Firefox Dumps Its Default Search Engine - Google

Firefox and Google are breaking up.

I felt like crying when I first read about the break up
Maybe it was that Google  has a competing browser, making them strange bedfellows. Or after ten years of partnership, it was time for change. Or maybe Yahoo just offered to pay more.

Yahoo is replacing Google as the default search engine for Mozilla's Firefox browser, the companies announced late Wednesday. With 10% of the market, it is the Internet's third most popular search engine, behind Google's Chrome and Microsoft's  Bing (which powers Yahoo searches).
The change is significant for Firefox users, who perform some 100 million searches in the browser every year, according to Mozilla.

Below is a picture of some of the most popular web browsers; Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Opera Mini and Microsoft Internet Explorer, tell Quantum-Networks which one you prefer and why.

Google+, Do you know how to use it?

A developer who spent three years helping create Google+ has written a brutal blog post declaring the tech giant's social network a failure.

In a lengthy, at times profane breakdown on blogging platform Medium, Chris Messina, the man credited as inventor of the hashtag, writes that Google missed a chance to make the service a one-stop home for its users' online identities and, instead, created a less-popular Facebook copycat.

"Lately, I just feel like Google+ is confused and adrift at sea," Messina wrote. "It's so far behind, how can it possibly catch up?"

The November 28 post was a follow-up to a tweet in which he had mistakenly called out a bug on Google+ that was actually caused by an external app. Even as he corrected himself, he called out Google for the network's missed opportunity.

Unbelieable Vehicles Can Run On Human Waste, so nothing is waste?

A bus running on human waste

I saw this article on CNN so I decided to share it with you guys, enjoy.

The A4 bus service from Bristol to Bath in the United Kingdom might as well be called "the number two." It runs on human poop and food waste.

The U.K.'s first "bio-bus" is powered by biomethane gas, which is generated through the treatment of sewage.

With a full tank, the bus can travel up to 186 miles, while producing up to 30% fewer emissions compared to diesel-powered buses.
The eco-friendly bus started regular service on Monday and is expected to carry around 10,000 passengers a month between the Bristol airport and the historic town of Bath.
"The bus is powered by people living in the local area, including quite possibly those on the bus itself," said Mohammed Saddiq from GENeco, the company that runs the sewage treatment facility providing the fuel.
He said one person's annual waste could power the bus for around 37 miles.
Related: In Cleveland, sheep could be key to the city's renewal
But don't worry -- smelly fumes are not a problem.
Biomethane gas is generated from sewage using bacteria that breaks down bio-waste into methane and carbon dioxide. Throughout the process, all impurities are removed to produce odor-free emissions, said Saddiq.
The bio-bus is the latest invention to demonstrate that human waste can be a valuable source of green energy.
In the U.K., human waste is already used to heat thousands of homes. Experts estimate that biomethane produced from sewage could replace around 10% of the U.K.'s domestic gas needs if the nation's waste is used at full capacity.

photo credit: CNN

The Power of Computers

The power of code

From the scythe to the steam engine, we've always used technology to control the world around us. But our ability to shape our environment has been transformed by one machine more than any other – the computer.

What makes computers so powerful is the code they run. It's incredibly flexible, controlling games one moment and spaceships the next. It came to do this thanks to individual genius, invention driven by necessity, and the power of human imagination.

 

 

1679

Binary: Leibniz invents the language of computers

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Piers Linney retraces the roots of today’s digital world back to a simple idea by Leibniz over 300 years ago – binary code.

Transcript (PDF 66k)

Humans have created codes since ancient times. But it was a German mathematician who invented the code that underpins almost all computing today.

Gottfried Leibniz created a system that didn't use our normal ten digits, 0 to 9. Instead it used just two: 0 and 1. Leibniz called his code 'binary', and imagined a mechanical calculator, in which marbles could fall through an open hole to represent one and remain at a closed hole to represent nought. This calculator was never built, but Leibniz’s idea paved the way for the whole history of computing.

1842–1843

Babbage and Lovelace: the first idea of hardware and software

Getty Images

Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician ahead of her time, describing how to program a calculating machine long before computers were developed.

British mathematician Charles Babbage took Jacquard's idea further and designed the Analytical Engine: the first general purpose calculating machine.

Babbage's idea was that punched cards would feed numbers, and instructions about what to do with those numbers, into the machine. That made the machine incredibly flexible. In 1842, fellow mathematician Ada Lovelace described exactly how punched cards could program the Analytical Engine to run a specific calculation. Although the engine was never built and so her program never ran, Lovelace is now widely credited as the world’s first computer programmer.

Project Zero - Samsung Galaxy S6

Project Zero

This is the internal codename of the Galaxy S6, the supposed next Samsung flagship. So far, Samsung has been quietly codenaming its flagships with letters from the alphabet - the S4 was Project J, the S5 -- Project K, but rather than the S6 being ‘Project L’ (which also coincides with Android 5.0 ‘L’ollipop), it decided it is time for a reset.

It’s all back to the basics. After a few prosperous and worry-free years of growth, Samsung has to go to the drawing board to re-think its ‘next big thing’, which no longer looks so big after sales tumbled and the Galaxy S5 sold slower than the S4.
And frankly, a lot of the fairy tale growth for Samsung thus far
inexcusably late with its product cycle, taking years to make an adequate, large-sized iPhone. Now that there are two of them, and a mature market with a plethora of strong offerings from China, Samsung is starting to feel the heat and this time it’s serious. Samsung mobile head JK Shin is said to be leaving, replaced by Samsung electronics head BK Yoon.

One thing is certain: the Galaxy S6 will be a vastly different smartphone, aiming to show the best of Samsung in one device.

Design: entirely new vision

Display: wave goodbye to 1080p, welcome Quad HD

Interface: an unknown direction for TouchWiz

First 64-bit Samsung flagship: Snapdragon 810 and Exynos 7420 models

Camera: Galaxy Note 4-like excellence

Storage: 32GB in the basic model

Connectivity: first with all sensors on one chip, in-house LTE modem

Samsung Galaxy S6: release date, price, and carriers

Design: entirely new vision

We’ve been criticizing Samsung a long time for its uninspiring, all-plastic, cheap-looking devices, and that chant reached a crescendo in the Galaxy S5, where the company ignored all hopes and pleas for a more refined style, and stubbornly released the S5 with the same plastic design.

With ailing financials, though, and a series of well-made, metal devices, Samsung might finally make a change.

Going back to the ‘Project Zero’ codename, it’s very likely that the reset it implies refers to the visual style of the device at most. After all, previous Galaxy S series devices were never criticized for their processors and performance power. All of this leads to one logical conclusion - Samsung is probably developing an entirely new style for the Galaxy S6.

Bomb Blast In Nigeria

Dozens are killed and many more hurt in a bomb and gun attack during Friday prayers at one of the biggest mosques in Nigeria's city of Kano

And Google Chrome Soars On Mobile Devices

At Google I/O in June, the company announced that the mobile version of the Google Chrome browser had over 300 million users. That was a huge ten-fold increase from the prior-year. Nearly six months later, Google executive Darin Fisher told those assembled at the Chrome Dev Summit, that the current number is up to 400 million mobile Chrome users. Besides the new look of Material Design, and changes that have made the browser more secure, Chrome has added some new features as well.

One change that Google made was to remove a 300ms delay that the browser employed, to see if the user was going to double-tap on the screen. By eliminating this delay, Chrome is now smoother for the user, and allows the developer to have more control over animations. Web pages also take on the color of the toolbar, and show up alongside apps in the Recent apps view added to Android 5.0.

Fisher also showed some slides, which you can see in the video below, showing that those calling for the demise of the mobile browser might be jumping the gun. He talked about improving performance, and giving more of the workload to a mobile device's GPU. That move alone, could save battery life. And he also referenced Google's new Mobile-friendly label on search results, helping users find a website that is optimized for the smaller mobile screen.

Is the Government Spying On You?

Are you concerned that the government is spying on you? A consortium of human rights activists claim a new app called Detekt will alert you if spies are watching.

Detekt works like an antivirus scan. Run it on your computer, and it tells you if the machine has been infected with malware that many government-sponsored hackers are known to use to spy on activists and journalists.

For example, the Ethiopian government has been hiring hacking mercenaries to crack down on bloggers. Ethopia has jailed journalists for critical reporting. Their surveillance is widespread: An American citizen in Silver Spring, Maryland with Ethiopian ties recently found this kind of spyware on his home computer, according to a federal lawsuit.
Ala'a Shehabi, a British economist in Bahrain, was among those targeted with FinFisher spyware during that country's lethal military crackdown on pro-democracy protests during the Arab Spring in 2012.

And the Chinese government is widely suspected of spying on its citizens' online activities.
Related: How the NSA can 'turn on' your phone remotely
Detekt is the work of Italian security researcher Claudio Guarnieri, Amnesty International, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and similar groups in England and Germany.

Android 5.0 Hidden Features

The Android 5.0 mobile OS has been released and some Android users already have it installed on their Android enabled devices, but do you know of the hidden features that came with the new OS?

please open the link below to check all the new features.

THE LINK.

Goodnews For WIndows Phone Users

Microsoft is really putting the interest of its mobile phone users into consideration, the company has come up with a major update on the Windows 8.1 mobile operation system.

Microsoft has recently updated Windows Phone 8.1 update 1 to build number 4203.306. This version

 of Microsoft's mobile OS is available to those who are signed up to receive the Windows Phone Developer Preview updates. According to a report published on Sunday, the new build will make it easier for Windows Phone 8.1 users to monitor their phone's battery life in real time, and much more.

With the new build comes an improvement to the Battery Saver tile which will become a Live Tile showing the percentage of battery life remaining until the phone goes dead. You will also be able to add Battery Saver as one of the quick action settings. In India, the highest connection speed will be listed as 4G following the update. The phone's clock will show network time by default, and problems with the Russian Time Zone have been fixed. The dialer will once again include all call details, and Windows Phone updates can be scheduled.

Earlier today, I passed along the word that the Nokia Lumia 930, Nokia Lumia 830 and the Nokia Lumia 1520 phablet will be the first three models to receive the Lumia Denim update, which includes Windows Phone 8.1 update 1. The firmware update will start getting pushed out later this month, according to the latest speculation.

Goodnews For Samsung Fans

 

According to the IDC, Samsung's market share dropped sharply in Q2 2014 to 24.9%, down from 32.2% in Q2 2013. Most analysts agree that this mostly has to do with the success of Chinese manufacturers, who, until recently, weren't really that much of a factor in the global rankings.

To counter, Samsung has already made it clear that it'll be adopting a two-pronged approach. It'll start by moving things around with its low- and mid-range line-ups by positioning them at even lower price points whilst, at the same, reducing the ridiculous number of different models available (up to 30% less), and work on keeping its premium handsets unique by incorporating tech that is either hard or impossible for competitors to mimic. If you've been keeping tabs on Samsung the last few months, you'll know that advanced display solutions are something the company has been working hard on – we've seen it first with the Galaxy Round, and now, with the Galaxy Note Edge. The next step, however, is to produce smartphones with displays that fold in half.

You read that right – according to Lee Chang-hoon, the VP of Samsung Display's business strategic team, who spoke at the Samsung Investor Forum 2014 in New York, the company "will secure production capacity of 30,000 to 40,000" foldable displays per month by the end of 2015. Chang-hoon says that the current plan is to bring a consumer-ready device with a foldable screen by next Christmas, and continue ramping up the company's production capabilities well into 2016. 

Lee also says that Samsung Display is working on lowering production costs associated with the manufacturing of AMOLED displays in order to better compete with LCD solutions which are comparatively cheaper. Apparently, the hope is for the company to reach a 50:50 ratio – or half of the panels that come off the conveyor belt should go to outside accounts.

We'll have to wait and see if Samsung's plans will work out and if the behemoth company will be able to pull out of the quicksand.