Windows 8 Total Fail

from Greg
Microsoft announced at CES they they are releasing Windows 9 in 2015 due to significantly poor reviews of Windows 8 and slow acceptance from commercial customers. HP has highlighted the problem by offering a line of Windows 7 computers. The Windows 8 operating system is actually hurting HP's computer sales. The computers run $480 to $999 which includes a $150 price reduction.

from Business Insider
Read the full story HERE
This weekend HP brought in a blast from the past in an attempt to boost its PC sales.

Windows 7.

In promotional material on its website and email blasts, HP says it'll start shipping PCs with Windows 7 again due to "popular demand." And that's not a good sign for Microsoft, which still bets that its touch-based Windows 8 operating system will reinvigorate the PC market.

Many agree that one of the contributing factors to the PC market's implosion is Windows 8, which can be hard to operate on the traditional desktops and laptops that many people still use. Despite manufacturer's best attempts, PC sales continue to decline year over year. In fact, 2013 was the worst year for PC sales, according to research firm Gartner.

Meanwhile, there are a slew of other options for people to choose from, including Chromebooks, the cheap laptops that run Google's Chrome operating system. Chromebooks are gaining momentum with customers, causing Microsoft to launch some very negative ads. HP has started making a bigger push in Chromebooks too.


Finally, Microsoft is reportedly working on a new version of Windows called Windows 9 that will fix many of the gripes people have with Windows 8. We'll likely get a tiny preview of Windows 9 at Microsoft's Build developers conference in April.


from HP
Read about the deal HERE.
Back by Popular Demand


Featuring genuine Windows 7 Home Premium for a familiar and intuitive environment.


All-around perfect fit
With convenient expandability options, the HP Pavilion 500 is the versatile PC that grows as your needs do. With a sharp, modern design, it fits seamlessly anywhere you put it. Top that off with powerful performance, strong graphics, and generous storage, and you’ve found your ideal PC.

Proven and powerful
Choose the latest Intel processors and multitask across more programs—including your favorite immersive games, HD3 videos, and photo editing software. Enjoy smooth and seamless life-like gaming with NVIDIA discrete graphics, or choose AMD ultra-high performance graphics for a thrilling experience. The options are yours.


Internal specs
Operating system
Windows 7 Home Premium 64

Processor
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-4130 processor dual-core [3.4GHz, 3MB Shared Cache]
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-4570 processor quad-core [3.2GHz, 6MB Shared Cache]

Memory
8GB DDR3-1600MHz [1 DIMM ]
10GB DDR3-1600 MHz [2 DIMM ]
2 DIMM

Hard drive
1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
2TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
3TB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive

Graphics
Intel HD Graphics [DVI-D]
1GB Nvidia GeForce GT625[HDMI,DVI,VGA via adapter]
1GB AMD Radeon R5 235 [DVI, HDMI, DVI to AVG Dongle]

Optical drive
SuperMulti DVD Burner
Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner

Wireless technologies
802.11a/g/n; Bluetooth

Networking
Wireless-N LAN and Bluetooth (1x1)
Premium Wireless-N LAN card and Bluetooth(R )(2x2)

Ports
4 USB 3.0; 4 USB 2.0; 1 headphone; 1 microphone
3 PCIe x1; 1 PCIe x16; 1 mini PCIe x1
7-in-1 memory card reader

Related articles

• AMD Develops Behemoth Chip with Sixteen Cores on Single Die
• Microsoft Is Going To Try And Save The Imploding PC Market With Another New Version Of Windows
• Windows 9 could see a complete 180, return to glory days
• Microsoft employees reportedly call Windows 8 'the new Vista'

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Parental Controls

from Greg
Gizmodo has a great how to guide on how to set the parental controls on every popular mobile platform. Time to put some protection on all the Xmas gadgets you bought the kids!

from Gizmodo
Read the full story HERE
How to Install Parental Controls on All of Your Gadgets
by Andrew Tarantola

Windows
Windows relies on Microsoft's Family Safety website and its companion desktop program to handle user access control. You'll be able to set individual accounts per child and limit their access to risky websites, monitor what sites they visit (or, at least, try to), and limit the amount of time they spend on games and other applications.

If you're on Windows 8, Scroll your mouse to the right edge of the screen and select Settings from the pop-out menu. For Windows 7, see if it's already installed by searching for Windows Live Family Safety from the Start menu—otherwise just download it.
Select Control Panel -> Family Safety -> Manage settings on the Family Safety Website.
Login to the family safety account using your Windows credentials (the ones you use to access your computer).
Select which accounts you want to control, setting up individual accounts per child as needed. Make sure that you set passwords for each account and turn off guest browsing as it can be used to bypass these controls.
Set the permissions for each kid by clicking Edit Settings under each of their names and activating the appropriate functions.

OSX
Unlike Windows, OSX Mavericks integrates all of its parental controls into the OS itself rather than rely on an external website. And in addition to monitoring and limiting your kid's surfing habits, you can also limit who they can interact with to defend against cyber bullies and pervs.

Select Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Parental Controls
Enter your Admin credentials
For an existing user, click Enable Parental Controls, and then set up the controls. Add new users by clicking Add at the bottom of the user list and entering a name and password for the new account.
For each account, you can set age rating limits for opening apps from the App Store in the Apps section, limit what websites can be visited in Safari in the Web section, who they can interact with in the Game Center and contact via email in the People section, and set time limits for general computer use and specific programs in the Time Limits section.

Chrome OS
As with Windows and OSX you'll need to set up individual accounts and login credentials for each child. Also be sure to turn off guest browsing before you get started.

Log into the Chromebook as the Admin account (the one you used when setting up the device)
Add additional users by clicking the Add Users button in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Open Chrome, go to chrome.com/manage, and sign in with your admin account.
Select Manage and set specific permissions for each kid's account, dubbed Supervised Users, as well as view their browsing history and respond to requests to unblock specific websites.
To restrict websites, select All of the web or Only specified sites under "Allow". You can enable or disable all of a site's sub domains—ie
paleofuture.gizmodo.com or gifmodo.gizmodo.com—all in one fell swoop by replacing the sub domain with an asterisk, as in *.gizmodo.com. Put the asterisk after the host (www.gizmodo.uk -> www.gizmodo.*) to disable sites in specific countries.

Additionally, you can force enable Safe Search from the manager as well

Android
If you want to control what your kids do on Android, the device will need to be running version 4.3 Jelly Bean which basically limits it to Nexus series phones and tablets.

Open Settings either from the App Drawer or by swiping down from the top right edge of the device -> click Add User or Profile -> Select Restricted Profile.
Tap the settings icon next to New profile to name the account and select which apps will be available to it using the neighboring toggle switch. Be warned, the system does not filter websites so if you're worried about little Johnny learning about the birds and the bees from BangBros, don't approve the use of browsers for that account.
If you don't have the latest and greatest Google gadget, don't worry. Google Play is packed with third party parental control apps., just search for "parental control". Kid's Place and Norton Family are both quite popular and quite free.
[Android]

iOS
Open Settings -> General -> Restrictions
Enable restrictions if you haven't already by tapping the radio button at the top of the screen and setting an access password that only you should know.
Below the Enable Restrictions button, you'll see a list of available apps. Work your way through dictating which can and cannot be access without your authorization password.
The subsequent sections allow you to set limits on in-app purchases, allowed content, and privacy settings such as turning off GPS or using third party apps.
Kindle Fire

Open Quick Settings by swiping down from the top of the screen, select Settings -> Parental Controls
Set up an Admin password that your kids won't be able to guess.
Set restrictions on the following features:
Web browsing
The Email, Contacts, and Calendars apps
Social network sharing
The camera
The ability to purchase from the content stores on your device (for example, the Amazon Appstore)
The ability to play movies and TV shows from Amazon Instant Video
Specific content types (for example, Books or Apps)
Wireless connectivity
Location-Based Services
You'll now be able to access all of these features while preventing your kids from doing so by simply entering you Admin password when prompted.

Xbox One
Setting up parental controls on an XB1 is very similar to setting them up on Windows 8.

Sign in to your console.
On your controller, press the Menu button -> select Settings.
Scroll right to Family, then select the child profile that you want to modify, then set permissions for various features including content rating restrictions, web browsing, and whehter or not their bio shows up in the OneGuide. You can also set specific permissions for each section by selecting Use, but customize.
And if you're rocking both an XB1 and a 360, you can control access for both using a single interface, thereby applying restrictions simultaneously to both systems, through the XBox Live website.

Playstation 4
Log in to your Master Account and make sure you password protect that account to prevent your kids from reversing the restrictions you set as well as set a 4-digit Parental controls passcode. Both are found under Settings -> Parental Controls
Set up sub accounts for each kid under Settings -> Parental Controls -> Manage Sub Accounts and dictate what restrictions will be present on each.
From this sub menu, you can restrict games, apps, and movies by age rating; turn off the web browser and disable voice, video, or text chats; prevent guest log ins (which you should); set spending limits in the Playstation Store, and restrict user-generated content.

Related articles

• How to Install Parental Controls on All of Your Gadgets
• How to Use a Picture as a Password in Windows 8.1
• Five-minute fix: Setting up parental controls on Windows 8
• Blog Post: Maximising your work productivity can be child's play

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