Bernard Computer

Një punonjës i Microsoft instalon Chrome në mesin e një prezantimit sepse Edge nuk funksiononte

2017-11-02T00:02:00.000-07:00

Një punonjës i Microsoft u detyrua të ndalonte prezantimin e tij të Azure gjatë një demoje live për të instaluar Google Chrome, sepse shfletuesi i Microsft, Edge, dështonte vazhdimisht.

Por pjesa më e bukur është kjo: Microsoft e ka regjistruar dhe ngarkuar vetë në Youtube këtë video.

Prezantimi tregonte konsumatorëve potencial sesi të migronin aplikacionet dhe të dhënat e tyre në shërbimin cloud të Microsoft. Por në mesin e prezantimit Edge dështoi.
Në këtë moment punonjësi i Microsoft heziton fillimisht por më pas u thotë të pranishmëve se do të instalojë Chrome në mënyrë që të finalizojë demon.

Në këtë moment punonjësi i Microsoft heziton fillimisht por më pas u thotë të pranishmëve se do të instalojë Chrome në mënyrë që të finalizojë demon.

Ky moment ndodhi në minutën e 37:10 të videos.

Punonjësi e menaxhon siç duhet situatën duke thënë “kjo nuk ka për ta ndihmuar Google të përmirësohet më shumë,” ku i kërkohet nëse do të ndajë të dhënat e shfletimit gjatë instalimit të Chrome. /Bernard Computer

Apple publikoi iOS 11.1, përditësimin e parë madhor në iOS 11

2017-11-01T12:43:00.002-07:00

Natyrisht rregullimet e gabimeve dhe përmirësimet e performancës dhe eksperiencës vizuale janë pjesë e këtij përditësimi duke bërë sistemin operativ edhe më stabil.

Apple publikoi iOS 11.1, përditësimin e parë madhor të iOS 11 që nga debutimi në Shtator.

Ndryshimet që pritet të sjellë ky përditësim janë: 70 emoji të reja, rikthimi i opsionit 3D Touch që Apple në mënyrë të çuditshme e hoqi me iOs 11.

iOS 11.1 gjithashtu sjell një anim të problemit të sigurisë “Krack” në rrjetet Wi-Fi, një lajm i mirë dhe përditësim i domosdoshëm nëse dëshironi që iPhone dhe iPad-i juaj të jetë i sigurtë.

Natyrisht rregullimet e gabimeve dhe përmirësimet e performancës dhe eksperiencës vizuale janë pjesë e këtij përditësimi duke bërë sistemin operativ edhe më stabil.

iOS 11.1 është i disponueshëm për tu shkarkuar nga ky moment për iPhone dhe iPad si dhe peshon 305 megabajt. E gjitha që duhet të bëni është të drejtoheni tek Settings, Software Updates dhe kontrolli nëse iOS 11.1 është i gatshëm për ju. /Bernard Computer

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti review: The monster graphics card 4K gamers have been waiting for

2017-03-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition $699.99 on Nvidia

Jaws dropped when the second-gen Titan X stomped onto the scene in August, and for more reasons than one. The monster graphics card was the first to ever flirt with consistently hitting the hallowed 60-frames-per-second mark at 4K resolution with everything cranked to 11—but that privilege cost a cool $1,200. Fast-forward five months: Nvidia’s teasing the GTX 1080 Ti as the “ultimate GeForce” card, with more performance than the Titan X for just—“just”—$700. That’s what the GTX 1080 Founders Edition cost at launch, and Nvidia says the Ti stomps the base GTX 1080.

Meet the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti

Nvidia’s Pascal GPU architecture launched almost 10 months ago, so you won’t find many surprises lurking underneath the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti’s aluminum Founders Edition shroud. Here’s a look at its technical specifications:

The most eye-opening revelation may be simply how little Nvidia’s nerfed the GTX 1080 Ti in comparison to the Titan X. Both are built around on the same GP102 graphics processor; the GTX 1080 Ti drops the render output unit (ROP) count from 96 to 88, as well as a single 32-bit memory controller that results in the card packing 11GB of cutting-edge GDDR5X memory with a 352-bit bus, compared to the Titan X’s 12GB and 384-bits, respectively. But that’s compensated for by higher GPU and memory clock speeds on the GTX 1080 Ti, which actually result in greater overall memory bandwidth for the $700 board. The two cards are otherwise identical.

Most gamers could never afford the Titan X, however, and the $700 GTX 1080 Ti’s firepower vastly outstrips the now-$500 GTX 1080. Nvidia’s new card offers over a thousand more CUDA cores than its cousin—3,584 versus 2,560—as well as 24 additional ROPs and 40 percent more texture units. The vanilla GTX 1080 was the most badass graphics card ever created when it launched less than a year ago and the GTX 1080 Ti blows it away on paper.

Needless to say, the generational jump from the GeForce GTX 980 Ti (which is comparable to the newer GTX 1070) to the GTX 1080 Ti is significant as well.

Nvidia sure isn’t taking the looming threat of AMD’s enthusiast-class Radeon Vega cards lightly.

The GTX 1080 Ti requires the same 250-watt TDP as the Titan X, which means that unlike the vanilla GTX 1080, it can’t be powered by a single power pin. Instead, it needs both an 8-pin and 6-pin connector.

Nvidia’s also tweaked the GTX 1080 Ti’s power delivery system compared to other GTX 10-series cards, moving to a 7-phase 2x dual-FET power design intended to deliver cleaner power for higher clock speeds. In fact, while many (but not all) GTX 10-series GPUs have been able to hit 2GHz clock speeds with manual tweaking, Nvidia is actively touting 2GHz overclocking speeds with the GTX 1080 Ti—though overclocks can always fall prey to the whims of the silicon lottery.

Pjeset kryesore te kompjuterit

2017-03-08T10:54:00.004-08:00

The basic parts of a desktop computer are the computer case, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and power cord. Each part plays an important role whenever you use a computer.

COMPUTER CASE

The computer case is the metal and plastic box that contains the main components of the computer, including the motherboard, central processing unit (CPU), and power supply. The front of the case usually has an On/Off button and one or more optical drives.

Computer cases come in different shapes and sizes. A desktop case lies flat on a desk, and the monitor usually sits on top of it. A tower case is tall and sits next to the monitor or on the floor. All-in-one computers come with the internal components built into the monitor, which eliminates the need for a separate case.

MONITOR

The monitor works with a video card, located inside the computer case, to display images and text on the screen. Most monitors have control buttons that allow you to change your monitor's display settings, and some monitors also have built-in speakers.

Newer monitors usually have LCD (liquid crystal display) or LED (light-emitting diode) displays. These can be made very thin, and they are often called flat-panel displays. Older monitors use CRT (cathode ray tube) displays. CRT monitors are much larger and heavier, and they take up more desk space.

KEYBOARD

The keyboard is one of the main ways to communicate with a computer. There are many different types of keyboards, but most are very similar and allow you to accomplish the same basic tasks.

MOUSE

The mouse is another important tool for communicating with computers. Commonly known as a pointing device, it lets you point to objects on the screen, click on them, and move them.

There are two main mouse types: optical and mechanical. The optical mouse uses an electronic eye to detect movement and is easier to clean. The mechanical mouse uses a rolling ball to detect movement and requires regular cleaning to work properly.

Future iPhones will get 4K with new PowerVR graphics architecture

2017-03-08T10:43:00.001-08:00

A new PowerVR graphics architecture from Imagination Technologies will give a serious graphics boost to Apple's future iPhones, including 4K graphics.

Imagination is announcing Furian, the first major graphics architecture upgrade since Rogue, which was announced in 2010. Apple's iPhone 7 currently has graphics based on the Rogue architecture.

The Furian architecture also sets up future iPhones for graphics-intensive applications like virtual reality. Furian will be used in new PowerVR GPUs like the Series8XT, according to Imagination.

The architecture has already been licensed to device makers and should be available in mobile devices by the end of 2018. Apple modifies PowerVR graphics architectures for the iPhone, meaning the graphics capabilities may also reach its devices next year.

The iPhone 7 has a GPU based on PowerVR GT7600 GPU architecture, which is based on Rogue. It has up to six cores and operates at around 900MHz, but can scale for a short time to boost graphics performance. Some Android phones also use PowerVR graphics.

The Furian architecture will bring more graphics cores, shorter pathways, and the ability to scale performance for longer period of times. The GPUs will also be smaller and operate at higher clock rates. Those features should bring a serious boost to the graphics performance of the iPhone and other high-end mobile devices.

Furian supports 4K video and is also designed to work on PCs and virtual reality headsets. It is also designed to work in neural networks and autonomous cars.

It delivers a 35 percent increase in performance compared to Rogue, and a 70 to 90 percent improvement in gaming. Furian can scale up to 16 clusters, while Rogue scaled up to 12.

Furian will drive many GPU generations for Imagination beyond Series8XT.

"We see an architecture that lasts us for a few years," said Chris Longstaff, senior director of product and technology marketing for PowerVR at Imagination Technologies.

The company has tuned Furian for deep learning, which could be useful for self-driving cars. Imagination has a strength in the automobile tech market, with its GPUs already being used by companies like chip supplier Renesas.

Imagination rivals include ARM, which has Mali, and Qualcomm, which has Adreno. Nvidia also makes GPUs that could be used in mobile devices but is pushing the technologies in cars and servers.

Apple has already fixed most of the iOS exploits the CIA used

2017-03-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

WikiLeaks is back at it again, this time with more than 8,700 leaked documents apparently from inside the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence. According to those documents, the CIA had knowledge of zero-day exploits it could use to hack iPhones. But Apple said many of those bugs have already been patched with the latest version of iOS.

The WikiLeaks documents didn’t include details of the bugs or whether the CIA has actually used them, so it’s unclear if or how Apple knows the exploits have been patched. But the company released a statement to multiple media outlets following the WikiLeaks dump on Tuesday:

“Apple is deeply committed to safeguarding our customers’ privacy and security. The technology built into today’s iPhone represents the best data security available to consumers, and we’re constantly working to keep it that way. Our products and software are designed to quickly get security updates into the hands of our customers, with nearly 80 percent of users running the latest version of our operating system. While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today were already patched in the latest OS, we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities. We always urge customers to download the latest iOS to make sure they have the most recent security updates.”

Apple wasn’t the only company whose devices the CIA was attempting to crack or had already hacked. According to the WikiLeaks documents, in 2016 the agency had 24 zero-day exploits for Android and one specific attack, called “Weeping Angel,” which targets Samsung’s smart TVs. The attack allows the CIA to use the TV as a microphone, which records conversation sand than transmits them back to a CIA server.

Samsung told BuzzFeed on Wednesday that the company is “aware of the report in question and are urgently looking into the matter.”

This story, "Apple has already fixed most of the iOS exploits the CIA used" was originally published by Macworld.

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Asus ZenBook UX305 review

2016-01-26T11:12:00.001-08:00

Last year we declared the Asus ZenBook UX305 the best budget ultrabook of 2015, for delivering performance and quality that belied its price. It's no surprise Asus has barely altered the blueprint for the 2016 model.

The most notable difference is the CPU. The previous model's Broadwell based Core M-5Y10 is now replaced by Intel's Skylake Core m3-6Y30 chip.

Other than that, there's little detectable difference. That means while the previous model's strengths remain, so do its weaknesses. As before, the 13.3-inch, 1920-by-1080 IPS screen is merely average. There's still no keyboard backlighting, and the trackpad, while adequate, has an unusual bounce to it. Also, in the light of 2016, it would be nice to see USB-C on the UX305 for charging and as a replacement for the funky micro-HDMI port.

Fortunately, those annoyances are overshadowed by the UX305's assets. It's superthin at less than 13mm, as well as reasonably light at 2 pounds, 10.3 ounces. It continues to be fanless, and the best part it's still a hell of a deal.

Great specs

Our Asus UX305 is priced at $699, with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of reasonably fast storage on its SATA M.2 SSD.

That's a steal compared to other brands' offerings. Dell's XPS 13 at $799 gives you 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. HP's Spectre x360, meanwhile, matches the Dell's RAM and storage, but for $900. Then there's Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 also with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD which will cost you $1,030 once you've tacked on a keyboard.

To be fair to Dell, HP, and Microsoft, their devices each offer something that the UX305 doesn't. The XPS 13 has a wickedly small footprint and packs a full Core i5 Skylake chip with Thunderbolt 3. The HP gives you the same Core i5 as the Dell, plus a touchscreen and the ability to flip the screen 360 degrees. The Surface Pro 4, well, that's a tablet, right? All three also have backlit keyboards.

But here's the thing: For people on a tight budget, a lot of those premium features aren't worth the extra dough. Not when the UX305 delivers the bread and butter of a good computing experience, with its additional storage and RAM.

Of course, the CPU also matters. You're no doubt wondering how the UX305's Core m3 compares to the Core i5 in competing models. As always, it depends.

Office performance

To test the Core m3's mettle with office drone tasks, I turned to PCMark 8 Work, and the results aren't surprising. Anyone who uses a computer for work knows that once you get enough RAM, an SSD, and a reasonably fast CPU, you'll have no problem pushing around Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and most common business apps. The PCMark 8 results highlight this: The UX305's Core m3 performs closely with the Core i5 and i7 chips in the pack. You have to dip down to an Atom X7 before you really feel the pinch, and even that isn't a deal-breaker for everyone.

Pure CPU performance

As this is the first Core m3 laptop we've reviewed, I was curious about its performance with something more CPU intensive. For that I turned to Maxon's CineBench R15 benchmark. This test renders a single 3D scene using all of a CPU's cores. It's a pure CPU benchmark in that the memory and storage performance don't matter much.

The results are interesting. Last year's Broadwell Core M-5Y10 performs nearly identically to this year's Skylake Core m3-6Y30. Both outpace Dell's Venue Pro 11 with its Broadwell Core M-5Y71, as well as HP's Spectre X2 with a Core m7-6Y75.

On the surface, it might seem strange that the two better CPUs performed worse, but consider that the Spectre X2 and Venue 11 Pro are both 2-in-1s. All of their computing parts, including the CPU, reside under the screen. Heat concerns prevent the CPU from being pushed as hard as in a traditional laptop, such as the UX305.

Still the UX305's m3, as well as all the other mobile CPUs here, show a notable drop off in performance from the Core i5 and higher chips. This correlates directly with the mobile parts' absence of fans.

Before this sways your buying decision, let me point out that the CineBench test is a heavy workload that the typical laptop user won't run. If you don't anticipate doing 3D rendering, heavy video editing, or any other task that strains the CPU, the lack of a fan shouldn't have a noticeable effect.

Graphics performance

While CineBench is a pure CPU test with fairly predictable results, our graphics test revealed some curious findings. The newer Skylake-based Core m3 with its Intel HD Graphics 515 is dead-even with the Core m7 in the HP Spectre X2. Both are also dead-even with the older Haswell-based Core i5-4300U in the Surface Pro 3.

Furthermore, while the older Broadwell-based UX305 was dead-even with the newer Skylake UX305 in pure CPU performance, there's a huge difference between the two in graphics performance. I was critical of the original UX305's graphics, but I'm even more so now that I see how closely it tracks with the Atom X7 chip.

Battery performance

Paramount to any laptop is battery life. Normally, I'd test this with MobileMark 2014, a pretty realistic simulation of work-related tasks, including the time spent reading documents and messing around, say, looking at your phone.

But MobileMark 2014 has been giving me fits since the latest Windows patch, so I resorted to a video rundown test. I played a 4K-resolution .MOV file using Windows 10 Movie & TV player. The test is done done with a pair of Samsung earbuds in place, volume on, and the brightness set to a relatively bright 250 nits. That's not maximum, but it's a comfortable brightness setting for home or office during the day.

The benchmark chart features all of the units I've tested so far. For context, I've also included the watt-hour capacity of each device's label. Think of the watt-hour as the fuel tank in each laptop. The larger the "fuel tank" the longer the battery life, as with the new Skylake-based Dell XPS 13.

The UX305's results were merely decent. Despite its larger battery and Core m3 chip, the UX305 barely skates by the Core i5-based Surface Pro 4. The worst performer here is the Toshiba Radius 12, but that's to be expected with its UHD 4K screen.

Overall, the UX305's battery life is adequate; you'll still be able to watch about 6.5 hours of video on it. But that's the very definition of meh.

Conclusion

If 2015 was a break-out year for many laptop makers, 2016 so far appears to be steady as she goes. Some vendors have chosen to make tiny changes to bring laptops more in line with newer technologies such as USB-C, while others aren't making any changes beyond swapping the CPU.

In the UX305's case, that's really not a bad thing. For what you get in performance, build quality, and portability, the UX305 is still easily the best budget ultrabook of the year.

Verizon vows to build the first 5G network in the U.S.

2016-01-22T10:58:00.002-08:00

Verizon says it will have the first 5G network in the U.S., a promise it probably can't fulfill until 2020 but will start working at this year.

5G is the next generation of cellular technology after LTE and the subject of intense research and development around the world. It's expected to become an official standard in 2020, and some mobile operators say they'll have it ready by then or even before. NTT DoCoMo says it will have 5G running in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, while SK Telecom claims it will have a network in place for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo made the pledge Thursday on the company's fourth-quarter financial results call. He also repeated the company's plans for so-called 5G trials this year.

Shammo didn't say what parts of the still-developing technology will be tested in those trials, which will take place in two "sandbox" facilities in San Francisco and Waltham, Massachusetts. But he did give some hints at what Verizon is thinking about for the future standard.

"It may not just be about mobility. It may be about other use cases," he said. One of those is the Internet of Things, which Verizon has already pegged as a focus of 5G. While LTE was developed for fast connections to smartphones and other mobile devices for people, 5G is also aimed at sensors and other small devices that talk to each other in slow trickles of data. IoT is a growth area for Verizon, which reported $200 million in revenue for that segment in the fourth quarter, up 18 percent from a year earlier.

Verizon also wants the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to set rules that will be needed for 5G deployment, Shammo said. Last year the agency started to consider allowing higher frequencies than ever for 5G networks. Those millimeter-wave bands are expected to help 5G networks serve more connections in dense urban areas.

Verizon was the first U.S. carrier with a large-scale 4G LTE network, starting in 2010. The LTE network carried more than 90 percent of its wireless traffic in the fourth quarter.

The company posted US$131.6 billion in consolidated revenue for 2015, up 3.6 percent from 2014. It reported net additions of 449,000 postpaid phones and 960,000 tablets in the fourth quarter.

Skype now hides your IP address to protect against attacks from online trolls

2016-01-22T10:53:00.003-08:00

Online gaming can be a nasty business, with some sore losers targeting others to take out their frustrations. Skype recently took action to make that harder.

Skype is adding a new default security feature primarily to protect gamers from their overheated rivals. The Microsoft-owned service recently announced it would start hiding users’ IP addresses by default in the latest update to Skype. Previously, a Skype user’s IP address was not hidden, meaning hackers who knew what to look for could easily obtain your IP address and thus target your computer.

Why this matters: Online gaming is serious business. So serious that people who lose major online battles or matches can sometimes seek revenge. One easy way to do that is to launch a distributed denial of service attack knocking their victorious rival offline. Before launching a DDoS, however, you need your target’s IP address. That was actually pretty easy if you knew your target’s Skype name. You don’t even need to be a capable programmer as many websites called ‘resolvers’ promised to reveal a Skype user’s IP address.

A long-standing issue

The issue of discovering IP addresses via Skype has been known for several years. Researchers had discovered vulnerabilities allowing hackers to obtain someone’s IP address via Skype as far back as 2010. But it wasn’t until 2012 that reports about obtaining a Skype user’s IP address grabbed public attention.

To ensure Skype is hiding your IP address by default make sure you are using the latest version of Skype for desktop and mobile, which you can download directly from Skype. On the desktop, you can go to Help > Check for Updates to see if an update is available. Mobile users can download updates from their respective app stores.

Report: Google is the default iPhone search engine because it paid Apple $1 billion

2016-01-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Apple ditched Google Maps for its own native app in 2012, but the company is sticking with Google for the iPhone’s default search engine because Google pays Apple a ton of money for the privilege: $1 billion, to be exact.

That closely guarded sum was spilled in court transcripts from Java software maker Oracle’s lawsuit against Google, according to a Friday Bloomberg report. Oracle claims Google used Java to build its Android operating system without paying, and has been fighting the company for damages since 2010. Now Oracle is airing all of Google’s business for the world to see.

Why this matters: Apple allows iPhone users to change the default from Google to another search engine in Safari, but Google is still the default. The company reportedly pays Apple a percentage of the revenue it makes from searches on iPhones to keep it that way. In 2014, that percentage amounted to $1 billion, though it’s unclear exactly how the revenue split breaks down. In a court transcript, a witness pegs the split at 34 percent, though it’s uncertain whether Google pays 34 percent or keeps 34 percent. Apple has admonished Google for violating user privacy with practices like mining emails for keywords to generate ad revenue. Now we know that Apple financially benefits from Google’s ad-targeting practices.

Both Apple and Google fought to keep the revenue-sharing agreement details under wraps, but not before the number was included in a court transcript.

“The specific financial terms of Google’s agreement with Apple are highly sensitive to both Google and Apple,” Google said in a court filing on Jan. 20, according to Bloomberg. “Both Apple and Google have always treated this information as extremely confidential.”

Now that the cat’s out of the bag, it could affect both companies’ business agreements going forward.

What to do when a power outage or surge damages your PC

2016-01-21T04:12:00.002-08:00

Electricity doesn’t always behave itself. Sometimes a power surge can fry a piece of your computer, rendering it useless. A surge protector significantly reduces the risk, but it’s still a possibility. And yes, a power outage often ends with a power surge.

Should an electrical disaster leave your PC useless, you’ll want to protect your data, and then figure out what’s damaged. It’s easier and cheaper to replace a power supply than a whole computer.

If you don’t have a backup of your data (and you should), recovering your library files is your first priority. See my instructions on recovering files from a dead PC (you can probably skip the part about Safe Mode).
Once you have your files back (assuming the disaster didn’t ruin your hard drive or SSD—more on that below), you need to figure out which part of your PC is fried. You can get a good idea by how it fails to boot.

If the PC doesn’t turn on at all—no lights, no sounds—the problem might be the motherboard (more on that below), but it’s probably the power supply. If you have a tower PC, that’s a reasonably inexpensive and easy replacement. You can buy power supplies anywhere and likely swap them out yourself.

That’s not the case with a laptop. Unless you’re extremely skilled at this sort of thing, I’d recommend taking it to a professional.

If your PC turns on, then turns off again, it’s probably the motherboard. But there’s also a slight possibility that the information in the CMOS has been scrambled. To find out, find the small, coin-like battery on the motherboard. Remove it, wait five minutes, insert it again, and reboot. You may be in luck.

But if that doesn’t solve the problem, it’s your motherboard. In that case, you should probably buy a new computer. A new motherboard effectively gives you a new computer anyway.

If you really want your old computer back, you might recover it with a motherboard identical to the original. David Milman of computer repair company Rescuecom told me, “we can [often] find replacement motherboards on eBay for under $100.00, and putting them in usually takes between 1-2 hours.”

If your PC boots to the BIOS screen, or an error message, or just a blinking cursor, the damage is probably to your internal hard drive or SSD. (You may have already discovered this when you tried to restore your data files.) You can replace the drive relatively easily. The hard part, if you don’t have an image backup, is reinstalling your operating system and programs, and recovering your data files. You’ll probably have to send the drive to a data recovery service and hope for the best.

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2016-01-21T03:59:00.003-08:00

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PowerDVD 15 review: The best picture, bar none

2015-05-20T07:57:00.001-07:00

Chances are that if you purchased a computer with a Blu-ray drive, it shipped with a version of Cyberlink’s PowerDVD. No free solution will play commercial Blu-ray discs, and vendors like to avoid user complaints when they can.

But PowerDVD also has another strength that will endear it to just about everyone—incredible-looking output. Cyberlink’s TrueTheater effects bring old movies to life and make modern animated films, which generally look darn good to begin with, appear as if they were rendered at twice the resolution. It’s not half-bad with mainstream movies either.

PowerDVD 15, released today, adds a small set of refinements and yet another trick to make video look better.

Interface and cataloging

PowerDVD is rendered in a riff on the Windows 8/Metro style, which works quite nicely with Windows 10, 8, and 7. It’s easy to navigate the main window and major features, but options could be better organized and placed. While you’re playing music, for instance, the EQ is readily available, but the effects are two dialogs deep. Also, because of the ultra-thin borders and dead-center alignment of stacked dialogs, it can be difficult to tell which elements belong to which. I clicked the wrong "close" button more than once.

On the other hand, Cyberlink has backed off on the automatic cataloging of files. In PowerDVD 14, this proceeded with reckless abandon, sometimes choking your system. PowerDVD also features a “cinema mode”, aka a 10-foot interface; i.e., an interface that can be controlled with a remote control from a distance. To that end, Cyberlink provides both remote-control and playback apps for both Android and iOS.

The PowerDVD librarian is easy to use and offers a battery of cataloging features, but it’s a quirky in spots. For instance, there’s a main heading that says “playlists,” but those are only for music files. As such, it should be under music. I’m being picky, but as I’ve already mentioned, there are other less-than-intuitively placed options, too.

Playback quality

PowerDVD 15 renders movies better than anything else available, and does so without the fuss other players require on the user’s part, such as loading shaders (FX), tweaking contrast and saturation, and so on. The effect on older movies and animated movies is startling—and to be honest—addictive. There’s even after-the-fact video stabilization for home movies.

The biggest add for version 15 of PowerDVD is some very tasteful color enhancement, called, of course, TrueTheater Color. It’s like turning up the saturation control in other players, but it’s smarter in that it leaves skin tones alone, so there’s no spray-tan effect. Vivid but not cartoonish.

The Cyberlink folks have finally made PowerDVD nearly the equal of Microsoft's Windows Media Player and Apple's QuickTime player for augmenting music playback. Though the effects are a bit hard to find (Setting/Player Settings/More Audio), you can now apply Dolby Virtual Speaker and TrueTheater Surround to your tunes. Alas, they only work on a subset of the file types that PowerDVD supports. Sadly, that list doesn’t include FLAC, my go-to codec for all things classical.

Performance

PowerDVD has never actually stayed on my system for long after a review. Not because of its now shrinking list of peccadilloes, but because it has never been particularly stable and tended to hog system resources. That finally seems to be a thing of the past.

PowerDVD is a now a much more tightly coded program player that uses hardware assist whenever possible. CPU utilization with any reasonably modern processor is quite low, even for 4K videos, so your system will remain responsive during movie playback. It’s not quite as efficient as MPC-HC and its LAV filters, but close enough, especially in light of all the TrueTheater optimization it’s performing.

The playback coup de grace is support for Windows Audio Session Application Program Interface (WASAPI), the high-performance, hardware-direct audio portion of the Windows multimedia libraries available from Vista on. At least it should be. When I engaged the “exclusive” mode of WASAPI which should result in perfect performance, the music skipped occasionally. Go figure.

Online
PowerDVD 15 Ultra interfaces with both YouTube and Vimeo, so you can browse and play videos from those services without firing up a browser. You can also save videos for offline viewing (pinning), and if what you’re looking for is actually just the music, PowerDVD will extract the audio track as an MP3 for offline listening as well. This is of dubious legality, but the whole YouTube thing is iffy to begin with. Caveats aside, both those features are super handy. Especially as you can find lots of stuff on YouTube that can’t be found elsewhere.

The only problem I found with the online browsing was that PowerDVD didn’t like competing for bandwidth. If I was downloading via any other program, the YouTube browser spun its wheels and eventually said nothing was found. Kill the other downloads, and it was happy as a clam.

If You Want Gigabit Internet, Move Here

2015-05-20T03:24:00.000-07:00

In an effort to expand gigabit Internet access nationwide, former FCC Chairman Julius Genachoski in January 2013 issued a "Gigabit City Challenge," calling for all 50 states to have at least one community with gigabit Internet access by 2015. We're not quite there yet, but a lot of progress has been made.

It's become a bit of a race between private and public providers. Google, of course, kicked it off with the announcement that it would provide its gigabit Google Fiber to Kansas City. Later, The Wall Street Journal reported that a small telco in rural Vermont, Vtel, planned to halve Google's offer, providing gigabit services for just $35. Many cities and towns have gone online with gigabit Internet since, some of which have signed on to the the Next Century Cities program.

The big Internet providers don't like threats to their lucrative Internet services. Some successfully lobbied a few states to get city-owned broadband taken off the table. It's mainly Tennessee and North Carolina, but laws make it hard in as many 20 states, even tech-centric California.

In February 2015, the FCC and President Obama came out in favor of municipally owned broadband networks; the FCC voted 3-to-2 to let muni-broadband go forward in North Carolina and Tennessee, though the latter has sued. All this on top of the FCC trying to uphold net neutrality. It's hard to be a government agency looking out for customers.

It's silly that the cable ISPs even fight the fiber. In the very near future, cable modems supporting the DOCSIS 3.1 standard will arrive, and that means existing cable infrastructure can soon support speeds as high as 2 gigabit per second! Of course, to get there, the ISPs have to make some changes not only to the equipment people have at home, but costly upgrades at the other end. They also have to adjust prices to compete with fiber networks, which don't tend to cost that much more, whether privately owned or publicly run.

Sounds like the future is bright for gigabit Internet connections in the USA—but that doesn't help you right now. Where can you go if you want to live where the gigabit is?

We've found several areas that have or plan to offer gigabit access (or close to it). If you're thinking of moving, think about these locations.

The Best Antivirus for 2015

2015-05-19T11:52:00.000-07:00

If you don't install antivirus software, you risk having your PC taken over by ransomware or losing personal data to a sneaky Trojan. But which antivirus should you use? We'll help you decide.
We call these utilities "antivirus," but in fact they protect against a huge range of malicious programs, including ransomware, spyware, adware, keyloggers, rootkits, Trojans, and more. Lucky for us, there's also a huge range of products designed to fight these nasties. PCMag has reviewed over 30 different commercial antivirus utilities, and that's not even counting free antivirus tools. Ten of the for-pay versions proved effective enough to earn an excellent four stars or better. Another eleven earned at least three stars.
Almost all of these products are traditional, full-scale antivirus tools, with the ability to scan files for malware on access, on demand, or on schedule. A couple are outliers, tools meant to enhance the protection of a traditional antivirus. As for just relying on the antivirus built into Windows 8.x, that's not such a good idea. According to both our tests and independent lab tests, Windows Defender won't keep you safe.

I also test each product using 100 extremely new malware-hosting URLs, noting what percentage of them it blocked. Products get equal credit for preventing all access to the malicious URL and for wiping out the malware during download.
Some products earn absolutely stellar ratings from the independent labs, yet don't fare as well in my hands-on tests. In such cases, I defer to the labs, as they bring significantly greater resources to their testing.
Multi-Layered Antivirus Protection
Antivirus products distinguish themselves by going beyond the basics of on-demand scanning and real-time protection. Some rate URLs that you visit or that show up in search results, using a red-yellow-green color coding system. Some actively block processes on your system from connecting with known malware-hosting URLs, or with fraudulent (phishing) pages.
Software has flaws, and sometimes those flaws affect your security. Prudent users keep Windows and all programs patched, fixing those flaws as soon as possible. The vulnerability scan offered by some antivirus products can verify that all necessary patches are present, and even apply any that are missing.
You expect an antivirus to identify and eliminate bad programs, and to leave good programs alone. What about unknowns, programs it can't identify as good or bad? Behavior-based detection can, in theory, protect you against malware that's so new researchers have never encountered it. However, this isn't always an unmixed blessing. It's not uncommon for behavioral detection systems to flag many innocuous behaviors performed by legitimate programs.
Whitelisting is another approach to the problem of unknown programs. A whitelist-based security system only allows known good programs to run. Unknowns are banned. This mode doesn't suit all situations, but it can be useful. Sandboxing lets unknown programs run, but isolates them from full access to your system, so they can't do permanent harm. These various added layers serve to enhance your protection against malware.
Bonus Features
Firewall protection and spam filtering aren't common antivirus features, but some of our top products include them as bonus features. In fact, some of these antivirus products are more feature-packed than certain products sold as security suites.
Among the other bonus features you'll find are: secure browser for financial transactions; secure deletion of sensitive files; wiping traces of computer and browsing history; credit monitoring; virtual keyboard to foil keyloggers; and more. And of course I've already mentioned sandboxing, vulnerability scanning, and application whitelisting.
What's Best?
We've named not one but three Editors' Choice products for premium antivirus protection, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2015, Kaspersky Anti-Virus (2015), and Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus (2015). Each shines in its own way. Kaspersky floats at the top in all the independent lab tests. Bitdefender gets great lab scores too, and it's wonderfully unobtrusive. Webroot's unusual detection technique doesn't lend itself to most lab testing, but it's absolutely the tiniest antivirus around. For that matter, the rest of the products featured here are quite good, and some have unusually rich feature sets. Read the reviews for full details, then make your choice.

Microsoft brings new Word, Excel, and Powerpoint preview apps to Android phones

2015-05-19T10:40:00.002-07:00

Microsoft’s Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps are slimming down so they can get down to work on your Android smartphone.

Following up to the Office for Android tablet release in January, Microsoft has unveiled a preview build of its core productivity apps that allow you to view and edit files on the go. The new apps will replace the older Office Mobile for Android phones when the final versions hit the streets.

To try out the preview apps, you’ll need to head to the Office Android Preview page on Google+ and join Microsoft’s community. Then, visit the testing pages in the Play Store for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and agree to become a tester.

You’ll then be prompted to download links for the Office apps, though Microsoft cautions it sometimes takes the Play Store up to four hours to process this final step. You’ll need a device running KitKat (Android 4.4) or above to try them out.

The interface is consistent with Office for Android tablets, using the ribbon to organize the key functions in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You'll also find the ability to track changes and make comments that you can share with other collaborators. You can also pull in files saved on your device or through cloud services like OneDrive and Dropbox.

While anyone can view and edit files, the full gamut of options is only available to Office 365 subscribers.

Microsoft notes that many tools, like Excel’s tabs, are moved to the bottom of the screen so they’re within easy reach of your fingers. Word also offers a button that resizes the file into a reading-friendly format by stripping away most of the interface.

Given the popularity of big-screened Android phones like the Galaxy Note 4 and new LG G4, bringing Office to phones makes a lot of sense. There are bound to be a few bugs given the apps’ preview status, but in the last go-around Microsoft pushed out rather frequent updates.

The story behind the story: Microsoft’s mobile first, cloud first strategy is behind the company’s effort to put its apps on Android and iOS. Instead of using core services like Office to push everyone to Windows, Microsoft is now happy to bring its latest and greatest apps to other companies’ home turf. The strategy will need to pay off, however, by getting more people tied into an Office 365 subscription.

Understanding the Cloud

2015-05-19T04:40:00.000-07:00

What is the cloud?

You may have heard people using terms like the cloud, cloud computing, or cloud storage. But what exactly is the cloud? Basically, the cloud is the Internet—more specifically, it's all of the things you can access remotely over the Internet. When something is in the cloud, it means it is stored on servers on the Internet instead of on your computer. It lets you access your calendar, email, files, and more from any computer that has an Internet connection.

If you've ever used web-based email, you've used the cloud. All of the emails in your inbox are stored on servers. However, there are many other services that use the cloud in different ways. Here are just a few examples:

Dropbox is a cloud storage service that lets you easily store and share files with others, and it lets you access your files from a mobile device as well.
Evernote lets you type notes, clip webpages, take photos, and organize all of them from your computer or mobile device.
Mozy and Carbonite can automatically back up your data in case your computer is lost, stolen, or damaged.

There are also apps you can use that live in the cloud so you can use them without installing them on your computer. These apps are sometimes called web apps. Web apps include things like Google Docs, which allows you to create documents and spreadsheets online; and Runescape, which is a game you can play in your browser without downloading anything.

Why use the cloud?

There are many reasons to use the cloud, but the main reasons are convenience and reliability. Saving a file to the cloud ensures that you'll be able to access it with any computer that has an Internet connection, so you won't need to worry about using CD-ROMs or USB flash drives. The cloud also makes it much easier to share a file with coworkers and friends.

With the cloud, you're much less likely to lose your data because it is stored on servers. However, just like anything online, there is always a risk that someone may try to gain access to your personal data, so it's important to choose a strong password and pay attention to any privacy settings for the service you're using.

What is a web app?

Previously, we talked about how desktop applications allow you to perform tasks on your computer. However, there are also web applications—or web apps—which run in the cloud and do not need to be installed on your computer. These are sometimes called cloud apps.

Examples of web apps

Many of the most popular sites on the Internet are actually web apps. You may have even used a web app without realizing it! Here are just a few examples:

Online email services: Services like Gmail and Yahoo! Mail run within your browser and can do many of the same things email programs like Microsoft Outlook can do. After you sign up for an online email service, you can begin using it immediately—no installation is required. Instead of being stored on your computer, your emails are stored in the cloud.
Facebook: Facebook lets you create an online profile and interact with your friends. Profiles and conversations are constantly evolving, so Facebook uses web app technologies throughout the site to keep the information up to date. There are also games and other web apps you can add to your Facebook profile.
Google Docs: Google Docs (shown below) is an office suite that runs in your browser. Much like Microsoft Office, you can use it to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more. Your documents are stored in the cloud, which makes it easy to share them with others.

Understanding Applications

2015-05-19T04:36:00.000-07:00

What is an application?

You may have heard people talking about using an application or an app. But what exactly does that mean? An app is a type of software that allows you to perform specific tasks. Applications for desktop or laptop computers are sometimes called desktop applications, and those for mobile devices are called mobile apps. When you open an application, it runs inside the operating system until you close it. Most of the time, you will have more than one application open at the same time, and this is known as multitasking.

Types of desktop applications

There are countless desktop applications out there, and they fall into many different categories. Some are more full-featured (like Microsoft Word), while others may only do one or two things (like gadgets). Below are just a few types of applications you might use:

Word processors: A word processor allows you to write a letter, design a flyer, and create many other types of documents. The most well-known word processor is Microsoft Word.
Personal finance: Personal finance software, such as Quicken, allows you to keep track of your income and expenses and create a budget, among other tasks. Most personal finance programs can automatically download information from your bank so you don't have to manually type in all of your transactions.
Web browsers: A web browser is the tool you use to access the Internet. Most computers come with a web browser pre-installed, but you can also download a different one if you prefer. Examples of browsers include Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari.
Games: There are many different games you can play on your computer. They range from card games such as Solitaire to action games like Halo 2. Many action games require a lot of computing power, so they may not work unless you have a newer computer.
Media players: If you want to listen to MP3s or watch movies you've downloaded, you'll need to use a media player. Windows Media Player and iTunes are popular media players.
Gadgets: Sometimes called widgets, these are simple applications you can place on your desktop (or on the Dashboard if you're using a Mac). There are many different types of gadgets, and they include calendars, calculators, maps, and news headlines.

Installing applications

In order to work, an application usually has to be installed on your computer. Typically, installation is as simple as inserting the installation disc and following the instructions on the screen. For software downloaded from the Internet, you can usually double-click it after it is finished downloading and then follow the instructions on the screen. Many applications include a readme file (for example, readme.txt), which includes installation instructions and other information.

Files and applications

Each application on your computer has a group of file types—or formats—it is able to open. You generally won't have to figure out which application will open your files. When you double-click a file, your computer will automatically use the correct application to open it, as long as the application is installed on your computer.

If you don't have the correct application installed, you may not be able to open the file. However, in some cases you can open the file with a web application that runs in your browser. For example, if you don't have Microsoft Word, you can open Word documents with Google Docs. To learn more, you can visit our lesson on Understanding the Cloud.

Understanding Operating Systems

2015-05-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

What is an operating system?

An operating system is the most important software that runs on a computer. It manages the computer's memory, processes, and all of its software and hardware. It also allows you to communicate with the computer without knowing how to speak the computer's language. Without an operating system, a computer is useless.

The operating system's job

Your computer's operating system (OS) manages all of the software and hardware on the computer. Most of the time, there are many different computer programs running at the same time, and they all need to access your computer's central processing unit (CPU), memory, and storage. The operating system coordinates all of this to make sure each program gets what it needs.

Types of operating systems

Operating systems usually come preloaded on any computer you buy. Most people use the operating system that comes with their computer, but it's possible to upgrade or even change operating systems.

The three most common operating systems for personal computers are Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux.
Modern operating systems use a graphical user interface, or GUI (pronounced gooey). A GUI lets you use your mouse to click icons, buttons, and menus, and everything is clearly displayed on the screen using a combination of graphics and text.

Each operating system's GUI has a different look and feel, so if you switch to a different operating system it may seem unfamiliar at first. However, modern operating systems are designed to be easy to use, and most of the basic principles are the same.

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft created the Windows operating system in the mid-1980s. Over the years, there have been many different versions of Windows, but the most recent ones are Windows 8 (released in 2012), Windows 7 (2009), and Windows Vista (2007). Windows comes preloaded on most new PCs, which helps to make it the most popular operating system in the world.

If you're buying a new computer or are upgrading to a newer version of Windows, you can choose from several different editions of Windows, such as Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. You may need to do some research to decide which edition is right for you.

Mac OS X

Mac OS is a line of operating systems created by Apple. It comes preloaded on all new Macintosh computers, or Macs. All of the recent versions are known as OS X (pronounced O-S Ten), and the specific versions include Yosemite (released in 2014), Mavericks (2013), Mountain Lion (2012), Lion (2011), and Snow Leopard (2009). Apple also offers a version called Mac OS X Server, which is designed to be run on servers.

According to StatCounter Global Stats, Mac OS X users account for 9.5% of the operating systems market as of September 2014—much lower than the percentage of Windows users (almost 90%). One reason for this is that Apple computers tend to be more expensive. However, many people prefer the look and feel of Mac OS X.

Linux

Linux (pronounced LINN-ux) is a family of open-source operating systems, which means they can be modified and distributed by anyone around the world. This is different from proprietary software like Windows, which can only be modified by the company that owns it (Microsoft). The advantages of Linux are that it is free, and there are many different distributions—or versions—you can choose from. Each distribution has a different look and feel, and the most popular ones include Ubuntu, Mint, and Fedora.

Operating systems for mobile devices

The operating systems we've been talking about were designed to run on desktop or laptop computers. Mobile devices such as phones, tablet computers, and MP3 players are different from desktop and laptop computers, so they run operating systems that are designed specifically for mobile devices. Examples of mobile operating systems include Apple iOS, Windows Phone, and Google Android. In the screenshot below, you can see Apple iOS running on an iPad.

Operating systems for mobile devices generally aren't as fully featured as those made for desktop and laptop computers, and they aren't able to run all of the same software. However, you can still do a lot of things with them, like watch movies, browse the Web, manage your calendar, and play games.

What is a computer?

2015-05-19T04:25:00.000-07:00

A computer is an electronic device that manipulates information, or data. It has the ability to store, retrieve, and process data. You probably already know that you can use a computer to type documents, send email, play games, and browse the Web. You can also use it to edit or create spreadsheets, presentations, and even videos.

Throughout this tutorial, we'll show you some of the most important things you need to know about computers, including how to set up your computer, how to interact with the desktop and operating system, and what kinds of computers are available. We'll also introduce you to some basic troubleshooting strategies you can use if your computer isn't working correctly.

Hardware vs. software

Before we talk about different types of computers, let's talk about two things all computers have in common: hardware and software.

Hardware is any part of your computer that has a physical structure, such as the keyboard or mouse. It also includes all of the computer's internal parts.
Software is any set of instructions that tells the hardware what to do. It is what guides the hardware and tells it how to accomplish each task. Some examples of software include web browsers, games, and word processors. Below, you can see an image of Microsoft PowerPoint, which is used to create presentations.

Everything you do on your computer will rely on both hardware and software. For example, right now you may be viewing this lesson in a web browser (software) and using your mouse (hardware) to click from page to page. As you learn about different types of computers, ask yourself about the differences in their hardware. As you progress through this tutorial, you'll see that different types of computers also often use different types of software.

What are the different types of computers?

When most people hear the word computer, they think of a personal computer such as a desktop or laptop. However, computers come in many shapes and sizes, and they perform many different functions in our daily lives. When you withdraw cash from an ATM, scan groceries at the store, or use a calculator, you're using a type of computer.

Desktop computers

Many people use desktop computers at work, home, school, or the library. They can be small, medium, or large in style, and they usually sit on a desk. Once you add a monitor, mouse, and keyboard, you have what is typically known as a desktop computer.

Most desktop computers are easy to upgrade and expand or add new parts. Another benefit of desktop computers is their cost. If you compare a desktop and laptop with the same features, you will most likely find that the desktop is less expensive.

Laptop computers

The second type of computer you may be familiar with is a laptop computer, or a laptop. Laptops are battery- or AC-powered personal computers that are more portable than desktop computers, allowing you to use them almost anywhere.

Because a laptop is smaller than a desktop, it's more difficult to access its internal components. This means you may not be able to upgrade them as easily as a desktop.

Tablet computers

Tablet computers—or tablets—are handheld computers that are even more portable than laptops. Instead of a keyboard or touchpad, tablets use a touch-sensitive screen for typing and navigation. The iPad is an example of a tablet.

Tablets can't necessarily do anything a laptop or a desktop can do, so you may still want a desktop or laptop to run programs or create documents. But if you just want to be able to play games, check email and social media, or stream music and videos, a tablet may be a good computer replacement.

Servers

A server is a computer that serves up information to other computers on a network. Many businesses have file servers employees can use to store and share files. A server can look like a regular desktop computer, or it can be much larger.

Servers also play an important role in making the Internet work: They are where webpages are stored. When you use your browser to click a link, a web server delivers the page you requested.

Other types of computers

Today, there are many everyday devices that are basically specialized computers, even though we don't always think of them as computers. Here are a few common examples:

Mobile phones: Many mobile phones can do a lot of things computers can do, such as browsing the Internet and playing games. These phones are often called smartphones.
Game consoles: A game console is a specialized kind of computer that is used for playing video games. Although they are not as fully featured as desktop computers, many newer consoles allow you to perform nongaming tasks like browsing the Web.
TVs: Many TVs now include applications—or apps—that let you access various types of online content. For example, you can view your Facebook News Feed or watch streaming movies on Netflix.

Look at this: The first 4K laptop, Toshiba's Satellite P55t, coming soon

2015-05-19T02:32:00.001-07:00

Open your pocketbooks, 4K fans, Toshiba's first Ultra HD laptop is headed your way next Tuesday. The Tokyo-based electronics maker just announced that the Toshiba Satellite P55t will hit U.S. store shelves on April 22, starting at $1,500 for the base model.

For all that cash you'll get a 15.6-inch laptop with a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor (no word on the specific model), up to 16GB RAM, an AMD Radeon R9 M265X discrete graphics card with 2GB RAM, and a 1TB hard drive. Other niceties include Windows 8.1, four USB 3.0 ports, backlit keyboard, SD card slot, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, HDMI out, and some brand name speakers from Harman Kardon.

But the big feature for the P55t is the laptop's screen resolution, which is 3840-by-2160 with 282 pixels per inch. Astute 4K fans will note that Toshiba's new clamshell is using the Ultra HD version of 4K and not the 4096-by-2160 resolution favored by the film industry and available on some external monitors.

In addition to its Ultra HD resolution, Toshiba's laptop earned Technicolor Color Certification, promising more natural-looking colors and "true-to-life imagery." Toshiba is also bundling a free copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 to take advantage of all that 'glorious Technicolor.'

One of the letdowns with the P55t may be Toshiba's choice of storage. The company's announcement didn't once mention the possibility of upgrading that 1TB HDD for a screaming SSD option.

Perhaps if you're doing media work, a 1TB hard drive is preferable for storing large, image-intensive files. For anyone ready to shell out high-end money for their home PC, however, the lack of an SSD option is a bit of a bummer. Then again it's nothing that a screwdriver, patience, and a DIY mentality can't fix.

Toshiba is the first company out of the gate with a laptop loaded with 4K, but it won't be the last. During CES in January, Lenovo was showing off an Ultra HD option for the upcoming Y50 gaming laptop. Other companies are also sure to jump on the 4K laptop party train following a rash of 4K PC monitors announced over the past 12 months from companies including Asus, Dell, and Sharp.

But do you want 4K on your laptop? 4K may be a great idea for cinematic screens at the movie theater, and I can even get behind 4K on some of the larger televisions. But shoving more pixels into a small display that is already densely packed at 1080p? Color me skeptical.

Worm-like Android malware spreads using text messages

2015-05-19T02:31:00.002-07:00

A piece of malware targeting Russian-speaking Android users abuses a person’s contact list to try and infect other devices, according to security vendor Eset.

The malware, call “Android/Samsapo.A” can download other malicious files to a phone, steal personal information from a device such as text messages and block phone calls, wrote Robert Lipovsky, an Eset malware researcher. The malware uploads data to a domain that was registered about a week ago.

Samsapo spreads by sending text messages from an infected device to other people in the victim’s contact list, a worm-like characteristic that has been used by other mobile malware programs.

The text message says “Is this your photo?” in Russian and has a link to an Android application package (.APK) file containing a copy of Samsapo.

“This technique wouldnt raise an eyebrow on Windows, but is rather novel on Android,” Lipovsky wrote.

The APK file name makes it appear as a system utility: “com.android.tools.system v1.0.” The program doesn’t have a graphical user interface nor an icon in the application drawer, Lipovsky wrote.

Android will warn users when downloading applications from unknown sources. Google scans its Play store for malicious applications, which reduces the chance a user will download a malicious one.

Security experts generally recommend not downloading Android applications from third-party websites, as even legitimate looking applications may have been maliciously modified. Also, applications that ask for permissions such as reading and writing text messages should be viewed with caution.

Nvidia $192 Tegra TK1 board could be used as a Linux gaming PC

2015-05-19T02:30:00.005-07:00

Nvidia is bringing supercomputer-class performance to its $192 Jetson TK1 computer, which is targeted at embedded devices but could be used as a Linux-based gaming PC.

The TK1 is an uncased board with all the major components on it, much like the popular Raspberry Pi. But the computer offers 300 gigaflops of performance, and Nvidia said it could be used as a PC for games supporting ARM processors and the Linux OS.

The performance comes through 192 graphics cores based on Nvidia’s Kepler architecture, similar to GPUs used in the world’s second-fastest supercomputer called Titan, which delivers peak performance between 17.6 petaflops and 27.1 petaflops, according to Top500.

The board can be used to develop prototype devices and test applications, such as in-car infotainment, robots with vision, surveillance, or medical devices that need real-time image processing, said Jesse Clayton, the Jetson TK1 product manager.

The TK1 could also be a gaming PC, though it could take some work to port games. Nvidia offers a version of Linux based on Ubuntu 14.04 for the board, and most ARM-based games are for mobile devices and written for the Android OS.

“It behaves like a big GPU. If you wanted to develop an ARM-Linux game, you can,” Clayton said.

The TK1 has a Tegra K1 processor based on the ARM Cortex-A15 CPU design, which is used in some Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone models. By comparison, low-cost boards like Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone use ARM cores based on older CPU architectures.

This is the first product shipped by Nvidia with K1, which was announced in January and will be in mobile devices starting in the second half of this year. The K1, which will come in 32-bit and 64-bit variants, succeeds Tegra 4, used in tablets from companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Asustek. The TK1 board has a 32-bit version of K1. Clayton declined to comment about whether a 64-bit version of the board would be released.

Embedded devices may be the focus for TK1, but it could be possible to write mobile applications for upcoming K1 smartphones and tablets, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst for Insight 64.

The board would, however, need to run Android, and the boot and processor features point to support for the mobile OS. Nvidia’s Clayton said it may be possible to load Android, though the board is designed to work with Linux.

The TK1 also supports CUDA 6, which provides the underlying parallel programming tools so coders can off-load processing from CPUs to GPUs, which are faster for technical and graphics applications.

Balancing processing between GPUs and CPUs can make devices more power efficient, Insight 64’s Brookwood said.

CUDA is largely used via PC or server graphics cards, but Nvidia is pushing parallel processing to mobile devices and smaller electronics.

The TK1 is square, measuring 127 millimeters wide by 127 millimeters long. It has 2GB of RAM and 16GB eMMC memory. Connector ports include mini PCI-Express, SD/MMC, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI, RS232, SATA and Gigabit ethernet. The expansion ports are GPIOs, UART and CSI-2, on which cameras can be attached.

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013

2015-05-19T02:30:00.001-07:00

The professional standard has evolved. Step up to the newest Office programs for growing businesses.

Word

In the new Read Mode, text reflows automatically in columns for easier on-screen reading
Fewer menus means more focus on your content see only the tools you need, when you need them
Open a PDF in Word, and edit content just as if you created it in Word
Show your style by using Word templates in more than 40 categories

Excel

Each workbook has in its own window, making it easier to work on two workbooks or two monitors at once
New functions in the math and trig, statistical, engineering, date and time, lookup and reference, logical, and text function categories
The new Recommended Charts button lets you pick from a variety of charts that are right for your data

PowerPoint

Presenter View allows you to see your notes on your monitor while the audience only sees the slide
Smart Guides automatically appear when your objects are close to even, and tell you when objects are spaced evenly
Support for more multimedia formats, such as .mp4 and .mov, more high-definition content, and more built-in codecs

OneNote

Smoothly draw, erase, and edit with your finger, stylus, or mouse on any touch-capable device
OneNote automatically converts your handwriting to text, so no worries about your handwriting
The new Send to OneNote tool makes it easier to include documents or Web pages in your notebooks

How to Install Windows 10 on Your PC

2015-05-19T02:29:00.001-07:00

When you first boot the computer you’ll see a screen like this one:

Click Next and you’ll be taken to the Install now button screen. Which obviously you should click.

At this point you can choose whether you want to upgrade Windows or install a new custom install. Since we’re recommending that everybody install into a virtual machine or on a test PC, you should select Custom here.

At this point you’ll need to pick where to install Windows 10. You might need to delete or create a partition, but if you are using a virtual machine, you can just click Next.

And now it will install.

Once the PC reboots again, you’ll be able to select the settings like whether Windows Updates are enabled (they aren’t allowed to be disabled in the preview). We’d recommend just using the express settings.

And now you can sign into your Microsoft account. We’d recommend using a Microsoft account because otherwise you won’t be able to use half of the new features and you may as well use Linux or stick with Windows 7.

If you’ve setup your account properly you’ll probably be asked to verify it in the middle. We excluded those steps from this article, but they are pretty simple.

Now you’ll be asked how to setup the PC. Since we wanted to test everything as a new computer, we chose to set it up as a new PC instead, but you could copy all your settings from another computer if you wanted to.

Want to use OneDrive? It’s nicely integrated into Windows, so we just left it alone.

And now a colorful screen that tells us things are happening.

And finally, we are at the desktop!

Now click that Start button. Click it. You know you want to.