This time we are part of a global seminar for technicial rollout around the europe countries greece italy germany spain we are undertaking a huge part of the upgrade lines to the rollout of new & existing internet fibre nodes and cables right across Europe. The seminar begins part of the Athens university learning about health issues an better technology in Health systems across the globe. The course seminar outlines. To implement the effective practices areas for the development of Biomedical Informatics" The International Conference on Informatics, Management and Technology in Healthcare will cover topics like biomedical informatics, clinical informatics, standards, social and legal issues, health information management, knowledge management, and diagnostic technologies for medical decision support. Join us if you can Timings 09:00 AM - 07:30 PM (General) Entry Fees Paid Ticket Check Official Website Participants 500 - 1000 Delegates 10 - 50 Exhibitors Estimated Count Category & Type Conference Medical & Pharma Science & Research Editions 03 - 05 Jul 2020 Interested 05 - 07 Jul 2019 View More Frequency Annual Book a ticket here mention our table an we will seat you on our table. Our service team will be away for the whole of 6 weeks but we will still be offering onsite technicians to service your favorite computers and technology. You know the drill leave your details with our call centre and we will delegate the correct person for the job make sure you leave your correct information so we can be in contact with you the right way. Thanks for supporting Nerdcore computers over the last 15 years. Bon voyage. Author Nerdcore

It’s easy to take for granted how much information about the world is now available at our fingertips. But it wasn’t long ago that traveling to a new place meant fumbling through sheets of turn-by-turn instructions while trying to keep one hand on the steering wheel, with no way to anticipate how bad traffic would be or find a restaurant along the way. It was around that time, 15 years ago, that Google Maps set out on an audacious goal to map the world.I remember seeing early versions of Google Maps and being amazed at how easily you could scroll, zoom and search the world. One of my earliest memories of working on Google Maps was as a member of our user experience team, which designs and improves the usability of our products. In a world before smartphones, one of the biggest questions that we agonized over was where to put the Print button on the page so that people could easily take their directions on the go.Needless to say, a lot has changed. Google Maps has mapped more than 220 countries, surfaced information for about 200 million places and businesses, and helped billions of people get from point A to point B with confidence. In the beginning, we focused on answering the question: “How do I get from here to there?” Over time, our mission has expanded from helping you navigate to also helping you discover the best places to go and things to do once you’re there. As we celebrate our birthday this week, we’re reflecting on how the definition of what a map can do has broadened, and how machine learning will propel us forward from here. Navigating the world: From simple directions to Live View Fifteen years ago, printing out directions was considered state-of-the-art. So the idea of getting turn-by-turn driving navigation from your phone while on the road seemed revolutionary. In 2009, Google Maps pioneered turn-by-turn mobile navigation, and we’ve since added directions and navigation for walking, transit, bicycles, two-wheelers, and more—all with the goal of helping you with every trip across every mode of transportation. Since people increasingly use a mix of transportation options in a single trip—like walking to the train station and then taking a rideshare to their final stop—one of our next challenges involves stitching together these navigation options and ETAs for a more seamless experience.Directions alone aren’t enough. We’re also helping you get there faster and more comfortably by arming you with relevant real-time information like live traffic alerts, predictions for how crowded your bus will be and which bike-sharing locations have available bikes. And we’ve used technology like augmented reality (AR) to help bring the map to life in helpful ways. Last year we introduced Live View, which uses AR, AI and your smartphone camera to show you your surroundings with the directions overlaid. It solves the real pain point of walking halfway down the block toward a place only to realize you’re going the wrong way (I’ve definitely been there!). Exploring the world once you get there We’ve always fundamentally believed that a map is much more than masses of land and sea, that a city is more than a web of streets. After all, the things that make my hometown shine are the brunch spot with my favorite veggie scramble, the pet salon that keeps my dog happy while he gets a trim, and the pizza spot with the foosball table that keeps my kids entertained while we wait. A truly helpful map reflects all of those local insights and helps you find places and experiences that are right for you—so that’s been a big focus for us over the last few years.Until recently, if you were looking to grab a slice of a pizza, you’d get a list of 20 nearby pizza joints. (And way before that, you’d have to search in advance on a desktop to get the list, or if you were already out of the house you had to roam streets seeking the smell of melted cheese!) Now, we can help you find all of the pizza spots nearby, when they're open, how crowded they’ll be, and which one has the best toppings. Once you’ve decided where to go, you can easily make a reservation or call the restaurant.Doing this well at scale requires a deep understanding of businesses and places—which is where our active community of users comes in. Every day, people contribute more than 20 million pieces of content to Google, like photos, reviews and ratings. These contributions continually make our map richer and more helpful for everyone. They also power features like popular dishes at restaurants, up-to-date road closures and wheelchair accessible routes. We’re also making it easy for you to get things done at these places within Google Maps—so you can go from finding a yoga studio to booking a class. The technology propelling the future of Maps The world is always changing—new roads are added, bus routes are changed and natural disasters alter accessible routes. That’s why a map needs to be updated, comprehensive and accurate. Major breakthroughs in AI have transformed our approach to mapmaking, helping us bring high-quality maps and local information to more parts of the world faster.For instance, we worked with our data operations team to manually trace common building outlines, then trained our machine learning models to recognize building edges and shapes. Thanks to this technique, we’ve mapped as many buildings in the last year as we did in the previous 10. Elsewhere, machine learning helps us recognize handwritten building numbers that would be hard even for a passerby in a car to see. This is especially important when mapping areas where formal street signs and house numbers are uncommon. In Lagos, Nigeria alone, machine learning has helped us add 20,000 street names, 50,000 addresses, and 100,000 new businesses—lighting up the map with local places and businesses where there once was little detailed information. The map of the next 15 years As we celebrate our birthday and look ahead to the next 15 years, we’re rolling out a few new updates, including a refreshed look for the app and more information about your transit rides. And we’ve updated our Google Maps icon to reflect our journey.When we set out to map the world, we knew it would be a challenge. But 15 years in, I’m still in awe of what a gargantuan task it is. It requires building and curating an understanding of everything there is to know about the physical world, and then bringing that information to people in a way that helps you navigate, explore and get things done in your world. The real world is infinitely detailed and always changing, so our work of reflecting it back to you is never done. Author Nerdcore

In four months, Windows 7 will reach end-of-life and no longer receive security updates. That’s going to be a problem for some enterprises that still run the decade-old operating system. Starting January 14, 2020, Windows 7 computers will stop receiving security patches, leaving enterprises vulnerable to malware. According to the latest data, some 37% of all desktop consumer and enterprise computers still run Windows 7, with Windows 10 marginally ahead at 41%. There will be, however, some reprieve for enterprise customers with active Windows 10 subscriptions. A little-publicized document published by Microsoft says top-tier customers with Windows E5, Microsoft 365 E5 and Government E5 subscriptions will get extended security updates for a year at no additional charge. After the year expires, Microsoft will charge each enterprise device $50 to receive updates for a second year and $100 per device for a third year. Qualifying subscriptions must remain active until the end of the year and throughout the extended security updates period to continue to receive security updates, the document said. But for everyone else on other Windows subscription plans, Microsoft will begin charging from the moment Windows 7 falls out of support in January, with a final cut-off for extended security updates in January 2023. The software and services giant began warning users in March that they would soon stop receiving critical and necessary security updates. Microsoft recommends users upgrade to Windows 10, or obtain extended security updates as a “last resort.” Author Nerdcore Computers

Qualcomm has kicked off 2020 by telling us that we should already be looking forward to 2021. When early 2021 gets here, we’ll see a new wave of smartphones powered by the new Qualcomm X60 5G modem, which will dramatically increase performance and also improve power efficiency in the ways that might finally help fulfill some 5G promises. This new X60 5G modem is the world’s first 5nm-based 5G modem, it can aggregate mmWave and sub-6 spectrum, and it features 3rd-generation mmWave antenna modules that should help slim down device sizes. I know that’s all obnoxious 5G lingo, so here is the simple breakdown of what this chip can do. For one, as a 5nm modem, it should be much more efficient and could provide a big increase in battery life on 5G phones. Two, the carrier aggregation of 5G mmW and sub-6 means the potential for ridiculous speeds (up to 7.5Gbps down, 3Gbps up) and better coverage. And three, the slimmer mmW antenna modules should help more devices have 5G mmW support that manufacturers may not have found room for previously. Think about the Galaxy S20 and its lack of mmW support. With this new chip, maybe that wouldn’t have been a thing. Qualcomm says they will start sampling this X60 chip this quarter, but we won’t see it in “commercial premium smartphones” until early 2021. So prepare for the Galaxy S21 to have it. To date Qualcomm has promoted two key standalone 5G modems for widespread adoption: the Snapdragon X50 and the Snapdragon X55. Today the company is disclosing details on its upcoming 3rd generation 5G modem design, the Snapdragon X60, which is being promoted as the premium offering for smartphones, industrial, and commercial designs that require a discrete 5G modem. Key features of this modem include the fact that it is built on a 5nm process, supports carrier aggregation between Sub-6 and mmWave, and offers up to 7.5 Gbps download speeds. Author Nerdcore Computer These peak speeds with the X60 modem is going to be achieved through new mmWave antenna modules. For the X50/X55, Qualcomm introduced its QTM525 module for mmWave, in a slim packaging to help enable the technology. Despite the sleek stature, the X50/X55 modems supported four of these modules, and Qualcomm recommended a minimum of three – the replacement of which did require these devices to be of a specific minimum thickness to ensure complete coverage. The new QTM535 module is promoted to be thinner, reducing that requirement. Unfortunately the diagram showed by Qualcomm of the new module (as they didn’t have a physical one to show us) was not to scale, so no real conclusions could be drawn to the old module. Qualcomm also stated that they were not discussing dimensions at this time, despite the fact that the QTM525 launch was all about the dimensions. The new module can support 26 GHz, 28 GHz, and 39 GHz, enabling wider support. Qualcomm is going to keep its recommendation to vendors to use at least 3 in a connected device. Alongside the modem and the mmWave antenna, Qualcomm is also offering the full RF front end for Sub-6 GHz. Qualcomm was proud to promote last year at its Tech Summit that out of the 150 devices that were using X50/X55 modems, all of them were using Qualcomm’s RF front-end solution. The X60 will similarly be a full stack offering. Rollout of Qualcomm’s 5G modems has been a varied affair, with the time between the initial announcement of the first generation X50 and it actually launching into consumer devices being around two years. The process was sped up with X55, with a quicker time to market and eventually widespread deployment for consumer devices through the end of 2019 and likely for all of 2020. There was no doubt that Qualcomm was going announce its next generation design at some point, and with X55 in full swing, that time would appear to be now. When asked regarding timeframe of the X60, Qualcomm stated that they’re not sticking to any timeframe, with a spokesperson saying ‘these things go through revisions’. It is worth noting that for 5nm, TSMC has not yet entered high-volume manufacturing on this node yet (it will do soon, but yields are still low according to the ISSCC 2019 disclosure in December), and Samsung is further behind. So the exact timeframe for X60 rollout maybe sometime in 2021 at our best guess. Qualcomm has an annual Tech Summit in December, so we might see some of the first X60 reference designs at that event, likely with early silicon or the first batches of production silicon.

The coronavirus outbreak in Asia is starting to ripple through the cryptocurrency world in some unanticipated ways -- the cancellation of conferences and even the shuttering of facilities that process transactions. From the informal MeetUps held during the initial days of Bitcoin to the extravaganzas at the height of the crypto bubble, gatherings have been a key for wooing investors. NiTROn2020 in Seoul, Hong Kong Blockchain Week 2020 and Token2049 have been postponed. Crypto lending startup DeFiner was reported to have canceled a 10-city tour investor because of the epidemic that has swept through parts of China. Mining pool BTC.top, whose computers help verify transactions, said one of its server farms was shut down by Chinese authorities seeking to prevent the virus from spreading. Equipment makers including MicroBT, a maker of gear used by mining farms, said they are delaying shipments. “Events like the coronavirus are unfortunately going to be more ‘normal’ than ‘black swan’ over the coming decades,” said Dave Balter, chief executive officer at researcher Flipside Crypto. “The impact on specific industries will be felt, but that will become part of the new normal.” China has been epicenter for the crypto sector almost since the introduction of Bitcoin in 2009. Twenty of the top 50 crypto exchanges are based in the Asia-Pacific region and accounted for about 40% of Bitcoin transactions in the first half of 2019, according to data from Chainalysis. Within the region, the most exchanges are in China, the research firm found. Five mining entities -- all of them based in China -- control about 50% of all computing power on the Bitcoin network, analysis from TokenAnalyst found. Author Nerdcore

Apple’s much-awaited online store in India will be operational starting Q3 this year, a little longer than previously expected, a source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The iPhone-maker said in August last year that it was “eager to serve [customers of India] online and in-store with the same experience and care that Apple customers around the world enjoy.” While the company never shared a firm timeline on when the online and brick-and-mortar stores would be set up in India, it was originally aiming to start the online sales in the country in the first quarter of this year, the source said. (The Q1 launch timeline was first signaled by Bloomberg, which reported that the operations would begin “within months.”) An Apple spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. The source said the company was still working on the logistics of setting up the store and that the quarter between July and September was the new deadline. Apple CEO Tim Cook would likely plan an India trip for the announcement, the source said. The company’s first official physical store in India, to be situated in Mumbai, will take an additional few months of time for setting up and might not be ready by this year, the source said. India, the world’s second largest smartphone market, eased sourcing norms for single-brand retailers last year, paving the way for companies like Apple to open online stores before they set up presence in the brick-and-mortar market. “Apple has been struggling with online retail for years now. Finally the government adapted their rules to help them launch their own online store. But now they are unable to launch it,” an industry executive said on the condition of anonymity. Currently, Apple sells its products in India through partnered third-party offline retailers and e-commerce platforms such as Amazon India, Flipkart and Paytm Mall. Prior to New Delhi’s policy change, Apple had requested the government numerous times to relax the local foreign direct investment (FDI) rules. Apple executives have long expressed disappointment at Amazon India, Flipkart and Paytm Mall for offering heavy discounts on the iPhone and MacBook Air to boost their respective GMV metrics, people familiar with the matter have told TechCrunch. Apple gains momentum in India Apple on Tuesday posted a record revenue of $91.8 billion for the quarter that ended in December. Cook said in the earnings call that India was among the markets where the company’s revenue grew in “double-digit” in that quarter. On Wednesday, research firm Canalys reported that Apple shipped close to 925,000 iPhone units in India in Q4 2019, up over 200% annually, in what is the company’s most impressive quarter in the country to date. Madhumita Chaudhary, an analyst with the research firm, said the company’s move to partner with a local bank to make iPhone 11 more affordable helped it hit “a home-run with its pricing strategy” in the country. The iPhone 11, currently available for sale in the country at 64,900 Indian rupees ($909), is available for as low as $550 for some HDFC bank customers. More than 80% of the population in India earns less than $200 a month and smartphones are sold without any bundling with carrier. If that wasn’t a tough sell for Apple already, India’s local laws have made iPhones even more expensive. Most iPhone models are especially expensive in India as Apple passes on the local import taxes that it pays to the government to its customers in the country. New Delhi maintains strict import duties, but it offers a range of tax benefits to companies that manufacture or assemble their electronic products locally in the nation. To avail these benefits, Apple began assembling iPhone 7 models in India in 2018. With help from its Taipei-based contract manufacturer Foxconn’s factory in India, Apple has since started to assemble newer generation models such as the iPhone XR. These locally assembled handsets are comparatively more affordable. “The new iPhones have appealed not just to current iPhone users looking to upgrade, but also to value-conscious premium phone purchasers that are now presented with a formidable price-alternative to the Samsung or OnePlus flagships,” said Chaudhary. Update: The story was updated at 8.40 AM PT on Wednesday to include the traction iPhones are receiving in India. Author Nerdcore Computers

Yet more big names are being added to the list of companies that are staying away from the world’s biggest mobile tradeshow, Mobile World Congress (MWC), with Facebook and Intel among the latest to cancel their attendance. Due to take place in Barcelona just under two weeks’ time, on February 24-27, the event has been hampered by the ongoing situation with the novel coronavirus outbreak.“Out of an abundance of caution, Facebook employees won’t be attending this year’s Mobile World Congress due to the evolving public health risks related to coronavirus,” said a spokesperson for Facebook, in a message worded not unlike a number of others that have been put out by others choosing not to attend. “We will continue to collaborate with the GSMA and our partners and thank them for their efforts.”Spanish publication El Pais is also reporting that the GSMA, the body that organizes the event, is due to meet on Friday and consider its next steps, which could include suspending the event. It also notes that major carriers Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom are also considering options, although nothing has been confirmed yet. Orange has told us it still intends to participate.We have reached out to the GSMA and it has declined to comment on the El Pais report. “We don’t comment on internal meetings,” the spokesperson said. (The GSMA would be meeting regularly regardless in the lead-up to the event.)The annual international telco industry event typically attracts more than 100,000 delegates from around 200 countries across the conference’s four days — with every major telco and tech giant exhibiting (with the exception of Apple which prefers its own events).But with international concern now focused on the novel coronavirus outbreak — which was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization late last month and as of today has infected over 40,000 people with more than 1,000 deaths — a growing number of companies have announced they are pulling out of attending.Others, such as Telenor, TCL and ZTE, have cancelled press events or said they will scale back their presence though are still planning to attend. Today Chinese phone maker Xiaomi also confirmed it will attend — tweeting a statement detailing the precautions it’s taking.Having carriers pulling out of the event is a huge deal, since they are the key “buyers” at the trade show and at the heart of the organization, the GSMA, that is behind it. And while big tech companies like Facebook are a newer, but now very regular, presence the event — which underscores how MWC has changed over the years, and how the mobile industry is trying to evolve with the times, where “tech” and “telco” are no longer distinct entities — they are nonetheless leaving a large hole in the makeup of the show by not being there.The GSMA has announced a series of restrictions intended to reduce the risk of the coronavirus infections at the conference, including a ban on travellers coming from the province in China where the virus was first identified. It has also said it will implement temperature screening of attendees; require conference-goers self-certify they have not come into contact with an infected person; and is suggesting delegates adopt a ‘no hand shake’ policy in a bid to limit contact.There is a lot riding on MWC going ahead. The El Pais report notes that MWC generates some 14,000 temporary jobs and generates €492 million (nearly $540 million) for the city. Per the GSMA site, more than 2,400 companies are exhibiting at MWC this year. Yesterday, a spokesperson told TechCrunch that MWC had 2,800 companies signed up to exhibit, but it’s not sharing how many are still going to be there.See below for a list of companies that have cancelled their attendance at the conference — we’ll update with any additions as we get them.Organizations that have cancelled their attendance at MWC 2020 AccedianAmazonAmdocsAppsFlyerARCEP, France’s FCC (confirmed via email)AT&T (confirmed via email)CienaCiscoCommScopeDali WirelessEricssonF5 Networks (confirmed via email)Facebook (confirmed via email)Gigaset (confirmed via email)iconectivIntelInterDigitalInterop TechnologiesKMW Communications (confirmed via email)LGMediaTekNTT DocomoNvidiaRadwin (confirmed via email)Rakuten (confirmed via email)Royole CorporationSonySpirentSprint (confirmed via email)UlefoneUmidigiViber (confirmed via email)VivoThis article was updated with a correction to remove ‘Rakuten’ from the list of cancellations after an earlier spokesperson provided us with incorrect information. And in a further update, the CEO of Viber, owned by Rakuten, also said the messaging app would be attending after all:“As of today Viber will have a presence at MWC, including me,” said Djamel Agaoua. “Like all companies, we are evaluating the risk to our employees and if our position changes we will keep you updated. Sorry about the confusion.” Author Nerdcore Computers

Do you have a mission critical situation were you have been asked to resolve a complex computer issue. Has the project turned bad because of no correct deployment. A mission critical system is a system that is essential to the survival of a business or organization. When a mission critical system fails or is interrupted, business operations are significantly impacted. A mission-critical system is also known as mission essential equipment and mission critical applications. For example, when water treatment facility pumps are stalled, or a jet engine fails, all related operations cease. When such systems are interrupted, organizations face substantial repercussions and hampered productivity. For most IT businesses and organizations, database systems and process control servers are mission critical systems. Data centers and database servers for Internet applications must be protected from scenarios resulting in the potential loss of all functions, such as power shortages or faulty hardware. Most system backups are set up in a redundant and seamless manner, so that when a system is down, backup takes over during recovery. Contact our 24 hours a day 7 days a week support team. Ring 1300-637-326 Author Nerdcore Computers

If you’re looking for something new to watch on Netflix, typically the streaming service’s built-in categories do a decent job of helping you sort through your options. That said, sometimes you’re not just in the mood for an “Action & Adventure” movie, you want a movie that involves a Hijacking or perhaps something that might also fall into the SciFi bucket. For situations like those, there’s Netflix-Codes. Netflix-Codes displays not only the main categories you see on Netflix’s website, but also the subcategories within them that you don’t. For instance, while you might only see “Comedies” as an option, Netflix has actually broken films down into Slapstick, Anime, Horror, Dark, Musicals, Political, and Sports varieties. That’s right folks, you’ve got choices. Netflix-Codes shows you what all the categories are as well as how many movies are available within each subcategory. When you find one you like, you can click on it to go that specific category within Netflix to see what’s available. You can also enter the code that’s displayed beside it into your browser after the traditional Netflix URL (ala www.netflix.com/browse/genre/CODEHERE). Since it’s browser-based all this has to happen on your computer, not a set-top box or smart TV app. Sorry. Arguably, it would be nice these were actually options within Netflix, since it’s obviously taken the time to sort them anyway. That said, even though it’s a bit of a hassle, Netflix-Codes can be a great tool to have in your pocket when you’re searching for the perfect movie and are coming up short. Author Nerdcore Computers

Overheating in laptops is pretty common, and many laptop owners have experienced it. Sometimes aging laptops may be overheating due to internal hardware problems that most people may not be able to fix. However, the most common type of overheating is caused by lack of adequate airflow within the machine. Overheating doesn’t imply that the machine is having serious problems because there are some ways to cool it down. Let’s look at six simple and easy ways to keep your laptop from overheating: Check and Clean The Fans Whenever you feel your laptop getting hot, place your hand just next to the fan vents. You will know whether the laptop’s fan is working properly if you feel hot air blowing out of the vents. If you feel very little or no air, then dust might have accumulated on the fan or it has broken down. You can open up the machine and blow out the dust with some relatively compressed air. If the fan has broken down, look for a new replacement. Note that if you are not comfortable opening up the laptop, get a professional to do it Elevate Your Laptop Overheating can be caused by lack of inadequate ventilation under the laptop. This can be solved by elevating your computer and putting a small book under the machine. Apart from using a book, it's even better to purchase a laptop cooling mat to provide enough standard ventilation under your machine. There are varieties of cooling mats available, and you can purchase one online. Use A Lap Desk Another method to provide enough ventilation is the use of a lap desk. The small rubber feet on the bottom provides standard elevation to enhance airflow underneath your laptop. However, some people place laptops on their laps when using them. This restricts airflow under the laptop and leads to overheating. A lap desk helps in maintaining constant airflow, keeping your laptop cool. Controlling Fan Speeds Constant airflow within your laptop prevents your fans from running at full speeds. When your fan is running at high speeds, it implies that the CPU is working hard and it may get hotter. You can control fan speeds by installing programs such as SpeedFan for Windows. Avoid Using Intense Processes Overheating in your laptop may be as a result of intense processes. You can keep your laptop cool by avoiding such processes on your machine. For instance, browsers with video Flash will subject the CPU to hard work. The CPU will start getting hotter and increase fan speeds. Therefore, it’s advisable to use a FlashBlock in your browser so that flash videos are only turned on whenever needed. Keep Your Laptop Out Of The Heat Lastly, overheating of your laptop may occur due to extreme exposure to direct hot sunlight, especially during summer. High temperatures may cause a computer to overheat due to an expansion of hard drive and battery damage. Therefore, you should keep your laptop in the shade whenever temperatures are high. When your laptop is shutting down and experiencing serious slowdowns as a result of overheating, it’s advisable to get it repaired as soon as possible. Author Nerdcore Computers 12/19/2019

Smart speaker manufacturer Sonos has announced that the company is going to drop support for some of its products. Sonos stopped selling these devices a few years ago. While nothing lasts forever, dropping support is going to have a lot of implications and shows once again that the connected home isn’t as future-proof as expected. Sonos points out that 92% of the products that it has ever sold are still in use today. It means that some people are still happily using old Sonos devices even though production has stopped since then. “However, we’ve now come to a point where some of the oldest products have been stretched to their technical limits in terms of memory and processing power,” the company writes. If you use a Zone Player, Connect, first-generation Play:5, CR200, Bridge or pre-2015 Connect:Amp, Sonos is basically going to make your Sonos experience worse across the board. The company is going to stop shipping updates to those devices. If Spotify and Apple Music update their application programming interface in the future, your devices could stop working with those services altogether. But Sonos has decided that your entire ecosystem of Sonos devices is going to stop receiving updates so that all your devices are on the same firmware version. For instance, if you just bought a Sonos One but you’re still using an old Sonos Play:5, your Sonos One isn’t going to receive updates either. The company says that you can get a discount if you replace your old device. But it will still cost you some money. It’s also ironic as the company promises a seamless music experience but then requires you to swap out speakers altogether. Sonos should use this opportunity to rethink its product lineup. Planned obsolescence due to end-of-life is a great business model for sure. But it’s time to think about ways to keep your speakers for 10, 20 or even 30 years. People in the 1980s would buy beautiful speakers and keep them for decades. Sure, they’d have to add a CD player in their system at some point. But modularity is a great feature. Sonos should add a computing card slot to its devices. As systems on a chip, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth get faster and more efficient, users should be able to swap out the computing card for a new one without replacing the speaker altogether. That would be a more environmental-friendly process than bricking old devices with their questionable recycle mode. Author Nerdcore Computers

Losing data because of a virus, hard drive or crash can be a frustrating and painful situation. Important documents such as your family photos, legal documents, music or movie collections, and work files can all be lost in these situations. Running a regular backup of your computers can ensure that your personal files are protected in the event of a failure. There are several ways that you can back up the files on your computer including an automatic download that happens in the background or a manual backup that you trigger when needed. To get started setting up your backup, first select the method that best fits your lifestyle and budget. An external hard drive connects to your computer via USB or Wi-Fi and can run on command or on a schedule. These are simple to manage, come in a variety of sizes, and are easy to set up. Unfortunately, external hard drives can fail at any time which means you could potentially lose your backup. A secondary backup is worth considering to ensure that your files are safe no matter what. Some computer users only use their computers to browse the Internet or receive emails and have very little stored content on their computers. These users may consider a flash drive or thumb drive as their backup solutions since they are small and easy to move around. Flash drives are often used as an easy way to share files from one machine to the next. Simply plug the flash drive into your USB and then locate it on your machine by either searching for its name or on your desktop. Once you locate it, you can simply drag the file you want to save to that device. Another option that is becoming more popular, is cloud storage. External tools such as Carbonite, or Dropbox, can be used to store your files at an external location for a fee. Cloud storage is a great option as the backup to your backup. Because cloud storage depends on an Internet connection, you will not be able to access your stored files in the event of Internet loss. Author Nerdcore Computers

When Intel launched Cascade Lake, it heavily segmented the CPU family depending on its various features. This isn’t a new strategy for Intel; the company has long broken its various enterprise capabilities into price bands where certain features cost substantially more money. Today, Intel announced that it’s making several changes to the Cascade Lake Xeon family, likely to better compete against AMD’s Epyc. Under the old Xeon lineup, Intel sold Cascade Lake Xeons in three buckets depending on memory capacity. Standard models support 1TB of RAM, M-series chips offered support for 2TB, and the L-series processors offered 4.5TB of RAM. These capabilities came with a significant cost adder; the M-series cost an extra $3,003 and the L-series was an additional $7,897. Using 4.5TB of memory on a Cascade Lake Xeon required the use of Optane DIMMs in conjunction with standard DRAM. According to Tom’s Hardware, the M-series has now been entirely canceled, and the L-series now offers 4.5TB of RAM at the M-series original pricing. The net effect of these changes is to make high-memory Xeons far more affordable relative to AMD’s Epyc processors, all of which offer 4TB of memory support. It also increases the chances that more customers will adopt Optane. Previously, if you wanted to hit the maximum capacity (4.5TB) on an L-class chip, you had to pay several premiums — the base $7,897 premium for the CPU, followed by the price of the Optane DIMMs themselves. According to Intel’s list prices, released in April, 128GB of Optane in a DRAM form factor should cost $577, 256GB should cost $2,125, and 512GB should cost $6,751. You need 512GB DIMMs to fill a 4.5TB Xeon server to capacity. 512GB of registered server memory (4x128GB, DDR4-2933) currently sells for ~$4,500 on Newegg, but you have to use four RAM slots to hit the same capacity. The problem is, I can’t actually find any stores selling Optane DIMMs at Intel prices. Of the listed sources with Optane to sell back in April. I had no problem finding plenty of Optane drives in other form factors at reasonable prices. Given that Intel’s listed CPU prices only apply to retail, I have no problem believing that OEMs are paying prices that are a fraction of what’s actually listed for-sale at retail. Assuming the actual costs are closer to Intel’s list prices, it’s clear that knocking nearly $5,000 off the CPU price could free up a little cash for Optane spending, especially since Intel is actively trying to promote the memory. As for why Intel is taking this step, it’s because of AMD’s Epyc. Rome may have only built volume slowly from 2017 – 2019, but now that AMD has demonstrated the ability to execute multiple product generations we’re going to see more vendor interest. Intel’s price trimming here reflects AMD’s increased competitiveness. Intel has focused hard on driving data center revenue over the past five years and they aren’t going to want to give up any of that market to AMD (or ARM, for that matter) without a fight. Nerdcore Computers Author

Donate to cfa follow the link here Please do not donate goods. We are overwhelmed by donations in our relief centres and it is diverting resources away from critical tasks. The best way you can help impacted communities is through financial donations. Who should you donate to? There are a number of different ways you can donate to support our firefighting effort in Victoria. CFA is promoting four options depending on how you would like your money to be used. When you donate direct to CFA you have two options CFA and Brigades Donation Fund: Your money will be directed to help fund the work of Brigades in the local community. This includes equipping the brigades with trucks and safety equipment as well as funding community programs and initiatives such as information sessions, school programs and work to prepare the community ahead of the fire season. You can donate generally or to a specific CFA Brigade, group of brigades or District of your choice. Country Fire Authority Public Fund: Money donated to the CFA public fund is used to fund new initiatives such as research programs, development and supply of new education and community information materials as well as direct support to brigades where it is needed. Tax Implications The CFA and Brigades Donation Fund has Deductible Gift Recipient status (DGR) Item1 and is a Registered Charity with ACNC1. All donations over $2 are tax deductible. Nerdcore computers has donated over 1500.00 to the cause we hope it can help someone in need.

If you've just bought a new gadget, the first thing you want to do is rip it out of the packaging and try it out right away. That's why we've put together this helpful guide for when you're setting up your new Apple Watch for the first time. Below we'll talk you through the whole process of setting up the smartwatch and how to start using it. It's relatively simple, but there are a few things you should know during the process - but we'll talk you through it to make it a seamless experience. This guide will talk you through how to set up your Apple Watch, Apple Watch 2, Apple Watch 3, Apple Watch 4, and Apple Watch 5, as it's almost exactly the same process for all these devices. Just remember, you'll need an iPhone to set up your new Apple Watch, and it should be running the latest version of iOS. If you haven't updated, now is the time. Before you set up Apple Watch Resist the temptation to put it on straight away. Before you strap your Apple Watch around your wrist, flip it over and spot the two small indents next to the straps. These are the band release buttons, press and hold one and slide the band out sideways to remove it. Check in the Watch's packaging and you'll find another band (you get one large and one small). Try both and see which fits best. Now lay your Watch on a flat surface; this makes the automatic sync with your iPhone easier (try to avoid manual pairing if possible). Make sure your iPhone has Bluetooth turned on and that it's connected to a local WiFi or cellular network. Locate the side button (shaped like a pill) on your Apple Watch and press it to turn it on. Tap 'Start Pairing' on the Watch and in the Apple Watch app on your phone. If it doesn't appear, you may be asked to use your rear camera to take a photo of an animation on the Watch's screen, like you can see below. If this is your first Apple Watch, click 'Set Up Apple Watch.' You can also opt to restore from a backup if you've made one. You might be asked to update to the latest version of watchOS if a new version has come out since your Apple Watch model was released. You may be asked to sign in with your Apple ID password, which can be done later but certain features relying on your cell number will be locked until you do. Now you'll pick settings, including which are shared with your iPhone. If you activated certain features on your iPhone, like Find My or Location Services, these will be automatically turned on for your Apple Watch upon setup. For older models, during setup you'll be asked to specify which wrist you'll wear the Watch on. This doesn't affect the orientation of the Watch's display incidentally, which is set separately. Combined, these choices tell the Watch the direction of movement that should cause its display to turn on when you raise your wrist. Don't worry if you're unsure because all these settings can be adjusted later from the iPhone app. For security in case your Watch is stolen, set up a passcode during the initial setup process. The Watch uses the sensors on its back to determine when you've taken it off, after which the passcode must be entered to use it. You'll be asked whether you want the Watch to unlock when you unlock your iPhone (as long as you are wearing the Watch). The default passcode is four digits long, but tapping 'Add a Long Passcode' enables you to enter a 10-digit number. This is much harder to bypass, but only use it if you are truly security conscious. Additional protection You might also turn on the Erase Data setting, which is done in the Apple Watch app on your iPhone after initial setup (look under My Watch > Passcode). When this is on, the Watch erases its contents after 10 incorrect passcode entries. Getting back to setting up: when you're asked whether to install all Watch apps that are included with your iPhone apps, we think it's smarter to install them later to speed up the setup process. Besides, installing every available app can make the Watch's Home screen overly busy. If you're setting up an Apple Watch with LTE, this will be where you're asked to enter the details for your carrier. It'll appear within the Watch app on your phone, and if you want to skip here and do it later in the app that works too. Finally, the Apple Watch syncs with your iPhone and you can use it as soon as that finishes (it takes a few minutes). Strap on the Watch, tap the screen and enter your passcode. Now when you raise your wrist, the screen will spring to life. Setting up the home screen In the Apple Watch app on your iPhone, scroll down to find two group of apps. The first one contains Apple's apps, while the lower block is where you'll find apps from other developers. Third-party Watch apps are bundled with their iPhone app. Tap on a third-party app in the list and turn on the Show On Apple Watch switch to install it on your Watch. Some apps also provide Glances, which give quick access to key features when you slide a finger up from the bottom of the watch face). You can enable up to 20 of them. Apps are rearranged (and third-party ones removed) directly from the Watch's Home screen. Tap and hold an app icon until all the icons start to jiggle. Tap and hold an app icon to grab it, and move it to a new position. To delete a third-party app (indicated with a cross at its top-left), tap its icon swiftly and choose Delete App. It's a lot easier to arrange apps in the iPhone app. Tap App Layout and drag app icons around to rearrange them; the layout on your Watch refreshes a moment later. Tap My Watch at the top-left when you're finished. Want to start over? How to reset your Apple Watch What Settings will you want to change right away? The Apple Watch is a vastly more complex creature than you might imagine, with myriad options spread out across several areas. The first thing to know is that there are two places to configure settings. On the Watch's Home screen you'll find a Settings app that contains fundamental settings. The Apple Watch app on your iPhone presents many more when you tap My Watch, making it the best place to start. Limit interruptions Receiving many notifications on the Apple Watch soon becomes overwhelming. Calm things down by tapping Notifications to view the settings for each app. They might offer different settings, but most include two options: Mirror my iPhone (the default) and Custom. If you select the former, the phone's options are summarised below; to adjust them, go to Settings > Notifications on your iPhone. Customise notifications Tap Custom to choose an app's notification behaviour on your Watch. Three options are available: Show Alerts determines whether visual notifications appear on the screen, the Sound switch controls audible prompts, and Haptic decides whether the Watch gives you a gentle tap on the wrist. Some apps have more complex Notifications. For example, Activity presents separate controls for stand reminders (so you can stop your Watch telling you to stand up and move around) as well as progress updates during the day, daily goal completions, long-term achievements and a weekly summary. Get rid of the red dot If you miss a notification a red dot appears at the top of the watch face. Turn off Notifications Indicator if you find it annoying. Increase your privacy While the Watch's small screen makes it fairly private, you might want to hide the content of alerts. Switch on Notification Privacy and you'll only see the type of alert and the person it's from, and you'll only see the full details if you tap the alert. Check for updates One important feature found in the Apple Watch app that isn't on the device itself is software update. Go to General > Software Update and the app will check if a new version of Watch OS is available and enable you to install it. Your Watch will need to be charging and have at least 50% battery power though. The latest software is currently a version of watchOS 6, which you should be able to download to all versions of the Apple Watch apart from the original version. If you're buying an Apple Watch now though, it's likely you're going to be buying the Series 1 model or above. How to download watchOS 5 Auto update apps To save having to remember to install new apps, tap General > Automatic Downloads and switch on Automatically Download Apps. Now when you install an iPhone app with an Apple Watch component, it'll automatically appear on your Watch's Home screen. Check the usage Older Apple Watch models only sport 8GB of storage, which might quickly fill up because only 5.9GB of it is available to you. The Series 4 has 16GB and Series 5 up to 32GB, leaving more space for local media. You can see what is eating up space in General > Usage. Fast-forward the time If you like to set a watch slightly ahead of time, tap Settings on your Apple Watch's Home screen and choose Time. Tap where it says '+0 min' and rotate the Digital Crown to determine how far ahead you want to set the time, then tap Set. This only affects the watch face; the actual time is displayed elsewhere. The Settings glance Swipe up from the bottom of the watch face to open Glances and then swipe right until you reach the leftmost one: the Settings glance. It contains shortcuts that toggle AirPlane Mode, Do Not Disturb, and Silent Mode with just a tap. Find your iPhone The large button across the bottom of the Settings glance is used to tell your iPhone to emit a pinging noise (reminiscent of a submarine radar). This is ideal for locating your iPhone when you've put it down nearby yet can't remember exactly where. Author Nerdcore Computers

You might have a desktop PC at work, school, or home. You might use one to work out tax returns or play the latest games; you might even be into building and tweaking computers. But how well do you know the components that make up a PC? Take the humble motherboard -- it sits there, quietly keeping everything running, and rarely gets the same attention as the CPU or graphics card. Motherboards are remarkably important though, and full of really cool technology. So let's go all Grey's Anatomy, and dissect the motherboard -- breaking down its various parts and seeing what each bit does! A simple overview to start with... Let us begin with the main role of a motherboard. In essence, it serves two purposes: Provide electrical power to the individual componentsProvide a route to allow the components to communicate with each other There are other things a motherboard does (e.g. holds the components in place, or provides feedback as to how well everything is functioning) but the aforementioned aspects are critical to how a PC operates, that almost every other part that makes up the motherboard, is related to these two things. Nearly every motherboard used in a standard desktop PC today will have sockets for the central processing unit (CPU), memory modules (nearly always a type of DRAM), add-in expansion cards (such a graphics card), storage, input/ouputs, and a means to communicate with other computers and systems. The only problem with the picture (other than the motherboard being quite... umm... well, used) is that there are a lot of visible components, making it trickier to spot everything clearly. Let's strip it all away and look at a simplified diagram to begin with (below). That's better, but there is still a lot of sockets and connectors to talk about! Let's start near the top, with the most important one of all. Wiring up the brains of a PC The diagram has a structure labelled LGA1150. This is the name used by Intel to describe the socket used to hold many of their CPUs. The letters, LGA, stand for Land Grid Array, a common type of packaging technology for CPUs and other integrated circuits. LGA systems have lots of little pins in the motherboard, or in a socket on the board, to provide power and communications to the processor. You can see them in the picture below: The metal bracket holds the CPU in place but it's getting in the way of seeing the pins clearly, so let's move it to one side. Remember the name for this? LGA1150. The number is for how many pins there are in this socket. We'll explore the connections for a CPU in another article, but for now we'll just point out that motherboards for other CPUs will have more or fewer pins. In general, the more capable the CPU (in terms of number of cores, amount of cache, etc), the more pins will be found in the socket. A large number of these connections will be used to send and receive data to the next important feature on a motherboard. Big brains need big memory The sockets or slots that are always the closest to the CPU are those that hold DRAM modules, aka system memory. These are connected directly to the CPU and nothing else on the motherboard. The number of DRAM slots depend mostly on the CPU, as the controller for the memory is built into the central processor. In the example we're looking at, the CPU that fits into this motherboard has 2 memory controllers, with each one handling 2 sticks of memory - hence there are 4 sockets in total. You can see that, on this motherboard, the memory sockets are colored in way to let you know which ones are managed by which controller. They're commonly called memory channels, so channel #1 handles two of the slots and channel #2 handles the other two. For this particular motherboard, the colors of the slots can be a little confusing (and it certainly confused this author!): the two black slots are actually one each for the two memory controllers (and same for the grey ones). So the black slot closest to the CPU socket is channel #1, and the next black one is channel #2. It's colored like this to encourage you use the motherboard in what is called dual memory channel mode - by using both controllers at the same time, the overall performance of the memory system is increased. So let's say you had two RAM modules, each one 8 GB in size. No matter what slots you put them in, you'll always have a total of 16 GB of available memory. However, if you put both modules into both of the black slots (or both of the grey slots), the CPU will essentially have double the routes possible to access that memory. Do it the other way (one module in each color) and the system will be forced to access the memory with just the one memory controller. Given that it can only manage one route at a time, it's not hard to see how this doesn't help performance. This CPU/motherboard combination uses DDR3 SDRAM (double data rate version 3, synchronous dynamic random access memory) chips and each socket holds one SIMM or DIMM. The 'IMM' part stands for Inline Memory Module; the S and D refers to where the module has one side filled with chips or both sides (single or dual). Along the bottom edge of the memory module are lots of gold plated connectors, and this type of memory has 240 of them in total (120 each side). These provide the power and data signals for the chips. A single DIMM of DDR3 SDRAM. Image: Crucial Bigger modules would allow you to have more memory, but the whole setup is limited by the pins on the CPU (almost half of the 1150 pins in this example are dedicated to handle these memory chips) and space for all of the traces or electrical wires in the motherboard. The computer industry has stuck with using 240 pins on memory modules since 2004 and shows no signs of changing any time soon. To improve memory performance, the chips simply run faster with each new version released. In the example we're looking at, the CPU's memory controllers can each send and receive 64 bits of data per clock cycle. So with two controllers, the memory sticks will having 128 pins dedicated to transferring information. So why 240 pins? Each memory chip on the DIMM (16 in total, 8 per side) can transfer 8 bits per clock cycle. That means each chip needs 8 pins, just for data transfers; however, two chips share the same data pins, so only 64 of the 240 are data ones. The remaining 176 pins are required for timing and reference purposes, transmitting the addresses of the data (location of where the data is on the module), controlling the chips, and providing electrical power. So you can see that having more than 240 pins won't necessarily make things better! RAM isn't the only thing that's hooked up to the CPU System memory is connected directly to the central processor to boost performance, but there are other sockets on the motherboard that are wired a bit like this (and for the same reason). They use a connection technology called PCI Express (PCIe, for short) and every modern CPU has a PCIe controller built into it. These controllers can handle multiple connections (typically referred to as lanes), even though it is a 'point-to-point' system, meaning that the lanes in the socket aren't shared with any other device. In our example, the CPU's PCI Express controller has 16 lanes. The image below shows 3 sockets: the top two are PCI Express, while the bottom one is a much older system called PCI (related to PCIe, but a lot slower). The little one at the top is labelled PCIEX1_1 because it is a single lane socket; the one below it is a 16 lane socket If you scroll back up and look at the whole motherboard again, you can see that there are: 2x PCI Express 1 lane sockets3x PCI Express 16 lane sockets2x PCI sockets But if the CPU's controller only has 16 lanes, what's going on? First of all, only PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_2 are connected to the CPU - the third one, and the two single lane sockets are connected to another processor on the motherboard (more about that in a moment). Secondly, if both sockets were filled with devices that use 16 PCIe lanes, then the CPU will only dedicate 8 lanes to each. This is the case of all CPUs today; they have a limited number of lanes, so as more devices get connected to the CPU, each one gets a smaller number of lanes to work with. Different CPU and motherboard configurations have their own way of handling of this. For example, Gigabyte's B450M Gaming motherboard has one PCIe 16 lane socket, one PCIe 4 lane socket and a M.2 socket that uses 4 PCIe lanes. With only 16 lanes available from the CPU, using any two sockets will force the larger x16 one to be capped to 8 lanes. So what kind of things use those sockets? The most common choices are: 16 lanes = graphics card 4 lanes = solid state drives (SSD storage) 1 lane = sound cards, network adapters You can see the difference between the connectors in the image above. The graphics card sports the longer 16 lane one, compared to the sound card's little 1-lane setup. The latter has far less data to transfer than the former, so it doesn't need all those extra lanes. In our motherboard example, like all others, has lots more sockets and connections to manage, and so the CPU gets a helping hand from another processor. Let's head south and cross the bridge If we go back 15 years or so, and look at motherboards from that era, there were two additional chips built into them to support the CPU. Together, they were called a chip set (usually concatenated to chipset), and individually they were called the Northbridge (NB) and Southbridge (SB) chips. The former handled the system memory and graphics card, the latter processed the data and instructions for everything else. The above image, of an ASRock 939SLI32 motherboard, clearly shows the NB/SB chips - they're both hidden under aluminum heatsinks, but the one closest to the CPU socket in the middle of the image is the Northbridge. A few years after this product was around, both Intel and AMD released CPUs that had the NB integrated into the central processor. The Southbridge, though, has remained separate and is likely to be so for the foreseeable future. Interestingly, both CPU manufacturers have stopped calling it the SB and often refer to it as the chipset (Intel's proper name for it is the PCH, platform controller hub), even though it's just a single chip! On our more modern example from Asus, the SB is also covered with a heatsink, so let's pop it off and have a look at the extra processor. This chip is an advanced controller, handling multiple types and numbers of connections. Specifically, it's an Intel Z97 chipset and offers the following features: 8 PCI Express lanes (version 2.0 PCIe)14 USB ports (6 for version 3.0, 8 for version 2.0)6 Serial ATA ports (version 3.0 SATA) It also has an integrated network adapter, an integrated sound chip, a VGA display output, and a whole host of other timing and controlling systems. Other motherboards will have more basic/advanced chipsets (providing more PCIe lanes, for example) but in general, most chipsets offer the same kind of features. For this particular motherboard, this is the processor that handles the single lane PCIe slots, the third 16 lane slot, and the M.2 slot. Like many newer chipsets, it handles all of these different connections by using a set of high speed ports that can be switched to PCI Express, USB, SATA, or networking, depending on what is connected at the time. This, unfortunately, places a limit on how many devices plugged into the motherboard, despite all those sockets. In the case of our Asus motherboard, the SATA ports (used to attach hard drives, DVD burners, etc) are grouped as shown above because of this limitation. The block of 4 ports in the middle use the chipset's standard USB connections, whereas the two on the left use some of these high speed connections. So if you use the ones on the left, then the chipset will have fewer connections for other sockets. The same is true for the USB 3.0 ports. There is support for up to 6 devices, but 2 of these ports will also eat into the high speed connections. The M.2 socket, used to connect SSD storage, uses the fast system, too (along with the third 16 lane PCI Express slot on this motherboard); however, on some CPU/motherboard combinations, the M.2 sockets connect directly to the CPU, as many newer products have more than 16 PCIe lanes to distribute and use. Along the left hand side of our motherboard, there is a row of connectors generally called the I/O set (input/output) and in this instance, the Southbridge chip (or chipset) only handles a few of them: PS/2 connector - for keyboards/mice (top left) VGA connector - for older/cheaper monitors (top middle)USB 2.0 ports - black in color (bottom left)USB 3.0 ports - blue in color (bottom middle)

They don't call us the world leader for no reason Nerdcore Computer Apple Data Recovery services can assist you in recovering lost deleted, corrupt or damaged files from all you Apple devices. Apple customers receive a 20% discount on fees. Mac systems recovery Mac Pro® | Mac Mini® | MacBook® | MacBook Air® MacBook Pro® | iMac® | G4® | G3® and earlier | Mac Pro® Apple TV® | Time Capsule® | eMac® | PowerBook® | iBook® Mac server recovery Xserve® | Xserve® RAID | Xsan®| Pegasus RAID Mac applications & files recovery Microsoft Entourage® | iPhoto® | Apple Mail Mac operating systems recovery All Mac OS including El Capitan 10.11| Mac Server OS 10.6.x | Xsan 1.x – 2.x iPad® recovery Logical failure - all iPadsPhysical damage - all iPads iPhone® recovery Logical failure - all iPhonesPhysical damage - all iPhones iPod® recovery Shuffle® | Nano® | Classic® | Touch® Apple data recovery process and pricing We complete a free evaluation within 24 hours of receiving your media. You will be provided with an engineering report and fixed quote so you can make an informed decision about proceeding further. Our fixed fee prices are inclusive of GST, new USB backup media for your recovered data, return shipping* and the cost of any replacement parts required during the recovery process** iPhone/iPad/iPod FREE From $550 (incl GST) iMac/Macbook (HDD & SSD) FREE From $550 (incl GST) External HDD/Time capsule FREE From $550 (incl GST) Apple RAID POA POA Common Apple data loss situations Our trained engineers can recover accidental deleted photos, messages, contacts, notes and files. In our 20 years of experience, we’ve seen pretty much all problems. iPhone dropped in a pool or hot spring spas iPad run over by a car Beer spilled on Macbook iPhone won’t charge And there are so many more situations Even if your device doesn't make it, your data may still be saved. Ring 1300nerdcore Author nerdcore computers

A reseller account is a special cPanel account that gives unique privileges to its users. Essentially, it’s a cPanel account that sells other cPanel accounts. This means that it gives website owners the ability to also serve as hosting providers using system resources that they’ve purchased from their hosting providers. Here’s an analogy: Think of it like a sublet. A hosting provider owns a building (server) and he or she uses WebHost Manager (WHM) to rent out space to a site owner who uses cPanel. If this site owner has a reseller account, then they can further rent out the space that they’ve purchased to other people in search of hosting. This tiered system may sound tricky at first, but its very beneficial. It gives any web tinkerer the ability to also become a web host, at very little cost. However, as their operation grows, resellers may find that they’re in need of virtual private or dedicated hosting. When that day arrives — cPanel & WHM will still be on their side. Ask your hosting provider how you can become a reseller or read more about this unique account type in our Knowledge Base: Author nerdcore computers

When it comes to Linux based hosting, cPanel is the control panel of choice for webmasters, combining unparalleled functionality with ease of use. That said, it has so much to offer that many users never discover all its great features and can miss out on things which make managing your website so much simpler. To help, we’ve put together these tips which show you how to do even more with this powerful management tool. 1. Install apps with ease cPanel’s Installatron tool makes it very easy to choose the apps you want to install and manage on your website or hosting account. You can discover what apps are available in the Applications Browser and use these to help give you the functionality and tools you need to make your site successful. In addition, Installatron enables you to import, clone and back up your apps. 2. Adding new domains to your account If you want to operate several websites from a single hosting account, then cPanel’s Addon Domains tool is the easiest way to set this up. Simply find the Addon Domains tool in the top menu bar and fill in the details. 3. In-built analytics While everyone knows about Google Analytics, not everyone has the time or the know how to set it up on their website. Luckily, cPanel comes with AWStats, an open-source analytics tool that provides excellent data on traffic volume and sources and even lets you know about non-human traffic such as bots which are used by both search engines and, unfortunately, hackers. 4. Manage your files If you want an easier and more convenient way to upload files to your server than using FTP, then the cPanel File Manager is the best solution. Using this you can upload individual files or put multiple files into a zip file. 5. Check out how well your server is performing If you are running a website, you want to know that it is performing as well as can be expected. Sometimes the apps and services you run can use up all the resources you have paid for. If you are on shared hosting, you might find that other users on the server are hogging those resources. There could also be a problem with your host’s server. One of the most helpful features on cPanel is the CPU and concurrent connection usage tool. Not only does this tell you your CPU, memory, file and disk usage, it also enables you to manage your resources, helping you prevent issues with your website. 6. Set up databases easily If you use WordPress or other CRM platforms to build your websites, you’ll need to create a database first. Using cPanel’s MySQL database wizard this is an easy and straightforward process as you are taken through all the steps one at a time and given guidance on what to do – such as naming the database, creating usernames and passwords and linking the database to a domain. Sometimes you may need to import a database, perhaps to build a test site or when moving to a new web host. phpMyAdmin is another helpful tool in cPanel that lets you do this without fuss. 7. Update your PHP version The PHP version you use on your website can have an impact on how it works on a visitor’s browser. Like all software, it is updated from time to time and it is always advisable that you update to the latest stable version recommended by your host and which is compatible with your website software. You can easily update your PHP version in cPanel by using the PHP version module. The module also enables you to control a number of PHP related functions, such as whether to allow zip compression or to control the maximum size of files which can be uploaded. 8. Don’t browse for apps, search instead With so many other functions available on cPanel, it can be easy to miss them just by browsing or visually searching. What many users fail to spot is that there’s no need to do this at all – cPanel has a very handy search bar right at the top of the homepage. You’ll see the text, “Find functions quickly by typing here.”  Simply type in the name of the function or app you are looking for. Conclusion cPanel provides a wealth of helpful tools and apps to make the management of websites easier and more convenient. Hopefully, the tips provided here will show you how to save time and manage your site more effectively. If you are looking for great hosting with cPanel, check out our cPanel hosting or look at our Linux VPS packages. Author Nerdcore Computers

Since we originally unveiled our next-generation console in April, we know that there’s been a lot of excitement and interest in hearing more about what the future of games will bring. Today I’m proud to share that our next-generation console will be called PlayStation 5, and we’ll be launching in time for Holiday 2020. These updates may not be a huge surprise, but we wanted to confirm them for our PlayStation fans, as we start to reveal additional details about our vision for the next generation. WIRED magazine covered these updates and more in a story that posted this morning. The “more” refers to something I’m quite excited about – a preview of the new controller that will ship with PlayStation 5. One of our goals with the next generation is to deepen the feeling of immersion when you play games, and we had the opportunity with our new controller to reimagine how the sense of touch can add to that immersion. To that end, there are two key innovations with the PlayStation 5’s new controller. First, we’re adopting haptic feedback to replace the “rumble” technology found in controllers since the 5th generation of consoles. With haptics, you truly feel a broader range of feedback, so crashing into a wall in a race car feels much different than making a tackle on the football field. You can even get a sense for a variety of textures when running through fields of grass or plodding through mud. The second innovation is something we call adaptive triggers, which have been incorporated into the trigger buttons (L2/R2). Developers can program the resistance of the triggers so that you feel the tactile sensation of drawing a bow and arrow or accelerating an off-road vehicle through rocky terrain. In combination with the haptics, this can produce a powerful experience that better simulates various actions. Game creators have started to receive early versions of the new controller, and we can’t wait to see where their imagination goes with these new features at their disposal. While there’s much more to share about PlayStation 5 in the year ahead, we have plenty of blockbuster experiences coming your way on PS4, including Death Stranding, The Last of Us Part II, and Ghost of Tsushima. I’d like to thank all PlayStation fans for continuing the journey with us, as we embark on the future of games. Author Nerdcore Computers

Address and Contact Details If you would like us to repair your Macbook, iMac etc at our workshop, you can find us at 3a Willesden Road Hughesdale Victoria. Our workshop is located on the corner of Willesden Rd and Poath Road in Hughesdale , an inner Melbourne suburbs. The office entrance is off Willesden Road. Please give us a courtesy call first on 0386897974 If you wish to have a mobile service and are located in the inner Melbourne suburbs please call 0386897974.

Smartphones and other electronic devices have made it easier to stay in touch and multi-task while traveling. But they can also mean increased cyber risks for keeping your personal and university information private, as well as increased potential for theft. Stay cyber safe while traveling A good rule of thumb when traveling is to assume your devices will be lost, stolen, compromised, or even confiscated at an international border at some point during your trip – and to plan accordingly. It is also important to remember that anything you do over unsecured Wi-Fi may be seen by others, including your passwords and messages. Here are some tips to keep in mind: Make sure you are able to connect to the Internet securely while you’re away.Encrypt your devices, or at least any sensitive information on your devices.Only bring what you’re willing to lose – both stored information and the devices themselves — even if they’re encrypted.If you’re traveling for UC business, research, or as an international student or scholar, work with your IT department to make sure you’re taking a clean machine or an appropriate loaner device, and that you have the tools you need to connect to the Internet securely.Immediately report lost or stolen devices used for work. Follow your location’s reporting requirements. Special considerations for international travelers There are special rules for bringing electronic equipment, research, intellectual property, and encryption technology abroad. Consult with experts at your campus/location well in advance of your trip if you plan to take university equipment, data, or technology outside of the United States.Although encryption is recommended to protect sensitive information in case your device is lost, stolen, inspected, or confiscated, some countries restrict the use/importation of encryption software. The US may also restrict its export. See UC’s “International Travel” webpage for information, including lists of countries with travel restrictions and links for additional help. If you are not able to use encryption software at your destination, contact your IT department for guidance. If you’re traveling for UC business, research, or as an international student or scholar, visit the UC Global Operations (UC GO) website. Author Nerdcore Computers

Powering Greater Creators While IBC is abuzz with industry talent, we have some news to share from home: Avid’s style is getting a tune-up. It takes panache to lead the pack in today’s hustle-bustle world of media production. That’s why we at Avid have been working on a fresh, modern, bold new way to share who we are with the rest of the world as we move into the next era of audio, video, and broadcast entertainment. Our new look and feel gets to the heart of our mission to equip creators like you with the technology and tools needed to entertain, inform, educate, and enlighten the world. Still the same Avid—just refreshed. You may spot some subtle changes in the coming months while we keep improving the solutions you need to get things done. Like what you see? Send us a note: CONTACT US Meanwhile, the show must go on! Stand 7.B55 is bustling away at IBC, and if you haven’t grabbed a spot at one of our many training sessions you can still do so here. Powerful publishing is on the horizon Avid is making waves with some instrumental solutions and updates just announced at IBC. We’re excited about our new SaaS offering MediaCentral | Publisher, which is powered by Wildmoka and helps improve efficiency across the board. This robust solution enables media producers to create content, add graphics and branding, and publish videos quickly to multiple social media and digital end points. That means increased revenue and boosted viewership to broaden your reach—all so you stay one step ahead of the competition. Media Central | Publisher powered by Wildmoka We’re previewing upcoming features for post-production professionals too, including new support for higher video resolutions and frame rates. For all of you music makers out there, Pro Tools 2019 is in the midst of its European debut at IBC with an update that allows teams to work faster and more creatively on the most complex projects without missing a beat (or a high note). There’s a lot more to come from IBC 2019! Check back for announcements and follow us on social media to stay on top of everything we’re working on.

If you want to be a part of an industry that is constantly subject to new trends due to world-spread innovation and activity, you don’t need to look any further than the information technology industry. There are infinite career paths that one can take toward prosperity, and there are more resources available to you than you can possibly know what to do with. Anyone who wishes to work in the IT industry and dedicate themselves to their career will be heavily rewarded with opportunities and knowledge. Part of being in the IT industry, or any industry, for that matter, is being able to predict trends before they become trending and take the necessary steps to capitalize on them. This is one of the keys to being a visionary. As Wayne Gretzky says, “Don’t skate to where the puck is right now. Skate to where the puck is going to be.”   Even if you weren’t able to predict a trend in advance, you can still see a development and recognize the potential that it has before everyone else does. There is an incredible amount of untapped potential in the IT industry if you search hard enough for it. The big mistake that people make in the IT industry is looking solely at the technological trends, discounting those that are related to human behavior and a general shift in workplace mindset. With that being said, here are some of the broader future trends in the information technology industry that everyone needs to be paying attention to, no matter their position: The number of remote workers will increase significantly. There are an increasing number of people who are opting to go the freelance route instead of following the traditional model of having one boss and one job to do. This has been made entirely possible by the advancements made in technology that have opened up both workers and clients to the global marketplace. Therefore, organizations can choose to hire top-tier talent from all around the world and are no longer limited to those who are local.   Indeed, major companies such as Buffer have embraced this and started hiring remote full-time workers. Through communication tools such as Skype and Slack, people can get their work done as if they were in a physical office building. Meetups are held a few times a year so that employees can establish a face-to-face connection and strengthen their working relationship. Overall, work flexibility is being embraced, and it will be far more commonplace in the IT industry than the traditional setup where workers report to the same physical location every day. Collaboration will become a central tenet of the IT culture. The days of the lone genius programmer getting everything done all by themselves in a dark room are long gone. Although there are still visionaries hiding from public recognition, the overwhelming majority of IT professionals are starting to acknowledge and embrace the power of collaboration.   Teamwork will be emphasized, and individual workers will find themselves working together on completing key projects. When workers aren’t busy being productive at their desks, there are an increasing number of conferences and workshops set up around the world to allow people to come together and share ideas.   Expect a major shift in working spaces within the IT industry due to collaboration. Whereas workers would be assigned their own individual workstations and collaborate with teammates in separate rooms, employees in future generations are going to be installed in collaborative working spaces where they can gather around in close proximity for teamwork. The “one desk, one person” mentality will soon be gone. User experience will be far more important for customer satisfaction. Because technology is advancing at such a rapid pace, many consumers may feel left behind. They might restrain themselves from using a product on the simple notion that it is too complicated for them to use as they see fit. Take a look at Apple’s Mac operating system as an example.   One of the reasons why you see many workers switching from Windows to Mac is due to the ease with which you can use their operating system. Even though it can handle most of the same complexities as other operating systems, it is easy to learn how to use it for casual computing purposes. The tutorials are simple, and most people report that it eventually feels intuitive to use the Mac.   How does this relate to workers in the IT industry? Those developing IT products will be forced to examine their application design critically and put themselves in the shoes of their ideal demographic. Simplicity will be the key focus, and any inefficiencies in the form of unnecessary complexity will have to be removed.   In a world that is running at breakneck speeds, consumers won’t have the time to sit down for hours and learn how to use a product. The learning curve needs to be made as small as possible. Expect to see a “pick up n’ play” mentality being adopted when the user interface is being optimized for the customer. Significant advances in network cable technology are being made. For those of you who work extensively with network cabling, you know that twisted pair cabling is the norm, particularly those that are Category 5e and beyond—because they can easily support Gigabit Ethernet. Although there are pushes being made to create new categories that have improved bandwidth and high-performance data transfer, these cables still suffer from a few flaws that will result in them being phased out.   The primary issue is that they are still susceptible to electromagnetic interference from other electronic devices. This means that there might be gaps in data transfer where information is not completely transferred. This flaw is unacceptable, given that several terabytes of confidential and important information will be transferred on a daily basis by companies in the future. To fix this, developers have switched their attention to developing fiber optic network cabling. Fiber optics are unique in that data is transmitted through pulses of light instead of electric signals. This opens up the gateway to data transfer and speeds and volumes that were previously thought to be impossible.   The only reason why this technology has not been fully phased out is because it is currently too expensive for companies to have installed in their IT rooms, on top of the fact that there are several categories of fiber optic cabling that already exist. This means that there is a higher chance that things could go wrong because a technician accidentally installs the wrong variation of cabling. Is wireless the way to go? In the 21st century, using cords for technology is perceived to be an ancient activity. Thanks to the invention of wireless internet and Bluetooth technology, there is an increasingly high expectation among workers and customers that products are built to operate wirelessly. One only needs to use their imagination to think about where an obsessive focus on making everything wireless can go.   For starters, one can imagine a future in which data transfer is done wirelessly rather than through network cabling as described in the previous section. However, this is a bold idea that will likely fail to see any significant development until far later. With the failed attempts people have made at trying to charge devices wirelessly, it’s best not to hold your breath. Blockchain technology will rise in use and influence. For those of you who don’t already know what Blockchain is, it is a public database that allows you to send data more securely and efficiently. When you store information, it will include a cryptographic signature that links back to you (the sender), along with the date and time when this was made. This technology has been used to send things such as assets and money.   This has huge implications for how things will be done in the healthcare and banking industries, as Blockchain can potentially disrupt them in a big way. We are only beginning to see a small sliver of the potential that it will have for making transactions and sharing information in the near future. 3D Printing will become a bigger part of IT manufacturing. One of the biggest game changes in the manufacturing industry for all sectors has been the invention and development of 3D printing. It sounds like a dream come true – you send a digital 3D design to a printer, and it will recreate that entire thing. With printing speed improving and the cost of printing becoming cheaper, it will be the most valuable tool for any company that regularly manufactures and ships IT products. Customizations in design will become far easier, and less human supervision will be required. Cyber security will be a high-priority concern for customers. It goes without saying that an IT system is only as good as the security that is being used to protect it. If you have been reading the news, you are probably aware that the dating site known as Ashley Madison was hacked, leading to private information of thousands of individuals having been leaked and exposed to the public. Many of its users suffered serious life-altering consequences because of this breach, and the damage has clearly been done. What’s to say that this same kind of hacking event couldn’t happen in other industries where data protection is the #1 concern?   IT companies will be forced to employ maximum security measures as they continue to develop the latest technologies. Systems will have to be continually tested, and knowledge gaps will have to be filled in order to stay one step ahead of those who have malicious intent. Expect the standards for cyber security, both from consumers and workers, to rise sharply with each passing year.   In conclusion, these are some of the major future trends in the information technology industry that you should be paying attention to. There is a high likelihood that they will happen, but the speed at which they happen and the influence they will have on the industry is yet to be determined. One can only take this information and use it as they see fit, or decide that there is an unexplored trend that will rise in the future and seek to become its creator. Author : Nerdcore Computers

Compared to high-price buys such as televisions, washing machines, or other household appliances that enhance the quality of our lives, the USB charger is no big deal, and we purchase it without paying any thought to quality. But, shoddy USB chargers can be dangerous to the gadgets health. When the input voltage is higher than 5 V, these chargers have no in-built mechanism to refine the voltage before supplying it to the device and can lead to significant damages to mobile devices. These kinds of USB chargers do not adhere to safety norms and have several circulatory flaws. These include inadequacies between the primary & secondary transformers and less distance between the output voltage and main input circulatory. So, today, we bring you a comprehensive guide on buying the right USB charger: Rule 1: The Length of the Cable The first thing you must look into when shopping for a high-quality USB cable is the cable length. If you want a USB charger for charging your device via a desktop computer, then you need 1 ft. cable length. A 3ft chord length USB cable is ideally suited for charging in the car. For nightstands and other kinds of furniture, 6ft cable length provides greater flexibility. And, 10ft cord length is for hard-to-reach areas. Rule 2: Deciding on the USB Connector Type In terms of USB Connector types, there are three categories, one is micro USB cables, second is lightning cables, and lastly, 30-pin USB cables. The micro USB cables are compatible with most of the smart gadgets, but not for Apple devices. The lightning cables are exclusively for charging the Apple gadgets. And, the 30-pin USB cables are for the legacy Apple devices. Rule 3: Thickness of the Cable Another essential factor to mull over when buying the best USB charging cable is the thickness of the cable. The thin cables quickly show signs of wear & tear with our everyday rough use. The cord thickness matters, even more, when the cable length is 6ft and more. This factor also goes with buying a USB extension cable. Other Things to Consider When Buying a USB Charger: Number of Ports/ Devices Charging Kits Cable Management Surge Protection Versatile Options At our ebay store, discover the broadest selection of USB cables for both home & office use.  We assure you our high quality USB chargers are at the most competitive prices. Author Nerdcore Computers

This article explains how to create custom TXT records for registered domain names at United Domains. A TXT Record (short for "text record") is a type of DNS Record that provides text information to sources other than your domain name. A TXT Record can contain letters, numbers, and symbols. Note: You must have your domain name pointed to United Domains' name servers to add a TXT record from your United Domains account. Click here for information about changing your name servers. To add a TXT Record, first log in to your United Domains account, then follow these steps: Find the domain you want to customize, and click the DNS button next to it.Scroll to the DNS Records area, and click the Add button to create a new DNS Record. If your TXT record has a Host or Domain value, enter it in the Subdomain field.Click the Record Type dropdown menu and select TXT Record.Under the Value column, enter the TXT Record's value. Click Save. Nerdcore Computers Author

Shopping for an Android device can be an ordeal. Let us take some of the pain out of it with these picks and tips. Trying to find the best Android phone for your needs is hard work. It's easy to get swayed by a pretty handset design or a convincing salesperson at a retail store. Carriers might tempt you with an affordable 24-month payment plan. But before you make an ill-informed impulse buy, read up. From the bottomless pit of phone choices, we bring you our favorites—including our top picks, the Pixel 3A and OnePlus 7T. All of the phones we've selected here have their own advantages, and we've laid them out as honestly as we can. Be sure to check our list of Best iPhones and Best Cheap Phones for more recommendations. You can find all of our latest buying guides here. Updated for December 2019: We've replaced the Nokia 7.1 with the Nokia 7.2, and we cut the Blackberry Key2, as it's getting old and there's no replacement in sight. We've added Google's Pixel 4 as well and tweaked our list of honorable mentions. Our Best Advice Buy Your Phone Unlocked We recommend unlocked phones in this guide. When a phone is sold as "unlocked," it means the phone can be used on multiple wireless carriers/networks. When you buy a phone directly from your wireless carrier, usually on a payment plan, it often comes locked to that network. Carriers are legally required to unlock it upon request if you ever want to switch networks, but it's a big hassle. Try to pay full price for your phone (if it's too expensive, opt for a cheaper model) or make sure it specifically says it is unlocked. Verizon and Sprint Tips: Buying an unlocked phone is smart (it is!), but even if you do the smart thing, networks like Verizon and Sprint will put up hoops for you to jump through. To find out if your phone works on Sprint, use this page. Verizon users, if you put in your SIM card but still have trouble receiving text messages or something else, contact customer service and have them enable "CDMA-Less roaming." This OnePlus 6T guide may help. The steps should be similar for other phones. Best Overall Google Pixel 3A and 3A XL The Pixel 3A (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is $400, but it feels better than many high-end $800 phones, including the standard Pixel 4 (which is also an amazing phone). It has cameras that match almost any device out there, and Google included Night Sight mode, which makes it possible to take night shots and selfies that actually look decent. It also has a classy polycarbonate body, which is more durable than glass phones, and a headphone jack. The interface is speedy, because it runs on a great new midrange Snapdragon processor, and it gets monthly security updates and regular feature updates directly from Google (most phones don't). The only downsides: It's splash-proof, not waterproof; it doesn't have a notch (is that bad?); and it has no wireless charging. Runner-Up OnePlus 7T The OnePlus 7T (9/10, WIRED Recommends) offers a lot of luxury features we'd expect from a top-tier phone in 2019. These include triple rear cameras—2X zoom, 48-megapixel standard, wide angle—a beautiful dual-tone glass design, a Snapdragon 855+ processor, 8 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage, and super fast charging. It also has a class-leading 90-Hz AMOLED screen that runs noticeably smoother than almost any other device outside the OnePlus 7 Pro, which (surprise!) also has a 90-Hz display. It's in-display fingerprint sensor is incredibly speedy, and the phone comes bundled with a case. All for hundreds less than competing phones. The other big benefit is OnePlus' dedication to bimonthly security updates and quick platform updates that add new features. The OnePlus 7T ships with the new Android 10 OS update. Most phones won't get Android 10 for another six to 12 months. Best Luxury Phone Samsung Galaxy S10 Samsung's Galaxy S phones haven't topped a list I've made in years, but the Galaxy S10 series really nailed it (9/10, WIRED Recommends). For the better part of 2019, it topped this list of Android phones, but it has since been trounced by the OnePlus 7T and Pixel 3A, which both offer similar value for less money. I really like almost every aspect of the phones (except Bixby), including the hole-punch in-display selfie camera and in-display "ultrasonic" fingerprint sensor on the S10 and S10 Plus. Samsung's flagships have all the speed and camera capabilities you'd want in a 2019 phone, and Samsung's custom One UI software is pleasant to use and gets security updates monthly. Other bonuses like a MicroSD slot, wireless power sharing, and a headphone jack (yes!) make the Galaxy a step up from the 7T. And since you're probably wondering, there are three S10s: the regular S10, a larger S10 Plus, and the lower-cost S10E that cuts some corners. For advice on which model to buy, read our breakdown of the three models. Personally, I prefer the S10 due to its smaller size. Best Display OnePlus 7 Pro For years, OnePlus has been selling feature-rich flagship phones at prices that are much lower than the competition. Now it’s decided to make the most high-tech phone on the market (in a few ways), and we love it. The OnePlus 7 Pro (8/10, WIRED Recommends) comes with 256 GB of storage, 8 GB of RAM, and a cutting-edge Snapdragon 855 processor. Moreover, it has the best display I've seen on a phone, which refreshes at a very fast 90 Hz; extra nice for gaming. The screen is notchless, made possible by a pop-out, retracting selfie camera. The 3X zoom and wide-angle lens options on the rear camera also help OnePlus begin to make a name for itself in photography. And since the selfie camera is usually retracted, this is also the only phone that doesn't have a camera pointed at your face 24/7. We've linked to the OnePlus store, but you can also order it at T-Mobile. Best Camera Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL If you're a shutterbug, then you most likely have heard of Google's Pixel line, regarded as some of the best camera phones money can buy (though the iPhone 11 Pro gives it a run for its money). Pixel 4 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is Google's latest, and its dual-camera system is excellent. Portrait Mode lets you effectively blur out the background of a subject, the 2X zoom telephoto lens is handy for close-ups, and Night Sight mode lights up the darkest scenes—you can even use it to capture starry skies. It packs great performance with a smooth 90-Hz screen, just like the OnePlus 7 Pro. You can also use Face Unlock as authentication, which works similarly to Apple's Face ID, and Google also added a slew of sensors that let you wave your hand to trigger certain functions, like switching tracks or snoozing alarms. That's without mentioning all the software smarts that put it a rung above the rest. For example, Call Screen will monitor robocalls for you so you don't have to answer them, and Now Playing uses on-device machine learning to show you songs playing in your surroundings, so you don't need to try and look it up. The Pixel 4's downside is battery life, which can barely last a full day if you're a heavy user. If you're going to buy one, opt for the bigger Pixel 4 XL since it has a beefier battery. Best for $300 or Less Motorola Moto G7 The Moto G7 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is a cheap phone without as many caveats as you might expect. It's snappy and runs apps smoothly (even the camera app) with no noticeable lag, which is a change, even from last year's Moto G6. The camera is also very good for the price and won't let you down under most circumstances—though it will still have some trouble capturing the best shots in extreme lighting environments, like at a concert. In this year's phone, Moto included a nicer display and a lovely glass back that you'll want to promptly protect with a durable case, like most phones. Multiday Battery Life for Cheap Motorola Moto G7 Power The Moto G7 Power has less memory and a lower-resolution display than the standard Moto G7, but it's still not bad if your needs are basic. It also comes with a killer feature: a 5,000-mAh battery. This is a phone that can last two to four days on a single charge. To fit all that battery, it's a little thicker than phones you see these days (9.3 mm), but ending a day with 65-plus percent battery never gets old. (Learn about all three G7 models). Pure Android for Cheap Nokia 7.2 The problem with Motorola phones, like the ones mentioned above, is that Motorola offers very limited software support—usually, you get one Android version upgrade, and that's it. HMD, the maker of Nokia phones, is different. Most of its phones are part of the Android One program, meaning the company makes a commitment not only to have no bloatware on the phone, but also to deliver two years of Android version and security updates. The Nokia 7.2 is no exception; it's on track to get Android 10 very soon. You also get a great 6.3-inch LCD screen (with HDR support, rare in a phone of this price), 128 GB of storage, a decent midrange processor, day-long battery life, and it has the benefit of not looking like a budget phone. The triple-camera experience is solid, too, though it can't match the Pixel 3A's quality. The downsides are that the back is made of glass, so a case is a good idea, and it's only slightly water-resistant, so be careful around the toilet! Best for Audiophiles LG G8 ThinQ LG's G8 ThinQ isn't the flashiest phone, but it gets the job done. It has the same processor as the one inside Samsung's Galaxy S10, so you get great performance, the 6.1-inch, OLED display is sharp and vivid, and the dual-camera system can reliably snap some nice pics (the wide-angle lens helps add a little versatility). You also get about a workday's worth of battery life, and support for wireless charging makes it easy to top up the phone during the day. But LG phones are best for audiophiles because they still sport headphone jacks with a 32-bit Quad DAC (digital-to-analog converter), as well as support for hi-res playback for high-quality music streaming if you've transitioned to Bluetooth headphones. It's one of the slipperiest phones we've used, though, so you should definitely buy a case. LG's software interface is also a little clunky, it has a lot of bloatware (useless apps), and the company is often slow at pushing out Android updates. Keep all of that in mind when making your decision. You can also ignore the gimmicky Air Motion feature that lets you use hand gestures to control specific functions, because it's not very good. The Phone With a Stylus Samsung Galaxy Note 10 The Galaxy Note 10 is a ginormous Android phone (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It's bigger than big. If that's your thing, you'll like the included S Pen's new Bluetooth functionality, which lets you use it to do things like open apps and remotely snap pics. This beefy, brawny phone can handle your most demanding tasks with all the latest specs. I recommend picking up a new 2019 Galaxy S10 instead, unless the S Pen is on your mind. The Note 10 has no audio jack, which might be another reason to stick with the S10. Honorable Mentions Other Phenomenal Phones There are a lot of Android phones out there, and most of them are not on this list. Here are a few good standouts to also consider. The Sony Xperia 5 is perfect for people who binge-watch movies on their phone, because its 21:9 aspect ratio is ideal for cinema. But it is pricey, and its triple-camera system falls short of competitors. There's no wireless charging, either. You can check out our Xperia 1 review for more details. The Xperia 1 is almost the exact same as the 5, just bigger and more expensive. The LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen ($699) comes bundled with a case that adds a second screen. The Google Pixel 3 ($450) and Motorola Moto Z4 ($390) (which supports Moto mods) are also pretty good, just not top picks right now. lmost Too Cheap (or Old) Half-Hearted Endorsements There are many phones I've previously recommended that are right on the edge. They're either getting old (2-plus years) or getting too weak. We worry they won't have software support beyond this year or may feel too sluggish after the next Android update. You can take the risk to get the savings if you like. The LG G7 ($300), Nokia 7.1 ($209), and Moto G6 are all usable. We just think you're better off with the devices listed here or in our Best Cheap Phones guide. You should probably pass on newer devices we've cut from this list, too. The BlackBerry Key2, Moto Z3, OnePlus 6, and OnePlus 6T are also all usable, but their manufacturers probably won't update them beyond 2020. Nerdcore Computers Author

Nearly every article on internal linking starts with a discussion of how complicated yet how important the subject matter is. On the one hand, internal linking is such a simple concept, and everyone should be doing it. On the other hand, the theory, process, and best practices of internal linking get extraordinarily complex. It’s both advanced and simple. But regardless of how complex or basic you think it is, no one argues about this: It is important. Strategic internal linking is an SEO power technique, especially for content marketing. In this article, I’ve chosen to focus on internal linking for content marketing, because it’s one of the most straightforward and simplest ways to experience SEO uptick. Plus, internal linking among blog articles and other content is something that you can do on an ongoing basis. In this article, I want to deliver a level of SEO knowledge that will benefit the experienced SEO, but that will also provide actionable data to help SEO newbies. A Primer on Internal Linking Whatever your SEO skill, it will help to brush up on some internal linking basics. The Definition of Internal Linking An internal link connects one page of a website to a different page on the same website. In an internal link, the source domain and target domain are the same. The Purpose of Internal Linking Internal linking has three main purposes: Aids in website navigationDefines the architecture and hierarchy of a websiteDistributes page authority and ranking power throughout the site We’ll be spending our time discussing that third point — how internal linking can spread authority and rank throughout multiple pages of a website. The Theory Behind Internal Linking Most of the “solid information” and “powerful strategies” on internal linking are little more than sophisticated-sounding prognostication. Still, there’s some merit to theorizing about how Google ranks and values the internal network of linking. The basic theory is this: Internal linking strengthens the overall search-optimized value of a website. Inner linking does so by providing clear paths for spiders, prolonged sessions for users, and a tight-knit network of pages and posts. So, how do you do it? Here are the seven commandments. The Seven Commandments of Internal Linking for Top-Notch SEO 1. Create lots of content. In order to create lots of internal links, you have to have lots of internal pages. The first step to a killer internal linking strategy is to have a killer content marketing strategy. You can’t have one without the other. When you create lots of content, you’ll have lots of linkable content. The more links to the more places, the better your internal linking strategy will be. Some internal linking strategies propose extremely complex layers of pages, silos of content, and a mathematically-balanced formula for number of links to levels of pages. I say it doesn’t really matter. Internal linking doesn’t require organizational spreadsheets and trigonometric derivative charts. An internal linking strategy with lots of content looks less like an org chart and more like a web. There are no “cycles.” There are no “silos.” There are no “tiers.” There are no structured flow diagrams. There’s just plenty of happy links going to helpful places. 2. Use anchor text. In keeping with the content theme of internal linking, your internal links should use anchor text as opposed to linked images. Image links are fine, provided that images are not the main source of links, and assuming the image is properly alt-tagged. While we’re on the subject of alt tags, Sean Work says: The proper use of anchor text, of course, opens a new can of worms. Obviously, you don’t want optimized anchors. Just use natural, unoptimized sentence fragments as anchor text, and you’ll do just fine. No cute tricks. No overthinking it. Just highlight, link it, and be done. Check out this discussion of linkbuilding for a complete discussion on strategic anchors. 3. Link deep. The deeper your links go, the better. There are two types of links you should avoid using in your content: Homepage. Most sites have too many links to the homepage as it is. You would rather strengthen internal pages to boost the overall SEO of your site, rather than simply point more links at the homepage.Contact us. This is a common mistake of many who are starting out in content marketing. As part of their obligatory call to action at the end of a post, they may write something like, “Give us a call to find out more about our awesome services!” Then, they link to the “contact us” page using the anchor “give us a call.” Don’t link to the contact us page unless absolutely necessary. In general, you want to avoid links to the top level pages on a site — pages to which the main navigation menu already has links. The best links — and the most natural links in a content marketing strategy — are deep within the structure of a site. 4. Use links that are natural for the reader. Internal linking requires a user-focused approach to adding value and information. The link value that gets distributed throughout the site is secondary to this key point — providing value to the reader. One of the corollary benefits of internal linking is that it improves user engagement on your site. When a user sees an informative link that truly matches the context of the content, they are likely to click on that link. It can be an external link, as long as it’s something that the reader will be interested in. If that link is an internal one, the site visitor stays longer and becomes more involved in your website experience. Dave Davies, in his Search Engine Watch article, made a good point. When you link in your content you’re telling the engine that the target of your link is so relevant and important that you want your visitor to simply be able to click a link and go straight there. Basically, that what you’re linking to is potentially so relevant that the visitor may want to stop what they’re reading and go to the next page. Content links are a strong signal to both the search engine and the user that the content you’re linking to is really good. Readers want that. Thus, internal linking is helping the reader. But you’re also helping your SEO. Win. Win. 5. Use relevant links. Internal linking, as I’ve made clear, is less rigorous and scientific than some might think. But you still have to be intentional. Don’t merely link for the sake of linking. Instead, link to content that is relevant to the source context. In other words, let’s say I have a page on my site about dog food. And, I have a page on my site about the nesting habits of parakeets. (I have neither.) Should I link the two pages? There is not a strong connection between dog food and parakeet nests, especially on a superficial level. These two pages probably won’t provide mutual enhancement from internal crosslinking. But, if I have a page on parakeet food, then it might make a great internal link for my parakeet nest article. Chances are, information about “parakeets” is going to be on both of the pages. Because of this content overlap, the link is relevant. As much as possible, link to relevant content in your internal linking. 6. Use follow links. Follow links are the best way to build out the internal link architecture of your content marketing. One theoretical internal linking strategy of the past was to nofollow most of the links on a page, in order to increase the link juice to a single page. This type of pagerank sculpting doesn’t work as an SEO strategy. Back in 2005, the search engines came up with the nofollow, known by the attribute rel=nofollow. The idea behind nofollow was that the link “should not influence the link target’s ranking in the search engine’s index.” As Wikipedia stated, such links would “reduce the effectiveness of certain types of internet advertising because their search algorithm depends heavily on the number of links to a website.” Despite the uproar and confusion in the wake of the nofollow link, most people now agree that it’s a good idea. As Danny Sullivan explained, nofollow links can help sites “avoid problems with search engines believing they are selling influence or are somehow involved in schemes deemed as unacceptable SEO practices.” In spite of its value, however, using nofollow links is not a strategy you should be using as part of your internal content links. The link value needs to flow freely to and from internal pages, rather than get stopped up by a nofollow. Keep things free and fluid. 7. Use a reasonable number of internal links. You don’t need tons of links in your internal content. Google’s instructions are simple: “Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number.” Question: What the heck is a reasonable number? Answer: Nobody knows. Smart people have tried to answer the question, but not even Matt Cutts has provided a definitive statement. He wrote, “It seemed about right to recommend 100 links or so,” and “in some cases, it might make sense to have more than a hundred links.” So, should you go for 100 links? Maybe, but that 100-total links includes all the links on a page — footers, headers, nav bars, ads, everything. 100 links isn’t as hard as it sounds, once you calculate the total number of HREFs on an entire page. When it comes to internal linking, I suggest around three to four, depending on the length of your post. I usually write articles that exceed 1,500 words, and I don’t have a link-heavy navigation bar. So, I wouldn’t feel bad about throwing in ten or twenty internal links if I needed to. There’s no magic number. There is however, the all-important user. Add as many links as would be helpful for the user. Do not create massive blocks of site-wide footer links! This was a really common practice on travel and real estate websites a couple of years ago. These websites would include their most prized keyword rich internal links near the footer. It wasn’t uncommon to see upwards of 50 of these types of links near the footer. The problem is when you have a website with thousands of webpages; this quickly multiplies into tens of thousands of “spamtastic” links that the search engines will quickly penalize your site for. In 2013, many of these sites were hit with an algorithmic penalty for such practices. Conclusion Internal linking when undertaken with these seven commandments in mind, is a cinch. It’s not overwhelming, complicated, or difficult. The great thing is, you’ll experience a stronger link profile and better SEO by consistent internal linking. It’s even worth it to go back and audit your old content to make sure it has sufficient internal linking.

So let's talk about how search engines actually work. Sure, Google's algorithm is extremely complex, but in its simplest form, Google is really just a pattern detection program. When you search for a keyword phrase, Google is going to provide you with a list of websites that matches the pattern that's related to your search. Most people don't realize that when they do a search on Google, they're not actually searching the live web. They're actually searching Google's index of the web… the stored copy of the sites that Google has crawled. Google uses little programs called spiders to crawl the web. The spiders are how Google actually discovers content. Basically, a spider will start on a page and check out all the content on that page, and then is follows the links on that page and looks at the content on those pages. Then it follows the links on those pages to discover even more content, and then the links on those pages lead to more content… The spiders keep crawling at a mind-blowingly massive scale until most of the internet has been crawled. As the spiders crawl all of these pages, a copy is stored on Google's servers. This is Google's index, and it's stored in a way that allows Google to quickly search through the billions of pages in the index. When you search for a certain phrase, Google checks the index to get a list of every page that's related to your search phrase. Here's where ranking comes into play - this is the part that SEOs work to influence. Google uses an algorithm to look at that list of pages it just pulled from the index and rank the pages based on relevancy. Let's say you did a search for “Denver omelette recipe” - Google's going to search the index and come up with a list of every website with a recipe for a Denver omelette. Then it's going to use the algorithm to sort that list so that the most relevant sites will be at the top. There are hundreds of ranking factors, each with a different assigned weight or value. The algorithm will look at a few hundred different factors that influence relevancy, like the content on the page, the number of other sites that link to that page, and the overall quality of the website. When we do SEO, we're hoping to influence those relevancy scores. We know that if we optimize the right signals, Google's algorithm will decide that the page is more relevant - that it's a better answer to the question being asked - and show that page higher than the other options in the index. Nerdcore Computers Author

Windows 7 was one of Microsoft’s best-loved computing operating systems and most of us are still using it. According to NetMarketShare’s September 2018 data, 40.88% are still using Windows 7 – compared to the 37.44% who have moved on to the latest operating system, Windows 10. But like all operating systems before it, Windows 7 will eventually reach the end of its lifecycle, making an upgrade an absolutely essential task for the safety of your PC. [Read more: 8 free ways to make Windows 7 faster] When does support for Windows 7 end? Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 7 on January 13, 2015, but extended support won’t end until January 14, 2020. Find out the difference between mainstream and extended support. This applies as long as you have Service Pack 1 installed. If you haven’t installed Service Pack 1 already, you should do it now by Is Windows 7 still safe to use? Once an operating system enters extended support, it's still very safe to use. It means that Microsoft will continue to patch any security threats but won't add any new features (as it would do during the 'mainstream support' phase). Nerdcore Computers Author

Some good info from Nerdcore Team , don't poo poo it. The amount of links you need depends on your niche. Having them from credible Australian websites is definitely a benefit but not the be all. The first thing you should do is look at the top links and pages of your competitors. Majestic.com has a very good tool for this which allows you to see the anchor text cloud. You do not want to be the black sheep in your vertical, as Nerdcore says you're going to run into trouble. Tools like Majestic and Ahrefs will give you insight into what links your competitors are using. Google now shows you how to improve the the ranking of a term, I found this quote from them interesting : "Get noticed by other sites: Have your site mentioned in appropriate places online. See if you can get mentioned on your local news sites" There is a Google patent for Brand Mentions. There is also a post here /forum-replies.cfm?t=2756271 where the OP complains of competitor having no links. They do however have a trademark. Trademark reg is something that Google could easily have integrated/crawled. Something worth thinking about. The easiest types of links are the free ones. These include: directories, forums, social media accounts etc etc These type of links can provide value in the sense that early on in the piece you should be building naked links. These will (hopefully) "pillow" any anchor based links you get. Furthermore, you should look at the Google homepage of your competitors. Users are more often contacting a business from the Google homepage, without even clicking on your site. Anchor based links should be left for the very best pieces you can publish. This maybe a guest post on a niche website, a private blog network (PBN). Google hates these links in that they game their system. These are both against Googles terms and conditions. I would recommend guest posts ONCE you have a very decent amount of Pillow links. I do not recommend you set up your own PBNs IF you are in a very competitive niche and you have no experience in these. Your competitors SEOs will find them and report you. Nerdcore Computers Author

Whether you like Windows PCs or Macs, family size or ultraportable, there's a suitable notebook computer out there for everybody. When you're shopping for a laptop, it's important to remember that it's more than just the size that counts. But finding the right model to suit your needs and price range isn't easy, which is where we come in. Laptop types The terms laptop and notebook tend to be used interchangeably as a general description. But you can break these down into smaller categories, though they're not always mutually exclusive – for example, an ultraportable can also be convertible. Notebook Ultraportable Ultrabook Netbook Chromebook Macbook Convertible 2-in-1 Tablet as a laptopv Entry-level, mid-range or high-end laptop? Entry-level If you want a cheap laptop for basic tasks and occasional or lighter use and aren't overly concerned about performance, weight or battery life, you can find sub-$500 "budget" models that will do the job. These low-cost laptops are relatively low-powered, but capable of most general computing tasks such as web browsing, email and general word processing. They can handle most basic multimedia tasks (e.g standard definition video streaming) and are best suited to casual users and younger students. Mid-range If you want to take your laptop with you on-the-go a lot, you'll want something thin, light and easy to carry. Choose an ultraportable (including Ultrabooks). Aimed at regular computer users, families, students and business people. Mid-range laptops can run most software and games, but may struggle a bit with high-end functions such as video editing and games that require fast graphics processing. High-end If you want something to give you all the power of a desktop computer while being transportable with relative ease, go for a multimedia powerhouse, including models marketed as gaming machines, which have a powerful graphics card. High-end laptops are for serious computer types that like to push their systems with intensive computing tasks including editing video and audio, 3D rendering and high-end games. Windows, Mac or Linux? Ask a room of techies whether you should go with a Windows, Mac or Linux laptop and you'll start a heated debate that will go for a long time but nobody will win. All three systems have their good and bad points, but it's important for you to choose a side before you start, because it affects your software choices and possibly your hardware decisions too. This is definitely the case with macOS (formerly called OS X), which only runs on Apple's family of computers. Windows MacOs Linux What to look for in a laptop CPU (central processing unit) This is the brain of your computer. The number of cores, processing power and price range is a good indicator of the overall level of CPU power on offer. Laptops generally use low-power-consumption CPUs for better battery life. Be careful in comparing the Intel family of CPUs with those from AMD – their main competitor – as quoted speed figures aren't directly comparable. The same goes for the sub-families of each brand – for example, Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 are increasingly high performance, even at the same quoted frequency figure in GHz; likewise with the M series processors designed for highly mobile computers. Each new generation of processors is usually faster than the previous generation, even at the same chip frequency. Thus, you can expect a 2.4GHz 10th-generation CPU to be faster (and likely more energy efficient) than a 2.4GHz 9th-generation CPU, or earlier generation. RAM (random access memory) A lack of RAM will slow your computer when running multiple programs, using a lot of web browser tabs or performing labour-intensive tasks, such as image processing. Look for a minimum of 4GB (gigabytes) even in a budget system, but ideally aim for at least 8GB for most general-use laptops and 16GB or more for high-end models. Don't skimp on RAM at purchase time as you may not be able to upgrade/increase it later. Screen quality A small screen means a smaller laptop that's generally going to be lighter, but larger (and higher resolution) screens are better for graphics, gaming or watching movies. More laptops aimed at the mid-range market have a screen with at least full-HD specification (1080p - 1920 x 1080 pixels), but higher resolution screens are common in high-end laptops. Storage space Don't underestimate how much space you'll need. Make sure you have enough room for all your current programs and files, as well as the fast-growing collection of videos and music that most people now tend to accumulate. Laptops can be difficult to upgrade, so choose a model with as much RAM or storage capacity as you can afford. If you want a lot of onboard storage, look for a laptop with a with a 1TB (terabyte) hard disk drive (HDD) as a starting point, but preferably double that. However, you may choose to sacrifice storage space for speed and go with a built-in solid-state drive (SSD) if you want higher performance. An SSD is much faster than a hard drive and having one can lift the overall performance of a laptop considerably, and thus extend its useful working life. Many laptops, especially slim-and-light ultraportables, may not allow you to upgrade internal components later, which means it's best not to skimp on RAM (memory) or storage capacity upfront. Look for upgrade options at time of ordering and spend a bit extra upfront on RAM to give the laptop a longer useful lifetime. Cooling Computer components can run hot, especially within the confines of a compact laptop case. Check for hot spots under the laptop after it's been on for a while, as these can get annoying if you're using your laptop where the name would suggest. Also check for vents under the laptop and make sure you don't block them if using it on your lap, as this could cause it to overheat. Graphics card Many laptops will have the graphics processor built into the motherboard (called "on-board graphics"), rather than on a separate ("dedicated") graphics card. High-end models may have a dedicated graphics card which has its own video RAM. Power supply Often called "the brick", this is the block and cord that you use to plug your laptop into a standard wall socket. If your laptop battery won't last long enough for you to leave the brick at home, you'll have to take it with you for recharging, and this can add considerably to the overall weight you have to carry around. Battery life Having a long working time between charges is particularly important for an ultraportable. After all, they lose portability points if you have to also carry the power supply unit and cable with you to charge them. Ideally you want to have a full day of working on-the-go without having to plug it in, but this will depend on what else you have plugged into the laptop drawing power from it. Don't get weighed down by lugging your laptop's power supply unit and cable with you. Look for a model with a long battery life and quick recharge time. You really don't want to have to to carry the external power supply unit and cable with you. Our battery life tests look at a heavy-usage scenario, to give you an idea of the worst results you are likely to get, though for most people the average daily use will give better life. If you intend to be mobile much of the time, then a long battery life and quick recharge time is important. We also record two charging times for each laptop, with the laptop switched on – up to 80% capacity and to 100% capacity. It's useful to note that charging speed usually drops considerably once you get past 80%. In some cases it can take as long or longer to get the extra 20% top-up as it does to get to 80%. Wi-Fi Wi-Fi speed is important because fewer laptops come with a built-in ethernet port for plugging into your local wired network. If this is the case, you may be able to purchase a USB-to-ethernet adapter of the same brand or a third-party alternative. In either case, look for a laptop that supports the current Wi-Fi standard, 802.11ac, recently branded as Wi-Fi 5. This is backwards-compatible with previous standards including the previously most popular 802.11n, but is much faster. The emerging standard for newer laptops is Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) which is faster and with much better security than Wi-Fi 5. USB-C connectivity Connectivity on laptops these days is all about USB-C, the new low-profile standard that's becoming common on more models. A USB-C plug is slimline and easy to use (there's no 'right way up'), but it's appearance can be deceptive, as the same-shaped plug is used for several different standards – USB 3.1 Gen-1 and Gen-2 and Thunderbolt 3. Most USB-C ports will be either USB 3.1 Gen-1 (recently rebranded as USB 3.2 Gen-1) – which is rated at 5Gbps (gigabits per second), the same speed as USB 3.0. The faster (10Gbps) version of this is USB 3.1 Gen-2 (recently rebranded as USB 3.2 Gen-2). There's also USB 3.2 Gen-2x2 (20Gbps). Then there's the blazingly fast Thunderbolt 3 standard, which is nominally eight times faster at 40Gbps. Most models will have the slower USB-C ports, but high-performance laptops may have Thunderbolt 3 ports. You can plug a USB-C device into a Thunderbolt 3, port but don't expect any increase in speed. Plug in a Thunderbolt 3 device, such as an external SSD, and you have the fastest connection in town. Avoid cheap third-party cables and chargers or you may risk damaging your computer or worse Even if you don't have the Thunderbolt 3 version of this connection, USB-C is still preferable to the old USB 3.0, because it's becoming widely adopted on computers and plug-in devices and expected to soon become the dominant connection port, eventually replacing the familiar rectangular USB 3.0 (Type-A) ports. One of the keys to USB-C's swift adoption is its versatility – the same port can transfer both power and data at the same time and it can also mimic a whole range of other ports – including USB 2.0/3.0, SD card, HDMI, ethernet and more – using a USB-C adapter. However, stick with the manufacturer's cables and avoid cheap third-party cables and chargers or you may risk damaging your computer and peripherals or worse. Use only certified USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 cables. Laptops vs desktop computers Total computing portability is enticing enough, but what other benefits can a laptop offer? Energy use Laptops typically use much less power than a desktop PC. They have a low annual running cost. Size A laptop takes up much less space in your home or office than a desktop PC. Range Laptops can loosely be classified into several unofficial categories of laptop, to suit a variety of needs, though these categories aren't clearly defined. So-called categories can be referred to as ultraportables, all-rounders, multimedia powerhouses, student/budget and gaming laptops. Performance Many laptops can match the power of mid-range desktop computers, even in the ultraportable category. There are several key performance factors you should consider: CPU (central processing unit) brand and family (e.g. Intel Core i7, or AMD A-Series or the newer Ryzen chipset). Also note the generation of the processor family, more recent generations are usually faster.CPU frequency (known generally as speed, measured in gigahertz, e.g. 3.2GHz).Storage type – SSD (solid-state drive) is the fastest kind of drive. Unlike a HDD (hard disk drive) it has no moving parts. It is sometimes referred to as Flash storage. As with hard drives, the capacity and speed of SSDs can vary greatly.Memory – RAM, or random access memory, is the temporary storage used by programs when they're running. Generally, 4GB (gigabytes) of RAM is considered a low starting point for a laptop or desktop computer, but these days at least 8GB is considered a normal amount. Tablets and other mobile devices may use much less RAM if they're running on mobile operating systems such as Android or iOS or iPadOS. For laptops, having more memory may be useful for programs that can make use of larger amounts or memory, or for running more programs at the same time.GPU (graphics processing unit) – this handles much of the computational load in creating and displaying images, reducing the load on the main CPU. Some larger laptops will have a separate (discrete) graphics processor or card, while others will have a graphics chip incorporated on the motherboard with the CPU (onboard graphics).Display screen – mid-range to high-end laptops will usually have a high-resolution screen with at least full-HD specification (1080p - 1920 x 1080 pixels) or higher. Peripherals Laptops come with a screen, keyboard and trackpad built in, though you can usually plug in external devices to use the laptop as a desktop computer. If you want to regularly use your laptop as a desktop PC then plugging in an external display monitor, keyboard and mouse may improve usability. Software Most laptops can run the full version of Microsoft's Windows and some may have the option of using Linux (or you might download and install it yourself). Apple laptops run macOS (formerly OS X) and can also be set up to run Windows (using Apple's bootcamp utility to help with the installation). This gives you the ability to run either macOS or Windows each time you reboot the computer. Alternatively you can use a virtualisation program such as Parallels Desktop for Mac, VMware's Fusion or Oracle's Virtual Box software, to run one or more versions of Windows or Linux as 'virtual machines', in addition to the native operating system. Some Microsoft laptops and tablets run Windows 10 S, which is an optimised mode of Windows 10 designed to be more secure and power-efficient. However, it can only load programs that are available on the Microsoft Store online. Windows 10 S mode can be upgraded at no cost to the full Windows 10 but only once. If you do it, there's no going back. Most tablets run iOS or Android, which may not include your preferred programs. Upgrading Laptops have one notable drawback. Upgrading most laptop components is difficult (and in most cases impossible for the average person), as the slim body leaves no room for adding extra components. Plus, many parts are built in permanently and not designed to be replaced. Some ultraslim models don't let you add RAM later on, as the original RAM is soldered on to the motherboard. You can usually upgrade the storage though, but that could involve a trip to the maker's workshop. So once you're ready to buy, go for the most RAM and storage that you can afford. The easiest way to upgrade/expand the capabilities of a laptop is to add devices to it externally, such as extra storage, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi adapter plug-ins. If your laptop has USB-C, you may be able to add various devices via a USB-C adapter or hub. Can your tablet be your laptop and your desktop? A tablet that does double-duty as a laptop is great, but what about a tablet that does triple-duty as a desktop computer also? A good example is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4, which is the first Android tablet  to come with DeX built in, which makes it amazingly versatile. The idea is you add a monitor and mouse to use it as desktop computer. You can keep using the Android user interface on the tablet, with Samsung DeX on a larger screen. Or watch the monitor and use the tablet as a touch pad, digitiser, or touch keyboard. Nerdcore Computers Author

Despite Python’s recent success to becoming one of the most popular and used programming languages in the world, the majority of the programmers know that this language is not young by any means. It is also not that old when compared to some other programming language, though Python has been around for longer than many believe. It was created by G van Rossum and initially released in 1991. Since then, this programming language has changed considerably over the years and is still used for similar things as it was used in its initial days. This is also one of the major reasons for its popularity. People who know Python consider it as a purely production-based language designed for first-class projects and enterprise. Along with the rich history, this language has a huge community and it can be used for anything. That is the reason why it is considered so versatile. With Python, you can do so much, such as creating scripts for desktop programs, building Raspberry Pi applications, training machine learning algorithms, configure servers and so many other things. Really, with this programming language, there are no limits… But before jumping directly to the top blogs for Python, let’s explore some other facts about Python. Why Python is so Special? It is a general-purpose programming language which was designed to be simple for writing and reading. Python is not at all complex language and anyone having the basic knowledge of programming can start with it. The developers behind Python paid less attention to conventional syntax like any other programming language and that is the reason which makes Python very easy to work with, even for non-programmers. Other than this, Python offers several options to programmers in general and meets all their different development needs. If they start with Python for any particular task or project, it is easier for them to jump or switch to any other task or project even if it’s a totally different field or industry. This language can be used for artificial intelligence & machine learning, data science, web development, system operations, deployment, scientific modeling, server and administrative tools, and so much more. But to your surprise, numerous developers don’t consider Python as their primary programming language because of the fact that it’s easy to learn and use, and they take Python as their secondary or third programming language. Of course, thanks to all its features, today, various big names including Google, Amazon, Facebook and others are using Python for several of their applications. What can Python do? From myriads of things, some popular use of Python programming language are as follows: Widely used for building and training artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms.Can easily handle big data and perform complex mathematics.Widely used for data science-related tasks like data cleaning, data analysis & others.Used alongside software for creating workflows.Used on a server for creating web-based applications.It can connect database systems and can also read or modify files.Highly recommended for rapid prototyping or for production-ready software development. To know more about Python programming language, you can read “Why is Python Programming Language So Popular Among Programmers?“. It is a complete blog which includes all the major facts like historical breakthroughs, IDE’s, applications, code comparison and so much more. Now, the question comes, “Why Python?” It is packed with several features which programmers love for their projects. Some of which are listed below. Python is a cross-platform programming language i.e. it can be used for Windows, Linux, Mac, Raspberry Pi and others.It has a simple syntax which is very similar to the English language.Thanks to its syntax, with Python, developers can write programs in fewer lines of codes than any other existing programming languages.Python runs on an interpreter system which allows developers to execute the code as soon as it is written or completed. This makes prototyping very quick.It can be treated in an object-oriented way, a functional way or a procedural way. So, this was the basic overview of Python programming language and now is the time to discuss top Python Blogs which you should follow. Top Python-related Blogs to Follow Be it an experienced developer with quite a knowledge of programming or the newbie in the programming world who is just about to step his or her foot in the real world of programming, resources always counts. Same applies to Python programming language. Though it is clear that Python is an easy-to-grasp language and at the same time it is very versatile; it is very important for you to use python effectively and that can only be possible by reading and constantly educating yourself with all the trends, developments and breakthrough related to Python. It is not important whether you are starting with basic tutorials, or news or the recent developments, but the quality of your resource matters. And for making things more easy for you and narrow your field of vision to make choices easier, we have listed the top 15 Python-based blogs with which you can start your journey or keep yourself updated about everything related to Python programming language. Meanwhile, if you are interested in top E-Books on Python, you can read “E-Books for Python Learning!” Top Python Blogs to Follow in 2019 Planet Python Python Conquers the Universe Everyday Python Python Insider Neopythonic Astro Python PyImagesearch Invent With Python Python Tips Eduonix Blog PyVideo The Python Guru Finxter Python Software Foundation TalkPython PyBloggers Doug Hellmann Real Python Mouse vs Python Full Stack Python Nerdcore Computers Author

Purchasing a Computer There's a lot to consider when shopping for a computer and understanding how they work. Always bear in mind the following when assessing your options: Shop for a computer that suits how you intend to use it. If you want a computer that you can use on your commute to work, opt for a lightweight laptop or 2-in-1.Make sure the computer you choose can run the software you want to use. Always check system requirements in advance.When choosing between Windows or Mac operating systems, always consider compatibility. Windows 10, for example, offers a seamless experience across all platforms while some programs and devices may be incompatible with Mac. Understanding Computer Hardware Computers are made up of lots of components. However, there are four in particular that are key to understanding how a computer works and how effective it will be for you. Processor: The brain of the computer and responsible for every single action. Speed is the key performance indicator and it is measured in GHz. Modern processors also have cores (separate brains) that help them process multiple tasks.RAM: RAM (Random Access Memory) is often referred to simply as memory and is measured in gigabytes. It speeds up tasks by making recently used files readily accessible to the processor. The more RAM you have, the more files your processor has access to at once.Hard Drive: Files and programs are stored on a computer’s hard drive. As with RAM hard drive size is measured in gigabytes. They come as slower, larger Hard Drives (HDD) smaller and faster Solid State Drives (SSD).Graphics Card: A Graphics Card (GPU) determines how well your PC can handle things like playing games and editing home movies. Graphics Cards also use Memory (like the RAM in your computer) that is measured in gigabytes. Navigating Your Computer For a first-time user, the computer interface can be confusing. Understanding what you can see on your screen, however, can make a big difference. The screen you see when your computer has finished booting is called the desktop. You can access everything on your computer from this screen including your Start Menu, a list of all of your installed programs and computers settings. You can even save folders and files that you use regularly directly to your desktop for easy access.When you open a folder (a collection of saved documents and files) a window will appear that displays the contents. Folders can be named to suit their contents and organised, and windows can be made bigger and smaller by dragging the edges.To make life easy for you, computers create icons (small, easy-to-understand graphics) for anything you save on your computer. Double-clicking on one of these icons will cause it to launch. Understanding Computer Software Software is a program that enables you to complete tasks on your devices. Software is perhaps best thought of as a translator that converts lines of complex computer language into an easy-to-understand interface that is controlled through simple commands, like clicking an icon, or selecting from a ribbon or drop menu. The most important piece of software on any computer is the operating system (OS). The operating system is the interface through which all tasks are performed. The most common operating systems are Windows and Mac OSX.All other software allows you to make your computer perform specific tasks. For example, video editing software enables you to compile and enhance your footage with a few simple commands like mouse clicks and key strokes.Software on mobile devices is referred to as apps or applications. Apps are optimised for touchscreen operation and are downloaded direct to your tablet or smartphone. Types of Computer Hardware Desktops & All-in-Ones Desktops and all-in-one computers are reliable, typically long-lasting and can perform an array of tasks. Some of these devices are fitted with the best components so you can run practically any software. Standard desktops require a monitor to work properly, while an all-in-one desktop contains the computer components in the area behind the screen.All-in-one computers have everything you need right out of the box, but are often more expensive than desktops. Desktops allow for more flexibility in mixing and matching parts if you have specific needs.Choose a computer that matches how you intend to use it. If it is only for occasional use, or for light office tasks and emailing, you could save by opting for a computer with a dual core processor and 4GB of RAM. 2-in-1s 2-in-1 devices feature a touchscreen interface and just like your laptop or desktop PC they can run Windows operating system. They have become so advanced that many users are now able to employ them as their primary computer. Establish whether you need all the benefits of a Laptop or Desktop but require a more versatile form-factor, many 2-in-1 devices have a detachable keyboard and can be used in Tablet Mode utilising the touchscreen and saving on space when you are on the go. Choose a 2-in-1 with a screen that suits your usage habits. Larger screens are great for complex tasks while smaller displays mean unparalleled portability. Setting Up Your Workstation If you plan to spend extended periods of time working at your computer, then you would be well advised to set up a workstation that will help you perform tasks safely and in comfort. Make sure the top of the monitor sits at about eye-level. This will prevent you from stooping to read your screen.Make sure you buy a chair that offers sufficient lumbar support. Your feet should be able to lie flat on the floor and there should be between 5-10cm between the back of your knee and the front of the chair.Your desk should be at around the same height as your elbows. This will help you maintain a comfortable and healthy posture when using your keyboard Backing Up Backing up is a vital part of computing that can save you the time, money and heartache involved in losing your files. Put simply, backing up your computer means saving its contents to an external source so you can access your files as they were at a specific point in time. This means you have a copy of all your files if something goes wrong.Syncing your files involves continually saving them to a centralised location. This means that your files are always protected and that the most up to date versions of your files are available across all your devices.You can back up your computer using a host of devices such as portable hard drives and writeable DVDs. You can also back up and sync to online Cloud storage, which keeps your files on a secure server so you can access them from anywhere so long as you have an Internet connection. Nerdcore Computers Author

Which Windows 10 PC Is The One For You? Thanks to Microsoft, finding the right PC for you and your family is easy. With the faster, more responsive Windows 10 operating system, your PC is everything in one: a computer, a TV, a stereo, a video game console and more. So, based on your unique needs and wants, which is the perfect PC for you? If you're looking for: An all-purpose machineBasic, pre-loaded software Good value for money An 'everyday' PC is perfect for: Web-browsing and email Viewing documents, managing personal finances and online shopping Basic communication, such as Instant Messaging Professional: Designed For Work and Play, Portability and Performance Portable and featuring long battery life, a 'professional' Windows 8 PC lets you do all of the fun things, like store photos, music and videos, and surf the Net, as well as create, edit and browse documents, manage your diary, 'To Do' lists and finances. If you're looking for: Portability, durability and long battery lifeCompatibility and connectivity with other computers on a networkPre-loaded productivity software (where possible) A 'professional' PC is perfect for: Web browsing and communication (such as email and Instant Messaging)Creating, editing, viewing and sharing documents and digital photosOrganising calendars, 'To Do' lists and managing finances Gaming: Powerful - No Compromises Have loads of fun playing your favourite video games with a Windows 10 PC that's perfect for all-round tasks and 'gaming', featuring a fast processor, top-of-the-line graphics, lots of memory and storage space, as well as a full-size, high definition screen. If you're looking for: A fast processor, lots of RAM, plus the ability to customise hardware and OS configuration Ability to watch HD content and top-of-the-line graphics Crystal-clear display and a full-size screen A Windows PC for 'gaming' is perfect for: Outstanding gaming experience Playing HD, streaming online content (video and music), viewing and editing digital photos Socialising (text, video, chat, Instant Messaging, email, social networking) and sharing digital content with others On the Go: Super-Portable and Goes Wherever You Go Lightweight and convenient, a tablet, netbook or ultrabook is the 'on the go' Windows 8 PC you can take anywhere. Experience a true multimedia machine, with apps, music, gaming, photos and video at your fingertips. With built-in WiFi, an 'on the go' offers full web-browsing on the go. If you're looking for: A lightweight, thin, highly portable PC with unique style and designLong battery life and quick start-up/shut-downCompatibility and connectivity with other computers on a network An 'on the go' PC is perfect for: Viewing, editing, sharing and streaming content such as photos and videos Socialising with others (text, video, chat, Instant Messaging, email, social networking Playing basic games Nerdcore Computers Author

The Linux Foundation today announced that ONNX, the open format that makes machine learning models more portable, is now a graduate-level project inside of the organization’s AI Foundation. ONNX was originally developed and open-sourced by Microsoft and Facebook in 2017 and has since become somewhat of a standard, with companies ranging from AWS to AMD, ARM, Baudi, HPE, IBM, Nvidia and Qualcomm supporting it. In total, more than 30 companies now contribute to the ONNX code base. It’s worth noting that only the ONNX format is included here, not the ONNX runtime, which Microsoft open-sourced a year ago. The runtime is an inference engine for models in the ONNX format and I wouldn’t be surprised if, at some point, Microsoft put that under the guidance of a foundation, too… but for now, that’s not the case. “ONNX is not just a spec that companies endorse, it’s already being actively implemented in their products,” said Dr. Ibrahim Haddad, executive director of the LF AI Foundation, in today’s announcement. “This is because ONNX is an open format and is committed to developing and supporting a wide choice of frameworks and platforms. Joining the LF AI shows a determination to continue on this path, and will help accelerate technical development and connections with the wider open source AI community around the world.” In its own announcement, Microsoft stressed that it remains committed to ONNX and highlights the work it did on making it easier to generate ONNX models from popular frameworks like PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras and SciKit-Learn. “We are proud of the progress that ONNX has made and want to recognize the entire ONNX community for their contributions, ideas, and overall enthusiasm,” wrote Eric Boyd, the corporate VP at Microsoft in charge of Azure AI (not Microsoft AI). “We are excited about the future of ONNX and all that is to come.” Nerdcore Computers Author

This malicious software tries to do its damage in the background while your computer still limps along. But there are ways to tell that you've been infected. It was early spring 1999. The Nasdaq was soaring. Three sentences on a cocktail napkin could nab $30 million in venture capital. And Melissa became an overnight sensation, an Internet starlet and pioneer. Melissa brought the underground virus scene to the mainstream. She brashly took any old Word file and forwarded it to 50 people in your Outlook address book, appending her viral payload. But Melissa's stay at the top of the virus charts was brief. Within six months of making it onto CNN and Page One of The New York Times, Melissa found herself out of the spotlight and out of work. A new generation of viruses, tantalizing the public with Anna Kournikova and J.Lo, won the hearts and hard drives of the masses. Meanwhile, Melissa went from starlet to has-been. Though Melissa is mostly forgotten by a world long since immunized against her charms, CSO tracked her down, residing on a 6-year-old PC, sold on eBay for $11 last year to a man who gave it to his 81-year-old granny who uses it as a calculator. When we found her, Melissa was still trying to forward infected Word files, but without much success the computer's no longer connected to the Internet. CSO: How have you survived the past four years?Melissa: I find ways. I get by. I look for those fools who can't help but click on an attachment. Sometimes, I'll set up in some PC in the Third World, where there's plenty of Windows 95 and Office 97. I'll forward files 50 or 100, heck, 1,000 times. And maybe one or two get through. Don't pity me. I'm not pathetic. I'm a survivor!Do you miss the spotlight?Nah. [Swigs from bottle inside a paper bag.] It's not the same anymore. I don't want any part of the current scene. All these knock-off viruses are so derivative. Anna Kournikova naked? Please. Code Red? Pssshthth! Cocktail viruses? [Waves bottle.] 7&7, now that's what I call a "blended threat." [ Prepare to become a Certified Information Security Systems Professional with this comprehensive online course from PluralSight. Now offering a 10-day free trial! ] They owe all their success to me. You write that down. There's been what, 80,000 or so viruses since then? But [points at herself defiantly] they remember my name. Who'll remember Kakworm in five years? No one!Speaking of Kakworm, also a Class of '99 virus, it is still found infecting computers now and again.No kidding. Where? Can you hook me up with that gig?And Funlove, from the Class of '01, reinvented herself as a virus on a Powerpuff Girls DVD.[Hyperventilating.] Funlove was nothing without me! That DVD job was supposed to go to me, but that second-rate worm stole it. ADVERTISING [Pulls paper bag off bottle, breathes into it.] But you know what? It's better this way. Melissa? She never sold out. Melissa stayed true to her artistic integrity. Melissa is an original. She'll be in the history booksor at least security books written by consultants. I've heard rumors that a few boot-sector virusesyou know those old ones that spread by floppy disks?are still in circulation. Those are the kinds of viruses I want to hang out with. Boot sectors on floppies. I give them props. That's old school right there. Do you feel responsible for the computer virus epidemic, which has periodically disabled massive numbers of computers worldwide, affected human productivity and caused billions of dollars in untold damage? Nerdcore Computers Author

The problem of how to find the potential treasure trove hidden in millions of pounds of trash is getting a high-tech answer as investors funnel $16 million into the recycling robots built by Denver-based AMP Robotics. For recyclers, the commercialization of robots tackling industry problems couldn’t come at a better time. Their once-stable business has been turned on its head by trade wars and low unemployment. Recycling businesses used to be able to rely on China to buy up any waste stream (no matter the quality of the material). However, about two years ago, China decided it would no longer serve as the world’s garbage dump and put strict standards in place for the kinds of raw materials it would be willing to receive from other countries. The result has been higher costs at recycling facilities, which actually are now required to sort their garbage more effectively. At the same time, low unemployment rates are putting the squeeze on labor availability at facilities where humans are basically required to hand-sort garbage into recyclable materials and trash. Given the economic reality, recyclers are turning to AMP’s technology — a combination of computer vision, machine learning and robotic automation to improve efficiencies at their facilities. That’s what attracted Sequoia Capital to lead the company’s latest investment round — a $16 million Series A investment the company will use to expand its manufacturing capacity and boost growth as it looks to expand into international markets. “We are excited to partner with AMP because their technology is changing the economics of the recycling industry,” said Shaun Maguire, partner at Sequoia, in a statement. “Over the last few years, the industry has had their margins squeezed by labor shortages and low commodity prices. The end result is an industry proactively searching for cost-saving alternatives and added opportunities to increase revenue by capturing more high-value recyclables, and AMP is emerging as the leading solution.” The funding will be used to “broaden the scope of what we’re going after,” says chief executive Matanya Horowitz. Beyond reducing sorting costs and improving the quality of the materials that recycling facilities can ship to buyers, the company’s computer vision technologies can actually help identify branded packaging and be used by companies to improve their own product life cycle management. “We can identify… whether it’s a Coke or Pepsi can or a Starbucks cup,” says Horowitz. “So that people can help design their product for circularity… we’re building out our reporting capabilities and that, to them, is something that is of high interest.” That combination of robotics, computer vision and machine learning has potential applications beyond the recycling industry as well, according to Horowitz. Automotive scrap and construction waste are other areas where the company has seen interest for its combination of software and hardware. Meanwhile, the core business of recycling is picking up. In October, the company completed the installation of 14 robots at Single Stream Recyclers in Florida. It’s the largest single deployment of robots in the recycling industry and the robots, which can sort and pick twice as fast as people with higher degrees of accuracy, are installed at sorting lines for plastics, cartons, fiber and metals, the company said. AMP’s business has two separate revenue streams — a robotics as a service offering and a direct sales option — and the company has made other installations at sites in California, Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. The traction the company is seeing in its core business was validating for early investors like BV, Closed Loop Partners, Congruent Ventures and Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, the Alphabet subsidiary’s new spin-out that invests in technologies to support new infrastructure projects. For Mike DeLucia, the Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners principal who led the company’s investment into AMP Robotics, the deal is indicative of where his firm will look to commit capital going forward. “It’s a technology that enables physical assets to operate more efficiently,” he says. “Our goal is to find the technologies that enable really exciting infrastructure projects, back them and work with them to deliver projects in the physical world.” Investors like DeLucia and Abe Yokell, from the investment firm Congruent Ventures, think that recycling is just the beginning. Applications abound for AMP Robotic’s machine learning and computer vision technologies in areas far beyond the recycling center. “When you think about how technology is able to impact the built environment, one area is machine vision,” says Yokell. “[Machine learning] neural nets can apply to real-world environments, and that stuff has gotten cheaper and easier to deploy.” Nerdcore Computers Author

Apple's newest Mac notebook has a larger screen, better battery and new keyboard. In poker, complacency is a quiet killer. It can steal your forward momentum bit by bit, using the warm glow of a winning hand or two to cover the bets you’re not making until it’s too late and you’re out of leverage. Over the past few years, Apple’s MacBook game had begun to suffer from a similar malaise. Most of the company’s product lines were booming, including newer entries like the Apple Watch, AirPods and iPad Pro. But as problems with the models started to mount — unreliable keyboards, low RAM ceilings and anemic graphics offerings — the once insurmountable advantage that the MacBook had compared to the rest of the notebook industry started to show signs of dwindling. The new 16” MacBook Pro Apple is announcing today is an attempt to rectify most, if not all, of the major complaints of its most loyal, and vocal, users. It’s a machine that offers a massive amount of upsides for what appears to be a handful of easily justifiable trade-offs. It’s got better graphics, a bigger display for nearly no extra overall size, a bigger battery with longer life claims and yeah, a completely new keyboard. I’ve only had a day to use the machine so far, but I did all of my research and writing for this first-look piece on the machine, carting it around New York City, through the airport and onto a plane where I’m publishing this now. This isn’t a review, but I can take you through some of the new stuff and give you thoughts based on that chunk of time. This is a re-think of the larger MacBook Pro in many large ways. This is a brand new model that will completely replace the 15” MacBook Pro in Apple’s lineup, not an additional model. Importantly, the team working on this new MacBook started with no design constraints on weight, noise, size or battery. This is not a thinner machine, it is not a smaller machine, it is not a quieter machine. It is, however, better than the current MacBook Pro in all of the ways that actually count. Let’s run down some of the most important new things. Performance and thermals The 16” MacBook Pro comes configured with either a 2.6GHz 6-core i7 or a 2.3GHz 8-core i9 from Intel . These are the same processors as the 15” MacBook Pro came with. No advancements here is largely a function of Intel’s chip readiness. The i7 model of the 16” MacBook Po will run $2,399 for the base model — the same as the old 15” — and it comes with a 512GB SSD drive and 16GB of RAM. Both models can be ordered today and will be in stores at the end of the week. The standard graphics configuration in the i7 is an AMD Radeon Pro 5300M with 4GB of memory and an integrated Intel UHD graphics 630 chip. The system continues to use the dynamic hand-off system that trades power for battery life on the fly. The i9 model will run $2,799 and comes with a 1TB drive. That’s a nice bump in storage for both models, into the range of very comfortable for most people. It rolls with an AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 4GB of memory. You can configure both models with an AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB of GDDR6 memory. Both models can also now get up to 8TB of SSD storage — which Apple says is the most on a notebook ever — and 64GB of 2666 DDR4 RAM, but I’d expect those upgrades to be pricey. The new power supply delivers an additional 12w of power and there is a new thermal system to compensate for that. The heat pipe that carries air in and out has been redesigned; there are more fan blades on 35% larger fans that move 28% more air compared to the 15” model. The fans in the MacBook Pro, when active, put out the same decibel level of sound, but push way more air than before. So, not a reduction in sound, but not an increase either — and the trade is better cooling. Another area where the design process for this MacBook focused on performance gains rather than the obvious sticker copy. There’s also a new power brick, which is the same physical size as the 15” MacBook Pro’s adapter, but which now supplies 96w up from 87w. The brick is still as chunky as ever and feels a tad heavier, but it’s nice to get some additional power out of it. Though I haven’t been able to put the MacBook Pro through any video editing or rendering tests, I was able to see live demos of it handling several 8K streams concurrently. With the beefiest internal config, Apple says it can usually handle as many as four, perhaps five un-rendered Pro Res streams. A bigger display, a thicker body The new MacBook Pro has a larger 16” diagonal Retina display that has a 3072×1920 resolution at 226 ppi. The monitor features the same 500 nit maximum brightness, P3 color gamut and True Tone tech as the current 15”. The bezels of the screen are narrower, which makes it feel even larger when you’re sitting in front of it. This also contributes to the fact that the overall size of the new MacBook Pro is just 2% larger in width and height, with a .7mm increase in thickness. The overall increase in screen size far outstrips the increase in overall body size because of those thinner bezels. And this model is still around the same thickness as the 2015 15” MacBook Pro, an extremely popular model among the kinds of people who are the target market for this machine. It also weighs 4.3 lbs, heavier than the 4.02 lb current 15” model. The display looks great, extremely crisp due to the increase in pixels and even more in your face because of the very thin bezels. This thing feels like it’s all screen in a way that matches the iPad Pro. This thick boi also features a bigger battery, a full 100Whr, the most allowable under current FAA limits. Apple says this contributes an extra hour of normal operations in its testing regimen in comparison to the current 15” MacBook Pro. I have not been able to effectively test these claims in the time I’ve had with it so far. But it is encouraging that Apple has proven willing to make the iPhone 11 Pro and the new MacBook a bit thicker in order to deliver better performance and battery life. Most of these devices are pretty much thin enough. Performance, please. Speakers and microphone One other area where the 16” MacBook Pro has made a huge improvement is the speaker and microphone arrays. I’m not sure I ever honestly expected to give a crap about sound coming out of a laptop. Good enough until I put in a pair of headphones accurately describes my expectations for laptop sound over the years. Imagine my surprise when I first heard the sound coming out of this new MacBook and it was, no crap, incredibly good. The new array consists of six speakers arranged so that the subwoofers are positioned in pairs, antipodal to one another (back to back). This has the effect of cancelling out a lot of the vibration that normally contributes to that rattle-prone vibrato that has characterized small laptop speakers pretty much forever. The speaker setup they have here has crisper highs and deeper bass than you’ve likely ever heard from a portable machine. Movies are really lovely to watch with the built-ins, a sentence I have never once felt comfortable writing about a laptop. Apple also vents the speakers through their own chambers, rather than letting sound float out through the keyboard holes. This keeps the sound nice and crisp, with a soundstage that’s wide enough to give the impression of a center channel for voice. One byproduct of this though is that blocking one or another speaker with your hand is definitely more noticeable than before. The quality of sound here is really very, very good. The HomePod team’s work on sound fields apparently keeps paying dividends. That’s not the only audio bit that’s better now, though; Apple has also put in a 3-mic array for sound recording that it claims has a high enough signal-to-noise ratio that it can rival standalone microphones. I did some testing here comparing it to the iPhone’s mic and it’s absolutely night and day. There is remarkably little hiss present here and artists that use the MacBook as a sketch pad for vocals and other recording are going to get a really nice little surprise here. I haven’t been able to test it against external mics myself, but I was able to listen to rigs that involved a Blue Yeti and other laptop microphones and the MacBook’s new mic array was clearly better than any of the machines and held its own against the Yeti. The directional nature of many podcast mics is going to keep them well in advance of the internal mic on the MacBook for the most part, but for truly mobile recording setups, the MacBook mic just went from completely not an option to a very viable fallback in one swoop. It really has to be listened to in order to get it. I doubt anyone is going to buy a MacBook Pro for the internal mic, but having a “pro-level” device finally come with a pro-level mic on board is super choice. I think that’s most of it, though I feel like I’m forgetting something… Oh right, the keyboard Ah yes. I don’t really need to belabor the point on the MacBook Pro keyboards just not being up to snuff for some time. Whether you weren’t a fan of the short throw on the new butterfly keyboards or you found yourself one of the many people (yours truly included) who ran up against jammed or unresponsive keys on that design — you know there has been a problem. T he keyboard situation has been written about extensively by Casey Johnston and Joanna Stern and complained about by every writer on Twitter over the past several years. Apple has offered a succession of updates to that keyboard to attempt to make it more reliable and has extended warranty replacements to appease customers. But the only real solution was to ditch the design completely and start over. And that’s what this is: a completely new keyboard. Apple is calling it the Magic Keyboard in homage to the iMac’s Magic Keyboard (but not identically designed). The new keyboard is a scissor mechanism, not butterfly. It has 1mm of key travel (more, a lot more) and an Apple-designed rubber dome under the key that delivers resistance and springback that facilitates a satisfying key action. The new keycaps lock into the keycap at the top of travel to make them more stable when at rest, correcting the MacBook Air-era wobble. And yes, the keycaps can be removed individually to gain access to the mechanism underneath. And yes, there is an inverted-T arrangement for the arrow keys. And yes, there is a dedicated escape key. Apple did extensive physiological research when building out this new keyboard. One test was measuring the effect of a keypress on a human finger. Specifically, they measured the effect of a key on the pacinian corpuscles at the tips of your fingers. These are onion-esque structures in your skin that house nerve endings and they are most sensitive to mechanical and vibratory pressure. Apple then created this specialized plastic dome that sends a specific vibration to this receptor making your finger send a signal to your brain that says “hey, you pressed that key.” This led to a design that gives off the correct vibration wavelength to return a satisfying “stroke completed” message to the brain. here is also more space between the keys, allowing for more definitive strokes. This is because the keycaps themselves are slightly smaller. The spacing does take some adjustment, but by this point in the article I am already getting pretty proficient and am having more grief from the autocorrect feature of Catalina than anything else. Notably, this keyboard is not in the warranty extension program that Apple is applying to its older keyboard designs. There is a standard one-year warranty on this model, a statement by the company that they believe in the durability of this new design? Perhaps. It has to get out there and get bashed on by more violent keyboard jockeys than I for a while before we can tell whether it’s truly more resilient. But does this all come together to make a more usable keyboard? In short, yes. The best way to describe it in my opinion is a blend between the easy cushion of the old MacBook Air and the low-profile stability of the Magic Keyboard for iMac. It’s truly one of the best-feeling keyboards they’ve made in years, and perhaps ever in the modern era. I reserve the right to be nostalgic about deep throw mechanical keyboards in this regard, but this is the next best thing. Pro, or Pro In my brief and admittedly limited testing so far, the 16” MacBook Pro ends up looking like it really delivers on the Pro premise of this kind of machine in ways that have been lacking for a while in Apple’s laptop lineup. The increased storage caps, bigger screen, bigger battery and redesigned keyboard should make this an insta-buy for anyone upgrading from a 2015 MacBook Pro, and a very tempting upgrade for even people on newer models that have just never been happy with the typing experience. Many of Apple’s devices with the label Pro lately have fallen into the bucket of “the best” rather than “for professionals.” This isn’t strictly a new phenomenon for Apple, but more consumer-centric devices like the AirPods Pro and the iPhone Pro get the label now than ever before. But the 16” MacBook Pro is going to alleviate a lot of the pressure Apple has been under to provide an unabashedly Pro product for Pro Pros. It’s a real return to form for the real Mack Daddy of the laptop category. As long as this new keyboard design proves resilient and repairable I think this is going to kick off a solid new era for Apple portables. Nerdcore Computers Author

NASA has a new app (or web-based game, if you’re on desktop) that provides a simplified simulation of what it’s like to plan and run a commercial crew mission – meaning one of the planned varieties of mission that will actually take place aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner once they begin flying crews next year. The app takes you through each part of the process, from spacecraft choice, to mission type, to crew selection and then to the actual launch and docking process. It’s mostly about providing some education aoudad each part of the process, rather than offering up an exhaustively realistic flight simulator – but the docking process with the International Space Station can be handled either on full automatic, or on manual mode – and manual mode is fairly challenging and fun. NASA has included plenty of great info on both the Crew Dragon and the Starliner, and the respective rockets they will launch atop. It also included great bios for 10 actual astronauts you can select from to staff your mission. The launch assembly stage was a bit buggy when I gave it a try on my iPhone, but still workable, and it also provides key info about each element of the launch spacecraft, from boosters to crew capsules and everything in between. The ‘Rocket Science: Ride 2 Station’ app is a free download, out now on iOS, and also available on the web. Nerdcore Computers Author

Everyone deserves a smokefree workplace. Find out what your legal and OHS obligations are. Victoria’s current laws and secondhand smoke The Tobacco Act 1987 (Vic) prohibits smoking in all enclosed workplaces. ‘Workplace’ means any premises or area where one or more employees or self-employed persons (or both) work, whether or not they receive payment for that work. Victoria has extensive smokefree laws that prohibit smoking in the following settings: in an enclosed workplace (with limited exceptions) at patrolled beaches at outdoor areas of public swimming pools at and within 10 metres of outdoor children’s playground equipment and outdoor skate-parks at outdoor sporting venues during organised underage sporting events and training sessions in cars carrying children at underage functions at train stations (including platforms) on raised tram stops and under tram and bus stop shelters on public transport on school grounds within prisons and anywhere on prison grounds on the grounds of, and at and within four metres of an entrance to, all Victorian childcare centres, kindergartens or preschools, and primary and secondary schools (including public and private schools) at and within four metres of children’s indoor play centres and ‘Victorian Public Premises’ (which includes buildings such as Parliament, courts, public service bodies and (as noted above) various hospitals and health services). From 1 August 2017, smoking is prohibited in the following areas: (a) all outdoor dining areas where food (other than pre-packaged food or uncut fruit) is provided on a commercial basis; (b) at certain food fairs and organised events. In addition, from 1 August 2017 the use of electronic cigarettes will be prohibited in all of the above legislated smokefree areas. For more information on these laws, see the Victorian Department of Health website on Tobacco Reforms. Workplace exemptions to the Tobacco Act 1987 In Victoria, smoking is still permitted in the following areas: residential premises (except parts of residential premises used for business while non-residents are present) outdoor drinking areas (unless the outdoor drinking area has a roof and walls in place, and the total area of the wall surfaces exceeds 75% of the total notional wall area) the ‘High Roller Rooms’ at Crown Casino a vehicle (other than when a person under 18 is present or in taxi cabs) a place of business occupied by a sole operator that is not for the use of members of the public personal sleeping or living areas in hotels/motels/ hostels and residential care facilities declared areas in approved mental health services (none declared at present) detention centres established for the purposes of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). Other legal obligations As discussed above, exposure to secondhand smoke is a known health hazard and there is no safe level of exposure. Because of this, general legal duties around health and safety may in practice call for smokefree workplaces. For example: Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) employers have a duty to provide a safe and non-hazardous working environment for employees. Employers owe employees a duty of care under the common law: they must take reasonable care to protect employees’ health and safety in the workplace. Employees are entitled to no-fault workers’ compensation if they suffer injury arising out of or in the course of employment. The Disability Discrimination Act 199213 and other legislation protect the rights of people with disabilities and susceptibilities (including for example, people with asthma). Nerdcore Computers Author

Your Bushfire Plan You don’t have to live in the country to be at risk of fire. If you live near areas that have significant bush, forest, long grass, or coastal scrub, then you need to plan ahead for the fire season. Not everyone thinks clearly in an emergency. Taking steps to get prepared before the fire season means you know what to do when you’re at risk of fire. A written, and preferably well-practised plan, will help you remember what needs to be done during a crisis. Use the Bushfire survival planning template – Leaving early (PDF) to help you write down your plan. Why should I leave early? Leaving early is the safest option to protect yourself and your family.  Leaving early means leaving the area before there are any signs of a fire – not when you can see flames or smell smoke. Leaving early means avoiding panic, being trapped, making the wrong choices and risking serious injury or death. Defending Your Property Planning to stay and defend is a big decision. You could be at serious risk of uncontrollable fires on Severe, Extreme and Code Red days. Most homes in high-risk bushfire areas are not designed for Code Red conditions. The Defending your property page can help you decide whether or not you are capable of defending your property – and tells you about the risks and preparations involved. How to plan Taking steps to get prepared before the fire season means you know what to do when you’re at risk of fire. Just as every family or household is unique, every fire plan will be different. The information and templates in the Fire Ready Kit and on this website, are designed to assist you. Which Fire Danger Rating is your trigger to leave? Will you leave early that morning or the night before? Where will you go? What route will you take – and what is your alternative in the event that a fire is already in the area? What will you take with you?What do you need to organise for your pets or livestock?Who do you need to keep informed of your movements? Is there anyone outside your household who you need to help or check up on?How will you stay informed about warnings and updates? What will you do if there is a fire in the area and you cannot leave? Remember to decide who will do what as part of your plan. Your destination and journey Talk to your family and friends about how you’ll know when to leave and where to go to stay safe. It’s up to you to decide on a suitable place to go when you leave early on a fire risk day. If you do not have friends or relatives in low-risk areas who you can visit, consider community facilities such as libraries, shopping centres, swimming pools or cinemas. If you rely on others for care and support, your only safe option on serious fire risk days is to leave early – never wait to receive a warning. Why write down your plan? Would you remember a plan that’s just in your head if you’re surrounded by smoke, heat and flames? A written plan will take the pressure off you, and avoid arguments and delays. In Victoria the bushfire season is long, and a written plan will help reduce uncertainty and anxiety. Use the Bushfire survival planning template – Leaving early (PDF) to help you write down your plan. Remember, any bushfire plan – written or not – is better than no plan. Share your bushfire plan Once you have prepared your plan, it is a good idea to share the details of your plan with family, friends and neighbours. Doing so will save them a lot of distress when there is a bushfire, as they will know that you are prepared and where to find you.

Consider "futureproofing" your purchase. Buy a laptop that has headroom for more advanced technology while you're in school1. Whether you're heading off to college yourself or trying to help your favorite student, searching for and finding the best laptop for college may seem like a daunting task. Fortunately, this is an open-book test and we can help you find the right answers. The very first thing to consider when shopping for a new college laptop is how you’ll use it now and in the future. With technology advancing rapidly year after year, it's a good idea to consider a laptop that can handle new applications and programs. This is called "futureproofing" your purchase or buying a PC that has headroom for more advanced technology yet to be introduced. Ask yourself these questions—your answers will help narrow your choices. What programs or applications are requirements for your classes?What field or major are you interested in?Do you play video games, or do you want to get into gaming?Do you use video to chat with friends or family?Do you enjoy creating your own content—videos, podcasts, etc.? Consider Performance First How you use your laptop will directly influence how much performance you'll need. Using heavy-duty apps like Adobe Premiere Pro* or playing video games requires a lot of horsepower from the CPU. However, if you or your future college student will use the laptop for more basic tasks like word processing, downloading music, and posting to social media, then a top-of-the-line CPU might not be necessary. Form Factors Today's laptops are a far cry from the thick, bulky machines of the last two decades. In fact, the traditional clamshell laptop design is now joined by other types of designs and form factors. Clamshell Once the only design option for laptops, clamshells (laptops that open and close) are still a popular choice. But nowadays, many clamshells offer more features, such as touchscreens, super high-resolution displays, chassis made from non-traditional materials, and improved connectivity options, such Thunderbolt™ 3 ports. 2 in 1s 2 in 1 laptops offer great flexibility without a need to compromise. 2 in 1s offer the best of both worlds—the performance of a PC and the fun of a tablet, in one sleek device. There are two different types of 2 in 1 laptops: Detachable and convertible. Convertibles Keyboards stay attached and can swivel, twist, or flip. Flip for "tent" or "stand" modes to share content or present. Fold entirely in half for "tablet" mode. Great for productivity-minded students who work hard but want tablet functionality for entertainment. Detachables Provide super-fast switching from laptop to tablet modes. Offer a pure tablet experience when keyboard is detached. Perfect for web surfers who also need to type now and then. When thinking about these different form factors, consider the weight and thickness of your new laptop. A long trek across campus can quickly become uncomfortable if you're lugging around a heavy laptop. Thankfully, laptops available today come in a range of sizes and weights. Which leads us to your next consideration—the laptop's screen. Screen Size The size of a laptop's screen will directly influence its weight and price. Laptops are typically categorized in stores and online by the size of their screens. Common screen sizes for laptops usually start at 11 inches and continue up to 17 inches. Again, ask yourself where and how you’ll use your new laptop to help you decide on a screen size. Does either your schoolwork or interests require you to use an external monitor? 11- to 13-inch models If mobility is most important to you, consider these options: A small laptopA super-thin, lightweight laptop (sometimes referred to as an Ultrabook) Small laptops with 11- or 13-inch screens are a great choice if you have a strict budget, need extreme portability, and only need to complete basic tasks, such as Web browsing, e-mail, and word processing. 17-inch models If performance is your top priority, or you want a laptop that can replace your desktop, go for a 17-inch workhorse. These models may weigh more than others, but they really pack a punch. These large laptops are usually best for gamers, content creators, or video editors who need a lot of processing power to complete complicated tasks. This large screen may eliminate your possible need for an external monitor. 15-inch models For a good balance between mobility, performance, and price, check out some 15-inch models. Many weigh four pounds or less and are targeted for the mainstream consumer—meaning you’ll probably find more features you want, such as more ports, an optical (DVD or CD) drive, and better battery life. Battery Life Battery life is always a main concern when it comes to purchasing a laptop. Unfortunately, establishing the battery life of a laptop is no easy task for manufacturers. How long a laptop's battery will last depends on what you're using the PC for; it's best to look at manufacturers' specs as a general guideline. Generally speaking, the bigger the screen size of your laptop, or the heavier the model, the less battery life it will provide. Smaller laptops and Ultrabooks use lower voltage processors designed specifically to offer better battery life. Go online to manufacturers’ Web sites to research battery life, or read online reviews. Typically, mid-sized to larger laptops will offer between four and six hours, while ultra-portable models can go for as long as ten hours. Ports/Connectivity Don't understate the importance of ports and how you'll connect different peripherals (i.e., cameras, phones, and other devices) to your laptop. While many peripheral devices can connect wirelessly, sometimes you just need a USB port. Smaller laptops, and thin models will have fewer ports. What kinds of ports are available on laptops? USB ports—The most used and recognizable of all connectivity ports, USB ports allow you to connect a huge variety of devices, including external hard drives, cameras, keyboards, mice, and more. The latest version is USB 3.1, which offers higher transfer speeds of 10 Gbps. Thunderbolt™ 3 ports—Thunderbolt™ 3 provides the fastest connection and transfer rates to date, offering 40 Gbps (four times faster than USB 3.1). Ethernet ports—An Ethernet port allows you to connect your laptop directly to a wired network. Many laptops don’t include these ports because of the availability of Wi-Fi. But if you’re somewhere on campus where the Wi-Fi is poor, use these ports and an Ethernet cable to jump online. If your favorite model doesn’t have an Ethernet port, there are USB-to-Ethernet adapters available. HDMI/VGA/DVI—These types of ports allow you to connect to displays or other screens, such as an HDTV or an external monitor. SD card reader—Also known as SDHC card reader, this slot is used for digital camera memory cards. This makes transferring digital photos to your laptop quick and easy. Keyboard Gamers and writers aren’t the only ones who believe a laptop’s keyboard is its most important feature. Think about it—you’ll use the keyboard more than any other part of the laptop, so you’ll want one that’s comfortable, easy to use, and provides a satisfying spring or tactile feel. Do you require or prefer a backlit keyboard? Also, consider key placement and size. Do you want a 10-key pad? Are all the keys in a standard position that you like? Make sure to try out different keyboards. Open a word processor and tap away. You’ll probably know right away if a laptop’s keyboard just isn’t for you. Touchpad Many people forego a mouse and instead depend on a laptop’s touchpad to get things done. A comfortable, easy-to-use touchpad is important, especially if you’re travelling, or working in a cramped space like a café or lecture hall. Consider the size and placement of the touchpad, whether you prefer one large pad or separate left- and right-click buttons. Some touchpads even include patterns and textures for a tactile experience. Graphics The majority of laptop models are powered by a CPU that also includes an integrated graphics chipset. This means the graphics are actually built into the processor eliminating the need for a separate graphics card. These integrated graphic technologies, such as Intel® HD or Intel® Iris™ Plus graphics, are more powerful than ever before, allowing you to play mainstream games, support up to three separate displays, and stream up to 1080p. However, if you’re a gamer or filmmaker, you’ll want to look into dedicated graphics or GPU. Dedicated graphics are more powerful than integrated graphics but also are substantially more expensive when it comes to the price of the laptop. RAM You’ll hear this term thrown around a lot as you shop for your college laptop. Random Access Memory, or RAM. RAM temporarily stores recently-used data for quick access later. Think of it as the info you know off the top of your head—you use it often and your brain can access it quickly. The more RAM that’s available, the faster a computer will feel to you. Consider 8 GBs to 16 GBs of RAM for your laptop. Storage Pictures, videos, and other data you’ll want to save for a long time are stored in your laptop’s “long-term memory.” It’s data that may not be used frequently, but it’s pretty important to save, keep, and use when necessary. This data can be stored on a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid-state drive (SSD), or even a hybrid of the two. SSDs typically provide faster access to data and start up times and are very reliable and durable, as they have no moving parts. The Final Decision It may seem like a lot to remember, but finding the perfect laptop for your college career can really set you up for success. Make a checklist using the features in this article, and focus on what you’ll need most from your college laptop in terms of size, weight, processing power, and storage. Nerdcore Computers Author

Did you know that you can hook your laptop up to a desktop monitor and expand your on-screen real estate to two full screens? What’s even cooler is that if you upgrade to a Laptop with Windows* 10, you can assign a separate viewing mode for both screens. The Benefits of Connecting Your Laptop to a Monitor Laptops aren’t just wireless, portable desktop computers. With the right setup, you can turn your laptop computer into a multi-tasking workhorse that’ll make you say “Gee, I never thought I could do all that!” All you need to do is follow the simple instructions below on how to connect a laptop to a monitor. Then you’ll be set. Getting more screen inches isn’t the only reason someone might want to connect a monitor to a laptop. Here are a couple of scenarios that spell out some of the other benefits. Multi-tasking: Connecting your laptop to a monitor enables you to go into split screen mode, where you can watch a movie on your PC monitor and tweet about it on your laptop screen. This gives you a cool setup that prevents you from having to keep toggling back and forth between applications. More screen real estate: By connecting your laptop to a monitor, you can literally double the size of your available screen space. Functions can be moved from one screen to the other so that you don’t have to shrink windows down or toggle to see two programs at the same time. This type of setup is ideal for a number of scenarios, from leisure activities like video chatting while you’re on Facebook to updating a work spreadsheet while you’re referencing facts on another platform. Extra options in Windows* 10: With Windows* 10, you can choose between a traditional desktop view or the new metro menu. But when you connect your laptop to a second desktop screen, you can actually have your proverbial cake and eat it too by running both at the same time. Three Things You’ll Need to Do When Connecting Your Laptop to a Monitor Get the right cable. When you connect an external monitor to a laptop computer, you have to run a cable between the two devices. Make sure that you get a monitor cable that matches the sockets on your laptop and monitor.Tell your operating system you’re using a second screen. It’s easy to do this in Windows* 10 by going to your Desktop, right click your mouse and go to Display Settings. On Macs, the connection of an external monitor is automatically recognized.Set up the orientation of the monitors. In both PCs and Macs, you can opt whether you want the second screen to mirror your laptop screen or to act as an extension of the first. Access the Control Panel on your PC or System Preferences on your Mac. Learning how to connect your laptop to a monitor is pretty simple and can enhance your experience, even improve your productivity. Imagine not ever having to toggle between open windows and running programs on your laptop. Sounds pretty good, right? Teaching yourself this easy task can make your life simpler and much more productive. Nerdcore Computers Author

Learn about hotspots, including how to use them safely to obtain Internet access to your mobile devices via Wi-Fi1. Hotspots—what are they, where are they, and how can you connect to them while protecting your privacy and security? If you’ve ever tried to answer an email or surf the Internet from your mobile device in public—or even at the office or your house—chances are you connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot. Not only is this connection highly convenient, you also didn’t have to use your smartphone’s data. Not surprisingly, hotspots are becoming an essential part of public infrastructure—and our Internet experience. Millions of people every day connect to public hotspots for their data needs. By some estimates, there are almost 200 million hotspots around the world, and there will be one hotspot for every 20 people on earth by 2018. Thanks to our modern always-on digital lifestyle, people expect to be constantly connected, and public Wi-Fi access points are expanding to a global network of hotspots to meet those needs. Terminology Before we dive in to how to connect to a hotspot and related security issues, let’s define what we mean. While some people use the terms “hotspot” and “mobile hotspot” interchangeably, they have distinct meanings. Hotspot: A hotspot is a physical location where people can access the Internet, typically using Wi-Fi, via a wireless local area network (WLAN) with a router connected to an Internet service provider. Most people refer to these locations as “Wi-Fi hotspots” or “Wi-Fi connections.” Simply put, hotspots are the physical places where users can wirelessly connect their mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, to the Internet. A hotspot can be in a private location or a public one, such as in a coffee shop, a hotel, an airport, or even an airplane. While many public hotspots offer free wireless access on an open network, others require payment. Later in the article you’ll learn how to connect a mobile device to a Wi-Fi hotspot. Mobile hotspot: A mobile hotspot (sometimes called a portable hotspot) is a hotspot that’s just that—mobile! While a “regular” Wi-Fi hotspot is tied to a physical location, you can create a mobile hotspot by using your smartphone’s data connection to connect your laptop to the Internet. This process is called “tethering.” More on this process later. You should also know these terms when you’re talking about Wi-Fi hotspots. Access point (wireless access point):  A wireless access point (WAP) is a networking device that allows a Wi-Fi compliant device to connect to a wired network. The WAP can either be physically connected to a router or be integrated into the router itself. A WAP is not a hotspot, which is the physical location where Wi-Fi access to a WLAN is available. Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi is the technology that allows your smartphone or computer to access the Internet through a wireless connection. It uses radio signals to send and receive data between your enabled device and the WAP. SSID: A service set identifier (more commonly known as an SSID) is the unique name of a wireless network. You’ll need to know the name of the wireless network to connect to it. Your computer or smartphone can search for available wireless networks; often people name their network for easy identification—anything from “Bob’s phone” to “hotel guests” to “Get off my LAN.” Now that you understand some of the terms associated with hotspots, let’s learn how to connect to them. How to Connect to a Wi-Fi Hotspot You probably connect your smartphone or laptop to the Internet via several Wi-Fi hotspots throughout your day, whether you’re at your office, in your home, or at public locations like coffee shops and airports. Using hotspots is an easy way to keep connected to your busy life. Connecting to a wireless hotspot is a simple process. Let’s use your smartphone as an example. You want to answer an email at the airport while you’re waiting for your flight, and you don’t want to use your data. You can set your smartphone to notify you when it’s in range of a wireless network, or you can find wireless networks through your phone’s settings. The steps you need to follow to connect to the Wi-Fi hotspot will depend on the device—Android*, iPhone*, or another brand—but here is an overview. Click the wireless icon on your device to see the names of nearby wireless networks. Select a wireless network; in some cases, you might also have to click “Connect.”Enter the security key or the password. Most wireless networks are secured and require a password to accept a connection. Some networks are unsecured or open and do not require a password; you should take care when accessing them as they could introduce a security risk.Select the network type (home, work, or public, if you are on a Windows* device). Choosing the network type will establish a security level appropriate for your location. If you select “home” or “work,” your device will be discoverable to other devices. Be sure to select “public” if you are in a public location like a coffee shop, hotel, restaurant, airport, and other similar locations. Voilà! You’ll be online in a flash. Depending on where you are and the types of hotspots near you, you may be on either an open, unsecured wireless network or a paid/commercial wireless network. You may be asked to sign up for an account or use a paid service like Boingo* or iPass*, which offer various Wi-Fi access plans depending on how much time you plan use the Internet. Let’s say, though, that you can’t find a Wi-Fi hotspot nearby. Read on to learn how you can use your smartphone as a portable hotspot. Using Your Smartphone as a Mobile Hotspot If you’re in a location that doesn’t have a hotspot and you want to connect your laptop to the Internet, you can use your phone as a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot through a process called “tethering.” This allows your laptop to access the Internet and share your smartphone’s data connection. While the set-up steps vary depending on your smartphone and your Internet service provider, you can usually find the instructions in your phone’s Settings or Manage Connections menu. For security, you’ll want to make sure that you use a Wi-Fi password so that nearby Internet users can’t access your phone or laptop. Also, be aware that tethering your laptop to your phone will use your phone’s data allowance; so be sure to keep an eye on your usage to avoid any overage fees. Now that you’re connected, that’s it, right? Well, not exactly. You should be aware that while using Wi-Fi hotspots is a convenient way to stay connected with work, family, and friends. Hotspot connectivity also presents some security risks. Hotspot Security One of the risks of being connected to the Internet is that the very technologies that help us keep up with our work and personal lives can be vulnerable to hackers and identity thieves. When looking for a public Wi-Fi hotspot, be sure to connect your smartphone or laptop only to reputable providers—for example, the hotel’s or coffee shop’s wireless network. Be wary about connecting to hotspots that have misspellings such as Bongo instead of Boingo, as hackers sometimes use these seemingly innocent names to lure busy users who aren’t paying close attention. It’s also possible for hackers to distribute malware (software that can damage or disable your computer) through an unsecured Wi-Fi connection, especially if you are using a file-sharing program over the same network. Virtual Private Network (VPN) If you have security concerns about using a public Wi-Fi hotspot, you could consider creating a virtual private network (VPN), which allows you to use to the Internet through an encrypted connection. While this can deter hackers because your data is encrypted, be aware that it will slow down your Internet access because of the processing power required to encrypt and decrypt your transmitted data. Find a VPN Solution that Works If you’re interested in using a VPN to safeguard yourself online: Invest in a monthly service. This is one of the most commonly used solutions. Make sure to do your research before you buy.Consider purchasing a VPN-enabled router. There are several models on the market that make setting up your own VPN easy. With more than 9 billion Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices expected to be in use by the end of the year, the importance of hotspots and Wi-Fi in our lives really can’t be overstated. Nerdcore Computers author

Learn how to increase the Wi-Fi speed on your device by optimizing the settings to boost signal and extend range1. Wi-Fi speed—you probably don’t think much about it until the movie you’re streaming crashes. Or your files won’t upload to the cloud. Or your web browser keeps spinning without loading the page you want. With millions of users connecting their mobile devices to Wi-Fi hotspots around the world, it’s no wonder that people want to know how to increase their Wi-Fi speed so they can stream movies, upload and download documents, and transfer data quickly. Innovations in Wi-Fi technology are what make it faster than previous generations. And since Wi-Fi speed is often related to internet connection range, we’ll show you some ways to help boost the range and extend the wireless signal. We’ll talk more about these past generations below and some of the terms you need to know when thinking about Wi-Fi connections: Speed—New Wi-Fi technologies deliver data more quickly than previous generations. A faster connection results in faster Wi-Fi speeds. Capacity—New routers also deliver more data simultaneously to more devices; that is, they have a larger capacity. Coverage—Wi-Fi speed is one piece of the puzzle, and coverage (or range) is the other. You want a router than can deliver more Internet speed and at greater distances. With a strong Wi-Fi connection, you’ll save time because the connection speed is faster, and you can stream movies, games, videos, and other data-heavy applications more quickly and with higher image quality. Why Your Wi-Fi Is Slow? Let’s talk about why your Wi-Fi connection speed is slow. Physical barriers, such as walls and floors, can affect wireless signals, as does the distance between the device and the access point and the number of devices using your Wi-Fi network. Even simple things like adjusting the height of your router off the floor can impact its performance. Be sure to talk with your Internet service provider to make sure you’re paying for the speed you need. Different providers offer different speeds, and you may not have the package that is the best fit for your connectivity needs. Three main things impact the speed of your Internet connection—the placement of the router, the technology, and the devices that are connected to it. Ways to Boost Your Wi-Fi Speed 1. Place your router in an open spot. Because Wi-Fi is just that—wireless—its connection speed is affected by distance, obstacles (such as walls, floors, and ceilings), electronic interference, and the number of users on the network. All these things contribute to the slow-down of Wi-Fi connection speed. For the best signal, put the wireless router out in the open on the main floor of your house, away from walls and obstructions. Ideally, you’ll want to position it off the floor, above the furniture. Keep it away from other electronics that might cause interference, like microwaves, baby monitors, and cordless phones. You might also try pointing the antennas perpendicularly, with one horizontally and one vertically. Want to know where the wireless dead spots are around your house? Try using a mobile app, like CloudCheck*, to test for them. It can also help you identify where the signal strength is best, so you can find a good spot for your router. Think of it as Wi-Fi feng shui for your wireless router! 2. Use current Wi-Fi technologies. Technologies change rapidly, and one of the best ways to speed up your wireless network is to use the latest hardware. Wireless-N (802.11n) and Wireless-AC (802.11ac) are newer, faster technologies, with Wireless-A (802.11a), -B (802.11b), and -G (802.11g) being older and slower. Newer Wireless-AC routers have data transfer speeds up to three times faster than older Wireless-B/G/N models, and they offer “dual-band” functionally so you can free up channels for older wireless devices to access. And, of course, you’ll want to secure your Wi-Fi network with a password so your neighbors can’t stream their movies on your wireless connection! 3. Limit devices and optimize settings. Playing online games, conducting video chats, and streaming movies and videos take up a lot of bandwidth, and they can slow down Internet speed and access for everyone connected to that Wi-Fi network. Some routers have a Quality of Service (QoS) setting that lets you control which apps have priority access to the Internet bandwidth. For example, you may want to prioritize video calls if you have a lot of meetings, and deprioritize file downloads from the cloud. You can always get your files later, but you don’t want to drop a call with an important client or family member! You’ll also want to make sure that your wireless router has the latest updates to its firmware. While many newer routers have a built-in update process, you may need to access your router’s settings to manually start an update. It’s also a good idea to plug stationary devices, like desktop computers and gaming consoles, directly into the router to provide better bandwidth for your mobile devices. You can install browser extensions that can block ads, animations, and videos that hog bandwidth. Even small tweaks like blocking streaming ads can improve your user experience. You can also fine-tune the channel selection on your router. By default, many wireless routers are set to run on channel 6. This means that your neighbors’ routers might also be running on channel 6, causing congestion on that channel because of the number of devices connected to it. Using a tool like Wi-Fi Analyzer* or Wi-Fi Scanner* can help you identify router channels with more bandwidth giving you improved Internet speed. If your router is relatively new, it should be able to switch between two radio frequencies—2.4 GHz (the older standard) and 5 GHz (the newer standard). Smart wireless routers can choose the best frequency for you and your environment. Each frequency has multiple channels: 14 at 2.4 GHz and 30 at 5GHz. So, if your router has the capability to automatically switch between frequencies, it can choose among 44 channels. If it is older and can only access the 14 channels at 2.4 GHz, then it’s more likely to encounter “traffic” on the Wi-Fi connection. You can check your wireless router settings to see if it is auto-switching between channels and frequencies for the optimal setting. Other Tips Looking for even more ways to try to increase your Wi-Fi speed and extend the Internet connection range? Use a wireless range extender. While this may not speed up the connection, it can boost the signal into the dead spots of your house or office. For example, if your router is on the first floor of your house, you may want to add a wireless range extender on another floor to boost the signal. It can be a big help in areas with thick walls or other physical structures that can impede a wireless signal. Add access points. Think of access points as creating a wireless mesh around your house. They transmit Internet signals to each other to create a wireless network. They are created for large spaces with multiple floors. Speed Up the Data Stream. That invisible wireless connection can have a huge impact on our daily lives—determining how much we get done or how much we can kick back and relax. No one wants dropped video calls, choppy video streaming, or slow file downloads. With a little know-how and some persistence, you can tweak your wireless router’s settings to increase your Wi-Fi connection speed and extend its range. Nerdcore Computers Author

When Windows* 10 came out July 29, 2015, many were cautious to sing its praises, but over time, the improvements to security, its enhanced personalization features, and the attention to gaming won over many critics. All in all, Windows* 10 is a very stable, secure, and feature-packed operating system (OS). Most people will benefit from using Windows* 10, and in this article we will cover whether or not it is the best choice for you. Top Reasons to Upgrade to Windows* 10 The top three reasons you should upgrade to Windows: Improved interface (Start menu) and personalization Enhanced security features Great gaming additions Improved Interface and Personalization Improving the way we interact with our PC is one of the key advancements in Windows* 10. By bringing back the Start menu, and introducing Cortana* (a personal assistant) Microsoft is improving the user interface (UI) and scoring points with users who prefer simplicity. Start menu The Microsoft Start menu was introduced with Windows* 95 more than 20 years ago. Since then, it’s been through much iteration, but no major changes were made until the release of Windows* 8 when the Start menu was replaced with the Start Screen and “live tiles.” The touch-based interface and full screen of apps was a bit jarring to users. Microsoft heard the criticism loud and clear. Windows* 10 not only brought the Start menu back, but it also added in the best features of the Windows* 8 Start Screen. Using the new Start menu in Windows* 10, you can: Change its size by dragging the borders or corners of the Start menuArrange, add, or delete any of the tiles, programs, or apps that appear on the Start menuFully personalize it by changing color scheme and other settings Cortana* Cortana* is a personal digital assistant built into the Windows* 10 OS. Much more than just a search engine, Cortana* can answer questions, search your entire PC for files or documents, provide reminders, track flights, or even tell you a joke. Cortana* is also available on Android devices and Xbox One consoles. Edge Browser* Microsoft bid farewell to Internet Explorer with Windows* 10 and introduced its new browser—Edge*. According to Microsoft, the browser was built from the ground up to provide a clean, modern, easy way to surf the Web and take advantage of future advancements. New features allow you to: Preview multiple pages by hovering over open tabs Pin tabs to the browser bar for one-click access to commonly-visited sites Interact with Cortana* while you browse to receive deals, coupons, and notifications Virtual Desktops As Mac and Linux users already know, virtual desktops are great for those of us who open a lot of programs at once but want to keep things organized. Microsoft’s goal in creating virtual desktops was to: Give users more desktop space to group related windows Help users quickly locate and switch to any window or group of windows Allows users to re-organize groups and move windows as tasks evolve Windows Ink* Windows Ink* is a compelling feature that was introduced with the Windows* 10 Anniversary edition. The Windows Ink* Workspace provides a digital pen to make notes, edits, or even to create a sticky note. Windows Ink* also includes a sketchpad, screen sketch capabilities, as well as your favorite digital pen apps. Security Improvements Some have said that Windows* 10 is the most stable and secure OS from Microsoft to date. Security is a huge concern in today’s digital world, and Windows* 10 was built with security in mind. These security enhancements include: Windows Hello* Use Windows Hello* to log into your PC faster and more securely than before. Using the camera on your PC, Windows Hello* will recognize your face instantly and securely log you in. Or, you can use the fingerprint reader, which works the same way. Once you’ve enabled Windows Hello*, you can also use it with compatible apps, like Dropbox, so you can skip entering your password manually. Signing in is simply faster and safer. Windows Defender* Windows* 10 provides an entirely redesigned Windows Defender*, which helps guard your PC against malware and viruses. Windows Defender* runs in the background scanning files as you access them (and before you open them!). Windows Firewall* Windows Firewall* protects your network’s security by keeping hackers and malicious software from penetrating your PC. Windows Firewall* establishes a protective barrier between your PC and the hackers of the world. Great Gaming You could make a case that Windows* 10 was designed with gamers in mind. From support to DirectX 12 to providing new ways to game across devices, Windows* 10 provides great features and benefits for gamers of any skill level. DirectX 12 Using Windows* 10, games take advantage of the graphic fidelity of DirectX 12. DirectX 12 games use the full capabilities of your PC’s video hardware to deliver sharper visuals and improved performance. Xbox Play Anywhere Microsoft has just unveiled its new Xbox Play Anywhere solution. Now when you buy an Xbox Play Anywhere digital title, you can play it on your Xbox One and any Windows* 10 PC at no additional cost. Start a game, and then pick up where you left off, even on another device! You won’t lose any of your saves, add-ons, or achievements. Built-in Broadcasting Want to stream your domination to the world? No problem—Windows* 10 allows you to stream your game play using the Game Bar. Just hit the Windows key plus G. Click Broadcast and start streaming. What’s Not to Like? Windows* 10 is a solid choice for most users, providing great personalization features and interface improvements, as well as strong security features and gaming enhancements. So, what’s not to like? Well, there are some cases where upgrading to Windows* 10 might not be a high priority. Cost Microsoft released Windows* 10 as a free upgrade until July 29, 2016. If you upgrade now, you’ll pay the retail price (~$119). Windows Media Center* Windows Media Center* was designed to run as a full-screen media player and also support television channels (from tuners). Windows Media Center* has a loyal and devoted following, but it was phased out with the Windows* 10 upgrade. So, if your entertainment solution is built around Windows Media Center*, you’re probably better off sticking with your current Windows* OS until you can find a more viable option. Windows* 7 or 8 Enthusiasts With support extending until 2018 and 2020, both Windows* 7 and Windows* 8 are still favored by many users. If everything is working fine for you, and you prefer the design and UI of Windows* 7 or Windows* 8, there probably isn’t a need to upgrade right now. However, make sure you’re using adequate or additional security measures (Windows* 10 offers enhanced security features). Windows* 10: A More Powerful Upgrade So, what’s the answer? Should you upgrade to Windows* 10? For most PC users, the answer is yes. Secure and stable, Windows* 10 offers a powerful way to stay connected, productive, and entertained. Nerdcore Computers Author

Transferring files from PC to PC can be done quickly and securely without losing any data in the process. There's nothing more exciting than getting a powerful new computer that lets you zip through tasks, run new applications, and play games at astounding speed. However, there's nothing more daunting than realizing you have to move all your music, pictures, documents, and other files from your old computer to the new computer. Fortunately, you don't have to beg and bribe your friends to help with this moving day. There are a variety of ways to easily and safely share files and even move programs from your old computer to your new one while keeping your data safe. DIY Approach: Manually Transfer Files If you're a hands-on sort, one of the simplest ways to get your new computer loaded with all your files is to manually move them. There are a couple of ways to do this. For starters, plug your old computer into a USB flash drive or external hard drive, which typically can cost from $30 to several hundred dollars depending on the storage amount, speed, and functionality you need. Simply copy your files onto the external drive, eject the storage device, plug the storage device into the new computer, and then reverse the process to load the files onto it. Tip: Some computers have eSATA ports that are specifically designed for external hard drives and move data even faster than USB ports. If you don't want to purchase an external hard drive, you can also move and store your files into the cloud—using an Internet-based storage service such as Microsoft OneDrive*, Google Drive*, or Dropbox*. Again, just drop and drag your files from your old computer to the cloud service, and then drag-and-drop the files onto your new computer. These services are often free for a small amount of storage, and then charge a monthly subscription as your storage needs increase. Speed Things Along: Use a Transfer Cable If you find using cloud storage to be a time drag, or if you want to avoid a monthly subscription to cloud services, an alternative option is to move your files with a transfer cable. The cable plugs into a port on both your new computer and old computer. Typically, cables come with software that automates the transfer of files when upgrading from an older Windows* 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, or XP computer to a newer computer. A transfer cable works faster than an external hard drive, since the old computer connects directly to the new one while eliminating the middleman (the external drive). Nerdcore Computers Author

Buying a processor for a gaming rig isn’t as hard as it used to be. Now that AMD’s Ryzen and Intel’s 9th-gen Core CPUs come with more performance and cores than ever before, it’s hard to buy a stinker these days—especially because most games favor graphics firepower over CPU oomph. All that said, there are specific chips that stand out from the horde as the best gaming CPUs due to their price, performance, or nifty extras. Updated October 31, 2019 to include the Core i9-9900KS and new recommendations. Whether you’re on a budget or willing to pay for sheer face-melting speed, these are the best CPUs for gaming PCs that you can buy. Latest gaming CPU news It’s going to be a busy fall for PC processors. AMD delayed its 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen flagship, the $750 Ryzen 9 3950X, to November. Third-generation Threadripper processors will launch the same month, kicking off with a 24-core version. While AMD hasn’t said much else about Threadripper, we expect models with even more cores to appear once the sky-high demand for the company’s most expensive 7nm chips dulls, or supply increases. Intel isn’t sitting on its thumbs though. In addition to launching the Core i9-9900KS, the fastest CPU for gaming ever released with an all-core 5GHz boost, it’s also slashing prices in response to AMD’s awesome 3rd-generation Ryzen processors. It cut the cost of all F-series processors—Intel Core chips that lack integrated graphics—by $25, and announced that its next-gen “Cascade-X” Core-X series chips will launch at prices over 50 percent lower than those of its predecessors. While the 18-core Skylake-X flagship cost nearly $2,000, the new 18-core Core i9-10980XE Extreme Edition chip is downright cheap at $979. The 10-core Core i9-10900X chip is a mere $590. The best gaming CPU for most people AMD Ryzen 5 3600X ($235 on Amazon) Intel’s ruled the gaming roost for seemingly time eternal, but in 2019, AMD seized the mainstream crown. Pound for pound, the Ryzen 5 3600X is the best gaming CPU for most people, and the best mid-range CPU period. While Intel removed Hyper-Threading from most of its mainstream Core lineup, leaving most of its Core i5 lineup with six cores and six threads, AMD bestows its Ryzen parts with simultaneous multi-threading, giving the six-core Ryzen 5 3600X a full twelve threads. That gives it a serious advantage in productivity workloads. But for the first time in recent memory, AMD’s mainstream chip outpunches its direct Intel rivals too. AMD infused its third-gen Ryzen chips with massive instructions-per-clock (IPC) improvements and faster clock speeds, with the 3.8GHz Ryzen 5 3600X capable of boosting up to 4.4GHz. Together, those gains help propel the 3600X past Intel’s Core i5-9600K in Tom’s Hardware’s testing, and the beloved Core i7-8086K in Tech Radar’s testing. Most AMD motherboards support overclocking for the adventurous if you want to try your hands at even better performance. You can find the Ryzen 5 3600X for $235 at Nerdcore Computers, down from a $250 launch price. Better yet, AMD tosses in three free months of Microsoft’s superb Xbox Game Pass for PC with every Ryzen purchase, and your choice of either The Outer Worlds or Borderlands 3. That’s a lot of free gaming goodness to go with a great gaming processor. Mentioned in this article If you want to spend a little less cash, or don’t mind overclocking, consider the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 instead. The non-X version costs $295 at Nerdcore Computers. It packs the same six cores and twelve threads but runs a little slower with a 3.6GHz base clock and 4.2GHz boost clock. The reduction in clock speeds drops the Ryzen 5 3600’s gaming performance a bit, with the chip trading blows with Intel’s Core i5-9600K in gaming benchmarks at TechSpot and GamersNexus, but it’s close. With AMD’s chip offering twice as many threads as Intel’s, and gaming performance so close, both sites give the Ryzen 5 3600 a hearty recommendation. By contrast, the Core i5-9600K costs $235 at Amazon. Most gamers should stick to the Ryzen duo. The best budget gaming CPU AMD Ryzen 3 3200G ($100 Nerdcore Computers) If you want a gaming CPU that won’t break the bank, look no further than the $100 Ryzen 3 3200G. The continuation of AMD’s “APU” strategy, this third-gen Ryzen chip blends four Ryzen CPU cores with eight of AMD’s powerful Radeon Vega compute units. The end result? A solid-performing chip that can play PC games without the need for a graphics card. It’s built using 12nm Zen+ cores rather than the 7nm Zen2 cores in other third-gen Ryzen processors, but the Ryzen 3 3200G should still deliver enough punch for basic gaming. Its predecessor, the Ryzen 3 2200G, handled e-sports titles like Fortnite, Dota 2, League of Legends, and Rocket League with ease and turned in surprisingly good frame rates even in AAA games like Destiny 2 and Rise of the Tomb Raider. You might need to alter some graphics settings and maybe dial the game resolution back to 720p for the best results, but you can get the vast majority of games running between 30 and 60 frames per second with some tinkering. The Ryzen 3 3200G should perform slightly better thanks to faster clock speeds. Its CPU cores are about 300MHz faster than the 2200G’s, while the integrated Radeon Vega GPU cores are about 150MHz faster. You can improve your gaming experience by pairing the chip with other hardware. For instance, an affordable FreeSync monitor such as the 21.5-inch, 1080p Acer SB220Q ($90 on Amazon) would smooth out tearing and stuttering, And because the chip uses your system RAM to feed the Radeon graphics, faster memory would help. Aim for 8GB of 2,933MHz or 3,200MHz RAM for best results, but lower speeds still work. Just make sure you get a dual-channel kit with two memory sticks, because single-channel nukes the gaming performance of Ryzen APUs. Mentioned in this article $238.00 Buy it At nerdcore computers Stepping up to the $245 Ryzen 5 3400G adds simultaneous multi-threading for 8 total CPU threads, faster speeds, and three additional Radeon Vega compute units for better gaming performance. Given the much higher cost, however, the Ryzen 3 3200G is a better pick for most people on a tight budget. If you’re buying a Ryzen APU, though, make sure your chosen motherboard includes an HDMI port. The best high-end gaming CPU Intel Core i9-9900KS ($670 on Nerdcore Computers) If you absolutely, positively need the fastest frame rates possible, price be damned, you’ll want Intel’s $513 Core i9-9900KS Special Edition. Well, theoretically $513. This limited supply chip shot up to $570 Nerdcore Computers on launch day and still sold out.

The 10th gen is here an every one is pleased to know that were one company that has all the cpu in stock. We can setup a powerful gaming or business machine for you. Get the best out of your technology. Product Collection 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors Code Name Products formerly Ice Lake Vertical Segment Mobile Processor Number i7-1065G7 Status Launched Launch Date Q3'19 Lithography 10 nm Recommended Customer Price$426.00 Performance # of Cores 4 # of Threads 8 Processor Base Frequency 1.30 GHz Max Turbo Frequency 3.90 GHz Cache 8 MB Intel® Smart Cache Bus Speed 4 GT/s TDP 15 W Configurable TDP-up Frequency 1.50 GHz Configurable TDP-up 25 W Configurable TDP-down Frequency 1.00 GHz Configurable TDP-down 12 W Supplemental Information Embedded Options Available No Memory Specifications Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) 64 GB Memory Types DDR4-3200, LPDDR4-3733 Max # of Memory Channels 2 ECC Memory Supported ‡ No Processor Graphics Processor Graphics ‡ Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics Graphics Base Frequency 300 MHz Graphics Max Dynamic Frequency 1.10 GHz Graphics Output eDP/DP/HDMI 4K Support Yes, at 120Hz Max Resolution (HDMI 1.4)‡ 4096 x 2304 Max Resolution (DP)‡ 5120 x 3200 Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel)‡ 5120 x 3200 DirectX* Support 12 OpenGL* Support 4.5 Intel® Quick Sync Video Yes # of Displays Supported ‡ 3 Device ID 0x8A52 Expansion Options PCI Express Revision 3.0 Package Specifications Sockets Supported FCBGA1526 Max CPU Configuration 1 TJUNCTION 100°C Package Size 50mm x 25mm Advanced Technologies Intel® Deep Learning Boost (Intel® DL Boost) Yes Intel® Optane™ Memory Supported ‡ Yes Intel® Speed Shift Technology Yes Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost No Intel® Turbo Boost Technology ‡ 2.0 Intel® vPro™ Platform Eligibility ‡ No Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology ‡ Yes Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) ‡ Yes Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) ‡ Yes Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT) ‡ Yes Intel® TSX-NI No Intel® 64 ‡ Yes Instruction Set 64-bit Instruction Set Extensions Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512 Idle States Yes Thermal Monitoring Technologies Yes Intel® Stable Image Platform Program (SIPP) No Security & Reliability Intel® AES New Instructions Yes Secure Key Yes Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) Yes with Intel® ME Intel® OS Guard Yes Intel® Trusted Execution Technology ‡ No Execute Disable Bit ‡ Yes Intel® Boot Guard Yes Nerdcore Computers 10 th generation of cpu more power for everyday use