10 top time-saving tech tips

Tech columnist David Pogue shares 10 simple, clever tips for computer, web, smartphone and camera users. And yes, you may know a few of these already -- but there's probably at least one you don't.

I've noticed something interesting
about society and culture.

Everything risky requires a license.

So, learning to drive,
owning a gun, getting married.

There's a certain --

(Laughter)

That's true in everything risky,
except technology.

For some reason,
there's no standard syllabus,

there's no basic course.

They just sort of give you your computer
and then kick you out of the nest.

You're supposed to learn
this stuff -- how?

Just by osmosis.

Nobody ever sits down and tells you,
"This is how it works."

So today I'm going to tell you ten things

that you thought everybody knew,
but it turns out they don't.

First of all, on the web,
if you want to scroll down,

don't pick up the mouse
and use the scroll bar.

That's a terrible waste of time.

Do that only if you're paid by the hour.

Instead, hit the space bar.

The space bar scrolls down one page.

Hold down the Shift key
to scroll back up again.

So, space bar to scroll down one page;
works in every browser,

in every kind of computer.

Also on the web, when you're filling in
one of these forms like your addresses,

I assume you know
that you can hit the Tab key

to jump from box to box to box.

But what about the pop-up menu
where you put in your state?

Don't open the pop-up menu.

That's a terrible waste of calories.

Type the first letter of your state
over and over and over.

So if you want Connecticut, go, C, C, C.

If you want Texas, go T, T,
and you jump right to that thing

without even opening the pop-up menu.

Also on the web,
when the text is too small,

what you do is hold down the Control key
and hit plus, plus, plus.

You make the text larger with each tap.

Works on every computer,
every web browser,

or minus, minus, to get smaller again.

If you're on the Mac,
it might be Command instead.

When you're typing
on your Blackberry, Android, iPhone,

don't bother switching layouts
to the punctuation layout

to hit the period and then a space,

then try to capitalize the next letter.

Just hit the space bar twice.

The phone puts the period,
the space, and the capital for you.

Go space, space.

It is totally amazing.

Also when it comes
to cell phones, on all phones,

if you want to redial
somebody that you've dialed before,

all you have to do is hit the call button,

and it puts the last phone number
into the box for you,

and at that point you can hit
call again to actually dial it.

No need to go to the recent calls list
if you're trying to call somebody

just hit the call button again.

Something that drives me crazy:

When I call you and leave a message
on your voice mail,

I hear you saying, "Leave a message,"

and then I get these 15 seconds
of freaking instructions,

like we haven't had
answering machines for 45 years!

(Laughter)

I'm not bitter.

(Laughter)

So it turns out
there's a keyboard shortcut

that lets you jump directly
to the beep like this.

Phone: At the tone, please...

(Beep)

David Pogue: Unfortunately,
the carriers didn't adopt

the same keystroke,
so it's different by carrier,

so it devolves upon you
to learn the keystroke

for the person you're calling.

I didn't say these were going
to be perfect.

So most of you think of Google

as something that lets you
look up a web page,

but it is also a dictionary.

Type the word "define"
and the word you want to know.

You don't even have to click anything.

There's the definition as you type.

It's also a complete FAA database.

Type the name of the airline
and the flight.

It shows you where the flight is,
the gate, the terminal,

how long until it lands.

You don't need an app.

It's also unit and currency conversion.

Again, you don't have to click
one of the results.

Just type it into the box,
and there's your answer.

While we're talking about text --

When you want to highlight --

this is just an example --

(Laughter)

When you want to highlight a word,

please don't waste your life
dragging across it

with the mouse like a newbie.

Double click the word.

Watch "200" -- I go double-click,

it neatly selects just that word.

Also, don't delete
what you've highlighted.

You can just type over it.

This is in every program.

Also, you can go double-click, drag,

to highlight in one-word
increments as you drag.

Much more precise.

Again, don't bother deleting.

Just type over it.

(Laughter)

Shutter lag is the time
between your pressing the shutter button

and the moment the camera actually snaps.

It's extremely frustrating
on any camera under $1,000.

(Camera click)

(Laughter)

So, that's because the camera needs time
to calculate the focus and exposure,

but if you pre-focus with a half-press,

leave your finger down --

no shutter lag!

You get it every time.

I've just turned your $50 camera
into a $1,000 camera with that trick.

And finally, it often happens
that you're giving a talk,

and for some reason,
the audience is looking at the slide

instead of at you!

(Laughter)

So when that happens --
this works in Keynote, PowerPoint,

it works in every program
-- all you do is hit the letter B key,

B for blackout, to black out the slide,
make everybody look at you,

and then when you're ready
to go on, you hit B again,

and if you're really on a roll,
you can hit the W key for "whiteout,"

and you white out the slide,

and then you can hit W again
to un-blank it.

So I know I went super fast.

If you missed anything, I'll be happy
to send you the list of these tips.

In the meantime, congratulations.

You all get your California
Technology License.

Have a great day.

(Applause)