Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 104
Q. I want to add home automation devices to my house. What is the best way to get started? A. When the topic of home automation has come up in previous columns, my advice has been to hold off investing in expensive hardware. Most of the devices you can buy today are likely to disappoint you in fairly short order. This has not changed, but there is good news on the horizon. The good news is Matter. A new industry standard that allows devices from different manufacturers to talk with one another. This is the technology that I hope will transform...
Q. Years ago I converted a box of family photos with a desktop scanner. Are scanners still around, or have they gone the way of the fax machine and pay telephones? A. Tabletop flatbed scanners are still available. And far less expensive than they were years ago. Pretty much any model that sells for less an $100 should do just fine. Just be sure that it is supported by whichever device you use it with. There is however another solution: a smartphone app. Today’s smartphone cameras are more powerful than most budget-friendly scanners, and w...
Q. What is the least expensive way to improve Zoom calls? A. Adding more light and positioning the camera so you look straight ahead are the easiest things to upgrade. But the improvement that delivers the biggest impact is better sound. Most people will watch low-quality video for a much longer period of time than they will tolerate noisy or hard to hear audio. As a result my best suggestion for better Zoom calls is to get a better microphone. Searching the web for a microphone might trigger sticker shock, but hold off clicking that buy...
Q. Is it possible to block a website from view? A. Yes, but like so many questions, the how-to part of the answer begins with “it depends.” There are many different apps that filter website content. They use various methods behind the scenes and sometimes provide unexpected results. The different methods include apps that block specific sites and apps that filter certain types of content. For example, in one case you may only see a “page not available” message, in another case you might be forwarded to a different page. Other utilities can rew...
Q. How do I listen to podcasts? A. As the old saying goes, “there is an app for that.” Many different apps, in fact. And beyond apps, most podcasts are just a click away on the Web. Podcasts are audio-only programs that have exploded in popularity in the last few years. The best place to start depends on your device. For a personal computer, a Web browser and a Google search is an easy place to start. On mobile phones, podcasts are the perfect companion for keeping your mind occupied while driving or working around the house. For Android own...
Q. Is there a good image editor for making my photos look better? I want something like Photoshop but less expensive. A. Free tools to retouch photos are installed on many devices and bundled with cloud services like Google Photos. The power of these tools is significant, and most of them are much easier to use than Photoshop. I suggest you consider those options first. There was a period early in its history when Photoshop was bundled free with scanners. Today, Photoshop is only available as an annual subscription that costs hundreds of...
Q. I love making printed photo books on my computer. Is there a way to make something like a photo book, only with text instead? A. There are dozens of different tools for creating printed books on computers, but most of them are complex and hard to use. One exception I am very intrigued by is a Web-based service called Storyworth (www.storyworth.com). For a one-year subscription of about $100, Storyworth will email you (or a gift recipient) a weekly question. After a year, the questions and answers are collected in a printed hard cover book. A...
Imagine losing access to your phone and all the data you ever created. If that thought scares you, read on. The terms “Digital Legacy” and “Digital Inheritance” describe what happens to digital information created by someone who is deceased. Buried beneath the tech-speak is a very simple idea: your digital information contains precious family photos, important PDFs, vital passwords, social network identities, and perhaps much more. As more records exist only in digital form, those records may be stored on devices that relatives may not know ho...
Q. My computer is seven years old. Everything seems normal when it first starts up, but the longer I use it, the slower it runs. After an hour, the wait is awful. Restarting returns it to normal, but the slowdown repeats. Help! A. This is a challenging problem to troubleshoot. Different things may cause this behavior. The instant a computer starts up, it begins to use three things: CPU, disk space and memory. The computer is designed to keep these in balance, so the computer feels fast. Your computer should have a built-in application that...
There are newer, more secure, and more convenient choices available to make payments at most cash registers. Secret PIN codes and signatures are making way for methods like tap-to-pay plastic cards and smartphones. Savvy consumers can take advantage of these methods to reduce the likelihood their credit and debit card numbers could be stolen. Even better, the new methods are faster and easier to use. After years of swiping cards, signing receipts, and entering PIN codes, the new methods may...
I am 25 pounds lighter than I was just a few months ago, and my blood pressure is far lower. A better diet and generous amounts of exercise were key ingredients, but the tool that helped me most was fitness related technology. Fitness is a multi-billion dollar industry, and I do not have the space to cover even a fraction of its landscape. Nevertheless, in my quest for a healthy lifestyle I explored many different products. Accurate measurements are vital. They create a feedback loop over time...
Q. When I visit certain web pages, a video starts playing automatically. Is there a way to disable this annoying behavior? A. The simple answer is yes, there is probably a setting you can adjust to stop most videos from automatically playing. Where things can get messy is finding the right setting. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari each have preferences that block video auto-play everywhere, and they can also selectively block auto-play on specific sites. These options can be found in the browser’s preference (settings) screen, under the h...
Q. What is the latest information on the Windows 11 upgrade? A. Since I wrote about it last month, the picture is much clearer. Windows 11 will be available on October 5. Moreover, thanks to Microsoft’s refreshed PC Health Check app, you should be better equipped to determine if your PC supports the upgrade. Unlike the confusion surrounding the early version of the tool, the version pre-released a few weeks ago will report reliably if your PC can handle Windows 11. Best of all, if your PC cannot run Windows 11, it will provide guidance for e...
Q. Is there a dictionary for Emoji? A. What a delightful question. There is not just a dictionary, but an entire encyclopedia! Point any web browser to emojipedia.org, your one-stop shop for all things emoji. While many people know about emoji, fewer people know that there is a constantly changing universe surrounding emojis. New emojis are added regularly, and illustrations for existing emoji characters change over time. For example, a recent change to the syringe character removed the red drops suggesting blood, expanding the usefulness of th...
In the decades since George Jetson previewed his push-button lifestyle, some of us have dreamed of a smart home of our very own. Yet this branch of technology has resisted the kind of progress that has put supercomputers in our pockets. Most home automation products are hard to set up, they do not work and play well with others, and even the best devices are occasionally unresponsive. Like a desert mirage, visions of a push-button future always feel just out of reach. Automation has crept into a few spaces in our house, with limited success....
Q. How do I make the text on my phone larger? A. The good news is that both iPhone and Android have system settings to make text larger, and many apps support adjustable-size text based on these settings. The less good news is that these settings appear in multiple places, and they have different effects. Read on for some general suggestions, but I encourage you to search the web for detailed advice about your specific device. Not all text on a phone is the same. Labels are text. So is scrolling text in an email. Action items such as...
Q. There is an app on my phone that I do not use. Can I save space by removing it? A. Not only will you save space, removing unneeded apps will make the phone much less cumbersome to use. When I set up my mom’s new iPhone, I removed all but the half-dozen apps she used. That worked out great for her. A word of caution: While you cannot damage a phone by deleting an unwanted app, you can lose data. Be sure the app is really never used before you remove it. If you delete an app by mistake, you should be able to re-install it, but data a...
Q. My grandson accidentally sent my laptop crashing to the floor when his leg hooked around its power cord. Other than unplugging my new laptop when he visits, how do I tame the mess of cables that is lurking around my computer table? A. I am sorry that this turned into such an expensive lesson. The cords and wires that populate our lives seem pretty much invisible until something goes wrong. Product photography rarely shows wires of any kind. But in real life cables, cords and wires are everywhere. There is a wide variety of techniques for det...
Q. I got my first Android smartphone over the holidays. Which apps do you consider must-haves? A. Best in class apps for Android are not hard to find. Depending on your phone model, many of them may already be installed. Here is a quick roundup of apps on play.google.com I think you should consider: Google Maps. The first and best of its kind, Google Maps will help you find your place in the world. Pair it with Waze for driving directions. Podcast Addict. There is no shortage of podcast apps. This app is a great place to experience what...
Q. My computer slows down the longer I use it. A restart will make it better for an hour, but I fear this problem will get worse. A. Computers slow down for many reasons. When a computer slows down, it generally means a resource is constrained. The most serious constraint is a nearly full disk drive. Every drive needs local storage to grow, and a too-full drive can cause slowing just as you describe. A good rule of thumb for drives is to avoid using the last 20 percent of free space. If the drive is not full, the next suspect is random access m...
Q. I have several old computers in my garage that are just taking up space. Before I send them to the recycler, I wonder if there is anything useful I could do with them. A. Working from home and remote learning has increased the demand for computers everywhere. As I have noted before, the fate of old hardware is that it often stops being useful long before it stops operating. Fortunately, there is a whole cottage industry of developers who try to breathe new life into old hardware. Try converting that old computer into a ChromeBook (laptop)...
Q. I can’t print from my laptop computer. When I checked if my HP5255 was connected, I found a printer email address that ended with @hpprint.com. I also do not understand why that address is different than my regular email address. A. I feel your pain. Troubleshooting printer problems is one of the toughest aspects of home computing. Moreover, helping to fix printer problems is hobbled by the fact that everyone’s setup is slightly different. Keep in mind that there are two connections that must both work. The first is the “hardware” connection...
Q. Is there a way to view personal photos on my television? A. A living room TV is a perfect venue to share your family photo collection, and there are choices to fit every budget. Many televisions built in the last decade can already display photos. Older TVs may have a memory card slot. Simply load photos onto a card and enjoy! This is also the best choice if your house does not have a Wi-Fi network. The bundled software installed in SmartTVs often support photo sharing via home networking. If your set lacks any built-in features or if they...
