New Technology : How Bluetooth 4.0 Is Shaping the Future of Mobile Connectivity

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Bluetooth is the forgotten star on the device specifications sheet. While it isn’t going to turn any heads, every once in a while you forget just how valuable it is; then remember why it’s there in the first place. It’s not a feature we talk much about anymore, but the standard is improving, and it’s getting to the point of becoming extremely relevant in the near future. With Bluetooth 4.0, it’s not so much the technology as it is the leap forward that gets people like me excited. Each iteration of Bluetooth has brought it one step closer to becoming a...

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New Technology : Looking to Buy a Smart Thermostat? 5 Nest Alternatives

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When it comes to controlling the temperature of your smart home, the Nest smart thermostat is king—it was the first big success, and it’s what everyone thinks of when they hear “smart thermostat.” But there are plenty of other good options out there. Here are 5 you should consider if you’re looking to buy. Ecobee3 One of the best things about the Ecobee3 is that it includes a remote temperature sensor that allows it to keep tabs on the temperature in different rooms in your house. This will help you get a satisfactory temperature all over your home instead of just...

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New Technology : Windows 10 Is the Last Version of Windows. Ever.

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Microsoft is sick of you not upgrading, and has a solution: Windows 10 will be the final “version” of Windows. Ever. This is called Windows As A Service, and it’s a big deal. To understand what it means, think of Gmail or Facebook: longtime users know these services have changed over the years, but there aren’t “versions” of them. There’s no Facebook XP, or Gmail 7 – there’s just Facebook, and Gmail, both of which change over time. Windows, apparently, is going to be like that. Microsoft’s Terry Myers explains: “And just like any Internet service, the idea of asking...

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New Technology : You Can Still Enjoy These World Video Game Hall of Fame Nominees

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pacman-pong

Forget baseball. That’s hasn’t been America’s great pastime since at least the early 1980s. Video games occupy more of our collective attention than any sport or game. Find that hard to believe? Worldwide we spend 3 billion hours a week playing video games. According to The Nielson Company, in 2013, gamers 13 years-old and up averaged 6.3 hours a week on the controller. More telling is that 5 million Americans put in 40 hours a week gaming. That’s five hundred thousand more people than the top 5 employers in the US have working for them. Maybe they need help with a tech...

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New Technology : Found a Suspicious File? Test It In A Virtual Machine!

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It’s a dilemma we’ve all faced at some point. Your boss has emailed you a file. On one hand, you know you have to look at it. But on the other hand, you know what your boss is like. Their browser is covered by 25 different toolbars, and your boss has no idea how they got there. On a near-weekly basis, their computer has to be quarantined, disinfected and hosed down by the IT department. Can you really trust that file? Probably not. You could open it on your computer, and risk getting a nasty infection. Or, you could just...

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New Technology : Keep Your Landline, But Ditch The Phone Bill, With This Simple Device

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Landlines cost too much; you should ditch yours. Here’s how to do that, save hundreds every year, and still get unlimited long distance calling from a familiar device: your current home phone. Monthly costs can add up to a lot over time, which is why it’s always a smart idea to see if tech knowledge can save you money. Landlines are a textbook case of this: they cost quite a bit on a regular basis, and are easily replaced with inexpensive or free VoIP alternatives. Let’s first take a look at how much clinging to your landline is costing you,...

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New Technology : It Doesn’t Matter If You’re Not On Facebook: They’re Still Tracking You

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A new report claims the social networking service is tracking people without their permission. It doesn’t matter if you don’t even use Facebook: they’re still watching you. Here’s what that means to you, and what you can do about it. Of course, Facebook’s privacy settings have been a worry since the site was set up in 2004, and frequent changes to your settings means there’s often a fresh new concern. But we do throw ourselves online with such enthusiasm! Photos, private messages, locations – many of us document our lives using Facebook and Twitter. You can even turn your tweets...

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New Technology : Free Online Dating Games That Are Actually Fun

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Video games are the biggest form of popular media to offer pure escapism. You want to be a rock god? There’s a game for you! You want to murder a bunch of people with no repercussions? Have a whole series of games! You want to fall in love and have a relationship? Of course there are dating games for that! Some of them are even good! “Dating game” is actually a very broad category. Looking into it is similar to walking into the romance section of a bookstore for the first time. I had no idea this much content existed....

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New Technology : How The Apple Watch Won Me Over

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I’ll be honest: I really didn’t want to like the Apple Watch. When Apple announced their latest gadget, I wasn’t entirely impressed and vowed not to spend my hard-earned money on yet another Apple product that I’d probably be bored with after a month or so. Subsequently, I ignored the hype, disregarded the reviews, and didn’t pre-order one for myself. I was determined not to fall into the trap of Apple’s Reality Distortion Field or succumb to the novelty that every new Apple product brings to the table. Obviously, I caved. It’s Not Just the Apple Watch, It’s All Smartwatches...

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New Technology : Photoshop for Photographers: 8 Free Lectures to Get You Started

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One brother tinkered on the Macintosh while the other dabbled in photography. Together, through a shared love for image processing, the Knoll brothers created the world’s most renowned image and photo editing software: Display. Born out of inspiration and developed by necessity, this program would go on to be nurtured by Adobe and rechristened as Adobe Photoshop. That baby is now 25 years old. Almost every field in the world – from forensic science to photography – has been radically impacted by its existence. Next to the camera, a licensed copy of Photoshop is an essential tool for photographers. Retouching photos is de rigueur for the...

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