Wikipedia.org has a “List of Common Misconceptions.” For instance, George Washington did not have wooden teeth; they were made of gold, hippopotamus ivory, lead, horse and donkey teeth. Marie Antoinette said “Let them eat brioche,” not cake. Brioche is a buttery bread.
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TelltaleGames.com has adventure games from the 1990s on up. The old ones have been jiggered a bit to play on modern computers. They have two versions of our all-time favorite, “MonkeyIsland,” a game that can take you weeks to finish if you don’t use the free strategy guide available from a Google search. Follow Guybrush Threepwood as he fights his way to victory against pirates, ghosts and strange creatures. Lots of humor here. All games are downloads for PC and Mac, starting at $5 and going up to $35.
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A sluggish computer is often sluggish because it doesn’t have enough RAM (random access memory). Go to your local computer repair shop and buy more, it’s cheap now. If you want to save the installation cost and add the RAM modules yourself, do a YouTube search on “RAM installation.” You’ll see do-it-yourself tutorial for desktops and laptops. Order the RAM modules themselves online and save even more. The free scanner at Crucial.com tells you what type of memory your computer uses. Second, be sure you’ve checked for viruses and spyware, which can really slow down a PC. For free software, we like MalwareBytes.org and Avast.com. Third, uninstall any programs you aren’t using and use the free CCleaner from Piriform.org to […]
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A reader presented us the following dilemma: He is retiring soon and will need a phone and a computer, or maybe just a tablet. What should he get? We suggested he get all three, which if bought at current discounted prices, cost no more than just getting an iPad. Buying older versions of each of these, the total cost could come in as low as $400 and $530 at the maximum. Getting a new iPad by itself would cost $500. Here’s how it works: The iPhone Most people say that the iPhone is easier to use than an Android phone. We have to agree. We got an Android phone because we wanted to be able to test Android apps for […]
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The “Hone” is a lightweight gizmo that attaches to your key chain. If you’ve misplaced your keys, tap the “Hone” app on your iPhone or iPad, and your keys will give a beep and a light from up to 100 feet away. Now if only we could find our phone. (See BiteMyApple.co.)
PdaNet is free for Android phones with a “4G” connection, and lets you use your cellular connection to get your computer on the Internet, in the absence of Wi-Fi. This is called “tethering,” and for a while it was banned from the Google Play store. Tether your devices using a USB cable or a Bluetooth connection.
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“Front Flash,” a free Android app, lets you take “selfies” in the dark. A “selfie” is a picture you take of yourself with a smart phone. There’s no flash on a phone’s front-facing camera, so selfies taken in the dark are dark. But a sophomore at the College of Charleston, S.C., figured out how to use a phone’s bright screen as the flash. It’s new but already has had a couple hundred thousand downloads.
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