Free Friday! I'm going to go simple today.

I've always had a problem with PDFs and my phone. It always seems to involve stretching stuff around to make the print bigger and moving it all over the place to get it centered just right. Plus there's the horizontal thing, etc. I've been looking for a program to open PDFs in a reasonable manner for quite a while.

Yesterday my phone offered to open a PDF in Google PDF reader. I didn't specifically have the reader on my phone, but it comes with my Google Suite, so I figured "Eh, why not try it? It certainly can't hurt."

Wow. This is one of the reasons that Google gets into your life and stays there. It's the PDF reader I'll be using on my phone from now on. I love it. It's perfectly centered and the print is legible in horizontal mode. I was able to scroll through a list of command lines and enter the right text into another computer without having to mess with my phone screen at all.

Give it a try! It's free and there are no ads.

It's Friday again!

Today's free stuff is going to be a bit unusual for me. Those of you who know me are aware that I frequently complain about a lack of privacy and have been known to leave electronic devices at home because I don't want to be tracked. I don't have Facebook on my phone. My privacy rants are rather long. Yet, there's my smart phone.

That said, there is room for concern when it comes to parental concerns over their children on the internet on their devices. It's important to know how they are using their phones and tablets.

Sometimes Google gets it right. They developed Family Link to help parents monitor what's going on between kids and their devices. It helps them control the devices and assists parents in teaching their kids to develop healthy relationships with electronic media.

Parents can view their kid's screen time and manage their apps. You pick what they can download and what they can spend on in-app purchases. You can also hide specific apps that they are not to use. You can also pre-approve apps and view recommended apps for kids that come from reputable sources. You can set time limits and lock the device.
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Tracking is also something that Google's FamilyLink does. This one kind of made me wince because it's what I dislike the most. But, I understand a parent who wants to use it. It's a safety thing.

Here are four new wallpapers to grace your mobile phones. All are 720x1280 as I make them for myself and share because it makes me happy.

Open the gallery. On mobile, long press and save. On desktop, right click and save as, then transfer to your phone. Enjoy! 

More pretty stuff.

​On mobile, long press and save. On desktop, right click and save as, then transfer to your phone.

​Last week I said I was going to try making some mobile wallpapers that weren't so "girly". This week I tried. I think I succeeded to a certain extent! Hat-tip to Telegram for the repeating patterns. The colorful dragon has two versions because I wasn't sure which one was better. Enjoy!

​On mobile, long press and save. On desktop, right click and save as, then transfer to your phone.

A lot of the mobile wallpapers I make are feminine and girly. That's because I like girly, feminine things. I'll try to make some masculine or neutral mobiles, but I'm not promising anything. I make these for my own phone and I share them with you all for free. I have no idea where a lot of the backgrounds and elements come from. Some come from Telegram and KissPNG. Others are very old and things I've collected over the last 22 or so years. Seriously, there are seamless background tiles I recently rescued from an actual floppy disk. I think the pink stripe was one of them.

Meanwhile, enjoy these! They are all 720x1280. ​​Right click and save for PC (transfer to your phone). Long press and save for Android!

​Right click and save for PC (transfer to your phone). Long press and save for Android!