If you want to see all of the different apps and services Google has to offer, check out their Products page. You might be surprised at all that’s in there. That said, Google develops lots of things that don’t make it. They get “sunsetted” or retired or axed. If you are curious about those, check … Read more
The title says it all, but I’ll go into more detail: When you see a QR code in public, use your cellphone’s camera. You can immediate scan QR codes with your phone’s camera to see what info lay inside! If you open your camera and point it at a QR code, the camera software can … Read more
2FA is shorthand for Two-Factor Authentication. It’s an extra security feature to protect an online account, and is offered by many companies for their users. But soon, Google is making this feature mandatory for its Google and Gmail accounts. If you aren’t already using 2FA to protect your account, you may soon get an email … Read more
Most of the time, online surveys are a waste of time, or worse. They serve to collect & sell your information, while giving nothing back to you, or increasing your spam. But Google Opinion Rewards is an exception, and one that I can vouch for personally. This app is free to install on your smartphone, … Read more
Most searches on the internet are carried out through Google Search. But not everyone wants to use Google, Bing or the other big search engines. These companies usually track you through your searches, and use that information to better advertise to you. If you’re looking for a search engine that respects your privacy more or … Read more
Are you selling items on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist? Then watch out for the Google Voice Verification scam! The Setup A potential buyer contacts you and asks for your cellphone number. Once you share your contact info, a text comes in from Google Voice. It contains a 6-digit verification code, and your would-be buyer quickly … Read more
You should check out the Experiments by Google website! Programmers and coders everywhere have been submitting their projects to Google, and many of them are shared here, free for all to use. But if you go to the main Experiments page I linked above, it may seem like too much to browse through. There’s over … Read more
Any email address is generally case-insensitive. That is to say: it doesn’t matter if you use capital letters or lower-case. But Google has a few more tricks up its Gmail sleeve. Let me describe how you might use extra periods and plus signs in Gmail addresses: Periods: In any Gmail address, periods are ignored before … Read more
Let’s say you have a special voicemail message. Maybe it’s critical to a lawsuit you’re involved with. Or perhaps it’s a precious memory from a long-lost friend. If it’s important to you, then it needs to be protected! Don’t take your voicemail for granted, as it can be deleted or lost, like computer data. If … Read more
Recently, I got a warning from my cellphone provider that I’d crossed a data usage threshold. My smartphone had consumed almost 2GB of data in a single day. This was exceptional for me, so I did the detective work to figure out what happened. As it turns out, the Amazon Shopping app was the culprit. … Read more