8 Revealing Everyday Documents You Never Knew You Should Shred

Once trash is off your property, it’s legal for anyone to take. Prevent identity theft by making sure these documents aren’t tossed in one piece.

Here are eight documents you'll be surprised you should shred.

1. Boarding passes
2. Prescription labels
3. Receipts
4. Pet medical papers
5. Return labels
6. Resumes
7. Extra birth announcements
8. Extra funeral pamphlets

To learn more about why you should shred these documents, please read Kelsey Kloss' article at www.rd.com/home/cleaning-organizing/shred-documents/.

This trick makes moving iPhone apps easier than ever

If you have lots of pages of apps on your iPhone, it can be a pain to move them around. But we have an easy solution.

Rearranging apps on your iPhone and iPad is pretty easy, but moving them across screens can be a little more frustrating. There's an easy trick that solves this: use the dock.

Here's how it works. If you have multiple pages of apps on your home screen, scroll all the way right to the last page. Once there, press and hold on any app to activate "jiggle mode" — be careful not to accidentally trigger 3D Touch if you're on an iPhone 6S or later. "Jiggle mode" lets you rearrange apps on your iPhone.

Next, remove one of the apps from the dock and place it on that last page temporarily. This frees up a space the dock to shuttle apps back-and-forth to other pages on your home screen. To do this, drag the app you're relocating down to the dock. Scroll to the spot you want to put it. Then, drag it to its new spot. Repeat if necessary.

When you're all done, return the app you took off the dock back to its place and press the home button to lock everything down.

Now you can rest easy since all your apps are where you want them -- or you could finally get around to cleaning the camera on the back.

See the complete article and video at www.cnet.com/how-to/rearrange-iphone-ios-apps-easy-with-this-trick/.

15 words you should eliminate from your vocabulary to sound smarter

Newsprint is on life support, emoji are multiplying faster than hungry Gremlins, and 300 million people worldwide strive to make their point in 140 or fewer characters.

People don't have the time or the attention span to read any more words than necessary. You want your readers to hear you out, understand your message, and perhaps be entertained, right? Here's a list of words to eliminate to help you write more succinctly.

1. That
2. Went
3. Honestly
4. Absolutely
5. Very
6. Really
7. Amazing
8. Always
9. Never
10. Literally
11. Just
12. Maybe
13. Stuff
14. Things
15. Irregardless

Be sure to read Jennie Haskamp's complete article at http://mashable.com/2015/05/03/words-eliminate-vocabulary/ to see why these words should be eliminated.

I'd like to add another to her list: So. When did we start  beginning sentences with the word "So"?

Studies Say Handwriting Will Make You (and Your Kids) Smarter

Choosing a pen over a keyboard does wonders for your memory.

 

Handwriting is quickly becoming a dying art. Few businesses can run nowadays without computers, giving keyboard shortcuts an unprecedented importance. Elementary and high schools across the country now view typing courses as essential to their curricula. But what are we losing as handwriting loses its significance in society?

Brain power, according to science. Researchers from Princeton University and the University of California, Los Angeles conducted a series of studies to demonstrate the differences between students who wrote out their notes and those who typed notes. Participants took notes on a lecture using one of the two methods and were tested on the material 30 minutes after the lecture and again a week later. The results showed that both types of notetakers did well on the first test, though longhand notetakers had a stronger grasp of the overall concept, but students with handwritten notes were able to remember and still understand the concepts of the lecture after a week had passed. These participants were also more open to understanding new ideas.

Read Clair Nowak's complete article at http://www.rd.com/advice/parenting/why-handwriting-makes-you-smarter/.

Your TV is probably tracking you -- here's how to stop it

Internet-connected smart TVs and streaming devices from Vizio, LG, Samsung, Sony, Roku, Google and others can all spy on your viewing habits. Here's how to stop them.

When you unpacked your new TV or streamer for the first time, you probably couldn't wait to start watching it. In the excitement to put it through its paces, chances are you just clicked "I agree" to all those screens of legal mumbo jumbo that came up during the setup process.

Did you know one of the things you likely agreed to was allowing your TV to track your viewing habits and send the information to advertisers and other third parties? The same could go for your streaming device.

Vizio was recently slapped with a $2.2 million fine by the FTC for failing to properly disclose how it shares its tracking information, and in previous years Samsung and LG have both faced similar scrutiny. Streamers from Roku, Apple, Amazon and Google haven't made any major privacy missteps yet, but their policies are generally less intrusive than those of TVs.

What kind of data do TVs and streamers collect? Information about what you watch, which apps you use and other activity on your smart TV or streamer is valuable to advertisers and other third parties, as well as the manufacturers themselves. They use it to target ads and fine-tune viewing suggestions, among other things. Of course, similar usage data is also collected by phones, PCs and other devices, as well as many apps you use and web pages you visit.

Now that you know your TV or streamer could be tracking you, perhaps you want to go back and turn that tracking off.

Read David Katzmaier's article at https://www.cnet.com/how-to/your-tv-is-probably-tracking-you-heres-how-to-stop-it/ to learn how.

Pavegen plans to power the world with footsteps

UK startup Pavegen plans to take its ingenious technology, which turns the kinetic energy from footsteps into electricity, and apply it to many other areas beyond the sidewalk. Mike Butcher visited their London headquarters to learn more about where it’s currently installed and the future of using footsteps as a source of power.

Watch the video and see Mike Butcher's article at https://techcrunch.com/video/pavegen-plans-to-power-the-world-with-footsteps/5882773acb65d31e4787016c/.