10 reasons to reject Microsoft's free Windows 10 upgrade

An offer you can refuse

The clock is ticking, folks. If you want to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, you only have until July 29, 2016 to do so. And most people should! Windows 10 is the best Windows yet, chock full of handy new features, sleek under-the-hood improvements, and headache-killing extras.

But it’s not for everybody. There are some very real, very valid reasons not to upgrade to Windows 10.

If you’re on the fence about whether to accept or reject Microsoft’s freebie, read on for some concrete justifications for staying put.

Read Brad Chocos' article for some concrete justifications for staying put at http://www.pcworld.com/article/3092365/windows/10-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-upgrade-to-windows-10.html.

Pokemon Go: Gyms, candy, pokeballs and everything else you need to know

Learn about this phenomenon in cnet's complete beginner's guide to Nintendo's wildly popular new game at http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-play-pokemon-go/?ftag=CAD-04-10aac3a&bhid=22046997431376544675551393481245.

Doug Helps You Clear Up Space On Your Phone

Gadget reviewer Doug Aamoth haphazardly refers to himself as “a poor man’s Ty Pennington” while alienating most of TechCrunch’s audience and staff. He then shows you how to free up space on your phone with Google Photos, which you should be using to automatically back up your pictures even if you’ve got plenty of available storage.

See the video at https://techcrunch.com/video/doug-helps-you-clear-up-space-on-your-phone/57883d145095492f06beb75e/.

Hate traffic? An Indian city is getting futuristic pod taxis to beat traffic blues.

Gurgaon, a suburb of New Delhi and home to India headquarters of Google, Microsoft and Apple, is about to get driverless electric pods to alleviate the traffic woes faced by thousands of people who commute to their offices daily.

The pilot project is expected to connect the Delhi border to the interiors of Gurgaon, with 16 stations spread over a distance of 13 km. The driverless electric pods will be suspended from overhead rails, and run at regular intervals.

The average speed of the pods is 60 km per hour and they can be used to transport between five to six commuters in each ride. The pilot project is expected to carry 30,000 passengers a day and will cost approximately Rs 8.5 billion ($126 million), which is lesser than what it would take to build a metro network over the same distance.

The Indian government is currently processing the bids that it has received from global companies for the project and is expected to make a final announcement by next month. It hopes that the project will reduce traffic on the National Highway-8, which connects Delhi to Gurgaon and the city's international airport.

Read Sonam Joshi's article at http://mashable.com/2016/07/13/gurgaon-pod-taxis/#WDmjSpY1eqqX.

Pokémon GO shouldn’t have full access to your Gmail, Docs, and Google account – but it does

When you use Google to sign into Pokémon GO, as so many of you have already, the popular game for some reason grants itself (for some users, anyway) the highest possible level of access to your Google account, meaning it can read your email, location history, pretty much everything. Why does it need this, and why aren’t users told?

This was discovered right after launch, when RedOwl’s Adam Reeve decided to check whether the app had pulled a fast one when he logged into it with Google. And it’s a good thing he did!

Are you at risk? Read Devin Coldewey's article at https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/11/pokemon-go-shouldnt-have-full-access-to-your-gmail-docs-and-google-account-but-it-does/.

Your router isn't as fast as you think it is. Here's why.

Let's cut to the chase: Wired network connections will always be faster, more secure and more reliable than wireless.

If you want top speeds in your home, you'll want to save room in your remodeling budget for running gigabit Ethernet network cables (CAT5e -- or better yet, CAT6) to every room in your home. Ethernet is the only connection standard where the real-world speeds are very close to, or in some cases match, the lofty theoretical speeds.

Of course, wired networking has several drawbacks. Wires are a pain to install, they're unsightly -- and it's just not fun to be tethered. And, of course, not every device is even compatible with wired Ethernet. For your tablet and smartphone, your streaming stick and even many newer printers, you will have to use Wi-Fi. But that's when you may find yourself poking along at slower speeds than you'd like.

So, why the slowdown? You need to be aware of the huge gap among these three different attributes: real-world speed, ceiling speed and the advertised speed.

Read Dong Ngo's article and watch his video at http://www.cnet.com/how-to/your-router-isnt-as-fast-as-you-think-it-is-heres-why/.

Oops! Wearables can leak your PINs and passwords

The security nightmare posed by the Internet of Things isn’t just related to the lack of expertise in the types of companies adding connectivity to gizmos and gadgets.

It’s the sensitivity of the connected sensors, strewn hither and thither, opening up potential attack vectors for determined hackers. Hence the need for really robust security thinking to lock down the risks.

To wit: wearables.

Collaborative research conducted by a team from the department of electrical and computing engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology and Binghamton University in New York State, has demonstrated how a wearable device such as a smartwatch could end up compromising a user’s PIN number thanks to the motion sensing data it generates.

Read Natasha Lomas' article at https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/08/oops-wearables-can-leak-your-pins-and-passwords/.

Apple makes it insanely simple for iPhone owners to become organ donors

As part of Apple’s ongoing mission to be a "force for good” in the world, the company is encouraging iPhone users to register as organ donors, courtesy of an upcoming software update for its Health app.

The update will give users an easy sign-up button, which Tim Cook says he hopes will help ease the longstanding shortage of donor shortage. Cook says that the problem became apparent to him when Steve Jobs had to endure an “excruciating” wait for a liver transplant back in 2009. During that time, Cook even offered to donate his own liver to his boss, only for Jobs to turn it down.

The software update to allow Apple users to easily enroll in a national donor registry will arrive with iOS 10 when it arrives this fall.

Read Luke Dormehl's article at http://www.cultofmac.com/436589/apple-makes-it-insanely-simple-for-iphone-owners-to-become-organ-donors/.

BEWARE: ATM skimmer caught in the wild by a real security engineer

Whoda thunk it? Tourist/cybersecurity expert Benjamin Tedesco was hanging out in Vienna when he walked up to an ATM. Because he trusts no one he decided to give the reader a little tug and came away with a working skimmer designed to look exactly like the card slot on the original machine.

“It pays to be paranoid,” he said — and he’s right.

Tedesco pulled off the skimmer and took some pictures of it and will try to reverse engineer it when he heads back home (presumably with the credit card data still on it). Some Reddit users have spotted the pinhole camera that the hackers used to grab PIN codes, as well, a feature that lets full cards be stolen in seconds.

Again: Any time you use an ATM, please check it. There are triggers in place that are supposed to prevent the installation of tools like these, but sometimes they don’t work and hackers are getting craftier. Always tug, rub and pull ATMs in the wild — even if it feels weird.

Read John Biggs' article and see the video at https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/24/atm-skimmer-caught-in-the-wild-by-a-real-security-engineer/.