Changes Coming to Flickr & Google+

Are you using Google+? If you have a personal account, you should have received a notice from Google about that service going away on April 2 and the steps you should take to download your content. If you are not sure and are worried that you might lose something, go to plus.google.com and sign in to see if you did anything in Google+. Google+ was an attempt to make an online community system of Google users, sort of like Facebook. It looks like Google thinks it failed.

If you’re a Mac user and have been waiting to purchase Office 365 through the App Store and not straight from Microsoft, you can now download it to your iOS and MacOS devices the Apple way. After installing the app, you can then purchase the software from inside the app. If your iOS screen size is less than 10.1 inches, you can use the core basic editing functions for free.

There is an app to help you figure out which cell provider has better coverage. Crowdsourced data gathered by OpenSignal (opensignal.com) is used in their app, available for iPhone or Android. Search for OpenSignal and read more about their worldwide coverage maps at opensignal.com/networks.

Learn how to spot phishing email attempts to gather your login credentials and passwords by taking Google’s phishing quiz at phishingquiz.withgoogle.com.

Live Transcribe from Google, currently for Android phones only, uses Google’s speech recognition to translate between over 70 languages on the fly, and provides live captioning of what you are trying to hear or understand. Learn more at android.com/accessibility/live-transcribe.

Are you a Flickr user from way back? Don’t forget that March 12 is the deadline to download your photos if you have more than 1,000 on the service—unless you have already sprung for one of their Pro accounts. Grab your old images first or get them all by logging into your Flickr account, going through User Account, then Settings, to the bottom where you will find a “Request my Flickr data” button. Click that and wait for an email confirming they are ready to download.

Are you using Google+? If you have a personal account, you should have received a notice from Google about that service going away on April 2 and the steps you should take to download your content. If you are not sure and are worried that you might lose something, go to plus.google.com and sign in to see if you did anything in Google+. Google+ was an attempt to make an online community system of Google users, sort of like Facebook. It looks like Google thinks it failed.

If you’re a Mac user and have been waiting to purchase Office 365 through the App Store and not straight from Microsoft, you can now download it to your iOS and MacOS devices the Apple way. After installing the app, you can then purchase the software from inside the app. If your iOS screen size is less than 10.1 inches, you can use the core basic editing functions for free.

There is an app to help you figure out which cell provider has better coverage. Crowdsourced data gathered by OpenSignal (opensignal.com) is used in their app, available for iPhone or Android. Search for OpenSignal and read more about their worldwide coverage maps at opensignal.com/networks.

Learn how to spot phishing email attempts to gather your login credentials and passwords by taking Google’s phishing quiz at phishingquiz.withgoogle.com.

Live Transcribe from Google, currently for Android phones only, uses Google’s speech recognition to translate between over 70 languages on the fly, and provides live captioning of what you are trying to hear or understand. Learn more at android.com/accessibility/live-transcribe.

Are you a Flickr user from way back? Don’t forget that March 12 is the deadline to download your photos if you have more than 1,000 on the service—unless you have already sprung for one of their Pro accounts. Grab your old images first or get them all by logging into your Flickr account, going through User Account, then Settings, to the bottom where you will find a “Request my Flickr data” button. Click that and wait for an email confirming they are ready to download.

Brush up on your Pirate or learn one of 70+ languages available via Mango Languages (mangolanguages.com/available-languages). It’s all free with a library card. And check out many other online resources and databases via NC Live and the Buncombe County Public Library at buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/Library.