Personal Tech: What Geeks are talking about from The New York Times

Here is the latest Personal Tech News from The New York Times.

Tech Tip: Fixing Microsoft Office for Mac Update Errors
Some OS X versions of the popular business suite need a little extra help to be updated properly.

Tech Tip: Finding Your Family by Phone
Apps and services that use a smartphone’s GPS coordinates can help a parent know a child’s location, even when the child is out of sight.

Police Say Man Posted Photo of Girlfriend’s Body on Facebook; It Lingered for 36 Hours
The Texas man was charged with murder in the stabbing of his girlfriend, and the image remained on the site before Facebook heeded the calls of her family to remove it.

Tech Tip: Finding Wireless Networks With Windows 10
The Windows 10 interface may take some getting used to for Windows 7 users, but the new system has its own shortcuts to common settings.

App Smart: Games Put Auto Racing Action in the Palm of Your Hand
Three racing apps offer striking graphics along with a choice of cars, situations and degrees of control.

Tech Fix: Zen and the Art of Managing Smartphone Photos
The healthiest approach to managing photos, it turns out, is a Zen one: not deal with them much at all.

Well: Computer Vision Syndrome Affects Millions
Blurred or double vision as well as burning, itching, dryness and redness can interfere with work performance.

Itineraries: When a Robot Books Your Airline Ticket
Virtual travel assistant services designed to understand conversational language are expected to change the way travel is planned.

Tech Tip: Getting Up Close With the iOS Camera
Apple’s built-in camera app for its iOS devices includes controls for zooming and other fine-tuning — if you know where to tap.

Tech Tip: Suppressing Facebook’s ‘Memories’
The social network routinely invites users to nostalgically review older timeline posts, but not everyone wants to be reminded of the past.

Tech Tip: I Spy on My Own Wi-Fi
If you would like to see who (or what) is tapped into your wireless network, you can take a peek with router utilities and mobile apps.

Just How Accurate Are Fitbits? The Jury Is Out
Activity trackers that measure things like pulse rates are the subject of conflicting studies, including one cited in a lawsuit against Fitbit.

First Words: How ‘Everything’ Became the Highest Form of Praise
How do you distinguish a photo, video or new product from the rest when they’re all hailed as the epitome of achievement?

Twitter to Ease Character Limit, Making Room for GIFs, Videos and More
Users will be able to post longer tweets with more interactive content without running afoul of the 140-character limit.

ELeague Adapts TV to the Gaming Sensibility
If all goes as planned, ELeague on TBS will be TV created in the image of successful online e-sports, rather than the other way around

Entrepreneurship: Drones Pique the Interest of Entrepreneurs
Start-ups are offering services from news gathering and real estate photography to monitoring of farm fields. But the rules are still being written.

Tech Tip: Sharing iTunes Store Purchases
Recent versions of Apple’s OS X and iOS operating system software offer an easy way to share music, videos and other items between family members.

Tech Tip: Going Wide With Google Camera
Google’s own camera app for Android can do much more than just snap standard still photos.

Tech Tip: Locating a Lost Windows Device
Like Apple and Google have done for their own gadgets, Microsoft has a way for users to track down missing Windows 10 hardware.

Tech Tip: Reviving a Sluggish iPhone
Forcibly quitting open apps or refreshing the phone’s random access memory might help speed up the device’s performance

App Smart: Give Your Smartphone a Kitchen Apron, Too
Cooking apps, like SideChef and Yummly, guide you through the cooking experience and give access to thousands of recipes.

Women From Venus, Men Still From Mars on Facebook, Study Finds
A study of 10 million Facebook posts found that American men more likely to swear, express anger and argue; women used kinder yet more assertive language.

Tech Fix: A Traveler’s Guide to Taking a Smartphone Abroad
There are two ways to take your phone overseas and get data — the frugal way, which requires a bit of tinkering, and the pay-full-price way.

When YouTube Pranks Break the Law
Pranksters fake terror attacks and other crimes, and sometimes land in jail. But the videos continue to be a popular draw.

Tech Tip: Shape-Shifting in Instagram
The service’s mobile app still offers its classic square shape for sharing pictures, but allows photos in the landscape and portrait formats as well.

Tech Tip: Saving Your Data Allowance
Streaming audio and video apps turn your phone or tablet into a mobile entertainment center, but can chew up your monthly service plan.

Tech Tip: Changing a Wi-Fi Network’s Name
Utility software for Apple’s AirPort base stations allows you to manage your home wireless network settings — and hide the network’s name from view.

Tech Tip: Locating Missing Windows Features
If you can’t find the print-to-PDF option or other tools on your Windows 10 computer, you may have to enable them yourself.

Google Appeals French Privacy Ruling
The search giant said it continued to resist France’s demand that Europe’s so-called right to be forgotten rules should be applied globally.

The Getaway: To Tip or Not to Tip Your Uber Driver
Uber has begun allowing drivers in two states to post signs in their cars that say tips are appreciated. Is this just the beginning of Uber tipping?

Google Home: A Voice-Activated Device That Already Knows You
A virtual assistant designed to compete with the Echo from Amazon and other artificial intelligence devices coming from Microsoft, Apple and Facebook.

Tech Fix: Google Home: A Smart Speaker With a Search Giant for a Brain
Here’s how Google’s voice-controlled, Internet-connected speaker compares with Amazon’s popular Echo device.

Nokia Phones May Ring Once Again, but Not as You Knew Them
Foxconn, the Taiwanese technology giant, and HMD Global, a Finnish company, have signed a licensing agreement to revive the brand.

Website Meant to Connect Neighbors Hears Complaints of Racial Profiling
The social network Nextdoor.com is testing ways to prevent postings that have led blacks and Latinos to be seen as suspects in their own neighborhood.

Google to Introduce Its Voice-Activated Home Device
Apple has Siri, Amazon has its Echo, and now Google will introduce its virtual agent, Google Home.

On Technology: How I Learned to Love Snapchat
The app can be confusing for people over a certain age, but it returns something vital to our correspondence.

App Smart: Artificial Intelligence Makes the Phone a Personal Assistant
Smartphone apps offer a hint of the possible uses for emerging artificial intelligence technology.

Tech Fix: Why Windows 10 Upgrades Go Wrong, and How to Avoid It
A majority of Windows users are still avoiding the move to Windows 10 because of upgrade headaches, but there are ways around them.

App Smart: Running and Jumping Through Various Virtual Gantlets
Dragon Hills, Chameleon Run, Fotonica and Duet all test the user’s reflexes, with some only requiring a single finger for control.

The Great Instagram Logo Freakout of 2016
Flat design wins again over skeuomorphism. You’ll get over it, experts say.

Emojis Would Show Women Doing More Than Painting Their Nails
Google wants to add 13 emojis to represent women, and men too, in professional roles in business, health care, factory work and farming.

Tech Tip: Dodging the Computer Kidnappers
Malicious programs are locking up files and demanding money, but awareness and antivirus software can help protect your PC.

Tech Tip: Adding More Fingerprints to iPhone Sensors
The Touch ID sensor that unlocks Apple’s mobile devices can obey more than one finger.

Tech Tip: Saving a Web Page as a PDF
Windows and Mac OS X include tools to convert pages in the web browser to PDF files on the computer.

Tech Tip: Changing Android’s Default Apps
If you want to use something other than Google’s own Chrome browser as your go-to app, you can choose a different program.

Suicide on Periscope Prompts French Officials to Open Inquiry
Officials are looking into an episode in which a young woman recorded herself jumping in front of a train outside Paris on the live video-streaming app.

Your New Home: Ready to See Now, via Virtual Reality
New interior design tools help clients visualize how their redecorated homes will look.

In Transit: Google Translate Will Offer Chinese
Updates to Google Translate will include both simplified and traditional Chinese through its Word Lens feature.

First Words: What Do Our Online Avatars Reveal About Us?
The digital self-portraits we choose on various platforms are a window on ourselves and our intentions.

Gadgetwise: Fitness Trackers Move to Earphones, Socks and Basketballs
Devices collect more kinds of data from more places, and one stores the energy from your movements for use to power a device.

State of the Art: Facebook’s Bias Is Built-In, and Bears Watching
Its algorithms are as infused with bias as any human decision, but neither it nor its audience thinks of Facebook as a news organization with editorial responsibilities.