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....

Animated GIFs have become wildly popular all over social media and even on popular websites and blogs too, but if you’re not too keen on creating them manually (or simply don’t know how), you can download one of the many useful free apps to simplify the process and save time. Many apps also allow you to film right through the app or use existing videos on your device for your GIFs, giving you the opportunity to turn almost anything you want into a GIF – from your vacation videos to the videos you have of your cat....

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....

Scene Optimization has 20 modes, allowing the camera to accurately adjust color, temperature, white balance, and other settings so that you get the best picture possible every time. These modes include: To enable Flaw Detection, open the camera settings and choose Flaw Detection in the Common section. Pro: Allows for manual adjustment of settings including ISO, f-stop, white balance, and more. Slow-motion: Automatically captures video in slow-motion. Hyper-lapse: Creates a time-lapse video of longer duration action scenes....

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?...

To find a specific type of template, browse through the categories and download the right template for the occasion. Each template shows you what the download contains (if it’s an archive or single file), what version of Excel the template works with, a screenshot of the template, and suggestions on how to use the template. The Trump Excel website provides screenshots that gives a view of each free template and how-to instructions that show what the template is capable of handling....

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....

Use a Meme Generator Many online meme generators support speech or thought bubbles that overlay an uploaded or stock image. Services like SuperLame, for example, include more than one option for these bubbles. Use Microsoft Paint Microsoft Paint on Windows 10 remains a free, reliable standby. The modern version of Paint includes built-in callouts for speech and thought bubbles. Just open your favorite image and drag a call-out on top of it, then add a text box overlaying the callout....

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)....

How to Add Photos to an iMovie Project Any images located in your Photos, iPhoto, or Aperture library are available for use in iMovie. If the photos you want to use in your iMovie project are not located in one of these libraries, add them to the library before you open iMovie. Apple recommends you use the Photos Library when working with iMovie. You can use any size or resolution photo in iMovie, but big, high-quality photos look best....

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....

It’s something the FIDO Alliance has been pushing for as it believes passwords are no longer the most secure way to protect accounts. Most average users tend to stick with the same one or two passwords for everything (to make it easier to remember), which leads to problems if one is compromised. But passwordless sign-in, according to FIDO, could be more convenient and secure for everyone if it became the industry standard, which is where Apple, Google, and Microsoft come in....

So What: While industry contracts might seem a bit too much inside baseball, the fact that Apple has been able to come to terms with labels for massively popular artists like Taylor Swift, Lizzo, Adele, and more, just means that you’ll be able to listen to them for a lot longer. As MacRumors points out, competitor Spotify has had trouble recently renewing their own rights to music, so this could give Apple a clear advantage over time....

Bloomberg Wealth reports that the service, internally referred to as “Apple Pay Later,” will use Apple Card partner Goldman Sachs as the lender for the proposed installment plan. As of now, the service is expected to offer Apple Pay users the option to pay overtime at the point of sale. They’ll have the choice of making a total of four payments once every two weeks with no interest or more payments over several months with interest....