Newsletter Archives

• Linux — it’s all about the apps

  Posted on January 15, 2024 at 02:43 CST by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  LINUX

  

  By Chris Husted

  I always get strange looks from people when I tell them I use Linux on my laptop at home, as if I were some techno-nut who feels compelled to tell the world how important open-source software is.

  I’m not, but it is. There is one simple reason I have stayed with Linux for the past five years: it works.

  I am currently using Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, one of the world’s most popular Linux distributions, nicknamed “Jammy Jellyfish.” Linux “distros,” as they are called, tend to have colorful names. I started using Ubuntu in 2018, when the latest version was called “Bionic Beaver.” Feel free to giggle. I am sure the creators did.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.03.0, 2024-01-15).

  Linux Linux, Migration, Mint, Newsletters, Ubuntu

• Windows’ built-in basics

  Posted on October 24, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.43 • 2022-10-24

  ACCESSIBILITY

  

  By Chris Husted

  When it comes to adaptive and assistive technologies, especially those found under Ease of Access in Windows Settings, most people think the extra functions do not apply to them, simply because they are not disabled.

  Nothing could be further from the truth.

  As Stephen Dawes, a long-time Plus member and a Senior IT Systems Analyst based in Calgary, Canada, points out, “When a technology is developed to help a specific group of people, and when it is done right, everyone benefits.”

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.43.0, 2022-10-24).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Accessibility Accessibility, Newsletters, Windows 10, Windows 11

• Welcome to assistive and adaptive technology

  Posted on July 18, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.29 • 2022-07-18

  ACCESSIBILITY

  

  By Chris Husted

  The future of technology is in your hands, hands-free.

  Whether people know it or not, many of the latest features that make using the phone in their hand so much easier all came from developing “assistive and adaptive technology” (AAT), that branch of research and development specifically dedicated to help disabled people with their daily lives.

  More than 13 million Americans use assistive technology devices, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But with the population aging, the number of people with vision impairment and age-related dexterity issues is growing. Chances are, you already use assistive technology or know someone who does.

  Stephen Dawes, a senior systems analyst for the local government Calgary, Canada, has lived the history of assistive and adaptive technology related to computers. He also foretells an interesting future.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.29.0, 2022-07-18).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Accessibility Accessibility, Adaptive & Assistive Technology, Newsletters

• Will Fastie: How to speak machine

  Posted on June 6, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.23 • 2022-06-06

  PROFILES

  

  By Chris Husted

  This newsletter’s editor in chief is proficient in more than 16 programming languages. At many of them, he’s an expert. That’s what happens when you understand how a computer works at the most fundamental level.

  Of course, some of those languages are related to or derivative of other languages, such C and C++. “I call them all languages because they are languages. You must understand the syntax. You must understand what the words you are writing mean. You must understand how they are applied. It is a translation of a set of requirements into something that is actionable,” says Will.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.23.0, 2022-06-06).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Profiles Newsletters, Profiles

• Lance Whitney: Taking center stage

  Posted on April 18, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  PROFILES

  

  By Chris Husted

  When a person with 25 years’ experience as a technology writer has some wisdom to impart, it pays to listen.

  Lance Whitney has been a full-time freelance tech journalist for “only” the past 12 years, but that comes after decades of working in IT first as a technician, then as a consultant, and today as a writer of tech articles scripted especially for IT professionals and for the everyday user, as AskWoody readers already know.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.16.0, 2022-04-18).

  Profiles Newsletters, Profiles

• Roberta Scholz: Editing in the mind’s eye

  Posted on March 14, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  PROFILES

  

  By Chris Husted

  Everyone needs that mental space to better appreciate whatever they are doing at that point in time, whether it be working on a project or assignment, organizing their day, or even writing an email.

  It’s that mental step back to understand exactly what they are doing and the impact it will have on other people, and feel empowered to make changes for the better.

  Roberta Scholz, the woman behind the editing of all the AskWoody articles that you read, has this skill down to a fine art.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.11.0 (2022-03-14).

  Profiles Newsletters, Profiles

• Tried, tested, and true: Max Stul Oppenheimer

  Posted on January 31, 2022 at 02:44 CST by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  PROFILES

  

  By Chris Husted

  For most people, graduating from either Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree or from Princeton University in engineering with distinction (cum laude) would mark a lifetime achievement.

  For Max Stul Oppenheimer, writer of the Legal Brief articles for AskWoody, graduating with both marked only the start of long career specializing in law and technology.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.05.0 (2022-01-31).

  Profiles Newsletters, Profiles

• Brian Livingston: A man without secrets

  Posted on November 8, 2021 at 02:43 CST by Chris Husted • Comment in the Forums

  PROFILES

  

  By Chris Husted

  The driving advancement of computers over the past few decades rolled like a juggernaut through people’s lives.

  Some people made good of the ride, others held on for dear life, and the unfortunate were cast aside or crushed underneath. Imagine a man investigating the impending damage and doom rushing onward toward the crowd, and then warning all who stood in its path. That’s Brian Livingston.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.43.0 (2021-11-08).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Profiles AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Profiles
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