Phone Spoofing

Time for Ron to do a little whining as two things have recently popped up that bug me.  I figure they may also bother a few of you.  They are local phone number calls and Facebook tracking us.  This week Phone issues, next week Facebook. I posted to Facebook (this is not about tracking yet),…

A Flashback and the Future

Before I start on today’s column I have a little flashback to last week.  I mentioned other voice recognition apps like Office’s new Dictate.ms last week.  I received an email from a couple of readers last week chatting about Google Docs.  Yes, Google Docs has speech-to-text capabilities also.   However, I have never tested it.  I…

Dictation

From a column a few weeks ago regarding speaking to voice activated devices, Microsoft came to mind.  You are in all likelihood aware of Cortana the voice search that comes built into Windows 10 but there is more. It all started many versions ago in Microsoft Word where you had the ability to speak to…

Google Makes Some Changes

If you have followed my articles through the past 15 or so years, you’d realize that I have a love/hate relationship with Google. OK, it’s mostly love, but sometimes they really antagonize me. Today, I have two Google changes for you: one insignificant and the other very significant. First up is the one that will…

Voice Assistants

Some of the big technology devices to hit in recent years are Voice Assistants. The idea first came about on TV with Star Trek in the ‘60s. This was when you could communicate by voice instructions with the computers. In the real world, “Siri” started on the iPhone 4S at its release in October 2011….

Email Negatives, Part 2

Last week I wrote regarding some of the good of email, see “Email Positives, Part 1” if you missed it. This week I will voice some of my concerns regarding this great feature of the computer age. Email has been around forever. Well not quite, as Ray Tomlinson is attributed with devising email in 1972…

Email Positives, Part 1

When I started to ponder writing about email this week I thought, “This will be short and sweet.”  After I started to think more about it I found that it will be neither.  This simple email topic has turned into a series about my love/hate relationship with email, which I know many of you share….

Belarc Advisor

I was answering a question for a reader last week and mentioned an application I have used before.  She needed several pieces of information regarding her computer for a possible upgrade.  I never advise people how to upgrade a computer but I was more than happy to show her where to find the needed information.    …