Category: DMM U - Part 2

Facebook-ery: Facebook Emoticons & Emoji

FB Emoticons! You can enter specific keyboard combinations and Facebook will automatically convert them into those full-color pictures for you (though the full-color picture won’t be visible until AFTER you’ve posted the status update). Alternatively, you can copy certain symbols from one page or window and paste them into your Facebook status update to achieve the same effect. It doesn’t work with just ANY old symbol, though. There are approved character sets. Here’s an image from Symbols & Emoticons showing some of the full-color emoticons you can create on Facebook with simple keystrokes (click or tap on images to view an enlarged version in a new tab or window): And here are a few more from The Next Web:

Are RFID Blocking Wallets Necessary?

I recently posted about Smart Card technology, which prompted a reader question: once you’ve got at least one Smart Card, do you need to get one of those specially-lined wallets to block scammers from reading the data off your card through your purse or wallet? Not really. If it makes you feel safer to have one of those special wallets, then it’s probably worth the investment. But tech security analysts agree that while it’s possible for an enterprising crook to use tech devices to scan your Smart Cards’ data, it’s not worth those crooks’ while to attempt it.

Facebookery: The New Facebook Support Inbox

Seems like hardly a week goes by any more without Facebook rolling out some new feature or other, and this is a great one: Support Inbox. Facebook Support Is No Longer A Black Hole You know how, when you reported someone or some page on Facebook for harassment, stealing your pics to use in a fake profile or other objectionable activity, or when you reported a bug on the Facebook site, your report just seemed to go down a black hole? Maybe you’d get an email reply days or weeks later, maybe not. You just never knew if anyone was even reading your report, and that was frustrating. No more! Now there’s a Support Inbox link available in your main menu dropdown, and it takes you to a great new page on the Facebook site that’s all about improving your Facebook experience (click or tap on images below to view an enlarged…

Fire Tablet Keyboard Now Includes Full-Color Emoji

A recent software update has brought full-color Emoji icons to the Fire tablet and Fire phone keyboards! Note that I haven’t tested this feature on all Fire tablets, so it may not be supported in first- and second-generation models. I’ll let the pictures tell the story (tap or click on images to view an enlarged version in a new tab or window). Begin by opening your Fire keyboard. Tap the lower left-hand key (red arrow below) to open the numbers and symbols keyboard. On the numbers and symbols keyboard, tap the smiley face key (red arrow below) to open the Emoji keyboard. By default, the Emoji keyboard opens on the ‘most recently used’ tab (red arrow below), where your most recently-used Emoji will be available for your convenience. Each of the other colored arrows below points to a category of Emoji, and as you can see, there are a LOT! The selected…

New Kindle Reader Feature: Word Wise

* * * the Kindle Paperwhite, a terrific e-reader pick for folks who want a crisp display and features like long battery life, glare-free display (even in sunlight), bookmarks, notes, the ability to change font size and so on, but who aren’t quite ready to step up to the costlier Kindle Voyage. Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * Amazon has quietly rolled out another great enhancement for Kindle books on Kindle e-reader devices (but not Fire tablets or in the Kindle Reader app at this point), and you may have noticed it on some Kindle book product pages: Word Wise. Since it’s so new it’s still not common, but you will find it on new Kindle book releases more and more often as publishers get on board. In a Word Wise -enabled book,…

Gmail’s Last Account Activity Feature Shows Who’s Been Accessing Your Account

* * * Today’s post is brought to you by ESET Smart Security, the tech security product I’ve used and trusted for many years. Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * Worried Someone’s Been Mucking About In Your Gmail Account? Whether your concern is over a potential hack or a snooping partner or family member, if you use Gmail there’s an easy way to tell if anyone other than you has been accessing your email: Last Account Activity. To access this amazingly wonderful and helpful Gmail feature, scroll to the bottom of your inbox and look for the Last Account Activity Details link (tap or click on images to view an enlarged version in a new browser tab or window). When you click on that link, you’re shown a listing of the times…

Laptop vs. Netbook: When You Want A Laptop, Don’t Get A Netbook By Mistake

* * * the Toshiba Satellite C55-B5287 15.6-Inch Laptop (Windows 7), currently being offered at 21% off on Amazon. Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * Netbook vs. Laptop: What’s a Netbook, Anyway? It used to be that when you bought a laptop you knew exactly what you were getting: essentially, a portable version of a desktop computer. Then Netbooks came along late in the 90’s: machines that looked like laptops, but were typically smaller and had very little memory or ability to run programs because they were primarily built for web surfing, email and little else. The Netbook never really took off and eventually faded away. But more recently, Netbooks are back — they’re just not being called Netbooks anymore, for the most part.

Kindle And Audible Won’t Sync!

* * * the Kindle Powerfast International Charging Kit, currently being offered at $23.99 — that’s 40% off the regular price of $39.99! Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * Immersion Reading When you own both the Kindle and Audible editions of a given book you can take advantage of Immersion Reading: you can follow along in the Kindle book while an Audible narrator reads the text aloud, and watch as each word is highlighted as it’s being read. And by the way, engaging both your sense of sight and hearing really deepens reading comprehension. To do this, first you must ensure that both the Kindle and Audible editions are downloaded to your device. Then, when you open the Kindle book you’ll see a right-pointing “play” icon at the bottom of your screen…

DMM Mailbag: When You Google Someone, Will They Know?

* * * Today’s post is brought to you by the Zmodo PKD-DK0855-500GB 8-Channel DVR Security System with 8 CMOS IR Cameras, 500 GB Hard Drive and Remote Web/Mobile Access, a terrific home or office suveillance / recording system that’s currently on sale at 46% off its usual price. Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * What Does Googling Get You? You can “Google”, or do a web search, on anyone. It’s not illegal, and in my opinion there’s nothing wrong with it. After all, when we’re talking about ordinary people (as opposed to famous people, whose private stuff becomes unexpectedly public in hacks all the time) the only results you’ll get are for pages, photos, text and records that are already available to the public, and things the person him- or herself…

Kindle Fire Music Tips: How To Find Music You Just Bought On Your Fire & How To Conserve Your Data Plan While Listening

* * * ThinkGeek.com, where from today through June 6 2014, everything on the site is 20% off and shipping is free on all orders over $25 – no special coupon codes required! Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * Where’s My Music? I love using ALL the various functions of my Kindle Fire HDX, and one of them is listening to music. But I’ve noticed this maddening tendency for my Fire NOT to update automatically when I’ve bought new music: I buy some MP3s and they’re added to my Cloud library, I can see them and listen to them on my computer in Amazon’s Cloud Player, but even after repeatedly syncing my Fire tablet (Options menu > Sync All Content), that new song or album refuses to show up in the…