Dropbox acknowledged on Monday that an issue with its Selective Sync feature has deleted the files of some users. The company is currently sending out an email explaining what happened. As compensation, Dropbox is providing these customers with one year of Dropbox Pro for free.

“We’ve fixed the Selective Sync issue that affected a small number of users and reached out to them to help restore their files,” a spokesperson told Tom’s Hardware. “Issues like this aren’t acceptable at Dropbox, and we’ve implemented additional testing to prevent this from happening again.”

Selective Sync is a Dropbox feature that allows users to select a specific file or folder to be mirrored on the user’s local hard drive. For instance, perhaps users take photos on their smartphones, and those images are automatically uploaded to Dropbox. The user may choose not to mirror those images on a local hard drive with limited storage capacity.

According to Dropbox, the file deletion occurred when the desktop application was shut down or restarted while the user was applying Active Sync settings. The company’s email said that the team worked hard to restore those files, indicating that many may not have been rescued from the dark clutches of the trash can.

The question here is this: should consumers depend on cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive? As this example indicates, one small glitch can cause users to lose valuable files such as photos, documents and so on. Sure, cloud storage is convenient when users want to access files from different devices in different locations, but there may be other ways of doing so without having to depend on third-party cloud solutions.

For instance, Pogoplug has a networking device that will allow users to access their files from anywhere. Just hook up several hard drives, and you can access them from a mobile device’s app or a web interface on a laptop. There are also a number of routers that allow users to plug in a hard drive via a USB port and access its files from anywhere.

Of course, this view isn’t meant to discourage customers from using cloud services. However, it may be wise to backup the cloud backup using a portable HDD or SSD, toss it into a fire-proof safe, and then refresh the backup when needed.

Source: TomsHardware.com

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/dropbox-selective-sync-glitch-cloud-storage-deletion,27872.html

Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia have achieved a huge breakthrough in quantum computing – they’ve created two kinds of silicon quantum bit, or qubits, the building blocks that make up any quantum computer, that are more than 99 percent accurate.

These quantum bits are made from silicon, the same material that makes up the transistors in today’s computers and phones, but the information in these bits is processed and stored in atoms, which means they’re capable of storing exponentially more information. In fact, if scientists can reliably create a functioning quantum computer out of these quantum bits, it has the potential to be millions of times more powerful than today’s most powerful supercomputers.

“For quantum computing to become a reality we need to operate the bits with very low error rates,” said Andrew Dzurak, the director of the Australian National Fabrication Facility at UNSW, where the devices were made, in a press release.

Now the teams from UNSW have managed to create not just one, but two quantum bits with more 99 percent accuracy, and their results have been published simultaneously in Nature Nanotechnology.

“We have demonstrated that with silicon qubit we can have the accuracy needed to build a real quantum computer,” Dzurak told ABC Science. “That’s the first time this has been done in silicon.”

The interesting thing is that the two groups, who both work in the same laboratories, used different approaches to come to the same result – one team embedded a phosphorous atom into the silicon, and the other, led by Dzurak, embedded an artificial atom.

“We’ve now come up with two parallel pathways for building a quantum computer in silicon, each of which shows this super accuracy,” said Andrea Morello from the UNSW School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, who led the phosphorous atom team, in the press release.

Morello’s team based their advances on previous research on phosphorous atom quantum bits. Prior to this, the team had only managed to achieve around 50 percent accuracy with these chips, but by purifying the silicon that the atoms were embedded in, they have now achieved an incredible 99.99 percent accuracy.

The postdoctoral researcher who was lead author on Morello’s paper explained in the press release: “The phosphorus atom contains in fact two qubits: the electron, and the nucleus. With the nucleus in particular, we have achieved accuracy close to 99.99 percent. That means only one error for every 10,000 quantum operations.”

Dzurak’s team was able to create an “artificial atom” quantum bit that’s remarkably similar to the transistors used in commercial electronics. Today’s transistors work by turning on or off a flow of electrons, resulting in binary zeros and ones. In Dzurak’s quantum bit, this transistor has just one electron trapped inside, which can be on, off or in a superposition.

“This lets us use exactly the same sort of transistor that we use in computer chips and operate it as a qubit, opening the potential to mass-produce this technology using the same sort of equipment used for chip manufacturing,” Dzurak told ABC Science.

Both the breakthroughs were achieved by embedding the atoms in a thin layer of specially purified silicon, which contains only the silicon-28 isotope. Naturally occurring silicon is magnetic and therefore disturbs the quantum bit, messing with the accuracy of its data processing, but silicon-28 is perfectly non-magnetic.

The teams were also able to set a new record for how long a silicon quantum system retains information, known as coherence time.

“Coherence time is a measure of how long you can preserve quantum information before it’s lost,” said Morello in the press release. And the longer coherence time, the easier it is for computers to perform complex calculations.

The researchers were able to store quantum information in the phosphorous nucleus for 35 seconds – something unheard of in quantum computing.

“Half a minute is an eternity in the quantum world. Preserving a ‘quantum superposition’ for such a long time, and inside what is basically a modified version of a normal transistor, is something that almost nobody believed possible until today,” said Morello.

The research teams are now working together to take the best elements from each system to make a superior quantum bit. They’re hoping it will be the model that will be used to finally create the real quantum computers the world’s been waiting for.

Source: Science Alert

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20141310-26322.html

Many people are speculating why Microsoft skipped from Windows 8 to 10. Consider these colorful possibilities.

As you undoubtedly heard by now, Microsoft can’t count. Its next Windows iteration will not be Windows 9 or Windows 8.2. Instead it’s skipping straight to 10.A lot of people are making fun of this. People like order, and skipping numbers bothers the kindergartner in all of us.

Microsoft hasn’t been very forthcoming with the exact reason for the switch, though there are rumors it has to do with a Y2K-style problem with older versions of Windows 95 and 98 being referred to as Windows 9 in some scripts.

Personally, I don’t buy that. It seems relatively easy to get around. But I did some research and I came up with some other possible reasons:

Top 10 (possibly true) reasons Microsoft is skipping Windows 9 and is going straight to 10.

1. They’re hoping it will subliminally encourage critics to write that it is a “10 out of 10!”

2. The Japanese consider 9 to be an unlucky number because it sounds similar to the Japanese word for pain.

3. Microsoft is hoping to make up for tightening profits by selling super rare copies of Windows 9 on the collector’s market.

4. Because 7 ate 9.

5. They were going to use Roman numerals and thought “Windows X” would draw a younger crowd. They also considered iNDOWS.

6. Ten matches the prediction of the number of people who will actually use it instead of XP.

7. Vista was taken.

8. When they named this one, they used Common Core math.

9. “Oh, let’s just skip number 9.” They did.

10. Because this version of Windows doesn’t go to 11.

Let’s face it, Microsoft has a long history of this. It went from counting to naming them after years like 95 and 98. Then it jumped to names like Vista only to settle back into numbers with Windows 7. You don’t have any old copies of Windows 6 lying around, so why should you be bothered by the lack of Windows 9?

The truth is, this shows just how little a name matters to an operating system these days. Windows is Windows, and really Microsoft shouldn’t care too much whether you’re using 7, 8, or 10. They only care because of the expense of backwards compatibility and because of the security features in newer versions.

But consider how mobile phones have changed how software is marketed. The average consumers don’t know what version of Android is running on their phones, nor do they shell out big bucks to go from one version to the next. The device updates the version for free. The same is true for other software on the phone. When you update Facebook or Twitter on your phone, does it even bother to tell you what version you are running? Mobile apps seemingly update daily. There’s no fanfare.

Other than enterprises that have to prepare for certain major changes to operating systems, the idea of versions of software is dead. You just run Windows. The only reason to come out with a new “version” of software is to charge for it, and we’ve seen Microsoft lowering prices on operating systems recently, so that impulse is dying as a business reason.

With no reason for consumers to care and decreasing reason for Microsoft to care what version someone is running, numbers and names become increasingly meaningless. The real issue is getting you to buy the device with a Windows logo on it.

Of course, this begs the question of why 10 and not something snazzier like Windows Applekiller, or Windows Coolest Version Ever, or even just plain Windows. Probably the answer is that 10 is a round number and Microsoft couldn’t come up with anything that tested better.

Personally, I’d like Microsoft to drop the Windows brand entirely and call its operating system “Cortana,” but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

As expected, this week Microsoft released the much-anticipated technical preview of Windows 10. This build is not for consumers but for the adventurous type that doesn’t mind glitches and troubleshooting. Microsoft is looking for tons of feedback with the technical preview and will eventually release a customer preview sometime early next year before the final version hits store shelves.

Naturally, the first thing I gravitated to in the Technical Preview was the Start Menu. The removal of this feature in Windows 8 caused quite a fuss, enough so that Microsoft caved in and brought the feature back to the desktop. As leaked images indicated over the last several months, it’s comprised of two different styles: the traditional app lineup on the left and live tiles on the right.

The start menu is, surprisingly, not big and bulky. The traditional list includes links to Documents, Pictures, PC Settings, File Explorer and the on-screen keyboard. There’s also the snipping tool, Sticky Notes, Windows PowerShell and Remote Desktop connection. Users can access all of their apps and programs by hitting the All Apps link, which brings up a list combining traditional programs and Modern UI apps.

As for the live tile portion, users can click on one of the apps and drag it to the desktop, creating a shortcut. On my build, the list of “Metro” apps includes Skype, Music, Windows Feedback, People, Calendar, Windows Store, Mail, Weather, Video and News. These apps open on the desktop, casting a nice shadow that gives depth to the desktop.

That brings us to one of the biggest changes in Windows 10: using Modern UI apps on the desktop. Why not just use them on the Start Screen? Because it’s gone, or at least, it’s not easily accessible in the Technical Preview as it is in Windows 8 and 8.1. Microsoft has essentially merged both worlds into one, and it works rather nicely. The Metro apps open at full screen, but they can be reduced down and resized to the user’s liking.

Still, for customers who loved the Start Screen, there is a way to bring it back. Simply right-click on the Taskbar, choose Properties, then hit the Start Menu tab. There’s an option to “Use the Start menu instead of the Start Screen.” Uncheck this option, and the computer will assign the Start Screen to the Start button instead of the beloved menu.

In addition to the Start Menu, Microsoft has moved the Search app to the taskbar. Users can search for content locally, such as hunting down the Netflix app installed on the PC, to the latest trending news for the day (powered by Bing, of course). All of this conveniently resides next to the Start button and should make searches easier and quicker than when this feature resided on the Charms Bar.

That’s another Windows 8 feature that’s missing in action: the Charms Bar on the desktop. That feature was odd to begin with, and given that Microsoft yanked Search and PC Settings from the bar, there probably was no real point of having it. However, the Charms Bar will supposedly appear on tablets and phablets along with the missing Start Screen.

In addition to moving Search to the taskbar, Microsoft is also introducing multiple virtual desktops. This icon sits next to the Search icon and lets customers create new desktops with a simple click. For those with two or more monitors connected, this feature seems a little useless. However, for single-monitor setups and those with low resolutions, customers can spread out their work and access these windows using the Task View shortcut.

In addition to the Start Menu, Microsoft has moved the Search app to the taskbar. Users can search for content locally, such as hunting down the Netflix app installed on the PC, to the latest trending news for the day (powered by Bing, of course). All of this conveniently resides next to the Start button and should make searches easier and quicker than when this feature resided on the Charms Bar.

That’s another Windows 8 feature that’s missing in action: the Charms Bar on the desktop. That feature was odd to begin with, and given that Microsoft yanked Search and PC Settings from the bar, there probably was no real point of having it. However, the Charms Bar will supposedly appear on tablets and phablets along with the missing Start Screen.

In addition to moving Search to the taskbar, Microsoft is also introducing multiple virtual desktops. This icon sits next to the Search icon and lets customers create new desktops with a simple click. For those with two or more monitors connected, this feature seems a little useless. However, for single-monitor setups and those with low resolutions, customers can spread out their work and access these windows using the Task View shortcut.

Source: TomsHardware

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-10-preview-hands-on,27807.html

Using a Mac and browsing Reddit are pretty safe activities, as far as online security goes, but “pretty safe” does not equal “riskless.” A new bit of Mac-centric malware has infected more than 17,000 computers, and its creators are employing Reddit to add even more systems to the ranks.

The information comes from Russian antivirus firm Doctor Web, which wrote about the threat in a news post. The malware in question is known as Mac.Backdoor.iWorm, and it has two functions: Steal personal information from Macs, then draft other computers into the botnet so that they can do the same.

Of the 17,000 infected machines, the largest percentage is in the United States, with about 4,600 compromised machines. The United Kingdom and Canada rank far behind, with about 1,200 apiece. The rest of the botnet machines are scattered more or less evenly throughout the developed world.

Despite the patently ridiculous “Macs don’t get viruses” rhetoric that gets thrown around on the Internet, a Mac botnet is not a terribly uncommon thing, and 17,000 machines is far from as bad as these things get. What makes this case interesting is the use of Reddit to work its dark magic.

When it first infects a system, Mac.Backdoor.iWorm employs the Reddit search engine and a hexadecimal query in order to acquire a list of command-and-control botnet servers. Then the computer connects to one, and the Mac in question essentially belongs to the malefactors.

To be clear, the system is not taking advantage of anything that Reddit has done wrong, nor does contributing to Reddit put users at risk for contracting the malware. If anything, Reddit has made its search engine too well, as it provides sensible query responses, even for hexadecimal algorithms. Macs may be less susceptible to infection than PCs, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be any less compromised if you get hit.

Source Toms Hardware

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/reddit-botnet-recruit-macs,news-19673.html