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How to master voice control on Android: Going beyond Google Now

May17
by on May 17, 2014 at 2:15 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, How-To's, Insider, LifeHacks

Google Now Voice control
When Apple first introduced Siri with the iPhone 4S, it was not the first time the world had seen voice control, but it did mark the first time a major company was releasing it to the world simultaneously on millions of mobile devices as their most prominent feature. Despite its innumerable flaws and barely finished nature, Siri brought voice recognition to such prominence that soon companies big and small were scrambling to integrate it into all sorts of products. Google’s take on the virtual personal assistant was called Google Now, and it was launched on July 9, 2012 as a…

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Tumblr, Tomfoolery, and 12 months of Yahoo acquisitions

May17
by on May 17, 2014 at 12:19 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider, PSF

IMG_2424
“Per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business,” noted Yahoo’s statement when it announced it had acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion. That was on May 20, 2013, which is exactly one year ago this coming Tuesday. For the record, the tongue-in-cheek remark was a thinly-veiled reference to its handling of photo-sharing platform Flickr in the years that followed its 2005 acquisition. Marissa Mayer has unquestionably breathed new life into the once mighty Yahoo since she jumped shipped from Google to become Yahoo’s CEO in July 2012, with a…

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“I Am Alive”: The role of apps in disaster relief

May17
by on May 17, 2014 at 10:00 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider, Social Media

burning car bombing
On January 2, a piercing boom ripped through Beirut. A car bomb placed near a Hezbollah security zone had exploded, leaving five people dead and dozens more injured – a consequence of the Syrian conflict arousing old regional rivalries. It was the seventh such attack throughout Lebanon in six months. And Sandra Hassan had had enough. “I am currently in Paris pursuing a master’s degree in Public Health, and I have a few Lebanese friends here as well,” Hassan, a 27-year-old Lebanese native, explains. “Whenever we heard of an explosion, our hearts would sink and we’d rush to our phones and…

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LifeLock Wallet pulled from app stores and all user data deleted amid security concerns [Update]

May17
by on May 17, 2014 at 8:33 am
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Insider

LifeLock logo
Identity theft security firm LifeLock has pulled its popular Wallet app from availability and taken the unusual step of deleting all data stored by current users after it deemed the app non-compliant with security standards. “We have determined that certain aspects of the mobile app may not be fully compliant with payment card industry (PCI) security standards,” says LifeLock CEO and Chairman Todd Davis in a blog post announcing the move.”For that reason, we are removing the LifeLock Wallet application from the App Store, Amazon Apps, and Google Play, and when users open the LifeLock Wallet, their information will be…

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