What Is the AUE Date on a Chromebook? Every Chromebook comes with an AUE, which stands for “Auto Update Expiration” date. Essentially, this is an expiry date for your device. Beyond the AUE date, your device won’t be updated and will become obsolete. Initially, Chromebooks could only last through five years of operating system and security updates. Later, Google changed this to 6.5 years before settling for eight. From the Chromebook help page, Google clarifies that you’ll receive software updates until the AUE date....

There are multiple answers to the above questions, both simple and not-so-simple. With SSDs largely becoming the default drive type on many systems, the negative impact of having overly small allocation unit sizes is somewhat diminished, while on the other hand, the benefits of larger allocation unit (or cluster) sizes can increase. What Does Allocation Unit Size Mean? Depending on who you’re talking to, allocation unit size may also be referred to as “cluster size....

What’s the Difference Between CMYK and RGB? CMYK and RGB are two different ways of representing colors by combining a set of fundamental colors. The letters in the name stand for the colors mixed together to create more colors. CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and black (also called “key”), while RGB stands for red, green and blue. Both methods can produce a wide range of visible colors, but they have fundamental distinctions between the two methods....

What Will Microsoft Change in Windows 8’s Interface? Windows 8’s user interface will still include a very smooth layout, but won’t include as much eye candy as Windows 7 did. The drop shadow that’s been around since XP will disappear, and so will the semi-transparent title bar as seen in the Aero interface. Only the taskbar will remain sort of transparent. To preserve program compatibility, window content remain with a light chrome background....

When you open Explorer in Windows 8.1, you will find a number of pre-populated folders, including desktop, downloads, documents, music, pictures and video. These are not your only options, though, and now Microsoft is rolling out one more when Windows 8.1 finds its way to the market next month, along with its big brother Server 2012 R2. IT professional can get in on the act now by beginning the testing phase of this new feature....

Of course, if you still want to shop around a bit then there are plenty of offers worth checking out in our round-up of the best Black Friday deals. We rated the Pixel 6a very highly in our 4-star review back in July, describing it as “a small, powerful Android phone that’s more wallet-friendly next to Google’s other devices”. With this latest reduction it’s more than just friendly to you wallet – it’s positively seductive....

What’s a video container? A video container format, like any other digital container format, is essentially a digital wrapper for your content. They’re easy to distinguish because they determine the extension of your video file. Popular container formats include MP4 (.mp4), AVI (.avi), QuickTime (.mov) and Matroska (.mkv). The different container formats all have different strengths and weaknesses, with certain formats preferred by certain content providers. Not all containers support all compression standards or allow for secondary features like subtitles and chapters....

The Benefits of RAM Compression If you saw a presentation about the next-gen consoles by Sony and Microsoft, you might have noticed that both companies made a big fuss over how fast their storage is. There’s a reason for all that: storage is the most impactful bottleneck even on the latest high-end PCs. The ultimate goal of the solutions we see here is to minimize the amount of data exchanged between our computer’s RAM and its slower storage systems....

1. Never Miss A Moment Smartphone cameras aren’t close to matching the capabilities found in DSLRs, and you could still manage a better image using a cheap dedicated point-and-shoot, but both of these alternatives have one large weakness – they aren’t there when you need them. Sure, there’s a good chance you will remember to bring the camera along on a vacation or to your kid’s band performance, but what about those spontaneous moments you wish you could capture but didn’t plan ahead for?...

1. Anime & Manga Coloring Book (iOS) Available on iOS for both iPhone and iPad, there are more than three coloring pages in all for you to try. Try any of the images once, erase and start all over again. With Apple Pencil support on all current iPad models, you can get even more particular about your drawing and play with different colors again and again. Best of all, there is support for M1 Macs as well, though the drawing experience is undoubtedly better on a touchscreen....

Chrome extensions can be excellent companions for any music lovers out there. These are 12 of the best you should try if music is a big part of your life. 1. Audio Channel Audio Channel is a super-handy tool to have if you’re often listening to music in your browser, as it offers a way to easily customize audio output. The tool includes an audio compressor equalizer, volume booster, stereo, and reverb among other features....

1. Restart Chromebook The issues with a Chromebook touchpad not working is often resolved by merely restarting the Chromebook. However, please note that you need to actually reboot the Chromebook and not just put it to sleep or close the lid. To restart the Chromebook, click on the time icon present at the bottom-right corner to open the “Quick panel.” Press the Shutdown button to turn off the Chromebook. Wait for 30 seconds, then turn on the Chromebook....

1. Use WhatsApp Web in Dark Mode If you enjoy using WhatsApp in dark mode, WhatsApp Web will not let you down. To switch to dark mode: You will now be able to relish WhatsApp dark mode in all its glory. 2. Change Chat Background Color You can customize the chat background on WhatsApp Web the same way you can on mobile: 3. Format WhatsApp Messages Similar to mobile, you can format WhatsApp messages by making them bold, italic, or adding a strikethrough....

1. Restart iPhone Begin the troubleshooting process by restarting your iPhone. Often this classic fix is enough to make your iPhone ring again. That’s because sometimes a minor issue or an app running in the background can cause the iPhone not to ring for incoming calls. This can be fixed by rebooting the phone. Follow these steps to do so: 2. Check the Ring/Silent Switch All iPhones have a physical switch on the left side that helps to put the phone in silent mode....

Why choose a local media center tool rather than something like Plex? Simple: ease of use. It’s much easier to install Kodi, Stremio or OSMC and plug in a couple of hard drives and go. There is significantly less know-how required when you go this route in contrast to building a dedicated server and configuring it. What’s the best media solution for Linux? 1. Kodi (formerly known as XBMC) This is the most popular media center solution on Linux....

You have plenty of choices when it comes to which screen recorder to use on Ubuntu. Some are simple to use, while others are more complicated but have additional features. It also depends on whether you prefer a GUI or the command line. 1. SimpleScreenRecorder SimpleScreenRecorder is the first entry on this list because its name so perfectly describes exactly what it is. It’s a simple app that records your screen....

Note: This tutorial is done on Mac and is specifically referring to the Mail app and Safari browser. The methods will work in any other app too. 1. Screenshots The foremost and most easiest option is to simply take a screenshot of the page you are viewing. This can easily be done by expanding your browser winder to include the contents of interest, then keystroking “Shift + Command + 3”, “Shift + Command + 4” or “Shift + Control + Command + 4”....

With the multitude of anti-virus apps available on Google Play, it can be hard to pick a good one, so we’ve put together a list of five great apps that can guarantee a malware-free device if used properly. 1. Bitdefender One of the more frustrating things about antivirus software is that it can negatively impact your device performance by being too resource-heavy. This is often the case when an antivirus program has constant background scanning turned on, or numerous extra features that you don’t necessarily need....

Still, for as neglected as they are, download managers are still very useful tools. For starters, Chrome can’t download a torrent, download files while running on a server, or automatically organize and rename files that have been downloaded. For that you’ll need to go the extra mile and find a good program that meets those kinds of needs. Luckily, we’ve made a list of the best download managers for Ubuntu!...

What Is Applescript? Applescript interfaces with most Mac applications like Finder, iTunes, QuickTime and Mail. If you’re familiar with Automator, Applescript is sort of a power user’s version of that application. 1. Toggle Hidden Files Save this out as an application, and you’ll have a clickable toggle to reveal hidden files in Finder. 2. Batch Rename Files This script will prompt the user for a filename and then automatically rename selected files with that text string plus an incrementing index....