Shazam can build you a Spotify playlist, help you discover new tunes and identify magazines, but song recognition is still at the heart of the app. Even with this core feature getting faster and quicker to start up, sometimes it can still be a race t…
Pretty much like all things British, everything needs to arrive in a prim and proper form factor, as is the case with the $39.95 British Horticulturist Bee House. This is one particularly low-maintenance house that is capable of attracts solitary bees – you know, of the non-stinging and non-swarming species. These might seem to be harmless in nature, but they are actually very essential in the overall realm of things, especially since they are of utmost importance when it comes to pollinating flowers and nurturing lush gardens.
Recommended by Britain’s Royal Horticultural Society, this wooden apiary comes outfitted with a couple of dozen slim tunnels, where gentle solitary species such as the Red Mason and leafcutter bees lay individual larvae, all sans the frenzy of communal hives. The bee house will be made from naturally weather-resistant Forest Stewardship Council cedar which will not mold or rot. All that you need to do is to mount the habitat about 5′ high where it will then face the morning sun, and wait as you see mature bees emerge several months later to fertilize flora without hounding children or pets. Certainly a whole lot more fun than a bird house, don’t you think so?
[ British Horticulturist Bee House looks prim and proper copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Facebook has been pushing for users to adopt its Messenger app. Its mobile app has more or less killed of the in-app messaging feature in favor of Messenger, and last we checked, Facebook was pushing for the same with its web app as well, and we guess to help make the app more compelling, Facebook has introduced some pretty big changes.
For the most part, Messenger allows users to message their friends. The “home” section of the app pretty much displays all the contacts that you’ve chatted with, but apparently Facebook thinks it could be better, which is why they have decided to revamp the home screen of the Messenger app to make it more useful and convenient.
According to Facebook, “Now, you’ll see your conversations and ways to connect right where you need them most. You’ll still see the first few most recent messages at the top of your screen, followed by a new Favorites section, which highlights people you message most frequently, so you can quickly pick up your last conversation.”
They have also included useful reminders like birthdays so that you won’t need to open the Facebook app just to see, and it allows you to send a quick birthday message to that person as well. The update does not appear to be global just yet so possibly only those in the US will see these changes, but we expect that eventually it will make its way to other users as well.
Facebook Messenger Now Has A Redesigned Home Screen , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
How does one predict where a terrorist could strike next? Of course gaining the information beforehand like undercover or spy work is one way, or like we reported last month, spikes on certain YouTube videos could also indicate an imminent attack, but now a group of physicists are hoping to use algorithms to better predict where terrorists could attack.
A team led by Neil Johnson from the University of Miami recently published a study based on their findings, which involved sifting through posts that are pro-Islamic State on Vkontakte, a Russian-based social media platform that is more or less Europe’s answer to Facebook. They filtered posts that mentioned activities like beheadings and blood baths in multiple languages.
The end result is that based on their findings, they managed to develop an algorithm that could potentially help predict attacks that are about to happen. Now while it might be obvious to try and focus on the larger pro-ISIS groups, the study actually decided to focus on the smaller groups because according to The New York Times (via Engadget), “they reflect groundswells of new activity and, if followed, can potentially point to where that activity is going.”
That being said, it remains to be seen if this algorithm is strictly theoretical or if there could be practical application. According to J. M. Berger, a fellow in George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, “This is an interesting approach, this is a potentially valuable approach, and more research should be done on the approach, but to jump ahead to the utility of it, I think, takes more work.”
Scientists Create Algorithm To Help Predict Terrorist Attacks , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
3D Touch was one of the selling points of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus from last year, but unfortunately it did not exactly catch on the same way that Touch ID did. However with iOS 10, Apple has introduced a ton of changes that will make 3D Touch more compelling than ever, and one of those changes is the introduction of rich notifications.
The good news is that if you don’t own a 3D Touch iPhone, fret not because Apple has reassured developers (and thus users) that rich notifications will be available to older iPhones as well. In the notes accompanying the first iOS 10 beta, it reads, “Support for rich notifications is optimized for 3D Touch, and in iOS 10 beta 1 the feature is available only on iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Future betas will provide access to this functionality for users of iPhone models without support for 3D Touch.”
It is unclear as to how rich notifications will work on older iPhones, but as we have seen in apps like Instagram, a long-hold on a photo will let it pop up the same way on a 3D Touch iPhone, so perhaps that’s a possibility. However given that we’re still in the early beta of iOS 10, there is a good chance Apple is still figuring this one out themselves.
In case you missed Apple’s presentation at WWDC, one of the examples of rich notifications was how users could open up a chat thread on Messages and reply to it all from the lockscreen, as you can see in the screenshot above.
Non-3D Touch iPhones Will Get iOS 10’s Rich Notifications Too , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
For many people, turning 50 signals a shift in the way they approach their finances. If you have kids, they’re probably preparing to leave the nest and you may just be hitting your stride in terms of your earning power. With retirement looming, now’s the time to amp up your efforts to save. Whether you’re a late bloomer or you’ve been socking money away steadily over the years, here’s what you can do to enjoy a rich retirement.
Find out now: How much do I need to save for retirement?
While a 401(k) (or another employer-sponsored plan) is a good first stop for retirement savings, it’s not the only way to build your nest egg. Once you’ve maxed out your employer’s retirement account, you can supplement it with an IRA.
For 2016, the regular contribution limits for a 401(k) and IRA are set at $18,000 and $5,500 respectively. If you’re 50 or older, however, you get a bonus in the form of catch-up contributions. That means you can funnel an extra $6,000 into your 401(k) and another $1,000 into your IRA.
In addition to these two options, you have another way to save if you have a high deductible health insurance plan. You can save up to $3,350 in a health savings account (HSA) if you have an individual plan and $6,750 if you have a family plan. Once you turn 65, you can tap this money penalty-free, although you will pay taxes on any distributions that don’t go towards qualified medical expenses.
Carrying credit card balances, student loans or mortgage debt into retirement is a risky move, especially if you know that your income is going to go down once you’ve stopped working. In your 50s, it’s best to focus on eliminating as many of your financial obligations as possible so you can head into your golden years with a streamlined budget.
That being said, there are some rules to follow when it comes to paying off debt. Before you begin making your monthly payments, it’s important to make sure you’re maxing out your retirement accounts. At this stage in life, you can’t afford to delay your savings.
While you’re paying down your debts, you can tackle the ones that are costing you the most first. Then you can look for ways to make your other payments less expensive. If you have credit cards, for example, transferring them to a card with a lower rate can potentially save you some money on interest. If you’re thinking of refinancing your mortgage, it’s best to run the numbers to get an idea of what you can save.
Check out our refinance calculator.
Putting your money in a savings account may give you a sense of security but it’s not going to make you rich. Investing in stocks and mutual funds means taking a bigger gamble, but it can generate substantial returns in the long run.
If you’ve been fairly aggressive about investing up to this point, you may need to rethink that strategy. Someone who’s in their 30s and has years to go before they retire is in a better position to rebound from a market decline than someone who’s in their mid-50s.
That’s why it’s a good idea to take a look at your portfolio’s asset allocation to see where your money is concentrated. If you’re still investing heavily in stocks, now’s a good time to begin easing towards more conservative investments. You may see your returns reduced slightly but the trade-off is that you’ll be better insulated against market volatility.
Choose your risk profile.
Building wealth is something just about anyone can do with enough time and the right tools. If you’re in your 50s, your retirement is probably not too far away. But it’s not too late to create a comfortable financial cushion for your 60s and beyond.
Photo credit: ©iStock.com/mediaphotos, ©iStock.com/Cathy Yeulet, ©iStock.com/szefei
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
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It’s another Father’s Day.
My Dad was a family man.
I could also say that he was a war hero, a self-taught engineer, and a handsome, intelligent, and athletic man. He could swing a golf club and he could swing my mother around the dance floor.
But mostly he was a family man.
He loved my mother and us kids, and his own mother and sisters and brother and his cousins, nieces and nephews, and my mother’s family too. And later, his children’s families — our spouses and the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. When he would say, as he did often, “Let’s call everybody and have a party,” he meant, let’s call all our relatives and the friends whom he loved like family.
Last week I learned one small new thing about him. My mother and I were talking about movies as we ate lunch, and she said, “You know what your father’s favorite movie was?”
I thought she would say “Patton” — because my father and I watched that movie together and we loved it, and he told me about General George S. Patton and General Omar Bradley. How much he admired them both. Patton for his fearlessness and genius in war. Bradley for his humanity. “Us soldiers were in awe of Patton,” he said. “But we would follow Bradley anywhere.”
But my mother surprised me.
“The African Queen,” she said. “We must have seen that movie 100 times. Every time it was on, your dad would say, ‘We have to watch this.’ Every time.”
So he was not just a war hero. He was a war hero and a romantic.
When I reflect on my father, it seems I always return to the things that he was not. The traits that were just not in his character.
Like how often he swore: Never.
How he complained about his job: Never.
How he would be in a bad mood: Never.
How he lost his temper without provocation: Never.
How he disparaged other people: Never.
How he shirked his responsibility: Never.
How he was rude to a waiter or salesperson: Never.
How he missed Mass on Sunday: Never.
How he told his three daughters that girls couldn’t do something: Never.
How he told his son that winning was everything: Never.
How he fought with my mother: Never.
How he was unkind to strangers: Never.
Dad died five years ago, at 88. A nice and happy long life. I don’t believe he had any regrets. He passed away with only my mother at his side, which is what they both wanted.
I sat with him the day before, though, and I rather knew it was the last time. He knew too, I think. When I rose to leave he put his hand on his heart.
“The African Queen” is my favorite movie too.
And my hand is on my heart.
**
Read more from Nancy on her blog, “Not Quite Old.”
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
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So, that happened. In the wake of last weekend’s horrific shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Senate Democrats launched a lengthy “talking” filibuster to try to force Senate leaders to allow the body to consider measures that would help curb the flow of deadly weapons to deranged killers. The threat of terrorism loomed large in their arguments, with President Barack Obama’s complaint about being able to keep terrorists off of airplanes, but not to keep them from purchasing weapons, looming large as a talking point.
But with all the emphasis on our well-primed fears of lone wolves taking cues from far-flung terrorist networks to bring mayhem to America, we’re losing sight of the fact that the violence we saw in Orlando is very much rooted in a homegrown hatred of the LGBT community — a hatred that sees itself redeemed every time the state passes a law that infringes on the basic constitutional rights of LGBT people, or — worse — helps implant the notion that they are less than human, and that violence toward them is permissible and forgivable.
On this week’s podcast, we’ll discuss this balance, and whether lawmakers can truly do something good in the wake of this tragedy, if they erase the community upon which it was visited.
Also on this week’s podcast: Where will Bernie Sanders’ supporters go, now that the Democratic primary is over? We have two guests with perspective on the matter: Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein, and political commentator and host of the “Tim Black At Night Show,” Tim Black.
Additionally, we return to the deepening debt crisis in Puerto Rico, to find out whether the solution posed by Congress will help ameliorate the island territory’s financial woes, or if it will end up setting a bad precedent for democracy.
Finally, as tensions continue to mount between Beltway Republicans and their party’s presidential candidate, we turn to noted Donald Trump critic Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) for an update on the lay of the land.
“So, That Happened” is hosted by Jason Linkins, Zach Carter and Arthur Delaney. Joining them this week: Green Party presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein, Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.), and political commentator and podcaster Tim Black.
This podcast was produced, edited and engineered by Christine Conetta.
To listen to this podcast later, download our show on iTunes. While you’re there, please subscribe to, rate and review our show. You can check out other HuffPost podcasts here.
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Legendary Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis said, “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.”
Never were truer words spoken when it comes to protecting your identity. When it comes to synthetic identity theft, you have to be extra vigilant.
Synthetic identity theft is committed in a variety of ways, ranging from simple (changing a few details like address or using a “new” Social Security number to create a new credit profile mixing “legitimate and fake data to create synthetic identities,” as The Wall Street Journal reports) to more ornate scams, where the bad guys set up shell companies that report to the three credit reporting agencies on huge portfolios of fictitious consumers (all of them synthetic identities) with unusually perfect credit histories–a sort of pump-and-dump scam.
But even with the more ornate scams that are built on credit fictions, there is an element of truth to them — someone’s Social Security number has been listed, someone’s address and someone else’s name — and that’s where you can get hurt.
If your Social Security number is being used as the lynchpin of a synthetic identity, any fraudulent accounts (or derogatory information associated with them) could ultimately wind up on your credit report and severely damage your credit scores.
In addition to the credit score consequences, the legal repercussions related to identity theft can be severe. Sometimes, victims not only have to combat financial fraud, they also face the risk of being jailed for crimes they didn’t commit, for instance.
The average consumer — heck, even a fairly savvy one — has no meaningful way to prevent this kind of attack on their personal information, and there is a simple reason. They don’t know anything about it, and because of its convoluted nature — not all of the personal information associated with the identity matches the victim — they may not know about it until they are in the soup.
A Growing Problem
According to a Federal Trade Commission report, synthetic identity theft accounted for 80 to 85% of all identity fraud in the U.S. and “is the fastest growing type of ID fraud.”
The primary cause here will be a familiar sounding one — mega data breaches. With more than a billion records containing personally identifiable information compromised to date, there’s a cornucopia of information out there — doubtless some that belongs to you or your family members.
What You Can Do
Practice the Three Ms, which I describe in detail in my book, “Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves”.
Minimize your exposure. Caution is the watchword here. If you get a call or an email asking you to authenticate sensitive information, hang up or hit delete, go online to find the correct contact information for the organization that called, and call them back directly. Bear in mind there is one big trade-off when you use social media and do what most folks do–over-share life events: strangers can glean a great deal about you. Protect your passwords, make them long and strong, properly store documents that can be used to hijack your identity, and seriously consider freezing your credit, which prevents creditors from accessing your credit reports.
Monitor your accounts. Keep track of your credit score, as a sudden drop may indicate identity theft. (You can view two of your credit scores, updated each month, for free on Credit.com.) Check in on major accounts daily. If that’s too much work, sign up for free transaction alerts from financial services institutions and credit card companies. You might also want to consider subscribing to a credit and identity monitoring program. Don’t just do this for yourself, do it for your children as well, since synthetic identity theft scammers often target their Social Security numbers.
Manage the damage. If you are a victim of identity-related fraud, deal with it right away, whether you roll up your sleeves and do it yourself or enroll in a program that does it for you. (In fact, you may already be enrolled in such a program, compliments of your insurance company, financial services institution or employer.) Set up fraud alerts with each of the major credit reporting agencies. Again, if you haven’t done so, consider a credit freeze, which can prevent new accounts from being taken out in your name.
Javelin Strategy & Research estimated that new-account fraud will “soar 44% between 2014 and 2018, rising from $5 billion in annual losses to a projected $8 billion.” The solution to this growing problem for American households is not an easy one.
Synthetic identity theft — like the very sophisticated malware that infects systems and stealthily spreads its tentacles through personal, business and government networks– is extremely hard to detect and often harder to unravel. The answer is to remain alert and remember, if something seems off, go with your gut.
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CAIRO (Reuters) – A second flight recorder has been retrieved from the crashed EgyptAir flight MS804, containing data from aircraft systems which could shed light on what brought the plane down last month, Egyptian investigators said on Friday.
An Egyptian committee investigating the crash into the eastern Mediterranean Sea made the announcement a day after search teams found the cockpit voice recorder in a breakthrough for investigators seeking to explain what caused the plane to go down, killing all 66 people on board.
The Airbus A320 crashed early on May 19 on its way from Paris to Cairo. The two blackbox recorders are crucial to explaining what went wrong.
The Egyptian investigation committee said preparations were under way to transfer the two flight recorders to Alexandria where they will be received by an official from the general prosecutor’s office and investigators.
No group has claimed responsibility for bringing down the plane, but investigation sources have said that it was too early to rule out any causes, including terrorism.
If intact, the cockpit recorder should reveal pilot conversations and any cockpit alarms, as well as other clues such as engine noise. But crash experts say it may provide only limited insight into what caused the crash, especially if the crew was confused or unable to diagnose any faults.
For that, the second black box containing data from the aircraft systems is needed.
The crash is the third blow since October to Egypt’s travel industry, which is still suffering from the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.
A Russian plane crashed in the Sinai Peninsula last October, killing all 224 people on board in an attack claimed by Islamic State. In March, an EgyptAir plane was hijacked by a man wearing a fake suicide belt. No one was hurt.
(Reporting by Omar Fahmy; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Alison Williams and Dominic Evans)
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