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Tag Archives: coming
Bedrock is coming to PlayStation 4! "Kelsey", you gasp in horror, "you've given away the whole article in the first sentence". Don't worry, beloved reader of Minecraft.net, there is always more – and I get paid by the word! Wait, I don't?
"So how is this different from the version of Minecraft I can already play on my PS4?" The difference is that the Bedrock version of Minecraft is the unified version of the game that offers the same experience across all consoles. All that glorious, unified code means that you'll be playing the same game as your pals on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows 10, and mobile! So, yes – that means you get cross-play between those different consoles (once you're running the most recent update). Not just that, PS4 players now also have access to the in-game store – a source for worlds, skins, mini-games, and mash up packs! So you're going to have not just a better Minecraft experience than ever before, but more Minecraft than ever.
"What if I already own Minecraft on PS4, do I need to buy the game again to get the Bedrock version?" – to which I say, you have a lot of questions and this is an article, not a FAQ! But, more to the point, you can get the new version of the game free of charge. The next time you start Minecraft, the new update will install automatically.
If you have any other questions about the update, please check out this helpful FAQ!
So with that, we welcome the newest addition to the Bedrock family with a hurrah! Just look out for a certain update that we can't stop buzzing about that will roll out this week. Welcome to the Overworld, PS4 players!
awayBedrockcominggaspgivenHorrorPlayStationwholeyou've"Kelsey"
New telephony controls coming to Microsoft Teams admin center
Microsoft will add several telephony controls to the Microsoft Teams admin center in the coming months, a significant move in the vendor's campaign to retire Skype for Business Online by mid-2021.
Admins will be able to build, test and manage custom dial plans through the Teams portal. Additionally, organizations that use Microsoft Calling Plan will be able to create and assign phone numbers and designate emergency addresses for users.
Currently, admins can only perform those tasks in Teams through the legacy admin center for Skype for Business Online. Microsoft has been gradually moving controls to the Teams admin center, with telephony controls among the last to switch over.
Microsoft plans to begin adding the new telephony controls to the Teams admin center in November, according to the vendor's Office 365 Roadmap webpage. The company will also introduce some advanced features it didn't support in Skype for Business Online, a cloud-based app within Office 365.
The update will let admins configure what's known as dynamic emergency calling. The feature — supported only in the on-premises version of Skype for Business — automatically detects a user's location when they place a 911 call. It then transmits that information to emergency officials.
The admin center for Skype for Business Online is "fairly rudimentary," said Tom Arbuthnot, principal solutions architect at Modality Systems, a Microsoft-focused systems integrator. The new console for Teams provides advancements like the ability to sort and filter users and phone numbers.
"All of these little features add up to making a more friendly voice platform for an administrator," Arbuthnot said. "They are getting closer and closer to everything being administered in the Teams admin center."
Microsoft Teams still missing advanced calling controls, features
The superior design of the admin center notwithstanding, Teams still lacks crucial tools for organizations too large to use the management console.
For those enterprises, Teams PowerShell is the go-to tool for auto-configuring settings on a large scale using code-based commands. However, PowerShell cannot do everything that the Teams admin center can do. Microsoft has also yet to release APIs that would allow a third-party consultant to help manage a Fortune 500 company's transition to Teams calling.
"When you're up to hundreds of thousands of seats, you don't really want to be going to an admin center and manually administrating," Arbuthnot said. "The PowerShell and APIs tend to lag a little bit."
A lack of parity between the telephony features of Skype for Business and Teams had been one of the biggest roadblocks preventing organizations from fully transitioning from the old to the new platform.
But at this point, Teams should be suitable for everyone except those with the most complex needs, such as receptionists, Arbuthnot said.
Other features that Microsoft is planning include compliance call recording, virtual desktop infrastructure support and contact center integrations.
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'Microsoft the Musical' features summer interns in a singing, dancing romp across tech giant's campus
September 6, 2019 Kurt Schlosser
Well, the interns at Microsoft sure had fun this summer.
While there may be a documentary coming to Netflix that dives deep into what makes Bill Gates tick, the release of "Microsoft the Musical" on YouTube on Friday clearly shows what makes heels click at the software giant he co-founded.
The 8-minute number, which took us about that much time to convince ourselves it was in fact a real thing, features singing and dancing software engineers and data scientists clad in primary-colored clothing. The whole thing is the work of 150 people, including interns and employees.
A description for the video on YouTube is written by Liam McGregor, a data science intern credited with directing, producing and helping to write the musical.
"'Microsoft the Musical' was dreamt up and led by interns spending the summer of 2019 at Microsoft," McGregor wrote. "This Tony Awards-style musical theater opening number is just one of many passion projects that came to life because we were encouraged to bring our whole selves to work. And that's what we did: 150 people came in on mornings, weekends, and nights to create this outside of (and in addition to) their day jobs."
After opening with a nod to Gates, cast members dance across the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters campus and throughout buildings. A whole host of company accomplishments and product names are dropped throughout — Windows, Office, PowerPoint, Surface, Xbox, HoloLens, Minecraft, Azure … even Clippy gets a mention. And the lyrics, posted in full here, also manage to poke some fun (sorry, Windows Phone):
It's all happening here…
The standard for your office and your home
All happening here
All around the world our products are well-known!
Except for when we tried to make a phone!
"It's all happening here," is the constant refrain from the chorus. And while it sure does appear that being an intern at Microsoft affords young people the chance to work on some cutting-edge stuff, a break in the music does lay things on a little thick, as two characters are shown chatting in a company cafeteria.
"How is it that everyone here does so much," a woman asks her co-worker at the 5:25 mark of the video.
"I know. I don't get it. Maybe there's something in the water," the man replies.
"May I please have a latte and … an extra shot of whatever ingredient it is that makes people here so successful?" the woman says as she orders a beverage.
Alas, there is no special ingredient, because everyone brings their own! Back to the singing and dancing!
(YouTube screen grab via Microsoft the Musical)
"Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more," McGregor wrote in his director's note. "We hope that this speaks to every person who dreams of being part of something big — and especially to those who've been wrongly told they can't be. At some point, we were all in your shoes. You CAN, you SHOULD, and you WILL."
Here's a list of credits for those involved in the production, as it shows up on YouTube — along with their titles for jobs they held at Microsoft in the summer of 2019:
Produced and Directed by … Liam McGregor (data scientist intern)
Written by … Liam McGregor (data scientist intern) and Trip Master (explorer intern)
Executive Produced by … Diego Rejtman (GM, global university recruiting) and Sacha Nunn (culture program manager)
Choreographed and Co-Directed by … Swetha Prabakaran (explorer intern)
Protagonists (in order of appearance) … Ryan Hecht (program manager intern), Leslie Richardson (program manager), Alyssa Raqueno (explorer intern)
Bill Gates, the idea … Eleanor Lewis (software engineer intern)
Composed by … Joshua Yang (explorer intern), Trip Master (explorer intern), Liam McGregor (data scientist intern)
Orchestrated and Conducted by … Peter Yang (software engineer intern)
Director of Photography … Stephen Hitchcock (software engineer)
Sr. Production Manager … Morgan Dukes (marketing intern)
Associate Cinematographer and AD … Rishi Raj (software engineer)
Assistant Choreographer and AD … Lizzy Lee
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Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI going hard after Salesforce
Microsoft and Salesforce are attacking each other again. Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI tools are coming that will beef up sales, marketing and — most of all — service and support, unveiled the day after Salesforce announced Quip Slides, a PowerPoint competitor.
Salesforce appears to be annexing Microsoft's business-productivity territory, while Microsoft is rolling its forces deeper into Salesforce's CRM domain by more tightly connecting Teams collaboration with its CRM suite, freshened up with new AI capabilities.
"You've got Salesforce announcing Quip Slides, and you've got Microsoft doing a whole bunch of integration between Teams and Dynamics … who's going after whose market?" said Alan Lepofsky, analyst at Constellation Research.
In a media briefing ahead of its Ignite user conference, the tech giant took some direct shots at rival Salesforce in introducing Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI tools that buttress CRM processes. Of particular note was Dynamics 365 AI for Customer Service, which adds out-of-the-box virtual agents.
Assistive AI for contact centers
Who's going after whose market?
Alan Lepofskyanalyst, Constellation Research
Virtual agents can take several forms, two of which include chatbots that do the talking on behalf of humans, or assistive bots that prompt humans with suggested answers for engaging live with customers either on voice or text channels.
New Microsoft bots, built on Azure Cognitive Services, won't require the code-intensive development or consultant services that other vendors' CRM tools do, claimed Alysa Taylor, Microsoft corporate vice president of business applications and global industry. She singled out Salesforce as a CRM competitor in her comments.
"Many vendors offer [virtual agents] in a way that is very cumbersome for organizations to adopt," Taylor said. "It requires a large services engagement; Salesforce partners with IBM Watson to be able to deliver this."
Either way, the bots will require training. Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI-powered bots can be trained by call center managers, asserted Navrina Singh, Microsoft AI principal product lead, during a demo.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's taking on Salesforce with new CRM AI tools
The bots can tap into phone log transcriptions, email and other contact center data stores to shape answers to customer problems and take some of the workload off of overburdened contact center agents, Singh said.
The virtual agent introductions were significant enough that Microsoft brought out CEO Satya Nadella for a cameo with Singh during the briefing.
"The thing that's most exciting to me," Nadella said, "… is that [Microsoft] can make every company out there an AI-first company. They already have customers, they already have data. If you can democratize the use of AI tools, every company can harness the power of AI."
Other Dynamics 365 AI tools for CRM
Sales and marketing staffs get their own Dynamics 365 AI infusion, too.
Microsoft brings Dynamics 365 AI for Sales in line with Salesforce Einstein tools that use AI to prioritize lead pipelines and sales-team performance management.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI for Market Insights plumbs marketing, social media and other customer engagement data to improve customer relations and "engage in relevant conversations and respond faster to trends," Taylor wrote in a blog post announcing the new system.
While the Microsoft moves appear effective, industry observers questioned whether they can Microsoft make an impression in Salesforce's massive market footprint, even if they are easier to use, more economical and more intuitive than Salesforce's.
Lepofsky said he isn't sure, because of the sheer numbers. The 150,000-strong Dreamforce user conference is at the same time as Ignite, and the latter will likely draw only about a sixth of the Dreamforce crowd. And Salesforce likely won't be resting on its AI credentials either.
"I think you can speculate that Salesforce will also be talking about AI improvements at Dreamforce, so perhaps it's not that differentiating for Dynamics," Lepofsky said.
While Microsoft announced no release date for its AI tools, a preview site will go online this fall, Singh said.
againattackingcomingDynamicseachMicrosoftotherSalesforcetools
Coinhive malware infects tens of thousands of MikroTik routers
Poor patching practices by vendors and users are once again coming back to bite users around the world, as a researcher discovered a cryptominer being spread to unpatched MikroTik routers.
The Coinhive malware was first found spreading through routers in Brazil. Simon Kenin, security researcher for Trustwave, based in Chicago, discovered the Coinhive malware infection originating from Brazil and first assumed it was a more common website compromise attack to inject the cryptomining code. But more digging revealed the infection was spreading through MikroTik routers.
Kenin said malicious actors were exploiting a vulnerability in the routers that MikroTik had patched in April — just one day after the flaw was first discovered.
"The exploit targets Winbox and allows the attacker to read files from the device … but the bottom line is that using this exploit you can get unauthenticated remote admin access to any vulnerable MikroTik router," Kenin wrote in his analysis. "Initial investigation indicates that instead of running a malicious executable on the router itself, which is how the exploit was being used when it was first discovered, the attacker used the device's functionality in order to inject the CoinHive script into every web page that a user visited."
Mounir Hahad, head of Juniper Threat Labs at Juniper Networks, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., noted that MicroTik has deployed approximately 1.7 million units around the world — "mostly in Brazil, China, Russia and Indonesia" — and explained why the victims may not have patched.
"Most routers, unfortunately, lack the ability to auto-update, and very few users, especially home users, know how or when to patch the firmware on their router," Hahad wrote via email. "One of the biggest failures of security vendors that provide small-office [or] home-office routers is not including an auto-update feature by default, regardless of the technical difficulties lying around potentially taking the router offline during the update process."
Chris Olson, founder and CEO of The Media Trust, based in McLean, Va., agreed infections like the Coinhive malware could prey on poor patching habits.
"The average user will likely plug in their router and forget about it until something goes awry," Olson wrote via email. "Routers are like electricity and water: Unless service is disrupted, they receive little to no attention. Because they are often ignored, they make the perfect attack vector."
Coinhive malware infections
Routers are like electricity and water: Unless service is disrupted, they receive little to no attention. Because they are often ignored, they make the perfect attack vector.
Chris OlsonCEO, The Media Trust
Kenin said the Coinhive malware creates and injects a custom error page for every webpage visited by a user through an infected router.
"So if a user receives an error page of any kind while web browsing, they will get this custom error page which will mine CoinHive for the attacker," Kenin wrote. "The backend Apache server is connected to the router as well, and somewhere along the way there was an error and it was displayed to me, miner included. What this means is that this also impacts users who are not directly connected to the infected router's network, but also users who visit websites behind these infected routers. In other words, the attack works in both directions."
Experts noted that this method of spreading the Coinhive malware to every site visited was unusual.
Sean Newman, director product management at Corero Network Security, based in Marlborough, Mass., said the Coinhive malware "is not something we've specifically seen before."
"However, it does combine well-known exploit mechanisms, though in a novel way that is well-suited to the practice of cryptojacking," Newman wrote via email. "And, in this case, we're not talking about cheap IoT devices with vulnerabilities which are never addressed by the vendor. In this case, the routers were exploited to deliver a cryptomining payload, but the same approach could have just as easily leveraged them for other objectives."
Olson agreed this method of spreading malware would be more common with the creation of a botnet, and Hahad noted the Coinhive malware might not be the most efficient way of cryptomining.
"Every browser tends to have several open tabs that connect to several sites at once. Duplicating the Coinhive mining script so heavily would bring any computer to its knees in seconds, defeating the very purpose of the attack," Hahad wrote. "Once tweaked to only inject error pages, the issue was mitigated. But, again, the effectiveness is now dramatically reduced, because people do not hit error pages very often. In my opinion, this shows it is the work of a script kiddie with not much hacking experience."
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Visit Xbox at San Diego Comic-Con 2018 – Xbox Wire
July 18, 2018 Tara Theoharis, Manager, Xbox US Events
San Diego Comic-Con, the world's largest comic and pop-culture festival, is coming soon and Xbox is bringing the fun with exclusive gear, panels, celebrity guests, and more! See below for details on everything Xbox at SDCC and join the fun from California or from the comfort of your own couch.
Xbox Booth (San Diego Comic-Con badge required)
Hall A, Booth #100
For the first time ever, Xbox will have exclusive gear available at SDCC! Stop by to pick up exclusive clothing and items from Xbox and your favorite games and then get them customized on the spot with your Gamertag. See some of the items available here.
Visit us on Thursday, July 19 and Saturday, July 21 for signing sessions with some of your favorite developers and designers, but get there early: only the first 100 people to receive passes will be eligible!
Signings (San Diego Comic-Con badge required):
Brendan Greene ("PlayerUnknown"), Creative Director, PUBG Corp – Thursday, July 19 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. PDT
Joe Neate, Executive Producer, and Mike Chapman, Design Director, Sea of Thieves – Saturday, July 21 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. PDT
Xbox Gear Comic-Con Sweepstakes
Can't make it to the booth to pick up the exclusive gear? Retweet @Xbox to potentially win an Xbox Gear Comic-Con prize pack! Four winners will receive a collection of exclusive Xbox Gear, and one grand prize winner will receive the gear and an Xbox One X.
Follow @Xbox or @XboxCanada on Twitter and retweet the following tweet when it goes live at the start of San Diego Comic-Con: "RT and follow for a chance to win exclusive #XboxSDCC #XboxGear! NoPurchNec. Ends 7/22/18. #Sweepstakes Rules: bit.ly/2KV2DQ1." You have until July 22 to enter. Click through for the Official Rules.
Sea of Thieves Panel (San Diego Comic-Con badge required)
Room 5AB, Saturday, July 21 from 1:30pm – 2:30pm PDT
Special guest and Sea of Thieves fan Freddie Prinze Jr. ("Star Wars Rebels," "24," "Scooby Doo," "I Know What You Did Last Summer") joins the Rare crew, Joe Neate, Mike Chapman, and Peter Hentze as they discuss the lore and expanded universe of Sea of Thieves. Attendees will also receive a limited-edition Sea of Thieves comic and time-limited exclusive in-game DLC!
Xbox Live Sessions
If you're not in San Diego but still want to follow along with the fun, we're hosting two action-packed Xbox Live Sessions that you won't want to miss.
PUBG featuring Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene: On Thursday, July 19 at 5:00 p.m. PDT, PUBG Creative Director Brendan Greene (@PLAYERUNKNOWN) and Microsoft Executive Producer Nico Bihary (@nico_bihary) will join Rukari Austin (@rukizzelrukizzel) to get their loot on in PUBG's Miramar map live from inside of a PUBG Bus created by West Coast Customs. That's right – Xbox, PUBG Corp., and West Coast Customs have teamed up to create a one-of-a-kind, tricked out PUBG Bus which will be home to the livestream and available to see in-person at The Experience at Comic-Con.
Sea of Thieves with Freddie Prinze Jr.: On Saturday, July 21 at 5:00 p.m. PDT, Sea of Thieves fan Freddie Prinze Jr. (@RealFPJr) will sail the high seas with members of the Rare team and Major Nelson in an episode of Xbox Live Sessions that's sure to test the sea legs of the seasoned actor. Fans at home can tune in and watch on http://mixer.com/Xbox and http://twitch.tv/Xbox.
Xbox at "The Experience at Comic-Con"
Head over to Petco Park where you can play Xbox One games, earn free swag, and win awesome prizes! No Comic-Con badge required.
Visit the Samsung truck at The Experience at Comic-Con, located in the Lexus Lot at Petco Park. Climb aboard the truck to compete in Forza Motorsport 7 on Xbox One X via Samsung's 2018 QLED TVs. More information can be found here.
Come visit the first stop of the Xbox One Summer of PUBG tour. Win prizes, check out the PUBG Bus, and stick around for the Xbox Live Sessions! More information can be found here
For all the SDCC details, visit the Xbox SDCC website. For more Xbox news, follow @Xbox on Twitter and stay tuned to Xbox Wire. See you at San Diego Comic-Con!
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Tape storage capacity plays important role as data increases
As the amount of new data created is set to hit the multiple-zettabyte level in the coming years, where will we store it all?
With the release of LTO-8 and recent reports that total tape storage capacity continues to increase dramatically, tape is a strong option for long-term retention. But even tape advocates say it's going to take a comprehensive approach to storage that includes other forms of media to handle the data influx.
Tape making a comeback?
The annual tape media shipment report released earlier this year by the LTO Program showed that 108,000 petabytes (PB) of compressed tape storage capacity shipped in 2017, an increase of 12.9% over 2016. The total marks a fivefold increase over the capacity of just over 20,000 PB shipped in 2008.
LTO-8, which launched in late 2017, provides 30 TB compressed capacity and 12 TB native, doubling the capacities of LTO-7, which came out in 2015. The 12 TB of uncompressed capacity is equivalent to 8,000 movies, 2,880,000 songs or 7,140,000 photos, according to vendor Spectra Logic.
"We hope now [with] LTO-8 another increase in capacity [next year]," said Laura Loredo, worldwide marketing product manager at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, one of the LTO Program's Technology Provider Companies along with IBM and Quantum.
The media, entertainment and science industries have been traditionally strong users of tape for long-term retention. Loredo pointed to more recent uses that have gained traction. Video surveillance is getting digitized more often and kept for longer, and there is more of it in general. The medical industry is a similar story, as records get digitized and kept for long periods of time.
The ability to create digital content at high volumes is becoming less expensive, and with higher resolutions, those capacities are increasing, Quantum product and solution marketing manager Kieran Maloney said. So tape becomes a cost-efficient play for retaining that data.
Tape also brings security benefits. Because it is naturally isolated from a network, tape provides a true "air gap" for protection against ransomware, said Carlos Sandoval Castro, LTO marketing representative at IBM. If ransomware is in a system, it can't touch a tape that's not connected, making tapes an avenue for disaster recovery in the event of a successful attack.
"We are seeing customers come back to tape," Loredo said.
The LTO roadmap projects out to the 12th generation.
Tape sees clear runway ahead
"There's a lot of runway ahead for tape … much more so than either flash or disk," said analyst Jon Toigo, managing partner at Toigo Partners International and chairman of the Data Management Institute.
Even public cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure are big consumers of tape, Toigo said. Those cloud providers can use the large tape storage capacity for their data backup.
Tape is an absolute requirement for storing the massive amounts of data coming down the pike.
Jon Toigochairman, Data Management Institute
However, with IDC forecasting dozens of zettabytes in need of storage by 2025, flash and disk will remain important. One zettabyte is equal to approximately 1 billion TBs.
"You're going to need all of the above," Toigo said. "Tape is an absolute requirement for storing the massive amounts of data coming down the pike."
It's not necessarily about flash versus tape or other comparisons, it's about how best to use flash, disk, tape and the cloud, said Rich Gadomski, vice president of marketing at Fujifilm and a member of the Tape Storage Council.
The cloud, for example, is helpful for certain aspects, such as offsite storage, but it shouldn't be the medium for everything.
"A multifaceted data protection approach continues to thrive," Gadomski said.
There's still a lot of education needed around tape, vendors said. So often the conversation pits technologies against each other, Maloney said, but instead the question should be "Which technology works best for which use?" In the end, tape can fit into a tiered storage model that also includes flash, disk and the cloud.
In a similar way, the Tape Storage Council's annual "State of the Tape Industry" report, released in March, acknowledged that organizations are often best served by using multiple media for storage.
"Tape shares the data center storage hierarchy with SSDs and HDDs and the ideal storage solution optimizes the strengths of each," the report said. "However, the role tape serves in today's modern data centers is quickly expanding into new markets because compelling technological advancements have made tape the most economical, highest capacity and most reliable storage medium available."
LTO-8 uses tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) for tape heads, a switch from the previous giant magnetoresistance (GMR). TMR provides a more defined electrical signal than GMR, allowing bits to be written to smaller areas of LTO media. LTO-8 also uses barium ferrite instead of metal particles for tape storage capacity improvement. With the inclusion of TMR technology and barium ferrite, LTO-8 is only backward compatible to one generation. Historically, LTO had been able to read back two generations and write back to one generation.
"Tape continues to evolve — the technology certainly isn't standing still," Gadomski said.
Tape also has a clearly defined roadmap, with LTO projected out to the 12th generation. Each successive generation after LTO-8 projects double the capacity of the previous version. As a result, LTO-12 would offer 480 TB compressed tape storage capacity and 192 TB native. It typically takes between two and three years for a new LTO generation to launch.
In addition, IBM and Sony have said they developed technology for the highest recording areal density for tape storage media, resulting in approximately 330 TB uncompressed per cartridge.
On the lookout for advances in storage
Spectra Logic, in its "Digital Data Storage Outlook 2018" report released in June, said it projects much of the future zettabytes of data will "never be stored or will be retained for only a brief time."
"Spectra's projections show a small likelihood of a constrained supply of storage to meet the needs of the digital universe through 2026," the report said. "Expected advances in storage technologies, however, need to occur during this timeframe. Lack of advances in a particular technology, such as magnetic disk, will necessitate greater use of other storage mediums such as flash and tape."
While the report claims the use of tape for secondary storage has declined with backup moving to disk, the need for tape storage capacity in the long-term archive market is growing.
"Tape technology is well-suited for this space as it provides the benefits of low environmental footprint on both floor space and power; a high level of data integrity over a long period of time; and a much lower cost per gigabyte of storage than all other storage mediums," the report said.
amountcomingcreateddataLevelmultiplezettabytestorewherewillyears
For Sale – Late 2013 iMac 27"
Hi, sorry for delay coming back to thread I didn't see the notification until now.
Just 2 quick questions, is the keyboard wireless or wired?
Due to distance, I'd only be able to collect on a weekend ( my wife and eldest work most nights , and I'd rather not take my youngest on a 180 mile round trip if I can help it ) would the weekend after be any good? Or is that to long to wait for sale ( I understand if it is ) I assure you we won't let you down or back out
Could you let me have the first part of your postcode so I can workout the distance from Gloucester, I'm thinking approx 90 each way
As you can see I need the Mac to help count as that was 3 questions lol
backcomingdelaydidn'tHiNotificationnowJustsorrythreaduntil
Apple iOS 12 USB Restricted Mode to foil thieves, law enforcement
A security feature that had popped up in beta versions of Apple's iOS software appears to be coming in earnest as part of iOS 12, and it will protect devices against anyone trying to unlock them via USB.
USB Restricted Mode is described in the iOS 12 settings as the option to enable or deny the ability to "unlock [an] iPhone to allow USB accessories to connect when it has been more than an hour since your iPhone was locked." In practice, this means a device will require a passcode unlock in order to connect any Lightning-to-USB accessory after the one-hour time limit has passed.
Apple didn't mention USB Restricted Mode during the keynote at its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, but developers saw it in the iOS 12 preview, which was released that same day. The setting is on by default and covers any type of security on an iOS device — Touch ID, Face ID and passcode.
Experts noted USB Restricted Mode will protect users' data if a device is stolen, but it will also deny law enforcement from using unlocking services from companies like GrayKey and Cellebrite — the latter of which was rumored to have helped the FBI unlock the San Bernardino, Calif., shooter's iPhone.
Earlier tests of USB Restricted Mode had allowed for a one-week time limit, spurring GrayKey to reportedly alert customers of this feature when it surfaced in the iOS 11.3 beta, according to internal email messages obtained by Motherboard. A one-hour time limit could effectively make it impossible for customers to get the device to a company like GrayKey in time to gain brute-force access.
Rusty Carter, vice president of product management at Arxan, based in San Francisco, said USB Restricted Mode "is really about increasing the security of the device."
If the device is vulnerable to brute-force attacks via wired connection, other security features, like being able to wipe the device after 10 unsuccessful authentication attempts, are rendered useless.
Rusty Cartervice president of product management at Arxan
"If the device is vulnerable to brute-force attacks via wired connection, other security features, like being able to wipe the device after 10 unsuccessful authentication attempts, are rendered useless … they are effectively a false sense of security," Carter wrote via email. "Effectively, any data is vulnerable, unless the individual app developer has done the right thing both to secure and encrypt user data and require more than stored credentials or identity to access the data with their app, which is rarely the case today."
John Callahan, CTO of Veridium, based in Quincy, Mass., said, as a developer, his initial reaction to USB Restricted Mode was, "Great, now I'll have to unlock the phone every time I go to debug a mobile app with Xcode." But he later realized it could have protected a lot of stolen devices if it had been implemented in an earlier version of iOS.
"USB Restricted Mode in iOS 12 a big win for users, because we are keeping more personally identifiable information on our mobile devices, including healthcare, identification and biometric data. Our phones have become our digital wallets, and we expect a maximum level of privacy and convenience," Callahan wrote via email. "Android devices, ironically seen as less secure, have long required unlocking when connected in USB Debug mode. In many ways, Apple is playing catch-up with respect to physical device security."
appearsApple'sbetacomingfeaturepoppedSecuritysoftwarethatversions


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FOX, Fringe and the Demographics that Matter
By Edward Email Post 9/25/2008 02:47:00 PM Categories: J.J. Abrams, Ratings, Review
Having never followed a television show's ratings week to week before, I'm happy to leave the analysis and pontification of how Fringe is fairing to the experts. In this case the experts would be the crowd over at TV by the Numbers:
With real competition, Fringe shed 28% of its audience from last week. It also lost 19% of its 18-49 demo and 11% of its 18-34 demo. Still, it won the 18-34 demo for the hour by a wide margin, and was competitive in the 18-49 demo.
Fringe | 9.651 Million Viewers | 4.2/10 18-49 Rating Share | 4.0/11 18-34 Rating Share
Amazing numbers for Fox in the demo. Fringe held up pretty well against DWTS. (All those 18-34 yr olds are probably too young to see the similarities with the X-Files.) Actually last nights episode was the first one that made me want to watch again next week, so good job. Now if it could just make me want to watch it live!
Maybe I'm not getting the "amazing numbers" for Fringe. It did just a bit better than the pilot, and the 28% decline from last week is a bit alarming.
Also those 18-34 year olds know it's ripping off X-Files. They watch because Abrams' name is attached.
I do see FOX probably giving it a full season order, however. FOX has to stop the bleeding on the other nights.
FOX's numbers are amazing, but not in a good way. It's amazing how much House has dropped and that Fringe lost more than 3 million viewers week-to-week.
Outlander says:
What's interesting to me is that Fringe lost 1 million viewers from 9:00 to 9:30. While a few other shows lost maybe 150k or 100k viewers during their episode, none lost as many as Fringe.
Robert Seidman says:
Outlander, House did run over into 9pm slightly (accordingt to my DVR). It could be that when that's factored out of the final numbers the drop for Fringe won't be as steep — but still will likely be steeper than it was for other shows.
Bob, you used the word "disastrous". House is certainly still printing cash for Fox. I'm not sure about Fringe only because of the limited commerials, but I will not be surprised if Fringe's numbers drop off even from where they are. …
"CBS wasn't Fox among 18-49 year olds either. Or ABC, and was just barely better than NBC (but better is better).'
You're right, but at least it wasn't a 2:1 drop in that demo. Also, you have to look at drop in the demo for House and Fringe. The total audience loss is affecting the demo. (Of course I'm not saying anything you don't already know.)
If ABC actually had a hit in the 8pm hour, it might actually compete with FOX in the demo.
Andrea, the week over week drops in viewers and demo for House and Fringe were as surely expected by Fox as they were by us as last week was not yet a full landscape of new competition. Don't get me wrong, I don't think CBS' numbers were bad at all — I just don't view them as great relative to the demo competition. I agree CBS won't be Fox and isn't looking to be among 18-34 year olds, but that they had not even one half hour of a 2.0 or better in that demo can't be deemed great even by the brass at CBS.
FrankJ says:
I think FOX should be concerned about the million viewer drop-off after the first half hour of Fringe. It's basically shed all the House viewers. By the end of the night it was back to it's premiere numbers.
FOX may have another stand-alone show on their hands. They really need to find a better way to pair these shows together.
Frank, all I can do is speculate.I think it's MUCH too early to even speculate easily about Fringe — last night was it's first airing against full competition and it held 80% of the House lead-in. If it continues to perform in the demos as it did last night, I don't think Fox will be displeased.
Realm Reader says:
This may be pure conjecture but wasn't the mid-season finale of Eureka on at the same time as Fringe? Think maybe some of the hardcore sci-fi fans may have decided to let the DVR pick up Fringe that night.
I think you're comparing apples to oranges a bit. House and Fringe are the best Fox has to offer. Tonight's ratings are head and shoulders above what Fox will get any other night (in demo and viewers). On the other hand, NCIS has always been one of the oldest skewing shows on CBS.
If you compare House to NCIS, yes, House wins in the demo. But if you compare what each network expects out of these shows, I think Fox is way more concerned about House's numbers than CBS is about NCIS's
Well if your take on CBS is "when you ain't got nothing (in the demo), you got nothing to lose", I agree CBS is less worried.
But I doubt the Fox programmers are clueless and had to expect some drop off simply by changing timeslots for a show with already diminished ratings post-writer's strike.
Whether it's wise to try to build a new franchise with Fringe I can't say and time will tell. But I don't buy analysis that says "Fringe is back to its premiere numbers and House is doing it no good." Its premiere was heavily promoted and aired against zero competition (unless you count the CW).
Fox should be encouraged by House pulling in a 5.0+ in the demo in its fifth season in a new weaker time slot. This is still a home run for the network.
Fringe is a hit, not a homer which is what I'm sure fox was hoping for, but I doubt their upset. The network would kill to have Fringes numbers on their Monday night shows.
Cookson says:
Obviously it's nice to have really high "overall" viewers, but we all know that the 18-49 and 18-34 numbers are more important. Nice for Fringe… even though I'm about to just watch the rest on DVD..
What did I tell you about Fringe? I said to wait and see how it did against some strong competition and sure enough it came off second best. That didn't surprise me, what did surprise me was NCIS beating House by a considerable margin!! Neber saw that one coming at all.
I personally found that conversation both fascinating and an education. I hope they're right about the importance of the 18-34 and 18-49 demographic. If Fringe needs anything--and this is my opinion--it needs time.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Pierce Brothers, also from Melbourne opened the show – talking about Aussie power… Damn those two guys brought quite some energy to the stage. The Pierce Brothers (who are btw twins!) really warmed up the crowd and made it incredibly hard for me to stand still while taking pictures. Pat and Jack Pierce were hitting the drums and were strumming the guitar while bringing a really cool folk-y atmosphere to Samsung Hall. Such an energetic duo – if you have the chance to go see them on their Headline tour, please do so, go get your ticket right now!
Many of the fans were enjoying her music as much as I was! The audience was super diverse, it was fun to see so many different people. Surfer dudes, hippies but also the girls all dolled up and ready to go to the club and the guys in suits – you could see about any type of person at Samsung Hall that night. Apart from the die-hard fans in the first couple of rows that were in their little happy bubble, unfortunately, there were the other ones that were either drunk or just ignorant and managed to ruin this experience for a lot of people around them. There was so much chatter (sometimes even screaming) that I had to change my spot 3 times. I just wanted to listen to the music! After having experienced a so respectful and quiet crowd at the Passenger show, it was hard to deal with this audience. Especially some people around the bar area were so loud, I could barely concentrate on the music, so sad! This, however, was the only negative thing about an otherwise great concert evening!


But what's important to remember is that while a few people may have been born great leaders, most great leaders are made through a constant practice of self-reflection and evolution.
So what if you start smoothing some of your own rough edges: pick something you're interested in doing differently, and spent just one week acting differently?
Do you always have something smart and constructive to say in meetings? Spend a week saying absolutely nothing, just listening, and see who else starts to speak up (and how you feel staying quiet).
Do you "need" to go online every 15 minutes to check your email, your Twitter feed and the latest news headline? Spend a week with your Internet connection turned off except for two hours a day, and see what happens.
Always getting everything right before launching the next new idea? Take something half-baked and move it forward quickly. Are you the last person on your team to arrive in the office every morning? Arrive first for a week. Eat lunch alone? Invite a friend. Always eat with the same people? Invite someone new. Blog posts always long? Shoot for less than 200 words this week. Always short? Develop an idea.
Big changes are hard. A one week experiment in acting differently is risk-free. So spend a week smoothing off some edges, and see how it feels.


The Company provides 'Head to Toe' Training in 'Safety Awareness' with special emphasis on Fall Arrest (Working at Height) & LOTO (Lockout and Tagout.
The Company also provides external safety equipment audit by our Inspectors to complement the work done by in-house HSE inspectors or for small companies that do not have a special HSE Department.
4. LOTO Training - about Guidelines, Procedures, Products Knowledge & Practical use of LOTO products.


Up to 50% of stroke patients can suffer with a swallowing disorder known as dysphagia, which causes difficulty in eating enough to meet nutritional requirements.
The majority of dietitians work revolves around ensuring you receive all the nutrients you need by advising you on texture modified diets (puree or soft diets) and suggesting oral nutritional supplements.
In more severe cases, patients may not be able to swallow safely at all and may require feeding via a tube directly into the stomach to bypass the faulty swallow.
how to control diabetes through diet.


text:
Home » Attractions » Flamboyant Mayor grabs headlines in Canberra, too
Flamboyant Mayor grabs headlines in Canberra, too
In Attractions, Media and Communications, Momentum, National Headlines, Tourism Routes, Victoria
Photo: Mayor Darryn Lyons, meeting with Liberal MP Sarah Henderson, and Bob Baldwyn, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Industry Minister. (Supplied)
GEELONG Vic.'s Mayor Darren Lyons has found a way to push his region's agenda – all the way to Canberra. This time he's lobbying for defence building contracts for his regions.
The mayor made national headlines in January talking up the value of tourism in Geelong. See Darryn Lyons' tourism campaign from 31st January here.
Geelong Mayor Darryn Lyons takes fight for lucrative defence contract to Canberra
Updated Thu 13 Feb 2014, 2:47pm AEDT
Geelong Mayor Darryn Lyons has taken his push for major defence contract to Canberra.
Councillor Lyons is lobbying for Geelong to secure the $10 billion contract to design and build the Land 400 military combat vehicles.
He met with representatives from the Department of Defence and advisers to Prime Minister Tony Abbott as well as local MPs.
Geelong's economy is in transition after the announcement of job losses at Ford and a decision is expected soon about whether Alcoa continue operating its aluminium smelter at Point Henry.
Councillor Lyons says the bid will face stiff competition from other consortiums, particularly in South Australia, which is also facing job losses in the manufacturing sector.
But he says Geelong is the best place for the work.
"It's location, location, location," he said.
"It's very close to Puckapunyal, we've got Deakin University, it has all the systems in place in terms of Avalon, it has the ports and of course in terms of the motoring sector, the biggest in Australia.
"So, as we've got to look to smart engineering and smart manufacturing capabilities which are already starting in Geelong, this is really to build on that."
He said the contract could bring 1,000 jobs to the city.
"We've got to look to the future. We are in a rebuilding stage," he said.
"I want to build and service these tanks and design them and sell the IP around the world to bring GDP into Australia.
"This is where we create jobs for the future. These are very different jobs to traditional manufacturing.
"This is the future of manufacturing which Geelong is leading."
Photo: Darryn Lyons all dressed up to lobby for the lucrative contracts. (ABC News)
The Land 400 is a $10 billion design and manufacturing program along with a $10 billion maintenance program, funded by the Federal Government's defence capability plan.
Before heading to Canberra, the colourful mayor posed for a photograph on the front page of the Geelong Advertiser, dressed in military fatigues and a tin hat.
Alcoa future also on the agenda
Councillor Lyons also discussed the future of Alcoa with advisers to the Prime Minister.
"As far as Alcoa's concerned, and for the families and friends there, as far as I'm concerned, no news is bad news," he said.
"I've got close friends who've been there for many years and the workers aren't really being spoken to and that is to me a very bad sign."
He said the defence contract bid is part of the city preparing for life after the announcement.
"Any leader of any city would say I'd love to give great news, but we've made pressing telephone calls and letters and the system is still exactly the same."
A spokesperson from Alcoa says the company is yet to make a decision on its Point Henry smelter.
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We're skeptical of (... willing to question ...) everything!
The Skeptics group gathers to explore questions and issues raised by 'friends' and 'critics' of the Christian tradition.
Feel free to drop-in... all are welcome.


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This paper analyses the variegated narratives by 'minority nationalities' in China, hoping to understand the dynamics of their ethnic consciousness. I focus on the Mongols in Henan Mongolian Autonomous County of Qinghai Province – hereafter Henanmengqi – where 'Tibetanisation' has been longstanding in culture and language. In recent decades, they have been subject to the state's ethnic classification and thus have been conscious of their relationship with the neighbouring Tibetans and other Mongols in and out of Qinghai. In this paper, the following themes on their daily experiences are discussed: What significance does the nationality category of Sogpo ('Mongol' in Tibetan) hold for the Henanmengqi people? Who (which group) should or should not be included in Sogpo? In what situation does the semantic content of Sogpo change? The Henanmengqi people are not free to choose their nationality category, and are often caught in the conflicting categorisations by the state administrators, scholars, other Tibetans and Mongols. I pay particular attention to the power dynamics in such relationships and the strategies taken by the Henanmengqi people to negotiate with external powers to form their nationality behaviours. Finally, I will discuss in general the characteristics of what may be called the grammar or reality of 'homemade narration' by ethnic minorities.


This transition shooting drill using Dr. Dish is a great drill to work on shooting 3's out of transition as well as inside – out 3 point shots for a trailing player.
Together with Dr. Dish, we've created The Dr. Dish Shooting Drill Book, which includes 30 drills ready to implement with your team today! The playbook includes spot shooting, team shooting, post work, offense specific shooting, and full court drills.


text:
import { FormioComponents } from '../Components';
import _isObject from 'lodash/isObject';
import _each from 'lodash/each';
export class ContainerComponent extends FormioComponents {
  constructor(component, options, data) {
    super(component, options, data);
    this.type = 'container';
  }

  build() {
    this.element = this.ce('div', {
      class: 'formio-container-component ' + this.component.customClass
    });
    if (!this.data[this.component.key]) {
      this.data[this.component.key] = {};
    }
    this.addComponents(this.element, this.data[this.component.key]);
  }

  getValue() {
    let value = {};
    _each(this.components, (component) => {
      value[component.component.key] = component.getValue();
    });
    return value;
  }

  setValue(value, flags) {
    flags = this.getFlags.apply(this, arguments);
    if (!value || !_isObject(value)) {
      return;
    }
    this.value = value;
    _each(this.components, (component) => {
      if (component.type === 'components') {
        component.setValue(value, flags);
      }
      else if (value.hasOwnProperty(component.component.key)) {
        component.setValue(value[component.component.key], flags);
      }
    });
    this.updateValue(flags);
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Refinancing your car loan could be the easiest way to cut down the time it takes to pay off your loan, not to mention help you pocket hundreds if not thousands of dollars in savings in the process. Compare for yourself by checking out the competitive car loan rates in the table below to see if you'd be better off making the switch.
Is refinancing my loan worthwhile?
Taking the time to compare your current offer with other car loan rates is never a bad idea, after all, your rate might not be as good as it once was! See for yourself by plugging in your current rate to our switch and save calculator to find out how it compares to some of the lowest car loan rates around.
Are there any refinancing fees?
Some car loan providers may charge a fee when you exit your current loan if you are on a fixed rate, while you may also be charged a fee to set up a new loan once you make the switch. That's why it's important to weigh up the whole cost of refinancing, not just the headline interest rate on offer.
You bet! If you've found a better value car loan rate simply hit the blue 'go to site' button and you'll be redirected to the lender's website where you can get the process underway.
Refinance car loan comparisons on Mozo - rates updated daily Mozo has robust processes to ensure our site is updated to reflect the latest information from providers. There may be the odd occasion where updates are delayed, so please confirm information before purchasing.
Terms from 1 to 10 years. Representative example: a 5 year $30,000 loan at 5.64% would cost $34,748.53 including fees.
A flexible loan with no monthly account fees and no penalties for early repayments.
Terms from 1 to 10 years. Representative example: a 5 year $30,000 loan at 7.99% would cost $37,288.90 including fees.
Terms from 1 to 7 years. Representative example: a 5 year $30,000 loan at 6.79% would cost $35,729.09 including fees.
$0 establishment fee. Reach your goal sooner without being penalised with $0 early payout fee. $0 monthly fees.
Terms from 3 to 5 years. Representative example: a 5 year $30,000 loan at 5.44% would cost $34,732.26 including fees.
Terms from 3 to 5 years. Representative example: a 5 year $30,000 loan at 4.74% would cost $34,154.23 including fees.
Want more? Compare all 197 car loans in the Mozo comparison engine.
*The Comparison Rate combines the lender's interest rate, fees and charges into a single rate to show the true cost of a personal loan. The comparison rates displayed are calculated based on a loan of $30,000 for a term of 5 years or a loan of $10,000 for a term of 3 years as indicated, based on monthly principal and interest repayments, on a secured basis for secured loans and an unsecured basis for unsecured loans. WARNING: This comparison rate applies only to the example or examples given. Different amounts and terms will result in different comparison rates. Costs such as redraw fees or early repayment fees, and cost savings such as fee waivers, are not included in the comparison rate but may influence the cost of the loan.
**Representative example figures and monthly repayment figures are estimates only, based on the advertised rate, mandatory fees, loan amount and term entered. Rates, fees and charges and therefore the total cost of the loan may vary depending on your loan amount, loan term, and credit history. Actual repayments will depend on your individual circumstances and interest rate changes.
How much could you save by switching your car loan? Compare savings from over 100 car loans. Find out in a few clicks.
Reviews, news, tips and guides to help find the best car loan for you.
While your car loan may only run over a couple of years, that doesn't mean you shouldn't take the chance to compare some of the best car loan rates around and potentially make the switch to a better value deal. Refinancing is that easy. It's simply making the move from one car loan to another and hopefully saving you some money along the way. It might seem like a hassle, but with our handy car loan comparison table you'll be able to compare some of the lowest car loan rates around with a single glance, to see just how much you could save.
What should I consider before refinancing?
With plenty of low car loan rates on the market below 6.50%, now could be the time to do a rate check with your own car loan rate. But hold up one minute! Before you start the process of refinancing and making the switch, make sure you consider any fees you'll need to pay. It can also be worthwhile weighing up whether car loan refinancing is the most convenient option for you to take, after all, making the switch might not be worthwhile if you're already four years through a five year loan.
So if you're considering refinancing your car loan, make it easy for yourself by using our handy car loan switch and save calculator. By plugging in a few simple details about your current loan and provider, our calculator will be able to show you just how much you could save on your car loan repayments if you were to refinance.
Just how much would refinancing save me?
Every car owner with a loan is going to be in a different situation when it comes to how much they'll be able to save by refinancing. It may even be the case that you won't be able to save at all because you've already bagged yourself one of the best car loan rates around. But in case you haven't, here's an example to illustrate the benefits refinancing your car loan could have on your wallet.
Two years ago, Emma and her partner purchased a second-hand 2015 Mitsubishi ASX. In order to buy it, they took out a car loan with an interest rate of 8.21% on which they still have $20,000 left to pay. Even taking into account a $200 upfront fee, if Emma made the switch to a low rate car loan with an interest rate of 6.50% she would end up saving $365 over the final three years of her loan.
Interested in finding out how much you could end up pocketing yourself by refinancing? Enter your current car loan figures into the Mozo car loan switch and save calculator to get started.
What documents do I need to refinance?
Because you'll be switching lenders when you refinance your car loan, you'll need to have a few documents ready to go in order for the approval process to run quickly and smoothly.
Identification: Whether it's your car loan or credit card, with any financial application you make you'll need to prove that you are who you say you are. That's why you should have some sort of identification, like a drivers licence, passport or your medicare card, at the ready when you're looking to refinance to a new car loan.
Address: Aside from your identity, you're new lender is also likely to ask you to provide proof of your address. If you own your own home then a mortgage statement will do the trick, while if you're renting you'll need to fish out your tenancy agreement or even a bill or council notice with your address on it.
Finances: You're taking out a loan after all, so you're going to need to provide your new lender with some proof that you'll be able to pay them back. This means offering up something like a payslip, or series of payslips, to show your ongoing income, as well as a savings account statement from your bank to demonstrate proof of savings. Your new lender may also ask you to provide records of any debt you currently owe.
Insurance: Depending on the lender, you may also need to provide proof that you have a comprehensive car insurance policy on the vehicle which you're seeking the car loan for.
Are there any catches to refinancing?
Of course. Sometimes the car loan rate you're currently getting could be very competitive, or it might just not be convenient for you to make the switch if you're at the end of your loan period.
On top of rates and convenience, you'll also need to factor in any exit, sign up or ongoing fees you'll need to pay if you switch from one loan to another. Not all car loan providers charge fees, but for those that do, you could be looking at hundreds of dollars in costs. For example, car loan sign up fees in the Mozo database range anywhere from $0 to $995.
What is my choice of refinancing lenders?
Online lenders: Many of the most competitive rates in the Mozo database are from online lenders or traditional lenders offering low rates for online loan deals. If you're looking to refinance to a low rate deal and like the idea of a simple application process, an online car loan offer could be the right option for you.
Peer to peer lenders: Like the idea of online providers that reward borrowers with excellent credit history? Peer to peer lenders offer some of the most competitive car loan rates around for borrowers who have managed their credit well in the past.
Big banks: If you'd rather opt for a more familiar face, there are plenty of car loan rates on offer from the big four banks as well as other traditional lenders.
How else can I save on my car loan?
Aside from cutting down your repayments by refinancing to a cheap car loan, there are a couple of other tricks which could help you save money on your car loan.
If you haven't already, your first step should be switching your repayment frequency from monthly to fortnightly or weekly repayments. That's if your car loan provider gives you the flexibility to do it. You won't be paying any extra, but it's a simple way to cut down the overall interest you'll pay over the life of your loan. For example, let's say you have a $25,000 car loan with an 8.21% interest rate. According to the Mozo car loan repayment calculator, by making weekly repayments instead of monthly ones, you could net an extra $106 in your pocket in saved interest over the life of a five year loan.
The vast majority of lenders will allow you to make extra repayments on your car loan, so if you've got the room in your budget, or you get a sudden windfall, it makes sense to pay off your debt as soon as possible. Just bear in mind that some lenders do charge a penalty if you pay off your loan earlier than anticipated, generally fixed rate loans, so be sure to check these details out beforehand.
Can I use a car loan on a bike?
Short answer, most of the time. Car loans are just a different variety of personal loans and can be used for a wide variety of reasons. However there are occasions where you might want a more specific vehicle loan, whether this is a bike loan, a boat loan or something completely different.
If you're sold by the idea of refinancing to a better car loan deal halfway through your loan, make sure you do the same when your next on the market for a new or used car loan. Just imagine how much interest you could save by opting for a low rate car loan deal from the start.
But don't stop there! If you're set on refinancing to a better car loan rate, make sure you do the same for all of your banking products. Whether that's making the move to a savings account with a more rewarding interest rate, or refinancing your home loan, comparing rates on all your products could be an easy way to save you money.
Great bank, great service and very friendly staff.
Have purchased 2 cars off Toyota needing finance, they are friendly, approachable, helpful, knowledgeable and above all professional.
Everything is good but it could be cheaper.
What car can you afford?
How long is a piece of string? No, but really, it's probably obvious to you how much you can afford to spend on a car, so keep your blinkers on and start with some realistic car research. We're not saying that drooling over your fantasy car isn't allowed, just be realistic. And there's more to your research then you first anticipated.
Buying a car, whether new or second hand is an exciting time. A novice driver or experienced? At the end of the day it doesn't matter, because a set of new wheels of any kind can be exhilarating any which way. But at what cost? Do you actually need new wheels to drive or is it an ego thing? Whatever the situation, what's more important is whether or not you can afford it. And if you don't have savings put away dedicated to your potentially new shiny mobile ego, then you're going to need to look into either a car loan or dealer finance. What's the difference? Let's have a looksee.
Welcome! And it's a mighty good thing you're here. Whether you're about to apply for a car loan or still just thinking about it, you're better off with a few tricks and tips up your sleeve before even meeting with your lender. It's best to start the conversation about borrowing money with all the knowledge you can get your hands on, because being even a little clued up can save you thousands in the long run. Here we go!
It's no secret that buying a car can be just as exciting as it is stressful - there's heaps to organise, plus a decent amount of paperwork to sort through before you're given the keys to your new ride.
So you test drove the car once, and now you've already bought the matching seat covers. We hate to burst your bubble, but before you get too carried away and order those personalised plates, you might want to figure out one other (super important!) little detail… the car loan.
From spa treatments to picking up a new pair of shoes, everyone needs to treat themselves every now and again.


The joy of Wikipedia, and a little evil.
That there is an example of what's wrong with Wikis. But in less than 2 minutes it had been properly restored and it is indeed a great resource – even with the blips.


I am an aspiring author seeking a book cover for a fiction novel.
I need a book cover for a fiction novel. I have two different ideas. Either one can be presented. The first is an outline of a girl's head whose brain is being manipulated. The second is the justice scales and a judge's gavel.
My audience are teens and young adults.
I need something that looks royal. The coloring should be royal.
The nation's motto "Ne Libertatis Regni; Let Freedom Reign" should be included. The book title "Stolen Empire" should be included.


OKLAHOMA CITY - Some Village residents say dog attacks are out of control in their NW Oklahoma City neighborhood. Tuesday night they took their concerns to Village officials.
"This pitbull came charging at us," Village resident Leslie Spears describing an attack last Wednesday at a city council meeting Tuesday night. A pitbull that belonged to a neighbor charging and attacking Leslie and her Papillon dog, Albert, who later died of its wounds.
Leslie claims it's the third attack on her pets in the 18 years she has lived in the NW OKC neighborhood, losing two dogs and a cat.
"I would never recommend breed banning. We need more people, we need to increase communication how to identify a vicious dog how to report it - who to report it to," said Spears speaking to city council about tougher pet laws for the Village.
Leslie not alone. Other residents speaking out to Village officials.
Ann Patton says she walks her small dogs in the Village.
A full council chamber of residents in attendance. Other Village dog owners in attendance were worried that their large breed dogs might be targeted.
"I have very large dobermans. They are our lap dogs. They can be looked at as an aggressive dog so we make sure that we have raised them to be loving dogs," said Village resident Sandra Sherry.
The village mayor, council members and city managers listening to residents wanting to make changes.
"We are going to get to a better spot on this and we want to get there too." said Sonny Wilkinson, Village Mayor.
Officials say it's on the neighbors to report animals and their owners that pose a threat.
"Report these so we can go thru the process and take action against these potential vicious dogs, so these dogs don't become vicious dogs that harm another animal or human," said Village City Manager Bruce Stone.


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Massey University's College of Creative Arts takes hundreds of students each year through their creative studies.
To do this the College of Creative Arts (CoCA) uses Stream, a open source learning management system powered by Moodle. This redesign looks at making Stream much more enjoyable for staff and. students to use through both additional functionality and UI.


If you are one who take a great deal of time to plan for your holiday, why not view the selection of videos from the various tourist attractions in Malaysia? The saying "A Picture Paints A Thousand Words" is make even more profound with the invention of video. Many of us would want to see with our own eyes whether what others have described is really what we perceived to be.
The collection of videos below show the islands, beaches, mountains, resorts, theme parks, shopping complexes and other interesting places of holiday in Malaysia to help you plan your itinerary during your holiday here. Get a broadband connection for a good streaming video picture. If you only have dial up connection, press the pause button and wait for a while for the video data to be stored into your computer memory before clicking the play button.
Langkawi is one of the most developed island in Malaysia. An international airport, excellent golf courses, duty free shopping, beautiful beaches and state of the art marine facilities are all located here.
This is a marine park located at the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Approximately 19 nautical miles south of Langkawi Island. See the video of shark-feeding on this island.
The two islands of Perhentian Besar and Perhentian Kecil are part of Redang Marine Park located 25km off the town of Kuala Besut in Terengganu. Good place to snorkel or scuba diving.
One of the biggest island off the coast of Terengganu and reputed to be one of the most beautiful beach in this region. The best time to visit this island is from March to October. See the videos of the island..
Made famous by Jacques Cousteau documentary called "Ghost of the Sea Turtle", this island has been one of the most populardiving destination for many divers. Located off the north-east coast of Sabah at the Celebes Sea, this island is formedby corals on an extinct volcanic cone that rises 600m or 2,000 feet from the seabed.
One of the biggest island off the coast of Pahang. Scuba diving, snorkelling, golfing, jungle trekking and island hopping are some of the activities you can do here. See the videos of the island..
See the video of the oldest national park in Sarawak. Of particular interests are the proboscis monkeys, sandy beaches with unique rocks formation and the 16 well marked trails.
Also called Forest Research Institute of Malaysia, this 600 hectares park has a lot to offer. Try the canopy walkway which hangs 30 m above ground, do jungle trekking and learn the names of the plants and trees in the vicinity. See the video of the canopy walk.
See the video of Silver Leaf Monkeys that roam freely at Bukit Malawati near Kuala Selangor Nature park, about an hour or so drive from the city of Kuala Lumpur.
Located in the city of Shah Alam, this park's main attraction is the four season house featuring winter, spring, summer and autumn theme.
Located near the city of Kuala Lumpur, Mines Wonderland is the place to go with your entire family for your holiday in Malaysia when the sun sets. See the video of the highlight of the night, the Musical Fountain here.
See the video of the Cruise on the South Lake at Mines Shopping Fair near the Mines Wonderland night theme park.
Located about 70 minutes drive away from Kuala Lumpur, this hot springs is one of the most developed with good facilities in Malaysia. See the video of the hot springs.
Go back to nature and enjoy this largest man-made lake in Terengganu. Anglers will be glad to come here for a big catch of their lives.