Sunday Post - Season 2, ep. 7

#TechTipTuesday - Digital Clutter Clean up part 4 Google Photos

Ok, we have come a long way to cleaning up our digital clutter, now it is time to dive into the thick of it. Lucky for us, Google Photos ( If you are using GB worth of space within Photo's and need to downsize you can navigate over to Our Photos....

YouTube was down but now it's back

YouTube experienced a major outage. Users across the world started to notice that the video service's sites and mobile apps were down around 9:20PM ET, and everything remained inaccessible more than an hour later. YouTube TV and YouTube Music were also affected by the service disruption.

Apple October Event: What a New Line of iMacs Could Look Like

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Apple's all-in-one desktop computer, the iMac. The device is unrecognizable from how it was first unveiled in 1998, but since 2012 its design has stagnated. Could an Apple October event bring about a whole new iMac?

YouTube finally lets you watch a video and browse the site at the same time

From the "why the hell did this take so long" department: YouTube has launched a new "Miniplayer" feature, which lets you continue watching a video in a smaller window while you browse other sections of the site. To say the feature was highly coveted is an understatement, especially since a similar feature has been available on the mobile version of YouTube for ages.

Someone Used a Deep Learning AI to Perfectly Insert Harrison Ford Into Solo: A Star Wars Story

Casting anyone other than Harrison Ford in the role of Han Solo just feels like sacrilege, but since Ford is now 76 years old, playing a younger version of himself would be all but impossible. Or at least impossible if you rely on the standard Hollywood de-aging tricks like makeup and CG.

#TechTipTuesday - Digital Clutter Clean up part 4 Google Photos

Ok, we have come a long way to cleaning up our digital clutter, now it is time to dive into the thick of it. 

Our Photos....

Lucky for us, Google Photos ( another terrific tool to use to back up all of your photos) will give us unlimited space for us to store our photos. However we do have to set them to upload as High quality vs the original quality. While this sounds daunting and frustrating, remember the photo's we are taking with our phones these day are SUPER hi-res and if we are just using Google Photos as a secondary backup method, then it will be ok. 

Honestly the quality of the photos is nearly indistinguishable to the untrained eye. So, let's go in and make sure all of our the photo's and videos we have uploaded over the past many many months...or even years, are in the format that Google will give us unlimited storage on.

In order to check and see how much of the storage space you are using up and where it is being consumed head on over to Google drive on a computer and scroll down a little ways. On the left hand side and click "upgrade storage". Then Google will give you the run down of your usage.

If you are using GB worth of space within Photo's and need to downsize you can navigate over to photos.google.com/settings

 It will then show you how much storage space you have.

(You also have the option to Buy storage, but this post is about cleaning up the digital clutter, not how to increase your capacity for it!)

When you choose "Recover Storage"

It will show you how much space you can recover.

When you are ready press the compress option.

 You will then of course be told that this process can not be undone before it goes through. 
When you are ready, press Compress, for the second time. 

Now, this process can take up to an hour but it is well worth it. It will even go through and compress items uploaded in other Google services like Google+, blogger, Picasa and web albums.


Trust me it is all worth it in the end. 
You will have increased your digital storage, made your inbox lighter, and can now rest easy. 

You've successfully cleaned out and made more space for future clutter. This time, you now have the tools to clean house when the time comes again. 

Sunday Post - Season 2 ep. 6

Wait, why is the Apple iPad Air 2 on sale again? This deal is bonkers.

Just to let you know, if you buy something featured here, Mashable might earn an affiliate commission. It's no secret that we ❤️ Apple, now and forever. But we don't always love how expensive their products are. Which is why when we see an Apple product on sale, like these iPads at Walmart, we want to tell everyone we know.

Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot shows upgraded agility in 'Parkour' video

Its latest highlight reel, however, is one that should make this guy very, very afraid. Dubbed "Parkour," it features a bipedal battery-powered robot that not only jogs, but hops over obstacles and up an uneven obstacle course with nary a bobble.

Hit farming simulator Stardew Valley is coming to iOS

Popular indie farming simulator Stardew Valley is finally making the leap to iPhone and iPad. The game has proven a smash hit on Mac and PC, selling over 400,000 copies during its first two weeks of availability, and has been well-received on console, with glowing review scores on Metacritic.

Google Just Revealed a Brilliantly Simple Trick That Will Totally Destroy Telemarketers. (Wait, Why Aren't We Doing This Already?)

Google just announced it has come up with a new way to thwart telemarketers--heck, to completely destroy their business model. It's brilliantly simple, and it seems like it will actually work. Here's how Google's solution works--introduced at its hardware event in New York City on Tuesday.

11 Tools for Teaching With Videos - A PDF Handout - Practical Ed Tech

There are times when a good video or video clip can be just the thing that a student needs to see how all of the pieces of a topic come together. And sometimes just seeing a demonstration or hearing an explanation from a voice other than yours can be what your students need.

Google's Failed Social Network, Google+, Will Be No More

Google+, a social network that we can certainly say existed and not much more, is slated for a long-overdue trip down the memory hole.

#TechTipTuesday - Cleaning out your digital clutter Gmail part 2.

Continuing our series on clearing out all the digital clutter in our lives I thought it would be important to spend a second post sharing how to setup your Gmail inbox to help do some of the work for you.

If you have not yet setup your inbox to categorize email for you then I highly recommend you do so today.

It's made filtering through my email so much easier for me, and then when it is time for the big purge, again...super easy to get rid of loads of emails in one fell swoop. 

So to setup your inbox to auto categorize for you start by:

1. Click on the sprocket or gear on the right hand side of your inbox within Gmail (settings)

2. Click on 'Configure Inbox'

3. Check mark the categories you want to use ( I recommend all of them.)

4. Click Save

Now your emails will be sorted out into these different categories. I have found that very, and I mean very, rarely does some important email find itself in one of the categories it doesn't belong in. Then when you find it there, you can drag it into the category you want it to appear in and then future emails from that address will show up in the category you placed it in.

Why is this so helpful to clearing out the digital clutter, you may be asking yourself...Well, when it comes time to purge email, for me, I find it super easy to click into the promotion category and select them all and send them to the trash folder, same with the forums category (which for the most part are notifications about files shared with me in Google Drive).

I hope this tip helps you get out in front of an overwhelming inbox.

Sunday Post - Season 2 Episode 5

#TechTipTuesday - Allowing people to bypass Do not Disturb iOS 12

For those of you who have upgraded your iPhones to the latest you may have noticed one of my favorite new features which is the ability to turn off the do no disturb function on your phone from the lock screen.

Apple's iOS 12.1 to bring over 70 new emoji, iPhone XS charging fix

Every product here is independently selected by Mashable journalists. If you buy something featured, we may earn an affiliate commission which helps support our work. The next iteration of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 12.1, is shaping up to be quite an interesting update.

[UPDATED] Avoid Windows 10 October Update Until You Do One Thing

Note: Several updates are listed at the bottom of this article, and there is a new development on this story here. Microsoft's big Windows 10 Update version 1809 is here and it brings a wealth of welcome features like less interruptions and update nags during gaming (something Alienware nailed years ago by the way).

Wear OS 2.1 is now rolling out to Google-powered smartwatches

We reported back in August that Wear OS was getting a hefty update from Google, and the new code is apparently now rolling out to compatible smartwatches. You might want to check the update screen on your wearable and see if the software is ready to go.

#TechTipTuesday - Cleaning out Digital Clutter Gmail edition

Look, digital hoarding is just too easy these days, however, eventually we all run out of space in the digital void so with out further ado let's dive head first into the mess that can be (and is my) Gmail Inbox.

While most emails do not take up that many GB of space, you can easily amass many emails with plenty of them having attachments, photos, pdf's etc. With all those attachments your email storage limits begin to run out. So the easiest first step to clearing out those old emails that are taking up space is to open Gmail on your web browser,

Once your inbox loads enter the following in the search box at the top of the screen (without the parenthesis) 

"has:attachment larger:10M"

Then hit enter. 

This will then show you all of the emails that have attachments larger than 10 megabytes. You can of course change the number 10 to be whatever you want it to be, however when you are looking to clear house, 10 is a good place to start.

Once you have done that you can do one of two things. 

Rip that bandaid off! OR You can slowly peel it away.

If you are just ready to clean house, then click the box at the top which will then select all of the emails at once then press DELETE (or the little trash bin)

This will relocate all of the selected emails on that page to your trash bin. Which means you are still housing them and they are still taking up space. 

Repeat this process until you have gone through all of the emails you are wanting to delete.

IF you would rather slowly peel that bandaid off, then you can scour over the emails that have attachments and make sure you have saved the images or attachments before you delete them.

Now once you have dropped those emails into the trash...it's time to empty that bin.

Click on the trash folder and click Empty Trash Bin

Now while this is a great first step, if you are like me, you still have loads of emails to sort through, so take a deep breath and stay tuned to next week's Tech Tip to continue to learn how to get this digital clutter under control...we can do this...

Sunday Post

Setting up Scheduled Do not Disturb function iOS 12

Quickly learn how to setup a schedule for the do not disturb function on your iPhone or iPad within iOS 12 Not sure why there is no sound. Looking into issue presently.

23 Google Search Tips You'll Want to Learn

Most of us use Google every day, but many have likely only scratched the surface of the search engine's power. Here's how to become a Google search super sleuth. PCMag reviews products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use.

Crafty kids are finding ingenious ways to thwart Apple's 'Screen Time' feature

Apple first introduced Screen Time this summer as one of the key feature additions on iOS 12. By adding limits to specific apps, or your phone as a whole, Apple attempted to add a digital dose of self-control for those who need it most. People raved about the feature upon first hearing the news.

#TechTipTuesday - Clearing up Digital Clutter Google Drive Edition

Ok I will be the first to admit it, I am a digital hoarder. I hold onto digital files for far too long. As a matter of fact, in this digital world it seems so easy to leave old files sitting their idly in the cloud. While I am happy that Google gives us so much free space in the cloud when using their products, files can begin to clog up the space up there and when that time comes, it is in fact time to PURGE!

Today, let's take a quick look at some of the places you may have old and probably obsolete files sitting in your google cloud that you can finally get rid of to free up some space.

For those of you with educational Google accounts, you do not have to worry about this...for now, as google gives you unlimited space. HOWEVER, after you leave your school as a student and want to take those files with you to your personal account, you will need to move into the itty bitty living space of 15 free GB of storage on Google Drive.

For this post, let's examine Google Drive Decluttering 

Where can the digital clutter come from that you did not realize:

1. Items in your trash bin

That's right, even in the cloud you have to empty that trash bin every once in awhile. There is no digital maid to do that dirty work for you.

2. Attachments from Gmail take up space in the drive.

Gmail and Google, the same digital space, so when you have tons and tons of emails (like myself) that include attachments, those MB have to be stored somewhere while residing in your inbox. Same thing with Google chat services.

Time to declutter:

Within Google Drive go over to the Trash bin on the left. Once you've entered the trash bin tap the arrow next to the word Trash at the top of the page. Then press empty Trash Bin.

ProTip: Scroll through the contents of your bin before you go deleting everything.

Ok, now that you've got your Google Drive cleaned up, lets take a deep breath...and wait until the next blog post to learn how to declutter the other areas of your Google Cloud Storage.