Saturday, December 19, 2020

6 tips for gifting money to family members this holiday season

 Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash


Money is a go-to for many people when it comes to gift-giving. It’s not the most personal gift you could give, but if you’re not sure what the recipient would like, you can spare yourself from guessing incorrectly and allow them to spend the money however they choose. 


However, the etiquette surrounding giving money as a present, especially during the holidays, is frustratingly unclear. Many families have experienced some tension or a dramatic outburst because someone didn’t understand the unwritten rules. To avoid offending a loved one this year, follow these tips when gifting money: 

Give What You Can Afford 

Of course, give according to your means. Don’t feel obligated to drop $100s on your nieces and nephews if you can’t afford it. Even if your siblings give your kids a significant amount of money, shrug off the pressure to match them. Generosity is proportionate to what you have, not the dollar amount itself. 


Better yet, plan a budget that accounts for all of your gift-giving each holiday season. Other gifts cost money anyway, so set aside a specific amount you can afford for your entire family. Write down how much you spend on physical or experiential items to get an idea of how much cash you can give to friends and relatives who won’t be receiving something else. 

Be Mindful of Your Relationship With the Recipient 

Cash is not an appropriate gift for everyone. As mentioned previously, it’s not particularly personal, so giving your significant other an envelope with $50 or a gift card to a department store probably won’t go over very well. Giving money from one high-earning professional adult to another could also be interpreted rudely; cash is usually for people who need it (a check would be preferable in this case) or children who are excited about the freedom it entails. 


So, your cousin’s child who just turned 10? Cash is perfect. Your cousin herself who’s not in any debt? If you’re close, then something more thoughtful would be better. 

Consider the Recipients’ Needs 

When gifting money to family members, consider what they will use it for. It may be that it’s none of your business, but a relative who is struggling with money would undoubtedly appreciate a bit of extra generosity (especially if you’re in a position to be generous). 


Giving loved ones financial aid during the holidays is where things get really tricky. Make sure your intended recipient is open to it, first — not everyone is willing to admit they need help — and give an amount you believe would make a legitimate difference (remember that gifts are tax free under $14,000 or $28,000 if you and your spouse give as a couple). You don’t have to give naked money, either; it’s possible to pay for expenses like college tuition or medical bills directly. It would also be kind to introduce your relative to a family finance app that helps them improve their overall situation


If you want to know how to send money anonymously because your family member might be embarrassed about needing assistance, then you can use a money transfer service like WesternUnion. You can also make a new email address your relative won’t recognize and send it to them via PayPal or Xoom, a Paypal service. 

Make Gift Cards Personal 

Gift cards are popular ways to give money as a present. Sometimes it’s nice not to have endless possibilities of how you could spend a gift — if you have a gift card to a bookstore, then you have to spend it at that bookstore. It’s a roundabout way of buying someone a book; they just get to decide which. Gift cards are a mid-way between the safety of giving someone cash and something more personal. 


On that note, make sure the gift card you buy someone is for a business they would gladly shop or dine at. Your loved one won’t appreciate a gift card to Starbucks if they hate coffee. Put the card in an envelope and include a note so your recipient doesn’t feel like you made the minimum effort. 

Be Polite If Not Everyone is Included 

If you’re a grandparent gifting money to grandchildren, then you need to treat them equally and give the same amount to each. If you are someone younger and don’t need to distribute your generosity equally amongst your relatives, then it’s wise to be polite about it — that is to say, discreet. Don’t flaunt your gift-giving to relatives who aren’t receiving anything from you, and ask them not to say anything. You’ll save yourself a lot of resentment. 

Be Creative With Presentation 

Because money is a generic gift (however practical), put a little effort into its presentation. Make dollar bills into origami shapes. Put cash inside balloons and make children pop them. Hide money at the center of a 3D puzzle. Freeze bills in a block of ice for a pun on “cold, hard cash.” The way you present your gift can add extra layers of thoughtfulness, intimacy, and fun. 


Gifting money to family members comes with a set of rules no one really understands, so just remember to be considerate, don’t feel pressured, and find a way to add a personal touch.



This article originally appeared on Earnin.



Saturday, November 21, 2020

Mirror displaying handphone screen on monitor and vice versa with WiFi connection using LetsView

If you are using an iPhone or Android phone, and you want to duplicate and show your handphone's screen on your computer monitor, laptop screen, or even smart TV screen, together with audio forwarding, you can easily do that with a free software called LetsView.

The beauty of LetsView is that it can also do the other way round, to duplicate your computer screen onto your handphone. This is pretty useful to make use of your handphone or tablet as a presentation control device, which you can control your computer screen (which can be in turn projected out to a large projector screen) by touching your handphone screen. You can perform drawing and highlighting with LetsView too.

LetsView can also perform computer to computer screen mirroring.

All you need is:

  • Download and install LetsView, free of charge, in both the screen mirroring source and destination devices. Supported systems including Windows, Android, Mac OS, iOS, and TV.
  • Connect both the devices into the same local network. The network connection can be using WiFi or LAN cable. It can work across VPN tunnel too.
  • Run LetsView in both devices.

Running LetsView app in smartphone is pretty straightforward. When the app is able to detect another device in the same local network running LetsView, you will eventually step into the following screen.

Phone Screen Mirroring means to cast your phone screen, together with phone audio, to a computer screen.

Computer Screen Mirroring means to cast your computer screen to the phone.

The screenshot below is captured from my computer monitor, showing the LetsView software displaying my phone screen on it.


When your phone screen is placed in landscape mode, the mirrored one on computer screen will also be displayed in landscape mode.

In your LetsView computer software, you also have the option for Phone Screen Mirroring and Computer Screen Mirroring. If you choose Computer Screen Mirroring, your computer screen, as well as your computer audio, will be mirrored to another computer running LetsView. The receiver will need to key in the PIN code as shown in LetsView of the source computer, for security purpose.



Before the computer screen starts to mirror to the receiver, a confirmation dialog will popup on the screen of the source computer, and you'll need to Allow it to complete the process.

The source computer can choose to either mirror the entire screen to the receiver, or just to mirror the screen of an application currently running on it.




Here is how the screen of the source computer will be shown in LetsView of the receiver computer.


LetsView is pretty useful when you want to work with your computer, while at the same time need to have a glance to your phone's screen from time to time. By showing the phone's screen on your monitor, it is very convenient to see what is on your phone's screen even without touching your phone.

This is also useful if you want to show both your computer screen and your phone screen to your audience in a presentation or live streaming session.

On the other hand, by mirroring your computer screen to your phone or tablet, you can transform your phone/tablet into a pretty powerful presenter device to remote control your computer screen. You can even write or draw on your phone's screen, and make it appears on the larger screen, by using LetsView whiteboard and drawing utility function.



Sunday, November 15, 2020

Fixed Xiaomi Redme AirDots left earbud no sound problem

When you put on both the earpieces of the Xiaomi Redme AirDots wireless earbuds, by right you just need to Bluetooth connect to the right earpiece (Redmi AirDots_R) and the left earpiece will connect itself automatically to give you a stereo audio experience.


After some times of usage, I noticed that my left earpiece no longer automatically connects to the right earpiece to form the stereo audio, and it has no sound unless I connect to Redmi AirDots_L, which will in turn causing the right earpiece to have no sound.

Here is the fix to solve the problem:

Step 1: Unpair the Bluetooth device Redmi AirDots_R (and Redmi AirDots_L, if any) in your handphone's setting, or any other device that paired with the Redme AirDots earbuds.

Step 2: Shutdown and reset both the earbuds together.

Long press the button of both the earbuds together for at least 15 seconds. You will see the red and white lights of both the earbuds flicker alternately and then go out. Very important - do not release yet! Continue your long-press, after a while, you will see the red and white lights of both the earbuds flicker alternately again, and then go out.

You need to hold your long-press until the red and white lights would not turn on again.

In my first few attempts, I failed this Step 2 and the problem still remain unfixed, because I thought it was done after one time of lights flickering and go out. It turned out that there will be second or even third round of lights flickering and go out cycle, before the reset process is totally done.

Step 3: Put back both the earbuds into the charging box. Wait until both of them enter the charging state (red light on). Let the charging to continue for at least 5 seconds.

Step 4: Take out both the earbuds from the charging box. The left earbud should now be trying to pair itself to the right earbud, and the right earbud should now be trying to seek for a pairing device.

Step 5: Go to your handphone's Bluetooth setting, search and pair with Redmi AirDots_R. Your problem should be fixed by now.


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