Microsoft Hired Agency to Pay Bloggers to Write Fake IE Reviews

If you’ve recently seen a slew of blog posts talking about how good of a program Internet Explorer is, the blog posts might be just a little too good to be true. It seems Microsoft is getting a little bit of bad PR lately, as it has come out that they hired an agency called SocialChorus to pay all kinds of bloggers to write positive blog posts about Internet Explorer (IE).
If you’re wondering how this practice found its way into the spotlight, it’s all because of a couple of people SocialChorus sent an email to asking them to write positive IE blogs. One of Twitter’s designers, Paul Stamatiou, received an email and of course later tweeted about it. Also, Techcrunch founder Michael Arrington received an email asking for him to write as well. He actually replied and asked them if they were kidding.

Due to at least those 2 sending out what SocialChorus was asking them to do, Microsoft has completely backed off from all of this, saying it’s not the way they work with bloggers. It’s caused some laughs from many folks on social media, though, who chose to connect with everyone else using the Twitter hashtag #IEBloggers.

What do you think of this news? Were you a fan of Internet Explorer before this came out, or could you not have been paid enough to write a good review or blog post about it?

Please let us know your thoughts regarding this story in the comments section below.

PC Gaming is Becoming More Popular Than Console Gaming

How do you like to game? Are you solely a console person? Maybe you prefer the Xbox One or the PlayStation 4? Or, maybe you’re still hooked to the Xbox 360 or the PS3. Or, maybe you don’t like consoles at all and you depend on your PC to take care of all of your gaming needs. If you find yourself in the latter category, you’re definitely not alone – and your group is getting bigger and bigger every day. According to a recent video gaming survey compiled by DealNews, it seems PC gaming is now more popular than console gaming.
I’ll admit – when I was younger and couldn’t afford buying an expensive video game system, I’d play games on my PC. Admittedly, not many high-end games would work on my low-end computer, but it was still fun for a kid. And now, it seems, the tables have turned – consoles are cheaper and high-end gaming computers are now more expensive. One thing has stayed the same, though – whatever the mode, people still love to play video games, and some for far longer than others. Have a look below at some of the results DealNews found in their survey:

 

What do you think of these statistics? Please let us know your commentregarding this story in the comments section below!

Adobe Air Beta Update Now Available To Download

The Adobe AIR runtime allows you to have your favorite web applications with you all the time, no matter where you are. Applications that are built for Adobe AIR run on your desktop computer without the need for a web browser. It provides all the convenience of a desktop application.

Security is a high priority concern with Adobe, and because of this ethic Adobe AIR helps ensure safe installations by requiring digital signatures on each AIR application.  This helps identify the application and its creator before you install.

Companies such as eBay are using Adobe AIR to create exciting new applications, which allow you to use their services on your desktop environment.  Using Adobe AIR means you can have applications that are easier, more powerful, and more fun to use.

The following changes have been made in this version of Adobe Air:

# Fixed Issues:
* Android – When packaging Android applications, the default minimum heap size for the dx.jar operation is now explicitly set to 1024 when not specified by the developer.
* Android – Resolves an issue where StageText.restrict rules were erroneously applied to programmatically defined StageText if thefullscreen tag was set to true in app.xml
* Android – OpenSSL updated from 1.0.1g to 1.0.1h version
* Android – R$styleable.class goes missing from the final AIR app APK though is included in ANE. (3776148)

Note: To use the fix for this bug one has to set JAVA_HOME in machine’s path before packaging the APK

You can download Adobe Air from  http://www.datafilehost.com/d/20f09084 TODAY and share it!!!!!

NEW SERVICE

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How To Erase Data From A Hard Drive

Data is important to everyone.  The last thing you need is someone you don’t know getting hold of your information.  It is important then, to know how to erase your data from your computer. You may need to do this because your computer is being sold or given away to a friend or relative.

You may just want to erase the data and make a fresh install of another operating system or upgrade your existing operating system.  Either way, the result of these actions will be erasing all of your personal data and your files from the hard drive.

The first thing to do is to back up any information that you want to keep.  This can be anything from files and documents to pictures and music.  You can use an eternal hard drive, a CD/DVD or a USB flash drive or even a memory card.

If you use Microsoft Windows as your operating system of choice, then one of the easiest ways to erase hard drive data, is to go to My Computer, right click and select Manage. This will then open the computer management window.  Click on disk management.  Next you will see a list of discs depending on the number of partitions you have on your PC. Select the disc you want to erase.  You will then be taken to another window with one of the options to perform a Quick Format.  Also if you want to rename the disc, you can do this here.  Once you click OK, you will be given a warning, which informs you that formatting will erase everything on the hard drive.  Another way to erase all the data on a Hard Drive is by re-installing the Windows operating system and informing the PC to delete the current partition and install on a fresh one.

If you use a Mac operating system then you can erase your data by navigating to the Applications folder and then the Utilities folder.  Inside Utilities, will be a program called Disk Utility. If you open this, you will be given a list of drives that are currently mounted on the computer.  In the left side of the window you will see a list of drives, select the one you want to format and click Erase. This is also where you can give the drive a fresh name if you so wish.

It is important to remember, that when you erase data on a hard drive you WILL LOSE ALL YOUR DATA on that drive.  Please make a back up before you start.

This is The 3D Printed Car Of The Future!

Local Motors, the company known for building cars with parts designs contributed by the community, wants to build a 3D printed electric vehicle. It ran a competition in May of this year, requesting the community to submit their designs for this project and finally a winner has been picked. Local Motors has already started to print out models of the winning design and has even taken one for a spin.

Local Motors is hoping that it will be able to produce a fully working, 3D printed electric car but so far we’re not sure how much of the car will actually be 3D printed. Check out the gallery below to see the winning design and the runner-ups that almost made it.

Strati

Internal Strut Frame

Aeroblade

3dpcx2

LM Supernova

Mirage

e-spider

Sharp Creates Free Form Display: Now Screens Can Have Any Shape

Sharp has just announced a new technology called Free-Form Display.  This brand new tech will have a dramatic impact on our live, whether we know it yet or not.  With Free-Form displays, companies are no longer constrained by a standard format of a rectangle.  A screen can become whatever the designer wants it to be.   With the reduced bezel size to almost zero, screens can be made to fit into any space.

With a standard display, a lot of display circuitry in housed in the bezel of a screen.  This forces manufacturers to use conventional shapes like rectangles. The new solution from Sharp will spread the circuitry that is usually found at the edge across the whole display, thereby allowing both very slim bezels and almost any shape.

Sharp explains:

Conventional displays are rectangular because they require a minimal width for the bezel in order to accommodate the drive circuit, called the gate driver, around the perimeter of the screen’s display area. With the Free-Form Display, the gate driver’s function is dispersed throughout the pixels on the display area. This allows the bezel to be shrunk considerably, and it gives the freedom to design the LCD to match whatever shape the display area of the screen needs to be.

Currently Sharp is showcasing a Free-Form display, which could find its way into cars: a sleek dash screen that needs no cowling above it, but display everything in three simple circular areas. Like I said, the possibilities are almost limitless.  The software for displays is typically designed for rectangular screens, so this new avenue of a Free-Form display brings much to the table.

There is currently no word on where or when we may first see the new panels appear though, as no further information has come to light.

As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment, then please do so in the comments section below.

Who is Tracking You Online?

Whether you like it or not, every time you use the internet your activities are being tracked but who is watching you and what can you do about it? Check out this infographic from HotSpot Shield that not only warns you who the bad guys are but also what you can do to protect yourself!

Harley Davidson Announce Project LiveWire: Their First Electric Bike

One of my work colleagues Tim, owns a Harley and it is the love of his life.  In fact, (probably to his wife’s dismay) he calls it ‘the other woman.’  If you happen to ride a Harley Davidson motorcycle, then no doubt you will be in a similar situation to Tim.  The trouble with a Harley is that they are renowned for having faults.  Just little irksome things that would annoy any biker, but on a Harley the cost is obviously way more to fix than other motorcycles.

But I suppose one of the main appeals of owning a Harley Davidson bike is the noise.  They are one of the loudest vehicles that you can get your hands on.  There is no mistaking that growl.  So it begs the question, why on earth have Harley Davidson created an electric motorcycle?

The Harley-Davidson team have teased people with a recent YouTube clip. In the clip, the motorcycle zooms down a section of Route 66 in a blur, without giving anyone a clear look at the new bike. But if you want a closer look, just head over to the main website and check it out.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7u9DTfE14M


The electric bike is called Project LiveWire and you can only experience the bike if you attend one of the road shows that Harley Davidson are putting on throughout the US. The Project LiveWire Experience begins a 30-city tour across America starting June 24th in New York City, where riders will be invited to take a historic ride. The full 2014 US tour schedule will be announced in the next week on their website.

Matt Levatich, President and Chief Operating Officer said, “America at its best has always been about reinvention…And, like America, Harley-Davidson has reinvented itself many times in our history, with customers leading us every step of the way. Project LiveWire is another exciting, customer-led moment in our history.”

It does make you think about the cost though.  I mean if it costs a large amount of cash to fix a ‘standard’ Harley, how much is it going to cost to fix a state of the art electric bike?

As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment, then please do so in the comments section below.

Super Secure Blackphone Arrives in 3 Weeks

We live in a world where security breaches happen on a regular basis.  From data theft at chain stores to Pizza companies being blackmailed to release customer data that was hacked from their servers.  Security is on everyone’s mind. To help us in this ever-changing battle against data theft, a smart phone company is planning to launch a security conscious, privacy orientated device for all of the super security conscious people out there.

Electroni craze reported a few months back that Silent Circle and Geeksphone, as a joint venture, would create Blackphone; a super secure mobile device.  The Blackphone is an Android-powered smartphone that is based around a single concept of being completely secure.  Good news for all of you who are very security conscious; the device is going to ship in approximately three weeks’ time.

The Blackphone was first introduced to the scene over at Mobile World Congress earlier in the year.  The large-ish price tag certainly didn’t put anybody off wanting one and the $629 Blackphone saw a surge in its orders, which took only a couple of weeks to sell out.

Just how secure is this new device? And what can Blackphone offer people that is more secure that what is currently available?  To start it will come with a suite of secure apps that will ensure that all your communication on the device will not be compromised.  From hardware perspective there is nothing new, which will really stand out from the crowd. It will house a 4.7” display with 720p resolution, a 2GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 4i processor, 16GB of internal memory, 1GB RAM, an 8MP camera on the rear of the device and a 5MP camera on the front.  The phone will ship with global LTE support as well.


So there you have it.  The Blackphone.  Safety and security as standard.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/k9QnOuA4voc

As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment, then please do so in the comments section below.

Skype Launches New Design For iPhone

Microsoft have just announced earlier this week, that it was very close to releasing a new version of its video calling app Skype for iPhone; sporting a new streamlined design coupled with improved performance. As expected we didn’t have to wait too long.  The new Skype 5.0 for iPhone app is currently rolling out now in the iOS App Store.

Skype 5.0 update will focus on making conversations easier with refined group chat features, which can be launched from the main hub.  Also they have revised the notification system, which works across Skype platforms including the PC and Xbox.

It will be exciting to see just how the new app has been redesigned to ‘enhance’ your conversations and put them first.  The update is supposed to provide you with a smoother and more integrated experience.

Skype for iPhone is now up to 5X faster and is more stable and more reliable. Navigating through the new user interface is easier and appears more fluid. So, whether you are starting a video call, creating a group chat or sending a photo, the new Skype app for iPhone has been redesigned to be simplistic.
Version 5.0 Overview:

Overall performance improvements – faster start up and fluid animations.
A new modern hub centric design putting recent conversations first – just swipe to see your favourite people or contacts.  Richer and more reliable messaging: create groups, share photos (even to offline contacts) and video messages.  In-app notifications for quick conversation switching, and in-app controls to manage notifications.  A new simplified, modern voice and video calling experience.  Skype for iPhone is available for free from the iOS App Store. An updated 5.0 version of Skype for the iPad is still under development.

As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment, then please do so in the comments section below.

Ringly: Beautiful Wearable Tech For Women

Ringly is an 18k-gold plated ring which connects to a smartphone.  The ring then discreetly notifies the wearer when she receives a text or a call.  The idea behind Ringly is to incorporate new tech into women’s everyday accessories.  This is so that they may enjoy the moment without missing something important, even when they are not wearing clothes that have pockets or holding a bag.

Ringly cofounder Christina Mercando informed Business Insider, “It started with me being frustrated from leaving my phone in my purse and missing a bunch of calls and texts…It turns out a lot of other people have a similar problem.”  The jewellery that Ringly offers is a selection of four different stones set in gold plating, which vibrate and light up when they are activated.

Mercando and co-founder Logan Munro wanted all of the technology; the accelerometer, Bluetooth LE, motor, and LEDs — to be incorporated into the ring as discreetly as possible as they were designing Ringly. “We were going for something that was simple, classic, something that a lot of women could get behind…It’s so small and discreet that people wouldn’t know the technology is there.”

Once you connect the ring to your smartphone through the Ringly app, which is available for both Android and iOS, you can then customise the way you want to receive notifications. The options that are available are varied, from blinking lights and vibration patterns, which are adjustable, as well as selecting which apps you want to receive notifications from.  You can even customise different notifications for different people.  To charge the ring, all you have to do is drop it back into its box.

The project has come together rather quickly.  In August 2013 the team had received $US1 million in funding from Mesa+, First Round Capital, PCH, and Andreessen Horowitz. The team subsequently then spent four months in San Francisco working on the prototype.

Ringly has just launched, at a price of $US145 per ring, on pre-order. The price will then go up to $US195 once it ships in the fall of this year.

How to Watch The FIFA World Cup 2014 Across Multiple Devices

The 2014 FIFA World Cup has arrived!  Whether you like it or loathe it, for the next month it will be the subject on most peoples’ lips.  There are more ways than ever to watch the World Cup, you don’t just have to watch it at the bar! Here is a quick guide to using your tech to get the best out of the beautiful game.

 TV

The World Cup, is always shown on terrestrial channels.  This means that all the games are shown on one of free network channels. In other words, you don’t need to sign up to Sky Sports for a month. In the UK the group games have already been split up between BBC and ITV. The 2014 World Cup final will be shown on both BBC One and ITV on July 13th at 8pm.
With the interactive Red Button, BBC’s coverage will be the most comprehensive. They have daily news round-ups and video features galore. With the interactive service you can have the option of picking alternative commentary teams.

Computer

Both the BBC’s iPlayer and ITV’s version of the catch up service, ITV Player, are available to watch on your PC.  Both services offering live streaming, so you’ll be able to catch a game on your desktop or laptop. Sky Go customers can stream ITV’s matches to their laptops also.  If you just want to see who’s playing next and get a quick update on scores, just type into Google ‘fifa world cup’ and viola! instant info.

Games Consoles

Microsoft has just launched its OneGuide TV integration feature for the xBox One.  There is a Destination Brazil World Cup-themed dashboard page and Brazil Now snap app.  With Brazil Now, you can snap real-time stat-tracking information onto your screen, as well as getting commentary from Twitter.
The Xbox One does not have iPlayer catch-up options though, but you will be able to live stream the BBC’s games through iPlayer on the PS4, PS3 and Xbox One. The PS3 also has ITV’s ITV Player app.  If you have a PS4, then I recommend getting the BBC Sport app, it will live stream the BBC’s matches.

 Smart Phone/Tablet

The best thing to stream the live matches on a mobile device, whether that be either iOS, Android, Windows Phone is to use the BBC iPlayer or ITV Player apps.
For iOS devices, use BBC iPlayer  or ITV Player.  Android can head over to the Play Store for iPlayer and ITV Player.  Windows Phone users can download their version of iPlayer from the Windowsphone Store as with ITV Player.

So there you have it.  A quick round up of how to follow the greatest game on earth with the tech you use everyday.

As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment regarding this how to, then please do so in the comments section below.

How to Turn Your Smartphone into A WiFi Hotspot

If you are like me and use the Internet on a daily basis, then you need a good strong reliable connection.  But what if you are out and about with your laptop/tablet and there is no WiFi connection?  How do you get online?   Don’t panic, as no doubt you will have your phone with you. The standard mobile phone contract that most people receive with their handset comprises of Talk-time, SMS allowance and Data.  It is this data allowance and the ability to connect to either a 3G or 4G network that is going to help get you online when no WiFi is available.

You can set up your smartphone as a WiFi hotspot quite easily.  The ability to do this is available on ‘most’ contracted phones.  That goes for if you are using an Android phone, an iPhone, a Windows smartphone or a BlackBerry.

All you need to do is look into the settings on your particular device, then set up tethering/personal hotspot.  Once this has been done, then just pair and connect your laptop (or other device) to that connection.  Got it?  No. Then allow me to break things down for you.

If you are using an iPhone, just look for Personal Hotspot in your settings while Android users can find a Tethering or Portable Hotspot in their settings. Windows smartphones use the feature, Internet Sharing.  BlackBerry has a Mobile Hotspot Connections option in the network settings.

For the purpose of explanation, I’ll use a connection with an iPhone to elaborate on, but in reality all the basics are pretty much the same. Once your device is in the wi-fi hotspot mode it will then create a network, which can be seen in the list of available networks by the wireless device you’re trying to connect, i.e. your laptop.

iPhone: Settings, Cellular, Personal Hotspot, if Bluetooth isn’t on, iPhone will inform you that Personal Hotspot will only be available over WiFi and USB.  It will then ask you if you also want to enable it over Bluetooth as well.  You need to connect via Bluetooth or USB cable, as you are not near a WiFi signal.  Once you agree to turn on Bluetooth, Personal Hotspot is now discoverable.  iPhone will ask you to provide a password of 8 characters.  Once you have done this you will now be able to connect with your iPhone, as it will be visible as a network from your laptop.  All you need to do is find the network that your phone is called and provide the password you have just created and then connect to the network and use the 3G/4G signal to connect to the Internet.  It really is that simple. *Note: If you are an Android user, after you select your phone in this list you will be asked for a password if you have set up password protection. This password will be generated by the smartphone in the hotspot settings.

There are notable advantages and disadvantages to using tethering. The advantages are; It’s convenient and you can use your smartphone anywhere you have a cellular connection. And you can take advantage of the speeds 4G provide, if you have a 4G contract.

The disadvantages are; tethering a device to your smartphone drains your battery a lot faster. There is a risk that you might exceed your monthly data allowance limit if you are not careful.  If you have poor signal on your smartphone you will have a poor data signal too.

So there you have it, a quick guide to connecting another device to your smartphone and using it as an Internet connection.
As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment regarding this how to, then please do so in the comments section below.

The Funniest Things You’ll See On Google Street View

Some people relish the opportunity to be captured on Google’s Street View camera, whilst others would have preferred advanced warning, however both result in some pretty hilarious  photos. Here is a selection of our favourite Google Street View shots.

Scuba gear and pitchforks, a strange combination

He was murdered in the garage with the axe...or was he?

British Airways To Offer in-Flight WiFi in 2016

British Airways is all set to become one of the primary airline to offer passengers in-flight Wi-Fi using the new S-band satellite called Europasat.  UK-based firm Inmarsat operates Europasat and they are planning to go live in 2016 with the goal of serving the European aviation market.

The world-class airline will at first offer in-flight Wi-Fi on domestic routes before their expansion plans out-fold to encompass the service across Europe as the network begins to grow.  In 2013, UK communications regulatorOfcom paved the way for satellite Wi-Fi on aircraft by offering to relax the current rules.

Kate Thornton, head of product and service at British Airways says BA is currently in discussion with Inmarsat regarding leading Europe in a new era of “broadband in the air…Starting with UK domestic routes Inmarsat intends to deploy Europe’s first ground-based 4G broadband network giving our customers the Internet access they expect on the ground while in the air.”

The aviation network deployment of Inmarsat will utilise its existing European approval to manage integrated satellite-terrestrial communications in 30MHz spectrum across the 28 member states of the EU.  The company is currently working on gaining additional licenses within Eurpoe and says there is “strong support” for their applications and a steady framework can be agreed soon. As soon as this approval has been granted, Inmarsat will then work on expanding the ground network deployment part of the project.

The cost of manufacturing, launching and operating Europasat is being shared with Hellas-Sat.  Each partner receives exclusive rights to a separate payload and each firm will pay between $200 million and $250 million.  Inmarsat will pay out the same sum on its ground network over the next six years as it then copes on the growing demand for in-flight Wi-Fi.

Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce says, “We believe that the same in-flight connectivity opportunity exists in Europe and that, with the support of EU telecoms regulators, Inmarsat can rapidly bring to market unique, high speed aviation passenger connectivity services to meet this market demand on an EU-wide basis…A number of European airlines are aligned with this vision and we are absolutely delighted to announce advanced discussions with British Airways to be a launch customer on our new aviation network.”

As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment, then please do so in the comments section below.

US Military Launches $2M Hacking Contest

Imagine a computer that has the ability to fix its own problems!  What would that mean for this technology driven world?  It is a hope, by the Defense Department, that supercomputers will be able to find and fix (or exploit) their own computer flaws in the near future!

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a research wing within the military, has decided to run a $2 million contest for hackers.  The catch is, the hackers are computers themselves.

One of the biggest problems faced in cybersecurity, is the cost to defend against hackers.  Companies have to spend a lot in order to protect themselves.  Researchers and new technology costs money but it is what is needed in order to find holes in their own software, fix these holes, then buy systems that alert firms of any hacker attacks.  For $1 million, anyone could create a team of hackers who could get into any online computer system.  However, finding a team to defend cyberthreats would be a lot more difficult.

DARPA’s program manager, Mike Walker, wants to make protection a lot more cost effective by making machines that will find and patch their own security holes. “If you look at the imbalance of power between attack and defense, it’s a problem of economics,”

In the competition, any computer that can hack into another computer will gain points.  Those that fend off attacks will also gain points.  It is like capture the flag for computers.  Many organisations would benefit from this supercomputer.  However, even a basic machine that hacks itself is far off!  The finals won’t be held until 2016 at Def Con.  The winner will get $2 million; second place gets $1 million; and third place gets $750, 000.  Not too shabby!

5000ppi Hologram Projection Phones To Arrive Next Year

The advent of lifelike holograms is upon us.  We have seen celebrities who are no longer around; appear on stage and ‘converse’ with real people thanks to new standards in holographic technology.  Imagine this type of breakthrough tech being wielded in the palm of your hand?  Well folks, we don’t have to wait too long as the technology, which makes an image ‘float’ as a 3D image in the air, is finally here.

The company that has made this breakthrough, Ostendo, has produced a hologram with a 5,000ppi projector.  It is this type of projector that should interest us, as they plan to fit it into smartphones in the second half of 2015.
The hologram is created using six projectors, which layer light to create an image floating in the air, much like a real and solid object.  The discovery came from fusing an image processor with a thin layer of micro LEDs to create the Quantum Photonic Imager. The result is quite remarkable; a projector that is approximately the size of a TicTac candy. The projector is powered by the chip that controls the colour, brightness and angle of each individual beam of light.

When the holographic projector prototype, was demoed to The Wall Street Journal, it displayed a floating 3D dice.  This dice looked solid from all angles that it was viewed at. Unlike the iPhone’s Retina Display, which operates at 300ppi, this object is displayed with ‘almost real’ 5,000ppi projectors.
Ostendo has said they are working with handset manufacturers now for a 2D projector into a mobile device by the summer of 2015. The full 3D projector however, should arrive later in 2015.

The firm is aiming to make the pixels even smaller to enable higher resolutions. It will also be scaling up the size, to make 3D holographic projections, which can appear from our TVs!  As with all speculations regarding prototypes; until we see a working model, we’ll just have to keep on waiting.

As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment, then please do so in the comments section below.