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Showing posts from February, 2015

How to connect your laptop to your HDTV without HDMI

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    James wants to stream video from his laptop to his HDTV. But his laptop doesn't have an HDMI port. You can have an Internet-ready smart TV with a Roku plugged into it, and at some point you'll want to watch something that neither of them support. (For me, it's password-protected Vimeo streams.) That's when you need to plug your laptop directly into your HDTV. If your laptop lacks an HDMI port, connecting it to a TV isn't so easy. But it isn't incredibly difficult either. It's all a matter of figuring out which ports you do have and which adapters you need. If you have a very small laptop, you may have an HDMI port and not know it. Look for a micro HDMI port: It's about the same size as a micro USB port. You can buy an adapter or a cable that will let you connect it to the standard HDMI port on your TV. If you don't have Micro HDMI, see if your laptop has a DisplayPort, which can handle the same digital video an

Cast out by his pride, a lion at a Zambia game park lost out to a buffalo

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by Maina Cast out by his pride, a lion at a Zambia game park lost out to a buffalo – though both animals later died – when the two animals struggled to survive in a wild jungle, one to find food and another not to be the food. What ensued was a brutal hour-long battle leaving both animals bloodied, exhausted and with fatal wounds. Dramatic images capture the lion savagely biting and clawing at the buffalo’s mouth, the big cat’s face smeared with blood from where he’s been gored by his heavier and larger opponent’s horns. However, while the buffalo survived, at least for two more weeks, the lion died two hours later of the both starvation and as a result of the wounds inflicted by the buffalo.

Dell XPS 13 vs. MacBook Air: A closer look at battery life

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by denis The MacBook Air's battery life is legendary. Colleagues who drive MacBook Airs claim they can get all-day battery life, and that no similarly sized PC can do the same. But now we have a real contender: The Dell XPS 13. Time to test those claims. Before we dig in, it's important to note that there's no single test that can compare PC and MacBook battery life directly. We have to arrive at comparable numbers through reasoned use of similar tests. I'll also be discussing other reviewers' tests to help paint a more detailed picture. Other outlets have actually expressed disappointment with the XPS 13's run time. Jason Evangelho of Forbes said: "Dell’s battery life claims miss the mark by a not-insignificant amount, and the XPS 13 still can’t match or exceed the Air in that department. I was desperately hoping it would. But is it poor battery life? Absolutely not."    The XPS13 can out perform the MacBook Air in batt

9 typing tips every Android and iOS user should know

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  Wish it were a little easier to type in ALL CAPS on your Android or iPhone, or ever get stumped while looking for the em dash? What about typing letters with accent marks, or dealing with cumbersome URLs? Or maybe you’re just hankering for an alternative to tapping on a slippery glass screen. Read on for 9 ways to make typing on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device a little easier, from how to turn on “caps lock” to a simple shortcut to the exclamation mark. 1. “.com” made easy (iOS) Want to type a URL directly into the address bar in Safari (on iOS) or Chrome (for Android)? Don’t bother with laboriously tapping in “.com” or “.net”. Never type dot-com or dot-org or dot-lots of things with this iOS trick. Instead, just tap and hold the “.” key; when you do, a pop-up balloon will reveal a series of shortcuts, from “.com” to “.us”. 2. Accent marks (Android and iOS) Don’t get caught skipping the accent grave in “voilĂ ” while typing that email on your i

How to track changes in Microsoft Word without going insane

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    denis       If you’ve ever opened a document that had more strikeouts than a beer-league ballplayer, you’re familiar with Microsoft Word’s “track changes” feature. It’s one of the most useful tools for collaboration, but in practice a marked-up document can quickly overwhelm with its tangle of additions, deletions, and comments all displayed in multiple colors—one for each contributor. It's enough to make you want to put a big red “X” on the whole thing. But before you do, read through our guide to safely—and sanely—navigating a multi-authored document using track changes. We’re confident that by the time you’re done you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. Review, accept, and reject changes Once you’ve opened the document you’ll be reviewing, select the Review tab, click the Track Changes button, then select Track Changes from the list box to turn on this feature. When the All Markup option is selected, the tracked docum

Hackers exploiting new Adobe Flash vulnerability

Internet users may have to be more careful in navigating sites running Adobe's Flash software, due to a new vulnerability being exploited in the wild.   Adobe, in a security advisory, said the newly discovered bug for CVE-2015-0313 is being "actively" exploited.   "A critical vulnerability (CVE-2015-0313) exists in Adobe Flash Player 16.0.0.296 and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh.  Successful exploitation could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system," it said.   Citing information it has received, Adobe said the bug is being actively exploited via drive-by-download attacks against systems running Internet Explorer and Firefox on Windows 8.1 and below.   Adobe said it expects to release an update for Flash Player during this week.   Tech site The Hacker News noted this was the third time in the last few weeks that Adobe is dealing with a zero day vulnerability i

Here's how to block 'whitelist' ads from AdBlock Plus

Eyeo, the maker of the AdBlock Plus browser extension, is being roasted for accepting money to “whitelist” some ads, letting them pass through the software’s filter mechanism—but there’s an easy way to tweak it to block all ads. Eyeo is dealing with the aftermath of an article by the Financial Times, which reported this weekend that not only Google, but also Microsoft, Amazon and advertising network Taboola are among the companies paying to stop having their ads their ads blocked. In response, users have blasted the company and have vented frustration with the software on social media and elsewhere. However, an Eyeo spokesman said Tuesday the company has been open about the fact that companies pay to be on the whitelist, and maintains that overall, the software helps make online ads less irritating. The company says it’s been talking about whitelisting what it calls “acceptable ads” since it began doing so at the end of 2011. That’s when it started to put what it consi

Malicious advertisements on major sites compromised many, many PCs

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denis Attackers who have slipped malicious advertisements onto major websites over the last month have potentially compromised large numbers of computers. Several security vendors have documented attacks involving malicious advertisements, which automatically redirect victims to other websites or pages that silently attack their computer and install malware. “We certainly see malvertising on the rise,” said Nick Bilogorskiy, head of security research at Cyphort, a security vendor in Santa Clara, California. “We see it is going to be a major channel of delivering malware this year.” For the second time in about a month, Cyphort found malicious advertisements popping up on major websites including the Huffington Post and the LA Weekly between Thursday and Monday. The attack is likely a continuation of the first one, Bilogorskiy said. The malvertisements were distributed by Adtech.de, an AOL-owned online advertising company, and two other companies, ad