3 D Printing – The Futuristic Technology in Printing Techniques

3 D printing technology is the new and latest manufacturing technology where one can print their digital designs or models into a three dimensional solid object. First introduced in the 80s, in recent years this technology has been fast evolving into a more efficient method of production. There are different technologies and materials for 3D printing but all work on the same principle of printing where layer by layer, material is added and a solid object is printed.

How does it work? 

For 3D printing an object, its digital design or digital model is required. The digital file is transmitted to the 3D printer after it has been split into thin layers. This is the basic principle on which various 3D printing technologies work. After this, the printing technologies differ in terms of materials such as plastic, rubber, sandstone, metals to name a few and are used according to the printer type. In addition to this, more and more materials are being introduced in the market every year for 3D printing technology.

History of 3D Printing

The futuristic technology of 3D printing was first introduced 30 years ago and since then this has evolved to what it is today. 3D printing process was first invented by Chuck Hull in 1983 and he initially used liquids which were light and curable. However, he later realized this process could be expanded to other materials also which were capable of taking any shape and not just liquids. With this, Hull laid the foundation for 3D printing which is also known as Additive Manufacturing (AM) today.

Uses of 3D printing 

3D printing technology has opened avenues for many possibilities in varied fields. Initially, the use of this modern technology was limited to only the industrial sector but over the year’s 3D printing found its way into Engineering, Architecture and even in the Medical field. Designers, Engineers and Architects use this technology to create an initial model of their designs. Surgeons and highly qualified medical specialists create body parts to study them before surgeries that are complex to perform.Orthopedic surgeons 3D print bone grafts for their patients with bone injuries and deformities. Currently, researchers in this field are looking for a way to print small but vital internal body parts using organic materials that will help medical specialists to not only help patients recover from their injuries but also help them save lives.

Cost Effective

This modern and innovative technology has proven to be cost effective by cutting down on the manpower and utilized for manufacturing a product. Where large scale production is required, 3D printing helps in production on a larger scale in the same time and in a single and efficient process. Also, with this process, the product quality is consistent and uniform throughout. Additive Manufacturing process requires input at just one initial level after which the output process is completely automatic, which cuts down labor cost to almost zero.

Because of its efficiency and accuracy, it won’t be long before this technology replaces traditional methods of production as it helps produce a design in lesser time on a larger scale.

How to Remove New Tab Aid from Google Chrome

Is there a FCB New Tab installed on your browser, and do you have any idea how New Tab Aid gets in you computer? What is New Tab Aid and how New Tab Aid to be completely removed from the computer? In this post, you will find the answers for those questions. You might be unhappy and depressed about the functionality of New Tab Aid.

Actually, this type of browser extension is an adware program that is supposed to send numerous sponsored advertisements and popups to browsers. Also, Tab Aid may cause change to browser settings, including home page and search engine. If you accidentally clicked on suspicious popup news this adware could be installed. Once the New Tab Aid is installed in your browser, it generates a lot of pop ads, interrupting your work on the network. Ads by New Tab Aid can be seen everywhere. If you click on these ads, you will be redirected to these adware sites.

Because some unknown sites might be potentially cast-off programs like PickPlus and My Maps wizards, you should be highly careful. New Tab Aid can be removed immediately if the PC is protected well with a antivirus program. It is said that these adware could secretly download malicious extensions when it is running in the background. Then this malicious Tab Aid add-on is able to collect your browser stories and personal information. For money, the developer of the New Tab Aid can sell the data to unknown third parties. Please get rid of New Tab to avoid further problems.

New Tab Aid is commonly known as a "bundling" scheme, along with other programs such as free software, updates, and tools. Ordinary computer users are not aware that adware comes with these programs, and in most cases New Tab Aid is also installed during installation. Although this unwanted browser is not the only one that can get loaded into the system.

Other unsafe adware can also be bundled with the installation, which is a risk to the computer. Some people are even tempted to use it as an alternative Internet browser software. It has been marketed as a fine browser with complete security features on its core. New Tab Aid claims to block and direct the annoying ads. Quick and optimized search are another guarantee when you use this program. There are familiar and trustworthy browsers out there matching the features of the New Tab Aid so why use one unfamiliar?

In fact, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox and Edge are the most reliable programs. FCB New Tab, also known as FCB Tab, or FC Barcelona New is a browser extension usually comes along with third parties who is claimed to help you keep up-to-date news, videos, and many other related information about FC Barcelona team. In the meantime FCB New Tab will show you recommendations and suggestions while you are surfing online. Seems like New Tab Aid is a very helpful application for computer users.

However, you may find that FCB New Tab gives many problems when it is installed on your computer. First, you may find that your browser home page and the standard search engine have been changed for some one that you have never met before, and then you will agnize that your chrome new tab page has been changed to New Tab Aid without your permission.

FCB New Tab program can debased all the most remarkably used browsers such as Firefox, Google Chrome. FCB New Tab search does not offer sure search results because the search results from FCB New Tab are filled by means of advertising and links sponsors. You'll get lots of nettlesome pop-up ads and if you're looking for something that could be redirected to some other unbeknownst website that may contain malicious programs

You can remove New Tab in two ways: manually or automatically. If you are new to virus removal and have not previously treated it, however, we recommend a faster and more secure solution that will remove it automatically. This technique does not require any technical skills. When it comes to FCB New Tab removal, you just need to initiate a system scan with some reputable antivirus system, and will pay attention to the rest for you. If you encounter any difficulties with this elimination adware, do not hesitate to an expert!

Stanford Professor Uses Math to Create Hypnotic 'Neverending Bloom'

Artist Uses Golden-Ratio to Create Animated Sculptures

John Edmark has amused people the world over with his 3D printed sculptures that come to life under strobe lighting while being spun on a turntable. His range of expertise covers many things including art, photography and mathematics while he is also a design lecturer at Stanford University in California. He combined a number of his skill sets to produce the hypnotic never-ending bloom.

He calls it ‘bloom’ because it gives the illusion of a repeatedly blooming flower which is a result of complex mathematics and well-timed photography. He has used a 3D printer to model the sculpture using precise measurements and photographed the process using a camera with a very high shutter speed. The final effect is that of a hypnotic infinitely blooming movement (never-ending bloom).

Design

The design of the sculpture was inspired by naturally occurring objects that exhibit the golden ratio in their structure like flower petals, pinecones, seed heads, branches of trees, sea shells, fruits and vegetables like pineapples and artichokes and even hurricanes.

The golden ratio is formed by dividing a line into two parts so that the entire length divided by the longer part is equal to the longer part divided by the smaller part. Edmark recreates the Fibonacci series found often in nature by placing the leaves on his blooms approximately 137.5 degrees around each other. 137.5 degree is a very special angle known as the golden angle which is calculated from the golden ratio.

He starts positioning the leaves of the sculptures one by one beginning from the top of the center. But he also breaks the rules sometimes to slightly alter the positions of a few leaves which creates a dizzying distorted effect. The designer used Python in RhinoScript to code the design for the model. It was then 3D printed on a ZPrinter 450.

Movement

A turntable was built for the model to be placed on. It was then attached to a motor that powered the turntable to rotate at 550 revolutions per minute. The exact rotation speed was carefully calculated so that the turntable could be synchronized with the camera filming the movement. A camera with a fast shutter speed was placed in front of the turntable to capture videos at 24 fps.

These precise settings made sure that the video would capture each frame while a leaf turned exactly 137.5 degrees resulting in the effect of the never-ending bloom. A strobe light was fitted above the bloom which emitted a strobe at exactly the same time the camera took photographs, for an enhanced effect. The different elements put together to create this mesmerizing effect had to work in a perfect sync to produce the ultimate smooth and effortless motion.

Final Result

The final result of the never-ending bloom is completely hypnotizing almost inducing a slight vertigo. The innovative intermingling of art and mathematics could only be the brainchild of John Edmark, an artist with such dynamic prowess. His work is displayed in art galleries and museums around the globe.

FalseGuide Malware Victim Count Jumps to 2 Million

2 Million Android Users Infected By Malware, Learn How to Protect Yourself

Check Point researchers recently reported that millions have unintentionally downloaded a malware called FalseGuide hidden in over 50 apps downloaded from Google Play Store. Attacks like this have been made through Play Store before with the use of malwares like Vikinghorde and Dresscode. The botnet malware spread through the download of guide apps for games like FIFA, Pokemon Go, Subway Surfers, GTA San Andreas, Asphalt and others. The malware quickly spread and infected over 2 million android devices, compromising their internet security. Initially, a report published on 24th April had informed that the malware has affected only 600,000 users but since then Check Point has researched that the FalseGuide malware attack is far worse. FalseGuide was uploaded onto Play Store as early as November last year and has been sitting there ever since, generating more and more downloads. Find out whether you have been a victim of this attack and learn how you can boost your internet security to protect yourself from such attacks.

How does FalseGuide operate?

Hackers behind this attack developed these simple apps as guides for games are widely popular and are downloaded by people all around the world. They don’t require much maintenance and updates which makes the hacker’s job all the more easier. This is how FalseGuide malware infects your device-

• After the installation of the game guide, FalseGuide asks for device admin permission from the user. 
• If you have given it administrative permission, it cannot be deleted from the device. It can then use methods to hide its activities.
• You will then be part of a botnet without your knowledge. The hackers will control your device for adware purposes and make an income through it. 
• Then FalseGuide registered itself on a message topic of the same name on a cross-platform messaging service called Firebase Cloud Messaging. After subscribing to this topic, the attackers can send messages containing links to more malware, download and install them to your device. 
• After restarting, a background service will start running and display illegal pop-up ads so the hackers can make money. 
• Highly malicious coding has been found in these modules which can actually allow the attackers to root your device, launch a DDoS attack or infiltrate private networks.

Did the attack originate from Russia?

Check Point surmised that the malicious apps containing FalseGuide malware was submitted to Play Store by two fake developers with Russian names, Sergei Vernik and Nikolai Zalupkin. Later, they updated their post with the information that 5 more of such apps had been found and these had been developed by Anatoly Khmelenko (translated from a Russian name).

What to Do If You Are a Victim?

Google has already removed the apps from the Play Store but your device might still be infected. You must perform a factory reset on your device. If it still does not work, you must take your phone to a professional.
How to Protect Yourself from Similar Attacks

• Only download apps from trusted sources and developers. 
• Beware of installing apps that request administrative permission. 
• Keep an updated antivirus on your device.

Plastic Eating Wax Worms Could Solve Our Pollution Problem

A planet saving caterpillar with hunger for ‘plastic’ is discovered

Our planet is becoming a dumpster with the use of plastic in varied forms and the worst thing about it is that it isn’t degradable. However, researchers have found a new kind of caterpillar which possesses the capability to eat away the bio-degradable plastic shopping bags. This caterpillar was actually bred to be used as fishing bait but researchers has found this unique plastic breaking ability during their study. These caterpillars are also referred as wax form because they used by the beekeepers to lay eggs inside the hive and they live rest of their lives as parasites on the beeswax. Their unique environment friendly ability was unearthed by a researcher when he was indulged in removing the parasites from the honeycombs.

They carried out a study in the UK supermarket where about 100 worms were exposed to a plastic bag. Within 40 minutes researchers started looking a tiny holes appearing on the bag and in 12 hours they 92 gram worth reduction in the total mass of the plastic bag. It is worth noting that the degradation rate was way faster than ever before seen in the natural environment.

Is it really happening?

Science is not just about believing the things we see but also proving that it is happening in the right fashion. Scientists have done a unique testing to confirm whether the plastic is being broken down by the environment friendly caterpillar or they are simply chomping on it. Scientists have mashed up some of the worms and smeared them on the polythene bags and the results were positive. Later on they have found that the unique plastic degrading skills shown by the worms are very much related to their ability to digest the beeswax. It is found that the complete digesting process of the beeswax as well polyethylene is almost similar as it requires the breaking of the similar types of chemical bonds.

The future application of these new caterpillars

One of the lead researchers named Federica Bertocchini has clarified that the polymer used in plastic is also a kind of wax which can be called natural plastic. Wax chemical structure is not very different from the polyethylene. During the research, it was found that the caterpillar happens to secrete a unique chemical which help in breaking the chemical bond present in the plastic. Now the next job I front of the researchers is to identify the molecular processes involved in this reaction and get the hold of the enzyme which is responsible for it.

This research will certainly help us in saving our continuously degrading environment as well will be able to break the plastic waste on a large scale. It should be noted that low-density polyethylene and plastic bags takes as much as 100 years to decompose completely while the harder and tougher plastic variants can last for centuries. Very soon we will be able to lessen the burden of plastic on the nature by introducing the chemical or even the caterpillar in breaking down the plastic wastes.

Benefits Of An Arc Flash Study

 
Having an arc flash study performed on your electrical system is a big step towards keeping you and your employees safe and staying in compliance with OSHA requirements. One of the biggest reasons to have an arc study performed is to stay in compliance and not get shut down while other reasons may include following corporate policy, certifications and insurance requirements. However, the main reason should always be to keep the working environment a safe one. An arc flash study is very labor intensive and includes many steps. Each of the steps build on top of each other to create an overall picture of the electrical distribution system. There are many benefits beyond safety that an arc flash study will provide.

Data Collection

The first step for the study includes a lot of data collection. This information contains data of each electrical device in the facility for the maintenance personnel and engineers to go through. Some of the electrical devices that will be looked at include the transformers, breakers, cables and fuses. In many cases, the maintenance teams never have enough resources or time to catalog this information themselves without outside help.

Arc Flash Drawings
After all of the data is collected and reviewed, an arc flash drawing is drawn up. The drawing will be a map of the electrical system starting at the main utility transformer and will go down to all of the mechanical disconnects and branch panel boards. This drawing ensures that any current problems can be addressed quickly and any future changes can be easily updated by following the map.

Arc Flash Calculations

This is the step where all of the data collection and map drawing is put to work to calculate any hazards in each electrical device. This step is very important because two key points of information are discovered. These two points include the PPE level necessary to work on each device and the incident energy. The benefits of this also includes providing information about the minimum required amount of protection needed to work safely. It also enables workers not to have to inconvenience themselves by being overprotective. Without the data collection, workers would constantly be overestimating risk factors and sometimes underestimating the risk factors.

Coordination And Mitigation

These steps are where the safety plans are set into place. The coordination involves identifying circuits in the electrical distribution system which aren't working properly. During the mitigation analysis, hazards are identified and plans to reduce them are set. In many cases, the coordination and mitigation hazards can be corrected with just a few simple changes to the upstream breaker system. In some cases, however, new equipment is necessary to get the hazards under control. In either way, these are done to make the electrical system more efficient and safe.

Installing Labels

The last step in an arc flash study is label installation. Each electrical device is labelled with a tag that identifies its hazard level. It will also indicate the shock and arc flash boundaries which are needed in order to determine if any work can be completed while the components are energized or not. Also, it will indicate what PPE and precautions should be taken into consideration.

Most arc flash studies will include some comprehensive arc flash training at the conclusion. This is essential for all employees and maintenance teams to be fully informed and knowledgeable about the electrical systems. The training and survey should always be conducted by a competent and reliable company such as with arcflashtraining. Their training is designed not just to raise an awareness about electrical system safety, but also to show the incentives of practicing safe electrical habits.

This is Google Jump Next Generation VR Camera Rig

Yi Halo/Yi360 VT

Yi Technology the Chinese company in the last two years, had made a niche for itself through its amazing proficient GoPro competitors. Presently the Xiaomi supported Yi is attempting to grow in the world of VR together with 360-degree video having two cameras.

This was announced at the NAB conference in Las Vegas where one is said to be for professionals and is known as the Yi Halo which had been created in partnership with Google while the other happens to be a consumer spherical camera known as the Yi 360 VR. The Yi Halo a 17-camera monster with the potential of shooting stereoscopic vide in 8K resolution at 30 frames per second or 5.8K at 60 frames per second comes at a price of 16,999. It had been designed to function with Jump a high-end VR creation platform which had been launched by Google in 2015.

The basic notion of Jump is to encourage VR film-making by removal of some of the huge barriers. Google tends to offer the general blueprints for the ringed camera rig together with server space for edging all the high-resolution imagery together and thereafter getting to kick back when hardware firms as well as film makers tend to create content for filling its promising Daydream VR platform.

Yi – First In Action Camera 

Yi is said to be the second company who has built a ring for the platform and last year, GoPro released the 16-camera Odyssey. The company has been utilising a modified version of 4K action camera in making up the Halo. The Yi Halo also tends to have another camera than the Odyssey which is said to be placed above the rig for improved capture of 360-degree footage directly above the head of the viewer when seen through a VR headset.

Besides this it also tends to have a smartphone app, a touchscreen control panel with levels on the rig structure for filmmaker. Moreover it has a capability for these small though meaningful benefits over what GoPro tends to provide.

 For instance, Yi had been the first in making an action camera which tends to shoots 4K footage at 60 frames per second which professional GoPro users tend to cry for since the release of the Hero 4 cameras.

Yi 360 VR – Release in June 

The spherical camera which GoPro had announced recently is the Yi 360 priced at $399 which can capture 360-degree video at 30 frames per second in 5.7K resolution somewhat edging out the 5.2K resolution of Fusion. Yi had showed up at NAB complete with specs for its announcement while GoPro had been thin on details for the Fusion.

The Yi 360 VR utilises a couple of overlapping 220-degree lenses, two 12-megapixel Sony IMX377 sensors together with an Ambarella processing chip to close the footage collected in-camera. Besides this it also tends to stream 2.5K footage at 30 frames a second over Wi-Fi and user have an hour of battery life. The limited release of Yi 360 VR would be made available in June.

 In the meanwhile, both the cameras would come to the US before making it to its home base of Yi in China. Sean Da, Yi CEO had informed `The Verge’ that while he hopes Chinese VR viewership to boom in the forthcoming years, this is due to the majority of `high performance, high quality video creators who tend to be US or European creators’.

How Should I Protect My Windows PC from Malware and Viruses?

Bitcoin – Secured Way of Collecting Cash

Several anti-virus programs is said to be a vital element of Windows setup but Windows has been transformed and the threat scenario has been changed. Some may be more prone to threats while other may be less sensitive to them. Some may tend to take the risk while other may require protection of their important information and all this needs to be considered.

Maximum of the main AV products began when several viruses had been written by amateurs who were keen on being noticed. Presently the malware have been written by experts who are on a money making spree and are not interested in viruses which duplicate themselves, their delivery mechanisms are websites and emails.

 They are not keen on showing off but would prefer to have their malware hidden. Their interest lies in the collection of financial information together with passwords and much more though there are also some in ransomware. They are aware that they can threaten people in making payment for something of great value, such as their personal files, financial information family photos, etc. With the development of Bitcoin a secure way of collecting the cash has been implemented.

Security Against Ransomware – Offline Backup

The best security against ransomware is an offline backup of all the important data. Several of the main AV products began when Windows together with its major browsers had been uncertain which is not the same now. Bill Gates, Microsoft cofounder had launched the Trustworthy Computing Initiative in 2002 making security the uppermost priority of the company.

TCI methodologies and training had transformed the way Microsoft had designed and created software where the results had shown a dramatic reduction in infection rates in Windows PC. Windows 10 presently comprises of a huge display of security and threat mitigation technologies wherein the main threats to Windows user is from the third party programs like Oracle Java together with some Adobe software.

Besides this there has also been a great boost in the security of web browsers especially Google’s Chrome as well as Edge of Microsoft. Chrome is said to be strongly sandboxed that tends in assisting in protecting the underlying operating system from web-based threats. `Bug bounty’ program run by Google pays researchers around $100,000 for every exploitable hole they find in Chrome or Android and has paid last year, over $3 million thus making Chrome much more secure.

Safe Browsing Structures

Additional security developments are from `safe browsing’ structures that tend to blacklist websites hosting malware. Google Safe Browsing has now been part of Chrome, Firefox, Vivaldi and Apple’s Safari while on the other hand Windows 10 is said to have its own built-in SafeScreen filter.

In case of any doubt regarding a website the same can be manually checked at Google’s website. The outcome is that the users of Windows 10 are not like users of Windows XP as long as they have their software updated.

It comprises of updating browsers together with third-party software utilising a free tool like Flexera’s Personal Software Inspector – PSI, Patch My PC or Kaspersky software Updater. Anti-virus companies have begun protecting susceptible operating system together with browser code though we may have reached a stage where the weak anti-virus software tends to do more harm than good.

Problems in Back Rooms – Became Public

Last November, problems which had been debated in back rooms had become public when Justin Schuh, Google Chrome security expert had launched a tweet storm against well-known Bulgarian AV expert, Vesselin Bontchev. Schuh had tweeted that `you misunderstand your own ignorance. AV is my single biggest impediment to shipping a secure browser’.

The essence of the several complaints of Schuh was that AV programs messed the security of the other programs despite the fact that they had been written apprehensively. He had tweeted that `you ignore all security best practice, piling dodgy format parsing and other unsafe code in the kernel and expects it’s possible to make an AV that is not more harm than good, but none of you are even trying’. Robert O’Callahan, the former Firefox developer had sounded in with a positive blog post – Disable Your Antivirus Software (Except Microsoft’s).

Programmers usually don’t talk regarding these issues since they require the cooperation of the AV supplier when the AV tends to cripple or crashes the software. Users are informed to turn off their AV since they would be at fault should something corrupt should take place which leaves only one option.
 As Schuh tweeted later that `browser makers do not complain about Microsoft Defender since there is a huge amount of empirical data display which is the only well behaved AV’.For the purpose of security:

First Windows 10 with Windows Defender, the SmartScreen filter, cloud based heuristics as well as basic telemetry all of which are related to security, in turned position. With that you could possibly be secure.

Second  Windows as standard user and not as an administrator wherein running as a standard user could eliminate around 90% of threats.

Third  ensure that Windows together with all the software of the PCs are updated. Several of the malware tend to exploit security holes which have been patched already, sometimes many years ahead. For the purpose of extreme security purpose, you could run Google Chrome or a Chromium-based browser like Vivaldi.

Fourth ensure that you have good backup of all the important data. Besides this in addition to normal PC backups you could use FreeFileSync to copy main data folders to an external hard drive daily which get backed up later to a second EHD. Blu-rays are also another choice since they cannot be encrypted to ransomware.

Fifth, you could run periodic scan in ensuring that your anti-virus program has not overlooked anything. Microsoft tends to do this with its MSRT – Malicious Software Removal Tool, before the installing of main updates while Kaspersky provides a good substitute. Free online scanners are also available from several AV companies inclusive of Bitdefender, Trend Micro, ESET and F-Secure.

Sixth, one should be aware that Windows 10 offers good refresh, reset and recovery choices and if these don’t do as needed then it may wipe your hard drive and you may have to reinstall Windows 10 from the start from a DVD or a thumb drive.

Swarms of Autonomous Aerial Vehicles Test New Dogfighting Skills

Hummingbirds, dragonflies, bats, bees, cockroaches - around the world, autonomous mini robots are being worked on, which are not only to perform specific tasks but also to interact in groups as far as possible. We can go through a lot of Technology News that buds over online and also through tech magazines.

Unmanned aerial vehicle is an important addition to manned aviation. Compared to the use of robots in the industry, which carry out dangerous or monotonous activities to assist the worker, the unmanned flying pilot relieves the crew of dangerous or monotonous missions. Possible scenarios are flying in disaster areas, inspection of supply lines (overhead power lines, oil pipelines), traffic monitoring (flying between high-rise buildings) or in bad environmental conditions (fog, storm).

Missions to be undertaken by unmanned aircraft in the future are typically complex and therefore require a wide range of capabilities. For this reason basic research is necessary on several subject areas. The Unmanned Aircraft Division of the DLR Institute of Flight Systems Technology meets this complexity by carrying out research in the following fields.

Flight control and mission control solutions with highly uncertain system and environmental characteristics, Sensorfusion and environmental awareness with camera and laser as a sensor in flight control, System solutions for extremely small footprint.

The goal is the simple and safe operation of an unmanned aircraft in unknown terrain. For this purpose, necessary intervention by the pilot is to be minimized by a high degree of automation of the overall system. In addition, the department is concerned with the simultaneous operation of manned and unmanned aircraft in a common airspace, hardware and software development as well as admissions aspects.

The applications and the associated methods are focused on modern aviation and spacecraft with the different subsystems and support processes. Research on the unmanned aerial vehicle continues to include areas that are located outside the traditional aerospace themes.

Their research results have resulted in development and evaluation capabilities that make the department an attractive partner for industry, government agencies and other research institutions outside the aerospace industry. A number of experimental unmanned aerial vehicle is available to the department to carry out the research. In addition to a fleet of unmanned helicopters of different sizes, it is also possible to use automatically controlled surface aircraft and parachute load-bearing systems for research purposes.

It is already impressive when Honda's humanoid robot Asimo slowly rises up a flight of stairs. But what fascinates the viewer is probably primarily due to the endeavour to construct a being in his own image. In fact, Asimo is dumb, is controlled from a distance, and if he does not recharge the after 40 minutes, he falls asleep.

But even if creatures such as Asimo still dominate the coverage, robotic researchers have long since found new models for their designs. For a long time, they did not have to search for it: After the principle of trial and error, Mother Nature finally produced enough successful creatures. And, by the way, has three important lessons.

• Specialization is efficiency. 
•  It does not depend on the size. 
•  Intelligence is not a question of the brain volume.

Efficiency through specialization

Among other things in the world of social insects it is part of everyday life that the inhabitants of a colony share the work. Depending on the role a specimen is to fill, it often possesses an extremely deviant physique. Nor is science so far as the nature where workers and queens are born with the same genetic equipment.

In the EU-sponsored Swarmanoid project, which runs until spring 2020, more than 60 autonomous robots are to work together to fulfil different tasks. Foot bots roll on the ground and possess special sensory abilities. Hand bots can climb vertical surfaces and manipulate objects, while the camera-bearing eye bots are raised by four rotors.

The possibility to observe the world almost unrecognized from above, of course, makes the military of this world listen. And so the robotic bat, which the US Army has developed within the framework of the COM-BAT program of three US universities for tens of millions of dollars, specializes in this task: it is to look at the world in stereo, Serve as a flying hornpot, sniff out gases and detect radioactivity. The bat is about 15 centimetres long still quite large. As she sails through the air, she recharges her battery via a miniaturized wind turbine and solar cells.

Students Develop Products to Assist Disabled Veterans

Sweet news for brothers and sisters who are physically challenged living with strong will to face the world of challenges. Daily we can able to go through lots of Technology news while we take a look on Google. The students from the Detroit University and Lawrence Technological University exhibited five innovative systems for addressing the necessities of physically challenged veteran in a staging before veterans at a well renowned Medical Center in Detroit. The students of LTU take a part in this great effort were BME majors. They have started this wonderful program functioning by VA hospital patients in 2009. LTU linked up in this program as a co-worker on the assistive projects in 2014. And this great project of LTU has been overseeing by Mansoon Nasir, the assistant professor of Biomedical engineering.

The students intended the devices as capstone senior design ventures and their exertions pencilled admiration from the veterans who were their clienteles. These students are planning to make those products in profit making production.

The presentations comprised of:

·
 The Under Pressure Bed:
A novel method to treat pressure ulcers (bedsores), this gadget is a pad that comprises of eight chambers that a individual in a wheel chair sits on. The chambers expand and devalue under a controlled program, altering the position of a person recurrently, and as a consequence averting pressure ulcers. The gadget is expected to cost a Grand.
·
StretchPro: 
This excellent product which is based on an automatic jack that supports an individual by means of limited leg agility bask his/ her legs, refining the agility. The group has having some plans to make the device more innovative so they are still continued to work on the gadget, making it weightless and cheap. The retail cost is estimated to be around $200.
·
Walk & Lift: 
The real boon for a multiple sclerosis patients: This gadget was designed for a multiple sclerosis patient who is having complications in lifting their feet off the ground o'er a few inches. The cane is having a cloth and latex foot support that pops out of the nethermost on the impetus of a knob, permitting a person to fit the strap round their foot and lift their leg – for instance, into a car, or on a chaise longue. The cane is made up of carbon fibre combined and the weight of this gadget is below a pound sterling, and is expected to retail for just $150.
·
Squeaky Kleen: 
It is a handy bath for an individual who lies in a wheelchair. This gadget can be located in any place, entails of a malleable or aluminium structure as well as bath draperies, as well as having a tiny electrically powered propel to clean up the water from the end of the bath. It’s expected to cost around $600. It as well having a heat sensing shower pate to avert scorches in parts of the body an individual in a wheelchair might not be capable to sense.
·
A fine Grip: 
It is an electronic glove that can help a physically challenged individual who is having the limited hand movement to hold things. It is having the combination of a glove, actuator, and sensors as well software.

Tech United Builds New, Superfast and Really Strong Soccer Robot

The robot soccer’s world champions of 2016 has been incorporated actually robust and powerful 8 wheeled robot platform. “These powerful new platforms are going to rock the playground at the imminent Portuguese Robotics Open,” the sources said. It is the most anticipated technology news for the Robotic enthusiasts that this great robust automaton as going to first appear in the crew at the World RoboCup in Nagoya. An outstanding datum is that the undercarriage of this automaton will also be carrying out self-directed tough work in infirmaries.

This soccer robot band may have been capped world victors last year however the specialists distinguished a couple of feebleness: their chief adversaries were that bit faster and fared to shove to the side the Eindhoven automatons a little too simply. The team consequently got unruffled by the Drunen-based corporation SMF Ketels to improve an entirely new platform, that comprises of eight afore the existing three wheels. The well balanced system of eight wheels not only offer the robot loads of and rapidity, they correspondingly make it great firm and pilotable at extreme speeds.

As a matter of fact, the Football robots are an ideal learning tool to teach students various concepts of computer-assisted visual perception and automation. There are two major innovations we can find this challenge: the game is planned to play on artificial grass rather than carpet and it can be played next to large window surfaces, so that sunlight can fall directly onto the field. The artificial grass is a great challenge for the running movements of the robots. The variable lighting requires new solutions for the exposure control of the cameras and for image processing.

Other enhancements that ought to benefit Tech United to a fourth world award this year take account of the software structural design. This was set upon its dome last year to facilitate the automatons to answer back well to rivals and to the game surroundings. Crew coach Lotte de Koning said they are going to challenging it out this year particularly for the duration of the dead-ball status quo like open kicks, and formerly for the entire game. It will take a couple of years afore it has seasoned.

Over the long-gone year the automatons have turn out to be cleverer in defence and in capturing passes. Since the computer in the head of the robot is about as powerful as an average smartphone, it is a challenge to make the codes as short as possible. Despite their limited computing power, they must be efficient and can regulate the complex behaviour and the perception of the wireless and autonomous robots. The speed at which a kicker moves across the field is also programmed.

This robust 8-wheel undercarriage is the end result of the European Ropod venture, where the TU/e takes part in consort with SMF Ketels, the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and KU Leuven, amongst others. The goal of Ropod was to grow within your means, friendly automaton tumbrils that are capable to unconventionally and docilely execute passage chores in infirmaries, for example moving beds in the hospitals.

The new-fangled robust machine will be tried out for the first in this year’s primary contest, the Portuguese Robotics Open from April 26 to 30. The posse will be observing whether the robot is capable to execute unconventionally, and it would also come to be unblemished unerringly how fast the machine is. The expectation of this team is that the machine to be about four times faster than its prototype.

NASA Tests Next Generation Passenger Planes with Fat Test Dummies

NASA/FAA – Guidelines for New Airplane Crash-Worthiness

NASA in association with FAA have come together for a petrifying drop testwhich will be making way for guidelines for new airplane crash-worthiness. The scientists have strapped ten dummies of different body formsinto model of a regional jet fuselage dropping itt straight down at a speed of 30 feet per second.

 Moreover they also involved baggage in the cargo and though human would probably not withstand severe injuries in the situation, the bags got ragged right through the floor. The test had been piloted at Langley Research Centre of NASA in Virginia as part of the effort of Federal Aviation Administration – FAA, in order to consider the reliability of new planes which contains non-metallic parts.

Martin Annett, crash test engineer of NASA had informed that they were working with the FAA to update the necessities essential for the testing of next generation airframe concepts, particularly those which could comprise of composite materials. The scientist had examined what could have occurred to the structure of an airplane and the humans on board, should an accident take place. In order to do this, they released the fuselage cut-out from a height of 14 feet.

Collecting Data on Regional Jet-Sized Aircraft

Joseph Pellettiere, chief scientist and technical advisor for crash dynamics for FAA informed that they have been looking on collecting data on regional jet-sized aircraft and its performance especially metallic planes.

He further added that this way they could improve a regular baseline data which could be utilised in comparing with new and novel designs which could use changed materials. They then equipped ten dummies with transducers for testing the loads as well as strains on their bodies buckling them into conventional airplane seats.

The dummies had been designed to imitate actual travellers representing a variety of body categories. As per NASA, eight of the dummies were said to be 50th percentile males that had been exhibited after the average man in height, mass and proportion.

One is said to be a 95th percentile male and is designed to be heavier as well as taller than 95% of men while the tenth is a 5th percentile female of around five feet tall and 110 pounds. Together with the setting of the dummies with transducers, the engineers had also connected instrumentation in the model cross section of the fuselage also which enabled them to view how it held up under the effect.

Data Recorder to Measure What Occurred During Crash

Moreover they also placed baggage into the mix. Annett commented that one thing which was unusual in the test was that they had included baggage in the cargo hold which was an actual unclaimed baggage from an unclaimed baggage centre in Alabama.

They wanted to see how the luggage would interact with the subfloor separating it from the dummies. Justin Littell, test engineer of NASA also commented that they had put a data recorder in one of the bags in order to measure what occurred to it during the crash.

The engineers had dropped the cabin onto two feet in one trial. With the use of a technique known as full field photogrammetry, the camera was capable of capturing distinct deformations of the craft, created on black dots that had been painted around the tube.

Recording 500 frames per second, the camera followed each of the dots showing the changes. Though, the dummies received a `good jolt’, the researchers informed that they probably would have made it through all right.

Wi-fi on Infrared Rays of Light 100 Times Fast

Wi-fi connection is made simple with Wi-fi on Infrared rays technique. Wi-Fi network has turned out to be one of the common ways of having internet connection at home and office. Often, the wireless gadgets, used by us, consume much amount of data. As a result, the Wi-Fi system becomes congested. Slow speed of internet is a major issue, which often annoys us. We always blame our internet connection providers, whenever we face problem at any place. However, recently, some researchers of TU/e have found out an easy and effective solution. With the use of Infrared rays, they have made Wi-Fi connectivity faster at a significant level.

Thus, research process involves the use of safe Infrared rays for sending out data wirelessly within limited area. Retina of the user will have no impact due to this system. We can avoid bandwidth-related issue that we experience regularly while we link more than one device simultaneously in order to get the connection.

Faster connection for better experience-

The foremost thing, to be noted, is that the new system for Wi-fi on Infrared rays connection is really impressive. The capacity for sending data has also become increased considerably in Wi-fi on Infrared rays. Every Infrared ray has the ability to put out over forty Gigabits at every second, while the present one with the standard, 802.11ac, transfers only one gigabit/second. Thus, the rate of transmitting data will be forty times speedier in Wi-fi on Infrared rays. Moreover, as individual device has link to every ray, you will not have slow connectivity due to traffic.

Use antennae for utilizing IR light-

The head of the research team is Tom Koonen, and he has informed that their new technology is based on some simple principles. Besides, it is quite easy to install their Wi-fi on Infrared rays system, and its function for passing on signals depends on some light antennae. You may place this unit on any place, such as the ceiling of your room. Such antennae have the responsibility of supplying IR rays with the help of optical fiber.

These rays then reach each of the devices. The overall system is much affordable, and thus, the users will have no issue in utilizing it. In addition to it, you won’t require dealing with any moving accessory. There is also no need of using extra power.

The optical part of every antenna helps in distributing the rays to a specific direction based on wavelength. As everything is done with IR rays, you may not see any noticeable thing with your eyes. In fact, since Wi-fi on Infrared rays is different from traditional network of Wi-Fi, you will have no interference in connectivity.

However, Eindhoven researchers have tested the IR light just for the purpose of downloading. All the tasks of uploading are carried out with the application of conventional radio signals. It is because only limited capacity is essential to upload anything for most of cases.

According to the researchers, the new Wi-fi on Infrared rays technology will be available to all within 4 to 5 years. You need to choose new model of devices, which are compatible to this type of Wi-Fi connection.

Building Cities of the Future Now

Cities Upgraded for Future

New cities are being built around the world and the ones that have been lived in for years are being upgraded for the future. It is partially the cause of over-crowding as well as pollution and partly due to an ever-connected world that makes sense to peg entire cities up to the network.

A smarter city would mean that utilises data on traffic for easing congestion or one which focuses in linking services for provision of improved information for the citizens. For several it could be about making cities much greener as well as efficient.

Some of the technology companies like IBM and Cisco tend to see smart cities as large business opportunity though in conjunction with the schemes being advertised by technology companies seems to be more grass root project that targets to empower citizens enabling them a say in how the city would be viewed.

For several of them, Songdo in South Korea is the poster boy of the smart city and the $35bn project situated on reclaimed land towards the Yellow Sea has been generally considered to be a model for smart cities across the world when it had begun in 2005.

Information System – Universal City of U-city

Songdo’s information systems, also known as a universal city of U-city, seemed to be connected to each other. Moreover it had led critics to label it as a `city in a box’, a showcase for technology though not essentially the perfect city for people. Sensors seem to be on everything in Songdo, for instance, escalators tend to move only when someone is on them.

A telepresence system built in like a dishwasher is present in every home. Besides permitting users to control the heating system and locks, it also provides video conferencing and is designed to deliver education, government services together with health care. Offices as well as schools also tend to be linked to the network. The digital organizer behind Songdo is said to be Cisco supplying the network-based technologies that are needed.

Masdar, United Arab Emirates

Masdar which is meant as `source’ in Arabic is said to be a city which tends to stand in the centre of the desert of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and is created to be one of the most ecological on the earth. Having solar power station at its core and wind farms giving energy for the same it tends to be carbon free. Besides this, it is also a hub for clean-tech companies.

From water right up to garbage, everything in the city is said to be measured and monitored, thus being a source of information. The city is said to be constructed on raised platform enabling easy access for the `digital plumbers’ to the system of progressive technologies which seem to run it. It is also pedestrian friendly and totally car free.

The city is said to be carrying out trial with a network of electric driverless podcars. The personal rapid transit – PRT would be running 6m beneath the street level through the city. The architects’ firm of Norman Foster who had designed various striking buildings inclusive of The City Hall in London have designed the buildings in the city.

It is expected that around 40,000 people would ultimately reside in the city with around 50,000 shuttling there daily.

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil 

City mayor Eduardo Paes had commissioned IBM in creating a city-wide operation centre connecting all the 30 agencies of the city from transport to emergency facilities. This shows that the officials from all over the city could join forces in handling the movement of traffic together with the public conveyance system as well as ensure the power and the water supplies function proficiently.

Synchronized response can be taken in case of a crisis, like collapsing building. Shutting down of transport system, emergency services can be organised together with gas supplies to be cut off while citizen can be updated of substitute routes through Twitter.

The research team of IBM have developed a sophisticated weather forecasting system wherein it takes data from the river basin, land surveys, the historical rainfall logs of the municipality and radar feeds to forecast rain together with the probable flash floods.

It has also begun appraising the effect of weather occurrence on other city conditions like city traffic or power outages. Several citizen-centric apps have been laid by the centre with updates on weather and traffic.

Barcelona, Spain

Last year, Manel Sanroma, chief information officer of Barcelona city council had made a daring statement that the cities of the future could be more powerful than nation states. He had stressed at smart city conference around the world the need of having a strong mayor who would be willing to take control in drawing up blueprint for this type of a city.

Barcelona is considered to be leading and tends to have some remarkable projects which are being rolled out. It has developed well-organized bus routes, modernized rubbish collection utilising sensors as well as introduced smart street lights. The development of a city operating system bringing all systems together in one location is also organized.

 Mr Sanroma had informed BBC that contrasting to Rio no central control room will be there. Presently the biggest projects under development would be to present contactless payments all over the transportation services of the city.

 Besides this, Mr Sanroma also intends collaborating with the other cities. With this it has set up the City Protocol Society with the intention of joining up cities all over the world with businesses, universities together with the other organisations in developing standards for technology platform which would operate in any city.

London, England

Several areas of London dating back to Roman eras seems to be an apparent choice as a future city though there seems to be numerous projects that are presently being developed. On a £24m prize awarded by the Technology Strategy Board in creating a future city it had lost out to Glasgow, though it remained a testing ground for smart technologies.

London has been chosen as an incubator by IBM for testing the algorithms which could power the cities of the future and has been partnering with Imperial College and University College London on various projects, inclusive of a network of sensors in monitoring air quality, water supply and the traffic flow.

Controlling a Robot is Now as Simple as Point and Click

Robots are on the rise: They ride, fly, swim or run on two or more legs. They work in the factory, are used in war and in disaster areas. Soon they will have conquered the household: they keep the apartment clean, serve the party guests, or maintain the grandparents. Even the toy will lead a life of its own. Each and every day the field of Robotics are getting more and more advanced.

Recently, a group of tech guys in Georgia Institute of Technology has found a new interface to Controlling Robot in just a point and click. The outmoded edge for tenuously functioning robots works just well for roboticists. They use a computer to autonomously switch six degrees, whirling three simulated rings and regulating arrows to get the robot into location to snatch items or execute an exact job.

This new interface seems to be cumbrous and erroneous for the older people or the people who are technically not advanced try to govern the assistive personal robots.

It is much modest, more well-organized and doesn’t involve major training period. The manipulator just points and clicks on a thing, then selects a clench. And the rest of work is done by the Robot itself.

It is said by Sonia Chernova, Catherine M. and James E. Allchin Early-Career Assistant Professor in the school of interactive computing that as an alternative of successions of rotations, lowering and hovering arrows, amending the grasp and fathoming the exact depth of field, they have abridged the procedure in just couple of clicks.

Her college students had found that the point & click mode ensued in suggestively littler errors, permitting accomplices to achieve tasks more hurriedly and consistently than using the outmoded method.

The outmoded ring-and-arrow-system is a split screen process. The chief screen shows the robot and the scene it plays; the next one is 3-D, collaborating view where the operator regulates the cybernetic gripper and communicates with the robot precisely what to do. This process makes no use of scene info, providing operators a thoroughgoing level of control and suppleness. However this choice and the magnitude of the terminal can develop an affliction and upsurge the number of booboos.

Controlling Robot by the means of point-and-click set-up doesn’t take account of 3-D representing. It only affords the camera interpretation, ensuing in a humbler edge for the user. Later a person snaps on an area of an element, the robot’s acuity system examines the objective’s 3-D apparent geometry to regulate where the gripper ought to be placed. It’s analogous to what we ensure once we place our fingers in the accurate positions to grip something. The computer formerly proposes a limited grasps. The user agrees, placing the robot to work.

In addition it considers the geometrical shapes, with creating conventions about minor sections where the camera cannot perceive, for example the backside of a flask. To do this work, they are influencing the robot’s aptitude to do the similar thing to make it conceivable to merely communicate the robot which thing we would like to be selected.

Biased Bots: Human Prejudices Sneak into Artificial Intelligence Systems

Biased robots are here with human prejudices seeping their AI

Most of the AI experts believed that the artificial intelligence will offer objectively rational and logical thinking for the robots and systems in future. But a new study has is showing a darker path for AI wherein the machines are acting reflection so human and the AI is prejudiced with the human notions.

It has been found when the common machine learning programs are trained online with the ordinary human language then they are likely to acquire the cultural biases and this can get embedded right into the patterns of their wording. The ranges of these biases are quite erratic from the preference to certain lower to having some objectionable view about the race or gender.

Security experts has stated that it is extremely critical and necessary to address the rise of biases in the machine learning at the earliest as it can seriously impact their reasoning and decision making in future. In upcoming days we will be turning to the computers for processing a number of things ranging from the natural language translation for communication to making online text searches as well as image categorization.
Fair and just

Arvind Narayanan, an assistant professor of computer science at the Center for Information Technology (CITP) at Princeton has stated that the artificial intelligence should remain impartial to the human prejudices in order to offer better result and judgment making skills. He asserted that fairness and bias present in the machine learning has to be taken seriously as our modern will depend on it in near future.

We might soon be finding ourselves in the center of such situation wherein modern artificial intelligence system will be frontrunner is perpetuating the historical patterns of bias within the system without even us realizing it. If such events comes in the future then it will be completely socially unacceptable and we will still remain good old times rather than moving forward.

An objectionable example of bias seeping into AI

Just a few years ago in 2004, a study was conducted by Marianne Bertrand from the University of Chicago and Senhil Mullainatahan from Harward University. These economists conducted a test wherein they sent out about 5000 identical resumes to over 1300 job advertisements.

They only change the name of the applicants’ names which happened to be either the traditional European American or the African American and the results they received were astonishing. It was found that the European American candidates are 50 percent more likely to get an interview than the African American candidates. Another Princeton study has shown that the set o African American comes more unpleasant associations than the European American sets when it is run through automated system run by the artificial intelligence based systems.

Therefore it has become a necessity to distance the AI from the biases and prevent the cultural stereotypes from further perpetuation into the mathematics based instruction of the machine learning programs. It should be taken as the task of the coders to ensure that machines in future reflect the better angles of the human nature.

Metal as Fuel? These Canadian Scientists are Working to Make it Happen

Can we turn metal into fuel? Canadian scientists are just doing it.

The fuel as we known petroleum and gas will be over in next two decades and we have very little time come up with an alternative. So as per the mainstream technology news some of the Canadian scientists have found of turning the metal into fuel for vehicles in near future.

The researchers from the McGill University have been aggressively studying the combustion capabilities of the metal that also for over a decade. An experiment conducted by them last week in the space has helped in bringing a new twist to their hope of turning metal into fuel.

How this study has helped the scientists?

The technology news has affirmed that the reason behind conducting the experiment in space has the scientists in understanding the way practices react in weightlessness state. Using metal as a fuel is still a farfetched and unusual concept which seems to be an exclusive matter of science fiction but still it can be turned into reality. One of the researchers present in team named Andre Higgins has been studying and working on the concept of turning metal into fuel over two decades.

Collectively they had found that turning metal in powder can help in creating fuel which can be fed to the burner. This fuel will be highly efficient and it will help in releasing more energy and heat per litre of iron power than what is achieved today with a liter of gas.

Quite interestingly the residue in form of iron oxide can again be collected using a vacuum to act as the fuel again. Higgins proudly states this theory as the closed loop system which has higher efficiency than the bio fuel as well as the modern day fuels used in the vehicles.

Saving the planet with green fuel

Metal fuel will not be a ‘green’ fuel and the threat to the Mother Nature and global climate changes will be aggravated if we bring the metal fuel in daily usage. Technology news further shed light onto how researchers will be employing a noble way of recycling the metal fuel with closed-loop system.

These researchers have studied the metal fuels for over a decade which has helped in understanding how it can be brought into fruition for the benefit not the smaller vehicles like cars but also the large vehicles like ships and trains.

A state like Canada which has abundant of metals will certainly see the economic benefits of the shipping metal fuel to other countries. Countries suffering from acute air pollution like China will benefit from the truly closed loop system of the metal fuel.

The biggest benefit of the metal fuel is that it works in closed system wherein the materials will go around and around without causing any harm to the environment. Technology news also brought a revelation that metal fuels isn’t a new thing as NASA has already been using about 16 percent Aluminum powder for its space shuttle’s rocket boosters for quite some time.

Simple Ways to Safeguard Your Computer from Hackers and Malware

credit: online tech tips

There are hackers out there lurking around searching for unsecured computers and smartphones to hack into. If you’re not careful, you could become their next victim. Nowhere is safe, not at restaurants, hotels or even your home. However, if you take the proper precautions, you can decrease the chances of a hacker breaking into your computer. The way hackers are able to access your devices is through the internet, so this is where you need to begin setting up walls. Here’s what you can do today to improve the security of your home devices.

Install a Firewall

Most computers come with trial versions that offer firewall security, but once this expires, you’re on your own. There are two types of firewalls you can use to protect your computer – one that comes in the form of software and the other that comes in the form of hardware. Both act similarly, but are used for different reasons. When you install a firewall, you’re creating a first line of defense for your computer. This barrier stops unauthorized programs from the web, keeping them from opening up on your computer. Make sure your firewall is always on, whether you’re at home or staying at the Hilton.

Set Up Antivirus Software

Another way to boost the security of your computer is to install antivirus software. This also stops unauthorized software and codes from operating on your computer system. This includes viruses, trojans, keyloggers and other intrusive software that are designed to steal, delete and corrupt your files, or even spy on you. Antivirus software offers real-time protection from these threats.

Install Anti-Spyware Software

Spyware is everywhere and it’s used for both innocent and harmful purposes (depending on the user). The purpose of spyware is to collect data from you that is then redirected to a third party. This information can be used for advertising purposes by companies or for sinister purposes of a hacker. Like antivirus software, this can hep to protect your system from these intrusions in real time.

Always Use Complex Passwords

The passwords you create for your emails, social media, financial institutions and computer log-in should be secure and complex. No one should be able to guess it, so never use your name, birthday or those of your closest family members. This is the first thing hackers will try. As a rule of thumb, your passwords should be at least 8 letters long, contain a number, a special symbol and an uppercase letter. The more complex your password, the more difficult it will be for hackers to figure it out. Make sure you don’t share it with anyone or write it down on documents that can be stolen from your computer files.

Check Your Browser Security Settings

Make sure the browser you’re using while surfing the web is secure. Look at the security and privacy settings to see how it’s set up. Make the necessary changes to make it more secure. This is important since a lot of websites now track what you’re doing on the web (for advertising purposes).

9 Easy Things You Can Do to Stay Safe on Your Android Phone

Android mobile phone: If it falls down it goes broken, if it is stolen, all data are lost. It does not have to be. We provide you with valuable tips that make your smartphone safe. Smartphones now accompany us everywhere, know almost everything about us and organize our days. Reason enough to secure its smartphone comprehensively. We trust our smartphones that contains all our data, and often forget to take the Android Security measures if in case it gets into the wrong hands. For this reason, you should pay particular attention to good safety precautions for your smartphone.

There are cases where practically every hope is in vain. This includes a fall of the smartphone from heights or a theft by a professional. But in all other cases, you can do very much to make your smartphone safer. Just follow our tips!

Theft protection

If the smartphone is stolen or lost, then you will feel less like you have lost your wallet. Therefore, we advise all smartphone users to install and activate the anti-theft protection. Such a possibility is provided by most anti-malware solutions, which we also present in this Android user edition. If you only want to use the anti-theft protection, we recommend the application Cerberus anti-theft of the developer LSDROID. It brings a lot of possibilities and can be controlled via SMS or via a web front end.

Save important data

Connect the mobile phone to the PC, start the app and back up data. But which data is really valuable to you? Contacts, SMS messages and the photos… There are solutions for automatic backup. You secure the contacts via your GMail account. We recommend this even if you are not actively using GMail.

To save the photos, you create a Google+ account and activate the instant upload via WLAN. If you are photographing relatively little, then you must definitely activate the upload in original size. This gives you "only" 5 GB of storage space, but your photos are kept in the original (and you can later purchase additional storage, if desired). If Google+ is really only a backup, select the default size in the settings for the Instant Upload of Google+ under Store Size. This allows you to back up as many photos as you want in the Google Cloud, but with a maximum of 3 megapixels. All photos remain private and you do not need to actively use Google+ for this service.

PIN code or pattern

Even if it is cumbersome to unlock your own smartphone again and again with a PIN code, password or pattern: make the effort! This is the only way to avoid theft or loss of the data on your smartphone. To set the display lock, enter the settings and select Security -> Display lock. If you choose a pattern, avoid obvious such as Z or N and set a reciprocal motion. This prevents someone from recognizing the pattern due to streaks on the touchscreen. Also make sure that the Make visible checkbox is not set. So you see at most a wrong pattern, but never the right one.

Viewing angle protection film

The best password or the best unlocking pattern will not be useful if someone is watching you unlock the Android device. The fact that someone looks over your shoulder can prevent you in most cases, but what about side looks? Here is a viewing angle protection film, also called privacy filter. Once mounted on the display, you can practically no longer see what happens on the touchscreen from the side.

Protective covers

Admittedly, many protective covers do not look great, but most of them protect your smartphone from glass breakage when the smartphone falls from the breast to the ground. Make sure that the bumper is made of a soft material and provides an additional edge around the display so that it will get ground contact on impact, not the touch screen.

Two-way authentication

Do you use simple passwords or do you often log on to other computers on Google? Then you should use two-step verification from Google. To do so, log in to your Google Account and then set up the confirmation. In the simplest case, you will get an SMS on your mobile phone, but there is also an offline application for Android Security, which generates the necessary codes for the login. This does not make your mobile phone safer, but it will protect your Google account. The details explain our free article on the website

Protection in WLAN hotspots

Do you like surfing at McDonald's, Starbucks, or other hotspots with many unknown users? Then you should be aware that it is easy with every rooted Android smartphone and the appropriate apps to "hijack" even HTTPS encrypted connections and thus intercept login data and passwords. The App DroidSheep Guard by Andreas Koch protects you against this danger. The app notices, if someone tries to divert the network traffic over its own device and switches in such a case automatically the WLAN from. As the only app on Google Play, it performs this task reliably, free of charge and without ads.

Safe mode

You have the feeling that something is wrong with your smartphone, you may have installed a malicious app, or someone fiddled with your smartphone? Then restart it in safe mode. To do this, hold down the power button on the touch screen until a dialog box appears to select Safe Mode. Your Android device then only offers the apps to the start, which were packaged by the manufacturer on the mobile phone. So you have time to check the installed apps and delete malicious software. The mode is also an excellent way to find a good deal. If the running time is much better in safe mode, then one of the additionally installed apps must be responsible for the high battery consumption. Safe mode will automatically stop when you restart the smartphone.

Install anti-malware software

Even if there are currently no really bad apps on Google Play, there are enough dangerous apps in Google Store that you will not be able to install. To be protected against such and other malware, you should install anti-malware software. For a basic protection the free version is sufficient for most providers. For Android users, AVG AntiVirus Mobile Security PRO is available free of charge in this edition for one year.

Encrypt the storage

Since Android 4.0, there is the possibility to encrypt the complete smartphone. The file system is fragmented in such a way that it can only be re-assembled with a password or PIN code. This feature provides high data protection when the phone is switched off. In operation, the encryption is nothing to remember, all files are normally available. Since the process takes about an hour, you must first fully charge the mobile phone and leave it on the charger until the encryption is finished. You can find the setting under Security -> Phone Encrypt. Here you also define whether the mobile phone is to query the PIN code of the SIM card at startup.

Flying cars: A 1950s dream takes to the skies without the rules to stay airborne

A sports car with swivel wings that can get in the air: What acted like a year ago is now reality. The Slovakian flight car has a wonderful Technology can now be pre-ordered and is scheduled to take off in three years.

In Monaco, Aeromobil – the Flying cars company from Slovakia presented the final design of its flight car, which will cost between 1.2 and 1.5 million euros and will be delivered from 2020 onwards.

Aeromobil, the Flying car has the technology should be transformed into a plane in less than three minutes. The wings can be folded away for travel on the road. This company has an idea to build upto 500 copies of its first model. Like other competitors, the aircraft may only be launched and landed on conventional airfields or other areas explicitly released as an aircraft.

In order to drive and fly with the vehicle, the pilots must have both a driving license and a pilot license. Aeromobil deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2020, commented Stefan Vadocz- Chief communication officer. The company is already accepting pre-orders now. Until such aircrafts become the mass transport means, sometime should pass! Government is working around the world on to regulate the operation of unmanned drones and driverless cars in the future.

However, small airplanes for passenger transport are currently considered an exciting topic in the aviation and IT industry. Aeromobil is not the only company that relies on flying cars for super-richs. In addition to the Dutch company PAL-V, which has recently offered its model "Liberty" for sale, Terrafugia - the Flying cars company is also working on a similar hermetic car and plane.

The US Company was founded by five MIT graduates. For a $ 10,000 deposit, Terrafugia – the Flying cars company is already making reservations for its two-seater flight "Transition". Terrafugia is targeting first deliveries for the year 2019.

Aeromobil with 750 km range

According to this Flying cars company, the vehicle operates in a wonderful technology with standard gasoline already fulfills all necessary regulations for road and air traffic. With wings folded backwards - similar to an insect - it should also find sufficient space on every normal parking lot and thus be suitable for everyday use.

Able to take off, the wings must first be extended, which is to be done within three minutes, according to AeroMobil. Then the driver or plane needs only a meadow, on which now 8.8 meters wide flight car is accelerated to 130 hours kilometer, then ascend to the sky. There, speeds of up to 360 kilometres per hour are to be reached, on the road the maximum is about 160 kilometres per hour. The AeroMobil, driven by a hybrid engine and a propeller in the rear, could fly a distance of 750 kilometers fully, says the Flying cars company.

Aeromobil also works on a flight and vehicle for urban transport. Together with the Audi subsidiary Italdesign, Aeromobil is developing a passenger cell, which is to be flown through the city by autonomously controlled and electrically operated drones.

The Uber service has recently brought on board an expert on flying cars, which has been able to take off and land precipitously for decades on smaller vehicles. However, it does not want to produce its own flight cars, but sees itself as an "acceleration catalyst" for the newly-formed flight car industry.

In other words, its customers should first take conventional over-vehicles to a flight taxi stop in a residential area. From this "Vertiport" customer could then fly to the next stop near their workplace.

Graphene Based sieve Turns Seawater into Drinking Water

Graphene Based Sieves Makes Seawater Fit For Drinking

It is an unaltered fact that Sea Water is not fit for drinking because of the excess Sodium content in it, but science is developing at a very fast pace and in this 21st century the stalwarts of science and technology have innovated a new technique through which they can separate salt from the sea water and will make them fit for drinking. We cannot drink sea water because of the taste, simultaneously it leadsto several other health problems like high blood pressure and many more.

Our planet Earth is known as the blue planet because it has approximately 71% of water out of which only 3 % of the water is non-saline and hence fit for consuming. Due to this situation, there are people in this world who do not get optimum amount of water to drink and there are many who even die due to the scarcity of drinking water. If the researchers can reduce the percentage of unfit water by making it fit to drink, then that would be a very big gift to mankind.

A team of researchers based in UK have developed a sieve based on Graphene that can remove salt from the sea water and will make it fit for drinking. A team from the University of Manchester had confirmed a fact in 2004 that graphene consists of carbon atoms which are layered singly and are organized in a lattice in the form of a hexagone, due to which this tool is sure to provide promising results with the help of extraordinary properties, which includes unusual strength in the tensile and a high conductor of electricity that ensures this as one of the most potent material to grant assured measures in the past.

The scientists have also declared that it is quite difficult to manufacture such single layered Graphene with the existing technologies. The production cost is also very high and that needs to be supported. The deposition of chemical vapor method won’t be much feasible to support the innovation from all ends. Rather, a very onymous scientist has confirmed that oxides that are to be used in the Graphene can be produced only via a simple method of oxidation in the lab.

Though, he orated it to be simple, but the process is lengthy. This is undoubtedly a very big step to abolish the problems cropping up due to scarcity of drinking water, but the underlying measures are such that cannot be averted and for this, the technique of Graphene is still at stake. Manufacturing of single layered Graphene is not much feasible, instead we can replace it that with oxide Graphene, which will give the same result with less cost of production.

Some problematic zones have been discovered when it comes to Graphene of single layer and these uncomfort zones can be avoided if Graphene of oxide are used in its place. So, in this era using of oxides of Graphene will be much suitable to avoid unnecessary expansions.