This Is What Your Coffee Grind Should Look Like, Based on Brew Method

Extra coarse, coarse, medium, fine, and extra fine—you know that for different coffee brewing methods you need a different grind. But what exactly do the grinds look like? This photographic guide can help. I Need Coffee has posted coffee grind photos using a nickel as reference so you can see the difference between, say, fine and extra fine and also know which brewing methods match. Not all grind levels have photos, but you can guestimate based on the surrounding ones. For example, the photos above are for medium (on the left, best for drip brewing) and fine (on the right, for espresso and Aeropress) grinds. Medium-fine (for pourover, vaccum pots, and siphon brewers) would be something in between. It's a handy reference guide if you're switching up the kind of coffee you're making.

How Often Do You Need to Charge Your Smartphone?

Batteries keep getting better and operating systems keep getting better at managing their use. Still, our gadgets continue to get more powerful and more power hungry. How often do you have to recharge? We've talked about how often you should charge your batteries to get the best life out of your gadgets and how things like screen brightness affect battery life. And just in case you need a little extra juice to get through the day, we've even rounded up your five favorite external battery packs. But now, we're curious:

Evernote Gets Two-Factor Authentication, Turn It On Now

In this age of password leaks and trivial account hacking, two-factor authentication isn't an extra or optional layer of protection, it's a necessary one. Today, all Evernote users—whether paid users or those with free accounts—can turn on this important security feature. Back in March, after a security breach, Evernote announced it would roll out two-factor authentication. The problem is, when they did, it was only for Premium or Business users. The company is rolling out optional two-factor authentication today for all user accounts. To turn it on, head to the Security section of your account profile. You'll also be able to generate one-time codes in case you don't have access to your phone. (Two-factor authentication often, as in this case, sends a unique code to your mobile device for additional security if you try to log in from an unknown device.)

Iframely for Gmail Adds Inline Previews to Links in Gmail

Chrome: A few years ago, Google added inline previews to Gmail so you could quickly see links that came from YouTube or Flickr. They never went beyond those services, which is where Iframely comes in. Iframely supports full web pages, Soundcloud, Twitter, Vimeo videos, and more. When someone sends you a link in your email, you can preview it right there in the email itself, no need to leave Gmail. It's a pretty handy feature, and since Iframely runs mostly in the background you'll quickly forget it's even there.

How Can I Connect Two Windows 8 Machines with Wi-Fi Direct?

Want your Windows 8 devices to effortlessly talk to each other? Maybe you should try Wi-Fi Direct, a new wireless standard that does away with access points. Wi-Fi Direct is an emerging technology, and it's still a little buggy—so the experts at Stack Exchange are here to help. I noticed I have a Wi-Fi Direct network adapter in Device Manager. I did a bit of research and it provides peer-to-peer communication between two devices using Wi-Fi. I researched how to transfer files between two Windows 8 laptops, but got no results. This article was the closest thing I could find, yet it doesn't totally explain how to send a file from computer A to computer B using Wi-Fi Direct. Why can't I find anything about file transfers, etc.? How can I use Wi-Fi Direct? Do I need third party software to send files? See the original question. Intel Inside? (Answered by harrymc) The technology of Wi-Fi Direct is still new and has not yet matured in Windows 8. If your network card is made by Intel and is compatible, you can install Intel My Wi-Fi Dashboard to enable WiFi-Direct. This should (theoretically) already have been installed on your computer together with the network driver. If it's not available on your computer, I advise you to download from Intel and install the full driver package for your network card. If still unavailable, you can try to download the stand-alone package from Intel at Intel My WiFi Dashboard Software for Windows 8. Support (Answered by Dagelf) You probably just want to transfer data or files between the two PC's, right? Believe it or not, the sad truth is that the most fool-proof way is to use a flash disc, removable harddrive, or a service such as Skype, Dropbox, or email, for which you don't need any connection other than an internet conneciton. The benefits to a direct Wi-Fi connection is, of course, that it won't eat your bandwidth. (But that's different from the Wi-Fi Direct protocol!) Option 1 The simplest way is to run a Wireless Hotspot (Personal Hotspot) on an Android, Blackberry, or iPhone, and connect both your computers to that same Wireless network. Option 2 Another way is to simply run a network cable between the two. (No need for a cross-over cable on modern computers.) Option 3 Ad-Hoc mode , which is simple to set up on Windows XP or Windows 7 but no other operating systems. Now the "Fun" Part Generally, there is no universal or fool-proof way to transfer files between PC's. Here are your options: Windows file sharing. Right click on a folder and choose "Share". Many, many issues. FTP Server and client Skype (If you're on the same LAN it won't use your internet bandwidth!) Web server program on the host PC. (Eg. http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/) Simply run it in the folder you want to copy files from. How? Each computer on a network has it's own "internet phone number" called an IP address. From Windows you can usually find other computers without knowing these addresses by simply browsing the "Network Neighborhood" or "Homegroup." Sometimes this freezes up or doesn't work, so on Windows, plan B is generally to click the start menu, and then the IP-address-of-other-pc, for example: 192.168.1.100. This will either open up the shared folders on that PC or it will prompt you for a username and password for an account on that PC. Google for "Find my LAN IP address." LAN is important here, as it's your local address, not your internet address which the internet sees! Think of an internal extension vs. your direct (inward) dial (or DID) phone number. So technically you have two IP addresses: your LAN IP address and your internet IP address. If you're using FTP or a web server, you generally enter the IP address of the host (server) PC in your FTP client or web browser, to access the files hosted there. Wi-Fi Direct Is Still In Its Infancy Wi-Fi direct is a special protocol which probably won't see PC support due to innumerable technicalities. You'll be lucky if you get it to work between two devices from different vendors. And yes, it will take special software and some more years to mature. Microsoft obviously included it to compete with Samsung on mobile devices. But it really is a pointless protocol IMHO.

What Technology Helps You Raise Your Children?

Everyone knows raising a kid takes a lot of work. While we have a lot of technology to help us out nowadays, we don't want to remove the human element of parenting too much or we're not really parenting at all. What technology do you use to help you parent, and how do you ensure it helps more than it hurts? US News explains how gadgets ought to be integrated into raising a child: "Parents should look for baby gear and products that are technology-based that work with their current lifestyle and really will improve their daily life. Some technology may actually add unnecessary steps or maintenance, which most new parents don't have the time for," [baby planner Julie] McCaffrey says. What do you think?

"Genius Hits a Target No One Else Can See"

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see." - Arthur Schopenhauer There's nothing wrong with talent. You can do great things with enough practice and hard work. If you set your mind towards a practical goal, you can make amazing, predictable progress. If you add risk to that factor, and aim for something new, you might just earn the title of genius. Both have their pros and cons. Which do you want to become?