How Carriers and Manufacturers Make Your Android Phone’s Software Worse

Android’s openness is a big reason for its success, but cellular carriers and phone manufacturers often use this openness to make the experience worse for its users. Android’s openness gives carriers and device manufacturers the freedom to do bad things.

Biometrics will come of age with more smartphone adoption in 2018

Biometrics will come of age in 2018 with more smartphones being equipped with technologies like fingerprint, face recognition and iris scans.

How Artificial Intelligence will play a huge role in your life in 2018

Artificial intelligence will help businesses and consumers benefit from reduced costs, improved efficiency and more choices.

Ascent of drones in 2018

Companies in oil and gas, logistics, supply chain, automobiles and several military units have run drone experiments of various sizes to figure out its use

Why India will push further down the electric vehicle path in 2018

There are marked improvements in Electric Vehicle technology, including battery storage capacity, its cost economics, charging time and range anxiety.

Geek Trivia: Workers In Which Of These Non-Nuclear Industries Are Classified As “Radiation Workers” By The CDC?

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

PC Gamers, Give Left-Handed “Gamepads” a Try

Keyboards aren’t designed to play games…but most PC games are designed to be played on keyboards. It’s an interesting bit of evolutionary dissonance in the world of PC gaming, from back when people actually worked on computers and games were a secondary consideration.

Are your smart speakers eavesdropping on conversations? Here's how to stay safe from hackers

Consider covering up the front-facing camera on your laptop with opaque tape unless you need it regularly for video chats.

India's Income tax department in tough spot as Bitcoin investors go all tech

India's income tax department just found it difficult to figure out whether investors actually hold any bitcoins or the income earned from these instruments.

How to Enable Night Mode on the Echo Spot

If you use your Echo Spot as a bedside alarm clock, then you might benefit from turning on Night Mode. This feature changes the background to black and dims the screen so that it doesn’t blind you at night while you’re trying to sleep.

Geek Trivia: Star Wars Character Boba Fett Was First Revealed To The Public In A?

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

Netflix Will Help You Send Your Kids to Bed Early With Fake New Year’s Countdowns

New Year’s Eve is a holiday for staying up late to watch the current year slowly decay until it hatches in…

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Instantly Open a Full Screen Terminal On Your Mac Using a Keyboard Shortcut

Many Mac users spend their entire lives in the Terminal, but most of us only open it occasionally. Using a mouse to open a text-based interface feels weird, however. What if there was a way to always have the Terminal at the ready, triggered by a single keyboard shortcut?

How to Add Custom User Tags to Reddit

If you’ve spent any time at all on the Internet, odds are pretty decent that you’ve encountered Reddit, the link-sharing social network and discussion platform. And if you’ve spent any time at all on Reddit, odds are approximately 100% that you’ve encountered jerks. Not that Reddit is inherently jerky, mind you—it’s just that there are millions of users posting links and comments daily. Unless you’re specifically limiting your viewing to the /r/Aww subreddit, you’re mathematically certain to encounter a certain level of dickish behavior.

Best Desk Toys for Entertaining Yourself During Conference Calls

You’re sitting there at work stuck on a conference call in desperate need of something…

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How to Change Device Names on Google Wifi

One of the most valuable features of Google Wifi for me is the ability to watch my network activity on a per-device level. The thing is, a lot of devices don’t correctly report themselves to the router, so it’s hard to tell what is what. Here’s how to figure it out, then change the name.

Smart homes: Not just for tech geeks anymore

Internet-connected lights, locks and laundry machines are close to becoming everyday household items, thanks in part to voice-activated speakers such as Amazon's Echo and Google Home.

India likens cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins to Ponzi scheme, cautions investors

Bitcoin prices plunged by almost 40% from its record high of $19,500 this month as investors cashed out following the wildly volatile currency's stratospheric rise.

What’s the Difference Between a Power Strip and a Surge Protector?

Surge protectors often look just like power strips, but not all power strips are surge protectors. Only surge protections actually help protect your gadgets against power surges. Many power strips are just glorified extension cords without any protection. But you can tell whether a strip provides surge protection with just a few seconds of examination.

2017 separated the men from the boys. 2018 will be Startup Inc's time to reboot

2017 saw tough times for Indian startups, calling for nuanced strategy and a patient approach. Here's an indication of how 2018 might shape up.

Fall in data prices, new users reason for rise in video consumption

Across public places and modes of transport people glued to their mobile screens, watching video on the go became a common sight.

How to Change the Clock Face on the Echo Spot

Amazon’s Echo Spot makes for a fantastic bedside alarm clock, and there are a handful of clock faces to choose from. Here’s how to change the clock face to find one that suits your tastes.

Geek Trivia: Which Of These Early Computers Had A Critical Defect That Erased Removable Media?

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

How to Clear Your MacBook’s Touch Bar and Secure Enclave Data

Planning on selling or giving away your MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar? Even if you wipe your Mac and reinstall macOS from scratch, it won’t remove everything: information about your fingerprints and other security features are stored separately, and may remain after your wipe your hard drive.

How to Manage Podcasts in Google Play Music

Hey, did you know that the Google Play Music app that comes with your Android phone can subscribe to, stream, and download podcasts? The feature works okay, though not nearly as fleshed-out as the various dedicated podcast managers out there. But if you hate having extra apps on your phone, and you’re already an avid user of Play Music, it could be the right move for you. Here’s how it works.

Google and Apple Are Killing It With Photo Tech

 

When it comes to hardware phone makers are bor…

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How to Tame Your Chromecast’s Background Data Usage

Google’s Chromecast is an excellent little streaming device that offers an easy and affordable way to get content from the little screen to the big one. The thing is, when you’re not using it, it can use over 15GB of data every month just idling. That’s a pretty significant amount for anyone on a metered connection.

How to Speed Up Your Old, Slow iPhone or iPad

Every year, Apple comes out with new iPhones and iPads and a new version of iOS. While it’s a good idea to stay current on software, not everyone can afford to buy new hardware every year. If your iPhone or iPad is showing its age, here are a few tricks to squeeze out a bit more performance.

Customer service jobs more prone to automation: Report

According to a report by employability assessment company Aspiring Minds, customer service, software and IT and accounting jobs have very high automation potential.

The robots are coming, and Sweden is fine

Sweden’s famously generous social welfare system makes this a place not prone to fretting about automation — or much else, for that matter.

Red Hat partners with universities to prepare open source skilled workforce

Red Hat, the Linux firm which makes open source products for enterprises has partenered with more than 100 colleges and universities in the last one year with the aim to train students in open source skills and certify them in emerging technologies like DevOps, Cloud IT automation among others.

AWS big bet for OTT players with data analytics & AI

AWS plans to make inroads into the over-the-top (OTT) content providers market in India with their data analytics and artificial intelligence platform.

Indian Healthcare industry the most affected by botnets

Fortinet pointed out that the Indian Healthcare industry is the most affected by botnets (up from 6th last year)

How to Get the Most Out of Your Kwikset Kevo Smart Lock

The Kwikset Kevo smart lock comes with a clever design that lets you simply touch the lock to unlock it—but that’s not the only feature that makes it so great. Here’s how to get the most out of our Kevo smart lock.

Geek Trivia: Which U.S. State Flag Has A Union Jack On It?

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How to Block Specific Ads on YouTube

Have you ever gone on a YouTube binge, only to get the same annoying pre-roll ad over and over again? It’s a systemic issue, thanks to Google’s user-targeting advertising algorithm. The easiest way to solve this problem is to pay for YouTube Red and get rid of all the advertising. The easiest free way to do it, however, is below.

9 Great Switch Games You’ll Only Find in the Nintendo eShop

While there are plenty of great Switch games you can grab right off the shelf at your local retailer, there are some gems you can only get if y…

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How to Turn an Android or Fire Tablet Into a Kid-Friendly Device with FreeTime

Amazon FreeTime is, hands down, the most sophisticated and easy-to-use parental control tool available for tablets. Here’s how to set it up, access the vast FreeTime Unlimited media library, and set time limits for your kids.

10 Handy Uses for Your Old iPad or Android Tablet

Tablet sales are slumping at the moment, probably as a result of big smartphones and convertible laptops chip away at a tablet’s usefulness. But if you have one or more tablets at home gathering dust while you happily poke away at your giant smartphone, there are probably some good ways to put them to use rather than selling them or recycling them. Here are a few ideas.

1,500 more schools selected for setting up Atal Tinkering Labs

NITI Aayog has selected an additional 1,500 schools for setting up Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) under the government's flagship programme Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) taking the total number of such labs to 2,441.

Blockchain pumping new life into old-school tech firms like IBM

The market for blockchain-related products and services will reach $7.7 billion in 2022, up from $242 million last year, according to researcher Markets & Markets.

Green push: Electric autos rev up to hit Bengaluru roads soon

Karnataka is one of the first states in the country to announce a policy for electric vehicles. The policy, unveiled in September, exempts electric vehicle owners from paying road taxes

How to Remove Ads on the PlayStation 4’s Home Screen

If you’re a PlayStation 4 owner of any variety (regular, Slim, or Pro), you probably woke up today to an annoying Destiny 2 ad right there in your recent games bar. That’s pretty obnoxious, so here’s how to prevent it from happening again in the future.

Geek Trivia: The Largest Group Of Mammals, By Species, Is Composed Of?

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How to Buy and Sell the Digital Movie Codes that Come With Your Discs

At the moment, we’re in a transition to an all-digital world of entertainment, and we’ll soon be able to more or less forget about DVDs, CDs, Blu-rays, and game cartridges. But while we sit in this transitory phase, movie studios are trying to get us to keep buying movies on disc by sweetening the pot with free codes for digital copies.

The Cheapest Ways to Get Started with 4K Streaming

If you’re buying a new 4K TV this year, you&#821…

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How to Disable Website Links When Pasting Text Into OneNote

When you paste text from a web page into OneNote, it won’t just paste the text. You’ll also get a link to the web page you got it from. You can disable this feature if you like, forcing OneNote to only paste the text you actually copied.

Why Android Phones Slow Down Over Time, and How to Speed Them Up

If you’ve had your Android device for a while, you’ve probably started to notice some lag that wasn’t there before. Apps load a bit slower, menus take a bit longer to show up. This is actually (and unfortunately) normal—here’s why.

LG distributes AI development tool to all divisions to speed up product development

In a bid to speed up the release of new products equipped with the latest technology, LG Electronics on Tuesday said that it has distributed its Artificial Intelligence (AI) development platform to all business divisions.

Security at stake as dark web puts up ransomware for hire

Not only can you subscribe to ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) on what is known as the dark web, the providers will also give you step-by-step instructions on how to launch an attack

Geek Trivia: Samsung’s First Products Weren’t Electronics But?

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

So You Just Got a Chromecast. Now What?

So, you just scored a Chromecast. That’s awesome! But you can do a lot more than just watch Netflix or YouTube on that bad boy—there’s actually a load of cool stuff under its tiny hood.

A cute toy just brought a hacker into your living room

While manufacturers are promoting ‘connected’ toys to keep children engaged, these toys can be turned to spy on little ones or to track their location.

Qualcomm begins testing self-driving technology in California

Qualcomm in September announced "9150 C-V2X" chipset that lets cars communicate with other cars, as well as with infrastructure like traffic lights.

How to Set Up All Your New Holiday Gadgets

It’s the holidays, which means new gadgets for everyone! Whether you’re rocking a new PC or trying to get a handle on what the Amazon Echo really does, we’ve got you covered. Here’s how to set up all your new tech gifts (and, let’s be honest: your family’s).

So You Just Got an Amazon Fire Tablet. Now What?

Hey, congratulations on your new tablet! The Amazon Fire Tablet series offers, without a doubt, some of the best bang for your buck devices you can get in today’s tablet market. You’re going to love it.

So You Just Got a Google Home. Now What?

So you scored a Google Home for Christmas. That’s awesome, because this is a killer little smart speaker that can do a lot of different things—in fact, it can be a little overwhelming. The good news is that we’ve got you covered. Here are some ideas on where to get started with your new Home.

Auto Bot: A sneak peek into the lab & minds behind India's first autonomous cargo vehicle

India’s first autonomous cargo vehicle, developed from scratch by Ati Technologies, will be road-tested on the campus of the Indian Institute of Science next month.

Blockchain may upset commodity markets globally

Blockchain technology, which has already been adopted by gold traders, is starting to show the potential to transform other sectors of the global physical commodities markets.

Plan for all-electric cars by 2030 not viable: Mercedes India MD

Mercedes-Benz India MD Roland Folger said that the whole plan to go electric nationwide looks like a rushed with idea.

So You Just Got an Xbox One. Now What?

The Xbox One is shaping up to be a great console. The Xbox One S offers 4K and HDR features you can’t get on the PlayStation 4 Slim, and the even newer Xbox One X is significantly faster than Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro. Here’s everything you need to know to get the most out of your new Xbox One.

So You Just Got a PlayStation 4. Now What?

Christmas has come and gone, the paper torn off of every box under the tree, and you just scored a brand new PlayStation 4 (or Pro!). Congratulations! It is, at least in this writer’s humble opinion, the best version of the PlayStation that has ever existed—especially the Pro. Let’s make the most of it, shall we?

So You Just Got a Nintendo Switch. Now What?

The Nintendo Switch is a great console—part living room system, part portable device, and all Nintendo. While the Switch isn’t as packed with extra features and apps as other modern consoles are, there are still many things it doesn’t tell you. Here’s what you need to know to get the most out of your new Switch.

How to Set Up and Configure Your Amazon Echo

So you just got an Amazon Echo, either from the recent sales or the holidays. Let’s take a look at how to set it up and some useful things you can task your Echo with.

How to Sideload Apps on the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick

Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV stick technically runs Android…but you wouldn’t know it from looking. Amazon has a wall of content for its set-top box, and doesn’t want Google (with its own competing platform) to crash the party. But even though the Fire TV only has official access to Amazon’s Appstore, you can install other apps too.

Geek Trivia: Which Of These Christmas Films Was Originally Released In The Spring?

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

The Best Modern, Open Source Ports of Classic Games

Looking for a bit of PC gaming nostalgia? You could dig those old floppy disks out of your closet…or you could grab the new, improved, open source versions of those games online for free.

India as vulnerable as any other country in the world in cybersecurity, says Eugene Kaspersky

India is one of the key markets for Kaspersky. India's move towards digitalisation should automatically open doors for development of the cyber security industry.

Geek Trivia: The Only Primate With A Toxic Bite Is The?

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

Google, the World’s Biggest Advertising Company, Will Block Ads Soon. Is That Good?

It’s finally happening: on February 15, 2017, Google’s Chrome browser will block some ads out-of-the-box, regardless of whether you have a separate ad blocker installed.

Goldman is said to be building a cryptocurrency trading desk

The move makes Goldman the first large Wall Street firm to make markets in cryptocurrencies, whose wild price swings and surging values have captured the public’s imagination but given pause to established institutions.

Xiaomi IPO could plug into Internet of Things hype

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has told banks it would exceed its annual revenue target by as much as 18 percent this year, Reuters reported on Dec. 22, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.

How to Disable the Camera on the Echo Spot

The Echo Spot makes for a great bedside alarm clock with Alexa built in, but if you’re a little wary of a camera pointing directly at your bed, here’s how to disable it completely.

Geek Trivia: The Country With The Most Diverse Variety Of Breads Is?

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

How to Use a Time Machine Drive for Both File Storage and Backups

When you set up Time Machine, your Mac wants to use an entire external drive exclusively for backups. Here’s how you can get around that and use a Time Machine drive both for backups and file storage.

WinX DVD Ripper Xmas Giveaway and Amazon eGift Card Contest [Sponsored]

Christmas is right around the corner and online stores are buzzing with festive promotion activity.

Dimension Data sets up an enterprise IT architecture for UTI AMC

Dimension Data, the global ICT solutions and services provider, today announced that, it has successfully built an efficient and agile Enterprise Information Security Architecture for UTI Asset Management Company (UTI AMC) to enable secure financial transactions and customer information security.

Great Last Minute Gifts You Can Send By Email, You Lazy Jerk

Another holiday deadline looms near and you forgot to do your gift shopping in advance. We get it.

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How to Make Your Steam Profile Private

Yesterday, fellow How-To Geek writer Eric Ravenscraft recommended a Steam game in our office chat room. It’s all about writing…and also it’s about anime-style schoolgirls and the wooing thereof.

Bitcoin heads for its worst week since 2013

Bitcoin plunged below $13,000 on Friday after losing around a third of its value in just five days, heading for its worst week since 2013 after a blistering ascent to a peak close to $20,000 on Sunday.

How to Blur Faces and Text in Photoshop

There are plenty of reasons you might want to blur some part of a photo in Photoshop. Maybe you’re sharing a photo and you want to anonymize some people, or perhaps you want to show off how bad your passport photo is without revealing private information. Whatever the reason, here’s how to blur something in Photoshop.

The NVIDIA SHIELD Is the Most Powerful Set Top Box You Can Buy

There are a lot of streaming set-top boxes out there: The Apple TV, the Roku, the Amazon Fire TV…and sure, they each have their advantages. But if you want the set top box that does the absolute most, that can handle anything you throw at it and leave some room for tweaking, it’s the NVIDIA SHIELD with Android TV.

AI can add $957b to economy

Artificial intelligence (AI) can add $957 billion into the Indian economy by changing the nature of work and improving the outcomes for Indian businesses and the society in general

Quikr acquires HDFC's digital, realty units in all stock deal

Quikr has raised about $346 million from Kinnevik AB, Tiger Global, Steadview Capital Management, Matrix Partners India and others since inception in 2008.

Will need govt incentives to fulfill India's EV dream: Maruti

The company, which plans to launch its first EV in India by 2020, also said it will conduct a study to find consumer insights to prepare for the journey.

Sling Media India to play a key role in DISH Network's 5G future

DISH Network plans to build a 5G-capable narrowband Internet of Things (IoT) network to connect various types of sensors like agricultural sensors, and sensors present in smart cars & smart cities among others.

Six Things to Consider Before Installing a Smart Lock

Smart locks can offer a great deal of convenience when leaving and entering your home, but there are a few things you should be aware of before you install one on your own door.

Geek Trivia: The First Major U.S. Film Studio To Stop Distributing Movies On Film Was?

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

How to Use Your Mac’s Disk Utility to Partition, Wipe, Repair, Restore, and Copy Drives

Need to create a new partition, or re-format an external drive? There’s no need to hunt down paid partition managers or disk-management boot disks: your Mac includes a built-in partition manager and disk management tool known as Disk Utility.

How to Fix Windows Explorer Showing Drives Twice in the Sidebar

When you plug in an external drive to a Windows 10 machine, it appears as a separate entry in the navigation pane in Windows Explorer. But it also appears as an entry in the nested item under “This PC,” as seen next to Deadpool here.

Subscription Crates Are a Perfect Gift for Curious Kids

Opening a gift on Christmas is pretty awesome, but opening a gift every month of the year?

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What Is the Google Pixel 2’s Visual Core?

The Google Pixel 2 has one of the best cameras you can get in a smartphone right now. But generally speaking, these “best camera” sort of ratings only apply to the stock camera app. Google is changing that thanks to the “Pixel Visual Core”—a custom image processing chip. But what does this chip do?

How to Use Emoji in Photoshop

In the last few years, Emoji have become a huge part of pop culture. There’s even a movie about them (although I’m trying my best to forget that). With Photoshop CC 2017, Adobe added proper support for Emoji, so let’s look at how to use them.

Without Google Chrome, the Windows Store Will Always Suck

Microsoft won’t allow Google Chrome in the Windows Store. Google tried to help users by putting an “installer” for Chrome in the Store instead, but Microsoft quickly tore it down. Microsoft is making the Store worse just to serve their business interests. The Store even allows other apps that use Google Chrome’s “Chromium” browser engine—just not Chrome itself.

Flipkart gears up with 'AI for India'

Flipkart is ready to build algorithms based on unique 'Indian' data collected in its 10-year existence

You Can Speed Up Your Slow iPhone by Replacing the Battery

All phones slow down over time. As hardware gets older and software gets newer, it’s inevitable. But there’s another reason your iPhone might be slow: the battery.

When Does iMessage Mark a Message as “Read”?

Ever notice how iMessage will mark a message as “Read” when the other person sees it? These are called “read receipts”, and they can provide a lot of peace of mind for those that you message with. But when exactly does the other person know that you’ve read their message?

Geek Trivia: After Star Trek, James Doohan Starred In Another Sci-Fi Show Called?

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

How to See What Your Mac Is Loading at Boot with KnockKnock

If you’re a Mac power user, you probably install a lot of software, only to delete it later. But how many of those applications, drivers, and customizations tools are still trying to do things when your Mac starts up?

How to Enable and Use Windows 10’s New Built-in SSH Commands

Microsoft announced it was bringing an integrated OpenSSH client to Windows in 2015. They’ve finally done it, and an SSH client is hidden in Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update. You can now connect to an Secure Shell server from Windows without installing PuTTY or any other third-party software.

PSA: Update Game Consoles Before Giving them for Christmas

The last thing you want on Christmas Day is for your kids to be unable to play the game console they’ve waited so long to enjoy. Read on as we highlight why you need to pre-game your console gift giving experience.

The Best Switch Games to Play with Friends and Family

It’s fun to play games together, and the holiday season is the perfect time of year to do that.

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The Best Non-Mechanical Keyboards

If you’re at all interested in computer accessories, you’ve no doubt noticed the trend towards mechanical keyboards. Their satisfying click-clack and deep customization options are appealing to a huge range of people. But that range doesn’t include everyone…and if you aren’t a fan of mechanical boards, you’re probably feeling a little left out.

Google’s Pixel Buds Are a Cool Translator That Make You Look Even More Like a Tourist

Google’s new headphones, the Pixel Buds,…

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If You Want Android, Just Buy Google’s Pixel Phone

Samsung may build the most popular Android phones on the market, but that doesn’t automatically mean they’re the best. In fact, there are a lot of reasons to ignore the Samsungs and LGs of the market and get your Android phone straight from the source: Google.

Geek Trivia: There’s A Popular Literary Genre In Japan Where The Works Are Composed Using?

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

Give the Gift of Fast Phone Charging This Holiday Season

If you’re struggling with a last minute gift idea, here’s an easy one: buy them a fast charger for their phone.

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How to “Untrust” a Computer on Your iPhone or iPad

When you first plug your iPhone or iPad into a computer, you’ll be prompted to “trust” the computer on your device. This gives iTunes and other management tools on the computer the ability to access your photos, files, settings, contacts, and other data. Your iPhone or iPad remembers this decision and will automatically trust that computer in the future.

The Best Streaming Device For Everyone On Your Christmas List

Why Your Android Phone Isn’t Getting Operating System Updates and What You Can Do About It

Back in the early days of Android, system updates were very random: they would roll out at different times, and often several times per year. Now, Google has taken a much more streamlined approach, releasing one major Android update per year and much smaller, security-focused updates once per month.

Here's why India has decided to crank up its crackdown against Bitcoins

The rising craze for bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that has rocketed to shocking highs, has come under the lens of the Indian government

How to Properly Thread Tweets for Your Tweetstorms

Twitter threads (aka tweetstorms), where someone posts a series of related Tweets one after the other, sit in a weird place: everyone claims to hate them, but lots of people post them anyway. Twitter has recently embraced the feature, integrating them into the platform and making them easier to do right. Here’s how to use them.

Despite Firefox Quantum’s Success, Mozilla Has Lost Its Way

Mozilla was supposed to be different. It brands itself as a non-profit organization dedicated to making the web better, one that cares about user privacy and security. But after this week, I’m starting to wonder if Mozilla really cares about its users the way they claim.

Virgin Hyperloop One raises $50M, names Richard Branson as chairman

Virgin Hyperloop One said on Monday it has raised $50 million in new financing and named Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, as its non-executive chairman.

Welspun's new tech to verify cotton origin to ensure authenticity

Welspun's technology enables it to verify the origin of cotton at each stage of the manufacturing process to ensure an authentic final product

Soon, AI-based cameras will scan streets of Delhi & Mumbai

To protect the privacy of citizens, these camera has a function to cover the face. But if a critical situation arises, this feature can be disabled.

How to Enable Vacation Mode on the Schlage Connect Smart Lock

If you’re going on vacation and will be away from home for any significant amount of time, it might be a good idea to enable Vacation Mode on your Schlage Connect smart lock. Here’s how it works and how to turn it on.

Geek Trivia: Which Of These Christmas Films Became A Classic Due To A Copyright Filing Error?

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Your Amazon Wish List Is Public By Default. Here’s How to Make It Private

Amazon’s lists are helpful for keeping track of all the many ways you need to give Jeff Bezos your money. However, by default, your basic wish list is public, and anyone with your email address can look it up. That seems like something worth fixing. Here’s how to change the privacy settings on your wish list.

How to Get Detailed Information About Your PC

Sometimes, you need to find information about your PC—things like what hardware you’re using, your BIOS or UEFI version, or even details about your software environment. Join us as we take a look at a few Windows tools that can provide varying levels of detail about your system information.

What to Do If You Can’t Find the Layers Panel (or Any Other Panel) in Photoshop

Photoshop is an incredibly flexible program. To keep the interface flexible, Photoshop uses “Panels” for each tool or feature.

These 8 Subscription Boxes Are the Perfect Gift for Super Fans

 

Subscription boxes are an a…

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Seven Things You Don’t Have to Root Android to Do Anymore

For years, Android enthusiasts have been rooting their devices to do things that Android doesn’t allow by default. But Google has added many features to Android that once required root, eliminating the need for many people.

Here's how Microsoft AI is helping Indian farmers increase crop yields

New technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Machine Learning, Satellite Imagery and advanced analytics are helping small farmers in India to increase their income through higher crop yield and greater price control

Geek Trivia: The First All Digital Film Featuring Performance Captured Actors Was?

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How Do “Surround” Sound Bars Work?

The idea behind a conventional surround sound setup is simple: the speakers surround you, and thus, so does the sound. But a new generation of sound bars, the all-in-one devices that sit below your TV and house multiple drivers in a horizontal layout, also claim to have surround sound capabilities. How can that be possible if the only speaker is directly in front of you?

All you need to know about bitcoin, ICOs and the brouhaha over them

Bitcoin prices have risen over 1,700%, or 18-fold, this year, compared with an increase of 28% and 26% in the Nasdaq Composite Index and the BSE Sensex, respectively.

Geek Trivia: Teleprompters Are A Practical Use Of An Old Illusionist’s Trick Known As?

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Why Your Kodi Box Isn’t Working, and What to Use Instead

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And Kodi boxes sound way too good to be true, offering unlimited free TV and movies for life after purchasing a single piece of hardware.

Big data and bullet train drive India-Japan strategic ties ahead

Foreign direct investment by Japanese companies has also soared, reaching $3.7 billion in 2016, its second-highest level ever.

How to See Your Uber or Lyft Passenger Rating

After every Uber and Lyft ride, you can rate your driver out of five stars based on how good or bad the ride was. However, you may not know that drivers also rate you as a passenger. Here’s how to view your passenger rating for both Uber and Lyft.

Auto-Convert Freestyle Jobs to Jenkins Pipeline

This is a guest post by Sanil Pillai, Director of Labs & Strategic Insights, Infostretch

Infostretch has created a plugin for teams upgrading from Freestyle Jobs to Pipelines as code with Jenkins Pipeline. This new plugin streamlines the process and accelerates pipeline on-boarding for any new set of applications. Previously, when upgrading to Jenkins Pipeline, converting Freestyle Jobs required developers to drill down on each one of those hundreds (or thousands!) of jobs to understand tools, configurations, URLs, parameters, and more before rewriting them in Pipeline syntax. This process is very manual, error-prone, lengthy, and not cost-effective. Beyond saving time, the new plugin also assures adherence to proper coding standards and separates complex business logic and standards declaration from execution flow.

Key features:

• Convert single freestyle job to pipeline

• Convert chain of freestyle jobs to single pipeline

• Works with both Jenkins and CloudBees Jenkins Enterprise

• Plugin can be customized to support any Freestyle plugin and an organization’s Pipeline Shared Library, or Groovy coding standards.

• Works with CloudBees' Role-based Access Control to help the new Pipelines comply with existing security policies.

• Direct migration of properties such as "Build with Parameters" to newly created Pipelines.

• Direct migration of Agent on which job is to be run with support for multiple agent labels across different downstream jobs

• Environment properties: JDK, NodeJS

• Supports Git SCM.

• Build steps: Maven, Ant, Shell, Batch, and Ansible Playbook.

• Post build actions: artifact archiver, simple mailer, TestNG reports, JUnit reports, checkstyle publisher

Now, let’s take a look at how to get started:

1. Click on a link at Root level or Folder level or Job level.

   

2. Select the job from the drop-down list that is the beginning point of the "chain". If job level link is clicked, this drop-down list will not be visible.

   

   Provide the new pipeline job name. If this is not specified, the plugin will attempt to create a new pipeline job with the naming convention of "oldname-pipeline".

3. Check "Recursively convert downstream jobs if any?" if you wish to have all the downstream jobs converted into this new pipeline. The plugin will write all the logic of current and downstream jobs into a single pipeline.

4. Check "Commit Jenkinsfile?" if you would like the plugin to create a Jenkinsfile and commit it back to the SCM. The plugin will commit the Jenkinsfile at the root of the SCM repository it finds in the first job (selected in step 1 above). It will attempt to commit to this repo using the credentials it finds in the first job.

5. Do note that the plugin will checkout the repo in to a temporary workspace on the master (JENKINS_HOME/plugins/convert-to- pipeline/ws). Once the conversion is complete and Jenkinsfile is committed back to the repo, the workspace will be deleted.

6. Click "Convert" to convert the Freestyle job configurations to a single scripted pipeline job. Once the conversion is complete and the new job is created, you will be redirected to the newly created pipeline job.

That’s it!

To learn more about plugin usage, customization and to see a demo click here to watch the webinar replay on-demand.

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Jenkins User Conference China Recap

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

The first Jenkins User Conference China was held on November 19, 2017 in Shanghai, China. It was an amazing conference for Jenkins users in China. There were almost 450 attendees to enjoy a lovely day with Jenkins creator, Kohsuke Kawaguchi.

There were 12 wonderful presentations, 1 workshop and 1 open space to set the stage for JUC China. The day began with Kohsuke, welcomed to the stage by all the attendees here with their warm applauses. All of them are fans of Jenkins and Kohsuke. Thanks to Kohsuke, he made a wonderful presentation to show the past, present and future of Jenkins for Chinese Jenkins users.

The co-founder of DevOps Times community, Le Zhang released a report of adoption of Deployment Pipeline in Chinese IT organization. The report shows that Jenkins is the most popular tool for DevOps and CD in China.

It also has proven that “If it hurts, do it more often!” is right because the IT organization who deploy more frequently, deployment failure would be less.

The Three Musketeers of DevOps in China (Le Zhang, Xuefeng Shi,Forest Jing) have demonstrated a DevOps pipeline based on Jenkins and many open-source software such as Kubernetes, Gitlab, etc.

After the presentation, lots of fans waited in line to take pictures with Kohsuke.

Here are some photos of the JUC China. We really enjoyed it.

Lastly, as an organizer for JUC China, I would like to thank Kohsuke Kawaguchi, Alyssa Tong, Sam Van Oort and so many friends from CloudBees and Jenkins community to have given us so many help to make the first JUC China an amazing and successful conference for Jenkins users in China. We look forward to organizing many more JUC China.

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Regular perusers of the Jenkins User Documentation may have noticed the presence of the Tutorials part (between the Guided Tour and User Handbook) that appeared in the last couple of months and gradually began to get populated with much of my recent work, writing Jenkins tutorials.

My name’s Giles and I’ve been a technical writer in the software development field for several years now. I’ve always been passionate about technical writing and more recently, the technologies that go into developing written content and automating its generation - like Jenkins! I was a former Atlassian and recently joined CloudBees as a Senior Technical Writer, working remotely from the "Sydney Office", with my current focus on the Jenkins User Documentation.

Why tutorials?

My exposure to Jenkins and its usage over the years has been patchy at best. During this time, however, I’ve had some degree of experience as a user of various continuous delivery (CD) tools like Jenkins and am reasonably familiar with the advantages these tools can offer software development teams.

I’ve also found that while many software developers are familiar with the broader concept of "developer operations" (or simply "devops"), fewer seem less familiar with the concepts of CD and related tools to facilitate devops within organizations.

The CD process is based on the fundamental flow of building the application > testing it > delivering it, where typically:

• The building part involves compiling the application and/or ensuring all necessary libraries and dependencies are in place for the application to run as intended.

• The testing part involves testing the built application with automated tests to ensure that changes implemented by developers function as expected.

• The delivering part involves packaging or presenting the application in a way that can be delivered to customers or other users for any kind of purpose.

Now, as one of the major contributors to the Jenkins User Documentation (and faced with a reasonably steep learning curve), it quickly became apparent about the lack of accessible documentation to hand-hold people relatively new to Jenkins through this CD process. I couldn’t find anything in the Jenkins User Documentation to demonstrate how Jenkins implements this process on a simple app that delivers an end result.

With the guidance and assistance of helpful colleagues, I therefore decided to embark on creating a series of Jenkins tutorials to help fill these documentation and knowledge gaps. These tutorials are based on Daniele Procida’s description of how tutorials should be presented in his blog post "What nobody tells you about documentation").

Introductory tutorials

The first set of tutorials on the Tutorials overview page (beginning with "Using Jenkins to build …​") demonstrate how to implement this fundamental CD process in Jenkins on a simple application for a given technology stack.

So far, there’s one for Java with Maven and another for Node.js and React with npm. Another for Python will be added to this list in the near future.

These tutorials define your application’s entire CD process (i.e. your Pipeline) in a Jenkinsfile, whose Groovy-like Declarative Pipeline syntax is checked in to your Git source repository. Managing your Pipeline with your application’s source code like this forms the fundamentals of "Pipeline as code".

The Introductory tutorials also cover how to use some powerful features of Jenkins, like Blue Ocean, which makes it easy to connect to an existing cloud, web or locally hosted Git repository and create your Pipeline with limited knowledge of Pipeline syntax.

Advanced tutorials

Also soon to be released will be the first Advanced tutorial on building multibranch Pipelines in Jenkins. This tutorial takes the "Pipeline as code" concept to a new level, where a single Jenkinsfile (defining the entire CD process across all branches of your application’s Git repository) consists of multiple stages which are selectively executed based on the branch that Jenkins is building.

Additional tutorials that demonstrate more advanced features of Jenkins and how to manage your Pipelines with greater sophistication and flexibility will be added to this section in future.

Summing up

You can access all currently available tutorials from the Tutorials overview page in the Jenkins User Documentation. It’s worthwhile checking that page from time to time as it’ll be updated whenever a new tutorial is published.

Also, if you have any suggestions for tutorials or other content you’d like to see in the documentation, please post your suggestions in the Jenkins Documentation Google Group, which you can also post (and reply) to by emailing jenkinsci-docs@googlegroups.com.

The Sydney Office team meeting at Carriageworks - from left to right, Giles Gaskell, Nicholae Pascu, Michael Neale and James Dumay

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It’s that holiday time of year again, and that means it’s over the river and through the woods to…well, fix your family’s Wi-Fi and other tech problems.

The most asked daily tech questions

As technology continues to evolve, consumers get new products and newer features. However, new tech always leaves a few things unanswered

Finally, India is gearing up to face Cyber Security threats

With multiple, recent occurrences of high-profile cyber attacks globally, India finally seems to be catching up to its global peers when it comes to securing its cyber systems, albeit at a slow pace.

Telcos Soothe Aadhaar linkage Pain

India’s big phone companies have come up with a string of user-friendly innovations to help customers easily link their cellphone numbers to Aadhaar, in a clear bid to speed up re-verification of mobile subscribers mandated by the government.

How to Forward Ports on Your Eero Wi-Fi System

Pretty much every router on the market comes with the ability to forward ports, and the Eero Wi-Fi system is no exception, despite its easy-to-use interface.

Geek Trivia: The Largest City In The World That Is Inaccessible By Road Is Located In?

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How to Change or Customize Firefox’s New Tab Page

Firefox Quantum‘s new tab page has a lot of stuff on it, from recommended articles to highlights from your history. But if you don’t like that design, you aren’t stuck with it. You can restore Firefox’s old new tab page, or set any address you like as your new tab.

How to Watch Local Video Files on Your Roku

The Roku is a streaming box…and not much else. There’s no hard drive space onboard for your personal videos, and most models don’t even have a USB port for external drives. But that doesn’t mean you can’t play your own videos, listen to your own music, or browse your photo collection.

The Best Affordable Automatic Watches

If you just need to know the correct time, look at your phone or get a cheap d…

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Amazon Fire Tablet vs. Fire Tablet Kids: What’s the Difference?

Amazon’s Fire Tablets offer arguably some of the best value in tablets today. The company also offers various sizes and builds of these tablets—including “Kids Edition” tablets designed for, well, kids. But what makes these different than the standard edition tablets?

How to Save Money on Apple Products (Like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac)

Apple’s computers and phones have a reputation for being expensive. While it’s true that their products are all high end (and priced accordingly), they’re rarely objectively overpriced (dongles and other accessories aside). But if you want to pinch a few pennies, there are still ways to save money on Apple products.

Intel Management Engine, Explained: The Tiny Computer Inside Your CPU

The Intel Management Engine has been included on Intel chipsets since 2008. It’s basically a tiny computer-within-a-computer, with full access to your PC’s memory, display, network, and input devices. It runs code written by Intel, and Intel hasn’t shared a lot of information about its inner workings.

Samsung Electronics to set up AI research centre

Samsung Electronics has said it would create an artificial intelligence research centre and strengthen an executive role to look for new business areas for all its three major business groups.

At $523 billion, Tencent ousts Facebook from global top 5

Investors piled into the Chinese social networking giant, extending this year’s rally to 127% and boosting its market value by some $292 billion as of Tuesday’s close.

5 weird jobs AI will create for you

Here are five job listings of the future to get a head start picking your post-robot career

The myths behind Hyperloop

The Decoder is a bi-weekly column that will focus on any new technology or business idea and explain its effects, both on the company & the user

US-based VC firm March Capital Partners plan to close investments in India

US-based stage-agnostic venture capital firm March Capital Partners is looking to close its next set of investments in India over the next few months, and may also consider setting up an outpost in Asia’s third-largest economy next year.

Fall in margins on the cards, PoS cos eye markets abroad

India’s rapid advancements in digital payments technologycoupledwith narrowing margins per transaction is driving companies that process card payments to scout for markets outside India.

How to Join a Beta and Download Early Versions of Android Apps

Back in the earlier days of Android, if you wanted to beta test an application, you generally had to sideload it alongside the current stable version of the app. But now, Google has “beta channels” in the Play Store, making it a lot easier to give beta apps a shot.

How to Turn Your iPhone or iPad Into a Shortcut Remote for Your Mac with Alfred

Alfred is a fantastic Spotlight Search replacement for macOS, but it also comes with a secondary feature that can turn your iPhone or iPad into a shortcut keyboard of sorts. That feature is named Alfred Remote.

Geek Trivia: In The Late 19th Century, There Was A Global Panic Over Increasing Amounts Of?

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How to Test Your Roku’s Internet Connection

You’ve got big plans for tonight, and they all revolve around Netflix. You fire up your Roku and…it’s not working. Is your Internet down, or is Netflix?

What Is Net Neutrality, and What Will Happen If It Gets Repealed?

Net neutrality is one of the biggest policy debates around the internet, and the government is getting ready to vote on it once again. Here’s what net neutrality is, and how it affects you.

How to Disable the Beeper on the Schlage Connect Smart Lock

The Schlage Connect is a great smart lock, but it makes a pretty annoying beeping noise whenever you press a button and lock or unlock it. Here’s how to disable it for good, either on the lock itself or from your phone.

How to Disable the Window Minimize and Maximize Animations on Windows

Windows normally animates windows whenever you minimize or maximize them. These animations can be disabled, if you like, making windows hide or appear immediately. This option is available on all modern versions of Windows, including Windows 7, 8, and 10.

Whatever TV You Buy Next, Make It a 4K One

It took a little while to gain steam, but the age of affordable 4K is finally upon us.

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How to Change Your Twitter Password

You should use a strong password for every important web service you have. While Twitter may not be up there with Facebook in terms of the personal data connected to your account, you may still use Twitter for important stuff, or have it connected to other accounts.

Streaming Box Showdown: Apple TV vs. Roku vs. Amazon Fire TV vs. Chromecast vs. Android TV

It’s no secret that “smart” TVs aren’t really that smart. Generally, and a dedicated streaming box or stick is the way to go. There are quite a few to choose from, though, so how do you decide which is the best for your movie-viewing needs?

Volvo Cars to supply Uber with up to 24,000 self-driving cars

Combining Volvo's cars with Uber's self-driving system builds on their nearly three-year relationship and comes as Uber's autonomous driving unit has been hit by a lawsuit over trade secrets and the departure of top talent.

Honda firming up plans to roll out affordable electric cars in India

HCIL, the Indian subsidiary of the Japanese carmaker Honda is evaluating developing country-specific battery electric vehicles addressing the issue of affordability.

Bitcoin hits record high after smashing through $8,000 for the first time

Bitcoin hit a new record high on Monday after smashing through the $8,000 level for the first time over the weekend, marking an almost 50% climb in just eight days.

How to Turn Your Wink Smarthome Into a Security System with Wink Lookout

Wink’s user interface doesn’t really focus a lot on security like other smarthome platforms do, but that has changed with a new feature added to the Wink app called Lookout. Here’s how to set it up.

Geek Trivia: The Large Protrusion That Hangs Off A Turkey’s Forehead Is Called A?

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How to Remove the Pocket Button from Firefox Quantum

Firefox Quantum has deep integration with the Pocket read-it-later service, which is now owned by Mozilla. You’ll see a Pocket page action in the address bar, a “View Pocket List” feature in the Library, and recommended articles from Pocket on the new tab page. Firefox offers a way to disable this Pocket integration, but it’s hidden.

The PlayStation 4 Accessories You’ll Actually Need

The PlayStation 4 Slim and Pro are now a year…

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Why I Switched From Chrome to Firefox Quantum

I’ve been using Firefox Quantum non-stop for more than a week now, starting from before its official release. For years, every Firefox release has felt slower than Chrome to me. But Firefox is now a real, speedy, modern option again. Enough so that I’m switching from Chrome back to Firefox.

How to Share Your Spotify Playlists with Friends (or the World)

Spotify and other streaming services have changed how people listen to music. While playlists were once the preserve of the radio DJ, annual compilation albums like Now That’s What I Call Music, or painstakingly put together mixtapes for a crush, now anyone can make one in a few minutes.

How to Make Calls and Texts From Your Smartphone Without Cell Service

Smartphones have become an integral part of our lives, and carriers know it—so they charge a lot of money for something they know you’re going to pay. But what if I told you that you could use your phone, including calls and texts, with nothing but Wi-Fi?