Wrap your keys in foil?

Do you wrap your car key fob in foil?  Sounds far-fetched, doesn't it?  

But this suggestion came from a reputable source and after reading it I admit it is something of which to be aware.

If your car unlocks with the presence of a key fob nearby, then you should probably give some thought to the recommendation that you wrap your key fob in foil, put it in the refrigerator or place it in the microwave (don't turn it on!)

Why?  Because there are cheap relay boxes that allow criminals to be near your house, pick up the signal from your key fob, and then relay it to another  device in the hands of someone near your car to unlock it. Or, the same thing could be done in a parking lot.

If you don't mind spending a little money, there are also RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)-blocking purses, wallets, and cases that will block the signal from your keys (and the chips on your credit cards).

And, if you want to read this information for yourself, check out this article by Kim Komando.

Have a terrific tech Tuesday and if you have questions about tech issues or suggestions for our weekly tech tips, send them my way!

Bill Gates recommends......

Retired Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates always recommends 5 books for summer reading (and 5 more at the end of each year).  They are books that challenge you to look at the world around you.

You may never be a billionaire but you can always read like one!  So take a look at this summer's recommendations; the first three can be checked out digitally on your tablet, phone or Kindle using your State of Kansas library card.

Leonardo da Vinciby Walter Isaacson.

Everything Happens for a Reason(and Other Lies I've Loved) by Kate Bowler.
Written after Kate was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer.

Lincoln in the Bardoby George Saunders.
Mixes a bit of history with the supernatural.  This book has 166 characters; a read like no other.

Origin Story:  A Big History of Everythingby David Christian.
Gates says this book will leave you with a greater appreciation of humanity's place in the world.

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We are Wrong About the World and Why Things are Better than You Think by Hans Rosling.
"An indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world." Bill Gates

Amazon Profile Settings

It's just amazing how many things I didn't know I needed until Amazon Prime Day started yesterday afternoon!
Yes, I succumbed to the promotion (even though the first 4-5 hours were frustrating with their servers not being able to handle the load).

Can  you imagine how many packages will be shipped in the next couple of days after this 36-hour marathon of shopping??  There's still time to shop, too! There were some great bargains so I've now officially started my Christmas shopping.  :-)  

While waiting for some deals to become active, I began looking at my Amazon account settings and found a few privacy settings to change. One of those is on my profile.  I thought it might be easier to show you what I changed rather than tell you, so here is a screencast made just for you! https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cFibXKFCrB

Prime Day 2018

if you have an Amazon Prime account and love getting some good deals, you may want to check the Amazon website next Monday for some great buys! 

Prime Day starts Monday, July 16 and continues for a day and a half.  Some prices will be below what you see on Black Friday.

You can find a preview here- https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Day/b?ie=UTF8&node=13887280011 

Want to know more about Prime Day?  Check out this article.

Sending Email to Undisclosed Recipients

Sharing email addresses of friends is not considered good netiquette (without their permission.)  So, how can you send an email to a large group of people without disclosing their emails?

1)  Create a new contact in your email address book.  For the name, use Undisclosed Recipients.  For the email address, use your personal email address.

2)  Then create your email and in the Tofield, add the Undisclosed Recipientsentry.

3) Put the addresses of your recipients in the BCC (BlindCarbonCopy)field, notthe To or CC fields.

When the recipients open your email, it should look similar to the image below; showing that it was sent from you to Undisclosed Recipients. They will not be able to see all of the addresses you added to the BCC field.


Questions?  Check out this article for more information.

Netflix? Hulu? Amazon Prime?

There's never been a better time for streaming video.

Whether you are cutting the cord or just want additional options, there's never been a better time than now to do that.

I'm often asked about Netflix vs. Hulu vs. Amazon vs. Roku vs. other options and I don't have enough experience with all of them to give a knowledgeable answer.  We occasionally use our son's Netflix account, I've watched free movies through my Amazon Prime account and, we use our Apple TV to display the iPad on our TV or download a movie, but that's about it.

So, if you're interested in learning more or have a question about streaming video, I think you may want to click on and read this article.

And, if you do have experience with different streaming options, I'd love to hear from you!

Is there a new Facebook algorithm?

In the past week, I've seen two of my Facebook friends ask people to post a comment so they will be able to see posts from them more often.
Both posts blamed a new Facebook algorithm for this problem:

"Hi everyone 😘 Jumping on the bandwagon... Fighting this Facebook algorithm change, because I’m totally noticing I am not seeing so many of my friends’ posts. 😐
This post explains why we don't see all posts from our friends. Your Newsfeed recently shows only posts from the same few people, about 25, repeatedly the same, because Facebook has a new algorithm."

Is this for real? A new algorithm? No. No.

How do I know this?

1)  Most instances where I am asked to share something on Facebook are not "real" (aka fake).

2)  And, I check Snopes.com!  Snopes is the website I always use to check if something is True or False.  I simply copy part of the text from the posting and paste it in the Snopes search box.  (If you are bored and want something to read for entertainment, spend some time reading recent entries at Snopes.com)

Just remember - if it sounds strange, don't share it.  Or at the very least, check it out on Snopes first.