The discovery of a huge privacy issue with Apple's FaceTime has got the whole technology world talking; the bug allow anyone calling any Apple device owner via FaceTime to spontaneously hear every conversation at the background even without the recipient picking the call, or reject the call.

While the video and audio calling service works only with Apple devices, including: iPhones, iPads, iPod Touch and Mac, the FaceTime bug was triggered by exploiting a vulnerability with Group FaceTime adding of third person onto a call, allowing you to hear the audio from your recipient immediately it starts ringing at their end.

Initially spotted by a teenager playing Fortnite, which according to the Wall Street Journal, the boy's mom, Michelle Thompson tried frantically to warn Apple of the bug before the issue blew up all over the social media.

The FaceTime bug became public knowledge after several attempts to reach Apple had failed, which calls to question the rigidity of technical support from the biggest tech companies, which is increasingly becoming a nightmare, with processes often automated, and largely having users going round and round in circles when they require human intervention to solve critical issues.

All the efforts to reach out to Apple in multiple of times - by direct phone calls, email messages, sending a fax, via Facebook and Twitter, and also reporting to the company's product security team, proved abortive.

Michelle Johnson’s report to Apple was about a week ago, and had the tech company heeded the warning, this huge privacy gaffe could have been reduced to the barest minimal, as eventually, every other users got to experience the bug and began to speak out, before Apple finally responded by disabling the Group FaceTime feature.

Apple, however has promised rolling out a permanent security fix for the FaceTime bug through a software update later in the week.

FaceTime bug: Lessons from Apple's response to the eavesdropping vulnerability



The Pirate Bay (TPB) torrent is undoubtedly the king of the torrents, and the favorite for many users because they find it much easier to download cracked software, including: movies, games, music, TV series, etc., than any other torrent site.

But recent happenings has made it increasingly difficult to access TPB, due to its many legal tussles, and several ISPs across the world have started clamping down on The Pirate Bay torrent.

While The Pirate Bay is down, and with the severe increase in its downtime coupled with its Dark web portal becoming unavailable, many fans have come to accept the bitter truth and perhaps look out for some alternatives to The Pirate Bay.

And to make their task a little easier, we have compiled the list of best alternatives, so they can use this list of proxy and mirror sites to download free movies and unblock The Pirate Bay, which also includes some great torrents that can proudly fill the gap when questions like “Is The Pirate Bay down?’ pops-up!

Top 10 Alternative Torrents to the Pirate Bay for 2019

  • KickAssTorrents
  • RARBG
  • Zooqle
  • ExtraTorrent
  • TorrentFunk
  • 1337X
  • Limetorrents
  • Sky Torrent
  • FreeBookSpot
  • TorLock


KickAssTorrents made our top of the list because it is the most popular of the alternatives, though the original domain too was shut down, it has returned with new domain, and hopefully it can not have further drawbacks.

All the featured alternatives have a listing of top torrents in different categories like movie, tv shows, games, software, ebook etc. While for some, you can easily sort out the different contents available from the home page, but many aren't, so opening the category will allow you to sort through the torrents based on date, file sizes, seeds, peers, and health.

And as a no-brainer, it is always safer to avail yourself the use of VPN to ensure your traffic uses secure protocol to make the connection more secure while torrenting; also note that some, if not all of the websites does feature intrusive advertisements!

Top 10 Best Pirate Bay Alternatives: Tested & Confirmed Working for 2019



Google App v9.10 update include “Face Match” code for identification by facial recognition, akin to what is obtainable with Apple iPhone X and XS models, though the feature won't be limited to smartphone access, but also other Google Assistant enabled devices.

Google has been exploring deeper into facial recognition technology, which it pledges to keep free until there are enough policies to prevent abuse of the technology, inline with its commitments to responsible development of AI (artificial intelligence).

Face Match, though would require devices to have an onboard camera, so may not be supported by Google Assistant on Google Home product line.

Albeit, Google Home Hub comes with the rare voice-interactive smart display, but still without a camera, and utilizes Voice Match and interaction by voice; so the face ID would not offer it much in the way of personalized enhancements.

The Face Match support forecasts will make security an increasing focus for voice assistants in 2019, and as a second-factor authentication when Voice Match fails to work, Face Match could be the key to unlocking your smart display.

Google, it is believed will not only support on-device recognition in the long run, but also across Assistant-enabled devices with the proper hardware or even detection for multiple-user devices.

Face Match for Google Assistant spotted on Google App v9.10 beta update



It's no longer news that Facebook has commenced a work to interconnect its messaging platforms, namely: Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, to allow users to be able to message one another irrespective of platform.

While instant messaging from the world go has been fragmented, and the fragmentation given rise to intense competition as to who gets the larger pie of user share, the idea of interconnectivity between the different platforms will make it relatively easy for a user in a given network to communicate with another on a different service.

Albeit, this initial move by Facebook is only within its own platforms, which means bringing together the three largest instant messaging services with over 2.6 billion users, and allowing users to communicate across the different platforms for the first time.

Though still in its early stages, the target of completion has been set at the end of 2019 or early next year — and it requires thousands of workforce within Facebook to reconfigure how the messaging platforms work from the most basic levels. The platforms will continue to run as separate stand-alone apps, but with unified underlying technical infrastructure, according to those involved in the effort, who disclosed it on the condition of anonymity because of its confidentiality.

However, you never can rule out the possibility of the extension to outside messaging service like Telegram, Skype and BlackBerry Messenger or perhaps those others may need to initiate discussions to work towards getting interconnected right away.

Now imagine, what possibilities it will unravel, a world in which a Facebook user can reach out to Skype without leaving the platform or an Instagramer communicating with a WhatsApp user and even a user on Telegram, just as the email system is interconnected, a Gmail user can email users on Yahoo mail and Outlook.

Is the Era of Interconnectivity between Instant Messaging platforms upon us?



Microsoft in a bid to tackle the spread of fake news has incorporated NewsGuard into its browser as a default extension in Edge browser for Android and iOS platforms.

NewsGuard is a browser extension which labels news sources with either green or red icon, to indicate their trustworthiness and also displays if there is any history of the sources ever engaging in perceived fake news stories, developed by NewsGuard Technologies.

The browser extension is supported by Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Safari, and available in their respective extensions collection, but now Microsoft has made it a default in the mobile version of Edge, albeit it is required to be activated for it to work.

While NewsGuard Technologies employ professional journalists to score news websites based on their reliability and general trustworthiness, with sites that score 60 out of 100 points on the provided nine criteria getting a green icon attached to their name, and the ones that score below per displaying a red icon.

Optionally, the users are provided with more information, including how sites have fared in each of the nine criterion, and also highlighted are conflicts of interest, such as sites that do not disclose their finance by lobbying groups.

The news site ranking extension is run by establishment media figures along with former U.S. presidents: Clinton, Obama and Bush administration members.

NewsGuard has been criticized as been partisan with its fighting of “fake news” and some perceived opponents have had their accurate publications tagged as untrustworthy, with the recent incidence of the Drudge Report been labeled as fake news even though it was the first to break the news that the U.S. President had re-open the government.

Albeit, the Drudge Report has primarily been a news link aggregating site, but it also breaks news with quite remarkable accuracy.

Another instance, the Guardian Mail Online had been tagged with a “red” label by NewsGuard, and given a reliability score of 3 out of the 9 criterion, and the warning: “Proceed with caution: This website generally fails to maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability” appearing alongside every link to the Mail Online both on Google search, Facebook and Twitter feeds, and even on the Mail’s homepage.

On the contrary, many of the sites ranked as “trustworthy” by NewsGuard has spent their past few days smearing the names of the students of Covington Catholic High School, such as the the New York Times, the Washington Post and many others condemning the students for their actions, but later, a new version of events (video evidence) was revealed that absolve the students.

Microsoft's deal to incorporate NewsGuard into Edge illustrates that even as these ratings aren't foolproof, the integration may likely shift the news landscape drastically, as Edge holds a tangible share of the mobile-browser market.

But the pressing question now is whether the partnerships will meaningfully address the scourge of misinformation plaguing the online platforms or just serve as another public relations window dressing at most.

Why Microsoft's partnership with NewsGuard to tackle Fake News may hit a brick wall



Microsoft has officially made the Office suite of applications, including Word, Outlook, OneDrive, OneNote, PowerPoint and Excel, available on the Apple's Mac store.

While this is the first time the company is offering Office apps through Apple's Mac App Store, the applications only run in a semi-functional mode which eliminate actions such as creating and editing of documents, and sending/receiving emails, requiring Office 365 subscription or a subscription through in-app purchase to unlock the full functionality.

Though the applications aren't any different from what Microsoft is offering on its website or from customers' Office 365 control panel.

The distinction is only noticeable in those covered by Microsoft's retail "perpetual" licenses, which include Office Home & Student editions 2019 (priced at $150 for a one-time purchase) and Office Home & Business edition 2019 (priced at $250).

But it remains unclear if Apple will require the usual 30% off the cap of Office 365 in-app purchases, as is the case with all other apps, or whether Apple and Microsoft has arrived at a different revenue agreement.

The Mac App Store purchase is also open to enterprises by using the Apple Business Manager to share the Office 365 applications to its employees covered by the corporate-grade subscriptions for Office 365 Business or Office 365 Enterprise E3.

Acquiring Office 365 through the Mac App Store has the advantage of prompt delivery of updates and upgrades, rather than waiting on Microsoft AutoUpdate.

The Office 365 experience will be tailored to Mac and macOS, like Dark Mode, Continuity Camera, OneDrive Files on Demand, and Touch Bar support on the MacBook Pro. And you can access your content from any device, also coauthor with anyone around the world in real-time to create more impactful content with less effort.

What's the implications of Microsoft bringing Office apps to Mac App Store?



Every Windows 10 user must be familiar with the me_administrator account password issue, which in most cases after trying the "normal" passwords or variations, nothing may seem to work leaving the only option to re-install Windows 10.

The sad reality of re-installing Windows 10 is that you are bound to lose all your saved files, and that is something many users will not be comfortable with; but wait, what if there is a nifty tool that is fully capable of recovering your passwords without you losing your files?

WinPassKey’s Windows Password Recovery Tool is capable of salvaging local or domain account passwords on almost all Windows OS versions, including: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, 2000, NT, Windows Server 2012 (R2)/2008 (R2)/2003 (R2), etc.

Unique Features of Windows Password Recovery Tool

  • Recover All Windows passwords: It is fully capable of recovering passwords or resetting all Windows user and administrator passwords.
  • Recover All Domain Passwords: You can reset all domain user and administrator passwords as well.
  • Supports All File Systems: Fully supports FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5 file systems.
  • Fastest, Easy to Use and Safe: It boasts as the fastest, with easy to use interface and safe Windows Password Recovery Tool.
  • 100% Recovery Rate: It guarantees 100% success to reset your lost or forgotten local Administrator password instantly.


Steps To Recover Windows Password with Created Windows Password Reset Disk

Firstly, you will need to download and install Windows Password Recovery on your Windows 10 computer.



Once you’ve successfully installed the software, run Windows Password Recovery and burn it to a CD/DVD or USB flash drive. For USB Drive: Insert the USB flash drive in the PC and select from the drop-down list.

And for CD/DVD: Simply insert a CD/DVD flash drive in the PC and select CD/DVD from the drop-down list.

Then click on “Begin burning” to burn the Windows password reset disk. In a jiffy, you will get a bootable Windows password reset disk capable of recovering Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista passwords instantly.

Now, Insert the Windows password reset disk into the locked computer and make it boot from USB flash drive or CD/DVD.

Hold the F8 key to enter the BIOS, then select boot from USB or CD/DVD. You will now see the Windows Password Key running on the locked computer.

Finally, choose a Windows system and the administrator, standard user or Microsoft account you want to recover the password, then click on “Reset Password” button, and that’s it.



The user password will become blank and you can now click on the “Reboot” button to restart the computer and log in to your account without a password.

Our Verdict!

Windows Password Recovery Tool offers the simplest route to password recovery, with all the data on the locked computer absolutely safe. And besides been the ultimate Windows 10 password cracker, it can also create a new administrator account via CD/DVD or USB drive.

WinPassKey Review: The Best Windows 10 Password Recovery Tool



Securonix, a security research firm has warned about an increase in the number of attacks targeting cloud infrastructure/Hadoop/YARN, with the multi-vector and multi-platform automated attacks using security analytics: Moanacroner and XBash, among others.

The automated attacks target exposed cloud infrastructure/Hadoop/YARN instances, while the attack vector includes: Moanacroner (which is a variant of Sustes) – fairly trivial, but fully targeted single-vector/single-platform attacks that's mainly focused on Cryptocurrency mining.

According to the Researchers, the main focus of the attackers is to install a second-stage payload for cryptomining and/or remote access, but in some other instances the malware propagates and infects exposed services, corrupting data and installing second-stage cryptomining and ransomware payloads.

The attackers exploit unpatched vulnerabilities or exposed configurations in cloud services like the Apache Hadoop processing toolset or Redis data infrastructure, using brute-force attacks.

And the key vectors in the attacks include Hadoop unauthenticated command execution and Redis remote command execution, but there are still other vectors like the ActiveMQ (Arbitrary File Execution).

However, the most common malware tools remains the XBash worm, which was first reported in May 2018, infecting both Windows and Linux servers, and fully capable of deploying additional payloads depending on the operating system involved.

The Xbash botnet has shown a distinguishing combination of cryptojacking, cybersabotage, and multi-platform characteristics, with the malware deleting critical databases, installing cryptojacking scripts, and acting as a ransomware.

Albeit, the vulnerable services are often not designed to be accessible via the internet, such as Redis, and they don't normally have strong security controls by default.

It is recommended that affected services should implement stronger security for all cloud offerings, irrespective of whether the services are for remote management, or data storage for applications or messaging clients. And a security management system is also needed for the cloud assets, to effectively tackle critical vulnerabilities.

Persistent Cloud Infrastructure/Hadoop/YARN Attacks via Moanacroner, XBash and Others



Microsoft has updated its Teams app for better collaboration between students, teachers and academic staffers, with student information systems that covers areas such as enrollment and finance to student grades.

The Teams group messaging app supports collaboration between students, teachers and academic staffers with the integration of information systems and ability for the teachers to grade schoolwork right from mobile devices.

Microsoft Teams and Flipgrid are both proving to be a more powerful way to assist the students to find their voice and build on critical social skills, while also giving teachers new platforms for peer-to-peer professional development.

According to Microsoft, the Teams platform has seen about 251 percent growth in schools and universities, with over 80,000 new teachers joining Flipgrid per month.

The other new features coming to Teams includes Grade Sync, which will avail the teachers means to automatically send grades from Teams "assignments" feature to a student, available with Infinite Campus, Capita SIMS and PowerSchool.

And the assignments feature is expected to be overhauled soon, which Microsoft claims, is to simplify it for better user experience.

Additionally, Microsoft plans to integrate a plagiarism detection tool – TurnItIn - which boasts of over 30 million users worldwide. It checks for similarities in text from online sources such as Wikipedia while scanning a document.

The Teams student information systems integration means that teachers can now check results from Excel, PowerPoint and Word documents without leaving the app.

Microsoft targets the classroom, with better Teams collaboration between students, teachers and staffers



Atom is an open-source text editor developed by GitHub, which support plug-ins written in Node.js and embedded Git Control, with desktop application available for Linux, macOS and Microsoft Windows.

While Atom version 1.34 upgrade was released earlier in the month, bringing with it the capabilities to improve commits, the new Atom 1.35 beta release has made it possible to view individual commits via a new pane.

The commit preview capability means that developers can now see all changes within their source code in a single pane, and it will allow them to make changes before committing them.

Atom 1.35 beta include several changes like the introduction of a pane in the GitHub package to preview contents of an individual commit. Other capabilities include: Button to show or hide input values of passwords in GitHub package, and new pane in the GitHub package to show all file changes in the request.

Along with the above features, the editors reliability has also improved, especially as regards text entry in the settings view.

The carryover features from Atom 1.34 include support for commit message templates, which allow developers to add template globally or on a per-project basis through a Git configuration.

Additionally, Kotlin syntax highlighting feature has been added to the Markdown code blocks.

GitHub releases Atom 1.35 beta with new pane into individual commits



The Pirate Bay is no doubt the most popular torrent, but nonetheless its many legal tussles may mean its either down or totally inaccessible in your location due to government actions. In these scenarios, you just have to resort to the best alternative torrents to The Pirate Bay.

If for instance, the ISP in your location has blocked access to the piratebay websites, you can still be able to access the site without much hassles with the help of a proxy or VPN service, and the torrent files would be downloadable with utorrent or BitTorrent clients.

Albeit, the Pirate Bay was obviously outperformed by KickAss Torrents in 2013, though KickAss Torrents itself had to also bite the dust, but eventually the Pirate Bay regained its place as the current top of the list of the best torrents for 2019.

Best 3 Alternatives to the Pirate Bay for 2019



  • Offline Bay 2: As the top of the list, the OfflineBay works quite similar to other torrents sites, and was created last year as a backup torrent in any situation that the Pirate Bay goes down.

    Though, the project is open sourced, it is not actually a full-fledged torrent site but a cache of thepiratebay.org that is also available offline and updated at regular intervals. The Offline Bay can be downloaded and you can browse the torrents collections without internet connection. It currently contains all the available torrents as the latest dump file.




  • Zooqle: Zooqle is growing in popularity owing to its reliability and makes the top list in 2019 as one of best alternative torrents sites. It offers a huge collection of over 4 million torrents with all contents verified.

    You are able to create account on Zooqle, and also you can follow and manage your torrents feed subscriptions. The site brings some unique features to the table that you won't find anywhere else. Aside the torrent listing, Zooqle provides useful information of the torrents in an intuitive update.




  • 1337X: 1337X hosts a variety of torrents ranging from Movies, Games, Music, and much more, with the site's homepage having many tabs with links to the different available categories.

    While the most common domain is 1337x.to, you can also access it at x1337x.se, which is quite handy in case the primary domain is blocked or facing a downtime, for the full list of other alternative domains for 1337X see the about page.


Above all, always remember to use a VPN or Proxy To access these Pirate Bay (TPB) alternatives, as VPN (Virtual Private Network) will help to ensure your traffic via Tunneling network uses secure protocol to make your connection more secure while torrenting, sharing the files and most importantly, it helps to hide your real IP address.

Top 3 Best Alternative Torrents to the Pirate Bay (TPB) for 2019



Wear OS by Google, formally Android Wear, is a version of Android operating system for smartwatches and other wearables, which can pair with smartphones running Android 4.3 or newer, or iOS 8.2 or newer, and integrates with Google Assistant and capable of mobile notifications.

While Android Wear was perhaps the first operating system that attempted to strike a balance between timepieces and data-driven smartwatches, Wear Os is veering away from the norm to serve as a one-size-fits-all platform for wearables, and for the first time, a wearable hardware team has been set up by Google to help drive its future navigation and UI designs.

Google had secured a large chunk of HTC’s design team, made up of engineers and developers, with a large portion of its intellectual property, in a deal running into millions of dollars.

Now, Google's commitment is to develop Wear OS into more than just a platform for wearables, but to also adapt to the hardware around it, which could mean arriving at the first real competitor for the Apple Watch, though the investment in hardware won’t be fully realized till the launch of Pixel 4 later in the year.

The new Pixel phone will likely feature Active Edge, as seen on HTC’s U11 and U12 smartphones, and perhaps the addition of a second front camera and wireless charging, albeit it goes more deeper than cosmetic enhancements, as the Pixel will be built with details to balance hardware and software to create consistent seamless experience that brings the best qualities out of Android.

And the improvements to Pixel phones will have to result a rather new level of integration between Google’s operating systems not just Google’s phones.

Presently, Wear OS watches look somewhat an old-fashioned timepieces, with the familiar design of the hardware brands behind it, namely: Fossil, Michael Kors, Armani and Diesel, among others. But they don't all share the most important feature of any smartwatch, for instance Fossil does away with features like heart-rate sensors and NFC chips, instead prefer designs that are more fashionable.

Google, however is looking to develop Wear OS to work better with the partner brands than just working on own hardware, and the idea of a one-size-fits-all watch isn't on its table at most, for now.

Google's commitment to developing Wear OS into more than a one-size-fits-all platform



While the Alexa Brain initiative focused on improving Alexa’s ability to understand context within and across dialog sessions, and also make it able to discover and interact with over 40,000 third-party skills, this year Amazon plans to make the voice assistant even more proactive.

Along with works to make Alexa a constant presence, Amazon is working at security tip-off with the Alexa Guard, which will alert you if it perceives the sounds of a breaking in the glass or a smoke going off while you're away from home.

Through what Amazon called “context carryover” - Alexa will also be able to understand follow-up questions and respond appropriately, even though you haven’t addressed her as “Alexa.”

Albeit, Amazon will have to convince a lot of people on why they really need Alexa, though it currently dominates the smart speaker market, with about 32 percent of Americans having the smart speaker, it may most likely face resistance from those who don't see the point for voice assistants or don't trust it enough with always-on microphones.

Alexa evolvement means that it will need to digest more of customers' data, which of course, include personal information, and protecting all that data, is some huge privacy and security challenge, and as always its fundamental to the success of any would-be consumer electronic devices.

Amazon, though offered more gadgets with Alexa built-in in order to bring the voice assistant to more consumers, but the company must look into developing more products that are tad easier to set up, which getting rid of is the major setback for the smart home.

Alexa commands 51 million smart speakers share in the U.S., nonetheless, Alexa must watch its back, as Google already snicked about 24 million of smart speakers, according to IHS Markit, and Google has been predicted to overtake Amazon by 2023, though that's pretty a long time for a lot of changes to still happen.

How Amazon plans to make its virtual assistant, Alexa more proactive



DNS serves like a phonebook for the internet, which converts domain names to IP addresses, for instance if you try to connect to a resources that exits in 50 different locations, a prompt response can be guaranteed by intelligently routing you to the fastest or least congested possible location.

Now, the current Domain Name System (DNS) has been scheduled for an overhaul next month, with better workarounds for older technologies, and it will invariably benefit all web users with improved performance.

The change date is tagged as “DNS Flag Day” - DNS providers and vendors of DNS software have scheduled to remove the workarounds on older DNS implementations on February 1, 2019, and have issued reminders for domain owners and DNS resolver operators to check if their properties are affected.

Starting February 1, the major DNS resolver operators will release updates to implement stricter EDNS handling, and DNS servers that fails to respond to the EDNS queries will be treated as dead.

The initiative is supported by Google, Cloudflare and Cisco, among others and the DNS Flag Day website affords a number of tools to carry out test on EDNS implementations for your domain name to ensure they are compliant with the change.

DNS Flag Day: DNS overhaul scheduled for Next Month to improve performance



Java Card is software technology for Java-based applications (applets) to run securely on smart cards and other embedded devices, by providing isolation of hardware and software services.

While the Java Card development kit is available for free, it requires a paid commercial license to use the technology. And typical platforms that run Java Card include smart card chips and embedded secure elements, though sensitive items like cryptographic keys can be provisioned.

Java Card specifications are developed by Sun Microsystems (a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation) and many of the Java Card products rely on the GlobalPlatform specifications for the secure management of applications (download, installation, personalization, deletion) on the card.

The first Java Card was introduced by Schlumberger's card division in 1996, and the organization later merged with Gemplus to form Gemalto and the technology is widely used in SIMs (card used in GSM mobile phones) and ATM cards.

Oracle announced the availability of Java Card 3.1 on January 16, with the latest version of one of the world’s most popular and open application platform expanding support that enables development of security services across a range of IoT security hardware.

The extensive update provides even more flexibility to meet the unique hardware and security requirements of both existing secure chips and emerging Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, with the introduction of APIs and updated cryptography functions to address IoT security and design of security applications.

It introduces four core security services, namely: certificate API for resource-constrained devices, key derivation API to protect sensitive data, monotonic counter API to avoid replay attacks and timestamping system API.

The features will enable new uses for hardware-based security, such as multi-cloud IoT security models, and make Java Card the ideal solution for the billions of IoT devices that require security at the edge of the network.

Java Card 3.1 extends support to the Internet of Things (IoT) Security hardware



While many people have come to prefer Android devices over other rivals, especially because of its affordability and flexibility, most of the users still want some more anonymity with their smart devices.

It is very important to ensure no prying eyes are interloping into your device as you carry out your usual chatting on WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. With the advancement in mobile technology, there are now tons of spy apps for Android that makes your activities undetectable.

As such the demand for spy apps is on the rise, with lots of people living between two worlds – the real world and the Web, having different monikers on social media.

Most importantly, the kids now spend most time online, and therefore, could be exposed to bullying, trolling and other vices online, so concerned parents are always looking out at what are the best spy apps for their kids on Android.

Here, we’ve outlined the best spy apps for Android, so you won’t have to go through the experience of encountering fake, outdated, risky or malware apps that are masquerading as spy apps but only to harm your computers.

TheOneSpy – Number One Monitoring & Tracking App



TheOneSpy is perhaps the most advance and reliable spying and monitoring software for cell phones and computers. It is in fact the number one monitoring solution for digital device activities for parents and employers. The application/software is fully loaded with voice, data, and location packages. It can record all the incoming and outgoing voice calls, text messages and instant messengers chat as well. The application can track the location of lost and stolen devices with the GPS tracking function, so the user can know the whereabouts of his/her target phone easily. With Camera & mic bugging as the most advance and demanding feature of TheOneSpy Android monitoring app. Also there is a 24/7 live chat support available on the online store, and the software is available for only $0.6 a subscription per day.

How to initiate with TheOneSpy Mobile Spy Software?

TheOneSpy is pretty easy to use for both non-tech savvy and savvy users. The user only needs to install it and subscribe to the app on the target device, activate it and all is set. It starts monitoring right after the activation. Simply log in from your secure user control panel and start your surveillance.



  • Cocospy - is perhaps the best spy app for Android because it comes with a wide range of unique and powerful features, and also highly trusted by the community. It already enjoys a huge support, with millions of users from over 190 countries around the world.


Though it is a relatively new app, but still it has garnered lots of trust having users at ease because they trust their services.

Unique Features of Cocospy Spy App for Android

1. It allows users to spy on Android phones without root access, while most other spy apps require you to root your phone. Rooting your phone makes it more vulnerable to malware attacks, as Cocospy has some advantages as it can spy without rooting.

2. Cocospy can save all of the target’s information in your control panel, so that even if they delete the files, you can still easily access them.

3. It offers you a FREE LIVE DEMO that you can try out!

How to use Cocospy to track an Android phone

First, signup for a Free Cocospy account here: https://cocospy.com/signup.html

Then access the target phone to install the Cocospy app into it, which will allow you to gain access to all the basic features. However, if you want all the advanced features, you’ll need to root your Android phone.

From the Cocospy dashboard you can find a list of functions in the left-hand panel. Use that to access any part of the target phone.

Additionally, if you root your device you will gain access to some advanced features such as: Geofencing - Set up a physical boundary for the target phone. So that whenever the target individual leaves the boundary, you get an instant notification, which is great for keeping track of the kids.

Also, you will gain complete access to all of the target’s social media activities on Facebook, Instagram, Skype, etc



  • mSpy - is a popular spy app for Android with almost all of the same features and capabilities as Cocospy, but it is more expensive. mSpy allows you to spy on the target Android phone without rooting it as well.


Some Unique Features of mSpy App

mSpy gives you access to all of the features only when device is rooted. But If you don’t root the target Android phone, you can only access basic features like GPS location tracking, message and call logging, checking browser history, etc.

However, if you root the target phone, you will get access to the advanced features, as follows: Keylogging - Allows you to gain access to a log of all the keys being pressed by the target phone, so that you can use that information to figure out the password to all of their social media accounts.

Geo-Fencing: Just like Cocospy, it allows you to set up a physical parameter for the target phone, while crossing that boundary will trigger an alarm on your phone.



  • Spyzie - is another powerful and efficient spy app like Cocospy and mSpy. But it isn’t as reliable as the other two above. Both mSpy and Cocospy have a large number of rave user reviews and they’ve been featured by prominent online publication.


However, Spyzie seems to be more obscure, which of course makes it less reliable. It can also spy on Android phones without having root access to them.

Spyzie best aspect remains that it is more discrete, which is also its bane. Both mSpy and Cocospy allows deleting of their icons from the target phone after installation. But, Spyzie deletes automatically, even if you forget to do so, you don’t need to worry at all.

Our Verdict!

These spy apps are without doubts the best available for Android. And, you can be rest assured of their performance, as the right spy app that gets the job done. But If you ask for our recommendation, go for Cocospy. Because it’s extremely reliable and user-friendly, but above all reasonably priced. Overall, the top 3 spy apps will be worth your every penny whichever you decide to go for!

The Best Spy Apps for Android Phones with 100% Undetectability



While Brave has been loud on its privacy-focused browser experience, which is notorious for stripping all ads from websites and blocking ad trackers; now the company is looking to pay users for an unusual advertising model that rewards those who embrace its ads.

Its assertiveness to protect users from online prying and spying through separation of the computer from the site communicating with it by sending network traffic via intermediate servers, is indeed a novelty and it prevent websites from keeping logs of browsing history, including users IP addresses.

Brave's new ads system will only target you based on website context, and referencing your interest in the subjects by the content of sites you visited. Brave may perhaps use other sophisticated targeting, like search keyword-based text you type into the different supported search engines.

It had earlier included a system called Brave Payments, which allow users of the browser to send crypto-tokens called Basic Attention Tokens to publishers: YouTubers and Twitch video game streamers.

The new ads offer is currently open to anyone using the developer version of the browser and that opt-in to view privacy-respecting ads, it's expected, though that the model will be extended to all users of the browser with Brave 1.0 when it eventually arrives; the Brave reward give users 70 percent of the ad revenue.

The ad system, for now works only on Brave for PCs, though Brave doesn't yet have the actual payment going to the users accounts. The second phase will be partnership with publishers and then, step on inclusion of a digital wallet in the Brave browser.

And the ads won't be shown within webpages, but at full-page size in a private tab after the browser displays notification and the user accepts to opens the ad.

Initially, the ads will be supplied by ad networks like BuySellAds and TAP Network, and eventually by the three cryptocurrency-based advertisers: AirSwap, Fluidity and Uphold, who seem to be interested in Brave's audiences.

Brave browser ad-replacement model spotted in the latest Developer build



The Pirate Bay (TPB) is perhaps the longest standing companion for all your torrenting needs, as it’s been up and running for close to a decade and doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

While TPB hasn’t had it all a jolly ride, as they’ve surely had a long running tussles over the years, haven been taken down a number of times amidst serious lawsuits. But, they seem to have survived against all odds, and though they’ve been blocked in multiple countries in fight against illegal torrenting, there are still a couple of smart ways of downloading torrents via TPB, which will be discussed in this post.

You may have heard torrenting talked about in a negative light, as a way of illegally sharing movies and music, but that's not all there is to it. Actually, torrenting is useful for sharing large files, of course legally, like presentations in the form of videos and photos, or downloading out-of-print books or non-copyrighted files.

Albeit, there have been well-known cases of copyright infringements, with the copyright holders acquiring users information from ISPs and issuing some hefty fines for torrenting.

How to Access the Pirate Bay via Proxy & Mirror Sites



To avoid the seemingly unfortunate reality of getting caught in the act, there are always many options available with proxies and mirror sites for The Pirate Bay, and it is pertinent to note that many of The Pirate Bay proxy and mirror sites do not work or are simply spam sites.

That is the more reason, we are going to compile the best TPB Proxy and Mirror site for 2019 to help you access your favorite torrent sites and download without any hitch, as listed below.



Additional optimization measure, if you are running on a slow internet connection you should download contents like images and videos in low resolutions.

How Contents on The Pirate Bay (TPB) are Organized



As a typical peer-to-peer torrenting website, TPB has a huge repository of digital content that is organized into categories like movie, game applications and others. But each of these categories do contain some pretty low quality contents.

Even though there are content filtering feature to help you search with keyword on all the available categories, which makes finding an item more easy, the many popup advertisements that sticks whenever you click on a link is annoying.

While you can access The Pirate Bay site or its mirror sites easily, it is recommended to use a VPN service, as using a VPN encrypts your internet connection, making it pretty difficult for the data request sent or received from a website to be intercepted.

This is the more reason you should always use a reputable VPN service, as it ensures complete privacy and choose from the list of the best proxy sites and mirrors for piratebay to be on the safer side. Also, it helps to protect you against possible viruses and prying eyes, so you're good to go!

Top Pirate Bay Proxy sites for 2019 to help you bypass all restrictions



The recent occurrence within Microsoft has shown that the digital assistant aren't quite working as anticipated, as the company has downgraded Cortana’s importance by moving it from the AI and Research Division to the Experiences segment.

Now, Windows 10 Insider Build 18317 has Cortana separated from the search box, with the separation from the Windows 10 search box as perhaps the most significant change by Microsoft, citing that it will allow each experience to innovate independently to best serve their target functions.

The Windows search box has overtime been transformed into a way to search the Web and PC, while Microsoft maintains that Cortana will once again innovate into a voice-first digital experience for all users.

Also included in Build 18317 are new ways to import fonts, a revamped Windows Console for Linux, and separate process for the Start menu, the ability to drag & drop fonts in the Settings > Fonts page, with other less cosmetic changes for software stability.

Microsoft claims to be locking down the “inbox” apps, like Mail, Calendar, and Photos, which is quite a concern as well as the removal of features from the apps, most especially Photos app.

The Windows Insiders will get the features by going into the settings for inbox app, like Photos and clicking “Join preview” tab, though it could be launching for all users with 19H1 expected in spring of 2019.

Microsoft's Cortana separated from Search box in new Windows 10 build



While flexible-elements CSS feature are powerful, yet the complexity makes it cumbersome for many developers; Mozilla wants to ease things up with the launch of Flexbox Inspector as part of FirefoxDevTools for examining CSS Flexbox layouts.

The new dev tool is based on the concepts of CSS Grid Inspector, though CSS Flexbox learning curve is rather a bit complex, Mozilla seeks to help developers to build the basic feature set and to better understand the sizing, positioning, and nesting of Flexbox elements.

CSS Flexbox Layouts growing popularity is as a result of its capabilities in developing dynamic page layouts, and as a CSS module defining CSS box model for optimized user interface design, with layout in one dimension.

The company conducted a research on design-focused tools including interviews with developer/designer friends and community members on what new features they wanted to see, and the Min/max width and height constraints received the highest score.

They gathered data from the community to help in building the basic set of features, with the shrink/grow features having a higher-than-expected ranking.

Mozilla is looking to build—better debugging tools for all types of CSS layouts and smoother workflows for CSS development, with lots of improvements coming to the Flexbox Inspector, and has welcomed developers to try out the tool via the DevEdition.

Mozilla debut Flexbox Inspector as part of FirefoxDevTools for examining CSS Flexbox



Automattic, the owner of WordPress.com, has announced a new platform called Newspack that is targeted at small and medium-sized news organizations, in partnership with Google, through the Google News Initiative, that provides the technology and support that lets these organizations build a thriving business.

It will afford the organizations fast, secure, and low-cost publishing system tailor-made to the needs of small newsrooms, with Google backing the project and has committed $1.2 million, and other contributors including: The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Civil Media collectively supporting by $1 million.

The aim is to address the challenge of local news organizations in finding sustainable models, and the need for inexpensive platform that provides the support that lets them build their businesses and focus on what they do best — providing critical news reporting for the communities.

Newspack will provide a platform where the organizations can continue to focus on providing critical news reporting, through the world-class technology and support across editorial and business operations.

Additionally, Automattic will be working with Spirited Media and News Revenue Hub to better analyze the features that contribute to publisher success and to measure the impact of these capabilities.

If you run a News organization and interested in being part of the pilot program, you can go to newspack.blog to learn more about the project and to sign up for email updates.

Newspack by Automattic: News Publishing platform in partnership with Google News Initiative



Python, the high-level, general-purpose programming language notable for using significant whitespace for clear programming on small and large scales is the biggest gainer in the PyPL, PopularitY of Programming Language index, for January 2019.

While the PYPL PopularitY of Programming Language Index analyzes how often language tutorials are searched on Google, and the more popular the language is determined by the raw data obtained from Google Trends.

The PYPL index saw the rise of Matlab to #10 at at 2.22 percent, gaining huge popularity in the automotive industry, while established languages like Java, C and C++ also saw some gains as the mainstream languages are generally stronger, given that smaller languages are less easy to adopt.

Ruby, on the other hand dropped some places from last year, while F# also dropped from its place even though no explanation can be given for the drops.

PYPL predicts Kotlin would enter the top list this year, as customers are seriously willing to pay for the support and given the huge adoption of Kotlin in the Android mobile app market. With Google haven recently endorsed Kotlin for Android development, and analysts predicting that Kotlin will overtake Java on Android soon.

Kotlin is a little higher in abstraction than Java; also it's designed with mobile in mind from the ground up. In fact, any Android developer without Kotlin skills is at risk of being seen as old fashioned pretty soon.

Python, however remains the biggest gainer in the PYPL index of language popularity in U.S. rising to a 30.14 percent share in January 2019, and it is the first language at most universities as a frequently-taught programming language.

Python dominates in the Popularity of Programming Language index ahead of Java



Welcome to the new, data-driven world. Your phone, smart TV, and internet browsers all are picking up on your user information to better suit your needs. This isn’t as much George Orwell’s 1984 as it is the new world of business.

If you’re trying to find success in your business, you need a strategy for acquiring accurate customer data. Beyond that, you need to know how to actually use it effectively. Forrester Consulting conducted a survey to learn that 64 percent of marketers today think they need better data.

Customer analytics are for the designers, the marketers, the developers, and all teams that directly impact the customer experience. Break down the walls between data and employees so everyone can do better work that attracts more customers. Here are 5 tips featuring the top tools, practices, and trends for analyzing and monitoring your data.

Why Use Customer Data?

First, you need to understand why customer data is so powerful. Picture a frustrating interaction you’ve had with a company recently. Odds are, you wish that company stepped in your shoes and understood your perspective a little bit better. That small difference would have built a stronger relationship with that company.

In other words, if you don’t know who you’re selling to, you’re selling to nobody. According to Forbes, the three reasons so many businesses fail to collect data are:

  • Fragmented Data: Organizations collect some data, but it is not accurate or complete.
  • Silos: Data is kept in silos within the company. That means this information is kept within certain, limited departments. Not enough decision makers have access to data when it matters, and this leads to failed business decisions.
  • End-Customer: When companies purchase data or outsource their marketing or development testing, they don’t have access to their own data. Having end-customer data that is visible and not through a third-party is key.


Without an effective way to learn more about the customer, your business has no way to create products, services, content, and marketing materials that appeal to them on a real level.

Gather Off-Line Metrics

Online metrics are important. That can’t be overstated. However, offline metrics are still valuable nowadays. If you have in-person storefronts or marketing campaigns, you need to make sure those are performing highly as well.

For in-person storefronts, you can track foot traffic, common questions, popular products, and customer satisfaction. For marketing campaigns on the ground, consider these ideas for keeping track of your success:

  • Custom landing pages: Instead of linking your promotions to your business homepage, use a custom landing page to drive a certain action and keep track of traffic for a specific campaign.
  • Redirect domain: Once again, don’t use your business URL. Create a new one that redirects to your main website. This could be as simple as yoursitecampaign.com.
  • Discount code: Use a discount code specially for your in-person campaigns to keep an accurate count of sales.


With the right strategy, you can keep track of your offline marketing campaigns and customer experiences. When combined with online data effects, you create a well-rounded data resource.

Utilize Real-Time Data

It’s important to use surveys and ratings as a way to gauge how your customers respond to your website or app, but real-time data is equally as important. These are the questions you want answered to gain greater insight into your customers actions and motivations:

  • Time Spent: How long as users spending on your website? According to the Nielsen Norman Group, users typically spend 10-20 seconds unless something really holds their attention. Are your pages successfully holding user attention?
  • Popular Pages: Where are your users clicking? What pages, posts, or links are most popular? You might discover a link to a third-party website that takes users away frequently. On the other hand, you might discover a successful call-to-action.
  • Popular Products/Services: Finally, which of your products or services attract the most attention. This is a goldmine of information, and it should inform how you organize your product listings.


These are the questions you should be asking, and several tools help you learn just that. While Google Analytics is a great way to learn more about your most popular pages, it doesn’t show you user actions in real-time. What you need is an advanced tool like Mouseflow. This platform shows how your customers interact with your website with easy to understand heatmaps.

See how your users experience your pages with just a few clicks. You’ll learn about any problem pages that aren’t holding users’ attention, and you’ll also discover areas that are working well. Knowing how a customer experiences your pages in real-time will help you do more of the things that work and less of the things that don’t.



Implement User Surveys

Speaking of surveys, why not ask your customers themselves how they feel about your app, product, or website? User surveys are a great way to gain feedback without an exhaustive marketing budget or complex tools.

Apptentive uses AI-powered analytics to help you understand more about your customers, including features like surveys and in-app feedback. Many developers and marketers are intimidated by surveys because they’re worried they’ll scare customers away or lead to incorrect data.

The trick is to encourage user surveys while your customers are still warm. This means sending timely emails after a customer makes a purchase or asking key questions as a lost customer clicks away from a page. Essentially, you’re asking for customer surveys at the right time.

Don’t Overlook Google Analytics

As mentioned before, Google Analytics is a great resource for learning more about your customers. It provides all of the basic information that forms the foundation of your user profiles. With Google Analytics, you can learn where your customers are located across the globe, how they found your website or app, and their primary interests.

You can send custom reports weekly or monthly to always stay on track of your progress. Answer key questions like: What keywords are ranking the highest? What are your customers searching for? From here, you can better meet the needs of your users.

If you discover your key demographic is men in their 20s and 30s, you’ll market to them differently than if your demographic was women in their teens. These differences matter and they’re the foundation of your customer data library.



Monitor Your App or Website Performance

You need a system for keeping your website or app performance at top speed. Neumob discovered 47 percent of users will exit an app if a single image doesn’t load properly. This is a big loss for your business, so your performance data is essential to converting customers.

Using a tool to log your app or website performance will help you prevent problems, learn more about customer errors, and ultimately create a stronger experience for everyone. These tools are known as Application Performance Monitors (APMs), and they’re like a dashboard for application or website performance.

They work by logging problems, checking data usage, and sending quick alerts so you never experience downtime. Learn more about configuring centralized logging from Node.js apps with Papertrail log management. While you can’t prevent 100% of problems that might occur on your app or website, you can get smarter about anticipating these problems before they turn into catastrophes.

Understand Data Privacy

Finally, we need to talk about privacy. Customers are trusting you with their personal and sometimes even financial information. Many companies are found each year to abuse this information in ways that are against data privacy laws. In addition, collecting customer data always runs the risk of making you the target of a cyber attack.

Here are things to consider when collecting customer data to avoid running into any challenges:

  • Types of Data: Not all data is created equal. What type of data is needed to help you better assist your customers? At a basic level, this includes email addresses and names. Beyond this, you might include demographic information and interests. However, don’t press for more information than is necessary.
  • Transactional Data: Customer transaction history is a valuable asset. Known as “basket analysis,” keeping track of recommendations based on past purchases can be a powerful tool when used in combination with other encryption and opt-out procedures.
  • Organizing Data: You’ll need a secure way to store your customer data. This is where many of the cyber attacks happen, so it’s worth working with a cybersecurity expert to ensure everything is truly safe. A customer relationship management (CRM) is the industry go-to.
  • Encryption: All data should be securely encrypted, even “light” information like names and email addresses.
  • Industry Regulations: Finally, follow the Federal Trade Commission’s Fair Information Practice Principles as well as industry-specific regulations like HIPPA laws for the healthcare industry.


Utilizing Customer Data

As a business, your customers are your biggest asset. If you don’t know who you’re selling to, you’re as good as selling to no one. This is a data-driven world. You’re either a part of it, or you’re left guessing what it is your customers want from your business. Wouldn’t you prefer to know for certain just who your ideal customer is and what he or she is looking for in user experience?

And businesses who adopt a data-driven marketing strategy are six times more likely to be profitable year-over-year. With stats like these, what are you waiting for?

5 Tips To Acquire Accurate Customer Data For Your Business



Microsoft Teams is a workplace collaboration platform that integrates with a company's Office 365 subscription productivity suite, including Office and Skype, and extensions that integrate with third-party products.

While there are over two billion frontline workers globally, segment of workers with less attention than knowledge workers, with access to digital tools that support workplace communications, according to Microsoft.

The company in a bid to attract these segment of workers has added a bevy of features to the Teams collaboration tool, and also to win over the so-called “first-line” staffers such as healthcare and service workers.

Among the new features to the Teams app, are: the ability to record and share audio messages, coupled with location sharing and camera module for image annotation; additionally, there is the integration with third-party scheduling apps and employee “praise” tool.

Also, the mobile app is customizable with role-based templates, which IT admins can enable to restrict functions such as calling or private chats, and the workers can equally customize the app with the ability to pin frequently used modules to the navigation bar.

The integration with workforce management systems builds on the Shifts feature, a lightweight schedule management in Teams announced at the company's Ignite in September. Albeit, the API for Shifts connects Teams with enterprise scheduling systems like Kronos, enabling information around attendance or payroll and benefits to be viewed within the app.

All the features are available to Teams users, in all SKUs, with the exception of Teams Free, and the new “praise” tool will allow managers to recognize the exceptional jobs carried out by staffers, and perhaps serve as factor to induce high rates of staff churn out.

Microsoft Teams App upgrade brings Location sharing and Camera module for Image annotation



Google has continued to bring a bevy of new features to its digital assistant, and soon the nifty assistant will be able to act as interpreter for the currently supported 27 languages on the service.

While Google Assistant was primarily developed as a virtual assistant on mobile and smart home devices, but unlike the company's previous virtual assistant, Google Now, the new Google Assistant is capable of two-way conversations.

Google demonstrated the new capability at the ongoing CES 2019 in Las Vegas, and by asking Google, for instance, “Hey Google, be my Dutch translator” - the Google HomeHub smart display at the Google cafe woke up and waited for next words to translate.

The company begun testing of the feature at the concierge desk of these three hotels: the Hyatt in San Francisco, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and Dream Downtown in New York.

Albeit, the assistant sometimes mistook what was said during several of the demonstrations, and that resulted incorrect translation. But it's still a huge step forward for the digital assistant.

Google's machine learning model first detects which of the two languages is being spoken, which makes the process of interpreting much easier. Before now, Google Assistant could be used to interpret, but not a pretty smooth experience with many users who have to predefine the languages on a button press between sentences.

The feature will start with the 27 languages currently supported by Google Assistant, with the pairs for each interpretation set by the initial spoken language and that requested in the command.

Google Assistant will soon be able to act as interpreter for 27 languages



Microsoft has announced a new Windows 10 feature dubbed 'Reserved storage' comprising a 7GB PC's storage space to ensure smoother updates, coming with "Windows 10 April 2019 Update" - marked as 1903 in the four-character yymm label.

The reserved storage is set aside to be used by updates, apps, temporary files, and system caches to improve the day-to-day function of a PC, ensuring critical OS functions always have access to disk space.

According to the company, it will be introduced automatically on devices that come with version 1903 pre-installed or those where 1903 was clean installed, and users don’t need to set anything up as the process will be automatic.

While apps and system processes create temporary files, these files will automatically be placed into the reserved storage, so it won’t consume free user space and provided that the reserve isn’t full, will be less likely to do so as temporary files increase in number.

The compressed files from an update or upgrade need drive space to unpack, albeit the updates and upgrades also create temporary files, but such files are deleted after serving the specific purpose.

It should be noted that the reserved storage can't be removed from the OS, but the amount of reserved space can be reduced as deemed necessary by the PC user.

The next major release of Windows (19H1), which is expected in spring of 2019, will include the reserved storage feature starting at about 7GB, however the amount of reserved space will vary over time based on device usage.

Microsoft to partition Windows 10 Storage for smoother future upgrades



While analysts have predicted the dominance of artificial intelligence to bring the next major wave of innovations in computing technology, Samsung is already gearing up with its digital assistant, Bixby to supercharge smart devices, even with a potential move into areas like robotics.

Samsung during its press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show, CES 2019 in Las Vegas stated that the entrance of Bixby digital assistant will help people manage their routine using robots and also be able to check to see if gas in their car's tank is enough for a specific trip.

The voice-powered digital assistant, Bixby was announced alongside the Galaxy S8 and S8+, as well as the Samsung Galaxy Tab A during the Galaxy Unpacked 2017 event on March 29, 2017; though the assistant can also be sideloaded on older Galaxy devices running Android Nougat and above.

Now, the company is betting hugely on artificial intelligence as the next wave of computing technology, with the technology poised to link its various products to let consumers do more with their devices and third-party apps like Google Maps will soon be able to work with Bixby to do even more on Samsung's gadgets, like searching on live TV.

Samsung's effort to improve in its software and services has been a huge challenge, with some noticeable gaffe including the building of own operating system, Tizen and S Voice, its first stint at building a digital assistant, which eventually was scrapped a few months afterwards.

But, the company is not in want of success stories in some areas, and it wants to replicate that with Bixby as it plans to employ 1,000 specialists on artificial intelligence by 2020, with the same timeframe given for making its products inter-connected and integrated with the digital assistant.

CES 2019: Samsung's Bixby finds its way into Robots, Cars to let Consumers do more



Eyowo, a Nigerian mobile payment solutions has come to revolutionize the mobile banking services, with the capability for users to send or receive payments and pay bills with just their mobile phone, all transactions possible with or without a bank account.

While digital money is still in its early days, especially in this part of the world, where over 90 million Nigerians are unbanked, with a substantial part of the population having no bank accounts to save money, and most of the population still rural-dwellers with little to no-income sources.

Eyowo is targeted at this demography and prides itself as the banker of the unbanked, the digital gateway enable those using a mobile phone to enjoy all banking services, requiring only a registered phone number; Eyowo transactions can be done either via the mobile app or the USSD code *4255#, allowing you to pay utility bills, make/receive payments, among others.



As such, anyone with a registered phone number has automatic Eyowo account that can both make and receive payments, either done on the mobile app or through the USSD code *4255#, supported in almost all the available Nigerian network providers.

Albeit, Eyowo is not only for the unbanked, as there is the option of involving banks in transactions for those with active bank accounts, and transactions can be initiated from an Eyowo wallet to any bank account through USSD or the mobile app, even cashless withdrawals are possible via designated ATMs.

The Eyowo platform, however may not address actual financial exclusion, but it is critical in the effort to reach the otherwise unbankable populace, and Eyowo is expected to expand into more innovative financial services; with focus on making things a lot more easier for the unbanked Nigerians, and perhaps Africa at large.

Eyowo: Lets you Send, Receive Payments and Pay bills with just your mobile phone



Red Hat in a move perceived as taunting Oracle, will be offering long-term support for standard Java on Microsoft's platforms, Windows servers and workstations. While Red Hat supports OpenJDK on Enterprise Linux (RHEL) platform, Oracle extended a commercial-level Java support in place of a perpetual license and annual support fee.

The Red Hat owned Enterprise Linux (RHEL) platform, which is targeted at the commercial market, restricts the free re-distribution of officially supported versions, albeit it still freely provides its source code.

But with support for Windows distribution of OpenJDK, the open source version of standard Java, Red Hat’s OpenJDK distribution will support Java 11 and Java 8 for production workloads; with the support including patches for top-priority vulnerabilities to help businesses in Java application development.

The support, however will be based on service-level terms and in consideration of the number of workstations and server cores, though no information on the pricing has been made available.

Red Hat had earlier announced an agreement for acquisition by IBM, which deal will make IBM the biggest in hybrid cloud, with Red Hat as the potential operating system of choice for most cloud providers. It will enable IBM to expand across the hybrid cloud infrastructure, which will ultimately combine on-site servers with third-party cloud computing.

Red Hat support for Open Source Java on Windows Servers and Workstations



Microsoft's Windows 10 has finally toppled Windows 7 in user share, while the operating system had initially struggled to win over Windows 7 users, Windows 10’s share for desktop and notebook PCs hit 39.22 percent in December, according to NetAnalytics.

The analyst firm which collects data from approximately 100 million web browser sessions per month, with widely distributed users across thousands of websites, claims that Windows 10’s market share increased by about 7 percentage points, while Windows 7’s share fell by almost same points.

While Microsoft's Windows 10’s market share for desktop and notebook PCs hit a combined 39.22 percent, versus Windows 7's 36.90 percent, a drastic shift from it's November share of 38.89 percent, and 38.14 percent for Windows 10.

The upwards Windows 10’s market share, though could be attributed to the traditional rise in PC sales over the holidays, there's a likelihood that Windows 7 could topple it once again — albeit the 2.3 percentage leap looks pretty strong at the moment.

Even as Windows 10 crossed 40% milestone in mid 2018, according to California-based analytics company Net Applications, which represented an estimated 606 million personal computers worldwide.

And the crossover point for Windows 10, that is the point where the new OS will eventually run a larger percentage of all Windows PCs than the older edition was predicted to be November 2018, with the lines between Windows 10 and Windows 7 signal for January 2019, which translates to 12 months since Windows 7's retirement.

But the good news for Microsoft is that Windows 10 has crossed the mark even earlier than predicted, and perhaps there is something really great about the new operating system, after all.

Microsoft’s Windows 10 surpasses Windows 7, market share for desktop and notebook PCs