You Don't Know It All: 10 Amazing Tech Hacks You Can Find On Reddit

by Mihir Patkar

Recently, we showed you 10 amazing technology ideas you could find on Pinterest. But over the past couple of years, Reddit has become the go-to place to share life hacks, whether itâ??s on the LifeProTipssubreddit, the LifeHacks subreddit or other topics where such cool posts pop up.

Among those, the ones to do with technology can get lost in a sea of constant updates, comments, and posts. We scoured through the site to come up with 10 amazing tech hacks you probably didnâ??t know about.

Make an autocorrect shortcut on your phone for your email address

Lots of mobile apps and services ask for your email address. Itâ??s a little tedious to type it out each time. Instead, head to your keyboardâ??s dictionary and add a shortcut for it by assigning it as an autocorrect for a keyword or a code. You can use your name as the keyword, or a shortcut code like â??zqxâ?? — three letters you are unlikely to ever type in succession in normal usage.

Use a ruler as your phone’s wallpaper to quickly measure small items

Well, now why didnâ??t we think of that sooner? Grab the image of a ruler and make it your cell phoneâ??s wallpaper, ensuring that itâ??s to scale by placing a real ruler on your phone while setting it. Now you can quickly measure any object! â??For mine, I also put the dimensions of the phone itself so that I can measure larger spans in â??phone lengthsâ??,â? says fuzzeslecrdf. â??And a plea for a safe return in case my phone is lost and found.â?

Use Google Translate to visit blocked sites

Is a particular website blocked at your work or in school? Companies and universities have an annoying habit of putting up these firewalls, but almost none of them will block Google Translate. So go to that and visit your site through it. It will work just fine! Make sure you use English-to-English as the translation settings though! But thereâ??s one caveat: this hack only works with HTTP sites, not HTTPS ones.

Turn your wallet into a smartphone stand

Need to prop up your phone for a quick video chat or to watch a movie, but donâ??t have a smartphone stand around? Just whip out your wallet and open it up. If your wallet folds thrice, place it on its back and open up one flap to prop the phone. If your wallet folds twice, open it and place it in the shape of a boomerang. Your phone can stably rest on that.

Use number keys and J, K, L to navigate YouTube

Now hereâ??s a hack that might entirely change how you use YouTube. Did you know that you can hit the number keys on your keyboard from 1 to 9 to skip from 10% to 90% of the video? Whatâ??s more, you can use the J and L keys to rewind and fast forward 10 seconds, and the K key to play/pause. No more fiddling around with that bar!

Turn a laser pointer into a macro lens for your phone’s camera

This is so cool. If you have a used laser pointer around (or if you can borrow one from your office clerk or professor), break it open and you will find a lens inside. Get a hairpin and some scotch tape. Prop the lens between the hairpin and place it on the camera lens of your phone. Use the scotch tape to hold the pin-lens combo firmly in place. And there you go! A rough, DIY macro lens for no cost.

Make a separate user account for presentations

Those who use their work laptop to deliver presentations might want to consider creating a separate user account for those. That way, you can avoid embarrassing notifications for emails or a ping from a friend popping up in the middle of your demo. You can do this on Windows, Mac, or Linux. Just make sure that the presentation file is stored on a different partition, so itâ??s accessible through any account. And as a backup, email it to yourself too.

Quick and easy pocket tripod

This is one of the most useful digital camera tricks you should know. It will save you from ever again lugging around a heavy tripod to steady your shots. Take a small bolt, tie a piece of string to it and screw it into the bottom of your camera. The string should be approximately the length from your eye level to the ground. At the other end other string, tie a washer. â??Drop the washer down, step on the washer and then pull up tightening the string. This will give you incredible stability for longer exposures. When you’re done just unscrew the bolt and wad the “tripod” up and stash it in your pocket. Great for travel when you’re not carrying a bag,â? MakeMeNaked writes.

The plus sign can turn your Gmail into multiple addresses

If you want to use the same Gmail address to sign up for two different accounts on a site, hereâ??s a neat trick. At the end of your handle, append a plus sign and add a word — itâ??s recognised as a different address but goes to the same Gmail inbox. â??For Gmail addresses, only the characters up until the first plus sign are used to determine where to send the email. For instance, emails sent tomyemail@gmail.com and myemail+suffix@gmail.com will both go tomyemail@gmail.com,â? madcreator says.

Print Google.com to test a printer

This is pure genius. If you need to test a printer or a new colour cartridge, fire up your browser, head to Google.com and print the homepage. It has all the colours while using very little ink. Of course, on days when thereâ??s a Google doodle, you can always search for the Google logo instead and print that.

Share Your Favourite Hacks!

It would be impossible to scour the whole of Reddit for tech hacks and this is only a small selection of whatâ??s on offer. You must have come across a few during your browsing, and perhaps even created few of your own.

In fact, it neednâ??t even be just on Reddit. We recently rounded up some cool life hacks on Instagram too. So drop a line and share what you know, we are all ears!

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