Exciting Technology

Adam Fingerman CRUNCH NETWORK CONTRIBUTOR Adam Fingerman is co-founder and chief experience officer of  ArcTouch . How to join the network Home automation may not be described as life-altering just yet, but it is pretty cool to be able to control your lights from a smartphone app, change your music automatically as you walk into a room and enjoy a comfortable temperature without lifting a finger. Your home can customize itself to your habits, and save you money in the process. That’s all great, but does it really make the world a better place?   To make home automation a world-changing concept, we  need  to think bigger. Technologists have been myopically focused on the benefits of individuals and families one home at a time, but there is an unexploited strength in numbers when it comes to connected  homes . The benefit of home automation to a society could be so much more if  smart   homes  were scaled into fully connected  ...

One thing we have learned when looking into North Korea’s Red Star OS, is that, while a number of foreign governments claim that they want nothing to do with American companies, their efforts in coming up with home-grown replacements for their IT infrastructure, is invariably inspired by either Microsoft Windows, or Apple Mac OS X. By this same token, the People’s Republic of China has made considerable strides in partnering with Linux developers, in response to Microsoft’s end of support for Windows XP. The result was NeoKylin OS, a Linux-based operating system that looks and feel like Windows XP, in nearly every aspect. Even further, the Chinese government has gone through lengths to replicate, or mimic, bits and pieces of Microsoft Office, to provide government employees a set of built-in productivity tools. Past rumors have hinted to China building its own proprietary operating system, with a tentative October 2014 release. The operating system’s original rumors entai...

Learn how to  activate Windows 10 .  Here's everything you need to know about how to find your  Windows 10  product key  and how activation  works on  Windows 10.  How to  Activate Windows 10. Microsoft official  Windows 10 activation guide. Microsoft has rolled out a new document which might be useful for Windows 10 users. This document covers various aspects of activation of their operating system. Since the activation methods for Windows 10 are different from previous Windows versions, this is worth paying attention to. From the released guide, it is clear that at least one new method of activation is available for Windows 10. While it is possible to activate Windows 10 using a traditional product key, the free upgrade offer reveals another method of activation called digital entitlement. According to the document, once you upgrade from a genuine copy of Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, it can always ...

This setting might be enabled by default in your Computer. With this option enabled, your system will boot much faster, therefore it is recommended to set it to enabled. It starts fast because Windows saves system information in a " hiberfil.sys " file when you shutdown, Windows then triggers this file when you start your Computer again. Today, when I started my PC, I noticed it stared very slow than usual. When I checked if someone has disabled fast startup, the option wasn't there. Later, I found that someone has disabled hibernate in my PC. Please note that Fast Startup will only work when the hibernate is enabled. If you'll disable hibernate, then fast startup will not work. If hibernate option is enabled in your system then you can easily turn on the fast start from Power Options. You can find the settings here ==>  Settings  >  System  >  Power & sleep  > Additional Power Settings  >  Choose what the power butto...

Windows 10 has introduced the Windows 10 lockscreen experience. If you are using Windows 10, then you must have noticed that the lock screen displays some vibrant and amazing pictures and the computer asks you for your feedback if you like the image or don’t like it. The images are the best shot collections from Bing images and this new lockscreen is called the Windows Spotlight. The WIndows Spotlight feature is not onyl a simple lockscreen feature but it is greatly personalized to the user’s preferences. If the user has liked a picture of an animal, kittens or puppies, then Bing will try showing similar images to him/her. If a user has disliked a graphic image, then Bing will no more show him/her that type of image. Previously, this feature was only available to Windows 10 Home and the feature was appreciated by one and all. Now Windows spotlight has been made available with Windows 10 Build 10547. So Windows 10 pro users can now avail this feature. 1. First open the  Sett...

No matter how you work or what type of business you run,  being productive  is a must. But techniques and strategies aren’t enough if you don’t have the tools needed to implement them. Fortunately, there’s an app for that! Here are 21 apps that are guaranteed to boost your productivity, accountability and success: 1. Asana While there are tons of different project-management apps out there, Asana  is by far one of my favorites. Once set up, this app helps you reduce internal email, delegate tasks and check the status of your projects from one central dashboard. Related: 8 Crucial Apps for Hacking Everything From Lunch to Project Management 2. Venmo If you need to send payments quickly and securely, this is your app. With no forms to fill out and no fees for payment,  Venmo  is a great alternative to solutions such as Paypal. 3. TripIt Tracking travel is important -- not just for organizational purposes, but for expense and...

During the course of a month, I look at a lot of apps and games from the Windows Phone and  Windows 10  Store. Through reviews, the AdDuplex HERO App posts, the myAppFree deals and other posts I can easily cover over thirty titles. Add what the other staff members cover and that number grows dramatically. For this weekend's  roundup , I'm pulling together a handful of apps and games that stood out from the Windows Phone and Windows 10 titles covered this month. I'll try to keep things balanced with a mixture of games and apps, but that may not be possible every month. There is no rhyme or reason to this list beyond the fact that I found these titles to be entertaining, useful and would easily recommend them. If you have tried any of these titles, let us know in the comments below if you agree or why you disagree.

At half the price of its last mobile VR headset, the new $99  Oculus-made  Samsung Gear VR is cheap enough to unlock virtual reality for the mainstream. Revealed today at the Oculus Connect conference, it works with the whole 2015 line of Samsung Smartphones including the Note 5, S6, S6 Edge, and S6 Edge+. It will ship in November in time for Black Friday. Compared to the $199 previous Gear VRs that only worked with fewer phones, this headset will be a lot more accessible. The new Gear VR is 22% lighter, making it more comfortable to wear. The trackpad on the temple of the headset also now has a tactile directional pad on it so your finger will know where it’s touching. The previous Gear VRs had a smooth trackpad and sometimes it was to tough to know if you were touching it or just the unsensitive shell of the headset when you couldn’t see for yourself. There’s also a new Gear VR Gamepad which all the Oculus Connect conference attendees will get for free. It features an...

So you’ve grabbed the free upgrade, installed the all new Windows 10 and given it a try for a couple weeks. Now if you don’t like Windows 10 for whatever reason, be it for the privacy issues, learning curve, or program incompatibilities, you can easily downgrade to your previous version of Windows with just a few clicks. The good thing about downgrading is that you will get to keep all your programs, files, and settings intact In fact, a smooth upgrade and downgrade process is one those improved features of Windows 10. And if you would like to downgrade, here is how you can to a previous version of Windows from Windows 10. Note:  even though I’m downgrading to  Windows  7  from Windows 10, the procedure is the same even if you want to downgrade to Windows 8 or 8.1. Things to Know and Do Before Downgrading Before downgrading from Windows 10, there are a few things you should know and do. 1. Downgrading from Windows 10 to Windows...

BlackBerry  announced  today that its first Android-powered device, the BlackBerry Priv, is coming by the end of the year. The announcement, part of BlackBerry’s quarterly results report for Q2 FY 2016, comes after a flurry of leaks, including an extensive  hands-on look  we brought you last week. BlackBerry Priv, formerly known by its internal codename, Venice, is BlackBerry’s first foray into Android, which the Canadian company tried – and ultimately failed – to fight off with its own operating system, BlackBerry 10. “Priv combines the best of BlackBerry security and productivity with the expansive mobile application ecosystem available on the Android platform,” said BlackBerry’s CEO John Chen. The device promises “best in class security for enterprise customers,” as part of the company’s “heritage and core mission of protecting our customers’ privacy.” The Priv will become available late this year in “major markets in-store and online.” More details, i...