Facebook Begins Forcing Messenger App On Mobile Users

If you are an active Facebook user and one of the many long time hold-outs from updating or migrating to the stand-alone Messenger App you may soon be left little choice! Facebook has decided they are nailing shut one of the few remaining options mobile users had for accessing chat via their phones and has, quite forcefully, begun pushing downloads of their Messenger App.

For several months now Facebook has been doing its best to gradually push users towards their messenger platform. A move that started when the company decided to build the service outward as a stand alone from the main mobile application. However, until now users could easily access their messages and chat with friends using their browser and the mobile site. Unfortunately that wasn't good enough for Facebook, as they seemingly want to drive as many users as they can to installing the app.

Beginning this past weekend the company began working to remove the Messenger function on the mobile version of its website, pushing users instead to a landing page and redirect instructing you to install the separate Facebook Messenger app. According to Engadget, Facebook’s push toward Messenger for mobile website users appears to affect only Android users for now, but it’s probably only a matter of time before iOS users get forced to Messenger as well. 

Facebook insists that this move comes because it wants users on Messenger so they can have the “best experience” while chatting with their friends. Of course, we highly doubt that, especially with Facebook pushing more adds and service through the messenger platform. I suspect this is more about the all mighty dollar than anything else!

Those of us that still want or need to use Facebook and want to use the messenger service, but not be bothered with the privacy concerns or other issues we've discussed that plague the Messenger app still have one last glimmer of hope. We can jump through a few minor hoops and access our messages though the main site. One simply needs to avoid the mobile site, instead using "Desktop View" on our mobile phones. 

T-Mobile's Rewards Program Puts AT&T's to Shame

T-Mobile CEO John Legere really knows how to shake things up in the mobile world! So it comes as no surprise to us that he did just that at the company's Uncarrier 11 event.

Legere used the event to announce the launch of a new customer loyalty program that is unlike almost anything you've ever seen before. One that honestly puts the rewards program AT&T offered last week to utter shame!

“Get ready for a gratitude adjustment, America! This Un-carrier move is all about giving you a good thanking! No strings. No gotchas. Just ‘thank you for being a customer!’” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile. “At T-Mobile, we already wake up every day working for our customers—so I’ve decided to make it official and turn T-Mobile customers into T-Mobile owners by offering them stock. And we’re thanking customers every week with cool stuff from brands people love. For free. Every Tuesday!”

As part of the newly announced Uncarrier 11 initiative, T-Mobile launched StockUp, a new rewards program that grants one share of company stock to every T-Mobile primary account holder. Those folks can bank up to 100 shares a year by referring their friends -- not too shabby, considering shares are currently valued at $43.62 and T-Mobile's strong financial growth could nudge that number even higher

Existing customers can claim their T-Mobile stock starting tomorrow, June 7, through June 21 in the T-Mobile Tuesdays app, and customers can learn more about growing their ownership when they recommend T-Mobile at www.t-mobile.com/StockUp.

In addition to offering every customer the change to become an owner of T-Mobile shares, Legere announced T-Mobile Tuesdays, a new app that thanks T-Mobile customers with free stuff and epic prizes, every single Tuesday. For starters you'll get free dinner and a movie every week. T-Mobile customers can carry out a free medium two-topping Domino’s pizza, free small Wendy’s Frosty and free movie rental from VUDU, Walmart’s video on-demand service.

If that isn't enough of a reward T-Mobile is offering even more! As a part of the program each customer will get an additional freebie of some kind that could be tickets, a gift card, free subscriptions, or free ride-sharing. This week, it’s tickets to go see Warcraft in theaters. To top it all off they are going one step further and offering everyone a chance at winning a majorly "EPIC" prize. One lucky T-Mobile user will be randomly selected for an “epic” prize. This week’s epic prize is a trip on a party bus for someone and 40 of their closest friends to a private showing of Warcraft with all-you-can-eat candy, popcorn, and soft drinks. Other epic prizes in the lineup include:

• a trip for two to Vegas to stay at Mandalay Bay with tickets to see UB40 at the Mandalay Bay Beach and roll VIP style at Luxor’s LAX Nightclub. Plus $100 in Lyft credits to get around town.
• a trip to MLB All-Star week in San Diego for you and a lucky guest, including exclusive access to the Home Run Derby press conference and batting practice to see the top players up close and personal.
• a once-in-a-lifetime expedition for you and your hiking buddy up the legendary Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru, complete with accommodations, meals, and tours from The Clymb.
• a trip to New York City to refresh your wardrobe with a $10,000 shopping spree with the help of an in-house stylist in the private Gilt showroom.

T-Mobile has partnered with a slew of businesses including American Giant, Buffalo Wild Wings, Condé Nast, Fanatics, Fandango, Gilt, HotelTonight, JackThreads, Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures, Lyft, Major League Baseball, MGM Resorts International, Samsung Electronics America, Inc., Shell, StubHub, The Clymb, The Grommet and Warner Brothers to make these prizes possible.

For more information on Un-carrier 11, check out www.t-mobile.com/GetThanked and the Un-carrier 11 media kit at newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/un-carrier-11.htm.

Facebook Teams With Game Developer Blizzard For Live Game Streaming

For those gamers out there that are obsessed with live streaming their own games, or watching other gamers in action, a new deal between game giant Blizzard and social media giant Facebook will offer you a new way to get your fix!

Blizzard has unveiled a new partnership with Facebook that will let you stream several of Blizzard's most popular games directly to your Facebook fans and followers through Facebook Live. More over the deal will also create a cross platform partnership that will allow you to use your current Facebook login and information rather than a new Battle.Net to play Blizzard's games.

The collaboration will begin later this month with the integration of games such as World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, Diablo III, StarCraft II, and Blizzard's most recent blockbuster release, Overwatch.

"Blizzard games are best when played with friends, so it's important to us to provide our players with features and services that make it easy and fun to share their experiences with each other," said Gio Hunt, executive vice president of corporate operations at Blizzard Entertainment. "We're working closely with Facebook on this integration for Overwatch, as well as our other games, and we look forward to sharing further details on our plans as development progresses."

As part of the collaboration between the two companies, Blizzard recently hosted multiple livestreams via Facebook. The first series of streams centered on Heroes of the Dorm, Blizzard's collegiate tournament featuring its popular team-brawler Heroes of the Storm. Last week, Blizzard hosted a livestreamed launch event for Overwatch on Facebook.

"Blizzard has a passionate community of players, and an incredible track record for launching innovative and high-quality gaming experiences," said Leo Olebe, global games partnerships director at Facebook. "Our collaboration on Overwatch demonstrates Facebook's commitment to partnering with AAA game companies, while further empowering Blizzard gamers to connect and share the content they're most passionate about with the friends they play with around the world."

AT&T 'Thanks' Customers With New Rewards Program

As the mobile carrier wars continue on AT&T is hoping an old gimmick will help keep loyal customers happy. The company is starting up a new rewards program this summer called AT&T Thanks which will offer AT&T and DirecTV free movie tickets, special deals on concerts, exclusive content and more as part of the program.

"Great service goes beyond the day to day relationship we have with our customers – it also includes ways to say thank you – we appreciate you," said David Christopher, Chief Marketing Officer of AT&T Entertainment Group. "AT&T thanks is kicking off with some great entertainment-focused benefits and will build over time. The relationship we have with our customers will get better and better with exciting ways for us to show our appreciation."

Here are some of the new benefits of the program:

• 'Ticket Twosdays': AT&T postpaid wireless customers will qualify to get a free movie ticket on AT&T when they buy one at full price for a Tuesday showing. These are available to qualifying customers once every week for the duration of the program. Customers can visit AT&T Thanks to learn how to receive a coupon code for a free ticket exclusively through MovieTickets.com for participating theaters, including all Regal Entertainment Group theaters.
• LIVE NATION Priority Pre-sale: AT&T customers will get exclusive pre-sale access to the hottest concerts and events starting this summer. Select customers will also be able to get in on access to exclusive experiences with their favorite artists.
• Unique Content: Select DIRECTV subscribers will get access to special content coming soon to their TVs and their favorite mobile devices.

In addition, AT&T Thanks will be giving out special "surprise" rewards to certain customers, including "tickets to live events, device and accessory perks, data giveaways, and more." As the program evolves, offers will be tailored to customers based on their services and packages with AT&T.

Find Your iPhone Using Google's New Phone Locator

Android smartphone owners are undoubtedly familiar with using Google's Android device manager to track and locate their lost Android devices. However, Google has pushed things a step further with a new option to locate lost and missing devices.

Dubbed, Find your phone, this new feature allows to you find just about any device that has been setup on your Google account in a few simple steps. You can not only locate your phone or tablet, but also lock and call it, secure your account, leave a callback number on the screen, and more. The best part is the new feature isn't limited to just Android devices, it can now be used on iOS devices, and soon, you’ll also be able to access it by searching Google for “I lost my phone.”

To get started using the Find your phone feature you'll need to make sure you have your Google account setup on each of your devices. From there you can access it via the Find your phone section of the My Account page for your Google account. Click on it and you will see a list of the devices -- including phones, tablets, Android and iOS devices -- on which you have signed in with your Google account.

Once you choose your iOS device you'll see five suggestions, unfortunately not all of these suggestions will work - more on that below. Here are the current options available, all of these will work on Android devices, just not iOS

• Find and lock your iPhone
• Try calling your phone
• Sign out on your phone
• Reach out to your carrier
• Reach out for local help

As mentioned not all of these suggestions will work for iPhone or iPad users because as unfortunate as it is Apple doesn't allow certain third parties to take control of an iOS device. Therefore Google has linked many of the features to iCloud.com so users can use the built in Apple services. For instance if you click the Find and lock your iPhone option you'll be sent over to iCloud where you can then locate your iPhone on a map or enable Lost Mode to remotely lock your phone. For Android users that very same option gives you Ring and Locate buttons to call your device or locate it on a map without leaving the page or signing into iCloud.

Easiest Ways to Backup Your Android Phone

For years now our cellphones have been our life-lines. These days we store more data and information in them than almost any other device previously. Unfortunately, most of us still have one very bad habit when it comes to that life-sustaining data, we fail to back it up!

Imagine that sinking feeling that overwhelms you when you realize that you've lost all your precious data? You know, those important tidbits of your life — your kids' photos, your wacky selfies, the videos of the fun parties you went to, text messages from friends and loved ones, level 100 of your favorite game, your contacts — heck even your payment information and other various log-ins? Now imagine that all that could have been saved and with very little work on your end.

Every Android smartphone on the market today has the ability to automatically backup and store most of your phone's precious data directly to Google servers and make that data accessible through your Google account. With just a few steps you can quickly and easily backup things like photos, music, contacts, calendar events, emails, app data and your device preferences right to Google servers. Even better, should you require a new phone, you can have that data immediately transferred to your new device.

It All Starts With A Google Account!

We may all hate big brother, in fact I don't know of a geek that doesn't, but in this case big brother has your back - literally! By far the quickest and easiest way to backup your device is by setting up and using all the built in services that come along with a Google Account. Now this doesn't mean you have to rush out and change everything over to Gmail, rather it means you associate your current email with a Google account. Yes this means you will be tied to a few unrelated Google services, but as we'll explain you'll need those services to backup a few things.

Step 1: Using Android’s Built-in Backup and Reset Utility
Android's built in backup and reset utility is a standard feature on all Android device and is immediately available to all users once they have a Google account setup on their phone. In your Android device's Settings menu, look for a section called Backup and Reset. Here's where you'll find the option to back up your basics like app data, Wi-Fi passwords, bookmarks, preferences and other settings.

For this to work, you need to specify a backup account. Once you're set up, you can enable the Automatic Restore feature so that whenever you reinstall an app on any device logged into your account, the data and settings for that app will also be restored.

Step 2: Moving and Saving Contacts
Depending on how and where you currently have your contacts stored this can be one of the more difficult processes we'll discuss and these steps may vary depending on those factors.

The first thing you need to do is determine where your contacts are currently being saved.Some of you may be storing them on the device, others may have them on their SIM cards. You can look in the contacts app and see which contacts are being displayed and determine that from there. If you have them on your device or SIM card you can use the Import Contacts feature and import them directly to your Google account and you'll be all set. If for some reason they are on another account you'll want to move them to your device then transfer them.

Once you have all your contacts on your Google account and have verified they have all been moved you'll want to check your settings and verify that all new contacts will be saved to your Google account. The option to change these settings vary by device, but I've found adding a new contact and checking the save to option generally works to change the default.

Step 3: Save Photos Using the Google Photos App
Android will automatically backup photos and videos on your device to your Google account using the Google Photos app. To do this, open the Google Photos App, open the left panel and open the Settings menu. From there, tap Back up & Sync and enable it. This will upload all new or existing photos and videos on your Android device to your Google Account. Keep this option enabled if you'd like to keep syncing new photos and videos to your Google account.

Step 4: Backup Your Game Data
Many Android games utilize a Google Play Games login which includes the Saved Games feature, allowing you to automatically backup game data such as scores, XP and levels to the cloud and sync your game data to your other Android devices. This feature also lets you play the same game on any of your synced devices without having to start from the beginning. If you've backed up your game data, you can restore it after you've reinstalled a game or installed it on a new device. Unfortunately, many gamers have discovered there is no single reliable way to determine which games support this feature.

Several other games will utilize their own in game backup and sync settings or will use other logins such as Facebook. Most of these options will allow you to save, back up and restore your game progress and data. If you'd like to back yours up, this should be the first thing you check when installing a new game.

Step 5: Save Your Music!
While there is no one stop answer here and Google Music doesn't allow for direct backup options for music directly downloaded to your device, it does give you an option to upload all your music (via your PC and music manger) to the cloud and stream it to your device at a later time. Short of doing that you'll need to use a third party backup solution or manually backup your music.

Use Your Device Manufacturer’s Software

Almost every smartphone manufacturer out there offers some kind of backup solution for your device. Most of them offer both a computer-based backup as well as an easy to use device switching app that let you port across your contacts, photos, messages, and the rest. While these device switching apps aren't specifically meant to be backup options they can be useful for moving your data. Here’s a list of some of the options:

• Samsung Smart Switch | Samsung Kies (PC Backup)
• LG Backup
• Sony Xperia Transfer
• HTC Backup
• Motorola Migrate

 ** If your manufacture has PC based software we suggest using that, Sony's software is built into most of their devices, while LG's Backup app offers backups to SD cards.

Third Party Backup Tools

The last option we'll discuss is using a third party app for your backup needs. There are several out there and most offer similar if not the same features. The Easy Backup and Restore app (free on Google Play) is one of the best we've seen. The app can back up your SMS messages, MMS messages, call logs, calendar events, bookmarks, dictionary, contact list and apps (including app data for rooted devices, but only APK files for non-rooted devices). If you've rooted your Android device, then you should have a look at Titanium Backup. It’s a powerful backup tool that’s packed with power-user features.

No matter which route you take to get there, just make sure you get there. No one wants to be stuck losing all of their contacts, photos or other phone data.

Google Finally Adds Multi-device App Sharing For Families

During this year's I/O Developer conference Google made several interesting announcements surrounding the upcoming release of Android N and several other projects. There was one, maybe slightly less significant, announcement that definitely caught our attention and should catch yours as well. Google will soon be offering a Family Library option via an upcoming change to Google Play that allows up to six family members to share purchased apps on multiple devices, without having to pay any extra.

Google has begun notifying developers of the changes and has been asking them to enable the new Family Sharing option for all current apps, meaning it will work retroactively on all your current paid apps. It’s important to note that developers can indeed decide if they want to enable the feature for past purchases. The new Family Library will be similar to perks we currently see on iPhones and iPads, allowing up to six family members to enjoy the same paid app. According to Google the feature will be enabled by default from July 2nd.

To date, family members have all had to buy their own Android apps for use on each individual account and device. Google's support documentation has already been changed to reflect the new policies and currently only  covers app downloads. However, it has been reported that Family Sharing will extend to other parts of the Play Store. It is expected that we will see multi-device support being offered for both Books and Movies, but there will be restrictions in place to stop the same title being streamed on more than one device at a time.

Although it's not yet known how Android users will opt-in to Family Sharing, Google Music may provide some clues. The streaming service provides a family plan that caters for up to six users, who are invited to link their account by a "family manager." It's likely that Google will follow a similar route with Family Sharing, but include additional checks so that younger users can seek purchase approval for their own apps.

BitTorrent Hopes You'll Pay For P2P Streaming Video

BitTorrent may best be know as the leading company behind the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing protocol. However, in one of the company's latest attempts at going to a fully legitimate service, they have announced the launch of a new live streaming TV service with both free and paid options.

As announced today, BitTorrent Live is "a multichannel, live, and linear video streaming platform" based on a peer-to-peer live video streaming protocol that BitTorrent has been developing for a few years. In other words, BitTorrent Live will in effect make every viewer a broadcaster, as you'll be simultaneously sharing the videos you are watching with others.

The company's announcement said that today's live streaming services usually use HTTP Live Streaming and are "notorious for latency issues, also known as lag." The BitTorrent Live protocol is an attempt to solve that problem.

Live television is a communal event that is shared by a society. The vast majority of the most watched television in the history of the medium have been live sports, news, and events, simultaneously consumed. Yet, there has been very little innovation around the distribution of live video on the internet. Currently, HTTP Live Streaming (or HLS) is most commonly used for live video streaming. But it is notorious for latency issues, also known as lag.....

Powered by our proprietary and patented peer-to-peer live streaming protocol, BitTorrent Live allows for large audiences to view live video with sub 10-second latency and without the need for an expensive CDN or pre-provisioning. With BitTorrent Live, every viewer is also a broadcaster. This allows the video stream to remain strong and for the broadcast to be as scalable as traditional Over-the-Air TV.

As for BitTorrent Live programming, the following channels will be available at launch time with more expected down the road:

• AWE: Formerly known as WealthTV, AWE is a 24/7 network devoted to taking viewers on a journey of how wealth is achieved, used and enjoyed.
• Clubbing TV:  The official media partner of some of the planet’s biggest electro festivals, Clubbing TV offers exclusive, quality electronic music content from artists and labels all around the globe embracing the entire the Dance Music lifestyle.
• FAST&FUN is a new Television Channel offering an action-packed, adrenaline-including medley of extreme sports, from car racing and motocross to snowboarding and skateboarding; a large variety of disciplines, shows and competitions from all over the world.
• Fightbox: From MMA and boxing to arm wrestling and sumo, Fightbox is a compilation of the finest combat sports from around the globe all on one channel.
• Filmbox Arthouse: Every month FilmBox Arthouse also airs special presentations devoted to a particular creative movement (German Expressionism, New Romanian Cinema) or individual filmmakers (The Surreal Art of Salvador Dali, Rossellini’s War Trilogy, etc.)
• Heroes TV: Delivers what action, adventure fanatics want.  Heroes TV targets audiences with Multiple programming categories to offer the most comprehensive action, adventure line up on TV.
• Newsmax: Newsmax TV provides the latest news, expert views and live programming from your favorite TV hosts and A-list guests. (conservative programming)
• NUsicTV:  Delivers the finest new independent artists at the forefront of music in a linear broadcast, allowing viewers to discover the vanguard in music without having to search the internet.
• OANN: Features political analysis programming and political talk shows, along with network special documentary-style reports; its news coverage attempts to maintain objectivity while its political shows illustrate a stronger conservative lean.
• One World Sports: It features exclusive, live, world-class sporting events and premier matchups from around the world, with over 3,000 hours of unduplicated sports programming annually. Content focus is on live and same-day action of league, championship and qualification competitions in soccer, basketball, baseball, golf, table tennis, badminton, darts, and more.
• OpenNews TV: OpenNews TV brings you live video talk shows from the best progressive talk radio personalities.
• Pursuit Channel: Pursuit Channel is a television network that airs programming geared to hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation.
• TWiT: The TWiT.tv Netcast Network with Leo Laporte features the #1 ranked technology podcast This Week in Tech, along with over 20 other top-ranked online shows.

BitTorrent Live will add a number of other channels over time, including an as yet details subscription service, ad-supported services, and Pay-Per-View offerings. BitTorrent has not yet announced a launch date for the app, though they have confirmed it will be available on Apple TV, iOS, Android, and Mac later this year. Sorry Windows fans, no word on a release for you as of yet!

Apple Owns Up to iTunes Music Deletion Issue Promises Fix "Soon"

Apple has confirmed earlier reports that users are seeing their music libraries disappearing from their Macs. At issue was a blog post by a designer named James Pinkstone which quickly made the rounds through the blogosphere and social media.

Pinkstone claimed that Apple Music and iTunes somehow managed to delete up to 122GBs of local music files and basically cause havoc with his library. Now, Apple has confirmed to several sites that it is working on a patch to iTunes to fix the issue. In its statement released earlier today Apple said it is investigating reports of a supposed Apple Music compatibility bug that deletes local music files without user permission, adding that an updated version of the media management software is expected for release next week.

"In an extremely small number of cases users have reported that music files saved on their computer were removed without their permission," Apple said. "We're taking these reports seriously as we know how important music is to our customers and our teams are focused on identifying the cause. We have not been able to reproduce this issue, however, we're releasing an update to iTunes early next week which includes additional safeguards. If a user experiences this issue they should contact AppleCare."

Because Apple has yet to reproduce the issue, we still don't know for sure what caused this mass deletion — whether it's a bug with iTunes, Apple Music or elsewhere. As of right we also do not know if this may have been deliberate behavior on the part of iTunes, Apple Music or the company, but we do not really expect that to be the case (we hope not anyways!).

For now, the best course of action (as always with technology) is to ensure you have complete, recent, data backups of your music library. That way, if something does happen in the interim, you can always rollback files (or your entire library) if stuff ends up missing. We’ll bring more updates on the matter as they are provided.

Microsoft Reminds Us Windows 10 Free Upgrade Offer Expires July 29th

For those of you who have not yet taken the plunge and upgraded your computers Microsoft has issued a friendly reminder that their free upgrade off expires July 29^th!

If you’ve been waiting until the last possible moment to decide whether or not you want to upgrade to Windows 10, that last possible moment is suddenly right around the corner. Microsoft reminded Windows users in a blog post today that the free Windows 10 upgrade offer ends on July 29^th. After that you’ll still be able to continue to get Windows 10 on a new device, or purchase a full version of Windows 10 Home. However, in order to do so you'll need to purchase a full version of Windows 10 Home for $119.

As part of today's reminder Microsoft took the opportunity to showcase a few numbers in regard to the popularity of their operating system as well as remind users that there is still more great features to come. Microsoft has stated that as the one year anniversary of the release of Windows 10 approaches there are now more than 300 million active devices around the world running Windows 10. Cortana has answered over 6 billion questions, gamers have put in over 9 billion hours of gameplay and the first major update, dubbed the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, is scheduled to roll out over the summer, free of charge.

Microsoft has also stated that Windows 10 has the highest customer satisfaction of any version of Windows to date! So you if you haven’t upgraded yet you might want to think about taking the plunge. To make upgrading a little easier I suggest checking out Microsoft's FAQ page. You might also want to read a few of our articles, especially those regarding the privacy concerns. You may also want to checkout the community at Microsoft Answers. There you'll find lots of help and answers to many of your Windows 10 questions.

Dish Gets Into The iPhone Repair Business

When you think of Dish Networks you probably think of the low cost alternative to cable TV. However, the company is looking to change that. This morning Dish Networks announced that have begun offering iPhone repairs along with their traditional services carried through their current technicians.

“Smart Phone Repair” from Dish delivers a technician directly to a customer’s door with appointments available seven days a week including same-day and next-day availability. Dish plans to utilize and complete these repairs for both none and current customers via their network of skilled technicians in all 50 states. Those technicians will be trained in repairing cracked screens and replacing batteries on Apple’s iPhone 5, 5c, 5s, 6 and 6 Plus. With the promise that in the coming months, Dish will expand its service to include additional devices and smartphone accessories.

Prices range from $135 to $185 for screen repair, and $75 for a battery replacement, plus the addition  of a one-time $35 “Drive to Me” travel fee. Their services are a bit pricey when compared to others that I've seen locally, but bear in mind that you're also paying to have a technician show up at your door, rather than driving to them and there should be little to no wait time for the repairs to be done.

“Fixing your phone shouldn’t mean losing your phone for days on end, so we come to you – whether you’re at the office, the gym or even the coffee shop,” said John Swieringa, executive vice president of Operations. “DISH is uniquely positioned with the technical know-how and ability to respond to a customer’s needs in every state across the country.”

Dish promises that their technicians will be using "high-quality replacement parts from respected third parties" and guarantees all repair work with a 60-day warranty. If you want to summon a Dish technician to repair your phone, you can do so by heading to their new Smart Phone Repair portal.

Chrome Takes Top Spot From Internet Explore For First Time Ever

After 21 years Microsoft's reign at the top of the browser market has officially come to an end! According to the most recent analytics Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) continued its downward spiral and has officially relinquished the No. 1 spot to Google's Chrome browser. Marking a major milestone not only in IE's 21-year lifespan, but a dramatic changing of the desktop browser guard.

Over the past several years Microsoft has seen Internet Explorer's market share repeatedly dip in favor of up and coming browsers from Google, Mozilla and Opera. However, not once have we seen any of those companies manage to topple Microsoft from the number one spot. According to U.S. analytics vendor Net Applications, during the month of April we saw Chrome do just that.

Net Applications reports that "IE" -- fell 2 percentage points in April, the fifth straight month of a loss greater than a point, and the 16th of any size -- to end at 41.4% of the total global browser user share. Meanwhile, Chrome climbed 2.6 percentage points to take a narrow lead with 41.7%.

Computerworld has attributed IE's decline to Microsoft's August 2014 announcement that users of older versions had to upgrade, in most cases, to IE11, by Jan. 12, 2016. Since the announcement, IE has lost more than 17.1 percentage points of user share, representing a 29% decline.

By forcing customers to upgrade to a newer version of IE -- or alternately, turn to Windows 10 and its default browser Edge -- Microsoft demanded that users change browsers. That had appears to have had a disastrous impact on IE's user share as people rethought their browser choice, and then abandoned Microsoft's browsers for rivals' -- notably Chrome.

Another very plausible cause for users making the change, and one I see as being slightly more likely, is that more users are becoming more familiar with Chrome from the uptake in usage of Google's other services and through Android on their mobile devices. As more companies incorporate Google's services like Drive and Docs, more users are finding it easier to migrate to Chrome and its built in cross functionality. The same with Android users that may in the past have not seen the benefit of using Chrome but now are as they typically have a Google account and use Google's services through Android.

New Service Offers Diners Free Uber Rides to Select Restaurants

Gearing up for a night out on the town but don't know where to go? A new service offers adventurous users free Uber rides for trying out new restaurants in the area.The brainchild of 16 year old internet wiz kid Daniel Singer, founder of multiple tech start-up, Cake.af aims to help restaurants fill empty tables while making it easy for consumers to try new establishments.

Customers can sign up for the free service by sending the “cake” emoji to Cake.af. Once they are registered, the team at Cake.af will determine restaurants that have availability/open tables and send an invite to the customer detailing the establishment and the time of the reservation. If the customer accepts the invite, an Uber car will be sent to provide a free ride to the restaurant. If the customer is not interested in the restaurant or available times, they can simply decline the invite. Restaurants benefit by bringing in new customers and the consumers are happy to get free rides to try out a new venue.

“With Cake.af, consumers can feel like a VIP with a car showing up at their door to take them out for a great meal,” said Cake.af creator Daniel Singer. “While they do still have to pay for the food, Cake.af makes the evening easier and less stressful. Restaurants that sign up now have a new way to help fill tables during slow times of the week and consumer are exposed to new dining establishments. It’s a win-win!”

Cake.af is currently available to consumers in three markets including Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco and services and unknown selection of restaurants. Don't worry we are working to see if they have a list of restaurants that are currently available and we will update our posting once they do!

D-Link Launches New EXO Series Routers With Out of This World AC1900 EXO Wi-Fi Router

Following their recent announcement of the new EXO Series of routers, which are meant to supplement D-Link's existing Ultra Performance Series, D-Link has officially announced availability of their first offering in the series and from the looks of it D-Link has made good on their promise of exceptional design with powerful Wireless AC home networking performance.

The new AC1900 EXO Wi-Fi Router (DIR-879), will be the initial offering in the EXO series. This new out of this world looking router boasts a stylish form-factor, featuring standout color and impressive feature set. With built-in high power amplifiers and 11AC Dual Band Wi-Fi, the DIR-879 promises to deliver fast wireless speeds, improved coverage, and reliable Wi-Fi connectivity to support HD streaming and other demanding applications, all for under $150.

“With the new AC1900 EXO Wi-Fi Router, users can enjoy the extremely fast speeds of 11AC Wi-Fi and proudly display their network hardware,” said Steven Olen, director of product marketing at D-Link. “The EXO series was built for Wi-Fi users who want great performance, premium-design and style at an incredibly affordable price.”

Additional features and capabilities of the AC1900 Wi-Fi Router (DIR-879) include:

• 11AC Wi-Fi Dual Band Connectivity – Speeds up to 1300Mbps on the 5GHz band and 600Mbps on the 2.4GHz band
• High Power Amplifiers – Provide wider coverage throughout your home
• Dual Core Processor - To support more devices and apps in your home so you can experience lag free gaming and HD media streaming
• Smart Connect – Automatically assigns connected devices to the best possible band for optimal Wi-Fi performance
• Intelligent QoS – Traffic optimization delivers seamless performance for your applications
• Wi-Fi Protected Setup – Push button to easily connect devices to the wireless network
• Backwards Compatible – Works with existing Wi-Fi devices (802.11n/g)
• Wireless Encryption – Uses WPA or WPA2 security
• Easy Setup – Get online in minutes with the Quick Router Setup (QRS) mobile app

The AC1900 EXO Wi-Fi Router (DIR-879) is available now for $149.99 through most of your favorite retailers and e-tail outlets. Detailed specifications are available online at D-Link’s website.

Need Help With Your Contracts? New Online Tool Will Review Them For You

Singing contracts and other legal documents without fully understanding what you are agreeing to can, and often does, have disastrous results. All too often getting a little legal help can save the day. Unfortunately, that help usually comes with a pretty hefty price tag. Enter LawGeex, a new online platform that uses artificial intelligence. to scan and dissect those agreements to offer you a little help finding and detailing those pesky clauses that you may over look.

LawGeex offers what it calls the world's first contract review platform based on A.I. The goal, it says, is to help businesses and individuals "get a fair deal" before signing an agreement.The service is a pretty straight-forward one, users simply upload one of over 30 supported contract types including employment agreements, NDAs, service agreements, and leases.

LawGeex's A.I. platform then uses its array of technologies to compare the contract against a database of thousands of similar ones. They then send your contract over to one of their "real life lawyers" to check the results. Finally you'll receive a full report showing you the results of the items they have scanned with flags detailing anything that needs extra attention.

Explained in simple terms, the final analysis you receive from LawGeex -- which is stated at being delivered within 24 hours, or on the next business day -- aims to ensure that users know exactly what they’re agreeing to. Included in that report are a summary, a contract score, and information such as clause explanations, negotiating tips, and sample language for missing clauses.

“The driving force behind LawGeex is the belief that no one should sign a contract that they don’t fully understand," said Noory Bechor, the company's cofounder and CEO, a commercial lawyer himself.

At this time anyone can use LawGeex for free to scan and analyze employment agreements. However, they are working to add additional types of personal contracts, such as residential rental agreements, in the next few weeks, and more free contract types in the coming months.

For users that are looking for help with other types of agreements, LawGeex covers 30 in all, there are several pricing options including a one time $49.99 review or a $79.99/mo subscription for up to 2 reviews per month.

Want to Test The Latest Products From Spigen Inc.? Checkout The Spigen Supder5tar Review Program

Are you one of those crazed online shoppers that loves buying everything you can get your hands on and then writing meticulous well thought out reviews of those items? Do you love buying new smartphones and equipping them with new cases and accessories? If both of those explain who you are then you might be eligible to get some of those new smartphone accessories for free thanks to the Spigen Super5tar review program.

Just in case you don't know, Spigen is a phone case maker based out of the US. They make a wide assortment of cases and accessories for all of the latest phones on the market, including Samsung, LG, Apple, HTC and OnePlus. The company has started a new initiative in order to get customer feedback posted to Amazon as quickly as possible. The program is called Super5tar Review Program and what it offers is a free case or accessory if approved, for you to test out and review.

How Does the Spigen Super5tar Review Program Work?

So here is the low down on how to get started reviewing your first product. First head over to Spigen’s Super5tar Review Program page and select a case that you’d like to review. They are currently only offering cases for the newest phones on the market, so you'll have options of the iPhone SE, Galaxy S7 and LG G5. Next, fill out the form with your email, birth date, name, country of residence, and you’ll also need to provide your Amazon account profile link.
To find your Amazon profile link:

• Log into your Amazon account
• Click on “Your Account” (Where you would check for your recent orders)
• Under “Personalization” click on “Your Public Profile”
• Copy the link in your browser’s address bar and paste it back into Spigen’s form
• Your Profile link should look like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Then, if your application is approved, you will be sent the case you chose at signup and you’ll be expected to write an honest review on the cases’ respective Amazon product page within 5 days of the product’s receipt. Of course, you must be over 18 years of age to participate in the review program and you must also agree to a possible minimum processing fee in order to get your case.

The page says approval is based on your Amazon Review Profile, the actual number of Amazon reviews written, how recently the Amazon account was created, compliance with the Terms and Conditions, validity of email, and country of residence. New products will rotate periodically so be sure to check back to the program page every once in a while.

Now of course some will question the ethical approach here, even Amazon themselves have apparently raised concerns about the program and have in the past. However, Spigen does state they want an HONEST review. Now having worked alongside many companies in the past and worked for similar projects I can tell you honest doesn't always mean honest. And while they likely won't ask for the product back, negative reviews often mean less opportunity for testing in the future. Saying that, you should definitely be honest and write the best review possible!

New Windows 10 Roadmap Highlights Several Upcoming Features

Microsoft has officially released the latest Windows 10 Roadmap highlighting the newest features we can expect in upcoming Windows 10 updates and releases. And while we already know the Windows 10 “Anniversary Update” will be coming this summer, many of the new features found on the Roadmap apparently aren't a part of that update.

“The Windows 10 Roadmap provides a snapshot of what we’ve recently made generally available, released into public preview, are still developing and testing, or are no longer developing,” Microsoft explains. While this newest Roadmap is meant specifically for Microsoft's business customers, there are still plenty of noteworthy features we may eventually see for consumers.

Here’s a basic rundown of a few of the highlight:

• Windows and Android phones as well as "companion devices" such as the Microsoft Band 2 will be able to unlock and authenticate apps on a Windows PC.
• Connecting a Windows phone to an external touch monitor through Continuum will allow for touch controls on the large display. Windows phones with Continuum will also support laptop-like docks, keyboards and accessories that utilize your phone's cpu and OS to run and act like a laptop.
• Windows PCs will be able to cast their displays to other Windows PCs making collaborations easier.
• Windows apps will get a picture-in-picture mode.
• Remote display for "display-less" devices, so users can seamlessly control Windows 10 IoT Core applications from any Windows 10 desktop PC, tablet, or phone*. In addition, the technology allows Windows 10 IoT Core devices to use remote sensor readings from any connected Windows 10 device.

Again these new features are being added in addition to the "Anniversary Update" features that we saw highlighted during the Build 2016 back in March. You should also keep in mind that these plans can change, something that Microsoft themselves highlight on their roadmap which also includes a section for canceled features, though it’s currently unpopulated. As for timing, Microsoft isn’t making any promises, and has not yet started testing any of the above features in its Windows Insider builds.

As to what we should expect in the Windows 10 “Anniversary Update” we already know we will see a few key additions, one of the biggest being Linux /bin/bash-support. This will not be a port or a virtualization. It’s a full Ubuntu command line running natively right in Windows, built in partnership with Canonical. As of right now this is mostly a tool for developers, but cross-platform power users may find this particularly useful as well.

We also know we will see updates to Cortana, for more efficient and effective use as well as greater app support and better notification support. You can also expect to see the new Windows Ink feature which allows for more stylus and handwriting support. According to Microsoft, Windows Ink puts the stylus “front and center” by introducing the Ink Workspace, a hub of apps that all focus on different things that a stylus can do.

Of course for you gamers Microsoft didn't leave you out. Microsoft says they will be working to deliver on top fan-requested features like support for multiple GPUs and the ability to turn off v-sync. Game developers will have access to a fully open ecosystem with the Universal Windows Platform, making it easy to bring the games people love to both Xbox One and other Windows 10 devices. With the Anniversary Update, any Xbox One can be a developer kit with Xbox Dev Mode, enabling anyone to develop for the living room. And, the Windows Store will offer a unified store experience for all developers, creating new opportunities to reach millions of new customers.

Amazon Prime Same Day Delivery Adds 11 New Cities Now Covers 27 In All

Thanks to a plethora of features Amazon Prime membership has been growing at an astonishing rate. According to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, membership grew 51% last year – including 47% growth in the U.S. and even faster internationally – and there are now tens of millions of members worldwide.

Prime started as Amazon’s unlimited two-day shipping option for subscribers, however over the past few yeas the service has changed significantly and morphed into an all encompassing service. The new Prime has become more of an all-you-can-eat, physical-digital hybrid with access to Prime Videos, music and more.

One of the latest perks Amazon has begun offering their Prime members is Prime FREE Same-Day Delivery. A feature that allows Prime members to place an order in the morning and receive all Same-Day orders over $35 before bedtime that very same day, seven days a week.

The service, which initially launched last year, has proved so popular that Amazon has announced today that they will be expanding the coverage area from the original 14 cities to include an additional 11 metro areas. Those areas include Charlotte, Cincinnati, Fresno, Louisville, Milwaukee, Nashville, Raleigh, Richmond, Sacramento, Stockton, and Tucson, plus new areas in Central New Jersey, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

“Prime was developed to make shopping on Amazon fast and convenient, and millions of members have used Prime FREE Same-Day Delivery to make their lives even easier,” said Greg Greeley, Vice President of Prime. “We keep making Prime better, and as our operational capabilities grow, we will continue to invent and expand delivery options that customers love.”

Running just $99 a year, Amazon Prime will offer customers unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on more than 30 million items across all categories, unlimited Free Same-Day Delivery on more than a million items in the expanded 27 metro areas, and one and two-hour delivery with Prime Now on tens of thousands of items available in more than 25 metro areas. In addition members have access to unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes, more than one million songs and thousands of curated playlists and stations with Prime Music, early access to select Lightning Deals all year long, free secure, unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive with Prime Photos and access to more than one million books to borrow with the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

Learn more about Prime FREE Same-Day at www.amazon.com/sameday.

Bitdefender Says New Tool Uses 'Trickery' To Prevent Some Ransomware Infections

With ransomware infections making big headlines these days security researchers are looking at new ways to keep the malicious software from taking over users machines. Unfortunately, in this cat and mouse game the bad guys have seemingly been wining the war! All that may soon change as security researchers test new inventive ways to actually vaccinate machines from possible infections.

Antivirus firm Bitdefender is one such company that has been taking a new approach as to how it handles ransomware. They have just released a free tool that the company says can prevent computers from being infected with some of the most widespread file-encrypting ransomware programs: Locky, TeslaCrypt and CTB-Locker.

The new Bitdefender Anti-Ransomware vaccine is an update of sorts to a piece if software that the company designed to prevent CryptoWall infections. As with the previous tool this new 'vaccine' works by taking advantage of a very specific feature commonly used in several piece of ransomware. Those malicious pieces of software actually check to make sure the machine they are trying to attack haven't previously been infected. Bitdefender's Anti-Ransomware vaccine uses those checks against the ransomware by making it appear as if computers are already infected with current variants of Locky, TeslaCrypt or CTB-Locker. This prevents those programs from infecting them again.

Bitdefender has stated that in its current form the tool can only fool certain ransomware families and is not guaranteed to work as protection against those indefinitely. Therefore, it's best for users to take all the common precautions to prevent infections in the first place and to view the tool only as a last layer of defense that might save them in case everything else fails.

"While extremely effective, the anti-ransomware vaccine was designed as a complementary layer of defense for end-users who don’t run a security solution or who would like to complement their security solution with an anti-ransomware feature," said Bogdan Botezatu, a senior e-threat analyst at Bitdefender.

The new tool is available for download on the Bitdefender website.

Need Help Using One of Google's Sites or Services? Checkout The Official Google Tips and Tricks Webpage

It isn't often that you see a company devote time and attention to create detailed walk-throughs of how to better use their sites and services. Yeah most might compile a FAQ list, and some will offer up some basic help. But for the most part, most companies leave you, well Googling it!

Google has always been an exception to that rule! They have always done their best to offer users advice and tips & tricks on how to get the most out of their Google Search results as well as most of their other services. Just last year we mentioned that Google offered a list of essential tips for becoming a Google Guru. At that time the list of tips and tricks was still relatively small, at only 78. Today however, that list has blossomed to more than 170!

Google's official list of Google tips and tricks features easy to follow walk-throughs, videos and step by step guides on how to use just about anything related to Google. The tips are now broken down into six categories: Do More, Save Time, Online Security, New Device, Ask Google, and Improve Access. You can also access tips for each individual Google product. with tips & tricks encompassing everything from Android to Google Play to using Chrome. We'll note some of the categories for each product aren't fully covered and don't have any tips yet, but most do!

While many of these tips are going to seem remedial to a power user. Most if not all are going to be helpful to someone that is just now breaking their teeth on some of Google's services. Either way, the site is a great one to add to your tool bag and makes for a great resource for sharing with your 'new to Google' friends or less than tech savvy family members.

Must Have Geek Gadgets For Spending Time Outdoors This Spring

If there is one thing I know about my fellow geeks it is that we love our gadgets and as such we always find some cool new piece of tech that makes every life experience that much better. In the past we've talked about a few of our favorite gadgets for summer time fun, but today we are going to share a few suggestions aimed specifically at some of the challenges of being outdoors during the spring time.

Keeping Bugs Away!

Whether it be mosquitoes, ants or wasps nothing ruins a nice afternoon outdoors quite as much as bugs. Not to mention those little pests are known to carry and spread pesky little viruses like West Nile, Zika and even Lyme Disease (yes that is still around). Therefore it should be no surprise that are first few suggestions are going to help keep bugs at bay!

ThermaCell Mosquito Repellent Camp Lantern: The folks over at ThermaCell were nice enough to send us over this cool little dual action lantern and so far we have been nothing but impressed. The light produces 300 lumens which is plenty to bright to light up a full sized or a standard picnic table. The repellent, which can also be used as an independent unit, is said to offer 15'x15' protection from mosquitoes, black flies and a few other “no see-ums”. In other-words plenty of coverage for a small campsite or picnic area.

Rock Those Tunes!

No party is complete without some great music and what better way to enjoy that music than with a killer portable system? For those of you, that like me, grew up in the 80's and early 90's you'll remember the days with the boombox was king! It seemed as though everywhere you went someone had their beats blasting out of their own portable system. Then the days came where we decided to go more personal and portable with the walk-man and later MP3 players.

Monster is trying to put the boom back in boombox with the release of their new Monster Blaster Portable Bluetooth Boom Box. Dubbed the 'Boombox Re-imagined' the Monster SuperStar Blaster features bi-directional speakers with full range drivers in an angled 360⁰ orientation and a down-firing integrated powered subwoofer to offer plenty of sound for large outdoor spaces. For those that plan on being around the water it will also offer splash resistance, though we would suggest something like the BackFloat Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker if you are planning on enjoying the tunes in or around the pool.

Don't Get Lost Out There!

Your smartphone might be great at offering you directions when you are around town. However, using it as a functional GPS device while in the mountains or hiking in the backwoods just isn't practical. For that you'll need a dedicated GPS unit and while there are several great options from several great companies, there is only one unit that I can say I'll recommend 100% of the time. That is the Garmin Astro or new Garmin Alpha 100 series.

Both of these units not only offer you a fully function GPS unit with all the regular bells and whistles, but they both offer you the ability to track your four legged friends everywhere they go. There is nothing worse than being in the backwoods and loosing your family friends. With the Garmin Astro or Alpha you can track there movement on the devices pre-loaded topographical maps and see their distance from you and heading. The Gamin Alpha adds the training function with the help of Tri-Tronics electronic training. Allowing you to select traditional or linear progression plus tone or stimulation types.

Feed Those Hungry Geeks

Cooking in the outdoors can be challenging to say the least. Personally I prefer going with the simplest options possible, which usually means pre-made meals or sandwiches, but there are occasions that you'll want to chef it up. Nothing, and I mean nothing, ruins that experience more than forgetting your cooking essentials at home. The two things I've found that are essential for a good cooking experience while camping are a good portable bbq (gas preferably due to fire restrictions) and a nice portable stove.

The folks at Grub Hub have come up with a few ways to take the hassle out of camp cooking. The Grub Hub Camp Kitchen is a super portable unit the size of a large piece of luggage that organizes, stores and transports all your camp kitchen gear then sets up in less than 3 minutes to provide the ultimate camp kitchen and campsite. The full camp kitchen unit offers everything you need from the stove to the utensils to whip up your favorite meals in no time!

If the Grub Hub is a bit too much for your needs I wholeheartedly believe the Coleman single burner propane stove is the best thing ever. It is super compact so it fits anywhere and offers plenty of functionality for anything from heating up water for your pre-made meals or making coffee. Since camping isn't camping without a good BBQ I'd be a miss without adding a quick simple suggestion there too. Here I keep it simple with a Char-Broil Table Top Gas Grill. Small portable and always gets the job done!

Final Note: Now of course there are several other suggestions we could add to our short list here and we have discussed plenty of those in the past. We just wanted to highlight a few of the newest products out there that are on our wishlist and offer a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing. A few additions I'd always add are portable chargers or battery packs, an awesome flash light or camp lantern and of course we wouldn't be geeks without a multi-tool.

If you guys have suggestions for your favorite spring time tech gadgets be sure to let us know by dropping a comment in the comment box below. We are always looking for more toys and more ideas to build out our tech bundle.

Smaller iPad Pro Has One Nice Perk You Can Use Microsoft Office 365 For Free

While I'm sure many of you Apple fans are reveling in this week's Apple event and their announcements of smaller versions of both the iPhone and iPad Pro. Most of the tech world took a collective yawn! The truth of the matter is most tech pundits have historically shunned companies for creating the sort of fragmentation Apple just did. So it shouldn't be a shock that most of us aren't all that excited.

Whether you agree or disagree with Apple's latest approach of releasing their devices in multiple configurations, there is one rather minor benefit, at least in the case of the 9.7" iPad Pro, and that is that when buying the new smaller device users won't have to pay for a Microsoft Office 365 subscription to use Microsoft’s iOS Office apps! This isn't the case for 'power users' that are looking at the larger iPad Pro. The reason, a simple one, Microsoft's licensing terms and the differentiation of  how they view mobile devices.

Let me explain: Last year Microsoft attempted to distinguish what the company thought defined a mobile vs professional experience, and which devices would typically be used by the consumer on the go. The idea, according to Microsoft, was that the company wanted to offer customers the basic feature set while they are using their mobile device and charge the regular Office 365 licensing fees for those users who were using Office at a desk,in front of a larger 'PC'. Microsoft views mobile apps as more appropriate for light editing, rather than document creation.

“Currently, we are also using screen size to delineate between professional and personal use,” Kirk Koenigsbauer, corporate vice president for the Office 365 Client Apps and Services team wrote. “Based on our research, we are classifying anything with a screen size of 10.1 inches or less as a true mobile device: You’re probably using it on the go, when it’s not practical to use a larger computing device such as a PC or a Mac. You probably aren’t using a mouse or a keyboard, instead navigating via touch interface. It’s probably not a “pro” category tablet that is used for design or presentations.”

Of course this may only be a minor benefit to most users, it is still a nice perk. Of course you still don't get all the benefits of a full blown Office 365 subscription or the full set of features. But for users that need to edit and view an Office document created elsewhere, it comes in handy.

Uber Launches A New Bug Bounty Program Offers $10k For Bugs

Bug bounty programs are big business these days, with researchers often seeing rewards of thousands of dollars to find bugs in software and security systems. Today we see yet another company joining the fold as Uber has announced that it’s officially launching a “bug bounty” program that will pay independent security researchers thousands of dollars in rewards for finding hackable bugs in its apps and websites.

Uber wants to pay researchers up to $5,000 for finding anything from a minor bug that could deface the company's homepage or expose users’ email addresses and up to $10,000 for more serious and critical bugs that could lead to attackers gaining the ability to fully take over Uber accounts or run malicious code on an Uber production server.

According to Uber the main reason behind the move to open a public bug bounty program comes as a result of the company's very own private program that turned up over 100 bugs — all of which have Uber has said have been fixed. This time the company is going a step further by offering hackers and security researchers not only more money but a new bug bounty “loyalty system” that gives bonuses for repeated bug discoveries. They have also created a “treasure map” for bug bounty hunters designed to guide them toward potential vulnerabilities in the site—mapping out the company’s code to make bug hunting as efficient as possible.

"Even with a team of highly qualified and well trained security experts, you need to be constantly on the look-out for ways to improve," Uber's Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan said in a statement. "This bug bounty program will help ensure that our code is as secure as possible. And our unique loyalty scheme will encourage the security community to become experts when it comes to Uber."

For more information about the program visit https://hackerone.com/uber.

Manually Closing Apps On Your Phone Make Actually Make Your Battery Life Worse

Old habits seem to die hard and there is one bad habit I know that I share with several of my fellow geeks, force closing apps on our smartphones. Unfortunately, for those of using still clinging to this old habit, we now have absolute confirmation that our habit actually does more harm than good.

Over the past week or so, both Apple and Google have confirmed that force closing your apps does absolutely nothing to improve your battery life. In fact, says Hiroshi Lockheimer, the VP of Engineering for Android, it might make things worse.

To put into simpler terms what we are seeing here, and why software developers from both Apple and Google have reached this conclusion, the operating systems for smartphones (and even PCs these days) have become some adept at memory and battery management that they are doing more good by continually running apps than you are by closing them. In more complex terms, both Android and iOS, utilize algorithms to run memory management. These algorithms control each app, the amount of memory allocated to those apps and allow them to sit dormant until they are needed again.

Why this matters you may ask? Think of it as a hot water faucet. Each time you turn it on you need to run more water to get the water hot. Thus you waste a lot of water. Now if you had that water circulating, but not being used, it would be hot instantly and you'd have little to no waste. This is sort of how these memory algorithms work.

These systems will close apps that need to be closed, typically ones that have been sitting dormant for a while or are using more power or memory than they should. They know exactly which ones they can and should 'disable' based on your usage. These algorithms build a profile specific to you as a user and they know when you’re going to need data, or want a refresh, or open an app again.

Apps that are already in memory open quickly, rather than having to fully start again; it’s like waking your computer from sleep rather than rebooting it completely. You’re far, far better off letting the system work for you rather than forcing it to re-open and re-start everything every time. Battery questions aside, it makes your phone slower and less coherent.

So now that we know that, are we really going to stop? Honestly, probably not! I've know about this for a few years now as it has come to my attention through various sources and through several discussions. Still I can't break the habit and honestly even if I did as a high level user I doubt I personally would notice a major improvement in battery life. You however, might see some improvements. These might only be minor, but that last second of battery life can mean a lot in the right circumstance!

My suggestions, if you are really that worried about it and you are really into saving battery is to follow a few of these tricks:

• Battery management - All phones have an option to see where they are using battery power. Learn to use your battery management tool so you can see where your battery life is going or get a freebie that helps you see even more info!
• Shut off that bright screen- Turn down your screen brightness or set it to auto adjust. When you check your battery management you'll likely see that your screen is using most of your battery. 
• Stop sharing your location - Turn off location sharing for apps that don’t need it (which is a good idea regardless).
• Turn off features you don't need - If you’re not using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or NFC turn them off. Why waste power on things you aren't using right?
• Powering saving mode - Use Low Power Mode in iOS and power saving or Doze on Android. Cut back on some of the power your device has and you can shave a little off your usage.

Uber Launches UberEATS In The US But Would You Trust An Uber Driver to Deliver Your Food?

The on-demand market is a hot commodity these days for sure and by now most of us have used services like Uber and Lyft at least once. But how much do you actually trust the people that drive you around? Would you trust them to handle your food? Several new companies, including Uber, are hoping that you will. The company just today announced their UberEATS app is now available within a limited few cities in the US. The announcement, which came via  a blog post today, highlights some of the features of the new standalone app.

For us geeks that are too busy gaming to get out and get our own dinner the new UberEATS app will offer a few options. First you can opt to get regular delivery from a hundred or so restaurants in each service area, with the full menu available for you to pick and choose from. This portion of the service will be available from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. everyday, and you can see how long it will take for Uber to get the food to your doorstep within the app (15-20 minutes, 20-30 minutes, etc).

Or, if you want food delivered to you faster—Uber says as fast as 10 minutes or so—you can choose Instant Delivery, which features three to five daily dishes in every city, all displayed in big, clean photos in the app. Instant Delivery is only offered between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. during weekdays.

According to Uber the company will feature a separate driver base handling UberEATS deliveries, which doesn’t overlap with the group of regular Uber drivers picking up people in their cars. However drivers can choose to switch between modes freely, by logging into and out of the app. Meaning that these new drivers may indeed simply be the same drivers we see on a regular basis.

So this begs to question, will you really trust an Uber driver to deliver your food? Uber makes no mention of specific details like food handling certification or any food specific training, something that most food handlers (at least in my area) are required to have. I for one may be a bit skeptical!

For you geeks out there that aren't as skeptical as I am the UberEATS App is available today on both iOS and Android and the service will be available in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Uber says it will be rolling out UberEATS in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Melbourne, New York, Paris, Seattle and Washington D.C. in the coming weeks.

Win A Trip to Microsoft's Rare Studios to Be The First to Play Sea of Thieves

The Microsoft gaming development team at Rare, yes that is the actual name, has announced a new competition built just for fans (or would be fans since the game isn't out yet) of their latest game Sea of Thieves. With six lucky and the winners being offer the chance at an all-expenses paid trip to the UK studio to play the game before launch. The announcement video is below, while more details follow further down.

For a chance at winning this all-expenses-paid adventure, Microsoft and Rare are asking fans to create something that conveys their excitement for Sea of Thieves, and then share it with the world on social media via an image or video. The more creative and entertaining the entries, the better chance fans will have at winning the contest. This will be based on the judge's very selective and subjective opinions. In fact they have stated their selections will be based on the following three criteria:

• 33.00% - Creativity - you must show something new and different
• 33.00% - Entertainment value - you'll probably need to make them laugh
• 33.00% - Level of excitement for Sea of Thieves - don't be ho-hum about the game!

Once finished, fans must share a link to their image or video with us on Twitter @SeaOfThieves, or on Facebook via Facebook.com/SeaOfThievesGame, including the hashtag #SeaOfThievesContest.
 For a full run-down of the rules, be sure to check out our official rules page here.

There will be 6 prizes total. The prize(s) will be as follows: Each winner will receive a trip (for winner only) to Twycross, UK, for the opportunity to tour Rare Ltd and meet Rare game software developers. Includes:

• Round trip coach airfare from major airport closest to winner's home
• Transportation between airport, hotel, and studio
• Three (3) nights standard hotel accommodations
• Daily meals
• A tour of the Rare Studio

According to GameSpot, Sea of Thieves has been described by Microsoft as "the best game Rare has ever made," and given their rather extensive list of games that may or may not say a lot! The game that was first teased during E3 2015, with the promises to be a first person pirate adventure game with opportunities for exploring jungles, roaming the high seas and enjoy multiplayer naval combat. 

As of yet a release date has not been revealed and Rare has acknowledged on their official site that they have had very specific reasoning for limiting details about the game until now, but hopes this contest will generate buzz and excitement before the release.

Google's Project Fi Cellular Service Now Open to Everyone

Google has officially opened the doors to every that wants to sign-up for their Project Fi cellular service as the search giant has announced they are dropping their invite only requirement to join the program. In addition, those joining the program before April 7th will be offered the deepest discount ever on the Nexus 5X. If you buy the phone through Project Fi and activate it, you can get the normally $349 Nexus 5X for just $199.

Project Fi is Google's first ever attempt at breaking into the MVNO cellular service. It offers users a pre-pay service with no contracts. Services utilize cell towers  rented from Sprint and T-Mobile, switching automatically between whichever gives you the best services at the time. The service then combines all the best features of Google Voice, like visual voicemail, number forwarding, and the ability to send and receive SMS messages from any computer and via the Google Hangouts app.

One major downside, that Google is still apparently working on, is that the service is only available in limited areas and with very limited device compatibility—the Network switching feature means Fi only works on the Nexus 5X, 6, and 6P. The upside is that all calls on Fi are made over Wi-Fi by default if that’s available (and how doesn't have Wi-Fi these days), and then switches to the cellular network when a user moves out of range of a Wi-Fi signal.

Project Fi charges a $20 base fee for unlimited texting and calls, plus $10 per GB of data you use. Fi customers also only pay for the data they use, and then are credited with any data left over. So if you sign up and pay $20 for calls, plus $30 for 3 GB of data but only end up using 2 GB, you’ll get $10 credited back on your account at the end of the month.

For more details checkout the Project Fi home page as well as the Project Fi FAQ

Apple Moves Quickly to Squash Ransomware Concerns

While ransomware may hardly be a new thing, this weekend saw a new first for the malicious software as it for the first time ever has been confirmed as targeting Apple Mac OSX users.

Palo Alto Networks, A security research firm announced Sunday its discovery of what is believed to be the world’s first ransomware that specifically goes after OS X machines. The malicious code dubbed "KeRanger" ransomware, was found wrapped into Transmission, which is a free Mac BitTorrent client.

At this time it is still unclear exactly how the attackers managed to upload a tampered version of Transmission to the application's website. But compromising legitimate applications is a commonly used method. "It’s possible that Transmission's official website was compromised and the files were replaced by re-compiled malicious versions, but we can’t confirm how this infection occurred," Palo Alto Networks wrote on its blog.

The KeRanger malware imposes a 72-hour lockout window unless the victim pay up to unlock their devices. As mentioned the software was loaded to OSX machines unintentionally by users running version 2.90 of the Transmission software. A version that was signed with a legitimate Apple developer's certificate. This allowed the software to bypass one of OSX's security settings as users often set the setting to allow downloads from identified Apple developers. This setting means the person with the infected machine may not ever have seen a warning from Apple's GateKeeper software that the application could be dangerous.

According to reports by Reuters Apple revoked a certificate that allowed the software to be installed on Macs, and Transmission removed the download link from its website noting that any users that downloaded the infected version over the weekend should immediately upgrade to version 2.91 of the software, which was available on its website, and delete the malicious one.