World’s Longest Running Synchrotron Light Experiment Reveals Long Term Behaviour Of Nuclear Waste Materials

Longest ongoing synchrotron light experiment in the World unveils behaviour of nuclear waste materials that are long term

University of Sheffield researchers, in collaboration with the Diamond Light Source, are the forerunners in studying and understanding gradual transformations in nuclear waste materials. Their experiment just reached a major milestone of 1000 days which makes it the world’s longest running synchrotron light experiment.

Led by Dr Claire Corkhill from the University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the research has utilised the world’s best facilities at the Diamond Light Source to study the long-term behaviour of cement materials used in nuclear waste disposal through the synchrotron experiment.

Dr Corkhill explained that these cements are used to securely lock away the radioactive elements present in nuclear waste for a time period of more than about 10,000 years, hence it is vital that the properties of these materials are accurately predicted in the future. She also added that the exclusive provision at Diamond has enabled them to follow this reaction in situ, for a period of 1000 days and the data received from this study is already helping them recognize exact phases that will securely and safely lock away radioactive elements in a time span of 1000 years’ which is something they would not have been able to determine otherwise.

Dr Corkhill also stated that she has definite plans to return to Diamond Light Source to investigate and observe the reaction of these particular phases with uranium, plutonium and technetium on a single beamline of the X-ray absorption spectroscopy.


The Director of the Immobilisation Science Laboratory and co-investigator of this particular research, Professor Neil Hyatt, said that they all are very enthusiastic to be chosen to partake in this synchrotron experiment as the first ever consumers, in this world’s best facility and capability and are grateful to the people at the Diamond Light Source, Dr Chiu Tang, Dr Sarah Day and Dr Claire Murray from I11 in particular, for all the support they provided in helping all their experiments seeing the light of day and for being the perfect curators of their samples for a period of 1000 days. He added that they were very pleased that this 1000 day milestone established firmly their long-term association between the University of Sheffield and the scientists present at the Diamond Light Source.

Dr Corkhill is, at present, keeping an eye on the alterations in eight nuclear waste cement materials by determining the high resolution diffraction patterns at Diamond Light Source on the I11-1 beamline. Diamond Light Source happens to be UK’s national synchrotron science facility which was financed as a joint venture by the UK Government with the help of the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust. Dr Corkhill’s results and findings are currently being utilised to provide support to the ongoing safety case development meant for the UK Government policy to get rid of nuclear waste in a disposal facility that is geologically deep.
Scientists at Diamond plan to construct five more beamlines for these synchrotron experiments by 2020. But for now, there are no plans to put a stop to this experiment and it will in all probability continue to break records until the materials don’t change anymore or the space is required by another space.

The Most Secure Way To Unlock Your Phone, Revealed

Unlock Devices – Shoulder Surfing Attacks
 
Researchers have warned that users should stop utilising patterns to unlock their devices. According to latest study it has been observed that it seems much easier for people to glance over your shoulder while the user unlock his phone and memorise a pattern than a passcode.

According to the researchers, the so-called `shoulder surfing attacks’ could be cool for a criminal to intend and execute, though the user can protect themselves by turning to a PIN code and on increasing its length from four digits to six. They acquired more than 1,000 volunteers to pose as attackers, challenging them to memorise a range to unlock authentications of four and six digit PINs and four-and six-length patterns with and without tracing lines, by observing a victim over their shoulder from a variety of angles.

The two handsets utilised in the study were the 5-inch Nexus 5 and 6-inch OnePlus One which according to the researchers were identical to a wide variety of displays and form factors available in the present market for Android as well as iPhone. Moreover the researchers also measured single and various views for the attacker with two different hand positions for the victim for single-handed thumb input as well as two-handed index-finger input.
 
PINs – Most Secure
 
They observed from the research that four-length patterns having visible lines had been quite easy to unlock owing to shoulder surfing than any other means to unlock authentication that was tested. Researchers from United States Naval Academy and the University of Maryland commented that they observed that PINs were the most secure to shoulder surfing attacks and though both types of pattern input were poor, patterns without lines provided greater security.

Moreover the length of the input also tends to have an impact and longer authentication seemed more secure to shoulder surging. In addition, if the attacker tends to have multiple-views of the authentication, then the performance of the attacker is greatly improved. During the experiments about 10.8% of six-digit PINs were successful to unlock after a single observation and this figure increased to 26.5% after two observations. Around 62.5% of six-length patterns having tracing lines on the other hand could unlock after a single observation which increased to 79.9% after two observations.
 
Shorter Patterns More Susceptible
 
About 35.3% of six-length patterns devoid of tracing lines could unlock after a single viewing which rose to 52.1% after two observations. The researchers stated that shorter patterns had been even more susceptible, adding that even individuals using fingerprint or face-scanning technology for the purpose to unlock their phones need to be wary of their discoveries.

They further stated that biometrics seems to be a promising advancement in mobile authentication, though they can be considers a reaauthenticator or a secondary-authentication device since individual tend to need to have a PIN or pattern which they could enter somewhat often owing to environmental impacts for instance, wet hands.

There are also instances of high false negatives rates linked with biometrics. Besides this user with biometrics tend to opt for weaker PINs in comparison to those without, signifying that the classical unlock authentication tends to be an important attack course going forward. From a separate research published earlier in the year, it was observed that most of the security device patterns can unlock within a span of five attempts.

Ask More Of Your Phone: Google Pixel 2

Google is all set to launch the next iteration of its flagship Pixel 2 smartphones this week. Tech enthusiasts and industry experts are holding the opinion that Google next offering will have enough features packed into it to win over the Apple’s iPhone 8. Here are some of the predictable features which are expected to be seen in the Pixel 2 to win over its competition and other gadgets are as follows:

Wide Angle Lens - It is worth noting that Google Pixel XL simply became world’s best camera on a smartphone last year. However it didn’t had the wide angle lens that time around, so it is being expected that Google will opt for some good wide-angle lens for its Pixel 2 devices. Secondly Pixel devices didn’t even have the ISO and shutter speed control which were sorely missed by the users.
Headphone jack – It is highly expected Google will finally give in the way just like Apple and it will get rid of lovely 3.5 mm headphone jack in order to make its device more slim. Almost every major flagship device is following the single-port ethos nowadays wherein users had make use of adapters in order to charge and listen to music on the go. Bluetooth headphones are the option but nobody likes them as much as manufacturers like them.

BoomSound – Just a few weeks ago Google acquired a massive part of HTC which has been critical in the development of the Google devices in the past. It is expected that new Pixel 2 devices will feature the BoomSound which has been developed by HTC and happens to offer incredible audio output from the external speakers. In simple words Pixel 2 devices will offer simply the best speaker audio rendition through the use of BoomSound technology in the upcoming Pixel 2 smartphones.

No Limit on GDrive Storage – Google won over the smartphone customers by offering one of a kind ‘Unlimited’ GDrive storage for pictures and videos on the Pixel devices. When most of the OEM and cloud storage providers are happily charging certain amount for extra cloud storage Google has simply done away with it. Better phones simply translate larger audio and video files which ultimately require larger storage. Some experts believe that Google will take everyone by surprise this year as well by offering unlimited GDrive storage to the Pixel 2 and Chromebook owners.

A flexible device – Google has taunted the users with its secretive next generation of the flexible technology. It is will suspected that Google might well go ahead and bring a flexible Pixel 2 device to the world. This would make 2017 best year in the smartphone innovation after years of stagnant development.

All of these features are merely speculation fueled by the recent development made by its rival and most importantly Apple’s iPhone 8. If Google Pixel 2 devices of 2017 do come with these features and or something better than these then it will surely give Apple’s iPhone 8 and other gadgets run for its money.

Biological Clock Discoveries by 3 Americans Earn Nobel Prize

The discoverers of the 'internal clock' of the body, Nobel Medicine 2017

The winners are Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young

US scientists Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young today won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Medicine, "for their discoveries of the molecular mechanisms that control the circadian rhythm," according to the jury of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, responsible for the award. The prize is endowed with nine million Swedish crowns, about 940,000 euros.

Thanks in part to his work, today it is known that living beings carry in their cells an internal clock, synchronized with the 24-hour turns of the planet Earth. Many biological phenomena, such as sleep, occur rhythmically around the same time of day, thanks to this inner clock. Its existence was suggested centuries ago. In 1729, the French astronomer Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan observed the case of mimosas, plants whose leaves open during the day into the sunlight and close at dusk. The researchers discovered that this cycle was repeated even in a dark room, suggesting the existence of an internal mechanism.

In 1971, Seymour Benzer and his student Ronald Konopka of the California Institute of Technology took a momentous leap in research. They caught vinegar flies and induced mutations in their offspring with chemicals. Some of these new flies had alterations in their normal 24-hour cycle. In some, it was shorter and in others, it was longer, but in all of them, these perturbations were associated with mutations in a single gene. The discovery could have earned the Nobel, but Benzer died in 2007, at age 86, for a stroke. And Konopka died in 2015, at age 68, of a heart attack.

The Nobel, finally, was taken to Hall (New York, 1945), Rosbash (Kansas City, 1944) and Young (Miami, 1949). The three used more flies in 1984 to isolate that gene, baptized "period" and associated to the control of the normal biological rhythm. Subsequently, they revealed that this gene and others self-regulate through their own products - different proteins - generating oscillations of about 24 hours. It was "a change of paradigm", in the words of the Argentine neuroscientist Carlos Ibáñez, of the Karolinska Institute. Each cell had a self-regulating internal clock.

The scientific community has since established the importance of this mechanism in human health. This inner clock is involved in the regulation of sleep, in hormone release, in eating behavior and even in blood pressure and body temperature. If, as occurs in people working in shifts at night, the pace of life does not follow this internal script, can increase the risk of suffering different diseases, such as cancer and some neurodegenerative disorders, says Ibanez. The syndrome of fast time zone change, better known as jet lag, is a clear sign of the importance of this internal clock and its mismatches.

The Karolinska researcher sets an example with a 24-hour cycle, in which the internal clock anticipates and adapts the body's physiology to the different phases of the day. If the day begins with deep sleep and a low body temperature, the release of cortisol at dawn increases blood sugar. The body prepares its energies to face the day. When night falls, with a peak blood pressure, melatonin, a hormone linked to sleep, is secreted.

These inner rhythms are known as circadian by the Latin words circa, around, and dies, day. The scientific community now knows that these "around the clock" molecular dashes emerged very soon in living things and were preserved throughout its evolution. They exist in both single-cell life forms and in multicellular organisms such as fungi, plants, animals, and humans.

At the time of its discovery, Hall and Rosbash were working at Brandeis University in Waltham, and Young was researching at Rockefeller University in New York. Its recognition follows the tonic of the Swedish awards. Men have won 97% of Nobel prizes in science since 1901. In the category of Medicine, statistics improve slightly: 12 of the 214 women are awarded the prize: 5.6%.

Pixel 2, Home Mini and Pixelbook What You Need to Know

At an event on October 4, the Silicon Valley firm is all set to expose its latest gadgets comprising of latest phone. However before the event can take place, a consumer publication has got itself a series of images which displays the majority of what Google would probably launch. The following are what can be expected from the Google event together with its fresh line-up of gadgets:

Google makes hardware

Together with its search ability and drives in AI, Google is said to have moved firmly in the hardware area in the last few years. Moving away from its Nexus phone brand and trying to reinvest its attempts under the moniker of Made by

Google, the company has now released various high end gadgets. These comprises of its Pixel and Pixel XL phones, a mobile virtual reality headset known as Daydream, together with a Google Wi-Fi box and its amazon Echo voice assistant competitor, Google Home. Many have been expecting to see new repetitions of these devices at the forthcoming event of the company.

What’s the event holding?

The company had called another press conference; precisely a year after Google had released the Pixel, its first own-name branded phone. This would most probably see the overview of its latest hardware attempts though no one could be completely sure till it shows up. The event is said to take place at 9 AM PT in San Francisco and there would also be a press event that would take place at the same time in the UK. This would kick-off at 5PM and would also be live-streamed online

What would the latest phones look like?

Owing to the outburst of leaks the latest being from DroidLife, it is a known fact that the upcoming gadgets, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL Android devices would have a same form factor to their predecessors. From the leaked images of the two phones, it displays a single camera on the rear, a fingerprint scanner together with colours ranging from light blue to white and black combo. DroidLife reported that the Pixel XL 2 a bigger screened version of the phone would have 64GB or 128GB storage and the price is from $849 to $949. The smaller gadgets Pixel is said to have the identical storage choice and is priced at $649 and $749. With regards to specs, the reported details are scarce on the ground presently. The Verge had reported that the XL would be having a 6-inch OLED screen, a Snapdragon 835 process with the potential of controlling the phone by squeezing it which had been introduced in the HTC U11. The company had spoken a lot about the Google Lens, a feature enabling a phone camera to comprehend what it tends to see, at the developers conference earlier in the year. It is also expected that the Pixel 2 XL would be having a much less of a bezel than the smaller product devices.

Google Home – Mushroom-Like Speaker

Google seems to be established in introducing smaller gadgets version of the Google Home if one is into voice assistants. Details of the Home Mini was made available by source, which is a mushroom-like speaker that tends to sit in one’s home , pay attention and chat with you. Similarly, Amazon provides a low-priced Echo Dot which tends to rival with Google. The price of the Home Mine is said to be around $49, with shades of silver, orange and dark grey featuring the Google Assistant. The company had mentioned that it is an AI company instead of a search giant and it would not be surprising for Google to disclose more update regarding its Assistant. The company desires its voice assistant to be implanted in several third-party gadgets as imaginable. It has reported that VR viewer DayDream of Google would be provided with an update and would be offered in various colours. Further details with regards to the interior of the device is not clear though it would remain to be a mobile VR viewer housing a phone and it would come at a price of $99.

Chromebook Pixel - PixelBook

According to some sources as informed to Android Police the re-born Chromebook Pixel gadgets will show up soon. A Pixel Chromebook would be launched according to Android Police had been confirmed in the latest series of report. The device has been dubbed the PixelBook and is said that the same would comprise of 128GB, 256GB and 512GB of storage and priced at £1,119. The original Chromebook Pixel had been released by Google in 2013 and had been revitalized in 2015 and has not launched a newer version since then. For several years, third-party vendors like HP and Acer have been proposing some cool Chromebooks. At this point of time not much is revealed. Android Police wonders that it could be born out of the Project Bison of the company that had been planned to be presented during the third quarter this year. We need to wait and watch for the forthcoming event of October 4 for the surprises in store by Google.

Amazon Revamps Echo Smart Speaker Family

Echo Smart Speaker – Improved Sound & Voice Recognition

 
New forms of its Echo smart speaker with the possibility of improved sound and voice recognition has been announced by Amazon. Moreover, the simple model also enables in changing its shell and provides it with different looks which is a feature offered already by the opponent Home gadget of Google. A bigger Echo Plus enhanced by a `home hub’ enables it in controlling smart light bulbs together with third party products minus a separate data-linking gadget.

 The Echo Spot tends to have a screen which makes the video calls as wells camera feed promising. Sales figures for the earlier Echo line-up had not been released by Amazon, however researchers have recommended it. Its smaller sibling, the Echo Dot has been the best-selling device.

The Echo family is said to account for around 75% of the US market with regards to internet-linked speakers together with built-in smart assistant functionality that has been estimated earlier this month by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. Till date it has been suggested that around 15 million devices have been sold. The latest Echo smart speaker is said to be smaller than its predecessor and has the advantage from a keen bass tweeter.
 

Six Swappable Shells/Various Materials

 
The Echo smart speaker comes with the option of six swappable shells with various materials and gadget is priced at £90/$100/100 euros which it around 40% cheaper than the earlier version and challenging the £129 Google Home gadget. The Echo Plus compatible with the Zigbee smart home protocol is priced at £140/$150/150 euros while the Echo Spot having a screen size of 2.5-inch together with a built-in camera is priced at $130.

The same will be launched in December in the US though has not provided a release date elsewhere. Blake Kozak from the HIS Technology consultancy had commented that Amazon has been the first agent in this market and hence had the benefit over some of those who had entered the same space. He further added that it was incredibly important for them to do a refresh, wherein the original Echo came out in 2014 and the hardware had not been updated ever since, though the software as well as the back-end services had been enhanced incessantly.

Most of the latest systems tend to feature Alexa assistant of Amazon and would not be seen as a risk. Thereafter several more premium systems had been announced with higher quality speakers and hence Amazon needed to be seen to contest the competition. This brought in the Echo smart speaker in the market.
 

Competing Schemes

 
Earlier, Amazon had mentioned that it tends to sell its Echo smart speaker approximately for the price it cost in producing the gadget and since its final objective is to utilise Alexa as a means of driving sales of the other goods and services. However, earlier this month, at the Berlin’s Ifa tech show, many big name manufactures comprising of Sony JBL and Panasonic had launched systems powered by the rival Assistant of Google. Additional competing schemes that are anticipated before the end of the year comprise of-

• Siri powered HomePod speaker system of Apple
• Invoke of Harmon/Kardon that will utilise Cortana technology of Microsoft
• Novel speaker from Sonos which would be supporting multiple smart assistants
• The likelihood of a new version of the Google Home when search firm tends to host an event on 4 October.

 

Link to Landline – Speakers into Speakerphones

 
Besides the Echo smart speaker, Amazon has also made an announcement of the gadget, Echo Buttons – small Bluetooth based buzzers, at its Seattle event which could be utilised for playing games on its speakers, inclusive of an upcoming version of Trivial Pursuit. Moreover it has also publicized the Echo Connect which is a gadget that tends to link to a landline turning its speakers into speakerphones. It has also announced an arrangement of bringing Alexa to some of the BMW’S cars inclusive of its Mini brand.

Geoff Blaber from the tech consultancy CCS Insight had stated that Amazon tends to have the momentum in the smart speaker and voice assistant area. This announcement had been developed to deepen its role in daily lives and this tends to raise the bar considerably for Apple and Google.

Amazon seems to be functioning exceptionally hard in exploiting on the success of its smart assistant hardware and that he is concerned this new line-up seems to be complex and the most knowledgeable consumers would be perplexed as to what feature they would be expecting for their money. The option is said to be immense with Echo, Echo Plus, Dot, Look, Spot, Fire TV, Fire TV Stick together with the Dash Wand. With the Echo smart speaker, Amazon has the opportunity to do for home automation what Apple had done for smartphones.

It was essential for the company to announce a smartphone which would be an enhanced gadget than the upcoming iPhone X and now a home assistant set-up which is tougher than what had been portrayed by Amazon

TU Delft Researcher Makes Alcohol Out Of Thin Air

Method of Producing Alcohol from Thin Air

Ming Ma, a TU Delft PhD student of Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, haslocated a method of producing alcohol from thin air.. He has found out a way of efficiently and accurately controlling the process of electro-reduction of CO2 in producing a wide range of useful products comprising of alcohol.

 With the possibility of utilising CO2as a means of resource in this manner could be just essential in dealing with climate change. His PhD defence took place on September 14th. For the purpose of modifying atmospheric CO2 concentration, carbon capture together with utilization CCU can be a practicable alternative strategy to carbon capture and sequestrations –CCS.

The electrochemical reduction of CO2 to fuels together with value-added chemicals has drawn significant attention as a capable solution. In this course of development, the captured CO2 is utilised as a means of resource and transformed to carbon monoxide – CO, methane – CH4, ethylene and also liquid products like formic acid –HCOOH, methanol – CH3OH and ethanol C2 H5OH. The great energy density hydrocarbons tend to be utilised directly and conveniently as fuels in the existing energy infrastructure.

Feedstock in Fischer-Tropsch

Besides the production of CO2 seems to be interesting as it could be utilised as feedstock in the process of Fischer-Tropsch, which is a strong technology used extensively in industry in the conversion of syngas CO and hydrogen H2 into useful chemicals like methanol and synthetic fuels like diesel fuel.

Ming Ma, in his PhD theory, while working in the group of Dr Wilson A. Smith had defined that the processes that seemed to occur at the nanoscale when various metals were utilised in the electro-reduction of CO2. For instance, while utilising copper nanowires in the electro-reduction procedure would lead to production of hydrocarbons though nanoporous silver could develop CO.

Moreover, as per the discovery of Ma, the process could be quite accurately regulated by altering the lengths of the nanowires as well as the potential of the electrical. On modifying these conditions one is capable of generating any carbon based production or alternatively combinations in any desired ratio, thereby producing the resources for the three follow up processes mentioned above. On utilising metal alloys in the procedure, would lead to more stimulating results.

Formic Acid – Favourable usage in Fuel Cells

Though platinum tends to produce hydrogen on its own, and gold tends to generate CO, an alloy of these two metals tend to unexpectedly produce formic acid – HCOOH, in relatedly huge quantities where formic acid is said to have the possibilities of a very favourable usage in fuel cells. After this, the next step for the team at the Smith Lab for solar Energy Conversion and Storage at TU Delft is to look for means of enhancing the selectivity of individual products as well to start the designing of scaling up the procedure.

Smith had received an ERC Starting Grant to work on that to improve the understanding of the complicated reaction mechanism to obtain an improved control of the CO2electro catalytic process. The other task in the lab is directed on solar driven splitting of water wherein the simple solution tends to make hydrogen production from solar water splitting more efficient and cheaper. With cheap efficient and stable photo electrode would help in improving water splitting with solar energy.

New Machine Learning Algorithms of Google and MIT Retouch Your Photos Before You Take Them

New machine learning algorithms by Google and MIT retouch your photos before being captured

It is getting tougher and tougher, as time goes by, to extract more and better performance out of your phone’s camera hardware. That is the reason why companies like Google are adopting the method of computational photography: using machine learning algorithm to improvise the output. The most recent exploration from the search giant, conducted along with scientists from MIT, progresses this work to a new level, creating machine learning algorithm that are able to retouch your pictures just like a professional photographer in reality, prior to capturing them.

The researchers utilised machine learning algorithm to build their software, instructing neural networks on a dataset of 5,000 images that are produced by Adobe and MIT. Every image in this compilation has been worked upon and improved by five various photographers and Google and MIT’s algorithms made use of this data to understand what kind of improvements are to be made to different photos. This might involve increasing the brightness at certain places, reducing the saturation elsewhere and so on.

Machine learning algorithm has been used before to improve photos, but the real progress with this particular research is concision of the algorithm so that they are compact and resourceful enough to efficiently and seamlessly run on any user’s device. The software itself if as big as a single digital image and as a blog post from MIT describes, it could be very well capable to “development images in a assortment of styles.”

This proves that in order to train the neural networks, new sets of images can be used and could also be able to replicate a particular photographer’s specific look. In similar way, companies like Facebook and Prisma have produced artistic filters that imitate the style of famous painters. Although smartphones and cameras are already processing the imaging data in real time, these recent techniques are more subtle and spontaneous and rather than applying general settings to the whole of the individual image.

For slimming down the machine learning algorithm, the researchers utilised a few varied techniques. These consisted of converting the changes made to every photo into formulae and using co-ordinates that are grid-like to map the pictures out. All of this means that the data about how the photos can be retouched can be mathematically expressed, instead of full-scale photos.

Google researcher Jon Barron told MIT that this technology has the probability to be very valuable for real-time image enrichment on a mobile phone. He added that utilising this machine learning algorithm for computational photography has an interesting outlook but it is retrained because of the severe constraints in computation and power of mobile phones. This paper may offer a way to avoid these hindrances and create new, interesting, real-time photographic memories without getting the battery drained or giving a slow viewfinder experience.

It’s not unlikely that this machine learning algorithm will be seen in one of Google’s future Pixel phones. Earlier, the company used its HDR+ algorithms to show more detail in terms of light and shadow on mobile phones right since the time the Nexus 6. And Google’s computational photography lead, Marc Levoy, told The Verge last year that they are “only just begun to scratch the surface” with their work.

How to Create Seamless SEO on Your New Business Blog

It's not easy to make a website that is search engine optimized and also has a great looking design. Many site owners tend to make compromises to the design of their site since getting traffic is more important in the big picture. The truth is that you can do both. You can create a seamless look for your site or blog while still optimizing it for the search engines. Here are some great tips for accomplishing this.

Use CSS to Manipulate Your Text

Trying to use SEO tags like the header tags can really hurt the look of your site. The h1 and h2 tags will display a text size that will make your headers and subheads look misplaced. Fortunately, this can be resolved with the use of CSS. By defining the font, style, size, color and other elements in your CSS file for your header tags, your text will use the settings of the CSS file. This can be done for other parts of your page like your sidebars, navigation menu and footers.

Plan Out the Structure Before You Build Your Site

It's important that you group together related pages under the right categories to create themes for your site. That helps the search engines determine what your pages are about. Unfortunately, many people make a website without planning out its structure. Start by using the Google Keyword Planner to research keywords you're going to be targeting for a few days. Then, think about what kind of content that you're going to create around those keywords and establish categories for these pages. Not going through this process can make it difficult to organize your site later on.

Put Effort into Designing Your Content

Designing your content is a concept that most people are not familiar with. There are many things that you can do to enhance the look of search engine optimized content. Start by using stylish web fonts to add a unique look to your content. Text created through graphic design usually looks better than standard text. But using a web font from a database like Google Fonts can really amp up the look of regular text. Then you want to create a visual hierarchy for your content so that it's easy to follow while still being SEO friendly. Add visual cues, engaging formatting, supplementary images and varying text to keep the user engaged.

Use the Related and Popular Post Widgets

When you create a new page of content, you want it to be indexed in the search engines as soon as possible. This can take some time if your pages are buried deep in your website. To get past this issue, you can simply use plugins to set up content widgets. These widgets can display related and popular posts throughout your site, allowing the search engine spiders to find all your pages. You will also want to use breadcrumb links to link your pages together. These links have an added bonus of being user friendly as well.

Put Emphasis on Mobile Friendly Design

Being mobile friendly is important to ranking well in Google. The easiest way to seamlessly make your site or blog mobile friendly is to use responsive design. There are many themes and templates that are responsive, so it's easy to get up and running. However, there are many little things that you'll need to do like rearranging your navigation menu, compressing image and making web buttons easy to click on small screens. These things may not necessarily affect search engine rankings but it affects whether or not the user stays on your site.

Optimize for Faster Site Loading Times

Did you know that the loading speed of your site is a ranking factor? While you may want to use high quality images and large multimedia files, you want to keep it to a minimum and leave it to users to decide if they want to load up these large files. There are many things that you can do from optimizing image sizes, enabling site compression, setting up a cloud network, to using browser caching. There are also tricks you can use like loading certain elements of your website first. Fast loading speeds also enhances the user experience which is an important part of web design.

Use the Right Plugins to Assess Your On-page Optimization

It can be difficult to ensure that your pages has the proper on-page optimization in place. There are many plugins that can make your job easier. Yoast SEO is the most recognized plugin. It will look at everything including your title, image alt tags, header tags and keyword density. It also lets you control your robots.txt file, create sitemaps, optimize your RSS feed for your blog, integrate social share buttons, and more. There are also plugins that will help you create content easier and integrate related keywords so that your content can perform better in the search engines.

See How the Search Engines View Your Site

At the end of the day, you may be satisfied with how your website or blog looks to your visitors. But are you aware of how the search engines view your site? You can use Browseo to see if your website is thin on content, presents the wrong elements first or is riddled with errors. For example, many site owners find that their top navigation menu or footer is read first by the search engines. In this case, they'd have to go back to change up their CSS and make sure their main content is being read first by the search engines.

As you can see, creating a great looking site that seamlessly is search engine optimized is not complex. The fundamentals really come down to site speed, proper CSS usage, planned site structure and a mobile friendly site. At the same time, you may need the help of an experienced designer that knows how to design for SEO when you're creating the CSS files. The thing to take away here is that you don't have to make big compromises to the look of your site to make it search engine friendly.

How You Can Use Google Search to Find eBooks Available at Your Local Library

Google Search is now becoming an e-book reader’s paradise by allowing them to find e-books from their local library.

One of the most common problems for the average book worm is titles are not easily available and waiting periods are long. This problem is compounded since people have limited budgets.

With the new Google search feature, book lovers are finding it easier to get books online. This Google search feature has now become a book lover’s paradise for its patrons.

Google said on Monday, 18th September 2017, that they have added a new feature on their website. When looking for a title, the name of the library closest to you comes up in the search results and you can borrow it in e-book form.

Many libraries across the US are now allowing book lovers to borrow books from their online collection. When you are looking out for a book through Google, you will get the name of the libraries near you, which carry that e-book as well as the outlets where you can buy it.

How Google search Works

The libraries that have the e-books will pop open in Google, known as “Knowledge Graph” cards. There is also a section that appears in the search results, that gives you info on searched-for books, such as description of the book, the author’s name, Good Reads ratings, and options for purchasing an e-book.
The e-book reader will get an option to borrow books from a list of libraries shown by Google with the e-book title under a section header, ”Borrow e-book”

The next time you search for a book title, you can see if the e-book is available to borrow from your library nearest to you.

You do not need to go through the humdrum of searching for books through an archaic library, since now Google will do the needful on your behalf.

It should save Google users the trouble of searching the digital collections at all the public libraries in the vicinity for a specific e-book title. When you click on the library’s link in the Google Search, the page on that library’s website with the e-book shows up.

The new feature is available on both the mobile and desktop to the users in the US.

On your mobile, search for the book you are interested in and click the “Get Book’ tab that appears on the top of the right hand side, just under the books info. You will be able to see where you can buy the e-book and below that, which libraries have it available.

On the desktop, the purchasing and library info appears on the right hand side of the screen. You get the library info on scrolling down. Once you click the library, you will have to type in your membership details to log in and get the book.

For those who make use of their library’s e-books, it is nice that Google will keep an eye out for you. E-book rentals are an excellent way to save cash if you are an avid reader. It can also be light on one’s pocket for those who set aside a budget to satisfy their reading habit.

Now that you can easily access your library’s catalog from Google Search, go ahead and read to your heart’s content.

Google is upgrading their features, making it easy for their users and patrons. This e-book feature is definitely making it convenient for their users and saving them a lot of time by saving a trip to their local library.

This Google Search feature is currently in the US and they will be rolling it out all over, in the near future.

3D Muscle that could Lift 1,000 times its own weight

Scientists are one step closer to humanoid robots. They have come up with an artificial 3D Muscle that can lift 1000 times its own weight.

The device in 3D Muscle is also known as an actuator can push, pull, bend, twist and even lift weights. This new device will not require a high power outage or even a separate compressor as did previous models.

Scientists are saying that this 3D Muscle is the closest they’ve ever come to a functioning human muscle.

The main goal of such a project is to combine artificial intelligence to control this 3d developed muscle. The 3D Muscle is said to have a range of applications especially in the medicine sector such as surgeries.

The way the 3D Muscle is developed will allow it to perform in high stress and high strain without being high in density. This study was achieved by lead author Aslan Miriyev.

The material derived is easy to make, made with environmentally safe materials and also has a low cost of development. The material developed by scientists combines the elastic properties and volume change attributes of other material systems.

After the desired shape is 3D printed, the muscle is made to expand, contract and rotate using a resistive wire and a low power consumption.

This 3D muscle was then tested in various settings and in each of these settings it was able to demonstrate significant expansion and contraction abilities.

In this testing environment, the 3D muscle was able to expand to up to 900% when heated at 80 degrees.
Via the use of a computer this 3D muscle is able to perform any tasks in almost any setting.

Up and until now no material was capable of replicating the functioning of a human soft muscle. None of the previously discovered materials was capable of showing the desired properties of high strain and stress.

Professor Hod Lipson said that the 3D printed material was capable of showing much promise especially in areas of high human interaction such as manufacturing and healthcare. He continued to say that till date the all materials made were extremely rigid. This limited their applicability. Today with the newly discovered 3D printable material, these soft robots can perform normal functioning such as grasping, manipulating objects, performing delicate tasks and picking up objects. The mobility that such a material affords makes it adept in performing all these tasks.

Scientists have made great strides in developing robot minds but robot bodies have remained altogether primitive. With these newly achieved 3D made muscles, scientists are now making great strides in the right direction. This new actuator can now be shaped in different ways depending on the setting it is to be used and its applicability.

This 3D printed muscle is the closest scientists have come to replicating human muscle. The material is now being used with different materials such as conductive materials are used in place of wire, which is said to increase the artificial muscle’s shelf life and response time.

Dr Aslan further stated that in time these muscles used in combination with artificial intelligence would be a milestone in replicating natural motion.

The 3D printed muscle showed great promise when weighing in merely 13 grams it was able to lift a 1 kg object in the testing environment.

Researchers are now aimed at using artificial intelligence in controlling the muscle, they say this would be the last milestone in achieving natural motion.

With this breakthrough technology, mechanical engineers at Columbia University have said that this 3d muscle will be even stronger than human muscle.

HyperLoop: Futuristic Hyperloop Hitting 200mph

Hyperloop Concept – Innovative Transport

A footage displaying an innovative travel concept that is rolled in altering Britain has been released to the public. Elon Musk, entrepreneur, funding the so-called Hyperloop project tweeted out a video from a test pod that travelled at 200mph on social media. Musk who had in 2013 been the first in coming up with the Hyperloop concept defined the innovative transport as a cross between a Concorde, a railgun and an air hockey table.

 The pods are said to be driven by magnets or air expelled through the vessels while the tubes would be suspended off the ground for the sake of protection from weather conditions as well as earthquake. Supporters of the projects have advised the Government to abandon HS2 and build the Hyperloop that could revolutionise London-focused economy of Britain.

The Hyperloop is said to complete the 163-mile journey from Manchester to London in around 18 minutes. Though Musk had been behind the initial concept, he is not included in the two companies competing to make his dream a reality. Hyperloop One known earlier as Hyperloop Technologies had in May 2016, completed the first public test of the propulsion system.

 

Futuristic Transport System; The Hyperloop

 
This had come up two months after the opposing start-up Hyperloop Transportation Technologies had got hold of a deal with the Slovakian government in discovering building system in central European country. The President of the think tank Policy North, David Harrison had stated that `Hyperloop could make jobs in London accessible to people living hundreds of miles away, challenging the north-south divide and also create a more balanced spread of wealth all over the country’.

He further added that workers would not need to move to London in order to access the best-paying opportunities, only to have the advantage of those positions wiped out by the soaring cost of living there. Likewise, businesses could locate to the north of England where there seems plenty of space there’. After Dubai had announced a deal with Hyperloop in November last year with a vision of bringing it to the Persian Gulf, the futuristic transport system could be going to the other areas of the world too.
 

Hyperloop – Vacuum Tube Technology

 
The space-age system which is developed by business magnate Elon Musk has been termed as the `fifth mode of transport’. The vision of travelling from London to Edinburgh has now been enhanced after Hyperloop One effectively verified a passenger pod travelling at 192 mph.

Visualized by SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk, Hyperloop is said to be the vacuum tube technology which could modernize transportation. Currently the US-based Hyperloop One firm has directed its first pod rocketing along a 500-metre test track in the Nevada desert. The company ultimately intends to hit speeds of more than 700mph, capable of transporting passengers from LA to San Francisco in about 30 minutes or London to Edinburgh in 50 minutes.

The team were capable of restraining air resistance and shoot the soaring pod alongside a magnetised track on developing a vacuum. Made of structural aluminium as well as being lightweight carbon fibre, the pod is said to measure 28 feet long. The pod would be transporting passengers as well as cargo inside the tube utilising electromagnetic force together with magnetic floating.

Integrated quantum Optical Circuits Soon a Reality

Scientists are on the Verge of Enabling Chip with Quantum Optical Circuit for Information Processing

A group of researchers working on the quantum nano photonics has come up with a method which would result in the development of new age quantum optical circuit. Our world of technology is going through a breakneck pace of advancement which is happening almost every given second across the varied fields. One such field is filled with quantum computers and networks which are designed to work in a way better than our conventional computers and networks.

Our traditional computing devices and networks works by encoding information in binary bits while the quantum computing makes use of quantum bits which can contain two vales at the same time. Quam Computers thus have the ability to process a larger amount of information with lesser number of calculation steps. This functionality makes them a huge potential for the creating energy efficient computation along with sensing and securing the communication in near future.

Developing Quantum Optical Circuit

 

In order to develop quantum computers researchers will have to get a working circuit to power it. So far researchers have failed to create an effective integrated quantum circuits but it has been finally done by the KTH researchers. This team made use of the novel nano-manipulation technique in order to transfer the selected single photon emitters right into the nanowire present on a silicon chip. This process was utilized to carefully build a highly integrated optical circuit which has the ability to filter single photons as well as multiplex them. This quantum optical circuit makes use of multiple quantum dots in order to generate light in varied colours thereby encoding different information on the same chip.

Developing a fully functional quantum optical circuit it was a challenge to build all of its components deterministically. In other words each and every component of this unique circuit is simply designed and optimized a single specific task. Researchers had to work in a tiresome fashion with no room of error at all in order to get right set of characteristics embedded in its exact location on the circuit.

Achievement And Future Application Of Quantum Optical Circuit

This team of researchers has been able to get achievement associated with their name for years to come. Their work has also resulted in the creation of a hybrid approach which helps in combining two very different semiconductor technologies. Essentially they had combined III-IV technology using their nanowire-based emitters with the silicon technology to create an integrated quantum optical circuit. As stated earlier no one has been able match this feat before using a hybrid integration utilizing just the nanowires.

This intricate process had made them  successful at generating and adding filtered single photons right on the silicon chipset without making use of any external components. Their great invention and complete breakdown of the methods and results will be published shortly in a popular scientific journal named Nature Communications. This also paves the way for the scientists to develop effective quantum circuits in future for specific purposes.

iPhone X: The Way Forward for Apple

Apple as a company has seen tough times in its history. Without exception though, its tough times have inevitably coincided with the departure of the locomotive in the Apple machinery: Steve Jobs. Jobs was ousted from the company he founded with Steve Wozniak twice. Both times, the company floundered and the man was invited back. Unfortunately, Steve Jobs isn’t coming back any more. So, what does the future hold for the company he built? A long history behind iPhone X

Apple recently launched the iPhone X to much consternation online. Some people lauded it as a bold step forward as we have come to expect from Apple. Gadget review sites expressed concern about how effective the new design might actually be. Whether the gadget lives up to mark remains to be seen since the gadget has not yet been launched. However, what we can say definitively is that the collective business process at Apple has undergone a sea change. The company launched two iPhones: the iPhone 8 which is the replacement for last year’s iPhone 7 and the iPhone X. What made the decision even more bizarre is the fact that the iPhone X costs just shy of USD 1000. It is the most expensive iPhone ever released.

So, what gives? What is the purpose, the raison d’etre for the iPhone X? Is it really the step that Apple is going to take going ahead? Or will it be a one-off creation intended for people who think phones are good replacements for trophies? Whatever will become of the iPhone 9? Will there even be an iPhone 9 next year?
The answers to these questions are not with us. As with all things Apple, the gadget was meant to be the bombshell that would leave everyone dumbstruck. Instead what we do have is a debate about whether Apple the company is undergoing an existential crisis.

The iPhone X is not revolutionary in any way. Its technical specifications are not a significant departure from Apple’s other gadgets. Its storage space on offer is in line with iPhones from the past. From the outside, the gadget seems to have only a few defining features: the top notch that houses an array of sensors and is border by screen on its two ends and the lack of a physical home key / button. No home button means that the gadget does without a fingerprint sensor or TouchID. Instead, Apple is touting FaceID, a kind of facial recognition system that will remain exclusive to the gadget. However, people have already expressed significant concern about the efficacy of FaceID and the remarkable drop in security it presents.

Whether the iPhone X succeeds in the market is anyone’s guess. Apple’s gadgets have a history of defying expectations since its customers are not ordinary customers. They are governed mostly buy passion and not logic. And for the most part Steve Job’s Apple did a great job of meeting the expectations of such demanding customers. But now that the miracle maker has left us for a better place, what will happen to his beloved company remains to be seen.

Bluetooth Problem Could Let Hackers Take Control of Your Devices

Blueborne, the incredible Bluetooth Issue allows hacking Android phones

More than 5 billion vulnerable Bluetooth devices, including mobile phones, laptops or IoT devices

Perhaps at the worst of times to announce a security problem like this (with the iPhone X presentation monopolizing the day), security researchers have uncovered eight major Bluetooth Issues as vulnerabilities. Three of them are especially dangerous. They would allow attacking devices like Android phones without needing to connect to them.

The Bluetooth Issue, which has been given the name BlueBorne, affect virtually every device in the world with Bluetooth, about 5.3 billion devices with vulnerabilities. Among them are laptops, connected products at home, mobile phones of all kinds with Android, iOS or Windows.

According to Armis Security, this Bluetooth Issue is considered a scenario where an attacker can intercept Android mobile information without having to connect to the computer or pair. That is, as long as the mobile has Bluetooth active, it would be in danger.

The intermediary attack, also known as Man in the Middle, does not require you to access a website or download an application or attachment from your email. The Bluetooth issue called as BlueBorne is in the libraries that integrate for the Bluetooth chip to work.

In the worst case, a hacker could access the computer, take control and execute code with bad intentions. That if, it is necessary that the attacker is really close to the victim, since Bluetooth has about 10 meters of range of action.

At home this Bluetooth Issue, the BlueBorne will not generate many problems, details of these vulnerabilities have not been made public and proximity is required. At the corporate level or even for institutions, it is not known whether anyone has used BlueBorne. In an example rather taken from a series, but plausible, a person with confidential information on his mobile could be in a cafeteria and a hacker could access his files with being close to this person.

For Android phones, Armis has published a free application that tells you if you are affected. This does not mean that they can hack your phone, but your smartphone needs an update as soon as possible.

Google will send a patch on its monthly security updates for Android 6.0 Marshmallow and Android 7.0 Nougat. Microsoft few days ago sent a security update for Windows, specifically Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10. Meanwhile, Apple fixed this vulnerability in one of its latest iOS 10 updates, but all computers with iOS 9.3.5 or lower, Apple TV 7.2.2 or lower are affected.

Another perfect example of an even bigger problem with an unknown dimension. All connected products that begin to expand through our homes and that have Bluetooth Issue, are mostly unprotected. Also mobile phones that never receive updates. As long as manufacturers do not send security updates regularly and install them, even the smallest of these products is at the mercy of a large-scale attack, although this in particular requires being very close.

Engineers Developing Methods to Construct Blood Vessels Using 3D Printing Technology

From time to time new and interesting news about 3D printing technology in the field of health arise. In the near future, this technology will allow fabrics to be created on demand to repair any organ affected by an illness. There are a lot of medical advances commencing day to day and 3D printing technology is one among them which is really an astonishing factor in the field of medical science.

However, in spite of the promising of these and other advances, to date, it has only been possible to create fine tissues of living cells in the laboratory using 3D printing technology. When we tried to create tissues with a thickness greater than several layers of cells, those in the intermediate layers died from lack of oxygen and the impossibility of eliminating their residues.

They did not have a network of blood vessels to transmit oxygen and nutrients to each cell. Therefore the challenge was served because if a network of blood vessels were artificially created for this purpose using 3D printing technology, larger and more complex cell tissues could be developed.

To solve this problem, the team led by Professor Changxue Xu of Industrial, Manufacturing and system engineering and with his colleague Edward. E. Whitacre Junior college of Engineering has used a 3D printing technology specially adapted for this purpose with three different types of bio-inks. The first head extrudes a biotin of the extracellular compound, the biological material that binds the cells in the tissue. The second extrude a type of biotin which contains extracellular tissue and living cells.

An alternative to more complex installations

The creation of model blood vessels to aid in the study of diseases, such as strokes, can be complicated and costly in addition to consuming a lot of time. And the results can not always be truly representative of a human vessel. Changxue Xu's research has designed a new method to create models of veins and arteries using 3D printing technology that is more efficient, less expensive and more accurate. Changxue Xu and his team have created vascular channels using 3D printing technology.

An important advance is the ability to establish multiple layers of cells in the channels. Normally, when these microfluidic vascular chips are made, they only have one layer of cells. But the blood vessels within the body are composed of three to four different types of cells. The innermost cells, the endothelial cells, are those that come into contact with the blood, but the other layers of the cells help the internal cells. If there is an injury or a blood clot, there is an entire reaction that takes place between these cells.

3D printing technology has now made a difference in manufacturing. "We can use 3D printing technology to create the mold and use that mold to inject any gel and cells in whatever shape we want," says Changxue Xu. The difficulty so far was that much of the work has usually been done in "clean rooms," rooms that are environmentally controlled to prevent contamination and ultra-disinfected. Changxue Xu has a room like that, so the work has to be done at other universities.

The Great Tech Panic: What You Should Worry About?

Tech Panic – Cause for Worry 

Technology has been making great progress in transforming our lives which has given rise to panic. Experts have been weighing on how much one should be stressed with regards to self-driving cars, malevolent AI etc.

 In cities like San Francisco; Boston, Tempe, Arizona where self-driving cars have been verified on public roads, there have been trained engineers on board to ensure that the emerging tech does not take on the pedestrians. Nidhi Kalra, co-director of the RAND Centre for Decision Making Under Uncertainty, had commented that it is that persons’ task of paying attention to what the vehicle seems to be doing.

As per the most optimistic estimates of experts, fully autonomous cars on the public roads seems to be at least three years away and that technology will never be infallible, people would still die in car crashes.

However, eventually, self-driving vehicles would probably save lives according to Mark Rosekind, chief safety innovation office at Robotaxi start-up Zoox as well as the former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and 94% of the crashes are credited to human mistake.

Would hackers leak my emails? 

To gain access of one’s email is not at all tough. We find phishers who seems to get more refined from the increased power of ransomware attack encountered.

Seth Schoen, senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier foundation commented that `a cleverly composed email which states `I’m your tech support person and need to know your password’, still tends to function as a shocking percentage of the time.

When it comes to leaking those emails, the threat to the average person is quite insignificant and attacks like the DNC leaks, the Panama Papers together with the Macron campaign hack could encourage your sense of paranoia, unless you are a Kardashian or a Trump, your personal correspondence is likely to be of little interest to cyber thieves’.

Are We Prepared for Cyberwar?

Former US counterterrorism Czar Richard Clarke in his 2010 book had ranked on how well some countries tend to fare in a digital conflict As per his formula, the US had been placed dead last and on top – North Korea.

Clarke had figured that the US and Russia could have the best offensive hacking capabilities in the world. However, North Korea seemed to have a bigger advantage - absence of digital dependence. The solitary kingdom’s hackers tend to indulge in a scorched-earth cyberwar without risking much since its citizen tends to stay disconnected.

The US on the other hand is in need of the internet than its opponents. Hence Clarke found America more susceptible to what he termed `the next threat to national security’. Seven years thereafter we need to quit worrying that the period of cyberwar is approaching and we need to admit the fact that the digital attacks on infrastructure are unavoidable.

On the contrary we need to focus on how we should recover from them. This would mean bringing down our reliance on digital systems and enhance on maintaining our consistent, out-dated, analog systems, in order that we can fall back on them when digital disaster occurs.

Essential to Hold On to Era of Physical Override 

When a team of hackers had blacked dozens of electrical substations in Ukraine, in 2015, the utility companies had the technician equipped to switch the power back manually, within a period of six hours.

They had been alert since the Soviet-era grid of Ukraine seems to be stiff on a normal day. The modern, highly automated grids of America do not tend to break often. US institutions should develop the readiness of Ukrainian-style, in an event of a grid attack. In case of interference, it is essential for voting machines to have auditable paper ballots as a backup.

 Organisations of all types should be kept updated, offline data backups for speedy recovery when cyber-attacks like the global WannaCry ransomware outburst. There is no need to relinquish on hyper-connected infrastructure though it is essential to hold on to the era of physical override – since when hackers tend to hijack the elevator of your high-rise apartment, one can be glad that the stairs was another option to resolve the issue.

Would Hackers Launch Nuclear Weapons?

Senior researcher at RAND, Bruce Bennett who seems to specialize in counter proliferation and risk management had stated that `in spite of the act flicks imagining that very scenario, it seems highly improbable. Nuclear weapon does not seem to be connected to the internet, making it complex for anyone to hack them.

On the contrary such weapons seems to be organized by standalone computers together with code keys that are distributed by human couriers, which is a method developed and maintained precisely with security in mind according to an aerospace engineer and analyst John Schilling, for 38 North a Korea-focused analysis group.

He informed that there could be a possibility of sabotaging a nuclear bomb by hacking its secondary as well as tertiary guidance system, which is a tactic the US could have utilised on the missiles of North Korea, though there seems little chance that the troublemaker agents could launch bombs.

Would AI Turn Against Humans? 

Paul Christiano, a researcher at the non-profit Open Ai had mentioned that AI ultimately would be capable of directing science experiments executing construction projects as well as develop more AI without human involvement. He together with his colleagues does not seem to worry that the evil robots would destroy us someday.

 Engineers at Google’s DeepMind unit and Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute however are collaborating in understanding which kind of AI systems could take actions in reducing the chance of being turned off. Their concern lies in the fact that as AI tends to progress beyond human understanding, the behaviour of the technology may deviate from our intended goals. Hence it is up to the researchers to construct a foundation which tends to have human values at heart.

Am I Being Spied on Through my Microphone – Equipped Device? 

Third-party developers, cyber-criminals and at times also the companies which tend to develop smart devices could have the means of accessing your audio stream. Mordechai Guri, head of R&D for Cyber Security Research Centre at Ben-Gurion University in Israel had stated that they are always accompanied by high-quality microphones and your smartphone or smart TV can be turned into a spying device for advertising purposes. Python for network engineers books helps to Mastering Python Networking.


It is also the same in the case of smart home devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home with far-field always-on microphones. Furthermore apps are probing to access smartphone microphone in order to feed on hyper-targeted ads.

Google ARCore Brings Augmented Reality to Android

Google’s Innovative Software Development Kit

Google has released an innovative software development kit – SDK known as ARCore in order to bring about an experience of augmented reality – AR nearer to Android users. The ARCore system being a software development kit will enable anyone to bring the AR features to the prevailing Android phones with any hardware updates. Google had mentioned in a statement recently that the platform has now been made available for the developers for the purpose of experimenting which would reduce the competences of augmented reality to the prevailing and the forth-coming Android phones.

 The company constructed on important technologies utilised in Tango, another AR platform by Google, though ARCore is said to be scalable all over the ecosystem of Android since it does not need any extra hardware. Google has mentioned that ARCore branches from its work on Tango. When it had been introduced in 2015, Tango enabled users with compatible devices to create detailed 3D maps of the world by directing a camera towards an object. The Lenovo PHAB2 Pro had been the first Tango phone which had been released.
 

Work with Java/Open GL….

 
The innovative AR platform is said to be rolled out to Google Pixel together with Samsung S8 that tends to run on Android 7.0 Nougat and more. Google has been functioning with manufacturers like ASUS, Huawei, LG, and Samsung as well as with the other main smartphone makers for scrutiny on quality and performance. ARCore that tend to work with Java/OpenGL, Unity and Unreal technologies is said to focus on three features namely motion tracking, environmental, understanding and light estimation.

These would permit the camera of a phone to identify feature points in a room, detect horizontal surfaces where AR object could be located and interpret lighting conditions in order that virtual objects could be lit properly. The company has also manufactured `Blocks and Tilt Brush application to create 3D content to be utilised in AR apps. Apple had make public its ARKit platform directed on augmented reality applications during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference enabling developers to design apps which would take virtual content at the top of the scenes of real-life.
 

New Visual Position Service

 
Google had mentioned in a blog post that they have been targeting 100 million devices towards the end of the preview. Moreover the company has also added experiments with AR page portraying what the ARCore technology can perform. This move of Google into augmented reality is not surprising wherein the firm had mentioned at its developer’s conference this year that it had been working on a new visual position service which is said to support phone in understanding where people are indoors.

 And this can be done be being proficient in detecting what objects are place before the camera of a device. The iOS 11 of Apple that would be made available to the consumer later in the year will comprise of the ARKit which, as per the announcement at the conference would enable iPhone and iPad developers to experience the combination of digital overlays on the real world.

Five Ways Fitness Centers are Using Digital Signage

A large fitness center may have hundreds, even thousands of members who visit every year. These members need to be aware of the rules of the center as well as receive the latest news about changes going on within the facility. The process of delivering information can be done efficiently with the help of digital signage. Colorful, easy to read digital signage captures the attention of most people giving them the information they need to fully enjoy the fitness facility. Checkout five ways fitness centers use digital signage to communicate with members.  

To Make Announcements

A growing fitness center may be undertaking new construction. Perhaps a modernized exercise room is being built or a new swimming pool is being installed. Members need to know about these construction projects and how this activity will affect the exercise classes. Digital signage can inform members of time changes for various classes and where they will be held if the location changes due to construction. Digital signage is helpful to members and is easy for the owners of a fitness center to change as necessary.  

To Introduce Products

 Some fitness centers advise members to take certain products in order to improve their health. For instance, maybe the owners of a fitness center want their members to try a particular vitamin proven to increase a person’s energy level. The owners could use digital signage to advertise the vitamin and explain its benefits. Or, perhaps there is a new piece of equipment coming soon to the fitness center. Owners may want to use digital signage to stir curiosity about this new piece of equipment by displaying an image of it as well as a description. By the time the piece of equipment arrives at the center, there are sure to be many members anxious to give it a try.

 To Introduce New Staff Members

 A fitness center with aerobics, yoga, spinning, weight-lifting and other types of classes probably has a large group of employees. When a new staff member arrives at the center, owners can introduce the person via digital signage. This gives members a chance to get to know the person’s background, level of experience and what sorts of classes the person will be teaching. It may even persuade some members to try a class they’ve never tried before! One example of a resource for fitness centers and other businesses interested in digital signage is www.navori.com.  

To Instruct Members Regarding the Exercise Equipment

Some pieces of exercise equipment in a fitness center are easy to figure out. Others require a little instruction before a member can use them. Digital signage is useful for taking members through the steps of using unfamiliar pieces of fitness equipment. Once a member understands the instructions, he or she will become more confident with every use.  

To Advertise Rules Related to Safety

Most fitness centers have certain rules and guidelines to promote the safety of the people who belong to the facility. For instance, one common rule is to avoid wearing loose clothing when walking on a treadmill. Loose clothing could get caught in the conveyer belt and cause injury. These types of safety rules could be displayed by digital signage around the facility.

Also, digital signage could be used to make members aware of guidelines regarding conduct in the locker rooms. Picking up clothing items, wearing sandals in the showers and making sure valuables are stored in lockers are just a few examples of guidelines to put on digital signage. Lastly, digital signage is useful to the members of a fitness center because it allows them to get accurate, up-to-date information right away.

So, if there is a last-minute time change or instructor change for a class, members can read about it as they come in. Digital signage can help the owners of a fitness center provide their members with first-rate customer service.

You Can Start a Coding Career Without a Degree — Here’s how

Forge a coding career without a degree with this effective strategy.

Most of the people spend their whole life stuck to a job which they don’t like at all. However the modern age offers respite and opportunity from the monotonous job schedules with tech based courses. Coding is the next level 0r newest gig for most of the individuals and once you get hang of it then you can take a real job with it which pays well and always challenges you. It is fascinating to note that more than 7 million jobs are available in varied occupations which require coding skills and it ranges from the software engineering, IT administration to the web development.

There are a number of industries and business which requires technical experts for building products, solving problems and marinating system across its ecosystem. Opting for a career in coding is the right choice for the individuals and there are two great ways of doing it which ultimately leads to becoming a full time programmer or developer.
 

Learn to Code Bundle with major programming languages.

 
Leaning to code or writing programs isn’t a simple task rather it requires careful understanding of various syntax, rules, logic and other attributes depending on the programming language in question. Coding makes use of a wide range of programming languages, technologies and tools which helps in giving shape to desired functions or features. A simple 10 course bundle comprising of the major programming languages will help you in finding the right idea of complex yet fascinating world of coding.

About 105 hours of training is enough to equip any individual with the knowledge of the major web development languages like HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript etc. along with the database management tools like AngularJS and MySQL. Having the knowledge of these major programming languages will lend a hands-on experience in creating a wide range of application and website right from the scratch which can include a whole new social network or a ticket booking websites.
 

Learn to Code Bundle with niche programming languages.

 
Opting for Bonus Bundles for any coding course will help in getting acquainted with niche programming languages. Learning some of the niche development streamlining apps such as Flux and React JS will help in getting a more sophisticated and concentrated knowledge of coding. Just spending 16-20 hours more on such technologies or programming languages will help in increasing the employability of the individuals.

Another widely used and supported distributed version control system is none other than Git which comprises of everything which a coder can dream of. Both of these courses are not designed to make a hole in the individual pocket by being too much expensive rather the first course costs nothing more than $100 and second one is $150. There are a number of websites and books available in the market which can help individuals in shaping and brushing their coding skills to the next level by familiarizing them with the latest tools used by the professionals on everyday basis.