Although it’s easy to head to the electronics store to buy network cables, making do with cables of predetermined lengths can be a problem. More often than not, premade cables are either too short (and require coupling) or too long (in which case, you have to tie up excess cabling and tuck it away somewhere). The end result is usually a mess of extra network cable, wrapped and bundled up alongside your devices and network switches. It works, but it isn't ideal, and it looks horrible.
Running benchmarks on a PC enables users to evaluate performance, to identify potential bottlenecks, and to choose effective system upgrades. Unfortunately, many users imagine that system performance is simply a matter of CPU frequency or memory capacity, which leads them to think that dropping in a faster CPU or more memory will automatically and immediately yield noticeable performance improvements. In reality, however, that is not always the case.
You love taking photos. You carry your DSLR or mirrorless camera along wherever you go. You’re always checking out new Photoshop filters or interesting editing applications. You have a Flickr Pro or Smugmug account, and you upload hundreds of photos a year. Now you want a PC that can be responsive and fast when you're editing and tweaking your pictures.
I've already discussed how you can learn to code for free using languages such as Ruby and JavaScript, but this time we'll explore an even more basic language that can help to make your websites pop. Cascading Style Sheets is like HTML's cooler, more artistic sibling: While HTML handles the structure and content of your website, CSS allows you to add cutting-edge design to it. This guide tells you everything you need to know to get started making better-looking websites fast.
Many people just getting to know CSS think of it as a fancy way of handling HTML properties such as text formatting and background images--and for small-scale examples on simple pages, that's largely true. You can manipulate many of the properties that CSS affects through pure HTML instead (though not as well), and if you're just looking to change the font size on your page, CSS is actually more difficult to use than HTML.
Compared with other Kindle models, Amazon's Kindle DX is gargantuan. Its 9.7-inch E Ink screen provides ample space for reading books and viewing graphs and images. But what if you could use all of those E Ink pixels for something more creative, such as displaying your Windows desktop? As it turns out, with a few simple tricks you can use the Kindle DX as a computer display that can show anything your usual monitor can show. (Granted, E Ink's grayscale display can't perform or refresh as quickly as a color LCD can, so you're best off using this screen for static content such as documents or Web pages.)
Admit it: Your carry-on bag is stuffed full of digital gear you can’t bear to leave at home. Not only will your iPhone, iPad, or MacBook keep you entertained while en route, they’ll make great navigation, research, and photo tools once you’ve reached your destination. But keeping these devices charged up when you’re constantly on-the-go or stuck in the air can be a challenge. But there are a few things you can do to extend battery life and save power.
Battery cases
Mophie Juice Pack for iPhone
When Google launched Google Play (originally called Google Music) last year, a lot of hype surrounded the service, since it represented the search giant's entry into the world of music streaming. But now the hype has largely died down, and many Google users remain confused about what the service allows them to do, and how Google’s music locker works. We have the info you need to start uploading and streaming your music with Google Play as efficiently as possible.
Installing Google PlayGoogle Play’s primary purpose is to let you upload your existing music (up to 20,000 songs as of this writing; sorry, music aficionados) to Google’s servers so that you can store them, stream them, and redownload them to any computer connected to the Web.
Writing requires focus: You need to sit down with your thoughts and just plow through your work. Regrettably, a modern computer isn't that great for focusing on something as mundane as text. A word processor surrounds your text with so many flashy buttons and toolbars that you might sometimes feel as if the words you're trying to write belong in the backseat. Then there's the matter of chat pop-ups, email dings, Twitter chirps, and the entire panoply of modern distractions that conspire to steal your focus.
It seemed like a simple, relatively safe task: I needed to undo the RAID array on my PC.
As its primary boot drive, my production system used a RAID 0 array consisting of a pair of Corsair Force GT 240GB drives paired to create a single 480GB volume. All of the valuable data lived on a single 2TB, 7200RPM Western Digital RE drive. The system is based on a Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 motherboard running a Core i7 3930K CPU. Intel's RapidStore storage software manages the array in Windows.
Sick of your current music-management software? Invest in a Spotify membership and declare independence from iTunes, Google Music, or any other music app you're fed up with. iTunes in particular is becoming pretty bloated, especially for Windows users--but I’ve barely seen it over the past few months thanks to Spotify and the new ability to upgrade my iOS software on my iPhone itself.
Groupon is known for its popular daily local business coupon deals. What many online retailers don't know is that the Chicago-based company goes beyond these types of local deals and provides ecommerce business owners with tools and services to cash in on the Groupon craze.
For years, you've heard that shooting in RAW is better than shooting JPEGs. Your camera's RAW mode packs significantly more visual information, so it offers the potential to capture better photos. That comes at a cost, however, since you need to do extra work to coax better photos out of your camera. To help you do that, most photo editors come with some sort of mini photo editor that you can use to tweak RAW images. Photoshop Elements calls it Camera Raw; Corel PaintShop Pro calls it Camera RAW Lab. If you've always ignored such programs, give them a second look.
Why Use a RAW Editor?In a word, convenience.
This is the same reason that I recommend programs such as Lightroom or AfterShot Pro--they dispense with all the graphical-design baggage packed into a full-featured image editor like Adobe Photoshop, and include only the stuff that's important to photographers editing photos. In the same way, a RAW editor is a photo editor stripped to the bone, sporting just the features you need to correct color and exposure. A lot of the time, you could make a few tweaks in the RAW editor and be done, never needing to mess with the bigger Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or PaintShop Pro.
Every day here at GeekTech, we feature all sorts of inventive projects--everything from cardboard robots to music made by scanning barcodes (and that's just in the last week!). The imagination and ingenuity of the people who make these sorts of creations is incredible... but it's also enough to make you feel a little jealous.
But just because you don't know everything about coding or engineering shouldn't stop you making something cool, because doing your own hacks is a great way to teach yourself a few new skills.
Building a desktop computer that's amazing is easy, if a little time-consuming. But even after you’ve stuffed your new system with all the latest hardware, hooked up your cabling, and cleaned off your desk for a giant monitor, you’re not quite done.
Your new desktop masterpiece is going to do you little good if you can use it for only a few hours each day. And you have the failure of your own biology to thank for that: Humans were made to be hunters, gatherers, and thinkers, not desk jockeys.
Like many users, I have several e-mail accounts. In fact, I have three with Gmail alone.
A couple days ago, I noticed that one of the accounts hadn't received any new mail for about 24 hours. That seemed very strange, as the flow of messages to that address had always been strong and steady.
I figured it was probably a temporary glitch at Google's end (there was a Gmail outage just a couple months ago), so I waited another day to see if it would clear up on its own.
Needless to say, it didn't. I checked Google's App Status Dashboard for any known issues, but it was green across the board. I also Googled "Gmail outage" (and narrowed the search to the last 24 hours) and came up empty. Clearly, the problem was at my end.
But what was the problem? My two other Gmail accounts were chugging along just fine. But this one inbox sat empty, as though someone had simply turned off the mail spigot.
As it turned out, the flow wasn't turned off, but rather redirected. See, when I checked Gmail's Spam filter, I discovered that junk mail was still arriving. It stood to reason that "good" mail was still arriving as well, just not landing in my inbox.
Filters!
A quick visit to Gmail's Settings, Filters proved my theory: a filter was rerouting all new mail to Gmail's All Mail "folder" (sometimes known as the Archive), effectively bypassing the Inbox.
In fact, there were two identical filters doing this. How did they get there? I have no idea. I certainly didn't create them. But there they were. I quickly deleted both, and presto: problem solved. (I did have to visit All Mail, select my "missing" messages, and move them to my Inbox so I could process them normally.)
If you want to learn more about problems like this and potential resolutions, Google has a help page devoted to incoming Gmail messages that don't arrive.
In the meantime, if you ever encounter a similar inbox interruption, check Gmail's filters. You might just find the mysterious culprit.
If your laptop keys are sticky, or some of them are missing, or the keyboard isn't working at all, you can usually replace the entire keyboard yourself for between $20 and $60. The operation isn't as hard as you might think, and performing it has the advantage that you don't have to remove and replace each key individually. Though every laptop is different, removing your laptop's keyboard usually involves simply unsnapping a cover, removing a few screws, and disconnecting a cable.
If you're up to the challenge, you can tackle this project in the comfort of your own home. Take care, though: A working laptop is a terrible thing to waste, and PCWorld accepts no responsibility for any damage to your machine that might occur if you try to take it apart. Furthermore, if duplicating our process requires actually opening your entire laptop--if, say, you have to remove anything more than a handful of screws--you should call a professional. And finally, before you do anything else, check to see whether the laptop is still under warranty. If it is, you may be able to get it replaced for free.
Like Craigslist? Me, too. I've scored many a great deal on the classified-ad site.
Just one problem: For every single listing that says it has an accompanying "pic," you have to click through to actually see that picture. To me that's the very definition of "hassle."
In the past I've written about browser add-ons for previewing Craiglist images, but recently I discovered something interesting: Craigslist now has its own tool for previewing images.
I'm honestly not sure when it debuted. Could have been last week, could have been six months ago. All I know is, I didn't notice it until now. Maybe you didn't, either.