18 October 2013

F.lux Gets A Huge Update With Movie Mode And House F.lux Scheduling



flux-update

The F.lux Windows app has just been given a rather significant update for Windows 7 and Windows 8 with some very cool new features. You can now F.lux your house with a schedule for Philips Hue, enter Movie Mode when you’re using your PC as a home theatre or disable it until morning if you’re planning on working all night. Every evening at 6.30pm, my screen starts to get less brighter and more Sepia-brownish-softer-colour. No, my monitor is not on the blink. Rather, that is my F.lux installation kicking in, a rather not-so-subtle hint to tell me to get off...


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What Is The Internet? We Asked Google Suggest. Here’s What It Told Us.



internet-is

We love the Internet. MakeUseOf readers would give up alcohol, caffeine and various limbs before giving up on this network. That’s the value of the Internet. But what is it, exactly? Let’s ask Google, together. Google’s Suggest isn’t just a useful feature: it’s insight into the minds of millions. Start typing something into the search bar and Google will guess what you might be asking, based on what others have asked. This view into the collective can be disturbing, but I’m convinced the meaning of life is hidden somewhere in it. Tina showed you interesting Google Suggest results and what...


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Google Tests New Desktop Sign-in Page



Back in August, Google changed the sign-in page for mobile devices. A few readers report that they see the updated sign-in page in the desktop Chrome when opening Gmail.






It's strange to see a mobile page in a desktop browser, but it wouldn't be the first time when Google ported mobile sites or apps to the desktop. Most of the new features are added to the mobile sites first.






I haven't seen the new interface in a desktop browser, but the mobile sign-in page has an important issue: it doesn't allow browsers to autofill your password if you've previously signed in to a Google account. The sign-in page remembers all the accounts you've used to sign in, so you can quickly sign out and sign in to a different account just by choosing one of them.









{ Thanks, KH Subscribe and Arunraja. }

How Forge Makes It Simple To Publish Your Website




My first foray on the Internet was an Angelfire website. It was an unholy mess that made the TimeCube manifesto look like an aesthetic masterpiece sculpted by none other than Jony Ive and Michelangelo themselves. Without going into much detail, I shall just say that I used an excessive amount of <blink> and <marquee> tags, and leave it at that. Like most sites back then, it was static. That’s to say that there was no interactivity. Since then, there has been an explosion in web technologies that make it possible to create dynamic, engaging websites. But is there still a...


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The Coursera Of Europe: iversity Opens With 24 Free Courses And 100K Students



iversity

Berlin based iversity.org has planted its footprint in the ever-expanding MOOC (Massively Open Online Course) universe. It starts with a fresh bouquet of free courses and a strong student base of 115,000. For the present moment, 24 courses are on the catalog with more expected soon. The open courses have been designed by the top professors from Europe and the US according to the press release. iversity has started with free open courses at launch; the course catalog has a total of 24 for now (15 of which are in English, with the rest in German). The other courses will...


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Windows 8.1 now available, brings many new features to the table

Microsoft Windows 8 gets a new lease of life, with the Windows 8.1 update that went live last night across Microsoft servers. The update should show up in the Windows Marketplace and if it doesn’t, we suggest some patience as the rollout is happening sequentially. Windows 8.1, just like Windows 8, is a fresh departure from what we have come to think and see of Microsoft Windows. Windows 8 in of itself was radically different in terms of user interface and user experience, but Microsoft [...]

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NVIDIA announces Flame Works, Flex and GI Works technologies at Montreal

NVIDIA today announced three new dev tools at the Editor’s Day 2013 meet in Montreal Canada. The tools are a part of NVIDIA’s GameWorks library which has about 300 visual effects engineers working on it currently, many of whom hold PhDs. Making the announcement Tony Tamasi, Senior Vice President, Content & Technology emphasised the cross platform nature of many of these tools. The GameWorks library consists of the following components: Visual FX SDK: Provides turnkey solut [...]

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Huawei dispels security fears, states no government has asked for its data

China's Huawei Technologies Ltd. has been trying to dispel fears that the company is controlled by China's Communist Party or might be a security risk. It has released a cybersecurity report stating that no government has ever asked information about its customer data. Huawei was founded by a former Chinese military engineer in 1987 and since then has established itself as the world's second-largest supplier of telecoms network gear. The company has reported a profit of 33 percent over the prev [...]

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Samsung launches Galaxy Trend and Star Pro smartphones in India

The Samsung Galaxy Trend and Star Pro are available online for Rs 8,260 and Rs 6,730 respectively. The two smartphones boast of Android Jelly Bean OS and dual-sim support. The Samsung Galaxy Trend has a 4-inch TFT screen with 800 x 480 pixels resolution and 233ppi pixel density. It has a 1GHz processor and runs on Android Jelly Bean operating system. The smartphone has 4GB internal storage expandable via microSD up to 32GB. The Galaxy Trend smartphone offers dual-sim, 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3 [...]

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Researchers claim that Apple and NSA can read your messages

Apple had recently released a statement on customer privacy stating that the company was unable to access or decrypt iMessage and FaceTime conversations. Researchers have refuted the company's claim at the Hack the Box conference in Kuala Lumpur. Researchers in a recent study of the iMessage protocol found that Apple has the ability to intercept and decrypt iMessages. Despite the fact that the messages are encrypted end-to-end, Apple handles the keys needed to encrypt and exchange the messages [...]

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Real Steel: World Robot Boxing launched as free to play download

Reliance Games has officially announced the launch of Real Steel: World Boxing on iOS and Android as a free to play download today. The game is inspired by 2011 DreamWorks film Real Steel, is built upon by the foundations laid down by its predecessor. The game features better graphics, new robots, more gameplay modes and head-to-head multiplayer. Real Steel: World Boxing has 24 bots in total including the likes of Zeus, Atom and Twin Cities, including eight new contenders, ten brand new arenas [...]

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RCom launches 'Awesome America' roaming pack for its postpaid GSM customers

Reliance Communications (RCom) has introduced a new international roaming pack for its postpaid GSM customers travelling to the U.S. Called the “Awesome America” pack, the operator is offering discount up to 98 percent on data usage and up to 76 percent on voice calling on roaming. The pack is available for Rs. 849 with validity of 30 days. The operator says under the new international roaming plan data charges have been reduced to Rs. 10 for 1MB on roaming in the U.S. “W [...]

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30% of orders on Snapdeal come from mobile phones

Online retailer Snapdeal's recent study on the m-commerce (mobile based transactions) trends reveals 30 percent of all orders placed over on the store are for mobile phones. According to Snapdeal, this trend has grown 10 times in the last 12 months. Samsung dominates the mobile traffic share from the various handset brands at 42 percent, followed by Nokia, Apple and Micromax. Android is the most popular operating system accounting for 71 percent of the traffic followed by iOS at 12 percent of t [...]

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Kobo launches Android tablet and e-book readers in India, starting from Rs. 7,999

Kobo has launched Kobo Aura HD, Kobo Glo, Kobo Touch e-readers and the Kobo Arc Android tablet in Indiat. The devices are available through Crossword, Croma and WHSmith retail stores. The Kobo Aura HD has a 6.8-inch Pearl E-Ink WXGA+ touchscreen. The company claims it has a battery life up to 2 months. The Aura HD features a front-lit e-reader technology. It comes with 4GB inbuilt memory expandable up to 32GB via the microSD card slot. The e-reader is priced at Rs 13,999. The Kobo Touch e-read [...]

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Sony Xperia C available online in India for Rs. 18,300

Sony has launched its Xperia C smartphone in the Indian market. Available online for Rs. 18,300, the Xperia C supports dual-SIM and runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The Sony Xperia C has a 5-inch TFT display with 960 x 540 pixels resolution and comes with an Omnibalance design. It is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Mediatek processor and 1GB of RAM. The smartphone comes with 4GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 32GB. It has an 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a VGA front camera for [...]

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Nexus 5 makes brief appearance on Google Play store for $349

The Nexus 5 appeared for a brief period on the Google Play store. The listing seems to be an error as no details were available upon clicking nor could the smartphone be purchased. The price for the 16GB variant of the Nexus 5 was listed at $349. The smartphone is no longer visible on the Google Play store. It seems like the camera of the Nexus 5 will be one of its USP as the tagline for the smartphone read, "Capture the everyday and the epic in fresh new ways." Hints unleashed on Tw [...]

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India, ICANN to set up center to ramp up Internet security

The Center for Development and Advanced Computing (CDAC) has tied up with the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to develop a research facility that will help prevent cyber attacks and security threats. The facility will be known as Center for Excellence in DNS Security. "We are always in doubt when accessing the internet whether whatever is being shared is visible to someone else. We need to dispel this fear, which is associated to the internet," J Sat [...]

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Volvo shows off body panels that can be battery substitutes in electric cars

In yet another evolution for the electric car, Volvo has shown off a new technology that can replace the most critical element - the battery pack. This technology uses materials that can be formed into body panels on the car, and will hold nano-batteries as well as super capacitors within the panels. The idea behind this technology is multi-pronged - saves space, cost effective in the long run, and more eco-friendly than batteries. The panel material is a combination of carbon fibers and a poly [...]

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