Google’s Disco allows group messaging.

Google has an in-house startup company called Slide that it purchased for only $182 million. Slide works freely within the walls of Google and has created a new app that allows a hand chosen group of users to text with one chat interface. Users have to sign-up at Disco.com and create an account using your 10-digit mobile number. From there the website will send you a text to your mobile phone to verify that you are who you say you are. Now you are allowed to create groups, naming them as you see fit. Other members of the group will see the group name so be careful not to step on anyone’s toes.

Now that you have created your group, the website will forward every text through-out the group members creating the group chat from your smart phone. The app works with Facebook so that you can use your “Friends List” to add group members. There have been rumors of Facebook creating its own group messaging so that is something to watch out for in the near future.

PC-Mag.com

New PC, Even Better!

So you have your old computer sitting next to your new one and you want to get started. I have found five steps that will speed up your new computer and help it fit in like the old one.

• Step 1: Backing up your data residing on your old computer with Windows Easy Transfer to an external hard drive. Important data such as your music, pictures, videos, any important documents, maybe your favorites, should be the main ingredients to making your new computer fit in. 
• Step 2:  Try a program called SlimComputer to scan your PC for safe programs that you may want to prevent from starting up or wish to remove. If you like the extra apps sent from the manufactures warehouse then I would recommend skipping this step.
• Step 3: Update your drivers via custom software already installed or by going to the manufactures website, finding the support page and downloading the latest drivers. Believe it or not, they do send out new computers with a driver update soon to come.
• Step 4: A personal favorite, Ninite. This is a website that helps you install a collection of very useful shareware in one swift move. Simply check the box next to the software you want to install and let go of the wheel (Mouse). Ninite is smart enough to know if you need the 32-bit version or 64-bit version of a program.
• Step 5: Use Windows Easy Transfer to load your backed up data onto your new computer and bam you are back in business!

Five Steps to a Better New PC

Computers reading your emotions...in your car.

Have you ever seen those Hollywood movies where the car has the ability to talk to the driver like a real person? Well Design Interactive has put their heads together with VRSonic to create an Affective Virtual Environment Training System also called "A-VETS". A-VETS use "noninvasive" methods of calculating a person’s emotional response in real time. Volvo already deploys heartbeat sensors for detecting abnormal heartbeat patterns. If a driver had a sudden influx in their heart rate like deer running out in front of the car or someone is trying to break into the car while the driver is in the car. Taking the future car a step further is Ferrari with their "mind-reading" car. The cockpit sensors for Ferrari will use psychometric and biometric technology to read a driver's heart rate, blood pressure, brain activity, and blood pressure. This feature will give the car the ability to measure the drivers fatigue level as well as measuring the driver’s reactions in critical moments like right before a crash.
There is still a major concern: Is this an invasion of privacy?
In many ways I believe it is an invasion of privacy but I think it is still too early to say. What would it mean for one of these systems if they were hacked? What sort of personal data would become public knowledge?  On the other hand, with the information the "smart car" could provide, car developers and doctors may be able to learn the reactions of the average human and develop a new car seat or seat belt that could save millions of lives in the future. What do you think: An invasion or advancement in car security?

PCmag.com