Witricity - Wireless ELectricity

 

Witricity or Wireless Electricity has been envisaged many years before now but so many people have expressed fear on how safe a wireless Electricity really can be. But that fear seems to be fading has wireless Electricity is gradually becoming a reality! Have you given thought to how nice it would be to do away with those many cords in your house? please read on to get a feel of witricity - wireless Electricity.

But please be informed, this article is a bit very technical, enjoy.

 

More than a century ago, engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla proposed a global system of wireless transmission of electricity—or wireless power. But one key obstacle to realizing this ambitious vision has always been the inefficiency of transferring power over long distances.

A sample of a Witricity home in the future

Near the end of the last decade, however, a team of MIT researchers led by Professor of Physics Marin Soljacic took definitive steps toward more practical wireless charging. First, in 2007, the team wirelessly lit a 60-watt light bulb from eight feet away using two large copper coils, with similarly tuned resonant frequencies, that transferred energy from one to the other over the magnetic field. Then, in 2010, they shrunk the coils down and significantly increased the efficiency of the system, noting future applications in consumer products.
Now, this "wireless electricity" (or "WiTricity") technology—licensed through the researchers' startup, WiTricity Corp.—is coming to mobile devices, electric vehicles, and potentially a host of other applications.

Your Gadgets, Devices in the future will be powered and charged wirelessly

The aim is to forge toward a "wire-free world," says Soljacic. Primarily, this means consumers need not carry wires and power bricks. But it could also lead to benefits such as smaller batteries and less hardware—which would lower costs for manufacturers and consumers.
"It's probably a dream of any professor at MIT to help change the world for a better place," says Soljacic, a WiTricity co-founder who now serves on its board of directors. "We believe wireless charging has a potential to do that."

He is not alone. Last month, WiTricity signed a licensing agreement with Intel to integrate WiTricity technology into computing devices powered by Intel. Back in December, Toyota licensed WiTricity technology for a future line of electric cars. Several more publicized and unpublicized companies have recently joined in the licensing parade for this technology, including Thoratec for their implantable ventricular assisting devices, and TDK for wireless electric vehicle-charging systems. There's even talk of a helmet powered wirelessly via backpack, specifically for military applications.
At present, WiTricity technology charges devices at around 6 to 12 inches with roughly 95 percent efficiency—12 watts for mobile devices and up to 6.6 kilowatts for cars. But, with growing research and development, the company is increasing distance, scale, and efficiency. It's also developed repeaters: passive devices that extend the distance of the power transfer. These can be developed into a wide variety of shapes and can be embedded in a carpet to "hop" the power across a room.

 

The United State Government And Their Strange Interest On The Internet

Obama at the White House

On the same morning net neutrality demonstrators showed up at FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's house to protest a plan that could let broadband providers charge for "fast lanes" to the Internet, the demonstrators found unexpected support from the White House.
President Obama released a statement and video Monday in which he makes the same demand as the demonstrators: Reclassify the Internet — and mobile broadband — as a public utility under Title II of the Telecommunications Act.

"I believe the FCC should create a new set of rules protecting net neutrality and ensuring that neither the cable company nor the phone company will be able to act as a gatekeeper, restricting what you can do or see online," Obama said in the statement.
He goes on to make the case that reclassification is the best way to achieve the objectives of an open Internet: No throttling of some content and speeding up others, no paid prioritization — customers getting stuck in a "slow lane" because the sites they are visiting didn't pay a fee — and no blocking content.
It gets pretty thorny, but here's what you need to know: Categorizing the Internet as a utility would allow the FCC to pass a simple, blanket, easy-to-enforce rule on net neutrality for all ISPs rather than going at it piecemeal.
Big ISPs — Comcast, Verizon and Time Warner — and their trade associations and lobbyists argue that the Title II option is going to lead to suffocating regulation that would give them no incentive to invest millions in developing new technologies and maintaining or improving the current network connecting Americans to the Internet.
Proponents of net neutrality say the ISPs haven't invested as much as they could have all along. The U.S. lags behind dozens of other countries in Internet speed, ranking 42nd.
Bottom line, this is a pretty big deal. The president has long supported the principle of net neutrality, but has never before come this far in backing a specific approach to protect it. The FCC just two weeks ago floated a more "hybrid" plan, reported by The Wall Street Journal. Backers of net neutrality didn't like the reported approach because it would still allow Internet service providers to make deals with content providers for special access.
The question is, of course, whether the president's stand will make any difference to rule-makers, who act independently of the White House.

Microsoft And Your Data

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Microsoft — a company most associated with Word documents and Excel spreadsheets — is getting a makeover.
Under new leadership, the software developer is analyzing vast troves of data about its users to create social tools for the workplace. They've got the goods — just think of all those Office emails that bind us together — but the question is, will customers want to cozy up socially with Microsoft, on and off the job?

Old Data, New Strategy
"Microsoft: the social network" is, at first glance, a strange idea. But it makes a kind of sense. While Facebook may have the best map of our personal relationships, Microsoft has the best map of our work lives.
"What drives me, is for you to be able to get more out of every moment of your life," says Satya Nadella, Microsoft's new CEO. "You want to be able to create a document, get to a meeting, be productive in the meeting, have your notes taken in the meeting automatically for you."
While many companies block social media sites in the workplace, companies pay Microsoft to be on the inside, and to store internal documents, calendar items, meeting notes and attendees, contacts and more.

According to a recent quarterly earnings report, more than 1 billion people use Office — that's 1 out of every 7 people on Earth. With just a bit of Big Data analysis, Microsoft could create social tools to help users decide what and who is important to them.
"In a world of abundance of computing, the only thing scarce is human attention," Nadella says. "And our job is to be able to help you get more out of those moments of your life."
And "those moments" don't have to be just from 9 to 5 — Nadella says he wants users to get as much out of the programs in the personal lives as they do at work.
Microsoft is racing to get its web-based version of Office, which is called Office 365, on every smartphone and tablet — which they recently decided to do for free.
That way, Microsoft's personal assistant can follow you everywhere and get more personal. For example, it could integrate your GPS location with your to-do list so that when you step inside your home, you get a reminder.

Here Is A Firefox Web Browser Developer Editions

Firefox has released a Developer version of its web browser, this version will be very useful to web masters and computer software programmers. However, non ICT technical users will also find the new version of firefox very useful and interesting. 

 

Windows/OS X/Linux: Firefox has always been a great browser for development, but this week Mozilla's released Firefox Developer Edition: a browser packed with developer-friendly features like WebIDE, Valence for cross-browser debugging, responsive design view, and more.

The Firefox Developer edition features plenty of developer tools and extensions built right into the browser. WebIDE is the replacement for App Manager, and lets you build fully functioning applications from your browser or Firefox OS device. Responsive Design View lets you see your app or website as you resize it for different platforms, and Valence lets you debug for different browsers, including Chrome and Safari. Other handy tools that we're used to like Page Inspector, Web Console, and Web Audio Editor, are included as well.

From the looks of it, Firefox Developer Edition was primarily created with the mobile developer in mind, but that doesn't mean you can't create desktop applications.

You can get the version from their official website HERE.

US Weather System hacked! - Unbelievable!

Hackers attacked the U.S. weather system in October, causing a disruption in satellite feeds and several pivotal websites.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, said that four of its websites were hacked in recent weeks. To block the attackers, government officials were forced to shut down some of its services.

This explains why satellite data was mysteriously cut off in October, as well as why the National Ice Center website and others were down for more than a week. During that time, federal officials merely stated a need for "unscheduled maintenance."
Still, NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen insisted that the aftermath of the attack "did not prevent us from delivering forecasts to the public."
Little more is publicly known about the attack, which was first revealed by The Washington Post. It's unclear what damage, if any, was caused by the hack.
Related: Welcome to the Age of Hacks
But hackers managed to penetrate what's considered one of the most vital aspects of the U.S. government. The nation's military, businesses and local governments all rely on nonstop reports from the U.S. weather service.
The impact of the hack was real: Scientists at Atmospheric and Environmental Research in Lexington, Massachusetts were unable to send a preliminary report about weather patterns to traders and investors earlier this year.
"We were shut out entirely. That's our one source of data," said Rutgers climatologist David Robinson, whose global snow lab also relies on the satellite data.
The cyberattack on the U.S. weather system is only the latest one on the United States. The White House was hacked last month. Shortly before that, hackers breached USIS, a federal contractor that knows who has top security clearances for the U.S. government -- because it provides background checks.
Typically, cybersecurity experts blame Russia for hacks on the nation's infrastructure -- or sometimes China.

Obama wants the internet safe?

                                          Photo Credit: CNN

Photo Credit: CNN

For some reasons, President Obama wants the internet regulated for the benefit of the users. Well I don't agree with Mr. President on this issue please. I think there other issue like ISIS, Ebola, Russia, North Korea that need more urgent regulation not the internet. But you can read the story from the link below and tell us if you agree with Mr. President. FULL STORY

Google vs Ebola - Who do you support?

Google is offering to give $2 for every $1 donated in a new fundraiser to fight Ebola.

The goal is to raise a total of $7.5 million for nonprofits working to stop the spread of the deadly virus in West Africa.

Google launched a website Monday where anyone can contribute as little as $10 or as much as $1,000. The company will then match each dollar donated with two more.
The proceeds will be evenly distributed among four charities: Doctors Without Borders, International Rescue Committee, Partners in Health and Save the Children. Google said it will pay all transaction fees so that the full amount is donated to the charities.
Related: Ebola donations slow to materialize
In addition, Google (GOOG) plans to contribute $10 million to seven charities involved in Ebola relief.
Larry Page, one of the co-founders of the internet search engine, said his family fund will donate another $15 million.
"Our hearts go out to everyone whose lives have been touched by this tragedy," Page wrote in a blog post.
Related: Facebook launches Ebola campaign
As of last week, health officials estimate that more than 13,000 people have been infected with Ebola and 4,818 people have died from the infectious disease, primarily in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Executives in the technology industry have been among the biggest donors since the worst outbreak of Ebola started about six months ago.
Facebook (FB, Tech30) founder Mark Zuckerberg pledged in October to give $25 million, while Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) co-founder Paul Allen has committed $100 million to the cause.

Be the Judge - which do you prefer? iOS, Symbian or Android?

iOS -  Apple mobile operating system for Apple phones
Symbian OS - Operating system for all Nokia phones
Android OS- The latest Operating system the more recent phones; Samsung, Techno, HTC etc.
Blackberry OS - Operating system for blackberry devices.
Windows Mobile OS - -Operating System for Windows phone.

We have used them, tweak them and even altered them at some point, so its over to you now guys. Which of the above mentioned mobile phone operating system  would you say is the best?

And its Official - No more Nokia!

 

Microsoft bought Nokia some months ago and since then, we have seen some major changes on the Nokia brand phones like the incorporation of Android OS in the Nokia smart phones instead of the Nokia traditional Symbian OS

, Microsoft has however decided to remove the brand name Nokia from all Nokia phones henceforth. Read below and tell QHN what you personally think of the decision of Microsoft to remove the Nokia brand name.

Microsoft and Nokia have officially announced that the Finnish smartphone maker will no longer be a part of the branding for Lumia Windows Phone devices.

Tuula Rytilä, Microsoft's senior vice president of marketing for phones, shared the news via Nokia's Conversations blog (via The Verge). This means coming Lumia smartphones will be referred to as "Microsoft Lumia" rather than "Nokia Lumia."

Rytilä didn't specify exactly when we would see the first smartphone with this new branding, but she did say the company was "looking forward to revealing a Microsoft Lumia device soon."
Although Nokia's branding will no longer be present on Lumia devices, Microsoft will continue to release low-end Nokia phones.
The announcement comes several months after Microsoft's $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia's mobile division. The Verge reported earlier this week that Microsoft would axe Nokia's branding from the Lumia line. 
The move makes sense for Microsoft, because the Lumia line seems to be the most popular Windows Phone brand to date. And although Windows Phone is still far behind Android and iOS in terms of market share, Lumia sales seem to be growing.
Microsoft sold 9.3 million Lumia phones in its most recent quarter, which is a 5.6% increase from the 8.8 million Lumia handsets it sold during the same time last year, the company revealed in its Thursday earnings report.

Mark Zuckerberg Answers Questions From Around The World

Mark Zuckerberg took on the public Thursday, holding his first-ever open Q&A session.

You may not have been privileged to be there but QHN has brought to you all the questions and answers from the interview, enjoy
The Facebook CEO spent about an hour answering questions submitted from around the world, including some from Facebook users who flew to the company's California headquarters for the event.

Here's a look at some of the highlights:
Why did Facebook force its users to install the Messenger app?
Zuckerberg acknowledged that having all Facebook users install a new app "is a big ask" and "required friction."
"On mobile, each app really can focus on doing one thing well, we think," he said.
"You're probably messaging people 15, 20 times a day, and having to go into an app and wait for it to load and then go through a bunch of steps to get to your messages or send a message is a lot of friction."
How accurate was the movie The Social Network?
"I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about that movie in a while," Zuckerberg said with a laugh. "I kind of blocked that one out."
Story Credit: CNN
You can read the whole interview here

Is the FBI Mad At Google And Apple?

 

FBI Director James Comey on Thursday strongly criticized Apple and Google for hardening information stored in smartphones by encrypting data, making it inaccessible to law enforcement even with a court order.

The FBI has had conversations with both Apple and Google over the encryption features, Comey told reporters at a media session in Washington, D.C., although he personally was not involved in those talks. The talks are ongoing, with the FBI aiming to get a better understanding of the companies' points of view.