How to Play Classic PC Games on Your Raspberry Pi

An incredible library of games and other software is available to your Raspberry Pi. You probably know that it makes a great base for emulating other platforms, but did you know it could run retro PC software?

Before Windows, there was MS-DOS. This old disk operating system from Microsoft can be emulated on the Raspberry Pi in a couple of different ways. Which method you choose depends on the outcome you’re looking for.

Here’s how to install old PC games on a Raspberry Pi!

Running DOS Software on Raspberry Pi

Microsoft’s first PC-based operating system, MS-DOS was released in 1981 and discontinued in 2000. During this time, over 2000 games were released for what was then a largely office-based computer system.

Furthermore, Windows 95 and 98 could run DOS software. Often you would leave the desktop operating system to run MS-DOS games and applications.

The process is straightforward:

1. Install DOSBox
2. Configure DOSBox
3. Find MS-DOS games
4. Install MS-DOS games
5. Enjoy!

For the best results, make sure you’re using a Raspberry Pi 2 or later, with an 8GB or higher SD card. Classic PC games typically need a keyboard and mouse to play, although some controllers and joysticks are supported.

You’ll also need an HDMI cable and display to enjoy the games (instead of a remote VNC or RDP connection, which can kill the magic somewhat).

Step 1: Install DOSBox on Raspberry Pi

You should already have an operating system installed on your Raspberry Pi before starting. With the Pi powered on, open a terminal, and check for updates:

sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt update

Once done, install DOSBox:

sudo apt install dosbox

Step 2: Configure DOSBox on Raspberry Pi

Configuring is a bit trickier. You’ll need a directory to run DOSBox and the software from:

mkdir dos

Next, edit the DOSBox configuration file in nano:

sudo nano .dosbox/dosbox-0.74.conf

Find the fullscreen configuration, and change it to true:

fullscreen=true

Next, scroll to the end of the file and add your mount instruction under the [autoexec] heading.

This will ensure that when DOSBox runs, it uses the dos directory as the C: drive.

mount c ~/dos
c:

Save and exit the text editor with Ctrl + X, and hit Y to confirm.

You should now be able to run DOSBox from the Games menu on your Raspberry Pi!

Step 3: Find MS-DOS Games for Raspberry Pi

Where can you find suitable games? Well, thrift stores and eBay are a good place to start. Old games will typically be available on CD-ROM or floppy disk, however, so you’ll need to make sure you have the right type of disk drive connected to your Raspberry Pi.

If this isn’t possible, then you will need to rely on disk images found online. We can’t link you to these as there are copyright considerations. Such ROM files can be found in ZIP format, unpacked, and installed within DOSBox just as they might be on a genuine MS-DOS PC.

To avoid breaching copyright and breaking the law, restrict your use of game ROMs to titles you already own.

You really shouldn’t need to break copyright law to get hold of old games, however, as so many have been made open source. A big selection of such games can be found at the Internet Archive. Here, you’ll find everything from genuine games to cover discs full of shareware titles.

In short, you should be able to find something to play very easily. But what do you do once the games have been downloaded? How can you load them into DOSBox?

Step 4: Install MS-DOS Games on Raspberry Pi

To run DOS games on your Raspberry Pi, you need DOSBox to be aware of the game. The best way to do this is create a new directory for your games within the dos directory:

mkdir dos/games

You can then use the mv (move) command to copy any games from Downloads into this new folder:

mv Downloads/[GAME_TITLE] dos/games/

You’re now ready to start installing and playing games.

Launch DOSBox, and use the command line to navigate into the /games/ directory. Remember, you’re in an environment emulating MS-DOS, so different commands are needed. While cd still changes directory, the contents are listed with dir (you can use dir /p to display the contents list a page at a time). Type help to get more assistance.

Once you have copied games into the games directory, open a specific directory, then find the install.bat file and run it. Sometimes, this may be named after the game in question. For instance, in this example, I used cm2.bat to begin installation of Championship Manager 97-98.

Wait while the game installs. Once done, you can usually run the game using the shortened form of its title. Often, this is the same as the BAT file, but without the suffix.

For example, to run Championship Manager 2, I simply entered cm2. This will differ from game to game, however, so check the documentation. If all else fails, run the appropriately names EXE file to launch the game.

Note that you can also copy games to your Raspberry Pi from your PC. If you have SSH enabled on the Pi, the SFTP function of your preferred FTP software (we like Filezilla) will let you copy game files to the Pi. You should probably save them directly to the /games/ directory to save time.

When you’re done with DOSBox, simply exit the environment with a single command:

exit

Classic PC Games on Raspberry Pi Made Easy!

It can be a little time-consuming to set up a DOS environment on your Raspberry Pi, but once you’re up and running, you have a massive library of games and software at your disposal.

This isn’t the only way to play classic PC games on your Raspberry Pi, however. Some titles have been ported to Linux and altered to run on the Raspberry Pi without emulators.

Read the full article: How to Play Classic PC Games on Your Raspberry Pi

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Drone development should focus on social good first, says UK report

A UK government backed drone innovation project that’s exploring how unmanned aerial vehicles could benefit cities — including for use-cases such as medical delivery, traffic incident response, fire response and construction and regeneration — has reported early learnings from the first phase of the project.

Five city regions are being used as drone test-beds as part of Nesta’s Flying High Challenge — namely London, the West Midlands, Southampton, Preston and Bradford.

While five socially beneficial use-cases for drone technology have been analyzed as part of the project so far, including considering technical, social and economic implications of the tech.

The project has been ongoing since December.

Nesta, the innovation-focused charity behind the project and the report, wants the UK to become a global leader in shaping drone systems that place people’s needs first, and writes in the report that: “Cities must shape the future of drones: Drones must not shape the future of cities.”

In the report it outlines some of the challenges facing urban implementations of drone technology and also makes some policy recommendations.

It also says that socially beneficial use-cases have come out as an early winner over of cities to the potential of the tech — over and above “commercial or speculative” applications such as drone delivery or for carrying people in flying taxis.

The five use-cases explored thus far via the project are:

• Medical delivery within London — a drone delivery network for carrying urgent medical products between NHS facilities, which would routinely carry products such as pathology samples, blood products and equipment over relatively short distances between hospitals in a network
• Traffic incident response in the West Midlands — responding to traffic incidents in the West Midlands to support the emergency services prior to their arrival and while they are on-site, allowing them to allocate the right resources and respond more effectively
• Fire response in Bradford — emergency response drones for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue service. Drones would provide high-quality information to support emergency call handlers and fire ground commanders, arriving on the scene faster than is currently possible and helping staff plan an appropriate response for the seriousness of the incident
• Construction and regeneration in Preston — drone services supporting construction work for urban projects. This would involve routine use of drones prior to and during construction, in order to survey sites and gather real-time information on the progress of works
• Medical delivery across the Solent — linking Southampton across the Solent to the Isle of Wight using a delivery drone. Drones could carry light payloads of up to a few kilos over distances of around 20 miles, with medical deliveries of products being a key benefit

Flagging up technical and regulatory challenges to scaling the use of drones beyond a few interesting experiments, Nest writes: “In complex environments, flight beyond the operator’s visual line of sight, autonomy and precision flight are key, as is the development of an unmanned traffic management (UTM) system to safely manage airspace. In isolation these are close to being solved — but making these work at large scale in a complex urban environment is not.”

“While there is demand for all of the use cases that were investigated, the economics of the different use cases vary: Some bring clear cost savings; others bring broader social benefits. Alongside technological development, regulation needs to evolve to allow these use cases to operate. And infrastructure like communications networks and UTM systems will need to be built,” it adds.

The report also emphasizes the importance of public confidence, writing that: “Cities are excited about the possibilities that drones can bring, particularly in terms of critical public services, but are also wary of tech-led buzz that can gloss over concerns of privacy, safety and nuisance. Cities want to seize the opportunity behind drones but do it in a way that responds to what their citizens demand.”

And the charity makes an urgent call for the public to be brought into discussions about the future of drones.

“So far the general public has played very little role,” it warns. “There is support for the use of drones for public benefit such as for the emergency services. In the first instance, the focus on drone development should be on publicly beneficial use cases.”

Giving the combined (and intertwined) complexity of regulatory, technical and infrastructure challenges standing in the way of developing viable drone service implementations, Nesta is also recommending the creation of testbeds in which drone services can be developed with the “facilities and regulatory approvals to support them”.

“Regulation will also need to change: Routine granting of permission must be possible, blanket prohibitions in some types of airspace must be relaxed, and an automated system of permissions — linked to an unmanned traffic management system — needs to be put in place for all but the most challenging uses. And we will need a learning system to share progress on regulation and governance of the technology, within the UK and beyond, for instance with Eurocontrol,” it adds.

“Finally, the UK will need to invest in infrastructure, whether this is done by the public or private sector, to develop the communications and UTM infrastructure required for widespread drone operation.”

In conclusion Nesta argues there is “clear evidence that drones are an opportunity for the UK” — pointing to the “hundreds” of companies already operating in the sector; and to UK universities with research strengths in the area; as well as suggesting public authorities could save money or provide “new and better services thanks to drones”.

At the same time it warns that UK policy responses to drones are lagging those of “leading countries” — suggesting the country could squander the chance to properly develop some early promise.

“The US, EU, China, Switzerland and Singapore in particular have taken bigger steps towards reforming regulations, creating testbeds and supporting businesses with innovative ideas. The prize, if we get this right, is that we shape this new technology for good — and that Britain gets its share of the economic spoils.”

You can read the full report here.

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UK sets out plan to spend billions on fiber and 5G broadband for all

The UK government has set out a package of measures it’s hoping will futureproof domestic networks and boost international competitiveness by supporting a nationwide rollout of full fiber broadband and 5G mobile technology.

The Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, published today, follows the announcement of a market review last year as part of the government’s Industrial Strategy as it seeks to chart a technology-enabled course for growth and competitiveness.

Yet, at the same time, the UK seriously lags several European competitors on the fiber broadband front — so the strategy is also intended to try to reboot current poor performance.

The government says its telecoms plan emphasizes greater consumer choice and initiatives to promote quicker rollout — and an eventual full switch over — from copper to fiber.

It wants full fibre broadband to reach 15 million premises (up from the ’10M over the next decade’ set out in the Conservative party manifesto) by 2025, and also 5G mobile network coverage to reach the majority of the population.

By 2033, it wants full fiber broadband coverage to reach across all of the UK.

Currently the UK only has 4% full fiber connections, which compares dismally to 71% in Spain and 89% in Portugal. While France has around 28% — which the government notes is “increasing quickly”.

Included in the government’s strategy is public investment in full fiber for rural areas; and new legislation to guarantee full fiber connections in new build developments; as well as a series of regulatory reforms intended to drive investment and competition — which it says will be tailored to different local market conditions.

It’s also planning for an industry-led switch over from copper to full fiber — to avoid businesses being saddled with the expense and burden of running copper and fiber networks in parallel.

There’s no fixed timing for this, as the government says it will depend on the pace of fiber rollouts and take-up, but it suggests it’s “realistic to assume that switchover could happen in the majority of the country by 2030”.

To boost competition to drive commercial fiber rollouts, the government is proposing regulatory reform to allow for “unrestricted access” to BT Openreach ducts and poles — i.e. the company’s own physical infrastructure where fiber can be laid — for both residential and business broadband use, including for essential mobile infrastructure.

It also wants to open up other avenues for laying broadband fiber, saying other existing infrastructure (including pipes and sewers) owned by other utilities such as power, gas and water, should be “easy to access, and available for both fixed and mobile use”. 

And it says it will shortly publish consultations on the proposed legislative changes to streamline wayleaves and mandate fiber connections in new builds.

Another key recommendation in the review, given that the expense of digs to lay fiber remains one of the biggest barriers to broadband upgrades, is for a new nationwide framework aimed at reducing the costs, time and disruption caused by street-works by standardising the approach across the country.

With its planned regulatory tweaks, the government reckons that market competition will be able to deliver full fiber networks across the majority of the UK (~80%) — leaving around ~20% which it’s expecting will require “bespoke solutions to ensure rollout of networks”. And for around half of that fifth it also expects taxpayer funding will be needed to deliver a fiber/5G upgrade.

It estimates that nationwide availability of ‘full fiber’ is likely to require additional (public) funding of around £3BN to £5BN to support commercial investment in the final ~10% of areas that would otherwise be overlooked — stressing that these “often rural areas must not be forced to wait until the rest of the country has connectivity before they can access gigabit-capable networks”.

So it’s planning to pursue an “outside-in” strategy, allowing network competition to serves commercially viable areas while laying down government support investment in parallel on what it describes as “the most difficult to reach areas”.

“We have already identified around £200M within the existing Superfast broadband programme that can further the delivery of full fibre networks immediately,” it notes on that.

Although it’s not clear at this stage how the government intends to fund the full proposals for a taxpayer-funded broadband bill running to multiple billions.

On the mobile connectivity front, it’s proposing increased access to spectrum for “innovative 5G services”, and says it will allow mobile network operators to make far greater use of government buildings to boost coverage across the UK.

“We should consider whether more flexible, shared spectrum models can maintain network competition between MNOs while also increasing access to spectrum to support new investment models, spurring innovation in industrial internet of things, wireless automation and robotics, and improving rural coverage,” it writes on that.

Over the longer term it says is expecting to see a more converged telecoms sector — so it’s leaving itself some ‘last mile’ wiggle room on the ‘full fiber’ push, for example by pointing out that: “Fixed fibre networks and 5G are complementary technologies, and 5G will require dense fibre networks. In some places, 5G may provide a more cost-effective way of providing ultra-fast connectivity to homes and businesses.”

“We want everyone in the UK to benefit from world-class connectivity no matter where they live, work or travel,” said the new Secretary of State for digital, culture, media and sport, Jeremy Wright, commenting on the review in a statement, and dubbing it a “radical new blueprint for the future of telecommunications in this country”.

“[The strategy] will increase competition and investment in full fiber broadband, create more commercial opportunities and make it easier and cheaper to roll out infrastructure for 5G,” he added.

The UK’s incumbent telco, BT, which owns and operates the country’s largest broadband network, has long pursued the opposite strategy to the one the government is here pursuing: i.e. by seeking to eke out its own ex-monopoly copper infrastructure, such as by applying technologies that speed up fiber to the cabinet technology, instead of making the major financial commitment to invest in substantially expanding full fiber to the home coverage (and thereby futureproof national network infrastructure).

For years competitors (and, indeed, frustrated consumers) have also accused the company of foot-dragging on providing access to its network — thereby undermining other commercial players’ ability to fund and build out next-gen network coverage.

Last year BT agreed with telecoms watchdog Ofcom to legally separate its network division Openreach — around a decade after a functional separation has been imposed by the regulator. Albeit, it’s still not the full structural separation some have called for.

“It is too early to determine whether legal separation will be sufficient to deliver positive changes on investment in full fibre infrastructure,” writes the government in its review, adding that it will “closely monitor legal separation, including Ofcom’s reports on the effectiveness of the new arrangements”.

“The Government will consider all additional measures if BT Group fails to deliver its commitments and regulatory obligations, and if Openreach does not deliver on its purpose of investing in ways that respond to the needs of its downstream customers,” it adds.

One aspect of the strategy the government is not trumpeting quite so loudly in its PR around the announcement is an intent to promote what it describes as “stable and long-term regulation” as part of its strategy to drive increased competition and unlock business investments.

On this it writes that the overarching strategic priority to “promote efficient competition and investment in world-class digital networks” should be “prioritised over interventions to further reduce retail prices in the near term, recognising these longer-term benefits”.

In the review it suggests moving to longer, five year review periods, for instance — saying this “could provide greater regulatory stability and promote investment”. It also writes that it wants Ofcom to publish guidance that “clearly sets out the approach and information it will use in determining a ‘fair bet’ return”.

It’s therefore possible that UK consumers could end up paying twice over to help fund national fiber broadband infrastructure upgrades; i.e. not just via direct subsidies to fund rural rollouts but also, potentially, via higher broadband prices too. Albeit, the government says that in its view “the interests of consumers are safeguarded as fiber markets become more competitive”.

Though in less commercially attractive areas, where there could be a greater risk of price inflation, the government’s small print does include the recognition that regulatory interventions — such as price controls — may indeed be required. Though of course any such controls would only come in after consumers had been being stung…

“For areas where there is actual or prospective effective competition between networks, Government would not anticipate the need for regulation,” it writes. “For other areas, we would expect the regulatory model for to evolve over time as networks are established. If market power emerges, regulated access (including price controls) may be needed to address competition concerns. These detailed regulatory decisions will be for Ofcom to take.”

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Snapchat will shut down Snapcash, forfeiting to Venmo

Snapcash ended up as a way to pay adult performers for private content over Snapchat, not just a way to split bills with friends. But Snapchat will abandon the peer-to-peer payment space on August 30th. Code buried in Snapchat’s Android app includes a “Snapcash deprecation message” that displays “Snapcash will no longer be available after %s [date]”. Shutting down the feature will bring an end to Snapchat’s four-year partnership with Square to power the feature for sending people money.

Snapcash may have become more of a liability than a utility. With apps like Venmo, PayPal, Zelle, and Square Cash itself, there were plenty of other ways to pay back friends for drinks or Ubers, so Snapcash may have seen low legitimate usage. Meanwhile, a quick Twitter search for “Snapcash” surfaced plenty of offers of erotic content in exchange for payments through the feature. It may have been safer for Snapchat to ditch Snapcash than risk PR problems over its misuse.

TechCrunch tipster Ishan Agarwal provided the below screenshot of Snapchat’s code to TechCrunch. When presented with the code and asked if Snapcash would shut down, a Snapchat spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that it would, explaining: “Yes, we’re discontinuing the Snapcash feature as of August 30, 2018. Snapcash was our first product created in partnership with another company – Square. We’re thankful for all the Snapchatters who used Snapcash for the last four years and for Square’s partnership!” The spokesperson noted that users would be notified in-app and through the support site soon.

Snapcash gave Snapchat a way to get users to connect payment methods to the app. That’s increasingly important as the company aims to become a commerce platforms where you can shop without leaving the app. Having payment info on file is what makes buying things through Snapchat easier than the web and draws brands to use Snapchat storefronts.

We’ll see how Snapchat plans evolve its commerce strategy without this driver. Earlier this month, TechCrunch revealed that Snapchat’s code contained mentions of a project codenamed “eagle” that’s a camera search feature. It was designed to allow users to scan an object or barcode with their Snapchat camera and see product results in Amazon. But since our report, mentions of Amazon have disappeared from the code. It’s unclear what will happen in the future, but camera search could give Snapchat new utility and monetization options.

Snapcash won’t be a part of that future, though. Given Snapchat’s cost-cutting efforts including layoffs, its desperate need to attract and retain advertisers to hit revenue estimates its missed, and its persistent bad rap as a sexting app, it couldn’t afford to support unnecessary features or another scandal.

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Snapchat will shut down Snapcash, forfeiting to Venmo

Snapcash ended up a way to pay adult performers for private content over Snapchat, not just a way to pay your friends. But Snapchat will abandon the peer-to-peer payment space on August 30th. Code buried in Snapchat’s Android app includes a “Snapcash deprecation message” that displays “Snapcash will no longer be available after %s [date]”. Shutting down the feature would bring an end to Snapchat’s four-year partnership with Square to power the feature for sending people money.

Snapcash may have become more of a liability than a utility. With apps like Venmo, PayPal, Zelle, and Square Cash itself, there were plenty of other ways to split bills with friends for drinks or Ubers, so Snapcash may have seen low legitimate usage. Meanwhile, a quick Twitter search for “Snapcash” surfaced plenty of offers of erotic content in exchange for payments through the feature. It may have been safer for Snapchat to ditch Snapcash than risk PR problems over its misuse.

TechCrunch tipster Ishan Agarwal provided the below screenshot of Snapchat’s code to TechCrunch. When presented with the code and asked if Snapcash would shut down, a Snapchat spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that it would: “Yes, we’re discontinuing the Snapcash feature as of August 30, 2018. Snapcash was our first product created in partnership with another company – Square. We’re thankful for all the Snapchatters who used Snapcash for the last four years and for Square’s partnership!” The spokesperson noted that users would be notified in-app and through the support site soon.

Snapcash gave Snapchat a way to get users to connect payment methods to the app. That’s increasingly important as the company aims to become a commerce platforms where you can shop without leaving the app. Having payment info on file is what makes buying things through Snapchat easier than the web and draws brands to use Snapchat storefronts. We’ll see how Snapchat plans evolve its commerce strategy without this driver.

Given Snapchat’s cost-cutting efforts including layoffs, its desperate need to attract and retain advertisers to hit revenue estimates its missed, and its persistent bad rap as a sexting app, it couldn’t afford to support unnecessary features or another scandal.

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Here are some of the movie and TV trailers to come out of San Diego Comic-Con 2018

Over the course of a weekend we got a glimpse at some of the coming seasons and movies for various sci-fi, superhero, and other types of highly-anticipated fan-favorite franchises from the San Diego Comic-Con this year.

Here’s a quick selection of some of the ones shown over the weekend:

Aquaman

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Godzilla: King of Monsters

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Disenchantment

Arrow: Season 7

Marvel’s Iron Fist Season 2

Doctor Who

Nightflyers

Titans

The Walking Dead: Season 9

Black Lightning

Young Justice

Legacies

Star Trek: Discovery — Season 2

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow

The Flash

Supergirl

Glass

Shazam

The Gifted

Legacies

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The quantum meltdown of encryption

Shlomi Dolev Contributor

Shlomi Dolev is the Chair Professor and founder of the Computer Science department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is the author of Self-Stabilization. Shlomi also is a cybersecurity entrepreneur and the co-founder and chief scientist of Secret Double Octopus.

More posts by this contributor

• The quantum computing apocalypse is imminent

The world stands at the cusp of one of the greatest breakthroughs in information technology. Huge leaps forward in all fields of computer science, from data analysis to machine learning, will result from this breakthrough. But like all of man’s technological achievements, from the combustion engine to nuclear power, harnessing quantum comes with potential dangers as well. Quantum computers have created a slew of unforeseen vulnerabilities in the very infrastructure that keeps the digital sphere safe.

The underlying assumption behind nearly all encryption ciphers used today is that their complexity precludes any attempt by hackers to break them, as it would take years for even our most advanced conventional computers to do so. But quantum computing will change all of that.

Quantum computers promise to bring computational power leaps and bounds ahead of our most advanced machines. Recently, scientists at Google began testing their cutting edge 72 qubit quantum computer. The researchers expect to demonstrate with this machine quantum supremacy, or the ability to perform a calculation impossible with traditional computers.

Chink in the Armor

Today’s standard encryption techniques are based on what’s called Public Key Infrastructure or PKI, a set of protocols brought to the world of information technology in the 1970’s. PKI works by generating a complex cipher through random numbers that only the intended recipient of a given message, the one in possession of the private key, can decode.

As a system of encoding data, PKI was sound and reliable. But in order to implement it as a method to be used in the real world, there was still one question that needed to be answered: how could individuals confirm the identity of a party reaching out and making a request to communicate? This vulnerability left the door open for cybercriminals to impersonate legitimate servers, or worse, insert themselves into a conversation between users and intercept communications between them, in what’s known as a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack.

The industry produced a solution to this authentication problem in the form of digital certificates, electronic documents the contents of which can prove senders are actually who they claim to be. The submission of certificates at the initiation of a session allows the parties to know who it is they are about to communicate with. Today, trusted third party companies called Certificate Authorities, or CAs, create and provide these documents that are relied upon by everyone from private users to the biggest names in tech.

The problem is that certificates themselves rely on public-key cryptographic functions for their reliability, which, in the not too distant future, will be vulnerable to attack by quantum machines. Altered certificates could then be used by cyber criminals to fake their identities, completely undermining certificates as a method of authentication.

Intel’s 17-qubit superconducting test chip for quantum computing has unique features for improved connectivity and better electrical and thermo-mechanical performance. (Credit: Intel Corporation)

 

Decentralizing the Threat

This isn’t the first time we’ve had to get creative when it comes to encryption.

When Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, whose true identity is still unknown, revealed his revolutionary idea in a 2008 white paper, he also introduced the beginnings of a unique peer-to-peer authentication system that today we call blockchain. The brilliantly innovative blockchain system at its core is an open ledger that records transactions between two parties in a permanent way without needing third-party authentication. Blockchain provided the global record-keeping network that has kept Nakamoto’s digital currency safe from fraudsters. Blockchain is based on the concept of decentralization, spreading the authentication process across a large body of users. No single piece of data can be altered without the alteration of all other blocks, which would require the collusion of the majority of the entire network.

For years, blockchain and Bitcoin remained one and the same. About five years ago, innovators in the industry began to realize that blockchain could be used for more than just securing cryptocurrency. Altering the original system designed for Bitcoin could produce programs to be applied in a wide range of industries, from healthcare, to insurance, to political elections. Gradually, new decentralized systems began to emerge such as those of Ripple and Litecoin. In 2015, one of the original contributors to the Bitcoin codebase Vitalik Buterin released his Ethereum project also based on blockchain. What these new platforms added to the picture was the ability to record new types of data in addition to currency exchanges, such as loans and contractual agreements.

The advantages of the blockchain concept quickly became apparent. By 2017, nearly fifteen percent of all financial institutions in the world were using blockchain to secure aspects of their operations. The number of industries incorporating decentralized systems continues to grow.

Saving PKI

The best solution for protecting encryption from our ever-growing processing power is integrating decentralization into Public Key Infrastructure.

What this means essentially, is that instead of keeping digital certificates in one centralized location, which makes them vulnerable to being hacked and tampered with, they would be spread out in a world-wide ledger, one fundamentally impervious to alteration. A hacker attempting to modify certificates would be unable to pull off such a fraud, as it would mean changing data stored on enumerable diversified blocks spread out across the cyber sphere.

Decentralization has already been proven as a highly effective way of protecting recorded data from tampering. Similarly, using a blockchain-type system to replace the single entity Certificate Authority, can keep our digital certificates much safer. It is in fact one of the only foreseeable solutions to keep the quantum revolution from undermining the foundation of PKI.

 

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With its goofy video loops, YC backed Splish wants to be the ‘anti-Instagram’

Is there any space on kids’ homescreens for another social sharing app to poke in? Y Combinator backed Splish wants to have a splash at it () — with a super-short-form video and photo sharing app aimed at the under-25s.

The SF-based startup began bootstrapping out of their college dorm rooms last July, playing around with app ideas before settling on goofy video loops to be their social sharing steed of choice.

The Splish app pops content into video loops of between 1-5 seconds. Photos can be uploaded too but motion must be added in the form of an animated effect of your choice. So basically nothing on Splish stays still. (Hence its watery name.) But while wobbly, content on Splish is intended to stick around — rather than ephemerally pass away (a la snaps).

Here are a few examples of Splishes (embedded below as GIFs… but you can see them on its platform here, here and here):

 

It’s the first startup for the four college buddy co-founders: Drake Rehfeld, Alex Pareto, Jackson Berry and Zac Denham, though between them they’ve also clocked up engineering hours working for Snapchat, Facebook and Team 10.

Their initial web product went up in March and they landed a place on YC’s program at the start of May —  when they also released their iOS app. An Android app is pending, and they’ll be on the hunt for funding come YC demo day.

The gap in the social sharing market this young team reckons it’s spotted is a sort of ‘anti-Instagram’ — offering a playful contrast to the photo sharing platform’s polished (and at times preening) performances.

The idea is that sharing stuff on Splish is a bonding experience; part of an ongoing smartphone-enabled conversation between mates, rather than a selectively manicured photoshoot which also has to be carefully packaged for public ‘gram consumption.

Splish does have a public feed, though, so it’s not a pure messaging app — but the co-founders say the focus is friend group sharing rather than public grandstanding.

“Splish is a social app for sharing casual looping videos with close friends,” says Rehfeld, giving the team’s elevator pitch. “It came out of our own experience, and we’re building for ourselves because we noticed that the way you socialize right now in real life is you do activities with your friends. You go to the beach, you go to the bar, the bowling alley. We’re working to bring this same type of experience online using Splish through photo and video. So it’s more about interaction and hanging out with your friends online.”

“When you use Instagram you really feel like you’re looking at a magazine. It’s just the highlights of people’s lives,” he adds. “And so we’re trying to make a place where you’re getting to know your friends better and meeting new people as well. And then on the other side, on Snapchat, you’re really sharing interesting moments of your lives but it’s not really pushing the boundaries or creating with your friends. It’s more just a communication messaging tool.

“So it’s kind of the space in between broadcast and chat — talking and interacting with your close friends through Splish, through photo and video.”

Users of the Splish app can apply low-fi GIF(ish) retro filters and other photographic effects (such as a reverse negative look) to the video snippets and photos they want to send to friends or share more widely — with the effects intended to strip away at reality, rather than gloss it over. Which means content on Splish tends to look and feel grungy and/or goofy. Much like an animated GIF in fact. And much less like Instagram.

The team’s hope is the format adds a bit of everyday grit and/or wit to the standard smartphone visual record, and that swapping Splishes gets taken up as a more fun and casual way of communicating vs other types of messaging or social sharing.

And also that people will want to use Splish to capture and store fun times with friends because they can be checked out again later, having been conveniently packaged for GIF-style repeat lols.

“Part of the power here in Splish is that relationships are built on shared experiences and nostalgia and so while [Snapchat-style] ephemerality reduced a lot of the barriers for posting what it didn’t do is strengthen relationships long term or over time because the chats and the photos disappeared,” says Rehfeld.

The idea is a content format to gives people “shared experience that lasts”, he adds.

They’re also directly nudging users to get creative via a little gamification, adding a new feature (called Jams) that lets users prompt each other to make a Splish in response to a specific content creation challenge.

And filming actual (playful) physical shoulder pokes has apparently been an early thing on Splish. That’s the merry-go-round of social for ya.

Being a fair march north of Splish’s target age-range, I have to confess the app’s loopy effects end up triggering something closer to motion sickness/vertigo/puking up for me. But words are my firm social currency of choice. Whereas Rehfeld argues the teenager-plus target for Splish is most comfortable with a smartphone in its hand, and letting a lens tell the tale of what they’re up to or how they’re feeling.

“We started with that niche first because there’s a population in that age range that really enjoys this creative challenge of expressing yourself in pretty intuitive ways, and they understand how to do that. And they’re pretty excited about it,” he tells TechCrunch.

“There’s also been a little bit of a shift here where users no longer just capture what they have in real-life using the camera, but the camera’s used as an extension of communication — especially in that age range, where people use the camera as part of their relationship, rather than just capturing what happens offline.”

As with other social video apps, vertical full screen is the preferred Splish frame — for a more “immersive experience” and, well, because that’s how the kids do it.

“It’s the way users, especially in this age range, hold and use their phones. It’s pretty natural to this age range just because it’s what they do everyday,” he says, adding: “It’s just the best way to consume on the phone because it fills the whole screen, it’s how you were already using the phone before you clicked into the video.”

Notably, as part of the team’s soft-edged stance against social media influencer culture, Rehfeld says Splish is choosing not to bake “viral components” into the app — ergo: “Nobody’s rewarded for likes or ‘re-vines’. There’s no reblog, retweet.”

Although, pressed on how firm that anti-social features stance is, he concedes they’re not abandoning the usual social suite entirely — but rather implementing that sort of stuff in relative moderation.

“We have likes and we have a concept of friends or follows but the difference is we’re building those with the intention of not incentivizing virality or ‘influencership’,” he says. “So we always release them with some sort of limit, so with likes you can’t see a list of everybody who’s liked a post for example. So that’s one example of how we’ve, kind of, brought in a feature that people feel comfortable with and love but with our own spin that’s a little bit less geared towards building a following.”

Asked if they’re trying to respond to the criticism that’s been leveled at a lot of consumer technology lately — i.e. that it’s engineered to be highly and even mindlessly addictive — Rehfeld says yes, the team wants to try and take a less viral path, less well travelled, adding: “We’re building as much as possible for user experience. And a lot of the big brands build and optimize towards engagement metrics… and so we’re focused on this reduction of virality so that we can promote personal connections.”

Though it will be interesting to see if they can stick to medium-powered stun guns as they fight to carve out a niche in the shadow of social tech’s attention-sapping giants.

Of course Splish’s public feed is a bit of a digital shop window. But, again, the idea is to make sure it’s a casual space, and not such a perfectionist hothouse as Instagram.

“The way the product is built allows people to feel pretty comfortable even in the more public feeds, the more featured feeds,” adds Rehfeld. “They post still very casual moments, with a creative spin of course. So it’s stayed pretty similar content, private and public.”

Short and long

It’s fair to say that short form video for social sharing has a long but choppy history online. Today’s smartphone users aren’t exactly short of apps and online spaces to share moving pictures publicly or with followers or friends. And animated GIFs have had incredible staying power as the marathon runner of the short loop social sharing format.

On the super-short form video side, the most notable app player of recent years — Twitter’s Vine — sprouted and spread virally in 2013, amassing a sizable community of fans. Although Instagram soon rained on its video party, albeit with a slightly less super-short form. The Facebook-owned behemoth has gatecrashed other social sharing parties in recent years too. Most notably by cloning Snapchat’s ‘video-ish’ social sharing slideshow Stories format, and using its long reach and deep resources to sap momentum from the rival product.

Twitter voluntarily threw in the towel with Vine in 2016, focusing instead on its livestreaming video product, Periscope, which is certainly a better fit for its core business of being a real-time social information network, and its ambition to also become a mainstream entertainment network.

Meanwhile Google’s focus in the social video space has long been on longer form content, via YouTube, and longer videos mesh better with the needs of its ad network (at least when YouTube content isn’t being accused of being toxic). Though Mountain View also of course plays in messaging, including the rich media sharing messaging space.

Apple too has been adding more powerful and personalized visual effects for its iMessage users — such as face-mapping animoji. So smartphone users are indeed very, very spoiled for sharing choice.

Vine’s success in building a community did show that super-short loops can win a new generation of fans, though. But in May its original co-founder, Dom Hofmann, indefinitely postponed the idea of reviving the app by building Vine 2 — citing financial and legal roadblocks, plus other commitments on his time.

Though he did urge those “missing the original Vine experience” to check out some of the apps he said had “sprung up lately” (albeit, without namechecking any of the newbs). So perhaps a Splish or two had caught his eye.

There’s no doubt the space will be a tough one to sustain. Plenty of apps have cracked in and had a moment but very few go the distance. Overly distinctive filters can also feel faddish and fall out of fashion as quickly as they blew up. Witness, for example, the viral rise of art effect photo app Prisma. (And now try and remember the last time you saw one of its art filtered photos in the wild… )

So sustaining a novel look and feel can be tough. Not least because social’s big beast, Facebook, has the resources and inclination to clone any innovations that look like they might be threatening. Add in network effects and the story of the space has been defined by a shrinking handful of dominant apps and platforms.

And yet — there’s still always the chance that a new generation of smartphone users will shake things up because they see things differently and want to find new ways and new spaces to share their personal stuff.

That’s the splash that Splish’s team is hoping to make.

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5 Free Digital Whiteboard Alternatives to Google and Microsoft’s Whiteboard Apps

A whiteboard is an essential collaboration tool in any office for teams. Now that the office has gone remote, it’s time for the whiteboard to go digital too. Here are some of the best digital whiteboard apps you can use for free.

Microsoft has recently launched a whiteboard app, but it’s not available to use on non-Surface devices yet. Google has its own Jamboard for teams, but that’s a paid app as part of the G Suite. If all you need is a simple whiteboard to use with your colleagues, there are better options available right now.

Crayon (Web): The Simplest Shared Digital Whiteboard

Out of all the digital whiteboard apps, Crayon is the simplest one I’ve seen. Go to the site, start a new whiteboard room with your name and a room name, and share that link with anyone you want to invite.

Click and drag on the blank canvas to start drawing, much like any paint app. Crayon also lets you use multiple colors, so you could use a simple trick like assigning one color to each person. Double-click anywhere to open a text box that you can type in, which will then be imprinted on the canvas.

Crayon is perfect for when you need to quickly use a whiteboard with your team. It’s one of those excellent no-signup collaboration tools that you should bookmark for future use.

Witeboard (Web): Automatic Shape Detection for Good-looking Whiteboards

Witeboard integrates with Slack, powering up the chat app for your team. But Witeboard’s main feature is shape detection.

Drawing on a trackpad or with your mouse isn’t as accurate as using your hand on a whiteboard. But when you trace the rough shape of a circle or rectangle on Witeboard, it automatically turns that into a perfect circle or rectangle. You end up getting a good-looking whiteboard instead of one filled with badly-drawn figures and shapes.

Witeboard also saves all the boards you have drawn on in your browser’s cache, so you don’t need to remember the link or go searching for it again. Of course, these boards will be wiped if you clear your cache.

This app is as easy to use as Crayon while adding these extra elements. However, it doesn’t have post-it notes or any system for comments.

Ryeboard (Web): Add Images to a Digital Whiteboard

When the whiteboard has gone digital, it naturally makes sense to add other digital elements to it. Why shouldn’t you be able to add a photo to your whiteboard? Ryeboard is the app to use if you want to attach images.

Ryeboard gives you three types of elements for the whiteboard: note, image, or drawing. Drag and drop the element on to the canvas and add text, photos, or start freehand drawing. You can change the size of the note or image, and lock it on the screen when you’re done. For images, you will need to upload them from your hard drive as Ryeboard doesn’t let you grab links directly.

Like the others, you can share your whiteboard with a simple link. You’ll need to register to use Ryeboard, but it’s a small site, so think twice before using a social login.

Draw.Chat (Web): Multiple Whiteboard with Video, Audio, and Text Chat

When you’re collaborating with your team on a digital whiteboard, you might want to chat alongside. Draw.Chat adds text, audio, or video chat to the whiteboard process.

Draw.Chat is not exactly a whiteboard, it’s actually more of a paint app. But that works just as well when you need a whiteboard, right? Being a paint app actually gives you more tools, like drawing shapes, lines, and even using an ink dropper if need be. Draw.Chat also lets you add images.

Plus, with Draw.Chat, you can create multiple whiteboards within your main link. So you could have one whiteboard for a flowchart, another for your brainstorming, and so on.

The only drawback is that this tool might be a bit much for those seeking a simple whiteboard. It does a lot, and in turn, it consumes a lot of resources while using.

Aww (Web): Packed With Features Like Templates and Board Saving

If you see yourself using whiteboards frequently, then Aww might be the best app for you. The whiteboard part is as simple as the others, giving you a blank space to draw, add shapes, add text, or post-it notes. But once you sign up, you can even save your boards for later, and duplicate them too.

Aww also saves you from the daunting blank space by providing templates for common whiteboard uses, like a kanban board, a user story map, SWOT analysis, and more. You will actually end up using the whiteboard more because of these templates.

Aww has other features like the ability to manage which users can see which whiteboards, embedding whiteboards in web pages, basic text chat, and so on. Try it out, it might even be worth it for your company to buy a premium plan.

Other Online Team Tools to Use

A digital whiteboard is an excellent tool for teams who work remotely or mainly collaborate online. Apart from the whiteboard, you should also check out these other free online meeting tools for teams to boost your productivity.

Read the full article: 5 Free Digital Whiteboard Alternatives to Google and Microsoft’s Whiteboard Apps

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Facebook suspends analytics firm Crimson Hexagon over data use concerns

As part of its ongoing mission to close the barn doors after the cows have got out, Facebook has suspended the accounts of British data analytics firm Crimson Hexagon over concerns that it may be improperly handling user data.

The ominously named company has for years used official APIs to siphon public posts from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other sources online, collating and analyzing for various purposes, such as to gauge public opinion on a political candidate or issue. It has clients around the world, serving Russia and Turkey as well as the U.S. and United Kingdom.

Facebook, it seems, was not fully aware of the extent of Crimson Hexagon’s use of user data, however, including in several government contracts which it didn’t have the opportunity to evaluate before they took effect. The possibility that the company is not complying with its data use rules, specifically that they may have been helping build surveillance tools, was apparently real enough for Facebook to take action. Perhaps the bar for suspension has been lowered somewhat over the last year, and with good reason.

“We are investigating the claims about Crimson Hexagon to see if they violated any of our policies,” said Facebook VP Product Partnerships Ime Archibong in a statement.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the suspension, noted that Crimson Hexagon currently has a contract with FEMA to monitor online discussion for various disaster-related purposes, but a deal with ICE fell through because Twitter resisted this application of their “firehose” data.

However, beyond the suggestion that the company has undertaken work that skirts the edge of what the social media companies consider appropriate use of public data, Crimson Hexagon doesn’t seem to have done anything as egregious as the wholesale network collection done by others. It restricts itself to publicly available data that it pays to access, and applies its own methods to produce its own brand of insight and intelligence.

The company also isn’t (at least, not obviously) a quasi-independent arm of a big, shady network of companies working actively to obscure their connections and deals, as Cambridge Analytica was. Crimson Hexagon is more above the board, with ordinary venture investment and partnerships. Its work is in a way similar to CA, in that it is gleaning insights of a perhaps troublingly specific nature from billions of public posts, but it’s at least doing it in full view.

As before, the onus of responsibility is equally on Facebook to enforce as it is on partners to engage in scrupulous handling of user data. It’s hardly good data custodianship for Facebook to let companies take what they need under a handshake agreement that they’ll do no evil, and then take them to task years later when the damage has already been done. But that seems to be the company’s main priority now: to reiterate the folksy metaphor from above, it is frantically counting the cows that have bolted while apologizing for having left the door open for the last decade or so.

Incidentally, Crimson Hexagon was co-founded by the same person who was put in charge of Facebook’s new social science initiative: Harvard’s Gary King. In a statement, he denied any involvement in the former’s everyday work, although he is chairman. No doubt this connection will receive a bit of scrutiny on Facebook’s side as well.

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Tinder for Adults: The 5 Best Dating Sites for Seniors and Older Singles

People around the world use dating sites and dating apps to search for soulmates. Social media apps like Tinder have proven to be a great way to find matches, especially if you know what you’re doing.

However, there’s a small problem: For older users, using Tinder is like going to a college bar. You might be welcomed, but the moment you start trying to match with someone is the moment you start feeling a bit out of place.

Well, we have some good news. Just as there are better places in real life for the more mature crowd to find matches, there are also better dating apps suited for older soulmate searchers. Keep these great online dating pick-up lines ready!

1. OkCupid

OkCupid is the market leader for dating sites, and for good reason. Used by millions of people around the world, OkCupid has proven themselves to be one of the most effective ways to actually find matches that last.

While OkCupid is completely free to use—including unlimited messages and matches—you’re more likely to find success if you have a paid account for $24/mo. As a paid user, you get more search options, can see who liked you, appear first in search results, and get a free boost every day.

Sure, OkCupid isn’t exactly a “dating site for older folks,” but it’s so successful and has such a widely active membership that it works well regardless. Stay honest in your profile, have a bit of patience, and check in occasionally with the highly reviewed mobile apps (Android, iOS) if you want.

2. Senior People Meet

Senior People Meet is the number one dating site for senior flirting, messaging, and meeting. It consists of the largest subscription of seniors wanting to start a relationship.

The app works similarly to Tinder in that you can swipe right or left based on how attractive you find each person who pops up in your feed. You can view your matches and send messages, including audio messages and video messages.

Senior People Meet is completely free to use, but you get more features with the $30/mo paid plan. The search engine is pretty basic and makes it hard to narrow down potential matches without fiddling a lot. We recommend using the mobile apps (Android, iOS) because they’re generally easier to use.

3. eHarmony

eHarmony is unique in that you don’t search for matches. You fill out a massive questionnaire that feeds into the Compatibility Matching System, which analyzes you on 29 different dimensions of compatibility for a strong marriage. Based on that, matches are presented to you.

Despite being third on this list, eHarmony is actually really good. It has a massive active membership, it boasts one of the highest success rates of any dating site, and you can get started for free. As a free user, you get a few potential matches per day and can only send pre-written “Quick Questions” when communicating with matches.

The main “problem” with eHarmony is that it has the most expensive paid plan at $60/mo. You’ll need it if you want to send custom messages, see who’s viewed your profile and who’s interested in you, and access the “What If?” feature that expands the parameters for finding potential matches.

Check out the mobile apps (Android, iOS) if you want to get serious with eHarmony.

4. Plenty of Fish (POF)

Plenty of Fish employs an effective matching algorithm and a team of data scientists who are constantly updating their algorithms (even going as far as attempting to stop those over the age of 30 from contacting 18-to-21-year-olds).

The algorithm incorporates the “Relationship Chemistry Predictor,” which is a questionnaire with 70+ questions about your personality, sensibilities, and compatibilities. Matches are suggested based on your measurements. Use the mobile apps (Android, iOS) for a more comfortable time.

As a free user, you can send and receive messages, as well as take advantage of the advanced search features. As a paying user for $24/mo, your profile will be highlighted in search results, you’ll get access to even deeper matching algorithms, and the ability to see when messages are read or deleted.

5. OurTime

OurTime is a dating site that caters to 50-year-olds-and-above who want to find either casual or deep relationships. Because life goals and desires often change quite a bit after one’s fifth decade, it’s nice to use a site that’s specific to the demographic.

The site design and navigation are easy to use, even for the mature crowd to whom the site aims to appeal, and the community features millions of monthly visitors—and even a higher ratio of women to men, believe it or not. The mobile apps are the best way to use OurTime (Android, iOS).

Free accounts can swipe for matches, view who’s looked at your profile, and browse other profiles. For $30/mo, you can send and receive emails, have your profile highlighted in search results, and know when your messages are read. You get five potential matches every day.

Staying Safe on Dating Sites and Apps

Most reputable dating sites are aware that trolls and malicious intruders are an issue, and they do their best to keep them from ruining the experience for others.

However, no matter which dating sites and apps you use, there will always be online dating scammers and fake online dating profiles to be wary of. Be careful as you get the most out of your experience with these online relationship tips.

Image Credit: kurhan/Shutterstock

Read the full article: Tinder for Adults: The 5 Best Dating Sites for Seniors and Older Singles

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8 Useful Tips to Reduce Mobile Data Usage and Save Money

What Is a Virtual Machine? Everything You Need to Know

Virtual machines (VMs) allow you to run other operating systems within your current OS. The virtual OS will run as if it’s just another program on your computer.

This is ideal for testing out other operating systems, like Windows 10 or alternative Linux operating systems. You can also use virtual machines to run software on operating systems it wasn’t designed for. For example, you can run Windows programs on a Mac with a virtual machine.

Do you want to get started with virtual machines? You don’t have to pay anything—there are several great, free virtual machine programs.

What Is a Virtual Machine?

A virtual machine is a program that acts as a virtual computer. It runs on your current operating system (the host operating system) and provides virtual hardware to guest operating systems. The guest OS runs in a window on your host OS, just like any other program on your computer.

From the guest operating system’s perspective, the virtual machine is a real, physical computer.

Virtual machines provide their own virtual hardware, including a CPU, memory, hard drive, network interface, and other devices. The virtual hardware devices provided by the VM map to real hardware on your physical machine. For example, a virtual machine’s virtual hard disk is stored in a file located on your hard drive.

You can have several virtual machines installed on your system. You’re only limited by the amount of storage you have available for them. Once you’ve installed several operating systems, you can open your virtual machine program and choose which virtual machine you want to boot. The guest operating system starts up and runs in a window on your host operating system, although you can also run it in full-screen mode.

Practical Uses for Virtual Machines

Virtual machines have a number of popular uses:

Test new versions of operating systems: You can try out Windows 10 on your Windows 7 computer if you aren’t willing to upgrade yet.

Experiment with other operating systems: Installing various distributions of Linux in a virtual machine lets you experiment with them and learn how they work.

Use software requiring an outdated operating system: If you’ve got an important application that only runs on Windows XP, you can install XP in a virtual machine and run the application there. This allows you to use an application that only works with Windows XP without actually installing it on your computer. This is important since Windows XP no longer receives support from Microsoft.

Run software designed for another operating systems: Mac and Linux users can run Windows in a virtual machine to use Windows software on their computers without compatibility headache. Unfortunately, games are a problem. Virtual machine programs introduce overhead and 3D games will not run smoothly in a VM.

Test software on multiple platforms: If you need to test whether an application works on multiple operating systems, you can install each in a virtual machine.

Consolidate servers: For businesses running multiple servers, they can place some into virtual machines and run them on a single computer. Each virtual machine is an isolated container, so this doesn’t introduce the security headaches involved with running different servers on the same operating system. The virtual machines can also be moved between physical servers.

Recommended Virtual Machine Software

VirtualBox is a great, open-source application that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. One of the best parts about VirtualBox is that there’s no commercial version. This means you get all features for free, including advanced features like snapshots. This allows you to save a virtual machine’s state and revert to that state in the future, which is great for testing.

We’ve written a complete guide to VirtualBox that will get you started.

VMware Player is another well-known VM program for Windows and Linux. VMware Player is the free counterpart to VMware Workstation, a commercial application, so you don’t get all the advanced features you would with VirtualBox.

However, both VirtualBox and VMware Player are solid programs that offer the basic features free. If one of them doesn’t work for you, try the other.

Loading an OS in Your Virtual Machine

To install an operating system in a virtual machine, you’ll need the operating system’s installer disc. Creating Windows 10 installation media will come in handy for this. You can also use an ISO image file, which Linux distributions often come in. Virtual machine programs offer easy-to-use wizards that walk you through the process of creating a virtual machine and installing a guest operating system.

Virtual machines aren’t limited to just desktop operating systems—you can even emulate Android on Windows 10.

Read the full article: What Is a Virtual Machine? Everything You Need to Know

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