Summary We all know the annoyance of creating a new account online: you enter the password you want, and then the service bugs you about minimum length and using special characters. There’s a reason you’re being pushed to do this, though, and in this article I’ll go over why you need a long password. The short answer is password entropy. That term sounds way more complicated than it really is unless you’re familiar with cryptography, so let’s take a look at what password entropy is....

Summary While Microsoft is notorious for botching every other Windows version, I think that one of those infamous releases doesn’t deserve the hate at all—Windows 8. I started using it the moment it came out and never looked back because it was actually good. Before racing to the comments, allow me to explain. Windows 8 Outperformed Windows 7 Windows 8 was objectively better than Windows 7 in many ways. One of the big ones, at least for me, was performance....

Quick Links Luckily, you don’t need those apps to organize your life or what you need for class. Here are the apps you should start using, and why they will work better than you might have thought. Apple Notes Is More Than a Note-Taker For many people, the Notes app is just a place to jot down a quick note or make a list, but it ismuch more than just a typing playground....

Summary Heading on vacation for the holidays? You’ve probably already told a bunch of people and posted about it online in anticipation, and you’re likely going to post up-to-the-minute photos and videos to your feeds while you’re taking time off. Here’s why that’s all a terrible idea. You’re Telling Burglars Your House Is Empty This isn’t paranoia, it’s well documented that house burglars watch social media and wait for people to go on vacation, then rob their house while nobody’s home—as these articles fromABC,The Week,The Independent, andThe Advertiserillustrate....

Quick Links Earlier this year, the state of New York passed the “Digital Fair Repair Act.” It’s a landmark bill, and if signed into law, it will be the first Right to Repair legislation in the United States. But one obstacle could lead to this bill’s downfall—it will be automatically vetoed if it isn’t signed by December 31st of 2022. UPDATE: 12/29/22 After beingÂdeliveredto Governor Hochul on 12-07-2025, the first right to repair bill has finally been signed and passed into law....

Quick Links As exciting as building a custom PC is, it can also be pretty stressful. You’re investing a lot of money into something you’ll use every day, so you want it to be worth it. But if you don’t know how to spend wisely, you might make costly mistakes and not get your money’s worth. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen. 11Overpaying (or Underpaying) for the CPU Amateur PC builders largely fall into two camps: those who spend way too much on their CPU, thinking it’s the most important part of the computer, and those who buy the cheapest, with the logic being that spending more on the GPU will net more FPS in video games....

The DNA testing company 23andMe has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which could involve selling off customer data. For that reason, privacy advocates and the U.S. state of California are warning 23andMe customers to delete their information as soon as possible. 23andMe has been a popular DNA test for years, providing genetic testing kits that provide information about a person’s ancestry and possible hereditary diseases. The company went public in 2021, but never turned a profit, and a2023 data breachimpacted private information for almost seven million customers....

Summary A mouse can’t perform at its best without a proper surface to track on, so a mousepad is a no-brainer. While most people focus on the surface material and design, they tend to ignore an aspect that I’d consider far more important—thickness. 4Your Wrists Will Be More Comfortable Before we go over the benefits of a thick mousepad, let’s quickly define what “thick” in this context means. A mousepad under 2mm is generally considered thin, 3mm is typically considered medium thickness, and 4mm is the minimum I’d consider thick....

Quick Links So, you’ve got a 3D printer and want to make a little bit of that investment back? Me too, and before I started selling 3D printed items commercially, there were several steps I took to prepare. Selling prints can become a full-time business for some, a side hustle for others, or lead to cease and desist letters from lawyers if you’re not careful. Use a Slicer That Tells You Approximately How Much a Print Will Cost The very basis of selling 3D prints is likely to make money....

Playing video games can be a great way to unwind, connect with old friends, and make new ones. If you’ve played video games for a while, you’ve likely also gained some real-life knowledge from this versatile hobby. But there are a few gaming habits that are best left in the virtual world. 1Stashing Everything You Find A lot of action, adventure, and combat games will reward you for hoarding powerful items that become essential for defeating late-game bosses and powering up armor or weapons....

Instagram is constantly adding new features to Story posts, which means there are lots of interesting ways to make your Stories stand out, from adding custom effects to creating custom cutout stickers for your posts. It’s pretty easy, yet not too many people know how to level up their IG Stories! Add Music to Your IG Story One easy way to add some personality to your IG Story post is to add some music....

Quick Links Amazon’s Fire Tablets are extremely popular thanks to being incredibly affordable. However, these devices are surprisingly capable for their bargain bin prices. If you have one, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting the most out of it. Install the Google Play Store Unsurprisingly, Amazon Fire Tablets come with the Amazon Appstore. That’s a bit disappointing as the Google Play Store has far more Android apps, including those from Google....

Quick Links Valentine’s Day usually involves a card, flowers, and dinner. This year why not add a creative iMessage into the mix? Here are seven different iMessage features you can use to show your valentine you love them. Since these features are limited to iMessage, they will only work between Apple devices like the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. 7Spice It Up With iMessage Effects Standard messages can be boring, but Message effects allow you to add some excitement by attaching an animation to your outgoing message....