Free Republic

This is a link only due to copyright considerations, please read the article at the original website: New vulnerability can put Android phones into permanent vegetative state — Malformed video files can be used to crash half of all Android phones.

In a recent WIRED article, security researchers Runa Sandvik and Michael Auger tackled just that issue. The wife and husband duo purchased two $13,000 TrackingPoint rifles and spent the last year reverse engineering and hacking the rifles’ computers. The two plan to present their research at the Black Hat hacker conference in two weeks, according to the article. TrackingPoint bills itself as a company comprised of “lifetime NRA members and engineers.” The products sold on its website seem standard enough when it comes to a gun company: bolt-action rifles, semi-automatic carbines, etc. The “5.56mm semi-auto,” basically a M16-type rifle, costs...

About 15 percent of U.S. residents still do not go online, a statistic that has remained relatively unchanged over the past two years, The New York Times reports. Citing Pew Research Center data, the report says the percentage of residents who use the Internet grew to 84 percent in 2013 from 52 percent in 2000.~snip~The report says elderly people, who face both economic and physical limitations, are most likely to be offline, with 39 percent of residents 65 and older still not using the Internet.Read The Times' full report.

Not good if you did. Beware of foreign pen pals promising money. At least wait for their check to clear before you wire funds. The “Nigerian Letter” scam is known as a “419” because the scheme violates section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code. While it seems like a laughable hoax, Americans lose millions of dollars annually to this fraud, which can appear in the form of a letter, email, voicemail, or text. The scam tries to gain access to your personal finances and works like this: Step 1: You are sent a form of payment for a large amount,...

Over the last couple of years we have seen 3D printing progress at an incredibly rapid rate. One of the areas which excites us the most is the 3D printing materialÂ’s space where new materials are being utilized as a print medium nearly every week. What started out as ABS and PLA, a few different types of metal powders, and ordinary photosensitive resin, has quickly grown to include hundreds of new, interesting, innovative materials. From wood and metal composites, gl8to clay, food, and everything in between, new materials are what will drive 3D printing towards mainstream adoption. When printing with...

You don't have to wait for your win 10 "reservation", you can upgrade whenever you want by running this: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 Choose "upgrade this computer". This requires the latest version of 8.1 (or 7). You won't need to input a key. The download is about 5 gigabytes. This will keep all your programs installed and keep all your personal files. (you can do a fresh install after the upgrade if you want) You can choose either express or custom install, I chose custom install and unchecked about 12 scary sounding privacy settings. Overall my experience was painless and successful. I did...

I’ve put off writing about the Apple Watch until today because, quite frankly, I didn’t know what I wanted to say. But last night it came to me… The Apple Watch is the coolest gadget in the world that you don’t need (and I say that with all due respect). I’ll spare you the product details (visit www.apple.com/watch) so I can spend the rest of our brief time together explaining why I love Apple Watch, but don’t think you (or anyone) really needs one (at least not yet). First, some background: I have collected and worn reasonably priced wristwatches for...

Microsoft Corp's launch of its first new operating system in almost three years, designed to work across laptops, desktop and smartphones, won mostly positive reviews for its user-friendly and feature-packed interface. The launch was seen critical for the company, particularly after the poor response to Windows 8, an ambitious redesign that confused many users by ditching the start button menu and introducing a new layout. The new OS, launched on Wednesday, will be available as a free upgrade for users of Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1. Wall Street Journal's Geoffrey Fowler said Windows 10 fixes most of...

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) launched its much-awaited Windows 10 operating system at midnight on Wednesday. Windows 10, which comes almost three years after the launch of the company's last operating system, will be available in 190 countries as a free upgrade for users of Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1. The 'free' strategy is a calculated gamble, designed to put Windows on as many devices as possible. The company would then make up for any lost revenue by selling services such as Office over the Internet, or cloud. The new operating system is designed to work across laptops, desktop...

OS X Snake Oil Stuff you don't need and don't want. Don't buy back what you already own. This is a link only due to copyright requirements, but lots of good information on the RixStep site and well worth the read.

On the verge of Windows 10's release, its predecessor has quietly moved into the #2 spot for market share among operating systems. Windows 8.1 has now overtaken Windows XP, the one time king of all operating systems, but it's something of a hollow victory as Windows 7 still leads by a wide margin. According to Netmarketshare, as of June 2015, Windows 8.1's usage has increased to 13.12% among all operating systems, while XP sits at 11.98% and Windows 7 still accounts for a dominant 60.98% share. These three OS' also represent the only three with double digit market share. The...

The global launch of Windows 10 is a pivotal moment for Microsoft as a consumer business, because in recent years Windows has started to matter a lot less.The rise of mobile devices has hit the PC market hard – and no more so than Microsoft, which has around 1.5 billion Windows customers, making it the market leader in that arena. (Snappa) This, combined with Apple’s OS X and Mac computer line-up regularly bucking the trend and actually increasing sales, has left Microsoft and Windows adrift in the technology world, with Google’s Chrome and Android dominating.(Snappa) But a hint of change...

Right. Amazon is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Like millions of others, I use it practically every day. And it was nice to see that it made a profit—-thin as it was at 0.4% of sales—–in the second quarter. But the instantaneous re-rating of its market cap by $40 billion in the seconds after its earnings release had nothing to do with Amazon or the considerable entrepreneurial prowess of Jeff Bezos and his army of disrupters. It was more in the nature of financial rigor mortis——-the final spasm of the robo-traders and the fast money crowd chasing one of...

Hi all..... Friend will be giving me his laptop tomorrow to fix up. To clean up. For starters I am going to scan and clean it up with malware bytes. What other free programs are good to run on a slow, sludgy, messed up laptop? I am not asking for any diagnosis. Just what programs you have used to do a house cleaning on WINDOWS SEVEN computers that family and friends have thrust upon you BTW in these type of cases, first thing they do after buying the desktop/laptop is to be sure to chuck all restore DVDs in the...

It’s a few days before Windows 10 is officially slated to drop, and still, confusion abounds. Worse, many fallacies regarding Microsoft’s plans around upgrades and support for Win10 remain in circulation, despite efforts to dispel them.Here at InfoWorld, we've been tracking Windows 10’s progress very closely, reporting the evolving technical details with each successive build in our popular “Where Windows 10 stands right now” report. We’ve also kept a close eye on the details beyond the bits, reporting on the common misconceptions around Windows 10 licensing, upgrade paths, and updates. If you haven’t already read that article, you may want...

I don't know if anyone else has been hit with this, but lately I've been getting a message every time I use Adobe Acrobat 10. It says, "Acrobat detected that it is not properly licensed. You may have unknowingly bought a counterfeit copy." Then it tells me to visit Adobe or call them. One problem with this error message. I BOUGHT THE SOFTWARE FROM ADOBE! Now they're telling me it's counterfeit. Just wow. I wondered if anyone else has had this happen to them, and if so how do I get this stupid popup message to stop appearing. Thank you.

As Forbes contributor Gordon Kelly reports, the problem revolves around a conflict between automatic updates and Nvidia graphics card updates using Nvidia’s ‘Nvidia GeForce Experience’—a handy tool for all Nvidia GPU owners. Basically Microsoft has taken control away from users, and made all updates mandatory—including driver updates. This is a decision meant to increase security and stability across the PC user base, but it comes at a cost. Users are reporting problems with multi-monitor setups, dual-card configurations (SLI) and PCs not booting properly, setting off Windows 10 emergency recovery mode. More issues are likely to arise. In other words, for...

China technically lifted its longstanding ban on game consoles last year, but only for companies that registered in the Shanghai free trade zone. Needless to say, that put a damper on sales in the world's most populous country. However, the gloves just came off -- China's Ministry of Culture has approved the manufacture and sale of consoles anywhere in the nation. Companies like Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony no longer have to hold back ... when doing business. They'll still have to grapple with heavy censorship of the games themselves, but that beats a lack of official options.

Is the debate about marriage over after the Supreme Court’s June decision to redefine marriage in all fifty states? That’s what some Amazon.com reviewers are insisting after a new book was released last week. The book, “Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom,” is a roadmap from Ryan Anderson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, on how the conservative movement can move forward in promoting marriage and protecting religious freedom after the Supreme Court’s ruling. “I wrote this book for all Americans. For those who disagree with me, to at least understand the viewpoint of roughly...

We have all been watching the story unfold about Hillary Clinton and her e-mails. She refused to use the communications systems provided for her by the American taxpayers. Those systems are "secure", meaning that no unauthorized person can read or hear the communications. Hillary Clinton chose to not use the taxpayer provided secure system. This meant that the government agencies designed to provide secure communications and prevent the enemy from knowing our most important secrets, were intentionally bypassed by our Secretary of State. If you want to know how important communications security is, look at World War II. We knew...