26 June 2013

How to Boot A Linux Live USB Stick On Your Mac



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So you want want to boot Linux, from a flash drive, on your Mac? If you're reading this, you probably already know it's harder than it should be. Old standbys like uNetBootin - while available for your Mac - do not create USB keys your Mac can actually boot. Don't worry. There's a simpler way – a GUI made specifically to get distributions like Ubuntu to boot on your Mac. It's called Mac Linux USB, and it makes the process not only do-able, but easy.

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For Fans Of The Flicks: 7 Movie Websites That Give You More Things To Talk About



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The procession of movie websites is just as long as the queues that form for a summer release. As movie buffs we don't mind, because they can give us a continuous supply of trivia which we otherwise would miss. IMDb and Wikipedia remain my oracles for all movie trivia, but I can only take them so far to whet my gluttony. That's why I always try to scour the web for tidbits.

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Windows 8.1 Preview Product Key



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Microsoft has officially released the Preview build of Windows 8.1 and is now available to all existing Windows 8 users as an update. To encourage Vista and Windows 7 users to try out this update, Microsoft has made available for download Windows 8.1 Preview as an ISO file. This will also help existing Windows 8 [...]

Download Windows 8.1 Preview ISO File



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At BUILD 2013 conference in San Francisco, Microsoft today released the Preview version of “.1” update to Windows 8. All PC users running Windows 8 can now upgrade their installations to Windows 8.1 Preview by installing this update and then following on-screen instructions. To help Vista and Windows 7 users, Microsoft is offering Windows 8.1 [...]

Windows 8.1 Preview Released



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The day has finally come! Microsoft today at the BUILD 2013 conference discussed Windows 8.1 Preview in detail and has also made available for download the Preview version of Windows 8.1 to the public. As you may know, Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview has been available for download since yesterday. Visit the end of this [...]

Technophilia Episode 69: Live From MakeUseOf!



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This week Edward Snowden continued his global quest to evade American authorities, but the Internet was more concerned with another search: a red panda escaped from the DC zoo! Microsoft did a 180 on the Xbox One, going back to 360-era rules on used games. If you followed that sentence, congratulations: you’re a gamer. And [...]

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Difference Between Windows 8 And 8.1



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Ever since Microsoft announced that the upcoming update to Windows 8 will be called as Windows 8.1 and will be available for free to all Windows 8 users, many users who aren’t closely following Microsoft, seem to have confused Windows 8.1 as a service pack. For those who’re under the impression that Windows 8.1 update [...]

Cool Websites and Tools [June 25th 2013]



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Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. Most of the listed websites are FREE or come with a decent free account option. If you want to have similar cool websites round-ups delivered to your email daily email subscribe here....

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How Politicians, NGOs, Marketeers and More Are Using Vine



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At first glance, you would think that you can't really get much out of six seconds worth of video but Twitter's free video service Vine which launched back in January has proved that wrong. The app is flexible enough to allow you to make it what you want, much in the same way Twitter offers a unique experience to each user. Whether it's politicians, artists, athletes, businesses or even non-profit organizations, there's no limit to how Vine can be used to spread a message.

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Portal Now Available To All Linux Users [Updates]



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It's no lie: legendary first person shooter and puzzle mashup Portal is now available to all Linux users. Developers Valve today pulled the Linux version of the game out of beta, meaning anyone with Steam for Linux installed can now purchase and download Portal for $9.99 US.

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6 Addictive Ways To Play Around With Color And Spice Up Your Photography



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Just like any other creative art, photography also needs its steroidal shots of inspiration. I guess, just like a writer has a Writer's Block, a photographer could have his own version of an idea famine. Thankfully, the world around us gives enough clues to show the way. Color is a definite topic for a photographer to pick upon. Yes, just simple color.

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8 Purrfect Cat Websites For Feline Lovers




Cats are everywhere online… as photos shared by friends on social networking sites, as cute pics on Reddit, on any of the cat-centric Tumblr sites, and even here on MakeUseOf. Oh, and then there’s Nyan Cat. There are even whole websites dedicated to our feline friends, eight of which are highlighted below.

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Need New Tabs On Your Facebook Page? [Weekly Facebook Tips]



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If you run a Facebook Page, you probably want to make it the perfect portfolio for your business or association. Facebook presences are important these days, because if your audience is there already you’ll want to make the most of it. To make the most of your Facebook page, it’s a great idea to add some tabs.

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Facebook Bug Exposed Personal Details Of 6 Million Accounts [Updates]



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Facebook revealed that personal details of 6 million people were exposed due to a data glitch. The bug was found in the method Facebook uses to manage contact lists and addresses on its network. Facebook's algorithm processes the data so it could make accurate friend recommendations.

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Google+ Photos App for Chromebook Pixel



A few months ago, François Beaufort posted some screenshots of a Native Client Chrome app for Google+ Photos. The app is now available, but only for the Chromebook Pixel.






"When you plug an SD card into your Pixel, the app will back up your new photos to Google+ automatically. (For your eyes only, of course.) And when you're offline, you can still view your most recent photos. The Pixel's high resolution display makes your photos look their best, and browsing via touchscreen is a lot of fun. You can share individual photos, set of photos, or an entire album in just a few seconds. Simply select the images you want, then click 'Share.'"






It's a pretty useful app for Chromebooks and it won't be limited to the Pixel. In fact, I don't see why it couldn't work on any desktop computer that runs Chrome. It could even replace Picasa at some point.






Pixel owners can download the app from the Chrome Web Store. Google engineers "are working to bring the app to other Chromebooks as well". The Office Viewer powered by the Google-acquired Quickoffice used to be limited to the Chromebook Pixel and it's now available as a Chrome extension.



I've tried to install the app in Chrome for Windows and it worked:






... but then I got this message:





How To Recognize And Avoid Free Gift Card Scams



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These types of scams are almost always supposedly sent out by seemingly trustworthy sites such as Amazon or eBay, and much like the web URL, they may appear to be sent by the sites themselves. However, scammers are sneaky, and they thrive on carelessness.

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1 Billion Google Safe Browsing Users



"Safe Browsing is a service provided by Google that enables applications to check URLs against Google's constantly updated lists of suspected phishing and malware pages." It's used by a lot of popular browsers: desktop Chrome, desktop Firefox, desktop and mobile Safari, so it must be the most popular malware detection service.



According to Google, "approximately one billion people use Google Safe Browsing. We help tens of millions of people every week protect themselves from harm by showing warnings to users of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari when they attempt to navigate to websites that would steal their personal information or install software designed to take over their computers." Google currently flags up to 10,000 sites a day.



The 1 billion number seems pretty low, considering the number of iOS users and the desktop market share of Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Google has recently reported that Chrome has 750 million active users, but this number includes mobile Chrome users (and the mobile Chrome doesn't use Safe Browsing yet without enabling the data compression proxy). Apple announced that 600 million iOS devices were sold. Firefox has about 450 million users.



Here's a graph that shows the number of users who see warnings per week:






A few weeks ago, "a campaign targeting vulnerabilities in Java and Acrobat Reader infected more than 7,500 sites. As a result, more than 75 million Safe Browsing API users received malware warnings."



Safe Browsing is also used by Google Search. Here's a graph that shows the number of Google search results per week that contain a warning about threats to users:






There's a map that shows information about the percentage of sites hosting malware for each country. Some examples: US - 2%, Canada, China and UK - 5%, Brazil and Australia - 7%, Russia - 8%, Spain - 9%, Germany - 10%, Turkey - 11%, Mexico -12%, Thailand - 13%, India - 14%.






Google also shows the malware distribution by autonomous system. "An autonomous system is one or more networks controlled by a single entity, often a large company, a university, or an ISP. (...) Autonomous systems are part of the network layer of the Internet's architecture, and they play a role in determining how traffic is routed across the web." Google offers an alert system for network admins. "The goal is to provide network administrators with information of malicious content that is being hosted on their networks."



{ via Google Blog }