Data Doctors Tech Tips

How many times have you wanted to meet someone at a mutually convenient place because you both are kind of far apart? For those familiar with the general area, you may be able to figure a location out, but those that aren't can waste a lot of time and energy trying to choose a place to meet. The next time you have this problem, there's a website and an app for that! Android smartphone users can download an app called Meet Me Halfway. With the app, you put the two starting points in and the general halfway point will be shown with various possibilities for a meeting place. The app can use addresses, just zip codes or the city to generate results and when you tap on the various pins, it will tell you if the location is currently open or closed. You can also filter the results for specific categories of locations which allows you to zero in on your preferred type of meeting place. For more details on any location, you just open the location in Google Maps and you can share the location with the other party. The website option is at https://MeetWay.com and it'll works on computers or mobile devices. Android App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jonathannakhla.meetmehalfway

Trying to speak foreign languages can get intimidating fast, especially when you're self-conscious about how you're pronouncing things. Hearing others familiar with the language speak properly can greatly increase your confidence, but contacting a bilingual friend every time you need to hear a phrase is just not practical. A web resource called http://forvo.com has been setup to act as your virtual multi-lingual friend who can speak and pronounce words in over 300 languages. This awesome crowdsourced site allows users from around the world record how they would say things in their native tongue, so even when a word or phrase is not in the database, a volunteer can record the proper pronunciation for you. Anyone about to embark on a trip to just about any foreign land should consider downloading the audio for various words and phrases so they can rehearse and listen to them on demand. For words that you need to translate from English first, use Google for the translation then use Forvo to hear how to properly pronounce them. Build your confidence before your next trip so you can order that first meal in a foreign cafe!

I've provided many tips in the past for extending your smartphone's battery life and most of those same tips will also help extend the battery life of any laptop. The #1 tip for any mobile device is to turn down the screen brightness because powering the screen is generally 50% of your drain. And, as with your smartphone, turning off Wifi and Bluetooth when you aren't using them will also help. Any device plugged into the USB ports can also be a drain, so unplugging them when you aren't using them will keep your computer from constantly querying them. One of the biggest battery killers is extreme temperatures, so avoid turning on or charging your computer when it's really hot or cold to the touch. It's best to wait until the battery has returned to room temperature which can help lengthen battery life. Also, try to avoid using your laptop on soft surfaces like a pillow or blanket because they can block cooling vents, causing your laptop to overheat. Those cute screen savers that display your photos might be enjoyable, but they also chew up power your battery, so for the best results, switch to a blank screen.

If you are one of the many that has always wanted to play something cool on a guitar but unwilling to commit to guitar lessons, there's an option for you. Visualization can be very helpful when you're trying to learn new things and an app called CoachGuitar takes the visual approach in teaching. Throw out learning music theory, chords and something called tablature. If you just want to strum some lines from Stairway to Heaven or Stand By Me, this is your app. CoachGuitar takes you through the steps to play riffs from popular songs using videos and animated fretboards. It visually shows you where to put your fingers and which of the strings you should strum to help you quickly learn those familiar songs. CoachGuitar is like having a virtual teacher right on your smartphone! While the basic lessons are free, If you really get into the swing, you can purchase additional lessons for lots of popular tunes. Coach Guitar is now available for iPhone, iPad and Android users. If you think you're ready to start 'shredding' on a guitar, checkout http://coachguitar.com to get started.

For regulars of our tech tips, you know that I'm on a never ending search for new tools and apps for my digital photography. We are all taking many more pictures with our phones these days and the results are not always that great, so having options to enhance the images after the fact is useful. My latest favorite for this need is called Fotor http://www.fotor.com (spelled F O T O R) and it's both an app and a web tool that is feature packed. You'll get the usual types of editing features and collages, but one unique feature is the ability to create HDR images. HDR, which stands for High Dynamic Range, is a way to combine multiple images of the same type with varying exposures into a better single image. Fodor allows you to take images that are too dark and combine them with images that are washed out to create a much better picture. The app also has a series of retouching options for the beauty conscious, like blemish removal, wrinkle reduction and teeth whitening. The app is available for all the major mobile platforms. Fotor has a lot of features, so it might become the only photo app you use!

Many of us that grew up in the 80's consumed a steady diet of Pacman in arcades and bars. I even had a buddy that owned one in his house, just so he could master every level. If the memories of Pacman take you back to your youth, there's endless version of this classic in an app called Pac-Man 256. It's called 256 because of a well known bug in level 256 of the original game, taken to another level in this updated version of the game. in the original version, you could win by completing all the levels, but in this game it's endless. The controls for the game uses swipe motions on your screen, so you will have to forego the joystick, but ir doesn't take long to get the hang of it. There are a number of power capabilities new to this game you can unlock as you gobble up the pellets, so if you're into a bit of nostalgia on your mobile devices, checkout this app: Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.bandainamcoent.pacman256andhl=en iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pac-man-256-endless-arcade/id1002340615

There are no shortage of ways to discover music through all of the various streaming services that are popular like Pandora and Spotify. You probably know that Youtube is also a really great place to discover new music if you don't mind weeding through all the cat videos and prank videos. Google decided that it needed to make music on YouTube easier to discover, so they created an app called YouTube Music designed to filter out the junk. With the app installed, you can discover music videos, live concerts and a huge number of instructional videos to teach you how to play your favorite songs. With over 30 million licensed tracks, YouTube Music allows you to easily search them or it will suggest daily playlists for you. There's also an audio only mode which saves your bandwidth or play your music in the background while you do other things. The free app is available for your iPhone or Android smartphone at https://music.youtube.com

I had a parent tell me the other day, just how proud he was of his daughter who is in a freshman in college because she had started her own investment account. His was really proud because he convinced her to use an investing app called Acorns and it was working for her. Acorns can automatically invest spare change using the round-up method whenever she makes any purchase. It takes the rounded-up amounts and invests them through Acorn Advisors, which is an SEC registered investment advisor. It's a really interesting method of getting younger investors started on a portfolio, because for anyone under 24, there are no fees. It's also free for any student of any age that has a .edu email address. Once you've set up your account, you can choose from one of five strategies for investing, ranging from aggressive to conservative. If you're the parent of a student that wants to get started on an investment portfolio, checkout the Acorns app at https://acorns.com.

Whenever you hear about breaking news, it's common for us to hop online to try to get more details through a Google search. It's also common to believe that you can trust whatever pops up in a Google search, but I am here to proclaim that you can't and shouldn't, especially when it comes to breaking news. Cyber thieves make it a point to target breaking stories by creating fake news sites claiming to have exclusive images that no one else has of the event. They sometimes place rigged websites through the sponsored links which may be one of the first links. Google does what it can to police this type of activity, but it is impossible to catch everything that gets thrown their way instantaneously. To avoid this growing scam, try to stick to news sources that you trust instead of doing a Google search. Your favorite news sites should be bookmarked on your computer and smartphone or better yet, use the news apps when they're available. These scammers constantly study our behavior so they can blend into our daily activities, so consider changing your behavior when it comes to breaking news.

If you're in business, customer surveys are an integral process these days and there are lots of options available. Tools such as https://www.surveymonkey.com provide a lot of great features, but unless you really need to send out surveys regularly, it's probably overkill. If you occasionally need to send out surveys, there is a free and simple option available in Google Docs. By using Google Forms to create a quick survey, which allows 9 different question types through text, checkboxes and multiple choice. You can even randomly shuffle the response order to help improve the quality of the data and have required questions on the survey. Once you setup the survey, just send out the URL or post it on a website post to start generating responses. The results will be posted to a Google spreadsheet which then allows you to do some basic sorting of the submitted data. The next time you need to generate a quick and simple survey, start at https://Google.com/forms