Sep 11, 2020

Erasing Android devices, setting home page in Chrome, and more

By Paolo Amoroso • Issue #34 • View online

1 + 1 = 98

Isidoro Baroni was an early 20th century Italian amateur astronomer. Between 1900 and 1908 he published l'Astrofilo (the amateur astronomer), the first such popular astronomy magazine in the country.

I read some issues of l'Astrofilo, a publication with large pages and lovely illustrations featuring a vintage positivistic vibe. What caught my attention was an ad Baroni run for a subscription campaign. The slogan was “1 + 1 = 248”. At the time, l'Astrofilo had 124 subscribers. Baroni wrote that if every subscriber convinced another person to check out the magazine, the subscriber count might double.

If you like Practicing Google, it would be awesome if you could forward the newsletter to a friend or colleague. If each of you does it, the current 49 subscribers might grow to 98.

— Paolo Amoroso

Android

How to securely erase your Android device

Are you going to sell or give away an old Android device? Follow these steps to securely erase all the data it stores, prevent it from accessing your Google account, and allow the new owner to sign into the device. Some of these steps are critical, so be sure to have a look.

www.computerworld.com • Share

Chrome and Chrome OS

How to set a home page in Chrome

In the early days of the web, we used to start our surfing and browsing sessions from a specific site linked from the browser’s Home button, for example, one of the then fashionable portals. The Home button is still there and you can customize it to quickly open a site you visit often, such as Gmail. Here’s how to do it in Chrome.

www.chromestory.com • Share

The best Photoshop alternatives for Chromebooks

Do you do advanced photo or image editing? If you have a Chromebook or are considering getting one, you won’t be able to run Photoshop. But this article showcases some good alternative image editing apps for the web, Linux, and Android you can run on your Chromebook.

www.androidpolice.com • Share

Google Photos, YouTube

How to save an image from a website to Google Photos

On a desktop computer, if you see on a website an image you’d like to store in Google Photos, you may think of saving the image to your local storage and uploading it to the Google Photos website. But this simple trick lets you skip the intermediate.

www.reddit.com • Share

How to use touch controls when playing Google Stadia on your phone or tablet

The Google Stadia game streaming platform is great if you are an occasional gamer. However, you may not want to invest in additional gear such as a game controller. An alternative is to use your Android device to control Stadia, learn how here.

www.androidpolice.com • Share

Android apps

People In Space

Even if you aren’t a space enthusiast like me, you may still be curious to know how many people are in space right now. The very simple app People in Space answers this question by listing the names of the astronauts in space aboard the International Space Station or other vehicles. That’s it.

There are similar apps that provide additional information, but the strength of People in Space is its simplicity.

play.google.com • Share

Web apps

VEED

VEED is a video editor in the cloud with a focus on ease of use. Featuring a modern and clean design, it lets you upload video clips, edit, add text or effects, collaborate with others, and export videos. There are additional tools for recording video from your webcam, converting podcasts to video, adding automatic subtitles, and others.

www.veed.io • Share

Thank you

Enjoyed this issue? Forward it to your friends, it’ll help them — and me. Or buy me a coffee.

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By Paolo Amoroso

Weekly practical resources on Google products and related tech. Links to tips, tutorials, apps, and other resources that will expand your Google toolbox and help you do more.

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Paolo Amoroso, C.P. 343, Via Cordusio 4, 20123 Milano, ITALY