Author: Deep

I have a love/hate relationship with animated GIFs. They’re often funny, but they can also be annoying—thank goodness Twitter banned them from profile pictures. There are times, however, when GIFs can be incredibly useful. Take, for example, when you have to demonstrate an action on a PC. Instead of uploading and editing a screencast video, a far easier path is to transform a few short videos into animated GIFs to create step-by-step instructions. This is helpful if you need to make a PC support document at work or just show your dad how to turn off his computer. GIFs are…

The ratings agency said that growth in property sales across the country would slow to 0-5 percent in 2016, after a strong performance of 16.6 percent in 2015. “Operating conditions become more challenging in 2016, given slowing economic growth, as well as the developers’ still-high debt leverage, margin pressures and high inventory levels in low-tier cities,” Kaven Tsang, a Moody’s senior credit officer, said in a report from Hong Kong. Many developers bought land aggressively in 2013 and early 2014, increasing debt leverage and weakening financial metrics, according to Moody’s. “The overall leverage of our rated developers remains high, which…

Major companies in the Internet of Things set aside their differences on Friday to work together toward a single standard for all IoT gear. The group they formed, the Open Connectivity Foundation, could have the critical mass to make all embedded devices in homes and enterprises talk to each other. It includes vendors that have belonged to different, and in some cases competing, IoT organizations. Intel, Microsoft, Samsung, Qualcomm, GE Digital and Cisco Systems are among the founders of OCF. The announcement came as the wireless industry gathered in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, which this year is expected to…

Defying expectations for the start of 2016, mortgage rates spiraled down further last week, spurring more volume in the mortgage market. Total applications increased 8.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Refinance applications were behind much of the surge, rising 11 percent from the previous week, seasonally adjusted. The results include an adjustment for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Borrowers are clearly seeing the rate drop as perhaps a last opportunity to seize on historically low rates. Refinance volume is still down 30 percent from the same…

Major companies in the Internet of Things set aside their differences on Friday to work together toward a single standard for all IoT gear. The group they formed, the Open Connectivity Foundation, could have the critical mass to make all embedded devices in homes and enterprises talk to each other. It includes vendors that have belonged to different, and in some cases competing, IoT organizations. Intel, Microsoft, Samsung, Qualcomm, GE Digital and Cisco Systems are among the founders of OCF. The announcement came as the wireless industry gathered in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, which this year is expected to…

The fundamentals of real estate still hold up, even when there is an elephant in your warehouse. Supply and demand are favoring the U.S. industrial space, despite fears of China’s slowing economy sucking the wind out of the sector’s sails. Prologis, the largest warehouse REIT in the nation, reported strong fourth-quarter funds from operations on Tuesday, beating expectations by 2 cents per share. Revenue of $643.2 million was considerably higher than expected, up 43 percent from one year ago. “The dynamics of the business are very positive,” said Prologis CEO Hamid Moghadam. “Rental growth is by far the biggest driver,…

is available in two configurations. Both feature a quad-core AMLogic S805 ARM processor. The $79 base unit has 1GB of RAM, a 24GB eMMC drive, and gigabit ethernet. A stepped-up $100 unit has 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and more importantly, includes 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0. For ports, you get three USB 2.0, a smartphone-style audio jack, HDMI, and composite video. I expected there to be a VGA or D-SUB connector to use with older CRT displays but the Endless Mini is meant to be hooked up to a television primarily not a computer monitor. The OS isn’t Windows…

Applications to refinance a home loan rose 16 percent from the previous week, seasonally adjusted, while those to purchase a home rose just 0.2 percent for the week. Purchase applications are still 25 percent higher than one year ago, indicating strengthening in future home sales; while lower rates certainly help homebuyers, they are not an immediate driver of sales. Interest rates were slightly lower one year ago. “Treasury yields plummeted again last week amid a worsening global financial maelstrom, and mortgage rates dropped as a result,” said Michael Fratantoni, chief economist for the MBA. The average contract interest rate for…

For $159, the Intel Compute Stick is a pretty good deal. You get a full license for Windows 10 Home and a PC that’s ready to go out of the box—just add a display, a mouse, and a keyboard to get started. And unlike Google’s stick computing product, the Asus Chromebit, you’re not restricted to just a handful of tasks in a limited environment. You can do anything that requires Windows. In theory, at least. Though Intel has announced forthcoming Skylake Core m versions of the Compute Stick, this particular model is a light refresh of its Atom-based predecessor. So…

Jennifer Michaels didn’t expect her Seattle-area house would sell so quickly, especially since she hadn’t settled on a new home yet. With nowhere to go, the divorced mom moved herself and her two teenagers in with her mother, Lucy Abbott, thinking it would be temporary. Much to all of their surprise, they didn’t hate it. “I enjoy the life that the kids bring to you when they are around you all the time, but we did have our challenges,” said Lucy, who would prefer we say only that she is in her 70s. The challenge was the space. Lucy’s house…