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All Posts Author: Patrick Stevens
Internet Today

The Top Seven Website Builders For Photography Sites

SmugMug

Not surprisingly, most people judge a photography company by the quality of the images on their site. If you are trying to break into the business or build upon an existing clientele, you need a website builder or CMS provider capable of supporting huge galleries without compromising the quality of your stunning photos. You should also look into platforms that make uploading new images easy, ensuring that you regularly update your content.

That's a lot to look for, especially if your search is up against a time crunch. We've curated the top seven photography website builders below to help you focus your search on only the providers that can meet your needs. Happy hunting!

1. SmugMug

SmugMug is the standard others are compared to for photography sites because it is focused on photography and nothing else. They recently acquired Flickr, the online photo giant, adding yet another tool to its impressive repertoire for photographers to consider.

2. Weebly

Weebly is an excellent choice for all of the technophobes out there. Its interface is incredibly intuitive, allowing you to design a beautiful site without ever working in code. This makes it accessible to nearly any photographer interested in showing off their work.

3. Duda

Duda's platform places a strong emphasis on mobile, widely considered the future of the internet. They also offer powerful collaboration options if your company consists of more than one photographer. Its drag and drop functionality is also helpful if you're uncomfortable with computers.

4. StudioPress Sites

If you've ever wanted to use the popular WordPress platform, this is the way to do it. StudioPress Sites is hosted by the highest-rated WordPress theme developer, giving you SEO-friendly themes through the popular Genesis framework for maximum visibility. It also offers a long list of additional features to help you customize your site to your liking.

Hardware Innovations

Introducing The HTC Blockchain Phone

HTCBlockChain

The HTC blockchain phone is a work in progress.

Several weeks before its' upcoming flagship statement, HTC recently disclosed another item of hardware. Although the Taiwanese firm has consolidated most of its' mobile products, it said at the 2018 New York Consensus Blockchain event that its' Exodus handset will embrace everyone's favorite technology buzzword.

What is a blockchain phone then? Primarily, these phones are characterized by cryptocurrency support and security. The landing page for HTC Exodus says: "Our aim is to grow the blockchain network by producing the first ever phone centered on security and decentralized applications. Once the HTC Exodus is released, this ambition will be realized".

Internet Today

FaceDate by Facebook Looks To Transform Online Dating





Facebook Introduces Dating Service to Meet non Friends

Tinder now has some competition, as Facebook has announced a new raft of dating services. It will allow people to create a profile for dating on their platform. Only non friends, who have also registered for dating, will be able to see this. Facebook matches people by a range of preferences. Because it holds more information about people than other websites, it should provide more suitable matches. This service will begin later in 2018.

Facebook says that "prospective matches will be advised depending on mutual friends, personal preferences and common interests. They will be able to find like minded people via their Events or Groups". Sites like TechCrunch recommended that Facebook set up a dating service in February.

Hardware InnovationsSoftware Sensations

Upcoming Plans For A Millennium Falcon Flight Simulator

Millennium Falcon Flight Simulator

The Millennium Falcon Flight Simulator From Disney Requires Eight GPUs to Operate

A high resolution, real time flight simulator is being built by Disney, based on the Millennium Falcon. This will be powered using eight high end, daisy chained GPUs.

The simulator should be installed at Walt Disney World locations and Disneyland in 2019. It was made as a joint venture with Epic Games, ILMxLAB and Nvidia. Once it is complete, Disney resort guests can step into the Millennium Falcon's cockpit, activate the vessel's blasters and prepare the ship to go warp speed.

The firm spoke about their project, which is still going on, at the Nvidia GTC event. They explained how they have had to make full use of cutting edge gaming technology, to produce the immersive, real time sci fi experience.

All implementations of the simulator will be powered with Boxx workstations, operating eight P6000 Nvidia Quadro GPUs linked through Quadro SLI. This certainly will not be available to customers. Disney needed to construct multiple GPU workflows. Then, they assisted Epic Games with the integration of these into the firm's Unreal Engine. This code will carry on being used in future.

The above screenshot is a preview of how the simulator will appear.

Internet Today

Why Everyone Should #deletefacebook

DeleteFacebook

We are being used by Facebook. It is giving out our personal information freely. It is establishing a dangerous precedent under the guise of helping us connect. It facilitates divisive attitudes and runs contrary to the true reason we started using social networks in the beginning -- human interaction.

It's a disease, so #deletefacebook today.

I have started the gradual process of using the platform less and less, by systemically operating a script which will remove my content. And there is much to remove. There are shares and likes. There are lengthy posts I posted to impress people. There are countless WordPress notifications which inform people what I am doing. Actually, I would bet that I use Facebook to stroke my ego more than engage with other people. I would hazard a guess that this also applies to many other users.

Internet Today

Ripple Takes Measures To Promote XRP

XMR

Ripple Aims to Make Investments in Startups That Will use XRP Cryptocurrency

Payments firm Ripple announced that it intends to invest in technology startups to broaden the scope of XRP - its' cryptocurrency which is presently the third biggest digital coin behind ethereum and bitcoin, relative to total market capitalization.

In January and December, XRP rose in value after a crypto market surge that involved bitcoin reaching almost $20k per coin. Collectively, the value of XRP was over $128 billion at its' highest, prior to a January market slump that diminished that value substantially. Now, the coin has a $30 billion market cap, however Ripple has been criticized for XRP's apparent lack of use. Originally, this was advertised as a banking tool, but it has only attracted overseas payment services as clients.

Hardware Innovations

Preview of Google Clips

GoogleClips

It is important to understand a few things about Google Clips though this Google Clips review. One thing you should understand is to not use the clip on the back. Even though it is called Google Clips and has a clip on back does not mean it is a good idea to clip it.

The next thing to understand, this is not meant to use and an action camera. If you are looking for an action camera refer to the numerous brands that make them. It is also lacking as a security camera.

What Google Clips is is a smart camera, as per Google themselves. It combines ML and AI to capture little clips in your life that it believes are relevant and might otherwise be difficult to capture with a camera or smartphone. The clips stay on the device until you decide to import them to another device.

Internet TodaySoftware Sensations

Chrome’s Built-In Ad Blocker

AdBlocker

Chrome's built-in ad blocker is going live. This means that Google will be making the unprecedented move to block Chrome ads. While the average user may not notice much of a change, publishers are dreading this move.

The ad blocker will not block all ads. Only ads that do not meet the standards set forth by the Coalition for Better Ads. You will receive notification that the ad is being blocked, and then you will be given the choice to view the intercepted ad. All ads are subject to being impeded by the blocker, even Google ads. On a positive note, sites that have ads blocked have increased loading speeds, though minimal and an incidental effect.

Internet Today

Senators Request Bogus Social Media Followers Investigation

Devumi

Members of the United States Senate are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the company that is, allegedly, creating and selling bogus social media followers. The Senators requesting the investigation demand that the practice of selling fake accounts is deceptive and even fraudulent.

Senators Richard Blumenthal and Jerry Moran believe that the practices of this company have created a consumer harm by fabricating goodwill and credibility that does not exist. Devumi, the company responsible for peddling the fake accounts, use real accounts as templates to add authenticity to false followers. The company is responsible for manufacturing followers, likes, connections, and shares on the various social media platforms.

With the FTC remaining reluctant to open an investigation, Eric Schneiderman, Attorney General of New York, has decided to take action. He is investigating whether or not these fake accounts, or bots, are using the identity of those who have had them stolen. His greatest concern is that the voice of genuine people will be overpowered by paid for rhetoric.

Business FirstEntertainment

Rupert Murdoch Asking For Financial Help From Facebook

_MG_6948

The executive chairman for News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, is asking for Facebook, Twitter, and even Google to subsidize the news websites that show up on people's newsfeeds. Essentially, Murdoch wants someone to pay him for the news that his company, and others like his, would put out on people's feeds.

This change comes right after the announcement of Facebook's updated newsfeed policies that prioritize friends and family first over the likes of news sites and advertisement pages.

This effectively puts news corporations at an extreme disadvantage for having their news seen at all. As anticipated, Wall Street did not take well to the news at all. They expect users will spend less money overall making their market shares decrease over time.

Newsfeed Chief for Facebook, Adam Mosseri, did not really have much to offer in the way of a compromising solution. He was quoted in the press announcement as telling news and advertisement companies to "experiment" and see what "content gets more likes." A very shunted answer when announcing that they are basically cutting off the toes of news companies.

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