Recently, Reddit user u/apastecotype54 asked the people of r/AskReddit, "What's an everyday item that has a hidden feature most people don't know about?" So, we thought we'd share some of the most-upvoted responses:
1. "Most vegetable peelers have a metal ring on the side. It’s to dig out black spots from potatoes."
"I prefer 'gouge out the eyes,' which is technically accurate."
2. "On CD players, when you hold rewind, you can go into 'negative seconds' on an applicable track. Some albums used the 'negative seconds' on a CD to put an in-between opening to a song so that when you skip to the song, you also skip the opening. More interesting is an example like Relient K's Mmhmm album."
"If you hold rewind on the very first track long enough and let go, you will hear the album's hidden track (which is also the album's title track). It's mostly an instrumental with humming, but it's good and interesting and sadly a great novel way of hiding hidden tracks that is disappearing with the mass move to digital."
Watch it here:
View this video on YouTube
3. "If you get an email in Outlook and you don’t want to deal with it right then but also don’t want to forget it altogether, right-click or select the three dots on the email and select ‘snooze’. Pick when you want the message to reappear (later that day, the next morning, etc) and it will be delivered at the top of your inbox at that time!"
4. "Ctrl + shift + t will open up a tab in your browser that you accidentally closed."
"Also if you close your browser and don't have 'open last session' turned on, you can ctrl+shift+t to open all the tabs again. This has saved me hours of research. this also works if you turn off your PC and re-open."
As someone whose job basically relies on me finding That One Tab again, I can confirm this is the hack of all hacks.
5. "Running shoes have an extra hole so you can lace them more securely. It's called a heel lock."
"Learning about the heel lock was the best thing for my running. No matter how well I tie my shoe, it ALWAYS comes untied about three miles in... at least with the heel lock lacing, the laces don't loosen after it comes unplugged."
6. "Many libraries in the U.S. have portable wifi hotspots and laptops that you can check out for a month at a time."
"My local library has a 'library of things,' and I love it! You can check out wifi hotspots, telescopes, laminators, a home theater projector, an external CD/DVD drive, and lots more. It's really great for when you need something for a project but don't want to invest money in it because you'll only use it once or twice."
7. "Rubbing alcohol can clean the inside of your car windshield. Ever notice how the inside is smeary? It's from off-gases from the plastic from the dashboard. Put some alcohol on a paper towel, wipe the glass well, and then get a clean paper towel or microfiber, spray glass cleaner, dry it all, and you will have the shiniest window."
8. "Roku makes a smartphone app that has a remote function, complete with a keyboard so you don't have to use the arrow on your remote to type each letter ridiculously slowly. If you have multiple Rokus in your house, it will know the difference between all of them, and you can select which one you want to control. I believe it's over Wi-Fi, not the regular frequency the remotes use."
9. "The smell of rubbing alcohol can reduce nausea."
"This one is huge. Stopped a panic attack of mine too. It really gives your brain a quick reset with that strong burning smell."
10. "You can set custom keyboard shortcuts. I use @@ to paste my email and && to paste my address. It’s really useful."
"If you have an iPhone, you can go to “settings > “general” > “keyboard” > “text replacement,” then tap the “+” icon in the upper-right corner (could vary slightly depending on iOS version)."
11. "If you have the old-school stoves with heating coils on top, the entire top can be lifted up like a car's hood to clean underneath."
12. "Every time I dig into the settings of my phone (Samsung Galaxy), I find a bunch of features that aren't on by default, but are actually useful. Like when taking a selfie, rather than awkwardly trying to hit the shutter button, you can just show the camera your palm and it starts a photo countdown."
13. "Most smartphones have a lock out sequence of button presses that disables your biometrics in the phone. This forces the user to type in the password to unlock it. Handy tip of you are ever pulled over or arrested as the courts have ruled that it takes a warrant to force you to unlock your phone via biometrics and they can’t force you to provide your passcode."
14. "The stapler built into the work printer is the best stapler in the office. If your stack of documents can fit in the slot at all, it’ll staple."
15. "On a smart phone if you are typing and hold down the space bar button you can then scroll left and right to move the cursor on the text!"
"I learned that on a Reddit thread about old people and technology. Some guy was making fun of his dad for not knowing it. Everybody in the thread was like 'Wait, what?'"
16. "People sometimes overestimate how hard it is to diagnose a lot of check engine lights in anything with OBD-II (modern cars - On Board Diagnostic II). Your car literally has an OBD-II port in a (relatively) convenient location. You plug in an OBD-II reader, pull the code, google [code] + car name + year. Then you can check out the rough cost to repair it."
"Some places, like AutoZone, will use their reader and print out the above info for you for free!"
17. "In the U.S. or in non pre-paid stations, pressing enter before swiping your debit/credit card at the gas station will take you to the pre-paid screen so you can enter the amount manually you want to put."
18. "Most pocket knives that copy the Swiss Army Knife model have an awl. This is used the same as a needle, but for sewing together leather pieces. Makes a good leather-punch if you lost weight and need some new belt notches."
19. "The metal clip at the end of a measuring tape moves 1/8th of an inch to account for the thickness of the end clip in both the push and pull motions. The hole at the end is for placing on the edge of a nail to get measurements from odd spots."
"The red numbers are all 16 inches apart to help you measure standard stud bay distances.
The little black diamonds are every 19 3/16 inches so you can evenly mark and break down a standard eight foot sheet of stock into five equal parts.
If you need to get a quick half of a whole measurement, lock the tape at the whole measurement, and fold the end of the tape to touch the body of the tape, your half mark is right there at the inside bend. It can also be used for lazy subtraction or addition of measurements."
20. "Dude, did you know that most staplers have a built-in staple remover on the bottom? Mind blown!"
21. "Some tubes of medicine have a pointy thing on the cap that allows you to pierce the tamper-resistant packaging."
"Same with some cooking ingredients that are available in tubes like tomato paste, anchovy paste, and harissa!"
22. "There are tabs on the sides of aluminum foil, clingfilm, parchment paper, etc you press in that holds the roll in the container."
