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Smartphone space-saving tip

No matter how much storage there was on your phone when you first bought it, I bet there is a lot less now.

Downloading lots of apps onto your phone certainly use up a lot of space, so the first thing to do is to consider is how many of them you actually use and delete those you don't.

Secondly, consider whether it would be better to use you phone's browser instead of an app to get the information you want. Many web pages are better - and have more information - than their equivalent application. If you are using an iPhone or iPad, you can also make a link look like an app by adding it to the Home Screen rather than saving it to the Bookmark menu.

This approach came to me when I was investigating concerns over Facebook Messenger. Facebook isn't the only application that accesses information and utilities on your phone, so using the browser instead of an app can give increased protection of your private data as well as saving space.

If you back up your iPhone or iPad to a computer, you can also free up space by going to Music (on the Finder sidebar) > iTunes > iTunes Media > Mobile Applications and deleting the applications there.

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8 August 2014

977   


Concerns over Facebook Messenger

If you want to send and receive private messages on a mobile device, you will need to install a standalone application. Sounds fine but before you do, it might be worth reading the terms and conditions in a little more detail than you would normally do...

Here are some of the permissions outlined in the app's terms of service:


One way round this may be to access Facebook with your mobile's browser. If you do this, you wouldn't need the Facebook app either - saving memory on your smartphone.

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7 August 2014

1110   


Quote of the Week

Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots. - Victor Hugo

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4 August 2014

477   


Macbook locked during Yosemite Beta installation

I thought I would get OSX Yosemite early by signing up for the consumer beta trial. I downloaded the installation package and started the install. All went well to begin with but after restart the installation stopped due to an error.

After a performing a restart, the computer was in recovery mode with just a few utilities available. I couldn't recover from Time Machine because I didn't have an external disk that was big enough; I couldn't erase the hard drive because it was locked and I didn't want to download Yosemite again to find that I would be in the same position 6 hours later. I did a lot of online research and it looked as if I was going to have to use the terminal to unlock the disks. I was reluctantly about to do this when I accidentally discovered a much simpler solution...

I restarted the computer but this time I held the shift key down. This time the computer didn't go into recovery mode but started to continue its installation of Yosemite. I quickly quit from the installation program and the computer was back to normal with all its files intact (phew!).

It seems that I had unwittingly started the computer in Safe Mode which restricts the number of programs that can run when the computer is started. The following are Apple's instructions for starting in Safe Mode.

1. Be sure your Mac is shut down.

2 Press the power button.

3. Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key.

4. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.

5. Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple logo and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).

6. After the logo appears, you should see a progress bar during startup. This indicates that your computer is performing a directory check as part of Safe Mode.

To leave Safe Mode, restart your computer without holding any keys during startup.

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29 July 2014

871   


Tired people more likely to cheat

Research has found that tired people not only have decreased productivity but are also more likely to lie, cheat or behave unethically.

Psychologists have found that early-risers and late-nighters have different levels of honesty depending on the time of day. The study found a link between ethical choices and internal clocks. Early risers tend to cheat at night and late risers tend to cheat in the morning.

The research examined the behaviour of almost 200 people - with the subjects taking part in problem-solving tests and games without realising that it was their honesty that was being measured.

Soure: http://hub.jhu.edu/2014/06/30/ethical-behavior-tired

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21 July 2014

816   


Oxbridge straight-A reject record

Leading universities are reporting a sharp rise in applications for undergraduate places this year.

A record 28,000 straight-A students face being rejected by Oxford and Cambridge this year.

Figures show the number of students attempting to win places at leading universities is dramatically outstripping levels seen three years ago - when applications spiked just before a sharp rise in tuition fees.

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20 July 2014

795   


Quote of the Week

He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened. - Lao-Tzu (c. 550 B.C.)

More quotes: http://mwls.com/quotes/

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20 July 2014

788   


Smart subtitles help language learning

An application - Fleex - extracts subtitle data from a video in the the language you want to learn (only English at present) and shows subtitles in both your target and native languages.

Initially, all the subtitles in your own language are displayed with only a small proportion shown in the target language. This is done to avoid swamping beginners. As the learner becomes more proficient, the number of native subtitles diminishes while the target subtitles increase.

Source

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5 June 2014

972   


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