Tech How To | At Home with Tech

December 26, 2021

How to Replace a Lost Prepaid Return Shipping Label from Soda Sense

Seltzer alert! If you happen to lose your prepaid shipping sticker for your empty CO2 canisters, here’s where to go to print out a new one.

The Lester family really loves its seltzer water. Whether it’s for lunch or dinner, having some carbonated water can really perk up any meal. So a couple years back, I bought us a SodaStream seltzer maker to minimize the pile up of seltzer cans and bottles to be recycled. (Plus, reducing our daily need for disposal plastics and aluminum is good for the environment!)

Endless Bubbles Program
I also simultaneously signed up with a carbon dioxide canister exchange program from Soda Sense. (Dissolved CO2 is the magic ingredient in bubbly water.) The deal is after you use up two of three CO2 canisters, you mail two back for fresh ones.

You simply place the empty canisters back into their original box with a prepaid shipping sticker and pop the package in the mail. A few days later, a new box with two fresh canisters shows up, and your credit card is automatically charged $44.65. How easy is that?! (SodaStream now offers a similar program.)

I Lost the Prepaid Shipping Label
Everything’s been working great with our Soda Sense relationship until last week. I went to pack up my two used CO2 canisters, and the return prepaid mailing sticker which came in the box was mysteriously missing. I’m sure I lost the sticker somewhere in our basement. (We can also say our cat hid it.)

So now what?

A Complicated Journey to an Easy Solution
I googled the problem, and surprisingly nothing came up. Then, I went to sodasense.com and looked for the answer in the Help section. Nothing.

Really?

I signed into Soda Sense and poked around. I finally clicked on “Update Your Account,” even though I didn’t want to update anything. But I hoped there might be a clue there. And in fact there was!

At the bottom of the right column, I spotted, “Email me a replacement label.”

Voilà!

Now was that so hard? Seconds later, I received an email with the new shipping label to print out. (Yes, it’s just another reason why you still need a printer at home.)

I taped the substitute prepaid address label onto my box containing the spent canisters and then walked the package to my mailbox. Finally, I raised that little red flag on the side of the mailbox (how wonderfully analog).

Feeling Bubbly Again
I’m not sure how many people lose their return shipping sticker, but there should be an easy way to print out a new one. And in fact, there is….

It’s just somewhat of a hidden solution. They make you work for it a bit. (Perhaps as a reminder to be more organized?)

But the silver lining is you can then write a blog post about it.

Thank you, Soda Sense. Keep those CO2 canisters coming!

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December 19, 2021

The Best Way to Improve your Audio for your Next Zoom Meeting

As much as computers are designed today to handle many multimedia needs without added accessories, headsets aren’t really optional when you join a video conference.

When I coach people on how to improve their Zoom feeds, most of the time I focus on their webcam shots. I think by now most folks know the visual rules to create a good video-conference look, even if they still choose to ignore them.

And let’s face it, it’s a pain to set up your webcam properly with the right lighting and angle. I know that. And I get it when so many people choose to simply turn off their webcams. Why do all that work to create a professional-looking shot when you don’t have to?

Stop Hiding
Now, of course I feel you absolutely should turn on your webcam. If you’re not projecting your own visual, you’re not truly showing up. You’re just a disembodied voice. Granted, adding yourself to a sea of tiny faces in a stack of little boxes on the computer screen may not fit your definition of being ‘present.’ But it’s what the technology offers. Maybe in the future, we’ll be able to digitize our bodies into 3D holograms. (Then, you’ll really need to dress up again!)

The Importance of Clear Audio
Whether you choose to hide in the Zoom shadows or not, you do need to be heard. That much is not up for debate. And if you sound like you’re in an echo chamber or in a distant hallway, you’re simply not going to be an effective participant in your virtual meetings.

Ultimately, how you sound is more important than anything else. And that can be difficult to track on an ongoing basis. (You can always see your webcam shot, but unless you actively test your audio signal in your settings, you wouldn’t otherwise know.)

How to Improve your Sound
The simple rule you should follow to project clear audio is to always wear a headset or earbuds. Sure, you can rely on your onboard computer microphone, but that’s going to offer a more muffled and distant quality to your voice. So, wear your headset!

And you’ve got to make sure over time that your computer continues to recognize your headset and not default back to its own microphone. (Set-it-and-forget-it is a recipe for “I can’t hear you very well!”)

Headsets have become Invisible
And if you’ve taken the important step to turn on your webcam, you can’t then play the vanity card and leave your headsets behind. Sure, you can choose to wear wireless earbuds like AirPods, which minimize the hardware you’ve got attached to your head. But I think by now, everyone is used to seeing people wearing headsets on Zooms, even when formally presenting to an audience. Hey, TV sportscasters have been doing it for decades. It’s not dorky. It’s fine.

No, headsets aren’t really invisible, but they’re entirely expected under the circumstances.

Can You Hear Me?
If you don’t want to fully show up to your Zoom meetings by not turning on your webcam, that’s your choice. But if you’re projecting bad audio, you just can’t play in the Zoom sandbox with others.

So, please wear your computer headset!

December 5, 2021

How Motion Blur can Improve your Photography

Softness in your photos can be a desirable effect if that’s your goal. Adding in a touch of blur around your main object can create a bit of a mystical look. Here’s what happened when I slowed down my camera’s shutter above The Rink at Rockefeller Center.

When snapping a photo, any motion in your frame has the potential to look blurry and ruin the shot. As the father of an active eleven-year-old boy who’s been moving about pretty quickly over the past decade, I’ve often been preoccupied with being able to freeze the moment in my photos and capturing any movement without blur.

Sometimes though, the blurred motion in a shot is the most important part to capture. The key is to isolate it without affecting the rest of the photo. Of course, to accomplish that, you just need to slow down your shutter speed and make sure your camera doesn’t move. (A tripod is especially handy in these moments.)

Here are a couple photographic opportunities I’ve run across with my Panasonic Lumix LX-10 that benefited from this approach.

Moving Water
The silky flow of rushing water in nature can be a prime candidate for this type of visual exercise.

Waterfall with motion blur (Zoar hiking trail in Connecticut)

The waterfall without motion blur

People Walking
The blur of a crowd of moving people can offer your camera a great opportunity to ‘see’ motion.

Grand Central Terminal with motion blur of all the rushing commuters

The same space without motion blur

The Art of Chasing Blur
Again, the key to success when allowing targeted blur in your shots is making sure that everything else is in focus. Otherwise, that dreamy feel you’re going for will instead look like you’ve fallen asleep behind your camera!

Enjoy finding the right blur to enhance your photos!

Category: Tech How To

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