The holiday gift shopping and giving season is here again…how did that happen? We often participate in gift exchanges, sometimes called Yankee swaps, with family and friends. One never knows who will end up with which mystery gift, so we’re always on the lookout for fun, interesting, and inexpensive gifts appropriate for whomever might end up with it at the end of the whole process. Here’s a list of 6 techie Yankee swap items that we at BoomerTECH Adventures wouldn’t mind ending up with at the end of the exchange. It is getting chilly outside. How about a way to stay warm and enjoy your... Continue Reading
BoomerTECH Adventures
Some of the best gifts to give are those you’ve made yourself! Here is an opportunity to use your tech skills to offer unique and valued gifts this year. These ideas use technology you already have (or can easily borrow) to make thoughtful and well-regarded gifts using that most precious commodity, your time! As thoughtful as they are, you can have tons of fun putting these gifts together. None of these ideas are platform dependent and can be done on whatever type of device you have—smartphone, tablet, or computer. The best thing is that these ideas are as applicable for children as adults,... Continue Reading
Our iPhone cameras are pretty amazing. The newer the phone, the more things you can do! Here are three features to try out before the holiday season. 1. Portrait Mode You can choose among natural light, contour light, studio light, stage light, stage light mono, and high-key light mono. You have to play around with the options to find the ones you like best. I think the stage light mono is the most dramatic. Here’s a hint for when you use stage light. A round circle will appear around the subject. Wait for the circle to turn yellow before you tap the shutter. 2. Check out these options! In... Continue Reading
Here are some age-related statistics related to our vision: 1 in 10 people over 50 have an early form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). 3 in 10 folks over 80 have an early form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Glaucoma affects over 3,000,000 Americans. By 2030, it is estimated over 4,000,000 American will suffer from glaucoma symptoms. Older adults (over 60) are six times as likely to have glaucoma. 24,400,000 folks over 40 have cataracts. By age 75, 50% of Americans will have cataracts. Sources: https://ece.hsdm.harvard.edu/news/glaucoma-awareness-essential-health-aging-population Prevalence... Continue Reading
There I was…on a bus, halfway to Boston’s Logan Airport when I discovered I didn’t have my phone. Panic! I was going to be gone for two weeks and needed to communicate with people. Fortunately, Concord Trailways busses have Wifi and I had my iPad. I opened the the app Find My and immediately located my iPhone. There it is was back home in Lisbon Falls, and there was me on I-95 approaching the Massachusetts border. Fortunately, a quick text to a friend and my phone was in the mail for two-day delivery. As you can see from the image above, the Find My app tells me where my current devices... Continue Reading
Yesterday at breakfast in a small cafe in Eastport, ME (the easternmost city in the continental U.S.) a gentleman at an adjacent table was fidgeting with his new smartphone while his tablemates were giving him all sorts of suggestions on how to make it work. Not wanting to intrude on their conversation but wanting to offer some help, I suggested that he watch a YouTube tutorial on his computer and learn how to use his new phone from the tutorial. If his new phone was an iPhone I would have suggested a number of resources that BoomerTECH Adventures have made for our friends and clients with a focus... Continue Reading
Did you receive an email from Apple telling you that My Photo Stream will shut down July 26? The second part of the message said to use iCloud Photos from now on. Many of our clients did and wondered about the implications. Here are several FAQ and answers. What is My Photo Stream? My Photo Stream is a feature on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac that stores images you take with your devices. If I took photos with my iPhone, they naturally showed up in my iPhone Photos app. When my iPhone was on the same WiFi network as my iPad and Mac, they would also appear in the Photos apps on those devices. As of... Continue Reading
This is a Boomer to Boomer cautionary tale because we are all of a certain age: COVID is still floating around, and it is still unpredictable. Here’s my story with lessons learned. I’ve have avoided COVID for the past three years and have kept current with the vaccinations/boosters available. A lovely family dinner did me in. We had gathered to attend a “Grands” day at my grandniece’s school, and the evening before we shared pizza and salad on a lovely late spring evening. No one was presenting any symptoms. 6 AM the next morning, we received a text that both of our hostesses from the... Continue Reading
Memorial Day, once called Decoration Day, is May 29, 2023. These days we remember the members of the armed forces who have died by decorating their graves, attending colorful parades with marching bands and a multitude of flags, and celebrating the national holiday. The general ambiance of the day is often solemn, but also upbeat. A deep dive into the history of Memorial Day via a multitude of internet sources reminds us that origins of this holiday are the result of four horrific years in United States history: Families were divided by choosing different sides. Communities were decimated. 620,000... Continue Reading
I was ready to hit the road home. The rains had stopped, and it looked like smooth sailing across New Hampshire and Maine. Until…I punched in my destination on my Maps app. Four out of five possible routes had flood warnings. Deciding not to chance being turned back half way home, I took the one that was clear. I saw parts of New Hampshire I had never seen. Luckily it’s a beautiful state so the extra time quickly passed as I wound around lakes and hills. Warning the driver of potential hazards ahead is just one of the many cool features of the Maps App. Here are seven more. Multiple... Continue Reading