Software & Apps - Page 54

As digital superiority is becoming a foregone conclusion, it's honestly rather embarrassing that we so stubbornly hold on to something so impractical, and by something, I mean physical discs. I love DVDs and have a huge collection. That said, for years, I have to settle for the inconvenience of carrying piles of DVDs around with great care. Therefore, it may not come off as much of a surprise that I can hardly contain my excitement when I come across a perfect DVD to MP4 solution to fit in the new status quo.

If you want to convert your DVDs, you have a few options to choose from. For example, the famous Handbrake may well rule the roost in home DVD converting. Or if you need a specialist who can handle brittle, decade-old discs from various studios, just like me, turn to WinX DVD Ripper, the free but powerful DVD video conversion program for Windows.

First, the DVD ripper accepts almost all the DVDs I throw to it (I'm a big movie fan, so I have a motley crowd of discs). Unlike Handbrake, which requires Libdvdcss to be installed to circumvent CSS used on DVDs, it has no problem reading DVDs with 99 titles, region DVDs, homemade DVDs, damaged & old discs, non-standard DVD, TV series, new releases, etc.

The Google Project Zero team announced this week that it had discovered significant flaws in Apple's Image I/O that were likely candidates to be targeted by zero-click attack vectors. The bugs were discovered in Apple's Image I/O software, which ships with iOS, MacOS, watchOS, and tvOS. The flaws were present on every major platform that Apple offers.

The Project Zero team withheld any publication of the bugs until they were patched by Apple. The team says that the Image I/O problems Apple had linked to relatively well-known issues surrounding image format parsers. Flaws of this sort are commonly targeted by hackers because they could allow the various multimedia assets to be processed with the ability to run code on a target system without user interaction.

Google's team used a process called "fuzzing" to determine how the Image I/O framework responded to malformed image files. The team chose that particular technique because Apple restricts access to a majority of the tool source code. During the research, the Google team successfully found six vulnerabilities in Image I/O, along with another eight vulnerabilities in OpenEXR, which is a third-party HDR image file format.

Microsoft announced a few weeks ago that it would be replacing its Office 365 plans with Microsoft 365 Personal and Family and plans for is Business users. The new Microsoft 365 plans are essentially the same as the plans Microsoft offered as Office 365 in the past. For those who've been wanting to subscribe, the new Microsoft 365 plans are now generally available to all.

The first of the plans is Microsoft 365 Family, which was formerly Office 365 Home. Microsoft 365 Family costs $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month. It includes access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, and Publisher. The last two of those apps are only available on PC while the others are available on Mac as well. Up to six people and devices along with up to 6TB (1TB per person) of cloud storage are covered in the plan.

Microsoft 365 Personal is available for $69.99 per year or $6.99 per month. That includes access to the same apps along with 1TB of cloud storage. The main difference is only one person can have access to that account. For those who aren't interested in subscriptions, Office Home & Student 2019 is available for $149.99 as a one-time purchase. The big catch here is that it only brings Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for one PC or Mac.

Twitter has announced an official update for the Mac app that brings with it a feature that many users have wanted for a long time. The update adds in the ability for Mac users to view a livestream of recent Tweets. Before this update, the only way that users could see a stream of newly published Tweets was to refresh the application manually.

This new feature will likely win users for the official Twitter for Mac app from third-party Twitter clients like Tweetbot. Third-party apps that lost the timeline streaming ability back in 2018 when Twitter made a change to its API. Twitter for Mac users do have to enable live tweets but the process is easy to do and very straightforward.

To enable live tweets, users need to install the latest version of Twitter for Mac from the Mac App Store and then click the start icon at the top of the app. Users can then turn on the "Pin to the top" option that enables timeline streaming. Twitter says that once that feature is enabled, users will see new tweets as they're shared at the top of the timeline.

With millions of people around the world stuck at home because of the coronavirus outbreak, businesses and workers from all sorts of fields have turned to videoconferencing apps such as Zoom. Zoom has been one of the highest-profile videoconferencing companies to gain popularity during the coronavirus outbreak. It's also had some very notable security issues. While end-users have been surprised by the security issues presented by Zoom, a new report claims that Zoom's business partners knew the company had security problems.

A new report claims that Zoom partner Dropbox knew for months that Zoom had security issues. The report, from the New York Times, claims that Dropbox knew a year ago that there was a significant security vulnerability in the videoconferencing app, which was used by Dropbox employees. The vulnerability was discovered by a pair of Australian hackers while on a flight to attend a live hacking competition sponsored by Dropbox in Singapore.

The major security issue with Zoom the hackers discovered could have allowed an attacker to take control of certain users' Mac computers without the users knowing. The NYT cites three unnamed former Dropbox engineers who say that the vulnerability the hackers found was precisely what Dropbox feared. Since Zoom was so widely used by Dropbox, the company took on the policing of security practices for the videoconferencing app itself.

No one likes to take a dumbbell size video recorder like RED, ARRI to travel, gathering, party, etc. In the video-sharing era, shooting a video using a mobile phone has been a prior option for most of the people. Smartphones have completely beaten all other devices in any aspect, such as convenience, size, usage, and more.

But if you film a long video using mobiles, you would be better going for desktop video editing software. The reason is that editing large videos with a mobile app is much more difficult than with a desktop app. Some mobile apps cannot modify footage parameters. And they are likely to reduce video quality dramatically. More so, they would freeze or crash when coping with large videos. You can access our free video editing review if you know little about desktop video editing software.

In this post, I would like to share with you guys an all-in-one but easy to use video editing software - VideoProc.

When you install Windows, most users will use Microsoft's built-in internet browser, Microsoft Edge, to download Chrome or another internet browser - abandoning Edge altogether.

Perhaps that isn't the case anymore, as Bleeping Computer reports that Edge is now the second most popular internet browser in terms of usage. The report states that Edge has now overtaken Mozilla Firefox, and in regards to browser market share, now holds 7.59%, in comparison to Firefox's 7.19%.

If you were wondering what internet browser holds the first position in terms of popularity, and you guessed Google Chrome, then you would have guessed right as Google's internet browser holds the lions share of users with 68.5%. This recent popularity spike for Microsoft Edge could be a result of the browser becoming Chromium-based, which means that it has support for using all of the Google Chrome extensions in the Chrome Webstore, while also having the same compatibility and performance as Google Chrome.

Microsoft has announced that Windows currently has two critical security flaws that could open PC's up to being remote-controlled by attackers.

The news was announced on Microsoft's website under their 'security advisory' section. The post explains that these two critical vulnerabilities are at the moment only being used in "limited targeted attacks", and that these vulnerabilities could be present across all supported Windows operating systems. So, where are the vulnerabilities located? According to the announcement, the flaws are in the Windows Adobe Type Manager Library.

Windows Adobe Type Manager Library gives applications access to control and manage fonts for Adobe Systems. The security advisory post says that hackers could get targets to open documents that contain files that are malicious. The exploit could occur when Adobe Type Manager Library incorrectly "handles a specially-crafted multi-master font - Adobe Type 1 PostScript format," which could then result in the users' PC being hijacked remotely.

Windows users aren't the biggest fans of the Live Tiles that make the Windows 10 Start Menu appear cluttered, but that could all be coming to an end soon.

Twitter user, Aggiornamenti Lumia, posted the above Tweet showcasing what appears to be a revamped Start Menu from Windows 10. What we can immediately notice is that the Start Menu lacks Microsoft's Live Tiles that debuted alongside the Windows Phone 7 before they were eventually added to Windows 8. Many reports have come out about what Microsoft plans on doing with the Live Tiles, and some reports are suggesting that the company is planning on swapping them out with simple static icons.

WinCentral does accurately note that Aggiornamenti Lumia doesn't include what Build number this Windows is running on, so we can't precisely tell when (if) Microsoft is going kill off the Live Tiles. Microsoft has officially said that Windows 10's icons will be getting a colorful makeover, which will add a fresh splash of paint to a range of different apps. Perhaps Microsoft will sneak in the removal of the Live Tiles as they slowly roll out their app makeover update. More on that can be found here.

Since it's recent explosion into the app world, TikTok has been a subject of controversy as many people have claimed the app is spyware. Now, Reddit's CEO has spoken out about what he thinks about the app.

Reddit CEO, Steve Huffman was sitting down with some former Facebook executives at a conference in San Francisco. Huffman was then asked if small Silicon Valley startup companies could learn something from the recent explosion in popularity surrounding TikTok. Huffman's response was rather bleak, and straight to the point, "Maybe I'm going to regret this, but I can't even get to that level of thinking with them."

He continued, "Because I look at that app as so fundamentally parasitic, that it's always listening, the fingerprinting technology they use is truly terrifying, and I could not bring myself to install an app like that on my phone. I actively tell people, 'Don't install that spyware on your phone". This isn't the first time TikTok has been linked to spyware, as the United States government banned the use of the app on any government-issued phone under "security threat".

Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 icons will be getting a fresh coat of paint in the coming months ahead. Prepare for your Windows 10 icons to be updated!

Windows has taken to its blog to announced that Windows 10 icons will be evolved into some newer and fresh. Microsoft will begin the re-design with some built-in apps like Alarms & Clock, Calculator, Mail, and Calendar. The effort behind this re-design is to bring a new level of consistency and connection across all of Windows' icons.

The first apps that will get the fresh coat of paint will be Calendar and Mail. The updates for them have already rolled out to Windows Insiders, as updates from the Microsoft Store. Windows 10 users can expect the rest of the icon updates to follow over the course of a few months. If you are interested in checking out more information for what Microsoft has planned for Windows 10, check out this link here.

WhatsApp is now home to a whopping 2 billion active users, with the Facebook-owned company taking to an official blog post for the announcement.

The company took the time in the blog post to underline its end-to-end encryption and privacy of eveyr message, with WhatsApp explaining: "Strong encryption acts like an unbreakable digital lock that keeps the information you send over WhatsApp secure, helping protect you from hackers and criminals. Messages are only kept on your phone, and no one in between can read your messages or listen to your calls, not even us. Your private conversations stay between you".

The company continues, saying that strong encryption is a "necessity in modern life. We will not compromise on security because that would make people less safe. For even more protection, we work with top security experts, employ industry leading technology to stop misuse as well as provide controls and ways to report issues - without sacrificing privacy".

A robust PDF editor is an absolute must for businesses today, but with so many products on the market, it's hard to know which one to choose for your organization. Fortunately, there are several free as well as free trial products that you can take out for a spin before you settle on the best one for your document workflows. The PDF utilities here all have Windows versions, with some supporting macOS and mobile platforms like Android and iOS to deliver a true cross-platform experience.

If you're looking for a free PDF editor for the latest Windows 10 version, look no further than PDFelement. This robust utility is a workhorse document management suite that will handle large files, batch processes, and advanced functions like forms handling and OCR. It offers the full range of tools your company needs for creating, editing, annotating, converting, securing, optimizing, and sharing documents, with comprehensive options to convert files to and from PDF.

The best part about this software is that the free trial does not limit its basic PDF editing capabilities in any way. All you'll see is a watermark on created, edited, and converted documents, which is fine for internal use. And if you upgrade to a Standard or Pro paid license, the pricing is far lower than the market leader, Adobe Acrobat DC or its Pro version. You can download this application free for Windows 10 32-bit and 64-bit processors, and it even runs on older versions that go back to Windows XP and Vista, if that's what you have.

UPDATE: PlatinumGames confirms the 4 is in reference to how many projects it's currently working on.

PlatinumGames today launched Platinum 4, a mysterious teaser website that has lots of implications.

Platinum fans across the world are buzzing about the new site and what it could mean. It's possibly a throwback to 2002's Capcom Five, indicating PlatinumGames currently has up to four major games in development (Astral Chain sequels, a new IP, Bayonetta 3, and Babylon's Fall).

Microsoft has announced an end of an era, Windows 7 will no longer receive any support and its users that remain are advised to move onto Windows 10.

Microsoft has been giving Windows 7 support for the last ten years, and the time to end that lifeline support is officially upon us. In a new blog post on Microsoft's website, it says that as of January 14th, 2020, "Technical assistance and software updates from Windows Update that help protect your PC are no longer available for the product." Microsoft has instead moved onto supporting newer technologies and great new experiences.

If you are a Windows 7 user, Microsoft recommends you to upgrade to Windows 10 as you will be provided adequate protection on a more updated OS. Windows 7 users can do this for free through a loophole in the Media Creation Tool. Windows Latest reports that if users download and run the Media Creation Tool and input their existing product key for Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, they will receive a new Windows 10 digital license.

Dead Cells has already made its way over to the App Store for iOS devices, but when is the Android version coming out?

The news of Dead Cells coming over to mobile dates back to last May, where the developer and publisher announced that both iOS devices would be getting the Metroidvania game. iOS devices were blessed with the extremely hard title first over the Summer, and since then, Android users have been patiently waiting for a release date announcement.

Luckily, Android Police has hawk eyes and spotted a Tweet from the game's publisher, Playdigious, who said that the "Android version will be out Q3 2020". The Tweet also mentions that the developers are currently working on a content update, but its unfortunately still too early in the process to announce a release date.

Snapchat has decided to integrate deepfake technology into its app, but instead of framing people for blackmail purposes like most other deepfake technology, Snapchat wants people to have fun.

This integration of deepfake technology has come under the guise of Snapchat Cameo's, which are AI-generated videos that require a simple selfie to be enabled. Snapchat will use its AI tech to add your face to over 150 videos that can be sent to your friends for a myriad of reasons.

Unlike the commonly controversial deepfake technology, Snapchat nips that problem in its bud by only allowing users to send deepfaked faces on videos that they have selected. Ruling out any possibility of seeing your face on something that you did not agree to in the first place. If you are interested in playing around with Cameos, a step-by-step guide can be found below.

Don't you just hate it when you are salivating for that piece of meat you have in the oven, then you take it out, and it's cooked poorly? That's most likely due to the temperature you had the oven at.

Whirpool is aiming to solve that problem for you with their new Smart Thermometer that uses special sensors to tell chefs and cooks alike what the temperature of not only the oven but also the meat. The Smart Thermometer tells users what the temperatures are through a mobile app, saving users the time and the heat of periodically checking the oven.

To take things to the next level, the Smart Thermometer will connect directly with Whirlpool ovens with an update in 2020. This update will allow users to adjust the oven temperature based on-the-fly based on the recipe you have decided to cook. Whirlpool will be releasing its Smart Thermometer sometime in early 2020 for $129.

If you didn't know, Capcom is currently hard at work making a Mega Man mobile game. Originally this mobile game was meant to release late in 2019. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

While it's unfortunate that we didn't get the release of what has been titled as Mega Man X DiVE in 2019, it was for a good reason. Capcom has announced that instead of releasing a half-baked game, they will instead be spending some extra time making some optimization changes.

The current gaming scene is littered with developers releasing games that are poorly optimized and barely finished. So, seeing a developer owning up to what could be better is certainly a grand sight in gamers' eyes. I think I can speak on behalf of many gamers out there by saying that we would much rather wait for a completed titled then receive a title that is half-finished. Mega Man X DiVE is now expected to launch in the "First Quarter of 2020".

Music streaming has taken over the US music market. Organizations are now saying it accounts for 80% of the market, compared to only accounting for 7% back in 2010.

The Recording Industry Association of America or RIAA for short has released some new decade long statistics onto their official Twitter page. The RIAA says that over the course of the decade, streaming has become the staple way of accessing music in the music market, surpassing physical media by a landslide.

The above image shows that back in 2010, physical music took the lions share of the market at 52%, digital downloads took 38%, and streaming only had 7%. Now, looking at the 2019 data, streaming has basically eaten physical music, reducing it down to just 9% of the market, while streaming sits strongly at 80%. The increase in streaming is no doubt a result of many more Americans now having a smartphone and downloading apps such as Spotify or Apple Music.