Apple

Congratulations on being born, or working hard, or whatever it was you did to deserve an iTunes gift card, reader! Now's the time to catch up on the first two seasons of Game of Thrones. Before you start typing out the lengthy letters and digits of the redeem code, there's an easier way to transfer the credit to your iTunes account: a quick flash of the gift card to your Mac's on-board camera does the trick.

First step: sign into your iTunes account. From there, click Redeem on the right side of the homepage under Quick Links. On the Redeem Code screen, select Use Camera. Peel or scratch off the code on the back of the gift card, then hold the card up to the camera. The code must be on a newer gift card within a black rectangular outline. Your camera (sorry, PC users, this only works on a Mac computer) will automatically read and process the code, turning the numbers seen on the screen from white to green with the wording "Your Apple ID has been credited with . . . "

There you go! The monetary credit is instantly uploaded to your Apple account, and you can go about your business seeing what treachery House Lannister is up to now.

Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 finally has a price tag and a release date. The white tablet, which was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress earlier this year, will be available at big-box retailers nationwide for $400 on April 11.

The Galaxy Note 8 joins the crowded handheld multimedia tablet space, alongside the iPad Mini, Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD, Nook HD, and others. We've already seen how the top four seven- to eight-inch tablets stack up against each other, but what about the newest device on the block? How does Samsung's newest Note compare to the bestselling iPad Mini?

At $400, Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 is a bit more expensive than Apple's handheld tablet ($329 for 16GB) — but not by much. So we compared the new Galaxy Note to the iPad Mini in four other major categories: size, display, memory, and camera.

See how Samsung's new Note fared after the break.

Whether it's to hide a Reddit addiction from your superior (it's OK, we've all been there) or quickly access a folder, shortcuts to clear all windows and show only the desktop can dramatically increase productivity — and save you from potentially hairy situations.

Check out these shortcuts to wipe away windows and clear the way for desktop access on Mac OS X, MacBooks/MacBook Pros, and Windows 8.

Show Desktop App

• Show Desktop is a free app for Mac users that will hide all applications and show the desktop when clicked. It can run in the menu bar or dock.

Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) Hotkeys

• Mission Control — In System Preferences by "Show Desktop," choose between a variety of F keys or mouse click + command shortcuts. Click on the "Hot Corners" button on the bottom left of Mission Control to enable show desktop. When you drag your mouse to the designated hot corner, the windows will clear, and you'll see your desktop. Moving the mouse back to that corner will make the windows reappear.

Mac OS X 10.7 and Earlier Hotkeys

• Exposé — If you can't find Mission Control in System Preferences, then look for Exposé. You will be able to set the key or trigger of your choice to show the desktop.

Learn how to get unwanted windows out of the way when you're using your Mac laptop or Windows 8 device after the break

It's the ultimate digital dilemma: you're happily browsing the web, listening to tunes, and composing a little email when all of a sudden your computer freezes up. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to fix a frozen computer and identify the problem.

As a good rule of thumb, always, always, always save frequently and back up your work. If the machine is sluggish — not frozen — then there are several quick fixes to speed it up. But if your Mac or PC starts to slow down and its hard drive revs up then stops altogether, follow our antifreeze recipe before forcing the computer to shut down (which should be a last resort, as you'll probably lose precious data!).

Here's what to do if your computer freezes . . .

. . . During Start Up

• If your Mac is delayed for a second or shows a question mark when booting up, try going to System Preferences > Startup Disk > and select a disk, if there isn't one already selected.
• Disconnect everything that's plugged into your computer. If your computer later starts up with no hubs, extension cords, USB, or Thunderbolt devices plugged in, one of those external devices was likely the culprit. If it is because of these plugged-in devices, then try installing the latest drivers for the device, or read its manual for troubleshooting steps.
• If the Apple logo does not appear after powering on the computer, then force shut the device down and, when it starting up again, hold down the option key until disk icons appear. Select one of the disks (for now, it doesn't matter). After the desktop is fully loaded, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk > and select a disk.

What to do when things get bad randomly or while running an application after the break.

The joy of Spring just came early: Apple dropped the price of the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, 13-inch MacBook Air, and SSD storage upgrade, and boosted the processing power of the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro.

The 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro with 2.5Ghz dropped $200, making it the same price as the 2.9GHz non-Retina version.

• 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro is $1,499 for 128GB of flash and 2.5GHz (originally $1,699).
• 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro is $1,699 for 256GB of flash and 2.6GHz (originally $1,999).
• This version previously had 2.5GHz, so you're saving money on a processor upgrade as well.

The MacBook Air is also getting more affordable. A 13-inch Air with 256GB of flash and 1.8GHz is now $1,399 (originally $1,499).

Upgrading your computer's storage capacity got cheaper, too. Increasing SSD storage to 512GB is now an additional $300 (originally $500) and to 768GB is $700 (originally $1,000).

The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina didn't see a price drop, but it did get more powerful for the same price. It now comes with a 2.4GHz quad-core processor, and the high-end model now comes with a 2.7GHz quad-core processor.

Just picked up a new Apple laptop for the original price? Don't worry — Apple has a 14-day return and refund policy.

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