IFYBRIAN

A recent incident reminded me of the importance of backing up one's phone regularly. Soon after carrying my recycling out to the curbside, I realized I had misplaced my 6-month-old iPhone. Cue brief panic, followed by deep concern that I'd somehow tossed my device into that transparent bag I'd left outside for the world to see. That led me to yelling "Hey, Siri" a few times around my apartment until the familiar chime sounded, revealing my trusty phone was hiding on a stepladder underneath a coat. Phew. I have no idea how or why I managed to leave my phone there, but had I not found it, the situation could have been much worse: It had been months since I'd backed up my data. I was lucky to escape what could have been a potential disaster caused by my absent-minded tendencies. Save Main Drive Space I bought my current laptop a little over a year ago and actually had some trouble managing backups at first. My partner and I use the same computer for backing up ou...

Microsoft on Thursday introduced its new Xbox Adaptive Controller, designed specifically for gamers with disabilities. The new hardware can be used for game play with an Xbox One console or Windows 10 PC, and it offers Bluetooth plug-and-play compatibility. It supports Xbox Wireless Controller features such as button remapping, and it connects to external buttons, switches, joysticks and mounts. Microsoft developed the Xbox Adaptive Controller to enable gamers with physical disabilities to customize their respective setups. Microsoft partnered with several high-profile global organizations dedicated to providing accessibility to those with physical disabilities: The AbleGamers Charity, The Cerebral Palsy Foundation, Craig Hospital, SpecialEffect, and Warfighter Engaged. Microsoft developers also worked directly with gamers who have limited mobility. The Xbox Adaptive Controller will be available later this year for about US$100. Serious Control Panel The inspiration for the Xbox Adapti...

If you’re over Snapchat because of the countless redesigns and re-redesigns but Instagram’s filters don’t tickle your fancy, there’s a Korean app called Snow that takes all of the beloved features and combines them into a super cute camera app. Snow has been around for a while, but the latest update gives it even more features, including its own take on Apple’s adorable Animoji, real-time beauty effects, and a new mirror mode. The new AR emoji feature lets you overlay your face with animated characters, including a puppy dog and an old man. Once selected, the camera detects your face, masks it with the sticker, and mimics your expressions. The major difference between this and Animoji is that you can still (kind of) see your body. While the feature is cool, it doesn’t work quite as well or as smoothly as the iPhone X’s Animoji. When I blinked, the app registered that as me winking instead, and there was a lag between when I opened my mouth and when the app followed the motion. The othe...

Apple is being sued for its App Store logo by a  Chinese clothing brand called Kon  that has a similar logo, reports  Phone Radar . Kon,  according to China’s Wikipedia equivalent Baidu Baike , is a clothing brand founded in 2009 based on the Sex Pistols’  Anarchy In The UK . The triangle is supposed to be skeleton bones that symbolize power over death.  Apple  changed its App Store logo back in August from a paintbrush, pencil, and a ruler, to three sticks with rounded ends that overlap each other to form a triangle. Kon’s logo looks similar, but the ends are sharp rectangles.  The Chinese clothing brand says it owns the trademark to its logo and Apple’s new App Store logo used on iPhones and macOS is a violation of Chinese copyright law. Kon is demanding Apple publicly apologize and pay damages. The Beijing People’s Court has accepted the case, according to  Phone Radar .  However, since Chinese courts don’t upload every c...

Growing business needs for digital transformation, cloud services, big-data crunching, and IT security will keep demand for tech professionals high in the coming year. In fact, the number of computer and information technology jobs is growing faster than the average for any other occupation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The across-the-board need for IT skills is making it difficult for many companies to find enough staff with up-to-date capabilities, another study found. Recent surveys by Robert Half Technology, an IT professional staffing firm, found a majority of businesses believe they're lacking in a number of key technology skills. Among the IT skills most in demand are data science and analysis, hacking and security, content creation and content marketing, programming and design, and social media marketing, according to the surveys. Developers, Security Pros in High Demand The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook predict...

Apple has made its second notable investment this week, the latest into the facial recognition technology company, Finisar. The $390 million investment announced Wednesday comes from Apple's $1 billion Advanced Manufacturing Fund, created to finance the work of domestic manufacturers and create jobs in the U.S. Apple announced the creation of the fund in May and plowed $200 million into Corning Inc., the maker of the Gorilla Glass that is used in Apple's touchscreens. The Finisar investment will help the company boost production of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, which Apple uses for Face ID, Animoji and Portrait mode selfies with the iPhone X TrueDepth camera and the proximity-sensing capabilities of AirPods. Finisar will open a manufacturing plant in Sherman, Texas, about an hour north of Dallas, creating more than 500 jobs. Finisar runs a plant in Allen, just outside of Dallas. On Monday, Apple revealed that it had acquired Shazam. That company makes the...

Three new mobile app from Google let users create  on-the-fly photo and video effects with the help of advanced hardware and computer vision algorithms. Google describes its Storyboard, Selfissimo!, and Scrubbies apps as the first in a series of "appsperiments" to help guide future imaging innovations. Available for Android devices only, Storyboard (pictured, left) automatically transforms mobile videos into stylized comic layouts. Meanwhile, Selfissimo! (pictured, middle) lets both Android and iOS users capture multiple black-and-white selfies whenever they strike poses during photo sessions. The iOS-based Scrubbies (pictured, far right) allows users to create and save video loops by "scratching" video playbacks much in the same way a DJ scratches a vinyl record. All three Google apps are just the latest indicators of how advanced technologies are making it easier for ordinary users to manipulate photo and video content in a variety of ways. While Google says...