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Nik Collection, the erstwhile popular collection of filters and editing tools for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, which was acquired by Google in 2012 is rather facing a bleak future as Google has announced discontinuation of support for the software.

The photo editing tools compatible with Mac OS X 10.7 and above, Windows Vista, 7, 8; and Adobe Photoshop through CC 2015, comprises of seven applications: Analog Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, Silver Efex Pro, Viveza, HDR Efex Pro, Sharpener Pro and Dfine.

While Google stated that it has no plans to update the Collection or add new features over time, users will still have access to it indefinitely.

Albeit, Nik Collection is staple in many photographers post workflow, and already had a strong and loyal following owing to Google’s decision to remove the price tag of $149.

Meanwhile, the mobile version, Snapseed, which was also acquired with the Nik Collection, will continue to offer a solid collection of photo-editing tools for Android and iOS devices, according to Google.

Why the Future looks bleak for Google's Nik Collection?



Google just added a new search feature dubbed "Personal tab", which will enable searchers to see own contents from email and photos, right on the main search page provided they're logged into their Google accounts.

The personal tab provides personalized search results from other Google Services that the user has subscribed to, like: Gmail, Google+, and Google Calendar.

While the private sources, includes emails and photos that a user might have taken in the past and uploaded to the cloud, which may mean revealing just too much, especially as accessible with a shared-PC or mobile device.

Even as skeptics have always questioned the level of users' privacy exposed in the background processing involved in most Google services.

Albeit, Google has stated that the personal search results don’t show up for everyone, and are limited to the user, it's still unclear right now whether the feature is limited to Gmail and Google Photos, or if it will also pull results from Google Drive and other Google services.

The Personal tab can be found behind the "More" menu on Google Search page, but the feature seems to be rolling out slowly to users worldwide.

How private is Google Search "Personal Tab" feature?



Microsoft's livestreaming service is all the rage now, with Beam, a game-streaming service it acquired last summer, which is integrated into both Windows 10 and the Xbox One game console, haven undergone unique transformation starting with a new name, Mixer.

While the name change isn't the big deal, the company touted it as resonant to its mission to expand into every major market around the world.

The revolutionary new live-streaming platform, Mixer is bundled with features that will unlock a whole new world of possibilities for social streaming, and help users easily find the content they’re looking for across the service.

Mixer assures not just the ability to watch streams live, but to also interact with streamers and play together in near real-time. As livestreaming that’s actually LIVE, users can actively participate in what’s happening on screen instead of just watching from the sidelines.

And viewers can influence everything from quest selection to tools to movement, mixing it up with their favorite streamers to create a new kind of gaming experience.

With Mixer service, the Guide on Xbox One and Game bar on Windows 10 is inbuilt, to make it super easy for anyone to start streaming their gameplay.

The co-streaming feature which is perhaps the first inbuilt cooperative streaming experience on a streaming platform, brings up to 4 streamers into a single viewer experience, and also enables multiple channel streams to be displayed on a single Mixer page.

While "Mixer Create" is a new mobile app that enables self-broadcasting, now available publicly on Android, and through invite on Apple’s TestFlight service.

The new Mixer page on the Xbox One dashboard will feature some of the most unique, and popular streams that are broadcast on Mixer, curated by a dedicated team according to the company.

What's new in Mixer (formerly Microsoft's Beam)?



Blockchain is rather becoming a hugely popular technical terminology, and lately, thanks to the growing adoption of the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, which it serves as a public ledger for all Bitcoin transactions.

While Blockchain is seen as the main technological innovation of Bitcoin, since it stands as proof of all the transactions on the network, but the first work on a cryptographically secured chain of blocks is dated back to 1991.

And the first Blockchain was conceptualized and implemented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 as a core component of the digital currency Bitcoin, where it serves as the public ledger.

What is Blockchain Technology?

Blockchain is an open distributed database that maintains a continuously growing list of records, called a "block", secured against any form of alteration. The block is the ‘current’ part of a blockchain with records of recent transactions, which goes into the blockchain, once completed as permanent database.

The blockchain network lives in a state of consensus, and automatically checks in with itself every ten minutes, reconciling every transaction that happens in ten-minute intervals.

The ledger itself can also be programmed to trigger transactions automatically, with each block containing a timestamp and a link to a previous block.

What's the alternative implementations?

The Blockchain technology can be applied to not just a cyptocurrency like bitcoin, but also to any “asset” that can be stored or distributed such as software and physical goods, or even data.

It also has great potential for the financial services industry as well, as implementing a decentralized database or a public registry like blockchain to verify the identities of all parties to a transaction will mean settlement would be instantaneous since the transaction and settlement would happen simultaneously once the ledger is updated.

Albeit, the biggest use of blockchain technology is perhaps in identity management, as detailed in TED by Don Tapscott.

As online transactions are closely connected to the processes of identity verification, it's not hard to imagine that wallet applications will transform to include other types of identity management.

According to Don, blockchain technology represents nothing less than the second generation of the internet and holds the potential to transform money, business, government and society.

Jargon Buster: Blockchain Technology Explained



While using a media player to watch movies with subtitles, you’re probably at greater risk if you're prone to visiting numerous media sites that allow you to download subtitles for movies in various languages.

According to Check Point, an online security firm, hackers can take control of your PC, phone or streaming box through subtitles.

With subtitles repositories treated as trusted sources by media player; Check Point research has shown that the repositories can be manipulated, which results specific attacker’s malicious subtitles being served to users.

The attackers could also insert malicious code into the text files that facilitate the onscreen translations of your favorite foreign film.

And through the crafty malicious subtitle files, which are then downloaded by a victim’s media player, attackers can take complete control over any type of device via vulnerabilities found in many popular streaming platforms, including VLC, Kodi (XBMC), Popcorn-Time and strem.io.

Check Point, however stated that no known exploitation of the flaws has been detected in the wild; but had actually pulled off the hack as a proof of concept. Albeit, they’ve posted links and instructions to help developers to resolve the flaws in their apps.

How hackers can take control of PC, phone or streaming box via subtitles



For those hearing it for the first time, the term "Dark Web" often sends shivers down the spine, and conjures up memories of illegal or unethical activities - as the hidden, encrypted Internet has earned a reputation as an archaic rock under which lurks criminals and black hat hackers.

While devious activity does exist, the Dark Web is a bit more than just crawling with creepy criminals with intent on swiping and selling data, drugs, and other illicit goods.

Though, the Dark Web has become notoriously famous for hosting nefarious hacker forums and illegal markets, notwithstanding its infamous reputation, research by the security firm Terbium Labs proves the Dark Web isn't exclusively a haven for irrepressible criminals.

The dark web has often been confused with the "Deep web", which better refers to the parts of the web not indexed by search engines.

Accessible only by using a secure browser like Tor, the Dark Web's notorious reputation is well-earned, and the hidden internet is undeniably dangerous. And the biggest mistake any organization can make regarding the Dark Web is to pretend it doesn't exist.

Albeit, the Dark Web and .onion URLs, the top level domain designated for encrypted sites, are accessible only by using Tor and SSL, there isn't a 100% guarantee of privacy.

According to Terbium Labs analysis, Nearly 17.7% of the encrypted internet consists of dead websites. 12.3% of illegal Dark Web activity is related to illegal drug trafficking, and another 3.2% is diverted pharmaceutical trafficking. Fraud and hacking each consist of only 1.3% of Dark Web activity.

The report also found that although criminal activity is ever present, 54.5% of Dark Web content is legal traffic posted by tech companies like Facebook, the U.S. State Department and other government organizations, and journalists and activists.

There are plenty of reasons companies and individuals may want to access the Dark Web. While Organizations in particular may want to monitor Dark Web portals for stolen corporate account information.

Facebook's encrypted site, located at facebookcorewwwi.onion, is a feature-rich method of accessing the social network using end-to-end encryption.

However, Internet users should be cautious as the Dark Web is increasingly accessible, and the encrypted web is not necessarily safe, and there's high potential to encounter dubious or obviously illegal contents.

Demystifying the Dark Web: What underbelly of the Internet represents



Smart home involves the automation of lighting, heating (such as smart thermostats), ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), and security, as well as home appliances such as washer/dryers, ovens or refrigerators/freezers.

While there are still very little worldwide accepted industry standards, notwithstanding the smart home space is heavily fragmented, competition in the sector has been growing fiercely.

The Amazon Echo has suddenly become the hottest smart home product on the market, not only has Amazon built Alexa (digital assistant) into its products, but the company has also allowed third-party hardware makers to build Alexa into their own devices.

With Apple rumored to be preparing to launch a smart speaker soon, possibly at the company's annual conference in June; the speaker connects to the internet and users could talk to it through Apple's voice assistant, Siri.

Apple aiming for better speaker and microphone technology, with its smart speaker described as having excellent "acoustics performance," runs iOS and may include some sort of Beats technology, as well as support AirPlay.

Google Home, on the other hand, boasts of Google Assistant which is able to answer questions and carry out instructions. And with support for multiple users, it can differentiate one voice from another in the home so as to ensure a more personalized experience.

And Google recently pitched its smart home offering to keep up with your busy schedule, with the introduction of shopping with Google Assistant on Google Home.

There are a wide variety of technology platforms, or protocols, on which a smart home can be built.

Albeit, Smart Home suffers from lack of technical standards, a situation where the variety of home automation devices, in terms of both hardware variations and differences in the software running on them, makes the task of developing applications that work consistently between different inconsistent technology ecosystems difficult.

Analysts has projected the global home automation system market to reach USD 78.27 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 12.46% between 2016 and 2022.

Is it Google, Apple or Amazon who will rule the Smart Home?



Microsoft has clearly stated that Windows 10 S is targeted at the classroom, with enhanced educational tools to make learning even more fun. But then, Windows 10 S only run apps from within the Windows Store, with possible exceptions to apps without access to low level functions, like apps that explicitly write to hardware or modify the system registry.

While the instances of low-level apps that won't run on Windows 10 S machines include the Windows Console, Cmd/PowerShell, or Linux/Bash/WSL.

Which apps are paramount for tech savvy students to code, or hack, and without access to low-level functions there's obvious limitation on the device, and the restriction on certain Windows Stores apps may deepen the nerds' skepticism.

And Microsoft is actively blocking "command-line" apps that run outside the safe environment of Windows 10 S, such that it can't possibly run the new downloadable Linux apps, even though present in the store.

Though it can install just like every traditional Windows 10 Universal app, but like command-line tools outside the UWP (Universal Windows Platform) sandbox and the secure runtime infrastructure, it won't run.

If Windows 10 S indeed does take off in the classroom, it would be hard to encourage kids to code, let alone, hack.

Downside to Windows 10 S; Why Nerds won't budge



It's no secret that most popular websites have been circumventing users privacy settings by deliberately restoring previously deleted HTTP cookies using local storage outside the control of the browser. With Yahoo in 2013 openly admitting that it will no longer honor "Do Not Track" requests made by a user's browser.

And just recently, Twitter announced an update to its privacy policy, making it clear that it is no longer supporting Do Not Track, which users could enable in most browsers to stop advertisers from tracking their browsing history.

While every major ad-serving digital platforms are opting to ignore Do Not Track requests, citing the fact that an industry-standard approach to Do Not Track did not exist.

Albeit, the privacy icon "Do Not Track" has been slated to become an official recommendation by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) starting August 2017.

The argument in favor of web tracking had always been to further improve and personalize web services, and to connect users with the contents they care more about. And the way you get connected to such personalized experience is by allowing web companies to share more information with advertisers about you and your browsing habits.

Twitter's privacy policy changes don't take effect until next month but you can opt out now using the Twitter app or website.

And the company still offers options for people to disable ads targeting based on information collected off Twitter. Simply go to settings menu, select “Privacy and Safety,” then “Personalization and data,” and then toggle off “Personalize ads.”

Online Privacy: Whither "Do Not Track" is Dead?



Google at its I/O developer conference on Wednesday stated about a new program that's focused on software, rather than just smartphones - Android Go, with the goal of making Android better able to cater for users on entry-level phones.

Android Go is designed to run better on phones with limited hardware, starting off with Android O, which is the next iteration of the hugely popular mobile software.

It's rather a streamlined version of Android, featuring Google’s core apps like Play Store in a self-container, and enables Data Saving mode by default, especially beneficial for regions with costly and limited Internet connectivity.

Unlike the earlier program, Android One, which was to teach OEMs in emerging markets on how to make high-quality, and yet affordable, phones.

While hardware isn't the core issue anymore, the software has to be tuned up for the needs of a lower quality screen, with barely enough storage like less than 1GB of memory.

This means that regular apps like YouTube and Maps, as well as the Google Play store for downloading apps, will need to become more efficient in regards to data usage and spotty internet connections.

Android Go aims for people on the Go, with a special version of the Play store that will highlights apps data usage, for instance, apps with offline mode. And for Google, reaching the next 5 billion is crucial to making sure its businesses continue to grow.

How Google intends to get Android to run smoother on entry-level phones

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