Q&A: Covering Up Your Amazon Tracks

Q.

Can I erase things I recently looked at on Amazon.com so they don't show up on the home page when I return?

A.

You can remove certain products from your Amazon shopping trail, or turn off your browsing history on the site altogether. To remove specific items from the Recently Viewed section when you are logged into your Amazon page, click the “View or edit your browsing history” link under a row of products. On the resulting “Your Browsing History” page, find the product you want to remove and click the “Delete this item” link.

In the “Manage Your Browsing History” box on the left side of the page, you also have options to delete all the items on list at once or turn off your browsing history completely. You can also get to your browsing history settings by clicking the Your Account button at the top of the Amazon page and scrolling down to the Personalization section.

A version of this article appeared in print on 05/16/2013, on page B11 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Covering Up Tracks on Amazon.

Cellphone Case Helps to Alleviate Wi-Fi Woes

Absolute Technology says the Linkase can bolster Wi-Fi reception by 50 percent.

Cellphone cases are designed to provide protection, but Absolute Technology thinks they should offer something more: better Wi-Fi reception.

The company recently introduced Linkase, a $50 cellphone case for the iPhone 5 that uses electromagnetic waveguide technology to enhance the Wi-Fi signal.

When a smartphone is being used, the hand blocks the phone's internal antenna, restricting its capacity. Absolute claims that the sliding antenna in the Linkase resonates with the device's antenna to bolster Wi-Fi reception up to 50 percent.

The Wi-Fi network at my office is surprisingly weak, so I thought it would make a good testing ground. Arriving at the office on a Friday, I slipped the case on my iPhone and extended the antenna. After a moment, the bars on the Wi-Fi icon jumped to four from three. Internet radio worked well and posting photos on Facebook was quick, but when I tried streaming video, the service was spotty.

So I downloaded an app from Speedtest that checks the strength of Wi-Fi and cellular networks. The app recorded a significant improvement in the upload and download speeds of the network in the office, but nowhere near the 50 percent increase that Absolute boasts. Thinking heavy traffic during the work week might affect the results, I returned on a Sunday morning to try again, but the numbers were about the same.

The Linkase comes in five colors, but the simple design is a little bland when you consider other options on the market. I used a white case, but it started to turn ashy after picking up too many smudges. The case is made of a durable polycarbonate material that felt stiff and cheap and made it difficult to access the phone's buttons.

The Linkase does increase Wi-Fi reception, but it seems as though Absolute paid a lot of attention to the technology and not enough to the design.

A version of this article appeared in print on 05/16/2013, on page B11 of the NewYork edition with the headline: A Cellphone Case Designed to Help With Wi-Fi Reception.

Tip of the Week: Customize the Windows 8 Start Screen

For many people who upgrade from earlier versions of the system, Windows 8 and its colorful Start screen can be a little overwhelming. The Start screen, like the Start menu in older Windows editions, is meant to be the go-to place for all the computer's files and programs. Like the Start menu, the Start screen can be customized according to personal needs and tastes.

The Start screen's tiles - those colorful, clickable squares that serve as shortcuts to files, folders, programs, bookmarked Web sites, contacts, games and more - can be dragged around the screen into an order that makes more sense to the individual user. Tiles can also be sorted into new groups, resized or even removed so the most important things are more easily found. Microsoft has more tips and a demonstration video for customizing the Windows 8 Start screen on its site.

Kobo\'s New E-Reader Is Sharp, but Maybe Not Sharp Enough

Kobo has produced what it said was the highest-resolution e-ink reader, the Aura HD, which means it should have the best-looking screen, right?

This is why you can't buy devices based on specifications. In a side-by-side comparison, I still preferred the screen of the lower-resolution Amazon Kindle Paperwhite.

Not that Kobo isn't superior in many ways. For one, it allows for more customization. If you go into the menu for fonts, there is an advanced option that lets you adjust the darkness of the type, type size and sharpness of the type. It also offers a sizable selection of 24 fonts.

It also has a 1 GHz processor (faster than the Paperwhite), so you shouldn't get hung up flipping pages. It comes with 4 GB of built-in memory (that's double the Paperwhite). An additional 32 GB can be added with a Micro SD Card.

Like the Paperwhite, the Aura's adjustable back lighting makes it excellent for bedtime reading. It claims a battery life of up to two months.

But to me it has two significant disadvantages.

One is the shopping experience. I find it easier to shop on Amazon, which tends to bring in more mainstream authors and applicable titles in my searches than the Kobo store.

The other disadvantage is the look of its plain text. Even though the Paperwhite has lower resolution, for me, it's the easier screen to read. That's because the background color of the screen, whether using the back light or not, is a lighter color than that of the Aura. It makes the type appear clearer for me.

The Aura might be better for publications like magazines that have detailed drawings or photos. But if you want to use a reader for magazines, which are often filled with stunning photography, wouldn't you prefer a color tablet?

Finally, there is the cost. The Kobo Aura is $170. The most similar Paperwhite model, which like the Aura is Wi-Fi only, is $140.

A version of this article appeared in print on 05/16/2013, on page B11 of the NewYork edition with the headline: New E-Reader's Display Allows for Customized Fonts.

Q&A: Closing (or Merging) Two LinkedIn Accounts

Q.

I have two LinkedIn accounts. How do I delete the older one so people stop sending me connection requests to that account?

A.

You can close a LinkedIn account by logging into it, clicking your name at the top of the page and choosing Settings from the menu. At the bottom of the Settings page, click the Account tab and under “Helpful Links,” click “Close your account.” Once you go through the steps and delete the account, you will not be able to see any contacts or other information you added to that profile.

If you want to keep the contact details of people you connected with from that LinkedIn account, copy the information before you close the old account. If you have not already connected with the same people from your newer LinkedIn account, you may need to send new invitations to connect again. LinkedIn's help center also has instructions for dealing with duplicate accounts and adding the e-mail address associated with an old account to a newer one.

Although it currently does not transfer personal data, (like work experience or recommendations) between two different accounts, LinkedIn says it can help transfer all the connections from one account to another. To do so, contact LinkedIn and provide the e-mail addresses associated with both accounts - then tell the company which account you want to keep using.

App Smart Extra: Apps for Editing Photos

This week in my App Smart column, I wrote about some of the smartphone apps that have brought powerful photo manipulation techniques to your pocket. This is the kind of image trickery that used to be possible only on a desktop computer running Photoshop.

Many of these photo manipulation apps offer a range of effects, and you can “layer” effects on top of each other. But there are many simpler apps that can quickly transform basic smartphone photos into better images, or photos with an arty angle.

An example is Elasticam, a $2 iOS app that lets you tweak and twist your photos as if they were on a sheet of plastic. This can produce some entertaining funhouse mirror effects. The app's easy controls can be used to pull a photo of someone's face toward the nose, or add a crazy swirling spiral to someone's ears, for example. Delicate touches can also make your legs look a little slimmer.

Facebox, for Android, is similar - although I did manage to crash it while testing it.

Percolator ($2 for iOS) turns your photos into a pile of colored bubbles. Close up, the altered image looks like one of those cards your optometrist uses to test for color-blindness, but from a bit farther away it looks like an arty representation of the original photo. You can adjust many settings to get the effect you want from this delightfully quirky app, which calls the process of adjusting your image “grinding” it up. It's more for entertainment than serious photo editing.

Dash of Color is a surprisingly powerful app that can add dramatic effect to a photo. First, it turns your color image into black and white. Then you then carefully dab at the screen to restore color to parts of the image. It's free for Android and iOS.

Apps like these turn otherwise ordinary smartphone snaps into something you may like to share with your friends over Facebook or even print out and hang on your wall. Some of them also perform some standard photo editing, like removing red-eye from photos. Others have some brain-twisting effects like changing your eye color (the free iOS app Magic Eye Color Effect).

Quick Call

TV Guide has given its free Android app a big overhaul. The app has a New Tonight, Trending feature so you can see what other people are watching, and it has more social networking so you can share your TV choices with the world.

Sunday Breakfast Menu, May 19

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

The White House battled several controversies last week, facing questions not only about the September attack in Benghazi, Libya, but also about the targeted scrutiny of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service and the seizure of phone records from The Associated Press by the Justice Department.

Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to President Obama, will represent the administration on the five major Sunday shows, discussing the handling of the scandals that have consumed Washington for days.

In addition to Mr. Pfeiffer, NBC’s “Meet the Press” will feature Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, along with Representative Dave Camp of Michigan, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which held a hearing on the I.R.S. scandal Friday. Representative Xavier Becerra, Democrat of California, will join this week’s roundtable discussion, and Donald H. Rumsfeld, former defense secretary, will appear on the program to talk about the Obama administration’s approach to foreign policy, as well as his new book, “Rumsfeld’s Rules.”

“Fox News Sunday” will have Mr. Pfeiffer and Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin and a member of the Ways and Means Committee.

Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas; Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah; and Gary Pruitt, the president and chief executive of The A.P., will appear on CBS’s “Face the Nation” along with Mr. Pfeiffer to talk about the controversies over the I.R.S., Benghazi and The A.P.

Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, will join Mr. Pfeiffer on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

To get the Congressional perspective on the scandals, ABC’s “This Week” talks to Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey; Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio; Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York; and Representative Tom Price, Republican of Georgia, in addition to Mr. Pfeiffer.

Jacob J. Lew, the Treasury secretary, and Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, appeared on Bloomberg’s “Political Capital” on Friday. Repeats of the program air throughout the weekend.

Two powerful committee chairmen â€" Senator Max Baucus of Montana, who heads the Finance Committee, and Mr. Camp of Ways and Means â€" will join Bloomberg’s “Capitol Gains” at noon Eastern to talk about the investigation into the I.R.S.

Two Florida Republicans, Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, will join Univision’s “Al Punto” at 10 a.m. Eastern, to discuss the scandals. Also on the program will be Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, who will share his thoughts from the front line on how the administration has handled the backlash.

And Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee, will talk about tackling the debt on C-Span’s “Newsmakers.”

The Weekend Word: Moving On

Today’s Times

• Struggling to find his footing after one of the most turbulent weeks in office, President Obama’s aides have ordered the White House staff to spend no more than 10 percent of their time on controversies, Mark Landler and Michael D. Shear report. Democratic strategists are now working on a plan to intensify the administration’s focus on revamping immigration laws, reaching a budget deal and implementing the new health care legislation.

• Though cornered by a number of controversies that have put him under a white-hot spotlight, Jay Carney, a former reporter turned White House press secretary, says “it has been a good week,” Jennifer Steinhauer writes.

• Republican lawmakers are looking to broaden the recent Internal Revenue Service controversy into an array of tax malfeasance and “intimidation tactics” that range from the clearly questionable to the seemingly specious, Jonathan Weisman and Jeremy W. Peters report.

Weekly Addresses

• President Obama reflected on visits with everyday people across the country in this week’s address, saying they “make me optimistic about where we’re headed as a nation.” That’s why, he said, he likes to get out of the “Washington echo chamber,” because politics aren’t always focused on the same things that Main Street Americans are. Though admitting that unemployment is still higher than he would like and that corporate profits have continued to skyrocket, he maintained that his primary focus is on the priorities of the people outside the Beltway. “Especially after all we’ve been through the past several years,” he said. “And that should encourage us to work even harder on the issues that matter to you.”

• Representative Andy Harris of Maryland delivered this week’s Republican address, hoping to intertwine the Internal Revenue Service controversy with the implementation of the health care law. “Now just think about the fact that it’s the I.R.S. that will be responsible for enforcing many of these regulations. If we’ve learned anything this week, it’s that the I.R.S. needs less power, not more,” he said. “As a matter of fact, it turns out that the I.R.S. official who oversaw the operation that’s under scrutiny for targeting conservatives is now in charge of the I.R.S.’s Obamacare office. You can’t make this stuff up.”

Happenings in Washington

• Dozens of women in red hats and flamboyant purple outfits, known as the Red Hat Society, will welcome World War II veterans arriving on two Honor Flights at Reagan National Airport on Saturday.