Friday, December 18, 2015

Netflix now offers a how to guide to making smart socks that will pause your show if you fall asleep.

Have some extra time on your hands? Love watching Netflix but hate when you fall asleep in the middle of a show? You're in luck!

Netflix now offers a step by step guide to make high tech smart socks to detect when you've dozed off and send a signal to your TV, automatically pausing your show. Never again will you binge-watch yourself to sleep, only to wake up two seasons later wondering what happened.

How does it work? Netflix starts with instructions for knitting socks, and helpfully includes pattern designs for its most popular shows, including House of Cards and Master of None.

Building the electronics setup is step two. This includes an accelerometer (to detect when feet have stopped moving), IR LEDs (to send a signal to the television) and a battery, among other components.

The electronics are then inserted into the socks. A few strips of felt help keep them comfy. In order to get everything to work smoothly, users will also need to do a little soldering and computer programming.

Ready to start your sock project? Check out the guide at makeit.netflix.com.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Wifi running slow? Your Christmas lights may be at fault!

Britain's communications regulator Ofcom has published a report showing that about 20% of poor wifi performance is caused by electronic gadgets and lights in the home.

While problems with network congestion and infrastructure carry most of the blame for slow broadband, devices such as baby monitors and home phones can interfere with your wifi because they compete for frequencies, an Ofcom spokesperson said.

Still, the good news is that a few simple changes to the location of the router and other devices can lead to a noticeable improvement in performance.

Here are some tips to maximize your wifi speed:
1). Restart your router: It can do a world of good to restart your router when you're having connectivity troubles. This allows it to search for a new channel that isn't being used by other devices.
2). Move your router away from electronic devices: "Halogen lamps, electrical dimmer switches, stereo or computer speakers [and Christmas] lights ... have all been known to cause interference to broadband routers. Keep your router as far away as possible from other electrical devices as well as those which emit wireless signals such as baby monitors."
3). Move your router to a central part of your home: Walls and furniture can act as obstacles to your wifi signal. Power cables running through the walls and floor can also create interference. Your best bet is to put your router on a table in the center of your home, and keep it away from other devices.

Source: CNN Money

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Breakups are hard...Facebook wants to make it easier.

Today social media means that you are guaranteed to run into your ex, and he or she might very well be wrapped around a new partner. Research has shown that those who don't disconnect electronically have a harder time getting over a breakup. Facebook is ready to help by creating tools that will let people manage their post breakup life on its pages.

The tools, available only on mobile devices, are being tested with some users in the United States. Facebook will complete the US rollout and begin expanding the tools to other countries early next year.

What The Tools Do:
  • One tool lets users restrict how much they see former significant others on Facebook.
  • Another ensures that an ex's posts won't show up in a user's news need and Facebook prompts won't suggest that person's name when others write messages or tag friends in photos.
  • A third tool restricts the photos, videos or status updates a user's ex-partner will see.
  • A fourth tool lets users edit who can see past posts with their former partners and untag themselves from joint posts with ex-partners.
Facebook plans on tweaking these tools based on user feedback. Use of the tools will be optional and will be located in Facebook's help center after they're rolled out.