Bill Gates believes in good past 2014

Ebola, Ukraine, Gaza, Malaysian Airlines MH370 & MH17, Terrorism, Mass Protests, Robin Williams' suicide and plenty other things were beamed into our skulls in 2014, but Bill Gates is ever the optimist.
Being exposed to the media, you can be forgiven for thinking that things are constantly getting worse and worse. Simply put, fear sells. If it bleeds, it leads. It is very easy to be cynical and have a negative outlook on the future, but Bill Gates is far more optimistic as he looks back on 2014 and toward the future... and not just because he's insanely rich.

No, instead Gates has reminded us that a lot of good things happened in 2014 too, even if it doesn't make the headlines. Just as he did at the end of 2013, Gates is drawing attention to some of the highlights from 2014, and some of it is pretty great.

In 2014, for the 42nd year in a row (at least), the child mortality rate has fallen. "More kids are living to see their fifth birthday than ever before," Gates asserts, as he highlights the drop in the number of children dying globally from preventable causes. In fact, the child mortality rate is falling faster than ever anticipated, and Gates highlights an article in The Economist showing that over 13.6 million children's lives have been saved since 2001.

HIV is another area where the news is getting better. In 2013, the number of people receiving treatment for HIV infection was greater than the number of people becoming infected and 2014 appears to have continued the trend. Those receiving treatment for the retrovirus are far less likely to ever pass it on, so just catching up and surpassing the number of newly infected persons, with the numbers receiving treatment, is a major milestone in the battle to eventually relegate HIV/AIDS to history.

Gates also notes how Nigeria was equipped to fight and contain Ebola due to its ongoing efforts to fight Polio. In fact, Nigeria quickly got Ebola under control while many of its neighbors struggled with it, and in the case of Polio, a total of only six cases were reported in Nigeria in 2014 so far, down from 53 in 2013, which brings Polio ever-closer to complete eradication.

Gates also highlights a breakthrough in the treatment of the deadly drug-resistant Tuberculosis disease that is costing poor countries billions of dollars to contain, and how the response to rotavirus - which kills hundreds of thousands of children per year - is growing in countries like India
sources:
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2014/12/17/bill-gates-good-news-2014

Facebook New Changes

If you are one of the many people confused by Facebook and its ever-changing algorithms, you’ll be pleased to know they've recently made some favorable changes to their operating system.

Bloggers desperately trying to reach their Facebook audience, and being blocked at every turn. Facebook has been experimenting a lot this year with delivering the best, most tailored news feed to its users, but at the cost of the readers seeing posts.

With the recent changes to targeting and tools, it is easier than ever to only show your posts to those who are interested, and to save different types of posts for different kinds of audiences.

New Facebook Tools Changes

Facebook has introduced very selective targeting options for you to really drill down and capture the right readership for your blog (or even specific posts or pages on your blog) every time you post.

Available to those who have enabled the Targeting and Privacy setting, you can now use it to provide posts to a subset of your audience.

Have a recipe post? You can now choose to show it to the part of your readership who have indicated to Facebook they like food or cooking. People who aren't interested in that won’t see the post. But they will see a post they are interested in, based on their likes and dislikes.

Post End Date

Have a time-sensitive post? You can choose a particular date it will stop showing up in news feeds… but it will still be visible on your page. Again, only available to those who have enabled Targeting and Privacy, and it’s only available on desktop at the moment.

Smart Publishing

Take the guesswork out of what your audience will resonate with. Can be hard to predict, so Facebook have rolled out to a select few media organizations (for now) the ability to identify and publish stories that are already popular with the folk on Facebook.

Frequently-shared links to your website will appear in the news feed of people who like your page. They won’t appear on your page, but you’ll get a whole new dashboard of insights and ability to moderate comments.

Page admins can opt in from the Publisher Tools section within Page Settings.

Insights

While reasonably in-depth, your current insights will now be even more descriptive. With a better overview, you can even more effectively understand and optimize your content for success.

It’s even easier now to see where your content is going with the addition of information about people and pages that share your links.

There are also changes made to the type of insights you have access to, and how your page and plugins drive traffic to sites.

You can find out more information, and keep up with further Facebook announcements here.

sources:

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2014/12/13/new-facebook-changes-target-your-audience-effectively/

Finally,Sony cancels release of 'The Interview'

Major U.S. theater chains said they would not screen the film following terrorists threats, Sony has canceled the release of 'The Interview,' a comedy in which Seth Rogen and James Franco are sent to North Korea to assassinate Kim Jong Un.
The movie had been scheduled for release on December 25th.

Famous movie theaters including Regal Entertainment, AMC Entertainment, Cinemark, Carmike Cinemas, and Cineplex Entertainment all blocked showings of the new film, which would have accounted for 23,000 screens in North America.

Reads Sony's statement: "In light of the decision by the majority of our exhibitors not to show the film The Interview, we have decided not to move forward with the planned December 25 theatrical release. We respect and understand our partners' decision and, of course, completely share their paramount interest in the safety of employees and theater-goers.

Sony Pictures has been the victim of an unprecedented criminal assault against our employees, our customers, and our business. Those who attacked us stole our intellectual property, private emails, and sensitive and proprietary material, and sought to destroy our spirit and our morale – all apparently to thwart the release of a movie they did not like. We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees, and the American public. We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome."

The hackers behind the cyberattack that has paralyzed Sony Pictures posted a threat telling any viewer of the film to "remember the 11th of September 2001" and that movie theaters would be the targets.

'The Interview' is not the first victim of the North Korean-led attack on Sony Pictures. Over 100 terabytes of data was stolen including social security numbers, contracts, pre-release films, and hundreds of thousands of emails.

sources-http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2014/12/18/the-hackers-win-sony-cancels-release-of-the-interview-as-movie-theaters-bail

Huddle extendes Cloud-based Enterprise Startups

The clouds appear to be clearing for cloud-based enterprise startups. Huddle, the enterprise cloud collaboration company co-headquartered in London and San Francisco, is today announcing that it has raised another $51 million in funding.It decides to double down on growing its business in the U.S. and Europe. Specifically, co-founder Andy McLoughlin tells me that Huddle plans to hone in on sectors like government that have been some of the most successful for the company, building more features that cater to them.

This latest round which brings the total raised by Huddle to date to just over $83 million was made at a valuation of between $250 million and $300 million,this is what techcrunch reports.

That valuation and the funding event both speak to the how the clouds appear to be clearing for cloud-based enterprise startups. Earlier this year, Box  a competitor to Huddle filed for and then stalled on an IPO; but just yesterday it updated its S-1 with improving revenue figures. Another cloud company, New Relic, is expected to go public soon, too.

This latest round was led by Zouk Capital, with participation from the Hermes GPE Environmental Innovation Fund; and it also included Huddle’s previous: Matrix Partners, Jafco Ventures, DAG Ventures, and Eden Ventures. As part of this round, Nathan Medlock, Partner at Zouk Capital, led the deal and will join the Huddle board.
sources:
http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/11/enterprise-cloud-collaboration-service-huddle-raises-a-51m-growth-round-at-250m-300m-valuation/?ncid=rss

UK Intelligence blamed over US Tech Firms.

Social media which controlled by large tech firms in US are blamed for supporting terrorist activities by the UK Intelligence.detailed news is follows.

Citing a number of popular social media sites, Robert Hannigan( the director of UK intelligence and security organisation GCHQ) says that ISIS is the first terrorist group to grow up on the Internet, and they're "exploiting the power of the web".

"The extremists of ISIS use messaging and social media services such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, and a language their peers understand," "The extremists of ISIS use messaging and social media services such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, and a language their peers understand," he says. "The videos they post of themselves attacking towns, firing weapons or detonating explosives have a self-conscious online gaming quality."

"Their use of the World Cup and Ebola hashtags to insert the ISIS message into a wider news feed, and their ability to send 40,000 tweets a day during the advance on Mosul without triggering spam controls, illustrates their ease with new media."

Hannigan insists that GCHQ, along with MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service, can't tackle terror without support from the dominant US technology companies.

"They aspire to be neutral conduits of data and to sit outside or above politics," he said. "But increasingly their services not only host the material of violent extremism or child exploitation, but are the routes for the facilitation of crime and terrorism."

"However much they may dislike it, they have become the command-and-control networks of choice for terrorists and criminals, who find their services as transformational as the rest of us."

Hannigan also noted a shift in attitudes to online media from terrorist organisations.

"Where al-Qaeda and its affiliates saw the Internet as a place to disseminate material anonymously or meet in “dark spaces”, ISIS has embraced the web as a noisy channel in which to promote itself, intimidate people, and radicalise new recruits," he wrote.

His comments were met with dismay in some quarters. Eric King, deputy director of Privacy International, said: “It’s disappointing to see GCHQ’s new director refer to the Internet – the greatest tool for innovation, access to education and communication humankind has ever known – as a command-and-control network for terrorists.”

Labour Party MP Tom Watson was cautiously optimistic, saying that Hannigan's comments could help draw a line on privacy. However he insisted: “I hope they do not confuse the use of public propaganda through social media by extremists with the use of the covert communications. It is illogical to say that because ISIS use Twitter, all our metadata should be collected without warrant It is illogical to say that because ISIS use Twitter, all our metadata should be collected without warrant.”

Efforts are already underway in the UK to tackle online extremism.

Security minister James Brokenshire met recently with representatives from technology companies - including Google, Microsoft and Facebook - in Luxembourg, the BBC reports.

The government's Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), meanwhile, has removed more than 49,000 pieces of content that "encourages or glorifies acts of terrorism".

Hannigan formally took over the role of director of GCHQ at the end of October.

references:

http://mashable.com/2014/11/04/gchq-head-terrorist-warning/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss

Facebook is Planning App for Anonymous Communication

Facebook is working on an independent mobile application that will allow their users to communicate with each other without real names. The publication of this app is provided within the next few weeks, as the NewYork Times reports. The newspaper refers to people who are informed about Facebook's plans.

Facebook is Planning App for Anonymous Communication

While Facebook itself upholds the principle of true identity and only in exceptional cases softens the real name of duty, the planned app users of social networks will also allow the use of pseudonyms. Even with several pseudonyms they should be able to discuss openly online about issues that they do not want to be particularly associated.

The development team for a year preparing the application before this. The project is managed by Product Manager Josh Miller, who came to Facebook through the acquisition of specialized discussion forums startups Branch. Miller was CEO of Branch, the product of which represented a modern, user-friendly version of a classic online forum. Branching could invest in it to further discuss topics that belong to the original question a discussion only marginally or not at all. The Branch team had also developed an iOS app called Potluck, users of social networks should bring outside their circles in contact with people. She presented to news bites, could then be discussed together on.

The Social Network declined to comment to the Times report. A direct request to Josh Miller remained unanswered. According to the newspaper is still unclear how the proposed app with Facebook cooperates as social issues network - or whether it is at all connected to it. Furthermore, is not certain whether the application will also allow the anonymous sharing of photos, and could as a communication with existing friendships look.

Facebook reacts with this app apparently to the increasing success of sites that do not force them to surrender one's own identity. These include the social news site Reddit and the Secret and Whisper Apps. Apparently the development of the new application follows the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained in April app strategy. It provides an app-hierarchy; the profitable mobile app of Facebook is at its highest point. The apps in the lower levels, however, according to Zuckerberg first attract people and then only seriously contribute to the revenue.

references:

http://referhowto.blogspot.com/2014/10/facebook-is-planning-app-for-anonymous.html

AAA named Siri as a Dangerous Driving Distraction

Siri may not be the hands-free savior Apple intended her to be. A new study by the AAA(American Automobile Association) Foundation for Traffic Safety ranks iOS 7 Siri as one of drivers’ worst distractions!

AAA noted that even though three out of four drivers think hands-free technology is safe to use on the road, it can be deceptively distracting, with potentially dangerous results

"Technologies used in the car that rely on voice communications may have unintended consequences that adversely affect road safety," AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety's president and CEO Peter Kissinger said in a statement. "The level of distraction and the impact on safety can vary tremendously based on the task or the system the driver is using."

The study measured drivers’ reaction time with equipment such as instrumented test vehicles and heart-rate monitors. Although Siri is hands-free and eyes-free, drivers using the Apple function to perform a number of tasks experienced some of the most elevated levels of distraction.

"It is clear that not all voice systems are created equal, and today's imperfect systems can lead to driver distraction," said AAA CEO Bob Darbelnet. "AAA is confident that it will be possible to make safer systems in the future."

references:

http://readwrite.com/2014/10/08/siri-dangerous-driving-distraction

Micro-Investment Platform Acorns launches their Android App

Acorns, the micro-investment platform that lets users save for their future, has today launched on Android.

Acorns simply connects to your credit and debit cards and invests the change from each purchase (rounding up to the next dollar) into an investment portfolio. You can choose between five different risk options, from aggressive to conservative, and watch how your investments are performing over time.

Users can make special deposits or withdrawals (beyond the automatic ones) at any time, or change their risk profile.

In this way, Acorns promises to help you save and make money without leaving you without access to your cash.

Since launching on iOS in August, the app has grown to 60k active users and has thusly decided to capture the Android market on the heels of that momentum. According to the release, a third of all new users are under 23 and a quarter of them make less than $25,000 annually.

Acorns makes money by charging a monthly $1 fee for every active investment month, as well as a management fee that ranges from .5 percent to .25 percent, depending on how much you’re investing.

references:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/08/micro-investment-platform-acorns-lands-on-android/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

Few Thoughts of Windows 10

The first Windows 10 preview is, as the company has stressed repeatedly, is a small, and tailored set of new code. There is more coming. What we have in this release are desktop-focused features for business customers. A consumer preview will launch in January.

The preview isn't final code, so let’s not be unkind, but it does currently have a mixed set of user interface elements.There is plenty that works, like metro apps and desktop apps sharing space in the zoomed out modes There are two: Traditional Alt Tabbing, and Task view.

If you click on the Task view button, you see icons for open apps, similar to Alt Tab, and, below, your multiple desktops. And if you hit Windows Tab, you get the same thing. But if you hit Alt Tab, you get just the icons, and no virtual desktops.Here it is somewhat confusing ,isn't it?

It’s going to be a very busy 250 to 300 days in the Windows world.Lets wait and see how Microsoft will going to plan!

references:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/04/a-few-thoughts-on-windows-10/?ncid=rss

Apple To Announce New iPad October 16

According to the very recent reliable  reports, Apple's newest ipad  will launch in on October 16, putting its debut slightly ahead of the roll out for the mobile software. It also fits with Apple's pattern of October iPad announcements. 

Anticipation is high for a next-generation iPad Air, as well as a new version of the iPad mini. Rumors suggest there will be a new 12-inch version joining the 9.7-inch and 7.9-inch models, as well as the same Touch ID fingerprint scanner—the latter of which fuels speculation that the tablet will be capable of Apple Pay, the company's new mobile payments system. 
It's a strange thought—who would carry around a big tablet to pay for things in stores?and it would require a Near Field Communication chip, like the iPhones 6 have. Given that, there's a chance that the tablets could merely hook into Apple Pay to pay for online shopping. 
references:
http://readwrite.com/2014/10/03/apple-ipad-event-mac-os-x-ios81

Windows 10 preview build released!

At the beginning of yesterday’s Microsoft event Joe Belfiore, Vice President of the Operating Systems Group at Microsoft made certain the audience understood that we were seeing an early build of its next operating system. Early build or not, for power users that demand multi-tasking, the oddly named Windows 10 looks ready to help you get everything done.

Some awesome features:

Nearly everyone was happy about the return of the Start Menu to Windows 8.1 and it’s still there in Windows 10 with Live Tiles integration brought over from Windows Phone. Even though the additional items on your Start Menu contextual menu could eventually take over your desktop, the size and orientation of the layout is up to you. The Live Tiles area can include any apps you have on your computer and can be displayed horizontally or vertically.

Just grab the contextual menu edges and resize as you see fit. Of course you can just remove all the Live Tiles and return to your old school Start Menu ways. It’s the option of and ability to customize that makes it spectacular. Instead of ham fisting you into the Live Tiles screen of Windows 8 where it takes over your entire screen, this is a good middle ground.

We also got a chance to play with Task View button that resides just to the right of the search button on the task bar. With it you can quickly see all the open apps in a particular Windows environment. If you have more than one desktop available, the virtual machines appear along the bottom of the display. I was able to quickly jump from environment to environment and in between apps. There were a few stutters, but this is early preview stuff and can’t be held against the product for now.

Task View is similar to OS X’s Mission Control, but it aligns the individual apps along the middle of screen in one or more lines, depending on how many apps you have open.

Microsoft also super charged the alt-tab key command with access to all apps in all desktop instances. If you have three apps open on the current desktop and four in a virtual machine you, can toggle between all of them with alt-tab. It’s another way in which Microsoft wants new and old users to be able to multi-task better in their upcoming OS.

Snapping four apps into a single window is cool if you have the display real estate. It’s a helpful feature for someone that needs access to four apps at once, but we’re going to have to wait for Microsoft to release meatier features in the future. Today was just a tiny little taste of what Windows 10 might have in store. A fancy bit of cheese before a meal. It’ll be interesting to see what the waiter brings out later.

If you’re interested in trying out Windows 10 before everyone else, Microsoft announced the Windows Insider Program. Brave souls can sign up to try the operating system while Microsoft is still working on it. The company is still prepping the release of the program so you can’t sign up just yet. But, if you have an extra computer lying around, it’s a fun way to see what the future holds for the software company.

references:

http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2014/09/30/hands-windows-10-preview-build/

Windows 9- Goodbye, Charms bar, hello virtual desktops.

Reports about the next major Windows release keep getting better and better. It looks like Microsoft has finally come to its senses and will dump the Charms bar in Windows 9 (also known as Threshold) slated for release next spring. Even better, Microsoft is planning a surprise for multi-taskers with the addition of multiple virtual desktops.

Microsoft hasn't released any official details, but multiple news sites report these changes are for real. That's good news for desktop users.On Wednesday, WinBeta reported that the Charms bar was on its way out in Windows 9, at least for desktop users.The Charms bar is the pop-out side bar on the right-hand side of Windows 8 and 8.1 that contains options such as search, share, and settings.The Charms bar was always problematic since there were no visual cues within the UI to hint at its existence. For desktop users, it was a huge pain to use because it required an awkward mouse gesture.

multiple desktops in Ubuntu

Mac OS X and Ubuntu Linux users have had virtual desktops for years, and the feature is finally coming to Windows.The reports also said that virtual desktops were on the docket for Windows 9.Virtual desktops are just multiple versions of the same desktop you work with every day. The only difference is you can switch between them quickly, allowing you to have different set-ups on each. You could, for example, have one desktop dedicated to Web browsing, one for writing in a distraction-free environment, or basic work and play set-ups.

sources:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2462641/windows-9-goodbye-charms-bar-hello-virtual-desktops.html#tk.nl_pcwbest

Baidu challenges Google over deep learning technique

Deep learning has been a hot topic in recent times, particularly after Google brought it to the forefront of the tech industry with Google Brain that started in 2011.In May this year, the company snapped up the well-known artificial intelligence researcher, Andrew Ng, who started the Google Brain project.With the arrival of Ng at Baidu’s Silicon Valley operations, the company’s deep learning efforts have gathered pace.

Kai Yu, the head of Baidu’s Institute of Deep Learning, told,only Baidu and Google are “capable of developing large-scale deep learning systems for all kinds of applications” due to how advanced the technology is and how much investment the company has sunk into it.

However, with deep learning, Baidu is becoming so much more than just a search engine

With the explosive growth of mobile, particularly in China where mobile has become the number one way to go online, surpassing PC access for the very first time, deep learning comes in particularly useful for images.

And image recognition is an area which Baidu is proud of its progress. Yu revealed that internal evaluations show Baidu recognizes images more accurately than Google for 68 percent of cases it tested out, 14 percent of the case it does worse than Google, while in 18 percent they perform about the same.

Without big data though, there wouldn’t be deep learning. And big data is something that search engines have plenty of, given that so many people conduct search queries every day.

How does big data work to come up with useful results? Zhang, the head of Baidu’s Beijing big data lab said that other than data, building a model is the key.

Google has been in the limelight recently for its efforts at creating self-driving cars and a new generation of robots, which are possible because of machine learning of big data

Baidu has also followed in Google’s footsteps to work on partial self-drive cars, which will have a steering wheel but can technically be operated without a driver.

We can only wait and see what Baidu has up its sleeves, but with its focus on big data and deep learning, it looks like the world may have to start taking Baidu seriously as it hones its techniques and can easily apply them elsewhere. After all, Baidu has plenty of potential ,it largely caters only to a Chinese audience now, and just recently launched a localized search engine in Brazil.

sources:

http://thenextweb.com/asia/2014/08/04/how-chinas-google-baidu-uses-deep-learning-to-make-your-phone-smarter/

Google's mysterious barges has been shipped out

One of Google's mysterious party/showroom barges has reportedly been sold and will be shipping out of its location in Portland. The barge was transferred to a new terminal Wednesday, and the terminal's owner states that it's preparing to ship out to a new owner shortly.

When the four Google barges first appear on both the East and West coasts, reports indicated that Google intended them to be a show floor for projects in work, such as Google Glass and the company's self-driving car technology. 

Little work had been done on the two barges parked in Portland and San Francisco Bay, and the two others in San Francisco's Treasure Island and New London, CT didn't even have superstructures to support future development. Portland collected property taxes on the barge parked there to the tune of $400,000. In February, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission told Google it needed to move its barge out

The reports say that the Portland barge was sold to an “international barging company" and is being prepared to leave the area, according to the owner of the Turners Island cargo terminal in South Portland where the Google barge was towed on Wednesday.Further the barge is still carrying the nondescript four-story-high structure that was originally built there. Google has remained tight-lipped about the barges since their discovery, but now they stand to slip away with much of the surrounding mystery unsolved.

sources:

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/08/one-of-googles-mystery-barges-has-been-sold-and-is-shipping-out/

Apple acquires Beats completely-Exclusive News

Here is a expeditious news for Apple lovers.Apple has confirmed  that it has received US regulatory approval for its acquisition of Beats. The news comes as the company posted a page on its website to “officially welcome Beats Music and Beats Electronics to the Apple family.” The $3 billion deal was first announced in May.

The page says “Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre have created beautiful products that have helped millions of people deepen their connection to music. We’re delighted to be working with the team to elevate that experience even further.”

With redundancies taking place at Beats where there are job overlaps between the two companies, not all of the team is invited, of course.
sources:
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2014/08/01/apple-beats-official/

Kids Can Now Teach Robots To Play Games

The technology is growing day by day.The newest practice is teaching Robots to play games.The process is fairly simple. Kids play games and a little two-legged robot watches. The robot keeps an eye the score, recreates what the child did, and then tries to increase the score. When the bird falls short, the robot is upset and learns from its mistakes. When the robot succeeds it does a little dance.

The real value is in the ability for therapists to use the robot to train and help kids cope with disabilities. Although it looks like the robot is playing along with the child, the robot can also give cues and make requests. The therapist, then, could tell the robot to ask the child to play various games and watch the improvements. Then the robot can go home with the child to maintain the training outside of the office.

Sources:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/11/kids-can-now-teach-robots-to-play-angry-birds-for-science/?ncid=rss

http://www.news.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/mercury_images/screen_shot_2014-07-10_at_9.41.03_am.png

Chinese Hackers Struck U.S. Government Agency.

We have heard about hacker attacks to U.S plenty of times from China.Chinese hackers have reportedly struck again.This time it's the U.S. agency that stores personnel information about federal employees, the Office of Personnel Management.

The hackers were apparently after the personnel files for tens of thousands of U.S. government employees who have applied to get security clearances, details that include foreign contacts, previous jobs and even intimate information such as past drug use. The attack was traced back to China, an anonymous government official told The New York Times, although there are no allegations for now that the hackers had ties with the Chinese government.

Why would they be interested in such information? by clarifying an answer for this question an expert toldaccessing such a data trove can allow hackers to prepare further attacks.

If this latest incident is true, it would be the last in a long list of breaches carried out by Chinese hackers against the U.S. government or U.S. companies. Just last year, Chinese hackers were accused of a years-long espionage campaign against several organizations in the United States, ofstealing the designs of more than two dozen advanced U.S. weapons systems, and of breaching a Department of Energy database containing sensitive information about 104,000 people.

sources:

http://mashable.com/2014/07/10/chinese-hackers-breach-u-s-government-agency/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss

OnePlus One will challenges to Samsung Galaxy 5

OnePlus debuted its first smartphone called the One, combining a sleek and customizable appearance with some really powerful specifications.

Inside, you'll find a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor the same speed as on the Galaxy S5.That processing power is coupled with a generous 3GB of RAM, which is more than you'll get on the Galaxy S5, HTC One M8 or iPhone 5S. And indeed, the phone performed admirably.OnePlus was truly intent on making a good first impression here. Accordingly, everything looks spiffy, right down to the red and white box the device ships in to the red ribbony USB cord and square wall adapter with rounded corners.

Shockingly, with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 4K video-recording capabilities, the phone actually has the specs to back it up.The One is a thin 0.35 inch and weighs in at 5.7 ounces.pretty light for a 5.5-inch phone. That large Gorilla Glass display is nestled against a thin metal lip. At 1,920 x 1,080, the display is no slouch, either. On the 5.5-inch display, that translates to 401 pixels per inch (ppi), less dense than both the HTC One M8 and Galaxy S5 (441 and 432, respectively), but still well ahead of the iPhone 5S (326). In any case, it makes for a rich viewing experience usually associated with far pricier handsets.

The OnePlus One is an extremely solid phone by most measures. There are some shortcomings here and there the camera could use some work, ditto the speakers. Also, expandable storage and a removable battery would be nice. But even with those quibbles taken into account, the One is more than just a good phone; it's a statement on the state of the industry and a window of insight into a future where a brand-new phone manufacturer can take on the big guns less than a year into its existence. For under $400 no less.

Sources:

http://mashable.com/2014/07/08/oneplus-one-review/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss

New Software Concept for 3D printing

If you've ever had to wear a splint on any part of your body, you'll know that not only are they uncomfortable, but they can be chunky and ugly too. That may not be the case for much longer.

A researcher from the University of Loughborough has developed a new computer software concept that will allow doctors to customize and 3D print breathable, stylish, slimline splints even if they have no experience using computer aided design software (CAD). The aim of the software is to allow those with no real knowledge of design to create wrist splints for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.

Using an Objet Connex machine, the splint can be printed as an integrated object made up of many different materials. This allows for features such as rubber hinges and padding. Not only are the splints lighter and more attractive, but they are also cheaper to produce since the design and manufacture process, which used to have been done together, can be separated out. As the splints are so customizable in terms of color, fit, fastenings and latticework, it's also likely that people would wear them more—in which case, they would be more cost-effective for organizations like the NHS.

Around 400,000 people in the UK suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and the splints provide pain relief, rest, and joint protection. The reaction from medical professionals who deal with the condition has been positive according to Paterson.

sources:

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/07/3d-printed-splints-may-make-life-better-for-arthritis-sufferers/

Keep your Smart Phone charged with Solar Dress.

Here’s an extra-ordinary way to keep your smartphone charged with a solar-powered dress. renowned fashion designer-Van Dongen designed this and she had two main inspirations.Lets listen to her own words clarifying the two points,

One of them is the fact that we highly depend on connectivity. We’re all addicted to our smartphones and we want them constantly powered, and the better our batteries get, the more we’ll use them. And at the same time, working as a werable tech designer, I know the difficulties when integrating these kind of bulky batteries that don’t allow for any comfort or wearability. So that’s why I thought, why not power your phone through your clothes? And eventually power other interactive qualities that our garments are becoming a platform for.

sources:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/06/wearable-solar-dress/?ncid=rss

Apple and Google move forward likely in same way.

Both Apple and Google companies talked about design and consistency in their Developer conferences last month. Both companies talked about improving back-end services. And both companies talked about new initiatives to make stuff on your phone appear seamlessly on your tablet or laptop. Android L release comes out this fall, this means your phone and your Chromebook are going to be able to share even more stuff than they already do.If you have your phone with you, it can unlock your Chromebook (and if you have your smartwatch with you, it can unlock your phone). If you get a call or a text or your battery is running low, you'll be told about it on your Chromebook.

On the other side Apple aims to implement same like facilities.For eample AirDrop will be able to move files between iOS devices and Macs. "Handoff" can send e-mails, webpages, and even files from iCloud-enabled applications on iOS to their counterparts in OS X (or vice-versa). You can receive texts alongside iMessages in the Messages app, and you can make and receive phone calls from your Mac even if your phone is in another room.

This isn't about which company is copying from which.This kind of integration is a logical next step for both Apple and Google after years of moving various operating systems and services closer and closer together.All of these features sound like great, logical ways to extend both companies' platforms, since you can often assume that someone using an Apple phone will be using an Apple computer. They're also going to make it harder than ever to extricate yourself from a given company's ecosystem once you've become embedded in it.

sources:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/07/apple-and-google-move-computing-forward-in-identical-yet-incompatible-ways/

FIFA cracks down on Twitter users using its logos.

Hey my social friends!This is immediate announcement for you.FIFA has been issuing DMCA complaints to Twitter about the offending avatars. For the offending accounts, their profile image reverts to the Twitter egg until the user replaces it with something else.FA is in charge of the biggest sporting event outside of the Olympics.So if you’re thinking of using the FIFA logo, World Cup trophy, or that weird armadillo mascot as your avatar, don’t be surprised when it suddenly disappears.

sources:

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/07/04/fifa-goes-twitter-avatars-soccer-fans-use-logo/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=profeed

Google Now will suits best for Android Wear

While there is plenty of Android in Google’s smart watch operating system and while developers will be able to develop apps specifically for it, Wear in its current form is fundamentally about bringing Google Now notifications to your wrist.

Android Wear, of course, also shows you all of your notifications from your phone.You could push all of your phone notifications to your watch, but that would be overkill. Thankfully, Google lets you choose which applications can push to Wear. But its most useful feature and maybe its killer feature overall is definitely easy access to Google Now.

Everybody is pretty much familiar with Google Now, but there is something fundamentally different between using it on your phone and on your wrist. Sure, the mission is the same on both platforms.Google wants to give you the right information at the right time.Just like Google Now brings together a number of Google’s services into one product, Wear has a similar feel to it. It’s a mix of what it has learned from Android and its ecosystem, its advances in voice recognition and its newly found design chops.In the next few months, Google will get some competition from Microsoft, Apple and a few startups in this space. For better or worse, none of them know as much about you as Google does, so it’ll be hard for them to replicate the Google Now experience.

sources:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/05/google-now-is-the-killer-app-for-android-wear/?ncid=rss

Oracle launches its New Mobile Application Framework

With the speed development of mobile apps,Oracle decides to launch its new Mobile Application Framework (MAF), which was made available Monday.The new framework is part of a series of updates to the Oracle Mobile Suite.

MAF builds on the cross-platform development tools Oracle already offers. The framework lets developers choose between the JDeveloper IDE integrated development environment or Enterprise Pack for Eclipse. Oracle stated that developers can also pick between a number of development languages, including Java, JavaScript and HTML5 when they are developing native Android and iOS apps.The framework also includes capability for declarative UI components creation, which allows for greater reusability during the app development process.More than 80 user-interface (UI) components are contained in the framework, allowing developers to use more extensive data visualization capabilities and reduce the need for low-level HTML5 coding.By integrating the new MAF with its Mobile Security Suite, Oracle hopes to calm the misgivings of mobile enterprise-app developers who are concerned about securing their apps and the data they have access to. The security suite includes features for application containerization, advanced authentication and authorization, and integration with social network log-ins.Oracle said the updated Mobile Suite now contains everything developers need to extend their enterprise systems to mobile phones and tablets.

sources:

http://www.toptechnews.com/article/index.php?story_id=1320044NEN3O

Ceglia claims half of Facebook-complicated ownership of FB again on the stage

As most of you already know Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder, has been battling Paul Ceglia since 2010.New York federal prosecutors claim that defendant Paul Ceglia, who brought his legal troubles upon himself when he sued Zuckerberg and submitted as evidence a contract that the government claims is forged, is to argue that Zuckerberg hacked him and framed him.

I would like to mention some flashbacks of above issue.Last year, Ceglia claimed he and Zuckerberg signed a contract giving Ceglia 50% of Facebook. Most legal experts dismissed Ceglia's lawsuit as outlandish, but it has resurfaced with evidence that promises to make this a messy affair.

Ceglia, owner of a wood pellet fuel company, put forth in a lawsuit filed last July,2011. In the suit, he claimed that he and Zuckerberg had an agreement in which Ceglia would receive 50% of Facebook for a $1,000 investment, in addition to 1% of the company each day until a site called "the face book" was completed. Since the project was allegedly 34 days late, Ceglia says he was entitled to 84% of the company.

The lawsuit claimed that Ceglia offered Zuckerberg $1,000 to work on a project called StreetFax, as well as $1,000 to fund "the face book." The suit claimed the two met in Boston and signed a contract with a witness.

Allegedly, Zuckerberg and Ceglia discussed details such as the site's domain name and business model. The suit said Zuckerberg mentioned the Winklevoss twins in November 2003, telling Ceglia that he had "stalled them for the time being." Eventually, according to the suit, Zuckerberg told Ceglia he thought that 1% of equity for each day of delay was unfair, and the two agreed to split the project 50/50.

Things allegedly blew up in April 2004, two months after Facebook's blockbuster launch. Zuckerberg is supposed to have told Ceglia he was thinking of taking the server down and wanted to give Ceglia his money back. Ceglia responded negatively, claiming that Zuckerberg was pulling "criminal stunts."

sources:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/07/accused-facebook-scammers-defense-zuckerberg-hacked-him/

http://mashable.com/2011/04/13/facebooks-complicated-ownership-history-explained/

Facebook's Emotional Experiment

This is some details over few perspectives on the survey conducted by Facebook's emotional experiment Facebook showed people less positive posts in the News Feed, and found they posted 0.1% fewer positive words in their own posts. A more depressing feed led people to publish very slightly more depressed updates.This teaches Facebook that emotions are contagious, that seeing happy updates might not make you sad like some suggest, and that showing them could make you use Facebook more.

The biggest support comes from the utilitarian perspective that supporters including hold, which says that these tests make Facebook as well as other products and services better for consumers. If 690,000 people were part of an experiment and some were purposefully depressed, that’s acceptable if it teaches Facebook to show posts that makes all of its 1.28 billion happier in the long-run.

There’s little likelihood that Facebook and others will stop this kind of A/B testing. Still, there’s hope that these companies more transparent. That could include reviewing more risky or controversial tests with an independent ethics board, or allowing users some way to find out if they’ve quietly been placed into an experiment.Facebook and other companies could also provide some open access to privacy-protected anonymized data to outside researchers. There are benefits to understanding humanity locked in the data of these big tech companies that might never be researched if they don’t have profit potential.

sources:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/02/facebook-emotion-experiment/?ncid=rss

Android Smartwatches will not work with 3/4 of Android phones!

Always we hear peculiar compatible devices by search giant Google.But contemporary stats reveals something customers are not willing to hear.By Google’s own count, 13.6% of Android phones are running the latest public build of the OS, Android 4.4.Android Wear watches, meanwhile, require a phone running Android 4.3 or newer to work.Between Android 4.3 and 4.4, that’s a grand total of 23.9% of active Android phones that are currently Wear-friendly. In other words, less than 1/4 of the Android phones currently in use can be paired with an Android Wear watch.there’s a pretty good chance the watches won’t actually work with your phone.It also makes it pretty damned hard to give an Android Wear watch as a gift, unless you know exactly which phone the recipient has.

sources:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/27/less-than-14-of-android-phones-work-with-googles-new-smartwatches/

Google and LG merges on 3D tablet

Google Inc.'s advanced research lab focused on cutting-edge mobile technology, may go on sale for consumers next year.It is working with LG Electronics to make a version of a tablet that captures three-dimensional images, which was developed as part of a research effort called Project Tango. The aim is to have the gadget ready for sale to the general public in 2015.
Google is also integrating the device with Unity, a platform that helps developers create video games.Google's research group is currently making a few thousand versions of the tablet for outside developers to try out, hoping to encourage them to develop games and other applications for the device and accompanying technology.
During a demonstration on Thursday at Google’s developer conference,on the project showed a colleague walking around a building holding the tablet. The device tracked the person’s journey and built a 3-D image of the parts of the building where he walked, including a stair case rising up several floors.
Google engineers say the device should be able to gather enough information to help create 3-D games and “fantasy lands” in real, physical places.
sources:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/06/26/lg-to-make-a-consumer-version-of-googles-3-d-tablet/

Location-based tracking to cut down bank card frauds.

Banks and card networks like Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. are working with wireless carriers to cut down on counterfeit transactions by tying purchases to the location of a customer’s smartphone.In the next few months, AT&T Inc. will test a service that verifies transactions by using a phone’s whereabouts. as long as it has customers’ permission.since people who are out shopping normally carry their phones with them,AT&T suppose that this will be more effective.
Global card fraud cost $12.4 billion last year, according to David Robertson, publisher of the Nilson Report, a payments-industry newsletter.
 AT&T would use its network data to find a participating customer’s phone, detecting a change in location. For example, the company would be able to confirm that a customer has flown from New York to Paris as soon as she turns on her phone upon landing. AT&T would convey this information to her credit-card lender so that if a transaction is attempted at a store in New York, it would be declined.
In addition to preventing fraud, a phone-location system could also help get rid of false positives -- transactions that are denied because the customer wasn’t in her customary location and forgot to report her travel plans to the bank. 
sources:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-06-26/how-at-and-t-could-keep-crooks-from-using-your-credit-card

Apple cheapens the iPod Touch prices to last stocks

Apple lowered prices of its declining-in-interest iPod Touch portable media players.

The 64-gigabyte version of the newest iPod Touch, at $299, is now $100 cheaper. The 32-gigabyte version came down to $249 from $299. The 16-gigabyte version, now with a rear-facing camera, costs $199 instead of $229.

The price drops hint that Apple is trying to clear store shelves ahead of the release of a new set of iPods, which have seen new introductions about every two years since an initial release in 2001.Apple sold just 2.8 million iPods in the first three months of this year, its lowest total in a decade.Apple said in a press release that the reduced-price iPod Touch devices would ship with iOS 7, but can be upgraded to iOS 8 when the operating system becomes available in the fall. All the iPod Touches have 4-inch displays.

sources:

http://www.toptechnews.com/article/index.php?story_id=1300042EBLTO

How to follow Football World Cup 2014 gratis?

Here is few Television,mobile app facilities to get connected with Football World Cup 2014.I found these free ways,while searching the internet.

1. Spanish-language channel Univision is streaming the first 56 World Cup games for free on its website and Deporte app. The only drawback is that the commentary is in Spanish.
2. The official FIFA app for Apple and Android phones gives you real-time updates of all games, updated rankings, photos and video highlights and selected tweets from FIFA and others.
3. ESPN's website is chock full of stats and video highlights.
4. Many news sites, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, offer live blogs of all of the games, offering insights and commentary. This can be a useful way to keep up, especially now that two games are going on at the same time.
5. FIFA's Twitter accounts are FifaWorldCup and Fifacom. Clicking on the official Twitter hashtags, World Cup and World Cup 2014, will take you to Twitter's hubs for the event.
6. Facebook has an official World Cup section called "Trending World Cup." It includes the latest scores, game highlights and a feed with tournament-related posts.

sources:

http://www.toptechnews.com/article/index.php?story_id=1300042EBKX6

Google introduces Smart TVs, Watches and Cars

On Wednesday Google announced Android TV, a version of its Android operating system designed to power smart TVs. Android TV is Google's third connected-TV service It compromises with the features, like pulling in live TV feeds and streaming videos from someone's smartphone, with new features like gaming support.Google reveal these announcements as part of its annual developer conference, Google I/O, in San Francisco.Android TV will be built into TVs to be released this year from Sony and Sharp as well as set-top boxes from Asus.Google is weaving in features that go beyond simply staring at something on a big TV. People can conduct searches on an Android TV-powered screen to find movies or TV shows, watch them and receive information like cast members' filmographies or lists of Oscar-nominated films in a given year.People can also play video games on their TVs and play against someone using an Android tablet.

TV isn't the only hardware that Google wants to connected through Android. Through a new version of Android called Android Wear designed for wearables like smart watches, Android-powered smart watches can be connected to a person's Android phone and can serve as a kind of remote control when the phone is in someone's pocket.

Cars are also getting the smartphone treatment through Android Auto, a program to connect Android phones to cars.Through voice-guided navigation, people can pull up driving directions, control the music or send text messages.

sources:

http://adage.com/article/digital/google-debuts-smart-tvs-watches-cars/293888/