It wasn't too long ago that setting up an email account seemed like a real fun idea.  It was the greatest invention to come along since a phone you could carry in your pocket.  But now, a lot of the luster has worn off, and our grand electronic postal service that was supposed to help us quickly communicate with friends, family, and business colleagues has turned into a dumping ground for sales announcements from LL Bean, Hotel Deals This Weekend Only! and corny jokes and stories that have made the rounds around the internet so many times they're received like fruitcakes at Christmas.  The stories probably weren't even true anyway.  

These emails come so fast and so abundantly.  We haven't the time to keep up–not even to delete them.  As a result, we end up with thousands of unread messages in our Inbox, and we run the risk of missing the important ones.  Or, at the very worst, we give up and don't even bother checking them anymore.  What can we do to regain control?

1. One method to resolve this issue is to cut bait and delete everything older than 30 days (or whatever timeframe you're most comfortable with).  Think of it as an Amnesty Day for old emails that were waiting to be read.  Let them go.  If something was that important, and you missed it, chances are likely that the person or organization would have called you by now.  You will end up with a much more manageable garden to then go weed.  Save this one, delete that one, etc.

2. Additionally, one trick to preemptively handle future onslaughts of unwanted emails is to click on Unsubscribe, usually found at the bottom of commercial emails in tiny faint letters.  Be sure to wear your progressive lenses.  Note:  only click on Unsubscribe in emails from legitimate businesses and organizations.  Companies, like Target, will honor your request and take you off of their mailing list.  Dubious players, like Ukrainian Wines Cheap!, will not.  In fact, clicking Unsubscribe here will likely encourage them to send you more junk.

3.  An alternative, the nuclear option, is to start all over with a new email address.  If you choose this solution, be sure to send out an email to all of your contacts stating that you want them to email you at your new address.  Don't forget to let your doctors and other services know, too!

Once you've cleaned out your Inbox and have 0 unread emails, It's a good idea to check it frequently enough that you don't let them accumulate again.  From now on, that red bubble with the number in it will have regained significance and legitimacy.

Spilling coffee on your laptop, a power surge during a summer storm, or plain old hard drive failure.  These are just a few things that can cause your computer to crash and for you to lose access to whatever you had stored on it–photos, music, documents, and more.  If this were to happen, what would you lose?  Would it be "game over," or do you have a backup plan?

Having a good backup system in place is a core element in managing your digital life.  (And, as much as many of us hate to admit it, almost all of us do indeed have a digital life in some fashion or another.)  Fortunately, the process of making sure your important items are backed up isn't as daunting as it seems.  

There are a few solutions that are readily available.  One that requires almost no work at all is cloud computing.  It's a fancy shmancy term for having your data synced and backed up to a computer that's located somewhere else.  If you have a Gmail account, you are using "the cloud."  Your emails are located on a server that Google owns, and any device you use to access your email talks to that server.  Google Drive is the same thing, only with documents.  Any changes you make from any device are synced on Google's cloud server.  Microsoft has OneDrive, and Apple has iCloud for email, photos, documents, and other data.  

However, simply owning an iPhone or MacBook doesn't guarantee that you're using the cloud.  You have to turn it on in System Preferences.  Likewise, if you download a Google Doc to your computer and make changes to it, it doesn't mean that the new version is necessarily stored in the cloud anymore.  While there are some procedures to follow, fortunately they're not difficult once you get started.

Cloud computing aside, it's also a good idea to backup your entire computer to an external hard drive on a regular basis.  Both Macs and Windows PCs have programs that can automate this function for you.  You just need to purchase the hard drive.  Good news:  they're not that expensive, and they hold a lot of data!  From your external hard drive, you can even restore your entire system should you experience a crash or buy a new computer and want everything back the way it was.

​Managing your digital life is something necessary–like going to the dentist twice a year (but not as painful as getting a filling).  With a few procedures in place, you can feel confident that your important documents and family photos are backed up.  You'll be ready when lightning strikes!

2020 has been a crummy year on so many different levels.  For many families, one of the greatest hardships of the year has been being isolated from loved ones.  For those of us who have family in assisted living, the lockdowns have been excruciating.  There was one bright spot, however, that made this year a little better:  the Echo Show smart display with Alexa.

When my dad went into assisted living about a year and a half ago, we wanted some way that we could communicate with him at any time of day or night.  At first, we thought that we could simply FaceTime or Zoom with Dad, but we soon realized that his motor skills and lack of technology experience put an end to those video chat options.  It wasn't that we weren't comfortable calling him.  It was that he wasn't able to answer those calls.  That's where the Echo Show came to the rescue.

Of course, the one we gave him was only intended to supplement the in-person visits that we had with him.  Little did we know those visits would soon come to an end when COVID hit.  Suddenly, the Echo Show was the main method of communicating with him. 

The great aspect of the Echo Show is the Drop-In feature.  It does what the name suggests–it allows you to "drop in" on the person you're calling.  All you have to do is begin the video chat on your end (with a smartphone or another Echo Show), and it will call the person on the other end, with audio and video activated.  In other words, my dad didn't have to do anything to answer the call.  We could instantly see and hear him, and vice-versa.  (Note:  users have the option to turn this feature off for privacy.)

We liked the Echo Show so much that we set one up for my mother-in-law down in Florida.  She doesn't live in a nursing home, but she has Parkinson's disease and has great difficulty holding a phone steady.  Now we can drop in anytime to see her.  In addition, when she's not using the Echo Show for our video chats, she utilizes its Alexa voice assistant to control the device.  She can have it play music, show pictures, and fetch the weather and news.

I've recommended the Echo Show for many of my clients who live in or have family who live in assisted living, senior living, and independent living.  While some of them don't like things that are "too techie," they all agree that this device has been very helpful.  To me, it's one of the few material objects that made 2020 a little more bearable.

You've been limping along with that 10-year-old iPhone 4 with the cracked screen and apps that are so out of date they don't even open.  You've been thinking of getting a new phone, but aren't sure which one is right for you.  It can feel overwhelming, I know.  I study these phones, and even I have a hard time keeping up!  But with Apple's new iPhone launches this year, I think I can bring the picture into focus and help you find one that is right for you.  Note:  I've decided to review only the new iPhones here, instead of the latest Androids.  There seem to be about a million different Android phones out there, and trying to discern their differences is a topic for another day.

What make this year's new iPhones significant are three things:  features, size, and price.  This spring, Apple released the iPhone SE (2020/2nd edition).  Then, at the end of October, they announced the iPhone 12.  Here's a quick rundown of what makes this so intriguing.

1.  Features:  Both phones have very nice cameras--especially the iPhone 12 Pro, with its telephoto lens, night mode, and 4x optical zoom range.  Both phones are made to withstand damage more than ever.  The iPhone SE is water resistant under 1 meter of water for 30 minutes, and the iPhone 12 can stay under that length of time at 6 meters.  The iPhone 12 also is made of tougher materials to protect it from the occasional drop on the floor.  

The 12 uses facial recognition to unlock it (like the iPhone 11 and 10).  The SE still has the Home Button for fingerprint ID (like the iPhone8 on back).  Many of my clients prefer the home button, as they find it easier to unlock and navigate back to the home screen.  Best of all, both phones are lightning fast, and they run the most current operating software, with the most secure updates.  

2.  Size:  This is something I've been waiting for for a while now–smaller physical size.  Remember when cell phones first came out, it was cool to see how small we could get them?  Then somewhere along the way, they kept growing and growing, until you felt like you were holding an iPad up to your ear.  Well, the iPhone SE is the same size as the iPhone 8 at 5.45" with a 4.7" display.  The iPhone 12 comes in 3 sizes:  Regular, Max, and Mini.  The regular size is just a little taller than the iPhone 8, but the Mini is only 5.18" tall, making it the smallest new iPhone available.  It's roughly the same size as your old iPhone 4.

For me, I like putting the phone in my pocket, so the smaller the better.  However, I now wear progressive lenses on my eyes, so the Max size may be in my near future.    Whatever your preference, you can now find an iPhone size to fit your needs.

3.  Price:  For the past few years it felt like, if you wanted a new iPhone, you were going to have to pay about $1000.  Now, fortunately, Apple offers a more diverse pricing lineup.  You can still by the top-of-the-line model for over a grand, but the iPhone 12 mini starts at $699.  The iPhone SE, at $399.  I've even had several clients purchase the SE from Consumer Cellular for $250!  (It's also worth mentioning that Apple's models in between, like the iPhone 11 can be had for a good price too, starting at $599.)

So, which one is best for you?  If you enjoy photography and want the ability to take professional-looking pics and videos, one of the iPhone 12 models may be your best bet.  If you prefer a good, standard phone that does calls, texts, emails, and web browsing well–at a reasonable price–then the iPhone SE might be your choice–especially if you still prefer to use the Home Button.  Any way you slice it, Apple has made it much more enticing for us to retire our old phones.

As always, let me know if you'd like help picking one out, setting it up, and/or teaching you the fun things you can do with it!

Within the last month, I've received calls from clients asking me about the legitimacy of an email they've received.  There are actually two similar ones out there that I know of (and lots of variations), and I can tell you they are far from legit.  In fact, they are downright dangerous, financially speaking.

They go something like this:  You get an email from a well-known company, like Amazon, saying that your account has been hacked, a thief has bought a new iPhone with it, and we've locked your account down.  They ask you for access to your computer so they can "unlock" it for you.  While in your computer they see your account information, and who knows what else.  They also tell you that in order to fully unlock your account, you'll need to run a transaction of some kind.  In order to do so, you are directed to go to Target or Best Buy and purchase $500 gift cards to send to them.  

A similar scam goes like this:  You get an email from a well-known antivirus company saying that they are  going to renew your annual subscription for $400.  You email them back saying No!  The next day they send you an email saying that they've already charged you $400.  You call the number for customer service and they apologize.  In fact, they say they'll refund your credit card right now.  Next thing you know, they're saying that they made a mistake and accidentally refunded you $4000.  "Please send us $3600 to make it even again."  

You've got to be kidding, right?  Who would fall for these requests?  It turns out, many people.  Before we get too judgmental about the victims, I want to point out that the scammers' techniques have gotten a lot more sophisticated.  You ask for proof that they're really calling from, say, Amazon.  They tell you to look at your caller ID and google the phone number.  Sure enough, it's Amazon's number.  (It's a caller ID trick called spoofing. It only looks like they're calling from the number.)  When you share your computer screen with them, and they show you a charge from, say, Norton Antivirus on your credit card account, it looks real.  It's not.  They've prepared an image to look like your account.  And to top it off, the scammer's voice is so reassuring and nice.  They are very convincing.

How do you defend yourself against the scammers?  Here are some rules to remember:
1.  If you get a call from a familiar company telling you there's a problem.  Hang up, look up their phone number from their actual website, and then call it.  Ask if there's a problem.

2.  Organizations like banks, Amazon, and Norton will not ask you for access to your computer to show you things.  They will not ask you for your passwords either.  (Note:  A tech support company may ask you to share your screen, but that's fine--you called them.)

3.  Don't click the links in suspicious emails.  Don't return voicemail calls from the phone numbers they called from.  If they are bogus, that lets the scammer know they've got a live one on the line, and they will hound you.

4.  If you're suspicious, check out Snopes.com for list of common scams and hoaxes. If you think you've been scammed, call your credit card company or bank immediately.  You'll find an 800# on the back of your card that'll be answered 24/7.

Scams are nothing new.  They're not even new to the computer age.  As always, we need to be vigilant, but not scared.  When approached, it's okay to conduct your due diligence.  You owe it to yourself.  You are the one in control.

Few things are worse than being in the middle of a Zoom call, and the other attendees start yelling, "You're breaking up!"  "Your picture froze!"  "You sound like you're under water!"  All three of these afflictions are more than likely due to a slow WiFi connection.  So what can you do about it?

The first thing you should check is your WiFi speed, I use a free site called SPEEDTEST.net.  There you can see the time it takes between sending a request and receiving a response (called Ping), the time it takes to upload data (Upload), and the time it takes to download data (Download).  Download is what most people focus on to see how "fast" their internet speed is in a particular spot in the house.  If you're checking SPEEDTEST.net on your phone or a laptop, try moving from room to room to see how each location fares.  Speed is measured in Mbps, or Megabits per second.

Next, look at how many Mbps you are paying for with your internet service provider (ISP).  If you're paying Xfinity for 150 Mbps, and you're only getting 20, you're either far away from your router or there a lot of devices in your home eating up all of the bandwidth.  On the other hand, if you're paying AT&T for 25 Mbps, and you're getting 20, then you're doing alright.  If you're only getting 2 or 3 Mbps in the room where you use it most, then it might be time to upgrade with your ISP or look at some of the following options:

1.  Make sure your router is located out in the open, as opposed to under a desk or in a cabinet.  You want as clear of a path as possible for the signal to travel.  Placing it high on a shelf, or at least on top of the desk is a good start.

2.  Upgrade your router.  Do you have an all-in-one modem/router provided by your ISP?  Many times, these devices aren't as good as having a separate modem and router.  Buying your own router can be a big boost in performance, plus you will no longer have to pay for renting your ISP's router.

3.  Look into getting a mesh router system.  This is a router that is built to work with little satellite nodes around your house to keep a strong signal throughout.  Is it the same as a WiFi signal extender?  No.  Signal extenders create a separate network in a different part of your house.  Once you fall out of range of one network, you switch over to the other one.  They are typically less efficient and slower than mesh routers.  Mesh routers, while more expensive, keep you on one network all throughout your house and are more seamless, efficient, and faster.

4.  Try these other options:  You could always move your computer and router closer together.  Likely, though, you want to be able to work in your cozy den downstairs and don't feel like moving.  Also, you're router isn't likely to be easy to relocate from where it's connected to the wall.  And finally, you could try running a long ethernet cable from your router to your computer.  But where's the fun in that if you're partial to keeping your mobility?

If you try the steps above, you'll have more information that will help you find the right solution.  You will likely discover one of the options is easy and very effective.  If you have questions about how to fix your WiFi performance, or need help in setting it up, please contact me.

Since social distancing went into effect, our family has eaten every meal at home.  One benefit to dining in is that we're saving money.  Another is that we're discovering many new recipes.  We've also rediscovered some old ones, pulled from cookbooks that fell behind the George Forman Grill back in 1998.  Sometimes, however, we still get tired of cooking. Sometimes, we don't have the energy to even boil water.  At moments like this, we order out.  

Most of our favorite restaurants offer a curbside service, or an easy and safe indoor pickup procedure.  Still, if we're feeling sluggish, and can't remember if today is Tuesday or Saturday, we just don't want to go out.  (Many high-risk people simply cannot go out.)  For these situations, we use a food delivery app.

Three of the more popular and highest rated apps to deliver vittles to our door are:
• Grubhub
• DoorDash
• Uber Eats
​
There are quite a few more apps that offer food delivery service, and this isn't really a recommendation as to which is best–just a sample.

All of the apps will work on either iPhones or Androids and are free to download.  Once you open the app on your phone, you can set up an account, search to see if the app delivers from your favorite restaurant, and place your order.  You can pay securely online with the app, so when your food arrives, the driver can leave it on your front porch.  No fuss, no muss, no human contact!  (You also have the option to pay in person if you prefer.)

Which of these apps do I use?  I've used all three, and maybe even a couple more.  Most of them offer free delivery for a trial period.  After that, they typically charge you a small service fee and delivery fee.  Try a few of them and see which you prefer.  In my house, we look up the restaurant that we want to order from, and use the app that they've partnered with.  

During those evenings when the Zoom call goes too long, or I've mowed the lawn in a hurry before the thunderstorm hit, it's so worth it to use a food delivery app!  It's also a great way to help keep local restaurants in business.

Pro tip:  No matter if you're in the free trial or paying in full, don't forget to tip the driver!

​

With all of us shut in at home and unable to see family, friends, and colleagues, Zoom has become the unofficial video chat app for keeping in touch during the pandemic.  We use it in business for meetings.  We use it for family "reunions" where any relative across the country can join.  Everyone's invited, except Uncle Covid and Aunt Corona.  Chances are, you've heard of Zoom.  You've probably even used it.  But are you using it correctly, or at least getting the most out of your experience?  Here are 10 golden nuggets to help you:

1. Host a Meeting:  Yes, even you can host a meeting.  Signing up for a Zoom account is easy, and there is a free level of membership.  Once you have an account, you can schedule your virtual cocktail hour for any day and time. (It's 5:00 somewhere.)  Then invite friends via email or send them a calendar invitation.

2. Screen Sharing:  The host, and often the guests, of the meeting can share their computer screens to show everyone whatever important information they want:  A PowerPoint presentation, pictures of the grandkids, a website, a cat video.  You name it!

3. Compatibility:  You can use Zoom on any device--Mac, Windows PC, iPhones, Androids, and tablets.

4. Mute Yourself:  This one gets into the issue of etiquette.  Many users on Zoom don't realize how much background noise gets picked up when they are not muted.  Even moving your laptop on your desk creates a loud sound.  When you make a sound, your video box gets highlighted on everyone else's screen if it's loud enough.  This distracts guests from what the speaker is saying.  Unmute yourself when it's your turn to talk.

5.  Smile! You're on Candid Camera!:  Be sure to look at the camera.  You'd be surprised at the number of people who don't realize that everyone is looking into their ear or at their shoes. Think of yourself as being on TV and check the video box you're displayed in to see how you look.  If you're having a really bad hair day, you can always turn off your video.  Remember, as long as the Zoom meeting is happening, and your video is set to ON, your camera stays on--even if you navigate to a different screen on your computer.

6.  Step into the Light:  Try to have good lighting directed at your face.  You don't want to look like you're in the dark.  Sitting with a window behind you can backlight you and make you look like you're in the Witness Protection Program. 

7.  Facial Expressions:  While a step up from an ordinary audio phone call, video chatting still doesn't convey your emotions and demeanor as well as a face-to-face conversation.  Even though you're muted, you can wave, give a thumbs up, smile, etc.  You can also click on the Reaction Emojis to show how you feel.

8.  Chat Feature:  This is a great tool if you want to ask a question of everyone, or the host, or a specific user without disrupting the speaker.  Important note:  your one-on-one chat with your buddy won't be seen by the rest of the users in the Zoom meeting, but it's not private.  The host gets a transcript of ALL chat conversations.  So don't say anything bad about the boss or Aunt Martha!

9.  Zoombombing:  Many of us have heard about the security breaches that have happened recently, where nefarious people have crashed a Zoom meeting and displayed rude pictures or messages.  You can avoid this by not publicly posting your meeting on social media.  Assign a meeting ID and password, and only share it with your invitees.  You can also turn on the Waiting Room function that puts users in a virtual "room," and only the host can let them in.

10.  More Than You Can Shake a Stick At:  There are myriad ways and reasons to use Zoom.  My family has used them for work meetings, family get-togethers, attending a Passover seder, and a virtual happy hour.  How have you used Zoom?  I'd love to hear other ideas.  Please let me know by posting in the Comments Section!