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Take swelling iPhone batteries to the Apple Store ASAP!

If you have an iPhone battery swelling up and expanding, it's best to take the cell phone to your nearest Apple Store to get the battery replaced. The store may replace the battery for free since a bad battery can become a hazard (causing a phone to catch on fire or explode). Alternatively, an authorized Apple repair store could help fix the issue. For more on phone battery risk & safety information, check out Leo's recent episode of Ask the Tech Guy at https://youtu.be/LRfvgTFE9zk

Get a surge protector power strip!

Power surges occur most commonly when you regain power to your place after a power outage or during the operation of high-power electrical devices such as air conditioners. Switching between devices that demand a large amount of power can upset the general voltage flow within your electrical system. When a power surge occurs, there is the possibility of your devices using less power to overload on electricity and be fried internally.

Take the time to perform maintenance on your camera gear!

Your camera and lenses can get general wear and tear as you continue to use it over time. During that time as well, new firmware updates get released that can fix specific issues with your equipment as well! Take the time to keep your camera gear maintained. Clean your contact points on your camera and lenses with a QTip & appropriate cleaning solution, check for firmware updates on your camera & lenses, and also clean out your camera bag too to clear away dirt.

It's the small things that can help to prolong your camera gear's lifespan.

Is it worth getting a 4k television?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: most video content we view on televisions are captured at a lower resolution than 4k. However, televisions are starting to have this technology called "upscaling" that will take your videos and scale it up to a higher resolution. In this case, 4096 x 2160. That's great! ... Right?

Keep Your Charging Port on Your Devices Clean!

Overtime, your charging port on your devices can accumulate dirt and gunk. This can occur when having to put in and pull out your phone from your pocket constantly for example. When you do plug in your cable, that dirt, lint, etc. can get pushed into the port and cause the issue of your device not properly charging due to the interference of the dirt in that port.

What to do after being a victim of a phishing scam?

If you become the victim of a phishing scam, here are a number of things you should do if you can:

Consider Becoming a Ham to Help in Cases of Emergency

Amateur radio operators have access to frequencies that work over long distances, bringing ham enthusiasts together and helping out during emergencies. Whether it is a natural disaster or electrical outage, amateur radio operators enable communities to stay in touch when other methods can't. TWiT also has a show called "Ham Nation" that features hosts/guests discussing the importance of ham radio and providing tips for particular situations/hardware. Check it out to learn more about amateur radio.

Counterfeit Products

When purchasing products from e-commerce sites such as Amazon, make sure you are buying the item directly from the manufacturer. E-Commerce sites that have 3rd party selling have had problems with counterfeit products being sold easily on their platforms. It's difficult for these sites to take down these counterfeit listings, so be sure to double-check from whom you're buying the item from.

Learn the Difference Between OLED and QLED

Sometimes it can be confusing when acronyms are nearly identical. It would be in consumers' best interest to learn the difference between OLED and QLED before browsing for new TVs. OLED stands for "organic light-emitting diode" while QLED stands for "Quantum Dot LED" (according to Samsung). Quantum dots are extremely small semiconductors that backlight a Liquid Crystal Display. Many people think "QLED" was a label intentionally chosen to look similar to "OLED", despite not being the same technology.

Don't Pull the Power From a Computer While it is On

Pulling out the power cord from an awake computer can put the machine at risk for hard drive failure. Interrupting a hard drive writing process could result in a mess of data all over the digital space. The ideal way to shut off a computer should always be the "Shut Down" option in the OS. If the computer is locked up, find a reset button or hold the power button for a few seconds before attempting to touch the power cord.