Technology

How to Change How Excel Displays Negative Numbers

How-To Geek - Wed, 01/16/2019 - 16:00

Microsoft Excel displays negative numbers with a leading minus sign by default. It is good practice to make negative numbers easy to identify, and if you’re not content with this default, Excel provides a few different options for formatting negative numbers.

Excel provides a couple of built-in ways to display negative numbers, and you can also set up custom formatting. Let’s dive in.

Change to a Different Built-In Negative Number Option

One thing to note here is that Excel will display different built-in options depending on the region and language settings in your operating system.

For those in the US, Excel provides the following built-in options for displaying negative numbers:

  • In black, with a preceding minus sign
  • In red
  • In parentheses (you can choose red or black)

In the UK and many other European countries, you’ll typically be able to set negative numbers to show in black or red and with or without a minus sign (in both colors) but have no option for parentheses. You can learn more about these regional settings on Microsoft’s website.

No matter where you are, though, you’ll be able to add in additional options by customizing the number format, which we’ll cover in the next section.

To change to a different built-in format, right-click a cell (or range of selected cells) and then click the “Format Cells” command. You can also press Ctrl+1.

Read the remaining 24 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

AirPlay Is Coming to Smart TVs. Here’s How It Works

How-To Geek - Wed, 01/16/2019 - 15:00

Apple

Smart TVs are now integrating Apple’s AirPlay 2 technology. That was one of the big stories of CES 2019, where many TV manufacturers simultaneously announced AirPlay was coming to their TVs. Some are even updating existing TVs with AirPlay.

What Is AirPlay 2?

Apple’s AirPlay 2 standard lets you use Apple devices to control media playback, stream audio, mirror your screen, or do other similar things. It’s built into Apple devices like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Think of it a bit like Apple’s version of Chromecast.

Previously, you could use AirPlay with your TV—but only if you purchased an Apple TV and connected it to your TV. There are unofficial AirPlay receiver software programs you can run on a PC or Mac connected to your TV, but nothing official. Now, AirPlay will be integrated into many smart TVs from many manufacturers.

This isn’t a replacement for Google’s Chromecast. We saw TVs that had both Chromecast and AirPlay integrated. You can use whichever your devices work best with. Choice is great!

AirPlay isn’t officially supported on Windows, but VideoLAN has announced plans to integrate AirPlay support into a future version of the popular VLC Media Player. VLC already has built-in support for Chromecasting, too.

What Can I Use It For?

Here are some things you can do with AirPlay:

  • Browse for something to watch on Netflix, iTunes, or another service on your iPhone and send it to your TV, using your iPhone to control playback. The TV will stream the content from the cloud.
  • Show photos and videos from your iPhone on the TV, controlling the presentation on your phone.
  • Play music (or any other audio) on your TV and synchronize it to multiple AirPlay 2-compatible speakers elsewhere in your home.
  • Mirror your iPhone, iPad, or Mac’s screen to your TV.

RELATED: How to Use Apple’s New Multi-Room Audio Features in AirPlay 2

How Can I Use AirPlay on a TV?

We saw AirPlay on smart TVs in action at CES 2019, and it will come to consumer TVs soon.

When you have a TV that supports AirPlay integration, that TV will appear as an AirPlay device on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. You can select your smart TV just like you’d select an Apple TV, HomePod, or other AirPlay-enabled devices.

Read the remaining 13 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Enable G-SYNC on FreeSync Monitors: NVIDIA’s G-SYNC Compatible Explained

How-To Geek - Wed, 01/16/2019 - 13:40

At CES 2019, NVIDIA announced that it was finally supporting FreeSync. Well, sort of—what the company actually announced was a “G-SYNC Compatible” program. But the rub is this: NVIDIA’s cards and drivers now work with FreeSync monitors for adaptive sync.

The situation is a little confusing. Let’s fix that, shall we?

Adaptive Sync, FreeSync, and G-SYNC

Adaptive Sync, often branded as “FreeSync” by AMD and its partners, is a feature that lets a monitor pause its screen refresh until an entire frame of animation is ready to load. This happens multiple times per second, faster or slower depending on how fast your PC and graphics card can render the frame. If the frame is slower than your monitor’s refresh rate, it will wait. This allows the motion in the game to remain smooth without tearing.

G-SYNC is NVIDIA’s branded alternative to adaptive sync/FreeSync. Unlike FreeSync, which doesn’t need any additional hardware, G-SYNC monitors include a tiny computer module inside them to manage the syncing of frames rendered by the GPU and displayed by the screen. This module is manufactured and supplied by NVIDIA to its hardware partners, which is why G-SYNC monitors are almost universally more expensive than FreeSync monitors.

Here’s a more technical breakdown of G-SYNC and FreeSync.

But for several years, PC gamers with NVIDIA cards have lamented their lack of access to the adaptive sync/FreeSync capabilities on cheaper monitors. As of NVIDIA driver version 417.71, released on January 15, 2019, this is no longer a problem.

G-SYNC Versus G-SYNC Compatible

NVIDIA’s new support for FreeSync monitors is via a program called “G-SYNC Compatible.” NVIDIA GPUs now work with FreeSync monitors with “G-SYNC Compatible” enabled in the configuration tool. Huzzahs and hurrahs all around.

Read the remaining 19 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Customize a PowerPoint Handout Layout

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 22:00

PowerPoint handouts are a great resource to distribute to your audience so that they can follow along during your presentation or use for future reference. If you’d like to customize the handout layout before its distribution, PowerPoint has a way.

Customizing a PowerPoint Handout’s Layout

Go ahead and open up the PowerPoint presentation you’ll be working with if you haven’t already. Switch over to the “View” tab and click the “Handout Master” button.

This action opens a new “Handout Master” tab on the Ribbon. Here you’ll find several available options for customizing the PowerPoint’s handout, such as Page Setup, Placeholders, Edit Theme, and Background.

Let’s first look at the options available in the “Page Setup” group, starting with “Handout Orientation.” By default, the orientation is set to “Portrait,” but you can change it to “Landscape” from the drop-down menu.

“Slide Size” gives you three options: Standard (4:3), Widescreen (16:9), or Custom Slide Size. Selecting “Custom Slide Size” lets you specify the exact width and height of the slides.

Read the remaining 29 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

The Best Tech Travel Organizers For All Your Cables And Small Gadgets

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 21:00

To keep all your cables, chargers, SD cards, batteries, and assorted extras from getting lost in the bottom of your bag, you need some sort of system to keep them organized. Let’s look at our favorites.

Over the last few years, I’ve noticed a kind of cable creep happen to me. I used to be able to travel with my Nokia charger and that was about it. Now, it’s not surprising to see someone lugging around a plethora of USB cables, three charging bricks, an external battery pack, a computer charger, a Chromecast, a camera charger, and who know what else. I’m one of those people— personally, I need to carry all the tech-extras for my iPhone, Kindle, MacBook, and DSLR; it adds up.

There are lots of different systems out there that claim to keep all your tech stuff better sorted so let’s dig in and look at the best. There’s something that will suit every tech user.

Best for Lots of Stuff: BUBM Double Layer Electronics Organizer ($17)

If you bring everything including your HD TV—or just have a clan of gadget-mad kids—the BUBM Double Layer Electronics Organizer is exactly what you’re looking for. This 10.7” x 8” x 1” gadget bag is big enough to fit an iPad and has an extra internal divider so you can store even more stuff.

The BUBM uses a mix of elastic loops, pouches, and zippered compartments so you can carry any combination you want of cables, chargers, flash cards, USB sticks, and other tech gear. The only problem is that, at about an inch thick, larger charging blocks, external batteries, camera chargers, and some international plugs either won’t fit or will be awkward and blocky.

Buy on Amazon Best For Just Cables: Cocoon Grid-IT! Organizer 5”x7” ($11)

If you just want to tame your unruly knot of cables, a Cocoon Grid-IT! Organizer is the best option. The Grid-IT! uses a crazy web of elastic straps that mean you can secure your cables however you want.

Read the remaining 14 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

Shocker: The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Is Faster Than the 845

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 19:09

The first benchmark tests are out for the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip, and unsurprisingly it’s faster than last year’s 845. At least this gives us some insight into what to expect in the 2019 Android flagship phones.

Of course, we have to give the obligatory benchmarks aren’t indicators of real-world performance talk here, because, well, benchmarks aren’t indicators of real-world performance. They’re a simple way to quantify and compare chipset performance by raw numbers and shouldn’t be used as anything more than that.

All that said, the results for the 855 look pretty good, especially compared to the 845, which is the current chip in the bulk of high-end Android phones out today. In fact, Qualcomm is claiming it’s a 40 percent performance increase. That’s a pretty significant number, especially when you consider how powerful these modern mobile chipsets already are.

Android Police recently spent some time running the 855 through its paces, comparing it to a slew of modern devices like the Pixel 3, OnePlus 6T, Galaxy Note 9, and more. If you’re interested in their findings and how the 855 compares to the 845, I highly recommend giving that post a read.

But really, the long and sort of it is that the 855 is, unsurprisingly, better than the 845. It’s going to be a good year for Android flagships.

via Android Police

Categories: IT General, Technology

You Can Now Tell Pandora What You Want to Listen To

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 18:01

Telling your phone what to do is quickly becoming way cooler than, you know, touching it, and Pandora is on it. The company just announced Voice Mode, which will let you tell it what to play. It’s cool.

This new mode will be available on both Android and iOS and will be accessible with the phrase “Hey Pandora” with the app open. You’ll be able to change stations, as well as adjust the volume and play/pause content. You can also use it for specific requests, like “play music for relaxing,” which is a pretty nice touch.

Beyond that, Voice Mode will support giving songs a thumbs up with your voice by saying “I like this,” skipping songs with “play something different,” adding tracks to playlists with “add this to my <whatever> playlist,” and a lot more. Here’s the full list from Pandora’s press release:

Types of requests include:

  • Control requests to change stations, control volume, skip or pause music, and other basic navigation commands.
  • Thematic requests delivering personalized music based on each user’s unique tastes, moods, and favorite activities like “play something for my workout” or “play music for relaxing.”
  • Open-ended requests like “play something different,” “play something I like” or “play more like this.”
  • Basic requests for a specific artist, song, station, podcast or playlist like “play new music by…” or “play my happy jams playlist.”
  • Interactive requests like “what song is this?” or directional requests like “add this song to my party playlist” or “I like this” to give a thumbs-up.

While some of these features are clearly only for users who subscribe to one of Pandora’s paid tiers, it seems that all users—both those who subscribe to Pandora or simply use the ad-based tier—will get access to Voice Mode in the coming weeks.

via Pandora

Categories: IT General, Technology

The Best Portable USB-Powered Monitors

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 18:00

Once you upgrade your desktop to two or more monitors, it’s tough to go back to one—but lugging them along with your laptop is less than practical. Enter the USB-powered portable monitor, a second monitor you can easily take with you.

These productivity-boosting portables use small, lightweight components and a single USB cable for both video and power, meaning you can take a second screen along with your laptop or Windows tablet with only a little extra room in your bag. They’re especially good for longer trips, where you have time to set up a dedicated workspace and spread out. Here are the best on the market.

Best Overall Portable USB Monitor: HP EliteDisplay S140u ($155)

HP’s entry into the portable monitor market has an excellent combination of size, ergonomics, and features. The integrated tablet-style protector folds out into a tri-fold stand with built-in magnets, in a much more elegant way than older designs from Asus and AOC.

The 14-inch panel uses a 1600×900 resolution, which is a little smaller than some of the competition elsewhere on this list, but is more than serviceable for secondary screen duties. The screen has been tested and confirmed to work with macOS machines, which isn’t a given for these USB-powered monitors and their integrated video drivers. The EliteDisplay makes an excellent travel companion.

Buy on Amazon Best Portable USB-C Monitor: Asus Zenscreen MB16AC ($230)

If your computer has only USB-C ports to offer, then using an adapter for a screen might present some problems. This Zenscreen design from Asus, one of the newer options on this list, is the solution. It uses USB-C for both ends of the connection, including video and power, and comes with a stand and pen that work with both portrait and landscape orientation—a feature that’s not supported on some other screens.

At 15.6 inches it’s larger than the screen in most modern laptops, but it’s also less than half an inch thick and equipped with a 1080p display panel. Note that, while Asus recommends a USB-C connection, the panel is compatible with older USB 3.0 connections as well.

Buy on Amazon Best Small Portable USB Monitor: Eleduino 11.6 1080p ($160)

Read the remaining 8 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Set Up Filters for Your Google Home Devices

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 17:24

Google Home devices are a great way to get voice assistants, music, and possibly video throughout your home. But you might consider enabling Google Filters to exert some control over the content that children or guests can play.

Filter Out the Bad Content for Everybody or Just the Children

Once you have a voice assistant in multiple rooms, you’ll find yourself taking advantage of the easy access to music and videos. Unfortunately, voice assistants don’t truly understand you; they simply respond to expected speech. They can “mishear” your command and play something unexpected, and this is doubly true with younger children who might have trouble enunciating. That, in turn, can lead to unintended songs filled with words you didn’t want a 6-year-old to hear. Or a hangouts call to an unintended contact.

You can prevent this by turning on filters for your Google Home devices. You can apply filters to specific Home devices or to all devices at once. And you can set up filters for all users of the devices or only for unapproved users. You also can block calls and limit the answers a Google Home device can provide about basic information like the weather or time. Thankfully, if you have any routines that play music or video, they will respect your filters.

There is one big caveat here. These filters only work with Google services like YouTube Red or Google Play Music. If you use another service (like Pandora), you’ll need to enable filters (if possible) from within those services. For example, on Pandora, you can do this by opening the web client, going to Settings > Content Settings, and then toggling the “Explicit Content” option off. Then click the “Save changes” button.

Unfortunately, if the service only blocks on a per device basis, like Spotify, you can’t block Explicit content on Google Home.

How to Set Up Filters

First, open the Google Home app and tap “Settings” underneath the “Home” Section.

Next, tap on “Digital Wellbeing.”

Read the remaining 24 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

Netflix Is Raising Its Prices Again

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 17:23

We all knew it was bound to happen sooner or later, but for the first time since 2017, Netflix is bumping the cost of all its plans. The price increase will raise prices by 13-18%.

The current base plan, which is $8, will jump to $9. The $11 middle-tier will be $13, while the high-end $14 plan will move to $16. Again, this should come as a surprise to no one—as the company produces more original content, it’s spending more and more money. At least the majority of its original content is really good. Maybe they can use some of this money to negotiate the return of Daredevil (can’t knock a guy for wishful thinking, right?).

The price increase will take place immediately for new customers, though existing users will see the change sometime over the next three months. It’s unclear what will happen with customers who are on some sort of promotional pricing, like the cheaper rates for T-Mobile customers, but it’s unlikely they’ll see any sort of price increase.

via CNBC

Categories: IT General, Technology

Kano Scores a Disney Partnership, Announces a Star Wars Kit for Later This Year

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 17:00

Kano creates killer little sets to teach kids how to code and beyond (like the awesome Harry Potter Coding Kit), and today the company is announcing a Disney partnership. The first product will be a Star Wars kit.

While other info is scant at the time, Kano says the Star Wars kit will be out “in the second half of 2019.” Alex Klein, Kano’s CEO and co-founder, only teased other details, saying that “Collaborating with Disney is a blessing. We can combine connected, creative technologies with some of the most memorable stories ever told.” 

So what will the Star Wars kit be? Who knows—but we’d be willing to bet you’ll have fun building, coding, and playing with it…regardless of how old (or young!) you are.

Today Kano, a leader in interactive storytelling, announced a two-year collaboration deal with Disney’s Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products group. The first item out of the deal will be a Star Wars themed product system that will launch in the second half of 2019.

Kano is a pioneer in innovative experiences, including the STEM-category-creating Kano Computer Kit and Kano World, “the kids GitHub,” with over 1.8M members and 800,000 creations written by beginners as young as four and as old as 81. The company closed 2018 with a highly awarded product lineup, receiving numerous awards, reviews and accolades. The list includes the TIME Best Inventions 2018, 2019 Toy of the Year Award finalist and aCES Innovation Awards Winner.

“Our goal at Kano is to take you on a journey, unlocking powers in yourself and others, through the medium of technology – from wands that really work, to computers you make yourself, and more” said Alex Klein, co-founder, and CEO of Kano, “Collaborating with Disney is a blessing. We can combine connected, creative technologies with some of the most memorable stories ever told.

Both companies will work together to develop new products that put intelligent entertainment elements at the forefront and offer immersive experiences, bridging the physical and digital worlds in a way only Kano can deliver.

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Recover Deleted Files from iCloud Drive

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 16:00

Losing files is gut-wrenching, especially if it’s an important work document or pictures of your kids. Online storage solutions usually offer a way to restore deleted files, and iCloud is no different. The process is convoluted, but we’ll hold your hand all the way.

Companies like Dropbox offer some extensive solutions for restoring deleted files for months after their deletion, and while iCloud comes close to that, it falls short in many ways.

If you deleted a file that you previously saved in iCloud Drive and now need to recover it, there are two caveats to keep in mind:

  • Files are only available for restoration up to 30 days after deletion. After that point, they’re gone forever.
  • Restoration can generally only take place on a computer, via iCloud.com. Starting with iOS 11 and macOS Sierra, developers can build a “recently deleted” feature into their apps, but your mileage will vary here.

The first of those two caveats mean that you’re unlikely to be able to use iCloud Drive file restoration as a reliable backup solution because the history doesn’t go back far enough. The second means that the chances are good that any file restoration will require a trip to a computer. Any iPad or iPhone owner visiting iCloud.com is unhelpfully directed to set up iCloud, open “Find My iPhone,” or access “Find My Friends.”

All this means that if file restoration is your last hope, you’re going to have to cross your fingers and head over to iCloud.com. Here are the steps you need to follow to get started.

Restoring Deleted Files from iCloud Drive

You may never have visited it before, but to start, open Safari and connect to the iCloud website. You’ll need to log in with your Apple ID; make sure you use the one associated with the iCloud Drive that hosted the file or files you want to restore.

Once signed into iCloud.com, click the “Settings” button.

Read the remaining 8 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

Stop Waiting For Apple and AirPower: Wirelessly Charge Your AirPods with These Cases

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 15:00

It’s been well over a year since Apple first unveiled its AirPower wireless charging mat, but we’re still waiting. While it might be dead (or at least severely delayed), there’s one thing we haven’t forgotten about: the promise of AirPods with wireless charging. Here’s how to get that with third-party cases.

While everyone has been talking about AirPower and its possible demise (although rumor has it that it’s finally in production), let’s not forget about the fact that Apple also announced a wireless charging case for AirPods, which would be available as a separate product that you could buy to replace the original case that comes with AirPods in the box.

However, we haven’t seen that either, but it’s a product that makes a whole lot of sense for something as small as it is—just throw it down on any wireless charging pad and off it goes. So while AirPower may or may not actually make an appearance, wireless charging for the AirPods is really the one product that we want.

It’s probably a good bet that we’ll see this at some point soon from Apple, either in the second-generation AirPods or as a standalone option that you can buy for the current generation. The good news, though, is that wireless charging for AirPods already exists from third-party manufacturers. We’ve done a little digging and found a few options that you might want to consider if wireless charging is something that you desperately want with your AirPods.

NeotrixQI Wireless Charging Adapter Case ($20)

This wireless charging adapter case from NeotrixQI is basically a case for your case. You slide your existing AirPods charging case into this wireless charging case and it instantly gives your AirPods wireless charging capabilities, and can be used on any Qi wireless charger.

Inside on the bottom is a Lightning connector that plugs into the Lightning port on your existing AirPods case. From there, the wireless charging coils on the new case transfers the battery juice to the Lightning connector and into your existing case.

Read the remaining 10 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Assess and Analyze a Good Photo

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 15:00

After a shoot, it’s time to go through all the images you’ve taken and pull out the good ones. But what makes a good photo? Let’s look at how to assess and analyze your images.

In this article, I’m mainly going to focus on assessing your own work to see which of your images are strong and have potential, but you can use the same process to look critically at the photos you see every day. Looking at great photos and asking yourself why they work (or just as good, looking at bad photos and asking yourself why they don’t work) is one of the best ways to learn about photography. If you’re one of the regular readers of my tutorials, I will encourage you to look critically at every one of the images I post; they’re not perfect so pull apart what you think works and what doesn’t. Just remember, if there’s an image you hate, I chose it deliberately to test you—or at least that’s my excuse.

Now, let’s break it all down.

Step One: Do You Like It?

The first step when reviewing your images is simple: what’s your gut reaction to it? Do you like the shot? Hate it? Somewhere in between? If you don’t like an image you shot, flag it as a reject in Lightroom or whatever catalog app you’re using. There’s not much point continuing to consider an image if your initial reaction is indifference.

Here’s a photo pulled at random from my collection that I rejected straight away. There’s not much to like: my dog is posing awkwardly, the composition isn’t great, and it’s all a bit meh.

With other people’s images, even if your initial reaction is indifference, you should at least consider why you feel that way. Is it the subject matter? The composition? The colors? Is it just a mediocre snapshot? Think it through.

Step Two: Technical Assessment

Technically assessing an image boils down to two big questions: is it sharp and is it well exposed? If the answer to either question is no, even if you love the image, it’s probably worth killing at this stage.

Read the remaining 26 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

What is NVIDIA DLSS, and How Will It Make Ray Tracing Faster?

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 13:40

At NVIDIA’s CES 2019 presentation, the company showed off a new technology called DLSS. In demonstrations, it all but eliminates the performance hit taken in games that enable fancy new ray-tracing graphics on RTX cards. But how does it work?

What Is DLSS?

DLSS stands for “deep learning super-sampling.” There are two parts to this idea, but let’s focus on the second one first: super-sampling.

Super-sampling is something you can do on your machine right now with a lot of games. It essentially renders the game at a resolution beyond what your monitor can support. That sounds strange, but it can help smooth out some of the harsh edges in polygonal graphics. NVIDIA and AMD cards already support this technology, as do some PC games all on their own. To learn more about super-sampling, check out this article.

Now, on to the “deep learning” part. Deep learning is something of a nebulous term: it basically means tons and tons of computations run on high-powered hardware in a process that improves over time. Some applications call this “artificial intelligence” (AI), but that’s a misnomer; the system isn’t “learning” in any human sense, it’s just getting better at a repetitive process.

NVIDIA’s DLSS system runs super-sampling on one specific game, over and over again, on the graphics cards in its massive data centers. It computes the best ways to apply the super-sampling technique to a game with repetitive processing on that game’s visuals—the polygons and textures that make up what you see on your screen. The “deep learning” part of the process comes into play here; the system learns as much as it possibly can about the way that the game looks, and how to make it look better.

Combine super-sampling for smoother polygon lines and textures with deep learning for applying general improvements to a game, and you get DLSS. Picture-improving techniques, already calculated at NVIDIA’s data centers, are applied on the fly via the Tensor processing cores in the RTX card.

Read the remaining 19 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

Geek Trivia: What Was The Name Of The First Laser Light Show Technology?

How-To Geek - Tue, 01/15/2019 - 09:02

What Was The Name Of The First Laser Light Show Technology?
  1. LightBeat
  2. LaserTune
  3. Sonovision
  4. LazePop

Think you know the answer?

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Run Your Retina Display at its Native Resolution

How-To Geek - Mon, 01/14/2019 - 22:00

MacBook displays normally run at a scaled resolution, which uses the additional pixels of higher resolution monitors to improve the clarity of text on screen while keeping everything at the same size. However, this leads to the display essentially being “zoomed in” with everything much bigger than it should be.

If the display runs at its native, non-scaled resolution, you’ll have a lot more space to work with, which may be good for those who are trying to squeeze every inch of workspace out of a smaller MacBook.

Try Out the Built-in Controls First

Apple does include some controls for changing how zoomed in the display is, which you can find under the “Display” settings in System Preferences:

If you’re currently using the default settings, it’s probably best to try this out before resorting to a third-party solution.

Run at Native with Retina Display Menu

Retina Display Menu is a simple menu bar app that lets you select a custom resolution from a drop-down list. It’s an older app but has no issues running on macOS Mojave. If it ends up breaking in the future, you can try SwitchResX, which has been updated much more recently, but is a paid app.

Download the DMG for the app from the release link at the bottom of the app’s page and open it up. From the icon in the menu bar, you can select which resolution you want to run.

Read the remaining 6 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

The Best Running Gear To Help With Shin Splints

How-To Geek - Mon, 01/14/2019 - 21:00

If you’re just getting started with running, you may quickly find out that shin splints can be the bane of your existence. However, these products can help manage the pain and maybe even get rid of your shin splints altogether.

Before You Make a Purchase

Before you spend your hard-earned cash, it’s important to know that there are some things you can do to help get rid of your shin splints that cost no money at all.

More often than not, shin splints are usually caused by running too fast/far too soon. Take it extremely slow when you’re first starting out and absolutely take advantage of rest days—you want to build up the muscles in your legs before you really start to push yourself.

Once you start doing that, you can look to tangible remedies to help with your shin splints. Here are some of the best products to help with that.

A Decent Pair of Actual Running Shoes

Sometimes, a pair of actual running shoes is all it takes to fix most pains in your legs, and if you’re just starting out, it’s possible that you aren’t using actual running shoes.

We’ve covered some shoe options in the past, and those can be great to get you started looking in the right direction for a pair of running shoes. But perhaps the best thing you can do first is go to a local running store and get a gait analysis.

Professionals there will look at how you run and watch how your foot lands. From there, they can recommend the optimal type of running shoe for you. Take the time to try out as many shoes as you can—most running stores will let you return shoes if you don’t like them, even if you’ve put a few miles on them already.

Compression Socks/Sleeves

Read the remaining 18 paragraphs

Categories: IT General, Technology

U.S. Judge Rules Fingerprint, Face Unlock Are Protected Just Like Passwords

How-To Geek - Mon, 01/14/2019 - 20:41

The Fifth Amendment of the US constitution forbids police from forcing you to disclose your phone’s PIN or password, but courts have ruled that protection doesn’t apply to a fingerprint or face unlock. Now, that might be changing.

Here’s how it went down: a warrant was filed in Oakland requesting a raid and seizure of personal property, which included access to all mobile devices—even ones that are locked with biometric data. But a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dropped the hammer, ruling the request was too much, claiming it was “neither limited to a particular person nor device.” In other words, the police wanted a blanket option to force unlocking of all devices on the property, and the judge simply that it was too much.

Forbes writer Thomas Brewster points out why this is such a significant ruling:

But in a more significant part of the ruling, Judge Westmore declared that the government did not have the right, even with a warrant, to force suspects to incriminate themselves by unlocking their devices with their biological features. Previously, courts had decided biometric features, unlike passcodes, were not “testimonial.” That was because a suspect would have to willingly and verbally give up a passcode, which is not the case with biometrics. A password was therefore deemed testimony, but body parts were not, and so not granted Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination.

It makes sense, because if passwords and PIN codes are protected, then biometric locking options shouldn’t be considered any different. They’re just a different means to the same end.

Still, this is likely to be a controversial decision and one that will have bigger implications as time goes on.

Categories: IT General, Technology
Syndicate content

eXTReMe Tracker