Government Launches Porn Site Age Checks Consultation

UK Government – Implementing Age Checks on Pornography

The UK government has launched a public consultation over plans in implementing age checks on pornography websites and the proposal follows a Conservative Party platform commitment that all sites comprising of pornographic content should check that users are above the age of 18 years. Those asked to make their contribution to the consultation are internet providers, academics, charities and several others. A security expert had stated that the plans would tussle to challenge porn on free sites.

The government suggests in the consultation document that the checks need to apply to content which would receive, if officially classified, an 18 or R18 rating from the British Board of Film Classification –BBFC. The consultation document has explained that they are keen to hear from parents, child protection experts, schools, the pornography industry, internet service provider as well as online platforms which offer access to pornographic content.

The government aims to launch a new regulatory agenda in order to enforce compliance with any rules that are made law, as part of the plans.The Internet Safety and Security Minister, Baroness Shields had stated that `just as we do offline, we want to ensure children are prevented from accessing pornographic content online which should only be viewed by adults’.

Issue a Matter of Urgency

Chief executive of the NSPCC, Peter Wanless had said that the issue seems to be `a matter of urgency and that the children who had ready access to content rated over 18 could develop a `misrepresented view of sexual relationship’. Earlier to the general election, Sajid Javid, then the Culture Secretary had stated that the appointed regulator would have the power to compel internet service providers in blocking sites which did not perform effective age checks.

He also added that providers who did not support could be fined. Moreover, the consultation document also explained that the regulator of age checks on porn sites can be given powers to impose sanctions inclusive of fines. Those companies that tend to support or provide services to the producers of pornographic online content could be directed to withdraw their services if the sites were identified to be obstinately non-compliant. This could comprise directing payment firm to stop processing transaction for the producers of porn content.

A Challenging Regulatory Goal

Nonetheless, a leading security researcher had commented that this would not cast out much of the pornography, if available freely online. Dr Gilad Rosner, a member of the Cabinet Office Privacy and Consumer Advocacy Group had said that his initial response to this release was that while the UK government could get some traction with payment processor and that it could have some effect, it would not affect the free pornography. Dr Rosner further added that considerable pornographic content seems to be available on free sites and blogs which do not take any payments from the users.

This is particularly challenging regulatory goal and he would bet that we would not see much in the way of tangible results for the next five years. However, one of the most visited free sites for pornography had indicated its plan in co-operating. A spokeswoman for the site had commented that `porn-hub would fully fulfilany strong legislative and appropriate local measures which emerge from this consultation.

As members of the Digital Policy Alliance, they have already been working to carve out a technical solution that works for all and it is necessary that all explicit adult content is covered and non-compliant sites are taken down quickly’.

Handheld ZX Spectrum Vega+ Project Announced on Indiegogo

The Indiegogo Project – Handheld Vega+

The recently re-launched classic games console the ZX Spectrum by the firm, has now announced a portable version of the device. The creator of the original Spectrum, Sir Clive Sinclair tends to own a stake in Retro Computers, which is the firm behind the latest versions of his console. The Indiegogo project for handheld Vega+ has raised around £44,780 of the £100,000 funding goal and if successfully funded, would be provided with 1,000 games with another 14,000 tiles available for download.

 Besides this there is also a microSD card slot to load more games. The Vega+ presently on crowdfunding site Indiegogo has been a follow-up to the ZX Spectrum Vega that had been released over a year ago. While that was a plug-in controller to work with a TV set, the Vega+ is said to be a fully contained handheld device based on the lines of the Sega GameGear or Atari Lynx.

The handheld console is remarkably close to the iconic Spectrum on the feel and look, mainly owing to the concept design by Rick Dickinson who had designed the original computers.Retro Computers had explained on the Indiegogo product page for the project, that the device would feature an LCD screen though it would also be connected to a TV.

A Game Console to be Played Anywhere

Speaking regarding the new Vega+, Sir Clive commented that the present surge of interest in retro products had inspired him to plan the Vega+ as a handy games console that could be played anywhere. It has been developed by Christ Smith, who was a leading authority on the Spectrum. The Vega+ seems to be a new low cost hand held game console.

To give the product its full name, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega+ is based on Sir Clive’s earlier largely successful Spectrum products in the early 1980s and includes all the features of the ZX Vega and much more inclusive of the stereo output for amazing reproduction of gaming sounds as well as music. It is the only game console which tends to exist with 1,000 licensed games which are already included together with an LCD to be used anywhere as well as capability of connecting to a TV for home usage.

The company stated that the development of the product is complete with a total working prototype that is ready to go into production and the units would be shipped early this summer.

Vega+ a Licenced Device

Stuart Miles editor of gadget site Pocket-lint had stated that they believe there is room for retro gaming but at the same time people do not like sitting in front of TV all the time to play games. He informed that by making it portable, it tends to broaden out to the same audience which would have played Gameboy years ago. He further added that though at times nostalgia for classic games was not always satisfied when they are played again and sometime one is reminded how basic these games were.

The Vega+ is said to be a licensed device and the finished model will be the same black like the original Spectrum but pledger could choose limited edition copies in black blue or red. It is a flexible funding model which means that the project goes ahead irrespective of how much money has been pledged. Its final price has not been confirmed though pledgers could get it for £100.

Ripples are a New Tool for Exploring Space

Ripples in Fabric of Space – Gravitational Waves

Researchers have announced that they have identified ripples in the fabric of space known as gravitational waves and it is a ground-breaking discovery which had evaded Earth’s intelligent minds as well as sensitive machines for years.

It was 100 years ago, that Albert Einstein had predicted the existence of gravitational waves but he had thought them far too feeble to identify as they rolled across the universe. Radio waves had first been predicted by James Clerk Maxwell, a physicist in 1860s and then discovered by Hertz. Around 150 years thereafter, they strengthen our lives from radio to television to mobile phones and the present world would not be able to function without them.

Gravitation waves though weaker than radio, can have unexpected as well as vital usage in the near future. The identification of gravitational waves is a monumental discovery and is only the first step. One of the international team of scientists who had worked on the break-through, Professor Graham Woan had informed Sky News that it was similar to Galileo looking through the telescope at night for the first time. It was not that our comprehension of the universe had been toppled as it was in the Scientific Revolution, but we have a new tool, a new technology in exploring our cosmos and now we have a gravitational telescope.

Source of Waves – System of Two Black Holes in Orbit

The news had been announced on February 11, by members of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory – LIGO, which is a 15-nation, 900-scientists, $1 billion experiment which had searched for signs of the phenomenon since 2002. Cornell physics and astrophysics professor, Saul Teukolsky had confirmed in a statement emailed to Tech Insider that, `finally these waves have been detected on Earth with an unbelievably sensitive experiment and surprisingly the source of the waves is a system of two black holes in orbit around each other, that spiral inwards and smash together.

The waves that the researchers had identified were created by two black holes colliding as well as merged, forming a single black hole, 1.3 billion years ago. When the two black holes had emerged, they seemed to release the energy of three suns. Physicist Szabi Marka, who is a LIGO collaborator based at Columbia University had informed Tech Insider prior to the announcement that identifying the waves would revolutionize physics and chart out the last undiscovered territory of Einstein and a collision of two black holes is a catastrophic event which we could only imagine of observing till now.

Right Path in Comprehending How the Universe Works

Marka states that `having gravitational waves as a tool would allow us to study black holes, which tend to hold the key to several future puzzles in science. He further added that they don’t know actually what tends to happen around a black hole and don't know what happens when a black hole meets another black hole. They are not aware what happens when a black hole eats something.

There seems to be several other usages of gravitational waves, now that all are within the realm of possibility. Marka states that the coming era of research that is barrelling towards us will be spectacular. The discovery not only justifies Einstein’s wildest prediction giving astronomers a powerful tool to probe further in the cosmos from deep within stars to the surfaces of black hole but also tends to back up a $1 billion idea informing us that we are on the right path in comprehending how the universe tend to work.

Google self-driving car effort expands hiring, posts manufacturing jobs

Google’s Self-Driving Project–Advertising Jobs on Manufacturing  Expertise

Self-driving project of Alphabet Inc. has been advertising dozens of jobs with special focus on manufacturing expertise on its website. Jobs related to the Google X car project of around thirty six had been listed comprising of engineers working on display, motion control, robotics and sensors together with managers charged with operations, materials and marketing.

Google who had refrained from commenting had denied earlier that it had any interest in the making of cars. Several industry experts were of the belief that the tech giant would be partnering with established carmaker, supplying the software which would invent the fully autonomous vehicle. However, the job listed offers insight on how much hardware has been built by Google in its contribution to the future cars. A key priority of traditional carmaker, technology companies like Apple Inc. Uber Technologies Inc. and auto suppliers,is developing self-driving cars.

A manufacturing process engineer job listing has mentioned that the post is responsible for designing factory assembly stations, automating critical manufacturing process, optimizing production floor layout and approve fixture designs utilised in the assembly of electronic modules for self-driving cars.

Hiring May Continue to Increase

The manufacturing supplier quality engineer would be creating and approving `manufacturing inspection processes, mechanical components, mechanical assemblies, tools gauges and fixtures for raw materials. The mechanical global supply chain manager will be responsible for manufacturing development execution besides other tasks.

In January, the president of Google self-driving car project, John Krafcik, had mentioned that he wanted to form partnerships with established carmakers and suppliers to speed up work in 2016. When Krafcik had been hired in September, his earlier experience at Hyundai and Ford had driven speculation that Google had plans to build its own cars.

Other jobs were also posted by Google beyond the manufacturing which provided hints as to the scope of the developing project. The position of marketing manager posted nine days back needed someone to shape-go-to-market strategy and storytelling in order to win hearts as well as minds of community members, governments and influencers.The company is also on the look-out for a head of real estate and workplace services recommending that the hiring may continue to increase.

Google Achieved Landmark Victory

The hiring rampage tends to reflect Google’s aspiration to join the driverless car manufacturing trend and though the Silicon Valley based tech company had denied rumours of driverless car manufacturing several times in the past, the recent adverts posted by its secretive X division indicates the possible plans of bringing Google branded driverless cars to the market very soon.

Google had achieved a landmark victory on 4th February when US federal authority The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – NHTSA had agreed to consider the tech firm’s AI system as the legal driver under federal law. The decision had been a main boost to leading tech and automobile manufacturing companies who had been vying to bring driverless cars in the US and international markets in past.

Google is presently testing its autonomous car in US though the company had recently received an appeal from London transport authorities to expand testing to British capital too. Google has yet to remark on its plans for the future for its driverless car division.

AT&T Set to Test Speedy 5G

AT&T to Conduct Field Trials for 5G

AT&T has mentioned that it is ready to conduct field trials towards the end of the year for 5G, after a similar announcement had been made by Verizon. 5G, short for the fifth generation of wireless, translates into speed and AT&T states that there are 10-100 times quicker than the present average 4G LTE connections. This means that one may be capable of downloading a TV show in less than 3 seconds.

AT&T would be working together with Ericsson and Intel on 5G solutions beginning in the second quarter and the field trials would be taking place in fixed locations in Austin, Texas. Verizon had announced in September that it would also be starting the 5G field tests in 2016 and has been working with Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Cisco, Nokia, Qualcomm as well as Samsung to get it working.

It could take some time before 5G would be commercially workable, probably by 2020. No formal agreement on what 5G could be is available, though the standards are expected to get through, by 2018. Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics had mentioned that `with all the hype around the next G, there is a danger that 5G becomes another meaningless marketing word. What 5G involves is a radical rebuilding of how the network provider delivers the bits and bytes. And it is going to be faster, though more responsively at a lower cost’.

5G More than Quick Speeds

Matt Grob, chief technology of Qualcomm has agreed that 5G is more than just about quick speeds and has commented that it will have the capability of supporting more reliable communication, low latency communication with extreme security. It would have the potential to scale down to small low cost sensors and things as well as have long battery life.

The fixed 5G tests of AT&T, in the home are perceived by provider as a possible high speed broadband substitute. John Donovan, Chief Strategy Officer and Group President for AT&T Technology and Operations had stated that the driving event there is that they are a big broadband provider and have merger commitment which has been agreed upon and that they have agreed to serve some rural areas with wireless broadband.

Eventually, as an integrated carrier, they have a lot of incentive to add any new technology to their footprint especially if 5G for fixed usage tends to have better economics than fiber in definite settings

Competition among Major 5G Player Likely to Intensify

The additional advanced 5G developed for cell-phone, tablets together with numerous other mobile devices, comes later. Donovan comments that when it is ready, they are ready. T&T had reported that data traffic on its wireless network had grown over 150,000$ from the beginning of the iPhone age in 2007 right through 2015, mainly driven by video.

 In 2016, over 60% of the data traffic on the network of AT&T had been linked to video according to the company. Pushing the next wave of thing is 4K video, virtual reality, self-driving cars, robotics, and smart cities together with the Internet of Things. The competition among several major 5G players is also likely to intensify as it tends to happen.

Donovan has stated that it has been somewhat noisily recently with speed claims and all those things and felt compelled to put the road map out more specifically since increasingly Verizon has been reasonably running uncontested as though they are in a technology leadership position, which frankly is not at all the case. Verizon apparently requests to be different.