Month: June 2018
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June 26, 2018Apple has determined that a small percentage of the keyboards in certain MacBook and MacBook Pro models may exhibit one or more of the following behaviors: Letters or characters repeat unexpectedly Letters or characters do not appear Key(s) feel “sticky” or do not respond in a consistent manner Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will service eligible MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards, free of charge. The type of service will be determined after the keyboard is examined and may involve the replacement of one or more keys or the whole keyboard. Eligible Models To identify your computer’s model and to see if it is eligible for this program, choose Apple () menu > About This Mac. Eligible models are listed below. MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015) MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016) MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, 2017) MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports) MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports) MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports) MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports) MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016) MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017) Apple I have never had an issue with mine but again it is not every device that’s affected.
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If you have a Pentium III, for example, you may no longer be able to install Win7 Monthly Rollups or Security-only patches, in spite of Microsoft’s promise to support you until January 2020. It’s all about SSE2 and some retroactively fudged documentation. Will anybody notice? If your PC doesn’t run Streaming Single Instructions Multiple Data (SIMD) Extensions 2, you apparently won’t be getting any more Win7 patches. At least, that’s what I infer from some clandestine Knowledge Base documentation changes made in the past few days. Even though Microsoft says it’s supporting Win7 until January 14, 2020, if you have an older machine — including any Pentium III — you’ve been blocked, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Computer World Microsoft did something like this with Windows XP when it was getting close to end of life.
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Chinese tech giant Tencent has announced it’s joined the Linux Foundation as a platinum member. Tencent is one of a few companies to offer the highest level of support to the Linux Foundation. Other tech companies in this stable include IBM, Microsoft, and Intel, as well as fellow Chinese titan Huawei. As part of the deal, Tencent will take a chair on the Foundation’s board of directors. It has also promised to offer “further support and resources” to the Foundation’s efforts. So far, this has taken the form of Tencent donating several pieces of its software. The Next Web This is huge for the Linux Foundation I wonder what Linus thinks of this addition.
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Recompiling is unlikely to be a catch-all solution for a recently unveiled Intel CPU vulnerability known as TLBleed, the details of which were leaked on Friday, the head of the OpenBSD project Theo de Raadt says. The details of TLBleed, which gets its name from the fact that the flaw targets the translation lookaside buffer, a CPU cache, were leaked to the British tech site, The Register; the side-channel vulnerability can be theoretically exploited to extract encryption keys and private information from programs. Former NSA hacker Jake Williams said on Twitter that a fix would probably need changes to the core operating system and were likely to involve “a ton of work to mitigate (mostly app recompile)”. ITWire This is coming from a former hacker that’s not good.
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June 26, 2018In all probability, you’ve benefited from a modern payment technology, perhaps without even knowing it. If you’re launching an e-commerce business, you’ve heard about payment gateways and how they’re essential to your operations. Here’s how payment gateways work. Payment Gateways in a Nutshell Think of them as a bridge over which you’ll securely transfer information from a website server — or a physical store’s point-of-sale (POS) machine — to a payment processor. Gateways provide screening tools to enhance security. These include: Address Verification System (AVS) Delivery Address Verification Card Verification Value (CVS) Identity Morphing Detection Geolocation Computer Finger Printing Technology In addition to fraud-prevention, payment gateways accomplish the following actions. Payment Encryption: For payment data on your server to be securely transmitted to your bank, payment gateways encrypt all the information they send. This helps protect online transactions protected from cyber criminals. Authorization: Payment gateways also act as a sleuth, confirming the validity of a transaction. In addition to transactions being securely sent to a merchant bank for processing, the gateway also sends the data to a card issuer, such as Visa, or MasterCard. Note: This is how credit card companies make a hefty sum on processing fees. The credit card’s issuing bank is also sent the transaction data, choosing either to approve or deny the transaction. In the latter case, a reason will be included such as “insufficient funds,” or “suspected fraud.” Holds or freezes on the credit card can also cause a transaction to be denied. Finishing the Order: After getting authorization from the payment processor, the payment gateway is again responsible for interpreting and securely sending this information back to the server. This is where the payment page thanks your customer for your order. In most cases, all of this happens in three seconds or less. You...
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June 23, 2018We first announced our intention to ask users to provide basic, not-personally-identifiable system data back in February. Since then we have built the Ubuntu Report tool and integrated it in to the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS initial setup tool. You can see an example of the data being collected on the Ubuntu Report Github page. Ubuntu
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While picture editors have tweaked images for decades, modern tools like Adobe Photoshop let them alter photos to the point of complete fabrication. Think of sharks swimming in the streets of New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy, or someone flying a “where’s my damn dinner?” banner over a women’s march. Those images were fake, but clever manipulation can trick news outlets and social media users into thinking they’re real. By the time we figure out that they’re phony, bombastic pictures can go viral and it’s nearly impossible to let everyone know the image they shared is a sham. Adobe, certainly aware of how complicit its software is in the creation of fake news images, is working on artificial intelligence that can spot the markers of phony photos. In other words, the maker of Photoshop is tapping into machine learning to find out if someone has Photoshopped an image. Engadget This has been an issue for a while it is very cool that Adobe found a way to fix this using AI.
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Video game 3D modeling has evolved tremendously over the past decade. Today’s graphics intensive games are driven by high detailed models with variables that mimic real-world physics. Three-dimensional 3D models by their very definition are comprised of three dimensions what that means is you can spin the object up and down or around with the ability to see every aspect of it. For instance, in most modern games you can walk around a castle, tree or another character and examine every aspect of it. Modern day video games are a graphics intensive affair. The process is a lot like a city planner and a team of architects designing a conceptual city. 3D game design usually kicks of by defining various shapes of ordinary objects, followed by injecting colors and textures. However, the guts of the game (so to speak) is when the 3d models are placed in the scene. Though before that can happen a team of 3D modelers need to craft a highly realistic 3d model. The most common video game 3d modeling software To create a 3D model, you’ll need to use a modeling software. The good news is that there are many to choose from and the latest versions are a lot easier, with more features, and yet they still require that you understand their ins and outs. Most video game designers or model designers will use any one or a combo of the after-mentioned software: Blender: A lot of today’s video game 3D modeling is done using Blender. One reason for this is that it is open source and free to use. However, it is more complex to learn and relies significantly on keyboard shortcuts as opposed to point and click style modeling. 3Ds Max: Now this one has been around since the early days, and...
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June 23, 2018Now only people living very far from progress have never heard of crypto-currencies and especially of bitcoin. Everyone is aware of the fact that this is an wonderful option for passive income, which practically does not need your direct involvement. Bitcoin is a popular monetary unit, one of the most popular digital currencies, since it appeared first and remains the most expensive one these days. But, despite the steady growth of the rate, not all the Internet users are able to determine on the relevance and features of such work. Every person can do this with due attention and the availability of basic knowledge. If you are ready to approach the issue responsibly, consider mining as a business and invest enough money, in this article we will try to expand on the question how to start bitcoin mining: everything you need to know before making a decision. Necessary equipment We have already mentioned that bitcoin is the most famous and expensive cryptocurrency. That’s why there are a lot of people who hunt for it now, and this figure always grows. The essential tool in this highly competitive activity is a computer-miner. You have to look through the list of several devices for the digital currencies mining, in order to choose the one that is suitable, based on reviews on the Internet. Earlier it was possible to do it without buying ASIC-miners (special computers intended solely for the bitcoin mining) and do all the same on the usual one or using a video card. But the competition has reached such a level that it is even not worth starting without special equipment. You should be aware that this purchase will not pay its way right away, not earlier than in a year. If your financial situation now does not allow you...