Add Wi-Fi Controlled Lighting to Your Computer With NodeMCU

Desktop PC towers have come a long way since the days of gray plastic towers hidden under desks. Alongside cases which fulfill different functions, PC cases have evolved a sense of aesthetics, with glass panels proudly showing off components, and strong futuristic designs taking center stage on any proud geek’s desk. LED installations are becoming ever more common. A simple 12v RGB strip can be bought for as little as $1 per meter and will light up the inside of a case (along with almost anything else) perfectly well. However, we want to do something a little more special than...

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New to Snapchat? These 10 Tips and Tricks Will Help You Out

Snapchat is a wonderful medium for sharing your life’s story with the world in 10-second bits. But if you’re a lurker, someone who uses Snapchat more as a source of entertainment, you know how confusing it can be to get around the app. It’s filled with features, but they’re not laid out in a logical manner. Some are straight up hidden behind the long press and swipe gestures. If you use Snapchat for viewing or creating content, these tips and tricks will improve your experience. 1. Enable Ghost Mode Snapchat records your location when you post a snap. Some features,...

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The Best VPN Services

The need for secure, anonymous connections to the Internet has increased considerably in the past few years, as more and more users come to realize the importance of not being seen and followed online. We’ve compiled a list of what we consider to be the best Virtual Private Network service providers — grouped by premium, free, and torrent-friendly. We’ll be updating the list regularly, so leave your feedback in the comments for services we should add (or even remove). These VPNs offer solutions that will mask your online presence to keep you safe. But remember, VPNs might not be as...

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How to Use a Fake IP Address & Mask Yourself Online

We’ve argued before that online anonymity is important. And, as the notion of privacy gets trampled on with each passing year, online privacy will only become more important. You’d be surprised by what someone can do with just your IP address. Which is why many people use fake IP addresses. To be clear, “fake IP address” is a bit of a misnomer that implies creating a new one out of thin air. That’s not possible. The best you can do is hide your IP address behind someone else’s already-existing IP address. This means you can’t truly be anonymous on the...

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Make Your Home Feel Like Star Trek With These Gadgets

Over fifty years after it began, the future Star Trek imagined is happening — there are gadgets and tools readily available that can do almost everything Star Trek technology could do (and more). While you probably won’t be flying around in the USS Enterprise anytime soon, there are plenty of products available that can have you feeling like a member of the crew as you interact with your own home! For those of you who’ve ever dreamed of using holodecks, replicators, universal translators, or just having the lights turn on automatically when you get home, your time has come. These smart home devices may not...

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These Are the Best Free Mac VPN Clients

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are more popular than ever. They are an important weapon in the ongoing fight against cyber-snooping and can even unlock some geo-blocked apps and websites. Different VPN providers specialize in different areas; it can be difficult to choose the right supplier for your needs. But once you’ve selected your provider, you still have decisions to make. Specifically, how do you know which VPN client to use? Should you use your VPN provider’s proprietary app, or a flexible solution that can connect to several different services? If you’re not sure where to turn, keep reading for the best...

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Apple Pencil vs. Surface Pen: Stylus Over Substance?

The lowly stylus has grown up. Two of the biggest tech giants — Apple and Microsoft — are currently doing battle over their respective pointing devices. Today we’ll take a look at the Apple Pencil and Microsoft Surface Pen, and what makes each stylus unique. It’s hard to disagree that the future of computing is mobile. Anyone who wants to use a stylus for sketching, drawing, note taking, and more has a difficult decision to make when it comes to purchasing a tablet. Apple and Microsoft each have unique stylus options that work on each respective platform: the iPad Pro and Surface lineup. Let’s take a look at...

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How to Send and Receive Text Messages on an Android Tablet

Just the other day, I was reading an ebook on my tablet when I heard a chime from my phone — I’d received a text message. But I was on my couch, my phone was on my desk, and I was feeling lazy. So I began to wonder: wouldn’t it be great if I could sync the text messages on my phone to my tablet so I’d never find myself in this position again? And as it turns out, yes, it is possible. Syncing Text Messages Between Tablet and Phone All you need is a free app called MySMS (on...

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The Best Linux Operating Systems

A remarkable number of Linux operating systems (“distributions”) are available, each offering different benefits. So much so that the proliferation options makes it difficult to choose at times. Need lightweight? Want something just for gaming? Perhaps a multimedia-focused distro? They’re all available. We’ve compiled this regularly updated list of the best Linux operating systems available. Use the menu below to find a Linux distribution to suit your specific needs. Check out more specific distros: New to Linux | General |Multimedia Production/Creative | Educational | Raspberry Pi Distros | Lightweight/Minimal | Video Gaming | Security and Recovery | Business New To Linux Ubuntu Ubuntu is a Debian-based distro, and as...

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The Brick Phone Makes a Lukewarm Comeback: Nokia 3310 Review

When Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia released the 3310 model back in The Year 2000, even they were likely caught off guard by just how phenomenally popular it would go on to be. Between its release and eventual discontinuation in 2005, Nokia sold a staggering 126 million units of their most durable and iconic phone. However, that was before Nokia fell victim to a dramatic reversal of fortunes. After years of declining sales and the rise of the smartphone, Nokia threw their lot in with Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS. Nokia’s phone division was eventually swallowed up by Microsoft in 2014....

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17 Essential Terms Every Photoshop Beginner Needs to Know

Technology is a wonderful thing. It has opened many creative activities that were previously only for a privileged few. One thing that isn’t so great is the amount of terminology that comes with it. Photoshop is one of the most well-respected photography editing tools for a reason: it’s brilliant. It does, however, come with a steep learning curve, especially with terminology. Don’t worry though, we’re here to help you sort your blend modes from your layer masks and RAW files. 1. Blending Mode Setting a blending mode controls how the image you are working on is affected by the paint...

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This Site Tells You How Much Money You’ve Ever Earned

Money, money, money. Whether you can’t get enough of it or just want to use what you have wisely, it’s hard to go through an average day without thinking or talking about it. Statistics and data are useful in many spheres, but particularly so with money. If you live in the U.S. and want to see how much money you’ve made in your entire life, there’s an easy way to do so. Visit the Social Security Administration’s Account page to get started. You’ll need to create an account if you haven’t done so before, or log in to an existing...

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How to Save Battery in iOS With This “Low Power Mode” Trick

When iOS 9 came out last year, a few great battery saving tricks came with it. One of these best features is low power mode. While your phone will prompt you to turn low power mode on once your battery hits 20 percent, there’s no reason to wait that long. Rather than delve into your Settings app, you can easily toggle it on and off with one command. Using Voice Commands You can turn low battery mode on and off by asking Siri. Just say, “Hey Siri, turn on low power mode.” To turn low power mode off, you’ll have to manually...

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This Site Shows Exactly How a Photo Was Edited in Lightroom

Think you can’t shoot like the photographers on 500px and National Geographic? Or master a complicated tool like Adobe Lightroom? Well, think again. There are many online photography sites and tools that can help you get there. Pixel Peeper is a nice web app that lays bare the secrets behind great photos. It breaks down a shot into each individual edit applied using Adobe Lightroom. Upload a JPEG and the site displays each adjustment made with Lightroom. To develop your own skills, you can study these edits and try to “reverse engineer” a photo with similar settings. It looks impressive....

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5 Best Blog Sites Other Than WordPress and Blogger

These are the two big names in the online blogging world, and beyond. But, WordPress and Blogger aren’t the only blogging platforms out there – several other platforms offer features and capabilities that challenge the two blogging giants. When it comes to WordPress, “well-established” is an understatement. A 2016 statistic suggests that WordPress powers 27% of the entire internet! However, it is now far from a simple blogging platform – instead, it’s a diverse powerhouse ready to accomplish almost anything you ask of it. While this is great for many users, the options may overwhelm those who simply want to write a...

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The Best Linux Software

Updated by Bertel King, Jr. on June 22nd 2017 You’ve made the switch from Windows or Mac OS X, and now you’re looking for applications to install. Or maybe you’re a long-time Linux user who’s keeping an eye out for what’s new. Either way, you’ve come to the right place. You’ve already picked a Linux distro and have settled on a desktop environment. Those are the big choices that determine what software you start with and what will run best on your machine. But now it’s time to delve through your distro’s app repositories to see what’s worth installing. Most of the...

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Solving the “Read Only” External Hard Drive Problem on Your Mac

Plugging in a USB hard drive and finding out you cannot write to it is frustrating, but easy to fix. In the newer versions of macOS, you do not even get an error message. Even though the Mac has had a resurgence, Apple users still end up being second class citizens to peripherals makers (just ask anyone who likes mechanical keyboards). So if you are stuck with one of these drives the following steps can get you working. Why is This an Issue? NTFS is the proprietary file system that Microsoft started using back in the NT days. They released it to consumers...

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Download Windows XP for Free and Legally, Straight From Microsoft

The years have rolled by and Windows XP is now an antiquated and unsupported operating system (OS). But just because Microsoft no longer provides support, that doesn’t mean there aren’t reasons to revisit Windows XP. They might be work related, or maybe you miss XP and want to take a stroll down memory lane? Well, the death bell may have tolled, but there is still a way of installing Windows XP, using a download provided by Microsoft. It is absolutely true — you can still download Windows XP. Microsoft knows that web developers always have a need to test their...

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What Is A CPU and What Does It Do?

Acronyms are the tech world’s favourite way to make interesting technology sound incredibly confusing. When hunting out a new PC or Laptop, the specifications will mention the type of CPU you can expect to find in the shiny new device. Frustratingly, they almost always fail to tell you why that’s so important. When faced with decisions between AMD and Intel, dual or quad-core, or i3 vs. i7, it can be hard to tell what the difference is and why it matters. Knowing which is best for you can be difficult, but we’re here to help you out. What Is A...

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Know When to Use Which File Format: PNG vs. JPG, DOC vs. PDF, MP3 vs. FLAC

When you save a file on your computer, do you notice the few letters in the drop-down box below the name field? These are file extensions, and define which format your file saves as. Rarely is there a single format for one type of file, so you might be confused on how they differ and which are best to use. Let’s compare two of the most popular file types each for images, documents, and audio files. Understanding the main differences between these major file types will help you decide which one to use in the future. Know Your File Formats Most...

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It’s Now Even Easier to Share Google Photos With Friends

What’s the point in shooting gorgeous photographs unless you’re going to show them off to others? Photos are made for sharing, which is why Google is making it easier than ever to share those captured moments with others. And all you need is the latest version of Google Photos. Google Photos is quickly becoming an essential app. If you take a lot of photographs with your smartphone, which most of us do these days, it makes the whole process more convenient. And now, with the latest update rolling out, it’s easier to share your photos with friends and family. Google...

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