This is gradually coming to an end, this year has seen a lot of things: The ISIS insurgence, the sanctions on Russia etc and of course we all experienced a great deal of new technologies. Here is a list of the ten of the most innovative gadgets in this year - 2014. Please click the link below.
Most Wonderful Gadgets Of 2014
Source: CNN
Friday, 12 December 2014
Google Wallet Wears A Look
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| The New Look Of The App |
Previously presented across separate screens, the data has been merged into a group of pages - Active, Expired, and Featured. Thus, gift cards and loyalty programs that are available now are shown in the active tab, while the expired ones are filled in Expired.
Thursday, 11 December 2014
The Internet, Putin And the CIA
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| Digital Internet Connection |
The inventor of the World Wide Web said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was incorrect when he alleged the Internet was a project created by U.S. spies in the Central Intelligence Agency.
Putin, a former KGB spy who does not use email, has said he will not restrict Internet access for Russians, but in April he stoked concerns that the Kremlin might seek to crackdown by saying the Internet was born out of a "CIA project".
"The Internet is not a CIA creation," Tim Berners-Lee, a London-born computer scientist who invented the Web in 1989 - the year that the Berlin Wall collapsed - told Reuters when asked about Putin's CIA comment.
Berners-Lee said the Internet was invented with the help of U.S. state funding, but was spread by academics.
"It was the academic community who wired up their universities so it was put together by smart, well-meaning people who thought it was a good idea," he said.
Berners-Lee has previously scolded the United States and Britain for undermining the Internet's foundations with their surveillance program. He has also called on China to tear down the "great firewall" that limits its people's access to the Internet.
Asked about his World Wide Web Foundation's rankings of the way 86 countries approach the Internet, Berners-Lee said the Internet should be recognized as a human right and protected from commercial and political interference.
Ethiopia and Myanmar were bottom of the list while Denmark and Finland topped the rankings, which score access, freedom and openness, relevant content and social, economic and political empowerment.
Britain came fourth, the United States was sixth, Russia was ranked 35 and China 44.
In reference to the use of the Internet to spread militant Islamist propaganda, such as films showing the beheading of Western journalists in Syria, Berners-Lee said the Internet's use reflected the condition of mankind.
"Like all powerful tools, it can be used for good and evil, it can be used by good people and bad people," he said.
"When you look at the Web you see humanity connected. Humanity has got some wonderful parts and some gruesome parts. You can't design an Internet that will suddenly turn everybody into saints. What you can do is design an Internet that is open."
Relax Your USB Problem Is Solved
The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) has ticked off a small-but-significant milestone by submitting its new standards to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
As we've previously noted, the USB-IF has revealed a 10Gbps-capable USB-C connector, and also an ambition for two-way power flows at up to 100W over USB.
Work hard, you IEC inspectors! It's a rare year in which Reg readers don't want faster and more clever kit, and the new USB standards look to deliver. In spades
Things You Should Know About Bluetooth Technology
The new specification also increases the speed and reliability of data transfers between Bluetooth Smart devices and reduces both battery consumption and opportunities for transmission errors to occur. A soon-to-be ratified profile will also enable IP connectivity for Bluetooth Smart sensors.
“Bluetooth 4.2 opens up new opportunities for developers, OEMs and the industry to build a better user experience for consumers while creating use cases never before imagined,” the SIG says. “Bluetooth 4.2 introduces industry-leading privacy settings that lowers power consumption and builds upon the government-grade security features of the Bluetooth specification.
“The new privacy features put control back into the hands of the consumer by making it difficult for eavesdroppers to track a device through its Bluetooth connection without permission. For example, when shopping in a retail store with beacons, unless you’ve enabled permission for the beacon to engage with your device, you can’t be tracked.
“Bluetooth 4.2 increases the speed and reliability of data transfers between Bluetooth Smart devices. By increasing the capacity of Bluetooth Smart packets, devices transfer data up to 2.5 times faster than with previous versions. Increased data transfer speeds and packet capacity reduces the opportunity for transmission errors to occur and reduces battery consumption, resulting in a more efficient connection.”
“Building on the capabilities released earlier with Bluetooth 4.1 and the new features released in 4.2, the Internet Protocol Support Profile (IPSP) will allow Bluetooth Smart sensors to access the Internet directly via IPv6/6LoWPAN,” the SIG adds.
“IP connectivity makes it possible to use existing IP infrastructure to manage Bluetooth Smart ‘edge’ devices. This is ideal for connected home scenarios that need both personal and wide area control. This profile will be ratified by the end of the year.”
“Bluetooth 4.2 is all about continuing to make Bluetooth Smart the best solution to connect all the technology in your life — from personal sensors to your connected home,” says Mark Powell, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG. “In addition to the improvements to the specification itself, a new profile known as IPSP enables IPv6 for Bluetooth, opening entirely new doors for device connectivity.
“Bluetooth Smart is the only technology that can scale with the market, provide developers the flexibility to innovate, and be the foundation for the Internet of Things
Wednesday, 10 December 2014
Coding The Computer
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| Code Lines |
Computer coding is a very important aspect of learning computer and the US Government has made it mandatory for most schools in the United States to start teaching Computer Coding, starting early will no doubt help students not only in the US but around the world to fully understand how computers really work. Students around Australia this week are exploring the computer science that drives the apps, games and websites on their devices.
.jpg) |
| Computer Programmers |
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| Code Lines |
The Effects Of Gravity (II)
Newton's Gravity
Newton publicized his Theory of Universal Gravitation in the 1680s. It basically set forth the idea that gravity was a predictable force that acts on all matter in the universe, and is a function of both mass and distance. The theory states that each particle of matter attracts every other particle (for instance, the particles of "Earth" and the particles of "you") with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
So the farther apart the particles are, and/or the less massive the particles, the less the gravitational force.
Gravitational force = (G * m1 * m2) / (d2)
Gravitational force = (G * m1 * m2) / (d2)
where G is the gravitational constant, m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects for which you are calculating the force, and d is the distance between the centers of gravity of the two masses.
G has the value of 6.67 x 10E-8 dyne * cm2/gm2. So if you put two 1-gram objects 1 centimeter apart from one another, they will attract each other with the force of 6.67 x 10E-8 dyne. A dyne is equal to about 0.001 gram weight, meaning that if you have a dyne of force available, it can lift 0.001 grams in Earth's gravitational field. So 6.67 x 10E-8 dyne is a miniscule force.
When you deal with massive bodies like the Earth, however, which has a mass of 6E+24 kilograms (see How much does planet Earth weigh?), it adds up to a rather powerful gravitational force. That's why you're not floating around in space right now.
The force of gravity acting on an object is also that object's weight. When you step on a scale, the scale reads how much gravity is acting on your body. The formula to determine weight is [source: Kurtus]:
weight = m * g
where m is an object's mass, and g is the acceleration due to gravity. Acceleration due to gravity on Earth, is 9.8 m/s² -- it never changes, regardless of an object's mass. That's why if you were to drop a pebble, a book and a couch off a roof, they'd hit the ground at the same time.
For hundreds of years, Newton's theory of gravity pretty much stood alone in the scientific community. That changed in the early 1900s.
For System Administrator - Mac Addresses
Why You Shouldn’t Use MAC Address Filtering On Your Wi-Fi Router
MAC address filtering allows you to define a list of devices and only allow those devices on your Wi-Fi network. That’s the theory, anyway. In practice, this protection is tedious to set up and easy to breach.
The Effects Of Gravity (I)
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| Part Of The Solar System |
Every time you jump, you experience gravity. It pulls you back down to the ground. Without gravity, you'd float off into the atmosphere -- along with all of the other matter on Earth.
You see gravity at work any time you drop a book, step on a scale or toss a ball up into the air. It's such a constant presence in our lives, we seldom marvel at the mystery of it -- but even with several well-received theories out there attempting to explain why a book falls to the ground (and at the same rate as a pebble or a couch, at that), they're still just theories. The mystery of gravity's pull is pretty much intact.
So what do we know about gravity? We know that it causes any two objects in the universe to be drawn to one another. We know that gravity assisted in forming the universe, that it keeps the moon in orbit around the Earth, and that it can be harnessed for more mundane applications like gravity-powered motors or gravity-powered lamps.
As for the science behind the action, we know that Isaac Newton defined gravity as a force -- one that attracts all objects to all other objects. We know that Albert Einstein said gravity is a result of the curvature of space-time. These two theories are the most common and widely held (if somewhat incomplete) explanations of gravity.
In this article, we'll look at Newton's theory of gravity, Einstein's theory of gravity and we'll touch on a more recent view of the phenomenon as well.
Although many people had already noted that gravity exists, Newton was the first to develop a cohesive explanation for gravity, so we'll start there.
Tuesday, 9 December 2014
Canadian ISIS member calls for attacks against his country
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| Add caption |
John Maguire
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| ISIS member beheading a young man An Ottawa native-turned-extremist appeared in a video where he rebukes the Canadian government for participating in the fight against the Islamic State, while calling on Muslims to carry out attacks on Canadian soil. In the six-minute video, a young man who identifies himself as Abu Anwar al-Canadi is seen standing before the ruins of a building, with a mosque in the background. He proceeds to tell his fellow Canadians that they have “absolutely no right to live in a state of safety and security” when the Canadian government is presently “carrying out atrocities” against the adherents of the Islamic faith, he said, in comments reprinted by the National Post. READ MORE: Canada charges 15yo with terrorism offences – for robbery Attacks on Canadian soil “where it hurts you the most” should not come as a surprise to Canadians, the video states. The man in the video has been identified as John Maguire, 24, who reportedly converted to Islam before leaving his homeland sometime last year. Maguire, who reportedly left the University of Ottawa before graduation, speaks perfect English in the brief declamation. The video – like so many others before it - was picked up by the SITE Intelligence Group, a private agency co-founded by Rita Katz that tracks extremist website activity. The piece was reportedly produced by a “propaganda group” connected to Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL], although SITE does not provide the name of the group. Abu Anwar al-Canadi, one of the dozens of Canadians thought to have joined extremist groups in Iraq and Syria, called on Canadians to “follow the example” of the attackers who struck in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, in October. |
Albert Einstein's Role In World War II
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| world-war-allied-bombing |
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| Albert Einstein Einstein was an advocate of Pacifism, and so many people will be surprised to read about the role he played in the Second World War (WWII). Below is a letter Einstein wrote to the then America President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the urgent need to develop the Atomic Bomb before Germany |
Einstein's
Letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Albert
Einstein
- Old
Grove Rd.
- Nassau
Point
- Peconic,
Long Island
August
2nd, 1939
- F.D.
Roosevelt,
- President
of the United States,
- White
House
- Washington,
D.C.
Sir:
Some
recent work by E.Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in
manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a
new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of
the situation which has arisen seem to call for watchfulness and, if necessary,
quick action on the part of the Administration. I believe therefore that it is
my duty to bring to your attention the following facts and recommendations:
In the
course of the last four months it has been made probable—through the work of
Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America—that it may become
possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium, by
which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements
would be generated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be achieved
in the immediate future.
This new
phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is
conceivable—though much less certain—that extremely powerful bombs of a new
type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and
exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some
of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be
too heavy for transportation by air.
The
United States has only very poor ores of uranium in moderate quantities. There
is some good ore in Canada and the former Czechoslovakia, while the most
important source of uranium is Belgian Congo.
In view
of this situation you may think it desirable to have some permanent contact
maintained between the Administration and the group of physicists working on
chain reactions in America. One possible way of achieving this might be for you
to entrust with this task a person who has your confidence and who could
perhaps serve in an inofficial capacity. His task might comprise the following:
a) to
approach Government Departments, keep them informed of the further development,
and put forward recommendations for Government action, giving particular
attention to the problem of securing a supply of uranium ore for the United
States;
b) to
speed up the experimental work, which is at present being carried on within the
limits of the budgets of University laboratories, by providing funds, if such
funds be required, through his contacts with private persons who are willing to
make contributions for this cause, and perhaps also by obtaining the
co-operation of industrial laboratories which have the necessary equipment.
I
understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the
Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over. That she should have taken such
early action might perhaps be understood on the ground that the son of the
German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizsäcker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut
in Berlin where some of the American work on uranium is now being repeated.
Yours
very truly,
Albert
Einstein
Click the link below for more info on the Second World War
Monday, 8 December 2014
Mobile Phones, How Secured Are They?
We live in a world computers and phone are integral part of our everyday living, few us bother to
think about the safety of the devices that contains so much of their privacy, passwords, email addresses, credit cards details etc. This articles discusses how to secure your mobile phone and the information it carries.
Mobile Threat Monday is such a SecurityWatch institution that it's hard to realize it only began last spring. At first we called it "Dangerous Android Apps," and it appeared on Friday, not Monday. We realized, though, that mobile threats aren't limited to Android, so in June we opened it up to all kinds of mobile threats. Altogether we've posted over 30 Mobile Threat Monday columns covering over 60 distinct threats.
Thanks to Our Contributors
This column simply wouldn't exist without the contributions of researchers from around the world. We've posted warnings based on alerts from Symantec, McAfee, Lookout, and Kaspersky, among others. However, three major contributors have powered the vast majority of our posts.
Appthority and Bitdefender are definitely the top two. Between the two of them, they've given us more than half of the threats we've reported. F-Secure is another big contributor. Three quarters of submissions come from these, the top three. Thanks, guys!
Android, Android, Android
We did take "Android" out of the column's title, but Android absolutely dominates the field of mobile malware. BlackBerry showed up precisely once, in a warning about the Tube Map Live app, which fails to secure your personal information. This one affected Android too; no surprise there.
Fake Browser signs users up for premium SMS services. It "looks and feels like a native iOS app," but in truth it's a mobile website. It doesn't really count as an instance of iOS malware. Poor programming in the Mailbox iOS app allowed execution of arbitrary Javascript; the developers fixed that right away. Only a handful of other columns have dealt with anything but Android dangers.
More Than Malware
While we've reported on banking Trojans that steal your money and actual malicious programs that can completely take over your device, the vast majority of threats aren't as actively nasty. Mobile app developers just want to make money, and some have few scruples about just how they do it.
One almost-legitimate way to make money involves advertising. Hook your free app to an advertising network and you can expect a modest income. But some programs go too far, scraping personal information and sharing it with over-aggressive ad networks. Around 20 percent of threat's we've reported involve this sort of abuse.
A more direct way to siphon money out of the victim's pocket involved premium SMS numbers. You've probably seen them connected with charity efforts; text to such-a-number and donate $10 to the relief fund. Premium SMS is pretty well-regulated in the U.S.; not so much in other countries, including Russia and China. Trojanized apps that send premium SMS messages are more prevalent in these countries, and we've reported on quite a few.
Then there are the developers that have no bad intentions, just bad coding skills. Their errors can expose personal data including medical history, passwords, and instant messages. An app that fails to properly secure your personal information can be just as damaging as one that actively steals data.
All Together on the Chorus
So, what should you do to stay safe? You could switch to iOS, but if you're an Android user that's probably not what you want to hear. Trojanized or ill-designed apps do sometimes show up in official Android app stores, but unofficial sources are much more likely to be compromised. Stick to the safe stores, and make sure your device is set to reject installations from other sources.
Pay attention to the permissions requested when you install an app. Does that free flashlight app really need to know your location? Many Android security products will double-check permissions for you and offer advice; Editor's Choice avast! Mobile Security & Antivirus is one such, and it's free.
In the U.S. you're less likely to get hit with premium SMS charges, but keep an eye on your bill regardless; it could happen. And of course, keep reading Mobile Threat Monday and SecurityWatch to stay abreast of the latest developments.
Source:http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/mobile-security/319106-mobile-threat-monday-a-look-back
Cloud Computing; IS Your Job At Risk?
A company often resembles its communication system. In the era of cloud computing that the tech industry is moving into, that seems to suggest that companies will have smaller departments, quickly analysing data and endlessly experimenting.
That means change is on the way at the many companies that will adopt cloud computing over the next few years.
“Technology shapes styles of work,” said Ed Lazowska, who holds a chair in computer science at the University of Washington. “One critical advantage of the cloud is that sharing becomes dramatically easier.”
A corporate organisational chart from 100 years ago looks like a factory, with little workers at the base like parts, assembled by managers into units that interact with or fit into larger parts. Layers of white-collar jobs died in the “corporate re-engineering” boom 20 years ago, after email and networking replaced middle managers carrying plans among departments.
In cloud computing, computer servers are pooled through management software. Power is dialed up or down depending on the workload, and the system is continually reconfigured. To see how this changes a workplace, look at the structure of the biggest cloud companies around.
“You learn to harness feedback,” said David Campbell, the head of engineering at Microsoft Azure. Early on, this means lots of “A/B testing,” or putting up two versions of a website to quickly see which the customers prefer.
That challenges management. “Instead of having a debate informed by decades of experience around whether a customer would want A or B,” he added, “we define a testable hypothesis, which we quickly try to validate.”
Checking expectations and hypotheses in real time, Campbell said, “takes hours, instead of months and years in the legacy world.” Over the previous quarter, Azure delivered a new feature or service every three days. Amazon announced that so far in 2014, its cloud division had created 60 percent more new products than it did in all of 2013.
At Amazon Web Services, which has built the world’s biggest cloud computing business, work is divided into teams of the smallest size necessary to figure out what the customer is doing with an important product. That team then quickly adapts the product to work better and looks for new insight.
Programmers in Jail?
Need a coder? You might be able to find one in an unlikely place -- behind bars.
For the first time, inmates at San Quentin State Prison have the opportunity to learn one of the most coveted skills on the job market. A programming course called Code.7370 is teaching 18 inmates software and web development skills.
The program stems from The Last Mile, a California nonprofit that teaches prisoners technology and entrepreneurship. The goal is to reduce recidivism and give prisoners hope for a job outside prison.
Many of the inmates learning to code have taken extensive classes on entrepreneurship, building concepts for their own startups and pitching them in front of investors during a prison Demo Day.
Related: The startup staffed by ex-cons
Coding will be the next challenge. The program is competitive and intense: a select group of inmates take the class four days a week, eight hours a day for six months.
"There's no reason why we can't teach someone in San Quentin -- there's many smart people in San Quentin -- to be a very proficient coder," said Chris Redlitz, who co-founded The Last Mile with his wife, Beverly Parenti. "Why not keep those jobs in America?"
Once the coders have graduated from the course, Redlitz and Parenti plan to work with the Prison Industry Authority to get them real programming jobs that pay market rate. Like other fields that employ incarcerated people -- prison call centers, prison furniture manufacturers -- the idea would be that if you're looking for a programmer, you could hire one at San Quentin, which is located just north of San Francisco.
But inmates learning to code behind bars face a significant hurdle -- lack of Internet access. One common panacea for coding quandaries is off limits to them: Google. Instructors from Silicon Valley coding class Hack Reactor teach remotely via Google Hangout, but that is the only outside connection in the room.
"We had to come up with a curriculum and a process that we could simulate a coding environment without actually having an online experience," Redlitz said.
The inmates work in teams of two and an instructor from The Last Mile fields queries and sends them to the help desk team at Hack Reactor.
Related: 30-to-life and pitching a startup
For many, this is their first foray into modern technology.
"I'm in prison for assault. I had a 14-year, 8-month sentence," inmate Aly Tamboura told CNNMoney. "Before I came to prison ... I had a flip phone -- a Nextel... but I don't think it was very smart." Tamboura says the class is giving him a highly marketable skill, preparing him for the modern workforce.
Locked up since the pre-smartphone era, there are prisoners in the course who had never even touched a computer. For them, learning how to use a mouse and learning HTML are coming at the same time.
Motivation for taking the class is twofold: Convicts develop a skillset that could earn them real money while locked up, and could also help them find employment if they are released.
"That's my goal, to become a computer programmer behind bars, to become confident and then to take that skill to the streets ... as I look for the opportunity to start my business," inmate Larry Hinston said. "It's given me hope to continue to strive."
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