A Bluetooth-Connected App to Solve Your Puzzle Cube?

What with Bluetooth this and Bluetooth that, have you ever thought about a Bluetooth-connected app to help with solving a puzzle cube? Last year, Santa dropped a non-smart, non-Bluetooth puzzle cube into everyone’s stocking. They were all different. Some were super easy, and others, like the triangle-shaped one, were diabolical! We had fun sharing them, but they are all so mixed up now. I don’t think that they will ever get solved again!

UPDATED: originally published on 5/26/2021. We sometimes post links to products where we may earn a small commission. This won’t change the price you pay, in fact, sometimes we know about additional discounts! As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

A little history:

The original puzzle cube was invented by Erno Rubik in 1974. It took him a month to solve it! Mr. Rubik is Hungarian and has degrees in Architecture and Design.

“Puzzles bring out important qualities in each of us: concentration, curiosity, a sense of play, the eagerness to discover a solution.”

You can read more in his book Cubed.

What’s interesting to me is that Rubik spawned a whole new puzzle industry. There’s a snake cube puzzle, a puzzle ring, even puzzle cubes with famous paintings!

Is there a Bluetooth-connected Puzzle Cube?

I’ve just found out that there are several STEM toys that keep your brain active with improved cognitive mapping skills, increase eye-hand agility, AND help you solve the cube. There are several. The most well-known are the Rubik’s Connected Cube, and the GoCube. They are both physical cubes that connect to your smartphone. They track your progress and help you learn how to solve the puzzle faster.

Want to see how the GoCube puzzle works?

The GoCube was introduced back in 2018 with a Kickstarter campaign. It was designed to help people learn how to solve the puzzle cube faster, and, more importantly, to learn where your logic is breaking down. Before long, you’re moving up to higher and higher levels. GoCube also has a community of other “cubers” worldwide. They’ll match you up with someone at your level to compete against. Awesome!

Here’s their original video from the Kickstarter:

You CAN do the Cube:

If you just want to learn how to solve a Rubik’s Cube fast, head over to Ruwix. Have you been wondering: how does a Rubik’s Cube work? Ruwix is dedicated to helping you learn the logic behind the madness. This site will even show you how to form the Rubik’s Cube White Cross and the yellow cross. I think if you keep at it, you’ll learn how to solve a Rubik’s cube in 20 moves or less too. Hashtag: #YouCanDoTheCube 

What I love about the GoCube:

  • I love that the GoCube lights up
  • I like that it can sense the position of each square exactly and help you “see” the position spatially. Then, it helps you solve it without making you feel like an idiot.
  • I love that it helps kids of all ages learn logic and spatial awareness.

What I don’t:

  • My only knock is that the GoCube seems a little expensive. Keep on the lookout for discounts. If GoCube has a Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal, I’ll update this post.

Conclusion: Should you get a connected Puzzle Cube?

These connected puzzle cubes are great STEM toys that help you learn at the same time. This would be a very cool gift for the holidays! You can purchase it directly from GoCube or Amazon. If you’re thinking about getting more than one, scroll down on the GoCube page for their BOGO deal. 
GoCube Puzzle Cube logo

 

 

 

 

 

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

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Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has provided computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. He’s the geek for you! Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  You can find more on our website, or give us a call at 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

Here’s a link to our Covid19 Policy.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years.  We like the free and fast shipping.  With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

More Tech Tips:

  • Are VPNs worth it? More here.
  • Are you interested in learning more about Extreme Privacy?
  • We have seen a lot of Facebook hacking lately. Here’s what you should do ahead of time to keep your account safe.
  • And here are the 10 Password Mistakes you don’t want to make!
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Travel Tips for the Holidays!

It’s Holiday Season and time for many people to take big road trips.  Our family does this every year.  Most of our family is on the East Coast, others are near Los Angeles, and we’re here in snowy Colorado! So someone is driving or flying every year – this year it’s our turn so I want to share some of my favorite Holiday Travel Tips and Weather sites.

Travel Tips:

The first site I visit is Google Maps. It’s easy to enter all the addresses you will visit. For example, I’ll enter my sister’s address as the endpoint, and then I can enter the address for my friend in Des Moines and my other friend outside of Toledo.Holiday Travel Tips - Google Maps The other thing I like about Google Maps is that I can alter the route if I know that I have a preference. For example, I know that I’ll choose the northern route even though it is 10 minutes longer.  If I were to go into the city, I would likely hit more traffic.  The northern route is all cows and farms with very little traffic.

I also like that Google gives me the option to click and drag the route around an obstacle or construction that they might not know about.

Weather Travel Tips:

When it gets closer to our departure date, I’ll take a look at a few different weather sites to see if we need to leave a day earlier or later. My go-to website used to be The Weather Channel.  I could enter where I was traveling from and to and it would tell me what kind of weather I’d see on my way.  Unfortunately, they’ve discontinued that feature. Now, my favorite site is WeatherUnderground.  (FYI WeatherUnderground is better as an app.  There seem to be fewer ads when I view it on my iPhone.) I like that it tells me approximately how much snow I’ll see and when there will be sunshine.

Travel Tips - weatherunderground

I also like the NOAA website, especially during hurricane season!  Here’s their map for Thanksgiving week:

Travel Tips - noaaI’ve published a list of my favorite sites two years ago.  Here is where you’ll find that list.

Conclusion:

Whether you’re driving or flying, you’ll want to take a peek at the forecast before you leave.

Do you have favorite travel websites I didn’t include here? Write a comment below!

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report on what to look for to protect yourself from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years.  We like the free and fast shipping.  With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The Latest in Tech News

There’s so much happening in the world of tech right now.  It’s hard to keep track.  Here are some of our favorite tech news sources and what they’re saying.

Mac Operating System

Chris’ favorite tech news site is ArsTechnica.  This week they have a review of the newest Operating System for Apple computers. macOS 10.15 has been dubbed Catalina.

“Catalina moves macOS further and more decisively in the direction of iOS than ever; for the first time, third-party code written for iOS and iPadOS can run on the Mac with relatively few changes. At the same time, Apple remains adamant that the Mac and iOS/iPadOS are separate platforms that differ in ways that go beyond the underlying processor architecture or the primary input mechanism.”

tech newsGalaxies

Another article in ArsTechnica explains some of the research about nearby galaxies.

“The large galaxies present in the current Universe weren’t always so big. Evidence indicates that they were built up over time, largely by collisions with other galaxies. These collisions have left marks that we can still detect: streams of stars that were drawn in from the victims of the collisions, and faint dwarf galaxies that still orbit the larger object that devoured many of their stars. With enough data, it’s possible to become a galactic historian and reconstruct the events that brought the modern-day giants to their present form.”

Tech News and Processors

I like Gizmodo.  Here’s an article about new processors from Intel, with better performance and lower prices to attract more gamers.

“Last week news broke that Intel had a whole new line of X-series processors, and this week the company has performance data, prices, and a shiny new Xeon processor to pile on top of that. All of it combines to suggest that Intel is might be done gouging people who want a processor with a lot of cores.”

Digital Privacy

I also like the NY Times Technology section. There’s an excellent article about digital and internet privacy and how you can make things more secure.  It’s an excellent read.

“It’s perfectly legitimate, by the way, to enjoy seeing ads that align with your interests. You could argue that they’re actually more useful than irrelevant ones. But millions of others are creeped out by the tracking that produces those targeted ads.”

The NY Times also wrote about how the new iPhone OS will help you safeguard your digital privacy.

“For iPhones, that’s especially true now. That’s because Apple’s iOS 13, the most recent mobile software for iPhones, arrived last week. Similar updates to iPadOS, the operating system for iPads, were released this week. And they offer many new tools that help safeguard our digital privacy.”

Windows 7

Don’t forget that Microsoft will discontinue support of Windows 7 in three months.  Here’s a recent blog about how you can approach that if you haven’t upgraded to Windows 10 yet.

“The specific end of support day for Windows 7 will be January 14, 2020. After that, technical assistance and software updates from Windows Update that help protect your PC will no longer be available for the product.”

Please share this on Instagram and Facebook!

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report on what to look for to protect yourself from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years.  We like the free and fast shipping.  With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Tech for Seniors – Resources

I’ll bet you didn’t know that October 1st has been designated by the United Nations as the International Day of Older People. (UNIDOP for short!) When I found that out, it got me thinking about Tech for Seniors.  Many of our customers are Seniors. Just like every other demographic, they are all different.  Some of them call and say “I’m in my late 50’s and too old to learn this new technology,” while others are still working and adopting new technology well into their 70’s and 80’s!

United Nations 60+ Counts logo - Tech for seniors

Tech for Seniors – Resources:

Over time, we have found some resources to help our older customers.  Here are just a few:

(Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)

  • Set up your Alexa / Echo / Siri to call a trusted contact when you can’t get to the phone.  Keep in mind that it won’t be able to call 911 for you, but it could call a family member or neighbor. Check out this blog I wrote about why you can’t use Alexa to call 911.
  • At your next family gathering, ask your grandkids to show you how to use Facetime.  That way you can have a video chat with them very easily throughout the year.
  • You should also make sure your computer keyboard fits your needs.  I’ve talked to several people who have a separate keyboard and mouse even though they have a laptop.  Laptops are getting smaller and the keyboards are almost too small to type on!  After I made many (MANY!) fat-finger mistakes on my laptop, I got a wireless keyboard and mouse which helped immensely.  I wrote a post about wireless keyboards earlier this year.
  • Head over to your local bookstore or even Amazon and browse some of the “Dummy” or “Idiot” books for help with specific topics.  I also like David Pogue’s “Missing Manual” series.  I got turned on to them when I got my first iPhone and couldn’t figure out how to do anything.  It was very helpful!
  • Check with your local senior group, library, or Chamber of Commerce. They probably have classes on Social Media, photography, email, and other subjects that you may need help with. (Save the phone calls to your granddaughter for the tech emergencies!)
  • Then, cultivate a relationship with a tech expert that can come to you and fix problems and provide some training.  Ask your friends for recommendations.

Conclusion:

Do you know how they say that age is a state of mind?  Take your tech one step at a time.  Learn it in little bits and be open to finding out new ways to do things.  Before you know it you’ll be teaching your kids a thing or two!

Please share this with your “older” friends!

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report on what to look for to protect yourself from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years.  We like the free and fast shipping.  With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Cell Coverage – Where to go to get the best signal

Ever since my post a few months ago about poor cell service, I’ve been wondering where the cell towers are. Is there a way to determine if one area has better cell coverage than another area? And then I realized, there must be an app for that!

It turns out it’s not as easy as that.  There are plenty of apps which show coverage, but not location.  And the apps which show coverage aren’t always accurate. I looked at the AT&T map and was very surprised. I regularly drive through Boulder Canyon and know that there is zero coverage. However, according to their legend where blue equals service, AT&T says the entire mountain region west of Boulder has full coverage.

AT&T Cell Coverage

Frankly, I’d prefer to look at an independent app that measures actual cell coverage rather than advertised coverage.

I checked out the OpenSignal app on my phone.  This app showed actual coverage reported by consumers.  Green dots indicate adequate or great service and inferior coverage is indicated by red dots. It also shows the location of cell towers.Cell Coverage from OpenSignal

Other apps I’ve tried which measure cell coverage include:

  • I like FindTower because it tells me who provides the service on each tower. That is helpful information. If you’re driving around looking for a good signal, you’ll want to head to a location near the tower that provides your service.  No good to park near a Verizon tower if you have a T-Mobile phone!Cell Coverage - FindTower
  • Coverage Map has colored circles to tell you where the coverage is.  Dark blue circles indicate superior service, red circles indicate service which will be problematic. No circle equals no coverage!
  • I also tried Site Locator US but found it confusing and not intuitive.

Reminder: as long as you know your location, you do not need to provide your location to the app on your phone or your computer.  Think: Privacy!

Recommendation:

I recently got a Verizon JetPack. This helps me extend my coverage it I’m out of range of an AT&T tower. Also, if I’m on a road trip, I can connect my computer, phone, and tablet which gives me WiFi on the go!

You can extend your cell coverage wit

Please share this on Instagram and Facebook!

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report on what to look for to protect yourself from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years.  We like the free and fast shipping.  With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

My WiFi doesn’t work – What Can I Do?

I get frustrated sometimes when the WiFi signal on my computer at home won’t work. Sometimes this happens when I try to start working for the day. Other times it stops as I am using it.  One minute the WiFi works and the next minute the WiFi doesn’t work! Has that ever happened to you?  There are several reasons why this can occur:

  • The power went out
  • Your house experienced a power surge
  • Someone in your home is downloading massive amounts of data
  • Your computer took an update overnight, and you need to re-enable the WiFi connection

What you can do when your WiFi doesn’t work:secure wifi on vacation - wifi doesn't work

  • First, check your computer to verify that you have your internet turned on. I had a laptop that had a switch on the side to turn the internet on and off.  Sometimes I would flip that switch without even realizing it. (I chalk that one up to a design flaw!)
  • Next, who else in your house is using the Internet?  What are they doing? If they are downloading a huge file, ask them if they can stop and restart it later – like after midnight!
  • Turn your router and modem off and back on again.  Sometimes everything just needs a reset.
  • Then, you can check your phone or tablet.  Are they able to connect to the WiFi?  If not, you may need to call your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to report the problem.  They may be able to talk you through a fix on the phone, or they may need to schedule a service call.
  • Chris likes this Netgear router which lists for $220.  It’s currently available from Amazon for around $190.

Don’t be afraid to call your ISP for help.  If you feel like the service rep isn’t being helpful, hang up and call back to get a different person.

Please forward this to your Mom who calls you whenever her WiFi doesn’t work.

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report on what to look for to protect yourself from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years.  We like the free and fast shipping.  With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Link shorteners

In the last few days, we’ve had several questions about link shorteners.

  • Are short links safe to click?
  • If I use a URL shortener in my email, will people click on them?

We’ve all seen them. URL shorteners are used primarily on social media and email newsletters. These are URLs that start with bit.ly or TinyURL or Ow.ly.  Others which are less common include is.gd, adf.ly, and bit.do.

In general, people are of two minds about link shorteners aka URL shorteners:shortened links

  • People like them because you can create a short link that meets Twitter post length requirements and is easy to type in. For example, https://geekforhireinc.com/av/ becomes https://bit.ly/2yFErwj. People also like them for social media because then they can track the number of opens and clicks.
  • Or, people don’t like them because you can’t see where the link will take you, and what tracking information is included in the link until you’ve clicked on it.

I’m in the second camp, especially after a call from a customer the other day.

What happened:

She clicked on an email that was a scam.  Of course, she didn’t realize that until after she’d clicked on the link and downloaded the attachment!  She’s a Realtor, and the email supposedly came from a Title company.  It seemed perfectly reasonable to her that she would be getting an email with a PDF attachment from a Title company. The email looked real. It was convincing.  But when she had second thoughts and called the Title company, they hadn’t sent her an email that day. That’s when she called us. Chris remotely accessed her computer and took a look at the PDF file. He couldn’t see anything wrong with it except for a URL near the bottom that started with “bit.ly.” Luckily no one clicked on that link!

I go into a little more depth about shortened links and other things to watch for in my Free Report about Phishing scams.

But there are legitimate uses for link shorteners:

For example, another customer had heard bad things about bit.ly but needed a shorter link.  She was having a party and was sending printed invitations. She needed to include a link to a resource, but it was an exceptionally long link. We told her it would be fine to include a bit.ly link so that her friends didn’t have to type in 100+ characters.

I’ve recently heard about a URL shortener that allows you to use your own brand. If you’re a business, using a bit.ly or owl.ly link takes the attention away from your business. Rebrandly lets you use a custom URL so people know that they are going to your trusted site.

Recommendation:shortened link -why they're bad

If someone you know sends you an email or message on social media with a shortened link, contact them to ask them to send you the full link. If you don’t personally know and trust the person who posted it or sent it to you, don’t click on it!

Please forward this to your friends who click on any link!

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years.  We like the free and fast shipping.  With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Audio Books for Summer Reading

It’s summer.  Time to lay on the beach and read a book. OR, if your family is like my family, listen to audio books on a road trip!  There are options out there for listening if you know where to look. I wasn’t necessarily looking for free books, but that option kept coming up. It is important to me that any audio book I download be legally available.  I could, of course, go to sites where I can get anything and everything for free.  But if an audio book is for sale somewhere with royalties going to the author and other artists, it is important to me that they are all properly compensated.  (I’m getting off my soapbox now…)

Recommended:

AudioBooks.com:

Audio Books for summer reading
AudioBooks.com has an extensive selection

If you’re an Audible member and looking towards moving away from all-things-Amazon, AudioBooks.com seems like the best option.  After a free trial month, they’ll charge $15 a month which includes two audio books from their collection.  You choose one of those books from their entire selection; the other comes from their VIP list of 30+/- books which change every month.  What I like: Their book collection is extensive and had every book I searched for.  I have their app on my iPhone, and it is easy to use.

Librivox

Librivox provides free eBooks and Audio Books of many books that are already in the Public Domain. (In other words, they published the book so long ago that the copyright is no longer valid.)  These are mostly classic books that you probably were supposed to read in High School, but got the CliffNotes version instead and have regretted it ever since.  Librivox has a team of volunteers that record the books, which is how they can provide the Audio Books for free. When I did a quick search for Through The Looking Glass, I found that there were several versions.  Multiple people recorded some versions; others were read by just one person.  You should know that credit is given to Librivox at the beginning of each chapter.  Sometimes those credits are simple and relatively unintrusive.  Other times the credits were much longer.

Librivox takes a little bit of set up before you leave on your trip.  There’s no app, so it’s harder to set up on your smartphone.

Audible:

I had heard about the Audible app a long time ago but decided to sign up a few summers ago before a road trip.  Since then I’ve listened to audio books just about every time I’m in the car for more than a half-hour.   After a 30 day trial, Audible charges $15 per month. You get one book of your choice each month, plus you can pick two of six Audible Originals each month. (So you get a total of three books.) I’ve found that the “Originals” are hit and miss.  They are always books you’ve never heard of. Some have been amazing, and others are real duds.

I also like that you can get the Audible version of a book you are reading.  That way you can read the book when you’re at home, and listen when you’re in your car without missing a page!

Not Recommended:

Digital Book IO

Claim they have access to over 100,000 free audio and ebooks. (In case you’re wondering, “IO” indicates that they registered the website in the British Indian Ocean Territory.)  Some things I didn’t like include that the site took quite a long time to load, I wasn’t able to intuitively find what I was looking for, and it is closely associated with Amazon.  You’d probably be better off just going there to Amazon.

LoyalBooks

LoyalBooks has an extensive selection of free audiobooks from Librivox.  You can download them as an iTunes Podcast or as an mp3 file, or go directly to Librivox.

 

Please forward this to your friends with long commutes who love books.

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report on what to look for to protect yourself from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years.  We like the free and fast shipping.  With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Screen Time – How much time do I spend playing games on my phone?!

Several months ago, I checked out the beta version of the newest Operating System for my iPhone. (Check out my blog on the subject.)  I did this primarily because I had heard about Screen Time, a new app that helps you track the amount of time you are spending on your Apple devices.  I only signed up for the trial on my iPad because, if they were to release a beta OS that crashed the system, I didn’t want to be without my phone.

Although Screen Time says "Gail's iPhone", it's really data from both my phone and tablet.
Although Screen Time says “Gail’s iPhone,” it has combined actual data from both my phone and my tablet.

Well, now that they’ve fully tested the software and released it to the public, I’ve installed it on my phone and updated my tablet. (By the way, I’m using iOS 12.0.1 on my iPhone and 12.1 on the iPad.) So, now there’s no getting around it.  I spend a LOT of time on my devices, playing games, and checking social media.  But, I’m also happy to see that I actually do spend more time reading, researching, and other productive activities.  (Check out the Screen Time gray bar.)

What do the different colors mean?

There are several different colors on the Screen Time app that indicates where you are spending your time. The first several colors are where you are spending the most time. For me, dark blue indicates the time I spend playing games, light blue indicates Social Media, Orange is Health & Fitness, and the grey bar on Screen Time generally indicates “Other.”

When I did a quick search on Google to find out what all the different colors mean, I was surprised at how many people searched for the “Screentime grey bar” and “What does the Screentime gray bar mean?” It seems to always indicate “OTHER” and not the top three categories.

I also played around with it a little. Yesterday I opened the Kindle app on my phone and left it up for several hours. Sure enough, the “Information & Reading” category turned dark blue.

Screen Time tells me how often I…

The App also tells me how many times I pick up my phone (54 times a day) and how many notifications I get (71 per day).

How to install Screen Time:

Screen Time is easy to activate and use once you’ve upgraded to the newest iOS.  Go to Settings, and scroll down about one screen until you see Screen Time.  Click on Screen Time, then “Turn on Screen Time.”  Read the introduction, then click on “Continue.”  Next, it will ask if this phone is yours or for a child.  It will allow you to set up a downtime for the phone, time limits for specific apps, and other permissions. (You may also notice that I have a VPN activated on my phone.  Here’s my blog about that subject.)

If you found this helpful, please forward it to your friends!

 

I’ve created a Free Report to protect you from “phishing” scams. Click here for access!

INFORMATION ABOUT GEEK FOR HIRE, INC.

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has provided computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  You can find more on our website or give us a call at 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

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Fitbit Silent Alarm

The other day I had an appointment with my primary care Doctor and showed him my resting heart rate from the Fitbit app on my phone. He knows I’ve been working on getting more healthy and provided the appropriate “oohs” and “ahhs” for the markedly downward trend of my resting heart rate.  He politely showed me his Fitbit. It was a Charge 2 and has way more bells and whistles than my Charge HR. He then said he wished the Fitbit was able to set alarms.Fitbit Silent Alarm  “But you can!”, I exclaimed and proceeded to show him how to set a Fitbit Silent Alarm.

How to Set your Fitbit Silent Alarm:

  1. Open the Fitbit app on your Smartphone.
  2. Click on the icon in the top right corner
  3. Select your device
  4. Scroll down to “Silent Alarms” and select
  5. Then click on “Set a New Alarm”
  6. Set the alarm to the correct time, and then decide if you want to repeat the alarm or not.  If you don’t want it to repeat, it will only set the alarm for that day, not for a future day.
  7. FYI – the time of your next Fitbit Silent Alarm will also appear on your wrist display

I have found that the Fitbit Silent Alarm is not always successful in waking me up in the morning.  It provides a quiet vibration on my wrist.  That works well when I’m already awake and aware.  If I’m really sound asleep, it sometimes takes me a while to be aware of the vibration.

By the way, I’ve been wearing my Fitbit Charge HR for the past 3 1/2 years.  (That’s a lot of health-related data!)  I was just starting to think about an upgrade when I heard that Fitbit was coming out with a new  Charge 3 in mid-October.  I’ve pre-ordered it and can’t wait until it arrives!

Are there other things you’d like to learn how to do with your Fitbit?  Ask a question in the comments below!

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Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly.  You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years.  We like the free 2-3 day shipping and online streaming. I haven’t tried the Kindle lending library yet.  I’ll try that next!  Prime is normally $119/year, but you can try it for 30 days for free by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial (Yes, we’ll get a small commission when you sign up.)