You can buy a Daydream View VR headset to go with your Pixel phone soon


The headset will sell for $79 in the U.S. where it will be available at Best Buy and Verizon, in addition to Google's online store. (Google is also partnering with retailers in the UK, Canada, Australia and Germany.) 

Of course, you'll need one of Google's Pixel phones in order to take advantage of the headset — at least for now. Though most major Android manufacturers have committed to making Daydream-ready devices, Google's pair of new flagships are the only ones currently available. 
If you do have a Pixel, Google already has a decent amount of VR content lined up, including virtual reality versions of Hulu and YouTube as well as games and experiences from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Daydream View also has the unique distinction of being the first headset to offer a Harry Potter VR experience (based on the upcomingFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.)

6 inventive approaches for better password security

A strong password helps keep your information – and money – secure. When your passwords are weak, you put yourself at risk for identity theft, credit/debit card fraud and a whole slew of other un-fun consequences.  We’ve all heard the basics about creating a good password: make it long, use a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, and avoid anything that could easily be associated with you.“Person-on-the-street interviews showed that people aren’t taking active steps to help protect themselves from fraud or don’t know what they should be doing,” says Dr. Brad Klontz, a financial psychologist who is teaming up with Chase to help share tips to prevent fraudulent activity.“By working together, we can help you keep your accounts safer and even more secure,” says Michael Cunningham, the managing director of Chase Fraud Operations. “One of the simplest steps you can take to help prevent fraud is creating stronger passwords.”  Great. So what should you do, exactly, when trying to come up with a stellar password that will be hard to crack? We spoke to a few experts to get their top tips for creating an airtight password.   
#1 – Yes, size matters   
For a while, 6-8 characters were considered to be enough. Now, experts recommend upwards of 12-14 character passwords – at minimum – to ensure better security.  “The length and complexity of a password is important in that it makes it more difficult to be cracked,” says Greg Kelley, the CTO at Vestige Digital Investigations. Shorter, simpler passwords are easier to figure out – especially by hackers who have the technology to do so. But when a password is long and complicated, that same hacker (or software) will move on to the next.   
#2 – Skip the obvious   
Weak passwords like “12345” and “password” continue to be the most common – and pose the biggest threat for users.  Also on the “no-no” list? Anything that someone could discover about you by doing a simple internet search. Things like your name, birthday, spouse’s name, dog’s name, or anything else that are easy to uncover via social media should not be part of your password. This tip is especially critical when it comes to your bank account password. “At the core, fraud prevention is a partnership between cardholders and their bank,” Klontz says. “Being a victim of financial fraud can be a very stressful experience. Why put yourself at risk when you can take a few simple, proactive steps to significantly lower your vulnerability to fraud?” Don’t risk it: Take a few extra minutes when creating your passwords and come up with something unique. 


#3 – Think sentences, not words
 
  

Many of the experts we spoke to stressed that creating a pass-phrase rather than a pass-word is a smart way to increase complexity. “Quotes you find easily memorable — from books you love or movies you’ve watched – blended with special characters and numbers would be the best choice for a password due to its overall length and complexity,” says Avi Kasztan, CEO and founder of cyber intelligence firm Sixgill.For example, “summertimeandthelivingiseasy” is better than, say, “summer1.”To up the ante, mix numbers, capital letters and characters into your sentence to make it even better. Now it becomes “$ummerT1meAndTheLivingIsEasy.”
It’s a creative way to ensure your password will be unique and complex.   

#4 – Utilize the space bar   

When creating a passphrase, don’t forget about the spacebar! This keystroke is often overlooked by password cracking tools and can help make your passphrase more complex.   
Alex Heid, Chief Research Officer at SecurityScorecard, suggests something like: “My favorite dinner is steak & potatoes.”   
This works well, Heid says, because the phrase uses mixed casing and special characters – plus it’s easy to memorize.   

#5 – Don’t neglect your email password   

When many think about password security, they picture things like bank accounts, credit cards and other pieces of delicate information. Email passwords, however, are often overlooked. But access to this account can be destructive.   
Because your email is a gateway to password resetting, locking in a secure phrase and changing it up on the regular essentially works as an extra level of protection for all your other accounts.   
Michael Kaiser, Executive Director of the Nation Cyber Security Alliance, suggests implementing authentication steps for your email – a “layer of protection beyond login and password that’s readily available and free [for] nearly all major email providers.”   

#6 – Switch it up   

When all your passwords are the same, you’re essentially giving hackers a universal key into your life. Experts recommend changing your password every 60-90 days. However, changing your password often but neglecting to make each iteration complex enough could be just as bad as never changing it.   
Joe Siegrist, GM and VP of password management site LastPass, says that a recent survey by his company found that 61 percent of respondents use the same or similar passwords across accounts, while 55 percent do so even though they understand the risk.   
“Password reuse is one the easiest ways to get hacked, yet even the most tech savvy users are guilty of this,” Siegrist says.   
Don’t be lazy! Vary your passwords across your accounts and never repeat those you’ve already used.     

As the UK launches a big cyber security strategy, we look at how smart its 'smart cities' are


As the UK government pumps millions of pounds into making its cities and towns ‘smarter’, it’s also spending vast sums of money on defending itself against cyber hackers.

£1.9bn has been announced as part of the country’s national cyber security strategy. An emphasis has been placed on trust in the internet and the infrastructure on which it relis. UK Chancellor Philip Hammond says both are "fundamental to our future". His comments strike a chord, especially in the wake of the recent DDoS attack which immobilized large chunks of the internet. With cyber security being a top concern in a world where people and places are becoming 'smarter', Mashable takes a look at how a smart city in the UK could be outsmarted by hackers. First, let us set the scene for you ...Imagine you're walking down the street at night. Lights from LED lamp posts increase as you pass by, then fade down. Suddenly, you hear a loud noise at the end of the road. Lights flare up to reveal two people arguing. One has a knife. In less than a minute, the police arrive and under a blinding light the two are arrested. 

Instapaper's most useful features are now free for everyone





                   Instapaper's app, which allows you to save articles to read later, has always been free to use but its most useful features — like text-to-speech playlists and the ability to search within saved text — has been reserved for paid users. Subscriptions previously cost $2.99 a month or $29.99 for a year.When Instapaper was an independent operation, it relied on subscriptions as well as advertising, to keep its business afloat. But now that Pinterest owns the app, it can apparently afford to turn the app into an experience that is completely free for everyone. (This could be bad news for competing app Pocket, which charges $4.99month or $44.99/year for its premium tier.) Add, in case any Instapaper fans were worried about the service's future as an independent app in the wake of Pinterest's acquisition, it appears they have nothing to be concerned about — at least for now. A Pinterest spokesperson tells Mashable the company plans to continue to run the app as a separate product and that it will continue to receive updates and new features. 

Xiaomi launches bigger air purifier, portable air quality monitor in China


                 The Chinese electronics company has refreshed its air purifier lineup with an all new Mi Air Purifier Pro as well as a portable air quality monitor called the Mi PM2.5 Detector. The launch comes at a time when the air quality in most Chinese and Indian cities have become a matter of grave concern. A report by UNICEF this week stated that over two billion children worldwide (especially in regions such as India and China) are breathing toxic air. The Mi Air Purifier Pro addresses two major concerns users of the earlier Mi Air Purifier 2 had — it now comes with an OLED display that shows the PM2.5 reading, temperature and humidity. It can also handle twice the capacity than the smaller purifier. The display also has an LED ring around it, which changes from color from green to red with the change in air quality around it. Previously, users were required to get all these information through a smartphone app.The Mi Air Purifier Pro offers air cleaning at an air delivery rate (CADR) value of 500 cubic meters an hour. (In comparison, the Mi Air Purifier 2 offers cleaning at 310 cubic meters an hour).  


The company also launched the Mi PM2.5 Detector — a hand-held device that sports an OLED screen and displays real-time updates on air quality. The Mi PM2.5 Detector is fairly compact, measuring 62 x 62 x 37 mm and weighing just 100 grams. Users can carry it along with them and check the air quality both indoors and outdoors.The Mi Air Purifier Pro is priced at 1,499 Yuan ($220), whereas the Mi PM2.5 Detector costs 399 Yuan ($60). Both gadgets will go on sale in China starting Nov. 11. There is no word on their international availability just yet. 

Webdevelopment

Definition - What does Web Development mean?


                Web development broadly refers to the tasks associated with developing websites for hosting via intranet or Internet. The Web development process includes Web design, Web content development, client-side/server-side scripting and network security configuration, among other tasks. 

Web development is also known as website development.


                             Web development is a broad term for the work involved in developing a web site for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network). Web development can range from developing the simplest static single page of plain text to the most complex web-based internet applications, electronic businesses, and social network services. A more comprehensive list of tasks to which web development commonly refers, may include web engineering, web design, web content development, client liaison, client-side/server-side scripting, web server and network security configuration, and e-commerce development. Among web professionals, "web development" usually refers to the main non-design aspects of building web sites: writing markup and coding. Most recently Web development has come to mean the creation of content management systems or CMS. These CMS can be made from scratch, proprietary or open source. In broad terms the CMS acts as middleware between the database and the user through the browser. A principle benefit of a CMS is that it allows non-technical people to make changes to their web site without having technical knowledge.[1]

                              For larger organizations and businesses, web development teams can consist of hundreds of people (web developers) and follow standard methods like Agile methodologies while developing websites. Smaller organizations may only require a single permanent or contracting developer, or secondary assignment to related job positions such as a graphic designer and/or information systems technician. Web development may be a collaborative effort between departments rather than the domain of a designated department. There are 3 kind of web developer specialization; Front-End Developer, Back-End Developer, and Full Stack Developer.

WordPress


                   WordPress is an Open Source project, which means there are hundreds of people all over the world working on it. (More than most commercial platforms.) It also means you are free to use it for anything from your recipe site to a Fortune 500 web site without paying anyone a license fee and a number of other important freedoms.


About WordPress.org


                  On this site you can download and install a software script called WordPress. To do this you need a web host who meets the minimum requirements and a little time. WordPress is completely customizable and can be used for almost anything. There is also a service called WordPress.com which lets you get started with a new and free WordPress-based blog in seconds, but varies in several ways and is less flexible than the WordPress you download and install yourself.

What You Can Use WordPress For


                 WordPress started as just a blogging system, but has evolved to be used as full content management system and so much more through the thousands of plugins and widgets and themes, WordPress is limited only by your imagination. (And tech chops.)