This buying guide will help you decide on the best laptop for your needs and budget. 6 Things to Consider When Buying a Laptop Whether it’s a basic laptop, a 2-in-1, one built specifically for gaming, or one tailored to businesses, here are the top factors to consider: CostType (2-in-1, ultrabook, etc.)Operating system (Mac OS, Chrome OS, or Windows)Graphics and DisplayProcessor and RAMStorage How Much Should You Spend on a Laptop?...

To find a specific type of template, browse through the categories and download the right template for the occasion. Each template shows you what the download contains (if it’s an archive or single file), what version of Excel the template works with, a screenshot of the template, and suggestions on how to use the template. The Trump Excel website provides screenshots that gives a view of each free template and how-to instructions that show what the template is capable of handling....

Other apps like Instagram can offer a refreshing change. These are apps that have rolled some of Instagram’s best features into their own, but have a totally unique feel to them. If you’re just looking for something new to try out, have a look through the following list of apps that are just as visually appealing and community driven as Instagram. With Retrica, you get all the stuff you love from Instagram plus more....

File Formats Canon DSLRs use a variation of the MOV file format, Nikon and Olympus cameras use the AVI format, and Panasonic and Sony use the AVCHD format. All videos can be translated into different formats at the editing and output stage. Video Quality Most of the new prosumer and top-end DSLRs record in full 4k at a rate of 24 to 30 frames per second. Entry-level DSLRs can often only record at the lower resolution of 720p HD (a resolution of 1280x720 pixels) or 1080p....

Use a Meme Generator Many online meme generators support speech or thought bubbles that overlay an uploaded or stock image. Services like SuperLame, for example, include more than one option for these bubbles. Use Microsoft Paint Microsoft Paint on Windows 10 remains a free, reliable standby. The modern version of Paint includes built-in callouts for speech and thought bubbles. Just open your favorite image and drag a call-out on top of it, then add a text box overlaying the callout....

How to Convert a Photo to Black and White in GIMP Before considering the Channel Mixer option, let’s look at the simplest way to convert a digital photo to black and white in GIMP. Typically when a GIMP user wants to convert a digital photo to black and white, they’ll go to the Colors menu and select Desaturate. While the Desaturate dialog does offer three options for how the conversion will be made, namely Lightness, Luminosity and the average of the two, in practice the difference is often very slight....

Israeli space weather researchers report they’ve used AI to predict the sun’s radiation outbreaks up to 96 hours before they occurred. A huge solar blast is likely to hit the earth with unpredictable results, but it could include destroying satellites. “The impacts of such a storm can be wide varying—[it can affect] power delivery and grid security, communications, satellite operations, and collision avoidance, spacecraft charging and damage, [lead to] radiation exposure [for] astronauts and commercial airlines passengers and crews, and more,” Piyush Mehta, a professor of Space Systems at West Virginia University told Lifewire in an email interview....

Tidio editor Kazimierz Rajnerowicz spent over 30 hours asking half a dozen popular artificial intelligence (AI)-powered voice assistants and chatbots all kinds of questions and concluded that while virtual assistants are great at retrieving facts, they aren’t advanced enough to hold a conversation. “AI today is pattern recognition,” explained Liziana Carter, founder of conversational AI start-up Grow AI, to Lifewire in a conversation over email. “Expecting it to advise whether robbing a bank is right or wrong is expecting creative thinking from it, also known as AI General Intelligence, which we’re far from right now....

What is ALAC? The ALAC format option in iTunes is short for Apple Lossless Audio Codec (or simply Apple Lossless), and it does not compress your music to the extent that sound quality is impacted. The audio is still compressed like AAC, but the big difference is that the sound quality remains identical to the source. This lossless audio format is similar to other formats you may have heard about, such as Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)....

How to Add Photos to an iMovie Project Any images located in your Photos, iPhoto, or Aperture library are available for use in iMovie. If the photos you want to use in your iMovie project are not located in one of these libraries, add them to the library before you open iMovie. Apple recommends you use the Photos Library when working with iMovie. You can use any size or resolution photo in iMovie, but big, high-quality photos look best....

Google initially unveiled Android 12L last week, noting that it would use the update to create a more unified Android experience on tablets, folding phones, and even Chromebooks. The idea is to make better use of the real estate provided by the larger screens. Google plans to address this by improving multitasking and the look of notifications, and even adding some backend changes. But it doesn’t stop there, as Google also plans to bring Android 12L to smaller devices....

It’s something the FIDO Alliance has been pushing for as it believes passwords are no longer the most secure way to protect accounts. Most average users tend to stick with the same one or two passwords for everything (to make it easier to remember), which leads to problems if one is compromised. But passwordless sign-in, according to FIDO, could be more convenient and secure for everyone if it became the industry standard, which is where Apple, Google, and Microsoft come in....

So What: While industry contracts might seem a bit too much inside baseball, the fact that Apple has been able to come to terms with labels for massively popular artists like Taylor Swift, Lizzo, Adele, and more, just means that you’ll be able to listen to them for a lot longer. As MacRumors points out, competitor Spotify has had trouble recently renewing their own rights to music, so this could give Apple a clear advantage over time....

Bloomberg Wealth reports that the service, internally referred to as “Apple Pay Later,” will use Apple Card partner Goldman Sachs as the lender for the proposed installment plan. As of now, the service is expected to offer Apple Pay users the option to pay overtime at the point of sale. They’ll have the choice of making a total of four payments once every two weeks with no interest or more payments over several months with interest....

New support pages released by Apple have revealed that the 5G-enabled M1 iPad Pro will allow users to do more on their 5G connection. According to 9To5Mac, the 5G M1 iPad Pro will allow more data usage over 5G than on other cellular connections to download software updates, watch higher-definition content on Apple TV, and more. Based on the information on the support pages, users will be able to better control how apps and their operating system utilize their cellular connections....

Overall Findings The Apple Safari browser, now a key piece of macOS, is seamlessly integrated into some core Apple applications, including Apple Mail and Photos. This is one of the advantages of Apple having an its own browser. Mozilla Firefox is a popular alternative to Safari. Although it may not be as fast, the difference isn’t enough to discount Firefox as your browser of choice. Although Safari’s speed and integration with the operating system may give it a leg up at first glance, Firefox has some appealing features....

CNBC reports that Craig Federighi talked about Mac malware during a court appearance on Wednesday for the Epic Games v. Apple trial. Federighi said that the tech giant is not happy about the amount of malware that exists on macOS, as far as the company’s expectations for itself goes. “Today, we have a level of malware on the Mac that we don’t find acceptable and that is much worse than iOS,” Federighi said in his testimony in court....

Archiving in Facebook Messenger moves a conversation to a separate folder to keep your inbox clean and organized. Archive Facebook Conversations on Your Computer In a computer browser, archive Facebook conversations on the Messenger screen. There are a couple of ways to get there. If the conversation is unread, the sender’s name appears in bold type in the Hidden Chats folder. If you previously viewed the conversation, the sender’s name appears in regular type....

What Is an ARD File? A file with the ARD file extension might be an ArtiosCAD workspace file that contains a drawing or a 3D design. They’re used with the ArtiosCAD program from Esko. However, your specific ARD file could instead be an Alphacam Router drawing. We don’t have any information on this format, but given the nature of the Alphacam Router software, it’s most likely some sort of drawing file used to explain how a CNC router should cut something....

Landline vs. VoIP Security If you wonder which is the safer mode of communication—landline phone or VoIP app—you need to understand that neither of these methods of communication is completely safe and private. Authorities can wiretap your conversations in both settings. Hackers can too, but hackers find it more difficult to hack and eavesdrop on a telephone line than on VoIP. This also applies to authorities. Of these two methods, landline phone calls are a more secure option....