2009 Mac Pro Processor Upgrade Although you can upgrade a 2009 Mac Pro’s processors, you likely find it isn’t practical to do so. The processors supporting easy upgrades are no longer sold new. It’s possible to find used processors on the salvage market, on eBay, and in other places, but they are usually sold as-is, or with very limited guarantees, such as “pulled from a known working computer.” Firmware Hack and Six-Core Westmere Another option is to upgrade to a six-core Westmere processor, like the ones used in the 2010 and 2012 Mac Pros....

Vine: A Refresher on What It Was Vine was a short, looping video social network that looked similar to Instagram. With Vine, there was no need to sit through even seven seconds of a video since Vine videos were just six seconds long. The biggest and most popular Vine users (most of whom were young teens and 20-somethings) were able to attract millions of followers and participate in lucrative advertising campaigns....

3D Displays vs. 3D Graphics 3D graphics are nothing new to the world of personal computers. 3D graphics represent a three-dimensional world rendered in a two-dimensional display. While viewers have a sense of the depth between objects, it is no different than viewing a standard television program or film shot in two dimensions. 3D displays, on the other hand, are designed to simulate depth using stereoscopic vision, presenting two different images so that the viewers’ eyes interpret the images as a single 3D image....

We’d argue that you should almost always try to fix your own computer problem, but it’s understandable if you’re just completely against it. No hard feelings. However, before you call tech support, or run off to the computer repair shop, we get one more shot to convince you to at least try something before you pay someone else for help. Having worked in the computer service industry for years, I’m very familiar with the simple things that most people overlook, things that could completely eliminate the need to have a computer worked on at all....

This buying guide will help you decide on the best laptop for your needs and budget. 6 Things to Consider When Buying a Laptop Whether it’s a basic laptop, a 2-in-1, one built specifically for gaming, or one tailored to businesses, here are the top factors to consider: CostType (2-in-1, ultrabook, etc.)Operating system (Mac OS, Chrome OS, or Windows)Graphics and DisplayProcessor and RAMStorage How Much Should You Spend on a Laptop?...

Other apps like Instagram can offer a refreshing change. These are apps that have rolled some of Instagram’s best features into their own, but have a totally unique feel to them. If you’re just looking for something new to try out, have a look through the following list of apps that are just as visually appealing and community driven as Instagram. With Retrica, you get all the stuff you love from Instagram plus more....

File Formats Canon DSLRs use a variation of the MOV file format, Nikon and Olympus cameras use the AVI format, and Panasonic and Sony use the AVCHD format. All videos can be translated into different formats at the editing and output stage. Video Quality Most of the new prosumer and top-end DSLRs record in full 4k at a rate of 24 to 30 frames per second. Entry-level DSLRs can often only record at the lower resolution of 720p HD (a resolution of 1280x720 pixels) or 1080p....

How to Convert a Photo to Black and White in GIMP Before considering the Channel Mixer option, let’s look at the simplest way to convert a digital photo to black and white in GIMP. Typically when a GIMP user wants to convert a digital photo to black and white, they’ll go to the Colors menu and select Desaturate. While the Desaturate dialog does offer three options for how the conversion will be made, namely Lightness, Luminosity and the average of the two, in practice the difference is often very slight....

Israeli space weather researchers report they’ve used AI to predict the sun’s radiation outbreaks up to 96 hours before they occurred. A huge solar blast is likely to hit the earth with unpredictable results, but it could include destroying satellites. “The impacts of such a storm can be wide varying—[it can affect] power delivery and grid security, communications, satellite operations, and collision avoidance, spacecraft charging and damage, [lead to] radiation exposure [for] astronauts and commercial airlines passengers and crews, and more,” Piyush Mehta, a professor of Space Systems at West Virginia University told Lifewire in an email interview....

Tidio editor Kazimierz Rajnerowicz spent over 30 hours asking half a dozen popular artificial intelligence (AI)-powered voice assistants and chatbots all kinds of questions and concluded that while virtual assistants are great at retrieving facts, they aren’t advanced enough to hold a conversation. “AI today is pattern recognition,” explained Liziana Carter, founder of conversational AI start-up Grow AI, to Lifewire in a conversation over email. “Expecting it to advise whether robbing a bank is right or wrong is expecting creative thinking from it, also known as AI General Intelligence, which we’re far from right now....

What is ALAC? The ALAC format option in iTunes is short for Apple Lossless Audio Codec (or simply Apple Lossless), and it does not compress your music to the extent that sound quality is impacted. The audio is still compressed like AAC, but the big difference is that the sound quality remains identical to the source. This lossless audio format is similar to other formats you may have heard about, such as Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)....

Google initially unveiled Android 12L last week, noting that it would use the update to create a more unified Android experience on tablets, folding phones, and even Chromebooks. The idea is to make better use of the real estate provided by the larger screens. Google plans to address this by improving multitasking and the look of notifications, and even adding some backend changes. But it doesn’t stop there, as Google also plans to bring Android 12L to smaller devices....

Overall Findings The Apple Safari browser, now a key piece of macOS, is seamlessly integrated into some core Apple applications, including Apple Mail and Photos. This is one of the advantages of Apple having an its own browser. Mozilla Firefox is a popular alternative to Safari. Although it may not be as fast, the difference isn’t enough to discount Firefox as your browser of choice. Although Safari’s speed and integration with the operating system may give it a leg up at first glance, Firefox has some appealing features....

What Are Availability, Reliability, and Serviceability? Availability refers to the overall uptime of the computer system or its specific features. For example, a personal computer is available for use if its operating system is booted and running. While related to availability, the concept of reliability means something different. Reliability refers to the general likelihood of a failure occurring in a running system. A perfectly reliable system will enjoy 100 percent availability....

The Bose Sleepbuds II serve a very specific purpose: they’re aimed at customers struggling with sleep issues. While a pair of noise-isolating foam earplugs is a classic solution for blocking out distractions at bedtime, these pricey earbuds provide a decidedly more long-term solution to sleepless nights from a company that knows a thing or two about blocking out noise. The Sleepbuds II don’t use the hallmark active noise canceling (ANC) technology you’ll find in other Bose headphones, many of which also happen to be the best noise-canceling headphones....

SavorEat has unveiled a cooking robot that makes vegan burgers, which an app can control. The automaton, which is meant to be used by restaurants, customizes each patty based on your preferences. However, robots like the one introduced by SavorEat are still limited in their abilities. “The introduction and use of robots or automation were not meant to replace the human worker,” Udi Shamai, the CEO of HYPER, an automated food company, told Lifewire in an email interview....

CES Begins Now Before digging into specifics, know this. CES is already here. While the show officially starts on January 5 and runs to January 8, companies start planning months ahead for the show. However, most announcements go live between New Year’s Day and the first day of CES. Other announcements are embargoed under a non-disclosure agreement but will leak anyway, leading to a steady stream of new information leading up to the show’s first official day....

Nvidia Brings Its Best RTX Hardware to an Affordable Graphics Card The green team wasn’t officially part of CES 2021, as its presentation was held outside the official virtual show, but Nvidia still had plenty to share. The biggest, and least surprising, was the launch of Nvidia’s RTX 3060, RTX 3070, and RTX 3080 Max-Q graphics cards for laptops. These bring the architecture powering Nvidia’s popular 30-series desktop cards, known as Ampere, to mobile devices....

What is the reason for this different design? Some manufacturers (most notably LG and Samsung) and retailers will tell you it’s to create a more “immersive” TV viewing experience, but the real reason is to simply make some OLED and 4K Ultra HD TVs stand out from those plain ole 1080p TVs to further entice you to buy them. Yes, curved-screen TVs do look cool. But what are you really getting for your money if you purchase a curved-screen TV?...

Darkroom uses the same Photos library as the built-in Photos app across all your Apple devices, meaning it also integrates completely with iCloud Photo Library, syncing your edits between all devices. It processes raw photos from your fancy cameras, lets you create and save custom filters, and now—in version 6—adds AI-powered masks for easy local adjustments. “You know that famous Steve Jobs quote, ‘The computer is the bicycle of the mind’?...