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What Was The First Song Encoded Into MP3 Format?

1. Digital - Joy Division
2. Ninth Symphony - Beethoven
3. Tom's Diner - Suzanne Vega
4. Video Killed the Radio Star - The Buggles

Think you know the answer?

Craving the feel of a full-size controller with comfortable ergonomics for your Nintendo Switch? You can grab a Switch Pro controller for nearly 20% off today.

If your only experience with Switch controllers is using the slender Joy-Cons, you really should treat yourself to a Pro controller. The Joy-Cons are great in terms of clever design, portability, and so on, but when it comes to a long game session (like binging for hours on Breath of the Wild or Mario’s Oddysey) the slender form factor can be pretty uncomfortable.

Enter the Pro controller: it’s got a traditional form factor, comfortable button and joystick spacing, and a huge battery for hours of play without recharging—you can expect 35-40 hours of playtime, easy. On top of that, you don’t sacrifice any of the features of the Joy-Cons: you still get rumble feedback, Amiibo functionality, and tilt/motion sensors.

Normally you’d pay $70 for the experience (which, in our opinion, is totally worth it), but thanks to a better-than-Black-Friday Amazon sale going on right now you can grab a Pro controller for $56.54.

Buy on Amazon

 

Unlimited Potential

Looking for something a little more dynamic than simple weights? These tools help you incorporate dynamic resistance training into your routines.

Resistance training is any workout where your limbs move against resistance (such as body weight, gravity, added weights, bands, etc.), which makes movement harder to accomplish. Resistance on the contracting of your muscles not only makes the exercises more difficult, but it also helps your body build more strength.

Our roundup of resistance tools includes bodyweight band trainers, resistance bungees, speed chutes, and weight sleds with a specific focus on keeping things interesting with dynamic resistance tools. 

Best Body Weight Resistance Trainer: Ultimate Body Press ($50) Ultimate Body Press

Our first tool for resistance training uses your own body weight for resistance. The Ultimate Body Press consists of two straps that have hand grips and feet loops to give you an upper body and lower body workout. These straps hang vertically, which helps prevent chafing against the skin of your arms when doing push up, dips, or flys. And if your feet are in the straps, they’ll stay put as you do your exercises.

You can use the Ultimate Body Press anywhere—mount it over a door or on a sturdy tree limb with the utility strap, or loop it over a pull up bar. Depending on the length you allow for the straps and the positioning of your body, you can tailor your workout to the resistance of your choosing. So if you want a more intense workout, lengthen the straps; if you want to build more stamina, make the straps shorter. The heavy-duty straps and buckles quickly adjust when you need them to.

This trainer can be used anywhere there’s a stable place to hang it. Plus, it even comes with a carrying bag for easy portability. But if you decide to set this resistance trainer up in your home, you can hang the large wall poster right next to the straps so you can look at its 26 exercises and 3 sample workouts.

Buy on Amazon Best Resistance Bungee: SKLZ Dynamic Resistance Assistant Trainer ($30) SKLZ

Resistance bungees can be used to train for any sport, from football to soccer to basketball, to even swimming. Use the SKLZ Dynamic Resistance Assistant Trainer solo by attaching the velcro end to a pole or sturdy base, or with a partner who holds the end. The person performing the exercise straps in and gets to work.

You can position the belt (which is attached to the bungee cord with a ring) at any orientation around your body to allow for 360-degree training, helping with your balance, speed, power, and even vertical jump. The sheathed cable of this bungee stretches from 8 to 22 feet, letting you train with any drill or movement needed to improve your overall physical fitness.

If you want more resistance, you can double up these bungees depending on the level of intensity you’re looking for in your training. The possibilities are endless when training with this tool. You can attach this to your ceiling to add resistance to burpees. Attach it to the side of the pool when you’re swimming. Wear it while doing agility footwork with cones and ladders. As long as the bungee cord can move in the space you’re working, you can add it in as an extra layer of training.

Buy on Amazon Best Resistance Parachute: Unlimited Potential Speed Chute ($20) Unlimited Potential

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One of the best values in all of the smarthome technology available is the handy smart plug. They’re cheap, but they can do a lot. Here are a handful of creative uses if you find yourself pondering the implications.

First off, if you just bought a smart plug and aren’t quite sure how to set it up and get going, we have some guides on a few different models—like  Eufy, ConnectSense, and Belkin—but for the most part, the process is similar on many other models. And if you haven’t bought one yet and are still deciding, maybe this will help.

With all that said, here are some cool and fun uses for smart plugs that might prove useful to you.

Automatically Turn Off Your Space Heater, Curling Iron, or Other Gadgets If You Forget to

Whether it’s the curling iron, space heater, or something else, there’s usually something that people forget to turn off—or at least worry that they’ve forgotten. A smart plug can help with that.

RELATED: Never Forget to Turn off the Curling Iron Again by Using a Smart Plug

If you the sort that only remembers you left something on after you leave home (or worry that you might have), you can use the accompanying app on your phone to turn off the smart plug remotely. However, most of the time, when we forget to turn something off, we never remember it later on. To solve that problem, you can set a schedule or a rule for your smart plug and have it automatically turn off at a set time every day.

Start the Coffee Maker from Afar

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Which Failed 1990s Product Foreshadowed QR-Code Based Advertising?

1. DigiShopper
2. ScanBoy
3. CueCat
4. Coupon Clipz

Think you know the answer?

What’s worse than not being able to get a meeting with someone? Getting a meeting request for a time when you’re not working. We can’t stop that, but we can help you set up Outlook so that at least people know your working hours.

When you create a meeting request in Outlook, the Meeting > Scheduling Assistant helps you find a time that you and the meeting request recipients are both free.

When you open the Scheduling Assistant, the hours shown for each day aren’t from midnight to midnight, though; they’re from 8 am to 5 pm.

This is Outlook’s default working day, which you can change to whatever hours you work. Click File > Options > Calendar and look for the “Work Time” section. You can change your working hours here.

As an example, we’ll change our working hours to 10 am to 4 pm and then click “OK.” If we open a new Meeting request and click on the Scheduling Assistant, our working hours have changed to reflect the new hours.

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iRobot

We reviewed the iRobot Roomba 690 robotic vacuum last year, loved it, and now you can scoop it up to tirelessly clean your house for an absolute steal.

RELATED: Roomba 690 Review: What a Modern Robot Vacuum Should Be

When we reviewed it the 690 model was going for $320 and at that price-point, we were more than happy to recommend it. You can grab it for an all-time low price of $248, and at that price, it’s a must buy if you’re in the market for a robot vacuum cleaner.

So what do you get for your money? The 690 includes app connectivity (for on-demand cleaning and scheduling), voice control (because you’re not really living in the future if you can’t yell at your robot vacuum), automatic docking and recharging, excellent navigation of carpeted and hardwood floors alike, and a low-profile design short enough to clean under low furniture and even cabinet toe-kicks. For a full rundown check out our review, otherwise, you can snap one up now at the low price.

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Carfidant

Whether it’s from eating lunch on the go or just daily dirt, the inside of your car gets dirty. We’ve checked out the best car interior cleaners for cleaning up the inside of your car so it looks as good as new again.

You’ll be surprised how quickly dirt and dust accumulate in your car. Even if you never eat in it or taking it off-roading, daily use leads to a slow accumulation of dust and grime on everything. Each part of your car needs a different approach too—from wiping plastic dashboards to cleaning up leather or cloth seats. And let’s not forget the carpet, or the fact that your GPS loves to collect fingerprints.

Besides the products here, we strongly recommend you check out our general look at car cleaning implements. Microfiber cloths and detail brushes, in particular, are great for helping you tidy up in the interior of your car.

Here’s a look at all our favorite car interior cleaners.

 

Best All-Round Cleaner: Carfidant Ultimate Interior Cleaner ($17) Carfidant

A one size fits all style interior cleaner is a good starting point. Even more so if you’re not too bothered about using multiple different cleaners on your car interior. This Carfidant Ultimate Interior Cleaner does a little bit of everything well. Simply spray it onto a microfiber cloth, and you can use it to clean leather or cloth seats, carpets, mats, upholsteries, dashboards, vinyl, and plastic. It’s that versatile.

There’s no heavy scents and impressively it’s gentle enough to be safe on painted surfaces. It’ll still do a tough job on clearing dirt though and you’ll get a lot of mileage out of it.

Buy on Amazon Best Carpet Cleaner: Chemical Guys Foaming Citrus Fabric Clean and Upholstery Shampoo ($10) Chemical Guys

Carpets in cars have to withstand a fair amount of stress. You might not be walking around on it, but the constant movement of your feet as you move between pedals is sure to have an effect on the carpet. Throw in the fact you’re constantly bringing in dirt from the outside, and you need a good carpet cleaner. The Chemical Guys Foaming Citrus Fabric Clean and Upholstery Shampoo is a good bet.

Its high-sudsing foaming action lifts dirt and stains easily with a stain remover that breaks down set-in stains. It smells pretty nice too so it’ll easily override any nasty odors left over. As the name suggests, it doubles as an upholstery cleaner too so it’s safe to use to clean your seats.

Buy on Amazon Best For Cleaning Plastics And Vinyl: Adam’s Interior Detailer ($15) AdamsPolishes

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Windows supports multiple accounts on the same device. If someone forgets to sign out of their account, their profile still runs processes and consumes resources in the background. Here’s how you can sign out other users on the same computer.

RELATED: Windows 10 Is Only Making Windows Fragmentation Worse

How to Sign Out Other Users

When a user locks their account, the computer returns to the sign in screen but leaves their account signed in and running all their programs and processes in the background. This could be problematic for other people using the computer. You can sign out other users either with Task Manager or the Command Prompt, and we’ll walk you through both methods.

Note: To sign another user out of your device you must be using an account with administrator privileges.

Using Task Manager

Open up Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc, then click the “Users” tab at the top of the window.

Select the user you want to sign out, and then click “Sign Out” at the bottom of the window.

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The competition between TV and display manufacturers has been heating up rapidly, and everyone is talking about how many “nits” their displays have. But what even is a nit? And why should you care?

Nits Are a Unit of Brightness

No, we’re not talking about head lice here, but rather a piece of terminology used in the tech world. Long story short, a nit is the unit of measurement that describes how bright a television, smartphone, computer monitor, laptop screen, or another type of display is. The higher the number of nits, the brighter the display.

Sounds simple, right? But doesn’t “lumens” describe brightness? And why are nits so important to you as a consumer? Let’s answer some of these questions.

What Exactly Is a “Nit” Anyway?

Interestingly enough, nit (which comes from the Latin word nitere, meaning “to shine”) isn’t an official unit of measurement since it’s not technically a part of the International System of Units or any other measurement system. The official term is actually “candela per square meter.” But we guess “nit” is easier to remember.

So let’s break it down. Since you now know that “nit” is just slang for “candela per square meter,” then you also now know that a nit is measuring two things: Luminous intensity (the candela) and area (the square meter).

As you might have guessed, “candela” is Latin for “candle.” So one candela is equal to the brightness of a single average candle. Two candelas is equal to the brightness of two candles, and so on.

When you add in square meters, you now measure the luminous intensity spread out over a surface. So one candela per square meter (or one nit) is the brightness of one candle shining onto a surface that measures one meter across and one meter down.

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If you can’t quite afford the hefty price tag of Apple’s AirPods but still want a truly wireless experience, Anker’s Soundcore Liberty Air headphones offer a solid wireless experience on a budget.

The market doesn’t want for AirPod alternatives, but what you’ll notice if you look over our roundup of AirPod alternatives worth looking at is that they’re as expensive (or more expensive even) than the AirPods themselves.

That’s where the Liberty Air headphones stand out: they offer an AirPod-like appearance and functionality but at half the cost.

Let’s take a closer look and reflect on our time with them to see how they compare to the AirPods, and whether or not saving $80 over the cost of AirPods is ultimately a good value.

Overall Design: Not Quite AirPods, But Close Craig Lloyd

When it comes to size, the charging case for the Liberty Air is slightly larger and thicker than the AirPods case, which was to be expected before I even received them—Apple really nailed it out of the park on the overall design and quality of the AirPods case, which makes the Liberty Air case just feel pretty cheap in comparison.

Craig Lloyd

However, in a vacuum, the Liberty Air case is honestly just fine, and it’s still very much pocketable and easy to handle. Plus, it opens up the same way as the AirPods case does, and each earbud also sits down in its own cavity, held there by magnets, just like the AirPods.

One thing the Liberty Air case does have that the AirPods case doesn’t is a series of small LEDs that indicate the case’s battery level. That’s really nice to have. Unfortunately, the case charges via micro USB port found on the bottom. We understand not paying the premium to get a lightning port on there, but not going with USB-C at this point in time seems like an odd choice.

Craig Lloyd

Speaking of charging, the headphones can be used for up to five hours of music playback, and the case can provide about 20 hours of total charging, which isn’t quite up to par with the AirPod’s 24 hours, but still a very respectable number of playback/charging hours.

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Peter Werkman/Flickr

The Mac’s been around so long that there are some features many have forgotten about, or never knew existed in the first place. Network locations are a great example, but they can be super useful. Here’s why.

Network locations have been part of macOS for years, but it’s a real shame how often they go unused. If you’re someone who regularly uses your Mac in multiple locations and connects to different networks both wired and wireless, then using multiple network locations can be a lifesaver.

What are Network Locations?

The best way to think of network locations is as a collection of saved preferences. If you like to have your Ethernet connection set up one way at home but want to have different settings at the office, then a pair of network locations is perfect because it saves you from diving into System Preferences every time you work from a different place. You might also want to have different service orders set up depending on where you are, for example.

How to Set Up a Network Location

To get started, open the Apple menu and click “System Preferences.”

Next, click “Network.”

At the top of the window, click the “Location” drop-down menu and then click “Edit Locations.”

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Self-driving cars seem like a promise that is here, almost here, and not coming for years all the same time. Those statements are all true because there are different “levels” of autonomy. Here’s what those levels mean.

The NHTSA Created the Levels for Clarity

If it seems like you’ve been told that cars can already self-drive and that cars can’t self-drive, you’ve heard it essentially right both ways. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines six levels of car autonomy. They released this guidance to both push forward and standardize autonomous vehicle testing.

Self-driving cars could potentially save many lives, but not having a common goal and agreed-upon rules against which to test could wipe out any potential gains. Much like it’s easier to know what to expect when you eventually buy a router that conforms to the Wi-Fi 6 standard, it’s easier to know what to expect when you someday buy a car that meets a self-driving level.

The NHTSA breaks down Self-Driving cars into six categories, starting with Level 0.

NHTSA Level 0: No Automation The 1976 Chevrolet Chevette doesn’t include any automation technology. Chevrolet

A Level 0 car has no self-driving capabilities at all. The human does all the driving at all times. Basically, a Level 0 car isn’t self-driving at all. Model T’s were Level 0 cars, if you were born in the ’80s most likely so was your first car. Realistically, until recently, most vehicles were Level 0.

Most used vehicles on the market are still Level 0 today, from your 2007 Ford Focus to your 2010 Toyota Prius.

Level 1: Driver Assistance The 2014 Chevy Impala includes Adaptive Cruise Control. Chevrolet

A Level 1 vehicle can assist with either steering or braking, but not both at the same time. Adaptive cruise control (ACC) falls into this category, as it handles just braking (to keep a specified distance from the car in front of you), but not steering.

Quite a few cars already have this technology. The 2011 Jeep Cherokee had ACC, Chevrolet introduced several models in 2015, and Ford debuted the first pickup truck (an F150) to include ACC just a few years ago.

Level 2: Partial Automation Tesla’s Model S has both automated steering and breaking technology. Tesla

A Level 2 vehicle can assist with both steering and braking at the same time. They still require full driver attention, and you must be ready to take over at any time. If you combine adaptive cruise control from our explanation of Level 1 cars with lane centering (which steers your car into the center of the lane), then you have met the definition of Level 2.

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Which World Leader Kidnapped A Filmmaker To Remake Godzilla?

1. Saddam Hussein
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Kim Jong-il
4. Fidel Castro

Think you know the answer?

If you make regular purchases of apps, games, or any other content via your Apple ID, you’ll be familiar with the process. But did you know you can add funds directly to an Apple ID, ready for use? Here’s how.

Making purchases using your Apple ID is super easy, but there might be times where you want to have funds available ahead of time. You might want to set yourself, or someone else, an allowance for apps or games, for example. Adding funds to an Apple ID is a great way of doing that, rather than making purchases ad-hoc and potentially losing track of how much you’re spending.

Adding funds to an Apple ID is super easy, and all you need to get started is to have a payment method on file. If you do, here are the steps you can take to add any amount of credit to your Apple ID.

Adding Credit to an Apple ID

To get started, open the App Store on your iPhone or iPad and then tap on your avatar at the top of the screen.

Next, towards the bottom of the screen tap “Add Funds to Apple ID.”

You’ll now see with a series of preset amounts including $10, $25, $50, or $100 but you can tap “Other” to enter a custom amount if you wish. Make your selection and tap “Next.”

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Microsoft and Apple just added Office 365 to the Mac App Store. That means you never have to use Microsoft AutoUpdate on Mac again—just install Office from the App Store and the App Store will update it.

If you use Microsoft Office on Mac, you’re probably familiar with this annoying updater. We’ve encountered all kinds of problems with it, including updates taking forever to download and updates stalling partway through.

While writing this article, we launched Microsoft AutoUpdate and it downloaded an AutoUpdate update. It then restarted and downloaded a second update for itself. After the third restart, updates for our installed applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote finally appeared.

But you don’t have to struggle with that updater anymore. Just uninstall Office from your Mac and then install Office 365 from the Mac App Store. Assuming you’re an Office 365 subscriber, you can just install it and use your existing Office 365 account to sign in. The Mac App Store will then handle updating your Microsoft Office apps in the future. No more Microsoft AutoUpdate!

Unfortunately, if you purchased a boxed copy of Office for Mac, you’re out of luck. You have to keep using the old Microsoft AutoUpdate updater. This feature is just Microsoft’s Office 365 subscription service, which Microsoft is slowly encouraging everyone to use.

Bluetooth is a dream come true. It’s the standard for wireless audio transmission, and it’s great for cleaning up all the wires behind your TV or stereo. But you don’t have to replace your old devices to benefit from Bluetooth.

Adding Bluetooth capabilities to your entertainment center or speakers isn’t very difficult or expensive. If you want to add Bluetooth to your TV or stereo, then you just have to connect a Bluetooth transmitter to their audio output. Boom, you can now pair your audio source with any Bluetooth speaker.  Sounds easy, right?

RELATED: The Best Bluetooth Adapters To Use Your Wired Headphones With Your New Phone

Keep in mind that if you need to add Bluetooth connectivity to your TV and your speakers, then you’ll need to buy a transmitter and a receiver. Adding a transmitter to your TV won’t magically turn your ancient speakers into Bluetooth speakers or your favorite old school headphones into a Bluetooth pair. Thankfully, a lot of Bluetooth transmitters double as Bluetooth receivers, so you can just buy a pair of them if you need to. If you’re looking specifically for adapters to add to a pair of headphones, however, do check out our top picks here.

Now that you know how to transform your wired setup into a Bluetooth utopia, you need to find the best products to get the job done right. Do you want a device that can hide behind your TV, or do you want something that can sit proudly amongst your audio equipment? Do you need a Bluetooth receiver that can connect to RCA cables, or will AUX work perfectly for your setup? It can be hard to find some good Bluetooth adapters for your TV or stereo, but we’ve rounded up great picks for every need.

Esinkin Tiny Bluetooth Receiver ($23)

If you’re just trying to add Bluetooth compatibility to your speakers, then you should check out the Esinkin Bluetooth receiver. It’s small enough to take on the go or hide behind your audio setup, it has RCA and AUX ports, and it’s affordable. Not bad, right?

This receiver may be the only thing that you need in your setup. Just keep in mind that if you’re trying to transmit audio from your Bluetooth-less TV or stereo, then you’ll need to buy a transmitter as well.

Buy on Amazon Logitech Tiny Bluetooth Receiver ($21)

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Friends, the universe wants you to have our top-choice trackball mouse, the Logitech MX Ergo—and to help with that it’s $33 off today. This mouse is a great value at full price and at this price, it’s a must-have for trackball fans.

Yesterday we highlighted the Logitech MX Ergo with a One Year Later look at the mouse. A year after we first reviewed it we still loved it and it has yet to be supplanted by any other trackball on the market. It’s a sturdy mouse with excellent design choices, good hardware, long battery life, and it works just as well on the road as it does parked on your desk all day.

If you want the full rundown on the mouse we consider the current king of the trackballs, you can read our original review here (but do follow it up with the One Year Later look, where we note that nothing we thought was negative about the MX Ergo ended up actually being a negative).

And if you’re sitting there saying “Guys, you had me at top-choice trackball!” well then here you go: the MX Ergo for 33% off.

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What if Windows let you quickly access administrative tools, backup and restore options and other important management settings from a single window? If that sounds good, look no further than the so-called “God Mode.”

What Is God Mode?

No, God Mode doesn’t unlock any extra secret features in Windows or let you do any tweaking that you can’t do in the regular Windows interface. Instead, it’s simply a special folder you can enable that exposes most of Windows’ admin, management, settings, and Control Panel tools in a single, easy-to-scroll-through interface.

And yes, you can also find a lot of this stuff by searching the Start menu, but to do that, you kind of need to know what you’re looking for begin with. The God Mode folder offers an easier way to browse through 206 of these tools and get to know them.

By the way, “God Mode” is just a popular name some people give this special folder. You can name the folder anything you like—including How-To Geek Mode, for example.

Here are the categories of tools you’ll find in God Mode:

• Administrative Tools
• AutoPlay
• Backup and Restore
• Color Management
• Credential Manager
• Date and Time
• Devices and Printers
• Ease of Access Center
• File Explorer Options
• File History
• Fonts
• Indexing Options
• Infrared
• Internet Options
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• Network and Sharing Center
• Pen and Touch
• Phone and Modem
• Power Options
• Programs and Features
• Region
• RemoteApp and Desktop Connections
• Security and Maintenance
• Sound
• Speech Recognition
• Storage Spaces
• Sync Center
• System
• Tablet PC Settings
• Taskbar and Navigation
• Troubleshooting
• User Accounts
• Windows Defender Firewall
• Windows Mobility Center
• Work Folders

Each of these categories contains any number of tools and might even be divided into further subcategories, meaning that you’re likely to find nearly anything you’re looking for.

Enabling God Mode in Windows 10

To make this work, you must be using an account with administrative privileges. Go to your desktop and create a new folder by right-clicking any open area, pointing to “New” on the context menu, and then clicking the “Folder” command.

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Applying shadows to shapes, images, text, or other objects is a great way to add flair to your presentation. However, too many visual effects may draw your audience away from the central message of the slideshow. We’ll show you how to create the perfect balance by adding (or removing) shadows on objects in PowerPoint.

Adding and Removing Shadows on Objects

Open your PowerPoint presentation and go to the slide that contains the objects with which you’ll be working. Click to select the image.

On the Picture Tools “Format” tab, click the “Picture Effects” button. (If you’re applying a shadow to text, that button will be named “Text Effects” instead.)

On the drop-down menu, select the “Shadows” submenu.

This submenu contains a large variety of shadow effects. Hovering over each option gives you a live preview, so play around with them to see which one you like best. In this example, we’ll use the lower-left perspective option.

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