Iranian Military Hackers Focus on U.S. Administration Officials

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards – Hacking emails & Social Media Account -US Officials

Wall Street Journal had recently reported that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have come up with hacking of email and social media accounts of Obama administration officials in recent weeks in cyber-attacks, is said to be connected with the arrest of an Iranian-American businessman in Tehran.

The newspaper referring to unnamed U.S. officials stated that people working on Iran policy seemed to be the focus of cyber-attacks with personnel connected to the State Department’s office of Iranian Affairs and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs among those who had been hacked.

 Besides these, other targets comprised of journalist and academics. The most recent reports in hacking attacks came up after a landmark international agreement in July which improved the severe economic sanction on Iran in compensation of Tehran curbing its nuclear program ensuring that it will not be utilised in the development of weapons.

Recently, a powerful branch of the Iranian military – the Revolutionary Guards, regularly made hacking attacks on U.S. government agencies, though a source informed the Journal that the hacking seemed to have increased after the arrest of Siamak Namazi in mid-October

Cyber-Attacks – Obtain Information/Get Connected with Targets of Interest

A senior administration official informed Reuters in response to the Journal story, that they were aware of certain reports involving Iran and while they have no comment on the specific reports, they are aware that hackers in Iran and other areas often tend to use cyber-attacks to obtain information or get connected with targets of interest.

 Namazi, head of strategic planning for Crescent Petroleum, which is an oil and gas company in the United Arab Emirates, had worked for think tanks in Washington. He had been apprehended and interrogated by the Revolutionary Guards, regularly prior to his arrest. Namazi had studied in the U.S. and had friendships at Washington which included the National Endowment for Democracy and the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars.

 He had earlier been the managing director of Atieh Bahar, a consulting firm promoting foreign investment in Iran. The fact sheet had indicated that he had studied at Tufts and Rutgers universities though had returned to Iran in late 1990s for the purpose of military service.

China/Russia Accused of Cyber-Attacks

It stated that he stayed out of discussion of U.S. or Iranian political queries in recent years with the exception of very public role he had played recounting the adverse impact of Western sanction on the Iranian population. A source had informed the Journal that U.S. officials are of the belief that some of the more recent attacks could have been linked to reports of detained dual citizens as well as the others.

The Journal had revealed that Namazi’s friends as well as business associates has informed that the Revolutionary Guards had confiscated his computer after raiding his family’s home in Tehran. According to a spokesman at Iran’s U.N. mission in New York informed newspaper that Tehran had been wrongly accused of cyber-attacks.

Over the past several months, China and Russia have been accused of cyber hacking administration officials in the United States and the countries have denied the charges too. As per LA Times it was said that the hackers were on the lookout for information on U.S. spies.

This Sprout Pencil Grows into a Tomato

Plantable Sprout Pencils – Grow into Vegetables/Flowering Plants/Herbs

Denmark based Sprout World has plans in eliminating waste from pencil stubs that are thrown away, which are not of much use and are tossed into the bin. According to CEO of Sprout World, Michael Stausholm, around 15 billion pencils are made every year with three million of them just in United States and these could be a good amount of them being thrown away.

The start-up tends to make plantable pencils which can grow into vegetables, flowering plants or herbs when it is not useful anymore. Stausholm stated that the pencils which are made from cedar in Pine City, Minnesota seem to be the perfect ecological product since one `dying product tends to give life to a new product.

Where an eraser would be, the wooden pencils tend to have a capsule which is made from biodegradable substance which comprises of a small combination of seeds and peat. The stub end of the pencil is used as a marker and the capsule is planted in pot of soil, which tends to dissolve and seed grows into a plant. These pencils are in a range of 14 varieties at a cost of $19.95 for a pack of eight which comprise of basil, green pepper, lavender, sunflower and tomato and had been developed by three MIT students in 2012.

Sprout Pencils – Kickstarter Campaign

Stausholm informed that while he was living in Denmark, he worked a lot on sustainable companies. However sustainability was hard to illustrate to consumers and he was searching for product which could do that easily. A year thereafter, he came across Sprout Pencils when it was a Kickstarter campaign.

He valued the idea and it was an appropriate way of explaining what sustainability was all about. He partnered with the students convincing them to permit him to sell the pencils in Denmark. He stated that around 70,000 pencils were sold in the spring of 2013 and realized that there was demand for them. The start-up had sold around a million pencils all across Europe by 2014.

He acquired the patents and rights to the brand later that year and became the CEO of Sprout World. He informed that Sprout World presently sells on an average around 450,000 pencils monthly and has logged more than $3 million by way of revenue.

Mission – Educate What to Purchase/Product Reusable

His next ambition is to overcome the U.S. market. In September, he had opened an office in Boston to get drive going with two employees there and 15 in Europe. He stated that with regards to embracing eco-friendliness, America is a couple of years behind Europe.

However he is of the belief that it is an impeccable market for Sprout World pencils since its makers are based in the U.S. The pencils are sold on Amazon – AMZN, Tech30 and in Whole Foods – WFM stores in U.S. Stausholm is keen in bringing the price down and eventually he would want all students across the globe to use Sprout World pencils.

The start-up plans are likely to roll out new products which include plantable greeting cards and coloured pencils in January. He had commented that he is aware that they cannot save the planet just with his product but their mission is to educate people on how to be more aware in what they purchase and look for products which are reusable.

Google Uncovers 11 Serious Security Flaws within the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

Google Discovered 11 Serious Security Problems – Samsung’s Galaxy S6

Google has discovered 11 serious security problems in Samsung’s Galaxy S6 smartphone in a sequence of severe test intended to clear the vulnerabilities in handsets. The company had set its security analyst team Project Zero with the challenge to seek out bugs in the Galaxy S6 Edge running an open source version of Google’s Android software called Android Open-Source Project – AOSP, to see how quickly Samsung patched the issue.

Google calls the companies, Original Equipment Manufacturers or OEMs, whose smartphones use its software that include Samsung, LG and Motorola. The researcher of Project Zero, Natalie Silvanovich, wrote in a Google blogpost that, `OEMs are an important area for Android security research since they introduce additional and possibly vulnerable code in Android devices at all privilege levels and they decide the frequency of the security updates which they provide for their devices to carriers’.

Project Zero researchers that were based in Europe and North America, identified within a week, 11 possibly severe security issues in the device especially surrounding media processing and device drivers. They reported the susceptibilities to Samsung specified that eight of the 11 were fixed in their October Maintenance Release while the remaining three which had been marked as lower-severity would be fixed throughout November.

Project Zero – Seeking Bugs in Software

Mr Silvanovich added that it is promising that the highest severity issues were fixed and updated on-devices in a reasonable time frame’. Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge had been released together with its non-curved equivalent the Galaxy S6 in April.

 It was launched as Samsung’s flagship handsets to contend against iPhone 6 and 6 Plus which was released the previous September and these two smartphones faced disappointing sales with Samsung’s profit fell by 8% in July. Recently, it’s most recent version of Android 6.0; Marshmallow had been issued by Google.

Google Nexus 5, 6, 7 and 9 smartphones together with LG’s G4 now are capable of running it while the other manufacturers Samsung, HTC as well as Sony are likely to update their devices in the following weeks. Project Zero has been running for some time now by Google with the task of seeking out bugs in software, alerting the software makers and then reporting the public if nothing is fixed in an attempt to force something to be done.

Internal Contest between Two Teams of Google’s Project Zero Security Teams

Earlier, Google had taken on Windows and OS X with Project Zero bugs, however now it is Samsung in the firing line for 11 serious faults with the Galaxy S6 Edge. The issues with Samsung’s device as high impact have been described by Google, which means that they tend to be quite serious.

The faults comprise of script injections, driver issues, image parsing issues, permission weaknesses as well as a directory traversal bug that enables a file to be written in unexpected settings. Project Zero blog post of Google tends to go in-depth on each of the 11 security faults detected in the Galaxy S6 Edge. Presently most of them are already fixed but three of the tricky ones still remain which include the script injection bug with two specific image parsing errors.

All this was part of an internal contest between two teams of Google’s Project Zero security teams. They had selected Galaxy S6 Edge since it is a decent example of a recently released high-profile Android smartphone.

Wonder Material Could Harvest Energy from Thin Air

Graphene – Most Innovative Advance in Battery Technology

Claims for new battery technology have been all over the place since the development of lead acid battery for over 150 years. Researchers however, at Manchester University in UK, state that their discovery regarding the new material graphene would be the most innovative advance in battery technology.

As per study which had been published in the journal Nature, graphene membranes could be utilised in sieving hydrogen gas from the atmosphere, an improvement which could make way for electric generators powered by air.

Post-doctoral researchers in the project, Dr Sheng Hu commented that it seems extremely simple and promising since graphene can be produced in square metre sheets and they hope that it would find its way to commercial fuel cells sooner than later.

At the core of technology is the physical properties of graphene which is an element having the same atomic assembly as the lead which is present in the household pencil. Graphene already very popular as a technological game changer, however was isolated in 2004 by a group from Manchester University ledby Andrew Geim and Kostya Novoseloy, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery in 2010.

Lightest/Thinnest/Strongest Harder than Diamond

Graphene is the lightest, thinnest and the strongest object obtained and the first two dimensional crystal known to science. Moreover, it is harder than diamond and about 200 times stronger than steel. Being transparent and flexible in conducting electricity much better than copper, this substance is set to transform from smartphones and wearable technology to green technology as well as medicine.

Known for its barrier qualities, it is about an atom thick and more than a million times thinner than a human hair. With the latest discovery, graphene is smart for probable usage in proton conducting membranes that is at the heart of modern fuel cell technology.

Fuel cell tends to function by using hydrogen and oxygen for fuel, converting the chemical energy created by its input into electricity directly. But present membrane that tend to discrete protons essential for the process are comparatively incompetent, enabling contamination in the crossover of fuel.

Hydrogen Acquired Entirely from Fossil Fuels

Graphene membranes can boost their durability as well as efficiency. The team discovered that the protons passed through the ultra-thin crystals with relative ease especially at increased temperatures as well as with the utilization of platinum based catalyst covered on the membrane film.

The amazing feature of the research is that the membranes could be utilised in extracting hydrogen from the atmosphere wherein the scientist believed that such harvesting could be joined with fuel cells in creating a mobile electric generator fuelled by hydrogen present in the air. According to the scientist, it is a simple setup when one knows how it should work.

You could put a hydrogen containing gas on one side and apply a small electric current to collect pure hydrogen on the other side and this hydrogen could then be burned in a fuel cell. They had worked with small membranes and had achieved the flow of hydrogen tough tiny.

 However, this is the initial state of discovery and the paper is to bring about an awareness of the prevailing prospects, among experts. Further efforts would be needed to build up and test hydrogen harvesters and presently hydrogen is acquired entirely from fossil fuels.

Hypersonic Rocket Engine Could 'Revolutionize' Air Travel

Breakthrough Aerospace Engine Technology – Revolutionize Air Travel

BAE Systems, British aerospace giant, is staking big on hypersonic travel, something which its prospective new partner states could be a reality in two decades. BAE has plans of investing around £20.6 million in a 20% stake of a UK based engineering firm, Reaction Engines which has invented a breakthrough aerospace engine technology that could probably be utilised for a new generation of reusable space vehicle as well as a commercial offshoot that could revolutionize air travel.

BAE’s website states that the partnership would enable alliance on SABRE technology of Reaction Engines, a new aerospace engine class which tends to combine jet as well as rocket technologies with the capabilities of transforming hypersonic flight and the economics of space access.

Together with hypersonic air travel, Reaction Engines’ managing director, Mark Thomas informed CNN’s Richard Quest that reusable space plane which takes off like an aircrafts is said to be one of the concepts which would be made available by this engine. SABRE – Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine, is an air-breathing engine that tends to use ultra-lightweight heat exchangers in order to cool off very hot air streams like those faced at hypersonic speeds

Technology Empowers Aircraft

According to Reaction Engines conveyed in a press release on its website, the technology tends to empower the aircraft to operate at speeds of up to five times the speed of sound or fly directly into Earth orbit, easily. With its capacity to utilise atmospheric oxygen for thrust, the engine’s design denies the need for heavy fuel reserves on boards thereby reducing the weight of a SABRE powered vehicle.

As per BAE’s statement, it says that SABRE can also transition to a rocket mode enabling spaceflight at speed up to orbital velocity or 25 times the speed of sound. The design has been described as an absolutely revolutionary, visionary concept by Thomas.

He has clarified that `SABRE is a rocket engine at heart but can breathe air whenever it is in the atmosphere and hence it is not essential to carry so much liquid oxygen on board the vehicle. It enormously decreases the weight and one can put that in vehicle design capability or payload’.

Advanced Heat Exchanger – Ease Hypersonic Air Temperature

The fundamental aspect of the engine’s design is the company’s advanced heat exchanger that tends to ease hypersonic air temperature by more than a thousand degrees in a hundredth of a second. The company is said to be focusing on enhancing the engine and according to Thomas, BAE would be helping in translating its potential into a range of practical applications.

BAE’s anticipated 20% investment is awaiting the approval of Reaction Engine’s shareholders. Reaction Engines had announced that it would partner with defense multinational BAE System in a working collaboration in order to create its supersonic plane SABRE. BAE had purchased 20% of Reaction Engines offering the strategic investment essential in accelerating the project, a form of jet rocket engine hybrid.

As per Reaction Engines, driving Sabre seems to be a brand new form of aerospace engine that enable the operation of planes from a standstill on the landing strip to speeds that is five times more than the speed of sound in the atmosphere.

Google Aims to Begin Drone Package Deliveries In 2017

Google – Alphabet Inc. – Delivering Packages through Drone

According to the executive in charge of Google’s drone effort, the new holding company for Google, Alphabet Inc. is expected to start delivering packages to consumers through drone somewhere in 2017. The leader for Google’s Project Wing, David Vos, stated that the company is in talks with the Federal Aviation Administration together with other stakeholders with regards to the setting up of an air traffic control system for drones which would be utilising cellular as well as Internet technology in coordinating unmanned aerial vehicle flights at altitudes of below 500 feet.

He informed the audience at an air traffic control convention near Washington that their goal was to have commercial business up and running in 2017. Among the growing number of companies intending to make package delivery by drone a reality are Google and Amazon.com Inc.

However drone deliveries are not expected to take flight till the FAA final rules for commercial drone operation which are predicted early next year. Two years after the research first started, Project Wing had been announced with YouTube video, in August 2014, showing a field test of its most practical prototype in Australia.

New Kinds & Shape of Vehicle As Project Develops

The prototype flown in Australia at 1.5 meters wide and 0.8 meters tall, shares the same design of four propeller quad copter as popular consumer drones. However the company informs that consumers could expect to see new kinds and shapes of vehicle as the project develops.

Project Wings has conducted testing with NASA inside United States. Co-chair of FAA task force, Vos, charged with coming up with drone registry, stated that a system for identifying drone operators as well as keeping UAV away from the other aircraft can be set up within a period of 12 months. He stated that they are much on an operation function with the FAA and working with the small UAV community together with the aviation community in moving things along.

He is of the belief that they can accomplish a lot in the next 3, 6, 12 months and are hoping to get some strong support in making this happen. He narrated that a drone registry which the Obama administration expects to set in place by December 20, would be a leading step to a system which would utilise wireless telecommunications as well as Internet technology comprising of cellphone application in identifying drones and keeping UAV clear of other aircrafts as well as controlled airspace.

Possibility of Controlling Class G

He also said that Google will like to view low altitude `Class G’ airspace stamped out for drones, stating that it would keep UAC free from most of the manned aircraft besides low flying helicopters while permitting drones to fly over highly populated locations.

He added that there seems a lot that can be done in this market space. He informed that the FAA together with the other stakeholders are on the lookout for possibility of controlling Class G airspace through, for profit airspace services providers that would be utilising wireless communication in order to co-ordinate drone flights and link with the air traffic control system for the manned aircraft.

Google Will Now Write Email Replies For You

Google’s Smart Reply – Inbox Email Service

Google has recently announced that its Inbox email service would be capable of composing simple replies for its users starting soon. The `Smart Reply’ function would predict which of the emails could be answered with a short reply and thereafter write and present some probable replies for the user to choose from.

So far the most notable example has been Google’s 6 year old project creating cars which can be driven without human being steering the wheel. Software engineer, Balint Miklos had written in a blog post that for instance when Smart Reply had been tested at Google, a common proposition in the workplace was `I love you’ and due to their feedback, Smart Reply is SFW.

Probably because a machine seems to be a co-opting means of communication which earlier needed effort and emotion from the human brain, the update is for Inbox only and not Gmail. If the user has a Gmail account, they could sign up for Inbox, though they may not have to do so.

A spokeswoman for Google had confirmed to HuffPost that it would only work on Inbox’s iOS and Android app though not the desktop version.

Potential to Compose Replies Automatically – Natural Evolution for Service

Three types of options would be offered as reply prior to it being sent across and the response selected would help Google’s computer to learn which one would work best. Google hopes that its new `smart reply’ choice would be particularly famous when people tend to check their emails on smartphone with smaller, touch-screen keyboards.

 This latest feature is available to all consumers who tend to use the free version of Inbox and the more than 2 million businesses that pay for Google’s suite of application developed for work. Inbox which was initially introduced last year was planned to sort through the email and present it to you in a much more convenient way.

For instance it can identify which of the emails are promotions from companies, or reminders for yourself etc. It’s potential to compose replies automatically is a natural evolution for service which has already proficient at processing the messages.

Built on Two Artificial `Neural Networks’

Google has informed that the feature will be made available on the English language version of its Inbox through Gmail app. The replies, though may be simple, a post from Greg Corrado, senior scientist at Google had explained how the software relates to the machine learning tools which Google has been utilising across several of its services in comprehending and forming natural language sentences.

Smart Reply is said to be built on two artificial `neural networks’ a software which tends to mimics the structure of the human brain which Google has trained to comprehend natural language. Instead of having Google engineers to craft rules on how to reply to the emails, the neural network tends to learn by scanning the contents of thousands of emails.

Smart Reply adopts two neural networks where one is to interpret the meaning of an incoming email and the other to form a reply. Corrado wrote that these systems generalise better and handle completely new inputs more gracefully than brittle; rule based system could ever do. He further added that early test of the software had provided sets of responses which seem to be same to each other and so Smart Reply had to be attuned to offer responses with different semantic intents’.

3D Knitting Machines will be in Every Home

Knitting had once been the domain of grannies in bygone days, but now it has gone high tech and will soon be the next big thing in the maker world. 3D knitting as known as the tech version had been inspired by the 3D printing revolution, aiming a goal to be the one piece of manufacturing technology in all homes. It makes clothes and not objects and has a great advantage over 3D printing since it has several uses.

Everyone seems to wear clothes and is always on the look for changes and updates moving with the latest trend. Another advantage of 3D printing is that it is reusable. For coarser knits, garments could be un-knitted if one does not like the ways it may look or if one is just bored with it, leaving you with the option of turning it into some other alternative.

Three dimensional knitting machines are made available and seem to be on the rise. One such example is the OpenKnit which can be built from a kit and is a part of a manufacturing ecosystem which comprises of a software interface together with digital hub to share designs. OpenKnit already seems to be having a huge global community increasing the platform and restating the hardware as well as software.

Open Source Approach to Wearable Technology

As in the cases of all successful open source projects, this too will progress and issue new and unexpected version in 2015. For over 20 years, commercial 3D knitting machines have been operative, though they are created for established mass production.

The open source knitting community, in contrast would be changing the way clothes will be designed and made, creating new types of clothing especially by assimilating various types of fibres in the knitting. These would be by way of electrically conducting threads. On doing so, the technology would be kick-starting an open source approach to a wearable technology, with embedded sensors together with improved function, which commercially had been slow in taking off.

 In order to comprehend the capabilities of home 3D knitting machines, one needs to consider how the sewing machine that was presented in the 19th century had changed completely the way clothes were designed, made and repaired. This reduced the price of clothing, creating inventions in garment making and fashion. Ultimately small business gave way to the mass-produced clothes manufacturers which tend to control the present markets.

Inexpensive Modified Garments Designed to Fit

The 3D knitting machine tends to now promise another way of commotion. Since each one of us tends to be of different shape and size, 3D knitting provides something which the commercial clothes manufacturers do not offer, inexpensive modified garments designed to fit a person.

This is possible with the help of digital scanning technologies and design software which can resize the clothing designs to fit an individual. Since these garments are created at home, one could instantly try them on and if any alteration is needed, they can be redone.

Besides this, due to the power of social media, one has the opportunity of sharing the patterns and designs easily and readily where the potential of 3D knitting technology tend to become clear.

Facebook Adds 'Reactions' to Like Button Feature

Facebook Adds New Expressions & Animated Emojis

Recently, Facebook users in Ireland and Spain could express a fuller choice of emotions online with a group of new expressions and animated emojis. They comprise of a throbbing heart for `love, a fuming face for `anger’ a teary eyed for `sad’, a laughing `Haha’, a surprised `wow and closed eyes smile for `Yay’ and the new feature is called Reactions by Facebook – FB, Tech 30.

Facebook product manager Chris Cox has stated in an announcement recently that they had studied which comments and reaction were commonly and universally expressed across Facebook and then worked to design an experience around that which was elegant and fun. He added that as one can see, it is not a `dislike’ button though they hope it would address the spirit of request more broadly.

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, about a month back had announced that the company was near to testing a `Dislike’ button but did not give any specification on what format it would take. He stated that though a `dislike’ button has been one of the most asked for features, he did not desire to turn Facebook into aspace where people voted posts up or down.

Give Users Ways to Express Empathy on Facebook

According to him, the bigger goal was to give the user ways to express empathy on Facebook.He clarified that if one is sharing something that is sad, if it is something in present event, such as the refugee crisis, or if a family member has passed away, it may not feel comfortable to `like’ that post.

Facebook states that it would use tests of the Reactions feature in Ireland and Spain and improve the option with the expectations to give all users the capability of say `Yay’ and `Haha’ soon. Mark Zuckerberg, in September had made some waves when he had hinted that Facebook was working on a way of expanding its famous Like button, not with the addition of the `dislike’ option, but by making it more sympathetic, expressing sadness together with other emotions.

Facebook is rolling out `Reactions’ a set of six emoji which would sit alongside the earlier thumbs-up to enable user to respond instantly with anger, love, laughter, happiness, shock and sadness.

Reactions - On Mobile/Desktop Versions of the App, New Feed

Facebook has informed that the pop-up feature would start first as a test in only two markets, in Spain and Ireland prior to its decision of tweaking it and/or how to roll it out further. Adam Mosseri, director of product of Facebook gives his reason for these two countries stating that it was because both the countries have large national user bases without extensive international friend networks and work better as closed test groups.

Ireland is English speaking and Spain enables Facebook to test on how well the wordless emoji tend to play with non-English users. In September,Josh Constine, in the wake of reports which Facebook seemed to be working on a `dislike’ button had foretold that Facebook would offer instead a small section of emojis identical to the reactions buttons Path that was offered in 2012.

 It turned out that Facebook had also filed a patent for how these types of emoji response feature would work and look. The new set of reactions is said to appear on mobile as well as desktop versions of the app and on all post in the News Feed. These could be from friends, pages/account one tends to follow or advertisers.

Hackers Can Silently Control Siri from 16 Feet Away

Radio Waves – Silently Trigger Voice Commands

A group of French researcher have observed that though Siri may be your personal assistant, it also listens to other voices and obeys the orders of any hacker who tend to talk to her and in some cases, which silently transmit commands through radio as far as 16 feet distance.

A pair of researches at the ANSSI, which is a French government agency dedicated to information security have revealed that with the use of radio waves it could silently trigger voice commands on any Android phone or iPhone having Google Now or Siri enabled with a pair of headphones together with microphone plugged into its jack.

They cleverly hack those headphones’ cord as an antenna, manipulating its wire to convert secret electromagnetic waves into electrical signals which tend to appear on the operating system of the phone to be audio coming from the user’s microphone.

Without conversing, the hacker can utilise that radio attack to tell Siri or Google Now to make calls and send texts, dial the hacker’s number in turning the phone into an eavesdropping device, send spam and phishing messages through email, Facebook or Twitter and send the phone’s browser to a malware site.

Electromagnetic Waves – Laptop Running Open-Source Software GNU Radio

The two French researchers, Jose Lopes Esteves and Chaouki Kasmi have written in a paper published by the IEEE, that the possibility of inducing parasitic signals on the audio front-end-of-voice-command-capable devices could give rise to critical security impacts.

 Or as Vincent Strubel, director of their research group at ANSSI puts it in a simple manner that the sky is the limit here and everything that one can do through the voice interface, can be done remotely and discreetly through electromagnetic waves.

The work of the researchers which was at first presented at the Hack in Paris conference in summer, though received little notice outside a few French websites, utilizes a relatively simple collection of equipment.It tends to produce its electromagnetic waves with a laptop that runs the open-source software GNU Radio, a USRP software defined radio, an amplifier and an antenna.

Minimum Form – Fit in a Backpack/Powerful Form – Fit in Car, Van

According to the researchers, in its minimum form, it could fit in a backpack and their setup has a range of about six and a half feet while in a powerful form which tends to require huge batteries and could only basically fit in a car or van, the researchers state that they could extend the attack’s range to over 16 feet.

The researcher’s silent voice command hack however have some serious limitations and it can only work on phones which have microphones enabled headphones or ear buds plugged into them. Several of the Android phones do not tend to have Google Now enabled from their lockscreen or have it set only to respond to commands when it recognizes the voice of the user.

 iPhones tend to have Siri enabled from the lockscreen through default; however the new version of Siri for iPhone 6s validates the voice of the owner as Google Now does. The other limitation is that attentive users would be likely to see that the phone has been receiving mysterious voice command and cancel them before the activity has been completed.

Without the features of security, Kasmi and Esteves suggest that any smartphone’s voice features can represent security responsibility, either from an attacker with the phone in hand or that which is hidden in the next room.

The New Hendo Hoverboard Is a Warm-Up for Elon’s Hyperloop

Hendo – Bulky Hoverboard – Smoother Design/Enhanced Controls

Arx Pax has raised more than $500,000 Kickstarter dollars for building Hendo, a bulky hoverboard which tend to lift its riders a few inches above the ground. The updated Hendo 2.0 would be offering a smoother design with enhanced controls.

The official unveiling of the hoverboard was October 21 and Arx Pax had been sharing several details regarding the Hendo 2.0, its improvements prior to the unveiling of the finished product. Several of its enhancements are design related. Co-founder and CEO, Greg Henderson of Arx Pax explains that one of the things they have realized was that with the first generation hoverboard, they have made a large deck and that gave people the opportunity to put their feet in the wrong place.

This in turn was the cause of several hoverboard rides that felt bit more wobbly than the sci-fi future which many speculated. Henderson of Hendo 2.0 has said that they are utilising visual cues in making it to operate like a skateboard and have a somewhat longer version, a 36 inch board about 10 inches wide with front and rear kick tails. This could be used to shift the weight around more efficiently like how one would on an analog deck.

Employs Traditional Skateboard Trucks

Moreover, the Hendo 2.0 also tends to employ traditional skateboard trucks, the part which connects the wheels as well as the bearings to the deck. However in this case, instead of the wheels you tend to get electromagnetic repulsion to enable the rider to get customized to the experience of their choice.

Henderson explains that if one prefers to turn right on skateboard you could lean to the right and the trucks rotate slightly where that little bit of rotation tends to change the force vectors. Skateboarders comprehend how truck function and so Kickstarter backers would be able to adapt them and change the trucks to their fancy either for softer or harder turning radiuses.

This seems like a foremost progress over the original Hendo. Besides this the battery life is an improvement though it is a low bar and last year’s Hendo last for only a few minutes prior to petering out

Arx Pax – Capabilities of making Technology Work

Hendersons visualizes hoverboards would one day occupy the same levels of American Pastimes as the electric GoKart course or maybe a multi-use X-Games style set-up. He states with regards to one potential business model, that a hoverboard park franchiser would install a park and you would have a layer of conductive material though it would still be functional for BMX bikes and skateboards.

Henderson had used Hendo, last year, to direct attention to his company’s fundamental technology, patents which would permit everything from earthquake resistant building foundations to super-villain weapons. This year the list spread to one specific though far flung target. He is of strong belief of Hyperloop and a much stronger believer that Arx Pax has the capabilities of making the technology work.

In the meanwhile, Arx Pax has successfully demonstrated its technology in a Hyperloop environment though on a 1/12 scale. Approval from SpaceX for Arx Pax’s Magnetic Field Architecture has also come through, for use in the competition which means that it could probably show up in various proofs-of-concepts. Henderson, though not surprisingly is convinced that it would be also be what would power the ultimate design

Exploride - Turn Your Car into a Smart Car

Exploride – Cutting Edge Display/Gesture Recognition Technology

Exploride, a combination of cutting edge display with gesture recognition technology offers hands free access to maps, text, calls, notifications, music as well as on-board analytic of a car. With this, one can get a safe, smart and connecting driving experience.

Exploride is a heads-up display one could use in any car, similar to a heads-up display which tends to come preinstalled, it provides access to maps, music and much more without the need of taking your focus off the road. It also tends to feature gesture controls that are much safe rather than reaching over to press the screen.

The maps are powered by Google Maps and users can stream music through Pandora and Spotify. However it tends to have its own app which enables the user to access files from the cloud and a dash cam to record anyone trying to key the car.

Moreover it also provides diagnostic such as engine health, fuel status and much more doubling as 4G hotspot enabling passengers to get online with the use of Wi-Fi. Its 6 inch display is transparent and does not seem to be too distracting. One could swipe up, down, left and right in order to control it or could speak and use voice controls.

Pairs with Phone & Car

Inside one will find a quad core processor 2GB RAM together with Bluetooth 4.0 LE and also a 12v multi-USB adaptor with high output speakers. Exploride is a dash mounted head display which tends to pair with the phone and car, delivering a great amount of information and functions through a translucent screen which does not block the field of vision.

Besides this, the Exploride does much more than just display driving directions streamed from the phone. Though it can pair with the phone it tends to rely on its own 4G LTE connectivity for things such as Spotify, Pandora, Google Maps as well as car accessible cloud storage.

It also comes with Bluetooth capable OBD adaptor which tends to plug directly in your car that enables the Exploride to display diagnostic data, fuel consumption, tire pressure etc., wherein the specification may tend to differ based on the car’s computer potential of reporting.

Supports Gesture Based Controls

Besides all this the Exploride also supports gesture based controls for answering calls and skipping tracks and also has a 3 megapixel dash cam to capture sky-streaking meteors and other proceedings. One can get a SIM card and service from any GSM carrier, as the Exploride will ship unlocked and on selecting one, the gadget could serve as a W-Fi hotspot for all in the car.

 Moreover it can also tap your phone’s data plan, if desired. With regards to storage, it has an 8GB, adequate for 4.4 hours of 720p dash cam footage. The Exploride companion app is said to be available for Android and iOS.

Within five days into its crowdfunding campaign, Exploride has already crossed its $100,000 funding target. Sponsors can avail the featured perk comprising of a full kit – Exploride, OBD adaptor, charger and 5GB of storage for a year, for $269 with $20 shipping or $30 if the user is outside the US. The estimated delivery is said to be in January 2016.

Google allows you to explore Street View in virtual reality

Street View Mapping Service – Virtual Reality App

An announcement has been made by Google that its famous Street View mapping service is made available as virtual reality app, enabling individuals to discover real world scenes in 3D with the use of Cardboard headset. Google has informed that its virtual reality experience – Google Cardboard is made available in 39 languages to more than 100 countries for Android and iOS.

The developers’ docs is said to be in 10 languages now, to make the experience of virtual reality more worldwide. Google Cardboard which was first released in 2014 is considered to be a virtual reality headset which can be made from scratch with the use of a Smartphone, a pair of clear lenses together with a rubber band and some Velcro and comes at a price of about £10.

Earlier available only for Android phones, Google had launched a software development kit – SDK in May for iOS together with new educational programme known as Expeditions, enabling kids to go on immersive virtual journeys to the bottom of the sea or the surface of Mars with the use of the Cardboard.

Partnered with Toy Maker Mattel - Incorporate Virtual Reality Cardboard Technology

In February, Google has also partnered with toy maker Mattel to incorporate its virtual reality Cardboard technology in the company’s iconic View Master stereoscope, This permitted users to take virtual `field trips’ and discover popular areas, landmarks, planets, nature and much more in a 360° `photospheres’.

The app – New Street virtual reality app that is made available on iOS as well as Android is anticipated to bring the world a bit closer to everyone as per Brandon Wuest, Google software engineer, enabling individuals to locate areas closer to home.

Mr Wuest had mentioned in a blog post that Street View as an introduction is a part of a larger update to the Cardboard SDK, projected to overcome of the issues described by the developers. He said that the update contains major overhaul of the sensor fusion algorithms which tends to integrate the signals from the gyroscope as well as the accelerometer.

These improvements considerably tend to decrease drift, particularly on phones with lower quality sensors. For the past year, virtual reality has been enjoying a recovery, after Oculus VR in 2014 bought by Facebook and Sony, Samsung and HTC had all launched their own headsets.

Virtual Reality – A Mind Blowing Experience

At CCS Insight, analysts envisage that 2.5m virtual as well as augmented reality devices would be sold this year which would rise over 24m in 2018. The company had stated that though gaming is available for virtual reality devices, entertainment, video and user generated content would also be driving adoption.

 Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight had stated the most of the consumer tend to find virtual reality a mind blowing experience, for the first time they make attempt to try it. They are of the belief that it has tremendous potential and is not just about expensive high end devices like the Oculus Rift. For only some few dollars, consumers could dip their toe in the water with an inexpensive cardboard holder for a well-matched Smartphone.

They expect this democratisation of the technology to provide growth not only in affluent, mature markets but in emerging markets as well, where the Smartphone penetration seems stronger than ever.

This Algorithm Monitors Twitter for Fraud in Real Time

Program to Search Twitter in Real Time- Doubtful Links in Tweets

Social media sites have now become prone to fraudsters in alluring unwary users having links to financial fraud websites. In order to avoid this, an undergraduate at Harvard University, Daniel Rothchild had created a program which tends to search Twitter in real time, automatically for doubtful links appearing in tweets.

 As per results circulated in the Journal of Technology and Science, his program discovered over 70,000 suspicious tweets within 24 hours with about 56% of the tested links considered to be deceitful. The most tweeted deceitful link to a purported weight loss program had been tweeted over 12,000 times where all of the top 10 most tweeted links were said to be fake.

A 2014 survey, a joint project by the UK government, a Get Safe Online initiative, the National Crime Agency and the telecoms regulator Ofcom and others, observed that about 51% of Britons who had been surveyed were the victims of identity theft, hacking or abuse on social media and the losses from online fraud amounted to £670m a year.

In several cases, fraudsters tend to entice the users to websites they may have set up for the purpose of collecting their personal or financial information to present them with advertisement which tend to make deceptive offers.

Social Media – Tool to Connect with Victims

Considering the massive growth in popularity of social media, fraudsters tend to use social media as new tool to connect with the victims. There are various advantages to proactively find and monitor fraudulent websites.

At first, data, collected in this manner is unbiased by whether the user of various kind of fraud intend to report or not. There are some frauds which are under reported with many targeting specific demographics and those which are reported do not necessarily represent those who seem to be heavily targeted. Secondly, fraudsters often put up, take down or move their fraudulent websites on short timescales, probably to dodge detection.

Monitoring social media data constantly could enable consumer protection groups to be conscious of fraudulent websites quicker than otherwise. Lastly having a complete record of deceitful activity on social media could show evidence to the law enforcement while pursuing fraudster trying to conceal the extent of their fraud.

However, Rothchild’s procedure tends to turn cyber-criminals’ tools against them to proactively find areas of criminal activity before they get started.

Create Browser Extension to Alert Users

In order to help user in protecting themselves, Rothchild recommend that it would be possible in creating a browser extension which would alert users when they click on a link through Twitter which tends to be automatically identified by the tool as being suspicious.

He wrote a Python script to locate for keywords in Twitter’s real time stream and the keywords were termed loosely connected with common forms of fraud. These included muscle, diet, acai, cambogia, weight, lost fast and miracle pill that were taken from a report on online fraud that was published by the US regulatory body Federal Trade Commission.

They identified many terms that could have be associated with fraudulent offer. They included diet, exercise, weight, weight-loss, prize, lottery, sweepstakes and winner.

The precise option of keywords did not matter since it could be swapped to utilise any keywords and would be suspected of being connected with fraud. The procedure searched for precise links tweeted strangely large number of times, which indicated that a bot rather than a human was behind it.

Tesla's Cars Can Drive Themselves Starting Tomorrow

Tesla – Car’s Self Driving Features

Tesla recently announced at a press event, the release of version 7.0 of the Model S software, which is a broadly expected new build that permits the car’s self-driving features. The capabilities had first been announced last year while the essential sensors had been added to all Model S cars which had rolled off the assembly line since last September.

However, Tesla wanted more time to amplify the systems which it has been testing this year. The 7.0 release would start soon in the US on a rolling basis and would be proceeding to Europe and Asia soon pending regulatory approval.

This does not seem to be a completely autonomous vehicle like that of Google car, but the main feature is what Tesla calls Autosteer that tends to keep the car in its present lane once they are already on the road, managing speed as well as distance from the car ahead.

Elon Must, on the call, was cautious to call Autosteer as a `beta’ feature wherein drivers were instructed to keep their hands on the wheel even though the function was engaged. He commented that they want people to be quite careful, while admitting that some people tend to take their hands off the wheel regardless and that they do not advise that.

Features - Auto Lane Change

A forthcoming version 7.1 would add the capability of sending the car off to a garage on its own and come back to pick you up which is another feature informed, when Musk had announced autopilot potentials last year. The Tesla in fact instructs drivers to keep their hands on the wheel while the car is steering for them and helps to keep liability squarely out of their court.

He comments that if there is an accident, the driver of the car is responsible, while also observing that there would ultimately be a time where self-driving vehicles would be safe and reliable adequately to abandon drivers of that liability completely.

The other 7.0 features Auto Lane Change which would automatically move to the nearby lane by tapping the turn signal together with the Autopark which tends to scan constantly for available parking around the car.

System Comprises of Four Sensor Categories

When it locates a space for park, the cartends to park it on its own. Besides this, there is also the Automatic Emergency Steering and Side Collision Warning, which utilises the ultrasonic sensors to move the car away from risk while cautioning the driver whenever it is essential.

The system comprises of four sensor categories on the car namely forward radar, forward-facing camera, 360 degree ultrasonic sensors and the GPS accompanied with Tesla’s high resolution navigation maps which trail the individual lanes and features of the roadways.

These types of sensors are found on several modern vehicles that are equipped with semi-autonomous features such as lane keep and dynamic cruise control. Tesla is constantly uploading real world sensor data from 7.0 equipped vehicles to home base which Musk calls it `fleet learning technology’.

This means that the autopilot potentials need to be theoretically more reliable over a period of time and the functions will improve with passage of time, even without a firmware update since the car is accessing Tesla’s high-res maps.

How to Resize Partition under Windows 10?

If you are on the lookout for a software that can help you to convert dynamic disk to basic and you are on Windows 10, then you are in luck. Come and meet EaseUS Partition Master Free, a partition windows 10 application that you can use for free. In fact, this partition magic download app is even worth more than its paid competitors.

This hugely popular disk management software is currently being used by more than 30 million users out there. It is even highly recommended by the software experts such as CNET and PCWorld as one of the best all-in-one solution for all of your disk management, partition recovery, cloning and convert dynamic disk to basic stuffs.

This partition windows 10 actually comes with a whole lot of other features such as being able to easily create, delete, resize, move, merge, split, wipe or format partitions in order to make better use of your hard drive or solid state drive. So go on ahead and get yourself a bigger capacity hard drive as this partition magic download is ready to serve you.

Next, it allows you extend your existing NTFS system partition without having to reboot your PC and saves you all the hassle. This is indeed a good thing to have, as it minimizes downtime and maximizes your performance. Or if you are running on the older FAT file system, perhaps it is about time to convert it to the newer NTFS file system using this application.

If you are running out of space on one partition, instead of to convert dynamic disk to basic - you can now safely merge two adjacent partitions into a bigger one without having to deal with any data loss.
As mentioned earlier, it also allows you to convert dynamic disk to basic with ease. And not forgetting that it can also convert your primary partition to a logical partition and vice versa.

If you going to be using a hard drive that is larger than 2 Terabyte, then it is good to know that it can convert from MBR to GPT and you are set to go.

Two other features which you don’t normally expect from a partition windows 10 software is that, you can use it to create WinPE rescue disk so that you can boot up a computer which is sick. Finally, this partition magic download application can speed up your computer with its disk defragmenter.

You don’t have to worry much about compatibility as it supports all kinds of hardware RAID, removable storage device, hard disk, GPT disk and FAT/NTFS/EXT2/EXT3 file system. It even works on both BIOS-based and the latest UEFI-based hardware without any issues.

The thing with EaseUS Partition Master Free is, not only is it free - but you are getting just about everything that you are going to need from a decent disk management software. It makes it very easy to convert dynamic disk to basic, and the good thing is that it is also Windows 10-ready. You know that you will be getting a good deal with these partition windows 10 applications, so go on ahead and proceed with this partition magic download and start using all of its features.

Honda's 'Wander' concepts preview the future of urban mobility

Honda comes up with ‘wander’ concepts for its upcoming personal micro vehicles range

Honda has embraced the ‘wander’ concepts for its new range of mobile vehicles which will offer free movement to the consumers. The ‘wander’ concept aims at bringing minimal number of controls along with the presence of augmented reality system which will be broadcasted on the dashboard and windscreen to offer more freedom to the consumers. This design is revolutionary in itself as it will allow an opportunity to the consumers to maneuver their vehicles vehicle among the pedestrians.

Honda is bringing a ‘wander walker’ at the Tokyo motor show which happens to be a cutting edge scooter possessing leather wrapped handles, small display and a wooden trim all around and a Wander Stand which is futuristic car with joystick at the dashboard instead of steering wheel.

These micro concept vehicles offer excellent maneuverability and at the part of Honda it wouldn’t require the extreme kind of modification which normal car series does.

Wander concept vehicle to provide more flexibility in terms of design and movement

The wander concept first car is named as Wander Stand which will easily allow two people to sit in it. It just possesses two set of wheels, swing door at both the sides and design happens to offer an ultra compact look. Honda had cleverly placed a joystick in the car instead of steering for more effective driving and maneuvering ability. Dashboard is touch enables and offers to display a wide number of information which aids in driving and it can easily sync with the Smartphone.

This car windshield has been equipped with the layer of augmented reality which not just offers information about the location but also renders 3D images of it. Console offers a great way to view the speed, distance and other information which will aid in the commuting from one place to another.

This particular scooter is designed to provide a great way to commute through the crowded streets and therefore it is equipped with a Virtual Reality screen which offers quick warning to evade any kind of danger.

Much better alternative than bikes

A bike is designed with two wheels and requires a balance creation by the rider to keep it afloat and to enjoy the ride at remarkable pace. But Honda concept scooter named as Wander Walker will possess four wheels of which the front pair will have the ability to turn at extreme angles. People will easily be able to perform a perfect 90 degrees maneuvering which will making it easier to park it in extremely tiny space available at various places. Furthermore Honda has even provided the option of turning this scooter sideways with the presence of Seat Turn buttons at the console.

This scooter offers augmented reality system which brings detailed navigation information to the driver in 3D format on the dashboard. The console present in the scooter can easily be synced with the Smartphone. Honda has used a honeycomb structure in the wheel along with a thin outer-layer of rubber which makes this vehicle very suitable for pathways.

How Robots Can Learn New Tasks by Observing

Robot Training Academies – Aid Industrial Robots to Perform Difficult Chores

Robot `training academies’ could aid industrial robots to learn performing difficult chores by first, observing how humans tend to do it. It could probably take weeks in reprogramming an industrial robot to accomplish a complicated new job which would make retooling modern manufacturing route expensive and slow.

The development could speed up if robots were capable of learning how to perform a new task by observing others first. This is the idea behind the project which is in process at the University of Maryland, wherein researchers are training robots to be attentive students.

Yezhou Yang, a graduate student in the Autonomy, Robotics and Cognition Lab at the University of Maryland states that it is a robot training academy. They have asked an expert to show the robot a task and let the robot figure out most parts of sequences of things which need to be done and then fine tune things to make it work. The researchers at a recent conference in St. Louis had demonstrated a cocktail making robot which tends to use the approaches they work on.

Two Armed Industrial Machine Robot – Rethink Robotics

A two armed industrial machine robot, made by a Boston based company known as Rethink robotics, had watched a person mix drink by pouring liquid from many bottles into a jug and then copied these actions, clutching bottles in the proper order prior to pouring the precise quantities into a jug.

Yang performed the task with Yiannis Aloimonos and Cornelia Fermuller, who were the two professors of computer science at the University of Maryland. The approach is said to comprise of training a computer system to link specific actions of the robot with video footage portraying the performance of people with various tasks.

 For instance, a recent paper from the group portrayed that a robot can learn how to pick various objects by utilising two differentsystems on observing thousands of instructional YouTube videos wherein one system studies to recognize various object while the other identifies various types of grip.

System of Learning Adopted – Advanced Artificial Neural Network

Observing many YouTube video could be time consuming, however the learning technique seems to be much more efficient than programing a robot in managing various different matters and enabling the robot to handle new object.

The system of learning adopted in gripping work tends to include advanced artificial neural network which has envisaged great progress recently and are now being utilised in several areas of robotics. Researchers are coordinating with many manufacturing companies comprising of electronics business as well as car makers in adapting the technology to be used in factories.

 The companies are looking out for ways to quicken the process wherein engineers reprogram the machines. Yang is of the opinion that at several companies it tends to make a month and a half or more to reprogram a robot. So what would be the current AI potentials that can be used in shortening this span to half?

The project tends to reflect two styles in robotics, while one is to find new approaches in learning and the other is robots working in closeness with people. The Maryland researchers like the other group wishes to connect actions to language in improving the ability of robots to analyse spoken or written instructions.

Toyota Unveils the FCV Plus, a Multifunctional Hydrogen Electricity Concept Car

Toyota is all set to boost its environment friendly range of vehicles by bringing in dedicated hydrogen electricity based concept car. Toyota is utilizing the concept of ‘FCV plus’ wherein it will be using compressed hydrogen for its upcoming concept car. This ‘FCV Plus’ concept will allow it to use highly efficient and energy rich compressed hydrogen which can easily be generated from a much wider range if raw materials. It is extremely easier to store the compressed hydrogen within the car which will in turn provide the electricity for running the environmentally sustainable technological vehicle.

Understand the hydrogen car first

Hydrogen cars are nothing different from the electric car and the only difference between the two is the use of battery. Electric cars usually runs on the conventional lithium ion or nickel metal hydride while hydrogen car explicitly stores their electricity in the form o hydrogen which later gets converted in into electricity and utilized in the motors for running the car. Hydrogen cars offers a great way to use a completely environment friendly fuel i.e. hydrogen which offers no harmful exhaust emissions.

Consumers will easily be able to refuel their car with the hydrogen just like filling their present cars with the petrol or diesel. Furthermore hydrogen car doesn’t require users to charge their batteries and they can drive for as long as their hydrogen may last.

The futuristic Toyota concept car

Toyota concept car possess an ultra slim futuristic design which can easily four passengers with great comfort. The FCV Plus will possess a hydrogen tank which will help in generating the electricity from the hydrogen for driving the motors. It also possess the ability to harness the electricity directly from the hydrogen placed outside the car and it can help in providing a stable for the electric even at home and at other places. Toyota new concept car fuel cell stack can easily be used by the users as a electricity generating device which has been never heard of before. IN simple words this fuel stack not just help in running the car but it can provide electricity to the users for different purposes.

Features of the hydrogen powered car

Toyota had gone with an extremely compact design but it has sacrificed on the consumers comfort at all. The fuel stack has been carefully mounted between the front wheels while the hydrogen tank has been placed right behind the rear seat. This has made it easier to offers more space within the car even the ultra compact design.

Toyota has used an independent in wheel motors in the entire four wheel which helps in providing better control of the vehicle. This car creates an optimal weight balance by carefully placing the fuel stack and motors at different places and it also helps in offering a wide field of vision to the user. Lightweight shells are used throughout the exterior design to lend a futuristic look. Driver gets straightforward controls which is extremely easier to use and handle without much inconvenience at all.

Cash to Digital Payment Network

For Cash to Digital Payment Network, one could use the facility of Pay1 that strives to come up with solutions to key problems with remote payment for cash users as well as digital merchants. In the last four years, it has processed more than 917 Cr. payments via small retail, modern retail chains transforming the payment services for the unbanked individuals. Annually it processes 336 Cr. transactions and has established a healthy network nationally in offering comprehensible service to its consumers.

This has been possible due to its amazing transaction platform which is developed and handled internally by their team of skilled enthusiastic. They have brought about an immense change on this platform with their presence providing an improvement in recharge experience. Some of the benefits offered comprise of Mobile top-up, data recharge, DTH recharge, bill payment utilities, post-paid mobiles, bank to wallet, merchant to wallet and online merchant payment.

Established in 2010, this retail network is constantly on the move towards financial upliftment of the people in India supporting the lower class and the unbanked section of individuals. They have made it possible to access a technology which tends to deliver payments and transfer in real time.

Control Business in the Palm of Your Hand 

Moreover it also has Pan India presence covering more than 50 plus cities including tier 2 & 3 cities with network of 50,000 retail stores by making their services available through their channel partners. Partner with Pay1 and join them with the fastest growing recharge channel and multiple your income sources from a single business. Besides this one could also control the business from the palm of your hand with this mobile app.

With their excellent retail base, Pay1 tends to support entrepreneurs together with small business owners to become Channel partners or distributors. For retailers, it is a user friendly application with the provision of various language options, with app and web based recharge, immediate redressal of issues through app and updates via notification or SMS.

The option of digital payment mode for the different brand partners, online limit is made available through net banking, instant limit offered within 20 minutes with immediate transaction report and much more. The entire process of recharge takes place within 10 to 60 seconds.

Future Vision of Creating Deep Impression – Mobile World – POS/ATM

Users could locate a store in their area through the app. With the Pay1 wallet, members too can avail the opportunity of a recharge with a missed call and the need of utilising a debit or a credit card for the purpose of recharge could also be utilised by the user. This Online Recharge app supports all the Indian telecom operators such as Aircel, Airtel, Loop Mobile, MTS, Idea, BSNL, Reliance, Tata Docomo, Uninor, Vodafone and Videocon.

DTH operators namely Tata Sky, Dish TV, Videocon D2H, Aircel, Reliance Big TV and others, could also recharge with this possibility. Pay1 has a future vision in creating deep impression in the mobile world of POS or ATM areas which could alter their stores into mini ATMs, digitizing cash with the provision of access to banking and financial services to unbanked sectors in India.

They intend filling up the space of online payment via cash payment network for the non-digital fragment. They are keen in creating a huge rural network which would permit a powerful rural ecosystem for cash to digital payment and is the fastest and most secure recharge app available.

Microsoft Unveils its First Ever Laptop

Microsoft’s First Laptop Launch – The Microsoft Surface Book

Microsoft surprised the world recently with its first laptop launch– the Microsoft Surface Book. Microsoft, for the past few years had informed that its Surface tablets would replace the traditional laptops but the company now has a backup product.

 Ed Giaimo, senior lead on the Surface Book team informed CNNMoney at an event in New York that some people preferred this form factor. The Microsoft Surface Book can be utilised as a full powered laptop or a tablet and the display screen can also be snapped to the back of the keyboard to act like a clipboard, credits goes to the unique mechanical hinge. However, the Surface Book is not just another Surface table with a better keyboard.

The monitor comprises of the latest Intel Core i5 or i7 processor while the keyboard base has a graphic processing unit – GPU which tends to boost the performance of the laptop. Besides this, about three fourths of the battery life of the device is stored in the keyboard. Microsoft states that a fully charged battery could last for 12 hours. The Surface Book is said to be sturdy and the tablet portion of the laptop tends to weigh 1.6 pounds while the whole unit weighs around 3.5 pounds.

Sleek Detachable Device

The new laptop tends to target busy professions comprising of features which do not have the need of setting it up for utilisation. The Surface Book is a sleek detachable device which seeks to redefine the laptop. The 13.5 inch Surface Book would be going on sale on 26th October with pre-orders beginning soon and the base model would be priced at $1,499.

The Surface Book is said to be just one of the several Windows 10 products that was announced.Running on the latest Windows 10 with the combination of the latest processor technology, it gives a powerful engine for great workforce.

It also has a powerful memory with expandable internal storage which could be advantageous in file storage as well as speed browsing. Besides this, Microsoft also launched a new Surface Pro together with two Lumia smartphones.

The new Microsoft Surface Pro 4 seems to have a bigger display of 12.3 inches though it is the same size as the Surface Pro 3. The accompanying keyboard has been updated by Microsoft to include a fingerprint reader, bigger touchpad and an improved keyboard.

Stylus Upgraded/ Digital Eraser on the Other End

The stylus has also been upgraded. It has one year battery life, magnetically attaches to the Pro 4 and Surface Book and works with various pen tips. It also has a digital eraser on the other end. Lumia 950 and 950XL now are essentially like pocket sized Windows 10 computers.

Users can connect to a monitor, mouse and keyboard. Though Microsoft has made it clear that it seems to be serious in venturing into the hardware business, the PC market seems to be facing shipment failure. As per the International Data Corporation, worldwide PC, shipments amounted to around 71.0 million units in the third quarter of 2015.

The said volume signified a year on year failure of -10.8%, a little worse than predictions for a decline of -9.2%. Microsoft’s focus lies in `reinventing’ products and move people from needing Windows to choosing Windows to loving Windows according to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.

Composite Cement used to Frame Vonschloo Home Speakers

Loudspeakers of Composite Cement for Vonschloo

Estragon, Zurich based studio, had developed loudspeaker made of composite cement for vonschloo. The choice of using composite cement was initiated due to the material being one of the best available for acoustic cabinets. The team spend a lot of their time in exploring the possibility of this material before embarking on the precise design for the material involved.

The company had been influenced by the `folle’ an archaic sound object that has been utilised in the Swiss Alps for centuries to call the `alpsegen’. When compared to the several electronic products, the team desired a 360 degree design to be appealing from all side thus permitting these speakers to be placed in a variety of surroundings. With the combination of composite cement, wood, metal and fabric it created a sophisticated and minimal look.

Due to the warm, rough and irregular material of the casing when compared to the smooth and delicate stand provides the product with a unique visual character. There are two different configurations for the loudspeaker where the only difference between the two configurations seems to be the stands. These can be altered at any period of time. Floor standing loudspeaker along with its stand is motivated by the designs of the 50’s and 60’s and is precise for free placement in a living area.

Eternit – Amazing Acoustic Properties

The material Eternit, cement composite was decided for artistic reasons. Besides having amazing acoustic properties, it tends to combine form and operates in a harmonic way. Since Eternit does not seem to be the most common material, it was only on working on that it had enabled the team to actually design the speaker casing which was due to the support and patient of Eternit – Schweiz, AG. On successful development of the speaker, the team were offered the opportunity of designing the complete identity of Vonschloo.

 The look and feel of the brand should imitate the characteristic of the product. Moreover, the logo as well as the website estragon also directed the photography. The second version is a shelf loudspeaker which has a compact stand. Its simple design tends to adapt to its surrounding.

The L242 Loudspeaker for vonschloo enables a clear visual statement with its reduced and focused utilisation of material together with the finish. It comes with a price of 2880 CHF, around $2,995 USD.

Idyllic Speaker – High Quality Sound/Fashionable Design

The L242is the idyllic speaker for users with high quality of sound and fashionable design. The characteristic of the design of the loudspeakers is simple having all the essentials, the inspiration being the Folle, a traditional wooden funnel utilised for ages for the Alpsegen.

Its clear and unique design language gives the loudspeakers an iconic appearance and due to its 360° design, the speakers tend to speak to the viewers from all angles. Owing to this, it has the possibility of being placed as an object in a free living atmosphere.

With regards to the case, this high-quality component and the experienced technicians tend to guarantee a sound which is exclusive, together with its exterior appearance. Its point source enables a tranquil sound with high detailed sound image. The housing on the other hand are cut and fashioned manually in the Eternit Switzerland AG.

Engineer Builds 'Working' Thor's Hammer only He can lift

Thor’s Legendary Hammer - Imitated by Engineer Allen Pan

Thor’s legendary hammer Mjolnir, in marvel comics is popular for being used only by the worthy. Mjolnir cannot be lifted off the ground and it is this property which electrical engineer Allen Pan, decided to imitate on a `working’ Mjolnir.

To make the hammer immoveable he thought that strong magnets seemed to be the best option and inside the Mjolnir he filled a microwave oven transformer electromagnet that utilised electricity to produce a magnetic field. This produced a strong magnetic pull which was strong enough for the hammer that when placed on a metal surfacecannot be lifted like the locked manhole cover and felt too heavy to be lifted.

The handle is linked to a capacitive touch sensor which is in turn attached to an Arduino Pro Mini and a solid state relay that acts as a switching device. When someone tends to grasp the handle, the electromagnets get switched on attaching the hammer to the metal surface. But the hammer could be turned off through a fingerprint sensor keyed to Pan’s thumbprint and when he grasps the hammer, the magnets switches on. When he tends to move his thumb across the sensor, it switches off again enabling Pan to lift the hammer.

Challenged Unsuspecting Passer-By

Taking his invention to the streets of Venice Beach California, Pan challenged unsuspecting passer-by to lift it and it seems to be a brilliant prank like the ones in comics and in films. A video of Pan urging people to try and lift the hammer, in California, has been shared millions of times.

Pan seemed to come up with this idea after observing a trailer for the latest Avengers movie, the series which promoted the Norse god of thunder. In a certain scene there are all superheroes who seem to be hanging out and are trying to lift Thor’s hammer which traditionally can be lifted only by someone who is worthy – that being Thor.
Pan tells that `Tony Stark, who is sort of the engineer genius of the group, throws a theory that it’s printed and you need your thumbprint’. Hence he decided that there could be a technological solution to this magical object.

The Hoax - Thumbprint Sensor

Pan purchased a Halloween costume version of Thor’s hammer online and filled it with the electronic guts. Towards the bottom of the hammer, was a large electromagnet which gets activated when anyone tries a hand on the handle. For the hammer to operate, it needs to be on a metal surface.

The hoax is the thumbprint sensor which only recognizes Pan’s prints and when he puts his hand on the handle, the electromagnet tends to get deactivated. After developing it, he took the hammer to Venice Beach in order to test it and his innovative plan was to locate monstrous, gigantic mutant men at Muscle Beach, which was the infamous public workout space.

However being the middle of a weekday, he was unable to find anyone. He finally ended in employing people on the boardwalk to test it. Initially, there seemed to be some hesitation since people were apprehensive that the hammer would shock them.

He mentioned that when they were capable of getting few people to try the same, they were able to gather a small crowd with lot of great attempts. Ultimately, some people reckoned out how the hammer worked.