Lost for words? Facebook Messenger suggests conversation topics at the cost of privacy
Facebook is keen for people to keep talking. Recently the company has been pushing its Messenger app as a way for people to stay connected in a variety of ways, but it has also noticed a problem -- people don’t always have something to talk about.
But Facebook (of course!) has a solution. To help those who struggle with small talk, an experiment is underway whereby Facebook Messenger will suggest possible topics for conversation. These are, obviously, not just random suggestions, but topics based on the activities of the participants -- opening up the usual privacy concerns that tend to be associated with Facebook.
Amazon Family Vault lets you share your Prime Photos storage with others for free
Amazon likes to chuck a few freebies (well... not free exactly...) at Prime subscribers, and today there is a new addition to the pile -- Family Vault. The new feature allows subscribers in the US to share their free photo storage space with up to five other people.
This makes it possible for a family to store all of their photos in one place. In addition to the unlimited shared photo storage, each person invited to the Family Vault is given an extra 5GB of storage which can be used to house other files.
When is a private cloud cheaper than a public one?
According to new research, a private cloud can be much cheaper than using a public cloud service, though only when it's running on a large scale.
The analyst firm 451 Research has released a new report exploring the costs of private, public and hybrid cloud services, revealing that when a private cloud is large enough, it can actually be cheaper than public cloud services. There are, however, upsides and downsides to both approaches.
Samsung 'ArtPC Pulse' is a cylindrical Windows 10 desktop with AMD RX460 GPU
When Apple released its cylindrical Mac Pro, I was in awe. Not only was it beautiful, but it wasn't form over function. Actually, a cylinder is a wise design choice, as it can aid in cooling when done correctly. Surprisingly, Windows PC manufacturers took a while to start really embracing the design.
Recently, for instance, HP announced the Wave -- a tube-like PC with integrated 360 degree Bang and Olufsen speaker. Now, Samsung is following HP with the ArtPC Pulse. It too features a 360 degree speaker in its design, but by the arguably superior Harman/Kardon. Where Samsung's offering greatly differs, however, is gaming. It has a respectable AMD RX460 GPU. As you can imagine, the drop-dead gorgeous ArtPC Pulse will not come cheap.
Canonical gives Ubuntu Linux 17.04 the name 'Zesty Zapus' (jumping mouse)
Linux distributions and silly names go together like peanut butter and jelly. For whatever reason, the maintainers of these operating systems seem to enjoy having fun with what they call them -- some argue it is childish. Even Google -- a billion dollar company -- uses sugary dessert names for the Linux-based Android operating system.
One of the most well-known Linux distributions to use funny names is Ubuntu. It famously uses the convention of an adjective and a lesser-known animal, each starting with the same letter. The letter is chosen sequentially by alphabet. For example, Ubuntu 16.10 uses the letter "Y" -- "Yakkety Yak". The next version of the operating system will use the letter "Z". While many folks hoped for "Zebra", that would be too obvious. Instead, Canonical has chosen "Zesty Zapus". Don't know what a zapus is? Neither did I. It is apparently a type of jumping mouse. The selection was not made at random, however, as the company has an explanation for the decision.
Google Glass: Not the failure it's made out to be?
Failure. Disaster. Flop. These are just a few of the words used to describe Google’s foray into wearable and augmented reality technology known as Google Glass. When the first videos of Google Glass were released to the public, they sparked the imaginations of millions. Many began to dream up fascinating new applications for this innovative technology. Just think of how it would impact businesses! How would our everyday lives change with this powerful device going with us wherever we went? The possibilities were staggering, and a revolutionary change in how the world works appeared to be right around the corner.
As we now know, Google Glass is little more than a footnote. From the way most tech blogs describe it, Google’s amazing new device failed to live up to expectations. It never caught on with businesses or the public at large, and the result was a disaster the likes of which Google isn’t familiar with. In fact, many websites are urging companies pushing similar devices to do everything they can to avoid Google Glass’s mistakes. If there’s one thing to learn from the Google Glass phenomenon, it’s that Google struck out with this attempt.
Peanut butter budgeting for cyber security -- and why it doesn't work.
The economics of cyber security are completely lopsided. There are a seemingly infinite number of cyber security risks out there, with more and more popping up every day. Hackers appear to have unlimited resources, and cybercriminals are literally reinvesting their lucrative profits into new and innovative ways to exploit, extort, and steal from your organization.
But... in order to foil, frustrate, and impede the nefarious schemes of these very well-equipped and well-funded adversaries, we as cyber security professionals are grudgingly allocated a hopelessly limited budget. The meagerness of which we are then asked to stretch ever so thinly across every conceivable threat vector out there in order to assure the business (management, executives, and the board) that, "We’re doing everything possible".
Facebook Messenger gets data-saving mode in beta, test it now
Little more than a week ago, Hurricane Matthew rolled up the southeastern US coast, wreaking havoc from Florida to North Carolina, with the latter seemingly getting the smallest hit, though it turned out the worst in the long run. My cousin, located there, was without power for some 48 hours and was forced to place his phone in power-saving mode. This eliminated Messenger and all information we received from him afterwards came from texts.
SMS, it seems, is fine in that mode, but Messenger was not -- he claimed he could see that he had messages, but he couldn't read them.
How to significantly improve Windows 10's wallpaper quality
You may be more than happy with your choice of Windows wallpaper, but what you may not know is it’s not as good as it could be.
I’m not saying the image itself isn’t great, but the problem is Windows 10 automatically compresses the picture to help system performance, and that reduces the overall wallpaper quality, quite considerably.
What you need to know about product lifecycle management
In any kind of production process, whether the end product is a washing machine or a piece of software, there are a number of stages to go through. From the initial idea, through design to manufacturing, service and support, and end of life and disposal, all products go through a similar lifecycle.
Product lifecycle management is about integrating the staff, data, processes and business systems that go to produce a product. This in turn provides a fund of information surrounding the creation of the product which can be used to streamline the development of future products. PLM software allows this to be done cost effectively across the entire lifecycle of a product.
Acer updates Chromebook 15 with 12-hour battery life -- $199 exclusively at Walmart
Chromebooks are not for everyone, but for many home users, it is absolute perfection. If you live in the web browser -- as many people do nowadays -- laptops running Google's Linux-based Chrome OS are a godsend because they are maintenance free. No need for confusing OS upgrades or anti-virus software. It just works, and it works well. Since they can now run Android apps too, they could become a serious threat to Microsoft and Windows 10.
One of the most attractive aspects of Chromebooks is price -- they are often quite affordable. Today, Acer refreshes its 15.6 inch Chromebook 15 with a mind-boggling 12 hours of battery life. Best of all? It starts at $199. Yes, this model will get Android app support in a future update too.
Germany tells Tesla to stop using 'misleading' Autopilot term
The German government has labeled Tesla's use of the Autopilot name to describe its assisted driving technology "misleading" and asked the US car maker to stop using it in advertisements. The system is not currently completely autonomous, as it requires driver supervision, based on SAE standards.
"In order to prevent misunderstanding and incorrect customers’ expectations, we demand that the misleading term 'autopilot' is no longer used in advertising the system", says German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt. "Autopilot is a pure driver assistance program, and not a highly automated vehicle that can be operated without constant attention of the driver".
MI5, MI6 and GCHQ secretly and illegally collected data about British citizens for over a decade
The surveillance activities of the NSA in the US, along with MI5, MI6 and GCHQ in the UK, have been known about for some time now, largely thanks to Edward Snowden. Now the Investigatory Powers Tribunal has ruled that for more than a decade, huge amounts of data were collected without adequate oversight, breaking privacy laws.
The tribunal also said that some instances of data collection failed to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Privacy International, the group who brought the complaint against the spy agencies, said that this is a "highly significant judgment".
This map shows Wi-Fi information and passwords from airports around the world
Many years ago, I whiled away a long wait at a tiny airport by playing Snake on my Nokia phone. I literally did nothing for hours, except guide an ever-growing line around a small screen. These days, thankfully, there are much more entertaining diversions to be had on your phone.
Free airport Wi-Fi has been a godsend for many a traveler over the years, but it’s not without its problems -- you might need a password, and there could be restrictions in place to be aware of.
How incentives are key to driving mobile wallet use
Mobile wallets are gaining in popularity, according to a new survey by loyalty platform Points almost 64 percent of consumers say they've used a mobile wallet in the past year.
However, some consumers are still reluctant to make mobile payments for a variety of reasons. 47 percent are concerned about security and privacy, 45 percent say that credit and debit cards and/or cash are enough, and 20 percent say it’s too complicated.
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