Use voice commands to write and format text with Google Docs – CNET

Google Docs added voice typing last year, and I hope you’ve never heard someone writing in this manner at Starbucks or a nearby cubicle at work. Should you have a workspace to indulge in voice typing, however, then you should know that Google has expanded the capabilities of voice typing. In addition to using your voice to type, you can now also use your voice to edit and format your document.

You may see a prompt the next time you open a Doc file on Google Drive that asks if you want to try using your voice to type, navigate or format. If you missed that offer, you can enable voice typing by going to the Tools menu at the top of your document and selecting Voice typing. When enabled, you’ll see small window with a large microphone icon pop up along the right edge of your browser.

Voice typing is available only in the Chrome browser. And while voice typing is available in dozens of languages, voice commands to edit and format are available only in English.

To start voice typing in a Google Doc, click the microphone icon and — if you have never used the feature before — allow it to access your computer’s microphone when prompted. You can use your voice to type, but there are also a wide variety of commands you can use to edit and format.

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Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

For example, you can say “select next word” or “select line” or “select paragraph” or other parts of your document to highlight a portion to edit or format. You can then edit by using cut, copy or paste voice commands, among others. You can apply text formatting options such as bold or italics, change the alignment on the page or change the text color. (For the curious, the text colors Google recognizes are red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple and magenta.)

You can also use voice commands to move the cursor around on the page, which means you can really go all-in with voice typing by not constantly reaching for your mouse or touchpad. Use the “move to” or “go to” command to go to, for instance, the end of a line, the start of a paragraph or to the next or previous character or word.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly because like any voice app, Google’s voice typing doesn’t always hear you right, you can say “undo” to take back a previous command.

To see all of the voice commands available for Google Docs, check out this informative Google support page. And watch this YouTube clip from Google Docs to see voice commands in action.

Use Amazon Echo to never run out of pizza again – CNET

Chris Monroe/CNET

The Amazon Echo is one of the most useful additions to your smart home, especially with the latest update. It’s now much smarter and it plays nicely with even more smart devices, making it much easier to use Alexa to automate your home.

However, with the help of one particular skill, the Echo’s abilities extend outside your walls and into your nearby Domino’s location. Here’s how you can order pizza with your Amazon Echo.

Setting up the Amazon Echo for Domino’s Pizza ordering

To add Domino’s ordering to the Amazon Echo, you will need to enable the Domino’s Pizza skill. Open the application on your phone or go to echo.amazon.com and navigate to the Skills section. Search for Domino’s and click Enable. A new browser tab will open where you will need to login to your Domino’s account and approve the connection.

In order for the skill to work, you need to have a Pizza Profile. To create one, go to dominos.com and click Create One in the upper right corner. Fill out all the appropriate information and click Create your profile.

With a linked Pizza Profile, you can use the Amazon Echo to quickly order your preset Easy Order or reorder your most recent order from Domino’s.

To create an Easy Order, begin placing an order at dominos.com, choose carryout or delivery and enter your payment information. Before clicking Place your order, make sure to check the box beside Save this order as your Easy Order. Give the Easy Order a name and click Place your order.

Order pizza with the Echo

After the skill is enabled and your Easy Order is set up, you won’t even need to lift a finger to place your next pizza order. Just say: “Alexa, open Domino’s and place my Easy Order.”

The order will automatically be placed using all the saved information from the Easy Order — your billing information, address, preferred Domino’s location and whether you want the order to be delivery or carryout.

You can also get updates on the status of your order with the Amazon Echo. Say, “Alexa, ask Domino’s to track my order.” It will tell you what stage the order is currently in so you will know when to expect the delivery or when you should leave to pick up your carryout order.

How to easily toggle alerts in Skype chats – CNET

Skype’s group conversations are a convenient way to stay in touch with family, friends, or coworkers from your computer. But sometimes the constant stream of blips and beeps for new messages can be frustrating if you need to focus on another task.

Disabling notifications for all chats means you may miss something important if you also use Skype for work. And leaving a group conversation means you can’t catch up on what was said later. Luckily, there’s a quick way to disable alerts on a group-by-group (or individual) basis, and still get notified if someone mentions you by name. Here’s how:

Note: For Mac users, these commands are available, but do not work consistently, according to Skype support.

Toggling alerts

• Open the chat window you want to disable alerts for. This can be a group or individual chat.
• Type /alertsoff, then press Enter. You will not see a confirmation message, but alerts for this chat are now disabled and no notification counters will appear on the Skype icon.
• When you want to enable alerts for the chat again, simply type /alertson. Again, you will not see a confirmation message.

Trigger word alerts

After turning off alerts, you can set up trigger words that will still alert you when mentioned in the chat.

• If you type /alertson [yournamehere], you’ll be notified and your name will be highlighted.
• You can expand on this trigger by adding more words with spaces between them. So if your name is David and you like talking about basketball, you can use /alertson david basketball.

Now you won’t have to hear every alert, just the ones pertaining to you or your interests.

How to export a PDF using 3D Touch – CNET

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Sarah Tew

Apple has long provided a means to print webpages or documents from an iOS device to an AirPrint-equipped printer. However, the ability to save an item as a PDF isn’t as straightforward.

Third-party apps have typically provided the ability to turn a document into a PDF, and now it turns out, Apple is providing a native solution to quickly and easily save a document as a PDF instead of printing it.

This tip comes courtesy of MacStories.

The only caveat is that it appears the feature is currently limited to the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, both of which are equipped with 3D Touch.

The next time you need to save a webpage or convert, say, a Word document to a PDF, this is what you need to do:

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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Step 1: When viewing the document, tap the Share button and select Print. (The option shows up regardless of nearby printers or a Wi-Fi connection.)

Step 2: A preview of the document will load below the print options. You can scroll to the left or right to preview the pages.

Step 3: Instead of continuing the print process, force-touch on the document preview.

The document will then fully open, presenting another share button. Select it and save the document to Dropbox, iCloud or send as an email attachment.

How to keep YouTube audio playing in the background on iOS – CNET

Among YouTube Red’s benefits is the ability to play audio in the background while you go about your business using other apps or just sticking your phone back in your pocket. If you use headphones with their own play/pause button, then you can enjoy background-play ability on an iPhone without plunking down for YouTube’s paid service.

First of all, you will need a pair of headphone like Apple’s EarPods that feature an inline remote in order to pull off this free YouTube background play magic.

Secondly, you will need to use Safari instead of the YouTube app.

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Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

Here’s how it works: Open YouTube.com in Safari. Next, play a video and then hit the Home button to close Safari. The video will stop but if you hit the play button on your headphones, the video will start playing again. (You might experience a few seconds of delay before the video resumes.) With the video playing in the background, you can use other apps or lock your phone.

Because the only headphones I have with an inline remote are the EarPods that came with my iPhone 6S, I didn’t test this trick with any other headphones. I would wager, however, that it would work with other headphones as long as they have an inline remote to resume playing a YouTube video with Safari closed.

(Via Tech Insider on YouTube.)

Use this low-budget hack to control your smart home more easily – CNET

Taylor Martin/CNET

There are a number of ways to control your smart home without sifting through apps on your smartphone or tablet.

You can use the Amazon Echo to control your lights or thermostat by voice or have your coffee maker brew a cup of coffee, automatically, when your Fitbit detects that you’ve gotten out of bed. And the Flic and Pebblebee Stone are smart buttons you can use to control a number of devices through IFTTT with short or long clicks.

The above methods, however, are rather expensive ways to cut down on the number of steps it takes to perform specific tasks with connected devices around your house.

If you’re an Android user, there is a much simpler and inexpensive way to accomplish effectively the same thing. Here’s how to do it.

What you will need

Assuming you already have an NFC-enabled Android smartphone or tablet, it should only cost around $10 total and a few minutes per tag to get this set up and working.

First, you will need some NFC (near-filed communications) tags (one for every action you want to automate), which you can find on Amazon, usually for cheap. Second, you’ll need an app that will allow you to write to those NFC tags. I’m using NFC Tools, which is free.

Additionally, you will need an IFTTT account with an active Maker channel. If you already have an IFTTT account, all you need to do to activate the Maker channel is navigate to ifttt.com, click Channels in the upper right and search for Maker. Click on the channel icon and click Connect.

Using the Maker channel

To set up the NFC tags to work with IFTTT, you first have to create an IFTTT recipe using the Maker channel. Even if you’re familiar with IFTTT, using the Maker channel can seem a little daunting at first, but it’s actually very easy to use.

Navigate to ifttt.com in your browser or in the IF app on your smartphone. To create a new recipe, click on your username in the browser and click Create in the dropdown menu.

From the IF app, tap the recipe button in the upper right corner, then tap the plus sign in the upper right corner and tap Create a New Recipe at the bottom of the app. Then, to create the Maker recipe:

• Click This and search for Maker. Click on the Maker icon.
• For the Trigger, select Receive a web request.
• For the Event Name, use something that clearly defines what the action will do, such as: “toggle_lights.” Click Create Trigger.
• Next, click That and search for your smart device channel. For this example, I’m using Lifx. Click on the Lifx channel icon.
• Choose an action for the Maker event. Since I named the event “toggle_lights,” I chose the Toggle lights on/off action.
• Select which lights you want to toggle for the Maker event and click Create Action.
• Click Create Recipe to finish.

Setting up the NFC tag

Now, all you need to do to trigger the recipe is write a record to the NFC tag that will tell any NFC-enabled phone to go to a specific URL when it comes in contact with the tag.

• Open the IF app on your smartphone and tap the Recipe button in the upper right corner, then tap the Settings cog. Tap Channels and search for the Maker channel.
• When you open the Maker channel page, tap How to trigger events. Select and copy the URL under Make a POST or GET web request.
• Next, open the NFC Tools app on your smartphone and switch to the Write tab.
• Tap Add a record and select URL/URI.
• Paste the text in the URL field, delete “https://” and replace “event” with the Event Name. In my case, the Event Name is “toggle_lights” from the IFTTT recipe.
• In the dropdown menu to the left, select “https://” and tap OK.
• Tap the Write button and hold the NFC tag near the NFC chip on your phone. The record will write to the NFC tag.

Now you can peel the protective coating off the back of the NFC tag and stick it on the wall near your front door or in a less conspicuous place near the entrance. A few seconds after you tap your phone to the NFC tag, your lights will turn on.

You can use similar recipes to trigger all sorts of events in your house. For instance, you could create a recipe with a Maker event called “Home.” When you walk in and tap your phone to the tag, you can have the lights turn on, the thermostat switch on the heat or air conditioning and your doors lock.

Since these tags are so cheap, you can stick them all around your house. Place one on your coffee table to turn on the TV and activate dimmer lighting for the evening and one by your bedside to start the coffee maker and turn on the lights around the house when you wake up or to turn everything off when going to bed.

Share Web links in a flash with Send from Gmail – CNET

Want to share a link with someone? The usual drill: Copy the URL, open up your mail page, compose a new message, paste in the link and click Send. It’s not difficult, but it’s definitely more steps than it should be.

In fact, there’s an easy way to cut out several of those steps. If you’re a Gmail and Chrome user, Google’s Send from Gmail extension greatly simplifies the link-sharing process.

This isn’t new; it’s been around since 2013. But it was new to me, and so I’m guessing it’ll be new to at least a few of you as well. Hopefully useful, too.

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Click this one icon and presto: a new Gmail window with the link already pasted in.

Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET

Once installed, Send from Gmail adds an icon to your Chrome toolbar. When you’re looking at a page you want to share, just give that icon a click.

In short order, you’ll see a new Gmail message with the link pasted into the body and the name of the page in the subject line.

For your part, you just need to type the recipient’s name and click Send. Doesn’t get much easier than that.

Sure, there are lots of other ways to share links, but if you share a lot of them and want to do it faster, this is definitely worth a try.

Use your fingerprint to authorize Google Play purchases on Android 6.0 Marshmallow – CNET

Before the latest version of Android, only one option existed for keeping Google Play purchases secure: entering your password. But if you’re using Android 6.0 Marshmallow — on devices like the Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P — then you’ve gained the ability to authenticate with your fingerprint instead.

Using a fingerprint is faster than typing in a complex password, and gives you the final decision on purchases if you share an account with someone else. Here’s how to set it up:

Note: You will need to have fingerprint security enabled for this setting to work. For more information on setting this up, check out this post.

Step 1: Head to the Google Play store, open the slide-out menu and head to Settings.

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Nicole Cozma/CNET

Step 2: Scroll down to Fingerprint authentication and tap the check box next to it.

Step 3: Enter your password when prompted, and you’re set.

Now you can skip typing in a password for any Google Play purchases. Instead, you’ll see a pop-up asking for your fingerprint.

Which method do you prefer? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Shortcut Labs Flic review – CNET

The Good Flic is easy to set up and even easier to use. The partnerships all work well, and the button’s potential is high.

The Bad The iOS app isn’t as sharp or deep as the Android counterpart. The Bluetooth dependency also limits Flic use to those who always carry their phone — so the cool use cases for older folks or young children might not be possible.

The Bottom Line Flic is a clever device with plenty of uses, and its functionality is quickly growing. Today, it’s a cool product. In a year, it could be one of the best smart-home purchases out there.

Visit manufacturer site for details.

If you had a button that could do anything, what would you make it do? In my ideal smart home, that button would simplify otherwise complicated automation: press it once, turn off the lights; press it twice, turn on my game console; hold it down, order a pizza. And as it turns out, Flic, a smart button from Sweden-based Shortcut Labs, does exactly that and more.

Flic started as an Indiegogo darling in 2014, and received over eight times its funding target (nearly a million dollars). Now it’s making its way into the wide world of smart stuff, priced at $34 (about £24 and AU$47) per button or $99 (about £70 and AU$147) for four. The concept is simple: take a Bluetooth-enabled button, put it anywhere you want, and connect it to every app and device you can imagine. And it works, for the most part. Flic is a great product, especially for Android users and UK residents, and it looks like it will only keep getting better with each new partnership it adds.

What can you do with a smart button? (pictures)
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An integration device like Flic is all about the partnerships. Shortcut Labs has partnered with Spotify, Logitech, Philips Hue, LIFX, Unified Remote, WeMo, Sonos, Zapier, IFTTT and even Domino’s. Yes, that means you can order a pizza with the press of a button — if you live in the UK. Users in the US will have to wait for that feature to cross the Atlantic.

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Chris Monroe/CNET

The big question is this: Should you buy Flic? And the answer is, probably. It’s relatively cheap — if you get the four-pack, it’s about $25 (£18 or AU$35) each — and the button has something for everyone. That said, Android devices have around 50 Flic functions at present, as opposed to 27 functions on iOS devices. And UK users will get that awesome pizza-button function, whereas US and Australian users will have to wait for that. So some people definitely get a more flexible product out of the box than others.

Sigma sd Quattro and sd Quattro H Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

Sigma

Sigma follows up its must-have new lens announcements with a who-wants-it? debut of its first mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras, the Sigma sd Quattro and sd Quattro H. Sigma didn’t release a lot of specs for the cameras (though B&H seems to have them), so it’s possible there’s some buried treasure in there somewhere. But aside from the Foveon sensor and the Sigma lens mount, there doesn’t seem to be anything novel or noteworthy about them. And as yet there’s no price for them, and that will factor heavily in just how much even those will matter. Sigma hasn’t revealed an expected ship date, either.

The two cameras differ by the sensor. The sd Quattro uses the same APS-C sensor as the Sigma dp2 Quattro line, while the sd Quattro H uses the same sensor technology in the larger APS-H format, which has a focal-length equivalent of 1.3x of full frame, about the same size as the 1.5-inch sensor Canon uses in its G1 X series.

The structure of Sigma’s APS-C Foveon sensor.

Sigma

The Foveon X3 sensor is composed of red-, green- and blue-sensitive layers; the top blue-sensitive layer has four times the number of photodiodes as the red and green channels. It uses those to create a luminance channel (that’s the image detail), which is then combined with the color data to form the full-color picture. Sigma math — in which the company defines a “pixel” as a single color element rather than an actual picture element — takes the 19.6-megapixel sd Quattro and 25.5MP sd Quattro H sensors and claims they’re equivalent to 39MP and 51MP Bayer-array sensors, respectively.

As always with the Foveon sensors, my belief is that they might deliver better color and detail than other sensors with similar numbers of pixels, but the spatial resolution of the final files is represented by the lower numbers. Sigma includes a new Super-Fine Detail mode that’s really in-camera HDR, but unlike other cameras it merges seven exposures together rather than two or three.

The magnesium-alloy body is dust- and splashproof, which is nice, and it has an electronic viewfinder, but otherwise the specs are kind of ho-hum. It’s fairly large and heavy — close to the size and weight of a midrange dSLR like the Canon EOS 70D. And it doesn’t support video, lacks Wi-Fi connectivity and built-in flash, and has rated continuous-shooting speeds of just under 4 frames per second (and it’s not clear if that’s with or without autofocus).

Though it’s oddly designed, with the sensor section much bigger than the grip, it actually looks fairly comfortable to hold. But overall, unless all you care about is the sensor, they don’t seem very compelling; and if the sensor matters that much to you, the sd Quattro H looks like a more attractive option.