Noobie Tech

Sarahah, the popular, anonymous messaging app is doing more than just collecting anonymous messages for users. It’s actually uploading your entire phone book data for no apparent reason. Sarahah is designed with the purpose to allow people to message its users anonymously which people using the app can access later.  However, according to  a study by The Intercept , the application is updating the entire phone book data from the user’s smartphone. Considering the fact that Sarahah is built upon the anonymity principle, the use of downloading a user’s phonebook data does not have a plausible reason. Following the report and a video showing  the app uploading data , app developer ZainAlabdin Tawfiq came up with a statement that the app will be using this data for a planned feature. 27 Aug The Intercept     ✔ @theintercept When first launched, this app harvests and uploads all phone numbers and email addresses in your address...

Creating regular backups of your media should be an important aspect of basic computing hygiene for everyone. Oddly, for many people, backing up data isn’t something they take seriously until they’re the victim of a failed hard drive. Chances are if you’ve lost all your music, photos, and videos once, you’ll make sure it never happens again. If you use iTunes and Photos to manage your media, creating backups and restoring old data is a straightforward process. Don’t be the victim of data loss. Follow this guide to make sure your media is safe. Manual or Automatic? You can back up iTunes and your photos manually or automatically. I’ll cover both approaches in this guide. If you want to create manual backups, you’ll need an external hard drive or a cloud storage provider with a significant amount of storage space. If you’re planning to automate the process, you will probably want to use Time Machine, though some third-party options are also available. C...

Linux is the most widely-used free and open source operating system in the world. Unlike commercial alternatives, no single person or company can take credit. Linux is what it is due to the ideas and contributions of many individuals from all over the world. Here are some of the big names behind Linux and the ethical movements that have caused it to spread far and wide. This list by no means includes  all  of the people whose work has made the free desktop what it is. Instead, these are the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of the Linux world, figures who founded many of the projects and organizations we now depend on. Let’s start from the beginning. Richard Stallman In 1983, Richard Stallman started the GNU Project. This initiative sought to create a non-proprietary Unix-compatible operating system and is responsible for many of the programs we use today. Stallman founded the  Free Software Foundation  a couple years later and went on to become the most prom...

It’s easy to make mistakes during the excitement of opening a new website. Firing up a small store, portfolio, or blog is a lot of fun — but dealing with security breaches and hacks is a lot less so. When you’re setting up a new website, it’s important to make sure it’s secure. Fortunately, most of the things you should do are very easy. Some will take a bit of time, but it’s a worthy investment. Don’t leave your site unprotected! Here are 10 things you can do to keep it safe. 1. Choose a Secure Domain Registrar When registering your domain, you want to make sure that no one is going to get control over it. If a miscreant is able to log into your domain registrar, they could transfer it to themselves or wreak further havoc. There are a few options for domain registrars that use two-factor authentication (2FA). This adds a further level of security and makes it much harder for someone else to access. Even if someone manages to get your password, they probably won’t ha...

Last week, history was created in the realms of Dota 2 and AI. At The International,  Dendi , one of the best players of the game, was beaten mercilessly in a 1v1, by a bot, two times in a row. The bot in question was made by  OpenAI , a startup of Elon Musk. Now you may have some questions. What is Dota? What is OpenAI? And why is this even important? To start with,  Dota  is a free-to-play MOBA game in which you control  Heroes  and your aim is to destroy the opponents  Ancient . Many Dota fans may take offence to the last sentence as there so much to Dota then I have summed up. The game is very  complex  with a very steep learning curve to it. I had embarked on a mission to learn Dota some time ago and it took me a week just to go through a basic  How To  video, where they explain the strategy of the game, what weapons, spells, heroes do and how to mine creeps. And this makes the whole  AI vs Dendi  ...