Data Doctors Tech Tips

When it comes to the holidays, some of the most popular gifts are without a doubt electronics.

This invariably leads to the disposal of our older tech, which if done improperly, can be a very bad thing.

Unfortunately, most consumers have no idea just how many toxins are used to manufacture our gadgets, so they just throw them in the trash.

To keep these toxins from polluting our ground water, consider repurposing your old tech as some...

It's no secret that as the weather gets colder, the number of people that get sick increases as a result.

Being exposed to those that are sick is how most of us become sick ourselves, so knowing where a large number of people are sick can be helpful.

An app called SickWeather acts as a forecasting tool that shows you where lots of people are saying that they are experiencing symptoms.

It does this by scanning social media posts and o...

With virtually every interaction we have online, there's a good chance that you'll be asked for an email address as part of the process.

For those interactions where you only need to have a valid email address to get something you want, but won't need to interact with them ever again, there's a clever and free option.

A website that calls itself '10 Minute Mail' provides random email addresses that are only good for ten minutes.

Start...

The days of manually searching through classified ads in the physical world was disrupted by a website we all know as Craigslist.

Searching for those one of kind or used items has gotten easier via the Internet, but today's tip will take it to another level.

If you spend lots of time searching for items on Amazon, eBay or Craigslist, today's tip is for you.

An awesome all-in-one search tool exists for all three sites at Search Tempest...

Those wonderful apps have turned what was once simply a voice communication device into miniature marvels in the palms of our hands.

On top of that, how wonderful is it that there are so many free apps to choose from?

As it turns out, free is not always free when you consider the big picture of these apps.

Both your cellular data usage and battery usage can be impacted by the use of free apps on the regular.

Researchers have actually s...

Computer hardware is pretty useless without useful software programs, which can end up costing as much, if not more, than your computer.

While the big-name programs are what most people end up buying, there are alternative programs that can perform the same function at a much lower cost.

There are many software programs that are known as 'open source' options that are available to anyone that wants to try them out.

A great tool for fi...

If you have a young child in your extended family, it's a pretty safe bet that they are enamored with mobile technology such as a smartphone or tablet.

Tablets in particular can actually be used for educational purposes instead of just becoming a digital babysitter.

A platform designed to turn tablets into more of an educational tool is from a company called Osmo.

Instead of creating an addictive app that keeps the child's eyes solely...

Malicious hackers have refined their techniques via social engineering to trick unsuspecting victims into clicking on things they normally wouldn't.

Phishing scams are one of the more common traps they setup and getting victims to those phishing websites has also evolved beyond phishing email messages.

They know that the comments section is a great place to try to draw victims to their boobytrapped websites.

Typical out of context pos...

Isn't always the case that just when we need to get something really important printed out at home, the 'out of ink' message pops up.

I'm not sure how we got to the point in time that the cost of an ounce of printer ink is like buying a precious metal.

The industry took the sell cheap razors to sell razor blades approach years ago but one of the companies decided to buck the trend.

Epson created a line of printers that focused on an e...

The world wide web long ago replaced the encyclopedia as the go-to resource for knowledge of all types.

It's likely that you can find information on even the most trivial of things, no matter how obscure or unusual.

I love learning trivial things that come as a result of a conversation that encourages a web search, but if you want to learn useful trivial facts on a regular basis, there's a website for that!

A research project ...