While on vacation last week (and right after discussing with my sister-in-law how her Instagram account got hacked earlier this year), I went to post a lovely shot from the shores of the Chesapeake only to discover that I was logged out of Instagram. An alert stated that someone in Russia had tried to access …

Google updated its Chrome Dev app for Android this week, and it offers an intriguing glimpse into changes that might soon be coming to Chrome’s new tab page. If you’ve come to rely on Google Now’s personalized alerts and suggestions in the Google app itself, then you may also embrace them in Chrome, particularly if you use the browser more …

Microsoft Edge’s tab previews can be useful. They offer a thumbnail glimpse of the current page when you mouse over a tab. If you are reading this blog post, however, you may find them annoying, especially when the tab preview for the left-most tab obfuscates Edge’s forward and back buttons. Thankfully, there is a way to disable tab previews for …

When your Apple Watch rings when a call arrives, you certainly don’t want to look like this guy. Though the Apple Watch is a poor choice for conducting phone calls, it can be useful for declining them — though perhaps not in the way you might expect. The Apple Watch appears to offer two options for an incoming call: A …

iOS offers two ways for your iPhone — and you, by extension — to be less intrusive in certain situations. You can enable Silent mode and you can also enable or schedule Do Not Disturb mode to keep your iPhone from ringing, chiming or otherwise emitting unwanted sounds. Although both modes effectively silence your iPhone, there are differences with which …

Google Maps offers a limited number of keyboard shortcuts, but they can be useful to navigate a map, especially when you are using Street View. Map view Pan To pan around on a map, you can use the arrow keys to move north, south, east and west. You can also press two arrow keys together to move diagonally. Zoom Use …

Make your next stay at YouTube a more pleasant one. And if not more pleasant, then at least a bit more efficient by employing a few keyboard shortcuts. 1. Tab for control Hit the tab key to gain control of the video player. Tab lets you cycle through the various controls on the video player, cycling through play/pause, next video, …

Microsoft this week released Pix, an iOS camera app that it claims “is so smart that you won’t have to waste time on adjusting settings, focus hunting, or reviewing and choosing from multiple shots.” I checked out the app to put Microsoft’s claims of higher intelligence to the test and to find out if it’s smarter than the stock Camera …

The next time you take a break from your labors and check Twitter.com on your computer, you can flit about the social-networking site more efficiently with a few keyboard shortcuts. Here is a baker’s dozen of the most helpful of the bunch. 1. Page down and up As you can on other web pages, hit the spacebar to page down …

If you don’t use its mobile app exclusively and still check Facebook from your computer from time to time, then you might improve your Facebook experience with a few keyboard shortcuts. Access keys With these keyboard shortcuts, you can jump to the various areas of Facebook by pressing a key or two plus a number, which Facebook calls an access …