Five ways to lower your smartphone data consumption

Five ways to lower your smartphone data consumption

Which apps and services are the worst offenders when it comes to chewing through your data plan?

Data usage on a smartphone.James Martin/CNET

In the early days of cell phones, it was all about the minutes -- voice minutes, that is, because people used their phones to call each other. (Weird, right?) You had to limit your conversations or suffer the horrors of overage charges.

Today, it's all about the data. Even if your plan is "unlimited," there's almost always an asterisk. After you burn through the first couple gigabytes, your high-speed connection throttles back to something closer to dial-up. (Talk about horrors!) And if you're with a pay-as-you-go service like Ting, unchecked data consumption could leave you in a higher-priced tier when the bill comes due.

Whatever your plan, it makes sense to conserve data. And what's the easiest way to do that? Connect to Wi-Fi wherever and whenever possible. Sure, it takes a few extra taps to connect to a network in, say, a coffee shop or airport lounge, and you make feel like it's not worth the hassle if you've got five 4G bars showing.

Depending on what you're planning to do with your phone, however, it may absolutely be worth it. Here are five of the biggest data hogs you want to avoid (or at least reduce) when there's no Wi-Fi available:

1. YouTube uploads

Just can't wait to share that epic video of your friend wiping out on his skateboard? Or your totally legit Bigfoot sighting? Upload at your own risk: Depending on settings and various other factors, each minute of HD video you shot can be as large as 200MB.

So if you upload just five 1-minute videos per month, that would eat a full gigabyte of your data allotment. Wait till there's Wi-Fi!

2. Video chats

Stop the Skyping! And the FaceTiming. And all the other video calling -- if you want to save data. Though the rate of consumption varies depending on the app you use and resolution of your chat, a Jetsons-style phone call can cost you up to 3MB per minute.

3. Online gaming

Don't worry, Trivia Crack addicts, turn-based games like this and Words With Friends aren't heavy data-users. However, real-time action games like Asphalt 8 and Modern Combat 5: Blackout are a different story, with some estimates pegging their data use at 1MB per minute of play.

4. Music streaming

It's so easy (and awesome) to plug into Pandora or Spotify when you're, say, riding the train home from work, you might not realize what it's doing to your data plan.

What it's doing is killing your cap. If a music service streams at a 320Kbps bit rate, that's 2.4MB of dataper minute, or a whopping 115MB per hour. Even if you tune in only a couple times per week, it's easy to rack up big data numbers. Fortunately, a lot of mobile apps let you downshift to a lower bit rate, a very advisable move if you must listen on the go.

Pandora, it's worth noting, never streams at more than 64Kbps on mobile devices, even if you're a Pandora One subscriber.

One other option: if your music service allows it (and most do nowadays), download your tunes (via Wi-Fi, of course) for offline listening.

5. Video streaming

If music streaming is bad, video trumps it by an order of magnitude. Awesome though it may be to binge on episodes of "Black Mirror" or trending YouTube vids when you're on the treadmill at the gym, streaming can swallow as much as 50MB per minute.

That's according to Netflix, which estimates 3GB per hour for HD video. Of course, those numbers can and will vary across different services (Hulu, Google Play, iTunes, YouTube, etc.), but there's no question that video does the most damage to your data plan.

Fortunately, with a little advance planning, you can watch on the go without using any data at all. Consider a service like PlayLater, which allows you to "record" streaming video from the likes of Hulu and Netflix for offline viewing on mobile devices. Likewise, a smattering of YouTube apps let you save videos right to your phone so you can rewatch them later -- no connection required.

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Home networking explained, part 9: Access your home computer remotely

Home networking explained, part 9: Access your home computer remotely

editor Dong Ngo points you in the general direction of how to access your home network remotely using a Dynamic DNS service.

Knowing the difference between LAN and WAN will do you a lot of good.Dong Ngo

Editors' note: This post is part of an ongoing series. Check out the related stories for previous installments.

If you've been following this series, you'll know that I explained the LAN and WAN ports on a home router in part 1. And now, I need to tell you how you can use this information to remotely access your device at home. For example, if you know how to use Remote Desktop, a built-in feature of Windows, to control a computer in a different room of your home, how about doing that from somewhere away from home, and save yourself from having to pay for similar services such as LogMeIn or GotoMyPC?

That and a lot more are totally possible if you know how to configure your home router. And to do that, there are a few things that you need to understand, including, WAN, LAN, Dynamic DNS, and Port forwarding (aka Virtual Server). While all this might seem overwhelming and technical, it's quite easy if you're familiar with a router's Web interface. Indeed, it makes a great weekend project, and the result is rewarding. Just make sure you always back up your router's settings before making any changes.

It's easier to access your home computer remotely than you might have thought.Dong Ngo/CNET

WAN

WAN stands for Wide Area Network and is the IP address given to you by the Internet service provider. This address is unique on the Internet at any given time. At home, when you have a home network with multiple devices, such as tablets, computers, and so on, the WAN IP address is assigned to your router, which explains why all routers have a WAN, or Internet, port. This is the port that takes in the WAN address. So in other words, the WAN address is unique for each home (or office) network. In most cases, for a home or an office, a computer doesn't get to use the WAN IP address, which stays with the router.

Note: it's IPv4 that I'm talking about here. While IPv6 is available, virtually all consumer-grade Internet applications and services still use or support IPv4. And this is going to be the way things are for the foreseeable future.

LAN

In order for each device, such as a computer, to connect to the router (and from there the Internet) it has to have an IP address of its own. This IP address is a LAN (or Local Area Network) address that the router has assigned to the connected devices. The router retains the WAN IP for itself and shares that Internet connection to all devices connected to it. It does this using a function called NAT (or network address translation). You don't need to know about NAT -- it's just a methodology primarily used today to conserve the limited amount of IP addresses of the IPv4. With NAT, a home router can use just one WAN IP address to bring the Internet to up to 254 clients.

To understand the different between a WAN and a LAN IP address, just imagine WAN is the street address of an apartment building and LAN is the number of an apartment within that building. Different apartments in separate buildings can have the same apartment number, but their street addresses (WAN) are always unique.

Dynamic DNS

If you are at home right now, from your computer go to whatismyipaddress.com -- what you see there is your WAN IP address. Now if you travel away from home, that IP address is what you can use to access your home. In fact, if you have your router's remote management feature turned on, that IP address is what you need to access your router remotely.

For security reasons, if you decide to turn on the remote management feature of your home router (also known as Web Access from WAN), which is generally accessible in the Administration or System part of a router's Web interface, make sure you change the default admin password to something secure, and also consider changing the port number to something other than the default (which is 8080). It's generally a good idea to change the default port numbers for known services/applications.

Now remembering that WAN IP address is not easy, and on top of that, most residential broadband plans come with a dynamic WAN IP address that changes periodically. It's better to translate that address into something constant and easy to remember. To do this, you use a Dynamic DNS (DynDNS or DDNS) service. A lot of vendors, such as Asus or Synology, offer this service for free, and it can be activated from within their networking devices. You can always use DynDNS.org, too.

Dynamic DNS from Asus.Dong Ngo/CNET

A DynDNS service allows you to create a custom domain, such as myhome.homefpt.net orcnettemp.homeip.net, something much easier to remember than a string of numbers and dots. The actual name of this domain depends on availability and, like all domains, once created is unique on the Internet. After a custom domain has been created, there are a few ways you can associate it to a WAN IP address: by running a DynDNS client on a computer within your home network; attaching it to a NAS server within your home network; or assigning it to the home router. Most, if not all, home routers come with the ability to host a Dynamic DNS address, which can be managed using its Web interface (for more, check out part 5.)

That said, for example, if you have picked myhome.homefpt.net as your DynDNS address and use the 8080 port for your router management feature. When you're away from home, you can just point a browser to myhome.homefpt.net:8080 to access your router's Web interface and manage your home network remotely. This works with almost all home routers, except for those from Apple.

configured properly with a Dynamic DNS serviceDong Ngo/CNET

Port forwarding

Now that you can access your home router, the second part is going past the router and accessing a particular client on your home network (i.e., a computer). In reality, this means remotely accessing a service hosted by that computer. To do this, first you need to activate that service on the particular computer (that is, make sure the Remote Desktop feature is enabled on the computer), and then configure the router to forward that service's port to that computer involved. Most services have their own default port. As mentioned above, the default port number of a router remote management is 8080. Similarly, the default port for the Remote Desktop service is 3389.

In many routers, the port forwarding feature is also called Virtual Server. It basically requires you to type in the computer's local IP address, the port number (or port range), and save that configuration. To continue with our example of Remote Desktop, if your Windows computer has the local IP address of 192.168.1.100, then forwarding the port 3389 to this IP address will allow you to control it using Remote Desktop from anywhere in the world, using the DynDNS address the router has been associated with. Note that while the Remote Desktop client software is available for all Windows (and downloadable for Macs), only machines running the Pro, Business, or Ultimate editions of Windows can be used as the target for a Remote Desktop connection.

Here's a typical example of the Port forwarding setting for Remote Desktop within a router's Web interface.Dong Ngo/CNET

That said, with DynDNS, you can run a lot of services from home. Here are a few default ports and their services: 80 (HTTP, for a Web server), 3389 (Remote Desktop), and 21 (FTP, for a FTP server).

Note that, a computer's local IP (LAN) address can also change after a restart. To make it remains the same, you can use the IP (or DHCP) Reservation feature of the router.

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Apple HomeKit powers on with iDevices Switch smart plug

Apple HomeKit powers on with iDevices Switch smart plug

iDevices

LAS VEGAS -- Until today, we knew the device makers Apple intended to partner with for its HomeKit smart-home initiative, we just didn't know much about what the actual devices would be. Now we know at least one more of them with the announcement of the iDevices Switch smart power plug.

To review, HomeKit represents Apple's effort to build support for smart home devices directly into iOS and into iOS apps. It announced a handful of HomeKit partner companies back in June 2014 at its World Wide Developer Conference Event, but since then the company hasn't communicated much about HomeKit.

Developer notes suggest features like voice control using Siri, the ability to tie device behaviors together via an iOS control screen ("When I unlock the front door, turn on the lights"), as well a way for app makers to tap into various devices. Imagine a Weather.com iOS app triggering your air conditioner to come on when the local temperature hits 85 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

To enable features like that from your iOS device (iOS 8 or higher, to be specific), you'll need HomeKit-compatible devices. iDevices Switch will be one of the first such products when it ships sometime in the first half of 2015.

iDevices.

The Switch isn't the first smart plug. Belkin, D-Link, and others have sold connected power plugs for years. The premise behind Switch isn't that much different than its predecessors. Thanks to networking capability built into the outlet hardware, you can use your smartphone to control things you plug into the Switch.

In the most basic sense that usually means turning lamps, TVs, small appliances and other devices and gadgets on and off remotely, or putting them on a timer. If you have other smart devices around the house, you can also use the app to set one smart product to trigger behaviors in one or more.

For Switch, it talks to your home network via Wi-Fi, and via Bluetooth can also act as a bridge for other devices that don't have Wi-Fi themselves. Smart door locks, for example, usually run on batteries since hard wiring isn't practical for most residential door designs. To save power, most smart locks use Bluetooth to connect to your phone, and rely on some kind of hub to get out to the larger Internet. Because it incorporates both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, iDevices' Switch can act as that hub. Lock-maker Schlage will have a connected, HomeKit-compatible lock that takes advantage of that feature.

Expect Switch to cost $49.99 when it comes to market later this year (international pricing and availability has not yet been announced but directly converted that's £33 or AU$62). That puts it on competitive ground with other smart power plugs. Switch also has a color-customizable night light built-in, a charming added touch.

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Top 4 tech habits you need to break right now

Top 4 tech habits you need to break right now

Get some peace of mind by breaking some bad habits and developing some good ones along the way.

It's a brand new year, so why not start it off right by ditching the shackles of old habits and trying some new things to make your tech life easier? We know that old habits die hard and that's why we've also included links to show you how to handle these common practices

1. Using the same passwords for multiple sites

Using the same password on multiple sites is trouble because if any one of those sites is hacked, that information could be used against you in many different places. Yes, it's inconvenient to have multiple passwords if you are relying only on your memory. That's why it's a good idea to give a password manager like LastPass a chance. If you've never tried a password manager, it can store your usernames and passwords for you, it can generate new passwords for you, and is accessible online. Here's our tutorial on how to use LastPass if you're up for a change.

2. Not backing up your photos

I'll never forget the panic of almost losing hundreds of photos of my newborn because I didn't regularly sync my phone to my PC. Nowadays, that is a simple problem to overcome. If your phone is your primary camera (like it is for many), do yourself a favor and download an app that will automatically backup your photos and videos to the cloud.

There are plenty of options out there. If you like Google, you can use either Google+ on iOS or the Photos app on Android to set up auto backup. Dropbox also offers the same functionality if you turn on the camera upload option. If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, you get unlimited storage of your photos as well with the Amazon Cloud Drive app.

3. Not minding your Facebook settings

It's easy to visit Facebook, see what your friends are up to, and post your own status updates. However, when was the last time you took a look to see what content you were posting and who could see it? Diving into those Facebook settings can seem like a nightmare, but we've got a great article on how to secure your Facebook account that you should take a look at.

Screenshot by Iyaz Akhtar/CNET

4. Running Flash all the time on your laptop

We are all fans of running online video on our computers, but sometimes Flash can cause your computers fans to spin up to try to cool down your PC. You should give up having Flash running all the time. If you're on Google Chrome, try out FlashControl. If you're on Firefox, try out FlashBlock. By default, these plugins will not load Flash content on a page unless you put a site on a whitelist or if you click the Flash item to load it. You'd be surprised how much battery life you can save if you turn off Flash on a number of sites. Be warned that the web might look very different to you at first, but it's definitely worth it. If you want to squeeze more battery life out of your laptop or phones, check out our guide on battery life and how to preserve it.

Josh Miller/CNET

Bonus for Android users: Accepting your phone's default interface.

If you're like the majority of people who use Android smartphones, you may just enjoy all the great apps on your phone. But, did you know that you can change the entire way your phone presents your apps and widgets? Manufacturers like Samsung, HTC and LG all put their spin on Android with their own customizations. However, you can modify your phone by trying any number of launchers. If you've never heard of a launcher, here's everything you need to know about Android launchers. Installing one is as easy as installing any other app and you can always go back to your phone's default if you so choose.

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Five ways to delete yourself from the Internet

Five ways to delete yourself from the Internet

Finally ready to get off the grid? It's not quite as simple as it should be, but here are a few easy-to-follow steps that should at the very least point you in the right direction.

If you're reading this, it's highly likely that your personal information is available to the public. And while you can never remove yourself completely from the Internet, there are ways to minimize your online footprint. Here are five ways to do so.

Be warned however; removing your information from the Internet as I've laid it out below, may adversely affect your ability to communicate with potential employers.

1. Delete or deactivate your shopping, social network, and Web services accounts.

Social networks include sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. Shopping accounts include information stored on Amazon, Gap.com, Macys.com and others. And Web services might include cloud storage accounts such as Dropbox and OneDrive.

To get rid of these accounts, go to your account settings and just look for an option to either deactivate, remove, or close your account. Depending on the account, you may find it under Security or Privacy, or something similar.

If you're having trouble with a particular account, try Googling "How to delete", followed by the name of the account you wish to delete. You should be able to find some instruction on how to delete that particular account.

If for some reason can't delete an account, change the info in the account to something other than your actual info. Something fake or completely random.

Using a service like DeleteMe can make removing yourself from the Internet less of a headache.Screenshot by Eric Franklin/CNET

2. Remove yourself from data collection sites.

There are sites out there that collect your information, mostly in order to sell you stuff. They have names like Spokeo, Crunchbase, PeopleFinder, as well as plenty of others.

Now you could search for yourself on these sites and then deal with each site individually to get your name removed. Problem is, the procedure for opting out from each site is different and sometimes involves sending faxes and filling out actual physical paperwork.

An easier way to do it, is to use a service like DeleteMe at Abine.com. For about $130 for a one-year membership, the service will jump through all those monotonous hoops for you. It'll even check back every few months to make sure your name hasn't been re-added to these sites.

3. Remove your info directly from websites.

First, check with your phone company or cell provider to make sure you aren't listed online and have them remove your name if you are.

If you want to remove an old forum post or an old embarrassing blog you wrote back in the day, you'll have to contact the webmaster of those sites individually. You can either look at the About us or Contacts section of the site to find the right person to contact or go to www.whois.com and search for the domain name you wish to contact. There you should find information on who exactly to contact.

Unfortunately, private website operators are under no obligation to remove your posts. So, when contacting these sites be polite and clearly state why you want the post removed. Hopefully they'll actually follow through and remove them.

If they don't, tip number four is a less effective, but still viable, option.

Google's URL removal tool is handy for erasing evidence of past mistakes from the Internet.Screenshot by Eric Franklin/CNET

4. Delete search engine results that return information about you.

This includes sites like Bing, Yahoo, and Google. In fact Google has a URL removal tool that can help you delete specific URLs.

For example, if someone has posted sensitive information such as a social security number or a bank account number and the webmaster of the site won't remove it, you can at least contact the search engine companies to have it removed from search results.

5. And finally, the last step you'll want to take is to remove your email accounts.

Depending on the type of email account you have, the amount of steps this will take will vary.

You'll have to sign into your account and then find the option to delete or close the account. Some accounts will stay open for a certain amount of time, so if you want to reactivate them you can.

An email address is necessary to complete the previous steps, so make sure this one is your last.

One last thing...

Remember to be patient when going through this process. Don't expect it to be completed in one day. And you may also have to accept that there some things you won't be able permanently delete from the Internet.

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3 apps to help you recover from holiday spending

3 apps to help you recover from holiday spending

Whether you've been spending on gifts for the holiday season, or you're ready to track your finances more closely for the New Year, these apps can help you out.

Nicole Cozma/CNET

During the year it's easy to spend a little money here or there and lose track of the big picture. If you're trying to recuperate from holiday season spending, or just saving for a rainy day, you may want to start tracking your finances a bit more closely. To do this, why not use the help of a mobile app that keeps track of your money, and lets you add the smaller purchases in on your own?

This selection of apps includes choices for users who want to automate their financial tracking, enter transactions manually, or just keep track of details for work. Here's the list:

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Level Money

Android (free); iOS (free)

Nicole Cozma/CNET

If you want to know how much money you can spend right now, Level Money is the app for you. This app lets you skip manually entering each debit and credit by connecting with your bank accounts and credit cards. When setting up Level Money, you'll be asked to create a PIN to keep your information safe if you misplace your phone. Once you provide a bit of information, you can track your bills, income, and even pick out a savings plan if needed. All of these transactions are graphed out for you, so it's easy to see where your money is going each month.

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Spendee

Android (free); iOS ($1.99, £1.49, AU$2.49)

Nicole Cozma/CNET

Not interested in connecting your bank accounts and credit cards to a mobile app? Spendee lets you enter all of your credits and debits manually, and offers a host of categories that you can assign to each. To add more categories to select from when entering a transaction, head to Settings >Categories, where you can place a check next to the ones you'd like to use. In this menu you can even adjust the category colors, which makes it even easier to organize your transactions. This app also offers support for recurring transactions, as well as reminders, which are great for paying rent, carinsurance, or your wireless bill. And thankfully, all of your data can be locked behind a four-digit PIN.

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Expensify

Android (free); iOS (free)

Nicole Cozma/CNET

Do you travel for work, or run your own business? Expensify is geared toward those who have to detail all of their work-related expenses each month. The app supports mileage costs, hourly payment rates, receipt scanning, and also lets you share reports via email. While manual entry is available, the app includes the ability to scan bank or credit card accounts. When you're offline, the app can save your entries until you have a connection again, and once you do, you can back up expenses to a number of cloud storage providers.

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Honorable mention goes to Dollarbird (Free on Android, iOS). This app lets you add transactions similar to Spendee, but displays your monthly activity on a calendar. This is a good option if you share a bank account, or just part of the expenses, with another individual. The app lets you share the calendar, and also offers a PIN option to protect your information.

While each app has its strong point, they all serve to help you keep tabs on where you're spending or making the majority of your money each month. For an in-depth look at even more options, check out Sharon Profis' list of tips for money management with Mint.com, or Sarah Mitroff's list of money manager apps. And let us know which app is your favorite below.

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Five ways to delete yourself from the Internet

Five ways to delete yourself from the Internet

Finally ready to get off the grid? It's not quite as simple as it should be, but here are a few easy-to-follow steps that should at the very least point you in the right direction.

If you're reading this, it's highly likely that your personal information is available to the public. And while you can never remove yourself completely from the Internet, there are ways to minimize your online footprint. Here are five ways to do so.

Be warned however; removing your information from the Internet as I've laid it out below, may adversely affect your ability to communicate with potential employers.

1. Delete or deactivate your shopping, social network, and Web services accounts.

Social networks include sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. Shopping accounts include information stored on Amazon, Gap.com, Macys.com and others. And Web services might include cloud storage accounts such as Dropbox and OneDrive.

To get rid of these accounts, go to your account settings and just look for an option to either deactivate, remove, or close your account. Depending on the account, you may find it under Security or Privacy, or something similar.

If you're having trouble with a particular account, try Googling "How to delete", followed by the name of the account you wish to delete. You should be able to find some instruction on how to delete that particular account.

If for some reason can't delete an account, change the info in the account to something other than your actual info. Something fake or completely random.

Using a service like DeleteMe can make removing yourself from the Internet less of a headache.Screenshot by Eric Franklin/CNET

2. Remove yourself from data collection sites.

There are sites out there that collect your information, mostly in order to sell you stuff. They have names like Spokeo, Crunchbase, PeopleFinder, as well as plenty of others.

Now you could search for yourself on these sites and then deal with each site individually to get your name removed. Problem is, the procedure for opting out from each site is different and sometimes involves sending faxes and filling out actual physical paperwork.

An easier way to do it, is to use a service like DeleteMe at Abine.com. For about $130 for a one-year membership, the service will jump through all those monotonous hoops for you. It'll even check back every few months to make sure your name hasn't been re-added to these sites.

3. Remove your info directly from websites.

First, check with your phone company or cell provider to make sure you aren't listed online and have them remove your name if you are.

If you want to remove an old forum post or an old embarrassing blog you wrote back in the day, you'll have to contact the webmaster of those sites individually. You can either look at the About us or Contacts section of the site to find the right person to contact or go to www.whois.com and search for the domain name you wish to contact. There you should find information on who exactly to contact.

Unfortunately, private website operators are under no obligation to remove your posts. So, when contacting these sites be polite and clearly state why you want the post removed. Hopefully they'll actually follow through and remove them.

If they don't, tip number four is a less effective, but still viable, option.

Google's URL removal tool is handy for erasing evidence of past mistakes from the Internet.Screenshot by Eric Franklin/CNET

4. Delete search engine results that return information about you.

This includes sites like Bing, Yahoo, and Google. In fact Google has a URL removal tool that can help you delete specific URLs.

For example, if someone has posted sensitive information such as a social security number or a bank account number and the webmaster of the site won't remove it, you can at least contact the search engine companies to have it removed from search results.

5. And finally, the last step you'll want to take is to remove your email accounts.

Depending on the type of email account you have, the amount of steps this will take will vary.

You'll have to sign into your account and then find the option to delete or close the account. Some accounts will stay open for a certain amount of time, so if you want to reactivate them you can.

An email address is necessary to complete the previous steps, so make sure this one is your last.

One last thing...

Remember to be patient when going through this process. Don't expect it to be completed in one day. And you may also have to accept that there some things you won't be able permanently delete from the Internet.

Read More