Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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To conserve your battery, reduce your cellular data usage, and increase your privacy, here are settings to change on your Android phone. Open Settings ➢ Connections ➢ More connection settings and turn off Nearby device scanning. Turning this off will keep your phone from scanning for other devices to connect to and save your battery life. Go back to the main Settings page and click on Google. Now click on the three dots menu in the upper right corner and click on Usage & diagnostics. Tur...
To conserve your battery, reduce your cellular data usage, and increase your privacy, here are settings to change on your iPhone. Open Settings ➢ Privacy ➢ Tracking and turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track. Turning this off prevents apps from tracking your activity across different apps and using that information to target advertising for you. This screen also shows any apps that already have permission to track you and gives you the option to ask them not to. Facebook hates this feature, so...
Remember how I've been telling you that Windows 10 would be the last version of Windows? And instead of releasing an entirely new operating system every few years, Microsoft planned to release major upgrades to Windows 10 annually? Ahem. Well. Six years after introducing Windows 10, say hello to Windows 11. Six years is a long time for babies and operating systems, so eventually, Microsoft's list of design changes added features, and security improvements led to Windows 11. Microsoft announced...
Do you struggle with hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of emails in your inbox? Do you feel faint and a touch nauseous thinking about deleting all those emails? In the old days, we could curl up with a cup of coffee or tea on a rainy day and delete those old and unwanted emails. I can almost remember a rainy day, but it's been a while. Worry not, friend. Here's how to tame that inbox using the magic of the search function. If your junk email filters aren't catching all the junk that...
As we use the internet for shopping, research, bill paying or playing games, we know that the websites we use collect information about us. Collecting information about you is how websites and the companies behind them improve their products and sell advertising. And it's all legal. But what information are they collecting and how do they do it? It starts when you connect to a website. Your browser has information about you and the computer you're using, and all that information is available if...
Also known as feature phones, dumb phones are phones without the smarts of a smartphone. They come in candy bar and flip styles. If you don't need to read a book, look up the word "defenestration," or check the weather on your phone, get a dumb phone. If you want to keep a phone in your car for emergency use but don't need to be reachable 24/7, get a dumb phone. If you need to call people and do illegal things without being tracked by the authorities, get a dumb phone. Wait, no, don't do that....
Analogies are helpful as a comparison between two things to explain technology in simple terms. Here are a few examples: Wi-Fi – You can think of Wi-Fi as a sprinkler connected to a hose. Here the hose is the internet, and the Wi-Fi "sprinkles" internet to devices that can't directly connect to the hose. Passwords – Your username and password combine to make the key to a lock on a door. The door can be your bank account, your email address or your account at Tractor Supply. The door is loc...
What is a virtual private network (VPN), and why would you want one? If we break it down starting from the back, a network is a bunch of computers and devices with similar addresses that can "see" and interact with each other. Private means you need to be a member or have a key to get in. Having a private network means you need to be connected to the network and have a username and a password to join in on all the fun. Virtual means, in this case, we're describing physical objects that you...
Whether you use a traditional digital camera or the camera app on your smartphone, it takes two steps to take a digital picture: the physical step of capturing an image and the image processing step. Digital cameras have bigger sensors and better lenses and take better initial images, while smartphones, with their smaller sensors and slower lenses, have better software for manipulating images. Image manipulation software uses computational techniques to enhance photos, which leads to the term...
Remember when there was a little green lock in your browser when you went to a secure website like your bank or a store? That little green lock meant you had connected to a secure website. But what did that mean, a secure website, and whatever happened to that green lock? A secure website uses the HTTPS protocol for connections. So you don't have to go look it up, HTTPS stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure. A few years ago, Google, being the 600-pound gorilla they are, decided that all...
Ransomware is one of the biggest and fastest-growing threats online. The year 2020 saw a massive spike in ransomware attacks and the amount of money paid out to criminals. Quick refresher: Ransomware is malware or malicious software. Malware can damage your computer or your files. Computer viruses, worms, trojan horses and spyware are all considered malware. I think any program that advertises itself as free and then makes you pay for it once it's installed on your computer is malware, too....
Yep, passwords again. Once upon a time, say a whole two or three years ago, "they" told us to change our passwords regularly. The thinking was that if someone had your Facebook or email password, they could log in to your account to, I don't know, check up on your posts and emails? If they had your bank or credit union password, they could transfer money. The theory was that changing your passwords frequently would eventually lock these people out of your account, no harm, no foul. And it...
No, not delicious tortilla chips. I'm talking about semiconductor microchips. We have a global shortage of chips. These are the chips used in cars, laptops, refrigerators, gaming consoles, microwave ovens, smartphones and even toys. There's no shortage of wires or circuit boards, but the chips themselves are another story. So, why is there a shortage? Few manufacturers have enormous warehouses full of the parts they need to make whatever they make. Instead, they rely on just-in-time (JIT) invent...
It started with shortening words to type faster by using fewer characters, but has now spread to Twitter, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and whatever the latest thing is. Since abbreviations and acronyms can make it hard to communicate if you don't know, or can't quite work out, what people are saying, here's some help. AFAIK: As far as I know. Use it when you're not sure or are guessing. Who can tell? ATM: At the moment. Usually, your status, as in "I'm picking up groceries at Albertsons ATM."...
The calls started during the holiday shopping season when lots of people were shopping online. Scammers counted on people being in a daze about what they had ordered, for whom and when it (whatever it was) was supposed to be delivered. The scam calls tapered off for a few weeks but have been ramping up lately. Here's how the scammy Amazon calls work: the phone rings and you hear an automated message saying there's a significant charge pending on your Amazon account, usually for more than...
Video conferencing, whether we're using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype, BlueJeans or another tool, has become a big part of our lives since you-know-what-that-must-not-be-named. Webcams have moved from a nice-to-have feature to pretty darn indispensable for lots of people. They're how we go to meetings, attend classes and hang out with friends and family far away. Whenever a critical mass of people uses a device or a technology, criminals figure out how to exploit it. Here, it's called...
Mailboxes and delivery tech You've probably seen the term "last mile" used quite a bit lately. From flying drones to little robot cars delivering packages to our houses, many people and companies are working on the "last mile" problem. The term "last mile" actually comes from the telecommunications industry. The costs of building out a telephone network can be spread out over the whole system, but the cost of connecting one customer to that system can only be amortized by that one customer. For...
The technologies and features we attribute to Artificial Intelligence (AI) are based on Machine Learning (ML). We currently don't have the technology to produce an artificial brain that thinks and understands the way our organic brains do. That kind of AI is called Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The keyword here is general. A true AGI can "think" about multiple things and apply what it "thinks" about to different areas than it started with. Your organic brain can think about paying the...
Uses for old smartphones Unless you're trading in your old phone or maybe reselling it yourself to help pay for your new phone, or your old phone has battery problems or a cracked screen, here are a few ways you can still use your old smartphone. Even without carrier activation or a SIM card, you can use your old smartphone to get online and to download apps over your home WiFi. Here are some things you can still use it for: As a TV remote Smartphones can make great remote controls for smart TVs...
Browsers are the tools we use to get on the internet. Whether we click on the orange Firefox icon, the swirly blue Edge icon, the compass-y looking Safari icon, or the red "O" of Opera, the thing that opens is called a browser. And a browser is the thing we use on our computer or phone or tablet that takes us to the internet to check our mail, search for something or someone, check our bank balance, or do some shopping. Even though browsers have different names, they all do the same thing -...
Along with wills, revocable living trusts, financial powers of attorney and the rest of the paperwork, don't forget your digital life when planning your estate. Your email accounts, social media accounts, PayPal, Venmo, or other digital payment accounts, any websites you own, as well as digital currencies are all considered digital assets and need to be part of your estate. What? Do you think you're too young to worry about estate planning? Have you heard of a thing called "accidents?" Don't...
Turn off your notifications Whether it's your phone, tablet, or computer, notifications can cause a constant stream of beeps, boops, and ringtones at all times of the day. By default, notifications are on for built-in apps and anything you download from the App Store or Google Play. Think about it. Do you want or need your device (phone, tablet, or computer) continually letting you know that someone somewhere posted something, published a new article, or that you got a new email that's probably...
Before USB drives (also called thumb drives, USB sticks, and other less family-friendly names), most people backed up their computers and photos on CDs or DVDs. The U.S. Library of Congress and the Canadian Conservation Institute have each published a study estimating the useful life of data stored on CDs/DVDs at two to 100 years, depending on the disc's storage conditions. Ideal conditions were room temperature, 50% humidity, out of direct sunlight, and no playing frisbee with the recorded...
In its widespread non-technical use, a cache (pronounced cash) is a collection of items of the same type stored in a hidden or inaccessible place. In the technical world, a cache is either specialized hardware or a specific software location that stores recently used data. Programs can access cached data quickly the next time the data is needed. Clearing your caches can help with troubleshooting computer issues, free up disk space, remove personal data and generally improve system performance....
