Technology

The Death of Photobucket

Congratulations Photobucket, you have successfully managed to kill in less than 15-days what was a very successful business for nearly 15-years. For those not familiar with Photobucket it was one of the original photo storing/sharing sites launched in 2003. It was extremely popular for blogs, forums and message boards which had limited or no hosting space for their users to post images. For the most part Photobucket’s service was free with limitations on hosting (storage) space and bandwidth. Before I moved to self hosting my blogs, I was a Photobucket user…a paid one at that too. However, I was paying…

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Microsoft is Sorry (sort of) About Windows 10 (Forced) Upgrade Tatics

Microsoft has admitted and apologized about ‘crossing the line’ with changing the behavior of the ‘Red X’ on the Windows 10 upgrade screen. However, they were well aware of what they were doing and the repercussions it could cause. Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela: “We know we want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective etc, but finding that right balance where you’re not stepping over the line of being too aggressive is something we tried and for a lot of the year I think we got it right, but there was one particular moment in particular where,…

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Firefox Support for Windows XP/Vista to Continue in 2017

Mozilla has announced Firefox will continue to be supported for Windows XP and Vista users into most of 2017. Here is the timeline for continued support ub 2017: March 2017 users will (automatically) be moved to Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR). September 2017 Mozilla will end support for Windows XP and Vista users. via Firefox Future Release

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The Windows 10 Free Upgrade Period Is Over (for now).

That’s right it is over! The ‘free upgrade’ period to Windows 10 also known as GWX (Get Windows 10) based on the name of the files Microsoft secretly downloaded onto users machines in hopes that they would unwilling install Windows 10. Clicking on the Get Windows 10 icon in the taskbar tray now brings up this “too bad, so sad” message: However, while the Get Windows 10 notifications have ended, Microsoft MSFT 423,08 +6,52 +1,57% is going to take their time in getting the GWX crapware application off users machines. There is a slight chance Microsoft may reintroduce the offer this fall (one reason why…

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Can Microsoft Get Anymore Annoying?

One thing about Microsoft MSFT 423,08 +6,52 +1,57% is they are persistent about reminding users of Windows 7/8.1 about the “free” Windows 10 upgrade. In the past users were presented with  pop-up Windows asking them to update to Windows 10 now or tonight. There were even notifications that Windows 10 was already installed,  just restart to finish the install. Microsoft execs have even resorted to using scare tactics that Windows 7 is unsafe and you should upgrade to Windows 10. With less than a month (25-days and counting) left before the free upgrade offer “officially” ends (there are rumors Microsoft…

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To upgrade, or not to upgrade (to Windows 10) –

that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of Windows 10, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing, keep Windows 7/8.1. My apologies to my readers who may be Shakespeare or Hamlet fans…. With about 60-days left until the ‘free upgrade’ period ends on July 29th there is still time. But, chances are if you haven’t upgraded by now and have managed to avoid falling victim to Microsoft’s MSFT 423,08 +6,52 +1,57% “dirty tricks” to get you to upgrade, you likely don’t plan on going to Windows 10. In…

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We’ve Broke Windows 7, So Why Not Get Windows 10?

I am not making this up. Microsoft MSFT 423,08 +6,52 +1,57% almost as if in an attempt to get users of Windows 7 to go out and buy a new Windows 10 machine has intentionally broke Windows 7 for users with Asus ASUUY 60,18 0,00 0,00% system boards. Windows update KB3133977 which use to be an “Optional” but recently became a ‘Recommended’ update. This update enables secure boot on Windows 7 (a feature that was previously disabled). Older PC’s with Asus boards don’t support secure boot, which will cause users to get the below red screen upon first bootup after…

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We’re 10!

That’s right 10 years ago today, a Blog was Born! Honestly, I am surprised it has last this long (and I am not just talking about the blog). A lot has happened in the last 10 years in the browser ‘market’. While Internet Explorer is still around (and sadly not by choice for some users who are stuck using IE for certain essential websites), there is a lot more choice in web browsers now. Even Microsoft introduced a new (and crippled) browser with Windows 10. Microsoft Edge, a browser so useless it pushes users over the edge. Netscape is long…

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Firefox 46 Released

Mozilla has released the next scheduled update for Firefox with Firefox 46 on April 26th. Changes in this release include: Improved security of the JavaScript Just In Time (JIT) Compiler GTK3 integration (GNU/Linux only) Correct rendering for scaled SVGs that use a clip and a mask Various security fixes Screen reader behavior with blank spaces in Google Docs corrected WebRTC fixes to improve performance and stability There were some fixes and other items in this release which can be viewed via the Release Notes. Depending on the user’s update settings, users should be prompted to install the new version or…

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Oracle to Deprecate Java Plugin

Earlier this year Oracle ORCL 122,16 +0,53 +0,44% announced starting with JDK 9 (eta September 2016), they will remove the plugin support. They are encouraging developers to move towards the plugin free Java Web Start technology. Oracle’s reasoning for this move has to do with more and more browsers removing support the 20+ year old Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI) plugin technology. GoogleGOOG 175,43 +1,55 +0,89% Chrome no longer supports NPAPI plugins such as Java and Silverlight. Google has partnered with Adobe ADBE 485,35 +9,40 +1,98% to include an integrated version of Flash within Chrome. The Windows 64-Bit version of Firefox also does not…

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