Google and their minions may think they know better than most of us, but, at times they do fail. This failure in my less-than-humble opinion is the update to their 'Google News' app. The version before was stable (never crashed for me) and allowed me to quickly and easily view news and update my selected sources for offline viewing. I liked it as I could pull articles for reading on the bus to work.
The latest version isn't as friendly or works well. It regularly crashes and at times several times in a row. I had reported it each time, but, it feels they are going into a black hole as nothing has changed. At times it stalls and gets application not responding, or, rarely it just shuts down. I have just stopped telling them as I don't see any fixes when they do updates. That may not be fair, but, it has been a couple of months and when I do feedback I point out the issues that are part of this blog.
The 'for you' and 'headlines' interface really needs to be looked at and fixed. I am scrolling through the list of articles and it refreshes and takes me back up to the top. If I am viewing the list it should just stop updates and use an indicator at the top flagging there are updates. Tap the indicator and it updates the articles. It is extremely annoying that I get pages down and it refreshes and when I scroll down to find that one article it isn't there any more.
The favourites section isn't all that bad, but, bad choices Google made for their interface on my sources makes it a pain to use. The version before allowed me to refresh all of my sources I have flagged for downloading. This one does not. I don't know if it is supposed to automatically update, but, it does not. If I don't go into each one and 'pull down' the list to for updating it won't download the articles. It is a major pain each day as I have 25 sources for downloading. I like being able to read articles offline on the bus and at work (we don't have public wi-fi where I work). When they do fix this issue it would be nice if they allow us to pick the number of articles to be downloaded and the number of days. Not all of us have unlimited internet and while I have a large data cap it would be nice to limit what this app downloads.
Visually it is nice, but, one more suggestion for Google. How about allowing us to turn off images on the summary? I am only interested in the text and if that interests me I will click on the article and then you can show me the pretty pictures.
Sunday, August 05, 2018
Sunday, May 06, 2018
Looking for a new VPN for my various devices
For some time I have been making use of the Opera VPN software for my Android tablet and phone. I liked it as it 'just worked' and didn't have a major impact on either device for performance. However, it has been discontinued and I am now looking for a new VPN for my devices.
I don't use VPN very often, just when I am out and I need to quickly check my mail or do a quick web search. The various malls I do go to have 'free' WIFI, but, I don't want them to harvest my information and I DON'T want anyone see my passwords for mail, web sites I log on to. I prefer what I do and where I go is my business and no one else.
What am I looking for in a VPN:
The above sites are only my starting point that I will be using. Once I pick a few packages I will be downloading them and seeing how they run and the impact on my devices.
Update 2018/06/09:
I installed windscribe as it appears to be free, has a fair limit per month. I don't need the fastest or most data as I only need it a few times a month. It works well enough on the tablet and I couldn't tell it was running.
I don't use VPN very often, just when I am out and I need to quickly check my mail or do a quick web search. The various malls I do go to have 'free' WIFI, but, I don't want them to harvest my information and I DON'T want anyone see my passwords for mail, web sites I log on to. I prefer what I do and where I go is my business and no one else.
What am I looking for in a VPN:
- Minimal impact on my Android devices. I don't want something that is a battery hog or uses so much CPU that the machine isn't responsive.
- Preferably open source.
- Minimal cost. Free would be nice as long as the ads are not obtrusive.
- They don't record much information, preferably nothing about my connection.
- Reasonable privacy policy. Too many companies ask you to sign away absolutely everything in the quest to protect themselves no matter how badly they screw things up for you. They also seem to want all of your information and be able to sell it to anyone.
- It would be nice that there are Linux and Windows versions. My netbook and notebook are Linux (I do have openvpn there) and while I don't travel with them often it would be nice to have a good VPN for them that is the same as my Android devices. My one Windows box never travels with me, but, just in case it would also be nice to have the same VPN running on it. I prefer just one package so that I know that I get consistent protection and not have to learn multiple packages.
The above sites are only my starting point that I will be using. Once I pick a few packages I will be downloading them and seeing how they run and the impact on my devices.
Update 2018/06/09:
I installed windscribe as it appears to be free, has a fair limit per month. I don't need the fastest or most data as I only need it a few times a month. It works well enough on the tablet and I couldn't tell it was running.
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Ontario elections web site & twitter
Earlier today I saw an ad for the Ontario Elections web site in Twitter. Being paranoid I didn't click on the link and navigated to the site and started the process to verify that I am registered. With all of the various groups who can make something like legit there was absolutely no way I would click on that link.
I found the site easily enough at www.elections.on.ca and I was happy to see the HTTPS, but, not all of the site was secure and I didn't get that nice little green lock icon. When it navigated to the 'E-Registration' it did show the proper lock. ALL the other pages after the main page showed the proper lock icon so there was something on the initial page that caused the issue.
When you click the 'Next' button it takes you to the check voter list page.
Once I filled in the information it presented me a page with my information. I had an option to go back, confirm or update.
It is nice, fast and in 2 minutes I had confirmed my information and Jane's and we are good to vote in the June 7, 2018 Ontario provincial election.
I found the site easily enough at www.elections.on.ca and I was happy to see the HTTPS, but, not all of the site was secure and I didn't get that nice little green lock icon. When it navigated to the 'E-Registration' it did show the proper lock. ALL the other pages after the main page showed the proper lock icon so there was something on the initial page that caused the issue.
 |
| Main Election Ontario page. |
 |
| Start of the registration |
 |
| Disclaimer page |
When you click the 'Next' button it takes you to the check voter list page.
 |
| Check voter list |
Once I filled in the information it presented me a page with my information. I had an option to go back, confirm or update.
It is nice, fast and in 2 minutes I had confirmed my information and Jane's and we are good to vote in the June 7, 2018 Ontario provincial election.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)