Electronics Articles

Article / Updated 07-29-2022

To find the total response of an RL parallel circuit such as the one shown here, you need to find the zero-input response and the zero-state response and then add them together. After fiddling with the math, you determine that the zero-input response of the sample circuit is this: Now you are ready to calculate the zero-state response for the circuit. Zero-state response means zero initial conditions. For the zero-state circuit shown earlier, zero initial conditions means looking at the circuit with zero inductor current at t < 0. You need to find the homogeneous and particular solutions to get the zero-state response. Next, you have zero initial conditions and an input current of iN(t) = u(t), where u(t) is a unit step input. When the step input u(t) = 0, the solution to the differential equation is the solution ih(t): The inductor current ih(t) is the solution to the homogeneous first-order differential equation: This solution is the general solution for the zero input. You find the constant c1 after finding the particular solution and applying the initial condition of no inductor current. After time t = 0, a unit step input describes the transient inductor current. The inductor current for this step input is called the step response. You find the particular solution ip(t) by setting the step input u(t) equal to 1. For a unit step input iN(t) = u(t), substitute u(t) = 1 into the differential equation: The particular solution ip(t) is the solution for the differential equation when the input is a unit step u(t) = 1 after t = 0. Because u(t) = 1 (a constant) after time t = 0, assume a particular solution ip(t) is a constant IA. Because the derivative of a constant is 0, the following is true: Substitute ip(t) = IA into the first-order differential equation: The particular solution eventually follows the form of the input because the zero-input (or free response) diminishes to 0 over time. You can generalize the result when the input step has strength IA or IAu(t). You need to add the homogeneous solution ih(t) and the particular solution ip(t) to get the zero-state response: At t = 0, the initial condition is 0 because this is a zero-state calculation. To find c1, apply iZS(0) = 0: Solving for c1 gives you C1 = -IA Substituting c1 into the zero-state response iZS(t), you wind up with

Article / Updated 07-29-2022

A first-order RL parallel circuit has one resistor (or network of resistors) and a single inductor. First-order circuits can be analyzed using first-order differential equations. By analyzing a first-order circuit, you can understand its timing and delays. Analyzing such a parallel RL circuit, like the one shown here, follows the same process as analyzing an RC series circuit. So if you are familiar with that procedure, this should be a breeze. If your RL parallel circuit has an inductor connected with a network of resistors rather than a single resistor, you can use the same approach to analyze the circuit. But you have to find the Norton equivalent first, reducing the resistor network to a single resistor in parallel with a single current source. Start with the simple RL parallel circuit Because the resistor and inductor are connected in parallel in the example, they must have the same voltage v(t). The resistor current iR(t) is based on Ohm’s law: The element constraint for an inductor is given as where i(t) is the inductor current and L is the inductance. You need a changing current to generate voltage across an inductor. If the inductor current doesn’t change, there’s no inductor voltage, which implies a short circuit. Now substitute v(t) = Ldi(t)/dt into Ohm’s law because you have the same voltage across the resistor and inductor: Kirchhoff’s current law (KCL) says the incoming currents are equal to the outgoing currents at a node. Use KCL at Node A of the sample circuit to get iN(t) = iR(t) =i(t). Substitute iR(t) into the KCL equation to give you The RL parallel circuit is a first-order circuit because it’s described by a first-order differential equation, where the unknown variable is the inductor current i(t). A circuit containing a single equivalent inductor and an equivalent resistor is a first-order circuit. Knowing the inductor current gives you the magnetic energy stored in an inductor. In general, the inductor current is referred to as a state variable because the inductor current describes the behavior of the circuit. Calculate the zero-input response for an RL parallel circuit Here is how the RL parallel circuit is split up into two problems: the zero-input response and the zero-state response. Here, you’ll start by analyzing the zero-input response. To simplify matters, you set the input source (or forcing function) equal to 0: iN(t) = 0 amps. This means no input current for all time — a big, fat zero. The first-order differential equation reduces to For an input source of no current, the inductor current iZI is called a zero-input response. No external forces are acting on the circuit except for its initial state (or inductor current, in this case). The output is due to some initial inductor current I0 at time t = 0. You make a reasonable guess at the solution (the natural exponential function!) and substitute your guess into the RL first-order differential equation. Assume the inductor current and solution to be iZI(t) = Bekt This is a reasonable guess because the time derivative of an exponential is also an exponential. Like a good friend, the exponential function won’t let you down when solving these differential equations. You determine the constants B and k next. Substitute your guess iZI(t) = Bekt into the differential equation: Replacing iZI(t) with Bekt and doing some math gives you the following: You have the characteristic equation after factoring out Bekt: The characteristic equation gives you an algebraic problem to solve for the constant k: Use k = –R/L and the initial inductor current I0 at t = 0. This implies that B = I0, so the zero-input response iZI(t) gives you the following: The constant L/R is called the time constant. The time constant provides a measure of how long an inductor current takes to go to 0 or change from one state to another. To analyze the RL parallel circuit further, you must calculate the circuit’s zero-state response, and then add that result to the zero-input response to find the total response for the circuit.

Article / Updated 07-29-2022

The folks at Fitbit are well aware of the significant benefits that accrue when you make your self-tracking public, so they’ve built tons of social features, like making friends, into the Fitbit app. You might be leery of letting Fitbit rummage around in your contacts, but the company promises not to send anything to a contact without your permission. If that seems reasonable, you need to give the Fitbit app permission to access your contacts and then send your request: 1. In the Fitbit app, select Community. 2. Select the Friends tab. The Friends tab is where the Fitbit app will eventually list all your friends, ranked in descending order of total steps taken over the past week. For now, it’s either empty or you see just yourself, as shown in the Android version in the following figure. 3. Select the Add Friend icon (labeled in the figure). 4. Select the Contacts tab. 5. Give Fitbit permission to access your contacts: Android: Tap Enable, and when your Android asks you to confirm, tap Allow. iOS: Tap Connect Contacts, and when iOS asks you to confirm, tap OK. Windows 10: Select Open Settings to run the Settings app, which automatically displays the Contacts tab of the Privacy page. Select Change, turn on the Contacts Access for This Device switch, and then turn on the Fitbit switch. Restart the Fitbit app, repeat Steps 1 through 4, and then skip to Step 6. (Note that the switch is green when it’s on.) The Fitbit app’s Contacts tab now displays two lists. At the top you see X Contacts with Fitbit, where X is the number of people the Fitbit app found in your contacts who have a Fitbit account. Below that list you see the Contacts without Fitbit list. 6. Select the Add Friend icon beside the contact you want to add. The Add Friend icon turns into a clock icon, indicating that the app is waiting for the other person to accept (or — horrors! — reject) your friend request. How to send a friend request to your Facebook friends If you know some people on Facebook who have a Fitbit, it might be easier to add them as Fitbit friends by letting the Fitbit app scour your Facebook connections. Fitbit claims that they won’t reach out to any Facebook friend without asking you first, so why not? Before this can happen, you have to give the Fitbit app permission to access your Facebook account. In the sections that follow, you give Fitbit permission to access your Facebook account. If, down the road, you want to revoke that permission, you have to do it on the Facebook site. Log in to your Facebook account, select Settings→Apps and Websites, select the Fitbit check box, and then select Remove. Using the Fitbit app to send a Facebook friend request Here are the steps to follow to ship out a request to a Facebook friend by using the Fitbit app: 1. Select Community. 2. Select the Friends tab. 3. Select the Add Friend icon (labeled in the figure). 4. Select the Facebook tab. 5. Select Connect Facebook. The app prompts you to log in to your Facebook account. 6. Enter your Facebook login credentials, and then select Log In. A screen shows you what Facebook permissions you’re giving to the Fitbit app. 7. Select Continue as Name, where Name is your first name. The Fitbit app connects to your Facebook account and examines your friends to see which of them have Fitbit accounts. The Fitbit app’s Facebook tab now displays a list of your Facebook friends who have a Fitbit account. 8. Select the Add Friend icon beside the Facebook friend you want to add. The Add Friend icon turns into a clock icon, indicating that the app is waiting for the other person to accept (or summarily reject) your friend request. Using Fitbit.com to send a Facebook friend request Here are the steps to follow to send a request to a Facebook friend by using Fitbit.com: 1. Go to Fitbit app and log in to your account. 2. In the Friends tile, select Connect Facebook. Fitbit prompts you to log in to your Facebook account. 3. Enter your Facebook login credentials, and then select Log In. A screen shows you what Facebook permissions you’re giving to the Fitbit app. 4. Select Continue as Name, where Name is your first name. Fitbit connects to your Facebook account. After a few moments, the Friends tile displays a list of your Facebook friends who have a Fitbit account. 5. Select the Add Friend button beside the person you want to add. By default, Fitbit displays only a few Facebook friends in the Friends tile. To see the rest of your Fitbit-connected Facebook friends, hover the mouse pointer over the Friends tile, select See More and then select the Show All link that appears above your Facebook friends list (which Fitbit labels May We Suggest). The Add Friend icon turns into a clock icon, indicating that Fitbit is waiting for the other person to accept (or — say it isn’t so — reject) your friend request. How to send a friend request by email If you know the email address of a person’s Fitbit account, you can send a friend request to that email address. Using the Fitbit app to send an email friend request Here are the steps to follow to send an email friend request by using the Fitbit app: 1. In the Fitbit app, select Community. 2. Select the Friends tab. 3. Select the Add Friend icon (labeled in the figure). 4. Select the Email tab. 5. Enter the person’s email address. When the address is complete, the Fitbit app displays a friend request for that person. 6. Select the Add Friend icon beside the friend request. The Add Friend icon turns into a clock icon, indicating that the app is waiting for the other person to accept (or — boo! — reject) your friend request. Using Fitbit.com to send an email friend request Here are the steps to follow to send one or more email friend requests using Fitbit.com: 1. Go to Fitbit and log in to your account. 2. In the Friends tile, select Invite Friends. If you’ve already connected your Facebook account to Fitbit, you won’t see the Invite Friends link. Instead, hover your mouse pointer over the Friends tile, select Find Friends and then select Invite by Email. Fitbit displays the Invite Friends by Email window. 3. In the Email Addresses text box, enter an email address for each person you want to invite. When you complete an address, type a space or a comma or press tab to complete the address and move to the next one. Fitbit displays a sneak peek of your friend request in the Message Preview pane. 4. When you’ve entered all your addresses, select Send Invitation. Fitbit ships out your friend requests. How to send a friend request by using a Fitbit username If you know a person’s Fitbit username, follow these steps to send a friend request to that person: 1. In the Fitbit app, select Community. 2. Select the Friends tab. 3. Select the Add Friend icon (labeled in the figure). 4. Select the Username tab. 5. Enter the person’s username. When the username is complete, the Fitbit app displays a friend request for that person. 6. Select the Add Friend icon beside the friend request. The Add Friend icon turns into a clock icon, indicating that the app is waiting for the other person to accept (or ungratefully reject) your friend request.

Article / Updated 07-28-2022

The Amazon Alexa equivalent of apps are called skills. Like a mobile device, Alexa can do a few things out of the box, such as playing music or audiobooks, telling you the time or the weather, and making voice or video calls. But if you want to know how to use Alexa to perform more specialized tasks, then you need to add the appropriate skills from the Amazon Alexa skills list. It's pretty much the same as adding new apps to your smart phone. What kinds of skills can you add? Well, more than 50,000 skills are available in categories such as Business & Finance, Education & Reference, Games, Trivia & Accessories, and Smart Home, so the sky is pretty much the limit. Want to hail an Uber or Lyft ride? There are skills for that. Want to know what’s on TV tonight? There’s a skill for that. Want to play an adventure game or challenge you and your family with some trivia? There are skills for those, too. How to find top Alexa skills The skill equivalent of an app store is Amazon’s Alexa Skills list, which you can access in one of two ways: On the web: Use your favorite web browser to surf to www.amazon.com (or your local Amazon domain, such as www.amazon.ca for Canada), and then choose Departments→Echo & Alexa→Alexa Skills. In the Alexa app: Choose Menu→Skills & Games. By default, the Alexa app doesn’t show skills that were designed specifically for children. To see those skills, you need to adjust your settings. Choose Menu→Settings→Alexa Account→Kid Skills, and then tap the Allow Kid Skills switch to On. (If you don’t see the Kid Skills item, it means that feature hasn’t been rolled out in your location just yet.) Whether you’re using the web or the app, you see a few featured skills upfront, and you also get a search box to locate specific skills. However, when you’re just starting out, it’s usually best to examine the various skill categories, which are listed on the left side of the web page. In the Alexa app, tap the Categories button to see the list. Select a category to see what’s available. If something looks interesting, select the skill to open its info page, which gives you a description of the skill, voice commands you can use, user ratings, and any permissions that are required (such as allowing notifications or giving your address for a delivery skill). You may also see these two phrases, which require a little explanation: In-Skill Purchases Available: The skill offers extra features or content that you can purchase while using the skill. Account Linking Required: The skill requires access to a third-party user account. For example, if you want to use a ride-sharing service such as Lyft or Uber, both of which offer Alexa skills, you must give the skill permission to access your user account on the service, a process called account linking. How to use Alexa Skills If you locate a skill that looks fun, entertaining, or useful, go ahead and give it a try (hey, it’s free, remember?). To use a skill with Alexa, you must enable it. Enable an Alexa skill with a voice command To enable a skill with your voice, use either of the following commands: “Alexa, enable [skill].” “Alexa, open [skill].” Here, skill is the so-called invocation name of the skill: a word or phrase unique to the skill. How in the name of Jeff Bezos are you supposed to know a skill’s invocation name? That’s available on the skill’s info page, in the Skill Details section. Alexa tells you the skill is enabled and then invokes the skill. The first time the skill runs, you usually get a brief introduction and some suggested commands or tasks. If the skill requires permission from you to access information on your Alexa device, you can’t enable the skill with a voice command. Instead, you have to use the Alexa app. Enable an Alexa skill using the Alexa app You can also enable a skill using the Alexa app, as shown in the following steps: In the Alexa app, choose Menu→Skills & Games. Locate the skill you want to enable. Tap the skill to open its information page. Tap Enable. If the skill requires extra permissions from you, you see the Skill Permissions dialog. If you see the Skill Permissions dialog, set the permission switch or switches to On or Off, as desired, and then tap Save Permissions. Alexa enables the skill. 30 Cool Alexa skills to try With more than 50,000 skills available, finding a useful, fun, or entertaining skill is a true needle-in-the-proverbial-haystack exercise. Who has time to comb through either a haystack or Amazon’s Alexa Skills list? If you’re just not sure where to begin, let me help. Here are 30 ready-to-enable skills that you can take for a test drive. Top Alexa skills for daily living AnyPod: A podcast skill that enables you to add podcasts to your library, sync your listening history to your Alexa device, and much more. Invocation name: anypod. Lyft: Enables you to use Alexa to hail a Lyft. Account linking is required. Invocation name: lyft. Mastermind: An all-purpose AI-driven assistant that you can use to send text messages and emails, make phone calls, search the web, and tons more. Invocation name: mastermind. Uber: Enables you to use Alexa to hail an Uber. Account linking is required. Invocation name: uber. Top Amazon Alexa skills for news, weather, and information Big Sky: A weather skill that goes well beyond the default Alexa weather report. Account linking is required. Invocation name: big sky. CBC: News, music, or a specific Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio One station. Invocation name: CBC. Curiosity: This skill asks you to choose between two topics and then tells you interesting facts about the topic you chose. Invocation name: curiosity. Feels Like: Tells you what the current temperature in your location feels like, meaning the wind-chill temperature in winter and the humidex in summer. Invocation name: feels like. Learn Something Radio: Plays daily new episodes from some of the web’s most learned brands, including NPR, 99% Invisible, and Freakonomics Radio. Invocation name: learn something radio. NPR News Now: News stories from National Public Radio, delivered via Alexa’s Flash Briefing. Invocation name: npr news now. SAT Word of the Day: Presents a new word each day, spells the word, and uses it in a sample sentence. Invocation name: s-a-t word of the day. TED Talks: Gives you audio access to all the TED Talks. Invocation name: ted talks. The Daily Show: A satiric takes on the day’s news stories, delivered as part of your Flash Briefing. Invocation name: the daily show. This Day in History: Tells you the top historical event that occurred on the current day of the year. Invocation name: this day in history. Translated: Translates short phrases from English into more than three dozen languages, from American Spanish to Welsh. Invocation name: translated. Top Amazon Alexa skills for health, fitness, and safety 7-Minute Workout: Daily workouts that aim to improve strength and aerobic fitness in just seven minutes. Invocation name: seven-minute workout. Burglar Deterrent: Protects your home when you’re out by playing realistic audio for activities such as talking, cleaning, and cooking to make it seem as though someone’s home. Invocation name: burglar deterrent. Mayo Clinic First Aid: Provides first-aid instructions for common injuries and illnesses. Invocation name: mayo first aid. What to Expect: Daily tips and advice during pregnancy. Invocation name: what to expect. Top Amazon Alexa skills for inspiration Headspace: Provides guided meditations, including a new guided meditation each day. Invocation name: headspace. Inspire Me: Inspirational quotations from famous people (who do the talking instead of Alexa) that you can invoke at random, by speaker, or by topic. Invocation name: inspire me. Top Alexa skills for cooking (and drinking) The Bartender: Delivers cocktail recipes. Invocation name: the bartender. Meat Thermometer: Say a type of meat (such as “steak”) and how you want it cooked (such as “medium rare”), and this app tells you the internal temperature to shoot for. Invocation name: meat thermometer. MySomm: A wine-pairing skill. That is, given a food, the skill suggests a wine to go with it. Invocation name: wine gal. Top Amazon Alexa skills for fun and relaxation Akinator: Think of a real or fictional character and this skill guesses the name of that character after asking a few questions. Invocation name: akinator. Alexa Things to Try: Gives you a daily Alexa tip and news on the latest Alexa features as part of your Flash Briefing. Invocation name: flash briefing. Amazon Storytime: Plays professionally narrated short stories for kids aged 5 through 12. Invocation name: amazon storytime. Ambient Sounds: A collection of sound loops to help you sleep, relax, or block out noises. There are a few dozen sounds in all, including thunderstorms, windy trees, and fireplace. Invocation name: ambient sounds. The Magic Door: An interactive adventure game. Invocation name: the magic door. The Wayne Investigation: An interactive mystery game where the choices you make as you investigate a mystery affect the outcome of the story. Invocation name: the wayne investigation. Many of these skills are only available in certain countries. If you don’t see the skill either in Amazon’s Alexa Skills list or in the Alexa app, it means the skill isn’t available where you live.

Article / Updated 07-28-2022

The Play Music app allows you to play music files on your Samsung Galaxy S10. Similarly, you use the Video Player app to play video options. The Video Player is in your Application list and might even be on your home page. In most ways, playing videos is the same as playing audio with some exceptions: Many people prefer to buy music, but renting is more typical for videos. Video files are usually, but not always, larger. Otherwise, as with music files, you can acquire videos for your phone from an online video store — and you need to have an account and pay for the use. In addition, you can download video files to your phone, and the Video Player will play them like a DVD player. There is a great selection of videos on the Google Play Store and Amazon Prime Video. Each of these has great video selections that you can rent or buy. The following figure shows the Home screens for the Google Play Store and Amazon Prime Video. Using the three screens If you have a subscription to Amazon Video, I hereby grant you permission to watch any and all of the Amazon Video options on your Galaxy S10 (once you sign in and comply with all the terms and conditions set forth by Amazon). Once you install the Amazon Prime Video app from the Play Store, sign in with the email and password associated with your account, and all the content is there for you to stream. It is that simple. If you don’t believe me, give it a try. If you take a look at the Amazon Prime Video home page on the Internet, seen in the following figure, it shows your options for access to the content to which you subscribe. The original term for this was called serving the three screens. Three screens referred to in the strategy included your television at home, your PC or laptop, and your smartphone. The idea is that you get one subscription and have access to the same content and, importantly, can pick up where you left off. So, if you’re watching a video on your television, you can pick up where you left off on your smartphone. Amazon Prime Video is taking this one step further to ensure as many of its subscribers as possible have access. If you have a Smart TV that has an Internet connection, the chances are that Amazon Prime Video will run on the TV. If you have an old and/or a dumb TV, you can get Amazon through streaming media players, game consoles, set-top boxes, or Blu-ray players. Amazon is not the only organization to do this. Many cable companies offer this kind of solution, as do many of the video subscription services. The mainstream video services compete with having a broad range within their libraries that seek to appeal to as many customers as possible. Keep in mind that there are specialty video providers that offer curated videos for their subscribers. For example, TeacherTube is a site dedicated to K-12 education, as seen in the following figure. If we continue down this path further, there are a great number of options for online education. Many of these sites do not consider themselves to be video aggregators, but that’s exactly what happens when they take recorded lectures and provide them to students. The best-known online education service is the University of Phoenix. There are dozens more online universities. Education is just one curated video service. Others exist for videos of Bollywood movies, British sitcoms, Portuguese game shows, and many other art forms. How to view your own videos You can watch any video you’ve shot on your phone. From the Google Play application, scroll over to the Personal Video section. Your phone can show the following video formats: MPEG-4, WMV, AVI/DivX, MKV, and FLV. To play your video, simply tap the name of the file. The app begins showing the video in landscape orientation. The controls that pop up when you tap the screen are similar to the controls of a DVD player. The reality of virtual reality Video games can be immersive, and a good movie can really suck you into its reality. The idea of virtual reality is to take this one step further. The basic idea behind virtual reality is to create a simulated world by having you wear a pair of goggles and presenting images that change the screen based upon movements of your head and body. We can explore the concept by taking it in steps. At the most basic level, you can use your phone with a pair of virtual reality goggles. Samsung is offering virtual reality goggles that are designed to work with your Galaxy S10. What you do is insert your Galaxy S10 into the goggles. Then you use the little remote next to the goggles to navigate to the application. The remote is very convenient because, without it, the only way to communicate with the screen is by turning your head to commands and then holding it there for a few seconds. That little device allows you to navigate the screen while the phone is inserted in the goggles. What happens is that your field of view is entirely taken up by the screen of your Galaxy S10. Imagine the most basic scenario, where the camera on the back of your phone shows you what is in front of you. This kind of experience is more or less comparable to using a pair of eyeglasses. When you walk forward, things come closer. When you look down, you see the floor. When you turn your head to the right or the left, you see things that were not in your range of vision. So far, this is not very interesting. So, let’s take it up a level. Now let’s let your phone and all its processing capacity and intelligence tell you what you’re looking at. You turn your head, and you see a picture. Presto chango, you see a little pop-up next to the picture that tells you that this is a print of Edward Hopper’s The Nighthawks. You look out the window, and a pop-up appears with current weather conditions and a forecast for today. Now you take your virtual reality goggles to the grocery store. As you get your cart, a familiar face comes up and starts talking. For the life of you, you cannot remember who this person is or how you know him. In just a moment, the face recognition system recognizes this person, and a pop-up identifies that this person is your old neighbor Bif Wellington. After chatting, you walk the store aisles looking for deals. You get a pop-up letting you know when this grocery is giving you a good deal on Honeycrisp apples, or if you can get them cheaper at the other store. This capability is called augmented reality. Let’s take it up another notch. Imagine a world where, instead of seeing a slightly modified version of your reality, you are transported to a beach. You can look around and see palm trees and jungles behind you. Why stay earthbound? You are virtually transported to the space around Mars. As you look around, it is as if you are there on Mars. The following figure looks like two images of the same planet. When your phone is inserted in the goggles, you get a 3-D image of the planet. You can also look around and navigate throughout the solar system. Trust me, this is a lot more convenient than space travel. Why stay in the mainstream opinion of what is reality? Now we can all have an “Alice through the Looking Glass” experience. You can grow and shrink and see all kinds of unusual visions which are limited by your imagination. There are some very, very cool demonstrations that leverage the capabilities of your phone. The Samsung offering comes at a great price compared to some of the other options out there. For that matter, you may have received the Samsung virtual reality goggles for free for preordering your phone. There are additional VR applications and content in the Play Store. This is a rapidly changing area of the Play Store where new content is constantly being added. Be sure to check the Play Store regularly. This should make your friends who own iPhone technology suitably jealous. What needs to happen is further application development to really take us to where this technology can go. Some of us unfortunately have the unpleasant experience of what is called virtual-reality sickness. This is similar, but not identical, to seasickness and car sickness. The most common symptoms are nausea and headaches. If this happens to you, some of the medicines that help seasickness may help you avoid this unpleasant sensation. Some say it also helps to be seated when using virtual reality. Plus, symptoms tend to diminish over time as your brain gets used to this experience. If the symptoms are too severe, virtual reality may just not be for you.

Article / Updated 06-24-2022

These days, it’s all but impossible to deny the cultural sway of emojis. The beloved pictographs have accomplished quite a lot, from winning Oxford Dictionary’s 2015 Word of the Year to starring in their own feature film. Emojis even have their own day of appreciation: July 17 (the date immortalized by the calendar emoji in iOS). To celebrate, let’s look back at how emojis found a permanent place in our hearts, minds, and texts. The prequel: emoticons Before emojis could run, emoticons had to walk. Emoticons rose in popularity during the chatroom boom of the 1990s, allowing early Internet users to add emotional context and tone to their words. Common emoticons included :) for happy and :( for sad, :o for shock and :p for teasing, ;) for wink and :* for a smooch. Variations on eyeballs, such as =) or 8) — and the optional addition of noses — :o) or :^), provided an extended range of self-expression. Though emoticons were quite popular online at this time, there were few opportunities and little incentive to use them in other contexts. The first emojis The emojis we know and love today have their roots in Japan (emoji is Japanese for “picture character”). They were created by artist Shigetaka Kurita, who was on the development team for an early mobile Internet platform created by the leading mobile carrier at the time, DoCoMo. Kurita’s first batch of emojis was released in 1999 and consisted of 176 pictographs, which were meant to convey information more so than mood. There were symbols pertaining to weather, traffic conditions, locations like hospitals and gas stations, and even the 12 zodiac signs. The spread and standardization of emojis The popularity of emojis in Japan eventually caught the attention of DoCoMo’s Japanese competitors, as well as international companies, like Apple and Google. These companies saw opportunity in the new picto-language, but there was a problem: If developers each created their own emojis in a vacuum, the pictures wouldn’t translate from carrier to carrier. That’s because computers rely on numerical code to find and display emojis on our screens. So, if one carrier assigns code #123 to “smiley face,” but another carrier assigns #123 to, say, “dolphin,” emojis would create more communication problems than solutions. In 2007, Google petitioned the Unicode Consortium — the body responsible for the international standardization of computer code for text — to recognize emoji as a language. This would ensure that the numerical code for “smiley face” was consistent across carriers, developers, servers, and countries. Apple quickly joined Google’s cause, and the two became collaborators in advocating for an international emoji “alphabet.” While Unicode had previously considered emoji out of scope for its organization, its popularity in Japan convinced them to reverse course and, in 2009, they began the process of identifying a standard set of emojis. The joint effort, involving representatives from Japan, Europe, and the U.S., resulted in a standardized set of almost 1,000 emoji, which debuted in Unicode 6.0 in October 2010. Total emoji takeover Over the following decade, Apple and Android would release emoji keyboards that catapulted their use across the world, Unicode continued to refine specifications and grow their emoji lexicon, and a new language would come to define and reflect culture as we know it. Highlights include: 2012: Three years before same-sex marriage became legal in all 50 states, Apple releases emojis depicting same-sex couples holding hands in its iOS 6 upgrade. 2015: Responding to user feedback regarding emoji’s “white guy as default” bias, Unicode begins to diversify its offerings. Updates include support for five skin tones, expanded representation for LGBTQ couples, and emojis depicting women as doctors, scientists, and other professionals. Unicode also begins to fill additional culture gaps at this time, adding flags and food items that recognize the diversity of emoji users worldwide. 2015: Just two years after the word “emoji” was added to the dictionary, “Face with Tears of Joy” — or the laugh-cry emoji — wins Oxford Dictionary's 2015 Word of the Year. The same emoji was later reported to be the most used in the world. 2016: Apple responds to growing despair over gun violence by redesigning its revolver emoji as a bright green water gun. Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Facebook, and Twitter will follow suit over the next two years. 2017: New York’s Museum of Modern Art acquires Shigetaka Kurita’s original set of 176 emojis for its permanent collection, a nod to the lasting cultural impact of his creation. 2017: Sony releases The Emoji Movie. While largely considered a critical flop, the picture — which cost $50 million to produce — grosses $217.8 million at the box office. 2019: The first documentary telling the story of emoji, Picture Character, debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. (The film has since been retitled The Emoji Story.) 2020: In recognition of the trans community, Unicode 13.0 includes the trans flag, a non-binary Santa Claus, and “woman with a beard,” emoji, among others. 2021: Unicode 14.0 introduces 112 new emojis, for a total 3,633 since they first premiered in Unicode 6.0 (as of September 2021). While purists may never accept emoji as a language unto itself, its evolution over time shows that it’s earned the title. Not only does it allow us to communicate with people around the globe, its growing number of icons reflect change and evolution in our cultural attitudes and expectations. In that way, emoji is more than a language: It’s a time capsule.

Article / Updated 05-27-2022

Amazon's Kindle e-Reader does a great job of displaying eBooks — including your own personal PDFs, if you are using a Kindle 2 or Kindle DX. The only problem is finding out how to copy a PDF from your computer to the Kindle. (And few things are more frustrating than having an e-Reader that doesn't read your own documents!) Luckily, it only takes a few easy steps to move a PDF file from your PC or Mac to your Kindle. Locate the PDF file either on your desktop or within the file browser. Connect the Kindle to your computer via USB cable. It should appear in your file browser (such as Finder on Mac or Explorer on Windows) as if you attached an external USB drive. Locate the "documents" folder within the Kindle. You can do this within your file browser by opening the Kindle icon/folder and then navigating to the "documents" folder. Drag and drop the PDF file from the original location to the Kindle "documents" folder. If you have an older Kindle, you can still read the text from PDFs on your e-Reader — after you convert them. Amazon will do this for a small fee, or you can look for freeware utilities online. For newer Kindles, you may still want to convert the PDF so that you can take advantage of the Kindle's text manipulation features (like increasing/decreasing font size).

Article / Updated 05-27-2022

Connecting your PlayStation 3 to a wireless network is the first step to joining in the world of online gaming. Almost all versions of the PS3 (all except the 20GB) have a built-in wireless capability. Many of today's most popular games operate entirely over online game servers and those that don't usually have an option for online game play. When you connect your PS3 to a wireless network you can play against other online gamers around the world. Online gamers can participate in tournaments and operate in team with each other for a whole new game experience. All you need to get started is a wireless access point. Turn off all your network equipment (modem and router) as well as the PlayStation 3. Leave all equipment off for two full minutes. Turn on your modem and router. Make sure that your wireless router is connected to the Internet and broadcasting a signal. Use a PC to ensure that all router settings are complete before turning on the PS3. Turn on the PS3. Select Settings→Network Settings on the XMB and click the X button. Now you’ll need to provide your router’s security settings. If the PS3 is connected to a modem using an Ethernet cable, the wireless function will be turned off. Choose Internet Connections and select Enabled. Then scroll to Internet Connection Settings and press the X button. If you receive a message saying that you'll be disconnected from any current Internet Connection, say Yes to move on. Select the Easy option and press the X button. Try the Easy setup first; if that fails then you can always go back and try the Custom settings. Select Wireless and press the X button. Then select Scan and press the X button. The PS3 will scan the surrounding area and produce a list of all the nearby wireless access points. If you have an AOSS (AirStation One-Touch Secure System) router, select Automatic instead and follow the onscreen commands. Select your access point from the list and press the X button. If you're not sure which SSID is yours, check with the person you set up your router. Confirm your SSID and press the X button. Select the security type that your router uses and press the X button again. You may need to ask the network administrator for the appropriate information. Enter the necessary security key information and press the Start button. Press the Right Arrow button to move to the next screen. The security key will always look like eight asterisks (*) regardless of how long it actually is. Enter any additional security information required by your router. When you're finished, press the X button to save the settings. This will store the settings on your PlayStation 3 permanently, so that next time you just have to choose you network and you're ready to go. Press the X button again to test the network. Your PS3 will attempt to connect to the Internet. Hopefully, you'll see Succeeded beside each attempt. If you receive a failed signal, turn everything off and try the set up again.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-28-2022

Your Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone allows you to do many of the same things as previous versions of the Galaxy. You can change the font size for texting conversations and take selfies. You can also access Galaxy applications while you’re talking on the S10. Use this Cheat Sheet as a handy reference for some of its popular functions.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-28-2022

Your Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone allows you to do many of the same things as previous versions of the Galaxy. You can change the font size for texting conversations and take selfies. You can also access Galaxy applications while you’re talking on the S22. Navigating your Samsung Galaxy S22 doesn’t have to be difficult. This Cheat Sheet will help you remember some of the most popular functions.