Your Phone Is Your Most Vulnerable Gadget. Protect It Now

Smartphones – Gold Mine of Data/Secret/Password

Often we tend to be very cautious in safeguarding our homes and cars, putting in much effort for the security of the same. However we tend to overlook the fact that the smartphones which is our constant companion and a device with sensitive details could also be tampered.

No smartphone can be unhackable and all are not so permeable. Several of the companies have been working on designing devices which would make it difficult to peer into it. Smartphones are said to be gold mine of data, secrets and passwords, all on the one side of a four digit passcode or a fingerprint scan locks which could be picked by anyone with easy utilising the right tools.

General Manager of mobile solutions at BlackBerry, Alex Thurber had commented that `if the entire United States government wants to hack your phone, they are going to get in’. Some start-up firms like Sirin Labs who had designed a phone known as Solarin, have been utilising chip-level 256-bit AED encryption – translation: intelligence agency-grade puzzlement, as a precaution against breaches. The Solarin tends to have a switch in order to trigger a `secure zone’ that kills all features with the exception of the encrypted phone calls and texting.

Real Challenge – Super-Secure Smartphones

Blackphone of Silent Circle seems to have the same feature known as Spaces which enables the user to keep their personal life isolated from their work life, detached from their surveillance. Another company – Turing Robotic Industries has been functioning with big-name safety dealers in preinstalling defensive software which would be making Android phones less penetrable.

The Boeing Black which is a hyper secure smartphone designed for the defense group is said to use virtual-desktop software which tends to keep all the data of the devices on a dissimilar machine to avoid someone getting into Black and find nothing there. Moreover the phone also tends to have a self-destruct routine which gets activated should someone attempt to crack it open.

 CEO of Turing Robotic Industries, Syl Chao stated that the real challenge is in making supersecure smartphones adequately cool for customers to have them. He further added that `people tend to care about security, but they also have a lot on their mind and don’t want to think about security.

Smartphones/Apps Updated

It is essential to keep one’s phone and apps updated since Google, Apple together with the app developers tend to release new code regularly as they seem to play futile game against exploits. Moreover one should also be aware of what your phone tends to be doing. There are some devices such as the Blackphone which can convey which apps are utilising which sensors and radios.

 Should the user be on another Android handset, apps such as DCentral I tend to do something identical but not so meticulously. Besides this, there are some simple tips of not clicking the sketchy link, of never handing your phone to a stranger and refrain from being in public hot spots. If one makes it hard for the attacker they may simply move on and your data can be saved from getting into the wrong hands.

Google Blocks Lets You Make Gorgeous Low-Poly VR Art

Google Blocks Latest Virtual Reality App

The latest virtual reality app by Google called Google Blocks allows users to make colourful 3D models in Virtual Reality or VR and has recently been available for free on the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. It is supposed to be spontaneous enough for beginners to use, but at the same time it is fully featured to help make artistic models, similar to the ones Google has gathered in a gallery that is online. Users are able to export objects and can view them online itself, or can also place them in 3D scenes both inside and outside virtual reality. Visitors are also able to spin objects around to generate animated GIFs that can be downloaded, on Google’s site.

Blocks is a recent one of the many design tools that work inside VR. It is on the same lines as Oculus’ sculpting app Medium and corresponds to Google’s popular Tilt Brush 3D painting tool. You can also use both of these together as you have the ability to export art from both Tilt Brush and Blocks. However, the art style appearance is very different. On one hand Tilt Brush gives the delusion of sculpting with paint and light whereas Blocks lets you create low-poly art in a colourful style that is used by Google in its Daydream VR interface.

Sadly for Google Daydream users, Blocks is at present restricted to only high-end headsets, which have complicated hand controls and let you move around creations. But this may not always be the case as Google is now making available all-in-one Daydream headsets that could compete with the Rift and Vive’s feature set.

Virtual Reality creators envisage a future in which users can build fantastic environments with beautiful objects in it. But in order to do that, these objects have to be created by somebody and for this a basic knowledge of 3D modelling software is needed. Google, through its design tool Blocks, seems to have found a solution to this setback.

With the help of Blocks, Google aims to give the freedom to its users to use VR and create, share and modify 3D objects promptly and without any hassle. At present, the time it takes to build a 3D object is so tiresome and it is near to impossible to achieve it.

What Google Blocks creators have done is learn about the textures and lighting and just use the most fundamental colours and shapes to see how far one can get. The user interface of Blocks depends on the motion-sensing controllers of the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. Unfortunately, it is not available for mobile users at present.

Blocks may appear to be less proficient than Oculus’ own VR sculpting app, Medium, which is powerful, but because of its minimalism it is more user-friendly. Intricately detailed objects have low-poly aesthetics which maintains high visual consistency as well as performance.

A lower count of polygon enables the 3D objects created in Blocks to run on not only powerful VR headsets such as Vive and Rift but also on low-cost, phone-enabled assembles like Google’s Daydream View or Samsung’s Gear VR. Google Blocks is therefore a fun tool to use and like Tilt Brush a brilliant introduction to VR.

Teachers 'Google' Tech Solutions

Image Credit: The Valdosta Daily Times

Google started to teach Tech things to the Teachers

Digital education is the key to success! With a permanent "future workplace" in many european countries, Google wants to build a first solid foundation for its worldwide education initiative and started to teach primarily to teachers. And also the tech giant is planning to provide the permanent “Future Workshops” in many countries. As an initiative, it started to teach the tech things to 250 teachers througout Lowndes County, Valdosta. They have been given training for three days, to learn a lot things about Google App. And also this tech giant has awarded certificates to 60 teachers who were done well.

A Google partner named AppsEvents offered certified faculties from across United States to teach them to make use of Google's Free Software suite. The speciality of this suite is that offers more interactive classroom experience for their students. The teachers are well trained to use Google Classrooms, YouTube Playlists as well as Google Forms.

USA Director of AppsEvents Allison Mollica said that nearly 60 million students and teachers got well trained to use Google Apps of Education. She also added that the students who are having the expertise in coding, they will definitely get a job. The students who volunteered in the events Brandon Booker, Cameron Jackson, Carlos Torres, Benny Zhang and Samuel Sandwell has been awarded a free extemporaneous training session in coding smartphone apps during the event.

Google wants to further the digital education in many countries. And the news flare around the net that it has initiated its first permanent training center in Munich. Together with its partners, the company is now offering free training courses on numerous digital topics. Digital education is the key to making everyone fit for change and keeping people internationally competitive. AppsEvents Director, Allison Mollica said, “ We also see ourselves responsible and want to be part of the solution."

 

Google wants to reach 2 Billion people

In the future workshop, important digital skills will be taught for professionals and non-professionals. The program includes both learning contents for occupational benefit and a range of courses for schools. Such long-term future workshops are also planned to start in many countries. Time training is scheduled to take place in all the federal states. By 2020, Google plans to reach a total of two Billion people.

For further vocational training, Google is working together with the respective volunteers, which also integrates the program into its own initiative. In addition to workshops on online marketing or web analysis, special courses are planned for non-profit organizations as well as for journalists. The future workshop is an ideal complement to meet the enormous need for know-how in the company.

Calliope mini microcontroller board, developed especially for programming learning under third graders, is also part of the offer for students. The hand-held device in the shape of a six-pointed star was the result of an initiative sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Equipped with a number of sensors, the Calliope mini can be programmed on a PC or via an app. Google has already supported the project according to own data with 1.1 million euros.

Magnetic Hoverboard to Expandable Autonomous Bus

Design Innovative Project - Magnetic Hoverboard -

A magnetic hoverboard may seem like a vehicle coming from a science fiction blockbuster where a particular tire company is of the belief that the futuristic devices would probably tend to be a reality. The company in question – Hankook Tires had publicized the most pioneering plans from its design innovation project. The winning designs is said to comprise of a magnetic hoverhoard together with an expandable autonomous bus. The Vice Chairman and CEO Mr Seung Hwa Suh, associated with Hankook

Tires had stated that the Style Insight forum to be kept at Hankook Technodome is actually meaningful wheeere one would see fine works of young developers of the future tire creativity at the new and state-of-the-art R&D centre – Hankook Technodome. In all 34 works had been submitted included in Hankook Tires’ Style Insight Forum with five who tend to win.

The company hopes to create further collaborations utilising the long term leaders in collaboration with the technology leadership of Hankook Tires with the Style Insight Forum. The up-and-coming designs comprises of a magnetic hoverboard together with an expandable autonomous coach. The first winner had been the `Flexup’, which is a sole wheel that tends to move freely even on the stairs.

Mayfloat/Flexup/Autobine

The wheel is said to expand and contract through a standard of allocated treads, enabling the free flow in moving around corners by utilising a titling system which seems to be akin to skiing and tends to go up and down the stairs. The `Magfloat’ design tends to resemble a skateboard but rather than utilising wheels, it is said to use a magnetic field extension together with a rotation standard.

This tends to permit the user in the free movement at speed of around 12mph – 20 km/h. The `Mayfloat’ and `Flexup’,creativity are the outcome of a discussion between the creative and the realistic alternatives to the future driving together with design and technology linked to urban landscape wherein these ideas took the shape of a whole new driving experience.

 `Autobine’ is said to be the third winning device which is an autonomous bus concept wherein the main frame is said to expand and contract. Moreover, the tires on the bus in inclined to attach and detach automatically as per the number of the passengers in it.

Winner -` iPlay’

Then we have the `Shiftrac’ which is said to be a wheel that has been particularly developed for the police cars. The tire of this enables the car to make rapid lane changes and tends to turn corners with ease, via a skating standard that thrusts the wheels outwards.

The Shiftrac tires could be utilised by police cars while on car chases to make sure these people do not have the need to slow down as well as while taking sharp bends. The ultimate winner in the design competition of Hankook was the `iPlay’ which is said to be the one-man device having two enormous wheels. The vehicle is said to accomplish the optimum performance even at very high speed and has the tendency of changing the wheel angle in order to take bends without losing speed.

Though the designs are at the moment only perceptions, they tend to provide insights into what the future has in store for vehicle together with design of wheel.

Mac Mini: Features, Specifications, for Apple’s Affordable Desktop Computer

Mac mini: Apple’s affordable desktop computer

The Mac Mini is Apple's most cost-effective product. However, one often wishes for more possibilities with the equipment. Apple's Mini Mac is a full-fledged computer that can handle most tasks, but there are often special features that Apple can not satisfy, depending on the application. A good example is the basic version of the Mac Mini with 2.5 GHz Core i5 CPU. There is just a basic configuration with 500 gigabytes of hard disk and four gigabytes of memory. The memory can be upgraded itself very easily, but if you need more disk space or even a super-fast SSD want to use, must take the Quadcore model and much deeper into the pocket.

The prices for the Mac Mini start at 499 euros for a i5 processor with 1.4 GHz and two cores as well as 4 GB of memory and a 500 GB hard drive. The price list ends with a Mac mini with i7 CPU and 3 GHz, 16 GB RAM and a SSD with 1 TByte for 2,330 euro. Apple also offers its smallest computer with a FusionDrive for 2 TByte.

The interface is quite generous, so there are two Thunderbolt 2 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI port, one SDXC memory card slot, one Gigabit Ethernet port and one audio port, as well as Bluetooth 4.0 and WLAN 802.11ac.

Even in the latest Mac mini-generation, Apple puts on an Intel Core i5. This is now clocking at 2.6 GHz and scores the best in two of our benchmark tests. In addition, the 8 GB memory is particularly noticeable. Many other manufacturers still use 4 GB of RAM on their devices.

It hurts hardly that the working memory of the Mac mini can not be extended. For everyday tasks in the office and multimedia area, the Mini-PC is enough.

The integrated HDD hard drive with 1 TByte ensures sufficient storage space. In addition, the Apple Mac mini has four USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt ports and one SD card, reader. Connect a screen using HDMI. For access to the Internet, a LAN port and WLAN-ac are available. In addition, Apple's OS X 10.10 operating system is preinstalled. Owners of the predecessor model will, however, miss the integrated speakers.

While equipment and performance are convincing, the hardware upgrade mainly affects the energy efficiency. In the test, the Mac Mini consumes 55.3 watts under full load - for a mini PC much too much. In addition, the operating noise is clearly perceptible. All in all, the current Mac mini generation is a good and necessary step forward, but it brings some new problems with it.

Apple Mac mini (MGEN2D / A):

For owners of the previous model of 2015, the Apple Mac mini (MGEM2D / A), an upgrade to the new generation is hardly worthwhile. For all others, the older model is a good and favorable alternative. The equipment is the same as the smaller hard disk (500 GB) with the current Mac Mini identical. Although you have to make some cuts in performance, power consumption and operating noise are much lower. In addition, the Mac Mini 2015 costs around 200 euros less than the current model.