The Apple (Pay) of My Eye

The following grocery stores in my neck of the woods offer NFC Apple Pay which I have used. There is only one store really understands and makes NFC mobile payment works. That is Sprouts. The others on the list are just so-so when it comes to setting up NFC terminals for Apple Pay.

In all of these stores, I like using the Apple Watch instead of the iPhone 6s. The former is much more convenient and requires no iPhone nor its Touch ID to initiate a payment.


Best of all of the Apple Pay NFC stores in town:

- Sprouts

Sprouts has the best Apple Pay setup. Once the clerk starts scanning the items, the Apple Pay NFC is ready to accept payment. I just place my Apple Watch over the NFC, and its done reading it. All I have to do is wait for the clerk to finish scanning and bagging the purchased items. Very nice.


First Place:

- Best Buy

Forget MCX. Best Buy has decided it's best all around to accept Apple Pay. No need to press "Yes" on the NFC unit to authorize credit card payment


Second Place:

- Whole Food

Once the cashier starts to scan the purchase item, Apple Pay is ready at the NFC unit. But the NFC still requires
the pressing of the "Yes" button on the screen to complete the transaction


Third Place:

- Trader Joe's

The clerk needs to finish scanning all of the purchase items, then he has to press a key on the register to authorize Apple Pay. After placing my Apple Watch over the NFC, I must tap the terminal for "Yes" to approve the purchase.


Tied for 4th Place:


These two merchants have very awkward Apple Pay NFC systems.

- Save Mart

- Walgreens


Promises Promises:

- Home Depot

It never got its act together or it reneged on providing Apple Pay.


Unknown:

- Lowe's

Nada. No Apple Pay. It decided to stick with PayPal.


Note: Other service providers in town (e.g. Apple Store, health care providers)are known to have Apple Pay which I have used. Their particulars are not included in this post.

Past and Future Media Postings Are Being Housed at Wix.com

I am in the process of migrating my media contents (i.e. Featured Music, iOS Ringtones, and YouTubes) to Wix.com.

This new web hosting source is an improvement over what I have been using. Wix aids my placing almost all media files in one location in the cloud. It also allows me to expand and contract web content as needed.

The two improvements at my new web site are: 1)all posted iOS Ringtones will be available for download; and 2)all posted YouTubes are gathered in one indexed page for faster user access and navigation.

Click here for: My New Consolidated Media Web Site

Trying Out Wix.com

I have been doing my HTML coding for for this blog and music pages for many moons. Since Wix.com offers a HTML 5 free web page constructing and hosting, I decided to give it a try tonight.

The Wix HTML 5 GUI is fairly easy to use. I was also able to embed some custom HTML codes for content enhancement. The more complex HTML coding and some common file types (i.e. txt and csv) are currently not supported, however. Strange and unexpected. The system accepts the Microsoft file extensions as that of PDF, MP3 and other media formats as well. More important, the web server access, editor,and page refresh rates are very responsive. I would have liked having a FTP feature to upload my HTML codes and file contents to the web server and be done with it. Given the business objectives of Wix.com, I understand why FTP was not included. I was able to do 70% of my HTML codes fairly quickly by just using the Wix's web building tools provided.

Overall, the Wix web page builder works as advertised. I highly recommend it for users interested in learning and creating web pages for personal and professional goals.

A Digitized Watercolor Reproduction

James Walker Bougainvillea (pink)
next to the summer Etoile Violette Clematis
Home Garden, 22 March 2014

- a L'envoi iPhone 5s post

Migration Plan to Cloud Computing Complete

Microsoft has officially notified me it will no longer support Windows XP on 8 April 2014. Since January I have been devising a workflow plan of weaning document production and storage on my Windows XP units.

As of this writing, the planned migration away from the Microsoft platform to Apple devices and the cloud storage are complete and operational. This plan also involved some fine-tuning of the extant Google services Gmail and Google Drive.

Macro highlights of the changes put in practice are as follows:

• Reduce the use of Google's 15 Gb storage for all its apps to 2.5% or less:
  
  • Set Gmail account as same sender at a free 1TB Yahoo Mail account
    
  • Set auto-forward of Gmail newly sent and received email to Yahoo Mail account
    
  • Set auto-delete of newly sent and received Gmail
    
  • Set auto Google Drive script to send all old Gmail conversations to the Yahoo Mail account.
    
  • Extract Gmail attachments (jpg, pdf, mp3, mp4, and etc.) and upload them to cloud storage
    
  • Set up option to redirect Google Drive files to Box's 50 Gb free storage.
    
  • Clean-up Google Drive for use as a cloud "spare tire" or reserve.
    

• Migrate Widows Office Suite files from the Windows XP SD to the cloud
  
  • Set up free CloudOn Microsoft 2010 Office Suite linked to Google Drive and Box
    
  • Migrate all applicable all blog music, xml, and html to the cloud
    
  • Set up iOS devices' Numbers and Pages apps to "Open in..." cloud services
    

• Migrate Media Files from the Windows XP SD to the cloud
  
  • Set up iOS devices to do file and folder tasks (e.g. make, rename, delete, move, and 'open in...')
    
  • Set up iOS devices upload to the cloud directly including file compression
    
  • Set up iOS devices download from the cloud including file decompression
    
  • Set up iOS devices by-passing iTunes to import and export media files
    
  • Index and manage all media file uploads to the cloud
    
  • Create primary and secondary WebDav servers on all iOS devices for file sharing
    

- L'envoi
iPad 3 iOS 7.1
Mobile Post
Zaggfolio augmented

Two Levels of Blocking iPhone 5s Calls and Messages

Up until my upgrading from the iPhone 4S to the 5s, I have been using the Silent ringtone (see sidebar for my custom made iPhone Silence ringtone) to ignore all unassigned contacts or unknown calls. I still use this ringtone to sort out who's who, and see if that person should be added to the contacts list and assigned a custom non-silence ringtone.

For persistent plaguy pests, I assigned them as pseudo-contacts. Then I quarantined these privacy intruders by using the iOS 7's "Block this Caller" on the iPhone. I will delete these contacts later. This method is much safer than the outright straight blocking of unfamiliar numbers. I could always unblock them later if they turned out to be relatives, friends, or friends of friends who had called with new or unfamiliar phone numbers. In any case, the final disposition of the blocked telephone numbers may be rendered at Settings>Phone (or Messages or FaceTime)>Blocked.

When unsolicitors calls are blocked, these vermin get a busy signal on their phones. Similarly, their spam and phishing text-messages get routed to Buzz Lightyear's "infinitas amplius!"

I Am All Thumbs with the New iPhone 5S Touch-ID

My brand new iPhone 5S was delivered on the afternoon of Monday, 7 October. By the same evening the iPhone 5 is up and running, and with all of the iPhone 4S apps successfully migrated. The iOS 7 iPhone 4S is now the iPod Touch 4S Touch. With its SIM card and iTunes services intact, I am well pleased. I also configured the former iPhone 4S to have the capability to make free VoIP calls in the United States and Canada using my Google Voice number via WI-FI.

Setting up the iPhone 5S Touch ID has been a revelation. I have had both of my thumbs bio-scanned on the unit's Home button/Touch ID sensor. Given I hold and operate my iPhone or other wireless/cordless devices mostly with my left hand, it didn't take long to master the Touch ID to unlock the iPhone. My right thumb, however, was all thumbs. It took longer to learn the positioning of the thumb correctly, and applying the right (pun) pressure on the sensor for 'Open Sesame' to work.

To ensure the iPhone 5s gets unlock at no more than two Touch-ID attempts, I maxed out on the number of five finger scans allowed. I scanned my left thumb three times at slightly different positions on the sensor, and two for the right thumb.

I see no point in having some of the other digits scanned into the iPhone 5S. The required pass code is the Plan B to unlock it on the dash. Any finger can keying in the pass code on the device's virtual keypad.

My New Retractable 4 MM HAND Stylus

My collection of styli for my Apple mobile devices and the Kindle Fire
My new retractable green color HAND stylus arrived yesterday. It's a first cabin trip for this stylus. It's the most expensive stylus I've owned to date  (handstylus.com).

At a cost of $29.95 for the stylus, I also ordered a six-pack replacement tips at $9.95. Including a required two-day USPS priority shipping charge for $5.00, toss in a sales tax of $2.89, the total came to $47.79 USD for this gadget.

I liked the sturdy, well-balanced, and all metal construction of this handsome stylus. Its 4 mm retractable tip and the removable pocket clip features are one of its kind in the deep bin of styli. Functionally, the ability to tap this stylus tip iside the confine of any key on the virtual keyboard (in portrait display) on the iPhone is really the best feature of all. No more unintentional fat finger tapping on the wrong keys!

If one has an iPad polyurethane Smart Cover, the stylus's magnetizes to it; the inclusion of the pocket clip will strengthen the hold much more. For this to work, the Smart Cover must be closed over the iPad. My other styli with a metal pocket clip would magnetizes similarly on a Smart Covered iPad, but they don't look as nice as the HAND stylus. This all-purpose Smart Cover magnet even holds my Zaggfolio keyboard.

The HAND stylus writes and draws smoothly on my iPhone 4S Note Taker app; it does equally well on iPad's Note Taker HD and Evernote's Penultimate. My only other stylus which comes close in second place on these two iOS writing/drawing app is the black Targus. For it I paid $20.00 at Best Buy(see the close-up picture of all my styli).

One more thing, Steve. My using this new stylus should reduce the smudge footprints my touch-screens.

Close-up look at the tips of my four styli

Amazon Is Not Membership Friendly

I just got off chat with an Amazon representative about the company has intentionally removed the "Sign Out" button from the user's account. Short of closing the desktop browser, one has to lie as being "Not (my account name), Click Here" to sign out. The representative more or less said that was the case. It's being done for account security reasons. Horsefeathers!

Amazon's specious argument for effecting this indirect and confusing way for a customer to exit his account is a non sequitur. What is more secure for a desktop user to sign off his account web page than by him having an easy and direct access to the "Log Out" button?

To wit, General McAuliffe: "Nuts!"

An important side note:

I don't even bother with the Kindle Fire built-in Amazon store app. There are no provisions whatsoever in this tablet app to sign off the Amazon account by lying or otherwise. One has to go to the Kindle Fire device setting to clear the app's data and to force stop it from running to log out of the account.

Mobile Devices on Parade

From left to right:
New iPad 64GB Wi-Fi + 4G (bought today, notice the static film cover),
Kindle Fire 2GB
iPhone 4S 16GB
iPod Touch 3G 64GB

Amazon Wants My Canon SD 780 IS Camera

Apparently, the Canon PowerShot SD780 IS Digital Elph - a camera which I own - is a much sought after item these days. I bought this camera in 2010 from Amazon for USD $169.00. In today's email, Amazon wanted me to trade in the said camera for a paltry gift card of $58.50.

There is an economic reason why this trade-in offer. Amazon wants to sell more electronics itself for better profit margins than getting some percentage of sales from its vendor-associates. The latter are selling more stuff than its host, according to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

If anything, the Canon SD780 IS camera has retained its value and then some. On Amazon, a vendor is pricing the new PowerShot SD780 IS at USD $519.00; the lowest price for a used one sells at about $110.00.

Compact digital cameras with viewfinders are not being made these days. That is why they are hard to find, and therefore more expensive than the LCD only models.

Surely, my Canon SD780 IS compact digital camera can be sold at more than $58.50. I am holding on to my two Canon PowerShot Digital Elph cameras. They both have viewfinders and LCD displays. One also shoots video in the Windows .AVI, the other in the QuickTime .MOV format.

My First Free Kindle e-Book

The thing about the Amazon Prime member free book lending library is nice but not without limitations. One can borrow a Kindle e-book from the lending library and keep it for as long as needed, sans a due date. The drawback is only one book per month can be borrowed. There is no book exchanging once a it is checked out for the month. One can only return the book. There are no exceptions to the policy. To minimize the chance of checking out a wrong book, or having an afterthought, download and peruse a sample version of the prospective book first.

Today is only the seventh date of February, and already I have finished reading on the Kindle Fire John Miller's historical fiction, "The First Assassin." A good read. No new Kindle free book for remainder of the month. Oh well.

Being somewhat of a voracious readers, it is fortunate I have unread e-books installed in my other mobile devices, not to mentioned printed books (remember those?), many unread, too, stashed on the bookshelves.

Having many books in my possession, its an embarrassment of riches, really. It's no privation at all of my not having free access to another Kindle e-book.

The Kindle Fire

The Kindle Fire and the iPhone 4S Size Comparison
The September pre-ordered Kindle Fire touch tablet arrived this evening. Its 7-inch screen is very nice; the device display is crisp and sharp. The navigational controls are easy to find and configured.

The Kindle Fire is primarily a self-contained Amazon store device. Its pricing and apps are circumscribed about Amazon's business strategy. For this reason, this tablet lacks in suavity, design depth, versatility, and aesthetics when compared to the top tier Apple counterpart, the iPad.

This newest Amazon tablet does come with some pre-installed apps, however. On my unit, it has already a free no-ad version of the 'Words with Friend' installed. A welcome app for someone as I who likes playing this game.

For $200.00, the Wi-Fi accessible Kindle Fire is a solid Android variant tablet. Size wise, it does asserts itself as the missing middle link in the swanky Apple i-device family, albeit the ugly duckling. It will stay as such given its Amazon-centric attributes.

The Kindle Fire now graces the coffee table, along side of some exotic toasters. By next spring its celebrity rank at home will be supplanted by the iPad 3.

My new iPad 3rd Generation

A First Smartphone, Finally

Johann Strauss II and Georges Bizet, two 19th century composers, shared the same birthday today, 25 October. I was planning on posting a composition written by either noted (pun) luminary. Then my pre-ordered iPhone 4S arrived today. It's time to play with this technologic marvel and, of course, the renown Ms. Siri, the AI female personal assistant. A music tribute to either composer will have to wait.

Photo: An iPod 3G with a home-made capacitative stylus. On the right of the iPod is the new 16 Gb white iPhone 4S. It has a Moshi iVisor screen protector. The black bumper on the phone is the Hazard; one of the newest iPhone 4 family cases made by Oakley.

Unfriend?

When I typed the title word for this post on the Blogger application, the spelling checker immediately flagged me. I did not correct it, or add it to my on-line dictionary. Accordingly, this word "unfriend" was named as the New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD) word of the year in 2009. An associated word also registered acceptance in the dictionary was "defriend".

These words have lex-appeal in this intensely charged techno-social networking age. It is now understood, though grammatically incorrect, for someone to say, "I have unfriended President Obama" from the Facebook. You say President Obama only does Twitter? No problem. You could just "tweetup" the prez in you Blackberry or iPhone. If you don't agree with his health care plan or tax and spend socialist policies, you can't "untweep" or "unfollow" him just yet in Twitter. These words, you see, are not sanctioned by NOAD. I should think they will be by the end of the year. (Surely, you may say these words or make up you own. I am just being sarcastic.)

For the New Oxford American Dictonary to bestow its blessings on the life-style words, as though it owns them, is a shrew business ploy. Notwithstanding the detractors and supporter of this tactic, Oxford University is latching on to its brand name recognition and holding an edge over the competitors. It is much like what Forbes does each year by scoring America's Most Livable Cities. What sells matters.

Thus the butchering of the English tongue continues in the twenty-first century.

Outsourcing

I received a humorus clip from a friend on how some moments of our lifes are affected by tech support, for better or for worst. I personally have had many such an episodoe - frustrated ones at that - talking with ATT-SBC tech support people who spoke difficult to understand English with heavy Middle Eastern or East Indian accents.