Author: batteryforpc

A new exploit has been discovered in Google Chrome that can potentially freeze Windows 10 devices completely. The new bug is being used in a tech support scam that freezes Windows 10 and then tells the user that their device is infected by a virus.
The newly discovered bug uses Javascript code to create a loop and which makes it impossible to close the tab or the browser. The pop-up also claims to from the official Microsoft support website and claims that the computer is infected with a virus, which could compromise your passwords, browser history, credit card information and other data. Since it’s a loop, every time you try to close it, it will open again almost instantly and will push your resource usage to 100% which will eventually freeze the computer.
While this looks like a legit issue, it’s just a scam and you can fix your computer easily by following the steps below.
Open Task Manager from the Taskbar
Go to the Processes tab
Click on Google Chrome (or GoogleChrome.exe)
Click End Task button at the bottom right corner
Also, make sure you have not set Google Chrome to restore back the old tabs as this will open the website again. A good way to avoid tech support scams it to verify the information before paying anyone money to fix your device. This is not the first time, a tech support scam has been identified that targetted Google Chrome. Earlier this year, we reported how a Download Bomb exploit has targetted major web browsers and only Microsoft Edge was imune to the attack. A good thumb of rule to prevent from getting scammed is to remember that companies don’t usually ask users to pay money unless they have thoroughly checked the device and identified the problem.

Whether you have friends or family members who work and live different schedules than you, or you find yourself sending more “happy belated birthday” messages than you’d like, having the ability to schedule text messages ahead of time is an incredibly useful feature.
Unfortunately, only certain Android smartphones let you do this out of the box. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible if you’re using, say, a Google Pixel phone. There are multiple ways to schedule texts on Android—provided you have the right app for the job.
Schedule Texts on Samsung Smartphones
Samsung Galaxy and Note smartphones users have it the easiest since they can schedule texts messages using the default Samsung SMS app that comes pre-installed on these smartphones:
Open the Samsung SMS app
Draft your text message
Tap the “+” button near the text field, or the three dots in the top right corner of the screen to open the calendar
Select the date and time
Tap “Send” to schedule.
While this is great news for Samsung Galaxy and Note owners, the stock SMS app on non-Samsung Android phones—like Google Pixel phones— lacks an equivalent feature. Scheduling texts is still possible, but you’ll have to use a third-party app messaging instead.
Use Pulse SMS to Schedule Texts
In order to schedule texts on non-Samsung Android phones, you’ll need to replace the basic Android SMS app—that’s where Pulse SMS comes in.
Pulse SMS is not only one of the best looking alternative text messaging apps for available on all Android devices, it also includes features that make it better than the stock texting app. While some of these features are only available when you upgrade to the premium version (which costs $10 for lifetime access), the free version includes a text scheduler.
You’ll need to download Pulse SMS from Google Play and then set it to your default texting app, but once you’ve done that you can begin scheduling messages immediately. Here’s how:
Tap the orange “+” button and then select the contact you wish to text.
In the conversation window, tap the three vertical dots icon in the upper right, then tap “Schedule a message.”
Set the date and time using the calendar interface
Draft your message. When you’re finished, tap “add” to schedule.
How to find, edit, or delete a scheduled message in Pulse SMS:
Tap the menu icon in the upper left corner to open the sidebar.
Tap “Scheduled Messages”
Tap the conversation, then tap and hold the message you wish to modify. Select “Edit” to edit the text, or “Delete” to delete the scheduled message.
Use IFTTT to Schedule Texts
This method of scheduling texts is a little more complicated than directly scheduling a text via Pulse SMS, but if you don’t want to swap to a whole new SMS app, it’ll get the job done.
This IFTTT applet can be used to schedule a text message when a Google Calendar event is triggered. The only requirements are an IFTTT account linked to the necessary apps (IFTTT will request permission if you haven’t linked to proper accounts/apps yet). Simply use the links above and follow the on-screen instructions to set up the message.
Use Alarms or Calendar Reminders
This last suggestion is only a half measure since it requires you to follow through and send the text yourself, but having a reminder loaded with a pre-written message is better than nothing.
While you can’t directly schedule and send a text message through Google Calendar, you can still use it to set up event reminders to send a text for special occasions. You can even write up a draft of the text you’re thinking of sending in the “Notes” section when setting up the reminder; that way you can copy and paste the text when the time comes to finally send it.

Everything to love about Android, there is still one deeply annoying problem. One that can be so annoying it could make you swear off the OS altogether. It takes forever for the Google’s OS updates to trickle down to products manufactured by companies like Samsung, OnePlus, and Huawei. So while Samsung S9 and OnePlus 5 owners can now rejoice in the fact that they could have Android 9 Pie by the end of the year (depending on where they live), other Android users, including owners of year-old Samsung devices, get to wait until well into next year. And that’s really stupid!
Android 9 Pie has had slow to rollout thus far. When Google released the latest numbers of Android version adoption back in October Pie was entirely absent despite being out for nearly two months. Which means either Pie was purposely excluded or it has had a miserable adoption rate of 0.1-percent (the minimum required for Google to include a version in the chart).
So it’s not surprising it has taken Samsung this long. As many in America settled down to enjoy a couple of days off work this week, Samsung began rolling out the update from Android 8 Oreo to Android 9 Pie to a select number of Samsung Galaxy S9 handsets. So far, the update is only rolling out in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, and Turkey. Tech Radar notes that the rest of the S9 family should have the update next month, but that’s still five months after Pie first became available in August 2018. Note 9 owners will have to wait until February 2019, while Note 8 and S8 owners will have to wait until March 2019 at the earliest.
That’s right, the older the handset, the longer the wait. Android 9 Pie, known as Android P before its launch, isn’t exactly the biggest update to come to the operating system, but it does include cool features like a Digital Wellbeing app to help you manage how much you stare at your phone, as well as more refined control over myriad notifications. These are great features that anyone with a Pixel can already enjoy, and have been able to since Google released the update in August.
The giant gap between Android Pie’s release and anticipated global availability for the Samsung S9, which launched back in March, feels excruciatingly obnoxious at this point. But this has also been the curse of Android from the get-go. The vanilla operating system might have been available in August, but Samsung runs a custom skin over it, and it takes time to update and test that customized version of the operating system. There’s no clear and easy way to speed up that timeline—apart from Samsung going vanilla, or hiring more software engineers.
Samsung isn’t the only manufacturer plagued with this problem. Nvidia has suffered its own update woes this year. Its 4K set-top box, the Shield, was finally updated to Android 8 Oreo back in June, months late and nearly a year after Google released Oreo. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T are both getting Pie by the end of this month (the 5 launched June 2017, the 5T launched November 2017). Their successor, the OnePlus 6, got Pie a few months ago.
It’s hard to produce these updates, but one can’t deny that these companies also look like absolute clowns when compared to Google or Apple. Google is going with a vanilla version of Android that can be updated very quickly after a new release because nothing really major needs to be tweaked, while Apple’s closed ecosystem allows it to build its operating system to work perfectly with a handful of devices designed in-house. Thus Google and Apple can roll out updates quickly.
Sure, companies like Samsung tweak and modify Android to add their own innovative features, but dang, it’s annoying that it comes at the cost of being six months to a year behind Pixel devices on the core OS.

New code found in Samsung’s Android Pie update suggests that the company’s upcoming Galaxy S10 may include support for 3D facial recognition. While current Galaxy models already boast facial recognition, Samsung’s offering is far less secure than what Apple uses with Face ID, for example. The reason, quite simply, is that Samsung’s implementation relies upon a 2D map of a user’s face and, as a result, the devices can easily be fooled with photos and video.
As to the newly discovered code, XDA Developers found data strings that make reference to Time of Flight cameras, technology which is commonly used with 3D mapping and can help differentiate between a 2D photo and an actual 3D face.
“Now, as was previously rumored, there’s evidence that at least one upcoming Samsung Galaxy smartphone will use a ToF sensor,” the report notes. “Hidden within the code for Samsung’s system application responsible for handling facial biometric authentication are new fields and methods explicitly mentioning a ToF camera.”
The news shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that rumors regarding Samsung’s plan to significantly boost the reliability and security of its face recognition feature have been making the rounds for months now. Assuming the rumors pan out, it will be interesting to see how close Samsung’s implementation comes to keeping up with Face ID on Apple’s current iPhone XR and XS.
What remains unclear, though, is if the improved facial recognition feature will be implemented on all Galaxy S10 models. As you may recall, it’s widely believed that Samsung at Mobile World Congress is planning to introduce four S10 models, including a flagship device with 5G support. While it’s entirely possible that Samsung may save its improved facial recognition feature for the higher-end S10 device, it would be nice to see it available even on the entry-level model.

You have probably had your fill of Surface Go reviews that seem to split the tech world in two. You’ve also most likely seen the brawls between the Surface Go and the iPad Pro, especially those revolving around the rhetoric of real PCs. So why not have yet another Surface Go review? This time, however, we’ll take a rather different spin and highlight one aspect that really does make the Surface Go a “real PC”: being able to install other operating systems like Linux. And in that regard, it is near perfect as an on-the-go Linux digital notepad.
Specs and Design
I won’t bore you with the details you’ve most likely read before. The Surface Go is by no means a powerful machine. If pure performance is measured, it could very well be outranked by last year’s iPad Pros, especially when it comes to battery life. But just to recap, Microsoft’s smallest Surface runs on a “special” Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y. The 10-inch screen still bears Microsoft’s unique 3:2 ratio, this time at 1800×1200 pixels. The battery is rated at 27Wh and charges either via Microsoft’s usual proprietary Surface Connect or, surprise surprise, a lone USB-C port that does both power, data, and video out.
One point of contention with earlier Surface Go reviews was the fact that most of them reviewed the more expensive model with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD, which is also what I bought. While that may almost be a necessity when it comes to Windows 10, especially after breaking out of S Mode, it may be a minor consideration if you have Linux in mind right from the very start. Linux is more efficient with both RAM and storage, though the 64 GB eMMC type on the base model could be a bottleneck. If, however, you plan on dual booting Windows and Linux, at least get the third model with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage.
The Surface Go is definitely a looker for its size and bears the same design as its larger and more professional siblings. The sleek magnesium chassis makes it look pro even for its diminutive size while the slightly curved edges and lightweight construction make it comfortable to hold with one hand over longer periods. Not too long, though, because it’s still 1.1 lbs of metal and plastic. All the ports, which includes a headphone jack, are on the right side while the opposite edge is left barren to make room for magnetically sticking a Surface Pen to. The top has the power and volume rocker buttons along the plastic antenna area while the bottom has the groove and POGO pins for the Surface Go Type Cover. Both accessories are sold separately, of course.
Living side by side
It’s quite impressive and comforting how Linux has come a long way in supporting even new devices that have just come out of the market. Perhaps it helps that many of the components that Microsoft used in the Surface Go have also been used in other Surface Pros, which have already been tested by daring Linux users.
As such, it fortunately didn’t take much to get Linux cohabiting with Windows 10 on the same machine. It may or may not be easier to have simply wiped off Microsoft’s OS but I still had use for that. On the Windows side, the biggest step was to disable BitLocker encryption on the C: drive (if it was even enabled) and then shrinking the Windows partition to make room for Linux plus 8 GB or so of swap. As mentioned, Linux isn’t much of a memory hog and non-critical system files can be offloaded to a microSD card anyway. Linux distros have also come a long way in making sure their installers work with modern features like UEFI and Secure Boot so the process was thankfully straightforward and uneventful.
It’s almost surprising, pleasantly, of course, how many things worked properly right out of the box. Wi-Fi needed a bit of coaxing but that is fortunately already documented. Bluetooth was working from day one. Display, touch, and even the Surface Pen’s pressure sensitivity and buttons worked without a hitch. The Type Cover’s touch pad was also properly detected and supported multi-finger gestures. Even power management was off to a good start. Accelerometer and proximity sensors are also detected, though their use mostly depends on your distro and desktop environment of choice. In this case, I used the Ubuntu-based KDE Neon. Long story short, save for a few pieces we’ll get to later, the Surface Go Linux experience is almost painless, as if you were installing it on any other modern laptop.
Performance and Battery
Installing Linux on the Surface Go would have been an exercise in futility if it ended up being unusable. Then again, this piece probably wouldn’t have been written in the first place if that were the case. While it’s harder to benchmark Linux performance due to lack of popular tools and the combinations off distros and desktops, one can probably make a generalization and rate it as “Great!”.
The display is bright and crisp. It’s considered a High DPI screen, though, so you may have to adjust the resolution or zooming to your comfort levels. Touch is completely usable and may even be fun to use, provided you’re using software that support it. Linux users might have to workaround those, but there is no shortage of utilities and tools for those. Onboard, for example, makes for a great configurable virtual keyboard while Touchegg on Ubuntu lets you have some multi-finger touch screen gestures as well.
Performance, of course, varies depending on the software you use. Again, Linux and its programs are kinder to CPU and memory but there will be times that even the 8 GB RAM might cause the system to choke for a bit. That’s especially true when you have multiple tabs open in Chrome or having multiple hi-res layers in Krita. Compiling in the background with multiple programs often could also result in some noticeable lag but nothing I threw at it has caused the Surface Go to grind to a halt. Yes, you can even play games on it, including those found on Steam for Linux. Your concern, however, will be the middling Intel GPU and throttling due to heat.
Battery life is another one of those metrics that is hard to pin down. Microsoft advertises 9 hours but none of the reviewers reached that much. They consider themselves lucky if they reach 6 hours. On Linux, 7 hours average is normal and might even be on the low end. The Surface Go makes up for its disappointing longevity with its ability to be topped off with a power bank. That said, not any power bank would do. One that has USB-C Power Deliver and dishes out 30 to 40 watts is probably the best. A slim 18W would be the bare minimum but, depending on what you’re doing, it could be a slow trickle or even a slow discharge.
Almost Perfect
Unsurprisingly, not everything works, or at least not yet. Neither camera is detected, for one, and while that saves you from being ridiculed taking photos with a large slab, it does leave out video chats and conferences. Audio is also a bit on the soft side though the mic does work at least. The biggest problem at the moment, however, is that the Surface Go boots directly into Windows, no matter how you installed Linux properly. You have to boot into Advanced Restart options after booting into Windows to get it to boot into GRUB. Or probably don’t reboot at all since Suspend works just fine.
So why go through all that to install Linux? It isn’t a matter of “because you can”, though there’s definitely some bragging rights involved. The Surface Go is actually an impressive piece of tech and is probably the lightest, best-looking, and well-performing Linux tablet you’ll be able to get your hands on. Save for a tablet that’s been made and designed to run Linux from that start, of course.
There is no shortage of small-form Linux computers out there, from Planet Computing’s Gemini PDA to the GPD Pocket “palm top” to the quirky stylus-enabled One Mix Yoga. But when it comes to an eye and finger-friendly general purpose Linux tablet that you can do almost anything on, within reason and limitations, the Surface Go seems to have, rather ironically, come closest to being the Linux iPad Pro. Now that is a real computer.

A few days back we posted initial Linux benchmarks of the NVIDIA TITAN RTX graphics card, the company’s newest flagship Titan card shipping as of a few days ago. That initial performance review included a look at the TensorFlow performance and other compute tests along with some Vulkan Linux gaming benchmarks. In this article is a look at a more diverse range of GPU compute benchmarks while testing thirteen NVIDIA graphics cards going back to the GTX 680 Kepler days.
Besides being a diverse range of NVIDIA cards looking at the raw Linux GPU compute performance, complementing that performance data is also the AC system power consumption and performance-per-Watt metrics as well as thermal data. All of that data generated in a fully-automated and reproducible manner using the open-source Phoronix Test Suite benchmarking software. The AC system power data was being polled by PTS using a WattsUp Pro power meter.
All of the tests were done from the Intel Core i9 9900K system running Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS with the Linux 4.19 kernel and NVIDIA 415.23 driver and CUDA 10.0.
The tests today ranged from OpenCL desktop workloads like Darktable to OctaneBench 4.0 to various CUDA/OpenCL scientific programs, FAHBench, LuxMark, and others. Again, if you are interested in TensorFlow performance with different models and precision, check out the article from last week for all of those current numbers. The cards tested in this benchmarking go-around included the:
– GTX 680
– GTX 780 Ti
– GTX 970
– GTX 980
– GTX 980 Ti
– GTX TITAN X GM200
– GTX 1060
– GTX 1070
– GTX 1080
– GTX 1080 Ti
– RTX 2080
– RTX 2080 Ti
– TITAN RTX
The NVIDIA compute tests were done with the cards I had available for testing that were not busy in other rigs; sans the RTX 2070 that is currently having issues. I’m still in the process of vetting Radeon’s ROCm 2.0 release and should have some comparison benchmarks there in the days ahead. Without further ado, let’s check out the green GPU compute performance this Christmas.
With Darktable the TITAN RTX is basically in line with the RTX 2080 Ti due to diminishing returns for scaling even with these already very large resolution RAW images used for testing that aim to be representative of current RAW image handling. But it is interesting for showing just how the OpenCL Darktable performance compares from the once very capable GTX 680 through now with the ultra high-end TITAN RTX.
OctaneBench 4.0 was recently released and does handle the Turing GPUs quite well. The TITAN RTX here was 6% faster than the RTX 2080 Ti — though not quite as large of a margin as showing in many of the TensorFlow tests that were ~12% faster.
While running OctaneBench, the TITAN RTX had a 315 Watt average AC system power draw on this 9900K system with a peak of 350 Watts, compared to 299 Watts on the RTX 2080 Ti for an average and peak of 330 Watts.
But even with the slightly higher power draw of the TITAN RTX, the performance-per-Watt was still comparable to the leading RTX 2080 Ti.
The Parboil scientific tests with OpenCL do very well on the RTX 2080 series.
The double precision performance measured by the OpenCL Mixbench was about 6% faster than the RTX 2080 Ti. Compared to the GTX 680, it was a 3.35x performance difference.
For global memory bandwidth measured by clpeak, the TITAN RTX was 3.75x the speed of the GTX 680 while being 5% faster than the RTX 2080 Ti that is also equipped with the GDDR6 video memory.
FAHBench as the Folding@Home benchmark had a negligible performance difference compared to the RTX 2080 Ti, but here was interesting to see the 9.4x spread in performance.
Even with performance-per-Watt, the RTX 2080 Ti and TITAN RTX offer 4.8x the power efficiency of the GTX 680 Kepler.
With the LuxMark OpenCL benchmarks, the TITAN RTX offered better performance than the RTX 2080 Ti while still offering either better or comparable power efficiency.
Here’s a look at all of these different graphics cards and their GPU core temperatures during the span of all the GPU compute benchmarks carried out for this article. The TITAN RTX had an average temperature of 64 degrees and a peak of 79 degrees, actually a few degrees lower on all the metrics compared to the GTX 680 as well as many of the other cards tested.
The TITAN RTX also came out well with these tests in the overall AC system power consumption metrics and slightly ahead of the RTX 2080 Ti for these particular workloads (see more power data in the original TITAN RTX Linux benchmarks article). This article is basically complementary data points to the original tests featuring TensorFlow, Linux gaming, etc.
If you want to see how your own Linux GPU compute performance compares to this diverse range of NVIDIA cards tested, simply install the Phoronix Test Suite and then run phoronix-test-suite benchmark 1812259-PTS-NVIDIATI26.
For those wondering about Blender rendering performance on the TITAN RTX, there are these standalone tests so far using a patched build of Blender 2.79 that has the CUDA 10 support needed for Turing cards. I’m still working on getting the Blender 2.80 beta to play nicely for benchmarking and when that’s working right will have a large comparison on that front.