Technology

What does Apple have up its sleeve in 2020?

Apple is expected to have at least two big product launches in 2020 with the first round coming possibly as early as March. The focus of the second, in the fall, will likely be a 5G iPhone.

Apple typically rolls out new products in the early spring but the launch this year is a bit different than usual because of guidance from the company on Feb. 17 that the “worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained” due to the public health response in China to coronavirus, or COVID-19.

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Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing at Apple Inc., speaks about iPhone Pro during an event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019.
(Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Here’s what to expect based on reports.

–iPhone SE 2 or iPhone 9: While final product names are never a sure thing until Apple actually announces, the “iPhone SE 2,” aka “iPhone 9,” is expected to be Apple’s second stab at a low-cost iPhone following the original iPhone SE that was released in March 2016. The new phone could be priced around $400 – cheap for an iPhone – and be based on the iPhone 8 but with upgraded internal components. Bloomberg recently reported that the low-cost iPhone is still on track for March though plans are “fluid” because of the slowdown in China.

–Updated iPad Pro: iPads often get some kind of update in the early spring. This year Apple is expected to focus on a new camera system with a triple-lens rear camera and 3D sensing that supports immersive augmented reality, according to various reports, including Apple rumor site MacRumors.

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–MacBook Pro, MacBook Air: Following the October launch of the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which features a design overhaul of the previous 15.4-inch MacBook Pro, Apple is expected to update its more popular, and cheaper, 13-inch MacBook Pro. The updated 13-inch laptop is rumored to include upgraded Intel processors and a so-called “scissor-switch” keyboard that is expected to be an improvement over the much-maligned “Butterfly” keyboard on the current MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, according to MacRumors. The MacBook Air could also see an upgrade to internal components. The launch date could be March or this summer.

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—iPhone 12 with 5G: A bevy of rumors are suggesting that there will be four iPhones coming out in the fall with screen sizes of 5.4, 6.1, 6.7 inches. All will come with organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, according to reports. The 5.4-inch model would be a new size and the 6.7-inch model would be Apple’s largest iPhone to date. At least one of the models is expected to get a design makeover. Rumors also suggest a chassis like the iPhone 4. The current physical iPhone design, with a notch at the top of the display that houses the selfie camera, has changed little since 2017 when the iPhone X was launched. Other expected features include a new processor, called the A14, and an upgraded camera. But the marquee feature will be 5G. Samsung, Apple’s chief rival, has already announced 5G Galaxy phones but 5G coverage in the U.S. is still spotty. Apple appears to be timing its 5G rollout to wider availability of 5G.

8 places better than Craigslist to sell your stuff

File photo illustration -hands write on a computer keyboard on August 28, 2019 in Berlin, Germany.
(Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)

When it comes to selling things you no longer need, Craigslist is the go-to place for many people. But we’ve all heard the horror stories about Craigslist. It’s a reason why many local police departments let you conduct transactions in their facilities.

Before you sell anything, use eBay to come up with a ballpark value. You might be surprised how much old tech is worth. Tap or click here for old tech in your house right now that’s worth big bucks.

Here are a few tips to protect yourself from fraud (online and in-person) or physical harm:

Never give out your phone number or email address to the people you’re selling to. If they want to contact you, they can do so through the app. If you can’t get around it, create an email address just for selling purposes. Tap or click here to get a second number on your phone you can use for online sales.
Do not accept personal checks or money orders. These can be canceled before they’re handed to you.
If you need to ship an expensive item, request “proof of delivery” from the shipping company. If it’s really pricey, get the insurance.
ALWAYS meet in a public place. If you must meet a buyer at your house, move the items to the garage or outdoors so the buyer has no reason to enter your home.

Now, let’s get selling!

1. Facebook Marketplace

If you’re looking for a broad audience to hawk your wares, you can’t beat Facebook. The social media behemoth offers the free Facebook Marketplace, which makes it easy to reach people in your area interested in what you’re selling.

You can sell just about anything on Facebook Marketplace, including gadgets, gifts, household items and even houses. Once you upload images of your items, select your location to reach potential buyers in your area and communicate via Facebook Messenger.

Before you dive in, be sure your Facebook security settings are set to your liking. Tap or click here for the ones I recommend you change.

2. OfferUp

Skip the all-day yard sale and list your stuff within 30 seconds (so claims its creators) on OfferUp. This free-to-use app is ideal for sellers looking for buyers in their local community. Communication between the parties on OfferUp takes place through the app via secure messaging.

If you want to extend your range, OfferUp allows you to sell locally or nationwide. For a local sale, you collect cash in person. For goods that need to be shipped, payments are made through the app.

3. eBay

This year eBay celebrates 25 years of online buying and selling. For its 180+ million members, eBay is a great place to unload big-ticket items. Tap or click here for a secret to help you earn top dollar.

It’s also the perfect place for wacky, unusual and … questionable products. How crazy are some listings?

The list is extensive and includes ad space on a guy’s forehead, which brought in $37,375 in 2005, a bus-sized barbeque pit that sold for $350,000 in 2015 and a supposed 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich encrusted with a portrait of the Virgin Mary back in 2004, which raked in $28,000.

Regardless of whether your items are every day or off-the-wall, there are two ways to sell on eBay: via auction or fixed-price listings. Both methods come with fees and all payments go through PayPal. Tap or click to learn how you can avoid making a big mistake when selling your old phone on eBay.

4. Letgo

Letgo is a free selling app, an easy-to-use app also great for local sales. Categories include used toys, housing and pre-owned vehicles. Just upload a photo of your item and provide details like description and condition. From the info you enter, Letgo will generate a product title.

Contact between buyers and sellers happens via an in-app messaging system. Once you agree upon a price, a meetup is required to complete the transaction. Payment can be made either in person or through PayPal. Letgo also offers you the option to “feature” your item for a small fee.

Tap or click to download LetGo.

5. Mercari

No meetups required with this selling app because all items ship. Mercari allows you to list as many items as you want with zero listing fees. What’s the catch? It does charge a flat 10 percent selling fee when your item sells.

Buyers can either buy your item at your asking price or offer you an amount they are willing to pay. Any time you sell an item on Mercari, whether it be listed or offer price, you will have to wait to get paid (into your Mercari app account) until your buyer receives the item, leaves feedback for you and you leave feedback for them.

If you have a balance, you can transfer money from the app directly to your bank account, which can take a few more days. Although this requires a bit of patience, there are no fees for transfers.

6. Decluttr

Maybe your clutter consists of CDs, DVDs, games, books and tech. If so, Decluttr is the best app for selling your stuff. No photos, no listings, no waiting for a buyer.

To sell with Decluttr, enter information, such as your tech’s model number, and if it’s a CD, DVD, game or book. Then scan its barcode using the app’s built-in scanner to instantly receive a valuation.

If you accept, pack up your items in a box, slap on the free pre-paid label and ship. When Decluttr receives and processes your items, you will be paid the next day. The company pays via PayPal, direct deposit or check. Or you can choose to donate your payment to charity.

Tap or click here to use DeCluttr.

7. thredUP

Considered the largest online consignment and thrift store, thredUp can help you pocket some major bucks for used women’s clothing, shoes, accessories and jewelry, as well as kids’ clothing and shoes.

There are two ways to offload your items on thredUP: Order the standard cleanout kit (you get paid) or donation cleanout (charity gets paid). You fill up the kit with gently-used items and ship it back. Then thredUP lists your items and sends them to buyers.

Fees do exist for options that include processing your clothing within one week ($16.00), returning any unwanted items to you ($10.99) and a pre-paid return shipping label ($1.99).

Payouts can range from 5 percent to 80 percent for directly purchased items and 20 percent to 95 percent for consignment goods. Pay alternatives include PayPal, a Visa prepaid card or shopping credit.

Tap or click here to download thredUP.

8. Nextdoor

If you don’t want the hassle of shipping your stuff, sell it on Nextdoor. This community app allows you to post a listing for items you wish to sell or give away. Upload a photo and select a category, price or free, description and title.

If you use Nextdoor to keep tabs on your neighborhood, beware. These are a few things you should know to protect yourself from creeps, bullies and snoops. Tap or click here to see exactly what you need to do.

Promotional options for Nextdoor include posting to a broader local area, which allows you to reach nearby neighborhoods and boost your item (if it hasn’t sold within 48 hours) with a discount. This second option will further help you access a wider audience.

Once you have a buyer and agree on a price, you must arrange for a meetup and payment. There are no payment methods available through Nextdoor.

Now you have all the tools you need to get rid of all that clutter. There’s nothing stopping you from cleaning out your home and making some money in the process.

BONUS TIP FOR EXTRA KNOW-HOW: Fed up with robocalls? App lets you automatically sue spammers

After years of struggle against the robocall menace, we’ve made startlingly little progress. Day after day, we’re bombarded with annoying phone calls.

How can you stop them? Well, when the authorities fail to solve the crisis, leave it to the private sector to develop other tools to aid in the fight.

As much promise as these apps seem to show, none can give the people what they really want: a shot at revenge. Thankfully, a new app is being developed that not only blocks robocalls, but also gives you a chance to sue them for cold hard cash.

Tap or click here to give robocallers a piece of your mind.

What digital lifestyle questions do you have? Call Kim’s national radio show and tap or click here to find it on your local radio station. You can listen to or watch the Kim Komando Show on your phone, tablet, television or computer. Or tap or click here for Kim’s free podcasts.

Learn about all the latest technology on The Kim Komando Show, the nation’s largest weekend radio talk show. Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today’s digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. For her daily tips, free newsletters and more, visit her website at Komando.com.

Dad of journalist Alison Parker blasts Google over videos of her murder spreading online, files FTC complaint

The father of slain television news journalist Alison Parker blasted Google-owned YouTube for allowing despicable videos of her murder to proliferate on the popular video platform.

Parker, 24, and her cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were shot by 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan during a live interview in Moneta, Va. Flanagan, a disgruntled former reporter who later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, recorded the shooting on a GoPro he was wearing.

The horrific footage went viral on social media, forcing Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to take down videos as other versions kept getting posted. Parker recently filed a complaint and request for investigation with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that YouTube is violating its own terms of service by hosting videos that show people being murdered.

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A photo sits amongst flowers at a candlelight vigil for Alison Parker on Martinsville High School’s football field on August 27, 2015 in Martinsville, Virginia – file photo. Two employees of WDBJ TV were killed during a live broadcast at Bridgewater Plaza on Smith Mountain Lake on August 26, 2015.
(Photo by Jay Paul/Getty Images)

“The platform’s Terms of Service proclaim that violent content is not allowed, leading users to reasonably believe that they will not encounter it,” the complaint says. “In reality, these videos are commonplace on the platform, and many of them have remained there for several years.”

“I want to see Google stop profiting from Alison’s murder,” said Andy Parker during a Thursday appearance on The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino. “If complaint stands on its own, I am hoping this will kickstart effort to revoke or amend Section 230.”

Although Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides tech companies with broad immunity in terms of being responsible for what gets published on their platforms, in recent years lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have questioned whether it gives Big Tech too much power.

A spokesperson for YouTube provided Fox News with the following statement via email: “We specifically prohibit videos that aim to shock with violence, or accuse victims of public violent events of being part of a hoax,” she explained, via email. “We rigorously enforce these policies using a combination of machine-learning technology and human review and, over the last few years, we’ve removed thousands of copies of this video for violating our policies. We will continue to stay vigilant and improve our policy enforcement.”

YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF JOURNALIST ALISON PARKER’S MURDER STILL CIRCULATING

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Parker said he has been meeting with Republican and Democratic senators to discuss what can be done about this issue.

“Their response is a complete utter lie,” he said. “They’ve lied from the get-go.”

Parker told Perino that he has been harassed by conspiracy theorists who label him an “actor.”

“The users who perpetuate this type of entertainment continue to harass Mr. Parker by discounting his suffering as fake,” the filing says. “Yet to this day, Mr. Parker and his family have had only one tool available to defend themselves from such traumatic vitriol and the nightmare of seeing their daughter’s death: watch these videos one-by-one in order to report them.”

YouTube, which sees over 500 hours of video uploaded every minute, says that it removed more than 1.3 million videos for violating its policies in the third quarter of 2019.

“If there is such a thing as bipartisanship left in this country, this is where we can do it,” Parker said. “I’m doing this for the Sandy Hook families, the Parkland families, everyone who has been victimized.”

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Fox News’ James Rogers contributed to this report.

Navy arms amphibs with 13 F-35s, changes future attack tactics

FILE: A U.S.Marine Corps F-35B joint strike fighter jet conducts aerial maneuvers during aerial refueling training over the Atlantic Ocean.
(Reuters)

The Navy has ushered in a new era in amphibious warfare operations.

Launching a massive, fast-paced air assault from the sea, providing close-air support for amphibious assault forces, and bringing forward-operating surveillance and networking technology to maritime warfare are all part of the changing operational calculus introduced by adding F-35s to maritime attack.

With the goal of refining and preparing for these kinds of emerging maritime combat tactics, a high-tech U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship recently completed a deployment mission armed with as many as 13 F-35s.

The Navy’s USS America, a first-in-class new generation amphib, traveled the seas armed with 13 F-35s, senior Navy officials said. This brings an unprecedented measure of air attack and surveillance possibilities, including the option to provide stealth air support to amphibious assaults.

Amphibs could offer a smaller, more mobile type of aircraft carrier power projection capability, Vice Adm. Rich Brown, commander, Naval Surfaces Forces, told an audience Jan. 14 at the 32nd Annual Surface Navy Association Symposium.

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“A big deck with that many F-35s is beginning to look like an aircraft carrier to me,” Brown said.

Since potential adversaries now have longer-range weapons, better sensors, targeting technologies and computers with faster processing speeds, amphibious forces approaching the shore may need to disperse in order to make it harder for enemy forces to target them. Therefore, the notion of an air-powered, disaggregated, yet interwoven attack force, less vulnerable to enemy fire, could be launched to hit “multiple landing points” to exploit enemy defenses.

Execution of this new strategy is, depending upon the threat, heavily impacted by the arrival of fifth-generation aircraft, such as the F-35. Now operational as part of Marine Corps Air Ground Task Forces aboard the USS America, USS Wasp and USS Essex, the F-35B is intended to provide close-air support to advancing attacks, use its sensors to perform forward reconnaissance and launch strikes itself.

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The success of an amphibious attack requires air supremacy. Extending this logic, an F-35 would be positioned to address enemy air-to-air and air-to-surface threats such as drones, fighter jets or even incoming anti-ship missiles and ballistic missiles. The idea would be to use the F-35 in tandem with surveillance drones and other nodes to find and destroy land-based enemy defenses, clearing the way for a land assault.

These kinds of synchronized attack tactics would naturally be heavily fortified by an F-35, which has a distributed aperture system – placing 360 degrees worth of cameras around the aircraft – and a high-tech targeting sensor called EOTS, or electro-optical targeting system. The aircraft’s computers also allow for something called “sensor fusion,” a technology that integrates information from a host of different sensors onto a single screen for pilots to view.

Dispersed approaches, using air-ground coordination and forward-positioned surveillance nodes, can increasingly use synchronized assault tactics, pinpointing advantageous areas of attack. Not only can this exploit enemy weakness, but it also brings the advantage of avoiding more condensed or closely configured approaches that are far more vulnerable to long-range enemy sensors and weapons.

Having advanced airpower such as an F-35B, with its heavier load of firepower, helps enable this need to bring assault forces across a wide range of attack locations. But while intended to destroy technologically sophisticated enemies, none of this removes major risks. Among the systems of concern are Russian and Chinese weapons, including emerging fifth-generation fighters, DF-26 anti-ship missiles claimed to reach 900 miles, and rapidly emerging weapons such as drones, lasers and railguns.

In effect, future “ship-to-shore” amphibious attacks will look nothing like the more linear, aggregated Iwo Jima assault. A Naval War College essay on this topic both predicted and reinforced this thinking.

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“The basic requirements of amphibious assault, long held to be vital to success, may no longer be attainable. Unlike the Pacific landings of World War II, amphibious objective areas could prove impossible to isolate,” said the paper, called “Blitzkrieg From the Sea: Maneuver Warfare and Amphibious Operations.” (Richard Moore, 1983)

The essay, written during the height of the Cold War, seems to anticipate future threats from major-power adversaries. Interestingly, drawing from some elements of a Cold War mentality, the essay foreshadows the current “great-power” competition strategy for the Navy as it transitions from more than a decade of counterinsurgency to a new threat environment. In fact, when discussing its now-underway “distributed lethality” strategy, Navy leaders often refer to this need to return its focus to heavily fortified littoral defenses and open, blue-water warfare against a near-peer adversary as having some roots in the Cold War era.

5 Internet crimes you need to pay attention to

A new FBI report on Internet crime highlights the most devastating cybercrime with reported losses exceeding $3.5 billion in 2019.

The FBI based its report on 467,000 complaints by the public to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in 2019.

SIM swapping is an emerging high-profile crime, the FBI cited in the report. In a SIM swap, a wireless carrier is tricked into switching the SIM linked to the subscriber to the criminal’s SIM. In one case based in San Francisco, the arrest of a SIM swapping group leader led to the seizure of over $18 million, five vehicles, a $900,000 home, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewelry, the FBI said in March 2019.

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Here are the five Internet crimes the FBI is focusing on.

PHISHING

This spans many categories of crimes. Victims of phishing and related crimes totaled 114,702 victims, by far the largest number, with losses totaling almost $58 million last year. Phishing is defined by the FBI as unsolicited email, text messages, and telephone calls purportedly from a legitimate company requesting personal, financial, and/or login credentials.

“For criminals, phishing is cheap, easy, difficult to trace, and often effective. It frequently leads to other types of attacks, including ransomware, data breaches, identity theft, and email account compromise,” Paul Bischoff, researcher and privacy advocate with Comparitech, which provides services for data security and privacy, told Fox News.

EMAIL COMPROMISE

In 2019, there were 23,775 business email compromise and email account compromise complaints with adjusted losses of over $1.7 billion. The aim of the crime is to transfer funds from a business or individual to the bad guy. This is done by compromising legitimate email accounts through social engineering or hacking.

The FBI cited specific crimes such as spoofed lawyer email accounts and fraudulent requests for W-2 information.

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RANSOMWARE

In a ransomware attack, critical data and files are encrypted and locked, blocking access, until a ransom is paid. In 2019, the IC3 received 2,047 complaints identified as ransomware with adjusted losses of over $8.9 million. “Paying a ransom does not guarantee an organization will regain access to its data,” the FBI said, adding that organizations are often never provided with decryption keys after having paid a ransom.

The FBI did not cite one of the worst ransomware trends in 2019, the so-called Maze ransomware family. In this act, criminals typically threaten to publicize stolen data if victims do not pay the ransom

TECH SUPPORT FRAUD

In 2019, the IC3 received 13,633 complaints related to Tech Support Fraud. The losses amounted to over $54 million, jumping 40 percent over 2018. The majority of victims were over 60 years of age.

In one case cited by the FBI, a North Carolina man stole more than $3 million from hundreds of victims, duping them into paying for purported “technical support” services to resolve the issue.

ELDER FRAUD

This financial fraud targets those over the age of 60. In 2019, the IC3 received 68,013 complaints from victims with adjusted losses in excess of $835 million. The most common crimes include investment fraud, romance scams, tech support scams, government impersonation scams, and family/caregiver scams.

If you’re a victim of any of these crimes, you can report a crime directly to the FBI here.

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YouTube videos of journalist Alison Parker’s murder still circulating, father says

The father of Alison Parker, a television news journalist who was murdered during a live broadcast in 2015, has slammed YouTube over sick videos of her slaying that continue to circulate on the video-sharing site.

On Aug. 26, 2015, Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27 were shot by 41-year-old Vester Lee Flanagan during a live interview in Moneta, Va. Flanagan, a disgruntled former reporter who also went by the name Bryce Williams, later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The gunman recorded the shooting on a GoPro he was wearing and the footage quickly circulated on social media, prompting Facebook and Twitter, along with YouTube, to rush to remove the videos.

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However, Parker’s father Andy Parker told the Washington Post that videos of the killing are still circulating on YouTube, which is owned by Google. “We’re flagging the stuff,” he said. “Nothing’s coming down. This is crazy. I cannot tolerate them profiting from my daughter’s murder, and that’s exactly what they do.”

A photo sits amongst flowers at a candlelight vigil for Alison Parker on Martinsville High School’s football field on Aug. 27, 2015 in Martinsville, Va.
(Jay Paul/Getty Images)

Parker has filed a complaint and request for investigation with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that YouTube is violating its terms by hosting videos that graphically depict people being murdered. The video-sharing site is “capitalizing on their final moments for pure shock value and entertainment” according to the complaint, which was drafted with the Georgetown Law Civil Rights Clinic.

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In the complaint, Parker notes that videos of his daughter’s dying moments “continue to proliferate on YouTube nearly five years after her murder.” The videos have been edited in numerous ways, in almost every case to increase their shock value, the filing says.

Andy Parker (L), the father of murdered TV reporter Alison Parker, speaks while flanked by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) (R), during an anti-gun rally on Capitol Hill Sept. 10, 2015, in Washington, D.C.
(Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Parker says that conspiracy hoaxers have posted raw TV and GoPro footage of the murder, spreading lies and subjecting him to harassment. Others have uploaded the videos to YouTube “for pure sadistic entertainment,” the filing adds.

YOUTUBE: NO ‘DEEPFAKES’ OR ‘BIRTHER’ VIDEOS IN 2020 ELECTION

A spokeswoman for YouTube told Fox News that the video-sharing site’s Community Guidelines are designed to protect its users, including those affected by tragedies. “We specifically prohibit videos that aim to shock with violence, or accuse victims of public violent events of being part of a hoax,” she explained, via email. “We rigorously enforce these policies using a combination of machine learning technology and human review and, over the last few years, we’ve removed thousands of copies of this video for violating our policies. We will continue to stay vigilant and improve our policy enforcement.”

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YouTube says that in the third quarter of 2019 it removed more than 1.3 million videos for violating its policies with regard to violent and graphic content.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

What happens to your social media accounts when you die?

What happens to your social media accounts when you die? Kim Komando has the answers.
(Reuters)

None of us are getting out of this alive. With the advent of consumer tech and the internet, you can now make your wishes known in a myriad of ways. For starters, if you’re wondering where’s the best place to make sure your loved ones follow your will directives and have access to your passwords, you can do this online.

Specialty sites can store all your important documents from wills, trusts and passwords to your funeral preferences. While most sites are subscription-based, there is a free option that is HIPPA-compliant with secured bank-level encryption. Tap or click here for pay and free sites to help you organize your end-of-life planning.

Speaking of death, virtual reality recently let a grief-stricken mother talk and play with her deceased daughter in a park they used to go to together. The story is fascinating on so many levels that you have to see. Tap or click here for the heartbreaking story and videos that will show you what happened.

You can control what happens to your social media accounts when the inevitable happens. Here’s how to do it.

Facebook’s Legacy feature

Before you dive in, do a solid check of your Facebook privacy settings. Tap or click here my list of privacy essentials for any Facebook account.

On Facebook, you can designate a legacy contact to manage your account after you’re gone. They can do things like writing a pinned post for your profile as a farewell message or letting your friends know the details of a memorial service.

Your designated person can also respond to friend requests, update your profile and cover photos, decide who can see your feed and who can post tributes, among other things.

There are limits to protect your privacy. He or she won’t be able to read your messages, log into your account or delete friends.

Here’s how to set up your Legacy Contact:

Go to your general account Settings and choose Memorialization Settings.
Click Edit and you can choose a legacy contact.
Use the “Choose a friend” box to add your legacy contact.

That person will receive an email explaining how the process works. Just be sure you give your chosen friend or family member a heads up first and make sure they’re willing to handle the responsibility.

Once you have your legacy contact set, look through the Memorialization Settings. On this page, you can decide whether your legacy contact can download a copy of what you’ve shared on your feed, including posts, photos, videos, and profile information.

TECH ADVICE YOU CAN TRUST: Get breaking tech news as it happens with free email alerts from my desk to your inbox. Tap or click here to sign up.

Once a year, you will receive a reminder about your legacy contact. If you’re certain your person won’t change, or that you’ll remember to change them if need be, you can click “stop annual reminders” in the Annual Reminder section.

If you’d rather have your account deleted after you pass away, go to the Memorialization Settings page and scroll down. Right above the Close button, there is an option you can click that says, “Request that your account be deleted after you pass away.”

You’ll still need to enlist the help of a trusted loved one. After he or she lets Facebook know you’ve died, your account will be completely deleted.

SPEED UP YOUR SMARTPHONE: If your phone is sluggish, apps are closing and your memory is full, a cleaner app could be the answer. There are tons of shady downloads out there, though. Tap or click for 5 apps you can trust.

What about Instagram?

Instagram, owned by Facebook, has similar features and procedures when it comes to memorializing accounts. Like Facebook, your family can request the deletion of your account or have it memorialized.

Instagram doesn’t allow you to choose a legacy contact. You’ll have to leave detailed instructions to your loved ones to have your account deleted or memorialized.

To do so, he or she needs to submit proof of your passing and proof of authority under local law that the person who is attempting to delete your account is a lawful representative of you or your estate.

If you need to delete an Instagram account for someone who is deceased, tap or click here to fill out the report. If you choose to memorialize an account, it can’t be changed or altered in any way. This includes any previous likes, followers, tags, posts and comments.

Twitter is a bit more limited

Twitter recently announced it would be deleting inactive accounts. However, the backlash was so great, the company was forced to redact their statement and find a happy medium for its users. Tap or click here for the full backstory.

In the end, Twitter decided not to delete inactive accounts until there’s an appropriate method of memorializing those belonging to people who have died.

Twitter has not yet created memorialized or legacy accounts, but they will remove a deceased user’s account if requested by a verified immediate family member who can provide the appropriate details. Tap or click here to learn more about Twitter’s deletion policies.

BONUS TIP FOR EXTRA KNOW-HOW: PC vs. Mac: 10 of the biggest differences explained

Mac versus Windows: The debate that’s raged since the 1980s. Whole commercial campaigns were put together around this very concept, claiming one was better than the other.

But what are the true, bias-free differences between Mac computers and Windows ones? What sets each one apart? Let’s start with their price tags.

Tap or click here to see Apple and Microsoft battle it out.

What digital lifestyle questions do you have? Call Kim’s national radio show and tap or click here to find it on your local radio station. You can listen to or watch the Kim Komando Show on your phone, tablet, television or computer. Or tap or click here for Kim’s free podcasts.

Pentagon wants to design unmanned ‘flying gun’

The Pentagon is seeking millions for an unmanned flying gun that could handle airborne or ground-based targets.

DARPA, the government agency that birthed the network which became the internet, is asking for $13.27 million in its 2021 fiscal year budget request for this so-called flying gun. The high-tech military division has called it Gunslinger.

“Gunslinger program will develop and demonstrate technologies to enable an air-launched tactical range missile system capable of multi-mission support,” the entry in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency budget proposal states. “This system will utilize the high maneuverability of a missile system coupled with a gun system capable of scalable effects and engagement of multiple targets.”

According to The Drive, which first reported the news, the military does not provide any information about how large the proposed system will be nor the type of guns it could carry.

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Image courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps.
(USMC)

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“These mission sets addressed [by Gunslinger] will include counter-insurgency (COIN) operations, close air support (CAS) and air-to-air engagements,” the budget documents claim.

The funding would go to “trade studies, to include propulsion, munitions, sensors, GPS and communication,” The Drive reports.

DARPA is well known for seeking advanced technologies that could further the U.S. military’s goals worldwide.

Last August, the secretive agency posted a request for information on Twitter that included an ask for an underground lair. In January, a post to the Federal Business Opportunities website sought concepts that could utilize insect brains to control robots. Earlier this month, a team from the University of Buffalo was awarded a $316,000 grant to study the brain waves and eye movements of gamers to help build an advanced AI that could control the actions of military robots.

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Elon Musk takes shot at Bill Gates, cites ‘underwhelming’ conversations

Following an interview where Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates revealed that he purchased a new Porsche and gave credit to Elon Musk’s Tesla for pushing the car industry to go electric, Musk took a shot at the world’s richest man, saying his conversations with him have been “underwhelming.”

“My conversations with Gates have been underwhelming [to be honest],” Musk said in response to a tweet from a Tesla enthusiast.

During the interview with YouTube influencer Marques Brownlee, Gates, whose net worth tops $100 billion, said that Tesla had “helped drive” the car industry in its efforts to reducing emissions to curb climate change. However, he also said consumers need to overcome issues such as range anxiety and time to recharge.

FILE – In this March 14, 2019, file photo Tesla CEO Elon Musk pauses while speaking before unveiling the Model Y at the company’s design studio in Hawthorne, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Bill Gates, Microsoft Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks during the Global partners meeting on neglected tropical diseases, NTD, at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)
(The Associated Press)

Range anxiety is the fear that an electric car will run out of power before a destination or charging point is reached

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Gates revealed during the interview that he recently purchased an electric Porsche Taycan, with the Turbo S model starting at $185,000. “I have to say, it’s a premium price car but it is very, very cool,” Gates added. “That’s my first electric car and I’m enjoying it a lot.”

According to a review from CarAndDriver, the Taycan Turbo S had a similar range to Tesla’s Model S Performance, at 209 miles and 222 miles, respectively.

Musk, 48, has made a habit of tweeting controversial statements about other tech CEOs. In 2017, Musk and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg traded jabs over their understanding and risks associated with artificial intelligence.

In 2019, Musk called Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos a “copycat” for Amazon’s project to launch internet-satellites, something Musk’s other company, SpaceX, is in the process of doing. He also made a lewd joke at Bezos’ expense after his space exploration company, Blue Origin, announced a moon lander.

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Fox Business’ Brittany De Lea contributed to this report.

Loch Ness monster: A history of the legendary beast

There’s no reason to think that the Loch Ness monster – colloquially known as “Nessie” – exists. However, the legendary dinosaur-like creature makes headlines every year.

One of Scotland’s oldest myths, reports that a creature was living in the Loch Ness lake date as far back as the 6th century.

The first written account was recorded in 565 A.D. in a biography of St. Columba. According to the text, the creature bit a swimmer and was prepared to attack another man when Columba intervened. He ordered the beast to “go back” and it obeyed.

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Hundreds of years later, the legend started to grow. After the construction of a road adjacent to Loch Ness was finished in 1933, giving onlookers an unobstructed view of the lake, a couple allegedly saw an enormous animal they compared to a “dragon or prehistoric monster” cross in front of their car and disappear into the water. The incident was reported in a Scottish newspaper and numerous sightings followed.

Later that same year, the Daily Mail commissioned Marmaduke Wetherell, a big-game hunter, to track and find the sea serpent. Wetherell reported back that he had found large footprints along the lake’s shores which he believed belonged to “a very powerful soft-footed animal about 20 feet long.” However, upon closer inspection, zoologists at the Natural History Museum determined that the supposed tracks were identical and likely made with an umbrella stand or ashtray that had a hippopotamus leg as a base.

The infamous surgeon’s photograph that some people believed was a photo of the Loch Ness monster in Scotland. It was later proven to be a hoax. (AP Photo, File)

But the hunt was not over. By 1934, English physician Robert Kenneth Wilson took the iconic image known as the “surgeon’s photograph.” The photograph appeared to show Nessie’s head and neck and The Daily Mail printed the photograph, later proven to be a hoax.

In a shocking development, in the spring of 1938, South African tourist G. E. Taylor filmed something in the lake for three minutes on 16 mm color film. The film was then obtained by popular science writer Maurice Burton. A single frame of Taylor’s film was later published in Burton’s 1961 book. However, Burton’s analysis concluded it was a floating object.

In July 1955, Peter MacNab took a photograph that depicted two long black humps in the water. But researchers suspected the humps could be a wave effect resulting from three fishing boats traveling closely together.

In 1960, aeronautical engineer Tim Dinsdale filmed a hump that left a wake crossing Loch Ness. Many said that the hump in Dinsdale’s 40 feet of film was a boat after contrast was increased in the photo. But in 1993, Discovery Communications produced a documentary, “Loch Ness Discovered,” with a digital enhancement of the Dinsdale film. A person who enhanced the film noticed a shadow in the negative which was not obvious in the developed film. By enhancing and overlaying frames, he found what appeared to be the rear body of a creature.

Later on in the mid-1960s, the so-called Loch Ness Investigation Bureau conducted a 10-year observational survey recording an average of 20 sightings per year and in the 1970s underwater photographs of what appeared to be a “flipper” were made public.

Additionally, several sonar explorations, most notably in 1987 and 2003, were undertaken to find the elusive beast — to no avail.

A video dating back to 2009 may provide new evidence of the existence of an Alaskan Loch Ness Monster, Discovery News reported.
(DiscoveryNews)

Over the years, more photographs have been taken, but most were discredited as fakes. In 1994, it was revealed that Wilson’s “surgeon photograph” was a hoax masterminded by the revenge-seeking Wetherell. Wilson’s monster was actually a plastic-and-wooden head attached to a toy submarine.

In 2007, lab technician Gordon Holmes claimed to videotape the Loch Ness monster, but a marine biologist said that while the tape was among “the best footage [he had] ever seen,” it was likely an otter, seal, or water bird.

In the summer of 2011, Loch Ness boat captain Marcus Atkinson photographed a sonar image of a 4.9 foot-wide unidentified object that seemed to follow his boat for two minutes. However, in April 2012 a scientist from the National Oceanography Centre said that the image is of a bloom of algae.

Several others have emerged over the years, including a photograph in 2012, a five-minute video of a “mysterious wave” in the lake in 2013 and a debunked Apple Maps photograph in 2014.

But these hoaxes have still not halted the search. More recently in May 2018, researchers announced they would investigate the waters of Loch Ness and use environmental DNA sampling of the waters to try and identify everything that swims in it.

In April 2019, their study suggested that the fabled monster could have been a giant eel and disproved a common rumor that a plesiosaur had somehow managed to survive the mass extinction event that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

“We can’t find any evidence of a creature that’s remotely related to that in our environmental-DNA sequence data,” New Zeland geneticist Neil Gemmels later told BBC. “So, sorry, I don’t think the plesiosaur idea holds up based on the data that we have obtained.”

“There is a very significant amount of eel DNA,” he continued. “Eels are very plentiful in Loch Ness, with eel DNA found at pretty much every location sampled – there are a lot of them. So, are they giant eels? Well, our data doesn’t reveal their size, but the sheer quantity of the material says that we can’t discount the possibility that there may be giant eels in Loch Ness.”

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“Therefore we can’t discount the possibility that what people see and believe is the Loch Ness monster might be a giant eel,” Gemmels concluded.

Despite the lack of any tangible evidence, the Loch Ness monster has remained popular — and profitable. In the early 21st century, it was thought that it contributed nearly $80 million annually to Scotland’s economy by way of monster merchandise and tours for fans.

Never mind that the question as to whether Nessie ever really existed in the first place remains to this day.

Fox News’ Chris Ciaccia and James Rogers, Scientific American, Encyclopedia Britannica, Visit Inverness, the History Channel, The Telegraph, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, Alaska Dispatch, The Inverness Courier, The Independent, NOVA, A&E, The Smithsonian, Maurice Burton, The Museum of Hoaxes, Discovery Communications, BBC, the National Oceanography Centre, Apple Maps, Google Streetview, The Daily Maverick, the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau, and DNA Survey contributed to this report.

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