Prompted by an article in the latest WebUser mag, I have installed Microsoft’s Your Phone app on my laptop. This allows me to see the last 25 photos I have taken with my Android phone on my laptop without going to Google Photos. I can also read and reply to text messages, and receive notifications, should I wish to. I already had the WhatsApp app installed, to read and reply to messages there.
On a related matter, I only recently discovered that my phone’s photos are stored in the My Files folder, and there are over 400 of them. I don’t see the need for that, so I will be doing some de-cluttering to reduce the memory used.
Microsoft PIN
I tried to log in to my Windows 10 laptop with a password as usual yesterday, but Microsoft insisted I had to choose a PIN instead. While I resented that at the time, it does in fact speed things up.
Update: Whatever happened when I was asked to choose a PIN, I do now have the option to go back to using a password, should I so wish.
Android System Update
What a week! I was getting to the end of the extra data allowance I bought after the Windows update, when I noticed Android was doing an update to my phone. I managed to interrupt it, hopefully before the allowance had been used up completely. I’ve now been able to let it finish.
It might be something for some of the group to keep an eye out for.
Another Windows 10 Update / Internet Explorer
This update apparently was because I’m using an old version of Windows 10 (?!), which won’t be supported after November (?! again). Once again I had a hint one was on the way, because a few times last week I lost control of the cursor, presumably as the update was being downloaded. It was finally installed this morning, taking about an hour.
On another matter, a member of the Photography Group had some trouble logging in to some sites, and finally took her laptop in to the shop she bought it from. It turns out she was still using Internet Explorer as her browser, which is now past its ‘use by’ date. She is now using Firefox, (but as we know, other browsers are available). Does that help anybody?
Windows 10 Updates
Just to say that I couldn’t go into town for lunch yesterday, because my laptop insisted on installing two updates when I tried to shut it down. Each one took about an hour, and since then there have been a couple of smaller ones.
I had a clue that something was up when I was prevented from finishing an email for about twenty minutes, presumably due to an update downloading. Something for you to watch out for.
Looking at Windows Update in ‘settings’, I see that there are some more, which I can install when I am ready. That won’t be for a couple of days though, when a new data download month begins for me.
Google Photos
Towards the end of his talk on WordPress last week, John had a few words about Google Photos. I said that in my experience with my Android devices, they automatically synced with Google Photos in the Cloud. That is to say that if I take a shot with my phone it is automatically uploaded to Photos, and then downloaded to my tablet. And it’s the same from tablet to phone obviously. So I can view the images when I’m offline. This facility is already installed when you buy an Android device. However I said I wasn’t sure what happened with my Windows laptop.
It turns out that you have to download the ‘Backup and Sync’ app, which I had actually done. However it seems I should also have created a ‘Google Photos’ folder in my Google Drive folder, which I hadn’t done. I have now, but not all the older photos have been downloaded, for some reason. The other problem I had was that I couldn’t see the icon for the app, to check the settings, because it was in the ‘hidden icons’ section of my task bar (at the bottom of the screen).
The plot will thicken next month though, when Drive will no longer automatically sync with Photos, they will be separate apps. I’m not totally clear about how this affects backups, except that if you want a photo in Drive to be backed up in Photos, you will have to do it manually, and presumably vice versa.
Maybe someone else can clarify the situation better than I have.
Android Keyboards
A couple of meetings ago I mentioned that a Facebook friend of mine had commented that it was odd that most people still used a QWERTY keyboard on their touch-screens, when others are available. The story being that that keyboard layout was deliberately designed to slow typists down, so that the metal letters of old-fashioned typewriters didn’t stick together.
It’s not quite the same thing, but I had a reason to type a dollar sign with my tablet last Monday, only to find that it wasn’t available on the keyboard. Yesterday I worked out how to access a US keyboard with it, without downloading an app. However it wasn’t intuitive.
My Nexus 7 came with the Gboard keyboard already installed. Going to Settings – Language & input – Gboard – Languages, gave me the opportunity to add a keyboard from a large list, which included nine versions of English. What wasn’t explained, and as I’ve said wasn’t intuitive, is that to switch from one keyboard to another I have to hold down the space bar, and then pick one of the options I’ve added.
To go back to my original point, another option is a Dvorak keyboard layout:-
“Dvorak proponents claim the layout requires less finger motion and reduces errors compared to the standard QWERTY keyboard arrangement. It is claimed that the reduction in finger distance traveled permits faster typing while also reducing repetitive strain injuries, although that claim is controversial.” (Wikipedia)
Worth a try?
Floppy Disks
Just a bit of trivia for you. When I started using computers at work, over twenty years ago, I would store my files on a 3 ½” floppy disk. These had a capacity of 1.44 megabytes, which means that these days I wouldn’t be able to store just one of my photos on one.
If I have managed to insert a photo from those days there, it is 600×480 pixels, and a mere 37 kilobytes.
(How did I type “½”? I didn’t, as I don’t have that key on my keyboard. I clicked on ‘Insert’ in the toolbar, and then on ‘Special character’.)
New Mobile Phone
This photo comes under the heading of Digital, rather than Computing, for three reasons.
I am holding my first mobile phone, a Samsung Galaxy J3. I haven’t felt the need for one until recently, and even now I use it more as a small tablet.
I had just ridden a bicycle for the first time since I came to Cardiff. As you may be able to tell, it is one of the new nextbikes which have appeared in the city. I used their app on the phone to hire it at Pontcanna Fields, and then rode it to Llandaff via footpaths. The app read a QR code on the bike, and then provided a code number to unlock it.
I am using the phone to remotely control my camera, a Lumix TZ200. I can do things like adjust the exposure, zoom in and out, and obviously click the shutter, while seeing what the camera sees on the phone’s screen.
I hope some of that is of interest.
Windows 10 Update
My laptop was running slow, so I decided to restart it. It then took an hour to configure the update it had obviously been downloading. You have been warned!