Find a location and charger

The goal is for your old phone to emulate a weather monitor. Therefore, when you open the weather app the weather data should always be visible. So it is highly recommended that you put the phone on a stand that keeps it upright. It is also a good idea to keep the phone charging. Otherwise, you will have to charge it every day. Both requirements are met if your phone supports wireless charging with a charging cradle that also keeps it upright.

Keep the screen always on

Another point you should keep in mind is the always-on screen. Instead of having to wake up the phone every time you want to see the weather. There are several ways to keep the phone screen always on. Although as in this case we are going to have it charged. The easiest is probably from the developer options.

First step

Go to Settings>About phone

Second step

Then tap 5 times on “build number”. Until the message “you are already a developer” appears.

Third step

After enabling developer options, go to Settings>System>Developer options and there you should have the setting “Don’t lock screen”. Since you’re going to have the phone charging while serving as a weather station, this will cause the screen to always be on.

Note that some of the apps we’re going to use to display data on the phone already keep the screen on, so depending on which one you choose you might not need to touch this setting.

SmartMixin

This app can search for nearby weather stations to connect to and display their data. In SmartMixin you will see the current and last hours’ temperature and weather conditions. In addition to the forecast for the next few days, rainfall, air quality, and other data. It has a dark theme and the advantage of showing us a lot of data, although they will be hidden unless you scroll.

Google Play | SmartMixin Weather

Weather Station Free

A more traditional option is Weather Station Free, which is so simple it’s adorable. The app mimics the style of a simple weather station and shows the current condition, air pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind speed. The app has absolutely nothing else and has only a setting to switch between metric or imperial units. The free version has an advertising banner, which you can remove upon payment of $0.99 USD.

Google Play | Weather Station Free

WhatWeather

Finally, we have WhatWeather, which is in a way the complete opposite of the previous application. It shows you a lot of information and also has many settings to configure and customize its appearance and operation. The app has a dark theme with pure black color, more friendly with OLED screens. It will be in charge of collecting temperature information, wind, and many more data. You can choose what exactly is displayed from its settings. Thanks for reading us. Bye!

Google Play | WhatWeather – Weather Station

The post How to use your old Android phone as a weather monitor appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.

How to disable news and interests in Windows 10

Let’s see a simple configuration. The new widget appeared and you don’t want it active? Then just disable it. With this intention, right-click on the weather icon in the taskbar. Consequently, a context menu will be displayed. What you have to do is to click on News and Interests.

Clicking there will display the Widget settings. Accordingly, there are three options available. Note that you can revert the options at any time:

• Show icon and texts: In the taskbar, the weather icon and weather text are displayed. Also, when you click on it, the News and Interests widget is displayed.
• Show search icon: The taskbar displays only the weather icon. Likewise, clicking on it displays the news and interests widget in the taskbar.
• Turn off: Obviously, it deactivates the activity of the widget.

Personalizing news and interests with the news we like.

The first thing you have to do is to deploy the widget. With this in mind, just hover the pointer over the widget. Then the default news will appear. When you hover over a news item, you will see some options. In the upper right corner is the option to delete the news item. Consequently, it will start the process to determine why you don’t like the news. You can react to it on the bottom left, and on the right, you can save it or open the menu.

As mentioned, clicking on the X will hide the news item. However, a menu will appear to choose why you have deleted it. In the menu, you can select if you did not like the topic or the source of the news item. You can even report an issue. This is very useful because it allows you to edit the topic or control the news sources.

On the other hand, clicking on the 3 dots will open a menu with other options. It is possible to save or share a news item. We can also tell the system if we want more or less news like that. It is even possible to hide the story, or all the stories from that particular source.

How to Customize News and Interest content

The above steps allow us to edit a particular story. However, we can set the general content of the widget. To do so, just click on Manage interests.

This action will take you to a web page. Once there you have the Discover Interests section. Just check and uncheck the topics according to your taste. Then under Followed interests, you can manage them. Finally, you can go through Hidden publishers to give a second chance to the blocked media.

Okay, so we have seen how to customize news and interests in Windows 10. A new feature from Microsoft to complement the user experience. See you later

The post How to customize News and Interests in Windows 10 appeared first on Linux Windows and android Tutorials.