As I have moved over (almost) completely from windows to a MacBook I think it’s time I consolidated my original post.
I am almost completely Appled. But I have an Android Tablet that gets used extensively for reading books with Readera, Web browsing with FireFox, and reading magazine with Readly.. Read more
Quite a few years ago I put a wordpress site together. It took a lot of effort and I could not get it to look the way I wanted it. Then updates to Wordpress and the plugins I used kept breaking the site and I finally went back to an html site. I have been using a html editor to maintain my sites for a long time. Then I went and bought a Macbook.
There is no decent html for a Macbook. Nothing comes anywhere close to Microsoft Expression Web 4 (MEW4 or EW4). But Wordpress sites can be created on any platform with a web browser… Read more
We don’t have a TV in the Van, and we don’t miss it. When we are away we tend to be out and about or, if we are in for a while, we read quite a lot. But it would be nice to occasionally watch something.
I have recently bought another tablet, a Samsung Tab A 10.5. I bought from Amazon as “renewed” for £145. It looks brand new to me. My other tablet, a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, is still working very well but many newer apps won’t work on the older operating system.
So I looked at the possibility of downloading programs or films from our streaming services (BBC Iplayer, Netflix, and Amazon Prime) to look at in the Van.
Firstly I needed to see how much memory I’d need. Read more
After years of Windows (from Windows 3.1 through to 10) I have finally bought a Macbook.
Why? My Lenovo was starting to have battery problems – only lasting a 2-3 hours. My Samsung never lasted long on battery and it’s really too big for a laptop. I use a lap top on my lap! Both are windows 7 machines and some of the newer apps are not supported… Read more
I have used LyricPad 2.52 full version for many years and it worked really well for me, and I thoroughly recommend it to android users. It still works very well on my £30 10 year old Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet (with a new battery) running Android version 4.1.2.
I find it’s best to use Script Automation. I could never get the scrolling speed consistent in the other modes. I set the scroll speed to 3, Font size to 30. I use the sidebar for chords sometimes, especially if the Mandolin and Guitar have different capo positions. Read more
I changed to a MacBook. (19/6/21) I’ve had it for quite a few months now and the change has been mostly good, especially since I bought an iPhone 12 (18/8/21) and it links seamlessly with the MacBook.
Some things are much better.
The integration of the iPhone and the MacBook makes it very easy to manage photos and music. I can drag tracks or Albums into Music on the MacBook and they end up on the phone too.
I’ve started using Siri. It’s very good. Maybe Alexa is just as good, I never got around to using it. I use Siri to select radio stations on BBC Sounds, as the BBC app is so rubbish.
“Books” on the MacBook and the iPhone is excellent. I tend to read books on the iPhone now instead of my Nook. I can drag a book from the Calibre Library (or anywhere else) into Books on the MacBook and a few second later it’s available for download on the iPhone.
Some things I have had to change Read more
I am very used to managing my photos on a Windows computer using my old Photoshop CS2. I’ve been using it for over 15 years. I used to use actions in Photoshop to batch edit hundred of photos at a time when I did wedding and nursery shoots. But CS2 doesn’t work on my MacBook air, and I do not shoot professionally now, so I can make do with less power. But it’s a relearning exercise. All of this is probably very elementary for a seasoned MacBook user but it’s all new to me. Read more
When I got the iphone I thought I’d try out Apple Music. It seemed OK, and it’s free for three months. Then it’s £9.99 a month. (Let’s say £10. I will round up everything by 1p to show the sensible price.) That is £120 per year.
Now I have quite a selection of CDs available already, and they are mostly what I listen to. I am very unlikely to spend £120 on new albums in a year. But I would like to but the odd track or maybe album. Albums on itunes are normally £8 or 80p for tracks (regardless of the number of tracks on the album) So if I buy less than 15 albums a year I am winning…
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I used to work as a photographer and I accumulated huge number of pictures, all of which needed be securely backed up. Losing a customers wedding pictures was unthinkable. I ensured there was always at least two copies of everything (including websites) in different locations, i.e. the pc hard drive and external hard drives. This worked well. It was a manual process but I had it off to a fine art. I used it for many years. Those pictures are now stored away on their hard drives. Read more
While browsing the web I found Video Pad. It seemed like a good alternative to Movie Maker and works in a similar way.
There is a free version which I have, a home version and a masters version. The latter are paid for, but they come with a free trial. It is unclear what the limitations of the free version are.
You really have to look for the free version though and there seem to be many disgruntled users who have assummed the home version was the free version then found it was only a trial. Read more