New iPhone Camera Cases Released, Facebook Fights Fake News

New Case Turns Your iPhone or Pixel into a Powerful Camera

I know, you get really excited whenever a new iPhone accessory hits the market. And this time, Moment, a company that has also launched its previous products using Kickstarter, has come up with two new iPhone 7 cases: one that allows you to use its 18mm additional lens, and another one that does pretty much the same thing, but includes an internal battery as well.

It looks like the project will take off for sure, because about 5,000 people have pledged close to $800,000 to help bring it to life.

Moment made quite a bit of money by selling plates that were compatible with older iPhones, allowing you to add higher quality lenses to your beloved smartphone. The good news is that the battery-powered cases are made for both iPhone 7 models, incorporating a 2.5 Amps battery for the smaller sized model and a huge 3.5 Amps battery for iPhone 7 Plus. It’s quite crazy how thin these cases are, considering the fact that they pack these large batteries!

The company has redesigned its wide-angle lens, choosing an aspherical system this time. And the results, according to early reports, are fantastic! Most people simply love their iPhone 7 cameras as they are, so I am quite anxious to see the performance boost that arises from using the new Moment cases.

Believe it or not, the case can be used with Google’s Pixel phones as well.

Facebook Starts Fighting Fake News Sites

It’s not a surprise that many sites are posting appealing fake news, with the goal of attracting lots of visitors – and thus many clicks on their ads. Sometimes their goal is even darker; fake news can be used to manipulate the public, making people vote (or refuse to vote) for a particular candidate.

Facebook is one of the most visited sites on Earth, so it had to do something about it. Too many people were complaining about the fact that Facebook has allowed its users to post fake news during the US president electoral race.

The good news is that after launching similar, but smaller sized projects in the US and in Germany, Facebook has launched a large-scale campaign which has the declared goal of fighting fake news in France. And the moment was perfectly chosen, because the country will have to choose its new president in April.

The social media giant will work with the largest French media companies (Le Monde, for example), verifying the articles that are posted by its users. If I would have been in their shoes, I’d have examined only the articles that have received a huge number of shares. The brilliant minds at Facebook have come up with a much better idea, though; they will ask their users to report the fake articles. Why not use a huge number of people to do your job, without having to pay them a dime? Is this brilliant or what?

If a particular article is reported as being false, it will be sent to a portal that’s accessible to the French media giants. If at least two of the eight companies that have partnered with Facebook will report the news as being fake, the article will be flagged as disputed, and its readers will be warned about its potential lack of authenticity.

The partnership with Le Monde is definitely going to help Facebook, because the newspaper has already built a big database, which contains the URLs of about 1,000 unreliable news sites.

Wi-Fi Signal Killers That Will Bring Down any Network

Who doesn’t like the convenience provided by a Wi-Fi network? And yet, there are several factors that can significantly limit the power of the Wi-Fi signal, transforming your Internet browsing experience into a poor one. I’m not thinking just at the increased number of devices that everyone and their grandmothers want to bring to work. No, your office may have several silent Wi-Fi killers, and we are going to discuss the most important ones in this article.

The first on our list is the everyday mirror. Its back may include a thin layer of silver (or, for lower cost mirrors, even a plain metal layer) which will reflect the Wi-Fi signal, sending it back towards the router or making it bounce off walls. Even common glass can have a significant impact, so make sure to avoid using it when it’s not necessary.

Don’t you (and your cat) simply love that huge fish tank that’s full of colorful fish? Well, so does your Wi-Fi signal, because a large chunk of it is absorbed by water. The hydrogen and oxygen combination we love so much has a high density, so it is able to absorb the Wi-Fi signal. For best results, try to keep the router as far as possible from any large body of water.

Everyone loves working in a well-built building, which is able to withstand a strong earthquake, for example. But the metallic mesh from which these solid walls are built can hinder Wi-Fi signal propagation as well. As you can imagine, I’m not going to recommend that you should weaken the building structure to boost signal. The proper solution is to purchase good access points and Wi-Fi extenders, thus making sure that the Wi-Fi signal can reach even the farthest areas in your office.

One of the most surprising Wi-Fi signal killers is… you! Yes, our bodies include up to 70% water, and this explains why we are so good at absorbing signals that travel at a 2.4 GHz frequency. If your office is crowded (and what office isn’t crowded these days?) there are many human bodies which will diminish the Wi-Fi signal power.

If that is the case, it is recommended to mount your routers, access points and signal repeaters as high as possible, above people’s heads, with the goal of minimizing any signal loss. Invest in a pair of decent DA Wi-Fi antennas and I guarantee that you will see the difference.

I love board meetings just like the next guy. This means that I don’t like them that much, actually. They can be useful from time to time, though. And when 30 people are downloading that video which is supposed to highlight an important company achievement at the same time, we shouldn’t be surprised that nobody else is able to do any real work in the office.

The solution is simple: limit the download and upload speeds for all the devices that aren’t involved in profit-producing activities. Most routers allow you to do that from within the admin’s interface. Sometimes it may be even easier to do it by creating two different Wi-Fi networks: one that’s used for productive activities and gets access to 80% of the network’s resources, and another one that can be used for Facebook related activities, guest networks, and so on. Yes, even a single, modern, dual band router can do that.

Many times, your Internet browsing experience is very poor because the Wi-Fi equipment is outdated. Or maybe it wasn’t designed to cope with so many devices that are connected to the network at the same time. If you have hired more people, consider upgrading your Wi-Fi equipment as well.

These are the key Wi-Fi signal killers. As you can see, the causes of poor wireless network performance can be quite varied. But the good news is that each one of them can be fixed by investing some time and money. If your business is thriving, it may be worth it to invest into modern, powerful Wi-Fi equipment. This step alone should fix 90% of the problems highlighted above.