LifeHacker.com have just published an article explaining how you can occassionally read articles for free from websites that have added paywalls where you usualy need to pay a monthly fee. Find out how here.
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are down
Facebook (and associated apps) are currently experiencing a gloabal outage. Find out more in The Verge’s article here. Personally I think this is not a bad thing. People will now need to find something else to do with their time instead of having their noses locked into their mobile devices.
When I first started in the IT industry over 40 years ago I had high expectations that technology would in time make all of our lives so much better. However with the advent of social media platforms such as Facebook, we have begun to see the results of the darker side of what technology can unleash on society. CNN Business have recently published an article here discussing the kind of things I have major concerns about.
How to scan documents on iPhone/iPad
Lifewire have published an article explaining how to scan documents, receipts, and any other physical papers directly using the Notes app without having to open the camera or any other third party app. Read it here.
Convert Apple Notes to a PDF file
If you need to export one of your Apple Notes so that you can share it with others, Tom’s Guide has created an article explaining how to create a PDF file from your Notes on iPhone, iPad and Mac here.
Fix your Apple OS, Chrome, and Microsoft Vulnerabilities – UPDATE TODAY!!
If you saw the interview with the Australian Cyber Security Centre on the ABC’s Morning Show today, and as previously highlighted in blogs here over the last week; you will now be aware both Apple and Microsoft have had some serious zero-day vulnerabilities discovered in their software that hackers are now going after in coordinated attacks. As discussed in Wired’s article here, today is a good day to ensure that all your devices’ software has been updated to the latest versions to protect them from nefarious actors. Don’t delay updating – DO IT NOW!!
Automatically curate your own news feed
Microsoft Corp on Tuesday rolled out a personalized news feed called Microsoft Start. Read about the solution which will be available both as a website and a mobile app, on Microsoft’s blog here.
Looking for a Note Taking app for your mobile device?
Tom’s Guide has just published a review of the best of the current crop of Note Taking apps for mobile devices – read it here.
Using an Android phone as a webcam for your computer.
If you don’t have a dedicated webcam, you can now use any Android smartphone and an app to access the camera’s high-end camera from your computer. Read Android Central’s article here to discover how.
Simple tips to improve your To-Do lists
PC Mag Australia has published these simple tips for creating effective To-Do lists, whether you are using pencil & paper, or one of the popular To-Do List apps discussed in my blog last month.
Want to stop organisations selling your online information?
Shubham Agarwal from digitaltrends tracked down the people selling his personal data and then stopped them. You can quite easily do this too by following his lead!! Read the article here to find out how he accomplished this.
To Zoom or not to Zoom?
With major organisations banning their staff from using the Zoom video conferencing app, should you stop using it too? Read Endgadget’s perspective here.
How to search the Internet anonymously
If you want to search the Internet without the search engine provider capturing information about you, you could us a VPN or use a specialised search engine. For about a decade I have been using dogpile.com to anonymously fetch and organise results from Google, Yahoo, Bing and other popular search engines. Wired recently published an article listing some additional specialised search engines you can also try.
Removing Malware from your computer
Is your computer running slow or misbehaving? It could have been infected by malware. Read this article from Popular Science to discover how best to remove and protect against malware.
Whats the best VPN for watching BBC’s iPlayer?
Digital Trends have just published an article that explains how you can watch the BBC’s iPlayer app outside of the UK by using a VPN – read how here.
Need to add your signature to a PDF form?
I’ve only just found this very helpful article from Komando.com that details how to insert your signature into PDF documents. Read about it here.