Just Computers

In addition to new keyboard sounds and forum reply space, iOS 10.0.2 has other pretty major cosmetic changes.

Previously you slid a button to open the phone/pad from sleep. Now you press the Home button twice. Sliding the button now opens a dialog box giving all your new emails and messages, scheduled events for the day, stock market, news headlines, weather, etc depending on how deep you dig.

Mail now displays the current message, as well as the first couple of lines of all emails in that thread.

Previously pulling up on the bottom of the screen opened up a submenu of preferences, like Bluetooth, printing, airplay, camera, flashlight, etc. Now it opens up two sub-submenus, with those functions separated.

Do you find the new version easier to use? Are there features that you would describe as "must have" changes?

It seems to me that with each new version of IOS, it becomes increasingly inconvenient for using the iPhone as a telephone. They are great gadgets, but the direction the OS is going is not one that I find desirable. That's just my opinion.

Ease of use, all my emails on the main screen, notifications come up before you unlock the phone... nothing essential, but all definite improvements.

Except this damn two line forum reply screen. This is the only forum with a problem. Must be something between Firefox and PhBB.

I still use the iPhone as a phone. To my knowledge there's never been a version change to the phone app.

richard09 wrote:

Yahoo 'expected to confirm massive data breach', says Recode

I finally got emails from Yahoo that my account was possibly one of those that got stolen. I have several email accounts on Yahoo, and it turns out that changing the passwords was a hassle. The hassle was caused by the fact that my Yahoo email accounts are through AT&T, which sucks big time. I finally got all the passwords changed and inserted into my browser, email client and password vault.

It occurred to me that I should probably change from accounts that are through AT&T and go with a "generic" email service, such as Yahoo or GMail. I looked at the password vault and I have over 160 entries. Most of these will require logging on and changing my email address, in addition to sending change notices to everyone with whom I exchange email. Fucking time and headache.

I guess the choice comes down to either Yahoo or Gmail. Do you guys use either of these, and which would you recommend?

Security-wise, both suck.

I use Yahoo mail (and have Yahoo as my home page). It is OK, not wonderful, but by and large it gets the job done. I've never used Gmail. The impression I get is that Google would be more intrusive, but that may be prejudice.

From what I've read, that seems to be the case, Richard. Google goes wild with the advertising.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Security-wise, both suck.

Security-wise, the whole fucking internet sucks. What email service do you use?

I lease space from Ed Snowden.

You're a lot of help.

Tx96@::m23*}(!e

Yahoo puts up a lot of ads, too, but Ghostery knocks out what would be the most annoying ones. I find it easy to ignore the remainder. To be fair to Google, Ghostery would probably clean up that shit too.

This probably counts as a vote against Yahoo.

Did Yahoo spy on its users’ emails for the NSA?

I recommend adding a signature to all your emails:

"Stop wasting my tax dollars searching for keywords like Al Qaeda, jihad, bomb, anthrax, ricin, reservoir, etc in all of the emails anyone sends in this country."

Do you think they might get the message?

I think the best policy is to assume that everything you put on the internet or via text messaging will be intercepted.

Got a question for you, Richard.

Do you use Thunderbird or some other client on your desktop computer to access Yahoo mail? I was looking using at Yahoo with Thunderbird, and found a note (dated 2010) that POP is not free with Yahoo mail in the US and Canada, so I would have to pay to use a local client. I don't know if that has been changed. That would be a deal breaker for me.

No. I just use the webmail accessed from the Yahoo.com home page (which is basically why I made it my home page for browsing).

I did try using a dedicated mail client one time (I can't remember whether it was Thunderbird or something else), and basically decided it was too much trouble. Yes it would give you total control of all sorts of things, but - it was email, for chrissakes. Just using the built-in UI from the homepage was good enough for me.

The nice thing about a local client is that it can be set to check your mail for you on a timer.

Why would you do that? I'm curious.

My work stations always had automatic mail checking. It's just what I am used to.
If the computer can check your email for you, then why not let it?

Does it weed out the spam and post replies to the non-spam?

The spam is weeded out by the email service. Any that it misses I can mark as junk in the email client.

I still have to post my own responses, although the client can be programmed to respond with a canned notice if I'm on vacation or otherwise unavailable.

So then what do you mean by "checking email"? Do you have to physically ask your client to download new messages from the server?

No. I configure the client as to how often to check each account for new email. I can also configure the client to just notify me when there is new mail, or to download the mail as well as notify me.

I use Thunderbird for my email client. It's from Mozilla; it's free; and they have a version for Mac. Give it a try.

Of course I don't know if Thunderbird will work with your "Tx96@::m23*}(!e" email service.

I went with Gmail. Works fine with Thunderbird. T-bird knows about Gmail, so when I created a new account with a Gmail address, T-bird knew the inbound and outbound settings to use. With other services, I have always had to configure it manually.

The first time I sent a message with the Gmail account from T-bird, a browser window popped up asking me to log in to Gmail. "That sucks," I thought. But after logging in, Gmail asked if I wanted T-bird to manage my email. After responding positively, Gmail closed and I no longer have to log in to Gmail to send. Cool.