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4 Awesome Interior Car Cleaners To Keep Your Vehicle Showroom Fresh

How-To Geek - Fri, 01/25/2019 - 18:00

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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Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Sign Other Users Out of Windows 10

How-To Geek - Fri, 01/25/2019 - 17:24

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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Categories: IT General, Technology

What Are Nits of Brightness on a TV or Other Display?

How-To Geek - Fri, 01/25/2019 - 16:00

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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Categories: IT General, Technology

Anker Soundcore Liberty Air Review: AirPods on a Budget

How-To Geek - Fri, 01/25/2019 - 15:00

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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Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Set Up and Use Network Locations on a Mac

How-To Geek - Fri, 01/25/2019 - 15:00

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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Categories: IT General, Technology

What Are the Different Self-Driving Car “Levels” of Autonomy?

How-To Geek - Fri, 01/25/2019 - 13:40

Olivier Le Moal/Shutterstock

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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Categories: IT General, Technology

Geek Trivia: Which World Leader Kidnapped A Filmmaker To Remake Godzilla?

How-To Geek - Fri, 01/25/2019 - 09:02

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?

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Add Funds to an Apple ID on an iPhone or iPad

How-To Geek - Thu, 01/24/2019 - 22:00

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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Categories: IT General, Technology

Get Office From the Mac App Store for a Better Update Experience

How-To Geek - Thu, 01/24/2019 - 21:43

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.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The Best Bluetooth Adapters For Your TV, Stereo, And Speakers

How-To Geek - Thu, 01/24/2019 - 21:00

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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Categories: IT General, Technology

Deal Alert: Our Favorite Trackball Mouse, The Logitech MX Ergo, Is $33 Off Today

How-To Geek - Thu, 01/24/2019 - 18:00

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.

Buy on Amazon

Categories: IT General, Technology

What Is the “God Mode” Folder in Windows 10, and How Do I Enable It?

How-To Geek - Thu, 01/24/2019 - 17:24

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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Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Add or Remove Shadows on Objects in PowerPoint

How-To Geek - Thu, 01/24/2019 - 16:00

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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Categories: IT General, Technology

iClever Solar Charger & Battery Pack Review: Wave Goodbye to Wall Plugs

How-To Geek - Thu, 01/24/2019 - 15:00

If you do a lot of adventuring or hiking and you hardly ever have access to an outlet to charge up your phone, you may very well benefit from iClever’s solar charger, a combination solar charger and battery pack.

Even while traveling most of us can get away with just a battery pack to charge up our phones when it needs a top off. Then, once we arrive at our destination (or whenever we have access to an outlet), we can charge up the battery pack and repeat the process.

But for those who brave the great outdoors and won’t even see an outlet for a while, the sun can pick up the slack. That’s where products like the iClever (and other solar chargers) come into play.

iClever’s solar charger and battery pack is an iPad Mini-sized device that comes with two solar panels that can fold up and be stowed away like a notebook in a backpack. It’s certainly much larger than your typical battery pack, but it was never really meant to slide into a pocket anyway—you need decent size solar panels to get a decent charge going, after all.

When closed, there’s a small flap that folds over and clasps everything together with magnets, so there’s definitely a certain premium feel to it. What’s cooler is that the flap is also where the charging ports are—just peel off the rubber cover on the end and you’ll see a microUSB port for charging up the battery pack the old-fashioned way, as well as a full-size USB-A port that can push out up to 2.4A of juice to your gadgets. We’d love to see USB-C and support for fast charging, though that might be a bit much to ask, at this point, from a device that only retails for $49.

There’s also an LED grid for a visual representation of the battery level, as well as a small power button to turn on and off the charger, although it turns on and off automatically when up plug and unplug your devices.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

Facebook Fudges Your Password for Your Convenience

How-To Geek - Thu, 01/24/2019 - 15:00

If you think the only correct version of your password is the exact capitalization and letter/symbol sequence you use, you may be in a shock. Facebook will accept slight variations of your password, for your convenience. And it’s perfectly safe.

Passwords Are Easy To Mistype

Facebook and other sites like it have a problem. They’d like you to use long and complicated passwords, but those are hard to type. You should be using a password manager to take care of that for you, but most people don’t. And because of those two factors, it’s common to mistype your password.

At that point what should Facebook do?

Should they deny you entry just because your password was slightly off, and frustrate you with a second attempt? Or should they recognize that the provided password was likely correct but with a typo and smooth your journey to cat gifs and baby pictures by ignoring the mistake?

Facebook Evaluates Mistakes in Passwords

As Alec Muffet, a former software engineer for the security infrastructure team at Facebook Engineering in London explains, Facebook chose the latter. If your password is very close to correct, they may count it as accurate. The rules for this are straightforward. Facebook will accept an incorrect password if it meets any of these conditions:

  • You have caps lock turned on, and the capitalizations are reversed.
  • You enter an extra character at the beginning or end of a password
  • The first character of the password should be lowercase, but you typed it capitalized

As you can see, these variations are all centered around the basic concept of slightly missing your password when typing. In some cases, this may be an issue of autocorrect, like the first letter of a word being capitalized. If your mistyped password meets these specific rules, you won’t know there was a problem—you’ll just find yourself logged in.

For example, let’s say your password is “letMeIn.” Facebook will also accept “LETmEiN” (because that’s a straight-up caps lock reversal) and “LetMeIn” (because that’s incorrect capital for the first letter). It will also accept variations like “1letMeIn” and “letMeIn2” because those are correct except for an additional character at the beginning or end. However, it won’t accept “LETMEIN”, “letmein”, or “12LetMeIn” at all.

This Process is Still Secure Seasontime/Shutterstock

At first blush, Facebook’s password lenience sounds insecure. But in this case, the truth is more complicated. While it’s easy to think of old hacker crime dramas that showed quick brute force guessing at a password in mere minutes, hacking doesn’t work that way at all. Brute forcing unknown passwords does exist, but it’s very different than TV implies. As xkcd famously demonstrates, as the length of a password increases, the time to crack it also increases exponentially. Adding complexity helps, but not as much as you might think.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

I Used a Cortana Smart Speaker All Weekend. Here’s Why It Failed

How-To Geek - Thu, 01/24/2019 - 13:40

I spent days using Cortana instead of Alexa or Google Assistant and the experience left me feeling as rough around the edges as Cortana is. Unfortunately, Microsoft has fallen so far behind that the only reasonable solution is to give up.

Satya says Goodbye to Cortana Speakers

Recently, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, has said he no longer sees Cortana as a competitor to Alexa or Google Assistant. According to MSPoweruser, he stated:

“You should be able to use it on Google Assistant, you should be able to use it on Alexa, just like how you use our apps on Android and iOS so that’s at least how we want to think about where it’ll go.”

But, is Cortana so far behind? Is it time to head in a new direction and give up on Cortana being your dedicated digital household assistant? I spent a few days trying to determine just that, and what I found is: Yes, this is the right decision to make.

Set Up Was Complicated

When I started with this experiment, I immediately ran into an issue. I have Alexa devices and Google devices scattered through my home. But I don’t have Cortana devices so conveniently placed. I own a Surface Pro 3, a Windows 10 PC, and I put Cortana on my phone. But my PC doesn’t have a microphone, my Surface spends much of its time turned off these days, and my phone doesn’t have a decent enough microphone for quick voice commands.

So I acquired a Harmon Kardon Invoke for my office (where I spend a lot of my time) and used my phone in other locations in the house. It’s not a perfect one-to-one scenario, but good enough. Unfortunately, there is no Google Home Mini or Echo dot equivalent, just the Invoke. So cheaply placing Cortana speakers around the house is out of the question. The price of the Invoke has dropped to $50, which is very low for a such a great sounding speaker, but you can get Echo Dots and Google Minis for less. If you keep an eye out, it’s not uncommon to see them for as little as $30.

Cortana Does Half the Basics Well Enough

My primary use for my Google and Alexa devices are smart home controls, music, timers, and routines that automate things. When it came to Smart Home integration, I thought I was doing well at first. Cortana has Wink, Smartthings, and Philips Hue integration. I’m currently using a Wink hub for many of my smart home devices and Philips light bulbs, and controlling those devices worked without issue. The experience with most of my smart home devices was on par with Alexa or Google Assistant.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

How to Disable Government and AMBER Alerts on iPhone

How-To Geek - Wed, 01/23/2019 - 22:00

Justin Singer/FEMA

You’re probably familiar with the AMBER and Government Alerts that sometimes appear on your iPhone and they can be hugely beneficial. We wouldn’t recommend it, but you can disable them. Here, we’re going to tell you how to do it.

Disabling both AMBER and general Government Alerts is a reasonably easy thing to do if you know where to look, although even with both options disabled you will continue to receive alerts of life-threatening events (which is probably a good thing!).

For the uninitiated, AMBER alerts—or America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response—are alerts sent out to make the population aware that a child is missing, and the system can be instrumental in returning children to their loved ones. Standard Government Alerts are for more general threats or messages from the country’s leaders and can be equally important. Messages about extreme weather conditions are also delivered via this system. “Presidential alerts” are special, and you can’t disable them.

If disabling one or both of these types of alerts is something you want to do, here’s how to go about doing that. However, AMBER alerts are not available in all countries, while some countries present Government Alerts from being disabled. Follow the instructions below to see which options are available to you in your particular locales.

RELATED: What Is the “Presidential Alert” Popup on Your Phone Today?

How to Disable Alerts on iPhone

To start, open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap “Notifications.”

Next, scroll to the very bottom of the list of apps. You will notice two entries: one for AMBER Alerts and another for Emergency Alerts. Both are enabled by default on all iPhones.

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Categories: IT General, Technology

After Netflix Price Hike, Hulu Now Starts at Just $5.99 Per Month

How-To Geek - Wed, 01/23/2019 - 21:26
Wikipedia

Are you feeling burnt by Netflix’s price hike? It may be time to run into Hulu’s loving, affordable embrace.

This morning, Hulu announced that its basic, ad-supported subscription service will drop from $7.99 a month to $5.99 a month on February 26th. Thankfully, the number of ads won’t increase for basic Hulu subscribers, they’re getting a straightforward discount. This $2 drop is clearly a response to Netflix’s $2 price increase, a move which has given Netflix a lot of bad press this month.

But you shouldn’t wave the flag of Hulu just yet. It also announced a price increase for the Hulu with Live TV service. As of February 26th, Hulu with Live TV will cost $44.99 a month, a $5 increase from its previous price. Hulu cites its Live TV partnership with “The CW, Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet and ABC News,” as the reason behind the hike.

Keep in mind that these changes don’t affect subscribers with student discounts, the $11.99 ad-free subscriptions, or the $12.99 Spotify/Hulu bundle.

It’s no secret that Hulu made the most of 2018. It expanded the library with classic shows from the ’90s, topped 25 million subscribers, and launched a Live TV service. Disney is set to become the majority shareholder of Hulu, and Hulu’s partnership with Spotify has successfully brought in a bunch of new subscribers.

Some people suspect that Hulu’s new relationship with Disney is the reason behind this price drop. Hulu is now backed by one of the most powerful media companies in the world, and it can handle the risk of aggressive marketing and offering subscriptions at a loss. Disney wants to solidify its place in the world of streaming services, which means that it has to take on Netflix. It’s even planning to launch its own Disney+ service sometime this year.

The price changes to basic Hulu and Hulu with Live TV won’t start until February 26th. Existing subscribers will start to see a different price to their bill after that date.

Source: Hulu

Categories: IT General, Technology

AirPods Sound Great, But Convenience Remains Their Killer Feature

How-To Geek - Wed, 01/23/2019 - 21:15

Since their release over two years ago, AirPods have become one of Apple’s most popular accessories—but it’s not really because of the audio quality. The selling point is how amazingly convenient they are to use.

Too often headphones are either praised or chastised strictly based on how good or bad they sound. Audio quality is absolutely a huge factor when deciding on which pair of cans to buy, but this leads to inadvertently overlooking other features in pursuit of sound quality above all else. The AirPods are a perfect example—the audio quality isn’t anything to write home about (they definitely sounded better than what I was expecting, though), but every other feature the AirPods have justifies the high price tag.

They Pair Easily with Your iPhone

Thanks to Apple’s proprietary W1 chip inside newer Apple devices, it’s super easy to pair AirPods with your iPhone.

All you do it is open up the lid of the AirPods case and they’ll instantly show up on your iPhone screen asking if you want to pair them to your phone—that’s it. No need to go into the Bluetooth menu in settings and put them in pairing mode. It literally takes five seconds to pair AirPods the first time you set them up.

They’re Easily Pocketable

Because of how small and rounded the AirPods case is, they’re really easy to slide into a pocket and take out whenever you need them. This is such a minor detail, but it’s pretty crucial when you’re on the go constantly and want to take your AirPods with you.

Pretty much every other pair of Bluetooth headphones that I’ve owned have been super cumbersome whenever I try to put them in my pocket and take them out. Usually, the cable connecting the two buds gets tangled up or snagged on something or I need fiddle with some other aspect of the headphones before using them.

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Categories: IT General, Technology
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