Bandwidth

One might ask "what is bandwidth, and what does it mean to me?" Here's a simple explanation, which might be helpful in understanding bandwidth.

For a computer, bandwidth consists of zero's and ones (0 & 1), how many are available to your computer, and how many can your computer "grab" at one time. At our house, Cox Cable provides a certain amount of bandwidth that is available for their customers to use. It's a finite amount, and if my computer is the only one in my area that's online, I have available many bits (zeros and ones) that I can download. If, say, there are one hundred computers online sucking up bandwidth, then the amount available to my computer has been reduced. That's why our internet download speed can vary during the day.

Now, the download speed for your computer will also vary, depending on the download speed you're paying for from your internet service provider. At our house, our download speed is nominally 100 Mbps (megabits per second). How fast is that, you might ask? The following graph (which I 'borrowed' from blogger Leo Notenboom, https://newsletter.askleo.com/), using downloading the Bible as an example, will clarify various download speeds. Remember dial-up? I do. What would have taken me 12 minutes to download the Bible, some years ago on dial-up, has dropped to 0.4 seconds. Nice improvement! 

Hope all this helps in your understanding of bandwidth and download speeds. It did for me. And I hope I got the above more or less right, as I'm certainly no self-proclaimed expert in bandwidth. Any corrections or clarifications, please let me know.

The Bible as a unit of bandwidth

This has nothing to do with the contents of the Bible. Believe in it or not as you see fit. This is about its size. You’ve probably seen one, perhaps even own one, and have a good sense for how big it feels, how hefty it is, and how long it might take to read it cover to cover.

The Bible is a fairly sizeable common frame of reference. You can download the text of The Bible from project Gutenberg as plain text, meaning the file contains only the text of The Bible in its simplest form.

A text-only copy in this digital form is 4,452,519 bytes. For our purposes, I’m going to round that up to an even 5,000,000 bytes, or five megabytes.

Five megabytes at eight bits per byte is roughly 40,000,000 bits. One Bible, 40 million bits.

Bible time

Let’s compare some common bandwidth figures and see how long it would take to transfer The Bible at each of those rates.

Connection Type Common Bandwidth One Bible Download

Old, slow, dial-up 28kbps 23 minutes

Max dial-up 56kbps 12 minutes

Very basic ADSL 768kbps 52 seconds

T-1 / DS1 1.5mbps 27 seconds

High-speed ADSL (example) 24mbps 1.7 seconds

Cable (example) 100mbps 0.4 seconds

Gigabit 1gbps 0.04 seconds

Jim Hamm

Safari Shortcuts

If you use the Safari Browser on a Mac, the following article might be helpful. It lists shortcuts to help you navigate around in the browser. You may be overwhelmed at how many there are. These can be downloaded in a PDF document, or you could just copy and save them (or the ones you might really use) to Text Editor, and print them for future reference.

Jim Hamm

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/safari-shortcuts-cheat-sheet-mac/

BCC Etiquette

I have had several groups now send me an email with anywhere between 10 to 60 emails in the “To” or “CC” fields. That is how emails get stolen, and phishing emails take advantage of that. Please read below about protecting email addresses.

BCC for Privacy!

Please don't put my email address in the To or CC fields of messages being sent to people I don't know!

Please protect email addresses as you would phone numbers -- unlisted phone numbers.

BCC stands for "Blind Carbon Copy." Historically, it would indicate who had received (or should receive) a copy of a memo without being listed in the "To" or "CC" fields. In the context of email, it indicates who should receive a copy of the email without being listed in the headers. If you're sending email to a number of people who do not (or should not) know each other, it is courteous to conceal their email addresses by using BCC.

Many people are protective of their email addresses. They don't care to receive email from random people on the net. Perhaps you've decided your clever joke, worthy cause, or business announcement was worth sending to them. You've also sent their email address to everyone else on the mailing.

Look at it another way, would you send your entire holiday card list out with each card you sent? Of course, some people would not like getting the list and others would not appreciate being on the list being sent everyone.

And if you're in business, would you think of giving away your contact list? That's what you're doing by including everyone in the To or CC fields. And some recipients of your mailing might consider everyone else on your list interested in similar mailings and feel free to use the list themselves.

Viruses and spam-bots are now designed to go through mail files and address books looking for potential addresses. Sending a single message individually addressed to a large list of people increases the chances that they all will be spammed or sent a virus should any one of them get infected.

Out of respect for your recipients, would you please consider not listing them each individually in your mailings? If your "mailing list" is personal, you can just use BCC for all the names. (You can send it To yourself.)

Interestingly, not using BCC when sending email to a large group who don't know each other appears to be against Google's Gmail's program policies. They list as one of the prohibited actions, "to distribute the email addresses of any person without their consent”. It is also now illegal in Europe and Canada to share a person’s email with anyone else with prior approval. That is what you are doing when you list more than one email in either the “To” or “CC” field.

Frank Croft

Is Online Banking Safe?

Some people simply won’t do online banking based on an unsupported fear that their bank account will be compromised by a hacker who discovers their password. And some people will not allow any password to be saved “online” with something like a password manager. (Keychain Access uses iCloud to share passwords between devices. Password managers like 1Password can use iCloud or Dropbox.) These people have a false phobia about how insecure cloud storage is.

News of one or more businesses or websites being compromised is NOT evidence of an insecure cloud storage for passwords. This is a real hot point for me.

Password managers that store passwords in the cloud are safe. But this safety is completely dependent on the password used to access the password manager and the passwords stored in the password manager.

The password manager website and data storage can be hacked, but accessing the stored password list and the passwords themselves cannot then be unencrypted UNLESS the password for accessing the password manager is insecure and the stored passwords themselves are insecure. If you let the password manager choose a secure password for you (a jumble of 20 characters would do), then you are fully protected. And you never have to remember it or write it down anywhere. Just be sure that the password to access the password manager is very secure. It’s the one password you never want to forget - besides the one you use to access the computer.

Using two-factor authentication is a pain, but it is also the very best way to prevent anyone from changing a password or accessing personal or financial information. Using a security key (e.g., Yubico’s YubiKey) to access a computer is more secure than using a password, although a strong password is still required.

So the only real threat to one’s privacy and financial security is a person's laziness, gullibility, or inability to do the research to discover how best to protect themselves. You can’t change a person who lives with blinders on, and they are the ones that hackers are depending on to take the bait.

My name is John Carter, and I’ve been doing online banking for over 10 years. My password manager of choice is Keychain Access and it keeps my passwords safe in iCloud.

Hope to Choose the Best VPN Plan

Using a VPN, especially with regard to sensitive material, is highly recommended IF you plan on using your iPhone or iPad, and you will be accessing that sensitive material when not at home.There is a VPN button included in the iPhone under Settings. This does nothing more than to ensure that you can connect to your IKEv1 or VPN server. You have to subscribe to a VPN server to make this work. I cannot recommend or suggest a VPN server. There are so many. The only advice I can offer is that the cheapest may not be the best. You have to review all the features of every service and decide which features are important to you. Start here: https://www.vpnmentor.com/blog/choose-best-vpn/  Some people want a VPN just to make their browsing experience anonymous. That is a very poor excuse to pay for VPN service—unless you are dealing with illegal or illicit information, or you really do need to be anonymous. VPN is mostly about security—protecting you and the information that you put out on the Internet. Don’t confuse private browsing with VPN. All modern browsers now have a feature to go into a Private mode, but all that does is wipe out the history of the places you have been browsing and removes all the cookies that were placed in the browser when you close the browser. That way, revisiting any site won’t know you have been there before. Reference: https://www.howtogeek.com/117776/htg-explains-how-private-browsing-works-and-why-it-doesnt-offer-complete-privacy/

John R Carter Sr

Apple Expands in Austin

Apple announced they will be building a new, non-manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, which Apple is calling a 'campus': https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/11/apple-expands-in-austin/ Initially it will have up to 5,000 employees, but not production-type employees. The Mac Pro is assembled nearby by a separate company. I wonder if any of these employees will be transferred from California, where the cost of living is so high?

Quite a growth story for Apple.

Jim Hamm

Are You a Macaholic?

Do you have an Apple device like a Mac, iPad, or iPhone? Like to read? Got lots of time to nose around? Well, you're in luck. This article lists 28 websites relating to Apple devices that you can peruse at your leisure:

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/20-websites-every-apple-fan-must-bookmark/

And I'll add one more: Six Colors: https://sixcolors.com/ . Now, all this can be a bit overwhelming and time-consuming, so proceed cautiously.

Jim Hamm

iPhone Tip

Occasionally I've used the camera on my iPhone to take a picture of a document and then email the picture to a recipient. This has worked reasonably well, but also one can use the Notes App to do the same, plus a few more options. You can use your built-in Notes App to scan documents, save as a PDF file, or AirDrop the document to your  computer.  Although I haven't tried it yet, I suspect this tip would work on your iPad as well.

Open the Notes App from your home screen. Open a new note, tap the write button, then tap the camera button located at the bottom of the screen. Tap Scan Documents (if that's what you want) from the list of options that pops up.


The camera will open, which you should aim at the document you want to scan. The app will highlight the document in yellow, then it will either automatically capture the image or you can tap the white button to take a photo. You'll be given the option to adjust the margins or edit as needed. Save the document and then it can be sent as a message, email, or used in a PDF. Or you can use AirDrop to send it to your computer, which I just tried and it worked fine. It goes into your downloads folder.

Jim Hamm

AirPods Pro

If you might have an interest in learning a bit more about the new iPods Pro, the following article has a couple of short videos describing the features. The video by Justine is very good, I thought, and really explains the features, which I think are quite impressive.

These are early, quick reviews, and there will be more in-depth reviews in the future after people have had time to wear the Pods for awhile.

Jim Hamm

https://www.idownloadblog.com/2019/10/29/airpods-pro-early-impressions-roundup/

New In-Ear AirPods Unveiled by Apple for $249

I take a walk every morning, and I see many people wearing Apple's AirPods as they walk, jog, or bike. I have a pair of these AirPods but don't like them and don't use them -- they just don't stay in my ears. Zee uses them often, and likes them. Now Apple is coming out with a new version that has a noise-cancelling feature and rubber tips that, in theory, will make them fit better and stay in one's ears.

If you read the following article, you'll be amazed at all the electronics incorporated in these new AirPods. Wow! I'll be interested in reading the reviews and blogs about these new AirPods before deciding to try them again.

Jim Hamm

https://9to5mac.com/2019/10/28/apple-unveils-new-in-ear-airpods-pro-coming-october-30-for-249/

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iOS 13 Tips

If you have upgraded to the new release of iOS 13, there are several new features to try out. Tech blogger David Pogue discusses them in the following article. As I read through his article, to learn all the new new features might be a bit overwhelming. But, as Pogue points out, you have a whole year to learn them before Apple changes them again with a new release of iOS.

Jim Hamm

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/smarter-living/16-useful-gems-in-apples-new-ios-13.html

iOS 13 and macOS Catalina

There have been lots of blogs about Apple's two new OS releases being "buggy", with Apple issuing corrective updates. Although I've upgraded to both OSes, I've been fortunate and haven't experienced any major issues. Why the "bugs", you might ask? The author of the following article was a software engineer at Apple for 18 years and offers his opinions on this question. Makes for an interesting read, should this be of interest to you.

Jim Hamm

https://tidbits.com/2019/10/21/six-reasons-why-ios-13-and-catalina-are-so-buggy/

How to Edit a Video

No matter what video you want to edit, the format matters for the editor that you use.

Even though VLC claims to be able to convert from one format to another, I have been unsuccessful in trying to convert a MPG file to a MOV format. It saves the converted file with the same filename and extension (overwriting the original unless you choose a different folder) and it appears to be corrupted.

If you have a DVD movie that you want to edit, you’ll first have to use an app like Handbrake or Wondershare to rip the movie into a single video file that can then be edited.

Handbrake: https://handbrake.fr/downloads.php

Wondershare: https://videoconverter.wondershare.net/ad/wondershare-dvd-converter-ultimate.html

You can convert any video format to any other video format online for free:

https://www.files-conversion.com/

Select MOV as the file type to convert to, and select the highest quality to ensure that the video will not look funny when viewed.Once the file is converted, you have to view the file. While viewing the file, right click on it to save the file to your computer (save to the same folder as the original).

QuickTime Player is for quick trimming, splitting, and combining video clips. It might be faster to trim the movie in QuickTime before doing more advanced editing in iMovie. Macmost has a good tutorial using QuickTime to edit a video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7NrlhZin4M

iMovie lets you control more aspects of the video, such as sound, transitions, overlays, picture-in-picture and much more. Here’s a great tutorial for using iMovie in iOS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7sjT_BySf8

But be sure to check out the new features in iMovie in iOS 13 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm6PAPeZaWg

John R Carter, Sr.

Need AV on a Mac?

Does one need an antivirus program on a Mac? This question, and answers, have appeared many times in the past.

Here is an article with yet another review of this question. Short answer: no. But if it makes you feel more comfortable running an AV program on your Mac, as I do, I see no downside in doing so. Maybe one day the AV program will stop a virus from infecting my Mac. Even if this never occurs, great. Hasn't cost me anything for the additional piece of mind.

Following is the article, should you have an interest in the author's comments and opinions.


Jim Hamm

https://www.howtogeek.com/437846/do-you-need-an-antivirus-on-a-mac/

Text Gestures on iPad

If you've upgraded to iOS 13, apparently there's a slew of new gestures you can use on your iPhone and iPad.

This article explains the gestures, and you're probably gonna think, as I did, how am I going to remember these?

I am a fan of the iPad and its almost being a 'real' computer, but I've never liked using my finger on the screen to move the cursor to select or highlight items. Just awkward for me, and I hope the new gestures have improved this.

Anyway, read the article, and give 'em a try.

Jim Hamm