Safari, the default web browser on Mac, gives you the ability to shrink or enlarge both the content and the text on all websites or just specific ones. Ease the strain on your eyes and browse better by setting a default zoom level in the browser. How to Set a Default Zoom Level for All Websites Start by opening the “Preferences” menu. Find it by clicking Safari > Preferences in the top menu bar....
Twitter sends a lot of emails—like, an utterly unreasonable and incredibly annoying amount. If you’re not careful, you could end up with five or ten emails a day. Here’s how to stop it. The biggest problem I’ve found with Twitter’s email notifications is that they sometimes seem to get turned back on after having been disabled. While I can’t prove I turned them all off, I’m 90% certain I unsubscribed from “Tips on Getting More Out of Twitter” off as soon as I signed up for Twitter....
When you have the perfect tech setup at home, it can be difficult to leave all that behind when you go on a trip. Here are some tips and tricks to get the best experience possible with what you can bring with you. From that one Joni Mitchell song (perhaps made popular by the Counting Crows), there’s a saying: “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.” I’ve been constantly battling with this whenever I travel—I never really think about all the tech comforts I have in my home until I go on a trip, and then suddenly I panic and realize what I’m missing....
Want to quickly check the speed of your current Internet connection? With speedtest-cli you can run a test in the command prompt, on any operating system. We’ve shown you how to test your internet connection speed using a web browser, but there are a few reasons you might want a command line tool instead. Maybe you’re remotely connected to a server via ssh, and want to test speeds on that machine....
Templates are great, but creating them is usually different for every program. In macOS, however, a little known macOS feature named “Stationary Pad” lets you turn any file into a template. This is great for things like expense reports, documents that need to be formatted a certain way, or even images you need to routinely create in the same form factor. Just make a file you want to use as a template, and then set it up with Stationary Pad in macOS....
Live Photos are one of Apple’s more interesting innovations. They’re like a GIF with sound. While they’re quite good at capturing the feel of a photo by turning it into a quick video, they also take up a lot more space than a regular photo. Unless you’re a big fan of the feature, it might be better to leave them off by default. RELATED: How to Convert Your iPhone’s Live Photos to Still Photos...
There’s no getting around it: the Mac App Store is slow. If you try to avoid opening it whenever possible, you’re probably pretty annoyed when you see the update notification in the menu bar. You’ve got to open the App Store, click the “Updates” button, and wait while the application is “Checking for Updates.” It’s checking. For updates. Which it already did, because it just told you about how many updates you have....
If you’ve got a Google Chromecast, why not make mornings easier by turning your TV into a dashboard that shows you things like local weather and traffic, news, and even your to-do list? Google’s Chromecast platform has become a bona fide hit in the home theater market, thanks to it’s cheap entry point and easy accessibility from almost any smartphone. The gadgets are awesome at simple audio and video streaming, but there are a few more things you can use them for as well, like turning your television into a web-connected dashboard to start your day....
If you own a new Apple Watch, then you might still be getting used to the Activity monitor and wondering what the heck all those circles are about. Today we want to explain to you how to use and configure the Apple Watch’s Activity monitor. The Activity monitor isn’t a necessarily a new concept. It’s just Apple’s version of it, and it’s not a bad one either, but it might take some getting used to....
Traceroute is a command-line tool included with Windows and other operating systems. Along with the ping command, it’s an important tool for understanding Internet connection problems, including packet loss and high latency. If you’re having trouble connecting to a website, traceroute can tell you where the problem is. It can also help visualize the path traffic takes between your computer and a web server. How Traceroute Works When you connect to a website – say, howtogeek....
There’s a small utility called Instant Eyedropper that runs in your system tray and will let you easily select a color from anywhere on the screen. Just click on the icon in the system tray and Hold down the mouse button… you’ll see a little selector window as you move your mouse around the screen. Releasing the mouse button will copy that color to the clipboard. The right-click menu for the tray icon will let you choose between a whole bunch of formats… mostly useful for programmers or professional designers....
Walk through any electronics showroom and most TVs you see will be some form of “Ultra HD” 4K. There are plenty of models available, and they’re cheaper than ever. But should you buy one? Well, probably, but don’t hurry yourself. 4K Is An Improvement, but HDR Is Even Better Unlike 3D TVs, curved TVs, and smart TVs, 4K isn’t a gimmick—it offers a clear and obvious benefit over its normal HD counterparts....
Smart locks can offer a great deal of convenience when leaving and entering your home, but there are a few things you should be aware of before you install one on your own door. Use Good Batteries Smart locks run on battery power. Those batteries are in charge of a number of things, including the wireless chips, LED lights, and most importantly, the motor that locks and unlocks your door....
ARCore and ARKit are Google and Apple’s respective Augmented Reality frameworks for bringing more AR apps to their platforms. They use the smartphone’s camera to add interactive elements to an existing environment. What is Augmented Reality? Augmented Reality—generally abbreviated as “AR”—is a real world view that has been augmented digitally to add interactive elements or otherwise change visual perception. In simpler terms, Augmented Reality adds computer generated elements to your environment, which you can see through a hardware layer—like your smartphone’s camera....
It’s taken a while, but Bluetooth headphones and earbuds are finally good. Manufacturers have solved most of the problems associated with them, like bad battery life, poor audio, and Bluetooth’s (notorious) connection problems—and Apple’s W1 chip improves Bluetooth even more. RELATED: Wireless Earbuds Used to Suck, But They’re Good Now The W1 chip is Apple’s proprietary addition to their models of Bluetooth headphones. Specifically, it’s in AirPods, Beats Solo3, Beats Studio3, Powerbeats3, and Beats X headphones....
There are a handful of smart locks to choose from, but not all are created equal. Here’s what you should know about the different kinds of smart locks and which ones you should consider buying. Full Replacements vs. Conversion Kits The main thing you’ll need to decide when buying a smart lock is whether you want a full replacement smart lock or just a conversion kit. The former replaces your entire deadbolt, while the latter just replaces the interior thumb turn portion, leaving your existing deadbolt mechanism and exterior portion alone....
The Fire TV Cube has one input HDMI port, in addition to the typical output HDMI. It can be used to plug in a cable box, game console, or other device, and display an Alexa overlay on top. As pointed out by AFTVnews, Software version 7.6.1.3 (PS7613/3686) adds support for DTS, DTS-HD, and Dolby True HD audio passthrough on the HDMI port. That means if the device connected to the Fire TV Cube supports one of those audio standards, and your TV does too, you won’t lose any quality through the Fire TV Cube anymore....
Older Android devices support USB mass storage for transferring files back and forth with a computer. Modern Android devices use the MTP or PTP protocols — you can choose which one you prefer. To select a USB connection protocol, open the Settings app, tap Storage, tap the menu button, and tap USB computer connection. You’ll also see the protocol your device is using as a notification when it’s connected to a computer via USB....
Whether you work at your computer or just enjoy the occasional long gaming session, it’s important to take breaks regularly. Getting up to take a walk, grab a coffee, or do some stretches helps reduce eye strain, prevent repetitive strain injury (RSI), and is otherwise just plain good for you. And one study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shows that breaks might even enhance productivity by increasing focus....
One of the regular error messages you’re likely to encounter with Git is the warning that “you are in ‘detached HEAD’ state.” You may have stumbled into this accidentally, but don’t worry—it’s a normal problem, and can easily be fixed once you understand what it means. What Is The Git HEAD? “HEAD” is simply an alias for your current working commit, much like your current directory on a command line....
