Thursday, November 12, 2015

Firefox for iOS Day 1 Review

from mozilla.com

   A new browser for iOS has been unveiled, surprisingly from Mozilla. A year or two ago, they said that they would not bring Firefox to iOS, saying "We refuse’ to bring Firefox to iOS until Apple lets us use our web engine" back in April of 2013. Alas, Apple still refused to allow their web engine to be brought to the platform and Mozilla made the browser anyway. Here are my thoughts.

   After a day of using it heavily as my main browser, it was surprisingly disappointing. It is just ugly in my opinion and does not look much like the desktop counterpart. The animations became choppy in some cases and it was just slower than Safari. I was hoping more settings and possible add-ons would make this browser the best, about the same reasons as why I use it on the desktop. I could possibly see this as the best browser if I used Firefox on every platform, as it integrates Firefox sync which I found very useful. It remembers your passwords like Safari and iCloud, but I found the latter much quicker and more useful than Firefox's function. I am deeply integrated within iCloud, with hundreds of passwords and contacts that just sync between each device, which makes this browser hard to justify. I like how well it works with my history and passwords from my Windows devices, but I don't feel that it works well on iOS because of how it feels like a sandbox. It is not connected to any other service besides itself. I cannot search for links with Siri on it, define or search the page for a word, or use Open In... functions without opening in Safari first. Open in desktop mode is not an option, and it does not feel finished.

   My last thoughts are that Firefox for iOS has potential, but it is too new and lacks too many essential features for me to justify switching from Safari or Chrome.
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Monday, August 24, 2015

Windows 10 ISO Files from Microsoft




Loads of sources claim the only way to get the official ISO is through the Download Tool, which is what I had previously thought as well. Now I know that their is an official direct download to the ISO files, which each also double as both Home and Pro versions, I decided I had to make it known. Above are some images of the site, but if you would like to check it out for yourself, go ahead with the link provided below.

If you want Build 10525, the latest Windows Technical Preview build, see here Winareo.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/techbench
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Stop Windows 10 From Spying On You

 

Ever since Windows 10 has been released, the news has been either praising it or talking about how much information it collects. Most people are unnerved when they hear about what is going on behind the scenes and don't want to update because of the spying. I've found a piece of freeware to end the spying and get the new OS back to yourself.

Before you continue, I recommend reading The Verge Forum's piece on Windows, Privacy, and You.

 Once you download with the button provided below, unzip it and run the program. It is a portable .exe, so you don't have to worry about installing anything. The program will give you a list of switches. If it is red, that means it is at it's default setting, but if you would like you can change whatever you want. Once you click on a switch, it will go green and signal you that the change has been made. If it notifies you that it would like to make a system restore point, hit YES just in case anything goes wrong. You are free to play around with the settings until you have changed everything you needed. The program can be deleted right away, but I recommend keeping it in case you need to revert or change a setting.






 
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Saturday, August 15, 2015

Get Windows 10 Now



Windows 10 is the best OS (in my opinion) avaliable right now. Why wait for the Windows Update tool or download sketchy programs to initiate your update? Instantly get access to the latest and greatest with Microsoft's all-in-one tools.

Upgrade Options:

Note from Microsoft:

If you want to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, select Upgrade this PC now in the tool.

Download Windows 10 Upgrade/ISO Creation Tool

Download Tool Now (64-bit) (Recommended)
Download Tool Now (32-bit)

Installation Instructions with an ISO:

  1. If you would like to get a disk image, select Create installation media for another PC.
  2. From there, select your language, Windows 10 edition, and then the architecture. (Select Both if you are unsure what it means).
  3. Download the Windows USB/DVD Download Tool and select the ISO and then your CD or USB drive.
  4. It will run and place the ISO to your USB/DVD and creates an installation USB.
  5. Select the device in the boot menu when booting up your computer.
  6. Choose Upgrade or Custom. If you are doing a fresh install, choose custom, select a drive, and get your product key ready to type or skip the step until you're connect to the internet.
  7. Once the install/upgrade is complete, boot into your PC and start using Windows 10.



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Saturday, May 23, 2015

USB-C: What Follows

Originally posted on: March 13, 2015 at 4:03 PM

The 2-meter USB-C Charge Cable from Apple is a new charging cable with USB-C connectors on both ends. 
A simple explanation on USB 3.1 with the USB-C connecter would be that the transfer and data speeds will increase significantly. Within 5 years, I expect the adoption of this new port to increase with the growth of devices that support this system. It can output your display, power your device, transfer files, and do about everything it used to take several ports to do. The downside is that with new devices such as the Macbook and Chromebook Pixel that only have one port of USB-C, you will need an extender or USB-C dock. Since the design for USB-C was only finalized earlier this month, the adoption is expected to take off once enough of these cords are brought into the consumers homes and hands.

This port is designed to be a do-all port for:
  • Charging (similar to the previous USB devices) 
  • Outputting media (a replacement to HDMI and VGA) 
  • Transferring files (similar to the previous USB devices.) 
  • Receiving internet (an alternative to ethernet) 
USB 3.1 type-C devices also support power currents of 1.5 A and 3.0 A over the 5 V power bus in addition to baseline 900 mA; devices can either negotiate increased USB current through the configuration line. The USB 3.1 is backward compatible with the previous USB 3 and 2 devices. Adapters are necessary to transfer files with previous USB devices, but the transfer works and charging functions as well with an adapter. Unlike many of the previous devices from Apple, this technology is avaliable openly to other companies and you may be able to expect many Android phones to use this port. I doubt the iPhone will use it due to the progressive movement to make the phone thinner, and the new port is slightly larger than the "Lightning" charging port. On mobile phones in the future, smaller versions of this USB 3.1 connector are expected to be expanded upon and change the way our devices are connected forever. I wouldn't get to giddy about the prospect that all the devices in the world will be inter-connected by one cable just yet, but in the early days of this new technology I can see the adoption being widespread.

FROM WIKIPEDIA - LINK
The USB Type-C Specification 1.0 defines a new small reversible-plug connector for USB 3.1 devices. The type-C plug will be used at both host and device side, replacing multiple type-B and type-A connectors and cables with a future-proof standard similar to Apple Lightning and Thunderbolt. The 24-pin double-sided connector provides four power/ground pairs, two differential pairs for USB 2.0 data bus (though only one pair is implemented in a type-C cable), four pairs for high-speed data bus, two "sideband use" pins, and two configuration pins for cable orientation detection, dedicated biphase mark code (BMC) configuration data channel, and VCONN +5 V power for active cables.Type-A and type-B adaptors/cables will be required for legacy devices in order to plug into type-C hosts, however adaptors/cables with a type-C receptacle are not allowed.
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Thursday, March 12, 2015

iOS 8.3 Public Beta



A public beta for Mac OS X Yosemite and iOS 8.3 has been placed in the hands of the general public. Check out the download at their official website and I'll update this post once more on the topic is shown, as for now I haven't been able to access the website. Best of luck to all those who wish to try out the multi-cultural emojis!
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Saturday, February 28, 2015

Why Doctor Who is Still Around

WHY IS DOCTOR WHO STILL AROUND?

Why the cult-classic was rebooted & how it will last another 50 years.

A few obvious reasons for this show's survival can be described in a range from the phenomenon of popularity, the mainstream attention by BBC, or a whole list of merchandise and easy identifiable characters that are easy to sell to an audience.

BBC is the dominant news provider and controller of TV in the UK, which makes it easy to show a new series off to a large audience. The first episode of Doctor Who was back in 1963, which can make heads turn when you think about it being over 50+ years old and stories are still be developed for it. The accessibility of the show has increased it's likelihood of running another 50 years, such as being on Netflix, the BBC iPlayer in the UK, and Hulu. The show has social media accounts and markets dedicated to it, making a huge socially. A dedicated fan base still follows the show. Merchandise is easy to sell due to the many iconic characters, catchphrases, and props in the show. Even if it was isolated to the UK, similar to early Doctor Who, the following is grand enough to provide plenty of money and independent projects for it go up all the time. Two examples:

http://www.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/ and http://whoviannet.co.uk/

It wouldn't be hard to think of another 50 years with the show if the BBC kept it's dominance over British airways and with the hope that the interest in the show won't waver in the following years.
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