How to Automate Photoshop With Photoshop Scripts

Photoshop is a wonderful tool for editing images — and it’s no secret that we’re big fans of it here. We’ve previously covered how to design a simple logo, and how to fix overexposed photos, so automation is the next logical step once you’ve mastered the basics. You may have heard of Photoshop Actions. These provide a simple way for you to automate tasks. Today I’ll be showing you how to use Photoshop Scripts. Photoshop Scripts are slightly more powerful than actions, and provide you with the ability to alter the behaviour of the script at runtime — something actions...

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How to Set Up and Use Your Samsung SmartThings System

When it comes to taming the wild world of smart home devices, few attempts have been more successful than the Samsung SmartThings system. With broad support for many kinds of smart home devices, the SmartThings Hub connects all your stuff together, mostly in a seamless and in a user-friendly way. But, getting it all set up for smart home bliss can be a daunting task — even for a seasoned computer pro. So, we’re here to guide you through every step of the process. In this article we’ll go through the steps for: Introducing SmartThings : Get Connected | Hardware and...

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Everything You Need to Know About DSLR Zoom Lenses

When upgrading a camera, one of the biggest choices you have to make is whether to invest in prime or zoom lenses. Primes are sometimes thought of as being more appealing to enthusiasts, but zoom lenses have their place too. You just need to know what you’re getting, and where their strengths and weaknesses lie. Here’s everything you need to know about DSLR zoom lenses. What Is a DSLR Zoom Lens? A zoom lens is a camera lens with a variable focal length. You can zoom smoothly from the widest angle to the longest angle, stopping at any point in...

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3 Back-to-School Laptops to Avoid Like the Plague

Do you want to ruin the back-to-school experience? Buy a cheap laptop (or “netbook”). $100 laptops may cost little, but if they fail, kiss your essays and projects goodbye. You need performance, value, and – above all else – reliability. So what should you avoid and what’s the cheapest laptop you should buy? Where Are the Junk School Laptops and Why Should You Avoid Them? Where Are the Junk School Laptops? Most electronics dealers sell a few junk laptops. Sometimes, they’re cleverly placed in the impulse-buy section of your favorite brick-and-mortar. Other times, they show up in online and paper ads....

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10 Amazing Audiobooks for People Who Hate Audiobooks

I have a love/hate relationship with audiobooks. Audio is a great format for storytelling, but it can still be difficult to get into audiobooks. Usually it has to do with the narrator. Sometimes they’re bad at differentiating characters with voices. Or they read too slow and the book drags on for more hours than is necessary. Whatever the reason, audiobooks can be hit or miss. If you’re not usually a fan of audiobooks, but you really want to give the format a fair chance, there are some amazing audiobooks available. Here are 10 that will appeal to even the most...

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How to Maximize Mac Screen Real Estate Without Extra Hardware

Are you constantly moving, resizing, hiding, and showing app windows on your Mac? If you’re using a Mac laptop with a small screen, you may find yourself spending more time trying to rearrange and resize apps to maximize your screen real estate rather than actually using the apps. Even if you have a Mac with a large screen, you still might need to maximize your screen real estate if you use a lot of apps at once. The obvious way to gain more screen real estate is to connect an external monitor to your Mac. However, you may not want...

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How to Control Windows 10’s Data and Bandwidth Usage

Are you unhappy with the amount of data Windows 10 eats through? You’re not alone. One of the biggest gripes people have with the operating system is the amount of bandwidth it consumes. These days, it seems every app wants to make use of your web connection. There’s “anonymous” diagnostics, near-daily updates, live tiles, streaming services… the list is almost endless. If you’re fortunate enough to have a high-speed unlimited broadband line, you might not care. For everyone else, it’s prudent to take some time to understand how you can reduce your system’s reliance on the internet. Not sure where...

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How to Make the Perfect YouTube Video Thumbnail

Your YouTube thumbnail is much more important than you might think. Here's how to make a video thumbnail that will get you more viewers.

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How to Make and Play DVDs in Ubuntu

You’ve switched from Windows, and you’re using your first Linux operating system. Ubuntu was your choice, and now you want to play a DVD or Blu-ray movie. Or perhaps copy some data to an optical disc. But there’s something wrong. Why can’t you play DVDs in Ubuntu? What about other Linux distros? What’s going on here, and what can you do to fix it? Can You Burn CDs and DVDs With Linux Ubuntu? Yes you can, but it’s not as straightforward as it should be. There is no native tool, so you’ll need to find and install one. For the...

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3 Places to Find Excellent Royalty-Free Music

There are quite a few sites where you can find completely free music to use in your YouTube videos, indie films, and more. And just because they’re free doesn’t mean they’re terrible! You’ll just have to dig through large catalogs of music to find what works for you. 1. Mobygratis Mobygratis is a site created by the recording artist himself, Moby. With over 150 of Moby’s tracks available for noncommercial projects by “independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video, or short,” there’s a lot to choose from. You can...

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How to Force Close Unresponsive Apps on Android

Have an app that’s not responding on Android? It can be frustrating when you’re stuck on an app that’s frozen and doesn’t seem to register your taps or swipes. Thankfully, closing such frozen apps is surprisingly easy! The next time this happens to you, keep these simple steps in mind: Press the Recent Apps button on your device to open the Multitasking menu. On many phones, this is the square button on the right side of the on-screen navigation bar. If your phone doesn’t have one, try holding the Home button for the same effect. Swipe the app you’d like...

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How to Reorder Wi-Fi Network Priorities in Windows 10

Do you remember the good old days when Windows let you drag Wi-Fi networks in your desired order of preference? Well, it’s not so simple anymore. For all the improvements that Windows 10 has brought, there are a few areas where the operating system seems to have taken step backs, and this is one of them. After all, even Macs allow you to change network order like this! But don’t worry, all is not lost. There is still a way — it’s just not very user-friendly. Keep reading to learn how to change the order in which your machine auto-connects to...

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How to Turn Off Annoying Sounds in Microsoft Office 2016

Alerts and notifications can be useful, but too many and you eventually enter annoying territory. Productivity-boosting sounds include new email tones and upcoming event chimes in Outlook. Most everything else falls into the unwanted category. Sound cues are an Ease of Access feature in Microsoft Office 2016, which means you can turn them off if you deem them unnecessary. This is true for Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint 2016. Here’s how you can quickly turn the sound cues on or off in these programs. How to Toggle Sounds in Microsoft Office Note that if you are a Microsoft Office 365 subscriber, then the update with...

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How to Extract Images From PDF Files & Save Them for Other Uses

The Portable Document Format (PDF) is almost like a plastic laminated paper. You can see what’s inside but you can’t get to the content. It’s bit of a problem when one of the content types embedded in a PDF document are images. And, you want them for your own. For instance, I am a voracious user of SlideShare, and sometimes I like to save a neat illustration or graphic for my personal use. Then there are some professional reports which come packaged as a PDF and you might want to use a graphic or an embedded chart from there in a...

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7 Simple Tips to Improve Your Linux Laptop’s Battery Life

You love your Linux laptop, but there is one thing that niggles: the battery life. Running with Windows, the laptop has hours of battery life, but under Linux, it’s a different story. So, how can you squeeze more time from your battery, and enjoy a truly portable Linux computing experience? There are several settings, and even a useful app, that can be used to increase your Linux battery life. Did you know that brightness, wireless connectivity, and removable media all contribute to faster battery drain? Tweaking these settings can make all the difference — here’s what you need to do!...

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