All posts tagged: clutter

Use Gmail’s ‘Manage Subscriptions’ Tool to Cut Down on Inbox Clutter

Use Gmail’s ‘Manage Subscriptions’ Tool to Cut Down on Inbox Clutter

Published by skeptic

The majority of us have learned to live with overflowing inboxes stuffed with hundreds or thousands of unread emails. If that’s not your experience, consider yourself lucky. Over the years, Gmail has introduced a variety of different tools and features for trying to cut down on this clutter. Manual filters, automatic spam detection, email prioritizing, and inbox tabs all offer ways to cut through the noise of your Gmail account, surfacing the most important messages while keeping the junk and spam out of sight. One of the newer Gmail tools for keeping your inbox as neat and tidy as possible is called Manage Subscriptions. It focuses on all those regular emails you get, including newsletters and promotions, giving you a simple, clear hub for you to check up on everything you’ve subscribed your email address to (deliberately or otherwise). This new view combines with Gmail’s existing tools for managing subscriptions, including the ability to unsubscribe from regular messages with a single click or tap. It just might help you get a little bit closer to …

How Google’s updated AI Mode will ease your tab clutter when you search

How Google’s updated AI Mode will ease your tab clutter when you search

Published by skeptic

Google Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Chrome’s AI Mode now displays a linked site next to your search window. The goal is to cut down on the many tabs you have to juggle. You can also reference multiple recent tabs in a new search. Running a Google search typically shows me the AI overview with an AI-generated summary of the information I want. Since AI isn’t always accurate, I make sure to click on some of the links to the third-party sources to investigate them directly. But in the past, this was a clumsy process as each link would open in a separate tab, forcing me to juggle multiple tabs. Now, a new change to AI Mode cuts down on that type of tab clutter. Also: Chrome’s new ‘Skills’ update lets you save AI prompts now – for one-click reuse Rolling out to Google Chrome on Thursday is an upgrade to AI Mode that lets you focus on each search result you visit without losing your train of thought. …

Here’s my favorite email trick for cleaning up inbox clutter – automatically

Here’s my favorite email trick for cleaning up inbox clutter – automatically

Published by skeptic

MirageC/Moment/Getty Images Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. I’ve had the same email address for more than two decades. I use it for just about everything I do. That’s really convenient, but it also means my inbox is inundated with advertising, newsletters, social media updates, and other ephemera. Left unchecked, that firehose of trivial correspondence can overwhelm the useful and important stuff. The world’s two largest email providers realize this is a problem. Gmail and Outlook do some automatic mail sorting with the help of algorithms. Still, their solutions are imperfect and require constant manual intervention to train the algorithms and find the important stuff that was inadvertently demoted. Also: Best email hosting services: Expert tested and reviewed For years, I used rules and filters based on sender addresses to move less important messages out of the inbox and into custom folders. However, setting up and managing those rules is a tedious, time-consuming process. Every time a newsletter or merchant changed their sending address or used a different subdomain, I had …

People Who Are Irrationally Irritated By Clutter & Dirty Dishes Usually Have 11 Specific Personality Traits

People Who Are Irrationally Irritated By Clutter & Dirty Dishes Usually Have 11 Specific Personality Traits

Published by Jenni Sidey

Clutter and dirty dishes might seem like a minor annoyance, but for some people, they can trigger a surprisingly strong emotional reaction. Psychology professor Joseph Ferrari has pointed out that visual chaos in our homes can create unnecessary stress, especially in a culture where many households are surrounded by more stuff than ever before. Between work, family responsibilities, and daily obligations, keeping everything organized can quickly start to feel overwhelming. But people who are irrationally irritated by clutter and dirty dishes often tend to share specific personality traits that make them more sensitive to their surroundings. Whether they’re naturally detail-oriented, highly disciplined, or easily overstimulated by visual mess, clutter can feel far more stressful to them than it does to the average person. These personality traits help explain why some people simply can’t relax when dishes pile up in the sink. People who are irrationally irritated by clutter and dirty dishes usually have these 11 specific personality traits: 1. They’re incredibly sensitive India Picture | Shutterstock.com According to a study published in Scientific Reports, people with …

Everyday essential or kitchen clutter: do you really need an air fryer? | Food

Everyday essential or kitchen clutter: do you really need an air fryer? | Food

Published by Sam Flores

I owned an air fryer long before they attained peak ubiquity, and I use it on a daily basis, so I’m surprised when people express zero interest in them. For my lifestyle, air fryers are brilliant: I’m usually multitasking, so being able to pop chicken, veggies or sausages in a drawer and walk away frees me up. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. But if you’re thinking of buying one, it’s worth exploring whether it will work for how you live – and the food you cook – to avoid cluttering your kitchen counter with another underused gadget, and needlessly spending money. Air fryers work in a similar way to standard convection ovens: an element heats up, and a fan distributes the heat. What’s different is the size of the cavity compared with a standard oven – it’s smaller, so an air fryer heats up fast, saving energy. You’re also advised to shake food frequently to expose more of the food’s surface …

I Clamp Every Accessory I Can to My Desk To Avoid Clutter, and You Should, Too

I Clamp Every Accessory I Can to My Desk To Avoid Clutter, and You Should, Too

Published by skeptic

For most of us, desk space is at a premium. Between the computer, keyboard, speakers, and maybe a few photos of your family or a mesh Wi-Fi node, things can quickly feel a little cramped. Desk-mounted accessories make your workspace look and feel better. Mounted office accessories are perfect for standing desks because everything stays firmly in place when you lift and lower your position. Even if you stay seated, these devices can clear some of the clutter off your desktop—and maybe clear your mind a bit by giving yourself some space to focus. As a dedicated clamper, closing in on three decades at a desk, I’ve tried every desk-mounted accessory I could get my hands on. I have a few favorite devices which I’ll share below. Before you buy any desk-mounted accessory, make sure that you measure your desk and scope out a suitable spot for the clamp. Don’t assume it will fit, since they all have a thickness range, and some desks don’t play nicely with clamps. There’s also a risk that the …

‘Our sofa bed sold the same day’: how to get rid of household clutter – without sending it to landfill | Ethical and green living

‘Our sofa bed sold the same day’: how to get rid of household clutter – without sending it to landfill | Ethical and green living

Published by Sam Flores

Forget blossom and bluebells, for many of us, the changing season means one thing: time for a spring clean. While you may have tackled the clothes you no longer want without sending them to landfill (if not, have a read of our guide to clearing out your clothes sustainably), other items in our homes are not always as straightforward. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. According to the circular living organisation Wrap, 22m items of furniture are thrown away each year in the UK, and worldwide, we discard 2.6m tonnes of e-waste (electronic waste) annually. Many of these items could be resold, upcycled or recycled. The British Heart Foundation reports that 62% of us throw away homeware items that are in good enough condition to be donated to charity. Here are some of the best ways to reuse, recycle and upcycle your unwanted stuff. How to get rid of household clutter Furniture Great to donate: charity shops are perfect for giving away …

This 3-in-1 multi-charger erases desktop cord clutter – and looks great while doing it

This 3-in-1 multi-charger erases desktop cord clutter – and looks great while doing it

Published by skeptic

Kayla Solino/ZDNET Wireless charging has come a long way, but cord clutter is still an inevitability, especially in high-traffic charging areas like a bedside table or a work-from-home setup. Thankfully, there are tons of options on the market to cut cords and let you truly maximize the wireless capabilities of gear like smartphones, smartwatches, and earbuds. And if you’re an Apple user like me, you may be in need of a multi-charger that perfectly powers Apple’s mobile trifecta: your iPhone, your Apple Watch, and your AirPods.  Also: The three cheap gadgets ZDNET readers are buying nonstop (No. 1 is weird) That’s where Lululook’s Ultra-Rise Qi2 charger comes in. Like many stand chargers on the market, it has a raised, mobile MagSafe charger for an iPhone, an Apple Watch charger built in behind where a phone would rest, and, at the base, a wireless charger for AirPods. It’s a fairly common setup, and it’s certainly not innovative in terms of function.  But it is one of the nicest multichargers I’ve laid eyes on (and trust me, …

Windows’ multitasking is messy — this tool fixes the Alt + Tab clutter

Windows’ multitasking is messy — this tool fixes the Alt + Tab clutter

Published by skeptic

You have a dozen windows open, you’re deep in a workflow, and you hit Alt+Tab to switch to the right one. What you get is a cramped row of thumbnail previews — too small to read, too cluttered to parse — and you end up tabbing past the window you wanted, then back, then past it again. It’s not a big deal, but it adds up over an eight-hour day. Microsoft has had years to overhaul this interaction, and the result is still… thumbnails in a row. Alt-Tab Terminator, a small Windows app from NTWind Software, takes that frustration away. It doesn’t just tweak the Alt + Tab dialog; it replaces it entirely with a full-featured switching panel that actually makes sense. It’s one of those productivity tools that should go on every PC. OS Windows Price model Free (pro version available) Upgrade Windows task switching with Alt-Tab Terminator. Get a powerful visual preview, advanced window management, and faster control over open apps. Alt-Tab Terminator turns a frustrating key combo into a useful task-switching command …

How people are making money from clutter and unwanted gifts

How people are making money from clutter and unwanted gifts

Published by Daniella Wilson

A new year clearout can be a great way to make room for gifts you received over the festive period or to get rid of unwanted ones, as well as offloading unused clutter and making a bit of extra cash. But rather than letting unwanted items rot in the loft or the back of the shed, you could make money by selling them online – or save money on having to buy presents for others by regifting. Research by online selling platform Vinted identified a surge in sales of unwanted gifts in January, with listings up by nearly a third (29.4 per cent) annually. The top five listed categories for unwanted gifts between Christmas day and early January were perfume, jewellery, makeup, body care, and facial care. Here are the best ways of getting rid of unwanted items, from gifts to old and unused gadgets. Be honest Whether it’s Christmas or your birthday, sometimes a gift just goes wrong. A recent survey by consumer watchdog Which? about unwanted gifts found one respondent received a Tottenham …