American Voters Exposed Online, Apple Endures Terrible 2015… [Tech News Digest] | Dramel Notes

American voters have their details leaked online, all Apple products sucked in 2015, Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t owe you any money, Google Glass is back, and the teenage gamer who sought revenge.

U.S. Voter Database Leaks Online

Voters in the United States have had their personal information exposed online for all to see, and there’s very little anyone can do about it. According to CSO Online, cybersecurity researcher Chris Vickery discovered a database containing the voter records of 191 million people. This database was live online for several days, and was wholly unprotected from prying eyes.

Vickery hasn’t revealed the whereabouts of the database, or who compiled it. However, it’s known to contain the full name, home address, voter ID, gender, date of birth, phone number, date of birth, political affiliation, and recent voting history or everybody included. Which, if the 191 million figure is accurate, is likely to include every single registered voter.

The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) has been notified of the database, but no investigation has yet been confirmed. Thankfully, the database is no longer publicly available.

Apple Failed to Impress in 2015

Apple has endured a troubled 2015, with most of the products it has released being received with a slight shrug of the shoulders rather than unbridled joy. Sure, the Apple faithful has continued to buy these products in bulk, making Apple richer than ever, but the company still seems to have lost its way. And that could have a knock-on effect in terms of attracting the next generation of consumers.

This isn’t an original statement, with Gizmodo kicking the whole thing off with an article titled “Everything Apple Introduced This Year Kinda Sucked”. Even The Verge, which usually has a high regard for Apple and its products, admits most of the new Apple products and features launched as if in beta. Which means they are, at best, works in progress, and not the finished article.

Part of the problem is the sheer number of products Apple launched this year. The company used to be known for concentrating on a handful of products, which were made as perfect as possible before they reached consumers. But now we have multiple Macs, multiple iPhones, multiple iPads, the Apple Watch, Apple TV, Apple Music, and more besides. None of which are quite as good as they should be. Unless you disagree, in which case you should tell us why we’re wrong in the comments below.

Facebook Is Not Giving Money Away

Just to clarify once and for all, Mark Zuckerberg is not giving money away to random Facebook users. Unfortunately, the post suggesting this is the case is spreading like wildfire. We really wish it was the case, and that we were first in line, but sadly, the truth is much less exciting.

At the beginning of December Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan launched the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. However, while this charity (which is actually a limited company) will be the beneficiary of most of the value of the couple’s shares in Facebook, people like you and me will not see a penny of it.

In other words, STOP SHARING THIS RIDICULOUS LIE! Please. For the sake of the children. And my sanity.

New Google Glass Has Been Leaked

In January, Google announced the end of Google Glass, at least for the time being. Most people assumed the project was on hiatus, and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt confirmed as much in March. Now, almost a year on, it looks like Google Glass is set to make a comeback, with details of a new model having been published on the FCC website.

The new Google Glass looks, well, very much like the old Google Glass. The biggest change appears to be that the new Google Glass can be folded up like a regular pair of spectacles. The prism also looks larger, and the charging port has changed. But beyond that there’s very little to distinguish this from the previous model.

Despite this appearance on the FCC website there is no indication of when, or even if, the new Google Glass will be launched. Current speculation suggests this is the Enterprise Edition likely to be aimed at businesses, with a wildly different product being designed ahead of the consumer reboot, currently codenamed Project Aura.

The Perfect Xbox One Revenge Plot

And finally, Christmas is surely the perfect time to get revenge on someone. That someone being your dad. A good dad. A dad who bought you your first car when you were 16 years old. Because to your addled teenage brain, a Honda Civic just wasn’t as good a gift as an Xbox 360.

To get his own back, the teenage victim of the original prank recreates it eight years later. Now 24 years old, he fools his dad into thinking he’s got an Xbox One when in actual fact it’s just a box of rocks. Still, there’s a happy ending thanks to a satisfying twist.

Your Views on Today’s Tech News

Are you shocked to discover information on voters being exposed online? Which Apple product(s) disappointed you in 2015? Has anyone you know fallen for the Facebook money scam? Are you still interested in Google Glass? What’s the best gadget you have ever been given for Christmas?

Let us know your thoughts on the Tech News of the day by posting to the comments section below. Because a healthy discussion is always welcome.

Tech News Digest is a daily column paring the technology news of the day down into bite-sized chunks that are easy to read and perfect for sharing.

Image Credits: Iain Farrell via Flickr

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3 Quick Tips to Make Your Gaming Accounts Unhackable | Dramel Notes

If you play a lot of online multiplayer games, then you should be aware that many game developers are failing to keep your information safe. Therefore, it’s up to you to make sure that your accounts remain hard to hack.

1. Never share your passwords. This is the most common culprit in gaming-related account breaches. Even if you trust your best friend, don’t give it away. You never know who they might tell, or worse yet, what they might do if your friendship ever weakens.

Also, always use a memorable but unbreakable password and never repeat passwords across games.

I just got hacked early in the morning cuz someone used my money! On Playstation!

— Unstable_Gaming (@UnstableYT) November 27, 2015

2. Regularly scan for malware. Trojans and keyloggers are another common way to compromise accounts. Make sure you’re using a trusted security suite! (And no, Windows Defender isn’t good enough here.)

3. Don’t engage in shady activity. This means no gold selling, no account trading, and no weird third-party sites (like gambling sites for EVE Online and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive). Some activities may seem legit, but often these websites play the long con and catch you off guard.

Have you ever been hacked? What did you do? Got any gaming security tips to share? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: Gaming Keyboard by TACstock1 via Shutterstock

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Track Santa – NORAD and Google Santa Tracker Apps Go Live for Christmas Eve by @mattsouthern | Dramel Notes

Merry Christmas Eve! Or the night before Christmas, however you choose to call it. The time has come again to follow Santa Claus on his journey as he brings presents to the good girls and boys around the world.

Thanks to this year’s Santa Tracker apps from Google and NORAD, you can see when he will be near your home. Here are the online tools you need.

Official NORAD Santa Tracker

Now in it’s 60th year, NORAD continues its tradition of tracking Santa’s whereabouts — especially on Christmas Eve. Read more about why NORAD tracks Santa as well as the spirit of voluntarism during this event.

In addition to tracking Santa, NORAD’s Santa Tracker offers games, movies, music, and more interactive fun. See NORAD’s Santa Tracker.

Official Google Santa Tracker

For many years Google powered NORAD’s Santa Tracker, but recently the search giant decided to go rogue and launch its own tracker.

How does one choose between the traditional Santa Tracker by NORAD, and the relatively new version offered by Google? Let’s take a look at what Google’s tracker has to offer.

In addition to games and videos, Google’s Santa Tracker can even teach you a bit of basic coding. Every day leading up to December 24 has opened up new games and other interactive features within Santa’s Village.

There’s a whole month’s worth of interactive content available now, plus the Santa Tracker itself. See Google’s Santa Tracker.

The History of Santa Tracking

For those wondering how this whole phenomenon of tracking Santa all begin, the SEJ team has done its research. Here is a brief history.

In 1955, a mistake lead to the Sears department store publishing the number of the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Center as the number people could use to contact Santa.

Instead of dismissing the calls, staff were instructed to give Santa’s “current location” to anyone that called. When the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) replaced CONAD in 1958, the tradition remained.

If you’re a more visual person, here is the history illustrated as an infographic:

Source: Norad Santa Tracker : The History of NORAD, Google & Santa [Infographic]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the SEJ Team! 

 

Featured Image Credit: Stokkete / Shutterstock.com
Screenshots taken on 23/12/2015 by Author

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10 Online Collaboration Tools Perfect for Visual Jobs | Dramel Notes

“Visual collaboration”. Sounds like serious business, doesn’t it?

But it doesn’t have to be.

Online collaboration tools are no longer reserved for programmers and designers. As more and more people choose to work from home, apps catering to all types of users are now in the spotlight. Some of them don’t even require sign-up, so you and your peers can jump into visual collaboration immediately — and for free.

You can participate in collaborative writing activities, plan a vacation together, collect ideas for a birthday party, or work on a school project. Certain tools are more suited for planning and brainstorming than others, which is why we’ve collected a sampling of websites for various purposes. Take a look at our suggestions, pick your favorites, and start collaborating!

Netboard.me (Free)

Platforms: Web, Chrome, Firefox

Netboard is much like your personal Pinterest, but with a twist: you can make it into anything you want. Use it as a website, turn it into a portfolio, or write blog posts—Netboard puts no limits on your creativity. Unlimited is also the amount of boards you can create.

Each board can have a different layout, and you can organize your posts into tabs. New content is added either by inserting links or by uploading local files. It’s also possible to import videos from a number of services (YouTube, Vimeo, Vine, Twitch…) including Google Docs, and create new posts via browser extensions.

You’ll need to register to use Netboard, but there’s a demo page you can play with. Once you have an account, you can modify the theme (change colors and fonts), follow other users, and upvote their boards.

How you can collaborate?

Your boards can be private or public, and the latter can be shared with anyone by simply linking to it. However, if you want other users to modify and add content to your boards, you have to give them co-authoring access. Netboard.me is best suited for activities that require content curation and collection, such as gathering visual inspiration for a wedding or compiling research sources.

You might also like: Marqueed (our Marqueed review)

Design Drop (Free)

Platforms: Web

Design Drop is drop-dead simple, and its purpose is to help you get feedback on visual content, whether it’s photography, sketches, or website mockups. You can try out Design Drop before creating a profile. Currently it accepts PNG and JPG files up to 20 MB in size.

How you can collaborate?

Upload a file, then share the link or send an email invitation to your colleagues. They will be able to annotate your work, draw directly on the uploaded image(s), and write comments which will appear in the sidebar. The ability to comment on selected parts of an image makes Design Drop perfect for building website designs together, as everyone can quickly chime in with their ideas.

You might also like: Notism.io

Ziteboard (Free, Pro $12 per user/month)

Platforms: Web, Chrome

Ziteboard works on the principle of a shared whiteboard. Although it requires an account, you can test Ziteboard before you sign up. The free version lets you create three boards, and you can only use three colors to emphasize your content. If you want to highlight text, fill shapes with more than three colors, create unlimited boards, and get rid of Ziteboard branding, you’ll have to pay $12 per user per month.

Still, the free version should be enough for a small team, especially if you don’t need multiple boards at once. A cool thing about Ziteboard is that it can recognize the shape you’re trying to draw, so if your hands are shaky, it will “autocomplete” circles and squares for you. Apart from sketching, you can use it to draw over photos or type textual comments on the board.

How you can collaborate?

Create a board and choose the “Publish to Web” option to get a link to share with your teammates. You can either give them read-only access, or if you want them to participate in brainstorming, choose the “Live Teamwork” option. Ziteboard is great for explaining concepts and online tutoring, and you can also use it to draw mind maps and diagrams.

You might also like: Realtimeboard (Our Realtimeboard review)

Flockmod (Free)

Platforms: Web, Windows

Simply put, Flockmod is an online collaborative drawing app. There’s a Windows-only desktop version, but it’s more convenient to run it in the browser, especially if you plan to work with Linux or OS X users. Flockmod doesn’t require an account, but you should create one if you want to register a permanent URL for your drawing board.

These boards are officially called “rooms” on Flockmod, and each room comes furnished with a drop-down chat area and a bunch of drawing tools. From layers, text, and various shapes to color management and brushes, Flockmod has it all. If you’ve ever used an online photo editing tool, you’ll be instantly familiar with Flockmod.

How you can collaborate?

Create a room and give the link to your friends. When they join Flockmod, their names will show up in the user list. You can interact via chat, save finished drawings, and share them on social media. The beauty of Flockmod is that you can use it for many different things: as a whiteboard, for brainstorming, or just to doodle silly comics together. The chat feature makes it particularly practical for exchanging feedback and ideas in real-time.

You might also like: WhiteboardFox

MindSky (Free)

Platforms: Web, Chrome, Android

Although you can use MindSky in many different ways (for example, as a blog or a website), its main goal is to be a free Evernote alternative of sorts. You use it to collect various items—articles and snippets from the Web, to-do lists, reminders, sketches, notes, YouTube videos, audio files—that you can later organize into pages.

However, MindSky is best used as a mind-mapping tool thanks to its free-form interface that lets you rearrange items in any way you please. Your notes can be encrypted and geotagged, and there’s also a general tagging system in place to make categorization and searching easier.

How you can collaborate?

Sign up and add some items to your MindSky. The people you collaborate with also have to create accounts, and you can give them read-only or full editing access. As I already mentioned, MindSky is fantastic for mind maps, but you can use it to visually plan group projects, share tasks, and collect online resources that you can annotate together.

You might also like: Mindmeister (featured on MUO)

Codesign (Free, Pro $15 or $25/month)

Platforms: Web

Codesign is a time-saver with a simple yet attractive interface. The premise is simple, too — you share a screenshot, a mockup, or any visual content you’re working on, and your peers comment on it by clicking and annotating particular parts of the image. Their suggestions can be turned into tasks, which you can tick off to mark conversation threads as complete. The images you upload are organized into folders, and each folder can have a custom name and a few descriptive tags.

The free plan allows only one active folder; if you want five, purchase the Team upgrade for $15 per month, or the Studio plan for $25 that gives you ten active folders.

How you can collaborate?

Get an account (or log in with your Google, Facebook, or Github credentials). Create folders and upload images, then generate links for your coworkers. If you want them to edit folders and add their own images, give them full access; otherwise they’ll only be able to participate in discussions.

Codesign is suitable for quick, precise visual feedback on anything you’re working on. Screenshot your resume, upload a floor plan, or share several versions of a logo design. Codesign is also great for getting feedback from clients, as they can clearly point out which elements of your product they like or dislike.

You might also like: Coggle.it

MapMe (Free)

Platforms: Web

You’ve found tools for creating mind maps, but what about mapping the real world? This is where MapMe steps in. You can use it to mark important and interesting places around the Earth with custom icons, colors, and tags. Places can be categorized, and each one has its own page where you can write more information and details. Of course, you can make and manage multiple maps, embed them on other websites, and even add your branding and logos to every map.

How you can collaborate?

Create an account and start building your first map. Make sure to enable “Crowdsourcing” and “Tag Suggestions” options to let other users add information to the map. All changes have to be approved by you. You can also update others via email about the latest changes to your maps. MapMe shines in activities like vacation planning or moving to a new city, but it’s also useful for anyone working in travel and tourism-related industries. It can even be used as a teaching tool.

You might also like: Wikia Maps

Conjure.io (Free while in beta)

Platforms: Web

Conjure could be described as a lightweight alternative to Pixelapse and similar tools. The focus is on the feedback and the ability to track changes to your files, which is why version control and activity feed are among the strongest features of Conjure.

Apart from popular image file formats (JPG, PNG, GIF, PSD, EPS, SVG…), Conjure also supports Word documents, presentations and PDF files. You can organize files into groups, edit them in bulk, and download everything at once thanks to Archive and Export options.

How you can collaborate?

Register an account and upload materials for your first project. You can invite others via email and give them guest access. They can leave feedback on your projects by directly selecting parts of a file and commenting on them. However, if you want them to upload files and manage projects, you’ll have to add them as users, which will cost you $10 per user per month once Conjure is out of the beta stage.

This practical app is great for collaborating on web design and development, or for any other creative process that requires quick decisions on file modifications and choosing between multiple file versions.

You might also like: Dropmark (our Dropmark review)

Feedbag.io (Free)

Platforms: Web

Feedbag is similar to Conjure, but it’s even more lightweight; you could say it’s minimalist. This is good news for users who don’t want to spend too much time learning to use a new tool. Simply upload files in currently supported formats (JPG, GIF, PDF, PNG, PSD, AI), sort them by drag-and-dropping, and share the link with your friends. You can check out the demo to see what it looks like.

Feedbag will keep your uploaded files for 28 days and warn you about their impending deletion after 21 days. Obviously, this makes Feedbag unsuitable for big, long-term projects, but it’s enough if you want some room redecoration feedback from your friends.

How you can collaborate?

Upload files to Feedbag and share the link with your collaborators. They can leave feedback by clicking on any part of the image and typing their comments. An email address is required so that Feedbag can notify the participants about new comments. Feedbag is best for temporary, on-the-fly activities like getting a last-minute review of a cover letter, but you can also use it for spontaneous brainstorming, app and website mockups, or when you need help deciding which Instagram filter to use for that selfie.

You might also like: ProofMini

Stormboard (Free, Pro $5 or $10 per user/month)

Platforms: Web

If you combined several tools from this list, you’d get Stormboard. It’s a versatile app that facilitates constructive brainstorming sessions. Your ideas can be organized into Storms and presented as sticky notes, sketches, images, or even videos. Other users can comment and vote on them, draw directly on top of uploaded images, and contribute their own ideas. The free version lets you create unlimited Storms, but only with up to five users per Storm.

How you can collaborate?

After creating an account and your first Storm, you have to invite others, and they will need to register, too. Your Storms will only be visible to invited users, and they will be notified of changes via email. Stormboard is suitable for group planning, whether it’s an office Christmas party or the launch of a new app.

Newsrooms and bloggers can also use it to discuss article ideas and pitches. However, it’s quite limited by the amount of people you can invite in the free version, so it might not be the best solution for large teams and companies.

You might also like: Symphonical (Our Symphonical review)

Visual Collaboration Is for Everyone

As you’ve seen, visual collaboration isn’t just strictly business. Most tools on this list are simple enough for your parents to understand, so you can use them to plan family events and discuss holiday ideas, especially if you live far away from them. Explaining things visually is much easier (and probably cheaper) than endless phone conversations and email chains that veer off-topic.

Of course, there are plenty more tools for visual collaboration, and we’d like to hear about them from you.

What do you use to share your ideas and get feedback? Have you used any tools from this list, and did you like them? Let us know in the comments.

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How Credit Card Fraud Works, And How To Stay Safe | Dramel Notes

If you’re part of my generation, you might have had to convince your parents or grandparents at some point that using their credit card online is safe. “It doesn’t feel safe,” they say, but you tell them that’s the way everyone shops all the time, and their credit card information is totally safe.

But you’re wrong. Credit card numbers do get stolen, and credit card fraud does happen, both online and offline. But how does it happen? How does a thief get your card number? Why don’t verification systems prevent these problems? And what can you do to keep your own cards safe? Let’s take a look at credit card fraud and find out how you can protect yourself.

Getting Your Card Number

Obviously, the first thing that needs to happen for credit card fraud to take place is someone else getting your credit card number. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, and they range from the very basic, to the more technologically complex.

Phishing, for example, is an old strategy that only requires a thief to be a smooth talker. They’ll get in touch with you via phone, email, post, or some other way, usually posing as someone from your credit card issuer, and talk to you into giving them your credit card information. It sounds like something you’d be able to spot right away, but some phishers are really good at what they do—this is very similar to the tactic that was used in the British phone hacking scandal a couple years ago.

Another way in which thieves could come to have your 16-digit credit card number is through online data breaches like those suffered by Target, Home Depot, the Playstation Network, and a whole list of others in recent years. The numbers stolen from those sites often end up on “carding” shops, where people go to buy stolen credit card numbers for use online. According to Brian Krebs, the card numbers sold on Rescator, one of the biggest card-buying sites, go for a median price of about $27 per card. This makes it easy for thieves to buy hundreds of cards at a time, potentially including yours.

It’s not always a merchant or a bank that’s compromised, though; sometimes it’s your own computer. If a hacker manages to get a keylogger or another type of malware installed on your computer, they could easily nab your credit card information when you use it for online shopping. Because most people don’t do enough to protect their computers from malware, this is a serious threat.

Your card itself can also be the target for card thieves. With the increase in contactless payment credit cards, radio frequency identification (RFID) scanners have become a more popular method to steal credit card information; all a thief needs to do is get a scanning device in close range to your card, and they’ll have all the information they need.

This same strategy can be used if your phone uses near-field communication (NFC) to communicate with points of sale to share your credit card information—Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Visa PayWave, and similar apps use this technology when you pay with them. If an NFC reader is compromised or tampered with, it could be giving your credit card information to a criminal.

A similar method called “skimming” requires a thief to have a physical scanner that reads the information from your credit card. These devices are surprisingly easy to get (you can get a basic reader for $13 on Amazon), and thieves can be rather creative in using them to tamper with ATMs, card readers at businesses, and other places where your card is swiped on a regular basis. ATM fraud is surprisingly common; check out Dan Price’s awesome article on ATM fraud to see just how much of it happens every day.

And, of course, there’s the most time-tested, old-fashioned way: just stealing the card. A forgotten wallet or purse, a dropped card, an unlocked car door, or any number of things, can make your card easy for a thief to grab. Sometimes they’ll just write down your information—the number of waiters caught writing down card numbers while running customers’ cards is larger than you might expect.

Using Your Credit Card

Of course, once a thief has your credit card, the hardest part is done. Now all they need to do is use it (or sell it). Banks want you to think that your credit card transactions are very secure, but a quick trip to the store makes it clear that anyone with your card could use it wherever they want. I live in the US, where not all cards have EMV chips yet, and I haven’t had my signature checked against my card or driver’s license in a long time.

Contactless payments with cards don’t require PINs or signatures, so they’re perfect for credit card thieves (even though the limits for contactless payments are rather small, they add up quickly). Online payments don’t require PINs or signatures ether, so going on an Amazon shopping spree with a stolen card is remarkably easy.

And, as I mentioned, these card numbers can be sold online. Rescator is one of many sites that sell this information—most of these sites are on the dark web, where all sorts of identifying information can be bought, but some are easy to get to from any browser. By staying hidden, using servers based in other countries, and making it difficult for law enforcement to look for patterns in stolen cards, these sites stay untouchable.

How to Protect Yourself from Credit Card Fraud

As you can see from the list above, there are a lot of different ways that fraudsters can obtain and use your credit card information—it might seem like it’s impossible to protect yourself. But by following a few simple guidelines, you can significantly decrease the chances that you’ll fall victim to credit card fraud.

First, don’t share your card information over the phone or in an email. Most credit card companies, banks, and stores won’t ask for your credit card information via email, so an email asking for this information should be a clear sign that you’re being scammed. If you need to share your information over the phone, be sure that no one is around to overhear you.

Second, pay attention to online security news; if a retailer or a bank that might have your credit card information gets hacked, call your bank, tell them what happened, and ask for a new card. You could wait to see if you get any suspicious charges on your account before alerting your bank, but it’s up to you whether or not you want to take that chance before starting the process.

Third, if your card is RFID-equipped, consider getting an RFID-blocking wallet so your card is protected while it’s in your pocket. By blocking RFID signals, the wallet prevents any device from reading the information on your card until you take it out to use it.

Fourth, be on the lookout for any card-scanning device that looks like it’s been tampered with. ATMs, pay-at-the-pump gas stations, small stores and restaurants, and many other places can be targeted by skimmers. If something looks suspicious, use another method to pay. Make cash withdrawals from within your bank, pay at the counter when you buy gas, and don’t let your card out of your sight.

Finally, make sure to monitor your credit card statements, bank statements, and credit reports on a regular basis. The earlier you catch a potentially fraudulent transaction, the better the chances that you’ll be able to prevent further trouble. You can get a credit report free every year from annualcreditreport.com, but you should make sure to check your online accounts much more frequently than that to see if anything suspicious is going on.

Your Credit Card Fraud Stories

Now that you know how credit card fraud happens and what you can do to protect yourself, we want to hear your stories of credit card fraud. Have you ever had a card stolen? Do you know how the thief got the information? What tipped you off to the fact that your card had been compromised? And what did you do about it? Share your stories below so we can all learn from them!

Image credits: steal a credit card by Andrea Danti via Shutterstock, wk1003mike via Shutterstock.com, LDprod via Shutterstock.com, A. and I. Kruk via Shutterstock.com, India Picture via Shutterstock.com, Khakimullin Aleksandr via Shutterstock.com.

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How Much of the Internet’s Bandwidth Does Netflix Use? | Dramel Notes

There are plenty of statistics that show how online streams are taking over television, but the most damning bit of evidence is the total amount of bandwidth used by Netflix during primetime.

At peak hours, over 37% of all Internet traffic in North America is used to stream movies and shows from Netflix.

What about all of the other streaming services, such as YouTube, Amazon, Hulu, and iTunes? As it turns out, Netflix’s traffic exceeds all of them combined. Wrap your head around this: during those same hours, YouTube only accounted for 18% of all traffic.

This kind of sheds light on recent developments like T-Mobile’s move to not count Netflix as part of one’s data plan. It just goes to show why data caps make no sense from a technical perspective. After all, data isn’t a consumable resource so why put artificial limits on it?

The takeaway from all of this is that we’ve finally hit the tipping point as a society. Television numbers are declining, online stream numbers are exploding, and Internet is now the primary mode of communication for nearly everyone in nearly every circumstance.

Isn’t it about time you make the switch? Start with one of these awesome media streaming devices and check out these streaming services that can replace television.

How often do you watch Netflix? Do you mostly watch at morning, evening, or night? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Image Credits: Netflix Tablet by Twin Design via Shutterstock, Graph Data via Sandvine, Media TV by Piotr Adamowicz via Shutterstock

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7 Google Drive Search Tips to Help You Find Anything | Dramel Notes

Google Drive is brilliant. You get 15+ GB of free storage, a free online office suite, and it integrates with Gmail to boost your email experience. But that means your Drive has a whole bunch of files. How do you find the right one? With these Drive search tricks and tips.

For a long time, Drive offered only basic search tools, which is ironic considering this is a Google app. But recently, the search tools were upgraded and now it’s easier than ever to locate a file. Plus, remember, Google Drive can look into images and PDFs to “read” those and find content in them as well.

1. Search by File Type or Extension

You want to browse all the spreadsheets in Google Drive? Click or tap the search bar and you’ll see a list of different file types.

• PDFs
• Text documents
• Spreadsheets
• Presentations
• Photos and images
• Videos
• Audio
• Archive
• Drawings
• Folders

Note: If you’re using Google Drive on a desktop, you’ll need to click the little drop-down arrow in the search bar or More search tools, and then click Type to see the last four options.

This method shows you all file extensions in a certain category. For example, you can’t separate a PNG from a JPEG in photos, or an OGG from an MP4 in videos. However, Google Drive has a simple method to do that: an old command line classic.

Enter *. followed by the file extension, and search to find all files with that extension.

For example: *.png for all PNG files, or *.MP4 for all MP4 files.

2. Search by Date

Google Drive always lets you sort and manage files by date, but what about when you need to find files within a specific range. For example, when you’re doing your taxes, you might need to find certain files from a particular month or week.

In the More search tools on desktop and the default search options on mobile, you will find a few preset date ranges that you can use:

• Today
• Yesterday
• Last 7 days
• Last 30 days
• Last 90 days

Note: This uses the time that a file was last modified. You cannot sort files by when they were created.

Desktop: To define a custom date range, click the last option Customized and use the two calendars to find files between the two dates.

Mobile: You’ll need to use a text command as there’s no Customized option here. Google Drive recognizes two self-explanatory commands for dates: before and after. The date itself needs to be put in the format yyyy-mm-dd. And you can use both commands together to find a range between them.

For files modified before a specific date:

Before:2015-10-18

For files modified after a specific date:

After:2015-04-22

For files modified during a specific date range:

After:2015-04-22 Before:2015-10-18

3. Search by Owner or Who It Was Shared With

Cloud-based office suites can share files easily, but managing shared files on Google Drive isn’t that easy. At least you can now search with those parameters.

In the More search tools on desktop, you have two ways to filter based on people.

• Owner: Files owned (or created) by you, not owned by you, and those owned by a specific person. You’ll need to have that person’s email address though.
• Shared with: Files that are shared with a certain person. Again, you’ll need to have that person’s email address.

Weirdly, in this method, Google Drive does not auto-complete email addresses based on your contact book. Google Contacts is a cool new Gmail feature, so this is surprising, to say the least. However, using specific search commands instead of the More search tools box, you can get those auto-suggestions, and search by owner on your mobile.

Files received from someone else: Use from: followed by an email address. For example, for all files sent to me by my imaginary colleague Donald Duck, I’ll use the command:

from:donald.duck@makeuseof.com

Files sent to someone else: Use to: followed by an email address. For example, for all files sent to Daisy, I’ll use the command:

to:daisy.duck@makeuseof.com

Files owned/created by someone else: Use owner: followed by an email address. For example, for all files owned by Donald, I’ll use the command:

owner:donald.duck@makeuseof.com

All these commands can be used in the same search string too. So if I want to find files sent to me by Justin and also shared with Tina, a search command would look like:

from:donald.duck@makeuseof.com to:daisy.duck@makeuseof.com

4. Search by Title, or Inside Files (Including Images and PDFs)

By default, when you type any word in Google Drive, it’s looking for that word in file names as well as their content. While it’s easy to do that with text files, not many people know that Google Drive has built-in optical character recognition (OCR) to read text in images. This property also lets you search text within PDFs.

Not only that, but Google’s smart algorithms can also identify the contents of an image! For example, when I search “dog”, it can identify photos of dogs in my Drive, even if the title, description, or tags don’t say “dog” anywhere.

It’s tremendously useful, but sometimes, it leads to cluttered results. When you just want file titles containing that word and not full files, use the advanced search tools on desktop to find the Item name box and type your keyword. It will find all files that contain this word as part of the file name and not the content.

On mobiles, you can use the title: command. For example, to search for files with the word “dog” in the file name and not in the file content itself, the command would be:

title:dog

5. All Google Drive Search Commands

Apart from the aforementioned operators, some of the best Google search commands and operators have made their way to Drive. You can use multiple operators or commands in a single search string to find the best possible result. Just separate them with a space.

Use quotes when you want to search for an exact phrase. For example:

Search term: “Exactly the words between these two quotes.”

Result: Files that have the exact term “exactly the words between these two quotes.”

Use the word or to find matches with one of multiple words used. For example:

Search term: Dogs or Cats or Dinosaurs

Result: All files with the word “dogs”, and those with the word “cats”, and those with the word “dinosaurs”.

Use the - sign for files without a certain word. For example:

Search term: Android -Samsung

Result: All files with the word “Android” but without the word “Samsung”.

Use app to find files that can be opened with Google Drive integrated apps. For example:

Search time: app:PicMonkey

Result: All files that can be opened with the web-based PicMonkey app.

You can find all the Google Drive search operators here, under the header “Advanced search in Drive.”

6. Searching Drive on Android

On Android, Google Drive can search by voice using Google Now. Fire up the Drive or your default Google Now search bar. Tap the microphone icon, then say Search Drive for and your keywords out loud. Drive will show you the results in a few seconds.

7. Searching Drive on iOS

If you have the Google Drive app installed on your iPhone or iPad, you can use the iOS universal search bar.

If you have a new iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, then the killer 3D Touch feature comes into play. You can 3D Touch the Drive icon on the home screen to access recent files or search.

Have You Switched to Google Drive?

I have almost completely switched to Google Drive now, both for its office suite as well as the excellent cloud storage.

Have you switched? What do you love about Google Drive or what holds you back? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

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5 Apps That Offer The Best Meditation Advice | Dramel Notes

The online life is one filled with anxiety and stress. Research shows that taking even just a few minutes to clear your head can help reduce that, which is why mindfulness meditation is growing in a world full of digital distractions.

A number of apps teach you how to clear your head: we’ve talked about how mindful web surfing can help you focus, and pointed out apps that help you practice mindfulness. And there was Stop Breathe & Think, which is a great way to learn meditation.

Today we’re looking at five more apps that can help you focus for a while, so you can stop worrying about notifications and digital clutter. Clear your head.

Pixel Thoughts (Web): Put Your Problems into Context

Let’s start with something basic, that requires no previous experience with meditation to be effective. Pixel Thoughts is a site that lets you type whatever is bothering you right now – work, family, anything. The site tells you to breathe in and breathe out, before putting the problem into a universal context.

It’s a short exercise that anyone with a spare minute can quickly run, but it’s helpful because. Basically: the universe is incomprehensibly huge, and given enough time our problems won’t matter at all. Life will go on. Life always goes on. Or, to put it in the words of philosopher Ilya Bryzgalov:

It’s a nice realization, but maybe even more important is taking a minute to think about it.

Headspace (Web, Android, iOS): Virtual Meditation Planner

Pixel Thoughts is more of an introduction to meditation than an actual course in it, so if you want to dive in a little deeper check out Headspace. This site offers a crash course on clearing your mind, with a free 10-day program that teaches you the basics.

Once you get through Take 10 you’ll need to subscribe for more exercises; prices range from $13 a month to $420 for a lifetime subscription. Even if you don’t intend to subscribe, the free Take 10 process is worth checking out as an introduction to mindfulness meditation.

Satorio (Web, Free): Raise Money for Charity by Meditating

Once you know how to clear your mind, all you really need is a timer – this lets you focus on meditating instead of thinking about time. Satorio is a web app timer with a difference: every minute you meditate, means 10 grains of rice are donated to a starving person somewhere in the world.

It’s a small amount, sure, but if enough people use this site enough the total rice could add up to quite a bit. If all you want is a timer, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be this one.

Meditation Made Simple (iOS, Free): Tips for Focus on Your iPhone

If you prefer iPhone apps to web ones, Meditation Made Simple is worth looking into. Like Headspace, this app is tailored toward beginners: it looks to teach you the basics of clearing your mind. Meant as a supplement for a book by Russell Simmons, this free app is useful whether you’re read the title or not.

It’s not an incredibly in-depth app, but it’s another place to start if you’re interested in meditation.

Calm (Android, iOS, Web): Guided Meditations with Nature Sounds

Sometimes you just need a timer; sometimes you want a guided meditation. Calm is a simple web and phone app that offers both, along with relaxing nature sounds and videos. You can even change the background and music, if you like.

With meditations of 2, 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes you can find a few minutes to focus every day. The free service is great, and comes with an introduction to meditation and a couple of standard lessons, but like some of the apps here, it is also attached to a subscription for advanced features: $10 a month or $40 a year.

What Did We Miss?

I’m sure there are other great tools out there, so I’m looking for readers to help fill me in. What great meditation timers and tools have we overlooked? Let’s chat in the comments below.

I’ll get us started. We’ve talked about tools that make it easy to get started with meditation, and other sources of free nature sounds to sleep or meditate to. We’ve also outlined calming apps that help you clear you mind. Let’s see what else we can come up with, okay?

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YouTube’s New Viral Feature Lets You See Trending Videos | Dramel Notes

It seems nearly everyone these days is obsessed with viral online content. From the never-ending stream of “fails” to the latest political gaffe, there’s always something new being uncovered on the Internet.

YouTube has rolled out a new page that will give you yet another way to see what’s hot at the moment. The new YouTube Trending Page collects recent videos that are surging in popularity based on their view count, number of comments, and other sites linking to them.

Most of the videos on the page are only a day or two old, and hold anywhere from 80,000 to 3,000,000 views.

While your location might affect which videos you see, they aren’t influenced by your watch history (which you can clear). Also, YouTube may filter explicit content out of this feed. You can also browse this section from the YouTube app on Android and iOS.

Not everyone will care about this feature, but it’s a nice way to see what’s on the cusp of going viral. You’ll probably want to find your news elsewhere, but if you enjoy reading Facebook’s trends and Twitter’s trending topics, this page might be worth a stop on your daily trek around the Web.

Interested in more viral content? It might be hard to believe, but videos went viral before YouTube and social media, too.

Have you found any neat videos through the new Trending page? Let us know of any cool finds below!

Image Credit: Rawpixel.com via Shutterstock.com

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How to Disable Facebook and Other Notifications in Chrome | Dramel Notes

Your social networks want your attention. Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, even online collaboration tool Slack – they want you to know when you have a message, and thanks to a new Chrome update, these apps can tell you even if you don’t have the right app installed.

All they need is for you to be signed into Chrome, and for you to have agreed to receive notifications.

But what if agreeing to these updates isn’t what you intended? What if their incessant beeps and whirrs is what made you sign out of the social network’s apps in the first place? Could you be ready to flush your smartphone away, almost hammered into submission by the news that Eric from accounts has uploaded a new Simpsons/Discworld mashup?

Hold on – there is a way around this. These notifications can be disabled.

Enabling Social Network Notifications in Chrome

Receiving notifications usually occurs when a website offers you the feature upon visiting it. This happens because you have notifications enabled, but you may not be aware of this prior to feature being offered.

You can check for it in Settings > Site Settings > Notifications – you’ll find that the default option is Ask first, and this allows you to specify whether you want notifications on a site-to-site basis.

For instance, upon visiting Facebook, you’ll see a popup giving you the option to Block or Allow notifications, sent from the browser to your Android’s notification area.

Note that notifications are not available in Incognito mode.

Which Social Networks and Websites Offer Browser Notifications?

Various websites and services offer browser notifications, a practice that saves you installing an app that would do largely the same thing. Along with Facebook, eBay, Vice News, Product Hunt, Pinterest and Slack – among others – are offering support for browser notifications, which will enable you to stay up-to-date with the latest notifications.

This might mean information about an item you’re bidding on at eBay, or a message from a colleague on Slack. And it might mean someone replied to your comment on Facebook.

As useful as these updates are, of course, things can start getting out of hand. One of two updates might be useful, but having them buzzing your phone every five minutes – which can happen, particularly with Facebook – can be particularly irritating.

So, how do we disable these notifications in Chrome?

How to Disable Mobile Social Network Notifications in Chrome

Say Facebook notifications in Chrome are becoming spammy, but you still want to know when eBay is sending you a message. The way to deal with this is to open the Chrome browser on your Android device, and visit the website you want to disable.

In the address bar, tap the lock, and in the drop-down menu, select Site Settings > Notifications > Block. You’ll need to repeat this for any other websites you want to prevent from sending notifications.

Meanwhile, if you want to block your phone from ever receiving notifications through Chrome, you can open the Chrome menu and go to Settings > Site Settings > Notifications and select Blocked.

And don’t forget, these services almost all have apps (Facebook in particular), whose notifications you may be able to configure in more detail.

Social Network Notifications on Your Desktop

This isn’t all about the mobile Chrome browser, however. It’s just as likely that your desktop version of Chrome will give you the chance at some stage to receive notifications that you might soon find are irritating you.

To allow or block notifications, Windows and Mac users should open the Chrome browser menu (Chrome OS — which you can try on most PCs — users can access this by clicking the account picture in the status area), then Settings > Show advanced settings > Privacy > Content settings…. Find Notifications, and choose from Allow all sites to show notifications, Ask when a site wants to show notifications or Do not allow any site to show notifications, depending upon which option suits you best.

Disabling notifications for particular sites is again a little different.

In Windows, click the bell-shaped notification icon in the system tray at the bottom-right corner of the desktop, then the gear icon, and untick any website that you want to disable notifications for. This can also be used to disable notifications for apps and extensions.

Mac OS X users should follow the same steps, but they’ll find their notification icon in the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Chromebook users, meanwhile, should wait until a notification appears, and click the number in the lower-right corner that indicates this. Next, click the settings icon, and untick the website, app or extension that you wish to disable.

That’s it — no more irritating notifications. Well, not until you get your next spam email or SMS text message…

Chrome notifications can be useful; they can also be frustrating. Have you used them? Perhaps you disabled them due to over-active alerts? Tell us about it in the comments.

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5 Mobile PPC Techniques Veterans Use to Win by @DustyVegas | Dramel Notes

It is no secret that we live in a mobile world now. Over half of all online media is consumed via mobile devices. Sadly, many novice PPC advertisers aren’t prepared to take on mobile PPC, so they leave themselves open to unnecessary costs and poor user experiences.

User behavior on mobile devices is much different from on desktops, so you need to master the smart phone if you want to compete. Adapting to the growth of mobile pay-per-click traffic means the difference between marketing success and getting left in the dust.

Below, you will find five mobile PPC techniques you can use to optimize your AdWords mobile performance. You will learn how to make smart decisions based on the data already in the AdWords interface. With a little practice, you will outperform your competitors in the mobile SERPs.

Capturing Mobile Clicks With Ad Customizers

People surf the internet differently with mobile devices than with computers. While desktop users will spend hours idly browsing, mobile users are much more goal-oriented. They want answers, and they want them now. Think about when you use your smart phone the most. It is probably when finding directions, comparing prices, or finding an answer to issue on your mind in that moment. Most of your mobile surfing probably involves accomplishing a goal.

In short: smartphone users want answers right now, so give it to them. Ad customizers let you do that.

Ad customizers dynamically change the text in your ads according to the behavior of the searcher. You can insert placeholder text that will adapt to specific circumstances. Common customizers include:

• Countdowns to the end of a sale
• Special pricing
• Inventory levels for limited stocks
• Location-based information

Perhaps the most underutilized ad customizer attribute is the device preference. This attribute forces your ad customizers to change when it detects an impression from a mobile device. This is a huge opportunity for the savvy marketer. If you leverage ad customizers intelligently, you will be able to entice those goal-oriented mobile searchers to choose your ad.

Put yourself into the shoes of your potential customer. What problems are they are trying to solve? Mobile searchers are not captivated by generalized or vague ad copy. You have to wow them. Tie a huge bow around the solution you provide and throw it in their faces with an ad customizer.

Crafting hyper-relevant ad copy is what separates novices from professional PPC advertisers, doubly so when competing in mobile auctions.

Maxing Out Ad Extensions

Ad extensions are the greatest thing to happen to mobile PPC since someone invented the touch screen. There is no cheaper and more effective way to increase your click-through rates on mobile devices.

Why? Aside from the other amazing benefits, ad extensions let your ads consume much more real estate in the mobile SERPs. You can more than double the size of your ads while filling them with enticing information about your business.

The small size of smart phone screens makes ad position incredibly important to mobile SEM. Desktop SERPs will show up to five ads above the fold while mobile ads must fight for two or three spots. The ads below those spots are shoved to the bottom of the page, which can be a black hole for click-through rates.

Ad extensions allow you to dominate the space above the fold. Every ad extension is free to set up; they just require a little manual work. Better yet – some extensions are automatically generated, no action is needed.

The list of currently available ad extensions include:

• Reviews
• Sitelinks to valuable pages
• Locations and directions
• Business feature call outs
• Social media influence
• “Call Now” buttons

Make sure every single ad extension is activated. When you are done, find campaigns or ad groups that you can afford to push to the top three spots on mobile devices. Google will take care of the rest if your quality scores are high enough.

Scheduling Call Extensions to Business Hours

Mobile phones give people the ability to access the internet at any time. They surf on the weekends just like they do on the weekdays, even if your business is not open. This fact is most important when you have activated call extensions in your ads.

Call extensions insert your phone number and a call button into your ads. A smart phone user then clicks your ad to call your business directly. It’s that simple, and you are charged as if the phone call were an ad click.

Unless your business operates 24-hours a day, though, you probably don’t want to pay for phone calls that will go unanswered. This is where call extension scheduling comes in handy. It gives you control of the times and dates when your call extensions appear.

You will find the scheduling option in the Ad Extensions tab of your campaigns. If a call extension already exists, click the phone number and select the edit icon. Ensure that the mobile device preference is on, then open the advanced menu to create a custom schedule. Block out the times when you would be paying Google for unanswered phone calls.

Honing in on Mobile Bid Adjustments

This is the big one.

Like I wrote above, mobile PPC is all about location, location, and location. Your life would be much easier if all of your ads could show above the fold on mobile devices.

That is not always possible, though. Cash rules everything around ads, so you have to consider the profitability of going after those prime locations. To make the matter more difficult, AdWords has combined its mobile and desktop capabilities into one platform. This system of “enhanced campaigns” stripped away much of the control that advertisers had over our mobile PPC strategies.

Luckily, there is a way to regain some control. Mobile bid adjustments (MBAs) allow you to change your mobile bids based on they are worth to you. Google’s desktop and mobile auctions function differently, so your max bids on mobile should usually be different from those on desktop.

But how do you figure out what to bid in mobile auctions? It’s time to break out Excel and get to work.

Every marketer should have a goal of what they can afford to spend for a conversion. I will use a basic cost per acquisition (CPA) goal for this example. A $10.00 target CPA means that I can afford to spend ten dollars for every one conversion on average. I use that information to calculate my target costs-per-click (CPCs) and MBAs.

This technique limits the guesswork when setting mobile bids. Predictability and accuracy separate novices from professional PPC advertisers.

First, calculate your CPA goals for mobile and desktop devices. This is the amount you feel comfortable paying for mobile and desktop conversions, respectively.

Next, you need the conversion rates for the campaigns or ad groups you want to modify. Pull the conversion rate column into the AdWords interface.

Export your view and segment by device. This will give you the conversion rates by device type. Remember to pull data from a wide enough time range, so you have enough data to make reliable calculations.

Multiply your conversion rates by your CPAs next. This will give you the max average cost-per-click that your campaigns can spend while remaining profitable. This data should direct you to the campaigns that need some TLC. Find the campaigns where your current CPCs are greater than the numbers you calculated for desktop and mobile. Those campaigns are at risk of being unprofitable. Work on them.

Then, hold your nose. We are going deeper.

You will probably notice that your mobile campaigns have very difference max average CPCs than your desktop campaigns. That is totally normal. There is a problem, though, because Google defaults your max mobile bids to equal your max desktop bids. That means that you are paying more money for clicks that may be less valuable.

Luckily, Google created mobile bid adjustments to help you spend your money wisely. You will find the MBA field in the settings of the campaigns and ad groups.

How do you calculate what your mobile bid adjustments should be? Easy — you are one step away from it already.

Look at the calculations you made in Excel. Let’s say that your max CPC on computers should be $1.00 while your max CPC on mobile phones should be $0.40. You would need to modify your mobile bid by -60% on average to become profitable.

Use the following Excel formula to find the adjustments you need to improve your mobile performance. Apply it to all of the campaigns you exported:

=(Mobile CPC / Desktop CPC) – 1

Take this data and run with it. You might discover you can push some of your campaigns to those valuable top spots in the mobile auction. Maybe you should reduce the max mobile bids for some of your campaigns because they aren’t as profitable as you once thought. Now you don’t have to guess.

Asking for Necessary Information in Forms

Mobile phone users don’t have time for long, drawn-out forms. They will simply bounce and convert with your competitors instead. Mobile phone users surf while sitting at bus stops, or while walking to their front doors. They have real world priorities that will take precedence over a long form. If you are lucky, they will return to your website to finish filling it out. Many people will not.

Remove unnecessary submission form fields until only the vital ones remain. Implementing an A/B testing strategy will help you take the guesswork out of this process. Start with your current form and test it against a variation with fewer fields. You may be surprised by the results you find. I have seen mobile conversions skyrocket after the business agreed to test their submission forms.

HubSpot’s download forms (pictured here) ask for only essential information.

Too many marketers lose money by sending qualified PPC traffic to their landing pages, just to see the user bounce before clicking the submit button. Don’t let that happen to you.

Unnecessary fields often include:

• Date of birth
• Street address
• Country
• Phone number
• Middle name

It is easy to start thinking of your PPC traffic as numbers on a screen, but fight that urge. You are dealing with people, first and foremost. Take the time to understand what motivates them to perform the actions that you want them to take. Get into the habit of testing; find ways to remove the aspects of your website that prevent them from converting.

Conclusion

Mobile is the wild west of digital advertising. The experienced advertisers study, learn more every day, and adapt to survive. If novices want to succeed, they must study how searchers use mobile phones in today’s changing world. Every PPC advertiser must understand the bidding process of mobile auctions, and how it differs from desktop auctions. Doing so will put you ahead of the pack, where you can rub shoulders with the veterans.

Question: What tips would you offer to a novice search engine marketer trying to improve their account performance?

 

Image Credits

Featured Image: FirmBee/Pixabay.com
All screenshots by Dusty Vegas. Taken November 2015.

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8 Online Habits to Kick Because They’re Costing You Money | Dramel Notes

Online shopping is really convenient — but it can also be really dangerous. It’s easy to get caught up in browsing lists of things you don’t really need, and it’s far too simple to order them with a single click.

You’re not making it any easier on yourself by keeping up the bad habits listed below. Check them out and be honest with yourself — which ones are you guilty of? Share in the comments below and we’ll talk about good ways to turn them into better habits.

“Window Shopping” on Pinterest

This is the first thing that has to go. Browsing products on Pinterest is like walking through the mall looking at stores and saying you’re not going to buy anything.

It could happen, but it requires a huge amount of willpower to stick to your shopping prohibition. The same goes when you’re browsing any website that contains images and details on a lot of products that you’ll probably like (which is especially true on Pinterest, as they’re really good at learning your preferences).

Instead, start filling your Pinterest feed with things that will inspire you to save money. Search for things like ‘combine clothes in new ways’, ‘thrifty outfits’, or ‘DIY organization ideas’. These are the kinds of things that will help you stop spending impulsively, but still be fun to look at.

Pinterest can be really useful if you know how to use it effectively, but you need to be a very disciplined when following boards and liking posts.

(Quick note: this goes for other social networks, too, especially Instgram. The outfit of the day tag, #OOTD, can lead to an urge to shop.)

Following Too Many Brands

Following brands on social media can be really useful; you can get exclusive coupons, for example, or find out when big sales are coming up. But you’ll also get exposed to an awful lot of marketing. It’s easy to fill up a good portion of your Facebook and Twitter feeds with ads and product recommendations from retailers, and that’s going to make it hard to stay disciplined and resist impulse shopping.

Not following any brands on social media is a good goal, but if you absolutely need to know what this week’s fashions are, just follow the companies that you buy from regularly. Don’t follow the companies you buy from once a year. It’s not nearly as entertaining or exciting, but it could save you a lot of money and lower the temptation you have to deal with every day.

Getting Caught Up in Sales

Ah, online sales. How much extra money do you think you spend when your favorite retailer is having a sale? It always feels like you’re saving money, but usually what you’re doing is getting more for spending the same amount, or just spending more.

Obviously, if you can maintain your self-control, you can save quite a bit. However, it’s very difficult to resist temptation when you see that something you previously couldn’t afford is now on sale.

Some financial bloggers advise not shopping sales at all. Instead, they say to make a list of the things that you want and to go online and buy them, regardless of whether they’re on sale or not. This is certainly a viable strategy, but that’s not going to be everyone’s preferred choice.

If you do decide to keep shopping sales, make a budget first. Tell yourself how much you can spend before you start, and then only spend up to that limit.

Keeping Your Credit Card on File

One of the reasons why it’s so easy to spend a lot of money online is because retailers make it so very easy. Amazon has it down to where you just need to click once — no entering credit information, no entering shipping details, no confirming the purchase, nothing. Just one click and it’s on the way. And that’s really dangerous (not only when you’re being tempted, either: my mother-in-law once accidentally used one-click purchasing to buy a $1,000 chair).

Even if you don’t use one-click ordering, keeping your credit on file at your favorite stores is not a good idea. Humans are lazy, and we try to minimize the effort that we need to use to accomplish things. Even little things — like entering your credit card information — can be a deterrent.

If nothing else, it gives you one more chance to reconsider your decision. Don’t let companies save your credit card information, and you’ll be more likely to make better decisions.

Subscribing to Retail Newsletters

Just like following brands on social media, getting newsletters in your inbox with offers will expose you to a lot of marketing. And online marketers are really good at what they do — they know all the tricks. Which means you’re making yourself a lot more susceptible to making poorly planned purchases. And you’re cluttering your inbox, which is another thing you don’t want to deal with.

Just like with social media, if you can’t unsubscribe from all of the newsletters, stick with the ones from the brands that you buy from all the time. You’ll be more likely to actually save money with these. And if you can’t bear the thought of unsubscribing from them, use Unroll.me or another strategy to keep them from distracting you when you’re in your inbox.

Again, putting another step between you and a purchase is a good thing.

Getting Distracted by Recommendations

Related to both “window” shopping and browsing sales, allowing yourself to be distracted by the items that Amazon, Target, or any other online retailer presents to you when you’re buying something is bad. If you buy an Arduino starter kit, for example, Amazon will recommend a bunch of other Arduino-related things, and you’ll probably be tempted to buy them.

But if you didn’t set out to buy them in the first place, you almost certainly don’t need them. Sure, some would be nice, but if you didn’t think to put them on your list in the first place, and you’re thinking about buying those items, it’s probably due to advertising. And that’s not a good way to shop.

Remember that online retailers know a lot about you, and they know exactly what to put in front of you to make you spend more.

Subscribing to Groupon

Groupon, LivingSocial, and other “social couponing” sites can save you a lot of money if you grab the right coupons. If you grab the wrong coupons, you could end up spending a lot on things that you don’t need — or, worse, forgetting about them and losing the value of the coupon.

The key is knowing when to see if there’s a Groupon that you’re interested in. If you want to buy something, and you think that you might be able to save on it with a Groupon, check out the site and search for what you need. If you want to go out to eat, take an affordable vacation, or go on a weekend outing, you’ll almost certainly be able to find what you want.

When you get emails from Groupon, however, you see what they want you to see. Groupons for specific stores, classes, and items that you never thought about before can look awfully appealing when you’re saving 50% or more (or if you think you’re saving that much).

But don’t get drawn into the black hole of buying Groupons; it feels like saving money, but it’s still spending. Unsubscribe, and hit the site when you think it would be useful.

Paying for Shipping

There are tons of ways to get free shipping online — so many, in fact, that paying for shipping is almost always a waste of money. On Amazon, you get free shipping if you spend over $35, which isn’t hard (even if you don’t get caught up in a sale).

Free shipping is also one of the awesome Amazon prime benefits (sign up for Prime here) that you should be taking advantage of. Other sites often have similar deals, where if you spend over a certain amount you don’t have to pay to have it delivered.

Where shipping really hits your finances is if you make a lot of small purchases — you often won’t reach the threshold, and you’ll pay a couple bucks for each item. It doesn’t seem like much at the time, so you don’t think about it, but it adds up over months and years.

Those little, one-off purchases are often impulse buys too, making them doubly bad for your budget (you do have a budget, don’t you?). Consolidate your purchases to save on shipping costs.

Start Small and Build Up

Being financially responsible isn’t always easy, and maintaining bad online habits can make it even harder. You don’t have to become a model of resisting temptation overnight– start with one or two of the above tips, and work your way from there. Or take on one each week over the course of a couple months. Just make sure you start somewhere.

And why not start reading some personal finance blogs while you’re at it? It will help keep your motivation and resistance to temptation up.

What bad habits cost you money online? Do you find yourself making impulse purchases or browsing sales? Do you get caught up in email newsletters? What have you done to help yourself resist the temptations online? Share your thoughts and tips below!

Image Credits:legs and shopping bags by haveseen via Shutterstock

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4 Extensions To Create Killer Wishlists — That Aren’t Amazon! | Dramel Notes

When it is time to begin or catch up on your holiday shopping and you find items online that you want to save, a wish list is the perfect spot. Amazon is popular for their wish list feature that allows you to save any item from any site. But believe it or not, not everyone uses Amazon or even has account. So, here are a few browser extensions that you non-Amazon shoppers can check out for creating your own wish and gift lists.

Wisp Wishlists

The Wisp Wishlists extension provides an easy way to add items from any website you visit. You can add a note to the product which is handy for including a color or size. You can add items to an existing list and also create a new list, which can be made public or private, right from the pop-up. Then when you want to see your lists and products, head over to the Wisp Wishlists website and sign in.

You can edit lists as well as items and you can invite friends so that sharing lists is easy. And, the site also offers items that you can browse through and add to your own list. Wisp Wishlists has extensions for Firefox and Chrome, with bookmarkets for Safari and Internet Explorer.

TAGGR

For Chrome as well as mobile devices, TAGGR is a good option. Select an existing list or create a new one to save your product within the pop-up. A nice feature of this tool is that when you “TAGG” an item, that item is checked daily by the system for price changes. So, if you happen to be waiting for a product to go on sale, TAGGR will let you know when it does. Then just check out your wish lists on your mobile device and click to go directly to the source and make a purchase.

Just a note, while the currency for wish list totals currently appears in pounds, individual items added in USD, for example, should reflect correctly. TAGGR is available for iOS and Android for free and the Chrome extension is meant to be an accompaniment for the mobile app so that you can access your lists from anywhere.

Shoptagr

We looked at this extension a while back as a terrific shopping tool for Safari users, but there is also an add-on for Chrome users and a bookmarklet for other browsers. Shoptagr works with over 500 stores worldwide. As with the others, you can select an existing wish list or create a new one. This tool also includes the color and size options from the products you add, making it very convenient to capture all the details.

You can also choose to be notified when there is any price change on the item or when it is 25 or 50 percent off. This is a truly handy feature so that you can be alerted of price changes. When you visit your account on the Shoptagr website you have options to share your list via social media or with a direct link, sort and search for items and retailers, or head directly to the original site to buy your item.

Wishtack

Wishtack is another great option for Chrome users. With this tool, you can add items to your wish list or share them directly from the pop-up to your favorite social media site or via email. Then just log into the Wishtack website to see your list and items. Go directly to the original store to purchase items or invite your friends to share products.

While logged in, you can even browse for some gift ideas with a convenient filter for activity such as music lover or traveler. You can also filter items by price range and men, women, or children. Then just click to add any item to your own wish list.

What Do You Use for Your Wish Lists?

Are you a die-hard Amazon wish list user, do you use one of the above options already, or do you prefer something totally different like a basic to-do list application? Or, maybe you do just like Santa Claus does with his naughty and nice list and rely on simple pen and paper. Feel free to share your comments below!

Image Credit: Santa Claus checks his list by Iuliia Gusakova via Shutterstock, Hans Christiansson via Shutterstock.com

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10 Fun Chrome Extensions for a Little Christmas Cheer | Dramel Notes

It is that time of year again when we hear classic Christmas carols, see beautiful holiday decorations, and witness the hustle and bustle of the season. How much time do you have left to buy all of those gifts? What do you do when it is time to take a break from online shopping? Here are ten festive extensions that can help you count down to the holiday and also have a little fun with Chrome.

Let the Countdown Begin

Christmas Day Countdown is a neat holiday app because not only do you see an attractive countdown until Christmas, but you can listen to festive music and even play a game. The countdown displays in days, hours, minutes, and seconds.

There is a variety of music to choose from, with holiday mixes from around the world. And, the game is really a cute bonus where you catch falling items like candy canes, stockings, and stars in your sleigh. Christmas Day Countdown definitely brings some cheerfulness to your everyday Chrome experience.

Days ‘til Christmas – Countdown is another app you can keep open in one of your Chrome tabs that shows how much time is left until Christmas. With days, hours, minutes, and seconds as well, this one is a bit more basic than Christmas Day Countdown. There are no bells and whistles or jolly music, but if you just want a simple countdown so you know how many shopping days you have left, then Days ‘til Christmas works well.

Christmas Clock – the Xmas Countdown is another very basic app to countdown the days until Christmas. As with the others, it displays the countdown in days, hours, minutes, and seconds. If you move your mouse around on the screen, you will see the falling snow change direction. So, for another cool countdown, Christmas Clock is a good option.

If you prefer a browser extension with a handy button over an app, so that you can just click to see how long until Santa arrives, then Countdown to Christmas is a cute one. Along with the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until Christmas, you will see a jovial, waving Santa Claus. Time is ticking until Christmas arrives, so keep track with a tap.

Toys, Treats, and Goodies

Make sure you are ready to sing some holiday cheer this year with Learn Your Christmas Carols. This is a helpful app that provides you the lyrics to tons of holiday classics. In addition, you can check out video performances of the songs by famous artists like LeAnn Rimes and Mariah Carey.

You can also search for songs by specific artists. So, Learn Your Christmas Carols and be prepared to sing your heart out around the holiday tree.

For something a little silly for adults or just enjoyable for kids is Christmas Coloring Game. Just select your picture and your color to create your holiday work of art. This app offers pictures for other holidays or just everyday objects.

You can also easily grab a printable version of the image if you want to color it with actual crayons. Christmas Coloring Game is good for some quick festive fun.

For a fun break away from online shopping, try Christmas Solitaire from ChristmasSolitaire.com. With classic Klondike gameplay, the game has a simple holiday theme with Christmas tree card backs and a snowy village background.

There are a few sound effects during gameplay that can be disabled, you can undo moves, and you can also play in full screen mode. Christmas Solitaire is your basic game with a jolly theme.

Another fun game when you have a few minutes to spare is Christmas Mahjong from www.christmasmahjong.com. With the same type of theme as Christmas Solitaire, Christmas Mahjong has gingerbread men, candy canes, toy soldiers, and ornaments on the tiles.

You can play in full screen, undo moves, get a hint when needed, and shuffle the tiles. Enjoy a few minutes making matches with Christmas Mahjong.

If you are more of a Sudoku fan, then there is an app for you too. Christmas Sudoku from SudokuChristmas.com has a nifty Christmas theme. There is a colorful string of lights around the game board and the numbers you choose are wrapped as gifts.

You can use note mode and if you place an incorrect number, you will have time added to your clock as a penalty. Christmas Sudoku is a fun game for fans of number puzzles.

Christmas Quest is a holiday-themed game of Memory. Flip over the tiles containing pictures of ornaments, snowmen, and sleighs to make matches. You score for every pair you find and can play over and over to try and beat your score. Christmas Quest has a classic concept with pretty imagery.

Spreading the Cheer

For counting down or having fun, these Christmas Chrome add-ons can really bring some fun holiday cheer to your browsing experience. Do you have any favorite holiday apps or extensions for Chrome that you use every year?

Feel free to share your suggestions in the comments below. Happy Holidays!

Image Credit: Vvoe via Shutterstock.com

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Geek Trivia: When Gear Is Made Less Effective In Video Games, Gamers Say It Has Been? | Dramel Notes

Answer: Nerfed

The advent of online multiplayer gaming introduced an element of game design that designers hadn’t previously had to wrangle with: balancing character abilities and in-game items so that game play was fair and didn’t encourage players to flock to a certain character class or only use a specific weapon or gear combination.

With nearly every multiplayer game, there are updates and revisions over time to rebalance and adjust areas that developers consider problematic such as weapon/armor combinations that stack to give unreasonably powerful bonuses, or character-class skills that prove to be too effective or the like.

When developers make adjustments to weapons, gear, or skills in such a fashion that it decreases the effectiveness of the aforementioned thing, players say that the thing has been “nerfed”. The term, which originated in the Ultima Online community, is a reference to Nerf toys (specifically to how a Nerf football or toy weapon is a softer, less dangerous version of the real thing).

Image courtesy of Nerf.

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Here’s Where to Learn Digital Design and Art Theory for Free | Dramel Notes

From online repositories of free and paid graphic design courses to blogs and websites worth following; if you really put your mind to it, you can learn a lot about design with little more than a browser and an Internet connection. With these websites you can learn everything from the basic principles of graphic design to specifics on workflow, and design trends.

We’ve put together a list of websites and videos that offer a great place to start. The list, while long, is by no means exhaustive, and after you’ve gone through it, be sure to add your own recommendations in the comments.

Online Tutorials

Video tutorials are a great place to start if you’re interested in design but don’t want to splurge on a workshop or course in a real classroom environment.

Skillshare: Skillshare is a paid online service which also has a variety of design courses, but quite a few of them are available for free. For example, the founder of the Noun Project, a great resource for free icons which we’ve included in our list of resources below, has an interesting video about designing pictograms. You’ll also find other interesting free courses on typography, branding, and creating a portfolio, among others.

Udemy: Before you dive into pricier courses, Udemy’s free online design courses are a great place to start to get your feet wet and really get a basic understanding of design and the tools that designers use. Tutorials on Photoshop and Illustrator introduce you to the basics of two of the most important tools a designer has in his or her arsenal. And that’s just two of the 147 free graphic design courses available on the website.

Envato Tuts+: In addition to more free and paid tutorials much like those available on Udemy and Skillshare, Envato Tuts+ also has a great series of articles and tutorials that put the spotlight on international inspiration with its global influences section. Also be sure to check out their list of 50 free lessons in graphic design theory.

Lynda: While Lynda is a paid service, it offers over 600 courses and close to 30,000 video tutorials on design alone, in addition to other categories including animation, photography, and more. The videos can also be filtered by skill level or software. Looking specifically at its design courses and videos, some good recommendations include Insights on Illustrative Design and Aaron Draplin on Logo Design. If you’re looking for some basics on graphic design, Introduction to Graphic Design is a great place to start when it comes to terminology and learning how to speak about design in a professional setting. That said, some of the actual aesthetic choices featured in the video are a little lacking.

We also have a great list of Lynda courses on digital art that you should check out.

If, on the other hand, you’re looking for something completely free, check out these 7 YouTube channels on web design.

Blogs, Magazines and Twitter Accounts

Needless to say, there’s no limit to the number of blogs and online magazines out there that are covering the world of graphic and web design, and art theory. Some, however, are not to be missed.

Smashing Magazine: This online magazine has been around since 2006 and in addition to covering design, graphics, and user experience design (UXD), it also has sections dedicated to coding and an entire section on WordPress alone. The design section includes blog posts on design principles, Web design, typography, and more. In addition to being packed with good reads on the latest in the world of design, Smashing Magazine also provides readers with freebies, where you can download primarily icon sets , as well as illustrations, tools, WordPress themes, and fonts – all of which can be very useful for someone just getting started out in design.

Digital Arts Online: UK magazine Digital Arts Online is packed with free tutorials, as well as the latest in design news, reviews of tools and gadgets, gorgeous portfolios, and more. The site is great for finding good design related listicles like the 70 best Photoshop tutorials or the 10 best graphic design tutorials – with the caveat that all of the links go back to Digital Arts Online content. That said, it’s a great way to sift through the tons of content that Digital Arts Online has to offer.

Fast Company: Starting out as a print magazine, Fast Company probably needs no introduction, but is a must-read for anyone interested in modern design. In its design section, you’ll find the latest in design news, design theory, examples of good design, and design explainers. If you’re at all serious about design, this is one to bookmark.

If you’re on the look for inspiration, check out Lovely Package, where you’ll find a carefully curated collection of packaging design, or SiteInspire and Awwwards, for website design.

Also be sure to check out Canva’s design blog, Creative Bloq, Communication Arts, and How. Bloglovin also has a great list of Design blogs to follow, making it easy to create a comprehensive reading list in no time.

I’ve also put together a list of design accounts worth following on Twitter, including the design accounts of major media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR.

Lectures

A great place to look for short design-related lectures and talks is Ted. The Design section on the website features curated playlists, and a good place to start would be with the playlist entitled Design Giants which features talks by legendary minds including avant garde designer Stefan Sagmeister, the former president of the Rhode Island School of Design John Maeda, the designer who created the iconic I Love New York design Milton Glaser, Pentagram partner Paula Scher, and the Museum of Modern Art’s Paola Antonelli. (If you want to find out out more about the biggest names in design, check out our list of 8 must-watch documentaries for artists and designers.)

One big omission on the list is Chip Kidd’s TED talks. Kidd, who is best known for his book designs, has two great talks worth watching –  The Art of First Impressions:

and Designing Books is No Laughing Matter:

Exercises

With all the learning you’ll be doing with these tutorials, blogs, and resources, you’ll want to put these new skills to good use. If you want to practice, in addition to exercises included in Lynda tutorials, there’s quite a few that you can try for free.

You can find exercise prompts filled with design inspiration, ways to get past your design block, exercises specifically for UX Designers, and ideas for logo and typography exercises. Check out a few more lists with ideas for design exercises on EnvatoTuts and from digital agency Imulus. With design, there’s simply no end to the learning, and the more you practice the better you get.

Tools and Resources

In addition to exercises, you’ll also want to bookmark some websites that offer users free tools and resources to use in their design. For example, if you’re just getting started with web design, you might not want to waste time creating icons from scratch.

The Noun Project: While eventually, you’ll definitely want to create these icons yourself, as you’re getting started, you can use a resource like The Noun Project. Icons are provided for free in PNG or SVG format, provided you give the designer credit on your projects.

Photoshop Etiquette: For those of you just getting started with Photoshop, the website Photoshop Etiquette is a great resource for understanding how to use the design program like a pro.

The Web Field Manual: The Web Field Manual is packed with lists of websites where you can find design inspiration, like Awwwards, Crafted by Love, and Dribbble. The Field Manual also lists websites worth following if you’re interested in reading about design news, style guides, design process, workflow, best practices,a and more.

Wirify: For those of you interested in web design in particular, a great tool to use is Wirify. The free tool instantly converts any website into a wireframe with just one click. A wireframe is a basic sketch our outline of a website and is a key step when designing a web page. If you want to better understand how other websites have been designed, seeing them in a wireframe state can be a very useful exercise.

Adobe Kuler: If you’re interested in creating color schemes, look no further than Adobe Kuler. The Adobe tool allows you to create various color schemes including analogous, triad, and monochromatic schemes. If you want to understand more about the different types of schemes, check out this article on color theory.

I Font You: A key element in any good design is good type. I Font You is a great way to discover good font combinations. A few more similar websites include Type Genius and Font Pair.

Designer News: A great forum for designers, Designer News is a good place to find freelance jobs, recommended reads, and more. And it all comes straight from the horse’s mouth – other designers.

If you’re looking to put all these skills to use in your professional world, be sure to read more on how to be a profitable online graphic designer.

Your Thoughts?

What websites, courses, or resources would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments.

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The Only Google Drive Guide You’ll Ever Need to Read | Dramel Notes

Google Drive is a fantastic resource for those who need free (or cheap) online storage space. It synchronizes beautifully with Google’s own suite of products, as well as several third-party services such as desktop email client Mailbird, productivity and organization software Evernote, and online communication tool Slack.

Here we take a complete look at how to use of the service, as well as offering some hints and tips along the way.

Navigation: Supported File Types | Accessing Google Drive | Storage Space | Working with Google Drive | Desktop Clients | Uploading Files & Folders | Downloading Files & Folders | File Size Restrictions | Creating a New Document | Sharing Files & Folders | Collaborating | Accessing Files Offline | Organizing Your Drive | Tweaking Your Layout | Third Party Apps | Troubleshooting | Drawbacks of Google Drive

Introduction to Google Drive

Formerly known as Google Docs, the service was launched to the public in April 2012 and has since gained an estimated 300 million active monthly users.

The premise behind the service is to allow its users to store files in the cloud, thus enabling them to access them from any Internet-connected computer or mobile device in the world. Since late 2012 it has also encompassed Google’s free office productivity suite – Google Docs (word processing), Google Sheets (spreadsheets), and Google Slides (presentations).

Two of its most important and standout features are the ability to share documents with non-Google Drive users, and the ability to collaborate on documents in real-time. Shared files can be either shared publicly (to anyone with the link), or privately (to specific email addresses and/or users), though it’s important to note that files can only be shared privately with Google account holders. Collaborated documents are updated live – thus enabling the other users to see what changes are being made as they work.

Supported File Types

A wide range of file types are supported, and they can all be viewed via the Google Drive viewer in the web client or the mobile apps. These include the full range of Microsoft Office file extensions, PDFs, most typical image files (JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, and WEBP), video files (MPEG4, 3GPP, MOV, AVI, MPEGPS, WMV, FLV, OGG, and WebM), audio files (MP3, MPEG, WAV), Adobe Photoshop files, Apple Pages, Autodesk AutoCAD extensions, PostScript, and fonts.

Unsupported file types can still be uploaded to the service, but they cannot be viewed from within the web client. There is a 5 TB limit on upload size.

Accessing Google Drive

The service has a web-based client, a Chrome app, downloadable synchronization folders for Windows and Apple’s OS X, and smartphone/tablet apps for Android and iOS. Linux and Windows Phone users have to resort to third-party replacements because no official versions are available.

The service supports a number of third-party applications that add extra features or benefits to the existing offering. These have been available via the Chrome Web Store since the 2012 launch, but since early 2013 they have also been available through the web client itself.

Storage Space

Currently, the first 15 GB of storage is free, with various paid options available thereafter. The cheapest paid plan is $1.99 per month for 100 GB of storage, while the most expensive plan will set you back $299.99 per month for 30 TB of space. Google will often run various promotions that allow users to pick up extra storage for free, and people who buy a new Chromebook currently get a mammoth 1 TB free for two years.

Working with Google Drive

Let’s take a look at some of Google Drive’s main features and how to use them.

Getting Started

Most users will access Google Drive through the web client or by using a folder on their Windows PC or Mac.

The web client can be accessed by heading to https://drive.google.com/drive/ and following the onscreen login instructions. If you already have an always-logged-in Google account, the link should take you directly to your Google Drive’s main page. If you don’t already have a Google account, you will be prompted to make one.

Using Google Drive on Windows or Mac

If you prefer to use a desktop folder to sync your files with your account, you’ll need to download the relevant software from within Google Drive.

To do so, log-in via the web client using the instructions above. Once you’re presented with your Drive’s homepage, locate the button titled Get Drive for PC in the lower left-hand corner. Alternatively, head to https://www.google.com/drive/download/ and select Mac and PC from the dropdown menu.

You will be prompted to accept the various terms and conditions, and the file will download. When it’s completed, run the download and a folder will be added to your user file and your taskbar (Windows) or your Applications folder (Mac).

Enter the downloaded program’s settings to tweak which folders should sync, whether the service should launch at start-up, and more. Once the download has been installed, simply drag any files you want to upload to your newly-created Google Drive folder, and they will automatically sync to the service.

Uploading Files and Folders

If you’re using the web client, you can upload documents in two different ways.

Firstly, you can simply drag the file or folder you want over the top of the Google Drive window. You will be prompted to drop the file to begin the upload.

The alternative method is to use the menus within Drive. Click on New in the top left-hand corner, and then select either File Upload or Folder Upload, depending on your desired action.

The progress of the upload can be monitored via the status bar in the bottom right-hand corner. This is also where you can cancel an upload once it has started.

Downloading Files and Folders

In the same way that you can upload individual files or entire folders, you can also download files and folders.

Simply select the item you wish to download and either right click on it and choose Download, or click on the three vertical dots for More Actions and choose Download. If you want to download more than one file/folder at once, hold either Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) and click all the items you require.

If the selected files are above a certain size, Google Drive will automatically put them into a ZIP format before downloading. Make sure you have a tool to unzip them installed on your computer.

File Size Restrictions

As previously mentioned, the file sizes for uploading are restricted.

For example, Google Drive cannot support any file that is larger than 5 TB. At the same time, files that have been converted to a Google format are further limited in size:

• Google Docs: 50 MB and 1,024,000 characters
• Google Sheets: 2,000,000 cells (Overly complex calculations may also cause a conversion to fail)
• Google Slides: 100 MB
• Google Drawing: No limit

Creating a New Document

Creating a new Google document from within Google Drive is a straight-forward process.

Simply click on New in the top right-hand corner and select the type of document you wish to create. A blank file will immediately be launched, and you are ready to start working.

You can rename the document by clicking on “Untitled Document” and entering the file name of your choice.

Any changes will be immediately saved, and the document will automatically synchronized to your Google Drive account.

You can also create non-Google documents by clicking More and launching a third-party app that you have installed. As with Google documents, any changes you make to the third-party program will be automatically saved and reflected within your account.

You can add third-party apps through the Google Web Store or by following New > More > Connect more apps from within Google Drive. To remove third-party apps from your account, enter the Settings menu in the top right-hand corner, then choose the Managing Apps tab. Scroll down to the app you want to remove, click Options, and select Disconnect from Drive from the dropdown menu.

Sharing Files and Folders

Google Drive makes it incredibly easy to share files and folders in your account with other users. Sharing a file will let others read, edit, and comment on it, depending on which privileges you grant.

To begin sharing a file or folder, highlight the item in your file list within Drive and either click on the sharing icon, or right click on it, and select Share.

You will then be presented with a pop-up window that allows you to customize your sharing settings.

You can either get a “sharable link” by clicking Get sharable link in the top right-hand corner, or you can select individual people by entering their email addresses in the box below.

Set the necessary privileges by using the relevant dropdown menus.

If you chose to get a link, you will need to share it with anyone you want to access the file/folder. If you entered email addresses, the person will receive a notification in their inbox that will give them access.

Anyone with editing rights will have complete control over the file. The only things they will not be able to do is delete the item or transfer its ownership. You can change the ownership of the document to someone who you are already sharing the file with by clicking the dropdown menu next to their name and selecting Is owner.

Clicking on Advanced in the bottom right-hand corner of the pop-up window will offer you some additional “Owner Settings”. These include the ability to prevent users who only have view and comment privileges from downloading, printing, and copying the file, and the ability to prevent editors from changing other people’s privileges and adding new people to the share list.

To stop sharing a file either click on the “X” by the person’s name that you want to remove (if you shared with individuals), or select OFF – only specific people can access from the dropdown menu (if you set up a shareable link).

Finally, if someone has shared a file with you, you will find it under Shared with me in the main menu on the left-hand side of the screen.

Collaborating

Giving someone editing privileges over your file will automatically allow you to collaborate on the document in real-time.

You can keep track of the changes being made through the Google Drive interface. To see a complete history of all changes made to all files in your drive, click on the Information icon next to the settings gear. To just see the changes for a single file, make sure the file is highlighted before you click on information.

The activity history will show you changes surrounding moving, renaming, uploading, sharing and un-sharing, and most significantly, editing and commenting.

It is important to note that only 50 people can edit a document at the same time, and you can only share a document with a maximum of 200 people. To allow more people to look or work at a file, you must choose to give access to Anyone with the link or make it Public on the web. You can find these link sharing options under Share > Advanced > Change…

Accessing Files Offline

Google Drive enables you to view and edit your documents when offline – perfect for when you need to work while travelling or in a café without an Internet connection.

Offline access is individually controlled for each device. To turn on offline access for the computer you are currently on, you need to access the settings menu by clicking on the gear icon in the top right-hand corner and then selecting Settings.

Once there, make sure the checkbox next to Sync Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings files to this computer so that you can edit offline is ticked.

As per the warning under the option, you should not enable this feature on public or shared computers.

After the feature is enabled, you need to either use a Chrome browser or a Chromebook to access your Google Drive as you normally would. It will not work if you try to use a non-Google browser. The page and its associated documents will be displayed in the same way as they would be if you were online, and usage guidelines remain identical.

Any changes or edits you make will be uploaded and synchronized automatically as soon as an Internet connection becomes available again.

Only Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and Google Drawings can be accessed offline. Google Sites, Google Forms, Fusion Tables, uploaded images, folders, Microsoft Office file extensions, and PDFs will be unavailable.

Organizing Your Drive

You can organize your Google Drive in much the same way as you can organize file and folders on your regular desktop.

Make a new folder by either clicking on New > Folder, or by right-clicking anywhere in the main panel and selecting New Folder. Once you’ve made the folder, simply drag and drop any desired files into it.

You can also “star” items that are particularly important. Either right click on the item you want to star, or highlight it and choose Add star off the More actions menu.

Any starred items will be listed under Starred in the menu on the left-hand side of the screen.

Tweaking Your Layout

You can choose from two visual layouts – either a grid format or a list format. You can change between the two by clicking the relevant button near the top of the screen.

You can also alter the sort option by clicking the “AZ” button. The options are “Name”, “Last modified”, “Last modified by me”, and “Last opened by me”.

Drive also includes a Gmail-esque option to allow you to alter how densely packed the on-screen information is. Navigate to Gear > Settings, then scroll down to Density and select your preferred option.

Must-Have Third-Party Apps

Third-party apps can add a significant capability boost to your Google Drive account. We recommend the following.

1. ZIP Extractor

ZIP Extractor lets you extract ZIP files from within your Google Drive. This is particularly useful if you need to upload a large file. Zip it up on your PC, upload it in a shorter time, and unzip it again once it’s safely in the cloud.

It’ll even let you choose which files within the ZIP file to unpack.

2. PDF Mergy

Fed up of receiving documents from people who don’t know how to add multiple pages to a scanned PDF?

PDF Mergy lets you combine multiple PDF pages into one neat file using a simple drag and drop interface.

3. Office Online

No matter how much we might love Google and their online range of services, realistically it’s still going to be a long time until we can all wean ourselves off the ubiquitous Microsoft Office forever.

Office Online will force email attachments with an Office extension to open in Microsoft’s online suite, rather than opening an often poor rendering in Google Docs.

Google Drive Troubleshooting

Murphy’s Law — everything that can go wrong, will go wrong — applies anything, even Google. Here we take a look at five common issues that people come across when using Google Drive.

1. Accidentally Deleted File

We’ve all done it – accidentally deleting an important file or folder is incredibly frustrating, especially if you don’t realize until long after the event and you’ve already emptied your Recycle Bin several times over (if this happens to you, try using a special recovery tool).

Thankfully, Google Drive offers its own version of the Recycle Bin; it’s simply called “Bin” or “Trash“, depending on your region. The feature is accessible via the main menu in the left-hand panel (it’s the last item on the list).

Click on it, and you will see a complete list of all the files that you’ve ever deleted.

To restore an item, highlight it and click on Restore in the top right-hand corner. Similarly, if you want to permanently delete an item, select that option instead.

To empty the entire bin, activate the dropdown menu under Bin and click on Empty bin.

If you don’t find the available file, consider that it might have been a shared file and the owner either deleted it or stopped sharing it with you. In those cases, you need to contact the owner and ask them to re-grant you access.

If you cannot find the file in the bin, and you are certain you created it, Google claim they may be able to help you recover it for a limited time. You can contact them via their special web-form.

2. Google Drive Folder on Desktop Keeps Crashing

Windows and Mac users who use the Google Drive folder on their systems may occasionally get the following message: “An unknown issue occurred and Google Drive needs to quit“.

To resolve the problem, make sure that all background processes associated to Google Drive have been terminated and attempt to restart the program. If you get the message repeatedly, you might need to disconnect your computer from Google Drive, then reauthorize it.

To do so, head to https://security.google.com and sign in with the same account that you use for Google Drive. Scroll down the list of apps until you find the Google Drive entry, then click on Remove. Once removed, sign back into Drive on your computer to re-establish authorization.

The problem could also be caused by an out-of-date Google Drive folder. Refer to the previous instructions for downloading Google Drive on a Windows or Mac, but ensure that you click Yes when you’re asked if you want to replace your current version.

3. Buy More Storage

You may be presented with a message that reads “More Google storage is needed“, while you’re performing an upload.

To purchase more storage, log in to your Drive account and click on Upgrade storage in the bottom left.

You will be presented with a number of options. Select the one most appropriate for your needs and follow the on-screen instructions. Prices vary from $1.99 per month to $299.99 per month.

Alternatively, you can try to free up storage, for example by deleting emails with large attachments in Gmail.

4. Unrecognized Users in a Shared File

When looking at the list of people that a file is shared with, you might encounter unrecognized or anonymous users. This may have various reasons.

• Maybe you shared the file with someone who doesn’t have a Google account, and in turn they might have shared the email invitation with someone else.
• Someone who has editing and sharing permissions may have shared the document with their own contacts, or someone may have even changed the name associated with their Google Account.
• The issue may occur if the file was originally shared via a link, and then changed to individual people. In those cases, it may take some time for the existing sessions to time-out and for the shared list to be updated. Ultimately, however, the problem should rectify itself.

5. Unable to Share a Document with a Specific Domain

The issue of not being able to share a document with a specific domain only arises when you’re using Google Drive through a Google Apps account. The problem occurs because your domain administrator has restricted documents from being sent or shared from outside a specific list of external domains – normally for security reasons. You will need to speak to your administrator or share the file by using Google Drive alternatives.

Official Help Channels

Google’s official Google Drive help channels are surprisingly robust, in-depth, and responsive.

Your first port of call should be their online help guide. It covers all aspects of the Google Drive web client, the downloadable folders for Windows and Mac, and the accompanying smartphone/tablet applications.

If you cannot find the information you need, your next option is the help forum. It’s packed with Google Drive employees, non-Google product experts, and other users who may have experienced similar issues.

If you still can’t find a solution, try reporting the issue that you’re experiencing via the user feedback form. You can access it by clicking on the gear, then following Help > Send feedback.

Lastly, if all else fails, you can contact Google directly. They offer both telephone and live chat support (English only).

Drawbacks of Google Drive

Google Drive is not for everyone – despite its obvious advantages, some concerns could put potential users off.

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage is the necessity for users to sign up for a fully-fledged Google account; it is impossible to create an account solely for using with the Drive service. That means you’re going to automatically get a Gmail email address, potentially start recording your search history without realizing, and have a whole new raft of security settings that you need to set up and manage.

If you’re a person who is concerned about Google’s privacy commitments, the NSA’s back-door entry schemes, or you are heavily invested in another provider’s suite of products (such as Apple or Microsoft), all that is going to set alarm bells ringing.

What Have We Missed?

Despite the length of this guide, we know it’s barely scratched the surface in terms of Google Drive’s power and capabilities. The beauty is, once you get started, you will automatically discover the finer details. With this guide, you should be well on your way to Google Drive mastery.

What are the most important features that you think we missed out? Perhaps you’ve discovered some little-known secret or trick that will make your fellow readers’ lives easier? Maybe you don’t even use Google Drive; if not, why not? What do you use instead?

As always, we’d love to hear from you. You can leave us your thoughts, feedback, and suggestions in the comments box below.

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