7/11/2023: An email trick worth remembering
You should use more email aliases
Plus: Facebook’s Twitter clone, easy volume controls, and Prime Day picks
From the department of things I should have done sooner, I have finally discovered the magic of email aliases.
Aliases are a way to create secondary email addresses that still arrive at your regular inbox. Use them in conjunction with filters and folders, and you’ve got a powerful way to organize incoming messages.
While email aliases aren’t a new concept, I’ve been leaning into them lately as I experiment with migrating from Gmail to a new provider. (That’s a topic for a future newsletter.) Now I wish I’d been doing it sooner.
Need to know
Facebook’s Twitter clone: Instagram—the company owned by Facebook, which still prefers being called Meta—has launched a new app called Threads. You might just call it “Twitter without Elon,” with the same focus on posting and sharing text, though it’s much more bare-bones right now. There’s no chronological feed or ability to search for posts, and even alt-text—the most basic of accessibility features—is missing. Threads is also not available in Europe due to its potential privacy violations, and you can’t yet delete your account without wiping yourself from Instagram as well.
It’s taken off nonetheless, reaching 100 million users in less than a week. While I still prefer Mastodon’s more earnest vibes, Threads is more polished and much easier to sign up for. It’s the Twitter escape valve that a lot of brands, big-name journalists, and influencers have been waiting for. (I think Mastodon will be fine, as its crunchy atmosphere is different enough to stand on its own, and it may even integrate with Threads eventually. BlueSky may have a tougher hill to climb.)
Anyway, you can check out Threads for iOS or Android. Just note that if you “Follow” any of your Instagram friends there, it works as “pre-follow” for anyone who hasn’t joined yet. I fully expect those users to eventually get bombarded with notifications about how all their pals are waiting for them.
Tip of the moment
Easier volume control: Okay, maybe I’m the only one who cares about this, but as a desktop computer user, all I want is an easy way to control system volume using only my external keyboard. Neither Windows nor MacOS accommodate this out of the box, seemingly out of the assumption that everyone has laptops with built-in volume keys.
This week, I finally went looking for solutions, and found a couple:
Windows: Install 3RFX, a free program for customizable keyboard volume controls. Once installed, right-click the white volume icon in the system tray, then select “Settings.” In the Hotkeys tab, you can create keyboard shortcuts to increase and decrease volume. (I suggest leaving “Amount” unchecked.) Make sure to check off “Run on Windows Startup” in the General tab as well.
MacOS: Install Karabiner-Elements, a free program for remapping the keys on your keyboard. Enable the necessary system permissions when prompted. Once it’s installed and running, you can adjust volume from any keyboard using F11 and F12.
Around the web
- Ray Wong surveys the modern CD player landscape and finds a great one.
- Related: Urban Outfitters sells refurbished classic Walkmans now.
- Spotify is cancelling subscriptions billed through Apple.
- PCWorld’s Alaina Yee lists some overlooked Windows 11 features.
- Hanging on social media? Beware of “rage baiting” from fake people.
Spend wisely
After spending way too much time perusing Prime Day deals this morning, I’ve come up with some highlights, in which the prices are actually lower than typical sales throughout the year:
- iPad 10th-gen or iPad Mini for $380.
- 13-inch M1 MacBook Air for $750.
- Surface Laptop 4 (15-inch display, Ryzen 7, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB storage) for $900.
- 1 TB Lexar MicroSD card for $63.
- Google Pixel Buds Pro for $133.
- Fire TV Omni 43-inch television for $100 “by invitation.”
- Costco members: Two 55-inch Hisense TVs for $400, or various other mix-and-match deals. (Final price appears at checkout.)
- Need HDMI cables? 3-foot for $1 or 6-foot for $1.50 with code CHEAPCABLE.
- Max is $8 per month for two months via Amazon Prime Channels.
Note: This is an abridged version of the full deal list that I sent out to paid subscribers earlier this morning. Supporters of Advisorator get bonus deals every week, plus the feature column at the top of the newsletter. Sign up for a four-week free trial to read the latest issue.
Now try this
A relaxing screensaver: Mood light is a pleasant little website that emits waves of relaxing colors. You can open it in fullscreen mode, or hit the little 🎵 music note icon for some soothing ocean sounds. If you’ve sifted through as many Prime Day deals as I have, you could probably use the extra zen.
Thanks for reading!
One last note: If you recently heard about Advisorator through Rich DeMuro’s radio show over the weekend, I have a separate newsletter that’s focused on the streaming TV advice that he mentioned. It’s called Cord Cutter Weekly, and you can sign up for free.
Got tech questions for me? Just reply to this email to get in touch.
Until next week,