Control Fire TV Hands-Free Through Alexa To get started, the first thing you need to do is link your Echo and Fire TV. If you have multiple devices, you can set everything up with the Alexa app on your phone or tablet or from the Alexa website. Then from the menu select Music, Video & Books and choose Fire TV under the Video section. Next, tap on “Link Alexa Device” and you can choose the Fire TV you want to control and the Echo you want to control it from and then tap the Link Devices button....

Google Assistant Music Discovery Today Google rolled out a music discovery feature that will allow your device to let you know what song is playing in the background. After summoning Google Assistant you can say “Hey Google, what song is this?” or “What’s the name of this song?” while the music is playing nearby. It will take a few seconds to listen to the music and when identified, will pop up a card with the name of the song, the artist, album, and other data....

Microsoft is getting in on this trend, too with an app developed by the Garage team that’s simply called Selfie. The Microsoft Garage team is also responsible for other interesting programs like Mouse Without Borders and the Outlook addon FindTime. Selfie takes the work out of making your picture look great with editing effects such as noise reduction called Denoise and auto exposure. Microsoft Selfie is currently iOS only, but it’s probably based on Lumia Selfie which is no longer available for Windows Phone devices, so if you have that app, you are not missing out....

Speaking at an investor conference in Boston today, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said the carrier will launch a “data share” program this summer that all customers who still have an unlimited data package from the days in 2011 and before when they were still offered will be migrated on to. That means that in the coming months, all Verizon customers will be moved to tiered pricing — no more $30 for all you can eat....

This is a beta version and there are a few caveats and missing features compared to the desktop version. So expect some issues and bugs while using it. To run it, you’ll need a full version of Windows 8 or 8.1. It currently doesn’t work with Windows RT – which is installed on Surface, and Surface 2 devices — which seems odd considering it’s a modern app. VLC for Windows 8 When first installing the modern version of VLC it will be unresponsive will indexing your music and video folders on your hard drive....

What is a computer hard drive, exactly? How does a hard drive work and what does it do? What size hard drive should you get, and how can you tell what size hard drive you already have? All important questions with answers that we’ve outlined below. What Is a Hard Drive? A hard drive (also known as a hard disk drive or HDD) is a computer storage device found in many computers....

What is a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC)? HELOCs are a secured loan through your bank, which leverages the equity in your home. Before you go off and search for the definition of “equity,” essentially, it’s the difference between the value of your home and the mortgage balance. For example, if your home is worth $250,000 and your home loan or mortgage is $150,000, you have $100,000 of equity, which you could potentially borrow against in the form of a cash-out refinance, second mortgage, or of course, a HELOC....

Apple announced the card in March at an event where it also introduces some new services including Apple TV+, Apple News+, and Apple Arcade. Here is a look at this new endeavor by the company with its continued foray into the financial sector and what you can expect. What is the Apple Card? Announced in March 2019 with a U.S. launch date this summer, Apple Card’s introduction didn’t come as much of a surprise....

Launching Google Now Before we get into the way Google Now works, let’s see how to activate it on the Nexus 7. Just hold the Back or Home button at the bottom of the screen, and a circle with the word Google inside it will appear. Slide your finger towards it, as I did below, and you’re in. Verify you want to use the service, and you’ll be taken to its main page....

What is splwow64.exe? Read on for the details. Splwow64.exe is a Windows core system file. The program runs in the background and is not normally visible. It is a trustworthy resource created by Microsoft. Task Manager lists it as the “Printer driver host for 32-bit applications.” In other words, splwow64.exe allows 32-bit applications to connect with the 64-bit printer spooler service on x64 Windows builds. Further exploration into the process lists the “Thinking Spooler APIS from 32 to 64 Process....

What is HEIF? Developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) in 2013, the HEIF criteria was finalized in 2015. It stores twice as much information as JPEG images of the same size, thereby improving the quality of files significantly. Because of this, you can feasibly store twice the number of files than before. Additionally, the resulting images should upload faster to online services because of the smaller size. On the iPhone, for example, this means pictures uploaded to the iCloud Photo Library should move twice as fast....

Veracrypt is the descendent of Grandpa TrueCrypt, which was suddenly declared obsolete and unsafe, to the shock of many (it was rumored the FBI had managed to crack it finally). Grandpa TrueCrypt was then unceremoniously shuffled off to the encryption home in the sky. But no sooner had the crypto-geeks picked themselves off the floor than it was announced that a new version was coming out. This was VeraCrypt. Let’s take a look at what Veracrypt is and how you can set up an encrypted “volume” (sort of like a folder)....

VoIP with Hardware (Phone) In a corporate environment, the most popular method of using VoIP is with a physical phone. There are ways to make VoIP technology work with either a traditional analog phone or with what’s known as a VoIP or digital phone. VoIP with Analog Phones Since voice transmission in VoIP takes place over the internet, a normal phone by itself won’t work. However, there’s a special adapter available called an Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) that will convert an analog phone signal into a digital one that can be transmitted over the internet....

Paramount+ Primer Launched in late 2014, CBS All Access arrived on the scene long before similar services like the ever-growing Disney+, Apple TV+, and HBO Max. The first over-the-top (OTT) offering by an American broadcast television network, CBS All Access featured full-length episodes of past and present CBS programs at a monthly price, with and without commercials, and live CBS content, including NFL games. Over the years, other content was added, including originals like The Good Wife spinoff, The Good Fight....

Now, Maybe you don’t want the physical CD since they’re “old school”. Well, as I‘ve been looking, the digital MP3 version costs $11.99 which is two bucks more and no physical disc and artwork. You get to stream and download the album right away, and in a couple days have the official CD – not only an instant backup, but you get the artwork, liner notes, and more. Of course, the physical version with AutoRip isn’t always going to be cheaper, each title varies....

Use Sticky Notes with Cortana in Windows 10 Anniversary Update The first thing you must know; this feature requires an active Internet connection. If it’s not available, then, of course, you won’t see the benefit; since Cortana utilizes Bing to help make sense of the information, you enter. Although you can use the Sticky Notes app with a stylus, it’s not required; you can enter your information using the keyboard, which is better....

Details on what these updates address exactly is vague at the time of this writing, but you can see what is rolling out from the image below. Microsoft doesn’t necessarily publish the information about updates for preview builds like it would for an official release. — Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) June 11, 2015 But it should be noted that after installing these updates, a restart is required. According to reports, Windows Insiders should see a new build of Windows next week....

Microsoft exec Gabe Aul made the announcement of the new build earlier today on Twitter: — Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) October 14, 2015 Windows 10 Mobile Build 10549 If you’re currently running Windows 10 Mobile Build 10536, you’re not going to see the update. To get it, you first need to rollback your device to Windows Phone 8.1 using the recently rebranded Windows Device Recovery Tool. If you haven’t rolled your phone back before, read our step-by-step guide: Restore Windows 10 for Phones to Windows Phone 8....

There was a bit of confusion about the update at first. According to Gabe Aul, the update was partially staged and some users detected it. Gabe said, “We paused the updated to investigate, and ensure that everything was 100% ready”. Then Gabe posted the following this afternoon on Twitter: — Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) January 8, 2016 This is the first update for Windows 10 Mobile for 2016 since Build 10586....

Important Note: It’s worth mentioning that there is a new head of the Windows Insider Program. Gabe Aul has stepped aside and his successor is Dona Sarkar. To find out more about our new leader of the Insider program, read Microsoft’s profile on Sarkar. Dona made her first announcement about this new mobile build on Twitter. — Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) June 2, 2016 Windows 10 Mobile Preview 14356 Cortana Improvements include sending phone notifications to your PC, sending photos from your phone to the PC, and a new listening animation (which was new in the last Windows 10 PC Build 14352)....