Data Doctors Tech Tips

Yesterday's tip was how to use GetHuman.com to find contact information when you need help from major companies. Today's tip is about a website that works with GetHuman so you aren't stuck sitting on hold when you do finally reach the customer service department. The site is called Lucyphone and it can wait in your spot whenever you call recognized support numbers and get put on hold! Using Lucyphone to call support lines allows you to press the star button twice if you get put on hold so their system can call you back when an agent actually does get on the line. To use this useful tool, simply put the customer service phone number along with your own number and then click on the connect button. This will generate a call to your phone from the Lucyphone system with options to either connect or get instructions, like how to record your message for the person answering when they actually pick up the call. You can even tell Lucyphone to connect to completely different number when the agent finally does pick up. Learn more about this great free service at http://Lucyphone.com

We all, from time to time, need to get hold of the customer service department at a large companies, either to clear up a billing question or for support on something that we bought. In some cases the toll-free phone number is easy to find, but more often then not, the company is going to great lengths to hide the phone numbers. If you try to use Google to find the proper phone number, it can expose you to a variety of scams, so I've got a suggestion that's much safer: http://GetHuman.com GetHuman is a website with a comprehensive list of the various ways to get in contact with major companies including everything from phone numbers to e-mail addresses, Twitter handles and even live chat options if they exist. We aren't talking about just one phone number, but every phone number for every department that the site knows about that provides some type customer service purpose. They may even be able to give you average wait times to get to an actual human, in some cases. GetHuman.com is a great resource for many customer service shortcuts. Tomorrow's tip will help you avoid waiting on hold!

A relatively new mother recently asked me about preparing her young child with tech skills to improve his future prospects when the time comes. IMHO, one of the most important things you can teach any child is how to write code as it will serve them well no matter what they decide to do as a career. It's not just programmers, web developers or scientists that benefit from knowing how to code; it impacts virtually any line of work these days. It is such a fundamentally useful skill set that will allow anyone with this 'second language' to leverage the exploding digital world all around us. One of the best places for parents to get their kids started in the world of coding is at MIT's Scratch project The Scratch Project website will allow kids age 8 to 16 to create their own interactive games, stories and animations. It's easy to use and fun, so it helps anyone learn to think creatively, use systematic reasoning and to collaborate, which are essential skills for life in this digital world. BTW, it's not just for kids, so check out this amazing free tool at https://scratch.mit.edu/

I'm a huge fan of dual displays on my computer and couldn't even begin to imagine functioning without them. But, when I hit the road and want the extra display space, it isn't very practical to carry around a second display, unless that second screen is an iPad I already have. Users of MacBooks have been able to tether their iPads to their laptops for a while, but Windows users can now do the same thing thanks to an app called Duet Display. By loading Duet on any laptop or desktop and the app on an iPad, you can easily expand your display to your iPad as an extension of your primary screen. Once you set it up, you simply drag any program from your desktop over to your iPad, which is super helpful when you're working on a large spreadsheet or do a lot of copy/paste tasks. Duet works with both Mac or Windows-based computers and extends via iPads or iPhones as long as they are connected via the charge cable. If you have yet to experience the wonder of having dual screens, give this excellent app a try. Learn more at http://DuetDisplay.com

Our smartphones have incredible cameras built-in that can generate super-high resolution pictures and beautiful HD video. The by-product of this amazing technology is that it creates huge files, especially when you shoot a video. When you try to send or post high-res videos via e-mail or social media, they automatically get compressed, which lowers the video quality. If you ever need to share your high-resolution or HD videos in all their uncompressed glory, look into an app called WeTransfer. WeTransfer is an easy to use and totally free method of sending files up to 10 GBs in size right from your smartphone to anyone via an e-mailed link. The app works on iOS and Android smartphones, with Android users getting the integration option in any app with the Share icon. Unlike other transfer services, your friends don't have to create an account or download an app; they simply click the download button in your email to download your original uncompressed image and video files. Checkout the free app for yourself at http://WeTransfer.com/mobile

Internet-based streaming media boxes have become a common sight in many homes these days. With various options ranging from Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV and even Xbox, there are many ways to stream TV and movies to your HD TVs. If you happen to have an Apple TV and an iPhone, it's easy to push whatever's on your iPhone to your TV. The same holds true if you use an Android smartphone and Google's Chromecast, but if your circle of friends or family has a mix of both, an app called Allcast may be of help. The Allcast app is able to connect both iPhone or Android smartphones to a wide variety of streaming boxes or smart TVs so you can stream from just about any smartphone to any popular streaming device. The free version of Allcast will allow you to get a taste of how it works, but it will limit you to 5 minutes of viewing. If you test it and like it, you can upgrade to the fully functional pro version for $5. Just look for Allcast in the Apple App Store or Google Play to give it a test drive!

If you're using a laptop as your primary computer, you've figured out that the battery life is amongst the most common irritations. The more you use it, the faster the battery life diminishes because all batteries have a set number of charge cycles. With this in mind, a tip that may help you extend the life of your battery is to simply remove it when you know you are going to be using the laptop while plugged-in for extended periods of time, like days or weeks. It has a little to do with the excessive charging cycles but more to do with the heat that gets generated, which is a big killer of battery life. The heat from the running laptop over long stretches can have an impact as well as the heat generated by the battery impacting your computer. An important thing to keep in mind on this tip is to never plug or unplug the laptop battery in while your device is running. Make sure you always properly shutdown the laptop and make sure it isn't in sleep or hibernation mode. Another thing to consider is making sure the laptop is plugged into a battery backup whenever you do remove the battery.

Cyber security experts have been warning for quite some time that our mobile devices, especially smartphones are becoming a most desirable target for hackers. Since everyone loves discovering new apps, it's becoming the latest attack vector being exploited by cyber thieves. Nothing emphasis the danger more than the discovery of at least eleven malicious iPhone apps that looked very legit and used in what are known as masque attacks. The malicious apps appear to be popular ones like Facebook, Skype, Whatsapp or Twitter but they actually allow remote hackers to access and monitor just about everything on your device without you knowing. This type of threat is successful by tricking users into downloading what appears to be a popular app, so we've all got to pay very close attention to the where we are getting our apps. The most likely ways you'll be presented the malicious downloads is through links on social media or via email, so be sure that you only get your apps from directly from the Apple App store.

Smart doorbells that make use of high-definition cameras and wifi have been around for a while and getting better, but it's important to do some homework before you spend several hundred dollars to get one. The idea of having a video pop-up on your phone when anyone rings your doorbell is ab attractive one, but the signal strength of your wifi network is very important if you want them to work right. Devices from the likes of Ring and Skybell have user complaints about the overall performance or reliability most often when it comes to the video. If signal from your wifi access point is low or virtually non-existent by your door, you are not going to get the performance you're looking for from any of them. You should also pay attention to those devices that need their own power source if you don't have an existing hard-wired doorbell. The video quality will also be greatly washed out if your doorbell camera is pointing into the sun. Before buying anything, make sure you test the wifi signal strength using your smartphone where you plan to install it first.

It's well known that maintenance is a vital part of keeping things properly functioning, whether it's your vehicle, pool or physical fitness. But when it comes to maintaining your computer, for some reason it hasn't ever hit the mainstream thought process. Can you imagine how expensive owning your car would be if you never maintained anything in it? From this point on, I'm hoping to help all the Windows users listening to take the first step in taking regular care of your computer by getting familiar with the Disk Cleanup utility. Windows Disk Cleanup does what its name suggests! Not only will it free up valuable space, it will also help let your computer run a little faster. You can locate the built-in tool by going to Programs then to Accessories and then System Tools. If you've never done this before or it has been a while, be patient as it will likely it take a little time for the program to gather all the unnecessary files. I'd highly suggest that you start doing this at least once a month!