Taiwan offers free Wi-Fi to all foreign tourists

Taiwan became one of the first countries in the world to offer free Wi-Fi on a mass scale to its citizens, and now it is extending that to any foreign tourist, also for free, in a move that will gain it a lot of goodwill.

The Taiwan government-backed free “iTaiwan” wireless network launched in 2011, and now has about 4,400 hotspots in major tourist spots, transportation hubs, cultural establishments and government offices all over the island country.

Citizens needed just their local phone number to register and then use the semi-fast 1 MBPS service.

Now, for foreign vistors, who generally have trouble getting a local SIM in the country (two forms of identity, etc), the process of tapping these wi-fi networks has been made a lot easier starting this month.

Visitors can open an iTaiwan account at a Taiwan Tourism Bureau counter/center, show their passport as ID and that’s it: they can login using their account, on their digital devices.

In addition, iTaiwan has established roaming agreements with four local governments so that tourists also have access in Taipei City, New Taipei, Taichung and Tainan.

EnjOy..:)

Bugs Of Techn0l0gy

Flickr Co-Founder Launches Findery App

Caterina Fake is the mind behind the massively popular Flickr photo-sharing site and is looking to eliminate that historical chain with a new location map-based social discovery platform, called Findery.

Findery is currently available on iOS, it becomes clear that the world is meant to be viewed by the user as a blank canvas that is ready for you to fully explore.  You can explore geo-tagged notes on a map to learn about places through experiences from different people from across the planet. Users of the app can post public or private notes with historical data, personalized stories via text, images, videos, and sound clips. The app will then cleverly annotate and then organize the information based on the location.

The social network side of the app, uses your current location to bring up appealing notes in the user’s immediate vicinity, thereby making it simple to find stories and pictures relevant to your own experience.  For example, you are exploring the historic city of Edinburgh in Scotland or you are visiting the Grand Canyon in the USA, all you need to do is open the Findery app to find out what previous visitors found of interest in those areas.  ”Every place has a story, or a thousand stories…Findery brings places to life, be they where you stand or where you hope to go,” Fake said in a statement.

Members are also able to create something called ‘Notemaps’ whih is a collection of notes about a location, topic or theme such as “Stag Party Blackpool” or “Blues in Chicago”.  This can then serve as either a travel diary or simply a record of your journey.  The app launches initially in English, although Findery have said they will support more languages this year. Findery is available now for free to download in the Apple iTunes Store.

If you have any sensible comments regarding this story, please leave your comments in the section below.

EnjOy..:)

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Microsoft Office Web Apps Now Officially Office Online

It’s re branding time at Microsoft, it seems. The official statement about SkyDrive being re branded to OneDrive has barely made the rounds, and we’re now seeing another change. This time, it’s Office Web Apps, which is now called Office Online. It’s not that this move has been kept a secret, as there were hints in the past weeks, but now, it’s the real deal.

Office Online is basically the web-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. I think all of us can agree that Microsoft Office is one of the strongest – if not the strongest           – suite of software for its niche, and the web-based version can carry its own weight as well.

Why the re branding?

Perhaps it’a all a part of spreading more awareness for the product. As you may have surmised, Office Online (even back when it had a different name) led a quiet existence. Microsoft didn’t really promote it much, although the service is free. Or maybe, it is exactly because of that that Office Online was not highlighted.

One very noticeable thing about the new look is how the most popular software is highlighted from the get go. You’ll also notice the inclusion of OneDrive.

In any case, the re branding can only serve to make users aware of this alternative online collaboration, especially those who want no issues with compatibility. Additionally, humans are creatures of habit, and I am willing to bet that the average Microsoft Office user will want to see the exact same thing (layout, etc.) if they use an online version of a piece of software. And yes, Office Online does look nice, too.

With Office Online now live, I wonder how this will affect usage statistics of Google Drive? If you’re a user of the latter, and you regularly use Microsoft Office, would you consider switching to Office Online now?

EnjOy..:)

Bugs Of Techn0l0gy

Use Yahoo Video Chats? You May Have Been Spied On

Everyday, it seems, there is new information released that makes individuals question how private their “private” lives really are. If it’s not revelations about the NSA intercepting our telephone calls and/or our emails, it seems to be something along those same lines. Unfortunately, in the year 2014, it doesn’t even seem like it’s even a remote possibility to have a private life. After all, if you own a smartphone you can most likely be found wherever you are. It seems all of the technology that is helping us run forward is also tying our hands behind our backs.

Edward Snowden shocked the world when we he released all of the confidential documents he “obtained” from the NSA. Even with all of the information he initially gave to the media, NSA officials were worried that more of their practices would eventually come to light. It turns out their fears weren’t without merit, as information about a British spy program known as Optic Nerve has recently been brought out into the open.

No, Not That Optic Nerve

It turns out that Optic Nerve is the codename for a surveillance program operated by Britain’s GCHQ (with help from the NSA). In an attempt to use facial recognition to catch terrorists and other wanted individuals, the images from 1.8 million users of Yahoo video chats from 2008 to 2010 were collected and stored on GCHQ’s servers. Obviously, most all of the images had nothing to do with terrorism whatsoever.

And, of all of the images stored, there were many images besides people’s faces, as it turns out that a large number of sexually explicit images from the video chats were also stored on the servers.

When Yahoo recently found out about this invasion of privacy, they were not at all happy about it, saying it was a total invasion of their users’ privacy rights, and stating they had no prior knowledge of the spying.

Does this news surprise you at all?

EnjOy..:)

Bugs Of Techn0l0gy

Bugs Fixed in Stable Channel Update For Google Chrome

Google Chrome has dominated the browser market and eventually become the most used browser globally since being released six year ago. Google has worked hard to develop and refine Chrome, resulting in a fast and secure browser that can be tailored and customized to suit the user.

In Version 33.0.1750.117 of Chrome, Google has been able to fix a number of security issues, some of which were highlighted by external sources.

In total, twenty eight bugs were fixed, ranging from an issue with relative paths in Windows sandbox, to a problem with an information leak in the XSS auditor.  

Google Chrome 33.0.1750.117 is available to download here.

EnjOy..:)

Bugs Of Techn0l0gy

:Latest Version Of CCleaner is Available Now:

The Latest Version Of CCleaner is Available Now

inShare

CCleaner from Piriform is likely the most popular freeware cleaner out there thanks to the fact that it is quick and easy to use. Effectively CCleaner gives your computer a good spring clean, removing cookies, temporary files and any other unused data that clogs up your PC, slowing it down. Once CCleaner has worked its magic, your computer’s system can run faster and enable you to have a more secure internet browsing experience.

Piriform’s latest update, Version 4.11, sees improvements to the File Finder tool. Included is an option to find duplicate files based on file content, as well as a new upper file size threshold, which will further narrow a duplicate file search.

Version 4.11 also features an improvement to the way the Driver Wiper detects SSD drives.

Other changes made to CCleaner include:

•     Added Opera 15 and newer Startup item management
•     Added File content duplicate detection to File Finder
•     Improved Drive Wiper SSD detection
•     Added Torch Browser support
•     Added File Finder upper file size threshold
•     Optimized Firefox Profile Startup items detection
•     Improved Scheduler language support (Professional only)
•     Improved Google Earth, Winamp, MusicMatch Jukebox and Windows Live Messenger  cleaning
•     Minor GUI Improvements
•     Minor bug fixes

CCleaner Version 4.11 download now

EnjOy..:)

Bugs Of Techn0l0gy