PC Mike Podcast 21: Oh No! I've Been Robbed! -

The PC Mike Techcast has taken a few weeks off, but not by choice – it was because a couple of thugs stole PC Mike’s tech gear at the very start of a cross-country RVing adventure.

It only took a few minutes, too.

The bad guys took computers, cameras, recording equipment, and more, essentially turning what was supposed to be a quick dinner into an endeavor costing thousands.

It was bad but thankfully no one was hurt. It could’ve been worse.

So it’s on with the show, starting with Mike’s recap of the burglary and how preparing ahead of time helped lessen the impact somewhat. Among other things, Mike mentions:

How his dash cam provided crucial evidence about the crime to police. Here’s more about what he uses (Read more)
The importance of backing up assets using services such as Dropbox and Evernote
How a program called Find My Mac (part of Apple’s iCloud offerings) can help track down a Mac
How a program from Orbicule called Undercover also can track down and see who is using your Mac
The importance of a password manager like LastPass

Also in this episode, Mike talks about the best time to send a Twitter message, Apple’s response to the Confederate flag debate, Office for Android, and apps for summer.

[spp-player]

More shownotes from episode 21 of the PC Mike Techcast:

Tech News of the Week: When to Tweet, Apple Responds, Office for Android

Study Reveals Best Time to Tweet: A new study finds a disparity between when people are most likely to read Tweets (posts on Twitter) and when most Tweets are posted. (Read more)

Apple Responds to Confederate Flag Debate: Apple has removed games that include the Confederate flag in light of the public debate of how appropriate it is for use (Read more)

Office for Android: Microsoft has announced the official launch of Office for Android (Read more)

[spp-player]

Apps of the Week: Summer Safety Apps to Avoid Overheating, Sunburn, Dehydration

In PC Mike’s report for NBC-TV this week, he takes a look at three great apps to make sure you stay safe in the summer heat and sun.

First, if you’re going to be working or engaged in other physical outdoor activity when it heats up you need the OSHA Heat Safety Tool. The recently updated app allows users to calculate the heat index for a specific location and see risk levels for the day. Users also can set up the Heat Safety Tool to get reminders about drinking enough fluids, when to take breaks, and monitoring for signs and symptoms of heat-related illness. The app is free for iOS and Android.

The Ultraviolet app is specific to offering skin protection from the sun. It provides information about UV index levels for a specific location and goes further by recommending sun protection gear and reminders of when to reapply sunscreen. Ultraviolet is free for iOS.

And don’t forget to stay hydrated. For iOS, get Waterlogged. For Android, get Water Your Body. Both are free and work pretty much the same by providing you information about how much water you’ve had to drink and how much you should be drinking based on variable such as age, weight, and gender. You can get alerts, too, so that you know when you’re due for some more.

Check PC Mike’s report for TV by clicking here: https://youtu.be/cMhQqjx_ZnI

[spp-player]

Online Learning – Free Trial for PC Mike Listeners

I get asked a lot about finding online courses for learning how to use photography software such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom CC, which are both on my recently updated list of tech gear. I talk about how I benefited from taking online courses as well as a special deal available only to PC Mike Techcast listeners at pcmike.com/lynda, where you can even try it free for 10 days and see if online learning works as well for you as it has for me. By the way, they have more than 3,300 courses to pick from – including more than 100,000 video tutorials – in subjects ranging from photography, video and audio to graphic design and web development. With Lynda, you can get:

– Unlimited access to all 3,314 courses – more than 100,000 video tutorials
– Learn new software and stay up to date

Listeners of the PC Mike podcast can get a free 10-day trial. Try any course. Start your trial now and see what you can learn. Just go to https://pcmike.com/lynda to get the free 10 day trial.

[spp-player]

We Need Your Help!

As we begin a new podcast like this, it’s very important to get a bunch of reviews to be able to show well in the iTunes listings. So if you can, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe and leave me your rating and review.

Here’s how:

First, open up the iTunes app on your computer or mobile device. Click on Podcasts on top
> From the iTunes Podcasts page, use the “Search Store” field up at the top right corner of the page. Type in PC Mike Techcast under the Podcasts category.
> Click on the logo image of the PC Mike Techcast on the search return page
> From there, you can:

1) Subscribe

2) Choose and Click on a star (1-5) that reflects your rating. Five stars means you really like it, one star not so much.

3) Leave a written review.

Thanks to all for the kind reviews we’ve received so far. I read and appreciate every review! If you haven’t left a review please do so. I will be so grateful!

And remember, you can appear in future episodes. Ask a question or voice your comments by clicking the Leave Voicemail tab on the right side of this page here at pcmike.com. You can then use the microphone on your computer to record your question.

Thank you!