Archive for category: Information Technology

I’ve been using Google Apps for email, calendar and contacts for many years. And over the past few months, I’m finding that I have more “to do” kinds of tasks that I need to keep a handle on. Usually, I use a combination of my inbox and calendar to keep track. As far as the inbox, I mark items with a star that still need to be taken care of and leave them in my inbox until I’ve done the work. And if it’s something that is going to take some time, I block time on my calendar. The problem is that I sometimes miss the things on my calendar if I get busy and let them go by. I needed a better way to organize outstanding tasks.

Google Tasks

In April 2018, Google came out with an updated look and feel for Gmail. And they also added a new application that ties into their Suite of applications called Google Tasks. They didn’t make a big deal out of it, so a lot of people don’t even know that Google Tasks is a thing. It’s exactly what I needed… a dedicated place to put all of my to dos. Even better, they synchronize across all of my devices so I can always see my task list… on my phone, tablet and computers.

You access Google Tasks by clicking the icon to the right of your inbox in Gmail. Check out the picture if you aren’t sure where to look. It’s the blue circle with a check mark symbol.

The app keeps things simple. You create a list (or multiple) and then add tasks to it. You can add sub-tasks to tasks as well. Dates can be assigned, but it’s not a specific day and time the task needs to be done, just the day. For me, that’s perfect. If I needed it to be done at a certain time, I would put it on my calendar.

Integration is Powerful

Where things get interesting is in the integration with the other applications, specifically Gmail and Calendar.

Gmail

You can create a new task directly tied to an email in your inbox. For example, say you have an email from a client asking you to do something. You can drag and drop that email from Gmail into the Google Tasks window to create a new task. And the task has a link back to the email in addition to the title and notes you put in. So when you get around to doing the task, you can reference the original email from your client to make sure you get everything done accurately.

Calendar

Once you create a task list in Google, there’s a new calendar available to you… the tasks calendar. Turn it on to see due dates for any of the tasks you’ve assigned a date to! (It’s under My Calendars | Tasks… just check the checkbox next to tasks to enable them to show up on your calendar view.)

You can sort your tasks based on date or custom order. To create a custom order, you simply drag and drop the tasks in the order you want to complete them.

If you don’t have a task list application, I recommend you give Google Tasks a try. It’s easy to get started and might really help your workflow. Especially if you find yourself in the situation where you’ve forgotten to do something… and it keeps happening.

As always, thanks for reading. If you have a topic you would like for me to cover, let me know!

By Jason Terry, talking about Wi-Fi Calling

Recently I went to the lake with some of my business friends. We’re part of a peer advisory group together and go to the lake a couple of times a year. The goal is to have more focused time together. To strengthen our relationships. But most importantly, to have some fun.

One of the challenges when going to the lake is that cell reception is spotty at best. In many places, there’s no service at all. I mentioned this to Jason Moxness and he gave me a solution to my problem. (Kudos to Moxness for inspiring this blog post!)

Wi-Fi Calling

Did you know that newer phones can make and receive calls and texts using an internet connection? Normally, your phone is using a cellular connection to handle calls and texts, but everything stops when your cell coverage is low or non-existent. All you need to make this work is a phone that supports Wi-Fi calling and a Wi-Fi internet connection.

The house we were staying at had great Wi-Fi, so once I made the setting change in my phone, I was able to call and text like normal. Awesome.

It was a bit embarrassing that a banker taught me something technical.

I am usually the technical one solving his problems. Case in point, he had an email sync problem that involved IMAP settings and Google Email Folder view settings that I fixed for him earlier that day. It’s a good reminder that nobody has all the answers and it’s important to ask for help when you are struggling with something.

911 Calls

The only thing that’s a bit weird about switching from cellular calling to Wi-Fi calling is how 911 calls are handled. Normally, when you make a 911 call and you’re connected to a cell tower, the operator has a very good idea of where you are physically located. That changes drastically when you are calling over Wi-Fi because your location depends on your internet service provider network. In layman’s terms, I could be calling from the Lake of the Ozarks and it look like I am calling from St. Louis.

As a result, when you switch to Wi-Fi calling on your phone, you have to accept some terms and conditions related to 911 calls. You also have to specify the physical address that you would want 911 responders to go to in the case of an emergency. It’s something to be mindful of and understand if you start using Wi-Fi calling a lot.

(I decided to turn Wi-Fi calling off when I got back to Kansas City. In the event of an emergency, I don’t want responders going to my house!)

Setting Wi-Fi Calling up on an iPhone

Go to Settings | Phone | Wi-Fi Calling. Drag the little slider to the ON position and follow the prompts.

Setting Wi-Fi Calling up on Android Phones

Open the Settings app on your Android phone and tap the “More” or “More Settings” button under Wireless & network. You’ll see a “Wi-Fi Calling” option on the next screen – activate it to enable the feature. If you don’t want to use Wi-FI calling, you can disable it from here, too. This option won’t show up unless you’re using a phone with Wi-Fi calling support..

I hope this was a helpful tip… I’ve asked quite a few people if they knew about this capability on their phones. Based on a survey of about 20 people, more than half of them were aware this was possible. I was in the minority that DIDN’T know. It was really useful to learn that Wi-Fi calling was available on my iPhone!

P.S. If you were wondering how my step discipline is going, I’m still walking at least 10,000 steps every day. I walked a total of 36 miles last week.

Post author: Mic Johnson

Have you ever been added to a group text and found yourself in “group text hell” when person after person responds back with “Awesome!”, “Great photo!”, “Cool!”, etc. and then your text notification goes off again and again and again and again and again?

(You know what’s REALLY fun? I typically have my phone on vibrate and my text notification is actually a series of 4-5 vibrations…so take that, and multiply it by the number of texts in a typical group text, and it sounds like I’ve got a bunch of bees having a party in my front right pocket.)

If you’ve ever found yourself in this annoying scenario, I’ve got great news for you. THERE’S A WAY OUT! (This is for iPhone users. It also has to be done on each specific group text. It doesn’t remember the setting for all future group texts.)

1. Click on the group text message.

2. In the upper right hand corner, you’ll see “Details”. Click on that.

3. You’ll see the list of all of the people included in the group text. Scroll down.

4. Get really excited as you realize that your life is about to change.

5. There it is…DO NOT DISTURB. Move the little slider over and you’ll get no more audio or vibrate notifications for the group text!

6. Compose yourself.

7. Wipe away the tears of joy.

8. Get on with your day!