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France: Windows 10 collects 'excessive personal data', issues Microsoft with formal warning After accusations that Windows 10 collects too much data about users, France's National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) has order Microsoft to comply with the French Data Protection Act within three months. The company has been ordered to "stop collecting excessive data and tracking browsing by users without their consent". In addition to this, the chair of CNIL has notified Microsoft that it needs to take "satisfactory measures to ensure the security and confidentiality of user data". The notice comes after numerous complaints about Windows 10, and a series...

When I was younger and worked part-time, I would always start ‘Creating Christmas’ in July. I made a lot of my gifts back then, and would start work on them and on planning food and decor, in Summer; and by the end of September almost everything except cooking and decorating the house was finished, and many recipes and notes were saved/jotted-down for cooking, decorating and shopping. It made for much more leisurely holidays than I’ve enjoyed in recent years, and I’m trying this year to get back to handling things that way again. A while back I bought a gadget...

George Olsen & His Music "Savage Serenade" on Columbia 2810-D, recorded on Sept. 7, 1933

Authorities say a Florida man fired shots at two late-night “Pokémon Gō” players in a car outside his house but no one was injured. Flagler County Sheriff’s Office spokesman James Troiano says in a news release that the homeowner awoke to a noise outside about 1:30 a.m. Saturday and saw a car sitting in the road in front of his house. He told authorities he got a handgun and approached the vehicle. …

All that nagware hasn't worked When Windows 10 launched, Microsoft claimed it would have the new operating system on a billion devices by mid-2018. That isn't going to happen, however, Redmond has now admitted. For the past year, Microsoft has offered the new OS as a free upgrade for both desktop and mobile users (provided the phone can handle it in the latter case), and has been pushing it for Internet of Things makers. However, so far the OS is only on 350 million monthly active devices, and Redmond says it needs more time to hit ten figures. "We're pleased...

A Chevy Impala that defines “Muscle car”

"Hi Chuck" I have a problem with bicycles. Instead of a 12-step program I had 12 bikes. Some of them are gone now, I'm down to 8.

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I know that there are a fair number of hams (amateur radio operators) that are Freepers. We are "represented" by the American Radio Relay League. The ARRL was founded in 1914 and is supposed to be representing the interests of the American ham radio community. Unfortunately, as is the case with many organizations, it has lost its way and has become a secretive club with its own agenda. It needs to be reformed. A set of recent unfortunate incidents have proven to the be the breaking point for many active hams. A petition to reform the ARRL has been launched....

Microsoft's bold claims about Edge turn out to be true. If you want to watch true 1080p content on Netflix over your PC, you need to use Microsoft’s Edge browser. On Wednesday, Microsoft claimed that its Edge browser was the only one of the big four browsers—which also includes Chrome, Firefox, and Opera—to offer 1080p resolution while playing Netflix content. A quick test of all four browsers by PCWorld proved this claim to be true, with the other three browsers capped at 720p. Why this matters: Microsoft’s been busy trying to rehabilitate the reputation of Edge, which suffered after the...

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Arlington National Cemetery, both in Washington, DC area, have both issued appeals for players to avoid hunting Pokemon on their sites. "Playing Pokemon Go in a memorial dedicated to the victims of Nazism is extremely inappropriate," said Andy Hollinger, director of communications at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., in a statement sent to CNNMoney. "We are attempting to have the Museum removed from the game," the statement said. Arlington, the burial ground for the nation's war dead, tweeted out a somber request: "We do not consider playing 'Pokemon Go'...

The "hand bra," "hair bra," and likely even the Victoria Secret bra have taken a backseat to a new social media trend some women who fish have indirectly started — the fish bra. The latest trend has garnered enough photos to start a growing Instagram album, @Fishbras, of women posing with fish in a manner that covers the woman's breasts with her respective catch.

When we were married, one of our wedding gifts was a beautiful, copper ‘beehive’ Oster blender. (I was collecting 'everything copper' back then, and my copper Oster toaster is still going strong, and will probably last my lifetime.) The blender has also been a great tool and lasted a long time, but has been on its last legs recently; and my husband decided a while back that he wanted a Breville as soon as we were ready to budget it. (I think he had seen it highly rated by America’s Test Kitchen.) We happened to be in an ‘off-price’ department...

Want to use Nano Server? Software Assurance is non-optional Microsoft has released details of how Windows Server 2016 will be released and maintained, and as with Windows 10 it includes a "Windows as a service" model of frequent operating system updates. Windows Server 2016 will be launched at the company's Ignite conference, which runs from September 26 to 30 in Atlanta, Georgia. As with the current release, there will be three editions: Datacenter, Standard and Essentials. Several things are new, though. One is that Windows Server 2016 will be priced and licensed per core, rather than per physical processor. Another...

Microsoft security bulletins are released on the second Tuesday of each month.

Microsoft says Windows 10 is fresh yet familiar, which is a nice way of saying it's a do-over for people who didn't like Windows 8. But what an impressive do-over it is. In fact, Windows 10 surpasses Apple's upcoming OS X El Capitan in some key areas, like multitasking and personal assistance. It's not that El Capitan isn't a worthy upgrade for Mac owners; it finally offers split-screen capability, along with revamped apps and performance improvements. Windows 10 offers PC users just a bit more. After using both the near-final version of Windows 10 and the public beta of El...

Sydney McLaughlin, New Jersey's 16 year-old sensation, will attempt to become one of the youngest U.S. track and field Olympians when she competes in the finals of the women's 400-meter hurdles at Sunday's U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. McLaughlin, who turns 17 on Aug. 7, needs to finish in the top three in her race to make the Olympic team, which will compete in the Olympic Games next month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 400 hurdles race is scheduled for Sunday at approximately 7:03 p.m. EST. and will shown on NBC. McLaughlin, who will be...

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts over the years, while I’m not the handiest or craftiest guy, I do make an effort to expand my DIY skills when I can. One thing that often leaves me scratching my head is purchasing lumber whenever I take on a project that requires it. You’d think lumber would be simple; it’s just going and buying a piece of wood, right? But it’s surprisingly complex. There are so many choices that, even with a supply list in hand, I often find myself wandering the lumber section at the home improvement store for 20 minutes...

Last of Steve Ballmer's old guard heads for the exit Kevin Turner’s departure as Microsoft’s chief salesman after 11 years marks the final passing of the Redmond old guard. Chief operating officer Turner - KT, as he was known - was a chief of the old-school corporate kind; sales, marketing and Microsoft’s stores all reported into Turner. His departure is part of a massive sales shake up that is doing away with the COO’s role. Judson Althoff, who was president of North America sales is now executive vice president of worldwide commercial sales, and the former head of sales and...

Microsoft has released build 14383 of Windows 10 Anniversary, for both PC and mobile, in preparation for its public launch on August 2nd 2016. Most "Insider" builds feature a watermark on the desktop, showing the version and build number, but that has gone in this build. "This is because we’re beginning to check in final code," said engineer Donar Sarkar in the announcement blog post, though we are promised more builds before release day. There are a bunch of fixes in this build but they are minor, as you would expect at this point in the release cycle. "We fixed...