Readers offer their best tips for getting free HDMI cables, and changing the volume in Android, and running recent commands in Windows.
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About the Tips Box: Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in—the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, email it to tips at lifehacker.com, or share it on our tips and expert pages.
Get Free HDMI Cables from the Cable Guy
Photo by Alan Levine.
TheFuriousFive lets us know an easy way to snag a free HDMI cable when you need one:
HDMI cables are what cable guys are for. When they installed my cable, I asked for an HDMI cable for my next week purchase of the new XBOX and TV. Even if you don't have a new service call, you pass one on the street from time to time, ask them for one and see what happens. They may say no, they may say yes and give you one.
Keep Your Volume Settings in Android when Toggling Through Silent and Vibrate
Platypus Man shows us how to keep your volume settings saved in Android:
OK, so maybe I'm dumb and everyone else already knew this, but I just came across this completely by accident and I think it's awesome. In Android (or I guess it could be only Sense UI), if you turn the volume all the way down, it goes to silent mode. Down one more and it's in vibrate mode. OK, but let's say you want to keep your volume at a certain level after you come off of silent. Go into silent or vibrate through any other means—like swiping the sound icon on the lock screen, or from the power control widget—and the same things work. From vibrate, hit volume up and you're in silent. Hit volume up again and you're at your former volume, not one step above silent.
This makes it easy to switch between silent, vibrate, and a volume without losing your preset volume level. I mean, I still usually use Silent Time Lite, but this is great for unplanned things.
Run a Recent Command in Windows Command Prompt
Armbie shares not one, but two handy Windows command prompt tips:
Here's another two windows command line command searching tips in response to the matching tip recently posted:
1) To re-execute a recently typed command, retype the first few letters of the command and press F8. The command will expand to the latest command in the history that matches those letters. Press F8 again to keep going back in time. Note that the matching is case sensitive.
2) If you want to see a list of commands previously typed, just press F7 in the command window to get a menu of selectable commands.
Use Earbuds as Makeshift Earplugs in a Pinch
Photo by Nan Palmero.
Dimensiation shares a quick tip for loud noises around the house:
If you have a really loud vacuum and no earplugs, use earbuds. If they have rubber inserts, they'll work almost as well at absorbing sound.
It's one of those things you'd probably think of in a situation where you know you're going to need earplugs, but probably not the first thing you reach for in your own house when something's too loud.