Category: Tech World

Even after decades in the service of bringing us entertainment and news, television antennas have not lost their luster. They’re more important than ever in an era when people are trying to cut the cord from cable or satellite subscriptions and supplement their streaming services with live TV.

One potential drawback of using an antenna is that sometimes you don’t get the best reception. You don’t want to rush to reset your antenna right in the middle of a big game when the game is on the line or like a cliffhanger is resolved on your favorite play.

Here are some steps to improve your antenna reception so you can get the most out of your free over-the-air television viewing experience.

find the sweet spot
We’re going to focus on indoor antennas, which are a popular choice for picking up over-the-air television channels. These have changed a lot over the years and most of the new ones don’t look like the old-fashioned loop-and-rabbit-eared varieties. Many of them are flat and feel like a thin sheet of cardboard. Your antenna may already have a stand, or it may come with mounting supplies. You can use double-sided tape, Velcro, suction cups, or other similar methods to mount your antenna to a wall or window if necessary.

Your most important task now is to find the best location for your antenna. It is a science as much as it is an art.

It helps if you know where the main broadcast towers for your area are located, so you can set up the antenna where those towers have a better line of sight. Aim to mount the antenna up on a wall or in a window. Experiment and try to move it around if your reception is unsteady.

If you’re still having trouble, see if you can mount the antenna even higher, such as in your attic (again, near a window is best). The downside of mounting in an attic or your second story is that you’ll need to run a long cable from where your television is located. Not everyone is ready to do this, but if you’re having a hard time getting your favorite stations to come, it can help boost your channel reception.

Here’s how to stop your Smart TV from spying on you.

Finding the best location for your antenna can seem like an exercise in trial and error, but start with our basic guidelines and then move it around as you need it.

Try a New Antenna
If your old antenna isn’t cutting it, it may be time to upgrade to something better. You’ll run into a lot of variables when shopping for a new antenna. You have to choose between an indoor or outdoor antenna.

Indoor antennas are convenient and economical, but may not be powerful enough if you live far from your local TV towers, or if you’re located in a difficult location where landscape features or tall buildings impede the signal. . In those cases, an external antenna, which mounts outside your home, may be worth the investment and installation.

Check out our Komando guide to choosing the best HDTV antenna for your needs.

One Final Step: Rescan for Channels

Television channels do not always stay in the same place. The recent FCC TV spectrum auction means that about 1,000 stations are switching their frequencies. If your favorite channel went missing, it could be the culprit. Open your television settings and rescan for channels. It’s a good idea to do this from time to time, but it’s especially important because so many stations are changing.

Over-the-air television is as popular as ever. For cord-cutters, it’s a way to supplement their Netflix, Hulu or Amazon subscriptions with live shows. For sports fans, they can attend a number of major events, from NASCAR races to NFL games.

While using the antenna it is free, it is not free from maintenance. TV stations sometimes spin on different frequencies and this means that your television’s settings may no longer be accurate. You may disappear from stations or lose access to the ones you thought you had dialed.

This is an especially big deal right now as there are a whole host of stations rolling out over the next few years. Luckily, keeping your free TV pipeline open is easy. We’ll show you how you can rescan and get all the latest channels.

TV spectrum auction
First, let’s look at why so many stations are jumping. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) conducted a spectrum auction in 2017 aimed at expanding mobile broadband services. The result was that around 1,000 stations voluntarily gave up their current broadcast channels and opted to switch to new channels. Some stations have also opted to go off air.

These changes only affect those who use antennas for free over-the-air broadcasting. Satellite and cable customers don’t have to worry about this as their services will handle the changes behind the scenes.

The transition period covers a large part of the time, occurring in a total of 39 months beginning April 2017. Many stations will alert their viewers of any upcoming changes, so keep an eye on your favorite channels. They will be running daily on-air announcements about the transition at least 30 days before the change.

Re-scan your TV’s tuner to add new channels
The good news is that antenna users don’t have to go out and buy any new gear. Your regular television and antenna setup will continue to function, but changes will be in full swing by the end of the year, so you’ll need to make a significant move. This is called rescanning.

Rescanning is the process of asking your television’s tuner to check the current channel lineup. This will pick up any changes and allow you to access stations that may have been moved around. It’s a good idea to rescan from time to time, but it’s especially important now that there are so many stations switching to different frequencies.

For more specific information, visit the FCC TVAnswers.org website and enter your zip code to find out which stations are running and when they are doing so.

RELATED: These streaming apps can help you cut the cord.

how to rescan
The rescanning process may vary depending on your television, but following a few basic instructions will get you to the right place.

Using your remote, go to your TV’s main menu. View channel scanning settings. Different manufacturers use different terms for this. For example, with some Samsung TVs, you’ll find this under the Broadcast menu listed as “Auto Program.” It may be listed under tuner settings or under “Channel Scan” or another similar term.

Start the scan and let it do its job. You may need to have some patience. It may take several minutes for the television to complete the scan. As a bonus, rescanning can help you pick out stations and subchannels that are new or that you missed in your previous scans.

With all the changes coming to broadcast channels, you will probably need to rescan more than once. Go ahead and give it a try now, but don’t forget to check back and rescan to get the latest updates in the future as well.

More than a billion people use Gmail. This is one in seven people on earth who are actively using this free email platform in 74 different languages.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that some third-party developers were collecting data on Gmail users. If you’re worried about this exercise, I’ve got your back. Tap or click here to stop it and disconnect third party apps from your Gmail account.

This is not bad news for Gmail users.

Google recently added a new feature to its Gmail redesign. The function is called “Confidential Mode,” and the Department of Homeland says it could present a significant security threat to users. Tap or click here to learn how this feature can be used against you.

You might not like many of the default Gmail settings; You can toggle specific options on or off if you only know they exist. Gmail is full of shortcuts, but they can’t speed up your work when you don’t know what they are.

Here are 10 settings that will improve your Gmail experience. Like anything, the best way to learn Gmail is by practicing and experimenting, but these options will help you hit the ground running.

1. Let Gmail type your emails for you
A new feature, Smart Compose, will try to save you time by guessing what you’re going to write before you even start writing. It’s similar to autocomplete in text messages, but for your inbox.

2. Try Canned Responses to Save Time
Another advantage of Smart Compose is the ability to create “canned responses.” These are especially beneficial if you receive a lot of messages from many different people covering the same question or topic. Instead of retyping, or forwarding, or copying and pasting, you can draft a pre-defined response and send it over and over again.

3. Center the Composition Box
Every time you start a new email, Gmail populates that window in the lower-right corner. This is an improvement over the traditional format, which aims to devote an entire page to the new message. However, what if you don’t want it there? Also, what if you want the box to be bigger?

that’s no problem. Simply click on the small diagonal arrow in the top right corner of the window. A large window will appear immediately in the middle of your screen.

4. Give Yourself Some Keyboard Shortcuts

Most of us know your standard keyboard shortcuts for things like copy, paste, and delete. Gmail has its own keyboard shortcuts for email users. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can even create your own keyboard shortcuts.

In classic Gmail, you’ll want to find the “Labs” tab, while in the newer Gmail you’ll look for the “Advanced” tab. Regardless, choose whichever one you need and look down on the page until you find “Custom keyboard shortcuts”. Enable them and then save the changes. The page will refresh, and when it’s done go back to your settings and find the new “Keyboard Shortcuts” tab on the right side of the top banner.

Click on it, and a window with several options will open. Choose a shortcut (or create a new one), then save the changes when you’re done. From that moment on, you will be able to apply the shortcut whenever you need it.

5. Get back sent email
There are a hundred reasons why you might be sending an email before you’re ready. You may have entered the wrong address. Maybe you wrote an angry email in a hurry. Maybe you forgot that Amber’s birthday party was a surprise. Fortunately, you can prevent it from delivering—provided you act quickly.

When you first start your Gmail account, you have five seconds to pause the message from the moment you hit “Send.” However, you can increase that number by going into your settings and finding the line for “undo send.”

There you will see a drop-down box that gives you the option of 5, 10, 20 and 30 seconds for the duration of your cancellation. Just choose the one you want, scroll down and hit Save. If you’re indecisive by nature, you can spend half a minute debating whether the message you sent was a good idea.

By the way, have you ever wanted to retrieve a text message? You can do this! Tap or click here for the secret to stop a text message from being sent.

6. Keep Your Inbox Just the Way You Want It

Not everyone wants to read emails in chronological order. There are several ways to organize your inbox: you might want to read starred messages first, or unread messages, or “priority” messages. This is a standard feature across a variety of email services, but Gmail makes ordering exceptionally easy.

Simply hover your mouse over the Inbox tab on the left side of the screen. When a downward triangle appears, click on it. You’ll notice that there are five different types of inboxes, with a brief description of each.

iPhone users have become accustomed to finding everything they need on their phone. You can check your email, download apps for almost anything, pay your bills, and even pay for in-store purchases.

With the addition of the Apple Health app, you were finally able to combine your various health-related apps into one, making health management easier than ever.

Thanks to the new beta feature in the Apple Health app, you can now access your medical records from multiple institutions anywhere, anytime.

Prior to this new feature, the Health app included patient-generated data (that’s you) about activity, sleep, mindfulness and nutrition, as well as the ability to add your own health records such as lab results and vital information . You can integrate third-party apps to help you track this data and get a holistic view of your health. Adding formal medical records to the Health app is the last piece of the puzzle.

apple intention
Over the years, health care institutions have tried to keep up with technology by giving patients access to their medical records through online portals. Unfortunately, due to a less pleasant user experience and lack of convenience, many patients don’t bother trying to log in and access their records. This not only limits knowledge about patients’ health but also creates challenges for health care providers when trying to manage coordination among other providers.

Adding health records to a tool that many of us use every day is Apple’s way of letting you take control of your health. By adding this missing ingredient to the already stellar Health app, Apple now makes it possible for you to see a complete picture of your overall health and track the actions you are taking to maintain or improve it.

how it works
The Health app easily consolidates all your health records into one timeline, regardless of how many institutions the records come from. You can view your lab results, vaccinations, prescriptions, important information, procedures, conditions and allergies at a glance from that little computer in your pocket. And what happens when new records become available? You will be notified directly on your iPhone. Of course, as expected, all this sensitive information is encrypted and protected with your iPhone passcode.

For people with ongoing health conditions and multiple providers, the ability to manage all this information in one place can have a big impact on quality of life. This not only allows you to stay on top of your health, but also allows you to share information with your provider. In minutes, you can pull out your phone and show your provider what prescription your other provider has ordered, or have your lab get results from a different clinic.

Apple has already added hundreds of hospitals and health systems to the list of participating health institutions, and the list continues to grow. Click here to see the full list and find out if your health care institution offers this new benefit. The first participants include Cedars-Sinai, Penn Medicine and Johns Hopkins Medicine.

the gain

Apple’s innovation isn’t just benefiting patients. Participating institutions are anticipating increased awareness and understanding of their patients to their patients, thereby creating a better patient experience.

Along with health care concerns, doctors are looking for ways to help their patients change unhealthy behavior before it leads to chronic conditions. Apple’s Health app has finally managed to provide patients with the all-in-one platform they need to manage their health. It may not be the solution to all the health problems of our country, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.

When it comes to Facebook, which has over 2 billion users worldwide, just about anything on the social media site can make a difference in your life. Like, for example, nowadays he is under criticism for what happened between him and Cambridge Analytica.

There is even a fast growing and trending #deletefacebook campaign that is encouraging people to delete their Facebook accounts outright.

Of course, not everyone likes Facebook. Too many people reluctantly joined, and they hate exposing so much personal information. No matter how secure their privacy setting, they are still concerned about the threat of predatory scams, cyber-bullying and identity theft.

As crazy as it sounds, you can turn off Facebook. You can delete your account, dust off your hands, and never go back. Or you can rebuild your account from scratch.

The first thing to know is the difference between deactivating your account and deleting your account. If you deactivate, your account will be invisible to everyone.

No one can friend or unfriend you, your wall and personal data is invisible, and all activity comes to a halt. But you can turn it back on whenever you want, and you’ll be right where you left off.

Deleting your account means permanently erasing everything you put on Facebook. Your account will cease to exist. If that’s your goal, here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Download your data
Simply put, Facebook doesn’t want you to leave. The company’s global reach is all-out and deep, and the last thing they want is to lose a friend.

As a parting gift, Facebook allows you to download all your personal data. It’s a very easy process: you just go to Settings >> General Account Settings >> Download a copy of your Facebook data >> Start My Archive.

If you ever decide to change your mind, Facebook will be more than happy to help you recreate a new account with all your old digital stuff.

Step 2: Request to delete account
Unfortunately, you can’t just flip a switch and be done with it. You will need to ask Facebook to delete your account.

You will find a sad and lonely looking page here. The rest of the process is very simple: just follow the steps mentioned.

Step 3: Wait
This is the weirdest part about deleting your Facebook account: it doesn’t happen right away. Your friends can’t see your page. Your feed will stop interacting with others. But your account is still there, hopefully you will come back and show it some love.

If you try to log in, the removal process will stop immediately, and you’ll have to start all over.

Incredibly, the entire process of deleting your account will take up to 90 days. But once those three months are over, Facebook should have removed all your information: every status, picture, anniversary, and relationship would disappear from the Internet, as if it never existed.

Step 4: Cleaning After
Just because your account is closed doesn’t mean that traces of your activity will remain. Your messages will remain in other people’s inboxes. Photos copied from your album may appear in other people’s feeds.

There’s nothing you can do about these leftover pieces except ask people to remove them or just pray that they don’t become embarrassing. If you request the deletion of these messages and photos, your old network should be able to do it easily. This way you will know who your real friends are.

Windows 10 was highly anticipated for a long time and with good reason; It’s a great operating system that’s incredibly intuitive for basic tasks, and has some great updates on older Windows systems. It’s a system that’s translated well to tablets, and there are tons of features you can enjoy when you own one.

In fact, there are so many great features that it can be hard to know about them all without a little guidance. Luckily for you, we’ve done the research, and got some features for you to test on your Windows tablet. Check out 10 of these tips and tricks below!

1. Voice Activated Search
For those times when you need to check a recipe quickly but your hands are messy, or when you’re stocking up on groceries but need to settle a song lyrics debate, Windows 10 voice- Active can do web searches, and even check the weather for you, or show you the news. Simply activate Cortana, Microsoft’s computer assistant, in the Settings screen, and say “Hey, Cortana” to activate it.

In addition to searches, Cortana can set reminders, and let you know when they’ll arrive, so enjoy your computerized secretary completely hands free!

2. Viewing and Using the App Side-by-Side
Want to consult your calendar on your tablet while browsing the web? This might be fine on a desktop, where you can control the size of the window, or even have multiple monitors. But on a tablet, you typically only have one app open that fits the entire window. Not so with tablets with Windows 10.

Tap and hold on the top of the first app, and drag it to the right or left of the screen. Then, open or switch to the other app you want to view, and tap and hold it, placing it on the other side of the screen. Tap the divider between apps to change how big they are, and otherwise, enjoy having Netflix and Microsoft Word open at the same time on one device.

3. Write Instead of Type
Many tablets do not come with an external keyboard, including Windows 10 tablets, and they instead work with a touch keyboard that is part of the tablet screen. For these tablets that come with a stylus, there are more options for writing than just the internal keyboard which lets the stylus be more than a throwback to the days of the Palm Pilot.

In Windows 10, if you bring up your touch keyboard and tap the keyboard icon in the lower left corner, you can actually type on your screen, and predictive text will type what you’re scribbling. To activate this function simply tap the Blank keyboard with pen picture option. Then, with your stylus, or even your finger, you can compose notes if you can’t reach another keyboard, or if you prefer handwritten notes that are easily shared.

4. Share Files Easily
Speaking of sharing files easily, Windows 10 tablets have enhanced the ability to quickly and easily share files and URLs with other, nearby devices. Open the Share interface in your file or webpage with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi active, and you’ll find PCs and other tablets that have Nearby Sharing enabled. Just tap the one you want, and that device will get a notification that they’ve received something from you, which will download quickly.

This sharing functionality also works for phones, and may be the best option for getting photos on your tablet, as tablets and phones can’t use flashdrives. Usually this sharing is fastest over Wi-Fi, but Bluetooth works, and don’t worry; Most of the time, your device knows which one is fastest at the moment, and will use that, so you can easily pass things between devices.

5. Control Your Notifications
If you need a period to get some work done, a Windows 10 tablet is already your friend. Built-in tablet mode lets you ignore other apps (unless you split the screen, as in the first tip), and on top of that, there’s an easy way to disable app notifications.

Hold (or right-click) the Action Center icon, tap “Hide Notifications For” and choose a time of 1, 3, or 8 hours. With your timer set, enjoy a temporary respite from notifications, and take some work seriously. Plus, all your notification settings are in one convenient place. Head under Settings >> System to disable some notifications, or all of them, depending on your preferences. Again, think about how you want to use your device, and make it work for you!

6. Stream to other compatible devices

Your Windows 10 tablet can stream video on its own, but if you want to use a bigger screen, all you need is a compatible device, like a Roku, or Xbox One S. Type “media streaming” in the Windows 10 taskbar, then select the media streaming option and follow the instructions. It can help you stream videos you put on your tablet, such as self-made videos, or stream games or other applications that support compatible devices.

It’s very convenient to bank, shop and post photos and status updates online. This means you don’t have to physically bank, store, or travel long distances to catch up with family and friends spread across the country.

The drawback to doing these and other things online is that your information is traveling through the Internet. This is not a direct shot between you and the site you are using. Data can bounce around the country or through servers around the world.

This gives hackers many opportunities to steal your information. If they can catch it in transit, they can learn your passwords, details about you they shouldn’t know, or even pretend to be you to trick your bank or other secure sites can do.

This is especially true if you are using public Wi-Fi. Hackers on the same network have tons of tools to spy on what you’re doing.

In addition to hackers, the government and your Internet service provider can also monitor your connection to see where you go, and if they want to, what you do. If you’re not a fan of this, and some people are, there’s a way you can keep these parties off your business.

internet security status
Before we talk about it, let’s take a quick review of the already existing safe solution. Any finance, medical or shopping site that is even the slightest security conscious will provide you with an encrypted connection.

Encryption spoofs your traffic so that hackers cannot obtain your passwords or other information. When the web address in your browser begins with “https://”, you can tell that a site is undergoing encryption.

In addition to the sites we have already mentioned, Facebook, Google and other major sites have also adopted Always On Encryption. However, not every site you encounter will be and some only offer partial encryption.

This means they can’t encrypt the connection until you log in, which gives a potential opening for hackers to steal your password. Or they just encrypt your login information and leave things like email messages exposed to traffic espionage.

Fortunately, more sites are moving to full-time encryption. Most of the major news sites do this, and you probably didn’t even notice.

Of course, you don’t need to wait for others to provide you with that level of security. You can completely encrypt your connection today.

VPN Basics
To encrypt your connection, you can use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). In the business world, VPNs let employees working remotely create an encrypted connection with the company network so they can work securely, as shown in this handy diagram:

Both Windows and Mac have VPN features built in for just this purpose. However, for the average home user or traveler, these aren’t very helpful because you need something to connect to. That’s where a third-party VPN service comes in handy.

A VPN service lets you create an encrypted connection with one of its servers and you use that server to browse the Internet. The connection through the server is encrypted, so the VPN can’t even see your traffic. OK, it’s a little more complicated than it is behind the scenes, but this is the result.

To get started, you’ll need to choose a program or service to use. There are dozens that offer a mix of security features, privacy options, server locations, and other considerations.

For the average user, it’s important to make sure they have US-based servers, know how much bandwidth you can use, and that they don’t keep logs of your activity. Payment services will naturally require some personal information and payment information, but you can find one that is at least essential to know.

Some services will accept prepaid cards and alternative payments that are more difficult for you to locate. However, even if you give your information to the Service, as long as it does not keep a log of what you do with the Service, it may not matter so much.

using a vpn
Once you have installed the VPN of your choice, fire it up and let it establish a connection. You can then browse the Internet as usual. Traffic will flow through the VPN’s servers and encrypted connection on your computer, tablet or smartphone.

This means that any unencrypted sites you visit will be protected from prying eyes and encrypted sites will basically have double encryption. As an added bonus, your Internet service provider will no longer be able to see which sites you are visiting. It will only look at the connection to your VPN.

Note: If you are searching for VPN, you will see VPN services and “Proxy” services. A proxy service can hide the identity of your computer, but it does not encrypt your connection.

Android is everywhere. Apple’s major rival to iOS is a popular choice across a variety of smartphones and tablets. Like any operating system, there is a learning curve. Even if you’re already well-versed with Android, it’s easy to overlook some of the tips and tricks that can improve your experience.

Just remember that there can be quite a bit of variation between different versions of Android, so you may have to do a little hunting to find the right settings, and some features may not work with older operating systems.

Some of these tips are deceptively simple, but they’ll make your Android experience easier and more enjoyable. So go ahead and put them to work and take your Android skills to the next level.

1. Add something smart to your lock screen
You are good about keeping your Android phone off. You have a password, a PIN, a pattern or a fingerprint that is required to access your phone. It’s a smart security move, but sometimes you want convenience. This is where the Android Smart Lock feature comes in. This lets you keep your phone or tablet unlocked in certain situations, such as when you are near your home.

Go to your Settings and look for the Security menu. Select Smart Lock and open it. It gives you a suite of options ranging from on-body detection to voice match, allowing you to unlock the device with your voice.

If you’re new to this, you might want to start with the “Trusted Places” setting and set your home as the place to keep your phone unlocked. You can also set more locations, like your workspace, but keep in mind that your phone will remain unlocked in those places if you leave it sitting.

2. Get Your Quick Settings Even Faster
You probably swipe down from the top of your phone when you want to access your Wi-Fi, battery, Do Not Disturb, Bluetooth, and other basic settings. It shows icons of some of your settings as well as any active notifications you have. You’ll have to swipe down again to open the full tray of settings.

But there’s an even faster way to go to your quick settings. Swiped down with two fingers from the top and like magic, your quick settings are all set up, ready to do what you need.

3. Swipe Your Way Through Your Chrome Tabs
Most of us open multiple tabs in Chrome browser whenever we are searching the internet. On a desktop or laptop, clicking between tabs is easy. On Android, though, you probably tap on the square at the top that shows the number of tabs you have open, and then sort through the stack of tabs until you find the one you want to switch to. .

There’s another way to move between your tabs in the Chrome app and it’s more fun. Simply swipe left or right in the address bar to zip between your open tabs.

4. Use Split Screen
Starting with Android 7.0, users are able to use a split-screen feature that lets two apps share the real estate on your screen simultaneously. Tap the square icon at the bottom of your screen to view your running apps. You should see a message at the top that says “Touch and hold the window, then drag to use split screen.”

For example, you can touch and hold the Gmail window and wait a few moments for it to pop out a bit. Drag it upwards and it will take up half the space. Then, click on any other running app like Chrome to fill in the bottom and now you can use both. Press and hold the square icon (which should now resemble two vertical rectangles) to return to the normal screen.

Keep in mind that not all apps support split-screen, so you may run into some apps that won’t work with this feature. If you find that split screen is too tight for you, read on for a separate tip that will help you when using two apps at the same time.

5. Double tap on the square
Here’s a clever Android feature that is often overlooked. You are already very familiar with the three icons that are usually found at the bottom of your screen: triangle, circle and square. Touching the square shows all your open apps stacked on top of each other. That’s great for choosing an app from across the entire line-up, but there’s another handy function of the class. Double-tap it to automatically switch between apps. This is especially good if you keep a few apps open and need to bounce back and forth between them.