Tuesday 7 March 2017

MWC 2017: Samsung Unveils Two New Tablets

Samsung
Mobile World Congress at Barcelona is an esteemed event which is followed closely by the consumer electronics industry and fans worldwide. Samsung has always indulged in showcasing its Galaxy S Smartphone at this tech show since 2013 but this year it has given it a miss by simply bringing two tablets and a virtual reality headset. The particular VR headset unveiled by the Samsung comes with a remote control which is weird but exciting at the same time. It is hard for any major Smartphone maker to do away with the Smartphone complete at MWC therefore Samsung briefly teased one new Smartphone right at the end of its presentation. Samsung however left the presentation at a happy note by stating that the new Smartphone will be unveiled on 29 March in New York later this year.

Samsung will lose onto rivals

Samsung has already lost the crown of most selling Smartphone brand in the world to Apple this year in terms of shipment. After the Note 7 debacle last year Samsung has lost a considerable market share to rivals and not bringing any successor to the S7 at MWC will simply become a boon for the rivals especially Huawei. However signaling to the fans that a new device is expected to make its way to them soon is a good thing from Samsung point of view as it will make potential buyers to wait for some time.

News tablets doesn’t excite anymore

Samsung has launched two new tablets the Galaxy Tab S3 and Galaxy Book and both of these devices are targeted at the consumers who are more into gaming and video playback. The Galaxy Tab S3 comes with a 9.7 inch screen and boasts of the latest Android 7.0 Nougat. While Galaxy Book will come in two different sizes of 10.6 inch and 12 inch and it will be running in the Windows 10 OS. Galaxy Book is being targeted at the on the go professionals and it also comes with additional accessories in form of snap-on keyboard and S Pen stylus.

Tablet sales are going down on global scale for all the manufactures as the initial popularity for the larger devices has depleted. Consumers tend to favour the larger Smartphone instead of tablets but Samsung is looking forward to ignite popularity in larger device through bringing better specs coupled with features. Both of these tablets boasts of the organic light emitting diode (OLED) and displays and brings powerful specifics which will help in reigning over the competitors.

Samsung presentation marred with Greenpeace protest

Samsung days are going rough since its recall and effective demise of the Note 7. Sadly its presentation had an unexpected appearance of the Greenpeace activist staging a banner stating ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ which is direct wink at the Note 7 handsets. Quite a number of protestors started gathering around the building where this press conference was taking place and they displayed varied banners on the same lines.

Three Layers of Graphene Reveals a New Kind of Magnet

Graphene
You can’t bring a pause to two of the main parts of this world and that is time and the invention. Time and again science and technology has made our lives more comfortable and cosier.Well, recently there was a great and astonishing discovery in the field of magnetism. The discovery will make our future more resourceful as the scientists have found magnetism in the three layers of graphene. Now, the electronic devices as well as in other applications, this theory can be used which will be a great help for the digital world that has moulded our lives into something better.

THE STRUCTURE

Graphene being an allotrope of carbon is two-dimensional structure which forms a vertex. The structure of graphene is a bit different of that of graphite but the density of the electrons can be easily changed with the help of a transistor. Then the wave nature of the graphene can be easily observed and further studies can be made. The speed of electrons in graphene is higher comparatively than other metals like copper. They can cover a distance of 10micrometre. Well, to the common masses, this distance is almost less than 10 times the diameter of a human hair. When you place the graphene in between boron nitride, you get to listen to the whispers what the scientists say. The layers of the boron nitride which has some defects cause some sort of hindrance in the flow of electrons.

THE RESULT

As the imperfections in the structure lead to whispers which means that the electrons are talking to one another in the structure. Well, the study reveals a great deal on how to use the magnetism that has been shown by these electrons when they were sandwiched at a temperature of -272 degree Celsius. The three levels of graphene holding such an important and massive property will not only be helpful in the field of electronics but will also have a huge impact in the nature and the natural resources for the years to come. This wonderful and astonishing discovery was done by the renowned professors at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

WHY GRAPHENE

Graphene holds some extra ordinary properties which have made it to make an edge over extra atoms or semiconductors as well as other allotropes of carbon. Well, given the credit for the properties of graphene, it is the lightest, strongest and also a good conductor of heat and electricity. It is thinnest as well which makes the scientists do the research in the most convenient manner.

THE FUTURE

Graphene promises to bring a revolution in the years to come with its outstanding features. From the field of computers to the area of car tires, it promises to change everything with its remarkable characteristics. Well, the magnetism property has just added to the feature basket. Now, we need to wait for the applications where this property may come handy. But one thing is pretty secured, that the chemical industries, automobile industry as well as the electronics industry are going to be benefitted a lot from this allotrope.

Monday 6 March 2017

Google Will Let Gmail Users Receive 50 Megabyte Attachments

Gmail
File sharing is a breeze for the users but sharing large files is still a headache for most of the users. A number of cloud sharing services has emerged in the recent past like the Microsoft One Drive, Google Drive and Dropbox which allows us to share large files with other across the globe with ease. But when someone tries to send a large file through email and most importantly through Gmail then get to a roadblock. However Google has finally decided to do something about this problem by increasing the cap on the email attachment size.

Rom this week onwards Google will users to send up to 50 MB files in the emails. Google had also released a statement wherein it stated that Google Drive will remain the penultimate mode of sharing large for its users but in order to fulfill the need of sending large files even on the mail they had decided to bump up the size allotted for email attachments. Now the entire Gmail user will get a chance to receive up to 50 MB directly to their email account with no frills attached.

Gmail Malware attack report

Quite recently Google has brought a malware report which essentially offers a breakdown of the Gmail users receiving spam content. This report has revealed that the users from the real estate sector happen to be the prime target of the emails filled with malicious content and links.

Google has failed to explain why most of the businesses from the real estate background have been the target of the spammers. But the Boston division of the FBI has also released a similar warning in the month of December where it stated that surge has been seen in the business email compromise emerging in the real estate sector. The frequent targets were the real estate agents for the fraudsters and the spammers.

Google report also revealed that the science related firms from the EU region and more specifically Germany has received 9.6 times higher number of phishing emails against US counterparts. The numbers shown in the report reveals that spammers have generally targeted the firms in the entertainment, IT and housing sectors.

Google decision of increasing the cap on the email attachment for Gmail will not just help the users but it will also make it easier to send large files with malicious content.

There is a hitch

Google doesn’t want its users to go on the spree of sending large files on the email therefore it has not done away with the existing 25 MB cap on its outgoing messages in the Gmail. Gmail or Google users can always make use of the Google Drive to share large files with others but the new size limit will come to all the G Suite editions in upcoming three days which will help Gmail users in receiving oversized files like the spreadsheets, videos or any kind of attachments from other email providers.

Why the Nintendo Switch Game Cartridges Taste Revolting

Nintendo
Nintendo is working towards bringing its latest consoles to millions of users across the world with Switch. But there is a one quirky advice for all the players which is ‘do not lick the games’. It might seem awkward but game cartridges come with an unsettling which is designed to ensure that no player indulges in ingesting or licking it. Some of the reviewers of the Nintendo Switch have stated that the taste of new console’s game cartridges tastes extremely revolting. Nintendo has laced it games cartridges for Switch with the denatonium benzoate which is known as the most disgusting chemical in the world.

Why Nintendo is using this chemical? 

It was later revealed that Nintendo has made use of denatonium benzoate intentionally in a bid to stop children from eating or swallowing the game cartridges. It should be noted that the denatonium is widely used in the antifreeze as well as rat poison which stops human from consuming it. Sometimes it is even applied to the nails of children to thwart them from biting it persistently.

One of the Nintendo spokesperson has released a statement wherein it was revealed that the company has done this in order to avoid the possibility of accidental ingestion. This will ensure that kids will stay from eating the game cartridges and still the card should be kept away from the young children. Secondly the denatonium benzoate is a bittering agent which is non toxic in nature so there is nothing to be worried about.

What makes Nintendo Switch unique? 

The upcoming Nintendo Switch will be nothing like the rival consoles such as the PS4 and XboxOne because it will make use of small game cartridges instead of the discs. This will be Nintendo’s first home console in 20 years which will support game cartridge. Cartridge will be simply the size of postage thereby raising the caution of being swallowed by the children. Nintendo decision to make use of bittering agent on the game cartridge was designed to prevent this act but it has not stopped adult from licking it and spewing venom about it on the social media.

The reason why Nintendo has opted for game cartridge instead of the game discs which had become a norm in the modern gaming society is pretty simple. Nintendo is light weight and small and owing to its size opting for the game cartridge is a sensible choice. Nintendo Switch has the ability to switch between a ‘handheld gaming consoles’ to a ‘TV mode console’ with pretty ease. On Nintendo Switch games will lad relatively faster which isn’t the case with the disc based consoles which has a painfully lengthy install times.

Nintendo is gearing up to launch the Switch console on Friday at a price point of £279. So far reviews have been favorable and it has been appreciated for its innovative design and detachable controllers which makes game play experience refreshing and entertaining in every manner.

Saturday 4 March 2017

Twitter Ramps up Abuse Controls As It Lets Users Silence Anonymous Twitter Eggs

Twitter Eggs
Trolling on the Twitter has become a nuisance for the common innocent users who have to deal unwanted barrage of abuses and insults. Twitter has boosted its capability which will not allow it to throttle the anonymous trolls right from the user’s timelines. This is regarded as a positive and strong effort on Twitter’s part to put an end to the unwanted barrage of abuses on the social media platform. Twitter introduced a new filtering option which will make it easier and simple for the users to mute accounts without any profile picture as well as email mail addresses and phone numbers.

Twitter is filled with ‘Twitter Eggs’

Currently Twitter is filled with millions of accounts that doesn’t possess any profile pictures and are commonly referred as Twitter eggs. These account holders usually indulge in abusive behavior and trolling activity on the site which has become a chronic problem for the Twitter platform. Currently Twitter is actively working toward identifying such abusive accounts and it will continue looking for such bad eggs without the need of them being reported of other users. In the first phase Twitter will be limiting such accounts for some time during which only its followers will be able to see the tweets.

In later stage a mute feature will be introduced which made its debut in November last year. This mute feature will allow users to block a number of phrases as well as keywords from the notification to keep common users safeguarded from the unwanted trolls and abuses. But the latest update will allow users to directly mute certain words and phrases from their own end to get rid of abusive and unwanted content in their home timeline.

Twitter is gearing up to remove abusive content from its platform

Twitter safety team has a tough week wherein it worked towards bringing such filtering functionalities which can help in limiting the abusive content on the platform. Just a month ago it brought such system which prevents permanently suspended people from creating any new accounts on the platform. A ‘safe search’ is also introduced which removes such Tweets containing any kind of potentially sensitive content from the search results. Finding rogue accounts, people, thwarting sensitive tweets are just a list of simple steps taken by Twitter.

Twitter has stated that it platform support to share different viewpoints but it has to be done without violating the Twitter Rules. Twitter is hoping that the algorithm set in place for varied filtering mechanisms will help acting only against such accounts which support and propagate abusive behavior content on the platform.

Given the fact the tools utilized for this new there might be some mistakes and Twitter is eagerly working towards improving its ability to crack down upon the abusive accounts for once and all. Twitter has even admitted that it has struggled in the past to deal with the online buddies in the past but these filtering features will help in covering the lost ground.