It only took a decade, but I've finally found the perfect use for an old Android tablet.

While doing some office cleaning a few weeks ago, I dusted off my Nexus 7 tablet from 2012, connected it to my Google Photos account, and turned it into a desktop photo frame using Android's built-in screensaver mode. It now cycles through photos of my kids throughout the day, providing a little extra joy while I'm trying to work.

Although I've tried to revive this tablet before, none of my other use cases have stuck. The Nexus 7 is so old and slow that any interaction with it quickly becomes tedious. By contrast, using it as a photo frame doesn't require any interaction beyond the initial setup.

It all worked so well that I decided to take the same approach with a third-generation iPad (also from 2012). With a third-party app called Soloslides, I've been able to get my Google Photos collection up and running in slideshow mode on that device as well.

For more on reviving an old tablet as a picture frame, I've created a new guide over at the Advisorator website. Here's what you'll find inside:

View the full guide for all the details →

This is part of a growing collection of technology guides for Advisorator subscribers. For more, check out the full list.

Amazon's new gear: Last week, Amazon announced a slew of new tech products. A quick rundown:

In a big change from a couple years ago, I was happy to see Amazon pivot away from security and surveillance as the focal points of its smart home ecosystem. This year, the company seemed more interested in genuinely useful ideas, like using Echo Dot speakers as Eero Wi-Fi extenders and letting its largest Echo Show double as a Fire TV device. For the sake of making everyone a little less frightened, let's hope that trend continues.

Goodbye, Google Stadia: Google's splashy entrance into the video game business is officially dead after three years. Stadia, which let users stream PC games from remote servers on phones, laptops, and streaming devices, will shut down on January 18, and anyone who bought games or hardware through the Google Store will get full refunds.

Advisorator is not pivoting to video game coverage (unless you let me), but I bring this up as another example of Google bailing on an ambitious product when the going gets tough. Google specifically said it wouldn't do this with Stadia, insisting at the outset that it was committed to gaming for the long haul, yet here we are. Continue to treat any new Google venture with skepticism until the company demonstrates an ability to iterate and improve upon troubled projects instead of abandoning them outright.

No more USB confusion: For years, fully understanding the humble USB port has required fluency with an array of inscrutable naming schemes, but not anymore. Instead of using version numbers—USB 3.0, 3.2, 4, and so on—USB cables and ports will now be identified by wattage and transfer speeds. A cable that supports 240W charging and 10 Gbps transfer speeds, for instance, will simply be show "240W" and "10 Gbps" logos on the box.

The new naming scheme is perhaps a bit nerdier than the old version number system, but it's also more straightforward. As such, I look forward to taking "USB explainer" off my list of potential story ideas.

Clean up your menu bar: Use a Mac for long enough, and you'll probably wind up with an overwhelming number of icons on your menu bar. Hidden Bar elegantly solves the problem by providing a space to tuck away the menu bar icons you interact with the least.

After installing the app, you'll see a little left-facing arrow at the end of your menu bar. Click it so it points to the right, then hold ⌘ while dragging unneeded icons to the left of the arrow. You can then click the arrow again to hide those icons away.

The app's Preferences menu also lets you automatically hide the icons after a set period of time. (Mac diehards may be familiar with a similar utility called Bartender, but I don't need its advanced features and am happy enough with Hidden Bar as a free alternative.)

What about Windows? The Windows status bar already has its own overflow section, found by clicking the upward-facing arrow at the right side of the taskbar. Most apps appear in this overflow section by default, but you can easily drag apps in and out as needed.

Dynamic Island for everyone: You don't need an iPhone 14 Pro (or any iPhone, for that matter) to enjoy Apple's new "Dynamic Island" feature. Just install DynamicSpot for Android, and you can turn the area around your front camera cut out into an interactive notification space.

Once installed, you can tap any alert to open the corresponding app, or long-press to show quick actions. It's especially useful for music controls, as shown above. (Via Android Police.)

Easier Apple Watch music controls: As someone who uses the "Modular" Apple Watch face, I hate that Apple doesn't offer a small complication for its "Now Playing" music controls. Now Playing Plus addresses this issue with a watch face complication for controlling whatever app is playing audio. Install it on your phone, then choose Now Playing Plus when selecting complications on your watch face. (Via 9to5Mac.)

Amazon is holding a big sale on devices for Prime subscribers this week, including Echo speakers, Fire TV streamers, and more. The full list of deals is on Amazon's website, but here are some highlights:

We've also got a handful of deals from outside the Amazon empire:

What'd you think of this week's feature format? I think linking out to the website makes sense for articles that involve detailed instructions—especially for both iOS and Android—as a way to keep the actual newsletter from getting unwieldy. Feel free to share your feedback, as well as any questions you might have, by replying to this email.

In other news, I'm headed off to New York later this week for Google's Pixel launch event, where we'll hear about the Pixel 7 phone and the company's first Pixel smartwatch. I'll be covering the news for Fast Company and will keep you posted on what I find out!

Until next week,

Jared