Microsoft tied in several observing and data collection tools when it created Windows 10. The operating system has the ability to collection information such as your search history, emails, Windows Store usage, details of what applications you use, web usage, voice recordings, geographic information and almost whatever else that is available on your PC. Partly, this information is collected for bettering Windows-based services, but it is also utilized for market research and advertising purposes....

It seems Microsoft is stealthily embracing Linux! A Windows hacker, Walking Cat has noted that the latest Windows build 14251 aka Redstone has two Linux files called LXCore.sys and LXss.sys. Windows Power User in a blogpost noted that though Microsoft had been using Linux in its Project Astoria for Windows 10 Mobile, this is the first time somebody found Linux files on a proper Windows 10 desktop version. Microsoft had incorporated Android subsystem in Windows 10 Mobile under its Project Astoria which was reportedly shelved....

In a blog post on Tuesday, Microsoft has now officially confirmed that the project has been killed, although some of its best features will be brought to Windows 10. “Following a year-long exploration and engaging in conversations with customers, we realized that the technology of Windows 10X could be useful in more ways and serve more customers than we originally imagined. We concluded that the 10X technology shouldn’t just be confined to a subset of customers,” wrote Microsoft VP John Cable in the blog post....

“Our goal is to build an even better user experience in partnership with the community. We are encouraging your fresh perspectives and increased participation to help define the future of Calculator,” writes Microsoft in a blog post. Developers can now view or contribute to the development of the Calculator app in Windows 10, and also easily integrate elements of Calculator into their own apps. They can also participate in discussions about new features, report or fix bugs, and suggest new features and prototypes....

In order to make it big in the Asian market, Microsoft has partnered with a Chinese Xiamoi smartphone user group and released a Windows 10 Mobile ROM for android devices. The Redmond, California, giant has released the windows 10 mobile ROM for Xiaomi Mi4 handset to a select group of power users. Before this deal, Xiaomi, China’s largest smartphone vendor had been exclusively using MIUI, an Android-based operating system, which had been accused of openly copying Apple’s iOS 7 look....

For those unaware, the project Andromeda has been in development for at least two years and has been appearing constantly in reports from other publications and even patents from Microsoft. According to Microsoft, the purpose of this product is to “blur the boundaries between mobile and stationary computing”. It also adds that Andromeda will offer “new innovative hardware and software experiences to create a truly personal and versatile computing experience....

Here comes the money…. As part of its Rewards scheme, Microsoft will begin awarding points to users who carry out online searches and purchases. These points can then be redeemed on music and movies. There are 2 levels in the rewards scheme. Level 1 members will get points for 10 daily searches whereas Level 2 members will earn points for 50 daily searches. The number of searches done will be refreshed everyday....

Xbox One was originally launched with a customized version of Windows 8, but the software maker upgraded the console to Windows 10 in November and rumors say that its working on a secret project called Helix. Normally, when something is called Helix it is something which appears promising in the first incarnation but then repeats itself so badly during the second season that most people switch off. Microsoft is planning to update every Windows 10 PC with an Xbox program that would make Xbox One games playable on a PC, without needing a console for streaming, according to The Verge....

“We are a unique species and have various ways in which we are exceptionally different from every other creature on the planet,” Julia Watzek, the study’s co-author and a graduate student in psychology at Georgia State University, said in a statement about the study. “But we’re also sometimes really dumb.” For the test, 56 humans, 7 rhesus macaques, and 22 capuchin monkeys were selected to play a problem-solving video game....

According to the mobile carrier company, none of the customers’ financial info, social security numbers, and passwords were compromised in the data breach. “We want to let you know about an incident that we recently identified and quickly corrected that impacted some of your personal information,” T-Mobile said in a statement to customers posted on its website. “Our Cybersecurity team discovered and shut down malicious, unauthorized access to some information related to your T-Mobile prepaid wireless account....

Researchers said that bug repellents and lighting citronella candles may keep the mosquitoes at bay for a moment, but no solution is perfect because the pests have evolved to use a triple threat of visual, olfactory, and thermal cues to home in on their human targets. When an adult female mosquito needs a blood meal to feed her young, she searches for a host — often a human. Many insects, mosquitoes included, are attracted by the odour of the carbon dioxide (CO2) gas that humans and other animals naturally exhale....

Thankfully, the doors for Android 5.1 Lollipop for Motorola’s Moto X (1st Gen) are open and according to Christianity Daily, Moto X will finally get the taste of the Android 5.1 Lollipop OS update in the next few days. Motorola’s product manager David Schuster took to Google+ to announce that the soak test for Android 5.1 OS update in Moto X (1st Gen) has begun. The Android 5.1 firmware update will be rolled out in a phased manner and country by country to the Moto X (1st Gen) users so not all users will get it at the same time....

Finally launched on November 14, the new, super fast version ‘Firefox Quantum’ (or Firefox 57) completely overhauls the original browser and is available for download on Windows, macOS and Linux-based computing devices as well as on iOS and Android smartphones. Firefox Quantum is the outcome of around 700 authors across the world contributing code to the browser since August 6th 2017. According to Mozilla, the new browser is twice as fast as Firefox 52 from six months ago....

Ubuntu Snappy Core 15.04 has received internal modifications in order to work perfectly with Linux kernel 4.2, and it uses the linux-raspi2 package that was shipped by the Ubuntu Kernel team recently on the official Ubuntu software repositories. The all new Ubuntu Snappy Core 15.04 boasts of several new features including a port that now has a fully supported Linux kernel package. Among the most important ones, are the new I2C and SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) communication protocols, as well as the enablement of general-purpose input/output (GPIO) access by default....

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Researcher Mai-Ly Steers presented her research on the topic in the article, “Seeing Everyone Else’s Highlight Reels: How Facebook Usage is Linked to Depressive Symptoms,” published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. To research how social comparison to peers on Facebook impact one’s psychological health, Steers conducted two studies for the same. The result of these studies revealed that users went into depression when they compared their lives with others....

fail0verflow announced their discovery in a post on Twitter with an image that displayed the Nintendo console running the Debian Linux distro and user login, along with a serial adapter that was connected to one of the Joy-Con terminal on the right side. — fail0verflow (@fail0verflow) February 6, 2018 According to fail0verflow group, the exploit triggers a flaw in the boot ROM process of the Nvidia Tegra X1 chip that powers the console....

The Finnish company said Wednesday it will license its brand to a Helsinki-based company run by former Nokia managers who aim to bring new mobile phones and tablets to the market. HMD Global plans investments topping $US500 million. Nokia won’t have a financial stake in the venture, though it’s set to collect fees from brand licensing and intellectual property. Nokia seeks to make the shoppers remember its rugged feature phones and a very recognised after sales backbone....

Apparently, the problem only affects custom variants of the GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card. It occurs during gaming when custom boards reach a boost GPU clock speed of 2.0GHz or higher, resulting in the game freezing or crashing and then returning to the desktop. In an investigative report prepared by Igor’s LAB, the company states that a pattern has been found among certain GeForce RTX 3080 cards that users are reporting problems with – the choice of cheap polymer capacitors that is likely behind the card’s instability....