Author Archives: autocreate740

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About autocreate740

I am a senior citizen retired after working for 50 years in various professions. I find social media intriguing, blogging uplifting, and technology in general a welcomed challenge. My newest interests are Aromatherapy and Essential Oils. I have recently acquired an Aromatherapist Certification from the New York Institute of Aromatics. I write about all of these interests as topics on my various blogs. I am hopeful that the posts I create bring information that is useful and moves my readers to explore more.

Great APPS for ANDROID FANS

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For ANDROID Boomers

Can you imagine?  Not all of my Boomer friends & family are iphone owners/users-fans!  (Go figure).

Anyway, in the interest of being ‘balanced‘,  i wanted to suggest you take a look at  some of the apps available for the Android phone.

Below are three sites that gave their opinions.  You can go to each website to see the full list of available apps. In this post, i highlight some apps that caught my interest. These are all free 🙂 !

http://gizmodo.com/5739420/the-best-android-apps

Entertainment

The Best Android AppsSoundHound: Shazam gets all the pub but SoundHound is just as good at identifying music and better for Android because there’s no limit on how many songs you tag per month. Soundhound also throws in lyrics and links to videos too. Free ( i have this app on my iphone, and it’s great!)


The Best Android AppsWords with Friends: Finally available on Android, Words with Friends lets you dominate your Android and iPhone-wielding friends (cross-platform gaming!) with your vocabulary skills and astute tile placement. Free

Productivity

The Best Android AppsAstrid Task/To Do List: No other app gives as much detail to to do lists as Astrid. Its “advanced” options lets you set priority levels, integrate with Google Calendar, sync with Google tasks, and set up tags, alerts and periodic reminders. Astrid keeps it easy, for the most part, but also offers deeper settings if you’re the obsessive, customize-everything exactly-how-you-want-it type. Free.

Another site i checked out is→
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-android-apps/

These are some of the apps i liked.

Utilities

gas-buddy-iconGas Buddy (Free)

With gas prices still consistently rising, the quest for the cheapest nearby gas can be a frustrating and pointless task, especially if you are driving around wasting precious fuel to find a better price just for the heck of saying you did. Gas Buddy uses your location to quickly locate nearby gas stations and immediately give you the best price around. The app gives you a list and a helpful map of all of your options. Never again will you fill up only to drive by a less expensive station five blocks later.

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iTriage Mobile HealthiTriage Mobile Health (Free)

Created by doctors, this app is designed to give users quick and easy access to medical info as well as nearby treatment facilities. With just a few clicks, users can find the nearest medical facility based on need (emergency, urgent care, pharmacy, etc.) and quickly use built-in Google Maps to navigate to the destination. The app also features a symptom-checker, doctor directory, and information about diseases and procedures.

Lifestyle

The Best Android AppsFlash Player 10.2: I really don’t care if Flash is good for the web or not, I just want to see as much web content as I can on my Android phone. Downloading Flash Player 10.2 gets me one step closer to that. Free.

FINALLY, Take the Tour at
http://gist.com/corp/why-gist/view-all-your-contacts
Below is their description of GIST

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Add Contacts Automatically

Your contacts are everywhere. They are in email, social networks, on your mobile phone and many other sources. Gist brings your contacts into one place to give you a full view of your network making it easy to find anyone, anytime.

That’s all for now about Android 🙂

FACEBOOK CHANGES AGAIN

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Hi Facebook Boomers,

On Twitter this week i noticed an interesting NYT article by Nick Bilton ,

Facebook Changes Privacy Settings to Enable Facial Recognition. 

I think you might want to be aware of the following changes to your Facebook accounts.  These are some of the highlights in the article:

  1. Facebook recently began changing its users privacy settings to automatically turn on a facial recognition feature that detects a user’s face in an image.
  2. Once the person’s face is detected, the Web site then encourages Facebook friends to tag them.
  3. Facebook also doesn’t give users the option to avoid being tagged in a photo; instead, people who don’t want their name attached to an image must untag themselves after the fact.
  4. You can change the privacy settings relating to the facial recognition feature, but it is a little confusing.
  5. If you want to disable the feature, you have to access your account privacy settings  and click “customize settings” at the bottom of the page.  Scroll down to a list called “things to share”
  6. Click on the button that says “suggest photos of me to friends”.
  7. At this point you will receive the option to disable the facial recognition feature.

This is a great resource for technology news.

You can follow Nick Bilton on Twitter @nickbilton

Cell Phone Cancer YIKES!

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According to Google, Dr. Martin Cooper (Motorola) is credited with inventing the first cell phone, and the first person to make a call on a portable cell phone in April  1973. Now, after all these years  (38 to be exact), they are telling us about cell phone cancer?

I’m sure many of you felt a ‘twinge’ of concern at hearing this news.  I wanted to know what I was in store for; I’ve been a cell phone user for more than 20 years.  Although in recent years, I have become more of a cell phone ‘text er’  which is faster and more convenient for me.

So, here are some of the facts I discovered from  two  New York Times articles in the Health Section.

First article by Tara Parker- Pope

Piercing the Fog Around Cellphones and Cancer, June 6, 2011 stated some of the following facts:

  1. The World Health Organization declared that it was ‘possible’ the phones could cause cancer.
  2. This is the first time a major health organization has suggested such a link, and it was promptly disputed by many scientists…
  3. The source of the latest claim is the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
  4. The panel based its cellphone findings on the fact that they give off a weak form of energy called nonionizing radiation…
  5. The human studies showed only an association between cellphone use and cancer, not a causal relationship.
  6. Some of the research suggests links to three types of tumors…
  7. All these tumors are rare, so even if cellphone use does increase risk, the risk to any individual is still very low.
  8. Scientists dispute the research because they believe it is plagued by methodological problems.

Tara Parker-Pope wrote a second article

“A Doctor Who Must Navigate a Contentious Divide”.

This article covered what Dr. Jonathan Samet, chairman of a World Health Organization committee, thinks about the findings and the reaction to the controversy.  It should be noted that one of  Dr. Samet’s reports was done on tobacco 25 years ago.  He has also done studies on secondhand smoke.  However, in regard to the cellphone findings, The American Cancer Society also said the findings were based on flawed data and should be interpreted with ‘great care’.

For my Baby Boomer friends and family, maybe it’s time to ‘text’ and ‘tweet’ more.  🙂

Creating iphone, ipad, and ipod touch Distribution Lists

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Hi “i ” Boomers 🙂

I discovered some useful, and relatively easy to use, iapps this week which i am eager to tell you about.  These apps allow iphone, ipod touch, and ipad users to send email using Distribution lists. Distribution lists allow you to send email to multiple recipients at one time.

The first app i tried on my iphone.

Mail2Group – this app has two versions. 

  1. Mail2Group lite is free, and supports up to 3 email addresses per group.

  2. Mail2Group (regular) supports unlimited email address and cost $1.99.

Notes:

  1. You can view a demo at
    http://tinyurl.com/3mdv5fl

  2. You can get answers to your questions at
    http://tinyurl.com/44ec2xa

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The second distribution list app i loaded on my ipad

iEDL (name of app)

You can purchase the app for 1.99 (and it’s worth every penny)!

  1. You can get a demonstration at   http://tinyurl.com/3gjqcmc

  2. You can get additional information at  http://tinyurl.com/3shoknr

That’s all for now 🙂

Why Twitter?

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What’s happening Boomers?

It  occurred to me that some of you may want to know why you should join Twitter since there are other things you can do on the Internet.  Most of you are already using a cell phone, and email. Some of you are on Facebook; some are texting.  Some of you are thinking the whole social media “thing ” is out of control! You have as much info as you can stand!

Why Twitter?  Well, other than the fact I am on Twitter (smile), below are some of the reasons i joined.

I found the following explanation  to be one of the best, and check the date it was written!  2007!

Click the link to the website if you want to create an account and get a detailed description about how Twitter works.

For those of you who want a more graphic description how to join  Twitterland, i will be providing that in the near  future, or  you can join at the surprising addresses below.

In the meanwhile, Newbie’s who take the plunge, let me hear your comments after you join.

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March 15, 2007 4:15 PM PDT

Newbie’s guide to Twitter

If you’re not using Twitter yet, you may feel as if you’ve missed out. Twitter has not only tipped the tuna, but by some estimations, it has already jumped the shark. Don’t be put off by its excessive popularity with SXSW geeks or by the whining of Twitter haters who missed the fun. Twitter is an interesting and practical real-time messaging system for groups and friends. It’s just not completely obvious how to get into the “club.” So, here’s a newbie’s guide to this new platform. We don’t cover every feature of Twitter, but this should help get you started.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is an online service that enables you to broadcast short messages to your friends or “followers.” It also lets you specify which Twitter users you want to follow so you can read their messages in one place.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/newbies-guide-to-twitter/#ixzz1Ni3kpJEl

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Guess what ?  You can even follow the President?

http://twitter.com/BARACKOBAMA

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Missing Oprah?  Want to know what she’s doing?   🙂

http://twitter.com/OPRAH

Looking forward to hearing about your favorite people to follow 🙂 !

What is Social Networking Anyway?

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Hi Boomers,

As i was wandering about on the Internet, i came across the following explanation i thought would be useful as you ponder why one should join in with the current cyber happenings on our Planet :).   I hope that these little excerpts will convince you to join me on Twitter.  Come on, don’t be a ‘ cyber-wallflower’.   Join in,  and get to know what others are thinking about on the Planet! 

It’s cybertravel time !  🙂

What is Social Networking?

Social Networking Explained From Daniel Nations,
former About.com Guide

  • Social Networking has become very popular during the past few years, but it can still be very difficult to understand for someone new to social networking. The open-ended nature of social networks add to this. Once signed onto a social network, having answered a few basic profile questions, it is easy to sit back and wonder what you are supposed to do next.
  • The easiest way to understand social networking is to think of it like high school. You had friends in school, and you knew quite a few people even if you weren’t friends with all of them, but it’s likely that you didn’t know everyone.
  • If you ever moved to a new school — or if you can imagine moving to a new school — you start out with no friends. After attending classes, you start meeting people, and as you meet them, you begin associating with those that have similar interests.

Do you need more convincing?

Stay tuned!
This discussion will go on!  In the meanwhile, have you figured out your Twitter ID yet ? 🙂

Boomer Expectations

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Hi Boomers,

Have you joined in  or become acquainted with some of the latest Social Networking tools?  Did you join Twitter yet, are you familiar with the terminology being used out there?  Well it’s time to ‘get busy’ ! 

I recently read an article posted at CNN.com indicating the following:
‘Next, the boomer generation will change the way we think about retirement and aging, experts and analysts say, just as they transformed notions of relationships — delayed marriages, fewer children, more divorces — and ideas about careers, with more women in the workplace and adult learning…‘

The article goes on to say:
“Boomers are all about exploration and transformation.  Many of them reject the idea of retirement that they saw firsthand with their parents, where you stop changing and growing and become a fixed entity,” said Ann Clurman of  The Futures Company, which tracks consumer attitudes that forecast lifestyle and behaviors,  and author of “Generation Ageless:  How Baby Boomers Are Changing the Way We Live Today.”

Check out the article at your first opportunity by clicking this link:  http://tinyurl.com/6xaljlp

Then think about what your Twitter ID is going to be 🙂 !

Hello Boomers

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Welcome to TECH4BOOMERS.wordpress.com

It is my intention to assist all my Baby Boomer(BB’s)  family and friends how to make sense out of this new computer world.  Twitter for one thing!  All of the BB’s i know want to use or get acquainted with Twitter, and the whole ‘social networking’ concept.  However, what may seem easy to the ‘younger generation’ is currently a ‘challenge’  to some of us BB’s.  I mean if it only uses 140 characters maximum to communicate on Twitter, why does it take reading numerous paragraphs of information just to understand how to open a Twitter account?

This Blog will attempt to breakdown the complications of being a part of the ‘social networking’ community.

Stay tuned!