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The 8 best addons for World of Warcraft

Are you looking to get the most out of your WOW experience? Check out these addons!

World of Warcraft has been around for a really long time now. While the gameplay, graphics, and story have enhanced over time, the UI has not changed nearly as much. Some things that may seem like they should be obvious menu items are only accessible via addons. Addons in World of Warcraft are essentially mods that give you additional menu options and visuals. Some are small, and mostly used for organizing items or menus, while others will give you more options in combat! Below are some of the best addons for both old and new players. The majority of these can be downloaded through Curse.

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Bagnon

One of the best addons for organization. The basic function of Bagnon is to put all your bags into the same window. That already helps with finding items more effectively. In addition, it has functions to help to organize your bank. It also makes item searches and identifying item quality easier.

Bartender4

Another popular add-on for organization. Instead of being used to help with bag functionality, Bartender4 can be used to reorganize your action bars. This is really helpful since the original locations of the action bars are large and fixed. This lets you customize them in a way that helps you the best.

Recount

If you’re ever wondering how well you are doing in an instance or during a fight, Recount is the way to check. It gives you information on how much damage, and healing you and your party are doing at a given time.

Healbot

A stable for any healer. While not every healer uses this, those that do swear by it. It allows you to set spell combinations so that every ability you use is at its optimal effect. Healers have a large range of buffs and healing abilities, and Healbot lets you use the best ones you need when you need to. It’s a great organizing tool for any healer.

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Deadly Boss Mods

If you frequently run instances, then Deadly Boss Mods is one of the best addons you can possibly have. In fact, it’s the most downloaded addon for WoW on Curse. Essentially, it alerts you on everything you need to know about a dungeon while you’re in one so that you can keep yourself alive. It’s pretty customizable, and it interacts with other people who have the addon as well, so going in with a party can really help utilize this addon’s full potential.

WeakAuras 2

WeakAuras 2 can be pretty complex and daunting for some players, but it’s another great organizational tool. It reorganizes buffs and status screens in a customizable way, so you can view them how you want to. It is a bit difficult and confusing to start these customizations, but thankfully there are templates that already exist for most of the basic customization options.

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Auctioneer

Checking the auction frequently is a great way to make money in WoW. Auctioneer helps players get a better understanding of what items should be selling for. This helps a lot with organizing your thoughts on what you should be selling and the price you should be doing it at. It also helps with general auction organization.

ElvUI

There are addons for ElvUI on Curse, but unlike the other addons on this list, ElvUI itself can have to be downloaded separately. Despite this, it is probably the most useful in terms of UI customization. ElvUI is a complete UI overhaul that allows you to fix many of the basic customization issues that the original WoW UI has. The big drawback to ElvUI is that it is a bit of a time investment when you first download it. It takes a while to get used to, and you’ll have to take the time out to fully customize your UI. This can feel vastly different from other addons that are mostly set immediately once you’ve installed them. If you’re willing to put in that time though, this can be a really effective tool in organizing your menus and having a better visual experience playing WoW. With this addon, you won’t need some of the other ones, such as Bagnon, which ElvUI already has built-in.

FaceApp security warning: fake versions spreading

Researchers have discovered a number of different scams relating to FaceApp.

If you haven’t seen an aged version of a friend or family member recently you’ve either been living in a cave somewhere or you’ve possibly been the victim of some sort of unknown EMP-type event. FaceApp has taken the internet by storm with its realistic AI aging filter. FaceApp is an AI-powered photo manipulation app that has a few different filters, but it is the aging filter that has garnered so much popularity recently.

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The FaceApp aging filter has become so popular that there are plenty of people out there who would be willing to pay for a premium version of the free app. If you’re one of those people or you know somebody who might be one of them remember this; there is no premium version of FaceApp. If you find a premium version of FaceApp it is a scam.

Researchers have discovered a number of different scams relating to FaceApp

The first scam highlighted by security researcher Lukas Stefanko on the We Live Security blog relates to a fake pro version of FaceApp like the one detailed above. The “pro” version of the app is advertised on a fake website.

What’s worse, the “pro” version is advertised as a “free premium” app, which doesn’t even make any sense. All the website will do is push users to click an endless number of ads, sign up to various subscriptions, and view special offers for other paid apps.

This is a fake FaceApp pro website — Image via: We Live Security – Beware of fake FaceApp pro websites like this one

After what must have seemed like an eternity’s worth of clicks, all Stefanko and his team ended up with was the regular version FaceApp that is available on the Google Play Store.

Another scam Stefanko’s team have uncovered comes via YouTube videos. Their blog post shows a YouTube video that has well over 150,000 views, which again describes a fake “pro” version of FaceApp. The YouTube videos also contain shortened links in their descriptions where users can download the fake apps. In reality, much like with the fake website scam, these only lead users to apps that are simply designed to deliver ads to the unsuspecting user.

FaceApp PRO apps from YouTube gets you in trouble

Two scams:
1)Fake websites (iOS & Android): deliver ads,surveys, subscription,PPI,unrelated browser notifications.

2)Fake apps: From YouTube videos with link to adware
In one case with 95,000+ link clickshttps://t.co/SMciu9NWT7 pic.twitter.com/DTB9HsFtX0

— Lukas Stefanko (@LukasStefanko) July 19, 2019

What’s worse about these YouTube scams is that shortened links offer scammers a great way to make people go to sites that are infected with malware.

Shortened links can hide a lot of the key giveaways that we should look out for when we suspect a link could be fake or malicious. Although, this isn’t the case with any of the shortened links the We Live Security team found, relating to the fake “pro” versions of FaceApp, we still need to be careful.

Image via: We Live Security – Looking for a “pro” version of FaceApp will only ever find you spam ads like this one or something worse.

The key takeaway here is to not allow ourselves to become too carried away by viral hype and lose our senses in the process. Stefanko has this important message, that we should all remember when there is a viral app doing the rounds. “Hype attracts scammers, and the bigger the wave, the higher the risk of falling victim of a scam. Before joining the hype, users should remember to stick to basic security principles.

Regardless how exciting the topic is, avoid downloading apps from sources other than official app stores, and examine available information about the app (developer, rating, reviews, etc.). Especially in the Android ecosystem.” Fake apps are a common problem, but they’re particularly dangerous when everybody is talking about the newest big thing.

If you want a more detailed explanation on how to avoid fake apps in the Google Play Store check out the short guide we’ve written below.

How to detect fake apps in the Google Play Store in just 3 steps

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Google Play Store had apps that allowed digital stalking

Security specialists at Avast have identified 7 apps on the Google Play Store that allowed people to stalk others.

Malware is bad, but now we have a new threat to contend with. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s talk about stalkerware.

Security specialists at Avast have identified 7 apps on the Google Play Store that allowed people to stalk others

In a recent blog post, Avast announced that it had discovered seven apps available on the Google Play Store that enabled users to stalk other people. The apps work by sharing the victims live location, collecting their contact list, and monitoring their SMS and call history. This made it possible to stalk work employees or colleagues, romantic partners or, perhaps worst of all, children. According to Avast, all seven apps were likely designed by a Russian developer.

Stalking apps in @GooglePlay. Four apps, the same developer. Install it to your employee/kid etc and track the location, collect contacts, SMS & call history. If the phone is rooted you can also collect WhatsApp/Viber messages.
Those shouldn’t exist on Google Play. pic.twitter.com/aYsm72Ldl8

— Nikolaos Chrysaidos (@virqdroid) July 16, 2019

Before publishing the blog post, Avast first notified Google of the seven malicious apps and the internet giant has since removed them all from the Play Store. Unfortunately, however, they’d been downloaded over 130,000 times before Google was able to remove them. You can see the names of the seven apps below:

Track Employees Check Work Phone Online Spy Free
Spy Kids Tracker
Phone Cell Tracker
Mobile Tracking
Spy Tracker
SMS Tracker
Employee Work Spy

Each of the apps first required the stalker to gain access to the victim’s phone. They’d then install the apps on the phone before following instructions that would show them how to hide the apps so that the victim wouldn’t know they were there.

The stalker would then email themselves a link and use it to install the spying app onto his or her own phone. From then on, the stalker would be able to keep tabs on the victim, and even be able to view their location on a map.

Stalkerware removed from the Google Play Store — Image via: Avast

Avast’s head of mobile threat intelligence, Nikolaos Chrysaidos, had this to say of the new type of malware threat, “These apps are highly unethical and problematic for people’s privacy and shouldn’t be on the Google Play Store… They promote criminal behavior, and can be abused by employers, stalkers or abusive partners to spy on their victims. We classify such apps as stalkerware, and using apklab.io we can identify such apps quickly, and collaborate with Google to get them removed.”

These apps offer an insight into a worrying new digital threat that we need to be aware of. Protect your phone with a rigorous password as well as any biometric security measures your phone may offer. Don’t give it to anybody you can’t trust. We’ve also reached out to Chrysaidos to see about how to make sure nobody has installed these apps on your phone.

Firefox will soon make it much easier to spot websites that are insecure

Starting in October, Firefox will permanently mark all HTTP sites as not secure.

When Mozilla releases the next update to Firefox this October, it will make it much easier to spot sites that are more likely to be insecure.

Firefox 70 will follow in the footsteps of Chrome update number 68 from last year, by adding a permanent “not secure” indicator on all non-https websites. This marks a change from the current policy, which only shows the not secure indicator when a HTTP website includes forms or login fields.

Mozilla Firefox

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Why is this important?

The Firefox team that announced the planned move cited the fact that 80% of all internet pages are now served via HTTPS. This means that rather than HTTPS websites receiving a positive note, it makes much more sense for non-HTTPS sites to be negatively flagged for their added security risk.

Talking to ZD Net, Firefox developer Johan Hoffmann said, “In desktop Firefox 70, we intend to show an icon in the ‘identity block’ (the left hand side of the URL bar which is used to display security / privacy information) that marks all sites served over HTTP (as well as FTP and certificate errors) as insecure.” This move will bring Firefox in-line with Google Chrome that made the same change a year ago.

It isn’t like Mozilla is simply copying Google with this, however, as the privacy valuing foundation has been working on the feature since 2017.

10 free-to-play MMORPGs you should be playing right now

There’s a whole array of MMORPGs beyond the World of Warcraft! Check them out!

With the new World of Warcraft expansion coming out soon, you may find yourself looking to get into the MMORPG genre. While many popular MMOs are subscription-based or buy-to-play, there are plenty of free-to-play games available as well. These video games are fun and worth your time!. Here is a list of some of the best out there:

10 free-to-play MMORPGs you should be playing right now

10. DC Universe Online

Similar to World of Warcraft, DC Universe features a faction system. The player chooses between the Heroes and the Villains. Fans of DC Comics will enjoy seeing many of their favorite characters, while also getting to play within their universe. Characters are built around a specific power, which essentially works like a class in other MMOs. The powers, characters, and art style all draw heavily from the DC Comics universe.

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9. Star Wars: The Old Republic

Another faction-based MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic has the player choose between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. Despite this choice, the player is allowed to decide their own morality through their interactions with NPCs. For example, a Sith player doesn’t have to be evil necessarily. The game is known for having some pretty long loading screens, but be patient because the game is worth it. This game is worth checking out for even non-Star Wars fans, as the storyline of each class is incredible and immersive.

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8. Tera

Unlike many of the games on this list, Tera has recently come to PS4 and Xbox One, as well as being available for PC. The game uses a real-time third-person combat system that is sure to keep you on your toes. Most MMOs allow the player to lock on to the enemies, instead of directly pointing at them, while Tera forces the player to land their abilities as skill shots. This makes the combat incredibly engaging.

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7. RuneScape

One of the oldest MMORPGs, Runescape utilizes a skill-level system that is not commonly found in modern MMOs. Instead of grinding your character’s overall level, you instead level each skill individually by using them repeatedly. Along with this, Runescape has received continued updates for years, and is still a refreshing take on a classic game. The game is available for both PC and Mac. Either way, you’re sure to have a good time with this classic.

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6. Path of Exile

Fans of the Diablo series will be excited to see the similarities between these games. The game features the same style of combat, equipment, and dark artistic flair as the Diablo games. While not a traditional MMO, the game is played in small instances and is more focused on building your individual characters and parties, rather than massive communication that other MMOs feature.

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5. Trove

If you’ve ever wondered what Minecraft would be like as an MMO, then you’ll be excited to check out Trove. The game features combat and classes similar to other MMOs while retaining many of the sandbox features that Minecraft has to offer. There are plenty of customization features to keep your interest. Trove contains customizable homes called “Cornerstones.” These homes allow for a similar experience to Minecraft in their ability to be used as crafting stations and their customizability. It’s definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of either style of game.

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4. Rift

You may have heard of Rift as being a free-to-play World of Warcraft game. While it does have many similarities to World of Warcraft, such as its factions and lore, Rift has just as many differences. One of the best parts about Rift is its soul system that allows for some incredibly diverse gameplay. The system allows for customization of your abilities and skills to a level not featured in other MMOs of its type. If you value diverse gameplay and customization, then this is a great game for you.

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3. Neverwinter

Many Dungeons and Dragons fans are probably somewhat familiar with Neverwinter, and for good reason! Like many tabletop RPGs, Neverwinter contains an expansive and powerful storyline to follow that sets it apart from other free-to-play MMOs. Players can even create their own quests and stories to expand the world for themselves. The game is based on the fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons and is perfect for anyone into the role-playing genre.

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Why you should be playing Neverwinter

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2. Blade and Soul

Similar to Tera, Blade and Soul features a real-time third-person combat system. The game is inspired by martial arts, and has many references to martial arts and their origins. The combat utilizes combos, similar to the fighting game genre. This creates a unique experience that’s sure to impress fans of both fighters and MMOs. Along with this, the game also features one of the best character customizations of any MMO available.

Blade and Soul

1. Guild Wars 2

The music and visuals of Guild Wars 2 are some of the most captivating of any free-to-play game. Guild Wars 2 features some of the best elements of other MMOs and combines them to create a unique gameplay experience. The story is player-driven and decided by the character’s actions and choices, while the combat is fluid and diverse. Longtime fans of MMOs will find Guild Wars 2 as a refreshing take on the genre, as every playable class features a variety of playstyles.

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Firefox team considers paid news product that would kill ads

A funding model that replaces ads as a revenue driver will ultimately protect user privacy

If you’re one of those internet users who hates seeing ads, you might be interested in some of the moves the Mozilla Foundation has been making recently. Mozilla is the not-for-profit organization behind the popular Firefox browser that focuses on user privacy above all else.

Mozilla recently introduced a new web browser called Firefox Preview, which makes it very easy for users to protect their data. The foundation has also been making other noises recently, about offering up an alternative to the current ad-based model that powers and pays for the modern internet. The Mozilla model would see us paying a subscription that would fund the sites we visit so that they’re not forced to show us ads when we do.

Mozilla Firefox

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A funding model that replaces ads as a revenue driver will ultimately protect user privacy

An ad-free internet fits in with Mozilla’s wider privacy protection mandate as the biggest threat to our online privacy is the value our data holds for big tech companies. The more they can learn about us, the more targeted the ads they can show us, which in turn are worth more money towards their bottom line.

Mozilla confirmed the move towards a paid model a few weeks ago when Dave Camp, the senior VP of Firefox at Mozilla said in a statement, “A high-performing, free and private-by-default Firefox browser will continue to be central to our core service offerings. We also recognize that there are consumers who want access to premium offerings, and we can serve those users too.” Camp was responding to an earlier article in t3n.de where the CEO of Firefox said that the subscription model might arrive sometime by October. We’re now getting a look at what that new premium model might look like.

Firefox Preview is currently in the beta testing stage and puts user privacy front and center

Firefox has recently been testing a funding model in partnership with a news subscription startup called Scroll. The test gave users a chance to sign up to an ad-free news subscription for $5 a month. Scroll offers users a subscription to 12 media partners that include some big names like USA Today, Vox, and Buzzfeed.

The Mozilla test is no longer active, but it gave subscribers access to ad-free audio versions of their news stories as well as working with partnered content across different devices and from a variety of sources and platforms including native apps and social media.

Mozilla is no doubt poring over the data it has collected via its recent test as we move closer towards the October launch date the Firefox CEO talked of back in June.

It is worth noting that Apple offers a similar service for $10 a month, which hasn’t been too successful. If you’re looking for an-free internet though, Apple might not be a company you completely trust.

The Mozilla Foundation, on the other hand, has a solid reputation among web users and their version of an ad-free internet could be the one we see more of in the future.

Make sure you stick with us for more developments on this story, and others, as they happen.

New Dropbox file sharing feature is absolutely massive

Dropbox Transfer could allow you to easily transfer files up to 100GB in size

First and foremost, Dropbox is a cloud storage company. You sign up to a plan, upload your files, and then you can access them anywhere and on any device with an internet connection. This in itself is extremely useful and puts Dropbox as a competitor with the likes of Google Drive and Microsoft One Drive.

The Cloud is more than a one trick pony though, and Dropbox is now looking to offer its users another extremely useful feature for both personal and enterprise use. You’ll get no prizes, however, for guessing what Dropbox’s newly announced Dropbox Transfer feature is all about.

Dropbox Transfer could allow you to easily transfer files up to 100GB in size

It wasn’t long ago that we told you about Mozilla’s new Firefox Send feature. Firefox Send offers a quick, easy, and free way to send files up to 1GB in size or 2.5GB in size, if you sign up. Dropbox is now moving into this space too but is offering something a little different to the offering from Mozilla. According to the Dropbox blog post announcing Dropbox Transfer, users will be able to send up to 100GB of files at once using the new feature.

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Dropbox is looking at the limits placed on users by their email clients. Usually, you can only send files up to 25MB in size via email, which isn’t much in today’s digital-first world. Most smartphone cameras these days capture images that are bigger than 25MB and you can forget about emailing somebody a copy of that video you recorded on your last holiday.

As Dropbox is trying to solve an email related problem, the company is looking to make the process as simple as possible and in this way the new Transfer service is a little similar to Firefox Send.

As well as being able to transfer files already uploaded to Dropbox, users will be able to simply drag and drop their files onto the Dropbox Transfer uploader. Once they’ve done this their files will upload and they’ll receive a link, which they’re then free to share. Transfer will also offer the ability to send the file in an automatically generated email.

Like with Firefox Send, Dropbox Transfer also gives users the ability to add a password to their link, in case it falls into the wrong hands, and set an expiration date when the link will stop working.

There doesn’t seem to be download limit feature like users of Firefox Send will have access to but a cool Dropbox Transfer feature is the ability to change the expiration date and download password even after the link has been shared. Users will also get download notifications and will be able to see how many times their files have been downloaded.

Dropbox Transfer is currently in the beta testing stage of development, so it isn’t rolling out to all Dropbox users just yet. Once it does though, it’ll offer unique transferring capabilities to them. If you or your business are looking for a way to transfer large files, this could be something worth keeping an eye on.

Google Chrome for Android has now been downloaded over 5 billion times

Google Chrome is now one of only five apps to have been downloaded 5 billion times.

Chrome has been the biggest web browser on the planet for quite some time now. Everybody uses Google Chrome. You’re probably reading this article right now on Google Chrome either on your desktop or on your mobile phone. Chrome is available on both iPhones and Android smartphones, but it is Android where Chrome is used the most. If you head over to the Google Play Store right now, you’ll see just how popular Chrome is; it has just racked up its 5 billionth download!

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Chrome is a young, fast browser that can browse any web page. It supports all major technologies and standards such as HTML5 and Flash.

Google Chrome is now one of only five apps to have been downloaded 5 billion times

From the humble beginnings of web search Google has grown to dominate the modern tech landscape. By making its mobile operating system software, Android, open source it has put its own apps at the heart of smartphones all over the world. Of the two major mobile operating systems, iOS and Android, Android has been adapted for more headsets including the many budget option Android smartphones available around the world.

A lack of a budget option from Apple means that many consumers don’t even consider Apple when they’re looking for a new phone. When the time comes, it is a question of which Android phone they’ll get rather than a choice between an Android or iOS-powered device.

Google Chrome is a great web browser, but it is Android’s dominance that has powered its ascension to 5 billion downloads. Chrome comes pre-packaged on all Android phones that offer access to the Google Play Store. This point is backed up when you look at the other four apps that have reached 5 billion downloads; Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, and Google Search. Yep, all of them are Google apps and all of them come loaded alongside the Google Play Store.

This doesn’t mean that this isn’t a big deal though. Hitting 5 billion downloads, whether you’ve a leg up from Android or not, marks a significant milestone. There are only 7.5 billion people on the planet, so 5 billion downloads, theoretically at least, puts Chrome in the hands of two-thirds of every man, woman, and child on the planet.

Look at it this way. There are lots of other great browsers available on Android. Not least Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Brave, and Microsoft Edge. Each offer unique abilities for users with some focusing on privacy, others on speed, and Brave even offering a way to make money just by surfing the web. When you total all their downloads though, they come in way behind, stuck in the millions. Google Chrome has more Android downloads than all of them combined and still has extra zeros to spare.

This means that although there have been a few hiccups at Chrome HQ recently, and other browsers are looking to make more of a dent into Chrome’s dominance, there is still only one undisputed ruler of the web browser market. All hail Google Chrome.

Top 4 online clothing services to upgrade your style

Dazzle your friends, family, and your cute coworker with the help of these clothing services!

Clothing apps are a fascinating trend.

Long gone are the days when your style options were limited to the items in your wardrobe. Now, you can use digital programs to extend the range of your threads, as long as you’re fine with the subscription price. Be prepared: some of the top options are more than $100 a month!

Still, some people may find even that worth the price. Others may simply be interested in how these websites work out of pure curiosity (sure, it killed the cat, but we strongly argue that curiosity makes the world go round).

Top 4 clothing apps

Stitch Fix

Stitch Fix is the current leader of “online personal styling services.” As the name implies, you can expect great personalization and attention to detail!

So, how does it work?

Before anything else, you’ll run through an expansive questionnaire that asks you everything from your sizes (you may want to be prepared with an internet guide if you’re new to this) to your clothing and brand preferences. This is your “Style Profile,” and it’ll help their designers pick out options!

After this, you can choose when to receive your “Fixes.” Based on this information, the website will generate an initial shipment date.

After that, your journey begins! At the frequency you set, you’ll receive your regular fixes, which cost $20 each. You can send everything back without paying a dime (they provide free return shipping) or buy anything that stands out to you. The original $20 will even go toward that purchase, and there’s a 25% discount for buying all items!

New styles introduced at your pace, for a small fee without return shipping cost…whether you love clothes or simply have too little time for shopping, what’s not to like?

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Rent the Runway

Rent the Runway (RTR) takes a different approach, intended to put excellent but unnoticed clothing items to good use. Rather than providing new options for purchase, this program offers varying levels of clothing rentals that range from a few outfits to constant rentals in perpetuity.

(Note: whereas Stitch Fix has sections for women, men, and children, RTR focuses exclusively on women.)

If you’re looking for a one-time rental, you can visit the main page and search through an enormous list of clothing and accessories. Be warned, a one-time rental has its own set cost.

However, if you’re looking for the subscription, there are two options: Update and Unlimited, which cost $90 and $160 respectively. Updated offers a monthly change of 4 or more pieces. Unlimited adds more clothing options and allows any number of pieces on rotation whenever you wish. It’s far more expensive, but lives up to the name “Unlimited”!

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ThreadBeast

ThreadBeast caters mainly to men, with a mix of business casual and streetwear. The styles are generally comfortable, everyday looks, and are intended to be rentals. All in all, not a bad deal:

When you begin, prepare for a Style Profile questionnaire similar to Stitch Fix. Unlike theirs, however, the questions appear sequentially, rather than page after page. Also, the process runs faster and includes an option to input your Instagram link. The stylist choosing your clothes will use the your pictures to pick options!

Once that’s all finished, you’ll be ready to receive the first shipment, which generally arrives within two weeks of your first order. The styles might look something like these posts from their Facebook page:

If these styles look great to you, consider using ThreadBeast!

Armoire

Armoire combines a few aspects we’ve seen already, for a wholly unique experience you might love.

Targeted exclusively at women, the program offers unlimited clothing rentals (4 pieces at a time, adding more will increase the cost) that can be changed out at any time during the month. You can buy what you want, ship back and forth absolutely free, and exchange anything that doesn’t fit. The cost: $150 per month.

Much akin to Stitch Fix and ThreadBeast, you’ll be able to choose your style. Get ready for a friendly box-selection window that begins with your preferences, then runs through your dislikes, and finally sizes.

When you have your subscription and log your preferences, you can begin to choose whatever you wish for the first shipment. Any four items!

While this shares many similarities to Rent the Runway’s “Ultimate” subscription, the ability to log preferences and pay $10 less per month may seal the deal for some. Look into both; they’re great services!

8 best T-shirt sites for geeks like us

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Conclusion

Quick suggestion: someone should make a clothing website called Tie Fighters, exclusively for ties. Just saying.

(Make it happen, readers.)

Thanks for joining us! We hope that clothing aficionados will be interested in one or more of these websites, and casual readers will find a compelling option in something they didn’t expect.

Security Report: Google Maps has been invaded by millions of fake businesses

There could be up to 11 million falsely listed businesses operating on Google Maps right now!

Google has been pumping a lot of new features into Google Maps recently. These go beyond boosting the app’s navigation chops and show a clear new strategy from the internet giant. Features like direct messaging to businesses, highlighting favorite dishes at restaurants, and hash-tagged reviews have all helped turn Maps into an interactive business directory. It is now overlaid on accurate maps of wherever you are or will be at any given moment.

This is a clever move by Google as it makes Maps able to take users away from apps like Instagram and WhatsApp’s new WhatsApp Business app. Like all services, however, the success of this new direction for Maps will depend on trust, which means a new report by The Wall Street Journal will be worrying the big wigs down at Google HQ.

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Millions of fake businesses could be on Google Maps right now

According to the WSJ investigation, a new problem has spread across Google Maps. The report claims that false businesses are hijacking the locations and addresses of legitimate businesses on Google Maps. Worryingly, there could be up to 11 million false businesses operating on the app at any given moment.

Picture the scene.

You log onto Google Maps to look for a plumber or an electrician. You find one located near to your house and arrange for them to do the work. They then turn up, do the work unsatisfactorily, and then charge two to three times the market cost for the job.

This is exactly what has been happening. The Wall Street Journal even cited the worrying story of a woman living alone who was visited multiple times by a “repairman” demanding payment for a job he hadn’t completed satisfactorily.

Unsurprisingly, Google has been quick to respond to the report, releasing its own blog post about how it deals with these types of scams. The blog post, however, is filled with less than impressive numbers. They are claiming that last year Maps took down more than 3 million fake business profiles, with more than 90% of them removed before any users saw the profile. Most of these came from Google’s internal systems but 250,000 were reported by Maps users.

Google's claims of protection against business scams in Maps — Google has so far been unable to stop all scam businesses getting through its vetting process.

This is about a quarter of the number of fake businesses, the analysts from The WSJ found. This means there are still millions of fake business profiles active on Google Maps despite Google’s best efforts. Even worse for Google is the fact that its blog post doesn’t even address the damning claim from the WSJ that a Google commissioned an academic study. It found only 0.5% of local businesses looked at were fake was unreliable due to the extremely limited amount of data considered.

How to avoid fake businesses on Google Maps

With Google’s best efforts falling short on this one and fake businesses regularly breaking through onto Google Maps, this reminds us a lot of another Google marketplace: The Google Play Store. The Play Store has time and again been overrun with false apps loaded with malware and developed by scammers.

Look for local businesses that have other user reviews
Look for a web URL
Google the business and look for other sources of information other than the Google Maps listing
Trust your gut: if something doesn’t feel right, look elsewhere

Did Google Maps just become a messaging app?

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