Prior to 1976, London Cab Drivers Could Be Fined For Not Keeping What In Their Cab? |
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Source: How-To Geek
Friday, 31 May 2019
Geek Trivia: Prior to 1976, London Cab Drivers Could Be Fined For Not Keeping What In Their Cab?
Source: How-To Geek
How to Disable Apple TV Notifications on iPhone and iPad
There’s a lot of great content in the Apple TV app, and Apple wants to help you discover it by offering notifications for new content. If you find this less than helpful, iOS lets you modify (or disable) these notifications.
A lot of TV notifications you receive aren’t even for content you’ll be able to watch. Often, the TV app will remind you a new season of a popular show is starting, and when you tap on it, it offers to help you sign up for a subscription to watch the show! How thoughtful! Often these notifications are more annoying than anything, so it’s probably a good idea to just turn them off.
Fortunately, it’s straightforward to turn off notifications for the TV app on your iPhone or iPad. First, jump into the Settings app.
Tap Notifications > TV.
To disable all notifications, toggle the top switch to off, and you’re all set.
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Source: How-To Geek
Daily News Roundup: Universal Windows Platform (UWP) Apps Are Seemingly on Life Support
Yesterday, Microsoft announced a bombshell: Developers would soon be allowed to add full native win32 games to the Microsoft Store. Since the release of Windows 8, Microsoft has pushed Universal Windows Platform apps as the future, but with this latest shift in strategy, it’s hard to see any future for UWP.
For those of you keeping track, this is only the latest in a string of blows to UWP. When Microsoft decided to move Edge to Chromium, that decision meant converting its browser from UWP to a native win32 app. Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore told The Verge at the time that UWP lacked the maturity of win32 and thus missed out on essential features like multi-monitor support.
Before that, Microsoft stopped developing the UWP version of its Office apps for a relatively straight forward reason. It wasn’t necessary; you won’t find a Windows device that can’t run win32 apps anymore. After all, Surface RT is long dead, and Windows Phone is fresh in the grave as well.
Ultimately, UWP comes with a significant issue: it only runs on Windows 10. And while Windows 10 is growing, that leaves out a large market of users who haven’t (or won’t) make the upgrade, and limits cross-platform capability as well. One of the benefits of deciding to move Edge to Chromium is the browser will be available on Windows 7, 8, 10, and MacOS. Until now Edge has been Windows 10 only.
Microsoft maintains that UWP is alive and well, and so long as it continues to support the platform that’s technically true. But as we saw with Windows Phone, support from the company isn’t enough. Developers have to do something with it too. [The Verge]
In Other News:
- Target put out a recall for its store brand “Hey Dey” 3-foot lighting cables: Target needs you to bring back your “Hey Dey” lighting cables. Apparently, they suffer from minor issues like electric shock and fires. The company says it sold 90,000 units, so if you buy Target brand lightning cables, you should check if you’re affected. [MacRumors]
- Nreal wants to sell you a pair of $499 AR glasses: Nreal’s new AR glasses look almost like cheap plastic sunglasses, yet somehow worse. In some ways that’s an improvement over large headsets other AR glasses require. The company drove down the price by using your phone for the glasses’ brain, rather than include a computer unit like Magic Leap or Hololens. Here’s hoping the AR looks better than the hardware. [Variety]
- Microsoft wants everyone to know—update or get wormed: We previously reported on a critical vulnerability in the remote desktop protocol. The problem was so bad, Microsoft took the unusual step of releasing a patch for Windows XP, in addition to 7, 8, and 10. Now the company is reminding everyone to take the update, as it sees evidence an exploit for the problem exists. [ZDNet]
- Gigabyte matches Corsair with an incredibly fast SSD: Not to be outshone by Corsair, Gigabyte announced a new AORUS NVMe Gen4 SSD. The drive can hit up to 5,000MB/s read speeds and 4,400 MB/s write performance, which is significantly faster than Samsung’s fastest NVMe SSD. The downside is you’ll need a new AMD motherboard capable of support PCI-E 4.0. Intel is still playing catch up and only supports the 3.0 standard. [Engadget]
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10 may drop the headphone jack and physical buttons: Citing unnamed sources, Android Police says it has high confidence the next Samsung Note won’t have a headphone jack. Or physical buttons. Instead of a volume rocker or power button, the phone would have capacitive and pressure sensitive areas. The only source that can verify this is Samsung of course, and they’re not saying what’s what just yet. [Android Police]
- Facebook is working on voice-controlled products: Portal was just the beginning. Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company is working on several voice-controlled products, though he didn’t provide any details past that. Additionally, the social network wants to bypass Google and Alexa and release a new voice assistant. Digital Trends points out that with Facebook already installed on so many devices, its voice assistant could be a real contender. We’ll let Cortana cry in a corner about that line of thought. [Digital Trends]
- Lego is releasing an Apollo 11 Lunar Landing set: It’s the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and there’s no better way to immortalize the event than to enshrine it in Lego blocks. The building block company set June 1st as release date and $100 price tag. The set contains 1087 pieces including astronauts and the lander. But that doesn’t appear to include any moon rocks for you to inevitably step on, causing you to regret all your life decisions. [GeekWire]
- Apple increases over-the-air app downloads to 200MB: To keep you from going over your cellular data limit, Apple limits over-air-downloads to a specific size. Until recently that limit was 150MB, but now the company raised that cap to 200MB. That’s a boon for app developers, who try to keep their apps under the size limit for fear that going over would prevent spontaneous purchases. It’s also pretty helpful to anyone with an unlimited data plan, as they don’t care how big the app is. [9to5Mac]
Our brains do magnificent things that we readily take for granted. One example is tuning out multiple voices in favor of a preferred speaker. If you go to a noisy restaurant, so long as the background noise isn’t overwhelming, you can ignore what nearby people are saying and readily listen to your spouse, children, and so on.
Hearing aids, however, can’t do this. The devices can cut out generalized predictable background noise, like traffic, but focusing on one voice over another remains elusive. If you’ve ever tried to use a voice assistant like Alexa while somebody else is also talking, you’ve seen this limitation in action. Likely the voice assistant failed to understand you, and that’s because it couldn’t tell which words were important and which to discard.
Currently, the closest option we have is directional microphones that cut out sound behind your head in favor of audio ahead of you. I can say from personal experience, that helps but also leads to an issue of needing to turn your head towards the person you want to hear. In a restaurant where you may have people sitting next to you and across from you, that leads to a good deal of head swiveling.
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Source: How-To Geek
How to View the HTML Source in Google Chrome
Whether you’re a web designer debugging your site’s source code or just curious about what a site’s code looks like, you can view the HTML source right in Google Chrome. There are two ways to view the HTML source: View Source and Inspect using Developer Tools.
View Source Using View Page Source
Fire up Chrome and jump to the webpage you want to view the HTML source code. Right-click the page and click on “View Page Source,” or press Ctrl + U, to see the page’s source in a new tab.
A new tab opens along with all the HTML for the webpage, completely expanded and unformatted.
If you’re looking for a specific element or part in the HTML source, using View Source is tedious and cumbersome, especially if the page uses a lot of JavaScript and CSS.
Inspect Source Using Developer Tools
This method uses the Developer Tools pane in Chrome and is a much cleaner approach to view the source code. HTML is easier to read here thanks to the additional formatting and the ability to collapse elements you aren’t interested in seeing.
Open Chrome and head to the page you want to inspect; then press Ctrl + Shift + i. A docked pane will open alongside the webpage you’re viewing.
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Source: How-To Geek
How to Enable Windows 10’s New Light Theme
Windows 10’s May 2019 Update includes a new light theme and a brighter default desktop background to go with it. Here’s how to enable the shiny new theme and get a lighter looking desktop.
To enable the light theme, head to Settings > Personalization > Colors. To quickly open the Personalization section, you can right-click your desktop and select “Personalize” or press Windows+I to open the Settings window and then click “Personalization.”
Click the “Choose your color” box on the Colors pane and select “Light.”
This feature requires your PC has the May 2019 Update, which is Windows 10 version 1903. You won’t see this option if you’re using an older release of Windows 10.
For the previous Windows 10 default with a dark taskbar and light apps, select “Custom,” set your default Windows mode to “Dark,” and set your default app mode to “Light.” You can also select “Dark” in the color list for a dark desktop complete with dark File Explorer windows.
You can choose whether or not your windows have colored window title bars from this pane, too.
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Source: How-To Geek
How to Free Over 10GB of Disk Space After Installing Windows 10’s May 2019 Update
Did you just install the May 2019 Update? If so, there’s more than 10 GB of data wasting space on your hard drive—we had 24.6 GB! On a laptop or tablet with a limited amount of storage, this can fill up your device quite a bit.
If you have a computer with a large amount of available storage, you might not even notice this useless data. It’ll stick around for 10 days until Windows automatically cleans it up. But, if you’re pressed for space, you’ll want to clean it up as soon as possible.
These Files Let You Downgrade for 10 Days
Upgrading between “builds” of Windows 10–like from Windows 10’s October 2018 Update to Windows 10’s May 2019 Update–is treated the same as upgrading to an entirely new Windows operating system.
When you upgrade to a new “build,” Windows creates a Windows.old folder that contains the system files from your “old” Windows installation. This allows you to “go back” to the previous build of Windows 10 if you experience a problem with the new build.
RELATED: What is the Windows.old Folder and How Do You Delete It?
However, this folder can use more than 10 GB of space on your hard drive. Windows will automatically remove it after 10 days, but you can remove it sooner to free up the space immediately.
Warning: You should only do this if your PC seems to be working properly. If you have some issue with the new version of Windows 10 on your hardware, you won’t be able to “go back” to the previous build without completely reinstalling Windows after you wipe these files.
You can go back to the last build of Windows 10 you had installed by navigating to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery and using the “Get Started” button under “Go back to the previous version of Windows 10.” This button is only present if the files are still available on your computer.
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Source: How-To Geek
Thursday, 30 May 2019
Geek Trivia: The Communicator Used By Obi-Wan Kenobi In The Phantom Menace Is Actually A?
The Communicator Used By Obi-Wan Kenobi In The Phantom Menace Is Actually A? |
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Source: How-To Geek
Daily News Roundup: Intel Wants Laptops to Know You’re Near
Intel doesn’t make laptops. But in the past, it has occasionally used its power to guide laptop trajectory. If you remember Ultrabooks, that was an Intel drive to steer the future of premium laptops.
Now Intel is introducing Project Athena, only this time the focus isn’t premium laptops so much as long-lasting laptops. A Project Athena laptop (a branding name is coming later) should have nine hours of battery life. And if you’re thinking plenty of laptops reach that benchmark now, those are tested under ideal conditions. Typically a video playing with the screen brightness turned very low. Intel wants to test laptops with something closer to real-world conditions.
The company knows just saying, “make it laster longer” isn’t all that helpful, so Intel is also introducing a proposed feature to help reach that goal: presence detection. On prototype laptops, Intel showed a proximity sensor embedded next to the webcam. When you step away, the proximity sensor notices you aren’t near anymore and puts the device to sleep. When you come back, the laptop sees you and wakes up to the login screen. It’s pretty close to the method many smartphones use now.
As an alternative, Intel is also testing using a camera and facial recognition. The idea isn’t to save specific faces, at least not yet, but to recognize that some face is present and use that information to wake up the device or put it asleep. Unfortunately, in demonstrations, the tech was far too sensitive, and the Intel rep had to point the camera at the ceiling for the laptop to go to sleep. Plenty of fine-tuning is needed. And naturally, privacy implications with facial recognition technology will need to be addressed.
But I think we can all agree that laptop battery life that lasts longer would be a good thing. [Engadget]
In Other News:
- Google sticks to its guns on ad blocking: We previously detailed out Google’s plans to make changes in how ad blocking works, and there was naturally some negative feedback. Google says it’s going to push forward with its plans, while allowing enterprise users to access the old scheme, for in-house purposes. [9to5Google]
- The Latest Windows Insider Build includes new Your Phone app features: We like the Your Phone app, and it’s encouraging to see Microsoft add more features. In the latest Insider Update, Your Phone grabs MMS capabilities and better accessibility support. Very nice. [Microsoft]
- You can have an official Pokemon themed wedding if that’s your thing: Because of course you can, official Pokemon themed weddings are now a thing in Japan. If the sight of a Pikachu in a cute top hat or bridal veil doesn’t horrify you, you should really check this out. No word if Ryan Reynolds will officiate. Or if it’s OK to capture any of the Pokemon present. [Kotaku]
- Checker’s payment system got hacked, leading to credit card theft: Checker’s (or Rally’s depending on your location) is one of the larger fast-food restaurant chains in the U.S. Unfortunately, over 100 of the company’s restaurants had malware installed on its POS systems between 2017 and 2019. The malware stole credit card numbers, cardholder names, pin data, and more. If you’ve eaten at a Checker’s or Rally’s you should check if your local restaurant is in the list, and then call your bank. [ZDNet]
- 70% of Hulu subscribers are on the ad-supported tier: Unlike Netflix, Hulu comes in both an ad-free and an ad-supported tier. You might think going without ads would be the more popular choice, but the ad-supported tier is nearly half the cost. According to the company, 70% of its subscribers choose the cheaper option. That’s just fine with the company, it’s making so much from ads it recently lowered the price of that tier. [Variety]
- Google Play Store now requires app developers to disclose loot box odds: Loot boxes are controversial, and done wrong can ruin a game. The biggest issue stemming from the practice is the promise of a fantastic item and not having any idea how likely it is to win. If you can only get cool red shaded thingamajig .01% of the time, it’s practically a rip-off and lie. Now Google requires game makers to disclose those odds so you can make an informed decision before parting with your hard-earned dollars. That’s a good thing. [The Verge]
- Microsoft announces Game Pass for PCs: Speaking of games, Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass to PCs. Details are scarce (like pricing, what games, etc.) but the company promises over 100 games from 75 developers to start. That means it won’t be limited to Microsoft backed games like Forza. If the pricing is right, could be worth looking at. [The Verge]
- Wyze Cameras now work with Google Assitant: Wyze Cams are exceptional, especially for the price. One feature they lacked with Google integration, but that’s no longer an issue. Starting now, you can use voice commands to start a recording or turn your camera on (but not off). And if you have a Google Home hub, you can watch a video feed. Right now, the feed has high latency, though, so it’s not perfect. Call it a good start. [Wyze]
Astronomers discovered a Neptune-like planet (designated NGTS-4b) about 920 light-years from Earth. Neptune-like planets aren’t necessarily unusual themselves, but this one is special. You see, it’s incredibly close to its star.
How close? Well, a single orbit around its star (what we call a year) takes less than two days. For comparison, Mercury, the closest planet to our Sun, takes just over 89 days to complete an orbit.
Usually, only small rocky planets (like Mercury) or massive and hot planets (like Jupiter) exist so close to a star. This is the first time astronomers have spotted a Neptune-planet so close to its star, and the discovery led to a new designation: a Neptune-desert.
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Source: How-To Geek
How to Change a Microsoft Word Document to a CSV File
A Comma Separated Value (CSV) contains data separated by commas (and sometimes other characters) and is generally used to exchange data from one application to another. If you have a list of data in a Word document, converting it to a CSV file can help you get it into other apps.
Let’s say you’ve been keeping all of your email contacts organized in a Word file and you’d like to let an online application clean it up for you. You’re likely going to need a CSV file to achieve this. In fact, several of these applications you’d find online may only support CSV files because the file works across the Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms. Pretty efficient.
Go ahead and open the Word file that contains the data to be imported. In this example, we’re going to be showing a very small email list.
As you can see, all of our data is separated by commas and are on separate lines, similar to the row/column structure you’d find in Excel. The structure of a CSV file can get a bit complicated, but this is a very basic example.
Once you’re ready, click the “File” tab located at the top-left of the window.
In the pane on the left-hand side, select “Save As.”
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Source: How-To Geek
How to Combine or Group Pie Charts in Microsoft Excel
Pie charts are popular in Excel, but they are limited. You’ll have to decide for yourself between using multiple pie charts or giving up some flexibility in favor of readability by combining them. If you do want to combine them, here’s how.
For example, the pie chart below shows the answers of people to a question.
This is fine, but it can be complicated if you have multiple Pie charts.
Pie charts can only show one series of values. So if you have multiple series, and you want to present data with pie charts, you need multiple pie charts.
The image below shows the contribution to total revenues of five products across three different cities. We have a pie chart for each city with the data ranges shown above them.
This enables us to compare the sales of products across different cities. But there are complications when we want to change them all consistently, or view them as a single figure.
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Source: How-To Geek
Wednesday, 29 May 2019
How to Create a Pop-Up in PowerPoint
PowerPoint can pop up an image when you hover your pointer over a thumbnail image. This lets you keep a nice, clean slide, but also show your audience more information when you want to.
How to Pop Up a Bigger Image When You Hover Over a Thumbnail
In this example, we have four thumbnail images, and we want to set up a hover effect that shows a pop-up of a larger image when you mouse over each of the thumbnail images.
First, on a new slide, insert your thumbnail image by heading to Insert > Pictures. The thumbnail image is whatever small image you want to use as a thumbnail on your slide—not a special kind of image.
Here’s an example of our slide with four thumbnail images inserted.
Next, you’ll need to add a new slide for each of the popups for the larger images. Right-click on your first slide’s thumbnail, and then select “New Slide.” Repeat this step for any additional slides needed for each of your larger images.
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Source: How-To Geek
Daily News Roundup: Microsoft Hints a New “Modern OS”
Yesterday, the internet went wild when Dell published specs for its latest laptop that included a reference to a new Windows 10 version: “Windows 10 Home Ultra.” ZDNet, Thurrott (premium content), and Forbes were quick to report, dissect, and offer up possibilities, but it wasn’t long before Microsoft put out an official statement: “There is no new version of Windows called Windows 10 Home Ultra.”
Noticeably, that leaves a lot of wiggle room for a new version of Windows by a different name. Technically if the company released “Windows 10 Ultra”, that statement would still be valid.
That’s what makes Microsoft’s latest blog post all the more interesting. What started as standard affair covering new laptops and devices turned into a description of a new modern OS. Microsoft laid out a vision for the future where new devices would require a modern OS that provided “enablers and delighters.”
Microsoft clarified “enablers and delighters” as an OS that updates in the background, invisibly and without interruption. It went on to describe an OS that is “secure by default” with separation between “state” and “operating system.” Other buzzwords included “always connected,” “cloud-connected,” and “sustained performance” (a reference to battery life).
The word you don’t see in the two paragraphs describing this new modern OS is “Windows.” It’s a curious omission, but that doesn’t mean this Microsoft won’t name this OS Windows, we’ve been reporting on Windows Lite and Windows Core for some time now, and they could fit the bill.
We’ll have to wait for Microsoft to move from vague talk of a vision to future to concrete details of a vision for now to learn more. [Microsoft]
RELATED: The Future of Windows: What Are Polaris and Windows Core OS?
In Other News:
- Amazon sold an unannounced phone to a lucky buyer: Motorola has a new phone coming, the Moto Z4. The company hasn’t announced it yet, but we know about it because Amazon briefly listed it for sale and delivered it to somebody quick enough to hit that buy button. The buyer was kind enough to upload an unboxing video so check that out. [CNET]
- The new Echo Show is a cute little thing: Today Amazon announced a new Echo Show coming in late June. It sports a 5-inch screen and a physical shutter for its camera that you can easily see in the closed position. Given its size, Amazon likely intends this for your office or bedroom as opposed to the kitchen. The device is on sale now for $90 undercutting the Google Nest Home Hub. [The Verge]
- Now you can delete Echo recordings with your voice: We think Google leads the pack when it comes to voice assistant privacy, but Amazon is stepping up its game. Rolling out today, you’ll soon be able to delete your recent voice recordings by asking Alexa. You can either say “delete what I just said” or “delete everything I said today.” Just a straight “delete everything I ever said” isn’t in the cards right now, but here’s hoping. Unfortunately, the voice commands are opt-in. Nothing’s perfect. [Engadget]
- Twitter wants a new Tweeter in Chief: Are you good at Twitter? No wait, are you amazing at Twitter? The company is looking for someone to take over the @Twitter handle, and it laid out the requirements on its careers page. Refreshingly there’s no mention of degrees and plenty of requests for passion, writing capability, and social savviness, which is sensible. [Twitter]
- Intel’s laptop prototype is a wild, transforming, dual-screened beast: Asus’s Zenbook Pro Duo is almost old news, Intel has a concept that that puts its dual-screen setup to shame. Rather than just sticking a second screen right above the keyboard, this laptop can also stand up. An extra hinge between the keyboard and screen means it can fold upwards, raising the two screens. Asus’s saving grace? This “honeycomb glacier” device is just a proof of concept. [The Verge]
- Google teases upcoming info about Stadia: Stadia, Google’s upcoming game streaming platform, has a lot of unknowns. What games will it support? How much will it cost? When will it launch? What hardware is needed (if any)? The list goes on. The official Stadia Twitter account says information for pricing, games, and launch details are coming soon—not soon enough if you ask us. [Variety]
- Another day, another hack—this time it’s Flipboard’s turn: Flipboard, the news aggregator service, announced that intruders made their way into the company’s servers and stole email addresses, user names, and encrypted passwords. The hackers had access for about nine months, and the company is taking the usual steps of resetting passwords and hiring outside help. [CNET]
- Google rolls out new dining and translation features to Lens: Google’s Lens app is getting a few new tricks up its sleeve. Soon, you’ll be able to point your camera at a menu, and the Lens app will feature favorite dishes that other restaurant goers have enjoyed. You’ll see reviews, photos and more. If you’re travel frequently, you may enjoy the next new feature, point your camera at a sign or menu and the Google Lens translates the text for you. Pretty neat! [Digital Trends]
For years, the World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) set the standards for HTML and its future iterations. But Apple, Mozilla, and Opera disagreed with the group’s direction in the past and formed a group called Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG).
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Source: How-To Geek
What are Notes in Outlook and How Do You Use Them?
Microsoft Outlook lets you create electronic sticky notes that you can display either in Outlook or right on your desktop, letting you get all those real sticky notes off your desk.
Before we start, let’s take a moment to remember that writing passwords down on Post-It notes, electronic or otherwise, is just plain bad. We’ve written about password security extensively over the years, so take a moment to pick a password manager and use it. One day you’ll thank us.
RELATED: Why You Should Use a Password Manager, and How to Get Started
Creating a New Note
The first thing to do is to open up the Notes option in Outlook. Do this by going to the bottom left of Outlook, clicking the three dots in the Navigation option, and then clicking “Notes.”
The Notes option, where you can add, edit, and delete your notes, will open up.
To create a new note, click “New Note.” This will create a new note with the default size and color.
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Source: How-To Geek
How to Fix “What Needs Your Attention” Windows 10 Setup Errors
Windows 10’s setup and upgrade process sometimes fails and says your PC “can’t be upgraded” but “no action is needed.” Windows knows the problem, but Microsoft hides the details from you. Here’s how to identify and fix the problem yourself.
How to See “What Needs Your Attention”
Microsoft should provide more descriptive error messages. The message we saw while attempting to upgrade to Windows 10’s May 2019 Update with Microsoft’s Update Assistant was:
This PC can’t be upgraded to Windows 10.
Your PC has a driver or service that isn’t ready for this version of Windows 10. No action is needed. Windows Update will offer this version of Windows 10 automatically once the issue has been resolved.
Microsoft says a “No action is needed” message means you shouldn’t do anything.
That’s all well and good, but what if you don’t want to wait? Why doesn’t Windows tell us which “driver or service” is causing the problem? Windows 10 does know the problem, but it doesn’t display it here—you’ll have to dig it out of the log files and fix it yourself. Here’s how to do it.
How to View Windows Setup Log Files
The log files are hidden in this folder on your PC:
C:\$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Panther
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Source: How-To Geek
Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Daily News Roundup: Huawei Kicked From SD and Wi-Fi Standards Groups
Huawei is in a tough position. Google pulled its Android vendor license, Intel, Qualcomm, and ARM refuse to work with the company, Microsoft pulled its laptop and cloud offerings, and now the mobile company finds itself ejected from the SD and Wi-Fi standards associations.
If you want to make a product that uses SD cards, you need to join the SD Association. It’s a non-profit organization that sets standards for SD and microSD cards, and to membership is required to build products that use the standard.
Without the membership, you can’t make SD cards, and you can’t make products that work with SD cards. And now Huawei isn’t a member. So going forward any new phones it develops can’t use Google apps, must rely on stock Android (or the backup OS the company claims to have in the works), find some other mobile processor besides ARM’s to use, and forgo SD cards in its devices.
To make matters somewhat worse, it appears the Wi-Fi Alliance also ejected Huawei. Ejection isn’t quite as dire, Huawei can continue to incorporate Wi-Fi into its products, but it won’t get certification for those products.
All of this only affects the future, though, anything that already made it through the process should be covered. But the future is rapidly approaching, and Huawei is not in a good position to meet it. [Android Police]
In Other News:
- A 13-year-old Australian Hacked Apple for a job: How do you prove your passion for a company while showcasing your skills? If you said “hack them of course,” well stop. That plan didn’t work out well for a minor in Australian who created false credentials to break into Apple servers. He was caught, and the courts let him off with a slap on the wrist (due to his age). [Gizmodo]
- Best Buy canceled all Galaxy Fold pre-orders: Samsung’s Galaxy Fold still can’t shake out a release date. Given that fact, Best Buy wisely chose to cancel all pre-orders for the $2000 phone. If you dropped the money to get an experimental phone only to discover it easily breaks, you’re probably thankful Best Buy has your back right now. [Engadget]
- Microsoft’s Project Xcloud can stream more than 3,500 games: Microsoft released more details about its upcoming streaming service, and the biggest nugget may be the fact that it can stream over 3,500 games without developers needing to make any changes. E3 should be exciting this year…well unless you’re Sony. [The Verge]
- An original Apple I crammed into a briefcase sold for $500K: Apple I computers are rare to find, and typically sell high at auction. MacBooks didn’t exist in 1976, so what’s a person to do for portability? Shove the thing in a briefcase, naturally. Probably worth every penny for a board handbuilt by the Woz himself. [TechCrunch]
- HP wants you to buy a wood laptop with a better trackpad: Ok, the device isn’t made totally out of wood, it’s likely just a veneer, but the new models from HP certainly are beautiful. Even better, HP’s latest laptops ditch Synaptic trackpad in favor of Precision drivers. The net gain is trackpads that aren’t awful. Hopefully. [The Verge]
- Asus’ ZenBook Pro Duo is a Laptop with a second screen in the keyboard: Asus’s new laptop is wild. At first, it’s your standard 4K 15-inch laptop with a full sized keyboard. But then you can’t help but notice they crammed a second 4K display above the keyboard. Space is an issue, so the touchpad is off to side and doubles as a numpad. Only time will tell if the concept holds up in use, but in pictures, it looks neat. [ZDNet]
- Corsair’s new SSD is so fast it needs a heatsink: AMD recently announced support for PCI Express 4.0, which is fantastic for SSD drives. PCI is typically a bottleneck for SSD’s, and Corsair’s new entry shows what you that choke point up. The company promises its new MP600 SSD can reach up to 4950 MB/s sequential read and 4250 MB/s write speeds, nearly double of the fastest cards before it. All that speed comes with heat, hence the ginormous heatsink. Super fast. [AnandTech]
- Apple’s new iPod Touch brings a newer processor and a larger hard drive option: The iPod Touch’s last refresh came in 2015, meaning the media player is long in the tooth. Apple took care of that today with a healthy spec bump, giving the iPod Touch the A10 Fusion processor. That’s enough to grant Augmented Reality capabilities. Paired with a new 256 gig hard drive option, the iPod Touch should chug along just fine for some time to come. [Apple]
- Ikea’s mobile apps will let you buy stuff soon: Buying Ikea products online requires using the company’s website, and the company app’s act solely as store companions. An upcoming redesigned app adds buying options, which should save 4000 steps in the showroom. If you’re wondering what’s taking so long to finish the app, they’re still trying to figure out how to insert code 47B into 59A with the provided allen wrench. [Digital Trends]
The World Health Organization (WHO) decided to officially place “gaming disorder” to its list of “globally recognized diseases.” Before you get out your pitchforks, this isn’t some statement that all gaming is bad or anything of the sort.
The Who classifies Gaming disorder with the following patterns of behavior:
“1) impaired control over gaming (e.g., onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context);
2) increasing priority given to gaming to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities; and
3) continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences. The behaviour pattern is of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning.”
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Source: How-To Geek
How to Insert a PDF Into Excel
Excel provides a plethora of features for organizing, manipulating, and handling your data. One of these unique features is inserting a PDF directly into Excel. The good news is it only involves a few simple steps to do it. Here’s how.
Inserting a PDF Into Excel
In the Excel file, head over to the “Insert” tab and then click the “Object” button.
In the Object window that appears, switch to the “Create from File” tab and then click “Browse.”
Browse to the location of your file, select the file, and then click “Open.”
Back at the “Object” window, you’ll see the file path of your PDF. Now, you need to tell Excel how you want the file to appear in the spreadsheet. There are a few different options here. If you select “OK” without taking any further action in the “Object” window, the PDF file appears in Excel showing the contents of the PDF in its entirety.
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Source: How-To Geek
How to Select an Exact Display Resolution on Your Mac
You can change the display resolution of your Mac to make text larger or gain more space. There are some predefined scaled resolutions available, but you can get more granular control over your display’s resolution.
Normally a Mac will run its display at the resolution Apple believes is best. There are also four or five different options—depending on your Mac and display and highlighted below—that provide different outcomes. They’re fine, but they’re options to make text bigger or your desktop larger without using the number-based resolutions we all understand. But if you do some digging, you can get some real control over your display by making actual resolutions available to you.
RELATED: How to Run Your Retina Display at its Native Resolution
Why is Display Resolution Important?
A display’s resolution is the number of pixels available both horizontally and vertically. A 4K display has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, or 3840 pixels horizontally, and 2160 pixels vertically.
How much information you can see on-screen at any given time is governed by its resolution. Higher resolutions mean that more things can be shown on-screen. Those things could be windows, icons, photos, or text in a document. Because of the larger resolution, however, that also means all on-screen elements are smaller, which is something else to consider.
Larger displays usually also have higher resolutions than smaller ones, especially if they are of good quality.
What Makes Retina, Retina?
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Source: How-To Geek
How to Customize Your Icons in Windows
Personalizing your icons is a great way to make a PC uniquely yours. Let’s take a look at the different ways Windows lets you customize your icons.
RELATED: How To Make High Resolution Windows 7 Icons Out of Any Image
Windows has some built-in icons you can choose from, but there is also an untold number of icons you can download from sites like IconArchive, DeviantArt, and Iconfinder—all of which have loads of free icons. And if you can’t find something you like, you can even make high-resolution icons out of any image.
Once you have the icons of your dreams, save them in a safe place—some of these processes will require they stay in a particular location on your PC. In other cases, you’ll probably want them there just in case something goes wrong and you have to re-apply them.
Change Your Desktop Icons (Computer, Recycle Bin, Network, and So On)
Icons like This PC, Network, Recycle Bin, and your User folder are all considered “desktop icons,” even though modern versions of Windows don’t show them all on the desktop. Windows 8 and 10 don’t show any of the desktop icons except for Recycle Bin, and even Windows 7 doesn’t show them all. For a complete rundown, check out our guide to restoring missing desktop icons in Windows 7, 8, or 10.
But you can still change how these icons appear elsewhere on your system. To do so, you’ll need to access the “Desktop Icon Settings” window to turn these icons on and off or to change the associated icons. In Windows 10, you can access this window through Settings > Personalization > Themes > Desktop Icon Settings. In Windows 8 and 10, it’s Control Panel > Personalize > Change Desktop Icons.
Use the checkboxes in the “Desktop icons” section to select which icons you want on your desktop. To change an icon, select the icon you want to change and then click the “Change Icon” button.
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Source: How-To Geek
Google Pixel 3a Review: The Best Hunk of Plastic Money Can Buy
After months of rumors, the Google Pixel 3a is finally available. It’s a more affordable take on the company’s flagship phone, with corners cut in all the right places. It’s 90 percent of the Pixel 3 at half the price.
It still offers most of the things that make the Pixel 3 special: an excellent camera, Pixel-specific Android with updates directly from Google, the crazy-fast and convenient rear fingerprint sensor, and meaningful software features—all for a starting price of $399 for the Pixel 3a ($479 for the 3a XL).
Of course, at half the price, it’s also missing a few things: wireless charging, waterproofing, “premium” materials, and a top-of-the-line processor. But what it lacks in so-called “high-end” features, it makes up for in…well, everything else.
The most exciting part of the 3a is that it still offers the Pixel 3’s best feature: that killer camera. Since most of the magic is in the post-processing on Pixel phones, Google was still able to offer things like portrait mode, Night Sight, and other excellent camera features in the 3a.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, it’s worth mentioning that this review focuses on the smaller of the two 3a phones. Since the 3a XL is basically the same phone with a bigger screen, however, you should be able to apply everything said to it, as well.
Build Quality, Hardware, and Specs: Oh Plastic, How I’ve Missed Thee
As manufacturers have shifted to use more “premium” materials like aluminum and glass in phones, handsets have also gotten more slippery, fragile, and expensive. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not into any of those things. Despite the direction the phone industry has been moving in, I’ve longed for a plastic phone worth using. The Pixel 3a is the answer to that longing.
So, why plastic? Because it’s light, it’s nearly indestructible, it doesn’t scratch easily, and it’s not slippery. What more do you want from a phone’s body? I can’t think of anything better—“premium” materials be damned. And the 3a is plastic done right. Some plastic phones can feel cheaply made, but this little guy feels excellent. It’s a well-made little device. The plastic on the 3a is excellent (though it is a fingerprint magnet).
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Source: How-To Geek
How to Install Desktop Chrome Extensions on Android
Chrome Extensions are powerful tools that let you customize your browser experience to your liking. While these have historically only been available on the desktop, a recent update to the Kiwi Browser brings support for desktop extensions to Android.
What is Kiwi Browser?
Kiwi is an open-source browser for Android devices based on Chromium and the WebKit rendering engine. Since it uses the Chromium source, it has a very familiar look and feel, but it also packs its own features to make it unique and useful.
Right out of the box, it blocks intrusive ads by default, blocks pop-ups, and has protection against cryptojackers. It can also block site notifications, as well as block AMP pages for users who prefer to go directly to the site. Mostly, it’s a more privacy-focused version of Chrome with various speed improvements.
Since it’s just based on Chromium and not actually Chrome, however, you’ll lose out on things like account syncing between devices, which means you’ll have to manually bring your bookmarks and stuff like that to Kiwi if coming from Chrome.
All that aside, there’s one primary feature that’s relatively new to Kiwi that we’re going to focus on today: desktop extension support. We’re talking about all your favorite extensions from Chrome on the desktop, just on your phone. It’s pretty rad. Here’s how it works.
Let’s Talk About Chrome Extensions on Mobile
Before we get to the nitty-gritty, we should probably talk about why Google hasn’t brought Chrome extensions to Chrome on Android. To put it bluntly: because the experience basically sucks.
Chrome extensions are mostly (or entirely?) designed with the desktop in mind, so it’s no surprise that many of them don’t offer a lot of benefit on mobile. In fact, none of the extensions I use in Chrome desktop were worth a flip on mobile.
Your mileage will vary from extension to extension—some may work well, some may only partially function. Some may not work at all. The only way to really know is to test it out.
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Source: How-To Geek
Monday, 27 May 2019
The Best Cotton Candy Machines
Cotton candy is more than just some sugary snack; it’s the lifeblood of our collective childhood. Whether you’re hosting a party, feeling nostalgic, or craving for a sweet snack, a cotton candy machine is an absolute necessity.
Like most snack foods, cotton candy is shrouded in mystery. How do people make cotton candy? How much does a cotton candy machine cost? Do I need to work at a carnival to learn some cotton candy skills through an ancient trade system handed down since the Middle Ages? Turns out, making cotton candy is easy and affordable. All you need is a cotton candy machine and some sugar.
The thing is, there are a ton of cotton candy makers on the market, and some work better than others. That’s why we’ve taken the time to find the best cotton candy machines, from tabletop models to commercial behemoths. Just keep in mind that most of these machines don’t come with any sugar. You can get away with using hard candies (like peppermints) for some funky creations, but if you want the real-deal experience, you’ll need some cotton candy sugar.
Best for Most People: Nostalgia Electrics Countertop Cotton Candy Maker ($30)
Put on those nostalgia goggles for a minute, and look back on your childhood. You see smiling faces, flowers, carnival rides, and a sweaty older man handing out colorful cotton candy. Now take off those nostalgia goggles, and take a gander at the Nostalgia Electrics cotton candy maker. This old-timey machine can bring a childhood of sweet cotton candy right to your kitchen countertop.
This affordable machine is easy to use and easy to clean. And since it’s surrounded by a steep plastic dome, you don’t have to worry about making a mess on your countertop. Plus, this cotton candy machine comes with two reusable cones and a plastic sugar scoop, so the only extra thing that you need to buy is some sugar. It’s a great pick for light use at home as it takes up minimal space but still offers an authentic cotton candy experience.
Best Extra Old-Timey Pick: Nostalgia Carnival-Style Tabletop Cotton Candy Maker ($28)
OK, OK, you got us. This pick has the same guts as our best overall pick above. But if the 1950s gumball-machine aesthetic of the Nostalgia Electrics cotton candy maker doesn’t do it for you, then you should check out the carnival-styled Nostalgia cotton candy maker. Given that cotton candy is often used for celebrations like children’s parties or baby showers, we couldn’t resist adding in this extra old-timey option.
Like the previous Nostalgia brand model, it sports a medium-size floss bowl, can accept both flossing sugar as well as hard candies and includes a dome guard and reusable cones. The real difference is the form factor, where instead of an old-timey jukebox vibe you’ve got an old-timey carnival cart vibe—you know, without the expense of buying an actual cart. If the cart is what you’re after, however, do keep scrolling.
Best All-in-One Kit: Cotton Candy Express ($63)
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Source: How-To Geek
What Is a “Portable” App, and Why Does It Matter?
Portable applications offer some definite advantages over their traditional counterparts. They’re lightweight, and they allow you to move between computers while taking your apps and settings with you. Here’s why they’re different and why they’re sometimes—but not always—a good choice.
How Regular Apps Are Installed
RELATED: What Is the ProgramData Folder in Windows?
To understand what makes an app portable, it might be helpful first to take a quick look at how traditional apps get installed in Windows. When you install an app in Windows, the installation files go to several different locations. The bulk of the app’s files are usually copied to a single folder somewhere in the C:\Program Files folder. Files that contain settings applying to all users of the app may get created in the ProgramData folder.
Settings that are particular to different user accounts on the PC are stored in files created in the hidden “AppData” folder inside each accounts user folder. Most apps create entries in the Windows Registry that may also hold various configuration settings. And many apps take advantage of shared code libraries that get installed with things like the .NET framework and Visual C++ Redistributables.
There are distinct advantages to this separation of functions. Multiple apps can share information contained in Registry entries or shared code libraries, preventing unnecessary duplication. Storing user-specific settings in one place and system-wide settings in another means that apps can take better advantage of lots of different Windows features designed for a multi-user system. For starters, each user can rely on their own settings being loaded when they start the app just because they are signed in with their own Windows account. Features like file and share permissions are built on this structure. And, having all program settings saved to designated areas makes backing up your system more reliable.
So, What’s a Portable App and Why Would I Use One?
A portable app is simply one that doesn’t use an installer. All the files required to run the app reside in a single folder, which you can put anywhere on the system. If you move the folder, the app will still work the same. Instead of installing a portable app, you typically download it as a ZIP file, extract that ZIP to a folder, and run the executable file for the app. If the app allows you to save settings, those settings are saved in files right inside the same folder.
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Source: How-To Geek
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