Ways on How You Can Meditate With Amazon Echo and Alexa

Are you looking for a quick stress reliever? Do you feel the need to relax? One of the best ways to achieve this is by meditation -- with the help of your none other than Amazon Echo! Through the Alexa app, you can listen to guided meditations to help calm your body, mind, and spirit.

The Amazon Echo has some helpful skills that give you a certain meditation based on the time of day or a specific need. Others will help you unwind before bed, fall asleep easier, become happier, or just to relax from a tiring weekday.

Search for a Meditation Skill

You can browse for meditation skills and related items through two distinct categories. Open the Alexa app on your phone or tablet (or on the web). Tap on the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) for the mobile apps > Skills > Categories button. The categories for Health & Fitness and Lifestyle both contain skills for meditation. Find more helpful skills by searching for the word "meditation." Now let’s review some individual skills.

Headspace

Say: "Alexa, open Headspace." A soft, soothing voice named Andy explains the benefits of meditation and guides you through the process. Pause (and then resume) at any time. Ask for specific types of meditation. Say: "Alexa, ask Headspace for today's meditation," and Andy serves up the meditation of the day. Say: "Alexa, tell Headspace I want to wind down" or "Alexa, tell Headspace I'm ready for sleep," and Andy offers you a meditation designed to help you get ready for rest. Thanks, Andy.

Meditation Studio

Say: "Alexa, open Meditation Studio." Alexa welcomes you to the virtual studio and lists the types of meditations available, such as sleep, stress, happiness, and performance. Tell Alexa which topics interest you, and she suggests at least a couple of meditations. Choose which you want, and a soft voice guides you through. You can pause and then restart the meditation. Trigger a specific meditation by saying: "Alexa, ask Meditation Studio to play a Happiness Meditation" or "Alexa, ask Meditation Studio to play a Stress Meditation."

Guided Meditation: Meditation for the Day for Calm

Say "Alexa, open Guided Meditation." A gentle voice guides you through meditation of between three and eight minutes in length. The selected meditations are designed to help relieve anxiety, stress, depression, sleep problems, and other issues. If the current meditation doesn't do the trick for you, say: "Alexa, play next," and the next guided meditation plays.

Sweet Dreams: Sounds & Meditation for Sleep

Say: "Alexa, open Sweet Dreams." Alexa asks if you want to hear a sound or mediation. Choose either one or request one by name. If you don't know, say: "Alexa, ask Sweet Dreams to list sounds" or "Alexa, ask Sweet Dreams to list meditations." Sounds include rain, surf, stream, forest, canyon, desert, and brook. Guided meditations include Falling Asleep, Soften and Relax, Breathing in Waves, Review the Day, and Welcoming the Day. Once you know the sound or meditation you want, request it by saying something like "Alexa, ask Sweet Dreams to play Falling Asleep." A soothing voice then guides you through the meditation.

One Minute Meditation

Say: "Alexa, open One Minute Meditation." This skill offers you a one-minute guided meditation for times when you need a quick relaxation break. A gentle voice guides you through some deep breathing as a pause from your busy day.

Practical Ways on How to Make Your Virtual Machine Faster

What's great about running a virtual machine is that you can try out a new operating system or test an application without affecting the host OS. However, there are times wherein the program you are using to do so may not be running the virtual machine up to its optimum level.

There are few reasons underlying the decrease in speed of your virtual machine -- it could be due to your physical system's hardware capabilities or it may be the program running your virtual machine that is sluggish. Read more to learn some tips on how to go about speeding up your virtual machine.

Restart Your PC

Before you do anything else, it's best to give your PC a restart. This option is often overlooked but is one very effective step to iron out the wrinkles your PC may be having.

Keep Your Virtualization Software Up to Date

These updates over time will get rid of the bugs and handle your physical machine's RAM and processing power far better than before.

Adjust Dedicated RAM and Add Software Acceleration

If too much memory is handed over, your physical PC may not have sufficient RAM remaining in order to complete its regular tasks. Similarly, if too little is allotted to your virtual machine, it may have some difficulties doing as much as loading a web browser. There is a healthy medium, and what this is will vary based on your physical PC's specifications. Take note that you need to provide your virtual machine with 1GB of RAM per 4 GB of RAM on your physical PC. This may not be the ultimate solution, but it is a wise thing to consider if you are new to configuring a virtual machine.

In addition to adding more memory, you can also add more CPUs and or enable hardware virtualization and/or acceleration through your virtual machine's hosting software.

Defragment Your Host's Hard Drive (for Windows Only)

You need to allot some time to defragment your computer's disk -- it may just be a simple procedure but it can do wonders. For those unaware, defragging a hard drive is simply the act of placing blocks of data closer together so that data can be read by the machine more quickly. You will notice load times significantly decrease, not only across your virtual machine, but on your physical PC as well.

Reduce the Disk Size of Your Virtual Machine

If your virtual machine is hogging a very large amount of storage, processes can take a lot of time to complete. For more information, click here.

Disable Windows Defender on Virtual Machine (for Windows Only)

As long as you aren't using your virtual PC permanently or to test sketchy or otherwise suspicious programs, you may wish to disable preinstalled antivirus. Antivirus will use extra CPU and RAM resources that, while necessary on a PC, are not so crucial on a virtual machine. Again, choosing to disable antivirus will vary based on the user's preference.

Disable Background Tasks on Your Virtual PC

Your virtual machine will noticeably run faster and smoother if the running processes in its background are at minimal, since these are eating up RAM and the hard drive's reading and writing. Try closing any program that is not urgently needed to complete the task at hand.

When you're your own boss, or when you're rushing on a report that's due tomorrow, distraction can be your worst enemy. These distractions may involve replying to text messages or social media IMs, and emails moments after they're sent, checking your Facebook news feed, or simply just chatting with your colleague about a trending showbiz personality, keeping your mind focused on your work can be very challenging.

There are lots of productivity apps you can find on the Web that can help you boost your productivity at work; however, they tend to be locked to specific operating systems, which makes it annoying to find the right tools. Online websites, however, works on a wide variety of computers, making them highly useful regardless of the device you are using.

Below are five websites that will help you get rid of those distractions and to help you achieve your task goals on time.

Magic Work Cycle

The concept of the Magic Work Cycle is this simple -- people work better and more efficiently if they go for thirty minutes of work followed by thirty minutes of play. This means you work for half and hour solid without allowing non-critical distractions to stop you, then spend another half hour doing zero work or whatsoever. This gives you more time to respond to emails and texts, check your social media accounts, or even fit in a small game.

The Magic Work Cycle website lets you time these thirty-minutes bursts automatically. When one cycle is over, a sound plays, and the next cycle begins immediately afterward. This is a great way to prevent you from getting burnouts because of working on straight hours. However, if you disagree with the idea of a 30-30 cycle, or if it doesn't fit your workflow, you can always change the times for each cycle by adjusting the appropriate sliders, between one minute to two hours.

Coffitivity

Coffitivity is a brilliant app that plays that ambient coffee shop noise to get your creative juices flowing. Several studies have shown that "coffee shop buzz is good for your creativity and productivity," thanks to providing "just the right amount" of background noise.

It's a pretty realistic recreation of a coffee shop's vibe, complete with clinking cups and background chatter. The website comes with three long audio tracks recorded from within a cafe; a softer morning tone, a more bustling lunchtime rush, and the "scholarly sounds" of a University campus cafe. You'll get all of that coffee shop buzz without having to fight for a seat or buy lattes all day.

If you're particularly enjoying the sounds, Coffitivity also comes with a premium plan at $9 a year. This offers three more cafe audio scenes: Paris, Brazil, and Texas.

stickK

stickK works in a simple way -- first, you need to tell it what goal you would like to achieve. Then, you have the option of assigning a trusted referee, such as a friend or family member, to make sure you're on the right track in achieving your goal. If you even want to dare yourself, you can even instruct stickK to take money from your bank account and donate it to charity should you fail to reach your set goal. This can either go to a randomly assigned charity or a charity that supports a cause you're against, such as a rival political party. Most of the time, assigning a monetary penalty for failing a task increases its success rate by three times. So, if you're really desperate in achieving your goal, no but's and if's, then this might be what you need.

ZenPen

A word processor can also be a good tool in blocking out all other distractions on your computer screen. If this is what you need, then you can try ZenPen. It may look like a simple word processor at a glance, but when you click on the fullscreen button on the left, ZenPen will cover the entire screen with the page. This means you can type away without looking at browser tabs or apps calling for your attention.

Aside from blocking out other visual distractions, ZenPen also has other neat features for you. There's a word counter if you're trying to hit a goal, an option to invert the colors for a black page with white text, and the ability to save what you typed on it.

Habitica

Do you enjoy doing endless quests and jobs in video games, but once you need to get your real work done your video game productivity fails you? Maybe what you need is to turn the projects you have in the real world into a game. This is what Habitica (formerly known as HabitRPG) does, where performing real-world tasks and habits helps you earn in-game rewards.

All you need is to tell Habitica what you'd like to get accomplished. Perhaps it's something you'd like to do everyday, like a draw picture or something with a set deadline (finish an assignment due in two weeks). Habitica then keeps track of which tasks you've set for what timeframes. If you complete a challenge that you've set for yourself, you can log on and check the box to tell Habitica you accomplished it. Habitica then rewards you with money and experience to help you improve your character. If the deadline passes and you didn't check the box, your character takes damage.

Perhaps the best features of Habitica are the groups. Like-minded people with a common goal in mind can band together in a group. People can cheer one another, make friends and chat, and even set goals for the entire community to try to complete individually.

3 Simple Ways on how you Can Manage your Files Better in Dropbox

As a reliable cloud-based productivity tool, Dropbox provides offline storage and access to your stuff anywhere you can run on a browser. However, one of the visible problems with file dumping is that they can get cluttered or disorganized, if you are not very careful.

Below are some simple tips on how you can re-organize your Dropbox and transform it from a pile of stuff into an organized repository.

Resource vs. Clutter

There is big difference if you're going to compare a pile of stuff and a resource. For example, some people have piles of stuff on their desks and they would say they need it all because it contain important information in there somewhere.

Of course, this is considered inefficient and not ideal. A pile of stuff is not called a resource if you can't or don't have access to it. A simple analogy of this -- a library is a resource, while a pile of receipts, software manuals, transcripts, printouts, and cables scattered around your desk is considered a mess.

When it comes to the digital age, this is a major thing to deal with when clutter creeps into computers, as well as offline storage clouds.

Minimize Clutter

First thing you need to do is to free up space. Go through every file on your Dropbox and delete anything that's outdated, irrelevant, or duplicated. Well, this is pretty easy if you only have few files stored.

A quick method to do this is to sort the files in each folder by "Modified" by clicking on the column head. By doing this, it would be easier for you to identify which files or documents are relevant by noting how often you access them. If a file has been untouched for two years or more, then it's safe to say that you don't need them anymore.

You can also use a third-party management app like JoliCloud to help you get better access and make it easier for you to arrange your files. Simply log in with your Facebook account or use your Google ID for access.

Once you're logged in, you can add your other cloud storage accounts to make it an all-in-one solution for your cloud management.

Here's an expert tip when it comes to file management -- there is a hidden feature in Dropbox that stores the history or previous versions of your files. To access this, right-click on any file and there is an option for you to select Previous versions of that file. This option is useful especially if you accidentally overwrite a file copying it over a previous version while moving things around.

You can also make folders and group your files according to type. If you already have existing folders in your Dropbox account, consider making new Main folders, and then drag and drop your existing folders into them. See to it that you keep all folders in a single screen, since scrolling up and down wastes time. As for videos, audios, graphics, etc., make sure you title the main folders appropriately.

If in case you have hundreds of files in many folders, it is best to use tools that will help you accomplish this task in a quicker and a more efficient manner.

Search for Duplicates

The Unclouded app for Android is a very good solution if you need to locate for duplicate files. The app allows you to log into your cloud space (and that's any cloud space, like Dropbox but also Google Drive, Onedrive, Box and Mega) and get a lot of stats and info that are unavailable to you as a standard Dropbox user, file sizes for instance.

Clearly one of the most important thing about reducing space usage is by searching for and removing duplicates. Windows and Mac users can use a desktop app called Easy Duplicate Finder (EDF) to find duplicate files. It allows you to log into your Dropbox account and select folders you wish to include and exclude. Using this app, you can let it search your folders, and it will give you a report of which files are duplicates.

Share and Unshare Alike

Disconnecting shared files is another method you can try to clean things up on your Dropbox. Though it may not look that obvious, but your file space on Dropbox is composed of both files you have personally uploaded and files in other people's spaces, which are shared with you. To check how much space you have tied up in shares, click on your Account Name (with your image), then go to Settings, and then click the Account tab. It will show you a list of how your files are arranged and how much you have shared.

To check the sharing properties of individual files, right-click on it, and then choose Sharing. Click the drop-down arrow next to your name, then click Remove my access to disconnect from the files, which will then free up your Dropbox some space.

You can also check the files you share (you might want to revoke access for security purposes) by clicking on the Sharing link and Links items on the left menu pane.

5 Cool Gmail Labs Features You Should Try

Gmail Labs is Gmail's playground of new features that you can use as long as you have an account. However, be aware that these experimental features may "change, break, or disappear at any time." So far, there were no reported incidents of any off these features causing major disasters on its users. But just in case you may encounter some problems while making use of the Labs features, simply visit this link so that you can turn them all off.

So first things first, you need to enable the Gmail Lab Features setting before you can get to experience some, if not most, of the great features it can give -- which we will be discussing a little further down below.

To start off, sign in to your Google or Gmail account, then go to the gear icon found at the upper-right hand corner of the page, and then select Settings. Click on the Labs tab among the menus on top. Now scroll down or search for the feature you would like to enable, then click the Save changes button button either at the very top or the very bottom of the list. So now you know where to find the Gmail Labs features and how to enable them, below are five top features that we recommend you should try:

1. Take Back a Message That You Have Accidentally Sent

By default, you have a 10-second window of opportunity to take back the action before the message will be actually sent. Now, you have an option to increase the window time to 30 seconds. In order for you to do this, you need to enable the Undo Send feature in Gmail Labs. From there, you can customize the message sending cancellation period to 30 seconds by going to the General tab in the settings, and then scrolling down to the Undo Send entry.

So how do you actually take back the message you sent? Right after you press the Send button, you will see an Undo link within a yellow box that will appear at the top of your inbox. Click it in time, and your message will not be sent. Gmail will reopen it as draft so you can get to fix your email. Gmail cannot (or at least does not) retrieve messages from a recipient's inbox once they're delivered but still unread, the way some email systems can do.

2. Find Out Your Unread Messages Count

With the official name of "Unread message icon," this feature appears overlaid on the Gmail logo on your browser's tab when enabled. Gmail makes it a habit to show you the number of unread messages in your inbox, as long as your Gmail page is loaded to the inbox view, and there is enough space on your tabs for the numbers to appear inside the parenthesis.

3. Preview Your Google Calendar Even While You're in the Mail View

Another awesome Gmail Labs feature removes the hassle of having to navigate to another tab to check your Google Calendar before replying to your email about your availability (for example, a meeting) -- this is the Google Calendar gadget.

The feature adds a mini calendar and scrollable list of appointments starting with the current day. Once you enable this feature, you will find your mini calendar on the left panel of your Gmail screen, where you have your folders, Gmail chat contacts, etc. If in case you're having problems seeing it, your left panel list may probably be too long. Simply click on the three dots found at the very bottom, and your Google Calendar gadget should appear.

4. Preview Messages

Now, Gmail Labs has also implemented the Preview Pane feature, just how it works in Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or your other email client. It's cleverly designed because you can easily toggle the preview mode on and off. Another good design on this feature is that it doesn't automatically preview a message if you haven't selected one yet, which could have caused that message to be marked as read.

5. Find Out Who's Using Google Chat on Android

If you enable this particular Gmail Labs feature, your chat friends who are signed in to Google via their Android mobile devices will be indicated with an Android robot icon, instead of the colored dot of Gmail or Google +. This way, you'll have a clearer idea why your friend, relative, or colleague is somehow ignoring your chat messages.

Which of these Gmail Labs features would you like to choose. Don't worry, there are more features you can choose from if you go visit the Labs tab of your Gmail or Google + account. You'll definitely want to enable a feature or two, which will certainly make your Gmail or Google + experience more enjoyable.

Create Disposable Emails in a Jiffy With MaskMe

Are you fed up with spam from websites that would ask you to register in order to view their content, and then later discover that they will give your info to other companies? If your answer is yes, then this might be the perfect time to use a disposable email. Courtesy of MaskMe, you now have a way to fight against these unwanted messages by creating a disposable email address in an instant. This service enables you to toggle forwarding abilities to your real email, while still protecting your info from being sold to unwanted companies.

MaskMe functions as a Chrome extension that will fill in a disposable email, or even your real one when you need it. Here's how to use the MaskMe service:

First, you need to install the MaskMe extension for Chrome. For the detailed instructions, follow the steps in this article.

MaskMe remembers which website you used a disposable email on, making it easy for you to log in. You will have to remember your password, unless if you're using MaskMe to manage your passwords as well. When the registration form loads on a website, click the email field and MaskMe will display a pop-up menu that allows you to select either a disposable email or your true email.

Below is how the MaskMe interface looks like:

Since MaskMe keeps a record of where you use disposable email addresses, it will be easy for you to toggle their forwarding capability via the extension. You can do this by clicking the extension icon on the toolbar, then select Masked Emails.

On the sample screenshot above, click the green Forwarding button next to the email you would like to toggle and it will be set as Blocked. You can also delete the email at any time by clicking on the small trash can icon located at the right side.