Posts

Windows 11 is set to launch imminently, and we just learned some exciting new information about the system sounds in the OS. It looks like Microsoft will change the sounds when you’re in dark mode and make the sounds more pleasant overall. Windows 11 System Sounds When in dark mode on Windows 11, the system sounds generally become softer, and they echo a bit, creating a more soothing experience that matches the overall look and feel of the dark mode....

In a blog post detailing Windows 11 Insider build 22523 for the Dev channel, Microsoft tucked a little bit of information regarding the future of the uninstall programs option. Here’s what the company said: “Links to Programs & Features in Control Panel will now open to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps.” Basically, Microsoft is moving people to the Settings app instead of the Control Panel, which is another step towards phasing out the older method of changing options in Windows....

This Taskbar Wasn’t Meant for Most Windows Desktops Overall, the taskbar looks pretty good. But there’s a serious problem with it: It wasn’t originally designed for typical Windows desktops and laptops. This taskbar was originally part of Windows 10X, an operating system designed for dual-screen devices—one that Microsoft never released. So, when you ask why the taskbar lacks a certain feature, it’s not that Microsoft necessarily removed that particular feature. It’s that Microsoft created a new taskbar and hasn’t added all the old features back in yet....

Google has announced that it is going to pay creators on YouTube Shorts up to $10,000 per month for creating videos on the company’s TikTok competitor as part of the YouTube Shorts Fund—starting right now. How to Get That $10,000 While TikTok may have the short video market pretty well locked down, Google isn’t ready to just accept defeat just yet. It seems that Google’s solution is to entice content creators with large sums of money to get them creating on YouTube Shorts....

Alexa’s New Adaptive Volume Feature If you’ve ever tried to ask Alexa a specific question while your loud appliances are running, you know it’s hard to hear the device. So you turn the volume up. Then your appliance turns off, and it sounds like Alexa is screaming at you. RELATED: Alexa vs. Google Assistant vs. Siri: A Curious Question Face Off Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that the feature supports going lower than your current volume setting if a room is particularly quiet, but as long as you keep the volume at a comfortable level for your room, that shouldn’t be an issue....

Try Force Rebooting Your Apple Watch A Watch showing the Apple logo and then flickering over and over is likely rebooting itself repeatedly, a problem sometimes referred to as a boot loop. You can try and break this boot loop with a hard reset, which is initiated in the same way regardless of which Apple Watch model you have. Force your Apple Watch to restart by pressing and holding both the Digital Crown and side button for at least 10 seconds until you see evidence of your hard reset on the display....

How to Watch The Pixel 6 Event If you want to learn about the future of Google’s smartphones, you can head over to Google’s event page. Play Video Of, if you want an even easier way to watch, bookmark this page and watch the YouTube video we’ve embedded above. What to Expect From the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro One of the most exciting aspects of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro is Google’s new Tensor processor, which is a significant departure from the Qualcomm processors Google typically uses....

How Search Will Help With Vetting Sources Google focused its Search On event around the way it surfaces information about the sources you’re reading. It’s expanding on its “About This Result” feature with even more details on a website. Initially, the feature showed you when the site was first indexed, whether your connection to it was secure, and a description from Wikipedia. With the update, you’ll now see the site’s description in its own words....

Windows 11’s taskbar now includes a built-in chat feature that lets you communicate and collaborate through Microsoft Teams. Here’s how it works as of its initial release in Insider Preview builds of Windows 11. It’s a Handy Icon on Your Taskbar Like Microsoft’s previous attempts to bake chat into Windows with “My People” and “Meet Now,” the Chat icon is a direct taskbar link to a Microsoft-owned communication app—in this case, Microsoft Teams....

Do you get confused when managing audio devices on Windows 10? To make recognizing your audio devices easier, give your devices custom names. We’ll show you how to do this on your PC. Why Rename Your Audio Devices The main reason to rename your audio input and output devices is to make your devices easily recognizable. For example, if you use multiple speakers and microphones with your PC, and if each one has a unique name, you can quickly select the device you want to use in your apps....

What We’re Comparing: Gasoline vs. Battery Power When we looked how much it costs to operate an electric lawn mower, we opened the article by pointing out exactly what we’d be comparing for clarity. Fortunately, it’s a little easier to narrow things down in the snow blower market than in the lawn mower market, as there is a much narrow scope of consumer snow blowers than lawn mowers. This article is focused on comparing the operating costs of basic single and two-stage gasoline-powered snow blowers against equivalent battery-powered snow blowers, like this gasoline-powered PowerSmart 21″ Snow Blower against something similar but battery-powered like this EGO Power+ 21″ 56-Volt Snow Blower....

Do you have contacts on your iPhone that you want to keep private? Or, maybe you have a bunch of contacts that you want to keep, but don’t want appearing in your address book. iOS actually has a built-in way to do just that. This even works if you’re trying to pare your contacts down to a something more manageable, while still holding on to people you might want to get in touch with at a later time....

In Google Chrome 90 and later, you can attach files to an email in Gmail by copying the file in your file manager in Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chrome OS and pasting it into the email window. Here’s how to do it. How It Works Chrome 90 includes an experimental flag called “Clipboard Filenames.” When this flag is enabled, you can attach files to your email in Gmail by just pasting the file (as in pasting a file in your file manager using Ctrl+V or Command+V)....

Microsoft Excel may be known for complex calculations and formulas, but it’s no slouch at simple arithmetic. There are a number of ways to find solutions to simple math problems, like finding the sum of numbers in multiple cells. Finding the Sum of Numbers in Adjacent Columns or Cells The quickest way to calculate the sum of squares in Excel is to simply highlight the list of numbers, and check the bottom right of the screen....

How does it work? Well, it’s pretty simple. Android analyzes your wallpaper and chooses a few accent colors to use throughout the operating system. That includes the Quick Settings, icons, volume controls, lock screen, and much more. The theme works with light and dark modes. RELATED: How to Turn on Dark Mode on Android So if you have a favorite wallpaper and you’re running Android 12 or newer, that’s literally all there is to it....

iPhones and iPads offer a built-in way to cut clips out of videos and trim them without installing any third-party apps. This is useful when you want to upload or share a video — but not the entire video. This feature is built into Apple’s Photos app. Despite the name, the Photos app doesn’t just contain photos — it contains a list of the videos you’ve recorded on your phone or tablet....

Roblox is a fun service to use, but if you don’t play it anymore, you might want to completely delete your account. Roblox doesn’t make it easy, so you have to take some extra steps. Here’s how to do it. Ask Nicely to Have Your Roblox Account Deleted Roblox does not provide an automated way to delete your Roblox account. Instead, you’ll have to contact Roblox customer support by using the company’s online support form in a web browser and ask them to delete your account....

If you no longer wish to keep your YouTube channel, you can delete the channel and remove its presence from the site. We’ll show you how to do this from your Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chromebook computer. What Happens When You Delete Your YouTube Channel When you delete your channel, YouTube removes all your uploaded videos, comments, messages, playlists, and history. This doesn’t delete your YouTube (Google) account, though....

What Are Separation Alerts? Separation Alerts are exactly what they sound like. Once you’ve enabled the alerts for a device, your iPhone will let you know if you leave it behind. This way, you don’t have to worry about getting home from work only to realize you left your iPad at the office. Separation Alerts aren’t just for your Apple devices either. Thanks to Apple’s AirTags, you can use this handy new feature to make sure you don’t lose any of your valuable belongings....

Location History and Privacy All major tech companies and apps have some form of location tracking feature. Everyone from Apple, Google, Facebook, to Twitter does it. Each company uses the data in different ways. Apple, for example, only collects a pool of significant locations that you have visited in the past and claims it doesn’t share this data with anyone. Google, on the other hand, keeps a detailed track of all your activity, especially if you use Google Maps....