Image Up Advertising & Design

30 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | APRIL 2023 By Steve Benoff Sometimes I don't know I need an app until I need it. What?! Every once in a while, I need an app I didn't know I needed. Here's the situation, or am I being obtuse (you remember Shawshank Redemption?). After Apple enlarged the size of the screen of its smaller iMac all- in-one computer, I thought it was only a matter of time until they increased the size of its larger iMac screen. The one that I'd owned for years. So, you can imagine my disappointment when I learned they are not only not increasing its size, Apple will no longer offer a larger iMac. What they did instead is split the computer into two pieces. Okay, maybe you can't imagine my disappointment, but at least you can accept my scenario. I could deal with splitting its former all-in-one computer into two pieces if Apple increased the size of the monitor now sold separately. But no. In Apple's infinite wisdom, they now offer a souped-up, black-box computer with a separate monitor exactly the same size as the one I've had for years. And even more outrageous, the new same- size monitor costs almost as much as the complete iMac used to cost. The solution? I didn't buy either the new black box or the new 27- inch monitor. Instead, I got a much cheaper Mac Mini cigar-box-size computer with a 32-inch monitor made by a company called BenQ. One thing I'll say about Apple products: they are made to operate at peak performance without much adjustment. My old iMac had a brightness adjustment, and that was about it. On the other hand, my new BenQ monitor has two separate types of signal inputs and has all sorts of settings for each. Because I work in a well-lit room, I wanted the monitor set to its highest brightness. But the brightness levels kept changing as I made various adjustments. So, which setting leads to the brightest picture? In my old photography days, I owned a light meter, and that would have been just the ticket. I wondered if there's an app for that. So, I looked up "light meter" in the app store, and sure enough, an app called Light Meter turned up. I installed it, held it in front of my monitor with one hand while I changed settings with my other hand. Easy peasy. I had the best setting in two minutes. The Light Meter app is pretty basic. It's configured like my old light meter and gives a numeric readout in LUX. Now if you want to be very accurate, the app wants you to build a light diffuser to use with the app. In fact, the app displays an annoying message that a "Diffuser [is] Missing." I'm sure if you're aiming for perfection, you can follow the instruction video and easily build a diffuser. But for my purpose, I could read the number above the notice, and that worked fine for me. After all, I wasn't interested in the exact light output value as if I could use that number in another application. All I wanted to know is what monitor setting resulted in the highest number. And that's what Light Meter allowed me to do. By the way, at some point in the forgotten past, I had a similar problem. Only that time the issue wasn't measuring light output. I wanted to measure sound output. I'm sure I must have searched for "sound meter" in the app store, and I came up with Decibel X. Having been in the audio/video business for over 40 years, I knew a decibel is a unit of sound intensity measurement. This app is far more sophisticated than Light Meter. Its meter setting shows a continuous graph of the current sound levels with a typical VU (volume unit) meter display. And below that is a numeric display of average volume, current volume, and maximum volume. You can save sound levels you've recorded and view them by selecting Data. It even has a Dosimeter if you want that kind of reading. Dosimeter? Google it! If you use an app you'd like to share with others, let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net. THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT!

• Cover