Specializing in Computer Repair, Networking, Internet Solutions, Web Designing, Hybrid App Designing and Windows Operating systems.
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
As Verizon sells off MapQuest for a pittance, a look at the long, slow decline of the once dominant online mapping site which AOL bought for $1.1B in 2000 — Once the dominant mapping site, the decline of Mapquest is a story of disruptive competition and corporate complacency.
Where Did IBM’s Super Computer Watson Learn To Swear? |
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FinSMEs:
Edify Labs, which provides software to manage customer engagement and cross-team collaboration, raises $10M seed led by First Round Capital — Edify Labs, a Carmel, Indiana-based provider of a software platform for businesses to manage customer engagement and cross-team collaboration, closed a $10m seed funding.
Duncan Riley / SiliconANGLE:
Cybersecurity startup Kenna Security raises $48M Series D led by Sorenson Capital and Citi Ventures, bringing total raised to ~$98M — Risk-based vulnerability cybersecurity startup Kenna Security Inc. today said it has raised $48 million in new funding to accelerate its international expansion and drive product development.
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Geospatial tech startup SenSat, which uses AI to create digital representations of real-world locations, raises $10M Series A led by Tencent — SenSat, a geospatial technology startup that digitizes real-world places for infrastructure projects, has raised $10 million in a series A round …
Natalie Novick / Tech.eu:
France-based AnotherBrain, developer of AI software that costs less and uses less energy by not relying on big data sets, raises €19M Series A — Deep learning company AnotherBrain has announced the first closing of their Series A, to the tune of €19 million.
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
Spain-based payments startup Bnext raises $25M Series A, plans to expand to Mexico later this year — Fintech startup Bnext has raised a $25 million funding round. The Spanish company is building a banking product and has managed to attract 300,000 active users.
Andreessen Horowitz:
A look at the history of open source as the big VC raises and multi-billion dollar exits for open source software startups become the norm — Editor's Note: The open source software (OSS) movement has created some of our most important and widely used technologies, including operating systems, web browsers, and databases.
Several months back, we invited HTC cofounder and CEO Cher Wang to appear on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt. Sometimes, however, life happens. Two weeks ago, the company announced that Wang would be stepping down from the role, which would immediately be filled by longtime telecom vet, Yves Maitres. Thankfully, the former Orange exec also agreed to appear on stage at this week’s event.
Maitres took the stage immediately following a one on one with OnePlus cofounder, Carl Pei. The contrast of the two companies couldn’t be more stark. In six short years of existence, OnePlus has managed to buck a number of industry trends with a controlled growth that flies in the face of wider industry smartphone trends.
HTC, meanwhile, has been struggling for years. In Q2, the Taiwanese hardware maker posted its fifth consecutive quarterly loss. Last July, it laid off around a quarter of its staff. It’s been a precipitous fall. In 2011, the company comprised around 11 percent of global smartphone sales, per analyst figures. Now its figures are routinely classified among the “Others” in those reports.
Speaking to Maitres at an event such as this offers a rare opportunity for insight from a newly minted exec who has spent years watching his new company from the outside. As such, he addressed HTC’s struggles with a refreshing candidness.
“HTC has stopped innovating in the hardware of the smartphone,” he told the audience. “And people like Apple, like Samsung and, most recently, Huawei, have done an incredible job investing in their hardware. We didn’t, because we have been investing in innovation on virtual reality. When I was young, somebody told me, ‘to be be right at the wrong time is to be wrong and to be wrong at the right time is right.’ I think we’ve been right at the wrong time and now we have to catch up. We made a timing mistake. It is very difficult to anticipate the time. HTC made a mistake in terms of timing. It is a difficult mistake and we are paying for that, but we still have so many assets in terms of innovation, team and balance sheets that I feel we are recovering from the timing mistake.”
‘Timing,’ here, is primarily a reference to the company’s decision to move much of its R&D money into XR (primarily VR through its Vive wing). Maitres said he anticipates that HTC’s XR offerings will overtake the mobile side in about five years.
“We’ll do our best to make it shorter, but customer adoption is key,” he explained. “How people are adopting your technology. And we all know know it is absolutely critical. And the end of the day, we have human beings in front of us, and they’re dealing with something total new and totally unusual, which is virtual.”
On the mobile side, Maitres sees 5G as the primary bottleneck to growth. Contrary to suggestions that the company’s best play is in developing nations, he says HTC’s play going forward will be more premium handset focused on “countries with higher GDP.”
“The competition is changing,” he says. “We’re all having a situation where worldwide marketshare is going down and the customer is disappointed in not being to have the latest Huawei phone anymore. How to give our customers the ability to come back to what they wish, in terms of best in class hardware and photography that HTC to will to solve in the next few months.”
While figures will largely be dependent on decisions Brough to HTC’s board, Maitres maintains optimistic projections when it comes to returning the company profitability.
“I truly believe that it is going to depend on the way carriers deploy 5G,” he says. “And you know that 2020 will bee the starting point for 5G. Usually it takes two years to deploy a network. So 2023 will have significant coverage. That’s why I believe that 2025, probably even earlier will be the turning point. We are dependent on carrier deployment speed.”
If you want to set your movie or game on the Moon, it’s not hard to find imagery of our photogenic satellite. But NASA has just released a useful and beautiful new set of data just for creators that includes not just imagery but depth data, making it simple to build an incredibly detailed 3D map of the Moon.
The CGI Moon Kit comes from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where science visualization expert Ernie Wright found that data he had assembled for other purposes was proving popular with 3D artists.
The data came from two instruments on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft that has been in orbit around the Moon for more than a decade, snapping pictures and taking measurements the whole time.
A close-up of some of the lunar imagery — not nearly as high-resolution as it gets, though.
On board the LRO is a high-quality “traditional” camera (really a sophisticated multispectral imager), which it has been using to build an amazingly high-quality map of the lunar surface. It can only capture a small portion at a time, but it does so constantly and as its orbit has shifted, it has captured pretty much the entire visible area of the Moon, though some shadowy regions can’t be imaged even after passing over them thousands of times.
Great photographs are only one part of a map, though. If you really want to recreate the surface of the Moon you need information on the topology of its surface as well. And that’s what the LRO’s laser altimeter has been collecting.
The laser altimeter works like any typical orbital laser ranger you have around the house. It sends a pulsed laser towards the surface and tracks both how long it takes to come back and how strong it is. These tell the device how far away the surface is (and therefore its altitude) down to half a meter, and what that surface is like, for instance a hard rocky structure or soft powdered regolith.
That data is assembled into what’s called a displacement map, sort of like a topographic map where instead of the height actually changing, the color does. There are a couple varieties of this map, but the basic use case is the same: You overlay the displacement map on the photographic map, then wrap it all around a sphere — and you’ve got a virtual topographic globe.
Here’s a slower version of the GIF you see above.
This would be really interesting to explore in first person in a game where you build a lunar colony, or maybe have dogfights in spacecraft above a realistic lunar surface. Or maybe an artist could use it to create a model of the Moon like this one.
The CGI Moon Kit is free to download and all the assets are available with a few options that 3D artists will probably understand. You can learn more about it and get it here.
Li Yuan / New York Times:
How China is using social media and films to stir patriotism and get communist party propaganda enthusiastically embraced by young people — Leveraging celebrities, the know-how of tech companies and images built for social media, the Communist Party can effectively stir patriotism among the youth.
Your Mac desktop’s Finder app is a hub of constant activity. You use the app, for starters, to install and launch apps, preview files, organize, back up and share your data.
Given that Finder comes in handy in so many ways, learning how to navigate it faster is sure to boost your productivity. And that’s where this cheat sheet comes in. It shows you how to take care of various Finder tasks mostly without taking your hands of the keyboard.
If you’re new to Finder, take a detour through our Finder tips for macOS newbies and top tips for using Finder efficiently before you explore the shortcuts below.
FREE DOWNLOAD: This cheat sheet is available as a downloadable PDF from our distribution partner, TradePub. You will have to complete a short form to access it for the first time only. Download Finder Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet for Mac.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Basic Finder Actions | |
| Cmd + N | Open new window |
| Cmd + T | Open new tab |
| Cmd + W | Close active window OR ¹Close active tab |
| Shift + Cmd + W | ¹Close active window |
| Option + Cmd + W | Close all windows OR ¹Close all tabs except the active tab |
| Option + Shift + Cmd + W | ¹Close all windows |
| Cmd + O | Open selected item(s) |
| Option + Cmd + O | Open selected item(s) and close active window or ¹active tab |
| Shift + Cmd + N | Create new folder |
| Control + Cmd + N | Create new folder and move selected item to it |
| Cmd + I | Show Get Info pane for selected item(s) |
| Option + Cmd + I | Show Inspector pane for selected item(s) |
| Cmd + P | Open selected file for printing |
| Enter | Rename selected item |
| Cmd + C | Copy selected item(s) to clipboard |
| Option + Cmd + C | ²Copy pathname of selected item to clipboard |
| Cmd V | Paste item(s) from clipboard |
| Option + Cmd + V | Move selected item(s) to active location i.e. cut-paste item(s) |
| Cmd + Z | Undo last action |
| Shift + Cmd + Z | Reverse “Undo action” |
| Cmd + D | Duplicated selected item(s) |
| Control + Cmd + A | Create alias for selected item(s) |
| Option+ Control + Cmd + A | Locate original item for selected alias(es) |
| ³Space | Open Quick Look preview of selected item(s) |
| ³Cmd + Y | Open Quick Look preview of selected item(s) |
| ³Option + Cmd + Y | Open slideshow or fullscreen Quick Look preview of selected item(s) |
| Control + Cmd + T | Add sidebar shortcuts for selected item(s) |
| Control + Shift + Cmd + T | Add selected item(s) to Dock |
| Cmd + Delete | Move selected item(s) to Trash |
| Option + Cmd + Delete | Delete selected item(s) immediately |
| Shift + Cmd + Delete | Empty Trash |
| Option + Shift + Cmd + Delete | Empty Trash immediately i.e. without warning dialog |
| Cmd + E | Eject the selected disk or volume |
| Cmd + F | Open a Finder search window (search bar is activated automatically) |
| Option + Cmd + Space | Open a Finder search window even when Finder is not active |
| View and Sort Options | |
| Cmd + 1 | Switch to Icon view |
| Cmd + 2 | Switch to List view |
| Cmd + 3 | Switch to Column view |
| Cmd + 4 | Switch to Gallery view |
| Control + Cmd + 0 | ⁴Sort items into Groups |
| Control + Option + Cmd + 0 | Sort items by None |
| Control + Option + Cmd + 1 | Sort items by Name |
| Control + Option + Cmd + 2 | Sort items by Kind |
| Control + Option + Cmd + 3 | Sort items by Date Last Opened |
| Control + Option + Cmd + 4 | Sort items by Date Added |
| Control + Option + Cmd + 5 | Sort items by Modified |
| Control + Option + Cmd + 6 | Sort items by Size |
| Control + Option + Cmd + 7 | Sort items by Tags |
| Option + Cmd + 1 | Clean up items by Name |
| Option + Cmd + 2 | Clean up items by Kind |
| Option + Cmd + 5 | Clean up items by Date Modified |
| Option + Cmd + 6 | Clean up items by Size |
| Option + Cmd + 7 | Clean up items by Tags |
| Option + Cmd + S | Toggle sidebar |
| Option + Cmd + T | Toggle toolbar and sidebar |
| Shift + Cmd + T | Toggle tab bar |
| Option + Cmd + P | Toggle path bar |
| Shift + Cmd + P | Toggle Preview sidebar |
| Cmd + / (Forward slash) | Toggle status bar |
| Cmd + J | Show View options for active folder |
| Shift + Cmd + . (Period) | Toggle visibility of hidden files |
| Up Arrow | Icon View, Gallery View: Select last item |
| List View: Select item above | |
| Column View: Select last item if no item selected, otherwise select item above | |
| Down Arrow | Icon View, Gallery View: Select first item |
| List View: Select item below | |
| Column View: Select first item if no item selected, otherwise select item below | |
| Left Arrow | Icon View: Select item on the left |
| List View: Collapse folder | |
| Column View: Select parent folder | |
| Gallery View: Select last item if no item selected, otherwise select first item on the left | |
| Right Arrow | Icon View: Select item on the right |
| List View: Expand folder | |
| Column View: Select child item | |
| Gallery View: Select first item if no item selected, otherwise select first item on the right | |
| Tab | Icon, List, and Gallery View: Cycle through items in the forward direction |
| Shift + Tab | Icon, List, and Gallery View: Cycle through items in the backward direction |
| Cmd + Up Arrow | Open enclosing (parent) folder |
| Cmd + Down Arrow | Select first item or open selected item(s) |
| ⁵Cmd + [ | Go one step backward |
| ⁵Cmd + ] | Go one step forward |
| Accessing Standard Finder Locations | |
| Shift + Cmd + F | Open Recents window |
| Shift + Cmd + O | Open Documents folder |
| Shift + Cmd + D | Open Desktop folder |
| Option + Cmd + L | Open Downloads folder |
| Shift + Cmd + H | Open Home folder of current user account |
| Shift + Cmd + C | Open Computer window |
| Shift + Cmd + R | Open AirDrop window |
| Shift + Cmd + K | Open Network window |
| Shift + Cmd + I | Open iCloud Drive |
| Shift + Cmd + A | Open Applications folder |
| Shift + Cmd + U | Open Utilities folder |
| Shift + Cmd + G | Open dialog to jump to folder using pathname |
| Cmd + K | Open Connect to Server utility |
| Cmd + , (Comma) | Open Finder preferences |
| Window Management | |
| Cmd + M | Minimize active window |
| Option + Cmd + M | Minimize all windows |
| Cmd + ` (Backquote) | Cycle through (unminimized) windows |
| Cmd + H | Hide Finder |
| Option + Cmd + H | Hide all apps except Finder |
| Cmd + Q | Quit Finder |
| Mouse-Based Shortcuts | |
| Cmd-Click | Open sidebar item in new tab or window |
| Cmd-Drag Toolbar/Sidebar Item | Add item to or move/remove item from toolbar/sidebar |
| Cmd-Drag File/Folder | To toolbar/sidebar: Add a shortcut |
| To any location on disk: Move item there | |
| Esc | Cancel drag-and-drop action midway |
| Double-click divider in Column View | Resize corresponding column to fit item with longest name |
| Option + Double-Click divider in Column View | Resize all columns to fit items with the longest name in each |
| Option-Drag divider in Column View | Resize columns equally |
| Option-Click Go Menu | Reveal link to Library folder |
| ¹When window has multiple tabs ²If multiple items are selected, pathname of first item will be copied. ³If no item selected, preview parent folder with Quick Look. ⁴Does not work in Gallery View. ⁵Based on tab/window history |
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Our Finder tips don’t end here. We can also help you find your files quicker with tags, complete various macOS tasks with Finder’s Quick Actions, and discover hidden features.
Speaking of hidden features, did you notice that many of the keyboard shortcuts above are secret Option key shortcuts?
Image Credit: Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash
Read the full article: The Finder Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet for Mac
Here’s your chance to learn, in plain English, the computer hacking tricks and techniques you can use to assess the security of your information systems, find their vulnerabilities, and fix the weaknesses before criminal hackers and malicious insiders take advantage of them.
The kind of hacking this ebook covers is the professional, legal type of security testing, otherwise known as “ethical hacking”, or “penetration testing”.
The skills that you will learn in Hacking for Dummies are necessary to find security flaws and to validate that your information systems are truly secure on an ongoing basis.
By the end of this free ebook, you will be able to successfully implement a security assessment program, perform proper security checks, and put the proper countermeasures in place to keep external hackers and malicious users in check.
Inside this free copy of Hacking for Dummies, among other things you will:
Want in? Simply click here to download Hacking for Dummies from TradePub. You will have to complete a short form to access the ebook, but it’s well worth it!
This free offer expires on 15 October 2019.
Read the full article: Claim Your FREE Copy of Hacking for Dummies (Worth $30)
Stephen Armstrong / WIRED UK:
Google's Stadia execs talk about plans for the service, including tackling latency issues, building an exclusive content library, and an internal game studio — Google Stadia promises console-free gaming where you can hop from watching to playing to streaming with just one click - but can it convince both developers and gamers?
Tripp Mickle / Wall Street Journal:
How Tim Cook is cultivating a relationship with Donald Trump and advocates for Apple's interests, while avoiding public backlash from employees and customers — Apple CEO advocates for his company's interests while avoiding a backlash from either employees or the president
Louise Matsakis / Wired:
Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok doesn't timestamp user uploads, frustrating some creators, but making it possible for months-old content to go viral — The popular app doesn't tell users when a video was posted. Creators say that makes it easier to steal content—but there are also upsides to forgetting what day it is.
If you take your pumpkin carving seriously, there’s a good chance you want to make sure your masterpiece-in-gourd lasts as long as possible. Here’s how to do that.
When you work with a pumpkin as your canvas, you don’t have the benefit of inert material or time on your side. From the moment you pluck the ole pumpkin off the vine at the pumpkin patch, your orange friend is on his way to the great compost pile. But with a little creativity (and mostly extra work) you can make your Halloween masterpiece last as long as possible.
Let’s take a look at all the ways you can extend its jack-o’-lantern smile.
Hey, we get it—you’re super excited about Halloween and can’t wait to get carving. But the fewer days your pumpkin is carved and exposed to the elements, the fresher it will look on Halloween.
If you want to skip all the other steps, just wait to carve your pumpkin the night before and simply let nature takes its course. After all, there’s no need for preservation tricks when the use window is only 24 to 48 hours.
But let’s get real; given you’re reading this article, there’s a good chance you’re the kind of person who can’t possibly wait until the night before to carve your pumpkins. You want to bask in all things Halloween for the entire month of October.
Think back to Halloweens past, and the horror of discovering your artfully carved pumpkin is barely limping along. What stands out? Most likely, the mold gracing your jack-o’-lantern’s toothy grin.
A pumpkin is organic, and you have to protect it from the constant attacks of microscopic invaders. You can fight back at several stages of the process with bleach.
After you open the pumpkin and scoop out all the seeds (put them aside if you’d like to turn them into a tasty treat), clean the interior of the pumpkin thoroughly with a spoon or rounded tool. Scrape out all the seeds, stringy bits, and other pumpkin guts until you have a smooth, interior surface. The less surface area there is for mold to attack, the better.
It’s hard to find things to do with your kids, especially if they spend their afternoons playing on phones and tablets. But it turns out that some mobile games can actually bring your family together for outdoor adventures.
Most fun family games utilize augmented reality (AR) to build a fun gaming environment. In other words, they use the real world (through your phone’s camera, GPS, etc.) as a canvas for exploring, collecting, or solving puzzles. Many of these games are built specifically with families in mind, and they’re all free, so you don’t have to worry about paying out the nose to try a game that won’t be any fun.
Pokemon GO is one of the best (and most well-known) mobile games for families. You and your kids can spend time catching and training Pokemon in parks, suburban streets, or parking lots. And don’t worry, Pokemon GO is super accessible, even if you’ve never played a Pokemon game in your life (that’s why you see grown adults playing it alone in public).
“But wait,” you might say, “didn’t Pokemon GO come out a few years ago?” You’re not wrong, but the game’s actually better than ever. Niantic regularly updates Pokemon GO with new events, challenges, and features (like Pokemon battles), so it’s never too late to join the fun.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is basically a Harry Potter version of Pokemon Go. You can your kids can join a Hogwarts class, master spells, and go around town to explore famous locations from the Harry Potter series.
Wizards Unite may be more accessible to adults than Pokemon GO, and the game is regularly updated with new features, spells, and wizardry collectibles. It’s also a great way to introduce your kid to the Harry Potter books, which can turn into a great educational opportunity.
Geocaching has been popular for the past 20 years, and the game is easier to get into than ever before. It’s essentially a worldwide treasure hunt. Geocachers leave notes, trinkets, or toys in secret spots, and it’s up to you to find the hidden treasure (and plant some of your own).
You used to need special equipment to Geocache. But with the Geocaching app, anybody can get into Geocaching. Just follow the GPS instructions, and you’re good to go!
Angry Birds AR brings the popular Angry Birds characters to the real world. As you might expect, it’s an AR version of the regular Angry Birds game. You get to knock down structures, fight pigs, and save eggs in 3D.
