A tool is any physical item that can be used to achieve a goal, especially if the item is not consumed in the process. Informally the word is also used to describe a procedure or process with a specific purpose. Tool use by humans dates back millions of years, and other animals are also known to employ simple tools. Tools that are used in particular fields or activities may have different designations such as "instrument", "utensil", "implement", "machine", or "apparatus".
All stories in Tool
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Facebook lets you (sorta) control what info it gets from other sites
Facebook rolls out a new feature that will allegedly let you control what data it collects on you from other sites -- except ...
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How to convert a PDF to any format (and back)
Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, ...
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Step up your note-taking game with these easy to use apps
Here are some of the best note-taking apps and tools: use them and you'll spend more time working on your ideas than waiting ...
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Drowning? Here are the best to-do apps to sort your life out
Here's a list featuring some of the best to-do apps to help you win at life. Thank us later.
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Nike’s new digital shoe-sizing feature helps you find the right fit
Nike’s strong digital presence and tech advancements, like their smart shoe released last year, proves that they’re at ...
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How to find and remove fake accounts on Twitter
Are fake followers hindering your influence in the Twittersphere? Do you want to get rid of them once and for all? We're ...
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Facebook releases AI-powered tools to map the world
Facebook today released a bunch of machine learning-powered tools to help create maps of the world. The company's tools, ...
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How to have Google Maps remember where you parked your car
This edition of TNW Basics is going to show you how to use Google Maps to remember where you parked your car. Hopefully taking ...
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Coinbase lets you copy its top cryptocurrency traders with new tool
Coinbase has today launched a tool that enables users to see information based on the activity of its top traders.
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Here's how to set up your computer to work productively from home
Here are a few tips and tricks to help you set up your computer to work productively from home.
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The Pentagon's new heartbeat detection laser could save us from our surveillance horror
The Pentagon last week unveiled a long-range laser device capable of detecting a person's unique heart-signature. It was ...
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Review: Super Mario Maker 2 is an infinite source of joy
I love Super Mario Maker 2 to bits. The new building blocks greatly expand the possibilities for makers and the Switch’s ...
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This new photo AI lets you add, delete, and edit objects with one click
But this new AI made by the researchers from MIT and IBM lets you add, edit, or remove an object just with a click.
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Firefox's new tool fools advertisers into thinking you love hip gear
It might be annoying for you if an ad follows you everywhere on the internet after you search for a product. Well, the folks ...
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The Wayback Machine can now highlight changes in copy on websites
The Wayback Machine has a new feature called "Changes" that lets you compare two different archives of a URL, giving a side-by-side ...
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MySpace employees reportedly read your mid-2000s DMs
Long before Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram ruled the social media world, there was Myspace. One of the earliest social ...
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PwC has a new cryptocurrency auditing tool… and actually, it sounds alright
One of the Big Four financial auditing firms, PwC, wants to lend a hand to cryptocurrency businesses and help them track ...
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How to get started with mind mapping apps
Are lists failing you? Maybe a mind map is what you need! Thanks to a range of apps those too can be done on smartphones ...
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Robots reviewed my resume and they were not impressed
Startup Resume Worded is an AI-powered platform that provides ‘tailored feedback’ on your resume and LinkedIn profile. ...
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Creepy programmer builds AI algorithm to 'expose' adult actresses
Yesterday, Yiqin Fu, tweeted a thread about a programmer who built an algorithm that identified 100K by cross-referencing ...
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The most compelling tech tools to assist the visually impaired
In celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, here's a look at some of the most innovative apps and solutions helping ...
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AI is helping regulators keep tabs on new industrial farms and their waste discharging habits
Researchers have developed an algorithm that uses satellite imagery to rapidly pinpoint industrial livestock farms, manifold ...
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This architecture firm works with a 'cookbook for buildings' to avoid design chaos
For our ongoing series Fundamentals, we’re looking at different companies worldwide and the basic principles they were ...
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Carrefour will use blockchain to let curious mammals know where their milk came from
French supermarket giant Carrefour is pouring milk all over its blockchain, allowing its customers to see the whole thing ...
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EY launches a cryptocurrency tax calculator – but you can’t use it
One of the world's largest business services firms has launched a tool to make accounting for intitutional cryptocurrency ...
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Facebook Ad Library: Only 3 'Brexit' ads for whole month. Yeah, right!
Facebook may well look back on 2018 as its annus horribilis. From the Cambridge Analytica scandal in March, to a data breach ...
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How enterprise social media like Slack can improve well-being in the workplace
We live in a world where technology is increasingly ubiquitous and showing no signs of slowing down. Whether in our professional ...
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This app helps improve your writing by destroying it
Glass.leaves is a web app that lets you manipulate text in a variety of ways, helping your creative writing reach new levels. ...
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Smash's file transfer service just let us transfer a 33GB file for free
At TNW, we often need to send photos and video to our colleagues for our stories. While Slack is an effective tool if we ...
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Tech has an obligation to help social justice movements, according to this dev
Sarim Haque, a developer and creator of "Uncover Harassers" believes all coders have an obligation to support social justice ...
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Track down the world’s cheapest Apple products with this super simple site
If you've ever wanted to know how much different Apple products across the world cost, now you can – all thanks to the ...
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Review: This simplehuman smart mirror magnifies my face without making me want to puke
I’m not a particularly vain person. Despite my interest in the beauty industry, I find eye shadow a bit terrifying. I'm ...
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WriteMapper 2 is a flexible, dead-simple desktop app for mind mapping
WriteMapper's updated desktop app is great for creating simple or complex mind maps. It's also easy enough to learn in minutes. ...
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Real-world Photoshop: Procter & Gamble debut a handheld device that could replace makeup
At CES, P&G introduced the world to “Opté,” a handheld device that 'prints' anti-aging product on top of your skin, ...
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4 useless things you shouldn’t have put in your design portfolio
You only get one chance to make a first impression, so you better get it right — isn’t that what they say? ...
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Get your shit together in 2019 with these 7 free productivity tools
New year comes with new promises (i.e. lies) about finally getting your life in order. If you're really going to try, then ...
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On our obsession with design methods — and how to avoid it
A design method is simply a set of steps you can refer to, so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time ...
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How you can teach AI to speak Welsh (and other minority languages)
Pioneering smart home technologies and voice assistants don’t, as a rule, speak Welsh – although the Welsh government ...
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Why your phone's notifications are the way they are
The notification bell that was once used to keep us in the loop is now mostly used to bring us back into the loop instead. ...
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This iOS 12 Shortcut automatically activates your iPhone camera during a police stop
Mobile phones are the great equalizer. Residing in each of our pocket's is a device that shifts the balance of power, if ...
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Don’t worry about screen time – focus on how you use technology
Many Americans find themselves bombarded by expert advice to limit their screen time and break their addictions to digital ...
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Sales processes need a tech upgrade, and these technologies will provide it in 2019
Sales robots will replace salespeople. Machines will sell machines to other machines. Efficiency will peak, and humans will no longer be necessary to the sales process. That’s what the technology evangelists would have people believe, at least. The truth is far more nuanced. ...
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Microsoft launches its Clarity web analytics tool for A/B testing and visualizing user sessions
To help webmasters understand how visitors interact with their sites, Microsoft has launched its new Clarity analytics tool ...
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This website sets your Spotify playlists to private with a single click
Nobody will know you love Peter Andre
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Streamlabs CEO describes building monetization tools for Twitch & YouTube
As streamers have grown from being scrappy amateurs to professionals, the tools that facilitate their careers have undergone ...
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7 EU countries accuse Google of violating GDPR by tracking users
Consumer groups in the Netherlands, Poland, Czechia, Greece, Slovenia, Sweden, and Norway have asked regulators to look into ...
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How to perfect your digital copywriting
Does anyone actually know what it means to be a copywriter in the digital age? Each and every day, a wave of ecommerce shoppers, ...
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If Facebook's new auto-comment feature isn't rock bottom, it has to be close
It's been two tumultuous years. Still, it's highly unlikely we've witnessed the moment Facebook hit bottom. A new feature, ...
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Shark S87 robotic cleaning system: A great vacuum with bad AI
I remember a time not so long ago where robot vacuums would set you back $1,000 or more and prove more work than they were ...
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Why your app idea is just 'meh' and won't succeed
You heard me correctly, I said “meh.” I’m not talking about the "meh" used to ironically describe something beautiful/awe-inspiring; ...
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This nifty free tool limits incoming email to 3 times per day
While we cannot always control how much email we get, we can spend less time checking our inbox.
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Why digital tools you use in your personal life should be on your CV
I entered the workforce in 1998 during the midst of the dotcom bubble. To stay relevant in a highly competitive and unpredictable ...
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3 handy features in Google For Jobs to measure your hiring campaign’s success
Google For Jobs has made a great impact on the jobs market ever since it was released by the search giant in June 2017. There's ...
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The iPod is the greatest gadget ever – fight me
The original iPod was released on October 23, 2001. 17 years later, we still believe that it's the greatest gadget of all ...
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Rapid scaling can ruin your startup — so fix these technical problems now
In the grand scheme of things, everything has been going perfectly to plan. Your product or service launch has been a success, ...
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These Nobel Prize-winning optical tweezers use light to move stuff
Optical tweezers use light to capture and manipulate tiny objects has changed the way we’re able to study microscopic life. ...
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The portable Nima Peanut Sensor stops nuts getting in your mouth
The Nima Peanut Sensor is a portable device for testing whether the food you're eating has peanuts in it, a perfect gadget ...
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This underwater death machine has one mission: Destroy the starfish
Australia's Great Barrier Reef is dying. Decades of human intervention have left the UNESCO World Heritage site reeling from ...
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Google releases tools for probing Ethereum's blockchain
Google has added Ethereum support to its BigQuery database tool, giving us a new method of analyzing data stored on its blockchain. ...
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Google and Mastercard are secretly tracking your offline purchases
Google has quietly been providing select advertisers a "stockpile" of offline credit card transaction data. After a four ...
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North Korean hackers are targeting cryptocurrency traders with fake software
Kaspersky Labs has discovered a North Korean hacking crew is targeting cryptocurrency traders by trojanizing exchange software. ...
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Lambonomics: The cryptocurrency price index we've always needed
The Lambo Index tells you, in real time, how much cryptocurrency you would need in order to buy your own Lamborghini Huracan. ...
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Facebook and Instagram officially announce new tools to fight social media addiction
Facebook and Instagram have announced a selection of tools to help their users combat social media addiction and manage the ...
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Google’s AR design guidelines: baby steps — but a good starting point
When Google and Apple announced their mobile augmented reality (AR) platforms last summer, they rocked the 3D world. Almost ...
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Coindar is the nifty cryptocurrency trading tool that every investor should use
Coindar is a cryptocurrency calendar for your desktop with a direct line to the developers of blockchain projects - which ...
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Amazon's new tool tracks down odd parts to avoid those dreaded trips to the hardware store
Amazon's newest tool helps you scan, identify, and shop for spare parts. Part Finder uses the iPhone camera to avoid dreaded ...
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Opera is expanding its suite of cryptocurrency tools with a built-in wallet
Opera is preparing to give Android users a built-in Crypto Wallet, the latest in its suite of tools for cryptocurrencies. ...
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Google's new tool helps test your website's speed and mobile-friendliness
Speed testing services seem to be the new thing tech companies are dabbing into on their free time – just weeks after Netflix ...
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Why this funky 80s graphic generator is taking over Twitter
Oh Twitter, wonderful place on the internet. Sometimes you can be a cesspool of darkness, and sometimes you can be pretty ...
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Web design color theory: how to create the right emotions with color in web design
When it comes to choosing the right color for you website, how can you be sure it's the right one? This handy guide to color ...
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The Nix Color Sensor matches your color every time...and it’s 30% off
If you’re dealing with someone who spends significant time eyeing color, paints, fabrics, etc., then cueing them up to ...
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Aeon Timeline 2 can get everybody on the same project management page
Loads of details and an epic scope don’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, Aeon Timeline 2 ($19.99, 60 percent off from ...
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Read 300 books a year as you whiz through volumes like The Flash
Now, the fruits of Brandon Hakim’s pursuit can be shared by you with a course dedicated to helping you become a speed reading ...
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Find out how competitors are winning (or losing) with Social Insider Pro — just $29.99
Social Insider Pro is your inside view at what your closest rivals are doing well or where they’re floundering. Now, you ...
