Wolfram Alpha is a pretty cool computational engine. It’s my go-to whenever I have a factual question about a date, scientific information, data about our world, or things you might look up in an almanac. You can ask mathematical questions, historical questions, scientific questions, and so much more. It’s a powerful source of information if you know what questions to ask. I tend to use it most to learn more about dates, like what day of the week I was born (a Monday, which coincidentally is when it’s occurring again this year – I always thought it was a Tuesday though). I’ll sometimes reference it when I want to find out about moon phases or when sunrise and sunset were on a given day. It’s amazing the wealth of information you can draw from it and I’m glad to have it as a resource. It’s great for enhancing your learning!
Posts Tagged ‘technology’
365great Day 288: Wolfram Alpha
How to: Configure Touchpad Edge Swipe Gestures
If you’re on Windows 8 with a touchpad that has edge swiping gestures, you might be itching to deactivate that annoying left side swipe. I’ve been using my new laptop for a few weeks and I inadvertently switch between apps whenever my finger accidentally swipes from the left side of the touchpad inward. I couldn’t find how to make it stop, so I scoured my settings until I figured it out.
1. Swipe in on the right side to access the charm bar (the menu bar on the right side of the screen). You can also hover the mouse over either corner on the right side of your screen to get it to appear.
2. Click on Settings (last icon).
3. Click “Change PC Settings” text at the very bottom.
4. In the General section, find the App Switching subsection.
5. Turn off “When I swipe in the from the left edge, switch directly to my most recent app” to disable that edge swipe. Now when you swipe from the left, you’ll get the menu of apps on the left.
6. To take it a step further, turn off “Allow switching between recent apps” and there will be nothing when you do a left edge swipe.
That’s it! Simple enough, but they sure make it hard to find. I searched through touchpad and driver settings for ages before stumbling across the PC settings page. Hope that helps you too. Happy swiping. 🙂
October Favorites 2013
1. free food – This month brought some wonderful opportunities for free food from Whole Foods (community event during the furlough) and Carrabbas (First Tastes event). It’s been awhile since Panda and I have gone out to get free food so it was nice to experience again. Back in college we’d get free Sprinkles cupcakes all the time and occasional other deals that various establishments were offering.
2. NYR Organics – It was a pleasant surprise to come across NYR Organics, the US version of Neal’s Yard Remedies. I’ve been enjoying the simple pleasure of misting my face with their products. The sales rep was even kind enough to send me an empty spray bottle so I could use it for the witch hazel water I had without a spray top. She totally understood that it’s much better when you can apply it that way. I love how mild and gentle these products are, which makes them oh so soothing.
3. Geek Squad – An all too-familiar scene. I think I visited Geek Squad a dozen times in the period of 3 weeks as I tried to get exactly what I wanted. I did exchanges and returns and hardware swaps and software changes with them. All throughout, they remained helpful and patient until I was finally able to get the laptop I’d been seeking, complete with SSD, touchscreen, backlit keyboard, and so much more. While I’m glad they were able to help me through it all, I sure do hope I don’t need to go see them again.
4. haircut – My hair had started to get mousy and I was growing bored of plain black so I decided to go searching for a hairdresser. I had a girl out in Manhattan Beach who I liked to go to, but that’s not very practical anymore. Luckily, the one I decided to try had a sweet lady who was sociable but not too chatty and did a great job. I plan on sticking with her so long as it doesn’t become an inconvenience once we move a bit further from that salon’s location. I’m not super picky with my hair, but it’s nice knowing what to expect. Now my hair is lighter and feels much smoother than before!
5. Nike sneakers – I’ve been wearing these to work almost every day and I love it! All I wanted was super comfy shoes with amazing support and that’s exactly what I found. It’s a nice bonus that I happen to have them in my alma mater’s colors, making them all the more beautiful. I went with Nike because a good friend from college works for them and I love supporting my friends, even if it’s something small. I seriously can’t get enough of those memory foam cushions soothing my feet like never before.
6. condo walkthrough – I really enjoy watching things in progress, so I’ve been keeping an eye on our condo. We were there when it was just a plot of land and now we’re already at the walkthrough stage! I appreciate the pre-drywall walkthrough that we got so we could see the interior of our future home before it fully takes shape. I feel a lot more involved in the process being able to see it at this point and I can’t wait to go through it again when the interior is all pretty (one more month!).
7. heated car seats – I don’t know what I’d be doing without my heated car seat and steering wheel. Every day I’m so glad I was able to get a car with those features because they have made my commute more than comfortable. The heated seat came in especially useful when I hurt my back and needed that sort of warmth to help ease the tension. I’m totally addicted to that feature now and I don’t think I could ever get another car without at least heated seats. Life is so much better when you aren’t freezing.
8. cooking – Between Blue Apron and Hello Fresh, Panda and I are getting a fair share of cooking experience! I love having a box to cook through once a month or so. It’s an activity for us to look forward to doing together and there’s a tasty reward at the end. Plus, we’re building useful skills for the future! Of course, I’m also getting spoiled by it and now I don’t want to have to go grocery shopping or to figure out what to cook. 😛
9. paper facial masks – I’ve always enjoyed masks, but I usually don’t get around to using them because of the whole routine. I inevitably get some in my hair and it takes quite some time to apply and wash them off. When I discovered paper masks where it was a serum formulation that you just let absorb into your skin, I found my holy grail. It’s much easier to get them on and then I can just peel them off whenever and not worry about washing my face. They’re also just more fun to me and I need to stock up on these!
So what are your favorites from October? Anything you found you were using/doing a lot?
365great Day 239: wireless
Wireless might be the single greatest thing contributing to our mobility in this day and age. I rely on so many wireless devices to make my day go smoother – laptops, smartphone, wireless mice, and wireless routers to name a few. It’s what allowed me to leave work around 7 tonight and keep working through the night until now (3 am). I fiiinally finished what I wanted to at work today, which I’m thrilled about, and I’m even more pleased with the fact that I could do that from the comfort of home. After all, I don’t want to be pounding away at the office until this time. I’m so glad my work is the type that can go wherever my laptop is. I never had to work in a time when that wasn’t the case and I’m very grateful for that. The flexibility that wireless offers is pretty great.
Now GOOD NIGHT!! 🙂
365great Day 232: photo editing apps
It’s been months and months of my 365great series and it’s time I recognized the apps that make my little visuals possible. I’ve tried a bunch of photo editing apps that allow me to add text to my pictures and these are my favorites. Most recently I’ve been sticking with WordSwag because it’s so easy to create some really pretty font ones. I used to like InstaQuote for being able to easily change the color of some words. It really just depends on my mood which one I end up using! Whatever the case, these apps are so useful in making great buttons and other pinnable images.
365great Day 218: battery packs
The battery life of the iPhone 5 can leave a heavy user with much to be desired. It certainly doesn’t last the whole day if you’re using it regularly to take photos/videos and go online like I do. When I got my first battery pack this summer, I was pretty happy. Now I could extend my phone’s usage by at least another one and a half times! Then my mom came back one day and handed me a box asking if I wanted it. Inside was the pretty blue one you see here. It was something the company gave everyone as a gift and she has no use for it. I couldn’t resist taking it too – I mean, it’s really pretty and has a nice curved shape that feels good, but more importantly it’ll actually charge my phone twice over. The more juice I can get out of these things the better. Now I never have to worry about my phone dying from a long day. That peace of mind is totally great.
New laptop time
I finally, finally pulled the trigger on my new laptop today. 🙂 I can’t believe I’ve been building up to this moment for two and a half years. It feels like five. Ever since pretty much day 1 of getting my current laptop, I’ve been annoyed by the loud noise it makes. I thought I could make do or make it better, but it never happened. So, thank goodness I can finally move on.
Awhile back, I decided I wanted an ASUS (and when I choose a brand, I pretty much always get the one I intended). My initial search this summer led me to crazy expensive ones because I convinced myself I should get one with a solid-state drive. After putting up with excessive noise for too long, all I want is quiet. As silent as possible. But after looking around and talking to various sales personnel, I decided to get a laptop with a normal hard drive and change it to SSD if I find the need to. Anything’s got to be better than my current situation though! This one has the main features I preferred: touchscreen, backlit keyboard, and 3 USB ports. The weight isn’t too bad, but I sure did hope for a super-light ultrabook.
Now excuse me while I go enjoy setting up my brand new ASUS!
It came with a microfiber cloth to wipe off fingerprints!
Yay, my new toy!
iOS 7 review
I’ve been running iOS 7 for about two weeks now and it’s been quite a change. Overall I really enjoy it, but there are definitely some issues that need to be worked out and new things to get adjusted to. Here are some of the highlights:
Geotargeting with the radius of your choice! Anywhere from 328 to 7.92 million feet, haha. I wished for this back when iOS 5 came out and now I have it!
New, more gentle and pleasant ringtones.
Liking the new graphics – simpler, cleaner, brighter.
New organization of photos into collections, more useful multitasking view with easy swipe to close, and better view of Safari tabs. All nice changes, but take some getting used to!
The Control Panel makes it easy to get to useful features. Finally, convenient access!
I like knowing when sunrise and sunset are.
Being able to block callers will be helpful.
If you pull to the left on the text messages, you can see the time of each, thank goodness.
It’s great to be able to correct Siri’s pronunciation.
The compass now offers a hidden feature: inclinometer! Now you can figure out what perfectly balanced is.
And a few things that aren’t so great:
For some reason the new keyboard is different enough to make my typing worse.
The apps keep having to reload when I move between them. I thought they were supposed to work in the background…
The screen fades too fast and I never tap it in time. Of course when I tried to get a screenshot of it fading I got the full brightness instead, but you get the point.
Have you updated to iOS 7? What do you think? Or what’s keeping you from making the change?
365great Day 201: PayPal
When it comes to transferring money between friends, collecting sales revenue, or even printing shipping labels at a discount, PayPal’s got you covered. I started off using it to occasionally buy things online so I wouldn’t have to share my credit card info. I then found it to be really handy when I wanted to move money to someone else (or even between my own bank accounts) at no charge. As I began to sell things online, it became the source for collecting payments. I don’t have to worry about charging credit cards or doing any currency conversions; it’s all part of their services. The fees they get out of it aren’t too bad especially considering the value they provide me. More recently I’ve found it’s the perfect way to take advantage of better USPS shipping rates without having to get an account with Stamps.com. I pay for and print my labels right within their interface! PayPal’s been great not only personally, but for my small side business too.
365great Day 198: Facebook debugger
Ok, this is probably something most people have no need for nor care about, but for my purposes, I’ve found it to be a useful tool. Facebook’s debugger detects any errors that may be on a page, which makes it easy to see what might need fixing. This is really helpful when, say, a blogger wants to post a link to their blog post but the image isn’t being pulled correctly. A quick check on this site can pinpoint the issue (or at least eliminate other factors) without having to trudge through the code trying to figure it out. It’s simple and provides a service that really eases a pain for those of us who have to deal with it. Great way to enhance our operations and save time and hassle.
