Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters Monte Carlo, Monaco April 11 - 18 2021.
VINCheck.info is a great place to be sure you're getting a rental car; that is what they say it is and that it hasn't been in an accident. There's also NICB.org.
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1. Change the SSID and the default password.
2. Turn off WAN Administration (this allows administering the router from the outside)
3. Turn off Universal Plug n Play (UPnP)
4. Turn off WPS WiFi Protected Setup (one button log in)
5. Turn on Encryption and select WPA3 or WPA2. Do NOT use WEP. It's not secure.
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You should never flush the toilet without the lid closed because fecal matters travels at least 15 feet. How far is your toothbrush etc.?
Click here for more.
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If you are not sure what your new or old car can do, you can visit https://mycardoeswhat.org/
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Your Antivirus cannot protect you if you do not practice correct internet hygiene.
Downloading ONLY what you cannot live without.
Strong passwords.
Not clicking on your e-mail links..........................
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Two people are driving in a car.
The driver repeatedly - and for extended time - turns his head and looks at the passenger when conversing.
The main reason for taking eyes off the road is to impress the passenger on how good, casual and expert a driver he is.
And if the passenger is a female, everyone else driving around that time is screwed.
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The dirtiest seats on the plane are the isle seats because they are 'touched' most - from crew members to passengers going and coming back from the bathroom and everyone in between.
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You should 'give' your parents more than they deserve and expect.
AND
You should expect from them less than you deserve - and expect.
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It’s called “juice jacking,” which may sound as innocuous as a toddler ripping the sippy cup out of a playmate’s hands, but this is very much a grownup problem, unless your kid is already using a cellphone.
Juice jacking is the devious practice by which bad guys hijack a public USB charging port and use it to steal information from your phone or tablet.
Those same ports you’re relieved to find when your electronic device is low on power have become a cause for worry.
This isn’t a new problem, experts say, but it has returned to the radar because the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office recently warned unsuspecting users about “criminals [who] load malware onto charging stations or cables they leave plugged in at the stations so they may infect the phones and other electronic devices of unsuspecting users.”
If this isn’t new, why is it an issue now? It’s not only because it’s the time of year when travel is up but also because many of us rely on those chargers to get us through long days of travel, said Ron Culler, senior director of technology and solutions at ADT CyberSecurity. (Disclosure: I am a longtime ADT home-security customer.)
And here I was, Pollyannishly (yes, that’s a word) thinking those ports, in airports, on a plane or in a coffee shop, were just good, old-fashioned human kindness, a port in a traveler’s storm.
It’s a storm, all right, but that port is no port. If it contains malware coupled with evil intent, it’s no lifeline either. In fact, it can be a life wrecker.
“Just as you wouldn’t plug an unfamiliar USB drive into your laptop, you shouldn’t plug your phone into an unfamiliar USB charger,” Paul Bischoff, a privacy advocate with Comparitech, which offers security solutions and help, said in an email. “Our devices have fewer defenses against attacks from physically connected devices than (from) attacks from the internet. The malware can also be much more severe with physical access to hardware.”
Are these guys trying to scare us? After talking with both, I don’t think so.
Consider how much business we do on our phones: We buy airline tickets on our favorite carrier, and because it’s easier, we leave our credit card information on the site so we don’t have to reenter it each time. We set up house payments using our bank’s bill-pay service. We buy a barbecue gas grill on a bus commute using the Wi-Fi on board and, again, leave credit card info on the site.
I am guilty of these things, and I am guilty of one more: charging my phone wherever I can find an open port. I vaguely recall doing that before a recent flight, and I never gave it another thought.
Because, I told myself after these interviews, is this really going to happen to me? I’ve been lucky so far, haven’t I, despite not practicing good cyber hygiene? I mean, other than the $5,000 in airline tickets someone charged to my card three years ago. And the notice from LifeLock, which monitors my accounts, that my information had appeared on the dark web. And there were the recent small-dollar deductions from my bank account that took me about a month to notice.
Time to clean up my act, including more awareness about juice jacking, which can lead to identity theft.
Those evildoers know you are “an easy target when you’re traveling,” said Mike Borromeo, vice president of Stericycle, of which Shred-it, the document destroyer, is part. “You’re in a hurry; you just need a little power to get you through the flight.”
The consequences of such a lapse may lead to co-opted identity, he said, and it can be “one of the worst things that can happen.” Imagine, he said, that you’re trying to buy a house or a car and your credit has been ruined. Or what if your bank account has been drained?
I’d rather not.
Further, said Culler of ADT Cybersecurity, you can’t always tell that something has happened to your phone. The longer the misuse goes unchecked, the greater the damage.
Besides avoiding those alluring charging points, you can thwart data thieves by using a regular plug in an outlet and your own charging cable, Culler said, or carrying a spare battery charger with you. (Do that anyway just in case your flight is delayed or you left your map app open and it sucked the life from your phone.)
Keeping yourself safe from those who would harm you? You’ve got the power.
https://www.latimes.com/travel/story/2019-11-29/juice-jacking-usb-charging-port
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Hotels are charging 'Resort Fee' - and you are told about it at the last moment.
And at times, it's more than the room rate.
You can check which hotels are doing it here.
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You should NEVER use USB drive or some CD you get in mail - for FREE.
They are loaded with malware.
There's a name for it. It's called 'Candy drop'.
They drop them at parking lot of businesses they want to infiltrate or hurt - and clowns pick up and feel elated they found FREE stuff - and then use it.
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Sins bring NOTHING but pain in this world and in the next - or wherever you think you will be after this world ends.
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Before you buy anything online - heck, offline - you should visit the Better Business Bureau site to read all the complaints against the store.
Click here for the site.
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When disembarking your flight, instead of lingering around, you should rush straight for the luggage carousel because that's where thieves congregate to steal your luggage as not much is required with respect to boarding pass / ticket etc. to access the area @ most airports.
Additionally, you should have the MOST colorful luggage to ensure it stands out and eliminates the possibility someone else inadvertently walks away with your luggage - because it looks like their own luggage.
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Given how many morons are driving these days, you should always look both ways before entering the intersection - specially if you are the first one starting out - EVEN if you have the green light.
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When you search for something @ Google, you can choose how old or new the results should be.
For instance, you type in Federer twins.
Just under the search bar - or the place you typed 'Federer twins' - there are options like 'news', 'images', 'tools' etc.
Click on tools and select the time: Past hour, past 24 hours, year etc.
Click here for sample.
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Some people dread mornings, and other people relish them. No matter which type you are, there’s still a good chance that you can tweak your morning routine for the better.
Next time you wake up, try a few of these 10 tips. Most take a just a few minutes, and they’ll help you feel prepared, relaxed, and ready for whatever’s to come.
Going outside and exposing yourself to natural light prompts your body to reset its internal circadian rhythm for a new day, giving you an energy boost, according to the National Sleep Foundation.
Plus, a wealth of evidence shows that walking keeps you healthy. One study of about 72,000 women found that three hours of walking per week cut the risk of heart attack and stroke by about 35%.
You don’t need to do a heart-pounding workout to feel accomplished in the morning. Instead, bestselling author and four-star admiral William McRaven suggests something simpler: making your bed.
We constantly lose fluid when we breathe and sweat— two things that happen while we’re sleeping. This loss of fluids can lead to dehydration, which can make you feel dizzy, faint, or (in serious cases) confused. That’s no way to kick off your day.
Drinking a big glass of water in the morning ensures that your body stays hydrated and your mind stays sharp for whatever’s ahead. And, to help you stay hydrated all day, there is a way to figure out the exact amount of water you should drink every day.
Some research suggests that reading may reduce stress and boost empathy, a quality that’s critical for your interactions with friends, family, and coworkers all day long.
Science aside, it’s just nice to start the day with an activity that’s calm and quiet before the torrent of texts and work emails rushes in. And, for what it’s worth, many of the world’s most successful people report voracious reading habits. Bill Gates reads about a book a week, according to Business Insider.
The “three good things” exercise is simple: Once a day, write down three things that went well for you that day and explain why they went well.
It only takes 10 minutes, and it can have a big impact. The psychologist who developed the exercise found that practicing it for just one week reduced depressive symptoms and increased happiness for the next six months.
Some people complete the exercise at night, but you could try it in the morning as a way to reflect on the previous day. It just might give you a sunnier outlook on everything that’s ahead.
Yes, you already know that caffeine can make you more alert. (Or, if you’re a caffeine addict, you know that it’s required for basic functioning.) But did you know that its effects extend throughout the day? It takes about 5 to 6 hours for just half the caffeine you’ve ingested to wear off.
Just make sure you’re not taking in more than 400 milligrams of caffeine a day. Here’s what that looks like in terms of actual drinks.
There’s no real science behind this one, but it’s easy to see how it works. Imagine coming home to clean kitchen, or a bedroom with all the clothes folded, hung, and put away. It sets the stage for a relaxed evening.
Plenty of health fads aren’t backed by solid science, but meditation is. A growing body of evidence shows that meditation’s benefits are real and plentiful. Studies have found mediation can improve focus, reduce feelings of anxiety, and decrease blood pressure. Regular meditators also appear to fatigue less easily and get sick less often.
Instead of just reviewing your schedule for the day, psychologist Travis Bradberry recommends creating a super-specific list of goals that you want to accomplish. Don’t just say you’re going to finish a task — write down how you’re going to do it and how long it’ll take.
“When you plan out your day as carefully as possible, your chances of successfully accomplishing your goals skyrocket,” he once wrote on LinkedIn.
But make sure the goals you set are realistic. Otherwise, when you don’t complete them, you’ll only feel dejected. Also, try to knock out the most difficult goals early in your day.
“When you complete difficult tasks first, you carry positive energy and a feeling of accomplishment into the rest of your day,” Bradberry wrote.
That good feeling you get after chatting with a loved one isn’t just a nice way to start the day — it’s actually good for your body.
More scientific evidence is showing that social interaction is crucial to our wellbeing. People with more social connections live longer than those who are more isolated, according to a review of existing studies done in 2010. Additionally, people who are lonelier are more likely to have elevated stress levels.
Spend a few minutes talking in person with a partner or roommate, or make a call to a friend or family member who doesn’t live with you.
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If you are still screwing around with the flip phone - or know someone who is - here's something to consider:
Here's the wiki page for it.
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You can secure your on-line experience specially for your bank, e-mail, password manager etc.............. by getting a Yubikey.
It generates one time passwords.
Oh, what did you say? "I already have two-factor authentication".
That's better than nothing, but clowns have already found a way to 'grab' the code you get on your phone.
Click here for more.
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Press your fingers into the back of your skull, just above your neck. If you feel a small spike you may be among people whose body has responded to smartphone use by growing new layers of bone.
The phenomenon involves what is known as an external occipital protuberance: a growth which appears on the back of the head. David Shahar, a health scientist at the University of The Sunshine Coast, Australia, told BBC.com that in the last decade of his 20 year career he has noticed more patients have the protrusion which was once considered rare.
Shahar explained to BBC.com that when the external occipital protuberance was first studied by French scientist Paul Broca in 1885 "he didn't like it because he had studied so many specimens, and he hadn't really seen any which had it."
In a study published in the Journal of Anatomy in 2016, Shahar and his co-author described how he had been spotting external occipital protuberances more often in x-rays of relatively young patients at his clinic. To find out more, he looked at 218 radiographsof the lateral cervical spine, where the external occipital protuberance appears, of people aged between 18 to 30-years-old. A growth had to be at least 5mm-long to be counted as an external occipitalprotuberance, with anything bigger than 10mm classifed as enlarged.
Of the group, 41 percent had the lump, with 10 percent having a spike at least 20mm long. It was more common in men than women, at 67 percent versus 20 percent. The longest was 35.7mm in a man, and 25.5mm in a woman.
This build-up of bone on the external occipital protuberance is a type of enthesophytes.The bony projection on a tendon or ligament is thought to grow gradually over time, so is not expected in young people. Enthesophytes are relatively common in older people.
The study explained that cases of enthesophytes poking out of the external occipitalprotuberance are rare in the medical literature. A study in 2012, for instance, look at 40 skulls and found just one measuring 9mm.
Shahar and his co-author wrote that their findings could be explained by the rise in the use of hand‐held technologies from early childhood, and said ways to prevent and treat the growths should be considered.
Describing the phenomenon dubbed "text neck," Shahar told BBC.com that as we look down at devices like smartphones and tablets, our necks must work to keep our heads in place. Prolonged straining could lead the body to build new bone to increase the surface area holding up this mass.
In another study published in the journal Scientific Reports in 2018 involving 1200 participants aged between 18 to 86, Shahar's found older people were less likely to have an external occipital protuberance than younger individuals.
Shahar told BBC.com he expects external occipital protuberances to become larger: "Imagine if you have stalactites and stalagmites, if no one is bothering them, they will just keep growing."
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Do you know the correct way to floss?
Heck, do you know you HAVE to floss?
Bet if you are flossing, you are not doing it perfectly.
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Brave is a free and open-source web browser developed by Brave Software Inc. based on the Chromium web browser.
The browser blocks ads and website trackers.
Click here for more.
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You can go to the site of the company that manufactured your beater car, enter the VIN number and see if there's a recall for something in your 'vehicle'.
Click here for more.
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If you 'lose' your let's say gmail account for whatever freaking reason it's nearly impossible to get it back because they ask weird questions to verify your identity like 'when did you open the account' or 'who was your first email to' etc.
Solution?
Provide as many options as possible to help them verify that it's you.
How?
List couple of e-mail accounts.
List more than one phone number if possible.
Check what other options they offer and 'oblige'.
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Fred Rosen, the retired Ticketmaster tycoon, was eating a melted ham-and-brie sandwich at the exclusive San Vicente Bungalows and spouting forth about belts.
Yes, what people use to hold up their pants. You can buy one at Walmart for $4, he noted. Or you can get one at Gucci for $1,500. “Every product I can think of has a luxury version, which got me thinking,” Mr. Rosen said. “Why not movies?”
It’s an idea that has captivated one entrepreneur after another over the years: For a high price, allow tech billionaires, Wall Street titans, professional athletes, Russian oligarchs and other ultra-wealthy people to rent movies — as soon as they come out in theaters — for viewing at home. Think of it like Netflix for one-percenters. But such upstarts have always sputtered, including one backed by Best Buy in 2013 that charged $500 per movie on top of $35,000 in setup costs. Film studios, fearful of angering theater chains, have been reluctant to participate. Piracy has also been a concern.
Mr. Rosen, 75, and a septuagenarian golfing buddy, Dan Fellman, who is Hollywood’s foremost film distribution expert, may have finally figured out how to make it work. They have quietly founded Red Carpet Home Cinema, which rents first-run films for $1,500 to $3,000 each. Red Carpet has contracts with Warner Bros., Paramount, Lionsgate, Annapurna and Disney’s 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight divisions — resulting in some 40 movies annually, including blockbusters like “Aquaman” and “A Star Is Born.”
Those partnerships reflect entertainment-industry relationships that Mr. Rosen and Mr. Fellman have cultivated over decades. Most studios do not see them as disrupters from Silicon Valley, something that has stalled start-ups like Screening Room, which has tried without success since 2016 to speed first-run movies to homes for a premium price. (Sean Parker of Napster and Facebook fame is behind that one.)
Red Carpet also arrives at a time when the movie industry is undergoing sweeping change — not the least of which involves the manner in which Netflix is challenging the traditional way that films are released. For the most part, theater owners insist on a three-month period of exclusivity to play new films. Netflix has started to chip away at that practice, offering theaters an exclusive window of three weeks or less for films like “Roma” and “Bird Box.”
Most studios see broader distribution change as inevitable, noted Harold L. Vogel, author of the textbook “Entertainment Industry Economics.”
“Consumers want to have more control,” Mr. Vogel said.
Even so, studios are treading carefully. None of the film companies that have signed on as Red Carpet partners would discuss the venture publicly. Several major movie operations, including Universal, Sony Pictures and Disney’s other labels, are Red Carpet holdouts. They also declined to comment.
“I feel pretty comfortable that we can gain more studio partners,” Mr. Rosen said. “We are a niche offering — I’m too old for disruption — but even if a studio makes $25 million to $50 million annually from us, that’s found money.”
Theater owners, in the meantime, seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach to Red Carpet.
“I have no take on that,” said Adam Aron, chief executive of AMC Entertainment, the dominant theater chain in the United States. In contrast, Mr. Aron has readily criticized start-ups like MoviePass, the subscription ticketing service.
The folksy Mr. Rosen, who took over Ticketmaster in 1982 and helped turn it into a goliath, and Mr. Fellman, who started his studio career in 1964, worked out details for Red Carpet over rounds of golf at the well-to-do Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles. The luxury service operates a bit like a private club. There is a rigorous application process, and participants must have a credit card with a limit of at least $50,000. Those who become customers must buy a $15,000 box that connects to a home theater system (installed by a technician) and comes loaded with piracy protections.
Prices for rentals are set by the participating studios, with higher fees for blockbuster-style movies like “Shazam!” and lower costs for dramas like “The Shape of Water.” Each rental allows for two viewings in a 36-hour period.
How big could Red Carpet get? There are more people who can afford it than you might think. Nearly 46,000 Americans have annual income of more than $2 million, according to Social Security Administration data from 2017. Mr. Rosen and Mr. Fellman, however, insisted over lunch in mid-March that they were not interested in size.
“We’re not even looking for 10,000 people,” Mr. Rosen said. With fewer than 4,000 customers, Red Carpet could have $300 million in annual revenue, according to Mr. Fellman’s projections.
Red Carpet, which counts Sherry Lansing, the former chief executive of Paramount, as an investor, has been operating in about 25 homes as part of a beta test since December. “I’m recommending the service to my friends,” the Red Carpet website quotes Ms. Lansing as saying.
Mr. Fellman added: “I’m not interested in starting a business that is disruptive to the theatrical experience. Maybe we get 400 homes in New York and L.A. Maybe 100 in each of the 30 biggest cities in the United States.” (Celebrities and Hollywood big shots have long been able to see first-run films in their homes — free — as part of something known as the Bel-Air Circuit. Studios allow a limited number of preapproved V.I.P.s to “borrow” copies of new movies.)
“We told studios, ‘You set the terms,’” Mr. Fellman said. “They appreciated that. What doesn’t work in Hollywood is going in and wagging a finger and saying, ‘This is how it’s going to be.’”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/07/business/media/movie-rentals-red-carpet-home-cinema.html
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If you wanna back up stuff on your computer you value, here's a good way to do it.
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If you’re looking into backup and recovery solutions you’re probably going to hear the phrase “3-2-1 backup” come up a lot. You’ll hear it from most IT consultants and IT pros as well as many backup vendors, who will speak about their products in terms of 3-2-1 compliance.
The 3-2-1 rule is a best practice for backup and recovery. It means that when you build out your backup and recovery strategy you should:
1. Keep at least three copies of your data
That includes the original copy and at least two backups.
2. Keep the backed-up data on two different storage types
The chances of having two failures of the same storage type are much better than for two completely different types of storage. Therefore, if you have data stored on an internal hard drive, make sure you have a secondary storage type, such as external or removable storage, or the cloud.
3. Keep at least one copy of the data offsite
Even if you have two copies on two separate storage types but both are stored onsite, a local disaster could wipe out both of them. Keep a third copy in an offsite location, like the cloud.
The 3-2-1 backup rule is a best practice because it ensures that you’ll have a copy of your data no matter what happens. Multiple copies prevent you from losing the only copy of your data. Multiple locations ensure that there is no single point of failure and that your data is safe from disasters such as fires and floods.
We recommend whenever speaking to a backup vendor to make sure that you ask them how their backup solution fits with 3-2-1 compliance.
https://www.carbonite.com/blog/article/2016/01/what-is-3-2-1-backup
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When a person from New York travels outside the state or the country and meets a stranger there - and this has been discovered after years and years and years of research - it takes the person a tad less than THREE seconds to declare this - directly or covertly:
"I am from New York".
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What three words is a new navigation idea, where you enter the three words for a given grid location, and the car will guide you there. But the trick is knowing the right words, or you may end up going to the wrong location. Adopted by Ford and Mercedes so far.
For example, the torch of the Statue of Liberty is located at "toned.melt.ship".
Here's the Wikipedia page for it.
Millions of Ford drivers can now use what3words to enter precise destinations by voice easier, faster and with fewer errors than ever before. It also enables them to navigate to destinations without a street address at all.
Whether it’s meeting friends for a tailgate party at a particular parking place, finding the perfect scenic viewpoint, dropping the kids off at the right side of the football pitch, or making a delivery to the specific entrance on an industrial complex, Ford drivers will now be able to navigate accurately by saying three simple words to their car.
https://what3words.com/2019/02/ford-partners-with-what3words-to-offer-drivers-precise-navigation/
If you still don't get it, here's the video.
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Most (all?) new or newer TVs are equipped with a microphone that records what you say and do (like how often - and when - you leave the room etc.). Just look around and you will find it.
Rationale?
Monitor ratings.
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If you have IOT (internet of things) like Echo, ring door bell etc.:
-You should buy them from reputed companies.
-Only from companies who automatically update the devices periodically to patch up security flaws without you having to update on your own.
-These devices are on a separate network than your computers. So if they get hacked somehow your entire thing is not compromised.
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To avoid phishing scams currently in 'vogue', go straight to the site in question by entering the correct URL instead of clicking on the link in the e-mail.
For rock people, what that means is freaking this:
You get an e-mail from your bank stating your account has been compromised or some such BS and that you should click on the link below to rectify the problem. The link will take you to a site that will look EXACTLY like your bank (these clowns are really good) and will ask you to enter your username, password and other sensitive information.
The bad guys will use that information for obvious purposes.
Solution: Instead of clicking on the link, open a new window and type in your bank's URL that will take you to your bank's legit site. If there is a problem with your account, it will be flagged on the front page in big bold letters. You can then take corrective action with confidence.
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The Hawk-Eye computer system was implemented due to a controversial quarterfinal match at the 2004 US Open between Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati, where important line calls went against Williams.
In 2006, the US Open introduced instant replay reviews of calls, using the Hawk-Eye computer system, the first Grand Slam to use the system.
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Netflix announced that subscribers will be able to download select movies and TV shows for offline playback.
Anyone with a Netflix subscription can download movies and TV shows to watch when they're not connected to the internet.
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Facebook and Google will cease to exist if they stop selling your personal information to the highest bidder.
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