 By Russ Alman, Director of Communications
Like most people, I tend to do the majority of my financial giving during the holidays. And as a techie person, I almost always do it online.  If you and the people with whom you want to place a video call are all using Apple devices, then Apple’s Facetime software is the easiest option. (photo courtesy Apple) by Russ Alman, Communications Director Earlier this year, I was enjoying a video call with my two-year-old granddaughter, Naomi, and my daughter, Alexis, remarked that she has to make sure to keep her iPhone locked because Naomi has figured out how to access the camera. Just as she said this, Naomi grabbed her iPhone and ran off with it. I continued to see an interesting angle of Naomi as she held the phone below her chest and toddled across the room. I would have laughed harder if the wobbling view of her nostrils hadn't started to give me vertigo. I have affectionately named this view “NaomiCam.” This has gotten me to thinking... Naomi's generation is the first that would never know a time when you couldn't pick up a computer device and instantly connect with anywhere in the world by video call. My daughter and her family live in Yakima, and I can say with confidence that I have spent more time interacting with my granddaughter though live video than in person. Without the convenience of video calls, I would only be able to interact with her “face to face” when there was time to make the four-hour roundtrip. But thanks to video calls, she is just a button press away. Similarly, my son, Aaron, has been living in South Korea for the past 5 years, and while he can only rarely make it back home, we regularly video chat. The most difficult part of arranging a call is accommodating the time difference since Seoul is 16 hours ahead. Other than that, the call quality is just as good as it is to Yakima. While my son is in his late 20s and does remember a time before video calls, he doesn’t remember a time before cell phones. Or the internet. Or email. Or cable TV. (I am old enough to remember.)  At the other end of the spectrum, this fall I helped my mom and dad move from western Montana to Wenatchee. It took some patience, but I was able to get my 80+ year-old parents proficient enough with video calling that I could give them a live walkthrough of their new apartment, show them furniture and supplies that I bought, and tour the retirement community with them so that they were already familiar with the layout of the facility before they got here. We even did group calls with my brother in Minneapolis so the whole family was in the loop.
In each generation, new technology comes along that supplants previous tools. We have gone from smoke signals and semaphore to live video in less than 200 years, and each successive generation will continue to see more advanced and interactive communication tools. For those of you who have not yet made a video call, I encourage you to give it a try. Any smartphone, tablet or laptop manufactured within the last 5 years should meet the requirements. The only confusing part will be deciding on which platform to use. Unlike something like email, which uses a universal standard that can be read with any email application, video calling is generally application specific. In nontechnical terms, that means that all the parties involved in the call must be using the same software. It would be nice if all the companies that make video chat software would agree on one standard, but don't expect that anytime soon. If you and the other person/people you are trying to communicate with have iPhones, iPads or other Apple products, then you can use Facetime, Apple's proprietary application. If, on the other hand, your partners are using different brands of devices like Android phones and Windows-based laptops, then everyone will need to agree to use one application. For personal calls, I use Messenger (made by Meta/Facebook) because it's widely used and dependable. Anyone who uses Facebook will likely have this software already installed. There are many other video platforms out there, including WhatsApp, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom to name a few, but for personal use, I recommend sticking with ones that are likely to be most widely used and designed for simple one-on-one or small group calls. Whichever software you use, I promise you that the first time you make a video connection with a loved one or a friend you haven't seen in person in a long time, you'll understand why video chat has become so popular. It will be worth the effort.
by Russ Alman, Communications Director One of the questions I’m frequently asked by members of the Senior Center is what type of computer to buy—Mac or Windows, laptop or desktop.
Now that Windows 10-based computers are considered “end of life,” those of you who have older Windows-based computers are faced with upgrading to a newer computer in order to have a supported operating system.  by Russ Alman, Communications Director Update: The Buzz is now on the air! Please visit this link for more information. Many of you are aware that I have an extensive background working with technology. Thanks to my father’s interest in amateur radio — he is KO8T and I am KZ8F — I was exposed to technology at 9 years old, a very early age for someone in my generation. My dad bought our first computer in 1981 (a TRS-80 Color Computer) and I’ve had access to a home computer ever since.
by Russ Alman, WVSAC Communications Director  Screenshots from Innocaption for iPhone. InnoCaption by default will use AI-based captioning, but has the option for a live human assistant if needed. Both options are free to use. Both Apple and Google have a variety of built-in tools in their smartphone and tablet operating systems to help people who have aural, visual or physical disabilities. I could easily cover one of these tools every month and fill this column for a couple of years
by Russ Alman, WVSAC Communications Director  There are lots of ways to communicate over the internet — social media like Facebook, instant messaging services like Messenger, virtual phone services like WhatsApp — but the gold standard for online communication, particularly with people over age 50, is still email.
by Russ Alman, Communications Director  For this month’s Tech Tip article, I'm going to flip the script. Typically, I provide information to you to help you navigate technology. But this month, I’m asking you to give us more information.
 by Russ Alman
Director of Communications & Development If you have any type of computer device, whether it’s a desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet, you are probably aware that there are computer viruses that can affect your device. However, there is frequent ambiguity and hype about this threat. Companies that make virus protection software play on these fears when they market their software. For this month’s Tech Tip, I’ll give you a basic education about viruses so that you can make informed decisions about what virus protection software to use. by Russ Alman, Communications Director  You see them everywhere: square “QR Codes” with all the dots in them. But what are they exactly and how do you use them?
The “QR” stands for “Quick Response.” The concept was invented by Japanese company called Denso Wave in 1994 as a way to make code scanning faster and more efficient than traditional bar codes. (You can read more on their website at wvsac.link/denso)  Google's Results About You tool allows you to track your personal information and have it removed from many common public directory services. By Russ Alman, Communications Director One of the disturbing things about the internet is information about you is collected by a variety of information aggregators and shared on public information sites. This information is collected through a variety of legitimate sources, including public records documents and combined with information you share on social media to create a profile about you. Then these public search sites display the collected information for the entire world to see. Their goal is typically to upsell website visitors to view more complete information (like current phone numbers and complete addresses) and even offer background checks for a small fee. (Yes, anyone can do a background check on anyone on the internet!)
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