New Technology : Here’s How Big Tech Could Subvert Democracy (If They Wanted To)

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Google’s (or is it Alphabet’s?) moto is “Don’t be evil”. For the most part, they’re pretty benign. But what if they weren’t? What if Google – or any major, powerful tech company for that matter – were capricious and malevolent, and wanted to change the course of an election for their own financial benefit?  What if they wanted to undermine our elections, and possibly even wrest control over our democracy? Well, here’s how they might do that. Hypothetically. Google: You Searched For “Bernie Sanders”. Did You Mean “Jeb Bush”? When you search Google, your query is passed into an algorithm that is...

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New Technology : Disable Java on Mac OS X for a Secure System

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While security is a common concern for Windows systems, most Mac users don’t have to worry about running an antivirus or enabling a firewall on OS X. However, this doesn’t mean that Macs are impenetrable. Java, a Web plug-in that was once ubiquitous but is dropping out of use in favor of HTML5, is still a valid security concern for Mac users. Chris explained why browser plug-ins are the worst security problems plaguing the Web today, and Java fits into that category perfectly. Let’s take a look at what Java is up to on OS X, and why you should chuck it...

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New Technology : 6 Tricks You Need To Know To Stay Safe Using Couchsurfing

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Do you use Couchsurfing, Hospitality Club or similar services to meet like-minded people when you travel? How do you stay safe when using these networks? Recent news reports about an American volunteer being bashed to death in Nepal by her Couchsurfing host have solo travelers — particularly women — worrying about their future plans. The 27-year-old teacher from Austin, Texas was killed for her iPhone and some money she’d taken out of an ATM. Many people have also brought up reports of an Italian man who raped a 16-year-old girl who was Couchsurfing, and possibly other people. Both cases are,...

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New Technology : How to Watch Live Broadcast TV Using Kodi and NextPVR

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Watch and record broadcast TV, free of charge, using your PC. It’s perfectly legal, and a free Windows program called NextPVR makes the process (relatively) simple. Broadcast TV stations would very much like you to pay them for their free services. They successfully sued to shut down Aereo, and regularly shake down satellite and cable TV companies for re-transmission rights – it’s one of the many forces driving up the cost of pay television right now. But here’s the crazy thing: despite basically forcing pay TV providers to pay for re-transmission rights, ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are all giving...

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New Technology : Now It’s THREE Pre-Installed Malwares on Lenovo Laptops

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Not again, Lenovo. Seriously? You guessed it. They’ve been caught shipping their customers computers laden with privacy-unfriendly malware, showing that they haven’t learned the lessons from the public outcry over Superfish. This particular piece of malware runs daily, and collects personal usage data, which is then surreptitiously forwarded to Omniture – an online marketing and web analytics firm that was acquired by Adobe in 2009. Bizarrely, this particular piece of malware found its way to Lenovo’s ThinkPad, ThinkCentre and ThinkStation PCs. These are the higher-end machines in Lenovo’s lineup, costing as much as an equivalent Apple Computer, and are aimed...

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New Technology : 8 Things You Can Do in Office That You Never Thought Of

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Microsoft Office 2013 takes itself too seriously. Relly. Earlier versions of the productivity suite had Easter eggs galore and no boss in the world could prevent you from wiling away for a few minutes. The Trustworthy Computing initiative sucked the fun out. Microsoft has sobered up. It’s time to get back to work and use the Office suite to supercharge our productivity. We have already taken a look at some weird things Excel can do but those wonderful “hacks” could be beyond the everyday user. So, let’s do some everyday things we have never thought of doing. Maybe, you haven’t...

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New Technology : Has The US Government Infiltrated The Debian Project? (No)

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Debian is one of the most popular Linux distributions. It’s solid, dependable, and compared to Arch and Gentoo, relatively easy for newcomers to grasp. Ubuntu is built upon it, and it’s often used to power the Raspberry Pi. It’s also alleged to be in the grasp of America’s intelligence apparatus, according to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Or is it?  Speaking at the 2014’s World Hosting Days conference, Julian Assange described how certain nation states (naming no names, cough America cough) have intentionally made certain Linux distributions insecure, in order to bring them under the control of their surveillance dragnet. You...

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New Technology : Free eBook: Lead With Humility: 12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis

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What makes a good leader? There’s a clear difference between someone who’s just a boss and someone who’s a leader. People follow a boss because they have to, but a leader compels people to follow them because they want to. Which would you rather be? Today, we’re looking at a free eBook that you can download until September 28 called “Lead With Humility: 12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis.” As the title implies, it will provide you with key techniques that you can use to be a better leader simply by being humble, as shown by the latest Pope. Just...

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New Technology : How to Choose the Perfect Home Theater LCD Projector

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For a lot of us, the term “projector” might evoke memories of classroom overhead projectors, slide projectors, and primitive digital projectors with the poorest of image qualities. But technology has advanced and LCD projectors are now a key component in most home media theaters. The primary benefit of an LCD projector is the ability to deliver tack-sharp, high-detail images with better color saturation than projectors of another type (e.g. DLP projectors). LCD projectors are also more energy efficient so they require less wattage at any given brightness. That being said, there are some nuanced considerations to make before diving in...

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New Technology : 7 Best Free Weather Apps for Android

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John Ruskin, one of the most famous art critics of Victorian England, once said “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather”. Unfortunately, if you’re stuck waiting for a bus that’s half an hour late on a wet and cold December morning, you’ll probably disagree. Thankfully, weather forecasting has improved immeasurably over the last 20 years. Check out our list of the best seven weather apps for Android and find out whether you need to take your umbrella or beach...

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