Tech News Stop - Sharing by Wasim Akhtar

[Windows 10 Tip] Pin Websites to Start Menu or Taskbar Using Microsoft Edge

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Almost all of us have some favorite websites which we visit on regular basis. For quick and easy access, we add...

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WinX Video Converter Deluxe 5.12.0

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WinX Video Converter Deluxe allows you to convert all HD/SD videos easily. It comes with 300+ built-in video and audio codes that enable you to convert all of your HD/SD videos, including JVC/Sony/Panasonic/Canon camcorder HD videos. With WinX Video Converter you can convert all kinds of media ranging from MKV to MP4/WMV, MTS to MOV, and MPEG/FLV/A...

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Tips-n-Tricks Collection for Mozilla Firefox Quantum

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J "Firefox Quantum" is the name of Firefox web browser's new version 57.0 and later which come with brand new "Photon UI"...

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Google Keeps Promise, Delivers Android Oreo OS Update For Mi A1 Before 2018

Google has pulled off a OnePlus! When they launched the Xiaomi Mi A1 as Xiaomi’s first ever Android One smartphone, the company had promised that they would deliver the Android Oreo OS update for the phone before the year ends. Users were anxiously waiting for the update as the year came to a close.

Google released the update in the early hours of 31st of December, 2017 – right on time to honor the promise they had made. A similar instance was seen with OnePlus last year as they had released the Android Nougat OS update right before the year changed. This is really cool to see Google keeping the promise they had made to the users of the Xiaomi Mi A1.

The phone is all set to be one of the most popular Android One smartphones of all times. Xiaomi’s low-cost yet effective hardware, combined with Google’s software delivers an excellent product. The phone offers a dual camera as well. Xiaomi had been testing the Android Oreo public beta for the Mi A1 for about a week now.

The final, stable version of Android Oreo is now rolling out for the Mi A1 users – and it weighs in at about 1.1 GB in size. It is a hefty update, as it carries the Android Oreo update, as well as the December 2017 security patch for the users of the phone.

Android One has been a project which started off with a bang but it looked like Google had almost neglected the users for the past year or so. However, with the Mi A1 and the Moto X4 coming out as Android One smartphones – it looks like Google’s priorities are in place again. The release of the MI A1 marked the first instance of Xiaomi releasing a smartphone that was not running on their custom OS, MIUI.

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To Serve Man, with Software

I didn't chose to be a programmer. Somehow, it seemed, the computers chose me. For a long time, that was fine, that was enough; that was all I needed. But along the way I never felt that being a programmer was this unambiguously great-for-everyone career field with zero downsides. There are absolutely occupational hazards of being a programmer, and one of my favorite programming quotes is an allusion to one of them:

It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever consent to write a DestroyBaghdad procedure. Basic professional ethics would instead require him to write a DestroyCity procedure, to which Baghdad could be given as a parameter.

Which reminds me of another joke that people were telling in 2015:

Donald Trump is basically a comment section running for president

Which is troubling because technically, technically, I run a company that builds comment sections.

Here at the tail end of 2017, from where I sit neither of these jokes seem particularly funny to me any more. Perhaps I have lost the capacity to feel joy as a human being? Haha just kidding! ... kinda.

Remember in 2011 when Marc Andreeseen said that "Software is eating the world?"

software is eating the world, Marc Andreessen

That used to sound all hip and cool and inspirational, like "Wow! We software developers really are making a difference in the world!" and now for the life of me I can't read it as anything other than an ominous warning that we just weren't smart enough to translate properly at the time. But maybe now we are.

to-serve-man

I've said many, many times that the key to becoming an experienced software developer is to understand that you are, at all times, your own worst enemy. I don't mean this in a negative way – you have to constantly plan for and design around your inevitable human mistakes and fallibility. It's fundamental to good software engineering because, well, we're all human. The good-slash-bad news is that you're only accidentally out to get yourself. But what happens when we're infinitely connected and software is suddenly everywhere, in everyone's pockets every moment of the day, starting to approximate a natural extension of our bodies? All of a sudden those little collective social software accidents become considerably more dangerous:

The issue is bigger than any single scandal, I told him. As headlines have exposed the troubling inner workings of company after company, startup culture no longer feels like fodder for gentle parodies about ping pong and hoodies. It feels ugly and rotten. Facebook, the greatest startup success story of this era, isn’t a merry band of hackers building cutesy tools that allow you to digitally Poke your friends. It’s a powerful and potentially sinister collector of personal data, a propaganda partner to government censors, and an enabler of discriminatory advertising.

I'm reminded of a particular Mitchell and Webb skit: "Are we the baddies?"

On the topic of unanticipated downsides to technology, there is no show more essential than Black Mirror. If you haven't watched Black Mirror yet, do not pass go, do not collect $200, go immediately to Netflix and watch it. Go on! Go ahead!

⚠ Fair warning: please DO NOT start with season 1 episode 1 of Black Mirror! Start with season 3, and go forward. If you like those, dip into season 2 and the just-released season 4, then the rest. But humor me and please at least watch the first episode of season 3.

The technology described in Black Mirror can be fanciful at times, but several episodes portray disturbingly plausible scenarios with today's science and tech, much less what we'll have 20 to 50 years from now. These are very real cautionary tales, and some of this stuff is well on its way toward being realized.

Programmers don't think of themselves as people with the power to change the world. Most programmers I know, including myself, grew up as nerds, geeks, social outcasts. Did I ever tell you about the time I wrote a self-destructing Apple // boot disk program to let a girl in middle school know that I liked her? I was (and still am) a terrible programmer, but oh man did I ever test the heck out of that code before copying on to her school floppy disc. But I digress. What do you do when you wake up one day and software has kind of eaten the world, and it is no longer clear if software is in fact an unambiguously good thing, like we thought, like everyone told us … like we wanted it to be?

Months ago I submitted a brief interview for a children's book about coding.

I recently recieved a complimentary copy of the book in the mail. I paged to my short interview, alongside the very cool Kiki Prottsman. I had no real recollection of the interview questions after the months of lead time it takes to print a physical book, but reading the printed page, I suddenly hit myself over the head with the very answer I had been searching my soul for these past 6 months:

In attempting to simplify my answers for an audience of kids, I had concisely articulated the one thing that keeps me coming back to software: to serve man. Not on a platter, for bullshit monetization – but software that helps people be the best version of themselves.

And you know why I do it? I need that help, too. I get tired, angry, upset, emotional, cranky, irritable, frustrated and I need to be reminded from time to time to choose to be the better version of myself. I don't always succeed. But I want to. And I believe everyone else – for some reasonable statistical value of everyone else – fundamentally does, too.

That was the not-so-secret design philosophy behind Stack Overflow, that by helping others become better programmers, you too would become a better programmer. It's unavoidable. And, even better, if we leave enough helpful breadcrumbs behind for those that follow us, we collectively advance the whole of programming for everyone.

I apologize for not blogging much in 2017. I've certainly been busy with Discourse which is actually going great; we grew to 21 people and gave $55,000 back this year to the open source ecosystem we build on. But that's no excuse. The truth is that it's been hard to write because this has been a deeply troubling year in so many dimensions — for men, for tech, for American democracy. I'm ashamed of much that happened, and I think one of the first and most important steps we can take is to embrace explicit codes of conduct throughout our industry. I also continue to believe, if we start to think more holistically about what our software can do to serve all people, not just ourselves personally (or, even worse, the company we work for) — that software can and should be part of the solution.

I tried to amplify on these thoughts in recent podcasts:

	Community Engineering Report with Kim Crayton
	Developer on Fire with Dave Rael
	Dorm Room Tycoon with William Channer

Software is easy to change, but people ... aren't. So in the new year, as software developers, let's make a resolution to focus on the part we can change, and keep asking ourselves one very important question: how can our software help people become the best version of themselves?

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The Most Absurd Google Search Trends of 2017: From Unicorns to Acronyms!

The end of every year is an exciting time to be a Google enthusiast. It is at this time of the year that the company decides to come out with wacky statistics and surprising trends. Google has today released a list of some of the craziest search trends of 2017 – which will leave you amused.

The Most Absurd Search Trends of 2017

Here’s a look at some of the most absurd searches of 2017:

Unicorns in food!

Image; Colourbox

In 2017, Unicorns were all over search. It might as well be declared the year of unicorns as there have been a number of crazy search trends over the year associated with unicorns –

Unicorn Frappuccino
Unicorn Hot Chocolate
Unicorn Cheesecake
Unicorn Lemonade

Add unicorn to any popular food item or drink and you might as well be looking at a search trend in 2017!

Slime…

Image: YouTube

Among one of the most absurd search trends of this year was this sudden interest in all things slimy. Some of the most popular search trends on Google are the ‘how to’ trends. Among the ‘how to make’ trends, How to make slime was trending no. 1 this year. More slime related searches include Me

How to get slime out of carpet
How to make fluffy slime
How to make jiggly slime
How to make butter slime
How to make glow in the dark slime

Memes

Image: someecards

Popularity of meme related searches continues to grow as 2017 witnessed some of the hottest meme related searches. Here are the trending memes of the year as per Google search trends:

Cash me outside
United airlines
Elf on the shelf
What’s in tarnation
Mocking spongebob

Animals on Search

Some animals have been quite popular this year. April, the giraffe was the most searched for animal of 2017. Following the April incident, search trends started around ‘how long are giraffes pregnant for’. Fiona the baby hippo and Marnie the rescue dog too made it to the top animal related Google search trends of 2017.

Acronyms

We’re all trying to understand them! Every day someone throws a new acronym at you and you’re like wgo! (What’s going on!). Here are some of the most popularly searched for acronyms as per Google Search Trends

WCW (Woman Crush Wednesday)
TFW (That Feeling When)
STG (Swear To God)
GOAT (Greatest Of All Time)
OFC (Of course)

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How To Create Home Screen Shortcuts for Settings Sub-items in Android

I really appreciate those quick shortcuts in the notification bar of my Android phone. However, I find them very limited as many of my favorite options are not available there. Thankfully, you may not be able to add items to the notification bar, but you can still add widgets on the home screen that will let you access your favorite options with a single tap.

In today’s post, I’ll show you 2 ways to get quick access to your favorite options available in the Settings app.

Add Settings shortcut widget

Most Android phones come with a Settings shortcut widget that let you add a bunch of handy options as 1×1 widgets on your home screen. Here’s how to add that widget:

Tap and hold on any empty space on the home screen and select “Widgets”.
Now swipe right and look for the “Settings shortcut” widget. Tap and hold on it to place it on the home screen.
You’ll be shown multiple options to select from, like Battery, Accessibility, Apps, and a few more.

You can add as many option widgets you like on the home screen, just repeat the process and choose the option you want to see on the home screen.

Note: This method will not work on some Android phones. Particularly, newer Samsung phones and tablets don’t support the Settings shortcut widget.

Use a third-party app

In case the Settings shortcut isn’t supported on your Android phone, then you can also get help from a third-party app to achieve this goal. For this purpose, I recommend the app Shortcutter for its amazing customizability and the extensive list of options that can be put on the home screen.

The app basically creates an app for the function you want to use. You can then put that app on the home screen for quick access. Additionally, it also comes with an always-on-top sidebar where a plethora of shortcuts and functions are available.

To create apps for settings sub-items, go to “Settings” and tap on “Expose Launcher Toggles”. Here you’ll see a bunch of function that you can toggle on to create an app for them in the app drawer.

Once the required functions are enabled, you’ll see dedicated apps for them in the app drawer. Just tap and hold on them to put them on the home screen and easily access them anytime you like.

If you didn’t like Shortcutter, you might be interested in checking out Smart Quick Settings. It’s a similar app, but instead of creating dedicated home screen shortcuts, the app itself offers toggle buttons to quickly enable/disable features.

Ending words

For most built-in settings, the Settings shortcut widget should be enough. However, if the option isn’t available on your Android phone or you want more functions than the built-in ones, you should definitely try a third-party app.

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