how can I adjust microsoft word columns on their document list?
CLAUDE AI says
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That’s the Word “Open” file browser, not a Finder column view — so there aren’t per-column headers to drag like in Finder List View. What you can adjust is the width of each pane by dragging the thin vertical divider lines between them.
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Guess when they were copying UI they forgot to steal” the idea of adjustable column sizes EVERYWHERE!
Sigh! Argh!
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Leave a Comment » | 
APPLICATION, MACOSX | Tagged: Microsoft, MS WORD | 
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Posted by reinkefj
I’m using TextExpander on an iPhone and would like to use Google’s voice typing (Gboard) together with the TextExpander keyboard. As I understand it, iOS only allows one third-party keyboard to be active at a time, so I currently have to switch keyboards via the globe icon to dictate with Gboard and then switch back to TextExpander to get snippet expansion.
Is there a supported way to use Gboard voice typing directly within the TextExpander keyboard, or any recommended workflow to reduce the back-and-forth switching? I’ve attached a transcript of a related conversation for context.
*** begin quote ***
onversation transcript ? Claude chat Date: 2026-08-17 User: is there a way to use the Google voice typing with the TextExpander keyboard? Assistant: iOS only allows one active keyboard at a time, so TextExpander's keyboard and Gboard voice typing can't run simultaneously as a combined keyboard ? but you can switch between them: - Install both TextExpander and Gboard as keyboards (Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard). - While typing, tap the globe icon (bottom-left of keyboard) to cycle to Gboard, use its mic for voice typing, then tap the globe again to switch back to TextExpander for snippet expansions. Simpler alternative: Apple's built-in dictation (mic icon on the standard keyboard) works underneath TextExpander without switching keyboards ? dictated text still passes through TextExpander's expansion engine while in the TextExpander keyboard. This isn't Google's voice typing specifically, but avoids the keyboard-switch friction. User: cxxgd Assistant: Anytime ? let me know if you need anything else. User: capture this conversation in a text file and put in the google drive claudia folder
*** end quote ***
Leave a Comment » | Technology | Tagged: Gboard, iphone, TEXTEXPANDER | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
https://www.makeuseof.com/old-files-may-already-corrupting-nothing-warns-you-until-too-late/
I checked my old files and found corruption silently destroying them before I ever got a warning
Windows file system
By Afam Onyimadu
Published Jul 24, 2026, 2:30 PM EDT
*** begin quote ***
Afam’s experience in tech publishing dates back to 2018, when he worked for Make Tech Easier. Over the years, he has built a reputation for publishing high-quality guides, reviews, tips, and explainer articles, covering Windows, Linux, and open source tools. His work has been featured on top websites, including Technical Ustad, Windows Report, Guiding Tech, Alphr, and Next of Windows.
He holds a first degree in Computer Science and is a strong advocate for data privacy and security, with several tips, videos, and tutorials on the subject published on the Fuzo Tech YouTube channel.
When he is not working, he loves to spend time with his family, cycling, or tending to his garden.
Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents:
One of my favorite photos that I had kept for years wouldn’t open. The filename was right, and the size seemed unchanged, yet it was somehow corrupted. Even though I hadn’t touched it in several months, that file was no longer the photo I had taken.
Sadly, computers don’t warn you when a file changes. Maybe it’s because, as far as they know, nothing has changed. But there’s a real chance that your old backups or folders that sat untouched since you saved them have changed.
*** end quote ***
Ouch, this really scares me. You mean all my time, attention, effort, and dikw into “backing up” and stuff may still be lost? I’m not a “happy camper”. Argh!
3 is 2! 2 is 1! 1 is none! Look for redundant capability; not redundant gear!
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Leave a Comment » | Technology | Tagged: Afam Onyimadu, makeuseof.com | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
FROM REDDIT
Go to LifeProTips
r/LifeProTips
•
3y ago
*** begin quote ***
LPT Request: What is a good way for married couples to manage their money? Does it make sense to have a joint account? How do you decide how much of each paycheck goes into that account?
Finance
Edit: What is a good strategy when one person earns double what the other earns?
*** end quote ***
I “believe” that there should be a common account for expenses, and each partner have their own account to use as they see fit. In my 40 year marriage, my deceased wife was a great saver because she grew up “dirt poor”. Having her “own money” gave her the ability to relax and stop that fear. There were times when she made more than me and time when I made more than her. It was never an issue because we both contributed to the common account.
I read and see where many times the “breadwinner” is control freak and the partner usually the woman is left high and dry with nothing. I think the three account solution — joint, yours, and mine — puts the bully on notice that it’s a partnership; not a dictatorship. I “feel” that anyone, who insists on control, should be dumped immediately as “not ready for prime time” and should be returned to their parent for further training. You’re not going to change anyone and they could wind up literally killing you!
Still think that it’s OK to have it anyway that works for you. Except that BOTH partners should have “life boat money” set aside in case it’s needed. It can be divorce, but it also can be other things like surprise parties, birthday presents, hobbies, GoFundMe’s, whatever.
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Leave a Comment » | Answers - Rated Best | Tagged: married couples | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
https://cordcuttersnews.com/california-wants-to-stop-att-from-shutting-down-traditional-phone-lines/
California Wants to Stop AT&T From Shutting Down Traditional Phone Lines
By
Luke Bouma
on
June 19, 2026
in
All News, News
*** begin quote ***
California regulators have formally accused AT&T of providing false information to the Federal Communications Commission in an effort to discontinue service on its aging copper-based wireline telephone network, according to Arstechnica. The filing, submitted by the California Public Utilities Commission on June 15, 2026, challenges AT&T’s petitions to preempt state rules and end landline obligations affecting roughly 199,000 customers. This comes as AT&T and others have been shutting down DSL and traditional phone lines that run on copper in many states.
*** end quote ***
Sad to say but as a fat old white guy retired injineer, copper-based wireline telephone network, sometimes called POTS (plain old telephone service) is and was very reliable and cheap. Power outages, tornados, and human stupidity aside, you picked up the phone and got “dial tone”.
Don’t forget the AT&T tradition of the operator dying at the switchboard to alert everyone of danger.
And, the old AT&T Motto, “no service is so urgent, that we can’t take the time to do our job safely”. Never mind the wags that amended it to “take time for coffee”.
It was a “widows and orphans” stock, until in their infinite wisdom Judge Green and the FCC (a captive of the mobile telephone industry) decided that AT&T and the Baby Bells should be “aborted”. One casualty was the greatest national resource “Bell Labs”. Another was the millions of retirees who had — whether they knew it or not — dedicated their lives to providing the BEST national telephone service.
Shame on the US Gooferment for allowing this to fail.
Argh!
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Leave a Comment » | Technology | Tagged: AT&T, Bell Labs, POTS | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
<<FROM TWITTER>>
<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2026-05-14>>
https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/2054910853518856503?s=20
Post
Conversation
Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes
*** begin quote ***
This is horrifying and every American needs to hear this
California resident exposes what’s really going on with Flock Cameras in America
“I want to be clear what these cameras actually are, and I say that with somebody with 20 years of experience in IT. I’ve served as the chief network architect for Fortune 500 companies, I’ve designed data centers, and today I work on cloud infrastructure for one of the largest loan origination companies in the country. I’m not speculating on how this technology works. I’ve read their patents and I know how it works.
Flock advertises these cameras as simple license plate readers. But their own patents tell a different story.
They’re AI-powered surveillance machines that capture every passing vehicle and person and transmit that data to a private corporate cloud, making it queryable by a multitude of state and federal agencies. The city of Corona does not control that database, and Corona residents have no public record rights against a private company’s servers. Our daily movements are being harvested by a $7.5 billion corporation, that only answers to venture capital investors, not to us. Flock did not reach that valuation on their per-camera subscription fees. That math doesn’t add up
The city council should also understand who they’re doing business with. Flock CEO was asked whether the company had any federal contracts. He said no. That was a lie.
Public records revealed that Flock had been secretly running a pilot program giving the US Border Patrol access to local police camera data without the knowledge of the cities that paid for the cameras.
Now consider who’s behind the company and where your data flows. Flock integrates directly with Palantir, a data fusion platform, with a $30 million contract with ICE. Peter Thiel, the founder of Palantir, is also one of Flock’s primary investors. These are not separate companies with separate agendas. They are connected actors that are building a connected infrastructure.
Palantir’s own CEO stated publicly just this month that his technology is being used as a political instrument, designed to reduce the political power of certain voters. And that’s the ecosystem that our Corona cameras are feeding into.
We’re not anti-police at all. We’re against mass surveillance of innocent residents by a company with a documented record of deception, built by investors with a stated political agenda. We’re asking the City Council to start auditing the queries made against Flock’s database, to disclose any data sharing agreements, and to take a vote to cancel the Flock safety contract”
I looked more into this and he is 100% right
Patents describe broader object detection, including tracking people and pedestrians, patents like US11416545B1. The system uses a centralized cloud database for nationwide queries
Data goes to Flock’s private cloud, AWS-based, encrypted. Nationwide lookup is common, 75%+ of customers are enrolled enabling cross-jurisdictional searches. Residents have no direct public records access to the corporate servers.
This creates a mass surveillance network feeding a private company’s infrastructure
If you ask me this is laying the infrastructure for a mass surveillance network in America. We are being lied to. Cancel all contracts nationwide
*** end quote ***
Not something that “We, The Sheeple” should permit.
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Leave a Comment » | Technology | Tagged: @WallStreetApes, Corona residents, Flock Cameras, mass surveillance, Palantir, Peter Thiel, US Border Patrol, US11416545B1, Wall Street Apes | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
https://macpaw.esclick.me/1sTUmZ0Q9ivvJAeFuk
*** begin quote ***
Follow the Two-Week Rule: Give the tech community 14 days to surface major issues. If your Mac is critical for work, hold off for the 27.1 update, which usually lands 4–6 weeks after September, once the most significant bugs are fixed. Before upgrading, back up with Time Machine, check that your essential apps support the new macOS, and do a quick cleanup to avoid install issues. CleanMyMac’s Smart Care handles this in a few clicks.
*** end quote ***
A long time ago, in a place far away, … …
… … No it’s not an entry to a Star Wars movie … …
… … I recognized McPaw’s Clean My Mac as a great tool for my MAC OSX hardware.
Following them, I have (I believe) have avoided all the pitfalls that have hit others.
Unfortunately, Apple’s Time Machine has expired (I guess of old age), so I rely on DROPBOX and IDRIVE to keep my backups. I also use ONEDRIVE for my Microsoft Office files that I manually copy to DROPBOX on a monthly basis.
I have ROSE as my primary machine and BLUE as my secondary. Unfortunately, I’m not good about keeping the secondary up to date.
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Leave a Comment » | Technology | Tagged: 27.1 update, BLUE, Clean My Mac, DROPBOX, IDRIVE, Mac OSX, macpaw, ONEDRIVE, ROSE, Smart Care, Star Wars, Time Machine | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Yesterday I couldn’t connect to the hotspot on my iphone13pro to AT&T. After wasting a good hour trying to get help from AT&T and all I could get was an AI chat bot that insisted on restarting and connecting according to some web page.
Argh! Like I hadn’t already done that.
So, I fell back to my Google Pixel9 on Google Fi and everything worked fine.
Argh! When I move to Flori-duh, I am going to change cell phone providers. The lack of live support from AT&T has now failed me for the last of several times. Argh!
This morning, I tried and everything worked. So clearly there was something wrong on AT&T’s end.
Argh!
I ran thru some combinations of connectivity.
12.6 5.72 ATT hotspot from iphone
324 30.5 iphone to tmobile5g
288 33.9 Mac book air ROSE to tmobile5g
175 33.9 pixel9a to tmobile5g
332 16.9 pixel9a to google fi
This was disturbing!
No rhyme or reason for the vast speed differences.
Argh!
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Leave a Comment » | Technology | Tagged: AI chat bot, AT&T, GOOGLE FI, hotspot, iphone13pro, Mac book ai, PIXEL9a, tmobile5g | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/04/16/how-to-format-10-digit-phone-numbers
How to Format 10-Digit Phone Numbers
By John Gruber
*** begin quote ***
The Associated Press Stylebook, on Threads:
We updated our style for telephone numbers in 2024 to drop parentheses. We now recommend the form: 212-621-1500.
For international numbers use 011 (from the United States), the country code, the city code and the telephone number: 011-44-20-7535-1515.
Use hyphens, not periods. No parentheses. The form for toll-free numbers: 800-111-1000. If extension numbers are needed, use a comma to separate the main number from the extension: 212-621-1500, Ext. 2.
I have long been annoyed that U.S. phone numbers are so often formatted in the outdated (123) 555-1234 format. The use of parentheses for the area code dates back to the old days, when you only needed to dial the area code to call a number outside your own area code. (The same era whence comes the verb dial.) Until 10-digit dialing with mandatory area codes started to become standard in the late 1990s, you only needed to dial seven digits to call a local number.
*** end quote ***
Never realized that this was a problem. But it is annoying when filling out forms, cut’n’pasting data, and interchanging fields.
I’d agree with the author mostly except of the extensions. I’d prefer just the comma and number. I remember using it on autodialers back in the old telephone modem days.
We need open standards that everyone uses!
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Leave a Comment » | Technology | Tagged: Associated Press Stylebook, daringfireball, daringfireball.net, John Gruber | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Roblox introduces ‘Kids’ and ‘Select’ accounts for age-appropriate access to games and chat
Aisha Malik
5:15 AM PDT · April 13, 2026
*** begin quote ***
The move comes as Roblox implemented mandatory age checks in January for all users who want to access chats. The same age-check technology will be used to assign users to these new accounts. As part of the changes, users who haven’t completed age checks will only be able to play a selection of games rated for younger audiences.
*** end quote ***
We “solved” the ROBLOX problem by nuking it. Argh!
I think that we don’t have to wait for app developers to fix their app. ROBLOX was a “near and present danger”. ROBLOX app developers were too slow to fix it. So we did. No need for Gooferment diktats! Parents just need to take control.
Argh!
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Leave a Comment » | Technology | Tagged: age-check technology, Aisha Malik, Roblox, techcrunch | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
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FJohn Reinke
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Advisor, Computer Governance Committee at Manhattan College
Editor / Publisher at Jasper Jottings
Greater New York City Area
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Philosophy of Liberty
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