PSA: Apple Pencil Software Update For iPads -- November 1, 2020

Normally I don't pay much attention to operating system software updates unless they are major upgrades. 

This summer Apple introduced iPadOS 14 for iPads (as the name suggests). Perhaps one of the new features was there all along, but I did not notice it until last night when iPadOS 14.1 was automatically installed.

The new feature: scribble. From Apple Support:

iPadOS 14 brings Scribble to iPad with Apple Pencil, allowing users to write in any text field — where it will automatically be converted to typed text — making actions like replying to an iMessage or searching in Safari fast and easy. 

All handwriting and conversion to text happens on device, keeping it private and secure. 

When taking notes, Smart Selection uses on-device machine learning to distinguish handwriting from drawings, so handwritten text can easily be selected, cut, and pasted into another document as typed text. Shape recognition allows users to draw shapes that are made geometrically perfect and snap right into place when adding useful diagrams and illustrations in Notes. 

Data detectors now work with handwritten text to recognize phone numbers, dates, and addresses, and offer users the ability to take actions like tapping a written number to make a call, adding an event directly to Calendar, or showing a location in Maps. 

Scribble will initially offer support for English, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, and mixed Chinese and English, so users can write English and Chinese words together without needing to switch languages. 

What surprised me was that it appeared I was stuck with this new feature whether I wanted it or not. The "application" is quite incredible but I'm not ready to have "Scribble" "on" all the time. Google searches are much, much better for me when I can type out the words, rather than writing them with the Apple pencil. 

 

It turns out, Apple makes it incredibly easy to switch off "Scribble." 

 

So, here's the PSA:

Simply go to settings, scroll down to "Apple Pencil" and then simply turn off "Scribble." It's that simple. When you turn "Scribble" back on, you have several options how to use the Apple Pencil to your best (and personal) advantage.

The hand-writing recognition is incredible. This will be huge for college students taking notes during lectures.

One can "write" e-mail notes using Scribble. 

 

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Search Engines

Speaking of Google, I also checked out DuckDuckGo last night and read what the CEO of the latter had to say. We are being misled again with a bit of "fake information." Without question, Google does a much, much better job for me. No question. Hands down, Google is a much better search engine for me than DuckDuckGo. 

 

Whether he's telling the full truth or not, the CEO of DuckDuckGo says his search engine does not use the history of the searcher's preferences when searching for sites. 

 

Hey: I want the search engine algorithm to know what I'm interested in. The hits returned to me by Google seem to be about as good as they get compared to what I get when I go to DuckDuckGo. There's a reason Google is the preferred search engine. That came to light when trying to get an update on the Panamint lithium mine (wow, that was tough to find). Google got me the results because Google "knew" what I was looking for. DuckDuckGo was not helpful.

Using both search engines, see what works best for you when looking for:

• Bakken oil blogs
• Bakken oil blog

Your experience will likely be different than mine. And that's the way Google meant it to be based on what the CEO of DuckDuckGo says. Why would I want hits tailored for Joe Schmo populate the first five pages of results rather than hits tailored for me personally. Am I missing something here? That's rhetorical; don't answer.

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College Football Is Now A Political Movement