of calls of up to 40 minutes, which includes the option to video and audio record the sessions, simply click or tap on ZOOM.

Lastly, I would appreciate your feedback. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the “Leave a Reply” box below, or email them to me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com

Have you used Zoom.us or are you likely to now? If so, for connecting with family? friends? and/or business associates?
How do you plan to use it?

Also, do you have a parent, friend, or perhaps you, who would appreciate one-on-one support on learning/using any one of the electronic communication devices?  If so, I invite you to consider gifting them, or yourself, with one of my “Coaching Gift Packages”.  Click on Special Offer.

(To watch, click on arrow on the far left  below the video.)

My exploration for answers, as well as questions others were having, led to this blog post. The answers were so simple!! With the previous operations, “tapping” is the action that causes results. With iOS7 it is “swiping“.  This post addresses a few of the most used activities on our devices and the actions for managing them.

In the above video on “How to Use iOS7 on the iPad” you’ll see the ease of the “swiping” motions that I discuss. Below you’ll see individual explanations.

1 – CLOSING OPEN PROGRAMS – To extend your battery life,  be sure to regularly close applications you are not using.  In the earlier systems, double clicking on the home button brings up all your open programs in a row at the bottom of your device. Tapping on one  brings up minus signs in the upper left corner of each icon.  A single tap on that mark closes the program/window. Now, in iOS7, when double clicking on the home button, we see the icons for all the open programs.  Plus we see the full the page images reduced. We can quickly find the one we want by swiping to our right, or left, once we’ve started.

In the iOS7 system, the magical thing  for closing the application is to simply put a finger or thumb on the window and swipe it up, out of the way.  It disappears almost instantly!

2 – Searching within Your iPad or iPhone – This was my biggest frustration.  The system I was using on my iPhone to get to Search just wasn’t working and I couldn’t find the answer. When pointing out my discoveries to my new friend Jim Bitz when I was in Tampa, Fl, this weekend, it became a mutual sharing of our learnings. He hadn’t yet realized some of what I had discovered.  On the other hand he had found the SEARCH. Thank you, Jim.

To do so yourself, simply place a finger anywhere on the home page and SWIPE DOWN on the full screen.  The “Search iPad” (or iPhone) space opens. To CLOSE simply swipe the page down OR up!

3 – TRANSLUCENT CALENDAR OVERLAY – Those who use the calendar function are likely to find this new feature quite helpful.  Grab on at the very top of ANY of the pages and PULL DOWN – Your calendar will appear on top of whatever is behind it. With that open, you can SWIPE DOWN again and get the date, local weather and details of the event.

To close, simply swipe up on the centered slightly angled line at the very bottom of the page.

4 –  New Control Center for VOLUME AND BRIGHTNESS CONTROLS – I found this to be slightly more of a challenge to open.  Along the very bottom of your home page, or any other similar, “grab on” and pull upward. The new bar, as seen below, will open with controls (on the left) for your music and for volume in any of your sound operations.  On the right is the monitor brightness control.

On the iPhone, in addition to what’s mentioned above, other controls include the icons for flashlight and camera. To close this control center, simply swipe down on the angled line at the top of it.

5 – Lastly for this post, THE CAMERA – As mentioned above, one of the main reasons the new look and operating system was so hugely frustrating for me was that I could NOT do a video.  Once I figured it, out I saw how easy it is!  You simply swipe up or down to choose video, photo, or square, to photograph in a square format. And it’s a tap for HDR off or on.

The center button turns red when we’re in video mode.Now, I’m so enjoying the new look and options on my iPad, I’m intent on deleting a lot of videos and photos on my iPhone to make the required available space I need there for the new system.

REQUEST – Please share your own experiences with iOS7 in the “Leave a Reply” section below and/or post your questions there. If there are challenges you are having, you may also send them to easyseniortechnology@gmail.com. I love searching for answers.

Leaving your with an IMPORTANT REMINDER – Before installing any operating system software updates be sure to back-up what’s currently on your iPad or iPhone.

So when I checked with a friend, querying information I had seen in her profile, she wrote me back that she had unsuccessfully attempted making changes.  For her, and anyone else with similar challenges, below are the step-by-step visuals for how to edit your information on Facebook. You can actually get at the pages you want to change from either your Profile page or the Home page.

On the Profile Page, click on either “Update Info” or “About”

Once in the About page, click on Edit in any of the sections you want to change.

You can also get to the editing from your Home Page

When in your About Page, go to the section you want to be edited.

Click on Edit. Then make the Changes you wish in the boxes that open.  Be sure to Save Changes.

Have fun making your updates. Please share in the comments here, your experience of this post. Also what is it you most like about Facebook?  Please leave your responses in the “Reply …” box below

If you are interested in privacy and security, the following NBCActionNews video is a “must-watch.” I’m not sure if there is much difference in the relevant technology since this interview was uploaded in November 2010. At the time, the officer interviewed called this “hidden threat” “today’s biggest risk online.”

Watch it and you will see that locations of bedrooms, schools, where the children hangout, and much more, were all trackable from information gleaned from online photos. Below the video you will see a tutorial on how to change Location Services settings in the iPhone and iPad to protect your loved ones from privacy invasion.

As you review the steps below, if you cannot easily find similar settings for your own smart phone, check out Wiki’s “How to Avoid the Potential risks of Geotagging.” This article points out that some digital cameras also geotag by default. In addition, you can do a web search for information on your specific phone model phone or camera.

How to Secure Your Settings on the iPhone (and iPad)

1 – Open Settings on your Home Screen

2 – Click on Privacy

3 – Click on Location Services

4 – A listing of all of your Apps will show up here

Turn OFF Camera and any photo associated Apps as well as any other app you wish not to have geotagged.  You can always give permission later if a specific App requires location services for an action you want to take.

5 – Go back to Privacy under Settings and click on Photos (see above). Then click on all the Apps for which you want to disable location services.

Note on the top of this Photos screen it states: “Photos stored on your iPhone may contain other information such as when and where the photo was taken.”

With Facebook turned OFF I can no longer post photos directly from my iPhone.  I will keep this off, until I’m sure that turning Camera to OFF in Location Services was the full protection for which I am looking.  AND, I still should be able to upload to Facebook from my computer and maintain the privacy I set up in Step 4.

Watch for a follow-up to this post with a different video on geotagging.

Please share your experiences and questions in “Leave a Reply…” in the box below. As always, if you have any questions, leave them also in the “Reply” box or address them to me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com

You can call to, or from, anywhere in the US or Canada at no charge for the call.

You do need to have a built-in microphone in your computer, or a headset, if you want to be heard on the other end by your friend or family member. Those on their phones will come in loud and clear for you on your computer, so long as your volume is turned on.

STEP ONE –

Go to http://google.com and log in. When done, click on the Gmail link along the top, under the url line.

(See How to Set up a Gmail Address, if you do not yet have one.)

When you are on your Gmail page, glance down the menu on the left side of the page.  Next to your photo, if you’ve uploaded one, or the blank image icon, you’ll see video camera icons and a phone receiver. The video cameras are for setting up Hangouts. (See end of this post.)

STEP TWO –

To make a phone call, simply click on the phone icon. (See previous image.) A numeric key pad comes up in the lower right section of the window.

Then tap in the digits of the phone number of the person or company you want reach. After the phone number is entered, tap “Call.”

If your family members, or friends, are ones who use Caller ID to screen calls, you might want to inform them in advance that they could be receiving calls from you that say “Unknown” along with a phone number.

Have fun and, if it’s a first for you, enjoy this new way of connecting

GOOGLE HANGOUTS EXPLANATION –
If you are not yet aware of them, Google Hangouts are one of the ways we can communicate face-to-face on the Web. Up to 10 people can be in a video “gathering.” This is a great way for family members and friends living in several different locations to be joining together for a visit.

One of the Hangout examples on this blog is that of Kelly Ripa and several others interviewing Michelle Obama on her commitment to children, nutrition and exercise. See Whitehouse Fireside Hangout with Kelly Ripa and Michelle Obama.

REQUESTS –
1 – Please share this post with your friends and family. Invite them to also visit this blog –
http://TechnologyforSeniorsMadeEasy.com/blog to sign up for Quick Tech Tips mailings, as well as email notifications on new posts.

I had a 4 1/2 hour road trip scheduled, so it was a good opportunity to try something new. In the past, I would have gone to the library to check out one or more books on CDs. It makes the trip more enjoyable, for me, and time passes much more quickly as I drive when listening to a good story on CDs. This time, instead of taking time out to go to my branch library, I chose to visit the County Public Library system on my computer. Then I took advantage of the opportunity to download two audio books from the Internet and put them on my iPod. (One totally delightful one was with Betty White reading her latest book. Details and an audio clip at the end of this post.)

As I was visiting, I started paying more attention to what really great services are offered,  especially for those who might be home bound! The services include both downloadable music and audio books, as well as print books in several different formats. The latter can be read on your computer, Kindle, Nook, iPad or other Tablet, as well as on your phones.

All that’s necessary to borrow materials, in the library and online, is a library card. When you find what’s available, in whatever medium you want, simply follow the instructions for borrowing; then download the specific audio or ebook for the specified time period.  The system will automatically remove it from your computer on the due date.  You can always go back the next day to borrow it again, so long as there is not a hold on it.

Available products listed in the Palm Beach County Library System – http://www.pbclibrary.org/ – are:

1 – Books, CD, & DVDs
2 – eBooks & Audiobooks
3 – Downloadable Music
4 – Magazines & Newspapers
5 – Articles & Information
plus many Events and Classes

Wondering, are Computer Download Services are available to you?
To see if a public library near you has downloadable material, you can check out http://www.overdrive.com/ This is the service to which the Palm Beach County Library subscribes for electronic delivery of Audiobooks.

When you go to Overdrive you’ll see a Search box in the column on the right. Enter your zip code to find the closest library to you that uses their services.

Cloud Library for eBooks. Find Your Library in Search at Bottom of Left Column on the Cloud Site.

3M Cloud Library is another service that provides downloadable eBooks. Check http://3m-ssd.implex.net/cloudapps/ to see how it works and what might be available in your area.

Routine Online Library Services –
In conclusion, in the event that you may not be fully aware of the more routine services your library might provide, summarized below are the main services of which I have been taking advantage prior to this:

1 – Before jumping to buy a book that interests me, I’ve gotten into the habit of first logging into my library to see  if the book is available in one or more of the branches.

2 – If it is, I put a reservation/hold on it.

3 – The library then notifies me by email when it’s available. I do have to drive to my closest branch to pick it up.

4 – Once charged out I get notified two or days before the due date.

5 – I will often renew books online, up to 3 times, if there is not another hold on it.

6 – And, if I forget to return it, the library sends a friendly reminder.

Please feel free to share these posts with your friends and family. Invite them to also visit this blog –
http://TechnologyforSeniorsMadeEasy.com/blog to sign up for Quick Tech Tips mailings, as well as email notifications on new posts.

See SUBSCRIBE for email notifications in the column here on your right. When you click on that link there will be a little envelope in the box in the upper right on the new page.  Click on that icon and follow instructions.

As always, if you have any questions, you can leave them in the “Leave a Reply….” box below or address them to me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com

If You Ask Me – on Overdrive.com Site. Click to hear audio clip from there.

Lastly, in the beginning of this post I promised to share the audio books to which I listened in the long car ride I took across the state.

The first was Betty White reading her “If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t)”.  What a delightful book, especially so, listening to her read/talk it!

Click on her photo above to hear the clip from the Overdrive Site. In the beginning of the clip Betty quotes George Burns with a funny statement he made on his writing books.  As for herself she declares, “Writing is my favorite thing.”

At the end of this short clip, White states: “Old age isn’t for sissies.  I can’t believe I’m getting old.  Why do people ever say ‘Happy Birthday!'”

Source – http://palmbeach.lib.overdrive.com/AE57EFC3-148D-4537-8766-8DADCD92B47E/10/50/en/ContentDetails.htm?id=9FBEE004-138A-4621-937A-1BF53CE92ADF

This book was only 2 1/2 hours. The rest of the trip and into 4 hours after I got home I enjoyed, “The Best Defense” by Kate Wilhelm.

Again, your comments and experiences are welcome in “Leave a Reply…” below.

Continuing from the last post “How to Add Birthdays in Your Address Book and to iCal on the Mac“, adding birthdays to your Contact List in the iPhone is quite simple.

1 – Select the Contacts icon from your Home Page. Tap to Open.

2 – Tap on + Sign on new opened page or Tap Edit on an Existing Contact’s Page

3 – Scroll down to Add Field

4 – Tap to Open added Field. Scroll down to Birthday Field.

5 – Tap to open the Birthday Field.  Three  “wheels” will open. Select the desired month, day, year.

To protect my friends and family members privacy, should other people be checking my iPhone, I usually like to scroll down to the dashes and not include the year.

6 – Competed Contact Card with the information I entered here.

7 – Finally, you can Check your CALENDAR to see that the birthday has been included as an Event.

The dot under the date confirms that there is an “event” that day.  Tapping it, turns it blue and opens it, revealing the birthday. Tapping on the text opens up the Contact’s page.

And, of course, you can SEND a text message from there or FaceTime your friend or relative from here.

Once I’m reminded of the birthday, I like to do a quick video using my iPhone directed to me, singing Happy Birthday directly to my friend or relative. Then I text (or email) it directly from the Photo/Video album.

This contact’s birthday will remain noted on that day in your calendar, year after year, unless you alter or delete it.

Enjoy the fun and ease of remembering dates that are important to you and your loved ones. You might consider ADDING another Field for noting some “likes”, or ideas for gifts, if you will be giving that person a gift.  You can go in any time and do that.

Please share your experiences below in the LEAVE A REPLY box. Was this new information for you? Are there other fields that you add to your contacts with specific types of information?

As always, if you have any questions, you can leave them in the box or address them to me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com

This morning I was asked how to make note of birthdays in the calendar in the Mac computer and iPhone.  If set up to do so, they will pick up in both when your iPhone gets synchronized with your computer and vice-versa.

There are two ways birthdays can be added, either through your address book or directly in the calendar.

Adding Birthdays by Choice in Address Book

Below are the steps to create a permanent Birthday Field that will be on the form whenever you add a new contact

1 – Open your Address Book and select Preferences.

2 – Open the Add Field menu that will be in the new window

3 – The Add Field drop down menu opens

4 – Select Birthday

5 – The Birthday Field will now be on all the cards for all new contacts you add to the Address Book.

Once you do that, if you want birthdays for people already in your address book, then you’ll need to go in and enter the field on each of the contacts whose birth dates you want to remember.

To Add Birthdays to Individual Contacts in Your Address Book

Follow the steps below the image:

1 – Open the Address Book and Click on Card in the top Tool Bar. Select Add Field from the drop down menu that opens.

2 – Click on Birthday in the new window.

3 – Select the Date from the birthday section that opens

The selected birth date will now appear on the individual contact’s name and be recorded in iCal calendar if you select that option.

To have Birthdays appear in your iCal Calender

1 – Open iCal and Select Preferences.

2 – On the window that opens in General settings, simply choose “Show Birthdays in calendar.” iCal will now automatically enter birthdays on the designated days in your calendar.

See next post [yet to come] for How to Add Birthdays in Your iPhone.

In two recent posts, I mentioned regretting not having the tangible voice of my beloved, late-husband Sam, for remembering the sound of him, as well as messages he might have liked me to have. I stated that I would show simple ways that you can record audio messages, conversations and interviews. Below I cover using telephone, conference lines and Evernote.

Be sure to scroll through to the end of this post to read two other examples of possibilities for recording different kinds of memories.

IMPORTANT NOTE – Please keep in mind that if you are going to be recording any kind of conversation with another person, state up front, as the recording is started, that it is being recorded. Then get that person’s permission for you to be so doing. If he or she says “No”, then discontinue.

1- Using a telephone bridge/conference line –

The most common way to record using conference lines is for all of your invited people  to individually call into “your” preassigned phone number.

You, the host, will always need to call in on that number, adding the administrator code that you have been assigned.

There are three ways for creatively recording that I’ve used, incurring no long distance charges for the second party.
(Note – I pay for unlimited long distance calling, so there are no fees when I initiate these calls.)

a – If you have a telephone extension, you can call into “your” conference line phone number and have the other person on an extension of your own. You can then record your “interview” or simply have a general back and forth conversation that you record as you both talk into the phone.

b – With a speaker phone, you can call into your conference line and simply record the two of you talking, as well as anyone else who is within the same room.

c – With the 3-way call feature in your phone service (usually an added charge or part of a package), you can call your family member, friend or client; use the flash key to put them on hold; call into the conference line; flash back to the first line; then press the appropriate phone buttons to record, dependent on which service you are using.

2 – Conference Line Companies I Use for Recording –

a. For many years I’ve used Audio Acrobat‘s conference call line capabilities. I do pay for this service monthly. I appreciate it because in addition to be able to save and present the calls in different ways, Audio Acrobat, allows for uploading, storing and sharing videos. There are some videos that I would prefer to keep private and not share on YouTube.

With this service, you, the host, give out you conference line call-in number. Then you, and each of the people you want participating, call into that phone number.  You, by pressing certain keys on your phone, can record any calls up to two hours in length.

Audio Acrobat also offers the option for your own dedicated phone line which you can give out.  With that number, your friend, associate and/or family member can call in and leave a testimonial, or any other, five-minute message.

b.  There are also many free conference line services which also have the option for recording calls. In addition to Audio Acrobat, I use FreeConferencing.com which offers different online controls as you’re conducting the call.

3 – Evernote for Recording Calls

a. Another option I have been using lately is Evernote.  When I’m on a call that I suddenly realize I want to record, I quickly open a new note in Evernote; then click on the microphone icon to start recording. Evernote is a free program downloaded from the Internet that works on Mac or PC computers, iPads and other tablets, and Smartphones.

For more details on how to use Evernote for recording, click on  the “Recording, Editing and Sending Voice Memos Using
Evernote”  link for the post on Technology for Seniors Made Easy.

The Underlying Story Behind this Blog Post –

Reading the section below – “Ways of Recording Memories”.  Click on Remembering Sam to hear Kaitlyn sing, as referred to in the recording and down below.

As I read and reflected on two different posts on Facebook, earlier today, I was reminded of my regretting not having the recorded sound of my late husband Sam’s voice.

In her post, one friend shared about the wonderful relationship she has with her mother who lives in another country, about the daily chats they have over coffee.  I began to wonder, “Does she have any of this recorded?”

Another friend from Australia wrote that she found a year-old unopened package from the funeral home that handled the service for her mom who had passed away. Opening it revealed a DVD recorded by an overhead camera at the back of the room during the service.  My friend had no idea that this was being done and was feeling somewhat a sense of invasion of privacy and wondering if she even want the recorded memories of that day?

This set me to remembering, the little that I do, of the memorial services for my mother, then my father and more recently, though it be over 5 years, the one for my beloved Sam.  For all three services, I wrote my own tributes and read them during the service.  I do have those Word documents saved so I can go back to them at any time. And whatever else was said, by I don’t even remember whom, is long gone from my memory bank. I would love to be able to hear those voices now.

Part of my healing process after Sam was gone was to set up a memorial web page for him.  On it I was able to recreate some of the experience, including, after the fact, recording our then 15 year old granddaughter singing the three songs she sang at the service. I posted them on the page and more.  Now I can go back, at any point in time, and honor and remember Sam in a variety of ways. Others who loved him can also do the same.

So, how can you, too, preserve audio memories of individuals and conversations that you might want in the future?  Go back to the beginning of this post for some of the simple ways.

If you are, or become, interested in more in depth recording of family history,  I recommend you check out the “Recording Family History using Digital Tools” site, http://familyoralhistory.us/ I found a wealth of interesting and detailed information and tools there.

If we’re already on the keyboard typing, why not simply click 2 or 3 keys, rather than reaching over for the mouse and then going up to the menu across the top of whatever the program is in which we are working.

Following are the email shortcuts I have been using most regularly now. They apply only to Windows and Mac Mail programs.  If you are going to the web for your mail, i.e. in AOL, GMAIL, YAHOO Mail, or any other web-based mail program, the shortcuts would apply to your Internet browser applications.

In WINDOWS
New Message – CTRL + N
Open Message – CTRL + O

Send Mail – ALT + S
Reply to Sender – CTR + R
Reply to All – CTRL + SHIFT + R

Delete an eMail – CTR + D for an open email or from the listing of emails in your Inbox or other folders

Forward an eMail – CTR + F (In all other programs except for Mail in Windows, CTR + F = Find)

In MAC
New Message – CMD + N
Open message – CMD + O
Close message – CMD + W (Windows  does not have this option)
Delete an email – CTR + D from the list or an open email

Send Mail – SHIFT + CMD + D
Reply to Sender – CMD + R
Reply to ALL – SHIFT + CMD + R
Forward Email – SHIFT + CMD + F

Delete an email – CMD + Delete, or simply click the Delete Key

ADDED KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS on the MAC – Not in Windows (at least not in my Windows Vista program)

Hide a window – CMD + H
Close a window in a program – CMD + W
Quit the program altogether – CMD + Q
REMINDER – All of the shortcuts, plus more, are listed in any one of the following drop down menus in both WINDOWS and MAC under:

File – Edit or Message – depending on the action you wish to take

The Mac has additional shortcuts listed under others of the options along the top bar.

For your convenience, other blog posts here with additional shortcuts include:

Shortcuts for opening Internet Browser and Emailing Internet links

7 Most commonly used Keyboard Shortcuts

Mouse and Shortcuts for Highlighting Content in Word and Mail

As always your feedback, suggestions and questions are welcome here in a reply to me or on any of the posts on the blog.

Please add them in the “Leave a Reply” box just below or email me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com.

See “Effects” below for explanation of above video

To capture your own photos and create videos on your iMac, find and select the Photo Booth Icon in the Applications folder.  Click to open.

Then to take a PHOTO with Photo Booth, select camera icon on far left.

A camera image control will then appear in the center

For VIDEO, select the filmstrip icon, third one in on the left.

A movie camera image control will now appear in the center.

When ready for your photograph or video, click on the appropriate control button in the center.

Also, be sure to look up at the camera lens, green light – center along the very top of your computer frame.

Focusing on the lens is important if you want to appear to be maintaining eye contact while “talking” to your audiences.

Note – There is a 3 second countdown, after you click the control, before the photo is taken or the video starts, so you will have time to look up. To stop the video recording, simply click the movie camera icon again.

Creating Photos or Videos Using the “Effects” Option

Here’s where fun and play come in, if you so choose.

Photo Booth has an “Effects” range of choices.  I first learned about it when trying out one of my grandsons’ iPad. I shared some photos I did with it in an issue of Treasure Your Life Now – See iPad Effects Call Attention to Varied Interpretations.

Quite a bit after I discovered that “Effects” is also in Photo Booth on my iMac. Then just this past week, when summarizing activity with a client and writing a follow-up tutorial for her on using Photo Booth, I discovered we can also video using “Effects.”

What fun!

(Note – As an application on the iPad, Photo Booth is limited to one page of Effects for taking single shot photographs only. Although the Camera app on the iPad does video also, there is not an option for it in Photo Booth.)

The EFFECTS button is on the far right. Click on it to bring up a variety of different effects.  The arrow to the right of of the button brings you to more choices.  Your “normal” image will stay in the center.  Choose it any time you want to resume regular recording.

The rest of the photographing or recording process is the same as above. Choose PHOTO or VIDEO on the left and proceed as you did with the instructions above.

Again, when you want to get out of Effects choose the “Normal” photo in the center and you’ll be back to the beginning.

What’s Next with the Video or Photo

Click to select a photo or video along the bottom strip.

You can then
A – Send the photo or video by email;
B – Send it to iPhoto; or
C – Drag it to your desktop or another folder to attach to emails or insert into a document

As I mentioned in an earlier post on Technology for Seniors Made Easy Blog, I’ve started having fun emailing birthday and now, anniversary, videos from (see) Photo Booth or my iPhone. Below is one I did the other day using an EFFECTS option.

Please share your experiences with Photo Booth in the “Leave a Reply” box below or your responses to the videos or anything else in this post.

All that’s necessary is learning how to use some simple and basic technology, particularly in the area of recording. There are a variety of cost-effective and easy ways that this can be done. In addition to your personal memories, you’ll also happily have tangible recordings of some of your family history that can be shared with other loved ones.

My beloved husband Sam has been gone for more than five years.  One of my main regrets is that I have nothing with his voice.  I am fortunate to have many love notes written by him to me from the time we first met through our first four and a half months. Then we were married. (Yes, we both knew what we wanted 53 years ago!)  Then, for the next 47 years, there were the “perfect” cards and the notes he often added to them. Many of them are still in my possession. Yet I still regret not having his voice. There are, I’m sure, a large number of people who, in addition to absent voices, no longer have the written words either.

How easy it would have been to record Sam, do interviews with him, and to be able to listen to his voice today whenever I have the desire for reliving some of his and our memories.

Five years ago, I could have called into my Audio Acrobat account and had us both talk on the phone, recording as we spoke.  Audio Acrobat makes it very simple to save the calls, then listen online or download the recordings to listen to directly on the computer.  You can save the recordings and keep access to them as private, or delete them once downloaded, your choice.

Also, five years ago I had a digital camera that did videos as well as take pictures. All three of my digital cameras had, and have, that capability.  It simply NEVER occurred to me to do any of this with Sam, even though I had done some phone recordings with my granddaughter and great-nieces.

Today our choices for preserving memories, voice, as well as visual, are so much broader and, in some cases, even easier.

We have smartphones that can record both voice and video, with easy ways that you can send them to yourself, and others, or download them to your computer.

I highly recommend getting comfortable learning how to video with your smartphones, to be ready to do so as soon as you find yourself getting into a conversation, or precious memory, you want to save. The iPhone and iPad have the benefit of switching the camera with a simple tap so that the camera is facing you.

The video above is an example of a spontaneous recording on my iPhone, when my friend Caren last year came to Florida, from Texas.  She and some other friends who you hear in the background met in Florida for a visit.  It was fun demonstrating and doing the quick video. Better yet it provided a bright moment and new conversation when I happened on the video recently and shared the YouTube link with Caren once again.

Note on Permission and Privacy –
The above video is shared on YouTube with Caren’s permission. Always be sure that you have that before sharing. And although people can search YouTube, it does offer settings to keep your video private.  Videos uploaded to Audio Acrobat are only searchable by you, the account owner. They can be viewed by others only if you share the links for them.

ANOTHER QUICK EXAMPLE – Using the iPhone
for simultaneous photographing and recording.

Last year I also used my iPhone “Voice Memo” tool to record an interview with 96-year old Minnie and her daughter Bobbie.  At the same time as we were talking and recording, I was able to take dozens of photos of both Minnie and Bobbie.  And, it does not have to be a third person interviewing and photographing. It can be you.

An added fun part for me was to be able to take my skills and present some of the content on a new website I then created to celebrate Mothers anywhere. See My Mother Always Told Me.

YOU can be the one that does all of the above, capturing your family history, including creating sites, or blogs. Watch for future posts on how you can be doing phone conference recordings and other forms of preserving memories through photographs and writing, should you so choose.

I will also be be giving you a list of suggested questions, should you not know where to start in having a conversation that you’d like to save.

FINAL NOTE – When I write of building an audio-visual memory bank, I am not advocating a mourner stay in, and continue to live in the past. Rather, there are simply times when the reassurances of the love that was can uplift and inspire you in the present.

Please share your own experiences in the REPLY box below. I’d especially like to know if you have questions regarding any of the above.

On the Technology for Seniors Made Easy blog, I mainly cover tutorial how-to’s for using various types of programs and devices. The question sometimes comes up, “Why am I doing this?”  Then I’m reminded that, for me, the most rewarding benefit of being online, and using technology, is the the ability to connect with, and gain support, from family and friends and communities all over the world.

For most of us, at some point in our lives, a time comes when we are confronted with the death of a loved one, a dear family member or friend.  Most religious groups have some form of ritual gatherings where family and friends can offer love and support, memories and a celebration of the life of the deceased.

The challenge today is that more and more of us are living far away from many of those with whom we have the closest attachments. So what happens when we can’t be present for those healing moments?  Loneliness? Frustration? Added grief?

Fortunately, we can now use the power of technology to help in the grieving.  And being very computer savvy is NOT always a requirement.

In 2007, my beloved husband of 47 years died.  We had a Jewish Shiva mourning period in my home for 3 days and nights.  During that time people came to pay their respects and there were prayers every evening. Then, because my husband’s brother could not come down to Florida, a niece, when she returned, had a gathering in her home for family and friends in Philadelphia.

Wanting to be part of the group in some way, I called my niece and was able to listen and participate in saying Kaddish (the Jewish Mourning prayer). I then spoke with family and friends, sharing their and my grief, as well as memories of Sam. I felt loved, embraced, cared for.

Now, in 2013, familiarity and comfort with using modern methods has expanded the possibilities. It allowed for a heartwarming celebration of life and memorial service for a beloved cousin who recently passed away. Her daughter in California organized a conference call where friends and family from all over the country called into one phone number at a designated time.  Those who were savvy enough were able to download screen sharing software to their computers that allowed them to view a slide show of photos that Karen presented as she and we on the phone all shared memories.

There was also a small gathering of friends in Karen’s home. At some point her Rabbi came in to lead us all in prayer. This included having Karen and us say Kaddish, the traditional Jewish Memorial prayer.

The video above is this portion of the service.  It is a clip from the longer, full video I did, a screen capture of the slideshow being presented for those of us who were able to see it on our computers.

For those present in her home, Karen had handouts with the prayers and she showed the documents on her computer during the service. She also emailed them as attachments, so those on the phone only, without computer access during the call, could print them out and join in also.

What you see in the video are both the English translation and the transliteration of the Hebrew of the Mourner’s Kaddish.

(Note: If you click on the rectangle in the very bottom corner you can see the video full screen and, most likely will be able to read words.

The background greenery has nothing to do with the service or the video.  It is the image I have as my desktop background.)

In future posts I will be sharing different ways you, too, can connect with loved ones and others, via free conference calls, Skype, other means of individual and group chat. For now you can check out and click on Facebook Video Chat and Google Hangouts.  Those posts will link to some others on the Technology for Seniors Made Easy blog.

Your experiences and feedback on technology and connecting with family and friends would be most appreciated.  Please use the REPLY box below to add your comments.

You can also email me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com

]]> http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/communicating-for-seniors/kaddish-online-connecting-to-jewish-shiva-service-by-phone-and-internet/feed/ 0 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/iphones-for-seniors/how-to-upload-videos-and-photos-from-iphone-to-facebook/ http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/iphones-for-seniors/how-to-upload-videos-and-photos-from-iphone-to-facebook/#respond Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:05:02 +0000 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/?p=1860 Continue reading →]]> In a reply to the post on how to email videos from iPhone, a reader commented that she wished she could send a video directly to Facebook from her iPhone.  In fact, it is a possibility and a very easy, and exciting, one.  You’ll see below you can even be doing some editing prior to uploading.

To post video to Facebook from your iPhone –

1 – Go to your profile page in Facebook.  Look for the “Share Photo” button. It’s under “Friends” and next to “Write Post.”

2 – Tap “Share Photo” and your photo album opens.

3 – Tap on your desired video.

4 – Write Message in New Window

5 – Tap Globe for drop down menu

6 – Select Audience – who can view

7 – Then tap on Post button

To Edit and Post Photo to Facebook from iPhone Photo Album

1 and 2 – Same as above. Profile page and Share button.

3 – Select Photo – Click on Pencil bottom right to okay selection.

4 – Photo opens with editing tools on bottom. They include cropping, which brings up rotate option, and changing lighting.

5 – Again, tap pencil to bring up window for message.

6 – Then tap “Post.”

Clicking, then dragging, the computer mouse over a word or phrase is probably the most common way of capturing the content in Word documents or emails. And there is an even quicker way of gaining the same results, all with mouse clicks only.

Experiment with the following yourself:

1 – To highlight a single word, place your cursor on it and DOUBLE CLICK your mouse.

2 – To highlight a paragraph, place your mouse in the body of the paragraph and TRIPLE CLICK your mouse.

3 – To highlight an even larger segment than a paragraph:

a – Place your cursor at the beginning of the material you want copied.

b – Hold down the shift key.

c – Then place your cursor at the end of the content you want to capture. Click and the whole section will be highlighted.

Release the mouse and you’re ready for whatever your next step is, be it:

d – COPY –   CTRL/CMD C
e – PASTE –  CTRL/CMD V
f – DELETE – CTRL/CMD X

REMEMBER, you can
g – REDO, if you made a mistake – CTRL/CMD Z

REMINDER –  CTRL represents the Control Key on the PC.  CMD, the COMMAND Key on the Mac.

For a refresher explanation on the 7 Keyboard Tips recently covered click on shortcuts.

I just discovered there is a far simpler way… Shortcuts! Now I type in “tss”, an arbitrary code (shortcut), and the full URL comes up. I’ve also created “tsb”, for the full URL for the blog – TechnologyforSeniorsMadeEasy.com/blog.

To create your own shortcuts, find and tap on the Settings Icon on your iPhone.

Then, open Settings. Tap General, then Keyboard, as shown below.

Make sure the Add Shortcut control button is ON. Then scroll down to “Add New Shortcut.” iPhone shows “omw” = “On my way!” as an example.

Tap on “Add New Shortcut”. In the window that opens, type in the phrase for which you are creating a shortcut. Then create the “label”, the short letter combo, you’ll remember.

When that’s done, tap on SAVE in the upper right.  Now, any time you type in the shortcut letter combo you created, the longer phrase or URL will appear.  Tapping on “Return” will enter it into the note, email, text message, or wherever else you might place it.

Enjoy the added minutes and, ultimately, hours you’ll be accumulating.

Please share your experience of this in the “Leave a Reply” box below or send an email to easyseniortechnology@gmail.com

One of the things I love about my iPhone is that it is a way of connecting with other seniors.  In the waiting room of Bethesda Health City Women’s Center, I was happily reading a book on Kindle on my iPhone.  It was on Using the iPhone.  After two plus years I was still excitedly learning new things with which I was experimenting as I waited.

The woman sitting next to me asked if it was an iPhone I was using. She has been considering purchasing one. I excitedly starting sharing the video aspect of the iPhone, asking if I could video both of us. I then went on to show her how it could easily be emailed and proceeded to email it to her.

The process, including the 18-second video I did of the two of us, is shown above.  Note my new friend’s excitement.  I am most grateful for the interaction.

For those who prefer text to video, following are the steps in how to find and select videos to send by email, message or post to YouTube.

First go from the stopped video to your iPhone Home Page. Tap on Camera – upper right on my home page on left.

Then tap on small window in the lower left corner to open the photo album.

The Album with All your photos and videos will open.  You can select from there OR tap on Videos at the top and just your Video library will open.

In either case, tap on your selected video.

A new screen will open with the video frames on the top and a curved arrow on the bottom for SENDing.

Videos sent by email from the iPhone must be one minute or less for email purposes.  If yours is more than a minute, you will get another window giving you the choice for what you want to cut, or “trim”. Simply drag the yellow lines to where you want to begin and end. Then tap on the yellow TRIM button when satisfied.

Going back to the curved arrow on the bottom for SENDing, tap on MAIL.

A new screen pops up showing that the iPhone is Preparing [your] Video…

Once video preparation is complete a mail message window opens up.

Type the address in the To space:

[In the image on the left you see my name rather than an address because that’s the way it was picked up automatically in my Address Book. The email address IS there, though you don’t see it.]

You can include more than one person in the Cc or Bcc spaces. I often CC myself so I’ll have the video in my computer even before I download it from my phone.

Add Subject and then scroll down to the body to write a message above the video, .mov,  icon. When finished tap SEND.

That’s the whole process.  You now have made someone, I’m sure, quite happy… especially if it’s a new friend. The subject in the video above was quite happy, anticipating sharing the video with her husband.

Now, if you would be so kind, I would appreciate your answering the following question.

When going to a tutorial like this on Technology for Seniors Made Easy, do you prefer a video or the images and text? or perhaps you’d like both? Please respond in the “Leave a Reply” box below.

If you prefer, you can email your answer to me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com

____________
After the Fact Note – In searching for this “new friend’s” email address in my SENT folder on my iPhone, there was, for some unknown reason, no record of the email.  I did not note her address anywhere else.

SO, caution… If you are emailing directly from an iPhone video or photo, and it’s to someone’s address who is new to you, Cc yourself so the address will be on the email you receive.

Of course, it would be a good idea also to make a note of it in NOTES or another place you can save it that you’ll remember.

The video above shows three options available when using Photo Booth on the Mac and iPad – photos, photo montage, and video.

I’ve had my MacIntosh computer with Photo Booth for over three years and it was only a few days ago that I made, what was for me, an exciting discovery.  We can actually email directly from Photo Booth the videos that we create with it.

So now I’m starting the practice of emailing birthday videos to family and friends. Here is one I created for you.

You’ll notice that throughout I maintained “eye contact” with you until the very end when I had to look down for the control button.  Now that I think of it, I could have positioned my mouse on the control and when ready to end, simply clicked my mouse without moving my eyes away from the camera.

The way, of course, to look directly at the recipient of your video is to focus your eyes on the camcorder.  If you don’t have a camera built into your computer, then you can purchase an inexpensive camcorder that you can clip onto it.

I have since discovered the keyboard shortcuts, as simple as CTRL/CMD+N will open a New Window, CTRL/CMD+T, a New Tab.

Also, did you know that you can e-mail links, and content, directly from the web pages themselves?  It’s not necessary to copy the URL and then go into your e-mail program to paste it into the body of a new e-mail, the procedure I’ve followed for years. Not only is the link or content there, the subject line is automatically filled in. Details are further down this page.

The Story of My Keyboard Shortcut Awakenings – After writing the opening multiple browser windows post, I wrote another on 7 Commonly Used Keyboard Shortcuts and how to use them. In that one, I pointed out that I had never paid attention to the fact that the shortcuts had always been there in the EDIT menus!

In the post on opening Browser Windows, I included screen shots of the tool bars for Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari.  I even showed an image of a drop down FILE menu in Safari to show you specifically where to click.

I totally  ignored the symbols on the right side.
I simply pointed out where to click in the FILE Menu.

Then, as I started paying attention when preparing the 7 Keyboard Shortcuts post, I saw the CMD+N
for a New Window  and CMD+T for New Tab.

It’s amazing how we complicate things, when often they are SO simple!

Short Cuts for E-mailing Links to open Web Pages, including e-mailing the Full page

As I was working on the Safari image  for the post, I looked at the rest of the menu and saw:
“Mail contents of This Page” CMD+I
and
“Mail Link to This Page” Shift+CMD+I.

I clicked on those and immediately was directed to my e-mail and windows open with the latter.

Again, in all my years using the web I never knew that saving web page links, or the pages themselves, could be so simple! I could email the links or pages to myself and, so easily, to friends.

Internet Explorer also shows the shortcuts on the right side of the menu. The New tab is CTRL+T and New window, CTRL+N.

It, too, offers the option to send the page link, or full page, by e-mail.  In their case there is a Send link and a separate window opens offers you the options to “Send Page by e-mail, “Send Link by e-mail,” or Send a “Shortcut to Desktop.”

Chrome and Firefox do have links for sending the web page link by e-mail.  There is not a file menu or shortcut option for doing the full page.

If there was something new here for you in this post, please tell us about it in the “Leave a Reply” box below.

Note: The one key used in all the shortcuts is the
CONTROL [CTRL] key on a PC or the
COMMAND [CMD] key on the Mac.
CTRL or CMD are the abbreviations that will be used throughout the post, here and elsewhere on the blog.

For most of these actions we usually simply work with our mouse using the EDIT drop down menu.

This, in fact, does give us the symbols for the shortcuts. Look at the right-hand side of the menu.

Even though I knew this, I’ve never paid attention long enough to look at and implement the ones I wasn’t using.  I wonder. How many of you reading this have paid attention to those symbols?

How to Use The Keyboard Keys –
For each of the shortcuts click and hold down the
CTRL or CMD key. Then tap the appropriate letter key
indicated in each shortcut shown below.

1 – CTRL/CMD Z = UNDO – If you make a mistake in typing, inserting and/or editing a picture, or almost any other action, using these keys will UNDO the mistake.

And you can keep “erasing” to go back to where you wanted to be in your writing. If you have gone too far back, CTRL/CMD Y will REDO

2 – CTRL/CMD S = SAVE – A good practice to get into is “saving” quite frequently as you type a document, web page
or email.

3 – CTRL/CMD C = COPY – Use this shortcut, when you want to grab a word or phrase to save and put in  another place or in a new document.

Place the mouse at the start of what you want to copy. Then clicking on the mouse, drag the cursor to the end of the word or phrase that you want to capture. You’ll note that it’s now highlighted.

This shortcut will copy it and keep it in memory for you to paste (#5 below) and stay there until you copy something else.  This is also good for copying a word or phrase that you may want to repeat several times.

4 – CTRL/CMD A = SELECT ALL – If you want ALL the copy that’s on the page, place your mouse cursor anywhere in the body and click. Then use the shortcut. The whole page will become highlighted.

5 – CTRL/CMD V = PASTE – that which you just copied.
Place your mouse where you now want the copy, then
hit the shortcut keys.

6 – CTRL/CMD X = DELETE – If you actually want to cut, that is eliminate, what you highlighted (same process as in COPY)

Remember if you make a mistake you can always go back to
# 1 (above) UNDO = CTRL/CMD Y

AND my most favorite now, especially when I remember
to use it –

7 – CTRL/CMD F = FIND – To find a word or phrase in an open email, document or web page. When you use these two keys, a search box will open somewhere on the page depending on the program you are in.

In the Chrome Browser, a small search box opens in the bottom left of the page.

In Internet Explorer it comes up on the top left under the tool bars.

In Safari it’s on the top right of the page

In Firefox the search is in the bottom left.

In my Mail program a pop-up search window opens.

In Windows Mail you need to use the Edit menu to get to Find.  Then a pop-up window opens giving you a choice of finding a “message…”, “people…” or “text in this message.”

What a time saver learning about this last one! After all my years on the computer, I only recently became aware of the FIND shortcut and it was in the EDIT menus all the time!!!.

I can’t begin to count the times I’ve scrolled down web pages looking for something specific. And, all that had been necessary was to use CTRL/CMD F!

Have fun.  I’d appreciate learning from you what, if anything, in this list is new to you. Simply place your comments in the “Leave a reply…” below.  Also, please let us know your favorite shortcut.

UPDATE: A short time after writing this post, I discovered there are two very simple shortcuts to opening New Windows and New Tabs.  If you are familiar with Internet Browser, you can go directly to Window-Opening Shortcuts.

CTRL or CMD+N opens a new window; CTRL/CMD+T a new tab.

The one key used in all the shortcuts is the – CTRL and CMD are the abbreviations that will be used throughout the posts.
CONTROL [CTRL] key on a PC or the
COMMAND [CMD] key on the Mac.

Browser Toolbars – at the very top of any open web page.

Safari Toolbar on the Mac

Firefox Toolbar on the Mac 

Firefox Toolbar on the PC – Slight variation

Chrome Toolbar on the Mac

Chrome Toolbar on the PC. Click on the 3 bars.

Internet Explorer Toolbar on the PC

Shown above are those of the four most commonly used browsers – Safari (mainly used by Mac owners), Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer. Choices on Internet Explorer, not visible in the above image, are File – Edit – Favorites – Tools – Help.

If your current version of Internet Explorer is not showing the tool bar, click on the Alt button on your keyboard to bring up the Menu.  Then go to View to select Toolbar and what you want to see on the top.

To Open Browser Windows (Web Pages)
Usually when you click on a link from an email, or other location for a new page, your browser will open a Tab. Clicking more links results in a string of open pages or tabs. You’ll be able to see what they are under the tool bar.

So back to the original question that prompted this post – There will be times that you’ll likely want to reference information on one page while looking at another.  I often will have a YouTube video playing while doing research in another window.

In that case you will want to Open a New Window.

Simply click on File in the toolbar for the drop down menu. Then select “New Window“.

Although the file menu choices may vary in the different browsers, they will all offer you the choice of a New Window or a New Tab.

Default Browsers –
As you’ll see in my note below, default browsers are the ones that open up automatically when you click on a link to a web page. They are set by the manufacturer of your particular computer or other electronic device.

You do have the option to change that so your favorite browser is the one that opens. Simply go to Preferences under the browser name on the left.

Note for those still learning the Internet vocabulary –
A Browser is what we use to get to the Internet to open web pages.  The most commonly used browsers are Chrome, Firefox, Safari (the default one that comes with MacIntosh products) and Internet Explorer (the default one that comes with Windows computers)

Please let us know in “Leave a Reply” below what your preferred browser is and, if you have a particular reason for that choice, why.  On my Mac, I go back and forth between Chrome and Firefox.  Also, having 2 different open browsers is another way of seeing separate windows.

In a recent NBC Nightly News broadcast, Brian Williams introduced  reporter Chris Jansing who tells us that tech-challenged seniors are flocking to classes to get up to speed on social media so that they can more easily connect with friends and family.  She went on to say that 53% of all seniors are now online, and one-third of all seniors are using social media websites.

Jansing stated AARP estimates that roughly half of all grandparents in this country live more than 400 miles from their grandchildren. Thus more and more grandparents are using interactive websites, such as Skype, so they can keep in touch with their grandchildren.  They are each able to see one another them as they talk. Then there is the thrill of being able, over time, to watch them grow.

In addition to Skype, friends and family are also able to connect via Facebook video chat and Google hangouts (My added note, not mentioned in this broadcast. Click on the links to read more on this site about the latter two features)

In the video above, one grandmother in Ohio is shown using her phone to text her grandson who was no longer answering his phone.  She said that it’s “priceless” to get an “I love you” message from him.  Research is showing that being online is good for health and getting “tech smart” can improve cognitive ability.

Please share in the “Leave a Reply” section below what your experience is as a senior or with seniors and technology.

As seniors realize little ones can make these choices on an electronic device, might seeing and hearing stories like this  motivate them to try some new things themselves on iPhones and other smart phones?

Could they come to the realization that it may not be as hard as they think?

Your thoughts are welcome below.

The link shown above for the first email, said to be from Facebook only, IS legitimate.  I’ve signed up to be notified by email when a “New Message from…” is posted to me in Facebook.

The second email, said to be from “Facebook Weekly News”  is SPAM, at least from my point of view. “New Message:”, with a colon in the subject line is meaningless and thus an identifier.

My Recommendation – Delete the second one labeled, “Facebook Weekly News”. Do NOT click on any of the links.

If you hadn’t deleted it before opening, you will see the actual actual content of the email (shown below).

1 – Again what’s in the Subject line is meaningless.

2- The addresses showing up in the “Reply-to” are suspect. A search on URLs, testing the .com part of the second email address shows no relevant site.

3. There is no explanation of the “Free Report” being offered in a link. Simply that it’s getting good feedback.

4. The copy says I’ve signed up to receive IM (Internet Marketing) products and if I’m not interested in the “gifts” click on the link to unsubscribe. I don’t recall signing up AND I am NOT going to verify my email address in this way to an unidentified source. So it’s now Deleted from my computer.

The ultimate clue, identifying it to me as Spam is “What does any of the copy have to do with Facebook?” If you recall, at the beginning I pointed out that this supposedly came from Facebook.

Finally, if you do NOT enjoy the investigative process as I do, be safe and simply DELETE when you have a twinge of concern.

Please add your comments or questions in the “Leave a reply” box below.  Feedback is always appreciated.

You may also send questions to easyseniortechnology@gmail.com

From my mail, two emails that profess to be from Facebook.  Would you open either of them?  Right below is the body of the email.  Would you click on the links within this email?

Read the guidelines that follow and then decide.  You’ll find my assessment of this email in the next post.

The following are my BE-SAFE guidelines for opening email and clicking on links:

1 – Be suspect of any email that has no text in the subject line.

On occasion people do forget to enter their topic in that space. And it is a good practice to set a reminder for yourself to make sure that’s covered in emails YOU send.

2 – NEVER click on a link that is the only thing in the body of the email message.

3 – We are often instructed not to open email if we do not know the person who sent it, especially not the links within them.

Unfortunately, today we are often getting spam emails, seemingly from friends and family, so that caution is not enough. Email addresses are regularly being hijacked by spammers or robotic machines.

You may receive an email that shows your friend’s name AND it is NOT from his/her email address. Always look at the email address in the opened email BEFORE clicking on any links in it, especially:

          a. if there is no explanation for the link being sent to you.
          b. if you also receive more than one of the same email to other email addresses you may have.

Another way to recognize if it is an email with hijacked addresses, not really coming from your friend, is to glance at the LIST OF NAMES to whom the email has been addressed.

If there is a string of names in alphabetic order, more than likely the email was NOT initiated by your friend.

DELETE the email without going any further. And then delete it from the trash folder.

4 – BEWARE of official looking email from banks, the IRS, PayPal, credit card companies, FED EX, DHL, the post office and countless other seemingly trust-worthy, legitimate sources.

Some of us have been getting more and more mail like this.  It looks very official, with seemingly important information and links to click on for more information.

OFFICIAL-LOOKING MAIL Precautions – When you think it
might be information important to you:

a – Look at the address of the sender.  Although what you see may state the name of the company, the email address of the sender when you check it within the email is often a totally irrelevant one. Delete the email without going any further.

b –  If you feel compelled to check out the information, then make note of the URL (web address) and TYPE IT yourself into the address space of a new web page.  Check your account from there. DO NOT click on it from the email.

c – NEVER click on a link to DOWNLOAD a receipt
or PDF from any of these official-looking emails.

d – Never click on an UNSUBSCRIBE link that may be in an email UNLESS you officially had subscribed to that mailing.

e – NEVER put in any personal information in any such form you’ve linked to from an email.

f – ALWAYS check that you are on a SECURE SITE before you fill in any personal information on the web.  The web address, in the address bar at the top of your web page, will start with https://.  Note the letter “s” after the http .

g – Lastly, if you still have any doubts, call the bank, or other source, to see if they did, in fact, send an email.

If you have anything from your own experience to ask or add to this, please reply here or post the question on my new Fan page on Facebook –
http://www.facebook.com/TechnologyforSeniorsMadeEasy

UPDATED NOTES:A subscriber to QuickTechTips (see option sidebar on the right) wrote that she made a mistake clicking on a link in a FedEx spam email. When she finally checked with the site she saw that there was a FedEx Alert Warning of a current round of fraudulent emails.  FedEx also spells out very clearly what you will, or will not, get from them by email.

A very full, comprehensive site you can check out is Snopes.com. Snopes will verify, or negate (label “hoax”), the “facts” in emails you get. Simply type your query in the Search box at the top right of the page.

Please add your comments or questions in the “Leave a reply” box below.  Feedback is always appreciated.

You may also send questions to easyseniortechnology@gmail.com

Simply tap the word on the screen of your iPhone or iPad. The usual choices pop up: “Copy“, “Select All“, “Define“. Tap on “Define” and the relevant dictionary page pops up.

This works with anything you are reading on the iPhone or iPad – in an email, document or downloaded PDF, articles and posts on web pages, including Facebook and other social media.

To fun and enlightenment, if you haven’t used it before.

As always, please share your own experiences with us in the “Leave a reply” section below.  What Tips and Tricks do you find most useful in your iPhone or iPad? And, you can certainly send an email with suggestions to easyseniortechnology@gmail.com

Given the iPad  choices are pretty much similar to those on the  iPhone,  I went to mine to see what I could find. The first step, assuming you have it downloaded, is to open the Facebook app on your iPhone.

1 – Then click on the three bar icon on the upper left of your main page to bring you to the following choices:

Search,
News Feed,
Messages,
Nearby,
Events,
Friends, and then
Pages, for those who have business pages.

2 – Scroll Down past:

App Center,
Install Messenger, Pages Manager, Chat, Like Pages, Find Friends, Pokes, Photos,
and Notes.

 
Continue scrolling down until you reach the Help Center.  Tap on that. Then type “Profile Photos” in the Search space or tap photos on the right.

The search for “profile photo” or tapping on “photos” will bring up the following easy-to-follow instructions for Uploading a Profile picture from your iPhone

Have fun. Please add your comments or questions in the “Leave a reply” below.  Feedback is always appreciated.

You may also send questions to easyseniortechnology@gmail.com.

The quicker alternative to what I suggested in the prior post is to simply go to the Photos you’ve uploaded into Facebook and select one photo.

Then click on the pencil in the upper right of the photo to edit.  A menu will open. Click on “Make Profile Picture.”

The photo will then open with a transparent square box in the center. It is the required size and shape for the Profile Photo.

3 – You can move the box around to select that portion that you wish to appear as your Thumbnail Profile Photo.  As you can see there is too much in this one photo of me with my husband and son (from over 30 years ago) to have it be my “temporary” profile photo.

4 – Facebook’s instructions at the bottom state, “Drag the corners of the transparent box above to crop this photo into your profile picture.” You then have the choice for “Done Cropping” or to “Cancel.” I selected “cancel.”

A Final Edit on the Process as I described it –
After reading the above, I decided to do one more check.

This time I did, in fact, move the corners to select the three of us and clicked “Done Cropping.” Then Facebook’s technology squared it off cutting some out. After that, we are given the choice to move the new square one around until the photo fits what we want.

So, for now, I have a new profile photo on my Facebook Timeline.

Please share your experiences with photos and Facebook in the “Leave a reply” box below. You are welcome to include your Facebook URL, or address, copied from the address bar and pasted in with your comments.

Before leaving this page, though, be sure to check out this post  if you need assistance in finding “Help” in Facebook.

A friend wanted to change her profile photo in Facebook and her daughter was unable to explain it on the phone. She said she’d do it for her when she was at her mother’s house.

So many seniors today are not fortunate enough to have children or grandchildren, living close by to help.  Thus, I’m showing you where to find Facebook’s Help instructions.

Following are the steps to take for uploading or changing your profile photo, showing where on Facebook you can find the information.

Finding HELP on Facebook

1 – Go to the top right of any page you are on in Facebook.

Click on the “gear” icon.

2 – At the bottom of the drop down menu that opens click on “Help.”

3 – Type your question into the Search Box.  In this case I did “Profile Photo”

4 – Select “How to upload a profile photo.”

You will have the option to “Take a Picture” (with your web cam or built in computer camera).

Follow the Instructions (as seen on the left) that opened up when you clicked on #4 above “How to Upload.”

Then, if you are using a photo from your own desktop, go back to #5 in the menu choices shown above to learn “How to Edit your profile picture” into the thumbnail size and shape that Facebook requires.

NOTE – The image on the left is meant to be a sample, not necessarily to follow for the directions.  And if you wish to see the text larger here, or on the menu that opens up in Facebook, click on Control + (Windows) or Command + (Mac).  You can also use the wheel on your mouse. Go forward to enlarge; toward you to reduce the size.

Note – Are you occasionally challenged, as I am, from time-to-time, remembering where on Facebook help is?

If so, and you find these posts helpful, please come to any of the pages on Technology for Seniors Made Easy and type your query into the search box at the top of the column on the right.

If the answer isn’t there, then email your query to EasySeniorTechnology@gamail.com

I am fortunate to live in a county which has an excellent public library system with several branches.  Books, DVDs and CDs are available to patrons for pick up in any of the branches, no matter where their “home” base is.

I have been happily using this service for several years now. Whenever a book is recommended, I go to the library site, which lists all the branches, and do a search for a book.  If they have what I want, or if it’s on order, I place a “hold” on the book. There is also the option for inter-library loan from another city or town.  Once it’s available for pick-up, I get notified by email. What a time and gas saver!

Renewing books online is another most appreciated service. Not finished, or can’t make it in on the due date, I simply go online to my account and mark it for “renewal.” Books are renewable up to three times, if there’s not another hold on the book. DVDs once in my library system.

All of the above, may seem unnecessary to those who are resisting computers.  And, there are other reasons, circumstances developing outside ourselves, that warrant looking at becoming comfortable with them.

Technological comfort, in relation to library usage –
I was quite surprised recently when I went to my library to pick up books which I had reserved – online.  The clerks were all standing by the Self-Checkout Computers.

None of the clerks were at any of the stations to which I am accustomed to seeing them.  When my turn came, I presented my card so the clerk could scan it to see the books I had reserved.

When she returned with them I asked why she was at self-checkout, rather than in her usual position. She said that the library now wants all patrons to use the self-check out system.

This is simply one more example of the directions in which we are being pulled more and more into technology. Why not be ready!

Please share your comments and/or questions in the box below. You can also address specific questions to mailto:easyseniortechnology@gmail.com.

Kelly Ripa, TV talk show host, along with six other participants, interviewed First Lady Michelle Obama in a Fireside Hangout on Google+ (click on the link or video image to see it). Included among the six other interviewers was a classroom full of young students.

And this was not the only White House video done in this way. Kelly announced at the beginning of the presentation, that in the previous month, she had interviewed the President and Vice-President in another Google+ Fireside Hangout.

What great possibilities for Seniors and all of our friends and family! I am still fascinated with the potential and excited that we, the lay people, can also “play” in this field.

Should you wish to test a Google+ hangout with me, I invite you to email me at easyseniortechnology[at]gmail.com with a request. Since I’m not always at that address for instant access, send an email first, rather than a Hangout invitation, and we can set something up.

I am planning to use this process for tutorials on the blog and with individuals and groups. To learn more about how you can set up and use the Google+ hangouts, click on Hangouts and YouTube Video.

Note – For a summary of what was said in the broadcast, see the Huffington Post write-up – Michelle Obama Google Hangout: The First Lady On Her Favorite Post-Exercise Snack and Let’s Move.

I was thrilled to see that the videos were already completely uploaded as soon as I stopped broadcasting. You’ll see below I also realized, as I was completing this post, that my video was, evidently, being streamed “live.”

With a little patience and persistence, we, as Seniors, can be on top, and ahead of many others in today’s technological world.

To start your own Hangout for broadcasting and saving:

First sign into Google+ and then
a. click on Hangouts in the lower left column. Then
b. “Start a Hangout,” red link in the upper right of the page that appears.

If this is the first you are reading about Google Plus check my post “How to Sign Up for Google Plus.”

Next you’ll get a window that appears like the partial one below.

Steps to take on that page:

1. Name the Hangout
2. Check the box “Enable Hangouts on Air”
3. Enter email addresses of people you want to invite
4. Agree “Okay, got it” to your Hangouts Using Your YouTube channel.
   (Note – You will already have had to set up a YouTube channel associated with the particular Google account and  address with which you signed in.)
5. Click on “Hang Out” button

You will then land on the window where you are being videoed, or will be.

Note – You can also
“Invite People” from this page, upper left.

When ready to start your public video, simply click on “Start Broadcast,” upper right.

This brings you to a “Broadcasting Publicly” page which asks you to Agree – “OK” – that your Hangout On Air will be broadcast publicly on Google+ and YouTube.

Once it’s over a recording of the Broadcast will be available for those who missed the broadcast.

Watch Technology for Seniors Made Easy for another video demonstrating this.  In the meantime, here are two of the videos I created today, demonstrating this Video to YouTube process.

How to Broadcast from Google Hangout – Streaming Screen Share

and Showing a 2-person Hangout – Screen Capture of Me (Sheila Finkelstein) on both my Mac and my iPhone.  Remember you can have up to 9 people whose images you will see and an unlimited number of other guests observing and possibly posting questions in “Chat”. (another post and video)

Please share your comments and experiences in the “Leave a Reply” box below.  Feel free to ask questions there, or send an email to easyseniortechnology [at] gmail.com – Link in the footer at the bottom of the page.

1 – In the post section, type in @.  Then, as you type,  a of list of your friends’ names will start appearing.  Highlight the one you want address.

2 – The name will now be clickable and appear in blue. Not only will it go to your friend’s timeline, anyone reading the post will be able to click on it to get there also.

3- Add your message after your friend’s name.

Lastly, there may be times, particularly in a comment reply, when you want to simply use the first name only of your friend and still have him or her notified of it.

I used to spend a lot of frustrating time, attempting to highlight and delete the last name.  Very often I deleted the whole name and had to start again.

Then the other day, by accident and almost miraculously, I discovered how easy it was to accomplish my goal.

4 – Simply put your cursor at the end of the name.  Click backspace, or delete, once and the last name will disappear, instantly.  Repeat if there is yet a second name to be eliminated before reaching the first name.

Thanks, Marifran Korb, for permission to use your name as the example here.

I had actually already signed up and had a Google+ account when I set up the gmail address for this account AND I hadn’t paid much attention to it.

Then my friend Morgine told me about Screensharing with Google Hangouts.  Learning about that was enough to get me going and I hope you, too.

In order to set up a Google+ account for Hangouts, Screensharing, Chatting and much more you need to:

1. First go to plus.google.com and Sign Up.

2. You will need to have a Google account. If you don’t yet have a Google account, signing up for that will be the first step. If you need help with that, to to How to create a Google account one of the posts here in the Technology for Seniors Made Easy blog.

So long as you already have a Google account, you can Sign up for Google Plus with any of your email addresses. It does not have to be a Google (gmail) mail address, although you may need your Gmail address for log in.

Once signed into plus.google.com, for the first time, you will be asked to create a Google Plus account.

3. To do that, simply fill in the blanks you’ll see on the window that appears. See video below for signing up with an already existing Google account. Step-by-step images are also below.

4. You will need to fill Your Name, Gender and Birthdate. I choose to uncheck the box for permission to share information.

Aside from the initial required profile details, you can skip taking action on any of the other windows if you want to go straight to Hangouts.  You can always go back and fill in your profile.

When you are finally in, you will see a variety of choices, links you can select for making a wide range of connections.

The bottom two arrows in the image above of the window that appeared, both go to Hangouts.  You can add friends, update your profile and much more.

For more on Chatting and Screen sharing see the detailed images and video on Chat and Share Your Desktop – Google Hangout.

Please share you experiences, including questions, in the “Leave a Reply” box below. Or send questions to easyseniortechnology@gmail.com. Link is in the footer at the bottom of the page.

Recently, I got excited when my friend Morgine Jurdan called to tell me she’d just learned about voice and face-to-face communication on Google Hangout.  She and her son, Andy were having a challenge  with Skype, so he introduced her to Google Hangout.

I immediately wanted to see how it worked.  Then I asked Morgine if she minded if I videoed the interaction to present to followers of Technology for Seniors made easy.  With her okay, I opened iShowU on my Mac and started recording. Neither of us bothered taking the time to get “made up” for the camera.  The resulting spontaneous video:

With Google Hangouts, you can join existing ones and you can set up your own. There is the ability to have up to 9 people chatting by text, voice and/or video in any one Hangout. In order to take advantage of this service, all that’s necessary is for you to have a Google Plus account.

If you need help this process, starting with the Sign Up page, see “How to Create a Google Plus Account” on this blog.

You can use your regular email address, or a Gmail one. If you would like to use a Google Mail address, and need help with that, see Gmail Account Creation for Email.

To activate a Hangout on Google Plus:

1.Type plus.google.com in your web browser address bar.

2. Sign in with your email address  – traditional or Gmail address.

3. Once signed in the window you see below, without the notations, will open up.

4. To start your Hangout

• a. Click on Hangouts near the bottom of the menu on the left. You may have to click on “see more” first.
• b. Then Click on “Start Hangout”

5. Name the Hangout and add email address of person, or persons, you wish to invite.

6.  Clicking on Hangout will bring you to a plain Invite window.

Clicking Invite people brings you to the prior window.  Clicking on Screenshare in the left column brings up the window below. It shows all of the windows open on your desktop.

Select the one you want to share and Start Screenshare.

If you simply want to voice and text chat, click on “Chat” right above the “Screenshare” link in the left menu column.

That’s it for this tutorial on how to use Google Hangouts for Screensharing and Chatting, having fun with your family and friends.

Please share your experiences with Google Hangouts and  with this post in the “Leave a Reply” box just below. Have any questions?  Ask them in your “reply” or write to easyseniortechnology@gmail.com.  Link is in the footer.

NOTE:  In order to use Google Hangout for Screensharing you will need an internal camera in your computer or a Webcam (external computer camera) and built-in microphone in your computer or an external, plug-in microphone.)

You feel like a mouse going down the same one over and over again, despite the fact there’s no cheese there?

A couple of weeks ago, I attempted registering for an online class.  Each time I filled in my name, email address and clicked submit, I got the message – “Server Busy, Please Try Again”.  I’d click “OK” and kept getting the same message.

I finally gave up.  I was going away and probably wouldn’t have time for the class anyway.

Today, I remembered the course, thought it might be being offered again, or at least I’d get on the list.  I repeated the same process and got the same message.  After two tries, I started clicking on the link at the top of the page – “If you have any problems or questions, please email us at support@….”

Just before I clicked, it occurred to me that it might only be happening on my computer on this particular Internet Browser, in this case Chrome.

So, before composing and sending the email, I copied the link from the address bar and pasted it into Firefox.  Lo and behold. It worked!  Simply by switching web browsers, I was able to fill out and submit the form.

“The point of this post?”  Simply that instead of getting totally frustrated, look at options and try a different alternative.

On the other hand, keep in mind that you do NOT always have to find the answers yourself.  Help is almost always readily available on the Web, either in the form of an email link, an email form, a chat link and very often a phone number!  Simply search the page you are on for a link for “Support.” It is usually either in the top or side menu and/or within links at the bottom of the page.

In September 2012, Facebook had over ONE BILLION active users, according to Wikipedia, “The Free Encyclopedia.”

And there are some seniors who still think of Facebook as something “the kids” do. So, “What can YOU do with Facebook?“

The answer is, “Just about everything!”

Facebook is a place where you can interact with a grandchild, a friend (old or new), a loved one…a business and so much more.

You can find the healthy foods friends are recommending….the missing ingredient for a recipe… or a friend’s favorite for your special feast… find out who starred in the “Three Faces of Eve”(or any movie — old or new) and how your friends ranked  it…what’s going on with a friend or family member…satisfy your curiosity by discovering whatever happened to the guy or gal you loved back in high school…even how to format a web page. (Yes, Facebook works with businesses, too).

More specifically, for me:

1 – Groups -On a Saturday night,  I was in need of some how-to information on formatting a web page. I posted my question in a Facebook business group and an expert responded almost immediately.

2 – Family Happenings–
In order to keep up with our granddaughter’s activities in Moscow as an exchange student, her maternal grandmother signed up, for the first time, to use Facebook.

I learned through a post on my Facebook wall (where our “friends” posts show up) that a cousin of mine was in the hospital. I was able to “message” her daughter privately, get more information and ultimately be directed to another site where updates were being posted regularly.

3 – Friend Updates –
When I haven’t heard from a friend by email or phone for a while, I routinely check his or her Facebook page before calling to see what activity they’ve been in.

Sometimes I find I get quicker response by messaging them on Facebook than by using email or phone. Or I’ll message and say, “Check your email or phone messages for one from me.”

4 – Finding and Connecting with Old Friends –
Interestingly for me, I’m finding that many of my peers (in the 70 year old age range) are not yet on Facebook.

Consider might there be people in your past life looking for you, people with whom you might like to reconnect?

5 – Former Students or Business Associates –
Though a lot of my peers may not be using Facebook, it’s been fun for me to connect with former students to whom I art in elementary school almost 40 years ago.

You’ll be very pleasantly surprised at all you CAN do with Facebook.

Technology For Seniors Made Easy will help you get past your fears of Facebook and allow you to experience and ENJOY a whole world of information that’s available for you and your business.

And, if you are wondering about history:
Facebook, the major social networking site today, was officially launched in February 2004, having been started by a Harvard student on 2003. It’s come a long way.

See  the How to Use Facebook for specific posts. Watch for more upcoming posts.  Coming soon, a video on “How to Sign Up for Facebook.”

If you are not currently signed up and want to jump ahead, see images below.

How to Sign Up for Facebook:

1 – Go to Facebook.  Type facebook.com into the address bar. A page with a header similar to one below should open up.

2- Fill in the Form that appears on the same page.  If there is not a form there, click on Sign Up and you will get to a new page with the form.

Note in the image to the left I point to text that’s blue.

They are links that explain Facebook’s terms and policies and answer the “why’s” to questions you may have.

When you complete the form and “sign up,” you will be agreeing to their terms of service.

Be assured that once you get in you will have control over your Privacy Settings and Who Can See What on your pages.  Among other things your birth date does NOT have to be displayed.

I will be demonstrating how to manage different Facebook settings in future posts.

Have fun and happy connecting.

The Yahoo email addresses are likely to be among the most popular of the ones you are likely to see amongst friends and families. The video above demonstrates how to set up your own Yahoo mail account.

Although I do not regularly use my Yahoo email address, I’ve had one for years.  Creating it gave me a “Yahoo ID” which, in addition to mail, has allowed me to participate in, as well as set up, Yahoo Groups (almost a precursor to Facebook).

It is also the ID used to participate in Flickr, a popular site used by amateurs and professionals for sharing photos. Anyone with a Yahoo ID can set up a Flickr account to upload photos and participate in topical discussion groups.

In future posts, I will be showing you Flickr for organizing and sharing and Yahoo groups for easy, and private, group communication. Now,

How to Set Up a Yahoo Account:

1 – Go to your preferred web browser. I’m using Chrome in the video above.

2 – Type in yahoo.com in the address bar.

3 – Click the Mail envelope – top right

4 – Fill in the blanks on the form that comes up.

5 – Set a password.  Note the green bar on the side as you type. It lets you know the strength of what you entered.  Using symbols, such as &, +, and %, will make it strong.

6 – At the end of the page, select a contact option, should you forget your password so Yahoo can notify you of next steps by text message to your mobile phone if you have one and text, or by email if you have an alternate email address.

7 – Click on Create My Account when complete.

8 – For security, again should you forget your password, there are two “secret questions.”

9 – Fill in the “Captcha” letters.

10 – Click on DONE.

In future posts I will be elaborating on using Yahoo email, as well as on the other services mentioned above.

The first is How to Send Email From Yahoo.

If you have any questions, please note them in “Leave a reply” at the bottom of this post, or send me an email using the Easy Senior Technology gmail link in the footer.

In a previous post, I showed  for creating a Yahoo account  for email as well as for using Flickr and Yahoo Groups.  See Setting up a Yahoo account.

In the video above, I demonstrate entering and using your new Yahoo email account.

1 – Go to yahoo.com. Check mail, upper right.  Note – If you did not sign out when you set up your account it will go right to mail.

2 – Sign in.  Note little check box at the bottom.

Click to stay signed in.  It will go directly to mail any time you enter Yahoo.com, or

Uncheck the box if there are multiple users on the same computer and you want your email to be private.

3 – Inbox – will be bold if there is email in it, including in bold the number of unopened emails.

4 – Options for Delete, Spam and others.

5 – Compose email link in upper left.  Write in the form, formatting your text, if you so choose. Click on Send in top blue bar.

6 – To Reply to an email, open it by double-clicking on the subject line.

Then click on the single curved arrow to reply to the sender.

If there were several people to whom the email was addressed, and you would like them to to receive your reply, click on the double arrow for “reply all“.

That’s it. Continued fun and ease in the land of cyber communications.

If you have any questions, please note them in “Leave a reply” at the bottom of this post, or send me an email using the Easy Senior Technology Gmail link in the footer at the bottom of this page.

Several million people worldwide have Gmail (Google mail) accounts. The video above demonstrates how to set a Google account so you, too, can have a Gmail address.

Many people prefer going onto the web to access their email rather than having it come directly into their computers. It certainly makes it easier to access your email from any computer when traveling. You can also easily check it by going to the Internet on any mobile device you may have.

Although you can set up Mail to come into your Smartphone, there are those who prefer going directly to the web. On Technology for Seniors Made Easy we discuss both Gmail and Yahoo mail webmail programs, with set-up and further “how-to’s.”

To Set Up a Gmail account:

1 – Go to Google.com on your favorite Web Browser.  I am using Google Chrome in the video above. Type in google.com into the address bar.

2 – Click on Gmail in the black menu bar along the top of the page.

3 – Click on CREATE AN ACCOUNT in red – top right

4 – Fill in the spaces in the form that comes up.  Your “User Name” is that which will show up in front of Gmail. It will also be the “user name” that you use to sign into Google for several other services, including uploading videos to YouTube.

In the demo I set up sheila.healthandenergy@Gmail.com as my user name. “Health and energy” was not available as a Google user name, so I prefaced it with “sheila.”

5 – Before completion, you’re asked to “Verify your account”  to show that you are human, not a robotic machine.

• You can do this by filling in the “Captcha” symbols, or by
  phone.
• If you have texting on a cell phone, you can check the box to receive a confirmation number as a “Text message,”  or
• You can choose “Phone Call” and you will receive an automated call with the confirmation number to enter.

6 – Enter Verification Code on next page that comes up.

Although at 3:59 on your video toolbar I state that the video was finished, the video does continue for another minute showing you my new Gmail account and the Google welcome mail in it.

Have fun with your new Gmail account, should you opt to go with one. Future videos on this blog will demonstrate composing email, sending, replying, organizing and more in your account.

If you have any questions, please leave them in the “Leave a reply” at the end of this post or use the Easy Senior Technology email link in the footer.

I’ve had Mac computers for years and never even saw the Character Viewer, or if I had, I never paid attention to it.

This morning I started looking for the best way to create a check-off list on my computer to note that I’ve scheduled a bill payment. (Click on Checklist Story to learn why.)The first thing I did was go on a search to find a checkmark symbol.

1. I happily discovered, for the first time, the “Character Viewer” in the bar at the very top of window on the right. (See the red “1” in the screen shot above.)

2. When I opened the “Viewer”, I saw there was a list of several categories on the left.  They are “Punctuation, Symbols, European Scripts, African Scripts, Middle Eastern Scripts, Southeast Asian Scripts, South Asian Scripts, Miscellaneous Scripts and Archaic Scripts.”

All but Punctuation, have sub-menus, each with symbols that fit accordingly.

3. The  check  mark is in “Miscellaneous Symbols” listed in the drop down menu for “Symbols.”

To use, select your desired symbol and place your mouse in the spot in your document (email, doc, web post…..) creating the flashing cursor.

4. Go back to the Characters Viewer window and click on the Insert button.

UPDATE on Insertion – Thanks to Morgine Jurdan for sharing by email that to Insert all one needs to do is double click on the symbol in Character Viewer and it will land where you’ve placed the cursor.

Note: Morgine has another added informative comment below this post.

It’s as simple as that.  If you have a Mac and, like I, were unaware of  “Character Viewer”, you now countless possibilities for finding new and simple ways to add graphic details to images and documents.

In the Reply to this post below, please tell us about your experience with this or other computer finds that excite you.  If you are a PC user, is there something similar in your computer?

This morning I wondered if I had scheduled the payment for my phone bill that was due today.  I wasn’t too worried.  I knew that I could always go online and pay directly from the phone company’s site and still be on time.  On the other hand, as you’ll see, or have seen, in Paying Bills Online post, a bank employee had shared with me that this was not the most secure way.

After going to my bank account online and checking the bills I had scheduled for payment this month, I saw that I had indeed scheduled the phone bill payment.  I have been setting aside bills when they come in and then using a down-time I go online schedule the amount to be paid and when.

Then I decided to add one more simple, reassuring step so I would not have to log in online if the fear of having forgotten surfaced again. I created one quick place to check in my computer.

To do this, I went to Excel, a spreadsheet program, and set-up a quick checklist. I put my regularly scheduled bills in the left column and then added a column for each month. Now I can simply go to this form to check off when I’ve scheduled the payment. See Making Checkmarks – Character Viewer in Mac.

You’ll note in the example above that the bottom row is already filled in with checkmarks. That line represents a monthly payment with the same amount throughout the year. Such a payment can be set up to recur automatically.

Finally, I highlighted and copied the data from the Excel spreadsheet and pasted into a note in Evernote.  As I written in other posts, Evernote is the easiest place for me to organize, store and find when I need to go back to it. To see that post, you can click on Voice Memos in Evernote for Organizing and Storing. You can also do a search for Evernote in the “Search this site” box at the top of the sidebar on the right.

I did one more final check before completing.  If you have a Mac, you WILL be able to continue to use “Character Viewer” to add future checkmarks on the Evernote note. To future discoveries for fun, ease and efficiency.

]]> http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/banking-credit-recordkeeping/bill-payments-online-recording-and-tracking-monthly/feed/ 0 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/photography/transferring-photos-disk-to-flash-drive-to-computer/ http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/photography/transferring-photos-disk-to-flash-drive-to-computer/#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:51:43 +0000 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/?p=953 Continue reading →]]> Recently I received several queries on the How-to’s of Downloading Photos from a camera and saving them to a computer or flash drive. Thus the post that follows.

Tutorial for Downloading Photos from the Photo Disk

The Questions asked:
1. “Any tips for uploading pictures to Facebook from my digital camera?”

The Uploading to Facebook is covered in another post on this blog,  Uploading Photos from the Computer to Facebook.  In following the instructions there, you could be uploading directly from the card (as described below) or from a place in your computer where you’ve saved the photos.

2. “Is there a way, using a PC, to download onto a flash drive directly.”

In this post I will be showing the downloading and transfer process.

My personal preference for downloading photos to my computer, or a flash drive, is to use a Memory Card Reader.

Many of the new computers now have a photo disk slot for viewing and downloading photos as well as the CD/DVD slot.

On my PC I attach a Memory Card Reader via cable to a USB port. There are card readers that have slots for multiple size and disks and others that accomodate only a couple of sizes.  The one above can be found on Kingston 19-in-1 USB 2.0 Flash Memory Card Reader FCR-HS219/1

My main work is done on my iMac, where this is a slot of the side of my computer for inserting my SanDisk photo card.

When inserted, an icon shows up on my desktop

To  find the information from the same card on your PC, using a Card Reader

1. Put your disk in the card reader.

2. Open Computer
a. First Click on Start – the World icon in bottom lower left of your desktop to get the menu.

b. Click on Computer – (“See the disk drives and other hardware connected to your computer”)

3. Click On the  Camera Disk Icon – CANON_DC (F: or G: drive) – to open it.

The steps that follow are the same for what’s next with both the PC and the Mac.

4. After clicking on the Card Reader icon (on either computer), you’ll see a DCIM Folder.

5. Click to Open the DCIM FOLDER showing on either computer.

6. A List of All of the Photo .jpegs will appear.

7. You can highlight them all, or select certain ones of you’ve previewed them first (another post), to transfer to your computer, an external disk, a CD or DVD, or a flash drive.

If there is more than one photo session on the card, you can sort the photos by date and select in that way.

The process is the same whether it’s from a Flash Drive or a Card Reader.

NEXT: You have many Options for Where You Locate the photos you are now ready to move to your computer from the Card Reader or Flash Drive.

Having been a Mac person all my life, where things are simpler an easier to find (for Mac users anyway) I still find it a bit challenging to find where files and folders are in my PC.

Thus the simplest thing for me, and therefore I’m suggesting for you, is to Create and Open a New Folder on your computer desktop.  Name the folder, drag the photos into that folder and then you can determine where in your computer you ultimately want them to reside.

Some choices for “residence” include Pictures or Picassa in your PC or iPhoto or simply part of another folder system in your Mac.  I will elaborate in another post.

8. Drag the Highlighted .jpgs (see #7 above) into wherever you want them located in your computer or other locations.

Note – The image to the left shows transferring .jpgs on the Flash Drive that I downloaded onto it from from the card reader on my PC to a location on my MacIntosh computer.

FINALLY – Before Removing the Card Reader from your computer or the disk from the slot, it is highly recommended that you

SAFELY REMOVE it from your PC.
Go Back to Start Menu to Open Computer (Instructions above) and See the Disk Drives

1 – Right Click on the Disk Icon

2 – Click on “Safely Remove”

3 – When the icon disappears,  you can remove the Card Reader or Flash Drive from the USB port to which you had connected it.

On the Mac

1 – Find the disk icon on your desktop. Tap on it to highlight.

2 – Open File menu

3 – Click on Eject Disk – When it disappears from your desktop, it’s safe to remove

4 – Alternative – Not Shown – You can also Drag the Disk Icon to Trash. Then remove the disk (or card reader) from your computer.

Last Question answered in this post:
“I’m trying to figure out HOW to transfer movies from a flash drive onto my Mac Notebook, files and all… HELP, step by step, with pictures would really help…”

The process for transferring movies from a Flash Drive is exactly the same as transferring .jpgs, shown above.  You Insert the Flash Drive into a USB port on your computer, find the flash drive icon on your desktop and continue as described above.

If this post has been helpful to you, please leave a comment in the “Leave a reply” box below. You can also ask any questions there or you can write to me at EasySeniorTechnology@gmail.com

The video and the screen shots below, are demonstration of how you can be readily be notified of new Technology for Seniors Made Easy posts. You will only one email per day, no matter how many posts were made on the previous day.  If there were no new posts the previous day, you will NOT get an email.

On to the “How to… ” video below.  Some of the images in it are very small.  If it is difficult for you to  view, you can watch the video full screen. (See image right below, above the video, if you’re not familiar with seeing videos full screen.)

Simply click on the 4 corners at the bottom right of the video.  To get back to the post, use the “esc” – escape – key on your computer.

So you can get email notifications of new posts, I’ve set up the “notify me” option for my posts in Technology for Seniors Made Easy.

The video above, and the screen shots below, are demonstration of how you can be readily be notified of new Technology for Seniors Made Easy posts. You will only one email per day, no matter how many posts were made on the previous day.  If there were no new posts the previous day, you will NOT get an email.

Example of an email summary received in your Inbox, sent from EasySeniorTechnlogy@gmail.com

To receive notifications in your own email program:

Go the column on the right.

Underneath the Submit button for Easy Tech Tips, Click on
Click Here to Receive New Blog Posts By Email.

You will be taken to the Web to a page with a summary of the latest blog posts.

On the right, in very small print, next to an envelope icon, is “Get delivered by email”.

Click on that link.

A window will pop-up. Fill in your email address and the “Kaptcha” letters.

To prevent spam, this identification process is required to show that you are a person rather than a machine.

If you have difficulty reading, or interpreting the symbols, you can click on the handicap symbol to get a voice message.

I prefer trying the visual again.  If it kicks back as inaccurate, there will be a new combination that is likely to be easier to read.

That does it.

I look forward to your participation in reading posts and asking questions.  Simply post them in the “Leave a Reply” box underneath the blog post to which you are responding.

You may also send a “Reply” to any email you receive from EasySeniorTechnolgoy@gmail.com.

I needed to make an appointment for a follow-up blood test. I hadn’t made note of the lab’s phone number in my address book, so I went to their website to find it. Lo and behold, I saw that I could schedule the appointment online!

It was so easy. I’m sure that anyone, including newbies to using the Internet, could handle it, without even having any kind of tutorial.  I don’t know if the laboratory you may use offers the same service. It’s certainly worth checking out. LabCorp is the on with whom I set my appointment.

The added bonus, for me, was that I was also given the chance to fill out the “standard” paperwork online. Supposedly there will be no more forms to fill out when I get there.

I love making discoveries. Are there any you would like to share?  If so, please add them in the Leave a Reply box below.

The above video continues on from the post on using the Macintosh Preview program for making annotations on screenshots and .jpg.

This video shows how you can personalize an existing PDF, adding your own text descriptions and individual information for marketing purposes.

Short and easy to follow, if you need written step-by-step instructions and visuals using screenshots see Editing .jpgs and Screenshots.

]]> http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/business/mac-preview-for-personalizing-existing-pdfs/feed/ 0 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/business/editing-pdfs-in-macintosh-computer-preview/ http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/business/editing-pdfs-in-macintosh-computer-preview/#respond Sun, 27 Jan 2013 01:16:08 +0000 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/?p=797 Continue reading →]]> Sometimes in business, as well as personally, we wish to add PDFs and/or annotated images to our communications.

Very recently I was most excited when I discovered that I could edit directly in Preview on my Mac. Preview is the Mac computer program for both reading and creating PDFs. What a revelation for me!

I also experienced being able to add clean arrows and text directly onto photo .jpg images.

I’ve had my current iMac computer, with OS 10.6, for almost 3 years and never knew what was possible in Preview.  When I first started using the new computer, I  became instantly resigned to its not being able to use Adobe PDF.  I finally let go of my annoyance and never looked further at any capabilities it might have.

For the most part, all I knew was that any time I open, or download, an Adobe PDF sent to me, it opens in Preview. The same thing happens with screenshots and photo .jpgs. I’d been moving both of the latter to Adobe Photoshop Elements for editing.

Now, as I develop this site, I am noticing more things related to technology. Thus, when I decided to View > Show Tool Bar (in the drop down menu), perhaps for

the first time, I saw the word “annotate” at the end.

Clicking on that gave me to option to open the bottom tool bar. After playing a bit, I discovered how to use the different elements.

1 – The arrow can go in any direction. Start at any spot and go toward that to which you want to point. The triangle pointing tip will show up at the end of the line.

2 – The Aa brings up the text window.

3 – The Aa in the rectangle, dots in 4 corners, is where you type.

Have fun, as well, as bringing added clarity to your PDFs, screenshots and .jpg communications in your marketing.

See Personalizing PDF Marketing Materials for short video on how to use Macintosh Preview for add your message, with permission, to marketing PDFs available to you to build your business.

In the first video in this series on How to Upload Photos and Create Photo Albums in Facebook, I started showing where to find the information on Facebook. The menu that had been there the previous day had changed. So I created this short 3 minute video.

Where to find Help in Facebook for How-to Upload Photos
1 – Click on the small Gear Icon located far right at the top of the page.

2- At the bottom of the drop down menu click on Help.

3 – Then in the Search box Type in what you wish to find. In this video I typed in Uploading Photos.

Several links appeared, including “How do I Upload and Create a New Album” and several other related links.

Please share your photo and Facebook experiences and questions in the “Reply to this post” at the bottom of this post, or

Email me at Easy Senior Technology at Gmail.com.

To make it easy for you, there is a link in the footer at the bottom of this page.

]]> http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/using-facebook/finding-facebooks-how-to-upload-photos-help/feed/ 0 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/using-facebook/viewing-photos-in-slideshow-format-in-facebook/ Sat, 26 Jan 2013 04:39:54 +0000 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/?p=850 Continue reading →]]>

Following up on the post and video on adding photos to a Facebook photo album, the above video shows how to reposition photos in the album in Facebook. Also shown is how to view photos larger and in a slide show.

Continuing from the first video on adding photos, the above video tutorial shows how to upload  and add photos to your already existing photo albums in your Facebook account. Also shown is, how to edit the album title.

To add photos:

1 – Go to your Timeline page and click on Photos (under your Timeline photo.
2 – Click on Albums, upper bar on the far right.

3 – Select the Album to which you wish to add photos.

4 – If you wish to edit previous descriptions or titles, while photos are uploading, click on Edit

5 – On page that comes up, first click on Add Photos and the top right.

6 – In the pop-up screen that opens showing your computer, find the location where your photos are. Open the folder, then hold down your keyboard Control Key (on PC) or your Command Key (Mac). Then move your mouse pointer to select and (left) click on each of the photos you wish to include in the album.

To Edit While You Wait –
7 – While uploading check your title name, top left – name the album if you’ve not already done so, add a description (optional), and then add descriptions if you wish to the photos already there and then to the ones you’ve just added. You can at any time come back and make changes.

8 – To delete any of the photos from the album,
go to the photo, move your mouse to the top right corner.  A small check mark will appear. Click on that and select Delete Photo from the drop down menu that comes up.

9 – To Rearrange Photos in the album, click on photo you want to reposition. Hold down the mouse and drag it to the the place where you would like it to appear.
You can thus determine the order, or sequence, of the slideshow that you or a visitor can see.

See How to View Photos in a Slideshow in Facebook, for my post on how to navigate through photos once one is opened.

Please share your experiences, or ask questions, in the Reply to this Post, at the end, under the Tweet, Facebook and other symbols.  You can also email me at EasySeniorTechnology at Gmail.com.

The email link, that will open an already addressed post in your email box, is at the bottom of this page in the footer.

]]> http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/using-facebook/finding-facebooks-help-info-for-uploading-photos/feed/ 0 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/business/how-to-create-an-mp3-download-link/ http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/business/how-to-create-an-mp3-download-link/#respond Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:36:45 +0000 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/?p=812 Continue reading →]]> My friend Morgine Jurdan taught a class on “How to Live as Love”.  It was recorded in one of the teleseminar recording programs and she got the download link.  Her question to me was how she could put the MP3 link on her own site, as well as provide it as a download link from there for her visitors.

Although this question goes beyond what would seem to be the scope of newbies for this Technology for Seniors Made Easy site, I do know there are some of you who make MP3 recordings. I’m guessing you would be like to share one or more on a Website and/or through email, if only you knew how.

The first thing you must do is download the recording yourself into your own computer.

1. Go to the URL where the recording is being held.

2. Right click the link that says “Download.”

3.  “Save Link As” with a short name that you will remember. This will become the extension to the new URL you will ultimately be creating for email,  your website or on Amazon S3, a free storage service.  No website, or special uploading, is required for the latter.

For those of you with websites, the next step is to use your FTP – File Transfer Program – to upload the .mp3 link to your own website.

You will now have a URL that is your domain name/extension.mp3.  In my example above the link I created for my own testing purposes was http://TechnologyforSeniorsMadeEasy.com/Morgine-recording-01-24-13.mp3. I made the extension name much longer than necessary.

Morgine, after following the above instructions, named the file download “geniusloving.mp3”  The resultant URL once uploaded to her site became http://liveaslove.com/geniusloving.mp3

If you have, or were to create, a free Amazon s3 free storage account, and follow the same downloading/saving process as described above, your link be similar to the one below.  An FTP, file transfer program is not required.

The “techforseniors” is the “bucket” name I created, followed by my named extension for this recording:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/techforseniors/namedlink.mp3

Click HERE to play it or Right Click to download, simply for practice.

In a phone conversation with a follower of Technology for Seniors Made Easy, I learned that she did not know how to upload photos to Facebook. She had attended some important family events and was anxious to share her photos with family and friends.  I explained in detail. The next day, by visiting her Facebook page, I learned that she was able to upload them individually. She wrote, though, that she could not upload more than one at a time.

Uploading Photos to Facebook

1 – Go to either your Home or Your timeline page.

2 – Just above where you would type a “What’s on your mind” message is a “Photo” link. Click on that.

3 – Then choose “Upload Photos/Video” Select photo from window that pops up. (See Uploading to Existing Album post for instructions for adding more than one photo from a list, or Step 6 below)

4 – You will be directed back to your page where you’ll see the photo.  You can click on space with + plus sign to add another photograph.

5 – Add a description (optional).  You can always add one when editing later, or make a comment. In the video I mention tagging my friend Blaise Allen who took the photo. When I “tag” her, she will be notified about the post.

6 – To Create a Photo Album go back to a new message window and click on “Create Photo Album” and add photos by

7- Add Title and Description.  You can add, edit, change at any point in time. See Adding to Facebook Photo Albums.

8 – Shown in the video, there is also an option to Share the Album, with any of your Facebook friends.

9 – In the video I start showing where and how to find the information in Facebook’s Help menu. As I was doing this video I saw the location of the information had changed since I had checked it out the day before. Thus the momentary confusion you hear in the video.

For an updated blog post, and video, here on how to search in Facebook, see Search for Upload Photos Help.

You can find a continuation of this post on how to add additional photos to the same album by clicking on Adding to Facebook Photo Albums .

Note – The sounds you hear, from time-to-time in the background, are from Facebook’s notification system. They are letting me know that new messages from Friends have been posted on my wall.

Do you want people to read your emails?

In the above video, Racheli Smilovits, “Your Favorite Marketing Tips Guru” demonstrates the elements of an email that will make it easy for people to read your messages. Racheli is also Vice-President of Technology for Women in eCommerce (WECAI.org).

Although this was videoed for an audience of business women, the points made are important, especially for those of us seniors who are impatient or challenged with reading dense pages.

Racheli points out there are three ways to write an email:

• Writing across the entire width of the body of your email.
• Typing in narrow columns. Racheli suggests typing 21 “W”s (the letter) to set the visual for the ideal column measurement. Type until you get to the end of what would be the line. Hit “return” to continue on.
• Making bulleted lists of our main points.  You’ll hear me in the background at the end, asking where to find the way to do a list.

Checking further, I noted in my Mail program on my MacIntosh computer that there are choices for this under the Format drop-down menu.

In other mail programs it’s in a tool bar.   I will discuss this in-depth in another post.

At the end of the video, Heidi Richards Mooney, Founder and CEO of WECAI, asks about font (or type) and size to be used.  Racheli states, “Arial 12”.  My own preference is Verdana – a little more open.  Some email programs may simply give you the choice of “Serif” on “Non-Serif”.  For web reading ALWAYS use Non-Serif.

There will be a future post on this also. You can also check the Glossary page on this site, Technology for Seniors Made Easy, for a further explanation.

The intent of this post is to point out the necessity of being very clear on what we want people to know about the activity and what information we want them to pass on.  The most efficient way to do this is to actually put the information about the event in the body of the email you send to them, along with any attachments you might want them to see.

Be sure the Subject Line also reflects what the email is about. For example, Subject: Invitation to Upcoming Art Show

My mentor often reminds me, “A confused mind will not take any action.”  A case in point:

Listen as you scroll down to see examples.

An artist friend recently sent me an announcement about an upcoming puppet show in a local theater, plus information on a show she was having and another a month or two later that a poet was doing. She requested I pass it on.

Her email message was a forward of a message from someone else, plus a flyer with that.  In addition there was an attachment with a flyer for an art show she had planned.

Be clear on the point to your email –
The top portion that my friend wrote, included something about going to a show, driving and other details and a request to pass on the information. I wasn’t even sure what it was she was inviting me to or wanted me to pass on.

I scrolled down and saw the forwarded information, but I had spent so much time trying to figure out what she wanted that I put it aside and never got back to it.

A week later –
I got a reply from the same friend to an ezine I had sent. It had the full copy of the ezine with her message covering several things happening in her life, concluding with the request to forward an attachment she added with the above-mentioned postcard to her event.

There was a postcard attachment added

There is no way I can forward what she sent to me. To do what she requested requires my saving the attachment and creating my own e-mail to which I would add her postcard.  There is also a way I could forward it, which would require several steps, not necessary to go into here because:

My BOTTOM  LINE recommendation is:

When you are requesting someone forward information, create the email with the exact information you’d like his/her friends, family and associates to receive.  Not everyone finds it easy to write, especially if they’re not sure what you want.

Make it EASY for your friends and family. Tell them what YOU want people to know.

The same thing holds true if you are asking that they post in Facebook. Write the message for them and ask them to cut and paste into a post, of course giving them the option to edit anything you’ve written.

Much success to you in all your planning and sharing with your communities.

I do get excited with the “little” things in life.  I recently posted how delighted I was using my new iPhone stand.

Today, I had another eye-opening, “of-course,” discovery. When my iPhone is on the solid, mini stand I have for it, it still can photograph or video in either direction.  Since the camera lens is on the side of the phone, the stand does not block it as it would a traditional camera where the lens is in the center. I’d been looking at it, and operating, from a past frame of reference.

Whole new possibilities are now open for me in relation to videoing tutorials for Technology for Seniors Made Easy, as well as other things I’d like to record with a steady hand,

How about you? What kinds of iPhone discoveries have you made recently?  What most excites you with your iPhone?

Fast forwarding – At a breakfast social yesterday I was talking to some seniors at my table about if and how they use computers.  One grandmother said the only reason she uses the computer is that her grandchildren insisted she be there, especially using Facebook so she could keep up with them.

She went on to tell a story about how, several years ago, her then-two-year old grandson, climbed on her lap and asked to use the computer.  With a nod from his mother, the grandmom asked what he wanted to do.

He said he wanted to play a game and asked her where the “floppy disk” was.  The one with whom I was speaking related that she was completely puzzled, never even having heard that term (this was some time ago). She got the needed help from her daughter. For the rest of the story, click here to see the short video.

In the meantime, in another video I share the comments of another grandmother at the same table. When I commented that my mentor states, “If you need help on the computer, wake a 6 year old up from his nap,” another grandmother stated that at 6 years of age children have already lost their patience for teaching their grandparents about computers.  She said to catch them at 4 years old.

Have you had any computer experiences with your grandchildren? Please share in the comments section below or write to me directly. Go to the very bottom of this page to click on my email address, easyseniortechnology [at] gmail.com.

I look forward to learning about your stories.

Saying, “Hi”, to start the year. Thinking out loud as I start planning an introductory video for “newbies” on how to use web blog sites.

The SEARCH box on the side is mentioned and I invite visitors to go to the e-mail link at the bottom of the page to send questions.

The “Down Below” video mentioned is actually on the Home Page where the intro/explanatory video will be.

I’ve been assuming you know how to direct the iPhone lens to flip and face you when you want to take a self-portrait or self-video AND that may not have been a fair assumption. I’ve also assumed that you know how to video on the iPhone.  In fact, both assumptions could be wrong, especially since this site is designed for “newbies.”

So, if you are one who needs this, following are the 4 steps illustrated in the image above:

1. There is a tiny button here. When tapped, it will slide from the camera image to the video icon or back, if already there.
2. The camera icon that’s on the top right every time you open the camera. Tap it once to reverse direction so the lens sees you.
3. The little red record button.  Tap to record and tap again to stop.  As you’re recording the time will be noted in a bar on the top right of your screen.
4. To be most effective, make sure to keep your eyes directed here toward the camera lens.

REMINDER –
Sometimes I forget to go back in Camera mode. The same may happen to you.  So as a quick check:

• When you’re in video mode there will be a red button bottom center.  Put the slider back on the camera icon and
• When you’re in camera mode the camera icon will be showing bottom center.

SUMMARY –
The tendency when we are photographing ourselves is to look at the image on the screen, especially when we are talking.  More than likely, as we go along, we want to check our appearance, making sure we are looking good.

In the process we’ve lost direct contact with our audience. Thus, until it becomes habit, make a concerted effort to keep your eyes focused left, if you are photographing horizontally. If you are holding the camera vertically, keep your eyes focused on the top of the camera.

Have fun and may your audience have fun with you.

The more detailed instructions and visuals that you may need will be in posts on this blog stream or on separate pages that will develop.

Today I videoed with my iPhone on the easel, or “stand” as the company calls it.  For the video itself see the 5th photo on the new page – Videos – Why iPhone

On the left is the stand on which I had my phone rested as I videoed. I talked about the stand and the holding space at the bottom which is deep enough to hold my iPhone that’s always in the Otter Box case that I love. The case is solid and resilient to occasional falls on hard surfaces, something that happens to mine from time to time. And sensitive parts, such as the camera lens are protected.

Speaking of the camera lens, I also mention “maintaining eye contact.”  Those of you, especially who might have been in some kind of sales or people-serving profession or business, I’m sure are well aware of  the importance of that.  People feel most connected to us when we are connected with them eye-to-eye.

The iPhone image on the left is a reminder of where the camera lens is located.

I am assuming you know how to direct the iPhone lens to flip and face you when you want to take a self-portrait or do a video of yourself AND maybe that’s not a fair assumption.

If you aren’t sure, see How to Record Self-Videos Using Your iPhone. It’s the post just above this one on the blog. I go through the various steps, including the reminder of maintaining eye contact.

Susan excitedly shares how she has perfect vision after having cataract surgery, with one exception.   Everything is clear and sharp, except for the fine print on bags and boxes. So when she goes shopping or when reads recipes in her kitchen she happily pulls out her iPhone.

She quickly selects the flashlight app she downloaded and then the Magnifier setting, points it to what she reads. With the ability to enlarge it up to three times its size, it always winds up “perfect” for her.

NOTE:  Although Susan is using an App on the iPhone, there are similar apps for other Droid phones.  Simply Google “flashlight app with magnifier” or “flashlight” for your particular phone, or do the search for apps on your phone. Check the description to see if a magnifier is included.

The App Susan uses, and I’ve since installed, is Free. There are others that range from $.99 to $4.99.  Happy reading and  clear seeing.

FINAL NOTE: To find the magnifier in the flashlight App (green icon)  shown in the video, simply slide the home page, with the whole Menu listing, to the right.

My  car registration was past due, given the expiration date is our birth day in Florida as well as in other states. I was sure I had sent in a check and my registration had yet to come in the mail. I spent several minutes, a couple of times a day, for the past week checking with my online banking to see if the check had been deposited.

Nope. So finally today, I took the time to travel the 20 plus minutes, one way, to motor vehicle registration, waited on two lines. When my turn came, the process was quick. I wrote a check, got the paper work and then, rather belatedly, asked if I could have done this online

A resounding, “Yes!” Wow, did I feel small. Here I am teaching Technology for Seniors and I NEVER thought to Google for this service. I am pretty sure that I did look at the paperwork before I sent it in to see if I could register online. I didn’t see anything so didn’t pursue it.

So, when I got home.. too late for me this year, I did Google, “how to renew my car registration in Florida”. Any combination of words will work. Several links came up and I clicked on one the official dmvflorida.org links to test it out, up to the point where I already was updated. (DMV for Department of Motor Vehicles). I  Googled this for other states also and similar links came up.

Bottom line to this story is to remember to SEARCH the WEB for the easiest, most cost effective (time wise anyway) solutions to renewing licenses, paying bills and any other action you are about to take.

1 – Tap on Safari icon

2 – Your phone will open the last web page opened, or a new one if all have been closed. You can have up to 8 pages open at the same time.

3 – To go to a website that you know, tap in the large white area at the top on the left.  Your keyboard will open. Start typing until you have the URL that you want. Click on Done.

4 – To search the web, tap the white area on the top right.  When the keyboard opens, type in your search word or phrase. Then click done, lower right.

Click on the Arrow to Play the Video

5 – If you wish to keep that page open and visit a new page, simply tap New Page on the lower right.  You can have up to 8 pages open on your iPhone.

6 – To see all of the open pages, tap on the number in the lower right.

7 – To close a web page, simply tap the X in the upper left corner of the page.

Happy searching.

NOTE – Sites mentioned and shown in the above video are: 1.http://TechnologyMadeEasyforSeniors.com. See have to use the links on the Navigation bar to get to the blog. The page with links to the posts is now inactive.

2. http://sheilafinkelstein.com which links to several of my sites.

]]> http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/iphones-for-seniors/how-to-open-web-pages-on-your-iphone/feed/ 0 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/youtube/how-to-use-controls-on-youtube-videos/ http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/youtube/how-to-use-controls-on-youtube-videos/#comments Fri, 14 Dec 2012 06:44:55 +0000 http://technologyforseniorsmadeeasy.com/?p=348 Continue reading →]]> A friend of mine recently said it took her many months of watching videos on YouTube before she realized how she could exit, once she got to full screen viewing. Therefore, I thought I’d give a demonstration should you, too, have that same challenge.

The tutorial video below will show you where on the YouTube site to do a SEARCH for people or categories, including “how to’s”

Click on the arrow in the center of the image to start watching. To watch the video Full Screen on your computer click on the little 4-corner icon at the right end of the black bar on the bottom.

To get back to view the full web page you were on, simply click the ESCAPE button on the top of your keyboard, the last button on the left.

Next to Google, YouTube is the site that has the highest frequency of searches. It’s a great source for “how-to” videos, some very professional, others rather amateurish depending on who uploads them.  Anyone can upload a video to YouTube.  I will cover that in another post and video.

One senior I know is ecstatic now because he discovered that he could be watching one of his favorite musicians listening to the music, while watching the pianist play.  When he discovered the ease of using YouTube he simply did a SEARCH on the site.

If you like to know in advance what to look for, covered in this tutorial video:

1. How and where to search
2. Using one of my Video CHANNELS, http://www.youtube.com/InspirationalSheila

a. Viewing a PLAYLIST where videos have been organized by a category or theme. The link for Ocean Sunrise and Sunsets PLAYLIST was used for demo purposes. This playlist has been set up so it will automatically feed to the next video in it.

3. Symbols in the black bar at the bottom

a. Triangle starts “play”
b. Double vertical lines “pause” the video
c. The tiny megaphone symbol with two curved lines regulates the “volume”, or mutes the sound.  You can also control the level of sound with your computer controls.

Today I physically went into the bank to resolve a fee that I had been charged. Crediting it back to my account could only be handled on the branch level. It turned out to be the result of an entry error (mine).

MY ONLINE BANKING STORY:
Over the years, I’ve gradually grown less and less fearful of paying bills online.  At first I set up an online account with my bank so I could keep track of my balance, seeing my deposits and payments. Then I discovered that rather than traveling to the bank I could do account transfers online.

Taking those steps made it easier for me to consider setting up an online log-in with a credit card company to also follow my expenditures.  This led me to paying some of the bills online, which meant entering bank numbers and my personal account numbers, when using the “Pay Bill” option on the service site(s).

THE BANK’S STORY:
A very helpful assistant at the bank, determined to find out the exact reason for the charge, stayed with someone on the phone in corporate until she had an answer.  While I was sitting there she continued on with an interesting, informative  conversation on how I could better and more safely be making payments by initiating then from the bank website. She pointed out that our checking, and other, account information is the the most vulnerable of all sources of information we put out online.

She went on to describe how I could  set up “Bill Pay” directly from the online banking service they have as part of their service.  This way the bank is the one sending out the payment and I no longer will have to enter my bank info on 3rd party sites where any employee might have access to it.

I had seen the link before and I always assumed that it had to be used for regular, automatic payments. Given that my bill amounts vary, I shrugged it off.

WHAT’S NEXT :
I now see what a pleasure paying bills is going to be. I’ve entered the accounts to which I want to make online payments and created a list. The plan now is, when I get my bills, I’ll simply go into that list, pull up the account, enter the amount I want to pay and the date on which to pay it.

No more late fees AND my checking account is more secure.

TO GET STARTED YOURSELF:
1 – If you are one who walks into one of the branches of your bank, go in and ask for help. I would expect that someone there will be more than happy to walk you through it and help you set up your online account.
or,
2 – Do a Google, or other, search for your bank. Then click into it.  Confirm it’s the correct one. Once on your bank’s site you will find plenty of information, along with the option to register with your account.  You’ll most likely find several layers of security questions that you’ll be setting up for your protection.

3 – It may be that the site has videos explaining the services and “How-to’s”. I’ve had an online account set up for some time and today is the first time I paid attention to the video demo that’s been there.

4 – Remember, if you have a question, ASK – customer service in the bank or by phone. You’ll save a lot of time, energy and possibly wasted effort,  when you don’t think you have to figure it out for yourself.

5 – ALWAYS CHECK and make sure that ANY SITE on which you enter personal information is a SECURE ONE.  Look for the “s” in the web address, i.e. https://www. name …..

As always, please share your experiences in the COMMENTS below, including asking any questions you may have.

Despite my presence on the Web for many years, AND the fact that it’s always been on the Edit Menu, it was only recently I woke up to the search or “Find” option and command on web pages, documents, and PDFs.  I was looking a web page directory with a listing of recorded phone calls. There was a summary of each call on the very long page. Someone pointed out that we could search specific topics simply by clicking on the Control Key, plus the letter “f” (on a PC) or the Command Key, plus “f” (on a MacIntosh computer). What a revelation for me!

Below are screen shots of where you will find the spaces to type in your desired word on three of the browsers most commonly used.

On Your PC
“Find” in Internet Explorer on a PC

When on a page in Internet Explorer on a PC, clicking on Control key plus “f” brings up a FIND section under the address bar top left. Once you type in the word or words for which you are searching open, your selected word(s) that are on the page will be highlighted in blue.

“Find” in Firefox on PC

In Firefox the Find space that opens up is on the lower left.

“Find” in Google Chrome on the PC

In the Google Chrome Internet Browser, Control plus f brings up a blank rectangle in the upper right, with NO identifying name.   Yet, it is waiting there for you to type in your desired search word or phrase.  Then you’ll note, the first of the words on the page is highlighted in orange. Scroll down the page to check for others, highlighted in yellow.

On a Mac
“Find”  in Safari

In Safari on a Mac, Command f, brings up the Find space in the top right of the page, under the URL bar.  The word(s) you searched for get highlighted in yellow. Clicking on the Return key, takes you through to the next words.

“Find” on Firefox on a Mac

In Firefox on the Mac, Command f opens the find box in the lower left corner of your page. Click on Next or Previous, links after the Search space.

Note –  “Find” highlights all requested words that are in text form in the body of the page, comments (if a blog) and any text menu listings on the page.  It will NOT “see” words that are part of an Image, i.e. a photograph with words within.  Examples of the latter, where the words will not be seen, are in the right sidebar in the above pages.

Recently I received the following email from Kathy Izzo, a subscriber to Quick Tech Tips for Seniors. She queried:

“Can I search for a word or phrase in a PDF document?  I’m researching a particular topic and downloaded a variety of PDF files on the topic and read about ‘……..’ ( a psychological term) in one of the PDF documents but don’t recall which one.

Rather than read through each of them again I’m wondering if I can search for that term in each of the PDF’s.”

Before I had a chance to respond, she had already discovered the answer:

“I’m so excited I figured out the answer to my question myself.  You may already know this, but just in case, if you open the PDF file, then on your computer go to “Edit,” then to “Find” and a little dialog box opens in the top right hand corner of the PDF file.  You type in your word or phrase and Adobe Reader does a search through the document.”

Although I’ve been using the “Edit” menu for years, only recently have I learned about/paid attention to “Find” which you can also access by the Keyboard Shortcut – on a PC – Control Key plus the letter “f” and on a Mac the Command Key plus “f.”  

“Find” in a PDF on a Mac

See examples of other “Find” searches, on Web pages and in Documents, here on Technology for Seniors Made Easy.

Have your own question? Leave it in the Comments section below.

Well, there is an easy cure for that anxiety.  It’s simply to use the “Find” or Search feature within your computer. First, open your document and click on the Edit link in the tool bar.  Or you can use the keyboard shortcut, the Control Key plus the letter “f” on a PC or the Command Key, plus the letter “f” on a Mac.

To make replacement changes, when you find the word remember to highlight it. Then use Control or Command “x” to delete it. Next edit what’s there or type in your new word.

Finally, when you are satisfied that you have the word or phrase you wish, highlight and “Copy” that (Control or Command “c”) Then Paste it over the one you wish to replace.

Find in a Word Document on PC

 When you click on Control f to search for words or phrases in a document a pop-up window opens up.

Note: If the document above looks slightly different from yours, I use Open Office, a Free program, on my PC. It has the same features as Word and is compatible with it.

On Your MacIntosh Computer
Find in a Document on a Mac

Command f, i.e. Find, in a Word Document on a Mac brings up a pop-up window for you to type in your desired search word(s).

A couple was said to have their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans.

Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard.

When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.
The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house.

The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.

Something to consider if you have a GPS –
Do NOT put your home address in it. Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.

Even if you do not have a GPS, be sure you do not have anything in your car with your home address in your glove compartment or any place else.

In another article on Technology for Seniors Made Easy I wrote about how to enlarging and reducing fonts so you can read posts and pages more easily on the web.  In that one we discussed how to use the Control key (on the PC) or Command key (on Mac)  with  the + (plus) or  – (minus) keys.

In the screen shots below you see the ones I most use.  I added the red lines to so you can see them more quickly.

In editing the first thing necessary to do for most of these commands is to highlight that section that you want to work with (cut or copy and place in another form)

Edit Menu on a PC –

Edit Menu on a Mac –

Following is a quick explanation of how to create that BCC field.

Directions below are for the Mail program in my MAC and the Windows Mail program in my PC – Windows Vista program.

In both cases the first thing necessary is to Open a NEW email. Then,

in the MAC Mail program, click on:

1 – View and

2 – Select/check the Cc and Bcc Address Fields.

You’ll note there is now a section for names to be “Blind Copied”.Entering names/e-mail address –

1 – Simply start typing the addresses to which you wish to send. Place commas between each email address.

Or, you can:

1 – Click on the Address book symbol in the top section of the email form.

2 – Select the name to whom you wish to address your email. The highlight it.

3 – Click on the symbol for the field you wish to place the name/address – To:  Cc:  Bcc.

In WINDOWS mail –

1 – Open a New Message

2 – Click on View in the top bar

3 – Select/check All Headers. The Bcc is added to the From: section

Using your PC Address Book to add Names to address fields

1 – Click on Tools  in to top menu bar of your email

2 – Select Select Recipients from your Address Book

3  – Click on the appropriate button of the field in which you want the name entered. Continue select names until you are complete.

4 – Click on OK and the addresses to which you want to email will be filled in, with semi-colons between, in the field where you want then to be.

If you’ve learned anything new here, or have questions, please make note in the comments below. To your having fun while being courteous.

The are a few ways that you can make what you want to read easier on your eyes. It’s my intent, with Technology for Seniors Made Easy,  to make using your computer and the web as simple as possible.  Thus, rather than give you drop down menus instructions and a lot of details,  I direct you to your keyboard.

The above image is a photograph of my Mac electronic keyboard. The process is the same for whatever keyboard you have.  There are 3 keys only that you have to be aware of:

1. The Control Key (PC)  – Command Key (Mac)
   
2. The + (plus) Key
3. The – (minus) Key

In e-mail –
To Enlarge the font (type) size for for reading, simply place your mouse in the body of the email and click on the Control Key (on a PC) or the Command Key (on a Mac)
and the + (plus) Key. Keep clicking until the print is readable for you.
To go back and reduce the size, simply click on the Control Key and the – (minus) Key

On Web Pages –
Simply place your mouse on the web page and use the same process –
Control  + or Command + to enlarge and Control –  or Command – to make smaller.  The whole page will increase or decrease in size, depending on which keys you use.

UPDATE – Added Tip – Using the Control Key and Your Mouse
After posting this I was informed that, if you have a Scroll Wheel on your mouse  you can also Increase Size by  holding down the Control Key (both PC and Mac) on your keyboard and simply Scrolling forward with your Mouse.  It will enlarge the page and scrolling back will reduce it to its original size.  It will not go smaller than the original size.

While testing this, I discovered that I could use the same process to increase the size of the fonts as I was typing this post and when typing an email. This is great, should you want to see the print really large as you work, yet don’t want to, or can’t change the actual size on the web.

Then I went to Facebook, where I’m often frustrated when going to type my posts, reading what I typed.  This Control >Scrolling process for seeing the letters larger as we type works here also!

NOTE:  The person sharing this tip is a PC user. I immediately went to my Wireless Mouse on my Mac to see if it works there also. The SAME RESULTS!

REMEMBER – You MUST keep the Control Key depressed as you are scrolling for this to work!

Final Note: These easy ways will work most of the time. There may be a couple of exceptions.  If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section of this post.

Texting is a feature that has to be set up first with your phone service provider.  If you have not set up a plan with your provider, you may be in a situation where you will be charged for both incoming and outgoing text messages.  More than likely your phone company has a package they will offer you that can combine with other services.  Shortly after I did choose to add unlimited texting to my phone service, I found it most helpful in my business and then in a wide variety of other situations.

Now, on to how to work with text messages on your iPhone.

For the visual demonstration, click on the arrow to see the video. If you wish to view it full screen, click on square icon on the bottom bar to the far right.

1 – To start, click on Message icon on your main screen.  All your messages, until deleted, will appear in a single list,  grouped by person or number.

2 – To SEND a message click on the pencil icon in the upper right corner on your screen.

3A – In the “To:” space start typing in the cell phone number to which you want to send a message OR tap the + button in blue on the right.  The latter will bring up your Contacts listing.

3B – If you are keeping your Address Book/Contacts List current, either directly on your phone or synchronized with your computer, you can type in the name of the contact you want to reach. As your phone starts recognizing the letters, it will bring up a list of those that match what you have typed thus far.

You can click on the one you want to use and it will pop into that space. Make sure you select the cell number.  You can add another number or name by simply starting to type once again, or you can click on the + sign in the blue circle. That will bring up your contacts and you can select from there.

Next, in the elongated oval space next to the camera (Text Message in grey), type your message.  When finished tap Send, in the green button.  Your message will then show up for you in green or blue.

4 – RECEIVING MESSAGES –  When your phone receives a message, it will notify you on your home screen with a white number in a red circle in the upper right of the Messages icon.

Clicking on that brings you directly to the message.  If you wish to reply, simply enter your message in the text field and hit Send.

DELETING MESSAGES – There are 3 ways you can delete messages

5A – In the full listing of Messages, tap Edit, top left.  A column of red circles with white minus signs (horizontal lines) appear. Tap on the horizontal line in the circle of each message you wish to delete. Note the line turns vertical and a big, red delete button appears on the write. Tap to delete.

5B – In the individual Messages listings you can touch Edit on the top right, then individually click in the circle to the left of the selected message(s). Then at the bottom left hit the big red delete button., bottom left, or

5C – If you wish to delete all the messages listed with that one contact, you can simply tap on Clear All in the blue button at the top.  Before the final “delete” a message will come at the bottom, in red, offering you the option to “Clear Conversation.

Lastly:
6 – When tapping on the same above-described Edit option, on the top right, you also have the choice of FORWARDING MESSAGES where you put a check mark on the left. In addition to the Delete in red there is the Forward option in blue on bottom right.

To your positive texting experiences.

You have your choice of tones for:
1. what’s heard when your phone rings
2. adding distinguishing sounds to various alerts.

Or, you can choose none. Click on the arrow to see a demonstration.

To set the Ringtones:

1. Tap the Settings icon

2. Tap Sounds

3. Select ON or OFF on Vibrate on Ring.  I recommend ON here.

4. Select ON or OFF on Vibrate on Silent

5. The ringtone setting is the one you hear when your phone rings, unless it’s on Vibrate

6. If you wish to have sound alerts when:
receiving text, voicemails, new mail, Tweets, calendar alerts, reminder alerts and when sending mail tap on each and select your favorite tone or select None.

Click on the arrow to see a demo or read the text underneath the video.

Simple Steps to Setting Your Alarm after turning on your phone:

1 – Find the Clock icon.  You’ll note mine was, by default, in the Utilities folder.
2 – Tap on the Clock.
3 – Tap on Alarm icon at the bottom of the screen.
4 – Tap on Plus sign in the upper right
5 – Slide your finger on the numbers to select Time – hour, minutes, AM or PM
6 – You’ll be at Add Alarm screen
7 – For a one-time alarm, leave the Repeat on Never
8 –  If you wish the alarm to be at the same time on more than one day, tap Repeat to open it
9 – Tap on the days you want the alarm to go off at the selected time
10 – Tap Save in the upper right
11 – Tap on Back to get to main screen
12 – To add weekend or a different day or set of day, change time and
13 – Tap Repeat again to bring up the listing of days
14 – Tap on SOUND to bring up the menu for what tone or sound you would like to hear when the alarm goes off
15 – When satisfied, tap on Save in upper right

16 – If you wind up with unwanted times on the page that comes up, tap Edit on upper left.
17 – To delete tap on white minus sign in red circe(s). Then tap the Delete button.

Finally, tap on Done button in upper right.  Check that the time correctly state your choice of AM or PM and that ON has been selected unless you want it off.

Happy sleeping and waking.

I love using Evernote and I love, love, love making new discoveries and then sharing them. This morning as I was doing my daily journaling it occurred to me that I might be able to record audio notes to myself and store them by category in Evernote.

One of the benefits I have enjoyed on my iPhone is the Voice Memos feature.  The challenge has been remembering what I record.  If I don’t label it immediately it gets lost in a long list of memos on my phone.

 As soon as I finished my journaling this morning I went to my phone, opened Evernote, clicked on the microphone icon and did a quick recording. You can also record from your computer. A little icon showed up when I was finished recording and it remained on the “new note” I had created.

Then I noticed the curved arrow, clicked on it and discovered I could email the recording, post it to Facebook or Twitter, or grab a web URL for it.

I immediately emailed it to myself, to test it, and then  to some friends. In my MacIntosh email program the recording icon was right in the body of the email as I’m show below.

 Some friends who received my email had to open the attachment and download it.

You can also send one to Facebook. There was the option to send it to Twitter.

Finally there was a “copy share URL to clipboard” and I got this url. Click the latter to hear the audio which I recorded directly on my computer.

In conclusion, one of the reasons I love Evernote so is that I simply title a note or notebook and it’s automatically “saved”, nothing more to click on.

You do NOT have to determine where to save it on your computer,  in which folder, and then remember where I filed it.

May you, too, find the ease and joy that I’m having in using this program.

(Note – Watch for post on sharing Evernote message and audio on Facebook.)