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.

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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.

An App to Find Events in Your Community

Posted on by dudley228

Recently, I have had some life changes. During these times, I had the app, Meetup, suggested to me.

Meetup is an app that allows a person to find groups of interest. There are groups for hiking, sports, or just going to the movies to name a few.

I have been to one meet-up and I plan on joining this group for other events. It was a fun time meeting people.

I also have some other events scheduled with some other groups.

One downside is that some events have space limitations.

I would recommend downloading this app and meeting some new people.

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.

Using Different Apps for My Trip to Macstock 2019

Posted on by dudley228

By Jason Harris

This year was my second year attending Macstock, which is in it’s fifth year.

Macstock is a conference for Apple enthusiasts. This year’s theme was create. It was a very inspiring conference. It’s a very fun, inexpensive conference that takes place in McHenry, Illinois.

I used a number of apps in the preplanning and during my travels to get there.

The first app I started using before my trip was Apple Notes. I created two notes for my trip. One note that contained the conference’s information was repurposed from last year’s Macstock note. I just added the pertinent information for this year. I called these notes “Trip to Macstock” and “Macstock Trip Information” and were started at the beginning of the year.

From Connecticut to Illinois, it’s a 16 hour trip. I left on the Saturday before Macstock. I made a number of stops on the way.

In my Trip to Macstock note, I had all types of information contained within.

I placed the information from the places I wanted to or potentially could visit if time permitted. The websites and admission prices of these places were included. If you want to see pictures of my trip, check out my Instagram page, https://www.instagram.com/dudley228/

I also used a number of apps on a daily basis while I was there.

While in Chicago, I started using Apple Maps again. I had been using Google Maps until I missed a turn. I will admit I may have missed the turn because I read the map wrong, but I do know I never got a notification to turn either. Well, after that incident and I think there was one other one, I decided to go back to Apple Maps. It did quite well for me while I was there. I have stayed with the app once I was back in Connecticut. It has been over two months since I went back to Apple Maps and in that time I have had two wrong misdirects with it. That’s not a bad average when I use this app every single day.

AroundMe is another app I used while on my trip. This app allows you to search within your location. I used it mostly to find gas stations and restaurants. I have always enjoyed using this app instead of a map app because I feel it’s more exact over Google and Apple Maps.

The other two apps I used are the native camera app and the Camera+ 2 app. I love the presets on Camera+ 2 app. I used the macro, RAW, and Action presets. One of the pictures I took with the Action preset is right below this sentence.

I took over 1,000 pictures on my trip. More than 200 of those pictures were taken at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.

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.

Beware of Information within the Flixster app (updated 12/4/17)

Posted on by dudley228

The other day I was using the Flixster app to see if Justice League was playing at some local theaters.

I noticed two things with the app. The first thing was that my theater settings had been changed to only show “ticketing theaters.” This probably came about with the recent update to the app.

The second thing I noticed is the worse offender. Somehow certain movies are not showing up in the app. Two theaters I was checking in the app were not listing Justice League as one of the theater’s options. You would think that maybe the theater hadn’t updated the listings. This wasn’t the case. Coco which came out this week was listed at those theaters. I had to go to the theater’s websites to find out if the Justice League was playing there. It looks like Flixster can’t be trusted with its information. I will have to find another app to get my movie information from.

Editor’s note:

I noticed this weekend that my local theater’s listings had Justice League in them. Maybe the issue or problem has been fixed.

An App for Movie Watchers

Posted on by dudley228

By Jason Harris

Reelgood launched its app yesterday. Reelgood is a service that aggregates content from over 250 streaming services. The Reelgood website came out of beta in July, according to a TechCrunch article.

Once I heard about this app, I downloaded it. I know it will come in handy. I’ve been wishing for an app like this. I’m always looking to see where movies are being shown. Just this week, I was looking to see if Congo was available through a streaming service. A podcast, How Did This Get Made?, watched and discussed this movie , which made me want to see it again. I searched for Congo in the app and found out it’s available on Showtime.

To use the Reelgood service, you can use your Facebook credentials or sign-up using your email. You can sign-up through the app, which you can check out here.

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

Pastebot for Mac Beta

Posted on by dudley228

I found out yesterday that Tapbots, the team behind a number of great apps like Tweetbot, Calcbot, and Weightbot (I still use Weightbot even though it hasn’t been updated in a long time and isn’t even available in the App Store any longer) has released the beta for their Pastebot for Mac app. Pastebot is a clipboard app that “stores a history of all your copies.”
I’m hoping to see the Tapbots team produce a version of this app for iOS again. There was a Pastebot app for iOS back in 2010. You can read the MacWorld Pastebot for iOS review here. I used it on a daily basis. Once it became buggy, I had to delete it. I keep hoping for the apps return.

If you want to try out the Pastebot for Mac beta, click here. -Jason Harris