June has been a busy month here at How-To Geek where we covered topics like cleaning keyboards, what to do when your e-mail has been compromised, creating high resolution Windows 7 icons, and more. Join us as we look back at the most popular articles from this past month. Note: Articles are listed as #10 through #1. What You Said: How Do You Keep Notes? Note taking applications have grown increasingly sophisticated....
The first thing you’ll have to do is get your Google Calendar iCal link. Just open your Google Calendar and go to Settings \ Calendar. Pick the calendar you want to sync with Outlook. Now in the Private Address field click on the ICAL button. This will show you your private Calendar address. Copy this address to the clipboard. Now open Outlook and go to Tools \ Account Settings....
Swapping out lenses is one of the greatest advantages of modern photography, allowing for photographers to take vastly different kinds of pictures with the same camera. But what should you know before you buy an expensive new lens? It’s important to ask yourself the right questions before making a major purchase, as even cheaper lenses tend to be pretty expensive. We’ll run down some of those important questions and help readers understand what they’re looking for before they commit to a new lens....
A common setting on many digital cameras, RAW is a filetype option many professional photographers prefer over JPG, despite a huge disparity in filesize. Find out why, what RAW is, and how you can benefit using this professional quality filetype. What is Camera RAW? RAW is an answer to the limitations of the JPG file format, the original filetype developed specifically for digital photography by the Joint Photographic Experts Group....
The simplest definition of “observable” software is a system that lets you deduce its internal state by watching the outputs it produces. If your system can’t provide these outputs, it won’t be fully observable. Consider a software platform that appears to be running more slowly than normal. At first glance, you’ve got insufficient information to work out what’s causing the slowdown. But if the system emitted performance metrics for each stage of its execution, you could immediately pinpoint the component with a problem....
Background: the web has been abuzz for the last week with talk of Caller IQ, a root-level application installed on millions of smart phones including most Android smart phones, BlackBerry units, and iPhones. Not all phones are affected, and at least Verizon has denied using Caller IQ on any of their phones, but there are plenty of phones which are. The above video is a demonstration by Trevor Eckhart, the Android developer that discovered the application and publicized what it was up to–watch the video to get a better feel for the reach this application has....
Not a day passes by without doing an online search. You may know of basic search operators like AND, OR, etc. but an increasing number of web applications support even more keywords that’ll help you fine tune your search to the core. Here are some you may have never heard of. This is a guest post by Shankar Ganesh 1. Google: Use AROUND(n) for proximity search Chances are you’ve never heard of Google’s AROUND(n) search operator....
Once a week we dip into our reader mailbag and answer your pressing tech questions. Today we’re looking at one-way file syncing, missing boot managers, and how to sync your iTunes collection to your Android phone. One Way File Syncing Dear Syncing, I just bought a new external hard drive to backup my photos and videos. I am thinking of setting up a one-way file sync so that all new files on my computer end up shuttled to the external hard drive....
Windows 8 ships with most audio file types being associated with the Modern UI Music app, however there is no option to burn your music to disc. Here’s how to do it on Windows 8 without additional software. How to Burn an Audio Disc Although somewhat hidden, Windows 8 does still have Windows Media Player built-in. To find it, hit the Windows key and type windows media then press enter to launch it from the search results....
If you’re a fan of the popular Portal series, you’ll definitely enjoy this PC case mod that turned a regular computer into a replica of the Aperture Science terminals from the games. While we love the build for the sake of the build, we love it even more because the case modder behind it built it at the behest of his Portal-loving wife. Hit up the link below for more information and pictures....
Automatically Adjust the Media Volume for Headphone Use on Android Devices Javier writes in with the following tip to save you from blasting your ears whenever you switch to headphones: Nice find Javier; we’re big fans of simple applications that solve nagging problems. This one looks like it nails the speaker/headphone differential problem. Thanks for writing in! Use Your Computers SD Card Slot for Windows ReadyBoost Tony writes in with the following tip about getting more mileage out of an under-utilized SD card slot:...
What we’ll do is use Gmail’s filter capabilities to create a filter that automatically marks spam messages as read, preventing the unread count from appearing anywhere. This method should work for both Gmail as well as any IMAP client that you use. (Note: This only works if you are using the new gmail interface.) Mark All Spam as Read Automatically Open up Gmail and then click the link to create a new filter....
File extensions can be faked – that file with an .mp3 extension may actually be an executable program. Hackers can fake file extensions by abusing a special Unicode character, forcing text to be displayed in reverse order. Windows also hides file extensions by default, which is another way novice users can be deceived – a file with a name like picture.jpg.exe will appear as a harmless JPEG image file....
You may have noticed that the default installation of Audacity doesn’t have built-in support for MP3s due to licensing issues. Here’s how to add it in yourself for free really easily in few simple steps. Photo by bobcat rock Step 1: Download and Install the LAME MP3 Encoder On Windows Head over to the LAME Download page and scroll down to where you see “For Audacity on Windows”. Left click on the link to download the ....
Facebook, as a social network, is a bit crazy. You’re interacting with hundreds of people at the same time; your main connection being that you’ve probably met them at least once. Unless you have your page locked down, everyone from your “psychic” aunt to your high school buddies are free to weigh in on everything you say. RELATED: How to Show or Hide Facebook Posts for Certain People Perhaps you’ve posted something and realized that it wasn’t what you should be shouting to everyone in your extended contact list, or maybe you just want to remove some bad photos from when you thought bleached blonde hair with a pink fringe was the height of fashion....
Windows 10’s Photos app has a dark mode, and you can use it even if you’re not using the system-wide dark theme. Photoshop and other digital photography apps use dark themes to make the interface fades into the background, after all. To find this option, launch the Photos app, click or tap the “…” menu button at the top right corner of the window, and select “Settings.” Scroll down to the Appearance section....
Have you ever wished that you can type faster and better in Windows ? Then you’re in luck, because today we’ll show you how to get a smartphone’s word suggestion in Windows. To accomplish that, you need to install AI Type, a software that gives word suggestion when you write in Windows. AI Type not only fulfils our gratification to have a smartphone-style word suggestion for Windows, AI Type also improves our writings by suggesting word according to its context....
With each new version, Apple Maps becomes better, to such a point where it’s hard to even miss Google Maps. One new and much-welcomed addition to Apple Maps is the option to add stops along your route. Let’s say you’re planning a big road trip to New York City. You’re going to need to stop to refuel and eat, so instead of playing it by ear, you can incorporate these stops into your route from wherever you are....
There’s a lot you can do with the iPhone’s “Text Replacement” feature. One example is included on every iPhone by default—“omw” is automatically replaced with “On my way!”. You can use that same idea for anything. All you need is a shortcut and a phrase to go with it. We’ll show you how. First, open the Settings app on your iPhone (this is also available on iPad). Go to the “General” section....
Windows includes a variety of “troubleshooters” designed to quickly diagnose and automatically solve various computer problems. Troubleshooters can’t fix everything, but they’re a great place to start if you encounter a problem with your computer. Troubleshooters are built into the Control Panel on Windows 10, 8, and 7, so practically all Windows users can take advantage of them. On Windows 10’s Creators Update, most troubleshooters are now available through the Settings app....
