People Share The Surprisingly Cool Features Of Common Products
All products have a main intended purpose, but if you look a little deeper into their features or employ just enough creativity, you might be able to find extraneous uses for them that are just as useful. Here are the surprisingly cool features of common products that everyday people have discovered and shared online:
#1 Measuring Tape Facts
Measuring tapes have a few features that a lot of people don't seem to know about. The notch in the metal clip is so you can pop a nail into something and hook the tape onto the nail to measure on your own.
You can also hook it onto a nail, hold a pencil at a measurement you want, and use it to draw a circle.
That metal clip is also serrated so that you can use it to scrape a mark in something like wood when you don't have a pencil handy. Also, in relation to the metal clip, you may notice it's loose.
It's loose by exactly the thickness of the clip so that you get a correct measurement of whether you're measuring from inside or outside.
Finally, if you look at the side of the tape, you'll notice a measurement is written there, like 70 mm. This is the length of the measuring tape housing itself.
The reason for this is so that you can sit the tape against a window frame, for instance, and measure to the other end. Now just take the measurement and add the measurement on the housing.
Most people seem to just bend the tape into the corner, but that's just cumbersome and likely inaccurate.
#2 With The Press Of A Key
Microsoft Word has a reference section that will auto-format bibliographies and in-text citations with different styles. All you have to do is add the sources and it does everything else.
My middle school history teacher taught us this feature and pretty much forced us to use it to save herself headaches, and then my high school English teacher viewed it as CHEATING and wouldn’t let us use it...
Good to know just in case you decide to go through with this.
#3 Android Convenience
I only found out a couple of weeks ago that with most Android phones you can double-tap the button that shows your open apps to switch between the last two you used. Go into Settings > About Phone and find "Build Number."
Tap seven times, it will say "you are now a developer!" Developer options will now appear in your settings and provide you with more advanced options for your phone.
In particular, what I like in this menu is that can turn off (or on) auto system update, make sure your phone isn't always using mobile data even on wifi, and choose to edit your animations. I like to have my "animation scale" set to 0.
5x or off because it makes the phone seem faster.
#4 A Fire Safety Feature
Most toasters have little removable trays at the bottom that catch the crumbs that fall off the bread. It turns out that you can empty those periodically to keep from accidentally burning down your house.
Also, you can push the lever up to make the toast stand out of the toaster, so you don't have to stick your fingers in. I feel like lots of people don't realize it doesn't only push down.
