app

The makers of a remote controlled device for personal pleasure have agreed to pay $3.75 million after allegedly collecting data on how the device was used. Standard Innovations has not formally admitted any wrongdoing. The company makes several ... models in the We-Vibe line, each designed for intimate female use. Some of them include a Bluetooth connection that in turn connects to a smartphone. That allows the user or a partner to remotely control the operation and settings of the device, with an option for partners in long-distance relationships to operate the device over the Internet. ... (view more)

Apple experts warn that spammers are abusing the iPhone's calendar system. They say users should be wary of responding in any way to unexpected "event" invites. The problem appears to affect multiple Apple products, including Mac computers, iPhones ... and iPads. It takes advantage of the way Apple's system lets users create events and then invite friends and family by inputting their email address. The spammers, who appear to be based in China, are using large lists of email addresses to send invitations to non-existent events, usually listed as special offers on consumer goods ... (view more)

Apple is to make it easy for iPhone users to sign up as organ donors. The move is designed to recruit people who are OK with the idea of organ donation, but don't get round to filling out the necessary paperwork. The drive will involve the Health ... app in the forthcoming version 10 of the iPhone operating system. The app lets users gather together fitness and health information and already includes the option to store medical information such that it's accessible from the lock screen. That's meant to allow first responders to immediately get potentially vital information about a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Leonard C. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded to Windows 10 recently. Every time I click on a link in my emails, Windows 10 keeps asking me 'How do you want to open this file?'. It gives me three choices: 'Internet Explorer', ... 'Microsoft Edge', and 'Look for an app in the store'. How can I get rid of this annoying window? I am currently using Microsoft Outlook 10 as my email program and I use Internet Explorer to browse the web. " My response: If you are running Windows 10 and if you ever come across the window which says: "How do you want to open this file?", it is ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Marion writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Windows 10 and my Windows Mail won't work; every time I load Windows Mail it just freezes. For example, normally when I load Windows Mail, the left hand side of the screen displays my ... Accounts, Inbox, Sent items, Drafts, and Archives - however, almost all of these headings are completely blank. If I move my mouse over top of each section it will show its heading, but I know that isn't right. I can only see a few items in my Sent box but no mail comes through the Inbox. Any ideas? " My response: I contacted Marion and she agreed to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sonja S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a very perplexing question that has been bothering me for the last little while. For the longest time, I have been using an app called ES File Explorer for my Android smartphone, which allows ... me to connect to a shared Windows folder on my Windows PC using my WiFi connection. However, it appears that ES File Explorer now contains a bunch of bloatware and is constantly scanning my SD Card, and alerting me of programs 'requesting sensitive information'. I was wondering if you can tell me if there is another Android app I can use to share ... (view more)

A Google-owned app aims to tell you the right time to leave on a car journey based on current traffic. It's something of a chicken and egg situation though, as the more people who use Waze, the more accurate it gets. Waze was developed by an Israeli ... company and bought out by Google in 2013. Unlike most GPS navigation tools, it doesn't work solely by databases of roads. Instead, it gathers anonymized information from users about their journeys, measuring exactly how long they take to cover a particular route and where they are being held up. The idea is to use this crowdsourced ... (view more)

A new phone app is said to help detect earthquakes and provide quicker warnings than is currently possible. The 'MyShake app' has many limitations, but could theoretically still save lives. The app uses the accelerometer that's built into most ... modern phones. It's a small gadget that measures movement in the phone along three axes (left-right, up-down, back-forth) and powers all sorts of features, including fitness tools and the way that displays automatically rotate and resize if you turn the phone from landscape to portrait or vice versa. The idea of MyShake is to constantly monitor ... (view more)

Can Christmas tree lights degrade a WiFi signal? A British government agency suggests exactly that, but tech experts say it's unlikely to have a noticeable effect. The claim came in a press release for a new app to check WiFi quality. Ofcom, which ... is roughly equivalent to the Federal Communications Commission, noted that WiFi problems "could be down to something as simple as interference from other electronic devices, such as a microwave oven, baby monitor, a lamp - or even Christmas fairy lights." (Source: ofcom.org.uk ) The app runs some basic checks to see whether data is ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Frank C. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks for your excellent articles on Windows 10. A few weeks ago I upgraded to Windows 10 32-bit, but now I want to upgrade to Windows 10 64-bit. I read your article, ' How to Upgrade from Windows ... 10 32-bit to 64-bit ', but I don't understand why I am receiving the error 'this app can't run on your PC' when attempting to run the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool. I have verified that my processor supports 64-bit, so I don't understand why I am being plagued by this error message. Do you have any idea how I can ... (view more)