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Taking good photographs isn’t just about framing your subject and learning composition. Learning how to control how much light enters your camera and for how long can help you take photos that elude the average photographer. Neutral density filters are a powerful tool towards that end. Here’s what they are and how to use them. RELATED: How to Develop a Better Eye for Taking Good Photos Neutral density filters (or ND filters) reduce the overall intensity of the light that passes through them, without affecting the color of that light....

Microsoft Word makes it easy to add geometric shapes (and a whole lot more) to your document. You can also add text into these shapes, which is handy when you’re creating flowcharts, network diagrams, mind maps, and so on. This being Word, there are plenty of options for doing this, so let’s take a look. First, you’ll need to insert a shape by going to Insert > Shapes. We’re going to use a nice rounded rectangle, which by default will be filled in with blue....

If you’ve ripped your Blu-Ray collection to make your library more convenient, you might also want to burn a back up or use a copy so you don’t damage your original. Here’s how to burn a copy of your movies—or even your own home videos—to a playable Blu-Ray on Windows or macOS. What You’ll Need RELATED: How to Rip Blu-Ray Discs With MakeMKV and Handbrake To create your own playable Blu-Ray, you’ll need a few things to get started including:...

Being able to turn my TV on is cool, but what I really wanted was to be able to control my media center. I wanted to be able to say “Play the next episode of Friends” and have it search my library, see what I watched last, and start playing the subsequent episode. And after a bit of searching, I found that one enterprising programmer named Joe Ipson had already done just that....

What Is a JFIF Image? JFIF isn’t as widely recognized as JPG or PNG. While commonly used in digital photography and the creation of it, this image format is a variation of the JPEG format. It’s a bitmap graphic that uses JPEG image compression. The problem for many is uploading or using an image with the JFIF file extension. For this, you’ll need to convert it to a JPG file which is more widely accepted....

If you want to count the number of days between two dates, you can use the DAYS, DATEDIF, and NETWORKDAYS functions in Google Sheets to do so. DAYS and DATEDIF count all days, while NETWORKDAYS excludes Saturday and Sunday. Counting All Days Between Two Dates To count the days between two dates, regardless of whether the day is a weekday or a holiday, you can use the DAYS or DATEDIF functions....

If you like spending time gaming with others online, creating an event on the PlayStation 4 or Pro is an easy way to get everyone together at the same time, in the same game. Here’s how to set one up. What Are Events? RELATED: How to Block Someone on the PlayStation 4 or Pro Basically, Events are a way to schedule a gaming session with your crew—you can set the time, pick the game, and invite people from your friends list, a message group, or an entire community....

Auto-brightness is a feature designed to save battery life and make your iPhone’s screen easier to read. When you’re somewhere dark, like your bedroom at night, the screen will automatically dim. When you’re somewhere bright, like outside on a sunny day, it’ll crank itself up to maximum brightness. Auto-brightness is generally pretty good at adapting to changing circumstances, and since the screen is one of the biggest battery drainers on your phone, we’d generally recommend leaving it on....

If you ever forget to lock your door on the way out, The Kwikset Kevo can make your life easy by doing it automatically whenever you leave the house. Here’s how to enable it. RELATED: How to Install and Set Up the Kwikset Kevo Smart Lock The feature is called Auto-Lock, and it’s actually nothing more than having the Kevo automatically re-lock itself 30 seconds after it unlocks. It can be convenient, but it will do this no matter what....

While the Nest Thermostat may be the coolest smart thermostat on the block, the Ecobee line of smart thermostats have all sorts of neat features that the Nest Thermostat lacks. However, are you actually taking advantage of them all? Here’s how to get the most out of your Ecobee smart thermostat. Lock It with a PIN Code RELATED: How to Lock Your Ecobee Thermostat with a PIN Code If you don’t want other household members changing the thermostat settings without your knowledge, it might be best to lock it down so that only you can access it, which is possible with a PIN code....

Overwatch is pretty great. As a multiplayer team shooter, it does almost everything right: plenty of variety, fast-paced gameplay, free hero and map updates, and unlike its spiritual ancestor Team Fortress 2, all players get immediate access to every weapon and technique. But if Overwatch has a dark side, it’s the long tail of monetization that Blizzard has imposed upon it: the cosmetic bonuses found in randomized loot boxes that make up more or less all of its progression system....

The lawnmower is one of those tools that many people don’t really think much about except for when they need to use it. However, if you want it lasting for a long time without much fuss, there are a few quick things you’ll want to do every spring. RELATED: The Basic Tools Every DIYer Should Own The good news is that lawnmowers can be pretty forgiving. If you’ve neglected yours for several years, it’s probably still running okay, although maybe not as good as it could be....

While Chromebooks are generally considered “casual use” machines, they continue to get more powerful and versatile. And as they continue to do more, the strain on the machine naturally becomes larger. If you’re looking for a great way to quickly and easily keep tabs on what your Chromebook is doing, look no further than Cog. Where Chrome’s Native Task Manager Falls Short Now, before we jump into what Cog is, let’s talk about the native task manager in Chrome OS....

Spotlight on Mac is brilliant at quickly launching apps and finding documents. But once you get a list of results, it’s not obvious how to see the file locations in Finder. We’ll show you how to do it. First, open Spotlight search at any time by clicking the magnifying glass icon in the upper-right corner of the menu bar. Or you can press Command+Space on your keyboard. Once the search bar is open, type in the name of a file you’re looking for....

Your Chromebook automatically connects to Wi-Fi networks you’ve previously connected to. But, if multiple known Wi-Fi networks are in range, you might want to configure which one gets priority. For example, you can prioritize your home network over your neighbor’s network, which is nearby but faint. This feature is also available on Windows 7, Windows 8 and 10, and macOS. How to Set a Preferred Network First, open your Chromebook’s settings screen....

Apple Music is heavily integrated into your iPhone’s Music app. This is great if you’re a subscriber, but the constant prompts and reminders to join get pretty tiresome if you’re not. The good news is you can remove Apple Music from the Music app. This will make it much more like the old Music app. Go to Settings > Music and turn off the “Show Apple Music” toggle. This removes the “For You” and “Browse” tabs, replacing them with a “Connect” tab....

Music streaming services make it a little difficult to move your favorite songs when you decide to change your preferred service. If you’re moving from Apple Music to Spotify, we’ll show you how to take your playlists with you. How to Move Playlists From Apple Music to Spotify As much as we’d love to show you a native way to migrate your Apple Music playlists to Spotify, it’s just not possible....

On the “Your Account” page, scroll down to the list of quick links near the bottom of the page. In the “Ordering and Shopping Preferences” box, click “1-Click Settings.” The link that you just clicked was a shortcut to the Your Account > Your Payments > Settings > Your Purchase Preferences page. On this page, click the “Disable 1-Click Everywhere” link located in the box near the upper-right corner of the page....

The latest version of tvOS is out now for the fourth-generation Apple TV (as well as the new Apple TV 4K). Here’s how to update the streaming box and get all the new features. RELATED: Is It Worth Upgrading to the Apple TV 4K? With the arrival of tvOS 11, users finally get some great features that they have been begging for, including home screen syncing, automatic night mode, AirPods support, and the addition of live sports in the TV app....

Instapaper is currently blocked in the EU because of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws that went into force in May. Anyone who visits the Instapaper website from an EU IP address gets told that Instapaper is “temporarily unavailable” and that they “intend to restore access as soon as possible”. Let’s look at how to get around that. RELATED: What is the GDPR Privacy Law and Why Should You Care?...