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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The 2016 Social Media Image Sizes Cheat Sheet [INFOGRAPHIC] by @AkiLiboon | Dramel Notes

Social networks change the dimensions and formats of images frequently, and it can be difficult to stay updated with what is what. As you start to plan out your social media campaigns for 2016, it’s imperative that you optimize your personal and business’ social media profiles with the right image sizes if you want to stand out from the crowd.

Jamie Spencer of MakeAWebsiteHub.com shared a handy cheat sheet with us that shows all the social media image dimensions in one infographic below:

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Jamie Spencer. Used with permission.
Infographic by Jamie Spencer. Used with permission.

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7 Ways to Use Facebook to Save Money | Dramel Notes

You might think of Facebook as just a way to keep in touch with your friends and family, but it’s become much more than that.

So much more, in fact, that it can actually be a fairly useful financial tool.

We’ve already told you about how the things you do on Facebook can cost you money, but today we’ll look at how Facebook can save you money.

Here are seven things you can do to use the big blue site to your advantage.

Follow Your Favorite Brands

Following a lot of brands on social networks can expose you to a lot more advertising, actually make you spend more, and is one of the eight online bad habits to kick.

However, if you follow your very favorite brands and the ones that you buy from on a regular basis, you can get notified of exclusive sales, new products, upcoming deals, and coupon codes to help you save.

Most of the time, brands will post these offers in their main feed, but every once in a while, you’ll see a special section on their page that’s worth checking out, like Seattle’s Best Coffee’s “$1 Coupon” section:

Living Well Spending Less also reports that Silk, Rite Aid, Angel Soft, Uncle Ben’s, and Dial all offer coupons “just because” and not as part of a promotion.

Follow Money-Saving Pages

There are a lot of pages on Facebook that exist solely to help you save money (and probably to earn a lot on commission while doing it; keep that in mind). Most of them post a combination of good deals (which can be dangerous if you’re not good at resisting temptation) and personal finance advice.

Remember that these pages often have an incentive to get you to buy things, so don’t always jump on any deal you see. Again, resisting temptation is key here — you won’t save money if you end up buying a lot more than you would have without these pages!

Here are a few pages to get you started:

• Money Saving Mom
• Living Well Spending Less
• Living on a Dime
• Passionate Penny Pincher
• Retired by 40

Create or Follow an Interest List

Interest lists are a bit like Twitter lists; they let you view a subset of the pages that you follow without having to sort through everything else on your timeline.

By creating an interest list with relevant brands and money-saving pages, you can have a single place to look online for ways to save money. Add your favorite personal finance bloggers, money-saving pages, brands, and any other site that will help you save money.

To create one, go to your Interests page, click “Add Interests,” and then “Create List.” Start adding your favorite pages!

If you don’t want to create your own custom list, you can follow a public one by going to your Interests page and using the search bar to find public lists that you can follow. Try ‘saving’, ‘deals’, ‘offers’, ‘coupons’, or any category of item that you’d like to save on, like ‘groceries’.

Browse through the lists until you find one that looks like it will help you save on the things you spend money on. You can also find local pages and lists that feature coupons and deals specific to your area.

Get DIY Project Ideas

It’s easier to just buy a product that solves a problem, but in many cases, you can use some basic DIY skills to create a solution without spending more money.

Facebook is a great place to find DIY project ideas, from home organization and improvement to crafts and toys. Follow DIY pages like DIYideas.com, DIY Home Decorating, DIY Ready, and DoItYourself.com.

There are also lots of interest lists that curate DIY ideas — just add one to your interests, and you’ll have all the DIY ideas you could need at the click of a mouse. (If you’re looking for specific project ideas, try Pinterest.)

Buy and Borrow Locally

While Craigslist is the king of online garage sales, Facebook can also be an effective tool for finding people near you who are selling, renting, or lending the things that you need. Your friends are a good place to start — just post a quick request to see if anyone is trying to get rid of a tool, piece of furniture, item of clothing, or whatever else you’re looking for. Sometimes you’ll even find people who are giving away exactly what you need, and all you have to do is go pick it up!

Borrowing is good too, and there are local borrowers’ groups around the country that you can join to find other people interested in free lending of items. If your area doesn’t have one, just start up a group; there are almost certainly a lot of people that would be interested in borrowing and lending things with their neighbors!

Ask for Deals

Most brands are responsive when you send them messages on Facebook, and it’s always worth asking if there’s a discount or coupon code that you can use on a transaction.

Just hit “Message” at the top of a brand or store page, tell them you’re about to make a purchase, and ask if there’s a coupon code that you can use. Many times, they’ll give you a code that you can use — even if it’s only 10% off, that’s still saving more than you would have. Asking for free shipping never hurts, either, as many companies will happily give it to you.

You might feel a little weird about asking for deals like this, but trust me — with the number of crazy complaints these companies get on a daily basis, they’ll be relieved to be able to quickly answer your question and move onto the next person!

Get Free Stuff

When you’re trying to save money, getting something for free is ace.

There are several Facebook pages that compile opportunities for getting free stuff, from giveaways to free samples to competitions. Most of these sites also post sales and coupons, so you might have to dig a little bit, but if you keep an eye out, you should be able to score free things every once in a while.

Freebies Frenzy and FreebieShark are good places to start. Julie’s Freebies is also good if you want to enter to win things, though you’ll probably have to give away your name and email address a lot.

With the huge variety of things being given away, though, you’ll probably find some things that you’re happy signing up for a newsletter in exchange for a chance to win!

Your Best Money-Saving Tips

If you spend some time using these seven tips, you could save hundreds of dollars over the course of a year. Of course, if you combine them with things like online coupon-finding sites, good budgeting practices, and money-saving IFTTT recipes, you could save a lot more than that.

What are your best tips for using Facebook to save money? Which of the strategies above have you had success with in the past? Which brands do you save on with Facebook? Share your best tips below!

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This Month in #SocialMedia: November 2015 by @thebigdebowski | Dramel Notes

We’re approaching the home stretch of 2015, and, as usual, some of our favorite social networks continue to evolve.

Of course, it’s not always butterflies and roses for all brands on social media. IHOP made news for some of their off-color posts, while their pancake-welding counterpart, Denny’s, shined.

In addition to social network changes and online controversies, research is emerging on relevant data points for the end of 2015 and what to look to in the future. Brian Harnish put together an excellent overview of 25 social media facts for the end of 2015, among which is emphasis on the growing mobile landscape.

Although November was a slightly slower month for social media updates, there were numerous changes to some of the smaller social networks like Reddit and Tumblr.

Here’s the latest social media news from November:

Facebook

Facebook will roll out a new post format called Music Stories. Music Stories will trigger when iPhone users share songs from either Apple Music or Spotify.

Learn More: Facebook Introduces New Post Format Called Music Stories

Instagram

Instagram is testing users’ ability to manage multiple accounts from a single dashboard, similar to the way you can in Facebook or Twitter.

Learn More: Instagram Tests Multiple Account Feature

Google+

Google+ has been reimagined a home on the web for communities and collections. Google describes its redesigned social network as being simpler and more mobile-friendly.

Learn More: Google Decides Google+ is a Place For Communities and Collections

SEJ conducted a study on whether hashtags increase post visibility on Google+. The findings show that posts with hashtags received 1.23 times more +1s. However, the final data is actually inconclusive.

Learn More: Do Google+ Hashtags Increase Visibility? An Exclusive Study

Pinterest

Pinterest introduced new search functionality that will allow people to find pins of items pictured in other pins.

Learn More: Pinterest Introduces Visual Search, Find Items Pictured in Pins

Reddit

Steve Huffman, the returning co-founder of Reddit who took up the role of CEO, says Reddit replaced the controversial Shadowbans with account suspensions. Reddit defines Shadowbans as, “the tool we currently use to ban people when they are caught breaking a rule.”

Learn More: Reddit Finally Ends Shadowbans, Replaces With Account Suspensions

Snapchat

Snapchat’s enabling its publishing partners to promote their channels on Facebook and Twitter with links directly to their content.

Learn More: Snapchat Now Allowing Some Publishers to ‘Deep Link’ To Their Content

Tumblr

Tumblr is the latest social network to get its own built-in instant messaging feature, available now on Android, iOS, and desktop.

Learn More: Tumblr Gets Its Own Instant Messaging Feature in Mobile + Desktop Update

What updates will have the biggest impact on your social media strategy?

 

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Paulo Bobita
In-post photo #1: d8nn/Shutterstock.com
In-post photo #2: Your Design/Shutterstock.com
In-post photo #3: Roman Pyshchyk/Shutterstock.com

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How to Find Your Apple TV’s IP and MAC Address | Dramel Notes

For certain router configurations, shared networks (such as those found in hotels and dorms), and other situations it’s important to identify your Apple TV’s IP and/or MAC address. Read on as we show you how.

Note: Although the screenshots and general tutorial that follows apply to the Apple TV 4th generation and above the process is similar to the older Apple TV models.

Why Do I Want To Do This?

For most home users it isn’t particularly important to know the IP address of their Apple TV let alone the MAC address as the Apple TV setup is pretty much plug, quickly configure, and play.

There are, however, a handful of situations where knowing the IP address or the MAC address of your Apple TV is a critical part of setting things up. If you live in a dorm room or other shared living environment where you need to give the system administrator the MAC address of any device added to the network then knowing the MAC address of your Apple TV is critical. Same thing if you’ve configured your router with a MAC whitelist or you want to assign static IPs to each device on your network.

Historically the MAC addresses for the Wi-Fi radio and the Ethernet connection were printed directly on the bottom of the Apple TV unit and you could simply flip it over and type in the address to the web configuration tool or read the MAC address over the phone to the tech support representative.

Because this isn’t an option on the 4th generation units (and given the Apple design aesthetic likely won’t be on future generations of the hardware) let’s take a look how to check these two types of addresses on the software side of things.

Locating the IP and MAC Address

Before we take a peek at where to look for the address information let’s make a quick but important note about when to look for the information. Because the information about the IP and MAC addresses is located within the system menus of the Apple TV you cannot check it until the initial setup is complete. Once the initial setup is complete you can check it any time but not until that point.

This means if you are trying to get this information so you can add the Apple TV to, say, your dorm Wi-Fi network you will have to connect the Apple TV to some sort of Wi-Fi access point at least once to complete the setup and get the address information before you can give it to the tech support staff. That’s is a wee bit frustrating (compared to just reading it off a label) we know. One quick and dirty work around would be to grab a smartphone that can serve as a mobile access point such as an iPhone and, temporarily, setup and configure your Apple TV using that phone as a Wi-Fi access point.

The above work around yields the information you need because, unlike the IP address which is assigned via the hotspot/router and changes if the Apple TV is moved to a new network or given a new DHCP assignment, the MAC addresses are hard coded into the Wi-Fi and Ethernet chips and will remain the same.

That bit of frustration-saving explanation aside let’s look at where to find the addresses once the Apple TV has been connected to a network (be that network permanent or temporary).

Navigate to Settings -> General -> About. In the “About” menu not only will you see information like your device’s model number, serial number, and what version of tvOS you’re running, you’ll also see what network the device is connected to, the IP address, and the “Wi-Fi Address” or “Ethernet Address” depending on what kind of network you’re connected to. The MAC address will be formatted, as seen above, in six groups of two hexadecimal digits separated by colons.

We’d highly recommend writing this down and possibly even (gasp!) sticking it with a piece of tape to the bottom of your Apple TV so you don’t need to reference the system menu again to find it.

The IP address is, as we mentioned above, dependent on the network you’re on and unless you’re currently connected to the network and talking to the network administrator (or you are the network administrator and you know which network the device is on) you should disregard the IP address until the device is on the appropriate network.

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Have a pressing question about your Apple TV or other media center devices? Shoot us an email at ask@howtogeek.com and we’ll do our best to answer it.

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