Record Skype calls for free – CNET
For many Windows users, Skype is the go-to Internet phone service. With it you can make free Skype-to-Skype calls around the world. And calls from your PC can go to not just other PCs, but also tablets, smartphones and landlines.
Skype is also a popular tool among podcasters, who use it for chats with co-hosts, interviews with guests and so on.
Needless to say, there are any number of reasons you might want to record your Skype calls. Alas, the Windows client doesn’t offer that capability, but there are some free tools that do.
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DVDVideosoft
I’m going to discuss two of them. First up is DVDVideosoft’s Free Video Call Recorder for Skype, a simple but effective utility that can record video or, if you prefer, just audio. True to its name, it’s free — and not just for personal use, but commercial use as well.
That’s a big plus if you’re one of the aforementioned podcasters. However, I discovered one unfortunate catch: Although I was careful during installation to opt out of the shovel-ware extras Free Video Call Recorder wanted to install, I still ended up with a bit of sneak-ware — a search engine that had weaseled its way into my browser.
It wasn’t an outright virus, and I had no trouble removing it from my PC, but it sure left a bad taste in my mouth. I understand “free” software isn’t always free, but don’t be sneaky about it. I’d much rather have a feature-limited version with an option to upgrade.
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Alexander Nikiforov
Which brings me to MP3 Skype Recorder 4.20, a freeware, adware-free recording utility that — as you’ve probably guessed — saves your Skype audio in MP3 format. It’s actually a little more robust than the DVDVideosoft program, with features like auto-start and -stop.
However, it’s free for personal use only. If you have commercial plans for your recording (like podcasting), the Pro version costs 7 GBP (or about $10 US). To my thinking that’s pretty cheap.
Both programs work more or less the same way: Choose your recording format(s), set the output folder, then click Record when you want to start recording (or let MP3 Skype Recorder start for you when you get on your call). When you’re done, you’ll have an audio or video you can use as needed. Easy-peasy.
If you’ve found another Skype recorder that’s free, by all means name it in the comments!
Coffee ice cubes: Because you need more coffee in your coffee – CNET
Taylor Martin/CNET
As it starts to get warmer, you may want to opt for a chilled coffee in the morning instead of a piping hot drink that doubles as a hand warmer.
If you’re one to brew your coffee at home before heading off to work, there’s an easier way to make iced coffee. Here’s how it’s done.
Freeze your coffee
To get started, grab an unused ice tray and determine how much liquid it holds. To do this, use a teaspoon or tablespoon to completely fill one cube mold and multiply the result by the number of molds in the tray. Alternatively, you can fill up one of the molds and pour the water into a small measuring cup.
I used a tray which makes large ice cubes and needed 27 fluid ounces (800 milliliters) of coffee — about twice that of my standard brew.
Next, brew the coffee. The most ideal brew method for this application is cold brew, as it is often brewed as a concentrate and lacks the bitterness sometimes produced by hot brewing methods. The downside is, making cold brew ice cubes requires about 24 to 30 hours — 12 to 24 hours to brew and several more to freeze.
If you don’t have the time or equipment for cold brew, any other brew method will work. You will just want to brew the coffee stronger than usual by using a higher ratio of coffee grounds to water. I recommend at least 1:14 (57 grams of coffee to 800 milliliters of water).
If you hot brewed the coffee, let it cool for about 10 minutes before filling the ice tray. To allow for volume expansion, don’t fill the molds entirely — leave about an eighth of an inch (3 millimeters) of space from the top of the mold.
Place the tray in the freezer overnight.
How to use the coffee ice cubes
Taylor Martin/CNET
After you’ve done all the work and have a handful of coffee ice cubes, there are several ways to put them to good use.
- Shaking hot coffee and the coffee ice cubes together will flash chill your morning brew without watering it down.
- Pour some milk or cream over the coffee ice cube for coffee-flavored milk with your breakfast.
- Use the coffee ice cubes to make coffee-flavored cocktails. This pairs nicely with whiskey, tequila or cream liqueur, especially if you use a lighter-bodied single origin coffee.
- If you used cold brew concentrate, toss a couple cubes into a travel mug with equal parts water before going hiking. You should already know the volume of the cubes, so multiply that by the number of cubes (three 100 milliliter cubes would require 300 milliliters of water). Larger cubes will take a few hours to fully melt.
- Throw a few cubes in a blender with frozen fruit, greek yogurt, peanut butter and flaxseed for an energy boosting smoothie.
There at tons of things you can do with frozen coffee, as well. For instance, mix it with chocolate, vanilla or blended berries and add a popsicle stick before freezing to make some delicious “coffeesicles.”
7 super-fast Windows 10 tips – CNET
James Martin/CNET
I’m a total speed-demon. I love speedy computers, speedy sports cars, and speedy Windows 10 tips — that is, Windows 10 tips that take less than a minute to implement.
Since Windows 10 launched last July, we’ve covered lots of tips and tweaks you can use to improve your experience in just a couple of minutes. Check ’em out (you might as well — they’re all super-fast).
Windows 10’s ‘secret’ Start menu: Right-click the Start button to access a not-so-secret secret menu. I promise, just knowing this trick will save you a ton of time.
7 super-quick Windows 10 tricks you probably didn’t know about: Check out some lesser-known, easy-to-implement tips, like how to minimize all windows except the currently active one, or how to pin your Recycle Bin to the Start menu for easy access.
10 new keyboard shortcuts in Windows 10: Keyboard shortcuts make everything faster! Here are some brand new ones for Microsoft’s brand new operating system.
New Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts for the Command Prompt: Windows 10 is the first version of Windows to let you use keyboard shortcuts inside the Command Prompt. Command Prompt junkies rejoice!
Always show file extensions in File Explorer: Is that photo a JPG or a PNG? This 10-second tweak will show you all of your file extensions, all the time.
Get rid of ads in your Windows 10 Start menu: Microsoft occasionally shows ‘”suggested apps,” aka advertisements, in your Start menu, among your neatly laid-out pinned tiles. You can banish these ads by changing one setting.
How to change your computer’s name in Windows 10: Computer names are personal, like car names, and they shouldn’t be WIN10-224-AA6. You can change your computer’s name in Windows 10’s settings menu, no problem.
The case for a Nexus 7P
Why a smaller, Huawei-built Nexus tablet would make a lot of sense.
Recently spotted online, a trademark filing for a “Huawei 7P” has the rumor mill churning once again. There’s talk that this might be some kind of follow-up to the Huawei-made Nexus 6P, perhaps in a larger tablet form factor. With Google I/O just a month away, there’s even speculation that such a device could even break cover at Google’s annual developer conference, just as the first Nexus 7 did back in 2012.
Until we see something more conclusive, there’s no way of knowing for sure whether Huawei and Google are partnering on the next Nexus tablet. But the circumstantial evidence for it is tantalizing.
It’s pretty clear that Huawei values its involvement with the Nexus program. “It has always been a dream for Huawei to work with Google for the Nexus 6P,” Huawei VP of R&D Eric Fang told Android Central in Beijing last year. “We believe that Huawei is moving up to the elite and high-range product,” Fang added. “So in terms of the hardware and communications we can help Google develop high-range products.”
Huawei clearly isn’t done with Nexus just yet.
Collaborating on a Nexus product is one way for Huawei to achieve a longstanding goal — to grow its brand awareness and establish itself as a tier-one device maker in Western markets, particularly the United States. And it’s not done yet. Huawei’s Device VP of smartphones, Chanzhu Li, told PC Mag at Mobile World Congress this February that the company was in discussions with Google about the next collaborative product.
“I think of [the Nexus 6P] as a starting point. Our local team is discussing the next product with Google,” Li told the publication. “So far it’s not clear [what it will be], but there are a lot of potentials to explore.”
Nexus development cycles are notoriously quick — the original ASUS Nexus 7 came to fruition in just four months.
It’s unclear whether Li was being deliberately coy. But even if the nature of Huawei’s next Nexus wasn’t clear back in February, Nexus development cycles have been notoriously quick.
“The first challenge [of working on a Nexus] is that we have a very short development cycle,” Eric Fang told us following the 6P’s launch. Indeed, the original 2012 Nexus 7 was apparently conceived at CES in January, and ready to go four months later.
On the smartphone side, the most credible rumors thus far point to HTC partnering to launch a pair for Nexus handsets later in the year. If things play out in this way, Huawei would be a natural partner for a 2016 Nexus tablet, given its active development of own-brand Android slates and its global reach. And if we are — at least initially — looking at a Wifi-only Nexus tablet, with fewer regulatory hoops to jump through, a dev cycle as quick as the 2012 Nexus 7 isn’t out of the question.
Even so, why return to the 7-to-8-inch space when tablets in general are encroaching on laptop territory with ever bigger screens? The success of the first two Nexus tablets might explain this. Smaller, cheaper Nexus tablets were big sellers, and more broadly popular than the larger, more expensive Nexus 9 that followed. At the same time, Google’s own Pixel C — effectively a Nexus in all but name — isn’t exactly flying off store shelves.
Until Android can realistically challenge Windows in productivity and multitasking, or iOS in its tablet app ecosystem, smaller, cheaper Android slates are going to be the better mass-market option.
A new 7- or 8-inch Nexus would allow Google to showcase Android N’s new split-screen multitasking features in an accessible, relatively inexpensive product. Google has an eager partner in Huawei, and the company has shown with its own product portfolio that it’s capable of bringing premium metal construction to less expensive devices. As far as internals go, Qualcomm now has great mid-range chips, like the Snapdragon 652, that could comfortably handle the 2K display resolution of such a tablet.
A smaller, cheaper Nexus tablet could give Google a mass-market showcase for Android N’s multitasking features.
The “Huawei 7P” trademark remains something of a mystery. It’s unlikely Google is going to jettison the Nexus brand, and equally implausible that Huawei would channel its own 6P in a completely unrelated product. But Huawei’s home country of China presents one possibility. Just as Lenovo sold a modified Nexus 6 in China as the Moto X Pro, Huawei might look to release a version of a future Nexus tablet in the country, perhaps with its own EMUI software onboard.
So we still don’t know anything for sure. But there’s a compelling case to be made for Google’s development of a future 7- or 8-inch Nexus slate. The timeframes involved with previous Nexus tablets suggest it could go from concept to reality relatively quickly, and Huawei has the motive and the means to help Google bring such a product to life. As for Nexus 7P or Huawei 7P? That could equally be a tantalizing clue or a total red herring.
When it comes to release timing, my gut feeling is that Google is more likely to wait until late summer, when Android N is expected to officially debut, for any new hardware launch. That said, a mid-cycle Nexus tablet release wouldn’t be unprecedented.
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what shape the next Nexus tablet takes. Keep it locked to Android Central in the months ahead to be the first to know.
What would you like to see in a future Nexus tablet? Let us know down in the comments!
Subgrid positioning: why I keep coming back to Nova Launcher
There are features on a launcher that keep you coming back.
Action Launcher has Quickdrawer. Apex has its theme engine. Aviate has its quirky app organization. Well, Nova Launcher’s got quite a few features that keep users coming back year after year, theme after theme. But beyond the ridiculous amount of launcher customization and the best damn launcher backups on Android, Nova has an ace in the hole.
And that ace is subgrid positioning.
So what if a widget looks wonky at 5×1?
Now, the grid on your launcher dictates how many spaces you have for shortcuts, folders, and widgets. Most launchers default to a 5×5 or 4×4 grid depending on how big/old they are. That means you can put a 5×1 widget completely across one row of your home screen: like a music widget or a weather bar. So what if a widget looks wonky at 5×1? Well, you can resize widgets in most launchers, including Nova, and change that widget from 5×1 to 5×2. The problem then becomes that this widget is taking up 40% of your home screen. You need the stretch your widget somewhere between the two. So you can either resize your home screen grid, or you can use the handy option sitting on that same page in Nova Settings.
Enter subgrid positioning.
Now, instead of being stuck between a 5×1 or 5×2 widget (or more often a 7×1 vs 8×2 widget), you can split the difference and resize the widget to be 5×1.5. It seems like a simple thing, but it makes a huge difference, especially when trying to place widgets around a feature on your wallpaper like the Zooper widgets in our Deadpool theme. It essentially double your options when resizing a widget or placing a shortcut. On a 5×5 grid, instead of having 5 width or height options, you have 10 each. On a 7×7 grid, what I use, I have 14 widget sizes instead of 7. And when scaling and placing widgets, those options can make all the difference in the world.
Snag a Moto X Pure Edition for just $350 at Motorola
Motorola is selling the Moto X Pure Edition smartphone for $349.99, a $50 discount from its normal price. The sale lasts until Monday, May 2.
While we have seen this smartphone sold for a lower price in the past by other retailers, this discount comes directly from Motorola on its site. That means you can customize the Moto X Pure Edition with the company’s Moto Maker for different front, back and accent colors, along with custom engravings and greeting messages.
See at Motorola
Facebook Messenger’s group calls let you chat with your whole squad
Anyone using Facebook Messenger around the globe can now take advantage of group voice calls within the app. Announced by Facebook’s David Marcus, group calling has just begun rolling out to users across the globe.
To start a group call, you simply have to tap the phone icon from any group conversation. On the following screen, you’ll then be able to select and manage individual call participants.
Group calls are rolling out to users over the next 24 hours, according to Marcus, so they may not be available to everyone just yet. However, if you’re using the latest version of Messenger, you should see the feature pop up relatively soon.
Have you tried Facebook Messenger’s group calls yet? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Where to buy the Huawei P9 in the UK
Huawei’s 2016 flagship, the P9, has the widest UK availability of any Huawei-branded phone
Huawei is hoping to make a big splash with its new high-end phone. The P9, with its dual cameras and metal unibody, will be available SIM-free at a compelling £449 price point, as well as being picked up by all four major network operators. We’ve rounded up some early pre-order details for the Huawei P9 below, so be sure to check them out if you’re considering Huawei’s latest handset.
Carphone Warehouse
The high street’s biggest independent phone seller has the P9 up for pre-order for £449.99 SIM-free, or on contracts starting at £26 per month. Network options include EE, Vodafone and O2, as well as Carphone’s own ID network, which runs on Three’s spectrum. The phone is available in grey and silver color options.
See Huawei P9 at Carphone Warehouse
Vmall
Huawei’s own online store is taking P9 orders for £449, and offering the grey and silver color options. The first 75 orders will receive a £50 voucher redeemable against purchases of Photobooks, Wall-Art and Calendars from photo store Jessops.
See Huawei P9 at Vmall
O2
O2 has confirmed that it’ll sell the Huawei P9 in grey, but doesn’t have any tariff or price information just yet.
See Huawei P9 at O2
Vodafone
Vodafone is selling the Huawei P9 in grey on contract, with a free Huawei watch thrown in for good measure. Prices start at £30 per month with no upfront fee.
See Huawei P9 at Vodafone
EE
EE has confirmed that it’ll range the Huawei P9 in grey, but hasn’t announced any further details.
See more phones at EE
Three
Three has confirmed that it’ll be carrying the P9, and says it hopes to share more information soon.
See more at Three
Tempted by the Huawei P9? Be sure to shout out in the comments and share your thoughts!
Huawei P9 and P9 Plus
- Huawei unveils the P9!
- Huawei P9 and P9 Plus hands-on
- Huawei P9 specs
- Huawei P9 unboxing
- Join the discussion in the forums
O2
Vodafone
EE
Understanding security options on the Samsung Galaxy S7
Make sure only you and the people you trust have access your Galaxy S7 and the data stored within.
Securing your devices and data is more important than ever these days. Just think of the sheer amount of personal information we pour into our phones, not to mention the shift towards using devices to manage finances. Now, think of all of that information falling into the wrong hands. Scary, right?
Fear not. The Samsung Galaxy S7 features a slew of security options to keep your data safe — even if someone really wants to get at it. Some of it is pretty basic stuff, like setting up a lock screen (which you should already be familiar with and using…right?). But you should also know how to encrypt the data on your SD card, how to use fingerprint security, and Smart Lock, which lets you leave your phone unlocked when it’s on your body or in a location you’ve set as a secured space. Also, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting the latest security updates from Samsung.
If you’re overwhelmed at all, don’t worry! We’ve covered it all in this guide.
- How to change the screen lock style
- How to encrypt your SD card
- Fingerprint security
- How to use Smart Lock
- How to turn on automatic Samsung security policy updates
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
AT&T
Sprint
T-Mobile
Verizon
AIVAnet 