Checking for the Latest Windows 10 Update

Microsoft’s Creators Update for Windows 10

Recently released Creators Update for Windows 10 by Microsoft is also called Version 1703. The user can view what version number tends to be running on the PC on pressing the Windows and I keys to open the Settings app or choosing the Settings app from the Start menu and selecting the System icon. You can opt for `About’ towards the bottom of the list on the left side of the System Settings box.

 Here you can view the edition of Windows 10 connected on the computer (like Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro) together with the version number as well as the other technical details. If 1703 tends to be listed as the version number, your computer has been updated to the Creators Update.

 The upgrade to Windows 10 last month was the most recent revision of Microsoft of its Windows 10 operating system, which came in less than a year after the Anniversary Update (Version 1607) in August 2016. The Creators Update comprises of many new features such as a 3-D renovation of the paint program. Another option of viewing if one has the latest variety of Windows 10 is to check your Apps list for the new Paint 3D program.

Enhancement to Microsoft Edge Browser

The Creators Update also seems to bring about enhancement to the Microsoft Edge browser as well as improved designs for video game lovers. But as in the case with any main system update, there are bugs which tend to come up. On the online forums of Microsoft, some of the users had reported issues with Bluetooth and internet connectivity, computer-memory problems, Dolby sound disaster, crashing apps besides other anguishes.

Hopefully these problems can be fixed in the near future with system patches and workarounds. If one’s computer has already upgraded itself to the latest version, then the user would prefer to need to explore the Settings app a little more to ensure that you have the new operating system organized the way one would desire. For instance on opening the Privacy icon on the main Settings screen in order to settle the quantity of personal data one would prefer to share with Microsoft.

Automatically Install App Updates

Windows 10 tend to automatically install the app updates whenever they seem to be available. However the user could also check for updates manually. Some users are inclined to check manually so that they can see if there are any variations stated in the update. To enable automatic app updates you could –

• Open the Store 
• Tap or click the user icon towards the top near the search form 
• Tap or click Settings 
• Toggle on Update apps automatically 

To manually check for app updates

• Open the Store 
• Tap or click the user icon towards the top near the search form 
• Tap or click Downloads 
• Tap or click Check for updates 

The user could also check particular app for update by going to the Store page where you can utilise the search forms in locating the app. Another option is to check My Library for a list of all your apps.

Are Wi-Fi signals letting hackers see into your home?

Wi-Fi Signals – Windows to Home

It has been discovered that Wi-Fi signals can be a window to your home. Researchers have observed that cyber thieves could utilise the microwave radiation of the signal in creating three-dimensional image so a location together with the objects as well as the individuals within it.

 It has been suggested by the team that this hack has the potential of generating scans of buildings and also track the individuals indoors, though it could also be utilised in locating people buried by an avalanche or earthquake. The scientist at Technical University of Munich – TUM, had made this discovery, which had developed a holographic imaging process depicting the radiation of a Wi-Fi transmitter to generate three-dimensional images of the surrounding environment.

The system of the team enabled them in creating holograms that tends to develop a three-dimensional image alike to that of peering through a window of a home. According to Dr Friedenmann Reinhard and Philipp Holl ‘s report in the study published in the scientific journal Physical Review letters, though the optical holograms tend to need an elaborate laser technology, generating hologram together with microwave radiation of a Wi-Fi transmitter would need one fixed as well as one movable antenna.

Holographic Processing of Wi-Fi

Friedemann Reinhard, director of the Emmy Noether Research Group for Quantum Sensors at the Walter Schottky Institute of the TU Munich had stated that `utilising this technology we can generate a three-dimensional image of the space around the Wi-Fi transmitter, as if our eyes could see microwave radiation.

The researchers visualized arenas of positioning particularly in the domain of industry 4.0-automated industrial amenities wherein localizing parts and devices tends to be difficult. Earlier work has portrayed that there is a possibility of utilising microwave radiation to view through walls though the team at TUM have developed a new system which enables them in creating an image of the total space through holographic processing of Wi-Fi or cell phone indicators.

Creation of images through microwave radiation tends to require special purpose transmitter having large bandwidths. The very small bandwidths of distinctive household Wi-Fi transmitters operating in the 2.4 as well as 5 gigahertz bands had been adequate for the researchers with the utilisation of holographic data processing.

Bluetooth/Cell Phone Signals 

Besides this Bluetooth as well as cell phone signals can be utilised. It is said that the wavelengths of these devices tend to match to spatial resolution of a little centimetres. Philipp Holl executing the experiment commented that instead of using a movable antenna, that measures the image point by point, one could utilise a larger number of antennas in obtaining a video-like image frequency.

Future Wi-Fi frequencies like the proposed 60 gigahertz IEEE 802.11 standard would enable resolutions down to the millimetre range. The notion of treating microwave hologram such as optical images permits the microwave image to be joined with the camera images.

 The extra information removed from the microwave images could be implanted in the camera image of a smart phone for instance in tracing a radio code which may be attached to a lost item. However the scientists are only at the commencement of the technological improvement

The Invoke Smart Speaker Brings Microsoft’s Cortana AI to Your Living Room

Invoke Smart Speaker 

Microsoft’s Cortana virtual assistant has already integrated seamlessly in Windows 10 and functions on iOS and Android. It is said that it will soon be showing up in cars too. In spite of it being good at work, good for play as well as has a good name, it tends to be left out of the voice assistant clique due to a smart speaker such as the Google Home or Amazon Echo.

These in-home devices have been the first area where most people tend to be using these assistant and Microsoft have been lagging behind till now. The latest Invoke speaker created by Harman Kardon seems to be similar like the Amazon Echo which is a tall cylindrical speaker having a blue light towards the top which tends to glow when the speaker listens to you.

It has the potential of controlling some of the smart-home devices such as name the members of One Direction – RIP, set reminders besides many other things Echo or Home could do. The Invoke, so far seems to have precisely the distinctive features like it can make as well as receive calls with Skype. Harman has made the Invoke’s sound quality – three tweeters, 360 degree sound with a Dalek-like design since it’s the best way of convincing users to purchase this device instead of an Echo.

Strategy of Microsoft 

For Microsoft, an in-home speaker seems to be particularly important since it had lost the race of smartphone and had not made any progress in the handsets for users other than the Cortana app which some would download and still less would use. However on the desktops, Windows seemed to have huge market share which millions of users by default utilised Cortana.

 In fact as per the latest numbers of Microsoft it had reached around 145 million. To make a lasting impression in the latest market, Microsoft required its virtual assistant to be all over inclusive on the devices which have not just been obtained from their IT department. Microsoft had reportedly intended to open up its Cortana Skills Kit with the Build conference enabling developers to build for its assistant. The entire strategy of Microsoft was to cover the earth with its software and users can look forward for more speakers in the near future.

Smart Speaker Market New

The market of the smart speaker tends to be new and the voice assistant powering them does not seem to be impeccable still. However Microsoft could be a bit late in this game. In a latest study Alexa has been projected as having 70.6% of the market for voice-assistant devices, putting up Microsoft in the small `other’ category.

 It is said that the Invoke would not be coming till this fall which could be some time where the users would have to wait with adequate time for Google, Amazon and others to make tremendous progress in this area. If Microsoft does not make haste and is unable to make Cortana worth the wait, then speakers such as the Invoke would be covering up the coveted area in your living room and filling up the space.

Top 12 Inspiring and Well-Designed Wordpress Blogs

With a vast number of WordPress hosting providers, beginners can get the extra help they need to build their blogs. And these people are discovering that WordPress is capable of so much when it comes to the visual design. There are already tons of free beautiful themes to choose from. What's more, there are many WordPress site builders that either are given out by WordPress hosting providers or can be found on the official WordPress site. Here's a list of 12 inspiring and well-designed WordPress blogs to help you make your design choices.

1. Mashable

At first glance, Mashable looks like a very content heavy blog that's hard to navigate. But when you continue looking at it, it's incredibly well designed. Mashable uses three columns to categorize their content. The newest posts are on the left, rising posts are on the middle and the hottest posts are on the right. The hottest posts are of course the biggest posts in the layout. A good amount of space is used between each post and the navigation is very clean and simple design.

2. Greenwich Live

Public service websites are known for having a reputation for ugly design. But Greenwich Library's site is outstandingly well done. The navigation icons and menu are very modern. The layout is very clean and well organized. The tutorial is taken from the pages of many popular app products. The focus of this site is largely on the user experience. Every part of the site feels intuitive and easy to use.

3. Travel Portland

Travel Portland is a tourism-based site designed to get people to visit the beautiful state. The big theme for this site is fun and interactivity. The site is visually driven and asks the users to click around the various photos to see what's going on in Portland and discover all the activities they can partake in. More importantly, it's fun. You can browse listings of seasonal events, top Instagram pictures and blog posts which are all accompanies by beautiful photos. The site does an amazing job in convincing the user to come visit.

4. Jess Mark's Photography

Jess Mark's Photography site uses a whimsical animated header done in the sketch style. It features a unique fun font, large navigation menus and neutral palettes to put the focus on the content and photos. Users are invited to browse photos on weddings, photo boots and portraits with big bold icons following the introduction. Sometimes a simple and well-executed blog style site is all you need.

5. Yoke

Yoke is a creative studio that runs a fun blog. The site uses a cool sketch animation as their hero image. From there, you are presented with a very minimalist three column post blog with great leading images. What really surprises you is the load out graphics when you go into a post. The blog succeeds with this minimalist approach due to small elements that make it stand out and engage the user.

6. Tinkering Monkey

Tinkering Monkey is a signage company that uses WordPress and a blog style design format to market their products. The first thing that you notice when you land on the site is the animated image that shows how they make the signs. This is followed by big and bold photos of completed projects. This simple layout shows that sometimes the design can be lead by the quality of your images.

7. Fubiz

Fubiz is a site that covers photography, art and design. As a result, their blog is very visually driven. They break down their blog into multiple sections. Each section is designed with a different photo in the background with accompanying posts. What Fubiz does well is using multiple layouts on one page. They arrange their photos and posts in a way that allows you to really appreciate them and makes you want to click on them.

8. Tesco

Tesco is a lifestyle blog that uses a four column card based design as a layout. The blog is very simple and features high-quality photography to drive clicks. The posts are organized by different categories which you can click on the top of the page. This creates a very organized and simple way to browse the blog.

9. Innocent Drinks

The Innocent Drinks blog uses a simple design and layout which makes the site very accessible and easy to use. The design is simple at first glance but then you start to notice all the little things that give this blog a big personality. Everything from the icons, brand images, typography, borders and graphical accents prove that the small things make a big difference in web design.

10. 500 PX Iso

500 PIX Iso is a photography blog that uses a fairly simple layout that anyone can model their site after. It features a hero image for the main post and transitions into a one column, one row blog post format. It then transitions into a four column card based design followed by widgets being placed at the footer. This blog is a great example of how to use multiple layouts on a site successfully.

11. Andy Hau

This beautiful portfolio site combines beautiful images with a simple design to wow the visitors. The images are cut on a fish eye shape (without the distortion) which is a very unique way of presenting the visuals. The graphical cues on mouse over are very user friendly as there is a pointing arrow icon that pops up. The website makes a great use of space and typography. Everything feels comfortable and relaxed to the eyes despite the site being visually driven.

12. Bark Post

Bark Post is a pet friendly blog that makes a great use of visual tags to categorize their content. What really impresses you is their navigation menu. They created a visual based navigation menu which displays a photo of the posts followed by the title on a small horizontal tile set layout. The photos are cute, fun and clickable which only makes the navigation menu more attractive to use.

This is just a small collection of inspiring WordPress blogs. There are many more examples to learn from. Make sure you get out there and see how other blogs are being designed to inspire your own vision. 

Researchers Design Moisture Responsive Workout Suit

How about an athlete's workout suit that breathe? Yes, a team of researchers belong to MIT has fabricated a workout No sweat suit that breathe. Its the great news for athlete's, ain't it?

This remarkable breathable workout bio technology suit having the flaps that ventilate by open and close in effects to the body of the athlete's body temperature and sweat.

If you closely go through this breathable work No sweat suit you may see the flaps that sizes from thumbnail to the finger sized. These precised flaps are lined with microbial cells in No sweat suit that may shrivel and enlarge in response to athlete's body temperature. These tiny microbial cells respond as smaller sensors/ actuators, that forces these flaps to open while a sportsman workouts that increases the body temperature and release of sweat. The flaps found in No sweat suit closes automatically when the body temperature becomes normal.

This team of MIT researchers have also made the athlete's shoes that are having the inner layer of the same microbial cells to ventilate the moisture.

OK! Why they use live microbial cells in inventing their No sweat suit? These scientific researchers says that these sensitive microbial cells need no other components to sense and react to wetness.

These microbial cells found in No sweat suit are also evidenced to be innocuous to touching and even ingest. These new tools of bio technology which are accessible nowadays could be fitted out quickly and also in large quantities, to explicit various utilities and especially to the moisture-sensitive.

The team has conducted a test with the microbial moisture-sensitive cells that responds not only open the flaps in No sweat suit but in addition also responds to wet conditions.

Wen wang, MIT's former research scientist says that they can reap the microbial cells with various genetic tools to produce new functionalities into the living cells. In the near future, they are planning to reap the odor releasing functionalities, thus perhaps going to gym the shirt can release good smell.

The biologists have found that the humidity plays the vital role in altering the structures and volumes of the microbial cells to certain proteins. The most interesting thing to declare here is that the MIT researchers use bacteria, yeast and other microbial cells to build this moisture-sensitive fabrics.

The initial research with the most common strain of E. Coli that was found to be swell and shrink that responds to changing humidity. They print the E.coli strains in a latex fabric begun to shrink while placing in a hot plate. The same was flatten out while exposed to steam. Thus, the researchers made this biofabric into the wearable no sweat suit specially designed for athletes.

After making the trial tests they have found this sweat responsive no sweat workout suit worked very well. This scientific MIT research team has also invented the shoes that breathe. They are also having the future plans to join hands with some sportswear companies to market their No sweat suit. They are also doing a lot of researches to make moisture-responsive bedsheets, curtains and lampshades.

Parasitic Robot Controls Turtle it’s Riding by Giving it Snacks

Developments in the Field of Robotics

Although in recent years,great development has taken place in the field of robotics; the usage of robots still tends to have some limitations. These comprises of their reduced capability of surviving rough routine functions together with the need of providing continuous energy source which does not seem to need recharging.

 Instead nature has shown increased flexibility and progress to the fluctuating situations over millions of years and this has motivated a team of researchers who have now utilised the concept of the flexibility and progress of nature together with robots. Latest experiments carried out by the team of researchers have portrayed that robots could be utilised for controlling turtles through strange parasitic relationship made between the two.

The provision of becoming overlords of the people, robots have now begun controlling turtles. Initially by getting the reptiles to associate a red light with food, the robots with shell-attached tend to dictate where the turtle seems to move in a tank, developing a somewhat strange parasitic relationship.Building their motion adequately strong for surviving the rigours of daily life is aconstantfightas the enigma of providing them with adequate energy to prevent long hours of recharging. This can be done with ease by nature.

Evolution Resulted in Unbelievable Variety of Effective Methods

Millions of years of evolution have resulted in an unbelievable variety of effective methods for animals to move and hence researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology – KAIST, in Daejeon have set about connecting this factor. At first robots had been glued to the backs of five red-eared slider turtles wherein they comprised of a processor, a frame which tends to get stuck out in front of the head of the turtle holding five red LEDs spaced apart together with a food ejecting tube.

Then they had to ride their turtle across five checkpoints in a tank that had been filled with water.The turtles had first been conditioned to associate a lit-up LED with food. The turtles thereafter just guided it utilising the LEDs, feeding it with snacks as a reward for going in the correct direction.

With the use of this procedure, the five robot-turtle pairs had completed the course satisfactorily and each hurried up with training. Dae-Gun Kim at KAIST commented that there were plenty of other animals which could later on also be utilised in giving robots a ride and it would be possible to apply it to several animals like fish and birds as per the purpose of the task.

Harnessing Some of the Motion of Host of Animals

In the near future, Kim along with his colleagues also wanted to be capable of harnessing some of the motion of the host of animal in providing the robot with power. Nathan Lepora at the University of Bristol, UK had informed that these robots could be utilised for surveillance, exploration or any place where there could be a problem for humans or robot to reach on their own.

Earlier insects had been controlled utilising electrodes and radio antennas linked to their nervous systems and this identical approach could present methods for parasitic robots to control their hosts directly. Lepora had commented that there could be definite ethical consideration though if robots and animals were capable of teaming up to explore a disaster are, it could be really useful.

Our Next Volvo or Audi May Have an Android infotainment system

Till now we had support for multiple Android devices via Bluetooth or direct plug-ins to the dashboard to enjoy the music or to do some navigation tricks from our smartphone. But things are changing at an alarming pace for the Android in the automobile which will help in unleashing a new era of Android support for better. Google has announced that upcoming range of automobiles from the Volvo and Audi will feature the Android in its full glory in the next generation infotainment systems. This is just one of small announcement made by the Goggle and more enthralling bit will appear at the upcoming Google I/O conference.

It is better than the Android Auto 

Google has launched the Android Auto in the past which made it easier for the automobile owners to access some of the vital phone functions from the behind the wheel. This system helped in bringing a simplified interface for the users to connect with their car without the need of physically attaching the phone to the console. The best thing about the Android Auto was that it helped in accessing a number of apps right on the interface which made driving a pleasant experience with the Android device.

Both the automobile manufactures namely Audi and Volvo are taking the Android experience to the next level by basing it into their infotainment system. It is worth noting that Audi has found some success with its MMI infotainment system in the recent past while Volvo’s Sensus Connect system is very much new. The decision of bringing the Android operating system into their infotainment shouldn’t mean that the manufacturers will pull the plug of their own homegrown infotainment systems. Instead they are aiming at making the buyers comfortable by offering an easy to use Android based interface in their vehicles.

Advantages of Android as the foundation

The greatest advantage of having the Android as the foundation of the infotainment in the Volvo and Audi is that it will help in accessing the vast library of Android applications. Google Play Store boasts of millions of apps in varied categories which is expanding at every given minute. Secondly it is tough to get developers to develop apps for any third party platform but having the Android foundation will ensure that developers populate the infotainment system with compatible apps quickly without much trouble. We are expecting to get more details on this foundation in the upcoming Google I/O.

One of the Volvo official has stated that having an Android foundation will mean that the company will be able to integrate the rich ecosystem of Android into their iconic Volvo user interface with ease and simplicity. There will be huge abundance of the popular apps which will help in bringing an integrated experience to the users which has never been seen before in an automobile. At the Google I/O both the automobile manufacturer will be giving demonstrations to give a wider perspective to the prospective consumers of its next generation infotainment.

Creators of the MP3 Declare it Dead

Rest in Peace MP3 as creators pulls the plug

We have enjoyed the music on our mobile and other portable music players with the help of widely used mp3 format. But the creators of the MP3 has declared its demise as the penultimate music format which means music will no longer be made in the mp3 format. This format was developed about two decades ago by a German research institute and they dropped the ownership of it. The institute named the Fraunhofer Institute of Integrated Circuits has stated that they had put forward a strong licensing program for the mp3 related patents but it has been terminated.

New advanced music format

Currently there are number of highly effective audio codecs boasting advanced features when compared to the old mp3 format. The current generation of the modern devices makes use of the advanced audio coding (AAC) and there is a definite move among the consumer electronics giants to place the MPEG-H as a new audio standard for some-time to come. This new audio format will offer an efficient storage option along with the immersive 3D audio experience to the users. Both of these formats are able to deliver more features along with the much needed higher audio quality at quite lower bitrates when it is compared to the mp3. It would come as surprise that the iTunes and Youtube are making use of the AAC as its main audio format for its service.

A number of tests has shown that AAC music format files does sound better than the old age format even at the same bitrate. Secondly AAC tends to be smaller in size even at the higher bitrate which means users will be able to get better quality music without wasting too much space on their file storage. The compatibility issue might be high for the AAC at the moment as it is only supported on very few mobile phones.

Age-format will still reign supreme

It should be noted that the developers had bid their farewell to the mp3 format but it will still be in wide usage on global scale as a number of people are still using the iPods and Mp3 based music players. It was developed during the 1980’s and gained huge popularity and support during the 90’s by emerging as the standard file type for the audio players, systems as well as the online music downloads. This format was developed accidently when developers were actually trying to find a smarter way of delivering music signal right over the telephone lines.

Later on this format was adopted for the distribution of the music using the compact discs and finally with the arrival of the Apple’s iPods it reached the heights of its popularity. The reason behind the wide popularity of this format was that it used to take just 10 percent of the storage space of the files. This format was also loved by the peer-to-peer sharing sites like Napster and the rise of the illegal downloads as well as digital piracy is also attributed to it.

SS7 Vulnerabilities

SS7 – Network of Telephony Signalling Procedures

Signalling System No. 7 – SS7 network is a set of telephony signalling procedures which had been invented in 1975. It has been utilised to set up and slash down several of the public switched telephone network PSTN telephone calls of the world.

Besides this it also tends to perform number translation, local number portability, prepaid billing, Short Message Service – SMS together with other mass market services. The SS7 networks is said to form one of the supports of the prevailing effective telecommunication industry.

In spite of all its importance of enabling telecommunication services, SS7 tends to integrates only nominal safety features. However since SS7 had been introduced in the past 35 years the telecommunication marketplace had altered radically and SS7 susceptibilities have now become more unprotected.

 Over the past few months, invaders have been utilising a flaw in Signalling System 7 in order to intercept two factor authentication codes which have been sent to online banking customer in an attempt to transfer funds. Suddeutsche Seitung, a German newspaper had reported that the invaders first tend to compromise the bank account of the customer utilising traditional bank fraud Trojans to steal passwords and log into accounts.

Mobile Transaction Authentication Numbers 

They learned that the offenders carried out an attack from a network of foreign mobile network operator in mid-January wherein the attack redirected incoming SMS messages for selected German customers to the attackers Thereafter they utilised the SS7 susceptibility in order to redirect text messages comprising of one-time passwords to the device of the attacker instead of the customers.

Then they utilise mobile transaction authentication numbers - mTANs for the purpose of transferring money from the targeted accounts. The SS7 susceptibility is not new but had been discovered in 2014 by German researchers and reported by The Washington Post. The detection of the abuse of the SS7 vulnerability followed an open letter two U.S. congressmen had written to U.S.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly requesting for an update on the progress in dealing with SS7 security errors and why the agency had not been doing more regarding the same. Rep. Ted Lieu – D-Caliphs, one of the authors of the letter had a personal experience with the SS7 susceptibility.

Congressional Action 

The security researchers with the permission of Lieu were capable of stalking the congressman using only his cell phone number and an SS7 network. The researchers were capable of recording his phone calls as well as monitor his precise location in real time. The exploit of the cell phone of Lieu was featured on the television show 60 Minutes.

 In April 2016, following its airing, the FCC had stated an investigation in the SS7 vulnerability and a report from FCC was anticipated in March 2016 which is yet to appear. Lieu had issued a statement calling for congressional action on the matter in reply to the draining of bank accounts utilising the same SS7 weakness.

Lieu had mentioned that everyone’s account protected by text-based two factor authentication like bank accounts, were possibly in danger till the FCC together with the telecom industry tend to fix the SS7 security flaw.

The FCC together with the telecom industry is aware that hackers can acquire our text messages and phone conversations just by knowing our cell phone number. It is improper that the FCC and the telecom industry have not taken immediate action in the protection of our privacy and financial security.

rpcbomb: remote rpcbind denial-of-service + patches

It is imperative to block the post immediately after being used. Sources have claimed that a payload of 60 bytes which is sent to a UDP socket via a rpcbind service which is capable of leading to a crash to its host by blocking the memory of the target user.

This rpcbind vulnerability is enough to crash your entire system, which will lead to further consequences like blocking your entire system, loss of all the primary data and files. The vulnerability can be avoided only by taking proper measures and being cautious enough in terms of blocking all the ports.

The rpcbomb exploit was manufactured by Guido Vranken, he is the person behind the discovery of vuln. He is a very tactful person and rumors are he wrote the matches for the system himself since he was unable to contact the maintainers to get the required actions for putting up the managing packages. This complaint against him is viral everywhere which has made him famous both positively and negatively by setting an example that if you are determined enough to get something, none can stop you from achieving it.

He with regard to this complaint has written Shodan which is responsible for converting rpcbind’s Port up for almost 1.8 million hosts. This port related to rpcbind vulnerability is also known as Port 111 subjected to the Internet. Some or even many are hosting mass like AWS, where a user generally configures a default Linux distribution and if you really intend to run rpcbind which binds all the RPC calls to their address by putting all the limitations of firewall Port 111 behind the world outside. The experts have suggested that the best way in which you can avoid this situation is by turning off the daemon, they say it is the easiest way of avoiding rpcbind vulnerability to block your port.

The patches present in the GitHub are said to be small enough through which the developers get a way to figure out whether they are nice and accurate or not. This also helps them to ensure that whether they aren’t malicious. Sources have even suggested that a rpcbind vulnerability requires only two lines for getting it fixed, while libtirpc requires 256 lines to get the thing patched and rectified. In this way, we can understand that how serious is the damage that has taken place.

Vranken has suggested that rpcbind vulnerability enables an attacker to attach itself to ample number of bytes i.e. almost up to 4 gigabytes per attack that too for the host of a remote bind and the memory is never released from the attack unless the entire system gets crashed or the administrator waits for a while or restarts the service again.

It is certain that an attacker can possibly go beyond the limits of only hosting the target. Vranken writes as per this situation since some software is always subjected to unpredictable downfalls when the system tends to run out of the memory.

Bionic Hand: Hand That Sees Offers New Hope to Amputees

A revolutionary discovery leading to the betterment of the affected, introducing the bionic hand! With research and studies over years, biomedical engineers in the Newcastle University have invented a prosthesis worth praising.

This newest discovery allows the individual to wear and reach out to objects in the same way a real hand does, without thoughts. Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the hand consists of a camera, assesses it by taking pictures and triggers movements, like a reflex action.

TRIALS THAT FOLLOWED:

A few amputees trialed it and the University are to introduce the same to patients in Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital. As explained by a Senior lecturer from the Biomedical engineering department, the new models are hardy, light weight and durable. With studies conducted in the UK, 600 new amputees are reported every year, and around 500,000 in the US.

This bit of information is important because it gives us the idea of the need of the hour and how this discovery can benefit the population. Instead of usage of myoelectrical signals, neural networks are used for these bionic hands. It was done by showing the computer a few pictures, teaching it actions like gripping and clutching of various objects. This is done by viewing the same object in various angles and light to identify it with the hand, as to what kind of grip would be required for picking it up and performing an action.

Grasp types:

The programming was done according to four types of grasps, palm wrist neutral, palm wrist pronated, tripod and pinch. Within a matter of milliseconds using a 99p camera, the hand identifies the correct type of grasp required for an object. This helps in broadening the object identification, rather than manually programming images of objects in the hand.

Baby steps to success:

The research objective was to make the bionic hand sense pressure and temperature too, and send it to the brain. The purpose was to set-up forearm neural networks to allow a two-way communication with the brain. The working would involve the electrodes to be wrapped around the nerve endings in the arm, establishing direct communication of the brain and the prosthesis. The process is cheap and does not involve new prosthesis, old ones can be used for the same. The most success has perhaps been seen with upper limb prosthesis.

A live example! 

According to a live example of Doug Mcintosh, 56 years old from Aberdeen, Scotland, who lost his right arm to cancer, the prosthesis was immensely rewarding.

Battling cancer and feeding a family was not easy. He was one of the amputees who were involved in the myoelectric trials and later the Newcastle team. He has successfully been part of various charity events for amputees and cycled long distances, standing as an inspiration to a lot of people all over the world.

The only complaint he had was that the hand was not doing the real job, it still felt foreign. He would prefer a split over it, any day. This was before he was introduced to the newer, developed version of the bionic hand, serving the esthetic and materialistic purpose.

Source:

WannaCry: Everything You Need To Know About the Ransomware Sweeping the Globe

WannaCry – Ransomware Programme – Microsoft Windows OS

WannaCry is said to be a ransomware programme affecting Microsoft Windows operating system. A huge cyber-attack utilising it had been launched on May 12, 2017 infecting over 230,000 computers in about 150 countries demanding ransom payments in 28 languages in the cryptocurreny bitcoin. The outbreak spreads by various systems inclusive of phishing emails and on unpatched systems as computer worm which has been defined by Europol as first-time in scale.

 It was the worst ransomware attack ever faced in the world driving thousands to tears all across the world. WannaCry has held out a blatantwarning regarding the susceptibilities of our digital inter-linked presence. WannaCry is also known as WannaCrypt bug that encodes data on a computer within a few seconds displaying message demanding from the user to pay a ransom of $300 in Bitcoins to restore access to the device together with the data with it.

 Most surprisingly the attack also had affected the National Health Service of the United Kingdom obstructing surgeries together with the other critical patients’ treatment all over the British Isles making confidential information and documents of patient inaccessible. Several types of malware affecting a computer are available which may vary from those that may tend to steal your information to those that could delete information which is on the device.

ExternalBlue Exploit

Ransomware as the name indicate foils the user from accessing their devices as well as their data till a definite ransom has been paid to the initiator wherein the computers are locked and encrypts the data on it, thus preventing software together with the apps from functioning. The attack had affected Telefonica together with the other huge companies in Spain together with Britain’s National Health Service NHS, FedEx, Deutsche Bahn and LATAM Airlines.

Other targets in around 99 countries had also been reported to have affected around at the same time. WannaCry is said to have utilised the EternalBlue exploit that had been invented by the U.S. National Security Agency – NSA to gain access to Microsoft Windows computers that had been utilised by terrorist outfits and enemy statesin order to affect computers running Microsoft Windows operating systems.

EternalBlue tends to exploit vulnerability MS17-010 in in implementation of the Server Message Block – SMB protocol of Microsoft. Although a patch to eliminate the underlying susceptibility for the supporting systems, - Windows Vista and later operating systems, had been issued on 14th March 2017, delay in apply security updates together with the absence of support by Microsoft of legacy varieties of Windows had left several users helpless.

Under Control – Malware Tech

Owing to the measure of the attack and dealing with the unsupported Windows system together with an effort of controlling the spread of the ransomware, Microsoft had taken the unusual step of releasing the updates for all the earlier unsupported operating systems from Windows XP onwards.

The attack had been brought under control by a security researcher, an accidental hero who has asked to be identified only as a MalwareTech. He has discovered a hard-coded security control in the form of a connection to a ridiculous domain name and had bought the domain name for $10.69. This had triggered thousands of pings from attacked devices and killed the ransomware together with its spread.

Had this not been surfaced, there would have been millions of computers all over the world supposedly locked within a few days thus disturbing in all types of global services. Several surgeries had been reported to have been postponed, x-rays were cancels and ambulances had been called back within hours of the attack in the UK where a minimum of 40 hospitals under NHS had been affected.

Shadow Broker

Fear of this type of an attacked had been speculated for a long time which would bring public utilities or transport system to a stop compelling the government to pay a huge amount to bring the service back to normal. This had occurred though for a few hours on Friday 12th May. Interestingly a group known as Shadow Broker had stolen the NSA tool in April who had been unhappy with Donald Trump, the US President whom they had voted for. Microsoft had claimed that it had released a security update addressing the susceptibility which these attacks had exploited in March and had advised users to update their system to deploy latest patches.

 But in India, regular updates were not done since most of the official computers tend to run Windows and hence the exposure could be great. Personal online data have now been linked to Aadhaar data of more than a billion India.

Regional Director, ComTIA India, Pradipto Chakrabarty had mentioned that the linking of Aadhaar to bank accounts, income-tax together with other personal information has given rise to threat. Since the bank account of the user is connected with his Aadhaar number, the ransomware could probably lock down the account making it inaccessible unless a ransom has been paid.

Common Phishing Tactics

The Head of Asia Pacific, Corporate Business at F-Secure Corporation, Amit Nath had stated that success of the WannaCry ransomware attack has the potential of giving hostile nation state a cause to create cyber weapons where there could be no hope of recovering the data and it could be the worst case scenario.

One post accredited to the Principal Security Group Manager, Microsoft Security Response Centre, Phillip Misner had mentioned that the attacks had been utilising common phishing tactics such as malicious attachments asking users to be cautious while opening attachments and the least one could do is to refrain from clicking links which cannot be trusted and stop downloading software from the unfamiliar sources.

 F-Secure had also emphasized on the need of a four-phase approach to cyber-security – Predict, Prevent, Detect and Respond, wherein you predict by performing an exposure analysis. Prevent by organizing a defensive solution in reducing the attack surface. Respond by defining on how a breach tends to occur and what are the impacts it tends to have on the systems, detect by monitoring infrastructure for any indications of intrusion or any suspicious behaviour.

Intel chip flaw allows hackers to hijack thousands of PCs

Thousands of Window computers were exposed to remote hacking due to a security flaw in the Intel chip. Dating almost back to a decade, this bug allows hackers to remotely access the keyboard and mouse of a computer even when it’s switched off, thereby granting them complete access to that PC’s files and folders and allowing them to install viruses. In this defect, the “AMT” port security, used by IT departments to support and install softwares through remote access, can be easily bypassed by hackers.

This AMT feature is mostly used by IT administrators for remotely accessing computers for support, maintenance and software updates installation. AMT can also be accessed via a web browser interface which would be protected by an admin password and can be remotely accessed even the computer is off.Last week, Intel revealed that this defect in security meant allowing hackers to exploit computers but it is now appearing to be that one could gain access which would be as easy and simple as ignoring the requirement of a password while logging in.

The flaw was discovered by researchers at the Embedi security group and they have circulated further details disclosing that hackers could enter into a system through the AMT system by simply leaving the password field empty.Hackers can also gain entry into the system through networking ports. An address on an internal home network can easily be accessed with the help of a web browser.

Intel did not disclose any statistics on how many computers were affected because of this defect but a search on a public web ports-scanning website called Shodan revealed that more than 8,000 computers were affected. Compared to consumer desktops and laptops, this technology is present only corporate PCs but sensitive information could be exploited by hackers if they gain access.

Identifying the defect

This flaw is more likely to affect Intel Chips dating as far back to 2008 that run management firmware versions from 6 and 11.6. Intel also released a security advisory that precautionary corrective steps need to be taken for a system that is runs AMT.

Researchers at Embedi warned that any systems facing internet with open ports 16992 and 16993 were more prone to the hack. After the disclosure of this flaw, scans on these affected ports have increased in number which means that hackers are actively on the lookout for such susceptible systems to take advantage.

Precautionary measures

In order to overcome this defect in the Intel chip, Intel has advised a few precautionary steps. Firstly, one needs to determine if their system has an Intel AMT capable system. Then, the system needs to be analysed for the flaw with a tool published by Intel which lets you check if your system is susceptible and disable the AMT technology.

Next, a check needs to be made for updated firmware versions. Most of the affected and vulnerable systems are older and no longer receive firmware updates. The AMT is disabled on such computers. Intel is working hard to fix this bug in the Intel chip and their hardware partners are in process to push fixes to the vulnerable systems. It is expected that computer companies like Dell, Fujitsu, HP and Lenovo will issue their patches soon and have already issued security advisories.

Google Launches Event Finder in Mobile Search

Did you missed the musical concert of your favourite singer that happened near your locality? Do you want an expert to work for you and remind the events that going to happen in your area? The Internet Giant google will help you to never miss any of your favorite event in upcoming days! Very recently, google has introduced event finder in mobile search. Google as well as intelligibly trying to address Facebook’s new ascendance in the event space, merely without any unified social attributes, prospects would credibly just exercise Facebook to take care events with your buddies.

The application can mark you by not only showing the upcoming concerts but also the events that are going to occur today or tomorrow or next week and so on.

This wonderful new feature of google's event finder has made the US users to find their favourite events and also buy tickets. A real sweet surprise for the entire US!

iOS and Android of Google's app now provide an systematic summing up of forthcoming events in results for searches regarding local events come with by date, time, and location information.

There is also a cutoff to the online website where passes can get for their local events such as musical concerts, local celebrations... We can modify the focus of search results through filters for everyday.

The mobile characteristic event finder, that was launched by google on Wednesday, lights-out into event services such as Eventbrite and Meetup to bring forth database for a scope of targeted searches.
To know the details of the event, we need to snap on the results that fetch you a card the offers that displays the everything about the event. As well as you can also can go through the options to track the event.

But now it has been released only for people of US and can obtain its wonderful usage through mobile browsers also.

More over, the google has rendered a new guide meant for web developers to evaluate up their events, thus they could be able to discover in search, that contains the directions to constitute the details for its event format. Alas, you cannot make use of this wonderful service to support non-events and discounts, but you can use this service to track or mark the events, i.e., from concerts to dance classes.

How, When, and Why to Set a Connection as Metered on Windows 10

If you are still looking for an elegant solution for the manual control of Windows Updates, you should read these Windows 10 tips and tricks .

If you are traveling with your mobile phone or tablet via a mobile connection, the switched connection prevents large amounts of data, such as Windows 10 tips and tricks, Windows updates, etc., from being downloaded. Only when you are allowed to download (click on download), it will be loaded.

If you are now at home with a PC that has only LAN, it looks officially different. There is thus a function not offered. Windows updates are loaded and installed without request. But there is remedy. LAN (Ethernet) can also be activated as a switched connection.

Through the windows 10 tips and tricks , it is now possible to make this change directly in the settings. And so it goes:

Open Settings -> Network and Internet -> Ethernet
Here, press the name of the connection (Network Connected).
In the new window, Metered Connection appears.
In the Settings -> Network and Internet you will find under Ethernet no possibility. This change must be made in the registry. And so it goes: Press the Windows key + R Press regedit and start
To the path
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \
NetworkList \ DefaultMediaCost.
By means of this windows 10 tips and tricks it is possible in the new version of Windows 10 from the Creators Update, you can also make this network setting via the Windows Settings app. The appropriate setting can be found under the point "Network and Internet", then on "Ethernet", then click on the "Connected symbol" and then the following setting option appears. In the left tree, right-click on DefaultMediaCost -> Permissions, and then change the owner to Administrators or your user name. Confirm the name and set a checkmark at the bottom left to accept all the objects underneath.

If the owner has been taken over and the checkbox is set to Full Control, you can now change the rule entry.
In the right pane, double-click Ethernet and change the value from 1 to 2.

Save and reboot.

That's it.. Now, Ethernet (LAN) is set as a switched connection and is recognized by Windows as such.

Anyone who wants to reset the ownership rights for the registry key can do so. You just have to enter NT Service \ TrustedInstaller as the name, confirm it and the rule entry is protected again.

If one goes now in the settings to Windows Update and security and looks for updates, the message that "updates are available. They will be downloaded if you do not use a clocked connection. ".

Now you can manually download the updates whenever you want. Anyone who runs the Defender does not need to worry either. Unless the service is completely disabled, the defaults for the Windows Defender are downloaded directly from the Defender. Or you use through Windows 10 tips and tricks to load these definition updates manually via a script .

If you have a limited data tariff and want more control over the data usage, set this connection as a switched network. Some apps may work differently to reduce data usage when connecting to this network.

Microsoft also points to this setting again on the Windows Update page and explains.

Microsoft Makes Emergency Security Fix

In order to stop hackers from taking control of computers with the help of one single email, Microsoft issued an urgent update. There was a possibility of hacking the recipient’s system even without the recipient opening it which was caused due to an unusual bug in Microsoft’s anti-malware software such as Window Defender. After this vulnerability in the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine was discovered by two Google security experts at the weekend, Microsoft immediately released an emergency out-of-band update as a security fix.

The security experts were researchers currently on Google’s Project Zero cyber-security outfit. The Security fix was released immediately when discovered and even before Microsoft’s monthly security update which happens on the second Tuesday of every month. Hackers could take advantage of this defect by simply emailing infected content, sending an instant message or just by getting the recipient to click on a web link.

Effect on Protection Systems

This security fix was vital as this susceptibility could be triggered if the anti-virus software on the system such as Windows Defender simply scanned the harmful content. Some scans are timed and set in such a way on some systems that they immediately scan for protection or take place at a later time.

The Microsoft Malware Protection Engine (MsMpEng) is a core service that comes in default with Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016.Many Microsoft security tools run on this core such as Windows Defender, Microsoft Security Essentials, Microsoft Endpoint Protection, etc.TheMsMpEng has a component called NScript that handles everything that looks like JavaScript. This bug causes NScript to create a confusion in the way it handles or interpret some JavaScript object types which in turn makes the system open to hackers.

How Hackers could take advantage of this bug?

This defect for allows remote code execution which is what computer hackers look for. Through remote code execution, hackers can install any code on our systems without our knowledge and permission which is basically hijacking our computer. This bug could be exploitable with almost no user interaction. Since the defence systems by Microsoft are default, this exposure makes innumerable PCs more prone to remote hacking.

Prompt Security Fix

Google Project Zero researchers Tavis Ormandy and Natalie Silvanovich were the experts who found this bug and Mr. Ormandy was taken aback with the prompt response Microsoft gave in order to fix it.Within a short time, Microsoft took quick action to issue a security fix unlike the past where months were taken to resolve a bug.

In order to fix this defect in MsMpEng service, within just a few days’ time, a new patch was prepared and was already shipped. The first version of the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine was v1.1.13701.0 which was affected because of this defect.

 As a security fix, Microsoft released v1.1.13704.0 within a few hours, in which the issue was patched and had already reached some of the users. Microsoft also stated that this risk of vunerability would have been much lower if users turned on a security attribute called Windows CFG (Control Flow Guard) that made memory-based defects and flaws much harder to exploit. US-CERT also issued an alert to spread awareness.

Can Amazon's Assistant Stay on Top?

In the latter half of 2014, Amazon surprisingly released a standalone digital assistant that couldn’t be matched by its competitors in terms of quality and aesthetics. A cylindrical speaker with a microphone called Echo holds the lead at 70% from all digital assistant use in the US against its competitors Google Home and Alphabet. Although the idea of talking to an inanimate object is unusual and uneasy to many, this is a new concept that companies are working on and are gaining traction.

In a market survey report, Emarketer made an estimate of about 36 million Americans use voice-activated digital assistant at least once in a month’s time which is a rise of 129% compared to last year. There are three Echo models made available by Amazon: Echo, which is the original model, the Echo Dot which is low-end and the Echo Tap Speaker which is portable.

A personal assistant named Alexa voices the Echo devices. More than half of all Echo units are accounted for by Echo Dot itself. The new device, which is Amazon’s latest effort to gain more success in this area, is likely to have a 7-inch touchscreen and provision for video calling along with weather condition display and other data.

It will be a big help in assisting many digital assistant users for simple things such as knowing how long back the timer was set or knowing the time where the digital assistant will simply announce it. Adding a screen to this interaction, simplifies things and opens a whole wide variety of possible interactions and new ideas.

Popularity gaining momentum

The leading company in selling assistants is not determined on the basis of its sale statistics. In a short span of time, Amazon became a major player on the basis of something nobody else thought of and that is home automation. Emarketer’s survey reveals that once a user opts for one brand of digital assistant, they are very unlikely to switch to another brand in the future. Amazon’s current lead in the sale of its digital assistant as compared to those of its competitors will be huge pay off when the internet is used in every day-to-day activity.

Unlike Amazon, its competitors are yet to catch up with the whole voice-activated digital assistant concept. CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber said that ultimate leader in this field will be those who can maximise customer data, have the ability to process natural language, provide it all to developers to build on and simultaneously maintain tight privacy.

Compared to its rivals, Amazon has made itself developer-friendly to a vast extent in order to move even more ahead in its lead. However, in Emarketer’s opinion, Amazon’s market share is likely to reduce from here as it is expected that Google Home may slowly cause a dent in Amazon’s current lead over the next year and a standalone version of Siri from Apple or standalone Cortana are yet to come. The shortcomings of Amazon’s FireOS could be exposed if screen-supported interface were to become standard. In the end, Amazon is likely to be subjected to market pressure with Echo as it encounters more competition.

Windows 10 S: Good, Bad, and How This Could Get Ugly for PC Makers

Windows 10 S, a variant of the working framework intended for the training market, has brought up some fascinating issues about Microsoft's progressing endeavors to hit Google and Apple where it harms. Generally, Microsoft and Apple have cut up the school client base between them. Apple picked up an early lead in these 10 years or so back by offering schools shabby authorizing. Redmond did likewise and the two guaranteed that susceptible youthful personalities got used to their working frameworks.

In any case, when Google propelled ChromeOS, shepherded by the Chocolate Factory's currently CEO Sundar Pichai, it was a hit in US schools. Chrome books were shoddy, simple to administrate, and sufficient for school utilize gave the foundation had Wi-Fi. Accordingly, over portion of US nippers are utilizing Chrome books in the classroom now, and have Google records to run them. That is uplifting news for Google, yet the circumstance worldwide is more liquid than that.

Schools that don't have a grounds wide Wi-Fi system aren't that enthusiastic about Chrome books, in light of current circumstances. While it's conceivable to utilize some Google applications disconnected, they aren't awesome thus for the non-US school populace Google has made couple of advances. Microsoft has noticed the move and needs to change things. So it revealed Windows 10 S to battle Google's encroachment of its space and get the cutting edge used to Windows programming.

It takes the center of Redmond's most recent working framework and tunes it for instruction. The OS can just utilize applications that have been checked and cleared for use in the Windows Store, which has its great and terrible sides. On the great side, Microsoft has been exceptionally trained in checking applications it has for dodgy security. The drawback is that applications creators aren't completely sold on Redmond taking a cut of their benefits thus a lot of applications aren't accessible on Redmond's shop front.

That is not an issue, Microsoft demands. On the other hand, if you need an application that isn't in the application store, Windows 10 S will recommend an option. One range in which Windows 10 S truly scores over ChromeOS is that it's developed from the beginning be valuable disconnected and additionally on. You get the fundamental usefulness you require if Wi-Fi is not accessible, but rather additionally access to applications like Office 365 when a web pipe is accessible.

The other mystery hotspot for the OS is the amount Microsoft has installed its Teams joint effort programming in Windows 10 S. Windows 10 S likewise runs the full Creators Edition adaptation of the OS. That implies loads of 3D doodling and full support for HoloLens, something Redmond was quick to advance yet which will confront issues because of the high cost of headsets. The OS is likewise genuinely helpful at managing with lower-spec equipment. Thus, it has been stated during the launch by Microsoft, that the complete basic spec system which runs the OS costs less and is on a par with the Chrome Books.

Raspberry Pi's new Voice HAT board uses Google's AI to help you build smart gadgets

Raspberry Pi takes help of the Google AI in its new Voice HAT board

We are mobbing into such as age where top global tech firms are moving towards becoming core artificial intelligence firms. This ensures that they will be driving the future of AI on a grand scale where devices, systems and networks will be optimised to embed the AI to its core functioning for enhanced consumer experience.

Artificial intelligence still happens to be an emerging field which is up for grabs for all but some the key companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Baidu have already started to allow developers to work with AI on their systems.

Google teams up with Raspberry Pi

In a surprising turn of events Google is teaming up with Raspberry Pi in order to great a simple credit card sized computer. Together these organisation has launched an initiative called ‘Artificial Intelligence Yourself’ or AIY which an aim of infusing the natural language processing capability to the Pi computer. In order to push this ability to the PIA Voice HAT or Hardware Accessory on Top based board & speaker has been provided. Now makers will be to control their Raspberry Pi 3 device just like the new age smart device Amazon Echo and Google Home is controlled.

It is worth noting that Google has designed or developed devices specifically for the makers & hobbyists for the first time. Users will also get a microphone in AIY kit but quite unfortunately it lack support for the out-of-the box activities. Raspberry is planning to launch the HAT as an free accessory with the next edition of the MagPi. If you are wondering what is The MagPi then it is the official Magazine of Raspberry Pi.

At a price of $5.99 users will get the coveted magazine along with the HAT, speaker, cables, and a stereo microphone. Raspberry has celebrated it 5th birthday in February where it was revealed that more than 12 millions Raspberry computers has been sold on global scale. Currently Raspberry is extensively indulged in bringing heightened software improvement along with a significant boost to the low cost computer’s capabilities.

A challenge to everyone

Google has recently launched the Google Assitant SDK for the developers which will work on the phones as well as on Google Home Devices. The new HAT will work using this SDK along with the Google’s Cloud Speech API. The AIY kit to be offered to the users makes it possible to build a voice controlled speaker system using a cardboard box. Secondly users will be able to register their own natural language based voice commands in order to link-up with any number of projects created using the Raspberry Pi.


The director of the AIY projects at Google has stated that the collaboration of Google and Raspberry Pi will help in making the users comfortable and familiar with the voice interfaces. They are also working on developing new ways which will help in making use of HAT in a more interactive fashion.

Solve For X

Solve For X – Platform for Discussion Radical Technology Ideas

A platform for discussing radical technology ideas in solving global issues is Solve For X which has been motivated by Google. This website tends to challenge the user in thinking big as well as to speculate regarding technological `moonshots’ which would alter the world for enhancement. Solve For X is said to be a think tank project that has been launched by Google in order to motivate collaboration in solving global problems where `X’ signifies a undertaking.

On February 1, 2012, the project had kicked off at a three-day convention in San Martin, California, at CordeValle Resort. Its talks were offered and hosted by Google executives Eric Schmidt, Astro Teller and Megan Smith to 50 individuals. The website had been inaugurated on February 6, 2012. The conventions are anticipated to take place `a few times a year’.

The platform has been connected to TED talks as the projects seem to host seminars by innovators that can be seen vicariously through the respective websites of the projects, by others. Bruno Giussani, European director had commented on Google endeavour stating that the world requires additional ideas not fewer and more commitment in sharing openly and freely in order that we could test run them collectively and turn them into reality.

Discover the Value for X

Since Google had been the source of this, it is obvious that technology and engineering would be playing a dominant role in Solve For X. Initially, Solve For X was believed to have been linked to the Google X lab which has been working on new technology like web-linked appliances, space elevators and driverless cars though according to eWeek reports that Google X is united to more realistic undertakings and not the `moonshot’.

Solve for X solution was intended to pursue.Almost half of all the instructions in algebra book have a tendency to state something alongside the lines like `solve the following for x’. Solve For X means to discover the value of x which would make the equation seen to be true. For instance, consider the equation – x + 1 = 3. If asked to solve the same would mean discovering some value for x which would give three when one is added to it.Solving an equation is what it is all about.

This formula is to work irrespective of how complicating the question may be. The difference is that with simple equations such as these, there is a possibility of thinking about it and arriving at an answer.

Solve the Equation – Discover its Solution

However confusing the equation may tend to be, more work would be needed in arriving at a precise answer. Overall, the concept is the same. In mathematics, to solve an equation would be to discover its solution which is said to be the values fulfilling the condition which is stated by the equation. This would comprise of two expressions related by an equality sign.

A solution is said to be a task of expressions to the unknown variable which tends to make the equality true in the equation. A solution is said to be an expression or a collection of expressions, where, when substituted for the unknowns, the equation seems to receive an identity. Solving an equation symbolically is said to be that expressions which may comprise of known variables or probably variables which are not in the original equation, admitted as solution.

Samsung’s new app translates emoji into simple phrases to help people with speech disorders

App Wemogee Phrases into Emojis

The Italy based team of the Korean company, Samsung Italia are of the opinion that emoji could be helpful to people with aphasia communication, a language-processing disorder making it difficult to read write or talk. The neurological disorder tends to affect the language section of the brains of the people wherein they face difficulty in speaking, reading and writing.

It does not seem to affect their reasoning. Hence Samsung has come up with an app known as Wemogee that enables people with aphasia in communicating with the others through emoji. The application Wemogee tends to turn simple phrases into emojis and it is helpful for those who have aphasia with the disability of speaking reading and writing.

Thus the images enable them to communicate, making the possibility of the easy emojis translation into a supportive tool for them. Users could opt from the list of emoji phrases and those receiving the same in the form of message will see a response in text. The app is said to comprise of over 140 phrases which cover the daily activities. User could ask `what would you like to eat, for instance or convey their mood. The emoji in the app are not the default ones of Samsung, they have been easy and much bigger.

Replacing Text Phrases with Emojis

Samsung has stated that in Italy, over 200,000 people tend to have aphasia while the National Aphasia Association has informed that over 2 million Americans seem to be affected. Though the emoji is not preferred for getting rid of the language touch, the application of such a type of situation tend to be the obvious choice.

 Images tend to be much easier in selecting and providing the simple phrase and could relate clear messages. The Wemogee app is said to be a free download though the Google Play Store would be coming shortly to iOS.

Developed by Samsung electronics Italia, a subsidiary of the Italian company together with Francesca Polini, speech therapist, Wemogee is said to be substituting text phrases with emojis mixtures and has the capability of being utilised as a messaging app or in face-to-face interactions. It tends to support Italian and English and had been made available with iOS version scheduled for future release.

Faster & Useful Substitute

Aphasia is said to be the outcome when the brain sections responsible for language conception and speaking tends to get damaged where one of the most known causes is strokes. However aphasia could also be the cause from brain tumours, neurodegenerative diseases or traumatic brain injuries.

Several people suffering from aphasia tend to signal, draw or utilise picture boards in order to communicate and the Wemogee is designed to provide them with a faster and a much more useful substitute. Wemogee developers claim that it is first emoji based chat application which has been created to permit people with aphasia to connect.

The app is said to have two modes namely visual and textual. Aphasia views the emojis which have been prepared for conveying over 140 phrases and have been organized into six categories. Wemogee interprets the emojis combination into text for non-aphasic users and then translates their responses back into emojis.

Google World Wonders Project

World Wonders Utilises Street View Technology

The World Wonders Project supports in learning about the 132 historic sites from 18 countries inclusive of Stonehenge, the archaeological regions of Pompeii together with the ancient Kyoto temples. Besides the man-made sites one can also tour the natural places, explore the sandy dune of Shark Bay of Australia or view the rock domes of Yosemite National Park in California.

You can explore the ancient and the modern wonders of the world in high-res photos and 3D Street View style images. World Wonders utilises Street View technology in taking the user on a computer-generated trip to these iconic sites. The sites comprise of 3D models and YouTube videos of historical locations and users can obtain more details and a wider view of the individual site.

With the Street View technology, the site enables the user to virtually explore around some of the most significant historical as well as beautiful world heritage sites across panoramic street level images. The user gets an opportunity of experiencing these places as though they have been there. Being in partnership with many important organizations, comprising of UNESCO, the World Monuments fund, Getty Images together with Ourplace they have been provided with official information together with photographs of several sites and have brought world heritage sites online in order that users around the world could explore and the same could be preserved for future generation.

Treasured Educational Resource

It is expected that World Wonders would prove to the students and scholars, a treasured educational resource. For classroom purpose, they provide an innovative method of teaching history and geography in schools wherein primary as well as secondary teachers can download teacher guides and lesson plans free of cost from the website and utilise the same in their classroom.

 The website can be explored with the assistance of drop down menus which are towards the top of the page and the sites to be visited can be selected depending on the country for the kind of place, historic sites, palaces and gardens or landscapes and regions. On the other hand you could also utilise the image cassette or the spinning globe to explore and look into a location which may draw your attention.

With the use of Street View car several attractive places across the globe have been visited and have placed the imagery on Street View though some of the world heritage sites have not been accessible by car and hence new technology had been designed in order to record these locations.

Preserving & Promoting Culture Online

A bicycle-based camera system had been designed in order to gather imagery of places like trails, garden, parts as well as archaeological locations, rivers and railways. These images are then digitized and stemmed together to a continuous 360-degree image which can be explored with Street View on Google Maps. A collection of educational packages are made available and one could share the contents of the site with your colleagues.

World Wonders is said to be a fragment of commitment in preserving culture online and in making it accessible to all. With the sponsorships of Google Cultural Institute they have been publishing high resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, digitizing the records of well-known figures like Nelson Mandela and presenting thousands of artworks, through the Art Project.

Head of the Google Cultural Institute, Steve Crossan had mentioned that `Google has been committed in preserving and promoting all kinds of culture online. The World Wonders Project tends to bring to existence numerous of the most significant momentous sites on earth thereby making them reachable to a unique universal audience.

New computers could delete thoughts without your knowledge, experts warn

New age computers can delete user’s thoughts without their knowledge

It has been widely believed that the human thoughts are beyond the touch of artificial and physical entities and this helps in lending the freedom which shapes the existence of the human kind. But our technological advancements are culminating right out of science fiction into reality at an alarming pace. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that two biomedical ethicists are aggressively campaigning for the creation of such human rights laws which safeguards the human thoughts and instills the privacy of human brain due to the advancement in the neuro technology.

Human thoughts are in the hands of machines

It is worth noting that we already have such devices which have the capability to distinguish the person from having the politically right wing or left wing thoughts and sensibilities. In one such experiment researchers were able to read the participants mind with an astonishing accuracy of seventy percent. Quite recently Facebook has also revealed that it is working in secret on developing such technology which can help in reading the human thoughts which will help in typing while thinking but without the need of typing in reality.

In another case some of the medical researchers have been successful in connecting the paralyzed man’s brain to a computer which in turn helps in stimulating the muscles present in the arms. Our neuro technology is so advanced that that patient was able to move his arms and feed himself in this case. These ethicists has stressed on the unprecedented opportunities which will be made available to everyone due to widespread use and deployment of the easy-to-use neuro applications. These kinds of devices can be easily abused by almost anyone to look into the human thoughts and to cause physical, psychological, financial or other kind of damage to the concerned person.

New laws to govern the privacy of the human brain

These two activists have come up with four new human rights which will help in safeguarding the brain from the machines. It includes the right to mental privacy, the right to psychological continuity, the right of cognitive liberty and the right to mental integrity. This paper has been co-authored by a reputable professor named Roberti Androno from the Zurich University’s law school. He states that the brain imagining technology has evolved at such a pace that the legitimacy of its finding the criminal court has to be questioned. It shouldn’t be utilized as a tool for simply assessing the criminal responsibility.

On other hand consumer companies have started making use of the brain imagining and other advanced neuro technology for neuro marketing which helps in understanding the consumer behavior. Later on various marketing tactics are applied coerce the customers or shaping the human thoughts for their own benefit. Furthermore we already have such tools called brain decoder which helps in turning the bran imagining data right into the images, sound as well as text. These advancements do pose a huge threat to the personal freedom and the four exclusive new human rights laws are designed to provide necessary safeguards for it.