ies

Genetic study ties higher alcohol consumption to increased stroke and PAD risk

Research Highlights: Using genetic analysis, researchers found higher alcohol consumption increased risks for stroke and peripheral artery disease (PAD). Studies using genetic analysis don’t rely on observational data, which often use self-reported...




ies

Teen obesity, diabetes or high blood pressure may lead to prematurely aged arteries

Research Highlights: Teens who have obesity, type 2 diabetes or high systolic blood pressure show greater signs of blood vessel aging compared to healthy, normal weight teens. Thicker and stiffer blood vessels were more likely among teens that had...




ies

Leg pain medication may prevent re-blockage of neck arteries after a stent

Research Highlights: Adding cilostazol, an antiplatelet medication for leg pain, to other drugs tended to prevent re-blockage of carotid artery stents within two years. This is the first trial to show potential effectiveness of medical management for...




ies

Mejores hábitos de sueño pueden ayudar a reducir el riesgo de sufrir cardiopatías y a bajar de peso

Puntos destacados de la investigación: Las personas con mejor salud cardíaca, con hábitos de sueño saludables y que cumplen con AHA Life Simple 7, tienen menos probabilidades de tener un diagnóstico de cardiopatía y menos probabilidades de desarrollar...




ies

Starting estradiol therapy soon after menopause may benefit arteries

Waiting more than a decade after menopause to start estradiol...




ies

New “real world” data reveal potential opportunities for blood pressure improvement

Research Highlights: The PCORnet Blood Pressure Control Laboratory, a new collaborative partnership, analyzed electronic health record data from nearly 1.5 million patients including almost 6 million ambulatory visits with blood pressure measures. ...




ies

The Block: Stories from a Meeting Place

These are stories about a patch of land in Sydney, an infamous acre known as the Block, a place steeped in a rich history of Aboriginal culture, activism and hope. Over time, tragedy, drug abuse and crime crept into the Indigenous-owned housing precinct. In September 2010, the few remaining tenants received notice to vacate their homes. The Aboriginal Housing Company, which owned the crumbling terraces, was keen to redevelop the land. Now vacant, the Block sits on the verge of a new, uncertain rebirth. This virtual time capsule invites you to explore the Block, to witness the events that defined its 40-year history, and to meet the people whose lives it has shaped.




ies

Free, online health lessons available for all faith communities

DALLAS, April 8, 2020 – Approximately 120 million people in the United States have one or more cardiovascular conditions that may increase their risk for COVID-19 complications and those with hypertension, diabetes or cardiovascular disease are...




ies

Move through the tough times, together, with tWitch and Allison Boss, dancing duo and TV personalities

DALLAS, April 20, 2020 — With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic changing the daily routines of many Americans, the American Heart Association, the leading voluntary health organization focused on heart and brain health for all, is committed to help...




ies

Students receive scholarships to help address health disparities

DALLAS, May 5, 2020 — Ten college students are receiving $10,000 scholarships from the American Heart Association for their work to help close health disparity gaps – which appear to contribute to disproportionately high rates of sickness and death among...




ies

The defining stories, players of the decade

The 2019 season marks the end of a decade in baseball. As we enter its final year, the question must be asked: How will this decade be known?




ies

Movies Watched, March 2020

Between all the pandemic-mandated video conferences and cooking and cleaning and my kids’ remote schooling, I watched just over a…




ies

Movies Watched, April 2020

If you’re spending your pandemic working your way through the seemingly endless lists of movies and television recommendations for quarantine…




ies

Top 10 Toolkits and Libraries for Deep Learning in 2020

Deep Learning is a branch of artificial intelligence and a subset of machine learning that focuses on networks capable of, usually, unsupervised learning from unstructured and other forms of data. It is also known as deep structured learning or differential programming. Architectures inspired by deep learning find use in a range of fields, such as...




ies

Weird Kafka-Style Anatomies, Fantastic Creatures And Fancies Chart By Camille Renversades

Fantastic creatures and fancies chart by Camille Renversade, French chimérologist. Inspired by the old school boards, like the old Deyrolle...




ies

Best sports movies: Just as baseball is America, 'Field of Dreams' has become Iowa

Editor's note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them are...




ies

Big Ten extends suspension of team activities through June 1

Last week, University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld made some waves when he announced at a Board of Regents meeting UI athletics plans to resume practice on June 1. Monday, the Big Ten announced...




ies

Best sports movies: ‘Slap Shot’ is true to the sport of hockey

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...




ies

Best sports movies: ‘All-Stars’ resonates with anyone involved in youth sports

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...




ies

Best sports movies: ‘Cool Runnings’ will leave you feeling very Olympic

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...




ies

Best sports movies: ‘Caddyshack’ is a part of our vocabulary

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...




ies

Xavier senior athletes feel the pain, but enjoy the memories

CEDAR RAPIDS — One moment has the potential to change a person’s life in either a positive or a negative way. This holds true for high school athletes involved in spring sports. Gov/...




ies

Best sports movies: ‘Goal! The Dream Begins’ presents a modern American dream

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...




ies

Best sports movies: ‘Hoosiers’ remains a must-see classic

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...




ies

Xavier senior Kaiden Cuevas turns injuries into possible career

CEDAR RAPIDS — Xavier senior Kaiden Cuevas dedicated a majority of his life to sports, but after three different knee injuries he has decided to stop playing and focus on training other...




ies

Best sports movies: It’s OK to say it — ‘The Bad News Bears’ rules

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...




ies

Best sports movies: College football managed to survive ‘Horse Feathers’ takedown

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...




ies

Best sports movies: 'Brian's Song' is about more than football — it's about friendship

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...




ies

Celebrating on a screen: Iowa universities hold first-ever online commencements

Iowa State University graduates who celebrated commencement Friday saw lots of caps and gowns, red-and-gold confetti and arenas packed with friends and family. But none of those images were from...




ies

Mother’s Day, Birthdays, Anniversaries: Celebrating during a pandemic

A 10th wedding anniversary traditionally is celebrated with a gift of aluminum or tin. For Sondy Daggett, her 10th year of marriage to Liz Hoskins was marked with a gift of Champagne and...




ies

Celebrating on a screen: Iowa universities hold first-ever online commencements

Iowa State University graduates who celebrated commencement Friday saw lots of caps and gowns, red-and-gold confetti and arenas packed with friends and family.

But none of those images were from this year — which now is defined by the novel coronavirus that has forced education online and put an end to large gatherings like graduation ceremonies.

Appearing in front of a red ISU screen Friday, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Daniel J. Robison addressed graduates like he usually would at commencement — but this time in a recorded message acknowledging the unprecedented circumstances keeping them apart.

“This year, because of the COVID crisis, we are unfortunately not all together for this happy occasion,” he said, pushing forward in a motivational tone by quoting famed ISU alumnus George Washington Carver.

“When you can do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world,” Robison said, citing Carver.

About 12,000 graduates across Iowa’s public universities this month are doing exactly that — capping their collegiate careers with never-before-attempted online-only commencement ceremonies, with each campus and their respective colleges attempting a variety of virtual celebration methods.

ISU and the University of Iowa are attempting some form of socially-distanced livestreamed convocation with countdown clocks and virtual confetti. All three campuses including the University of Northern Iowa have posted online recorded messages, videos and slides acknowledging individual graduates.

Some slides include photos, thank-yous, quotes and student plans for after graduation.

UNI, which didn’t try any form of a live virtual ceremony, instead created a graduation website that went live Thursday. That site hosts an array of recorded video messages — including one from UNI President Mark Nook who, standing alone behind a podium on campus clad in traditional academic regalia, recognized his campus’ 1,500-some spring graduates and their unusual challenges.

“We know the loss you feel in not being able to be on campus to celebrate this time with your friends, faculty and staff,” Nook said. “To walk around campus in your robe and to take those pictures with friends and family members … The loss is felt by many of us as well.”

He reminded those listening that this spring’s UNI graduates — like those at the UI and ISU — can participate in an upcoming in-person commencement ceremony.

And although students were allowed to return caps and gowns they ordered for their canceled walks across the stage, some kept them as keepsakes. The campuses offered other tokens of remembrance as well, including “CYlebration” gift packages ISU sent to graduates in April stuffed with a souvenir tassel, diploma cover, and streamer tube — to make up for the confetti that won’t be falling on graduation caps from the Hilton Coliseum rafters.

In addition to the recorded messages from 17 UI leaders — including President Bruce Harreld — the campus solicited parent messages, which will be included in the live virtual ceremonies.

To date, about 3,100 of the more than 5,400 UI graduates have RSVP’d to participate in the ceremony, which spokeswoman Anne Bassett said is a required affirmation from the students to have their names read.

“Students do not have to sign up to watch,” she said. “So there’s no way at this time to predict how many will do so.”

Despite the historic nature of the first online-only commencement ceremonies — forever bonding distanced graduates through the shared experience — UI graduate Omar Khodor, 22, said it’s a club he would have liked to avoid.

“I’d definitely prefer not to be part of that group,” the environmental science major said, sharing disappointment over the education, experiences and celebrations he lost to the pandemic.

“A lot of students like myself, we’re upset, but we’re not really allowed to be upset given the circumstances,” Khodor said. “You have this sense that something is unfair, that something has been taken from you. But you can’t be mad about it at all.”

‘Should I Dance Across the Stage?’

Life is too short to dwell on what could have been or what should have been — which sort of captures graduate Dawn Hales’ motivation to get an ISU degree.

The 63-year-old Ames grandmother calls herself the “oldest BSN Iowa State grad ever.”

“It’s the truth, because we’re only the second cohort to graduate,” Hales said. “I’ll probably be the oldest for a while.”

ISU began offering a Bachelor of Science in nursing degree in fall 2018 for registered nurses hoping to advance their careers — like Hales, who spent years in nursing before becoming director of nursing at Accura Healthcare, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center in Ames.

In addition to wanting more education, Hales said, she felt like the “odd man out” in her red-and-gold family — with her husband, three sons and their wives all earning ISU degrees. She earned an associate degree and became a registered nurse with community college training.

“I was director of nursing at different facilities, but I did not have a four-year degree,” she said. “I always wanted to get my BSN.”

So in January 2019, she started full-time toward her three-semester pursuit of a BSN — even as she continued working. And her education took a relevant and important turn when COVID-19 arrived.

“My capstone project was infection control,” she said, noting her focus later sharpened to “infection control and crisis management” — perfect timing to fight the coronavirus, which has hit long-term care facilities particularly hard.

“We were hyper vigilant,” Hales said of her facility, which has yet to report a case of COVID-19. “I think we were probably one of the first facilities that pretty much shut down and started assessing our staff when they would come in.”

Hales said she was eager to walk in her first university graduation and was planning antics for it with her 10-year-old granddaughter.

“We were trying to think, should I dance across the stage?” Hales said. “Or would I grab a walker and act like an old lady going across the stage?

“She was trying to teach me to do this ‘dab’ move,” Hales said. “I said, ‘Honey, I cannot figure that out.’”

In the end, Hales watched the celebration online instead. She did, however, get a personalized license plate that reads, “RN2BSN.”

In From Idaho To Exalt ‘In ‘Our Own Way’

Coming from a family-run dairy farm in Jerome, Idaho, EllieMae Millenkamp, 22, is the first in her family to graduate college.

Although music is her passion, Millenkamp long expected to study at an agriculture school — but Colorado State was her original choice.

Then, while visiting family in Iowa during a cousin’s visit to ISU, she fell in love with the Ames campus and recalibrated her academic path.

While at ISU, the musical Millenkamp began writing more songs and performing more online, which led to in-person shows and a local band.

And then, during her junior year, a talent scout reached out to invite her to participate in an audition for NBC’s “The Voice.” That went well and Millenkamp, in the summer before her senior year, moved to Los Angeles and made it onto the show.

She achieved second-round status before being bumped, but the experience offered her lifelong friendships and connections and invigorated her musical pursuits — which have been slowed by COVID-19. Shows have been canceled in now idled bars.

Millenkamp went back to Idaho to be with her family, like thousands of her peers also did with their families, when the ISU campus shut down.

After graduation she plans on returning and working the family farm again until her musical career has the chance to regain momentum.

But she recently returned to Ames for finals. And she and some friends, also in town, plan to celebrate graduation, even if not with an official cap and gown.

“We’ll probably have a bonfire and all hang out,” she said. “We’ll celebrate in our own way.”

Seeking Closure After Abrupt Campus Exits

Most college seniors nearing graduation get to spend their academic hours focusing on their major and interests, wrapping their four or sometimes five years with passion projects and capstone experiences.

That was Omar Khodor’s plan — with lab-based DNA sequencing on tap, along with a geology trip and policy proposal he planned to present to the Iowa Legislature. But all that got canceled — and even some requirements were waived since COVID-19 made them impossible.

“There were still a lot of a lot of things to wrap up,” he said. “A lot of things I was looking forward to.”

He’s ending the year with just three classes to finish and “absolutely” would have preferred to have a fuller plate.

But Khodor’s academic career isn’t over. He’s planning to attend law school in the fall at the University of Pennsylvania, where he’ll pursue environmental law. But this spring has diminished his enthusiasm, with the question lingering of whether in-person courses will return to campus soon.

If they don’t, he’s still leaning toward enrolling — in part — because of all the work that goes into applying and getting accepted, which he’s already done.

“But online classes are definitely less fulfilling, less motivating. You feel like you learn less,” he said. “So it will kind of be a tossup. There’ll be some trade-offs involved in what I would gain versus what I would be paying for such an expensive endeavor like law school.”

As for missing a traditional college commencement, Khodor said he will, even though he plans to participate in the virtual alternative.

“Before it got canceled, I didn’t think that I was looking forward to it as much as I actually was,” he said.

Not so much for the pomp and circumstance, but for the closure, which none of the seniors got this year. When the universities announced no one would return to campus this semester, students were away on spring break.

They had already experienced their last in-person class, their last after-class drink, their last cram session, their last study group, their last lecture, their last Iowa Memorial Union lunch — and they didn’t even know it.

“So many of us, we won’t have closure, and that can kind of be a difficult thing,” he said.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com

Online Celebrations

For a list of commencement times and virtual celebrations, visit:

The University of Iowa’s commencement site at https://commencement.uiowa.edu/

Iowa State University’s commencement site at https://virtual.graduation.iastate.edu/

University of Northern Iowa’s commencement site at https://vgrad.z19.web.core.windows.net/uni/index.html




ies

Mother’s Day, Birthdays, Anniversaries: Celebrating during a pandemic

A 10th wedding anniversary traditionally is celebrated with a gift of aluminum or tin.

For Sondy Daggett, her 10th year of marriage to Liz Hoskins was marked with a gift of Champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries shared through a window.

Employees at Bickford of Marion, the assisted living and memory care center where Hoskins is a resident, surprised the couple with the anniversary gift on May 1. Despite the current coronavirus-related mitigation practices, the staff had created a special moment for the couple, who have been partners for 24 years.

Daggett burst into tears as employees played their wedding song — Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time.”

“It just touched my soul,” Daggett said.

Across the state, moments like this are relegated through windows or over a phone call. As the novel coronavirus pandemic sweeps through the country, long-term care facilities have locked down in an effort to keep residents healthy, which means their families are no longer able to hug their loved ones, or sit with them in their rooms.

For many families, the feelings at such times this time are conflicted. Typical Mother’s Day celebrations have been placed on hold, and recent milestones have been missed by those living in long-term care facilities. Simple visits through windows feel distant.

“Those are the moments you remember and you miss,” said Daggett, recalling memories of visits to Bickford of Marion from Hoskins’s grandchildren and family gatherings during the holidays.

Hoskins, who has dementia, has been a resident at Bickford since August 2019.

“The pandemic has taken this away,” Daggett said.

But beyond this new dynamic with which family members are left to grapple, they also have the constant worry that their loved one could fall ill.

So far, Bickford of Marion has not seen any cases.

“Every time you read about another outbreak — whether it’s close to home or anywhere in the country — it brings home how fortunate we are so far,” said Matt Hoskins, Liz Hoskin’s son. “I can’t imagine the anxiety the residents and staff are having once it breaks through the wall.”

As of Friday, 29 long-term care facilities across the state, which includes skilled nursing facilities and senior living centers, among others — have reported outbreaks of COVID-19 among hundreds of their staff and residents.

As a result, for some Iowans, that fear has become a reality.

‘I have to trust’

Ruth Brackett’s son Jamie Degner, a 38-year-old resident at Harmony House Health Care Center in Waterloo, tested positive for COVID-19 this past week.

Degner, who has severe autism and intellectual disabilities, has been a resident there since he was 15 years old.

More than 60 residents and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 at Harmony House, an intermediate care facility. It’s one of two long-term care facilities in Black Hawk County reporting an outbreak, defined as three or more positive tests among residents.

Degner received his test results on Tuesday. He’s had lower-than-normal oxygen levels, but otherwise has recorded his usual vital signs and has not experienced symptoms.

Brackett said it is “unbelievably difficult to not be able to go be with him through this.”

As with many facilities across the state, Harmony House closed its doors to visitors in early March, when the first cases of COVID-19 began being reported across Iowa and the nation. Brackett said her son’s cognitive abilities make it impossible for him to understand that she is unable to visit because she might make him sick, so the staff instead tell Degner his mom is “at work.”

While she’s optimistic he’ll improve, Brackett worries whether Degner’s virus would take a turn for the worse.

“It’s tough because I have to trust” the staff, Brackett said. “There’s nothing I can do, so I can’t spend a lot of time dwelling on what I might do differently.”

The families that spoke to The Gazette believe the leadership at long-term care facilities are doing what they can to keep its residents safe and healthy.

At Bickford of Marion, officials have taken the unique step of promising public transparency of possible COVID-19 cases in its facility. On the website of every Bickford location is a feature recording the number of residents who have tested positive for COVID-19.

“Whether it’s COVID-19 or not, we want to be transparent with families about their loved ones’ care,” Bickford of Marion Executive Director Jacobi Feckers said. “I don’t know why other nursing homes haven’t taken that step because I haven’t spoken to other facilities, but I’m thankful that’s the route we’ve taken.”

It’s not just families who are placing their trust in management. Ron Moore is an independent living resident at Cottage Grove Place, one of the largest senior living centers in Cedar Rapids that has reported an outbreak of COVID-19 this past week.

According to the latest data from public health officials, five residents and staff there have tested positive.

The outbreak originated in the skilled nursing unit, and officials said they are working to ensure the virus doesn’t spread to the assisted-living and independent-living portions of the facility. They restricted movement between the facilities and conduct frequent temperature checks of staff.

So far, the general feeling among residents at Cottage Grove Place’s independent-living housing is that management has “done a good job” of controlling exposure.

“The feelings of the residents here are positive,” Moore said. “They appreciate what management has done to protect us.”

‘Any opportunity to celebrate’

Still, life looks much differently at Cottage Grove Place. Moore said his schedule typically is packed with weekly book clubs and coffees with friends. Now he and his wife take walks, or try to connect with friends over email.

“I’ve found (residents) are not depressed at this time,” he said. “But in the future, if this goes on for many months? My prediction is yes, depression will be a serious thing.”

Local senior living centers have come up with unique ways to allow visitors to see their loved ones. Gina Hausknecht, a 55-year-old Iowa City resident, was able to see her mother in person for the first time in weeks after her assisted-living home, Oaknoll Retirement Community in Iowa City, created a “drive up” visit option this past weekend.

While Hausknecht sat in the car, she was able to speak with her mother, 93-year-old Ellen Hausknecht, for an hour outside the facility. Before this, it had been emotionally difficult for Hausknecht not to see her mom weekly as she usually does

“It sunk in that I don’t know when I’m going to see my mom again, and that felt really terrible,” Hausknecht previously told The Gazette.

Hausknecht said she hopes to take this year’s Mother’s Day as an opportunity to do something special, particularly given the difficult past few weeks.

“Our family isn’t super-big on these kinds of holidays but we do like to acknowledge them, and this year it feels important to take hold of any opportunity to celebrate,” she said.

Other facilities, including Bickford of Marion, also have eased restrictions on sending food and gifts to residents in time for Mother’s Day. Matt Hoskins, Liz’s Hoskins’ son, said the family’s usual Mother’s Day plans are impossible this year, so they hope to send Liz’s Hoskins artwork from her grandchildren along with other gifts.

Brackett, who will be apart from her son Degner this year, said she hadn’t planned anything for the holiday. She looks forward to her first in-person visit with him after the pandemic, when she will bring his favorite meal from McDonald’s and a new deck of Phase 10 cards.

Despite the feelings of being separated, their wedding anniversary on May 1 likely is something Daggett will cherish, she said. With Daggett acting as Hoskins caregiver since her dementia diagnosis in 2016, their wedding anniversary has been something the couple hasn’t celebrated in a significant way in some time, she said.

But that worry still creeps in the back of her mind. Daggett said she’s trying to remain “as confident as anyone can at this point.”

“I learned a long time ago you can’t worry about what you can’t control,” Daggett said. “But does that mean I still wake up at 2 in the morning worried about it? Of course I do.”

Comments: (319) 398-8469; michaela.ramm@thegazette.com




ies

Unsolved Zoom Mysteries: Why We Have to Say “You’re Muted” So Much

Video conference tools are an indispensable part of the Plague Times. Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and their compatriots are keeping us close and connected in a physically distanced world.

As tech-savvy folks with years of cross-office collaboration, we’ve laughed at the sketches and memes about vidconf mishaps. We practice good Zoomiquette, including muting ourselves when we’re not talking.

Yet even we can’t escape one vidconf pitfall. (There but for the grace of Zoom go I.) On nearly every vidconf, someone starts to talk, and then someone else says: “Oop, you’re muted.” And, inevitably: “Oop, you’re still muted.”

That’s right: we’re trying to follow Zoomiquette by muting, but then we forget or struggle to unmute when we do want to talk.

In this post, I’ll share my theories for why the You’re Muted Problems are so pervasive, using Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom as examples. Spoiler alert: While I hope this will help you be more mindful of the problem, I can’t offer a good solution. It still happens to me. All. The. Time.

Skip the why and go straight to the vidconf app keyboard shortcuts you should memorize right now.

Why we don't realize we’re muted before talking

Why does this keep happening?!?

Simply put: UX and design decisions make it harder to remember that you’re muted before you start to talk.

Here’s a common scenario: You haven’t talked for a bit, so you haven’t interacted with the Zoom screen for a few seconds. Then you start to talk — and that’s when someone tells you, “You’re muted.”

We forget so easily in these scenarios because when our mouse has been idle for a few seconds, the apps hide or downplay the UI elements that tell us we’re muted.

Zoom and Teams are the worst offenders:

  • Zoom hides both the toolbar with the main in-app controls (the big mute button) and the mute status indicator on your video pane thumbnail.
  • Teams hides the toolbar, and doesn't show a mute status indicator on your video thumbnail in the first place.

Meet is only slightly better:

  • Meet hides the toolbar, and shows only a small mute status icon in your video thumbnail.

Even when our mouse is active, the apps’ subtle approach to muted state UI can make it easy to forget that we’re muted:

Teams is the worst offender:

  • The mute button is an icon rather than words.
  • The muted-state icon's styling could be confused with unmuted state: Teams does not follow the common pattern of using red to denote muted state.
  • The mute button is not differentiated in visual hierarchy from all the other controls.
  • As mentioned above, Teams never shows a secondary mute status indicator.

Zoom is a bit better, but still makes it pretty easy to forget that you’re muted:

  • Pros:
    • Zoom is the only app to use words on the mute button, in this case to denote the button action (rather than the muted state).
    • The muted-state icon’s styling (red line) is less likely to be confused with the unmuted-state icon.
  • Cons:
    • The mute button’s placement (bottom left corner of the page) is easy to overlook.
    • The mute button is not differentiated in visual hierarchy from the other toolbar buttons — and Zoom has a lot of toolbar buttons, especially when logged in as host.
    • The secondary mute status indicator is a small icon.
    • The mute button’s muted-state icon is styled slightly differently from the secondary mute status indicator.
  • Potential Cons:
    • While words denote the button action, only an icon denotes the muted state.

Meet is probably the clearest of the three apps, but still has pitfalls:

  • Pros:
    • The mute button is visually prominent in the UI: It’s clearly differentiated in the visual hierarchy relative to other controls (styled as a primary button); is a large button; and is placed closer to the center of the controls bar.
    • The muted-state icon’s styling (red fill) is less likely to be confused with the unmuted-state icon.
  • Cons:
    • Uses only an icon rather than words to denote the muted state.
  • Unrelated Con:
    • While the mute button is visually prominent, it’s also placed next to the hang-up button. So in Meet’s active state you might be less likely to forget you’re muted … but more likely to accidentally hang up when trying to unmute. 😬

I know modern app design leans toward minimalism. There’s often good rationale to use icons rather than words, or to de-emphasize controls and indicators when not in use.

But again: This happens on basically every call! Often multiple times per call!! And we’re supposed to be tech-savvy!!! Imagine what it’s like for the tens of millions of vidconf newbs.

I would argue that “knowing your muted state” has turned out to be a major vidconf user need. At this point, it’s certainly worth rethinking UX patterns for.

Why we keep unsuccessfully unmuting once we realize we’re muted

So we can blame the You’re Muted Problem on UX and design. But what causes the You’re Still Muted Problem? Once we know we’re muted, why do we sometimes fail to unmute before talking again?

This one is more complicated — and definitely more speculative. To start making sense of this scenario, here’s the sequence I’m guessing most commonly plays out (I did this a couple times before I became aware of it):

The crucial part is when the person tries to unmute by pressing the keyboard Volume On/Off key.

If that’s in fact what’s happening (again, this is just a hypothesis), I’m guessing they did that because when someone says “You’re muted” or “I can’t hear you,” our subconscious thought process is: “Oh, Audio is Off. Press the keyboard key that I usually press when I want to change Audio Off to Audio On.”

There are two traps in this reflexive thought process:

First, the keyboard volume keys control the speaker volume, not the microphone volume. (More specifically, they control the system sound output settings, rather than the system sound input settings or the vidconf app’s sound input settings.)

In fact, there isn’t a keyboard key to control the microphone volume. You can’t unmute your mic via a dedicated keyboard key, the way that you can turn the speaker volume on/off via a keyboard key while watching a movie or listening to music.

Second, I think we reflexively press the keyboard key anyway because our mental model of the keyboard audio keys is just: Audio. Not microphone vs. speaker.

This fuzzy mental model makes sense: There’s only one set of keyboard keys related to audio, so why would I think to distinguish between microphone and speaker? 

So my best guess is hardware design causes the You’re Still Muted Problem. After all, keyboard designs are from a pre-Zoom era, when the average person rarely used the computer’s microphone.

If that is the cause, one potential solution is for hardware manufacturers to start including dedicated keys to control microphone volume:

Video conference keyboard shortcuts you should memorize right now

Let me know if you have other theories for the You’re Still Muted Problem!

In the meantime, the best alternative is to learn all of the vidconf app keyboard shortcuts for muting/unmuting:

  • Meet
    • Mac: Command(⌘) + D
    • Windows: Control + D
  • Teams
    • Mac: Command(⌘) + Shift + M
    • Windows: Ctrl + Shift + M
  • Zoom
    • Mac: Command(⌘) + Shift + A
    • Windows: Alt + A
    • Hold Spacebar: Temporarily unmute

Other vidconf apps not included in my analysis:

  • Cisco Webex Meetings
    • Mac: Ctrl + Alt + M
    • Windows: Ctrl + Shift + M
  • GoToMeeting

Bonus protip from Jackson Fox: If you use multiple vidconf apps, pick a keyboard shortcut that you like and manually change each app’s mute/unmute shortcut to that. Then you only have to remember one shortcut!





ies

Unsolved Zoom Mysteries: Why We Have to Say “You’re Muted” So Much

Video conference tools are an indispensable part of the Plague Times. Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and their compatriots are keeping us close and connected in a physically distanced world.

As tech-savvy folks with years of cross-office collaboration, we’ve laughed at the sketches and memes about vidconf mishaps. We practice good Zoomiquette, including muting ourselves when we’re not talking.

Yet even we can’t escape one vidconf pitfall. (There but for the grace of Zoom go I.) On nearly every vidconf, someone starts to talk, and then someone else says: “Oop, you’re muted.” And, inevitably: “Oop, you’re still muted.”

That’s right: we’re trying to follow Zoomiquette by muting, but then we forget or struggle to unmute when we do want to talk.

In this post, I’ll share my theories for why the You’re Muted Problems are so pervasive, using Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom as examples. Spoiler alert: While I hope this will help you be more mindful of the problem, I can’t offer a good solution. It still happens to me. All. The. Time.

Skip the why and go straight to the vidconf app keyboard shortcuts you should memorize right now.

Why we don't realize we’re muted before talking

Why does this keep happening?!?

Simply put: UX and design decisions make it harder to remember that you’re muted before you start to talk.

Here’s a common scenario: You haven’t talked for a bit, so you haven’t interacted with the Zoom screen for a few seconds. Then you start to talk — and that’s when someone tells you, “You’re muted.”

We forget so easily in these scenarios because when our mouse has been idle for a few seconds, the apps hide or downplay the UI elements that tell us we’re muted.

Zoom and Teams are the worst offenders:

  • Zoom hides both the toolbar with the main in-app controls (the big mute button) and the mute status indicator on your video pane thumbnail.
  • Teams hides the toolbar, and doesn't show a mute status indicator on your video thumbnail in the first place.

Meet is only slightly better:

  • Meet hides the toolbar, and shows only a small mute status icon in your video thumbnail.

Even when our mouse is active, the apps’ subtle approach to muted state UI can make it easy to forget that we’re muted:

Teams is the worst offender:

  • The mute button is an icon rather than words.
  • The muted-state icon's styling could be confused with unmuted state: Teams does not follow the common pattern of using red to denote muted state.
  • The mute button is not differentiated in visual hierarchy from all the other controls.
  • As mentioned above, Teams never shows a secondary mute status indicator.

Zoom is a bit better, but still makes it pretty easy to forget that you’re muted:

  • Pros:
    • Zoom is the only app to use words on the mute button, in this case to denote the button action (rather than the muted state).
    • The muted-state icon’s styling (red line) is less likely to be confused with the unmuted-state icon.
  • Cons:
    • The mute button’s placement (bottom left corner of the page) is easy to overlook.
    • The mute button is not differentiated in visual hierarchy from the other toolbar buttons — and Zoom has a lot of toolbar buttons, especially when logged in as host.
    • The secondary mute status indicator is a small icon.
    • The mute button’s muted-state icon is styled slightly differently from the secondary mute status indicator.
  • Potential Cons:
    • While words denote the button action, only an icon denotes the muted state.

Meet is probably the clearest of the three apps, but still has pitfalls:

  • Pros:
    • The mute button is visually prominent in the UI: It’s clearly differentiated in the visual hierarchy relative to other controls (styled as a primary button); is a large button; and is placed closer to the center of the controls bar.
    • The muted-state icon’s styling (red fill) is less likely to be confused with the unmuted-state icon.
  • Cons:
    • Uses only an icon rather than words to denote the muted state.
  • Unrelated Con:
    • While the mute button is visually prominent, it’s also placed next to the hang-up button. So in Meet’s active state you might be less likely to forget you’re muted … but more likely to accidentally hang up when trying to unmute. 😬

I know modern app design leans toward minimalism. There’s often good rationale to use icons rather than words, or to de-emphasize controls and indicators when not in use.

But again: This happens on basically every call! Often multiple times per call!! And we’re supposed to be tech-savvy!!! Imagine what it’s like for the tens of millions of vidconf newbs.

I would argue that “knowing your muted state” has turned out to be a major vidconf user need. At this point, it’s certainly worth rethinking UX patterns for.

Why we keep unsuccessfully unmuting once we realize we’re muted

So we can blame the You’re Muted Problem on UX and design. But what causes the You’re Still Muted Problem? Once we know we’re muted, why do we sometimes fail to unmute before talking again?

This one is more complicated — and definitely more speculative. To start making sense of this scenario, here’s the sequence I’m guessing most commonly plays out (I did this a couple times before I became aware of it):

The crucial part is when the person tries to unmute by pressing the keyboard Volume On/Off key.

If that’s in fact what’s happening (again, this is just a hypothesis), I’m guessing they did that because when someone says “You’re muted” or “I can’t hear you,” our subconscious thought process is: “Oh, Audio is Off. Press the keyboard key that I usually press when I want to change Audio Off to Audio On.”

There are two traps in this reflexive thought process:

First, the keyboard volume keys control the speaker volume, not the microphone volume. (More specifically, they control the system sound output settings, rather than the system sound input settings or the vidconf app’s sound input settings.)

In fact, there isn’t a keyboard key to control the microphone volume. You can’t unmute your mic via a dedicated keyboard key, the way that you can turn the speaker volume on/off via a keyboard key while watching a movie or listening to music.

Second, I think we reflexively press the keyboard key anyway because our mental model of the keyboard audio keys is just: Audio. Not microphone vs. speaker.

This fuzzy mental model makes sense: There’s only one set of keyboard keys related to audio, so why would I think to distinguish between microphone and speaker? 

So my best guess is hardware design causes the You’re Still Muted Problem. After all, keyboard designs are from a pre-Zoom era, when the average person rarely used the computer’s microphone.

If that is the cause, one potential solution is for hardware manufacturers to start including dedicated keys to control microphone volume:

Video conference keyboard shortcuts you should memorize right now

Let me know if you have other theories for the You’re Still Muted Problem!

In the meantime, the best alternative is to learn all of the vidconf app keyboard shortcuts for muting/unmuting:

  • Meet
    • Mac: Command(⌘) + D
    • Windows: Control + D
  • Teams
    • Mac: Command(⌘) + Shift + M
    • Windows: Ctrl + Shift + M
  • Zoom
    • Mac: Command(⌘) + Shift + A
    • Windows: Alt + A
    • Hold Spacebar: Temporarily unmute

Other vidconf apps not included in my analysis:

  • Cisco Webex Meetings
    • Mac: Ctrl + Alt + M
    • Windows: Ctrl + Shift + M
  • GoToMeeting

Bonus protip from Jackson Fox: If you use multiple vidconf apps, pick a keyboard shortcut that you like and manually change each app’s mute/unmute shortcut to that. Then you only have to remember one shortcut!





ies

Invisible Disabilities: Break Down The Barriers

Many people think the word “disability” means people who require a wheelchair or walker. In reality, however, there is much more to disability than meets the eye. 




ies

Trump officials say people with disabilities must not be denied lifesaving coronavirus care

Patients with disabilities must receive the same level of lifesaving medical treatment from hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic as able-bodied patients, the Trump administration said.




ies

What life is like now for 3 people with brain injuries — and their loved ones

Ken Rekowski, Shawn Hill and Jodi Graham are dealing with COVID-19 in different ways




ies

Troops to receive Purple Hearts for injuries during Iranian missile barrage on al-Asad airbase in Iraq

There will be Purple Hearts awarded to troops injured during the Jan. 8 Iranian missile barrage on the al-Asad airbase in Iraq, a defense official told Military Times.




ies

Troops to receive Purple Hearts for injuries during Iranian missile barrage on al-Asad airbase in Iraq

There will be Purple Hearts awarded to troops injured during the Jan. 8 Iranian missile barrage on the al-Asad airbase in Iraq, a defense official told Military Times.




ies

5 Essential git Commands and Utilities

For many of us, git and GitHub play a huge role in our development workflows. Whenever we have a tool that we need to use often, the more fine-tuned we can make that tool, the faster we can get things done. The following are five git commands or helpers that can make your developer life […]

The post 5 Essential git Commands and Utilities appeared first on David Walsh Blog.




ies

Best Photos of 2017 by JMG-Galleries Blog Readers

Get ready to start 2018 off on the right foot with some creative inspiration. The results of my 11th annual Best of Photos project hopefully will provide just that by introducing you to photographers and their work from all over the world. Get ready to travel around the world in 100+ links. For those who are new to my blog project, photographers taking part span the gamut of photo enthusiasts to professionals. The great thing about photography is that no matter what your skill level we all can relate equally in our love for the art of photography and visually exploring. With that in mind I encourage you to reach out to photographers whose work you enjoy to keep sharing & growing as an artist.  I am incredibly thankful that this tradition has been embraced and enjoy seeing how familiar faces have evolved their work & grown over the years.  I hope reviewing your best photos of the year and comparing them to years pasts keeps you inspired and aware of your progress as a photographer. If you’d like to take part next year and be informed when submissions open for the “Best Photos of 2017? blog project add your name to my mail list. You won’t be spammed. I send out newsletters quite infrequently. Thank to everyone who took part!  I invite you to visit each link below as I have and introduce yourself to many of the participating photographers. Best Photos of 2017 Jim M. Goldstein – Best Photos of 2017 by Jim M. Goldstein Randy Langstraat – My Ten Favorite Photos of 2017 Michael Russell – My Top 10 Photos of 2017 Phil Colla – Best Natural History Photos of 2017 Greg Russell | Alpenglow Images – 2017 year in review Mike Matenkosky – My Favorite Photos from 2017 Khürt Williams – 2017 Favourites Carl Donohue – Expeditions Alaska Kevin Ly – Kevin Ly | Best of 2017 Martin Quinn – Quinn Images – Best of 2017 Robin Mayoff – RHM Images Best of 2017 Craig L. Howe – On the Move Johann A. Briffa – 2017: A Photographic Retrospective Harold Davis – Harold Davis—My Best of 2017 Denise Goldberg – top photos :: 2017 William Bean – Bill’s Blog Greg Clure – Best Images of 2017 Rick Holliday – Best Images of 2017 Peter Carroll – Peter Carroll – Favourites of 2017 Mike Chowla – My 10 Best Photos of 2017 Wendy M. Seagren – wendy seagrens best photography 2017 QT Luong – 2017 in Review, Favorites, and Seasons Greetings Jenni Brehm – Changing Perspectives Rachel Cohen – Rachel Cohen Photography Brian Knott (FMKphoto) – 2017 year in review Shikha Shrivastava – My favorite photos of 2017 Dave Wilson – Dave Wilson Photography – Best of 2017 Larry Millican – Millican Photography Alexander S. Kunz – My Favorite Photos from 2017 Mark Duffy – 500px Stefan Baeurle – Top 10 Favorites of 2017 Adrian Klein – Favorite Photos of 2017 Alan Majchrowicz – Photo Highlights 2017 Russ Bishop – Russ Bishop Photography | 2017 – The Year in Pictures Todd Henson – Best Photos of 2017: My Favorites of the Year Peter Tellone – My 2017 Top Ten Best Images Aaron Hockley – thisGruntled – Best Photos of 2017 Tony Wu – Favorite Photos of 2017 T.M. Schultze – T.M. Schultze Website Andrew S. Gibson – My Favorite Photos From 2017 John Pemberton – JPSquared – Images of 2017 Scott Thompson – Scott Shots Photography’s Top 10 Tahoe photos of 2017 ElDuro Tuco – ElDuro Tuco The DarkSlides – The DarkSlides Jon McCormack – From Ancient Cities to Endangered Animals – 2017 in Photographs Fred Mertz Photography – Fred Mertz Photography Richard Valenti – Richard Valenti Photography Jeff Hubbard – My Favorite Photos of 2017 Andrew Scharlot – 2017 Best Pictures Deb Snelson – Favorite Photos of 2017 Richard Wong – Favorite Photos From 2017 – Richard Wong Caleb Weston – Dubland Gary Crabbe / Enlightened Images – My Favorite Landscape Photos of 2017 – A Year-End Retrospective Tom Whelan – Nature Diary Robert Varley – Robert Varley Kyle Jones – Favorites from 2017 Neil Creek – Neil Creek – Photographer tim fiddimore – North Devon 2017 Richard Murphy Photography – Best of 2017 Alan Dahl – Favorites of 2017 Gabor Ruff – Natural History Photography – Highlights from 2017 Kevin Ebi – Living Wilderness: Best of 2017 Clint Losee – 10 Best Landscape and Scenic Photos of 2017 Mark Hespenheide – Best of ’17 Ilias Katsouras – Okrivadas David J Grenier – 2017 Top 12 Photographs J. J. RAIA – 2017 Jim Goldstein Project Rob Tilley – Best of 2017 – My Favorite Images of the Year Björn Göhringer – Top 14 From 2017 Bernt-Inge Madsen – Bernt-Inge.com USKestrel Photography (Pete Miller) – My favorite images of 2017: A Different Perspective Milan Hutera – 2017 in Pictures Fred Murphy – Fred Murphy Photography Harry Hitzeman – My Top Photographs of 2017 Andrew Thomas – Best of 2017 – Aerials Dean Foster – 2017: Year in Review Simon Ng – 2017 A Year of Water Michael Katz – Michael Katz Photography Drake Dyck – Top Ten (favourite) Images of 2017 Jose Manuel Santos – The Magnificent Douro Valley Gary Buzel – Gary Buzel Studios Bryan William Jones – Top Photos of 2017 Peter Knott – 2017 Favourites Kamala Venkatesh – Kamala Venkatesh Jason Frye – My Top 10 of 2017 Jackson Frishman – Favorites of 2017 Thomas Yackley – Top Ten Landscape and Nature Photos of 2017 Mark Graf – 2017 – A Year of Despair and Dragons Kurt Lawson – 10ish Favorites of 2017 Jorge Ramirez – Selection 2017 William Neill – William Neill’s Light on the Landscape Photoblog Daniel Leu – Favorites – 2017 Derrald Farnsworth-Livingston – Top 10 Favorite Images from 2017 ~ Journey of Light Photography Mike Christoferson – 2017 Has Come and Gone Carol Schiraldi – Best of 2017 – My Top Images Robin Black – My 10 best photos (or personal favorites, anyway) of 2017 Bryn Tassell – […]




ies

Best Photos of 2018 by JMG-Galleries Blog Readers

I’m excited to share the results of my 12th annual Best of Photos project.  115 photographers from around the world (amateur and professional alike) have shared their best photos of 2018.  I’m always amazed at the quality of work shared and I hope it’s a source inspiration to you for the coming year. For those who are new to my blog project, photographers taking part span the gamut of photo enthusiasts to professionals. The great thing about photography is that no matter what your skill level we all can relate equally in our love for the art of photography and visually exploring. With that in mind I encourage you to reach out to photographers whose work you enjoy to keep sharing & growing as an artist.  I am incredibly thankful that this tradition has been embraced and enjoy seeing how familiar faces have evolved their work & grown over the years.  I hope reviewing your best photos of the year and comparing them to years pasts keeps you inspired and aware of your progress as a photographer. If you’d like to take part next year and be informed when submissions open for the “Best Photos of 2019” blog project add your name to my mail list. You won’t be spammed. I send out newsletters quite infrequently. Thank to everyone who took part!  I invite you to visit each link below as I have and introduce yourself to many of the participating photographers. Best Photos of 2018 Jim Goldstein – Best Photos of 2018 by Jim M. Goldstein Michael Russell – My Top 10 Photographs Of 2018 Dave Wilson – Best of 2018 Joseph Smith – 2018 Favorites – A Baker’s Dozen Randy Langstraat – My Ten Favorite Photos of 2018 Chuq Von Rospach – Chuqui 2018 Best Of Photos Rachel Cohen – Best of 2018 Lucy Autrey Wilson – A Thousand Words Romain Guy – Best of 2018 Alexander S. Kunz – My Favorite Photos from 2018 Stefan Baeurle – Top 10 Favorites of 2018 QT Luong – 2018 in Review Jenni Brehm – Best pf 2018 – Changing Perspectives Sean Bagshaw – My Favorite Photos Of 2018 Johann A. Briffa – 2018: A Photographic Retrospective Exploring Light – 2018: A Year In Review Drake Dyck – Top Ten (favourite) Images of 2018 Richard Wong – Fine Art Photography Prints – 2018 Ramen Saha – 2018 – Ten moments Martin Quinn – Quinn Images 2018 Favorites TheDarkSlides – TheDarkSlides Best of 2018 Denise Goldberg – top photos :: 2018 Peter Carroll – Favourites of 2018 Jeff Hubbard – Ten Favorite Photos 2018 Gary Crabbe – My Favorite Landscape Photos of 2018 – A Year-End Retrospective Harold Davis – Harold Davis – Best of 2018 Werner Priller – My Favorite Images of 2018/ Phil Colla – Natural History Photography – Best Photos Of 2018 Aaron Hockley – Tech Photo Guy: Best Photos of 2018 Dan Baumbach – 2018 in Review Jao van de Lagemaat – Jao’s best images of 2018 Pete Miller-USKestrel Photography – Favorite Images of 2018 Shikha – Eastern Sierra – My favorite images of 2018 Bruce Leventhal – Reflecting on 2018 Christopher Sheppard – The Stories Behind My Favorite Photographs of 2018 Alan Majchrowicz – Photo Highlights 2018 Tom Whelan – Nature Diary Todd Henson – Best Photos of 2018: My Favorites of the Year Khürt Williams – Island in the Net Patricia Davidson – My Top 10 Favorite Photos of 2018 Russ Bishop – 2018 – The Year in Pictures Jim Coda – Some of My Favorite Images from 2018 Steve Cole – Birds Eye View of 2018 Fred Mertz Photography – Best Photos of 2018 Martijn van der Nat – Best of 2018 Graf Nature Photography – Twenty Eighteen Wanderings Scott Thompson – My Top 10 Tahoe Area Photos of 2018 Kyle Jones – 2018 Favorites Clint Losee – My Best Landscape and Nature Photos of 2018 Caleb Weston – Caleb Weston – Dubland Media Greg Clure – Best of 2018 Rick Holliday – Favorites from 2018 J.J. RAIA – J.J. RAIA Best Photos of 2018 Francis Gagnon – Francis Gagnon Best Photos of 2018 Mike Chowla – My Ten Best of Images of 2018 Carl Donohue – 2018 in photos Kurt Lawson – 10 Favorites of 2018: From Lava Rivers in Hawaii to Yosemite Snowstorms William Bean – William Bean T.M. Schultze – My Favorite Photographs of 2018 Andrew Thomas – Aerial Adventures – Best of 2018 Matt Conti – 2018 Top 20 Photos Daniel Leu – Favorites – 2018 Carol Schiraldi – Best of 2018 from Carol’s Little World Alan Dahl – 2018 Favorite Photos Milan Hutera – 2018 in Pictures Kathy Barnhart – Flickr Sensing Light Best of 2018 Album Greg Russell – Alpenglow Images 2018 Year in Review Derrald Farnsworth-Livingston – Top 10 Favorite Images from 2018 Kevin Ebi – Living Wilderness: Best of 2018 Jackson Frishman – Favorites of 2018 Greg A. Lato – My Favorite Photos of 2018 Mike Shipman – Mike Shipman’s Best of 2018 Beth Young – Best Photos of 2018 Dale Grosbach – My Favorites – 2018 Brent Huntley – Photography and Travel Charlie Russell – Best Wildflower Photos for 2018 Bryan William Jones – Jonesblog Tony Wu – Favorite Photos of 2018 Adrian Klein – 2018 Photo Retrospective Scott McGee – Top 10 of 2018 William Neill – My Favorite Photographs of 2018 Thomas Yackley – Yackley Photo Anne McKinnell – Best Photos of 2018 Holly Davison – Top Ten of 2018 Brian Knott – Brian Knott Photography 2018 Year In Review Anna DeStefano – Affirmation Photography’s Best of 2018 Ingeborg Fernau – Magicalglow Photography Blog Emil Powella – Top 10 of 2018 Elduro Tuco – Elduro Tuco Eric Chan – Favorites From 2018 TP Chapman – Best of 2018 Ilias Katsouras – Okrivadas Molly Dean – Best Photos of 2018 Sarah Marino – 2018 Wrap-Up and a Few Favorite Photographs Michael Frye – My Top Photographs of 2018 Jim Stamates – Memories of 2018 Tim Aston – Favorites from 2018 Samantha Decker – My Best […]




ies

Best Photos of 2019 by JMG-Galleries Blog Readers

I’m excited to share the results of my 13th annual Best of Photos project.  112 photographers from around the world (amateur and professional alike) have shared their best photos of 2019.  I’m always amazed at the quality of work shared and I hope it’s a source inspiration to you for the coming year. For those who are new to my blog project, photographers taking part span the gamut of photo enthusiasts to professionals. The great thing about photography is that no matter what your skill level we all can relate equally in our love for the art of photography and visually exploring. With that in mind I encourage you to reach out to photographers whose work you enjoy to keep sharing & growing as an artist.  I am incredibly thankful that this tradition has been embraced and enjoy seeing how familiar faces have evolved their work & grown over the years.  I hope reviewing your best photos of the year and comparing them to years pasts keeps you inspired and aware of your progress as a photographer. If you’d like to take part next year and be informed when submissions open for the “Best Photos of 2020” blog project add your name to my mail list. You won’t be spammed. I send out newsletters quite infrequently. Thank to everyone who took part!  I invite you to visit each link below as I have and introduce yourself to many of the participating photographers. Best Photos of 2019 Best Photos of 2019 – JMG-Galleries – Jim M. Goldstein My Top 10 Photographs Of 2019 – Michael Russell My Ten Favorite Photos of 2019 – ADVENTR – Randy Langstraat Favorite Photos of 2019 – T.M. Schultze My Favorite Photos from 2019 – Alexander S. Kunz Best of 2019 – Dave Wilson Harold Davis—Best of 2019 – Harold Davis 2019: A Photographic Retrospective – Johann A. Briffa Top 10 Favorites of 2019 – Stefan Baeurle My Best Natural History Photos of 2019 – Phil Colla My Best Photos From 2019 – Daniel Brinneman Best Photos of 2019 – Peter Tellone Rétrospective des meilleures photos de l’année 2019 – Francis Gagnon Best of 2019 by Rachel Cohen – Rachel Cohen Photo Highlights 2019 – Alan Majchrowicz My Top 10 Nature Photos of 2019 – Greg Vaughn 2019 – The Year in Pictures | Russ Bishop Photography – Russ Bishop 2019 Favorites – A Split Year – Joseph Smith My 12 Favorite Photos of 2019 – Chuq Von Rospach Wild Drake Photography – Drake Dyck Matt Payne Photography – Matt Payne My Favorite Images Of 2019 – Werner Priller Favourites from 2019 – Bryn Tassell My Favorite Photos of 2019 – A Year-End Retrospective – Gary Crabbe / Enlightened Images 2019 Favorite Photographs – Pat Ulrich Without reflection we go blindly on our way – Bjorn Kleemann 2019 – Ten moments – Ramen Saha top photos :: 2019 – Denise Goldberg Changing Perspectives – Best of 2019 – Jenni Brehm Island in the Net – Khürt Williams Best Photos of 2019: My Favorites of the Year – Todd Henson My Ten Best of Images of 2019 – Mike Chowla 2019 Favorite Photos – Alan Dahl Tech Photo Guy – Best Photos 2019 – Aaron Hockley 2019 Favorites – Martin Quinn Best of TheDarkSlides 2019 – TheDarkSlides 2019 Jim Goldstein Project – J.J. RAIA My Favorites of 2019 – Rich Greene My Favorite Images of 2019 (aka ‘Best of 2019’) – Pete Miller 2019 Year in Review, Decade in Review – Robin Black Photography Under Pressure Photography – Scott McGee My favorite Slovenia photos of 2019 – Luka Esenko 5 Moments in Time – 2019 – Gavin Crook My favorite photos of the decade – Matt Payne My Ten Favourite Images of 2019 – Jens Preshaw 2019 in Pictures – Milan Hutera Twelve from 2019 – Tom Whelan My Favorite Photos of 2019 – Jeff Hubbard 2019 Favorites – Rick Holliday Best of the Best 2019 – Richard Valenti Best Landscape and Nature Photos of 2019 – Clint Losee Best of 2019 – My Favorite Images of the Year – Rob Tilley 2019 Year in Review – Greg Russell | Alpenglow Images Best of The Decade Including 2019 – Adrian Klein Best of 2019 – Brian Knott Natural History Photography – Highlights from 2019 – Gabor Ruff Best of 2019 – Jeff Dupuie Top 2019 – Eric Chan Best of 2019 – Greg Clure Twenty Nineteen: In retrospect – Charlotte Gibb Favorite Blog Photos of 2019 – Jim Coda My Favorites 2019 – Beth Young Living Wilderness: Best of 2019 – Kevin Ebi 2019 Favorites – Mike Cleron Best of 2019 – Romain Guy 2019 Favorite Images – Sam Folsom Michael Katz Photography – Michael Katz Twenty Nineteen – Mark Graf 2019 in Review – and Happy New Year” Photography & Travel – brent huntley Top 10 Favorite Images from 2019 – Derrald Farnsworth-Livingston My Photo Highlights of 2019 – Caleb Weston Lagemaat Photography – Best images of 2019 – Jao van de Lagemaat Favorites from 2019 – Kyle Jones A Baker’s Dozen – Mike Christoferson 10 Favorites of 2019: An Amazing Year – Kurt Lawson Top 20 Photographs of 2019 – Year-End-Retrospective – Landscape Photography Reader/David Leland Hyde Favorite Photos of 2019 – Deb Snelson Favorites – 2019 – Daniel Leu Best of 2019 – Steve Cozad Fog from Above in 2019 – Andrew Thomas Favorites of 2019 – Mick McMurray Some Favorites from 2019 – Josh Meier Top 10 Images of 2019 – Stephen L. Kapp Top Ten of 2019 – Holly Davison Best 2019 – Barbara Michalowska The Creative Photographer – Andrew S. Gibson My Favorite Photos of 2019 – Patricia Davidson A Thousand Words – Lucy Autrey Wilson 2019 Top Twelve Photographs – David J Grenier Urban Dinosaurs – Steven M. Bellovin Best of 2019 – Thomas Yackley Carol’s Little World – Best of 2019 – Carol Schiraldi My favourite shots of 2019 – Catalin Marin Top 2019 Photos – Matt Conti Top Ten 2019 – Phyllis Whitman Hunter Favorites from […]




ies

James Hansen’s Climate Bombshell: Dangerous Sea Level Rise Will Occur in Decades, Not Centuries

By Lauren McCauley Common Dreams Even scientists who question findings say ‘we ignore James Hansen at our peril.’ Dr. James Hansen, the former NASA scientist who is widely credited with being one of the first to raise concerns about human-caused … Continue reading




ies

6 Ways To Step Up Your Instagram Stories Game

Instagram Stories are an integral part of the platform. Though Instagram copied Snapchat’s concept a few years ago, over 500 million accounts use the Stories feature on a daily basis. Some users...




ies

Creative Marketing Strategies For Law Firms To Engage With Potential Clients

The success of any organization strongly depends on the marketing strategies they use to reach their potential customers. Law firms are no exception since they also operate in a competitive field...




ies

Unsolved Zoom Mysteries: Why We Have to Say “You’re Muted” So Much

Video conference tools are an indispensable part of the Plague Times. Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and their compatriots are keeping us close and connected in a physically distanced world.

As tech-savvy folks with years of cross-office collaboration, we’ve laughed at the sketches and memes about vidconf mishaps. We practice good Zoomiquette, including muting ourselves when we’re not talking.

Yet even we can’t escape one vidconf pitfall. (There but for the grace of Zoom go I.) On nearly every vidconf, someone starts to talk, and then someone else says: “Oop, you’re muted.” And, inevitably: “Oop, you’re still muted.”

That’s right: we’re trying to follow Zoomiquette by muting, but then we forget or struggle to unmute when we do want to talk.

In this post, I’ll share my theories for why the You’re Muted Problems are so pervasive, using Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom as examples. Spoiler alert: While I hope this will help you be more mindful of the problem, I can’t offer a good solution. It still happens to me. All. The. Time.

Skip the why and go straight to the vidconf app keyboard shortcuts you should memorize right now.

Why we don't realize we’re muted before talking

Why does this keep happening?!?

Simply put: UX and design decisions make it harder to remember that you’re muted before you start to talk.

Here’s a common scenario: You haven’t talked for a bit, so you haven’t interacted with the Zoom screen for a few seconds. Then you start to talk — and that’s when someone tells you, “You’re muted.”

We forget so easily in these scenarios because when our mouse has been idle for a few seconds, the apps hide or downplay the UI elements that tell us we’re muted.

Zoom and Teams are the worst offenders:

  • Zoom hides both the toolbar with the main in-app controls (the big mute button) and the mute status indicator on your video pane thumbnail.
  • Teams hides the toolbar, and doesn't show a mute status indicator on your video thumbnail in the first place.

Meet is only slightly better:

  • Meet hides the toolbar, and shows only a small mute status icon in your video thumbnail.

Even when our mouse is active, the apps’ subtle approach to muted state UI can make it easy to forget that we’re muted:

Teams is the worst offender:

  • The mute button is an icon rather than words.
  • The muted-state icon's styling could be confused with unmuted state: Teams does not follow the common pattern of using red to denote muted state.
  • The mute button is not differentiated in visual hierarchy from all the other controls.
  • As mentioned above, Teams never shows a secondary mute status indicator.

Zoom is a bit better, but still makes it pretty easy to forget that you’re muted:

  • Pros:
    • Zoom is the only app to use words on the mute button, in this case to denote the button action (rather than the muted state).
    • The muted-state icon’s styling (red line) is less likely to be confused with the unmuted-state icon.
  • Cons:
    • The mute button’s placement (bottom left corner of the page) is easy to overlook.
    • The mute button is not differentiated in visual hierarchy from the other toolbar buttons — and Zoom has a lot of toolbar buttons, especially when logged in as host.
    • The secondary mute status indicator is a small icon.
    • The mute button’s muted-state icon is styled slightly differently from the secondary mute status indicator.
  • Potential Cons:
    • While words denote the button action, only an icon denotes the muted state.

Meet is probably the clearest of the three apps, but still has pitfalls:

  • Pros:
    • The mute button is visually prominent in the UI: It’s clearly differentiated in the visual hierarchy relative to other controls (styled as a primary button); is a large button; and is placed closer to the center of the controls bar.
    • The muted-state icon’s styling (red fill) is less likely to be confused with the unmuted-state icon.
  • Cons:
    • Uses only an icon rather than words to denote the muted state.
  • Unrelated Con:
    • While the mute button is visually prominent, it’s also placed next to the hang-up button. So in Meet’s active state you might be less likely to forget you’re muted … but more likely to accidentally hang up when trying to unmute. 😬

I know modern app design leans toward minimalism. There’s often good rationale to use icons rather than words, or to de-emphasize controls and indicators when not in use.

But again: This happens on basically every call! Often multiple times per call!! And we’re supposed to be tech-savvy!!! Imagine what it’s like for the tens of millions of vidconf newbs.

I would argue that “knowing your muted state” has turned out to be a major vidconf user need. At this point, it’s certainly worth rethinking UX patterns for.

Why we keep unsuccessfully unmuting once we realize we’re muted

So we can blame the You’re Muted Problem on UX and design. But what causes the You’re Still Muted Problem? Once we know we’re muted, why do we sometimes fail to unmute before talking again?

This one is more complicated — and definitely more speculative. To start making sense of this scenario, here’s the sequence I’m guessing most commonly plays out (I did this a couple times before I became aware of it):

The crucial part is when the person tries to unmute by pressing the keyboard Volume On/Off key.

If that’s in fact what’s happening (again, this is just a hypothesis), I’m guessing they did that because when someone says “You’re muted” or “I can’t hear you,” our subconscious thought process is: “Oh, Audio is Off. Press the keyboard key that I usually press when I want to change Audio Off to Audio On.”

There are two traps in this reflexive thought process:

First, the keyboard volume keys control the speaker volume, not the microphone volume. (More specifically, they control the system sound output settings, rather than the system sound input settings or the vidconf app’s sound input settings.)

In fact, there isn’t a keyboard key to control the microphone volume. You can’t unmute your mic via a dedicated keyboard key, the way that you can turn the speaker volume on/off via a keyboard key while watching a movie or listening to music.

Second, I think we reflexively press the keyboard key anyway because our mental model of the keyboard audio keys is just: Audio. Not microphone vs. speaker.

This fuzzy mental model makes sense: There’s only one set of keyboard keys related to audio, so why would I think to distinguish between microphone and speaker? 

So my best guess is hardware design causes the You’re Still Muted Problem. After all, keyboard designs are from a pre-Zoom era, when the average person rarely used the computer’s microphone.

If that is the cause, one potential solution is for hardware manufacturers to start including dedicated keys to control microphone volume:

Video conference keyboard shortcuts you should memorize right now

Let me know if you have other theories for the You’re Still Muted Problem!

In the meantime, the best alternative is to learn all of the vidconf app keyboard shortcuts for muting/unmuting:

  • Meet
    • Mac: Command(⌘) + D
    • Windows: Control + D
  • Teams
    • Mac: Command(⌘) + Shift + M
    • Windows: Ctrl + Shift + M
  • Zoom
    • Mac: Command(⌘) + Shift + A
    • Windows: Alt + A
    • Hold Spacebar: Temporarily unmute

Other vidconf apps not included in my analysis:

  • Cisco Webex Meetings
    • Mac: Ctrl + Alt + M
    • Windows: Ctrl + Shift + M
  • GoToMeeting

Bonus protip from Jackson Fox: If you use multiple vidconf apps, pick a keyboard shortcut that you like and manually change each app’s mute/unmute shortcut to that. Then you only have to remember one shortcut!




ies

Mobile Proxies: A New Era Dawns

This week, Chrome For Android M26 was announced. It has the literally-awesome ability to record video via `getUserMedia()`, but enough about making Skype irrelevant. What’s even more interesting is the new data compression feature. Which, to be clear, is experimental, has to be switched on, doesn’t apply to secure (SSL) sites, and it’s only running Read the rest...