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Are IR Scanners in Phones Bad for Your Eyes?

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/15/2019 - 13:40

Maxim P/Shutterstock

New Apple and Samsung phones use infrared light to verify your identity. It’s like a hands-free version of the fingerprint scanner. But can the infrared lights used for Face ID and Iris Scanner hurt your eyes?

It’s a fair question. People don’t know much about infrared light, and it’s hard to find information that explains the potential risks of infrared in layman’s terms. Not to mention, Samsung’s safety disclaimer for the Iris Scanner makes infrared sound kind of scary. But what is infrared, and should we be worried about it?

What is Infrared?

Infrared (IR) is a form of invisible radiation, and it occupies the lower end of the electromagnetic spectrum. Like visible light, microwaves, and radio waves, IR is a form of non-ionizing radiation. It doesn’t strip molecules of their electrons, and it doesn’t cause cancer.

It’s important to know that IR radiation can come from a lot of places. In some ways, you could consider IR a natural byproduct of heat production. Your toaster emits IR light, the sun emits IR light, and campfires emit IR light. Interestingly enough, 95% of the energy produced by fluorescent bulbs is translated into IR. Even your fleshy, disgusting body emits IR light, and that’s how the heat-tracking cameras in spy movies work.

The IR-LED that’s built into your phone is classified as near IR (700–900 nm). It straddles the line between the visible light spectrum and the IR spectrum. Near IR is very similar to visible light, it’s just a lot more difficult for you to see.

The radiation from both visible light and near IR light can heat objects, depending on light intensity and exposure time. Prolonged exposure to high-intensity IR and visible light (staring at the sun or a bright lightbulb) can cause your photoreceptors to bleach and your lens to develop cataracts. To experience vision loss with a low intensity visible or IR light, you would need to keep your eyes open within a millimeter of the light source for almost 20 minutes. This could happen with a light bulb or an IR-LED.

The main concern with near IR is simply the concentration of your exposure. With visible light, it’s easy to tell when you’re being exposed to a blinding amount, and your reflexes cause you to squint or look away. But your eyes aren’t built to see IR light, so it’s impossible to tell when you’re being exposed to a dangerous amount. You know how you’re not supposed to stare at an eclipse, even though it doesn’t seem that bright? It’s kind of like that.

Far IR radiation (25 – 350 µm) is invisible, and it isn’t used in your phone. Far IR radiation overlaps with microwaves on the electromagnetic spectrum, and like microwaves, far IR radiation causes water molecules to heat up. As you can imagine, prolonged exposure to far IR radiation can cause burns to the eyes and skin, but we don’t need to worry about that, because your phone only uses near IR radiation.

IR Scanning is Very Simple

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Geek Trivia: The Speed Of Electricity Was First Measured By What Method?

How-To Geek - Fri, 02/15/2019 - 09:02

The Speed Of Electricity Was First Measured By What Method?
  1. Electrocuting Horses
  2. Shocking Monks with a Battery
  3. Monitoring Telegraph Replies
  4. Photographing Lightning

Think you know the answer?

Categories: IT General, Technology

How To Tag Files on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad

How-To Geek - Thu, 02/14/2019 - 22:00

Organizing files is something that few people would identify as fun, but there are some ways you can increase the enjoyment factor while also improving organization. One of those ways is tags; here’s how to use tags on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

If you’re unfamiliar with tags, you’re in for a treat. Adding colors and labels to files lets you easily identify them at a glance, as well as sort and search them in special ways, too. If you want to be able to see all red-tagged files across your entire project folder, no problem. If you’ve ever used tags to manage photos, to-dos, or anything else for that matter, you’ll be right at home here.

How to Tag files on iPad and iPhone

You’ll have to use the Files app to tag files on an iPhone or iPad. Files is the nearest thing to Mac’s Finder that we have in the world of iPhone and iPad. To get started, open the Files app.

You’ll be presented with a list of locations, including those on your device and in the cloud.

Next, tap and hold the file that you want to tag. You’ll notice a new row of options appear above it. Tap the right-pointing arrow to see more options.

Once it is visible, tap the “Tags” button.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

The Best Toothbrushes for Your Dog’s Dirty Teeth

How-To Geek - Thu, 02/14/2019 - 21:00

Does your dog’s breath smell like a public bathroom? It may be time to hunker down and invest in some doggy toothbrushes.

Oral hygiene is just as important for dogs as it is for humans. While dogs don’t eat nearly as much processed sugar and coffee as we do, they can still develop gum disease, plaque buildup, and tooth decay. Your dog’s breath may be more than a gross inconvenience—it could be a sign of a dirty, unhealthy mouth.

RELATED: The Best Dog Toothpastes to Fix Your Dog’s Bad Breath

Luckily, brushing your dog’s teeth isn’t too difficult. You just need a good dog-friendly toothpaste, a good toothbrush, and a touch of self-confidence. But every dog has different needs (and fears), so you can’t just shove the first toothbrush that you come across into your dog’s stinky mouth. You’ll want to consider your dog’s current oral health (unhealthy gums can become sensitive), and how obedient your dog is when a non-food item ends up in its mouth.

Lucky for you, we’ve taken the time to find the best doggy toothbrushes, for every mutt’s mouth.

Pet Republique 6 Handled Toothbrushes ($8)

Nothing beats the traditional toothbrush. It’s cheap, easy to use, and very effective. If your dog is happy to practice some oral hygiene, then you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you can stick with the tried-and-true.

Pet Republique sells a set of 6 dog toothbrushes for just $8. These toothbrushes are double-sided, with a large brush on one end and a smaller brush on the other. They’re great for reaching far back into your dog’s mouth, and they should last you for a few months.

Buy on Amazon FOMATE Gentle Silicone Brush Kit ($10)

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Categories: IT General, Technology

The Best Perfume Subscription Boxes

How-To Geek - Thu, 02/14/2019 - 18:00

Africa Studio/Shutterstock

Many of us have a favorite scent or fragrance to wear on a regular basis, but what about if you want to switch to something new or experiment? These fragrance subscription boxes are a great way of discovering new favorite perfumes at a low price.

Like other subscription boxes, the following fragrance collections allow you to pay a monthly sum in exchange for a selection of great smells and fragrances. It’s an inexpensive way of trying out some big name brands, as well as a way to discover more niche names that you might not usually consider. Plus, there’s the bonus of feeling like you’re receiving a great gift in the mail each month.

Here’s our pick of the best fragrance and perfume subscription boxes out there.

Best Overall: Scentbird ($14.95 per month) Scent Bird

For a one-stop solution to your fragrance cravings, Scent Bird is the place to go. Each month, you get to pick from over 450 designer and niche fragrances before receiving a 30 day supply of it that month. On the first order, you also get a free case for storing future fragrances in. The sprays are travel-friendly so you can easily toss them into your bag, saving you the need to make space for a bulky full bottle of perfume.

Brands include Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Prada, Michael Kors, and many other much loved favorites. If you’re not sure what you might like, the site has a recommendation engine that determines what your dream scent match should be, as well as offers ideas for specific occasions. You’re not tied into a contract, so you can always change the frequency in which you receive fragrances or the number you receive. It’s easy enough to skip or cancel so this works well as a fun treat rather than a commitment. It’s a no hassle introduction to the fragrance subscription box world.

Subscribe to Scent Bird Best For Choosy People: Scent Box ($14.95 per month) Scent Box

On the surface, Scent Box looks very similar to Scent Bird. The same price, you get to choose from an impressive array of over 850 designer fragrances and then receive a 30 day supply of the scent. It’s contained in a small atomizer bottle again, so you can easily place it in your bag to keep with you throughout the day.

So what makes Scent Box stand out even more so? Well, it offers free exchanges. If you don’t like what you’ve received, you can easily swap it for something else, entirely free. That’s a big advantage when you’re still experimenting and trying out what works for you. Sure, it might be something you only end up using a couple of times a year but when you’re paying special for something, it’s nice to have that extra level of control.

Subscribe to Scent Box Best Niche Choices: Olfactif ($20 per month) Olfactif

Olfactif is a little different from the others and proud of it. It focuses on providing niche perfumes and fragrances via its subscription box service. That means perfume that’s hard to find unless you live in a major city. We’re talking creative and original scents that just won’t smell like anything else you can buy in a regular store.

For many, that’s going to be super appealing. It’s good to be different, right? For $20 per month, you get a curated collection of 3 fragrances from around the world. Each spray vial contains more than 40 sprays. If you like what you’ve tried, you can buy a full bottle for between 10% and 20% off the full price. It’s all wrapped up in one of the most charming subscription boxes out there, with handwritten notes telling you all about the scents you’ve acquired. It’s a classy box for people that want to be a little different from the masses.

Subscribe to Olfactif Best For A Treat: Perfume Surprise ($24.99 per month) Perfume Surprise

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Do You Miss Touch ID? I Certainly Don’t

How-To Geek - Thu, 02/14/2019 - 17:24

With the launch of the iPhone XS and XR last year, Apple has gone all-in on Face ID. And while there may be some users who miss the fingerprint sensor, I’m not one of them.

The latest batch of new iPhones that came out in September 2018 was the first not to include Touch ID at all. After owning my first Touch ID-less iPhone for several months now, I can’t say that I’m upset by this move from Apple.

Face ID Is So Much More Convenient

Touch ID is already pretty convenient—way more convenient than typing in a passcode every time—but Face ID takes it to a whole new level. It’s like Touch ID, but you don’t even have to scan your fingerprint.

Both techniques still require a bit of action on your part to unlock the phone and get to the home screen, but with Face ID it’s just a swipe up from the bottom. Whereas with Touch ID, you have to make sure to place your finger in a specific location on the phone and then wait for it to unlock.

In other words, you don’t even really have to think about unlocking your phone with Face ID. Instead, it just happens, and that’s the kind of convenience I’m after.

It’s More Accurate Than Touch ID Ever Was

Having used Face ID for a while now, I can say that the number of times it hasn’t recognize my face has been a lot less than the number of times Touch ID hasn’t recognized my fingerprint.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Protect Workbooks, Worksheets, and Cells From Editing in Microsoft Excel

How-To Geek - Thu, 02/14/2019 - 16:00

You’ve worked hard on your spreadsheet. You don’t want anyone to mess it up. Fortunately, Excel provides some pretty good tools for preventing people from editing various parts of a workbook.

Protection in Excel is password-based and happens at three different levels.

  • Workbook: You have a few options for protecting a workbook. You can encrypt it with a password to limit who can even open it. You can make the file open as read-only by default so that people have to opt into editing it. And you protect the structure of a workbook so that anyone can open it, but they need a password to rearrange, rename, delete, or create new worksheets.
  • Worksheet: You can protect the data on individual worksheets from being changed.
  • Cell: You can also protect just specific cells on a worksheet from being changed. Technically this method involves protecting a worksheet and then allowing certain cells to be exempt from that protection.

You can even combine the protection of those different levels for different effects.

Protect an Entire Workbook from Editing

You have three choices when it comes to protecting an entire Excel workbook: encrypt the workbook with a password, make the workbook read-only, or protect just the structure of a workbook.

Encrypt a Workbook with a Password

For the best protection, you can encrypt the file with a password. Whenever someone tries to open the document, Excel prompts them for a password first.

To set it up, open your Excel file and head to the File menu. You’ll see the “Info” category by default. Click the “Protect Workbook” button and then choose “Encrypt with Password” from the dropdown menu.

In the Encrypt Document window that opens, type your password and then click “OK.”

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Logitech MX Vertical Review: The Clear Leader for Ergonomic Mice

How-To Geek - Thu, 02/14/2019 - 15:00

Michael Crider

Historically, vertical mice have been made for carpal tunnel and RSI sufferers. They’ve been functional, but clinical, lacking some of the features of more modern designs. Logitech’s MX Vertical aims to buck that trend—and succeeds.

Thoughtful choices in both hardware and software allow the MX Vertical to serve all the functions of a vertical ergonomic mouse, while still packing most of the bells and whistles that make Logitech’s high-end mice favorites among power users.

It doesn’t hurt that the thing looks like a postmodern sculpture when it sits on your desk. The design is just short of perfect, and it gets an easy recommendation for anyone who wants a comfy, functional mouse that conforms to you like a friendly handshake.

Family Resemblance

You’re probably familiar with the MX Master, Logitech’s top-of-the-line conventional mouse. We’ve already reviewed its trackball variant, the MX Ergo, and I happen to have the original to compare it to as well. Suffice it to say: they’re all pretty fantastic mice. The MX Vertical takes the smooth, premium looks of those mice and rotates them by 90 degrees.

Left to right: the original MX Master, MX Vertical, MX Ergo trackball. Michael Crider

Well, fifty-seven degrees, if we want to be exact. The MX Vertical smoothly contracts and curves up to its top edge, a striking flat oval with the still-confusing “Logi” branding on one side and a thumb button on the other. We’ll get to that button in a bit, but first: the thing just looks fantastic. And that’s no small accomplishment, considering that vertical mice like the Evoluent have a tendency to look like amorphous blobs of plastic.

Soft-touch material is everywhere your hand rests, and the back curves into your palm with an appealing wave pattern. A wide lip at the bottom of the grip keeps your hand off of your mousepad. At the time of writing, Logitech only offers the mouse in a grey-and-darker-grey color scheme.

Michael Crider

Logitech told me that a focus of the MX Vertical was to give it the same premium look as its other MX hardware, on the basis that customers who need a design that lowers RSI stress don’t necessarily want a mouse that looks like a piece of medical equipment. That attention to detail shows. Different as the mouse is from conventional design, it won’t look out of place on a designer desk or hanging out with MacBooks and Surfaces.

Hardware Covers The Basics

Extending our look past the, well, looks, the hardware in the MX Vertical is fairly basic. You get standard left and right mouse buttons, a regular clicky wheel, and two thumb buttons set to forward and back by default. Oddly, there’s no hidden button where you thumb rests for gestures or other functions. I was expecting one, as that button is present on the MX Master and my M720 Triathlon. Perhaps it was left out after ergonomic testing.

Michael Crider

The battery is rechargeable and—a nice, forward-looking touch—gets its juice via a USB-C port on the front. That’s something the older MX Ergo and MX Master don’t get. The battery on my mouse went down to 50% after a week of testing, which is in line with Logitech’s longevity claims. One minute on the charger gives you three hours of wireless use.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Fix an Echo or Google Home That Won’t Connect to WiFi

How-To Geek - Thu, 02/14/2019 - 15:00

Congratulations, you have a new Google Home or Amazon Echo device! But for some reason, even though you’re confident you have the password correct, it won’t connect to Wi-Fi. The good news is, there are easy solutions to try.

Whether you have a new Google Home or new Amazon Echo device, setup should be easy. As long as you have the correct accounts created, the apps walk you through all the steps in a straightforward manner. But occasionally you might get hung up on connecting to Wi-Fi, even when you’re sure you have the password correct. Often, the problem isn’t your password but the network you’ve chosen or that your smartphone is trying to maintain a working internet connection.

Enable Airplane Mode and Turn On Wi-Fi

Echo and Google Home devices learn your Wi-Fi details through a handoff. Your smartphone directly connects to the device (creating a temporary Wi-Fi network specific to them), and then the Google or Amazon app passes on the information about your SSID (the name of your Wi-Fi network) and password. Unfortunately, smartphones are aggressive about maintaining a good network connection. When you connect to the new network, your device might realize it can’t find the internet and fall back to using your cellular data instead. When that happens, your phone disconnects from the Google Home or Echo and the setup process can’t complete.

To avoid this, before you begin the setup process turn on airplane mode in your phone’s settings. Then turn on Wi-Fi (which airplane mode just turned off). Once you have reconnected to your network launch the Google Home or Alexa app and try the setup process again.

Falling back to cellular is a common enough problem that Wink makes this same suggestion when setting up its hub.

Try a Different Wi-Fi Band

Google Home and Amazon Echo can connect to either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band. It can be tempting to use the 5 GHz band since it tends to run into fewer congestion issues and provide faster speeds, and for those reasons, it probably should be your first choice. But consider how far your new voice assistant is from the router. If that distance is far (you’re at the edges of your house), then your connection may not be reliable. In that scenario, try the 2.4 GHz band. If you already are trying to use the 2.4 GHz band, then try the 5 GHz band, as interference may be the issue. If you have a mesh system, it will take care of choosing the best band for you.

Ad-Hoc Networks May Be Unsupported

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Google Glass Isn’t Dead; It’s the Future of Industry

How-To Geek - Thu, 02/14/2019 - 13:40

Hattanas/Shutterstock

Google Glass lived a short, sad life. And when you look back, it feels like a bit of a dream. But the dream isn’t over yet, because Glass has found itself an industrial career.

Why Glass Failed as a Consumer Device Joe Seer/Shutterstock

There was a lot of hype around Google Glass when it was announced in 2012. It was featured in TIME magazine, endorsed by celebrities, and touted as the future of smart devices. But the smart eyewear was ridiculed by the media, and it became a big joke in the public eye. Google made some awkward attempts to keep the public interested in Glass (they put Google Glass in the shower, and they interrupted a Google+ keynote to push Glass wearers out of an airplane), but the Glass never picked up steam, and its public life ended in 2015.

Why did it fail? For one, nobody knew what Glass was supposed to do. Google itself couldn’t seem to find any uses for the product. Instead of developing life-changing software to show off the Glass’ capabilities, they released some awkward videos that made the Glass seem like a dorky extension of your cellphone. Customers that were part of the “Explorer” program (anyone that bought the device) were encouraged to build software on their own, a prospect that would be more exciting if the device cost less than $1500.

But most of the Glass’ woes were related to privacy and safety issues. The Glass was equipped with a camera, and people were understandably afraid of a future where anybody can walk around with a camera on their face. There was no way to tell when somebody was using their Glass to record video or take photos, so people assumed that Glass users were recording everything. A lot of states banned people from wearing the Glass while driving, because it’s an obvious visual distraction, and a lot of businesses (movie theaters, especially) banned the device because of its camera.

This isn’t to say that Glass is a bad piece of hardware; it just wasn’t ready to be thrown into the consumer market. If anything, the product was still in a beta mode. It had a lot of obvious kinks that Google needed to work out. The device’s safety and privacy issues were also legitimate and predictable, and Google should’ve taken the time to consider them before giving the product so much publicity.

How Glass Quietly Joined The Workforce x.company

While Glass was publicly floundering, Google was quietly testing it in the world of industry. Google’s “build your own apps” approach didn’t appeal to many consumers, but it sounded like a good deal to some corporations. Early adopters, like Boeing, could afford to drop thousands of dollars on smart glasses, and they had the resources to develop some useful software.

When Google noticed that Boeing and other corporations were much more interested in Glass than your average consumer, they leaned into it. After the Glass Explorer program came to a close in 2015, Google began work on an “Enterprise” edition of the device—a version that’s built specifically for industrial use, yet addresses most of the problems that people had with the Glass.

Glass Enterprise is a lighter, more comfortable pair of glasses than the Explorer edition. It has a battery life that exceeds eight hours (perfect for holiday shifts at a warehouse), and it’s equipped with an LED that tells others when you’re taking photos or recording video. The Glass Enterprise hardware is also a lot more flexible than the Explorer edition. People can remove the Enterprise from its standard glasses frame and attach it to safety glasses or the inside of a helmet.

You could theoretically use the Glass Enterprise while wearing sunglasses, safety glasses, or even a pair of goggles.

Glass Enterprise Cuts Costs and Increases Safety x.company

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Geek Trivia: The World’s Largest Dark-Sky Preserve Is Located Where?

How-To Geek - Thu, 02/14/2019 - 09:02

The World’s Largest Dark-Sky Preserve Is Located Where?
  1. Alberta, Canada
  2. Arizona, United States
  3. Subcarpathia, Poland
  4. Antarctica

Think you know the answer?

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Automate Your Mac with Smart Folders

How-To Geek - Wed, 02/13/2019 - 22:00

Smart Folders in macOS are a tool to help you organize and find your files. They’re not folders, as they don’t contain anything. They’re saved searches, and can save you a lot of time for searches you perform often.

For example, if you often open your downloads folder and sort by Date Added to find your recent downloads, you could instead make a Smart Folder called “Recent Downloads” which only contains files in your Downloads folder added there today, saving you a couple clicks each time.

You make them by defining the search criteria (i.e., all audio files on your drive) and them saving them as a smart folder you can put on your desktop or in Finder’s sidebar. They make use of Finder’s powerful search features that often go overlooked in favor of typing the name into Spotlight.

Making a Smart Folder

You’ll find the option for making Smart Folders under the “File” menu in Finder. You can get Finder to appear in the top menu bar by quickly clicking on your desktop.

This will bring up a familiar search dialog. You can click the + button on the right to add new search criteria.

You can add as many Smart Folders as you want, and by default, Finder will only pull out files that match all of the options you defined. If you want to change this behavior, you can hold down Option and click on the + button, which will change to three dots. This will group together a list of criteria, and you can choose from Any, All, and None.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

The Best Video Doorbell with Facial Recognition

How-To Geek - Wed, 02/13/2019 - 21:00

Nest

A lot of video doorbells can differentiate between a person and another random object, but what if you want to know exactly who rang your doorbell? There’s really only one video doorbell on the market that can do facial recognition, but it’s a great option.

Face Detection vs. Facial Recognition

Before we get into that, though, it’s important to know the difference between face detection and facial recognition, because you’ll see both of these terms used in the description of video doorbells when you go shopping for one. They may seem like the same thing, but the latter is far superior.

Face detection is when cameras can differentiate a person from another object. So while cameras can still detect motion for cars, animals, trees, and more, they can also specifically detect a person. The camera won’t know exactly who that person is, but it will at least know that it’s a human being and not a tree.

Facial recognition takes this a step further and not only detects a person, but can also detect who that person is, specifically. So with a little help from the user and after a few weeks of learning, the camera can eventually know exactly who came to your door, whether it was the postal worker or your neighbor.

With that said, if this is the kind of feature you’re looking for, here’s the best video doorbell that can get the job done.

Nest Hello ($229) Nest

Not only doe the Nest Hello come with facial recognition technology, but it’s also one of the best video doorbells to begin with.

The Nest Hello can record 1080p video and supports HDR. It also has two-way talk capabilities and night vision. It’s also the perfect size—small enough to easily fit on door casing and go over the spot previously occupied by your old doorbell.

The face recognition is pretty good, although it’s not perfect. Expect a hiccup here or there in the beginning, although total mismatches are incredibly rare. Most of the time you’ll find, in the beginning at least, it may ask you to identify a person you’ve already tagged (just with a photo from a different angle). This is to be expected when it’s learning faces, though.

The tough pill to swallow is that you need to be subscribed to the $5/month Nest Aware subscription in order to get access to the facial recognition. However, this will also give you seven days of video recording storage, as well as 24/7 continuous recording. That’s a small price to pay for instant and reliable recognition of the people who come to your door. And, as a pretty awesome bonus feature, if you’re using other Google family products like the Google Home Mini or Google Home Hub, it integrates very well with them, even announcing the name of the person it has identified like “John the Mailman is at the front door!”

Buy Now What Could Come In the Future Ring

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Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Get Settlement Money If You Bought a Vizio Smart TV

How-To Geek - Wed, 02/13/2019 - 19:42

Last year, Vizio was sued for reportedly spying on customers and using this data to target ads. This resulted in a $17 million class-action lawsuit that is now paying customers who bought a Vizio smart TV between February of 2015 and February of 2017.

Starting now, owners of Vizio smart TVs can sign up to be part of said lawsuit and get their piece of the pie. Don’t expect a huge take here, of course, as the average payout is expected to be $13 to $31. You’ll just need to give them your name, address, phone number (which is how you’ll get the payment), and email address. They also want to know when you purchased your TV and what model it is if you know those things, but they’re not required.

To collect your coin, head over to the Vizio TV Settlement website, click the “File a Claim” button, then fill out out the form with all the aforementioned information.

After that, you’re good to go—just hang out and wait for your lunch money to show up. You don’t even have to be in a hurry here, either, as you have until April 29th to get it done. If you don’t do it before then, you give up your right to get anything from the settlement or sue Vizio for this in the future.

It’s also worth noting that as part of the settlement, Vizio had to agree to delete any consumer data it collected before February 6th, 2017. It will also make it easier to opt-out of this tracking in the future.

via The Verge

Categories: IT General, Technology

Change Your Passwords: 617 Million Accounts Were Stolen Across 16 Different Sites

How-To Geek - Wed, 02/13/2019 - 18:28
Maxim Apryatin/Shutterstock

Right now, anyone can go on the dark web and purchase the account data of 617 million people across 16 different websites for less than $20,000. This account data includes birthdays, email addresses, full names, and hashed passwords.

Data breaches seem to happen all the time, and we’ve kind of gotten used to it. If you’ve never been affected by a breach, then they can be easy to ignore. But 16 websites have been compromised at once. This would be a good time to pay attention to a data breach.

As reported by The Register, here are the 16 sites that have been affected:

Dubsmash (162 million), MyFitnessPal (151 million), MyHeritage (92 million), ShareThis (41 million), HauteLook (28 million), Animoto (25 million), EyeEm (22 million), 8fit (20 million), Whitepages (18 million), Fotolog (16 million), 500px (15 million), Armor Games (11 million), BookMate (8 million), CoffeeMeetsBagel (6 million), Artsy (1 million), and DataCamp (700,000).

Some of these websites, including EyeEm, MyHeritage, and 8fit, have confirmed that they were hacked. But not all of these hacks are recent, some of them were done a year or two ago.

You may be thinking “I haven’t logged into Armor Games in years,” but just take a minute to think about how long you’ve been using the same email address or the same password. That 5-year-old login information could be used to access your Facebook, your email address, or your bank account.

That’s why you should change your passwords to something new and secure every time a big data breach happens. Make sure to enable two-factor authentication, and use different passwords for each website that you use. And while there isn’t any evidence that credit card or banking information has been compromised, it couldn’t hurt to freeze your credit if you’ve ever paid for content on any of these 16 websites.

Worried that your information has been compromised in a data breach? You can use Have I Been Pwned to check to see if your email address or passwords have shown up anywhere on the dark web. Just keep in mind that Have I Been Pwned isn’t perfect, and it may not have information from today’s data breach.

Source: The Register 

Categories: IT General, Technology

Deal Alert: Get Three Months of Pandora Premium for Free

How-To Geek - Wed, 02/13/2019 - 18:27
Groupon

Pandora remains one of the most popular streaming music services around, but most users are still on the free, ad-supported plan. If you scuttle over to Groupon today, you can get three months of premium listening for free.

The Groupon deal actually lets you choose between three premium options, all for free: three months of either On-Demand Premium, On-Demand Premium Family Subscription, or Pandora Plus. Those subscriptions are normally $10, $15, and $5 a month, respectively, so there’s really no reason not to go for the more expensive one unless you think you might want to stay on it.

Pandora

Pandora Premium offers pretty much all the same features as Spotify’s paid accounts: playing any song directly instead of using the randomized radio, custom playlists, downloads, and unlimited skips and replays for stations, and no advertising. Pandora Plus doesn’t have access to on-demand songs or playlists.

Groupon says that the time for this deal is limited, but doesn’t give a specific expiration. Go for it today if you want to get in.

Source: Groupon

Categories: IT General, Technology

The Best Curling Irons for Every Hair Type

How-To Geek - Wed, 02/13/2019 - 18:00

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Not everyone has naturally curly hair but that doesn’t stop many people wishing they could achieve those results. That’s why you need the best curling iron for the task. Here our are favorites.

Knowing which curling iron for you isn’t always as straight forward as you might expect. For one thing, you need to consider whether you want ceramic, tourmaline or titanium technology. Typically, ceramic plates are great for cutting down on frizz, as well as speed because they heat up more quickly and evenly than other options.

However, tourmaline is great if you want to build up the volume in your hair or you need to help your hair look a little shinier and smoother than it can manage naturally. Titanium is the lesser known variety but it’s good for managing coarse hair effectively without damaging it.

Different hair length also requires a different curling iron with the longer the hair, the longer the curling iron needs to be so you can wrap your hair in a continuous spiral around it. Makes sense, right?

Whatever your hair type, we’ve got a curling iron for you. Here’s our pick of the bunch.

Best Overall: Xtava 5 in 1 Professional Curling Wand and Curling Iron set ($40) Xtava

Simply looking for an all-in-one kind of solution? Buy the Xtava 5 in 1 Professional Curling Wand and Curling Iron set. It offers 5 different curling barrels of different lengths, with clamps included too, as well as a heat resistant glove.

Whether you have short hair or long hair, there’s a barrel here for you. In each case, they use tourmaline technology so your hair looks shiny and vibrant. Precise digital temperature controls mean you can change up the temperature of the curling wand, depending on if your hair is fine, thick, or somewhere in between. At any time, you can check the LCD screen to see what the temperature is and adjust it accordingly. It’s an ideal package if you change up your hairstyle and length regularly.

Buy on Amazon Best For Long Hair: Anjou Curling Iron ($28) Anjou

Long hair means you need a longer curling iron. The Anjou Curling Iron is the best of the bunch. At 1.5 inches long, you won’t have to worry about missing anything when curling your hair. It’s a ceramic based curling iron so it’s perfect for those of us with thick hair and no urge to make it bigger.

The iron heats up to 410F in a mere 60 seconds so you can get to work fast. Don’t worry though—if you want to change up the temperature, it’s easy enough to adjust from between 200F to 410F so that the iron suits fine and normal hair, as well as thicker locks.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

What is Microsoft Flow?

How-To Geek - Wed, 02/13/2019 - 17:24

As part of Microsoft’s push towards cloud and mobile apps, they’ve invested in several cloud-only additions to the old familiar Office apps. One of these is Flow, a trigger-based system for creating automated workflows.

What Does Flow Do?

If you’re the kind of person who reads How-To Geek regularly, you’re probably aware of the drive for personal productivity that’s been raging for pretty much the whole millennium. Flow is Microsoft’s attempt at giving you the kind of automation for notifications, alerts, data gathering, and communication that will help you spend less time on boring but necessary admin work and more time on interesting (and productive) things.

Think of Flow as IFTTT, but with a slant towards the office rather than IoT or hardware.

Flow allows you to create “flows” (short for “workflows”) that are based on trigger events. For example, you could create a flow that would download the responses to a Microsoft Forms questionnaire to Dropbox regularly, or post a message in a Slack channel if a Visual Studio build fails.

RELATED: How to Create a Questionnaire in Microsoft Forms

Can Anybody Use It?

Anybody can use Flow if they sign up for a free Microsoft account. People with an Office 365 subscription can also use Flow, but they get much the same functionality as people with a free Microsoft account.

Flow also comes with business versions of Office 365 and Dynamics 365, but different subscription levels get different versions of flow that match up with the paid and free accounts. It’s a bit confusing, but you can check out the details on Microsoft’s pricing page.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Deal Alert: Grab a New Apple Watch Series 3 for $50 Off

How-To Geek - Wed, 02/13/2019 - 17:10

If you’re in the market for a great deal on a last-generation Apple Watch, you’re in luck if you don’t mind a silver aluminum model with a white sport band. You can get a Series 3 brand new for just $229.

This is a decent $50 discount from the usual price of $279, and even though it’s the previous generation, it still does the job really well for those who really don’t see the need to have the latest and greatest—the Series 4 is definitely an upgrade, but most casual users probably don’t really need the newer features.

The Series 3 still comes with GPS built in, better water resistant than previous generations, and a much faster processor than older models. So you’re still definitely getting a good product even if it is the last-gen Apple Watch.

Buy on Amazon

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Recover a Deleted Photo on Your iPhone or iPad

How-To Geek - Wed, 02/13/2019 - 16:00

Losing a good photo can be pretty traumatic, and accidentally deleting photos is easier to do than you might think. If you’ve accidentally deleted a photo on your iPhone, there are several ways you might be able to recover it. Let’s take a look.

Here, we’re going to run through some of the ways you might be able to recover a deleted photo, and while they may not all be specific to your situation, hopefully at least one will get your photo back where it belongs–in your photo library.

Recover a Photo From Recently Deleted

The first and easiest place to look is on your iPhone. Open the Photos app and then tap “Albums” at the bottom of the screen.

Next, scroll to the very bottom of the screen and tap “Recently Deleted.” Here, you’ll see all of the photos and videos that you deleted less than around 40 days ago. Anything older than that will have been removed, but this is absolutely the first place to check.

If your photo is there, tap it and then tap “Recover.”

Recover Photos from a Backup

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Categories: IT General, Technology
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