3 ways to silence annoying people online – CNET

Unfollowing on Facebook can prevent hurt feelings and make you a little saner.

Alina Bradford

We all love the Internet because it can constantly keep us connected to people. We also hate the Internet because it keeps us constantly connected to people. The joys of talking to a long-distance friend can be overshadowed by reply all emails and trolls on social media. Don’t you wish you could silence all of those annoying people?

Well, here a three tips for muting the bothersome people online so you can enjoy your time online.

Quiet the ‘reply all’ madness

Whether it comes from an inconsiderate person at work or a relative that just doesn’t get technology, a reply all email can drive you nutty. There is an easy way to stop reply all emails, though.

In Gmail, open the email conversation and click on the More drop-down menu. Choose Mute from the list and you’re done. Now the conversation is archived and any new messages won’t appear in your inbox. They’ll go straight to the archive unless someone replies directly to you.

In Outlook, select the thread and press Control + Delete. In this case, the thread will be deleted and any new messages in that thread will be immediately deleted instead of bugging you.

Banish people from your feed

There are times when you just don’t want to see another rant from Aunt Jane or Uncle Joe in your feed, but unfriending them seems harsh. In cases when you want to shut someone up without permanently getting rid of them, just mute on Facebook or Twitter.

On Facebook, click on the grey arrow on the top right-hand corner of a post by the person you want to hush and click Unfollow. From this point on, you won’t see any post by the annoying person. Facebook got rid of the option to see who’s following who, so there’s no worries that you’ll hurt anyone’s feelings.

Muting people on Twitter is just as easy. Go to one of the annoying person’s posts and click on the three dots on the bottom right-hand side. A menu will pop up. Click Mute. You will no longer see Tweets from that person in your timeline.

Stop emails from creeps

Unsubscribing from sites and telling people not to email you ever again often doesn’t work. To permanently exile someone from your email box, you need to filter.

Gmail

Click on the arrow in the upper right-hand side > Click Filter messages like these > Click Create filter with this search > Tick the Delete it option box > Click the Create filter option

Now all of the emails from this address will go right into the trash and you’ll never even know they sent you a message.

Apple Mail

Go to Mail Preferences > Rules > Add rule > Name your rule > Click Condition > Choose Name and fill out the name of who you want to filter > Click on the “+” to add another person > Under Perform the following actions option choose Delete message > Click OK > Click Apply and if you have any messages in your inbox from the person and they will be deleted as well.

Just like in Gmail, all of these messages will bypass your inbox and will be deleted.

Outlook

Like with Apple Mail, in Outlook you will need to create a rule to filter out unwanted emails. Here are Microsoft’s steps for creating a rule in Outlook.

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Roku Streaming Stick 2016 review – CNET

The Good The $50 Roku Streaming Stick is one of the least expensive devices to stream video from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBO, Sling TV and other online services. It’s just as responsive as other devices — meaning it’s lightning-fast — and an updated app lets you listen via your phone’s headphone jack. Roku’s ecosystem offers more apps, better search and more customization than any other.

The Bad No Ethernet port means it only works via Wi-Fi, not a wired connection. Some app interfaces are less polished than on rival devices. Private listening feature loses lip-sync with some Bluetooth headphones.

The Bottom Line The new Roku Streaming Stick is the best value in streaming-video hardware, period.

If I could only recommend one device for streaming video today, it would be the new Roku Streaming Stick. At $50 it’s one of the least expensive home video devices you can buy. It’s also one of the best.

Roku is the king of streaming, with more worthwhile apps than anybody else. Its search runs circles around the competition, hitting most major services and presenting the results by price. And I like its interface better too, with its full customization giving the power to arrange the apps you want, where you want them.

The old Roku Stick was my favorite device of its kind, mainly because it offered the cheapest way to get Roku’s service. I also loved the tiny design, allowing it to be tucked up behind a TV, out of sight, or even slipped into a pocket for easy portability. But I always found it too slow to respond, especially with complex apps.

The new version — available for sale as of April 20 — is much faster, just as speedy in everyday use as the Roku 2 and Roku 3 boxes, and feels as responsive as any modern streaming device. It lacks the headphone jack and voice search found on the Roku 3’s remote, but you can use both of those features via Roku’s app on your phone, and they work great.

Roku Streaming Stick 2016 (pictures)
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Is there any reason not to buy the Roku Stick? Maybe if you’re perfectly happy with your current streamer. Or you don’t mind paying extra for that fancy Roku 3 remote, or you want the 4K streaming available on the Roku 4. If you have a bunch of stuff on iTunes or want to play phone or tablet games on the big screen, get an Apple TV. If you really love using your phone instead of a dedicated remote, go with a Chromecast. There are a few other good reasons to buy something other than a Roku, but most are corner cases or involve streaming “files” on your home network.

Streaming video is more popular than ever, and the new Roku Stick is simply the best device at the best price for pretty much all of your streaming needs.

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Sarah Tew/CNET

Small is beautiful (and fast)

If you think there must be some benefit to the larger size of a device like the Roku 2, let me disabuse you of that notion.

The only advantage the $70 Roku 2 box has over the $50 Stick is a wired Ethernet connection. If you have wired Internet near your TV, and especially if your home Wi-Fi network isn’t great, then you might want to get a box instead.

In my testing on a couple of Wi-Fi networks the Stick worked flawlessly. It connected to both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks without any problem, and served up video with no delays. As expected video took a second or two to ramp up to full quality, but that’s normal for streamers, and the Stick performed just as well as any other in this area. I could quibble that it doesn’t support the fastest “ac” Wi-Fi standard, like the Roku 4 and Chromecast do, but it worked great nonetheless.

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Sarah Tew/CNET

The new Stick is fast. Roku says it’s eight times faster than the old (2014) Stick, thanks to a new quad-core processor. I performed a couple of speed tests between the Sticks (old and new), the Roku 2 and the Amazon Fire TV Stick. The new Stick launched apps much faster than the old one and at basically the same speed as the Roku 2, and beat the Amazon stick handily. It moved smoothly through the menus — better than the other two sticks — and responded quickly to other remote commands.

The new Stick also boots faster, which is nice if you plan to connect it to the USB port on your TV for power. It took about 28 seconds to power up, besting the Chromecast (35 seconds) and both the old Roku stick and the Fire TV stick (which both took more than a minute). I still recommend pluggin the new Stick into AC power using the included adapter, to avoid any bootup time at all.

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The Stick will fit fine into the HDMI ports of most TVs, but not all. If the port you want to use is recessed, the length of the Stick, plus the power cable, plus the HDMI jack itself might be too much. You’ll need about 3.75 inches. If your TV’s connection is too tight you might have to use a “port saver,” which is basically a short female-to-male HDMI extension cable. Amazon includes one in the box with its streaming stick, but Roku does not. Meanwhile the new Chromecast’s clever design, with its built-in floppy cable, obviates the issue entirely.

Also notable is that the device even has a remote. To be clear, you can set it aside and use only the remote app on your iPhone or Android phone instead. But I mostly love the basic design of the simple clicker (identical to that of previous Roku models) for navigating the onscreen menu and basic transport controls. And, because it’s not an infrared remote, it doesn’t need to be pointed at anything — it works via a form of Wi-Fi as long as it’s in the same room.

‘Max Payne’ grimaces on PlayStation 4 this week

Quantum Break is the reason you should buy an Xbox One if you already haven’t, but if you want to see an HD version of where developer Remedy Games basically got its start, you’ll need a PlayStation 4 this week. That’s because the first Max Payne is hitting the PlayStation Store — in Europe, at least — on April 22nd. There’s no word on whether this will make its way to the US or how much it’ll cost if it does, but last month when Rockstar Games’ Bully and Manhunt debuted on the European store, they arrived domestically shortly thereafter for $15 each. Oh hey, if you’ll remember, Rockstar published Max Payne too.
Much like the pricing and stateside debut, it’s a safe bet that 1080p playback, Trophies, Shareplay and Remote Play are on tap here as well. We’ve reached out to Sony for clarification and will update this post should the company respond. Until then, you can rest assured that the face of Max Payne remains looking as constipated as ever.

Via: Game Informer

Source: PlayStation Blog (Europe)

Study: Americans are ditching home internet for mobile

According to a new study from the US Census Bureau, more and more American households across a range of incomes are relying on mobile internet service as their sole means for getting online. In fact, mobile internet service has reached the point where it now “appears to be competing more directly with wired internet connections,” writes Giulia McHenry, Chief Economist of the Office of Policy Analysis and Development.

The data, collected from nearly 53,000 households, shows that three-quarters of American households with internet are using a DSL, cable or fiber connection to get online at home. While that is still a vast majority, it’s a significant drop from 82 percent in 2013. On the flip side: the proportion of homes that only used a mobile internet connection went from 10 to 20 percent in the same period. As the Washington Post points out, roughly one in five online households in the US is now mobile-only.

While cities like New York are pushing to make universal broadband a reality for low-income households, the FCC has expanded it’s Lifeline program to include mobile connections and the future of universal access likely won’t include broadband at all. And just think of all the things humanity could accomplish if no one ever had to complain to Comcast’s customer service.

Lawsuit asks Justice Department to reveal decryption orders

Do you want to know whether or not US officials have ever forced a company to decrypt data to aid in an investigation? So does the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The civil liberties group has sued the Department of Justice to make it reveal whether or not it has ever used secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court orders to make companies decrypt communications. The EFF had used a standard Freedom of Information Act request beforehand, but didn’t get anything. FISC says that what “potentially responsive” documents it found are exempt from disclosure, since they were created before the USA Freedom Act took effect.

If you ask the EFF, the government is purposefully misinterpreting the law to avoid being hauled out on the carpet. The organization believes that the Freedom Act requires declassification of all “significant” FISC orders, not just the latest ones. It’s a matter of obeying the law, the EFF says.

Should the group get its way, it could shed light on just how serious the government is about breaking encryption or inserting backdoors. While the White House has said that it won’t support laws mandating access to devices, that doesn’t mean that officials haven’t ordered access on a case-by-case basis. There’s no guarantee that the EFF will find anything, of course. If they do, however, the feds may have to answer a lot of questions about their respect for Americans’ privacy and security.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: EFF (1), (2)

How to manage Home screen settings on the Samsung Galaxy S7

Make yourself at home on the Home screen of your Samsung Galaxy S7!

The Home screen settings on your S7 let you change things like how many pages it has, what widgets are displayed, and how many grids it has. Let’s run through them.

• How to add Home screen pages on the Samsung Galaxy S7
• How to remove Home screen pages on the Samsung Galaxy S7
• How to turn on/off Flipboard’s Briefing screen on the Samsung Galaxy S7
• How to change the grid size on the Samsung Galaxy S7
• How to add a widget to your Home screen on the Samsung Galaxy S7
• How to remove a widget from your Home screen on the Samsung Galaxy S7
• How to search for widgets on the Samsung Galaxy S7

How to add Home screen pages on the Samsung Galaxy S7

Tap and hold anywhere on your Home screen to bring up the Home screen manager view.
Swipe left to scroll the screen to the right.

Tap the add button. It looks like a plus sign in the center of your screen.

How to remove Home screen pages on the Samsung Galaxy S7

Tap and hold anywhere on your Home screen to bring up the Home screen manager view.
Tap and hold the page you wish to delete.

Drag the page over the Remove button and release. The Remove button looks like a small garbage can and is in the top center of your screen.

How to turn on/off Flipboard’s Briefing screen on the Samsung Galaxy S7

On the S7, the Flipboard app has a special screen called “Briefing” that shows you the latest information on its news stream. Some people may not want this taking up an entire page on their Home screens. Here’s how you can turn it on or off.

Tap and hold anywhere on your Home screen to bring up the Home screen manager view.
Swipe right to scroll left.

Toggle the Briefing switch to on or off, as you desire.

How to change the grid size on the Samsung Galaxy S7

More grids lets you pack more apps on your Home screen, which is useful if you’re an app junkie and want all of your apps right on your Home screen. It can also help you spread them out more so you can see more of that pretty wallpaper you downloaded.

Tap and hold anywhere on your Home screen to bring up the Home screen manager view.
Tap on the screen grid option of your choice to preview it:

• 5×5
• 4X4
• 4X5

Tap Apply at the bottom of the screen

How to add a widget to your Home screen on the Samsung Galaxy S7

Tap and hold anywhere on your Home screen to bring up Home screen manager view.
Tap Widgets.

Swipe left to scroll to the right through the available widgets.

Tap on the widget you would like to use to view its options..
Tap and hold the widget option of your choice for your widget.

Drag the widget option to the location on the screen where you want it and release.

How to remove a widget from your Home screen on the Samsung Galaxy S7

Tap and hold the widget you wish to remove.

Drag the widget over the remove button and release.

How to search for widgets on the Samsung Galaxy S7

Tap and hold anywhere on your Home screen to bring up Home screen manager view.
Tap Widgets.

Tap more in the upper right corner.

Tap Search widgets.

Type the name or category of the widget for which you wish to search.

Tap the widget to view its options.

Once you find the widget you want to use, you can drag it into place as normal.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge

• Galaxy S7 review
• Galaxy S7 edge review
• Here are all four Galaxy S7 colors
• Should you upgrade to the Galaxy S7?
• Learn about the Galaxy S7’s SD card slot
• Join our Galaxy S7 forums

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Here’s how to add Snapchat’s moving emoji stickers to videos

Snapchat has pushed an update to its iOS app that lets you attach emoji to objects in video snaps.

With this new functionality, you can do things like add a smirking kitty emoji to an actual cat’s face in a video. It’ll stick to the cat and follow it around within the video – as if you did a face-swap with the two. But you can do this with any emoji in Snapchat and any object in your Snapchat video. This update, which first arrived for Android users last week, is not only incredibly fun and creative but also easy to figure out.

Snapchat: What are moving emoji?

Unless you live under a rock, you should know what emoji are and how to use them. They’re basically little icons you can use in place of words to express an emotion or message or whatever. Emoji are most commonly sent and received using texting apps or messaging apps. Snapchat has long allowed users to overlay them in picture and video messages (though they would remain stationary when overlaid).

Snapchat’s moving emoji work in the same way but can now be attached to objects in videos so they appear to move with that object instead of remaining stationary. Because they require a moving object in order to move, you obviously can’t use them on picture snaps.

Snapchat: How do you add moving emoji?

Open Snapchat
Press and hold the Record button to shoot your video
Tap the Emoji button next to the “T” button in the top right
Browse the emoji available and tap one to add it to your video
Press and hold on the emoji in the video and move it to an object or spot
When you release it, it will stick to that object or spot in your video
Use pinching and swivel gestures to respectively scale and rotate the emoji
Repeat steps 3-7 to add more moving emoji to your video
That’s it! Now tap the arrow button in the corner to send your video

Snapchat: Is there an example of moving emoji?

Yep. Check this out. And this:

Let’s talk about the potential horror that is 3D Stickers. Thanks @Snapchat pic.twitter.com/yAKTWXXlzp

— Phil Buckley (@Pbuck) April 19, 2016

Pinterest rebuilt its app to speed up your board browsing

Pinterest regularly adds new features that make using its digital scrapbook of sorts a more pleasant experience. Features like shopping pins, location pins and a search tool that can identify items in a photo all lend a hand compiling your boards. After redesigning profiles to make saving and sorting pins a bit easier, the company has completely retooled its iOS app to tidy up and offer quicker performance. The “new modern look” puts the focus on the pins themselves instead of icons, descriptions and profile images. Pinterest says the app is now “universally readable” as well, supporting 31 different languages.

In addition to the language support, the app also works much better on older devices. Which means that in places where handsets like the Moto G are a popular choice, Pinterest’s app will still perform well. The company says that home feed that appears when you first fire up the app now loads two to three times faster than the previous version. As you can see in the GIF down below, you should spend less time waiting for images to load.

Pinterest also says that the rebuilt app will allow it to add new features and release updates at a faster pace, so those regular additions are likely to remain a staple. The new version of the app is only available for iPhone and iPad right now, but it’ll arrive for Android and the web “in the coming months.”

Source: Pinterest

Play the complete ‘Walking Dead: Michonne’ series in April

Following the success of The Walking Dead game, Telltale launched a new miniseries starring everyone’s favorite katana-wielding heroine, Michonne. The studio will release the third and final episode on April 26th for pretty much every platform but Linux.

Fans of the AMC shows, take note: the game inhabits the world of The Walking Dead comics, so don’t expect any crossover from the TV series. You won’t need to play The Walking Dead main game to understand what’s going on in the miniseries, but you’d be doing yourself a favor if you did. The high-stakes drama, lush cel animation, and great voicework has earned The Walking Dead serious accolades.

Michonne’s miniseries explores her seafaring self-exile from the main cast during a recent time-jump in the comics. Without spoiling the plot of the first two episodes, Michonne kicks ass, deals with haunting flashbacks, and brutally decides who lives and dies. Y’know, standard Telltale fare.

All three episodes are sold as a $15 bundle.

Source: Telltale Games

Postmates is set to launch 15-minute food deliveries in NYC

Even as Uber kills off its own rapid lunchtime delivery service in New York City, Postmates announced on Tuesday that it will launch its own version tomorrow starting at 11am EST. NYC deliveries will rely on Postmate’s existing Pop program, which launched last October in San Francisco and last week in LA. A similar hour-long service should be launching in London later this year as well. With Pop, anyone on Manhattan between 34th street and the Bowery will get their orders in a quarter hour, at no additional delivery fee. Now you’ll be able to get your 4/20 munchies tomorrow in record time without having to get off the couch.

Source: Techcrunch