Smartphone questions from a Luddite

OK - as I mentioned last week, I finally got a smartphone. I ended up with a Samsung Galaxy s7. For now I am still using my Page Plus account which only has 100 KB data each month. I can see that will probably not work!

In the middle of the night I got a loud irritating Amber Alert. WTF? Damn brown Chevy, I don’t care about you. So I went into the alert settings and turned off most of them except for things I know I need like messages and voicemail.

Prior to that I had a white band across my home screen with a voice thingee at the right side. I could tap it and ask someone (Google?) questions like, “Where is the nearest Home Depot?” or, “Call Fred”. It was fucking awesome and probably the reason I need a better data plan. I used up half my data allowance in ten minutes before I realized I should do this when I am on a WiFi location.

But now my newly found information locator is gone. Out of the 50 apps I turned off the notification, which one was that cool “ask me anything” app? I already reset Google and Chrome and that didn’t do it.

Dennis

I got it back. I just had to swipe the home screen sideways and it reappeared. Didn’t have to do that before. Now it is back every time I go to the home screen.

Dennis

Keep swiping. You might find other things. My Galaxy has like 13 pages you can fill up apps on.
They take awesome photos.The editing tools are fun to play with.

Now that the question has been answered, nitpick/important political point: Luddites were not people who didn’t understand technology or were afraid of it. They were textile workers, using the cutting edge technology of the Industrial Revolution. What set them to smashing machines was the use of those machines to cut the workforce. It was the boss and unemployment, not technology, that they were worried about. And their protests meant there were more British troops deployed against the Luddites than Wellington had to face Napoleon in Spain.

Nice!

You can set Google to recognize your voice so you don’t have to use the search bar. Just say, “OK, Google,” or, “Hey, Google” and ask it your question. Go into the settings in your Google app, then to Voice, then to Voice Match. Turn on Access Voice Match, then Retrain Voice Model. Say, “OK, Google,” three times, then you can activate Google with just your voice any time the screen is on.

I’m not sure what distinction you’re making here. Luddites were absolutely afraid of the effects that technology was having on their livelihood. What’s the difference between fearing the adoption of a technology and fearing the effects of that adoption? It sounds a lot like saying you’re not afraid of falling from a great height—it’s only the landing that scares you.

What’s more, Luddites weren’t using cutting-edge technology—they were doing everything in their power to avoid using it; they smashed automated looms. That was, like, their thing.

Am I missing something?