Category Archives: digital

This Scale Doesn’t Tell You How Much You Weigh

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One of the reasons why I don’t lose weight is because I constantly weigh myself. Some people weigh themselves once a week, I weigh myself a few times in a 24-hour period. If I lose a pound during the day, I eat more at dinner thinking I can afford the extra calories.

I know it makes no sense. I am probably better off not knowing my weight and worrying so much about it. At least I wouldn’t be eating all the time. A few days ago, I heard about a scale that doesn’t tell you how much you weigh. The scale, called Shapa, records your weight but doesn’t give you the number.

The philosophy behind no numbers is that this type of scale encourages you to lose weight. Instead of numbers, you get a color. Blue and green mean you’re losing weight, gray means you need to cut back your food intake.

Shapa works with an app. Every time you step on the scale, the app records your weight. The app also tells you when to step on the scale, and gives you goals. The artificial intelligence (AI) gives you smart tips, “Eat something green with every meal,” or “Eat dinner earlier.” AI customizes everything for you once the scale gets to know you better.

Let’s hope this scale works.

Shapa is about $100, with an $8.00 subscription plan.

I Never Take Dead People Off My Email List

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Sorry, I refuse to take anyone who passed on off my email list. I just have to keep them on. If they stay on, then I feel they are not really gone. I also feel my email list keeps them important. Taking them off would be a betrayal. It’s one of the few places in the world where they will constantly be remembered.

Some of the deceased have been on my list for 20 plus years. Unfortunately, a few recently got added. This is the time of year where I see their names a lot because I am emailing Chanukah and Christmas cards. I have to be very careful not to send them a card. I worry each year that I accidentally did. I cringe that someone in their family will receive my card and think I am nuts. Anything is possible.

It takes me better than 10 hours to email out all the names I have marked. The beauty of email is that I can pick thousands of names. I usually do. It’s the time of year that I want to reach to everyone I ever had a conversation with. This year we came up with a unique card. It’s Eliot’s creation. The reviews so far have been positively wonderful.

We loved so many of the holiday cards that we decided to send them all. Wishing you good health, peace and happiness

Photo by Eliot Hess

Headline Stress Disorder

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Before we get started on today’s topic, I wanted to show PBS fans what a Viking ocean cruise liner looks like. Viking is a major sponsor of Masterpiece on PBS. Many of us have either seen Viking’s river cruise boats in their TV or print ads, or have taken a trip on one. Now I get to show you one of their bigger ships as it passed underneath my Miami condo window last night. I quickly grabbed my smartphone, and took a video for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

I couldn’t stop staring at a headline from NBC News the other day. It said, “What is headline stress disorder and do you have it?” I couldn’t believe those words. I was who that headline was talking about. I am obsessed with the news. I keep checking my iPhone several times an hour looking for the next astonishing situation that is happening in the United States.

It could be #metoo, North Korea, fires, Russia, fake news, Net Neutrality, Roy Moore, or ISIS. Should I go on? Nah, you get my drift. There is so much to keep up with. Most of my friends are addicted too, checking their smartphones around the clock for news alerts. The digital world has trained us to expect new news all the time.

NBC said a recent study by the American Psychological Association found that “two-thirds of Americans are stressed out over the future of the country, and the constant consumption of news cycle was pinned as a major contributor.” Therapists are now calling our new condition, “headline stress disorder. ”

NBC is worried that many of us are getting more and more out-of-control. The TV network claims we are creating a very upsetting environment for ourselves. Therefore, they have asked the therapists to help cure us.

This is their cure. I am willing to try a few, but not all. For deeper explanations, click here.

1. SET FIRM TIME LIMITS — AND USE AN ACTUAL TIMER

2. WAIT A WHILE TO CONSUME NEWS AFTER A DISASTER

3. MAKE AN EFFORT TO GET GOOD NEWS, TOO

4. PICK UP A PAPER, NOT FACEBOOK — YOU’LL GET A BETTER BALANCE

5. YOU DON’T HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT IF YOU DON’T WANT TO

6. NO NEWS BEFORE BED

7. START THE DAY WITH AN UPLIFTING PODCAST

8. IF YOU NEED TO, DELETE SOCIAL MEDIA APPS FROM YOUR PHONE

9. CUT OFF COMPLETELY (BUT HAVE A FRIEND TO INFORM YOU)

10. HAVE SOME PERSPECTIVE AND DON’T ‘CATASTROPHIZE’

If you are an obsessed news junkies like me, make sure you read the entire NBC story.

Tech Onboard

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The Carnival Vista arriving in the Port of Miami today in the early morning hours.

One of the many advantages of living in Miami is that you hear a lot about the cruise industry. You always meet someone who works for one of the cruise lines, or the “Miami Herald” has a news story about some development.

The other day there was a story in the Herald about the technological advancements in cruising. I wanted to write about it because so many DigiDame readers cruise all over the world. The changes that will be incorporated over the next five years will be astonishing.

One big attraction for guests is that new “smart” technology will help eliminate long lines and waiting time. This will be accomplished by facial recognition and geo-location. Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and MSC Cruises are leading the way.

Other advances are using your smart phones for hotel keys, wearable, customized mini discs that will track your whereabouts for personalized service, interactive screens in staterooms, and RFID tags on luggage to track delivery times to cabins.

For more good news read the Miami Herald.

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I’m In Good Company, Age-Wise

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When I saw these slides on Facebook, I knew I had to share them with you. Thank you, the Today Show, for recognizing these great, senior women.

A good friend, Gary Arlen, a Washington DC tech writer, took the time to add information about Net Neutrality. Thank you Gary. you are always the educator.

Your Access To The Internet Is Being Threatened

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Thank you Alabama, thank you, thank you, thank you !!!!!

Now for the next issue…….

I’m not sure if you totally understand, but this Thursday the FCC may decide to repeal the Obama net neutrality protection.

What does that mean?

It means that the Internet could get very difficult for you to use.

I am rather shocked that many of us have not spoken about this before. The Trump Administration doesn’t want the Internet to be equal for all of us. Net neutrality means that all content on the Internet is the same for everyone. The current administration may want to play favorites.

Obama made sure that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) couldn’t block or slow down content for any of us. Now all kinds of manipulations may take place.

Please google net neutrality to get more information about this situation. Give us your opinion.

Thank you

You can write to your Senator or State Rep.

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Nine Important Facts To Remember As We Grow Older

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Happy Chanukah, Love, Lois and Eliot

Nine Important Facts To Remember As We Grow Older

#9 Death is the number 1 killer in the world.

#8 Life is sexually transmitted.

#7 Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

#6 Men have 2 motivations: hunger and hanky panky, and they can’t tell them apart. If you see a gleam in his eyes, make him a sandwich.

#5 Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks, months, maybe years unless you give them your email address.

#4 Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital, dying of nothing.

#3 All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

#2 In the 60s, people took LSD to make the world weird. Now the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it normal.

#1 Life is like a jar of jalapeno peppers. What you do here, today, may be a burning issue somewhere else, tomorrow.

Thank you Walter Salm.

3-D Printed Musical Instruments

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We received an invite to the Jewish Museum Of South Florida for a Sunday brunch. It was so cute. The invite said, “Basel, Lox and Cream Cheese.” That’s pretty clever considering it was Art Basel week in Miami, the largest art fair in the United States.

The museum was exhibiting 3-D printed musical instruments that were first of a kind. 3-D printing is a process provided by specialized computers to create three-dimensional objects.

MONAD Studio, an award-winning architecture firm in Miami, came up with the concept of 3-D instruments because they were interested in producing new kinds of sounds. You can hear them in the above video.

The sounds are pretty primitive. The music sounds much better in an ensemble. I’m sure you will be seeing and hearing more of these types of instruments in the future.

Most of the folks at the brunch never heard of 3-D printing before. This was s great way to introduce them to a state-of the art manufacturing concept. MONAD has a road show of this exhibit around the country. If it arrives in your city, be sure to go. You will be witnessing the future of music in many different forms.

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Body Marbling.

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For those of you who always wanted a tattoo, but never liked the permanency, I have a solution for you, body-marbling.

Watch the videos. You bathe in psychedelic paint and then turn your body into a work of art. The good news is that it all washes off.

Invented by Brad Lawrence, body marbling is a water painting technique that uses hydrodynamics to transform your body into a psychedelic canvas..

Friends of mine experimented with body marbling, and they loved it. It’s a fun thing to do, especially if you are older than 50. It’s silly and you get to have fun with your arms and legs. Suddenly, you are young again and could be the talk of the party.

Nothing wrong with that.

Facebook For Kids

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I know that many DigiDame readers have grandchildren under 10 years of age. That’s why I want to be sure you heard about Messenger Kids, a Facebook app, that was created to let children send friends or family a message, photos, videos, GIFs and stickers.

I’m sure many of you are cringing right now. The last thing you want is to have your precious ones on Facebook. I can’t say I blame you. The truth is that most of you have no control over it. A non-profit media group for children, called Common Sense, claims children eight years old and under, already spend at least 2 ¹/₂ hours on some sort of a screen.

Many of the young children I know are all texting. In my opinion, you can’t compare these youngsters to us when we were that age. They are growing up in the digital age. We did not. It’s a whole different world.

Facebook said that parents have to sign their children up for the app and they have to approve who they talk to. If it’s any consolation, children cannot delete messages. Parents will always be able to check entire conversations.

I guess that’s better than only being able to listen to one half of a telephone conversation.