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Tech News
How to Build Giant Structures Using Soda Bottles and a 3D Printer
Reduce, re-use, and recycle are words to live by as we try to minimize humanity’s demand for our planet’s natural resources. But instead of sending your empty soda bottles off to be recycled, scientists from the Hasso Plattner Institute in Germany want you to build everything from chairs, to boats, to outdoor shelters with them. … Continued
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Tech NewsApple
Apple’s Microsoft Office Killer Is Free Again (If You Dare)
We’ve been talking a lot lately about the perks and perils of Microsoft Office, especially the program you begrudgingly used to write your college papers: Word. In what appears to be an unrelated move, Apple just made a whole host of productivity apps free. Get excited for Pages! (Borat voice: “Not!”) But seriously, this is … Continued
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How To
How to Keep Shady Apps From Screwing Up Your Computer
Not all applications and browser add-ons come in peace. So you need to know a few warning signs to look out for if you want to make sure that only legit software makes it onto your machine. Here’s how to avoid bad actors and weed out any shady apps that have already taken root. Desktop … Continued
By David Nield -
Tech NewsMicrosoft
Why Are You Still Using Microsoft Word?
So you’re still using Microsoft Word. Seems like an odd decision in the year 2017, but I didn’t come here to judge. I’m legitimately curious why some people continue to pump their money into the MS Office Suite, despite mounting evidence that the software offers shitty security and a historically terrible user experience. So why … Continued
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Tech News
A ’90s Version of Snapchat Would Have Been a Whole Lot Less Confusing
Looking back at older versions of software makes you wonder how we even managed to use them years ago. Dusty iterations of programs like Word, Excel, and even Photoshop were crude as hell by today’s standards. But what if Snapchat—Mark Zuckerberg’s favorite ephemeral app—had existed on desktop computers in the ‘90s? It probably would have … Continued
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How To
10 Photoshop Tricks to Fix Your Worst Photos
Starting out in Photoshop can be scary, especially if you’ve never used a graphics tool as robust as it. With a little effort anyone can learn to be comfortable with Photoshop, but there’s a difference between being comfortable in Adobe’s flagship software and being useful with it. Yet you don’t necessarily need to be a … Continued
By David Nield -
Tech NewsGadgets
This Pocket-Sized Synth Uses Dial-up Internet Tricks to Share Sounds and Songs
For electronic musicians who still like being able to perform with dials and buttons, Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operators are miniature synths that manage to pack a tremendous amount of functionality into a tiny package. And that now includes the ability to import and export sounds and patterns with the new PO-32 Tonic synth. Developed in … Continued
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How To
The Best Free Alternatives to Expensive Software
If you’re paying for premium software, chances are there’s a free alternative out there you could use instead, with features just as good as the ones you’ve become accustomed to. Whether you fancy a change from your usual application-of-choice, or you’re just on a tight budget, these are the free software apps you need to … Continued
By David Nield -
How To
How to Get The Best Sound Quality From Your Laptop
Whether you’re gaming, watching movies, or streaming Spotify, there are likely to be times when your laptop’s default sound setup doesn’t quite hit the highs and lows you’re looking for. If you don’t want to settle for subpar audio any longer, there are ways to improve it, and we’ve outlined some of the best below. … Continued
By David Nield -
How To
18 Tricks to Make Yourself a Microsoft Word Master
Microsoft Word is a beloved application used by typists all over the world. The program is packed with with all kinds of features, many of which you might never come across when you’re typing up a report, short story, essay, or whatever else you might be working on. To help you uncover some of the … Continued
By David Nield -
How To
How To Digitize Your Old Music and Videos at Home
If you’re looking to create digital copies of your old video tapes, vinyl, and cassettes, it can be difficult to know where to start with so many different approaches and hardware setups out there. Our approach should be simple enough for everyone to follow. Here’s what to need to know about creating digital versions of … Continued
By David Nield -
Tech NewsSploid
These Moving Time Lapses Are Made with Just a Single Still Photograph
Though it may seem like you’re watching a time lapse that uses hundreds of photos of a scene to track the passing of time, you’re actually just looking at a single picture “moving” with the magic of software called Platograph Pro. It’s one still photograph that’s been moved digitally. How? PetaPixel says that Platograph Pro … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
Virtual 3D Oil Painting Perfectly Simulates How the Brush, Paint, and Canvas Interact
Nvidia and Adobe teamed up to develop a 3D-painting app that is sure to become an essential tool for modern day art forgers. The software accurately simulates the 3D texture of oil paints, and how the bristles of a brush work to smear it across a canvas. If you’ve ever examined an oil painting up … Continued
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Tech NewsMicrosoft
VLC Is Finally Available for Windows 10
What’s not not to love about VLC Media Player? It’s free, lightweight, intuitive, and plays damn never every file format under the sun. Now, a long-awaited beta is finally available for Windows 10 users. It’s okay to nerd out a little bit. Besides being its usual wonderful self, this new release works with Cortana voice … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech News
Google Dodges $9 Billion Bullet
Google just won a major court battle with software giant Oracle over Google’s use of elements of Oracle’s Java programming language. If Google had lost, it could have held major ramifications for the ways in which almost all software is developed. Oh, and Google would have had to cough up $9 billion in damages. For … Continued
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Tech News
A Simple Software Update Lets Any Smartphone Detect Squeezes and Forceful Touches
Apple made a big deal about the advanced technology it developed to facilitate the 3D Touch feature on the iPhone 6s. But engineers at the University of Michigan have not only recreated the feature such that it can work on any smartphone, they’ve also improved it by enabling phones to detect when they’re being squeezed, … Continued
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Tech News
State Governments Use Racially Biased Software to Predict Crimes
We all know there’s a racial disparity in US criminal prosecutions—but imagine if a computer algorithm was being used to insert even more bias into the criminal justice system. According to a damning new report from ProPublica, that’s exactly what’s happening in many states around the country. In a common practice known as “risk assessment,” … Continued