Summer Storm?
UNPLUG!

As the sky darkens and thunder rumbles, time for a reminder to protect your expensive electronics from power surges during storms.

EVERYONE
needs this feature

If you don’t know the Control Center on your iPhone or iPad–you should!

Learn how (and why) here.

iPad Alternative?

If you need a tablet (or a spare, or one for a youngster) and don’t feel like dropping hundreds of dollars, Amazon’s latest Kindle Fire HD 8 may be just the ticket. Shop online, read your Kindle books, email, even do Zoom calls. The speed and resolution won’t match an iPad (review here), but at $90 list (often on sale — $60 today), you’ll be a lot less sad if anything happens to it.

 

And Speaking of Amazon

While we’re all stuck at home reading depressing news and shopping online, remember that you can do a little bit of good painlessly by adding a designated charity to your Amazon account. It costs you nothing extra and helps support whichever cause you prefer. Article here, FAQ’s here, or just go to smile.amazon.com and follow the directions. 
 

Windows Updates on Hold 

Macs have an elegantly simple built-in search feature called Spotlight. Windows has a similar, although clunkier, feature, and the May 2020 update (aka Windows 10 version 2004) promised big improvements to Windows Search. But you probably can’t have it yet: between the Coronavirus and a number of unresolved bugs in the update, Microsoft has paused updates for most computers.  We’ll let you know when they’re UNpaused.

Before things went south, though, Microsoft did launch a new version of the Edge browser, which has gotten good reviews.  Feel free to give it a whirl –just please, PLEASE don’t use Internet Explorer!
 

Is it Time to Pay for Email?

A new email service, Hey.com, just launched publicly–and it is NOT free. 

Why would you want to pay for email? 

• Because they offer some interesting new tools for managing the email flood

• Because you want a snappy email address like BB@Hey.com (the shorter it is, the more it costs)

• Because they don’t sell your information

• Because it’s the new cool thing.

We’re agnostic on this one, but if you’re interested, there’s a 14-day free trial.

Cleaning to Relieve Stress?

. . . here’s how to do it without damaging your computer, phone or tablet.

For Windows computers and printers (from HP) click here; Apple products, click here.