Safeguard smartphone with case and screen protector
A sales rep at T-Mobile tried to talk my friend out of buying a case and a screen protector for her new smartphone. “Just get one or the other,” he said. Wrong!
A modern phone’s Gorilla Glass is unlikely to crack. But it can get scratches.
My old phone got a blob of Gorilla Glue on it once. An attempt to remove it with a razor blade killed the phone.
Of course, even the screen protector can crack. That’s why they come in packs of three. Mine got a big crack in it when I dropped it on a hard surface from way up high. I popped in a new one and was back in business. I like a glass screen protector because you can wipe off fingerprints easily.
The Tocol tempered glass screen protector comes in a three-pack for under $10. There are many similar products out there but the Tocol has an alignment guide that makes it easy to place perfectly. With its adhesive backing, it’s also fairly flexible.
TECH SCRUBBER
I just tried out my first high-tech electric brush while cleaning the bathtub and surrounding tile. It’s called the K1 Multi-Function Spin Scrubber from Goodpapa. It did a better job than scrubbing by hand.
The Goodpapa K1 is about the size of a small massage gun and is shaped like one, but it has different brushes and pads for different tasks.
Instead of wearing out your arm using a scouring pad, you can hold the K1 against a surface and watch it whir. It worked great in the bathroom. And it’s rechargeable. But in testing it on a friend’s barbecue, I discovered that the wire brush for grills isn’t as strong as a regular wire brush.
On the Kickstarter crowdfunding site, you can preorder the Goodpapa scrubber
kit for $79. Early backers will get it in October. The kit includes a bottle brush, a wire brush for pots, pans and grills, a flat brush for cleaning out gunk from sinks and tile, and scratch-free pads for glass stovetops, windows, etc.
HEARING YOUR TV BETTER
Often, the sound effects on TV drown out the characters’ conversation. Here’s how to beat that.
In your TV’s audio settings, cycle through the presets, looking for a choice like “news,” “dialog” or “speech boost.” If you don’t see those options, choose “movie” or “standard.” For more, see CNET’s article “How to improve your TV’s speech and get rid of muffled dialogue.”
CASH-BACK APPS
■ Amazon has an app called Amazon Shopper Panel. Take a picture of ten receipts from any store that isn’t owned by Amazon and you’ll receive $10 in Amazon credit. If a receipt was emailed to you, it’s even easier. Just forward it to the shopper panel email address. All 10 receipts must be sent within 30 days. The next month you can do it again with a new batch.
■ Textaisle.com gives you cash back on some grocery items. Take a picture of your receipt and text it to the Textaisle phone number. The rewards will show up in the free Venmo app, available from Venmo.com. For now, Textaisle seems to be rewarding only certain brands of seltzer water, dairyfree frozen treats, cookies, chips and a few other things, mainly carried by Whole Foods and Wegmans. See the list at vip.gotoaisle.com.
APP MATH
How do you help your kids with math if you’re not sure what their homework is asking for? You turn to an app.
Photomath has millions of users. The founder created it after he struggled to explain math to his own children. The basic app is free, but if you want complete explanations on how a problem was solved, you need the Premium version. It’s $60 a year but has a free trial.
The app gets a lot of praise, but some children have been accused of cheating because they didn’t understand the work they turned in. I saw scores of happy testimonials, however. One boy said it taught him a lot more math than his teacher did.
UNDO SEND
My favorite Gmail feature is Undo Send. I’ve been using it since it was an experimental option. Undo Send lets you call back a message before it’s too late.
Once in a while, I forget to keep my emails light, tight and trite. Undo Send prevents me from getting the kind of response the late Sen. Alan Metzenbaum of Ohio supposedly used when answering pesky constituents: “Dear Sir or Madam: We think you should know that some crank is sending out letters signed with your name.”
Thankfully, Undo Send is now a standard feature in Gmail. To adjust its settings, click on the little picture of a gear in Gmail and choose “See All Settings.” In the General tab, scroll down till you get to “Undo Send.” Choose how long your undo window should be. It can be anything between 5 and 30 seconds. Scroll to the bottom of the page and choose “Save Settings.”