The Best Websites to Order 3D Prints From

The 3D printing trend has lost a lot of its mainstream buzz, but that doesn’t mean it’s dead or dying. The industry continues to grow, evolve, and expose itself to new opportunities all the time. You can 3D print a lot of cool and clever stuff these days, and there’s no end in sight for this nifty new technology. But with an average cost of $200-$300, buying a 3D printer is beyond most people’s budgets — and that doesn’t include the recurring cost of filament (3D ink)! For one-off prints, you should consider an online 3D printing service instead. Here are...

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How to Clean Your Windows Computer: The Ultimate Checklist

Over time, computers slow down. Of course aging hardware plays a part, but for most people, a more common cause is poor operating system maintenance. If you’ve ever done a clean install of Windows, you’ll know what we’re talking about. Getting rid of all the accumulated junk and starting afresh instantly makes your machine run faster and smoother. However, you don’t need to take such drastic steps. Spending some time cleaning up Windows can yield almost identical results. Sure, your five-year-old laptop might never be able to play the latest AAA game, but you’ll still see vast improvements. Here’s the...

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Imgur says 1.7M emails and passwords were breached in 2014 hack

 Image-hosting site turned meme social network, Imgur, is the latest tech service to ‘fess up to a security breach. In a blog post Friday it revealed that hackers had compromised its systems in 2014, with ~1.7M emails and passwords affected.  Read More
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How to View Slideshow Articles on One Page

You’re on Facebook. You see a clickbait title you can’t resist. You click on it only to discover you have to click through 20 different pages just to see the whole article. Annoying, right? Luckily, there are a few easy to use tools out there that can quickly convert an annoying slideshow article into one convenient and easy-to-read page. Deslide With Deslide you can copy and paste the link into their website and choose from a variety of ways to have the page displayed. You can control the size of the image, and how much of the text you want displayed. Deslide actually...

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UK to give police new powers to ground drones

 The UK government has announced it will introduce draft legislation in the spring aimed at preventing unsafe or criminal use of drones. Read More

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How to Identify Fonts Used in Any Photo or Image

Font hunting can be a fun side hobby, especially when you constantly see nice typography used on Instagram or Pinterest images, or anywhere else. I have a particular fancy for beautiful handwriting fonts. But what do you do when you come across a wonderful new font and don’t know what it is? How do you find out? Fortunately, Photoshop CC 2017 has just the “forensic tool” to help you. Identify Fonts and Use Them in Your Own Images You don’t have to play the “guess the font name” game. Photoshop has a precise tool to help you identify the right font, or...

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The Free Internet Needs 2 Minutes of Your Help Right Now

Net neutrality in the United States is under attack again. The FCC is planning to vote on whether to repeal net neutrality policies on Thursday, December 14. Before that day comes, it’s critical to let your representatives know that you want to keep the internet free and open as it is now. What Is Net Neutrality? Net neutrality is the principle that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally. With net neutrality in place, internet service providers (ISPs) like Comcast and Verizon cannot give special treatment to certain kinds of traffic (e.g. slower speeds for Netflix or YouTube streams...

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12 Of The Best Wireless All-In-One Keyboards For Mac and PC

Imagine this: A single wireless keyboard with an integrated touchpad — we call them all-in-one keyboards. They’re the ideal solution for anyone with a living room media center or someone who wants to lean back and use their computer from a distance. There aren’t too many of these wireless all-in-one keyboards, though. And you can’t be sure what you should buy. We’ve already got you covered on fantastic HTPC/Media Center remote controls, so this time, let’s look at the all-in-one keyboards you should buy. Microsoft All-In-One Media Keyboard Microsoft Wireless All-In-One Media Keyboard (N9Z-00001) Microsoft Wireless All-In-One Media Keyboard (N9Z-00001) Connect...

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Best Mini PC: HP, Intel, and More with Windows, Android or Chrome OS

The past few years have seen the rise of a new form factor in personal computers: the mini-PC. Moore’s Law and the miniaturization of motherboards have made computers smaller than ever before. And it’s slowly replacing the good old beige box. Rightly so, when you consider that mini-PCs today are powerful enough to serve the needs of most users. Both Intel and AMD have powerful APUs now that take care of the graphics requirements for any non-gamer, and hard drives and SSDs are cheaper than ever. In case you’re looking to buy a new desktop, or perhaps build an HTPC...

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Makers or breakers?

 The weight of problems being demonstrably attached to heavily used tech services has acquired such a gravitational and political pull that it’s becoming harder and harder for these businesses to sidestep wider societal responsibilities. Read More
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Makers or breakers?

 The weight of problems being demonstrably attached to heavily used tech services has acquired such a gravitational and political pull that it’s becoming harder and harder for these businesses to sidestep wider societal responsibilities. Read More
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Best Cyber Monday Deals From Amazon, Walmart, Target, and More

Cyber Monday starts now. And with stores (and websites) opening their doors earlier than ever, it’s vital that you know the best deals ahead of time (how to prepare for Black Friday). We’ve scoured the early leaks and picked out some of the best Cyber Monday deals. These products are both well-reviewed and come at a solid discount, so set your sights and get ready to shop. 1. Target: 15% Off Store-Wide | PS VR Bundle We start with a great deal. Target is taking 15 percent off everything on its website for Cyber Monday, and you don’t even need...

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The New Wave in IT - RPA & Cognitive Bots

We have been reading and listening a lot on automation, robotic process automation and cognitive “bots” (consider the "bots" as software equivalent of robots) these days. Though there is no clear indication as to which assets falls under which category, I would like to put forward my ideas for a general layman understanding of these keywords.

Automation is the application and implementation of technology so that any job, task, process etc. can function automatically. Automation makes life easier, convenient and increases efficiency in day-to-day operations. Integration of systems, automating workflows so that certain pre-defined actions gets triggered at each level, improving the speed with which business processes takes place. Automation is technology dependent and requires complex integration. For e.g. the automated meters helps consumers when they fill-in gas. Or the time when you had to stand in queue for a long time to withdraw cash, that process has been automated via ATM machines.

Automation, as you can comprehend, is a very wide term. We can classify them as robotic process automation(RPA) or cognitive automation

Now let’s understand robotic process automation.

Think of any business or IT process which was earlier done by humans, for e.g., consider filling up 40 fields in an order placing form. The steps in the order placing process involves copying data from one of the standard templates and pasting it in another standard template. As you would have understood by now, this process is pretty straight-forward and does not require any knowledge worker. Hence, if in some way, we can write a piece of code which can read the field from the source and paste it in destination template, we have achieved automation!

So, in general, robotic automation. And hence, no human intervention is required for that job.

Having set the ground for RPA, let’s now understand cognitive automation.

Cognitive automation allows the “bots” to make decisions based upon inputs, just like humans do. It requires training before deployment as to what it has to do. For e.g. consider the same copy-paste example. From the standard input template, the bot copies the data, but now the output (pasting template) forms’ language i.e. the language of the order placing depends upon certain field of the input template, and hence automation, in this case can be achieved by cognitive bot. The Cognitive bot will translate the whole output form in the required language and then finally place order.

Now, let me take another example to distinguish robotic and cognitive automation. Consider a job which involves putting cashew nuts at the center of hand-made biscuits.

Case in point: Robotic Process Automation

Here the shape of the hand-made biscuit is fixed and hence the “bot” knows where is the center of the biscuits and hence can put the cashew at its center.

Case in point: Cognitive automation

Interestingly, now there is a flexibility on the shape of the biscuit, implying the shape can be circle, rectangle, heart etc. Nevertheless, the “bot” figures out the shape of the biscuit and makes a decision as to where the center of that shape is and puts the cashew there.

Given the current market scenario, it is imperative that you understand what is the underlying definition of RPA vs Cognitive bot and what capabilities you can expect out of them.

OnePlus 5T makes the best deal in smartphones even better

 Three years and seven phones later, it’s hard to argue with OnePlus’s methods. That’s not to say it hasn’t made its share of missteps along the way (it definitely has), but the company has produced quality phones at affordable prices basically since day one. Read More

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‘Substitute Phone’ artfully satisfies your compulsion to swipe and scroll

 Smartphones are inarguably an addictive class of devices, and not just because they put an endless font of information at your fingertips. The experience of holding the phone and touching it is itself associated with that pleasure — so much so that you might wish you were doing it even when you don’t want to actually use the phone. That’s when you need one of these… Read More

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For the Love of Dog: 5 Best Places for Cute Puppy Photos and Videos

The internet’s love for cats is well documented, but dogs aren’t left far behind. If a puppy’s antics or an old boy’s silliness can put a smile on your face, then head to any of these places for a pick-me-up. We’ve already listed a few sites for cute and funny pet pictures. But a new breed of sites and social accounts do it better than ever before. And it’s not all funny either, as you’ll find heartwarming stories of rescue and triumph as well. 1. We Rate Dogs (Twitter): The Top-Rated Dogs Online Matt Nelson never dreamed his silly Twitter...

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Twitter Bookmarks Let You Save Tweets for Later

Twitter is actively testing a new feature that will let you save tweets for later. In a fit of creative genius Twitter has called this feature “Bookmarks”, but regardless of how unoriginal it is, this could be a useful tool for Twitter users. Almost as useful as the Mute button, in fact. Twitter is strange. Some people don’t understand it, and most that do don’t want anything to do with it. And some users experience harassment that soils the whole experience. Still, Twitter CAN be enjoyable, and some tweets are worth saving. If only Twitter actually offered such a feature…...

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Amazon Echo Buttons Let You Host Quiz Nights

You can now buy a new accessory for your Amazon Echo, and this one is destined to add an element of fun to any family get-together. Called simply Amazon Echo Buttons, these simple little gadgets allow up to four people to compete against each other using the power of Alexa. Make no mistake about it, Amazon is trying to build an ecosystem all of its own. And while Amazon Prime is leading the charge, the Alexa-enabled Echo devices are bringing Amazon into your living room. And now the first accessories for the Amazon Echo have arrived to draw you in...

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Pokémon Go creator raises $200 million ahead of Harry Potter game launch

 Pokémon Go creator Niantic has raised a new $200 million in funding, reports The Wall Street Journal. The Series B raise was led by Spark Capital, and includes participation from Founders Fund, Meritech, Javelin Venture Capital, You & Mr. Jones and NetEase, Inc. Spark partner Megan Quinn is also joining Niantic’s board as part of the new financing deal. Niantic is known for its… Read More

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10 Family-Friendly Podcasts to Listen to With Your Kids

Podcasts are great for giving you the scoop on almost anything. The problem is, not all podcasts are appropriate for listening to with your family. Like these true crime podcasts, for example. Which is where we come in. Using this list as a guide, you can turn podcast listening into an activity for all ages. It’s filled with clean, informative podcasts that will keep adults and kids entertained and engaged for hours. 1. Science Vs. As you might guess from the name, this is a science-based podcast. It offers a contrasting and sound alternative to the fads, trends, and strong opinions...

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