02 January 2018

5 Fun iPhone Printers (And Why You’d Want One)


mini-printers-iphone

iPhones have completely revolutionized photography. You can take a picture anywhere you want, and have dozens — if not hundreds — of different algorithms, filters, and features to help you out. But there’s one thing we’ve lost with the switch over to digital photography: prints. It might seem like an outdated fashion now, but printing photos is a blast. Having pictures around your house is a great way to add joy to your surroundings. And sharing pictures with people is a super fun way to give a memento that will be appreciated. That’s where iPhone printers come in. What’s an...

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It’s (Almost) Official: Gaming Addiction Is a Disease


If you’re addicted to video games then you may actually have a mental health condition. That is at least according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has added “Gaming Disorder” to the latest draft of the 11th edition of the International Compendium of Diseases (ICD). Ever since video games entered the mainstream people have suggested that this benign hobby can be bad for you. Video games have been blamed for all sorts of things, including childhood obesity, gun violence, and depression. This is bunkum, but gaming addiction may just be real. Addicted to Playing Video Games The WHO tracks...

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Facebook, not Twitter, will live stream this year’s Golden Globes’ red carpet pre-show


 Facebook has scored the exclusive rights to live stream this year’s Golden Globes’ red carpet pre-show – a deal that last year went to Twitter. On Tuesday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) and dick clark productions announced the two-hour event would be exclusively available on the Golden Globes Facebook page from 6 to 8 p.m. ET (3 to 5 p.m. PT) on Sunday… Read More
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The 8 Best Ways to Manage Your Tasks in Chrome


manage-tasks-chrome

A market share of 55 percent for the world’s most popular browser says a lot. But it suggests a greater fact: the world spends a lot of hours hunkered down in front of the browser. I hope most of the minutes are for productivity tasks and just a few for procrastinating ones. That raises a few questions. For almost ten years, Chrome has been in charge of your day. So, is it something more than a search and browse vehicle or do you use it as your personal steward? Has it proved itself to be the proctor for your productivity?...

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5 Cool Ways to Keep Your Overclocked Raspberry Pi 3 Chilled


raspi-3-cooldown

Your Raspberry Pi can do so much, but it has its limits. But like any computer, those limits can be pushed, if you know what you’re doing. Overclocking is a feature built into the Raspberry Pi, and once you’ve learnt how to overclock your Pi you’ll be doing it all the time. As with a desktop computer, pushing the processor in this way can be made even easier with cooling solutions. Heat sinks, fans, and even liquid cooling are all options for the Raspberry Pi. The following ideas are specifically for the Raspberry Pi 3, but with some tweaking can...

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How to Embed MP3 Audio Files In Web Pages with the help of Google Drive


Audio hosting websites like SoundCloud or Anchor.fm make it easy for you to embed audio files in your web pages and blogs. Just upload your file – like an MP3 song or an audio podcast – to any of these sites and they’ll provide the HTML embed code that you can copy-paste in your web template. Simple!

If you have been storing your MP3 files inside Google Drive, you can embed the files directly from Drive without having to upload them to another website. The Drive MP3 player can be embedded on any website that supports IFRAME and the list includes Blogger, WordPress, Medium or even the new Google Sites.

Also see: Embed YouTube as Audio Player

Step 1: Upload the MP3 to Google Drive

Open drive.google.com and upload the MP3 to your Google Drive. After the file is uploaded, right-click to share and set the sharing permission to “Anyone on the Internet can find and view”.

Step 2: Generate the Player Embed Code

The Google Drive URL will have the following structure:

http://ift.tt/2lGfgD6

Now all you have to do is replace /view with /preview and wrap the modified URL in an IFRAME tag as shown below:

<iframe 
  frameborder="0" 
  width="400"     
  height="200"
  src="http://ift.tt/2CwhI9S;    
</iframe>

Here’s a live example. The embedded MP3 player has volume controls, play/pause buttons, seek bar, no Google branding, it works on mobile and the play also auto-detects and displays the duration of the music file.

The MP3 file is hosted on Google Drive and embedded here inside the IFRAME tag.


Beginner’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Neural Network and Deep Learning (Part 1/2)


AI, ML, Neural Networks and Deep Learning are some of the buzzwords of today’s world. They are disrupting the way in which traditional business operate. Many service-based organizations are branding themselves as pioneers and leaders in these frontiers. However, before putting money into any of these AI branded assets, it becomes very important to understand the business use-case of these technologies (on which I shall write later). Currently, I shall focus upon facilitating the beginner’s understanding of these buzzwords.
Artificial Intelligence, in the easiest language, is used when machines can take decisions and perform actions (easy or complex) intelligently and smartly, implying, it can mimic human activities, like learning and solving problems.
AI may be classified into two categories: Applied AI & General AI. Applied AI is what is creating the buzzword in today’s world: autonomous cars (Volvo S60 Drive Me), virtual agents (Louise, the virtual agent of eBay), playing strategic games (Go & Chess) against humans etc. Hence, they are specific to a case in point. General AI is what we have seen in movies like Ultron (from Avengers series) & Ava (from Ex Machina) i.e. they have the capability to mimic the human and can perform actions like those that humans do.
An interesting observation is that actions taken by machines, which were once categorized as intelligent, are no longer considered intelligent. For e.g. Optical Character Recognition. Hence, just like human’s approach (metrics to measure) to intelligence (psychology) varies, the metrics as to what actions define artificial intelligence and what not, may require continuous change.
Now, let us try to understand Machine Learning. ML, in the simplest form, is the ability of the machines to parse data, categorize it, learn that categorization and then perform some actions or give some predictions on cases for which it was not trained. So, rather than the traditional IF… ELSE statements, using algorithms like clustering, decision tree, inductive logic & Bayesian networks, the machine is trained using large volumes of data after which it can perform some task for which it was trained for.
I shall take a very novice example to explain it. Suppose the machine is trained on all the past matches of Roger Federer. His opponents, tournaments, practice sessions, performances at all levels, etc. Now based upon this training, if the machine is able to identify Federer’s odds of winning against any opponent.
Two more “learning” keywords used frequently are Supervised learning & Unsupervised learning.
Supervised learning happens when a bot is trained on corpus of data and the output is defined. If the outputs are defined as classes, then it is a classification problem. If the output is continuous, then it is a regression problem. There are many use-cases defined for classification. For e.g.:
1. To classify, if the financial transaction is fraudulent or not
2. To classify the different types of objects in an image (fruits, vegetables)
3. To classify the given texts into different categories (if the tweet is about football, cricket etc.) in Natural Language Processing (NLP).
Unsupervised learning takes place when the bot starts to learn and take decisions from itself (a concept called self-learn).
Let us understand these two concepts from a real world example.
Case 1: Supervised Learning
Vipul is a kid. He sees different kinds of fruits. His father tells him that this particular fruit is an apple, orange etc. Now a new fruit comes in front of Vipul, which he has not seen before. Vipul identifies it as an apple – and not as a mango, papaya etc.
Here, I had a teacher to guide me and help me learn new concepts, so that when a new object came my way to which I had not been trained, I was still able to categorize and identify it.
Case 2: Unsupervised Learning
Vipul is a kid. He went to North Korea, a country about which he had no prior knowledge – no information on their culture, food, tradition, language etc. However, Vipul tries to learn and make sense of his surrounding – what to eat, how to greet people, how to pray etc.
This is unsupervised learning because in this case, though, I had many data around me, I did not know how to derive meaning out of it or rather what to do with it. Here I had no teacher to guide me and I had to figure out a way on my own. Then, after some time, based upon certain learning, I started processing these data into information categories that made sense.
(The rest of the knowledge will be shared in the second part. )

6 Philips Hue Automations You Need Right Now


philips-hue-automation

So you’ve bought yourself a Philips Hue starter kit, maybe installed some awesome Hue apps, and set up Hue voice commands with an Amazon Echo. What’s next? Setting up home automation is surprisingly easy with Hue, and the app itself allows you to configure simple automations. Today I’ll be showing you some of the best home automations you can configure right now! What You Need You’re going to need some smart bulbs to get started with Hue automation. The Hue white and color ambiance starter kit is the easiest place to start, but many Hue alternative bulbs will also work...

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UK eyeing ‘extremism’ tax on social media giants


 The UK government has kicked off the new year with another warning shot across the bows of social media giants. Read More
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8 Bitcoin News Sites Every Cryptocurrency Fan Should Read


bitcoin-news-sites

“Bitcoin” was one of the most popular search terms on Google during 2017. According to the company’s own data, it was the second most-searched-for news topic of the year. Indeed, 2017 was undoubtedly year that the cryptocurrency came of age. Back in January, one Bitcoin was worth approximately $1,000 USD. By December, it had established a new all-time high of $20,000 USD. Whether or not you believe Bitcoin to be in a bubble, there’s no denying that interest in the virtual currency is higher than ever. If you’ve taken the plunge and invested some of your hard-earned cash into Bitcoin,...

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Win Clash of Clans With 8 Lesser Known Strategy Tips, Cheats, and Hacks


clashclans-tips-tricks

Clash of Clans is an iconic mobile game. It’s front of mind with other classics like Angry Birds and Words With Friends. Many players are vexed by its freemium model and are looking for ways to get ahead using gems. You can use these to speed up production or get the resources you’re missing when buying a unit or building. Rather than forking over cash for the green gems, check out our Clash of Clans guide for strategies, tips, cheats, and hacks to get you ahead for free. Download: Clash of Clans for Android | iOS (Free) 1. Base Building Guides A quick...

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How to Embed Music in your Google Slides Presentation


Audio can bring your presentations to life especially in a kiosk setting where slideshows play unattended in a continuous loop. If you have recently made the switch from Microsoft PowerPoint or Keynote to Google Slides, the one important feature that you might be missing inside Google Slides is audio.

Both Keynote and PowerPoint make it extremely easy for you to add audio to a presentation. You can embed MP3 music files that play in the background for the entire presentation or you can record your own voiceover narration that is synchronized with the timing of each slide.

How to Add Audio to Google Slides

Google Slides do not support audio files but you do have the option to embed videos inside the individual slides. The workaround, therefore, is simple – place the video file on a slide, make it invisible and turn on the auto-play mode.

Demo: Google Slides with Audio

Step 1: Prepare the Audio File

You can use free tools like FFmpeg or Audacity to convert your audio files into video. Then upload the converted file to either Google Drive or YouTube. I would prefer Drive since the playback won’t include any pre-roll advertising.

Embed Video in Google Slide

Step 2: Put audio inside Google Slides

Open Google Slides, go to the Insert menu and choose Video. Here you can either select the file from your Google Drive or switch to the “By URL” tab and paste the link of any public YouTube video.

Step 3: Turn on auto-play mode

Now that your video is embedded in Google Slides, right-click the video and choose Video Options.

google-slides-video-embed.png

Check the setting that says “auto-play when presenting.” If you are using synchronized voiceover narration, you may want to change the start and end time of the video as well.

Step 4: Hide the video player

Since you want the audio to play in the background, it may be a good idea to completely hide the video play from the slide. There are two ways to achieve this.

You can select the video play, drag the resize handles inwards so that the player size becomes too small to be noticed. An even better option is to place the video player outside the slide area so it’s still part of the slide but won’t show during the presentation.

google-slides-music.gif

That’s it.

Click the Share button to get the link to your Google Slide presentation. Replace /edit in the URL with /present and you have a direct link to the presentation mode – see a live example.

Also see: Convert Google Slides to Animated GIFs

You take any existing video from YouTube, place it on the slide in invisible mode and then turn on the auto-play mode so that the audio plays as soon as the slide is in focus.


Telegram and Instagram being restricted in Iran


 Messaging app Telegram and Facebook-owned social sharing platform Instagram appear to be being blocked in Iran. Read More
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Blackview S8 Review: Galaxy Features Without The Astronomical Price (and Giveaway!)


Our verdict of the Blackview S8:For the price, you could certainly do worse than the Blackview S8. If you're looking for a solid phone that won't break the bank, this is one to have on your short list.710What if we told you that there was a phone out there that promised Galaxy features at a price tag that’s a fraction of the size? It sounds too good to be true, but that’s exactly what the Blackview S8 promises. It comes with a similarly-sized screen, good enough hardware, and all the other goodies you’d expect – but it costs around $160....

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How Many People Can Simultaneously Watch Netflix per Account?


With an average of seven screens per American household, there may be plenty of competition to get on Netflix in your home. The number of devices that can simultaneously watch Netflix on one account depends on the type of account you have. How Many People Can Simultaneously Watch Netflix? If you have a Basic subscription and are paying $7.99 a month, that means you can only watch Netflix on one screen. If you have a Standard subscription and are paying $10.99 a month, that means you can watch Netflix on two screens at the same time. If you have a Premium subscription and are...

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How to Cancel PlayStation Now, Vue, and Plus


Signed up for PlayStation Now or PlayStation Vue and don’t use the services anymore? Never play online and don’t need the benefits of PlayStation Plus? It’s easy to cancel them so you aren’t charged when your subscription is up. Here’s how to cancel the three major PlayStation services. How to Cancel PlayStation Now Visit your Sony account page. Sign in or confirm your password if needed. Click the Media tab along the top of the screen, then select the Games tab on the left. Use the buttons at the bottom of the list to navigate to the PlayStation Now entry...

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Researchers can now make neighborhood voting predictions from Google Street View images


 In a sign that computers will be able to perform image analysis as fluently as text analysis, a group of Stanford-based researchers were able to make accurate predictions about neighborhood voting patterns based on millions of pictures collected from Google Street View, reports The New York Times. While other academic projects have used artificial intelligence to mine Google Street View for… Read More
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HQ Trivia Is Now Available on Android


HQ Trivia, a trivia app which has proved to be a big hit on iOS, is finally available on Android. The developers responsible for the app have been working on bringing it to Android for a while, and it’s now finally available to all. Unfortunately it is still in beta at the moment though. For the uninitiated, HQ Trivia is a free trivia app which has players answering a series of multiple choice questions. If you answer incorrectly you’re knocked out, but anyone able to answer all 12 questions correctly gets to share in the prize money. And, unlike Bitcoin,...

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The Best Free Microsoft Office Calendar Templates for the New Year


Are you ready to begin a new year? Maybe you are, but your office is not. These handy free calendar templates for Microsoft Office can help you start the year off right. You can use them within an application like Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. Or just print them and write down your events if you prefer. Either way, make sure you are ready for the new work year with a convenient template to create the calendar you need. Weekly Calendar Templates If you are a weekly planner, then a calendar template limited to weeks is what you want. This one...

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