Category: Computers, Science & Technology

These things rock! They are so light and small, but the sound is awesome! Best little deal I have bought in a while! You gotta get these!

TaoTronics TT-BH07 Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds

Less than $20.00 on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06ZYX6Y1T

• Built-in magnets let you attach the two headphones together when you are not using them, and you can wear them like a necklace around your neck, a convenient way to carry them around when you aren’t using them.
• Comfortable in-ear design, fits snuggly and securely, makes sure the headset stays put and your music stays smooth when you are running, cycling, exercising and doing other activities.



• CVC Noise Cancellation 6.0 technology reduces outside noises, and enables clearer microphone sound when talking to your family or friends; you get a high quality, hands-free phone conversation even on the street or inside the shopping mall.
• Latest Bluetooth 4.2 technology; for easy and fast pairing with smartphones, tablets and other Bluetooth enabled music devices; the aptX codec provides pure, CD-like high quality sound for compatible devices.
• Works with all smartphones, tablets and other Bluetooth-enabled music players. Up to six hours of continuous talking / music time and up to 175 hours of standby with a single charge, so you have to spend less time charging and more time using it!

Would YOU want a 128 TB SD card? Not 128 GB, or 128 MB, but Terabyte! Dewd! Gimme!

SD cards could soon hold 128TB of storage

The Verge – By: Dani Deahl – “The SD Association has announced a new card specification that should increase maximum storage on SD cards to 128 terabytes and provide much faster data transfer speeds of 985 megabytes per second.

Right now the maximum storage space on an SD card is 2TB, and that limit was promised as far back as 2009, but still hasn’t been reached. In 2016, SanDisk unveiled a prototype 1 terabyte SD card that would make it the biggest in the world, but it’s still not available to purchase. At the time, SanDisk said that the advancement was necessary to match ever-increasing data-heavy formats like 4K video and VR. However, creating SD cards with massive amounts of storage is cost-prohibitive. SanDisk’s 512GB SD card used to cost $800, and though it’s dropped in price, is still priced around $300.

The new faster speeds, called SD Express, will come to all types of cards, but the high storage is a new thing called an SD Ultra Capacity (SDUC) card. Given how slow the progress has been toward 2TB cards, there’s no telling how long it’ll take before manufacturers hit the higher figures that SDUC allows, but perhaps the increased storage capacity and shift to increasingly higher-resolution video will give companies more reason to invest.”

If you are having problems streaming to your Chromecast, here’s the fix.

Google Home and Chromecast outage ends: how to get the fix now

SlashGear – By: Brittany A. Roston – “As we reported earlier today, many Google Home and Chromecast users experienced an outage today that left them unable to use their devices. Google Home smart speakers warned impacted users that ‘there was a glitch,’ advising them to try again. When the user tried again, though, the same issue surfaced. Chromecast devices, meanwhile, failed to stream content to displays.

In the grand scheme of things, a smart speaker outage isn’t the end of the world. That said, many device owners were frustrated this morning to discover their routines disrupted and their connected items useless…without manual interaction, at least.

Users were quick to complain to Google, which had advised users to reboot their devices. That didn’t work, though.

Perhaps more frustrating was the Chromecast outage, which resulted in these streaming devices failing to stream content to displays. That was a problem for businesses and schools that utilize the devices for presentations. Fortunately, Google hasn’t left users hanging; an update is rolling out now.

Google announced the fix on its Made by Google Twitter account this afternoon, where it said that the fix is automatically deploying to devices ‘within the next six hours.’ That was at about 3PM ET, for reference, meaning everyone should have it within the near future. However, Google says owners can get an ‘immediate fix’ by rebooting their devices.

To reboot, device owners should open the Google Home app and head into the ‘Devices’ menu. From there, select your Google Home or Chromecast device, then tap the triple-dot menu button in the upper right-hand corner and choose ‘Settings.’ Once within settings, tap ‘More,’ then ‘Reboot.’ The device will reboot itself without having to be unplugged and should function properly afterward.”

It is officially coming soon! Development has been wrapped up, and it has been submitted to Roku for final approval. It replaces the old “purple” screen themed version, and is much more modern and simple.

Here is a shot of the main screen off my HDTV in the Living Room.

Yep, I use Adblock Plus. I like this new announcement!

Adblock Plus now blocks social media tracking for Chrome & Firefox

TheNextWeb – By: Rachel Maser – “Adblock today announced it was joining the fight against social media tracking by allowing users to block what has become so ubiquitous on almost every site out there.

Specifically, the tracking which Adblock Plus now aims to thwart is that which originates from social media buttons. You might recognize them — there are some on this very article. Through these buttons, sites can track and build a so-called ‘shadow profiles’ on you even if you don’t click on them, even if you aren’t logged into any of the sites in question.

This tracking has been a sticking point for sites like Facebook. Among the many other questions posed to CEO Mark Zuckerberg at his Congressional interrogation earlier this year was about these profiles of non-users — the existence of which might violate a 2011 consent decree handed down to the company by the FTC.

To use the feature, Adblock Plus users subscribe to a button blocking list, either in Chrome or Firefox. The company is also considering whitelist options for certain social sites.

A company spokesperson listed Apple as inspiration — or at least an example — for the new security. Specifically, they mention the anti-fingerprinting measures announced at this year’s WWDC. Mac and iPhone users who update to Mojave or iOS 12 will have all social media tracking blocked by default, though they can enable it for certain websites if they choose. Adblock will patch the gap for those who don’t use (or currently have) the requisite Apple software.

The company behind Adblock, Eyeo, won a successful lawsuit in April against German publishers attempting to stop its adblocking services. The judgment handed down by the German Supreme Court deemed it the right of the consumer to block any ads they didn’t wish to see.”

Hell continues to freeze over! Not only is Microsoft buying GitHub, the Linux Foundation actually approves of the move! A Slashdot poster says:

“The Linux Foundation has endorsed Microsoft’s acquisition of GitHub. In a blog post, Jim Zemlin, the executive director at the Linux Foundation, said: ‘This is pretty good news for the world of Open Source and we should celebrate Microsoft’s smart move.’

The Verge reports:
10 years ago, Zemlin was calling for Microsoft to stop secretly attacking Linux by selling patents that targeted the operating system, and he also poked fun at Microsoft multiple times over the years. ‘I will own responsibility for some of that as I spent a good part of my career at the Linux Foundation poking fun at Microsoft (which, at times, prior management made way too easy),’ explains Zemlin. ‘But times have changed and it’s time to recognize that we have all grown up — the industry, the open source community, even me.’

Nat Friedman, the future CEO of GitHub (once the deal closes), took to Reddit to answer questions on the company’s plans. ‘We are not buying GitHub to turn it into Microsoft; we are buying GitHub because we believe in the importance of developers, and in GitHub’s unique role in the developer community,’ explains Friedman. ‘Our goal is to help GitHub be better at being GitHub, and if anything, to help Microsoft be a little more like GitHub.'”

Yahoo! announced that as of July 17 of this year, its chat app will be dead! The desktop version was killed off in 2016, so this comes as no big surprise. It was first launched in 1998, so it has had a long run. Back then it was called “Pager” (remember pagers?) No? I thought not.

Yahoo says, “We’re constantly experimenting with new services and apps, one of which is an invite-only group messaging app called Yahoo Squirrel (currently in beta).”

Yep! This will freak you out!

Guess what? I spoke too soon! VLC Media Player has been fixed! The latest release of 3.0.3 was released on May 31, 2018, and fixes all my issues! I am happy again! VLC is fast, cross platform, and I like seeing all those little orange and white pylons in my media folders again!