• Wed. Nov 20th, 2024

Heaps OF Fun

General Blog

5 Tech Tricks That Make Your Life Easier

ByLarry k Norva

Dec 23, 2020

Have you ever heard the phrase “work smarter, not harder”? When most people hear that, they assume that is just about the work that you do to earn a living. But that’s not true.

There are ways that you can make things easier in all aspects of your life. One of those aspects is technology. There are tech tricks out there that make day to day tasks a breeze.

Take a look at some of these tech secrets below:

  1. Expire an Old Email

When you think of sending an email, the assumption is that it has to last forever and ever. But that’s not quite the case. Gmail offers a feature that allows you to control your email. There is an option called confidential mode that lets you set an expiration date on any email.

After that date, once they’ve opened the email, it goes away. When they try to reopen it, there’s a “message has expired” notice that pops up. This is one of the coolest tech tricks out there, and it comes in handy call center monitoring when you need it for certain situations.

To find this feature, open Gmail and select composed. On the bottom row of the composed window, there is an icon that displays a block with a tiny clock face. It’s there that you can set the email expiration date. Also, the recipient won’t have the ability to print, copy, forward, or download the email.

  1. Get Free Faxes

These days, a fax machine isn’t needed all of the time. However, for those who don’t have one, it’s a hassle to try and find a fax machine to use. Thankfully, FaxZero allows fax services for free. If you have a physical copy of the document, this feature requires that you scan it or take a photo of it. It allows up to five faxes per day and only three pages at a time.

But hey, if you don’t need to fax much, this is the perfect solution. Furthermore, if you need to receive a fax, eFax provides a digital fax number that you can use at no-cost for up to 10 fax pages each month. This is one of those text secrets that’s a godsend when you’re busy, and you don’t have the time to go to a library or FedEx Kinkos to use a fax machine.

  1. Create an Electronic Signature

Have you ever had to sign your signature electronically using your keypad or mouse? It didn’t look so good, did it? Well, the good news is there’s a cool little tech trick that can take care of that for you. To create your electronic signature, use a black ink pen, sign your name on a piece of white paper, and photograph it or scan it.

Then, save the file to a photo editor with a maximum width of 300 pixels. Be sure to keep it at a 1:3 ratio. The graphics for the file should also be under 50kb. Obviously, to make this technology trick work, you’ll have to put a little time aside to do it.

But if you cringe when you look at your electronic signature, it’s worth putting in a little effort to make your virtual signature look nice.

  1. Speak to an Amazon Representative

One of the tech secrets that is amazing is the hack that allows you to get an Amazon rep on the phone. Most of the time if you have an issue with an order, Amazon doesn’t have any reps available—or so it seems. When you log into your Amazon account, scroll to the contact us page.

When you first look at that page, it’ll only seem as though there’s an option to chat with a representative. However, the tech trick is underneath the chatbox. Below the box, you’ll see a link that says “we can call you”.

Select that link, enter your phone number, and it’ll provide you with an estimated time for the phone call. Usually, it only takes a few minutes to get a callback. This tech trick is brilliant!

  1. Make Telephone Calls from Your Computer

If you are someone who has to spend time away from home or you simply love to travel, it’s not always easy to get in touch with loved ones.

Not to mention, roaming and long-distance fees are outrageous, and if you are in another country you’re likely only able to get a prepaid plan using a foreign SIM card. But of course, you’d want to save that for emergencies.

However, you can make a phone call using your computer’s Wi-Fi, which completely takes away any fees. One of the simplest ways to do so is by using Google Voice. Sign up for a Google voice number and attach it to your current cell number. Even when you’re overseas, you can call home at no extra cost using the hotel Wi-Fi.

If you need to make an international call, Google Voice allows you to upload money to your Google Voice account. Although this is not free, it’s significantly less than making a call using an international phone plan through your service provider.

Speaking of staying connected while you’re away, video chat has become the norm these days. If you need to conduct business or do some other type of venture, it might require you to record your screen.

Click the highlighted link to learn how to record screen on Mac.

Unbelievable Tech Tricks

The tech tricks listed above are only a handful of all of the cool technology tricks out there. By knowing these hacks, it makes life a lot easier. Think about how much headache and hassle you can save yourself just by implementing these few tech tricks into your life.

If this information was helpful, feel free to read more of our blog posts. We published tons of content for our readers to explore and enjoy.