Computer News

Google Chrome 74
A ton of security updates and Dark Mode!
Download | Release Notes
To enable Dark Mode:
Right-click on the Chrome shortcut > choose Properties > in the Target box, at the end of line, the add a space and then add --force-dark-mode > save it
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --force-dark-mode

Nvidia Geforce Game Ready WHQL Driver 430.23
Provides the optimal gaming experience for Mortal Kombat 11, Anthem, and Strange Brigade
Download | Release Notes

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not

‘Technology Needs to Be Regulated.’ Apple CEO Tim Cook Says No Oversight Has Led To Great Damage To Society
“We all have to be intellectually honest, and we have to admit that what we’re doing isn’t working,” said Cook, in an interview with former TIME Editor in Chief Nancy Gibbs. “Technology needs to be regulated. There are now too many examples where the no rails have resulted in a great damage to society.
Ya don’t say…

Putting Down Your Phone May Help You Live Longer
If you’re like many people, you may have decided that you want to spend less time staring at your phone.
It’s a good idea: an increasing body of evidence suggests that the time we spend on our smartphones is interfering with our sleep, self-esteem, relationships, memory, attention spans, creativity, productivity and problem-solving and decision-making skills.
But there is another reason for us to rethink our relationships with our devices. By chronically raising levels of cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, our phones may be threatening our health and shortening our lives.
I… That says it all. I’ve nothing to add.

Exit 111 Festival
I’ve not done a festival in many years. Too many people, too expensive, too dirty, and this one is too far away. This has a killer lineup though. Well, day 2 and 3 do…

Macrium Reflect v7.2.4228
Download | Release Notes

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.4.3 Optional
Support for Mortal Kombat XI
Download | Release Notes

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Windows 10 apps: Which are worth keeping? Which ones should you dump?
Ed Bott opines on the matter.

Kohl’s starts ‘Military Monday’ discount
Kohl’s is introducing Military Mondays, a 15% in-store discount, to thank active and former military personnel, veterans and their families for their selflessness and service to our nation.
The discount is valid in-store every Monday, all year long, when customers show a valid Military ID, Military Dependent ID or Veteran ID at the point of purchase.

Intel Graphics – Windows 10 DCH Drivers
Windows 10 May 2019 Update launch driver, Support for World War Z & Anno 1800, other improvements & fixes
Download | Release Notes

Mp3tag 2.95
New Features, Changes, Bug Fixes
Download | Release Notes

Microsoft makes Windows 10 1903 available on MSDN
Surprise: Microsoft has made the Windows 10 1903 (May 2019 Update) and Windows Server 1903 bits available for download on MSDN, a month earlier than many were expecting.
Installed it this morning. Uninstalled it 2 hours later. System & Explorer laggy. Could be new drivers are needed somewhere. More likely it isn’t ready for prime time.
Download below. Use at your own risk:
Windows 10, version 1903 & Windows Server, version 1903 (SAC) by W.Z.T.

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.4.2 Optional
Support for World War Z & Anno 1800
Download | Release Notes

VirtualBox 6.0.6
This is a maintenance release.
Download | Changelog

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Adblock Plus Filters Can Be Exploited to Run Malicious Code
An exploit has been discovered that could allow ad blocking filter list maintainers for the Adblock Plus, AdBlock, and uBlocker browser extensions to create filters that inject remote scripts into web sites.
uBlock Origin not affected.

Top 1000 Tech Bloggers
Rise Social Media ranked them. I only looked at the top 100. I’m familiar with less than 1/2 a dozen of them.

Someone Tweets About Super Hero Fans Being Undateable, So This Woman Reveals The Toxicity Surrounding Men
Star Wars and super hero movie obsession culture has revealed a whole new population of undateable men. Might be worse than men who wear cargo shorts.
I’ve never heard of this woman. I found the reaction to this persons tweet as interesting as her tweet was pathetic. I don’t really understand the whole “toxic masculinity” thing. I’m not into super heroes. I like Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, etc. I consider myself a Geek. Like most dudes I pretty much just go about my business, don’t care about fashion, and try and do right by others. I don’t have time for people like this.
Oh, and yes, I wear and like cargo shorts.

Employee privacy in the US is at stake as corporate surveillance technology monitors workers’ every move
Corporate interest in surveillance seems to be on the rise to boost productivity.
2018 survey by Gartner found that 22% of organizations worldwide are using employee-movement data, 17% are monitoring work-computer-usage data, and 16% are using Microsoft Outlook- or calendar-usage data.
Employees are concerned over this invasion of privacy.
If you want to periodically observe employees WITH THEIR KNOWLEDGE that is reasonable. Anything else is not. I find people watching me work annoying. Many folks find it stressful.

Police: Don’t give out too much information on bumper stickers
“You know the little family decals that’s on the windows, yeah that’s a not a good idea either. Because once again, it’s telling strangers, what your home life is like,” said Mangina.
It might seem harmless but, even little things might tell crooks that one parent travels a lot and that someone is home by themselves.
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea especially in today’s climate,” said Mangina.
The Irondale officer also speaks from experience. It was only a few years back, after a rash of car break ins, that crooks admitted to police they targeted cars with certain gun labels on them.
Good advice.

Science and bicycling meet in a new helmet design
New helmet is supposed to solve a problem identified in studies of NFL injuries.
Got excited. Looked it up. Prices $150-$300. Nope.

What Peloton Means for the Future of Fitness
The workout giant is changing at-home exercise — and spawning a flurry of copycats.
Peloton basic bike starts at $2,245 + $49 a month membership. Peloton treadmill starts at $4,295 + $49 a month membership.
I was gonna comment but I remembered seeing this perfect statement from a young woman’s Dad. I would like to buy him a pint.
I told my mother I was considering buying a Peloton and…received this email minutes later from my father, who I should really start enlisting if I need to drag someone.

Wise Disk Cleaner 10.1.8
Download (I use portable) | Release Log

EMDB V3.41
Download & Info

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

How Tiger made the earth shake again at the Masters
Great to see him win a major again!

Men with beards carry more germs than dogs including deadly bacteria in facial fuzz, study claims
Men with beards carry more germs than dogs including deadly bacteria in their facial fuzz, a hair-raising study has found.
Researchers discovered that nearly half of all sampled beards hosted bugs dangerous to human health.

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Law enforcement taps Google’s Sensorvault for location data, report says
The database is for targeting ads and seeing how effective they are. But it’s reportedly also been a treasure trove for police.
&
Tracking Phones, Google Is a Dragnet for the Police
The tech giant records people’s locations worldwide. Now, investigators are using it to find suspects and witnesses near crimes, running the risk of snaring the innocent.
&
Bill of Rights of the United States of America – Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Big Tech Lobbying Gutted a Bill That Would Ban Recording You Without Consent
The Illinois Keep Internet Devices Safe Act would have empowered average people to sue big companies for recording them without consent, but industry association lobbying defanged it.

As China Hacked, U.S. Businesses Turned A Blind Eye
Technology theft and other unfair business practices originating from China are costing the American economy more than $57 billion a year, White House officials believe, and they expect that figure to grow.
Yet an investigation by NPR and the PBS television show Frontline into why three successive administrations failed to stop cyberhacking from China found an unlikely obstacle for the government — the victims themselves.

Microsoft’s work with Chinese military university raises eyebrows
Microsoft has been collaborating with researchers linked to a Chinese military-backed university on artificial intelligence, elevating concerns that US firms are contributing to China’s high-tech surveillance and censorship apparatus.

Editorial: Who is serving today
The Army fell short of its recruiting goals in fiscal year 2018 for the first time since 2005…
And the military, on average, also is better educated than the general population. Overall, 98 percent of enlisted active duty troops have at least a high school diploma compared with only 88 percent of American adults. And military officers are considerably better educated than average U.S. adults. More than 80 percent of active-duty officers have at least a bachelor’s degree and 42 percent advanced degrees, compared with about 30 percent of the general population.
And as for socioeconomic representation, forget the old perception that enlisted troops come from low-income, deadbeat homes. Researchers with CNA found that most recruits come from solidly middle-class families. In fact, lower-income neighborhoods tend to be underrepresented in the military…
Today’s military is more diverse than ever. Today more than 40 percent of active military members belong to racial and ethnic minority groups, almost mirroring the makeup of the general population. And women, while still only 17 percent of the active force, represent a quickly growing population, especially as all career options now are open to them.
Every time I meet one of these young vets or active duty soldiers I am impressed with them.

Science Explains Why Men with Longer Beards Have Smaller Testicles
Labcoats believe that primates, like us, only have the energy to develop one or the other

Nvidia Geforce Game Ready WHQL Driver 425.31
Download | Release Notes

Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers v21
Windows 7 | Windows 8.1 | Windows 10

Client NVMe Microsoft Windows Drivers for Intel SSDs
This Windows driver can be used to enable your system to recognize the Intel SSD 660p Series, Intel Optane SSD 900P Series, Intel Optane SSD 905P Series, Intel SSD 750 Series, and Intel SSD Pro 7600p/760p/E 6100p Series.
Download & Info

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Amazon Workers Are Listening to What You Tell Alexa
Amazon.com Inc. employs thousands of people around the world to help improve the Alexa digital assistant powering its line of Echo speakers. The team listens to voice recordings captured in Echo owners’ homes and offices. The recordings are transcribed, annotated and then fed back into the software as part of an effort to eliminate gaps in Alexa’s understanding of human speech and help it better respond to commands.
And that is one of the reasons I will never have one of those type of devices.

Apple Music Censors Songs in China Referencing 1989 Tiananmen Massacre and Democracy, Watchdog Says
While other big American tech firms have limited their operations in China at least in part to avoid complying with the country’s strict censorship laws, Apple has fought to stay inside and has reaped the financial rewards…Chinese journalists and netizens recently found that Apple Music’s Chinese streaming service censored a song by Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung that references the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, an extremely politically sensitive topic for the Chinese Communist Party. The incident’s 30th anniversary is coming up in June.
kar·ma
/ˈkärmə/
noun
(in Hinduism and Buddhism) the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.

Biologist Exposes Sushi Restaurants For False Labels For Their Ingredients
Biology professor Dr.Jennifer McDonald asked her college senior class to go out to various sushi restaurants and bring back a sample for their lab assignment, so they could extract the DNA and find out if the fish name on the menu was in fact what it said it was. Not only did the class expose some serious fish fraud they uncovered some other seriously stomach-churning “ingredients.”
Gross

What’s the significance of black hole photo? (Dr. Michio Kaku) – CBSN Live Video – CBS News

Most Popular Jelly Beans by State [Interactive Map]
Popcorn flavor? Yuck! Shout out to Alaska, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, and Tennessee.

* Be sure to check out my latest article: Bad Tweak – Optimize USB Storage

Got Windows? You got updates.
This may or may not be the last update before the May 2018 feature update.

Windows 7
April 9, 2019—KB4493448 (Security-only update)
April 9, 2019—KB4493472 (Monthly Rollup)

Windows 8.1
April 9, 2019—KB4493467 (Security-only update)
April 9, 2019—KB4493446 (Monthly Rollup)

Windows 10
1809 – April 9, 2019—KB4493509 (OS Build 17763.437)
1803 – April 9, 2019—KB4493464 (OS Build 17134.706)
1709 – April 9, 2019—KB4493441 (OS Build 16299.1087)
Reminder: Windows 10, version 1709, will reach end of service on April 9, 2019 for devices running Windows 10 Home, Pro, Pro for Workstation, and IoT Core editions.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

CCleaner v5.56.7144
Download (I use portable) | Release Announcement
See also: Blocking A Programs Internet Access Via The Windows Firewall

Adobe Reader Updated
Download en-US | All Downloads | Security Bulletin | Release Notes

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Microsoft says FCC data on improved broadband coverage is misleading
It’s a well-known fact that large swathes of the US remain without broadband connectivity — indeed, some $22 billion has been poured into closing this gap over the past five years. However, exactly how many Americans are going without is up for debate. As a new blog post by Microsoft explains, “official” data from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can’t be trusted.
No?! Government data can’t be trusted? Surely you jest?

Stone sells its Berlin brewery to Scotland’s BrewDog
Greg Koch, the Stone co-founder who had advocated the Berlin experiment, noted slower-than-expected sales and German contractors who were unable to quickly respond to “unexpected challenges.”
He flat out said it was the Germans fault. SMH. Check out the comments…

Do Real Men Wear Scrunchies?
Paywalled: Try the Bypass Paywalls extension for Firefox
As more guys jump on the long hair trend, they’re also embracing a wider range of hair accessories, like the pink Fendi hair tie worn by Aquaman Jason Momoa
I’m gonna shut my yap on this one. That huge Hawaian dude might kick my ass…

Samsung SSD Magician Software 5.3.1
Download | Alternative Download

Intel Graphics Driver for Windows [15.45]
This is a security release and only supports Windows 7* & 8.1* for 6th Generation processors.
Download & Info

New Win10 Update Settings
Yes, I know about it because every Windows tech site/blog jumped on it. They do every time something sponge-worthy newsworthy pops up on the Windows blog and they act like they have an exclusive scoop. I’ve no comment because:
– It applies to the next major update and it ain’t out yet.
– You shouldn’t be upgrading to the next Win10 update when it comes out, and it ain’t out yet.
– It ain’t out yet, and it ain’t out yet.

Maglite Heavy-Duty Incandescent 6-Cell D Flashlight, Black – S6D016
BTW – I keep mine next to the front door. It’s like a mini baseball bat…
List Price: $42.98
Price: $30.81
You Save: $12.17 (28%)

I’ve been sick for almost a month. A sinus infection turned into acute bronchitis because the inept doctors at my local urgent care center wouldn’t prescribe an antibiotic when it was obvious I needed it. I’ve been on doxycycline hyclate (antibiotic) and prednisone (steroid to help breathing) for several days now. I haven’t been focusing well. Here at TweakHound.com some misspelling and general rambling have ensued and I apologize. I’m gonna take a few days off. I might head up towards the mountains and hit a few breweries.

Macrium Reflect v7.2.4156
Bugfixes, support large cluster size (NTFS)
Download | Release Notes

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Office Depot And Partner Ordered To Pay $35 Million For Tricking Consumers Into Thinking They Had Malware
“Consumers have a hard enough time protecting their computers from malware, viruses, and other threats,” said FTC Chairman Joe Simons. “This case should send a strong message to companies that they will face stiff consequences if they use deception to trick consumers into buying costly services they may not need.”
LOL. The ENTIRE industry uses those tactics.

Hundreds of millions of Facebook records exposed on Amazon cloud servers
One of the companies stored 146 gigabytes of data containing more than 540 million records, including comments, likes, reactions and account names, on the Amazon servers, according to UpGuard. The number of users whose data was included is not yet clear.
#DeleteFacebook

‘Beyond Sketchy’: Facebook Demanding Some New Users’ Email Passwords
I don’t know what’s worse. The ignorance of asking for the password or the ignorance of giving it. #DeleteFacebook

25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds
I didn’t find the interview interesting until this:
But, I absolutely detest modern “social media”—Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. It’s a disease. It seems to encourage bad behavior.
I think part of it is something that email shares too, and that I’ve said before: “On the internet, nobody can hear you being subtle”. When you’re not talking to somebody face to face, and you miss all the normal social cues, it’s easy to miss humor and sarcasm, but it’s also very easy to overlook the reaction of the recipient, so you get things like flame wars, etc., that might not happen as easily with face-to-face interaction…
Add in anonymity, and it’s just disgusting. When you don’t even put your real name on your garbage (or the garbage you share or like), it really doesn’t help.
I’m actually one of those people who thinks that anonymity is overrated. Some people confuse privacy and anonymity and think they go hand in hand, and that protecting privacy means that you need to protect anonymity. I think that’s wrong. Anonymity is important if you’re a whistle-blower, but if you cannot prove your identity, your crazy rant on some social-media platform shouldn’t be visible, and you shouldn’t be able to share it or like it.

People need to wake up to dangers of AI, warns Google ethics adviser
“AI is the single most disruptive force that humanity has ever encountered and my concern is that so much of the discussion that we hear about now is very incremental,” said De Kai, a professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, in an interview this week. “We are near an era when people can easily produce weapons such as fleets of armed AI drones … the cat is out of the bag.”
I would put the odds at better than even AI will be our undoing. I dunno, maybe I’m just in a mood.

Ex-Mozilla CTO: US border cops demanded I unlock my phone, laptop at SF airport – and I’m an American citizen
“On this trip, the kiosk directed me to a Customs and Border Patrol agent who kept my passport and sent me to secondary inspection,” Gal said. “There I quickly found myself surrounded by three armed agents wearing bullet proof vests. They started to question me aggressively regarding my trip, my current employment, and my past work for Mozilla, a non-profit organization dedicated to open technology and online privacy.”
I don’t fly much. Don’t care if I ever do again. Folks making comments on this article talk about burner phones and laptops for travel…

Luigi that ordered a Tweak Guide:
I need a legit email addy bro!