Not sure if the experts will say this is a scientifically helpful idea for falling asleep (IMHO it seems better than just counting sheep), but sometimes you will want to listen to music as you (hopefully) fall asleep.
But how do you set things up so you aren’t stuck listening to music all night? Just create a playlist for the songs you want to listen to – even if it is just one song. You get silence – and hopefully sleep – when the playlist is done. Here’s to falling asleep faster!
And a bonus tip: If you want a …

Taking a screenshot of your PC desktop is easy – look for the “print screen” key on your keyboard. On PC keyboards it will usually have PrtScn, PRTSC or PRTSCN on it. Often, you will have to press it in combination with the SHIFT key. Doing this will place an image of the entire desktop in the clipboard – a quick paste of the clipboard contents (CTRL+V) gives you an image of your entire desktop.

Adding an ALT to the mix (e.g., SHIFT+ALT+PRTSC) will place an image of the active window (not the entire desktop) into …

On at least a few previous occasions(here and here), I have written about the necessity of backing up your personal data, pictures and contacts, regardless of where they reside – your computer, your smartphone, your iPad or other tablet, your camera, etc. It is a fact of life that hard drives and other devices will fail – you want to have your data backed up so you don’t lose it.

But what about all that data and information you have created on the cloud? Think about all the information you have created in Facebook, LinkedIn, the various Google …

When you are in low light conditions, a flash can be essential for taking a picture. But, in some circumstances, a flash can also be helpful in broad daylight, especially for portraits.

When taking pictures while on auto-flash in the daylight, your flash may not trigger. Your smartphone or DSLR simply decides there is enough light and it doesn’t fire the flash. But even in the daytime, you can end up with a dark face if your subject is in front of a bright background, or have shadows on one side of a face if your main light source is …

If you buy something online, you will likely have to enter various details into a form of some sort (e.g., name, address, phone number, email, credit card number, etc.). This can be a tad tedious if there are many fields on the form – you type a few characters, stop, reach for the mouse, then navigate to and click on the next field, go back to the keyboard, type a few more characters, then repeat the process again, and again… There is a better way to navigate through a form – and you don’t have to use your mouse.
The …

Unfortunately, the camera on your mobile phone – and even your more expensive DSLR camera – just don’t see things well quite as well as your eyes do. So, what can you do to get better outdoor pictures? Getting more light on your subject by making sure the sun is behind you will greatly improve the quality of outdoor pictures. Of course, this doesn’t work for sunrises or sunsets, but by moving around a bit you can easily do this in many circumstances for outdoor pictures of people and other things.…

The location of the gas cap on any car you own or drive regularly is probably second nature to you. But when you drive a rental car into a gas station, how do you know which side the gas cap is on? Can you spot it in the side view mirrors? Probably not. Do you need to get out and walk around the car to spot it? Absolutely not.
If you look on the fuel gauge of most modern vehicles, you will see a tiny fuel pump icon with a triangle on one side. That triangle points to the side …

Some people still worry about overcharging the batteries on their mobile devices. Those of us that have been around a bit longer will remember the days when you were supposed to fully charge and then fully discharge your batteries so they would maintain the ability to take and retain a full charge through many charging cycles. This was an issue that was necessitated by nickel-cadmium batteries, which are rarely used in modern devices.
Lithium-ion batteries are now found in most modern smartphones, tablets, laptops and other mobile devices. Charging your lithium ion battery after a partial discharge is totally fine. …

Yes, I acknowledge that the Tuesday Technology Tip this is supposed to be a general bite-sized tip that is practical and easy to implement. However, when I came across this post from my good friend Jim Calloway today, I felt obligated to share it on SLAW Tips. Speech Recognition – It Really, Really Works was posted on the Oklahoma Bar Association’s Management Assistance Program page.
This post is very practical as it answers most of the common questions I get about what is available in speech recognition for different devices and platforms. It has tons of tips on making the …

Did you know that emails appearing to come from companies you trust and know may actually be from criminals trying to steal your money or identity? Because they are so successful at duping people, “phishing” emails have quickly become one of the most common and devastating scams on the Internet.

Phishing scams use spoofed (meaning faked or hoax) emails and websites to trick you into revealing your personal and financial information. By using the trusted brands and logos of online retailers, banks, or credit card companies, phishing scammers trick surprisingly large numbers of people. The phishing email directs users to …