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Showing posts from May, 2018

How to fix "Camera failed" on Samsung Devices

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We’ve heard many reports of the error message 'Warning: Camera Failed' occurring on Android devices, and it seems to happen most often to Samsung owners. The good news is that while it’s annoying, it’s likely a software problem rather than fault with your camera. Here’s how to fix 'camera failed' on Samsung devices. The steps detailed below aren’t difficult or time-consuming, but you should make sure your device has a decent charge in its battery before you attempt them. If the battery level is too low, the camera often won't work, so it's worth ruling that out before you start trying anything else. In most cases, these solutions won't involve losing any photos or data from your device, but we recommend backing up anything you don't want to lose, especially if it gets to the point where you need to perform a factory reset. How to fix 'Camera Failed' on Android Restart the phone, If restarting doesn't work, clear the cache and

The GDPR goes into effect here’s how it will affect you

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Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you'll have noticed the barrage of emails from companies notifying you of changes to their privacy policy and terms of service. That's no coincidence, of course: on Friday, May 25, a sweeping new legislation, which deals with data privacy and how companies handle an individual's personal data, will go into effect in the European Union. The regulation, called the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR for short, grants individuals a series of rights concerning their personal data, and stipulates a number of duties companies have regarding how that data is processed. The  88-page document  encompasses 99 articles and covers topics such as the right to be forgotten, consent management, data portability, and protocols for handling data breaches. It's a reasonably lengthy document with its fair share of legal jargon, so we'll attempt to break it down and go over who it affects, what requirement

Pornhub made a free VPN (that's totally not just for watching porn)

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Adult entertainment website Pornhub has created its own VPN service.  VPNhub (obviously) is available on Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS, and even has an ad-supported free option for mobile. As free VPNs are becoming increasingly rare (another one bit the dust just last month), it could be worth your consideration. VPNhub's website and app listing both politely avoid any cheeky reference to the service's parent company, although its logo and color scheme will probably look familiar to some readers. Its site says the VPN is "totally free" and offers "unlimited bandwidth on your device of choice" — but the paid option offers faster connection speeds; an ad-free experience; and support for multiple devices, including desktops. "VPNhub allows you to securely access your favorite apps and sites both at home and on the go, whether you’re traveling, at a local cafe, airport, campus, or office," the service's website reads. Just, you know,

Find My Device v2.2 adds IMEI numbers to simplify reporting of lost or stolen phone

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Find My Device doesn't get a lot of updates these days, and it probably doesn't need much more than it already does. However, the latest update does add a potentially valuable new feature that could make it easier to report your lost or stolen phone. You can now get the IMEI number for the device without digging up the original box or paperwork, and without having to make a point of recording the number elsewhere. IMEIs for your devices After updating to v2.2, you'll want to look for a new info 'i' button appearing at the top-right corner of the card for the phone you're looking for. Tapping on that button will open a pop-up containing a the name and IMEI of the device, along with the date it was first registered to your account and when it was last seen – but note that the 'last seen' date coincides with... I'm not sure, but I assume it's when the device last checked in with the Play Store? While a serial numbers are often prefe

Facebook Stories are getting video ads

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Posting social media updates is so  yesterday . Stories are all the rage now with big players like Snapchat and Instagram racking up many millions of Stories each day. Now, Facebook's version of stories has hit a big user milestone—150 million daily users. Being Facebook, that means it's time to start pushing ads. In case you're unaware, Facebook Stories are similar to stories on every other platform. They're short video and photo montages put together by users. You can only view them twice, and they vanish in 24 hours. Facebook's 150 million daily user count is still short of the estimated 300 million using Instagram Stories (which Facebook owns), but that's 150 million sets of eyeballs that could be looking at ads. So, here they come. The ads are rolling out starting today in the US, Mexico, and Brazil. The ads consist of 5 to 15-second videos, but there's no click-through functionality for now—they're just videos, and you can skip them. T

Chainfire, creator of SuperSU, announces end of development for his root apps

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Chainfire is best known for creating  SuperSU , one of the most popular superuser managers on Android, but he has also developed countless other applications. Some examples include  FlashFire ,  Sideload Launcher for Android TV ,  stickMount , and CF.lumen . He transferred SuperSU to a new development team back in 2015, and his involvement in the app ended last year. Today, Chainfire announced on his Google+ account that all his root-related apps will no longer be maintained or updated.  SuperSU will continue to be developed, because it is maintained by another team.  He hopes to update a few non-root applications in the future, but some will be shelved as well. Here's the final part of his announcement: Again I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and my developments over the years! I've met great people and made good friends, some of which I'm now actively working with on other projects, even. But at the moment I'm not using root on my