How-To Geek

Amazon

Pi Day is in the past, but there are still some great deals floating around. If you’ve had your eyes on a premium laptop, a curved monitor, or a portable battery, then now’s the time to drop some cash.

Right now, there are some great deals on Amazon, Best Buy, and the Microsoft store. Today’s a great day to buy a new keyboard, portable battery, board game, curved ultrawide monitor, or a heavily discounted LG Gram 13″ Laptop. Just a week ago, we gave the LG Gram a 9/10 rating, so you can imagine why we’re excited about a $372 discount.

Laptops and Desktop Accessories

If you missed our great Pi Day deals, then today might be your last chance to get a cheap premium laptop. Now’s also a good time to grab a new curved monitor, or the SteelSeries Apex 150 keyboard.

• LG Gram 13″ Laptop (i7, 8GB, 256GB SSD), $1028 ($372 off) [Amazon]
• Microsoft Surface Pro 6 Tablet (i5, 8GB, 128GB SSD), $800 ($260 off) [Best Buy]
• Dell XPS 13 (i7, 8GB, 256GB SSD), $1000 ($700 off) [Microsoft]
• SteelSeries Apex 150 Keyboard, $39 ($10 off) [Amazon]
• Acer 34″ Curved Ultrawide Gaming Monitor, $400 ($180 off) [Newegg]

Board Games and Video Games

Want to amp up your game night? Buy a discounted board game, or start playing the Borderlands franchise on Steam. If you only look at one thing in this section, look at One Night Ultimate Werewolf. It’s a fantastic easy-to-teach social/party game—and it comes with a free iOS/Android app that runs the game for you so nobody gets stuck moderating the game instead of playing.

• One Night Ultimate Werewolf (Board Game), $10 ($15 off) [Amazon]
• Azul (Board Game), $19 ($20 off) [Amazon]
• Santorini (Board Game), $17 ($12 off) [Amazon]
• Steam Sale on the Borderlands Franchise and DLC, (50-75% off) [Steam]
• 12 Month Xbox Live Membership, $40 ($20 off) [CDKeys]
• 10,000 Amazon Game Coins, $61 ($20 off with coupon code C6OEWZCMMP) [Amazon]

Everything Else

Need a portable battery, a mini projector, or a new smart home kit? We’ve got the deals for you.

• Echo Dot (3rd Gen) with Sengled 2 Smart Bulb Kit $70 ($20 off) [Amazon]
• Samsung 10,000 mAh Battery Pack, $16 ($19 off) [Samsung]
• Ultimate Ears BOOM 2 in BrainFreeze Blue, $83 ($68 off) [Amazon]
• Nebula Mars Lite Portable Projector, $224 ($126 off) [Amazon]
• Jackery Power Station 160, $110 ($29 off) [Amazon]
• RAVPower USB C 20,100 mAh Portable Charger, $48 ($12 off with coupon code LKWZQ4C3) [Amazon]

Remember, good deals can’t last forever. Don’t wait until the last minute to scoop up those board games, or to buy that super cool laptop.

If you’re collaborating on a document with several other people, there is always a chance that the content you wanted to remain untouched gets edited. Protect yourself from human error by protecting specific parts of a Word document from editing.

Protecting Specific Content in a Word Document

So you’re getting ready to send out your Word doc, but you want to make sure that certain parts of the document remain untouched. Instead of leaving this up to trust, you can take advantage of a feature that allows making specific parts of your content read-only, rendering them un-editable.

First, go ahead and open the Word document to be protected and head over to the “Review” tab.

Next, click the “Restrict Editing” button.

The “Restrict Editing” pane will appear on the right side of Word. Here, tick the “Allow only this type of editing in the document” checkbox.

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OHishiapply / Shutterstock

While you could host a game server on your PC, sometimes it’s more convenient to have a cloud server running 24/7. Game server hosting can be surprisingly cheap, especially if you’re just looking to play with a few friends.

Dedicated vs. Shared Hosting

Dedicated hosting is when you rent out an entire rack of a server—or, often, a portion of that rack’s resources. You’ll often be given detailed specifications about what exactly you’re buying, and you’ll generally be paying a bit extra compared to shared hosting.

Shared hosting runs multiple instances of a game server across multiple server racks, allowing the hosting provider to save money and provide a low price. However, it’s not always clear what specs you’re getting, and you can run into congestion issues if your server suffers heavy load.

If you’re looking to set up a server for you and a couple of friends, we recommend you save some money and get shared hosting. If you’re looking to have a lot of people playing on your server, you should try shared hosting first and upgrade to dedicated hosting if it’s necessary.

Depending on what provider you buy your server from, you may also get managed hosting, which is when the provider builds tools to set up, configure, and manage your server automatically, such as automatic restarts and easy mod installing.

Shared Hosting Options Nodecraft

All of the options listed here are also managed hosting. You won’t have to worry about setup too much, as it should be relatively straightforward or just handled for you completely.

• Gameservers.com: Very cheap servers for small use cases, as you’re charged by the number of player slots you want. A decent control panel, but no DDOS protection.
• Low.ms: A compromise between dedicated and shared hosting, while still providing a managed control panel for most games. You’ll know the specs you’re getting, but you’ll have to pay extra for a dedicated thread. They also put branding in your server title, which costs $2 to remove, but you might be fine with it if you’re trying to save some money.
• Nodecraft: A shared hosting provider that doesn’t charge per slot. They have different tiers, segmented by RAM and the number of instances you can run. In fact, you can host multiple servers on one tier, RAM permitting.

Whatever option you go with, make sure it has a managed control panel and supports the game you want.

Dedicated Hosting Options

Dedicated hosting allows you a lot more freedom and control. You can host multiple game servers off one box, as well multiple different games, and since you have full access to the box, you can even host a web server to run a website off the server, or anything else non-game related.

• OVH: Only two locations, Canada and France, but offering very powerful servers for the price. If you don’t care about having the latest gen hardware, you can rent their old equipment from their sister company SYS. Both will be completely fresh servers, and you’ll have to set everything up yourself.
• Gameservers.com: Though this company focuses on shared hosting, it also offers dedicated servers as an option. You’ll even get the managed control panel, though this is optional and will restrict your access to only the control panel.
• Amazon Web Services: More of a premium, enterprise option. If you’re a game developer looking to host servers, AWS GameLift is worth looking into. If you’re looking for a single, generic server, EC2 will be more suitable. And if you’re a student, you can get $100 in free credit with a .EDU email.

Setting Up a Dedicated Server

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Qustodio

One of the biggest pitfalls of most parental control software is limited to a particular device or platform. Qustodio overcomes that by working across all your child’s devices.

How (and Where) It Works

If you’ve done any legwork researching different content filtering and app management solutions for your family, you’ve likely discovered something quickly. There are a ton of solutions that are pretty limited in scope. There are solutions that lock down web browsing, that lock down a single computer, or that work very well on a tablet or phone, but don’t work at all on computers—and then there are solutions that are some combination thereof.

Single device content filtering and monitoring might have worked well 10+ years ago when the only thing you were trying to keep an eye at home was a single computer. Today, however, many families have multiple devices and it’s not atypical for a child to have a computer, phone, and tablet depending on their age and the amount of tech in their household. If the goal is to keep your kids away from adult content and keep an eye on their app usage, then clearly a PC-only solution isn’t worth anything if they can just pick up their phone or tablet and do whatever they want unsupervised.

Above all else, this is where Qustodio, a flexible content filtering and application management tool, really shines. While the free account is limited to a single device (perfect for testing if the product will meet your needs or if you only need to secure a single device like your child’s iPad) a premium account allowed for cross-platform functionality across multiple devices. Armed with a premium plan—$54.95 a year for 5 devices, $96.95 for 10, or $137.95 for 15—you can get the same protection on your child’s computer (Windows or macOS), Android and iOS devices, and even Kindle tablets.

Not only does it work on all those different operating systems and devices, but it works across the entire device. No matter what app or web browser your child uses, the Qustodio system covers it. Using a different web browser, private browsing mode, or other workarounds that would defeat other more simplistic systems won’t work.

On top of all that, Qustodio also offers additional features like application use time tracking, application blocking (with rules and time settings such as restricting games or video apps during homework hours or bedtime hours, for example), social media monitoring (currently limited to just Facebook), mobile location tracking, and, on Android only, SMS monitoring and a panic button.

Qustodio achieves all this by combining on-device applications with administrative profiles for those devices to control access to restricted content and applications in a more granular way than many other tools can achieve. Let’s take a look at how to set it up, what daily use looks like, and what we thought of the whole experience.

Setup

Despite how sophisticated the system is under the hood, the setup process itself is extremely easy. That’s how it should be: you shouldn’t need to have a degree in computer science to secure your children’s devices.

Every Qustodio setup has two parts: the parental control account and the application installed on the child’s device(s).  To get started you simply need to create a parent account either on the website or using the control app on your phone or tablet.

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Apple’s Music app has a built-in equalizer setting on iPhone and iPad. You can use these EQ settings whether you’re an Apple Music subscriber, you buy songs from iTunes, or you listen to music files you’ve transferred over manually.

While there is, unfortunately, no option to set up your own EQ configuration, Apple provides many different presets. Whether you want to get an added bass boost or you want to hear the vocals of your favorite song a little more clearly, there should be an EQ for every taste. Oddly, these aren’t visible within the Music app itself but fear not. We’ll show you where they are.

How to Select an EQ Preset for the Music App

To get started, open the Settings app and scroll down to “Music” before tapping it.

Next, scroll down and then tap “EQ.”

Here you will see a list of presets, all of which make your music sound slightly different depending on the settings Apple used when creating them. To select an EQ, tap it.

On iOS 12.1.4, the available options are Acoustic, Bass Booster, Bass Reducer, Classical, Dance, Deep, Electronic, Flat, Hip Hop, Jazz, Late Night, Latin, Loudness, Lounge, Piano, Pop, R & B, Rock, Small Speakers, Spoken Word, Treble Booster, Treble Reducer, and Vocal Booster.

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There was a lot of movement in the Android world the week of March 8th thru 15th. The Q beta landed with all sorts of new features, Vivo showed off a portless phone, and Google killed a bunch of services.

Android Q Feature Roundup

Let’s start with the biggest Android news for the week, shall we? The Q beta landed for all Pixel devices, and it’s jam-packed with all sorts of new features. Android Police and 9to5Google both did an incredible job of covering all the new stuff as it showed up—here’s everything so far.

• The Android Q Beta is here. For Pixel phones, anyway. [Android Developers Blog]
• The word on the street is that Q is also going to hit even more devices during the beta and developer previews this year. [Android Police]
• With the upcoming demise of Google+, the Android Beta community has been moved to Reddit. [Android Police]
• Android Q has a built-in screen recorder! But apparently, it’s broken right now. [9to5Google, Android Police]
• There are more haptic feedback vibrations in Android Q. Okay then! [9to5Google]
• Foldable phones are coming. Q is ready. [Android Police]
• The always-on display in Q got a bit of a makeover. [9to5Google]
• The Files app is all new, with an updated look and some nifty new features. [Android Police]
• Google is cracking down on undocumented APIs to make Q more secure. [Android Police]
• The sharing menu is getting faster and less crappy. Finally! [9to5Google]
• Thanks to some ART enhancements, apps launching should be faster. [Android Police]
• Android Q has a desktop mode! Which is…kind of confusing. Why does Android Q have a desktop mode? [XDA Developers]
• Pixel Launcher on Android Q will let you replace removed items with a new undo feature. [Android Police]
• Dual SIM and standby support on the Pixel 3 is live in Q. [XDA Developers]
• There’s a little bell icon for new notifications now, so you can tell which one just pinged. That’s useful! [9to5Google]
• You can share your Wi-Fi password with a QR code. [Android Police]
• Remaining battery shows an estimated time in the shade now. [Android Police]
• You can only dismiss notifications by swiping to the right in Q—the left is the action menu. Oof. [9to5Google]
• So many new privacy features. [Android Police]
• Accent colors and new icons shapes are tucked into Q’s Developer Options menu. Are more customization options incoming? [Android Police]
• You can switch the audio source from the notification shade. [9to5Google]
• Rounded corners and the notch show up in screenshots in Q. Yuck. [Android Police]
• There are more options when you long-press a notification, which is neat. [Android Police]
• Third-party camera apps have access to depth effects and more. [Engadget]
• Call screening and emergency information apps are now part of Android’s Default Apps menu. Third-party options don’t exist yet, so this is telling. [Android Police]
• Background clipboard access is blocked in Android Q, which probably means bad things for clipboard managers. [XDA Developers]
• Smart Home and IoT connections are getting simpler in Q. [Android Police]
• Battery Saver is more dynamic in Q, with the option to automatically activate based on usage. [Android Police]
• There’s a new series of options called “Feature Flags” that lets users tweak all sorts of stuff. [9to5Google]
• You can see all your disabled notifications in one place in Q. [Android Police]
• It looks like Google is planning six betas in total, with the final release in Q3 of 2019. [XDA Developers]
• In what’s sure to make some users upset, the Magisk dev says that Q could mean bad things for root access. Uh-oh. [9to5Google]

Vivo’s Portless Phone Shows Its Stuff

Chinese phone manufacturer Vivo showed off an absolutely gorgeous portless concept phone to a group of writers in Hong Kong. The shell of the phone is a unibody piece of glass—apparently, Vivo had to come up with a special production method to form, cut, grind, and polish a single piece of glass for the body of this phone. It’s wild.

You can read more about this forward-thinking handset at The Verge and Engadget.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Updates (And More)

All sorts of stuff happened with Samsung’s newest flagship this week. Some good, some bad. Some just neat. Here’s you go.

• If you hate the S10’s hole punch camera cutout, these are the wallpapers for you. [XDA Developers]
• Samsung pushes the one-handed gesture navigation app from One UI to the Play Store. This means it can be updated independently of the OS. Nice. [Android Police]
• S10 owners can get six months of free Spotify Premium. The downside? Spotify is pre-installed on all S10s. You win some, you lose some. [The Verge]
• Speaking of free stuff for S10 owners, they also get four months of YouTube Premium. Yay for no ads! [9to5Google]
• In slightly less pleasant news, the S10’s face unlock feature easily can be fooled by a picture because Samsung removed the retina scanner. Ouch. [Android Police]
• Verizon started pushing Android 9 Pie with One UI to the Note 9. Better late than never, I guess. [Android Police]
• Similarly, Android Pie started hitting the Galaxy A+ this week, too. [XDA Developers]
• Samsung wants to make a “perfect full-screen” phone with no cutouts or notches. Interesting. [Engadget]

What’s New with Google This Week

Google announced some stuff, killed some stuff, and maybe killed some other stuff. This is everything that isn’t the Android Q Beta.

• Finally, Google released an Android Q feedback app. [9to5Google]
• Google Fit is getting more battery efficient on Wear OS. All three of you who use Fit and Wear OS better be grateful. [9to5Google]
• Google Home Hub and other Assistant smart displays finally got continued conversations. Finally. [Android Police]
• Google teased its upcoming game streaming service. It’s going to announce plans at GDC next week. Exciting stuff. [Google on Twitter]
• Speaking of, Google filed a patent for a game controller. [The Verge]
• If you subscribe to Google Fi and bring your existing number and device, you get a free month of service. That’s better than a not free month of service if you ask me. [Android Police]
• Deaths: Allo, goo.gl URL shortener, Inbox, and Google+. RIP, those things. [9to5Google]
• Third-party Google Assistant speakers are getting phone calls. [Android Police]
• Google shut down part of its hardware division focused on tablets and laptops, which is troubling. [9to5Google]
• If you use Google One and pay for 2TB of storage, Google probably wants to give you a free Home Mini. [Android Police]
• Google’s Lookout app for the visually impaired is now available for download…assuming you have a Pixel device, anyway. [The Verge, Google Play]
• The Drive mobile apps got a facelift to match the web UI. It’s pretty. [Engadget]
• Google Maps is getting more features from Waze, like speed trap and crash reporting. Nice. [9to5Google]
• Good news: An adware app had almost 150 million downloads before Google realized it and pulled it from the Play Store. Also, I think I need to work on my definition of “good news.” [The Verge]
• Chrome’s data saver on mobile now works on HTTPS sites, which is like 80% of the web at this point. I think that really is good news. [Android Police]
• Shared Libraries on Photos moved to a more obscure place that still kinda makes sense? [Android Police]

Device Updates, App Updates, and Everything Else

There were a couple of major app updates this week, along with some minor device updates. Also, RED said some stuff about the Hydrogen One that pretty much confused everyone.

• Pushbullet got a major update that brings bundled notification, quick replies, and some other stuff. [Android Police]
• Facebook is testing a blindingly-white interface in its Android app. I’m sure that’s going to go over well if it gets released. [XDA Developers]
• Spotify is testing an option to let users disable its dumbest feature: canvas videos. Good. [9to5Google]
• Microsoft’s My Phone feature in Windows 10 is getting screen mirroring. [The Verge]
• The Xiami Redmi Note 7 got its first MIUI update, which brings a low-light camera mode. [XDA Developers]
• The NVIDIA SHIELD got a small update that brings Xbox Elite Controller support and some other stuff. [9to5Google]
• You know the little dinosaur you see in Chrome when it’s offline? Well, you can buy a real one now. I need it. [Dead Zebra]
• RED pulled the add-on modules for the Hydrogen One, then said some confusing stuff. [Android Police]
• The Xiaomi Mi 8 got official LineageOS support. [XDA Developers]
• T-Mobile’s OnePlus 6T got RCS messaging. So it begins. [9to5Google]
• Firefox Fenix got its initial release. It looks neat. [Techdows]
• Root Stuff: The 2015 Amazon Fire TV got rooted again. Go modders, go. [XDA Developers]
• Root Stuff: GravityBox can be installed on Android Pie devices running the Xposed framework now. [XDA Developers]
• Some details about Motorola upcoming Razr folding phone leaked. Curiously, it’s said to be using a Snapdragon 710 processor. Weird. [XDA Developers]

That’s a lot of stuff, but that’s how it goes in Google’s world. Something is always happening.

What Did The First Webcam Monitor?

1. The Weather at MIT
2. A Coffee Pot
3. Yankee Stadium
4. Pandas

Think you know the answer?

Nopparat Khokthong/Shutterstock.com

Dropbox now limits free users to a maximum of three syncing devices at one time. If you need more devices and don’t want to open your wallet, Google, Microsoft, and even Apple are superior to Dropbox.

This is a similar restriction to the one Evernote put in place. Evernote’s free account only lets you sync your notes to two devices. Both services are clearly trying to convert more free users to paying customers.

Google Drive – 15 GB Free Google

Google Drive is a great storage service. It offers 15 GB of free storage—although that’s shared with your Gmail account—and can sync to an unlimited number of devices. That sure beats Dropbox’s 2 GB and three devices.

Google’s Backup and Sync software even lets you easily back up and sync other folders on your computer outside the Google Drive folder. Our own Michael Crider called it “one of the best backup options around” over at Review Geek. It’s available for both Windows and macOS.

Of course, Google Drive is integrated with Google Docs so you can easily create and work with documents. Google provides mobile apps so you can access your files on Android, iPhone, and iPad. And you can access your files anywhere in a browser.

RELATED: Google Drive Has Quietly Become One of the Best Backup Options Around

Microsoft OneDrive – 5 GB Free Microsoft

Microsoft’s OneDrive service offers 5 GB of free storage, which isn’t as much as Google’s 15 GB but is certainly more than Dropbox’s 2 GB. Like Google Drive, OneDrive doesn’t limit how many devices you can sync to. You can have as many PCs, Macs, phones, and tablets as you need.

OneDrive is particularly convenient because it’s built right into Windows 10. It also uses a “Files On-Demand” system that will store your files in the cloud while showing them in File Explorer on your PC. They’ll be downloaded when you double-click them to open them. That’s optional, of course—you can disable this and OneDrive will function just like Dropbox, if you like it to.

While OneDrive is integrated with Windows 10, that’s not the only platform it’s available on. Microsoft also offers OneDrive clients for macOS, Android, iPhone, and iPad. You can access your files via the OneDrive website in a browser, too.

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Deleting animations from a PowerPoint presentation is simple and quick, but what if you just want to disable the animations during a particular presentation? Good news; there’s a way.

Deleting Single (or Multiple) Object Animations

Let’s say you have a presentation that, though you’re happy with the content, you’d like to remove all of the animations and start over. No problem. Though PowerPoint doesn’t currently have a feature that allows you to wipe all animations from a presentation at once, you can delete them slide by slide, which is still a pretty quick and painless task.

Go ahead and open up the presentation that has the animations you’d like to delete. Select the slide that has the animations you want to delete.

Tip: You can easily tell which slides have animations in PowerPoint’s “Normal View.” As you can see in the screenshot below, the slides with animations have a star under the slide number.

To delete an animation an object at a time, you first need to select the object.

Next, head over to the “Animations” tab and select “None” from the list of options.

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In today’s headlines, we learned that Google is making the web a better place by removing horrible ads (2.3 million last year, in fact), the Edge Insider Addons site for Microsoft’s new Edge-Chrome thing showed up, and more.

Note: This post is constantly updated throughout the day as we find more interesting news.

Microsoft and Windows News

Things have been fairly quiet in Microsoft news this morning, but then Game Stack happened. Oh, and we’re getting a better idea of how Microsoft’s Chrome makeover in Edge is going to work.

• The Edge Insider Addons site was discovered. It looks like it may have since been removed, however. [Techdows]
• Windows 10 Preview Build 18351.8 hit the slow ring. Woo? [Windows Central]
• Game Stack was announced, which is a huge push for cross-platform Xbox Live tools. Whoa. [XDA Developers]

Google and Android News

While Android Q was released yesterday (and we have a massive roundup of all those features coming soon!), today has been slightly less exciting for Google and Android news. Still, some interesting things happened.

• Google is putting an end to crappy ads. It removed 2.3 million just last year! [Thurrott]
• Spotlight Stories, the in-house animated film studio at Google, is closing down. RIP. [The Verge]
• Samsung is said to be working on a “perfect full-screen display.” No camera cutouts, no notch. Just a big ol’ screen. [The Verge]
• For Pi Day, a Google employee calculated the number to a record 31 trillion digits. So many digits. [Engadget]
• WhatsApp is beta testing reverse image search directly in messages. [XDA Developers]
• Some details about Motorola’s upcoming foldable Razr phone leaked, including the fact that it’s curiously using a Snapdragon 710 processor. [XDA Developers]
• Continued Conversations on Google Assistant speakers now works in the UK. [9to5Google]

Other News

An MIT robot that can grab things, Samsung’s new 12GB DRAM chips, and more.

• MIT made a “flytrap gripper” robot that can hold 100 times its weight and also grab delicate objects. I want one. [Engadget]
• Samsung is now mass producing its 12GB DRAM chips. We live in exciting times…I think. [XDA Developers]
• 71 percent of Americans said they don’t trust autonomous cars. That’s a lower percentage than I expected if we’re honest. [Gizmodo]
• Facebook was down for a lot of people all day yesterday. Telegram got three million new users as a result. Wild. [The Verge]
• HTC’s upcoming VR service is launching on April 2nd for $99 a year. [Engadget]
• Ikea delayed its smart blinds till later this year. Boo! [The Verge]
• Razer announced some new, affordable gaming accessories. Alright! [Engadget]
• Huawei admitted that it made its own smartphone and PC OSes. Because, you know, reasons. [Thurrott]
• WWDC registration is now open. It kicks off on June 3rd! [9to5Mac]
• Dropbox pulled an Evernote and now limits the free tier to three devices. Ugh. [Engadget]
• Valve is going to start letting stream their games from anywhere—not just local networks—using Steam Link. [The Verge]

Look, I’m not saying that’s everything that happened to—but it’s the really cool stuff.

If you dig this new format, I want to know about it! Leave a comment down below or drop me a line sharing your thoughts. I’m always into knowing how we can make things better.

Amazon

Happy Pie Day! If your family and friends aren’t interested in celebrating this mildly important holiday, then you may as well celebrate it with Microsoft, Amazon, and Best Buy.

Right now, some of the top online retailers are running Pi Day deals. Microsoft is selling a line of premium laptops at a discount of 31.4% (and more), Amazon is running a 32% discount (close enough) on the popular Pixelbook, and the Galaxy Note 9 is on sale for just $720.

Today’s a great day to buy a new laptop, computer accessory, phone, or speaker. But there are also some great deals floating around for dash cams, Xbox One games, and wireless chargers.

Laptops, Monitors, and Accessories

Man, it’s like Black Friday all over again. You can grab a Windows laptop, a Pixelbook, or a MacBook Pro at a steep discount. Now’s the time to upgrade to a premium laptop.

• Microsoft Pi Day Sale, 31.4% or more off laptops [Microsoft]
• Google Pixelbook (i7, 16GB, 512Gb), $1120 ($530 off) [Amazon]
• Acer B247W 23.8″ 1080p monitor, $150 ($50+ off) [B&H Photo]
• MacBook Pro 13″, $1000-1800 ($300-400 off) [Best Buy]
• Up to 25% off on Acer Laptops and Accessories [Amazon]

Phones, Smartwatches, and Bluetooth Speakers

Would you like a reasonably priced Galaxy Note 9? Or do you need to upgrade your Bluetooth speaker and smartwatch game? We’ve got the deals for phones and phone accessories.

• Samsung Galaxy Note 9, $720 ($280 off) [Amazon]
• Withings Steel HR Smartwatch, $160 ($40 off) [Amazon]
• Bose SoundLink Revolve+, $240 ($60 off) [Amazon]
• Aukey Qi Wireless Charger, $11 with Coupon Code PU2RQ9EG ($6 off) [Amazon]
• Panasonic Bluetooth Cordless Phone, $98 (~$72 Off) [Amazon]

Everything Else

Need a dash cam, a security system, or some new games? Here are the best deals you’ll find today.

• SimpliSafe 10-Piece Home Security System, $109 ($90 off) [Woot]
• Aukey 4K Dash Cam, $72 ($18 off) [Amazon]
• Save Big on Xbox One Games from the Microsoft Store, $10-$55 off [Microsoft]
• Dyson V7 Motorhead Cordless Vacuum, $190 ($60 off) [Amazon]

Most of these deals are in reverence of our sacred national holiday, Pi Day. If you want to grab a discounted premium laptop or some cheap phone accessories, then now’s the time to take the leap.

Stock-Asso/Shutterstock

A good quality knee pillow can make a huge difference to your sleeping habits if you’re a side sleeper. Here’s a look at some of the best knee pillows out there.

A knee pillow means your knees are supported when you sleep on your side, but it also means that your back and hips are given some relief too. If you have any issues with any joints, such a pillow can make a big difference in how your body rests at night. In particular, they’re great for relieving sciatica pain and pressure on your lower back.

Not all knee pillows are the same though, so we’ve focused on a few specific areas so that there’s a knee pillow for your situation. After all, it’s important that you’re comfortable while you rest, otherwise, the quality of your sleep can be negatively impacted.

The Best Contoured Pillow: ComfiLife Orthopedic Knee Pillow ($30) ComfiLife

A contoured pillow means you get all the support in all the right places. The ComfiLife Orthopedic Knee Pillow is the best of the bunch. It’s made from 100% premium quality durable cut memory foam so it feels comfy for your knees and provides the exact level of support you require. That level of support means that your knees, back, and hips are all appropriately supported throughout the night.

The pillow is designed in an ergonomic manner so that your legs, hips, and spine are kept in ideal alignment while you sleep, so there’s no fear of cramping, aches, or poor circulation. In terms of cleaning, it has a breathable cover that’s removable so you can easily machine wash it on a regular basis.

Buy on Amazon Best Contoured Pillow With Knee Strap: Everlasting Comfort Pure Memory Foam Knee Pillow  ($29) Everlasting Comfort

If you’re liable to move around a lot in your sleep, it can be useful to have a knee pillow that also has a strap to keep it firmly attached to your body. The Everlasting Comfort 100% Pure Memory Foam Knee Pillow with Adjustable & Removable Strap and Ear Plugs is the best of the bunch here. Like the ComfiLife, it’s made from 100% pure memory foam and contoured in a way that means it fits perfectly between your knees. That means just the right level of support for your legs, hips, and spine.

Where this pillow differs is with the all-important removable strap. It uses a hook-and-loop strap so it’s easily adjustable. Using it means your knees can be kept in perfect alignment even if you roll over a lot in your sleep. Currently, you also get a free pair of earplugs to help you sleep even better.

Buy on Amazon Best Half-Moon Pillow: Cozy Hut Memory Foam Semi Roll Half Moon Pillow ($35) Cozy Hut

A contoured pillow isn’t ideal for everyone. Sometimes, you want a bit more flexibility for where to place your knees. That’s where the Cozy Hot Memory Foam Semi Roll Half Moon Pillow is an ideal solution. A half cylinder design, it means you can either place it between your knees or underneath them, depending on how you sleep.

The pillow is made from 100% disco-elastic density memory foam so there’s no chance of it becoming flat any time soon. Besides being used with your knees, you can also use it under your ankles or waist, depending on the part of your body you’re most trying to support.

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Google Sheets add-ons work similarly to browser extensions. They are third-party apps you install to Sheets to gain additional features. Some add-ons increase productivity, and some add more extensive capabilities. Here’s how to get started.

Installing an Add-On

To get an add-on, open a new or existing file in Google Sheets, click “Add-ons,” and then click “Get add-ons.”

You can browse the list of all add-ons, use the drop-down menu to sort by category or search using the search bar. Once you find an add-on you like, click the “Free” button to install the add-on (if it’s a paid add-on, this button will reflect the purchase price).

Upon installing add-ons, you need to grant them specific permissions. These are fundamental to the operation of the add-on to function correctly. Make sure you fully understand the permissions and trust the developer before installing any add-on.

Click “Allow.”

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Maftask is a helper process for Mac Auto Fixer, a very common adware program. It claims to clean up your Mac from viruses but will insert ads into your browser and run itself on startup.

This article is part of our ongoing series explaining various processes found in Activity Monitor, though this one is different from the rest as while kernel_task, hidd, and installd are normal system processes, maftask is malware, and should be removed.

How Did This Get on My Computer?

You probably unknowingly installed it alongside another application. Mac Auto Fixer is bundled malware, meaning when you install something from an untrusted source (pop-up ads, scam emails, etc.) it installs itself alongside the app you intended to install. This is a common way of getting malware onto Macs and other computers, as it doesn’t require any hacking or exploiting of the operating system or browser to do.

MacOS isn’t safe from malware anymore. Malware used to focus primarily on Windows, but now adware and scamware are much more common on a Mac than it used to be. Everything is a lot more secure now, and scamware that users install directly makes up the most common form of malware.

RELATED: Mac OS X Isn’t Safe Anymore: The Crapware / Malware Epidemic Has Begun

For most things, the best antivirus you can have is a bit of tech sense. Don’t install software from advertisements or pop-up browser ads, as most of these are either scams or full-on malware. On a Mac, you can also stick to only trusted sources like the Mac App Store.

How Do I Get Rid of It?

Often malware will try to insert itself into other programs to keep itself hidden and become hard to remove. Luckily, Mac Auto Fixer isn’t an entirely nasty program and keeps itself contained to its own app container. Removing it is as simple as deleting the app.

You’ll probably find the app in the Applications folder in your home folder. Launch Finder and click “Applications” to find it. Simply Ctrl-click (or right-click) the Mac Auto Fixer application and move it to trash. Reboot your Mac afterward to verify that the app is removed. It might also be in the system applications folder, located at the root of your hard drive.

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Amazon

So, you’ve finally dedicated yourself to the high-riding griddle lifestyle. But skills and enthusiasm aren’t everything. If you want to be a real griddle master, you need the right tools and accessories.

The basic tools and utensils in your kitchen may be good for frying eggs, or poaching eggs, or baking a soufflé (or whatever), but they won’t live up the needs of a hardened, grease-guzzling griddle master.

RELATED: The Best Stove Top Griddles for Pancakes, Grilling, and More

So, what does one need to become a griddle master? Well, you need some basic tools, like spatulas and scrapers. But you also need basting domes, meat presses, and squeeze bottles. A griddle master is rough-and-tumble, yet gentle, so you need storage and cleaning products to keep your griddle in tip-top shape. An apron would be nice too, and you’ll need a griddle. But that’s kind of a given. (Need one for your stove top? We’ve got you covered.)

The hunt for griddle accessories can be overwhelming but don’t give up the fight just yet, we’re here to help. We’ve tracked down a pile of products that can elevate anyone to griddle master.

The Necessary Tools Blackstone/Jordigamo/New Star Food Service

Spatulas, scrapers, and oil bottles form the triptych of griddle tools. These are must-haves for any serious griddle chef. If you want to flip and pick up food, then you need a spatula. If you want to pull grease and burnt food off the grill, then you need a scraper. If you want to effortlessly use cooking oil, then you need a squeeze bottle. These are facts.

You probably already have some of these tools in your kitchen, but if you’re missing anything, now’s the time to stock up. Lucky for you, these basic griddle tools are pretty inexpensive, and you can always buy a set if you don’t feel like shopping around.

• Jordigamo Stainless Griddle Kit ($42) – This kit includes four spatulas, two oil bottles, tongs, a scraper, two egg molds, and a carry bag. For $42, you’re basically paying $4 per griddle tool.
• Blackstone Griddle Accessories Kit ($20) – This kit includes two spatulas, a scraper, and two oil bottles. It’s a minimalist kit, but it’s affordable, and it’s got all the necessities.
• Blackstone 32 oz Squeeze Bottles (2-Pack) ($10) – Two large squeeze bottles for your cooking oil. These bottles make it easy to put some oil on your griddle. You can even use them to hold infused oils for tasty blackened meats or sautéed veggies.
• New Star Foodservice Wood Handled Spatula ($6) – A 12.5″ wood handled spatula. Hey, it’s $6, you might as well buy it if you need another spatula.

Armed with a good basic set, you’re ready to dig into the extra tools that will expand your griddle master arsenal.

The Extra Tools

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Closing browser tabs one by one is a pain. Chrome and Firefox let you select tabs on your address bar, and you can quickly close those tabs with a keyboard shortcut or your mouse.

How to Select Multiple Tabs and Close Them

To select individual tabs, hold down the Ctrl key and click the tabs you want to close. To select a range of tabs, click a tab, hold down the Shift key, and then click another tab. All tabs in between the two will be selected. You can then hold down the Ctrl key and click selected tabs to deselect them if you like. You can also hold down the Ctrl key to select multiple individual tabs instead of a range.

To close selected tabs, either click the “x” on one of them or press Ctrl+W to close them all. You can also right-click one of the tabs and click “Close Tabs.” (On a Mac, press Command+W instead of Ctrl+W.)

Chrome shows a lighter background behind each selected tab, while Firefox shows a subtle blue line above each selected tab. The moment you interact with the browser normally—for example, by interacting with a web page of clicking a tab to view it—the tabs will immediately be deselected.

This is the same trick that lets you move multiple tabs into a new window. Just select the tabs and drag them out of your Chrome or Firefox browser window to give the selected tabs their own new window.

This is a small but useful trick that changed our workflow when we found out about it. Chrome has been able to do this for quite a while, but Mozilla added it to Firefox in version 64.0. Firefox did include this option in versions 62 and 63, but only if you went out of your way to enable this setting.

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You may have seen advice on how to share your Xbox One’s digital games with your friends. But Microsoft doesn’t intend for you to share your game library when you’re not there. Doing so puts you at risk.

A Brief History of Xbox One Promises

When Microsoft first announced the Xbox One, it came with the promise of next-generation features and would require a dedicated internet connection that allowed the console to phone home every 24 hours. In exchange, Microsoft promised that you could play games without inserting the disc (after the first time) and share your digital game library with friends.

The 24-hour check-in was a necessary evil to make those features happen—especially the ability to play your disc-bought games without putting the disc into the Xbox. If you gave away or sold your disc, your Xbox would eventually know you didn’t own the game anymore and would not let you play the digital copy anymore.

Unfortunately, Microsoft bungled the marketing and failed mightily at damage control. Gamers weren’t happy with a required internet connection, and Microsoft didn’t handle itself well when those gamers made their displeasure loudly known. Sony, on the other hand, put on a masterclass in capitalizing on another company’s missteps.

In the end, Microsoft capitulated and revoked the internet phone home requirement entirely. But, with that concession, it also removed the other great promises. Gamers would have to insert discs, and they couldn’t share their digital libraries. Effectively, the Xbox One now works exactly like the Xbox 360 when it comes to buying, selling, and using games.

Don’t Mark Your Friend’s Xbox as Your Home Xbox

The most common advice for sharing your library is pretty straight forward. Go to your friend’s house, add your Microsoft account to their Xbox, and mark that Xbox as your home Xbox. In fairness, this will work and give your friend permanent access to your digital library. But the downsides and risks outweigh the benefits.

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Which Video Game Featured The First Widely Known Easter Egg?

1. Adventure
2. Pac-Man
3. Pong
4. Contra

Think you know the answer?

Part of PowerPoint’s charm is being able to give objects such as images, shapes, and text boxes animations, making your presentation more interactive and engaging. When animating text boxes, you can animate all the text in the box at once, or you can animate characters individually.

Animating Characters in PowerPoint

When you select a text box and give it an animation, PowerPoint treats the text box (and all contents inside) as a single object by default.

If you want to give each character a different type of animation, you’ll have to highlight each character individually and then assign the animation to it. However, if you want all of the characters or words to have the same animation, and you just want to initiate or time the animation separately, there’s an easier way.

RELATED: How to Control When a Picture Appears in PowerPoint

In your PowerPoint presentation, select the text and then choose the animation you want to assign. To do so, move over to the “Animations” tab and select your desired animation in the “Animation” group. In this example, we will use the “Fly In” option.

Next, head over to the “Advanced Animation” group and select “Animation Pane.”

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In today’s headlines, we saw Microsoft bring DirectX 12 to Windows 7, Google potentially can some of its hardware business, and LG show off a Keurig for ice cream. Not gonna lie, that last thing sounds pretty amazing.

Note: We’ll keep updating this post throughout the day as more news hits the wire!

Microsoft and Windows News

A little bit of this, and a little bit of that. You know, just Microsoft things.

• You can now check your Xbox controller’s battery from the Game Bar. That’s cool, I think. [MSPowerUser]
• DirectX 12 is now supported on Windows 7, which is currently on its way towards the end of life. Weird flex, but okay. [The Verge]
• Remember Project xCloud? Well, Microsoft wants to make sure you do with a live demo of the game streaming service. [Engadget]
• The Windows Camera got some new features for Insiders, including a couple of new shooting modes. [MSPowerUser]
• Microsoft might let users start pausing updates for 35 days instead of 7. Talk about procrastination. [MSPowerUser]
• You can stream PC games to an Xbox One now. You’ve been able to stream Xbox games to a PC for a while. Everything old is new again. [The Verge]

Google and Android News

Google is apparently going to “scale back” its laptop and tablet projects, which is not cool at all. On the upside, it’s doing something or another with Carmen Sandiego and also making Fit on Wear OS more battery friendly. Great?

• Google reportedly canceled future tablet and laptop plans, which doesn’t sound good. I still want a Pixelbook 2. [9to5Google]
• The Lookout app for the visually impaired that was teased at Google I/O last year is now available for download…but only on Pixel devices. [The Verge; Google Play]
• The Google Drive app now matches its web counterpart. Pretty. [Engadget]
• Google Fit on Wear OS is getting a low power mode for better battery life. Now if people would just use Fit. Or Wear OS. [9to5Google]
• Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? In Google Maps, that’s where. [Google Blog]
• Google Maps is getting more of Waze’s features, including speed trap and crash reporting. [9to5Google]
• An Android malware got nearly 150 million downloads before Google caught and pulled it. Oof. [The Verge]
• The Android Q beta is now available for all Pixel devices. NICE! [Android Developers Blog]

Other News

This stuff isn’t Microsoft, Windows, Google, or Android. It’s other stuff.

• LG showed off a Keurig for ice cream, and by golly, it sounds pretty amazing. [Engadget]
• Verizon is stepping its 5G game up by launching in Chicago and Minneapolis next month. Oh, and it’ll cost an extra $10 a month on top of Verizon’s already stupid prices. [The Verge]
• Epic Games halted Fortnite crossplay between Switch and other consoles (Xbox, PS4) and instead now only allows Nintendo’s console to crossplay with mobile devices. This is because of framerate limitations, which can give “real” console gamers an advantage. [MSPowerUser]
• Garmin released a ridiculously expensive smartwatch, because why not? [Gizmodo]
• Twitter did stuff to the camera feature in its mobile app to better compete with Snap and Insta. Okay then. [TechCrunch]
• DirecTV Now is raising prices by $10 and bumping HBO now to $15 instead of $5. Ouch. [MacRumors]
• iPad Rumors: A new 10.2-inch model and updated 10.5-inch model may be incoming. May. Be. [9to5Mac]
• Audio message quality got better in the iOS 12.2 beta. [MacRumors]
• HP is recalling a bunch of laptops because they might catch on fire. You should probably look at this one if you, you know, have an HP laptop. [The Verge]
• Now you can play Apple Music on Amazon Fire TV. What a match. [MacRumors]

There you go: the biggest (or most interesting) stories from today, ready for your consumption. If you like this format or find it interesting, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts! Leave a comment below or drop me a line to let me know what you think, what you’d like to see, or if you think there’s a way to improve what we’re doing here.