Click-clack, click-clack. That’s the sound of someone typing meeting notes during a Zoom call, and it’s super annoying. Like caffeinated chipmunks, people sometimes don’t realize they are clattering away on a keyboard. Yet, someone has to jot down action items and reminders. That “someone” doesn’t have to be a human, …
Read More »Attention, Spoiled Software Engineers: Take a Lesson from Google’s Programming Language
Many of today’s programmers—excuse me, software engineers—consider themselves “creatives.” Artists of a sort. They are given to ostentatious personal websites with cleverly hidden Easter eggs and parallax scrolling; they confer upon themselves multihyphenate job titles (“ex-Amazon-engineer-investor-author”) and crowd their laptops with identity-signaling vinyl stickers. Some regard themselves as literary sophisticates. …
Read More »4 Useful Slack Features You May not Be Using Yet
Slack has been keeping offices and organizations humming along since all the way back in 2013. And while it might not quite have fully replaced email, it's certainly made an impact for business teams working together. The software has gained a lot of new features across the decade-plus that it's …
Read More »Do You Need an Antivirus Program on Windows?
Once upon a time, an antivirus program would be the one of the first pieces of software you would install on a new Windows PC. Now, that’s much less common. Many users instead now rely on the Windows Security tool that’s built into Microsoft’s operating system to keep them protected …
Read More »Where Is CarPlay 2?
For lots of smartphone owners, Apple is the conduit to the internet. Since 2022, Apple has made it clear that it wants to be the same for lots of drivers, too. That’s when the company announced “next-generation” CarPlay 2, which is set to extend CarPlay’s convenient phone-mirroring technology beyond a …
Read More »Google Photos Is Getting a Gemini Infusion to Power Its Search
Google Photos has a decent search experience right now. I was recently trying to find some photos of my sister's engagement from a few years ago, and a simple “yellow dress” with her name added in front brought all the images to my fingertips within moments. But Google thinks it …
Read More »The Best Apps for Distraction-Free Writing
We are bombarded by distractions every moment of every day. Some of them are of our own making; others are basically unavoidable. As I sat writing this story my Fitbit reminded me to get up and move, I received well over 100 emails, Duolingo told me it was time for …
Read More »Why Did Samsung Take Control of My Banking App? Inside Android’s ‘Clobbering’ Dilemma
The oddest app update in my 16 years of owning smartphones happened last November. My Samsung Galaxy S23 running Google’s Android 13 operating system notified me that some updates were ready to be installed from the Galaxy Store, which Samsung ships on its devices as a complement to Google’s Play …
Read More »Zoom Is Going After Google and Microsoft With AI-Driven Docs
Starting Monday, Zoom users will have the option to open a document tool from within their video calling app and create sharable files based on their meetings—but they’ll also be prompted to use generative AI to help them write and edit them. This new feature, essentially Zoom’s version of Google …
Read More »How to Quickly Remove Bloatware and Invasive Apps From Your Computer
Setting up a new operating system on your PC can give you a fresh, clean start. But each new installation also comes with some unwanted garbage, from bundled software you don't need, to pesky features that invade your privacy. It's true for Windows, it's true for Mac, and it's even …
Read More »