Data Doctors Tech Tips

How often are you in the last minute mode of thinking about what to have for dinner tonight? How often do you resort to the usual handful of options? Maybe it's time to shake up the status quo by introducing new options with an app called "Dinner Spinner." You can use the app to pick the type of meal you thinking about having from the first course, salads and main dishes. Throw in your available time and give the app a spin. I was able to generate over twenty ideas for a meal that was easy to make in less than twenty minutes that used chicken as it's main protein. If you don't like a specific suggestion, you can also see suggested options from your fellow home cooks that include a rating. If your mind is wide open, you can go with the random suggestions simply by shaking your phone with the app open. The best part is that you can filter out recipes based on your dietary needs so you don't waste time scanning recipes you can't actually eat. It's a whole new way to deal with the 'what's for dinner tonight" question: http://dish.allrecipes.com/mobile-apps

Whether you know someone that lives in an area that is prone to experience earthquakes, you've seen how quickly social media goes crazy whenever a tremor hits an area. Researchers at a major technical university have created an initiative to use volunteer's smartphones to help detect tremors in real-time. They're doing it through an app that they created called MyShake designed to use the sensors in Android smartphones to measure seismic activity. The goal is to create a massive warning system that can warn others much quicker than any of the current detection systems as it moves away from the epicenter. If you have friends or family that live in earthquake zones, let them know about this ambitious project so they can help grow the sensor network.and#160; You can learn all about the project and download the app by visiting: https://myshake.berkeley.edu

If you're a regular viewer of content from services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime video, you know how popular documentaries have become. Because they've become so popular, so have online resources that chronicle the exploding genre. A specific favorite of ours for discovering lots of interesting videos is called 'Documentary Heaven'. This enormous library of movies provides dozens of categories that will allow you to explore new options based on your interests. I'm a big fan of both the music and technology categories as an example. This free resource stands out as an awesome viewing option from your smartphone, tablet or computer. If you started watching videos every day, it would take years to get through what's already available, never mind the new videos that are added regularly. Start your documentary viewing today at https://documentaryheaven.com

If you travel a lot, especially for business, having a solid wifi connection at your hotel is something you like to have. But you'll have no idea just how good or bad your connection speeds will be until after you get into your room.and#160; Well, now you don't have to play wifi roulette with your hotel connection because there's a website that will tell you what to expect.and#160; https://www.HotelWifiTest.comand#160;provides a wealth of information about the specific speeds at specific hotels, because those that have stayed there before you have measured the speed. Anyone that needs to make sure they have a fast connection will love how easy it is to make your hotel decisions because all you have to do is type in the city you're going to be traveling to for a list of options. The list will show you hotels sorted by those with the highest expected speeds along with the confidence level and whether you'll have to pay for the connection or not. This crowdsourcing of actual internet speeds is possible by the community that takes the time to test and submit speeds whenever they're at a hotel. No matter why you travel, knowing if your hotel is going to have a decent connection is no longer a mystery!

Saving money is always a good tip, so today we have an easy way to do it while shopping online. Coupon codes are an excellent way to save money, but you have to track them down first. Despite resources such ashttps://www.retailmenot.com that try to help shoppers find those valuable coupon codes, in most cases, the codes no longer work. If you'd like an easier way to find money saving options, checkout the browser plug in called Honey. With this approach, you no longer have to open a second browser tab and search for codes elsewhere. The app uses a large H in the corner of your browser that will turn orange to alert you when it has a money saving option you can use at the site you're currently shopping on. It's one of the easiest ways to be made aware of savings wherever you shop!

If you're into photography, you probably own a full-bodied camera that has fantastic optics including depth of field capabilities. This ability to blur the background so that your subject pops in the foreground is fantastic. The good news is that you no longer have to buy an expensive DSLR in order to capture these incredible shots. A lot of the newest smartphones have an option that will blur the background, so if you haven't taken a deep dive into your smartphone camera's settings, take a look. If you can't find anything in your phone, checkout the free AfterFocus app to add this feature to your device. The app is easy to use because you just drag your finger over the part of the image you want to blur and what you want to stay sharp. Because it's doing this after you take the picture, you can use it on any of your previous pictures as well! Download it at: http://appm1.com/afterfocus

The Internet has become the world's largest marketplace offering just about anything you'll ever want to buy or sell. When you're in the market for something like a new or used car, there are lots of websites that offer pricing info, but not so much when it comes to tech gadgets. Manually searching sites such as Craigslist or eBay is one laborious method of getting accurate pricing information, but there's a far more efficient tool available. The price search engine called Bidvoy located at https://us.bidvoy.net was created to help anyone that's looking to sell or buy various items. By tracking the activity on eBay, it can pull together a clear picture on the item that you have an interest in getting rid of or acquiring. Beyond solid pricing info, you can see pricing trends and suggestions on the best time to purchase or sell. The data is being generated from eBay transactions, but it doesn't mean you have to use eBay to accomplish your goals. It takes all the guessing out of how you should price something or what you should expect to pay for an item you'd like to purchase.

If you end up doing business from the road, you will invariably end up with a situation that requires you toand#160;respond to an email request to have a document signed and emailed back as soon as possible. Finding a way to print out the document and sign it is much easier than getting it scanned and returned. I dealt with this issue a lot some time ago, so I went on the hunt for a solution that used the camera on my phone as a scanner. Of all the apps that I tested, I found the Cam Scanner app to be exactly what I was looking for. It's a free app that's very simple to use, including any cropping required to make the form look good before you save it for sending. If you have a large number of pages to scan, the app provides a 'batch' option. There are a number of edits that you can make after you've scanned in the pages, including the page order and adding a watermark for security purposes. The free and premium CamScanner app can be used on virtually any mobile device with a camera, so its power can be leveraged by anyone!

The job of the router in your home or business network is to provide a layer of separation from the rest of the Internet, so others can't get into your various attached devices. Very few people have take the time to change the password that is set at the factory, better known as a default password. The password I'm referring to is no the one used to connect to the wireless access point; it's the one necessary in order to make changes to how the router is setup. Because of the various online resources such as and#160;http://RouterPasswords.com, anyone with ill intent on the Internet knows the default password on your router. This common hole in security has been known to be exploited in a number of ways including through rigged email messages that can give hackers access to the controls of your entire network. If you become a victim of this type of silent compromise, not only will you not know that it's happening, the bad guys can essentially monitor anything that any device connected to the router is doing. You're anti-virus protection is powerless to detect these types of exploits if you as the user clicks on the link in one of these messages, so be on the alert. The good news is that it's quite simple to avoid becoming a victim of this type of attack... just change the default administrator password or get help if you don't know how to do it yourself.

Just about every week, we're hearing about yet another breach and most of them become possible via the same trick - a phishing scam. The bad guys know that they only need to trick one person in any organization to start doing their dirty work, so they've amped up their phishing game. One trick we teach folks to sniff out fake messages is to hover their mouse over links in messages to see where they are actually trying to take you. In some cases, you'll see what's called a smart icon, which will show you the actual destination of the link or you may have to look at the bottom of the email window for the details. Phishing scams will often include display links that don't match where you'll be taken if you click, so that's always a red flag. It's important to keep your guard up and taking phishing quizzes every once in a while is good way to stay sharp - here are a couple of sites to test yourself: https://www.opendns.com/phishing-quiz https://www.phishingbox.com/phishing-iq-test https://www.sonicwall.com/phishing-iq-test