Author: c_good

Mindset Monday: The tool is not the skill.

Way back at the beginning of this blog, I wrote about the importance of knowing what I want to achieve when I start working with a piece of technology. That post was about the importance of knowing my goal and motive.

My post today is the importance of not confusing the tool with the skill. There are lots of drawing and art software programs available, but none of them make me a good artist when I buy them. There are lots of software programs for music and sound available, but none of them make me a good musician, composer, or sound technician just because I bought them.

Becoming good at a skill takes a lot of work. It takes practice, and research, and looking at other examples in that same field, and more practice, and more research. It’s a slow process. I have to put in the work. I can’t trade money for the software program or electronic gizmo or whatever and have that also be a trade of money for time and effort. The tool is not the skill.

Technician Tuesday: How fast do I want life to come at me?

I was originally going to write about another useful Windows program I’d found.

Then I read this latest post on Axis of Easy, by Mark Jeftovic at EasyDNS. Among other things, there’s reports of concerns from U.S. politicians about the amount of information collected from users’ smart phones by TikTok if I install their app.

If I follow the links from Axis of Easy, I go to ZeroHedge and then to a Summit News post written by Steve Watson on November 21, 2022.

I’ve had lots of friends who decide if they doubt or believe news based on whether they like the source. For me, I look at what is said first and then worry about the source later. Can TikTok collect that information if I install it on a smartphone? It’s possible. There are other smartphone apps which have been accused of gathering a lot more information than they need to, and sometimes more information than they admit to in users’ permission settings.

The same problem exists in PC programs. In 2019, there were concerns about the Zoom webconferencing app installing a web server, unasked, on users’ Macintosh PCs. Here’s a story about that from The Register on July 9, 2019, by Tim Anderson.

I don’t currently run GlassWire or WireShark or any similar program. I suppose that might be the next thing for me to do, install something like that to monitor which programs like to gossip and which don’t.

Mindset Monday: Do some weeding on your technology.

I’ve often read it’s a good practice to look through all my online accounts. And then to see which ones are still active and where I can log in. Lastly, it’s a good practice to cancel any accounts which aren’t likely to be used again.

Those are all good practices. And they are things I don’t make a regular habit of doing.

In episode 388 of the Software Defined Talk podcast, Coté and Schafer had a different way of describing it. Systems which are never pruned and always grow would be called a tumor in the body. They suck up resources and create additional risks for the system in the long term.

Now I feel much more motivated to clean those old accounts and old programs. And yes there are lots of risks from old unused accounts hanging around. Those are accounts which can be hacked and it doesn’t make a lot of sense to have that risk for something which won’t be used again. I did know that, but I wanted to avoid weeding through my old accounts.

Technician Tuesday: A Wi-Fi analyzer from Matt Hafner and some things I like about his website

How I got there.

The December 2022 issue of Maximum PC magazine (link takes you to magazine subscription page, Maximum PC does not have online archives at this time) recommended the Wi-Fi signal analyzer program from Matt Hafner, at MattHafner.com.

(A side question: I know periodicals like Maximum PC get their titles italicized when cited, but I’m not sure about personal websites. That is something for me to look up another time.)

I’ve downloaded and installed his Wi-Fi analyzer on one Windows 10 PC already. I like it. It works. I can already see my current 2.4 GHz router channel setting might be too close to another nearby network’s channel.

Why I lingered.

I’m also impressed by Matt Hafner’s own website.

It is easy for me to navigate.

His affiliate link was marked by an asterisk with “* Affiliate-Link: I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you!” as an explanation below. That is very elegant in my opinion. For someone who knows what an affiliate link is they can quickly see that it’s an affiliate link. And for someone who doesn’t know what an affiliate link is, he’s provided a clear explanation and the name so they’ll know what affiliate links are the next time they run across the term.

His photos and videos seem to be the main focus of his website. He doesn’t crowd the page with zillions of each, but presents enough I can get an idea of what his work looks like. There’s clear links to find more videos and photos if I want.

I’ve started reading privacy policies and terms and conditions on websites and programs. His website privacy policy is one of the clearer and more straightforward website privacy policies I’ve seen in a while. The privacy policy on the Wi-Fi analyzer app is also easy to read and answers my questions.

I came to his website to download the Wi-Fi analyzer app. I browsed through most of the website, and I’m writing about it now, because the design was that nice to look at and interact with. That’s really good web design.

Mindset Monday: Occasionally Read the Experts

What makes someone an expert is often not only their skill, but their experience. This includes knowing what shortcuts to take, when, and why, and what shortcuts to avoid.

Being an expert can also include knowing what basic requirements of success are absolutely essential, but are often lost in the details. Or, they know how often the forest gets missed for the trees.

I just finished reading the book Couture Sewing Techniques, Revised and Updated by Shaeffer. Do I intend to make a couture garment? Not any time soon. Do I intend to buy a couture garment? Not unless I have a lot more money than I have now. Did I learn anything useful? I sure did. Among other things, I learned some things about how shirts and jackets are supposed to fit when they fit correctly. I learned some things about making pockets.

The biggest thing I learned was why that level of tailoring and dressmaking costs so much: it’s not because of all the handwork, but because the handwork is combined with expertise in appearance and construction to make garments which are comfortable to wear and really flatter the wearer.

The word “technology” can apply almost any skill or craft. From the Online Etymology Dictionary, the etymology of technology:

technology (n.)
1610s, “a discourse or treatise on an art or the arts,” from Latinized form of Greek tekhnologia “systematic treatment of an art, craft, or technique,” originally referring to grammar, from tekhno-, combining form of tekhnē “art, skill, craft in work; method, system, an art, a system or method of making or doing,” . . .

D. Harper. “Etymology of technology.” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/technology (accessed November 22, 2022).

For the purposes of this blog, I usually use “technology” to mean electrical, electronic, or computer technology.

But there lots of fields, lots of “art, craft, or technique” which have varying levels of skill and expertise. It’s still a human creating something. And the end user of the created thing is usually a human.

“If it’s expensive, it had better be comfortable for me to use, or make me look good in front of others”: that’s why it’s worth reading the experts.

Technician Tuesday: Taking Breaks

Several weeks ago I wrote a post titled “Always Be Looking.” It was about how much of what I do isn’t new to the world, even though it might be new to me.

Last week I found another instance of that. Years ago I read the 20-20-20 rule of taking 20 seconds every 20 minutes to look at something at least 20 feet away while working on a computer*. Last week I found a suggestion for taking breaks in the November/December 2022 issue of Handwoven magazine. Just like being hunched over and staring at a computer screen, being hunched over and staring and warp and weft threads can also cause physical problems if it’s done without breaks.

The suggestions for taking a break in that magazine article are more detailed than just the 20-20-20 rule. In addition to looking away from the work every 20 minutes to do something else which takes a few seconds, the article recommended stepping away completely from the work, for a few minutes, every hour. I think that will be easier for me to remember.

(The specific article is “Healthy Weavers: Using Ergonomics for Comfortable Weaving” by Cynthia Evetts and Tina Fletcher.)

* The 20-20-20 rule really does help my eyes. More than that, it helps my whole upper body relax. I recently heard on a podcast that a focused narrow gaze will tend to make us more mentally focused and anxious, while a panoramic gaze will tend to make us more relaxed and less focused. Maybe the relaxation is something to do with that.

Mindset Monday: What is being accomplished?

How it started

The other day I was talking to a small business owner and a couple of the small business’s employees. We were discussing local business, small business, and business in general.

I said that when it comes to technology and people with technological skills, I think there’s a question which is impolite but still important.

How many apps do we actually need?

Not as individuals, but rather as users existing within a technological system. Specifically smartphone apps, which seems to be most of what programming and company announcements and startups are focused on currently, “and we created a new app for that,” how many apps do we actually need?

The small business owner replied that he has about fifteen apps to run his business and it seems like each one has its own associated fee.

How it’s going, now that I’ve thought more about this

Fifteen apps, which I’ll use as a starting point. Fifteen user IDs, fifteen passwords, fifteen apps to keep updated, fifteen apps which can break if an update goes wrong, and so on.

No, I’m not advocating for one-stop-shopping all-in-one apps that contain everything and do everything. Those work wonderfully until that one things breaks and then everything breaks. That’s why I stopped using PDAs back in the Palm Pilot days.

What I am advocating is for all of us, myself included, to stop and look at the technology we use from time to time. How much of what I use or have downloaded or installed is to monitor or fix a potential problem created by something else? Or if the potential problem isn’t directly created by something else, how much of it is created by my bad habits using something I already have?

What is actually being accomplished?

Technician Tuesday: Keyboards

I’m not going to get into the debate about QWERTY key layout versus other ways of laying out keys.

It does make a difference to me what types of keys I type on. Broadly, there are membrane and mechanical keys. I like mechanical keys, although I’m not familiar enough with the different types of mechanical keys to know which of those I like. I know I tend to be one of those jerks who like the clacky keys which irritate everyone else, but there’s probably some silent keys I can live with too.

Aside from QWERTY and the types of keys, there’s also variations in how the keyboard is laid out: small keys, big keys, keys in horizontal rows, keyboard split in the middle so your hands don’t change but your shoulders and elbows and wrists do, and keyboards that let you change the position of your hands.

Here are a couple of sites I’ve found, there’s lots others out there. I’m not sponsored by either and I’m not an expert on sites, so maybe there’s better out there. But here’s two I’ve started with:

Mechanical Keyboards

Keebmaker

Yes, mechanical keyboards can get pricey. Sore hands and wrists aren’t cheap.

Mindset Monday: Don’t let technology destroy your physiology

I’m not merely a brain. I have a body too. Technology is usually designed to be useful in the moment for its purpose. It’s not designed to keep the user’s body in good shape during an extended period of use.

I’ve been working at a computer a lot the last couple of weeks, and I can tell. I’m taking extra time to stretch my back and shoulders, and to rest my eyes.

My goal when using technology is to get done with a project and move on with other parts of my life, pain free.

Technician Tuesday: I’ll stick with the old(er), thank you very much.

The Early Days.

I started playing with cameras over three decades ago. At that time, it was only film and 1600 speed 35 mm seemed like a revelation. Yes, it was grainy, but you could shoot indoors without a flash!

Even Then I Was a Curmudgeon.

Later came the digital cameras. I stuck with point and shoot film cameras for the first few years of digital cameras. I didn’t like the limitations of ISO 100 film (only outdoors on a sunny day and if you’re indoors you’d better have a really good flash) and early digital cameras went back to the same limitations.

Eventually I got a DSLR, which was exactly what it said: a Digital version of a Single Lens Reflex camera. It took photographs and saved them to a memory card, but it had the same SLR mechanics. There’s a mirror that lets you look through the lens from the viewfinder, until you actually take a picture. Then the apertures close, the mirror flips up, the apertures open long enough to expose the sensor (CCD in DSLRs, film in the original SLRs), the apertures close and mirror flips down, and then the apertures open and you’re back to looking through the lens via the viewfinder.

I’m Still Opinionated.

The last couple years I’ve seen advertisements for mirrorless cameras. I did some research over the weekend and found out they can use different lenses like SLRs and DSLRs, but they show the view through the lens digitally on the back display screen. In other words, if the power’s not on and the circuitry isn’t talking exactly right, there’s no good way to know exactly what the lens of a mirrorless camera is seeing.

However, they can be smaller than DSLRs.

And then there’s video. The original SLRs did not take videos at all. That was not ever their purpose. The original DSLRs did not take videos either. There are many DSLRs now which do take videos. From what I read, that required quite a bit of work for camera manufacturers to figure out. Again, the original DSLRs were Digital SLRS, and SLRs were still photographs only.

I’m Happy Where I Am. There’s Still Lots to Learn and Explore.

So, am I going to get a mirrorless camera? I don’t expect to get one, not any time in the near future. My DSLRs are working just fine for me. And they still have many depths I haven’t plumbed.

I know video cameras purpose built for video are a whole different world. Just the lenses for those cameras seems to be a while different world. Ugh. I’ll explore those worlds another day.