Big tech companies pledge to help millions of refugees

U.S. President Barack Obama announced at the Leaders Summit on Refugees at the United Nations that tech companies are among the 51 companies who are “investing, donating, or raising” over US$650 million to help educate, employ, and train around 6.3 million refugees from 20 countries. Some of the companies include Microsoft, Facebook, Google, HP, TripAdvisor, Uber, SAP, and Airbnb. Earlier in June, the White House started an initiative that aimed at getting “measurable and significant commitments” from the private sector to help out the forcibly displaced. Google, HP, IBM, and Microsoft were among the 15 companies who helped found the initiative.

An example given by CNET is that Google plans to give a $1 million grant to the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which was established by George Clooney and his wife Amal, to help educate Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. Another example is Microsoft plans to work with local providers in Malawi to provide wireless broadband access to refugees and international aid organizations.

Dark Sky brings to-the-minute weather updates to new site

If you’re into weather forecasting, you might have heard of the handy Dark Sky app. Now, the Dark Sky Company is hoping to recreate that with a new website. The site will have the key features of the app and will show things like current temperature, weekly forecast, and to-the-minute rain forecast. According to Wired, the weather map shown is “situationally aware” and will change depending on what type of info is most relevant at the time. For example, it’ll show you the precipitation radar if it’s raining.

With the launch of darksky.net, the site Forecast.io will be shut down. The Forecast.io extension that developers can use will also be renamed to Dark Sky. The site is completely free and it looks like it’ll stay that way. It’s just meant to introduce users to what the app can do, which is available on Android and iOS.

Quick look at the CrystalTech Nano liquid screen protector demo

In the past, if you wanted to add some protection to your precious smartphone or tablet, you had to consider a glass or plastic screen protector. These were very difficult to install, often introduced grit and bubbles and were inconvenient. CrystalTech's Nano liquid screen protector is liquid applied to smartphones.

CrystalTech Nano offers invisible protection, reinforcing your smartphones or tablet’s screen to 9H (sapphire equivalent) hardness for ultimate scratch resistance and is easy to apply while leaving no annoying bubbles. But it gets better.

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macOS Sierra now rolling out to supported notebooks and desktops

Apple has started to roll out macOS Sierra, a free update to the El Capitan operating system that powers Apple notebooks and desktops. macOS Sierra brings various performance enhancements, the most notable being the Siri voice assistant which has been made available on the desktop for the first time.

Other key features include a universal clipboard function, the ability to unlock a desktop with a nearby Apple Watch, a vastly improved search and UI for Photos App, plus the ability to access files on your desktop using a connected iPhone or iPad. 

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