Data Doctors Tech Tips

I've got an out of this world tip for anyone with a creative mind and an iPhone. Why put up with the limitations of this planet, when you can expand your horizons with the Alien Sky app. instead of being limited to filters and color correction, this app will make everyone that sees your images do a double-take. You can add effects like realistic-looking planets and m moon and combine them with lens flares to any picture on your iPhone. Imagine your friends seeing two moons or a comet streaking over your shoulder when you post to Instagram or Facebook. This app has an incredible collection of effects that will change the sky in any of your images with these amazing options. There's no shortage of creative options in this unique app, which you can learn more about at: http://www.brainfevermedia.com/alienSky.html

One of life's chores that will never go away is doing laundry, which is why it's something that every child should have a firm understanding of. Since the most likely excuse for doing their own laundry is that they don't know what to do, parents now have the perfect response: there's an app for that! This easy to use app provided the instructions they need not just for washing and drying clothes, but also folding and ironing as well. It also explains the symbols on clothing tags so they can't use that excuse either. Your kids will get step-by-step instructions for every aspect of laundry and it includes a timer so they'll know when it's time for the next step. This could save parents lots of money with a first-year college student that has to figure out what to do. So many people of all ages could use this type of help, so spread the word about the Complete Laundry Care iPhone app! and#8232;https://apps.apple.com/us/app/complete-laundry-care/id833637165 Android apps:and#8232; Laundry Instructions https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isageek.dondochakaandfeature=search_result Laundry Pro - Care Symbolsand#8232;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.kloobi.laundry

Google offers a wide assortment of incredibly powerful tools and most of them are free for either personal or business use. One of my favorites that seems to be lesser known by a lot of people is their Trends tool. Imagine being able to leverage Google's incredible database of what people search for every day; that's what this tool offers! Knowing what people are searching for as well as the related terms that are used are incredibly useful for everything from Search Engine Optimization to every facet of digital marketing. The tool allows you to narrow the data by country, state, or even a specific language for the results. You can see how certain search terms have trended over time going all the way back to 2004. This is really useful when looking at the seasonality of certain types of searches, which is essential for building a solid marketing strategy. If you've never used this tool, it really is something you should explore for a variety of reasons, especially those that are in business: https://trends.google.com

The tricky thing about aging is that the brain slows down a bit, which I can clearly attest to! I'm often times searching for the right words for something that I am thinking, which never happened in my youth. For this all too common situation, I turned to the Internet for help and found it via the Reverse Dictionary tool located at Onelook.com You can type a general idea of what you are trying to say with a couple of words or even a sentence to get started. An example would be using "the constant desire to travel", which returned the word wanderlust amongst many others. It's also great for generating a lot of words related to a specific category, like large birds. This is one of those resources that is awesome when you are driving yourself crazy trying to remember a word, so it's a solid bookmark candidate. https://www.onelook.com/thesaurus

Striving for happiness is something we all would like to aspire to, but we could all use a little help with staying focused. Would you believe that there's an iPhone app for that? An app developed for doctoral research atand#160;Harvard University called 'Track Your Happiness' set out to discover what it was that made people happy. The app helps you track your happiness, which in turn helps them understand the various factors that actually make you happy. The way it works is through alerts you'll get a couple of times a day that asks you how you are feeling at that precise moment. Your responses combined with various other elements helps the app figure out what it is that allows you to be happy. It's also helping the researchers collect real-world data that can help them better understand the happiness that we all seek. A byproduct of the app is that it seems to help users to focus on happiness, which could be just as powerful as the data. Learn more atand#160;https://www.trackyourhappiness.org or Android users can use their web app at: https://go.trackyourhappiness.org

There is one regular task that just about every household deals with almost weekly that could use an app: grocery shopping. If you're like most families, you have a variety of ways that you add items to your shopping lists, which can lead to things falling through the proverbial crack. It's even more challenging when you have a large number of people chiming in on what needs to be picked up from a variety of communication methods. A well thought through attempt to reduce both the missed items an inefficient communications is in the form of an app called Capitan. Lists are great, but how about a grocery list that understands where items tend to be located in the store that also learns what you regularly purchase. The real advantage is the location-based option in the app that can notify the rest of your clan that you just walked into the grocery store in case they have any last-minute requests. It's a really interesting approach that's free at: https://www.getcapitan.com

We're all doing so much more with our smartphones these days, including tasks that in the past would only be done while sitting at a computer. The challenge to getting real work done on a smartphone is the keyboard as an interface. Even if you have tiny fingers, tapping out a lot of text isn't the most efficient way to get things done. A wonderful alternative is the ever-advancing voice recognition technology, but in many cases, it's still not the best way to go. Having a regular keyboard for large quantities of text input is still the best option, which you can actually use even with a smartphone. If you have a tablet, many of you have a Bluetooth keyboard to make things work better but hadn't thought about it being of use on your smartphone as well. Since it's Bluetooth, it's really no different than any other device that connects that way, so pairing the keyboard is quick and easy. It's not ideal for everything, but if you already have a Bluetooth keyboard, keep in mind that it can connect to any of your mobile devices in a pinch!

Mobile apps are clearly the biggest reason that smartphones and tablets so popular and downright indispensable these days. Lots of businesses and small organizations have thought about creating an app, but finding the money to pay for such an expensive venture is tough. That's where an online resource called the App Machine can play a role. They focused on creating a tool that didn't require an extensive programming or coding background that just about anyone can use to create an app in a short period of time. This is far from a substitute for a professional app builder as it's just a basic do-it-yourself tool, but if you have a simple need, this simple tool could be all you need. There's really no limit to the kind of organization that might want an app, which they highlight on their website to get your creative juices flowing. The tool itself is free to use, so you can try building an app with no risk; you'll only pay a monthly fee if you decide to publish the app in the major app stores. If you're one of the millions toying with the idea of having their own app, learn how the App Machine can help at:and#160;https://appmachine.com

A request from my spouse to help her print something that she had on her iPhone brought back this tip that I've been sharing for years. It's highly unlikely that you don't have a Google account these days, which is why this tip is nearly universal regardless of the device you are trying to print from. It's made possible by making the printer that is connected to your computer available via the 'cloud' which is just a metaphor for the Internet. Once you've set it up, you can print from your smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer no matter where in the world you are, because it uses the Internet to send the print job. It's a great way to print something to your office printer from home or vice versa and can be a lifesaver when a friend runs out of ink in the middle of a critical print job. There are some printers that are 'cloud-ready' but they aren't necessary for this awesome trick to work. Everything you need to know to get started is posted at: https://www.google.com/cloudprint

If it seems like it's taking forever for your smartphone to charge with certain chargers, you aren't imagining things.and#8232;and#8232; A number of variables can have a dramatic impact on how long it takes for devices to charge, especially the amperage and the quality and condition of the charging cables themselves.and#8232;and#8232; The power output, which is measured in amperes needs to be high enough to charge your battery in a timely manner.and#8232;and#8232; It's best to use the specific charger and cable that came with your phone as it's properly matched, but when you are forced to use an alternative, try to find something that has the same amperage rating. and#8232;and#8232;There are fancy electronic measuring tools that can accurately tell you what the output of a charge is or if you have an Android-based smartphone, there's an app called Ampere that's fantastic.and#8232;and#8232; Not only can it tell you the charging and draining data, but it also monitors the temperature and gives you some insight into the health of your battery. and#8232;If you have a hodgepodge of chargers, using the app when plugging into each one will tell you the fastest chargers in the bunch.and#8232;and#8232; Get it from the Google Play: and#160;https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gombosdev.ampereandhl=en