Google's Epic Space Documentary Hits YouTube

Google had recently released an adaption of its own short documentary which chronicles the history of space exploration in order to stimulate its efforts for creating new space race. Google had titled it Back To The Moon For Good-The New Space Race, a 24 minute film which is enhanced with Google’s indigenous special effects which makes it more real and awesome in every respect. This mini-documentary would inspire the competing teams in their effort for landing the spacecraft on the moon’s surface for its Lunar XPRIZE Contest.

Splendid Documentary with Enriching Special Effects

This documentary was first made for the planetariums as well shown in many of those in U.S. This documentary has been narrated by the reputed film and television start Tim Allen and it has been adapted for the YouTube by Google. This film shows the entire history of human lunar exploration from the beginning till today. This uses the 3D imagery, color infographics and superb animations which makes it much more real and authentic in appeal and cinematography.

Space Documentary Opens A New Avenue For Google
Better graphics along with use of infographics and animations helps in taking the viewer right in the middle of action as well as makes the watching entertaining and interactive rather than boring and preachy. It covers all the dull topics like how the moon’s resources are valuable for future missions and others through the use of live imagery.

This documentary is expected to give a dramatic recap of an epic adventure which translates all the even from the early space exploration days to the current advancement without few short minutes.

Inspiring the Contestants for Lunar XPRIZE

Google is trying to give much needed motivation to its contestants of its Lunar XPRIZE. It is a Google backed competition for the privately funded teams and they will be required to develop their own vessels capable enough of reaching the Moon’s surface.

Contestants not just have to get their vessels on the lunar surface but also had to transmit video and pictures from the surface after making it travel at least 500 meters.

The team which would be able to accomplish this incredible feat by December 31 deadline will be able to claim the grand prize of $20 million. The narrator justly has said in the epic discovery video that a large number of children had once played the role of astronaut while growing up but now they would be given opportunities to make it reality.


This documentary has been lauded and appreciated by large number of viewers and other analysts alike for its great video rendering and superb animation and special effects. It even firmly sets the Google against the major competitors like Amazon and Netflix which are actively moving into movie creation business. This incredible and stunning movie also show might of the Google in movie production and Google might itself think into investing in this avenue.

However watching in the 2D basically enhanced version on YouTube isn’t as great as the dome projection which was initiated in the planetariums earlier. But this documentary still have enough marvels to glue the audience.

Rosetta Spacecraft Raises New Questions About Comet’s Origin

Rosetta – To Orbit a Comet’s Nucleus

According to a new research released recently, Scientists using Europe’s comet-orbiting Rosetta spacecraft have discovered that its complicated ancient body is coated with simple organic molecules surrounded by a changing cloud of gases.Rosetta will be the first mission to orbit a comet’s nucleus to land and probe on its surface and will also be the first spacecraft to fly along with a comet heading towards the inner Solar System, to observe how a frozen comet gets transformed by the warmth of the Sun.

After a long journey of 10 years, Rosetta reached Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August, placing itself in an orbit for an unprecedented long term study. It released a piggyback-riding spacecraft in November which descended on the comet’s surface for various series of independent research.

Comets are presumed to be frozen leftovers from the formation of planets around 4.6 billion years back and the Rosetta mission would probably give us some understanding on the solar system’s early days, on studying one of its pristine comet remnants. Though the results from the Philae spacecraft experiments remains pending, scientists recently released 7 papers in the journal Science which provides information on Rosetta’s discoveries during its initial two months around 67P.

Discovery of Wide Variation in Gases

It was found that the comet’s body which is around 100 million time more massive than the International Space Station is covered in ripples and dunes with little water ice on its surface together with generous amount of hydrocarbons. Scientists are of the opinion that they are expecting to find more complex carbon containing molecule though have found mostly simple hydrocarbons.

This has led them to queries on how organic compounds could have been formed and spread through the solar system. The first thing that scientists need to figure out is how the comet has changed over a period of time, details of which will emerge as 67P travels towards the sun and heats up developing a coma or a visible atmosphere together with a tail.

Researchers have already discovered wide variation in the gases that are released from the nucleus, the comet’s body and the changes in the quantities of these gases seems to appear to be tied to speculation on a section of the rotating nucleus which is made of dust, rock and frozen gas, is in daylight or darkness.
Research – Understanding of Comet Formation & Evolution

According to Rosetta scientist, Myrtha Hassig of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonia, Texas, she states that seasonal effects could also be discovered over a period of time. These studies would have an ultimate impact on the scientist on their understanding of comet formation and evolution.

Another scientist, Stephen Fuselier, also from Southwest Research Institute, commented that they were taught that comets were made mostly of water ice and for this comet, the coma sometimes contains much more carbon dioxide than water vapour’.

Scientists are working in figuring out if the 67P which is shaped as a rubber duck, was actually two smaller comets which had melded together. Rosetta will carry on flying around the comet moving towards and then away from the sun, the closest approach being about 116 million miles away from the Sun on August 13.

How These Energy Geeks Are Re-imagining an Old School Utility

Utility Research Team – Testing Charging - Power by Solar Panels

A non-descript, 53,500 square foot building with a $12 billion utility research team are planning in testing everything from charging electronic vehicles through cell phones to devices that can smooth out the power created by rooftop solar panels.

There are around 60 projects in the works at Edison’s Advanced Technology division having a small annual budget of $19 million though its influence goes beyond that. Engineers from California’s largest utility are planning to insure the survival of it and also the survival of the nations’ other big utilities which are closely monitoring the project.

The lab was formed by Southern California Edison in 2009 after California had passed a landmark law, to lower its greenhouse gas emission to 1990 levels, sourcing one third of its electricity from renewable source by 2020. This resulted in more electric vehicles in the Golden State together with more solar as well as wind power that has got the state’s utilities and nationwide,trying to adapt to it.Power from solar and wind sources, unlike traditional electricity tend to fluctuate depending on the weather thus making it difficult to manage on the grid. Moreover, the cost of the solar power has reduced so much that several homeowners are now producing their own power thereby paying less to their utility.

Utility Death Spiral

California’s largest three utilities sourced around twenty three percent of their power from renewable sources in 2013 and Gov. Jerry Brown called for a target of fifty percent by 2030.According to North Carolina State University’s database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, twenty nine states have laws needing more renewables.

Accenture states that with plenty of distributed energy on the grid, mainly from solar panels, the utility industry would foresee revenues fall between $18 billion and $48 billion per year by 2025 which is the reason why some have called it the utility death spiral. The reason for the lab’s work getting plenty of attention is that it is producing results as well as sharing the work with utility officials as well as researchers from faraway places like China.

Edison’s work designing cyber security systems and developing used for advance energy meters, for instances, have received high rating from other utilities according to Mark McGranaghan, Vice President at the Electric Power Research Institute.

Focus – Edison is Energy Storage

Moreover, the lab has also been a model for the others as well and the National Renewable energy Laboratory, wherein in 2013, itopened a $135 billion Energy Systems Integration Facility that complements Edison’s research. Besides this, the New York Power Authority has also been working in establishing a similar lab.

The focus of Edison is energy storage, automation and digital communication which could improve the efficiency as well as the reliability of the grid and the utility speculating that it will result in new revenue as the power demand flattens with more energy-efficient home and rooftop solar is on the rise. Ted Craver, CEO of Edison International, the utility’s parent company, states that `they are the only provider of the wires and these technologies will become more prevalent and feels that they are on the cutting edge’. Several of the technologies are yet to be commercialized though the market is growing.

 According to Navigant Research, smart grid spending would reach to $70.2 billion by 2023 from $44.1 billion in 2014, the reason for Edison in building nine labs here. Edison researchers replicated a complete power grid in one room which was used to troubleshoot while Edison had been working on new transmission line in order to connect its grid with other huge utility of California, Pacific Gas & Electric.

Edison to make Recommendation on Smart Grid Technologies 

While in another lab `smart’ inverters are testing the capabilities of smoothing out the voltage sent to the grid by solar panels and these devices are common in Europe though have yet to be rolled out in the United States.

The Advanced Technology group seeks project proposals every year, from the utility and one worth mentioning is a project which studied how the amount of wind and solar power could affect power restoration at the time of blackouts, while another, tested the different types of batteries to check on their performance while storing energy along the grid. Several of the updated technologies were taken for a test drive at the University of California, Irvine faculty housing – `The Irvine Smart Grid Demonstration’, which is a $79 million project that was launched and funded in part by the U.S Department of Energy in 2010 and will probably wrap up somewhere later this year.

Computer science professor, Crista Lopes, commented that the project cuts down her electric bill to zero in summer and the utility at her house with solar panels has around 50 LED light bulbs with new appliances such as smart refrigerator and she can track its power usage. The conclusion drawn is that Edison would make recommendation on smart grid technologies to the industry and the utility would then take the testing to bigger area probably to various homes.

Bat-Inspired Robot Can Walk, Fly and Chase You

A team of researchers has successfully developed a robot drone which can both fly and crawl for the first time. This innovation gives boost the capabilities of drones which were to some extent in earlier cases. Researchers have provided with retractable wings, legs and wheels which allow the robot to handle any kind of terrains with ease. This feat has been achieved by the researchers of Switzerland essentially for providing assistance in rescue and search operations but given the capabilities this bat-like robot might evolve into something much better.

Technology Used In Creating Bat-like Features

This new vampire bat like robot uses the adaptive morphology in the form of Desmodus rotundus. In simple words this robot has a foldable skeleton under its fabric-covered wings almost like a bat literally. This robot has been named DALER (Deployable Air-Land Exploration Robot) which has been designed by a team of researchers at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne and The National Centre for Competence in Research (NCCR) Robotics in Switerzerland, who had announced their work in the journal Bioinspiration & Biometrics.

Features and Capabilities Of DALER

This robot is capable of flying long distances in order to survey large spaces within a short time span and it can also easily access the dangerous, remote and inaccessible areas. It has been found that most of the flying robots suffers from the issue of navigating the small areas but DALER capability of crawling makes it easier to access and survey such places with distinction.

Researchers had a hard time to achieve the limited trade-offs which can provide them with an solution for the perfect synchronization between the center of mass of the drone and the axis of rotation for improving the fuel efficiency. After lots of experimentation researchers found the optimum balance of masses which allows the DALER to reach to great speed of 70 km/h while flying and around 6 cm/s on ground surface. It can achieve the maximum step distance of about 6 cm.

Benefits Of DALER

The research team has pointed out various benefits which could be derived from the DALER. It capability as a walking and flying drone will provide great assistance in helping to locate the survivors in dangerous terrains or unstable areas in an event of natural or man-made disaster. Furthermore DALER could even be remotely deployed in affected areas to access the damaged building or destroyed infrastructure with its flying capability. It can land in such place to begin locating the victims by crawling on the surface. This would be highly beneficial for the rescue teams to improve their efforts in various different scenarios.

Researchers had also claimed to bring in hover capabilities to this drone through future developments which it give it ability to take off autonomously from the ground after completion of the mission as well returning to the base automatically. DALER is still in the prototype stage and researchers had made no announcement regarding its future commercial development.

Apple Buys British Music Data Startup

Recently, Apple has acquired Semetric, which is a British music data analytics start-up, as Apple is trying to boost the ability of iPhone for listening trends. This year, Semetric was launched as international beats music streaming service.

According to one person, who is familiar with transaction stated that this U.S. group has paid approx. $50 million for the startup company which is London-based and it has more than 40 employees and now most are working for Apple. But Apple’s officials have declined any comment on the specific deal of Semetric, which was closed at the end of 2014.

We all know that Semetric, is famous for its known brand Musicmetric and it was founded in 2008 to provide data on music streaming and downloads, it also provides data analysis about people’s choice and views about songs and artists through social media. Semetric has some well known clients, record labels and as well as digital music companies such as; Gracenote and Spotify.


This deal was first reported by Music Ally, which is one of the best digital music companies of London, as it includes MixCloud, Omnifone, Shazam and 7digital, the music recognition app, as stated on last week and raised more than 30 million in fresh funding, which make the valuation of British company more than $1 billion. Recently, acquisition of Semetric was attempted by Apple to establish its leadership in digital music that can add value in iTunes downloads that has started to flag over in 2014.

We all are aware about the fact that in May 2014, Beats Music was acquired by Apple in $ 3 billion acquisition deal of headphones maker Beats Electronics, which provides a subscription based streaming service. Apple is planning to bundle Beats Music into its own iOS operating system, so that millions of users can avail the benefit through iPhones and iPads and on the same time it can ramp up the pressure on Spotify, which is market leader in music streaming industry.

According to Alice Enders, who is working as music industry analyst in Enders Analysis stated that Apple is planning to merge Semetric’s data into Beats Music because they want to improve the song recommendations as well as positive connections with their fans. The more he added that its very invaluable analytics to understand that what people are listening and doing online.

This Semetric deal is the part of war race to become one of the strongest digital music company in industry by acquiring the expertise and as well as technology to optimize the way to deliver the best music service. Last year, Spotify was acquired. The Echo Nest, which is music analytics company in ht deal of $ 100 million.

The Echo Nest, is specializes in audio fingerprinting and listening a song to determine the different characteristics such as; the music is up-tempo or down beat or happy or motivated or sad whereas; the resulting data used to determine the song recommendations and to generate playlists. Apple officials declined any comment about that it would continue to supply Spotify or not.

Microsoft Just Handed Us Our Holographic Future

Last week Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will showcase Windows Holographic feature, which will allow the users to create their own or someone else holograms and print them with 3D printers. According to Microsoft officials, each and every Windows 10 device is enabled with holographic APIs, we all know that Windows 10 holograms are one of the Windows Universal Apps.

To avail the holographic feature, users need to get hands on Microsoft HoloLens headset as Kipman described in his statement that its first fully un-tethered computer. Windows 10 will feature the advanced sensors to capture physical information, spatial sound and high-definition holographic lenses, so that users can see and hear the holograms from behind.

Processing unit of Microsoft’s holographic: 

If you are planning to avail the feature of HoloLens, so you should know that it is built-in the high ended CPUs and in high-end processing units of graphics, but if you want to handle all the essential processing requirement, than you need to think and go beyond the GPU and traditional CPU and this is why Microsoft has invented a third processor as a holographic processing unit, said by Kipman, who is working with Microsoft on this project from last five years. According to Microsoft, HPU is able to understand the users' voices and as well as gestures, if one will process the terabytes of information in its sensors on real time basis, the more he added.

HoloLens have a capability to enable the holographic computing immediately without any external cameras, no phones, no wires and as well as no PC connection is required. For this operation Microsoft have created Holo Studio, which allow users to create their own holograms with 3D printing facility as shareable image with other in few minutes. It is reported that the headset will be developed under the codename of "Project Baraboo." Kipman invited the developers from Magic Leap, Magic Leap, and everyone else to create their own holographic apps for Windows 10.

HoloLens is one of the brand new kinds of computer that has user interface feature and due to this some of the people can call it next big step towards the singularity. According to Rob Enderle, who is principal analyst at the Enderle Group “At Microsoft's Windows 10, HoloLens eclipsed everything.” The more Rob Enderle added that, HoloLens was developed in the conjunction with the researchers of JPL labs. It is expected that HoloLens will be a game changer as whenever you can alter that what can people see on real time basis and it also allow them to interact with render through 3D creations and fundamentally it will change the way to use the computers.

HoloLens can be a reason for new wearable computer as it can control by voice, gestures and as well as to create the impression, which reality has been altered around us. According to experts if this project is ahead 10 years, so in near future this technology can replace the traditional computers.

Self-Powered Smart Keyboard Can Self-Clean and Identify Users by the Way They Type

In the world of advance technology scientists have add one more milestone in cybersecurity by developing a self-powered, self-cleaning smart keyboard, which can identify its own users by their typing style. These smart keyboards can prevent the unauthorized users, who want to get the direct access to computers.

Zhong Lin Wang and their colleagues noted that password protection is the most common way to control the log on function in computers and to see the stored private information on any system. But as the technology is growing, hacking is increasing day by day, so passwords only can’t protect your system from any fraud or hacking as many high profile stories of hacking are in the news. So to protect the computer from vulnerable thefts Wang and her team was decided to find the cost-effective, more secure and user-friendly approach to safeguard the data of computers. Only few of know that our skin is dielectric and humans have electrostatic charges in their fingers, but Wang noted, if humans will touch anything, so it will be charged and these typing styles are unique as individuals and it could provide a new biometric to secure the computer.

In that efforts researchers have developed the smart keyboard, which can sense the typing patterns including typing speed and pressure applied to keys, on these two terms one can accurately distinguish the one individual user from another one.

So if someone know how to open your computer without password or knows your password, he or she will not be able to access your computer as that person type in different way than you. In this experiment energy generated from typing will shift in another small device or power itself, whereas; the special surface coating repels grime and dirt. Team of researchers or scientists concluded this as the keyboard can provide an additional layer of protection for boosting the security of computer system.

U.S. Department of Energy has funded the experiment, and this device was reported in journal ACS Nano that this device can prevent the unauthorized user access for computer. On Jan 21, 2015 ACS (American Chemical Society) release the news with smart keyboard’s security features by mentioning that this keyboard has self-cleaning and self-powering capabilities.

Apart from traditional keyboards this keyboard is made-up of mechanical keys and transparent film materials such as; vertically-stacked. Team of scientists begins with an additional layer of polyethylene terephthalate between other two layers which is of bottom electrodes at bottom and indium tin oxide (ITO) on top.

The whole keyboard operation is based on the coupling of electrostatic induction and contact electrification rather than the traditional mechanical keys. While typing, if finger contact to FEP than charges will be transferred from injecting electrons to contact interface by creating a positive charge.

As per experts, we believe that this new smart keyboard will be better than competitive and existing keyboards in terms of cost and as well as durability as this device is made-up of inexpensive materials, which is widely used in the electronics industry.

Teaching Mario to Play with Himself

When it comes we talk about artificial intelligence, so one of the most challenging sides it to teach computer to how to measure, understand, and react according to situation in the world around us. Actions, which are in the nature of human, can be taught to a robot, but teaching the decision making ability is difficult.

A team of researchers at the University of Tubingen, Germany has experimented and created a project which will change the concept of a real-world robot as AI is on the way to take the different challenges by reaching the Mario to play his own game on computer. Team of researchers has created the video, which will explain that how this system will work in step-by-step manner, but at the high levels the actions and response of Mario’s can be quantified as values.

In the whole process AI seems to start with basic information that how to navigate the world and how he is relating the various objects. The team has also created the tracking pattern for Mario’s curiosity about the rest of the world and how he is focusing on the collection of coins.

AI notes all the events when it encounters enemies and when it queried with a question that what are you thinking about Goomba? So Mario responds that, I don’t know anything. And after few experiments of interactions, Mario learns that how to jump or land on the Goomba and how to know that Goomba is dead. When it is translated back into human words, “If I will perfectly jump on Goomba, so he will die”.

Mario also learns that how to navigate any environment or how to activate question blocks which can grab power ups or how to jump to higher objects to reach any particular locations. AI has absolutely different rule if Mario is small or big because his behavior can vary according to his size or if he will get the mushroom or few fire flowers.

It is clear that AI learns about any particular environment and now Mario has an idea about real world and according to any particular situation he is free to behave or express his expression like; when first time he will jump on Goomba, so he will shout that may be Goomba is dead an later he test this hypothesis on the Goomba of future by comparing the expected result with expected outcome.

In the experiment Mario never use scripted responses, he only responds to syntax with his understanding and vast array of words. Now it’s clear that he can told the things like; “If you will perfectly jump on Goomba than Goomba will die, or he can learn by his own. In whole process he was able to complete syntax.

As a human we have applied same principles of communication and learning millions of times in life, but we have learn them when we were child and teaching something to Mario to jump on Goomba to kill it, it’s really fascinating example of AI.

Google Takes Fiber Strategy to Mobile with Nova

In present, Google is in news because of its Fiber network and according to recent reports, fiber Google’s Nova will become the MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) as per Google’s fiber strategy. Google is a company, which has its hands on every service which is essential for regular life like; each and every pie on this planet earth and it ranges from GPS service to automated cars, from Smartphones to other swappable components and from best internet service to Android platforms. It is a well known fact that as a developer Google is the biggest mobile operating systems and it also has its own Smartphones, if you will believe, recent rumors so Google is going to enter into carrier market. According to same rumors, Google has just picked up steam services known as NOVA on the platform of T-Mobile and Sprint infrastructure.

As per reports, Google’s Nova is going to be the MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) and it is third part that uses a carrier’s network for availing their own internet service. Google’s report from Android Police suggests and explains that Google Voice can be the lynchpin of the strategy because it is possible to make the phone calls from Google Voice via data connection or Wi-Fi and it can be the used to make regular calls.

To make the internet plan more attractive, reports are stating that Nova will provide unlimited data, which can do wonder in the market of carriers and it is an obligation of you will make the phone calls through the data connection. Same as other unlimited data plans NOVA will be available for Wi-Fi also.

Fighting over spectrum can be the main reason behind taking the MVNO approach as it is possible that Google can lose battle over spectrum and due to that company can avoid maintaining and building of its own towers in all over the nation which can be big headache for company, apart from all this MVNO approach can be nice option for consumers as well. In normal way, MVNO doesn’t offer contracts, but this time nothing is going to stop Google as it could also be the perfect way for Google to offer its Nexus line of devices on affordable price or subsidy.

Nexus is cheaper than other phones, which are high profile and non-subsidized, as for Nexus 6 $199 is much better than $649 for Nexus 6 in the Google Play store. It could be good for customers because in simple terms it will add the competition into market, if you will be able to get subsidized and unlocked Nexus 6 from Google Play store with their own SIM card, it means AT&T and Verizon can feel motivated to compete on lower prices.

It will be not surprise, if in future Google will control its own provider, it can be both hardware and as well as software distribution. It is expected that Google Fiber will be turning point for internet and phone services provides and customers as well.

Google Reportedly Wants To Sell Wireless Service

Soon the day will come when people will buy Android smartphone not from T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T or Verizon, but only with Google Wireless. As we all know that Google is going to start cell phone service with Android phones, as multiple news portals are reporting same. From past few years Google has been trying to assemble all the pieces, which is necessary to become the mobile provider.

On the records this search giant has already made the maximum number of used software for mobile platform, it designs as well as sells mobile phones online and now it become a Internet service provider (ISP) with its Google Fiber network. Apart from all this it has its own VoIP phone service known as Google Voice that allows users to get a Google phone number for making the call through Hangouts or Gmail over Wi-Fi.

The missing links between all these services are the cell phone towers, and soon you will the Google’s cell phone towers in all over the nation. It is better to establish a wireless network rather than spending billions of dollars, and as per reports Google will carry its all services over T-Mobile's (TMUS) and Sprint (S) networks, but Google officials declined the comments. Google is planning to pay these carriers in $2 only, as per the statement of Macquarie Securities, who is analyst in Kevin Smithen. It means in near future Google is going to provide very affordable services and it can be worry situation for Verizon and AT&T.

We all know that Google is already in competitive field which and now Google is going to land in between the price war of major players. In these price wars big carriers are very happy while small carriers such as; T-Mobile and Sprint are helping the Google to recover their losses. Sprint and T-Mobile are keeping the cautious about this deal and Sprint has worked in usage cap into its contract with major search engine Google, which will allow the wireless companies to renegotiates its deal, if Google is going to signs up for ton of customers, as per the WSJ (Wall Street Journal).

According to Smithen, Google will pay $750 million to Sprint, whereas; $250 million to T-Mobile, which means if Google will choose to break even, so Google have to sell more than $1 billion wireless services in next three years. But if you are thinking that Google will surprise top four wireless carriers, so chances are nil, but existing carriers didn’t want to make the wireless service as commodity.

In present Google is making huge money from Android platform by licensing the different software’s to smartphone makers by driving traffic and usages on their apps and search service. if Google will be able to implement its own strategy successfully, so it will be on the way for Apple to sell its own wireless services with iPhones. But we all know that there are a lot of risk is associated with wireless carriers, if the service will inevitably go down or connections fail so customers will blame Google not T-Mobile or Sprint for the disruptions.

Facebook Adds Amber Alerts for Missing Kids

Last week, Facebook announced that it is going to start new effort, which will be helpful to find missing children by incorporating the Amber Alerts into the news feed of Facebook’s 185 million American users. This effort is the launched with the partnership of National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and with the help of technology alerts will be sent only those users who will be in targeted search areas. it will be visible on mobile devices and desktop and it will be shareable among users.


According to Facebook officials, Personal details, photographs and other details about missing kids will be included, and the links of National Center's missing-child poster will be included for each case. In 2014, an 11 year girl was safely recovered from an Amber Alert when a motel owner recognized her and her friend had shared on Facebook, said by Facebook's trust and safety manager. According to her relatives it was an amazing word-of-mouth efforts and success, which inspired Facebook to develop technology advanced and more systematic way to help those who want to find missing children with the help of Facebook.

Current statics: 

According to executive director and privacy lawyer of WiredSafety, “Amber Alerts are great initiative and had a long way”. In Canada, Facebook is working with Amber Alerts since 2010, as per Aftab, who is directly involved in the launch of this effort. In past 16 years Amber Alerts have been recovered more than 700 kids, so its clear that now Facebook is going to his effort to save the children’s.

If police will feel that case is good for an Amber Alert, so it will be directed to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to distribute the news through Facebook for the users of that particular area by law enforcement. Amber Alerts will display all the available information like; photographs and personal details of missing kid, and a license plate number.

The alert will appear in the news feeds, but it will not trigger any phone specific notifications. According, to Facebook officials, a considerable amount of information is essential for case to qualify for an Amber Alert, or else it will not be effective. This is the fact that Amber Alerts are geo-targeted, within the size of limited area, which will determined by enforcement of law and if police suspect that target may headed in those areas.

New trend: 

In present, it’s not an easy thing to forget the sites like; Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram because they are the largest platform on earth, so it could be more effective to use these sites for good cause rather than using the television, radio and newspapers for same reason. According to, President of ofIgnite Social Media, Jim, “Amber Alerts are positive and solid move by Facebook and I like not because they are trying, but in actual they are doing this cause for the benefit of society”. We all know that Facebook love to participate for good cause in public service announcements, even now some of the Facebook users are saying that my smartphone gets Amber Alerts, why not my Twitter and LinkedIn feeds?

FBI: Email Scam Nets $214 Million in 14 Months

If you will check the spam folder in your e-mail account than you will know that why these e-mails known as spam’s and why your e-mail service provider is dropping these e-mails in spam folder, but in present you can easily find few fraud e-mails (e-mails which make fake promises) in inbox folder. Recently, the nonprofit National White Collar Crime Center and the Internet Crime Complaint Center with a joint effort of FBI release a report on the basis of calculation from Oct 1, 2013 to Dec 1, 2014.

In e-mail scams fake invoices delivered to different business that deals with international suppliers, asking for the payment of millions of dollars by wire transfer. According to recent reports of research team, “The victims love to use wire transfer payments method for money transaction to foreign banks, which can be transferred many times, but they tend to disperse faster”. Most of the American and Asian banks, which are located in Hong Kong or China, are the most preferred commonly reported last destination for more than 80 per cent fraudulent transfers.

Data in reports: 

As per the reports of National White Collar Crime Center and the Internet Crime Complaint Center in an association of FBI, “All of the scams has claimed more than 1,198 US victims and 928 victims in other countries has witness the these kinds of scams and U.S. firms have lost more than $179 million in total. According to FBI, “We believe that the number of victims and the total loss in dollar will continue to increase”.

In general if you will analyze your spam folder, so over there you will find few of the e-mails are promising or taking about reward, job of senior level in premium companies, lucky draw and more. Some of us are lucky because we know that these e-mails are fraud whereas; some of us believe in those e-mails and start to follow their instructions.

In other version of scheme, some of the businesses which work on international level of with international clients and suppliers are contacted through fax, phone, email or post asking for payments. These e-mails are spoofed and they seems like genuine and authentic as they are coming from reliable or legitimate supplier and fax or phone requests also appears authentic and genuine. Whereas; in other version e-mail accounts of high level management executives compromised form criminals for requesting a wire transfer through fake promises regarding to business opportunity and they include the instructions to reply or send funds on urgent basis.

However; the third version of fraud schemes involves the hacking of an employee's e-mail account, which sends the duplicate or fake invoices to suppliers or vendors.

According to task force of FBI, “Now it’s time when vulnerable businesses should avoid using free e-mails for executives or official accounts and they should exercise caution for posting the company information on social media or on public websites. You can also include additional security steps like; or digital signatures and two-step verification process.

Microsoft Office 2016 Will Be Released Later This Year

Microsoft on 22nd January announced that their next major version of the Microsoft office, which has been at the most named as Office 2016, will be available to the users from later this year. According to Microsoft’s Office general manager, Julia White, the company is hoping to share more on office 2016 in the forthcoming months, but still the new office will be having the essence of comprehensive Office experience that every user is familiar from long time and will best suited for a desktop with mouse and keyboard. She also reported that the company is hoping to make Office 2016 officially available during the second half of the year.

This is great news for all those who are not happy with Windows 10 because Windows 2016 is on its way and it is expected that in 2015 new version of windows will appear in the market. It is expected that in new version will be more touch and mobile optimized version, which will provide extra features in Excel, PowerPoint¸ Word, OneNote and Outlook.

As far as the features are concerned, the company has not released any information pertaining to the same, but according to market sources, the office 2016 will comprise of a Clippy like helper and a darker theme. Even though the company has been making some changes in the UI tweaks and other feature additions, but the look and the feel of the new office will be similar to that of office 2013. The main change that is expected from the new office is its touch-optimization for suiting Windows 10, which has been mainly designed to suit the apps for tablets and phones. In the next Microsoft’s operating system, finger friendly versions of Excel, Word, OneNote, PowerPoint and Outlook will be available.

When the preview can be expected? 

In the next few weeks, the company is expected to preview the office for their latest operating system. According to the sources from the company, the final version of the office will be released later this year. Even though the functionality and UI are expected to be very much similar to that of the earlier versions in iPad, but the company has been working on combining the touch modes and inking to take the complete advantage of some of unique areas of Microsoft Windows 10 operating system. A new Outlook mail app is also expected to be available on Windows 10 and various devices like tablets, desktops and even phones.

According to officials, “We will have many more features to share on Office 2016, as we have tried to make it friendlier and the new suite will remain the comprehensive Office experience for professional as well as personal use. We are expecting that by the second half of 2015, Office 2016 will be available”. So the company has pretty much a lot of upgrades for either existing office users. All the office apps will be automatically available on the phones having Windows 10.

Research Aims To Improve Lithium-Based Batteries

In recent reports, researcher’s claims that they have find the way to improve the performance of lithium-ion based batteries, which can be main discovery for the smartphones and laptop manufactures because now they can get the freedom from major disadvantage of laptops and smartphones as they have very less battery backup.

A simple research clear the complex science, which is related to formation of dendrites and these dendrites are the main reason which can make the lithium-ion batteries to fail, but now with this discovery these batteries can be safer, longer-lasting and can be recharged in within few minutes instead of hours as it was earlier.

The dendrites are able to form different kind of electrodes that may continue to grow until they cause an internal short circuit, which are the main reason behind the failure and possible fire of batteries. All the batteries have two electrodes, which know as a cathode and an anode, separated by an insulating polymer, which is known as separator.

All the dendrites grow in needlelike small shapes, which may breach the separating barrier by destroying the operation or full battery. In present, teams of researchers are using the numerical modeling to find the ways to understand the dendrites and to find the better way to design more effective separators. According to R. Edwin García, who is an associate professor in Purdue University and working for materials engineering department, “Presently, we are experimenting to define the fundamental technique behind these complex objects as well as science, so that in collaboration with experimentalists our team can make better batteries that do not have same problem”.

This simulations is also explains that how sometimes dendrites detach from battery electrodes and they convert into floating deposits, which can be dangerous scenario as in this situation battery can catch a fire.

Team of researchers have developed a modeling tool, which helps the battery makers to design better separators, as pores still exist between polymer fibers in the form of separator and due to this the researchers have modeled that hw pore size and different morphology of the same separator can influence the dendrite development process.

As per García, “Our team has found the interesting relationship between the geometry of the separator and the performance of same separators and now we are thinking its first step to improve the separator”. If one can control the dendrites so it could lead towards the longer-lasting and safe usage. In few batteries dendrites are formed by lithium formations, which grow while recharging the batteries, or adding the layers which resemble with tree rings. Because they grow faster, so whenever they exposed in high current for fast recharging so dendrites limit recharging speed.

In the National Science Foundation, work is going on and researchers are putting the every finding of experiment together, the separator, and particles of anode material, so that they can draw conclusion and on the basis of that they can have a complete commercial system.

Lasers Create Surface So Hydrophobic That Water Bounces Off Like a Ball

In the analysis, research and study of hydrophobic surfaces, team of researches and scientists are more focusing modifying the physical nature of different surfaces rather than depending on true and tried method for applying a hydrophobic coating.

In recent experiments the engineers of UCLA created a artificial superomniphobic surface, which repelled all known liquids with the help of modifying a surface and this modified surface was made-up of nano-scopic nails rather than applying any different or special kind of omniphobic coating.

Now the researchers and scientists of the University of Rochester have used the special technique in which they used a lasers to create a special surface, which is more hydrophobic, so that a single droplet of water can bounce multiple times up and down on it in the same way as ball bounce multiple times up and down on earth or any tuff surface. This incredible breakthrough can lead to everything from waterproof electronics to non-stick kitchenware and more.

Super hydrophobic surfaces and coatings have a wide range of different uses, which can vary from simple use to complicated use. It can make the surface safer to drive cars and bikes in wicking rain from a windshield and it can also prevent the rust from compromising the integrity and nature of a structure.

It’s obvious that practical applications are the rare because it can be temporary coatings or can increase the visibility while driving through a storm because water smoothly slides off the glass or rub some Rain-X on your windshield. According to Chunlei Guo, who is professor of optics and also the co-author of the study, “In this experiment it’s clear that this material is very strongly water-repellent, and its real that water is getting bounce, whereas in later stages it lands on surface again and get bounced off again, and then it will roll off from the surface”.

However; Chunlei Guo and Anatoliy Vorobyev, discovered a laser-patterning technology, which etch nanoscopic structures on different surfaces. It’s clear that the surface etched pattern is very hydrophobic, which help the water in bouncing and again it falls back down to the surface.

In the experiment, to create the effect team of researchers used the lasers to etch nanoscale structures for metal surface which repel the water because it is etched in at such a microscopic level and it cannot rub off, so it will never lose the water-resistance. When it comes to scaling up so production of these surfaces, take around sixty minutes to create one by one-inch sliver surface.

Now the team is busy to explain and make it happen that how to apply the laser-patterning technique on other surfaces. Superhydrophobic surfaces are good to keep it dry and clean, but some of the surfaces exhibit self-cleaning properties as experiment showcase that whenever water drops than water slide over the surface and due to that it keep surface clean and away from dust.

In airplane etched these nanostructures surfaces can avoid the dangers of water freezing on the surface of water as well as on the wings.

WhatSim Lets You Use WhatsApp for Free While Roaming Worldwide

We all are aware about the news that now WhatsApp is available for PC or Desktop, whereas; the phone chat app company in an association with Zeromobile has another surprise in store for its regular users, which is WhatSim. According to news reports from tech websites, one of the Italian company has launched a global SIM card for free WhatsApp service known as; WhatSim. This Sim card will allow the users to use service in all over the world without any roaming charges.

Till now to use WhatsApp, internet connection or active data connection on your mobile or Smartphone was essential and while traveling WhatsApp was used to ask that “If you will use service, so you need to pay the additional roaming charges”. WhatsApp is one of the most Smartphone chatting apps and currently it has more than 700 million active users.

Of course it’s not a first time when any company is providing SIM with unlimited WhatsApp use, but the earlier attempts were only for one specific country. In 2014, E-Plus, which is Germany based mobile telecommunications operator was launched the same scheme in an association with WhatsApp. According to company officials, WhatSim has neither monthly payments nor fixed costs and it will never expire.

Operation of WhatSim: 

New WhatSim card will allow you to use access WhatsApp unhindered in more than 150 countries with 400 telecom operators with free roaming. While using WhatSim card, you need to buy the credits for sharing multimedia messages and as well as voice messages, whereas; you need to take special mobile data connection if you want to use location updates, sending and receiving text messages, and contacts services with WhatsApp.

The price for WhatSim is only EUR 10 or $ 11 or Rs. 714.00 and user will get the SIM card with standard worldwide shipping as it cost EUR 5 or $ 5.60 or Rs. 350 and unlimited text messaging for a year. For example Zone 3 has been designated India and users traveling to India will need to get 600 credits for sharing video messages, 150 credits for text messages.

About WhatSim: 

WhatSim is the dream concept of Manuel Zanella, who is CEO and Founder of Italy’s Zeromobile Company. Zeromobile is Italy’s first ever global mobile operator, which provides low-cost roaming. With this additional tech accessory, all the WhatsApp users who love to travel frequently will get a relief because of free roaming charges.

As per the Manuel Zanella, “When it comes to mobile communication, so WhatsApp is the future, but the major disadvantage is that it can work only with data connection. Sometimes while traveling roaming charges are expensive and it’s difficult to find Wi-FI connection in free”.

The more he added in his statement that as I find someone who appreciate the use of WhatsApp, so I tried to figure out how to solve this problem and now WhatSim is an extraordinary opportunity for those who love to use WhatsApp.

Microsoft Gives Away More Office Software To Attract Mobile Users

Popular Application Give Away – Word/Excel/PowerPoint - 

The popular Word, Excel and PowePoint applications are now made available for free on Android tablets recently by Microsoft Corp, marking the latest step in its drive in order to get several mobile users as possible to use its software.

Besides this, it also released for its popular Outlook email program, an app to run on Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad with a hope of attracting millions of users who are familiar with Outlook from their work desktops. These are the latest releases which according to Chief Executive Officer, Satya Nadella is an attempt to fight back the initiative in the battle for mobile consumers where Microsoft had fallen behind Google Inc. and Apple.

With this release, last March, Nadella broke the decades of traditions by releasing a free, touch-friendly version of Office for Apple’s iPad prior to any such software made available for Microsoft’s Windows devices. Making its industry standard Office app available on Apple’s popular iOS and Google’s Android operating systems, Microsoft has created a possibility of building a base of users who could later be persuaded to sign up for Office 365, the full internet based version of Office which would be $7 for personal user for a month.

Test Versions of Office Apps on Android 

Test versions of the Office apps on Android had been offered by Microsoft for almost three months but Thursday marked the first day it was made available as a completed product from the Google Play online app store. Key elements of Microsoft’s top selling Office suite of application, namely, Word, Excel and PowerPoint were a hit on Apple’s mobile devices according to Microsoft, with around eighty million downloads since last March.

Moreover, Microsoft has plans in releasing new; touch friendly versions of its Office apps for Windows devices as well, later this year on release of the Windows 10 operating system. The latest version of Outlook app is based on a popular app that was made by Acompli and bought by Microsoft in December, will now enable iPhone and iPad users with a much easier way of linking email to calendars as well as working with file attachments. It is said that Microsoft is also releasing a test version of the Outlook app for Android users.

Microsoft – Growth for Cloud Centric Strategy

The upcoming Windows 10 operating system will be given away by Microsoft Corp as a free upgrade to users of the latest versions of windows and Windows Phone, being the world’s biggest software company is working on holding onto consumers in the new mobile age. Terry Myerson’s announcement, running the Microsoft’s operating systems group is a change for Microsoft which had charged for new versions of Windows, one of its main profit driven targets.

Microsoft needs a steady growth for its cloud centric strategy and Window 10 seems to be the main centre of the strategy. According to Myerson, Windows 10 is probably expected on the market this autumn and would be available for a period of one year as a free upgrade for Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1

Apple Patent Reveals Expanding Home Button For Games Players

Apple’s Patent - `Multi-Function Input Device’

It has been reported that Apple has been granted a patent known as `Multi-Function Input Device’ by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office recently which was originally filed by Colin Ely and Fletcher Rothkopf on July 9, 2013 who presently are Apple’s product design executive.

This newly revealed application reports plans for a spring loaded home button which pops up to turn into a joystick whenever the need arises. The home button of the iPhone has various functions. The fingerprint sensor on the home button can unlock the iPhone with Touch ID. Siri gets activated on holding down the home button and on tapping on the home button, one is led to the home screen or it indicates which apps are open.

Apple AAPL+5.67% has been granted patent which shows that a joystick could be built for future iPhones in the home button. The mode of the joystick could be activated on pushing down on the home button where a spring mechanism beneath the surface of the home button could pop up the home button. On using the joystick, one can push the home button once again to return the home button to the normal mode.

Small Joystick For Gaming 

The multi-function input device indicates an iPhone or iPad home button which can change into a small joystick for gaming and is believed that it would maintain the present Touch ID fingerprint sensor where a single click could enable it to pop up as well as transform it into a slightly raised joystick.

A mere push of the raised home button back in a flush position with the body of the iPhone tends to bring it to its original position when gaming is done. The patent states that the multi-function input device is functional in at least a first mode and a second mode and in one example, the multi-function input device could have a button mode as well as a joystick mode.

The diagrams that have been included in the application indicate very low-profile joystick. The input device head may not project outward from the surface when not in use as in the case of a joystick, thus avoiding comprising aesthetic appearance of the electronic device, preventing damage to mechanisms used to project the input device head or/and keeping the input device head out of the way when not in use as a joystick.

Tactile Feedback

Apple has also admitted that in some games, a touchscreen would not be ideal. Touch screens which could be appropriate to applications like Internet browser application have some advantages for operating game applications on portable devices though they could also have some shortcomings.

For instance, a user’s finger would need to cover a certain part of the screen while controlling the game and this could interfere with the user’s capabilities to see what is in control and/or other areas of the game display. Moreover, a touch screen could also be unable to provide tactile feedback and to provide tactile feedback at the time of the game could enhance the player’s gaming experience. Some game lovers are of the opinion that realistic game play could not be experienced fully with the joystick and/or the tactile buttons.

Facebook to Sell Real-Time Super Bowl Ads, Taking On Twitter

Super Bowl Facebook – All New Marketing Gaming Plan

For the first time during a football championship, Super Bowl Facebook is deploying an all-new marketing gaming plan which will help companies to purchase ads in real time. Facebook earlier had sold Super Bowl ads based on user’s prevailing likes, profiles as well as demographic information.

 This made it the first time that the site would be using new targeting features which would customize audience clusters for advertiser, as briefing with regards to the game is revealed. According to Reuters, video ads for instance, triggered by using certain keywords which members would mention in their post on Facebook, while watching the American football game, would automatically begin to play within the user’s news feeds.

Twitter’s platform has already been in real-time marketing for years but the strategy represents a first for Facebook. Tablets and smartphones have provision of a second screen for the Super Bowl’s 100 million television audience to comment, regarding the proceedings of the game, giving advertisers an appropriate option to target messages.

Twitter – Mantel of Real-Time Platform

Twitter has owned the mantel of a real-time platform though the sophistication of Facebook’s ad targeting is unparalleled, according to Noah Mallin MEC, head of social for North America, a media buying agency and a part of WPP. Twitter has been leading in this arena which other social media networks are seeking to match up with.Super Bowl marketers on Facebook, last year, couldaim ads to segment of members depending on their likes, demographic information and profiles and Facebook had introduced real-time targeting features thereafter.

The social network this year with around 155 million daily users in United State as well as Canada could customize audience clusters which advertisers could target in real-time at the time of the game. According to the head of social media at the marketing agency Eleven Inc.

Maura Tuohy, states that Facebook had to work hard to dispel the notion that people do not use the network while watching live tent pole events and that people are talking about the shows on Facebook.

Need of Strong Presence – Online/Mobile

According to the director of traditional and emerging media at Toyota, Dionne Colvin-Lovely, comments that the automaker is running two commercials at the time of the Super Bowl though has turned to digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Inc.’s YouTube as well as Hulu in order to generate a conversation around car buyers. Colvin-Lovely further adds that the TV is an important media which is not much dominant and there is a need to make sure of a strong presence, online as well as well in mobile.

For the Super Bowl, Twitter has been staffing `war rooms’ of 13 advertisers which includes PepsiCo as well as Anheuser Busch, triple the number of companies who worked directly with Twitter for the big game last year. Both Facebook and Twitter are speculating that by executing memorable real-time ads with a more concrete way in reaching consumers, would be an additional advantage in their long-time efforts to have a bigger slice of the estimated $66 billion television advertising profits. Several marketers are also turning to digital platforms which also include YouTube.

Windows 10 on Your Phone: What We Know So Far

Recently, saw the unwrapping of many ambitious features and products centering around windows 10 operating system by Microsoft. The company also presented and exhibited demonstrations of new apps, hardware and web services that will all be tying and be part of so called Microsoft’s huge ecosystem, having the aim of touching the lives of people in their homes, office and while on move. The company has assured that the operating system on the phone will not be treated differently but it will have the same essence with the assurance of touch-based input being prioritized for the small screen. The company is hoping that the operating system will be able to make every platform treat this just as another web service along with frequent updated. So of the important facts to know about the OS on smartphones:

1. Free for Windows 8.1 users with free updates- The Company is hoping to encourage the Window 7 users on desktop to move to this operating system by offering free Windows 10 upgrades after a year or so after the launch. They will be including 8 and 8.1 OS as they are planning to eventually fade away. Regardless of device type, it is important for the company to get everyone of the same platform. Only drawback being that early adopter of Windows 7 will be left out.

2. PC and mobile experience is expected to be the same. Action center of all the devices will operate in a similar manner and will be releasing notifications at the same time. The desktop of the new OS will be inheriting the quick settings to keep things familiar for the users.

3. Lots of new apps- Office apps will be installed on phones and other smaller devices. Common windows foundation across different device types making it a universal app. One-Drive will be used for synchronizing document between different platforms.

4. UI Tweaks- Users will be able to set any image as their wallpaper. Even though 8.1’s wallpapers gained lot of popularity but still lots of people were comfortable with the traditional wallpapers. The top drawer will give more importance to the recently launched apps.

5. New Hardware- A the windows 10 launch, at least one new flagship-level smartphone is expected to be released. A new phablet can be expected to be released by the company.

6. Skype and One-Drive- A lot of windows 10 ecosystem will be powered by the company’s in-house Skype and One-Drive properties. Messaging system is expected to be tied to Skype on desktop and mobile and in Windows 10 operating system, these SMS will be automatically routed through their network. File storage and synchronizing will be powered by One-Drive. Still users might need more than one location for storing the files.

7. New powers of Cortana- According to the demonstration given by the company, Cortana will have an advanced sense of personality and humor. What is more interesting is the fact that Cortana will now be able to learn more about the personal schedules and preferences of the users.

Will Apple's 12-inch MacBook Air Use One Port to Rule Them All?

There has been lot of rumors doing round pertaining to the new MacBook Air, which got lot of people full with enthusiasm. However, if you are thinking it is about the Retina Display then you are very wrong. Instead, some of the rumors have indicated that the Apple's redesigned MacBook Air will not only be remarkably smaller, having only a 12-inch screen but also will be having just a single port. According to the reports, these rumors came from Mark Gurman of 9to5mac.com, who stated that the new MacBook Air design is expected to drop their current MacBook Air's USB 3 ports and do away with the SDXC card slot, MagSafe 2 charging connection and Thunderbolt port.

Can a replacement is in place? Well, a single USB Type-C port is capable of connecting to multiple kinds of devices apart from displays and storage. Additionally, the C port will be capable of charging the new 12-inch MacBook Air as well. The idea itself sounds very crazy for many.

Time to get over the old: 

Is it really time people to move on to this new concept? Apple is known for making amendments to the old standards in the pursuit of making thinner hardware design until perfection. When 5.25 inch was very common, the first Mac went ahead with 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. Later on, the company completely ditched the floppy drive concept and moved on with the USB ports and CD drives in their new iMac. Later on Mac Book was completely on its own as the developers left out the CD/DVD drives. Apple has been known for innovation and the example was set by creating the Thunderbolt ports, which replaced FireWire ports in different types of MacBooks.

So what new with the Macbook: 

The new Macbook is not only expected to have smaller screen size, but also be a quarter inch less wide compared to the previous versions. To make the device the company has reduced the bezel and squished the keyboard keys more closely making the keyboard fit the entire laptop body. The function keys have been modified to fit in the power button.

The rumors seems to be confirmed by some of the inside sources of the company. The company always maintains silence in terms of innovation and devices to stun the people with their product and information is released only on need to know basis. However, the company had confirmed the release of their 12-inch Macbook last year but due to unforeseen circumstances, the release was delayed. Reports suggest that with the thinner design it is difficult for the company to add any additional ports.

What should be expected? 

With the device being so small, the customers would like to be able to the same to printers and storage, the company can actually come up with a lightweight hub as accessory. They can add ports in the power brick as an additional means. The product is expected to replace the previous version but still there are questions pertaining to the addition of Retina-class display.

Linuxy Hopes and Dreams for an Inferno-Free 2015

Linux is hoping for a wonderful year and future ahead and they have complete power in their hands to make the year 2015 a better year. Might not be a reality, but at least in theory, Devuan could flourish, the Systemd Inferno most possibly can extinguish over the past 12 months. Linux is expected to have the best of the year ahead.

Devuan expected to fade: 

According to Kevin O'Brien, Google+blogger, even though Linux is not expected to take over desktop in the year 2015 but they will surely make a dominating presence felt in the area of computing and continue their growth towards the global market. Kevin O'Brien also predicted that Devuan can be expected to fade away when more number of people will start recognizing the fact that Systemd is not having any major impact on their work in an obvious manner. Linux will get more and more importance due to the increasing dependence on cloud/big data/ etc..
On the similar lines, even Gerhard Mack, consultant and Slashdot blogger has given more suggestions. He is hoping that people will start spending more time to polish the existing features, video support, blocking of the screen when moving is playing, reducing the ways of duplicating the configuration of the desktop.

Programmers communities are expected to work hard and make the systemd perform better. Ubuntu is also expected to regain their number 1 position. The distro is expected to be the best choice for the companies who are looking for compatibility and back up. Red Hat and Debian have been a serious let down. According to Robert Pogson, blogger, GNU/Linux gains a legacy PC usage in Cuba will remain a serious question from the international perspective. According to him, an avalanche of governments will take place in Europe by using FLOSS and GNU/Linux. FLOSS and ODF have been widely accepted in the country and FLOSS and GNU/Linux are expected to get a breakthrough. He forecasted that India, China and Russia will make a major move towards adoption of GNU/Linux for common governmental purposes, which includes education. He added that Wintel is something which Russia can’t afford,India is price sensitive and China just doesn’t trust it.

While on one side Android/Linux will win over small, cheap computers, GNU/Linux will be able to triumphant on not-so-cheap and not-so-small computers. The year 2015 will set a benchmark as the customers will no longer be restricted to Wintel. Even though business might take some time, they have already started using GNU/Linux on thin client servers and they will be moving to desktops next.

What will happen in the future, still remains to be a big question? The companies can be expected to adopt the new technology with compromising network tools, login, desktop environment choices and many other independent decisions. Programmers are expecting that PCLinuxOS keeps on showing improvements and ensures constant growth. As present nothing can be confirmed but certainly hopes are quite high in the coming future.

Call of Duty Makes First Trip to China with Launch of Public Beta

When it comes to the world of gaming, every sales record has been shattered by Call of Duty, the first person shooter franchise. Even though the game has been enjoying all the possible success anyone can image, they have been really absent or non-existent in a country which is known to be the most populous country, but for not long. The wait is over and the free-to-play version of the first-person shooter, Call of Duty Online, has been officially launched in China on an open public beta. This announcement was made by the publisher Activision on Monday. The game, which has been specifically designed for the Chinese market has been released in partnership with the Internet conglomerate Tencent Holdings. Internet conglomerate Tencent Holdings has been based in China.

Chinese Market

The game’s launch marks the entry of wildly popular franchise for the first time and that too it will be widely available for the consumers in China. Even though the gaming population in the country has crossed more than a million marks, some of the people still play either the games, which have been developed by domestic Chinese companies, or other companies, which have been carrying out their business outside in the United States of America. Call of duty (an American game) was not available in the country until now.

In China for many years, traditional games consoles like PlayStation and Xbox were banned. Last year, 2014, the country announced that they are going to life the ban and would start allowing the console makers to launch their devices within the country’s border with one catch point- the products have to be distributed by a Chinese company. A while back companies like Microsoft and Sony announced that they are planning to launch their consoles in China. Even though Xbox One at present is available in the country, but Sony was forced to postpone the launch of PlayStation 4 last week. According to the sources from Sony, the company is still not sure about the launch date of PlayStation 4 in China.

As soon as the information pertaining to the lifting of ban was spread, the American companies have started working on the idea of releasing or launching their titles in the country. According to the survey conducted in 2014, there are nearly 300 million people, who are part of the Chinese gaming population and out of this, one third of the people are interested in the first-person shooter games. This data was more than enough for Activision. As many companies have made their games free for consumers, it is no surprise that the company has chosen the online medium.

The title of game, which is full Call of Duty game has taken many aspects from popular franchise like Black Ops and Modern Warfare. The game comes with single-player campaign, full online multiplayer, and Survival Mode for co-op playing. The company is trying to get some money by encouraging the user to either purchase the game or rent the game items.

The Weird Tech We Love and Hate at CES 2015

International Consumer Electronics Show of 2015 was held from 6th to 9th January in Las Vegas of USA. This grand event displayed the release a number of innovative devices, whose functions are really strange but it drew the attention of many people. Some of these devices are discussed here.

Parrot Pot

The Parrot Pot is an extraordinary pot for average sized plants in any house. It links to your mobile device through Bluetooth. There is a bunch of sensors, which checks the plant’s health like the temperature, amount of water in the soil, light levels and also the fertilizer of the soil with conductivity measurements. Parrot Pot is also equipped with a water reservoir, which can hold water of almost 2.2 liters. If the Parrot Pot detects that your plant needs watering, then it will spray some water on the top soil. It can even water those plants for maximum three weeks, basing on the prevailing situations.

Honeywell Lyric Security System

Honeywell came back with its own Lyric thermostat. This home control expert is attempting to build some more impetus with the release of its second Lyric item- a professional grade- security system of home. It comprises cameras, motion in addition to smoke detectors, all regulated by a touch screen controller. This system allows voice commands that can activate events such as turning off an alarm, while at the same time switching on all lights and also turning up the temperature. Honeywell stated that the system will moreover apply your Smartphone location with products as smart lights to give you a wide variety of automated settings.

Dacor dual-range oven

Whether you love to cook or not, Dacor’s latest model of oven will really amaze you. Last year, it fixed an Android tab onto the oven so that you could manage it remotely. But, in 2015, Dacor’s has moved one step further, offering you voice controls with the help of an app. It denotes that you could place a thing into the oven before going anywhere out of the home, and then speak to your mobile on your way home to inform the oven to begin the cooking. Or, when you are in the kitchen, you may only shout instructions to that oven as- Start left oven at 200 deg.

Anova Touch

Anova Touch can allow you to manage and set your food items while you are away. Through an application, you can plan your water temperature, time of cooking, and also monitor this, while you are out for any work. Anova Touch is the foremost WiFi based Sous Vide machine.

If you are not certain what you wish to have, or how Sous Vide can work for the chops, you bought from the market, then Anova Touch app can give you recipes, instructions, and some other step-by-step information on best practices from good cooks, food writers, and so on.

Bosch Smart Fridge

It is a strange smart fridge from Bosch. It takes you a step closer to the desire of having the kitchen devices carry out the shopping. The new fridge is provided with an integrated camera, which takes a picture every time the door is opened and these pictures are uploaded to the Bosch app. When an individual goes to the supermarket, he can see whether he requires vegetables or anything. However, Bosch’s next plan would be software, which identifies missing items and also orders them for the buyer.

Local Motors' 3D-printed car meets the Detroit Auto Show

Recently, Local Motors have showcased their 3D-Printed Car at the Auto Show. This is world’s first 3D-printed car and known as Strati, it is two-seater car, which is made up of plastic components and can reach the speed of 25 miles/hour.

Printing Process: 

This made in Detroit, Strati is two-seater car and it takes only 44 hours to print it. Crowdsources, a Phoenix-based company designs its cars, which look like the oddball Rally Fighter. Local Motors is responsible to build the Strati and brings on the floor of the North American International Auto Show, which is going to held in Detroit with all printing and routing equipment, which is here just for the occasion. The printing of this car takes only 44 hours, which in about two full working days after which all components including rough ones routed and polished to complete the final finishing look. According to Local Motors CEO Jay Rogers, first of three vehicles of Local Motors are ready to hit the market, whereas; each Strati will have the price range of $18,000 and $30,000. This two Seater car is made up of plastic components and it can hit the road with the speed up to 25 miles per hour.

About Local Motors Strati: 

The whole manufacturing and assembling process can be done in "micro-factory," of Local Motors, which is 40,000-square-foot space, containing everything needed to print, design, build, or sell a car. The company is planning to inaugurate its two micro-factories in 2015, one in near Washington, DC in National Harbor and another in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is expected that the DC location will breaks ground in the third quarter of 2015 where first fleet of 3D-printed cars will be sold. Factories are still looking for the approval because they need a local zoning law changes as per the Washington Post. As per few reports, the Strati is not yet legal for highway, and it can take few months to one year.

According to company officials, “We have arrived with small platform, but after setting up the winding course at Detroit’s Cobo Center, we have produced the passenger seats for the two-seater electric roadster. The two-seater Strati is powered up-by a Renault Twizy–sourced EV power-train which is fitted in to the 3D-printed body of car. Soon the company will test the car on modern tracks where the speed will vary between 10 to 25 mph with the comfortable conversation with the driver, but the car driver stated that car could made-up to 50 mph per hour and the car represent perfect golf car status.

This car were first showcased in September 2014, which was mostly constructed through 3D printing, which sounds like future-minded and gutsy as the part of a young ambitious company. According to reports, no one has done such things publicly till date. To actualize the process of 3D printed car, Local Motors had made a partnership with National Laboratory in Tennessee, where it has take four months to unveil, the Strati.