TechCrooks™

WordPress is not only a CMS (content management system) – it is also a means of earning a living for many people. Many developers and freelancers are making a living from their use of WordPress, by selling themes, plugins, services or consultancy. And for those who are not into development, WordPress can also be used to earn money through product promotion. What this means is that you can endorse someone’s product with your unique tracking link (affiliate link), and you will get a commission from the associated sales. Read and learn:  What is Affiliate Marketing & FAQ Particularly if you are blogging on WordPress, you can easily recommend a premium product that you are using (most of the premium WordPress products have an affiliate program), and when a user buys the product based on your referral, you will be making money from the process. This income could amount to anywhere from $1-$500 per product. In this post, I will be shar...

Google showcased a series of old and new products and APIs at the GCP Next 2016 conference in San Francisco in this week. While the new machine learning suite grabbed most of the headlines, the search giant, which is playing catch up with the likes of Amazon and Microsoft when it comes to the public cloud, made a host of other announcements as well. Here's a quick look at some of them. More GCP regions One of the ways cloud companies differentiate is by having data centres in different locations across the world. Not only does this address latency issues, which is an important criteria for high-performance applications, but many applications, especially ones that deal with government and financial data, require data be stored within the country. This means having local data centres is not just about bragging rights, but a business requirement should you wish to remain competitive as you expand across the globe. Jason Zander, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Azure told Gadge...

Last year's Samsung Galaxy S6 launch was a huge departure for a company that had begun to take for granted that its name was synonymous with Android. After years of doing pretty much anything it liked and still staying at the top of global sales charts, Samsung was starting to see signs that plastic phones with bloated software and thoughtless design weren't going to cut it anymore, especially when the rest of the industry was beginning to ship phones that felt luxurious and slick. Naturally, we all took notice when Samsung ditched nearly all of its long-held traditions and launched the gorgeous metal-and-glass Galaxy S6 ( Review | Pictures ). Moreover, it made its debut with a sibling, the Galaxy S6 Edge ( Review | Pictures ), a truly unique device that just oozed cutting-edge style, but of course at a premium. Not all was right, though - users complained that the Galaxy S6's makeover was a step too far, and lamented the loss a removable battery, microSD card slot, ...

The news this week has, predictably enough, been dominated by news of the launch of the iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro . Both the devices are going to come to India soon too - the iPhone SE will be availble from early April as will the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which starts at Rs. 49,900 . The iPhone SE has most of the same internals as the iPhone 6s, with some differences . Interestingly, the battery backup on the smaller phone is actually better . It's going to be interesting to see how this new model sells in the US and other parts of the world, and whether people will be interested in it because of its size, or its price . ( Also see : Why the iPhone SE Is More 'Made for US' Than You Probably Realise ) Also this week, Google admitted to a major security vulnerability on Android via an app on Google Play. Google did not give the name of the app, but it is a rooting app so proceed with caution if using any apps in this category. Indian readers have some good pricing ...

This week, we have been highlighting some of the best apps we could find on Android and iOS, and we've found a good haul. There are some major releases and some great older apps as well that are definitely worth checking out. There are some great picks as well, including an app that can teach you to code, one of the best apps to catch up to the news, and some really amazing games too. Here are our picks for the apps you need to download this week: Encode: Learn To Code Encode has some great bite sized coding tutorials so you can learn on the go. Everything is responsive and it starts off with the absolute basics of coding. If you've wanted to start learning programming, this is a great primer before you start learning an actual language. It also helps that the UI is really pleasing with the Material Design look on both phones and tablets. Download: Encode: Learn To Code on Android (Free) Todoist 9.0 for Android Todoist has become the goto productivity app for millions o...

In the aftermath of Tuesday morning's attacks in Belgium, Twitter lit up with a hashtag that deviated from the usual post-tragedy solidarity script: #StopIslam trended worldwide, just below #Brussels and #PrayforBelgium. As disturbing as this hashtag might appear, however, it's actually quite the opposite. #StopIslam was only trending because thousands of people are criticizing it. In fact, its spread would appear to mirror a heartening phenomenon that researchers observed after the November terrorist attacks in Paris: Anti-Muslim rhetoric spikes disturbingly on social media after an attack, but the spike of anti-anti-Muslim rhetoric is even more dramatic. In that study, a team of three computer scientists found that racist and bigoted messages are spread primarily by small numbers of people with small followings, sharing the same hashtag multiple times. Anti-bigotry messages, on the other hand, are spread by larger and more diffuse numbers of people who are more central t...

Quantum Break is out on April 5 and in the lead up to that, we've managed to get some quality time with it on the Xbox One . While it's too early to pass judgment on Remedy Entertainment's latest game, there's one thing for sure: it's massive on story. You could focus on the gameplay is you wanted, but you would be missing out on a great deal of what Quantum Break has to offer. Here's why. Like in most games, the opening sections dealt with teaching us the basics of Quantum Break's gameplay. From firing a gun to stopping time, there's a fair bit of variety to it. But along the way we also learned what to expect in terms of narrative. You're playing Jack Joyce and you're meeting an old friend who is working as a scientist at Riverport University. One freak lab accident later and Monarch - the game's big, bad corporation - sends squads of disposable soldiers to deal with you. (Also see: Developer Finally Reveals if Quantum Break Runs at 7...

Most of us would probably prefer that nobody found out if we got hacked. Not so for Julie Brill, a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission who really wants you to know about the time she fell for an email phishing scam. "These are not the prince-from-Nigeria types of attacks of the past that we're used to," Brill said in a recent interview. "These are deeply sophisticated." Phishing scams can affect anyone - even, as it turns out, high-ranking federal officials whose whole jobs revolve around regulating corporate data security practices. The irony isn't lost on Brill, who is trying to turn her personal story into an object lesson for consumers like you and me. As Brill tells it, the saga began earlier this year. A business contact of hers - Gene Kimmelman, president of the consumer group Public Knowledge - sent her an email with an innocuous-looking Google Drive attachment. But after clicking on the link and entering in some of her personal inform...

Unless you take a lot of selfies or need a bigger phone, Apple's new 4-inch iPhone SE is a good choice at a good price. You get the same 12-megapixel rear camera that's in the much larger iPhone 6S, but for $250 (roughly Rs. 17,900) less, at about $400 (roughly Rs. 29,800). You also get the same speeds and graphics capabilities. Of course, you don't get everything. The SE isn't going to be right for everyone, especially power users. Now that Apple has started taking orders, with shipments due in a week, keep these differences in mind: - Most noticeable is the front camera. The SE has an older 1.2-megapixel camera - not the 5 megapixel one in the 6S. But with software improvements, selfies taken with the SE came out better compared with the iPhone 5S it replaced. In addition, the SE's screen turns into a front-camera flash. That's more important than megapixels in darker settings. - Though you get the same rear camera as the 6S, you don't get an image-...

Tablets may never again be the consumer sensation they once were, but they are finding new life among professionals. Apple took aim at that market in announcing a second iPad Pro model this week. Samsung started selling the Windows-based Galaxy TabPro S last week, while Microsoft doubled down on its Surface tablet business last fall with Surface Book, a laptop whose keyboard pops off to leave behind a tablet. Google has its own using Android, the Pixel C . Unlike early models, these tablets are meant to be used with a physical keyboard and a stylus. That makes them appealing to people looking to get stuff done, whether that's typing a report or drawing on a graphics app. "It's no secret the tablet business has slowed down overall except in places where there's productivity," says Gary Riding, a senior vice president for mobile computing marketing at Samsung. ("Productivity," in this case, being jargon for work as opposed to play.) These new devices...

Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of phones, memory chips and television sets, plans to revamp its authoritarian, top-down corporate culture to become more like a lean startup as it copes with sluggish demand and growing competition. The company said Thursday its staff pledged to reduce hierarchical practices, unnecessary meetings and excessive working hours in a "Startup Samsung " ceremony held at its headquarters in Suwon, South Korea. The first step in this new culture of flexibility? Requiring all its executives to sign a statement promising to scrap the company's traditional authoritarian ways. Samsung is searching for new business strategies as a father-to-son leadership transition looms. Lee Jae-yong, 48, is expected to succeed his ailing father, Lee Kun-hee, at a time when Samsung's mainstay semiconductor and phone businesses face intensifying competition from Chinese rivals. Samsung has its eye on expanding into health care and pharmaceut...

Although it fiercely opposes the FBI's demand for help unlocking a San Bernardino shooter's encrypted iPhone, Apple has never argued that it simply can't do what the government wants. That might not be true for long. At the moment, the San Bernardino case is on hold while the FBI evaluates an alternative method of getting into that phone. But experts say it's almost certain that Apple and other tech companies will keep increasing the security of their products, making it harder or perhaps even impossible for them to answer government demands for customer data. "If I were them, I would use any means possible to avoid having to answer these information requests," said Anna Lysyanskaya, a computer scientist and cryptography expert at Brown University. "It's bad for their business, and not just in the United States but in other countries where law enforcement cannot be trusted to follow the law." Smartphones and Internet services increasingly s...