Author: Ask Ursula

The Magic of Google Lens

Ask UrsulaLeave a comment

Have you heard of Google Lens? If you have an Android phone (Samsung, Nokia etc) chances are it is
already on your phone ready to use. On iPhone, you can download the Google app from the Appstore
(there is a limited version in your photos app, but Lens can do a lot more).
By using Lens you can find out about buildings, plants, animals that you see, find a recipe by scanning a
photo of the finished dish, translate foreign language text, explain exotic items on a restaurant menu and
lots more.
It can read out the small print on pill bottles, chargers, ingredients lists or cooking instructions on food
items (great when you forgot your glasses)
You can scan phone numbers to make a call, business cards to add the details to your contact, event
details to add to your calendar (these last three might or might not work-depending on the text
scanned).
You can scan a broken or dismantled mechanical part and add ‘how to fix this’ in the text box underneath
the photo to get instructions from the web.
You can also scan the login sticker on the back of your Wi-Fi router and having Lens log in automatically.
The limit is your imagination, as they say.
All you have to do is select the Lens icon on your Google search bar and point the camera at the item
you want to know more about and press the button.


Or sometimes the camera icon looks like this:


Go and experiment, point your Lens camera at all sorts of things and see what you can find out 🙂

Phone only rings twice…?

Ask UrsulaLeave a comment

A lot of people complain that their phone only rings a couple of times before going to message
bank, and they cannot find a setting to change that. You can make your phone ring for up to 30
seconds, but you have to dial a specific code in your phone app.
First find the number you call to access your message bank ( this is usually 101 for phones using
the Telstra network, 321 for Optus based networks and 121 for Vodaphone*).
Now go to your phone app and call up the keypad (as if you are calling a number you have not
saved in your contacts) and dial the following:

**61*XXX**30#

where XXX is the message bank number (101,321 or 121) and press the call button. After a short
while a notification will pop up on your screen : ‘MMI code started’, and then ‘Call forwarding
registration was successful’ or similar. Next time someone calls you, your phone will ring for 30
seconds before going to message bank and you should have enough time to answer it. This works
on both Android and iPhone.

*You are not with any of these 3 providers? You still use these same codes. For example if you are
with Aldi or Belong you are using the Telstra network and your message bank number would be 101.

If you are with Amaysim, Circles.Life or Southern Phone you are using the Optus network
and your number would be 321. Kogan, Lebara and TPG use the Vodaphone network and their
number is 121.
If you are not sure, go to your contacts and search for Message Bank – it will show the number to
use.
Also, don’t forget to delete your messages on Message Bank once you no longer need them
(usually by pressing ‘5’ while on the call to Message Bank) otherwise it will slowly fill up and no
longer accept any new messages.

Changing your email provider

Ask UrsulaLeave a comment

Do you still have the email address your ISP (internet provider) gave you? What will happen when you change internet providers? Will you still be able to access this email for free? It might be time to hoose your own email provider, here are a few points why:

  • Access your emails from any program (Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird) plus from the web and you can customise how the pages look and function
  • Spam filters are generally much better with other email providers
  • Your inbox is usually much bigger, a few fancy catalogues or pictures won’t fill it up and prevent you from getting new messages
  • Some email providers allow you create ‘dummy’ email addresses or aliases that allow you to sign up for newsletters and more without disclosing your real email address. If they get difficult about cancelling the newsletters or other email, you just discard that address and all is good.

So how do you change your email address?

  • Have a look on the web what is around (e.g Gmail.com, Outlook.com, ), compare what they provide and choose one (or even 2 or 3, you can have an unlimited amount of email addresses, not just one) of them.
    Sign up and make sure you provide recovery methods (like a phone number, another email …) so you can get to your emails if you happen to forget your password.
  • Send an email to all you contacts informing them of your new email address
  • Make sure you contact any businesses, websites, streaming services and other online accounts (bank, myGov…) etc on THEIR WEBSITE OR PHONE to change your email address, they generally do not accept changes any other way.
  • If you can, set up automatic forwarding from your old email address to your new address and monitor this for any senders you missed
  • You could also set up automatic replies from your old email address to inform any senders of your new address

It requires a bit of work, but it is definitely worth it.

What else is the camera is good for

Ask UrsulaLeave a comment

Last time I told you about the amazing things Google Lens can do, but even just your camera can do
much more than taking snapshots. Here are just a few ideas:

  • Keep a photo of your pet and their ID, that way you have a photo handy if he/she goes missing
    (could be a good idea for kids, too, perhaps?)
  • Use it as a notebook: take snaps of recipes in magazines, plants, art, decorations that you like and
    would like to try out yourself
  • If you rent a car, take a picture of the car and the number plate; easier to find if you don’t
    remember exactly what is looks like
  • Or even with your own car in a strange carpark, take a photo with indicators like row/level
    number etc to find it again afterwards
  • If you keep a shopping list on a whiteboard on the fridge, take a photo of it before going
    shopping, no need to transcribe it. Also, you could take a photo of the contents of your fridge to
    see what you have and what you need
  • Take a photo of any cable/plug placement before you move them, easier to put everything back
    where it belongs afterwards
  • If there is a label in a shop high up, and you can’t see it properly, hold up your phone and take a
    picture of it (or even if the print is just too small); and then zoom in

I’m sure there are a million other things where this always there little camera can help. Just remember to delete the photos when you don’t need them anymore.