How to Zoom In and Out on a Chromebook

While most of what you see on the web is sized correctly, you might come across the occasional site you want to view bigger. You also might be faced with aging eyes and need a size boost for everything. Whatever your situation is, it’s easy to make content bigger on your Chromebook!

How To Zoom In and Out on One Page

If there’s just one page you want bigger, you can zoom in by placing two fingers together on the trackpad, then moving those fingers apart. You can also press the Ctrl and + (plus) keys at the same time to zoom in

Zoom back out by placing two fingers separated on the trackpad, then bringing them together. You can also press the Ctrl and – (minus) keys at the same time to zoom out.

To reset a page to its default size, press Ctrl+0.

How To Make Almost Everything Bigger

You can also make the default size bigger for every website you visit. Clicking the time in the lower-right corner of your Chromebook and then select the “Settings” icon.

Read the remaining 10 paragraphs

PowerA Wireless GameCube Controller Review: The WaveBird Flies Again

In 2002, Nintendo released the WaveBird controller for the GameCube. It was the first truly great wireless controller: functionally identical to the standard pad (sans vibration), with super-fast performance and long battery life. Now you can relive the joy of that on the Switch.

Every major home console since, from Nintendo and its competitors, has included wireless controller functionality built-in. It’s now the standard: wired pads are relegated to bargain bins and a few models made for die-hard purists afraid of a millisecond or two of wireless latency.

So it’s strange that, with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Switch coming out in a few days and Smash fans desperate to use the familiar, comfy GameCube controller layout, Nintendo hasn’t made any WaveBird controllers in over fifteen years.

You can play Smash with a wired GameCube controller—in fact, you’ve been able to more or less continuously for all of that time—but if you want that experience without wires, you have to track down an ancient, original WaveBird. And it’s not going to do you any good if you want to play other Switch games on it.

PowerA, makers of the MOGA mobile controllers and various other gaming accessories, is here to fill that gap. The company’s new Wireless GameCube Controller features the classic layout that Smash players crave, with the Bluetooth connection and extra face buttons the Switch needs. It also has a second “Z” button (called L1 on more conventional layouts) and a “clickable” thumbstick and C-stick, covering all of the same control inputs as the Switch’s Joy-Con and Pro controllers. It’s the WaveBird come back to life, and it’ll work with all of your other Switch games, too.

In eager anticipation of Smash Bros. Ultimate, I picked up the PowerA controller at GameStop. You might need to do something similar: it’s sold out online, and scalpers are offering it at ridiculous markups over the $50 retail price. (Seriously. On Amazon it’s currently on a 1-2 month backorder.) See, Nintendo? There’s a market for this thing!

A Faithful Recreation

The PowerA controller apes the GameCube layout almost exactly. This isn’t the typical third-party imitation, the perennial “little brother’s controller” bought because it was half the price of the Nintendo option. You could tell me that this was an official Nintendo product, and I’d be prepared to believe it.

Read the remaining 31 paragraphs

What is Back Button Focus?

Back button focus is just what it sounds like. Instead of using a half-press of the shutter button to activate autofocus, you hold down a dedicated button on the back of your camera instead. When you let go, the focus stays locked. Here’s why you might want to use it.

RELATED: How to Get the Most from Autofocus With Your Camera

The Advantages of Back Button Focus

The big advantage of back button focus is that it separates the act of focusing from taking photos. The default camera setup where the shutter button controls both actions makes certain things awkward, like trying to focus on a part of the scene that doesn’t fall nicely under an autofocus point. It can also slow down your camera’s burst mode while the autofocus hunts, stopping you from taking pictures.

With back button autofocus, you’re able to focus easily on any subject you want in the scene and then recompose your shot without having to worry about using any sort of AF-lock. And since your focus will stay locked until you change it, you can keep shooting without worrying about autofocus trying to refocus on something else. This is super handy when your subject isn’t moving too much.

Another nice feature is that you don’t have to choose between manual focus or single and continuous autofocus modes. If you enable back button focus and set your camera to continuous autofocus:

• To manually focus, don’t press the focus button, but manually focus using the lens rings instead. Most prosumer and professional lenses will let you manually focus even if the lens is set to autofocus.
• To single focus, hold the focus button down until focus acquires a lock. Then release it and shoot away.
• To continuously focus, hold the focus button down and keep shooting.

As you can imagine, once you’ve got the hang of things, this makes it much faster for you to react to different situations. And as I’ve said time and time again, it’s not about not using your camera’s automatic features; it’s about using them in such a way that you control how they work. Back button autofocus is one of those ways.

Setting Up Back Button Focus

To set up back button focus, you’ll need to dig into your camera’s menus. You’ll normally need to do two things:

• Remove autofocus from the shutter button.
• Set the AF-ON button—or if your camera doesn’t have one, the AE-L (* on Canon cameras)—to activate autofocus.

Read the remaining 7 paragraphs

How to Check When Your Windows 10 Build is Expiring

Insider Preview builds of Windows 10 have a built-in “time bomb.” Each comes with an expiration date, and Windows will eventually refuse to boot entirely after that date. Here’s how to check when that will happen.

What Happens When a Windows 10 Build Expires?

This only applies to unstable Insider Preview versions of Windows 10. Stable versions of Windows 10 will never “expire” and stop working, even when Microsoft stops updating them with security patches.

When a build of Windows 10 expires, Microsoft says you will see a warning that you’re using an expired build. The warning will reappear once per day, and you will also see UAC (User Access Control) warnings. Previous reports have said that Windows 10 will reboot every three hours after it expires, so Microsoft may have made the expiration process less annoying.

In the past, Microsoft has said that expired builds will no longer boot two weeks after the expiration date. You’ll need to reinstall a newer build of Windows—or an older stable build that won’t expire—to use your PC once again.

Microsoft expires these builds to prevent people from staying with old, unstable versions of Windows 10. These builds of Windows 10 are made available for testing, and there’s no point in testing an old build that has a bunch of already-fixed bugs.

How to Check the Expiration Date

You can check the expiration date from the winver application. To open it, press the Windows key, type “winver” into the Start menu, and press Enter. You can also press Windows+R to open the Run dialog, type “winver” into it, and press Enter.

This dialog shows you the precise expiry date and time for your build of Windows 10. You should update to a newer Insider build of Windows 10 (or go back to a previous stable build) before the expiration date.

Read the remaining 5 paragraphs

Coursera set to train professionals on AWS services

The course is a starting point for learners with a working knowledge of IT infrastructure concepts who are interested in learning how to apply AWS services to their roles and businesses.

Geek Trivia: The First Toilet Shown On Television Appeared In An Episode Of?

The First Toilet Shown On Television Appeared In An Episode Of?

The Brady Bunch Leave It To Beaver I Love Lucy The Honeymooners Think you know the answer?

SUN Mobility ties up with electric vehicle fleet operator SmartE

In the first phase around 500 e-three wheelers will use SUN Mobility's battery swapping infrastructure over the next three months.

How to Use Watermarks in PowerPoint

A watermark is a faded background image that displays behind the text in a document. You can use them to indicate a document’s state (confidential, draft, etc.), add a subtle company logo, or even for a bit of artistic flair. PowerPoint doesn’t have a built-in watermark feature like Word, but you can still add them with a text box.

How to Insert a Watermark into PowerPoint

It’s not quite as easy to add watermarks to PowerPoint as it is to Microsoft Word. However, you can add watermark text to the background of individual slides or all slides at once using the Master Slide function.

We’re going to look at how to add watermark text to all slides in a presentation by using the Master Slide feature. If you only want to add watermark text to an individual slide, you can skip the steps for going to the Slide Master.

First, switch to the “View” tab on the PowerPoint ribbon.

Click the “Slide Master” button. This brings up the master slide layout for all of the slides in your deck.

Click on the first parent master slide.

Read the remaining 30 paragraphs

How TechnipFMC is Empowering Data Scientists with Insights from the Edge

Check out our recently published customer case study! This story gives a look at how TechnipFMC is enabling data analysts and data scientists to gain insights the come from the edge and quickly produce results. TechnipFMC is a global leader in oil and gas projects, technologies, systems, and services to provide their clients with deep expertise […]

The post How TechnipFMC is Empowering Data Scientists with Insights from the Edge appeared first on Hortonworks.

The Best Steam Mops For Sparkling Tile And Hardwood Floors

There’s at least a lot of ways to clean your floor, but why limit yourself to the most painful and time-consuming methods? Ditch the old-fashioned mop and scrub brush for a powerful, hassle-free steam mop.

If you laid out your entire life on a sheet of paper, you’d probably be impressed by the number of mops that you’ve gone through. There’s a good chance that you bought most of those mops because that’s what was at the local supermarket, only to find that they just didn’t cut through the grease and grime at home like you thought they would. If that sounds family, it’s time to consider buying a steam mop. Not only are they more convenient than a regular mop, they’re also better at cleaning your floors.

Steam mops look like a cross between a Swiffer and a vacuum. They work by pressing steam through a cleaning pad, which quickly lifts dirt and grime off of your floor. And that’s all there is to it. I wish that there was a more exciting explanation for how they work, but sometimes it’s best to keep things simple. Just keep in mind that steam can damage unfinished floors.

One of my favorite things about steam mops is that they only use water, no chemicals or vinegar. You don’t have to worry about a powerful chemical smell assaulting your eyes and lungs every time that you decide to mop. If you happen to like the smell of pine sol and bleach you can spritz a little on the floor (just don’t put it in the tank, because the results range from “it’ll break” to “it’s dangerous”). If you want a “clean” smell when you mop (and hey, who doesn’t like a good huff of lemon-scented cleaner now and then), you could put a drop of lemon oil or the like on the floor or in a cheap aromatherapy diffuser.

With the explanation and minor caveats out of the way, let’s look at our top picks for sparkling floors.

Bissell Symphony Vac-and-Steam ($180)

There’s no point in mopping your floor if you’re not willing to sweep it first. You’d just be pushing dirt around. Thankfully, someone had the bright idea to make a hard floor vacuum cleaner that doubles as a steam mop. The Bissell Symphony can simultaneously steam and vacuum your hard floors, which cuts your cleaning time in half and eliminates your need for a dusty old broom. This makes the Bissell Symphony a great tool for both deep cleaning and day-to-day use. This steam mop comes with 4 reusable cleaning pads, which is more than enough to use it throughout the week. The Symphony would be a great option for people with a lot of kids, pets, or messy roommates.

But there are some downsides to such luxury. The Bissell Symphony is a lot bulkier than other steam mops because it doubles as a vacuum. It can’t swivel, it can’t pivot, and it can’t glide beneath your furniture. If you decide to steam and vacuum simultaneously (why wouldn’t you), then you’re probably going to be sucking up some moist dirt and debris. To avoid any gross crusty buildup inside of your vacuum, you might want to empty and rinse its reservoir after each use. Oh, and you can even steam and vacuum your carpet with the Symphony, but it won’t work nearly as well as a traditional vacuum or carpet cleaner would, so we’d suggest keeping this little wonder off the carpet.

Buy on Amazon

SharkNinja Lift-Away Pro, Two-In-One Pocket Steamer ($160)

The SharkNinja Lift-Away Pro is a powerful steam mop that doubles as a pocket steamer. Like other high-end steam mops, the SharkNinja has three power settings to cut through any light spills or heavy buildup. But you can also detach the center of the SharkNinja to clean curtains, walls, grease-covered kitchen cabinets, and showers.

Read the remaining 10 paragraphs

How to Instantly Improve Your Chromebook’s Bluetooth Performance

I love Chromebooks, but I’m not blind to their faults. Despite partnering with Brydge to sell a Bluetooth keyboard for the new Pixel Slate, the Bluetooth stack on Chrome OS is still terrible. But it can be fixed.

The fact that this is fixable isn’t to excuse the sorry state of Bluetooth support that Chromebook users have to deal with though. Wired accessories are going to be more stable on any operating system, but on Chrome OS they’re almost a necessity. Trying to pair Bluetooth headphones, mice and other accessories leaves most users just staring at the Bluetooth page in frustration.

And when you do get your accessories paired, the experience isn’t much better. Headphone audio typically cuts in and out, while using a Bluetooth mouse will often leave you with a pointer that lags and bounces around. 

How to Make Your Chromebook’s Bluetooth Magically Better

Google is testing out a new Bluetooth stack for Chromebooks, and you should be able to use it now. Jump into your browser, open a new tab, and enter chrome://flags.

Type “newblue” into the Flags search box near the top. Select the drop-down menu next to Newblue, then select “Enabled.”

Save anything you’re working on, then select Restart Now.

Read the remaining 4 paragraphs

One Size Does Not Fit All

This is the second in a series of data science blogs that we plan to publish. The first blog outlined the data science and data engineering capabilities of Hortonworks Data Platform. In this blog we highlight how the latest release of Apache Hive 3 can work with Apache Spark Motivation As enterprises embrace the value […]

The post One Size Does Not Fit All appeared first on Hortonworks.

Project Fi is Now “Google Fi,” Works with Most Phones—Including the iPhone

It’s been a long time coming, but Google is upgrading its Project Fi cellular service with a new name, more features, and compatibility with a lot more phones. Even the iPhone is along for the ride now.

The first big change here is the name—no longer considered a project, that part of the name has been dropped and replaced with “Google,” so the service will be called Google Fi moving forward. Makes sense.

The biggest change, however, is phone compatibility. Since its inception, Fi has only been compatible with specific phones, all of which ran Android. The number of compatible phones has grown over the years but always remained very small in comparison to the number of available phones on the market. That changes today, with Fi now open to “the majority” of phones—including iPhone.

If you’re familiar with Fi, you know that it uses multiple networks and Wi-Fi as part of its plan. That raises some questions about how exactly it will work on Apple devices because they simply don’t offer the same flexibility that Android devices do when it comes to network hopping and always-on VPN. Unfortunately, right now it’s not entirely clear how this will work with the iPhone—but the service is still in beta and there are some drawbacks. Google did a good job of highlighting these potential issues on its Fi compatibility page:

That said, Google mentions in the announcement post that “a few extra steps” are required to get set up on with Fi on an iPhone, but there’s a companion app to help with that. To get the full Fi experience, you’ll still need a Fi-specific phone (which can be purchased directly through Fi). Without having used the service on a non-Fi phone to confirm, that suggests Fi won’t be all that different from other MVNO providers like Cricket Wireless or Metro.

Finally, Google is giving away some goodies to anyone who buys a phone from Fi (with service). You can get back all the money you spend on a new phone—dollar for dollar—in travel vouchers, which you can use for flights, Airbnb locations, or hotels. If you don’t buy a new phone and buy a Fi plan for your current handset, you’ll get $200 of Fi service credit if you sign up today. That’s pretty solid.

via Google

How to Get a Refund From the Google Play Store

It doesn’t matter how great the reviews of an app or game are; there’s always the chance that you’ll buy it, download it, and be underwhelmed. Maybe it doesn’t work as you’d hoped or even worse, doesn’t work at all. That’s when you request a refund.

Nobody enjoys asking for a refund, but nobody likes paying for a sub-par app or service, either. That’s why requesting a refund is sometimes unavoidable.

When requesting a refund from the Google Play Store, things can be a little tricky. Google doesn’t always give refunds for Google Play purchases, but in our experience, if you ask for an app or in-app purchase to be refunded within 48 hours of making the purchase, you shouldn’t have too many problems.

If you’re particularly quick and uninstall an app shortly after buying it, you may find that you automatically get a refund. If that does not happen, follow the process below. You have 48 hours from the time of purchase to ask for a refund–beyond that, Google may require that you contact individual developers instead.

Assuming you’re within the 48-hour window, here is the process you can follow to request a refund from the Google Play Store.

To start things off, open a web browser and visit your Google Play account page. This is the same whether you are using a phone or computer.

Scroll down until you see your order history and find the app that you wish to have refunded. To the right of the item, you will see three vertical dots. Click those dots, followed by “Request a refund.”

Read the remaining 7 paragraphs

The Best Video Doorbell For Your Google Home

Video doorbells are a great way to monitor your front door and receive alerts on your phone when someone comes knocking. But if you want a video doorbell that you can also use with your Google Home, you really only have one good option.

Nest Hello ($230)

While several other video doorbells certainly work with the Google Home, the Nest Hello is really the only one that has full, true integration with Google’s smart speaker, thanks to Nest being a subsidiary of Google. So if you’re looking at buying a video doorbell and specifically want it to work well with your Google Home, the Nest Hello is the one to get.

One neat feature is having your Google Home announce when someone rings the doorbell, which can be great if you’re in areas of your home where you normally can’t hear the doorbell. However, what really makes the Nest Hello/Google Home integration shine is when you connect the doorbell to a Google Home Hub.

With the Home Hub’s built-in display, you can have your Nest Hello’s video feed automatically pop up on the screen whenever someone rings the doorbell, which is super convenient—it’s like a digital peephole that you can view right from your couch.

Aside from that, the Nest Hello is really one the best video doorbells, period. Nest offers a really great user interface within the app, and the doorbell itself is small enough that it’ll fit nicely anywhere you install it.

Buy Now

Budget Option: Ring Doorbell ($100)

While it has aged slightly since its release back in 2013, the original Ring Doorbell is a great budget option at only $100.

Read the remaining 5 paragraphs

How to Use Action and Share Extensions on iPhone and iPad

If you’re an iPhone or iPad owner you’ve probably come across share and action extensions, but what are they and how do you use them? Both add power and capabilities to apps, and they can change the way you use your devices.

A share extension makes it quick and easy to share content with people or, in some cases, other apps. Imagine reading a great guide on How-to Geek, but you need to leave to catch a train. Using a share extension, you could save that guide to your favorite read-later service. Want to send it to a friend? There’s a share extension for that, too. Think of share extensions as ways to get data out of apps in some way, and you’ll be spot on.

Action extensions work much the same way, but let you use features from other apps without having to open them explicitly. A great example here is creating new tasks and projects in your favorite task manager, using the source as an attachment. Before the arrival of iOS 12 and its improved support for password autofill, accessing passwords from within password managers was also a great example of a powerful use for action extensions.

Both action and share extensions work the same way, which means if you know how to use one, you know how to use both. We’re going to explain how to enable extensions, re-order them, and use them here.

How to Enable an Action or Share Extension

To enable an action or share extension, open an app that allows you to share content. Safari is a good example because everyone has it and it’s usually on the home screen. Once open, visit a website and tap the “Share” button in the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen.

You will now see the Share Sheet, an area that shows share extensions on the top row and action extensions on the bottom. Depending on which type of extension you want to enable, scroll all the way to the far right and tap the “More” button.

Read the remaining 8 paragraphs

How to Disable the Your Phone Linking Feature on Windows 10

Windows 10 lets you link an Android or iPhone to your PC and use the Continue on PC feature. If you’d rather now allow phones to be linked, you can disable the feature with a Group Policy setting (if you have Windows Pro) or a quick Registry hack (no matter what version of Windows you have).

Note: The phone linking feature we’re talking about here is the one that debuted in the Fall Creators Update in 2017, and that’s built into Windows 10. You can access it through Settings > Phone. This is different than the “Your Phone” app Microsoft debuted in the October 2018 Update that gives Android users advanced features like texting from your PC and access your photos more easily.

All Windows 10 Users: Disable the Phone Linking by Editing the Registry

If you have Windows Home edition, you will have to use the Registry to make these changes. You can also do it this way if you have Windows Pro or Enterprise, but just feel more comfortable working in the Registry. (If you have Pro or Enterprise, though, we recommend using the easier Local Group Policy Editor, as described later in the article.)

Standard warning: Registry Editor is a powerful tool and misusing it can render your system unstable or even inoperable. This is a pretty simple hack, and as long as you stick to the instructions, you shouldn’t have any problems. That said, if you’ve never worked with it before, consider reading about how to use the Registry Editor before you get started. And definitely back up the Registry (and your computer!) before making changes.

To get started open the Registry Editor by hitting Start and typing “regedit.” Press Enter to open Registry Editor and then permit it to make changes to your PC.

In the Registry Editor, use the left sidebar to navigate to the following key (or copy and paste it into the Registry Editor address bar):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

Read the remaining 23 paragraphs

Peak Design Travel Bag Review:The Perfect Bag For Globetrotters And Photographers

I have found my perfect travel bag: the Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L ($299.95). Now, it might not be for you but read on to find out why I love it.

This summer, I spent two months living out of the Peak Design Travel Backpack. Literally, it was my only bag. With me, I had my laptop, camera, and enough clothes and other travel sundries not to scare away other hotel and hostel guests.

I flew from Ireland to New York (where I spent a week) then got the train to Pennsylvania and Atlanta. After, I drove to Mobile followed by New Orleans. I then got the train from their to Chicago and on to Portland before flying to LA and then Mexico. In Mexico, we drove from Mexico City to Oaxaca and then through the mountains to Puerto Escondido. After two weeks going up and down the coast, we drove back along the same route and I flew home to Ireland via New York.

I’m telling you all this, not to brag, but to give you an idea of what I put this bag through. It carried everything I needed—as a carry on bag, mind you—for thousands of miles of travel by planes, trains, and automobiles. It held up to every bump, kick, and rainstorm. So, let’s dig in.

A Travel Camera Bag?

Peak Design is, first and foremost, a camera gear company. Their first product was a clip for mounting your camera on your backpack strap and they’ve only grown from there. I’m emphasizing this because I have been searching for the longest time for a great camera travel bag. Until now the market has had either great travel bags—like the Minaal Daily Carry ($299) or Cotopaxi Allpa ($220)—or great camera bags—from the likes of f-Stop—but there has been nothing that comfortably carried my camera, laptop, and a few days clothes that still counted as carry-on on most airlines and didn’t need to be completely unpacked at airport security.

So really, this is where the Travel Backpack hits the mark—hard. It’s the best bag yet for anyone who travels with a full camera set up but not an excessive amount of gear. The modular camera cubes, ranging in size from small ($49.95) to large ($89.95), clip securely into the bag and can carry anything from a single DSLR and lens to, if you need it, a full two DSLR, four lens set up.

Read the remaining 30 paragraphs

How to Take Good RAW Photos

Here at How-To Geek we usually recommend you shoot RAW format images instead of JPEGs because you capture a lot more information about whatever scene you’re shooting. Let’s look at how to make the most of the RAW format.

Camera RAW is an uncompressed file format that is capable of storing a lot more image data than JPEGs or other compressed file formats. If your camera’s sensor can capture it, it will get stored in the RAW file. This means that RAW files can contain billions of colors—compared to JPEGs 16 million or so—plus the full dynamic of a scene. The biggest problem is that most cameras can capture—and RAW files can contain—a lot more information than any screen can currently display.

Now, let’s look at how to maximize the amount of data in your RAW files for better photos.

Take Manual Control of Your Camera

If you want to take good pictures—in any image format—you need to be in control of what your camera is doing. Putting it in Automatic and just banging the shutter button won’t get you very far. If you’re in control, you can get the exposure right, stop highlights being blown out or shadows crushed, and adapt to the situation in which you’re photographing.

This doesn’t mean you need to go full retro and use only manual features; instead, you should use your camera’s features and modes that let you control how the automatic features work. For example:

• Use Aperture Priority or Shutter Speed Priority shooting modes along with exposure compensation to get the exposure you want.
• Learn how to use the different autofocus modes, select autofocus points or groups, and use the right setup for the subjects you’re shooting.
• Understand how your camera meters scenes and pick the right metering mode for the results you want.
• Know when to use autofocus lock and autoexposure lock.

As you can see, the “automatic” features on modern cameras give you a large amount of control over what they’re doing. Once you understand what’s going on, you can use them properly to capture the images you picture in your mind.

RELATED: How to Develop a Better Eye for Taking Good Photos

Expose to the Right

Once you’re using your camera properly and taking the photos you want, it’s time to maximize the amount of data you capture in your RAW files. Due to the quirks of digital photography, data is not captured equally by the sensor. The brightest areas of an image take up the bulk of the data in a RAW file; this is why noise is so much more prevalent in the shadows of your photos than the highlights.

Read the remaining 13 paragraphs

Why You Shouldn’t Trust Free VPNs

Free VPNs are too good to be true. You can download a variety of free VPN apps from Google Play or Apple’s App Store, but you shouldn’t. These apps aren’t worthy of your trust.

How a VPN Works

A Virtual Private Network, or VPN, encrypts all the traffic sent over your Internet connection and sends it to a remote VPN server. Everything goes through the VPN server.

For example, let’s say you’re in the USA and you connect to a VPN server located in the UK. Then, you access websites like Google and Facebook. Your web browsing traffic is sent over the Internet through an encrypted connection to the VPN server. Your local network operator or Internet service provider can’t see you’re connecting to Google or Facebook. They just see an encrypted connection going to an IP address in the UK. Google and Facebook just see you as someone located in the UK.

People use VPN servers for a variety of reasons. They keep your browsing activity private from your Internet service provider, for example. If your local government censors the Internet, a VPN would let you bypass the censorship and browse as if you were in whatever country the VPN server is located in. VPNs would also let you use public Wi-Fi hotspots without the threat of snooping.

Many people use VPNs to hide BitTorrent traffic for legal reasons, making their torrenting activity appear to occur in another country. A VPN could also let you access geographically restricted services. For example, if you were in the USA and connected to a VPN server in the UK, you could access the BBC. If you were in the UK and connected to a VPN server in the USA, you could access the USA’s Netflix library.

RELATED: What Is a VPN, and Why Would I Need One?

You’re Placing a Lot of Trust in Your VPN Operator

While using a VPN, you’re placing an immense amount of trust in the VPN operator. Sure, a VPN prevents your Internet service provider or Wi-Fi hotspot operator from snooping on your browsing. But it doesn’t stop the operator of the VPN server from snooping.

Read the remaining 15 paragraphs

Geek Trivia: The Original Housewarming Gift Was?

The Original Housewarming Gift Was?

Holy Water Olive Oil Firewood Blankets Think you know the answer?

Microsoft Fixes Windows 10’s File Association Bug, Unless You’re Using the October Update

Microsoft just updated Windows 10 to fix the file association bug we reported and some other issues. For some bizarre reason, these fixes are not available if you’ve installed the October 2018 Update on your PC.

On November 27, Microsoft released a “cumulative update” for Windows 10 that fixes a variety of bugs. As Bleeping Computer notes, Microsoft says the problem that prevents some Windows users from setting their default applications is fixed. Unfortunately, the Windows Media Player bug is still not fixed.

This update is only available for old versions of Windows 10. Specifically, it’s available for Windows 10’s April 2018 Update, Fall Creators Update, Creators Update, and Anniversary Update. The respective cumulative updates are KB4467682, KB4467681, KB4467699, and KB4467684. Windows will install the appropriate update automatically, and you can get it immediately by clicking “Check for Updates” in Windows Update.

Microsoft did not release a cumulative update package for the most recent version of Windows 10, the bug-filled October 2018 Update. That’s pretty crazy, as the October 2018 Update needs the most bug fixes of all.

Why didn’t Microsoft release a cumulative update for the October 2018 Update? Is a bug-fix update coming soon, or is it delayed for a few weeks? We don’t know because Microsoft isn’t saying anything.

RELATED: Microsoft Broke Windows 10’s File Associations With a Botched Update

Databricks Shows off AWS Competencies at AWS re:Invent

Powering innovation on AWS in life sciences, public sector, machine learning, and big data analytics.

---

Databricks, founded by the original creators of Apache Spark^TM, is proud to be a Platinum sponsor at AWS re:Invent. Stop by booth #416 to grab some cool schwag and see demos of MLflow, TensorFlow, Apache Spark, and other  technologies that are accelerating innovation at a growing number of companies, including HP, Shell, and NBCUniversal.

The AWS Competency Program is designed to highlight Amazon Partners that have demonstrated technical proficiency and customer success in specialized solution areas.

Here’s a quick overview of Databricks’ AWS Competencies:

 

Databricks was recently recognized as an AWS Life Sciences Competency Partner, highlighting our success building innovative data analytics and machine learning solutions for Life Sciences organizations. Our Life Sciences solutions expand on the core capabilities of our Unified Analytics Platform with industry-specific toolsets to serve use cases across the drug development and precision medicine lifecycles.

Our first offering, the Databricks Unified Analytics Platform for Genomics, is designed to provide the scale and speed bioinformatics teams need to accelerate drug discovery and deliver precision care. Fully-managed in the AWS cloud, the platform provides collaborative workspaces for cross-disciplinary biomedical and pharmaceutical teams – from bioinformaticians to computational biologists to physician-scientists – to easily access, analyze, and extract novel insights from large volumes of genomic, imaging, and clinical datasets. The solution provides prebuilt best practice genomic pipelines and popular tertiary analytics tools in a secure, HIPAA compliant environment.

Customers including Regeneron, Sanford Health and the Human Longevity Institute have adopted Databricks to drastically scale and improve performance of their genomics workflows on AWS. Learn more about their use cases at our booth #416 at re:Invent.

 

The Databricks Unified Analytics Platform makes it easy for data science and engineering teams to collaborate with business teams around big data analytics and AI. We’re focused on removing the challenges associated with AI adoption so that more businesses can fully harness its benefits.

Our AWS Machine Learning Competency highlights our expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. With the Databricks Unified Analytics Platform, data scientists and machine learning practitioners are empowered to analyze data at scale, train and deploy models with ease, and build powerful predictive applications.

A growing number of customers including Riot Games, Viacom and Overstock.com have already delivered on innovative AI use cases with Databricks and AWS. Stop by booth #416 at re:Invent for a demo.

 

Data and analytics has become a strong competitive differentiator for most organizations. As an AWS Data & Analytics Competency Partner, Databricks has demonstrated success helping AWS customers improve the productivity of their data teams and draw insights from their data.

Transforming data into usable information can involve multiple tools and technologies. The Databricks Unified Analytics platform removes these obstacles, making it easy for organizations to turn data into value, from ingest through production, without the hassle of managing complex infrastructure, systems and tools. Visit our our booth #416 at re:Invent to learn more.

 

From providing better social services to preventing national threats, government agencies rely on secure, efficient and large-scale data processing and analysis to carry out their duties.

The Databricks Unified Analytics platform, recognized for it’s robust security model, is available on the AWS GovCloud, an isolated AWS region designed to host sensitive and regulated data in the cloud, and has the Authority to Operate in the AWS Commercial Cloud Service (C2S) for highly sensitive workflows. Databricks on AWS empowers government agencies to securely build and deploy advanced analytics solutions to meet a broad range of public sector use cases.

Visit our booth #416 at re:Invent to learn how we help government agencies simplify, scale and accelerate data analytics and AI for mission critical applications.

---

Make sure to check out databricks.com/reinvent to catch up on our latest announcements, demos and sessions taking place at re:Invent. If you’re not able to visit us at re:Invent, stop by databricks.com/aws for our latest case studies, ebooks and customer webinars.

--

Try Databricks for free. Get started today.

The post Databricks Shows off AWS Competencies at AWS re:Invent appeared first on Databricks.

How to Send Animoji to Someone Without iMessage

Animoji is a really fun feature in iMessage on newer iPhones, but you can also send Animoji to friends and family that don’t have iMessage—or don’t even have an iPhone for that matter.

RELATED: How to Use Animoji on the iPhone X, XS, and XR

When you send an Animoji to another iPhone user, it’s optimized to show up as an animated GIF of sorts, complete with audio. However, it’s really nothing more than a video, so you can send Animoji to anyone, whether they use an iPhone or an Android device.

Even better, there’s nothing different that you have to do on your end to send an Animoji to someone who doesn’t use iMessage or have an iPhone. The only difference you’ll notice is that text messages show green instead of blue.

So what does it look like on their end? Android users who receive an Animoji will get it as a typical video through their text messaging app.

The user can then tap on it to expand the video to full the screen and play it.

Read the remaining 7 paragraphs