That beats 's recent 25Mbps, and it's more than enough for browsing and most other tasks, but it's also far behind the top competition. We ran the app from a UK data center with a 1Gbps connection, giving the service plenty of headroom to show its full abilities, but the results were relatively disappointing at an average 93Mbps. Speed matters, even for a free VPN, so we were interested to see how Speedify performed in this regard. Speedify didn't live up to its name in our performance tests (Image credit: ) Performance Both the Android and iOS app boast unusual technical tweaks you won't see with most of the competition, and if you need this kind of low-level control (or you've a use for Speedify's channel bonding tech), they could be worth a try. These still aren't ideal apps for the novice user, but experts might take a different view. It's a simple change, but brings several welcome advantages, such as the ability to connect and disconnect from any server without switching screens. While on Windows we had to regularly switch between the main and settings screens to change locations, the mobile apps can show both areas side-by-side in portrait mode. Speedify's mobile apps suffer from many of the same issues as their desktop cousins: a cluttered interface, with overly technical language, and even simple tasks don't always work as you'd expect. Sadly, the mobile apps suffer from the same clutter and complexity as the desktop clients (Image credit: Speedify) Android and iOS apps Just ignore the app screen clutter, tap Connect and Disconnect as required, and you're done.īut if usability is more of a priority, and you don't need Speedify's low-level network tweaks and settings, this isn't the app or the provider for you. ![]() If you just want a VPN which gets you connected to the nearest location, then you might not be too concerned about any of this. Instead, we had to close the location list, then the Settings window, and finally click Disconnect from the main screen. We tapped it again, hoping to close the connection nothing. For instance, when we tapped New York, we expected the app to set our default location for use later. We did find a location list in the Settings area, but even that didn't work as we expected. For example, the kill switch is a crucial tool which protects your traffic if the VPN drops, but it's not available in the free app. This is also guaranteed to intimidate newbies, at least initially, with technical options including Header Compression, Jumbo MTU, and 'Request to Disable DoH.' That's good news for experts, because no other providers get close to delivering this level of technical tweaking – but it's confusing for everyone else.Īs we mentioned above, important settings are disabled. These all have some value, but there's no need for them to be cluttering the main app window, and they could easily be tucked away on another tab or panel.Ī Menu button takes you to a Settings box. A 'help' link for a technical setup task, and a 'News & Events' section containing nothing about the service – at all. A stats panel showing you the traffic used, top upload and download speeds by day, week or month. There's your network interface, for instance. There's a Connect button at the top, but no obvious default location or location list, and mostly the app displays a bunch of status information you almost certainly don't need to know. ![]() The desktop apps look overly complex and intimidating for newbies (Image credit: Speedify) Windows and Mac appsĪt first glance, Speedify's Windows and Mac apps look, well, a little complicated. The privacy policy (opens in new tab) says there's no logging, and that: 'Speedify does NOT track the websites you visit, the data you exchange, or anything related to your DNS requests.' That works for us. The service encrypts your data via AES, for instance, the same industrial-strength algorithm used by other top services. ![]() Still, the website does offer some encouraging information security-wise. How does it match up? We don't know, because no-one outside of Speedify has looked at the code, and the company hasn't verified its security by putting itself through an independent audit. Speedify's core engine doesn't use well understood open source VPN protocols such as WireGuard or OpenVPN, opting instead to use its own custom technology. If you're not looking at the Speedify app interface, you could be left thinking you're protected, when actually the VPN has been down for some time. We noticed that the Windows app wouldn't necessarily display a notification if the VPN failed. Hotspot Shield's free product has the same issue, but otherwise this is a big privacy concern we don't see with most of the other top free VPNs. ![]() Speedify's free plan doesn't support the company's kill switch, which means your traffic could be exposed if the VPN connection drops. Speedify disables the kill switch for free users (Image credit: Speedify) Privacy and logging
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![]() The optical technology delivers precise cursor control with the touch of a finger while the two-button design provides an interface that's familiar to mouse users. Navigate with greater comfort and precision while saving valuable desktop space. ![]() Kensington Orbit® Optical Trackball (K64327US SRP: $29.99) And all while delivering comfort and space savings no mouse can match. The scroll ring allows you to fly through web pages and documents. Kensington Orbit® Trackball with Scroll Ring (K72337US SRP $39.99)Īll-day comfort and click-free scrolling come together in the Kensington 2-button Orbit Trackball with Scroll Ring. What's more, the unique scroll ring delivers precise fingertip scrolling while the optical technology and large ball provide highly accurate cursor control without requiring the arm movement or desktop space of a standard mouse. The TrackballWorks software lets you customize the four button functions. 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TrackballWorks is built to work with the latest versions of Windows and Mac operating systems. Additionally, the software enables "chording" to assign additional functions to combinations of trackball buttons. Kensington Computer Products Group, a worldwide leader in computing accessories, today announced its TrackballWorks™ software, designed to customize the user experience with Kensington's award winning trackballs for increased productivity and comfort Kensington's latest smart made simple™ design provides users with the freedom to assign functions or keyboard shortcuts to any trackballs buttons to match the way they work. Compatible with Windows® 7, Window Vista®, Windows® XP & Mac® OS ![]() Once on dry land, you start prying off all your soaked clothes to inspect what exactly has happened to you. You rush out of the water with all your might, scrambling towards the pool's halfway point to escape from this accursed water. You panic as you try to come to terms with just what is happening. A pair of succulent, womanly legs with a gorgeous ass just begging to be squeezed are now occupying your lower half. Your formally modest legs and butt have transformed. You gasp in surprise as you catch a glimpse of your rear. You can’t ignore the sensation any longer and look behind to see what’s going on. It starts to slow down once it reaches your thighs and soon the tingle is growing particularly intense around your ass. You feel a slight tingle in your feet that starts climbing up your legs as you move in the pink waters. However, after a bit of walking half submerged, you start to feel a little strange. You wade awkwardly towards an exit on the opposite side of the pool. You step into the waist deep pink water, shivering slightly from the temperature. You decide to attempt the puzzle as you are. At any rate, surely solving the puzzle will results in something of value, perhaps a heart piece of a Gold Skullatula. Perhaps the puzzle isn't as optional as it seems though? You might have to do it soon to find the Pink Tunic at some point. You find a nearby small chest and pry it open to find a key to the next room, confirming your suspicion. Clever wits will find a wonderful reward." "Depart to the next room or stay and enjoy the puzzle. Glowing numbers and letters are written on the wall. You thrust open the door to the next room and find a strange sight in front of you. You decide not to tempt fate and search for the Pink tunic mentioned by the sign. Only continue if you're into that)ĭo you still wish to continue down this path? (To state things as explicitly as possible, this branch of the story focuses on Scat related stuff. You suspect whatever lies beyond this point might be more extreme and off putting than what you might find in other parts of the dungeon. The smell around this portion is very odd. You step inside a long hallway leading towards a large open area. ] You head into the door with the Yellow emblem above it. It looks as if you could swim through it and arrive on land on the other side. Path 4 is a hidden path you can see the entrance to just below the water. It looks almost like a prison or somewhere where an animal or monster was once contained You can see the flicker of lit torches from down its way. It seems to lead down a barren stone corridor. It seems you have multiple directions you can choose to explore. The path ends at a four way bridge of sorts that archs over a large pool of water. You open the green door and travel down its hallways. It’s just pink water anyhow, how could it be dangerous? On the other hand, you could ignore the sign as a bluff and try navigating the room without any new clothing. These dungeons always seem to have just what you need on hand for a puzzle anyway. 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You inspect each carefully to try and gather more information on what might be behind them. Each one of these ancient doors has a symbol above them, one pink, one green, and one yellow. You enter the dungeon, and come to a large lobby containing several doors. Still, as a brave adventurer, you are unphazed by the task ahead of you! Your adventure has now brought you to the Temple of Lust, an already strange and forbidden ruin made even worse by Ganon’s evil forces. To free them, you must crawl to the gut of each and vanquish the evil tainint the land of Hryle. To gather the power to stop Ganon, you’ll need all of Hyrule’s sages awakened, but each one has been sealed beneath ancient temples. You are the brave adventurer Link on an arduous quest to save Hyrule and your dear Princess Zelda. “I just can’t stop,” he says of his entrepreneurial streak. In all, he’s started 10 different companies, which makes Chuck’s Septic Tank, Sewer & Drain Cleaning more attractive to customers who prefer one-stop shopping for services. CST Utilities, for instance, does horizontal directional boring, hydroexcavating, and utility construction and locating. a self-admitted serial entrepreneur - has started several related businesses that mesh well with septic tank pumping and drain cleaning. It employs 20 people, owns a large fleet of equipment and vehicles worth millions of dollars, and is one of the bigger drain cleaning players in the region around Columbus. If we hadn’t bought that truck, we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in today.”įrom humble beginnings in 1970 as just a septic tank pumping outfit started by Lang’s father, Chuck Lang Sr., the business has grown into a multimillion-dollar-a-year company. ![]() “But you have to be willing to take calculated risks in order to grow a business. “It was a big investment for us at the time,” says Lang, whose company is based in Grove City, Ohio, just outside of Columbus. ![]() It was a bold gamble at that juncture in the company’s history. believes in only one thing, it’s this: You have to spend money to make money.Ībout 15 years ago, Lang, the owner of Chuck’s Septic Tank, Sewer & Drain Cleaning, took a financial leap of faith and invested roughly $300,000 in a Vacall - Gradall Industries combination sewer vacuum truck equipped with a hydroexcavating package. Get Business articles, news and videos right in your inbox! Sign up now. "As we’ve said, Bard can sometimes give inaccurate or inappropriate information that doesn’t represent Google’s views and Bard should not respond in a way that endorses a particular viewpoint on subjective topics." "Since LLMs like Bard train on publicly available content, they can reflect positive or negative views of specific politicians, celebrities or other public figures, or even incorporate views on certain sides of controversial social or political issues into their responses," the spokesperson said. “I hope that the court will find in favor of the Justice Department and order Google to take steps to break up its monopoly.”Ī Google spokesperson told Fortune that Bard was still in its early stages and its purpose is to give users multiple viewpoints. ![]() These actions have harmed consumers and stifled innovation in the digital advertising market,” Bard responded. “Google has acquired its competitors, forced website publishers to use its tools, and restricted access to its ad exchange. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Department of Justice, and it promptly sided with the government. Hong Kong-based security researcher Jane Manchun Wong wrote on Twitter Tuesday that she asked Bard whose side it would pick in the antitrust lawsuit against Google filed by the U.S. It appears that the more widely-available Bard has already run into a hiccup. ![]() We will learn from it and keep iterating and improving,” Pichai wrote to employees. ![]() “We’ve taken a responsible approach to development, including inviting 10,000 trusted testers from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives, and we’ll continue to welcome all the feedback that’s about to come our way. who join the waitlist, with languages other than English to be added over time. But on Tuesday the company announced it was rolling out beta testing to thousands of users in the U.S. Until now, Google has kept interactions with Bard limited to hand-picked testers, including about 80,000 Google employees, according to Pichai. “As more people start to use Bard and test its capabilities, they’ll surprise us. journey,” Pichai wrote in the Tuesday memo to employees, according to CNBC. “Even after all this progress, we’re still in the early stages of a long A.l. Things will go wrong," he wrote in an email to staff on Tuesday, published by CNBC.Google is slowly releasing its chatbot Bard to the public, but the company’s CEO just warned employees that although thousands of people had already tested the A.I., it might still have a lot of problems. "As more people start to use Bard and test its capabilities, they'll surprise us. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has instructed employees to anticipate errors as people begin using Bard. In Bard's initial response to Crawford, the chatbot said it was also trained using "datasets of text and code from the web, such as Wikipedia, GitHub, and Stack Overflow," as well as data from companies that "partnered with Google to provide data for Bard's training." In a separate response that has since been deleted, Google also said, "No private data will be used during Barbs training process." It is not trained on Gmail data," the company said in a tweet. "Bard is an early experiment based on Large Language Models and will make mistakes. Gmail? I'm assuming that's flat out wrong, otherwise Google is crossing some serious legal boundaries," Crawford wrote.Ī few hours later, Google tried to set the record straight. "Anyone a little concerned that Bard is saying its training dataset includes. In her screenshot of the conversation, Bard responds that its dataset "comes from a variety of sources," one of which is "Google's internal data," including data from Gmail. Google Bard began rolling out to some users this week, and it's already hit a few snags.ĪI expert Kate Crawford posted an exchange she had with the new AI chatbot in which she asks where Bard's training dataset comes from. ![]() "Elton John – This Train Don't Stop There Anymore Lyrics". "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore by Elton John – Songfacts". "Did Anybody Sleep With Joan of Arc" – 4:18."This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" – 4:39. ![]() Paul Buckmaster – string arrangements Ĭountry music artists Rosanne Cash and Emmylou Harris covered the song for the 2018 tribute album Restoration: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin.The music video, directed by David LaChapelle with Pierre Rouger as cinematographer, presents a younger John played by Justin Timberlake dressed in outfits typical of John in the 1970s the video also features Paul Reubens of Pee-Wee Herman fame as John Reid, John's manager of 25 years. After the tour ended, John performed this song on various locations until 2004. John played this song and " American Triangle" on his concerts months before the album's release and at the Songs from the West Coast Tour in 2001–2002. The arrangement of the song was simple, a throwback to John's early piano-bass-drums combination prior to the arrival of guitarist Davey Johnstone to his band. The song was less successful in the Netherlands, reaching only at No. 24 in the UK Singles chart and was a Top 10 Adult Contemporary chart hit in the US. It was released as the second single from the album and reached No. Written by John and Bernie Taupin, the song's lyrics details John's fame being over and his coming to terms with getting older but still keep touring and giving great performances around the world. " This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" is the final track on Elton John's 2001 album Songs from the West Coast. "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore" on YouTube |