How to easily toggle alerts in Skype chats

Getting annoyed with alerts from one of your Skype chats? There's a fast way to turn them off.

Skype's group conversations are a convenient way to stay in touch with family, friends, or coworkers from your computer. But sometimes the constant stream of blips and beeps for new messages can be frustrating if you need to focus on another task.

Disabling notifications for all chats means you may miss something important if you also use Skype for work. And leaving a group conversation means you can't catch up on what was said later. Luckily, there's a quick way to disable alerts on a group-by-group (or individual) basis, and still get notified if someone mentions you by name. Here's how:

Note: For Mac users, these commands are available, but do not work consistently, according to Skype support.

Toggling alerts

• Open the chat window you want to disable alerts for. This can be a group or individual chat.
• Type /alertsoff, then press Enter. You will not see a confirmation message, but alerts for this chat are now disabled and no notification counters will appear on the Skype icon.
• When you want to enable alerts for the chat again, simply type /alertson. Again, you will not see a confirmation message.

Trigger word alerts

After turning off alerts, you can set up trigger words that will still alert you when mentioned in the chat.

• If you type /alertson [yournamehere], you'll be notified and your name will be highlighted.
• You can expand on this trigger by adding more words with spaces between them. So if your name is David and you like talking about basketball, you can use /alertson david basketball.

Now you won't have to hear every alert, just the ones pertaining to you or your interests.

Source: Cnet

Six ways to make your iPhone more secure

1. Use a passcode

I now use a passcode. The standard passcode for iOS 9 is a six-digit passcode, though you can increase the strength of the passcode by choosing an alphanumeric passcode or a numeric passcode longer than six digits. You can also move in the opposite direction and choose a four-digit passcode, which was the default option prior to iOS 9. (Even if you set up Touch ID to use your fingerprint to unlock your iPhone, you'll still need a passcode for times when your finger is sweaty or wet or otherwise can't be read by your iPhone's fingerprint scanner.)

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To turn on a passcode, head to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode. Tap Turn Passcode On and enter a six-digit code. To downgrade to a more convenient but less secure four-digit passcode or a stronger custom passcode, tap Change Passcode and then tap Passcode Options.

Get Gmail features for Yahoo and Outlook accounts on Android

Gmail may not be the only email provider you use, and that's why Google added the ability to access other email accounts through their app. Unfortunately, those non-Gmail accounts didn't gain access to the features that make Google's version of email so great. Now Google is changing that by letting you Gmailify your Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail/Outlook.com accounts.

So what exactly is Gmailify? It's a shorthand version of forwarding your email from other services to Gmail. That way, Gmail can offer you some of its best features. Here's some of the perks you can expect, according to AndroidPolice, and how to set it up:

• Better spam protection
• Sorting into Gmail categories
• Advanced search capabilities
• Itineraries appearing in Google Now

Note: This feature is rolling out in Gmail version 5.11. If you are not on this version yet, you can download and install it from APKMirror.

Startup touts four-factor authentication for VIP-level access

Trusona’s system involves an app, a dongle, the post office, and the subject of 'Catch Me If You Can'

Startup Trusona is launching what it claims to be a 100 percent accurate authentication scheme aimed at corporate executives, premiere banking customers and IT admins who have unfettered authorization to access the most valued corporate assets.

The system uses four-factor authentication to assure that the person logging in is the person they say they are. It requires a dongle that is tied to a set of specific devices (phones, tablets, laptops), certain cards with magnetic stripes that the user already owns, and a biometric ID based on how the card is swiped through the card reader on the dongle.

The TruToken dongle is the miniaturization of anti-ATM-card cloning technology made by MagTek that reads not the digital data recorded on cards' magnetic strips but rather the arrangement of the pattern of the barium ferrite particles that make the strips magnetic. The particles are so numerous and so randomly placed that no two strips have identical patterns, says Ori Eisen, Trusona's CEO. That also makes the strips unclonable, he says.