How Lines of Text Work in the Linux Terminal First rule of Linux combat: know your enemy. So let’s define it. What exactly is a line of text? It’s a sequence of characters—letters, numbers, symbols, and whitespace—that is terminated by a special byte that means “start a new line.” In Linux and Unix, the newline character, also called a linefeed, is used as the end of line indicator. This is a byte with a value of 0x0a in hexadecimal and ten in decimal....
What Is the Great Firewall? The Great Firewall is a block on outgoing traffic from Chinese IP addresses. So, if you’re on a connection from Beijing or Shanghai (and, since recently, Hong Kong), you can’t access sites like Facebook, Google, or a large number of Western media outlets (One example of the ever-changing list is here. How-To Geek isn’t on it, or at least, not yet.). We have a full guide on how the Great Firewall works, but, in short, it blocks traffic in several ways, making it very hard to get around....
Windows 10 contains several accessibility settings built in to make it easier and more inclusive for people who have difficulty using all the regular functions of their computers. Narrator is a screen-reading app for people with visual difficulties, but even people without those difficulties might find some of its features useful. Here’s how to enable and use Windows Narrator. RELATED: How to Manage Accessibility Features in Windows 10 What Is Windows Narrator?...
Your laptop, smartphone, and tablet probably all have integrated Bluetooth support. Bluetooth is a standard that allows devices to communicate wirelessly. Most people are familiar with Bluetooth headsets, but there are more things you can do with Bluetooth. To make two Bluetooth devices work together, you’ll have to “pair” them. For example, you can pair a Bluetooth mouse with your laptop, pair a Bluetooth headset with your phone, or pair your smartphone with your laptop....
Apple’s Most Powerful Laptops to Date The 2021 MacBook Pro comes with your choice of M1 Pro and M1 Max systems-on-a-chip. This is the first time Apple has produced a version of the M1 chip first seen in 2020 for the “professional” market, with all the grunt a data scientist or video editor could ask for. The higher-end variant comes with 10 CPU cores and up to 32 GPU cores and can share a pool of up to 64GB of unified memory....
While the newer models of Apple products are more durable than their predecessors, it’s still a good idea to get a case for your iPad Mini. Cases help prevent scuffs and scratches so you can keep your tech looking great and can also save you a bent frame should you drop your iPad Mini. Why not save yourself the terror of dropping your shiny new iPad Mini on hard concrete with a case?...
Not only are movie trailers great for checking out the feel of a movie before you commit, but many trailers have also become events on their own. The following websites let you watch movie trailers for all kinds of movies, for free. Trailer Addict: Best for Everyone Traileraddict hosts movie trailers for upcoming, newly-released, and older movies. The navigation banner at the top of their page lets you view trailers by top films, coming soon, and out now....
Microphone Basics Traditional microphones consist of a capsule, which actually captures sound, and a circuit to connect the capsule to the output. Most microphones connect via XLR cables, but you’ll find some microphones that use a 1/4-inch TS connector. Any microphone requires a preamp, as the output of microphones is typically very quiet. The preamplifier raises the volume of the microphone’s signal to a high enough level that other audio equipment can work with it....
Fear of Missing Out FOMO is simply an acronym for “fear of missing out.” It’s a term that’s used to describe the anxiety of missing out on opportunities. Usually, feelings of FOMO are accompanied by the idea that someone else (friends, family, or coworkers) is taking part in the opportunity that you’re missing out on. It’s a bit like being “in the know” or keeping up with the Joneses. FOMO is usually used to describe social situations....
If you’ve looked at high-end headphones or speakers, you’ve probably noticed numbers on the spec sheet that read something like “20Hz-20KHz.” What do these numbers mean? For any device that uses a standard speaker driver, the Hz-KHz value is the range of audible sound vibrations that the speaker can produce. It’s generally labeled as the “frequency response” and expressed in hertz, with kilohertz being a thousand hertz. So the typical frequency response for headphones, twenty hertz to twenty thousand hertz, is quite full indeed....
ToF Cameras Have Extra Depth Resolution At a very basic level, ToF cameras are just regular HD cameras with an increased depth resolution. In fact, phones like the 2019 Huawei P30 Pro sport a depth resolution that’s four times better than conventional cameras. While “depth resolution” may sound like confusing photography jargon, it’s actually easy to understand. A camera with high depth resolution can differentiate between objects that are nearby (in the foreground) and far away (in the background)....
While other devices support Dolby Atmos sound, the Apple TV 4K will be the only streaming player with support for both Dolby Atmos surround sound and Dolby Vision HDR video. How Traditional Surround Sound Works Traditional 7.1 surround sound involves seven speakers plus a subwoofer. These speakers are placed around your room: front left, front center, front right, subwoofer, left, right, back left, and back right. 5.1 surround sound is similar, but omits the left and right side speakers and just uses front and rear speakers....
What Is File Versioning? File versioning refers to the separation of different iterations of the same file by version. For example, let’s say you’re working on an important text document and you make some changes and overwrite the file. File versioning allows you to roll back your document to the “last good” version before you made the error of overwriting the file. These versions work like checkpoints, bookmarks, or backups in time....
Image stabilization is a feature of some lenses and cameras that avoids the blur of a shaky camera. By counteracting that shake, you can use a slower shutter speed than you normally would, without getting a blurry photo. This is especially useful for night photos, or other situations where slow shutter speed is a necessity. RELATED: Your Camera’s Most Important Settings: Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO Explained When we talk about image stabilization and photography, we’re normally talking about optical image stabilization, which is found in a lot of high end lenses (and some high-end smartphones like the iPhone 7)....
Samsung’s Improved Quantum Dot Displays Neo QLED is an advancement of Samsung’s QLED technology (Quantum dot LED) which was originally released in 2017. Quantum dots are small particles illuminated by UV light behind the screen, producing varying levels of light. QLED displays, therefore, tend to be brighter, more vibrant, and offer better color accuracy. Using LED lights, the intensity of light is evenly distributed across the TV’s display. However, Neo QLED uses mini-LEDs, and thousands more of them compared to the number of LED lights on a QLED screen....
The iPhone has a pretty simple and intuitive interface, but there are still some things that appear with no explanation. One such thing is the line under the cell signal, Wi-Fi, and battery icons on the lock screen. This isn’t the first mysterious thing to appear in this region of the iPhone screen. iOS 14 and iPad OS 14 introduced little green and orange dots to indicate when apps are using the camera and microphone....
Can Windows 10 PCs Upgrade to Windows 11? Some Windows 10 PCs are eligible to upgrade to Windows 11 when it arrives around the end of 2021. If your PC can run Windows 11, the upgrade will be free. It all depends on your PC’s hardware. Windows 11’s system requirements are more stringent than Windows 10’s. For example, Windows 11 will only run on 64-bit PCs. In addition, your PC will need a TPM 2....
Apps Could Previously Use Bluetooth Without Asking These messages are new in iOS 13. Before this update, apps on your iPhone or iPad could use Bluetooth all they liked. As long as you had Bluetooth enabled, apps could use it without asking. Now, Bluetooth is more like other sensitive data on your phone. There’s a permission that controls whether apps can access it. Just as an app has to ask before getting your location via GPS or accessing your contacts, it has to ask before tapping the Bluetooth radio....
Windows includes a “Driver Verifier” tool that can stress test your device drivers. It detects bad driver behavior, but any issue found triggers an immediate blue screen of death. Most PC users should stay away. This utility has been around since Windows 2000 and XP, and it’s still part of Windows 10 today. Driver Verifier is Mostly For Developers As Microsoft’s developer documentation notes, Driver Verifier is a helpful tool for developers who are creating and testing device drivers....
Case in point, the Smarthome section in the app has moved from the sidebar pull-out menu to its own dedicated tab at the bottom of the screen. Once selected, you’ll see an entirely new interface for controlling and managing not only your Echo devices but all of your smarthome products as well. Each type of smarthome device is separated into its own category along the top of the screen. And your groups are listed below that, making it easy to select a room and control devices within that room....
