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The tech magic that unleashed your best

    Last week, our On Tech editor, Hanna Ingber, shared a story about her child who stumbled upon a design app that unlocked his amazing taste for interiors. We asked for your own stories about surprising ways technology helped you unleash creativity or discover new joys.

    You guys (sniffing), the responses were lovely. Today we share a selection of them.

    The mission here at On Tech is to explore the ways technology is changing the way we live, who we are and the world around us. We can’t ignore the harmful effects, but I don’t want us to lose sight of the miracle either.

    How cool is it that we can share knowledge online with a parent or simply exchange songs from our favorite decade? Also, BIRDS! Birds are so amazing. Here are edited snippets of what some On Tech readers had to say:

    Enjoying the magic of birds during a daily task:

    My morning walk down the driveway to pick up the paper has been transformed by the Merlin Bird ID app.

    A daily chore has become a pleasure. Now, instead of ignoring the sounds around me, I can focus on and identify the birdsong I hear. The birds vary with their seasonal migration patterns, so the sounds are constantly changing. It has become a kind of meditation.

    Ann McLaughlin, Carmel, California.

    Bonding about playlists:

    Sharing music and playlists on Spotify with my kids was very connective. They get to hear the music I grew up with, and I get to hear the latest news they’re listening to. Surprisingly, we listen to a lot of the same music, old and new. So much easier than making mixtapes.

    They are now 17 and 18, but we’ve been doing this since they were about 13 – ages when it can be difficult for parents to find ways to connect with their teens.

    Jason, Corvallis, Ore.

    Taking the pressure off perfection:

    I was one of those kids who could never peel off a sticker right away. I always had to wait a few moments or even days before deciding that my sticker would be home forever. Likewise, I was hesitant to sharpen brand new pencils unless absolutely necessary, and I reserved my markers only for the most important drawings.

    You would never find quick doodles in my sketchbooks because those were put aside until I was done with a full vision. I was always collecting and saving these items for a special day or a big idea, and eventually my stickers wrinkled, my markers dried out, and my sketchbooks joined a new pile of unused, unloved things.

    And then I bought myself an iPad as a graduation gift. I discovered the wonder of sketching, annotating, scribbling and coloring – all digitally.

    I had an endless supply of stickers at my disposal, which could be picked up and replaced in the blink of an eye. I was met with infinite colors and combinations.

    Soon I found myself writing daily journal entries, experimenting with digital scrapbooking, and keeping memories all in one place. If I made a mistake, I could immediately clean it up with a virtual eraser. I could customize stickers and letters to my heart’s content. My iPad became an outlet for me to do what I wanted without the fear of making the wrong move.

    Sydney Lin, a sophomore at Vanderbilt University majoring in civil engineering

    Dad Schools About DIY Repairs:

    Years ago, my preteen son noticed my growing frustration when I tried unsuccessfully to attach a new lawnmower blade. I assumed he was bored when he went back home. Instead, he watched YouTube on his mother’s iPad.

    A few minutes later he came out and asked quietly, “Can I try?” He accomplished in less than a minute what I had been trying for half an hour. “Until then, I thought YouTube was for cat videos.

    This is the same kid who taught himself how to play his new ukulele on YouTube along with so many other unexpected skills.

    Doug McDurham, Waco, Texas

    Classroom learning transformed by audio production:

    I’ve noticed that introducing students to podcasting opens up new doors.

    Students who were reluctant to participate in classroom discussions took advantage of the opportunity to share their ideas about topics they were interested in or explore new topics. Students chose between three formats for their podcasts: storytelling, interview and research. Few, if any, projects have ever offered this kind of freedom.

    While video apps have been around for a while, the freedom to just record their voice was liberating. They didn’t have to worry about how they appeared in front of the camera – they could only convey their thoughts and ideas through their voice. Groups could share and edit audio files at the same time to create a final product. What was once a class report has been redefined.

    Lisa Dabel, a fifth grade teacher in San Jose, California.

    Opera, not so intimidating after all:

    For most of my life I have respected opera as an art form that required an incredible degree of training and discipline. But as far as I’m concerned, it wasn’t for me.

    At some point around late March or early April 2020, friends told us about the Metropolitan Opera’s recording of its previous opera performances — free, a new one every day — via the company’s website and app. Within days we had a new evening routine: dinner, an hour of reading, and then settling for an opera.

    Within weeks we had started learning the names and styles of some of the most important opera artists. Within months we had learned about the technicalities of opera music, vocal training, set and costume design, and formed preferences regarding composers. (Sorry, folks: Wagner, no; Glass, yes.)

    We’ve thought deeply about the conflicts that arise when old flawed beliefs (misogyny, racism, more) embodied in “the canon” encounter different casting choices and new ways of thinking. We were exposed to modern composers and librettists who questioned our assumptions about melody, story construction and plot, character development and so on.

    Who knew there was so much to discover about such a venerable art form? I certainly don’t – and I’m very happy that technology has brought opera into our home and life.

    David Moore, Sequim, Wash.

    Tip of the week

    Brian X. Chenothe consumer technology columnist for The New York Times, co-wrote a article this week on digital breadcrumbs that can reveal personal details about people who want to have an abortion. Brian is here with suggestions to remove some information from Google, which has digital databases about almost everyone.

    Google said this month it would automatically delete location data when people visited places it deemed sensitive, such as abortion clinics and addiction treatment centers. For example, if you set a destination in Google Maps to “Planned Parenthood” or “Alcoholic Anonymous,” the company removes those entries.

    Critics of Google said the company could also have erased records of other types of location data, such as GPS coordinates and route information, but didn’t. (Google declined to comment.)

    But you can gain some control over how Google stores data about you. I wrote a column a few years ago explaining how to use Google’s automatic delete features, including settings to delete records from web and on-site searches after a certain amount of time. The tips are worth checking out.

    Here’s an example of how to adjust the location data settings:

    • In Google’s My Activity tool at myactivity.google.com, click Activity Options, scroll to Location History, and click Manage History.

      On the next page, locate the note icon and then click Automatically delete location history. You can set data to be deleted after three months or 18 months.

    • For those who don’t want Google to make a record of their location history, there’s an option for that too. On the My Activity page, click Activity Buttons, scroll to Location History, and toggle the switch to the off position.

    • Amazon tells regulators it could change: To try to end a three-year antitrust investigation in Europe, Amazon offered to stop collecting non-public sales data on independent sellers selling through Amazon and let them sell through the Prime program without using the logistics services from Amazon. My colleague Adam Satariano covered Amazon’s proposals and why Europe has become the center of Big Tech research.

    • The Human Trafficking Behind Online Fraud Scams: Vice News reported that online schemes that offer business or romantic partnerships as a pretext to drain money from victims sometimes originate from industrial-scale scam centers in Southeast Asia that imprison and abuse employees.

      More: Nikkei Asia wrote about the abused employees of online gambling and fraud operations in Cambodia last year.

    • Instagram has so many features: It’s a place to see what friends are up to, to watch short videos of strangers, to buy NFTs or doodads sold by influencers, to message others and possibly soon to take notes (for some reason ). The Garbage Day newsletter wrote that Instagram is an “app that doesn’t know what it should be anymore”.

      Related from OnTech: What IS Facebook? Another overcrowded app from Meta!

    lemurs! Lick honey! Of fruit! These little guys really know how to enjoy their treats.

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