Is Internet Freedom Under Threat From Internet Service Providers? [MUO Debates]

Imagine a world where the content you view on the Internet is tightly controlled by your Internet service provider. What would you say if I told you that world is now a reality? Case in point — in January of 2014, a U.S. Federal Court rejected FCC “net-neutrality” regulations, which would enforce rules requiring Internet service providers to enable access to all online content and applications regardless of the information or the source. Favoring, blocking or manipulating service quality for particular services or content would be prohibited. While the United States does not create the rules for Internet access across...

Read the full article: Is Internet Freedom Under Threat From Internet Service Providers? [MUO Debates]

The Ultimate Guide To XBMC Tools On Your Chromebook

Regular TVs have remote controls, while XBMC makes use of any device in your house as a remote control. So, which extensions do you need to install to turn your Chromebook into another fantastic remote for XBMC? Whether you’ve got a Raspberry Pi as your media centre, or you’ve got another decidated Media PC running XBMC, you’ve no doubt realised that having remote controls on your various devices just makes sense. It’s not at all uncommon these days for people to watch TV shows on XBMC while they noodle around on a laptop or tablet, so having these XBMC controls...

Read the full article: The Ultimate Guide To XBMC Tools On Your Chromebook

How To Fix High CPU Usage In Windows

If your computer fans frequently hit top speeds, it’s a sign that your CPU is fully loaded. Simultaneously, your computer may slow down. That’s annoying, especially if you’re not actually doing anything. The CPU (central processing unit), also known as processor, is the brain of your computer. Like your own noggin, it can become overwhelmed if bombarded with too many processes, or if a single task consumes undue attention. Just as you may find work difficult when overwhelmed, your processor can slow to a crawl if too much is asked of it at once. Normally, this situation can be avoided...

Read the full article: How To Fix High CPU Usage In Windows

Keep A Cleaner Inbox As Gmail Gets One-Click Unsubscribe Button

Google is making it easier to unsubscribe from pesky email newsletters you don’t want cluttering up your inbox. A prominent “unsubscribe” link at the top is the small but user-friendly change that is coming to all Gmail accounts. The “unsubscribe” link right in the header information of an email is a timesaver. Many users don’t bother to rummage around in the footer section of a promotional email for that tiny “unsubscribe from newsletter” link that’s barely visible. The quickly accessible unsubscribe link should make dealing with unwanted emails a one-click axe job. The change also helps genuine marketeers. It saves...

Read the full article: Keep A Cleaner Inbox As Gmail Gets One-Click Unsubscribe Button

Take Control Of The WordPress Editor With TinyMCE Advanced

Love WordPress, but wish the WYSIWYG editor offered more features? Install TinyMCE Advanced, a plugin that adds features like tables, emoticons and custom font families to your editor’s toolbar. The main WordPress editor is WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), and lets users create HTML without realizing that’s what they’re doing. But editing HTML they are, and WordPress’ interface tries to strike a balance between power and simplicity. Part of how this balance is accomplished: leaving out features likely to confuse beginners and look terrible, especially if they’re not necessary for basic writing and editing. After all, advanced...

Read the full article: Take Control Of The WordPress Editor With TinyMCE Advanced

Galaxy S5, Nokia X, Google Smartwatch, Xbox One Price Cut [Tech News Digest]

Today in Tech News Digest, Samsung unveils the Galaxy S5, the Nokia X is revealed, WhatsApp announces free voice services, Google is rumored to be working on a smartwatch, the Xbox One gets its first price cut, and selfies may be helping to spread head lice. Samsung Unveils The Galaxy S5 As expected, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S5 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The South Korean company’s latest flagship device isn’t a huge step up from the Galaxy S4, offering a similar design and only slightly improved specs. The front of the S5 looks the same as the S4,...

Read the full article: Galaxy S5, Nokia X, Google Smartwatch, Xbox One Price Cut [Tech News Digest]

Gnome Boxes: An Easy Way To Set Up Virtual Machines in Linux

VirtualBox and VMWare, which can run multiple operating systems on top of your current OS, aren’t the only two virtualization options available for Linux users. If you’re a Gnome Shell user (as in, you use the main interface of the Gnome 3 desktop), you can use something called Gnome Boxes for all your virtualization needs. About Gnome Boxes Gnome Boxes is a simple virtualization tool that prefers ease and convenience over numerous customization options. For the technically inclined, Gnome Boxes implements QEMU, which is a completely open source machine emulator and virtualization tool that claims to achieve near native performance...

Read the full article: Gnome Boxes: An Easy Way To Set Up Virtual Machines in Linux

Troubleshoot and Share Your Wireless Internet in Windows 8

Wi-Fi problems can be obnoxious, but there are some simple ways to fix most wireless problems without a degree in computer networking. If you’d like to share your Windows 8 PC’s wireless Internet connection with other PCs, that’s also easy. This works whether you want to share a tablet’s cellular data connection, a wired Ethernet connection, or even another Wi-Fi connection. Troubleshoot Your Wi-Fi First, try rebooting your computer. Yes, it may seem silly, but rebooting fixes a surprising amount of problems. For example, if you’ve run into a bug with the driver for your WiFi hardware, rebooting will reinitialize...

Read the full article: Troubleshoot and Share Your Wireless Internet in Windows 8

Google's Blink Easter Egg

There's a new Google Easter Egg: search for [blink html] and the words "blink" and "html" will start to flash slowly. Google emulates the <blink> element, which is no longer supported by modern browsers.



"The blink element is a non-standard presentational HTML element that indicates to a user agent (generally a web browser) that the page author intends the content of the element to blink (that is, alternate between being visible and invisible). Despite its initial popularity amongst home users in the 1990s, it has since fallen out of favor due to its overuse and the difficulty it presents in reading," explains Wikipedia.

{ via Search Engine Roundtable and Ilya Grigorik }

Netflix Comcast, Windows Phone Leak, PS4 Japan, Silicon Valley Sitcom [Tech News Digest]

Today in Tech News Digest, Netflix and Comcast do a deal, Windows Phone 8.1 leaks, Sony launches the PlayStation 4 in Japan, Microsoft cuts the price of Windows 8.1, WhatsApp goes down, the new Google Maps emerges from beta, LinkedIn introduces member blocking, and Silicon Valley gets its own TV show. Netflix & Comcast Teaming For Streaming Netflix paying Comcast for expedited data service is like red blood cells bribing the femoral artery. — Paul Kedrosky (@pkedrosky) February 24, 2014 Netflix and Comcast have done a deal [subscription required] which means Comcast customers should be able to stream Netflix content...

Read the full article: Netflix Comcast, Windows Phone Leak, PS4 Japan, Silicon Valley Sitcom [Tech News Digest]

Netflix Comcast, Windows Phone Leak, PS4 Japan, Silicon Valley Sitcom [Tech News Digest]

Today in Tech News Digest, Netflix and Comcast do a deal, Windows Phone 8.1 leaks, Sony launches the PlayStation 4 in Japan, Microsoft cuts the price of Windows 8.1, WhatsApp goes down, the new Google Maps emerges from beta, LinkedIn introduces member blocking, and Silicon Valley gets its own TV show. Netflix & Comcast Teaming For Streaming Netflix paying Comcast for expedited data service is like red blood cells bribing the femoral artery. — Paul Kedrosky (@pkedrosky) February 24, 2014 Netflix and Comcast have done a deal [subscription required] which means Comcast customers should be able to stream Netflix content...

Read the full article: Netflix Comcast, Windows Phone Leak, PS4 Japan, Silicon Valley Sitcom [Tech News Digest]

5 Browser-Based Fighting Games That Are Actually Good

The simplistic player-vs-player style of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat is easy to get addicted to. Your character is on one side, the opponent (or AI bot) is on the other, and you duke it out to see who comes out on top. And while multiplayer games don’t focus so much on this style any more, it’s not entirely out of fashion yet. In fact, some of the best fighting games are actually available for free as Flash games in your browser. Simon didn’t include any in his roundup of the best Flash games, but don’t worry, I got you...

Read the full article: 5 Browser-Based Fighting Games That Are Actually Good

The 5 Commandments For Choosing The Right To-Do App For Productivity

If I gave you a collection of 100 coffee mugs and asked you to organize them, how would you do it? Would it be by color? By the image on the mug? By its size? Different people organize in different ways, so something like choosing a to-do app really depends on the kind of person you are. I have a confession to make. I’m an obsessive to-do list tester. In the past five years I think I’ve tested approximately 20 productivity management tools, and I’ve yet to stick with a single one. Often times, I’ll discover one that I absolutely...

Read the full article: The 5 Commandments For Choosing The Right To-Do App For Productivity

The New Google Maps Finally Comes Out Of Beta

Back in May 2013, Google unveiled a new and improved beta version of Google Maps. It was nice and shiny, and had many new features. Now finally the doors are being swung wide open, and everyone will be able to get the new Google Maps on their desktops in “the coming weeks”. So apart from the spruced up user interface, what else can you expect to see in the new Google Maps? One often talked about feature is where you can type in what you are looking for, and the map will show you where in your neighbourhood, you can...

Read the full article: The New Google Maps Finally Comes Out Of Beta

The New Google Maps Replaces the Classic Interface

Last year, Google released a completely new Google Maps interface for desktop, but made it opt-in. Since then, the Google Maps team fixed bugs, improved performance and added some of the missing features (Pegman, My Location, short URLs, multi-point directions). The next step is obvious: the new Google Maps will become the default version.



"Over the coming weeks, the new Google Maps will make its way onto desktops around the world. Many of you have been previewing it since its debut last May, and thanks to your helpful feedback we're ready to make the new Maps even more widely available," informs Google.



The new Google Maps promised to bring an immersive experience, a personalized map that shows what's relevant and helps you make smarter decisions using recommendations from your Google+ circles. It's a simplified interface that's closer to the mobile UI. Google removed some of the features from the classic interface and focused on the basics: a map you're encouraged to explore, unified directions that show the best options, instant search, permalinks, panoramic images, Google Earth and Street View without plugins.

Classic Google Maps is still available: you can switch by clicking the "?" icon at the bottom of the page and selecting "Return to classic Google Maps". You'll see this message: "You have switched back to classic Google Maps for this session. Remember this choice for next time?". Click "Yes" to always go to the old interface when visiting Google Maps.

YouTube Has a New Interface

After many months of experiments, YouTube's new interface is finally available to everyone. The layout is center aligned, the header is sticky, the guide sidebar is now a "hamburger"-style menu that includes your playlists, subscriptions and more.



"YouTube now has a center-aligned look, fitting neatly on any screen size, and feeling similar to the mobile apps you're spending almost half your YouTube time with. You can quickly flip between what's recommended and popular in 'What to Watch' like Postmodern Jukebox's Timber, and the latest from your subscribed channels like iamOTHER in 'My Subscriptions,' with both options now front and center. Click the guide icon to the right of the YouTube logo at any time to see your playlists, subscriptions and more."

10 Surprisingly Simple Time Hacks For Reading More Every Day

It will take you exactly 7 minutes to go through this. If you are on this page, you have that time to do some reading. If you are going to skip and skim through, you don’t. But it’s still better than not reading at all. Welcome to the age of toting an overload of information while running uphill against the clock. It does feel like that every day – there is just too much to read, and so little time. Even children are struggling with it; they have distractions of their own, while we adults have ours to bear. Their...

Read the full article: 10 Surprisingly Simple Time Hacks For Reading More Every Day

How Collaborative Writing Tools Make Your Life Easier

If you ever had to co-produce written work, you will know on how many levels this can be difficult. Waiting for your writing partner(s) or fixing conflicting versions of a document should be the least of your worries. After all, the Internet makes collaborative writing a breeze. After writing a 100 page thesis in a team of three, using Google Drive, I knew this was true. Yet, I just recently failed to push Google Drive for completing a less than 10 page document in a team of five. We ended up sending Word documents back and forth, which nearly drove...

Read the full article: How Collaborative Writing Tools Make Your Life Easier

Get Ready For Zero Debt With ReadyForZero

Here’s a proposal. I’d like to give you a 20 dollar bill, and in return you will agree to give me back a 100 dollar bill. Seem fair? Well, if you have a credit card you’ve been doing this all along, and I’m going to show you how to stop. Credit cards can be a powerful money management tool. It can allow you to leverage your finances to accomplish things that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to do without waiting for the funds in your savings account. On the flip side, credit cards can also become a major evil that...

Read the full article: Get Ready For Zero Debt With ReadyForZero

Wassup With WhatsApp, Project Tango, Satya Speaks, Xbox Remote [Tech News Digest]

Today in Tech News Digest, everybody is still talking about Facebook buying WhatsApp, Google launches Project Tango, new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks, Microsoft takes the wraps off the Xbox One Media Remote, Steve Jobs is getting his own postage stamp, and Wikipedia could become a real set of encyclopedias. Facebook Buys WhatsApp: The Aftermath FWIW as soon as the Facebook deal was announced, I uninstalled WhatsApp from my phone. #ProbablyTooLate — Phil Plait (@BadAstronomer) February 21, 2014 The Facebook acquisition of WhatsApp was such a massive deal (both figuratively and financially) that it’s still dominating the news. It’s almost...

Read the full article: Wassup With WhatsApp, Project Tango, Satya Speaks, Xbox Remote [Tech News Digest]