Thursday, February 28, 2019
How to Add a Contact to Favorites on iPhone
The Phone app on your iPhone has a convenient “Favorites” section where you can find your most important contacts. Here’s how to choose which contacts appear here.
You can also set Do Not Disturb so that your favorite contacts can always reach you—even if other incoming phone calls won’t ring your iPhone. This can be vital in an emergency.
Favorites have been around since the very early days of the iPhone, but that likely means that you’ve forgotten that they exist. And that’s a real shame because this feature is so useful.
How to Add a Contact to Favorites
To add a contact to favorites, open the Phone app—the one with the green phone icon—and tap the “Favorites” button before tapping the “+” button in the top-left corner.
Next, find the contact that you want to add and tap their name.
You will now be shown all of the types of entries you can create for the contact you selected. Those include “Message,” “Call,” “Video,” and “Mail.” Tap the type of favorite you want to create. When tapped, that is the action that will be performed when the favorite is activated. For this how-to, let’s select “Message.”
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Deal Alert: Grab a White Apple Watch Series 3 for $220 (38mm Only)
If you’ve been thinking about jumping on the Apple Watch train, you can do it today for a cheaper than ever before. Amazon is selling the white Watch Series 3 for just $220, which is $60 off the normal price.
This deal is only for a specific model, though: the white 38mm version of the Series 3. If you go for the Space Gray model, the price jumps to $250. Similarly, if you have a meaty wrist and ant the 42mm version, expect a price bump—by almost $100, in fact. That’s nuts.
The Series 3 Apple Watch has all of the features that you’d expect from a premium smartwatch. It mirrors notifications from your phone, monitors your heart rate, and helps you keep track of your fitness goals. You can also make calls or control Siri from the Apple watch, and of course, you can use it to check the time.
Keep in mind that Series 3 is the previous generation Apple Watch. If you want to perform ECGs, then you’ll need to wait for the Series 4 Apple Watch to go on sale.
As with any deal, you’ll want to buy this while you can. There are a lot of Apple fans out there, and they’re probably beating you to the deal at this very moment.
How to Calculate a Z-Score Using Microsoft Excel
A Z-Score is a statistical value that tells you how many standard deviations a particular value happens to be from the mean of the entire data set. You can use AVERAGE and STDEV.S or STDEV.P formulas to calculate the mean and standard deviation of your data and then use those results to determine the Z-Score of each value.
What is a Z-Score and what do the AVERAGE, STDEV.S, and STDEV.P functions do?
A Z-Score is a simple way of comparing values from two different data sets. It is defined as the number of standard deviations away from the mean a data point lies. The general formula looks like this:
=(DataPoint-AVERAGE(DataSet))/STDEV(DataSet)
Here’s an example to help clarify. Say you wanted to compare the test results of two Algebra students taught by different teachers. You know the first student got a 95% on the final exam in one class, and the student in the other class scored 87%.
At first glance, the 95% grade is more impressive, but what if the teacher of the second class gave a more difficult exam? You could calculate the Z-Score of each student’s score based on the average scores in each class and the standard deviation of the scores in each class. Comparing the Z-Scores of the two students could reveal that the student with the 87% score did better in comparison to the rest of their class than the student with the 98% score did in comparison to the rest of their class.
The first statistical value you need is the ‘mean’ and Excel’s “AVERAGE” function calculates that value. It simply adds up all of the values in a cell range and divides that sum by the number of cells containing numerical values (it ignores blank cells).
The other statistical value we need is the ‘standard deviation’ and Excel has two different functions to calculate the standard deviation in slightly different ways.
Previous versions of Excel only had the “STDEV” function, which calculates the standard deviation while treating the data as a ‘sample’ of a population. Excel 2010 broke that into two functions that calculate the standard deviation:
- STDEV.S: This function is identical to the previous “STDEV” function. It calculates the standard deviation while treating the data as a ‘sample’ of a population. A sample of a population might be something like the particular mosquitoes collected for a research project or cars that were set aside and used for crash safety testing.
- STDEV.P: This function calculates the standard deviation while treating the data as the entire population. An entire population would be something like all mosquitoes on Earth or every car in a production run of a specific model.
Which you choose is based on your data set. The difference will usually be small, but the result of the “STDEV.P” function will always be smaller than the result of the “STDEV.S” function for the same data set. It is a more conservative approach to assume there is more variability in the data.
Let’s Look at an Example
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Can Smart Thermostats Ruin Your Furnace?
It may sound preposterous, but some people are afraid smart thermostats are bad for heating and air conditioning systems. Here’s the good news: You don’t have much to worry about, but there are some important things to keep in mind.
A relatively recent post on Reddit recounted an HVAC technician’s warning about smart thermostats:
“He said he never recommends them and that their company is REGULARLY replacing systems that have failed or prematurely broken down due to the Nest overworking the computing systems/motherboards built in to most HVAC units—even brand new models.”
The technician isn’t completely full of it. If your smart thermostat isn’t wired up correctly, then it can cause problems for your HVAC system. However, his explanation is mostly filled with a lot of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.)
It’s All About the C Wire, Baby
Every thermostat has a handful of wires connected to it (either four or five) that lead back to the electrical control board of your HVAC system. Each wire is usually responsible for something specific, like one wire is for cooling, and another wire is for heating. Many systems have a “C wire” (or “common wire”), which is dedicated to providing electricity to the thermostat to power the screen and other electronic functions.
Older systems usually don’t have a C wire, though, because back then thermostats didn’t require electricity thanks to the fully mechanical operation of mercury-switched thermostats. But today, most modern thermostats have more bells and whistles, which require electricity to run. Thus, the purpose of the C wire.
A C wire isn’t necessarily required for smart thermostats, but it’s highly recommended. And if your thermostat’s wiring includes a C wire, you should connect it to your smart thermostat—most problems that arise due to the smart thermostat happen because there’s no C wire connected to it.
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Geek Trivia: Which Cartoonist Coined The Name For Stegosaurus Tail Spikes?
Which Cartoonist Coined The Name For Stegosaurus Tail Spikes? |
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Wednesday, February 27, 2019
How to Find All the Files You’ve Shared in OneDrive
Microsoft’s OneDrive makes it easy to share and unshare files and folders. But what if you want to see everything you’ve shared, in one simple list? OneDrive can do that easily, and here’s how you get to it.
RELATED: How to Find All the Files You’ve Shared in OneDrive
Log into your account on the OneDrive site. You can also sign in to your Office 365 account and select OneDrive from the app launcher.
Note that OneDrive for Business will also show you things people have shared with you in a separate tab, but sadly that’s not an option in a personal OneDrive.
In the menu on the left-hand side, click “Shared.”
All of the files and folders you’ve shared will be displayed.
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Samsung is Bloating Everything with McAfee—Even Smart TVs
Samsung has a long-running relationship with McAfee. And while it’s bad enough that it bundles this nigh-useless junk on its computers, it’s “extending” this partnership to the S10 and all 2019 Smart TVs.
Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Samsung throw McAfee on Galaxy smartphones, as it shipped the S8 with the antivirus app installed too. Then it later brought it previous Galaxy devices with an update, which is honestly just disgusting.
Make no mistake here: McAfee is paying Samsung a pile of cash to do this, which is a pretty common practice for all PC makers. It lets McAfee extend its presence, especially for less-savvy users who honestly don’t know you that antivirus apps on Android are nearly useless. Just like with bundled antivirus software on computers, you simply don’t need it. (For Windows machines, Microsoft’s Windows Defender does a great job, and it’s integrated).
But here’s where things are really starting to get out of hand: as of 2019, Samsung will include McAfee on its smart TVs. Straight from the PR:
McAfee extended its contract to have McAfee Security for TV technology pre-installed on all Samsung Smart TVs produced in 2019. Along with being the market leader in the Smart TV category worldwide, Samsung is also the first company to pre-install security on these devices, underscoring its commitment to building security in from the start. McAfee Security for TV scans the apps that run on Samsung smart TVs to identify and remove malware.
Samsung is “the first company to pre-install security on these devices” for good reason: you don’t need it. First off, Samsung’s Smart TVs run its own Tizen OS (which is based on Linux) for which malware is virtually non-existent. So, right out of the gate, it’s inherently a non-issue.
Secondly, the same rule applies to smart TVs that apply to Android, which is basically to be smart about what you install. If you don’t know what it is, then don’t install it. If it’s not from the TV’s official store, don’t install it. Don’t sideload random stuff. Just, you know, use common sense.
While there are documented cases of Android-based smart TVs getting infected with ransomware, installing apps from unofficial stores or websites is nearly always the culprit. So if you don’t do that, then you should be fine. And again, Samsung TVs don’t run Android—they run Tizen.
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Gamer Alert: Grab an Xbox One S, Minecraft Creator’s Bundle, and RDR2 for $220
If you’ve been waiting to buy an Xbox One S, now might be the best time to jump on it. Hopefully, you have some free time this year because Massgenie is offering a deal that’s too good to pass up.
Massgenie is offering an Xbox One S, the Minecraft Creators Bundle, and Red Dead Redemption 2 for just $220. If you bought all of these games on Amazon right now, you’d be paying more than $300.
Remember when the Xbox One was priced around $500? Yeah, this deal is so good that it’s almost frustrating. But if you’ve never heard of Massgenie, then there are a few things that you need to know.
Massgenie, like Massdrop, buys items in bulk and sells them at a steep discount. The stipulation here is that a certain number of people need to commit to buying the product, or else nobody gets it. For this Xbox One S deal, the “Power Deal” goal has already been met — enough people have paid for the product, so you just need to put down your money before the deal ends.
But Massgenie has a “first in first out” policy, so you want to put down your money sooner rather than later. Sometimes there isn’t enough inventory to honor every purchase, so people that are late to the game get a full refund instead of the Xbox One S. Hey, at least there’s no risk.
The Best Chrome Extensions for Making Gmail Better
Gmail is already pretty great, but with the addition of a few carefully selected Google Chrome extension, you can get it to do so much more. Here are some of our favorites.
We typically don’t recommend using a lot of browser extensions because they can be a privacy nightmare. Still, it’s hard to resist extensions that can significantly improve things for you. We’ve checked out all these extensions ourselves, testing them, looking at their reputations among users, and favoring extensions that make their source code public when possible. Still, you should learn how to make sure Chrome extensions are safe before using them and use them sparingly.
RELATED: The Best Chrome Extensions for Managing Tabs
FlowCrypt
FlowCrypt is an easy way to make sure any message you send from your Gmail account gets encrypted—even attachments!—using PGP encryption. FlowCrypt places a button on the UI that lets you compose a secure message when you click it. Once you and the recipient install FlowCrypt you can send encrypted messages to anyone on your contact list, whether they have FlowCrypt or not. If the recipient has FlowCrypt installed, messages are decrypted automatically when they’re opened on the other end. However, if they don’t have it installed, you have to create a one-time password which you should share not via email, for obvious reasons.
RELATED: Why No One Uses Encrypted Email Messages
Discoverly
Discoverly is like a private eye for Gmail. Anytime you receive an email from an unknown person, it scours the internet, revealing the person’s Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, and even LinkedIn to show you who they are. Discoverly connects all the information from these sites and outs it together for you to see the person’s mutual connections, work info and position, and it even displays their tweets.
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Deal Alert: Amazon is Heavily Discounting SD Cards, SSDs, and More
If you’ve been in need of an SD card or an SSD, now’s the time to buy one. Amazon is running a huge sale on memory and storage products. Most of the products on sale are from Sandisk, so you know that they’re reliable and durable.
All of the items in Amazon’s sale are at least 20 percent off, so there aren’t any bad deals in this sale. That being said, we have a few favorites:
- Sandisk 1 TB SSD – $99
$125 - Sandisk 400 GB Micro SD Card – $62
$95 - Sandisk 64 GB SD Card – $14
$34 - Sandisk External 2 TB SSD – $300
$700
Amazon will end this sale by the end of the day, so don’t wait too long to grab that Micro SD card or SSD. You’ll always remember that you got it for a good price as you traverse through years and reading and/or writing.
Wi-Fi Cams Do More Than Just Record Video
The main purpose of Wi-Fi cameras is to record video, but that’s not the only thing they can do. Modern Wi-Fi cams are sophisticated pieces of hardware and they can do a lot more than simply record video.
RELATED: What You Should Know Before Buying Wi-Fi Cameras
This also means that if you’re in the market for a Wi-Fi cam, there are a lot more features that you’ll want to know about a specific model other than its video quality. Here are features that some Wi-Fi cameras have other than just video recording.
Two-Way Talk
Pretty much every Wi-Fi camera these days comes with a built-in microphone and speaker so you can use your smartphone and your Wi-Fi cam as walkie talkies of sorts.
The accompanying app on your phone lets you hit a button and start talking through the camera, and the person on the other end can talk back using the microphone on the camera itself. This is especially useful on video doorbells where you can talk to the person who came to your door (rather than actually opening and answering the door), especially if it’s someone who you’re not quite sure about.
Of course, if this intercom isn’t a feature that you’ll use, there’s usually a setting that lets you turn off the microphone and speaker on the camera, but this usually will also prevent video recordings from capturing audio.
Facial Recognition
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How to See Which Apps Are Tracking Your Location on iPhone
Apps on your iPhone can track your location, but you have to give them access first. Here’s how to check which apps can monitor your GPS location and revoke their access.
As important as privacy is, letting some apps track our location makes them much more useful—and sometimes it’s essential. It’s unreasonable to expect Google Maps to work as it should without Google knowing your location, but does that note-taking app need to know where you are? Maybe, maybe not.
Where you stand on these things is a personal decision, and it’s not one we’re here to argue. We’re here to show how to take control of which apps know your location, and when they’re allowed to track it.
It’s also important to remember that some apps need your location data to do their job. Revoking access to your location can stop some important features from working. Keep that in mind when checking which apps can and cannot access your data.
RELATED: Why Do So Many Apps Ask For Your Location, and Which Ones Really Need It?
How to See Which Apps Are Tracking You
To see a list of apps that have requested access to your location data, open the Settings app and tap “Privacy.”
Next, tap “Location Services.”
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Geek Trivia: What Distinctly Non-Food Item Do Photographers Use In Cereal Ads?
What Distinctly Non-Food Item Do Photographers Use In Cereal Ads? |
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Tuesday, February 26, 2019
How to Remove Underlined Hyperlinks in PowerPoint
Inserting a hyperlink in a PowerPoint presentation is great for quick access to external resources relevant to your content. However, the underline that comes with it may distract the audience from the message of the slide. Here’s how to remove it.
Removing the Underline From Hyperlink Text
While PowerPoint doesn’t have a specific option for removing the underline from hyperlink text, there’s a very simple workaround. What we’re going to do is remove the link from the text, place an invisible shape over that text, and then add the link to that shape.
Go ahead and open your presentation, move to the slide that contains the underlined hyperlink text, and locate that text.
Right-click the text and select “Remove Link” from the list of options.
Next, head over to the “Insert” tab and click the “Shapes” button.
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Gamer Deal: Grab a Nintendo Switch Kickstand for $10
The Nintendo Switch has a built-in kickstand, but it’s a little… bad. Thankfully, Target is selling an adjustable metal stand for just $10.
If your brave soul has tried to use the Nintendo Switch’s built-in kickstand, then you know just how wonky it can be. It tilts the screen at an unpleasant angle, and it doesn’t seem to provide a lot of support for the $300 console.
But PowerA’s adjustable kickstands manage to solve this problem. They’re made from a strong metal with rubber grips, so your Switch stays nice and safe. These kickstands are also compact and can be folded up for on-the-go gaming. Right now, Target is selling them for just $10—that’s a neat $5 discount. It even has Mario on i
Like all good deals, this one won’t last long. If you’re in need of a high-quality kickstand for your Nintendo Switch, then now’s the time to take the plunge.
How to Reply With a Tapback in Messages on iPhone and iPad
iMessage is one of the biggest lock-ins for owners of iPhones and iPads, and Apple knows it. That’s because it’s pretty great, but there are features you may not be using to their fullest. Tapbacks are one–here’s how to use them.
In fact, you may have never heard of a Tapback, partly because Apple hasn’t done a great job of surfacing the feature. It’s almost invisible to anyone who doesn’t know where to find it, and that’s not conducive to organic feature discovery.
That’s a real shame, too, because much like similar features that allow the “liking” of messages and such on social networks, you can use a Tapback to offer a quick response to a message without having to type one our, or even send a message at all. If all you want to do is send one of six quick responses, a Tapback is right up your street.
Those six responses include a heart, a thumbs-up, a thumbs-down, a pair of exclamation marks, a questions mark, and a “HaHa” for when something amuses you.
So now that you know what the options are, and what a Tapback is, here’s how to use them.
How to Use a Tapback on iPhone and iPad
To use a Tapback, open the Messages app and locate the message that you want to reply to. Once located, tap and hold the blue bubble itself.
You will now see a new bubble appear with the six options we just mentioned. Tap the one you want to use, and iMessage sends it to the sender of the original message. Rather than appearing as a new message in the thread, it will instead appear on one corner of the message to which the Tapback is related.
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Deal Alert: RAVPower Banks and Chargers Are Discounted Today on Amazon
If your phone keeps dying while you’re away from home, then you might want to invest in a mobile power bank. Luckily, some of RAVPower’s best products are discounted on Amazon right now.
In the world of mobile power banks, RAVPower is a confident leader. The company sells high capacity batteries at an extremely affordable price. Of course, a hefty discount makes those prices even more affordable. It’s like icing on the cake.
- 22,000 mAh Mobile Power Bank – $29
$50 - 16,750 mAh Mobile Power Bank -$27
$40 - 10,000 mAh Mobile Power Bank – $24
$32 - 26,800 mAh Mobile Power Bank – $40
$62 - 4 Port USB Wall Charger – $12
$20
Even when a good deal like this falls into your lap, it can be difficult to spend almost $30 on a battery. But trust me, keeping your phone alive all day makes this well worth the investment. You’ll wonder why you didn’t buy one sooner.
What Is DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)?
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is integral to networks and controls what IP addresses devices receive so they can communicate with the internet. Usually, IP assignment is automated, but if you need static IPs, familiarity with DHCP is essential.
DHCP Can Handle IP Assignments
Every device that connects to a network needs an IP address. In the early days of networking, users manually assigned themselves an IP address, but that’s a cumbersome task, especially for places with many devices, such as a corporate office. DHCP, in part, automates this process, which makes connecting devices to the network far easier. DHCP servers or routers handle this process based on a set of defined rules. Most routers are set to use a 192.168.0.x range, for instance, so you’ll commonly see IP addresses like this in home networks.
The process is pretty straight forward. When a client (a computer, IOT device, tablet, cell phone, etc.) connects to the network, it sends out a signal (called DHCPDISCOVER) to the DHCP server (or router). The server responds with all the rules and settings for the network and an IP address for use (a DHCPOFFER). The client acknowledges the information and asks permission to use the assigned address (a DHCPREQUEST message). Finally, the DHCP server acknowledges the request, and the client is free to connect to the network.
DHCP Controls the Range of IP Addresses
You can configure DHCP to control the range of IP addresses available for use. If you state that range as starting at 192.168.0.1 and the end as 192.168.0.100, then all available addresses will fall somewhere within that range. You’ll never see a device assigned to 192.168.0.101. Also, bear in mind that the start IP (192.168.0.1 in this example) is reserved for the router. Some routers only list a starting address and then include an option for a maximum number of users (which determines the end address).
The upside to this is you can control how many devices connect to your network simultaneously (no more than 100 in this example). But the downside is if you set the range too small you can unintentionally prevent connection of new devices. To allow for a lower range of IP addresses, DHCP servers only lease out IP addresses to devices.
Dynamically Assigned Addresses are Temporary
When a DHCP server assigns an IP Address, it does so under a lease system. The machine retains this IP address for a set number of days, after which it can try to renew the IP address. If no renewal signal is sent (such as a decommissioned machine), then the DHCP server reclaims the IP address to assign to another device. When the renewal signal is detected, the device retains its IP address for another set of days. This is why your IP address may appear to change from time to time if you use the ipconfig option often.
It’s possible for two devices to end up with the same IP, such as a VM machine that spends most of its time offline. The VM machine won’t be able to send the renew signal, so its IP address will be handed out to another machine. When the VM is brought back up, it still has a record of the old IP address (especially if restored from a snapshot), but it won’t be able to use that IP address since it is taken. Without that permission, it can’t connect to the network until a new IP is assigned. But using dynamic IP addresses should prevent this type of scenario.
Static IP Addresses are Necessary For Some Devices
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What’s New in Chrome 73, Arriving March 12
Chrome 73 is set to hit the stable channel on March 12, 2019. Google’s new browser update features the beginnings of a built-in dark mode, tab grouping, media key support, and more picture-in-picture powers.
Before we get into the details here, it’s worth noting that none of this is guaranteed. While these features are expected (and even planned) to be part of Chrome 73, there’s always a chance something gets pulled before it hits the stable channel and may not make its way out of the beta (or even dev) channel until Chrome 74 or beyond.
Dark Mode (on Mac, For Now)
Dark mode is the new hotness on pretty much everything now, and Google should be bringing it to Chrome 73. This feature is available on macOS Mojave but will be making its way to Windows as well—perhaps in Chrome 74.
The biggest issue here? It looks an awful lot like Incognito Mode, which is probably not a good thing.
To use dark mode on a Mac, you’ll have to launch Chrome with the --force-dark-mode option, like so:
/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --force-dark-mode
If you can’t wait to get a dark mode fix, however, you can always install one of Google’s new Chrome themes to add a little darkness to your browser in the meantime.
RELATED: Get Your Dark Mode Fix with Google’s New Chrome Theme(s)
Tab Grouping
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Geek Trivia: What Was The Most Expensive Computer Of All Time?
What Was The Most Expensive Computer Of All Time? |
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Monday, February 25, 2019
How to Close Multiple Tabs at Once in Safari on iPhone
Browsing the web on an iPhone is a great way to kill a few minutes, and it’s still the best mobile browsing experience around. If you’ve collected a bunch of open tabs, here’s an easy way to close just the ones you want.
There are, in fact, a couple of different ways to close tabs in Safari on iPhone. Whether you want to close all of the open tabs or just a select few, we’ve got your back. If you’re anything like us you have tabs upon tabs open right now and swiping across them all one by one is crazy making. Thankfully, the folks at Apple thought up a couple of ways to save our sanity.
How to Close Several Similar Tabs at Once
To close specific tabs at once, first, open Safari and then tap the Tabs button.
Next, scroll to the top of your collection of open tabs and search for the tabs you want to close. An example may be all tabs that have Twitter open, or maybe all tabs from the Apple Store.
When the tabs are selected, press and hold “Cancel.” You’ll be shown an option to close tabs matching the search you just entered. Tap it.
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Sony’s New Xperia Phones Go Ultra Wide for Movie Lovers
This year’s Mobile World Conference is flooded with foldable phones and weird connectible phones. Sony wants to give you extra screen real estate too, but in a more practical manner.
Today, Sony announced the Xperia 1, the Xperia 10, and the Xperia 10 Plus. There are a few differences between these phones, but they share one key quality: they all have a 21:9 aspect ratio. For reference, most phones and home TV’s have a 16:9 aspect ratio.
What does this mean? Well, Sony’s new Xperia line is ultra-wide (or ultra-tall, depending on how you look at it). A 21:9 aspect ratio is perfect for watching films, and Sony suggests that the Xperia can even be used to record and edit films.
The Xperia 1 is the flagship of the new Xperia line. As you can imagine, it’s built for movie lovers. It has a 6.5″ 4K OLED display, a USB-C charging slot, and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. Inside of the Xperia 1 sits 6 GB of RAM, a new Snapdragon 855 processor, and 128 GB of storage with an expansion slot.
It also has three 12 MP cameras (telephoto, wide, and super wide) that are capable of filming 4K video at 24 FPS. Sony suggests that it’s the perfect device for watching movies, shooting and editing video, or taking high-resolution photos.
The Xperia 10 (6.0-inches) and the Xperia 10 Plus (6.5-inches) are only slightly less impressive than the Xperia 1. They don’t have 4K OLED screens, but they can still record 4K video, even though their cameras are more in the 8 MP range. They have less RAM at 3 GB and 4 GB respectively, slightly slower processors with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 and 636, and only 64 GB of internal storage, but they still have MicroSD expansion slots.
The Xperia 10 and 10 Plus will be released on March 18th, and they cost $380 and $480 respectively. But the Xperia 1 will come out sometime this Spring, and Sony hasn’t announced a price point yet.
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Android Gets FIDO2 Certification for Quick, Secure Web Logins
You’ve long been able to log in to mobile apps like banking and credit institutions using biometric verifications, but with FIDO2 certifications, this same convenience is coming to the web on over half of all Android devices.
You know the scenario: once you log in to a specific app—like your bank, for example—it gives you the option to log in using your fingerprint in future instances. If you enable it, you only need to touch your phone’s fingerprint reader to log in from that point forward, which is great.
This isn’t just nice for convenience—it’s also a lot more secure. Since the fingerprint information is stored locally on your device and not in the cloud, there’s virtually zero chance of it ever being compromised. Now, this same functionality is coming to the web on Android devices running Android 7.0 and above.
It will require a Google Play Service update on all supported devices, which will roll out through the Play Store. On top of that, web developers will need to also enable the feature, so don’t expect it to work out of the gate on all sites that you log into. Baby steps, you know?
If your device doesn’t have a fingerprint scanner, this will also work with other forms of secure logins—like PIN or pattern inputs. And because it’s all on the web, users will be able to set up password-less logins from an app and have it also work on the web (and vice versa).
We’re getting closer and closer to a true password-less future every day. I can’t wait.
The Best Wireless HDMI Products for a Tidy Media Center and Multi-Room Video
Want to watch your favorite movies and media without wires? Whether you want multi-room video or just want to avoid running wires across your living room, a wireless HDMI transmitter can help.
Wireless HDMI has been around for awhile, but it hasn’t really gained popularity. It’s a bit of a shame, because the HDMI cables that we’ve been using for over a decade have some drawbacks. They create a lot of clutter, and they restrict your TV shows and video games to a single room of the house.
How does Wireless HDMI work? Unlike screen mirroring applications like Apple AirPlay, Wireless HDMI doesn’t require a Wi-Fi connection. A transmitter that plugs into your video source sends out a frequency that’s picked up by a receiver that you plug into a display. And some Wireless HDMI products even have built-in IR transmitters, so you can use a remote control in your bedroom to control a video source in your living room.
But there are a lot of things that you should think about before buying a Wireless HDMI product. What are you going to use it for, and how far is your video source from your TV? Sadly, you can’t just buy the longest-range Wireless HDMI product and go to town. You have to strike a balance between distance and latency. Wireless HDMI products with a long range usually have a high latency, and while they’re fine for TV, they aren’t great for video games. Here are our favorites for each situation.
The Best Long Range Wireless HDMI: J-Tech Digital HDbitT ($350)
If you want a powerful Wireless HDMI setup that can beam signals through walls and ceilings, then you should check out the J-Tech Digital HDbitT. It’s one of the most powerful Wireless HDMI products on the market, and it can transmit a lossless 1080p signal up to 660 feet.
This J-Tech product supports up to two receivers, so you could potentially send a video signal from a single BluRay player or streaming stick into multiple rooms. And since this Wireless HDMI setup has built-in IR transmission technology, you can use a remote in your basement to control a cable box in your living room.
Of course, there are a few drawbacks to the J-Tech’s 660-foot range. This device has a latency of 0.3-0.5 seconds, so it isn’t great for video games or interactive media. But a few seconds of delay time isn’t going to hurt your TV watching experience.
For Room to Room TV: Nyrius ARIES NAVS500 ($180)
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Grab a Current-Gen iPad or iPad Pro for as Much as $150 Off
If you missed out on some Valentine’s Day deals earlier this month, now’s your chance to snag a new iPad (the latest-generation models, at that) at a fairly decent discount.
The newest 12.9-inch iPad Pro can be had for as little as $899 for the 64GB model. That’s good for $100 off the retail price. The 512GB model, however, can be bought for $150 off, at $1,199.
If you don’t need quite that much screen, the newer 11-inch iPad Pro is selling for $699 ($100 off) if you go for the 64GB variant, and higher storage models also see the same discount.
If you just want the basic 9.7-inch iPad, the latest model is at its lowest price that we’ve seen (matching the Black Friday deals) at $249 for the 32GB model. You can also get the 128GB model for $389.
So if you just couldn’t quite bite the bullet on Black Friday, but are now fully committed, here’s your chance to grab a really solid deal on some new iPads.
Deal Alert: Grab a Kindle Paperwhite for $55
There are a lot of tablets on the market, but the Kindle Paperwhite is still the king of e-readers. Luckily, Paperwhites are pretty inexpensive, and Woot has refurbished units at a discount.
Right now, you can buy a refurbished 7th generation Kindle Paperwhite from Woot for just $55. That’s a $45 discount. These Paperwhites have a 6″ display, and 4 GB of internal storage (which is plenty of storage for e-books). They also have special offers on the lock screen, and they’re Wi-Fi only.
Now, this is actually the previous generation of Kindle Paperwhites — that’s part of why they’re so inexpensive. But don’t worry, you’re only missing out on a waterproof display and some extra internal storage.
These are refurbished units, but Kindle Paperwhites are known to be pretty sturdy. Plus, Woot offers a 90-day warranty on products, so there isn’t much to worry about. Just don’t sleep on this deal, it’s going to disappear by the end of the day.
How to Find the Percentage of Difference Between Values in Excel
You can use Excel to calculate the percentage of change between two values quickly. In our simple example, we show you what you need to know to be able to calculate things like how much the price of gas changed overnight or the percentage of a stock price’s rise or fall.
How Percentage of Change Works
The percentage of change between an original and a new value is defined as the difference between the original value and the new value, divided by the original value.
(new_value - original_value)/(original_value)
For example, if the price of a gallon of gasoline was $2.999 yesterday on your drive home and it rose to $3.199 this morning when you filled your tank, you could calculate the percentage of change by plugging those values into the formula.
($3.199 - $2.999)/($2.999) = 0.067 = 6.7%
Let’s Look at an Example
For our simple example, we will look at a list of hypothetical prices and determine the percentage of change between an original price and a new price.
Here is our sample data containing three columns: “Original Price,” “New Price,” and “Percentage of Change.” We have formatted the first two columns as dollar amounts.
Start by selecting the first cell in the “Percentage of Change” column.
