Data Doctors Tech Tips

It's common to have in-flight Wi-Fi when you're on an airplane, but it can be both expensive, limited and really slow. Today's tip is for those that want to maximizeand#160;their time on a flight and save money at the same time. Instead of sharing a slow connection with 200 other people, why not gather up a bunch of stuff you want to read before you get on the flight with the tools from Pocket. It's from the group of platforms designed to make it easy to gather online content so you can read it later without requiring an Internet connection. What's great about Pocket is that since it works with laptops, smartphones or tablets, you can save content on any of your devices and view it from all of your devices. One of the few things that it can't capture for offline access is videos, but if you want to make sure you have lots of interesting articles to read on our next flight, it's as good as it gets:and#160;https://getpocket.com

There are so many smart devices available that are simple to setup these days, that most people are adding them themselves. One critical aspect of these devices is that you have a solid Wi-Fi connection at all times in order for them to work properly. If there's any issues with connectivity, your ability to remotely access the devices or get updates from them goes away. For the most part, the first step in troubleshooting these issues start with a reboot of your router, which isn't a possibility if you or someone else is not at the physical location. You can check the settings menus of your router to see if you can setup a reboot on a regular basis, but another piece of equipment called a remote power switch can make this more convenient. With one in place, you can remotely restart anything that's plugged into it and in some cases, you can have the device constantly check for an internet connection and auto reset when it's not working. There are a handful of other troubleshooting steps you can take if you're constantly having to reboot your router that I've posted at: https://www.datadoctors.com/help/kenscolumns/22073

Anyone that's been using dual monitors on their work or home computer can't imagine working any other way. If you have to travel a lot, taking a second display doesn't make a whole lot of sense, unless you already carry an iPad in your laptop bag.and#160; Those that have been using all Apple products have been able to connect their iPad to their Mac Laptops for years, but what most Windows laptop users don't seem to know is that they can do the same thing. There's an app called Duet Display that can be installed on either a Mac or Windows computer and an iPad to magically connect them as a mobile dual display setup. For those that have never used dual displays, having the ability to drag an app over to a second screen so that both are viewable in full-screen mode is awesome and very productive. By the way, if you have one of the larger iPhone models, you can use it as a second display as well usingand#160;https://www.duetdisplay.com

It's pretty easy to sniff out a bogus email as a phishing scam, but there's a type of phishing that's much trickier to spot. Some obscure bank that you've never heard of is an obvious clue but what about a message that comes from someone else where you work? Emails that include links or an attachment are common in company messages, which is why the bad guys have stepped up their scams with this type of spear phishing. It's incredibly easy to spoof a message that appears to come from anyone in your company as there is no validation process for who actually sent the message. It's not really possible for us to provide exact signs of a scam, but now that you know that it can happen, don't be so quick to click on links or open attachments that appear to be from a co-worker. Since a lot of the scams are generated from foreign hackers, oftentimes there are clear grammar or spelling errors. Strange sounding sentences that are different than what you would normally expect from that co-worker is another red flag. If a message includes a link, you can use the hover trick to see if what is in the message matches where it's actually going to take you. Just hover your mouse over the link, but don't click it! Look in the bottom left corner of the message to see if it's the same. If it isn't, it's another clear red flag of a scam.

I love spending time in the beauty of mother nature, but that often means that I'm putting myself in places that have no cell service. For the most part, that's by design and part of what makes it so appealing, but there are times when you might want to make sure you have some form of communication just in case. Anyone that finds themselves in this situation regularly might want to look into the solution offered by a company called GoTenna. They have a special gadget that allows you to use text messaging and share your location with others that have the same gadget. The range for these communications can be from 1 to 50 miles, based on the terrain. Open areas like ski resorts or hiking trails will likely make for a better signal over a crowded urban downtown setting. It's also a great alternative at huge events with thousands of people where the cellular networks get so overloaded, they're practically useless. Learn more at this off-grid communication option at:and#160;https://gotenna.com

We had someone post a question for us on our Data Doctors Facebook page asking about a way to add a timestamp on their photos. If your first reaction is to wonder why someone would want to make their pictures look like they were from another century, you're not alone. But it turns out there are some pretty solid reasons that you may want a timestamp on certain photos, like verification for others or to make sure the details never get separated from the photo itself. Every image you capture actually contains a lot of details about the image in what's known as the metadata, including the date and time. There are apps that can read this metadata and place it on the photo for you, including TimeStamp-It for iOS or Camera Timestamp for Android-based smartphones. Unlike the timestamps you may remember from years ago, these apps have an updated look and feel to the timestamp that's much more modern. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/timestamp-it-photo-stamper/id327756085?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ascendapps.cameratimestamp.trial

Meetings are just a fact of life and so is the need to have someone take notes during the meeting. If you're the one tasked with taking notes at your meetings, there's a much more efficient way to get the job done than the old school pen and paper. If you write notes on paper during the meeting, then you've added more work for yourself transcribing the notes into your computer for distribution. There's a much better way and it's located at https://minutes.io It's a lot more than just a note-taking tool because it can also track who said what, brainstorm and assign tasks from the meeting and when it's all done, it's a snap to send everyone the meeting overview. Because it's a web app, you can use your smartphone, tablet or computer to take the notes, even if you don't have an Internet connection. If you're not the one stuck with this task, be a friend and let whoever is in your circle know about https://minutes.io

If you're a deal hunter, especially for those hard to find items, cruising the big name sites like eBay, Amazon and even Craigslist is a good place to start. As great as each of these sites are, if you really want to make sure you're getting the best deal, you have to spend time searching through each one, one at a time. When it comes to Craigslist, you're limited to one metro area at a time when you search, so you have to perform multiples if you want to be thorough. You can avoid the extra work by using a search tool called Search Tempest. The tool searches lots of these sites including obscure ones like and#160;https://Oodle.com all at once and allows you to choose a radius around your zip code, you can do everything in one search. https://SearchTempest.comand#160;is a bookmark worthy website for the next time you want to save time searching for the best deals!

Whether you're in the process of moving or just getting rid of clutter around the house, it's likely you'll end up with perfectly good items that you simply don't want any more. Since it's not garbage, finding someone that you know that could use it is the obvious alternative. In some neighborhoods, putting out on the curb with a 'FREE' sign usually gets the job done, but that's not an option for a lot of folks. Thanks to the Internet, there's a virtual curb available for those items which is located at https://freecycle.org There are millions of users from around the country that have started using the site to gift their items to others in the same area. This movement is an awesome way to recycle your gently used items by giving it to those that may be looking for that exact thing. It's an excellent use of the online community to connect people in your local community to prevent usable items from ending up in our landfills. It's also a great place for starving students to find items for free that they would normally have to pay for: https://freecycle.org

Death By Powerpoint! It's what so many people suffer when they simply load a bunch of data onto slides and wreathe off for an hour in front a unengaged crowd. It's bad enough if you're not comfortable with public speaking, but it's made even worse for your audience when you commit this tactical error. If you'd like something a lot more visually stimulating, checkout the free presentation platform known as Prezi.and#8232;and#8232;It's a simple tool to master and will dramatically improve your presentations. If you're a PowerPoint warrior with lots of presentations, you can import them into Prezi so you're not starting from scratch. Because it's so much more visual, you can reduce the amount of copy and stick to bullet points and images to tell your story to your audience, not talk to your slides. When it's all done, you simple provide the link to your audience instead of having to email a huge file! Get started at https://prezi.com