While silicon is the most widely used semiconductor material in electronics, a range of semiconductors is used, including germanium, gallium arsenide, silicon carbide, and organic semiconductors. Each material has advantages such as cost-to-performance ratio, high-speed operation, high-temperature tolerance, or the desired response to a signal. Semiconductors Semiconductors are useful because engineers control the electrical properties and behavior during the manufacturing process. Semiconductor properties are controlled by adding small amounts of impurities in the semiconductor through a process called doping....

The Platform Accountability and Transparency Act (PATA) bill isn’t the first legislation that aims to introduce transparency into the secret sauce that powers popular social media platforms. However, while the earlier attempts such as 2020’s Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (PACT) Act failed to pass muster, PATA comes when there’s growing angst against social media, following the Facebook Papers leaks and the Senate testimony of Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri. “If the Facebook Papers have taught us anything, it is that there are real harms that are being done to sensitive groups of users, such as teens....

How to Find AirDrop Settings in Control Center AirDrop is easily one of the best-kept secrets on the iPhone and iPad. You can use it to transfer photos and other documents wirelessly between two Apple devices — iPhones, iPads, iPod touch devices, and Macs. So why haven’t more people heard about it? AirDrop originated on the Mac, and it’s slightly more familiar to those with a Mac background. Apple hasn’t pushed it in the same way the company publicized other features over the years, and it certainly doesn’t help that the switch is hidden in the iOS Control Center....

Excel Formula Syntax Some important points to remember about Excel formulas: Formulas in Excel begin with an equal sign. The equal sign is typed into the cell where the answer will appear. The addition sign in Excel is the plus symbol. Formulas are completed by pressing the Enter key. Use Cell References in Addition Formulas In the example data shown below, rows 2 through 4 use a formula that is located in column C to add the data in columns A and B....

Add Sender to Address Book Quickly in Mozilla Thunderbird, Mozilla, or Netscape To add the sender of a message to your Mozilla Thunderbird, Netscape or Mozilla address book fast: Click on the name and email address (sometimes only the address is shown) on top of the message, following From (or From:).Select Add to Address Book (or Add to Address Book…) from the menu that has appeared.If a contact sheet appears:Edit the card as you see fit....

Where Do I Find AirPlay on My iPhone? If you’re streaming music or videos on your iPhone and you want to send it to another device, you can use AirPlay if the app you’re streaming from, and the device you want to stream to is compatible. If they are, you can find the AirPlay icon in either the app or in the streaming controls in your Control Center. Is There a Way to Connect iPhone to TV?...

How to Apply a Screen Protector on Your Mobile Device After you spend hundreds of dollars on a new smartphone or tablet, shelling out even more for a protective plastic cover may be a hard sell. Screen protectors or screen guards are great in theory, but many people find they attract dust, trap air bubbles, and are difficult to apply. Here are the basic for applying a screen protector on your mobile device....

How to Boot Your Surface Pro From a USB Drive The steps below will boot your Surface Pro (or other Surface device) from a bootable USB drive. The Surface device will now load the bootable USB drive. It will remain in use until you turn off the Surface. Be careful not to unplug the USB drive while it’s in use, as this will likely cause the Surface to freeze or crash....

Why You Need a House in Minecraft If you’re playing in survival mode, Minecraft is a dangerous place. Zombies, skeletons, and exploding Creepers come out as soon as it gets dark, so your very first task in the game is to create a place where you can survive the night. Once you’ve built your initial house, you’ll also want to place a bed to set your spawn point, add chests to store things, and install valuable tools like a Crafting Table, Brewing Stand, Anvil, and Enchanting Table....

• When inserting the image, add an extra attribute to identify the map’s coordinates. • For example: Creating an Image Map To create an image map, first select an image that will serve as the basis of the map. The image should be “normal size”—that is, you should not use an image so large that the browser will scale it. When you insert the image, you’ll add an extra attribute that identifies the map’s coordinates: When you create an image map, you are creating an area that is clickable on the image, so the map’s coordinates must line up with the height and width of the image you selected....

How to Change the Mouse Speed in Windows 10 To change the mouse speed in a computer with Windows 10: How to Adjust the Touchpad Cursor Speed in Windows 10 To change the touchpad speed in Windows 10, open Windows Settings by pressing Win+I. Then, select Devices > Touchpad. When the Settings window opens, drag the slider in the window to the left or right to change the speed of the cursor when using the touchpad....

How to Change the Name of Your Fire Stick Can I Give My Old Fire Stick to Someone Else? If you have multiple Fire Sticks and you’d like to give an older model to a friend or family member, you can remove yourself as the owner by deregistering the device. There are two main methods to achieve this. Before you give away the device, make sure to factory reset your Fire Stick as well....

You configure your Mac’s DNS settings using the Network system preferences pane, where you can use the same instructions for any network connection type. What You Need One or more DNS IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. IP addresses are usually assigned by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), although you are usually under no constraints to use the assigned name servers. Some individuals prefer to use publicly available DNS services, such as Open DNS or Google DNS, on the theory that publicly available DNS servers may be faster than those supplied by a local ISP....

How to Charge an Apple TV Remote You’ll start seeing notifications on your TV once your Siri Remote’s battery falls to 20%. To start it charging, connect one end of a Thunderbolt cable (you should have received one with your Apple TV) to the port on the bottom of the remote, and then plug the other into the USB port of a computer or a wall adapter. How Do I Know if my Apple TV Remote Is Charging?...

What Is a Photo Scanner? Professional photographers, artists, commercial printers, and ad agencies regularly use scanners to digitize physical photographs and documents to produce professional-quality images. You may want a scanner to scan old family film photographs, negatives, and transparencies. You can even use photo scanners to scan documents and go paper-free with your receipts. Just like smartphones cut into the market share of traditional film and digital cameras, digital photography cut into the scanner market....

How Do I Choose a Keyboard Switch? Whether you’re building a custom keyboard or buying one off the shelf, the switches are always an essential keyboard feature to consider. When you push a key on your keyboard, the switch underneath is what transmits a signal to let your computer know you’ve pressed a key. In mechanical keyboards, these switches come in a variety of styles which all feel and work differently....

Screen Size Laptop screens have a range of sizes. Larger screens provide an easier-to-view workspace and work well as desktop replacements. Ultraportables tend to have smaller screens, allowing for reduced size and increased portability. Almost all laptops offer a wide aspect ratio screen either for a more cinematic display or to reduce the size of the screen in the depth dimension for an overall smaller size. All screen sizes are given in a diagonal measurement: the distance from the lower screen corner to the opposite upper corner....

Can I Chromecast to Multiple Devices? The Google Chrome web browser actually allows you to wirelessly cast different tabs and content to multiple devices without having to download any additional browser extensions or software. All you need is a computer with the Google Chrome browser installed and two devices with Chromecast functionality connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the computer. Here’s the instructions for how to wirelessly Chromecast content to multiple devices....

Maintaining a clean keyboard seems like a simple enough task. Here are a few tips for helping to clean and maintain your MacBook keyboard. How to Clean Your MacBook Keyboard With Compressed Air Compressed air is the recommended way to clean your MacBook keyboard, as well as the Mac and its accessories. How to Clean MacBook Keyboard Using Rubbing Alcohol and Cleaning Slime If you have stickiness or built-up residue on your MacBook keyboard, you might need a deeper cleaning....

Cleaning: How to Clean Your Phone Before you take any cleaning measures, disconnect your phone from its charger, or remove it from a wireless charging pad, and turn off the device. This will show you how dirty the screen is, along with preventing you from accidentally calling someone or opening an app. Use a Microfiber Cloth Your first line of defense is a microfiber cloth. You likely have a few of these lying around, as these cloths usually come with purchases of screen protectors, sunglasses, or regular glasses....