Auto Recall

Hyundai Issues Recall Of Elantra, Sonata Vehicles

by Kathryn Schroeder



Hyundai has issued a recall for some of its Elantra and Sonata vehicles.

Approximately 110 of Hyundai's 2017 Elantra sedans, manufactured between April 15 and Sept. 13, 2016, and Sonata sedans, manufactured between May 27 and Sept. 16, 2016, affected by the car manufacturer's recall, according to Cars.com.

The recall is due to the end seal for the driver's front airbag inflator not being properly installed, which can result in reduced inflation of the airbag and increase the risk of injury in a crash. When a vehicle is turned in to a Hyundai dealer, it will replace the driver's front airbag module for free.

Beginning February 13, owners of affected Elantra and Sonata vehicles will receive a notice from Hyundai.

In 2015, Hyundai also issued a recall for an airbag problem, that time for the Accent model. The issue was that the occupant-detection system wasn't always able to determine whether a child-restraint seat was in the front passenger seat, Edmunds reported. The problem was apparent in very cold temperatures.

In September 2016, Hyundai issued a recall of some 2016 Tucson models because of a software issue that could disable acceleration, according to Auto Guide. That recall affected 41,000 vehicles in the United States built between May 20, 2015 and May 31, 2016, and 7,049 vehicles in Canada.

The recall was made because a faulty transmission control module could malfunction in warm weather.

"In higher ambient temperatures and specific operating conditions, the transmission clutch application logic can result in a delayed engagement when accelerating from a stop," documents from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that were obtained by Auto Guide said. "If the accelerator pedal is steadily depressed for approximately 1.5 to 2 seconds, the vehicle will begin to accelerate and normal driving is resumed. However, if the accelerator pedal is repeatedly cycled, the vehicle will not accelerate."

There were no reports made to Hyundai of accidents or injuries occurring because of the issue. Hyundai dealers can reprogram the transmission's computer to fix the problem.

When Should a Photo be Black n White

How to Decide When a Photo Should Be

 Black and White

When you first start getting into photography, it’s very easy to fall into a habit of converting almost every image you take to black and white. I know I did it.

The thing is, while black and white images can look classy or cool, they’re not always strong images. Removing all the color can take away from a photo if you don’t do it right.

So with that in mind, let’s look at how to take good black and white photos.

What Makes a Good Black and White Photo?

Unless you suffer from a really rare eye condition, you don’t see the world in black and white. Colors are a huge part of how our vision works, and are really important in how we see and interpret different things.

When you remove the color from an image, you’re separating it from the reality. A color photo is, at least superficially, a representation of a scene that existed, but a black and white photo can only ever be an interpretation of something. It can never show something as it actually was, but it can be a really good way to show how you felt about something. The best black and white images make that emotion very clear.

In a black and white image you’re left with two things: tone and texture. The tones are the shadows and highlights in the image. The texture is all the little variances between the tones. These are what make a black and white image work. Not every photo will make a good black and white image; if the tones and textures aren’t there, it’ll just look boring. The photo below looks awesome in color but drab in black and white.

If you look at the image of the mountain above, you can see all the tones and textures. You have the bright spots where the setting sun is hitting the snow, the dark rocks, and the smooth snow and sky. Everything plays well together.

The Technical Details

Unless you’re shooting film, black and white conversions are best done in post-processing. Most DSLRs and mirrorless cameras have a black and white mode, but all that does is take a color photo and desaturate it in the preview. The color information is still there if you want it.

When you’re shooting images that you think you’ll want to convert to black and white, you need to give yourself as much room to play in post-processing as possible. This means you need to shoot RAW.

One big mistake new photographers make is that they shoot for the exposure they want, rather than one that gives them the best options later. Even if you know you want a dark, moody black and white image, you shouldn’t shoot it that way. You should shoot a well exposed image and then use Photoshop (or any other image editing app) to make it dark and moody.

Look at the photo above. That’s what the image below looked like straight out of camera. I knew I wanted a deep, dark, moody image but if I’d shot it that way, I probably would have messed up the exposure and ended up with an unusable image. By shooting a neutral exposure, I was able to get the shot I wanted.

To get an accurate exposure, it’s often easiest to let the camera do some of the work. Put it into aperture priority mode, set your aperture and ISO, and take a test shot. If the test shot looks underexposed or overexposed, adjust the exposure compensation and take another. Once your exposure looks relatively neutral, you’re good to go.

Just make sure to reset the exposure every time you change location or lighting situation. There’s nothing more annoying than setting your camera up perfectly for one set of pictures but forgetting to change it before you take the next.

Other Tips and Tricks

If you’ve got a relatively neutral exposure to work with and an image that you think will look good in black and white, all that’s left to do is convert it to black and white in Photoshop or or your favorite image editor.

You should never just desaturate your image or apply a random black and white filter in Instagram. You should always use an app like Photoshop or Lightroom that lets you control how each color is converted to grey. This control is what will let you make strong images. If you really want a simple, filter-based option, try Silver Effex Pro; it’s free.

Black and white images can take a lot more contrast than color images. In a color image, extreme highlights and shadows make a photo look surreal. In a black and white image, contrast just increases the difference between the tones and makes everything stand out more.

With that said, don’t add too much contrast. Pay particular attention to your shadows. Texture is as important as tones. Don’t add so much contrast that all the small tonal variations disappear. Look at the tree in the image below; even in the darkest shadows there’s still some texture. This was a very deliberate decision. It would have been very easy to accidentally crush it to black.

Black and white images are associated with very specific emotions. Things like calmness and tranquility, nostalgia and timelessness, class and elegance. This doesn’t mean your images have to always fit one of those emotions, but you just need to be aware of them. Some of the best black and white images contrast the subject with how people normally see black and white images.

Portraits, landscapes and any abstract sort of photo tend to be the best images for black and white conversions (though they can be great in color too, obviously). When it comes to street photos, travel photos, and anything more documentary in style, color is usually a better bet. Converting the wrong images to black and white is a mistake I’ve made more than once.

Making the viewer feel a certain way is the best reason to convert to black and white, but you can also do it simply to remove distractions. In a black and white image, a jarring, color-filled background can be reduced to a light grey.

Here’s a piece of advice I picked up from David DuChemin: if color doesn’t add anything to the image, you should convert it to black and white. It’s something I’m not sure I agree with, but there is a logic to it. To me, color will always tie your images to reality. However, it is worth converting any image where color isn’t a major part of the photo to black and white. Not only will it let you practice converting images, but it will give you a deeper understanding of the effects a black and white conversion can have. It won’t always make for a stronger image, but the process will make you a better photographer.

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I love black and white photography. I spent a year shooting it almost exclusively. During that year I made a lot of mistakes by converting the wrong images or the right images badly. Now though, I’ve a much deeper understanding of when, why and how to convert an image to black and white. Hopefully, you do to.

Two Stories About Prayer

Two Stories About Prayer

by Jim Daly

On this, the 60th annual observance of the National Day of Prayer, I’d like to share two stories with you that accentuate and highlight the necessity of daily conversation with God.

Both of them involve little children, who are always some of life’s best teachers.

As little Deborah sat down to eat dinner with her parents she instinctively reached for her fork. “Please hold on,” her father replied. “We haven’t said grace yet.”  This exasperated the girl, who was tired and hungry. “Daddy,” she said with a sigh, “why can’t we just pray once a week? Why do we have to ask for our daily bread every day?”

Her older brother, wiser and eager to set her straight, weighed in before the dad could answer. “You don’t think we want stale bread, do you?” he said.

Inadvertently, that fellow was confirming the importance of regular prayer.

Then there is four-year-old Melinda. Her favorite story was “The Three Little Pigs” which she asked her mom or dad to read every single night before bed. They gladly obliged, but after several months, her father got a bright idea. He recorded the story on tape and told her to simply press “play” before jumping under the covers.  She resisted.

“But, honey,” he told her, “you can still hear it.”

“Yes,” she replied, “but I can’t sit in its lap.”

Amazingly, the Creator of the Universe is eager to spend time with you and with me, but the only way we can experience conversation and communion with Him is through personal and corporate prayer.

All of us at Focus on the Family extend our heartfelt thanks to the National Day of Prayer Task Force, led once again by the inspiring Mrs. Shirley Dobson, wife of our founder, Dr. James Dobson. Under her direction and counsel, thousands of prayer events will be occurring all throughout the United States today.  We’ll be gathering here at Focus and joined by Dr. Jim Garlow, pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in Southern California.

Today is a special celebration, but God’s bread is fresh every day and the Lord’s arms are open wide in welcome.

Disable/Edit Safari's AutoFill

How to Disable and Edit Safari’s AutoFill on macOS and iOS

Safari’s AutoFill will automatically complete information for contacts, passwords, credit cards and more. Today we’re going to discuss how to turn off or edit those AutoFill entries on macOS and iOS.

Editing or Disabling AutoFill on Safari for macOS

Whenever any form data is autofilled, Safari highlights them in yellow.

To turn off any or all AutoFill forms in Safari on macOS, first open Safari’s preferences from the Safari menu or press Command+, on your keyboard.

In Safari’s preferences, click the AutoFill tab You’ll see a list of the things Safari can autofill.

Uncheck any items you don’t want Safari autofilling, or click “Edit” next to any of the four items to change the actual data Safari has saved. This includes:

• Using info from my contacts: When you start typing any personal information about you, or any other person in your Contacts, into a form (name, address, phone number, etc.), Safari will autofill the blanks.
• User names and passwords: Clicking “Edit” will simply switch to the Passwords tab, which will let you amend any of your login information contained therein.
• Credit cards: This will open a credit card dialog allowing you add or remove payment information. Double-click on an entry to update a credit card’s information including the cardholder’s name, card number, and expiration date. Before you can edit any sensitive data, you will have to enter your system password.
• Other forms: Click the other forms “Edit” button to edit or remove any or all form data you have saved for a particular website. This is particularly useful if you frequently visit a website with forms you need to fill in time after time with the same information.

Editing or Disabling AutoFill on Safari for iOS

Safari on iOS can also fill in form data automatically. To access the AutoFill settings on iOS, open the Settings and tap “Safari”.

Next, scroll down to the General options and tap “AutoFill”.

In iOS, the options are slightly different than on macOS. You can still turn off your contact information, names and passwords, and credit cards, but there is no option for other forms.

The My Info option will let you choose another contact to use as your device’s main contact, or again, you can edit your own contact information so it is up to date.

You can also view, add, remove, and edit any saved credit cards.

You may have noticed, in the previous screenshot, that there isn’t any obvious way to edit saved login information. To fix any stored usernames and passwords, tap back to the Safari settings, and then tap “Passwords” right above the AutoFill settings.

Keep in mind that AutoFill will automatically populate any forms on your devices, regardless of who is using them. Thus, you should only lend your devices to people you trust, or simply turn off AutoFill if someone else is going to be using your Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

One final note: user login details and credit cards are stored in your iCloud Keychain (unless they’re not set up to sync to iCloud), so when you add, delete, or edit either of these items on any one device connected to your iCloud account, the information will be populated to your other devices.

That’s really all there is to it. Safari’s AutoFill settings are simple enough to understand. Now, if you no longer want certain information to automatically populate forms, you can turn it off. Similarly, if the information is incorrect, you can fix it.

Manage Apps & Devices

How to Manage Apps and Devices Signed into Your Google Account from Android

Google allows users to sign into non-Google websites, applications, and devices with their Gmail account. This saves time during the account creation process, and makes joining new services quick and easy. But when you no longer use said service or app, it’s a good idea to revoke its access to your Google account.

You can do this in your Google account’s Sign-in & Security page from a computer, but if you’re an Android user, there’s an even easier way. Since Google includes its own settings app on Android that pertains specifically to your account, you can quickly manage apps and devices that are currently signed into your Google account.

The first thing you’ll need to do is jump into your Android device’s Settings. Pull down the notification shade and tap the cog icon. Then, scroll down until you see the “Google” entry. It may be named slightly differently—it’s called “Google Services” on the LG G5, for example.



I’m using a Google Pixel XL for this tutorial, but the process should be the same on most other devices. The main exception here is the Samsung Galaxy S7 series, where Google Settings is a well-hidden option.

Once you’ve made your way into Google Settings, scroll down to the “Connected Apps” entry in the Services section. This is what you’re looking for, so go ahead and tap in.



By default, this section will show you all currently signed-in apps and devices. It’s worth noting that this doesn’t mean Android devices, bur rather the apps on your PCs, or web sites you occasionally visit in your browser. You can tap on the “All apps & devices” header to select more specific options, like just apps that are currently using your Google sign-in or Google Fit apps and devices.



Before we go any further, however, I want to clear up a bit of confusion. If you have a lot of signed-in services using your Google account, you may be confused as to why the “All apps & devices” section is significantly larger than the “Apps with Google Sign-in” section. Basically, the latter section is specifically for apps that use the Google+ Sign-in protocol, not just things that are currently signed in with your Google account. Both are things you’ll want to monitor. It’s confusing, I know.

With that out of the way, you can start picking through your stuff and removing account access to anything you no longer use. Tapping on an entry will display more information about what that app or service has access to. For example, ES File Explorer has access to the Google Drive API, Drive metadata API, Drive Per-File API, and my Profile Data. Since this is an app I no longer use (or trust), I want to disallow its access to those things.



And that’s the easy part: just tap the “Disconnect” button. A popup will appear, asking you to confirm your decision to disconnect the app from Google. Tap “Disconnect.” Poof! It’s gone.

That’s pretty much how it’s going to work across the board, regardless of whether you’re looking at all apps, apps that are using the Google+ sign-in, or apps with access to your Google Fit data—they’re all still accessing your Google account, and removing them is as simple as tapping a button. Do that for every app you want to remove, and you’ll be good. You may want to check back periodically to make sure this list stays cleaned up, too.

Turn Off iMessage Handwriting

How to Turn Off the Handwriting Interface in iMessage

If you use your iOS device in landscape mode a lot, you’ve likely noticed that it swaps your keyboard with the handwriting interface. Don’t worry! You don’t have to give up on widescreen texting, you just have to set a simple toggle.

Introduced with much fanfare upon the release of iOS 10, the iMessage handwriting feature is a messaging novelty that allows you to send “hand written” messages to people in place of regular texts or emoji.

It’s a pretty safe bet that most of your texts aren’t handwritten messages, though. If you frequently use iMessage while your device is in landscape orientation, you’ll quickly discover that rotating the device into landscape while using iMessage kicks you directly into handwriting interface. More than a few people we’ve talked to since the release of iOS 10 have simply resigned themselves to keeping their devices in portrait orientation to avoid the annoyance.

Fortunately, there’s a simple fix that doesn’t even require a trip into the settings menu. The next time you rotate your device into landscape orientation while using iMessage, simply look for the keyboard icon in the lower right corner, as seen below. Tap the keyboard icon to switch from the handwriting interface to the normal iOS keyboard.



iOS will remember this change, and your new default landscape orientation interface in iMessage will be the keyboard instead of the handwriting interface (and the selection will persist across device reboots). Should you wish to use the handwriting interface in the future, just tap the handwriting icon, seen in the screenshot below.



That’s all there is too it—a simple toggle and the days of your entire screen getting whited out by the enormous and irritating handwriting interface are gone.

Auto Type a Period w/Double Space

How to Automatically Type a Period with a Double Space in Windows

Most smartphones have a feature in which you can double tap the spacebar to insert a period. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could do that on your Windows PC too? We’ll show you how you can.

We’re going to create an AutoHotkey script to insert a period followed by a space when you double tap on the space bar. AutoHotkey is a free, open-source program that allows you to automate repetitive tasks in Windows. It uses a scripting language that was originally designed to create keyboard shortcuts, or hotkeys, but it evolved into a scripting language that allows you to automate almost anything—no programming knowledge required.

If you’re curious, check out our beginner’s guide to AutoHotkey to learn more about it. But even if you’ve never used it before, you should be able to follow the steps below easily.

Download AutoHotkey, install it using the Express Installation, and restart your PC. Then, right-click on any empty area of the desktop and go to New > AutoHotkey Script.



A file with the extension .ahk is created on your desktop. Rename the file, making sure to keep the .ahk extension. You can also move it wherever you want on your PC—put it in a safe place, because you’ll need to keep the script as long as you want this feature.

Then, right-click on the file and select “Edit Script” from the popup menu.



We will use what’s called a “hotstring” to replace two spaces with a period followed by a space. This will work in any program, any time you type two spaces.

When you select Edit Script, the script file you created opens in the default text editor, which in our case is Notepad. There are some lines automatically added to the beginning of the file. Put the cursor at the end and add the following text on a new line. You can just copy and paste the text.

:*:  ::{NumpadDot}{space}

Here’s what this line does:

• The asterisk (*) between the first pair of colons is an option that indicates an ending character is not required. This means that as soon as you type two spaces, they will be replaced by a period followed by a space.
• There are two spaces between the next pair of colons. This indicates what you type to insert the replacement text.
• The pair of colons after the two spaces is just a divider between the activating action (the two spaces) and what the action executes (replacing the two spaces with a period and a space).
• The items in brackets after the last colon are the characters that will replace the two spaces.

Press Ctrl+S to save the script file and then click the “X” button in the upper-right corner of the window to close the text editor.



Double-click on the script file to run the script.



Now, in any program where you can type text, such as text editors, word processors, and browsers, you can double-tap the space bar to type a period and a space. You may have to test the speed at which you need to double-tap the space bar for this to work.



You can edit the script at any time by right-clicking on the script file and selecting Edit Script, just like when you first created the script. You can also edit the script by right-clicking the AutoHotkey icon in the system tray and selecting “Edit This Script” from the popup menu. If you change the script, or add additional actions to it, use the “Reload This Script” option on the popup menu on the system tray icon to run the revised script without having to exit and re-run the script.



 If you want your AutoHotkey script to run automatically when Windows starts, you can create a shortcut and put that shortcut in the Startup folder. Right-click on the .ahk script file and select “Create shortcut” from the popup menu.



Select the new shortcut and press Ctrl+C to copy it.



Press Windows+R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box, type shell:startup in the Open box, and click “OK” to open the Startup folder.

NOTE: When you add a shortcut to the shell:startup folder, it will only launch when you are logged into the current account. If you want the shortcut to launch whenever any user logs in, type shell:common startup in the Open box on the Run dialog box.



Press Ctrl+V to paste the shortcut into the Startup folder. Now, your AutoHotkey script will always run when Windows starts and you’ll be able to type two spaces to insert a period followed by a space.



Again, to learn more about using scripts in Windows with AutoHotkey, read our beginner’s guide to using an AutoHotkey script.

Clean Up Avira's Software

How to Get Rid of Avira’s Notifications, Sounds, and Bundled Software

Avira is one of the less intrusive antivirus programs for Windows (that’s why we recommend it), but you’ll still get occasional ads for Avira’s pro antivirus, VPN, and system speedup software. You can disable these notification and quiet Avira down as much as you like.

The following steps were performed with Avira’s Free Security Suite. The paid versions of Avira should be similar.

What You Can’t Disable

You can disable a lot of stuff, but the free version of Avira is a bit more limited. Even after going through the process described below, you’ll still get an advertisement for the paid version of Avira Pro about once a day. That’s just the price you pay for using the free security suite.

Avira will also display an advertisement encouraging you to sign up for its Avira Phantom VPN service whenever you connect to an open Wi-Fi network. You can’t disable this, even by uninstalling the Avira Phantom VPN software.

However, if you’re willing to put up with those rather occasional ads, you can disable almost everything else using these instructions.

Get Rid of Avira Phantom VPN and System Speedup

Avira’s Phantom VPN and System Speed-Up tools aren’t part of the Avira antivirus software itself, but are installed alongside it. If you just have the free version, these tools won’t actually do much unless you pay for the “Pro” version. To add insult to injury, Avira’s Free System Speedup tool won’t even let you “Enable silent mode” without paying for the Pro version.



To permanently stop these tools from displaying notifications and prevent them from harassing you for money, we recommend heading to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and uninstalling both the “Avira Phantom VPN” and “Avira System Speedup” tools.

If you want a virtual private network service, try one of our recommended VPNs rather than relying on Avira’s. You probably don’t need a system cleanup tool, but if you must, try the popular CCleaner tool.

Get Rid of Avira’s Browser Extensions

Avira tries to install browser extensions in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Modern versions of Chrome and Firefox won’t allow applications to install extensions without your permission, but you may have agreed to install the extension anyway.

We recommend not using your antivirus’s browser extension, as they can make you less safe online. If you did install the browser extension, you should uninstall it now.

In Chrome, click the menu and select More Tools > Extensions. Click the trash can icon next to Avira Browser Safety to remove it.

In Firefox, click the menu button and select “Add-ons”. Click the “Remove” button to the right of Avira Browser Safety on the Extensions tab.

Disable Avira’s Sound Alerts

To access Avira’s other options, locate the Avira icon in your notification area, right-click it, and select “Manage Antivirus”. The Avira icon may be hidden behind the up arrow to the left of your system tray icons.



In the Avira Antivirus window, click Extras > Configuration.



To disable notification sounds, click General > Acoustic Alerts in the configuration window. Select the “No warning” option here.

Disable Avira’s Warnings and Notes

Avira also displays a variety of notices, warnings, and notes. For example, it can display a notice if the virus definition file is update, if something uses a dial-up connection, if an update succeeds, if an update fails, if an update starts or isn’t necessary, or if your host file changes.

To control which alerts appear, head to General > Warnings. Uncheck the alerts you don’t want to see.



Once you’re done, you should have a much quieter computer.