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Screen mirroring with your Roku device

1/03/2023

Screen mirroring might be one of those handy computer tricks that are convenient but that you just never got around to trying. But mirroring, meaning where you duplicate what is on one screen to another screen, is probably a lot easier than your thought. If you have a ROKU device connected to your TV or built-in Roku for your TV, screen mirroring is not at all difficult. And with millions of ROKU devices in the wild, you may already have what you need.

Allow mirroring in Roku settings

First, from the Roku home page, select settings => System => Screen Mirroring. In the screen mirroring mode, set "always allowed." Now you are ready to connect another screen.

Read More.

Mirroring from an iPhone

Do you want to mirror from an iPhone? Swipe down from the top right-hand corner of your screen to show the control center. Then click on the double rectangle icon. Choose the Roku Premiere option and your iPhone screen will begin mirroring on your TV.

Mirroring from Windows

Do you want to mirror your Windows Computer? Open your settings, and choose "Connect to a wireless display." Then click "Connect" and choose "Roku Premiere." Your computer screen will duplicate on your TV.

Videos, live feeds, webinars

Relax on the couch and watch videos mirrored to your TV. I discovered a new use for mirroring when I wanted to watch a video I found in the library. Although I didn't have a DVD player for my TV, I did have a computer with a built-in DVD player so that the movie could just be mirrored to my TV. With mirroring, you do need to go back to the original device to interact. So, don't plan to mirror during a Zoom call. However, with recorded feeds or even live feeds where you don't plan to interact, a feed mirrored to your TV will allow you to watch it in a more relaxed seting, letting you step away from the computer and watch with your feet up.

Filter your Gmail for a clean inbox

10/11/2022

If your inbox has dozens, if not hundreds of emails, this is usually a sign that you are using your inbox as a to-do list. Resist the temptation and use a real task manager. Task or to-do list managers abound, paid or free. Free up your inbox and archive emails as they arrive to the proper task category and let your own priorities take the lead. Leaving those emails in your inbox is just a constant non-welcome reminder of things undone. Use your task manager to choose your own priorities and to not neglect important tasks just because there is an email in your inbox representing someone else's hot project.

We've all had that depressing feeling that our important-to-us email was either ignored or just pending forever in our correspondent's overburdened inbox. Don't be that unreliable correspondent. Use the Gmail filter option to make it easier.

Filtering email

For emails that you know in advance you will address later, but not now, you can clear them from your inbox automatically using a filter in Gmail.

Read More.

To filter. go to Gmail settings,. choose the tab "filters and blocked addresses", and then create a new filter. Identify the emails you want to filter choosing "has the words", "subject", "from", etc. Then hit "continue." Here you can decide what happens. Assign them a label and then click the "skip the inbox" option. Any future emails thus identified will no longer even appear in your inbox. You can later open that Gmail label and you will find these emails waiting for your inspection. This makes it easy to manage emails based on your own priorities. You no longer need to label and archive this type of email every time you receive one and you will keep your inbox free of emails that you already know that you want to handle later.

We are often advised to minimize switching tasks in order to get the most work done. To only check email once an hour, say. But even better is to have an inbox not overflowing with email, to not have distracting emails. Besides filtering, turn off email notices from Linked in and other social media. Instead, schedule a time in your day or week to check social media sites directly.

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Buyer Beware! Fake reviews

8/8/2022

According to stats, fewer than 10% of us write reviews for products, although almost all of us read reviews. Because reviews sell products, Amazon often follows up my purchases with an email asking me to rate my experience with a seller. Not just a 1-5 star rating, but a headline, an essay on how I liked or disliked the product, and a further dissertation on how I used it. Amazon suggests that I upload a photo or video presumably showing myself delighting in the product. Really, Amazon! That's a big ask. Just give me some Facebook options: I like it. I love it. It brought me to tears. What a joke! Unfortunately, A 2020 study found that 42% of the reviews on Amazon were fake or unreliable, causing consumers to buy shoddier products.

As far as bad reviews go, I assume you can count on them to be real, although some fake reviewers will throw in a few minor reservations about the product just to not gush too much. Maybe the product arrived a day late or had some minor packaging issue. Sellers who play it straight are facing unfair competition from these sellers who buy fake reviews with five star ratings that push them to the top of the search listings. This especially works for moderately priced consumer electronics, makeup. and dietary supplements. Not so much for books.

Who writes these fake reviews?

Read More.

Inauthentic reviewers can find sellers through Facebook, Craig's List or other social media and write a review in exchanged for a deep discount or refund after the review. The Verge reports that Amazon is taking legal action against the admins of over 10,000 Facebook groups that it says facilitate fake reviews. Amazon officially banned incentivized review in 2016 but a recent Financial Times report shows that nine out of 10 of the top reviewers on the UK Amazon site were engaged in suspicious activity.

Not just on Amazon

Amazon is the big dog, but fake reviews are everywhere. Time magazine investigator, Kay Dean, found fake reviews for dental clinics, locksmiths, dry cleaners, and more. They can be found on every platform, including Trip Advisor, Yelp, and Google. Fake reviews will continue as long as cheaters profit.

Bots Everywhere

7/1/2022

More than 2/3 of internet traffic is now bots - those little software bits that handle gazillions of repetitive tasks and live on the internet. Many bots are for good purposes and many bots have less than good, even malicious intentions. Google bots crawl your website looking for new material to index its search engine thus performing a valuable service for us. This is one of the good ones. The kind of bots that simulate real people are sometimes malicious bots. For example, multiple countries have accused Russia of using bots to influence elections and spread lies about candidates.

Twitter bots

Twitter bots are front-page today because of influential gripes by Elon Musk. A Twitter bot imitates how real people use Twitter. It can tweet, retweet and follow people, but doesn't engage in real online dialog. Twitter bots can spread misinformation or troll people. Harry and Meghan have famously been the victims of hate trolls.

Are you wondering how many of your Twitter followers are bots? You can use the Botometer to check out your followers. https://botometer.osome.iu.edu/ . I prefer their former name BotOrNot.

Chat bots - Exasperating or welcome?

Read More.

A lot of bots are just annoying. Chat bots, not to be confused with chat boxes where you chat by text with a real person, can be especially aggravating. Chat bots for product support simulate a real help desk person and use artificial intelligence to understand your product question. Ideally, this is a good thing because the chat bot is available 24/7 and doesn't require a person with both good technical and good language skills. However, if your question does not fit the pre-programmed product questions, this can be extremely frustrating.

Help Desk Hell

I recently had an exchange where the responses repeatedly failed to address my question even after multiple attempts to explain it more clearly. I finally recognized I had just been sending keywords to a bot and not having a conversation at all. A Google engineer was recently suspended for claiming that a chatbot he was working on had become sentient and was thinking and reasoning like a human being. I'd like to meet that bot and skedaddle away from these dummy bots who have been wasting my time.

Ideas for better websites

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