how-to – The News Desk

Use Apple Shortcuts to Build the Ultimate Daily Digital Journal

15Apr

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Technology

Use Apple Shortcuts to Build the Ultimate Daily Digital Journal

I started journaling in 2019. It's not that I love keeping a journal, exactly. It's more that I find my brain works better if I spend a little time dumping its contents onto paper every morning. This practice got me through 2020, an extremely difficult year, and I've kept it up ever since.My journal isn't advanced. I've got a few sections recommended by my therapist from around the time I started—there's a section I fill in every day with things I'm looking forward to, for example. I use another section to think through what I'm going to eat and other things I'm going to do that day. All of this is straightforward; I just use a template that includes headers for those things.But there's a bit of information I like to gather and include. Each day's weather, for example. I've noticed that I...

6Apr

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Money

Grow vegetables in CT and save money

Anyone who grocery shops on a regular basis has likely noticed a higher tally at the checkout counter. The latest consumer pricing analysis from the USDA is predicting a 1.3 percent increase in food prices. While we can’t do much to lower the prices, one thing we can do is grow some of our own vegetables and herbs. The investment in a small 100 square foot or so garden is not large, and one can be assured of healthy, high quality fresh produce. Vegetable gardeners can also control what, if any, types of pesticides are used on the plants. One source suggested that a $70 investment in plants and seeds could produce a harvest worth $600 or more over the growing season. Already having basic garden tools was probably taken for granted. If yard space is limited or too shaded, consider renting a...

Google Podcasts Is Gone. Here’s How to Transfer Your Subscriptions

2Apr

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Technology

Google Podcasts Is Gone. Here’s How to Transfer Your Subscriptions

Steve McLendon, a product manager at Google, admits he’s sad to see Google Podcasts head toward the software graveyard. He suggests that the app’s simplicity, one of its core strengths, is what led to its downfall: “Podcast experiences can be improved for users in a way that I think Google Podcasts would never really be able to deliver.”After launching the app in 2018, the company wound down Google Podcasts on April 2. YouTube Music will serve as Google’s new home for podcast listening. While some users crave the bare-bones experience of an RSS feed catcher for podcasts, McLendon is eyeing a future where algorithmic discovery and video podcast clips are more central to the user experience.“Google may be notorious for having lots of different products that kind of do similar things,” he sa...

How to Back Up Your Emails in Gmail, Outlook, and iCloud

1Jan

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Technology

How to Back Up Your Emails in Gmail, Outlook, and iCloud

Backing up your emails, no matter what provider you use, is important because access to your digital collection of messages is less permanent than you might initially think. There are multiple points of failure to consider—what happens if something in the cloud breaks, or your connection to the internet does? What if your account gets banned or closed for whatever reason, and all of your email gets zapped with it?Those are only a few of the potential problems. You might accidentally delete a bunch of emails you didn't mean to; someone else could access your account and wipe everything they find; or your email provider might suddenly decide to lock you out, permanently.With all of that in mind, access to your email doesn't seem so assured. It might not matter for all those random newslette...

How to Back Up Your Digital Life (2023): Hard Drives, Cloud-Based Tools, and Tips

31Dec

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Technology

How to Back Up Your Digital Life (2023): Hard Drives, Cloud-Based Tools, and Tips

To get started, click Add backup, and Duplicati will take you through the process of setting up an account at a cloud storage provider and entering your login credentials. Then you pick which files you want to back up. A word of caution about something that bit me once during testing: When Duplicati can’t find a file—for example, if you’re having it back up data that’s on an external drive you sometimes don’t plug in—it will halt the entire backup until that drive is available. You can change this behavior in the settings, but by default, this is how it works.If Duplicati isn’t quite what you want, another option is MSP360 (formerly Cloudberry). It’s $30, but there is a free version with limited features. MSP360 worked well in my testing, but I did not find anything about it that convince...

How to Use OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Create Your Own Custom GPT

26Dec

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Technology

How to Use OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Create Your Own Custom GPT

I was never afraid to train an AI chatbot on my writing, because OpenAI had already broken the seal. CEO Sam Altman announced the “GPT” feature at OpenAI’s first developer day in November, prior to the company’s five days of leadership chaos. Before the release of custom GPTs, ChatGPT with web browsing was already able to plunder my writing for answers to questions about everything, from using better prompts to understanding niche creepypastas.So, what the hell! Why not wrestle around with the chatbot and see if it can mimic me tout à fait? Together, let’s see how far we can trek into the uncanny valley with AI and learn how to make one of these so-called GPTs using OpenAI’s tools.Like most of OpenAI’s newest drops, only those with a $20-a-month subscription to ChatGPT Plus are allowed to...

Top Features in Apple’s iOS 17 and iPadOS 17: Compatible Devices, Updates

11Dec

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Technology

Top Features in Apple’s iOS 17 and iPadOS 17: Compatible Devices, Updates

You're now able to check in with a friend or family member when you arrive at a destination. If you dillydally for some reason on the way to this destination, the system will try to check in with you, and if you don't respond, it will share location data, battery level, and cell service status with your loved one. Apple says this data is end-to-end encrypted. You can press the “+” sign to find this feature in an iMessage conversation, then tap More until you see Check In.When someone shares their location with you in iMessage, you'll now be able to see this directly in the conversation without having to leave the app. If they send an audio message, you'll see the transcription immediately under it, which is handy if you can't listen to it immediately.As for FaceTime, you can now leave a v...

Best Registries for Weddings and Baby Showers (2023): Advice and Tips

29Oct

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Technology

Best Registries for Weddings and Baby Showers (2023): Advice and Tips

In just over a year, I had two weddings (one a Covid-lockdown elopement, the other a post-lockdown reception) and a baby shower. I made several online registries in that time, and in true product reviewer fashion, I tried every single popular one before finally choosing my favorite.A good wedding registry or baby registry makes things easy for you to create, and for your loved ones to shop on your behalf without worrying whether you already have an air fryer or high-quality bed sheets. The best registries are easy to navigate and buy from because, let's be honest: You're not getting any gifts if it's a pain in the rear to shop for you. Not all registries are made equally, and there are a ton of options to navigate. Here's what you should keep in mind as you choose an online registry and w...

What Is Matter? We Explain the New Smart Home Standard (2023)

23Oct

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Technology

What Is Matter? We Explain the New Smart Home Standard (2023)

The ideal smart home seamlessly anticipates your needs and instantly responds to commands. You shouldn’t have to open a specific app for each appliance or remember the precise voice command and voice assistant combination that starts the latest episode of your favorite podcast on the nearest speaker. Competing smart home standards make operating your devices needlessly complicated. It’s just not very … well, smart.Tech giants try to straddle standards by offering their voice assistants as a controlling layer on top, but Alexa can’t talk to Google Assistant or Siri or control Google or Apple devices, and vice versa. (And so far, no single ecosystem has created all the best devices.) But these interoperability woes may soon be remedied. Formerly called Project CHIP (Connected Home over IP),...

Best Gear and Tips to Keep Your Home Warm in the Winter (2023)

15Oct

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Technology

Best Gear and Tips to Keep Your Home Warm in the Winter (2023)

It has a thermostat, simple controls, and safety features, such as a very effective kill switch that'll immediately turn the heater off if it tips or begins to overheat. Note: Don't ever plug a space heater into a power strip, extension cord, or surge protector. They need to plug straight into a wall outlet, otherwise they can malfunction and catch fire. Don't use them near flammable things or up against objects, including walls, and make sure nothing covers them up. When you leave your home, make sure you always, always, always turn it off. There are a lot of caveats to using a space heater safely.Indoor humidity takes a beating during the dry winter months, too, with heaters sucking up precious moisture. Indoor air can become incredibly dry during cool months. It doesn't just crack your...