ASUS leans into dual-screen laptops with the ZenBook Pro Duo, featuring two 4K touchscreen displays

Last year during Computex, ASUS introduced the ZenBook Pro 14 and 15, with a touchscreen in place of a regular touchpad. This year in Taipei, it took the concept of a built-in second screen and went much further with it, unveiling new versions of the ZenBook with even larger second screens. Instead of just replacing the touchpad, the 14-inch second screen on the new ZenBook Pro Duo extend all the way across the device above the keyboard, acting as both an extension and companion to the main 4K OLED 15.6-inch display.

The touchpad-replacement on last year’s ZenBook Pros seemed like a novelty, with the bonus of giving you a small, extra screen for messaging apps, videos and simple utility apps like a calculator. The much larger size of the second screen on the ZenBook Pro Duo, however, enables many new possibilities. Both of its screens are touchscreens and moving apps between the windows with your finger takes a little bit of getting used to, but it is simple and intuitive (frequently-used apps can also be pinned).

During a demo, an ASUS employee showed me how it can support dual displays of maps: the larger screen giving you a bird’s eye view of the geography, while the second screen allows you to zone in on streets and locations. But the ZenBook Pro Duo’s main draw is multitasking, enabling you to monitor your email, send messages, watch videos, keep an eye on news headlines and other tasks while you use the main screen to for apps like Office 365 or video conferences.

Basically, the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo 14 is designed to anyone who likes using a second monitor (or is tired of propping up their phone or tablet as an improvised second screen), but also wants a PC with more portability. At 2.5kg, the ZenBook Pro Duo is not the lightest laptop around, but still reasonably lightweight considering its specs and two screens.

Its Intel Core i9 HK processor and Nvidia RTX 20

60 ensures that both screens run smoothly, even with multiple tabs and apps open. ASUS also partnered with Harman/Kardon for its speakers, which means sound quality should be better than average. A smaller version, the ZenBook Duo, is also available, with Core i7 and a GeForce MX 250 and HD instead of 4K on both its displays.

ASUS hasn’t announced pricing and availability yet.

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Google Makes Mobile-First Indexing the New Default

Google is making mobile-first search indexing the default for new domains. This means that anyone launching a new website will need to ensure the mobile version of their site is up to par. And Google strongly recommends webmasters deploy responsive web design.

Google Switches to Mobile-First Indexing

In 2016, Google announced mobile-first indexing. This was in response to how people were accessing Google, with more people searching from their mobile devices than their desktops. So, evaluating a website’s worth from its desktop offering made little sense.

Now, in 2019, even more people will be searching Google from their mobile devices. So Google will be using the mobile version of a website “to rank pages from that site, to understand structured data, and to show snippets from those pages in our results.”

Mobile-First Indexing Is the New Default

As a result of this change, starting from July 1, 2019, Google will enable mobile-first indexing by default for “all new, previously unknown to Google Search, websites”. This is achieved using a smartphone Googlebot which crawls the web for content.

To cope with this development, anyone setting up a new website should employ responsive web design. In a nutshell, responsive web design means your website will adapt to look good on all devices, whether it’s a desktop, tablet, or smartphone.

? Mobile-first indexing will be enabled by default for all new, previously unknown to Google Search, websites starting July 1, 2019 — thank you for making websites that work well on mobile from the start! ?https://t.co/7FXf67A84f pic.twitter.com/5eYIGjOwdB

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) May 28, 2019

For established sites, Google will continue to “determine their readiness for mobile-first indexing based on parity of content (including text, images, videos, links), structured data, and other meta-data (for example, titles and descriptions, robots meta tags).”

On the Google Webmaster Blog, Google expressed gratitude, saying, “We’re happy to see how the web has evolved from being focused on desktop, to becoming mobile-friendly, and now to being mostly crawlable and indexable with mobile user-agents!”

Mobile-First Indexing Makes Absolute Sense

With so many people using their smartphones all day, every day (for better or worse) this move makes absolute sense. Especially with people in developing countries often only having access to the internet because of their smartphones.

As our long-suffering web developer will testify, it’s a tough job. However, there are tools to help. If you’re running a website be sure to verify your domain. Why? Because there are some serious benefits of verifying your domain on Google and Bing.

Image Credit: Gary Paakkonen/Flickr

Read the full article: Google Makes Mobile-First Indexing the New Default

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Go chat yourself with Facebook’s new Portal companion app

Ignoring calls that it’s creepy, Facebook is forging onward with its Portal smart display. Today Facebook quietly launched iOS and Android Portal apps that let owners show off photos on the screen without sharing them to the social network, and video call their home while they’re out.

The app isn’t likely to move the needle for Portal whose potential users fall into two camps: those so alarmed by Facebook’s privacy practices that they couldn’t imagine putting its camera and microphone in their home, and those ambivalent or ignorant regarding the privacy backlash who see it as an Amazon Echo with a nice screen and easy way to video call family. Critics were mostly surprised by the device’s quality but too freaked out to recommend it. Those willing to buy it have given it a 4- to 4.4-star average rating on Amazon, praising its AI camera that keeps people in frame of a video chat while they move though jeering some setup difficulties.

Facebook announced at f8 a month ago that the Portal app was coming and eventually so would encrypted WhatsApp video calls. It also extended sales to Europe and Canada, though the new app is currently only available in the US according to Sensor Tower which tipped us off to the launch. The $199 10-inch Portal and $349 15.6-inch Portal+ launched in October, soured by a swirl of Facebook privacy scandals. Last week, the company tried to score some points with the public by funding an art project displayed at the SF Museum Of Modern Art. But the “immersive” exhibit was just some Portals stuck to some funky painted wooden backdrops, and it all felt smarmy and forced.

Facebook stuck Portals into wooden backdrops and called it art

Portal’s app lets you video call your Portal so you can say hi to family while you’re out. That’s great for traveling parents or seeing who is around the house in the post-land line age. The app also allows you to add and remove accounts on Portal and manage who’s in your speed dial Favorites, which you could already do from the device. There’s still no Amazon Prime Video or Smart home controls as were promised at F8.

The option to send photos directly from your camera roll to Portal’s Superframe fixes the worst feature of the digital photo frame. Previously you’d have to select just from photo/video albums you’d shared to Facebook. That meant you were only showing off sacchrine photos you were willing to post online, and if you selected Your Photos or Photos Of You, you might end up displaying shots that were embarrassing or that don’t make sense outside of the News Feed.

My workaround was to create a Facebook album of photos for Portal set to be visible only to me, but that was a hassle. Now you can manually grab pics and videos from your phone and send them to Portal without the worry they’ll show up on your profile. Portal also now can show off your Instagram photos, as was announced at F8. Still missing is Google Assistant support, which Facebook told me it was working to integrate last year.

Facebook’s steady improvements to Portal might not have shook its paranoia-inducing reputation amongst tech news readers and privacy enthusiasts, but they’ve kept it perhaps the best big screen and camera-equipped smart speaker. But in the seven months since launch, Google has copied Portal’s auto-framing camera for video chat in its new Nest Hub Max while Amazon is making a slew of home appliances smart. Portal will need more marquee innovations and some brand rehabilitation if it’s going to stay competitive.

Facebook launches Portal auto-zooming video chat screens for $199/$349

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Go chat yourself with Facebook’s new Portal companion app

Ignoring calls that it’s creepy, Facebook is forging onward with its Portal smart display. Today Facebook quietly launched iOS and Android Portal apps that let owners show off photos on the screen without sharing them to the social network, and video call their home while they’re out.

The app isn’t likely to move the needle for Portal whose potential users fall into two camps: those so alarmed by Facebook’s privacy practices that they couldn’t imagine putting its camera and microphone in their home, and those ambivalent or ignorant regarding the privacy backlash who see it as an Amazon Echo with a nice screen and easy way to video call family. Critics were mostly surprised by the device’s quality but too freaked out to recommend it. Those willing to buy it have given it a 4- to 4.4-star average rating on Amazon, praising its AI camera that keeps people in frame of a video chat while they move though jeering some setup difficulties.

Facebook announced at f8 a month ago that the Portal app was coming and eventually so would encrypted WhatsApp video calls. It also extended sales to Europe and Canada, though the new app is currently only available in the US according to Sensor Tower which tipped us off to the launch. The $199 10-inch Portal and $349 15.6-inch Portal+ launched in October, soured by a swirl of Facebook privacy scandals. Last week, the company tried to score some points with the public by funding an art project displayed at the SF Museum Of Modern Art. But the “immersive” exhibit was just some Portals stuck to some funky painted wooden backdrops, and it all felt smarmy and forced.

Facebook stuck Portals into wooden backdrops and called it art

Portal’s app lets you video call your Portal so you can say hi to family while you’re out. That’s great for traveling parents or seeing who is around the house in the post-land line age. The app also allows you to add and remove accounts on Portal and manage who’s in your speed dial Favorites, which you could already do from the device. There’s still no Amazon Prime Video or Smart home controls as were promised at F8.

The option to send photos directly from your camera roll to Portal’s Superframe fixes the worst feature of the digital photo frame. Previously you’d have to select just from photo/video albums you’d shared to Facebook. That meant you were only showing off sacchrine photos you were willing to post online, and if you selected Your Photos or Photos Of You, you might end up displaying shots that were embarrassing or that don’t make sense outside of the News Feed.

My workaround was to create a Facebook album of photos for Portal set to be visible only to me, but that was a hassle. Now you can manually grab pics and videos from your phone and send them to Portal without the worry they’ll show up on your profile. Portal also now can show off your Instagram photos, as was announced at F8. Still missing is Google Assistant support, which Facebook told me it was working to integrate last year.

Facebook’s steady improvements to Portal might not have shook its paranoia-inducing reputation amongst tech news readers and privacy enthusiasts, but they’ve kept it perhaps the best big screen and camera-equipped smart speaker. But in the seven months since launch, Google has copied Portal’s auto-framing camera for video chat in its new Nest Hub Max while Amazon is making a slew of home appliances smart. Portal will need more marquee innovations and some brand rehabilitation if it’s going to stay competitive.

Facebook launches Portal auto-zooming video chat screens for $199/$349

Read Full Article

Go chat yourself with Facebook’s new Portal companion app

Ignoring calls that it’s creepy, Facebook is forging onward with its Portal smart display. Today Facebook quietly launched iOS and Android Portal apps that let owners show off photos on the screen without sharing them to the social network, and video call their home while they’re out.

The app isn’t likely to move the needle for Portal whose potential users fall into two camps: those so alarmed by Facebook’s privacy practices that they couldn’t imagine putting its camera and microphone in their home, and those ambivalent or ignorant regarding the privacy backlash who see it as an Amazon Echo with a nice screen and easy way to video call family. Critics were mostly surprised by the device’s quality but too freaked out to recommend it. Those willing to buy it have given it a 4- to 4.4-star average rating on Amazon, praising its AI camera that keeps people in frame of a video chat while they move though jeering some setup difficulties.

Facebook announced at f8 a month ago that the Portal app was coming and eventually so would encrypted WhatsApp video calls. It also extended sales to Europe and Canada, though the new app is currently only available in the US according to Sensor Tower which tipped us off to the launch. The $199 10-inch Portal and $349 15.6-inch Portal+ launched in October, soured by a swirl of Facebook privacy scandals. Last week, the company tried to score some points with the public by funding an art project displayed at the SF Museum Of Modern Art. But the “immersive” exhibit was just some Portals stuck to some funky painted wooden backdrops, and it all felt smarmy and forced.

Facebook stuck Portals into wooden backdrops and called it art

Portal’s app lets you video call your Portal so you can say hi to family while you’re out. That’s great for traveling parents or seeing who is around the house in the post-land line age. The app also allows you to add and remove accounts on Portal and manage who’s in your speed dial Favorites, which you could already do from the device. There’s still no Amazon Prime Video or Smart home controls as were promised at F8.

The option to send photos directly from your camera roll to Portal’s Superframe fixes the worst feature of the digital photo frame. Previously you’d have to select just from photo/video albums you’d shared to Facebook. That meant you were only showing off sacchrine photos you were willing to post online, and if you selected Your Photos or Photos Of You, you might end up displaying shots that were embarrassing or that don’t make sense outside of the News Feed.

My workaround was to create a Facebook album of photos for Portal set to be visible only to me, but that was a hassle. Now you can manually grab pics and videos from your phone and send them to Portal without the worry they’ll show up on your profile. Portal also now can show off your Instagram photos, as was announced at F8. Still missing is Google Assistant support, which Facebook told me it was working to integrate last year.

Facebook’s steady improvements to Portal might not have shook its paranoia-inducing reputation amongst tech news readers and privacy enthusiasts, but they’ve kept it perhaps the best big screen and camera-equipped smart speaker. But in the seven months since launch, Google has copied Portal’s auto-framing camera for video chat in its new Nest Hub Max while Amazon is making a slew of home appliances smart. Portal will need more marquee innovations and some brand rehabilitation if it’s going to stay competitive.

Facebook launches Portal auto-zooming video chat screens for $199/$349

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Google Kills the YouTube Gaming App

YouTube Gaming is no longer a standalone entity. Instead, YouTube Gaming is being incorporated into YouTube itself, with the app and site disappearing. This is designed to bring the entire YouTube gaming community together in one place.

A Brief History of YouTube Gaming

In 2015, YouTube launched YouTube Gaming. This was a standalone site spun off from YouTube, and was dedicated to video games and gamers. YouTube Gaming was launched in response to the success of Twitch, which had turned gaming into a spectator sport.

In 2018, YouTube announced that YouTube Gaming was coming home, with plans in place to roll YouTube Gaming into the main YouTube app. And that’s now happening, with the YouTube Gaming app and site shutting down completely on May 30, 2019.

YouTube Gaming Becomes Part of YouTube

The YouTube Gaming app has already been removed from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Any subscriptions you had on the YouTube Gaming app should also have been moved over to YouTube. If not, you should visit your Subscription Manager.

The final piece of the puzzle is being slotted into place on May 30, 2019. This is when the YouTube Gaming app and dedicated website will both be shut down completely. Which means you’ll be directed to the new Gaming destination on YouTube itself.

Since gaming now lives at https://t.co/Kue7k65etb, the old Gaming app is going away on May 30th!

If you were subscribed to channels in the Gaming app, they’ll automatically move to your YouTube subs feed on May 14th.

More need-to-know info? https://t.co/0quoHZ9MKb

— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) May 13, 2019

If you’re currently a member of any channels on YouTube Gaming your membership will transfer over. That is unless the channel or channels you’re a member of no longer has Memberships enabled, in which case your membership will automatically be cancelled.

If you only use YouTube for gaming content there is, unfortunately, no way of making the Gaming homepage the default either on YouTube or in the app. Instead, you’ll need to bookmark YouTube.com/Gaming in your web browser of choice.

YouTube Understands the Appeal of Gaming

The shutting down of YouTube Gaming should not be seen as a failure on YouTube’s part. On the contrary, it shows how important gaming-related content is to YouTube. Which is why the company doesn’t want the YouTube Gaming community split across two apps.

While it’s difficult for older generations to understand the appeal of watching other people play video games, this hobby is here to stay. In fact, live-streaming is one of the best ways to make money playing video games, so it would be churlish to scoff.

Read the full article: Google Kills the YouTube Gaming App

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Asus ZenBook Pro Duo Laptop Impresses with Two 4K Screens

In the world of laptops, not a lot of major changes happen anymore. Sure, new models become faster and more powerful than those released in the previous year, but on the whole, there’s not a lot of room left to innovate.

Apparently, nobody told ASUS that, though, because the company has just announced a new laptop called the ZenBook Pro Duo that actually adds a second screen above the keyboard, which could prove to be a real game-changer in the world of laptops.

ZenBook Pro Duo – What Makes It Unique

Obviously, the main thing that draws your attention is the two 4K screens on the ZenBook Pro Duo. The laptop completely rethinks the layout of the keyboard area. Instead of having the keyboard directly under the screen and a touchpad below that, this laptop places a second 14-inch screen under the main display.

This moves the keyboard down to the bottom edge of the laptop. The touchpad is then placed on the bottom right of the laptop. While this will certainly take some getting used to for longtime laptop users, the tradeoffs offered by the second display might be worth it.

ASUS calls the second screen ScreenPad. It’s designed to let users multitask in a way that’s similar to running a second monitor. Laptop owners can fit multiple small windows on the 14-inch second screen while performing work and other larger tasks on the traditional 15.6-inch OLED display. As you might expect, the ScreenPad features touch technology, making it easy for users to control programs with a tap.

The second screen can also function as a continuation of the first, allowing very large documents to be opened and read across both screens.

ZenBook Pro Duo Specs

Outside of the fancy double screens, this is a beast of a laptop. Here’s a quick look at the specs offered. There are multiple configurations in terms of RAM, processors, and SSDs offered:

• Intel Core i7-9750H or Intel Core i9-9980HK processor
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU
• 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB RAM
• 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD

ZenBook Pro Duo Price and Release Date

Anyone looking to get their hands on the exciting ZenBook Pro Duo will need to wait a bit, as the company hasn’t revealed a release date for its upcoming laptop.

Additionally, ASUS didn’t announce how much it would charge for the ZenBook Pro Duo, though we’d expect it to come with a pretty hefty price tag based on the specs offered and dual-screen technology.

If you need a laptop right now, check out our list of laptops for coders that you can get right now.

Read the full article: Asus ZenBook Pro Duo Laptop Impresses with Two 4K Screens

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Audiobooks Are Expensive! 6 Ways to Listen for Free or Cheap

Audiobooks make reading books so much easier. They allow you to listen to a book while traveling, exercising, and even working. You can no longer complain that you don’t have enough time to read.

But why are audiobooks so expensive?! Quite simply, they aren’t cheap to make. They have high production values and celebrity narrators. Plus they’re really long—the entire A Song of Ice and Fire series would take you more than nine days to listen to.

Fortunately, there are ways you can get your audiobook fix without breaking the bank. Let’s take a look at how to get cheap audiobooks.

1. Check Your Local Library

Your local library is a great place to rent audiobooks. But if you think the only type they have is in a bulky CD case, think again. Many libraries use the OverDrive platform, which allows you to borrow and listen to audiobooks for free.

You don’t even have to visit your library. As long as you’re a member you can download them using the Libby app for iOS and Android.

Even if all of your local libraries use OverDrive, each one has a different collection within the platform. Therefore, if you have a membership with two or more different library branches, you will be able to attach both profiles to the app.

You can reserve a popular audiobook at both libraries, which can decrease your time spent on the waiting list and also increase the amount of time you have with the book. Even if you check out the same audiobook with more than one library, they should sync to ensure your spot in the book was saved.

Hoopla is another platform that connects with your local library. Unlike OverDrive, you’re limited to eight audiobooks a month. Hoopla also offers eBooks and video rentals, and the app has a kids’ mode allowing children to listen to audiobooks or watch movies without the need to visit other sites or apps.

2. Use Multiple Audible Promos

Audible (owned by Amazon) is one of the top websites to buy audiobooks—you’ve probably seen the promotions for a free audiobook or free Groupon deals (or heard one of the many podcasts the company sponsors).

What many people don’t know is that these aren’t one-time-only offers. Once your Audible account has been unbilled for at least six months, you should be able to cash in another offer.

If you can’t get a promo to work on your account, just chat with Audible support as they’ll often be able to offer you a deal.

Even if you’re happy to pay the full rate for Audible it’s worth trying to cancel from time to time. This is because they frequently give users a $20 credit to get them to stay.

What’s the best way to use your promo once you’ve got it? Here are the Audible books you should listen to during your free trial.

3. Add-On Narration for Kindle EBooks

When you buy a Kindle book from Amazon, there is sometimes the option to add on Audible narration for an extra cost. Many times, when a publisher promotes an ebook for a discounted price, the add-on Audible narration also reflects a discount.

You won’t find it for all titles—including many of the latest bestsellers—but where it’s available, add-on narration will normally cost less than $3.99.

The best thing is that the Audible narration connects seamlessly with your eBook. So if you start reading on your Kindle then need to switch to the audiobook when you’re in the car, it’ll pick up right where you left off.

4. Listen to Kindle Unlimited Audiobooks

Kindle Unlimited costs $9.99/month and has over one million eBooks to chose from. Thousands of these titles comes with free or inexpensive Audible narration. Look for Kindle Unlimited books that have a little headphone icon next to them, or you can browse the dedicated section for Books with Narration in Kindle Unlimited.

Beware, though. Kindle Unlimited isn’t for everyone, so it’s probably not worth signing up for the eBook selection alone.

5. Affordable Alternatives to Audible

Audible is built primarily as a subscription service, so you should give it a miss if you only want to pick up the occasional individual title. You can get cheap Audible books from both iTunes and Google Play.

They’re the same recordings, but are usually priced at least 30 percent lower. This brings them closer to the price of the original paperback. And with regular offers there are some real bargains to be had too.

If you do want a subscription then the best alternative to Audible is Scribd. This allows you to rent audiobooks, along with eBooks, magazines, and even sheet music, for $8.99/month. Scribd gives you an unlimited number of rentals, and while the choice isn’t quite as large as you get with Audible, it does have a lot of the latest fiction and non-fiction titles.

6. Download Free Audiobooks

Finally, there’s the cheapest option of all—free. You can get free audiobooks from a number of services, including Librivox, OpenCulture, and Lit2Go. Even Spotify has them—just do a search for “audiobooks” to uncover loads of curated playlists.

Most free audiobooks are in the public domain. This means you’ll be limited to classic novels, and the recordings won’t be as slick as those professionally produced by Audible and others.

But don’t let that put you off though, as some of the greatest novels ever written are here. In fact, we’ve handpicked the best free audiobooks you need to hear to get you started.

Get Cheap Audiobooks

The high price tag is the one thing that puts many people off exploring the world of audiobooks. However, as we’ve shown in this article, it is possible to get cheap audiobooks if you’re willing to shop around for deals or explore some of the lesser known services.

Audiobooks also make fantastic gifts. Most services that sell them also make it possible to give them to others. Check out our guide explaining how to gift audiobooks.

Read the full article: Audiobooks Are Expensive! 6 Ways to Listen for Free or Cheap

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How to Use Portrait Mode on iPhone: 7 Essential Tips and Apps

The Best Ways to Spell Check in Google Chrome

Proper spelling is not just a courtesy, it’s also a sign of intelligence and good education. And with Google Chrome, spell checking is a breeze.

These days, you don’t actually need to know how to spell to make a good impression. If you’re smart, you’ll just use one of the many free spell check tools, some of which can also correct your grammar. And by paying a little attention to the corrections these tools make, you can also improve your native spelling skills on the go.

How to Set Up Spell Checking in Google Chrome

Chrome comes with a native spell checker, which should be enabled by default. The dictionary is typically set to the language of your operating system, but you can add and switch between multiple languages. This spell checker also offers an advanced version that uses the Google search spell checking technology. This, however, involves routing your text through Google’s servers. So let’s see all the options in detail.

How to Enable Spell Check in Google Chrome

To enable or disable the spell checker in Google Chrome, follow these steps:

1. Click the menu button in the top right of the browser toolbar and select Settings.
2. Scroll to the bottom click Advanced to expand additional settings.
3. Scroll down to Languages and click Spell check to expand the respective menu.
4. Here you can turn on or off Chrome’s spell check by clicking the slider next to the respective language. A blue slider indicates that the spell checker is enabled.

Note 1: You can add and edit custom spellings by selecting the respective option at the bottom of the list. Basically, you can add words to Google’s default dictionary, which is handy for names or technical terms that Chrome’s spell check doesn’t recognize.

Note 2: You can also enable an enhanced spell checker, which will recognize other errors, like a missing space or hyphen. In Settings > Advanced, go to Privacy and security, click Sync and Google services, and, at the bottom of the list, enable Enhanced spell check.

How to Add Additional Languages to Google Chrome’s Spell Checker

The language you want to spell check isn’t showing up in Chrome? Chrome only picks up your system’s default language for its spell checker.

Here’s how to add another language:

1. Expand the Language menu and click Add languages.
2. Check the language you wish to add and click Add.

Once you’ve added a language to Chrome, go back to the spell check menu and enable the spell checker.

How to Use Google Chrome’s Spell Checker

Now that you have added languages and enabled the spell checker, the question is, how does Chrome know when to spell check and which language to use?

By default, Chrome spell checks words in all text fields, including Gmail and most third-party websites. When you misspelled a word, you should see a red squiggly line underneath that word. If you enabled the enhanced spell check, you might also see a grey squiggly line, which indicates a different error, such as a missing space.

Find the Right Spelling With Google Chrome

When you see a word that’s marked as misspelled, right-click it to review Google’s suggestion, which shows up at the top of the context menu.

Note: Be sure to enable Ask Google for suggestions, as this will give you access to advanced results. For difficult to interpret typos or words, Google will use its prediction engine to come up with better suggestions.

Add Words to Your Custom Dictionary

If Chrome is wrong about a spelling, you don’t have to go to the Settings menu to add a new word. Simply right-click the word and select Add to dictionary. Now the spell checker won’t highlight that word again.

Note: Your custom dictionary is the same, regardless of which language you select.

Manage Chrome’s Spell Checker On-the-Fly

You can turn Chrome’s spell check feature on or off anytime. At the same time, you can also change the language Chrome is using.

1. Right-click into a text field and choose Spellcheck from the menu.
2. In the options menu, make sure Check the spelling of text fields is selected.
3. Now choose the appropriate language or simply All your languages.

Note: Chrome might not automatically spell check long texts. With the spell checker enabled, it will, however, spell check everything you type. To process a long text, for example when opening a post in WordPress, you might have to click each paragraph to initiate Chrome’s spell check for that paragraph.

Chrome Spell Check Isn’t Working

When Chrome’s spell check isn’t working, you can try the following steps:

1. Click the three-dotted menu, head to Settings, search for spell check, then disable and re-enable all settings related to spell checking.
2. Disable third-party spell checkers in the Chrome extensions menu: chrome://extensions/
3. Check whether Chrome is up-to-date and restart it.

Alternative Spell Checkers for Chrome

Even with all features enabled, Google’s spell checker remains somewhat basic because it doesn’t check grammar or style. Meanwhile, the Chrome Web Store is boasting with alternative spell checkers. So if you need an advanced tool, try one of the following.

1. Grammarly for Chrome

Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant that includes a contextual spell and grammar checker. Like Chrome’s default spell checker, it works in all text fields. Over 10 million users and a near perfect user rating make it the de facto gold standard for spell and grammar checking in your browser.

The free version catches critical grammar and spelling errors. With the premium plan you gain access to advanced features, like suggestions to enhance the vocabulary, genre-specific writing style checks, and a plagiarism detector.

Grammarly is great if English is the only language you need to proofread. Unfortunately, it does not support other languages.

Download: Grammarly (Free with optional paid plans)

2. Grammar and Spell Checker by LanguageTool

If you want to proofread content in more than one language, try this grammar and spell checker for Chrome. With almost 250 thousand users and a 4.5/5 rating, it’s one of the most-used and best-rated spell checkers for Chrome.

The free plan supports 20,000 characters per check in over 25 languages. Signing up for a Premium or Enterprise plan will add additional features and API access. You don’t need an account to use it, your IP address will not be logged, and all data transfers needed to provide the service happen over an encrypted connection.

Download: Grammar and Spell Checker (Free with optional paid plans)

How Do you Spell Check and Proofread in Chrome?

The best spell and grammar checker will always be a human, aided by technology. Technology isn’t always smart enough to understand context and may offer strange fixes. By asking Google for suggestions, however, you will get close to perfect corrections.

If you’d like to work on your English writing and grammar outside the browser, we recommend these apps:

Read the full article: The Best Ways to Spell Check in Google Chrome

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How to Play Games on Kodi Using Retroplayer

Have you ever wished there was a way to play retro games on Kodi? Then you’re in luck. The open source media center now includes a feature called Retroplayer, which lets you play games on Kodi.

Once you have these games installed on Kodi you can play them using a controller from the comfort of your own couch. So, in this article we explain how to play games on Kodi using Retroplayer.

Update Kodi to Version 18 or Higher

Retroplayer was added to Kodi with version 18, codenamed Leia. So if you haven’t updated your Kodi system in a while then the first thing to do is update Kodi. If you need help doing so here’s how to update Kodi.

Once you have version 18 or higher installed, you’ll see that there is a menu for games on the home screen, under the option for TV. Here you can install and play retro games through Kodi.

How to Install the Emulator

The first step to playing retro games on Kodi is installing an emulator. This is a piece of software which re-creates an older games console.

To install an emulator, go to Settings > Add-ons > Download > Install from Repository > Kodi Add-on Repository > Game Add-ons > Emulators.

Here you’ll see a big list of emulators for systems like the Nintendo Game Boy, the Commodore 64, and the Sega Dreamcast. You can install as many emulators as you want for all the different systems you’d like to play games on.

As an example, we’ll be playing MS-DOS games. So find DOS (DOSBox) and install this emulator by clicking on the title and then choosing Install from the menu at the bottom. Installation should only take a few seconds.

How to Configure a Controller

Some emulators only work with a controller. Others let you control games with a keyboard and mouse, but you might enjoy the old school gaming experience. If you have a compatible controller, you can configure it to work with Kodi for the ultimate retro gaming experience.

To set up a controller, first plug it in to your system, then open up Kodi.

Now, go to Settings and then System. Find the Input sub-menu and select Configure attached controllers. This opens up the controller mapping window. The default option is based on the Xbox 360 controller, but there is also an option for using Super Nintendo controllers.

From here, choose a button that you want to map. Hit the corresponding button name on Kodi, then press the button on your controller. If you don’t have a particular button on your controller and you hit the mapping button, just wait a few seconds and the mapping will timeout and return you to the main menu.

When you’re done, hit OK to save your settings or Reset to reset to the default settings.

An Introduction to ROMs

There are many source of retro games on the internet. You need a type of file called a ROM, which contains the data from a video game cartridge, floppy disk, or arcade game main board.

You need to be careful about the legality of ROMs though. While emulator software is definitely legal as it does not contain any proprietary code, the legal status of ROMs is murkier. As a rule of thumb, you should only download ROMs for games which are copyright-free, or as a way to back up games that you already own.

Downloading a ROM for a game you don’t own could be illegal. But if you already own a game, then downloading it as a ROM would likely be covered under fair use.

An alternative to downloading ROMs is to rip your own ROMs, where you use a device like a Retrode which extracts the software from your original game cartridge to your computer via USB. Legally speaking, this process is similar to ripping a CD that you own onto your computer.

To be safe, it’s best to only download ROMs of copyright-free games. You can use sources like PDROMs which shares public domain ROMs or the Public Domain ROMs section on FreeROMS.com to find free legal ROMs to play.

How to Download ROMs on Kodi

We’ll be using the DOS Games Archive. You can browse for classic DOS games like the Oregon Trail, Pac-Man, SimCity, and Castle Wolfenstein. Games are available in a variety of formats, like shareware, playable demos, or full versions, depending on the licensing of the original games.

We’re going to install classic adventure game, Prince of Persia. To do this, find Prince of Persia in the software library. Click on the zip file in the Download from this site section, then on Start download of pop1.zip (Prince of Persia). Save this file to a convenient location.

Extract the .zip file and save the game .exe file to a folder.

How to Install ROMs on Kodi

Next you need to add the games you want to your Kodi system. To do this, start on the Kodi homescreen and click on the Games header. Now you’ll see options for Game add-ons and Add games…. Choose the Add games… option.

Now you need to point Kodi to the folder where you downloaded your game. Choose Browse and then locate the folder containing the .exe file. Hit OK.

Now open up the folder you choose. Locate and click on the .exe file inside.

A popup will open saying Select emulator for .exe file. Choose the emulator you installed earlier. In this case, we’ll choose DOS (DOSBox).

This opens up the game and you can begin playing. In the future, you can access the DOSBox add-on straight from the Games section of the Kodi home screen.

You Can Also Use The Internet Archive

The method described above is great for playing games that you already have in ROM form on your Kodi device. It also has the advantage of being easy to set up and use.

But there’s another method for playing even more retro games if you don’t mind doing a bit more configuration.

The Internet Archive holds an incredible collection of retro games which are playable in your web browser. But there’s a way to play them on Kodi too, using the Internet Archive ROM Launcher add-on and RetroArch.

To see the full method, here’s our article detailing how to play the Internet Archive’s retro games on Kodi.

How to Play Games on Kodi

By following the above steps you now know how to play games on Kodi using the new Retroplayer feature. You can install emulators for all sorts of consoles, letting you play a massive range of games, many of which you can find for free online.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg of what Kodi can do. For even more ideas, check out the best Kodi add-ons you didn’t know you needed.

Read the full article: How to Play Games on Kodi Using Retroplayer

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Google rolls out dining and translation filters to Lens

Google Lens users on iOS and ARCore-compatible Android phones are getting some added utility when it comes to ordering at restaurants or translating foreign languages on-the-go.

The functionality was announced earlier this month at Google I/O. Users can access Lens in the Google Assistant, Google Photos and main Google search apps. It’s also baked directly into the camera app on Pixel phones.

With the new “dining” features, users can point their phone at the menu and the Lens app will highlight the most popular dishes on the menu or surface food information and photos from the restaurant’s Google Maps profile. The company also detailed that you would be able to snap a picture of the bill and split the bill directly.

Snap a photo of a menu and Google Lens can tell you what to order

On the foreign language translation front, the Google Translate app has long enabled language translation of signs that matches the style and typeface of what’s being parsed, but now a more lightweight version of this functionality is cooked directly into Lens.

Google Lens can translate foreign language text in photos and read it back to you

Google has generally liked to take their sweet time when it comes to rolling out any I/O announcements related to Lens, so the promptness of this launch just a few weeks after the conference is a bit surprising.

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Indie travel app Lambus makes group trip planning easier

There are plenty of travel apps for researching flights and hotels or generally organizing your trips, but indie German developer Hans Knöchel struggled to find one that could gather all his travel-related information in one place, in addition to allowing a group of friends to collaborate on the trip-planning process. So he built one for himself: Lambus, an app that lets you organize your travel documents, manage expenses, plus collaborate and chat with fellow co-travelers about the trip being planned.

Previously a senior software engineer at Appcelerator in San Jose, Knöchel came up with the idea for Lambus after being on the road a lot himself, and finding existing travel apps lacking.

“When traveling, you either use a manual folder with dozens of pages for all your information — or countless apps to display travel expenses, booking confirmations, and waypoint planning. Alternatives like Google Trips, Sygic and Roadtrippers were always limited to one person and never offered all the features I needed during the trip,” he explains. “This gave me the idea for Lambus: A collaborative platform on which travel groups — in real-time — can display all the properties of the trip in an easy-to-use platform: Waypoints, travel expenses, booking documents, notes, photos and chat,” he says.

The resulting app he refers to as a “Swiss Army Knife” for travel planning.

Like TripIt and others, travel documents can be shared with Lambus by forwarding emails to a unique personal email address. The imported documents — like plane tickets or Airbnb stays will then be made available to all group attendees automatically. This is handy for group trips where often multiple people take turns making the various reservations, but don’t have any easy way to share the information with others beyond forwarding emails or writing down information in a shared online document.

Documents can also be uploaded through an “Import PDF” feature, as an alternative to email sharing. And photos can be added by snapping a picture or importing from the phone’s Camera Roll, as well.

The photo feature is handy for saving those miscellaneous pieces of travel information — like how to access an Airbnb upon arrival, travel directions posted on an event or venue’s website, a helpful online review you saved, and more. It’s also a fast way to import any other information, without having to rely on email or uploads.

In the expenses section, you can keep track of either private or group expenses by entering the amount and what it was for, and, optionally, if it’s been paid.

While largely aimed at group travel because of the collaboration and built-in chat features, the app can be used for solo trips, too.

In testing the app, we found there were a few kinks that still needed to be corrected.

The calendar, for example, didn’t include the days of the week, only the dates — which was unusual. The app also had trouble finding some points of interest — like a convention center, for example, when it was entered directly in the search box. (It came up when we searched for a “nearby place” to an existing waypoint, oddly.) This appears to be a bug.

Some parts of the German app hadn’t been localized to English, either. For instance, when viewing the detail page for a waypoint, the “On My List” section read: “Noch keine Orte in der Nähe geplant.” (Meaning: “No places planned nearby.”) 

More importantly, Lambus didn’t turn imported documents into an easy-to-read itinerary, as TripIt does. The travel plan, instead, included a list of waypoints but not the dates and times, with all the details like flight numbers or hotel reservation numbers. That’s perhaps a deal-breaker in terms of dumping all other travel apps in favor Lambus alone.

Despite its quirks, the concept here is solid and the app is nicely designed with a bright and clean look-and-feel. The app is only a couple of months old, so given a little more time, attention, and a few more releases, it has the potential to become a seriously useful travel tool for group trip planning.

The name, “Lambus,” is an odd choice, we have to also note.

Knöechel says he was searching for a word that was easy to pronounce in many different languages, and settled on this — a domain name he already owned.

While Knöechel is the sole founder, Lambus is a team of seven including mainly university friends, he says. The startup is seed-funded by the Ministry of Economics in Germany (~120k€), and eventually has plans to generate affiliate revenue by offering hotel, flight, Airbnb and activity bookings in-app.

Lambus is live on iOS and Google Play.

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Bidding for this like-new Enigma Machine starts at $200,000

If you’re feeling flush this week, then perhaps instead of buying a second Bugatti you might consider picking up this lightly used Enigma Machine. These devices, the scourge of the Allies in World War II, are rarely for sale to begin with — and one in such good shape that was actually used in the war is practically unheard of.

The Enigma saga is a fascinating one, though far too long to repeat here — let it suffice to say that these machines created a code that was as close to unbreakable, allowing the Nazis to communicate securely and reliably even with the Allies listening in. But a team of mathematicians and other experts at Bletchley Park in Britain, the most famous of them Alan Turing, managed to crack the Enigma’s code, helping turn the tide of the war. (If you’re interested, a good biography of Turing will of course tell you more, and Simon Singh’s The Code Book tells the story well as part of the history of cryptography.)

The risk of exposure should a machine be captured by the Allies meant that German troops were instructed to destroy their Enigma rather than let it be taken. And at the end of the war, Winston Churchill ordered that any surviving Enigmas be destroyed, but many escaped into the hands of private collectors like the person who got this one. It is thought that only a few hundred remain extant, though as with other such infamous artifacts a precise estimate is impossible.

This machine, however, passed through the fires of WWII and survived not only intact but with its original rotors — the interchangeable parts which would spin in a special fashion to irreversibly scramble text — and only one of its interior light bulbs out. The battery’s shot, but that’s to be expected after so long a duration in storage. If you’re waiting on an Enigma in better condition, expect to be waiting a long time.

Naturally this would be of inestimable value to a deep-pocketed collector of such things (let us hope in good taste) or a museum of war or cryptography. The secrets of the Enigma are long since revealed (even replicated in a pocket watch), but the original machines are marvels of ingenuity that may still yield discoveries and provoke wonder.

Bidding for this Enigma starts at $200,000 on Thursday at Nate D Sanders Auctions. That’s some ten times what another machine went for ten years ago, so you can see they’re not getting any less expensive (this one is in better condition, admittedly) — and it seems likely it will fetch far more than the minimum.

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