30 January 2018

Elon Musk has now sold 15K flamethrowers, earning $7.5M for boring


 The Boring Company is getting decently well-capitalized on the back of sales of its flamethrower (yes, flamethrower). The no-doubt overpriced piece of knack, which can be make yourself at home using likely around $30 in parts, is selling for $500 and has already netted Elon Musk’s digging venture $7.5 million. That’s after just over a day of being on sale, and not counting the… Read More

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Google says it removed 700K apps from the Play Store in 2017, up 70% from 2016


 The relatively open nature of Android has made it a target for malware authors and other bad actors of all stripes who often try to get their wares onto your phone through both the official Google Play Store, third-party app stores and any other way they can think of. For most users, though, the main Android app store is Google’s own Play Store and as the company announced today, the… Read More
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Pinterest hires a new head of computer vision


 As Pinterest increasingly tries to sell itself as a startup specialized in computer vision that it plugs into visual discovery, it’s continuing to pick up additional pieces to help continue to build that out. Today, the company said it is hiring former Google computer vision research lead Chuck Rosenberg, who was previously at Google for 14 years. Pinterest sees more than 300 million… Read More

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10 Black Mirror Episodes That Will Mess With Your Head


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This article is purposely free of major spoilers. Black Mirror is an anthology series, meaning each episode is its own self-contained story with its own unique cast, setting, plotlines, and themes. It’s one reason why the show is such a pop culture success; because, as Forrest Gump once said, you never know what you’re gonna get. The other reason why so many tune in to Black Mirror? Because its punchlines are so devastating. Every episode takes a different angle, but the general gist of the show is an exploration of how humans abuse technology and become enslaved to media. It’s...

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Instagram now allows businesses to schedule their posts


 Instagram today made a long overdue change to its product that social media managers have wanted for some time – it will allow businesses on Instagram to schedule their posts. Before, there were unofficial means to aid with this – like tools that would send out a push notification to remind you to publish a post at a given time, for example. But no functionality was available in… Read More
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No Internet Access but Connected to a Router? Here’s the Fix


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You sit down to get some work done on your computer, and that’s when you see it. The dreaded yellow triangle appears over the internet connection icon, annoyingly proclaiming that you have No Internet Access. How do you fix this awful Windows error? We’ll show you the steps you should follow to resolve this problem and get back online. Steps to Fix “No Internet Access” Errors Let’s quickly outline the steps first, then we’ll go into detail on each one: Confirm other devices can’t connect Reboot your PC Reboot your modem and router Run the Windows network troubleshooter Check your...

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3 Ways You Can Run MS-DOS Games and Apps in Linux


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MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System, often used interchangeably with “DOS”) is often linked with acute nostalgia. An old word processor, or maybe some DOS game that provided hours of pure, non-internet based entertainment. But what options do we have for igniting that old flame on Linux? Fortunately, quite a few! FreeDOS FreeDOS is a complete, free, DOS-compatible operating system. Any program that works on MS-DOS should also run on FreeDOS. Along with being completely free to download and use, it can also be shared for anyone to enjoy! MS-DOS was last released in 1994 which was nearly a quarter of...

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TrackR lays off staff, sources say 42 in total, in ongoing market contraction


 It’s crunch time for TrackR, that startup that lets you use an app to find items like keys, wallets and bags that have been tagged with its small Bluetooth-based tracking devices. TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that the company has laid off a substantial proportion of its staff, as it seeks to sharpen its focus amid a wider market contraction for item-tracking businesses. The… Read More

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Find My Android: 4 Ways to Locate Your Phone (If You Plan Ahead First)


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If you own an Android phone, and you’ve misplaced it, the chances are pretty good you’ll be able to locate your phone if you’ve planned ahead. If you haven’t planned ahead yet, then this article is for you. You’ll learn about five different ways you can configure your phone and various accounts so that if you ever do misplace it, you’ll be able to find it again with just the click of a button. 1. Find My Device If you have an Android phone, then you most likely have a Google account connected to it. Because of this, Google is...

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How to Watch Live TV on Kodi


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The cord-cutting revolution continues to gather pace. Whether you have gone cold turkey and canceled cable entirely or taken a more reserved approach and shaved the cord instead, there’s a good chance that you’re hungry for more live TV. Of course, video-on-demand services such as Netflix and Hulu can fill some of the void, but there’s nothing like being able to flick between different channels and mindlessly watch some footage. If you’re looking to re-introduce live TV into your life, you have a few options. For example, you could try installing some private Roku channels, you could check out some...

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Mammoth Media, the startup behind chat fiction app Yarn, raises $13M


Hack'd Mammoth Media has raised a $13 million Series A funding to create what it calls “entertainment experiences for the mobile-first generation.” Mammoth isn’t not the first startup to pitch itself as reinventing entertainment for smartphones, but for the most part, that message has come from gaming companies. Co-founder and CEO Benoit Vatere said he wanted to take the… Read More

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Snapchat enhances Bitmoji with 1.9 septillion avatar options


 Now you can customize your Snapchat Bitmoji avatar with 40 skin tones, 50 hair colors, 50 hair treatment options and more so it looks just like you no matter what you look like. Today Snapchat launches Bitmoji Deluxe, a more configurable version of its cartoony avatars that embraces the growing diversity of its users. The feature offers an easier front-end builder that instantly previews… Read More
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Snapchat enhances Bitmoji with 1.9 septillion avatar options


 Now you can customize your Snapchat Bitmoji avatar with 40 skin tones, 50 hair colors, 50 hair treatment options and more so it looks just like you no matter what you look like. Today Snapchat launches Bitmoji Deluxe, a more configurable version of its cartoony avatars that embraces the growing diversity of its users. The feature offers an easier front-end builder that instantly previews… Read More

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4 Projects That Make Your Raspberry Pi Portable


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You love your Raspberry Pi, and you want to take it with you. Or perhaps you have the urge to build a portable project, but don’t have the design skills or patience. Don’t be ashamed. Many Raspberry Pi projects require a lot of planning and various additional components. Trying to build a Pi-based portable gaming device or laptop means trying to emulate the hardware of the originals. You could rely on a DIY project… or you could focus your portable Pi-building energy on existing kits. Several Raspberry Pi kits have been developed that make your little computer portable. Literally, tiny...

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Child health advocates call for Facebook to shutter Messenger Kids app


 The slings and arrows of outrage keep flying at Facebook. Today a coalition of child health advocates has published an open letter addressing CEO Mark Zuckerberg and calling for the company to shutter Messenger Kids: Aka the Snapchat-ish comms app it launched in the US last December — targeted at the under 13s. Read More
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How to Animate Excel Charts in PowerPoint


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PowerPoint presentations with lots of data don’t have to be boring. Excel makes it easy to take multiple lines of data and convert them into easy to interpret visual charts. When you pair your data with PowerPoint, you can animate Excel charts to create an engaging presentation. We’ll take you through the process step by step. Watch your data come to life. Creating Your Chart The first step in animating Excel charts is to create your chart with the data that you’ve compiled. If you’re not sure what kind of chart is right for your data, take a look at this guide...

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Ultimate Ears Wonderboom Review: The Toughest Speaker Around


Our verdict of the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom:The Wonderboom is possibly the toughest Bluetooth speaker around. Buy it if you're after an ultra portable yet durable speaker, but think carefully about the features you want if you don't need a bombproof design.1010Way back in 2013 we reviewed the original Ultimate Ears Boom bluetooth speaker, and since then, Ultimate Ears (UE) have continued to innovate and become a dominant force in the Bluetooth speaker market. The Wonderboom is just one of several speakers in the UE range. Marketed as a “virtually indestructible” compact Bluetooth speaker, I put one through its paces to...

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BrowserStack hauls in $50 million Series A from Accel


 It’s not often you see a single venture capital firm investing $50 million in a Series A round. These usually involve a much smaller number spread across a variety of investors, but Accel saw something in BrowserStack, a mobile and browser testing platform, that’s a bit too successful to warrant the usual early-round startup label. BrowserStack has built a huge market with over… Read More

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How to Mute Entire Websites in Chrome


You click on a link, expecting to read an article. Five seconds into your reading, here comes an annoying auto-playing video that wakes up your entire house. A familiar scene for many. Auto-playing videos have become standard on many websites. While Chrome has let you mute individual tabs for some time, you’d have to mute new tabs by hand every time you opened one. But now, in the latest version of Chrome, you can mute entire sites without using an extension. How to Mute Entire Websites in Chrome You must have Chrome 64 or later to use this. To update, click the...

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How to Hide the Taskbar on Windows


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The taskbar is home to lots of useful links, including the Start menu, pinned apps that you use every day, system icons such as volume and network, and the Action Center. Unfortunately, it also takes up some prime screen real estate. If you’re working on a 32-inch monitor, you probably don’t think much about it, but on a device with a smaller screen (e.g. used when traveling), the taskbar doesn’t need to be visible all the time. Thankfully, it’s possible to hide the taskbar, but the way to do it isn’t immediately apparent. Let’s take a closer look. How to...

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How to Disable Outlook.com’s Link Preview Feature


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If you use Outlook.com’s web interface, there are quite a few quirks you have to get used to. Luckily, some of those quirks can be easily fixed, including the way Outlook handles link previews when you compose messages and paste in links. One way around it is to simply type in the link: makeuseof.com. In this case, a link preview won’t be created. Another option is to embed your links into text in your message, but that can be a hassle if all you’re trying to do is share a quick link with contacts. How to Disable Outlook.com’s Link Preview Feature...

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Google completes its $1.1B deal to buy a chunk of HTC’s smartphone division


 Google has announced the completion of its $1.1 billion deal to buy a large slice of HTC’s hardware business. The acquisition was announced back in September 2017 but now it has passed the requisite approvals and is finalized. Beyond the transfer of over 2,000 engineers from HTC — that’s around one-fifth of HTC’s engineering team — Google will also receive… Read More

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Instagram won’t comment on rumored video calling feature


 Instagram copied the ‘Snap’ and now it might be going after the ‘chat’. A video calling feature was spotted in an non-public version of Instagram by WhatsApp industry blog WABetaInfo. It would let users who’ve begun an Instagram Direct message thread to video chat with each other. That could let users spend even more time in the app, but by actively… Read More
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Instagram won’t comment on rumored video calling feature


 Instagram copied the ‘Snap’ and now it might be going after the ‘chat’. A video calling feature was spotted in a non-public version of Instagram by WhatsApp industry blog WABetaInfo. It would let users who’ve begun an Instagram Direct message thread to video chat with each other. That could let people spend even more time in the app, but by actively… Read More

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There’s no way the government is building its own 5G network


 A report this weekend by Axios cited documents from within the National Security Council describing the possibility — nay, inevitability — of a 5G network built and operated by the U.S. government. Officials have since poured cold water on this idea, and really, it was never feasible. Read More

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