Author: peterjang73

A nerdy father of two, a husband of a beautiful and understanding wife, an engineer who loves anime and tinkering with PCs and games, but most of all, loves God.
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Reminder: Google’s Pixel Phones Aren’t “Only on Verizon”

google pixel ad

Google’s ad blitz for its new Pixel phones has much greater reach than any other product ad campaign of theirs I can recall. We are seeing non-stop TV ads, carefully placed billboards in major cities, and even full four-page ads in newspapers like USA Today. But one thing I keep seeing accompany these ads needs some clarification. 

In almost all current Pixel ads, there is a note about them being “only on Verizon.” That, of course, isn’t actually true in a couple of ways. Sure, Verizon is the only carrier selling the phone in its stores, but you can buy the phone at Google’s own store and Best Buy in an unlocked state that will work on every single carrier.

That’s right, the Pixel and Pixel XL work on all major US carriers, including the prepaid guys, Google’s Project Fi, and smaller MVNOs. The Pixel phones were built to be universally unlocked and connect without issue on AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and yes, Verizon. Here, take a look at this Pixel supported networks list.

Even Google’s own store listing says the following:

screenshot-2016-10-06-at-8-36-34-am

See? So in case you had questions about all of that or your friends and family mention the Pixel, but suggest they can’t buy one because they aren’t on Verizon, remind them that those ads aren’t exactly correct.

Reminder: Google’s Pixel Phones Aren’t “Only on Verizon” is a post from: Droid Life

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India busts bogus call centers for posing as the IRS

Police in India have arrested 70 people on suspicion of posing as IRS agents to steal cash from U.S. citizens.

Authorities in the western Indian city of Thane said they were investigating another 630 people suspected of being involved in the extortion scam.

Workers at nine call centers allegedly impersonated IRS agents during calls to the U.S., according to local police commissioner Param Bir Singh. The victims were told they owed back taxes and would risk arrest if they hung up.

Singh told CNN the call center workers had been trained to speak with an American accent.

The call centers were making $150,000 a day for up to a year before being discovered. Money would be transferred by victims of the scheme to U.S. bank accounts before being sent to India.

Singh said the police had a mole inside the organization before the arrests were made, but he said the call center owners had escaped. He suspects that the fraudsters had accomplices in the U.S., but he has not yet made contact with American law enforcement officials.

Related: IRS scam costing victims $15 million

The mechanics of the operation appear very similar to those of an IRS impersonation scam that U.S. authorities say swindled victims out of more than $15 million between 2013 and 2015.

In that case, investigators suspected the bogus calls were coming from India. The culprits stole identities to make it appear they were IRS agents in Washington.

“They have information that only the Internal Revenue Service would know about you,” Timothy Camus, deputy inspector general for investigations with the Treasury Department, told CNN last year. “It’s a byproduct of today’s society. There’s so much information available on individuals.”

More recently, Treasury Department investigators filed criminal complaints in the U.S. against five individuals in three states, accusing them of fleecing nearly $2 million from more than 1,500 victims as part of a scheme to impersonate IRS agents.

— Sara Ganim and David Fitzpatrick contributed reporting.

CNNMoney (London) First published October 6, 2016: 9:33 AM ET

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NASA tests Mars 2020 rover’s landing camera

The Curiosity and NASA’s other Mars rovers had to look for wide-open and flat landing locations to be on the safe side. Mars 2020, however, will have a camera-based navigation system capable of assessing terrains and reacting to potential hazards on the fly, allowing the rover to touch down on complex surfaces its predecessors have yet to explore. That camera is officially called Lander Vision System (LVS), and NASA has recently begun testing its capabilities. The space agency placed it aboard the flight test of an experimental rocket built by Masten Space Systems, a California-based aerospace startup. To be precise, LVS flew as part of a landing technology dubbed the Autonomous Descent and Ascent Powered-flight Testbed.

LVS guides a spacecraft’s landing by taking pictures of what’s directly below it as it descends. It then compares what it sees to its onboard map, detecting its precise location and determining whether it’s in danger of, say, smashing against a boulder or landing too close to a cliff. If it detects anything that could jeopardize the rover’s safety, the system steers it towards somewhere that’s safer to land.

By the end of the test flight, LVS was successfully able to guide Masten’s rocket back to the ground. Andrew Johnson, who serves as the project’s principal investigator, said they were able to "show a closed loop pinpoint landing demo that eliminated any technical concerns with flying the Lander Vision System on Mars 2020" during the test. By starting its journey from locations its older siblings weren’t able to go to, Mars 2020 would be able to beam back new data and photos of the red planet more interesting than what we’re used to seeing today.

Source: NASA

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Read for free: Amazon Prime Reading opens up more e-books for members


Amazon keeps piling on the Prime perks: on the heels of adding gaming bonuses via Twitch Prime recently, the company has launched a new benefit for readers called Amazon Prime Reading. The service for US Prime members will give them unlimited access to over a thousand Kindle books, magazines, comics, and other reading material at no extra cost.

Some of the included titles are The Hobbit, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, When I’m Gone, The Complete Peanuts Collection Vol. 1, and Transformers: Robots in Disguise Vol. 1. Members can also flip through current issues of magazines including National Geographic Traveler, People, and Sports Illustrated without having subscriptions to those publications.

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Man Builds Real-Life Power Fist from Fallout 4 [Video]

Man Builds Real-Life Power Fist from Fallout 4 [Video]




Youtuber “Jairus of All” inspired himself from Fallout 4 to create a real life version of the game’s power fist, a pneumatic-powered punching device that can even crush concrete blocks! Watch as he punches through coconuts, concrete blocks, soda cans and watermelons.

Finally the long awaited Powerfist V1.0 !!!! The first, real life, portable, functioning, actual Powerfist in action! IRL! I hope you enjoy it!

[Source: JAIRUS OF ALL on Youtube]




























































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Europe plans to give teenagers $450 to vacation by train

European teenagers might be the luckiest in the world.

The European Union is debating whether to give teenagers a rail pass worth 407 euros ($456) when they turn 18, a free gift that would allow them to travel the continent for up to a month.

“We admire the boldness and the level of ambition and we are ready to explore [the plan] further,” Violeta Bulc, the EU’s top transport official, said Tuesday in European Parliament.

Bulc cautioned that more work needs to be done on the proposal, but suggested the EU start with a pilot scheme.

A month-long Interrail pass gives its holder the ability to make unlimited journeys anywhere on the continent — from Athens to Aberdeen and Lisbon to Helsinki. It’s a popular way for teenagers to spend their summer.

Related: Americans are moving to Europe for free college degrees

eu free trains

Supporters say the program would allow Europe’s youngsters to explore and make friends across the continent. This, they suggest, could lead to more support for the EU.

“The mobility of young people is essential in promoting a sense of belonging to Europe,” advocates write in their official proposal. “Such a program would give all young people, regardless of their social or educational background, the opportunity to discover Europe’s diversity.”

The desire to stoke enthusiasm about the EU comes at a time of political turmoil. High unemployment rates in multiple EU countries have left many young people without jobs, and the U.K.’s decision to leave the bloc has shaken Brussels.

Meanwhile, populist anti-European parties are on the rise and the union faces the biggest migration crisis in its history.

British Millennials: You’ve stolen our future

The free train travel scheme is not the first attempt to convince youngsters of the benefits of the union.

The highly successful exchange program Erasmus allows students to spend one or two semesters at a university in one of the 34 countries participating in the program. They’re even given a small scholarship to help cover living and travel costs.

More than 270,000 students spent time abroad under the program in the 2013-2014 academic year.

CNNMoney (London) First published October 5, 2016: 10:01 AM ET

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