image

Google has closed the account of a user who sent a photograph of his son's inflamed groin to a doctor. It's sticking by the closure despite an obvious case of its automated systems mistakenly flagging the image as abusive material. The account ... closure covers all Google services including the man's Gmail and his phone service which was provided by Google Fi. This was a disastrous combination as losing access to both emails and SMS messages to his phone number meant he couldn't get security codes to prove the ownership of many other online accounts. The man, identified by the New York Times ... (view more)

Artificial intelligence may be failing thanks to human error according to a new study. That's because data AI models use to learn how to identify images is not always correct to start with. The problem affects neural networks, which are designed to ... work in a similar way to the human brain, considering multiple possibilities at the same time. The idea is to get the benefits of human thought but with the speed and reliability of computers. In principle, training these AI models is a straightforward process. Rather than humans creating a set of rules for the models to follow, they simply give ... (view more)

People paid to promote products in Norway will be legally required to say if they've used photo editing tools. The new law also covers using photo filters. The law has already been passed by legislators but the date it takes effect hasn't yet been ... confirmed. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) The rules will apply to any photo that's posted for promotional purposes. It will also apply to users - sometimes dubbed "influencers" - who are receiving payment or other benefits in return for making the post. Any manipulated image will need to carry a warning label, designed by the government, that tells users it ... (view more)

Background "wallpaper" can cause Android phones to crash thanks to a bug with the system. At the moment it appears to be an unfortunate glitch but it could be open to abuse. The image in question is viewable at twitter.com , and features a scene ... with a forest in the foreground, a lake in the midground, and mountains in the background beneath a cloudy sky at sunset. The problem is that once set as the default wallpaper, the image causes the phone to crash. The phone then goes into a loop of restarting and crashing, with the only solution being a factory reset. That's not only time consuming ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am use Acronis 2016 with Windows 10 to backup my system. Recently I tried to restore my C drive, but the backup failed in the middle of the restore operation. I subsequently tried 3 more backups I ... made earlier in the year but they also failed. This makes me think there is something wrong with the backup drive. I ended up having to reinstall Windows clean on my system to get back up and running. I tried running 'chkdsk' on the backup drive, and it reported that the volume bitmap was incorrect. I followed your guide on ' How to Fix: ChkDsk ... (view more)

Facebook has come up with a controversial way to help people whose compromising pictures are shared online without their permission. The term is dubbed "revenge porn" - and to solve the problem, Facebook wants users to upload naked pictures of ... themselves to Facebook servers. Yes, you read that correctly. The test program is known as the "Non-Consensual Intimate Image Pilot." It's designed to counter cases where somebody - often a former partner - tries to humiliate the victim by sharing images of them in revealing situations on the victim Facebook wall. Such behavior can be ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Frank C. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks for your excellent articles on Windows 10. A few weeks ago I upgraded to Windows 10 32-bit, but now I want to upgrade to Windows 10 64-bit. I read your article, ' How to Upgrade from Windows ... 10 32-bit to 64-bit ', but I don't understand why I am receiving the error 'this app can't run on your PC' when attempting to run the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool. I have verified that my processor supports 64-bit, so I don't understand why I am being plagued by this error message. Do you have any idea how I can ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Gail N. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have two HP laptops: one that came with Windows 7 and the other with Windows 8. I have already upgraded both laptops to Windows 10 using the 'get Windows 10 app' via the desktop. My question is: ... what happens if Windows 10 fails and I need to factory restore my laptop? Will I get back Windows 10 or will it reload the original operating system (Windows 7 or 8)? I ask because both my HP laptops have a 'factory restore' partition which I can access by pressing F11 on my keyboard during bootup. Also, is there any way to fix my laptop without ... (view more)

AsteriskPasswordSpy 3.1 Hate it when your most important passwords are locked behind asterisks? This tool, which features a user-friendly interface and is compatible with Windows computers, can help make it easy to see the characters behind those ... asterisks. http://securityxploded.com/ FastStone Image Viewer 5.3 FastStone Image Viewer is a speedy, easy-to-use and highly stable image browser than can also be used to convert and edit digital images. Features include red-eye removal, resizing, cropping, retouching, and color adjustments. http://www.faststone.org/ (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ron S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I want to do a clean re-install of Windows 7 Pro. I want the best available information [on which steps I should take during] ... the install sequence of everything, especially [how I should install] ... the motherboard drivers ... What [do you suggest]? " My response: There's plenty of step-by-step guides on the Internet that explain how to install Windows - you simply need to search Google. For the most part, re/installing Windows 7 is as easy as inserting the install media (Windows 7 DVD) into the computer, reboot the machine, ... (view more)