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Big Tech Is Getting Clobbered on Wall Street. It’s a Good Time for Them.

Tim Cook dinner, Apple’s chief govt, has a longstanding philosophy that Apple ought to carry on to make investments for the long term amid a downturn. It a lot more than doubled its staff in the course of the Great Recession and virtually tripled its gross sales. Lately, it has enhanced bonuses to some hardware engineers by as a lot as $200,000, according to Bloomberg.

John Chambers, who steered Cisco Units by means of numerous downturns as its previous chief executive, said the companies’ robust organizations and deep pockets could manage them the probability to just take hazards that would be impractical for more compact rivals. All through the 2008 downturn, he said Cisco authorized distressed automakers to pay out for technological know-how services with credit score at a time when competition demanded cash. The corporation risked possessing to create down $1 billion in inventory, but emerged from the recession as the dominant provider to a healthier vehicle market, he said.

“Companies crack away through downturns,” Mr. Chambers reported.

Excelling will involve disregarding the broader market’s gloom, claimed David Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business enterprise University. He mentioned former downturns experienced demonstrated that even the strongest corporations ended up inclined to profit pressures and inclined to pulling back. “Firms get pessimistic like all people else,” he said.

The first exam for the greatest companies in tech will be contagion from their peers. Amazon’s shares in the electric car or truck maker Rivian Automotive have plunged extra than 65 percent, a $7.6 billion paper loss. Apple’s expert services profits are probable to be crimped by a slowdown in promotion by application builders, which rely on enterprise-money funding to finance their advertising and marketing, analysts say. And start off-ups are scrutinizing their spending on cloud companies, which will most likely sluggish growth for Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, analysts and cloud executives mentioned.

“People are striving to determine out how to spend neatly,” reported Sam Ramji, the chief method officer at DataStax, a details administration organization.

Regulatory issues on the horizon could darken the massive tech companies’ potential customers, as perfectly. Europe’s Digital Markets Act, which is expected to develop into legislation quickly, is created to improve the openness of tech platforms. Among the other issues, it could scuttle the estimated $19 billion that Apple collects from Alphabet to make Google the default look for engine on iPhones, a improve that Bernstein estimates could erase as a lot as 3 percent of Apple’s pretax financial gain.

But the corporations are anticipated to problem the law in courtroom, perhaps tying up the legislation for years. The likelihood it receives bogged down leaves analysts sticking to their consensus: “Big Tech is heading to be a lot more powerful. And what is becoming performed about it? Absolutely nothing,” Mr. Kramer of Arete Investigation stated.

Jason Karaian contributed reporting.

Tech overload already at school near you | News, Sports, Jobs

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OBSERVER Image
Pine Valley Superintendent Bryna Moritz and Carrie Davenport, director of special education and learning and curriculum, converse at a TIF Talks occasion in Forestville this month.

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FORESTVILLE — It did not just take long for educator and administrator Bryna Moritz to turn out to be fatigued about the use of engineering at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only four months into the situation of superintendent at Pine Valley Central Colleges, Moritz was foremost her crew by an worldwide well being disaster although also tackling what was a great unfamiliar that closed out the 2020 educational calendar year: on the web studying.

Staying connected while doing work in buildings and school rooms for lots of location schools was quick. There have been certain structures and boundaries that were recognized as aspect of the faculty day.

Separation, nevertheless, brought a looser set of guidelines. Faculty officers and academics were working with a lot of avenues to converse with just about every other as perfectly as learners and moms and dads through length finding out in a really seeking time. Those people choices integrated the standard cellphone calling to the a lot more commonplace options of these days such as textual content messages, Zoom, social media and other platforms.

Moritz and her staff at Pine Valley immediately grasped the changeover from in-man or woman to virtual mastering essential some recommendations. “In that mastering it turned a electronic frenzy when I felt like I was currently being related at all situations — morning, midday and evening. … I acquired over and above confused and I thought, I cannot endure this work and neither can they,” she claimed.

Moritz spoke with Carrie Davenport previously this month throughout a TIF Talks presentation at the Forestville High Faculty auditorium and attended by about 60 regional educators. It was the first this kind of occasion — place jointly by Andrew Wheelock, engineering coordinator at Erie 1 Board of Cooperative Academic Services– considering the fact that 2019 that aims to deliver small targeted presentations accomplished by real, “in the trenches” lecturers. Most of the speakers on this day centered on the elevated use of technological know-how in the classrooms — and in speaking with learners.

For all those who have been out of the school rooms for extra than a ten years, you have skipped out on how enormously factors have altered. There are certainly additional bells and whistles getting employed to manage the attention of college students.

For the duration of these situations, it is extra than just a lesson plan for lecturers who are on the front strains. It means getting engagement — in the classroom and outside the house of it by means of a number of platforms that retain children interactive whilst on time with assignments.

But electronic overload is true — and as of nowadays, there’s no heading back again. But there can be restrictions, which is a thing that both of those Moritz and Davenport, director of special training and curriculum at Pine Valley, sought to emphasize.

“We now have a really nice system for how we talk,” Moritz said, noting this requires pressure off of team from believing they have to respond to to college students, mom and dad and co-workers around the clock.

Towards the conclude of the discussion, Moritz then touched on something practically all people can relate to: the use of social media for good and evil. Slowly and gradually, space districts are making their profiles on Fb and Twitter. Considerably of it is to spotlight each day happenings, occasions and highlights that includes those behind the desks and in the lecture rooms. For dad and mom and households, this use is perfectly-acquired.

Moritz, nevertheless, did difficulty some warnings that arrive with the social media jungle. Grammar and punctuation glitches replicate badly on the individual, in particular those trying to find work at a faculty district. Also, political statements retweeted — even with a disclaimer in the profile that “opinions are not my own” — continue to be a reflection on an personal.

“If you apply for a position, you’re likely getting stalked on social media and I necessarily mean stalked to the nth diploma,” she said, referring to not only the instructional sector but all many others as nicely. “We want to know who we’re selecting right before we retain the services of them.”

For several in America, the resume is only aspect of an individual’s story. These days, as a result of use of social media, several people are happy to be an open e-book. Even through a national workforce disaster, that can hamper opportunity.

John D’Agostino is editor of the OBSERVER, The Article-Journal and Moments Observer in Warren, Pa. Ship opinions to jdagostino@observertoday.com or simply call 716-366-3000, ext. 253.

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The Future of Wearable Tech

Correct now, organizations together with Meta, Google, Snap and Apple — according to rumours at the very least — are doing work on augmented-fact eyeglasses that would increase a digital layer over the physical entire world.

Proponents of these eyeglasses invoice them as the components successor to the cellular mobile phone, and if they ended up to catch on, there would be various implications for vogue organizations. Features like virtual test-on, filters for garments and totally digital outfits could grow to be commonplace.

In point, for virtual style to split totally free of its market in video clip online games and the occasional post on social media and develop into a product or service for the masses, it will likely involve a system that can do for electronic dresses what the iPod did for electronic audio.

I observed myself pondering about the iPod’s influence right after Apple announced previous week that it would ultimately stage out production of its last remaining iPod product. The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player on the sector, but it arrived at broadly the correct minute. That timing merged with its design, relieve of use and advertising and marketing all arrived jointly to generate a blockbuster item that place electronic new music in the pockets of persons all over the earth and paved the way for the Iphone, which was even practically designed with an iPod-esque scroll wheel.

There are reasons to feel we may be in a instant in advance of the up coming massive components breakthrough, but there are also motives to assume we are not.

It is difficult to argue there will not be an astounding quantity of technological progress in the years in advance. The speed of innovation carries on to accelerate. This momentum is part of the argument for why sensible glasses are inevitable. As we squeeze more computing ability into scaled-down spaces it’s only a make any difference of time in advance of the tech required to ability this vision suits in a pair of standard glasses. Yet another purpose is that our digital lives and “real” life go on to blur, so it follows that hardware will advance in methods that permit, compound and finally entire that blurring.

Glasses seem to be like an obvious alternative, offering an interface appropriate in your area of eyesight that’s additional immersive and hypothetically considerably less obtrusive than executing every little thing on the little rectangle of a cellphone.

But just mainly because a little something looks unavoidable doesn’t imply it is. Appropriate now, it is tough to say what the upcoming of these eyeglasses may be, in particular with out recognizing what obvious marketplace require they may possibly deal with.

When Apple launched the iPod in Oct 2001, electronic songs was now using off. MP3s had been developing in recognition and Napster, which appeared two decades previously, had sparked an explosion in peer-to-peer file sharing. There was demand for a way to listen to digital audio without having remaining tethered to a personal computer. Past MP3 players had been bulky and did not present substantially storage. The iPod was sleek and enable you keep “1,000 music in your pocket.” It also integrated easily with Apple’s iTunes media participant, released earlier that yr.

Even though Apple hoped it would assistance offer a lot more personal computers, it proved pretty successful at providing itself. It accounted for 40 percent of Apple’s revenue at its peak in 2006, the calendar year prior to the Apple iphone appeared and resolved the rising have to have for an all-in-just one device by bundling the iPod’s musical capabilities with a cellular phone, camera and world wide web browser.

Augmented-actuality glasses really do not have these kinds of crystal clear employs at the instant. Desire for electronic trend is not a big sufficient hook. Google imagines its glasses could show navigation or translate different languages in real-time. But abilities like these are presently offered on smartphones, whose outstanding functionality will make them challenging to supplant.

Tech thinker Benedict Evans, in examining the massive technological questions of 2022, remarked that AR and VR may show to be the next smartwatch fairly than the next smartphone — “very great but a slender marketplace,” he wrote.

Eyeglasses also face large complex hurdles that nonetheless need to be defeat, these types of as how the wearer would handle them. (Meta has been testing a wristband that would do the work.)

Not least of all, they would require to do the job as manner on their own. Apple’s former layout chief, Jony Ive, reportedly considered when the business debuted the Apple Enjoy it would be more critical to get praise from Vogue than tech reviewers since it experienced to operate as an accessory. Vogue eventually ran a calculated first seem, describing it plainly as a “rectangular gadget with rounded corners and a smooth sapphire crystal face,” although it adopted with a profile of “design genius” Ive.

Recognising the value of how its eyeglasses seem, Meta has partnered with EssilorLuxottica to establish them. Founder Mark Zuckerberg also lately satisfied with a number of leaders of Italy’s fashion field in Milan, with Meta explaining to BoF, “We’re enthusiastic to carry on to operate with Italian associates to provide this vision for the metaverse to lifestyle.”

Of training course, it’s often challenging to forecast how gatherings will enjoy out. Even the iPod was in the beginning satisfied with scepticism, notably since the very first version was not even suitable with the Windows operating technique powering most personal personal computers at the time.

“It’s a good element for Macintosh customers,” one analyst explained to the New York Occasions. “But to the relaxation of the Windows environment, it doesn’t make any big difference.”

The keep track of document for predictions about the long run of tech typically isn’t good. If it have been, Tesla would have self-driving vehicles by now.

Senate Democrats press tech firms on abortion-related location data

WASHINGTON — More than a dozen Senate Democrats are asking spot info firms to give information and facts about any selection or income of cellphone details tied to visits to abortion clinics.

The letters, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and first claimed by NBC Information, requested responses from the tech businesses SafeGraph Inc. and Placer.ai by May perhaps 31.

“Especially in the wake of the Supreme Court’s leaked draft belief overturning Roe v. Wade, your company’s sale of these types of data—to practically any person with a credit card—poses serious hazards for all women of all ages trying to get accessibility to abortion expert services,” the senators wrote to SafeGraph, with similar wording in the letter to Placer.

Other Democrats who signed the letter include things like Sens. Patty Murray of Washington, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Ron Wyden of Oregon, alongside with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

The letter is the most current case in point of congressional Democrats’ preparations for the possible reversal of Roe v. Wade. Senate Democrats unsuccessful to move legislation very last week that would codify the 1973 landmark final decision over stiff Republican opposition.

Image: Idaho Planned Parenthood — A method room at Planned Parenthood in Meridian, Idaho, on Dec, 14, 2021.Darin Oswald / Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Company by means of Getty Photos file

Lawmakers are hoping to handle privateness fears close to abortion as advocates warn that promoting site information could pose hazards to each individuals and providers presented the heightened tensions around the abortion discussion.

Monitoring knowledge has also authorized advertisers to goal women at clinics. In their letter, the senators cited technological know-how that assisted a Boston firm ship anti-abortion advertisements straight to women as they sat in clinic ready rooms in 2016.

With the prospect that much more states will even more limit abortion access, Democrats are zeroing in on the position huge tech is anticipated to enjoy in the battle for reproductive legal rights.

“Democrats need to have to use each software doable to protect Americans’ proper to an abortion and secure women’s health and fitness,” Warren told NBC News of the stress campaign on facts brokers. “These procedures are deeply concerning and danger the security of all people trying to get accessibility to abortion care.”

SafeGraph and Placer have stated they’ve taken actions to end accessibility to clinic info just after various media stories highlighted its availability. SafeGraph stated on its internet site that “in light of opportunity federal changes in family members planning obtain, we’re eliminating Styles knowledge for spots classified as … ‘Family Preparing Centers’ … to curtail any likely misuse of its info.”

Pacer.ai is described to have taken out users’ capacity to look for for visualized facts related to Prepared Parenthood that confirmed approximations for the residences of people who visited clinics.

The organization did not reply to a ask for for comment.

Ali Vitali

Ali Vitali is a political reporter for NBC News, based in Washington.

SBI Share price: Stocks in the news: Bharat Forge, SBI, Tech Mahindra, Eicher Motors & Maruti Suzuki

Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 93 points, or 0.59 per cent higher at 15,865.50, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for a positive start on Monday. Here are a dozen stocks which may buzz the most in today’s trade:

Bharat Forge, GSK Pharma, Century Ply: Bharat Forge,

, Century Plyboards, Raymond. VIP Industries, MCX, Ami Organics, , PDS, Dodla Dairy, , GRM Overseas,Fino Payments Bank and Nava Bharat Ventures are among the companies which will announce their earnings today.

State Bank of India: The country’s largest lender reported a 41.28 per cent rise in standalone profit after tax at Rs 9,114 crore for the quarter ended March 2022, driven by healthy interest income and better asset quality. Its standalone profit after tax (PAT) stood at Rs 6,451 crore in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal.

Tech Mahindra: The IT services major reported a 39 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit for March 2022 quarter at Rs 1,678.4 crore, and exuded confidence that the positive business momentum will continue in the current fiscal. On a standalone basis, the Mahindra group company reported a post-tax profit at Rs 1,505 crore in the quarter under review as against Rs 1,081 crore a year ago.

Eicher Motors: The two-wheeler auto major’s consolidated net profit after tax increased by 16 per cent to Rs 610 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2022. The company had reported a net profit after tax of Rs 526 crore in the January-March quarter of the 2020-21 fiscal.

Maruti Suzuki India: The country’s largest carmaker announced an investment of Rs 11,000 crore in the first phase of a new facility to be set up at Sonipat in Haryana. The company said it has completed the process of allotment of an 800-acre site at IMT Kharkhoda in Sonipat district with HSIIDC.

Bank of Baroda: The state-owned lender reported a standalone profit after tax of Rs 1,779 crore in the quarter ended March 2022, helped by higher interest income and fall in bad loans. The lender had a loss of Rs 1,047 crore in the year-ago period.

Pharma stocks: Homegrown drug majors Lupin, Glenmark and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories are recalling different products in the US, the world’s largest market for medicines, due to deviation from standard manufacturing norms.

Bandhan Bank: The private lender reported a doubling of net profit for the March quarter at Rs 1,902 crore on the back of a massive reduction in provisions for bad debts. The Kolkata-headquartered bank that started as a microfinancier closed FY22 with a profit of Rs 126 crore, down 94 per cent as against the previous fiscal.

Carborundum Universal: The abrasives and industrial ceramics maker reported a 7.60 per cent jump on its standalone net profit for the quarter ending March 31, 2022 at Rs 61.91 crore. The Murugappa Group company had registered standalone net profit at Rs 57.52 crore during the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

JK Paper: The paper firm reported a 25 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 170.17 crore for the fourth quarter ended March riding on higher sales volumes. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 136.07 crore in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.

Alkem Laboratories: The pharma player said on exchanges that the medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency (MHRA) has pointed out no critical or major observations at its Taloja Plant. The company said the MHRA has closed its inspection.

Avenue Supermarts: The owner and operator of retail chain D-Mart reported a 3.11 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit to Rs 426.75 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2022. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 413.87 crore in the January-March quarter a year ago.

Union Bank of India: The state-owned lender reported 22.68 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,557.09 crore for March quarter 2021-22 helped by a Rs 627 crore gain through a stake-sale in its insurance arm and benefits through low cost of deposits.

Welspun Enterprises: The engineering firm said its consolidated net profit jumped over 58 per cent to Rs 65 crore for the quarter ended March 31, on account of reduced expenses. In the year-ago period, the company had clocked Rs 40.94-crore net profit.

Shipping Corporation of India: The state run shipping firm reported a 77.42 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit to Rs 152.16 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2022. The state-owned company had clocked a consolidated profit of Rs 85.76 crore in the same quarter of 2020-21.

Nazara Technologies: The digital gaming and sports platform posted an about 17 per cent increase in consolidated profit to Rs 4.9 crore for the quarter ended March 2022. The company had logged a profit of Rs 4.2 crore in the same period a year ago.

Triveni Engineering and Industries: The sugar business firm has reported a 28 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 109.17 crore for the quarter ended March 2022 on lower tax expenses. Its net profit stood at Rs 85.02 crore in the year-ago period.

REC: The State-owned NBFC posted a 14 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 2,301.33 crore in the March quarter, mainly on the back of higher revenues. The consolidated net profit of the company was Rs 2,017.84 crore in the quarter ended March 2021.

UCO Bank: The state-owned posted an over three-fold jump in net profit at Rs 312.18 crore for the quarter ended March 2022 as a fall in bad loans lowered the provisioning requirement. The lender had posted a net profit of Rs 80 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

CESC: The power utility arm posted a 3.7 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 445 crore in the March quarter, mainly on the back of higher revenues. The consolidated net profit of the company was at Rs 429 crore in the quarter ended March 2021.

Triveni Turbine: The turbine firm posted about 42 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit at Rs 33.02 crore in the March 2022 quarter. The consolidated net profit of the company stood at Rs 23.28 crore in the corresponding quarter for FY21.

Reliance Infrastructure: The Anil Ambani Group firm reported a loss of Rs 449.13 crore in the March 2022 quarter. The company had reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,611.02 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY21.

DB Corp: The media house reported 60.39 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 24.52 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2022. The company had clocked a net profit of Rs 61.91 crore in January-March period a year ago.

Quint Digital Media: AMG Media Networks, a unit of billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate Adani Enterprises, will pick a 49 per cent stake in Raghav Bahl-curated digital business news platform Quintillion Business Media for an undisclosed sum, which was announced earlier this year.

Reliance Power: The power arm of ADAG Group reported a consolidated loss of Rs 555.18 crore for the March quarter, mainly due to higher expenses. The company had clocked a consolidated net profit of Rs 72.56 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2021.

Future Retail: The debt-ridden firm’s Chief Financial Officer C P Toshniwal has resigned from the company, effective May 12. Toshniwal’s resignation is the recent addition to the string of resignations that started after the Rs 24,713-crore deal was called off last month by the billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led

after creditors voted against it.

RattanIndia Power: The utility player reported a loss of Rs 306.39 crore for the quarter ended March mainly due to lower revenues. The consolidated net profit of the company was at Rs 39.28 crore in the year-ago period.

Future Consumer: Ashni Biyani, daughter of Future Group’s Chairman Kishore Biyani, has resigned as the Managing Director of Future Consumer (FCL). Ashni Biyani’s resignation has been accepted by the board.

5 major tech annoyances and how to fix them

“No, I hear you. You’re telling me that true ‘synergy’ can only be achieved through ‘blue-sky thinking’ and giving it ‘110 percent,’ right?” (iStock)

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

If you’ve ever wandered around a hot parking lot searching for your car, you’ll love me for this tip.

Next time you park, open Google Maps, tap the blue dot that shows your location, and select Set as parking location. Easy, right? Tap or click for a buried Google Maps security setting you should change now.

These little tech tricks might make you think, “Why didn’t someone tell me that sooner?” I did! Tap or click for 10 incredibly useful iPhone and Android tricks that make your life easier.

In the spirit of living a better digital life, here are five smart ways you can use your gadgets to cure some of life’s little annoyances. These are also fun to share with friends and family. Just imagine how impressed they’ll be.

Problem: You’re sick of notifications but don’t want to miss what matters

If you have mobile notifications on for every email you receive, you know how distracting all the buzzing and beeping can be. Maybe you switched yours off altogether.

Did you know you can turn on alerts and sounds for only important emails? I’ll show you how, using Gmail as an example.

A new study found that Google’s Gmail favors liberal politician candidates, allowing emails from most left-wing politicians to land in the user’s inbox while more than 75{4224f0a76978c4d6828175c7edfc499fc862aa95a2f708cd5006c57745b2aaca} of messages from conservative candidates are marked as spam.
( Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Follow these steps on your iPhone, iPad, or Android:

First, open the Gmail app.
Tap the three-line menu, then scroll down to Settings.
Select your account.
Then, tap Email notifications. Select High priority only.

How does Gmail decide what’s high priority? It makes its best guess based on your behavior. You can help the AI to make this more accurate.

On mobile:

Open an email in the Gmail app. Tap the three-dot menu in the upper right corner.
Tap Mark important.

On desktop:

Open Gmail. In your inbox, you will see a small arrow next to each email. If you don’t see the arrow, you will see a star. Click the arrow or star to turn it yellow. This indicates the email is important.
Alternatively, if the arrow or star is yellow on an unimportant email, click the arrow to show Gmail you don’t see the email as a high priority.

Think your inbox is private? Bad news. Hidden trackers lurk within many popular and free email providers. Tap or click here for the secret advertisers don’t want you to know.

Problem: You can’t find your favorite vacation shots

We’ve all been there. You’re scrolling too long looking for a photo you know is on your phone. Facial recognition, scene and object detection, and artificial intelligence make finding what you want just a search away.

On an iPhone:

Open the Photos app and tap on the magnifying glass icon in the lower right-hand corner.
Enter the name of a place, a person (if you’ve assigned them in the Photos app), or search term. You can also search by month or year, category, or business name.

Take the same steps in the Android photo app. Again, play around with different names, places, events, and things.

Open the Gallery app, then tap the magnifying glass icon near the top.
Enter your search term to display matches.

If you use Google Photos, its search features are powerful, too.

Open the Google Photos app.
Choose a person or pet, see places or things, or even browse by category, like screenshots, selfies, and videos.
To look for something specific, type it in the search bar at the top of the page. Results will pop up, probably before you even finish typing.

SMILE! Proven ways to look better in selfies and group photos

Problem: You dig out your phone, only to see it’s another scammer

I love this tip. I set this up myself recently to see who is calling without taking my phone out of my pocket, no smartwatch required.

You know that you can assign ringtones to specific contacts, but you can also set unique vibration patterns. That means you’ll be able to tell who’s calling just by the buzzing pattern.

On an iPhone:

Launch your Phone app and tap Contacts. Then, select a contact from the list.
In the top-right corner of the screen, tap Edit.
Hit Ringtone if you want the phone to vibrate or Text Tone if you want vibrations for texts.
Next, tap Vibration. Under the Standard list, select a vibration.
To go back, tap Ringtone or Text Tone.
Tap Done twice to finish up.

If you have an Android, you’ll need a third-party app to get this done. Buzzkill is highly reviewed, but it does cost $2.49. On the bright side, it doesn’t connect to the internet, so your data doesn’t leave your device.

Another handy feature: You can set up Buzzkill to notify you only once when someone texts you several times in a row. Cool.

Problem: You hung yet another frame crooked on the wall

If you need to hang a picture, you don’t need to grab a level — your phone can do it for you.

On an iPhone:

Open the Measure app, then tap Level on the bottom right.
The level will appear on the screen and is ready to use.

On an Android:

Open the Google app or your browser and search for “bubble level.”
Use it just like you would a normal level, placing it on a surface.

Taking on a home renovation project? Tap or click for 7 apps that can help you get your DIY job done right.

Problem: You waste time typing in handwritten notes

Sometimes it’s just easier writing something by hand — but it’s a pain to type everything in once you want to edit or send it digitally. Here’s an easier way: Use the free Google Lens app.

It turns your handwriting into text right before your eyes. Google Lens is pretty amazing. Tap or click here for direct links to download and more handy features.

If you don’t like using Google products, check out the Evernote app or Microsoft’s OneNote. Both let you take a picture of your writing so you can edit it all.

The caveat, of course: If your handwriting isn’t fairly legible, the apps won’t work well. If you have chicken-scratch writing, voice dictation will save you from typing, too. Tap or click for pro tips for better results in Microsoft Word or Google Docs.

PODCAST PICK: AirTag travel hack, protect Alexa privacy, texting tricks

One man found his lost luggage thanks to an Apple AirTag. I’ll tell you how these trackers can help you, along with how you can use Apple’s new self-service repair program. Plus, you’ll soon see Prime delivery on all sorts of online stores. Here’s why. You’ll also learn a Google privacy trick, why physical metaverse stores are opening up and more.

Check out my podcast “Kim Komando Today” on Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player.

Listen to the podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for my last name, “Komando.”

What digital lifestyle questions do you have? Call Kim’s national radio show and tap or click here to find it on your local radio station. You can listen to or watch The Kim Komando Show on your phone, tablet, television, or computer. Or tap or click here for Kim’s free podcasts.

Copyright 2022, WestStar Multimedia Entertainment. All rights reserved. By clicking the shopping links, you’re supporting my research. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. I only recommend products I believe in.

Learn about all the latest technology on The Kim Komando Show, the nation’s largest weekend radio talk show. Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today’s digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. For her daily tips, free newsletters, and more, visit her website at Komando.com.