Windows Essentials are no longer available, exisiting installs not supported

Windows Essentials 2012 may seem like and outdated suite of software (made available as an add on) but it did have one application that was used and loved by millions becuase it was simple and effective. I'm talking about Windows Video Maker which as an easy to use and effective video editor, pretty much Microsoft's answer to iMovie but without many bells and whistles.

Many a successful YouTuber's career was likely launched by Windows Video Maker and while I get that Microsoft had to retire Windows Essentials (Including Photo Gallery, Live Writer, OneDrive, Skype) but they never offered a replacement for Video Editor which is a damn shame as it was still the best 'quikc and dirty' way to get video done in a Windows machine. Microsoft seems fixated on Creators and using Windows to make cool things, hopefully they'll surprise us with a new video editor come this March.

Amy Schumer’s upcoming comedy special is heading to Netflix

More and more comedians are finding a home on video streaming service. The latest addition is Trainwreck star Amy Schumer. Netflix is set to air a new standup special from the comedienne on March 7. The special was taped back in November 5 at Denver, Colorado’s Bellco Theater. “Very happy to be part of the Netflix family for this special,” Schumer says. “Maybe now they will look at my ‘Stranger Things’ audition tape to play the Demogorgon for Season 2.” So if you’re a fan, this is something to watch for.

Source: Deadline

Exploit shows autofill makes it easy to expose your credit card info on Chrome and Safari

Autofill on browsers are convenient. You input things once and then you’re all set every time. But the price you pay for that convenience could be that you’re giving away important personal data—like your credit card information. Viljami Kuosmanen, a hacker at Futurice, shared on Github and Twitter a simple exploit that makes it easy for malicious websites to rip you off based on the information you allowed to be saved as autofill on both Chrome and Safari.

Browsers will determine what type of information the site is looking for and then it’ll keep the rest. But hackers have a way to obscure certain text boxes and users wouldn’t even notice they’re being autofilled, especially when what’s being filled out is sensitive personal data (e.g. credit card info). A quick way to avoid this is to disable autofill on both browsers, you can head to chrome://settings and find it under Show Advanced Settings tab on Chrome or heading to Preferences on Safari and unchecking the boxes in the Autofill tab.

This is why I don't like autofill in web forms. #phishing #security #infosec pic.twitter.com/mVIZD2RpJ3

— Viljami Kuosmanen ⭐ (@anttiviljami) January 4, 2017

Source: Gizmodo

Demo for a HTC Vive Tracker accessory lets you take photos in VR

The Vive Tracker pushes the capabilities of HTC’s virtual reality headset further by letting actual objects be turned into controllers. One developer taking advantage of this is dotdotdash. Their team has created a virtual reality camera that will let you take pictures inside the VR space and even print these out in real life. Called the D3-U, it’s currently only a concept but a brief VR demo shows what it can do. The D3-U was used to capture images of mysterious life forms on Kepler 22-b. But it isn’t just simple point-and-shoot, just like how we use modern smartphone cameras, the D3-U lets users zoom in and out, use real-time filters like X-ray and thermal images. Imagine what this proof-of-concept can bring into the VR space if it ever does become widely available?

Source: The Verge