Erich Krauz

Stories By Erich Krauz

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  Apps

  Apps By Erich Krauz

  Benefits of Screen Recording

  Let's face it, we as a society have been completely dependent on mobile devices and computers to get through any task or day. One great feature has been gaining more lime light and becoming a popular way for businesses, developers, and education systems to share instant information is screen recording and mirroring. Screen recording is a way of sharing a captured screen or video, recording in window or full screen modes, sharing video instructions all while allowing users to visually see the information in the same way as the sharer. Mirroring allows a user the ability to mirror the display screen of devices including iPads, iPhones, PC or Mac's to computers without the use of a wire. QuickTime Player offers basic screen recording feature, but an iPhone user can also try a third party iOS Screen Recorder app that lets users mirror and record screen wirelessly. Businesses have a high demand for sharing information to their partners, employees, and other departments and what better way to reach a large number of people than screen recording and mirroring. All the presenter would need to do is pull up the presentation/plan/information and share it to a computer wirelessly to present it. This can be very beneficial for traveling professionals to easily share without the hassle of wires/cords having to be used or connected. Presenters can easily record webinars in high definition so they can be quickly and easily shared to others. With the use of mirroring there is no question on what screen to follow, where to click next or the steps in completing a task. Application developers find screen recording and mirroring highly useful especially in developmental stages and final stages of creation. The developer can easily record how their application is functioning, the errors it may be receiving or show exactly how the app works and it explain its features. After an application is created the developer can easily record the application in real life use, show exactly how it operates and possibly increase downloads since users are able to see the benefit of the actual app working with an easy step by step tutorial of its functions. Educators and educations systems can highly benefit from these applications. The instructor can create instructional screenshots and tutorials and share them with students so everyone is on the same page. With mirroring the user is able to take multiple devices and connect them to one computer which can be useful in many different ways including side by side comparisons and when there are multiple presenters. Not to mention the use of media tools, social media tools and apps will always increase engagement when presenting! Feel free to check out the benefits for yourself!

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  Reviews

  Reviews By Erich Krauz

  iPhone 7...Is it worth the upgrade?

  Undoubtedly, Apple will sell plenty of iPhone 7's because it is the newest product offered but any consumer should consider these points before making a decision if it is worth the price tag. At a quick glance it does not appear that Apple made enough changes from the iPhone 6 to make the upgrade worth it but of course consumers will still want the latest and newest iPhone. Features/Design: They have made the iPhone 7 water resistant, now this doesn't mean the phone is waterproof and can be submerged but it is a great feature to help with longevity and practical use of the phone. The display has also been enhanced to be brighter and more colorful. The black and jet black sleek design which is very similar to the iPhone 6 is very fragile and prone to scratching of the phone/screen so it will be important to use a phone cover to protect the phone. The best iPhone 7 covers can be found on mytrendyphone.co.uk website and will be important in keeping the phone scratch and dent free. Performance: Apple is using the new A10 Fusion chip in the iPhone 7's. This design features four cores: two high performance cores, and two low-power cores. The new design is advertised to have the longest battery life increasing the battery life by approximately 2 hours longer and the processor to be 2x faster than the iPhone 6. Changes: The biggest change the user will see is the removal of the headphone jack. Apple is taking a huge risk but also a huge leap into technology advancement by removing this feature. The second biggest change users will notice is the removal of the home button. Apple has implemented what they call the the Taptic Engine instead of the button feature. This means when pressure is applied to the "home button" it will jolt and make the user feel like they are pressing a button when it reality it doesn't move. They also changed the antenna line placement on the back and colored the antenna to better blend into the body of the phone. Apple has upgraded the camera to 12mp, 7mp Facetime HD camera, improved the optical stabilization and and the camera bump design to enhance the photo quality and include a larger range of colors. The iPhone 7 features new stereo speakers to include the original bottom speaker and now a higher quality speaker in the earpiece. So in reality a consumer is more than likely going to purchase an iphone 7 just to have the newest product on the market but from a technology standpoint there is not enough difference between the iPhone 6 to justify the upgrade.

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  Cybersecurity

  Cybersecurity By Erich Krauz

  5 TIPs That Will Keep Your Phone Safe

  The popularity of smart phones has led to increase in the digital crimes as well. The security of your personal data is always at stake and if you are not attentive enough, you might suffer not only from identity theft but social embarrassment too. There have been numerous cases when the notorious minds have leaked the personal data of people making them a victim of social awkwardness. To protect yourself from this, here are 5 tips that you should do right away. 1) Password protect your phone The first and foremost thing as soon as you buy a phone is to put a password on it. The latest smartphones are equipped with more than 1 kind of a password like PIN, Pattern, Face detection and biometric being the latest. Although you can choose any of these, I would recommend using a pattern or biometric as these are hard to track and break. 2) Turn Off Auto Sync Almost all the mobile phones manufacturers give you auto sync feature as a freebie. Although the intention is good (and saves you space), I am not in favor of backing up everything on a server or the cloud which I have partial to zero control over. Instead I would recommend taking a backup of images and videos on your personal computer and free up the space on phone to capture more memories. You have 100% control over your personal computer and hence full control over your personal data too. 3) Enable Remote Wipe and Remote Lock One of the best security features that the latest cellphones are equipped with is that of remote wipe and remote lock. This means that in case you lose your phone, you can command your phone to erase all the data on it through the internet. Apart from erasing everything you can also command your phone to lock itself until you enter a special password. These 2 things add an extra layer of security making your phone a little less vulnerable. 4) Lock Apps and Media If the hacker is someone you trust, chances are that they know your password. What do you do if a person you trust tries to compromise your social image? The best way to avoid this is to hide all your photos and application behind an app locker. While the remaining ways to protect your phone are already present in your phone, you might need to install an app locker from the Play Store. If you are looking for a recommendation, I would recommend using Hexlock App Lock & Photo Vault. It's simple and pretty much straight forward. Lock App services have become popular and should be on your list of downloads. 5) Update Everything! The last thing and the most important one is to update your phone and applications as soon as possible. While the developers ensure 100% security of the application, they may not be able to make a 100% secure code in the very first attempt. As time passes and software is tested against various scenarios, a lot of bugs and loopholes are encountered. The developers keep on fixing them and release updates to eliminate those bugs from your software as well. Thus any update that the manufacturer sends you is aimed towards making your experience better and secure and should not be ignored.

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  VPN

  VPN By Erich Krauz

  Everything You Need To Know About a VPN

  The modern day internet user faces a lot of security challenges when it comes to browsing. Regardless of your feelings towards being tracked, there is nothing much you do about it. Your ISP tracks your activity, the government tracks your activity and now even the websites track your activity. With so many eyes on you, do you really think you are anonymous? However, there is one technology that you are either over-looking or ignoring. This technology is called VPN. A VPN is aimed at making your activity look anonymous and hence protect your privacy. Here is everything you need to know about VPNs. What is a VPN? A VPN or a Virtual Private Network is a complex network of computers over the internet. A VPN can be used in several ways. For example a business uses a VPN to connect to its remote servers securely while home users can use these networks to hide their real IP from being available to the world. A VPN is mostly used when you are accessing an untrusted network or web location. Do You Need a VPN? That depends on how you connect to the internet. If you are on a home network or a trusted network, you probably do not need a VPN but if your work involves connecting through public Wi-Fi networks or if your work demands high security encryptions, using a VPN is essential. Also, if you are frequently downloading files, image, or other pieces of data over the internet, you should probably use a VPN. What is A Good VPN? While choosing a VPN, a few things that you should consider are – speed of the VPN, server location, connectivity protocols and price. While there are many free alternatives available, it is recommended to go with a paid and premium service if you are serious about your security. A free VPN has limited resources and offered publicly to everyone which makes it a little less reliable and a lot slower. On the other hand a paid VPN is setup just for you and your company and has enough resources to let you access the internet stress free. I have been using Rocket VPN for the last few months and the experience has been excellent! Another reason I love Rocket VPN is the fact that it is available in Play Store as well as Apple Store which means I do not have to worry about the software platform. Alternatively there are many good options available in the market. How Should I Choose A VPN? Apart from the speed and cost, one major factor that should contribute to this decision of yours is the way you intend to use your VPN. If you are planning to use it for your office network, you must invest in a VPN with the latest encryption algorithms while if you aim for heavy downloading, buy a VPN with unlimited bandwidth and high downloading speed. Also, consider the location of your machine and the location of your target website. For example if you reside in Europe and want to access a website open to UK only, you must invest in VPN located in UK so as to bypass the geographical limitation. Conclusion A little research on your requirements, budget, and research popular VPNs available and you will be able to take advantage of their services.

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  VPN

  VPN By Erich Krauz

  Three reasons using a VPN will benefit you!

  The internet is a wonderful place with many paths, routes, and protocols transporting your sensitive data across thousands of miles across the globe. Becoming more common, is the use of Virtual Private Network (VPN) software and apps like "Hide My IP VPN". Simply put, a VPN is a group of computers networked together over a public network. Many companies are adapting VPNs as a way to provide off-site (telework) access to their employees while keeping data secure. Three reasons VPNs can be used: 1) Obfuscation and protection of your personal data when using public wifi! Many people think when you are using free wifi at local coffee shops, Airports, or in their Hotel rooms, they are sending/receiving data safely. This is far from the truth! Public wifi offers NO encryption security to its users. Signals are broadcasted openly and anyone in range can eavesdrop if they are network savvy. Hacking on a network which you have access to all devices is a junior hackers dream. You can avoid this entirely if you use a VPN. First, you log into the public wifi then you connect to your VPN server, which turns your hotspot web traffic to encrypted and tunneled keeping prying eyes off of it. If you frequently travel and use public wifi, then a VPN is a very wise investment in privacy. For iPhone specific instructions go to "Hide My VPN on iPhone". 2) Watch your favorite shows no matter what country you live in! VPNs can help you mask or use a proxy to make your connection seem like it's coming from another country's IP address. If you did not do this, your host country would of prevented you to watch because of the local laws and copyright regulations in place there. Perfect example of this would be trying to watch a YouTube music video that had copyrights in Europe and USA traffic (IPs) cannot view video. A VPN could make your traffic seem likes its coming from England, which would allow you to watch the video. Now you can Enjoy! 3) Bypass the Country's Web censorship and content surveillance! There has been nations that will choose to limit/filter their internet traffic to their entire county. Countries like Algeria, Egypt, Afghanistan, China, are some examples of nations who limit/filter internet web surfing. A way to get around these restrictions and firewalls placed would be connecting to a VPN server. One of the popular VPN expects I found was a company called "Hide My IP". They have VPN service on Android, Mac, and PCs which will enable you to tunnel out and use the web. Since you will be using a proxy, internet speeds will be slower, but a small price to regain your web freedom! These are only a few examples of how VPNs can help you in your day-to-day surfing, but there are many more. Happy surfing!

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  Computing

  Computing By Erich Krauz

  Goodbye 2.4! Moving to "OPEN" 5 GHz Land.

  When it comes to routers and wireless technology, I am very particular about 2 things – quality and signal strength. Why? Because these 2 things decide how well the experience of using a wireless network is going to be. If any one of these 2 factors is weak, the connection speed is going to be low and so is the productivity. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to ensure a good quality of connection with strong signal strength. The quality of connectivity, one factor that contributes to it is the band of operation of the router. The modern routers either work on a 2.4 GHz band or a 5 GHz band. While 2.4 GHz is the common one, 5 GHz is like the premium service right now; premium not in terms of price but in terms of quality. Summarizing the situation of these bands, it will be best to say that – 2.4 GHz band at the moment is highly crowded and the 5 GHz band, said perfectly by one of leading tech sites webpage, JustWebWorld , "It's not only pollution free, it is much more efficient". While some people might think that the 5 GHz technology is new and stuff, let me tell you that this band has been around for a while now but has never gained popularity. Don't believe me? Try analyzing all the Wi-Fi networks in your area that run on these 2 bands using the WiFi Analyzer – Home WiFI Alert and get ready to be surprised on how open the 5 Ghz land really is. This mean, no bleed over and faster internet speeds! Here are 3 important points that will help you decide which band will be better for you. All the instruments in your home like the Bluetooth devices, mobile phones and even microwaves work on the 2.4 GHz band. This means that your Wi-Fi connection picks up noises from these gadgets before communicating with your computer. This is not the case with 5 GHz band as there will be hardly any appliance in your home working on that band. The 5 GHz band has a wide spectrum. In simpler terms, this means that the connection you receive will be uninterrupted and perform better than the 2.4 GHz band. Also, 5 GHz band is best for streaming and transferring big files like movies and songs. Technically speaking, higher frequency means lower range. Thus a 5 GHz router will although have a better connectivity but when it comes to range the 2.4 GHz band is the winner. Also, 5 GHz waves cannot penetrate solids as efficiently as 2.4 GHz waves can. However, if it's just your apartment you are concerned about, 5 GHz might just be what you need.

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  Computing

  Computing By Erich Krauz

  File Conversions: Software based or web application?

  If your work demands significant usage of computers and working with many different task, then converting files, documents, images, or many of the other major file formats is most likely an important part of your daily tasks. In a perfect world, we would have one file standard, but this is not the case. There are many websites and each provide an limited amount of support/services for accepting different kind's of a file formats. For example while YouTube accepts videos in almost any format, a custom made website of your client might not be configured to work with MOV or AVI files. Similar is the case with documents. While PDF is accepted by almost everyone, certain website, due to their nature and concept accept only a particular kind of a file like a word document. The most frustrating of the formats are the images. They have an extensive amount of extensions – JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG and the list goes on that it is hard to remember preferences for every website. File conversion is a BIG deal and with it, the big question will arises... What is the quickest and simplest solution for converting between each file type? There are applications that can do this job (like Video Converters) but installing an application and then troubleshooting it if it does not work is more a pain than a solution. Also, when installing programs directly onto your computer or mobile device, will put you at risk for downloading adware and location tracker, which could be wrapped into the program. The second solution (and the better one) is to use web based services, like Convertio.co. This particular company supports 1727 different conversions:(Videos, Audios, Documents, EBooks, Presentations, Images, Archives etc, Split/Compress/Unlock pdf, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) URL Converter (extract media from websites), convert and download YouTube videos, and a Developer-friendly File Conversion API). There are hundreds of companies like this one, but I feel you can accomplish most of your tasks on this one site. Why a web-based service is better than trusting random software applications? Let me give you 3 reasons why. The cost of implementation is low when it comes to a web based service. Software doing the same thing will cost you a few hundred dollars and use up your computer resources which can be overwhelming, whereas a web-based file conversion service is less than 10 dollars a month and does not hog up on your computer resources. As the creator of the software keeps adding features, you need to update your software to get the latest algorithms for conversions. However, in case of a web-based service you do not need to worry about getting the latest updates and adding more conversion options. The owner of the website takes care of all this. If you choose software to convert audios and videos, the time that will go into completing the process will depend on the configuration of your machine. If you compare the specifications of your machine to the high end servers that the websites use, your machine will probably take 10 times more time than what a web based service will need to convert the same file.

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  Smartphones

  Smartphones By Erich Krauz

  Gone....but not lost! How to recover your iPhone data

  Losing data from your iPhone device is an agonizing encounter. It is sometimes data that is urgently needed, for example a demonstration at work or data that may be very sentimental, like photos with a loved one who has passed on. Data loss is a sad truth of the digital era, so it is imperative that you understand how to recover it. What can cause data loss? A whole lot of accidental swipes and clicks may lead to loss of data from your iPhone. For example, when the iOS device crashes, you may lose the information found on your phone. You could also drop the data by pressing or perhaps touching the screen in the wrong way. In all of these cases, there are a few options that may help you get your valuable data back again. How you can recover your lost data? The most importing thing to take away from this article is in order for you to recover data on your iPhone, you must make sure to back-up your data! It's good practice to back-up on a regular basis. This is accomplished by opening your iPhone's settings and enabling specifically what you want backed-up. For specifics on what content/data is able to be backed, please visit Apple's website here. A back-up usually happens when your phone is connected WiFi, plugged in, and in sleep mode. So after adding your settings, the phone will take care of the rest. Remember, if you don't back it, you can't recover it! The inevitable happens, you've lost, destroyed, or bricked your phone and you don't know how to get your data back! Luckily for you, you've read this article and have been backing up your data frequently. You could spend a few hours looking for hacks or complex programs to recover your phones data, but I've done that research for you and found one company that has impressed me. iMyfone D-Back is a top leader in iPhone recovery. They offer recovery services for devices messages, photo & video's, social contact list, memos, and saved attachments. Another method to back-up and recover your personal data is with, iTunes backup. iPhone has a built in function to safeguard your data which is upload to their cloud and saved for a time you need to pull the data back to your phone. The cloud is becoming more widely used, because of the simplicity it offers. Final thoughts, don't lose your digital memories or documents; back-up frequently & recover when needed!

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  Apps

  Apps By Erich Krauz

  Use image editors to make beautiful digital artwork

  You keep liking pictures of your close friends and always wonder about when you may have pictures to show off, attain likes and at least possess a thing to say knowing that the pictures are liked too but to its contrary, you could have pictures though not good enough to become uploaded or shared simply because they don't match the level of your colleagues. Every gold coin has two faces, this is a fact which holds true and it is not apocryphal. Everyone has wanted to go to their dream place for vacation but wishes are desired and it's not essential that all wishes come true. For example, you wanted to go to the seaside or hilly areas or perhaps whatever your wish is usually and to have pictures yet life has other programs for you keeping you occupied with work, responsibilities flowing cold water on your wish. So is there anything we can't do? The answer then is a very simple YES we can with Image Editing Service. I am aware your next question will be what is "image editing" so let's have a quick look at it. Image Editing is an intense procedure that involves various other jobs including clipping path, correction mask, color correction, removing undesirable objects, cartooning, vector images and flash animation. It's obvious that these are all part of creative methods that can just make your images outstanding, therefore, are very advantageous for customers coming from different sectors. With these services clients can separate objects using their background, correct colors and adjust tone in pictures, insert extra photographs or perhaps graphics in the photographs, take out unwanted elements from your photos, change the color of all the parts of an image, give photographs a distinctive shape and incorporate THREE DIMENSIONAL effects in the images. Each one of these advantages has made image editing a widely preferred decision in the world. These services are being demanded domestic, industrial and commercial applications. What makes image editing task so exciting are companies like FotoJet, which has an "user friendly" editing mode. This neat feature has changed game of digital editing! Now, hobbyist to digital editing professionals can now make professional pieces of digital art, like Photo Grid's, Magazine Covers, and Photo Cards. FotoJet edit mode assists professionals and novice in creating graphic images and in manipulating picture in the manner they deserve. They provide experts and newbies with standard adjustment program such as brightness and contrast. The user of the application can also boost the digital appearance of the pictures and insert as many graphics and extra objects in the pictures as needed. You too can turn your images into beautiful pieces of artwork.

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  Mobile

  Mobile By Erich Krauz

  Cellular providers biggest fears..."unlocking" the secrets!

  Mobile phones are the primary means of communication in todays society. The days of landlines are coming to an end as cellular devices and data plans become cheaper. Right now it's a rumble pit between the big service providers (like AT&T and T-Mobile) trying to get users to choose their packages and data plans; how do you know which one will be best for your situation? The short answer, it depends on a few things like Country, service coverage in the area, even down to the provider's resources (satellite coverages). Either way, one of the biggest complaints users have is not being able to try each of the providers in their living area without being charged a hefty device "unlocking fee". This means, most users will stay with the same provider for an entire contract or two, even if they have moved to a new servicing area where coverage my not be provided from that provider or service is scattered, at best. This could lead to roaming charges, which leads to a bigger bill. In addition, unlocking devices could be a necessity when trying to sell your phone to another user that may have a different service provider or wants to save some money. You can save on average $100 USD, buying an unlocked phone! This is the big secret the companies do not want you to hear. Transferring to a new provider can be a real headache to accomplish, but thankfully I came across the company UnlockBase, who has made the unlocking and transferring device's to a new provider extremely easy with step-by-step instructions on their website! UnlockBase has unlocked over six million devices so far, and they support 13,971 Cell Phones with over 250 services. This mean you can use them and not spend endless hours searching the web or on the phone, trying to find the right person to talk to for unlocking a device; they will have it covered. In addition to them being around since 2004, I like how they show their inventory and display the time it takes for each provider to do the transfer. They also have a loyalty program that has discounts for members that use their services often (Bronze, Silver, and Gold). With any service there is a small fee. I did a quick search to see if it would help me with my current situation and found that if I went to sell my phone to my friend, he would have pay ~$40 dollars to transfer my phone to his carrier, but if he were to use UnlockBase's website, he would only be paying $9. Just image if everyone would use these third party websites and take the big companies out of the equations? Let the secret out!

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  Cybersecurity

  Cybersecurity By Erich Krauz

  The 3 biggest household cyber threats & why you should care!

  Wireless modem/routers have become a common house hold term and seems to be taking over our lives. Today the average number of connected devices to families' home network is around 5.2 devices, with that number growing rapidly! From having your refrigerator order milk when it's low, turning on/off bedroom lights from a remote location, to surfing your favorite websites while watching T.V, you just can't avoid being connected to the Internet in some way. In the U.S. alone, 97% of homes have some sort of mobile device that use Wi-Fi. This means we need to be smart on our networks and prevent being exposed to possible cyber-attacks. Below, are my top three cyber (hacking) threats we need to constantly be on the look-out for. 1.Phishing attacks (email) Lets face it, everyone has an email account. This mean you've certainly been on the receiving end of phishing SCAMS. Phishing attacks are usually well crafted emails to look like its coming from a legitimate company and will, 9 times out of 10, will have a link within the email that users will be persuaded to click. If you click one of these links, your device could render control to hackers or leave your computer with a virus, worm, or Trojan. TIPS: Read your emails as plain text so you can see the URLs that images are links go to. Hover your mouse over the link(s) so you can see the actual URL and see if anything stands out. Download "Wifi Analyzer- Home Wifi Alert" And check the link with the Blacklist checker in the tools section. This will tell you if the link is bad; better safe than sorry! Talk to your kids, teenagers, and even grandparents about not clicking unusual looking links within their emails. 2.Wireless Hacking With the advances in wireless security, hackers have resorted to "out of the box thinking", as well as one of the oldest methods, relying on bad passwords. One of the most important security measures you can take in securing your WiFi is changing any default passwords to a more secure one. This should include the router administrator login. Keeping the default password/passphrase is just an invitation for hackers to infiltrate your network and steal your personal data. Also, if your password is weak or not unique it can easily be cracked by tools such as John the Ripper. I recommend passwords to be at least 12 characters long, include letters, numbers, and even special characters. One of those out of the box methods hackers use is by using Evil Twin access points (AP). These are devices that have been set up to trick you into connecting to what you think is the legitimate AP, by imitating your access point. Once you connect to the Evil Twin AP the hacker has full purview into all of your network traffic and can even get onto your computer and steal your private data. One way you can defeat these Evil Twin APs is by using an application that can scan for all the APs around you and will help you determine which one is the legitimate one, such application would be our own Wifi Analyzer- Home Wifi Alert. After download, go to the AP scan tab and you will be able to see all wireless access points in range. Here you can make sure you are connecting to the correct AP with the correct MAC address. TIP: Keep your passwords out of the open, like on the fridge! 3.Outdated/Unpatched Software Finally, my favorite. We've all gotten the annoying pop-ups notifying us of new updates for our phones, computers, or tablet... and most of us just will just close. Before you close the update next time you're playing your games, consider this: These updates/patches fix holes that hackers can use to get in to your devices or networks to steal your personal data, so updating/patching is a vital part for the protection of your home networks/WiFi. TIP: I recommend checking the manufacturer's websites on a regular basis to see if you are running the current operating system (OS), patches, and version. This will help you from being a victim and less vulnerable to a cybercrime.

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