How-To Geek

Vintage Marbles Glow Brilliantly Under Blacklight Thanks To What?

1. Lead
2. Uranium
3. Milk Glass
4. Phosphorene

Think you know the answer?

Wyze

Wyze has a new product, but for the first time, it’s not a Wi-Fi camera. Today, Wyze announced a new sensor kit, with contact and motion sensors, and they’re among the cheapest you can buy.

If you’re looking for inexpensive cameras, Wyze Cams are among the cheapest without too much sacrifice in features. Whether you spend $25 for the Wyze Cam or $35 for the Wyze Cam Pan, you’ll get a comprehensive Wi-Fi Camera that works better than it should for the small price involved.

While we knew Wyze had a light bulb and sensor kit in the works, today they made the latter official, and now we know how much Wyze Sense costs. For $25 you get a starter kit with a bridge, two contact sensors, and a motion sensor—each bridge supports up to 100 sensors and Wyze pans to sell expansion packs with 4 contact sensors and a motion sensor for a yet to be announced price. The bridge connects to your existing Wyze Cam or Wyze Cam Pan (so you’ll need a Wyze Cam to get started), and all the sensors come with batteries.

Wyze

If someone trips a sensor, whether by opening a window with a contact sensor or stepping in front of the motion sensor, your Wyze Cam automatically starts recording. Alternatively, you can choose to receive notifications on your smartphone instead of recording. That option is especially useful if you prefer notifications when a window or perhaps your refrigerator has been left open.

If you think $25 is cheap for a bridge, two contact sensors, and a motion sensor, you’re absolutely right. SimpliSafe contact sensors cost $15 each, and motion sensors run $30. That doesn’t include the $185 base station and keypad you’re required to purchase. If you want to add a camera to your SimpliSafe, you’re looking at another $99.

Wyze isn’t offering a keypad for easy arming on your way out yet though, nor are they offering a monitoring plan. But if you don’t need a keypad or monitoring plan, then it’s hard to argue with prices this low.

You can pre-order Wyze Sense in the Wyze app starting today, Wyze says it will begin shipping May 8th.

If you want to create a customized envelope, whether for personal or professional use, but don’t want to invest the money having it done professionally, Microsoft Word has you covered. Creating a customized envelope in Word is simple thanks to a feature designed for the task.

Creating and Printing Envelopes in Word

Go ahead and open up Word and select the “Mailings” tab.

Next, click the “Envelopes” button.

The Envelopes and Labels window will appear. This is where we’ll enter all of our information. In the “Delivery Address” box (1), enter the recipient’s address. The “Return Address” box (2) is where you’ll put your name and address. You can leave this out by ticking the  “Omit” checkbox if you prefer. Once you’ve entered all of the information, click “Options” (3).

In the Envelope Options window that opens, you need to tell Word how you’ll be feeding the envelope into the printer.

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Things have been pretty quiet in terms of “big” stories over the last 24 hours, but there are still some interesting points to take a closer look at. Apple’s half-baked News+ service is a good one, as is Google’s feature gap on ChromeOS.

Apple News: Turns Out News+ Isn’t Very Secure

Apple launched News+ just two days ago, but it’s already been “hacked” to show that you can look at magazines without paying for a subscription. Oof.

• Known iPhone hackers Steve Troughton-Smith was able to pull magazines from cache. Without paying for a subscription. Not cool. [Twitter]
• The Verge’s Dieter Bohn took the 2019 iPad Air for a spin, calling it a “very happy medium”…I think that means he liked it? [The Verge]
• Yesterday, Apple announced it would be closing down two Texas stores. Today, a report was released stating that it plans on opening a new pair in Singapore. [MacRumors]

As half-baked as News+ is out of the gate, this honestly isn’t surprising. The entire experience is not very well thought-out and lacking quite a few features—it’s all very un-Apple like. It’s as if they were just in a hurry to finalize some deals and get it out the door.

Microsoft News: Dropping the Hammer on April Fools’ Day Garbage

April Fools’ Day is the main day of the year that you can’t believe a single thing you read. Microsoft is sick of it.

• Microsoft’s Marketing Chief Chris Caposella sent a memo to employees telling them not to get involved with April Fools’ Day stunts. Doing the Lord’s work, that one. [The Verge]

Having covered tech news for nearly a decade, April Fools’ Day is the one day of the year I dread more than any others purely from the aspect of trying to filter what’s real from what’s not. Sure, some of it is fun (and obviously not real), but the stuff that almost seems possible is just annoying. I, for one, am happy to see Microsoft doing its part to avoid this.

Google News: March Madness Comes to Google Home

Things have been mostly quiet on the Google front since the Stadia announcement, but I have some thoughts about Chrome OS after seeing the release of 73 Stable.

• You can listen to March Madness broadcasts for free on Google Home devices—just say “Hey Google, play NCAA March Madness on Westwood One.” Done and done. [Google]
• Gmail is getting dynamic actions so you can do more without leaving your inbox. One day maybe the entire web will just part of Gmail. [Google]
• Chrome OS 73 (stable) was finally released, which brings a bunch of new features like baked-in offline Drive sync, improved out-of-memory management, Android app audio improvements, and a lot more. [Android Police]
• Chrome 75 will get the ability to get install PWAs (Progressive Web Apps) directly from the Omnibox. That’s awesome. [Techdows]

I’m a big fan of Chrome OS, so I think the biggest thing here is the release of Chrome 73 stable— it brings some major improvements. That said, there’s one issue: Chrome OS is starting to suffer the same “fragmentation” issues that we see on Android devices. The difference here is that this time it’s all Google’s fault.

While most Chromebooks get the same core features at the same time, the addition of support for Android and Linux apps is starting to throw a wrench in that because it’s sort of all over the place. There are a still a slew of Chromebooks that will never see Linux apps because of kernel incompatibility issues, for example.

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Amazon

This year’s premier phones and tablets are super cool, but they’re a bit expensive. That is—if you pay full price. Turns out, today’s a great day to buy a phone or tablet at a massive discount.

There are some pretty wild sales floating around today. A $255 Nintendo Switch (coupon code MP43), a Galaxy S10+ for just $840, and $15 off the CORSAIR Scimitar MMO gaming mouse.

Along with those far-flung deals, it seems like every brand of tablet is selling at a discount right now. The new iPad Pro is just $700, the Surface Pro 6 is just $800, and Amazon is pushing the Fire 8 tablet for just $50.

Laptops and Computer Accessories

Need a new laptop, or a new gaming mouse? We’ve got the deals for you.

• MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo Refurbished, $297 ($300 off) [Walmart]
• Lenovo Kaby Chromebook, $448 ($80 off with coupon code LEN80) [Rakuten]
• 15% off Lenovo Outlet PC’s with Coupon Code OUTLET15 [Lenovo]
• Dell Latitude Laptop Refurbished, $199 ($190 off) [Dell]
• Microsoft Surface Laptop (First Generation), $600 ($550 off) [Best Buy]
• Apple Airport Extreme Base Station, $140 ($25 off with coupon code 6AV26) [Rakuten]
• Logitech G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse, $30 ($50 off) [Amazon]
• CORSAIR Scimitar MMO Gaming Mouse, $66 ($14 off) [Amazon]

Phones and Tablets

Here are some great deals on premium phones and tablets.

• Samsung Galaxy 10+ Unlocked, $840 ($110 off) [eBay]
• Samsung Galaxy S9 Factory Unlocked, $440 ($80 off) [eBay]
• Apple iPad (2018), $239 ($60 off) [Massgenie]
• iPad Pro (Newest Model), $700 ($100 off) [Amazon]
• iPad Pro (2017 Model), $550 ($250 off) [Best Buy]
• iPhone 6 Refurbished, $145 ($120 off) [Walmart]
• Google Pixel 2 Refurbished, $280 ($10 off) [Walmart]
• Microsoft Surface Pro 6 (Newest Version), $800 ($260 off) [Best Buy]
• Fire HD 8 Tabet, $50 ($30 off) [Amazon]
• Fire HD 10 Tablet, $100 ($50 off) [Amazon]
• Lenovo Tab E7, $40 ($39 off) [Walmart]

Video Games, Board Games, and TVs

Grab these games at a hefty discount.

• Nintendo Switch, $255 ($45 off with coupon code MP43) [Rakuten]
• Nintendo Switch with 12-Month Nintendo Online Membership, $277 ($43 off) [Massgenie]
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Xbox One, $30 ($30 off) [Amazon]
• One Night Ultimate Werewolf Board Game, $11 ($16 off) [Walmart]
• Sharp 50″ 4K UHD Smart TV, $280 ($100 off) [Best Buy]

Everything Else

Need a telescope? Batteries? Robotic vacuum and mop? We’ve got the deals for you.

• FeelWorld FH7 7″ LCD On-Camera Display, $139 ($60 off) [B&H]
• Celestron AstroMaster Telescope, $70 ($80 off) [B&H]
• Up to 50% Amazon Basics Alkaline Batteries [Woot]
• Huawei Honor Band 4 Smartwatch, $30 ($5 off with coupon code HWBand4) [Gearvita]
• Roborock S5 Robotic Vacuum and Mop, $416 ($145 off with coupon code ROCKROBOSS51) [Amazon]

As you know, good deals and discounts can’t last forever. This may be your only chance to grab a Nintendo Switch for less than $300, or to buy a brand new Galaxy S10+ for a reasonable price. If any of these deals tickle your fancy, be sure to put your money down before it’s too late.

Amazon

Your cellphone’s flashlight may be convenient, but it isn’t as powerful or versatile as an actual flashlight. If you want bright light that’s always close at hand like your phone, you need a keychain flashlight.

Most people think of keychain flashlights as novelty items, but they’ve really come a long way. They’re small, cheap, durable, convenient, and some keychain flashlights can put out around 400 lumens of light. For the sake of comparison, the LED on your smartphone puts out 50 lumens or less of light in a much less convenient form factor.

RELATED: The Best Penlights for Pocket-Friendly Illumination

But there are a lot of keychain flashlights on the market, and they come in all shapes and sizes. That being said, not all keychain flashlights make the grade. They may be too bulky for your pocket, or too weak for your late night dog walks. That’s why we’ve taken the time to find the best keychain flashlights on the market, for everybody’s needs.

Keychain flashlights can get get pretty bright, but if you want a light that’s a little stronger (yet still small) you could always buy one of the slender options in our penlight-size flashlight roundup.

Finally, while we’ve focused on picks here that range from super-budget-friendly to very-budget-friendly, we have some premium picks too. We’re big fans of flashlights and if you’re looking for a premium pocket flashlight to add to your keychain, check out this roundup of compact flashlights too.

Meco Keychain Flashlight 10-Pack ($9) Amazon

If you’re looking for a cheap, convenient keychain flashlight, then you should check out the 10-pack Meco keychain flashlight. These flashlights are super small, and they put out 45 lumens of light. That means they’re about four times more powerful than your cellphone flashlight. You don’t have to worry about buying batteries for these lights, because they’re built-in.

Since these flashlights are so cheap and so small, you could easily use them for more than just your keychain. You could attach one to your backpack, strap one to a dog leash, or put a couple through your shoelaces.

Buy on Amazon SdeNow Mini Keychain Flashlight ($16) Amazon

Powerful keychain flashlights usually require batteries, and they tend to take up a lot of your keychain’s real estate. But the SdeNow mini keychain flashlight can be recharged by micro-USB, and it isn’t any larger than a car key fob.

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Your iPhone’s Voice Memos app records audio in a compressed format by default, saving storage space on your iPhone but reducing the recording quality. You can switch to a lossless mode for maximum fidelity.

Your iPhone, by default, records voice memos in a compressed format. However, if that doesn’t cut the mustard for you, there is an option to switch over to a lossless recording instead. It’s not clear what file format your iPhone uses here, but suffice it to say it’s going to take up more space than a compressed AAC file. Bear that in mind, but considering most voice memos are probably pretty short, we don’t think it’ll be of huge impact.

How to Choose Lossless Recordings

As always with iOS, the setting that we are looking for is in the Settings app. Open it and tap “Voice Memos” to get started.

Next, tap “Audio Quality” towards the bottom of the screen.

The next screen offers two options. Tap “Lossless” for the best sound quality from your recordings. If space is your main concern however, we’d suggest sticking with “Compressed” and leaving everything as it is.

With the Action Center, Windows 10 finally provides a central place for notifications and quick actions to live. Here’s how to use and customize it.

For the longest time, notifications in Windows have been something of a joke. Even in Windows 8, which finally provided toast notifications that could pop up and then expire, there was no way to see expired notifications you might have missed. Windows 10 fixes this with the Action Center, a slide-out pane that groups and displays notifications, and also provides access to quick actions like Wi-Fi, Quiet Hours, and Night Light.

The Action Center is straightforward to use, and it’s also pretty customizable.

View Notifications in the Action Center

Toast notifications still reign in Windows 10, sliding out from the bottom right edge of your desktop (just above the notification area of the taskbar) whenever an app needs to let you know something.

If you don’t dismiss a notification yourself, it disappears automatically after about six seconds. Whenever you have new notifications, the Action Center icon in the notification area turns white and displays a number badge showing how many new notifications there are (on the left, below). If there are no new notifications, that icon looks empty and badge-free (on the right).

Click that icon (whatever state it’s in) to open the Action Center, a pane that slides out from the right edge of your display. The Action Center shows all your recent notifications, grouped by app.

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Jaybird has long been known for making great earbuds that are especially well suited for workouts. The Tarah Pro is no exception—these robust and comfortable buds tick pretty much every box on the perfect-for-workouts checklist.

When it comes to picking a solid set of wireless workout earbuds, there are three primary things that matter: fit/comfort, build quality, and lastly, sound quality. As such those will be the things that we focus on in this review.

Fit and Comfort: Once You Find “Your” Fit, They’re Amazing

My biggest complaint about most earbuds—especially ones designed for use while working out—is that they’re just not comfortable. Or the fit sucks. Or they won’t stay in my ears. Seriously, I’ve been using the same Bluetooth earbuds for workouts for the last five years; I destroyed one set with sweat so I bought a second one. Because those were the best ones I’d ever had when it comes to fit and comfort.

Fit is the most crucial aspect of any set of workout earbuds. They can sound amazing, but if they hurt, won’t stay in, or are generally just uncomfortable I’m not going to wear them. Period. When I’m working out, I want to focus on… working out and not on my earbuds.

When I first tried on the Tarah Pro, I was less than enthusiastic about the fit. Then I tried working out with them—I’m a cyclist, so I’ve been testing these with indoor training (no earbuds on the road for safety reasons!) where I sweat a tremendous amount—and I was even less than impressed. They kept slipping, wouldn’t stay in, and were honestly just annoying.

Cameron Summerson

I tried different tips (they come with three different sets of varying sizes), but that didn’t help either. So I reached out to Jaybird and asked what I was doing wrong, and they sent back the Tarah Pro fit guide. Let me tell you guys something: this is a game changer.

After looking at the fit guide, I realized there are two ways of wearing the Tarah Pros: over-the-ear and under-the-ear. The whole time I had been trying to get them to work with the “under” method I wished they were over-the-ear. When I found out you can do either/or, my mind was blown.

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Primakov / Shutterstock

Macs are expensive, but they have a higher secondhand value than PCs. Here’s how to sell your Mac hardware, whether you’re upgrading to a new Mac or you just want some cash for old MacBooks you have lying around.

Back Up and Delete Your Old Data

It’s obviously not a great idea to sell a device with all of your personal information stored on it. The first thing you’ll need to do is get rid of all of that data and reset your Mac back to factory settings, to protect yourself and also make it easier to set up as a new computer.

You’ll probably want to keep a copy of your data somehow. If you’ve just bought a new Mac, you can migrate your data from your old one to the new one. If you want to start fresh, or are switching to a Windows machine, you can keep a backup of your files in case you need them in the future.

Next, you’ll want to wipe your Mac’s hard drive. You can read our guide on how to do this from Recovery Mode, which shouldn’t take more than an hour or so depending on how much data you have and how securely you want to wipe your hard drive. Afterward, you’ll probably want to reinstall macOS, or else it won’t be usable to whoever you sell it to.

Find Your Specs

Apple releases new Macbooks nearly every year and usually has a dozen models for each launch. You’ll want to find out exactly which one you have to make an accurate listing.

If you know the year your laptop was made (not purchased), you can look it up on Apple’s tech specs database to get a full listing that you can link to. Otherwise, you can click on the Apple logo in the top menu bar and select “About this Mac.”

This will open up a dialog which will list out all of your computer’s specifications.

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Dean Drobot/Shutterstock

While conversations about earbud-induced hearing loss have mostly faded away, people are becoming seriously concerned that volume levels at work, in restaurants, and on the street can cause permanent hearing loss. So, how loud is too loud?

Long Story Short, You Should Avoid 85+ dB

With extended and repeated exposure, sounds that exceed 85 decibels can cause permanent hearing loss. And while 85 dB may sound like a lot, there’s a good chance that you’re exposed to 85 dB of sound every day. As an example, every time you open your car window while driving at 50 mph, you’re being exposed to about 89 dB of sound.

Now, before you get too nervous, consider how long and how often you’re being exposed. Most doctors agree that you can get away with about eight hours of exposure to 85 dB of sound. But even after those hellish eight hours of mowing a lawn or driving with the windows down, there’s a decent chance that you won’t sustain permanent hearing loss.

See, there are little hairs inside of your ear called sterocilia. These hairs vibrate when sound waves enter your ear, and those vibrations are turned into neural information that your brain can understand. With extended exposure to loud sounds (say, an eight-hour lawn mowing session), your little ear hairs get depressed, like blades of grass that have been stepped on. When depressed, these hairs stop vibrating, which means that your brain doesn’t receive any sound signals.

But, like blades of grass, your little ear hairs can spring back up overnight. Occasional long term exposure isn’t a big deal—it’s repeated long term exposure that will ruin your ears. Every time those ear hairs get depressed, they also get a little less spry. Eventually, they stop bouncing back at all, and you’re left with permanent hearing loss.

Eugenio Marongiu/Shutterstock

It’s also important to note that, just because you’ve sustained hearing loss, doesn’t mean that you have a higher volume tolerance. 85 dB is the universal threshold for hearing loss, even if your ears are already blown out.

At the 85 dB range, open-window drivers and lawncare amateurs don’t have much to worry about. Most people that endure repeated eight-hour exposures to 85 dB are construction workers, employees at bars, and sound engineers. That’s not to say that you’re safe from noise-induced hearing loss—you just don’t have to worry about the 85 dB threshold as much as someone who works in a loud environment.

What Happens After 85 dB?

The way that we measure sound can be a little misleading. You’d assume that 80 dB would be twice as loud as 40 dB, but that’s not the case. Volume level doubles with every 10 dB gain, so 80 dB is eight times as loud as 40 dB. In that way, it’s similar to earthquake measurements on the Richter scale.

As volume level increases, your noise tolerance decreases at a similar rate. At 90 dB, four hours of exposure time will cause permanent hearing loss. Go up to 95 dB, and your ears can only handle two hours of exposure. Push it up to 110 dB, and your ears can only take 1 minute and 29 seconds.

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What Was The First Medical X-Ray Of?

1. A Mouse
2. A Skull
3. A Dog's Torso
4. A Hand

Think you know the answer?

Having multiple calendars with different appointments on each one is a sure path to double bookings and an argument with someone you’ve annoyed. Get more organized and more reliable by subscribing to your Google Calendar in Outlook.

To do this, you’ll need a Google Calendar and Outlook (which is fairly obvious), but you won’t need any plug-ins, add-ins, extensions, or 3rd party tools. Both Google and Microsoft support the iCal format, which despite the name has nothing to do with Apple and is, in fact, short for “iCalendar.” It’s an open standard for exchanging calendar and scheduling information between users and computers that has been around since the late 1990s. This means you can subscribe to them if you have the right link, which is the method we’ll use here.

Show a Google Calendar in Outlook

Because we’re going to show a Google Calendar in Outlook, we need to get the link from the Google Calendar first. Log into your Google account and go to Google Calendar. Once you’re there, click on the three dots next to the calendar and then click “Settings and Sharing.”

Scroll down until you come to the “Secret address in iCal format” section. Click the link to highlight it, and then copy it using Ctrl+V or by right-clicking it and selecting “Copy” from the menu.

Now you need to add this link into Outlook, so open Outlook, and go to your calendar. Right-click the “Shared Calendars” option and then select Add Calendar > From Internet

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Today we’re thrilled to finally announce something we’ve been working on for a while: a new site to help us expand our coverage beyond simply tech and gadgets, into the things that matter for everyday life.

For more than a decade, How-To Geek has been where you turn when you want experts to explain technology in terms that everybody can understand. Our articles have been read more than 1 billion times. Where do you go from there?

We first branched out in 2017 because we realized that people were constantly asking us which products they should buy. So we launched Review Geek, where we do thousands of hours of research and testing so you don’t have to. Since launching, millions of people have used our product recommendations to help make their purchasing decisions.

But we didn’t want to stop there. We thought, why can’t we take what makes How-To Geek successful and useful, and do that—but for other areas besides technology?

LifeSavvy: Skills for a Better Life

LifeSavvy is our answer to how we can help people outside of the world of tech. Don’t worry though, we didn’t just round up your favorite tech writers from How-To Geek and tell them to write about fashion and baby products—we went out and hired expert writers that have real-world experience in the things they are writing about, and showed them how we put you, the reader, first.

Whether you’re looking for tips on organization, travel, parenting, fitness, photography, relationships, school, cooking, career, or anything else, our team of expert writers is here to help explain things the same way How-To Geek has been explaining tech for years.

Don’t Miss Out: Make Sure You Subscribe to LifeSavvy

If you want to keep up to date with everything we’re doing there, you’re going to need to subscribe, which you can do by clicking one of the buttons below. The site just launched like 5 minutes ago, so none of the pages will have any subscribers yet, which means you get to be part of the exclusive club of people who followed us since we launched.

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Amazon, eBay

If you like to spend your Spring or Summer away from home, then maybe you should grab some new on-the-go devices, like a Switch or an iPad. Why not? They’re on sale right now.

For whatever reason, the ancient gods of e-commerce have decided that today is the best day to buy a tablet. The new iPad Pro is on sale for $700, and the regular iPad is just $239. Windows users can grab the Surface Pro for $800, and Amazon fans can buy a new Fire tablet for $50 or $100.

While it technically isn’t a tablet, we’re excited to see that the Nintendo Switch is on sale today. You can buy one from Rakuten for $255 (with coupon code MP43), or from Massgenie for $277 (bundled with a 12-month Nintendo Online membership).

Desktops, Laptops, and Computer Accessories

Need to upgrade your home office, or ditch your old laptop? Check out these computer deals.

• Microsoft Surface Laptop (First Generation), $600 ($550 off) [Best Buy]
• Microsoft Surface Studio Desktop PC, $1639 ($1862 off) [Massgenie]
• LG Gram Laptop, $849 ($350 off with coupon code GRAM) [Buydig]
• Dell Inspiron Laptop (Newest Version), $564 ($115 off with coupon code SAVE17) [Dell]
• Samsung 32″ Curved Monitor, $170 ($90 off) [Woot]
• SanDisk 1TB Internal SSD, $100 ($25 off) [B&H]
• SteelSeries Apex M750 RGB Mechanical Keyboard, $90 ($50 off) [Amazon]
• Brother Compact Laser Printer, $80 ($10 off) [Walmart]

Phones, Tablets, and Accessories

Grab a new phone or tablet at a massive discount.

• Samsung Galaxy S9 Factory Unlocked, $440 ($80 off) [eBay]
• Microsoft Surface Pro 6 (Newest Version), $800 ($260 off) [Best Buy]
• Apple iPad (2018), $239 ($60 off) [Massgenie]
• iPad Pro (Newest Model), $700 ($100 off) [Amazon]
• Fire HD 8 Tabet, $50 ($30 off) [Amazon]
• Fire HD 10 Tablet, $100 ($50 off) [Amazon]
• Wireless Charging Stand with Apple Watch Holder, $16 ($15 off) [Walmart]
• TaoTronics Car Phone Holder with Wireless Charging, $10 ($10 off with coupon code J89MHX4U) [Amazon]

Games and Gaming Hardware

Upgrade your PC gaming setup, buy a Nintendo Switch, or start investing in PlayStation VR

• Up to 40% off PC Gaming Components [Amazon]
• Nintendo Switch, $255 ($45 off with coupon code MP43) [Rakuten]
• Nintendo Switch with 12-Month Nintendo Online Membership, $277 ($43 off) [Massgenie]
• Yoshi’s Crafted World Nintendo Switch, $50 ($10 off) [Facebook]
• Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, $50 ($30 off) [Massgenie]
• PlayStation VR with Borderlands 2 and Beat Saber, $290 ($109 off) [Massgenie]
• No Man’s Sky PS4, $10 ($50 off) [Gamestop]
• Madden NFL 19′ Xbox One, $25 ($15 off) [Target]
• Mass Effect Andromeda Xbox One, $4 ($56 off with coupon code PERFECT3) [eBay]

Smart Home Gadgets

Turn your home into a smart home with these discounted gadgets.

• Prime Members Save 30% on Smart Plugs and Lights [Amazon]
• Lenovo Smart Display with Google Assistant, $85 ($15 off with coupon code LEN15) [Rakuten]
• TP-Link Smart Plug 2-Pack, $30 ($5 off) [Walmart]
• Meross Smart 3-Way Lightswitch, $18 ($11 off with coupon code A5GRFC7E) [Amazon]

Everything Else

Need new speakers? Headphones? An anti-theft backpack?

• Up to $300 off JBL Speakers and Headphones [JBL]
• LUXUR Anti-Theft Backpack, $15 ($15 off with coupon code SDSALE50) [Amazon]

Deals can’t last forever, it’s a sad fact of life. If you see a deal that you like, then try to scoop it up before it disappears.

Kaspars Grinvalds/Shutterstock

The biggest news from the last 24 hours is undoubtedly Apple’s new services, but Sony had a thing or two worth talking about in its first State of Play live stream as well. Oh, and there’s more AirPower stuff. Heh.

Apple News: Services!

Apple announced a lot of new stuff yesterday, but despite that, it was still pretty light on details. Here’s what we know right now.

• First up is News+, the company’s buffet-style magazine and newspaper service. It’s actually really cool. And available now! [Engadget]
• Then we have Arcade, which is an interesting take on mobile gaming. You pay one (still currently-unknown) fee, and you play all the games on available on the service. I’m curious. [Ars Technica, Gizmodo]
• The TV app (not to be confused with Apple TV the product) is getting a makeover to house all of your streaming services in one place. Oh, and it’s coming to smart TVs, Roku devices, and Fire TV. That’s huge. [Apple Insider, 9to5Mac]
• Then there’s TV+ (again, not to be confused with TV the app or TV the product), the home of Apple’s new original content. There were a lot of celebrities on tap to announce this one (including Oprah herself), but pricing and availability were nowhere to be found. Cool. [Engadget]
• Apple also announced a credit card. It’s made of titanium, baked into Apple Pay at its core, and is focused on privacy. It sounds really cool and equally as over-the-top. I…kind of want one. [The Verge, Gizmodo]
• The entire event was about an hour and 50 minutes, but if you want to see the TL;DR version, MacRumors condensed that bad boy down to six action-packed minutes. [MacRumors on YouTube]
• In not-announced-yesterday-news, AirPower made another surprise appearance. This time on the AirPods 2 packaging. They’re just taunting us at this point. [9to5Mac]
• iOS 12.2, which brings support for News+ (and a bunch of other stuff) started rolling out yesterday. We have the details. [How-To Geek]
• Hidden deep in the depths of iOS 12.2, Beats’ AirPods competitor was uncovered. Does this mean Apple is going to compete with itself? [Engadget]
• In dramatically different news, Apple confirmed that it will be closing its Frisco and Plano, TX store locations. Weird, man. [9to5Mac]

The past week(ish) has been surprisingly busy for Apple; last week it announced new iPads and iMacs, as well as updated AirPods. This all lead up to yesterday’s event which was focused on the new services that have been cooking for a while now. While some are already available—like News+—others were simply given the basic “later this year” timetable.

For me, the most surprising announcement was the Apple Card. Sure, it’s been making the rounds as a rumor for several weeks now, but to actually see it and get the details is something else altogether. It makes a lot of sense that it’s essentially “made” for Apple Pay—getting more people to use the service is the name of the game, after all. Most of the perks, like two percent cash back on everyday purchases and three percent back on Apple purchases, are pretty standard and nothing to really write home about.

The real appeal of the Apple Card is privacy. For starters, the physical card has no number, no CVV code, and no expiration date. It’s made of titanium and has your name laser-etched into. It’s ultra-clean. Where you use the card, what you buy, and how much you spend won’t be tracked at all—all of the financial aspects of the card are handled on-device.  Goldman Sachs, the partner bank, and MasterCard have both vowed not to sell your data to advertisers, too.

I could honestly go on about this a lot more, but in the interest of brevity, I’ll stop there. This card is fascinating, and I’m sure it will ultimately end up in the hands of many, many Apple users. Good play, Apple.

Google and Android News: Apple Music on Chromebooks?

With such a heavy focus on Apple and its new services, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that most other companies were relatively quiet yesterday—that’s a space you just don’t want to compete in. Still, there have been some interesting Google/Android-related tidbits over the last 24 hours.

• The Apple Music Android app was updated with Chromebook support, which is honestly just such a weird update to me. Don’t get me wrong—it’s great!—just not something I figured Apple would ever focus on or care about. [AppleInsider]
• Along the same lines, Apple Music has been installed on 40 million Android devices. That’s a lot of devices, especially for an Apple service on Android. [AppleInsider]
• Remember the $599 Celeron-powered Pixel Slate? Well, neither does Google. It appears to be dead before it even had a chance to live. [9to5Google]
• Samsung announced the Galaxy A70, but it still has an event on April 10th to announce more Galaxy A stuff maybe? Who knows. [Samsung]
• If you’ve ever wanted the soothing voice of John Legend on your Google Home, the time is nigh. [9to5Google]

The missing cheap Pixel Slate is such a Google thing to do: announce a product, talk about the product, then never release the product. Maybe the m3 and i5/7 models were flying off the shelves at a rate that made them rethink the base model Slate. Or maybe it was just garbage all along and should’ve never been announced in the first place. The world may never know.

Everything Else: PlayStation News, Super Fast Charging from Xiaomi, and More

Sony had its first State of Play announcement yesterday, where it showed off a surprising number of PlayStation VR games. Turns out PSVR is more popular than I realized. Like, way more.

• Sony announced yesterday that it has sold a staggering 4.2 million PSVR units. That’s not shipped to manufacturers, either—we’re talking actual units strapped to people’s faces. Wild. [Gizmodo]
• And you know what else? Five Nights at Freddy’s is coming to PSVR. It seriously, legitimately looks pretty terrifying. I’d play it. [MSPowerUser]
• In less cool news, Sony is going to stop letting third-party retailers sell PS4 download codes. Weird flex, but okay. [The Verge]
• In other Sony (but not PlayStation) news, the company just announced a new action cam with a flippable screen. It’ll set you back $700, though. Ouch. [The Verge]
• In much scarier news, there was a vulnerability on ASUS computers that allowed hijackers to essentially take control of update servers and install backdoors on half a million machines. Oof. [Engadget]
• The good news is that ASUS has already fixed the issue. [Engadget]
• Xiaomi showed off a 100w fast charger that can juice a 4,000 mAh battery in just 17 minutes. And also maybe catch it on fire? [Liliputing]
• Huawei announced a pair of new phones this morning: P30 and P30 Pro. They leaked a while back, but now they’re as legit as they come. [XDA Developers]
• It also announced a set of wireless headphones that connect and charge through your phone’s UBS-C port. This seems…interesting. [Engadget]

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Heart rate monitoring used to be an exotic feature saved for high-end devices and serious athletes. Now a fitness tracker or a smart watch isn’t complete without it. Here are the best options on the market right now.

Most readers will probably be best served by our first pick, which is affordable, accessible, and works with FitBit’s extremely popular cross-platform network. If that doesn’t suit your fancy, we also have a selection that slides in under $100, an option for aspiring athletes who want phone-free GPS tracking, customers looking for seamless integration into Apple’s walled garden, and a chest strap pick for those who need much more precise heart rate monitoring. Check them out below.

Best Overall HR Fitness Tracker: FitBit Inspire HR ($100) The FitBit Inspire is a simple and inexpensive entry into FitBit’s system. FitBit

At just $100, the FitBit Inspire HR is an excellent entry into FitBit’s popular and holistic fitness system. The band-style tracker is unobtrusive, with a black-and-white OLED display that can manage and track workouts both manually and with an automatic detection.

The heart rate monitor is on at all times, monitoring your activity level all day and tracking sleep cycles all night. The small tracker can handle basic smartphone notifications, but leaves off apps and music control in favor of a 5-day battery life.

Buy on Amazon Best Budget HR Fitness Tracker: Garmin VivoSmart HR ($72) This Garmin tracker with heart rate tracking can be had for just over seventy bucks. Garmin

If you’re looking for more fitness or health information for as little dough as possible, check out the Garmin VivoSmart HR. This wearable is a little out of date (hence the $72 price at the time of writing), but it’s the least expensive option from a reputable supplier with an integrated heart rate monitor.

Even so, the design still includes a full display for managing workouts and notifications from your phone, and syncs data back to the Garmin app for tracking. It’s neither the sleekest nor best-looking option on this list, but it can still handle all of the standard fitness tracker duties with aplomb.

Buy on Amazon Best HR Fitness Tracker with Dedicated GPS: Garmin VivoSport ($175) The VivoSport allows you to track runs and bike rides without a connected phone. Garmin

Need something a little more capable that doesn’t lean on your smartphone for tethered GPS tracking over Bluetooth? Then the VivoSport is what you’re looking for. This design is similar to the VivoSmart HR above, but upgrades the electronics with a full-color display and a GPS radio built into the wrist-based tracker (which is a pretty rare feature on any gadget under $200).

Note that this is a pretty battery-intensive option: if you’re frequently using GPS for running, swimming, or cycling, expect significantly less than the tracker’s otherwise excellent 7-day battery life.  

Buy on Amazon Best HR Fitness Tracker for Apple Fans: Apple Watch 4 ($400+) The Apple Watch works so well with iPhones that it’s the easy first choice if you can afford it. Apple

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With iOS 12, Siri began offering suggestions for Shortcuts and more via the lock screen. You can disable these suggestions for individual apps or disable all Siri suggestions completely to clean up your lock screen.

Siri Suggestions is a little-known feature that lets Siri watch for tasks you carry out regularly and then offer up a shortcut to those tasks at the best time. A great example of this would be if you made a coffee order at a certain time or location. Siri would, theoretically, notice this and then start to recommend that action when the time is right. All you’d have to do is tap the notification to carry out the action.

Depending on the app in question, having Siri make suggestions that appear on the Lock screen might be something you’re looking for, but if it starts to get a little too chatty, or begins to make suggestions for apps that aren’t important, you might want to shut it off. Thankfully you can disable the feature for specific apps, rather than this being an all-or-nothing affair.

How to Disable Siri Suggestions For All Apps

If you’d prefer to prevent all apps from making Siri Suggestions on your Lock screen, you can flick one switch to make it happen.

To start, open Settings and tap on “Siri & Search.”

Scroll down and flick the toggle for “Suggestions on Lock Screen” to the off position.

How to Disable Siri Suggestions for Individual Apps

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Reddit offers JSON feeds for each subreddit. Here’s how to create a Bash script that downloads and parses a list of posts from any subreddit you like. This is just one thing you can do with Reddit’s JSON feeds.

Installing Curl and JQ

We’re going to use curl to fetch the JSON feed from Reddit and  jq to parse the JSON data and extract the fields we want from the results. Install these two dependencies using apt-get on Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distributions. On other Linux distributions, use your distribution’s package management tool instead.

sudo apt-get install curl jq Fetch Some JSON Data from Reddit

Let’s see what the data feed looks like. Use curl to fetch the latest posts from the MildlyInteresting subreddit:

curl -s -A “reddit scraper example” https://www.reddit.com/r/MildlyInteresting.json

Note how the options used before the URL: -s forces curl to run in silent mode so that we don’t see any output, except the data from Reddit’s servers. The next option and the parameter that follows, -A “reddit scraper example” , sets a custom user agent string that helps Reddit identify the service accessing their data. The Reddit API servers apply rate limits based on the user agent string. Setting a custom value will cause Reddit to segment our rate limit away from other callers and reduce the chance that we get an HTTP 429 Rate Limit Exceeded error.

The output should fill up the terminal window and look something like this:

There are lots of fields in the output data, but all we’re interested in are Title, Permalink, and URL. You can see an exhaustive list of types and their fields on Reddit’s API documentation page: https://github.com/reddit-archive/reddit/wiki/JSON

Extracting Data from the JSON Output

We want to extract Title, Permalink, and URL, from the output data and save it to a tab-delimited file. We can use text processing tools like sed and grep , but we have another tool at our disposal that understands JSON data structures, called  jq . For our first attempt, let’s use it to pretty-print and color-code the output. We’ll use the same call as before, but this time, pipe the output through  jq and instruct it to parse and print the JSON data.

curl -s -A “reddit scraper example” https://www.reddit.com/r/MildlyInteresting.json | jq .

Note the period that follows the command. This expression simply parses the input and prints it as-is. The output looks nicely formatted and color-coded:

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Amazon

Your phone may have a built-in flashlight, but do you really feel comfortable propping your phone inside of your car’s engine bay, or against a precarious surface while you work? Maybe it’s time to grab a penlight.

When you think of a penlight, what comes to mind? The mechanic digging under the hood of your car? A poor soul looking for lost jewelry in the carpet? A doctor staring up your nose or down your throat? Well, these are some great uses for a penlight, but they can also be used in some modest situations, like looking under the bed or walking around in the dark.

See, penlights have really come a long way. They’re smaller than ever, but they can put out as much light as some full-sized flashlights. And while your phone’s flashlight may get you through some basic situations, you’d almost always be better off with a super bright, super small penlight. Plus, you can hold a penlight in your mouth for hands-free illuminated work. You can’t do that with a phone (or at least you probably shouldn’t).

Whether you’re a mechanic, an electrical worker, or an average person with the occasional desire to have a flashlight, there’s a penlight out there that’s perfect for you. But there are a ton of penlights on the market, and it can be hard to find a penlight that fits your needs (additionally, some penlights are absolutely terrible). Luckily, we’ve done the hard work of sorting through them for you.

Streamlight 661188 Stylus Pro 100 Lumen Penlight ($20) Streamlight

There are a lot of niche penlights on the market, but most people just need a small light that can be used anytime, anywhere. The Streamlight 66118 is a 100-lumen penlight that’s about the size of a sharpie. It runs on two AA batteries, and it has an IPX4 water-resistance rating, which means that you can use it in the rain.

A small penlight like this can be used for just about anything. Car maintenance? Sure. Jewelry lost in the carpet? This light will help you find it. Kid has a sore throat? You can check it with this light. For $20, you really can’t go wrong.

Buy on Amazon Streamlight 88033 ProTac 250 Lumen Penlight ($39) Streamlight

If you’re looking for a super bright penlight that can rival the strength of a larger flashlight, then you should check out the Streamlight 88033. This 250-lumen light is powered by two AA batteries. While it works well for car maintenance and electronics work, it can also be used to get around at night, or to dig for whatever you’ve lost under your car seat.

The Streamlight company refers to this penlight as a “tactile light,” and for good reason. For a 250 lumen light, this thing is surprisingly slim. It also has an IPX7 water-resistance rating, so you can use it in the rain (or dunk it in a meter of water for a half hour, whatever comes first). Plus, the Streamlight 88033 has an 18-lumen low power mode and a strobe mode, so you can use it for quiet bathroom breaks or SOS signals while camping.

Buy on Amazon Anker Bolder P2 120 Lumen Rechargeable Penlight ($17) Anker

Tired of replacing batteries? The Anker Bolder P2 might be your escape from battery hell. It’s a micro USB rechargeable 120-lumen penlight, with a durable build and a slim design. The Anker Bolder P2 has an IPX5 water-resistance rating, which means that you can use it during a storm without a worry. While this penlight doesn’t have a strobe function (a blessing if you ask me), you can adjust the light to a 40-lumen low-power mode when 120 lumens is a bit too bright.

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