New Technology : Are App Stores Really Safe? How Smartphone Malware Is Filtered Out

android-iphone-sick

Do you have malware on your phone? Unless you’ve rooted or jailbroken your device, the answer is probably no. Smartphone viruses are real, but app stores do a pretty good job of filtering them out. Of course, no process is perfect. Stuff has gotten through, which we’ll get to. But assuming you stick to your phone’s official software store – the App Store for iOS and Google Play on Android – the odds of infection are extremely low, thanks to approval processes on both platforms. Let’s talk about how these systems work, what kinds of malware have gotten through, and how...

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New Technology : Can Shared Graphics Finally Compete with a Dedicated Graphics Card?

graphics card

There are two kinds of graphics cards for PCs: dedicated and shared. The former brings its own hardware to the party, and has always been regarded as the serious choice. The latter borrows resources from the rest of the PC, and is often seen as the compromise solution. But does that still hold true? Or have advanced in shared graphics made a viable option for anyone? Let’s take a look. Shared Versus Dedicated Graphics As its name suggests, a dedicated graphics card — often also called discrete graphics — is a piece of specialist hardware dedicated solely to managing the...

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New Technology : Getting Started with Audiobooks: How to Finally Finish Your “Reading List”

Audiobooks-beginner-guide-header

Yes, you want to read more books, but you just don’t have the time for it, right? Audiobooks are a good way to tackle your reading list, but it can be difficult to get started with them. Let’s make it simple. You might think there is nothing more to an audiobook than just downloading a title you want to listen to and get going. But several other things matter, especially to a beginner. We already instinctively know what to do with a book because of schooling, but you still need to learn tips to read more books. Similarly, it’s not...

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New Technology : Download Free Comics With the Dynamite BitTorrent Bundle

bittorrent-bundle-comics

Hot on the heels of the Doctor Who BitTorrent Bundle comes another great release that may be of interest to MakeUseOf readers. BitTorrent has teamed up with comic book publisher Dynamite Entertainment to release The Dynamite Mega Bundle: a collection of over 200 issues from 30 different titles. Amazingly, for all comic book fans who like a freebie or two, you can download the first issue of almost every title featured for free. The complete collection of all 200 issues is available as a pay-what-you-want (as long as it’s more than the minimum $6). So let’s take an in-depth look...

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New Technology : What’s an IP Conflict, and How Do You Resolve It?

ip-conflict

Have any of your devices ever displayed an error message pertaining to an IP address conflict? If so, you probably found yourself unable to connect to the Internet, either because you simply don’t have access or the connection has just been rendered unusable. Although it’s not something that commonly occurs, IP address conflicts are a very real issue and can very much inconvenience the user. When two or more IP addresses conflict, the result can be one or more computers or devices that have been rendered completely useless in terms of network connectivity. Fortunately, there are ways to resolve the...

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New Technology : An Introduction to Office 365 — Should You Buy Into the New Office Business Model?

office-365

Office 365 is a subscription based package that buys you time limited access to a number of Microsoft services and software packages, including the latest desktop Office suite, an online version of Office, cloud storage, and premium mobile apps. Office 365 follows a business model known as Software as a Service (SaaS), which has commonly been used for deploying enterprise software. With subscription-based services like Spotify, Napster, or Amazon Prime, it has found its way into the consumer software market some time ago. Does Office 365 provide enough value to be worth the money? Can You Still Use It on Your Desktop? Yes,...

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New Technology : Lifetime VPN for $39, Office Course Bundle for $49, and More Huge Savings

deals

We’ve been featuring some of the best deals we can find at MakeUseOf, and there have been quite a few that you, our readers, have really enjoyed. Did you miss any of them? Well, don’t worry, because we are going to round up some of the best selling offers from MakeUseOf Deals in one handy place. Whether you’re looking for a VPN subscription for just $39 or an awesome pair of Bluetooth earbuds for $49, we have you covered. So without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the best deals from April that you might have missed. They’re all...

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New Technology : 14 Groundbreaking Technologies Released In The Last 10 Years, Part 1

groundbreaking-technology

In tech, everything moves fast. It’s hard to believe that less than a decade ago, we were witnessing the birth of industry giants such as YouTube and Facebook. A lot has happened since then, and today we’re going to focus on some of the most disruptive tech breakthroughs in this time period. As with any list of this nature, it’s not all-encompassing, and will remain largely open to debate about the inclusions and snubs. Feel free to share those opinions with me in the comment section below! 2005 YouTube YouTube was founded by three early employees of PayPal – Chad...

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New Technology : Apple iPad Crashes Down Planes, Google Buys Up Patents, & More… [Tech News Digest]

american-airlines-plane-grounded

Grounded by malfunctioning iPads, Google purchases patents, Dropbox adds comments, Star Wars games land on Steam, stream Seinfeld on Hulu, and the Apple Watch gets blended. Buggy iPads Down AA Flights Dozens of American Airlines flights were grounded after the iPads used by the pilots crashed without warning. American Airlines use iPads as electronic flight bags, with pilots switching from using the weighty paper-based alternative in 2013. According to Quartz, this was intended to prevent pilots from getting injured carrying heavy flight bags. Dumping the 35-pound bags also saves on fuel costs. Unfortunately, the switch to iPad has invited other...

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New Technology : Sesame Street Takes on Avengers in Aveggies – Age of Bon Bon

AvegiesFeat

For those of us in the US, The Avengers: Age of Ultron is almost here! Comic fans and movie fans are filled with anticipation for Marvel’s latest blockbuster. In fact, our own Dave Parrack was lucky enough to see the movie already, he wrote a detailed review to help you get your expectations in check. Whenever a big movie comes along, there will always be parodies hitting the Internet, and The Avengers is no exception. The surprising thing about this funny parody is that it comes from Sesmame Street. Yes, that Sesame Street. Check out Aveggies – Age of Bon...

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