MobileViews Blog

Jon Westfall and I are joined by guest panelist Chris Spera for this podcast. We discuss:

1. Microsoft shutting down most Microsoft Stores (except for 4) worldwide
2. (Todd) Finally had to try Powerwash on my Acer Chromebook Spin 13
3. Microsoft Teams for personal use
4. Apple Silicon – ARM CPUs for next generation Macs
5. iOS 14 and iPadOS 14
6. watchOS 7
7. Jon’s first impressions of the 2020 MacBook Pro

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

In this podcast, Jon Westfall and I discuss:

1. Raspian OS is now Raspberry PI OS.
   64-bit version takes advantage of new 8GB RaspBerry Pi 4
2. iPad Pro boot loops
   This is the problem my 2020 iPad Pro 11 had!
3. New/updated Google Android apps for pixel phones
   Google’s latest Pixel features include a ‘safety check’ for when you’re walking alone
   Personal Safety: Car crash detection in “more locations”. g.co/pixel/carcrashdetection
   Sound Amplifier: clarifies the sound around you, now works with Bluetooth headphones
   Recorder: Transcription, audio classifier. Works with Google Assistant. Just say Hey Google to start, stop, or search a recording. Save transcription text to Google Docs
   Digital Welbeing: Bedtime mode features
   Google Duo: video calls with up to 12 people. Video & voice messages to the group
   Live Transcribe updated: Set your phone to vibrate when someone nearby says your name. Search past conversations
4. Jon’s free Google Nest Mini
5. Lumen: A story of pro-active customer service
6. Jon’s R tip of the week: More than one way to Recode data:
   Ifelse (iris$Species.new <- ifelse(iris$Species == "setosa","Setosa","Other");) Control Structures (`iris$Species.control[iris$Species != "setosa"] <- "Other"` iris$Species.control[iris$Species == "setosa"] <- "Setosa" Recode function in the ‘car’ library (recode(x, "1='A'; 2='B'; c(3,4) = 'C'; else='D'")) Or write your own custom function: LetterGrade <- function(percentage) { library("car") return(recode(percentage,"lo:59 = 'F'; 59.01:69 = 'D'; 69.01:79 = 'C'; 79.01:89 = 'B'; 89.01:hi = 'A'")) } Mixing and matching lets you get your data exactly how you want it, and recall you can always make a copy by just binding the variable again under a new name (e.g., data$newvar <- data$oldvar)
7. MPow Bluetooth headset for recording this podcast
   Problem with Microsoft Teams on Windows 10

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

First, apologies for the audio quality (low volume) on my side of the discussion.

In this podcast, Jon Westfall and I discuss:

1. Microsoft BUILD: Linux GUI Apps Coming to Windows 10
2. Krita is a professional FREE and open source painting program. It is made by artists that want to see affordable art tools for everyone.: For Linux, MacOS, Windows
3. Still no notification about moving music from Google Play Music to YouTube Music. But, I was notified about moving this podcast to the new Google Podcast Manager
4. Jon’s been buying some Fitness gizmos and they will be arriving in the next few weeks. Let’s talk about what they are, and then over the next few weeks we’ll get reviews. Jon’s also been out walking these few days: Some thoughts on Apple Watch + Airpods (As you can see, something changed around May 12). Also means that I’m on track to pick up some Apple Activity “medals / badges” that I’ve never gotten – only took me over 5 years for a perfect week in exercise and perfect week closing all of my rings.

   Aura Strap – an apple watch band that includes a built-in sensor that measures bioimpedance analysis – fat/muscle and hydration. Syncs with Apple Health (a must for me). Mostly interested to see if it matches up with what my smart scale tells me. Ships in late June. $99
   Oura Ring – a smart ring that measures sleep quality, heart rate variability, and respiratory rate. Great for times when I’m not wearing my watch (sleeping) and could be a replacement for my wedding band (which is getting a bit loose). Pricey ($299), but if it gives me good sleep tracking and more info, might be worth it. Also helps me have another measure of things my Apple Watch tracks. Sizing kit comes this week, then I select my size and they ship out the ring the next day.
   Lumen – by far the craziest one – hack your metabolism by analyzing Co2 output. Claims that it will tell you what your body is running on that day – carbs or protein. Then gives nutritional guidelines for that day to help lose weight by eating what your body is processing. I’ve always noticed some strange things about my weight loss over the past 2 years and I’ve wondered if it’s due to differences in what I’m eating day to day. $299, ordered on Feb 17, arrives on Thursday.

5. Jon’s R tip of the week
   Cleaning up others mistakes: In a perfect world, data would always be in the way we need it, so dollar amounts would be “12.32” to mean $12.32. However when you let others enter data, sometimes they do annoying things with the best of intentions: “$ 12.32” or “12.32 USD” or “$12.32 USD” or “12 dollars” etc… However we can use the string manipulation commands in R to help us:

   y <- c("14.95","25.62","35.50"); sum(as.numeric(y)) z <- c("14.95 USD","25.62 USD","35.50 USD","103.52 USD"); sum(as.numeric(substr(z,1,(nchar(z)-4)))) b <- c("$14.95", "$25.62","$35.50") sum(as.numeric(substr(b,2,(nchar(b)))))

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

In this podcast Jon Westfall and I discuss:

1. iPad Pro 11-inch replaced. No more spontaneous shutdowns and reboots
2. Google Play Music going away. Forced to switch to YouTube Music. But, no sign of the “transfer button” on YouTube Music for iPadOS.
3. How much credence should I give to browser speed tests like Speedometer 2.0? I began wondering about this as I debate whether to buy the new Lenovo Chromebook Duet when it is available somewhere (other than in reviewers’ hands). AboutChromebook’s Kevin Tofel noted that he is not a fan of benchmarks. However, people always ask (like me). So, he provided a set of results from multiple tests and the Duet clocked in at 46.07. Being too lazy to run the full set myself, I choose Speedometer 2.0 as a representative test to compare against a couple of devices I have for testing. Note that results appear to vary because Kevin’s Speedometer 2.0 result for the Acer Chromebook Spin 13 was 104 while mine is 61.80. I checked and we have the same model (CPU, memory, etc.).
4. Jon’s Using his Apple Watch to its full potential.
5. iOS text messages & multiple devices – notifications problem
6. Still struggling with URL Schemes with Microsoft Office (why doesn’t ms-excel:// always open in office or Excel – WHY would it open Onedrive?!?)
7. Revisiting the Microsoft Whiteboard app
8. Microsoft Office app for iOS and Android
9. Jon’s Struggle to use a Apple 27’’ Cinema Display (2010, not thunderbolt, Mini-Displayport) with USB C. Cost of my desired refresh.
10. Jon’s R tip
    Web Scraping with rvest package – example code below. Basically if you can read HTML and understand CSS classes, you can find information and download it.

    install.packages(“rvest”);
    library(“rvest”);
    addr <- "https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?s=MS&pg=2&id=175616" page <- read_html(addr); nodes <- html_nodes(page,".tabular td"); totfaculty <- html_text(nodes)[2] paste("The total number of faculty are",totfaculty); What about pages that use Javascript to pull in the data though? Well then… PhantomJS browser! Chapter 9 in my book shows that.

11. App Tip of the Week: Garageband How-To Videos.iSongs’ version of Gangstas’ paradise
    iPianoDude

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

In this podcast we discuss:

1. RIP Ricky Li.
   MobileViews podcasts 216, 217, 232, 237 (the post missile crisis cast), 256, 277, 281
   MIni-podcast 30 – recorded with Paul Lawler in person sitting around an outdoor table during lunch
2. iPad Pro 11-inch 2020 frequent spontaneous shutdowns and restarts
3. Old news that was news to me: Autodesk Sketchbook full edition became free two years ago! This includes desktop and mobile views. Ref: All3DP.com
4. After 16 years, Inkscape 1.0 was released on May 4. Introducing Inkscape 1.0. Open Source vector graphics for Linux, MacOS, and Windows.
5. How to Scan and Import Text Into Google Chrome With Google Lens
6. Jon signed up for Apple Arcade. Seems worth it for $4.99 a month with family sharing. Mini Motorways is awesomely addicting (Mini Metro was the developer’s first game, also awesome and very similar, and a 1 time purchase no ads).
7. Tip from Jon’s Practical R 4 book
   The Input Method – reminds me of SAS’ cards command:

   OurData = (”
   Student Pretest Posttest
   A 25 27
   B 23 23
   C 21 22
   D 23 29
   E 23 24
   F 21 19
   “)
   Data = read.table(textConnection(OurData),header=T)

8. Installed R & R Studio on my Chromebook. Excellent step-by-step by Francis L. Huang

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.

Happy 5th birthday to the Apple Watch (April 24, 2015). Jon can talk a little bit about how it feels to have had one for 5 years now! Listened to some of Mobileviews 115 when I gave my first impressions. (Mobileviews 111 is when we first discussed it after it had been announced; Mobileviews 95 also included some Apple Watch news in Sept 2014)

Microsoft Word now flags double spaces as errors, ending the great space debate

Are You Charging Your MacBook on the Wrong Side?

Fintie Ultrathin 4mm Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard with Built-in Multi-Touch Touchpad: Using one with an iPad Pro running iPadOS 13.4.

Jon just finished a new book titled: Practical R 4. Look for it to be available this summer!

Available via Google Music Podcasts and Apple iTunes.