In case you are wondering how I take a picture of our Zoom meetings, the answer depends on which operating system you are using. (I am using Windows 10.)
David has supplied these instructions for Apple users:
To do a screenshot of an iOS or iPadOS device, press the power-off button and then the Home button.
With a Windows computer, the simple answer involves the ‘PrtSc’ key, near the right hand end of the top row of the keypad. You might have to press the Alt key or the Fn key, on the bottom row, at the same time. You will have to experiment. A message might pop up, saying the screen shot has been saved somewhere. If that doesn’t happen, the image might have been saved to the clipboard, in which case you will have to choose somewhere to paste it.
The less simple Windows answer involves the Snip and Sketch program, which you access by pressing the Windows key + Shift + S. This gives you the opportunity to crop the picture on the screen, so you only save the area you want.
For Android tablets and phones, press the power and volume-down buttons at the same time. I couldn’t get that to work with my phone though. I did have success by holding the power and ‘home’ buttons together. The screen flashed to show the shot had been taken. The picture went to Google Photos and to the Gallery.
There is to be a change to the free version of LastPass service. At present, you can use LastPass on as many devices as you like absolutely free. That’s changing on the 16th March.
You’ll have to choose whether you want to use LastPass on computersormobile devices You won’t be able to use it on both unless you pay for the premium version.
If you use it on both computers and mobile devices at the moment, choose which one to
keep. The first time you sign in to LastPass on or after the 16th, it’ll record which device you do it on. That will become your free device type – so if you sign in first on your computer, you won’t be able to use the app any more (and vice versa).
To keep access to both, you need to sign up for the premium version. If you upgrade before the 16th March, a full year costs £22 or £30 after.
I have for the years of my retirement chafed under the yoke of slower Internet access compared with when I was at work. Although I have had fibre from the cabinet as soon as it became available, I have rarely had more that 18-20 Mb/s download speed and commensurately slow upload speeds. I have also suffered with intermittent halts on the network where a succession of routers have decided to drop the connection back to the ISP, sometimes for several hours. And not just one ISP either. We have also had problems with Apple devices (iPad and iPhones) which frequently dislike the wireless network and have to have their lease renewed or their wireless function turned off and then on again.
As my most recent contract was coming to an end in January 2021, I took the opportunity to explore other options. Fibre to the premises was my hope but not available and no prospect in sight. I had signed up to receive an indication of when it might become available but OpenReach has lived up to its reputation for impenetrability and Virgin Media have no interest in cabling up my end of Penylan.
I did remember a member of the Computer Group had mentioned non-cabled access although my faulty memory suggested the word ‘radio’ and I couldn’t track that down. But the concept stuck and I looked at whether it was feasible to implement home broadband using mobile technology. The answer is of course, yes.
I spent some time looking at the three possible providers – 3, EE and Vodafone. They all had different offerings: 3 the cheapest, EE possibly the most flexible and Vodafone another option. They all provide useful ways of determining just what service you can get at your address. 3 quickly dropped out as they did not provide 5G cover in my area. Then I investigated volume usage and checked with my existing supplier (Vodafone) as to what sort of throughput I was currently using. It turned out that EE’s highest level contract was an allowance of 300Gb per month and that if, as my wife and I do, you watch a number of subscription services over the Internet and do a lot of Zooming, you can approach that level quite easily.
So there I was, Vodafone was the remaining option: the most expensive but offering unlimited usage. I struggled with their online system for investigating any further despite being a current customer but eventually came up trumps – I wonder if that’s a phrase that will fall out of favour now?? – using their chat system. A piece of advice : use the chat system from the sales page not the general or technical support page. The financial imperative means they give better answers and don’t want to send you to any other group!
I quickly gained an assurance (in writing) that their 5G service would reach my house and provide good and consistent connections and importantly, there is a 14 day trial period to check it all out. I placed my order and on hearing of the difficulties I had had with the existing connection from Vodafone, have a £10 per month discount for 2 years. It’s still twice what I was paying, though.
The Gigacube and SIM came the next day by courier. It took me 10 minutes to install, plug in my two Ethernet cable to the sockets; then 2 or 3 hours to visit every networked device and change it over to the new wireless network. My iPad is now downloading consistently at 170Mb/s and nothing in the whole set-up is slower than 45 Mb/s. Every room in the house has a good signal including the attic room two floors up.
Issues? Yes, one. I distribute a wired Ethernet connection via powerlink devices (you connect one to the router, plug it into the mains and then get a network connection from similar devices plugged in elsewhere in the house). The main one is to my study for my PC and laptop. The new network didn’t seem to like this at first but after a few hours of head scratching and for no apparent reason, it suddenly started working. I haven’t worked out why yet.
Verdict: well, it’s early days isn’t it? But I’m certainly very pleased so far. I’ll monitor usage and maybe ‘unlimited’ was a bit of a luxury.
Soon after retiring and joining U3A I was asked to prepare something to show people how to use computers to research their family tree. Well, that really sparked an interest. I started researching my grandfather, George Henry Davies (Harry). He was a colliery farrier from Blaenllechau in the Rhondda Valley. I was two years old when he died. Sadly, I have no memories of him.
As a younger man, he joined the army in 1915. After a very short period in France, he was shipped to Salonika in Greece. These days, not many people remember that any fighting went on there. Harry stayed in Salonika until early 1918.
During 2020 the whole world changed beyond all measure as countries around the globe suffered the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic. For many, including myself, had to endure many months in lockdown with limited opportunity to go out and socialise. My music making with my recorder group, Morris dancers and folk sessions all came to a grinding halt. For many months I simply didn’t feel like playing any music at all. Then a friend introduced me to the idea of making Acapella videos .
Using this system it is possible to create little arrangements with myself playing all of the parts.
Around the same time I learned that the Imperial War Museum had a set of pantomimes from the First World War Salonika front. These pantomimes were performed by a party of traveling ambulance men, the 85th Field Ambulance. With the help of the Salonika Campaign Society, I’ve managed to get scanned images of the three pantomimes, Dick Whittington, Bluebeard, and Aladdin in Macedonia. They provide a strange and unique insight into the lives of soldiers posted to this long-forgotten battlefront.
At the moment, I’m trying to put together some of those Acapella videos, trying to breathe new life into those old tunes. I’m keying in each note of the tunes into Musescore software. This must be a bit like following a knitting pattern stitch by stitch with no idea what the finished item will ever look like. I’ve created some musical videos with the help of Apple iMovie and Acapella :- Pitch Perfect.
Initially, I thought I’d try to learn one or two of the tunes. I couldn’t be certain that my grandfather Harry had ever attended any of these pantomimes but after a short period of study, I feel that he probably did.
The Macedonia front was quite unlike the experience of the Western Front in France. During Summer, it was fiercely hot but Winter brought freezing conditions and snow. For most of the time, the battle lines were fairly static. There was little chance of any entertainment. Only lucky soldiers managed to visit the town of Salonika. Curiously, soldiers developed a strange form of entertainment:- Racing tortoises. Well, that was impossible during Winter as the tortoises would be in hibernation.
Also, it appears that these pantomimes were incredibly popular, frequently out-performing pantomime productions staged at Drury Lane.
Let’s imagine then that grandfather Harry did manage to get a ticket for the pantomime. Imagine him trudging through the snow to a small barn, nicknamed The Kopriva Palace Theatre. We’ll take a seat beside him and enjoy some of the tunes that he would have enjoyed all those years ago.
I’ve finished three videos of songs from Music of Macedonia. You can see them here.
I experienced a strange coincidence when I was looking through the music from Aladdin in Macedonia. Look at the name of the composer. Not my grandfather, G.H. Davies but a strange coincidence, another G.H. Davies.
Here are the slides from the presentation. The links unfortunately don’t work from the slides, but they are added below the relevant slides in Orange type.
It has to be said that I am a bit of a gadget geek. I was actually quite an early adopter of the Amazon Echo voice activated assistant. I bought a pair of them a couple of years ago and have since added some lights to my smart home. All in all, I’ve been delighted with the system although to be honest, I’ve sometimes felt that I wasn’t getting the experience quite right. Maybe I was missing something.
About six months into The Great Lockdown I noticed that Amazon had a special offer on the Amazon Echo Show 8; just £69.99 (it is now £89.99 so keep an eye on the price). It really is sinfully easy to click on the “Buy Now” button. Here’s what I’ve discovered.
First of all, I believe that you can only get the full value of the Echo experience if you are an Amazon Prime subscriber. I’ll tell you more about that later.
The Amazon Echo is a bit like a voice activated tablet screen. You can set it up to :-
Show a continuous slideshow of your photographs, cycling through your snaps at random.
Play your music. You can ask Alexa for a particular album, artist or genre of music. You can also get her to play your favourite radio station. You can control the volume with your voice.
Show recipes, with video and audio hints as you go along. Similarly, it can show exercise routines.
Show Youtube videos, Iplayer and news channels.
Show Amazon Prime movies.
Make phone and video calls.
Play a range of games and quizzes.
AND, it does all of this through voice control. It really is just like having your own personal assistant or butler even. You simply use voice commands like, “Alexa, phone Betty”, or “Alexa, send a text to Betty,” or “Alexa, play songs by Val Doonican.”
Setting up the device might be a bit tricky. You will need an Amazon account and you will probably need The Alexa app running on a phone or tablet. If you were setting it up for somebody with limited technical skills, you could use a friend’s phone or tablet. There is a video here to show you how to do this.
Now, since The Great Lockdown started, I’ve become a big fan of Slow Movies, It’s hard to explain this concept. Basically, it could be video taken of a view, or of a scenic route. Nothing happens but for me, they provide me with a link back to The Before Time. Alexa Show will show movies from the Prime catalogue. Besides a huge choice of regular movies and T.V.shows, there are plenty of Slow Movies available. Try one of my favourites, “Morning Jazz at the Coffee Shop,” takes me back to enjoying a cappuccino at Coffee #1 in Whitchurch.
Now, the Amazon Echo Show comes in three sizes; just like Goldilocks’ bears. The 5 inch would look great on your bedside cabinet. I have the 8 inch in my kitchen. There is a 10 inch model that would probably look great in your living room.
It really is a bit like having one of those Swiss Army knives, the ones that do everything. Besides being a digital photo frame, it plays music or radio, shows movies, acts as a clock and calendar, provides weather forecasts, does sums, tells you spellings, gives you a cheery Good Morning greeting, acts as a timer or reminder turns lights on or off….I really could go on and on.
Now, as I said earlier, you probably won’t get much out of the device unless you have Amazon Prime subscription. Basically, for £79 per year, you get free next day (or fast ) delivery on many of the Amazon products. I’ve ordered something at 10 p.m. on a Saturday and it was delivered at 10 a.m. the next day. You also get access to a huge catalogue of music and videos. You might have to pay extra for some of the newly released videos but believe me, there is plenty of choice for free. It provides unlimited storage space for your photographs. You upload photographs to your storage area. You can then choose the ones that you would like to see on your Echo Show. Find out more about Prime here.
Those who know me, know that I really am a bit of a sucker when it comes to new gadgets. Believe me though, this one does something that most of my other gadgets fail to do quickly, easily and with minimum hassle. This one regularly makes me smile.
The first thing is, to see if there are any updates available, you go to Settings – Update & Security – Windows Update.
That is worth doing anyway, but I want to tell you about my experience with “Feature update to Windows 10, version 2004”. I started that running yesterday afternoon, and it finally stopped downloading this morning, seventeen hours later. I now have to decide when to install it. I’ll let you know how that goes.
My laptop is seven years old, and I use mobile broadband, so your experience might be different, but still …
