Tech for Luddites

Today’s T3 includes tips for searching through a web page, managing app notifications, and getting a free children’s e-book until Christmas.

1. Quickly Search a Web Page

If you’ve ever found yourself endlessly scrolling up and down a web page looking for a specific term, just press the Ctrl + F keys to bring up the browser’s own search box. (Probably Cmd + F on a Mac, but correct me if it doesn’t work.) Type in the term and hit Enter to go to the first instance, which will be highlighted.

Each browser’s search tool will be in a different place and look different, but they usually tell you the number of matches on the page plus provide up and down arrow keys to quickly move from one to the next.

Firefox

Chrome

Edge

2. Stop the App Notification Madness

I use my smartphone mainly for phone calls and texts and use apps primarily on my Fire tablets. I do have a lot of apps installed on my phone, however, just in case I need to use them when I don’t have my tablet around or I don’t have Wi-Fi access.

As a result, I often get a slew of notifications on my phone, which I immediately dismiss. And while that’s a minor pain, I also occasionally get sound notifications, which I *never want, especially when I’ve installed a new app. What makes it extra annoying is that I’m always sure that I’ve turned off the notifications when I installed it. But then I remember…

There are often two different places you need to manage notifications for your various apps. One is from the device’s settings and one is from the app’s settings. The specifics differ from app to app, device to device, and operating system to operating system, but if you are getting notifications you don’t want, make sure you check both places. For example, here are screenshots for Facebook notifications in my phone and app settings. Note that this applies for apps installed on tablets as well.

3. New Addition for Your Christmas Story Library Free to Download Until December 25th

Amazon UK held a contest earlier this year for people to create a new children’s story based on Twas the Night Before Christmas, which they then turned into a picture book. The winner was Lucy Banks from Devon who wrote Sol the Slug’s Night Before Christmas. (Read the press release.) This story reminds readers that Christmas is for everyone, even the slimiest among us.

Congratulations Lucy!

Until December 25th, you can download a copy of the Kindle version of the book for free from Amazon UK, Amazon US, and Amazon Canada.

Note that you don’t need to have a Kindle device to read a Kindle book. A free Kindle reading app is available for most computers, phones, and tablets.

You may also be interested in:

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