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Jun 27

A Puzzling Text

A few weeks ago I pulled over to text a friend: Running late. Do you want to wait for me or meet me there?

She replied: iw84u

I was driving, I was rushing, and she sent me a puzzle*?

While I recognized her text-savvy shorthand (I finally got it: iw84u is “I wait for you”), I believe her response belongs in the “Let’s not get carried away” department, or maybe on a license plate.

Texts should be quick and easy communication for all parties to the conversation. My friend typed 5 characters instead of maybe 15; certainly quick and easy for her. For me? Not so much.

Look at your text before you send it. Be sure it is appropriate for the occasion.
*Bonus non-computer trivia: The text “puzzle” mentioned above is called a Rebus, a “representation of words with pictures, letter names, or symbols that suggest the sound of the words.” (I looked it up).

http://theweek.com/articles/464433/palindromes-anagrams-9-other-names-alphabetical-antics

Jun 13

Deleting Photos

“If I delete a picture from one device (phone, tablet, computer, digital camera), will it delete from my other devices or cloud-based service?”

I get this question quite often and my answer is always the same: Try it to see what happens.

It’s not that I don’t know, or don’t want to tell you. The correct answer depends on your devices and how they are set up.

Choose a picture you don’t care about (partial thumbs are popular choices) and delete it. Does it delete from your computer photo gallery? Your external hard drive? Your phone? Your tablet? Your cloud-based storage?

As a general rule of, er, thumb, if you copied your pictures to an external hard drive or to your computer using a cable, deleting an image in one device will not delete that image in another device. If, however, your images share wirelessly, you should test your system.

Whether or not you want the images you delete in one device to delete in your other devices, you should know for certain what will happen before you delete any pictures you care about.

Jun 6

Email Theory

I have a theory: The less junk mail you send, the less you receive.

We all get email that we do not want. But not all junk mail is the same. We can mark some as “Junk” or “Spam,” or we can try to “Unsubscribe.”

But what about the unwanted email — jokes, political statements, videos, stream-of-conscious ramblings, etc. — we get from people we know who send them to everyone they know?

If we mark a friend’s address as “Junk” or “Spam,” or we block them, we may not see any email from them, including those messages we may actually want.

Here is my recommendation: stop sending bulk email to everyone in your contact list. If you stop, it reduces the junk mail in their inboxes. If they stop, it reduces the junk mail in yours. It’s a start.

Rather, hand pick the people you think will appreciate what you wish to share. They will appreciate that you specifically chose them.

If you do get unwanted email from particular acquaintances, you can reply diplomatically asking that they take you off their distribution list. Not only will you receive fewer unwanted messages, you will remind them to be more thoughtful about what — and to whom — they send.

And, of course, if you no longer wish to receive my ITmail, please click the “SafeUnsubscribe” link below. That’s why it’s there. (But I hope you won’t!)