Facebook Manipulates News Feeds For Emotional Experiments

It shouldn’t surprise anyone by now that Facebook performs all kinds of experiments with their user’s information. For a week in 2012, though (January 11th-18th to be precise) they undertook a massive experiment with the News Feeds of 689,003 Facebook users. They wanted to see how their users responded to overwhelmingly positive stories vs. overwhelmingly negative stories. So here’s what they did: on some of those 689,003 News Feeds, they posted only positive stories; on the rest of the News Feeds, they only posted negative stories.
Through this experiment, they found that those who received the positive stories posted more positively. (Imagine that)! And the reverse was also true: those who got all the bad news posted a lot more negative status updates. (It’s easy to complain about everything in your life when everyone on Facebook is doing the same thing).

You Never Know Just What Facebook Might Be Up To…
What did you think Facebook did with all of your status updates after they were replaced with newer ones? I’ll admit I never gave much thought to it, but I never imagined they’d be involved in an online psychological experiment without my knowledge. If you can remember feeling really happy or terribly depressed because of Facebook back in 2012, this experiment might be the culprit. After all, one can only handle so many negative things in a row without wanting to throw their computer out the window or deleting the app from their phone. (The latter might be the more mature option of the two, though it is also the less fun option).
What do you think about this? Does it surprise you? Does it anger you? Does it make you want to quit Facebook for good? Let us know your thoughts regarding this story in the comments section below!
[Image via viralglobalnews]
SOURCE: http://news.filehippo.com/2014/06/facebook-manipulates-news-feed-emotional-experiments/

Factory Resetting Android Phones May Not Erase All Data

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably took to sites like eBay or Craigslist to get rid of your used cell phones. And why not? Who wants to keep a drawer full of old phones when there’s some money to be made from them? All you have to do is take a casual look around eBay and Craigslist (among other sites) and you’ll see there is a huge market for old and used cell phones. But when money talks, it’s sometimes easy to forget to do important things before you offload your phone onto someone else, specifically getting rid of all of the personal data on the phone.
Since we now use our phones to do just about everything, including mobile banking, it’s more important than ever to wipe your phone of any personal information before selling it to anyone. And while many Android users have used the factory reset option included in their settings options to do just that, it may not have worked all that well. Oh, it looks like it works on the surface and at first glance, but deep down much of your personal information is still visible to someone who knows how to find it.


Just Because You Can’t See It Doesn’t Mean Someone Else Can’t…
Security software company Avast recently bought 20 used Android phones off of eBay to do a little testing of their own regarding how thorough the factory reset option is, and their findings aren’t all that encouraging. Using some basic available software, Avast found thousands of pictures (including many embarrassing nude selfies), contacts, texts, loan applications, etc. They say while the factory reset button looks appealing, it really only deletes all of the phone’s application information, and not necessarily all of the user’s personal information. So be careful before you think about selling that old Android phone!
Of course Avast has a mobile app which they claim will wipe away your data in ways the factory reset option cannot.
What do you think? Let us know your thoughts regarding this story in the comments section below!
[Image via forum.xda-developers]
SOURCE: http://news.filehippo.com/2014/07/factory-resetting-android-phones-may-erase-data/

How To Fix Your Broken iPhone Display

Apple builds their flagship devices with great care and makes them able to withstand a lot of wear and tear. But people do treat them like they are made of an indestructible material and throw them around a bit, which of course they aren’t and so the occasional cracked display will arise.
There are many tech-heads, which make it their job to tear down beautiful devices, such as the iPhone 5 and see just what makes them tick.  Take the guys over at iFixit for instance, they have very nicely  supplied a guide to replacing the screen, if you feel like you are up for the challenge, that is.

The technical writer, Andrew Optimus Goldberg, claims this (warranty-voiding) repair for the iPhone 5 is, in fact, reasonably easy to do.
To undertake this repair, you are going to need a few things.   First of all you will have to buy a new display assembly. You can purchase these online, just look on the web, and maybe check out eBay. Additionally, you will need a 3.6 millimetre five point (Pentalobe) screwdriver, a Phillips #00 screwdriver, a small suction cup and a plastic prising tool.
Ok, now you have your kit laid out on a nice big, flat table with lots of room to work, open the iPhone’s case.  You do this by removing the two five-pointed screws between the speakers on the bottom of the phone. Press the suction cup onto the glass, close to the home button, and pull upwards. Next, insert the prising tool in the crack you have just made. You now need to keep pulling and detach the clips, which hold the screen on and then work your way up to the top, but be careful not to open the assembly fully.
Now you want to remove three screws located at the top-right corner and use a small Phillips screwdriver to detach the small, silver metal bracket holding to logic board.  There are three cables, which need to be removed from here. You can use the prising tool to remove them. Now you can fully remove the panel assembly.
You now need to disassemble the front panel.  This is done by removing the earpiece bracket and the speaker. Look for the camera sensor cable and remove the camera and rear microphone as one unit. Now take the screws off the home button bracket and lift the ribbon cable off the touch panel assembly. Now remove the bracket and the ribbon cable and prise the home button loose.
Once you have accomplished these tasks you can remove the aluminium plate that covers most of the back of the display assembly and then transfer the working parts that you have just removed from your old panel and put them into the new one. All you need to do now is completed the procedure in reverse!  Don’t panic, everything should fit back into the same places.  Just ensure that all the connections are reattached accordingly.
[Image via iphix]
SOURCE: http://news.filehippo.com/2014/07/fix-broken-iphone-display/