Getting familiar with MS Teams and MS Live Events

I spent the whole day figuring out how MS Live Events would work for an event for my company, and if MS Teams would be preferred for our purposes.

I did not have the chance to host the Zoom meetings for my church but from my limited view, I can see how much better and versatile Zoom is compared to Teams.

Except that for Zoom's capabilities, it has compromised its security and we are not allowed to use it for work anymore.

We have to use the more secure MS Teams and MS Live Events and it looks like I will be spending the whole day again tomorrow testing it and getting it ready for use next week.

pearlie

I am obsessed with my phone storage space

I don't know why but I'm so obsessed with maximising my phone storage. I keep clearing its cache and clearing media in my WhatsApp.

Maybe it's all because of that, my WhatsApp.

I have been receiving so many photos and videos it's really clogging up my phone. 

And since I'm home, there are a few apps I don't use much. So off they go.

So from this...

...I reduced it to this.

I need to stop online shopping and window shopping with Shopee and Lazada. Off they go.

I have my Kindle Paperwhite with me and since I started working from home, I can't find the time to read anything anyway. So Kindle app, off you go.

The Facebook app is huge, second to my Outlook app. It went up to the size of almost 800MB. It had to go. I shouldn't spend too much time there anyway. Without the app I'll be logging in via Chrome. 

And finally my Outlook app. It's crazy huge. It went up to a whopping 1.1G! 

I can't remove it since I need it for work as I can't always be sitting in front of my PC every minute and every second. I did a search online but couldn't find anything that could help reduce the size, until I figured out something. 

It has to do with what I have in my Outlook. It syncs across all my devices and what I have in my PC Outlook is what I will have in my Android Outlook. 

So what I did was to clear my folders, i.e. my Sent, Clutter, and Junk folders. 

 

And voila! it reduced in size. Not by much though. It went down to 756MB but it went up to 897MB and now it's at 767MB. Not by much but I'm so glad that I figured it out at least. 

I'm not sure how long this obsession gonna last. I only have 64G internal memory, with a 128G SD card. But not all apps will automatically store documents externally.

And so probably I will be still obsessed, until I get a new phone with more memory.

pearlie

Human against machines

We've been watching a lot of YouTube videos especially in these few days being at home though it's my hubby who has control over it and he kept putting on the Covid-19 updates and his science and travel stuff. 

It was all meh for me until he started watching this:

AlphaGo - The Movie (Full Documentary)

Even though this happened back in 2016, the documentary was just posted by DeepMind a week ago in YouTube on 13 Mar 2020.

I don't know how to play Go but watching how the world champion Lee Sedol from South Korea played against AlphaGo was indeed very captivating. 

There were five games played over five days and most have expected Lee Sedol to win all games, or at worst four. Go is a game with too many moves and they felt that a computer programme will not be able to play it well, yet.

But Lee Sedol lost. He only won one game and that game was termed to be a masterpiece and probably the most famous game in the history of Go.

When watching the documentary, I got emotional when he won that one game, the 4th game. As much as I wanted technology to progress and become smart so that it can assist us, I didn't want it to win. 

I want us to win. 

You'd notice I used the word "us". It was the exact same sentiment in the tournament on that day. When Lee Sedol won, the other Go professional players also felt like they themselves have won. It was like a victory for mankind against machines. 

Though the DeepMind team who created AlphaGo did say that it was a victory for mankind as well since it was dreamt up and developed and created by people. 

But what will artificial intelligence or AI mean for us when it becomes better and smarter than us? What happens when it becomes creative and writes itself? The experts have commented that AI is still very nascent at this point of time but technology is progressing so fast that it will catch up in no time.

The documentary movie is a long one at one and a half hours but it's worth a watch. Quite a lot of Korean is being spoken too and so do switch on Captions for the English subtitles.

pearlie

Are you covered in data and speed?

With us all at home, are you covered in data usage and speed?

Those working from home with Zoom and Microsoft Teams, do check your data usage. It might be massive. 

Those free at home and watching movies and accessing YouTube, you may be maxing out your data usage as well.

To share, we at U Mobile offer Unlimited Data in very affordable plans and much more. Check it out in https://www.u.com.my/.

pearlie

116 apps and counting

I was searching for an app in my phone when my colleague commented, "wow, you've got so many apps!" 

I know I like to look for apps when I want to get something done using my phone but I thought it's a norm that phone are filled with lots and lots of different apps. There are so much you can do with them!

I download a lot of them but since my Razer Phone 2 only has 64G memory, I try to cut down on the apps in my phone and remove those I seldom use. 

Right now I have 116 apps installed.

Too many? Too few? Or a norm? 

How many do you have?

Oh yes, a shout-out to Quimchee, the webtoonist of I Love Yoo, from where I took my phone wallpaper from as you see in my screenshot above. I love her work!

pearlie

Conversations in Outlook?

I'm back at work today, not taking any days off for the Chinese New Year and as I was viewing through my emails in my Outlook, I  nonchalantly thought about how I wished that my emails in Outlook can be in conversations like in my Gmail.

But I did an about-turn. And asked myself more seriously, can Outlook actually do that now?

I did a search and yes! You can view emails in Outlook in conversation form.

Check it out here on how to make that happen in your Outlook. 

But being a slow day at work today, I have not had the chance to really try it out. So I'll reserve my comments till when I can really test it out. 

A good discovery nonetheless.

pearlie

Do you mind map?

I use mind maps a lot to help me think.

In my IOS days, I have purchased a lot of apps but settled with MindNode5 which in my opinion is the best. I can't remember what all the other apps were. I had iThoughts and Total Recall and one more I think.

But I could not find MindNode in Android and so I need to hunt for a good alternative and settled with SimpleMind Pro. I got the PC version as well.

Why mind map works for me?

I suppose my brain does not work in a linear way. Stuff in my mind are all over the place and I sometimes have a lot of stuff hidden and forgotten. So I use mind maps to associate, connect and trigger my thoughts to help me think and put everything on paper, and in this case, an app.

I use to stick to paper but since I started using the PC version, it is meeting my needs. I do have the freedom to move things around and disconnect and reconnect as I see it in a bigger picture, which I can't do on paper.

Just that on paper, it looks much more visual and vivid, which I really like.

But sigh, we cannot have the cake and eat it too.

pearlie

Be careful when using search engines

"사람들은 검색창 앞에서 가장 진실해지거든.

People become very honest when they are in front of the search engine."

~ Search WWW

I began watching this Korean drama called Search WWW and found it really interesting. 

One of the good things about watching good Korean dramas is that you will end up learning something new. This is because their stories are usually set in a specific context and industry where you'd get a peek into how the world works in that context. 

Stories about a cleaning service, a publishing house, how a prison works, the court house, the airport, just to name a few. 

Search WWW is set in the context of a search engine company and after watching just the first episode, I've realised a few things. 

One of the characters in the drama said this and I find it so true: that we become our true selves when we use the search engines. 

What a scary thought. Whatever we do online is no secret. We may think that we are doing it all in privacy in our own room but everything we do online is accessible by goodness knows who. 

This made me wonder if the incognito mode in an internet browser would be a good idea but then I read somewhere that even that does not mean that we are entirely anonymous in the internet. 

We cannot stop using the internet. Just know that we can be observed when they find a reason to. 

pearlie

Going watchless...again

My Fitbit has gone kaput. 

And now I will need to get used to not wearing a watch, again. 

I stopped wearing a watch back in year 2004 when I found it obstructive when at work. Wearing a watch and using the notebook computer is not a good combination. And since I have the time on the computer and my phone, I decided to ditch the watch. 

Until year 2017 when I decided maybe a fitness watch would be a good idea. 

And so I bought a MiBand 2 and later I switched to the Fitbit Alta HR which my husband didn't want to use anymore. 

And now it's no longer working. 

I don't think I will buy another one. Reason being, these things don't last unlike real watches and I found that I don't really need one anymore. 

Only a day has gone by without a watch. I'm still lifting my hand up to read the time but I'll soon get used to it in no time. 

I went 13 years without one anyway. 

pearlie

Human and androids - being relational

I am watching a show on robots and androids. It deals with human emotions, about giving and taking, about expectations. 

And with that I do begin to wonder how would human and androids exist together in the future?

My good friend refuses to watch shows with androids. I haven't asked her why but I'm sure she would say that it is meaningless for a human to form relationships with a machine. And any happy endings to such dramas would be unrealistic.

I know it's still something very distant in future but I do wonder how will human and androids when they exist together relate to each other.

I do sometimes talk to my car. I know. Weird. But then I'd use it and then park it in the driveway. Forgotten.

Say if I have an android-housekeeper, I'd obviously talk to it but would I then just switch it off when work is done?

The closest we have now to an android is the smartphone. I speak to my phone to get it to do things but it's still a phone. 

But what about an android with a face and a smile?

pearlie

Where do you store your photos?

I heard in the news that Google is ending their partnership with someone that manages the syncing of photos in Google Photos and I wasn't happy. 

I use Google Photos a lot and my Razer Phone 2 believe it or not does not have a photo gallery. All my photos goes into Google Photos. 

I only found out later that my fears were unfounded. The change only affected syncing between Google Photos and Google Drive, which I don't do. At least I hope that is the only thing that is affected. 

If you only store your photos in your phone, then you should take a look at syncing your phone with Google Photos. I have two of my friends who lost all their travel photos. You can imagine how devastating that can be. 

I hope Google Photos will stay for a long while. The cloud and data storage scene will see more changes as we go along and I wonder how long more will I be able to keep up with my data storage without paying a single cent.

pearlie

Listening to music in the car

My car does not like my new phone. I drive an old car and it does not have Bluetooth built-in.

It's funny that I still remember 10 years ago when I went shopping for a car, the one question I kept asking all the car salesmen was that if their cars came with a USB port.

Anyway, my car does not like my phone. I plug it in and it says "unrecognised device".

Since I cannot not listen to music, I need to find a solution and my hubby suggested I go find a Bluetooth dongle with a AUX adapter.

I found and bought one from Lazada for only RM15.

And it works.

Except that now I want it to do more. My iPhone plays my music the moment it gets plugged in. With my Razer, I had to tap it so many times to get to it play something.

That's when I found out that there are automation apps in Android. Apparently I can automatically get my phone to perform actions depending on the trigger. 

I did some search, or rather, I got my son to do some research. 

We tried Autoroid, Tasker and Automate. All of these are good automation apps, but none of them seemed to work with Apple Music.

Until my son found the MacroDroid app. He built a macro and voila! It works.

I start my car, my Bluetooth announces, "Connected", and my last played song starts playing.

I'm happy.

Though now I need to learn how to build those macros myself. For example, in order to save battery, how can I get my phone's WiFi to switched on only when I'm at home. 

pearlie

How many powerbanks do you have?

I still remember the first power bank I bought. 

It was a YooBao with 5800mAh capacity that cost me at least RM200. 

That was many years ago. 

Right now, just like me, you probably would have so many you don't know what do with them.

   

I have 4 not counting the one that is like a lamp, which is so impractical. It's so inconvenient to carry around and putting it on the desk is useless since I will use the electric wall socket anyway. 

I know. Four. Why, right? 

From left to right: I bought the first one and thinking it was spoilt, I bought the second one. The third was a door gift and the fourth is my newest favourite thing. 

Melissa bought it for me when she was recently in Korea. Thanks Melissa! Loving it!

    

And how much capacity do you think I have all in all? 

29,200mAh. LOL. 

pearlie

My take: Android vs. iOS

After using iOS for the past 10 years, I've finally jumped ship and have been using Android for 2 months now. I'm still discovering new things and having fun with it. 

And so for those who might want to consider shifting from Apple to Android, here's my take on what's better in Android and what's better in iOS. 

How Android is better than iOS

1. I find that Hey Google is way better than Hey Siri. It's much more more intuitive and you'll get more things done with Hey Google. 

2. I like it so much how I can customise how my screen looks like in my Android phone. It uses Nova Launcher where I can pack all apps that I frequently use into the home screen–all 47 of them. I do the same with my iPhone too but it can only fit 28 in the home screen. 

3. I also like how I can remove the app names from the apps in my home screen. It looks much better visually and I recognise them by their app icons anyway. I do this via Nova Launcher and here is how it looks like, all 47 apps:

In comparison, I had this old picture posted in 2016 on how my iPhone looked like back then, all my screens. I've cropped out the bottom 4 apps that stays on every screen though. Yea, I sorted them all by colours. I suppose I'm quite a visual person and I found apps much easier this way:

4. It is much easier to find what you need in Android's Settings. When I'm in iOS, I always find myself trying to think and remember where the item is situated. Locations? Privacy? General? Where on earth? And I will be poking here and there until I find what I want if at all. In Android, I can simply just perform a search and find it in no time. 

5. I use the Android back button a lot. And it works seamlessly in and between apps. In my iPhone, I'd have to double click the home button, scroll to the app before to get back to where I was before. In Android, it's just a back button away and I'd get back to the previous app immediately. 

6. This is more the phone than the operating system, but I can add memory to my Android phone now. The Razer Phone 2 has a pathetic 64G internal memory and so I bought and installed a 128G SD card in it as external memory. With the iPhone memory, what you buy is what you get. 

How iOS is better than Android

1. I must say that the keyboard in the iPhone is much better than the one in Android when it comes to selecting text, hovering over text to position the cursor and using the spacebar to move the cursor. But Android is quite accurate when you tap where you need the cursor to be and you can move the cursor with your finger which you can't do it as easily in the iPhone. 

2. The one feature I miss most is the ability to shake to undo and redo in the iPhone. How I wish it's the same in Android. I once accidentally deleted a whole line of text. I never got it back and I couldn't remember what it was to type it back. 

3. I like the iPhone's ability to return to the top of the screen by just tapping the top. In Android, I'd be furiously swiping it up to get back to the top. 

4. As much I used to hate having badges on my apps in the iPhone with the number of items pending, I got used to it and it didn't bother me anymore. I soon found it useful to see whether my attention was needed. When I started to use my Android phone, I began to miss that. I didn't know what needed my attention. But now, I use Notifications a lot more. I don't remember using it much in my iOS days. But there is the Notification Dot in Android, without the number though. 

5. I prefer the management of pages in Safari where I can move them front and back. It cannot be done in Chrome. I suppose I should go find another internet browser app. 

Things to consider if you decide to move from iOS to Android

1. If you have purchased apps in iOS, you will now need to repurchase them in Android, if you still need them that is. I did buy quite a number of apps in iOS but when in Android, I've only repurchased 3 of them. Not too bad. But not cheap though. 

2. Some apps are only available in iOS. I once read that developers prefer to create apps in iOS compared to Android and so you might not get what you want in Android. I tried to look for alternatives in Google Play and so far so good. I got what I needed and what I couldn't I've ungrown myself out of it. 

3. The only casualty I had was my WhatsApp texts. I couldn't figure it out initially and couldn't transfer any of my text over. Had I known earlier, I would have at least save the important ones on the cloud. 

That's just my take anyway and with Android I think it also depends a lot on the phone model and not just the operating system. 

You may have other items on top of what I've listed above. Please leave a comment below or in Facebook. I'd love to hear from you!

pearlie

Me? Apple to Android?

I have gone Android! Haha. My friends and colleagues were so surprised because I was as Apple as I can ever be, beginning with my 3G, to 4, 4S, 5S right up to the 6S, and not forgetting my iPad 2, 3 and Air 2.

Not anymore.

And with that my whole family has gone Android and I'm not to be left behind. And I meant it—behind. It's another blogpost altogether but we felt that Apple is stuck in the their former glory and not only that, their prices have gone absolutely crazy.

Anyways.

It started with my son getting the Pixel 2, having sworn off Apple products. My husband bought the S10 when it was launched here on 5th March. He who does not line up for anything lined up 3 hours to get the phone and a free pair of Galaxy Buds.

Me?

I was left alone with my iPhone 6S. Not that I mind and I was prepared to continue to use it for two more years since I just got its original battery replaced.

Until...

I won a phone another phone at a lucky draw! For the record, this will be the third time I won a device in a lucky draw. I first won a Palm V back in year 2000. Then I won a Samsung Galaxy A7 in 2017.

And now?

I just won myself a Razer Phone 2! Two months ago. And I'm loving it. Though it is a gaming phone and I'm no gamer to begin with, I'm enjoying the change to Android and the experience of discovering new things. Android is more fun than iOS. And the screen and speakers are just awesome. I have even somewhat abandoned my iPad.

Just look at this beauty.



pearlie

EdX’s Introduction to Big Data by Microsoft

After hearing so much about big data this and big data that, I thought it is high time for me to dig a bit deeper into what it is all about and that’s when I found edX’s Introduction to Big Data. 

I started on it couple of weeks ago and it’s only at the final week 4 that it goes into what big data is. 

The first three weeks is spent on the fundamental concepts of data i.e. data formats, encoding, storing, types of databases, database warehouse, data stores. 

And with that, Big Data is after all just a form of data, just that there is a lot of it, it would come in many different formats and varieties, and it may come in a high velocity—the threes Vs: volume, variety and velocity of data. 

It’s just a taste of what big data is and it doesn’t get too technical though there are sections which I chose to just scan through, but it does give me a very good introduction as to what it is all about.  

At least now I have a fair bit of understanding when people talk about big data. 

pearlie

Are password manager apps safe?

I am on leave at home and with all my devices with me I suddenly realize they all carry different passwords and I keep keying the wrong ones for the different devices and applications. 

Our lives are so full of passwords these days that I have no choice but to use a password manager app. 

But a very important question is how safe is it?

Check out these articles and let me know what you think:

- A Skeptic’s Guide to Password Managers and Security

- Is it safe to use a password manager?

- Password Managers: The good, the bad and the ugly

I think it is both good and bad but where we are now we really have no other choice. 

One of the articles claim that “Despite fears, most experts in the field agree that password managers are still the safest way to secure online accounts.”

pearlie

Emergency Bypass on your iPhone

Now that I have used my Mi Band 2 for about a week, I realised one very important thing about emergency calls. 

Ever since I started using it, I have switched off all sound and vibration in my phone in order to prolonged battery life, since I’m going to get notifications on my Mi Band anyway. 

Except when it’s on a Do Not Disturb mode, which I have set to turn on when I’m asleep. 

I then thought—what if I were to receive an emergency call in the middle of the night? 

Even without my Mi Band with the DND mode, my phone would have been on silent anyway and I wouldn’t have notice it vibrating when I’m sleeping. 

Gone were the days when family members can call the house phone that will ring so loud you can hear it from anywhere in the house at any time of the day or night. 

I googled and found out that I can switch on an Emergency Bypass for any selected contacts. 

Do this on your iPhone:

1. Open your Contacts app

2. Search for the desired contact

3. Tap Edit on top right of he contact card

4. Tap Ring

5. Enable Emergency Bypass

6. Do the same for Text, if desired

When the Emergency Bypass is switched on, your phone will ring and vibrate even if your DND is on. 

Do it. Your life or someone else’s may depend on it. 

pearlie

Fitbit Alta HR vs. Mi Band 2

It all started with my attendance at the introduction to the BookDoc app event that I got motivated to walk more. 

Gone were the days when I would go to the gym every weekday morning. I now need something else to get myself a bit more motivated to be active. 

And so I decided to get a fitness tracker. 

Fitness trackers have not appealed to me before but from what I gathered from my hubby who has worn one for the past one month, I thought it would be a good idea to get one for myself. 

And so off we went to Low Yat Plaza today. 

We were soon seated at a storefront and whilst at first I wanted the same model my hubby is using, the Fitbit Alta HR, he also told me that his friends are very happy with the Xiaomi Mi Band 2. 

The Fitbit Alta HR and the Mi Band 2

And the price difference is significant - RM680 for the Fitbit vs. RM165 for the Mi Band 2. The storekeeper told me that the Mi Band can do what the Fitbit can, it’s only the brand I will be paying for. 

So I was torn. I like the Fitbit design better and obviously the brand but the Mi Band is more than 4 times cheaper. 

I thought and thought and weighed and weighed...the Mi Band 2 it shall be. 

The moment I decided to go with that, the storekeeper started rattling on about what the thing can do. 

I don’t know why he didn’t tell me when I couldn’t decide between the two because with what he started telling us, my hubby responded sadly that his Fitbit can’t do those things. 

And it’s not small stuff. 

For one, the Mi Band 2 vibrates when I get a text message from WhatsApp. And not only from WhatsApp but also from WeChat and Kakao, which happen to be the very apps I use to connect with my language friends. The Fitbit only connects to iMessage, and who uses iMessage these days?

Also, the Mi Band 2 changes its display at the twist of the wrist, whereas the Fitbit needs to be tapped, so you need both hands. 

The Mi Fit app syncs with Apple Health. Fitbit does not. Apple Health consolidates everything you have on health and so it’s important to sync with Apple Health. 

But the biggest is this: the Mi Band 2 battery will last for 20 days. The Fitbit Alta HR battery only last for 7. 

The only thing we found so far that the Mi Band 2 doesn’t do that the Fitbit does is a continuous heart rate measure. 

But one thing I’m not too happy about is that from today onwards, my Bluetooth will have to be on all the time. My phone will now run out of battery very often before the day is out. 

This is not good, but I’ll have to get used to it...and use my power bank more often. 

pearlie

When we still hang on to yesterday in our work today, we can forget about tomorrow

I had the privilege to attend a learning session with ADAX on Data Science for Executives, Towards a Data-Driven Organisation. It boils down to an introduction of analytics for the non-analysts. 

We were first asked to rate our knowledge and exposure to this subject from a 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest and I rated myself a low 1. 

But as the class went on, I don’t think I’d be more than a 1.5 at the end of it. There is just too much. 

And at the end of the day, I have a brain overload but amongst the takeaways for the day are these two important things:

Always begin with the right questions: something I always tell my classes when I am training myself and it is a good reminder to take with me all the time. 

And in relation to asking the right questions, always begin with what’s the problem statement: it’s funny we are told not to use the word “problem” anymore, but to substitute it with “challenge” and “objective”, but with the two latter words being too overused, it’s high time we call it what it is, a problem. 

And what I like and found so true is this comparison of our changing world between yesterday and today. 

Except that most of us are still using a yesterday mindset at work. 

And isn’t it sad that when we hang on to our yesterday at work today, we can forget about progressing to tomorrow. 

pearlie