SketchUp has changed hands a few times over the years, once having been owned by Google, and currently owned by a company called Trimble. At the time of this writing, the only modern free version of SketchUp is a web app. If you want the latest full desktop app, you’re looking at $300 a year for personal use. RELATED: How to Use Microsoft Paint 3D The SketchUp web app is decent and might be good enough for many people, but for a long time, the desktop version was completely free, too....

Computers can sleep, hibernate, shut down, or, in some cases, use a hybrid sleep. Learn the differences and decide what’s right for your laptop. A PC that’s shut down uses almost no power, but you have to go through the full startup when you want to use it. A sleeping PC uses just enough power to keep it’s memory active and comes back to life almost instantly, making it good for when you’re not using the PC for the short term....

As solid as it is out of the box, there are a few things you can do to make that bad boy even better. So let’s go to it. Install the Google Play Store The process doesn’t require a rooted device and is fairly straightforward—it’s little more than a few app downloads—so hit up this guide and get to work. You’ll be glad you did it. Switch Up Your Launcher The stock launcher on Fire OS isn’t really that bad, but if you’re looking to customize your tablet a bit more (or just want a more stock Android-like feel), then installing a new launcher is the way to go....

However, some more expensive options use newer systems that ditch sacrificial parts for components that block excess voltage instead. This model shields both your devices and the surge protector, allowing the latter to last longer on average than its MOV counterparts. Another factor to consider when buying a surge protector is the joule rating. It’s more important for MOV-based systems and is an indicator of the amount of energy and the number of surges a protector can take before it fails—so, the higher is better....

Video Conferencing Apps The biggest shift when you work from home is you no longer have conversations in person with your colleagues. But just because you can’t go to the office doesn’t mean you won’t need to attend meetings and group calls. A professional video-conferencing app can make this easier. You can start with one you’re probably already familiar with, like Skype (iPhone, Android). It allows you to accept and make calls right from your phone....

FaceTime on iPhone, iPad, and Mac FaceTime is Apple’s proprietary voice and video-call service. It’s available to anyone with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. You can’t use FaceTime if you don’t have an Apple device as the service is baked into all of them. This video-chat app has long been favored due to its wide availability and ease of use for one-on-one communication and small group chats. However, the service has expanded in recent years and will now support up to 32 people on a single call....

Symmetrical vs. Asymmetrical CPU Design In a traditional multi-core CPU, every CPU core is identical. They all have the same performance rating and use the same amount of power. The problem with this is that when your CPU is idling or doing simple tasks, there’s a minimum level of power usage you cannot drop below without switching the CPU off entirely. This isn’t the end of the world when it comes to devices that draw their power from the wall, but if you’re running on battery power, every watt counts!...

Next to some of your Snapchat friends, you’ll see little emoji. Each of these emoji has a specific meaning. Let’s look at what they are. This person is your #1 Best Friend. You send them more Snaps than anyone else and they send you more Snaps than anyone else. You’ve been #1 Best Friends with this person for two weeks in a row. You’ve been #1 Best Friends with this person for two months in a row....

What is Meet Now? Microsoft’s “Meet Now” is a Skype feature launched in April 2020 that aims to bring the ease-of-use features that made Zoom skyrocket in popularity to the Skype platform. You can create video chats almost instantly from a web link, and others can join in without the need to create Skype accounts or download the Skype client software. Participants only need a link to the meeting, a compatible web browser (Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome), and a working video camera and microphone on their device....

What Was G Suite? Before we talk about Google Workspace, let’s take a look back at G Suite. The service started in 2006 as a way for organizations to use Google’s services on their own domains for a monthly subscription. Rather than maintaining their own network storage, email server, and other various tools, G Suite allowed organizations to use Google’s suite of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools as the backend of their business....

Picking a TV Based on Store Demos Many of us have relied too much on in-store demonstrations at some point. It’s a common belief that seeing is believing, so why wouldn’t you base a purchasing decision on a demo? While the theory is a sound one, the reality is quite different. One thing to consider is some TVs have manufacturer-specific demos running on each unit, while others just show a basic feed on every screen....

If you’ve been using Microsoft Whiteboard, then you will know there’s more to the application than meets the eye. Here are some features, tips, and tricks to help convert you from a Microsoft Whiteboard novice to a Whiteboard master. Change the Background Color and Pattern A clean blank whiteboard can be a tempting place to draw whatever you want, but, like a blank piece of paper, it can also be a bit intimidating....

The new macOS 11.0 Big Sur, expected in Fall 2020, will be the first version of macOS that supports this new architecture. Why Apple Is Switching, and What It Means For You Apple insists that this switch will “give the Mac a whole new level of performance.” Apple’s own silicon, found in devices like the iPad and iPhone, offers much better performance per amount of power used than an Intel CPUs....

Your LinkedIn profile‘s web address (URL) is customizable, which means you can set it to whatever you want. Here’s how to go about changing your profile URL on LinkedIn on desktop and mobile. RELATED: How to Quickly Generate a Resume from Your LinkedIn Profile What to Know When Changing Your LinkedIn URL When you change your URL, it will always start with the following: After the in/ is where your custom URL will appear....

Copy and paste is not something reserved for just laptops and computers. It can come in handy on your Android phone or tablet, too. We’ll show you how to copy and paste text, links, images, and use the clipboard. Android devices can vary a lot in how the software looks. The menus and buttons you see in this guide may look slightly different on your smartphone or tablet, but the fundamentals and basic ideas are the same....

Every Microsoft Office app has a quick access toolbar that shows one-click commands. Here’s how to customize this toolbar to show any command that appears on the ribbon and some that aren’t on the ribbon at all. The quick access toolbar can be found in the Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word apps in the standard Office package, and also in other apps like Project and Visio if you’ve purchased them....

The good news is you can delete your Gmail without touching your Google account. When you delete your Gmail account, you lose access to your inbox, and every email you’ve sent and received, and that email address will be disabled. All of the emails will be deleted in two business days. Before you delete your Gmail account, you should update your email address on all important accounts (like your bank account)....

Before you start this process, you should know that there’s no turning back after you delete your Telegram account. When you delete your Telegram account, you lose all your chat messages, Secret Chats, groups, channels, media, and more. Before you begin this process, we suggest you save all your important media and messages. RELATED: How to Start an Encrypted Secret Chat in Telegram Telegram sends a confirmation code to the Telegram app during the deletion process, so you’ll need the Telegram app installed on your iPhone or Android smartphone....

Storage space on smartphones and tablets can be easy to fill up, especially if you use a phone or tablet for a long time. We’ll show you how to take back some of that space on your Android device. It’s possible to get Android phones and tablets with 128GB or 256GB of storage, but there’s a chance that you still have a device with 64GB or even 32GB. If you don’t keep all of your files in cloud storage, it can be easy to run out of storage space....

Discord lets you host a virtual group listening party by streaming your favorite tracks to your friends using Spotify Premium and the “Listen Along” feature. Here’s how to set it up. While you can also listen to music with friends using Spotify’s Group Session feature, you can’t chat with them, and you’re limited to only five friends at a time. On Discord, chatting while listening is a breeze. RELATED: How to Host a Virtual Group Listening Party in Spotify...