GPS tracking apps make Halloween safer by keeping tabs on kids

Parents spend their whole lives teaching their children not to accept candy from strangers. So what do we do? We celebrate a night each year where we allow our children to accept candy from strangers ­— and in the dark no less.

Such is the ghastly tradition of Halloween. But with today’s technology, namely a smartphone, parents can help temper their worries. There are apps for smartphones that can track your children so they can journey from door to door in search of the elusive full-sized candy bar in complete safety.

So as your children are on their trick-or-treating route, you can use an iPad or a desktop computer to see exactly where they are going in real time. If your kids don’t have their own iPhone, perhaps you can lend them yours and then turn on another app, Find My iPhone, which tracks your own phone in case you lose it.


Find My Friends (iPhone, free) » If you’re an Apple user with kids who also have iPhones, this free Apple-produced app should be on your phone anyway. It is capable of tracking your kids, or friends, on a map at any time as long as you get their permission. And unlike other apps, it doesn’t put an extra drain on your battery.

Trick or Treating (iPhone, 99 cents) » With this app, children can input the contact information of all of their loved ones as well as police should they get lost and need direction to get home. All of the addresses are then displayed on a map.

SecuraFone (iPhone, Android, free, monthly service fee) » This full-featured app allows you to track the user in real time. But it also can send the parent alerts and notifications whenever the child with the phone is changing directions or speed. It also includes emergency contacts that can be accessed immediately.

GPS Phone Tracker (iPhone, Android, free) » Another tracker that parents can use to keep real-time tabs on their children. It also can log where they’ve been every couple of minutes so you can see the trail they’re leaving behind.

Life360 (iPhone, Android, free) » Here is a robust GPS tracker with a lot of features including the ability to organize groups of friends you’re following, a "panic" button your child can use if he or she is in trouble, and more. The free version has basic features, but there also is a premium service that provides a lot more.

Gone Out — Later Folks (iPhone, $1.99) » This app allows kids to keep their parents up to date on where they are and where they are going. The child can take a picture and record the location of where he or she is at and send that information to parents.

Apple's FIngerprint Scanner Doesn't Work All The Time

AuthenTec cofounder F. Scott Moody put the most groundbreaking work his company has done on display this October at North Carolina State University, where he showed off Apple's Touch ID to engineering students.

Purchased last year by Apple for $356 million, AuthenTec is behind the iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor, a tiny device located underneath the phone's home button. The sensor uses a finger's grooves and pores to identify its owner, and it gets to know you better every time you use it.

Fingerprinting wasn't always so easy, though, according to Apple Insider. Touch ID was initially called FingerLoc, and the technology sometimes worked in fits and starts. Moody once got IBM's chief technology officer to test out the sensor, only to have it misidentify him.

But AuthenTec eventually revamped its sensor into a tiny device that only costs $0.80, and Motorola, Fujitsu and Apple in particular expressed interest in the company. Now, after the sale and the introduction of the sensor into the iPhone 5S, the work Moody helped spearhead is a part of millions of lives.

Apple to Offer 12-Inch Retina MacBook in 2014

In a research note shared by 9to5Mac, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts that Apple will release a 12-inch Retina MacBook sometime in either the second or third quarter of 2014.

The report claims that the laptop will sport an entirely new design. However, the device isn’t termed as being a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, so it’s unclear if this might represent a new laptop category for the computer maker, or simply an upgrade to an existing model.

Aside from the MacBook rumor, Ming-Chi Kuo’s report also claims that Apple may release a lower-cost iMac around the same time as the new MacBook, as well as a sixth-generation, 9.7-inch iPad with 30-40% higher PPI (pixels-per-inch) than the current Retina iPad.

Of course, only Apple knows what it really has planned for 2014. But Ming-Chi Kuo has a decent track record for making such long-range predictions.

So while it wouldn’t be advisable to bet on these latest product forecasts as being 100 percent accurate, you can probably expect at least some of these rumors to come true this time next year.

Microsoft Recycles Inactive Outlook, Hotmail Email Accounts

Microsoft is recycling inactive email accounts for its Outlook, Hotmail and Live services, potentially exposing users to previous owners' private information, according to a new report posted by Dutch website Webwereld.

The software giant's services agreement informs users that they must periodically log in to their Outlook, Hotmail or Windows Live ID accounts to keep them active. It reads:

"The Microsoft branded services require that you sign in to your Microsoft account periodically, at a minimum of every 270 days, to keep the Microsoft branded services portion of the services active, unless provided otherwise in an offer for a paid portion of the services. If you fail to sign in during this period, we may cancel your access to the Microsoft branded services. If the Microsoft branded services are cancelled due to your failure to sign in, your data may be permanently deleted from our servers."

The agreement doesn't specify whether accounts would then be recycled, but Microsoft confirmed this to Webwereld and PCWorld, saying "The email account is automatically queued for deletion from our servers. Then, after a total of 360 days, the email account name is made available again."

Yahoo has also come under fire for recycling email addresses, but the company warns users about this policy in its terms of service.

For its part, Google says it will not recycle usernames, according to its terms of service. Users can never sign up for a Gmail account previously held by another person, even if that account has been deleted for years.

How to download free mp3 from Grooveshark

Grooveshark Downloader is the easiest way to download songs from Grooveshark directly to your computer. You can download any song on Grooveshark, with multiple simultaneous downloads. No ads, no delays, no tricks. Just click and download free high quality mp3 files.

1. Go to Grooveshark Downloader and install.
2. Chrome won't let you add an offline extension. Message on top of the browser will prompt you "Apps, extensions and user scripts cannot be added from this website". Just click OK to proceed.
3. Navigate to Settings on your Google Chrome browser at the top right corner and go to extensions tab.
4. Go to your Downloads folder and Drag and Drop the Extension File that you downloaded earlier to the extension tab.
5. Click Add.
6. You will then see a message Grooveshark Downloader has been added to Chrome.
7. Open Grooveshark or Refresh Grooveshark if it's already open.
8. Now every song in the playlist will have a Download Link.
9. You'll be able to download music/songs now for free and it will be stored in your default download folder.

Some simple video tutorial if you're unclear about it.

GTA 5 review round-up: Five stars across the board

Fans of the Grand Theft Auto series can breath a sigh of relief this morning. The verdict of country's critics is unanimous – GTA 5 lives up to the hype.
Praise for the game, released today, can be found in all quarters: from broadsheet to tabloids, digital blogs to gaming websites.

The Mirror's Dan Silver captures the mood of most critics. "As we stand on the cusp of a new era in console gaming, GTA V isn’t just the greatest entry in one of its great series, it’s also one of the entire medium’s most accomplished and amazing achievements to date," he says.
"Stick a fork in this generation: it’s done."

Top of the list of standout features praised by reviewers is the design of Los Santos, the city which gamers inhabit in GTA 5.

"It’s a world that feels genuinely alive, more so than any of the previous games," according to The Independent's Simon Rice.

"The pure richness in detail make roaming Los Santos almost as rewarding as any structured mission."

Digital Spy's Liam Martin strikes a similar note. "The city of Los Santos and its surrounding countryside is among the most diverse, interesting and visually striking virtual environments that I've ever had the pleasure of exploring," he says.

Martin also has praise for one of the game's big new features – the ability to switch between three characters mid-mission. He calls it "one of GTA 5's best additions" which gives the missions "greater focus and makes them feel more cinematic".

Now Gamer's Adam Barnes agrees, calling the innovation GTA 5's "big selling point". "The switching mechanic works surprisingly well," he says.

"Though it’ll take up to 30 seconds to switch, it does so almost seamlessly, hiding its loading behind a Google Earth style zoom-in, zoom-out function. It’s all very slick."

Complaints from the critics are restricted largely to smaller details. In an otherwise positive review, the Guardian's Keith Stuart criticises the portrayal of women.

"Women are, once again, relegated to supporting roles as unfaithful wives, hookers and weirdos. The one successful female character in the story is suspected of just wanting to screw her boss," he says.

Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer praises the dark humour running through the game – what he calls "Rockstar's trademark cynicism".

He writes: "GTA 5 is spoiled for choice and the gag writers go for the jugular, skewering TV talent contests, self-help gurus, social media, internet trolls, political hypocrites and our obsession with sex, sex, sex. You can't go half a block without walking into a punch line."

It is that same satirical humour that the Guardian's Stuart returns to his review. In particular he enjoys the game's fake social network Lifeinvader, a "spot on amalgam of Facebook, Apple and Google".

"The staff all wear cargo shorts, whine on about organic lactose-free dairy products and treat their CEO with religious deference," he says.

The game, Stuart concludes, is a "monstrous parody of modern life" and "ridiculous fun".

iOS 7 Coming Sept. 18

Apple's iOS 7 software finally has its launch date: Sept. 18.

The software has been in beta for months, but the new look and core redesign will finally make its ways into consumer hands soon. The company is calling the mobile operating system overhaul "the biggest change to iOS since the original iPhone."

iOS 7 will be available for download for iPhone 4 devices and later. The same goes for iPad 2 and later, the iPad mini and the fifth-generation iPod Touch.

Those words are certainly true. From new fonts, icons and a neon color palate to more gesture controls, universal search and camera functionality (with filters), iOS 7 is remarkably different than its previous versions — not only from a style standpoint, but also deep within how it works.

It's smart, too. It can learn where and when you commute to keep you posted on traffic alerts.

"It has a new structure, applied across the whole system, that brings clarity to the entire experience," Apple wrote on its iOS 7 webpage. "The interface is purposely unobtrusive. Conspicuous ornamentation has been stripped away. Unnecessary bars and buttons have been removed. And in taking away design elements that don’t add value, suddenly there’s greater focus on what matters most: your content."

Among its new features is the Control Center, which provides one-swipe access to the things you access the most on your phone. The multi-task interface and Safari browser were also refreshed. It also comes with AirDrop for high-speed sharing, allowing users to share files with other iOS devices.

Disturbing Videos Show Effects of Syria's Alleged Chemical Attack

In an attempt to convince the U.S. Congress to approve a military strike against Syria and the Bashar al-Assad regime for its alleged use of chemical weapons, the Obama administration is showing disturbing videos of the alleged attack's aftermath to legislators.

The videos show men, women and children dead, convulsing or shaking, in reaction to the alleged chemical attack in the suburbs of Damascus on Aug. 21. Previously posted online, CNN obtained 13 videos that the administration is showing to senators in closed-door meetings ahead of next week's Congress vote.

The attack was allegedly carried out by the al-Assad regime, and the U.S. government believes 1,429 people were killed as a result. Videos of the alleged attack previously surfaced online immediately after it took place, but this appears to be the first time that the Obama administration is using footage obtained from the Internet to convince Congress that there is a need to punish al-Assad.

In its unclassified assessment on the alleged chemical attack, the White House cited social-media sources, referring to "one hundred videos attributed to the attack, many of which show large numbers of bodies exhibiting physical signs consistent with, but not unique to, nerve agent exposure."

On Sunday, CNN aired portions of the videos in a report, embedded below.

Warning: The following video shows extremely graphic content. Viewer discretion is advised.

Gareth Bale finally departs Tottenham for Real Madrid in ‘record’ £86m transfer

Gareth Bale completed his move to Real Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday night, for a fee Spurs – but not Real Madrid – insisted broke Cristiano Ronaldo’s world record.

While Tottenham said they had been paid €100m for Bale – £86m  – sources in Spain described the fee as €90m, or £78m. The record, before Sunday, was the £80m (€94m) that Real Madrid paid Manchester United for Ronaldo in 2009.

Bale has signed a six-year deal and will be presented at the Santiago Bernabeu, which has had a stage erected for a week, at midday.

After weeks of negotiations, the 24-year-old winger, the winner of the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year and Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year for his remarkable 2012-13 season, was confirmed as a Real Madrid player on the websites of the two clubs yesterday evening.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said Bale had only been sold because his head had been turned by Real Madrid. “Gareth was a player we had absolutely no intention of selling as we look to build for the future,” Levy said. “He is a player whose career we have fostered and developed and he was only a year into his new four-year contract.

“Such has been the attention from Real Madrid and so great is Gareth’s desire to join them, that we have taken the view that the player will not be sufficiently committed to our campaign in the current season.

“We have, therefore, with great reluctance, agreed to this sale and do so in the knowledge that we have an exceptionally strong squad.”

Bale released a statement on the Spurs website, hoping the fans would “understand this amazing career opportunity”.

He said: “I am not sure there is ever a good time to leave a club where I felt settled and was playing the best football of my career to date. I know many players talk of their desire to join the club of their boyhood dreams, but I can honestly say, this is my dream come true.”

The Spurs manager, Andre Villas-Boas, confirmed that Bale had gone  in the aftermath of Spurs’ 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in the north London derby.

“We have moved forward in our work, moved forward in our transfer activity,” said Villas-Boas, denying that the transfer saga had affected the start to Spurs’ season. “It hasn’t really had that kind of effect on us.

“Bale is an absolutely wonderful player, he is going to join Real Madrid, we wish him all the best. He has left us with great memories from last season, which I think every Tottenham fan cherishes, but he has moved on, we will move on as well.”

Spurs have already spent much of the fee on new recruits. Paulinho, Etienne Capoue, Roberto Soldado and Nacer Chadli all started the weekend’s game while Erik Lamela came off the bench. Christian Eriksen and Vlad Chiriches were not registered in time. There was fear of a serious injury to Capoue, though, after the French midfielder was carried off following a challenge from Santi Cazorla.

Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, was delighted with his team’s performance. “It was a convincing win in a very intense game. We showed aspects from our game that people are not used to seeing from us, that means commitment, desire, defending. Their keeper was their best player.”

Although Arsenal have only made two free signings, Wenger said he may surprise people with transfer activity on Monday, with Real Madrid’s Mesut Ozil a target.

“We need one or two super players. We will try to add that. There are 24 hours left maybe we can surprise you, maybe not.”

Wenger insisted he was happy to spend. “I am ready to pay what we can afford. Even if it is a bit over the market as long as it is not crazy.”