TechByter Worldwide 2020-04-24: You Need VLC For DVDs, But It Does A Lot More. Short Circuits. Spare Parts.

Published: April 24, 2020, 4 a.m.

If you think Windows users need the VLC Media Player to view DVDs, you're right, but that's only part of the story. VLC does a lot more and it's an open-source application. In Short Circuits: High-resolution screens are great, but users often say the tiny text and icons are hard to see. If that describes you, I have good news: These are easy fixes. • Mac users are sometimes distressed by the lack of ports on Macbook Pro machines. A cleverly designed dock not only provides more ports, but also adds a lot of disk space. And it can be used on any computer or portable device that has a USB-C port. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Technology may be able to help track new COVID-19 cases as states relax some of the restrictions we've been dealing with. • If you're trying to find out when your stimulus check will arrive from the IRS, the IRS website may be able to help; beware of rogue sites, though, because more than 4000 new domains exist and they all want to "help" you. • Twenty years ago: The MP3 revolution was moving right along, but we still had to deal with unknown new terms such as "rip".