What’s New with Phone Migration Help, iOS 13 Tips, Text from Your Computer and Smart Speaker Commands

When switching to a new phone, the issue of migrating old phone information to a new phone is a common concern. Fortunately, in recent years, the process has become much easier. Even the process of switching platforms (migrating from an Android phone to an Apple iOS phone, and vice versa) has become much easier. Some common phone migration scenarios, as well as links to corresponding solutions, follow…

At the “TechBoomers” YouTube channel, you can find a video titled “How to Transfer All Data and Apps from Old to New iPhone.” If this topic interests you, here’s a link to the video…www.tinyurl.com/vh5xltf

Also available at the “TechBoomers” YouTube channel is a video titled “How to Transfer All Data from Old to New Android.” If this topic interests you, here’s a link to the video…www.tinyurl.com/yx3sd36w

If you visit YouTube’s “Apple Support” channel, you can find a video titled “How to move from Android to iPhone.”  If this topic interests you, here’s a link to the video…www.tinyurl.com/w9ssymu

“How to transfer your data from iPhone to Android” is the title of a video that you can find at the 9to5Google.com website. If this topic interests you, here’s a link to the video…www.tinyurl.com/rgbzcu4

iPhone (iOS 13) Tips

Apple’s latest iOS 13.x operating system has been available for a couple of months, or so. If you’re an iPhone user and have this latest operating system installed, there’s a good chance that you’re not yet familiar with its latest features. To help with this, you may want to visit and review an article titled, “New iOS 13 Features — The 200+ Best, Hidden & Most Exciting New Changes for iPhone” that I came across at the gadgethacks.com website. I don’t encourage you to read the entire article, but instead, encourage you to scan it for topics that look important and/or that interest you. To help you navigate to this impressive iOS tips resource, simply visit the following webpage…www.tinyurl.com/y3pxr482

(As I’m writing this, I’ve learned that Apple has just released iOS version 13.3. So, by the time you read this, you’ll be able to find even more features and tips by doing a web search for “iOS 13.3 features”).

Text Messaging from Your Computer?

Did you know that you can send and receive text messages from internet-connected computers (and not just from your mobile phone)? If this is news to you, and you’re interested in learning how to send and receive text messages from your computer, the following will get you started…

Apple.com article: “Use Messages with your Mac”…www.tinyurl.com/ybpyvdkq / Google Messages Help article: “Check your messages on your computer”…www.tinyurl.com/wsjah2a

Smart Speaker Commands

Have you noticed that increasing numbers of homes these days have one (or more) “Smart speakers” such as Amazon Echo, or Google Home devices? I recently saw a statistic somewhere that projected that by 2025, 75% of U.S. homes are expected to have at least one artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant, such as a Smart Speaker installed in them.

One issue that many users of these types of devices suffer from is not knowing many of the available voice commands that can be used with these devices. Fortunately, to help with this issue, lists of commands are cataloged by various entities, so you just need to connect with some of these resources. If you simply do a web search using keywords such as “Google Assistant commands,” “Google Home commands,” “Amazon Alexa commands,” or Amazon Alexa skills” you’ll find that the results contain links to many resources that provide lists of voice commands.

If you’re interested in reviewing Amazon Alexa voice commands, CNET.com’s article titled: “The complete list of Alexa commands you can give your Amazon Echo smart speaker” is a good place to start. You can get to this article by visiting…www.tinyurl.com/y25rjpzl

Similarly, if you’re interested in reviewing some Google Assistant voice commands, CNET.com’s article titled: “Every Google Assistant command to give your Nest speaker or display” is a good resource to review. Here’s a link to the article…www.tinyurl.com/ujvharg

If you have any comments, suggestions, tips, questions, or just want to say “Hi”, you can email John at john@johnvrooman.com.

John Vrooman
John Vrooman keeps an eye out for cool new hardware, software, apps, gadgets; SaaS solutions; social media developments, trends as well as personal/SMB productivity and related solutions. He gathers information for his column from a diverse range of resources and he enjoys sharing his discoveries with others. He has been authoring this column since August 2000 and welcomes feedback from his readers.