Test Your Graphics Card Stability With Furmark

FurMark is a tool that can be used to stress test for your graphics card. You can use it to see what temperature your graphics card reaches and to see if your computer crashes.

In this guide to Furmark, we’re going to discuss whether it’s worth using, how to use FurMark, and how to interpret the results when you test your graphics card using Furmark.

What Is FurMark?

FurMark is a free utility which undertakes a graphics card stress test to determine performance and stability. The goal of FurMark is to help you put your video card under the most extreme circumstances possible so that you know your video card can handle demanding programs and the latest games.

FurMark is capable of putting so much stress on your video card that it may crash. While this may sound bad, it allows you to test your video card’s stability in a controlled environment. FurMark also helps you track video card temperatures to troubleshoot possible cooling issues.

Should I Use FurMark?

This is the million dollar question. Most importantly, you should only use FurMark if you understand what it does and what the consequences of using it might be.

Since FurMark is designed to push your GPU to the absolute limit, there’s an argument that it doesn’t reflect real-world use. No game or program is going to strain your GPU as much as FurMark does. That’s obviously by design, but it also doesn’t provide a totally accurate picture.

For example, just because you get negative FurMark results it doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to run all of the graphically intensive games you want. In fact, there are games you can use to test your graphics card.

The amount of strain that FurMark puts on your system can also wear out components, especially if you repeatedly run it. If your processor logic or cooling system is inadequate, FurMark could force the GPU to such a point that it permanently damages it.

That said, FurMark can be useful. It specifically tests your computer’s graphics, which can help determine if your GPU has a pre-existing fault. It’s better to find that out early in a one-off test, while the component is still under warranty, than down the line when you boot up a new game.

While there are other free benchmark programs available, FurMark still has its place.

How to Use FurMark

First, close any other programs, since you want FurMark to be the only thing running on your computer. Then, start FurMark and you will be able to customize the settings for the test.

If you have multiple graphics cards, tick Fullscreen. In windowed mode, only your primary card will be used. You should also set Resolution to match your monitor.

You can adjust how stressful you want the test to be. Use the Anti-aliasing dropdown and set it to 8X MSAA for the highest. Go to Settings and you can enable advanced 3D options like Dynamic background and Post-FX.

While here, enable GPU temperature alarm to get a warning when your GPU reaches a certain heat so that you can stop the test, unless your system crashes first. Anything above 100°C is dangerous.

When you’re ready, click GPU stress test. You will then see a weird furry donut on your screen with a psychedelic background. The furs on this donut are all rendered individually, which is the real test for the GPU.

You don’t need to watch the test, since it isn’t exciting, but let it run for half an hour or so. You’ll likely hear more noise inside your machine than usual. You will then get results that reflect how your system will cope under long-term and constant stress.

The Results: If FurMark Crashes

If FurMark crashes it means that your video card wasn’t able to handle the load. If you watch FurMark during the test, you will notice that the image looks odd before the crash. Small dots start to appear across the image because the video card is becoming too hot and the data being sent out from the card is corrupted.

A common reason for FurMark to crash is a graphics card overclock which is too aggressive. If you have overclocked your video card, you’ll need to reduce its settings in order for your video card to remain stable.

If you have not overclocked your video card, the crash might be happening because your video card’s cooling is inadequate. Check the card to make sure that the fan is working and that dust isn’t clogging it up.

With all of that said, your setup might be absolutely fine. Remember, FurMark is an abnormal test. Your graphics card may never be pushed to these limits in a real-world setting.

The Results: If FurMark Doesn’t Crash

If FurMark runs for 30 minutes without crashing it is safe to say that your video card will cope with nearly anything. Any crashes which occur will most likely be due to the program’s coding, not your hardware’s inability to handle the strain. If interested, you can click Compare your score to see how your machine ranks against others.

That doesn’t mean you can’t gather some interesting information from the test, however. Before exiting FurMark, take a close look at the GPU temperature graph located at the bottom of the window.

This graph shows a timeline of your video card’s temperature as the benchmark progressed. This graph should show a fairly linear increase in temperature up to a certain ceiling, at which point the temperature stays essentially the same for the rest of the test.

If there are any major hiccups, however, you may want to check your video card’s cooling anyway. It is possible that the fan is not working as it should, causing spikes and dips in the temperature. This behavior may not be a stability problem yet, but it could become an issue if it worsens.

How to Optimize Your PC for Gaming

With this advice, you now know how to run FurMark, and interpret its results. You should also know whether it’s worth using in the first place.

If you want your PC to be in even better shape for playing games, check out our guide detailing how to optimize Windows 10 for gaming.

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What Happens When You Convert Your Facebook Profile to a Page?

Lots of businesses errantly use a Facebook profile rather than a Facebook Page to interact with their followers, customers, and sales leads. But this isn’t a good idea.

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Facebook profiles have a more limited set of features than Facebook Pages. So, if you still haven’t upgraded your account, it’s time to convert your Facebook profile into a Page.

But what happens when you do make the conversion? What extra features do you get? What happens to your friends list, photos, and data? This article explains everything.

Why a Facebook Profile Is Bad for Businesses

Back in the day, many people—especially freelancers, small business owners, and self-employed workers—started to promote their business via their Facebook profile.

This was perfectly understandable. Initially, Facebook didn’t offer business pages, but the business owners were keen to leverage their ever-growing social media networks.

Today, however, using a profile instead of a Page is fraught with possible issues—and that’s before you consider the extra features that a Facebook Page offers.

For example, what happens if you accidentally share a personal photo with your business followers? Or if you forget to change the visibility/privacy settings correctly for that sweet new promotion you just put together? At best, it could be embarrassing. At worst, it could actively harm a business’s bottom line.

Perhaps the most critical point, however, lies in Facebook’s Terms of Service:

When people stand behind their opinions and actions, our community is safer and more accountable. For this reason, you must:

— use the same name that you use in everyday life;
— provide accurate information about yourself;
— create only one account (your own) and use your timeline for personal purposes; and
— not share your password, give access to your Facebook account to others or transfer your account to anyone else (without our permission).

Ergo, if you use a profile exclusively for commercial gain, you are in breach of Facebook’s terms, and risk having your profile permanently removed from the network.

Facebook Profile vs. Facebook Page: Extra Features

So, what extra features can you take advantage of if you decide to use a Facebook Page rather than a Facebook profile?

Let’s take a look at some of the essential points.

Insights

For businesses, the most powerful new tool that’s available after you convert a Facebook profile to a Page is access to the Page Insights panel.

This lets you see how many actions were taken on your page, the number of page views you racked up, the number of new likes over a set period, your post reach, your story reach, your post engagement, your video engagement, your followers’ demographics, and a whole lot more. For growing companies, it’s essential data.

Friends Limit

Facebook profiles are limited to a maximum of 5,000 friends. If you hit that limit, you will need to start shedding buddies before you can add more. For personal users, the limit will be more than enough. But for businesses, it’s perfectly reasonable that they might want to exceed the 5,000 people restriction. Convert a profile to a Page to avoid the limit.

Likes

Facebook Pages can be liked by other Pages; profiles cannot be liked by pages. Allowing other businesses to like your page is a great way to grow your organization’s credibility, reputation, and influence.

Publishing Tools

If you convert your Facebook profile to a Page, you will also have many more publishing tools to use. For example, you can add branded content, manage leads, create shop listings, manage your videos and sound collection with more control, create expiring posts, and more besides.

Multiple Pages

If you’re a freelancer (or are self-employed) and thus wear many different “hats” in your professional life, Pages are more appropriate. Remember, as per Facebook’s terms, you can only have one profile tied to your real-life identity. There is no restriction on the number of Pages you can create and link to your profile.

Page Management

Only one person can manage a Facebook profile. And, if you don’t want to be in breach of the terms, that person needs to be the profile’s rightful owner. For small and medium-sized businesses with a strong social media game, that poses a problem. Pages, on the other hand, allow for multiple managers.

What Happens to Your Old Facebook Profile?

OK, so now you understand why you should convert a profile to a Page, and we’ve introduced you to some of the benefits.

The last thing we need to talk about, therefore, is what happens to all of the data that’s connected to your old profile when you make the conversion.

Here’s the key information you need to know about:

• After the conversion, you will have both a Facebook profile and a new Facebook Page.
• Your profile photo, cover photo, and profile name will carry over to the new Page. You can design a new Facebook cover photo, if you wish.
• You can also automatically convert your friends, followers, and pending friend requests into followers of your new Page (if you want to). Friends will remain connected to your profile; people who only follow you will no longer follow your profile.
• You can move your photos and videos over, but the metrics will not carry over.
• If you have a verified account, you will lose the badge from your profile. It will not carry over to the new Page.

Converting a Profile vs. Creating a New Page

Assuming you accept that it’s time to start using a Facebook Page for your business needs, there is one last question you need to address: Should you convert a profile or start from scratch with a new page?

There is not a single right answer. Much will depend on how much of a business following you’ve amassed on your profile.

For example, if you’ve been using your profile as a business tool for years, it makes sense to instigate the conversion. If you’re just starting a new business venture, there is little point in working through the conversion process. It makes more sense to start afresh.

How to Convert a Facebook Profile Into a Page

To begin the conversion process, you just need to use Facebook’s dedicated tool. It is available on its own URL; you cannot access it through your Facebook account.

If you would like to learn more about Facebook Pages, be sure to read our article on Facebook Pages vs. Facebook Groups. It will help you decide which one is right for you.

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6 Fun and Cool Mac Terminal Commands to Try

The Terminal is a handy utility that’s commonly found on UNIX-based computers, such as Linux and macOS. In it, you can type in commands to make your computer perform certain tasks. If you’re familiar with Windows, it works a lot like the Command Prompt or PowerShell.

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While you might think of it as a serious component of your computer, there are fun things to do in the Terminal. If you aren’t familiar with Terminal’s interface, that’s okay. Regardless of your experience level, you can use these cool Terminal commands without much effort.

1. Play Old-School Games

macOS comes with GNU Emacs, a text editor that’s part of the GNU operating system. You can access it via the Terminal. By itself, the explanation might not mean a lot to you. But it does mean you’re able to play a selection of retro games with a few simple inputs into Terminal.

If you need a short distraction, most of these games have a quick pace to them. This lets you get a few rounds in without much of a time investment. However, if you leave early on some of these games, your suddenly sassy AI partner might heckle you a bit.

To begin playing, simply follow these steps:

1. Open Terminal.
2. Type in emacs and press Return.
3. Hold down Fn and press F10.
4. Either use the up/down keys or hit the T key to select t for Tools.
5. Again, either use the up/down keys or hit the G key to select g for Games.
6. Select a game from Terminal’s list using the up/down keys, or enter its respective hotkey. The list of games is as follows:

• 5×5
• Blackbox
• Towers of Hanoi
• Multiplication Puzzle
• Solitaire
• Zone Out
• Adventure
• Gomoku
• Life
• Snake
• Tetris

Just remember when selecting your game by hotkey to use the appropriate case (i.e. a capital T for Tetris), as some of them share hotkeys.

If you want to quit the game, use the key combination Ctrl + X followed by Ctrl + C.

2. Watch ASCII Star Wars in the Terminal

In a surprising inclusion, you can watch Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope in ASCII art. If you feel like watching a sci-fi classic re-imagined, just set aside some time. You’ll need a live internet connection or this fun Terminal command will fail.

If you have an IPv6 address, a few scenes will be slightly different. It’s an old joke that having an IPV6 address displays the movie in color, but that’s not actually the case.

When you’re ready, open up Terminal. Depending on your macOS version, type in one of two commands:

• For macOS Sierra and later: nc towel.blinkenlights.nl 23
• For macOS versions earlier than Sierra: telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

3. Talk With Terminal

Do you have a lot of time to spare but no one to spend it with? You could have Terminal keeping you company during those quiet moments.

Just type in: say (Insert text here without parentheses)

You can type in any text you want after the say prompt and Terminal will speak it out for you. As one of the simplest tricks to do, it’s a cool Terminal command to prank others with.

If you like, you can even customize the voice by going to System Preferences > Accessibility > Speech and selecting your preferred speaker.

4. Meet the Psychotherapist

If you had some fun getting Terminal to talk to you during quiet times, there’s another cool Terminal command to try. This will allow you to engage in a more active therapy session.

If you’re suffering from stress at work, it can serve as a free alternative to an actual therapist.

To consult Emacs’s virtual psychologist with your problems, follow these steps:

1. Launch Terminal.
2. Type in emacs and press Return.
3. Press and hold down Shift, then press Esc.
4. Press the X key.
5. Type in doctor and press Return.
6. Type in what you want to say and press Return twice.
7. Let the conversation go until you’ve had your fill.

If your psychotherapist starts suggesting you need a break, try some light reading such as our Mac Terminal commands cheat sheet.

5. Get Your Weather Forecast

While some of the other fun Mac Terminal commands are pretty silly, this one is actually useful. If you need a three-day forecast of your local weather conditions, you don’t even have to open your browser.

Simply open Terminal and type in curl http://wttr.in/ to bring up your local forecast. You’ll instantly receive a breakdown of your morning, afternoon, evening, and night conditions, plus the current weather.

6. Endless Text Boxes

As with the “say” prompt mentioned above, the simplest commands in Terminal make for great pranks. If you ever want to surprise anyone on their Mac, try taking advantage of the yes command. This makes Terminal spit out the same string over and over until you tell it to stop.

Before you do this, you should know that the yes command utilizes a lot of your computer’s CPU; it prints text so rapidly that the process consumes all available resources. Running multiple iterations of yes will each max out a core of the computer’s CPU, so you must be careful with it.

Thus, we recommend that you only use this prank when the owner will soon see it. You don’t want their computer to run for hours at 100% CPU usage, which could eventually cause damage.

To use yes, follow these simple steps:

1. Open Terminal.
2. Type in yes followed by a word or sentence (for example, yes Are you scared?) and hit Enter.
3. Enjoy the prank results.
4. Press Control + C to stop the process.

Enjoy the Command Line With Cool Terminal Commands

After playing with these command lines a bit, you should realize that the Terminal isn’t as boring as you thought. And they aren’t exclusive to macOS—Linux users should be able to access them without issue as well.

For a lot more Terminal command exploration, check out our beginner’s guide to using the Mac Terminal.

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How to Keep a Windows Laptop Awake With the Lid Closed

While your laptop obviously works great on-the-go, you can use it at home too. By connecting an external keyboard, mouse, and monitor, a laptop can function like a desktop. But there’s one problem with this: how do you keep the laptop on when it’s closed?

By default, Windows puts your laptop to sleep when you close the lid. This means that even if you don’t want to use your laptop screen as a secondary monitor, you still have to keep it open to keep your computer awake.

Or do you? Thankfully, you can keep your monitor on when the laptop is closed. Here’s how.

How to Keep the Display On When Your Laptop Is Closed

Windows provides a simple toggle to let you keep your laptop screen on when it’s closed. Find it through the following steps:

1. In the System Tray (at the bottom-right corner of the screen), find the Battery icon. You may have to click the small arrow to show all icons. Right-click Battery and choose Power Options.
   1. Alternatively, on Windows 10, you can head to Settings > System > Power & sleep and select Additional power settings from the right menu.
2. On the left of the resulting Power Options menu, select Choose what closing the lid does.
3. You’ll see options for the power and sleep buttons. Under When I close the lid, change the dropdown box for Plugged in to Do nothing.
   1. If you like, you can also change the setting for On battery. However, this can cause issues, as we’ll explain in a moment.
4. Click Save Changes and you’re good to go.

Image credit: Ben Richards/SuperUser

Now when you close your laptop screen, it will continue to run as normal. This means that you can control it with external devices while the laptop itself is neatly tucked away.

However, remember that when you want to put your laptop to sleep or shut it down, you’ll need to use the commands on the Start Menu once you’ve made this change. You can also use the physical power button on your computer to turn it off.

Beware of Heat When Closing a Laptop Without Sleeping

That’s all you have to do in order to close your laptop without it sleeping. However, changing this option has a consequence that you should know about.

The default shortcut for closing the lid to put your PC to sleep is convenient when you throw your laptop in a bag. But if you forget about that after changing this option, you could accidentally put your laptop in an enclosed space while it’s still on.

In addition to wasting battery power, this will generate a lot of heat and can destroy your laptop over time. Thus, you should consider only changing the lid setting for Plugged in and always plugging in your laptop when you use it at your desk. This is a good combination of convenience and safety.

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How to Schedule an Email in Gmail to Delay Sending It

Sometimes you don’t want to send an email immediately. Perhaps it’s the middle of the night or your email contains time-sensitive information. Instead, you want to schedule an email so it is sent out later at a predetermined time.

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We’re going to show you how to schedule an email in Gmail so that you can delay its delivery and send it later automatically at a specific time of your choosing.

Why Schedule Emails?

The ability to schedule emails is something that many Gmail users were crying out for, especially since other email clients could schedule email. Google finally satisfied those requests in 2019, when it added the ability to schedule an email in Gmail.

You can set an email to be sent on a specific day at a specific time and then the request will be handled automatically, regardless of whether you have Gmail open.

Image Credit: studiostoks/Depositphotos

The ability to schedule emails is useful for many reasons. For example, if you are writing a business email on the weekend or the middle of the night, you might not want to send it immediately for fear of appearing work-obsessed. Instead, you can schedule that email for Monday morning so that it appears at the top of someone’s inbox when they arrive at work.

Alternatively, perhaps your recipient is in another time zone. Rather than send the email during your daytime while the recipient is asleep, you can schedule the email to arrive in their inbox when they wake up so that they see the notification—useful for those people you know have busy inboxes.

Or maybe your email contains sensitive information that you can’t send at the time you’re writing it. With this Gmail feature, you can have your email typed up and ready to go, delay sending it with the scheduling tool, and have it automatically pushed out whenever it is suitable.

How to Schedule an Email in Gmail

You can have up to 100 emails scheduled at any one time in Gmail. You can also schedule emails up to 49 years in advance if you’re mega organized.

Desktop

1. Click Compose and create your email—filling in the recipient(s), subject, and message as usual.
2. Next to the Send button, click the dropdown arrow.
3. Click Schedule send.
4. Choose one of the presets, like Tomorrow morning, to schedule the email. Alternatively, click Select date and time to define your own.
5. Click Schedule send (if you defined your own date and time.)

Mobile or Tablet (Android and iOS)

The instructions for Android and iOS mobile or tablet are the same as above, apart from Step Two where you need to tap More (three dots) in the top right.

How to View or Change Scheduled Emails in Gmail

Once you’ve scheduled an email, the Scheduled folder will come into view. Here you can check what emails you have scheduled and edit them.

Desktop

1. Click the Scheduled folder on the left pane.
2. Click the email you wish to edit.
3. Above the email body, click Cancel send.
4. Make your changes to the email, if necessary.
5. Next to the Send button, click the dropdown arrow.
6. Click Schedule send.
7. Select a new date and time.

Mobile or Tablet (Android and iOS)

1. Tap Menu (three horizontal lines.)
2. Tap Scheduled.
3. Tap the email you wish to edit.
4. Tap Cancel send.
5. Tap the pencil icon to edit the email and make your changes as necessary.
6. Tap More (three dots) in the top right.
7. Tap Schedule send.
8. Select a new date and time.

How to Cancel Scheduled Emails in Gmail

It’s simple to cancel a scheduled email. Just remember to do it before the scheduled time! When you cancel a scheduled email it will go into your Draft folder.

Desktop

1. Click the Scheduled folder on the left pane.
2. Click the email you wish to delete.
3. Above the email body, click Cancel send.

Mobile or Tablet (Android and iOS)

1. Tap Menu (three horizontal lines.)
2. Tap Scheduled.
3. Tap the email you wish to delete.
4. Tap Cancel send.

Use a Third-Party Tool to Schedule an Email in Gmail

Since the ability to schedule emails in Gmail wasn’t available for years, others took it upon themselves to build tools to let users do it.

Some business focused tools like Contact Monkey offer it, but these are paid solutions. If you think scheduling emails isn’t anything new for Gmail, it’s likely because you work for a company that use something like this.

Simple browser plugins like Schedule Email also exist. This particular one doesn’t offer anything different to what Gmail does out the box, so there’s no point using it.

Use Boomerang to Schedule Email in Gmail

Something you might want to use is Boomerang. This is a browser plugin. It also has a mobile app for Android and iOS, but note that this is an entirely different email client and does not add anything to your Gmail app (though it does support Gmail accounts.)

Boomerang is available for free and for a monthly cost—$4.99 for personal, $14.99 for pro, and $49.99 for premium.

For free, you can schedule 10 emails a month. If you pay, it’s unlimited. The full breakdown of features can be seen on the Boomerang pricing page.

With Boomerang, you can schedule emails, but the free version also lets you set reminders if you don’t get a response, track if links in your email have been clicked, pause your inbox for peace of mind, and more. It all integrates into the Gmail desktop interface, which is great.

If you need these extra features, Boomerang is a good choice, especially when you can try out with the free membership. If all you need is the ability to schedule email, stick with the default Gmail feature.

Learn More About Gmail

Now you know how to schedule emails in Gmail and send them later, whether you’re using desktop or mobile.

With that under your belt, why not learn even more about what Gmail has to offer? Check out our beginner’s guide to Gmail for more tips.

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10 Essential Tips for Better Night Photography

While camera technology on smartphones and DSLRs continues to advance, night photography is still difficult things to get right, regardless of your equipment.

When it comes to taking photos at night or in dark settings, the point-and-click method is not enough to get a great picture. So here are some tips for better night photography.

1. Ditch the Flash

Image Credit: Dev Asangbam/Unsplash

While beginners may be tempted to use their flash to take photos in the dark, this is the last thing you should do. A built-in flash is a surefire way to ensure your picture is overexposed with uneven lighting.

Using your flash will always mean that whatever the light hits first will be emphasized. This isn’t suitable for low-light pictures where the composition is important, or where you want to catch the details of a subject.

2. Manually Adjust Exposure

The automatic mode on your camera is the least suitable for night time photography. Rather, you should switch to a manual mode. Here you can adjust the aperture, ISO, and shutter speed of your camera.

These settings allow you to adjust the exposure of your image—how much light your camera takes in and for how long. The exact setting will depend on your subject and what goals you want for your photo.

If you’re not very familiar with these photography terms and what they mean, check out our photography tips for beginners.

3. Use a Tripod

Image Credit: Josh Hild/Unsplash

Since night photography requires long exposure times, you need to use a tripod. If your camera does not stay perfectly still, even when the exposure period is just a few seconds, your image will come out blurry and distorted.

A tripod also allows you to adjust the angle and height of your camera, making it a better solution than propping up your camera on a flat surface. A tripod also withstands vibration better on surfaces like metal bridges.

4. Consider Using a Remote Shutter Button/Remote

Since your camera needs to remain perfectly still during longer exposure times, you should consider using a shutter remote. Tapping on your DSLR shutter button or your phone’s touchscreen can cause enough movement to disturb the image.

A remote can reduce this risk since it uses software or a signal to trigger the shutter rather than a physical button or tap.

5. Shoot in RAW Format

On both recent premium smartphones and DSLRs, you can shoot photos in the RAW file format. This image format is essential for night photography since it includes all the image data captured by your sensor.

These details matter when it comes to capturing night scenes and editing them afterwards. If you capture these images as JPEGs or another compressed picture format, a lot of essential data is lost. This makes it much more difficult to capture subtle details or to bring out these details with editing.

Stick with RAW instead of JPEGs (RAW vs JPEG), so that you can work with your camera and your images’ full potential.

6. Take Your Time and Experiment With Shots

Image Credit: William Bayreuther/Unsplash

It’s highly unlikely that you’ll get a night photo right the first time around. That’s why it’s important to take your time and experiment with different settings to see which works best with your shot.

Adjust your ISO, shutter speed, and aperture, then take a shot. See the result, adjust the settings again, and take another.

See what works and what doesn’t work. Taking your time and trying out different shots will help you reach that sweet spot to take the best shot possible.

7. Use Bracketing and Combine Photos If Needed

Depending on the subject of your photo, it might be difficult to get the correct exposure on different parts. This is especially true when it comes to subjects that have parts at different distances from the camera (for example, large rocks in a landscape picture).

To get the right balance in a night photo, you may need to use bracketing. Bracketing is basically the manual version of what HDR modes do automatically—taking multiple shots at different exposure levels.

You can then use photo editing software to combine and blend different parts of each shot to get an overall image with the right exposure throughout.

8. Make Sure Your Subject Has Enough Lighting

Image Credit: Warren Wong/Unsplash

Unless you specifically want to capture a silhouette, you will need to make sure your subject is well-lit enough compared to its background lighting. This seems obvious for photography in general. But the darkness of night scenes means even a minimal amount of light in the background can result in your subject becoming obscured.

This is especially true when trying to capture a subject near a lit street or building. You either need to make sure that the subject is positioned in such a way that it benefits from surrounding lighting (for example, capturing a person’s portrait under street lighting), or supply your own source of lighting for the subject.

9. Adjust White Balance for Artificial Lighting

On the subject of lighting, not all light is equal—especially when it comes to artificial lighting. Since this is the primary source of light in night images, you will likely need to tweak your white balance settings.

Depending on the light source, your image’s color scheme may appear overly cool or overly warm. You need to decide what balance you want for your image and then adjust its warmth.

Sometimes, the warm hue of old lights outside a building can give a great tone to your image. But if you want a more neutral tone or are aiming for a cool color scheme, your white balance settings will need to offset this tint.

10. Choose a Suitable Setting If You Want a Long Shoot

Image Credit: Alec Attie/Unsplash

If you are capturing a specific type of night photo, such as star trails, you will need the right location to account for the long shoot times. These shoots can take several hours. Which means that you don’t want to choose a setting where you will likely be disturbed or asked to move.

Furthermore, you don’t want to choose a location where you or your equipment could be at risk. Make sure to do your research. Check out the location during the day and night before choosing to shoot there. You should also make sure that it’s legal for you to be there at night. Consider bringing along a friend or fellow photographer too.

You should do this even if the photography technique you’re using doesn’t necessarily take a long time. You’ll want to leave yourself enough freedom to take multiple photos and try out different compositions.

Buy the Right Gear for Your Photography

You don’t need the best camera or the latest equipment to take night photos. But the right gear goes a long way.

Check out our guide to the essential gear for new photographers for some recommendations that can up your photography game. Whether shooting at night or during the day.

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USB PD Explained: How Power Delivery Chargers Work

There are plenty of different charging methods for phones and gadgets, and USB-PD is one that’s catching on quickly. In fact, very soon, the Android phones you find on the shelves will all be using this technology to charge faster.

So, what is USB-PD, and how does it help you?

What Is USB-PD?

The USB part of USB-PD stands for “Universal Serial Bus.” It should be familiar to you because this is the same technology that lets you plug in mice, keyboards, and other peripherals into your computer. The PD part, however, is the new bit that stands for “Power Delivery.”

So, what is power delivery, and what does it do? Its goal is to charge your gadgets faster than regular USB. It uses the USB-C format, which a lot of modern-day devices currently use. If “USB-C” means nothing to you, be sure to read about the different USB cable types and how they differ.

A USB-PD charger can charge devices with requirements up to 100 watts, which can power some pretty heavy-duty USB-C devices. Of course, if you plugged a 100-watt cable into your phone, it’s likely to do more harm than good! That’s why the cable “listens” to the device’s wattage needs and adjusts its energy flow to suit.

With USB-C’s universal standard combined with USB-PD’s adaptable power output, you get a cable that can plug into and adequately charge a wide range of devices.

Why USB-PD Is Important

So, why are we talking about USB-PD specifically? After all, if you take a look at the other fast charging technologies out there, you’ll see there’s plenty of competition. USB-PD will have to contest with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge, Huawei’s SuperCharge, and Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charging technologies—to name but a few.

Removing Proprietary Barriers and Reducing Waste

The problem with these technologies, however, is that they’re proprietary. The manufacturers made them to charge their own devices, and nothing else. For example, a Qualcomm Quick Charge charger will do a great job with a phone designed to use it, but it won’t play nice with a Samsung device that uses Adaptive Fast Charging.

Things get messier if your Qualcomm-enabled phone breaks, and you replace it with a Samsung phone. Now your Qualcomm charger doesn’t fit your new phone’s specifications, so you use Samsung’s fast charger instead. You don’t need the Qualcomm one anymore, so you throw it away.

This is a significant problem with having a market flooded with proprietary charging methods. As technologies come and go, people throw out the old chargers and cables that don’t work anymore, which adds to the amount of technological waste generated.

USB-PD aims to put a stop to this by introducing a new standard. You use a USB-PD charger to charge your phone quickly, then use the same charger to power a phone made by a different company, or even something bigger like a portable games console.

It doesn’t matter how small or large the device is, or who manufactured it, because the charger always adjusts its output to meet the device’s demand.

USB-PD Uses Two-Way Charging

Now let’s take one step further and imagine that the cable can direct power either way. Instead of having devices that only charge and devices that only receive a charge, any USB-PD device can either accept or give out energy. This handy feature means less messing around with different charger types, and more devices “piggybacking” off of other USB-PD devices.

In the video above, Josh Averyt covers an example of a monitor connected to a laptop via USB-PD. The USB-C cable also has DisplayPort, which allows transmission of screens. When the monitor is plugged into the mains then connected via USB-C to the laptop, the monitor displays what the laptop is showing and also charges the laptop’s battery.

This is why USB-PD is so essential; it has the potential to de-tangle the world of fast-charging technology and make a single, simple solution for consumers and manufacturers alike.

Will USB-PD Take Off in the Future?

This all sounds well and good, but it is another charging standard in a sea full of proprietary chargers. As XKCD succinctly puts it, what’s stopping USB-PD from being lost in the sea of chargers?

If you like the sound of USB-PD, you’ll be pleased to know that it’s not just a fad. Proof of this comes from a Digital News article, which reveals that Google wants all future Android phones to support USB-C PD out of the box.

As such, USB-PD won’t just be a luxury charging method—it’ll soon be a standard across Android devices.

How Do You Utilize USB-PD?

So if you want to use this new technology, how do you get started?  To get USB-PD recharge speeds, you need both a charger and a device that supports USB-PD. As such, you need to double-check that everything can use USB-PD before you get started.

For your devices, check their manuals and specifications to check if they support USB-PD. It’s worth doing some research into your device’s compatibility, as some will support USB-PD but aren’t compliant with USB-C.

For example, the Nintendo Switch uses USB-PD and plays well if you use its official dock or branded charger. However, as a Reddit post points out, it’s not compliant with the USB standard. As such, third-party chargers using USB-PD may burn out the Switch, as reported by Ars Technica.

Image Credit: Aaron Yoo/Flickr

As for your chargers, you may already own a USB-PD compatible charger. If you own a USB hub and wonder what the “PD” charging ports are for, they’re unique ports that fit USB-PD’s specifications. You can use these ports to charge your USB-PD devices faster.

If you don’t own one, they’re easy to find in electronic stores. Just look for a charger with a port labeled “USB-PD” or only “PD” and use that port to charge your devices.

Are Fast Chargers Safe?

With all this talk about proprietary chargers and different power levels, you might worry about mixing and matching USB charging cables. If you accidentally plug in a Samsung fast charger into a phone that doesn’t accept it, will it fry the electronics?

There’s a lot to take in about fast chargers. If you’re confused, try the best USB-C chargers, what’s safe, and what’s dangerous.

Embracing the Future of USB-PD

USB-PD seems confusing at first, and perhaps even unnecessary. However, if developers adopt this standard on their devices, we’ll soon see a future of fast USB charging that works on the majority of gadgets and can charge either way.

If you want to try USB-PD right now, take a look at the best Thunderbolt 3 docks for a MacBook Pro, some of which have USB-PD ports.

Read the full article: USB PD Explained: How Power Delivery Chargers Work

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How to Delete the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures Folders in Windows 10

The Camera Roll and Saved Pictures folders come with Windows 10 by default. But if you don’t use them, they’re pointless. Problem is, you can’t delete them the usual way.

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We’re going to show you how to move, hide, or delete these folders, so they don’t get in the way. We’ll also tell you how to hide the related libraries too.

What Are the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures Folders?

Take a look inside your Pictures folder and you will see the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures folders. These are created automatically if you have Windows 10.

The Camera Roll folder is used by the Camera app to store all created photos and videos. The Saved Pictures folder is used by the Photos app. These two apps are the reason these annoying folders exist.

If you don’t use the Camera or Photos app, it’s likely that the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures folders sit empty within your Pictures library. That’s a nuisance, right?

You might think you can remove these folders like you would any other—right click and select Delete.

While that works temporarily, the two folders will reappear minutes later, whether you open their respective apps or not.

So, it requires a bit more work to permanently remove these folders. You can also move or hide the folders if you want a less terminal solution.

Move the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures Folders

By default, the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures folders will be within the Pictures folder. You can easily move them to any other folder.

You’ll need to tackle each folder in turn. Right click the folder and click Properties. Switch to the Location tab.

Here there’s a field where you can enter the folder path of where you want the folder to be moved to.

Don’t worry if you don’t know the path. Just click Move…, navigate inside your destination folder of choice, and click Select Folder. Finally, press OK to confirm the move.

You can return to this screen and press Restore Default > OK if you want the folder back in your Pictures.

Alternatively, you can simply cut (Ctrl + X) and paste (Ctrl + V) the folder somewhere using File Explorer.

Quickly Find the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures Folders

If you need to access the Camera Roll or Saved Pictures folder and you can’t remember where you moved them to, don’t worry.

Press Windows + R to open Run. Input one of the following, depending on what folder you need:

• shell:camera roll
• shell:savedpictures

Click OK and the folder will open.

These commands will work no matter where you’ve moved the folders.

Hide the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures Folders

If you don’t want to move the folders or permanently delete them, you can hide them from sight instead.

To do this, highlight both the folders (or hold down Ctrl as you click each in turn) and switch to the View tab on the ribbon. Within the Show/hide section, click Hide selected items.

If you can still see the folder but with a faded icon, that means you have a setting enabled to see hidden items. To disable this, remain on the View tab and uncheck Hidden items.

Reversing these instructions will allow you to make the folders visible again.

Make the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures Folders Super Hidden

If you want to go a step further, you can hide these folders at a system level. That means that even if you have Hidden items visible, you still won’t see the folders.

To do this, press Windows key + R to open Run, input cmd, and click OK. This will open the Command Prompt.

Next, open File Explorer and navigate to the Camera Roll or Saved Pictures folder. You will need to do each in turn. Copy the folder path from the address bar—i.e. right click inside the bar and press Ctrl + C.

Your path will likely be similar to this: C:\Users\YourName\Pictures\Camera Roll

Go back to Command Prompt and type the following, replacing the example path with your own:

attrib +s +h "C:\Users\YourName\Pictures\Camera Roll"

Press Enter on your keyboard and that folder is now hidden.

If you forget where the hidden folder is, use the instructions in the ‘Quickly Find the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures Folders’ section above.

You can make the folder visible again with this command (again, replace the path):

attrib -s -h "C:\Users\YourName\Pictures\Camera Roll"

Hide the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures Libraries

You may also have noticed that Camera Roll and Saved Pictures appear in your Libraries too.

This requires creating four registry keys. This process can be streamlined by building an executable registry file.

Open Notepad and paste the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{2B20DF75-1EDA-4039-8097-38798227D5B7}\PropertyBag]
"ThisPCPolicy"="Hide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{2B20DF75-1EDA-4039-8097-38798227D5B7}\PropertyBag]
"ThisPCPolicy"="Hide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{E25B5812-BE88-4bd9-94B0-29233477B6C3}\PropertyBag]
"ThisPCPolicy"="Hide"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions\{E25B5812-BE88-4bd9-94B0-29233477B6C3}\PropertyBag]
"ThisPCPolicy"="Hide"

Go to File > Save As… and input the File name as LibraryHide.reg.

Open File Explorer and go to where you just saved that file. Right click the file and click Merge. When prompted by the warning, click Yes.

This will then execute the above code. The code tells the registry to add the value of Hide to each of those four paths (two for each library.)

Delete the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures Folders

As the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures folders are tied to the Camera and Photos apps, the only way to permanently delete these folders is to uninstall the apps.

These apps come with Windows 10 and cannot be uninstalled like you would a usual program. Instead, you need to use PowerShell for the uninstallation.

To begin, do a system search for PowerShell. Next, right click the result and click Run as administrator.

Copy (Ctrl + C), paste (Ctrl + V), and press Enter on your keyboard for each of these commands.

To uninstall Camera:

Get-AppxPackage *windowscamera* | Remove-AppxPackage

To uninstall Photos:

Get-AppxPackage *photos* | Remove-AppxPackage

Note that you may use the Photos app to browse pictures on your computer without realizing it. A suitable alternative is the Windows Photo Viewer. Here’s our quick guide to bring back Photo Viewer.

If you want to reinstall those apps or any other Windows apps you may have deleted, use this command in PowerShell:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers| Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Delete Other Windows Folders

You did it! You now don’t have to see those pesky empty folders within your Pictures.

If you’re on a roll and want to free up some disk space, check out these Windows files and folders to delete and declutter your computer.

Read the full article: How to Delete the Camera Roll and Saved Pictures Folders in Windows 10

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Google’s Area 120 launches Tangi, a short-form video app focused on creativity and DIY

The latest project to emerge from Google’s in-house incubator, Area 120, takes the newfound interest in short-form video and focuses it on the DIY space. The company today is launching a short video platform called Tangi, initially on the web and iOS, that allows creative types to share how-to videos on subjects like crafting, painting, cooking, fashion, beauty and more.

Unlike apps like TikTok or newly-launched Byte, which are more focused on entertainment, Tangi aims to help people learn.

“We only focus on DIY and creativity content,” explains Tangi founder, Coco Mao. “Our platform’s goal is to help people learn to craft, cook, and create with quick one-minute videos. We designed Tangi to make it easier for users to find a lot of high-quality how-to videos,” she says.

Mao was inspired to create Tangi after going home to visit her parents in Shanghai. She found they were watching a lot of how-to videos on painting and photography on their phone, even though she had always believed they were “smartphone challenged.”

“My mom has always had a creative side, and I was surprised to learn that she’s now an amateur oil painter thanks to these niche communities with quick how-to videos,” Mao says. “I, too, joined some of these vibrant creative communities that make videos around cooking and fashion. I noticed something magical in these videos: They could quickly get a point across—something that used to take a long time to learn with just text and images,” she notes.

While Tangi’s vertical videos can be up to one-minute long, most average around 45 seconds. That means it’s not necessarily the place to be walked step-by-step through a complicated recipe as you could be on YouTube, for example. Instead, the videos might show you a quick cooking trick or inspire you to try a new idea in the kitchen.

Another difference between Tangi and other short-form video apps is a feature it includes called “Try It.” This encourages users to upload photos of their re-creation of the video as a way to interact with other community members, says Mao.

For example, one of the most re-created videos is this one of making guacamole in the avocado shell.

The creator might leave an actual recipe in the comments, however, even if they don’t show you each individual step in detail. (And it’s arguably a lot easier to follow a recipe on Tangi than on most of today’s recipe sites which are overrun with ads and SEO-driven “personal stories.”)

Already, Tangi is being used by a number of creators including DIY and lifestyle blogger Holly Grace, portrait artist Rachel Faye Carter, baker and food creator Paola D Yee, beauty vlogger Sew Wigged Out, art and DIYer TheArtGe, cooking and DIYer JonathanBlogs, and others.

Also unlike other social video apps, uploading to Tangi isn’t currently open to all. Instead, creators need to apply to be a part of the video platform. This allows Tangi to ensure their videos remain focused on creativity and DIY activities.

As a viewer, you can search Tangi for whatever it is you want to learn or filter videos by category, like art, cooking, DIY, fashion & beauty, and lifestyle. Or you can simply scroll down the home page until something catches your interest. To save a video or show your support for the creator, you click the heart icon to like the video. This saves it to your “Liked” section under your profile.

Tangi ends up having a sort of Pinterest-y vibe due to its content.

At launch, Tangi is available everywhere except the E.U., initially on the web and on iOS. The app is a free download, is ad-free, and isn’t currently being monetized in other ways.

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No pan-EU Huawei ban as Commission endorses 5G risk mitigation plan

The European Commission has endorsed a risk mitigation approach to managing 5G rollouts across the bloc — meaning there will be no pan-EU ban on Huawei. Rather it’s calling for Member States to coordinate and implement a package of “mitigating measures” in a 5G toolbox it announced last October and has endorsed today.

“Through the toolbox, the Member States are committing to move forward in a joint manner based on an objective assessment of identified risks and proportionate mitigating measures,” it writes in a press release.

It adds that Member States have agreed to “strengthen security requirements, to assess the risk profiles of suppliers, to apply relevant restrictions for suppliers considered to be high risk including necessary exclusions for key assets considered as critical and sensitive (such as the core network functions), and to have strategies in place to ensure the diversification of vendors”.

The move is another blow for the Trump administration — after the UK government announced yesterday that it would not be banning so-called “high risk” providers from supplying 5G networks.

Instead the UK said it will place restrictions on such suppliers — barring their kit from the “sensitive” ‘core’ of 5G networks, as well as from certain strategic sites (such as military locations), and placing a 35% cap on such kit supplying the access network.

However the US has been amping up pressure on the international community to shut the door entirely on the Chinese tech giant, claiming there’s inherent strategic risk in allowing Huawei to be involved in supplying such critical infrastructure — with the Trump administration seeking to demolish trust in Chinese-made technology.

Next-gen 5G is expected to support a new breed of responsive applications — such as self-driving cars and personalized telemedicine — where risks, should there be any network failure, are likely to scale too.

But the Commission take the view that such risks can be collectively managed.

The approach to 5G security continues to leave decisions on “specific security” measures as the responsibility of Member States. So there’s a possibility of individual countries making their own decisions to shut out Huawei. But in Europe the momentum appears to be against such moves.

“The collective work on the toolbox demonstrates a strong determination to jointly respond to the security challenges of 5G networks,” the EU writes. “This is essential for a successful and credible EU approach to 5G security and to ensure the continued openness of the internal market provided risk-based EU security requirements are respected.”

The next deadline for the 5G toolbox is April 2020, when the Commission expects Member States to have implemented the recommended measures. A joint report on their implementation will follow later this year.

Key actions being endorsed in the toolbox include:

•     Strengthen security requirements for mobile network operators (e.g. strict access controls, rules on secure operation and monitoring, limitations on outsourcing of specific functions, etc.);
•     Assess the risk profile of suppliers; as a consequence,  apply relevant restrictions for suppliers considered to be high risk – including necessary exclusions to effectively mitigate risks – for key assets defined as critical and sensitive in the EU-wide coordinated risk assessment (e.g. core network functions, network management and orchestration functions, and access network functions);
•     Ensure that each operator has an appropriate multi-vendor strategy to avoid or limit any major dependency on a single supplier (or suppliers with a similar risk profile), ensure an adequate balance of suppliers at national level and avoid dependency on suppliers considered to be high risk; this also requires avoiding any situations of lock-in with a single supplier, including by promoting greater interoperability of equipment;

The Commission also recommends that Member States should contribute towards increasing diversification and sustainability in the 5G supply chain and co-ordinate on standardization around security objectives and on developing EU-wide certification schemes.

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How humans and AI can work together to create better businesses | Sylvain Duranton

How humans and AI can work together to create better businesses | Sylvain Duranton

Here's a paradox: as companies try to streamline their businesses by using artificial intelligence to make critical decisions, they may inadvertently make themselves less efficient. Business technologist Sylvain Duranton advocates for a "Human plus AI" approach -- using AI systems alongside humans, not instead of them -- and shares the specific formula companies can adopt to successfully employ AI while keeping humans in the loop.

Click the above link to download the TED talk.

How the world’s largest cannabis dispensary avoids social media restrictions

Planet 13 is the world’s largest cannabis dispensary. Located in Las Vegas, blocks off the Strip, the facility is the size of a small Walmart. By design, it’s hard to miss. Planet 13 is upending the dispensary model. It’s big, loud and visitors are encouraged to photograph everything.

As part of the cannabis industry, Planet 13 is heavily restricted on the type of content it can publish on Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms. It’s not allowed to post pictures of buds or vapes on some sites. It can’t talk about pricing or product selection on others.

 

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Instead, Planet 13 encourages its thousands of visitors to take photos and videos. Starting with the entrance, the facility is full of surprises tailored for the ‘gram. As a business, Planet 13’s social media content is heavily restricted and monitored, but individual users have a lot more wiggle room.

Social media is a challenge for a lot of so-called vicetech companies. Social media companies often use a heavy hand when it comes to policy enforcement, and ancillary sectors suffer. When Instagram banned vaporizer companies, businesses in the medicinal and recreational fields were also removed.

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