All posts tagged: ditched

I ditched my iPhone’s hotspot for this 5G travel router – and I’m never going back

I ditched my iPhone’s hotspot for this 5G travel router – and I’m never going back

Published by skeptic

Acer Connect M6E mobile hotspot pros and cons Pros Very portable mobile hotspot with a long battery life Can accept SIM and eSIM, and also has a built-in virtual SIM High speed 5G modem with MU-MIMO support. Cons SIM card tray is awkward to remove without a tool Charging it is on a slow slide. more buying choices Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. A few years ago, I had a vision of never needing a mobile hotspot again. After all, my iPhone — a gadget that’s never more than an arm’s length away — has that feature, and connecting to it is a doddle if all your devices have the Apple logo. But it’s a poor experience. Try as I might, the connection is almost always unstable and slow (especially when streaming or connecting to a remote system). It’s a massive pain if you have any Android devices because they continually disconnect, which hammers the iPhone’s battery. Also: I love AirTags, but this alternative slips right in my wallet and solves their …

I ditched Android’s app drawer for this, and now I find my apps instantly

I ditched Android’s app drawer for this, and now I find my apps instantly

Published by skeptic

I really try to avoid ever going into the cluttered app drawer. While some devices let you organize your app drawer into folders or sections, and, of course, Android lets you use any third-party launcher you want (like this highly customizable launcher) which also lets you tweak the app drawer in most cases. Overall, I have a finite number of apps I use, and I have several methods to stay out of my app drawer entirely and not having to go back home. This allows me to get to my favorite apps from any screen, even when my phone is off. Whether using a smart app that lets you put app shortcuts right in your notification shade, customizing lockscreen shortcuts (or even lockscreen widgets), or fully taking advantage of voice commands (you can type faster with voice commands), I’ll show you how you can also more quickly get to your favorite apps without jumping around. Keep your most-used apps in the notification shade Using the brilliant Tile Shortcuts app I found a fantastic app called …

Christina Applegate ‘didn’t speak’ to ex Brad Pitt after she ditched him for Sebastian Bach

Christina Applegate ‘didn’t speak’ to ex Brad Pitt after she ditched him for Sebastian Bach

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Christina Applegate has revealed that her ex Brad Pitt didn’t speak to her for years after she invited him on a date only to ditch him for another man. The Dead To Me star was just 15 when she rose to fame as Kelly Bundy in Fox’s first sitcom Married… With Children, and is now looking back at her life in her memoir You With The Sad Eyes. It details her career, as well as her life since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021. While Applegate’s career has featured awards wins and blockbuster roles, the 54-year-old admitted in her memoir that there was one embarrassing moment in her past that proved to be – to reference one of Pitt’s other exes – a real sliding doors moment. In 1989, Applegate was 17, and in an extended friendship group containing a …

I ditched Google Drive for a free open-source sync tool — and it’s not Nextcloud

I ditched Google Drive for a free open-source sync tool — and it’s not Nextcloud

Published by skeptic

For years, we’ve been trained to accept a very specific trade-off: we get convenience, and in return, we yield our data to big tech giants. But for many, tools like Google Drive or Nextcloud have become bloated. Nextcloud, while excellent, has grown into a massive suite that aims to replace Microsoft Office, chat apps, and more. Sometimes, that is too much. If you are looking for a dedicated solution — something that functions like Dropbox originally did but hosted on your own terms — you don’t need a convenient lifestyle platform. You need a high-performance syncing engine. That is why I shifted to Seafile. It’s an open-source file-syncing platform developed specifically for reliability rather than trying to do everything at once. OS Windows, Android, macOS, iOS, Linux Developer Seafile Ltd. Seafile is an enterprise-ready, open-source file syncing solution offering self-hosted control and high performance. It features end-to-end encryption and a virtual drive client, serving as a private, reliable alternative to Dropbox. Why I left Google Drive To escape the trap of convenience Google Drive is …

I finally ditched Outlook for this Windows email client and I should have sooner

I finally ditched Outlook for this Windows email client and I should have sooner

Published by skeptic

Ever since Microsoft deprecated its Mail app, I have been trying different email clients to find a true replacement. I tested several popular email apps, including eM Client, Mailspring, Spark, and a few others, but the one that stood out the most was Thunderbird. It’s a free, open-source app from Mozilla that handles multiple accounts smoothly, stays fast, respects my privacy, and gives me control over how everything works. It almost feels like one of those apps that should ship with Windows. OS Android, Windows, Linux & Mac Price model Free (open-source) A unified inbox that makes everything easier to manage One inbox to rule them all Screenshot by Pankil Shah — No attribution required Opening an email client in my browser is easy enough, but one of the biggest reasons I like using Thunderbird is its unified inbox. You can enable it by selecting Folder modes > Unified Folders. It brings emails from all your accounts in an organized space, which means you don’t have to open multiple browser tabs and switch between them …

I ditched my usual music player for this iPod-inspired app

I ditched my usual music player for this iPod-inspired app

Published by skeptic

It didn’t take the original iPod much time to become a cultural phenomenon soon after its launch in 2001. The slogan “1000 songs in your pocket” is what made it an instant hit. Eventually, iPhones and Androids replaced iPods for most people, but some still love them and continue to use their old music players to this day. However, it was the original iPod interface that played a big part in their popularity. While Apple has stopped producing iPods, you can bring the classic iPod-style music player to your Android phone using ClassiPod. It’s a free, open-source music player that offers the signature click wheel and minimal interface, and doesn’t cost a cent. Classic iPod interface Signature iPod interface with a click wheel Tashreef Shareef / MakeUseOfCredit: Tashreef Shareef / MakeUseOf ClassiPod tries to replicate the iPod experience by offering a clean and minimal interface. It’s free and open source, though you can donate to the developer to support continued development. The screen is split into two parts: the top area shows the classic iPod display, …

I ditched Google Messages for Samsung Messages and I actually prefer it

I ditched Google Messages for Samsung Messages and I actually prefer it

Published by skeptic

Like most Android users, I never really questioned my messaging app. Google Messages is what I used because it came as the default, and to be fair, it worked just fine. But ever since I switched to a Galaxy phone, I’ve started liking some of Samsung’s own apps over Google’s. This made me try Samsung Messages too, and I’m now in love with it. It’s not because Samsung Messages offers any groundbreaking features, but because it gets the small details right. It offers more customization options, better organization, built-in translation, and many little things that make a difference. A cleaner inbox Like most people, I get a lot of messages, and not all of them are important. Some are personal, a few are from the bank, while others are just marketing messages I don’t even remember signing up for. Seeing all of these texts together in one long list means it’s easy for me to miss something that actually matters. One of the first things that won me over to Samsung Messages is the built-in …