Free Republic

Minori Yahagi from Japan shoots for the first time in Saginaw, Michigan USA on 2-22-16.

Tech companies are joining forces with the Washington state government to fight against Donald Trump’s recent immigration-related executive order. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit today against Trump’s order, which bars legal immigrants and refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US and bans Syrian refugees indefinitely. Now, at least three tech companies — Microsoft, Amazon, and Expedia — are joining that legal fight. A Microsoft spokesman told Reuters that the company is providing information about the effect of the order in order to "be supportive." They also would "be happy to testify further if needed." Both...

Windows Cloud: That name has appeared in system files deep within some of the most recent Windows 10 Insider builds. While a few experts guess it could be a new version of Windows, what it actually is remains a mystery. As far as evidence goes, it’s pretty slim pickings. Two names, “Windows Cloud” and “Windows Cloud N,” appear in a list of Windows versions as early as the recent Windows 10 Insider Build 15002, as originally reported by the Walking Cat Twitter account. (The “N” designation likely refers to a version specifically designed for European countries.) ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley,...

A high quality, low cost ham radio communication set up demonstration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN-jELK0Wq0&t=203s

Before the cowboys and cowgirls at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo started prepping their livestock for the show ring Sunday, many took a detour to an auditorium on the show grounds, or as it was known on that day, their sanctuary. Every Sunday of the FWSSR, the auditorium is transformed into church for the vendors, show participants, and anyone else who wants to stop by. The Shepherd’s Valley Cowboy Church out of Alvarado set up shop there for the last decade or so now; finding the Stock Show a natural fit for their congregation. “It’s their wheelhouse,” said...

An Onalaska angler caught with more than 2,500 panfish pleaded no contest Tuesday to four citations for exceeding possession limits. Stanley Paalksnis, 74, faces fines totaling $24,683, although prosecutors agreed to ask a La Crosse County Circuit judge impose a $10,000 fine, revoke his fishing privileges for 12 years and order Paalksnis forfeit his 15-foot boat seized by authorities. He will be sentenced at a later date. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wardens Nov. 4, 2015, on Lake Onalaska saw Paalksnis keep 47 bluegills, according to court records. The daily limit is 25. Pause Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time...

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is putting some pep back in its step these days. On Friday, Reuters pointed out that the software giant's market cap has risen above $500 billion for the first time since March 2000. I'm all for celebrating neat milestones, including this 17-year benchmark. And it's no secret that Microsoft really is doing a lot of things right these days. Large-cap stocks don't post market-crushing 55% returns in two years for no reason. That being said, I would like to argue that the Microsoft you see today is miles removed from the $500 billion beast you knew 17...

Microsoft has been keen on making doing a Creators Update to improve the Xbox's gaming abilities. The latest information reveals that the company plans to bring the same quality of gaming to Xbox and PC gamers. Xbox insiders who had the first dibs on the latest update already saw the changes brought about by the new update. Xbox UI Changes Microsoft received a lot of complaints on how complicated it is to navigate the Xbox home screen and the company already addressed this issue in their Creators Update. The main goal of this update is to bring Windows features to...

Here's a patriotic, positive event on display now at the Americana Roadshow in Birmingham, AL. According to their website "The Americana Roadshow is a highly visual, educational traveling display of large scale LEGO® models replicating some of our nation’s most well known landmarks." And their models prove it. Kudos to LEGO for valuing our American national landmarks. Their are no protests here, I guarantee it.

The bugs could crash some popular games, but from Microsoft's perspective, it's all part of the beta-testing journey. The gaming-focused Windows 10 Insider build that Microsoft promised earlier this week, with Game Mode, Beam livestreaming and other features, is rolling out—but with some game-breaking bugs, unfortunately. What’s officially known as Build 15019 for the Insider Fast Ring also includes a number of more general improvements, including a version of Edge that will read your ebooks aloud and a better out-of-box experience, complete with voice actors to guide you through the process. If you’re hoping to try out the new PC-centric...

I have reason to believe a fellow FReeper has done something very nice for me. Please contact me via PM.

Changes that mean signing certificates for Windows can only be sold in hardware form – or from an as-yet undefined cloud-based "service” – from the start of February are likely to have a big effect on software development. US trade body the Certificate Authority Security Council decided in December that "best practice" for code-signing certificates was to embed them in hardware devices, a policy endorsed with upcoming changes from Microsoft that kick in next week. This could present an upheaval for software developers, according to a Reg reader who flagged up the story and asked to remain anonymous. "ISVs who...

Long Island has its own time traveler. Angela Clayton, 19, spends her days lost in eras bygone, designing and sewing dresses that look straight out of a Jane Austen novel or a 16th-century portrait. She also models the creations on her Web sites (including AngelaClayton.Crevado.com). The teen, who was home-schooled, is self-taught in design, pattern-making and sewing. Her YouTube tutorials have hundreds of thousands of views and earn her cash to pay for materials. Clayton has made more than 50 dresses, but saved only 30, discarding ones she doesn’t think are good enough.

What TV character is associated with the following faux curses? DAGNABIT HORSEHOCKEY SHAZBOT OHBARNACLES JEEZALOO

Aside from good morals, proper behavior, appropriate dress, and proper language around their children, what else are these leftist women lacking? American women have more respect and freedoms than most women in the world. But these marchers are unhinged, enraged, and deranged because their favorite Maoista lost the election. So they’ve turned our nation’s capital into a bizarre spectacle of hatred and petulant intolerance, verbally attacking the rest of the country who disagrees with them. Did they march for women who are truly disrespected and treated like animals, beaten, abused, and traded as slaves in Islamic countries today? The answer...

Full read/write access was there for the taking Microsoft has patched a code execution hole in its Mac remote desktop client that grants read and write to home directories if users do no more than click a link, says Italian security researcher Filippo Cavallarin. The hole was patched 17 January. Cavallarin says the flaw allowed remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable machines if users did not more than click phishing links. From there, attackers would gain read and write access to Mac home directories. "Microsoft Remote Desktop Client for Mac OS X allows a malicious terminal server to...

I was so looking forward to the inauguration, after refusing to watch the two preceding ones. Unfortunately, fate intervened. Our little family has had some rough luck the past month, and last week was especially so. Fortunately I could kick back and do anything on my trusty used computer, and had been watching a great deal of old movies. Thursday night while surfing I saw a couple of junk tabs open with Firefox allegedly wanting me to download something or other for safety. I've seen these before and have always just closed them. However, it's possible that this time I...

The fate of Windows 10 lies in the hands of users that are still deeply in love with Windows 7. This year's CES saw plenty of shiny new Windows 10 devices on display, from the acrobat Lenovo Yoga through to HP's all-in-one Sprout Pro. Hardware like this will certainly boost the fortunes of Windows 10. Sleek new designs and form factors, and the rise of two-in-one devices like the Surface Pro that can function both as a PC and a tablet, are giving consumers and businesses a reason to invest in Microsoft's latest operating system. And Windows 10 has made...

They'll go in mid-2018. Does that support the 'too insecure for business' message? In the same week that Microsoft's German tentacle declared Windows 7 a security horror that no business in its right mind would continue to use, the company's also announced it will axe some certification exams for the operating system. Microsoft's educators have announced that certs for Windows 7 configuration, plus the the Enterprise Desktop Support Technician and Enterprise Desktop Administrator qualifications, won't be needed after July 31st 2018. That Redmond is keeping the exams going suggests it has customers a-plenty that will need certified staff. And seeing...

No pressure, peeps: Techies are awaiting a fix from their Redmond coworkers A bug in Windows 10 is undermining Microsoft's efforts to roll out an IPv6-only network at its Seattle headquarters. According to Redmond's principal network engineer Marcus Keane, the software giant is struggling to move over to the decade-old networking technology due to a DHCPv6 bug in Windows 10, which made it "impossible" to expand its planned corporate network. "We have reported it to the product group, and they are duly working on a fix," he revealed today. The horrible irony of Microsoft waiting on its own team to...