Make Siri Better By Telling Her All About Your Relationships

Make Siri Better By Telling Her All About Your Relationships

If you really want to be able to emulate the characters in Apple’s promotional videos then you need to be able to tell Siri to "call mom" and "email dad." Thanks to the custom label field built into iCloud contacts, you can assign any kind of relationship to people you know. Tell Siri about your best friend, your boss, and your arch-enemy and you can control the virtual assistant more easily with your voice.

Activate Siri with a long press on the Home button to tell her (or him) about the relationships you have with your contacts: "Dave is my brother," "Amy is my mother-in-law," and so on. A confirmation screen appears where you can double-check the app has understood your command correctly and pick between similarly-named contacts when applicable.

If you want to throw some nicknames or pet names into the mix, then Siri can cope with these too. Everything from "my oldest friend" to "my editor" is saved in your own contact card, where you can edit and remove labels as required. You can even specify relationships between contacts other than yourself, like Steve’s mom, etc. Just beware that if you’re syncing contacts through Google Contacts or Microsoft Exchange, some of these custom labels may be lost. So just make sure you don’t forget who your mom is.

via Gizmodo
Make Siri Better By Telling Her All About Your Relationships

Make More Money at Garage Sales by Not Pricing Items

Make More Money at Garage Sales by Not Pricing Items

Garage sales are a great way to pare down your excess stuff and make some quick cash in the process. However, you can make more money with a few little tricks. For example, consider not pricing your items to get more cash for them.

Lynda Hammond of GarageSaleGal tells the Today.com:

A lot of times you will get more money if you don’t price stuff. Maybe you have an old chef’s cookie jar you’ve always hated and would take a buck for it. But, maybe the buyer has been looking for that and would name a higher price.

This tip surprised me. I’d assume that people would be less willing to buy an item if it didn’t have a price tag. But Hammond makes a good point, and for bigger ticket items, this might give the buyer a chance to throw out the first number. Also, I’ve never been great at garage sales.

For more selling tips, check out the full post below.

Show me the money! 11 ways to make more cash at your next garage sale | Today.com

Photo by Sandra Cohen-Rose and Colin Rose.


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via Lifehacker
Make More Money at Garage Sales by Not Pricing Items

Reversible USB Could Be iPhone 6’s Biggest Little New Feature

When the iPhone 6 arrives, likely in September at Apple’s upcoming special event, a lot of people will be looking for a larger screen as the core feature to get excited about. But one change that could actually have more of an impact in terms of daily use could be a new, rumored reversible USB-to-Lightning cable that has been leaked a couple of times this week. The leaks, which… Read More


via TechCrunch
Reversible USB Could Be iPhone 6’s Biggest Little New Feature

Financial Services Group WCS Sues Online Forum Over Negative Post

First time accepted submitter kavzee writes The popular Australian online discussion forum, Whirlpool, is being sued by a financial services group for refusing to remove a negative review about its services. A similar story occurred a number of years ago when another company by the name of 2Clix attempted to sue Whirlpool for the same reasons but later withdrew their case. "A financial services business licenced through National Australia Bank is suing an online forum for refusing to remove an allegedly fake and negative post about its services, claiming it has damaged its reputation with would-be clients. It is the latest legal action launched against an online forum or review website for publishing negative comments, following several high profile cases in Australia and overseas. Financial advice group WCS Group has initiated action against Whirlpool in the Supreme Court of Victoria, seeking unspecified damages and costs, despite the fact the forum generates no revenue."

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via Slashdot
Financial Services Group WCS Sues Online Forum Over Negative Post

Chrome’s Safe Browsing Blocks Expanded to “Deceptive” Downloads

Chrome's Safe Browsing Blocks Expanded to "Deceptive" Downloads

Chrome: Google already uses its Chrome browser to warn users about potentially malicious software. Soon, the browser will begin blocking downloads that do annoying things like changing browser settings.

Presumably the new filters won’t apply to the Chrome Store itself, nor will the blacklist include known safe software like Firefox. However, the existing Safe Browsing feature–which currently displays a red circle like the one above when it detects an unsafe download–will be expanded to include "programs disguised as a helpful download that actually make unexpected changes to your computer."

That’s not the download you’re looking for… | Google Chrome Blog


via Lifehacker
Chrome’s Safe Browsing Blocks Expanded to “Deceptive” Downloads

Turns Out When Police Act Cordial, Rather Than As An Oppressive Military Force, Things Work Out Better

After covering the militarized police fiasco in Ferguson, Missouri the past few days, including highlighting Anil Dash’s rather simple point that the way to deal with angry protestors isn’t to make them angrier, it appears that someone finally got the message. Missouri’s governor kicked out the St. Louis County police, who were responsible for much of the previous escalation, and sent in the Missouri State Highway Patrol, who almost immediately set a very different tone — one that involved a much smaller police presence, and one that was a lot friendlier. It even involved talking with (not just to) protestors in a cordial manner. The most striking image — a complete reversal of the day before — has to be Captain Ron Johnson, who was put in charge, walking with the protestors (in ordinary police garb) rather than having militarized police aiming high powered weaponry at them.

Capt. Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol walks along with the Ferguson march. Compare this to Wednesday. http://ift.tt/1yC1QWd

— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) August 14, 2014

It’s almost as if treating the public as people with rights who the police are supposed to be serving, rather than as an enemy that needs invading… works better. Who would have expected that, other than, well, most normal people?

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Turns Out When Police Act Cordial, Rather Than As An Oppressive Military Force, Things Work Out Better