Tech Friday: Knowing where your iPhone, or perhaps YOU are?

| March 15, 2024

As someone who has grown up with the “beware of Big Brother” mindset, the thought that even with an Apple iPhone turned off, those with access can still know your location is a bit spooky. Oh, to be sure, 99% of being able to find an iPhone that is powered down or without enough battery […]

Blog stats and a humorous Iceland tourist article

| September 16, 2023

It’s interesting to see the changes in how people access Internet content over the years … or at least access information on MyDesultoryBlog.com. Microsoft Windows was once dominate, but Mac, Linux and Chrome OS computers are gaining ground. Perhaps the biggest change since starting the blog in 2005 is just how dominate iOS and Android […]

Tech Friday: Looking for an Open Live Writer-like app

| January 20, 2023

While watching NFL playoff football this month, I started looking for a app like Blogsy or BlogPad Pro that was available “in the old days” in order to post from my iPad. Unfortunately it is looking as if fewer and fewer app developer are focused on blogging software.  My preferred software “was” Microsoft’s Windows Live […]

Tech Friday: A better way to filter and clean up iOS messages

| December 30, 2022

Prior to 2022, I managed phone numbers and contacts on my iPhone poorly – perhaps “the wrong way.” Every year I created a new A/SPAM list of callers and emailers and self-managed these lists. Of course this didn’t stop callers or text messages from new unknown phone numbers. So I tried a couple of different […]

Tech Friday: iOS and App updates … and Internet/Cable/TV

| April 8, 2022

After updating my iOS devices to 15.4 last week, I noticed a few annoying changes (normal when an operating system changes), and a few improvements. I suspected that older devices such as my iPhone 7 and older iPad would start to show signs of reduced battery life and sluggishness, yet how long nowadays do we […]

Tech Friday: Focos and updating and deleting iPhone apps

| February 25, 2022

A few years back while learning a little more about iPhone photography, I downloaded and tinkered with the Focos app. At the time, I liked it,but for some reason forgot about using it or that I even had it on my phone. In updating to Apple’s iOS 15.3.1 (security issues I assume), I figured it […]

Tech Friday: I removed Facebook (now Meta) from iOS devices

| October 29, 2021

It has been a slow process in giving up on Facebook … now Meta. I really never used it much as a social media platform, but stayed in touch with family over the years with it. The past few years I’ve tried to check in monthly and may have posted update every other month or […]

Tech Friday: A powerful Copy and Paste app for the Macintosh

| April 16, 2021

If you use a computer for any length of time (my “go-to” is an aging 2012 Apple iMac), you’ll find yourself cut, copy and pasting things on a regular basis. Security experts do not recommend using the cut/copy feature for secure items like user names and passwords, but that doesn’t prevent the habit of using […]

Tech Friday: Apple iOS 13.1.2 was a challenging update

| October 11, 2019

My conclusion is that some of my most recent Apple iPhone and iPad iOS update problems stem from having older mobile devices and having loads older apps? That said, the upgrade to the mobile operating system known as iOS 13.1.2 (current) did not go smoothly for me. My iPhone 7plus is a few years old […]

Tech Friday: Your photo apps are making a lot of “facetile” images

| May 31, 2019

If you are using Apple’s Photos app, you’ve probably noticed the software attempts to identify faces of people (not just Apple either). This can be helpful for “you” to sift through photos, but also seems a bit nosy when the app also builds a pile of “facetile” photos on its own. Most people likely will […]

Tech Friday: Am I out of my mind upgrading to High Sierra?

| November 17, 2017

I have a perfectly functioning iMac and against my better judgement spent this morning upgrading the OS to macOS High Sierra (release about 1-1/2 months ago). Hopefully that was enough time for quick fixes because I’ve upgraded Macs too many times over the years and have often regretted the decision. Usually software and hardware requires upgrading […]

New Avin Android based Nav PLUS display for BMW X5 35d

| September 19, 2017

A successful install after receiving the Andrew Rodriguez “group buy” iDrive Android Avin replacement for my BMW X5 35d on Saturday. It was a bit intimidating seeing the bundles of wires and 4″x4″ instruction sheet. But after disassembling the dash, most of the plug n play was very smooth. If there would have been a […]

TechFriday: Twitter updates their mobile look

| June 16, 2017

We’ll see how the new iOS Twitter update is received by users, but since it is my go-to social network for all things news, I’ve download the hefty update to my aging iPhone5s and will see how bogged down it feels (very sluggish of late on most apps). Hopefully it will continue to run reasonable […]

Apple releases iOS 10 public beta 2 for iPhone, iPad & iPod touch

| July 20, 2016

Now that Apple’s third iOS 10 developer beta has had some time to settle, Apple has released the second iOS 10 public beta for non-developers testing the pre-release software. The latest buil… Source: Apple releases iOS 10 public beta 2 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Twitter autoplay: Save bandwidth and data by changing settings

| June 16, 2015

By default, Twitter now plays video as you scroll through posts. This can both be a bit annoying and will use data, especially on you mobile device with minimal data. To turn off the “autoplay” feature, go to the setting menu on the mobile Twitter app (currently Apple iOS devices only) and “check” either Use […]

Debating the Apple Store App review process – Medium article

| April 13, 2015

An article in published in an online story on Medium this past week shared the growing discontent from software developers over Apple’s dominance and authoritative control over “app” reviews. Dave Kushal believes that the slow review process hurts the reliability as well as “impedes the pace of innovation.”  While I’m somewhat in agreement with Dave, […]

TechFriday: Reject and block annoying phone calls

| April 3, 2015

Ok … so you’ve done your part and registered your phone numbers with the National Do Not Call List and you’ve done your best to keep phone numbers from undesirables … BUT you’re still getting annoying calls (and text messages!) Below is the new (1) iPhone (Settings>Phone>Blocking) method to block phone numbers from your smartphone […]

TechFriday: Messages with attachments, ISPs, email and iOS

| December 26, 2014

Here’s a very short Apple iCloud iOS tip from a question that came up this past weekend. The question had to do with what size files can be emailed or messaged back and forth between smartphones. A large message may be undeliverable even if it’s smaller than the iCloud Mail message maximum of 20 MB […]

TechFriday: Simple Savysoda RSS News Reader App is best

| December 19, 2014

Most media saturated consumers are frustrated using the various apps from big-name news sources for scanning, skimming and reading 100s of news articles each day. Some individual apps are pretty good, others are a real pain … particularly the newer “in your face – ad heavy” versions. The gripes are that each app is different […]

TechFriday: Apple iOS users have new free Microsoft Office apps

| November 7, 2014

Microsoft is offering standalone versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint for iPhone, giving users a much better productivity suite for the mobile devices. Prior to the new mobile apps, users who wanted to use Office on an iPhone had to use “Microsoft Office Mobile,” which really only allowed users to view documents and input text. […]

Tech Friday: iOS apps stuck in updating mode

| April 19, 2013

Sometimes the iPhone or iPad will get stuck in updating mode from the App Store and no matter how many “kills” of the app or rebooting of the device the app continues to show a stuck progress bar or “waiting” message. Often an easy fix: On the home screen, tap the icon until you see […]

SlingPlayer updates coming to iPhone and iPad

| March 27, 2013

Glad to see updates for SlingPlayer, but considering I have the “350” and my biggest complaint has yet to be addressed — no “audio-only” — I’m still disappointed. Not everyone lives in 4G or LTE land! Even the original Slingbox had support for audio on all devices including my Palm Treo!

It is time to upgrade my original Slingbox and add an iOS app

| November 19, 2012

Upgrades, discounts, sales, coupons … way too much temptation. There is yet another reason to ignore email advertising or online marketing. Unfortunately I’m not taking my own advice and caved in to SlingMedia’s offer of a discount to upgrade my device either of their newer Slingboxes – 350 or “melted and warped” 500. I’ve opted […]

Waze — a social turn-by-turn navigation mapping app

| September 24, 2012

After being a little (ok, a lot) disappointed with Google Maps being replace by Apple’s Maps app in iOS, I was anxious to give something else a try — so I downloaded, activated and have started to update Waze . So far so good with using the turn by turn navigation on my way to […]

Android and Apple iOS devices to be less similar in the future

| September 9, 2012

After Samsung’s recent lost to Apple in federal court, Android users will start to see a few changes to the look and feel of their phones and tablets and those being designed by Apple. One would assume that the individual manufacturer’s tweaks to Google’s Android — skins –will be modified from the current attempt to […]

In Apple iPhone 5 anticipation, iPhone 4 and 4s prices drop

| August 13, 2012

If you really want an iPhone, this could be the time to buy … although prices could go even lower towards the end of the year? It seems the older iPhone 4 and 4s are selling slower than most retailers (and by assumption, Apple) would like and so retailers are doing what they can to […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
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