Medicare Scam

January 31, 2022 by cryan.com

I get a lot of the Medicare Part C scam calls. There's no reason for me to be getting these calls.

I keep telling them I don't qualify for Medicare, yet they keep calling me back.

Every once in a while I will play with them. I challenge them on why I would want to volunteer to give information to an unknown caller.

Listen Into One of the Calls

The video ends abruptly because the audio recording stopped because of another incoming scam call.

Seriously, why do people willing to give personal information to strangers over the phone'

Social Media: Impacts both Marriages and Divorce Proceedings

January 30, 2022 by cryan.com

We got used to living a double life with frequent social media use, sometimes with brighter online activity. Social media grant us modern tools for interaction and communication, provide us with leisure and information from around the world. It can also supply you with multiple problems and challenges in your personal life and routine issues.

The effect of social media on your life depends on your attitude to online activity. Your actions predetermine a positive or negative outcome of social interaction online. You can find a way to deal with any hurdles or, on the contrary, create the hurdles by yourself.

Yet, recent researches shows that extensive use of social media commonly ruins relationships in real life and can be a serious threat to a happy marriage or beneficial divorce. The statistics prove that couples who use social media frequently have a high tendency to get divorced and most divorce cases relate to social media as either cause or divorce or source of information.

Social Media Threats to Marriage

Marriage involves cooperation and partnership, but not isolation from each other and a lack of family values. Thus the personal space of each partner should be respected, constant business in front of devices and online secrets may cause troubles and cracks to your marriage. Here are general threats you should know about and try to prevent if you want to save your marriage.

Online, not friends - we are happy to have hundreds of followers online and usually treat them as real friends. Yet, we never know who sits behind the screen on the other side. So, sharing private information online can be dangerous, especially sharing issues between you and your partner. More to this, one day these facts may be used against you in court and hurt your marriage and divorce.

Absent spouse - it often happens that online life prevails over real-time events and occasions. Posting photos and updating statuses seem to be the primary task of the day. Frequently, one spouse is making posts without another spouse present there. This may arise jealousy and cause offenses and misunderstandings and ruin your family eventually.

Time waste - spending much time online and wasting leisure on the Internet decrease qualitative communication and interaction with your partner. This makes you collect relationships problem and leave them without discussion, which leads you to misunderstand and accumulative offense. This is going to ruin your marriage if you don't change your routine habits.

Jealousy and mistrust - with the constant development of social media communication and information tools, online activity is considered to be more important than real-life activity. So, ambiguous posts, likes, and comments may cause jealousy and mistrust between partners. It may be ridiculous but likes of colleagues' photos may be taken more seriously than a friendly hug in reality. So, mind your actions, unless you want to search for a qualitative divorce service soon.

All in all, the primary thing to remember is that isolation and spending time apart will do no good for your marriage. Think thoroughly before you share private things online, interact more with your partner, and set the priorities correctly. This way your marriage will be safe and sound.

Divorce Issues Caused by Social Media

Extensive social use may not only ruin your marriage but spoil your divorce as well. With not careful activity online you may provide your partner with evidence to be used against you in court and spoil your reputation with your actions. So, if you hope for positive outcomes of the divorce, care about high-quality divorce packets, and mind the following issues with online actions:

Censor your online activity - think properly about what you post on social media. Alcohol, clubbing, fresh relationships, and other interesting facts revealed online will not do any good to your chances for custody, spousal support, alimony, and other divorce issues. With insensible online behavior, you ruin your reputation and opportunities for beneficial divorce.

Information leak - even if you limit access to your page, you never know who is going to pass on the private information you share with certain friends. Better not post anything or share in private messages ambiguous things, since too much trust online may spoil your divorce outcomes once.

Ambiguous posts and comments - if you want to update your status or comment on some post or photo, try to be as precise and clear as possible. Be ready for the situation, when your words are taken apart from the context, misinterpreted, and used against you.

If you have some hesitations on how to use social media properly within the divorce process, you'd better use divorce help either online or offline to get qualitative assistance on your case. Most specialists claim that you should better avoid social media usage before your divorce procedure comes to the end, so you will prevent any unpleasant surprises connected with your online activity.

Be Sensible Online and Offline

There is no need to restrict yourself from common needs and wishes to save your marriage or proceed through the divorce successfully. The most important thing is to distinguish your real-life activities online and set the priorities correctly. More this, sensible behavior will positively impact your marriage or divorce, including interaction with social media. If you still need more ideas and better guidance, you are welcome to use qualitative divorce services at onlinedivorcer.com.

Profile Picture Maker

January 29, 2022 by cryan.com

Are you looking to make your online profile stand out? Tired of the boring backgrounds?

Use pfpmaker.com to touch up your photo to present a more professional look. It's really easy to do and the transformation is free!

Website Description

You get 55 background designs to pick from.

https://pfpmaker.com/

Sample Profile of Richard Nixon

I uploaded the center image and selected four of the 55 possible designs.

What background do you think he would use-

Smart Folders

January 28, 2022 by cryan.com

In this short entry, we are going to explore Smart Folders in the Finder - a way to quickly find common files at a click.

Smart Folders

Apple's description of Smart Folders:

Creating a Smart Folder

To create a smart folder: In the finder select the New menu then "New Smart Folder."

Tips and Tricks

Here are four useful Smart Folders to have:

Template Files

Template files - Are their files that you like to use on a frequent bases? Create a template so you can find them. (Apple Motion files in this example.)

Recent Apps

Recent Apps - Highlight applications that you use on a regular bases. The cool thing is that you can decide on the last open date.

Recent Files

Recent Files -Do you work with a lot of files and want quick access to the most recent ones? Set up a recent

Media Search

Specific Video Files - Do you frequently look for videos taken with a certain camera? Create a Smart Folder.

Full List of Search Attribute

There are 144 Spotlight Criteria and Attributes.

You can get the full list of all the available Spotlight search attributes on https://simonbarnett.co.za/ website.

Idea Generator

January 27, 2022 by cryan.com

In 2006, Apple introduced Dashboard as a new system-wide widget tool. With a push of a button, you could access widgets at any time. Popular Widgets include Stock Ticker, Weather, Calculator, and many more.

Developers were encouraged to create more widgets that people may find useful. One of my favorite widgets was the Idea Generator.

Idea Generator

I really liked the idea generator because it was a quick way to fix writer's block. Simply spin the wheel to get a random phrase.

You could even add your own keywords in the backside. So if you are writing a blog for Google Ad Words, you can put in common terminology so they would appear I. The results.

Sure there are some websites that offer this feature today, but to have it in an instant - with a cool design was pretty neat.

Behavior Listings

January 26, 2022 by cryan.com

Each week, I try to learn more about Apple Motion capabilities. This week, I am sharing some of the Behavior Parameters. There are 232 behaviors broken down into 12 categories.

The 12 major behavior categories:

• Audio
• Basic Motion
• Camera
• Motion Tracking
• Parameter
• Particles
• Replicator
• Retiming
• Shape
• Simulations
• Text Animation
• Text Sequence

Highlight Two Categories

In the Basic Motion Behaviors these are the 9 included behaviors:

• Align To - Align object to another.
• Fade In/Fade Out - Dissolves an object in and out.
• Grow/Shrink - Scales an object larger or smaller, continuously or to a specific value.
• Motion Path - Moves an object along a motion path created with Bezier control points.
• Move - Moves an object to or from a specific position in 3D
• Point At - Rotates an object to point at another object
• Snap Alignment to Motion - Aligns the rotation of an object to match the direction it's moving.
• Spin - Rotates an object around its anchor point, continuously or to a specific value.
• Throw - Applies a single force to push an object in a specified direction.

In the Parameters Behaviors these are the 20 included behaviors:

• Audio - Animates a parameter based on an audio track.
• Average - Smooths a parameter's animated transition from one value to another.
• Channel - (This is a mystery one!)
• Clamp - Restricts a parameter's values from going beyond a minimum or maximum.
• Custom - Create your own behavior. Add parameters and apply behaviors or keyframes
• Exponential - Change a parameter from one specific value to another over time, using an exponential equation.
• Link - Link one parameter to another.
• Logarithmic - Changes a parameter from one specific value to another over time, using a logarithmic equation.
• MIDI - Controls a parametere using a MIDI-compatible input device.
• Negate - Inverts the values of a parameter.
• Oscillate - Cycles a parameter between two different values.
• Overshoot - Changes a parameter from one specific value to another over time, overshooting past the end value before springing back.
• Quantize - Restricts a parameter's values to discrete steps instead of continuous values.
• Ramp - Changes a parametere from one specific value to another value over time.
• Randomize - Randomly animates a parameter over time.
• Rate - Steady increases or decreases a parametere's value over time.
• Reverse - Reverse the direction of a parameter's animation.
• Stop - Suspends the animation of a parameter.
• Track - Tracks a paremeter to the movement of another object.
• Wriggle - Randomly animates a parameter over time, at a slow frequency.

MyStery Channel Parameter Behavior

When I was checking the available behaviors in the Parameter category, I copy and paste the contents in BBEdit. When I did that, a mystery parameter showed up. That's the Channel Parameter.

The Channel parameter doesn't exist in the Parameter or in the Behaviors - at least nothing showed when I did a global search.

QA January Memes

January 25, 2022 by cryan.com

In honor of Burn's Night, here are some QA Memes in poetry form.

Poems

Gregory Boyle's advice, "If you can't fix it, feature it."

John Deere has a saying - Quality is Cost and Cost is Quality

I created this using a poem generator.

The Buggy And Risky Code

A Poem by qa

1999 Commercials

January 24, 2022 by cryan.com

This week's media feature is a collection of 1999 Commercials. These aired during the spring months on KRON TV in San Francisco California.

Featuring

• McDondalds - featuring Eddie the Echo. In this commercial spot, he doesn't have any lines.
• KSFO - The morning talk show hosts Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan try to convince people to listen to their conservative morning show. They did have a great program!
• The San Francisco Chronicle - this commercial spot featured Adair Lee and her writing style. This was a creative way to sell newspapers.
• Prodigy Internet - This commercial featured the Prodigy Online service convincing people to switch away from America Online.
• California Great America - A local commercial about the Great America Theme park in Santa Clara, California.
• MCI Worldcom - Commercial features Michael Jordon with the looney tunes characters. This came about 2 years after the Space Jam movie.
• 1800Collect - This commercial featured Steve Austin - who was at his peak winning the WWF Championship.
• Saturn - This funny commercial promotes how college students can order a car delivered just like a pizza. The company would no longer exist ten years later.
• ESPN SportsCenter - Featuring Mark McGwire giving up his winning 62 home run ball to Dan Patrick.

Watch The Commercials

The Importance Of Early Childhood Education

January 23, 2022 by cryan.com

Early childhood is an intense period of development. For it to be effective during this period, it is necessary to stimulate a child, to motivate them to be active. Brain cells develop in response to external stimuli. Therefore it is important to organize the space around the child, properly plan their day, and give them enough attention to encourage their development.

If you are one of those busy parents who is trying to gain new knowledge on childhood development to use it in practice but at the same time you are an MBA student who has assignments to do, you might need help to cope with all your tasks at some point. In such cases, we recommend contacting professional writing services where you can easily order a business plan or a research paper and just rest for a while.

Early development implies the organization of proper space around a child. Toys, pictures, furniture, and gadgets that surround the baby should help them to learn about the world around them. This approach to education allows you to raise a mentally and physically healthy person who is ready to live in today's society.

To create a space beneficial for the early development of your child, you need to pay attention to:

1. Home environment. In the first months of life, the baby's main space is the crib. Therefore, it is worth paying special attention to its choice. Also, use different fabrics and materials when decorating the room, as the child can get acquainted with different types of surfaces by touching them.
2. Toys. If they match the age of your child, they will be useful. Children should easily access toys that are relevant to their age.
3. Communication. Through communication, your child learns about the world around them. Parents' conversations, hugs, and strokes are the most important factors in harmonious development.
4. Physical development. A child's health depends primarily on their physical development. We are talking about a child's fine motor skills, proper nutrition, outdoor activities, active games, etc.

Early childhood development is a set of activities aimed at the adaptation of a young person in the modern world. Regardless of the chosen method of development and learning, it is worth paying attention to such factors:

• Brain adaptation. Early preschool age is characterized by the flexibility of the child's mental health. Nature intended that during this period, a baby needs to learn as much as possible about the world. They learn to walk, talk, manipulate objects, water, sand, try different patterns of behavior, improve all the acquired skills, and learn new ones. Depending on the level of maturation, the brain performs particular functions. Every day, the amount of knowledge and skills acquired grows. The more you talk to your child, the more information they learn about the world.
• Aesthetic education. For the full development of a child, it is extremely important to pay attention to their aesthetic education i.e. developing creative abilities, talent, forming a sense of taste. It is important to play classical music, expose kids to sounds of nature, children's songs, etc. They should hear poems, immerse themselves in the world of fairy tales and stories as it develops imagination, memory, and thinking.
• Fine motor skills and creativity. It is important for a child to draw, model from clay, dough, and cut out paper. Such activities develop fine motor skills, thinking, imagination, creativity.

Between the ages of two and three, a child learns to be independent. During this period, it is important not to hinder them, but to encourage their efforts and achievements. Here are some tips from psychologists for parents of 2-3-year-old children:

Let your child be independent. If your child wants to put on a jacket by themselves, let them do it, even if you are late for kindergarten.

Do not limit your child's social circle. Every person in your child's environment is important to them.

Explain to them everything they do not understand. Everything in this world is new for them, so allow them to learn. Even if you have to repeat the same thing ten times, repeat it calmly and confidently.

Allow them to choose. Let them choose their toy, clothes, or dish for dinner. They want and need to feel their importance.

Another important aspect of a child's early education is playing. Through play children's brain and language skills develop better.

Try simple games like peek-a-boo, playing with dolls or toys, kite flying, or just singing songs. They would help your child's motor and problem-solving skills development.

Show your kids how a rock or a leaf can fall, how a snowflake melts, and try to explain these physical phenomena. Do not underestimate how crucial these early childhood games are in building the basis for formal schooling.

Here are 5 main benefits of play for children's development:

1. It's necessary for brain development

Through play, children learn to think, recall, reason, and pay attention. While having fun they also develop problem-solving abilities, patience, and a variety of other talents.

1. Obesity lowering

Toddlers who have plenty of opportunities to run, jump, and play are more likely to develop physical confidence and, as a result, to remain active and healthy throughout their lives.

1. Helps families bond

By contributing to early children's education parents get more comfortable and supportive relationships with their kids. Children will have talks and interactions with their parents via play, which will develop emotional connections and help them learn to manage their emotions.

1. Creative thinking

Playing promotes a child's imagination, which is perhaps the most evident benefit. While playing children might need to look for various solutions, ideas and be creative in their approaches. As a result, they develop creative thinking which is essential for their future life.

1. Improves ability to communicate

Children typically share their thoughts and communicate a lot when playing. Thus, communication skills develop naturally without external pressure.

Copy.ai

January 22, 2022 by cryan.com

Do you ever feel that you could use a little help with your writing? Maybe have a better bio on your LinkedIn page? How about an eye-catching description for that job posting?

Copy.ai is here to help. You can let the power of AI deliver some incredible writing when you need it the most.

Website Description

https://app.copy.ai/

Sample Blog Ideas

I ran the tool against this blog to get some ideas, this is what Copy.ai came up with:

• 3 Useful Internet Tools to Improve Your Productivity: A blog about interesting free websites that can help streamline your day.
• Welcome to the Cryan.com Clone Site! here contain even more internet tools for free than our website.
• Top 10 Free Tools for Communication: A Blog about creating a strong social media presence.
• Cool Way To Organize Files: a blog on file organization with our site www.cryan.com
• Learn How To Apply For A Loan Online! a blog around getting a loan online.
• Start Your Own Blog for Free with Blogger: A blog about how to start a blog for free.
• 10 Fun Ways to Use Your Google Space: A blog about ways you can make use of your Google Space.
• What Is The Internet: A Tool To Aid You In Creating Content Online: A blog that describes what the internet is, how it works and how you can use the internet effectively.

Bullet Point to Blog Section

This was generated by Copy.ai:

Pixelmator Remove Background

January 21, 2022 by cryan.com

In November, Pixelmator Pro added a AI-powered background removal tool. This is a very powerful feature that makes it easy to remove background from any image.

Pixelmator Pro was certain that you'll be using this feature all the time, that they built in a Finder Quick Action so you can remove a background from any image without having to open up the application.

Three Reasons Why This is Great!

You can quickly remove the background of any image. Pixelmator Pro creates a new image so the original image isn't impacted. There's no harm to use this to any image that you have.

This works anyplace in the finder. So you can be looking at an image on a flash drive and apply this tool.

The whole process takes place in the background. Pixelmator won't open up and disrupt your desktop view or flow.

Not Enabled by Default

Here's the steps to enable this.

• Open up System Preferences. Apple Menu -> System Preferences
• Search or Click Extensions. (Tip: The icon is a puzzle piece.)
• Click Finder on the Left navigation.
• Click check box next to "Remove Background,"

If you don't see "Remove Background" you will need to update Pixelmator Pro to the latest version.

Info-Mac CD

January 20, 2022 by cryan.com

This week ClassicMac we take a quick look back at Info-Mac CD collection: InfoMac VI - August 1995.

The CD was built on August 1, 1995, just in the for MacWorld Boston 1995. That particular show featured the PowerMac 8500, 7500, and 7200. I believe that I got the CD from the tradeshow.

Note: Windows 95 came out on August 24, 1995.

The Info-Mac CD collection was a collection of shareware applications. At the time, it was pretty much how developers were able to get their shareware applications out.

Info-Mac is still around at info-mac.org. The website host the "original online Mac user community." The only problem is that the community has gone quiet. The last post in the forum (as of today) was on June 18th, 2021.

Welcome to Info-Mac VI!

Some Apps on the CD

These are some of the notable apps that are on the CD collection.

KitCat

KitCat is a clock for the Macintosh that looks like a black cat with an analog clock in it's belly. It works on system 7 and earlier.

Stop the Madness 0.851r

Stop The Madness is an Apple II+ emulator for the Macintosh. See the Read Me for more information. The original definitive FTP site is located at ftp://cassandra.ucr.edu/pub/apple2.

Minimalist Clock 1.0

Minimalist Clock is a very small application which displays a clock on your screen. You can move the clock wherever you like. You can also view the current date by clicking the clock once. Code Warrior C source code included.

WolfEdit 1.1

This program allows the user to create new levels for Wolfenstein 3D. The upgrade (from 1.0) includes some bug fixes and minor changes. Support for the Second Encounter is also added.

FPUseless 1.0b

WARNING!!! This program is potentially dangerous. It should be used with caution and NEVER put on a machine without everyone who uses that machine knowing about it! Probably meant as a joke, this control panel introduces small round-off errors in floating point math (FPU and native PPC math is not affected).

BBEdit Lite 3.0

BBEdit Lite is a freeware derivative of BBEdit 3.1, it is a popular text editor for programmers, on-line-service users, and anyone else who needs to edit plain text files. It also has features for writing HTML documents. This is an application we thought needed to go in the Tool Chest

Final Cut Pro Captions

January 19, 2022 by cryan.com

Final Cut Pro doesn't come with any default caption text styles. I guess they don't think that it's a style that media artists would ever use.

This week, I am releasing seven "Media Captions" for Final Cut Pro. These were created in Apple Motion. They all have the same function - they have different color fills as the background.

Caption Colors

These are the background colors included in the download. The text is white when it makes sense for visibility.

• Black
• Blue
• Green
• Orange
• Purple
• Red
• White

Full Control

You can change the font, size, box roundness, and the display text of each caption. You can also change the background color and font color - so you are not technically limited to the seven colors that are provided. (It just makes things easier to get started.)

Don't like the lower third placement? You can change the location of the caption by using the transform tool.

Simple Install Instructions

Apple has instructions on how to add custom titles to Final Cut Pro. These are the logistics steps:

• Download the Apple Motion Caption folder
• Unzip the file
• Put the "Caption folder" in ~/Movies/Motion Templates/Titles

Enjoy!

BostonGhost.com Email

January 18, 2022 by cryan.com

A long time ago, I purchased the BostonGhost.com domain to use for testing. I never did anything with it, but still have the domain thanks to a hosting provider that I worked at.

Every once in a while I would get business inquiries about the domain. Usually, it's a sign of mass mailing, and the sender doesn't pay much attention to the potential client.

This is one such email that I recently got:

QA Fails the Email

Here's are four reasons that QA fails this email:

1. Why would I trust an email coming from gmail.com? Do they not have a legitimate business? Shouldn't the sender be using their domain name? If you are so good, wouldn't you have a domain name-
2. Nice generic hello statement. You couldn't capitalize the domain name-
3. "Hope Your Doing Well?" Like you really care how I am doing?
4. Nice that you keep the variable placeholder in the email. That clearly shows that you pay attention to your emails. I certainly want to trust my Social Media Optimization and SEO to your company.

We All make Mistakes

I didn't call out the name of this company. We all make mistakes.

You should always test your email campaign before sending it out. At least have a second set of eyes to offer some constructive feedback.

Want to know why your conversion rate is low? You're not testing.

Panasonic DC-FZ80

January 17, 2022 by cryan.com

This week's media is a change-up from the standard media feature. This week I am focusing on how to get the most out of my Panasonic DC-FZ80.

The Panasonic DC-FZ80 is an excellent camera at a very affordable price. I use it every week to take videos of a local church service. The only thing is that the video colors don't match up to the Nikon 7500 camera.

I am not saying a $299 camera should have the same results as a $3000 camera. I do think that I am not getting the best use from the Panasonic DC-FZ80 camera. After all it has gotten great reviews from experts and consumers.

Four Ways to get the best Video

Shoot at 4K - Shooting at 4K comes with a time penalty. At 1080p I can shoot up to 30-mins of video. When shooting a 4K the max limit is 15-mins. The advantage of going 4K is you maximize the quality of the picture.

Adjust ISO Before Shooting - Set the ISO settings before clicking the record button. Make sure the picture is good before the video starts.

Use Movie Mode for recording - While you can record video at any time by clicking on the record button, you are better off using the movie mode to get the most configurations to get the best shot.

Check Metering Mode - One reason that colors may be off is that the wrong metering mode is being used. Used the quick menu setting to set the proper metering mode.

The 7 Most Effective Ways to Increase your Conversion Rate

January 16, 2022 by cryan.com

Marketing executives may have you believe that in order for your business to make money, you need to get your message across. While that is true, it only represents one half of the equation. Even if people hear about your products, how many will visit your website, and of those who do visit, what percentage actually ends up making a purchase? Obviously, getting people interested in your product is a great start, but the second half of the puzzle is getting them to act. Let's look at the 7 most effective ways to increase your conversion rate and your bottom line.

What are conversions?

Before we dive deeper, it might be best if we get our definitions straight. Your rate of conversions represents the number of users who perform a desired action after arriving on your website. This can be clicking on a button, filling out a form, or making a purchase. You'll need to find ways to get users to perform the action you want them to, rather than just leave the website as soon as they arrive.

Here are the 7 most effective ways to increase your conversion rate

Optimize through testing

One of the best ways to get things to work is to keep testing and experimenting until you find a solution that works. If you ever run into a situation where you are unsure which headline to use, you can simply run an A/B split test to see which works better. Create several alternative pages and divide the traffic equally among them. Afterward, you can track the results to see which page gives you more conversions. When it comes to marketing effectiveness, perfection is hard to achieve, and some would even say it's impossible. Therefore, you'll need to experiment to find the most effective ways to increase your conversion rate and optimize through several iterations until you find something that gives you the desired results.

/Try several different layouts to see which one will increase your conversion rate.
Alt-tag: Login screen on a phone.

Have a strong Call to Action

No one is going to be impressed by an unoriginal CTA. Try to come up with something better than a generic "Sign up" for your landing page. A much better copy for your CTA is something that sounds positive and inspires people to act. "Yes, I'm interested in getting a discount" is much better since it is written from the perspective of your customers and it frames your offer in a positive light. As with many other items on this list, you can test several options to see which one gets more clicks. You could also experiment with different uses of colors. This will let you draw attention to certain parts of the screen and visually guide your users to where you want them to click.

Declutter your website

If your site is a mess of complicated menus, odd design choices, and far too many ads - users can quickly get confused. Even if they came to your website intending to sign up for your services, they might not know how to proceed. You should improve the visual aspect of your website by removing all of the noise and distractions. Anything that can draw your user away from what they initially came to your website for probably shouldn't be there in the first place. Sometimes less is more, and a clean design will help the essential elements of your website's design stand out.

Make user onboarding simple and easy.

Streamline your forms

Complicated forms can drive your users away before they have filled out and submitted the information in the form. You should simplify the forms and remove all unnecessary fields. When designing forms, you need to ask yourself: do you really need all of the information you are asking from your users. One of the most effective ways to increase your conversion rate is to make it easy for website visitors to subscribe, fill out orders and make a purchase. Those visitors who have expressed an interest and opened a form are some of your most precious leads, and it would be a shame to drive them away when they are so close to completing a form.

Offer valuable content

Content can represent the initial hook some people need to visit your site. Not everyone who sees your website or the ads leading to it will immediately want to make a purchase. Of course, some people will be enticed by your offers and will want to check out your site for more details. On the other hand, you can try to persuade some online users to visit your website by hosting interesting content and informative articles. Try to create educational content that will cover how your products are used and the benefits they can provide. Your content should also answer common user questions and reinforce your products and services as the solutions to the problems users may be facing.

Have reviews and testimonials on your website

If you have numerous satisfied customers, you should be proud to let others know about it. Have testimonials visible on your site. People love seeing proof that something is effective, and positive reviews can go a long way to increasing your conversion rate. Users will be much more likely to take the plunge and make a purchase if they see that they aren't the only one who is doing business with you.

Simple percentual discounts don't have a sense of urgency.

Incentivize immediate action

Having your users make an immediate purchase can save you a lot of time and money that you would otherwise spend following up on that lead and trying to make a conversion at a later date. However, most people aren't inclined to make impulse purchases. That's where basic marketing psychology can step in to help you. You'll need to understand how scarcity and exclusivity function. Evaluate your business strategy, and see how you can best put to use the fear of missing out to get more users to act when they visit your site. People hate missing out on great offers, but you can't just call something exclusive and hope people buy it. For your customers to feel like they are making an exclusive purchase, you need to offer great deals but only at a limited time or in a limited quantity.

In conclusion

Now that we've gone over the 7 most effective ways to increase your conversion rate, it's time to do some tweaking on your website. Don't be afraid to try something new to see if it will work. The results might surprise you, and you could end up with a higher rate of conversions.

Letter to Yourself in the Future

January 15, 2022 by cryan.com

Have you set goals for 2022? Want to make some accountability? Why not write a letter to your future self?

The website futureme.org lets you create emails that will be sent to you in the future. You can set the date to be 1 year, 3 years, 5 years or more.

The site has been around for 20-years. So it's not going anyplace - certainly worth a simple letter so say "Hi!"

Good news is the service is free!

Website Description

https://www.futureme.org/

Setting up new MacBook Pro

January 14, 2022 by cryan.com

This week I got a new MacBook Pro laptop at work. This means that I had to set up the computer to the way I link to use it.

Here are three things that I had to get done. I created this blog post for future reference.

Apple Screen Capture

I use Apple Screen capture all the time. However, I don't like the drop shadow and I don't want the PNG format since it's usually larger than the JPG format.

Remove Drop Shadow

The drop shadow is so 2010. Remove the default drop shadow on all screen captures.

Save as JPG

Save disk space and make your captures JPEG files. Why did Apple make the default screen capture as PNG format?

Restart the System Server

All together now

Simple Cut/Paste of the three commands mentioned above:

Fix BBEdit Settings

Removed the dreaded return after applying a paragraph tag:

BBEdit Default Preferences

Make the following adjustments:

Appearance

• Application appearance should be set to dark.
• Editor color scheme should be Haunted Mansion (cryan.com)
• Turn off Page guide at [90] characters.

Application

• When BBEdit becomes active set it to "Do Nothing"

Completion

• Enable "Include system text replacements in completion list"

Editor Default

• Enable "Soft wrap text to" and select the Window Width.

Applications Install

These are my helper applications - outside of anything specific that my work provides.

• BBEdit - Essential text editor
• Keyboard Maestro - #1 Productive App
• LaunchBar - Launch Applications quicker
• Panic's Transmit - Transer files between the computer and server
• Magnet - I use Mosaic on my personal computer, but Magnet has the iCloud license. Keyboard shortcuts are essentially the same.
• Photoscape X - Quick graphic editor.
• iTerm2 - Essential Terminal App.
• DBeaver - DB management tool

About this Macintosh Dialog box

January 13, 2022 by cryan.com

Apple has come a long way with MacOS. I was looking at the "About This Mac" dialog from a couple of my computers and it's pretty interesting how things have changed.

System 7.5.5

The "About This Macintosh" is from my Apple Centra 660av. This dialog box was useful in showing what applications were using the most memory. Got to love the old Macintosh logo.

This screenshot was taken in 1995 - just about the time I moved to California. At the time I was using this computer as an answering machine.

Mac OS X 10.5.8

THe "About this Mac" dialog is from my Powerbook G4. It shows some information about the computer and the Processor power. Pretty useful when trying to figure out the capabilities of the computer.

This screenshot was taken today! I still use this Powerbook every once in a while. I still have Photoshop CS2 and Indesign on the computer. I never updated Photohop beyond CS2 - so anytime that I feel the need to use it I have it available. This computer is also good in reading old Mac Data CD/DVDs.

macOS Monterey

This is the primary computer that I am using today - my iMac (Retina 5k, 27-inch, 2019). This dialog box is packed with information about the computer. Apple broke down other useful information such as Display and Storage into separate tabs - so the dialog box isn't overwhelming to the user.

This is my main computer, it works really well. Its amazing to see the difference of processor power that a computer has today than it did 27 years ago with my Centra 660av.

360-Degree Images

January 12, 2022 by cryan.com

If you have a 360-Degree camera, you'll be happy to know that you can use your footage inside of Apple Motion.

I am still learning on how to integrate and use a 360-degree image. But there are a few things that I learned so far.

Five Things I Have Learned

To use a 360-degree image or video your project needs to be set up as a 360-degree Video preset. If it isn't you won't get the full 360 Environment.

Any video or image that you import into Apple Motion has to be stitched first. You can use applications like Ricoh Theta to stich files - I tested images imported into Apple Photos and that imported successfully into Apple Motion.

When you import files the images end up in a group that is labeled 360-degrees.

You can pan around your 360-degree image using the Orbit control when in the 360-degree "Look Around" mode.

Orbit control - This was a bit tricky to figure out. I couldn't figure out how to move the image around. It simple. Just click the mouse in the middle icon in the top view - see icons above. Then drag around to change the viewer.

You can also use the Rotation settings in the Properties panel to adjust the view. I just need to spend some time learning how to move the camera with the 360 images. Apple has a good guide to learn how to use 360-degree images in Apple Motion.

QA Fail: Natick Mall Exit Sign

January 11, 2022 by cryan.com

Natick Mall is one of the busiest Malls in Massachusetts. You can find all sorts of interesting stores and eating places.

If your drive eastbound on Route 9 heading to the Natick Mall, it can be a bit tricky since there's no direct exit to the mall.

You can't take a left at a light to go to the Mall.

When you get to the Mall, you may see this sign:

QA Fails this sign

Not sure who this sign is for - it's pretty small and easily missed with all the other distractions.

The sign is incorrect. The next "exit" is a traffic light and taking a left will put you in Sherwood plaza across the street from the Natick Mall.

You need to be in the right lane to get to the Natick Mall which is on the left side of the road. You can't turn left at the lights - where you would think you would. The sign is too close to the light - so a car in the left lane would have to cross a couple of lanes to take the proper exit.

Oh, if you miss your exit? It's a 1-mile penalty to do a U-Turn back to the Mall.

Map to Show The Way

Here's a map to show the proper way to get to the Natick Mall parking lot:

Basically you have to drive by Sherwood Plaza and take the Speen St. Exit and the take the 9 West Framingham route. You'll end up making a U-turn and positioning yourself to several parking areas at the Natick Mall.

Medicare Benefits Phone Scam

January 10, 2022 by cryan.com

Jeff Anderson from Medicare Benefits called me last week. Not exactly sure why I got the call seeing that I am many many years away from collecting Medicare Benefits.

Jeff really wanted my age.
I wasn't going to volunteer information.

Here's how the call went,,,,

Apple Watch Series 7

January 9, 2022 by cryan.com

Apple Watch Series 3 vs Apple Watch Series 7

This past Christmas I got a new Apple Watch Series 7. This is to replace my Apple Watch Series 3. I used the watch all the time for fitness and for notifications.

Welcome Surprise

I was excited to get a new watch because the Series 3 was getting difficult to update. In order to do any vatchOS update, I would need to delete everything on my watch. This became an issue when the Apple Watch wasn't syncing data to my phone. The Series 3 only comes with 8GB capacity - which isn't enough for storage and to perform an update. (Why is Apple still selling this watch with an 8GB capacity?)

How to Sync Watch to iPhone

The way that I got my sync to work is pretty simple:

1. Tuen off the Apple Watch - Hold down the button below the wheel and select power off.
2. After a minute turn on the Apple Watch, using the same button. Make sure the Watch is near the iPhone on booting.
3. Open up the Watch app on the iPhone.

The sync should start happening. If you have a lot of data, such as Memo, it may take a while for the content to copy to your iPhone.

Apple Watch Screen Resolution

The Apple Watch Series 7 face looks smaller than the series 3. However, Apple packed more pixels in a smaller space. So your essentially getting a better quality image in a smaller space.

Apple Watch Series 3 - 312 X 390

Apple Watch Series 7 - 352 X 430

NightSky this Month

January 8, 2022 by cryan.com

The Boston Museum of Science puts out a handy graphic of what is in the night sky over New England. This is useful to look at when you are about to venture on a nighttime journey - such as walking the dog.

If you are not in New England, you can check out if your local science museum has a similar guide. The ASTC Travel Passport Program at the Association of Science and Technology Centers is a useful reference to find your local science museum.

https://www.mos.org/node/45169526

Note: This link will always display the latest night-sky graphic.

Chrome Mouse Shortcuts

January 7, 2022 by cryan.com

If you right-click on a link to Open a Link in a New Tab, or a Window. There is actually an easier way to get the task done.

Here are three useful Chrome shortcuts that are worth using every day:

These tips work in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari - it seems to be a universal standard. So they are worth knowing and using. You can save some time and be more efficient.

Fonts By David Rakowski

January 6, 2022 by cryan.com

Here are some font examples there done by David Rakowski from the Boston Computer Society Software CD collection.

David Rakowski has been creating fonts since the early 1990s. All of his fonts are still available online at various font services such as fontspace.com, Font Squirrel, and dafont.com. Over the years he has created 96 fonts of various varieties.

David Rakowski is actually better known for his music. He is a Professor of Composition at Brandeis University. He has received numerous awards for his teaching and music. You can listen to some of his music on Spotify.

Here are three examples:

Bizarro, Gallaudet, Dupuy and Lilth

Boston is written in Bizarro, The fingers were done using Gallaudet, Stay Hungry was in Lilth and the Champion Text was done using Dupuy. These can be found in the collection in dafont.com.

Good Sense of Humor

One of the things I like is David's humor in the Read Me files. In the early read me files, he describes the history of the font and some copyright information. At the end of the file is some reference to the Insect Bytes.

Here are a few humor examples:

User groups, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit shareware/public domain outlets may distribute this font given the above conditions. The Dupuy fonts come to you from Insect Bytes, a place with so-so sunsets (say that five times fast) and spectacular stargazing.

Lilith-Heavy is copyright (c) 1992 by David Rakowski. All Rights Reserved. It is distributed as shareware; if you like, use and/or keep this font, please make a donation to the Columbia University Music Department of $3.01 (a mere penny more than the cost of Lilith-Light). If your first or last name is hyphenated, please send $4.01 instead. Make your check out to Columbia University and send it to Cynthia Lemiesz, Music Department, 703 Dodge Hall, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. In it, you may enclose a brief letter with all the vowels left out (e.g. "Dr Cnth: Hw r y? m fn.).

Lilith-Heavy comes to you from Insect Bytes, and there's nothing you can do about it.

The Gallaudet font comes to you from Insect Bytes.

Bizarro is a real-life product of an imaginary entity known as Insect Bytes, a place where ice is something you walk on, not just something you put in a drink.

PixieFont is - by David Rakowski, and is distributed as shareware. If you like the font, please send a check for $4.99 payable to Columbia University to: Victoria Salter, Music Department, Dodge Hall, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. You should also enclose the following letter, typed in whatever font you choose:

Pixelmator Pro to Motion

January 5, 2022 by cryan.com

One of the nice features of Pixelmator Pro is the ability to export a file to Apple Motion format. This preserves all layers and transparency. This is a unique feature to Pixelmator Pro as this isn't available in Affinity Photo or GraphicConverter.

Pixelmator Pro Motion Export Dialog with the Motion Document code.

Apple Motion Description in Pixelmator Pro

Here's the description right from the Pixelmator Pro help file:

Three Reasons Why This is Useful

A lot more Graphic Tools - Pixelmator Pro has a lot more shape tools to create the design you are looking for. For example, you can combine shapes to create a wave from left to right.

Better alignment Tools - You can perfectly align objects to the page. In addition, you can use some of the aligned tools to perfectly space objects. For example, you can create box grids as placeholders.

Text Along Paths - you can easily create texts on paths in Pixelmator Pro. You can export the text to Motion and bring that text to life.

Google Cloud Termination Email

January 4, 2022 by cryan.com

Recently I was test Google Cloud to see how it compares to the features of Amazon Web Services. This was using a self training program that I did for work.

I created a personal account so that I had more flexibility.

I only used Google Cloud during the trial period and was not required to put in a card for the trial - which was good because I really didn't have any intentions to make a purchase.

A couple of weeks later I get this email:

Text of the email:

Why QA Failes

This email sounds very threatening and somewhat demanding. I had no files in the Google Cloud.

Why mention, "pay all amounts past due" when there wasn't anything to payback? I was using it during the allowed trial period.

Once someone is done with the trial, or if I feel that it isn't for them, there should be a way to cancel.

I never got a "Termination" email from Amazon Web Services. My account was just moved to the AWS Free Tier.

GoPro Hero 9 - A Year Later

January 3, 2022 by cryan.com

A year ago today I purchased the GoPro hero 9 from Buy Buy. You can read all about my GoPro purchase and expectations on the January 3, 2021 blog post. In addition, check out all the various GoPro Blog posts from last year.

The GoPro Hero 9 was a great purchase and I certainly got my monthly worth from the camera. It's a great tech toy to have and highly recommend anyone that enjoys photography to get one.

Sample Video

Cape Cod at night using the standard night time timelapse settings.

Top Accessories

Over the past year, I purchased various accessories to make use of the GoPro. These are the top three accessories that I recommend people get with their GoPro.

GoPro Flex Mount - This has worked great! I use it to connect the GoPro to a tripod. I purchased a similar one that GoPro makes on Amazon and it lasted about 4 months.

GoPro Media Mod - This GoPro Accessory adds a quality microphone to help create a better-sounding video for situations where you need it. This is great to have when you want quality sound.

GoPro Battery Charger with Extra Battery - This is essential when traveling. Its very helpful to have extra batteries and to have a charger that can charge both of them at the same time.

Things I Learned

The original GoPro batteries didn't last that long. By July of last year, I had to stop using the original batteries because they didn't hold the charge that long.

Your better off getting a large SD card for traveling. I think 256GB is a good size for a week's trip.

Be careful using the GoPro in extreme temperatures. You are much better off using an external device in hot temperatures. In cold temperatures use something that will at least protect the camera from snow and ice.

When using an external charger. Make sure to connect it to the GoPro first before turning it on. This will make it so the GoPro knows there is an external power source.

Using a coin can help open the battery door. It is hard to open it the first few times but you can get used to it. It is hard to open because it needs to be waterproof.

There are times when the GoPro will not upload files to the cloud right away. Make sure to disconnect the USB-c cable to try again. It may take a couple of tries. Always check to see if the file was uploaded before deleting it from the card. Don't assume that files always get uploaded.

I have found that video files - particularly long 5k videos - are files that have problems uploading on the initial attempt. It will get uploaded - just be patient and try a couple of times.

The GoPro does a great job capturing audio. I have placed this near a load audio source and I haven't gotten any clipping sounds as I have with other devices.

I like to keep the device charged and an empty card in the device. You never know when you'll want to use it.

Nighttime Timelapse is one of my favorite features. It's very cool to set up the camera in the backyard and watch the stars move through the night. I have tried it at various locations and found amazing things in the night sky. It works great in the summer and winter.

2022 Blog Plan

January 2, 2022 by cryan.com

Welcome to 2022!

Tomorrow marks the 6 years of consecutive blogging. It's hard to believe that I have been blogging nonstop for that long. ( Check out the first post that I started with - UFO Quadcopter Stuck in Tree )

Here is the content lineup through February 2022. I have been working on better content planning for these topics.

2022 Blog Topics

Sunday - Open topic anything goes. You may find Business topics are the most popular topics.

Monday - Media Monday. I'll post more video clips from my personal VHS collection. Expect to see more classic Internet Ads and moments from the 1990s.

Tuesday - QA Fail. Some interesting fail things that I have encountered. Most of the content will make you think - how did that pas Qa?

Wednesday - Apple Motion tips and tricks. Interesting things that I discover in Apple Motion. Every once in a while there will be posts featuring an Apple Motion template.

Thursday - Classic Macintosh Topics. I'll reach into my collection in the basement and recall the good old days of using the Macintosh. Maybe I'll boot up the old Macintosh Plus.

Friday - Macintosh Friday. Interesting tips and tricks on popular hardware and software. I am always looking for ways to get better use of the software that I use every day.

Saturday - Internet Tools. Interesting Internet tools that I find. Many of the feature sites are free

Thoughts For Blogging in 2022

More Creativity - I am looking forward to more creative posts. I plan to use various graphic tools to add more appropriate graphics.

Better Planning - I also plan on the blog content a few days early so that I can put more value in the blog post. In the past, I would come up with the topic on the day the blog post was written.

Video Posts - In a few posts, I'll switch it up and add video instead of graphics. Just looking at doing something different.

Interactive Night Sky

January 1, 2022 by cryan.com

Do you walk the dog at night and look up at the night sky? Maybe you like to sit on the porch and look up. Ever wonder what's in the night sky right when you look up?

Sky & Telescope can help. They built an Interactive Night Sky that shows you - at any given point - what is in the night sky.

What's nice is that you can change the date picker to be anytime - even in the past! You can see the night sky the day you were born.

Website Description

https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/interactive-sky-chart