March Update

Happy St. Paddy’s Day! (You gotta’ know that, with a surname of “O’Keeffe”, I’d begin this blog post on March 17th with an Irish Greeting. You’re welcome!)

Have you listened to any of my podcasts yet? They’re geared for us baby boomers and topics focus upon technology. Specifically, the technology that can (and does) affect our daily lives. Critics rave: “interesting”, “informative”, “creative”, “succinct” (that means brief – episodes range from six to 15 minutes in duration). I’m posting new episodes weekly and soon, I’ll be publishing transcripts here (with links to the tech I discussed during the podcast – as requested by listeners!).

Let me think … what is “newsy” for March … hmm … California (where my wife and I live, is officially out of drought status. That’s to say it’s been raining for the past month and a half and we love it!! Weather folks refer to the systems we’ve experienced as “Pineapple Express” and ‘Atmospheric Rivers”. I simply refer to the as wet. Great news insofar as we’ve been dry for several years. Rain: good!

Oh, did I tell you bout my podcasts? (yeah, I’m pretty proud of getting them started). The link here is one method to find them, Also, I’m in Apple’s podcasts and on Google’s, too. Just look-up “Boomerlife.live”.

My most recent podcast was about apps and apps and apps … Did you know that we (‘boomers and seniors), ONLY utilize (roughly) 10% of the capability of our smart devices (smartphones and tablets). ONLY 10%!!! That’s wasting all of “horsepower”. During the podcast, I list numerous app categories and sub-categories in hopes of motivating listeners to add to their apps and increase that usage percentage to 11% or 12% or more! I’ve added some links to the end of this blog (the top 100 Apple apps and a the top 100 Google (Android) apps. Hope they help you find more useful, enjoyable, empowering, fun apps.

Lastly, I listed some “speed test” apps or websites so you can test the speed of your device.

Apps Categories and links to sources for apps:

The 6 Main Types of Mobile Apps

1. Lifestyle Mobile Apps

  •  Fitness
  • Dating
  • Food
  • Music
  • Travel
  • Spotify
  • Tripadvisor
  • Uber

2. Social Media Mobile Apps

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat

3. Utility Mobile Apps

  • Reminders
  • Calculator
  • Flashlight
  • Weather

4. Games/Entertainment Mobile Apps

  • Angry Birds
  • Clash of Clans
  • Subway Surfer

Fortnite

5. Productivity Mobile Apps

  • Docs
  • Sheets
  • Wallet/Pay
  • Evernote
  • Wunderlist

6. News/Information Outlets Mobile Apps

  • Buzzfeed
  • Smartnews
  • Google News & Weather
  • Feedly
  • Flipboard
  • Yahoo News Digest
  • Reddit
  • Linkedin Pulse

100 Top Apps (iOS)

https://goo.gl/WgTz2V

Popular SmartWatch apps:

100 Top (Android) Apps

https://goo.gl/6mKRbv

WiFi speed tests: a list of test services: goo.gl/i292em


First blog post

Hopefully, you’ve already read Page 1 and About Us and know why we’re here. That said, this blog entry is intended to get you thinking about the holidays ahead; particularly about gifts and giving (well, maybe a bit about gifts and getting!). Seems everyone wants tech stuff: computers, tablets, smartphones, and toys (drones, robots, bluetooth speakers, homes security devices, B-I-G screen TVs, wireless home music systems, multicolor, dim-able LED lights, doorbells with cameras and speakers, … the list goes on …

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT HAVE ANY FINANCIAL INTEREST IN OFFERING THE FOLLOWING OPINION. I have no connection to manufactures, mobile phone service providers (“carriers”), nor any other financial interest. The opinion expressed is my own. Feel free to take it with however many grains of salt you choose! ; )

Do you have a smartphone yet? That really should be on the top of your list! What IS a smartphone, you ask? I’m glad you asked ;). It’s a phone as you know phones AND it’s a computer! That’s right: it’s a computer. Not to worry, though. It’s much easier to operate than a computer: it simply has all the power and capability of a computer. You can write messages with it (email and text). You can take and share photos with it. You can use it as a navigation aid when traveling. You can watch television and movies on it.You can use it on a golf course to see how far the pin is from where you are now, use it to play your favorite music, and you can use it to play games. Oh, and you can use it to summon help in a number of ways so you’re always just a couple buttons press away from help!

One of the challenges of obtaining a smartphone is determining which “carrier” (provider) to use. (Remember when the phone company was “the phone company” and your choice was to have a phone or NOT to have a phone?) Now, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and a host of others want your business and compete vigorously for it. You see, “carriers” earn their income charging you access fees to their communication networks. You phone calls are one charge, your data usage is another charge. (What’s “data usage”? More about that later). Some carriers will GIVE you the phone for FREE provided you agree to, and commit to, an annual (or two year) contract. Costs range considerably and you should conduct a bit of research to determine what’s best for you. (RESEARCH? Yes! Chat with neighbors, family and friends. What phones do they use? What carriers do they use? What do they like most [and least] about their carriers and their phones?)

Smartphones offer peace-of-mind, information, education, and entertainment. They are a small price to pay for some digital involvement in today’s digital world.

Somebody on your list could (probably) use one; and if you don’t have one, you need one!

Check back in a couple days. My next post is about “apps” – they’re the applications (programs) that enable your smartphone to do things. I’ll describe some of the nice-to-have, good-to-have, and need-to-have apps.  See you next time!

Richard