the iMentor

Hints & rants

This weB-LOG contains helpful hints and rants about your Macintosh, Apple products and your electronic life.

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Category: Uncategorized

No phone

February 17, 2020 Uncategorized 2 Comments
Episode 577 February 22, 2020 Recently i spent three days in Big Sur. There was no cell signal and no wifi.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edBw271tXyk There were 1000 year old Coastal Redwoods, a babbling river and timeless beauty. My alarm clock was the sun coming through an eastern window of the cabin. Coffee was made in a tin cup on the fireplace. The stove was gas. No programing required. i counted sunrises to know what the next thing on my calendar would be. The number of steps i took were not a subject for my pedometer. When i got to the end...
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Weather

February 14, 2020 Uncategorized 4 Comments
Episode #576 February 15, 2020 Weather forecasting used to be a joke.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N8IJL2MpfE George Carlin, as the Hippie Dippy Weather Man, famously said, “Tonight’s forecast, dark, continued dark tonight, turning to partly light in the morning.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1uaw3WIOlc Today weather services like Weather.com are extremely accurate. i am planning a trip to Big Sur for four days, then to San Francisco for another four and a return trip over one of the mountain passes. First i consulted Maps on my Macintosh to see what route i would be taking. My desired route will take me over the Tejon pass....
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Five senses

February 3, 2020 Uncategorized No Comments
Episode #575 February 8, 2020 There are five traditional human body senses: Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell and Touch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLLMAaf0l1I In our quest to make our machines human companions we endue them with human characteristics. An important aspect of Artificial Intellegence is the machine’s interface with the world. In that quest we program our computers with senses. Sight Video cameras are obvious computer eyes. Spacial recognition software can isolate and identify shapes in a video stream. In “Star Trek: The Next Generation” the engineer Geordi La Forge was blind. He was equipped with a VISOR that allowed him to see light...
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Office Suite

January 27, 2020 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Episode #574 February 1, 2020   i no longer use an office suite.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwGrC0KicSo Office suites consist of word processor, spreadsheet and presentation apps. Some include email, contact and calendar integration. Microsoft Office is the standard for office suites. MS Word is the word processor’s word processor. MS Excel is the most featureful of spreadsheet apps. MS Powerpoint is the slide presentation software that has bored millions over the years. Office also integrates Outlook into the suite. Outlook provides a robust email program, address book and calendar. I like to pick and choose my Office apps for...
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Rule of Three

January 22, 2020 Uncategorized 2 Comments
Episode #573 January 25,2020 It is a joke between my wife and i that men can only remember three things at a time. i even use a trick of threes when entering or leaving my car. Do i have my keys? Do i have my phone? Do i have my fanny pack? If i can count to three, i am prepared to drive or shop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJjU0eWnKgg It turns out that all humans can only remember 3 or 4 things in active memory. Active memory is that part of long term memory that you can act upon right now. Humans respect...
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Save and Save As

January 15, 2020 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Episode #572 January 18, 2020 As i have said many times before, knowing where your data is stored is a measure of a skilled user. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYdCzs5uPrI When working on a document it is important to Save it as soon as possible. There are three questions that must be answered when saving a document. What do you want to name the document? What file format will the document be saved in? Where will you save (store) the document? What Name? Most users answer the first question by naming the document. On a Mac, the limit for a file name is 32...
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