Upgrade Your Apple Watch

Posted on by dudley228

By Jason Harris

I had to take my Apple Watch Series 4 in for repair on Saturday. The watch accidentally fell from my wrist as I was putting on my backpack before my hike.

One thing I have noticed by going back to my series 2 Watch is how less responsive it is to get to the notification screen. It also charges very slowly. It took me over an hour and a half for me to charge the Watch to 100%. It was only at 56% at the time. If you have a series 2, I suggest you upgrade. It will be a lot better and faster for you. I’m am glad I only have to use the series 2 until I get my series 4 back on Tuesday.

My visit to the Westfarms Apple store yesterday was my second visit to an Apple store during the Covid-19 pandemic. An employee at this Apple store asked me to put on one of their masks they offer customers without masks. This is only the second business to require a surgical type mask instead of the bandanna I was wearing. The other Apple store I had gone to a few months ago didn’t do this. It could be a new protocol Apple is requiring, or it just happens at the busier mall stores. I guess I won’t know this until I go back to the other Apple store.

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A Few Things Learned on Saturday (updated 10/5/20)

Posted on by dudley228
By Jason Harris

The biggest thing I learned today was about a rip off subscription for the app, Cartoonme. It was advertised to me when I was on Instagram. It looked interesting. I have used similar apps like Prisma, which seems similar to Cartoonme. I liked trying out new apps, so I downloaded it. I quickly deleted it when I noticed it has a subscription model. I particularly don’t like subscriptions, but I have paid the subscription price for apps like Ulysses and Drafts, to name a few. The subscription price for Cartoonme is $8.99 a week. Let me say that again, $8.99 a week. That is $467.48 for the year. They have a three-day free trial, but I wasn’t taking a chance with this app, which is why I delete it.

My deletion brought me to the other thing I learned. It is about iOS 14. Last week, I decided to finally hide some of my app pages. I left a few open slots for new apps on the pages. I thought this is where I thought Cartoonme would go. It didn’t. I thought that was weird. I did find it in the app in the “Recently Added” folder in the App Library. This is where I was also able to delete it. So far, I don’t see how it’s possible to send an app to the pages you want to see without unhiding all the pages and moving the app to one of your pages you can see. It would be nice to be able to move an app to a page you want or to even move it to a folder you want it to go in.

Thanks to the AppleInsider podcast. There is a setting in Settings and under Home Screen where you can check off if you want a new app to go to the App Library or Add to a Home Screen.

A Few Thoughts on WatchOS 7

Posted on by dudley228
By Jason Harris

WatchOS 7 came out last week. With the new operating system, I feel like text dictation on the watch using Siri is better.

The new handwash detection feature works well. I have only had It not work only a few times.

I do feel like I’m taking longer than I did in the past to wash my hands. If you do wash your hands for the 20 seconds, you will receive this graphic.

The one thing that is worse in the new operating system is turning up the volume with the Digital Crown on the watch. It takes longer for the volume to go up or down.

Apple Needs to Add All Products to Their User Suggestions

Posted on by dudley228

By Jason Harris

I went to the Apple store last weekend to pick up the Twelve South PlugBug Duo. I needed a new charging cord for my 2013 MacBook Pro. My MagSafe Power Adapter cord had become loose from the leading brick. Even after taping it, I had to press the cable into the block just to make it charge the computer.

When going to Apple’s own Apple Store app, the only charging type device for the computer was the Twelve South product.

I know Apple announced the replacement of the MagSafe Power Adapter for the MacBook Pro models back in 2016. I knew I wouldn’t find that, but I figured they would have some type of replacement.

I didn’t think the Twelve South PlugBug Duo was right since it sure didn’t look like what I originally got with the computer. I decided to buy it anyway to test it. I choose the option to pick it up from the store.

I went on Saturday to pick it up, and it was my first time going to an Apple store since COVID-19. I had my temperature taken, and I had to wait in the line outside.

I am so glad I went to the store for my item. It turns out that Apple does sell the correct power adapter I needed for my computer.

I don’t understand why this wouldn’t be listed in the suggestions for my MacBook Pro on the Apple Store app. Apple should remedy this.

My suggestion to everybody is if you are looking for something particular for your devices I suggest you go to the physical store.

A Beeping AirPod Saves Itself

Posted on by dudley228

By Jason Harris

I am so happy Apple installed the ability to make its AirPods beep. I was hiking in the woods yesterday when my AirPod fell out. It was easy to see where it fell. The problem arose when I picked it up, and it slipped from my fingers. I had no idea where it fell. It was like the ground swallowed it up. Even after I started it beeping, it took me a few minutes to locate it.

I’m so glad Apple included the beeping feature. If they didn’t, I would have to get a new AirPod

Apple’s Noise App Works

Posted on by dudley228

By Jason Harris

When Apple’s Noise app first became available, I made some room on my dock to place it. I didn’t know when I would use it. I was thinking I would have to remember to try it at the next concert I would go to.

Once I placed it in my dock, I didn’t know if I would have to open it to test the sound in a location. Or if I should place it as a complication to see if it would do something on its.

Well, I found out today that I don’t need to do anything to get a warning from the watch. I was mowing the lawn when I got the notification on my watch about the noise level.

I am very happy that the Apple Watch gives a notification without me having to do anything.

The iPhone 10s Max Battery Case

Posted on by dudley228

I received my iPhone 10s Max Battery Case last Friday. I’m enjoying it a lot.

If you have used other battery cases like me, you will have to get use to not having to turn the case on. It stays charging your phone until the case is completely drained. One way that helped me with this is thinking that with other cases, you don’t know if they are completely charged or even will work when you turn them on. This is one issue you won’t have to worry about with Apple’s new battery case.

The same widget that shows your iPhone battery’s percentage will also show the battery case’s percentage.

On Saturday, I drained the entire battery case within six to seven hours. As a merchandiser, I use my phone for GPS, inventory counts, taking pictures, and streaming podcasts with Overcast. My phone lasted until Sunday morning. It was at 20 percent when I started charging it.

I am in my car a lot so I could keep it plugged in at those times to keep everything charged.

The iPhone and battery case will both charge on my Qi charger, but the case can’t charge by itself on the charger. If you want to charge it by itself, you will have to plug a lightning cable into it.

I have a Qi charger phone holder in my car that this battery case doesn’t work with while the phone is in it.

There isn’t a bulge on this battery case like on the one for the iPhone 7 (which can also be used with the iPhone 8). The battery is tapered down the back of the case like other battery cases.

IPhone 7 Battery Case.
IPhone 7 Battery Case.

IPhone 10s Max Battery Case.

IPhone 10s Max Battery Case.

I do find it hard to pull back the top of the case to get the phone out of it.

Pictures for the Facebook Challenge

Posted on by dudley228

Back in November, there was a 7-day challenge on Facebook, “Seven days. Seven black-and-white photos of my life. No explanations,” where people had to share black and white photos of your life. The only rules were that the pictures couldn’t have people in it and you couldn’t explain the pictures.

There is an author, Stacey Longo, who participated in the challenge then wrote a blog post about the pictures she posted. You can find her blog entry here.

I decided to post all the pictures I used in the challenge in this blog post. I will also post ones that never got used. When I decided to do the challenge, I started thinking about what types of pictures I could take.

I took all the photos on my iPhone 8 Plus and changed the color on them through the native photo app on the phone. I did use the Metapho app to strip the meta data off the photos.

The seventh day I posted two pictures. The pictures were of the same object, but I liked both of them. For me, it’s tough to decide what ones to use.

There is one picture I had taken for the challenge that was never used because the turtle pictures took its place. The below picture was taken in Hamden, Connecticut during my travels as a merchandiser and was never processed for the challenge.

I love taking pictures with my phone. Sometimes, I wish there were more reasons to do just that. I love it when these types of events come up.

Review: Sinvitron® Bluetooth Audio Receiver

Posted on by dudley228

Back at the end of December, I bought the Sinvitron® Bluetooth Audio Receiver V4.1 A2DP Portable Multipoint Wireless Connection Adapter with 3.5mm AUX Port. You can find the device here.

I wasn’t looking to go wireless, but when my 3.5 port on my car radio stopped working I had to look for a different way. Even after I bought the Bluetooth unit from Amazon, I didn’t think it would work in the port since the cord wasn’t working and even a pair of my earbuds didn’t work in the port. It did work though.

I have an iPhone 7 Plus so by using this Bluetooth receiver has helped me ditch the dongle I was using so I could play podcasts and charge my phone at the same time in the car.

Another good thing about the receiver is I’m getting more than five hours of use out of it before having to charge it. I have only charged it twice in the three weeks that I have owned it and it gets used every day.

There are only two negative things about the Sinvitron® Bluetooth Audio Receiver. The first is that I have to occasionally re-pair the Sinvitron® Bluetooth Audio Receiver with my phone to get it to work since it won’t connect otherwise. The other issue is when I start playing a podcast through the phone or through my earbuds and it keeps switching to the receiver.

Overall, I am satisfied with the Sinvitron® Bluetooth Audio Receiver.

Switching From Apple to Google

Posted on by dudley228

I have gone back to Google Maps from Apple Maps. The reason for the switch is lately I have been having issues with Apple Maps. I had gone back to Apple Maps when I started using the iOS 10 Beta back in July. Lately when using the maps app, I would be following the directions when the voice dictation would start over again from the beginning of my trip. I would fix it by canceling the trip and just starting over again. It was annoying, but workable. It didn’t take long before it got worse. I switched back to Google Maps when this past Friday Apple Maps wouldn’t even give me directions to the place I needed to go to. I tried three times and gave up. I needed something that worked for my job so the switch happened.

There were a few reasons why I switched back to Apple Maps in July. One of the reasons was because of the upgrade and new look it got with iOS 10. Since I’ve been wearing glasses for over 30 years, I loved the bold, new look, which comes in handy for quick-glance information on the phone screen.

The biggest reason I switched back to Apple and it wasn’t something new with iOS 10. It’s the fact that when using Apple Maps while listening to podcasts it doesn’t talk over the podcast. I would never want to miss hearing any part of the podcasts I listen to.

When I started using Google Maps again I was happy to find out that it doesn’t give directions over podcasts any longer. I’m not sure when that changed, but it’s a welcome change. At the moment, I’m not sure if I will go back to Apple Maps if it gets fixed or even better. Time will tell. -Jason Harris