New Technology : Geeky Online Ways to Collect and Spend Your Credit Card Reward Points

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Lots of credit cards offer a rewards system — spend some money, get some points. After a while of using your credit card(s), you’ve probably racked up quite a few points. You could always redeem them for cash back, or you could put them towards some stuff to make the geek in you happy. Here are a few geeky ways you can earn and spend your credit card points and be awesome. Get a Geeky Credit Card There are a few cool ways to earn some credit card points. First, try to sign up for a tech-oriented credit card if...

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New Technology : Migrate to Linux without Leaving Windows Behind with a Virtual Machine Conversion

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You can have the best of both worlds: run Linux and still have convenient access to your Windows-only applications. Better yet, instead of setting up a dual boot, you can merge the two by importing your current Windows installation with all its installed programs into a virtual machine running in Linux. How is this miracle possible? The answer to your prayers is VMware vCenter Converter, a tool that can convert Windows (and Linux) installations into virtual machines, which you can boot using the free virtual machine host VMware Player. Windows License Considerations The average Windows license is valid for one...

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New Technology : How To Make Quick Videos and GIF Animations Of Screencasts (And Why)

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If you write a blog or organize information for your company wiki, you no doubt need to take thousands of screenshots showing people how to do certain things on your computer. And one thing most people know from reading the sorts of documentation full of screenshots is this: It’s boring. Not only is it boring, but it doesn’t always fully explain the step to the reader. So, that makes using lots of screenshots both ineffective AND boring. Great. What’s Better Than Screenshots? GIFs (And Here’s Why) So how can we do better? Video screencasting is one. But when you start...

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New Technology : How to Set Live Wallpapers & Animated Desktop Backgrounds in Windows

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In the days of Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system, DreamScene made it possible to set animated backgrounds for your desktop. But eight years later, in Windows 10, this is not possible. Why has this type of customization taken a retrograde step over the past few years, and what can we do to change this? Live Wallpapers & Animated Backgrounds: Pros and Cons If you’ve used a live wallpaper on some other device (such as a smart TV, or an Android phone or tablet) then you’ll know that they make looking at a display more entertaining and interesting. Instead of a...

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New Technology : How Distributed Computing Will Transform MMOs

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Distributed computing has done some great things for science and technology: it’s used to predict climate change, work on aerospace engineering problems, the coding of genomes, and many more very processing-power-intensive tasks. Now, a new company called Improbable is exploring what this technology could do for the gaming world with distributed, dynamic, constantly updating virtual worlds—and it could change the way we play games. Worlds That Exist When You’re Not There In most video games, when you turn the game off, the world goes into stasis—nothing happens, because you’re not there to simulate it – the bits just sit in memory....

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New Technology : How to Find Emojis in Windows 10

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Mandarin, Spanish, and English are some of the most commonly spoken languages, but there’s perhaps only one that unites us all: the language of the emoji. The majority of us use them on our smartphones, but it’s possible to use them on the desktop, too. That’s because Windows 10 has built-in support for emojis. No longer do you have to express things through words; now you can drop in an eggplant, frog face, or pumpkin emoji with ease. Let’s find out how to enable and use them in Windows 10. After reading, please be sure to pop into the comments...

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New Technology : Mirror Your Android Screen to a PC or Mac Without Root

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Sometimes, you want to see your Android smartphone’s screen on your PC. How do you do that? Well, if you have a rooted smartphone, it’s easy. But if you haven’t rooted your device, there are still some simple ways to get your phone or tablet’s screen to show on your PC or Mac. Why mirror your screen? There are plenty of reasons. You might be a developer in the middle of coding and want to check your app without having to constantly reach for your phone. You might want to share your pictures on a big screen without uploading them....

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New Technology : How to Disable & Replace OneDrive in Windows 10

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One of the things that really bugs people about Microsoft is their penchant for installing software on their PCs that not everybody wants. OneDrive in Windows 10 and 8 is a good example. If you were to ask Microsoft, they would say that removing OneDrive is impossible. It’s seemingly attached to Windows 10 like a pair of over-protective Siamese twins, but many people have since proven that to be totally untrue. You CAN remove it if you want to, and a lot of people do want to, as bugs have been found which stop them from accessing their folders, as well as the whole smart...

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New Technology : What Security Software Should You Be Using in Windows 10?

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Windows 10 is here, bringing with it a ton of cool new features and a host of less-than-appreciated problems. While users will undoubtedly enjoy the first few weeks with their new system as they discover all the innovative tools and settings it offers – some things remain consistent and require immediate attention after upgrading. One of those things is security software. Relying on your old security software after upgrading could be a fatal decision, especially if your software of choice hasn’t been updated for the new operating system. Here we take a look at some of the best options that...

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New Technology : Apple Branded a Cult, Android Branded a Monopoly… [Tech News Digest]

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Apple is a cult, Android may be a monopoly, Facebook cares about refugees, Netflix knows when you get hooked, Mighty No. 9 has a new release date, and the 4K documentary shot on an iPhone 6s Plus. Apple Is a Cult, According to Historian In April, as part of the special April Fools’ Day edition of Tech News Digest, we joked that Apple had started its own religion. And it turns out we weren’t that wide of the mark. At least according to one cultural historian, university professor, and intellectual. According to Atlas Obscura, Erica Robles-Anderson said of Apple, “They...

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