The race between the iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy Ultra 24, and Google Pixel Pro

The race between the iPhone 16, Samsung Galaxy Ultra 24, and Google Pixel Pro has sparked interest among tech enthusiasts. Each phone brings innovation, design, and performance to the table. Here's a look at how they stack up against each other:

Design

• iPhone 16: Apple continues with its iconic sleek and minimalist design, featuring a titanium frame, edge-to-edge OLED display, and minimal bezels. Its flat edges provide a premium feel in the hand.
• Samsung Galaxy Ultra 24: Samsung is known for its futuristic designs, and the Ultra 24 follows suit with curved edges and a massive, near bezel-less AMOLED display. The rear hosts multiple high-resolution cameras arranged vertically, reinforcing its photography-first approach.
• Google Pixel Pro: The Pixel Pro's standout feature is its matte finish and unique camera strip across the back. While it doesn't have the ultra-premium feel of the iPhone or Samsung, its lightweight design and practicality resonate well with Android fans.

Display

• iPhone 16: Comes with a Super Retina XDR display, offering sharp colors, high brightness levels, and improved refresh rates for a smooth experience.
• Samsung Galaxy Ultra 24: The Ultra 24 excels with its Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, which is larger, more vibrant, and supports a 120Hz refresh rate, making it a leader for media consumption.
• Google Pixel Pro: Equipped with a QHD+ OLED display, the Pixel Pro doesn’t disappoint, especially with its accurate color reproduction and great contrast. However, it trails slightly behind Samsung’s impressive display technology.

Performance

• iPhone 16: Powered by Apple's A18 Bionic chip, the iPhone 16 delivers unparalleled performance, excelling in both everyday tasks and more intensive gaming and productivity apps.
• Samsung Galaxy Ultra 24: Running on the latest Snapdragon processor, the Galaxy Ultra 24 offers high processing speeds and top-tier performance for multitasking, gaming, and AI tasks.
• Google Pixel Pro: Google's own Tensor G3 chip powers the Pixel Pro, offering significant improvements in AI-based functions, photography, and overall performance.

Camera

• iPhone 16: Apple's improvements in computational photography continue to impress. The iPhone 16 features a triple-lens system, providing excellent low-light performance and new AI-enhanced photo modes.
• Samsung Galaxy Ultra 24: Known for its camera prowess, the Ultra 24 boasts a quad-camera setup, including a 200MP main sensor, ultra-wide lenses, and periscope zoom capabilities, making it the best for photography enthusiasts.
• Google Pixel Pro: Google's software-driven photography remains unmatched, excelling in portrait modes and night photography. The Pixel Pro uses computational photography to produce stunning images despite having fewer lenses than its rivals.

Software

• iPhone 16: Ships with iOS 18, offering seamless integration with other Apple devices, an intuitive interface, and privacy-centered features.
• Samsung Galaxy Ultra 24: Running on Android 14 with Samsung’s One UI, the Ultra 24 provides extensive customization options, paired with Samsung-exclusive features like DeX and S Pen support.
• Google Pixel Pro: Runs a clean version of Android 14, with faster updates directly from Google. The Pixel Pro also comes with exclusive features such as real-time translation and enhanced Google Assistant integration.

Conclusion

The iPhone 16 is ideal for those invested in the Apple ecosystem, with a focus on performance and design. The Samsung Galaxy Ultra 24 appeals to those who want the best display and photography experience. Meanwhile, the Google Pixel Pro is perfect for users who value a pure Android experience with top-notch AI and software enhancements.

How to Protect Your Privacy on Windows 10

Most of us use the free Gmail email service, which everyone knows sifts through the text of your emails to choose ads to display through DoubleClick or Google's other advertising platforms. It turns out Microsoft, which launched Windows 10 as a free service, does pretty much the same thing.

It's all clearly outlined in the Microsoft Privacy statement, which says that Redmond collects data when you "create a Microsoft account, submit a search query to Bing, speak a voice command to Cortana, upload a document to OneDrive, or contact us for support."

How does it use the data? Just as Google and Apple do: To improve its software and services and to serve you relevant ads and promotions. But Microsoft also claims that it does "not use what you say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail, or your documents, photos or other personal files to target ads to you." But it does share your personal data "to complete any transaction or provide any service you have requested." And, as with every other online service, to comply with law enforcement and "to protect lives; to maintain the security of our services; and to protect the rights or property of Microsoft."

You can opt out of many of the parts of Windows 10 that give Microsoft a way to collect data, but doing so disables some of the operating system's best new features. You could run a PC without a Microsoft account (something you can't do on an Apple Mac or Google Chrome OS computer), for example, but then you wouldn't get syncing with OneDrive or access to the Windows Store of apps. To use a Windows 10 PC without a Microsoft ID, you can use what the OS calls a "local account." You can make that change in the Settings app's Accounts page.


If you haven't installed Windows 10 yet and you're a privacy maven, don't choose "express settings" during setup; when you take this route, you'll get granular privacy choices. You can also go to your Microsoft account's privacy settings page at account.microsoft.com, where you'll find options for personalization, apps, marketing, and search privacy. You can set your advertising opt-in options atchoice.microsoft.com.

The next thing you can do to prevent sending any personal information to Microsoft is to disable Cortana, the personal voice-responsive digital assistant. When you first set up Windows 10, you're asked whether you want to use Cortana or not, and you can turn her off at any time. Simply pop up Cortana's panel, choose the Settings gear, and slide her switch to the off position. The paranoid will also want to switch off the online search capability, too. Note that there's a link to other privacy settings at the bottom.


But that's just the start of it. Go to the Settings app's Privacy page, and you'll see no fewer than 13 tabs of privacy settings, including those governing use of your location, camera, microphone, speech, inking, typing, account info, contacts, calendar, messaging, radios, devices, feedback, diagnostics, and background apps. Some of the main ones appear on the General page, from which you can prevent Microsoft from collecting browsing and other data.




All of these tabs let you turn off apps' access to the features named. The Feedback and diagnostics tab does let you control usage info sent to Microsoft; if you don't want usage info sent, but just system info, choose Basic.


Much has been made of the Wi-Fi Sense capability in Windows 10. This comes from Windows Phone, and gives you a way to share your Internet connection with friends without them having to enter your password. It also lets you log into public Wi-Fi hotspots automatically. If you're not logged into a Microsoft Account (see above), this is disabled. As the help page on this feature states, "No networks are shared automatically"; you have to specifically share a network you connect to. After this, you can connect to networks shared by Facebook, Outlook.com, or Skype contacts who have also shared their Wi-Fi.

On another protection-related topic, when you upgrade to Windows 10 on a computer that has multiple accounts, you'll need to re-add any child accounts to your family account, as explained on Microsoft's Set up family features on Windows 10 page. You can add a child's email address on the Your family page. From there, you can see activity and block inappropriate websites and apps.


As you can see, you can lock down Windows 10 pretty well, but doing so removes a lot of the operating system's appeal. If you really want complete privacy, your best bet is not to connect to the Internet or use any technology at all. As Google's chairman Eric Schmidt once put it, "You have no privacy, get over it!"

source :Pcmag

Top Five Software Developer Tools

Working as a software developer means you probably use many different kinds of tools to do your job. The role will mostly involve you developing code and integrating into an existing system, or developing code for a new system. Let’s take a look at what I think are the top five software developer tools.

IDE Software

This one is quite an obvious one – the tool that actually lets you write the code. 

The IDE software (Integrated Development Environment), otherwise known as the application that’s used by developers to write code, is probably one of the most useful software developer tools to use.

The IDE will depend on the programming language you’re using – Visual Studio for .NET applications, Eclipse for Java development, or SQL Server Management Studio for SQL Server development. It will most likely come with the language development kit and will allow you to write the code easier.

Most of the IDEs have common features such as line counters, debug mode, compiling, and output windows. However, depending on the IDE, you may be able to use many more useful features such as:

• Code refactoring – allowing you to change a piece of code in one section and for the entire project to be updated
• Object creation – a user interface to allow code to be generated to create objects or properties easily, rather than developing from scratch
• Code commenting – allowing you to automatically add code for functions, parameters, outputs and errors
• Performance monitoring – analysing the performance of code and seeing where the bottlenecks are
• Code formatting – automatically format a code module based on the settings you’ve provided (e.g. tab spacing, keywords, capitalisation)

IDEs have all kinds of extra features , but if you do a bit of research you can find out what features would be useful to you.

 Notepad++

Another one of the software developer tools to use is a program called Notepad++. This is an easy to use yet feature-packed tool that allows reading and editing of text-based files. It’s a big improvement over the standard Windows Notepad application, and even Wordpad.

It has many features that are handy for software developers, such as:

• Language selection – select a pre-defined language from the menu, and the code will format according to that programming language’s keywords and comments.
• Compare – a plugin is available for Notepad++ that allows you to compare two files, side by side, which is very helpful for merging code and finding differences in files.
• Find in Files – the ability to search for a specific text value in files in a directory, allowing you to find instances of code or words easily.

If you’re not a fan of Notepad++ or if you use something else, there are other tools out there that perform similar functions to this. The concept of using an advanced text editor is helpful. It’s great for other types of files that you don’t use an IDE for, such as log files and XML files.

 Document Management System

A document management system is a great tool for software developers to use. It’s a system that is used to store and manage all of the documentation that is used by the team or by the company. This can come in two formats:

• A document repository, such as SharePoint, that stores requirements documents, diagrams, testing documents and other kinds of documentation
• An internal documentation system, such as a Wiki, that the team can view and edit as needed.

Having somewhere to store and manage your documentation is helpful for a software development team.

It might seem like a good idea to keep your documents on your own drive, or send via email. However, using a document management system provides extra benefits, such as having a central place to store files, in-built version control, and access of files to other team members.

 BrowserStack

This web-based tool can simulate many different browser environments on different operating systems. Test on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, using browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera.

It’s a great software developer tool to check how your web-based application will look on various browsers. This is especially useful for those older browsers (such as IE6) which display very differently. While it’s not a free service, it can be very useful and save time with environment setups and configuration.

Find out more about this tool at http://www.browserstack.com/

 Google

This might seem like an irrelevant suggestion or a bit too vague, 

I think Google, or a search engine tool in general, is a great addition to a software developer’s list of tools that can be used. IDE software does have some help guides and API libraries included, but they lack the ability of other people’s opinions and experiences. This is where a search comes in.

Google searches can help software developers by:

• Searching for syntax – You might know the name of a function, but aren’t sure what the parameters or data types are. You might need to see an example of it in some code. Google searches can help with this, especially for those commands and functions that aren’t used very often.
• Help with error messages – We’ve all come across error messages that are vague, cryptic, or don’t make sense. Most of them come with an error code. Using a search engine, we can look up the error that occurred, and it will often show an explanation, the cause, and what we can do to fix it.
• Code samples – Many times when developing we need to create some code to solve a certain problem. A lot of the time, these problems have already been solved by other developers, and the code has been shared on the Internet. If you’re looking for some information on how to code something, or some general code to perform a task, do a search and you might find that someone has already developed it for you.

 Hopefully these suggestions have helped you.

Buying a phone with a ridiculously sharp screen can actually be a bad thing

Smartphone makers are in an arms race. More gigahertz, more RAM, bigger displays, and more pixels ...the list goes on and on.

And that's understandable. For the majority of us, more is better, right?

Not necessarily.

Many premium flagship smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S6 and LG G4 come with Quad-HD (QHD) displays, which is the equivalent of a 2k TV display. That's twice as sharp as 1080p, which has been the standard for premium displays for the last few years, and what some flagship devices like the iPhone 6 Plus still use today.

So, if faced with two similarly priced premium flagship devices, but one has a QHD display and the other a "measly" 1080p display, it's no surprise that someone would go for the device with the sharper screen.

Matt Weinberger/Business InsiderThe OnePlus 2 has a 1080p screen while many other flagships went with sharper displays.

However, while QHD displays are extremely sharp, they're also a major drain on your battery and can slow down your phone's performance. That's because more power is needed from your phone's battery to shine more light through more pixels, and your phone's processor needs to work harder to push more visual information through those additional pixels.

That's why some smartphone makers like OnePlus are sticking to 1080p displays. In fact, the iPhone 6's display is even less than 1080p, all in the name of battery life and performance.

"Other flagships are going to 2K displays, and we don't think that's good for the user" said OnePlus co-founder, Carl Pei, told Tech Insider in an interview. The company's newest phone, the OnePlus 2, has a 1080p display.

You'd certainly notice the difference between a 1080p TV and a 2K TV, but the difference isn't as noticeable on a phone's smaller screen.

"We don't think that the additional clarity is worth it at this time," Pei said, talking about sharper displays. "Maybe in the future when 2K displays have much better power management, we can consider it."

A lot of phone makers may like to brag about higher specs, but ultra-high screen resolution isn't worth it. Most people won't notice the difference in sharpness, but they will notice decreased battery life or slower performance.





Read more: http://www.techinsider.io/oneplus-2-screen-isnt-as-sharp-as-competition-2015-8#ixzz3iCJt1oL4

What Windows 7 users need to know about updating to Windows 10

this is for window 7 not window 8.1
If your PC is still running Windows 7, you may be wondering if you should pull the trigger and install Windows 10. After all, it's a free upgrade until a year from now.

That really depends on whether the new features matter to you or not.

Released in 2009, Windows 7 is one of Microsoft's finest OS releases, right up there with Windows 95, 98 and XP. Like how Windows 10 corrects most of the misguided design decisions of Windows 8, Windows 7 was the OS that cleaned up the mess that was Windows Vista.

Now that the Start menu's back on Windows 10, the shutdown setting is right back where it belongs and as easy to access as in Windows 7.

if you use or love Gadget you can kiss them goodbye if you update to Windows 10, although the Windows live tiles, inherited from Windows 8/8.1, can provide some of that functionality.

Which version will you get?

There are only two versions of the new OS for consumers: Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro.
Windows 7 users must have at least Service Pack 1 in order to get Windows 10. If your copy of Windows 7 doesn't have SP1, you'll need to update it first.
All users with Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows 7 Home Premium will be updated to Windows 10 Home.
All users with Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate will get Windows 10 Pro.
Windows 10 Home and 10 Pro are identical, except the latter has a few extra features such as Remote Access Services, Windows Update for Business and more.

What about all my data and settings?

The best part about updating to Windows 10 is that it will preserve all your files, programs and system settings.
It's possible a few drivers won't work, though. You'll want to check the Windows Device Manager after updating to Windows 10 to see if there are any driver issues.
As a safety measure, you should always back up your PC files before updating. While data loss is unlikely, it could happen.

Will you talk to your computer?

Cortana, Microsoft's personal voice assistant, runs deep in Windows 10. She's very powerful (when she works).
You can ask her questions, have her launch apps and have her search for files. She understands natural language so you don't need to say specific commands; you can say stuff like "turn on Bluetooth" or "turn off Wi-Fi."

If voice commands aren't your thing, there's also a Cortana input bar for you to type a query right on the task bar now.
Pretty much all laptops have a built-in microphone, so Cortana will be able to hear you if you go the voice-control route, but if you're on a old-school desktop PC, just know that you may need to have an external mic plugged in to use the feature.

Does PC gaming and Xbox One streaming matter to you?

If you're a gamer, Windows 10 is a very attractive update. Not just because of the neat Xbox One-to-PC streaming features, but because the DirectX 12 graphics API, will be a Windows 10 exclusive.

Sure, you'll need a new graphics card to reap the benefits of DirectX 12, but if you want to game with the highest level of details and settings, you'll need to be on the cutting edge.
The other gaming-related feature Windows 10 has is game streaming from Xbox One. If for some reason you want to stream your console games to your laptop or PC, you'll need to update.

Will you miss Windows Media Center?

One feature you will lose from Windows 7 if you update to Windows 10 is Windows Media Center.
First introduced in 2001, WMC was the original digital hub for the living room. It's one place to store all your music, videos and photos.

If you're part of the WMC community and can't give it up, know that there are alternatives such as Kodi (formerly XMBC) and Plex. You could also get make do with a set-top boxes like Roku and Apple TV, game consoles like Xbox One and PlayStation 4, an HTPC (Home Theater PC) or an inexpensive media-streaming box like a WD TV Player.

Can I revert back to to Windows 7?

The good news: Yes, you can! The bad news: You only have one month to decide if you want to keep Windows 10 or not if you updated from Windows 7.

To remove Windows 10 and revert back to your version of Windows 7, you'll want to go into the Settings page > "Update & security" > Recovery.

9 tips and tricks to get the most out of your iPhone's email app

Note: These tips work on iPhones running iOS 8, Apple's latest iPhone software version

1.You can minimize email drafts and save them for later.

If you're typing an email, simply tap the area where the subject line is and drag it down to the bottom of your screen. Now your email is minimized at the bottom of your inbox, and you can tap it again at any time to access it. This makes it easy to switch back and forth between your inbox and the message you're working on.

2.Use gesture shortcuts, such as swiping to the right on any email to mark it as read.

There are a few handy gesture shortcuts in your iPhone's Mail app that make it easier to clean up your inbox. You can automatically mark a message as read without having to open it by swiping to the right on any email. You'll see the blue box that says "Mark as Read,"

3.If you swipe to the left on any email, you'll get another menu of choices.

If you don't want to mark an email as read but still want to move it, try swiping to the left on any email. This will bring up a few choices, such as flagging an email or archiving it.

4.Access a bunch of other options by tapping the "More" button.

When you swipe to the left to reveal the"Flag" and "Archive" buttons, you'll also notice there's also a "More" option that appears. When you can tap it, you'll launch a separate menu with more choices such as the ability to mark an email as unread, reply to an email, forward an email, and more.

5.If you swipe all the way to the left on an email, you can automatically archive it.

If you just want to archive a message quickly without dealing with any menus, just swipe all the way to the left on any email. This tells your phone to archive it.

6.Use a third-party keyboard app to type emails faster.

Ever since last fall you've been able to use third-party keyboards on the iPhone, which means you don't have to stick with the keyboard Apple automatically puts on your phone if you don't want to. Some of these keyboards, such as Swype, can make it easier to type emails more quickly with one hand — especially if you're using the large-screened iPhone 6 Plus. With Swype, for instance, you can type by swiping from letter to letter on the keyboard rather than tapping each key.

7.Turn on "Handoff" so that you can start an email on your iPhone and finish it on your Mac

Apple's latest software enables your iPhone, iPad, and Mac to communicate more easily.
Apple has a feature called "Handoff" that lets you pick up where you left off when switching between your iPhone and your Mac. To use this feature, you'll have to make sure your Mac is running OS X Yosemite. Apple offers instructions on how to set it up at its support page here.

8.Use the Spotlight Search bar to quickly find important messages.

If you need to quickly sift through messages, you can do so without even launching the Mail app. Drag down from the top of the screen to reveal the Spotlight Search bar. Since this search bar is capable of going through your emails, you can type in the subject of an email, the name of the sender or recipient, or any other key words to find emails quickly.

9.If you want to see emails right away, make sure they appear on your iPhone's lock screen.

If you really want to see emails as they come in without having to launch the Mail app, set up your notifications so that emails appear on the lock screen. To do this, head over to Settings>Notifications>Mail. From there, click on whichever inbox you want to see on the lock screen. Then, make sure "Show on Lock Screen" is turned on.

Google finally reveals its plans to let you buy things directly from search results

Google wants to make it much easier to shop from your phone. In the next few weeks,  the company is rolling out a new feature that lets you make purchases directly through Google Search results. It's being called Purchase on Google.
When an advertisement for a product appears in search results, you'll be able to click on that product and select the checkout option if you want to buy it. Here's what it will look like:

Google says it wants to make sure the retailer still has a relationship with the customer. So, when you select a product that appears in search results, you'll be taken to a microsite within Google that has the look and feel of that particular retailer. From there, you can choose to buy the product, or search for another product from that retailer if the specific item you want isn't shown.
There are currently a dozen or so merchants participating in Purchase on Google.  As that scale is successful, Google says it will continue to ramp up and offer more products from different merchants.
Google is also launching several other new features catered towards shopping. One way the company is doing this is by deep linking apps from shopping ads. This means that if you have the eBay app installed on your phone, you'll be directed to the eBay app if a product from eBay appears in your search results.
Another way the company is making it easier to shop online is by rolling out  a new feature called conversational voice search. This means you can ask Google Now a shopping-related query in natural language, and it will pull up an answer. For example, you can ask for the resolution of a specific camera model just like you would ask a store clerk at Best Buy, and Google will pull it up.
Google is also adding a few new cards to Google Now that make it easier to shop. A new product reviews card will show you reviews for a certain product when you ask. A  price drop card will show you when a particular item is on sale, too.

Google will soon be able to rank products in search results, too. So, if you ask Google what the best sunscreen is, it will rank the three best sunscreens based on reviews.
"We built this because we saw a lot of people asking Google for advice," said Jonathan Alferness, vice president of product management for Google Shopping.
The announcement comes after Google confirmed that a buy button would be coming to search results back in May at Re/code's Code Conference. This is the first time we're hearing more details about the feature and when we can expect to see it.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com