Selasa, 25 Agustus 2015

How and Why to Encrypt Your Text Messages

How-To Geek Newsletter
Did You Know?

Brevard County, Florida has the telephone area code 321 (as in 3… 2… 1… blast off!), a direct nod to the presence of the John F. Kennedy Space Center located within the county.

Geek Trivia

Aztec Kings Wore Cloaks Made From What Unusual Material?
Asbestos Fibers →
Finely Woven Incan Gold →
The Old King's Skin →
Hummingbird Pelts →


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Thoughts from the Geek

Ralph Lauren’s ‘smart’ shirt is the ultimate preppy tech

At a preview event today in New York City, the lifestyle brand revealed pricing and availability for its long-in-the-works PoloTech apparel, made in collaboration with Montreal-based tech startup OmSignal. The “second-skin” fabric workout shirt has silver fibers woven directly into the fabric and a small, sensor-filled black box that snaps into the shirt near the rib cage, to track biometric stats like steps taken, heart rate, breathing depth, and energy exertion.

Fitness sensors are getting so advanced, small, and inexpensive that eventually we will probably have them in any piece of clothing we choose. Instead of wearing an ugly Fitbit on your wrist (face it, they are ugly), you could wear a smart belt or smart shirt, and not from some fashion clueless tech company either. Name brands like Ralph Lauren will line up to integrate smart components into their items and collect a premium price that isn’t based solely on fashion and a name.

What’s more important than the sensors themselves is the data collection platform. This is why Apple’s HealthKit and the competition from Microsoft and Google and Fitbit will be the real revolution. With millions of people hooked into sensors for everything from heart rate to blood sugar, big data platforms can learn important things about human health. People can opt into research studies that actually track their movement and every other piece of data. It’s a game changer.

Windows 10 users banned from torrenting by piracy sites because of worries that Microsoft spies on downloads

Users of Windows 10 are being banned from using certain torrents, after hardcore pirates have suggested that the operating system is sending private and identifying information back to Microsoft. Some hardcore piracy sites have banned users of the new operating system from using their trackers, meaning that torrents — the most popular way of pirating films, music and other media — won't work. While there doesn't seem to be any evidence for the most worrying claims, they have picked up momentum in the wake of genuine concerns that Windows 10 is spying on and tracking its users.

While most of these fears are a little ridiculous, we’ve already pointed out that there are at least 30 places that Windows is sending information back to Microsoft. We’re definitely in a different era — at this point you need to assume that everything you use is sending data back to somebody, and that includes your operating system.

If you’re really worried about privacy, it’s probably time to switch to Linux.

No, You Do Not Have to Drink 8 Glasses of Water a Day

If there is one health myth that will not die, it is this: You should drink eight glasses of water a day.It's just not true. There is no science behind it.

It’s shocking just how much of the common knowledge and pseudo-science around health is just flat out wrong, or worse, completely backwards. Low fat food? Yeah, it’s not good for you. Salt? Also not bad for youassuming some level of moderation. Gluten intolerance? Not a real thing, unless you have celiac disease. Remember how worried everybody was about cholesterol before finding out they didn’t know what they were talking about? Even worse is that this misinformation has made its way into our government regulations with terrible results.

Like everything in life, all things in moderation.


Geek Comic
2015-08-25-(painful-feedback)
Today's Tech Term

KVM Switch

A KVM Switch (short for Keyboard, Video, and Mouse Switch) is a hardware device that allows a single keyboard, video monitor, and mouse to connect to and control more than one computer.

What We're Reading from Around the Web

How to Enable and Disable Email Notifications in Windows 10

Windows 10 includes enhanced app notifications that can display on the start menu, in the Action Center, and even on a flyout above the Notification bar. The Mail app uses the Windows notification system to notify you of new emails.

Read This Article →


How and Why to Encrypt Your Text Messages

With the NSA peering into everyone’s pockets without permission, nosy siblings snooping through your message history while you’re away, and there has never been a better time to start encrypting your text messages than there is today.

Read This Article →


How to Disable the "Get Office" Notifications on Windows 10

Windows 10 doesn’t include Microsoft Office, but it does include regular advertisements encouraging you to download it. If you don’t want to get Office on your Windows 10 PC, you can prevent those notifications from bothering you.

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HTG Explains: What Networked Security Cameras Are (And How to Shop for Them)

Networked, or IP, security cameras are readily available and, with each new generation of products, increasingly sophisticated. Digging through the available options can be overwhelming though; read on as we walk you through the process with a handy security camera shopping checklist.

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How to Open 7z and Other Archive Files on OS X

OS X has the built-in ability to handle ZIP archives, but for other archive types like RAR, Stuffit, and especially 7-Zip, you’ll need add-on software. Luckily, there’s a free alternative in the App Store you can download that will do the trick just fine.

Read This Article →


Make the Windows 10 Start Menu and Cortana Search Google Instead of Bing

By default, when you search the web in Windows 10 using the new Search box on the Taskbar or using Cortana, you get results from Bing. However, if you prefer getting your search results from Google, there's a way to change this behavior.

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How to Install or Upgrade to Windows 10 on a Mac With Boot Camp

Apple now supports Windows 10 in Boot Camp. If you have Windows 7 or 8.1 installed on a Mac, you can take advantage of the free upgrade offer and get Windows 10. Just ensure you’ve updated your Apple software first.

Read This Article →


How to Upgrade a Linux Dual-Boot System to Windows 10

If you’re a Linux user, there’s a good chance you’ve installed Linux alongside an existing Windows 7 or 8.1 system in a dual-boot configuration. You can get the free Windows 10 upgrade without damaging your existing Linux system.

Read This Article →


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