Facebook Messenger Just Rolled Out 'Secret Conversations'

In this digital age consumers are more concerned about their privacy than they have ever before. Facebook is trying to build its credibility in terms of enhancing the security towards safeguarding the privacy of the billion users on its social media platform. For last two months Facebook has been trialing the Secret Conversation named feature which aims to offers end-to-end encryption feature on the Messenger app. A update to the app finally brings this much need encryption to the Facebook messaging app which has more than a billion users on global scale.

Secret Conversation a much needed feature for Messenger

A number of chat apps like SnapChat, WhatsApp and others are already providing the encryption on its platform to safeguard the communication of the users from prying eyes. Over the years chat apps has cemented themselves as a central mode of communication giving way to the age old text messaging.

Having this feature on Messenger will help in placing it among the secure and reliable apps category which will certainly aid in the adoption rate among the targeted audience. End-to-end encryption offers dual benefits as not just app owners but even the hackers and law enforcement agencies wouldn’t be able to access the user information in any way.

How to Use Secret conversations? 

Facebook Messenger will require users to ‘opt-in’ to the Secret Conversations feature. Users can make use of the Secret Conversation by manually selecting ‘Secret’ each time they need to initiate an encrypted conversation with friends. Messenger users can even add expiration time for their sent messages which range from 5 to 24 hour which is quite similar to SnapChat offering. However using the Secret Conversation will limit the amount of action user can perform while sending a message such as access to chatbots, animated GIFs and businesses will be turned off.

Report on messaging apps brings incredible insight

A detailed report generated by Business Insider on messaging apps brings a more refined and valuable look on the messaging market, value and potential. Right in the beginning it states that mobile messaging apps have transformed itself as a massive market with hundreds of millions of monthly active users.

The rise in messaging service apps and their adoption is directly influenced by the steep rise in the penetration of internet and falling of data prices couple with cheaper devices on global scale. Even to reign among the top 5-10 messaging apps isn’t an easy task as user’s preference keeps shifting with time therefore apps has to come up with new innovative ideas to keep their users engaged on their platform.

Currently the leaders in the messaging app platform happen to be the Asian messaging apps such as WeChat, LINE and Kakao Talk. All of these apps commands huge user base while Messenger is still in the nascent stage when compared to the amount of features and services these established apps present to the consumers. However with Secret Conversation Facebook is bringing the challenge back to the leaders in a most credible manner.

Saving money on tech is one way to cut down on spending and it can be achieved as follows:

 

Scan bills for hidden fees

It is never a waste of time to carefully scan your bills to ensure you are not overcharged. This is because it is habitual for a majority of companies to impose extra fees that are never questioned by anyone. There is also the possibility of banks deducting money in form of service and maintenance fee in your already suffering bank account. Make a call and inquire about such charges, if possible request that they be dropped. You could make significant savings from doing just that. It does not matter even if it is just a few dollars of savings, remember that every single dollar counts in such tough economic times.

Coupons

There are numerous useful coupons that can be found online and these are readily available on the right websites. What makes it even better is the fact that a majority of these sites currently have smartphone apps. Which use the Global Positioning System technology of your phone to deliver coupons right away. A good example would be using best buy coupons +Tiger Direct that has huge promo tech deal savings of up to 70%. Alternatively, one could utilize money-saving promotion codes when they get an opportunity to. Promotion codes are strictly coupons for online shopping.

Decrease cellular bills

You should strive to cut back on your cellular service especially when you are experiencing financial doldrums. You might just be surprised on how little data you need to get you through the month. In addition, you could try installing apps that might assist you in saving data. Cancelling is never an option as you require your phone and because activation fees might be charged in order to restore your plan. Alternatively, you can use Wi-Fi on free services such as Skype that allows you to text and call even without a cell phone plan in place.

Lower internet bill

The internet bill can be regarded as one of the most financially draining monthly payments. Individuals spend hundreds of dollars on unnecessary TV and internet. However, if a person is only interested in saving money without altering any of his or her services, then they should consult their provider on waiving other charges or even equipment fee. Alternatively, they could also be able to select an affordable plan that will allow them to make savings.

Forget about replacing your computer

When your computer starts glitching or slowing down, your last option should never be to rush and replace it. Instead, you could try finding ways by which to speed it up, fix its freezing or how to personally sort out other major PC problems without replacing your computer. One way would to entirely replace Windows on an older computer with an OS that is faster such as Chrome OS. This has the ability of refreshing old gear so that it is as good as new.  

Conclusion
With the above five insightful tips, you are now well equipped on how to save money on tech.

A New Pokémon GO Update

Pokemon Go fans are delighted with weekly updates which is making this game more and more exciting and fun. Niantic is staying true to its promise about offering new updates after every few weeks to bring new features in the game. Buddy System was unveiled last month on the Pokemon Go which are highly acclaimed and loved by the players as well. So far players have accumulated a wide number of medals for various for completing certain objectives in the game.

How new update works? 

Niantic has carefully described how this new update works on the Play Store and App Store description itself. It states that players chances of catching a particular kind or category of pokemon will be boosted based on their medal tally with this update. In case a player happens to higher number of Kindler Medal then that player will get more chances at catching the Fire type category Pokemons which includes Vuplix, Charmander and Pontya.

In the game app users will get a sign ‘+1/2/3’ with catch bonus mentioned nearby. This means that players chances of capturing that particular kind of pokemon based on their medal tally will increase by 10%. Catch bonus can even be understood as XP reward for their effort and time. A number of players has argued that it get touch to catch pokemons at higher level of game which seriously limits their ability to explore the game but this update is set to remove all those hard feelings.

What does new update brings to the game? 

This new update in truth acts as a blanket nerf for all the breakout rates which have been provided throughout the game. It will make use of the existing metal tally rather than resetting all the categories of pokemons to provide a valid capture bonus. Currently gold medals are awarded for capturing Normal, Poison, Flying, Water and Psychic types, Silver for Grass, Ghost, Dragon and Bug types while Bronze for the rest of pokemons. This feature works towards making it easier to catch the pokemons at which you excel like if you have more silver medals then you will be catch new pokemons in that particular with ease.
Little bit of confusion stills surrounds the new update
Some of the things are unclear in the new update which includes the ‘+’ capture bonus. It can be 10% per level or 30% per level or even be just 1% per level. Currently it is not possible to make out the real functionality of this ‘+’ sign though it can be easily believed that it will help in making the capacity better at the end. Niantic should be applauded for its effort in continuously improving the game-play as well as keeping existing users engaged by carefully bringing game centric updates after every few weeks. So far the best addition to the still goes to Buddy System while the recent new medal/capture is filled with its own issues but once they are uncovered it can turn to be a valuable addition as well.

Meet Kirobo Mini, Toyota's adorable new companion robot

Toyota’s Robot – Companionship For Lonely People

Toyoto, the Japanese car maker has unveiled a robot which tends to provide companionship for lonely people. The doe-eyed robot is said to be only four inches tall and speaks in a high-pitched baby voice. The robot known as Kirobo Mini could also have a role as a baby substitute in Japan where the falling birth rates seems to have left several women barren. The Kirobo Mini sale prices is said to go for £300 in Japan.

General Manager in charge of the project, Fuminori Kataoka has stated that its value tends to be emotional and could be a faithful companion for the home or the car. He commented that `Toyota has been making cars which have a tendency to have a lot of valuable uses. However, this time we are just pushing emotional value’.

The Kirobo Mini features a camera, microphone together with Bluetooth that connects to a smartphone and needs to be installed with an exceptional software application. The Kirobo Mini robot is said to be launched in Tokyo, near the company headquarters in central Aichio region next year, before a schedule nationwide rollout. Presently there are no plans of selling the same outside Japan.

According to Kataoka, several people in Japan tend to live alone comprising of the elderly and young singles who seem to need someone or something to communicate with.

Softbank Corp Launched Pepper Humanoid

Mr Kataoka further commented that `this is not smart enough to be called artificial intelligence and the same is about the existence of something you can talk to. It tends to wobble a bit and is meant to compete with a seated baby that has not developed fully, the skills of balancing itself and this susceptibility is meant to invoke an emotional connection.

He goes on to add that a stuffed animal would not reply back though people do talk to it. But if it talked back, wouldn’t that be better? Isn’t this better than talking to a box?’ The awareness of companion robots has already been accepted widely in Japan. The Japanese technology and telecom company Softbank Corp had launched its £1,500 Pepper humanoid last year and the first batch of 1,000 had been sold instantly and so far had sold 10,000 in Japan.

Toyota Heart Project

With robotic experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the process of launching Jibo, a robot which tends to resemble a swivelling lamp, companion robots are being created in the United States also. Artificial intelligence is said to be a progressive part of the car production industry with the development of self-parking and eventually self-driving vehicles.

The aim of Kirobo Mini is to make people feel less lonely and had been developed as part of the Toyota Heart Project which is an initiative of helping in the development of artificial intelligence for improvement of the future world. It has been named after the Japanese word for `hope and talk, gesture besides responding to its owner’s emotions with the use of artificial intelligence and a camera that surveys its surroundings.

It is said to be so small that it can be placed in a car’s cup holder in a distinct, baby seat-like container, Toyota characterizes it as a cuddly companion which is always on hand for a heart-touching communication. According to Tribune reports it can turn its head towards people, laugh as well as talk to them though cannot recognize people.

G Suite: Google Apps for Work Updraded

Google Apps for Work is a suite launched by Google which includes Google’s popular web applications like Google Drive, Gmail, Google Hangouts, Google Calendar, and Google Docs. This September, Google renamed Google Apps for Work as G Suite. The name actually goes with it as it is a suite of collaboration software tools and cloud computing productivity and software offered by Google on a subscription basis.

Some features of G Suite

Google Apps for Work is not only renamed, it is also reframed. The renaming of the Google Apps for Work to G Suite was done to reflect the software’s mission in terms of putting the emphasis on collaboration, according to the company. G Suite contains the same apps which Google Apps for Work contained. G Suite also works the same way but with some differences.

The main difference in G Suite is that its utility is played by the machine’s intelligence. This simply means that this application will do all the repetitive and mechanical tasks quickly which used to take up your lot of time. The programs in G Suite have become smarter than before.

The smarter programs in G Suite

The first program to get smarter is the Google Drive for android. This will allow quick access in Drive on Android, which means, it will help you to pull out the files you need immediately whenever you would open Drive. Google Hangouts is also made easier to set up. Also, Google Calendar is made advanced by enabling Smart Scheduling.

This new version of Google apps for Work, i.e., G Suite has also added Explore to Google Docs, Slides and Sheets. In short, G Suite has made working with the apps very easily and quickly.

Some new information about G Suite

The main advances that G Suite made are –

• Quick Access – This will cut off about 50% of the time you would need to search a file form the Drive. It works with the machine’s intelligence which helps it recognize the file you need before you complete your typing. Quick Access is available with G Suite for all Android users. 
• Smart Scheduling in Calendar – In G Suite, ‘Find a Time’ lets you set up meetings or appointments much faster in Google Calendar. Also it helps you to find a room or place for your meetings. 
• Explore – Explore is nothing but Work Assistant. Explore will help you work better and faster in Docs, Sheets and Slides by bringing you the design tools, insights, and research recommendations faster. 
• Team Drive – G Suite will provide more granular control over team access to content. This is for early adopters only. 

Some more features will add on with these features as time passes on. G Suite has advanced working with the Google applications on Android by making it faster, easier and much better. This G Suite is very effective for those enterprises that rely upon machine learning capability as G Suite works with machine intelligence. G Suite is an interesting place for them to start with.

Have hackers turned my printer into an offensive weapon?

It was just last month that is in September one of the largest net attacks took place with pinpointed a renowned OVH a French hosting firm and a blogger. This single attack is believed to have comprised of over one trillion bits of data. Both of the hacking events marked a change in the methods used by hackers who survive by breaking into websites which hold widespread data add this form of attacks is known as Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS). The data was sent to the targets through and other such "smart" devices which were hijacked by the hackers.

Can I tell if my webcam/DVR/printer is attacking someone? 

Well to be honest, not easily. If you are a medium of bombarding someone else, your internet speed may slow down however it may not be noticed at times of normal browsing while it may be evident when it comes to video or music streaming or games which will lag. For those who are tech savvy, they can make use of software’s which keep a tab on the flow of data packs on their home network, however this is not easy if you are unaware of what you are doing exactly.

Could I get in trouble for letting my webcam attack someone? 

In terms of legality, you can’t get into trouble with the police however it is believed through researches that a hacker can get into your internal network through a webcam hack and keep a tab on everything else. So in such a case you have an intruder which is best if gotten rid of by taking the necessary action.

Why are malicious hackers using these devices? 

That’s because it is way easier to hack in comparison to PCs or servers and these devices tend to make use of default passwords and fail to have any kind of security software in place. And to the benefit of the hackers, there are endless numbers that stay on all day long and it is a task to both update as well as secure. In modern days it is extremely easy for hackers, they are able to target vulnerable devices and put together an army of their own to create a botnet without having to rent hijacked machines like in the past.

What kind of devices are they scanning for? 

Web-associated cameras are especially prominent however outputs are likewise being completed for advanced TV recorders, home routers and printers. All these have a fundamental processor inside that can be subverted to pump out attack packets. Brian Krebs, the blogger who experienced an assault an IoT botnet, has ordered a rundown of gadgets known to have misused his webpage with information. Large portions of the login names and passwords for these gadgets are anything but difficult to-crack. On 1 October, source code for one IoT assault was freely shared, driving some to propose that numerous more malignant programmers will now begin checking for vulnerable gadgets. This guide made by security firm Symantec demonstrates where Europe's botnets are facilitated. Turkey is home to the vast majority of the commandeered devices and PCs.

How new are these types of attacks? 

The main DDoS assaults were seen on the web in 2000. The primary influx of information bombardments was gone for betting locales which were undermined with being thumped disconnected unless they paid an expense. The greater part of those coercion endeavors utilized commandeered PCs to send information. Presently the ascent of the Internet of Things that is populated with brilliant gadgets has commenced recharged enthusiasm for these sorts of assaults. Security scientists have cautioned about the perils of unreliable IoT gadgets for quite a while yet they are beginning to be utilized for critical assaults sooner than numerous individuals anticipated.

Google Reveals Pixel Phone

Google’s New Smartphone Under Pixel Brand

Alphabet’s Google is likely to reveal the new smartphones at an event held on Tuesday which is said to be the latest attempt by the company to sell consumers on Google patented device as well as to test Apple AAPL 0.43% at the high end of the market. Analysts have predicted that the San Francisco product launch would be showcasing the other hardware initiatives of Google GOOGL 0.30% comprising of voice-controlled speaker system known as Home with a view to contest Amazon.com’s AMZN – 0.32% Echo device together with a virtual reality headset.

The most enthusiastically awaited smartphone released under the Pixel brand will be replacing the Nexus line. Though most of the vendors besides Apple tend to use Google’s Android operating system, the company has been toying with several methods in building its own hardware without isolating the manufacturers. Since 2010, Google has sold Nexus phones though the devices have attained little power in the market controlled by Samsung Electronic SSNLF 24.00%. The analysts are of the opinion that the uninspiring sales is due to poor distribution since the phone are not naturally available through the network carrier which most of the U.S. network consumers tend to depend on.

Google – End-to-End Experience

Google had also owned the Motorola smartphone business temporarily before selling it to the Lenovo Group.Google had to struggle to make a distinction with its devices since its mobile software had been made available very extensively according to analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.

He added that Google wanted to have this end-to-end experience though it was not clear that people really wanted that. The cost of the new Pixel phone is likely to be over $6000, which makes them at the high end of the market where Apple is said to be the prominent competitor.

Dawson seems to be more optimistic regarding the Home device which was unveiled at the developer conference of the company this year that tends to work with home entertainment systems, responding to voice commands. The device is said to signify a significant move in an escalating battle with Google and the other tech giants in launching the dominant `digital assistant’.

Alexa/Siri – Competing for Control

Alexa, Google Assistant of Amazon and Siri of Apply have been competing for control since most of the individuals tend to search the web making online purchases through voice commands that could ultimately replace keyboards as well as touch screens as the main means of monitoring digital devices. Though Amazon had been the first to market, Google could take over most of the sales in the nascent category, as per Dawson.

However with smartphones, the distribution could be a challenge.He also added that Amazon had the benefit of being capable of putting this on the home page of the biggest e-commerce site in the world. Ben Bajarin analyst of Creative Strategies stated that he too anticipates Google to discuss its virtual reality headset, Daydream at the event.

He also commented that the company would also disclose plans of combining its Chrome operating system for laptops as well as its Android mobile software thereby assist developers in building more devices.

You Can All Finally Encrypt Facebook Messenger

Facebook – Secret Conversation

Whatsapp had put up a code with the addition of new layers of security to the apps of billion users with the creation of the largest end-to-end encrypted messaging network in history. WhatsApp’s parent company Facebook has now eventually provided it users using its other hugely famous chat app with the opportunity to catch up. As informed to WIRED, a spokesperson of Facebook had informed that the company had completed rolling out `Secret Conversations’ to 900 million Facebook Messenger users in the last few weeks.

The chosen feature enabled users to encrypt their messages in order that no one could read them with the exception of the two individuals at each end of a chat and not even Facebook or law enforcement of the intelligence organizations. A description stated in the app that when users had initiated their first encrypted conversation `your messages are already secure, though Secret Conversation are encrypted from one device to another’.

While the updates of the software of the company for iOS as well as Android have not been clearly mentioned the feature of encryption, those who tend to update their Messenger app would now find the choice of `secret option towards the top right area of the `new message’ screen.

Opt for Snapchat-Style Termination

Moreover the feature also permits the transmitters to opt for Snapchat-style termination time for messages which may vary from five seconds to a day. Users who have updated the app have the facility of sending or receiving encrypted time-sensitive messages and hence users are recommended to update as early as possible.

Secret Conversation tends to use the Signal encryption system which seems to have a healthy status in the security community. It had been established by the non-profit Open Whisper System that had implemented the encryption layer first in its own Signal app before teaming with the other companies to include the procedure.

The new security mechanism had been first announced by Facebook and had been tested with beta users in July. Google had also recently launched the Allo messenger which included the encryption choice.

New Feature – Strong/Simple Encryption

The new layer of encryption of Facebook Messenger needs to be enabled manually for each conversation instead of being changed on by default since it is in the Signal app or WhatsApp. The conclusion could be a measure of a negotiation with the purpose of assisting Facebook to prevent legal as well as political difficulties.

The default encryption of WhatsApp for instance seems to have already placed its parent company in an uncomfortable spot at least once when the authorities of Brazil had arrested an executive of Facebook in the country for his negligence in helping police decrypt WhatsApp messages that had been send in a drug trafficking case, by criminal suspects.

However, the opt-in move has brought about the scorn of privacy advocates when Facebook had announced Secret Conversation, such as the tweet from ACLU technologist Chris Soghoian. Considering it or not, the new feature of Facebook tends to bring in strong, simple encryption to hundreds of millions of users.

The spread to the other ultra-popular messaging services, with the combination of end-to-end encryptions, stopping investigations has never been easy.

Hello Allo! Tips to Use Google New Chat App in a Best Way

Google Chat App `Allo’

Google has progressed tremendously from the basic looking GTalk to Hangouts and has modified its messaging services with altering needs as well as time. Presently with its latest chat app `Allo’ the company has once again made efforts to rewrite the way people tend to utilise chat apps. It would not be discriminating to call Allo only a chat app since it tends to do much more than only chats. Together with an AI that seems to learn quickly regarding the users, it also has many other features which could be helpful for users in planning, locating information as well as be more communicative in chats. Announced at the I/O 2016 of Google, the app is said to be available in the Play Store. The following tips would be helpful to the users:

Share videos rapidly: It could be tiresome in sharing videos in chats. One could first long press the link, copy and then open the chat window where you desire to share it. With Allo, Google seems to solve this issue. Just type @google in any chat and the inbuilt AI assistant of the company will appear in the text box. Select the same and then ask the videos you desire to view. For instance, type @google show me the video of making Matar Paneer and the AI tends to respond with an expanded video link of the recipe

Organize your text size: Text size tends to assist in conveying the message. Allo provides the user with the option to alter the size of the text in a chat on the fly. You could just slide the send up or down in order to increase or reduce the size of the text in a message.

Hola Allo, find me flights: Allo seems to be much more than only a chat app and has four kinds of chats such as one to one, group chat, Chat with Google Assistant and Incognito chat. If one seems to be chatting with Google Assistant, you could ask the AI to display the plane tickets, hotel availability and much more. It portrays the Google search result.

Allo Sets reminders: The AI in the app also tends to set reminders and alarms for the user. You could go to Google Assistant in the app and ask for setting the alarm which it tends to do.

Play games: In Allo one could also play games. For instance, the chat game is said to be one of the interesting ones wherein in this game you could opt for the game type and the AI would play that game with you.

Search for restaurants: The AI chat assistant tends to utilise one’s location and suggests accordingly the restaurants which are in the vicinity. The users can view the restaurants by clicking on Google map.

Incognito chats: Similar to WhatsApp, Google Allo also tends to assure safe and encrypted chats though it is only likely in Incognito mode.The Incognito Mode tends to ensure that chats are encrypted once toggled.

Group chats: Like WhatsApp, one also has the possibility of creating groups in the app with options of deleting, adding people or mute group. Read message seem to have double ticks similar to the way how they are there in WhatsApp. Moreover you could also long press on a message and view details like the precise time it had been delivered and read.

Why SEO is important when considering web hosts

When you’re selecting a new web hosting provider, SEO is probably not so high on your list of considerations. However, the web host you choose can have a bearing on how successful your SEO is.

However, this is not a case of a web host offering certain services that give your site an SEO boost, instead a web host that is considered ‘goof for SEO’ is actually one that does not do anything that can harm your SEO.

Furthermore, there are some important ranking factors in SEO that can be influenced by your web hosting. If you choose a bad web hosting provider, then these will soon become apparent.

Here are four ways in which your web hosting can affect SEO:

1. Website speed Although it’s not as high up the list of importance as good quality content, website speed is a factor that can play a part in how search engines score, or rank, your website. If your website has great, unique content that is relevant, even if it loads a little slower than a website with bad content, it will still rank higher. However, when you’re competing with other websites that offer strong content, having a website that loads quickly can be important for SEO. Largely it comes down to usability, which is something Google take seriously in their rankings. Websites that offer a poor user experience are often penalised, and a website that loads incredibly slowly will almost certainly incur such penalties.
   
    
2. Access for robots Although this is a lot rarer these days, in the past there have been countless web hosting companies that just did not understand SEO, and as a result the website which they hosted would suffer. An example of this was some hosts were putting in place scripts that would block access to the site for certain robots, including those from search engines. As a result, the websites were poorly indexed or not indexed at all. This is less of a concern now, but there are still web hosting companies with scripts that could cause conflict with search engines.
   
    
3. Uptime For anyone who has worked with websites and web hosting professionally, one of the key concerns of clients is “uptime”. Put simply, what percentage of the time the website is available. Most hosts now offer uptime guarantees that are well above 99%, however this is not always the case. A website that is often down or unavailable will not be favoured by Google. The reason for this? Well if the website has been indexed and then Google comes back to re-index it and it’s no longer there, Google will see a 404 error which essentially means it believes the page no longer exists. 404s are bad for SEO and usability, and your site will be penalised.
   
   
    
4. Security The internet has around 650 million websites active and available at any one time, a staggering statistic.For all the big name and trusted websites that you can name, there are millions of others competing for this space. A considerable number of these websites are targeted maliciously by hackers, or are set-up with one sole purpose – to infect a user’s machine with malware. A web host that does not take security seriously leaves themselves open to potentially becoming victim of a hacker who will put malware on your website.
   
    

The first you find out about this will be when Google webmaster tools (if you use Google Analytics) sends you a note basically saying Google is now blocking traffic to your website because of the harmful nature of the malware found. It goes without saying that this can harm SEO ranking massively, so ensuring your website and web host is secure is imperative. Check that any web hosting company you are considering using regularly updates server software and takes other steps necessary.

Samsung, Woolworth’s Team Up

Samsung in Partnership with Woolworth – Family Hub Refrigerator

Samsung has declared a partnership with Woolworth in an effort to purchase groceries utilising the Woolworths app directly from the fridge door. This is in time with the launch of its latest internet-linked appliance of Australia known as the Family Hub refrigerator. This does not seem to be the first linked fridge hitting the market.

Since 2013, LG and Samsung have also been playing with screens on the fridges and from early 2000, the internet fridges have been making headlines. However Samsung intends making good use of the technology by resolving a genuine linked home where the fridge needs food and now your fridge can purchase the food.

If one tends to drop AU$7,499 on a Samsung’s flagship fridge, you would be in a position to order groceries directly from the Woollies app that has now been made more appealing for the Family Hub’s 21.5-inch screen. The user can navigate for items directly or search through recipes by cuisine, tap a tab in the recipe section for ingredients and thereafter tap another tab for shopping on those products.

Well-Designed Feature

You could prepare a list on the mobile and later push it to the fridge screen and due to the built-in fridge door camera of the Family Hub; you can view the contents of the fridge from the screen on the door and your phone while you are at the supermarket.

It is said to be a simple interface though not clear how convenient it would be in general experience in making a full shopping list by probing through the grocery option while waiting at your fridge. A search for tomato sauce during a demo had brought about innumerable options.All the same it seems to be a well-designed feature in association with Woolworths eventually bringing in a real-world advantage which would essentially be useful on an associated fridge.

However, in comparison to the original internet refrigerator in 2004 that had a price tag of $17,000 this model seems to be relatively cheaper with the grocery-ordering app on its door. There are three cameras within to enable you to check on its contents before purchasing the food in a store.

Four-Door – Utilised in Controlling Other Devices in Home

The fridge tends to have four-door which can also be utilised in controlling the other devices in the home such as robot vacuum cleaners, playing music or TV shows via its speakers as well as the screen. Jeremy Senior, Samsung Electronics Australia home appliance head had stated that the Family Hub fridge had been designed for huge household having crowded kitchens with little time to plan the grocery shop visits.

He added that there was obviously new tech adopter who would prefer this though realistically, busy families seem to be its audience. In their research, they have seen online shopping and food management seem to be big draw-cards for this type of fridge. Mr Senior also mentioned that the teaming with grocery chain Woolworths had been vital in demonstrating why anyone would prefer to link their fridge to the internet.

Kate Langford, Woolworth’s digital retail general manager had stated that smart fridge owners could bring a grocery shopping list on the fridge and complete the same on the computer or else send it to their smartphone. The Family Hub fridge is said to be available initially as a French door, 671-litre model with a black finish according to Mr Senior.

Get Sharper Text on Your Windows Screen

ClearType – Text Sharper/Easier to Read on Screen

We tend to spend long hours of our time in reading on the computer each day though our computers are probably not enhanced for reading and the text on the monitors may not be adequately sharp or could be too small, particularly in the case of high-resolution monitors.

Generally, websites are not augmented for reading long-form articles and are mixed-up with several navigation components, with advertisements popping up and tends to use texts which are too small. Windows 7 comprises of a built-in service for configuring `ClearType’ that tends to make text easier to be read on LCD monitors. Since the days of Windows XP, Microsoft used a system wide technology – ClearType which made the text sharper and easier to be read on the screen.

ClearType has been designed to improve LCD display. It may be likely to appear a bit hazyon standard desktop monitors as well as on some of the LCD displays. In some cases, seeing haziness could be due to manufacturing irregularity on LCD displays wherein the normal striping of red-green-blue tends to get reversed with blue-green-red.

No Support in Windows XP ClearType

Presently there seems to be no support in Windows XP ClearType to reimburse for this irregularity which could be the problem in cases wherein no ClearType contrast setting inclines to look good on a specific LCD display.In this type of situation, the best thing to be done is to turn off `ClearType’.Windows 10 also has the ClearType support which by default, is generally turned on.

 If the user tends to find the text on a screen hazy, you could ensure that the ClearType setting is turned on and fine tune the same. To get it organized one could go to Windows 10 search box towards the bottom left area of the screen and type `ClearType’. Then you select `Adjust ClearType text’ in the result list’, to open the control panel.

 When the ClearType Text Tuner control panel is opened, you could ensure that the box near the `turn on ClearType’ is checked and thereafter you could click the Next button. Windows 10 thereafter tends to check the monitor resolution ensure that it is set properly Then you could click the Next button once again.

Advanced Sizing of Text & Other Items

The next five screens present you with many text blocks prompting the user to select the one which seems best to their choices and once the choice of click the Finish button is done, your ClearType setting gets consequently tuned in.

If the user desires additional adjustments, you could go to the Start menu and select `Settings and open System’. On selecting `Display’ from the list of system settings from the left side of the box you could adjust the size of the text seen on the screen which can be changed to brightness level. Opt for `Advanced Display Setting’ link towards the bottom of the box and select `Colour Calibration’ for fine-tuning the colours on the display.

The choice of `Advanced sizing of text and other items’ could also be considered as an alternative choice, to bump the size of the text in window title bars, other screen elements as well as menus.

Google Allo Smart Messaging Apps

Google’s Allo - Chat App

Google’s Allo, a chat app having built-in personal assistant is intended to be your virtual best friend. The search giant had unveiled plans for two new communications apps in Duo and All at the Google I/O developer conference in May. Duo is said to be an unsophisticated video chat app that had been launched in August while recently, Google brought out the awareness of the far more aspiring Allo.

 Similar to Duo, one would not require a Gmail account for using Allo but you could just download the Allo app, inform it of your mobile number and edit the confirmation code send through SMS. The app is available only for Android and iOS smartphones and similar to Duo, Google does not provide a desktop client. Allo is said to be a standalone app and does not assimilate with the SMS app of the phone.

The notifications tends to appear on the lock screen just the way other communications app, as well as the phone seems to chirp up with a spoken `Allo’ which some may find it quite frustrating. Hopefully, Google will be adding the choice of changing it to a simple beep or ping for those who do not prefer their pocket to strike up a conversation when they tend to be out.

Alter the Size of Text

Allo, at first glance tends to put in just like another effort from the part of Google in attempting the congested messaging space and hurdle on the emoji/stickers lobby. However it is worth the effort to dig a little deeper. The cute chat choices of Google Allo seem to be quite disciplined when compared to the iMessage overhaul with iOS 10 of Apple.

Google has made emojis and downloadable sticker packs available for the user and one can send also send their own images and videos, with the possibility of drawing on your images. Moreover, you could also alter the size of the text in the message from a murmur to a shout, by dragging the send button up and down. It is said that a loud shot also tends to activate that chirpy `Allo’ notification even if the app seems to be open.

Incognito Chat

Allo also tends to copy the Smart Reply feature from the Inbox app of Google which is like auto-correct, providing the user to short list suitable canned responses and can also evaluate images in making suggestion, distinguishing objects and landmarks. Besides this it also gets to know the way one tends to talk so it sounds more like you over a period of time.

 The messages in the chat window displays a tick to a message indicating that it has been delivered and then adds another tick confirming that it has been read. Smart Replies on the contrary are useful when one seems to be in a hurry though the person at the other end is unable to distinguish between Smart Replies and real replies which are prone to exploitation.

Another feature of Allo is the incognito chat’ for those moments when one prefers to have more secure conversation which utilises end-to-end encryption together with nondescript lock screen notification that says `You have a new message’ without providing details of the sender or message. Besides this you could also set the message to be deleted automatically anytime between five seconds to seven days

Technology: Soon You Can Own a Jet

The Personal Jet – A New Category of Aircraft

A new category of aircraft called `The Personal Jet’ has been created by Cirrus Aircraft to reimagine and reinvent the jet airplane wherein the $2million single-engine SF50 Vision Jet of the firm will be equipped with features and would not need a professional pilot. Cirrus had been established in 1984 and has its base in Minnesota. It is also known for producing the VK-30 kit aircraft in 1987.

 The firm has stated that they are adhering to the tradition and have designed a seamless monocoque carbon fuselage `which is lighter and stronger making it the state-of-the-art pressure vessel in its class’ The aircraft manufacturer has included its Airframe Parachute System which had saved more than 90 lives in the earlier variants. The new jet, according to Cirrus would be transforming personal travel and would be ready to fly towards the end of this year.

Presently, Cirrus is waiting for the approval of Federal Aviation Administration and after it has been awarded, the firm would be in a position of fulfilling over 600 deliveries to individuals who have already provided the deposit including head coach Rick Carlisle of Dallas Mavericks, according to reports from Barrons.

A Revolution in Personal Transportation

The Cirrus Aircraft website reads - `not requiring a full-time professional pilot or a full blown flight department, the Vision Jet fills the untapped void between high performance pistons and the Very Light Jet. Simpler to fly and easier to operate and own, the Vision Jet is truly a revolution in personal transportation.It makes jet performance accessible to pilots and aircraft owners who till now could only dream’.

The Vision Jet tends to fit in a standard 40-foot hanger which is about 11 feet tall having a wingspan of 38 feet. The Cirrus Aircraft designed this personal aircraft with the essential amenities is required for a day in the air. Barrons.com states that those who desire to fly the craft would need to complete jet-type rating course, though the jet maker had mentioned a full-time professional pilot would not be needed. But also for the first time flyers, the control display has been designed to make piloting very easy.

Capability of Personalizing How Information can be Presented

The five passengers would be having access to the full airplane parachute, zoned climate controls together with airbag seat belts, leather interior, USB charging ports and huge windows to enable the five passengers to take in the locations.

According to Flight Club, pilots would have the capability of personalizing how the information tends to be presented on two touch screens in the cockpit, like the automatic pressurization scheduling, weather radar data in real-time, satellite phone integration, text messaging and much more. The Vision Jet has a tendency to cruise at 300 knots true airspeed – KTAS, 345m miles per hour, utilising its 33 turbofan which tends to produce 1,800 pounds of thrust.

When the jet seems to hit around 28,000 feet in the air, it is said that the aircraft gets pressurized to simulate an 8,000 foot cabin. Consumers interested in purchasing have the choice of upgrading to seven seats, with an addition of entertainment display, Wi-Fi ground link together with improved real-time weather radar.

Fidget Cube: A Vinyl Desk Toy

Fidget Cube – Pocket Sized Desk Toy

Very often most of us tend to fidget mindlessly while we tend to be in deep thoughts, like clicking pens or squeezing stress balls or flipping paper clips. A new system has been developed by two brothers, wherein it enables the person to fidget discretely at the desk while at the same time tends to increase the focus as well as productivity.

Known as Fidget Cube, this pocket sized desk toy has been created with six tangible surfaces which enable the person to flip, roll, click, spin, rub and glide over till it suits the person. Fidget Cube the brainchild of Matthew and Mark McLachlan had designed the Apple Watch accessory Duet and are fidgeters themselves.

They have designed this toy in order to change the way society tends to view these small movements. The Fidget Cube is said to be a new crowdfunded product which is mainly a small vinyl box having instruments designed for fidgeting on each side of the cube.

It is a type of no use since the buttons do not really do anything but is a kind of creative since the point is not to switch on or off the TV but to provide your fingers with something to do.

Each Side – Various Mechanisms

The researchers had discovered a link between working with the hands while increasing the memory together with creativity which the McLachlan’s invention tends to do just that. The so called Fidget Cube is said to weight around 4.1 ounces while the complete toy tends to measure 1.3 inches.

The products is offered in eight various colour schemes, die, graphite, aqua, midnight, sunset berry, fresh and retro. Each side of the toy tends to have various mechanisms which could fit anyone’s needs of fidgeting and have clickable buttons which bear a resemblance to the action of clicking pen.

On one surface here are three clicker buttons together with two silenced buttons that enables the person to fidget with causing disturbances to anyone around them. Another surface resembles a worry stone which enables the user to rub away the stress and a moveable joystick which fulfils the needs with a sliding action.

The cube has also been created with a switch which can be clicked rolling gears with a ball and spinning dial. In a video explained by the team it states that while designing Fidget Cube they wanted to ensure two things.

Utilised – Classroom to Boardroom

First the functionality requires to satisfy the fidgeting needs, and needs to be a complete tool box of fidgeting choices while staying small as well as compact. They wanted Fidget Cube to be a premium desk toy which could be utilised separately in any setting, from the classroom to the boardroom.

The McLachlan brothers had opened a Kickstarter campaign recently with a target of $15,000 which they had exceeded it greatly. Presently the campaign had raised over 1.4 million from 37,651 supporters with 41 days still until it ends.

The cube can be purchased by the consumers for $19 and the deliveries are expected to be scheduled in December to any destination in the world.

Naked 3D Mirror Scans Your Body for Fitness Progress

Naked 3D Fitness Tracker – Body Scanning Mirror

Health conscious individuals while sticking to a diet or fitness routine rely on scales which only tell them on the pounds gained or lost. A usual mirror could let them know how one tends to look though not how that look would compare to when they start working out. The Naked 3D Fitness Tracker fills up this gap and the mirror tends to create a 3D scan of the body for tracking your fitness.

 It is said to be available for a pre-order price of $699. The Naked 3D Fitness Tracker is said to be a full-length mirror which takes a scan of the body to record precise measurements, fat percentages together with weight. The data is then sent to a smartphone or a tablet app where the person can view the development via heat maps as well as a time-lapse model.

It utilises its built-in RealSense cameras in performing a complete body scan in order that individual can have a visual record on how the body tends to alter to diet and exercise over a period of time. Naked Labs is expecting to ship its body scanning mirror somewhere in early 2017.The device with this premium price tag would be for people who seem to be serious in tracking their fitness progress.

3 RealSense Cameras Implanted in Mirror Captures 3D Images

However CEO and co-founder of Naked Labs, Farhad Farahbakhshian states that the fitness tracker could be perfect for those keen in making a change in their standard of living. He added that very often, sticking to a new diet together with exercise plan does not seem to show the desired results.

 He had explained at a demo during the week’s Intel Developer Forum, the issue that the Naked 3D Fitness Tracker could address. He commented that `people want to understand how their bodies change depending on diet and exercise’.

In order to obtain a 3D scan, the individual needs to take their place on a turntable scale before a mirror with only the inner garment so that the camera can obtain a good view of the body. While the individual have a tendency to rotate, three RealSense cameras implanted in the mirror tends to capture 3D images of the body which the quad-core Atom X5 process of the mirror closes together in a scan of the body.

 The mirror not only captures a scan on how one looks at a given point of time but also said to calculate measurements for various areas of the body like the neck, shoulders, biceps, chest, forearms, waist, hips, quads as well as the calf muscles.

Data Can Be Observed on Friend Mobile App

On recording the data one can observe it on a friend mobile app and get an understanding on how one’s diet and exercises option tend to be paying off. It could be that the exercises have not been giving the desired results which you envisaged to do so. But with Naked’s scan, Farahbakhshian points out that it portrays how flatter the tummy has been.

The Naked 3D Fitness Tracker may not be solely intended for fitness obsessiveness or qualified athletes but would need someone who is much more enthusiastic than a casual dieter especially considering the price tag which is likely to reach $999 after the pre-order time. The 3D body scanner, if nothing else, seems to show off other possibilities for RealSense technology of Intel further than drones, games and movement tracking.

Engineered Bacterium Turns Carbon Dioxide into Methane Fuel

Bacterium Turns Carbon Dioxide into Fuel with Enzymatic Step

Scientists have brought about a bacterium which tends to take carbon dioxide from the air, turning it into fuel with a single enzymatic step. The process is said to draw on sunlight in producing methane and hydrogen within the bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris, in essence withdrawing combustion. The said engineered bacteria tend to guide scientists to an improved carbon-neutral biofuels.

Their results had been published recently by the researchers in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. According to co-author Caroline Harwood, professor of microbiology at the University of Washington, the report flourished from her work studying an enzyme known as nitrogenase. She commented that they were interested in the enzyme nitrogenase since it does a remarkably difficult reaction.

 The enzyme, in nature tends to serve as a catalyst to assist certain bacteria turn inert atmospheric nitrogen gas into reactive ammonia through a process known as nitrogen reduction or nitrogen fixation. The enzyme tends to utilise adenosine triphosphate –ATP which is a compound that assists as an energy exchange in cells.

Enzyme Type of Promiscuous

The nitrogen reduction reaction tends to have a big energy barrier and seldom occurs on its own without the enzyme. Researchers have been speculating if they could tweak nitrogenase to operate with other stable as well as inert molecules.

Harwood has commented that it has been somewhat appreciated recently that this enzyme is a type of promiscuous and tends to do other reactions, efficiently.Some of her co-workers succeeded in isolating and changing nitrogenase to use the most oxidized type of carbon, carbon dioxide as the initial material in producing the most reduced kind of carbon, methane.

However, this altered enzyme was dully produced in test tube at tiny scales that was not adequately good for a process which could someday produce industrial quantities of biofuels. Harwood had stated that they want to see if they could get a real living organism for this conversion. A form of the R palustris bacterium which had been modified to crank out the engineered nitrogenase at full blast had been prepared by the team.

Modified Nitrogenase Unable to Fix Nitrogen

The bacterium in its natural state tends to absorb sunlight in order to produce ATP so that light can assist in generating the energy to power the enzyme in the modified cells. The researchers discovered that the modified nitrogenase could not fix nitrogen though it could produce methane and hydrogen when the bacteria were illuminated.

But the latest nitrogenase is not anywhere as efficient in producing methane from carbon dioxide since it makes ammonia from nitrogen gas. Harwood has remarked that the normal enzyme tends to make about a couple of hydrogen from each molecule of ammonia and the changed enzyme tends to make a thousand of hydrogen for every molecule of methane.

An associate lecturer from the department of biological sciences at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Daniel Lessner, not involved in the research had stated that the findings draw out a clear pathway in producing methane, the foremost constituent of natural gas from the living organisms. He had studied a class of bacteria known as methanogens which tend to produce methane, naturally.

But they tend to use various starting materials such as acetate. He commented saying that the methanogens need other microbes in providing them with the other electron donors and what is needed then is not just one microorganism but multiple microorganisms.

Smallest Hard Disk to Date Writes Information Atom by Atom

Accomplished In Reduction to Final Limit

Present society tends to create over a billion gigabytes of new data daily and to store them, it has been progressively important for every individual to occupy the minimum space as possible. A group of scientist at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University accomplished in bringing about this reduction to the final limit by building a memory of 1 kilobyte wherein each of the bit is said to be represented by the position of a single chlorine atom. Sander Otte, lead-scientist had commented that in theory, this storage density would enable all books created by humans to be written on an individual post stamp.

 They had reached a storage density of 500 Terabits per square inch, which was 500 times superior to the best commercial hard disk available presently. Reports on this memory in Nature Nanotechnology had been done by his team on July 18. Physicist Richard Feynman had challenged his colleagues to engineer the world at the smallest possible scale.

 In his well-known lecture – There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom, he had speculated that if they had a platform enabling them to arrange single atoms in a precise orderly pattern, there would be a possibility of storing a piece of information for each atom.

Scanning Tunnelling Microscope

To respect the visionary Feynman, Otte together with his team had coded a section of Feynman’s lecture on an area of 100 nanometers wide. A scanning tunnelling microscope – STM had been utilised by the team where a sharp needle tends to search the surface of the atoms one after the other. With the aid of these probes, scientist not only can see the atoms but can also utilise them in pushing the atoms around.

Otte had explained that one could compare it to a sliding puzzle. Every piece comprises of two positions on a surface of copper atoms and one chlorine atom which tends to slide back and forth between these two positions. If the chlorine atom tends to be in the top position, there will be a hole below it which is called a 1. If the hole is said to be in the top position and the chlorine atom is on the bottom, the bit is then considered as 0.

New Approach Offers Tremendous Prospects

Since the chlorine atoms are surrounded by other chlorine atoms, apart from being near the holes, they seem to keep each other in place. This is the reason why this system with holes is said to be much more stable than the systems with movable atoms and are more suitable for data storage. The new approach tends to offer tremendous prospects with regards to stability and scalability.

Yet this kind of memory need not be anticipated in data centres soon. Otte had stated that in its present condition the memory tends to operate only in clean vacuum situations and at liquid nitrogen temperature in order that the actual storage of data on an atomic scale tends to be some way off. However through this accomplishment we seem to have advanced a big step nearer.

The research had been made conceivable with the support from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NOW/FOM. The scientists of the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory – INL in Portugal had done calculations on the performance of the chlorine atoms.

Self Shading Windows Can Rapidly Switch from Transparent to Dark

New System – Windows Switch from Translucent to Opaque

The researcher team at MIT have discovered a new system of making windows which tend to switch from translucent to opaque which have a tendency to save energy by the blocking of sunlight on hot day thereby reducing the air-conditioning costs. Though other means of causing the glass to darken prevails, this new system tends to provide substantial benefit with the combination of speedy response times together with low power requirements.

When the glass is said to be switched from clear to dark or vice versa, the new system is said to need only little to no power for the maintenance of its new state unlike the other substances and only requires energy when the need to switch back again, arises. Reports of the results had been reported recently in a paper on Chem, the online journal, by the MIT professor of chemistry, Mircea Dinca, doctoral student Khalid Al-Kaabi as well as the former postdoc Casey Wade, presently an assistant professor at Brandeis University. Dinca explains that the latest discovery tends to utilise electrochromic materials that incline to alter their colour as well as transparency in reaction to applied voltage

Turning Voltage – Windows Darken

These tend to vary from the photochromic materials like those that are found in some eyeglasses which are inclined to get darker while the light gets brighter. These types of materials have the tendency of much slower response time and to experience a smaller change in their levels of opaqueness.

The prevailing electrochromic materials face similar limitation and have only role applications. For instance, the aircraft Boeing 787 has electrochromic windows that get darker to avert the bright sunlight from coming into the cabin. Dinca informed that by turning on the voltage, the windows could be darkened though when the switch is flipped it tends to take some time for the windows to turn dark and surely one would prefer it to be quicker.

The delay is due to the changes in the material which depend on the movement of electron, an electric current which provides the whole window with a negative charge.

MOFs – Conducts Electrons/Ions At High Speeds

Positive ions thereafter seem to move through the material restoring the electrical balance thus creating the colour change effect. However, while the electrons seem to flow quickly through the materials, the ions tend to move much more slowly which limits the general reaction speed.

By utilising the sponge-like material known as metal-organic frameworks-MOFs that tends to conduct both electrons and ions at very high speeds, the MIT team overpowered that issue. These materials are said to have been utilised for around 20 years for their capacity of storing gases in their structure. However, it was the MIT team who were the first to connect them for their electrical as well as optical properties.

Dinca remarks that the other issue with the prevailing versions of self-shading materials is that it is difficult to obtain a material which alters from totally transparent to, for instance, completely black. Even the windows in the 787 tend to change only to a dark shade of green instead of being opaque.

This is How Sports Teams Choose Their Tech Gear

AP

From as long as the 1930s, both major league baseball clubs as well as baseball historians have made the mention of phones in their bullpens as well as dugouts. Though historians are unsure of when they first came in to use, they have found the earliest mention in an article of the Sheboygan Press in the year 1930 with regard to the Yankee stadium.

It is strongly believed that the phones were used by the managers to make calls to the bullpen which is the area where pitchers warm up, so as to inform the relievers to get prepared to play. Though today this technology is not anything extraordinary, in the 1930s it was considered to be advanced which stands to be noted.

In the year 2013 which is not too long ago , T-mobile invested in millions to start a partnership with major league baseball in order to do away with stadium landlines and move on to cell phones. Reason being, with this change, the coach would be able to stand with the reliever and watch him play rather than be confined to the corner because of the landline. However this idea failed to take off well since until today all of the 30 Major league ball clubs make use of landlines since managers were not convinced enough to make a switch mentions Matthew Gould MLB spokesman.

Observers of the technology believe that that is how it works. There is a high level of mistrust when it comes to stressful situations hence technology does not work too well when it comes to both coaches and players even though there is a visible advantage of the same. Nick Watanabe who is a Sports administration professor at the University of Mississippi believes that people feel they will come across as stupid and it could cost them their career, however those who are using technology are surely at a competitive advantage.
For instance, coaches and players of NFL go through high numbers of photographs to check on the offence or defence of the opposition. Latest images are retrieved from printers after every play are carried around in think binders.

In the year 2014, the league and Microsoft went into a partnership to replace the use of binders with Surface Pro tablets. However this too wasn't accepted immediately - some coaches would make use of both binders as well as the tablet while others would call it an iPad or knock off iPads which did not go down will with Microsoft officials resulting in giving them a complete tutorial on how to both use and talk about the device.

This year, the NFL has granted permission to the teams to use the tablet so they have videos at the bench itself which was not allowed ever before which is resulted in the tablet being used all the time states Galen Clavio who is not only a professor of sports media at Indiana University but also the director of the National Sports Journalism Centre.

He also believes that it is not about the gadget being new but a gadget that does something new. There is a high amount of pressure faced when using these devices and for the users a pressure of being able to perform. Most NFL coaches most often have a tenure of 3 years thus it is up to them to decide what to spend their money on and they believe that spending on an app and not winning games could cost them their job.

This is the divide between what makes it to the sports world and what does not. The tablets helps with generating reports while the cell phones do not help with games.

Very often there is a generation gap when it comes to professional sports coaches, they belong to a different generation from the technology mentions Ann Pegoraro who happens to be the director of the Institute for Sport Marketing at Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada. It is like asking your grandfather to work with an iPad which is crazy, we would all agree.

It is simple if your grandfather does not know how to make use of the data, and a tech savvy niece or nephew gets hold of the data, it could be misused.

Watanabe mentions that not everybody trusts technology however the ones who do and have mastered the use have begun to reap benefits resulting in teams being secretive in what devices they use during not only the game but also practice.

The major league has provider every club with an iPad which can be used in the dugout and a mobile had also been allowed on the field for the first time in 113 years and the technology is being made use of by every team as it benefits their overall game.

Cybersecurity Student Researches How to Keep Cars Safe from Hacking

Smart Cars Susceptible to Cyber-Attacks

In 2015, a Jeep Cherokee driven by a reporter had documented how two researchers had hacked it and controlled everything from the radio and the media console of the car to its brakes and steering. For an associate professor of computer science at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Dr Shucheng Yu, the application demonstrated how susceptible smart cars, featuring GPS, Bluetooth and internet connections, are to cyber-attacks.

Yu remarked that these cars have become the trend of the future and there could be some very severe consequences if someone tends to hack into the car. A car can be completely controlled by the hacker if it is not secure.

Hence Yu together with his student Zachary King, a junior majoring in computer science at UALR, did some researching during summer on keeping cars safe from cyber-attacks. They operated on the project all through a rigorous eight weeks summer research program at UALR. King had been one out of the 10 college students from across the country who had been recruited through a National Science Foundation grant-funded project. `REU Site – CyberSAFE@UALR – Cyber Security and Forensics Research at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’

Investigating & Securing Communication – Controller Area Network – CAN

According to Dr Mengjun Xie, an associate professor of computer science and director of the CyberSAFE@UALR program, the purpose of the program is to reduce cyber-attacks on individuals utilising mobile technology and social networking sites.

He states that the simple idea is to integrate cyber-security and cyber forensics research with the latest technology in mobile cloud computer together with social media in order to offer research opportunities to students. Over 130 students had applied for 10 spots wherein participants comprising of undergraduate college students with a grade point average of 3.0 or more who had been majoring in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering math or physics.

The selected student had to spend eight weeks conducting full time research with a faculty mentor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock where the participants had received a $4,000 stipend, for on-campus housing, travel expenses and a meal plan. King, in his project, `Investigating and Securing Communications in the Controller Area Network – CAN, developed a security protocol in order to secure smart cars from being hacked.

Layer of Security – Safeguards CAN

Moreover he also built an experimental environment which tends to mimic the communication system in a smart car that tends to permit the security procedure to be verified through imitations.The research centres on the development of a security procedure to defend the Controller Area Network – CAN, which is an internal communication structure in vehicles.

King informs that there are several ways which hacker could control CAN. Once they gain access to it, they can control your car the way they want to. King tends to propose a layer of security wherein if an unauthorized person attempts to access it, they would not be able to control the vehicle. The security procedure safeguards the CAN in a couple of ways.

 It validates messages sent through the network by developing a validation code which enables nodes on the network to distinguish between a valid message and an assailant’s message. The second security feature shields against replay attacks whenever a hacker tries to breach the network by sending old messages repeatedly. The modus operandi utilises a timestamp in calculating when the network received the message last and verifies the freshness of the message.

Mobile Phones Which Assemble Themselves

MIT – Mobile Device which Assemble by Itself

A mobile device that tends to assemble by itself within a few moments has been created by researchers from MIT. The model created by the scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab is said to be composed of six single parts that tend to assemble into two diverse mobile devices.The Self-Assembly Lab had been established in 2011 by the department of architecture research scientist Skylar Tibbits of MIT.

The lab was originally set up to work on 4D printing which is said to be a process that utilised 3D printers in the creation of materials which can grow and change on its own.The device is capable of assembling itself within a few minutes even in unsteady environment like being thrown around a tumbler.

Since then, MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab attained subsidy from DARPA to work on materials which could self-construct, comprising of flat-packed furniture that can build by them and self-lacing sneakers. The latest project for the Self-Assembly Lab is the partnership with designer Marcelo Coelho, experimenting consumer electronics with a self-assembling mobile phone. According to a report by Fast Co.Design, the source responsible for the self-assembly device, is simplicity. To start with, the tumbler needs to be going adequately fast so that the components seems to meet but do not break.

Components – Lock & Key Mechanism

The project tends to observe how a few components; an energy source together with the right collaborations enables a mobile phone to build itself without the need of any human interference or mechanisation. All the components of the device tend to have lock and key mechanism that like puzzle pieces tend to permit only the appropriate connection to happen and reject the ones which are not right.

Lastly it is essential for the parts to stick and hence the team utilised magnets ensuring that the right parts were attracted to each other. The researcher, Skylar Tibbits, who had been working on the project informed the publication that if one looks at how things are manufactured at every other scale except the human scale-look at DNA and cells and proteins, then view the planetary scale, everything is built through the self-assembly.

However, at the human scale, it seems to be the opposite. Everything seems to be built top down. We tend to take components and force them together. If this type of technology is adopted in mainstream, it would tend to have grave consequences for the manufacturing industry.

Cost of Automation Can be Condensed At Scale

According to MIT, the cost of automation can be condensed at scale removing the need of shifting labour overseas or have workers altogether. Moreover, jobs could be replaced with mechanisation and assembly-line staff at electronic factories could someday be a thing of the past.

But researchers are of the opinion that the possibilities for these types of designs seems to be limitless and could provide the vendors with more freedom in designing and creating improved and more ground-breaking products. Tibbits remarked that `right now the phone is pre-determined and we are using this process to assemble that phone.

But imagine you take a circuit board and have different logical building blocks and those logical building blocks can be tumbled around, you could have different functionalities’.MIT does not seem to be the only institution which has been exploring the possibilities of modular consumer products. Google has revealed that this year, Project Ara, the modular smartphone of the tech giant would be released in 2017.

Digital Strategies For Medical And Dental Offices

As the digital world expands, businesses that once relied on traditional marketing strategies, like print advertising, business cards, and brochures now must devise whole new approaches for letting the world know about their business. This is especially true today for medical and dental practices.

Where medical and dental offices could once rely on print advertising and word-of-mouth to bring in new patients, the changes in modern communication that have come via the digital age have had a real impact. All of this means that medical and dental practices that want to continue to develop and keep a steady flow of patients coming in must create new strategies, with digital marketing at the heart of their marketing plans.

How To Launch A Digital Strategy For Marketing A Medical or Dental Office

A marketing plan using digital processes is critical in today’s competitive business environment. Today medical and dental offices utilize many aspects of the online world in order to let people know about their businesses and what services they offer. Business sites like search engine land are one resource for spreading the news about these types of offices, and for communicating the kinds of services offered to a wide audience.

How can an office prepare an online marketing plan?

The best marketing plans for a medical or dental office are ones that combine several approaches to reaching and communicating with patients. The truth is that no matter how caring and skilled a dentist or physician is, if no one knows about the services they offer, they won’t be able to reach those in need of what they do.

Create a Website

An online website that is interactive and that can communicate with potential patients on a regular basis is a must in today’s digital world. A well-designed and thought-through website can reach patients in a positive way and also act as a communications center for an office. Great website designs can be achieved by working with dental/medical marketing agencies that primarily focus on website design before other services.

The Value of A Great Website

A website serves as a central place where patients can find out about an office and also about the dentist or doctor’s background and patient ratings. A comprehensive list of an office’s services can also be included on the site under different tabs. All of this information is highly beneficial to patients seeking information on care. Some sites now use filmed testimonials from medical professionals as a way to reach out and let potential patients know who they are and that they are available.

A Professional Blog

A regular blog about the office’s practices is also a great marketing tool. A well-written blog creates a friendly feel for an office and it can help build connections with regular patients and those who are looking for a healthcare office. A blog can be used to discuss new techniques and practices in healthcare and to let patients know about the many services an office can provide. News of the day and health and wellness tips can also be discussed, as well as how current trends impact the services an office can provide. New blogs are also effective in keeping readers coming back for updates, and in that way staying connected to the office.

An Email Newsletter 

Many offices now use an email newsletter as a way to keep in regular communication with a patient base. A weekly blog can form the content of a newsletter, with added elements like healthcare news notes and tips added in. This is another way to spread the word about an office on an ongoing basis, and to maintain a friendly base of communications.

Search Engines and SEO

Once a website has been established for an office, links to the site can also be used to promote it. Once the site is up and running, search engine words (SEO) can be inserted into the blog to help keep the office at the top of searches on google and other search engines. This can help greatly to promote the office, as potential patients who look up medical or dental offices in their area will be able to more easily find it via an online search. This is another area to ask for experts’ help if you want to get the best ROI out of your marketing dollars.

Yes, business marketing has changed greatly in recent years, and the fact is that the old days of print-driven marketing strategies has fallen by the wayside. Though the thought of creating an online marketing campaign can be daunting, today’s new digital techniques are becoming more streamlined and ever more easy to use. Medical and dental offices who want to be known need to enlist savvy online marketing pros to help them create new strategies that draw in patients and keep them coming for the long term.