iPhone: Repair black/white and corrupt photo thumbnails in camera roll

The iPhone camera roll photo thumbnail database can become broken and corrupt. This results in either black/white thumbnails and fully functional photos or functional thumbnails but black/white photos. Typically this happens when the users backup their iPhone camera roll photos to a computer without using iTunes, which is not even available for the popular Ubuntu/Debian/Fedora Linux distributions. The fix, which is described here, is to regenerate or repair the photo thumbnail database.

Everyone should ensure that they back up the photos on their phones from time to time. Whether this is done to the cloud or to their home computer, a working routine is extremely important to prevent irreparable damage if one loses the phone. For iPhone users, backup to iCloud of the camera roll photos can be easily set up, although in the long run this is not a sustainable solution due to the space limitations on the iPhone itself as well as on iCloud. Simply put, keeping all photos ever taken on your iPhone is not a sustainable solution. Therefore, users should occasionally backup their photos to a computer to free up the storage space of their iPhone as well as iCloud account.

The process of backing up the iPhone photos from the camera roll can be performed through iTunes, although many users find it slow, bloated and sluggish. For Linux users, such as the popular Ubuntu and Debian users, iTunes is not even available. Thus, the use of a file manager to transfer the data in the DCIM folders is preferred by many for its transparency, and effectiveness. Unfortunately, it has been shown that backing up photos in this way may corrupt the photo thumbnail database, causing it to lose its sync with the camera roll. This results in either non-existent (black/white) photos, or black/white thumbnails when the users attempts to access their iPhone photos. This tutorial shows how to fix and repair the camera roll photo thumbnail database.

How to ping BackupPC hosts behind a NAT router or firewall

BackupPC is a very capable open-source enterprise-grade backup system that is readily available for most Linux distributions, e.g., Ubuntu, Debian and Fedora. However, since most computers today are behind a NAT router or firewall, this completely breaks the ping command that a remote BackupPC server uses to check if a host client is alive or reachable. The most common solutions which allow BackupPC to ping host clients that are behind a NAT router or firewall are discussed here.

BackupPC, being open source and free, is great in many aspects and thus has also become the backup system of choice in many enterprise environments as well as home networks. Although it usually works out-of-the box in most popular Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, Debian and Fedora, some quirks do exist. For example, the broken GUI interface caused by Apache. Another example, which is discussed here, is the ping system that BackupPC uses to check if a host computer client is alive. In addition, it will be argued why some common solutions provided on the internet are better than others based on experience and logic.

The scenario that is particularly considered is the case of a remote BackupPC server attempting to backup multiple computers that sit behind a NAT router with firewall, as illustrated in the picture above.

8 amazing Google Easter egg hacks and games in Search, YouTube and Chrome

Google has plenty of secret Easter eggs and hacks hidden in their products that can make everyone's day a little bit more fun! Here are the best Easter egg hacks found in Google Search, YouTube and Chrome.

For software developers, hiding Easter eggs in the software is an old tradition. An Easter egg is typically an undocumented feature or function in the software usually made for humorous reasons. When a user executes a certain set of commands or in interacts with the software in some secret pre-defined way, an unexpected chain of events may occur. Easter eggs can be as simple as actually showing a picture of an Easter egg, reveal a hidden game within a software or simply displaying a picture/animation of something interesting or funny.

Of course Google has also embraced the Easter egg tradition and plenty of Easter eggs have come and gone throughout the years in the Google products. Some of the best Easter egg hacks, however, appear to be here to stay. Read on for the top best Google Easter egg hacks in Google Search, YouTube and chrome guaranteed to make your boring day not so boring anymore!

Top 6 new diseases and syndromes caused by modern technology

The benefits of modern technology on our daily lives are immense and many of us cannot imagine living without our gadgets, such as, smartphones, tablets, and desktop/laptop computers. Unfortunately, as more and more time is spent on interacting with modern technology, some previously rare or even unknown disorders and syndromes have appeared. This article describes the top worst syndromes that many of us have but few of us know about as well as some tips and remedies.

Most of us associate diseases caused by our modern society and lifestyle to cancer, diabetes, obesity or various kinds of epidemics. While these diseases will not affect most of us (luckily), few of us consider the much higher risks of developing syndromes and disorders simply caused by our over-use of high-tech gadgets. Think about it, when was the last time you or someone you know complained about pain or strain in your arms, hands, neck, eyes, or back? Chances are that most of us are developing chronic pain or infections without even knowing about it, simply because we spend too much time in front of our laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Since awareness is one of the most effective ways to prevent any kind of disease from spreading, the top 5 most common disorders and syndromes are presented as well as cures, remedies and prevention tips.

Fix for iPhone not charging through USB on Ubuntu Linux

Connecting an iPhone/iPad/iPod to Ubuntu or a modern Linux system is usually a plug-and-play experience. However, with new iOS versions, sometimes the device simply fails to charge through USB even if it is recognized by the system. While rebooting Ubuntu solves the problem, it is actually possible to resolve the problem without a reboot.

The Ubuntu Linux distribution is certainly great in many aspects, although when it comes to supporting the newest iOS versions on Apple devices, the support is usually lagging behind and also buggy and lacking. Many users of the newer iOS versions have run into cases where they have plugged in their iPhone to their Ubuntu system with everything working smoothly, and all of a sudden (while the iPhone is plugged in), the iPhone simply cease to charge or become unreachable on Ubuntu. Rebooting the computer does bring the iPhone back to life, however, the problem is more easily solved if we understand it better. 

How to put Matlab icon/shortcut on Ubuntu Unity launcher bar

The Ubuntu Linux is one of the most popular distributions to run Matlab on *nix systems. However, the Unity launcher used by Ubuntu does not support Matlab by default and putting a shortcut to Matlab is a confusing and non-trivial task. This tutorial demonstrates an easy and straight-forward way to integrate Matlab with Unity in Ubuntu.

The powerful scientific computing tool, Matlab (Matrix Laboratory) from Mathworks is certainly a widely used tool in the scientific world. While Mathworks does provide good Windows, Linux, *nix, Mac OS X support for Matlab out-of-the-box, one overlooked aspect is the integration of Matlab to the Unity launcher used in Ubuntu. 

Cell phone radiation levels safe for humans

Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme study shows that radiation from cell (mobile) phones are safe and not harmful to the human health.

Our world is surrounded by sources which emit radiation. During the last decades, the number of radiation sources in our vicinity has exploded with the availability of wifi networks and cell phones. The question of whether or not radio waves used by these sources are harmful for humans has been up for debate for a very long time. The critics, for example, claim that cell phone radiation causes brain tumors and affect the general well being of humans in various negative ways. The critics have primarily based their conclusions on some studies performed on small animals (rats/mice) which indeed have shown adverse effects when the animals were exposed to large amounts of radiation from radio waves. However, physics clearly shows that the energy in radio waves carry insufficient energy to ionize atoms or to affect the biological functions. Thus, to most people in the scientific community, the radiation from cell phones and wifi networks is considered to be safe. Often it is also pointed out that the small animals were exposed to enormous amount of radiation, which are off-the-chart to induce any effect on the health. 

Ubuntu: Broken BackupPC web interface fix

Ubuntu recently updated the Apache version to 2.4. However, this new version is unusable with BackupPC out of the box and breaks the web interface. Fortunately, the fix is easy as described in this tutorial.

During an upgrade process of a distribution, naturally, a large number of packages (software) will simultaneously be upgraded as well. One main task for distribution managers is to ensure that compatibility is ensured to the greatest extent. However, as the number of combinations of package dependencies is extreme, it is unavoidable that practical problems which may render some software useless from time to time. Fortunately, in most such cases, a fix is relatively easy to find.

The top 5 best text editors for Linux

Good and excellent text editors have a long tradition in the Linux/*nix world. These text editors, which initially may appear simple and trivial, are paramount for programmers around the world and are still very actively developed. This article lists 5 of the best text editors available today.

There certainly is no lack of text editors under various forms of licenses. Most people may think of Microsoft Word in the Office suite or Apple's Pages as text editors, they are actually better referred to as word processors than text editors. Instead, text editors are usually composed of a simplistic layout, with little to no typesetting features. However, they greatly excel over the word processors when it comes to software development for programmers and in addition usually support a large number of programming languages and script languages. This article summarizes 5 of the most useful text editors for a Linux/*nix environment.

iPad Air review: worth the upgrade vs old iPad models?

The iPad Air is significantly thinner than the previous iPad models and carries several upgrades and improvements compared to its predecessor, the iPad 4. This article reviews the most important features in the iPad Air which will be helpful for those considering an upgrade from a previous iPad model.

Img: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnkarakatsanis/

The iPad Air (iPad 5) is the successor of the iPad 4 and was released on November 1, 2013. As with every new iPad generation, several upgrades and improvements are made, most which will be found under the hood. For the iPad Air, just as the name suggests, it is significantly thinner and lighter than the previous iPad models. However, the improvements on the hardware should not be neglected either.

For those that already own an iPad model, a clear question is if upgrading to the new iPad Air is worth it. Depending on the individual user preferences, the answer will certainly vary. This article aims to review some of the most significant upgrades and improvements made to the iPad Air that can be useful to decide if the iPad Air is worth the upgrade.

iOS 7.0.3 released: Summary of the highlights and changes of iOS 7.0.3

On October 22, 2013, Apple released iOS 7.0.3 update for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices together with the introduction of the iPad Air and iPad Mini 2. This new point release fixes multiple bugs and adds new features to the iOS system as described below.

The initial iOS 7.0.0 was released on September 18, 2013, and only one month later, Apple is pushing out the third point release update, being the iOS 7.0.3. The iOS 7.0.3 update carries multiple outstanding and annoying bug fixes as well as a more severe lock screen bypass exploit fix. In addition, the iOS 7.0.3 update also introduces the long-awaited iCloud Keychain feature as well as a few more subtle new features. 

The changes of this important iOS 7.0.3 point release is summarized below, and anyone on iOS 7 should update their devices as soon as possible. Updating can be accomplished by either going to Settings -> General -> Software Update or through iTunes from a computer. As always, before updating the users should make sure that they have a full backup of their phone first!

New iMac (21.5" and 27") review - worth the upgrade?

The new iMac models have arrived and can be found in either 21.5 inches or 27 inches. The chassis of the new iMac models are identical to the 2012 models meaning that all new changes are made under the hood. This review describes the changes made to the new iMac models which hopefully will make it easier to decide if an upgrade is worth it or not.

Image: andrew-gw.deviantart.com

Apple follows its tradition of releasing a new generation of iMac models every year. The new iMacs (available in 21.5 inches and 27 inches) from 2013 are built upon identical chassis as the iMacs from 2012. This means that all the changes and updates to the iMac computers are under the hood with no visual difference from the outside. The question is hence, from a perspective of an average user, if an upgrade is motivated. 

Most Android brands cheat in benchmarks

Recent benchmark results by Anandtech show that almost all Android smartphone brands, excluding Google/Motorola, incorporate questionable optimization schemes to score higher in benchmarks!

As have been reported, Samsung was caught cheating through the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 device. The cheat was elaborate in the sense that it incorporated optimizations targeting the GPU of the device. Now, Anandtech has revealed even more horrifying data, which indicates that almost all Android smartphones vendors incorporate illegal overclocking or optimization means on the CPU level to score higher in benchmarks!

How to fix broken iMessage in iOS 7

Apple iOS 7 users have reported that iMessage has stopped to work properly. While awaiting an official fix by Apple, fortunately, it is relatively easy to restore the iMessage functionality.

The recently released iOS 7 carries the largest changes made, ever, for the iOS system. Considering the major changes made by iOS 7, it is not overly surprising to find bugs. Already, Apple has released the second point release, iOS 7.0.2, which fixes some security bugs. However, one outstanding bug that plagues users who upgrades to iOS 7 involves iMessage. 

Users claim that following an upgrade, iMessage magically stops to work. The situation is made worse by the fact that the failed iMessage messages are not sent as standard SMS text messages either, resulting in frustration and many dropped text conversations. Fortunately, fixing the iMessage issue is relatively easy while awaiting an official fix by Apple. The only downside with this approach is that the process will involve an authentication step by the phone that may incur international text message charges since the iPhone needs to send an authentication SMS text message to an Apple server. 

Top 10 best global brands

The current list of the best global brands by Interbrand has been published with the top 10 list clearly dominated by computer and technology corporations.

Interbrand is a consultant firm which publishes lists of the top 10 best strongest brands on the global level. In this list, Interbrand takes aspects such as the market value of the company and the predicted market value of the company into account weighed with other relevant economical and market attributes. This gives a so called projected value of a company in units of billions of USD.

The top 10 list has been dominated for 13 years by Coca-Cola, however, now, Coca-Cola has been bumped down to a bronze position and the top two positions are now given to Apple and Google (who have made huge leaps since last years, increasing their score by approximately 30%). This is described as an paradigm shift by the analysts.

Bubblews review: Scam or legit website to make money online?

Bubblews is a website where users can submit short articles and earn money when they are viewed, commented on, liked or shared. The promised earnings for the users are very impressive and the question is if Bubblews is too good to be true. Is Bubblews a scam or a legit and revolutionary novel way for users to monetize their articles?

Several people from completely different sources have contacted me regarding a new revenue-sharing website known as Bubblews. The website has the motto of "Speak Freely. Write Your World" and is advertised as providing users a platform where they can publish their short articles (400 characters minimum) and earn money when the articles are viewed, commented on, liked or shared. 

Obviously, revenue-sharing article websites are nothing new and the internet is filled with such websites including Hubpages, Infobarrel and Squidoo. However, what apparently sets Bubblews apart from the rest is that it promises extremely high earnings. For example, Bubblews promises its users $0.01 per view, and for each like, comment or share (social media) that a post receives the users can earn even more money depending on how much advertisement revenues that Bubblews pulls in. Still $0.01 per impression as we all know is a CPM rate that is incredibly high. After doing some research I decided to give Bubblews a go to evaluate if it is truly a legit website or yet another scam website.

Touch ID fingerprint reader easily hacked on iPhone 5S

The Apple Touch ID security technology introduced by the iPhone 5S has been described by Apple and the media as a revolutionary secure alternative to the conventional PIN code. However, the Touch ID technology has already been hacked by the German Chaos Computer Club through only using a camera, printer and glue.

The Touch ID fingerprint security technology has been given a lot of attention by Apple and the press. In essence, it is nothing but a re-packaged and somewhat improved fingerprint reader that has been around for a long time. Already when it was launched, there has been serious fingerprint security and privacy concerns of Touch ID on iPhone 5S. The situation does not become very much better as a group of German hackers known as Chaos Computer Club has recently shown that creating a "fake" finger to bypass the Touch ID security is extremely easy using nothing but a camera, printer and glue.

According to Chaos Computer Club, the Touch ID technology differ very little from conventional fingerprint technologies, in essence much less than Apple makes its consumers to believe. The main difference is that the Touch ID sensor operates at a higher resolution as compared to conventional commercial fingerprint readers. Therefore, this meant that the fake fingerprint needed to be photographed at a resolutions of 2400 DPI. 

The most dangerous hacker group: Hidden Lynx

The Chinese hacker group, Hidden Lynx, is the most skilled, experienced and dangerous active hacker group today as shown in a recent analysis by Symantec Security Response.

Symantec Security Response has collected and analyzed the data of all the most active hacker groups in the world. The analysis showed that the Chinese hacker group, known as Hidden Lynx, is by far the most potent, skilled and dangerous at the moment. The report shows that the group is composed of 50 to 100 individuals with main targets being multi-national corporations and government agencies over the whole globe. 

Best browser, Java and Flash security scanner

Security threats which infect through the web browser and plugins are extremely common. With only one out of five internet users running an up-to-date version of Java, the situation is definitely alarming. Fortunately, it is easy to use a free online tool to check the security status of your web browser as well as your plugins, such as Flash, Java, Acrobat and Silverlight.

Internet users are constantly being exposed to new threats. Currently, some of the most dangerous attacks are made through the web browsers and its plugins or add-ons, with Java, Flash and Acrobat being the most targeted plugins. 

For example, security analysis has recently showed that 81% of the computers online is running an outdated Java version which carries one or several severe security vulnerabilities. Out of these 81%, 40% of the computers were running Java version 6, which is an outdated Java version since Java 7 was released 2 years ago. In addition, Java is installed on 84% of corporate computers. Java, however, is not alone either, and the same analysis also shows that more than 40% of all corporate computers are running an outdated version of Adobe Flash and Acrobat.

Battery life specificiations improved on iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C

Apple iPhone battery life has since the first iPhone always been a hot topic of discussion and the battery time for a single charge just never seems to be sufficient long for a large number of users. With the iPhone 5S and 5C, Apple has increased the battery capacity and also improved the battery life.

With every new iPhone model, and even with every new iOS version, complaints about insufficient battery life always seem to emerge. When the iPhone 5 was release approximately one year ago, the situation was the same and many users complained about very poor battery life on their phones. With the recent release of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, it can therefore be expected that it will not take very long before discussions regarding the battery life will emerge once again, even though the battery specifications (shown in the table below) have been improved.

Fixes to battery issues normally involves turning off unused radios, that is, 3G, LTE, WiFi and GPS as well as turning down the screen brightness. On the software side, Apple is also doing what it can to improve the efficiency of the iOS system in general. However, the ultimate limit to the battery time of a portable device is of course tied to the battery capacity.