Check out this awe-inspiring scale model of our solar system

 

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NASA’s New Horizons mission has sparked a renewed interest in all things space. It also likely inspired a couple of filmmakers to dispel a common myth and build a scale model of our solar system… one that’s seven miles wide.

Virtually every model to date fails to relay just how expansive our solar system truly is and that’s something Wylie Overstreet and Alex Goros set about to change. Using a dry lake bed in the Black Rock Desert north of Reno, the duo built their solar system model complete with planetary orbits.
The project really puts into perspective just how tiny our home planet is compared to what’s around us

Malware discovered that lets hackers see online poker players' cards

Poker players using the Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars online games are being targeted by a type of malware that lets hackers spy on their cards. The trojan, named Odlanor, was found within several pieces of software designed to help poker players improve their game, said the security firm that discovered it.
Once it has infected a computer, Odlanor monitors for when a user logs into one of the two aforementioned poker sites. When a player joins a session it will start taking screenshots and sending them back to the trojan’s creators. This allows them to identify the player’s ID, which room they are in, and what cards they’re holding – giving the hackers a massive advantage without the victim realizing.
As of September 16, several hundred users were infected with Odlanor, although it does seem to mostly target those living in Eastern Europe. "We have seen this trojan masquerading as a number of benign installers for various general purpose programs, such as Daemon Tools or uTorrent. In other cases, the spyware is installed through various poker-related programs," said Robert Lipovsky, senior malware researcher at ESET.
Some of the poker-related programs where the malicious software has been found include Tournament Shark, Poker Calculator Pro, Smart Buddy and Poker Office. Odlanor also targets other personal information on a victim's computer such as login names and passwords.
The news comes in the wake of PayPal quietly announcing yesterday that it was returning as an accepted method of payment for a limited number of gambling sites after a 12-year absence from the sector. Online gambling is still illegal in the majority of US states, but an increasing number are introducing bills that would legalize it.

Facebook wants to replace Slack as your office communications tool later this year

        Surprise! Facebook wants to replace yet another service in your day-to-day, this time with Facebook at Work, which has subsisted in closed beta since January of this year. To be clear, Facebook at Work is a communications app, employing the same user interface as the Facebook most of us use to exploit our political biases, but this time your friends list consists exclusively of coworkers.
        Now Facebook is reportedly launching it as a full-fledged product, utilizing a freemium business model, later this year, according to Re/Code. A specific release window, however, remains ambiguous.
      On the inside, Facebook's employees have been using Facebook for years, head of Facebook at Work Julien Codorniou told Re/Code. Then, nearly 15 months ago, it was revealed that the social media corp was developing an office productivity service for companies outside of Facebook.

How Facebook plans to convert users of existing business communication tools, such as Slack and Yammer, is also unclear. Veteran companies have been using these products for years, with a great deal of archived content at stake, including important messages and internal company documents. Nonetheless, Facebook is going to attempt the unthinkable, though perhaps it's not too farfetched.
Already, over 100 companies subscribe to the Facebook at Work beta, which continues to increase in its install base. And, of course, Facebook plans to make money from the new endeavor, but interestingly isn't opting for ad-based monetization this time around. Instead, like with Slack, a free version will be made available with additional features being issued at a fee, though distinctions between free and paid features are still being defined.

In the process of trying to pique the interest of companies looking to replace their communications utilities, Facebook is likely to make a few enemies along the way. That's because it'll put itself directly in competition with the likes of Slack and Microsoft, the proprietor of Yammer. And with ~$340 million in venture capitalist investments, Slack surely won't budge without a fight.
Current testers of the platform claim that Facebook at Work is characterized by "familiarity," which is among the social media giant's main talking points when trying to sway companies interested in adopting the product. That's because, while it may seem obvious, most of us know the ins and outs of Facebook.

Of course, this goes without saying, many companies will be hesitant to endorse Facebook at Work due to a potential loss in productivity. On the desktop edition of the platform, users will be able to choose between their at-work and at-home Facebook accounts while, on mobile, Facebook at Work exists on its own, as a standalone app.

While it's expected that the modern Silicon Valley-type tech startups will be quick to respond positively to Facebook at Work, it may be more concerning to businesses wary over social media usage by their employees.

Get Windows 10 for free – essential advice for users of Windows 7, 8 and 8.1

In other words, you’ll have until July 29, 2016 to download and install Windows 10 free of charge — as long as you qualify for the offer, of course.
The good news is that anyone who’s running a version of Windows from the last five years almost certainly does.

Who qualifies for a free Windows
10 download?
 In short, if you’re currently using a PC that has Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows 8.1 (Update) installed, you qualify for a free upgrade to Windows 10.
And if you don’t have Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 installed, or the Windows 8.1 update, you’ll need to get it before you can get Windows 10.
Both are free downloads, so get them via Windows Update in the usual way.
If you currently use Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 8.1, you’ll get a free upgrade to Windows 10 Home.
If you currently use Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate or Windows 8.1 Pro, you’ll get a free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro.

How do I get the free Windows 10 download?
In addition to making it a free download for 12 months, Microsoft is also changing the way Windows 10 will be delivered.
Rather than offer a direct download, Windows 10 will be delivered by Windows Update — and all of its future updates will be downloaded and installed automatically.
If your installation of Windows 7 or 8 is up to date, you should have seen a ‘Get Windows 10’ icon appear in the Notification Area on the Desktop Taskbar by now — a white Windows logo.
If you haven’t seen it, run Windows Update to install update KB3035583.
The icon may not appear immediately, or at all — it checks to see if your PC’s specification is capable of running Windows 10 before popping up. When the icon does appear, click it and you’ll be invited to reserve your free upgrade to Windows 10.
You can also supply an email address to get a confirmation of your reservation.

How do I install Windows 10?
Once you’ve reserved your copy of Windows 10, the 3GB download it requires will take place in the background at some point before 29 July — you probably won’t be aware of when it happens.
This approach means two things.First, millions of people won’t (or shouldn’t) be hammering Microsoft’s download servers at the same time when Windows 10 launches, which should mean a smooth installation process for all concerned.
Second, your Windows 10 installation will be ready to go come 29 July with no further action from you.
It’s worth noting that this installation process will upgrade your existing Windows installation and there’s no news yet about how the free upgrade can be used to perform a clean install — i.e. on a PC that doesn’t have Windows installed.
Microsoft will hopefully be more forthcoming over the next few weeks, but if you want to wipe your PC and install Windows 10 from scratch (which is often a good idea with a new version of Windows), it’s best to not reserve your download just yet — or cancel it if you have.
See below for more on this.

Should you reserve Windows 10? 
  ‘Reserving’ your free copy of Windows 10 will instigate the background download ready for installation on 29 July — although you can delay the installation if you wish.
The download won’t take place in one go — the data will be ‘trickled’ onto your PC to avoid affecting its performance.
However, unless you’re absolutely desperate to use Windows 10 from the moment it’s released, it’s worth waiting for a few weeks before reserving your copy.
Initial versions of any new operating system usually contain bugs — often quite serious ones — so it’s sensible to let the early adopters discover these and wait for Microsoft to fix them.
Some Windows 10 Technical Preview testers also reckon the operating system won’t be in a fit state to release by 29 July and the rush Microsoft will have to meet the launch date may lead to more problems.
That may be a little pessimistic, but again, it’s a good idea to wait and see how the first installations go before jumping in yourself.
So if you’ve already reserved your copy of Windows 10 and would now rather wait a bit before installing, just right-click the Get Windows 10 app icon, select Check your upgrade status and click Cancel reservation.
You can still grab the upgrade at any time before 29 July, 2016 — there’s really no rush. -BT Tech
HAPPY UPGRADING IN ADVANCE!!!