Data Doctors Tech Tips

For those that find the stock market or the world of investing in general a bit intimidating and mysterious, today's tip may be just the thing to start gaining knowledge. As with anything, knowledge is power but when it comes to investing, you don't need to earn a degree from a major university to learn how the markets work. WallStreetSurvivor.com is an online resource that actually started out as a virtual stock market simulator has evolved into an excellent tool for demystifying Wall Street. 'Gamification' as it turns out, is an excellent way to learn about the world of investing and trading stocks. Rather than simple guidance on how to do things, you actually get to get involved in market trades without ever risking your own money. It's essentially a virtual stock exchange combined with tutorials, educational articles, courses and videos. You can start learning the basics, then setup a practice portfolio and actually become part of a league to compete with others. If you haven't a clue what a 'put' or a 'call' is or the stocks vs. mutual funds, https://WallStreetSurvivor.com can really help to get a solid understanding. It's also a great tool for getting your kids learning about investing at an early age.

A parent recently excitedly told me how proud they were of their daughter who was a college freshman because she had started an investment account. They were especially proud because they were the ones to convince her to using the Acorns savings app which apparently worked for their daughter. The Acorns app auto-invests your spare change using the classic 'rounding up method' as you make purchases. It takes this loose change and invests it through their parent company, Acorn Advisors, which is SEC registered as an investment advisor. It truly is an interesting way to get any student started on an investment portfolio, because there are no fees for students that have an .edu email address. Once it's setup, you simply choose between five investment strategies that range from conservative to aggressive. Any parent of a twenty-something that wants to get them started investing should look into the Acorns app at https://www.acorns.com

Virtually every mobile device you own likely has the capability to take pictures and most of them even include a flash of some sort. Thinking that your flash is just for low lighting situations is probably keeping you from getting some really awesome shots. For instance, outdoor settings that include people will end up with harsh contrasts combined with major shadows, which can make for a bad picture. These scenarios can generally be fixed by using your flash when you normally wouldn't, which can turn unusable pictures into great shot. Using the flash on your smartphone requires you to be close enough to your subjects to make the weak flash effective in those bright sunlite days. On very bright days, it's better to put your subjects in the shade to eliminate the squinting from the bright light, then use your flash to fill in the lighting on their faces. Knowing when not to use your flash indoors and when you should use it outdoors can really help the quality of your pictures. The best way when to do what with your smartphone camera is to experiment in advance of being in those situations when you want everything to be captured perfectly!

Web-based streaming media devices from Apple, Amazon and Google have become much more common in many homes these days. There are numerous options including Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku Amazon Fire TV and even the popular Xbox, that all allow you to stream TV and movies to your TV. If you have both an Apple TV and use an iPhone, it's simple to push just about anything on your phone to your TV. The same is possible if you use Google's Chromecast and an Android smartphone but those that live in a cross platform world, an app called Allcast is the answer. Allcast allows you to connect either an iPhone or an Android phone to a large variety of streaming devices or even smart TVs. It's now possible to push content from just about any type of smartphone to virtually every popular streaming device on the market. The free version of the app allows you to test it out to see how it works, but limits you to 5 minutes of actual viewing. You get to test it and if you like it, upgrade to the fully functional version for about $5. Just look for Allcast in the either the Apple App Store or in the Google Play store to give it go.

Yet another pop-up security scam is fooling a lot of people because of the official-looking warning screens. You'll most likely get a pop up box that attempts to lock down the browser, then warns you that you've been infected and that the best course is to call a toll free number they include so a security tech can assist you. Mac users are also potential victims of this scam as it's not limited to Windows. Mac versions of this scam are also being planted around the Internet as well. The scammer create malicious links and post them through hijacked social accounts, hacked email accounts and as simple spam in comment sections across many popular websites. Here's something you should know; none of the commercial Internet security software companies will post their toll-free numbers, because they actually don't want you to call them as your first step. Legit security software will block known attacks or malicious web links and limit your actual infection detection to a schedule or when you manually scan. Remember, no company will ever pop-up their 800 number, so from this point forward, you'll know it's always a red flag.

Getting a new computer is always awesome, but the first thing that you have to do is get your programs and utilities installed which always takes quite a bit of time. Installing the necessary browsers, web tools, file managers, office tools, streaming media players along with an endless list of other required utilities is just the beginning of the fun. Most people don't realize just how many steps it will take to get a new computer functioning until they go through this tedious process. The next time you get a new computer, there's a much more efficient solution for both Mac and Windows systems. I've discussed a website in the past called NiNite (that's N I N I T E) for Windows users which allows for a quick creation of a single automatic install with everything you need. Anyone setting up a new Mac should checkout a website called GetMacApps.com to accomplish the same thing. Those responsible for IT at a business will find both of these sites to be a major time saver for getting all your computers setup the same way. http://getmacapps.com and http://ninite.com

Email is a critical part of our daily lives but most of us spend too much time on meaningless marketing mail because of all the mailing lists we've managed to get on. It's most likely that you have no idea how you got on many of those lists, but you can count on it to continue happening. If you've had just about enough of dealing with useless junk mail and unwanted newsletters, an awesome tool called 'Unroll.Me' will be a welcome addition. You simply have the tool scan your Inbox to start the process so it can alphabetically list all your subscriptions so you can keep, unsubscribe or add messages to what they call a 'roll-up'. This roll-up becomes a single digest message with all the subscriptions that you want to see at a later time, which will cut down the constant interruptions. Whenever you want a message, just click the 'keep in inbox' button and you will see those messages as they are sent. This useful free tool works with Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, iCloud, and Outlook.com webmail accounts. Cleanup your Inbox at https://unroll.me

Anyone that's into digital photography likely knows about 'Adobe Lightroom' for the desktop as it's one of the best for image editing programs available. But not as many people know that this awesome suite of tools is available for your smartphone via a free app that can take mobile image editing to the next level. The more sophisticated controls will out-perform those basic filters built-in to your smartphone's camera as well as other third-party app you may have downloaded. With over 40 presets that let you enhance your images with a tap of your screen, the app makes it easy to harness these powerful tools even if you are a novice. Learning how to use the numerous manual adjustments will allow you to achieve edits that just couldn't be done with your old editing apps. The free Lightroom app is available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices and will allow for a whole new world of editing for anyone looking to step up their smartphone photography game. https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/how-to/lightroom-mobile.html

The technology in smartphone cameras continue to get better every year. Apple has always excelled in this area, but low lighting settings are generally the most difficult for any smartphone, which is why learning how to use the manual settings can dramatically improve the outcome. If you're one of the millions that just leaves their camera in the auto capture mode, it usually results in grainy images when you don't use the flash and completely blown out if you do use the flash. A young professional photographer put together a useful website that explains how he uses his iPhone with an app called 'VSCO Cam' to shoot great pictures in common low-lighting situations. Each posted picture includes info on the preset he used and a description of what the focus of the shot was for him. Anyone looking to improve their smartphone photography should checkout the link that I posted to this great website at DataDoctors.com/radio. http://www.emmazed.com/the-daily-camera

In the past, I've discussed the first truly wire-free security webcams called Arlo from. The platform is a battery operated Wi-fi camera which eliminates the need to plug into a power outlet, so they can be setup virtually anywhere. As expected, other companies jumped into this product category including the more affordable devices from a company called Blink. Blink offers the exact same type of fully wireless motion-detecting, night vision, HiDef cameras but at a much lower price than Arlo, so monitoring your home or rental property just got a lot less expensive. Not only are the starter kits cheaper, so are the add-on cameras, so you can now monitor a lot more area for the same money. In both cases, your smartphone is your monitoring system, which eliminates the need to pay for external monitoring. Anyone looking for an inexpensive way to monitor their home or business should look into http://blinkforhome.com