On Computers

Many businesses would rather hire a skilled high school graduate than an unskilled college grad, especially from Google’s new “Certificates” program. For $39 a month, people from all walks of life are getting trained for tech jobs. No prior experience is necessary. The new program has already placed 75,000 people into jobs with a median salary of $66,000. One of the recent grads got a job in tech support for the NFL. The training requires less than 10 hours of study per week for three to six months. To get started, search on “Google Certificates.” Choices include “Digital Marketing and E-commerce,” “IT Support,” and “Android Development,” among others. There are 150 participating companies offering 1.5 million jobs. The site also […]

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Filed under: education, Google, Internuts, iPhone | Comments Off on GOOGLE TRAINING MIGHT BE BETTER THAN COLLEGE

Most cars today come with a mobile hotspot, allowing everyone’s devices to stay connected to the internet at a cost ranging between $20 and $40 a month. But what if you have an older car? A reader wanted to read the newspaper on his iPad in the car because he likes its bigger screen. Since there’s no WiFi in his older vehicle, he needed some way to connect his iPad to the internet.  I told him to go to “Settings” on his iPhone, then “Cellular” and tap “Personal Hotspot” to turn it on.  After he did that, his iPad was able to share the iPhone’s cellular network. “Works great,” he said.  To try it on my Android phone, I went […]

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Filed under: gadgets, Internet, iPhone, security, troubleshooting, web | Comments Off on HOW TO USE A MOBILE HOTSPOT WHEN YOU HAVE NO WIFI

A reader wrote: “I upgraded my router!” Wow. I’m impressed. I never think to do that. An old, outdated router can slow down your WiFi, disrupt your connections, and leave your network vulnerable to security risks. But setup can be a “colossal pain,” the reader said. Fortunately, he discovered that all he had to do was change the new router’s settings to match the old one’s.  “A definite aha moment!”   I’ve never paid for a new router. My internet service provider, AT&T, will send out a new one for free if the old one has problems, which has only happened once.  Maybe I haven’t needed one because I “only” have 11 internet-connected devices.  The reader has over 40 smart devices, […]

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Filed under: Amazon, browsers, gadgets, Google, Internet, printer, web | Comments Off on NEW ROUTER MAKES YOU GO FASTER ON THE WEB

Compared to last year, the number of people using Google to find out how to make money on YouTube has tripled, according to Google Trends. Some have made major moola. A little boy named Ryan earned $27 million for his YouTube channel “Ryan’s World,” where he unboxes the latest toys. But YouTube’s top channel, according to Variety.com, is “MrBeast.” It’s earned over $54 million so far.  A recent MrBeast video is about a guy who was offered $10,000 a day to stay in a specially-rigged apartment/prison, with fantastic gourmet meals delivered daily. Though he occasionally experiences loud noises, flashing lights and other distractions, he mostly copes with the confinement. But each day he has to give up one item in […]

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Filed under: Amazon, apps, Internuts, video | Comments Off on MAKING MONEY ON YOUTUBE

If you have an old computer gathering dust in the closet, why not turn it into a Chromebook? It could gain a new lease on life. Chromebooks work well for everything we do on the web. They avoid the frustrations of Windows, by fixing problems every time they boot up. Unlike machines that get buggy after too many programs have been installed and uninstalled, Chromebooks don’t slow down over time.  A friend of mine converted his 10 year-old Samsung laptop in about 45 minutes. Most of the changes took place automatically. The improvements are remarkable. The battery life went from about two hours to well over three hours. Web browsing is faster too, though his laptop wasn’t bad to begin […]

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Filed under: apps, computers, Gmail, Google, Internuts, mobile, security | Comments Off on MAKING USE OF AN OLD COMPUTER