Win 10 Insider Build 15019

The gaming-focused Windows 10 Insider build that Microsoft promised earlier this week, with Game Mode, Beam livestreaming and other features, is rolling out—but with some game-breaking bugs, unfortunately.

What’s officially known as Build 15019 for the Insider Fast Ring also includes a number of more general improvements, including a version of Edge that will read your ebooks aloud and a better out-of-box experience, complete with voice actors to guide you through the process.

If you’re hoping to try out the new PC-centric Game Mode for yourself, though, be wary: Microsoft warned that unspecified “popular games” may experience crashes or black screens when loading, and clicking on certain elements in a Win32 game may cause it to be minimized (and therefore unplayable) unless killed. Even the new Game Mode will show up as OFF when in fact it’s enabled by default. Also, be aware of one download glitch: The issue Microsoft had with its progress bar is still there, so the download will still show “0% completed” even when it’s actually downloading.

“We recognize that this is painful for those wanting to try out the new gaming features announced this week,” Microsoft’s Insider chief, Dona Sarkar, wrote in a blog post. “We deliberated a lot on whether to release this build to Insiders with these issues; however we decided to go ahead and release it as we need feedback from Insiders on other areas of the OS.”

Life is Good

By Bayle Emlein

LG continues to lead the way in improving consumer life. The Signature OLED TV W provides the most immersive viewer experience to date with the widest possible viewing angle, richer colors, blacker blacks, better detail resolution, and a paper thin screen that sits flat on the wall, giving the sensation of looking through a real window into a world beyond. With enhanced audio, it sounds like you are really there. Working with Dolby and Technicolor, LG partners with experts in every field to yield the best possible user experience.

     

LG robots clean the floor, mow the lawn, and do the laundry learning your individual  situation and adjusting as they operate. At an airport near you, a friendly robot can provide directions and confirm gate locations. (How about a demo at CES? A robot that really knows where things are and how to get there from here at each corridor intersection. The InstaView refrigerator works with Amazon to monitor it's contents and even order delivery of groceries, per user specifications. It will order up your music too. As of 2017 all LG home appliances will be connected through the WebOS.

    

LG also operates in the personal vehicle arena. The Driver State Monitoring System monitors--and suggests corrections to--a driver's focus.

LibreOffice 5.2.5

The Document Foundation (TDF) announces LibreOffice 5.2.5 “still”, the fifth minor release of the LibreOffice 5.2 family. Based on the upcoming announcement of LibreOffice 5.3, all users are invited to update to LibreOffice 5.2.5 from LibreOffice 5.1.6 or previous versions.

TDF suggests to deploy LibreOffice in large organizations, public administrations and enterprises with the backing of professional support by certified people (a list is available at:
http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/professional-support/).

Road to LibreOffice 5.3

LibreOffice 5.3 will be announced in less than a week, on February 1st, 2017. Users can start learning about the new features on LibreOffice 5.3 Release Notes page (https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/5.3).

Download LibreOffice

LibreOffice 5.2.5 is immediately available for download from the
following link: http://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-fresh/. LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can support The Document Foundation with a donation at
http://donate.libreoffice.org.

Several companies sitting in TDF Advisory Board (http://www.documentfoundation.org/governance/advisory-board/) are
providing either value added Long Term Supported versions of LibreOffice or consultancy services for migrations and trainings, based on best practices distilled by The Document Foundation.

Verizon/Yahoo Deal Delayed

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Verizon’s planned acquisition of Yahoo will take longer than expected and won’t close until this year’s second quarter, the internet company said on Monday.

The $4.8 billion deal was originally slated to close in the first quarter, but that was before Yahoo reported two massive data breaches that analysts say may scrap the entire deal.

Although Yahoo continues to work to close the acquisition, there’s still work required to meet closing the deal's closing conditions, the company said in an earnings statement, without elaborating.

Verizon has suggested that the data breaches, and the resulting blow to Yahoo’s reputation, might cause it to halt or renegotiate the deal.

In September, Yahoo said a “state-sponsored actor” had stolen details from at least 500 million user accounts in late 2014. As if that wasn’t enough, the company reported another breach in December, this one dating back to August 2013 and involving 1 billion user accounts.

Both breaches were detected months after Verizon announced last July that it would buy the ailing internet company. Reportedly, Yahoo is facing an investigation from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over whether the breaches should have been reported to investors earlier.

The breaches may have shaken confidence in Yahoo’s internet business. But the company has since taken measures, such as password resets, to secure user accounts.

Acronis Tru Image 2017 New Generation Backup

By George Harding

There are many programs for saving your vital data and programs, some separate programs, some built into the operating system. One which has been around for many years is Acronis, a program provided by a Russian company.

Acronis has had a backup program for many operating systems, providing a new version as operating systems have changed. The result is a proliferation of different versions, each doing essentially the same job. The most recent version, however, does backup and considerably more.

The newest version, called Tru Image 2017 New Generation, offers protection from ransomware, Notary, which assures that data you’ve backed up is authentic and unchanged, Security, which makes sure that data is secure against intervention or alteration, Cloud backup and Mobile backup.

This program does a lot, yet is easy to use. A free trial is available.

Acronis Tru Image 2017 New Generation

www.acronis.com

Price $80 for one year

Samsung Fires

Samsung Electronics finally identified what went wrong with its Galaxy Note 7 handsets that led to one of the worst technology recalls in recent times, a day before its full-year earnings.

Dong-jin Koh, Samsung's mobile business chief, acknowledged two separate instances of battery malfunctions were to blame for some of the handsets catching fire at a Monday press conference in Seoul, South Korea. He also used the conference to apologize to customers and suppliers.

Investors responded positively to the news, with Samsung shares closing up 2.31 percent at 1,903,000 won during market close on Monday.

The Galaxy Note 7 handsets were packed with lithium-ion batteries, which are arranged in three layers: a positive electrode, a negative one and a third physical layer that acted as the separator between the first two. When the positive and negative electrodes touch, it can sometimes lead to short circuits within the battery cells

A&D Medical Mobile Help

By Bayle Emlein

A&D Medical develops and distributes medical devices. Where appropriate they partner with other companies to include their devices in to solutIons A&D offers. MobileHelp is one such company.

    

In the 40 years A&D has noted some trends in the delivery of medical services to:

*Patient centric

*Connected health

*Cost efficient

*Chronic condition management

    

The focus has moved from event-based care to health management, from physician managed care to active patient self-management.

What makes things work for consumers? That is, what ensures compliance? Affordability, ease of use, how it looks. Focus groups reveal that folks want their stuff to look "normal," not like a medical device.

    

The MobileHelp device looks like a handheld device. Warnings and reminders are delivered. Data, such as weight and blood pressure, are automatically reported. This ensures both better long-term compliance with health routines and ongoing monitoring. These features as well as the ability to report emergencies reduce costs, including those for hospital readmissions. This is above the emotional and energy costs for caregivers.

    

MobileHelp is a model of a nationally available health monitoring system. If you're reading this, chances are you're not currently looking for health management support for yourself. That's the best time for  investigation. If you know someone who might soon need such a system to remain out of an institution, start introducing the normalcy of self-care and self-monitoring now.