Save up to $40 on Amazon Fire Tablets and Kindle E-Readers

If you’ve been waiting for a heavy discount on Amazon’s devices, now might be the time to get your wallet out. The company has reduced prices by as much as $40 on many of its Fire tablets and Kindle e-readers.

In some cases, this pricing has previously only been offered during sales events that were limited to Amazon Prime subscribers. However, this promotion is available to everyone. The discounted items include the standard Fire 7 and Fire 8, Kids Edition Fire 7 and Fire 8, as well as the new 10th-gen Kindle and Kindle Paperwhite.

Although the Fire 7’s price has only been reduced by $10, that puts the device at $39.99 as it was previously only $49.99. If you’d prefer a bigger display and beefier battery, the Fire 8 has been discounted to $59.99 from $79.99.

Likewise, the Fire 7 Kids Edition is now priced at $69.99 and the Fire 8 Kids Edition is $99.99—both being $30 off their usual rate. Amazon’s “Kids Edition” products come with a protective cover, one year of access to kid-friendly content through FreeTime Unlimited, and a two-year worry-free guarantee that Amazon will replace any devices your kids break.

Amazon’s 10th-generation Kindle (the newest one) has seen its price cut by $25 from $89.99 to $64.99. Key features include an integrated front light for reading in the dark and weeks-long battery life. Alternatively, the Kindle Paperwhite with its ultra-sharp 300 ppi display is now only $89.99, $40 off from $129.99.

It’s not just Amazon US who has these types of deals going on right now. Amazon UK currently offers similar discounts on the Fire 7 (£15 off, now only £35), Fire 8 (£20 off, now only £60), and the Kindle Paperwhite (£30 off, now only £90).

Source: Engadget

Source: How-To Geek

What’s the Difference Between Caramel Apples and Candy Apples?

Teri Virbickis/Shutterstock

Just in case you’ve ever wondered if there was a difference between a candy apple and a caramel apple, we’ll break things down and cover the basics.

Many people use the words “candy apple” to describe any apple immersed in a sweet and delicious coating, but we’re here to clear things up. While both sweet treats take washed apples and pierce sticks into them before dipping, each has its own flavors and textures. Whichever is best is for you to decide.

What Is a Caramel Apple?

Although caramel is a type of candy, a caramel apple is not the same as a candy apple. Caramel apples—shown in the photo above—have a soft and chewy texture, and each bite brings you buttery sweet flavors. The perfectly tart apples combined with the sweet and creamy caramel flavor make for a tasty fall snack.

Caramel apples can be made in a variety of ways, depending on the homemade caramel recipe. A basic recipe uses sugar, corn syrup, water, butter, and cream, but others use ingredients like brown sugar and sweetened condensed milk.

Many opt to unwrap and melt caramel candies for a quick and easy-to-make coating. Whichever you choose is up to you.

Caramel apples are also known for being decorated and further flavored with ingredients like chopped nuts, chocolate drizzle, and various candies.

What Is a Candy Apple?

Arina P. Habich/Shutterstock

A candy apple is covered with a shiny red hard shell of homemade candy coating and should always be eaten with caution. The candy breaks or shatters with each bite, making it a deliciously dangerous treat to eat.

The candy apple was said to be invented by a candy-maker named William W. Kolb. While experimenting, he dipped apples in a red cinnamon mixture. Although they were intended to draw customers in around Christmas, they’re now commonly consumed around Halloween.

The candy coating is made from ingredients like water, sugar, light corn syrup, and red food coloring. Authentic candy apples have a cinnamon flavor. Nowadays, most people opt to use red food coloring instead.

Read the remaining 3 paragraphs

Source: How-To Geek

How to Link from One PowerPoint Presentation to Another

Linking two presentations together allows you to save time by using already-existing slides. The transition is almost seamless, giving it the illusion of one single presentation. Here’s how to link PowerPoint presentations together.

Before we get started, note that both presentations need to be in the same folder to link them together. Moving or renaming the second file after the link has been created will cause the slide to break.

Linking two presentations together isn’t magic, but it’s as simple as inserting and clicking a hyperlink. What this trick does is allows you to insert a link within an object or text from presentation A that brings you to a specific slide of presentation B while still in presentation mode.

Once you’ve opened the first presentation and have navigated to the slide in which you will be linking from, select the text or object where you want to place the hyperlink.

If you haven’t already inserted an object, you can do so by selecting any of the options in the “Images” or “Illustrations” group of the “Insert” tab, and then selecting the object you’d like to insert.

RELATED: How to Insert a Picture or Other Object in Microsoft Office

Once selected, head over to the “Links” group of the “Insert” tab and select “Action.”

Read the remaining 15 paragraphs

Source: How-To Geek

How to Set App Time Limits and Block Apps on Android

Khamosh Pathak

Spending way too much time on your Android device? Use a digital wellbeing app to track your app usage and set app limits. Want some peace of mind? Block specific apps for a bit with Focus mode.

How to Set An App Timer in Android 9 and Higher

Digital Wellbeing is Google’s screen time management feature. It’s available on Google Pixel phones, Android One devices (that run Android 9 Pie and higher), and a limited number of other phones. After you download the Digital Wellbeing app on your device, it shows up as a Settings item.

The Digital Wellbeing app monitors how much time you spend on your phone. It tells you how many times you’ve picked up your phone, how much time you’ve spent in a specific app, and how many notifications you’ve received today.

You can use this information to make decisions about how much time you spend on your smartphone. The app also gives you tools, like App Timer, to curb your usage.

With App Timer, you can restrict how much time you can spend in an app. For example, you can set it up so you only use YouTube 30 minutes per day.

To do this, either swipe down on the notification shade, and then tap the gear icon to open Settings (or open it from the app drawer). Next, tap “Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls.”

In the Dashboard, scroll down to the YouTube app and tap the hourglass icon next to it.

Read the remaining 73 paragraphs

Source: How-To Geek

Pouring Grease Down the Drain Is the Fastest Way to Meet Your Local Plumber

olavs/Shutterstock

Dumping grease from bacon and burgers down the drain might seem harmless. Sooner or later, though, that grease will completely stop up your drain. Here’s what to do instead.

Grease Does a Number on Your Drains

When you’re done cooking an especially greasy hamburger, it’s tempting to dump the liquid down the drain. However, if you let that grease sit in the pan long enough to cool, you see that it solidifies again. It’ll do that in your drain, too, clogging it up in the process.

Grease in your pipes collects other gunk that flows through, like food debris. This collection of food and grease builds up and makes your sink drain slowly (or not at all). While you can use some drain cleaner, a bad clog might require a drain snake or a plumber.

Even if you run the water scalding hot to flush it all away, some will still linger somewhere in your plumbing and, worse yet, it causes problems for the whole neighborhood. Hot water can keep the grease solid for only so long and eventually it cools.

Bottom line: There’s no good reason to pour grease down the drain.

What to Do with Your Cooking Grease Instead

Here are three options for cleaning meat grease and cooking oils from your pans.

Pour It into a Jar

Both grease that solidifies and cooking grease that doesn’t can go into a jar and saved until the jar is full. Use separate jars for each type of oil. You can reuse them both (keep them in the fridge) to grease pans or to use in your fryer. If you don’t want to reuse them, just toss the jar when it’s full.

Be careful when pouring hot grease. Don’t burn yourself.

Let It Solidify and Scrape It into the Trash

For grease left over from cooking greasy meats, let the pan cool. When the grease has cooled, it will be solid, and you can scrape it right into the trash can.

Read the remaining 4 paragraphs

Source: How-To Geek

14 Drawing Tools for Beginners

Have you ever tried to draw a perfect circle? You slowly sketch the outline and then carefully go over it with darker marks hoping that it’s round enough or… you could just use a compass. There are many tools in an artist’s arsenal that make their lives easier and improve their drawing.

 

Erasers for a Clean Slate

Paper Mate, Acurit

An eraser is an essential tool for any artist. The ability to quickly erase your mistakes and start again makes graphite drawing the most welcoming medium for beginners. Erasers don’t just help with mistakes, though. They also allow you to draw out sketch marks and general outlines that can be erased later after the permanent, darker lines are added.

• Paper Mate White Pearl Premium Erasers: These White Pearl erasers from Paper Mate are a great choice if you’re looking for the classic eraser. They cleanly remove pencil marks without crumbling and falling apart, but are still stiff enough to get out accidental dark lines and marks.
• Faber-Castell Kneaded Erasers 4-Pack: Faber-Castell makes great kneaded erasers. These are soft and can be molded to form any shape, making them perfect for highlighting and erasing highly-detailed drawings. The erasers come in packs of four, and each eraser has its own plastic case that protects it from getting covered in dirt and ruined in your bag.
• Vanish 4-in-1 Artist Eraser:  The Vanish is a multi-purpose eraser that is great for mixed media artwork. It’s a four-in-one eraser that can remove charcoal, colored pencils, pastels as well as regular graphite.

Compasses and Protractors for Precise Circles and Angles

Mr. Pen, Shinwa

Circles and angles are one of the hardest things to freehand accurately when drawing. You can’t just run your pencil along the edge of a ruler to create a perfect circle, and it’s impossible to tell precisely what angle you are drawing at without help. Compasses are great tools that let you draw different sized circles perfectly every time. Protractors let you draw adjustable angles quickly and are an essential tool for any perspective drawing.

• Mr. Pen Professional Compass: This compass has an extra attachment arm that lets you draw huge circles up to 18 inches in diameter. The Mr. Pen Professional Compass set also comes with replacement lead, needles, and screws in case something gets lost or broken. 
• Shinwa Japanese Stainless Steel Protractor: This protractor from Shinwa is made of stainless steel, not cheap plastic. The protractor also has a swiveling arm. After you rotate the arm to the angle you desire, you can just run your pencil along the arm creating a perfectly straight line at any angle you want.
• GemRed Digital Protractor: If you have the extra cash and want something incredibly precise and easy to use, GemRed makes a great digital protractor. This protractor immediately recognizes the angle the two arms are making and displays it on the small screen. Precision on this protractor is guaranteed to be accurate within ±0.3 degrees.

Straight Edges for Drawing Perfect Lines

Ludwig, Staedtler

Straight edges make drawing clear, dark lines incredibly easy. When you’re first starting to draw using reference images, it’s a good idea to create a drawing grid. This helps you focus on small sections of the drawing without worrying about the flow of the larger picture. T-squares help you draw perfectly straight grids by maintaining a perfect right angle with your desk. Rulers and triangles can also be used in the same way, but provide a more flexible edge that can be moved around and used to draw straight lines at any angle.

• Staedtler Mars 4 pc Combination Math Set: This four-piece set from Staedtler is made of stainless steel so they won’t shatter from being crushed in a backpack. The set includes a double-sided ruler, protractor, and two right triangles, giving you a good set of straight edges to work with.
• Ludwig Precision Standard T-Square: If you create a lot of drawing grids or want to draw a lot of perspective or architectural images, then a good T-square will save you a lot of time drawing lines. This model from Ludwig is 24-inches long and is perfect for large projects.

Paper Specifically for Drawing

When looking at tools to improve your drawing, it is easy to forget that there are many different kinds of paper (insert The Office meme here). Different kinds of paper are designed to be better at absorbing various types of media. Sketch paper is made for using graphite, charcoal, pens, and other dry media, while mixed media paper is designed to absorb water and acrylic based paints on top of being compatible with pens and pencils.

• Strathmore 400 Series Sketch Pad: If you’re just interested in drawing and sketching, the Strathmore 400 Series is 100 sheets of high-quality paper. The surface is fine-toothed with little grooves that collect graphite and charcoal easier. This means you don’t have to push as hard to make darker lines, and the lighter lines you make won’t just get rubbed and smudged away.
• Canson XL Series Mix Media Pad: The Canson XL Mix Media Pad lets you combine your pen and pencil sketches with acrylic and watercolors. The paper is extra thick and made to absorb different paints without soaking through to the next page. It’s also made to dry quickly and evenly, so you aren’t spending all day waiting for layers to dry.

Art Blenders to Make Shading Easier

US Art Supply

Blending stumps and tortillons are great tools for shading and creating fluid art. Real-life isn’t made of lines and edges—everything is smooth and blended. Realistic art should be the same. Blending tools smudge the graphite or charcoal around that’s already on the paper. They let you mix it around almost like wet paint, which allows you to make seamless transitions between sections of your drawing and more easily create even gradients. Blending stumps are made from compressed paper and have a flat exposed surface that makes for smooth but slow blending. Tortillons are made from rolled paper that is tapered on the end. This tapered edge will blend out more aggressively and thinner.

• US Art Supply Art Blenders: This is a simple set of blenders with four double-ended stumps and six-pointed tortillons. The set includes multiple size blenders for easy switching between highly-detailed shading and covering large areas.
• Wowoss Art Blender Set: This set from Wowoss includes eight stumps and nine tortillons for blending. This set also includes a felt bag to hold all the blenders, two sandpaper pencil sharpeners, and a pencil extender, all for a low price.

Pencils and Pens for Smooth Drawing

Derwent, Pigma

Read the remaining 3 paragraphs

Source: How-To Geek

Google Pixel 4 Early Impressions: Radar, Face Unlock, and the Camera

Justin Duino

Google announced the Pixel 4 last week at an event in New York City, and now that I’ve had it in-hand for a few days, I want to share some initial thoughts on the new features—the radar, Face Unlock, and the cameras.

Before we get into it, though, I want to clarify: this isn’t a full review. I’ve only had the phone for a few days and don’t think that’s quite enough time to write as thorough a review as I’d like. So instead, I’m opting for this compromise—some initial thoughts focusing on the phone’s new and interesting features.

This will be a bit deeper than my hands-on impressions with the phone, but still not deep enough to call it a “review.” These are simply the thoughts I’ve collected over the last few days and want to share before sitting down to pen the full review.

So yeah, let’s talk about it.

Google Gets Innovative Again

Justin Duino

Back in the day, I owned nearly every Nexus phone that existed, and every Pixel device since the series launched, save for one: I skipped the Pixel 3. I’m generally a fan of the XL models, and the massive notch that had absolutely no reason to exist other than “well, the iPhone has one” was enough to make me give that one a hard pass. It was disheartening to see Google make a “me too!” phone just like everyone else.

But with the Pixel 4, ol’ Googly-poo went back to the drawing board and actually thought about what it wanted to do with the phone. So what we have now isn’t a “me too” phone, but an innovative and forward-thinking piece of hardware. It still has everything that Pixel-lovers, well, love about Pixel phones—namely, clean Android and a killer camera—but it’s also new, fresh, and different. Not just compared to Pixels of old, either—compared to the entire Android ecosystem.

The Bezel Makes it Better

Yeah, so the 3XL had that awful notch (and for the record, I’m not a “notch hater;” that one was just bad), and at first look, it would be easy to think that the Pixel 4 is a step backward because it has a full-length upper bezel. There’s this weird notion amongst tech enthusiasts that we’re supposed to absolutely hate bezels for some reason, but I don’t think anyone will disagree that the one on the Pixel 4 is actually useful.

That’s because under that bezel is all sorts of impressive tech. The first is a radar chip that is used for gesture control of the phone without having to touch it. This is the first time a radar has been incorporated into a phone, and Google had to do a lot of work to make it small enough to fit. While its use is still pretty limited, it honestly has the potential to be something rad—something truly useful.

Admittedly, the radar chip is mostly a novelty right now. You can use it to change music tracks or silence alarms just by waving your hand over your phone. When the phone is ringing, the radar will also detect when your hand is coming close and automatically lower the ring volume. But the radar isn’t just a neat way to do things without touching the phone—it also ties into another feature that’s new to Android: Face Unlock.

Justin Duino

Read the remaining 25 paragraphs

Source: How-To Geek