Pimsleur approach

DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused search engine that’s been online since 2008. Find websites, maps, videos, news, and more—without tracking your searches and serving you targetted ads. Here’s how to make the switch from Google, Bing, or any other search engine. Most Browsers Already Include DuckDuckGo as a Search Option DuckDuckGo has been gaining ground for over a decade, finally breaking through to the “mainstream” in September of 2014 when Apple offered it as a default search engine option in Safari for iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. Later, in November of the same year, Mozilla added it to Firefox 33.1. RELATED: What Is DuckDuckGo? Meet the Google Alternative for Privacy Since then, almost every major browser has recognized DuckDuckGo by making it an optional default search engine. This includes Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Opera. Google Chrome Launch Chrome, click on the “three dots” menu icon in the top-right corner of the window, and click “Settings.” … [Read more...] about How to Switch to DuckDuckGo, a Private Search Engine

Telegram is a popular messaging app that places an emphasis on privacy, although not as much as Signal does . By default, Telegram shows anyone and everyone the last time you were online. Here’s how to hide that. Change How “Last Seen Online” Displays Telegram is available for iPhone and iPad, Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux. Because developers took a similar approach with each app, the instructions for changing this setting are the same. To find this option, tap or click on the Settings cog at the bottom of the screen or window. In the menu that appears, select “Privacy and Security.” Tap “Last Seen & Online” under the Privacy header. On the next screen, you can specify exactly who can see your “Last Seen Online” time: Everybody (including users you haven’t added), My Contacts, and Nobody. Depending on which setting you choose, you can add exceptions to this rule. For example, if you choose “Nobody,” you will see an “Always Share With…” option … [Read more...] about How to Hide Your “Last Seen Online” Time in Telegram

Whatever wireless Xbox controller you have—whether it’s a controller for an Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, or Xbox One—more battery life is always good. Here are our top tips for extending your controller’s battery life, both in the long and short term. Power off Your Controller to Save Battery The easiest way to make your controller’s batteries last longer is to simply turn it off when you aren’t using it. You can do this manually at any point while playing a game: Press and hold the Xbox button in the middle of the controller, then choose “Turn Off Controller.” If you don’t touch your Xbox controller for 15 minutes, it will power off automatically. Unfortunately, there’s no way to override this setting at present (as you can on Sony PlayStation consoles). Got a Play and Charge Kit? Charge Smart The Xbox controller comes with a single set of disposable batteries. The easiest way to upgrade your controller to be rechargeable is to purchase Microsoft’s official Play … [Read more...] about How to Extend Your Xbox Controller’s Battery Life

Computational photography is responsible for most of the amazing strides our smartphone cameras have taken in the last decade. Here’s how it works, and how it makes our photos so much better. The Magic of Computational Photography Computational photography uses digital software to enhance the photos taken by a camera. It’s most prominently used in smartphones. In fact, computational photography does the heavy lifting to create the great-looking images you see in your smartphone photo gallery. The rapid improvement in smartphone cameras over the last few years can largely be attributed to improving software, rather than changes to the physical camera sensor. Some smartphone manufacturers, like Apple and Google, continuously improve the photo-taking capabilities of their devices year after year without ever drastically changing the physical camera sensors. Why Does Computational Photography Matter? How a camera digitally captures a photo can be roughly divided into two … [Read more...] about What Is Computational Photography?

You can’t believe everything you read—or see. Social media is rife with manipulated or “Photoshopped” images. Here are some telltale signs you’re looking at an altered image. Airbrushing Is Easy to Spot Have you ever seen an image that just doesn’t look right? Trusting your gut might not be the most scientific approach, but you’re probably better at spotting a fake than you realize. If you see an image that sounds alarm bells, you might want to look a bit closer. You’ll probably spot some telltale signs that it’s been manipulated. Airbrushed images often fall into “ uncanny valley ” territory. Even if you have perfect skin, most light sources cast small shadows on fine wrinkles, pores, and other slight imperfections. When these imperfections are digitally removed, so is the appearance of natural lighting. Professional retouchers often strike a balance between perfection and realism, but amateurs and mobile apps rarely do. Apps, in particular, depend on existing skin tones … [Read more...] about How to Tell If an Image Has Been Manipulated or Photoshopped

Apple is rethinking how components should exist and operate inside a laptop. With M1 chips in new Macs, Apple has a new “Unified Memory Architecture” (UMA) that dramatically speeds up memory performance. Here’s how memory works on Apple Silicon. How Apple Silicon Handles RAM In case you haven’t already heard the news, Apple announced a new slate of Macs in November 2020. The new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini models are using an ARM-based processor custom-designed by Apple called the M1 . This change was long expected and is the culmination of Apple’s decade spent designing ARM-based processors for the iPhone and iPad. The M1 is a system on a chip (SoC), which means that there’s not just a CPU inside the processor, but also other key components, including the GPU, I/O controllers, Apple’s Neural Engine for AI tasks, and, most importantly for our purposes, the physical RAM is part of that same package. To be clear, the RAM isn’t on the same Silicon as the fundamental … [Read more...] about How “Unified Memory” Speeds Up Apple’s M1 ARM Macs