Ramblings, ideas, problems, and solutions

Category: Tips & Tricks

  • Enable HDMI Device Link on PS4

    Following our recent move from one home to another, we changed up our media diet, and replaced our media center PC with two devices; an Apple TV and a Playstation 4. The former is HDMI Device Link-enabled from the get-go, meaning that you (in theory) only need to use the Apple TV remote to turn on both the Apple TV and the TV itself. In practice, it’s not always that clear-cut, though it generally works fairly well. HDMI Device Link does work when the TV is on, switching from one input to another.

    (more…)

  • Use all screens in RDP

    This is one of those things that – in hindsight – is fairly obvious, but which wasn’t until I was asked the question, and had to start thinking about it.

    (more…)

  • GoPro Studio: Adding some flair to your videos

    Two weeks ago, I showed you the basics of working in GoPro Studio. This week, I want to show you a couple of techniques that I use to add some flair to my videos.

    (more…)

  • GoPro Studio: Video editing basics

    Action cams are made – more or less literally – to create content for streaming video services, such as YouTube or Vimeo, and while you could certainly just upload your raw footage straight to such services, a better option is very likely to be to edit them before you do so. For the time being, my needs are very simple, and I am able to get what I want done using just GoPro Studio, GoPro’s free video editing suite.

    (more…)

  • Stop iTunes from opening when connecting an iOS device

    Last week, I showed you how to disable the feature of iTunes and iPhoto opening when you connect an iOS device. The same issue occurs on Windows computers, too. Here’s how you resolve it:

    (more…)

  • Manage login items in Mac OS X

    Last week, I showed you how to manage login items in Windows 8 and 10, and the week before that how to do so on Windows 7 and previous versions. This can be useful knowledge for Mac OS X, too. Here’s how: (more…)

  • Managing login items on Windows 8 and 10

    Last week, I showed you how to manage login items – i.e. programs automatically loaded on login – in Windows 7 and earlier versions of Windows. From Windows 8 onwards, this has become far simpler. Here’s how you do it: (more…)

  • Manage login items in Windows 7

    It’s always a good idea to keep track of login items – i.e. what applications are being automatically opened when you log in. In Windows 7 (and, if memory serves, on previous versions of Microsoft Windows), this is done through the MS Config tool. Here’s how: (more…)

  • Stop Inbox redirecting GMail

    A while ago, I went back to using Inbox by GMail as my primary platform for email. For the most part, I am happy to do so; it makes my life a bit easier, and makes controlling the contents of my inbox significantly easier. There are, however, some things that I need GMail for, most notably to send email to predefined groups of recipients, as these are not supported in Inbox. I vaguely remembered being notified that this would happen, but had to look around quite a bit to find the setting in question. Here’s how I found it: (more…)

  • Fix iPhone call failed issue

    iPhoneCallFailedSome time ago, I found my iPhone started to claim that a call had failed, when the call had in fact been terminated normally. This got a bit annoying, but luckily, there’s a simple fix. Here’s how I fixed it: (more…)

  • Change author name and initials in Word

    A while back, a user called in, asking me how she could change the name and initials that Word used when filling in Author and when showing who had made a comment. Not having had to do that for some time, I quickly researched it, finding it was simple enough to do. In order to avoid having to research it in the future, here’s how: (more…)