Best Gifts Under $30 for Wii U Gamers | Dramel Notes

Birthdays and holidays can be expensive if you’ve got a gamer or two in the family. Fortunately, if your giftee is a Wii U owner, there are a number of inexpensive games and accessories available.

If you’re looking for gifts below $30, we’ve got plenty of suggestions. And you can get them from Amazon, taking advantage of their same- or next-day delivery through Amazon Prime. Alternatively, you can pop down to your local Walmart or go onto the Nintendo website – prices will vary but not too greatly.

As it’s Nintendo, there’s swathes of Mario and Luigi (and other big franchise names), but if the person you’re buying for doesn’t like the plumbing duo, you might as well give up on them.

ZombiU

Many Wii U launch games are now at pretty low prices, but ZombiU has to be one of the cheapest and best of the originals.

Zombies are big right now, largely due to The Walking Dead, so vast amounts of related games have flooded the market – but few are as creative and ingenious as ZombiU. It’s a normal battling-the-undead game… until you die. When you respawn, you actually inhabit another body, another survivor, and your old avatar becomes a zombie that’s creeping up on you.

For the price, this game is more than worth it, really providing endless hours of grisly entertainment.

Retractable Rainbow Stylus Pack

Not exactly an exciting present, but certainly useful.

How many times have you lost a stylus? For the Wii U, for a tablet, for a 3DS? At night, the Gaming Fairy (8-Bit, naturally) silently teleports into your house and steals styluses in order to construct herself a house. That, or maybe they’re just under the sofa or something.

A pack of multi-colored replacements are ideal; whoever’s going to lose a bright yellow stylus easily? What’s more, these work on several systems, including the 3DS, which any respected Nintendo fan is going to own too.

The Legend of Zelda 2016 Wall Calendar

When it comes to gaming calendars, there’s not a great amount of choice readily available. Still, there’s your standard Super Mario Bros. (admittedly, very cool) ones, even Animal Crossing, but The Legend of Zelda 2016 Calendar is perfect for any fans of gaming and art.

Block color means the calendar stands out on your wall, while wonderful character designs reflect the vibrant, upbeat visuals of the franchise.

As an alternative for your LoZ fan, consider the Hyrule Historia, a beautiful hardback detailing the history of the franchise and chronicling the character designs across different platforms. Released first in Japan to celebrate The Legends of Zelda‘s 25th anniversary, international fans were clamoring for a translation, and this is the stunning result

Amiibo End Level Display

Amiibos have flooded the market, most of which are available for below $20. The Mario Classic Color Amiibo is a particular favorite. But you need a guarantee that the individual you’re buying for has that select game, so instead, why not go for this, a contender for Coolest Gaming Gift Ever?

It only holds six Amiibos, but that’s more than most displays – and who really cares when the product looks as awesome as this does?

Fans of Nintendo new and old will love this, especially if they’re well acquainted with Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and co.!

LEGO: Marvel Super Heroes

Everyone loves Marvel. And if that statement’s not true, I feel uneasy about society.

Seriously though, they’re huge, as is LEGO. This game combines the two.

Oh, you want to know more? LEGO is no longer just what you used to play with as a kid; it’s no longer just the enemy of bare feet: it’s big business. Collectors love it, children love it, and big children love it. Their gaming range is known for being very puzzle-centric, but this adds super-powers to the mix. Ever wondered what Chris Hemsworth would look like made of multi-colored bricks? You’re in luck.

Boss Monster: The Dungeon Building Card Game

This one’s a bit different, but bear with me.

Generations grew up with decks of Dungeons and Dragons (itself inspiring a plethora of video games), and if you want to instill a love of quality card-games into a youngster, this is a safe bet. Inspired by retro video games, you’re a villain, trying to create the deadliest dungeon imaginable. It only takes about 30 minutes to play, so nobody will get bored over the festivities.

It’s this or Cards Against Humanity, and this one’s more family-friendly.

Super Mario Maker GamePad Protector

It’s hard not to fall a little in love with Super Mario Maker, enabling fans worldwide to indulge in their fantasies by creating their own levels.

The GamePad, however genius it is, looks a bit boring, so why not brighten things up a bit with this handy protector? It’s made from plastic, so will stop a bit of natural wear and tear. You need not worry about scratching the controller any more… but I’d still advise against dropping it from any great height!

NES Remix Pack

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing: whether you had a Sega Mega Drive, N64, or original PlayStation, it’s great to relive those memories – and maybe pass that love onto a different generation (or remind someone of their youth!).

This NES Remix Pack throws short challenges at you based on a selection of much-loved iconic video games from the early years of Nintendo. This is a compilation from two previous releases, so you don’t get full titles (mostly available as download from the eShop anyway), but instead snippets of big franchises with their characters mixed up.

Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Excitebike: they’re all here. They’re not especially difficult, but will nonetheless entertain ages 8- 80 across Christmastime and beyond. It’s also available on the 3DS as the Ultimate NES Remix.

K’NEX Mario Kart Standard Bike Bundle

These are great little sets to rival even LEGO. Yep, it’s K’NEX: essentially LEGO for grown-ups interested in construction. That makes them sound more boring than they actually are. Because these aren’t your common-or-garden packs of rods and connectors – it’s Mario Kart!

Surely one of the best-loved gaming franchises in existence, there’s something for everyone when it comes to Mario Kart. Like zipping between opponents and looking snazzy at the same time? Go for Toad. Enjoy being evil and smashing competitors off the Rainbow Road? Bowser it is. Given up on life? Baby Rosalina’s your girl.

This double-pack of build-your-own figures is a great gift for someone who likes the more traditional choice, Mario or Luigi. The pair are on the bikes introduced for 2008’s Mario Kart Wii, and are the most expensive of the lot. Alternatives including Yoshi, Toad, and Diddy Kong are typically below $10, while bigger K’NEX sets – Bowser, Koopa Troopa, and Wario – are around $20.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Backwards compatibility allows gamers to indulge in the number of fantastic Wii games that were released between 2006 and November 2015. It means you can pick up Wii titles at lower prices, great stocking fillers in case your recipient missed them the first time around.

When it was unleashed on the world in 2009, the world fell in love with Super Mario Bros. Wii. Fun, colorful, and full of mushrooms, it encapsulates everything the Italian plumber stands for. Anyone who plays it is guaranteed a laugh – and that’s exactly what you want at Christmas.

Game on!

Even though Nintendo is gearing up for the NX launch, the Wii U will not be abandoned.

If you’ve got money to burn, there are a number of great games available – ones that will rekindle a love of gaming – but you’re not always in search of a big present. Sometimes, you just need to top up that stocking, so to speak (do people still hang stockings for the festivities?).

So what other smaller presents have you bought a Wii U fan? Picked up any bargains?  Let us know below!

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How to Take Screenshots on Your Apple Watch | Dramel Notes

You’re finding your Apple Watch really useful and you want to share things like your fitness and activity achievements, your customized watch face, messages you receive, and almost anything else on your watch screen. Fortunately, it’s really easy to take a screenshot of your watch.

First, open the clock face, Glance, app, or notification you want to capture and arrange things exactly how you want them to appear in the screenshot. Press and briefly hold the side button and then immediately, and briefly, press the digital crown.

NOTE: If you hold down the side button too long, you’ll see the screen allowing you to power the watch off or put it in Power Reserve mode. If that happens, press the digital crown to get back to where you were.

The screen on your watch will briefly turn white and you’ll feel a tap on your wrist. If you have the sound enabled on your watch, you’ll also hear the camera shutter sound.

The screenshot is not saved on your watch. It’s transferred directly to your iPhone into the “Photos” app. Tap the “Photos” icon on your phone’s Home screen.

Screenshots from the watch are saved in the “Camera Roll” album. If the “Albums” screen in the “Photos” app is not currently displayed, tap “Albums” at the bottom of the screen.

Tap “Camera Roll” in the list of albums.

In the “Camera Roll” album, tap the screenshot you want to access.

The photo displays on a screen with some options at the bottom of the screen. You can tap the heart icon to add the image to your Favorites album, tap the trash can icon to delete the image, or share the image by tapping the sharing icon, which is the box with the up arrow in it.

The iOS sharing system allows you to send something from the current app to another app on your phone. The box with the up arrow accesses the “share sheet” system, or sharing menu, which is very useful and customizable. See our article about how to customize and use the iOS sharing menu.

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How to Extract a Number or Text from Excel with this Function | Dramel Notes

Excel is great at working with both numbers and text—but if you’re using both in the same cell, you might run into some difficulty. Fortunately, you can extract numbers or text from cells to work with your data more efficiently. We demonstrate several options, depending on the format that your data is currently in.

Numbers Stored as Text

This is a common situation, and—fortunately—very easy to deal with. Sometimes cells that contain only numbers are incorrectly labeled as text, preventing Excel from using them in operations. You can see in the image below that the cells in column A are stored as text, as indicated by the green flag on each cell as well as the format box, both of which are highlighted below.

Convert to Number

To solve the problem, just click into a cell, click the warning box, and select “Convert to number.” That’s all there is to it! This can be done on multiple cells by selecting them all and clicking on the warning box, but this likely isn’t as efficient as the following method.

Text to Columns

If you have a lot of cells that need to be fixed, using this method might take a monumental amount of time. To get through the process faster, you can use Excel’s Text to Columns function. Select the numbers that you want to convert, go to Data > Text to Columns, and use the wizard to make sure the numbers come out correctly (for the most part, you’ll just need to click Next and Finish without messing with any of the settings).

The text will be converted to numbers and you’re set to go. Note that this only works on one column at a time, so if you have a lot of columns, you might want to go with this final method.

Paste Special

For this method to work, you’ll need to enter the number 1 in a cell (it’s important that this is in number format). Select that cell and copy it. Now, select all of the numbers that you want to convert to number format, and hit Edit > Paste Special. Select “Multiply” from the Operation section and hit OK.

All of the numbers that you selected will be converted to the General format, which recognizes numbers. Any text cells will also be converted to the General format, which shouldn’t cause any problems.

Extracting Numbers or Text from Mixed-Format Cells

Now we get to the hard part: getting numbers out of cells that contain multiple formats of input. If you have a number and a unit (like “7 shovels,” as we have below), you’ll run into this problem. To solve it, we’re going to look at a couple different ways to split cells into numbers and text, letting you work with each individually. The first method is a bit cumbersome, but works very well on small datasets.

LEFT / RIGHT & SEARCH

The main function we’ll be using here is LEFT, which returns the leftmost characters from a cell. As you can see in our dataset above, we have cells with one-, two-, and three-character numbers, so we’ll need to return the leftmost one, two, or three characters from the cells. By combining LEFT with the SEARCH function, we can return everything to the left of the space. Here’s the function:

=LEFT(A1, SEARCH(" ", A1, 1))

This will return everything to the left of the space. Using the fill handle to apply the formula to the rest of the cells, this is what we get (you can see the formula in the function bar at the top of the image):

As you can see, we now have all of the numbers isolated, so they can be manipulated. Want to isolate the text as well? We can use the RIGHT function in the same way:

=RIGHT(A1, LEN(A1)-SEARCH(" ", A1, 1))

This returns x characters from the right side of the cell, where x is the total length of the cell minus the number of characters to the left of the space.

Now the text can be manipulated as well. Want to combine them again? Just use the CONCATENATE function with all of the cells as inputs:

=CONCATENATE(E1, F1)

Obviously, this method works best if you just have numbers and units, and nothing else. If you have other cell formats, you might have to get creative with formulas to get everything to work right. If you have a giant dataset, it’ll be worth the time it takes to get the formula figured out!

Text to Columns

The Text to Columns function is useful for numbers-only columns, but it can also make life easier if you have mixed-format cells. Select the column you want to work with and hit Data > Text to Columns. You can then use the wizard to select a delimiter (a space is usually the best one) and have your column split the way you want it.

If you only have one- and two-digit numbers, the Fixed Width option can be useful too, as it will only split off the first two or three characters of the cell (you can create a number of splits if you’d like, but I’ll save a full explanation of Fixed Width splitting for another article).

If your dataset contains a lot of columns, and you’d rather not use Text to Columns for each of them, you can easily get the same effect using a quick export and import. First, export your spreadsheet as a comma-separated value (CSV) file. Click File > Save As… and save your file as a CSV.

Now, open a new spreadsheet and click File > Import… Select your CSV file and use the import wizard to get your data split into two columns (you’ll use the exact same steps as you did with the Text to Columns wizard). By selecting “Space” in the Delimiters section, you’ll tell Excel to split the data wherever it finds a space, which will isolate the numbers and text.

Click Finish when you’re done, and you’ll get a new spreadsheet that has your columns split into two. Of course, if you have more than one space in a cell, you’ll end up with more than two columns, as you can see here:

Unfortunately, there isn’t a good solution for this using this method; you’ll just have to concatenate the cells back together.

More Complicated Situations

With the strategies above, you should be able to extract numbers or text out of most mixed-format cells that are giving you trouble. Even if they don’t, you can probably combine them with some of the powerful text functions included in Excel to get the characters you’re looking for. However, there are some much more complicated situations that call for more complicated solutions.

For example, I found a forum post where someone wanted to extract the numbers from a string like “45t*&65/”, so that he would end up with “4565.” Another poster gave the following formula as one way to do it:

=SUMPRODUCT(MID(0&A1,LARGE(INDEX(ISNUMBER(--MID(A1,ROW($1:$25),1))*
 ROW($1:$25),0),ROW($1:$25))+1,1)*10^ROW($1:$25)/10)

To be completely honest, I have no idea how it works. But according to the forum post, it will take the numbers out of a complicated string of numbers and other characters. The point is that, with enough time, patience, and effort, you can extract numbers and text from just about anything! You just have to find the right resources.

What Strategy Do You Use?

Now that you have a better idea of how to get numbers and letters out of mixed-format cells, we want to know what other strategies you’ve used to do the same thing. Post your formulas, processes, or anything else that might be helpful in the comments so we can all learn from them!

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8 Voice Tricks for Google Navigation That You Never Knew About | Dramel Notes

The next time you’re on the road, think about how dangerous it is to fiddle with your phone while moving at 40+ MPH. One mistake and you could end up in a serious accident. The risk just isn’t worth it.

Fortunately, there’s a better way: voice commands!

On Android, while Google Maps is active in navigation mode, you can issue several different “OK Google” voice commands that work at any time, no button presses necessary. These voice commands are:

• “OK Google, navigate to [location].”
• “OK Google, what’s my next turn?”
• “OK Google, when will I get there?”
• “OK Google, find gas stations.”
• “OK Google, mute.”
• “OK Google, unmute.”
• “OK Google, exit navigation.”
• “OK Google, resume navigation.”

For example, if you have the Home location in Google Maps set to your home adress, you can just say “OK Google, navigate to home” and it will instantly route you there. No fumbling, no typing, no inconveniences.

The “find gas stations” command is useful when you’re low on gas, but the “what’s my next turn” command is the real prize. Tired of missing your next turn because Maps is too slow? Now you can move to the next step manually without even touching your device.

There are a few caveats, though: It only works in the U.S., only if you speak English, only if you’re signed into both the Google and Google Maps apps, and “OK Google” must be enabled on your device.

What do you think? Will you be using “OK Google” with Maps now? Or is it not worth the hassle? Tell us in the comments below!

Image Credits: Google Maps in Hand by Twin Design via Shutterstock, Google Maps on Dashboard by Dedi Grigoroiu via Shutterstock

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