How to add family members to your Windows 10 PC

Give each member of the household their own Windows 10 login.

Sharing a PC doesn't have to be a pain if you give each family member their own personal login. Personal logins allow for separate files, desktops, and browser favorites, and adult family members can monitor and restrict kids' activity by blocking websites, limiting screen time, and keeping tabs on what sites kids are visiting and what they're searching for.

To add a family member to your Windows 10 PC, you'll need to sign them up for a Microsoft account -- only the primary user can have a local login.

Here's how to get started:

This magical cable charges both iPhones and Android phones

For years, iPhones and Android phones have needed different cables to charge — Apple requires the Lightning cable and you’ll need a micro USB cable for an Android device. But now there’s a single cable that connects to both.

The LMcable, which is picking up significant traction on Kickstarter, works in Lightning and micro USB ports by having a reversible male end with two differently designed sides.

Parody site drags Reddit 1,000 years into the future

Nobody can truly see into the future, but a spoof website imagines what popular social news and discussion site Reddit would look like 1,000 years from now and it sure feels real.

Reddit3016 takes a deep dive into a world where Mars is populated, people slice genes for fun, and pocket whales are the hot pet trend. The look is spot-on, right down to the light-blue banner across the top.

Reddit3016 is thick with inside jokes. There's a post noting that subreddit category /r/cringe is now /r/ShameSingularity. Cringe is known as a hotspot for people who want to share their most embarrassing moments. In 3016, it becomes known as the place where "all humiliation across the universe will be transcendentally absorbed, experienced and shared in total."

On Reddit3016, the world of Star Wars is real. There's a subreddit called "/r/DebateAJedi" and there's a reference to a future Netflix called Holoflix acquiring the rights to the Bible and creating a Boba Fett crossover.

Microsoft preps HoloLens beta kits along with a mixed-reality video app

Some beta testers are already working with the augmented-reality headset and an app called Actiongram that lets them create mixed-reality videos, according to leaked documents.

Microsoft's HoloLens is already in the hands of a group of private beta participants. Those in the program are working on augmented-reality videos using a new Microsoft app called Actiongram that's due to be announced on February 29.

These tidbits are courtesy of documents discovered and posted to Twitter by infamous Microsoft sleuth WalkingCat. The Cat uncovered a bunch of public relations documents for the augmented-reality headset and beta assets for Actiongram, code-named Project Burbank, and made them available for download. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has since pulled them from public access.

Augmented reality is gaining attention thanks to the backing of heavy tech hitters such as Google and Microsoft. Unlike virtual reality, which completely immerses you in a computer-generated world, augmented reality blends the digital and physical worlds. Another difference is that people will be able to buy virtual-reality tech like the Oculus Rift and HTC's Vive this year, but Microsoft's HoloLens isn't intended for consumers just yet.

Microsoft officials previously said they'd begin shipping the $3,000 developer edition of the HoloLens in the first calendar quarter of 2016. One of my contacts said Microsoft told applicants the first wave of "accepted" developers would be notified at the end of February about the imminent arrival of the kits.

By getting HoloLens goggles and an early version of the Actiongram app into the hands of testers, Microsoft is hoping to get the app in shape for a February 29 reveal, according to a leaked internal schedule. Microsoft filed for the Actiongram trademark eight months ago.

The aim of the Actiongram videos that testers will create using the app "is not to review the product," according to Microsoft's guidelines, "but to showcase and document the unique process of creation."

I'm thinking the Actiongram-created videos might look like some of the promo videos Microsoft employees began highlighting via Twitter late last year. Maybe we'll see even more than just those kinds of videos from the closed beta participants.

Closed Beta 1 for Actiongram began in early February and will last through March 31, according to Microsoft's schedule. A second, larger closed beta will run from early April until late May, and an open beta for the app will run from June through the end of October.

In a video targeting Actiongram creators, Microsoft provides a glimpse of the HoloLens Start menu, dubbed the HoloShell, in action.

The leaked documents also mention a Bluetooth clicker, which should be a great asset for those who find air taps difficult to master and tiring to repeat. (Yay for mouselike devices prevailing in natural user environments!)

This story originally posted as "Microsoft gears up to roll out HoloLens beta kits, Actiongram mixed-reality videos" on ZDNet.

Source: Cnet