Device evolution (part 2) – Apple impressions

Part 1 left off with a promise; impressions of the iPhone 6s as a first time Apple consumer (who is more or less dependent on dictation and bilingual).

What I will call "Apple dictation" is a pleasure to use! It's use can extend to almost every aspect of "writing life". If you have access to another keyboard, switching over to that language will give you access to dictate in that language. My Danish pronunciation is by no means at a native level. Yet, when I've switched over to the Danish keyboard and turned on dictation, the system has very little trouble understanding me. I've dictated emails and text messages in both languages. The discovery of the bilingual capability happened quite by accident, but it was worth the money spent to discover this little gem. The dictation is also very directional. This means that when my darling Meyers Parrot decides to be boisterous, it doesn't interfere with the dictation near as much as it tends to when I'm using Dragon NaturallySpeaking with a headset.

Exception: When you train Siri for a language (Hey Siri), she has a one track mind.

That is the other feature that I am very much enjoying. Hey Siri is listening in the background all the time.

For the most part, Apple's interface is intuitive, though it did take some getting used to. I like the wheel/click effect for setting dates and times. However, I had to get used to the fact that when the phone is hung up the screen is white; when the line is open the screen is black with more choices. To me the colors for those two actions should be reversed. This momentary confusion led to some unintentional calls.

You can print Pages documents using a PC. Log in to iCloud. The document will be converted to a PDF before printing. However, you cannot use Dragon while logged into the web-based (iCloud) version of Pages on a PC.

I also "inherited" an iPad Mini 2, which is great if I find myself needing the screen real estate. However, my small hands gravitate toward the iPhone 6s more often than not.

Device Evolution (part 1) - Safety first

My technological journey has been one driven by necessity. Auditory information is more easily processed than visual. Typing at a snail's pace does not do much for morale or productivity.

While still in college (1992-1996), I was introduced to Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I started using the Nuance program after graduating. It has been an intregal part of my computer system for all these years; I prefer versions with read back functionality. There is one major drawback: I am functionally bilingual. As my second language, Danish is broken by few.

Circumstances dictated that I buy my first cell phone (ca. 2003) for safety reasons; It's not fun being unable to open the ladies room door, knowing that you will be late for Danish class. When that one bit the dust, I bought a Nokia just like the first (March 18, 2013). That, in conjunction with a short string of android tablets; the latest  an Nvidia shield (January 6, 2015). The tablet's battery has seen better days and the modern world now almost insists that Smartphones be attached at their owners' hips.

I joined the modern age just under three weeks ago. The Google Pixel is not available in Denmark. Samsung has gotten itself a damaged reputation. So, I decided to switch ecosystems.  Apple products are very easy to return within the first two weeks after purchase. Given that the iPhone 6s is my first smart phone, the return policy proved to be a selling point.

Word to the wise: Have a Sim card handy to activate your new phone. No one expects their first experience with a new product to be getting it started with the helpline on the phone. That said, they were calm, professional, and willing to help. Problem solved: In order to activate my phone, I had to borrow a Sim card from someone who trusts me.  When the phone was activated, I returned the Sim card and used it on Wi-Fi until I was sure I wanted to keep the device.

Stay tuned for impressions ...

Distortion Distraction to Be Dealt With

This is an original Nexus 7 update:

A few days ago, my trusty handheld machine took a nosedive in quality. Speaker distortion, especially when you use the device as a daily alarm, is no fun to listen to. The machine is less than a year old and, therefore, under warranty. Sure, it took time to fill out the paperwork to send it back to the place of purchase for repair, but that wasn't my biggest concern.

Part of the ease of using a tablet is being logged in to your information, but that is a double-edged sword. YouTube, blogger, Gmail – how to protect the information from potential prying eyes.

EASY.

Change your Google password from a desk top machine. Once that is done, you will be prompted to give the new password the next time you try to open one of the Google applications on the portable device. Facebook and dropbox were also uninstalled from my Nexus.That being said, I don't mind if the tech guys level up on a game or two I've been playing.

At one point I was thinking of getting rid of the desktop set up. Most of the tasks, including dictation can be done using the tablet. However, in some aspects I'm still an old-fashioned gal. Now I'm glad that "Oscar", complete with very tactile keyboard and printer is at my beckoned key stroke.

Update:  It took 16 days to get the tablet back. In that time I went through "convenience withdraw". With a tablet widgets and applications are at one's fingertips without boot up time.

Nexus 7 update

I have had the tablet for about four months now. I really haven't had any insurmountable problem with it in that time. The cord that comes with the system is too short, however. It frayed as a result of tension / stress. I just got the new one today. It is the two meter version of this.

Saugerties Post Star

Thank you, Michael Sullivan Smith, for giving me the chance to show you my copyediting skills. (Published February 7, 2013)

Technology – Helpful Upgrades

When I bought my laptop three years ago, I loved it because it was so light compared to anything else I had previously. I was looking forward to sitting in bed and being able to use the latest Dragon NaturallySpeaking on it without staring at a desktop. When I went to take a test in my second language it was this computer that I carried along. Unfortunately the program didn't come in the language I was learning to speak. I'm slow at typing and so, if I can get away with it, I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

The test didn't turn out as planned, but I was never good at testing anyway. It didn't help that my cell phone went off unexpectedly in the middle of it. Of course I ignored the cell phone completely. It wasn't disturbing anyone else since I was taking the test alone in a windowless, hot room. Who would be texting me anyway? By the time I got out of that modern torture chamber, all I wanted to do was call the taxi company I had an agreement with, and make some distance between me and the school. I pulled out the cell phone, bought for just such an emergency, and realized I couldn't make outgoing calls. The text I got was to tell me that the number I had was now expired. I found myself thinking that I should've actually checked the text even though I was in the middle of the final test. I struggled to keep a cool head, knowing that the test had run too late for me to go back in use the phone in the office that was offered to me earlier. Luckily I flagged down a willing pedestrian with his cell phone. He was definitely willing to lend it to me for 30 seconds. But there was a problem – I had never used a touchscreen in my life. He looked a bit strangely at me and dialed the number without problem. Long story short, I'm not writing this from a street corner in the middle of Copenhagen.

My next upgrade happened just recently. Since the aforementioned cell phone still works, and is sturdy to a fault, I decided against getting another cell phone. Why replace something that still works? However, I had come to the realization that the only thing I did on the laptop on a daily basis was checking email and social media sites. As I write this, which I term more "serious work", I am sitting in front of the desktop computer.

The next decision was my own foray into the world of touchscreens. The decision was helped by the fact that my laptop is a bit broken. Windows 7 will no longer allow me to install new programs. This includes the latest version of Dragon. I purchased a "budget tablet". The selling points for me for the Nexus 7 were: no camera in the back, larger than cell phone, not a Windows OS. In the past I've had nothing against Windows and I think Windows 7 has worked well, but Windows 8 has iffy reviews. After watching numerous reviews on video for the tablet I ended up purchasing, there was no question in my mind. This statement should be compounded by the fact that I have trouble making buying decisions normally. Of course the tablet does have its drawbacks. Because the Skype application doesn't work in portrait mode the way it should, I still have to pull out the laptop in order to use the camera while chatting. It might also be worth mentioning that there is a dictation program built into the tablet, which more often than not, I rely on.

Old Poem

Ode to a Pegasus

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By: "starlet-writer"  2-5-2005

When I heard of your passing

Only the impossibility of it hit me

Months later

I can not give voice to the fact

Only the fact—not the reality

To those closest to us

It is the quiet omission of an ofte’ asked question

That acknowledges the fact

I remember

When you joined us

My sheer jubilation was clear

You were a dream in the flesh

Through repetition

I was as determined as a child can be

Not to forget your name

New friends

Unsure of each others thoughts

Yet together we triumphed

Over life’s adversities

Years passed

And with them came milestones

Events which took their place

Etched in memory

Year over year

Secrets

Unspoken comfort

Age advanced

College

Marriage

Denmark

All took me away

Even mid-city

You are never far from my thoughts

Thank you

Not ready to face the emptiness

I sit and think

Ponder

Some may think it’s foolish

We all cope

Differently

I say

“Pegasus (n) my guardian angel”

loved, missed,  never forgotten