New Technology : Want Your Favorite Android & iOS Apps to Run on Windows 10?

windows-10-android-ios

Microsoft has an app problem. It wasn’t always like that. Microsoft has always had the biggest operating system (OS). About ten years ago, it also had the biggest mobile computing platform. They didn’t need to court developers. There simply wasn’t much by way of alternatives. To be a developer was, essentially, to work within the Windows ecosystem. But then their mobile fortunes started to fade. Now they’re the third most popular mobile OS, with the moribund BlackBerry not trailing too far behind. Windows likewise is being usurped on the desktop by Apple and Google’s Chrome OS. This has resulted in developers...

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New Technology : Cut the Cord Forever With These 15 TV Streaming Channels

streaming-tv

I remember the late 1990’s well, when I ordered cable TV for the first time. It was one of those deals where they said they would be there “between 8.00am and 1.00pm”. By 6.00pm, they still hadn’t arrived, and when they finally turned up 2 days later, they screwed everything up. Back then, the cable TV companies had us by the short and curlies because they knew there was nowhere else for people to go for their TV entertainment. They would package up the good channels with 50 other totally crap ones (the “Watching Paint Dry!” channel), and then charge...

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New Technology : IBM Creates Neural Network Chip as Large as a Mouse Brain

mouse-network-chip

Neural networks can do some impressive things these days. They can describe images, translate speech, play videogames, and even have dreams. However, these networks are huge, and can be extremely slow to run. The DeepDream software, running on my desktop PC takes about ten minutes to process an image. When Google Now or Siri want to understand your speech, they have to stream the data off to a supercomputer elsewhere, producing a frustrating delay. It’ll be a long time before the processor in your phone is able to run these million-neuron networks at a reasonable speed. Given the impending slowdown...

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New Technology : The 4 Worst Arguments for Teaching Cursive in Schools

cursive

American schools are slowly phasing out cursive handwriting, which is an unambiguously good thing. Cursive is an archaic form of communication – one best left to history. To be clear, when I talk about “cursive handwriting” I speak mostly of the Palmer Method, a simplified form of script popularized in the early 20th century, designed specifically with speed in mind (in part to better compete with typewriters). This kind of writing is, in my humble opinion: Slower than typing. Harder to learn, and read, than print handwriting. Ugly, when compared to more stylized scripts. There’s literally no reason for schools...

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New Technology : Ashley Madison: What Happens Now We Know You’re A Cheater

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There’s this German word I love: Schadenfreude. It’s one of those weird words that doesn’t really have a direct English translation, but it roughly means taking joy at other people’s misfortune. It basically describes how I feel about what’s been happening to Ashley Madison recently. Ashley Madison, for those not in the know, is a dating site that focused on facilitating extra-marital affairs. It can be thought of as the Facebook of philandering, with over 37 million registered, adulterous users. As is so often the case with dating websites, the overwhelming majority of their subscribers (between 90 and 95 percent)...

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New Technology : The Most Relaxing Songs of All Time, According to Science

most-relaxing-songs

In 2011, a British band joined forces with a group of sound therapists to create “The Most Relaxing Tune Ever”. Yet since 2011 the world has somehow become more stressed out, strung-up, and on edge. It’s about time we revisited some of those more tranquilizing numbers. Can Music Really Help Us Relax? Since classical antiquity, when Apollo was the God of Music, people have held that music has the power to penetrate the soul. That its powers stretch further than the mere ability to vibrate our eardrums. That music can actually heal our mind, body, and soul. Whether or not you take this view, there’s...

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New Technology : How to Turn Any Website into an RSS Feed

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A Reader Asks: I’m trying to follow a website in Feedly, but there’s no RSS feed! Google Reader used to offer the ability to follow any kind of website, regardless of whether or not the site offered RSS. One of the websites that I’m trying to follow is Art Travel, but unfortunately, it doesn’t offer any kind of feed. I’ve tried several options, like creating a feed using an online service, such as Page2RSS (among several others). Most of these services don’t work or limit the number of times the service checks for new feed items. Also, the Feedly channel on If...

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New Technology : 5 Videos That Teach You How to Spot and Delete Malware

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If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a malware attack, you’ll know that it can be frustrating and time consuming to remove the infection and repair your system. Manual removal requires downloading a removal tool and booting into Safe Mode, and in extreme situations can require you to completely reinstall (or restore from a backup) your operating system. Not nice. While we would advise strongly in favor of a security suite that has the ability to scan for malware, not all suites are created equal. It’s easy to lapse and forget to run something like MalwareBytes Anti-malware, but even...

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New Technology : How to Set Up Android’s Priority Mode (and Get Back Silent Mode)

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Android Lollipop (including 5.0 and 5.1) has a new way to help you deal with interruptions. It’s called Priority Mode, which is like a gatekeeper for notifications. You tell it what to let through, and what to keep out. Here’s how to use it to limit distractions and get back the silent mode you had on your last version of Android. We’ve talked about some of Android Lollipop’s cool new features, but we didn’t mention Priority Mode then because it was a small thing. Additionally, we were on the fence about it since Google also did away with the traditional...

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New Technology : Are You Saving Enough for Retirement? Find Out With These 9 Tools

retirement-tools

Saving for retirement is one of the most important things you can do to improve your financial future—but how do you know if you’ve saved enough? If you started late, how much will you need to save each month? These 9 tools will help you set goals, put away money in a timely manner and, ultimately, retire on time. Retirement Calculators There’s no one-size-fits-all retirement calculator, as everyone has different goals, means, and strategies. However, there are a lot of calculators out there that will help you get a better idea of your current status when it comes to retirement savings. AARP...

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