One of my favorite features in Adobe Photoshop is the ability to remove backgrounds from Images or Photographs. Photoshop is great because it provides you several different tools to remove backgrounds and depending on the image, it’s important you’re familiar with all of them. With this in mind, over the next week, I’ll be releasing the second article in this series looks at even more advanced ways to removing the background of your photos....

Remove Windows 8.1 Default Apps Download Win 8 App Remover from SourceForge. It’s a free utility that allows you to remove several of the default apps in one fell swoop. It’s a small exe file and doesn’t require installation, so you can run it from a flash or network drive. It works with Windows 8 and 8.1 and was recently amended to include support for Windows 8.1 update. Keep in mind that this is a desktop program so you can’t use it on a Surface or other device running Windows RT....

Share Your Network Connection with a Hyper-V Virtual Machine If you don’t have already have a virtual machine setup, check out our previous article for instructions. If you already do, proceed to launch the Hyper-V manager. Select your virtual machine, then click Virtual Switch Manager under the Actions pane. Select New virtual network switch, select Internal, then click Create virtual switch. Enter a name for your switch, then select Internal Network....

Team, I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today. Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple....

He’s using Mak’s image as his profile image on Twitter. T-shirts, hats and other merchandise are due out with Mak’s graphical depiction of Jobs presence, ousting and, now, permanent absence from Apple. Poignant. Photo Courtesy: Mike Elgan The Apple Pie, above, was a hit image on Google+ the moment Mike Elgan, in my circles, published it publicly. Given that Wozniak told me he and Jobs first assembled the Apple I boards in the kitchen — not the garage — of Jobs’ parents’ Mountainview, CA home, I thought it was fitting....

In summary, “The Woz” states that Apple’s growth started with iTunes and the iPod. Apple had no problem allowing Windows access to its iTunes marketplace so why should it restrict it on the Android platform? The statement has created quite a stir in a chat on Slashdot. Personally, I agree 100% — however I highly doubt Apple would allow its crown jewel onto its primary competitors mobile platform. What do you think?...

Data Sent from Email Images A lot of data is sent back to the sender as well. Once your device contacts the webserver to download the images, several things are revealed including your email address is valid, your email client name and version, your IP address, your ISP, your location, and more. All this data can be accumulated by the sender and help set up phishing schemes. Phishing scams use images to link you to corrupt sites that appear to be legit — from your bank or PayPal, for example....

SugarSync, if you’re not familiar, is one of the top contenders to Dropbox and Box, and it has been steadily expanding the feature set for business class users. For the full scoop, you can read my article on what’s new with SugarSync that accompanied our SugarSync giveaway, or my comparison of Dropbox vs. SugarSync. You can sign up now at SugarSync.com/business. Other SugarSync features that might woo business users include: Those features are all part of SugarSync’s existing suite of business cloud storage features....

This week join host Josh Windisch and Brian Burgess as we discuss the new BlackBerry mobile OS and whether anyone cares. Josh demonstrates awesome new Phillips Hue Connected Bulbs. These allow you to control all sorts of different colored lighting moods in each room of your house, right from your iPhone or Android smartphone. Netflix is releasing its original series called House of Cards, staring Kevin Spacy. Microsoft releases Office 2013 as well as its new subscription based Office 365....

Dark mode Dark modes are what it’s all about these days. The feature even helps the user save battery power, some claim. It also makes the app look much nicer (depending on your personal preferences, that is). What’s certain is that it makes apps much easier on the eyes in the dark, when you’re playing with your phone instead of getting some sleep. Some of the popular Android apps out there that already feature one of these modes are the Google Play Store, WhatsApp, and also Google Keep, as well as Calendar....

Luckily, Apple this week released updates to all of its devices which is iOS 9.2. The latest update for the TV is tvOS 9.1 and includes Siri support for Apple Music, and most importantly, support for Apple’s iOS Remote app. Use the Remote app with the New Apple TV The first thing you’ll need to do is make sure all of your Apple devices are up-to-date. For your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, head to Settings > General > Software Update....

Sticky Notes© If you need reminders and take notes on the go, Sticky Notes is an app that can help boost your productivity. It allows you to take notes, sort them in any specific order you want, email notes to yourself and others, set up reminders, change the appearance of note background and fonts. Price: $0.99 Download Sticky Notes Kafoodle If you’re a food junkie and want to try out new places and share your eating experiences with your friends and other people, this is a must have app for you....

Last week we reported about Microsoft pulling the November update from the MCT website. Official statements from Microsoft confirmed the company’s decision to pull Windows 10 build 10586 ISO from the Media Creation Tool (MCT) website. People on the Microsoft Community forums immediately started reporting late last week that they were unable to download the latest build from the MCT website. Microsoft MVPs and Microsoft Support staff who answer questions on the Microsoft Community forums had started to instruct users who were experiencing difficulties updating through Windows Update to download the ISO and perform a repair upgrade over build 10240 or perform an in-place upgrade from supported versions of Windows....

Add Another Account and Create a System Restore Point Creating a backup account is important as this can be used to troubleshoot and diagnose issues with the operating system but also applications and drivers. Consider this to be your system administration account. Only use it when you need to do troubleshooting. You can learn more in our article: How to Create a Local Account in Windows 10 You reached the desktop, Windows 10 is functioning fine; but before you move on to another activity such as installing drivers or applications, you should create a System Restore point to avoid losing all that time invested upgrading to Windows 10....

Using Windows 10 Battery Saver Start by opening Action Center by clicking the icon on the taskbar or use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + A. Then simply click or tap the Battery saver quick tile. You will notice an emblem appears on the battery notification after enabling Battery Saver. So that’s it? No, there is more to how battery saver works and you can further customize the defaults to get the most out of it....

Update: In modern versions of Windows 10, Cortana has been separated from Search. It is no longer deeply integrated into the OS and this feature is no longer part of Cortana. Using Cortana Pick Up Where I Left Off If you’ve been using Cortana and had it set up before the upgrade, the feature should already be on. If not, open Cortana and open the Notebook and select “Pick up where I left off” from the list....

What Does GR8 Mean? The term GR8 (sometimes lowercase) has many meanings, starting with“Great” and extending to “Very Good” or “Above Average.” Additionally, it’s often used on social networks like Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and text messaging. Alternatives to GR8 include A1 (“Top quality or excellent), Ace (“very good”), Dope (“Extremely cool), and Epic (“Very impressive”), among many others. According to Techopedia: The idea here is that the five-letter word “great” becomes a three-letter abbreviation....

What Does “TBF” Mean? The term means “to be fair.” It’s often used in a discussion by someone who’s playing devil’s advocate about something. You might also want to use the term to defend yourself against an unfair claim. It’s also a quick way of asking for someone to see both sides of a picture. Regardless, my using TBF, you’re admitting the point that’s been made, but you also want to make sure every angle is taken into account or considered....

What is Google One? Google normally offers you 15 GB of free storage, split across services. Whether you’re using Google Photos, Gmail, or Google Drive, this is where it all goes. For some people, this is perfectly adequate. However, if you use Google Photos to back up your pictures, this might no longer be the case. The company has announced that Google Photos images will start counting towards your storage starting after June 1, 2021....

NisSrv.exe is also known as Microsoft NetworkRealtime Inspection Service. That’s a fancy way of saying that is part of Microsoft Malware Protection or Microsoft Security Essentials on older PCs. The software is created by Microsoft and is known to be safe. However, it can cause issues with your computer and cause slowness if it gets corrupted. It’s not “officially” part of Windows, but it is important. On older systems you should be able to find it in the subdirectory C:\Program Files....