Speed up your browsing on a buggy wifi or slow Internet connection

Being stuck on slow Wi-Fi can be incredibly frustrating, especially when you’ve got work to do, but there is a solution. David Nield at Gizmodo has written a handy primer on how to disable images and plugins on your browser in order to speed up loading times and counteract the crummy connection.

As Nield points out, the Internet has become an overwhelmingly visual place, filled with auto-playing videos and large, high-quality images, all of which load quickly on your speedy home network, but can become major resource hogs when you’re computer is fighting to stay connected. Here’s how to make the Internet a little less colorful, but much, much faster.

If you use Chrome, blocking images and plugins will be a breeze. Open the Settings tab, click “Show advanced settings…” and then find Content settings. In the Content settings menu, you’ll find options to not show any images and to block all plugins. Check a few boxes and you’re done.

Firefox is a little more complex. You’ll need to type in “about:config” in your address bar, find “permissions.default.image” and change the value to 2. On the other hand, all it takes to block plugins is to find the option in the Add-ons menu.

Safari users will need to head to the Preferences menu to start, but there’s a branching path from here. To disable plugins, navigate to the Security tab and find the option. To disable images, you’ll need to go to the Advanced tab, tick “Show Develop in menu bar,” open the Develop menu and find the option. For any straggling Internet Explorer users, you can find these same options in the Tools menu.

It won’t be the web you’re used to, but at least it will run on a subpar connection.

IOS: Find out what is killing your battery life

Upon getting the iPhone 5 the phone worked great, after about 6 months,  its battery would mysteriously deplete in about half a day.

I wasn’t really sure why. But now I can find out.

There’s a new app called ‘Normal’ out from a pair of Stanford Ph.Ds in computer science named Adam Oliner and Jacob Leverich, who are turning some postdoctoral research into a company called Kuro Labs.

Their first project, Normal, is a battery diagnosis service that tracks and compares your app usage to other iOS device owners to see if there are any specific actions you can take to save battery life. The 99 cent app compares your phone’s battery usage over time with other people who have similar combinations of apps.

Hence, the name ‘Normal’ — is your phone’s battery life normal compared to other devices that are the exact same model?

“Battery is a pain point and there are not good solutions,” Oliner said. “The device doesn’t tell you everything you need to know. Why is it using so much energy? Is that normal or not? That’s what we’re trying to adjust.”

When you go inside Normal, you’ll see active apps, inactive battery hogs and other apps. For each app, there is a ring chart that will show you how much battery life you’ll save if you close a specific app.

So for instance, if I shut Facebook’s mobile app off, Normal estimates that I’ll save 26 minutes and 47 seconds of battery life. Or if I close inactive apps running in the background like Instagram, I’ll save an hour and seven minutes.

Certain apps can be re-configured to use up less battery. Oliner says Pinterest, for example, is not normally a battery hog but there are a few configurations that make it more energy intensive. There’s a screen inside the app that will tell you if a specific app is behaving normally compared to other identical apps on other smartphones.

The app is based on a project Oliner led at UC Berkeley that eventually became an app called Carat. The concept seems almost identical. That older app would quietly take measurements from your device, combine that data it with other people’s anonymized usage metrics, and then send back tips on whether to update your OS or kill or restart apps.

Now that Oliner is finished with postdoc work, he decided to start a new bootstrapped company with Leverich called Kuro Labs that may spin out more similar concepts. He hinted at looking at laptops or tablets.

“The closest analogous company is something like Bugsense, which diagnoses crashes,” he said. “But we’re doing energy instead.”

Windows 9 Preview already in the works!

Now that Microsoft is no longer bothering itself with major updates for Windows 8.1, the company can switch focus to its next operating system codenamed "Threshold," or Windows 9 if you think Microsoft will keep the numbering scheme going. What will Windows 9 bring to the table? If that's a question you'd like answered, stay tuned -- Microsoft is reportedly planning a "technology preview" of Windows 9 either late next month or early October.

According to CNET and the multiple sources it spoke with who wish not to be named, anyone who installs the technology preview of Windows 9 will be required to accept subsequent monthly updates that are automatically pushed out. One of the sources "who has provided accurate information on Windows in the past" added that the tech preview will be available to anyone interested.

Microsoft hasn't said much about Threshold or confirmed any features, though there have been a number of supposed leaks showing off different aspects of Windows 9, including a new mini Start Menu. If the leaked content is true, there will also be windowed Metro-style applications on the Desktop, virtual desktops, and no more Charms bar (except on tablets).

Want better customer service? Record the call... and it's pretty easy

With the specter of a potential merger between cable giants Comcast and Time Warner Cable looming large, the internet is abuzz with tales of terrible customer service. Want to cancel your service? Good luck with that, as Ryan Block found out. And all those unexpected "service fees" on your latest bill? Totally valid and apparently impossible to remove. That is, unless you've recorded your previous interactions with customer service reps, like Tim Davis. Tired of reneged promises and bogus charges? Flip the script on shady customer service and get it all on the record. Here are a few simple ways to record your next phone call.

Everyone has a personal horror story, myself included. Just this week I had to dispute three additional fees that magically appeared on my latest Time Warner Cable bill—and in each instance, I had been assured by some customer service rep that no fees would be incurred.

I didn't have the foresight to record all my previous exchanges, but luckily two calls and two reps later I was able to have all three fees refunded. Countless others probably won't be as fortunate.

You might be wondering if recording your calls is even legal. The answer is: sometimes, depending on where you live. According to DMLP.org, "Federal law permits recording telephone calls and in-person conversations with the consent of at least one of the parties."

In the case of a customer service call, you are clearly a party to your own call, so are permitted to record the conversation. 38 states currently abide by this "one-party consent" law, but it's definitely worth checking out your own state's wiretapping statutes to be sure.

Ways to Skin That Cat

There are likely endless ways to record your calls, each method with varying levels of reliability and audio quality. I'll focus on a few basic methods that should work for most people in a pinch, so long as crystal clear audio isn't a concern.

The first and most old-school method is using a secondary recording device and putting your phone on speakerphone. You can pick up a well-rated digital voice recorder off of Amazon for around $30-50 or you can simply use the voice recorder function built into most smartphones, so long as you have another phone to place the actual call from. But this is 2014 and, of course, there's an app for that.

On Android, there are a handful of apps that can automate the process for you. The caveat is that compatibility and functionality will vary from phone to phone. I installed the two most popular apps, Automatic Call Recorder and Call Recorder, both of which have hundreds of thousands of downloads and 4-star review averages. Unfortunately neither worked with my personal HTC One X+ on AT&T, but then again, few things work with my long abandoned phone (that's another story).

Automatic Call Recorder worked swimmingly with an HTC One (M8), allowing me to record both ends of a test call without issue and export that recording as a WAV file. You'll have to play around with the settings, as not every phone allows direct call recording. The workaround there is to set the app to record from the phone's microphone using the speakerphone function during a call. Audio quality isn't as clear, but it's still intelligible enough. The app is set to record every conversation automatically by default, so all you have to do is dial. You can choose what format you want the audio clip saved in (WAV, 3GP, or AMR) and choose a location to save clips for easy exporting.

It's a bit more complicated on iOS, and unless you're willing to ante up a decent chunk of change, I'd suggest finding an external recorder. Apple doesn't allow apps to record from the mic during a phone call, and the two most popular apps I tried both relied on the same workaround and had similar pricing schemes.

Basically, you'll have to call the customer service line and then use an app to merge that call with a number that will record the entire conversation. Call Recorder – IntCall and Call Recorder FREE are both free to download, but you'll need to upgrade to the pro version for exporting audio files and you'll have to pay by the minute for recordings. Both apps worked fine with an iPhone 5s. If you're fighting $182 charges like Davis, then this route could be worthwhile, but considering how long some disputes can stretch, this could be more trouble than it's worth. 

These are pretty basic routes, and your mileage will vary based on your device and app compatibility. The real point here is that with a little bit of legwork, you can help keep those big corporations a little more accountable and even save yourself a few dollars and headaches along the way.

OnePlus One Phone Invite

This may be the one phone that may make me consider giving up my iPhone.  After hearing considerable reviews on the phone, I bit the bullet and purchased an invite.  A review is coming soon.  If you haven't heard or seen the OnePlus One, check it out here.

Boy...Mom got even with the kids

Sharon Standifird served in the Gulf War. She's climbed mountains.

So how hard could it be to get her kids to show a little respect?

Her teens, you see, tended to do what teens do. So when she called them on their cell phones, their natural instinct was to press "ignore."

What's a mom to do? Get mad? Or get spectacularly, ingeniously even?

She chose the latter. She began to consider what sort of app might get her teens to see the light. The result was Ignore No More.

This charming addition to her kids' phones does something very simple: if the kids don't pick up mom's calls, the app locks their phones.

Her website explains the app in a charming way: "When you lock your child's phone with Ignore No More your child has only two options -- he or she can call you back, or call for an emergency responder. No calls to friends, no text, no games, notta' until they call you back. When they do, you can unlock their phone if you choose to do so. How's that for parental control?"

If there's one thing kids hate, it's notta'. A teen with cell phone notta' is like a teen with no sneakers, no skateboard, no game.

Standifird's son Bradley is still an imperfect spokesperson for the app. He told CBS New York: "I thought it was a good idea. But for other people, not me."

Ignore No More is currently only available on Android and costs $1.99.

Standifird said that her app is working. The kids are being far more alert to her calls. I wonder, though, how soon it will be before some clever teen finds an ingenious workaround and disrupts this app's parental power.

After all, it simply isn't good for your image to have to call your mom back straight away, is it?