The Issue with Binary Blobs Over the years, Linux has adopted a trend of including firmware “binary blobs” to its kernel. These binary blobs are small pieces of software that are provided as a closed-source binary froom a hardware manufacturer. It is then loaded by the Linux kernel as-is. In turn, this provides a perfect support for your hardware. While this is convenient for someone who wants good compatibility with the hardware that he uses, the opaque nature of these binary blobs introduces various security and reliability concerns....

1. Regexxer Regexxer is a practical file search tool that lets you edit files directly from its interface. You can search for files and folders by name and look inside text-based files (including HTML and XML files). The left side of the window lets you select the target folder and pattern (put * for all files or *.txt just for text files). Regexxer can perform recursive search in subfolders of any selected folder and include hidden files in the results....

The great thing about open-source games is that they’re free without caveats (unlike pretty much every kind of “free” game on the Play Store, which usually is littered with in-app purchases). The following list are some of the best ones you’ll find on Android. 1. Freeciv This open-source iteration of Sid Meier’s legendary history-spanning saga, Civilization, has been in development for twenty-two years, originally coming out a month before Civilization II....

What Is Morse Code? Is It Still Useful? Morse code is a form of telecommunication invented in the 1830s by Samuel F.B. Morse. It is used to encode characters into standardized sequences of two distinct signal durations. These signal durations are called dots and dashes or dits and dahs. The international Morse code consists of 26 basic Latin letters, one accented letter È, the Arabic numerals from 0 to 9, and a small set of punctuation and procedural signs....

So what’s left for 2019? While it may seem like mobile technology reached its zenith in 2018, mobile phone manufacturers have refused to bury the innovation trenches. And from what we know so far, it’s safe to say things are about to get even more interesting in the Android world. Here’s what in store for Android in 2019. 1. Hole Punch Displays In 2018 the most prominent trend in smartphone design was the notch....

If you’re one of the many iPhone lovers getting down on your older model now that a newer one is available, taking another look at the capabilities of your iPhone 6 might just help you get through until you eventually purchase the 7 (or the 8). Here are five iPhone 6/6S camera features you might be taking for granted. 1. Fast/Slow video filming iPhone lovers were really excited about this feature when it first dropped, but now its use has tapered off a bit....

This is where a clipboard manager could come in handy, as it will help to enhance the copy and paste functionality on your computer as well as retain all copied data for long-term storage. Linux users are spoiled with choices, as there are several of these tools available, but I’m only going to list five of the best ones here. Feel free to add some more in the comments section below....

Emacs can be your web browser, your music player, and even your window manager. In this article, we talk about five packages that can improve your productivity and how you can install those in vanilla Emacs. Tip: Download our Emacs keyboard shortcuts cheatsheet to further increase your productivity. Vanilla Emacs A minimal installation of Emacs is, for the most part, already feature complete. It has an easy-to-approach tutorial that teaches the basics of using it as a text editor....

In my case, for example, Skype, Steam and this annoying third-party JDI MyPC backup software (my seller installed it as part of the package) are active culprits that slow down my startup time, so I had to turn them off manually. Here are five useful tweaks and hacks to clean up Windows startup programs and speed up startup time without spending a dime. Note: When installing a program or software in the future, you may uncheck the “Start the program during startup” option before you click the Finish button during the installation process....

1. Copy Copy is one of the lesser-known cloud storage apps that can be used on both desktops and Android devices. It offers 15GB of storage for you to store your files, documents, videos, etc. The app has a number of features you would not normally see in other cloud storage apps. For instance, it lets you easily copy your photos and videos over to your cloud without having you mess with complex things....

1. Yelp for iPhone Yelp is the perfect application for knowing the best place to go in a city I am unfamiliar with. Originally created as a restaurant reviews application, Yelp has grown to be a full-fledged city guide equipped with detailed reviews. Searching for a good restaurant is made easy with a multitude of search options. You have the ability to use Yelp’s Monocle feature, or searching on the app’s map....

Join us, if you dare, as we take a look at the best available scary movies to stream for free from content providers such as IMDB, Crackle, PopcornFlix, and YouTube. With over 200 horror movies to choose from, there is some really good content: view the whole horror collection through Prime Video. The US version of The Ring is quite possibly the only time an American studio did a good job turning J-Horror into a good US horror movie....

1. Pin Websites To Your Task Bar I’m sure many of you are like me in that you use a lot of the same websites daily and check them frequently throughout the day. Other email accounts are likely to be part of that so why not pin those sites to your task bar for easy access? It’s as simple as this: Open the website in the IE address bar then drag the website tab to your Windows taskbar....

During the day we often pick up our phones to send a text relating to what we are working on and get sidetracked by different notifications or apps. We end up wasting time we should have spent working. You can keep the distractions to a minimum if you don’t have to look at your phone. There’s a wide variety of services on Google Assistant that will help you avoid that trap....

Tip: If you’re working on a budget, you can apply these budgeting templates for Google Sheets. Using Google Sheets Formulas If you’re new to using formulas on Google Sheets, they work similarly to Excel. Simply select a cell or range and enter the formula. All formulas start the same, with an equals (=) sign. As you start typing a formula, Google might provide suggestions. You can also go to the “Insert” menu and select “Function....

Given this, we offer you eight social media terms and slang that will give you a head start in reading everything on social media. 1. Direct Message (DM) First, let’s discuss the “hidden” side of social media. This is nothing underhanded but more about what happens away from your main feed. Every user gets a private inbox, and you’re able to receive messages there. It’s sometimes called a Private Message (PM), although it’s more often called your DMs because the message reaches you rather than sitting on a public feed....

1: Take a Deep Breath! Each time you need your device serviced, you go through a journey that will not only spend lots of your time, but it will also try your patience. Do not let this get to you. Instead, do something relaxing and try to fret as little as possible about the problem you’re having. Take five and then get in contact with support services. Operators and service personnel get a huge share of irate customers....

If you need to know more before you download the Google offering, check our guide for more information about the supposed “future of communication.” What Is Google Allo? Google Allo is an app that was hyped at the future of private communication. As well as an incognito mode, it was promised that normal messages wouldn’t be stored on an accessible server. Instead, they would be stored “transiently.” Your messages couldn’t be linked to you, so there was true privacy....

A method for scheduling WhatsApp messages that works involves using an app called SKEDit. It’s free and also has some great reviews on Google Play that will show you that the app is worth installing. How to Schedule a WhatsApp Message for Later Once you have the app installed, you’ll see all the apps you can schedule a message for. Besides WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business, you can also schedule for SMS, email, calls, and Facebook....

Know Your Audience You can’t effectively market your business without knowing who your target audience is. In your Facebook Timeline dashboard, you can use your Insights data to help you identify your audience and from there, begin to break your advertising down by the demographics. Then use the Facebook Targeting Tools to help you deliver the ads according to those demographics. If you have a physical location, you will want to use the Geo Targeting option to target the people in your local area for in store promotions....