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Linux is great for accessibility. Whether you need a text-to-speech (TTS) system to help you with daily computer tasks or you’re an experimental musician looking to incorporate robot voices into your songs, Linux has got your back. While there are a number of TTS programs for Linux, the one we’re going to discuss now is called Festival. Festival is free software written in C++. It is a multilingual TTS system and framework developed by The Centre for Speech Technology Research at the University of Edinburgh....

“Do Not Disturb” really is a great feature and makes things much easier. It’s a struggle we all go through, trying to decide whether you should turn your phone off altogether or just mute it, or leave it on out of fear of missing a very important call. This feature is accessed by going to the Settings app and toggling the switch next to the words, “Do Not Disturb.” Not only will it turn off calls and texts, but it will also stop your Notifications from popping up on the screen with the sound and the light of the screen....

In the fast-pace, social media infused society that many of us live, it would be nice to be able to apply such photo effects on the fly, directly on our digital image capturing devices (i.e. pocket cameras and mobile phones). TiltShift Generator is an Adobe Air applications that allows users to manipulate their photos directly on their mobile devices, whether their devices are netbooks, laptosp, or mobile phones. Because it is an Adobe Air app, it will work on any device that can run Adobe Air....

Thankfully, Linux developers, specifically the ones working on GNOME, realized just how useful integration with Google Docs can be and built functionality into the desktop environment itself. That integration is going to make this whole process a lot easier, and you’ll have complete access to your Google Drive on Ubuntu in no time. While this guide is tailored to Ubuntu, the process can easily be adapted to any distribution running GNOME....

NewHive is both a social network and a creation engine for Web 2.0 content. Users create pages called “expressions,” which can contain a wide variety of elements and media types. Other users can interact with expressions: one can “love,” “broadcast,” and comment on an expression. On NewHive, you don’t have “friends” or “followers”; you have “listeners.” Express Yourself When you go to create a new expression, you are literally faced with a blank canvas....

This deal sees the Nokia T10 tablet reduced to £99.99, down from its £129.99 when it was released just recently. This makes it even more affordable that it already was, so if you’re looking for a device with a screen larger than your smartphone, this one may well be within your means. There are far more deals up for grabs this week as the sales period gets more and more intense in the lead-up to the big day....

Unlike most analytics tracking software that runs on their own server, Piwik is an open source software that requires you to install on your own server. If you have a web hosting plan, most likely you already have a server on hand to install Piwik. However, if you have a busy site running on your server and don’t wish to add extra overhead, then Piwik might not be for you....

Notes on Our Suggestions While free services were preferred in our analysis, paid services are the reality of the privacy-first space. Companies can’t make money off your data, so advertisers don’t pay the bills. It’s up to you to pay. “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.” We’ve recommended several Apple apps on this list, which might rankle those that distrust Five Eyes corporations on principle. However, Apple has a credible claim to its advertised title as a privacy-focused company: we wouldn’t recommend their services otherwise....

Redbox Instant, the popular Redbox’s answer to Netflix, was released this week, and now users with jailbroken iPhones and iPads are finding it won’t work on their devices. After loading the app, they get a message reading, “device is compromised.” Initially Redbox Instant sounds like a great service. For just $6 a month you can access video-streaming of what Redbox has to offer. For $8 a month you can add four DVD rentals a month from their neighborhood kiosks, and for $9 a month you can make those rentals Blu-Rays....

In this article, we ask what are the symptoms of a MacItNow “infection” and how can you remove this despicable and sneaky sales tool from your computer. Foot in the Door Why call it an infection? Well, Adware is a spyware/malware variant which although it has an ostensibly benign purpose (inserting ads into your pages), it still invades your computer without your express permission and so should be regarded as an invader....

Samsung’s currently offering a whole host of deals on its vacuum cleaner range, with outstanding cordless devices like the Samsung Jet 90 going for £349, while the futuristic Samsung Jet Bot+ Robot Vacuum Cleaner has a massive £350 off. As an extra incentive, you can use the code JET15 at the checkout to take off an extra 15% across the entire vacuum cleaner range at Samsung – you’d be hard pressed to find a better deal than that....

There are also various other things that occupy the precious storage on your iPhone, and it is recommended that you run a quick scan for redundant files every now and then so that there are no useless files on your device. You can use that memory space to store your valuable files. Well, manually scanning your iPhone for junk files is not easy, and hence, there are some apps that help you with the task....

The software that we are using is Motion. This is one useful tool that can monitor the video signal from a webcam and take screenshots when it detects a motion (i.e. when a significant part of the picture has changed). While we are dealing with Ubuntu in this article, Motion will work for most Linux distro as well. Installing Motion Motion is included in the Ubuntu repository, so you can install it by clicking here, via the Ubuntu Software Center, or by simply typing the following command in the terminal:...

If you’re already using Slack, good for you. They have 500,000 active users already, and the number’s only going up. If you’ve started using Slack a lot, you must have realized that a lot of what you do is share links and messages from the web to a Slack channel or private chat. It’s certainly the case with me. So below, you’ll find a couple of fastest ways for doing just that in Chrome, iOS and Android....

This could be why a Google vice president suggested that guests should be informed if you have smart devices in your home. This does present something to consider. Should people be obligated to tell guests if there are smart devices in the home? Our Opinion Sayak contends “it’s hypocritical of Google to demand the end-users respect their guests’ privacy, while they wash their hands of it completely.” He sees it as unacceptable that Google third parties are trying to assess private Google Home recordings and feels the same with the Nest thermostat....

Does It Overcharge the Battery? You may hear advice that says once the battery hits 100%, keeping it plugged in may end up overfilling the battery and doing damage. If you’ve heard this advice, don’t worry; this doesn’t actually happen! Perhaps in earlier models this would have been the case, but these days laptops are a little smarter. In general, when a laptop detects a 100% charge in the battery, it will stop charging it and instead redirect the power to your laptop....

Is this a good idea? Could Ring and its privacy-focused, decentralized nature truly take on something as feature-full as the mainstream video clients out there today? In this article we attempt to find out! How does Ring stack up as a message and calling program? Let’s find out! What makes Ring special? It is not your typical message platform. You do not sign up for a service. There is no buddy system and no friend requests....

Keep reading to discover all the major differences between the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and its successor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 when it comes to key areas including performance, AI, camera and sound. Faster performance The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 offers speedier performance from both the CPU and GPU when compared to last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The Kryo CPU delivers up to 35% faster performance, while also offering up to 40% better power efficiency, while the Adreno GPU has seen a 25% uptick in performance and up to 45% more power efficiency compared to its predecessor....

With the new, customisable controllers now reaching reviewers ahead of the January 26 release, some have noted a shortcoming when it comes to battery longevity, when compared to the DualSense controller that ships with the console itself. The Verge contacted Sony about the discovery, with the PlayStation-maker confirming there will be “moderately shorter” battery life on a controller that is more than three times more expensive than its predecessor. The DualSense Edge comes with an advertised battery life of 5-10 hours while unplugged, so gamers can base their assumptions on “moderately” less than that....

When you’re trying to draw customers’ eyes to your product or service, presentation counts. We’re so used to how content looks on the Web these days that it’s very hard to stand out. If you can do something to make your material a bit flashier, it can make a big difference. There’s a reason so many businesses still print up glossy brochures –- they’re easy to hand out. But there’s also something nice about flipping through paper....