Quick Tip: Bypass Paywall Monthly Article Limits

Quick Tip: Read a News Article
Despite Having "Reached Your Monthly Limit"

Get Around Those Annoying "Subscribe to Continue" Pop-Ups

 

I like to follow the news using an RSS Feed Reader.  I follow a "Top News" RSS feed that contains stories from numerous news sources.  And of course, a lot of the linked headlines come from places like the New York Times and the Washington Post, both sites that limit how many articles you can read without subscribing.  Many friends share news stories on Facebook, and I'd LOVE to be able to click-through without encountering one of those nasty "You've reached your limit of free articles. Click here to choose a subscription plan to continue" pop-ups.

In the old days, I'd cut and paste the link into a different browser, hoping I hadn't exceeded my monthly allotment there as well. If I hit a paywall again, I'd attempt to clear my cookies or use Reader Mode to bypass it, both tricks the paywalls got wise to too soon.

What if I told you I'd discovered an easy way to bypass these paywalls, and you didn't need to use a different browser or clear anything to use it? And it does NOT depend on using some browser extension that may disappear at any time. In fact, this trick involves nothing more than a right-click on a link.

An Alexa Powered Thanksgiving

Alexa can Ease Your Thanksgiving Prep
And Help you on Thanksgiving Day

An Amazon Echo Makes an Excellent Thanksgiving Assistant

Thanksgiving is a week away. For some people, Thanksgiving is all about the food; for others, it's about football. For most, it is a hectic time that we all love.  But it is also a time in which we can all use a helping hand. And Alexa can step in and give you help, easing some of the stress.  

Today, we're going to look at how Alexa can help you with Thanksgiving, both in the lead up period and on the big day. We will look at Thanksgiving skills that can be enabled, as well as built-in abilities that will come in handy.

An Alexa-Powered Halloween (Smart Home Series Part 11)

An Alexa Powered Halloween:
Enhance Your Halloween Using Alexa and Your Amazon Echo

 

Halloween is upon us. Although Halloween falls on a Tuesday this year, many communities are celebrating this weekend.  Additionally, many of the adult parties are scheduled for Saturday. Many families are using this weekend to prepare for Halloween.  If you have an Amazon Echo or Dot, you can use Alexa as an adjunct to your Halloween preparation and celebrations.

Today, we return to our Smart Home Series.  This article is Part 11 of the series. You can go back and read Part 1 here.  This post examines fun, Halloween-related things to do with Alexa. We'll look at spooky skills, spooky sounds, and spooky videos, as well as how to find some Halloween-related recipes using Alexa.

Spooky Skills

As we learned earlier, Alexa has a plethora of skills which can extend her functionality. Amongst these skills are some specific Halloween oriented skills.  Remember, you can activate most skills by saying "Alexa, activate the [name of skill] skill."  (Skills which require account linking usually need to be activated from the skill's page at Amazon, or through the Skills section of the Alexa app.  More information about skills and how to activate them can be found in Part 3 of our Alexa series.)  Since most of these spooky skills do not require account linking, they can be activated with a voice command.

Tech and a Storm Event Part 3: Electronics, Entertainment and Power Accessories--What Worked and What Didn't

Surviving a Storm Event Part 3:

Portable Devices, Power Accessories, and Entertainment:
Winners and Losers

Supplies to Help Avert Boredom During a Hurricane

This is Part 3 in a series about surviving a Storm Event and its aftermath, and focusing on the high tech and low tech supplies that help folks get through a storm. We're looking at what worked well, and what did not.  Part 1 focused on lighting technologies, and Part 2 looked at communications. Today, in Part 3, we're going to look at Power Accessories, Portable Electronics, and Entertainment. Our final installment will look at food and provisions.

Even before Irma officially arrived, many places in her path lost electricity. As Irma made her way through Florida, she took down a lot of power poles and transformers, and many people were left powerless for days.  Without power, we cannot run refrigerators, appliances, Internet modems, entertainment systems, or telephones. We cannot keep all of our devices charged either.  In fact, in the 21st Century, we depend on electricity, and most of us find it very difficult to function without it.  But with proper preparation, and the right supplies in an Emergency Kit, you can make the most of a powerless situation.  This article will discuss some of the things that helped us get through the days without power.

Portable Electronics: Win

Every modern household is equipped with a wide range of electronic devices.  Many of these devices are designed to be portable.  And every type of portable electronic can be useful in a Storm Event.  However, any device that depends on Internet to operate will most likely be useless.  We probably won't be using our Smart Speakers, Amazon Echos, and DVRs during a hurricane.  

Other devices will be extremely useful. Laptops, tablets, cell phones, MP3 players, portable media players, e-readers, and the like are all fantastic to have during a storm. These types of devices hold a whole lot of information in a relatively small space.  With proper preparation, you will find yourself depending on these devices to get you through the storm without losing your mind.