Thursday, 31 January 2019

Geek Trivia: The Most Expensive Super Bowl Rings Were Purchased By Which Team?

The Most Expensive Super Bowl Rings Were Purchased By Which Team?

  1. The Denver Broncos
  2. The New England Patriots
  3. The Pittsburgh Steelers
  4. The Green Bay Packers

Think you know the answer?



Source: How-To Geek

We’re Looking for General Interest Writers

Are you an experienced writer that has life skills you want to share with the world? We’re looking for general interest freelance writers for another publication, and we’d like to hear from you.

What We’re Looking For

We need smart, curious, detail-oriented writers who are comfortable researching and writing advice about various aspects of life in general. This is an ongoing freelance position, and we’re looking for writers who can start immediately.

In particular, we’re looking for experienced writers in the following areas:

  • Finance
  • Cleaning & Organization
  • DIY and Home Repair
  • Travel
  • Parenting & School
  • Personal Care
  • Shopping
  • Fitness & Health
  • Relationships
  • Time Management

And don’t worry if you don’t have experience in all those topics. Even if you can write about one or two of them, we want to hear from you.

All of our writers should have the following qualities:

  • You must be able to write tips, how-to articles, and more detailed explainers that are clear, well-researched, and easy to understand.
  • You must be creative and able to generate article ideas, take suggestions, and make topics interesting and exciting.
  • You must be at least 18 years old and have your own computer.
  • You must have solid English writing skills.
  • You should have some basic screenshot and image editing chops. HTML skills are a plus.
  • You must be able to write several articles per week on an ongoing basis.

How to Apply

Send an email to jobs@howtogeek.com with the subject General Interest Writer and include the following in your email:

  • Your name and location.
  • Any previous experience you have writing and blogging on these topics.
  • Whether or not you are currently employed and what you do if you are.
  • A brief overview of the topics with which you’re familiar.
  • Most Important: We need writing samples. If you have previous writing to showcase, include a link to it in your email. We are especially interested in samples that have not been professionally edited, so if you have your own blog be sure to let us know.

We don’t have normal office hours or even an office, so you can be located anywhere (including outside the US)—this is strictly a telecommuting job.

So what are you waiting for? Email us already!



Source: How-To Geek

Lowe’s Is Officially Dumping Its Iris Smarthome Platform for Good

Several months ago, Lowe’s announced that it would be seeking a buyer for its Iris smarthome platform. However, it appears no one wants it, as Lowe’s has announced it’s officially shutting down Iris.

In an official statement sent to Review Geek, Lowe’s says that it “will shut down the Iris smart home platform and services on March 31” and will be refunding eligible users who bought Iris devices, although the specifics on that aren’t yet known. You can read the full official statement from Lowe’s below.

Lowe’s announced today it will shut down the Iris smart home platform and services on March 31, 2019. We apologize for any inconvenience to our Iris customers and are committed to providing the resources and support needed to transition to a comparable smart home platform. We have created an online redemption process that will allow Iris customers to receive a Visa prepaid card for eligible, connected Iris devices.

After carefully evaluating a range of options, the decision was made to shut down the Iris platform once it was determined that none of the alternatives would allow Iris to continue to deliver the experience our customers have come to expect of us. Lowe’s remains committed to carrying the breadth and depth of smart home products and brands to meet our customers’ needs now and in the future.

Lowe’s launched Iris back in 2012, and the product line offered a handful of different ZigBee and Z-Wave devices and sensors, as well as a proprietary Iris hub. The nice part, though, was that these devices also worked with other smarthome hubs, like Wink and SmartThings. Iris also integrated with other product lines like Philips Hue and Nest.

However, now with Iris officially out of the game, we’ll see if any of the other players step up to bat in a big way.



Source: How-To Geek

Something Happened: Windows Setup Error Messages Will Finally Be Useful (Maybe)

Something Happened

Microsoft Community

Upgrading to a new version of Windows is often a straightforward affair. But when something doesn’t go right, you’re left with vague errors that aren’t helpful. In the next version of Windows, Microsoft will try to solve that.

If you’ve ever encountered an error during Windows Setup, you’ve probably been left completely frustrated and wondering what to do. The message you see most likely didn’t have any description of the problem and just listed the letters KB followed by a string of numbers. If you tried to search, you were lead to dozens of entirely different entries that didn’t match up to your KB numbers and did nothing to clarify the situation.

Microsoft has started showing off new setup screens to directly tackle this issue in a recent Windows Insider Webinar, as spotted by WinFuture. Starting at just after the hour mark, Microsoft’s James Atkins and Julia Troxell laid out the problem clearly, and the steps they are taking to solve this problem going forward.

The Current Dialogs are Vague and Confusing

The problem at hand isn’t just limited to the vague error, but also to the lack of actions the users can take to mitigate the problem. With the current setup dialog, you have an error message but no link to more info to learn exactly what is wrong. You have “Back” and “Refresh” buttons, but neither of these buttons solves the problem—they’re only options available to the user. Usually, the solution is as simple as uninstalling and reinstalling or updating a program or disabling encryption, but Windows Setup currently does a terrible job of letting the user know.

The New Dialogs Provide More Information and Solutions

The new Setup dialogs present more information with direct links to error articles. If additional options are possible, such as upgrading a program instead of uninstalling, then you will be prompted to “learn more or update instead.”. Where possible, the dialog offers solutions; if it’s possible for Windows to handle an uninstall it will present that option, when it can’t (because the program isn’t in Add/Remove programs) then a manual installation is suggested.

Read the remaining 5 paragraphs



Source: How-To Geek

The Nokia 2 V Android Go Phone Can Be Yours Today for $70 on Verizon

How To Enable Dashboard in macOS Mojave

macOS Dashboard

For some inexplicable reason, Apple decided to disable Dashboard by default in macOS Mojave, and it’s nothing short of a travesty. Thankfully, turning it back on is a simple affair. Here’s how to go about restoring Dashboard to its rightful glory.

For those unfamiliar with Dashboard, it’s a collection of widgets that has been around ever since Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger shipped many years ago. Dashboard lets you select widgets you can easily access without interfering with other apps, or having to launch any apps to do a simple task. Calculators, sticky notes, easy access to the weather, and more were perfect uses for Dashboard. Think of how widgets work on iOS, and you’ve got the right idea.

We’re not sure why, but Apple has left Dashboard to languish, completely disabling it in macOS Mojave. That’s a real shame because we often find ourselves wanting to do a quick calculation, for example. Opening the Calculator isn’t difficult, but there’s no need if you have a calculator a key press away.

Dashboard is great if your workflow from previous versions of macOS relies on it, so here’s how to get it back.

Enabling Dashboard on macOS Mojave

To start things off, click the Apple logo at the top of the screen and select “System Preferences.”

Click Apple logo, click System Preferences

With System Preferences open, click “Mission Control.”

Click Mission Control

Read the remaining 7 paragraphs



Source: How-To Geek

Here’s How to Save Your Google+ Data Before It Shuts down on April 1st

The Best Landscape Photography Gear for Your Camera

“Pause Ads” Are Coming to Hulu, Here’s What You Need to Know

Hulu logo

Late last year, it was revealed that Hulu would start showing ads when users pause a stream. While this sounds absolutely terrible, how this is going to work in reality doesn’t sound so bad.

First off, these won’t be video ads, but instead just static images on the side of the screen. That immediately makes it less obtrusive and keeps the ads out of the way. Really, it’s a smart way of doing it, because it doesn’t bother users that much and keeps the ad revenue coming for Hulu.

The second part of the equation here is who will see these ads. That answer is equally as simple: according to Engadget, any user who subscribes to Hulu’s ad-supported tier—which just got a couple dollar price drop, by the way—will be subject to this new ad format. Users who subscribe to Hulu’s ad-free tier will continue to, well, not get ads. Pretty simple.

Finally, there’s the when. These ads will start to roll out “this spring,” which is just right around the corner despite what weather reports look like today.

via Engadget



Source: How-To Geek

Linux’s GNOME Shell 3.32 Will Bring Major Speed Improvements

GNOME Shell 3.32 is set for release on March 13, 2019. This new release brings some real performance improvements, making this heavy Linux desktop environment more lightweight. GNOME Shell is used by default on Ubuntu and many other Linux distributions.

The GNOME Shell desktop environment has long been rather heavy compared to other Linux desktop environments. As Ubuntu news site OMG! Ubuntu! points out:

See, the GNOME Shell desktop is often criticised as being a bit on the ‘heavy’ side. Folks blast it for having comparatively high memory usage on start-up, for being taxing on the CPU, and for having a UI that often stutters or drops frames during usage.

But it’s getting better. These latest improvements are thanks to both the “upstream” GNOME Project and Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. Georges Stavracas, a developer who did a lot of the work, lays out a lot of technical details on his blog. A number of improvements result in improved frame rates, smoother startup animations, and faster icon load times. There’s also some work being done on reducing GPU usage.

Canonical’s Daniel Van Vugt has also been doing a lot of work on GNOME Shell’s performance. These patches aren’t just for Ubuntu—they’re being contributed to the GNOME Project and every Linux distribution will benefit. Linux news site Phoronix lays out many of the issues he’s working on, but much of it boils down to lower CPU and GPU usage. GNOME Shell is getting leaner and faster.

These improvements will be available as part of GNOME 3.32.0, which should ship on March 13, 2019. But you won’t get it then. You’ll have to wait for your Linux distribution to ship the new GNOME—often as part of a new release. For example, GNOME 3.32.0 will be included as part of Ubuntu 19.04 “Disco Dingo,” which is scheduled for release on April 18, 2019.

RELATED: Ubuntu 19.04 is Named “Disco Dingo,” Arriving April 2019



Source: How-To Geek

Deal Alert: Score a Logitech G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse for Just $25

Take a look at your mouse. Is it old? Is it crusty? Does it go unresponsive every few minutes? Why don’t you replace that dumpy old mouse with something clean and responsive, like the Logitech G603?

Right now, Amazon is selling the popular Logitech G603 wireless mouse for just $25. We’ve covered the G603 before—it’s our favorite wireless gaming mouse. It’s a comfortable, responsive mouse that can get you through an arduous gaming session or a tough work week. This premium mouse retails at $60, and it has some features that are usually reserved for more expensive mice.

The Logitech G603 sports the HERO optical sensor, which happens to be Logitech’s most advanced sensor. It can connect to your computer via Bluetooth or LIGHTSPEED RF connection, which has a lag time of about 1 ms. The G603 also has six programmable buttons, so you can adapt the mouse for any video game or application.

If you’re excited to finally replace your old mouse with the G603, then you may be interested in the other Logitech items that are on sale today. Now might be the perfect time to replace your keyboard or buy a gaming headset. But you’ll want to act fast, these Amazon sales tend to disappear by the end of the day.



Source: How-To Geek

Beta Test New Firefox Features with Mozilla’s Reference Browser for Android

Years ago, Mozilla’s “Test Pilot” initiative encouraged users to beta test mobile versions of the Firefox browser. Now, Mozilla is asking users to use its new Reference Browser to help bring a new generation of Firefox to Android phones.

Firefox is one of the most popular browsers for Android. It’s fast, can sync with the Firefox browser on your desktop, and implements tab features better than most mobile browsers. But the world of mobile phones is beginning to shift. By the end of the year, we’re going to see phones that use 5G, phones that fold open into tablets, and phones that have 1 TB of internal storage. With all of these changes coming right around the corner, Mozilla needs to bring its mobile browser to a new level.

In a post in the Mozilla community, Paul Wright, a leading Firefox contributor, announced that Mozilla is starting to build more powerful mobile apps. These apps will take advantage of Geckoview and Glean, and they’ll utilize more account integration. Presumably, the next big Firefox app for your Android phone will feel more like a proper browser and less like a phone browser.

In order to test all of this new technology, Mozilla needs some guinea pigs. That’s why the company is launching the Reference Browser, a quiet beta testing project. Users who sign up to use the Reference Browser will get a small preview of Mozilla’s new technology, and they’ll help speed up the company’s development process by providing user data and feedback.

The Reference Browser isn’t a finished product, and it isn’t meant to be anybody’s primary mobile browser. Paul Wright emphasizes that the Reference Browser should be looked at as a “technology preview,” and that Mozilla is only doing this to speed up the development of their future mobile browsers.

If you want to help Mozilla build its new browser technology, you’re going to have to sign up for the Reference Browser Google Group. Just make sure that you use the same Google account that you use to download apps in the Google Play store. Once you’re signed up, you can download the Reference Browser from Google Play. And that’s all there is to it. You’re a Test Pilot now.

Mozilla asks that users report bugs and issues to a Github group, but the company will benefit from your Reference Browser usage whether you report issues or not. As you can imagine, Mozilla is collecting a lot of data from the Reference Browser. The company has talked about how collecting data from beta programs is a necessary evil, and Test Pilots should know that they don’t have as much privacy in beta programs as they do in full versions of the Firefox browser.

Read the remaining 4 paragraphs



Source: How-To Geek

How to Save PowerPoint Objects as Pictures

PowerPoint logo

If you’ve ever thought it would be useful to save objects or entire slides from your PowerPoint presentation as images to use in another program, then you’re in luck! You can do precisely that in a few simple steps.

Saving Objects as Images in PowerPoint

Saving an object, or even multiple objects, from your PowerPoint presentation is extremely handy. The thing that makes this trick so useful is that the objects are saved, by default, as a transparent PNG file, meaning that you won’t have the invasive background that you would otherwise have if you just took a simple screenshot.

We’re going to use the following slide as an example over the next few sections. In this slide, we have a total of four objects.

  1. Image (“The Geek”)
  2. Text box (Title)
  3. Text box (Subtitle)
  4. Shape (Line)

4 objects in powerpoint

Save a Single Object as an Image

To save an object as an image, we first need to select the object to be saved. In this example, we’ll select our title.

Select text box in Powerpoint

Right-click the object and select “Save as Picture” from the menu that appears.

Save as picture

Read the remaining 25 paragraphs



Source: How-To Geek

23 Gifts For An Avid Indoor Gardener

Stock Up on New Logitech Gear with Today’s Amazon Sale

Logitech sale on Amazon

If you’ve been in the market for a new keyboard, mouse, headset, webcam, or speakers, today’s Amazon sale on a handful of Logitech products has you covered.

Granted, this isn’t the first time that a bunch of Logitech stuff has been discounted on Amazon, nor is it the largest Logitech sale we’ve seen, but it’s never a bad time to buy when you can get a good chunk knocked off the price of that one gaming mouse you’ve had your eye on for a while.

Case in point, you can grab the Logitech G602 wireless gaming mouse for just $25, which is a steal considering the product that you’re getting.

Furthermore, if you need a cheap gaming headset, the G430 is just $30 right now. And if you need a basic wireless keyboard and mouse to just get you by, the MK270 combo is just a bit shy of $15.

Make your decisions quickly, though, since this deal will only be around today. Hit the button below to see all the goodies on sale today—some of it is going for up to 70 percent off, so it’s worth a peek.



Source: How-To Geek

UltraViolet is Shutting Down on July 31st, Here’s How to Transfer Your Movies

How to Prevent Storage Sense From Deleting Your Downloaded Files on Windows 10

Windows Header Image

Storage Sense is the Disk Cleanup replacement for the modern world. It frees up space on your computer by deleting things like recycle bin contents, temporary internet files, and app temporary files. This also includes the Downloads folder, but you can change that if you don’t want Storage Sense emptying it.

We’ve mentioned before how the Free Up Space tool in Windows 10 will delete your downloads by default (though you can turn it off, too). Storage Sense is the automatic equivalent to that tool and is the intended replacement for the venerable Disk Cleanup tool. By default, Storage Sense treats your Downloads folder as a temp folder, deleting anything older than 30 days when it runs. If you use your Downloads as a more permanent storage area for downloads, you can prevent Storage Sense from deleting your downloads.

How to Prevent Storage Sense From Deleting Your Downloaded Files

Open the Settings app by pressing Win+I, then clicking on “System.”

Click System Settings icon

On the left side of the System page, click the “Storage” category.

Click on Storage

Under the “Storage Sense” section on the right, click the “Change how we free up space automatically” link.

Change how Windows free up space

Read the remaining 6 paragraphs



Source: How-To Geek

How to Declutter Your Web Browser Bookmarks

8 Portable Office Essentials to Stay Productive On the Go

For a Better Instagram Experience, Follow Hashtags Instead of People

Hashtag on Instagram

If you’ve been using Instagram for a while, you probably already know what a great place it is to find inspiration. But to see the best content, ditch following users and start looking at hashtags instead.

Following hashtags on Instagram isn’t a new feature, but it’s one you shouldn’t overlook—its hard to overstate their value. In my opinion, this is one of the best parts of the entire network. Why? Because it allows me two conveniences: first, it bypasses all the fluff most users post; and secondly, it lets me build a specially curated feed.

For example, I mostly use Instagram for my hobbies: guitars and bikes. Those are my favorite things to look at on Instagram because there’s just so much good, relevant content. These things inspire me to dig deeper into my hobbies and give me ideas for ways to improve technique, form, and so on. But here’s the thing: while there are many curated accounts out there, they don’t always show what I want to see. I fact, they miss the mark more often than not.

Let’s use bikes as an example. I’m a cyclist, and like so many other cyclists, I love looking at pictures of other riders’ custom builds—bikeporn, if you will. And while I follow several cycling-based accounts already, they don’t always post pictures of bikes. And even when they do, they’re not always bikes I care about. That’s not a problem, of course, as I don’t expect people I follow only to post content I like—they’re posting for themselves, not for me. I respect that.

Searching for a hashtag on Instagram Following a hashtag on Instagram

So to see more specific content, I follow hashtags related to my specific interests. For example, I’m pretty into gravel bikes at the moment, so I follow the #gravelbike and #gravelbikes hashtags. I see some absolutely killer bikes that way.

But I can get even more granular, too. On the same topic of gravel bikes, I’m pretty obsessed with the 3T Exploro (the first aero gravel bike!) and would love to have one. There isn’t a single Instagram account that shares only pictures of Exploros, so that’s where the hashtag comes in. I follow both the #exploro and #3texploro hashtags and see all sorts of amazing Exploro content as a result. It’s great, even if a little disheartening because I don’t have one of my own to stare at.

#3TExploro hashtag #Exploro hashtag

Read the remaining 6 paragraphs



Source: How-To Geek

Bluetooth 5.1’s Presence Detection Could Be the Future of Smarthome

Bluetooth 5.1: What’s New and Why It Matters

Wednesday, 30 January 2019

Geek Trivia: The Screen Of Space Invaders Was Colored By What?

The Screen Of Space Invaders Was Colored By What?

  1. Cellophane
  2. Semi-Precious Stones
  3. Holograms
  4. Lasers

Think you know the answer?



Source: How-To Geek

These New Chargers from Anker and RAVPower Offer More Power in a Smaller Package

Tiny wall chargers already exist, but they can usually only pump out 5-10W. With a new technology called gallium nitride, however, those tiny wall chargers can now pump out a lot more power.

Several months ago, Anker introduced the PowerPort Atom series of USB-C wall chargers, the smallest of which is just a tad larger than Apple’s 5W iPhone charger, but packs in 30W of charging power, which is quite incredible. This will let you charge up larger devices than just your smartphone or tablet—possibly a small laptop.

The secret? It uses gallium nitride (GaN) instead of traditional silicon, the latter of which is used in pretty much every electronic product on the market, thanks to how cheap it is. Anker says that gallium nitride allows for simpler circuitry and better efficiency (meaning less heat production), resulting in the smaller size.

The 30W model (called the PD 1) is up on Amazon right now for $29 (although it appears to be sold out currently). Two more from Anker will be available in the future, including a 60W two-port model and a 100W four-port model.

If you can’t wait for a more-powerful wall charger, RAVPower is also selling its own gallium nitride charger, which packs in 45W and is about the size of a deck of cards. For $55, it’ll cost you extra, but it may be worth it in order to charge your larger devices without needing a larger power brick.

via The Verge



Source: How-To Geek

How to Link to Another Slide in the Same PowerPoint Presentation

If you know you’ll be referring to the content of a previously-viewed slide at some point during your presentation, it might be useful to insert a link pointing back to that slide for quick access. Here’s how to set it up.

Linking to Another Slide in the Same Presentation

Open your presentation and navigate to the slide that will contain the hyperlink. Once there, highlight the text, object, shape, or image to which you want to attach the link.

highlight text

Next, head over to the “Insert” tab and click the “Link” button.

link in links group

In the Insert Hyperlink window that opens, select “Place in This Document” on the “Link To” list on the left.

place in this document

On the right, under the “Select a place in this document” list, select the destination slide.

Read the remaining 24 paragraphs



Source: How-To Geek

The Best Fitness Trackers For Kids

You Can Get Meizu’s Portless Phone for $1299…On Indiegogo

1TB Phones Are Coming, Thanks To Samsung

Samsung just announced that it’s mass-producing 1TB storage chips for phones, which means your phone of the future may come with more storage than you could ever need. Say goodbye to the days of full-the-day-you-get-it 16GB phones.

Four years ago, Samsung introduced the first embedded Universal Flash Storage (eUFS) device. It was a piece of hardware that could read and write files much faster than an SD card, and its 128 GB capacity eliminated the need for users to add additional storage to their phone.

It’s been four years since Samsung developed eUFS technology, and eUFS has expanded from 128GB to offer 256G and even 512GB storage options for mobile devices, which is just massive. To put it in perspective, the basic model of the iPhone X only has a 64 GB capacity, and the basic Surface Pro tablet, which retails at almost $1000, only comes with 128 GB of internal storage. But now, Samsung has been able to break the terabyte barrier with its newest eUFS chips.

Samsung plans to announce a new phone at its UNPACKED event on February 20th. With all the rumors about foldable phones and 5G technology flying around, this super-fast 1 TB storage device only raises more questions.

Cheol Choi, Samsung’s executive vice president of Memory Sales & Marketing, says that Samsung plans to bring a “notebook-like user experience to the next generation of mobile devices.” Will the next Samsung phone be a ridiculously fast, foldable, high-capacity leap into the future? Will it challenge the way that we think about smartphones? We’ll have to wait to find out.

Source: Samsung



Source: How-To Geek

GoPro Boosts Its Cloud Storage for Unlimited Video Uploads

Lenovo’s 4K Yoga Chromebook C630 Is Available to Order

Deal Alert: Grab An Entry-Level Surface Pro For Just $649

Microsoft’s line of Surface tablets have been extremely successful, but they’re a bit expensive. Now’s your chance to grab one for cheap.

Tablets have become more and more powerful over the past few years, and the line between tablets and laptops has started to dissolve. The perception that tablets are only useful for playing games and watching Netflix is no longer correct, these are serious devices that can be used for work, video editing, sound design, and graphic design. Apple users have the iPad Pro, but in the world of Windows, the Surface Pro tablet is the king.

Surface Pro tablets have gotten a lot of praise for their balance of power and portability. They have responsive touch-screens, a long battery life, and premium detachable keyboards. Right now, you can buy a basic Surface Pro tablet for just $649 from Best Buy—that’s a $310 discount. It’s the base model with a 12.3″ touch screen, 4GB of RAM, an Intel M3 processor, and 128 GB of solid-state memory.

If the basic Surface Pro doesn’t have enough power for your needs, then you’ll be happy to hear that Best Buy is also offering a big $330 discount on the powerful Surface Pro 6. Right now, you can buy the Pro 6 for just $999. This tablet runs on an Intel Core i5 processor, it has 8GB of RAM, and it sports a 256 GB SSD. That’s twice as much RAM and internal storage as the basic Surface Pro tablet.

It’s nice to get a $300 discount on any device, and the renowned Surface Pro tablets are no exception. Just keep in mind that this deal won’t last long, so don’t sleep on it.



Source: How-To Geek

How to Create a Radar Chart in Excel

Excel logo

A radar chart compares the values of three or more variables relative to a central point. It’s useful when you cannot directly compare the variables and is especially great for visualizing performance analysis or survey data.

Here’s a sample radar chart, so you can see what we’re talking about. It’s likely you’ve run across them before, even if you didn’t know that’s what they were.

Completed Radar chart

Creating Radar Charts in Excel is straightforward. In this article, we’ll show you how to create two types of Radar Chart: a regular chart (like the one above) and a filled chart (like the one below, which fills in the areas instead of just showing the outlines).

Radar Chart with one data series

The Sample Data

Let’s first take a look at the sample data we’ll be using for our examples.

Performance analysis data for our Radar Chart

We have three trainers: Graham, Barbara, and Keith. We’ve assessed them in five different categories (Knowledge, Delivery, and so on) and our Excel table contains those ratings.

Create a Radar Chart in Excel

Read the remaining 33 paragraphs



Source: How-To Geek

Switcheroo Review: A Simple Lighting Solution for Switched Outlets

If your house has outlets that are controlled by light switches, then you might just benefit from a neat product called the Switcheroo, which lets you easily change the outlet that your light switch controls.

These types of outlets are everywhere in my house (and pretty common in many homes). In fact, most of the rooms don’t have any built-in light fixtures at all. Instead, there’s a single outlet in each room that’s controlled by its own light switch. This is so that you can plug in a lamp and control it with the light switch, which is really convenient and all, but only if you wanted to put your lamp right where the outlet is.

That’s impractical, especially if you want a lamp on the other side of the room from where the switched outlet is. Normally, you’d have to use a long extension cord, which is unsightly at best. But a company called Switcheroo has a neat little that aims to fix this exact problem.

Not A “Smart Plug”

While it looks like a set of smart plugs, it’s really anything but—there’s no app needed and no connecting them to your Wi-Fi. It’s “smart,” but not in the traditional sense that you might be familiar with.

Switcheroo comes a 2-pack for $42—you can also get a 5-pack for $92. If you buy more than two, you can use them in different rooms, or you can have one unit send its signal to multiple units so that you can turn on multiple lamps at once with the light switch. Also, each unit has two receptacles, so you can plug two lamps into one unit if you’d like.

One thing worth noting here is that we’ve been talking about the Switcheroo in terms of home lighting and that’s how the company intends you to use it. Although each plug is rated for 8A/960W, Switcheroo is very clear in their product documentation that the plug is meant for lights and not, say, for space heaters, window fans, or other devices.

A No-Hassle Setup Experience

Read the remaining 11 paragraphs



Source: How-To Geek

iFixit Will Sell Its iPhone Battery Replacement Kits for $30 Through 2019

iFixit battery replacement kits for iPhone

If you still haven’t gotten the battery replaced in your older iPhone, the price to do so by Apple has gone back up. However, if you’re intrigued about doing it yourself, iFixit is still discounting its battery replacement kits at $30.

If you’re out of the loop, it was discovered a little over a year ago that Apple was purposely throttling down iPhones with old, degraded batteries to prevent random shutdowns and other problems. The fix? Replace the battery. But Apple didn’t tell anyone that until they were caught red-handed.

At that point, Apple began offering discounted battery replacements, which also led to increased wait times at Apple Stores. iFixit stepped in and discounted its battery replacement kits so that if you didn’t want to wait on Apple, you could do it yourself instead. And while it may seem daunting, it’s actually not too bad of a process.

If you’re not sure if your iPhone could use a battery replacement in the first place, you can check the battery health by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Health. From there, it’ll tell you whether or not you could benefit from a replacement.



Source: How-To Geek

How to Set an App Time Limit on iPhone and iPad

Screen Time Settings

With the arrival of iOS 12, Apple made a big song and dance about digital wellbeing. The App Limits feature that came with it lets lock apps after a given amount of time. Here’s how it works.

App Limits is precisely what it sounds like; it limits the amount of time you can spend using a particular app. You specify the apps (or whole categories of apps) and iOS will refuse to launch them when you’ve reached the allotted time. It’s great for limiting how much time children spend on apps like YouTube, for example, but can also help you if you struggle setting limits on things like your social media addiction.

By the way, even after you reach an App Limit, you can override it by entering a passcode. That means you will never be locked out of your apps completely (unless you don’t know the code), but setting the limit still might be enough to give you pause when opening Instagram for the millionth time at 3 am.

How to Set an App Limit for a Specific App

To kick things off, open the Settings app and then tap “Screen Time.”

Tap Screen Time

You’ll see a graph at the top of the next screen. Either tap the graph or the “All Devices” option directly above it.

Tap All Devices

Scroll down to the list of apps you’ve been using and then tap the app for which you want to set a new limit.

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Source: How-To Geek

American Airlines Teams Up with Apple for Free In-Flight Music

Deal Alert: Grab an Original 6-Camera Arlo System for just $360

Netgear Arlo 6-camera system

There’s no doubt that the newer Arlo Pro camera systems from Netgear are really, really good, but if you just want something simple and cheap to cover your house, this deal on a 6-camera system isn’t too bad.

The system comes with the hub and six cameras, which should be plenty to cover every corner of your house. And for just $360, that’s not a bad a price to pay for whole-house camera coverage.

Granted, it’s Netgear’s original Arlo system, so it only records up to 720p and doesn’t use their latest rechargeable batteries. Instead, it uses unique CR123A batteries, which you can find at most stores, but they’re certainly not as common as AA or AAA batteries.

However, they can still do night vision and provide motion alerts, and you’ll get the same free 7-day video storage that you would with Arlo’s newer systems.

What’s more, is that while Arlo still sells these older systems, they don’t sell a system with six cameras. So if you absolutely want or need six cameras, I would bite now—better make it fast though, because once this deal is sold out, it’s gone for good.



Source: How-To Geek