Life Hacks – Spoken Edition

Latest Episodes:

Create Shortcut Buttons With Google's 'Action Blocks' Android App Jun 04, 2020

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We all use our phones for a ton of routine tasks that require a few steps to implement. For instance, if you’re going to video chat a family member you might have to find the video app on your phone, tap to open it, then scroll through your contact list to find the person you want to talk to.

Improve Your Critical Thinking With This Cheatsheet Jun 03, 2020

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The next time you need to think critically about something—whether you’re considering a new idea, weighing the pros and cons of a potential decision, or evaluating whether you can trust a particular news source—it’s worth asking yourself a few simple questions.

How to Add PIN Security to Your Signal Account Jun 02, 2020

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Signal’s new PIN feature adds an extra layer of security to the encrypted messaging app and makes moving your account between multiple devices less of a hassle. While all text and voice communication in Signal is end-to-end encrypted locally and never stored on Signal’s servers, period, your PIN can be used to encrypt certain Signal profile information that can be shared between devices—stuff like your contacts and account settings. (Your PIN itself is not saved on the servers.

End a Zoom Call the Smart Way Jun 01, 2020

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As a card-carrying introvert (I laminated it myself!) with a severe aversion to talking on the phone, teleconferencing and looking at my own face on camera, our move to the 100 percent work-from-home lifestyle has been a true delight. And there’s nothing about it I love more than that point at the end of every Zoom meeting, after everyone has said goodbye, when all of our faces go slack as we fumble with our trackpads or touch bars in an attempt to exit the call.

It's Time to Clean Your Doors May 29, 2020

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You vacuum. You dust. Every so often, you get a bee in your bonnet and decide to clean your windows. And right now, you’re probably spending some extra attention on cleaning your doorknobs and light switches. But wait—go back to the doors for a minute. When’s the last time you wiped down your interior doors? Have you ever done it? You might perform a cursory wipe-down of the handle on both sides of your interior doors—bedrooms, bathrooms, closets. But next time you’re making the rounds, take a damp cloth and actually wipe down the doors. You know, the flat part. The door part. You’d be amazed what accumulates here: Dust. Hair spray residue. General grime from who-knows-where. I’ll admit, I never cleaned my doors. But that changed recently when I noticed something on the exterior side of my bathroom door. My best guess was that I had splattered hair dye the last time I touched up my roots, which took place more than two months ago. But I didn’t linger on the cause for too long: I sprayed the door lightly with a gentle all-surface cleaner and gave it a good once-over with a rag. The next thing I knew, I was hitting every door in the house for a quick once-over. I did the part around the doorknob that can get grimy. I did the bottom of the front door, which I tend to close behind me with my foot if my hands are full. I did the tops of the doors that rarely get shut. The amount of stealth-gunk I got off my doors was satisfying. A cleaning enthusiast would tell you not to stop there. For the same level of satisfaction (and possibly even greater satisfaction), you can wipe down your entire walls. You can take a dust rag to your baseboards, getting in all those nooks and crannies your vacuum doesn’t even come close to reaching. But wiping walls takes time, and if you have a lot of them ... well. It could take a minute. And reaching your baseboards requires moving furniture and contorting yourself in order to do a good job. But doors? Your doors are right there. You can do them all in five minutes. It’s the gateway drug of stuff you didn’t think you needed to clean, but really should.

Hide Chrome Tab Groups With This Awesome Beta Feature May 28, 2020

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Google recently unveiled tab groups in Chrome. As I wrote in our guide to setting them up ahead of their full rollout, they’re an incredibly useful way to keep your sprawling browser tabs slightly more organized. If nothing else, adding a little color to Chrome doesn’t hurt; I love how tab groups look. Now, let’s make them better. The one drawback of group tabs—in its current implementation—is that you’ll still see a lot of tabs crowding your browser window.

How to Stop Group FaceTime Windows From Resizing When People Speak May 27, 2020

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If you’ve done a group FaceTime lately, then you’ve likely experienced the feature that makes participant’s windows change see based on who is talking. The idea is similar to what Zoom does by default, in that it will make the speaker the center of attention, but if you’re in a spirited conversation with multiple people it can also get annoying pretty quickly. With the release of iOS 13.

You Can Get a Free Chicken Sandwich at Wendy's Right Now May 25, 2020

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Wendy’s may not be serving up as many of their iconic square-shaped hamburgers right now thanks to a beef shortage, but they want you to know that they’re still open for business—and they’regiving away free chicken sandwiches to do it. Specifically, if you order any menu item via the Wendy’s app, you can get a spicy chicken sandwich for $0.

How to Set Up Medical ID on Your iPhone May 22, 2020

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The imminent iOS 13.5 update includes a new feature that could save your life. Once the update drops, you’ll be able to opt into automatically sharing your medical ID with 911 dispatchers and first responders, which will thenprovide you with the best care. In order for this to be useful in the slightest, you’ll need to have set up your Medical ID in the iOS Health app first. If you haven’t done this—there’s really no reason not to—do it now.

How to Create Multi-Image Panoramas for Instagram May 21, 2020

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If you’ve ever tried to upload a panorama picture to Instagram—or if we’re being honest, any interesting horizontal picture—then you’ve likely run into issues. Yes, you can include the whole photo in a single post, but in most cases, you have to zoom out so far to fit it all in that it’s impossible to see all the amazing detail you were trying to preserve in the first place. Turns out, there’s an easy way around the problem: a multi-post panorama.