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The Incredible Raspberry Pi What measures 3.5 inches by 2.2 inches by 0.7 inches (85mm by 56mm by 17mm) and has sales in excess of 30 million units? It’s the third best-selling general computer behind the PC and the Mac as well as the most successful British computer of all time. It’s the Raspberry Pi single-board computer. It was launched in February of 2012 as a means to an end. Ebon Upton, founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, wanted to produce something that would get British schoolkids switched onto computers and coding in much the same way that the BBC microcomputer had in the 1980s....

Enforcement of broadband caps is on the rise. Whether you’ve received a warning letter from your ISP or you just curious and want to keep an eye on things, this tutorial will show you how you can monitor, log, and save your bandwidth usage with Tomato. What You’ll Need For this tutorial you’ll need the following things: A router running the aftermarket firmware, Tomato. A computer to access the Tomato web-based GUI from....

Google recently launched the ability to print to your local printers from anywhere in the world using Google Cloud Print, but it didn’t work anywhere until today. Here’s how to set it up, get it running, and print from your mobile phone. At the moment, the only desktop way to use Cloud Print is from a Google Chrome Notebook, which most people don’t have access to, or from the Gmail Mobile web site that you can access from iPhone or Android....

grep is a search utility in Linux used for matching content. By default, it will print out any line that matches, which might include a lot of output. If you only care about the first match, you can limit the output to just the first line. Limiting Output with grep -m The grep command has an -m or –max-count parameter, which can solve this problem, but it might not work like you’d expect....

Ubuntu can quickly encrypt USB flash drives and external hard drives. You’ll be prompted for your passphrase each time you connect the drive to your computer — your private data will be secure, even if you misplace the drive. Ubuntu’s Disk Utility uses LUKS (Linux Unified Key Setup) encryption, which may not be compatible with other operating systems. However, the drive will be plug-and-play with any Linux system running the GNOME desktop....

Re-Enabling Mouse Shadows Press the Windows + E keyboard combination top open Explorer, then right-click on Computer and select properties from the context menu. Now click on the Advanced system settings link on the left hand side. Under the Performance section, click on the Settings button. Here, enable the show shadows under your mouse pointer setting, then click apply. That’s all there is to it.

If you own a netbook you will know what we mean when we say sacrificing a DVD drive can sometimes be a pain. Net burner sets out to solve this problem by letting you use the drive on another pc remotely. Note: Keep in mind that you will have to install Net Burner on both the PC that hosts the drive, as well as the PC that you are connecting from....

Old photographs seem to collect dirt, scratches, and bad textures as they collect dust in shoeboxes and photo albums. If you’ve taken the task of scanning them, but have found damage and scratches, here’s how to fix them. While only a miracle (or a talented artist) can repair extremely bad photographs, dust, scratches, dirt, and other damage can be taken care of quickly, and not just in Photoshop. Popular Freeware GIMP and Paint....

Set up Two-Step Verification Two-step verification is the best step you can take to protect your WhatsApp account. Commonly, called 2FA, when you enable it, WhatsApp adds a second layer of protection to your account. RELATED: Why You Shouldn’t Use SMS for Two-Factor Authentication (and What to Use Instead) After you enable 2FA, you’ll have to type a six-digit PIN to log in to your WhatsApp account. Even if your phone is stolen or someone uses a phishing method to steal your SIM card, they won’t be able to access your WhatsApp account....

Apple’s HomePod smart speaker is finally here. If you bought one and are eager to get going, here’s how to set it up. First off, before you even think about taking it out of the box, you need an iPhone or iPad in order to set one up, and your device needs to be updated to at least iOS 11.2.5. Furthermore, you’ll want to make sure that the Home app and Apple Music app are both installed on your device, since the former is needed to customize and adjust settings for the HomePod, while the latter is required during setup....

When using Windows 11, the OS keeps track of which apps open which types of files by default. For example, Notepad usually opens TXT files. Here’s how to change those default file associations in Settings. How to Find the Default Apps Menu in Settings The Windows 11 Settings app provides a convenient interface for selecting or changing which apps open which types of files. To find it, first, open Windows Settings by pressing Windows+i on your keyboard....

If you have images or PDF files with text in them that can’t be selected, you can use the OneNote printer and the built-in OCR functionality to extract the text from them. Here’s how to do it. Extracting Text from Images Open your pdf file or image and just send it to print to OneNote as shown below: The printer will ask you where you want to locate your document or image....

Note: The latest horrible virus is set to hit on April 1st, 2009. It’s called Conficker, and we’ll explain how to make sure you are safe. Whenever an outbreak happens, you should take the following steps: Run the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. Run the McAfee Stinger Tool (optional) Make sure you are using Updated Anti-Virus Software. Make sure Windows Updates are turned on. Get Notified for Microsoft Security Alerts....

While many users see desktop printers as the best way to print photos, compared to cheap printing services, they may be more expensive. In this simple How-To, learn how to compare the cost per print to commercial options. Readers may not think of desktop printers as “convenient,” however manufacturers are largely selling the convenience of being able to print at home. Many commercial printers may offer services that are cheaper, even at small quantities....

Have you ever broken apt? For seasoned Linux professionals, it’s quite common (about every half year) to unwittingly break apt. If you know a few commands in dpkg, you can often fix the issue more easily! Find out how. What Are apt and dpkg? If you’re using a Debian-based distribution like Ubuntu or Mint, your computer uses apt to handle packages. Apt stands for Advanced Packaging Tool, which allows you to install, uninstall, purge, and manage Debian packages....

When Apple removed the headphone jack they were making a bet that the majority of people wouldn’t miss it. It turns out that’s pretty much true. Phones without headphone jacks are just as popular, and a lot of people have transitioned to Bluetooth earbuds. Do Phones Still Have Headphone Jacks? The short answer is “Yes,” there are still phones being made with headphone jacks. However, those phones do not wear an Apple logo....

It was quite a wild ride for this week in Geek History: Steve Jobs gave a demonstration of the first Macintosh computer, beloved geek show MythBusters took to the air, and iconic movie Dr. Strangelove appeared in theatres and our collective consciousness. Steve Jobs Gives a Demonstration of the First Macintosh In the video above a young and bow-tied Steve Jobs gives a live demonstration of the first Macintosh computer....

If you’ve tried the Windows 8 Developer Preview and found you don’t like the new Start menu, Windows Explorer, and Task Manager, there is a way to make those items look and act like Windows 7. This article shows you how to bring the Windows 7 Start menu, Explorer, and Task Manager to Windows 8 using two methods, a registry hack and a third-party tool. Using a Registry Hack To bring back the Windows 7 Start menu, Explorer, and Task Manager by changing the registry, press Win (Windows key) + R to access the Run dialog box....

Staying connected may be hard no matter what network you are on, and in flight Wi-Fi isn’t pervasive enough to count on. Here are tips and tricks to keep yourself entertained when unplugged and traveling. Image Via MarinaAvila Audio and Video Little keeps us entertained like the music and movies we love. There are plenty of ways to keep occupied online with YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix but what happens when your cord is cut?...

The History of 80 Plus Originally started in 2004 by Ecos Consulting, but is now run by CLEAResult, 80 Plus certification is a completely voluntary certification that any manufacturer can work towards to show the efficiency of their power supply. In fact, the 80 from ’80 plus’ comes from having a PSU that runs at 80% efficiency when drawing different levels of power from the outlet. While this is a bit complicated, the short and long of it is that PSUs aren’t always drawing the rated power on the box, especially when it’s not used for anything heavy like gaming or productivity work....