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Google was caught in a controversial privacy issue with how its browser, Chrome would log users in to their Google account, even without their consent and given the fact that it happens automatically for almost all of Google services.

The issue seems to have been escalated with Chrome 69, as before that users were allowed to keep their login status private, and it's rather too bad for rolling out this sort of change that hinges on privacy without spelling it out to users.

The company, however have assured Chrome users of a reversal of the automatic log-ins to its services with Chrome 70 by the addition of an option to disable the automatic sign-in, and it will allow users to turn off web-based sign-in linking within the browser.



Albeit, the purpose for the browser logging into Google account is to enable the syncing of bookmarks, passwords and perhaps other web preferences, which you can choose to share with other devices.

Google claims that the change was to simplify the way Chrome handles sign-in, making it easier for users to sign into any Google service, and also sign into Google Account with the account picture right in the Chrome UI, so that you can see your sign-in status.

If you sign out, either directly from Chrome or from any Google website, you’re also completely signed out of your Google Account, according to Google.

Chrome 70 will offer a straight out-of-the-box setting that disables the link between the browser with Google services and users that have the feature disabled, when signing into a Google service will not be signed into Chrome.

Upcoming Chrome 70 to disable the controversial automatic sign-in to Google services



The open-source web browser, Brave made headlines as the first browser to bring onion routing from the Tor Project as an option to its private tabs, which feature Mozilla had earlier touted as coming to Firefox in collaboration with Tor Project.

While the browser is notable for its ad-blocking functionality, with the option for private tabs made possible by the collaboration of Tor Project's technology to keep sites from tracking users online.

Brave had recently overhauled the browser Core that mimics Google Chrome, which version lacked support for the Tor privacy technology, but the latest Brave release is perhaps the first Core beta to add the Tor technology.

Brave browser is built on Blink engine, which is also the engine powering Google's Chrome developed by Brendan Eich, the co-founder of the Mozilla project and creator of JavaScript.

The browser is notorious for its assertiveness to protect its users from online prying and spying through its separation of the computer from the site communicating with it by sending network traffic via intermediate servers, thus preventing the websites from keeping logs of browsing history, including your IP address.

Albeit, Brave browser had earlier included a system called Brave Payments, which allow users to send crypto-tokens called Basic Attention Tokens to publishers: YouTubers and Twitch video game streamers.

Now, the Core system update changed the Brave Rewards moniker, with the actual reward approach; though still funded by promotional BAT to compensate creators somewhat for revenue lost as a result of Brave blocking their ads.

The Core beta also brings support for Google's Widevine technology for digital rights management and copy protection, which is prerequisite for watching streaming videos.

Brave browser is getting own ad system; still blocking ads and ad trackers



The Internet giant, Google is marking its 20th anniversary today and has postulated what the next 20 years will look like; which is quite contrast to its earlier mission of organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible.

Google is planning an eminent shift from traditional aspects of search to semantics: what it calls the new way to find information, while this is hugely driven by some fundamental shifts in how we do search today.

The semantic search ideology moves away from just queries to providing a rather more contextual information to a given search; as it tends to surface information related to your interests, even when you have not used that specific query.

Google also hopes to shift from answers to journeys: To what it assumes as helping searchers to continue from where they left off or even learn more new interests. And the shift from text to a more visual way of finding information, including bringing more visual content to Search and completely redesigning Google Images to help users find information easily.

These advancements are nonetheless harping on its AI, which it deems as improving the ability to understand language in ways that weren’t possible when the search engine first started.

While AI can have more promising effects, like predicting areas that might be affected in a flood, or helping to identify the best job opportunities, but AI can also dramatically reduce the reach of your marketing campaigns.

The added intelligence will indeed engage more users into Google services, albeit the Internet marketers may be displaced by the automated task of information discovery as it becomes more or less dictated by Google's whims.

Google's postulated Next 20 Years of Search looks bleak for Internet marketers



Mozilla is working on a security service that can check and notify users when their email addresses have been involved in a data breach, which service is in partnership with Troy Hunt, Firefox Monitor will proactively check for your information and alert you if you are affected in a compromise.

While Troy Hunt's "Have I Been Pwned" service catalogs billions of emails that are exposed in data breaches, Firefox Monitor API will have access to the database, and will afford users the ability to search their email address, and if exposed in a data breach, will be informed specifically, where and when the compromise took place.



The "Have I Been Pwned" service was launched in 2013, and often emails discovered in data breaches hadn’t been made public, as companies tend to keep the compromise secret longer until they have figured out what actually happened, which is not always in the customers' best interest.

The service offer you the option of registration to allow it to proactively monitor and alert you if you’re ever affected by any breach in the future.

And the Firefox Monitor functions much like Hunt’s Have I Been Pwned, allowing users to search email addresses on the service to check if the email was exposed in a data breach, and it’ll show when the mishap happened; albeit alert on a data breach will be of little use if you’re not following good password rules in the first instance.

Mozilla, however made it clear that Firefox recent new features centered around security and privacy are top priorities going into the future for the browser.

Firefox Monitor: Mozilla looks to solve the problem of data breaches from the browserside



Google Feed is a service that brings relevant news, both local and international, sourced from popular media platforms to the Google App, offering information across different range of topics which are sorted to meet individual preference.

While the service is part of Google Now since it was originally introduced, the primary focus was on news content, including articles and videos around topics that a user would mostly care about, made possible by AI input.

It pulls information from topics you are following by using your Google and Chrome browsing history to improve results and customize the news contents according to your preference.

Now, Google has rebranded the Feed to "Google Discover" with new eight-pointed icon, and the bottom bar featuring the icon and a label; while this icon appears in a colored version when viewed from the search bar. And it employs the Topic Layer in the Knowledge Graph to predict your level of expertise on a topic and help you further develop those interests. For instance, you’re learning to play guitar, it will deduct that you might need beginner content about learning chords or let's say you’re already a skilled musician, you may see a video on more advanced techniques.



Google has also added a prompt to encourage searchers to “Check out Discover,” with its brand-colored version of the icon.

The ‘Google Discover’ in contrast to the erstwhile Feed, is more obvious and reflects the intended functionality: ability to follow topics to see timely news information within the feed, including movies, politics, sports, and much more.

According to Google, the Discover will have the capability to pull information and articles that are very relevant, using the same technology as Full Coverage in Google News to bring you a variety of perspectives on the latest news.

And it will takeover Google Now on Android and iOS Google Search apps, as well as the left-side page on the search results homescreen for devices like the Google Pixel.

Google Discover (formerly Google Feed) coming to the mobile web, with slew of new features



Oracle's removal of JavaFX from the Java Development Kit (JDK) 11 has given rise to the first open standalone release of the Java-based rich client technology, JavaFX 11, which will avail developers a client application platform.

The JavaFX 11 is an open source, next generation platform for desktop, mobile and embedded systems built on Java; which comes as a collaborative effort from many independent developers and companies with the goal of producing an efficient and modern, fully featured toolkit for building rich client applications.

While Oracle claimed the removal was inline with its overall desire to get rid of noncore modules from the Java Development Kit or stand the JDK as independent modules.

The standalone JavaFX modules can no longer have permissions by default, as the modules are now loaded by the application class loader, while applications that sort to run with a security manager enabled by default will need to specify a custom policy file, using "-Djava.security.policy", to grant permissions to each of the JavaFX.

Albeit, the now open source JavaFX will be able to use GTK 3 by default on Linux platforms where the GTK 3 library is present, which prior to JavaFX 11, the GTK 2 library was the default.

The new features in JavaFX include the public FX Robot API, which has been added to support simulating user interaction such as typing keys on the keyboard and using the mouse as well as capturing graphical information.

And the known issues with this release is that JavaFX crashes with OpenJDK 11 on Ubuntu 18.04 Linux machines when the XWayland window server is enabled whenever the FX window toolkit code uses GTK 3 on Linux, which is the default for JavaFX 11.

It is however recommended to use the Xorg server instead of the Wayland server when running JavaFX applications as a workaround.

The Java-based rich client technology, JavaFX 11 standalone release



It's no loner news that Microsoft and Amazon have integrated their respective digital assistants, Alexa and Cortana; the next step in the collaboration between the two companies is that Alexa-powered devices will soon be able to tap into Skype to place or receive audio/video calls to/from other devices.

While the initial partnership saw the implementations of the Cortana skill on Alexa devices, with the ability to summon Alexa from Windows 10 devices and the Xbox game console.

Skype, which had hitherto remained Microsoft’s exclusive in the partnership is now purported to be coming on board later this year, albeit the capability is already available for Amazon's Alexa-powered devices in the US and Canada.



The worldwide roll out will follow soon this year, which will allow users of Alexa-powered devices to tap into Skype to place Skype audio and video calls to other devices, accept calls, or even place calls via Skype to cellular phones and landlines.

This new partnership means that if you're about hanging out, let's say in your neighborhood and wish for the company of your friends, you can just tap your Alexa device to place a Skype call to your "old friends" by simply saying: “Alexa, call Dave on Skype,” or say “Alexa, answer” for an incoming call.

And perhaps too, you'll be able to order from your favorite local restaurant and have it delivered in a jiffy all from the comfort of your living room.

Alexa users, get ready for Skype as Microsoft is bringing the service to Amazon's hardware



The Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) is a set of extensions to DNS which provides DNS clients (resolvers) origin authentication for DNS data; the specifications are for securing certain kinds of information provided by the Domain Name System (DNS) on Internet Protocol (IP) networks.

While the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) voted on the first ever change for the cryptographic key that helps protect the Domain Name System (DNS), in a bid to make the internet more secure.

The main driving force for the improvement in DNS security remains that the rollover will help in the continued evolvement of Internet technologies and deployment of IoT facilities.

Initial plan to roll the DNS root KSK was paused in 2017 due to unexpected error, specifically the data raised questions related to how ready validating resolvers were for the roll over that was scheduled to be implemented. ICANN analyzed the data and determined that there were indications that a relatively small percentage of resolvers were likely to be negatively impacted by the KSK rollover, but it also established that the data was unsuitable for determining the number of end users that would be impacted.

But the ICANN Board have now agreed to proceed with plans to roll over the key for the DNS root beginning on October 11, 2018, which change is remarkable as it will be the first successfully in place since 2010.

ICANN stated that minimal user impact from the rollover is expected, as a small percentage of internet users would see problems in resolving domain names, and so they will have problems reaching their destination websites.

The change, however should have little impact for enterprise users, since more than 99% of such users resolvers are validating and will not be affected by the KSK rollover; as most enterprises have their software set on automatic key rollovers or they've manually installed the new key already.

Though, there's no assurance that every network operator will have their 'resolvers' properly configured, yet it is expect that the vast majority have access to the root zone.

What's the impact of ICANN enforcement of DNS Security Extensions change?



Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is an open source initiative aimed to improve the performance of sites on the mobile web; which goes beyond just websites to include other applications on the mobile Web.

While Google had earlier partnered with several publishers and technology companies in pushing the AMP project to build more features and functionality, the company has now moved the project to a consensus-seeking open governance model.

The open governance model (a system defining how decisions are made) for AMP will focus on agility with feedback from the developers and organizations that have been using it.

Some of the significant changes proposed in the new model, includes: having working Groups with ownership of certain aspects of AMP (UI, infrastructure and documentation), with clear mechanisms for input and well-defined decision making process, replace the informal teams that exist now.

And the power to make decisions in the AMP Project have moved from single Tech Lead to a Technical Steering Committee (TSC) which is made up of representatives from companies that have committed resources to build the AMP project.

The main goal remains to encourage a wider variety of voices at different levels of contribution, such as code contributions, determining the future direction of AMP and what features and the bugs to be fixed.

It will ensure that the voices of those who do not contribute with code, but are nonetheless impacted by AMP, will be heard.

The company is also exploring the possibility of moving AMP to a foundation in the future, and seek the input of the TSC, the AC, and the community over the coming months.

Google pushing Accelerated Mobile Pages Project (AMP) to Open Governance Model



Twitter's real-time update set the service apart from other social networks and lending more to its credence, as natural conversation is supposed to be spontaneous. But earlier last year, the company decided to switch to algorithmic timeline to the backlash of its users, who maintains that the former timeline is preferred, against the supposed option to get the tweets they’re most likely to care about to appear at the top of the feed.

The argument that when a user follow hundreds of people on Twitter — or maybe thousands — that it can feel like you’ve missed some of the most important tweets with real-time update, which Twitter cited for the switch notwithstanding, many users revolted with “Death to Twitter” in a campaign against the change.

Now, the company has announced new changes that make it super easy for users to choose to see a chronological feeds from the people they follow, instead of the machine-learning algorithmic timeline that tends to surface tweets based on your past interactions.

And Twitter will allow those users who wish to opt out of the use of algorithmic timeline to choose what tweets they deem more important.

Twitter's product lead, Kayvon Beykpour, states that the company is making it easier for people to have more control of their timelines and will be testing the new changes in the coming weeks.

The company claims to have learned that when showing the best Tweets first, that users find it more relevant and useful, but they've decided to heed the feedback from people who at times prefer to see the most recent tweets.

If you wish to switch back to algorithmic timeline, simply adjust your setting for "Show me the best Tweets first" from your "Account Settings" page, click Under Content, look for "Timeline" and toggle the box next to "Show me the best Tweets first" to change the setting at any time.

Twitter makes it super-easy to Switch back to the Reverse Chronological Timeline



Microsoft launched ML.NET to provide machine learning framework for .NET developers, with the promise of making model training and predictions easy through high-level APIs, along with strong integration of other .Net capabilities.

The ML.NET framework was first announced in May 2018 with the beta Version 0.4, while the aim is to provide ways for .NET developers to create models for specific tasks and to run common machine learning models using a cross-platform, open source system.

Now, Microsoft has released a refresh of the ML.NET framework, beta version 0.5 with support for TensorFlow model scoring, which capability will enable .NET developers to use existing model from Google’s TensorFlow deep learning toolkit in ML.NET experiments.

The ML.NET framework version 0.5 also brings support for TensorFlow Transform class, which adds existing TensorFlow model and bring the scores from that model into ML.NET. And the TensorFlow scoring do not require any working knowledge of TensorFlow internal details, as the transform class is based on TensorFlowSharp .NET bindings.

Albeit, the initial release of ML.NET included only two basic machine learning tasks, classification and regression, which are useful for categorizing data such as email segmentation or to perform analysis on numerical data like pricing trends, respectively.

Microsoft plans to enable the identification of expected inputs and outputs for TensorFlow models with future releases. But for now, it has recommended that developers should use the TensorFlow APIs to explore the models.

The long term plan, however is the deprecation of the current “pipeline” API, as Microsoft tags it, and the replacement with an easier to use API.

Microsoft’s machine learning framework, ML.NET adds TensorFlow model scoring



Google's AI-infused cutting-edge revolutionary email app, Inbox by Gmail, is perhaps the best message management enhancement ever to hit the email system. While the Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered app is able to automatically sort out priority emails and also suggest/set reminders on calendar events, among others.

Inbox by Gmail brought new ideas such as the snoozing emails, as well as AI-powered experiences like the Smart Reply, Nudges and priority notifications that help users to stay more productive.

But Google isn't all satisfied with this wonderful product; albeit many users are excited about this alternative to Gmail, the company has gone ahead to set an official date for the demise of Inbox by Gmail.

According to Google, they've learned a lot about how to make email better, and taken popular Inbox experiences and added them into Gmail to help more people get more jobs done with their emails everyday; though Inbox's nifty features like trip-related emails and GitHub/Trello notifications, have not quite yet been made available to Gmail.

Google has released a guide for users to be able to effortlessly transition from Inbox to Gmail, as they promised to take a more focused approach that will help bring the best email experience to everyone.

The deadline for Inbox by Gmail is the end of March 2019, after which its users can now say the final goodbye.

Google set to discontinue the experimental Alternative Email App, Inbox by Gmail



Google is currently running a trial for the Shape Detection API with Chrome 70, which makes a device's shape detection capabilities available on the web, allowing users to identify faces, barcodes and text in images.

The Shape Detection API is now available for experimentation through Chrome origin trial; while its application encompasses serving as alternative to password, or acting as an extra layer of security for two-factor authentication.

It consists of three APIs: Face Detection API, Barcode Detection API and Text Detection API, with the Face Detection API able to return the location of faces and the locations of eyes, noses, and mouths for a more accurate result.

The feature could be a driver for Google's recent emphasis on fingerprint scanning for the web, as Chrome 70 bring two updates to the Web Authentication API related to the PublicKeyCredential type, even with the Chrome OS code spotted referencing an out-of-box experience fingerprint sensing capability.

Also, the Credential Management API in Chrome 51 defines a framework for handling credentials that included semantics for creating, getting, and storing them through two credential types: PasswordCredential and FederatedCredential.

The TouchID and fingerprint capability will be enabled by default for Chrome on macOS and Android via Web Authentication, and developers will be able to access biometric authenticators through the Credential Management API's PublicKeyCredential type.

Other major Features expected in the release includes: ontouch* APIs, which helps to avoid confusion on touch feature detection, as ontouch* members on window, document and element will be disabled by default on desktop.

And TLS 1.3, an overhaul of the TLS protocol with a less error-prone design that improves efficiency and security. The new simple design reduces the round-trips required to establish a connection and legacy insecure options, making it easier to configure a server securely.

Google bringing Face Detection support for Chrome on Linux, macOS and Android



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Hаvе уоu ever calculated thе rаndоm ѕtuff уоu’vе ассumulаtеd оvеr thе уеаrѕ? Did you rеаllу nееd that old Dеѕktор computer after you’vе gоttеn a lарtор? What оf the vidео gаmе ѕуѕtеmѕ? All оf thе old сlоthеѕ you nеvеr got to wеаr? Thеrе аrе ѕеvеrаl аррѕ/ѕitеѕ thаt mаkе ѕеlling уоur uѕеd рrоduсtѕ еаѕy: Jiji, OLX, Efritin аnd a few others. But bе саrеful whеn uѕing thеѕе sites bесаuѕе, оf соurѕе, people аrе weird. Thаt bеing ѕаid, оnе mаn’ѕ trаѕh iѕ аnоthеr mаn’ѕ trеаѕurе, ѕо ѕеll уоur ѕtuffѕ wiѕеlу.

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The Infographic below will help to drive home the points even further!

How you can Save Money for Travel and Vacation without stress

How you can Save Money for Travel and Vacation without stress



Mark Zuckerberg had earlier pledged to fix the social network's many problems, which ranges from fake news to interference, following the Cambridge Analytica scandal with an overhaul of the privacy rules and expansive fact-checking of articles, photos and images.

The company have now followed suit by expanding its fact-checking of photos and videos to partners in 17 countries around the world, while the third-party fact-checkers will help in reviewing and rating the accuracy or otherwise of contents uploaded on the platform.

Also, Facebook will be employing machine learning models that uses different engagement signals to identify fake news, which it then sends to the fact-checkers for review; though the fact-checkers can equally surface such false content on their own.

Facebook had recently updated its policies as it concerns collection of data from the over two billion monthly users on the social network, all in a bid to stem interference from outside the network. While Facebook will restrict developers' access to your data or have it expressly revoked if you haven't used their app in three months.

Facebook categorized misinformation in photos and videos into three: (1) Manipulated or Fabricated, (2) Out of Context, and (3) Text or Audio Claim, with that as mainly the kinds of false photos and videos common on the platform, it hopes to further reduce it with the expansion of the help of its fact-checking partners.

Albeit, the hoax can travel across different content types, it’s important to build defenses against misinformation across articles as well, as also the photos and videos.

How Facebook will fact-check Media Contents in fight against fake news and interference



Microsoft has engaged in a frantic last-minute efforts to get Windows 10 users to use its browser, Edge which according to Net Applications statistics hit a record low in browser usage share for July, 2018.

The company is attempting to frighten people into using Edge, with a warning dialog box that pops up on the installation prompt for other web browsers, which reads thus: "You already have Microsoft Edge - the safer, faster browser for Windows 10" - though for now, it's only on the test version of Windows 10 developer version.

While Microsoft's earlier ploy of automatically resetting users browser preference to Edge on upgrade and the later move to make the built-in Edge browser the default for opening of links within the Windows Mail app in the Fall update hasn't seen much success.

Microsoft Edge browser usage has steadily gone down, and perhaps, many users haven’t really hit the “make default” button on Windows 10 to Edge, and perhaps still keeping in their old comfort zone with Chrome or Firefox.

This latest move of employing a dialog box to dissuade Windows users from installing other browsers, currently tied to Windows 10 version 1809, build 17758.1, is seen as a more intrusive phase in the company's attempt to get people to use Edge browser.

Microsoft, however maintains that the Windows Insider Program in which the gaffe was spotted is where it run tests for different features, functionality and garner feedback before rolling out broadly to all users, and there's no guarantee that such tests will see the light of day.

Microsoft's frantic efforts to get Windows 10 users to use Edge browser



Facebook has been working alongside other Internet companies to tackle the problem of inappropriate or harmful content, using shared technology that help to stamp-out extremist images and videos.

Now, the company has gone public with its artificial intelligence (AI), Rosetta which is able to understand contexts in images and videos through machine learning technology, in a bid to identify inappropriate or harmful content and keep the community safe.

Also, the understanding of text that appears on images is important for improving the user experience, such as a more relevant photo search or the incorporation of text into screen readers for better accessibility for the visually impaired.

According to Facebook, Rosetta was built and deployed as a large-scale machine learning system to extracts text from over a billion public Facebook and Instagram images and video daily and in real time, and puts it into a text recognition model that has been trained on classifiers to understand the context of the image altogether.

The AI system was necessitated after taking into account the sheer volume of photos shared each day on Facebook and Instagram, and the number of languages supported on the platforms; as the understanding of text in images is quite different from traditional optical character recognition (OCR), which recognizes character but not the context of the given image.

Facebook's Rosetta features: encoding, RPN, and classifiers, which are trained jointly in a supervised, end-to-end manner, with the text detection model running Faster R-CNN, albeit replacing the ResNet convolutional body with a ShuffleNet-based architecture for more efficiency.

Though, the naive approach of applying image-based text extraction to every single video frame isn't scalable, as the massive uploading of videos of different languages would lead to wasted computational resources.

Facebook aims to support a global language platform, by continuing to invest in extending the text recognition model for the wide number of languages used on the platform.

Facebook's AI, Rosetta to understand images and video context with machine learning



TensorFlow is the result of Google's tinkering with deep learning neural networks back in 2011, with the first generation machine learning proprietary system, dubbed DistBelief, and the second generation iteration is a core part of its commercial products like Google Voice Search, Google Photos, and YouTube.

Now, Google has extended the open source machine learning library to JavaScript (JS) with Tensorflow.js, a JS library for machine learning models deployment in the browser.

Tensorflow.js will work with Node.js server-side JavaScript runtime and as a WebGL-accelerated library remains part of the TensorFlow ecosystem; with the machine learning models running directly in the browser.

It eliminates the need for drivers, as developers can run codes right on the browser. And TensorFlow.js model converters can also run existing models under Node.js or in the browser, which models are retrained with sensor data connected to the browser.

TensorFlow.js APIs will enable developers to build models using low-level linear algebra library or the higher-level layers API, with the Keras-inspired API included for building high-level neural networks.

Albeit, TensorFlow.js isn't the only available JavaScript library for building neural networks, Synaptic offers free JavaScript neural network library for node.js and the browser, with architecture-free generalized algorithm.

Tensorflow.js API does not yet support all the functionality of the Python API, though the developers of the JavaScript API has pledged to work more in achieving an architecture-free JavaScript API.

Google’s open source Machine Learning library extended to JavaScript with Tensorflow.js



While Microsoft had dropped support for Windows XP since April 2014 and Windows Vista in 2017, Windows XP and Windows Vista were still supported by some major browsers such as Firefox and Opera, with security updates coming to the outdated operating systems.

Mozilla has now shut down Firefox support for Windows XP and Windows Vista, meaning that users running the aged operating system will be in danger of malware and virus attacks, since no security updates will be made available for the operating systems.

According to the company, supporting XP well after Microsoft had stopped doing so, required devoting more resources and effort, which makes it difficult to focus on other things.

Also, the Extended Support Release channel will stop supporting Firefox ESR 52: the final version of Firefox with Windows XP support; while recommending that users should upgrade to Firefox ESR 60.2.

As part of the Public Data Report, Mozilla Release channel claims that before the switch of XP users to the ESR channel, which as at February 2016, Windows XP users made up about 12% of release Firefox; and by February 2017, XP users made up only 8% of release Firefox.

If this trend continued without much change after the switch of XP users to ESR, XP Firefox users should presently amount to about 2% of release users, according to Mozilla.

Mozilla Firefox extended support kept millions of users safe on the Internet despite running an outdated operating system with last patch over 4 years ago. Now, the company recommends that users should upgrade to newer OS, like Windows 7, 8 or Windows 10 so that they can go on been protected into the future.

Mozilla Firefox ends support for outdated versions of Windows, XP and Vista



Microsoft has offered to defer the Windows 7 Extended Security Updates deadline beyond January 2020, as enterprises grapple to upgrade to newer operating system; the extended support will now culminate to three years of the deadline.

While Windows 7 Extended Security Updates is expected to continue through to January 2023, it will only be available for PCs running Windows 7 Professional/Enterprise edition, and those versions of the operating system obtained through volume licensing deals.

Microsoft presumably bowed to pressure from customers to extend the support, as Windows 7's user share is estimated at a remarkable 34% for January 2020, which leaves it at a little more than a third of all Windows PCs running the aged operating system.

The extended support will culminate in a one-year increments for three years and will not be sold on the per-user approach Microsoft had always pushed out for Windows 10 licensing, rather it will follow a per-device basis.

Albeit, Microsoft has had the related offering tagged "paid supplemental servicing" for Windows 10, which also follows a one-year-and-done paid support plan for Windows 10 updates scrubbed from the company's page.

The scrubbing of the paid supplemental servicing is presumably as a result of Microsoft's extending of support for the fall's feature upgrade to 30 months.

Microsoft will offer customers on Windows Server's Extended Security Updates patches for "Critical" or "Important" rated vulnerabilities, with the top two tiers in its four-step risks ranking system. And the pricing for Windows Server 2008 support may run at 75% of the full annual license cost if the updates are deployed for on-premise servers.

Microsoft's Windows 7 Extended Security Updates beyond January 2020 deadline



Apple will require every app on its App Store to disclose a privacy policy to communicate how the personal data of users are used, come October 3, 2018, after which the apps that fail to adhere to the new rules will be axed.

The change is coming on the heels of the European Union's GDPR regulations which took effect earlier in the year, though the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) simply applies to data protection and privacy for people within the EU region.

The new requirement will provide Apple a ground in the EU laws, and any developer that falls short will be held accountable by way of its privacy policy and the statements contained therein.

While Apple is noted for its strict lockdown on its systems for security and privacy, allowing apps to run on the platform without privacy policies in place is somewhat a let down on its perceived impregnability.

Just recently, security researchers at the GuardianApp project claims that over a dozen apps on the App Store were secretly sharing the location data of “tens of millions of mobile devices” with third-party data mining firms.

These apps transmit the precise locations of users with other sensitive, personal identifiable information, which at most times with “little to no mention” that such data will be shared with third-parties.

Albeit, most apps require access to location data to work properly, like the weather app and fitness app, but sharing the data with third-party as a monetization scheme is certainly taking it too far.

Apple had earlier made known its stance on apps with contentious attributes, such as Onavo, the Facebook owned VPN app which was kicked out of the App Store in August owing to its data zapping tendencies.

The new rules which takes effect on October 3 is certainly part of the change to tackle these issues, and apps with questionable policies or user permissions will ultimately get the axe.

Apple’s slated crackdown on Apps that fails to Communicate its Privacy Policies



While the original Xbox and Xbox 360 console utilizes the Kinect peripheral to control the Xbox with voice commands, but as the Xbox lacks built-in mic with which to “hear” voice commands, having to pay for additional peripheral and developer support resulted its dwindle.

Now, Microsoft is prepping an Xbox Skill that will grant Alexa and Cortana-powered speakers the ability to control the Xbox game console, since an always-listening smart speaker will serve as a better alternative.

The company announced that the Xbox Skill has been added to both Cortana and Alexa digital assistants, though not yet available for everyone, as it's still a work in progress.

Xbox Skill will allow gamers to issue commands to both assistants to control the Xbox game console, they will be able to give not just the basic commands such as turning it off/on, but also able to launch specific games via voice command.

The new Skill will also work via the apps on smartphone, Windows PC, or the smart speaker, like the Cortana-powered Amazon Echo.

Albeit, it is not yet clear if the oral commands will do, even though Microsoft says users can inquire from the Skill, like say: “Ask Xbox what can I say” for a list of further commands.

Microsoft, however is encouraging gamers to leave feedback on how to further improve the Xbox Skill's capabilities in controlling the Xbox game console.

Alexa and Cortana-powered smart speakers to control the Xbox game console with Xbox Skill

The process of salvaging inaccessible, corrupted, damaged or formatted data from secondary storage or removable media or files, is known as data recovery in computing, while iPhone data recovery program isn't quite common due to the lockdown nature of the Apple system.

TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery stand out from all other iOS device based data recovery solutions, as it is fast and fully capable of restoring lost and deleted files on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

And perhaps the most powerful iOS data recovery solution, TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery for Windows is also able to recover all deleted files from iTunes backup and iCloud backup files instantly.

TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery for Windows recovers different kinds of data loss scenarios, like: messages, WhatsApp chats, photos, videos, Viber, Kik attachments, notes, contacts, reminders, call history, browser history due to any data loss, such as iOS upgrade error, virus attack, accidental deletion, device stolen, jailbreak failure, password lock and more.

It offers 3 smart recovery modes which guarantees highest recovery rate, namely: “Recover from iDevice,” “Recover from iTunes Backup,” and “Recover from iCloud Backup” - and you can choose from the different modes according to the data loss situation.

Other Key Features of TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery for Windows

  • Simple & Intuitive user interface


TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery software comes with a pretty clean, easy to use interface that requires no much learning curves, you only needed to connect your device and you are good to go.

  • Recovery from Encrypted backups


The program is fully capable of recovering data from encrypted cloud backups and easily restored them on iPhone/iPad/iPod or other Apple devices.

  • Scan & Preview data


With the preview feature, it allows you to go through all the recoverable files and to be able to choose the specific ones you want recovered.

  • And Free lifetime update


Additionally, you get free upgrade to support the ever frequent new iOS or Windows updates as the case may be, without any extra costs.

Procedure to Recover Lost Data with TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery

First, you’ll need to download TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery for Windows, and after the installation, connect your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch to the computer with USB cable, then tap "Trust" button from the pop-up window on iOS device so that TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery can be able to access the data on your device.



After the authorization, simply double click on TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery for Windows icon on the computer to launch it . Then choose "Recover from iOS" mode from the main menu. Then it will automatically detect your iOS device once it's properly connected.

Then click on "Scan" and it will begin the scanning of all the deleted files on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery for Windows will display all the file types, from which you can select the files you want to recover. Then preview the data to select the particular file you wish to recover.



Now, simply select the files you want to restore and click the "Recover" button to get the files back to your device immediately.



TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery for Windows is full compatibility to iOS devices running iOS 11.4 and above, including the latest devices like iPhone 8, iPhone X, or even dated devices, like: iPad 4, iPad Air, iPod touch, and more.

And most importantly, TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery is 100% secure, and the recovery process doesn’t result any leak of your personal account information while recovering the lost files from your device.

TunesKit iPhone Data Recovery for Windows Review



Service Workers are in-browser proxy that gives the power to script what happened before going to the network, and what happens from the network, to ensure websites are responsive and always available, as it speeds up delivery of Web content by reducing the amount of back-and-forth communication between a browser and a server.

Google has now employed these agents in speeding up search queries, and using the Service Workers the company was able to cache repeated searches, and load results twice as fast.

While Google had always been working on improving the speed of search, it didn’t come as a surprise that it now looks to Service Workers, as the company was a party in the draft specifying how Service Workers should be implemented in browsers, which was co-edited by Google's Engineer Alex Russell and Jungkee Song of Samsung Electronics.

The recorded search boost is certainly a huge leap, albeit the Service Workers were only implemented in Chrome for Android, version 62 and up, which therefore, makes only Chrome for Android users the ones that gain from the new speed performance.

Google, however has promised to expand the repeated search improvement to other browsers if the vendors add support for Navigation Preload, a latency optimization that's critical for Google Search to run Service Workers.

If you wish to experience the new speed, you'll need to be running Chrome version 62 or above on Android, while Mozilla is also planning to implement Service Workers for Firefox.

How Google intends to use the Service Workers to quicken mobile search



Google's browser newest version, Chrome 69 comes with a password generator, while the built-in password manager which made debut in 2015, is now even more smarter and better at the same time.

The new password feature makes it even more important to use the Smart Lock feature in chrome, as storing passwords within the browser is more reason you’ll want to ensure that Chrome itself is totally secure.

Google has taken the password solution a step further, with a random password generator for the first time you register in a new site, which the browser then offer to store for next time you wish to log in to the site (though, you have the option to disallow it), Chrome will use the stored, randomized password to log you in.

Now, it's pretty easy for Chrome users to generate random passwords for new sites, and the password generated is essentially “secure” having a combination of numbers and letters as recommended.

Albeit, if you store a randomized password for a site like Netflix within Chrome, you’ll still be required to enter the password to have access to Netflix app or any other streaming app, as the applications don't use Chrome interface.

However, your passwords would still be accessible via the portal: passwords.google.com, from where you can search for the password by site name, and then use it to sign into the application.

The portal for storing the passwords: passwords.google.com require your Google account login before granting you access to the key list and if you use more than one browser, for instance, Microsoft Edge, Google would not reveal any of the stored passwords, except you allow Edge to store the password.

Chrome 69 offers password generator and smarter password management



Twitter is rumored to be testing new features, namely: threaded replies and online status indicator, all in a bid to make the platform more conversational.

While the threading may seem like it could make conversation easier, akin to threading in tweets, but the online status indicator may be a tad controversial as it's quite anti-privacy, imagine knowing that someone targeted for trolling is online.

Twitter’s harassment issues, notwithstanding, the status indicator isn't a smart idea considering the caliber of personalities on the platform, like celebrities and world leaders with millions of followers; it certainly will make it possible to monitor these personalities and probably track their social networking habits.

Sara Haider, Twitter’s director of product management, who tweeted couple of screenshots to show off the changes coming to the platform, added that these features are still early in development, which means that what you see now might not be the final version, if it ever gets to see the light of day.

Albeit, the online status indicators on Instagram and Facebook allow users to control who can get to see their online status, Twitter may perhaps also toe the same line.

Twitter’s design, however favors threaded replies, especially with messages and comments getting own space, which remains what the platform actually needs for now.

Twitter's rumored Threaded replies and Status Indicator may be unconversational



The web is obviously open, an architectural framework controlled by no one single entity, but with Chrome's meteoric rise it seems to have brought the Web more into Google's tight grip.

And today is exactly the 10th year anniversary of the Chrome browser, which for the past decade, the browser has almost eclipsed all its rivals as it now accounts for over 60 percent of browser usage worldwide, according to StatCounter.

The statistics points to about two billion installation of Chrome browser, and one billion people using the browser each month, which popularity could be tied to Android’s dominance and subsequently, the recent rise of Chrome as the choice browser for many on Windows PCs and Mac computers.

While Google has leveraged the dominance to lay siege on the web, with all the world information trapped on its search engine, and services like Gmail or YouTube becoming overtly addictive; Chrome remains the focal point in the company’s vast arsenal.

Google as the undisputed champion of modern web standards in the effort to make it to work across the different devices and browsers, date back to the early days of the browser when the standards were often ignored.

And Chrome have led the industry effort to modernize the web, and that effort is what has enabled Google to advance its other services like Gmail, G Suite (formerly, Google Apps), YouTube and its other productivity tools.

Now, Chrome is used in the same way that Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE 6) was back in the days, as developers primarily optimize for Chrome and leave out tweaking for rivals later.

Microsoft literally controlled the way that millions of people accessed the web back then, and with Internet Explorer 6 did flex its muscles, but IE 6 ignored the web standards at the time, which set Microsoft and developers on a path of collusion for years to come.

Things are a bit different this time, as Google's Chrome team have continued to invest aggressively in the development of the browser and to maintain alignment to modern web standards. Though, Google faces a new question of what to do with all the powers at its disposal.

How Chrome browser has helped Google to advance its Web services



Migo, formerly KwikMoney, is a partnership between banks and technology companies to make quick loan services accessible to all Nigerians, making it absolutely easy for anyone to apply for loan without the need for paper works or collateral, using only the mobile phone number.

Migo automated instant loan service gives loan of up to N500,000, with the tenor between 14-30 days and interest rate as low as 5% to 15%; while the system is programmed to trust you more as you take loans and repay at the stipulated time, offering higher amounts with each successful remittance.

How to Apply for Migo Money Loan?



To apply for a Migo loan, dial *561# (applicable for all networks, including 9Mobile, Glo, MTN and Airtel) and navigate to "Request Loan" or visit https://www.migo.money/get-a-loan/ and enter your phone number to be assessed for eligibility for the loan.



The good news is that almost everyone is eligible, and the loan amount could be up to N500,000. Though, Migo usually start with a small loan and grow the amounts over time as you repay the loans, it builds trust with the system.

How to Pay Back Migo Money Loan



To repay Migo loan, you'll have to also dial *561# (applicable to all networks) and navigate to "Pay Loan" or visit https://www.migo.money/repay/ with the options of paying online via Quickteller, or walk into the following banks: Fidelity Bank, Access Bank, UBA, GTBank, Keystone Bank and Sterling Bank, inform them you want to make a Migo Money payment on PAYDIRECT.

How long does it take to get the Migo Money loan?



Migo promises a time frame of 60 seconds within which you will receive your loan, but most borrowers receive the money in their bank account some few minutes of completing the application.

The quick and easy online assessment, means that evaluation of creditworthiness and ability to pay back within a stipulated time frame may apply as to the amount of loan that can be given to a particular applicant at a time.

Migo website is secured with valid security license, which ensures the information you enter onto the site is encrypted. And they abide by a privacy policy that prevents them from disclosing its users personal information.

Migo Loan: Get Instant Loan without Collateral in Nigeria



Kubernetes as a hybrid solution for deploying complicated workloads, has made it possible for organizations to move complex workloads to the platform, while leveraging on rich APIs, reliability and performance provided by the container orchestration system.

And perhaps, the fastest growing use case is using Kubernetes as the deployment platform of choice for machine learning (ML), with the open source Kubeflow project to help in the deployment of machine learning stack on the Kubernetes container orchestration system.

While the building of production-ready ML system involves various components, and more often mixing vendors and different solutions; the management of these varied services for organizational setups brings additional barriers and complexity in the adoption machine learning.

Kubeflow toolkit, now in beta is intended to help in the deployment of machine learning workloads across multiple nodes, whereby breaking and distributing a workload adds up to computational overhead and complexity.

As Kubernetes is already tasked with making it easier to manage distributed workloads, Kubeflow is aimed at making the running of the workloads more portable, scalable, and simple.

Kubeflow includes scripts and configuration files, which users can customize with their configuration and scripts to deploy containers to any chosen environment.

The Kubeflow project open source Github repo is dedicated to making using ML stacks on Kubernetes easy, fast and extensible. And the repository includes: JupyterHub to create & manage interactive Jupyter notebooks and Tensorflow Custom Resource (CRD) to use CPUs or GPUs, as it's easily adjustable to the size of a cluster.

Kubeflow requires Kubernetes 1.8 or later, in a cluster and works with the Ksonnet framework, version 0.11.0 or later, for writing and deploying Kubernetes configurations to the clusters.

Kubeflow to help in the deployment of machine learning stacks to Kubernetes



Mozilla has been a major advocate of browser-side protection against web tracking, while advertisers track web users online behavior, which tracking is especially useful for their ads targeting campaigns despite that it invades the users privacy.

The effects of unchecked tracking are eerily-specific targeted advertising and loss of performance on the web, which according to Mozilla, makes up the major harms of unchecked data collection which may be completely opaque to users and experts alike, but only to be revealed in data breaches.

Firefox future update will — by default — protect users by blocking web tracking and also offer a clear set of controls to give users more choice over what information they share with websites.

While Firefox Nightly have incorporated the technology called DNS over HTTPS, DoH which combination, prevents middlemen from knowing the internet servers a web user is trying to reach, thus stop them from sending a fake version of a website.

Firefox private web browsing experience will strip cookies and block storage access from third-party tracking content, which feature is already available for Firefox Nightly users to try out, and the company will be running a study to test the experience with some of its beta users this September.

The aim is to bring protection to all users with Firefox 65, and Mozilla promises to continue to refine its approach to provide the strongest possible protection while ensuring a smooth user experience.

These privacy features which are available now on Firefox Nightly, developers version of the browser, is expected to arrive in the mainstream Firefox by the end of September.

Mozilla Firefox support for DNS over HTTPS, DoH and Anti-tracking mechanism

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