How to Roll Your Own VPN
Free Wi-Fi access offered by restaurants, bars or public places are not safe. These networks are not encrypted. Anyone who is connected to it can intercept the data, name of users or passwords that you are sending by identifying yourself in your email account or social networks.
1: What are VPNs?
VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a type of network in which you create an extension of a private network, such as the local network you have at home, over a public network. That is, you use the open network as a vehicle to connect to your private VPN network and thus, to be able to navigate with the same level of security as if you did it from your home, since your laptop, smartphone or tablet, connects directly to your Private network, isolating itself from the rest of the public network traffic.
2: Free VPN Networks
There are companies that offer, among other services, the free connection to VPN servers to protect your connections from public networks. These servers act as protective filters for your privacy on the Internet. The greatest virtue of this type of services is that they do not require any registration. Simply enter the server address, a username and password and start browsing.
Before connecting to the VPNBook servers, you need to know your connection details. Go to your website and click on the PPTP tab.
Record the address of the server you want to connect to. Just below the servers, you also specify the login user name and password. Write them down as well.
3: Connect to a VPN network from your iPad
If you're connecting to a VPN network from an iPad or any other iOS device, go to your Settings menu. Touch General on the side panel, and in the central box, look for the VPN entry.
Now touch Add VPN configuration .... In the box that appears, click on PPTP. Then write the connection data you wrote down on the VPNBook page.
In Description, type an identifying name for this VPN network. For example VPNBook. In Server, type the address of the server you want to connect to. In Account, enter the username you copied from the
VPNBook page and do the same in Password.
Then turn on the Send All Traffic switch to direct all browsing data over this VPN. Finally, touch Save.
When you're done, activate the VPN switch to connect to the VPNBook server and thus protect your privacy.
4: VPN connection from an Android app
Another easy way to connect to VPN networks and maintain your privacy is to do so from apps installed on your smartphone or tablet.
This app will connect to the VPN server, allowing private browsing in just a couple of touches on the screen.
To do this you must install Spotflux free VPN on your device. This time we will use an Android device, although it is also available for Apple devices.
After you search for and install the SpotFlux free VPN app on Google Play, start the app. Scroll to the left and press Proceed. As you need to create a new network connection, you will be asked if the app is authorized to do so. Check the I trust this app option and click OK.
It will automatically connect to Spotflux servers and encrypt your connection. An icon in the notification bar will tell you the VPN connection is active.
During the initial trial period, you will be able to test all the services offered by the app. After this period, the Premium functions will be blocked, but you can continue to use all other functions with normality. When you want to disconnect from the Spotflux VPN server, click on the Disable button. This is all you need to use public Wi-Fi networks safely!
5: Fix your IP with No-ip
Another option to keep in mind is to create your own private VPN network. For this you will need a computer on and connected to the Internet, which serves as VPN server.
Doing so is not as easy as connecting to the VPN networks in the previous sections, but you will have the absolute certainty of the security of your navigation.
But first you must fix your IP address. If your IP is already static you can skip this step.
Before starting to configure your computer, you need to know if your IP is static or dynamic. If your IP is dynamic, which happens in most cases, you can use the No-ip service to "fix" it.
This free service synchronizes the dynamic IP of your router with a domain name. That way, you will not have to worry if your IP changes. Entering the name of the domain that will be assigned to you, other devices will be able to connect with your computer.
To create a domain for your dynamic IP, go to the No-ip website. Then click Sign up and create a No-ip account. In it you must specify the user name with which to identify you and a secure password.
Then, establish a name for your domain, make it simple to remember. You can also choose which domain to belong to. The only free domain is .noip .biz, the rest are paid. Select it and click on Free sign up.
Then, you will be sent an email to the address you have provided to confirm your registration in No-ip. You can start using No-ip !
6: Install the No-ip client on your computer
Now is the time to install the No-ip client on the computer that will act as a VPN server.
This program will synchronize the IP of your computer and the domain name that you have created in No-ip. That way you can connect to it even if your IP changes. Which will do every time you turn the router off and on.
Go back to your account on the No-ip website and, in your control panel, click on the Dynamic Update Client option, which you will find in the side panel. Then click on the Download Now button to download the No-ip client installer. Install it on your computer and start it.
Then enter the email address and password you used in the No-ip log.
In the No-ip client window, you may notice that you have not yet recognized any domain and therefore can not synchronize your IP. Click Edit Hosts. Check the box for the domain you created in the previous section and click Save.
Now it recognizes the domain and assigns it the correct IP. If you turn off and turn on your router you will see how the IP changes, but the No-ip client reassigns it to your domain. Even if you close the No-ip client window, it will continue to work in the background.
7: Configure your VPN server in Windows
The first step in creating a VPN in Windows is to access the Network and Sharing Center on the computer that will act as a VPN server. You can access it from the Control Panel.
Then choose Network and Internet, and then choose Network and Sharing Center. You can also access from the Network icon in the system tray, next to the clock.
Now, click Change adapter settings in the side panel.
In the Network Connections window, go to the File menu and choose New Incoming Connection. If you do not have the menu bar visible, press the ALT key and they will be displayed.
Then click on the Add someone ... button to create a new user for the VPN network. In the box that appears, type a user name and set a password. These will be the identification data that your device will ask you when you want to connect to the VPN network.
When finished, tap OK. Continue with Next. Then check the box over the Internet and continue with Next. Finally, click the Allow access button.
After this, it will be necessary to restart the computer so that the new network is created. If, after the reboot, you return to the Change Adapter Settings window, you will notice that a new network has been created, which will tell you if there are any users using the VPN network.
8: Open the ports on your router
In order for your router not to block the connection of external devices to your VPN network, it will be necessary to open a specific port, through which this connection will be directed. The port to be opened will be the TCP 1723.
Each router has a different configuration interface and its own way of opening the ports. If you do not know how to do it, consult the manual of your router or contact the support service of your Internet provider, they will show you how to open the ports of your router.
9: Connects to your private VPN network from another computer
Once you have configured the VPN network, you have created the user account and you have opened the ports of your router, you just need to establish the connection from another computer.
On this occasion, we will use a laptop with Windows 7 - which we bought at a great price thanks to our Amazon discount coupons - and connected to the Internet from an open network. Access the Network and Sharing Center, as shown in the previous section.
Then click on the Configure a new network connection option. Then choose the option Connect to a workspace and click Next. Now choose Use My Internet Connection (VPN) and configure the connection settings.
In Internet Address, write the static IP of your router or the domain that you created in No-ip. In Destination Name, type the name of the network. For example, My VPN. When you're done, click Next. Then enter the username and password you created during VPN
Labels: DIY, VPN
Host Your Own RSS Feed Reader
How to create an RSS feed from scratch
Today most of the systems we implement (such as WordPress) already come with a feed created and implemented, ready to validate, it is always possible to create a zero, or want to further customize what already exists.
Through a simple tutorial we will teach you to create an RSS feed from scratch, whether with static or dynamic content.
As always, first things first:
Reqirements for RSS feed:
A website with content, whether static or dynamic.
A Web editor.
Process of creating RSS feed:
To create an RSS feed, it is necessary to encode a file in XML format, which contains the necessary tags to interpret and display the content in the specified format, to which users will access. This file we can leave it native in XML, or embed it inside PHP, as we will see in both cases below.
For this we will perform 2 processes. In the first instance we will create a static feed, from content that we have available on our site.
After that we will repeat the task, but this time we will retrieve contents from a database to put them into the feed, ideal if they are publishing through a CMS or if they obtain content directly from a database.
So without further ado, let's get down to business:
1.- Creating a static RSS feed
This option is valid only if we have static content on our site, which although not very justified, can be a useful functionality to deliver to visitors.
For this, we need to create an XML file in our Web editor, and start coding:
The first 2 lines that we added correspond to the definition of the version and coding of xml (in order for it to validate correctly we must add the version, as far as the coding is optional but it never is) and the version of RSS that will use The file we are creating. Currently most sites offer subscriptions for both RSS 1.1 and 2.0, but with the latter is more than enough. At the end we close the rss tag to finish the document.
Following the above, it is necessary that everything related to the feed (both information and content), be included within the </ channel> tags, which we will add just after the previous code.
And now, inside the channel tags we will be adding the feed information.
And finally, after the information, we add the related content that will be displayed in the feed, we will do this by repeating the same tags we used previously, but closed between < item>and </ item>:
The above we save it with any name and with extension xml, we upload it and when opening it in the navigator we will be able to see that our static feed is completely ready:
2.- Creating a dynamic RSS feed
We created our static feed, its just onnly a few minutes, we realized that it was very simple and we are ready to conquer the world ... right ?. Well, not yet. As we indicated in the previous point, a static feed is not very funny, since we must add each new content manually and ends up being a lot of work, or it may be that on more than one occasion we forget to update. Due to this, if we have a site where the content is obtained dynamically from a database, it is possible to adapt that to our feed and that the new information will be added as it is generated. For this, we will work with both XML and PHP, in a bombastic that will spark and make us the most popular kids in high school.
For this, we will consider that we have a database, which has a news table with a title field, a link field, a detail field and a date field of the news, as we see below:
[Table id = 1 /]
So, the first thing to do is create a PHP file in our Web editor.
As you can see, in the previous code we left a blank section, between the <? Php and?> Tags. This part of the code is where we will connect to the database, rescue the news and deploy it dynamically.
For this, we will first connect to the database. As a good practice we will use DEFINE to define redundancy, define the connection data, but if you want, you can skip this part and execute the function directly:
And now we make the connection. We run the query.
Now that we have retrieved all the news from the database in an orderly way by date, obtaining the newest ones first, we will pass them to an array to write them in the specified XML format, as follows:
With the above, we execute a cycle that will pass to an array in an associative way (thanks to the parameter MYSQL_ASSOC, which will allow us to access the records in the array with the same name that they have in the table of the database). That they are finished and will create a new item with the respective values to include in the feed.
With that we are almost ready, the last detail is to add a small header at the beginning of the document, indicating that we are executing XML content for better recognition at the time of executing the complete script, we do this by adding at the beginning.
And ready!.
We have our dynamic RSS feed, which will add the results obtained from the database and each time we publish new content will be updated automatically.
And now, to conquer the world ?. Not yet. Before finishing:
3.- Useful tips for launching RSS feed
Some tips that are never over:
Validate feed
Before launching our feed to the public, it's good to make sure that it works properly and that we have not made coding errors. For this we can validate through several services, such as:
Feed Validator
Just add the URL of our feed and validate.
Publish the feed
There are services that allow us to publish our feed and offer a series of interesting features, such as adding advertising or statistics about our subscribers. The best known and undoubtedly used is Feedburner, which in only moments we can publish our feed without problems.
Show users that a RSS feed exists on the site
If at this moment they look at the address bar of your browser, you will see that there is an orange icon.
This icon indicates that the site has an RSS feed to which they can subscribe. How to add it? Very simple, we should only add the following lines between the <head> and </ head> tags of each page we want it to appear in, such as a favicon. Simple, right?
and </ head> tags of each page we want it to appear in, such as a favicon. Simple, right?
Customize your RSS feed
The details certainly make the difference in the minds of the users. So, now that we've learned how to make a feed from scratch, why not play it a bit and make it more personalized? Only by modifying small parts of the code can we display certain types of information in our feed (for example comments if they exist), or limit the number of articles to be displayed, or make a separate feed for each person that writes in the site and thus each Reader follow his favorite author.
The possibilities are many, you just have to experiment.
And with this we have finished this tutorial in which we have covered the process of creating an RSS feed from scratch. As you can see, it only takes a few minutes and the difficulty is low, so we encourage you to try and tell us your experience.
Before ending, we remind you that as always, this tutorial has been:
Any questions or comments you may have, we invite you to leave us a few lines in the area enabled below.
We hope this tutorial has been useful for you.
Labels: DIY, rss aggregator, rss feed, RSS reader
Microsoft Patent Reveals That The Company is Working on Augmented Reality Wand
Microsoft's Patent – Wand-Like Controller
From Microsoft's patent filing, it has now come to light that the company has been functioning on a wand-like controller for augmented reality (AR) and `HoloLens'. Microsoft had made an announcement of a new patent on August 22 of the design for an augmented reality input device wherein the wand-like controller appears like a cross between a motion controller and a pen, according to the report on The Verge.
The software giant company had originally filed the patent in June 2016 on the same day it had published its Windows Mixed Reality vision video. In the video one would see what seems to be a wand-like device in action being utilised to articulate hand tracking with a HTC Vive VR headset.
There is a possibility that this tends to be simply a reference device which had been testing with partners by Microsoft though it could also hind that the company intends accessories which would operate across several VR headsets.
The software major had intended to introduce a range of Mixed Reality headsets from partners like Asus, Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo, later in the year. The headsets would be available at a price below the prevailing VR devices, with the unit of Acer beginning at $299.
Aiming - Six Degrees of Freedom
Microsoft has been aiming on six degrees of freedom tracking with the need of traditional external sensors positioned all through a room.
The lowest specs for Mixed Reality platform of Microsoft also specify most PCs would have the potential of running the most basic apps together with games. Augmented reality has been gaining power quickly in the US, powered by Snapchat Lenses and Facebook Stories.
Facebook has also been operating on emerging augmented reality glasses which could balance digital object with that of the physical world. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of the company had earlier shown photos of comparable glasses stating that they would be the future of augmented reality though had not disclosed that it would be developing this kind of product.
CEO of Facebook is of the view that augmented reality would be the subsequent big user tech platform after the smartphones. This information had been reported after the announcement of Microsoft on its Build developer conference in May that the company plans to utilise AI for the purpose of safety in workplaces.
Purpose – Match with Promotional Video
It had also showcased how AI can make for example a construction site to be safer and also efficient. Spotted by WalkingCat, the patent revealed an accessory which seemed to appear like want, having buttons, a trigger and a finger guard.
It is unknown at the moment as to what the accessory would be capable of doing though it seems like it could be utilised as a pointing device for the purpose of presentations, a prop for augmented reality games or could be also a painting tool.
The purpose of the device tends to match with promotional video wherein Microsoft portrays too small want controllers which tend to interact with an augmented reality setting. It appears similar to Google's Draw accessory for Google Glass and increases on the controls that are available with the HoloLens clicker.
Labels: Augmented Reality, microsoft, Patent
Android Oreo:12 Best Features of New Android Operating System
Google has finally launched Android Oreo successor of the Nougat after months of name guessing. This version brings a wide range of upgrades which helps in enhancing the overall experience, security and intelligence of the Android platform. Here is a quirky list of things which Oreo users will be proudly showing off to the Nougat counterparts in the days to come.
Turn on notification badges Oreo brings the app based notification badges right on the home screens. Enable this feature by going to the Settings followed by 'Apps & Notification'. Notification and then turn it on.
Better protection for everyone One of the best features to debut with Android Oreo is the Google Play Protect and this feature will be making its way on older devices as well with the Google Play Services. This service is designed to make Android device more secure from before by providing the much needed basic scanning of the installed as well as incoming apps for malware and it sends out alerts if it detects anything suspicious or malicious.
Unique picture-in-picture display This feature is applicable with Google's YouTube app wherein users are able to shrink videos into little window for some time and another app can run right in the background with no issues. This feature is unique as it offers the benefits of two apps on a single screen and it also works with Chrome app but for more apps we will have to wait for app developers to start supporting it.
Its simpler to install unknown apps Installing apps from the unknown sources have always been troublesome. Android Oreo is addressing this issue wherein users will get a chance to whitelist unknown app installation whether doing it from the Gmail, Chrome or Google Drive. It also does away with the need of enabling 'unknown sources' in the Settings. From now on users will be able to install app from the downloaded APk files without any issues at all.
Snooze gets more power This snooze upgrade is vital for those who love to keep dismissing the alarm. Users will get the ability to deal with the snooze notification at a later stage rather than dismissing them once and never seeing them. In order to enable it simply swipe on the right on any alert in lock screen or present in the notification or simply tap on the clock icon and edit the time delay as per your requirement.
Text selection made easier Text selection has become bit more intelligent in the Android Oreo. Simply tapping and holding on any kind of text like a phone number will ensure that now Android automatically highlights the complete number for the user. Secondly upon performing any kind of text selection the Oreo will give out context sensitive shortcuts right above the bar like if a user has selected an address then Google Maps shortcut will be shown.
Sync all your data across the different devices Android Oreo makes use of a new Autofill feature which allows the system to sync everything across the range of devices used by the users. Upon getting requisite permission form the user Oreo will help in syncing the app logins, credit card information, address details along with a wide range of information shared between the devices and apps.
Take photos in style with new shortcuts Google has made some aggressive feature enhancement in the camera app bundled with the Android Oreo. The upgrades or tweaks can be said to be minor but it has potential to go a long way in enhancing the photo and video capturing abilities of the users. Users get a chance to zoom in by 50 percent through giving a double tap on the screen.
Set and manage notification property Android Oreo enhances the way we manage notification to a whole next extent. Users will be able to make use of notification channels to categorize the one which they want to see and the one which they don't. There are few more minor tweaks wherein swiping right on any notification then tapping on the cog icon will help getting options. Even checking out the setting of any specific app will allow users to see the options to control notification minutely. An example will help in illustrating its usefulness; users can set the group messages in the messaging app to use notification light differently. In certain situations users can get permission for group chats to buzz and light up while in other cases it will remain silent.
Fun filled new emojis Every Android version brings in new emojis for the Android users but rather than bringing just a bunch of emojis Oreo has gone ahead and brought a whole new set of emoji set. Google has spent a huge time in redesigning the emojis to give a whole new feeling to the aging Android emojis. There are few special characters in the new emoji set in the form of a dinosaur, an exploding head and a wizard showcasing the magic of Oreo.
Now get more juice for your phone's battery Android is known for its great battery life and each year Google is enhancing the battery saving potential of the OS for better. This time around Android with a whole new set of rules which defines what varied apps can do and cannot do running in the background. It is widely known that apps running in the background are the primary reason behind loss of battery in quick succession and Oreo is aiming towards ensuring battery lasts for longer period of time at a stretch.
Easter egg for future Google is known for carefully hiding Easter eggs in its software. Similarly the Android Oreo has a unique Easter egg which can is revealed when user taps on the Android version repeatedly. To everyone's surprise rather showing an 'Oreo' biscuit which ideally should be the case there comes an octopus on the screen.
Labels: Android, Android O, Oreo
Google Tracks Everything You Do. Here's How To Delete It
Google Knows A Lot About Users
In the present scenario, our lives have become more assimilated online than ever before. We tend to interact with families and friends online through social media, emails etc. We also tend to conduct business through difficult, data-driven channels and inventions due to which the culture that we encounter online seems to be essentially connected to what we seem to encounter in real life.
Google being the most popular search engine platform has most of the users utilising its services. It is a known fact that Google tends to know a lot about the user. A major section of the search engine industry model depends on advertising and in order to be successful it requires to know who you are.
Google does not makes an issue regarding its in-depth knowledge of its users however at the same time it does not even tend to keep it undisclosed. Users could get to know how to find out what Google seems to know and take control of your data.Perhaps the least surprising is that Google tends to have all of the search history stored up.
You could follow these guidelines:
If the user prefers not have a list of the search queries stored up, he could go to the history page of Google, click Menu which are the three vertical dots and then hit Advanced - > All Time -> Delete.
If the user desires to stop Google tracking your searches for good, go to the activity controls page and toggle tracking off.
Voice search-saving habits of Google have several times been reported. Those who tend to use voice search or the voice-activated assistant of Google their searches have been stored by Google Now so that more relevant ads are served and the search features are steadily enhanced, the same manner one expects from regular Google search.
Many are not aware that these searches have been actually recorded which means that users are able to listen back to precisely what they have explored by listening to what they said and how they have said it.
If the user has utilised any of the opt-in voice features of Google for yourself, then go to the Voice & Audio Activity page of Google to review your voice searches and listen back the audio. A warning of caution - this could be fascinating, funny or plain cringe-worthy.In order to erase this database of embarrassing searches, you could opt for one or more of the recordings from the check box near them and click `delete' towards the top of the screen. Google also tends to keep a tab on your location besides recording your searches and your voice.
The location history or timeline page of Google tends to serve up a Google Map enabling you to choose specific dates as well as time and locate where you were. Its precision is based on whether the user were signed in their Google account and carrying a phone or tablet at that point of time. When a user tends to visit the timeline page they can go to setting component towards the bottom right-hand area of the screen and choose delete all from there. Besides this there is also another option to pause location history by going to the big button towards the bottom left area of the screen.However this one seems a bit trickier to get rid completely since to stop it occurring in future, one would need to choose out of both location tracking and location reporting with your device, regardless of running Android or iOS.
A more interesting area of checking out what Google tends to precisely know about the user is to go over its ad setting page where. If signed in Google account, one would see a profile which Google has built for you depending on your search history, YouTube history and interests. For instance, it could know that one is a female, aged 18-24 and interested in banking, consumer electronics, mobile phones, shooter games, rap and much more.
From this page there is a possibility to turn ad personalisation on or off. If the user tends to opt out of personalisation, the adverts which seem to follow you around the web – trainers, after one has searched for them once, will stop showing up. The ad network of Google operates on more than two million websites all across the world and restraining its knowledge regarding the user would make everything less disturbing
If, the user wishes to completely eliminate himself from the internet, then Swedish website Deseat.metends to utilise your Google account for assistance. Utilising OAuth protocol of Google enables third-party users to access your other accounts without knowing your password details, Deseat.me tends to bring up all your online as well as social media accounts, and permits the user to delete his accounts from them.
In order to delete it you could visit Deseat.me and edit your Gmail address. This will bring up all the online accounts that have been linked to that particular email address and enable the user to get rid of the same.
Labels: Google, internet
How Self Driving Cars will Get Your Hands Back on the Wheel
Prevailing Navigation System in Cars
Self-driving cars will be driving themselves very soon on long expanses on the highway and it is left to be seen when the car seems to need you to take the wheel. In Germany, at a Bosch-sponsored event, the automotive equipment supplier had shown a solution which tends to work in the same way to the prevailing navigation systems in cars.
The function had been examined by a passenger who took the passenger seat of a heavily modified Tesla Model S while a Bosch test pilot had taken the driver seat for a demonstration on the test track of the company near Frankfurt, Germany.
As the car reached a section of road where it was permitted for self-driving cars, the centre screen calculated the distance and once in the zone area, the driver pushed two buttons on the steering then and let the car manipulate the driving.
As the car neared the end of the approved self-driving zone, the screen started to calculate the distance to when the driver required to take back control portraying and sounding alerts as they got nearer. The information seemed to be the same as the navigation system showing the distance to the next turn, which most of the drivers would find accustomed.
Level 3 Self-Driving
This competence signified the next step in driver support to what engineers consider Level 3 self-driving, where humans tend to share control with the car. This is a natural evolution of self-driving cars system from the prevailing adaptive cruise control systems that could regulate the speed of the car in relation to the traffic ahead.
Together with the adaptive cruise control cars progressively is likely to come with lane keeping systems which tends to use cameras in recognizing lane line and steering the car in order to avert it from travelling into another lane. In order to permit Level 3 self-driving cars would have to maintain high definition maps of precise roads.
Technology partners together with automakers could develop maps and also wirelessly modernize them to prevailing cars. When the car tends to driver on a mapped road, it has the potential of taking over the driving and the computer of the car is said to constantly compare what its sensors view with its stored map. Super Cruise technology had been recently demonstrated by Cadillac utilising this methodology that would be made available in the next few years.
Easier Driving Environments – Highways/Freeways
However, when this technology tends to be made available, high definition maps will not be accessible for every road. Similarly, the automakers could also opt for easier driving environments like the highways as well as freeways for the purpose of self-driving cars instead of suburban or city streets.
One can visualize driving down I-5 on the west coast, I-95 down the east coast or I-80 through the country and after merging on the freeway, your car tells you it can take over and so you permit it to drive for some hundred miles to your exit and then take the wheel for the off-ramp.
There could be issues when the section of high definition mapped road may run out and the driver does not seem to take charge. A solution was shown by Bosch for this type of a scenario. When the driver had not taken the wheel after several audio as well as visual warnings, the car seemed to pull over to the side of the road safely.
In the near future, drivers may be awaken from their nap to find that their self-driving cars are parked in a selected pull-over zone, relaxed though several miles down the road.
Labels: automobile technology, Self Driving Car
Alphabet Wants to Store Renewable Energy Using Salt in an Attempt to Save Power
Resources for Storing Renewable Energy – Salt/Antifreeze
Google's parent company has turned to two unexpected resources of salt and antifreeze in order to endeavour in storing renewable energy. Alphabet which is owned by Google has been working on a project known as `Malta' in storing renewable energy which would else be wasted.
If the same tends to be effective, the system would be placed almost everywhere thereby saving millions of megawatts of energy which tend to be present lost all over the world annually. According to a report in Bloomberg, the mysterious X division of Alphabet has been operating on the `moonshot' project Malta.
The system has the capabilities of lasting longer than lithium-ion batteries and can compete with the other clean energy storage systems according to X executives and researchers. Obi Felton, director at X while speaking to Bloomberg had mentioned that if the moonshot factory gives up on a big important issue like climate change, then probably it would never get resolved.
He added that if they do begin resolving the issue there would be trillions and trillions of dollars in market opportunity. According to Ms Felton, the team of 10 researchers are now on the lookout for partners, in order to build and operate a prototype to the grid, though Malta has not yet been an official X project.
Insufficient Means of Storing Energy
Huge amount of energy seems to get wasted every year since there is insufficient means of storing the same. For instance, California had wasted 300,000 megawats of energy in the first half of this year that had been produced by solar panels and wind farms, while Chine threw out over 17% of its produced energy as per Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The Malta system seems like a small power plant having four tanks that has been linked to a heat pump. X states that the system tends to come in several sizes ranging from the same size as a garage to a full-scale traditional power plant based on requirements. Julian Green, the product manager for Malta describing the system to Bloomberg had stated `to consider it at a very simple level as a fridge and a jet'.
Two of the cylindrical tanks are said to be filled with salt while the second two seemed to be filled with antifreeze. The energy is said to be taken in the system by way of electricity which is thereafter revolved into separate streams of hot and cold air.
Potential of Storing Energy for Days
The hot air is said to heat up the salt and the cold air tends to cool the antifreeze. In order to re-generate the energy, the procedure is inverted in order the hot and cold air rush towards each other thereby developing powerful winds which spin a turbine and produce the energy that is utilised.
The system has the potential of storing the energy for days based on the amount of insulation. Mr Green had commented that the thermodynamic physics seem to be quite popular to all who had studied adequately at college level.
The project has now the support of Robert Laughlin, a Nobel prize-winning physicist whose research is said to be the foundation for the system. Laughlin had commented that `a blessing came out of the sky. X came in and took a giant bite out of this problem'. It is not known when the system would be ready for set-up.
Labels: Alphabet, Google, renewable energy
What a Good Editing Photo Program Should Always Have
A good photo software program takes a good picture and makes it better. You don't think a good photographer gets it perfect without using some editing program, do you? Of course, not – they do take great pictures and use a software program and make the photo even better.
Editing functions
A good editing program does not have to be hard to use but there are some options that they need to have.
Set of editing tools
Photo editing programs need to have a good set of editing tools. These are used when the photo is good but by just using a few editing tools makes them almost perfect. What type of editing can you use – there are many?
You should be able to:
Cropping a photo
To crop a photo is to put a fresh spin on your photos. With cropping you can eliminate what is not needed and watch your photo emerge almost perfect. Quickly trimming your photo can do wonders for picture, so cropping is often used.
Cropping is one of the Basic Editing tools. A grid will usually appear over your image. Then you drag the corner handles until you have your desired shape and size. Then you simply click apply and save the photo. Now your picture looks fabulous.
When a photo comes out murky (or a step too light or too dark) you can fix this with the exposure function. Exposure is usually the fix for this problem. Most programs will have simple sliders and by moving them back and forth you can quickly resolve specific exposure issues.
Clarity might be slightly off and it will make your photo just be a little out of focus. This is when you can use your sharpening tool to make your photos crystal clear. Or perhaps you are trying to set an ambiance that is a little out of focus; you just use this same tool to make the photo have a slight blur.
It looked fine when you were taking the picture but for some reason it now looks upside-down when it is being edited. The rotate tool is there to help to rotate the pictures until you have just what you wanted.
This resizing tool will spare you headaches by resizing tools – it can be bigger or smaller, whatever you want. A good program will support common social media, website and print sizes.
Transformative Photo Effects and Filters
No matter what you are into, a good editing program should be able to make your photo effect match a theme for every image. You can also blend many different effects as possible to give you that perfect photo that will be truly one-of-a-kind.
This is a filter that can make your photo have a touch of class in monochrome – or black and white. Black and white effects can make your photo be silver-screen-worthy in no time.
These are just a few of the many effects that a good photo editing software program will have. Most of them will be included when the Window version of Luminar is finished. Currently Macphun is working on this Window version and has posted the Beta version that you might want to try out.
Labels: photo editing apps
Google Docs: Big Update Happened with More Editing and Search Tool
Google set to bring a new vital update for the popular Google Docs
For a really long time people were dependent on the Microsoft Office programs to work and share their finding globally. But Google brought a commendable challenge to it through its suite of online office applications and among it the most popular and widely used application is Google Docs. Just a few days ago Google has announced that it will be a big update to the Google Docs which will open a whole new world of opportunities for the users.
This updates has helped in upgrading the online word processing application to the next level. Now more number of users will be able to work, collaborate and edit the documents at the same time. Google understands that modern requirements of the Worksheet processing program should be able to provide a unified control over the collaboration to enhance the productivity of larger teams. This new update will allow users to work on big projects with ease and simply by actively monitoring varied edits or inputs from large number of users. Enhancing the ability of the users in collaborating with large teams is essential as more and more users are working remotely from varied but carefully monitoring the progress or edits made on a single file has always been troublesome. Google Docs will be able to do offers respite to the users in dealing wide amount of edits.
What's new in Google Docs?
This major update has focused on enhancing the editing and collaborative efforts of the users. Now users will be able to see all the team edits at a single place which is known as version history. On one hand users get to every edit made in the document with 'version history' view and another option allows them to check every clean version of the document without the presence of the other user's edits and comments. This is a very thoughtful update as it helps in going back to the older version or understanding which person has made the unwanted edit when a large team collaborates on a single project online.
Another great feature included in this update is the ability to accept or reject all the edits in a single go. This is designed to ensure that one doesn't spend their time in carefully understanding and going through all the edits made by all the persons appointed on a single project.
Challenging the 'Word', beating its own game
The latest update will bring almost similar functionalities and features to the Google Docs which is seen on the Microsoft's Word. In recent time Google has been actively promoting its G Suite as the best reliable work collaboration service which comes loaded with the Docs- a word processing program and Slides – a spreadsheet program. Another awesome feature of the G suite is that it allows users to search for files containing specific words. With the latest update users will be able to make use of the built in explore tab for scanning the files without even leaving any of the program namely Docs and Slides.
Labels: Google, Google Docs
Build Your Own Streaming Dash Cam - Do It Yourself
We have always been passionate about home automation and everything related to computers in the home. Most of us love the weather stations that display a lot of information, high-tech clocks that make a calendar and that sounds when you receive a mail, digital photo frames, etc ... Indeed, we find that what exists today is either far too limited or very limited and far too expensive.
Build a Dash Cam with a Raspberry Pi, Two Cameras and GPS
Car video cameras (dash cams) became very popular, where vehicular crash videos outpaced witness testimony in court. Surveillance cameras in cars have become ubiquitous among the driver's daily tools. Increased distractions and shorter care intervals have subsequently led to dangerous traffic. The use of a camera like this means irrefutable proof of guilt in case of being involved in an accident.
We have seen a raspberry Pi used as a dash camera before, but about in Pro techie's they took the same concept, but also have a live-streaming capability provided you can set a hot spot on your smartphone.
Dash cameras are an easy way to record everything you see on your windshield, but they vary …
The dash cameras are a cool, easy way to record everything you see on your windshield, but they vary greatly in price and quality. If you really want to personalize your own, you can make one with a raspberry Pi.
As expected, this configuration has some bells and whistles. It has two cameras, one front and one rear. It also has GPS packaged in it so the camera always knows where it is recording. There is also a button to turn it off and restart it when you need it along with status LED so you know what to do. Of course, most of us probably do not need all this, but it's a fun project, though.
To begin with, you can make use of an old USB camera.
You can combine it with your old USB version and possibly add a GPS.
Hardware - Raspberry Pi model B
OS - Arch Linux
Front camera - Pi camera
Rear USB camera – Any kind of old one
GPS - Adafruit Ultimate GPS Breakout
LEDs - 3 x 3mm
Pi camera mount - From pimoroni
SD card adaptor - pIO microSD card adapter
SD card - Samsung 32Gb micro SD PRO Card Class 10 UHS-I
The camera uses Node.js to set everything up, then takes a picture every few seconds and saves it online using the hot spot on your smartphone. In this way, the flow is available online at any time. To do this, you will need a Raspberry Pi and a camera module next to some form of network access. Beyond that, it is a fairly simple configuration process for the camera itself. When you're done with that, you'll make a viewer so you can see all those images in streaming. This project uses the PubNub application platform, but you can do this project using a free account.
Labels: DIY, live streaming, Raspberry Pi
Atomic Movies May Help Explain Why Perovskite Solar Cells Are More Efficient
Perovskites – Cheap/Easy/Flexible
Perovskites has taken the solar cell industry by storm in recent years. They tend to be cheap, easy in producing as well as flexible in their applications.
Moreover their efficiency in converting light into electricity has developed quicker than that of any other material from under 4% in 2009 to over 20% in 2017, where some of the experts are of the belief that Perovskites Solar Cells could ultimately outperform the most common solar cell material, silicon. However, irrespective of their reputation, researchers are not aware why perovskites solar cells tend to be so efficient.
Research had been carried out with powerful `electron camera' at the Department of energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory which has now revealed that light whirls atoms around in perovskites, potentially explaining the high efficiency of these next –generation solar cell materials as well as provides clues in making improved ones.
Aaron Lindenberg from Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences – SIMES and the Stanford PULSE Institute for ultrafast science that had jointly operated by Stanford University and SLAC, had stated that they have taken a step towards resolving the mystery.
He further added that they had recorded movies which tend to show that certain atoms in a perovskite seem to respond to light within trillionths of a second in a very unusual manner.
Flexibility Based on Atomic Structure of Material
This could facilitate the transport of electric charges through the material and enhance its efficiency. The study had been published recently in Science Advances. When light is said to shine on perovskites solar cell material, its energy tends to displace some of the negative charged electrons of the material.
This is inclined to leave behind `electron holes' having positive charge where the electrons had initially been located. Electrons and holes tend to migrate in opposite sides of the material thereby developing a voltage which could be utilised to power electrical devices. The efficiency of perovskites solar cell seems to depend on how freely electrons as well as holes tend to move in the material.
In turn, their flexibility is based on the atomic structure of the material. In silicon solar cells for instance, silicon atoms is said to line up in an orderly manner within crystals as well as the smallest structural defects tend to reduce the ability of the material to harvest light efficiently.
As a consequence, silicon crystals need to be grown in costly multistep process under very clean conditions while perovskites are said to be produced with the combination of chemicals in a solvent that tends to evaporate to leave an extremely thin film of perovskite material according to the study's lead author from SIMES at SLAC, Xiaoxi Wu.
Lower Cost/Lightweight
He further added that simpler processing would mean lower costs and unlike silicon solar cells, perovskite thin films seems to be lightweight as well as flexible and can be applied with ease to virtually any surface. With regards to perovskites what is it that permits some of them to harvest light in an efficient manner?
Scientists are of the opinion that one of the keys is how their atoms tend to move in reaction to light. In order to get a better understanding, Wu together with his colleagues researched on these motions in a prototype material made of iodine, lead together with an organic molecule known as methylammonium.
The iodine atoms tend to be arranged in octohedra, eight-sided structures which seems like two pyramids that is joined towards the base. The lead atom tends to sit inside the octohedra and the methylammonium molecule is between octohedra.
The architecture seems common to several of the perovskites investigated for perovskites solar cell applications. The earlier research could have explored mostly the role of the mehylammonium ions together with their motions in transporting electric charge through the material.
Light Cause of Huge Deformation in Network
Wu had stated that they had found that light is the cause of huge deformations in the network of lead and iodine atoms which tend to be crucial for the efficiency of perovskites. At the Accelerator Structure Test Area – ASTA of SLAC, the researchers had initially hit a perovskite film which was less than two millionths of an inch thick having a 40-femtosecond laser pulse.
One femtosecond is said to be a millionth of a billionth of a second and in order to determine the atomic response, they directed a 300-femtosecond pulse of highly energetic electrons via the material and noticed how the electrons had been deflected in the film. This system known as ultrafast electron diffraction – UED enabled them to reconstruct the atomic structure. The speedy improvement of perovskite solar cells has enhanced them in the photovoltaics world as well as of high interest to the academic community.
While the operational system seems to be comparatively new, there are possibilities of additional research in the basic physics and chemistry regarding perovksites. Moreover, from observations of past two years, the engineering development of perovskite formulation together with the fabrication sequences has given rise to significant increases in power conversion efficiency.
Labels: solar cells, solar energy
Energy Storage Solution Combines Polymers and Nanosheets
Fresh Lightweight Composite Material – Energy Storage
According to a team of Penn State scientists a fresh lightweight composite material for the purpose of energy storage in flexible electronics, electric vehicles and aerospace application has experimentally revealed energy storage at operating temperatures beyond present commercial polymers.
The said polymer-based ultrathin energy storage material can be produced utilising techniques which are already being used in industry. Professor of materials science and engineering, Penn State, Qing Wang had stated that this is part of a series of work which had been done in the lab on high temperature dielectrics for use in capacitors.
Prior to this work they had developed a composite of boron nitride nanosheets and dielectric polymers, though had realized that there had been significant issues with scaling that energy storage material up economically'. The defining challenge for several of the new, two-dimensional energy storage materials that are being established in academic labs is scalability or making advanced materials in commercially significant quantities for devices.
Wang has mentioned that `from a soft material perspective, 2D materials are fascinating though how to mass produce them is a question. Moreover, being able to combine them with polymeric materials is a key feature for future flexible electronics applications and electronic devices'.
Functional Dielectric Device-
In order to resolve this issue, his lab collaborated with a group at Penn State operating in two-dimensional crystals. Nasim Alem, assistant professor of materials science and engineering as well as a faculty member in Penn State's Centre for 2-Dimensional and Layered Materials had stated that the work had been conceived in conversations between his graduate students, Amin Azizi together with graduate student of Dr Wang, Matthew Gadinski. He further informed that this was the first strong experiment wherein a soft polymeric material together with a hard 2D crystalline material had come together in order to develop a functional dielectric device.
Azizi who presently is a post-doctoral fellow at University of California, Berkeley and Gadinski, a senior engineer at DOW Chemical had generated a technique utilising chemical vapour deposition in order to make multilayer, hexagonal boron-nitride nanocrystal films to transfer the films to both areas of a polyetherimide (PEI) film.
Thereafter they bonded the films together by utilising force on the three-layer sandwich structure. In the outcome which was surprising to the researchers, pressure itself without the need of any chemical bonding had been adequate in making a free-standing film essentially strong to potentially be manufactured in a high-throughput roll-to-roll process.
Hexagonal Boron Nitride – Wide Band Gap Material
In a recent issue of the journal Advanced Materials in a paper titled `High-performance Polymers Sandwiched with Chemical Vapour Deposited Hexagonal Boron Nitrides as Scalable High-Temperature Dielectric Materials', the results had been reported. Hexagonal boron nitride is said to be a wide band gap material having high mechanical strength.
Its wide band gap tends to make it a worthy insulator, protecting the PEI film from dielectric breakdown at high temperatures, the cause for failure in the other polymer capacitors. Above 176 degrees Fahrenheit, at operating temperatures, the prevailing best commercial polymers begins to lose its efficiency though hexagonal-boron-nitride-coated PEI tends to function at high efficiency at above 392 degrees Fahrenheit.
The coated PEI seems to be stable for over 55,000 charge-discharge cycles in testing even at high temperature. Wang has mentioned that `theoretically all these high performance polymers which seem to be so commercially valuable could be coated with boron nanosheets in order to block charge injection. He further added that he is of the opinion that this would make this technology feasible for forth-coming commercialization.
Supported – U.S. Office/National Science Foundation
Alem has also commented that there are several devices that are made with 2D crystals at the laboratory scale; however the defects tend to make them an issue for manufacturing. With the help of huge band-gap material such as boron nitride, it tends to do a good work in spite of the fact that small microstructural features could not be perfect.
The first-principles calculations resolute that the electron barrier recognized at the interface of the PEI/hexagonal boron-nitride structure as well as the metal electrodes practical to the structure for the purpose of delivering current was said to be significantly higher than typical metal electrode-dielectric polymers contacts, thus making energy storage materials more complex for charges from the electrode to get injected into the film.
This task had been done by the theoretical research group of Long-Qing Chen, Professor of Materials, Science and Engineering, professor of engineering science and mechanics as well as mathematics – Penn State, Donald W. Hamer. Several others contributing to this work comprise of post-doctoral scholar Qi Li as well as graduate student Feihua Liu in the lab of Wang, undergraduate Mohammed Abu AlSaud in the lab of Alem, senior scientist Jianjun, Wang, post-doctoral scholar Yi Wang together with graduate student Bo Wang who were all from the Chen group at that point of time. This work had also been supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research as well as the National Science Foundation.
Labels: energy, technology
Samsung Galaxy S8 Active Leak Shows Lot of Compromises
New Leak: Samsung Galaxy S8, shows a lot of compromises
The next Samsung top model Galaxy S8 will come in two versions, but this does not affect the edge of the screen. After some leaks in the past days and weeks, the two S8 variants comes together.
At the Mobile World Congress last week, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the large version Galaxy S8 +, yet the next flagship of the Koreans is the theme of the hour. If you are interested in the MWC, please contact us.
Fingerprint sensor of the Galaxy S8
The goal is to integrate the fingerprint into the display. Samsung's decision to relocate the fingerprint sensor to the back of the device with its upcoming smartphone Galaxy S8 has not caused much joy for a number of users. The solution, which is also preferred by the company, but technically did not manage.
"Samsung has put a lot of resources into the technology presented by Fingerprint specialist Synaptics last year, but the results were frustrating," South Korean economic magazine The investor cited to the informed source. The result is the displacement of the sensor on the backside next to the camera.
5.7 and 6.2 inches
Now you can still sleep your curiosity in terms of the sizes of the two S8 models, because on the side SlashLeaks (via The Verge) a picture has appeared, which shows the two smartphones side by side. The smaller is, of course, the conventional Galaxy S8, which brings a 5.7-inch screen, next to the 6.2-inch version can be seen.
The data on the two screens are unconfirmed, but it is apparent that customers will actually get a lot of display for their money. Because 5.7 inches is diagonal, which was previously reserved for the Galaxy Note 7.
Source of the current Leaks is a manufacturer of screen protectors. Technical data, the current Leak has not been tested yet.
Samsung will offer a Snapdragon 835 or an Exynos 9 Series 8895, depending on the market, as a chipset. In addition, four gigabytes of RAM and a QHD display with an (unusual) aspect ratio of 18.5: 9.
Chance for Apple
Synaptics had officially launched its on-screen technology last December. This should not have been too late. But the process suggests that the supplier leaned too far out of the window and the technology could not meet the quality requirements of Samsung.
This is, of course, the chance for Apple to grab. The competitor is also in charge of the device. Until the presentation of the next Apple smartphones goes so a few months into the country, which can be of course decisive, in order to get quality necessary for a market maturity of the technology.
Labels: gadgets, Galaxy S8, samsung
Automatic Toothbrush That Takes Just 10 Seconds To Clean Your Entire Mouth
First Fully Automatic Toothbrush
An unusual automatic toothbrush which could help the user in the early hours of the morning in cleaning their teeth and remove plaque in only 10 seconds will be coming up shortly. It is said to the first fully automatic toothbrush in the world. Its patent pending device which brushes all the teeth at once is totally automatic and completes the cleaning in only ten seconds.
All that is needed is to press a single button, wait for ten seconds and the user will have perfectly clean teeth. All the units of Amabrush seem to be equipped with a sound and light indicator which enables to signal several diverse information regarding the prevailing battery status, finished tooth-brushing sessions, flaws, together with other scenarios.
Moreover, their specifically formulated toothpaste has been provided in big bottles together with more durable as well as steady reusable toothpaste capsules. This would be economical in saving shipping fees as well as the complete cost for the user. According to its manufacturers, the brush seems like a bristly mouth guard that has the tendency of dispensing toothpaste and vibrates in order to clean every tooth. With the worldwide shipping beginning in December, customers can now pre-order the device for £70 ($90).
Bacteria-Resistant Silicone – 3D Bristles
In order to utilise the device, the user can put the toothbrush in their mouth and press on a button to begin the cleaning procedure. The system is said to utilise tailored toothpaste capsule that comes at a price of £2.60 ($3.40) and tends to last for around a month.
The manufacturers of this brush had stated that the device has been made from bacteria-resistant silicone featuring 3D bristles on both the sides. According to its inventors, the material is said to be adequately soft to avoid gum disease though hard enough to clean the teeth. They have also informed that since the material tends to be flexible, one type of size would be appropriate for both men as well as women.
The device is said to send out tough vibrations having amplitude of 9.5G, utilising a process to differ the waves of vibrations. The creators had mentioned on Kickstarter that `even in 10 seconds, every tooth surface has been cleaned longer compared with common brushes. If one brushes their teeth for the recommended 120 seconds with a regular toothbrush, every surface tends to get brushed for just 1.25 seconds.
Tooth-Brushing Less Troublesome
They have further added that Amabrush tends to brush all your surfaces for the whole of 10 seconds. The toothbrush would be required to be replaced once in two to three months in order to be effective as per the makers.
It accomplishes all the recommended methods where the bristles are aligned in a 45° angle against the line of the gum and are said to be adequately soft to rub rather than to scratch. Moreover the pressure against the teeth seems to be quite light and the subtle vibrations are said to move the bristles back and forth enabling them to eliminate the plaque, while keeping the gums from getting damaged.
It has been created to make tooth-brushing less troublesome where some may tend to hate brushing their teeth and may not brush the areas which need to be cleaned. Some may not be inclined in brushing correctly. The purpose of focus is – right tooth-brushing for one and all which is done automatically.
Labels: gadgets
The Computer That Know What Humans Will Do Next
Computer Code – Comprehend Body Poses/Movement
A fresh computer code tends to provide robots with the possibility of an improved understanding of humans around them, making headway for more perceptive machines from self-driving cars to investigation. The new skill enables the computer to comprehend the body poses as well as movements of various people even to the extent of tracking parts as tiny as individual fingers.
Though humans tend to communicate naturally utilising body language, the computers tend to be somewhat blind to these interactions. However, by tracking the 2D human form and motion, the new code is said to improve greatly the abilities of the robots in social situations.
A new code had been designed by the researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute by utilising the Panoptic Studio. The two-story dome has been equipped with 500 video cameras developing hundreds of views of individual action for a specified shot. Recording of the system portrays how the system views the movement of humans utilising a 2D model of the human form.
Panoptic Studio – Extraordinary View of Hand Movement
This enables it to trail motion from the recording of video in real time, capturing everything right from the gestures of the hand to the movement of the mouth. Besides this, it also has the potential of tracking several people at once.
Associate professor of robotics, Yaser Sheikh had stated that they tend to communicate mostly with the movement of the bodies as they tend to do with their voice. However computer seems to be more or less blind to it. Multi-person tracking gives rise to various challenges to computers and hand detections is said to be more of an obstacle.
The researchers, in order to overcome this, utilised a bottom-up approach localizing individual body area in an act. Thereafter the areas were associated with certain individuals. Though the image datasets on the hand of the human seemed quite restricted than those on the face or body, the Panoptic Studio provided extraordinary view of hand movement.
A PhD student in robotics, Hanbyul Joo had stated that a distinct shot provides 500 views of individuals hand and also automatically interprets the position of the hand.
2D to 3D Models
He further added that hands tend to be too small to be interpreted by most of the cameras, but for the research they had utilised only 32 high-definition cameras though were still capable of building a huge data set. The method could ultimately be utilised in various applications for instance helping to enhance the ability of self-driving cars to predict pedestrian movements.
It could also be utilised in behavioural diagnosis or in sports analytics. Researchers would be presenting their work CVPR 2017, the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference, from July 21 -26 in Honolulu. Up to now they have released their code to several other groups in order to expand on its skills.
Finally, the team expects to move from 2D models to 3D models by using the Panoptic Studio in refining the body, face and hand detectors. Sheikh had mentioned that the Panoptic Studio had boosted their research and they are now capable of breaking through various technical barriers mainly as a result of the NSF grant 10 years back.
Labels: artificial intelligence, Robotics, technology
How an iOS Developer Just Uncovered the Next iPhone
The HomePod Firmware
Developer Guilherme Rambo thought that it could be a mistake when he had seen Apple's release of firmware for the forthcoming HomePod speaker, which will not show up till December. Getting more curious over the issue, he had begun probing through the code where he had discovered and probably the last thing which he least expected was the next iPhone of Apple.
Rambo discovered in the HomePod not hints or rumours which had earlier been disclosed but Apple's documentation of one of its largest releases in years. It endorses a fresh look with a slimmer bezel, an end of the home button together with a powerful new face-recognition feature. It seems to be the major bombshell of Apple leak in years, coming from Apple itself.
The HomePod firmware had first been seen on an official public update feed of Apple recently and Rambo had unpacked it with the intention of gathering anything of interest on how Apple's Siri powered speaker would function before Apple had comprehended its error and had drawn the code. Similar to the iPhone, the HomePod tends to run iOS which is discreet.
Developers had access to a beta version of iOS 11 for over a month now. However, for a developer like Rambo of a Brazilian e-commerce company, he could quickly make a critical discovery. The HomePod firmware which had been released by Apple was iOS 11.0.2, was a full two patches ahead of what is publicly made available.
Face ID Feature
Supporting the discovery of Rambo, iOS developer Steven Troughton-Smith commented that `it was a process Apple goes through every year, to make sure developers can still access the upcoming iOS without disclosing too much about the unexpected iPhone which would be coming up at the final release'. Comprehending the prospective for discovery he had begun to work stating that he had decided to search for strings within the firmware which could be linked to the rumoured `Face ID' feature.
He further added that he had searched for the word `face' and observed that it matched many symbols in BiometricKit, which is the framework that presently handles Touch ID. These references do not prevail in the iOS 11 beta. Rambo kept on persisting with his probe into the issue.
An iPhone 8 does not make references to face recognition. Yet as Rambo went ahead in the investigation through BiometricKit, he came across similar expressions utilised in listing a fresh Touch ID finger `EnrollTouchID' had a face-authentication counterpart - `EnrollPearlID'. `Pearl ID' continued to appear all through his explorations, always linked to facial recognition.
Discovered Internal Codename
This may not stop to what Apple considers its face recognition feature but calling it Pearl ID at this stage probably had no intention of hiding its purpose. Troughton-Smith had stated that `the codename just makes it easier to find all the related pieces of code in the OS and by inspecting the code you can then see what type of function it has.
When Rambo had seen it, it was an unreleased, unexpected Apple feature laid bare. Speculating what `Pearl ID' meant, led him to a larger discovery. Rambo adds that during the exploration for references to `Pearl ID' he located a reference to Pearl D-22 and decided to search for D22 and found that it is the internal codename for the `iPhone Pro' or `iPhone 10'.
Apple had left little doubts to what it could mean though there were not many D22 references. Rambo had located a file in the PassKit framework utilised by Wallet known as `Payment_glyph_phone-D22.caar' which is a format type that Apple tends to utilise in storing vector graphics for animated UI elements. When Rambo had extracted that image he viewed an iPhone different from any he had seen earlier since it did not exist till then.
Significant Overhaul of iPhone
He also discovered another reference to D22 in a video file which was not present in the firmware, known as `Enrollment_Tutorial_Loop-D22' that probably displays iPhone 8 owners on how to register their face with Pearl ID. Rambo had informed that there are some references in the firmware which recommend this D22 model would have a diverse battery charging system, though iOS 11.0.2 provides no hints to what those variances could be.
The disclosures detail the unreleased iPhone of Apple to the earlier unthinkable degree excepting the early debut of iPhone 4 by Gizmodo in 2010. The slightly bezeled design together with the lack of a home button seems to mark the most significant overhaul of iPhone in years. The face-ID feature tends to be primed by the company, in being a focal point of the ultimate introduction of the phone.
Troughton-Smith had stated that this could be a rough situation for Apple and for them to be the source of the only concrete leaks regarding it and its design would be to upset a lot of people internally. Beside embarrassment, the influence on actual sales could be subdued.
Internal Security of Apple – Slipped
The founder of Jackdaw Research, Jan Dawson, commented that he thinks that the kind of people probably to wait for a new iPhone based on leaks were possibly aware of all the reporting on the subject in advance.
He also observed that while this seems to confirm the prevailing rumours, the real test of the upcoming features of the iPhone is how well they function and firmware can only tell you so much. In this case, the main takeaway seems that the internal security of Apple has once more slipped as it occurred when macOS Sierra had shown off MacBook Pro with OLED touch panel of Apple, last fall, just a few days before the official unveiling of the product.
Apple had more time on the iPhone 8 than it had on its whole line of laptop put together and while airing it out a month before its announcement could have a material effect on the company and it certainly was not helpful. Tim Cook CEO of Apple had stated at the most recent earnings call of the company that they were seeing what they believe to be a pause in purchases of iPhone which they are of the belief is owing to the earlier and more frequent reports regarding the future iPhones.
Labels: apple, gadgets, iPhone, iPhone 8
Mono-Live.Com Gadget News: Moto G5S Plus
What is New in Moto G5S Plus
Motorola G5S Plus: New aluminum design and dual-cam
The G5S comes with Unibody metal housing, a particularly fast-focusing 16 megapixel camera, 3GB RAM, 32GB memory, Snapdragon 430 and 5.2-inch FullHD display. The 3000mAh battery should have enough power for 15 hours. Dual SIM, fingerprint sensor with the new Moto gestures are the other specifications of the LunarGrey and Fine Gold appearing G5S.
The 5.5-inch G5S Plus with similar specifications but a 5.5-inch display, stronger Snapdragon 625 comes with an f / 2.0 dual camera, which has 13 megapixels and a somewhat sharper 8 megapixel self-camera with wide angle. It dominates to boot 4K video at 30fps and has NFC as well as 5Ghz Wifi (both features with which the G5S can not adorn itself).
With NightDisplay and QuickReply the software of the two motos has also learned new tricks. For the Moto G5S Plus, of course, everything depends on the camera software, which connects the two lenses, but we hoped because of Motorola's experience only good.
Whether it is the two synonymous in other specifications (4GB RAM, 64GB of memory were in conversation) in some countries, is currently unclear, because the Motorola site does not list them.
Just a few months after the launch of the Moto G5S and its plus version announces the successor somewhat early. The Moto G5S Plus is likely to be officially launched soon and will bring new hardware as well as a detachment of the plastic housing. Here, too, there will be an aluminum design in the future.
The Moto G5S Plus also has a metal housing. The display is 5.5 inches slightly larger than the Moto G5S. The device is powered by a Qualcomm-Snapdragon-Octa-Core processor with a clock frequency of up to 2.0 GHz. 4G LTE is also supported.
The battery of the Moto G5S Plus has a capacity of 3,000 mAh and can also be recharged via the quick charging function TurboPower. The fingerprint sensor allows, in addition to unlocking the smartphone, some other functions. In addition, the Moto G5S Plus, like the Moto G5S, also features such as a night display and a quick response function.
Evan Blass once again surprised us with marketing material for the future Moto G5S Plus from Motorola aka Lenovo. The pictures shows a new aluminum housing design of the Midranger, which fits better into the current Motorola lineup by Motorola. On the back, Motorola has donated a Dual Cam to the Moto G5 Plus successor, which consists of two 13 megapixel sensors, one RGB and one monochrome lens. Now, Motorola's midrange offer is now also possible bokeh effects and b / w recording.
At the front, Lenovo has exchanged the 5 megapixel shooter of the predecessor for an 8 megapixel camera. The display is somewhat larger with 5.5 inch diagonal but remains at full HD resolution. The Snapdragon 625-SOC provides midrange performance with a maximum of 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of memory. Whether the Moto G5S Plus is officially presented during the global launch event on July 25 is not certain. Also the Moto X4 and the two high-end devices Moto Z2 and Moto Z2 Force are still waiting for their official launch.
Labels: Moto G, Moto G5S Plus
Nuna9 Solar Car Revealed
Nuna9 - Revolutionary
Nuna9 has been designed differently from anything that has ever been created in the solar racing world and the most significant aerodynamic change is that the nose of the Nuna9 has now become more compact and does not tend to overhang any longer.
The organisers of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge tend to control the regulations for each edition. The solar panel this year is only allowed to be a maximum of 4 m² in comparison to 6 m² in the earlier race. The team aerodynamicist, Jasper Hemmes, had explained that the design of Nuna9 tends to signify a new step ahead in solar racing.
As a consequence of the change to the World Solar challenge regulation, the need of a smaller solar panel had been utilised on cars of this year. This could mean that they had to make dramatic modifications to the car and eventually they had reached at this exceptional shape. The details of the solar car had not been kept undisclosed till date, from the competitors.
Sander Koot, team captain had stated that Nuna9 is revolutionary and the shape of the car is totally different to the earlier solar cars. They wanted to keep the new shape a secret for as long as possible to refrain from letting the competition in the open.
Take on the Dutch Nuna9
In recent years, the gap between the different teams during the race had been lessening down. They also had seen elements of the earlier solar cars reflected in what the other teams had been in the race. It had been naturally important to them once again in bringing home the world championship title this year.
This was the reason why the TU Delft students have kept the interior of the car away from interfering eyes. Sander chuckled that they do not want to go giving them ideas. After winning the race on various cases as well as the reigning world champion, the Nuon Solar Team is said to be the clear favourite to take the title home in Australia.
The controllers of the race have now been utilising the slogan `Take on the Dutch' in order to challenge teams from across the world to try and overcome the team from TU Delft. To characteristically direct their winning mentality, the team had intended to mount a lion's mane on their solar car.
Mane of Lion – Symbolic of Dutch Pride/Glory
Sarah Bennink Bolt, a member of the team had explained that the mane radiates strength and the larger the lion's mane, the stronger and more invincible he is. The mane of the lion is also symbolic of Dutch pride and glory. The Nuon Solar Team for this year tends to comprise of sixteen students.
They will be defending their world title in October 2017 during the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge with Nuna9, their self-built solar car. The TU Delft students had won the race in total of six times inclusive of the last edition of the race in 2015. They had covered over 3,000 kilometres and the track had stretched around Australia, from Darwin to Adelaide.
Labels: automobile technology, car, Solar Car
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