How to Access Geo Blocked Content

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Netflix recently launched its services in an additional 130 countries. Amidst all the fanfare, what they did not mention was that not all countries would get the same catalog as Netflix USA. They did hint at different licensing restrictions for different shows. It turns out the differences are quite large. Most countries have less than 20% of the complete catalog.

For Netflix and other services that limit their services to specific countries, users ended up using third party services to use the full catalog. There are two main ways of doing this.

The first are called SmartDNS services. DNS is how website names are resolved into actual server addresses. Once you sign up for a Smart dns service, you change the DNS servers on your router. The next time you call up the Netflix website, it redirects it to a server owned by the dns provider. They then route traffic through their network and it looks like you are coming from their network. This allows you to select any geographic territory they support.

The second method is through a VPN. A VPN, knows as a virtual private network, allows you to connect to a server in the target country and then you are basically operating through a network tunnel from that country. This method is more secure as it does not involve any of your traffic passing through a server owned by the dns provider. In addition, traffic on VPNs are usually encrypted.

Both of these methods will cost you. Usually in monthly subscription fees. But be warned, these services are constantly blocked by service like Netflix and Spotify.

How Does Current VR Technology Work

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mysystemsjournal2Virtual Reality is being hailed as the next big thing in tech. The highlight of the last Consumer Electronics Show was every company showing or announcing their VR plans. Even Apple is rumored to have up to 800 people working on some form of virtual reality tech. At present there are two products on the horizon which are generating the most buzz. The two products are by Oculus and HTC.

The Oculus rift is a head mounted virtual reality stereoscopic 3D display. You get a controller and can look around in every direction. However, VR is more than just about games. While gaming is the primary draw, the ability to look around in 3D limited mostly to cockpit based interactions. You can be in the cockpit of a fighter and can actually look around for enemy fighters. The other two uses for VR are movies and exploration. With exploration you can explore any location in the world in 3D. Think of it as an upgraded version of Google streetview. When it comes to movies, you can simulate being in an IMAX size cinema. It could possibly be the future of movie watching from the home.

The HTC Vive takes the above one step further. In addition to watching movies etc the gaming on the Vive has a new angle to it. It requires a room with a minimum size of 9 by 12 feet. Sensors are placed along the edges of the walls and you get two controllers. The games are different in that you can now move around this virtual area.

The demos of these games have been called “game-changing” by the tech media. However, it remains to be seen if these are mass market products.

Three Steps to Safeguard your Computer From Malicious Software

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mysystemsjournal1There are many more security risks on your computer than ever. In the past we only had to worry about viruses. Now there are viruses, trojans, rootkits, zombies etc. However, with just a few simple steps you can prevent 90% of the threats facing most users today. These steps including operating without admin rights and staying clear of unknown or pirated software. These steps are detailed below.

Admin rights

Make sure that your everyday account on the computer does not have admin rights. Admin rights are only needed when changes are being made to the computer. Instead create a separate account that does have admin rights and use that whenever you need to install software or make a change. On Windows and Mac OSX,the computer will popup a request for admin rights if the running user does not have them. This prevents most malicious payloads from executing on your computer without your knowledge.

Unknown Software

If the need arises to run or test software from an unknown party, make sure that you first check if there are any known issues with that software. Then if possible do not install it in your standard profile. Use a hypervisor like Hyper-V and run another instance of your OS only to run applications you are unsure of. This is another often used vector for infecting computers.

Pirated Software

Whatever you do, do not instal pirated applications. They almost always have some form of malicious software attached.a

Creating Diamond-like Carbon Coatings

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Written by: Denton Vacuum, LLC

Diamond-like carbon coatings can be created in a laboratory.

Diamond like carbon coatings can be deposited in a variety of ways using different methods. Some of these methods include: ion beam, electron beam, lasers, and sputter coating.

The Coating Process

The entire coating process takes place in a specially designed vacuum chamber that varies by system. Some of the more optimal systems utilize a fixated carousel that the vacuum lies on. The source material is then preheated to a specific temperature, typically less than 150 degrees Celsius. During the preheating process, the substrate that is going to be coated is rid of all of the moisture produced by the material utilizing the vacuum attached to the sputter coater. The adhered moisture can affect the product’s properties as well as the final result.

The next phase requires there to be a scrubbing of the surface with ions to enhance the overall adhesion and scatter. Once the cleaning process has completed, an optional gas is added into the chamber which then transitions into the coating step. Finally, the electrical charge created by the carousel then draws the hydrogen and carbon ions to the surface therefore creating the thin film layer. The carousel can also rotate to improve the uniformity and prevent any thin film evaporation from occurring on the final product.

The Final Product

Diamond like carbon coatings are high quality films that surpass the conventional plating methods used regularly. By redefining the film’s properties like hardness and structure, one can expect a uniform film that is optimal for various applications.

The Advantages of Self Driving Cars

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Picture a future where you don’t own a car. Whenever you want to go anywhere, you start the app and request a ride. A car arrives, waits for you and takes you to your destination and leaves. This could be our future if Googles self driving car program is realized. This comes with several advantages.

Cost

The cost of car ownership will be shared. Travelling will basically become a larger taxi service. You will only pay for the cost of your ride and not for any unused time of the car. This is unlike modern taxi services where ride costs include the total cost of owning the vehicle. Because of nearly 100% utilizing of a vehicle the per mile cost lessons dramatically. This makes it cheaper than owning your own vehicle.

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Safety

In a world where the majority of cars will be self driving, you can expect almost no accidents. The average number of vehicular deaths in the USA in the last few years has been close to 50000. This number can reduced by as much as 90%.

Time

With better utilization of vehicles, there will be less cars on the road. This will means less or no traffic and better use of time. Now estimates of travel time will be much more accurate.

Pollution

With less vehicles on the road there will be a lot less pollution. By the time autonomous driving is realized, fossil fuel based cars would have been phased in favour of electric or other more efficient and cleaner alternatives.

Thanks to autonomous cars, we will live in a safer, cheaper and cleaner world where we will arrive at our destinations of time.

Finding a Quality Oligonucleotide Supplier

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Oligonucleotide SupplierWritten by: The Midland Certified Reagent Company

Here are some factors that you should consider.

If you are a laboratory that is in need of custom oligonucleotides, there are a variety of factors that you need to look at before selecting your supplier of choice. There are many trusted and reputable brands out there that meticulously care for their products and those should be the companies that you should be doing business with.

Flexibility

When you’re dealing with a supplier, you’re going to want to make sure that they supply you with a flexible amount of oligos for your laboratory. B sure to check the flexibility of their synthesis scales as well as how their bulk orders work as well – usually you’ll be able to score a discount when ordering in bulk. You’re also going to want to take a look at their catalogue to ensure that they can supply you with the customized oligo that you need.

Quality

Check their certifications to see if they are qualified to work with. ISO9001 certified is the standard that you should be looking for. If your modified oligo comes to you in an altered state, there would be no reason for them to refund it. Be sure that they provide quality products at a fair price as well. You may also check to see if they have comprehensive quality control reports.

Summing It Up

Find a reputable company that offers oligos that are flexible enough to offer you various DNA synthesis scales at a competitive price. It’s important that you perform adequate research to avoid wasting both your time and money.

The Advantages of Chromebooks

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Chromebooks are Google’s take on the desktop computer operating system. It is based around their web browser Chrome. In it, the web browser takes center stage. You cannot run any applications, only websites that you visit through the web browser. Chromebooks have become very popular with schools and other education institutions and have taken a significant portion of education sales in the last couple of years. There are several advantages to using Chromebooks, here are three:

mysystemjournal1Administration

Chromebooks are registered online. Each chromebook can be registered to a specific account and this makes it much easier to manage. There is also no directly usable local storage so anyone can switch from one Chromebook to another as long as their data is in the cloud. For cloud storage on Chromebooks, Google Drive is built in. In the same vein, if someone loses a chromebook, they can be up and running on a new one very quickly.

Lightweight

There are no applications running on a Chromebook. Only a browser. So any application will need to run within the browser. This makes the OS itself very lightweight. Unlike other OS’s you dont get feature bloat and it stays fast and responsive throughout.

Security

Like the chrome browser, Chromebooks get continuous updates installed in the background without any intervention from you. You can keep using the Chromebook without having to worry about annoying popups and multiple restarts to keep your computer secure.

Top Three things to buy with an iTunes gift card

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What gift do you give a techie who already has everything mysystemjournal4they need? a gift card. An iTunes gift card is one of the most popular gifts, especially for the holidays. It is popular because you can buy it in several denominations, but most of all it is an actual physical card which is essential when you want to be able to give a physical gift. There are so many things you can buy with it, here are a few apps:

 

Tweetbot

There are a lot of twitter clients available on iOS, but nothing compares to Tweetbot. Ask any techie or Apple fan and they will tell you the same thing. If you don’t have this already, and are still using the official Twitter client, this is a good purchase.

 

Riptide

This is a game that never gets old. You can get hours and hours of fun. Even better is that you can play it on the iPhone and the iPad. It is most definitely the best racing game on iOS. For even more fun it can be paired with a game controller.

 

Others

Asphalt 8 (racing game), Fantastical 2 (calendar app), Alto’s Adventure (puzzle game) and Monument Vallye (adventure game) are some other honourable mentions.

 

This is only the list of Apps. You could even by Movies, TV Shows and Music. If you are heavy music listener than there is nothing better than putting your gift card dollars towards an Apple Music subscription.

How to use your Smartphone to track your infants growth

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Parents of newborns are seen walking around with notepads writing down every detail they can. What time the baby fed. The timing of his last diaper change. Monitoring total feeding times and quantities. These are just a few details that need to be tracked early on. Thanks to some modern smartphone apps, this is no longer necessary.

There are now smartphone apps that can track every facet of your babies life. Let’s take feeding. Breastfeeding can be tracked by time spent feeding or for formula fed babies you can enter quantities. At the end of the day several indicators can show how much your baby has fed. This data can be graphed over time and compared to previous days.

mysystemjournal3You can also track growth. Weight and add that information in regularly and you can track the babies growth. This information is plotted against several graphs that compare to WHO and CDC infant growth standards. This way if the percentile that your infants growth is above or below the median, you can take action or see a pediatrician.

If data is entered by both parents, these apps can now synchronize between phones, allowing one parent to enter while the other can monitor progress.

This is one of the advantages of technology for real world use cases. Being able to track your babies growth and health on a smartphone is a life saver and can take away a lot of the stress of being a new parent.

How to Remove Bing from Internet Explorer and Edge

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Without a doubt, Microsoft wants you to not only use its browser but Bing as well. Of course, you don’t have to.

So, if you want to stay with Microsoft’s browser, that’s alright. However, you can change the browser’s default search engine if you wish.

Here are the instructions for both Edge and Internet Explorer 11:

Internet Explorer 11

First, in Internet Explorer, visit the Internet Explorer Gallery web page. When you scroll down, you’ll find a block of add-ons such as Google and Yahoo which will be clearly labeled as Search.

 mysystemjournal2One thing to keep in mind: if the search engine you want (for instance, DuckDuckGo), you can’t make it the default search engine.

 Now, if you can find a search engine that you like, then select that and click “Add to Internet Explorer” button. In the Add Search Provider dialog box, select “Make this my default search provider” and click “Add”.

Edge

In this browser, you can add just about any search engine. This includes DuckDuckGo. First, go to your preferred search engine’s main page. All you have to do is bring up the page in Edge. For starters, click on the three dots located in the top-right hand corner and click Settings. Now scroll down this panel and click the View Advanced Settings button. Now scroll down the View Advanced Settings button to “Search in the address bar with”. Now click the pull-down menu, you can find two options: Bing and <Add new>. Click the second option. You’ll then find all the search engines that you’ve visited. Now, select the one you want and click “Add as default”.