It is a given that pretty much most of us have been living a monastic existence lately. There have not been a lot of social gatherings, going outdoors is still pretty much frowned upon, and people are still in the mindset that staying home is the best way of keeping safe and avoiding the virus. That is well and good and in fact, a lot of people have already shifted a lot of their social activities to fit the “new normal”. Why risk getting infected by meeting up with friends when you can still see them virtually by just setting up virtual meetings? Performers are now holding virtual concerts that you can enjoy and attend wherever you are in the world as long as you have an Internet connection. Now, there is no need to celebrate birthdays with everyone in attendance in a posh venue when you can just post pictures of your celebrations at home on social media.

So, while the world is not particularly active in the social scene, everybody is making up for it by somehow still …

So 2020 is just giving us one blow after another. There’s the COVID-19 pandemic that has had large segments of the world population on lockdown, which has led to most of us to work from home for fear that we can get the virus. Then, civil unrest ensued as those demanding for racial equality took to the streets despite lockdown orders, only to be compounded by those who are protesting the strict lockdown measures such as the closing of businesses and wearing of face masks when in public. One thing is for sure, though: All these developments have surely done a number on our mental well-being.

Because most of us have been stuck in our houses, all sorts of activities have been confined in the various parts of our residences. Meals can be taken anywhere without set times, kitchen counters have become a common site for video conferences, and watching TV shows have transferred from the living room to the bed, just so that we can squeeze one more episode of The Crown or Money Heist. And yes, for most …

In our uncertain and joyless times, everyone seems to look for and cling to anything that would click. A form of escapism? Most definitely. But then, with everyone subject to the very oppressive situation brought about by the pandemic, then yes, we can feel a bit entitled and get our entertainment in any way possible. In our case, these days, that source of entertainment can simply be stated in four words: Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Those of us who are in the loop when it comes to news but do not own any Nintendo Switch have surely heard of it in passing. After all, you may have most probably heard of Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood actually interacting with players whom he met in the game in real life. Yes, this is Coin Master (have you seen Jennifer Lopez ads of the game where she looks for people who attacked her village?) in real life. But not only Elijah Wood has gotten addicted to this game – other celebrities like Oscar-winner Brie Larson and Chrissy Teigen have also …

In our current situation, one of the most important things to master is putting files online. When most of us, if not everyone, is working from home and only armed with an Internet connection, it is inevitable that sharing of important files and documents is one skill that everybody should already be a master of. After all, hasn’t it been more than five months and running since the world started this anxiety-driven quarantine where everybody needs to practice a safe distance from everyone else? So by now, we would have already developed a deep appreciation towards devices and apps that allow working from home to be that easy and convenient. Who knew that such things like uploading, sharing, and downloading files would become second nature to us, as essential as knowing how to participate in a videoconference (something which we should be skilled with even outside work because Facetime-ing, Skype-ing, or Zoom-ing relatives from across the country and the world is such a welcome relief) or wearing a face mask and practicing social distancing when outdoors.

One of the most …

Because most of us have been stuck at home, we can’t help (or rather we don’t mind anymore) but be overly informed of everything. By the time we wake up, among the first things we do would be to grab our phones. Once we have successfully unlocked the screen, it is 100% sure that you get drowned with all the information you will encounter. You get updates on how many people in the US and every single country in the world have become positive of the COVID-19 virus, how many have recovered, and how many have perished. You then get told of what your friends are up to, how many plants they have decided to grow, how many of them have signed up for Black Lives Matter initiatives, and how many vacations and nights out have been hidden from you as people are finally posting throwback pictures in abandon.

So, while you read your news alerts and social media feeds, you get lost and fall into a rabbit hole of news and information and before you know it when you …

Not exactly sure if this is COVID19 related or not, but Google in the first week of August announced that it is in the process of closing its music platform, Google Play Music. Currently, Google Play Music users can stream music, as well as purchase full albums or single music files from the platform. Unfortunately, this will not be the case anyway as Google has rolled out a schedule for the impending closure of its music platform. In the last weeks of August, the Music Manager function of Google Play Music will not allow users to buy, pre-order, upload, or download music from Google Play Music anymore.  Then, by October, the Google Play Music app will be rendered useless already as users cannot stream music from the app anymore. By the end of that month, Google will cancel subscriptions at the end of their subscribers’ billing cycles, so they should have already migrated their Google Play Music library to a YouTube Music account or use a Google Takeout account to successfully migrate files. What will only be allowed until December …

If there’s anything the COVID-19 pandemic has made us do, that is it has further indulged us in our obsession with that one app that has helped us in maintaining our sanity in these troubled times – the all-powerful and absolutely entertaining… Netflix! The pandemic may have shrunk our world as most of us experienced being on lockdown at any point in the past three months, but thanks to Netflix, it didn’t feel like we’ve not “seen” the outside world as the streaming app exposed us to so many TV shows and movies not only from Hollywood but from all corners of the world. Admit it, you grieved as Nairobi met her untimely death in her team’s second grand robbery outing in Money Heist. Of course, who wouldn’t want to consider staying in the spectacular Hotel del Luna even if we are pretty much alive? Moreover, what made Netflix tick to most users is that when a Netflix Original program premieres, all the episodes are already available on the same day. Honestly, who can say no to a Netflix marathon? …

So, how was your 4^th of July? Did you celebrate our nation’s independence day with such fun and revelry as you used to. I bet $100 you did not. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. July 4, 2020 will be marked in history as an Independence Day that Americans celebrated indoors. Did that sound sad? Yes, it is. For sure, so many of us had to content themselves with scaled-down celebrations that pale in comparison with past celebrations. Well, July 4^th came and went and I am sure so many of us have regrets on how we celebrated Independence Day.

But then, there might still be some more holidays to come with everyone still in the comforts of their home while the threat of coronavirus still rages outdoors. Let’s not hope for that to happen, but if projections are correct, we will still have the pandemic until the vaccines go into production until September, which means we will most certainly spend Labor Day in the pandemic period.  So, with that in mind, let us remember the lessons we learned …

Working With the world population at an estimated 7.9 billion, close to 5 billion people have to work or study from home. With these figures, you would think that the world economy, as a result, would collapse, and rightfully so. Numerous economic analysts are in fact in agreement that we are heading into one of the worst economic contractions in human history, only comparable to the Great Depression in the 1920s and the aftermath of World War II – unless we adapt to this situation.

And adapt most of us have, as working from home has been the saving grace of so many businesses, not to mention entire economies from a total shutdown. Moreover, if done right, working from home cannot just save companies, but allow them to profit. With operating expenses lessened because offices and shops are closed, companies can actually make themselves fiscally strong. Thus, with remote work looking like it’s going to be the norm, how can we maximize it to make it work for our companies? What are the best practices in remote work that will …

As in the course of human history, the COVID19 pandemic is bound to end. Some scientists and mathematicians opine that things will return to normal after six months, while some analysts have adapted a more pessimistic view, saying things will not normalize until a cure or a vaccine for the virus is discovered and made public.  Thus, when this turmoil will end, we do not yet know. But as an adage goes, nothing lasts forever and thus, the pandemic will end.

So, while we know that currently, what we will have to do is to stay at home, not get sick and flatten the curve, what do you think the world will be like once the crisis is over? The events as they unfold currently have already changed the way we live, so the post-COVID19 world should be very interesting. What could possibly change and what never be the same again because of this virus that people easily dismissed as just another passing disease months ago?

 

Automation and remote will be the norms

Businesses will be under pressure to …

Because of the coronavirus crisis, a majority of us will need to work from home.  And as any veteran telecommuter will tell you, you will have to conduct a meeting with your team or your colleagues through a video conference call. While the technicalities of setting up a video conference may already user-friendly, there is still the issue of doing them properly, in proper etiquette. After all, just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you can slack, especially in these online video meetings. Here are some dos of video conference etiquette that you can do even before the meeting starts so that you can hopefully conduct them as effectively as possible.

Do: Have an Agenda

Doesn’t it irritate you when you attend a meeting where everybody just sits around, waiting for all attendees to be present, and then, when finally is already in the meeting, the person presiding the meeting takes a while to get things in order? At least in actual physical meetings, you can express your frustration to the meeting presider with facial expressions. With virtual meetings, …

The coronavirus pandemic has changed how we live, and that is no exaggeration. Entire states have declared lockdowns, residents have been instructed to practice social distancing and to stay home. There seems to be no near end in sight yet as cases of patients confirmed positive of the virus have been steadily increasing.  If we are forced to see any upside to what’s happening, it’s that everyone has become more conscious of personal hygiene. All around the world, authorities have regularly campaigned for the public to adhere to sanitation practices like the 20-second rule of handwashing, keeping our hands away from our faces, and maintaining proper coughing and sneezing behavior. For us who can’t seem to live without a social media update every hour, good hygiene should also mean making sure our gadgets are virus-free.

There is still no documentation of the COVID-19 virus being transmitted through surfaces, as the most common means of transmission current is through direct human contact or respiratory droplets. However, health authorities such as the CDC suggest that surfaces should still be cleaned, as recent …

By now, unless you’re on a YOLO mindset, you should already be staying at home. You wouldn’t want to catch the COVID19 virus, would you? Even if you’re the altruistic, other-before-self kind of person, you shouldn’t really be outdoors because if you bring the virus with you home, your family and those who get in contact with you might be the ones to get sick. So really, stay home.

So, now that you’re being a good person and staying home, doing your part to “flatten the curve” and stop the spread of the virus, you can’t really say that you’re bored and left with nothing to do. You’re in the comforts of your home (or wherever it is you’ve chosen to camp during this lockdown period). True, you can’t do any and all outdoor activities, but there are still so any things you can do at home. Think about it: There are so many things we have put in the backburner, activities we have postponed; and now is the time to bring them back to the forefront. Need a bit …

Aren’t we living in ironic times?

Just when we’ve been feeling so drained and complaining about being overworked, spending 14 hours in the office just to bring home the bacon, not having time to pursue our passions (from crocheting to finally taking the weekend off for a paragliding adventure) because we just don’t have the time, the COVID19 pandemic hits the entire world. So, now we have all the time in the world, but we can’t do a lot outdoors because most of us are in lockdown. We can’t go out, we can’t have drinks with friends in our preferred club, and there goes your dream paragliding adventure.

So, how do we actually keep busy and not lose our sanity for the entire lockdown period? Before cabin fever sets in, here are some recommended activities we hope you’d consider.

Keep fit indoors

Just because you’re cooped up inside your house doesn’t mean you have to live a sedentary lifestyle and forget fitness. Everybody’s stuck up on their houses precisely because of this disease and reliable sources say the mortality rate …

Because of the COVID19 scare, a lot of people have been working from home. The problem is, many have discovered that their internet is working at a speed that is not to their expectations. Moreover, those who are staying at home and sourcing their entertainment from games and streaming entertainment their internet speeds aren’t up to par with what they were used to. So, in this period of people telecommuting and staying at home, what are the best ways to improve your internet speeds?

A quick note, though: If you are not sure of how exactly your internet is performing, try to run an internet speed test at various times throughout the day. Not only will you get exact numbers, but you will also get to check if there’s actually a fluctuation of your internet speeds, if it’s consistently slow throughout the day, or if there are only particular times of the day when it’s not as fast as the rest of the day.

Reset or reboot? 

If you have an average home network, you can enjoy a lot of …

What’s yesterday’s spyware protection has now become an even better security and protection for your computer. We’re talking about Windows Defender. It first made its debut in 2006 and since then, Microsoft has made it even better, making Windows 10 even more secure not just from internet threats, but also from viruses and malware.

 

To keep your Windows 10 running free from all the bad things that can harm it, there are other precautions and actions you can do to further safety and security. This includes the free tools that you can download to prevent computer or data damage.

 

First up is the trusty Windows Defender. If you have turned on your Windows Defender, it automatically runs a security check in the background to make sure everything is safe and sound. But if you want to double-check, you can always run a scan.

Select ‘Quick’ and press ‘Scan now’ to sweep your files and folders. For a deeper scan select ‘Full’.

(Via:https://www.techradar.com/how-to/internet/how-to-protect-windows-10-from-viruses-for-free-1310440)

 

Scan a specific folder if you don’t want either Quick or Full scans.…

Browsing the web can both be delight and a nightmare. It is a delight because you will always have answers for your questions. The internet is a gold mine of information, after all. You’ll always see what you are looking for and more. But sometimes, it is a total disaster. One thing, you’re just surfing the net and the next, a pop-up video shows up along with a series of notifications. You didn’t want to do away with them so you closed the website only to find out that you still are receiving pop-up notifications. Sounds familiar? Say hello (or not) to push notifications.

Push notifications are messages that a website sends you in order to engage you with them. Their goal is to inform you of all things new about them so maybe you’ll take interest. For example, subscribing to a newsletter from a blogging site. You can get them even if the website that sent it to you is not open in your browser. They won’t have access to any of your contact details. However, they are still …