Here’s a couple of Android tips that I just figured out.
Wacky AI Picture created by CoPilot
If you want a specific ringtone for specific people, here’s how to do it. – Contacts – Click on the contact you want to add a ringtone. – Click on the 3 dots – top right – Click on Set ringtone. – Unfortunately, they don’t yet have an option to us any mp3 as a ringtone although there are apps you can install which should get close to that.
The second feature I figured out was using Location Sharing for a friend with an iPhone.
Maps
Click on your picture – top right.
Location Sharing
New Share
Choose the person you want to do Location Sharing with – might have to click More.
Send – this will send a request and you can then request that they share their location with you
While it might seem to be easy to add text to a picture in Google Photos, in reality it’s either impossible or a bit of a pain.
First off, there are 3 versions you can choose from…
Photos.Google.com In this case, there is NO way to add text. It doesn’t work on a PC or a Chromebook.
Phone app……..this might work, but I don’t want to be editing 773 pictures on a small phone.
Chromebook Photos app, this works sort of. Here are the steps. a. You select the photo and choose the Edit button on the bottom. b. Choose the squiggle line in top right and then Text. c. Type in your text and then move the box.
You’d think you would just click on Save, but there is no Save button and the Done button doesn’t do anything. You have to choose Save a Copy.
Now you end up with two copies of the picture and you have to go back in and delete the original.
If you want to reduce your data being accessed by the car companies, there are not too many things you can do, but these might help.
Don’t install your car’s app.
OnStar is another way they keep track of you. Even though it may have some benefits, it will track you and could possibly increase your insurance.
Don’t plug your phone into the car via a USB port. If you have to charge your phone via the car’s USB port, use a data blocker like PortaPow. This allows you to charger without moving data. Ideally you would have your own charger to use while traveling.
If you rent a car, make sure you don’t use their cars app, Bluetooth or other services. Your personal information will be left on the rental car when you turn it in.
I ordered a report on my 2015 Honda CRV and received it about a week later. They send you a letter with a login and password and then you can download the report. My report was only 34 pages long and didn’t have a word about my car or driving habits. It certainly makes a good case for keeping your older car if privacy is important to you.
Privacy4Cars.com is an app which will show you what sort of information is being tracked on your vehicle and claims to be able to delete the data. I have not seen any tests on this capability.
When you do sell your car try and get your personal data deleted from the car. The dealer may need to do this or you can try Privacy4cars.com.
Car Insurance Tracking Devices Most car insurance companies want you to put a device in your car to monitor your driving. Theoretically it could reduce your premiums, but they also have access to all your driving data and will probably sell it to 3rd parties.
I wanted to play my vacation photos on my Roku….here’s my solution.
While you can’t create a slide show, you can play your Google Photos Album using the Screen Saver from the Roku app. The disadvantage is that you will have to wait about 20 minutes for the Screen Saver to start. You may also need to turn off the Setting – Power – Auto Turn Off after 20 minutes.
You will also need to give Roku permission to sign in to your Google account. You may want to turn this off when you are done with the pictures.
Roku calls this Photo Streams.
I signed in to my Roku account – clicked on my picture and then chose Photo Streams. click on Get Started and follow the prompts.
Note – once this is done you can edit your album in a number of ways. Open the album Click on the 3 dots – top right Choose Edit Album You then get a number of options. I chose Oldest First.
If you’d like to make a Google Photo Book, here’s a good video which shows you the process.
If you want to play a slide show from a computer, you can just choose the Album and then under the 3 dots choose Slide Show. Once the slide show starts, it will have a menu to allow you to stop and restart the show.
It will show the city where the laptop was last used. It does not give specific addresses, just the city and state.
Answer from Google Community …..laptops do not have GPS chips in them like phones do so the best Google can do is look at your IP address and try to figure out where the ISP is that has that IP address, so it can sometimes be a very generalized location and therefore not much help. Like trying to find a needle in a haystack really,… Note – I wonder how Windows does give you more specific location, but a chromebook can’t?
In the last 24 hours there has been a rash of, Help, I lost my……fill in the blank. People have lost hearing aids, car keys, an iPad and a Google password.
The latest, was a knock at the door….a “Mom” was going door to door to see if anyone had seen her son’s iPad. She said the iPad was pinging somewhere in the neighborhood, but she couldn’t get more specific than that.
The lessons we all might learn are these…
Be organized, take your time and have a system. I always put my wallet and keys in the same place every day. Have a designated spot or basket for your important items. When you get in a hurry and just throw things anywhere, that’s when they get lost. Take a breath and a minute and follow your habit and put things in their spot.
Label your items so that they are easy to be returned to you. My phone has a phone number showing that people can call if they find my phone. I have my wife’s phone number on my phone. I also use a neck band for my keys to make them easier to see and keep track of.
Use technology to find your devices. I can use my Chromebook to find both my watch and my phone.
I also just bought a Tile Mate and Tile Pro to use with keys. You can use this with either Android or IOS. The battery should last anywhere from a 1-3 years.
I did find out that some hearing aids can be connected to a phone app and it has a “find my hearing aid” function. It might be a bit more expensive initially, but could save you money in the long run.
Passwords – you either need to use a Password Manager or have a book where you write them all down. The trick is to have them in one place that you always use.
For Android users, the Tile Pro or the Tile Mate are devices to help you find your keys or actually anything you want to keep track of. The Pro version costs about $10 extra, but seems to be worth the extra cost. Note – the price goes up and down so try and get it on sale. It has a louder ring, longer distance and a replaceable battery. (2032)
I bought both devices, the Mate and the Pro to see which I might prefer.
While they both use the same battery, the Mate claims a 3 year battery length, while the Pro claims a one year battery length – both with the same battery.
One of the nice features is that the Tile will also ring your phone just by tapping on the button twice.
Here’s a good video on how to set this device up. I didn’t have any problems.
I recently got this message from a friend, “Help I forgot my Google Password.” This is actually the 2nd time in a couple of weeks where a friend has forgotten a password.
I thought I’d go over the basics on how to prevent this problem and possible solutions.
Keep a written record of your password either in a filing cabinet or a small book meant just for passwords. If you change your password, keep a record of your previous password as that is one way to get back into your account.
Security Questions – write down your answers in your book/filing cabinet. You don’t have to tell the truth, just keep a record of what the answer is.
Don’t change your phone number. Many times, your phone number is one way to verify your account. Even if you change your carrier, keep the same phone number.
Have a secondary email account that can be used to verify your account. Use your wife’s email or a trustworthy friend.
Use a Password Manager. Obviously you will still need to know the password for the password manager, but once you login to it, you will get your other passwords. Note – Google has a pretty good password manager, but of course you need to login first.
Don’t use the same password for all your accounts. Use a unique and long password for each website.
If you do have to click on “Forgot Password, hopefully then the above tips will help you recover your password.
Around January 1st, I make a point of doing a backup for all of my data/stuff.
Google Drive – Takeout.google.com You have the option to backup ALL your Google data or just google drive etc. Make sure you choose 50 gb size to minimize the number of files you will have to backup.
Passwords – export to a CSV format and keep it on an external thumb drive.
Wallet – take everything out of your wallet and copy it either on a scanner, camera or phone. I save all pictures to a thumb drive and make a physical copy to keep.
Computer – backup files from the hard drive to an external drive.
House Contents – you don’t have to do this yearly, but certainly every 5 to 10 years. Either take pictures or a video. You’ll need this in case of a fire. Copy it to an online site.
Passport – if you travel overseas, put a copy in the cloud in case it is stolen.
Note 1 – the included band just barely fit my wrist. Later, I did find a larger band in the box.
Note 2 – On Amazon “Google Pixel Watch 2 User Guide” has got the basics – it’s free if you have Kindle Unlimited.
Note 3 – I like that I can make/receive phone calls on the watch. The quality is good.
Note 4 – this works great with a Ring Doorbell. It gives you an immediate notification, but you do have to tap on an icon.
Note 5 – I also bought a Glass screen protector which should keep your screen from getting scratched. From what I read, there are no repairs available for the watch so take good care of it. The bad news is if you keep your watch on in the shower, water gets under the plastic and you have to take it off to dry it out.
Note 6 – I found that changing bands is a bit tricky. There’s a video at the end of the page.
Note 7 – You can setup your phone to open with your watch. It’s under Fingerprint Unlock. To open the phone, tap on it and the swipe up.
Note 8 – don’t leave the watch charging overnight. I had to restart it – long press on the stem. I also had to turn off battery saver which turned on by itself.
Charging – from 50%, it will go to 100% in 30 minutes.
Display – I like the Always On Display
Press Crown to wake it up and power it on.
Press Crown from main screen to see apps.
Emergency – press crown at least 5 times to call emergency services or chosen contacts. You can set this up to either call 911 or your Emergency Contact.
Press small button for Hey google to open.
Swipe up for notifications.
Swipe from the left edge to go back
Messsages app – you can use this on my watch, but for some reason I don’t seem to be receiving new messages.
Phone calls – you can decline, answer or swipe up to send a text.
Swipe down for quick settings – see tips below for
Quick Settings.
Airplane Mode
Battery Saver –
Brightness
Do Not Disturb
Flashlight – not real bright, but better than nothing
Night Mode – turns the screen off to save power and reduce the light.
Ring On/Off
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Settings
Adjust Brightness
Always on screen
Change watch face
Display
Go to watch face after 1 minute
Sunlight Boost
Text Size
Screen Timeout
Wrist orientation
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APPS
Stopwatch – easy to use, but only shows the screen for up to 30 seconds before it reverts to the time. Note – there is a Stopwatch (Wear OS) app in the play store – Electric Wave. Download it and it open it and it will install on your phone.
Timer – only shows the screen for the length of the set display time – up to 30 seconds. If you do want a reminder – this works well.
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