Chrome Web Store to allow purchase of desktop apps, extensions, themes

  • March 11, 2014

According to the Google Chrome developers’ blog, the Chrome Web Store will now allow its desktop applications and extensions to be available for up-front payment. Previously, only the web apps could be pay-to-play, so to speak. Themes can also be paid for up-front, but will lack some of the other purchase functionality being given to extensions and desktop apps.

Read more

Active digitizers: The feature you didn’t know you wanted in your tablet

  • March 4, 2014

Affordable and lightweight touchscreens changed the consumer electronics market forever. The promise of touchscreens was full control with precision. Navigating our screens with hardware, like we did on our computers or non-touchscreen phones, was precise but didn’t give us the same sense of control that reaching out and touching our target does. Of course, things did not work out quite as smoothly as we found out that our clunky fingers were really imprecise and so were those soft-tipped styli we bought to fix that problem.

What could bring us the greater precision that we seek? Not better fingers nor bigger screens. Instead, a different touch-sensing system entirely.

Read more

Zotero, the free citation manager for students, teachers, and more

  • March 3, 2014

Citing sources is one of the most tedious parts of research, academic or otherwise. You’ve done the legwork, but proving it to your readers seems to take more effort than the writing and searching! Once upon a time, websites like EasyBib or Citation Machine were the cutting edge for people trying to expedite the process. With the advent of a widely available, free citation manager like Zotero, those seem like things of the past. 

Read more

How to use Wunderlist to manage your life, lists, and more

  • March 2, 2014

_ _Do you find yourself getting overwhelmed with your many lists? A sticky note for this, a notebook for that, a scrap paper here…wait, where is the grocery list? Maybe you find your mental list-making abilities coming up a little short as your work, school, or other life commitments have been piling up. If you are interested in being more productive, efficient, and not letting things slip through the cracks, you want to know how to use Wunderlist to make all life’s lists manageable.

Read more

Why use a VPN (virtual private network)?

  • February 28, 2014

Many people have never heard of a virtual private network, more commonly known as a VPN. Some tech enthusiasts have heard about them, but don’t happen to be worried about government spying, and haven’t conceived any other uses for a VPN. Whether you are completely new to the concept or have been thinking about it for a while now, GettingThingsTech has some answers for you.

Read more