How to Lock Your Mac Using Terminal

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• How to Lock Your Mac Using Terminal
• How to Extend Your Xbox Controller’s Battery Life
• The 10 Best Action Movies on Amazon Prime Video (Feb. 2021)
• How to Identify a Song That’s Already Playing On Your Phone
• How to Delete Google Assistant Recordings
• How to Hide Your “Last Seen Online” Time in Telegram
• How to Use Pivot Tables to Analyze Excel Data

How to Lock Your Mac Using Terminal Posted: 16 Feb 2021 08:25 AM PST One of the first rules of cybersecurity is to always lock your computer before stepping away from it. While it might not be the quickest way, you can lock your Apple Mac using Terminal. Here's how to do it. Require a Password to Unlock Your Mac The command to lock your Mac using Terminal doesn't actually lock it. Rather, it just puts it to sleep. To be considered "locking," a password must be required to access a Mac after it's been put to sleep. To password-protect your Mac after it's been put in sleep mode, click the Apple icon at the top left of the menu bar, and then select "System Preferences." Here, click "Security & Privacy." Under the "General" tab, select the checkbox next to "Require Password." Type your password, and then click the arrows next to "Require Password" to open the drop-down menu. You can then select the amount of time that must pass before a password is required. Select "Immediately" to lock your Mac whenever you put it to sleep. With this enabled, your Mac will immediately lock whenever it's put to sleep. Lock Your Mac Using Terminal To lock your Mac via Terminal, you first have to launch it. Press Command+Space to open Spotlight Search. Type "Terminal" in the Search bar, and then click it when it appears in the search results. In Terminal, type the following command, and then press Enter: pmset displaysleepnow Your Mac will now be in sleep mode. If you selected the option to require a password to wake it, it is now also effectively locked. Locking your Mac is a good way to prevent unauthorized access to it, while still allowing programs to run in the background. If you'd rather kill all operations, you can also shut down your Mac via Terminal. RELATED: How to Lock Your Windows 10 PC Using Command Prompt See details

How to Extend Your Xbox Controller’s Battery Life Posted: 16 Feb 2021 07:24 AM PST ArtSimulacra/Shutterstock.com Whatever wireless Xbox controller you have—whether it's a controller for an Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, or Xbox One—more battery life is always good. Here are our top tips for extending your controller's battery life, both in the long and short term. Power off Your Controller to Save Battery The easiest way to make your controller's batteries last longer is to simply turn it off when you aren't using it. You can do this manually at any point while playing a game: Press and hold the Xbox button in the middle of the controller, then choose "Turn Off Controller." If you don't touch your Xbox controller for 15 minutes, it will power off automatically. Unfortunately, there's no way to override this setting at present (as you can on Sony PlayStation consoles). Got a Play and Charge Kit? Charge Smart The Xbox controller comes with a single set of disposable batteries. The easiest way to upgrade your controller to be rechargeable is to purchase Microsoft's official Play and Charge Kit ($24.99). The kit includes a Lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack and charging cable with a USB-C connector (for Xbox Series X|S). These batteries take around four hours to charge completely and contain around 1400 mAh. That should last for around 30 hours of gaming, although your mileage may vary depending on factors like rumble usage and whether you're using a headset. You'll get a longer life out of lithium-ion batteries using partial discharge cycles and avoiding full discharge cycles. That means using 20-30% of the battery's capacity, then charging it back up. At the same time, you don't want the battery to spend too long in a fully charged state either. That means plugging in your controller frequently, but not for too long. Xbox You can check your battery status in the Xbox dashboard by pressing the Xbox guide button and looking in the top-right corner of the screen. Unplugging your controller before it reaches 100% capacity could extend its life, as could avoiding letting the battery get too low on charge. It's better to charge for an hour while you play a game than it is to leave your controller plugged in all weekend. Temperature can also affect the condition of your battery, particularly low temperatures. Avoid exposing your controller to sub-zero temperatures (like leaving it in your car overnight during winter). For long-term storage, charge your batteries to around 40% and turn them off. If you're still using an Xbox One controller, then you'll need to use a Micro USB cable instead (The battery packs themselves are interchangeable between console generations.). Consider Using Rechargeable AA Batteries The Play and Charge Kit is convenient, but only provides 1400 mAh or 30 hours of gameplay. You can get much more than this out of a set of high-capacity nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) rechargeable AA batteries. A decent set will cost you around the price of a Play and Charge Kit and comes with a charger and four AA batteries. Make sure you fully charge any Ni-MH batteries the first time you use them. You don't need to fully discharge them before you recharge them every time, but it's a good idea to fully discharge Ni-MH cells once every few months to avoid crystal formation in areas that aren't being discharged. Panasonic Using an ultra-fast charger may get your batteries charged quicker, but you'll only hit around 70% capacity using this method. It's better to charge them slowly overnight and hit the full 100% capacity. With a set of four batteries, you can leave two in your controller and have two charged and ready to go. The main drawback to this method is that you'll need to physically remove the batteries from the compartment on the back of the controller and replace them every now and again. This isn't as convenient as plugging in a USB cable or sitting the controller on a charging cradle, but it provides the best bang for your buck. Panasonic Eneloop batteries are some of the best rechargeable batteries on the market. They include internal circuitry, which shuts off the battery once charged, and Panasonic reckons they'll maintain 70% of their charge in a drawer for ten years when not in use. Avoid Connecting Headsets to the Controller The Xbox One controller can accept headsets via an adapter, while the Xbox Series X|S controller comes with an in-built 3.5mm jack. These may be convenient ways of connecting your headset, but they may also significantly increase battery drain. You can avoid this by plugging your headset directly into your console where possible. If that's not an option, consider upgrading to a wireless headset. Not only will you free yourself from wires, but you'll also take the strain off your controller in terms of power consumption. Keep in mind that wireless headsets also include batteries, so that's another device that you'll need to keep charged if you go this route. Turning off Rumble May Help When your Xbox controller is low on battery, rumble is automatically disabled to preserve what little power remains. You can use this principle to extend the battery life of your controller even when it's fully charged. You will lose rumble entirely, which means you'll get less feedback from games, potentially impacting reaction time or immersion. To do this, go to Settings and select "Ease of use" on the left side of the screen. Choose "Controller," then disable "Turn on vibration" to disable the feature entirely. It's no secret that the controller is a bit lifeless and dull with rumble disabled, but there's no doubting the fact that you'll get more playtime from a single charge this way. Keep Some Disposables Handy It's easy to throw some alkaline AA batteries in a drawer just in case. It may seem a bit old fashioned that Microsoft still provides disposable AA batteries with each controller sold, but it provides lots of options in terms of how you power your controllers. The alternative is Sony's approach, where each controller contains a lithium-ion battery that's not accessible without taking the gamepad apart. In the case of the DualShock 4, battery life was poor from the get-go and only declined over time as the cells began to lose capacity. If you're buying some spare AA batteries, make sure you avoid smoke detector batteries, as those are designed for low-drain devices. You Can Always Play Wired Instead Depending on your setup, playing wired may be a better option. You don't need to put any batteries inside the controller to do this, either. It's worth noting that the controller feels a bit light with an empty battery compartment, so even expired batteries might be better than nothing. The Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S consoles use a different connector for their respective controllers, but there's a good chance you have both lying around already. These are: Xbox Series X|S controller: USB-C connector Xbox One (including One S, One X): Micro USB connector Don't Forget to Replace Your Rechargeables Unlike Sony's DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers for the PS4 and PS5, Microsoft has stuck with replaceable batteries for the Xbox Series X and S. This means you can easily replace the battery pack in a few years when it starts to show its age. If you notice that your controller isn't lasting like it used to, consider replacing your rechargeable battery with one of the solutions mentioned in this article. Do you have a PlayStation 4, too? There's one simple thing you can do to make a DualShock 4 last longer on a single charge. RELATED: How to Dim the Lights on the PlayStation DualShock 4 Controller See details

The 10 Best Action Movies on Amazon Prime Video (Feb. 2021) Posted: 16 Feb 2021 06:07 AM PST BigTunaOnline/Shutterstock The selection of movies on Amazon Prime Video can be daunting, especially when it comes to the highly variable action genre. Here are 10 reliably entertaining action movies that you can stream on Amazon Prime Video. The Avengers The ambition and planning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are vindicated in the pioneering superhero team-up The Avengers. This movie brings together Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye for the first time to take on an apocalyptic threat from the villain Loki. Writer-director Joss Whedon proves that comic book-style crossover events can work just as well on the big screen as they do on the page. The Bourne Ultimatum The third movie in the original Bourne trilogy, The Bourne Ultimatum, gets a bit bogged down in series continuity. But it also provides a satisfying resolution for world-weary spy Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), who is eager to put his life of espionage behind him. Bourne seeks out the people responsible for his conditioning, working to expose the secrets of the dangerous government program and bring closure to his own personal trauma. Bumblebee After Michael Bay's increasingly bloated and bombastic Transformers movies, the spin-off Bumblebee is a refreshing change of pace. It tells a light and fun 1980s-set coming-of-age story about a teenage girl (Hailee Steinfeld) who comes across the titular transforming alien robot. She eventually has to rescue him from nefarious government agents and prevent the evil robot Decepticons from taking over Earth. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Director Ang Lee combines the long tradition of wuxia, the Chinese historical martial arts epics, with his experience in American indie dramas to create Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It's an action-filled saga that's as rich in emotion and character development as it is in elegant fight scenes. The Oscar-winning film stars Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, and Zhang Ziyi in an 18th-century story about political intrigue and unrequited love. The Expendables Sylvester Stallone gathers an all-star lineup of action heroes for The Expendables. Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Randy Couture, and Terry Crews play the members of a team of mercenaries hired to take out a ruthless dictator. With appearances from Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Steve Austin, and more, The Expendables is an over-the-top celebration of old-school macho action. Face/Off Hong Kong action master John Woo reached the height of his Hollywood career with the gloriously silly thriller Face/Off. A criminal mastermind (Nicolas Cage) and an FBI agent (John Travolta) switch faces as part of a ludicrous plan for the authorities to discover the location of a bomb. Cage and Travolta constantly one-up each other with their unhinged performances, and Woo stages multiple stylish, exciting action sequences. Live Free or Die Hard None of the Die Hard sequels come close to living up to the 1988 original, but the fourth installment Live Free or Die Hard has its strengths. There's a fun buddy-cop dynamic between star Bruce Willis as the apparently unkillable John McClane and Justin Long as an awkward hacker McClane teams up with to stop a cyber-terrorist (Timothy Olyphant). Director Len Wiseman stages some impressive action sequences, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead makes a strong addition to the series as McClane's equally snarky daughter. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol The Mission: Impossible series may be the most consistent action franchise in Hollywood, and the fourth installment, Ghost Protocol, is the series' high point. Directed by Brad Bird, Ghost Protocol sends super-spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) on a mission to stop a Russian terrorist (Michael Nyqvist) from launching a nuclear attack. It introduces new agents played by Jeremy Renner and Paula Patton, and features the series' most impressive stunt, with Cruise climbing the side of the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai. The Running Man Very loosely based on a Stephen King novel, The Running Man is, in many ways, a precursor to the absurdity of reality TV. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a police officer framed for a shooting at a riot who is forced to become a contestant on a game show that pits convicted criminals against "stalkers" fighting for their freedom. The dystopian action movie features colorful characters and silly one-liners as well as a great performance from Family Feud's Richard Dawson as the show's sadistic host. Star Trek Beyond The third movie in the rebooted Star Trek film series, Star Trek Beyond is the loosest and liveliest of the trilogy, with a self-contained plot that recalls the standalone episodes of the original TV series. Fast & Furious series veteran Justin Lin directs the action-packed movie that sees the crew of the Enterprise crash-land on an alien planet and face an enemy determined to destroy the United Federation of Planets. See details

How to Identify a Song That’s Already Playing On Your Phone Posted: 15 Feb 2021 01:12 PM PST Let's admit, once in our lifetime, we all have come across a song whose name or lyrics we don't remember. Not just you and me, this thing happens with everyone out there reading the article. At that time, we don't have many options left apart from guessing the song's lyrics. However, if you are using Android, you can identify songs pretty quickly. As of now, there are hundreds of music identification apps available for Android. However, out of all those, Shazam seems to be the best option. Shazam is an Android app that helps users to identify songs in songs. Once identified, Shazam also shows you the artist's name, lyrics, video & playlists. Shazam can even identify music that's already playing on your android or iOS smartphone. Also Read: Shazam Alternatives Steps to Identify a Song That's Already Playing on Your Phone There's a feature called 'Pop Up Shazam' that detects the song which is played on your mobile device. The feature could be handy to the users who want to detect songs from their own Facebook videos or Instagram stories. Regardless of the apps, you are using for music playback; the Pop-up Shazam feature will recognize and show you the name of the song being played. In this article, we will share a step-by-step guide on how to Shazam a song on your device. Step 1. First of all, download & install the Shazam app (For Android & iOS) on your Android/iPhone device. Step 2. Once installed, open the app, and you will now see the main interface of the app. Step 3. Just swipe right and click on the Settings icon as shown in the screenshot below. Step 4. Next, enable the option 'Shazam for Pop-up'. Step 5. Now you will be asked to permit Shazam to draw on the top of other apps. Just grant the permissions. Step 6. Now open any media streaming or music app on Android and play any song. Next, tap on the Shazam pop-up button. Step 7. Shazam will instantly recognize the song and will show you the song name along with the lyrics. That's it! You are done. This is how you can use Shazam Pop-up feature. So, this article is all about how to Shazam a song on your own device. I hope this article helped you! Please share it with your friends also. If you have any doubts related to this, let us know in the comment box below. See details

How to Delete Google Assistant Recordings Posted: 15 Feb 2021 12:11 PM PST Google Assistant can add a lot of convenience to your life, but that comes with some privacy sacrifices. Everything you say to Google is being recorded, but there are several ways to delete these recordings. Having recordings made by the Google Assistant sounds scarier than it really is. For starters, it's important to understand that Google only records you when the process is initiated with the "Hey/OK Google" command (or manually). The recordings are then used to improve voice-matching. RELATED: Is My Smart Speaker Always Listening to Me? Google offers several different methods for dealing with these recordings, and there's something for every type of privacy-conscious person out there. Manually Delete Google Assistant Recordings First, let's go the manual route and delete recordings after they've already been stored. Open your web browser and navigate to myaccount.google.com. Make sure you're signed in to the same Google account as your Assistant-powered smart speakers or displays. Next, go to the "Data & Personalization" tab. Look for the "Activity Controls" section and click "Web & App Activity." Now, select "Manage Activity." Click "Filter by Date & Product" and select "Assistant" from the menu. The list will now only show Google Assistant queries. The queries are organized by date, and you can delete all entries from a day by clicking the "X" icon. Entries that have a recording attached are indicated by a microphone icon. Click "Details" if you would like to delete a specific entry. Then select the three-dot menu icon and click "Delete." That's it. You can access this page and delete entries at any time. Auto-Delete Google Assistant Recordings If you don't want to deal with manually deleting your data all the time, Google makes it possible to auto-delete things after a certain length of time. This allows you to get the best of both worlds. Assistant will get better at recognizing your voice, but recording won't be stored forever. We have a full guide on setting up the auto-delete feature. You'll be able to choose between having things deleted after three months, 18 months, or 36 months. We highly recommend doing this if you use Google Assistant. RELATED: How to Make Google Auto-Delete Your Web and Location History Opt-out of Recordings Completely Google allows you to completely opt-out of recordings altogether. It's very easy to turn it off. Open your web browser and navigate to myaccount.google.com. Make sure you're signed in. Next, go to the "Data & Personalization" tab. Look for the "Activity Controls" section and click "Web & App Activity." Navigate to "Include Audio Recordings" and uncheck the box. A message will open and explain what happens if you stop saving audio recordings. Click "Stop Saving" if you're sure. From now on, recordings will not be saved on your Google account. Simple as that. See details

How to Hide Your “Last Seen Online” Time in Telegram Posted: 15 Feb 2021 10:03 AM PST Arthur_Shevtsov/Shutterstock.com Telegram is a popular messaging app that places an emphasis on privacy, although not as much as Signal does. By default, Telegram shows anyone and everyone the last time you were online. Here's how to hide that. Change How "Last Seen Online" Displays Telegram is available for iPhone and iPad, Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux. Because developers took a similar approach with each app, the instructions for changing this setting are the same. To find this option, tap or click on the Settings cog at the bottom of the screen or window. In the menu that appears, select "Privacy and Security." Tap "Last Seen & Online" under the Privacy header. On the next screen, you can specify exactly who can see your "Last Seen Online" time: Everybody (including users you haven't added), My Contacts, and Nobody. Depending on which setting you choose, you can add exceptions to this rule. For example, if you choose "Nobody," you will see an "Always Share With…" option appear. Tap on this to add contacts who will always be able to see when you were last online. This is useful for close friends or family. If you pick "Everybody," you'll be able to add users to a block list instead. While you're poking around Telegram's privacy settings, check that everything else is in order. You can specify other preferences, like who can and can't add you to group chats, who you can receive calls from, and who can forward your messages to other accounts. What Contacts See When You Change This Setting By default, this setting will show the exact date you last appeared online. If less than 24 hours have passed since then, the exact time you were last online will also be included in this information. Any longer than that and only the date will be displayed. Telegram notes that there are four possible approximate windows of time: Recently: last seen over the last zero to three days. Within a week: last seen between three and seven days. Within a month: last seen within seven days to a month. A long time ago: last seen more than a month ago. Users who have been blocked will always see "A long time ago," even if you were chatting with them recently. Do More With Telegram Telegram is one of many private messaging services that has exploded in popularity since WhatsApp updated its terms and conditions in early 2021 to share more information with parent company Facebook. But there are some things to keep in mind if you're new to the service, like how chats aren't end-to-end encrypted by default. See details

How to Use Pivot Tables to Analyze Excel Data Posted: 15 Feb 2021 08:55 AM PST Pivot Tables are both incredibly simple and increasingly complex as you learn to master them. They're great at sorting data and making it easier to understand, and even a complete Excel novice can find value in using them. We'll walk you through getting started with Pivot Tables in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. First, we'll label the top row so that we can better organize our data once we apply the PivotTables in a later step. Before we continue, this is a good opportunity to get rid of any blank rows in your workbook. PivotTables work with blank cells, but they can't quite understand how to proceed with a blank row. To delete, just highlight the row, right-click, choose "Delete," then "Shift cells up" to combine the two sections. Click inside any cell in the data set. On the "Insert" tab, click the "PivotTable" button. When the dialogue box appears, click "OK." You can modify the settings within the Create PivotTable dialogue, but it's usually unnecessary. We have a lot of options here. The simplest of these is just grouping our products by category, with a total of all purchases at the bottom. To do this, we'll just click next to each box in the "PivotTable Fields" section. To make changes to the PivotTable, just click any cell inside the dataset to open the "PivotTable Fields" sidebar again. Once open, we're going to clean up the data a bit. In our example, we don't need our Product ID to be a sum, so we'll move that from the "Values" field at the bottom to the "Filters" section instead. Just click and drag it into a new field and feel free to experiment here to find the format that works best for you. To view a specific Product ID, just click the arrow next to "All" in the heading. This dropdown is a sortable menu that enables you to view each Product ID on its own, or in combination with any other Product ID. To pick one product, just click it and then click "OK,' or check the "Select Multiple Items" option to choose more than one Product ID. This is better, but still not ideal. Let's try dragging Product ID to the "Rows" field instead. We're getting closer. Now the Product ID appears closer to the product, making it a bit easier to understand. But it's still not perfect. Instead of placing the Product ID below the product, let's drag Product ID above Item inside the "Rows" field. This looks much more usable, but perhaps we want a different view of the data. For that, we're going to move Category from the "Rows" field to the "Columns" field for a different look. We're not selling a lot of dinner rolls, so we've decided to discontinue them and remove the Product ID from our report. To do that, we'll click the arrow next to "Row Labels" to open a dropdown menu. From the list of options, uncheck "45" which is the Product ID for dinner rolls. Unchecking this box and clicking "OK" will remove the product from the report. As you can see, there are a number of options to play with. How you display your data is really up to you, but with PivotTables, there's really no shortage of options. See details

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