Technology – Page 2 – Susie Strauss

December 1, 2013

New Printer to Avoid the Empty Ink Cartridge Error

Why does my printer always go out of ink when I really want to print something. It never fails, I have something I need to print, maybe a coupon, a permission slip, tax paper work, you name it… anyway I need to print it and then I get the dreaded error message that my ink cartridges are empty.

It used to be that the printer I had would tell me the ink was low and just continue to print. The quality of the print would be very poor but I could still get something on the page. For some things the lesser quality was not a problem at all and I would continue to print until my pages came out blank.

I got a new printer a few months ago for a number of reasons. The primary reason was that the ink cartridges for my old printer were so darn expensive and I was going through them pretty fast. I was tired of paying $50 a cartridge and not having it last very long. I did research on printers that have low priced ink cartridges. I settled on an Epson Stylus NX430.

I love that the cartridges are only about $8! That is so much better than my other printer. And, this printer has individual cartridges for each color so I only have to replace the color that is out not all of them at once. At this price point I can change all for cartridges for still less than just the black cartridge of my other printer.

September 17, 2013

Using Skype To Stay Connected To Family And Friends

Do you use Skype? Video calls on Skype are a great way to keep connected with family and friends that don’t live near you. We love to use it in our home so that relatives can see our children and talk to them. This helps the kids get to know grandparents that live across the country. Then when we see them during the holiday times they don’t seem like complete and total strangers to the kids.

Our kids actually recognize grandma and grandpa and their aunts and uncles. We try to have a Skype call at least every other weekend to stay in touch with the family. We don’t do anything long because the kids don’t have much of an attention span. But, we talk about looking forward to making the Skype call all week and then when it comes time to make the call the kids are excited.

I like to also use Skype to just connect with friends that have moved to different areas of the country. It’s really nice being able to talk to some one face to face even if they are 2000 miles away. I know other people use Skype for business purposes but for now I’m happy with what I’m doing to stay connected with our friends and family.

September 5, 2013

Listen To Pandora For All Of Your Music Needs

Pandora is one of my all time favorite sites to go to to listen to music. I usually always have it on in the background of whatever I am doing. I like that I can type in a song, artist, or keyword and it will create a station based just on that. I think it’s wonderful. Of course there are stations you can choose from but I usually just type in something I’d like to listen to and go with that for the day.

I always have about 5 channels on my account. I do remove channels through the year and based on my mood. For example, I’m not quite ready to remove my Christmas music station. I think I might leave it on there until the end of next week and then get serious about putting all of the Christmas stuff away.

Do you use Pandora to listen to music online? If you do, do you have any favorite channels that you like to listen to? Are there any groups or artists that you have found since listening in on Pandora that you didn’t know about before you started using Pandora? I know I’ve come across quite a few artists that I didn’t know about since I started listening to music with Pandora and it’s been a true blessing.

August 12, 2013

Where is the sax?

Saturday at the street dance and concert that my kids and I went to, the band was playing a song about how much they love the saxophone, and I could swear that I heard the saxophone playing, but darn if I could see anything that looked like a saxophone anywhere on the stage! This perturbed me greatly, as my uncle used to play a mean sax, and I was thinking about talking to him later about the concert and the song about the saxophone! It wasn’t until my brother was telling me about the cheap buy used yamaha wx5 sale at guitar center event that I realized that there are other instruments being used in this day and age that can mimic the sound of the saxophone, and the trumpet, and other wind instruments.

I felt amazed, and yet cheated, at the same time. Isn’t modern technology amazing? And how sad for the many talented musicians that are now out of jobs because machines can mimic what they took years and years to learn how to do! I think that I would prefer to see the genuine saxophone musician wailing on his sax – it provides a much better theatrical performance!

June 15, 2013

Things To Consider Before Accepting A Facebook Friend Request

I posted about Facebook earlier on in the week. I personally use it to stay in touch with friends and family. But a few of my readers e-mailed me with their thoughts and I thought I would share.

One reader asked me how I feel about friending in-laws. Do I do it and where does the line stop?

Yes, I have accepted my in-laws as my friends on my Facebook page. I currently have my mother and father-in-law and then my sister-in law. I also have a few of my husbands aunts. It might seems like a bit much to invite your extended family that you personally do not know to be your friend on Facebook.

Another reader asked about accepting the friend requests of people I barely knew in high school.

If I really didn’t know them then I probably am not going to accept their friend request now. I’m happy to let them send me messages and then maybe if I feel the need to accept the request I might do so later but I think it’s pretty stupid just to want to add me just because we went to the same school.

Finally, another reader asked about friending people from work.

Well, that’s a tricky subject. I suppose it depends on what you post on your wall. If you posts things you wouldn’t want your co-workers to see then don’t friend them. My wall does not have anything I would be ashamed of showing my grandmother on it so I’m pretty safe in that department.

What are you thoughts on what you consider before adding someone as a friend?

May 22, 2013

How Much Data Do You Use On Your Smart Phone?

I have a smart phone and currently have a plan on my phone to have unlimited data. It costs me $30 a month. I’m wondering if I really need that. It’s almost the same price I pay to have the internet in my home. My home internet is only $40 a month. It seems kind of crazy to be be paying for two services like that. When I’m at home I get free internet on my phone because it uses my home wifi. I guess the only time I am really using what I pay for with the unlimited data is when I am out and about.

My question to everyone is how much data do you think you use when you are out and about? What do you use your data on? I do check my Facebook when I’m out. But that couldn’t possibly add up to needing unlimited data could it? Yes maybe I’ll use it to watch video if I’m waiting at the doctor’s office to be seen. But again, I don’t so it all of the time.

I’m considering changing my data plan. I could be paying half the price and still have plenty of data that I don’t think I would ever come close to using. I don’t know why I haven’t done it sooner. It’s really an expense that doesn’t make much sense to have.

February 12, 2013

Hooked on SongPop Free

The latest way I pass my free time away is with a game called SongPop. I downloaded the free version to my smart phone. One of my friends suggested that I play it with her and now I can’t seem to get enough of it.

Here’s the premise – an audio clip of a song is played and it is your job to guess either the song title or the artist performing the song. It’s multiple choice so you aren’t having to work too hard. You play against an opponent and try to beat them in both speed and accuracy. As you play and answer correctly you unlock more songs in each category. You get to select the category you compete in against too. My best category so far is love songs and my worse category is modern rap which really isn’t surprising at all to me.

In each round you earn either 1 coin for losing or 3 coins for winning. You can spend your coins to unlock new song categories like TV theme songs, movie sound tracks, disco, doo wop, jazz and so much more. I really recommend this to any music enthusiast and to anyone who just wants to play a fun game during free time.

February 2, 2013

Do You Know How To Facebook?

Do you know how to Facebook? Are you a new user or maybe you have been using it for a few years? What do you use Facebook for?

I have to be honest, I only recently became more active and using Facebook not too long ago. Most of my friends have Facebook accounts and use them to do all sorts of things from playing games to hooking up with people the went to elementary school with.

I mainly use Facebook to connect with my family and friends that don’t live in the same area that I do. It’s a handy way to share photos and little stories about what is going on in our life. I like it because it makes me feel like I’m better connected with my family. And now, I’m not just a Christmas letter that people get from me once a year telling them every thing that has happened in our family over the year.

I do keep my privacy settings to only allow my friends to see my Facebook page or timeline because I wouldn’t be posting things online for everyone to see. I mean I don’t post public photos of my family on my own blog and that’s public domain so I won’t be posting them for the entire world to see on Facebook either.

January 15, 2013

Family Fun With A Bubble Machine

Bubbles, bubbles, everywhere! My kids love to play with bubbles. They just can’t seem to get enough of them. I love seeing their faces as they chase bubbles around or try to blow some bubbles of their own. One of our neighbors got a bubble machine at Musician’s Friend. The kids had so much fun when they brought it over and filled it up with bubbles.

Bubble machines are great because you don’t have to do any of the work of trying to blow the bubbles yourself. I love that I don’t have to keep dipping the bubble stick into a jar and repeatedly blow bubble after bubble. It’s like instant gratification. Turn the bubble machine on and you have tons of bubbles to chase to your hearts delight.

I’m thinking it would be lots of fun to get one of these bubble machines of our own for the kids for Christmas. It’s pretty close but it might not be too late. I’ll have to see if I can get one delivered with rush delivery if it isn’t too expensive. Seeing the smile on the faces of the kids from playing with the bubbles is worth every penny in my opinion.