So I did return!! As did eleven of you. So many thanks to Owen and Ted for holding the fort and particularly to Ted for two sessions, on Paint and using Ancestry. There was once a time when I arranged for the group to go to the Barclay Innovation Centre and Paul and I weren’t able to go. I felt much the same about missing Ted’s Talks (not this TED of course – although its really worth a browse if there’s nothing on TV you fancy watching).
Margaret, Ann, Christine and Owen weren’t able to join us and I had to interrupt Owen’s lunch to get a verification code for Zoom – apologies again, Owen.
I started by just reviewing the notes from the previous meeting highlighting just a few of them. I supported Jim‘s assertion that Windows Defender was sufficient for us for anti-virus control, but could see (once I looked up the details) the logic of Don installing Norton as part of his contract with BT as it was not an add-on that would have to be paid for at the end of a year. I noted that I’d need to follow-up the item on Software Discounts through the Third Age Trust – I think Owen said he’d make some enquiries. I supported the answer that Jim had given to Stella on where messages (and images) are stored in Signal (and WhatsApp) – they are stored on your phone. That’s why Renee had been unable to rebuild her message store on her computer a few months back. [I’d also had to look into this as my sister was getting alarmed at the amount of space photos were taking-up on her phone. Unfortunately there’s no bulk download facility available. You have to select individual media items, save them to your device, then download them to your computer. That’s encrypted security for you!]
I then referred members to my Reply to Ted’s notes of the meeting on 12th May and said I’d return to that matter at the end of the meeting.
I then went through the significant items (imho) that had seemed to have happened since the last meeting I facilitated. These are posted to Flipboard so I won’t go through them in detail.I did in particular draw your attention to the announcement at Apple’s WWDC event, that the next version of their Operating Systems with biometric Passkeys, could be a real game-changer as FIDO was a standard that was being followed by Google and Microsoft as well. Finally I highlighted some of the changes we could expect to see in the next release of iOS (v16) – you would be able to see the WiFi password of your connected network (useful when a trusted visitor asks to connect to your network); there would be improved methods of deleting duplicate photos; dictation would be improved (ie speech-to-text); the Home app would get improvements (ie more Smart Controls), [and incidentally Hive would better integrate with the Apple Home Kit]; you would be able to track medication in the Health app; you would be able to edit/recall iMessages (but not SMS Texts) up to 15mins after they had been sent; and finally you would be able to use your iPhone as a webcam.
Jenny advised us that her work on Digital Exclusion continues. She had a tight deadline to draw together threads and themes linked to Poverty and Digital Exclusion and asked for any help we could offer her on case studies or examples. [After the meeting I stumbled upon Jenny’s article in The Pensioner magazine – a rattling good read! Well done Jenny.]
David mentioned that he’d had an invite to join/use “passwordless” LastPass. I seemed to remember something about this, but suggested that he didn’t volunteer to be in the first wave of adopters. I said that it quite possibly might be connected to FIDO developments … but it isn’t. It’s connected to using LastPass Authenticator. Authenticator software is useful – I’ve used both Google’s and LastPass apps. It replaces the code sent to your phone as a way of verifying your identity. He then described a sad story of failing to learn to play bridge, and then when he had found a suitable online course (from u3a) he’d been unable to use it as the text on his iPad was so small. Various solutions for using your TV to see an iPad or Android tablet were proffered, and it was generally believed that it should be possible. [After the meeting he reported success having “googled” the issue.] I (with Paul’s help) will try and post a short article on the site in due course.
Sianed raised the issue of biometrics maybe not being the overall solution to replacing passwords as sweat on the finger has proven to be a barrier to correct identification, and anaesthetic (or a condition such as Bell’s Palsy) might make facial recognition challenging. I mentioned that Apple was now saying that its facial recognition could cope with masks – so there must be more attention being applied to eyes, perhaps. I also felt that, as with all new technologies, this would be an addition (at least initially) not a replacement. She also raised a problem she and her husband were having with network printer access from a shared computer. We suggested that she needed to look at the printer setup – to see if it was setup as a shared printer.
Paul had to earlier drop out of the call because he was getting a message saying that he was running out of resources for audio. After closing Chrome, all was well. Chrome is a particularly “hungry” app, and members are advised to use Brave, or Bing – both based on the same code-base (Chromium) as alternatives. He advised us that you code use the textno. 7726 to report spam text, and telno. 159 to report bank scams.
Mike had TV problems which had led eventually to getting a second new TV (one would be returned) whilst Budd Electrical and Beam Rite getting involved. They both seemed to suggest there was “no obvious problem”. However Paul gave some useful advice on certain channels appearing to pixelate more than others – my apologies, I didn’t jot down the reason/solution.
Renee reported that her VirginMedia problem appeared to have been resolved and a refund given. She enquired as to whether anyone knew anyone who might repair the power socket on an Internet radio – we suggested Budds Electrical, or to go to where sh’e bough it (JLP) and see if they could repair. Alternatively, rechargeable batteries might be a workaround and acceptable solution.
Stella enquired about how she could get the complete details of her computer (including serial number for instance) before she attempted an upgrade to Windows 11. Jim guided her to Windows 10 > Settings > System > About which hopefully would provide the information she needed. WE reminded her of the need to do a proper backup before attempting the upgrade.
Finally Jenny advised us that she’d recently attended a meeting at Cardiff & Vale College where the facilities were very good. I said I’d follow that up, but indicated that cost was going to very likely drive our choice of venue for September when we restarted face-to-face meetings.
The Future of the Group.
I restated what I’d written in my reply to Ted’s notes of the meeting of 12th May. I corrected the impression I’d obviously left with Ted that I wanted to step down. If I’d said that, even inadvertently, I hadn’t meant to.
I felt that taking Notes and maintaining the website was “a good thing” and I wanted to continue doing that, but also to be able to do more presentation-like stuff, like we used to do, whilst still retaining the intimate “round-the-screen” sharing stuff we’d developed during the pandemic.
I felt that with Owen doing the calling notice, if members could take it in turn to “chair” the “round-the-screen” material, that would relieve me from doing that at the same time as taking notes. Similarly, if members would step forward and do short presentations, for instance on software they use – they don’t need to have slideshows, or Powerpoint; that would also help to refresh the group a little.
I think it was generally felt that the taking of Notes did help, it provided a useful resource to go back to when issues re-occurred. I am pleased that Sianed “volunteered” to facilitate the “round-the-screen” part of the next meeting and am hopeful that others would follow subsequently.