5 free augmented reality apps to delight your kids

Techradar - All the latest technology news 5 free augmented reality apps to delight your kids

Simply handing your smartphone to your child is a lazy way to keep them entertained; instead you can harness the incredible power in your pocket to enjoy quality time with your kids as they have fun and develop their creative skills.

One of the best ways to do this is through augmented reality (AR), using your phone's camera to superimpose digital images and animations onto the real world to distort reality. 

From unlocking the secrets of the universe to giving yourself a funny meerkat makeover, there's loads of AR excitement to be had when stuck in even the most mundane of settings.

Exciting and entertaining for little ones and big kids alike, these apps will turn your phone into a more magical portal than anything JK Rowling can conjure up.

1. MSQRD

Price: Free iOS / Android / Windows Phone

If you haven't got the time to crack out the face paints, you can still customise your kid's grinning visage easily and fuss-free using AR.

Face-warping (where you fire up the front-facing camera and alter your features digitally) is one of the most fun and delightful things to do with your phone, and while there are a number of face-warping apps, MSQRD is one of the best we've seen.

From ogres to tigers, and from fairies to fighter pilots, this app will transform your face (and those of your little ones) into all manner of weird and wonderful creations right before your eyes.

Available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone, the app features an in-built face-switching tool to increase the fun of these interactive masks even further, offering truly odd features and bringing a swift smile to a child in any boring situation.

2. Dinosaurs Everywhere!

Price: Free iOS / Android

If there's one thing that every kid loves - besides chocolate or Santa - it's dinosaurs.

If you've run out of reasons for not taking them to Jurassic Park (because they know it's real, no matter what you try to tell them), why not bring the prehistoric lizards to them?

The great thing about this free iOS and Android app is it will drop AR dinosaurs wherever you point your phone's camera, making everything from a walk in the park to a trip through the supermarket an exciting maze of dino-dodging.

It has an useful educational element too, where tapping on the bodies of the virtual animals brings up a fact sheet on the beast.

Including this surprising nugget: did you know the diplodocus was 33m long? Neither did we.

3. Quiver

Price: Free iOS / Android

Just because children are becoming used to a digital world, it doesn't mean that the creative act of coloring-in needs to be forgotten.

Quiver combines real-world drawing and shading with AR technology to bring the ancient art of shading to the modern era, using both physical skills and your phone's camera.

To start, you'll need to download and print Quiver's coloring pages from quivervision.com, add the app to your phone and use whatever pens or pencils you have to hand to transform your designs into colorful creations.

Now when you dangle your phone over the pictures, your designs will rise from the page to bring the characters to life.

As well as paid-for print outs, there are dozens of free designs to download and enjoy from Quiver to fire your child's (or your) imagination.

4. Iron HUD

Price (with in-app purchase of £1.49 (around $2 / AU$2.50)) : Free, iOS

The idea of being Iron Man isn't just exciting to children - it's a cool idea that we can all get on board with.

Well thanks to the power of AR, your phone can now get you pretty close to taking on that iconic role.

OK, so you can't fly around, be effortlessly suave or have billions in the bank, but you can get an idea of what it's like cram your head into that superhero suit.

Using the Iron HUD app, you'll hold up the phone to view the world through Iron Man's eyes - all the while being guided by the voice of his assistant Jarvis.

The free app is pretty basic, but splash for the in-app purchase on the all-encompassing in-app purchase, and you'll soon be firing rockets, lasers and enjoying target-based mini-games.

We're now secretly hoping this comes to VR soon too...

5. Reality Pool

Price: Free iOS

When you're stuck inside with bored offspring on rainy afternoons, you can use AR to bring all manner of games to life, no matter how much space you've got available.

It can be hard to choose which one though; there are AR football and basketball games out there, but we've found these just don't work consistently enough to create a fluid and immersive experience.

However, the iPhone-friendly Reality Pool brings a pool table to your house without any worries over space and cost.

All you've got to do is place a rectangular item on a flat surface - a piece of paper, cereal box or rug will all work.

Now when you point your phone in the direction of said rectangle a digital pool table will appear through your screen, and all you need to do is walk around it, line up your shots (pulling back the on-screen cue to make your pots) and turn a meaningless four-sided shape into hours of fun.

This article is brought to you in association with Tesco Mobile

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14 eyebrow-raising personal details Google knows about you

Macworld 14 eyebrow-raising personal details Google knows about you

Google may know more about me than I know about myself.

I'm not just saying that, either: I recently started poking around in Google's personal data repositories and realized that, between my wide-reaching use of the company's services and my own brain's inability to remember anything for more than seven seconds, Google may actually have the upper hand when it comes to knowledge about my life.

From face-tagged photos of my past adventures (what year did I go to Nashville, again—and who went with me to that Eddie Vedder show?) to the minute-by-minute play-by-play of my not-so-adventuresome days (wait, you mean I really only left the house once last Wednesday—and just to get a freakin' sandwich?!), Google's got all sorts of goods on me. Heck, even my hopes and dreams (which may or may not involve sandwiches) are probably catalogued somewhere in its systems.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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5 ways to learn a new language on your way to work

Techradar - All the latest technology news 5 ways to learn a new language on your way to work

There's nothing like the smug feeling of being on holiday and ordering a plate of chips in the native tongue (regardless of how bad your accent probably is). 

And what's brilliant is your smartphone has become the perfect portal to do just that - and with minimal effort compared to having attend night classes or order records from the back of a magazine.

A range of new apps, YouTube channels and online portals make getting to grips with a new language in a short amount of time simple and, more importantly, actually enjoyable.

A number of popular apps turn language learning into an experience that's almost as addictive as the biggest smartphone games with badges, rewards and different levels gamifying a tough task. 

But what sets these apps apart from average games is you come away with an actual, tangible reward too: being able to ask for another beer in something other than English. 

Here's our pick of the simplest and cheapest ways to learn a new language, perfect when you're daydreaming about a Spanish villa or Thai island on your way into your sad, little office, with everything from the conversational basics to the chance to become a conversational conquistador on offer. 

1. Duolingo

- Price: Free iOS / Android

Duolingo is both an app and online portal, and has grown to over 110 million users worldwide. In fact, ask anyone the best way to learn a language on the go and they're likely to excitedly shout "DUOLINGO!" at the top of their lungs.

What makes Duolingo so effective (and not to mention addictive) is it chops up learning a new language into digestible and gamified chunks such as Basics, Food and Animals.

In each lesson you type in phrases, read new words, look at visuals and speak phrases into the microphone too (which you can do while pretending you're making a phone call, if you don't want to look odd on the train chatting to your handset).

So it's a bit like a school exam in that it focuses on speaking, reading and writing a language, which many would argue is the best way to learn.

You can track your progress as you move through different levels and, after a few, take a simple test to check it's all sinking in. 

2. Easy Languages

The Easy Languages YouTube channel is a different to the stereotypical way of learning a new tongue, in that it's not someone lecturing you on a new language and expecting you to absorb at the same pace.

Instead the creators take to the streets of foreign climes to help you hear languages from actual speakers in their natural setting, allowing you to see how the language is used naturally while also learning about the culture it's from.

Although each episode is produced in the local language, you can follow along in subtitles of the language you're learning - allowing you to see how words look as well as sound - or follow along in English subtitles to help you learn how to translate.

Each week, the YouTube channel has a video about learning French, German and English, but interspersed between them are vocabulary training, verb lessons and grammar explanations to help your training and offer linguistic new challenges.

Although you can subscribe to the Easy Languages channel and simply watch the teaching videos, other really handy ones offer useful catch-up refresher lessons if you're jetting off soon and don't have much time to learn, like "10 Phrases for asking directions in Italian" or "10 Phrases for using transport in Arabic."

3. Babbel

- Price: Free iOS / Android (Subscription costs £7.99 / $9.99 / AU$14.99 for one month.)

Available on both iOS and Android, Babbel teaches you how to learn a language from local speakers with things you'll actually want to say, rather than long lists of verb conjugations to memorise.

The list is pretty comprehensive as you can learn 14 languages using Babbel at present, including Spanish, German, Russian and Indonesian.

The lessons come in 15 minute chunks, which lets you slip in a lesson during a train ride and perfect for a quick set of lessons before a holiday when you don't have to time to master the foundations.

The user experience is rather basic but entices repeat lessons through audio, visuals and written word testing - as well as different levels and a chance to review everything you've done so far so you gain a sense of language understanding.

Many Babbel lessons are free, but to use the course properly you'll need to pay for a subscription, which begins at £7.99 / $13 / AU$18 for one month.

4. Memrise

- Price: Free iOS / Android (Subscription costs £6.99 / $8.99 / around AU$13.99 for one month.)

Memrise is a simple and colourful app that currently offers a great variety of languages - but that's nothing new on this list. What impresses us here is that the app teaches you variations of languages for different countries, so you can learn to speak Spanish in Mexico or Spain to learn some of the cultural nuances.

Curiously this app is built around a narrative that you're a space detective on the mission to other worlds and need to learn the language to fit in - and the app is filled with space imagery as a result. It makes it all feel sweeter and easier, but isn't entirely necessary in actually helping you learn.

The Memrise app also has an offline mode, which makes it really useful for learning during your commute - especially if you travel somewhere that has frequent data-sparse spots.

The developers also tout the app's adaptive learning tech, which means it'll make small tweaks to the way it teaches you based on your learning style and how you perform, which would mean you'd learn at the right speed for you rather than the random speed decided by an app creator.

5. Rosetta Stone

- Price: iOS / Android (subscription needed, starting at £240 / $89)

Speak to anyone alive in the 1960s about Rosetta Stone and they'll talk about the days when one needed to buy huge boxes of records to learn Dutch - this teaching platform has been around for a long time and as such has a heritage in teaching many the tricks of a new tongue.

Luckily for lazy, app-loving types, the company has created lessons for the smartphone for on-the-go learning that packs years of teaching smarts into a small screen-friendly package.

Like many of the other apps on this list, it does away with traditional language learning styles (such as flashcards or lots of memorisation) and instead focuses on the basics you actually need like greetings, shopping terms and useful phrases.

Each lesson is presented in a minimal, yet colorful, way to keep you entertained when you're getting through the sea of teaching. You work through lessons gradually and in each you'll be able to read, write, speak and listen to absorb the teachings effectively.

The developers of the Rosetta Stone app are touting its speech recognition tech too, designed to make speaking into the app more accurate and offers best-in-class accent training too.

This article is brought to you in association with Tesco Mobile

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How to keep your Mac’s camera from spying on you, no tape required

Macworld How to keep your Mac's camera from spying on you, no tape required

It's the staple of all hacker and government-conspiracy fiction, not to mention quite a number of horror films: You're being watched through your hacked computer or phone or through a hijacked surveillance camera feed. And, unfortunately, this is well-reasoned paranoia in the real world, because to an operating system, a camera is just another file that can be read and relayed.

Earlier this year, in response to the news and to reader queries, I went into detail with a few ways you could disable microphone input in software and hardware on a Mac. Video is surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) easier to block: You can simply put a piece of tape over a lens.

Security guru Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist at the ACLU, told an interviewer in August, "the best bang-for-buck when it comes to privacy…is putting a sticker or a Band-Aid over your webcam on your laptop." That's what Mark Zuckerberg did, and he also covered his mic—which, as I noted in the previous article, doesn't help nearly as much as audio will still bleed through.

Audio and video tapping don't lend themselves per se to mass surveillance, despite the NSA reportedly recording enormous amounts of phone calls and video sessions and using software to find words and people of interest. Even its alleged efforts represent a fraction of all conversations, much less when you're not actively engaged in an online A/V conversation with someone.

Soghoian explained in the above interview the likelihood of you being spied upon individually, which is worth a glance. Most people are unlikely targets, but any activist, any member of a group that finds itself in the minority, and anyone who someone else might feasibly have a grudge against could find themselves in the crosshairs of audio- and video-tapping malware or products.

Students and workers with equipment provided to them could also be monitored without their knowledge. The best-known incident, but absolutely not the only case, is when a school near Philadelphia revealed to a student they were watching him at home on a school-owned computer. The school district later settled for over $600,000.

So what you can do besides tape? Some new and existing software for macOS can help.

Scotch that recording

There's a bit of chicken-and-egg problem with software tools that monitor, report on, and block access to microphones and cameras: they're susceptible to malware, too. Software designed to hijack your A/V would likely be savvy enough to check whether kernel extensions or other software is also monitoring devices, and would try to disable or mislead them.

But the more widely spread malware is—that is, the less targeted for a very high-value individual or group—the less sophisticated it is, and the more likely it will give itself away.

Micro Snitch alerts you when mics and cameras activate.

I wrote about Micro Snitch ($4) in my column on microphones, and it alerts you when built-in and some third-party video cameras activate as well.

The OverSight menu lets you know what it's monitoring and what's in use.

Security researcher Patrick Wardle has a passel of free apps designed to help you protect your privacy and system integrity, and his OverSight will monitor not just for usage, but "piggybacking." This is a technique seen in malware that can tap into a stream being used for FaceTime, Skype, or local recording, so the camera, mic, or both are already active when the surveillance starts. OverSight will pop up an Allow/Block warning with details about what triggered it.

And a free version CameraGuard alerts you to use of your camera. A paid version ($40) adds microphone blocking, and its maker says it uses heuristics to identify likely unwanted audio and video uses.

It's hard to recommend one above another, except for cost, because until malware strikes (or you intentionally install a known example to test on an unpatched system), it's impossible to predict whether one will perform better than another.

OverSight can also warn you if an app tries to tap into an active audio or video stream.

But whichever you pick, pairing it with new software like Little Flocker and Wardle's BlockBlock, which I wrote about recently, could help prevent software from running that tries to disable monitoring software or hijack active streams.

But what about an iPhone or iPad?

It's much more complicated in iOS, because you don't have access to the operating system's innards and iPhones are more fragile. While iOS has a strong security track record in terms of exploits that have made it into the wild, plenty of severe flaws have been found and patched, and may have been used to target individuals. Recently, I wrote about the three-exploit package deployed against a human-rights activist's iPhone in the United Arab Emirates, which—had it been successful—would have allowed remote audio and video interception on demand by the attackers.

You can simply put a black opaque sticker over the front-facing camera, or get a case that obscures both the front and back cameras.

It's hard to argue that Apple could do more with iOS, because the locked-down nature of the system prevents the casual installation of third-party software that might commit unwanted acts and more serious attempts to quietly subvert your privacy. Any software that manage to hijack your mic or camera on an iOS device is the kind of thing that won't go undiscovered in the wild for long, given how many researchers are watching for just this kind of attack.

To comment on this article and other Macworld content, visit our Facebook page or our Twitter feed.

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Tire Wear Patterns Explained; Your tires can tell you a lot. | BikeMinds

https://www.bikeminds.com/thethrottlestop/motorcycle-tire-wear-patterns-explained?utm_source=TTS&utm_campaign=BM+FB+-+Tire+Wear


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60 common Windows 10 problems and how to solve them

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New Office training courses from LinkedIn Learning

Office Blogs New Office training courses from LinkedIn Learning

Today's post was written by Peter Loforte, general manager for the Office Modern User Assistance and Localization team.

In our continuing effort to provide better help to our customers, we've partnered with LinkedIn to provide an array of new LinkedIn Learning training courses to help you get more out of Office.

The new courses are available today and focus on helping you get the most out of Outlook 2016 and Excel 2016. Learn how to use Outlook 2016 to set up an email account; send, receive and organize messages; add a signature; manage contacts and calendars; manage meetings; and collaborate and share with others. Get started with Excel 2016 by learning how to enter and organize data, create formulas and functions, build charts and PivotTables, and use other time-saving features.

These courses are freely available and can be found alongside the hundreds of courses and videos in the Office Training Center.

If you're interested in exploring the breadth of content from LinkedIn Learning (formally Lynda.com), you can get one month of free, special access to LinkedIn Learning, which includes thousands of courses and videos.

Here's a peek at some of the new Outlook courses in the Office Training Center:

As always, we'd love to hear your feedback in the comment section below.

—Peter Loforte

https://blogs.office.com/2016/09/22/new-office-training-courses-from-linkedin-learning/

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In Depth: Here's what you need to know about Yahoo's massive data breach

Techradar - All the latest technology news In Depth: Here's what you need to know about Yahoo's massive data breach

Yahoo has confirmed a massive data breach that stole information from at least 500 million user accounts, leaving many to wonder who's behind the attack and what this means for their security.

Yahoo is alerting affected users and is taking some steps to protect users. There are also steps you can take to try to keep your information secure.

We've gathered up everything you need to know about the Yahoo hack, plus advice on what you can do to protect yourself.

Who's the hacker?

The breach stems from a late 2014 hack by what Yahoo calls a state-sponsored actor. As our David Allen reported earlier, the attack was allegedly carried out by a hacker known as 'peace' (full name 'peace_of_mind').

Peace identified themselves to Wired as a former member of a team of Russian hackers who attacked a number of sites in 2012 and 2013 and sold stolen data on the dark web.

In August, peace claimed to be selling stolen login details for 200 Yahoo million accounts for around $2,000 (around £1,500, AU$2,700) a pop.

Yahoo was aware of peace's claim at the time but did not issue a password reset. The company says its current investigation has not turned up evidence that the state-sponsored actor is currently in Yahoo's network.

Stolen account information

According to Yahoo, information associated with at least 500 million user accounts was stolen. That information may include:

• Names
• Email addresses
• Telephone numbers
• Dates of birth
• Hashed passwords, the vast majority with bcrypt.
• In some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers

Bcrypt is a password hashing mechanism that incorporates security features, including salting and multiple rounds of computation, to provide advanced protection against password cracking, Yahoo explains in an FAQ about the breach.

Yahoo's investigation suggests stolen information doesn't include unprotected passwords, payment card data, or bank account information. The company notes payment card data and bank account information aren't stored on the system that was hacked.

Steps Yahoo is taking

Yahoo says it's alerting affected users via email. It cautions that its email will feature the company's purple "Y" Yahoo icon, and won't ask users to click on a link, contain any attachments or request personal information. Emails that do are likely an attempt to steal your information.

Yahoo advises affected users to change their passwords and implement alternative means of account verification.

It also advises all users change their passwords if they haven't done so since 2014.

The company has also invalidated unenrypted security questions and answers, and says it's continuing to enhance its systems to detect and prevent unauthorized account access.

Finally, Yahoo's investigation is ongoing, and it's working alongside law enforcement on the case.

Steps you can take

The most proactive step users can take is to change any passwords and security questions and answers for other, non-Yahoo accounts where you may have used the same or similar credentials as the ones for your Yahoo Account.

You can also check over your accounts for suspicious activity. Yahoo advises being cautious with unsolicited requests for your personal information or communications that take you to a web page asking for that information.

Avoid clicking on links or download attachments from suspicious emails as those might be an attempt to steal your personal information.

Lastly, while affected Yahoo Account information doesn't include unprotected passwords, email content, payment card data, or bank account information, it always pays to keep a close eye on your bank accounts and credit reports.

You can contact one of the three national credit reporting agencies for a credit report, and if you're really concerned, you can issue a security freeze on your credit file at each agency. That may cost you a fee, however.

• Looking for more security tips? Here's how to secure your Mac

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Everyone Has Something to Steal

Petri IT Knowledgebase Everyone Has Something to Steal

Sponsored IT content provided by SolarWinds

With the increasing sophistication of hackers, and the rising black market price of sensitive data IT has a huge target on its back. Data breaches are expected to cost the global economy $2 trillion by 2019.  Therefore, the need for a SIEM – Security Information and Event Management – solution is critical for detecting attacks as early as possible.

At the same time, IT has to support more and more devices, both in and outside of their organization. Technologies such as virtualization and SaaS solutions bring much-needed efficiencies to business, but further strain limited IT resources. Therefore, the SIEM solution needs to be easy-to-use and intelligent.

And then there is compliance. No matter what industry you're in, you are touched by compliance requirements whether it's PCI, HIPAA, SOX or FISMA.  A SIEM solution can help with compliance in two ways:

1. Fulfilling specific requirements in regulations that specifically call out monitoring and audit
2. Meeting other requirements with controls facilitated by SIEM

Are you prepared? Unlike internal IT programs, where the risk is controlled by the organization, compliance programs carry external risk, whether contractual or regulatory. Here are some examples of cases where companies have failed to meet their compliance requirements:

• $3,300,000 for unsecured electronic health records (OCR)
• $300,000 for failing to follow banking regulations (FinCEN)
• $25,000,000 for data breaches (FCC)

Fines are only one negative consequence of improperly managed programs. Reputational damage, lost customers, and decreased morale are others. However, if starting a compliance program appears overwhelming, keep in mind that there are many vendors willing to offer services to assist.

SolarWinds Log & Event Manager is a powerful SIEM that helps prevent data loss internally & externally, track access to sensitive files & systems, and ensure change management controls are in place.  The easy to deploy virtual appliance provides real-time, in-memory event correlation, active responses, threat intelligence, and USB device monitoring.

In addition, it provides out-of-the-box compliance reports/rules, pre-configured filters, and file integrity monitoring to detect file and registry changes so you can rapidly identify compliance policy violations.  Other key features include:

• Threat Intelligence Feed – Leverage an out-of-the-box feed of known bad IPs to identify malicious activity
• Embedded Real-Time File Integrity Monitoring – For broader compliance support and deeper security intelligence for insider threats, zero-day malware, and other advanced attacks.
• Real-time remediation & Real-time event correlation
• Advanced IT Search – Simple key word search or powerful custom queries using drag & drop interface
• USB Defender – Detach unauthorized USB devices and monitor file activity for potential data theft
• Node based licensing – Based on the number of nodes, such as servers and network devices

Over 3500 resource-constrained security pros rely on SolarWinds Log & Event Manager for powerful, affordable, and efficient security information and event management (SIEM).

HOW LOG & EVENT MANAGER SUPPORTS YOUR SECURITY PROGRAM

• Automation and embedded intelligence provide a Virtual Security Operations Center for 24×7 monitoring
• Faster event detection and alerting on threat intelligence matches based on IPs
• More intelligent and accurate detection of suspicious and malicious activity including zero-daymalware, insider, and advanced threats
• Eliminates time-intensive manual reporting processes
• Shortens time-to-respond duration through powerful forensics capabilities
• Automatically blocks abuse and misuse through active response for network, system, and access policy violations
• Monitors and blocks USB usage based on behavioral policy rules

Download a FREE Trial – Here

Author Bio: Karthik Ramachandran is a Senior Product Marketing Specialist at SolarWinds who has extensive IT management expertise in systems management including application, server and remote IT management.

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Yamaha XSR900 - Ride Review

RideApart - Recent Articles Yamaha XSR900 - Ride Review

After doing the First Ride the Yamaha XSR900 I was begging to be the one to do the full ride review for Ride Apart. I wanted more time with this bike and I'm happy I got the chance to put it through the ringer in my day-to-day.

The XSR900 is what Yamaha is calling a "Sport Heritage" motorcycle, which draws its influence from the company's "XS" line from the glory days of classic Japanese motorcycles. It has an 847cc, liquid cooled, fuel-injected, inline triple (is this redundant?) engine that is a whole lot of fun and left me wanting to write this entire review as simply: "Weeeeeeee!!!!......" with e's and !'s going all the way down the page.

Two Weeks with the XSR900

I got to ride the XSR for two glorious weeks instead of just one short day this time. The bulk of the time I had the bike was spent commuting to El Segundo, California - about an hour ride from my house in the morning if I'm splitting lanes at a reasonable speed above traffic.

I also took the bike out on a few weekend rides in the canyons, and just about anywhere else I went on the weekend or after work - including lots of freeway riding I normally wouldn't have cared to do on my other bikes.

City

The bike got a lot of attention when I was out and about around town. I parked it in West Hollywood heading to a casting and had a few hip actor dudes ogling the bike and saying how much they loved the look of it. One of them even went right for the radiator and talked about how much he loved it, which struck me because so many "motorcycle people" make fun of that radiator.

Later, I was on Rodeo Drive for a job; I pulled her up and parked her on the corner of Rodeo and Little Santa Monica on the curb because I knew that everyone would assume it belonged there.

One of my only complaints about the bike is that it doesn't love going slow (I know; it's a lame complaint to have). For being the style of bike that it is, pottering through traffic, and being in first or second gear in general, can feel a bit jumpy and unpredictable. First has a lot of room but it still wants to open up and give you a lot of torque if you are twitchy with your hand at all. And you won't be any safer in the less responsive "B" or "Standard" modes. Forget about trying to ride in a slow race or parade route in "A" mode.

With hand off the clutch the slowest it will go is 8 mph. I found myself having to use the clutch to curb the engine's enthusiasm a lot more than with other bikes, when I was stuck behind traffic jammers or making the tight turn into my driveway every evening.

Also, ground clearance is lacking. When making a tight right turn you might be alarmed to feel the brake pedal scrape the pavement a bit.

Highway

My complaint about the bike wanting to go too fast in the city carries over to the highway, but I can't really complain about something that was so much fun. This bike is happiest when it's opened up and I found myself giggling in my helmet cruising down the highway at 90 (Kilometers an hour, right? We're sure none of RideApart's staff ever speed... -Ed) and not realizing I was going that fast.

When I went to pick up the bike a technician working at Yamaha pointed out an XSR with the bullet fairing on it (not too shabby looking) and said that I should try to take that one because the fairing's windscreen really helped fight the chest pushback on the bike. I didn't take his advice, but probably should have.

I thought about that windscreen more than once and how I would definitely need to add it if I owned this bike. The wind does grab your chest and head a bit with the riding position, especially when you're really pushing it. Plus the fairing doesn't detract from the look of the bike.

Back Roads

This bike was the most fun for riding the twisties, which was great considering how fun it is commuting. The Traction Control and ABS system makes the bike drive itself through turns, which allowed me to have more fun in the canyons than ever.

Like I had mentioned in my First Ride this bike makes me feel like I can really push myself because the traction control was there to assist me. Although, I kept my hand far away from the front brake most of the time, because I was scared I might grab a handful of the a-bit-too-powerful brakes and send myself over the handlebars.

Practicality

For someone like me who is always wishing for more power but doesn't want to be on a liter bike riding around town and commuting, this bike is near perfect. It's an awesome solution for someone like myself who has always had her eye on a Ducati Monster but can't afford the name or the mechanic.

What Everyone Else Says

Lemmy from Common Tread calls the XSR900 a "parts-bin special" and points out that the parts seem to be cobbled together from extras, specifically identifying the taillight from the Bolt and the turn signals from the R6. But he adds that he doesn't mind because it doesn't take away from what this bike should look like and it probably helps the low price point. I agree and I think if Yamaha had tried to do something more "Heritage" it would have been a try-hard move. The parts all seem to work together and contribute to the attitude of the bike for me.

Sean MacDonald from Cycle World said: "That motor screams 'I want to go 90!' while the riding position says, 'can we please keep it around 60?'" Which I thought was pretty on-point, except I think the effect might be a bit more dramatic for him from what he goes on to describe. I would venture to guess his torso is a bit longer than mine, so maybe that's an issue for taller people with height more in their torso than legs (like me). Or maybe I just never stayed on the bike in the wind for more than two hours.

Incidentally, the title of Sean's review was: "The Yamaha XSR900 Is Great But It Isn't The Bike You Want: How power and performance can get in the way of a fun ride." That's a title I disagree with because I still want this bike.

The Little Things

One majorly impractical aspect is the gas mileage. Riding this bike commuting I felt like I only got about 100 miles out of a tank, which seemed really thirsty to me. The first time the indicator started blinking at me I think I said aloud, "Seriously?" That being said, when you're racing around a bike that has this much engine power it's not that shocking that you're burning a lot of petrol.

The other tradeoff you make with this bike is the twitchiness in the throttle. A friend of a friend ended up crashing his XSR900 when he hit a bump and the jostle caused his hand roll the throttle, sending the bike shooting out from under him. I could see this happening easily if I were to let myself get too comfortable and not keep vigilant watch for potholes while jamming down the highway.

Because of this I spent way too long riding the bike with a vice-like grip on the throttle. When my hand got tired and I reminded myself to be looser on the controls the bike would lurch as I let my hand relax if I didn't make sure to maintain exact throttle position.

The Best Things

This bike felt like I was blasting across the deserts of Jakku on Rey's speeder. It seriously made me feel like a superhero. The ride was so smooth and the handling so effortless despite my issues with the twitchy throttle that I would occasionally wonder why everyone was driving so slow only to look down to see the bike was pushing 95.

Like I mentioned above this seems to be the speed where the bike wants to live, 92 might actually be the exact sweet spot where the bike feels like it's super happy.

Would I Buy It?

Like I mentioned above I've always fantasized about having a Monster. I got a chance to ride one for a bit and really fell in love with the naked sport bike riding position, but mostly the handling and the power. Riding behind a Monster on my '72 Honda CB750 can be a bit humiliating when my friend wants to tease me by flicking the throttle and peeling off into oblivion, while I am chugging along at 85. That only had to happen to me a couple times before I was super thirsting badly for something more powerful.

But when I heard what the cost of just an oil filter replacement is on a Monster I decided that it was too silly for me and not quite attainable within my lifestyle.

In comes the XSR900, which at a measly $9,490 fulfills my craving for MORE POWER and handling without the pain of a giant price tag and future upkeep cost. Also - and I'm sure I will get some guff for saying it - I like the styling of the XSR900 better than the outdated styling of the Monsters. The color palette with the aluminum tank, maroon leather seat and the lines of the bike are so sexy to me, I feel like it really hit the nail on a combination of heritage styling with modern technology.

The tank does feel a bit giant, but with the amount of gas this thing drinks it's a necessary evil.

Rider Stats

Name: Jessie Gentry
Height: 5 feet 11 inches tall
Inseam: 34-inches
Build: Athletic, plus or minus a few weekend beers.
Riding experience: 6 years and this is my first time having a bike this brand new for this long.

Gear

I had fun styling myself for the photos and turned it into a bit of a fashion show with some new gear I'm excited about.

Helmet: The matte black helmet is a Nexx XG100 and the gloss black helmet is a Bell Bullitt.
Jacket: Aether Apparel Women's Horizon Motorcycle Jacket
Jeans: Ugly Bros Women's Twiggy Jeans
Boots: Stylmartin Continental Boots
Sneakers: Women's Dainese Street Biker DW-P
Gloves: Icon Pursuit

https://rideapart.com/articles/yamaha-xsr900-ride-review

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iOS 10 How-To: Print to PDF from anywhere in iOS using 3D Touch

http://9to5mac.com/2016/09/18/how-to-print-to-pdf-from-iphone-and-ipad-ios-10

Updated: iOS 10 problems: Here's how to fix the most common issues

Techradar - All the latest technology news Updated: iOS 10 problems: Here's how to fix the most common issues

iOS 10 update problems are another non-surprise for iPhone owners, as routine as the mid-September launch of the new software at 10am Pacific, and iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus three days later.

You can time your new Apple Watch 2 to it all, it's so predictable. Thankfully, just as foreseeable as the many ways to fix iOS 10 problems.

There are both intentional changes by Apple that need to be remedied for some users, and unintentional glitches due to bad code that we can help alleviate.

From poor battery life, to spotty Bluetooth connectivity, to iPhones and iPads bricking when trying to update, here's our all-encompassing how to regarding iOS 10 problems.

iOS 10 battery life drain

There's a lot of newness happening with September 13's big software update, but that also means we've been experiencing poor iOS 10 battery life.

iOS 10.1 will likely address battery life drain, but until that happens, here's what we found works to increase the uptime of our iPhone and iPad.

Turn off background app refresh in Settings > General > Background App Refresh. It'll give you a list of apps, and a lot of them you don't really need to constantly update in the background. It's a big battery life killer.

Turn off Fitness Tracking and non-essential apps tucked away in Settings > Privacy > Motion & Fitness. If you have an Apple Watch, you don't need fitness tracking on your phone. We also found Health, Microsoft Health, TripAdvisor and Waze keeping tabs on us and wasting battery life. No thanks.

Turn Wi-Fi on and off at the right times. When you're at home or work, make sure you're connected to Wi-Fi instead of cellular. When you're out, prevent your iPhone from constantly hunting for open Wi-Fi networks when there are none you can join. The swipe-up-from-the-bottom Control Center has a handy toggle for W-Fi.

Keep that brightness slider in check. Display brightness is the #1 battery life killer, so stop lightning up your phone every two minutes just to check the time. Spoiler alert: it's two minutes from the last time you checked it.

Keep track which apps are draining your battery life the most. Now every app is tuned to the iOS 10 update and could be wasting precious battery. Head to Settings > battery to see the top villains here, especially Twitter and music streaming apps.

iOS 10 bricking phones

While the beta went well for us, the final launch of iOS 10 has bricked a number of iPhones and iPads. That's disheartening for Apple fans after a solid three-month beta.

The solution here is a simple one, thankfully: Good ol' iTunes (you hate it, but love it when you need it) has had success in restoring afflicted Apple devices. Time to resort to a Mac or PC.

With the news of iOS 10 bricking iPhones and iPads around the world, now is a good time to mention that you should always backup your devices before updating.

Over-the-air (OTA) updates have made us lazy when it comes to backing up our precious iPhone and iPad data. And iCloud backups work, but only if you're paying Apple enough to back up your entire storage size.

iOS 10 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues

This problem creeps up every year, and it's likely to be no different with iOS 10. Just give it time, people will be complaining about Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Here's what we have done to resolve both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth problems in one fell swoop: Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. It's the third option down, and you'll want to avoid Reset All Settings and Erase All Content and Settings.

With Reset Network Settings, your data will be intact, but your wireless connects will be back to their default settings. That usually solves our issues.

iOS 10 home button

iOS 10 changes the home button functionality now that "Slide to Unlock" is no more. It actually makes you press in on the Touch ID fingerprint sensor.

Is that too much work for you? Apple didn't seem to think so when it developed iOS 10, but here's a quick fix in case you want to go back to the old way of unlocking your phone.

It's super buried in iOS 10's settings. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Home Button (midway down the page) and turn on "Rest Finger to Open."

This will enable you to open your iPhone or iPad with Touch ID, without having to press the Home button anymore.

No iMessage notifications in iOS 10

If you've updated to iOS 10 and noticed that you are no longer getting notifications when you receive an iMessage, then check your notification settings by going to Settings > Notifications > Messages.

Make sure all the toggles next to each option is switched on, and that the selected alert style is "Banner".

Purchased ringtones have vanished in iOS 10

I've you;ve bought and downloaded custom ringtones, you may not be able to find them if you've updated to iOS 10.

This is a problem that has happened in previous updates, and thankfully there's an easy way to get them back without having to repurchase the ring tones all over again.

Simply plug your iPhone or iPad into your PC or Mac and launch iTunes. Click on your device in the top menu, and under where it says "On My Device" click on "Tones".

Now make sure the check box next to "Sync Tones" is selected and you'll be asked if you agree to removing and replacing your ring tones. Agree, and the sync process will start.

If that doesn't work, check out our guide on how to restore ringtones to iPhone for more methods.

Device gets hot when charging after iOS 10 update

If you've noticed that your iPhone or iPad now heats up when charging after updating to iOS 10, then don't panic.

Even though it doesn't look like it, iOS 10 may still be updating apps in the background immediately after the update, so when it's being charged it may run hotter than usual.

Give it time and hopefully your iPhone or iPad will return to normal temperatures when charging.

More iOS 10 problems and fixes

We're in the first days of Apple's new operating system availability, and can guarantee that there'll be more iOS 10 problems discovered.

Do you have errors, glitches or issues that we haven't addressed? Feel free to leave them in the comment and we'll add them to the ever-growing list. iOS 10 is good, but not perfect.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techradar/allnews/~3/HTR4KQsN9Ec/1328553

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Download guide: Download this free app to get Windows Media Center back in Windows 10

Techradar - All the latest technology news Download guide: Download this free app to get Windows Media Center back in Windows 10

Windows Media Center for Windows 10

With the release of Windows 10, Microsoft waved farewell to Windows Media Center. There are some excellent free alternatives around, but if you miss the classic video recorder and media player there's a free download that brings its suite of streaming and playback tools to the new operating system.

Getting Windows Media Center running on Windows 10 isn't as straightforward as using an ordinary software installer, but it's not hard either. You'll be streaming TV and movies to your desktop in just a few minutes.

Once you've downloaded the ZIP file, extract its contents to a convenient place on your hard drive. The download contains 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Media Center in separate ZIP files, so select the one that's right for your operating system and extract it. If you're not sure which one you need, open the Settings menu, then select System > About and look under the heading System Type.

Now right-click the _TestRights file and select Run as Administrator. A command line window will open and a few commands will run. Once it's finished and you see a blinking cursor beside C:\Windows>, close the window and reboot your PC.

Once Windows has restarted, return to the extracted folder, right-click the Installer file and select Run as Administrator. Another command line window will open and the installer will begin copying the necessary files. This will take a moment, so be patient - it hasn't frozen. When it's finished, press any key to exit.

A Windows Media Center icon will now appear on your desktop and you can start setting up your media collection as normal. If you can't see a desktop icon, you should be able to find the program using the search box.

To make sure you're getting the most from Windows Media Center in Windows 10, check out our list of 15 essential tips and tweaks, including some superb plugins that make it a worthy rival to today's media streaming toolkits.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techradar/allnews/~3/yltQRyqA0p4/1328206

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