Is There a Blog in Your Futu...
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Monday, October 27, 2014
Working through phone warranty options by Gregory Karp
When
it comes to insurance products, extended warranties are the black sheep
of the family, regularly derided by consumer advocates as being too
expensive for the protection they provide.
Still, there's an
allure, especially for the risk-averse consumer and especially for the
gorgeous new smartphones: the iPhone 6, Galaxy S5, et al.
Should
you buy an extended warranty for the pricey new computer that you pull
out of your pocket dozens of times per day? Do smartphones' new features
and bigger screens change the answer to that question?
Ultimately, the answer will depend on which arguments resonate with you. Here's...
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
8 reasons why Lightroom should be your go-to photo app by Lesa Snider
Even though Photoshop is so incredibly popular its name is a verb, it’s
not for the faint at heart. Now that Adobe offers both Photoshop and
Lightroom (plus other nifty goodies) for $10/month via its Creative Cloud Photography Program,
a dirty little secret is creeping out of the image editing bag: it’s
easier to edit images in Lightroom than in Photoshop. Brace yourself and
consider the following major advantages.
Powerful database with nondestructive editing
Unlike Photoshop, Lightroom doesn’t edit your original images.
Instead, it creates a catalog (database) of the images you tell it about
through the import process. The images aren’t squirreled away into some
mysterious package...
Sunday, October 12, 2014
A cheat sheet for your new Samsung Galaxy S5
Here are our a list of things to know about your new Samsung Galaxy S5:
The sync/charger cable for the cellphone is a USB 3.0 cable. Before you buy another cable for your car charger, you may have a cable from your old Blackberry or camera that will do the job. Under the place where you would plug your sync/changer cable are two openings. The USB 3.0 cable fits into both openings. Your old Blackberry cable needs to fit into the larger opening.
USB 3.0 USB 2.0
To conserve your battery,...
Proven apps for your Samsung Galaxy S5
You bought a Samsung Galaxy S5 (or an Android cellphone). You are probably are overwhelmed trying to learn a new cellphone.
Here is a list of worthy applications you can add to your cellphone to make it feel more like “home”:
• Amazon Kindle - The Kindle app puts over a million books at your fingertips. It’s the app for every reader, whether you’re a book reader, magazine reader, or newspaper reader—and you don’t need to own a Kindle to use it. Choose from over a million Kindle books from the Kindle Store or enjoy popular magazines like The Economist and Reader’s Digest with high-resolution color images.
• ...
One Facebook annoyance you can fix right now by Kim Komando
You fire up Facebook to see your friend's latest vacation photos, read madcap tales of your get the latest updates from yours truly.
What you often find instead is a news feed clogged with ads, game
notifications, reposts of political news stories - with commentary - and
images of cutesy sayings on top of stock photos.
grandkid's first day of school or
It's enough to make you want to close down your account for good, and
I don't blame you. Still, there is a middle ground between shutting
things down and scrolling endlessly through the fluff looking for
something you actually want to see.
And no, I'm not talking about unfriending people, although that is
perfectly acceptable...
10 hidden Apple tips and tricks by Kim Komando
Are you getting the most out of your Apple gadget? I mean really getting the most out of
it with great little-known tricks?
Sure you use it for sending messages and emails, but there are little hidden features spread throughout iOS 7 and Mavericks that you might not know about that can make your life easier.
I've showed you awesome Siri tips and tricks in the past, along with an entire set of fun things you can do with the iPad.
Guess what? I'm not stopping there. There's even more fun and useful things you can use your Apple gadget for.
1. Activation lock
If you've been paying attention to my Happening Now page, you know that it's never been more likely to have your phone stolen.
That's...
What's cheap to buy in October by Kim Komando
Black Friday has claimed all of its victims under false pretenses.
While the massive and
infamous pre-holiday shopping day is supposed to
be the cheapest possible moment to buy all of your tech, the newest
research says otherwise.
It might shock you, but October is actually the best month to get
your hands on some of the most important gadgets and tech in the world.
Why? Well, a large part of it is timing. Shoppers buying big-ticket
items usually save their purchasing for a specific time.
Bonus app: Worried about your trick-or-treater's safety? This app gives you GPS tracking and peace of mind.
The full-on holiday shopping period from late November to Santa's big
day is when retailers...
AT&T’s huge fine for alleged billing cheats: See how to get your refund by Kim Komando
Big news in the cellular world! The federal government is forcing AT&T to pay out $105
million for "cramming."
Cramming is when a carrier adds unauthorized third-party charges to a
mobile phone bill. These charges are usually for subscriptions and
premium text-messaging services - ringtones, horoscopes, gossip, etc. -
that the customer didn't ask for or realize they were signing up for. T-Mobile got in trouble a few months ago for the same thing.
I've talked about cramming before, specifically how to spot and avoid it so you don't waste money. Click here to learn more about cramming.
In AT&T's case, it started this practice back in 2009 and it kept
35%...
7 things you didn’t know your Web browser could do by Kim Komando
The most-used program on your computer is your Web browser, but
there's a good chance some of which I've dispelled in the past.
Today, though, I'm helping you get the most out of your browser with a few simple tricks that you really need to know.
1. Choose your home page
What's the first thing you see when your browser starts up? If you're
using Internet Explorer, it's probably MSN's website. Chrome loads up a
modified Google page and Firefox has its own start page.
If you find yourself always heading to the same site first thing, though, why not just start there?
In Chrome, click the icon on the right with the three horizontal bars
and choose Settings. On the left column, choose Settings...
3 essential Facebook privacy checks you need to do right now by Kim Komando
Facebook openly admits that the service is free simply because the
company sells your
information to advertisers. It's not hard to
understand this.
What is hard to understand, however, is just how much information you
could have given to Facebook since you've been using the service.
Everything that you've "Liked" has said something about your tastes.
Everything that you've posted can be data mined by clever advertisers
for more information.
You may have even heard about Facebook's newest marketing tool. It's a
massive ad network designed to distribute everything everywhere. This
ad network takes advantage of the massive amount of data that Facebook
has for all of its users....
Top five home routers for Wi-Fi Calling by Dong Ng
CNET editor Dong
Ngo explains how Wi-Fi calling works with the latest smartphones,
including the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and picks the top five routers that
are best for this technology.
Since the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus
are the first Apple phones that support both the 802.11ac Wi-Fi
standard and Wi-Fi Calling, the cell coverage for your smartphone has
just jumped to a new level. So what is Wi-Fi Calling?
This is a
technology that allows smartphones to deliver voice calls and text
messages via an Internet-ready Wi-Fi network, instead of the regular
cellular network. It's similar to Skype, but users can use their actual
cell phone number for the communication in a seamless experience. In...
