Tuesday, 31 October 2017

Save Big on iPhone 8 Cases by Buying an iPhone 7 Case Instead

If you need an iPhone 8 case, your first impulse is to search for an iPhone 8 case and buy the one you like, right? Not so fast.

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What’s the Difference Between APFS, Mac OS Extended (HFS+), and ExFAT?

So you’re using Disk Utility to partition your new hard drive when you’re presented with a choice of potential file systems. The list is longer than you’d think, with terms like “APFS (Case-sensitive)” and “Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)” to choose from.

How to Send a Steam Digital Gift Card in Any Amount

Valve just added digital gift cards to Steam, allowing you to send money directly to a friend’s Steam Wallet. You can also use the same trick we used adding Steam Wallet funds to send almost any amount—not just the preset values.

How to Enable Color Filters to Read the Screen More Clearly on Windows 10

Windows 10 now includes color filters, an accessibility feature that changes the color of everything on your screen. They apply at the system level and work the same way as Night Light, so they work with any application. Filters can turn your screen black and white, invert colors, help with light sensitivity, and make colors easier to distinguish for those with color blindness.

Best Micro SD Cards for All Your Devices

It’s really hard to distinguish micro SD cards from one another. Besides their capacity, they’re all the same, right?

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How to Connect to a VPN on a Chromebook

While not necessary for everyone, VPNs can be a crucial tool for online safety—especially if you use public Wi-Fi a lot. There are tons of one-click solutions out there that make it really easy to hit a toggle and activate a VPN, but for the most robust options, manual setup is key. Here’s how to do it on Chrome OS.

How to Switch Your iPhone to “Mono” Audio (So You Can Wear One Earbud)

The overwhelming majority of audio you listen to uses stereophonic (or stereo) sound. This means there are at least two separate audio channels: one for the right speaker, and one for the left. Each channel may play something slightly different, giving the illusion of directional sound like you experience in everyday life.

Eight Alternatives to the Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi, a tiny, low-powered, inexpensive system-on-a-chip computer, has become famous as the preferred tool of DIY gadget builders and tinkerers. But thanks to its explosive success, it’s no longer the only choice on the market for cheap all-in-one gadgetry and development. If you can’t get your hands on a Pi, or you want to try something else, give these alternatives a look.

IIT Kharagpur researchers may have a better solution to fix car scratches & dents

IIT Kharagpur is collaborating with companies such as Asian Paints and Pidilite to make this solution commercially available.

How to Download Games to Your Xbox One From Your Phone

Xbox One games can be massive in size, and take hours to download. Rather than waiting for games to download when you’re ready to play them, you can remotely start game downloads on your Xbox One from a smartphone or web browser. They’ll automatically download to your Xbox and be ready when you get home, so you can play them instantly.

The Best Spooky Philips Hue Tricks for Halloween

Halloween is coming up, and if you have a house full of Philips Hue light bulbs, now is the time to really put them to good use. Here are some great ways to use these lights to make your house just a tad bit haunted.

Monday, 30 October 2017

How to Boot Into Safe Mode on Windows 8 or 10 (The Easy Way)

One of the most common steps when troubleshooting a PC is to boot into Safe Mode. Up through Windows 7, you did this by pressing the F8 key during boot—right before Windows started loading. This all changed with Windows 8 and its introduction of Automatic Repair mode—something that continues in Windows 10.

How to Block Cookies (Except for Sites You Use) in Any Browser

Cookies can be useful when you’re in control of them. Today we’re taking a look at how you can control cookies by blocking them except for when you want them to enhance your user experience.

Worried About Breaking Your New iPhone? Get AppleCare, Not Carrier-Provided Insurance

During the iPhone X pre-order rollout last Friday, Apple quietly updated their repair prices to include the new phone and one thing is perfectly clear: very expensive phones come with very expensive repairs and insurance isn’t really optional anymore.

Worried About Breaking Your New iPhone? Get AppleCare, Not Carrier-Provided Insurance

During the iPhone X pre-order rollout last Friday, Apple quietly updated their repair prices to include the new phone and one thing is perfectly…

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What’s the Difference Between Ubuntu, openSUSE, and Fedora on Windows 10?

The Windows Subsystem for Linux received a huge update in Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update. It now supports multiple Linux distributions, not just Ubuntu. Ubuntu, openSUSE, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server are available at launch, with Fedora and other Linux distributions set to arrive in the future.

The Complete Guide to Improving Android Battery Life

Once upon a time, you had to really keep an eye on your Android phone to make sure the battery wasn’t being depleted prematurely. Manually toggling connections, constantly adjusting brightness, and the like are basically all things of the past now—but there are still things you can do to maximize your handset’s battery life.

Jenkins User Conference China

This is a guest post by Forest Jing, who runs the Shanghai Jenkins Area Meetup

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I am excited to announce the inaugural Jenkins User Conference China will be taking place on November 19, 2017 in Shanghai, China. The theme of JUC China is “Jenkins Driven CD and DevOps”. Much like in the US, CD and DevOps are big topics of interest in China. We are honored to have Kohsuke Kawaguchi join us as one of the keynote speakers at this inaugural Jenkins event. We will also have sessions from many of China’s big named companies like Baidu, Tencet, Pinterest, Ctrip, Huawei, Microsoft, and more. Below are some highlights of the event.

Sunday Nov 19th Agenda

Morning keynote sessions

There will be 4 keynote speeches:

  1. Kohsuke Kawaguchi, creator of Jenkins will introduce Jenkins Past, Present & Future.

  2. Le Zhang, a very famous DevOps and CD expert will show pipeline driven CD and DevOps.

  3. Engineering Director from Huawei will show the CD and DevOps practice in Huawei.

  4. Xu Zheng from Pinterest will present Run Jenkins infrastructure as service in Kubernetes.

In the Afternoon, we have set up 3 tracks

  1. CD & DevOps user stories from Microsoft, Tencent, Ctrip and JinDong - all are big companies in China.

  2. Enterprise Jenkins experience the use of Jenkins as an enterprise tool not only for teams.

  3. Workshop to lead engineers to practice CloudBees Jenkins and open source Jenkins features.

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If you’re in the neighborhood, we sincerely invite you to join us at Jenkins User Conference China.

Follow us on Twitter @china_juc

6 handy tech accessories for your car

A dash camera is usually installed at an area inside your car where it can record the front through your car’s windscreen without being obstructed.

Betting on Internet of money

With a current market cap of over $143 billion, cryptocurrencies are changing the way we understand finance and economics.

Sunday, 29 October 2017

What Unity Users Need to Know About Ubuntu 17.10’s GNOME Shell

Ubuntu 17.10 “Artful Aardvark” has dropped the Unity 7 desktop, instead switching to GNOME Shell. Ubuntu’s developers tried to make the GNOME Shell desktop work as much like Unity as possible, but there are still some big differences. Here’s what you need to know.

Saturday, 28 October 2017

How Credit Card Skimmers Work, and How to Spot Them

A credit card skimmer is a malicious device criminals attach to a payment terminal—most commonly on ATMs and gas pumps. When you use an terminal that’s been compromised in such a way, the skimmer will create a copy of your card and capture your PIN (if it’s an ATM card).

Guardians of the Internet: An inside view from Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit

Microsoft's Delhi facility is the 7th such operation across the world for the Redmond giant and is increasingly playing a vital role in cyber security.

Ashok Leyland to invest Rs 400-500 crore on Electric Vehicles

At the same time, he said, the government needs to step up investments in electric vehicle technology to help bring down battery costs and encourage adoption of green mobility solutions.

How to Factory Reset the Kwikset Kevo

If you’re planning on selling your Kwikset Kevo, or just moving to another house and don’t plan to take it along with you, here’s how to factory reset it so your digital keys are completely erased from it.

Friday, 27 October 2017

How to Make Your Pixel 2’s Colors More Vibrant with Oreo Colorizer

To say that the Google Pixel 2’s displays have come under scrutiny would be an understatement. While most of the criticism has been overblown, there’s no arguing that the color calibration of the Pixel 2’s displays aren’t what we’re used to seeing.

How to Uninstall Windows 10’s Built-in Apps (and How to Reinstall Them)

Windows 10 includes a variety of universal apps, and there’s no easy way to hide them from the “All Apps” view in the new Start menu. You can uninstall them, but Microsoft doesn’t allow you to easily uninstall them in the usual way.

How to Get The Xbox One S Controller Working Properly With Android

Years after the smartphone boom, there are hundreds of different Bluetooth controllers for Android. Most of them work just fine out of the box, but there are exceptions, like Microsoft’s new Bluetooth-equipped Xbox One S controller.

How to Use Windows 10’s “Continue on PC” Feature With an iPhone or Android Phone

Microsoft wants your PC and phone to work well together, even if you have an iPhone or Android phone. In the Fall Creators Update, new “Continue on PC” features allow you to quickly send links from your phone to your computer.

How to Enable Wi-Fi Calling on an Android Phone

If you’re on a carrier that supports it, Wi-Fi calling is a great feature to have. It will allow your smartphone to use the best connection in your house to make and receive calls and text messages. It also allows for higher quality audio, and it’s perfect if you don’t get good signal in your house.

Is the iPhone X Worth the Premium? Probably Not.

The iPhone X is officially on the market now and if you intend to upgrade your iPhone, but haven’t gotten around to it yet, now is the time…

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The iPad’s Keyboard Can Type Symbols Faster in iOS 11: Here’s How

The iPad got a lot of updates in iOS 11 to make it a better productivity tool. Along with headline stuff like multitasking, you’ll probably notice that the keyboard got an overhaul. While it may seem a little cluttered at first, it’s actually a big improvement. Here’s what’s changed and how to use it.

FinTech Startups: The rocket fuel for a less-cash economy

The country’s transition to a digital and less-cash economy has brought along with it some predictable and inevitable transformations along the way

Cloud computing drives massive growth for big U.S. tech firms

Amazon.com, Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Corp's Google and Intel Corp are all putting their chips on the cloud computing business, and it is booming.

Startups all set to engineer hiring rush at tech colleges

Up for grabs are roles of data analyst, AI engineer, user-experience engineer, mobile software developer and AG engineer, with annual pay of Rs 9-16 lakh.

How to Sync Your Apple TV’s Home Screen Across Multiple Apple TVs

If you have more than one Apple TV in your household, you probably know how annoying it is when you have to install Apple TV apps multiple times on each device. However, with the release of tvOS 11, that’s no longer the case.

Thursday, 26 October 2017

How to Back Up Your Mac and Restore Files With Time Machine

Regular backups are essential. When your hard drive dies—and it will die eventually—it’s important to know you’ve got another copy of everything somewhere. PC users can use Windows’ File History to back up their data, but Mac users have something that’s arguably simpler and more powerful: Time Machine.

What Is Mixed Reality on Windows 10, and Should You Buy a Headset?

Microsoft is building an ecosystem of “Mixed Reality” headsets from various PC manufacturers. Despite the misleading name, the first headsets you can buy today are really just virtual reality headsets, with no augmented reality features at all.

PSA: Parents, YouTube Is Littered with Creepy Pseudo “Kid-Friendly” Videos

There’s a growing and, frankly, disturbing trend on YouTube wherein people create and upload videos clearly geared towards children, but…

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How to Make Video Chats Look Better with Your Computer’s Night Mode

I hate video chats. As a tool for a work-from-home writer, it’s obviously pretty essential, but between my pale complexion and a desk full of computer monitors, the picture streaming through my webcam makes me look like the least attractive extra in an Anne Rice movie.

PML rules: BSE seeks update on clients' Aadhaar nos

To ensure compliance with anti- money laundering rules, BSE today asked its brokers to submit details about preparedness for furnishing Aadhaar details of their clients by month-end.

Trai recommendations on data ownership, privacy by December end or January

The authority is also planning to bring out recommendations on next spectrum auctions, within this financial year, even as operators have sought more time to submit their views.

Tesla's seat strategy goes against the grain...for now

Elon Musk was fed up.The seats on Tesla Inc's new Model X SUV were a mess. An outside contractor was having trouble executing the complicated design, spurring frustration and finger-pointing between Tesla and its supplier.

Microsoft stops manufacturing Kinect

Putting to rest the concerns surrounding the viability of Kinect, Microsoft has finally stopped manufacturing the depth camera and microphone accessory which debuted in 2010, media reported.

How to Stop Spotify From Auto-Playing Music After You Finish a Playlist or Album

By default, whenever Spotify reaches the end of the song, album, artist, or playlist you’re listening to, it auto-plays similar songs using its Radio feature. You can see in the screenshot below that I listened to REM’s Bad Day, and then the next thing it played was a Song Radio for Bad Day.

How to Install macOS High Sierra in VirtualBox on Windows 10

Whether you want to occasionally test a website in Safari, or try out a little bit of software in the Mac environment, having access to the latest version of macOS in a virtual machine is useful. Unfortunately, you’re not really supposed to do this—so getting macOS running in VirtualBox is, to say the least, tricky.

Amazon Key Lets Amazon Open Your Door, But Do You Really Want That?

Amazon’s brand new offering, Amazon Key, gives Amazon the power to open your door for delivery people, dog walkers, cleaners…

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How to Download Videos from Your SkyBell HD

The SkyBell HD keeps all of your most-recent recorded videos stored in the cloud for up to 20 videos at a time. This can go fast if your doorbell is used a lot, so here’s how to download videos from your SkyBell HD to store them locally forever.

Wednesday, 25 October 2017

Amazon’s New Cloud Cam Is Like the Nest Cam, But a Whole Lot Cheaper

Today, in Amazon’s quest to make every single gadget in your home smarter and Alexa-connected, the company introduced the Amazon Cloud Cam…

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How to Set Up Your Mac to Act as a Networked Time Machine Drive

We all know it’s important to back up your Mac with Time Machine, but remembering to plug in your external drive can be a hassle, especially if you’re a MacBook user. So networked backups come in handy: you don’t have to remember to do anything.

How to Pick the Right Monitor Mount

I have some depressing news for you: the mount or stand that came with your monitor probably sucks. Oh, it’ll hold up the screen and stand on your desk…but that’s about it.

Trump admin makes it more difficult for H-1B visa extension

Trump administration has made it more difficult for the renewal of non-immigrant visas such as H-1B and L1, popular among Indian IT professionals, saying that the burden of proof lies on the applicant even when an extension is sought.

How to Limit Windows Update’s Download Bandwidth on Windows 10

Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update gives you more control of Windows Update’s downloads and uploads. You can now set a download bandwidth limit, ensuring Windows Update won’t hog your Internet connection with its background downloads.

How to Change the Text Message and Other Notification Tones on Your iPhone

One of the worst things about modern smartphones being dominated by Apple and Samsung is that almost everyone’s phone sounds the same. Any time I’m out in public and I hear Apple’s default text tone I instantly reach for my pocket. If you’re in a similar situation, here’s how to change the tone so you aren’t quite as confused.

How to Block Spam Calls and Texts in Android, Manually and Automatically

It’s dinner time. You’re just sitting down when you get a call. On the other line, a robotic voice says: “We have important information regarding your credit accounts. Please hold to speak to a representative.”

What’s Up With the Pixel Screens? The Facts and the BS

Google’s new Pixel 2 phones are out and they’re pretty awesome. However, there are also reports of issues with both the Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL’s displays. A little bit of misinformation and a lot of hysteria have made it sound like both phones are just the Worst Thing Ever. So, we’re going to break down what’s worth worrying about and what’s a lot of hot air.

What Are Electron Apps, and Why Have They Become So Common?

Have you noticed a lot of new desktop applications look pretty much like websites? It’s not your imagination.

The Nintendo Switch Appears to Now Support GameCube Controllers

Curious players have discovered an unannounced feature in the new Switch update: you can use GameCube controllers with your Switch—if you h…

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How to Record the Sound Coming From Your PC (Even Without Stereo Mix)

You don’t have to hold up a microphone to your computer’s speakers to record its audio. Even if you don’t have a Stereo Mix option on your PC, you can easily record the sound coming from any Windows PC.

This new AI system can decode what's going on in your mind

It can also interpret what a person is seeing by analysing their brain scans.

Kaspersky detects Lazarus-controlled servers in India

Kaspersky Lab has uncovered a number of compromised servers being used as part of the threat actor's global command and control infrastructure, the software company said.

US looks forward to complete $2 billion deal on drones with India

The major decision to sell unarmed Sea Guardian drones was announced during the summit meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump on June 26.

A Clicker Game About Paperclips Changed How I Think About Gaming

I’ve been writing about technology on the web for seven years now, with much of that time occupied covering mobile gaming. And before that, I played PC and console games for more than two decades, ever since I could pick up a Genesis controller. And in all that time, no game has made me think quite so hard—or feel quite so humble—as a little browser clicker about making paperclips.

How to Invert the Colors on Your Android Phone’s Screen

If you (or someone you love) has vision issues, however, the tiny fonts and complex colors on modern phones can makes them nearly impossible to use. Fortunately, there’s a feature built in to Android that allows users to easily invert the colors, making things much easier for those with poorer eyesight.

Voice Messaging Is the Best Chat Feature You’re Probably Not Using

Text messaging sucks. If you think about it, it’s a pretty inefficient way to communicate. It’s slow, lacks nuance, and it’s easy to make mistakes. Smartphones with huge touch screens have a lot going for them, but making texting easy isn’t one of them.

How to Install Custom Themes and Visual Styles in Windows

Windows has had support for themes, also known as “visual styles”, since Windows XP. By default, Windows will only load Microsoft-signed themes—but you can get around this fairly easily.

Nintendo Announced a Super NES Edition of the 3DS XL, Complete with Super Mario Kart

Want to relive the glory days when the Super Nintendo ruled supreme even though you’re all grown up and have to leave the house?

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Blockchain has potential to re-engineer cyber security

Companies that have not started digital investments yet in technologies like Blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning robotics and virtual and augmented reality are at high risk of being disrupted, new research predicted on Tuesday.

The Kindle Is Ten Years Old, and Amazon’s Celebrating With $30 Off a Few Models

It’s been nearly ten years since the first Amazon Kindle came out, with the explicit purpose of destroying physical books forever.

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How to Watch the 2017 World Series Live

The 2017 World Series is officially here. If you’re interested in catching all of the action, here are the different ways you can watch the series on your television or mobile device.

How to Scan QR Codes with the iPhone’s Camera App

Before iOS 11, iPhone users had to download a third-party app in order to scan a QR code. However, this functionality is now built in and you can use the stock Camera app on the iPhone to scan as many QR codes as your heart desires.

Monday, 23 October 2017

Is Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program Cheaper than Buying Outright?

The premise of Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program is simple: you pay Apple a monthly subscription-like fee and, in return, they give you AppleCa…

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How to Stop Windows 10 From Uploading Updates to Other PCs Over the Internet

Windows 10 includes a peer-to-peer download feature for updates and Store apps. By default, Windows will automatically use your PC’s Internet connection to upload updates, hiding the option to disable this five clicks deep in the operating system.

The Best Chromebooks You Can Buy, 2017 Edition

While once considered a novelty item by many tech enthusiasts, Chromebooks have broken out of the “just a browser” mold and become legitimate laptops. They’re full-featured, lightweight machines that can do everything most users need them to do. Best of all, they’re more secure and often more affordable than the competition.

How to Turn Off Vibration When Your iPhone Is On Silent (or All the Time)

At some point, everyone finds out that even a silent iPhone makes a lot of noise if vibration is turned on. The same motor that provides subtle vibration in your pocket is capable of giving Lars Ulrich a run for his money when your phone is left on a table.

How to Manage Windows 10’s New “Power Throttling” to Save Battery Life

Windows 10 now performs “Power Throttling” of applications, even traditional Windows desktop programs and background processes. By limiting the CPU available to background applications, Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update can increase battery life on laptops and tablets. You can tell Windows not to perform power throttling for certain processes if this causes a problem.

Security updates for multiple Jenkins plugins

Multiple Jenkins plugins received updates today that fix several security vulnerabilities.

Additionally, the Multijob Plugin also received a security update several weeks ago.

For an overview of these security fixes, see the security advisory.

Active Choices Plugin distribution had been suspended since April due to its mandatory dependency on the suspended Scriptler Plugin. That dependency has been made optional, so Active Choices can be used without having Scriptler installed. This means we are able to resume distribution of Active Choices Plugin again. It should be available on update sites later today.

We also announced a medium severity security vulnerability in SCP publisher plugin that does not have a fix at this time.

Subscribe to the jenkinsci-advisories mailing list to receive important future notifications related to Jenkins security.

Cost & availability of quality content to hamper VR growth

The technology has not been adopted beyond few gaming and entertainment platforms and remains a case of hype in many industries apart from few odd use cases in medical and education space.

Sunday, 22 October 2017

How to Free Up Space on an iPhone or iPad

It seems like storage space is one of the biggest complaints from iPhone and iPad users, thanks to apps taking up more and more real estate, and media becoming more storage-hungry than ever. Here’s how to fix that.

Saturday, 21 October 2017

How to Make Your Samsung Galaxy Phone Feel More Like Stock Android

The Galaxy S and Galaxy Note are some of the best Android phones available right now. But TouchWiz has a bad rep for being ugly and “bulky” (especially with Android elitists). If this is the only thing holding you back from giving one of these otherwise excellent phones a shot, we’ve got you covered. It’s actually pretty easy to get a near-stock experience on most Samsung phones—you’ll just need to download and tweak a few things.

Abandon Your Real Job and Come Work For Universal Paperclips

It’s Friday. You’ve been working far too hard in your real job and you need a break. What kind of break?

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Bitcoin soars to record high above $6,000

Bitcoin surged to a record high of more than $6,000 on Friday, pushing its market capitalization to $100 billion at one point

How an IIT team is aiming to make expensive biotech drugs more affordable

Trastuzumab, a drug developed through bio-engineering, currently has a maximum retail price of Rs 52,000-58,602 for a 440 mg vial, depending on the brand, according to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority.

Digital India: Better safe ATMs than sorry

The functioning in ATMs will change dramatically by using biometrics, and also by dual-factor authentication.

Dairies take to tech to monitor milk supplies & animal productivity

Private and cooperative sector dairies in India are increasingly adopting the latest tagging and tracking technologies to supervise the productivity of individual milching animals and dairy farmers to monitor milk supplies

Friday, 20 October 2017

Smart Watches for Children Are Dangerous Garbage

A recent analysis of popular smart watches intended for children has revealed that the fledgling market is littered with devices that, at best, fail to…

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Six Month Review: The Nintendo Switch Delivered On Its Lofty Promises

The Nintendo Switch came out earlier this year and the hardware looked great, but a few questions still lingered…

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How to Check Your Motherboard Model Number on Your Windows PC

Whether you need to update drivers, check hardware compatibility, or you’re just curious, it’s way easier to check your motherboard model number with these simple tricks than to crack open your case to check the board itself. Here’s how to check your motherboard model number from the comfort of your keyboard.

How to Spot Fake Stock Photos (and Attribute the Right Person)

Spammers and other unscrupulous advertisers are always looking for new ways to get you click on their pages. One of the latest tactics is to steal popular and useful stock images—like the kind you sometimes see in news articles—and re-upload them elsewhere.

How to Make Banner Notifications Stick on Your iPhone’s Screen (Instead of Disappearing)

Almost all iOS apps show a temporary banner when you receive a notification. It appears at the top of the screen, and then after a few seconds disappears—although you can still see it in the Notification Center.

How Windows Defender’s New Exploit Protection Works (and How to Configure It)

Microsoft’s Fall Creators Update finally adds integrated exploit protection to Windows. You previously had to seek this out in the form of Microsoft’s EMET tool. It’s now part of Windows Defender and is activated by default.

The Best Earplugs for Every Situation (Airplanes and Screaming Babies Included)

Hearing damage is permanent but completely avoidable—if you have the right hearing protection, that is.

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How to Fix a Sticky or Stuck Crown on the Apple Watch

The Apple Watch doesn’t have many mechanical issues, since it has very few moving parts to begin with. However, the digital crown is one part in particular that can get stuck or feel sticky, making it difficult to spin. Here’s how to fix that.

The Garmin Speak Puts Alexa In Your Car (No New Car Purchase Required)

Last month Amazon and BMW announced a partnership that puts Alexa-enabled voice navigation and assistance right in new BMWs—but you don’t ne…

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Thursday, 19 October 2017

How to Access Your Router If You Forget the Password

If you’ve forgotten your router’s password, acquired a used router, or are just helping out a friend with their setup, you can reset the router’s password to its factory default.

What Can You Do With Samsung’s Bixby?

It seems like every technology company under the sun is working on a voice-controlled assistant to go up against the likes of Google’s Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, and Apple’s Siri. Samsung’s branded version gets a boost from the company’s massive smartphone market share and a somewhat less-than-graceful inclusion of an extra hardware button on its latest models. But what all can Bixby do, and how is it different from its erstwhile competitors?

How to Use a Limited Color Palette for Better Photos

Color is one of the most important aspects of photography. It can make or break your images. It’s great when nature gives you great color to work with, but you also need to deliberately manipulate colors in your photos, both while you’re shooting and in post-processing.

Aire Is the Dystopian Domestic Security Drone Of Your Dreams

Secretly—we like to muse anyway—all smart home companies aspire to create a product straight out of a dystopi…

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What’s New in Ubuntu 17.10 “Artful Aardvark”, Available Today

After quite a few unexciting releases, Ubuntu 17.10 “Artful Aardvark” is full of huge changes. Ubuntu Phone is dead, and so is Ubuntu’s dream of a converged desktop. Ubuntu’s developers are no longer working on Unity 8, and Ubuntu 17.10 ditches the old Unity 7 desktop for GNOME Shell.

How to Train Alexa to Recognize Different Voices (and Give More Personalized Answers)

Your Amazon Echo can finally recognize and differentiate voices from different household members. Here’s how to set it up in the Alexa app on your phone.

Wednesday, 18 October 2017

How to Quickly Make a Mac Photo Slideshow With Preview

When you double-click a photo in the Windows file browser, you can use the arrow keys to quickly browse every photo that folder. Open a photo in Preview on macOS, however, and pressing the arrow keys does nothing. This makes it hard to have a quick slideshow.

Microsoft: Please Name Windows 10 Updates After Dogs

We need to talk, Microsoft. Windows 10 is great, and we’re loving all the new features we get every six months or so. Gold stars all around.

Mouse Aficionados Rejoice: The IntelliMouse Rides Again

Some tech comes and goes without much fanfare, and some tech—like the beloved Microsoft IntelliMouse—develops a cult following.

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Let’s Face It, Phone Makers Are Just Bored

You know those days at work when you’ve finished your tasks and you’re waiting for the next importa…

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Best USB Car Chargers

The built-in USB ports in cars are notoriously under powered (and for anybody with multiple gadgets and passengers, notoriously under abundant).…

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Best Full Size Multitool

When you need a lot of tools on hand for a variety of tasks but you can’t pack a toolbox, a full-size multitool should be your go to companion.

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The Best Bluetooth Speakers for Your Shower Listening Needs

If you want to sing along in the shower or enjoy your favorite podcast radio dramas in the tub, you’ll want a solid and waterproof shower-fr…

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Amazon Introduces Accounts for Teens (Your Purchase History is Finally Safe)

For years there’s been a glaring oversight in the Amazon Household ecosystem—a total lack of a “training” account for teenagers…

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10 Best Keychain Tools

The best tool is the one you have with you, so what better place to have it stashed than on your keychain?

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Announcing Review Geek: A Better Solution for Tech News and Reviews

People think of How-To Geek as a place that helps them understand how to do things, or how to understand technology, and sometimes that involves specific products or services. But as a general rule, people don’t think of HTG in conjunction with products or tech news. So today, we welcome Review Geek to the family.

How to Use “My People” on Windows 10’s Taskbar

Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update includes the “My People” feature originally promised for the first Creators Update. You can now pin up to three of your favorite people to the taskbar and quickly chat with them on Skype or send them emails.

How to Disable Haptic Feedback Vibrations on iOS

The iPhone 7 and 8 don’t have a physical home button. Instead, the feel of pressing a button is recreated by what Apple calls the Taptic Engine. When you touch the home button, the Taptic Engine sends out a small vibration. It feels really like pressing an actual button.

How to Protect Your Files From Ransomware With Windows Defender’s New “Controlled Folder Access”

Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update includes a new Windows Defender feature designed to protect your files from ransomware. It’s named “Controlled Folder Access”, and it’s disabled by default. You’ll need to enable it yourself if you want to try it out.

How to Use OneDrive’s Files On-Demand in Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update

The Fall Creators Update includes a new OneDrive feature called “Files On-Demand”, in which your PC now shows “placeholder” copies of your OneDrive files. When you or a program accesses them, they’re downloaded as needed. That way, even if you have 1 TB of files in your OneDrive, they can take up almost no space on your PC, and you can still browse through them in File Explorer.

Tuesday, 17 October 2017

Why Does ~ Represent the Home Folder on macOS and Linux?

Whether you’ve installed the Linux subsystem on Windows 10 or are getting started using the Linux Terminal, there are all kinds of shorthands you need to learn…none of which are intuitive.

How to Get Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update Now

Microsoft has started rolling out Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update, but it will be a few months before every PC gets it. If you don’t want to wait, you can download the Fall Creators Update from Microsoft right now.

How to Add Two-Factor Authentication to Steam

If you’ve been playing PC games in the last few years, the accumulated games in your Steam account are probably worth hundreds (or maybe even thousands) of dollars. Perhaps even more importantly, your Steam account might contain in-game items that can be traded for real-world cash…and thus, stolen with some very real consequences. So it’s a very good idea to apply Valve’s Steam Guard two-factor authentication to your account.

Zerocoin electric coin co. integrates zero-knowledge security on J.P. Morgan’s Quorum

The combination further unlocks the potential of blockchain technology for enterprise use cases.

How to Take Good Photos of the Starry Sky

The night sky is breathtaking. If you go somewhere reasonably dark and let your eyes adjust, you can look up and see thousands of pin pricks of light, each one a star or galaxy that’s millions of years old. I find it completely humbling.

Indian scientists, IITs play big role in gravitational wave observation

The group interpreted joint-gravitational wave and gamma-ray observations along with K. G. Arun, (CMI, Chennai) and a PhD student M. Saleem (IISER Trivandrum) within the collaboration.

Twitter, Instagram promoting 'extreme thinness': Study

Twitter and Instagram posts are increasingly celebrating "bonespiration" and "thinspiration", which encourage eating disorders, such as anorexia, a study has found.

What’s New in Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update, Arriving Today

Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update, codenamed Redstone 3, will be released on October 17, 2017. Here are all the new features you’ll see in the latest version of Windows—and some big, splashy features Microsoft announced that never arrived.

ATM malware has evolved to attack banks' corporate network

The report dissects recent attacks using bank networks to both steal money and credit card data from ATM machines, regardless of network seg

Aadhaar can be sole ID proof for voting

At present, the Election Commission allows a number of documents, including passport, as identity proof in the absence of voter ID card.

Researchers uncover flaw that makes Wi-Fi vulnerable to hacks

CYBER-WIFI-Researchers uncover flaw that makes Wi-Fi vulnerable to hacks

How to Call and Message Friends Using Your Amazon Echo

Alexa is great to have for controlling your smarthome and asking various questions, but she can also call and message your friends and family. Here’s how it works and how to set it up.

Monday, 16 October 2017

How to Disable Notifications During Video Playback on an Xbox One

Notification pop-ups can get annoying when they appear over a video you’re trying to watch on Netflix. The Xbox One allows you to hide notifications while watching videos, preventing such distractions.

Your Wi-Fi Network Is Vulnerable: How to Protect Yourself Against KRACK

Today, security researchers published a paper detailing a serious vulnerability in WPA2, the protocol that keeps most modern Wi-FI networks secure—including the one in your home. Here’s how to protect yourself from attackers.

How to Download Games to Your PlayStation 4 From Your Phone or PC

PlayStation 4 games can be huge, and take hours to download. Thankfully, you can start downloading games even when you’re away from home. All you need is Sony’s official smartphone app, or a web browser on any PC.

How to Invert the Colors of Your iPhone’s Screen

Apple goes to a lot of effort to make their iPhones as accessible for everyone as possible. One system option allows you to invert all the colors on the phone’s display, which is useful if you’re sensitive to brightness, have certain kinds of color blindness, or just are in the dark. Here’s how to enable it.

Are voice & gesture controls for autonomous cars the next big thing?

Voice recognition algorithms have been used in infotainment systems for the past few years.

The Amazon Prime-ification of Windows, and Everything Else, Is Coming

Microsoft has been pushing Office 365, the $100-per-year Microsoft Office subscription, for years now. But the Windows Fall Creators update goes further. For the first time, non-Office Windows features will live behind the Office 365 paywall.

Geek Trivia: Numismatics Is The Study Of?

Think you know the answer? Click through to see if you're right!

Jenkins World 2017 Session Videos are Available

This is a guest post by Alyssa Tong, who runs the Jenkins Area Meetup program and is also responsible for Marketing & Community Programs at CloudBees, Inc.

Jenkins World 2017 keynotes and breakout session videos are now available HERE. Photos from the conference can be seen HERE.

Save the date for Jenkins World 2018:

  • Conference dates are September 16-19, 2018 in San Francisco.

  • Registration will open on October 16, 2017.

  • Call for Papers will open on December 1, 2017.

Sunday, 15 October 2017

RBI working on cryptocurrency policy

RBI Deputy Governor NS Vishwanathan said that the cryptocurrency policy was in the making at an event in Kolkata

Netflix plans more local original content for India; five new shows in the pipeline

The company is already working on an 8-episode series — ‘Sacred Games’, starring Saif Ali Khan.

Aadhaar helped Modi government save $9 billion: Nandan Nilekani

"Aadhaar has saved govt $9 bn in fraud and wastage because by having unique number you eliminate fakes & duplicates from your beneficiary list," Nilekani said.

How India Inc is losing its cybersecurity war

Cyber experts say what makes Indian industry vulnerable is changing threat profile due to resource rich nation states now targeting companies.

Viewing the future of construction in 3D

Accustomed as we are to urban sprawl and the bigger, grander structures it engenders, it may come as a surprise to many of us that the construction industry hasn’t changed much in the last hundred years

How India can make cryptocurrencies mainstream

Japan recently became the first country to regulate cryptocurrencies; the US is quickly laying down regulatory guidelines as well, the UK and Australia continue to work on the formalities, while China has recently banned the ICOs.

Bitcoin rockets above $5,000 to all-time high

Bitcoin smashed through the $5,000 barrier for the first time on Thursday, jumping as much as 8% on the day as investors shrugged off the latest warnings on the risks of buying

India's first fintech forum will help weather market storm

The Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Andhra Pradesh formed India's first Fintech Forum to deepen engagement among stakeholders to face evolving challenges and find remedies in a technology fuelled, fast-changing market.

Amazon partners Microsoft to make deep learning accessible to developers

Amazon & Microsoft's new Gluon interface makes it easier for developers to build neural networks on the fly using simple, concise code.

Facebook debuts a portable VR headset Oculus Go, cuts Rift pricing

Oculus Go device would cost $199 and ship early next year, too late for this year's holiday shopping season but likely ahead of rivals.

Self-driving cars: Not ready yet, but new rules open a path

Companies need to perfect the technology before unleashing it for regular drivers, and that means more of the highway and road testing that began several years ago.

Akshaya Patra ties up with Cisco for digitized kitchens

​ Akshaya Patra's kitchens will soon be digitized, thanks to a partnership with technology major Cisco.This will help reduce operational costs and improve productivity of the non-profit midday meal programme.

US Justice, State Depts to share info on Visa abuse

The US Justice and State departments have agreed to share information in order to better probe companies that abuse visa programmes used to hire foreign workers, the latest effort by the Donald Trump administration to crack down on immigration abuses.

OnePlus reportedly collects phone data without user consent

The Shenzhen based Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus allegedly has been collecting sensitive information on users without their consent from their devices.

10,000 electric cars highlight steep path to India's ambitions

Tata Motors hasn’t sold a single electric car yet, though Chief Executive Officer Guenter Butschek says its late-mover status is an advantage at a time when technology advances are leading to a fall in costs.

IoT-based tech helps keep watch on trees, sends alert

Imagine a forest officer or a farmer getting an alert on his mobile phone whenever somebody tries to cut a sandalwood, rosewood or any other high-value tree in his jurisdiction land.

IMPS, debit cards drive digital payments to 75.6 million transactions in August

Industry observers say digital payments are also directly linked to the consumption patterns of customers and there is a seasonality involved in the transaction numbers.

Flipkart's AI to help users find relevant reviews

E-commerce giant Flipkart is experimenting with artificial-intelligence techniques to help users find reviews that are relevant to them.

The Best Ways to Scan a Document Using Your Phone or Tablet

RELATED: How to Buy the Right Scanner for Your Needs: Photos, Documents and More

Saturday, 14 October 2017

What Are Planar Magnetic Headphones?

The world of audiophile hardware is dense and hard to parse… and to be perfectly honest, audiophiles seem to like it that way. Even so, a technology called “planar magnetic drivers” is making its way into cheaper and more accessible headphones as of late, promising audio fidelity much greater than conventional cans. What makes planar magnetic headphones different—and allegedly better—than normal ones? Let’s have a listen.

How to Scan Documents with the iPhone’s Notes App

In the past, iPhone users had to download a third-party app in order to scan documents and save them in a digital format on their phone. However, with the release of iOS 11, you can now scan documents natively using the built-in Notes app.

Friday, 13 October 2017

Your Mac Is Tracking Your Location in High Sierra, Here’s Why (and How to Disable It)

You probably didn’t notice, but macOS High Sierra keeps an ongoing list of recurring locations. The feature is called Significant Locations, and according to Apple is used by Maps, Calendar, and Photos to “provide useful location-related information.”

How to Control Your Smarthome Products with Cortana on Windows 10

Cortana can do a lot of stuff, but she’s not quite as powerful as more mature voice assistants like Alexa or Google Home. But Microsoft has finally added support for smarthome devices, so you can control Philips Hue, Samsung SmartThings, Nest, Insteon, and Wink devices right from your PC.

How to Convert a PDF File Into an Editable Text Document

Adobe’s PDF standard is handy whenever you need to distribute some information and be sure that it’s seen the same way by all recipients. But PDF files are also infamously tough to edit.

How to Create Custom Ringtones for Your Android Phone

So you got a shiny new Android phone. You changed the wallpaper, bought a case that you like, arranged your home screens…you know, made it yours. Then someone calls. Why on earth are you still using a stock ringtone? Get that out of here—it’s time to not only make it look like yours, but sound like it too.

How to Take Polls With Your Instagram Story

Instagram, in their continuing quest to eat Snapchat’s lunch, has recently added a way to take simple polls through your Story. Here’s how.

Viewing the future of construction in 3D

Accustomed as we are to urban sprawl and the bigger, grander structures it engenders, it may come as a surprise to many of us that the construction industry hasn’t changed much in the last hundred years

How to Install Windows 95 in a Virtual Machine

Microsoft’s Windows 95 was a huge leap from Windows 3.1. It was the first release of Windows with the Start menu, taskbar, and typical Windows desktop interface we still use today. Windows 95 won’t work on modern PC hardware, but you can still install it in a virtual machine and relive those glory days.

How India can make cryptocurrencies mainstream

Japan recently became the first country to regulate cryptocurrencies; the US is quickly laying down regulatory guidelines as well, the UK and Australia continue to work on the formalities, while China has recently banned the ICOs.

How to Safely Use a Table Saw, the Most Fearsome Power Tool of All

If you’ve decided to upgrade your power tool game and get a table saw, there are several things you should know before you crank it on and slide your first pieces of wood through.

Thursday, 12 October 2017

How to Disable Notifications During Video Playback on a PlayStation 4

PlayStation 4 notifications always pop up over whatever you’re doing, which is particularly obnoxious when you’re watching videos over Netflix, YouTube, or your local library. With the PS4’s 5.0 system firmware update, it’s now possible to disable notifications while watching videos in any app.

Amazon partners Microsoft to make deep learning accessible to developers

Amazon & Microsoft's new Gluon interface makes it easier for developers to build neural networks on the fly using simple, concise code.

Facebook debuts a portable VR headset Oculus Go, cuts Rift pricing

Oculus Go device would cost $199 and ship early next year, too late for this year's holiday shopping season but likely ahead of rivals.

The Beginner’s Guide to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (aka PUBG)

So you want  to try out the new Battle Royale sensation that’s sweeping the nation, but you don’t know how to get started. That’s understandable: PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a full game based on an old ARMA mod, and it’s still in early access. The game is missing a lot of features, chief among them any kind of tutorial or player guide for people just getting started. but if you’re ready to jump into the deep end of this winner-take-all online multiplayer arena, here are a few tips to get you on your feet…so someone else can blow you off them.

How to Enable a “Night Mode” in Android to Reduce Eyestrain

They say that blue spectrums of light are bad for your eyes, especially at night when you’re more likely to be looking at your phone in a dark environment. This also supposedly leads to poor sleep, which leads to poor health. Here’s how to combat that on your Android phone.

How to Control Both Ringer and System Volume with the iPhone’s Volume Buttons

By default, the volume buttons on the side change the “system volume”, which affects things like music and video playback. But the volume of your ringer volume, which controls the ringer and notifications, stays the same unless you change it from the settings.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Roku: Six Things You Should Do

You finally worked out which Roku to buy, and set up the basics: Netflix, Amazon, and whatever other services you’re subscribed to. What next?

Self-driving cars: Not ready yet, but new rules open a path

Companies need to perfect the technology before unleashing it for regular drivers, and that means more of the highway and road testing that began several years ago.

How to Password Protect Notes on the iPhone

If you tend to jot down sensitive information in the Notes app on your iPhone or iPad, you may want to keep them protected behind a password. Here’s how to enable the feature in iOS 11.

Wednesday, 11 October 2017

How to Sync Your Kodi Library Across Multiple Devices with MySQL

Kodi is still one of the most powerful media center applications around, and it works on everything from powerful media PCs to small Raspberry Pis. But if you have multiple TVs in your house, wouldn’t it be nice if they all stayed in sync?

Important security updates for Jenkins core and plugins

We just released security updates to Jenkins, versions 2.84 and 2.73.2, that fix several security vulnerabilities. Additionally, we published a new release of Swarm Plugin whose client contains a security fix, and Maven Plugin 3.0 was recently released to resolve a security issue. Users of Swarm Plugin and Maven Plugin should update these to their respective newest versions.

For an overview of what was fixed, see the security advisory. For an overview on the possible impact of these changes on upgrading Jenkins LTS, see our LTS upgrade guide.

We also published information about a vulnerability in Speaks! Plugin. There is no fix available and we recommend it be uninstalled. Its distribution has been suspended.

Subscribe to the jenkinsci-advisories mailing list to receive important notifications related to Jenkins security.

How to Get Free Money From Google By Answering Quick Surveys

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a search engine in possession of a good fortune must be in want of more data. If you want to earn some extra money (in the form of Google Play Credit or PayPal money), Google will give you some in exchange for answering a few occasional survey questions.

What Is “Broadcast DVR Server” and Why Is It Running on My PC?

Look in the Task Manager on Windows 10 and you may see one or more “Broadcast DVR server” processes running. These processes have the file name bcastdvr.exe, and are part of the Windows 10 operating system.

How to Make Phone Calls With Your Google Home

After Alexa gave users the ability to call other Echo owners, Google upped the ante with true phone calls. If you live in the U.S. or Canada, you can use your Google Home to place a call to anyone’s phone. You don’t need to limit yourself to other people who have a Google Home. Here’s how to get started making phone calls.

How to Disable Auto-Brightness on Your iPhone

Auto-brightness is a feature designed to save battery life and make your iPhone’s screen easier to read. When you’re somewhere dark, like your bedroom at night, the screen will automatically dim. When you’re somewhere bright, like outside on a sunny day, it’ll crank itself up to maximum brightness.

How to Pick (and Customize) the Best Mechanical Keyboard For You

Mechanical keyboards are a surprisingly resilient trend among gamers and power users. But as they get more popular, the various options and technical variations become more and more complex. If you’re looking for everything you need to know to get started in this surprisingly varied portion of the PC world, we’re here to help you out.

OnePlus reportedly collects phone data without user consent

The Shenzhen based Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus allegedly has been collecting sensitive information on users without their consent from their devices.

How to Free Up Space Used By Your iPhone or iPad’s Messages App

If you send and receive a lot of text messages, the Messages app can take up a significant of space on your iPhone or iPad. Not only does it store your text message history, but it also keeps photo and video attachments you’ve received. Here’s how to free up that space if you’re running low.

Tuesday, 10 October 2017

Which Roku Should I Buy? Express vs. Stick vs. Stick+ vs. Ultra

So you’ve decided you want a Roku, but there are so many choices. There are currently five different models (not including full TVs with Roku built-in), and it’s not at all clear what the difference between them is. Which one do you want?

APFS Explained: What You Need to Know Apple’s New File System

Apple’s macOS 10.13 High Sierra brings a new file system named “Apple File System”, which largely replaces the older HFS+ file system. Apple File System, also known as APFS, has been used by default on iPhones and iPads since iOS 10.3, and is also used on the Apple Watch and Apple TV—but now it’s finally on the Mac, too.

How to Automatically Open Articles in Safari’s Reader Mode

Apple just made one of Safari’s best features even better. Whether you’re using an iPhone or iPad with iOS 11 or Safari 11 on a Mac, you can now make Safari always open articles on any website in Reader Mode. This is perfect if there’s a site with content you love, but design choices you absolutely despise. Reader Mode is one reason why every Mac user should ditch Chrome for Safari.

What Is Facebook’s New “Explore Feed”?

Recently, two new icons popped up in the Facebook app on iOS where the old chat icon used to be: a little shopfront and a rocket ship. The little shopfront is a quick link to Facebook Marketplace, and the rocket ship a link to Facebook’s Explore Feed.

How to Theme Your Android Oreo Device with Substratum and Andromeda (No Root Required)

Android 8.0, affectionately and officially known as “Oreo,” changes a lot of things in Google’s mobile operating system. But the most obvious is a switch from a general dark theme in the interface to blinding white on the Quick Settings menu on the notification bar. If you’re tired of looking at all those fully-lit pixels on your phone, there’s a way to theme the interface with some new tools—no root required.

Bengaluru could be first Indian city to have electric buses for public transport

The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is readying tender documents to procure 150 electric buses.

Monday, 9 October 2017

eMudhra launches R&D centre for Blockchain based solutions

Bangalore based eMudhra, a certifying authority which issues digital signature certificates in India has launched an R&D centre for development of technology solutions and products based on the premise of Blockchain.

Congress in touch with Cambridge Analytica who helped Trump win

Cambridge Analytica analyses data of consumers — the trail of choices they leave online — to profile them so that politicians can craft appropriate message.

'Not possible to extend concessions to Apple under GST regime'

Cupertino-based iPhone and iPad manufacturer Apple has sought certain concessions for setting up manufacturing unit in India.

For Musk, Google's 'Clips' camera doesn't 'seem' innocent

Google's artificial intelligence (AI)-based "Clips" camera has not impressed Tesla founder Elon Musk, a famed critic of AI.

Intel India trains 9,500 people in AI

The move is reducing AI entry barriers for developers, data scientists and students through developer focused events and 'Code Modernisation' workshops.

Hey iPhone Users, Apple Maps Is Good Now

I’m just back from a road trip around Southern California. Over six days I hit up San Diego, Joshua Tree, Los Angeles, and then San Diego again. It was about twenty hours of driving in total, along everything from wide open freeways, narrow canyon roads, and the chaos that is LA traffic. The whole time, I was trusting Apple Maps to get me where I needed to be…and amazingly, it did.

How to Block Spammy Text Messages on an iPhone

iOS 11 adds a new SMS filtering feature that allows you to automatically filter spam text messages in the Messages app. It works similarly to the call-blocking feature added in iOS 10. Once activated, you’ll have two tabs in your Messages app—one for real messages and one for “SMS Junk”.

Startups like FlippAR use AR to help people get a glimpse of Bengaluru's history

In another fortnight, you can point your phone at the St Mark's Cathedral, Mayo Hall, Oriental Building or East Parade Church to access stories of its past.

Sunday, 8 October 2017

Why Snow, Rain, and Confetti Destroy Streaming Video Quality

If you’ve ever watched a movie on Netflix, YouTube, or some other streaming service, you might notice that any time there’s a rainy scene, the video quality completely falls apart. Even if you’re streaming over the best internet connection, the video will look like crap. This happens because all video streams are compressed, and particles like rain, snow, and confetti completely destroy compressed streams.

Saturday, 7 October 2017

Canary’s Free Tier May Have Changed, But It Still Offers More Than Other Cams

Canary, the makers of the home security Wi-Fi cam that we briefly checked out earlier this year, made some changes to their memberships. Specifically, they cut down on the number of features available to users in the free tier, which has created some warranted backlash.

RIP AIM, The Messaging App AOL Never Wanted

Another piece of the retro Internet is dead. AOL’s free instant messaging service, called AIM, is shutting down its servers on December 15, 2017, 20 years after it launched…and about ten years after it was last relevant.

Friday, 6 October 2017

How to Show Empty, Unformatted Drives in Disk Utility on macOS

The macOS Disk Utility, by default, will not show you an empty, unformatted drive. You might think this means it can’t be used to create partitions on new disks, which is frustrating, but you can solve this problem with one click.

Hacktoberfest. Contribute to Jenkins!

Once again it’s October in our calendars. It means that the regular Hacktoberfest event is back! During this one-month hackathon you can support open source and earn a limited edition T-shirt. Jenkins project offers an opportunity to participate in the project and to get reviews and help from Jenkins contributors.

Hacktoberfest

How do I sign up?

  1. Sign-up to Hacktoberfest on the event website.

  2. Everything is set, just start coding!

What can I do?

There are lots of ways to contribute to Jenkins during Hacktoberfest. You can…​

  • Write code

  • Improve documentation, write blogposts

  • Automate Tests

  • Translate and internationalize components

  • Design - artwork and UI improvements also count!

See the Contribute and Participate page for fore information.

Where can I contribute?

The project is located in several organizations in GitHub. Core and plugins are located in the jenkinsci org, infrastructure - in jenkins-infra. You can contribute to any component within these organizations.

For example, you could contribute to the following components:

You can also create new Jenkins plugins and get them hosted in the organization.

What can I do?

Our issue tracker contains lots of issues you could work on. If you are new to Jenkins, you could start by fixing some easier issues. In the issue tracker we mark such issues with the newbie-friendly label (search query). You can also submit your own issue and propose a fix.

How do I label issues and pull requests?

Hacktoberfest project requires issues and/or pull requests to be labeled with the hacktoberfest label. You may have no permissions to set labels on your own, but do not worry! Just mention @jenkinsci/hacktoberfest or @jenkins-infra/hacktoberfest in the repository, and we will set the labels for you.

How do I get reviews?

All examples above are being monitored by the Jenkins contributors, and you will likely get a review within few days. Reviews in other repositories and plugins may take longer. In the case of delays, ping @jenkinsci/code-reviewers in your pull request or send a message to the mailing list.

Where can I find info?

Jenkins project contains lots of materials about contributing to the project. Here are some entry links:

Need help?

You can reach out to us using IRC Channels and the Jenkins Developer Mailing List. In the case of mailing lists it is recommended to mention Hacktoberfest in the email subject.

What Is “COM Surrogate” (dllhost.exe) and Why Is It Running on My PC?

If you poke around in your Task Manager, there’s a good chance you’ll see one or more “COM Surrogate” processes running on a Windows PC. These processes have the file name “dllhost.exe”, and are part of the Windows operating system. You’ll see them on Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and even earlier versions of Windows.

How to Easily Share Your Wi-Fi Password Using Your iPhone and iOS 11

If a friend or family member comes over to your house and wants to hop on your Wi-Fi network, iOS 11 has made it way easier to share your Wi-Fi password with very little friction. Here’s how to do it.

How to Hide the Red Notification Badges for Apps on Your iPhone

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who open and delete unwanted emails, and those who just ignore them, leaving the unread count to grow forever.

How to Enable Emergency SOS Services on Your iPhone

In iOS 11, Apple has introduced a new Emergency SOS feature to the iPhone. Let’s look at what it does.

Chrome Is Your OS Now, Even If You Use Windows

Yesterday, Microsoft announced they are bringing Edge to iOS and Android devices, in order to create a more seamless experience between your computer and your phone. But who cares? That seamless experience already exists through Chrome, the app you already use for everything on your PC.

How to Hide Recent Apps from the iPad Dock

In an effort to bolster the iPad’s multitasking abilities, iOS 11 introduced a new feature that automatically puts your most recently-used apps on the right side of the iPad dock, separated by a line. This supposedly makes it easier to switch between them, but if you’re not a fan, here’s how to get rid of it.

Thursday, 5 October 2017

The Pixel 2 Isn’t Really Exclusive to Verizon: You Can Use It on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint

Another year, another Pixel event…and another round of confusing “Only on Verizon” ad campaigns. But here’s the thing: the Pixel 2 can be used on any major carrier in the US. So what’s with this “exclusive” junk?

How to Set Up BitLocker Encryption on Windows

BitLocker is a tool built into Windows that lets you encrypt an entire hard drive for enhanced security. Here’s how to set it up.

How to Use the One-Handed Keyboard on Your iPhone

With iOS 11, Apple added a one-handed keyboard option to the iPhone. This should make it easier to type while holding a larger iPhone in a single hand. Both right-handed and left-handed keyboards are available.

Facebook Messenger Lite Is a Great Alternative to Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger is a really popular communication app. It’s only real downside is that it’s incredibly bloated. On my Moto E4, it weighs in at just under 60MB, which makes sense—not only does it have all the messaging features that you want, it also has audio and video calling (nice), chat heads (alright), a Snapchat Story clone (why?), games (not that you knew), and lots more under the hood.

Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation yet to fix software glitches & train its staff on cashless card

The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation's ambitious plan to roll out smart cards for its passengers has come a cropper with twin challenges of technical glitches as well as making conductors tech-savvy

Alphabet's DeepMind forms ethics unit for artificial intelligence

DeepMind, the Google sibling focusing on artificial intelligence, has announced the launch of an "ethics and society" unit to study the impact of new technologies on society.

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

Is It Worth Upgrading to the Pixel 2?

Well the day is finally here: the day Google brought to light its newest Pixel phones. While none of what was announced today was particularly surprising, it’s at least officially official. The real question here is, of course, should you buy a new Pixel phone?

What’s the Difference Between the Google Home, Mini, and Max?

In an effort to more closely compete with Amazon’s latest additions to its Echo lineup, Google unveiled the Google Home Mini and the Google Home Max. Here’s what you need to know about these new products and how they compare to one another.

How to Leave the macOS Public Beta Now That High Sierra Is Out

If you installed the High Sierra public beta over the summer, you might think you’re done now that High Sierra is officially released. But you’re not: odds are you’re still enrolled in the Apple Beta Software Program right now, meaning you’ll keep getting beta versions of macOS updates.

How to Join Netflix’s Test Program and Try Out New Features Early

Netflix frequently tests new features and designs on a small number of users before rolling them out to everyone. The company has tested things like a Skip Intro button or a mobile data saver feature weeks or months before anyone else gets them. If you want to be among the users that get to try out new features, here’s how to join Netflix’s test program.

The Cheapest Ways to Stream NHL Hockey (Without Cable)

If you’re like me, you watch hockey, and…basically no other sports. You also, like me, would like to skip the cable subscription. So what’s the cheapest way to watch NHL hockey online so you can cut the cord?

How to Regain Control of a Hijacked Twitter Account

Someone logged into your Twitter account, and that someone isn’t you. They’re probably a spammer hoping to inundate your followers with junk, or maybe a “hacker” (in a very loose sense) being paid to follow other accounts. It’s just possible that they’re intentionally targeting you and hoping to make you look bad. Whatever the circumstance, you want to kick them off your account on the double. Here’s how.

What Are NVIDIA MAX-Q Laptops?

If you’re looking for a new Windows-based laptop and you’re somewhat interested in performance, you might come across models that are marketed as “featuring “NVIDIA MAX-Q.” But that description is somewhat nebulous: MAX-Q isn’t a specific NVIDIA graphics card, or even a hardware feature at all. So what exactly does this description mean, and does it make a gaming-grade laptop any more desirable than a non-Q laptop?

How to Enable or Disable the Spell Checker on Android

So everyone knows that their preferred keyboard on Android has autocorrect, but did you know Android also has built-in spell check? If you’re really looking to double down on your spelling—or perhaps get rid of autocorrect altogether—this is a setting you’ll probably want to enable.

How to Change Your Country on Amazon So You Can Buy Different Kindle Books

Book rights, and especially eBook rights, can be messy. UK publishers can’t just start selling books in the US, and vice versa. For most modern books by big authors, you’ll see the hardback and eBook versions being published at pretty much the same time around the world. For older books that were released before eBooks were a big deal, and for smaller authors with publishing deals, however, you’ll regularly find that the eBook version is available in some countries and not others.

Challenges and the way forward in the journey of digitization

Being Digital is all about taking the customer to the blissed state of esteem experience.

How to Type Out Voice Commands for Siri

If it’s too loud around you and you can’t adequately use Siri to quickly look up something real quick, there’s now an alternative to shouting out voice commands—you can now type them out. Here’s how to do it on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Tuesday, 3 October 2017

How Safari’s New Intelligent Tracking Prevention Works

It’s one of the most discussed new features in High Sierra: Safari’s new Intelligent Tracking Prevention. Advertisers are upset about it, claiming it’s “bad for the ad-supported online content and services consumers love.” Apple is undeterred by the rhetoric. But what does the feature actually do?

How to Upgrade Your Smarthome Connections in Google Home

Google is constantly updating its Google Home and smarthome lineup. Thanks to one recent update, you’ll need to unlink and relink some of your smarthome services in order to keep using them and take advantage of new features. Here’s how to do that.

Not All Ethernet Cables Are Equal: You Can Get Faster LAN Speeds By Upgrading

Wired connections, which use Ethernet cables, are generally faster and have lower latency than Wi-Fi connections. But, just as modern Wi-Fi hardware has advanced, modern Ethernet cables are capable of communicating at faster speeds.

How to Disable GeForce Experience’s Reward Advertisements

NVIDIA’s GeForce Experience software now displays notification advertisements for free-to-play games. If you don’t want notification popups for games you’ve never played appearing when you’re just trying to use your computer, here’s how to disable them.

How to Automatically Enable Wi-Fi When You’re Near a Trusted Network in Android Oreo

You disable Wi-Fi on your Android phone to improve battery life, which is great! But how many times have you forgotten to enable it again, ultimately eating up some of your mobile data when you could’ve been on Wi-Fi? With Oreo, that fear is no more.

How to Stop Your iPhone Dinging Twice When You Get Text Messages

By default, when you get an SMS or iMessage, your iPhone will make a sound once when you receive it, and then again two minutes later in case you missed it. If you read the message after the first ding, it doesn’t ding again.

How to Run Android on Windows With AMIDuOS

There are an increasing number of ways to try out Android applications on your Windows desktop or laptop. But of the various methods I’ve sampled, none combined complete access to Android’s basic functions with ease-of-access quite like American Megatrends’ AMIDuOS.

How to Re-Caulk Areas in Your Bathroom or Kitchen

Caulk is vital in areas like the bathroom and kitchen where water has the opportunity to creep into all sorts of crevices and cause problems. If the caulk in your house is looking a bit aged, here’s how to re-caulk it and give it a fresh, new look.

Monday, 2 October 2017

What Is the powerd Process, and Why Is It Running on My Mac?

You’re browsing Activity Monitor on your Mac when something catches your eye: powerd. What is that, and should you be worried?

Share a standard Pipeline across multiple projects with Shared Libraries

This is a guest post by Philip Stroh, Software Architect at TimoCom.

When building multiple microservices - e.g. with Spring Boot - the integration and delivery pipelines of your services will most likely be very similar. Surely, you don’t want to copy-and-paste Pipeline code from one Jenkinsfile to another if you develop a new service or if there are adaptions in your delivery process. Instead you would like to define something like a pipeline "template" that can be applied easily to all of your services.

The requirement for a common pipeline that can be used in multiple projects does not only emerge in microservice architectures. It’s valid for all areas where applications are built on a similar technology stack or deployed in a standardized way (e.g. pre-packages as containers).

In this blog post I’d like to outline the possibility to create such a pipeline "template" using Jenkins Shared Libraries. If you’re not yet familiar with Shared Libraries I’d recommend having a look at the documentation.

The following code shows a (simplified) integration and delivery Pipeline for a Spring Boot application in declarative syntax.

JenkinsFile
pipeline {
    agent any
    environment {
        branch = 'master'
        scmUrl = 'ssh://git@myScmServer.com/repos/myRepo.git'
        serverPort = '8080'
        developmentServer = 'dev-myproject.mycompany.com'
        stagingServer = 'staging-myproject.mycompany.com'
        productionServer = 'production-myproject.mycompany.com'
    }
    stages {
        stage('checkout git') {
            steps {
                git branch: branch, credentialsId: 'GitCredentials', url: scmUrl
            }
        }

        stage('build') {
            steps {
                sh 'mvn clean package -DskipTests=true'
            }
        }

        stage ('test') {
            steps {
                parallel (
                    "unit tests": { sh 'mvn test' },
                    "integration tests": { sh 'mvn integration-test' }
                )
            }
        }

        stage('deploy development'){
            steps {
                deploy(developmentServer, serverPort)
            }
        }

        stage('deploy staging'){
            steps {
                deploy(stagingServer, serverPort)
            }
        }

        stage('deploy production'){
            steps {
                deploy(productionServer, serverPort)
            }
        }
    }
    post {
        failure {
            mail to: 'team@example.com', subject: 'Pipeline failed', body: "${env.BUILD_URL}"
        }
    }
}

This Pipeline builds the application, runs unit as well as integration tests and deploys the application to several environments. It uses a global variable "deploy" that is provided within a Shared Library. The deploy method copies the JAR-File to a remote server and starts the application. Through the handy REST endpoints of Spring Boot Actuator a previous version of the application is stopped beforehand. Afterwards the deployment is verified via the health status monitor of the application.

vars/deploy.groovy
def call(def server, def port) {
    httpRequest httpMode: 'POST', url: "http://${server}:${port}/shutdown", validResponseCodes: '200,408'
    sshagent(['RemoteCredentials']) {
        sh "scp target/*.jar root@${server}:/opt/jenkins-demo.jar"
        sh "ssh root@${server} nohup java -Dserver.port=${port} -jar /opt/jenkins-demo.jar &"
    }
    retry (3) {
        sleep 5
        httpRequest url:"http://${server}:${port}/health", validResponseCodes: '200', validResponseContent: '"status":"UP"'
    }
}

The common approach to reuse pipeline code is to put methods like "deploy" into a Shared Library. If we now start developing the next application of the same fashion we can use this method for deployments as well. But often there are even more similarities within projects of one company. E.g. applications are built, tested and deployed in the same way into the same environments (development, staging and production). In this case it is possible to define the whole Pipeline as a global variable within a Shared Library. The next code snippet defines a Pipeline "template" for all of our Spring Boot applications.

vars/myDeliveryPipeline.groovy
def call(Map pipelineParams) {

    pipeline {
        agent any
        stages {
            stage('checkout git') {
                steps {
                    git branch: pipelineParams.branch, credentialsId: 'GitCredentials', url: pipelineParams.scmUrl
                }
            }

            stage('build') {
                steps {
                    sh 'mvn clean package -DskipTests=true'
                }
            }

            stage ('test') {
                steps {
                    parallel (
                        "unit tests": { sh 'mvn test' },
                        "integration tests": { sh 'mvn integration-test' }
                    )
                }
            }

            stage('deploy developmentServer'){
                steps {
                    deploy(pipelineParams.developmentServer, pipelineParams.serverPort)
                }
            }

            stage('deploy staging'){
                steps {
                    deploy(pipelineParams.stagingServer, pipelineParams.serverPort)
                }
            }

            stage('deploy production'){
                steps {
                    deploy(pipelineParams.productionServer, pipelineParams.serverPort)
                }
            }
        }
        post {
            failure {
                mail to: pipelineParams.email, subject: 'Pipeline failed', body: "${env.BUILD_URL}"
            }
        }
    }
}

Now we can setup the Pipeline of one of our applications with the following method call:

Jenkinsfile
myDeliveryPipeline(branch: 'master', scmUrl: 'ssh://git@myScmServer.com/repos/myRepo.git',
                   email: 'team@example.com', serverPort: '8080',
                   developmentServer: 'dev-myproject.mycompany.com',
                   stagingServer: 'staging-myproject.mycompany.com',
                   productionServer: 'production-myproject.mycompany.com')

The Shared library documentation mentions the ability to encapsulate similarities between several Pipelines with a global variable. It shows how we can enhance our template approach and build a higher-level DSL step: vars/myDeliveryPipeline.groovy

vars/myDeliveryPipeline.groovy
def call(body) {
    // evaluate the body block, and collect configuration into the object
    def pipelineParams= [:]
    body.resolveStrategy = Closure.DELEGATE_FIRST
    body.delegate = pipelineParams
    body()

    pipeline {
        // our complete declarative pipeline can go in here
        ...
    }
}

Now we can even use our own DSL-step to set up the integration and deployment Pipeline of our project:

Jenkinsfile
myDeliveryPipeline {
    branch = 'master'
    scmUrl = 'ssh://git@myScmServer.com/repos/myRepo.git'
    email = 'team@example.com'
    serverPort = '8080'
    developmentServer = 'dev-myproject.mycompany.com'
    stagingServer = 'staging-myproject.mycompany.com'
    productionServer = 'production-myproject.mycompany.com'
}

The blog post showed how a common Pipeline template can be developed using the Shared Library functionality in Jenkins. The approach allows to create a standard Pipeline that can be reused by applications that are built in a similar way.

It works for Declarative and Scripted Pipelines as well. For declarative pipelines the ability to define a Pipeline block in a Shared Library is official supported since version 1.2 (see the recent blog post on Declarative Pipeline 1.2).

How Neutral Density Filters Work and How to Use Them For Better Photography

Taking good photographs isn’t just about framing your subject and learning composition. Learning how to control how much light enters your camera and for how long can help you take photos that elude the average photographer. Neutral density filters are a powerful tool towards that end. Here’s what they are and how to use them.

The Only Safe Way to Update Your Hardware Drivers on Windows

Want to update your computer’s hardware drivers? Get your driver updates from Windows Update or your device manufacturer’s website. Here’s how.

How to Log In to a Windows Desktop Without a Keyboard

Have you ever had your keyboard break down on you, or your computer simply refuses to accept its input? It’s especially frustrating if this happens while the computer is off, since you can’t input your password to get access to Windows. Thankfully, Microsoft has included a way to access your data (and hopefully fix your problem) using only a mouse or a touch screen.

The Cheapest Ways to Stream NBA Basketball (Without Cable)

I love NBA basketball. Every year, I get really excited around the beginning of September because I know tip-off is approaching. This year, I also had to figure out how I’m going to watch the Bulls (lose almost every game) with a combination of streaming packages. That’s fun. And slightly depressing.

Why Can’t I Listen to Radio If My Phone Has an FM Receiver In It?

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai just publicly called on Apple to activate the FM receiver chips found in iPhones for public safety reasons. Many Android phones also contain dormant FM chips. But, if your phone has an FM receiver, why can’t you already listen to the radio on it?

What is really going on behind Surat's high-tech, labour-intensive diamond industry?

The diamond market is deserted. Young people are now moving into the textile industry. In the meantime, the world’s luxury seekers keep Surat’s diamondmakers busy.

How Philips is transforming into a health tech trailblazer

Philips' transformation from being a trusted electronics brand into a healthcare services company is not an aberration, reckon branding experts.

Designing chips for the world from India

Semiconductor chip design has moved to India to a significant degree. And some innovative solutions have been developed by domestic startups for aircrafts, mobile phones, and in the internet-of-things space

7 reasons why you should not invest in bitcoins, cryptocurrencies

After the big crash, cryptocurrency prices are slowly starting to stabilise. Should you use this crash as an opportunity to buy into the market?

How to keep your money safe if you want to invest in cryptocurrencies

People who want to experiment with cryptocurrencies should keep their initial investments very low, say around 2-3% of the investment corpus.

Why Indian govt's big push for electric cars is making auto industry nervous

The electric technology is still in the works, charging stations are missing and price is still a hurdle. But “bulldozed” by the govt, Motown is still bracing for an electric rush.

Sunday, 1 October 2017

The Best File Extraction and Compression Tool for Windows

If you’re a Windows user, you probably need to install a tool for creating and extracting archive files. Windows only features built in support for ZIP files, but third-party tools add support for other common types of archives like RAR and 7z. They also offer built-in encryption features, allowing you to securely protect archives you create with a passphrase.