As a kid, I used to absorb hints and cheat codes for the latest Nintendo games through a sort of osmosis. On playgrounds or at friends' houses, we'd trade these bits of wisdom as if they were arcane secrets—even though most of us had simply picked them up by reading Nintendo Power.

If a grown-up version of this phenomenon exists, it might be the way we talk about unusual keyboard shortcuts. Consider, for instance, this Twitter post from indie game publisher Mike Rose, who recently stumbled upon a better way to delete words while typing: Instead of repeatedly tapping Backspace, just hold Ctrl and press Backspace once to erase the entire word. (On a Mac, you'd press Ctrl-Delete or Alt-Delete instead.)

Upon reading this, I was aghast to have gone so long without knowing it myself, and judging by the amount of times Rose's tweet was shared, apparently so were lots of other folks. Even better, people started chiming in with their own favorite shortcuts, interspersed among the many astonished replies to Rose's initial post. Some highlights:

• Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on a Mac) and press the left or right arrows to move the cursor word-by-word.
• Hold Shift with the above trick to highlight entire words, or use the up and down arrows to highlight entire lines.
• Delete text to the right of your cursor by pressing Del instead of Backspace (or Function-Del on a Mac).
• Hold Ctrl or Cmd with the above trick to delete the whole word in front of the cursor.
• If you're in a web browser, press Ctrl-T for a new tab, Ctrl-W to close a tab, or Ctrl-Shift-T to reopen whatever tab you just closed. (On a Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl.)

Why do these shortcuts feel—for most of us, at least—so revelatory? Probably because there's no easy way to learn them. I imagine that a lot of us had basic shortcuts drilled into our heads when were learning to use computers: Copying and pasting (Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V), undoing and redoing (Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-Y), maybe even finding text in a page (Ctrl-F) and selecting all text (Ctrl-A). For more obscure shortcuts, you might also figure them out by selecting the corresponding actions through a program's menu bar, where they might have shortcuts listed alongside them.

But in a lot of cases, useful keyboard shortcuts are completely hidden from view, so the only way to learn them is to look through support documentation or go hunting for help on the web. Take too much time doing that, and it kind of defeats the purpose of using shortcuts in the first place.

Fortunately, there are faster and easier ways to learn keyboard shortcuts that don't involve random discovery on Twitter. My favorite form involves overlays that you can conjure at any time with a single keystroke, but otherwise never get in your way:

• While using Google services such as Gmail or Calendar, press Shift and / (that is, the question mark key) to pop up a list of shortcuts.
• On an iPad with a keyboard, press and hold Cmd to see a list of shortcuts for whatever app you're in.
• On a Mac, you can also press and hold Cmd to see relevant shortcuts by installing the free CheatSheet app.
• Microsoft has a Windows program called PowerToys (pictured above) that lets you press and hold the Windows key to see all of its shortcuts. Select PowerToysSetup.msi from this page to install it.
• On a Chromebook, press Ctrl, Alt, and / to see all keyboard shortcuts.

And just for fun, here's one more shortcut you can use while typing: Press the Windows and semicolon keys (or Cmd, Ctrl, and Spacebar on a Mac) to bring up an emoji keyboard. 👍
 

As someone who's got a few Google Assistant devices around the house (including a Google Home speaker, a Google Home Mini, and a Lenovo Smart Display), I've always been frustrated by the inability to easily move music between speakers.

Now, you can finally do so with voice commands. If you're listening to music on a Google Assistant device, just say, "Hey Google, move to [name of the other speaker]," and playback will switch to the other device accordingly. You can also say "play on all speakers," and if you've created any speaker groups in the Google Home app, you can move playback to any of those groups as well.

All we need now is a "stop playing on just this speaker" command and we'll really be in business.
 

MacOS upgrade advice: Last week, Apple released MacOS Catalina as a free upgrade for eligible computers. The big changes include dedicated apps for Apple Music, Podcasts, and TV (all three of which collectively replace iTunes), the ability plug in an iPad as a secondary Mac display (with Apple Pencil support for drawing in apps like Photoshop), and a new Find My app that can update a lost Mac's location even if it's asleep and offline (using passive Bluetooth connections from any iPhones that are nearby). The update also lets iPad app developers easily port their software to MacOS, potentially leading to a new wave of Mac apps.

Still, this isn't the kind of upgrade you should rush into. With Catalina, Apple is dropping support for 32-bit software, so apps that aren't properly optimized will stop working. Apple will show you a list of recently-used 32-bit apps before upgrading, but you can also see a full list with the free Go64 app. Meanwhile, Apple's own Aperture photo editing software will still cease to function in Catalina, and you may have to convert some iMovie or Final Cut files to make sure they keep working. Adobe has also warned of compatibility issues with Photoshop Classic and Lightroom Classic, and says anyone who's using those versions should hold off on upgrading. If you do decide to make the jump, take a few minutes to make sure you won't lose access to anything essential.

Microsoft's new Surfaces: Microsoft has refreshed its fancy Surface PC line with new tablets and laptops. The Surface Pro 7 is a minor update over the previous version, with a 10th-generation Intel Core processor that Microsoft says is twice as fast, and it has a USB-C port instead of a DisplayPort output. The design is unchanged, so it's still a fairly chunky tablet with a 12.3-inch screen and a kickstand built into the backside. The Surface Pro alone starts at $750, and a keyboard cover that turns it into a laptop costs another $160, though they're often on sale for less.

Microsoft's also pushing a variant called the Surface Pro X, with a larger 13-inch screen and longer battery life in a thinner design. Instead of an Intel chip, it's using a souped-up mobile processor from Qualcomm, and it has integrated LTE if you're willing to pay for a data plan. This processor, however, requires a special version of Windows that can create some software compatibility issues, and the hardware is pricier than the Surface Pro 7, starting at $1,000 before you add the keyboard cover.

If you just want a more traditional laptop, the Surface Laptop 3 is getting Intel's latest processors and a USB-C port, plus the option for an aluminum finish instead of the fabric that Microsoft had been swathing its laptops in previously. In addition to the 13-inch version, Microsoft is also selling a 15-inch laptop with a processor from AMD instead of Intel, which the company claims is the fastest laptop of its size. (The smaller laptop will start at $1000, while the larger will start at $1200.

I bought a Surface Pro 3 in 2014, back when other laptop makers seemed less capable of producing slick Windows hardware. They've since made major strides, and new laptops like the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 and HP Spectre x360 seem perfectly capable of taking on Microsoft's own PCs. While Microsoft also announced a more forward-looking dual-screen laptop called the Surface Neo (along with a dual-screen Android phone called the Surface Duo), it won't be out until next year.

Siri and Spotify: As I mentioned in the previous newsletter, you can now ask Siri to play music in third-party apps instead of Apple Music. While Pandora was the first music service to support this, you can now use Siri with Spotify as well. After activating Siri, try saying "listen to [artist/album/playlist] on Spotify." (Alternatively, I like this suggestion from The Verge's Dieter Bohn: Treat Spotify like a verb by saying "Spotify [artist]," which works the same as saying "Listen to [artist] on Spotify" but is far less verbose.)

Unfortunately, Spotify commands still don't work with Siri on the HomePod speaker or Spotify's new Apple TV app.

New Google Maps features: Want to get directions somewhere without it showing up in your Google Maps history? I won't judge, but I would advise you to enable Maps' Incognito mode, which is gradually rolling out to Android devices and is coming to iOS soon. Just press your profile icon in the top-right corner, then select "Turn on Incognito Mode." Alternatively, you can just "pause" Google's Location History on an ongoing basis through this page. (Google will throw up a big scary warning about how this will disable personalized experiences, but in practice it makes little difference.)

Google's also added a way to get more detailed voice navigation with walking directions, including information about which direction your facing, estimated walking distances, and alerts when you're near a busy intersection. The feature is primarily for vision-impaired users, but could be useful to anyone. Enable it by hitting the three-lines menu button in the top–left corner of the app, then selecting Settings > Navigation settings, then enabling "Detailed voice guidance" under "Walking options."
 

Now that the Apple Watch Series 5 is here, retailers continue to clear out Series 4 inventory at low prices. Over on Amazon, you can get the 44mm cellular version in silver with a white sport band for $370, which is $159 off the list price. Amazon also has compatible sport loop bands in Indigo for $25 and Hibiscus for $$23, both regularly priced at $50. Bear in mind that if you want to use cellular connectivity, you'll have to pay your carrier $10 per month for the privilege.

Also a good deal: A 4 TB external hard drive from WD for $80 from either Office Depot or Amazon. That's $20 off the typical price.
 

Keeping with this issue's theme of tech advice serendipitously delivered via a Twitter, here are a couple of Mac annoyances you can quickly solve:

Did you know you can quickly look up definitions to any word with a three-finger tap on your Mac trackpad? If so, you might notice that definitions from online sources such as Wikipedia will slow this function down. Get much faster dictionary-only definitions by opening System Preferences (that's the gear icon in your dock), selecting Spotlight, and unchecking "Allow Spotlight suggestions in look up."

If you ever have to share your Mac screen for a presentation or otherwise want to curb distractions, you'll also want to prevent notifications from popping up. Just hold the Alt key, then click the three-bullet point icon in the top-right corner of the screen. (Hey, this half-qualifies as a keyboard shortcut.)