Twitter has confirmed today that it is laying off 336 members of it's workforce. This comes as the social media giant has lately been seen as being a bit 'bloated'.
“On October 12, 2015, the Board of Directors of the Company approved a restructuring and reduction in force plan of up to 336 employees, constituting approximately 8% of the Company’s global workforce,” the document states. “The restructuring is part of an overall plan to organize around the Company’s top product priorities and drive efficiencies throughout the Company.”
CEO Jack Dorsey made the announcement and promised that employees would be told "with the utmost respect for each and every person" Try telling that to Bart Teeuwisse, a Twitter engineer who was affected by the layoffs. Bart went to log into his work email on his phone when he woke up, only to find he no longer had access.
Not exactly the best way to start your day. This is the digital equivalent of showing up to work and finding your key suddenly doesn't fit the door.
The ABCs of USB
There are a lot of different types of USB connectors and cords, and generally speaking, they have all worked pretty good. Most phone companies, in the early days, went with proprietary connectors, so you had to get a very specific cable that would only ever work for that brand of phone. The only manufacturer to truly make its proprietary connector type mainstream was Apple. Unfortunately, if your hardware doesn't sport a piece of fruit on the back, and you have a phone that requires a specific cord, it ends up being very annoying if you lose a cable and have to special order one.
Nowadays, most phone and tablet hardware could be found with micro-usb ports. Every major phone manufacturer (except, of course, Apple) make use of micro usb. But there has always been one glaring problem. The port in not uni-directional. So, if you try to force the plug in upside down, which is commonly done by the very young or the very drunk, you'll end up with a busted charging port. Apple's older 30 pin charger was prone to this as well, and made a huge leap forward with it's lightning cable, which could fit no matter which way it was plugged in. However, the lightning cable in famous for being unreliable and after market cables seem to just stop working after a few days. Apple really does want you to fork out the $40 to buy an official one from them.
There is a new connect on the horizon of mass acceptance and it's pretty sweet! It's called USB Type-C, and it will change how we charge our devices. This will slowly but surely replace the industry standard Micro-USB and it's main feature is that it can be connected in either orientation. It will also sport up to 10Gbps and a much high power output up to 20V and 5A. Compare that to most standard chargers at 5V and 2A. So if your new device has fast charging capabilities, you are going to notice a big improvement!
Thankfully, the micro side of the USB isn't the only one getting the C-Type treatment, with plans to finally upgrade the infamously omni-directional USB port (that where you have to plug it in the wrong way, turn it over and it's still wrong, and turn it over again to finally get it to plug into your computer). Oh what a time to be alive!
Facebook Hoaxes Galore!
Oh boy! Is it that time of year again? I think it is, because I'm starting to see all those usual posts on my Facebook feed.
No not holidays, but hoaxes. You know the type. The ones that get you to copy and paste a paragraph of text that somehow keeps your profile set to private being shared by all your friends on facebook who's understanding of facebook and how the internet in general works is limited to what they see in front of their face which is the social equivalent of believing that the word "gullible" truly is not found in the dictionary. Really, look it up!
If you haven't seen them, congratulations on resisting facebook for so long (or commiserations on not having any friends), here is what the current paragraph looks like:
As of September 29th , 2015 at 07:25 a.m. I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, or posts, both past and future. By this statement, I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1-308- 1 1 308-103 and the Rome Statute). NOTE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you prefer, you can copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once it will be tactically allowing the use of your photos, as well as the information contained in the profile status updates. DO NOT SHARE. You MUST copy and paste.
First of all, there's like millions upon millions of facebook users so employees of facebook won't have any sort of man power to check these messages. Even if they did, guess what? It holds no legal grounds what so ever. Which means that not only is posting it annoying, it's also a false protection and if you genuinely think you are somehow legally protected and require that kind of legal protection, you won't find it here. Now for the second one that's making the rounds:
Now it’s official! It has been published in the media. Facebook has just released the entry price: £5.99 ($9.10) to keep the subscription of your status to be set to “private.” If you paste this message on your page, it will be offered free (I said paste not share) if not tomorrow, all your posts can become public. Even the messages that have been deleted or the photos not allowed. After all, it does not cost anything for a simple copy and paste
This one is totally legit. Really. Ah, see, you're learning! This one too is as legitimate as a Kim Kardashian wedding, and should be treated as such. Ignoring it might make it go away (but probably not).
So you have been warned, if you post this kind of stuff to your wall then forever be branded a nincompoop by friends and family who don't believe everything they read. But you really are after the highest privacy settings in facebook, or on the internet in general, maybe just don't post anything at all. Or at least nothing compromising. Or boring for that matter, EVERY LATTE LOOKS THE SAME!
Except this one:
iOS 9 Update Frozen on 'Slide to Upgrade'
With every roll out of new iOS software, there comes a fair share of bugs and glitches. Many users are reporting a glitch where their phone freezes on the final step 'Slide to Upgrade'.
There is a fix and it's not necessarily convenient, but it works. Here's what to do:
Connect your phone to your computer and open iTunes.
If iTunes doesn't recognize you phone, force a restart by holding the Home and Power buttons together for about 6 - 10 seconds. iTunes should recognize your phone normally after your phone reboots.
Restore your phone from a backup made prior to the iOS 9 update.
That's pretty much it! Once you have done this, your phone should be working just fine and running iOS 9.
But what if you do not have a backup? Well there is another work around, but you will lose your data on your phone. You will need to restore from a friend's backup (prior to iOS 9) and then, once your phone is working, you can do a factory wipe.
Or, if you don't want to do that, you can bring it in to Techrevive and we can restore it with a generic blank backup that will get your phone working. But again, you will lose your data.
Finally, no doubt Apple will have a fix out soon, so you could wait it out but you will be without a phone for at least a few days.
Forwards from Grandma #1
Everyone loves a forward from Grandma! Just in case your Grandma hasn't quite got the knack for forwarding yet, I've taken the liberty of putting together one for you!
And for all you Grandmas out there, feel free to forward this to your friends and family!
Deep Learning Machine Teaches Itself Chess
A new break through in the way artificial intelligence learns has occurred. While super computers that can plan and defeat human opponents in chess have been around for a long time, the engine that runs these programs has changed little. These super computers rely on a method of brute force, considering all strategies and possible outcomes and playing the statistical best move over and over again. Famously, IBM's Deep Blue super computer beat our Gary Kasparov nearly 20 years ago using this method. But Kasparov shouldn't feel too bad, I once played chess against a taxiermied cat and lost.
So what's so nifty about this new intelligence engine? It's the way that it learns and evaluates the game of chess. It has not been given the positional data to sort through and make selections on the best of all the available moves, but rather, has developed it's own set of moves based on actual play. The system uses a layered system of nodes in much the same way the human brain does, and these nodes change as required to adapt to changes in the game.
This is the same way our brains are fine tuned over time to recognize the things we are taught, like a person's face or a brand's logo. What happens is over time a very complex neural network is refined and given certain input, the computer can quickly narrow down the best output, thus eliminating the need to search through hundreds of thousands of possibilities and just sticking the ones that it remembers as being the most profitable.
This is basically rapid evolution. We may not have to create an artificial brain, we may just have to create a brain that can learn. This leaves enormous potential for unimaginable intelligence advancements. But I don't think it's time to start worrying about Skynet just yet. We should be worried once a computer knows it's playing chess.
Phone Storage Concerns
We've all been there. The dog get's a bucket stuck on his head and is going nuts. You grab for your phone to grab a hilarious video, already imagining the riches of appreciation that will be bestowed upon thou at being the next viral internet sensation. You point the camera and start shooting. Gold! Then, the dog starts to yip and it sounds exactly like Bull Dogs rap from Timber. Holy cow! This video will get you SOOO many thumbs up, thank god I was around to capture this on camera! Suddenly, the dog whips the bucket off its head, it bounces off the fence and ricochets into the basket ball net. SWOOSH! The dog looks directly at the camera, he bears his teeth in the most adorable doggy grin and poops a little rainbow. Aaaand cut! Perfect! Suddenly, as you look about your surroundings, the colours seem more vivid, the air is pure and you take a deep, satisfying breath and for once, you feel that everything is going to be just perfect because this is the best thing the internet will ever see....EVER. Fortune and Glory await my friend!
You look down at your phone the review your Wellsian mastery of cinematics. But something is not right. A warning? What, prey tell, could possibly ruin this of most glorious moments. Surely, this must be but an unrelated error. You look closely as the seemingly random assortment of letters begin to sear into your eyeballs. Synopses fire, and the connective tissues in your brain begins to analyse the message. You break out into a cold sweat, a sudden sense of vertigo over comes you. You look up, and the world suddenly seems a lot more grey, the dog has made himself scarce, and even the sun has disappeared behind a cloud, as if to hide from the inevitable fallout from this error message.
Your lips open and close silently, mouthing the words you see on the screen to see if you perhaps have misread, but, alas, you have not. You lower lip curls into your mouth, your top teeth press into them and your eyes bulge as air starts to hiss through your mouth. "ffffffffffffFFFFFFFFFF"
Wide shot of a large tree, birds, that had been resting in it's branches all fly away simultaneously from being startled by a very loud curse.
Low storage space, please delete some pictures to begin shooting video.
While your particular experience may not have been as dramatic as I have depicted here, we should all have a relatively good idea of the pain caused by lack of memory on our devices. Especially those of us that are snap happy. At one point in time, it used to be deleting your third cousin's pager number in your phone to make room for that cutie you met at your second cousin's birthday party. But now, as phones increase in power and as their cameras increase in resolution, it's the stored user data that tends to be the memory culprit.
The worst part is, when your phone is packed to the rafters with photos and videos, many of the core functions simply pack it all in and buy a baritone. This can be especially frustrating when you try to do basic things like back up your phone to your computer, or try to delete some data off your phone, but your phone will not let you as it hasn't got the free space to perform these actions.
We, as a technological society, have rapidly outgrown our 8gb onsies and are on the precipice of big boy pants, manifesting as phones with an incredible 128gb of internal storage. That is quite a lot. But, having said that, it wasn't too long ago that a phone with an entire gigabyte of internal storage was also viewed as incredible. Considering the exponential growth of digital storage, pretty soon 128gb will also feel like a tuppence.
In fact, the next wave of personal data storage may already be on our door step. Major phone developers seem to be opting to develop cloud storage rather than having their users keep all their precious data trapped inside a single device. This has it's advantages and disadvantages. Without a doubt, cloud storage is the future, but someone probably needs to let the telcos know, as this will chew up data allowances, just to do something simple, like view your photos. The rate at which cloud storage is progressing is outpacing the rates at which we pay for our data. Anyone heard of overage charges?
In fact, this progress into the cloud storage space has already had an apparent effect on the newest Samsung flagships being shipped in just a few months. Originally rumored to have a 128GB model in the Samsung S7 and Note 5 phones, Samsung has since pulled those specs from all official documentation and is pushing ahead with the cloud angle. This is further exasperated by Samsung's choice to do away with removable storage. So no more augmenting your storage space with a micro SD card (SD card? Uhg. That's so 2015).
So what do you, loyal reader, think of this migration of your personal data into the nebulosity? Are you excited that your photos will always be automatically backed up and safe? Are you worried about the strain this could put on your data allowance? Let us know in the comments below!
Don't forget to check out our website for all of your phone repair needs! www.techrevive.com.au
Apple Keynote September 2015
I'm not a massive Apple fan. A lot of my friends and colleagues know that I prefer Android and have been an advocate for some time. While I can appreciate the stylish build quality and ostensible death grip that Apple has on the mobile device market, I still believe the offerings from Android are more advanced and just better.
That was until the Apple Keynote and product unveiling earlier today. Now, don't get me wrong, my next phone is not likely to be an iPhone, but my next tablet just might be an iPad.
Let get a quick run down of what was released and updated at the Keynote.
iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus
No real surprises here. Apple has stayed true to it's naming convention, going with the aforementioned 6S over the rumored iPhone 7. This rumor holds true each year so far, and each year so far the myth has gotten the Adam and Jamie treatment.
But what's new? Well the big new feature is Force Tou... ..err.. 3D Touch! Rumors prior to the event hinted at the same Force Touch technology from the Apple Watch being included on the phone holds true. But Apple is obviously trying to differentiate this tech on the iPhone opting for the name "3D Touch". What does this mean? Well a new way to interact with your device by way of offering more options depending on the force used in the touch. An example was a game where you move the view with your finger and press in harder to shoot your gun. Needless to say, developers will be quick to the table to add this new interaction to their apps in fun and creative ways.
Apple has also launched a new A9 processor, that is supposed to be much more powerful than it's predecessor, as always. So expect an even more snappy experience from an already pretty darn snappy phone!
Then there is the new 13 megapixel camera with 4K recording and all sorts of improvements. While 13 megapixels may seem a bit slim when compared to Sony's offering of up to 21 megapixels, it hold true that megapixels are not everything. A lot goes into the actual sensor and how efficiently it can accept light, and judging from the quality of the videos and photos, it's likely to remain one of the best (if not, THE best) cameras on the market in a cell phone. So tidy up those stray eyebrow hairs people, this camera is gonna see them!
Also as a bonus, you can now record animated photos with sound! Fun!
What else, what else... oh ya! Siri is now always on and can be activated simply by saying "Ok Google"... ...wait... ..no that's not right.. ...oh oh sorry! You have to say "Hey Siri" to make it work.
Did I mention that the phone now comes in Rose Gold?
Apple TV
The next advancement in Apple TV is really going to be special. Apple has upgraded many of the hardware components, but it's truly the software that's going to shine. Apple will add an App store to the device and may finally be able to keep up with competitors like Roku. Also the glass touch responsive remote looks pretty darn nifty! Will it replace my Chromecast? Probably not, but this will likely open up a whole new audience to the Apps on my TV world.
Apple Watch
lol. Weird that was a year ago already. I guess they're getting some new designer bands or something. I'm not sure.
iPad Pro
I've saved this one for last because I actually believe this is a tremendous jump forward for the iPad line. It's a huge display measuring in at 12.2" yet isn't much thicker than the iPad Air. It's A9x processor is supposedly up to 8ish times better than the iPad Air 2 and sports a 10 hour battery life. It looks phenomenal and is designed for the professional market in mind. This ain't yo kids iPad yo.
But Steve Jobs will be rolling over in his grave as he is famous for his dislike of Stylus Pens. But that's ok, because Apple hasn't released a Stylus Pen, they've released a Stylus PENCIL! So that makes it all better right?
Joking aside, the Apple Pencil actually looks freakin' amazing! I do a lot of digital painting on graphics tablets and the main features graphic artists look for in a pen (cough, pencil) are precision, pressure sensitivity and rotational angle. The Apple Pencil sports all of these through the use of a special sensor found under the LCD of the iPad Pro and loads of sensors found in the tip of the Pencil itself. At $100 US, it's a pretty hefty price tag for a pencil, and not to mention that the iPad's price is only slightly below the cost of a Mac Book, but considering how much graphics tablets with build in displays cost, it's really quite an elegant solution to those artists and professionals out there that are considering upgrading their gear!
At the end of the day, Apple will continue it's domination of the mobile device market. Even if they do just do all of the things that others are already doing, there is a certain panache (not pancakes) to the way they do it that continues to inspire. It's just inspired me to ramble on here about their products, inspired you to read it, and (hopefully) inspires you to share this article with all your friends and relatives and pets and minor acquaintances and cross fit instructor and neighbors and that crazy guy with one tooth who hangs out in the alley beside your office. Please share this article, if you enjoyed it, is what I'm saying.
Thus concludes my one-day, unpaid internship at Apple's Marketing division.
Don't forget to check out our website for all of your phone repair needs! www.techrevive.com.au
There is a hilarious new video making the rounds on the internet. A pair of pranksters have loaded up Android onto an iPhone 6 and went around to Apple fans saying it was Apple's highly anticipated iOS 9. Many of the anticipated features of iOS 9 have already been available on Android for years, but that doesn't stop Apple fans from believing it's the cutting edge.
The appreciation bestowed upon this glorious new operating system is an ongoing testament to Apple's ability to make you believe their product is in all ways superior. That little apple on the back of your device seems to carry a pretty hefty premium, and Apple knows you will pay.
Here is the video for you to watch in all it's glory.
I can't argue with the build quality of an Apple device, they really do make a very good phone. But so do a lot of phone manufacturers. Maybe it's just the blind faith in a massive corporation that blatantly over charges it's customer simply for the right to sport a partially eaten piece of fruit on the back of their phones when there is perfectly suitable alternatives that cost a lot less out there and do all the same things, and in a lot cases, they do it better since those phones have the pedigree, that I find disturbing. Sorry for the run on sentence (sorry, not sorry!). Sometimes, it makes me feel a little bit sad for humanity...
(sigh)
In other news!!! ...Apple's September 2015 launch event is just mere days away and we at Techrevive's Tech Talk just can't wait to see what Apple has up it's sleeve this year! What we can guarantee is that it will be on the cutting edge! Stay tuned for more exciting Apple news!
Don't forget to check out our website for all of your phone repair needs! www.techrevive.com.au
$30 FREE credit with Vodafone @ Techrevive! (New Activations Only)
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If you haven't heard the news yet, Techrevive has just opened a brand new, shiny, awesome Vodafone store! We can service ALL of your Vodafone needs in the cozy comforts of the East Geelong Newsagency.
But here is the exciting part! As a new Vodafone store, we have been given 100 prepaid cap Starter Packs, valued at $30 each, to give away for FREE! So what is included with the $30 starter pack?
$30 Combo Credit
1.5GB of Data for use in Australia
Infinite Standard National Calls
Infinite Standard National TXT and PXT
All of this with a 28 day expiry period for FREE!
This is our way of getting you to try out the Vodafone network with no obligations. But don't delay, this is limited to the first 100 new activations and we already have had quite a few going out the door!
Get yours today!
Be sure to read the critical information summary which can be found HERE
* This deal is ONLY available at Vodafone @ Techrevive. 78a Garden Street, East Geelong VIC 3219
Part of the East Geelong Newsagency
Don't forget to check out our website for all of your phone repair needs! www.techrevive.com.au
The problem with Driverless Cars
We love all things Google. Where would we be without them? Altavista (lulz)? Ask Jeeves (I don't think so)? Bing?!... Well, in this article I want to talk about one of their projects that, by now, almost everyone should have heard of. It's the driverless car program and Google is spearheading the cause.
Like they have done with so many other projects, like Google Maps and Street View, Google wants to once again change the way we drive forever! But there is one major problem with the driverless car system (and this isn’t really much of a surprise); everyone else on the road.
Last month, Google sent one of their cars out (with a safety driver to override the car if needs be, of course) on a trial run. The little mousy looking Google car approached a crosswalk, and applied the brakes to come safely to a stop and allow the pedestrians to cross. While the pedestrians were perfectly fine, the poor Google car was not as it got rear ended by someone driving a Sedan behind it.
Back in 2009, while doing some early tests, they discovered another issue. The car and it's sensors are designed to follow the road rules down to the letter. One of the major road rules at a four-way intersection (this is generally what Americans use instead of a round-about) is that a car must come completely to a stop before proceeding in the order in which you stopped. Well, the sensors on the Google car waited for the other cars to stop, but every other car just inched forward without making a complete stop before proceeding, effectively paralysing the robot car.
The real issue is that autonomous cars are too safe. They can learn to be aggressive but so much of that depends on the culture of the roads in question. So while traffic deaths and incidents are predicted to drop in magnitude significantly with a completely driverless car system, there is this massive hurdle of the transition. Mixing super safe driverless cars with the cars and drivers on the roads today, who certainly do not all fall under the super safe category.
Don't forget to check out our website for all of your phone repair needs! www.techrevive.com.au
Google's New Logo
Just about everyone you know has used Google in some form or another and as the years go by, the image changes. Without coinciding with anything in particular, Google is updating their image again. This comes in the form of a new logo, which is active on your google page right now!
The new logo is designed to reflect how much technology has changes and how differently we interact with Google products. It looks much better on a smart phone and other portable devices. The colours are softer than before and the sans-serif font makes it look playful (that and the "e" being slightly askew).
One of the more important factors into this new design was making it look good on a smaller screen and that it's actual size in bytes was smaller. This new logo clocks in at 305 bytes, compared to the previous version at 14,000 bytes. This definitely reflects the goal of trying to bring the internet and Google to all parts of globe, and tiny changes like this could make a big difference.
Don't forget to check out our website for all of your phone repair needs! www.techrevive.com.au
Water Damaged Phones Revisited
I know I have written about water damaged phones before, but it's a topic that will always stay relevant as our phones are constantly surrounded by potential hazards every day.
There is a general consensus around the internet that the proper way to treat a water damaged phone is to stick it in uncooked rice and cross your fingers. You might as well cross out your phone from being anything but reliable from now on because this is just plain wrong. Sure there are those lucky people that swear by this method, but that just means the initial damage to there phone wasn't severe enough to disable it.
It is important to understand what the dangers are to your device as related to liquid ingress. The top killer of phones is shock. Power is running through your phone, it takes a high dive into the pool, circuits in the board are bridged, power goes where it's not supposed to, bingo bango good night phone.
The second danger, and this is the quiet killer, is corrosion. Corrosion starts to build up on the phone's logic board and circuitry as the liquid it's in contact with dries. I'll just repeat that last bit, because it's pretty important. As the liquid in your phone dries, corrosion builds up on the components inside. The sediments and impurities in the liquid react with the metals and leaves a conductive residue that will, over time, weaken solder joints and make components brittle. Even the smallest of vibrations could cause joints to break apart, and so that capacitor that is responsible for lighting up your screen suddenly isn't attached to your phones logic board. No more screen. Or perhaps the chip that is required to get a signal on your phone has slowly disintegrated. No more calls. There is literally a myriad of issues that can arise from your slowly decaying phone. Don't believe me? Check out this picture of an iPhone 5 logic board. Every single one of those chips and capacitors does something and the regular operation of the phone relies on them being in tact.
(iPhone 5 Logic Board with EMS Shields removed)
So how the heck does one repair something like this? Short answer, you don't. Repairing a water damaged phone for the sake of having an operational phone is an exercise in throwing money into the toilet (similar to what you did with your phone). No amount of cleaning will repair a broken solder joint, or make a chip magically work again. So what's the point of doing a repair? To retrieve the data from the phone. This is the only viable reason I can come up with to do this repair.
Anyone who says they've done a reliable water damage repair for cheap is lying to you or incompetent.
I am not saying that completely recovering a phone to fully operational status is not possible, I am just saying that it is an extremely extensive (you should be reading that as 'expensive') process and anyone who says they've done a reliable water damage repair for cheap is lying to you or incompetent.
So, here is what you need to do if you drop your phone in water:
Check for personal safety, if it is safe to retrieve the phone, do so
Avoid a phone that is bulging, bubbling or getting excessively hot
Power off the phone or remove the battery
Put it in a bag and do NOT let it dry out
Lower your expectations about being able to use it as a phone again
Bring it in to a reliable repairer (insert not so shameless plug for Techrevive) ASAP and you might save your data
So that's the long and short of it and hopefully if you do accidentally drop your phone in liquid, when you go to get it fixed, you also don't get taken for a ride.
Don't forget to check out our website for all of your phone repair needs! www.techrevive.com.au
The next step
Techrevive started little over a year ago with a few core beliefs in mind. They include fair pricing for all of our repairs, a dedication to superior customer service, and always using the highest quality parts available for every repair, just to name a few.
We are dedicated to returning devices back to our customers as close to 100% new as we can. We also believe in quick turn around times and have never exceeded a backlog of over night repairs on any popular device. We have carefully weeded out suppliers and products that do not meet our high standards of quality and where something less than nominal has slipped through, we have been very quick to correct any issues. Truly, our customer's satisfaction is our top priority. Don't believe us? Just check our reviews on our facebook page!
With these philosophies in place, and our dedication to them, we have experienced growth within our business that we couldn't possibly have imagined a year ago. With this growth comes new opportunities and we have expanded into no less than 7 new rural agencies, so we can provide our top tier service to areas that otherwise wouldn't be available. This has proven extremely successful and has provided a vehicle for unrelenting growth which we are very excited about!
I'm excited to Kickstart my new career with the folks from Techrevive, a truly revolutionary business model that understands the way technology is heading.
The challenge with scaling a business of this nature is that a sacrifice in quality of service may occur should the amount of work become too overwhelming for the technicians. So we found ourselves at a crossroads of options on how to handle our internal growth. We weighed many options and thought out many scenarios, but there was only one scenario that guaranteed no drop in our quality of service and followed all of our philosophies.
With that, we are extremely proud to announce that we have added Will Arden as our new Senior Technician at Techrevive. Will comes with a wealth of experience and talent and his customer service skills are second to none. He is always friendly and has a great talent for translating the highly technical into regular language. His talents for repairing devices are easily the best in the region, if not some of the best in the country. We fought very hard to acquire Will because we knew that we would never settle for less than the best when it comes to repairing our customers devices.
When asked about how he felt about joining Techrevive, Will said "I'm excited to Kickstart my new career with the folks from Techrevive, a truly revolutionary business model that understands the way technology is heading. Up up and away!"
So with all that, Welcome Will, to the Techrevive Family!
Techrevive is part of the East Geelong Newsagency family of businesses. Started back in 1991, the East Geelong Newsagency has been a staple of the Geelong community. The award winning Newsagency is known for it's creative approach to business and it's dedication to it's people and it's customers. The East Geelong Newsagency includes a wide variety of products from stationary to magazines, an exeptional range of giftware and houseware, a full fledged Cafe offering some of the tastiest coffee and meals in the area, a Post Office as well as Post Office Boxes with 24 hour access, and Techrevive, a full service device repair shop. Come down and say hello!
Don't forget to check out our website for all of your phone repair needs! www.techrevive.com.au
Ad Blocking Costing Advertisers Billions
The latest stats are are in and year-on-year, ad blocking software has increased by 41%. While the actual percentage of people who use ad blocking services and software make up around 6% of the internet usage, it is estimated to be costing advertisers and publishers more than 21 billion in lost revenue.
The estimated loss, at this adoption rate, is over $41 Billion by 2016.
The head of Pagefair's ecosystem, Dr Jonny Ryan, has said "Ad blocking has grown virally along a classic s-curve to 50+ million ad blocking users at the end of 2012, and onward to 198 million at the end of Q2 2015. This viral growth, and the climb up the curve you describe, is explained by our findings in last year's 2014 report (page nine) that the majority of ad block users find out about ad blocking by word of mouth and through their own online research. Ad blocking is a viral phenomenon that will continue."
Right now, ad blocking usually occurs on desktop computers, but we may see it become more mainstream with Apple allowing developers to develop ad blocking apps it's iOS 9 software. This could have a dramatic effect on publishers as Apple's mobile browser represents 52% of mobile browsing and 14% of over all net traffic.
Surprisingly, performance is not listed as a top reason why people are using ad blockers, where the misuse of personal information is cited as the main motivator for using this software.
So what does this mean for the future of advertising online? Certainly a lot more people will be "opting out" of viewing ads and that could continue to hurt advertisers. It does seem as though the wild wild west of online advertising is slowly being tamed and that the advertising industry will likely have to get a bit more creative when it comes to peddling their wares online.
Don't forget to check out our website for all of your phone repair needs! www.techrevive.com.au
Scientists Predict we could Digitally Copy our Brains by 2030
To live forever. Man has dreamed about this since he has been able to recognize his own being and ultimately, comprehend his own demise.
Mostly reserved for science fiction and fantasy, immortality may be creeping it's way into modern science. As it turns out, our brains are wired in much the same way a computer is, although it's wiring is far more complex. But with a combination of ever more powerful computers and nano-technology, scientists predict we may be able to upload a copy of our brains to a computer as early as 2030.
Which scientists? Well Stephen Hawking for one. He has said that "it is theoretically possible to copy the brain onto a computer, and so provide a form of life after death".
The theory, put simply, is that computers will be able to handle and store the massive amount of data gathered by nano particle bots that are injected into the body. These bots record a complete map of the neural pathways in the brain, and thus ones consciousness is preserved. And on top of that, you would also be able to communicate with this consciousness as if talking to that person on a video messaging app like Skype. But don't stop there, these people will also be able to communicate with each other via highly sophisticated networks between the computers.
"it is theoretically possible to copy the brain onto a computer, and so provide a form of life after death"
Wow that's heavy! It's a potential breakthrough for mankind akin to figuring out how to fly. We may truly be on the precipice of a most wonderful and exciting leap forward in our species evolution.
I just wonder what it would be like to have a proper conversation with myself. Would my digital copy be as freaked out as me? And will this type of technology become readily available to the common man? Will we back up our brains the same way we backup our phones? "Got a big night planned tonight! Better back up my brain before we go!"
While the technology may actually be on our doorstep, I am sure many moral implications and debates will have to be traversed before we see the first digital human being. But for the sake of mankind and the progression of the human race, I sincerely hope this nut is cracked in time to preserve Dr Hawking.
Don't forget to check out our website for all of your phone repair needs! www.techrevive.com.au
Android Exploit Could Expose Billions of Devices to Hackers
A new bug found in the native Android software has been discovered by security firm Zimperium. This flaw is similar to the Apple Text hack from a few weeks ago, except that the hack could expose your valuable data and encrypted passwords. Zimperium says that control of your microphone could be taken over to record your calls, credit card details could be acquired and private emails and data could be accessed.
"The targets for this kind of attack can be anyone from Prime ministers, govt. officials, company executives, security officers to IT managers,"
The hack works by embedding a string of code into a multimedia text message and then that text message is sent to your phone. This is where the issue comes in. Your phone is designed to parse that text message instantly and it is at that point that the malware has been injected into your device. That means you could exposed even before the notification sound has gone off in your phone. The potential for a completely silent attack on your phone is quite alarming.
In post on Zimperiums website, they say 95 percent of Android devices worldwide are vulnerable. "The targets for this kind of attack can be anyone from Prime ministers, govt. officials, company executives, security officers to IT managers," they warned. But the good news is, as soon as this exploit was discovered, Zimperium sent the fault to Google and also the patch to fix the issue. Google has responded by saying "This vulnerability was identified in a laboratory setting on older Android devices, and as far as we know, no one has been affected. As soon as we were made aware of the vulnerability we took immediate action and sent a fix to our partners to protect users." So it looks like the issue has been fixed before anyone has been affected, but these fixes are rolled out in the form of updates to your phone's software. So if you have pending updates due, make sure you apply them! If you don't know how to update your phone, come see us at Techrevive. Don't forget to check out our website for all of your phone repair needs! www.techrevive.com.au
Wireless Smartphone Monitor Charging News from Dudes do Digital
Check out the latest from our experts in Gadgetry, Dudes Do Digital!
Samsung's latest computer monitor just announced in the US and include a built in wireless charging area for smart phones.
The upcoming SE370 monitor will come in two sizes - 23.6 inches and 27 inches and includes AMD FreeSync technology.
Only certain devices will be able to take advantage of the wireless charging feature, however. Specifically, ones that use the Qi wireless charging standard, such as the Samsung Galaxy S6, the LG G4 or the iPhone 6/6 Plus.
Don't forget to check out our website for all of your phone repair needs! www.techrevive.com.au
Google Maps adds Suggestion from User
It's not every day you hear about your every day person making a pretty big impact on a massive global company, but in today's connected world, well, anything is possible! Take this story for example; a Redditor, who goes by the user name Webbs10101, made a suggestion to the Google Maps team to add private names to pins that he drops on places with no address. Being a construction worker, often times this user will travel to many locations that have not been assigned addresses yet and it is difficult to keep track of all those pins. Well, Google listened and a few weeks later Webbs10101 got an email back saying thanks for the suggestion and that they have added that feature to the maps program. So now all the Places you give private names to will be on your map, under the quick suggestions and in the ''Your Places screen". Good on ya' Google!
Credit Webs10101
SD card storage and Proximity Sensors in Smart Phones
Check out the latest from our friends over at Dudes Do Digital!
Howdy all! In this episode of Tech 101 we talk about SD card storage and the Proximity Sensor in smart phones :)
Support the Dudes @ Patreon : www.patreon.com/dudesdodigital
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Oh the remarkable feeling that permeates though the very essence of your soul when struggling to recall if your password had a capital letter at the beginning or where you elusive tucked away that little ampersand. So you tip tap away again and press 'login' and then you are treated with a Las Vegas style slot machine feeling, hoping you come up 7s. You cross your fingers, your toes and even your eyes in the hopes that the stupid little spinning wheel gatekeeper on the screen will disappear and grant you access to your precious data. But lo, you are DENIED again! The temperature of your blood takes a tick up and you die a little inside. What's even worse is when this feeling is compounded by sites or services which limits your attempts and promptly locks you out for a predetermined amount of time, often expanding exponentially with each unsuccessful attempt. This is also not to mention that this password is required to be changed in 2 weeks time anyway, and you get to repeat the whole thrilling experience again!
But these security measures are here for your protection. You gotta admit, if it's keeping you out, it's very likely keeping everyone else out. So what is the secret to remember your passwords? The truth is, there is no one key to remembering. But as a user of any particular site or service, you agree to remember said passwords and that responsibility lands squarely on your shoulders. So you need to do what ever it takes to remember.
Some people will keep a notebook of passwords, and while this is typically a fool proof method, it does leave you exposed to potential intrusion should you lose that notebook. Highly effective, but highly risky.
So why not just make your password 'password'? This is fine I suppose, but it is the digital equivalent of leaving your house key under the front door mat. Besides that, the more security concious sites and services out there will generally not allow easy to guess passwords.
Then there is just relying on your good old memory. This is great if you happen to have an eidetic memory, but unfortunately, most of us don't. And sure as the sun sets, you'll be squaring off against a particularly stubborn login screen soon enough.
So I thought I would chuck out a few tips and trick I have employed over the years to make password management a little more palatable.
Categorize your passwords. I use a particular password for certain things. Emails, and social contacting are a group to which I apply a certain password. This way I don't have to remember 10 passwords, just the one and I know that I apply it to this type of site.
Use a pattern as your password. No need to tell you that this password I am about to use as an example is completely bogus, but it will demonstrate what I am talking about. Consider the following password "##33EEee". When you view this on a keyboard, you can see how easy it is to enter and remember the pattern that you have created. Two taps on the 3 key while holding shift, two with out, then move down a little and do the same on the E key. Simple! It uses 8 characters and includes capitals, lower-case, numerals and special characters (which are often required in many passwords). And the best part is, when you go to change your password, simply shift the whole thing over by one ($$44RRrr). Easy! It has the added benefit of being quite random so it becomes much harder, if not impossible, for someone to guess. I'd recommend developing your own pattern and then you need only remember that sequence.
There is another solution to the password remembering problem, and that is to use a password locker on your phone. This allows you to store all of your passwords which are then locked using 1 master password. Not a bad idea, but it also means that suddenly ALL of your passwords are only as strong as your master password.
The last thing that I wanted to add, for the very security continuous, is Two Factor Authentication. Google offers a great service, which is compatible with many other services to add another layer to your security. What it basically does is generates a random 4 to 6 digit number that refreshes every 60 seconds or so. When you log into a site, you will be required to enter your password, and also enter the randomly generated number into the site. The numbers appears in the Google authentication app and there is loads of security measures that you take to set it all up. Check out the app here!
