Rick's Daily Tips

Heads-up: Apple now blocking health information for ALL iPhone batteries that were installed by third-party techs.

Posted on August 12, 2019

If you’ve been using an iPhone for a while you probably know that you can check the health of your phone’s battery by selecting an option on the Settings screen.

This battery health information basically lets you know if your battery is wearing out and needs to be replaced.

For years Apple refused to allow iOS to reset the battery health info back to “Healthy” after a new third-party battery was installed, but according to our friends at iFixit they’re now even refusing to reset the health information for genuine Apple batteries unless they’re installed by Apple authorized techs.

[Read more…]

Q&A: How can I connect my new iPad Pro to my projector?

Posted on August 11, 2019

Question from Don H.: For a while now I’ve been using an HP laptop and an Epson VS240 projector to display presentations to my Art History students.

The laptop’s hard drive died on me a few days ago and I don’t plan on having it replaced.

What I’d like to do is use my new iPad Pro and Apple’s Keynote presentation app to send video to the projector.

The problem is the projector has an HDMI port but the iPad Pro has a USB-C port.

Is there a simple way to connect the iPad Pro to my projector?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Teach your child to save for the future with a Digital Coin Bank

Posted on August 10, 2019

Nowdays it is more important than ever to teach your kids the importance of putting money aside for a rainy day.

Teaching them why they need to save is the most important part of this task, and I’m sure you’ve already developed a good plan for that.

The purpose of this post is to let you know about a really neat tool that you can use to facilitate the actual saving part of this endeavor.

It’s called a Digital Coin Bank, (#ad) and it works something like this:

First, your child inserts a coin through a slot in the lid. As the coin passes through the slot the digital counter determines the value of the coin based upon its size, then automatically adds that amount to the running total.

Any number of coins can be added (one at a time of course) and the counter will add the value of each coin to the total.

Here’s a short video that shows exactly what I’m talking about: [Read more…]

Q&A: Why does the light on my mouse stay lit when I shut down my computer?

Posted on August 9, 2019

Question from Kelly E.: I just bought a new computer and there’s one thing about it that has me puzzled.

When I shut the computer down (not put it to sleep, but actually shut it down) the little light on the mouse stays lit.

Why is this happening? I’ve never seen it before. Is there some way to turn it off?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Review: HP Elitebook X360 1030 G2 13.3″ Flip Design Notebook

Posted on August 8, 2019

The lines between notebook computers and tablets are becoming more blurred by the day.

“Convertible laptops” can also be used as fully-functioning tablets, offering you the best of both computing worlds in a single device.

The HP Elitebook X360 1030 G2 13.3″ Flip Design Notebook (#ad) is one of the more powerful “convertible” notebooks on the market today.

Like other convertibles, you can either flip up the lid and use it like a traditional notebook PC or fold it all the way back and use it as a tablet. The choice is yours.

This little gem weighs in at a mere 2.8 pounds but it packs plenty of power into its relatively small frame. Here’s a quick run-down of what’s inside: [Read more…]