Global Village

I Wish I Could Wake Up to Robots Getting Me Ready in the Morning Like This

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 10:42:00 +0000

The toughest thing about getting up in the morning (other than getting up in the morning) is realizing all the things you have to do to make yourself decent to society. I’m not talking about just brushing your teeth, shaving, or showering. I’m talking about having to open your eyes and walk around and
move your arms back and forth. If only there were robots who could just get me ready instead. If only the technology in Meghann Artes’ humorous little short film Sleepy Steve actually existed in real life.

I feel you, Steve. I feel you. I’ve totally imagined it too.

Elon Musk Calls Apple's Car a "Missed Opportunity"

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 10:28:00 +0000

At the Code conference this evening, Elon Musk joined Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher onstage to talk about his varied and eclectic pursuits. And when the talk turned to autonomous vehicles, Musk was sure to share his opinions on what he perceives to be Tesla’s biggest competition.

Nope, not Google. Musk doesn’t consider Google’s self-driving car program to be a direct competitor with Tesla—“they’re not a car company.” But he did have some thoughts on Apple’s rumored vehicle, which he does see as a direct competitor. Nemesis, maybe? Like, smackdown parameters have now been drawn.

“I would say that it’s great that they’re doing this and I hope it works out.”
HOPE IT WORKS OUT???
“I think they should have embarked on this project sooner, actually... I don’t think they’ll be in volume production until 2020.”
Shoulda really gotten on this sooner, Jony!

“It’s just a missed opportunity. It’s a couple years... they’ll make a good car and be successful.”
I mean is there anything worse than calling something a “missed opportunity” before it even exists?

Speaking of opportunities, Musk is planning another Tesla event before the end of the year to specifically address autonomous technology, which he believes will be ready in two years. What exactly will he announce? “Let me just say we’re going to do the obvious thing.” And maybe work on that bus?

In other transportation news, Musk said he believed that “something will happen in the future” with Hyperloop and hinted that Space X would definitely be building some type of Hyperloop demonstration. All in all, he’s just trying to make the world a better place, you guys. “It’s just about increasing the probability that the future will be good.”

You can watch the whole video for more Musk Thoughts™ on neural lace, production schedules, Hyperloop pod design, landing rockets on barges, going to Mars, battery factories, simulation talk in hot tubs, and his project to save the world from a dystopian AI future.

Build an IT help desk

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 May 2016 09:45:00 +0000

An IT help desk is often the first line of support for many organizations. However, some businesses can’t justify the cost of implementing and managing a dedicated help desk to serve the demands of their end users due to a lack of available IT resources or budgetary constraints. This creates a unique challenge: end users need access to support for productivity, yet a fully staffed help desk is out of the question.

Solving the conundrum involves finding a balance between supporting users and reining in costs, without either spiraling out of control. Still, businesses lacking an IT support mechanism will encounter productivity-sapping problems, which may not have any easy solutions, forcing them to employ their very best creative problem-solving skills.

Building a help desk

Most businesses start by relying on vendors to provide help when problems strike, but vendors tend to be limited when offering free support for their own products and may require the purchase of a support plan. While the initial cost may not seem daunting, the complex, hybrid networks in use today require more than a single vendor and product support plan to keep end users productive.

Creating a help desk for internal and external staffers should not be an insurmountable challenge. There are myriad options available, ranging from cloud-based contracted services and value-added reseller (VAR) provided solutions to internally deployed hardware and software. Regardless of the path chosen, every help desk solution should contain three critical elements:

Staff: Someone has to man the help desk and be ready to answer phone calls, emails, or other end user requests for service and additional help.
Platform: A tracking system should be set up to support the creation of troubleshooting tickets and document interactions between help desk staffers and users requesting support.
Remediation: A mechanism should be in place to assist help desk staffers in remediating the reported problem(s).

Normally, these three requirements are met by deploying a help desk system, which is a combination of hardware and software tools supporting the overall mission. Many hardware vendors include elements to ease the adoption of help desk techniques.

In many cases, those additional capabilities can reduce the overall support costs and speed resolution times. For example, some hardware vendors offer remote boot, remote control, and other features that make it easier for a technician to connect to a problem system and resolve any issues. Some vendors also offer software clients and hardware capabilities to simply and smoothly integrate their products into a help desk platform.

Affordable alternatives and solutions

You may also choose to go the open source route to create an internal help desk. There are several free options available that provide a decent starting point. For businesses seeking more information, Capterra offers insight into some popular free tools, such as UserVoice, Freshdesk, and osTicket.

Nonetheless, there is a lot more to deploying a successful IT help desk than just selecting support software. You’ll need to take into account the situations where help requests may arise and how critical it is to solve those problems before productivity is impacted, much of which can be accomplished by adopting some industry standard best practices, including:

Implement a web-based knowledge base tool.
Use the help desk software system to increase communications with agents and customers.
Make a customer self-help portal accessible 24 hours every day.
Install service request automation processes in your help desk software.
Utilize real-time help desk reports, dashboards, metrics, and analytics.
Institute an asset management system and integrate it with the help desk software system.
Apply a change management system.
Perform customer satisfaction surveys on a regular basis.

Following these steps can lead to a successful help desk system, and soon, you’ll be able to leverage the technology and services, receive all the benefits, and keep your business running.

Return on investment

One of the most important issues surrounding a help desk is affordability. Many businesses tend to focus on the cost of the hardware, software, and staff needed for an effective help desk to determine operational costs, yet those same companies fail to realize the value offered by a help desk, which can be simply measured by increased productivity. The quicker problems are solved, the quicker staffers return to productivity.

It’s also a good idea to keep tabs on help desk operations in the form of reports. By evaluating the number of problems, the time to resolution, and the return to productivity, company operators can discover how much a help desk contributes to overall productivity, thereby justifying the expenses involved.

Unifying help desk and system management solutions can revolutionize your business’s service desk options and inventory control, and when your business starts to grow, you’ll be glad you didn’t overlook the importance of having a stable IT help desk.

How a college student used Snapchat to land his dream internship

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 May 2016 08:31:00 +0000

Standing out from a crowd of candidates can take more than brushing up your resume. College student Graham Allgood got the attention of his dream workplace by marketing himself in another way with the help of Snapchat.

Allgood designed a custom geofilter for the New York-based advertising agency where he wanted to work as a summer intern in the hopes of catching a hiring manager's eye.

Once he completed the design, a sleek illustration incorporating Horizon Media's logo and Manhattan headquarters, he paid $29.65 to purchase an on-demand Snapchat geofilter ― temporary, location-specific photo overlays often used for events such as weddings or birthdays. He scheduled his filter to run during work hours at the Horizon Media office in early May.

@HorizonMCareers Here it is! Excited to see the snapchat analytics. Horizon Media is the place to be! #horizonation pic.twitter.com/35xyqrQBkd
— Graham Allgood (@causeitsallgood) May 3, 2016

Allgood, a senior at California Baptist University, said in a blog post that he had designed on-demand geofilters in the past, and even used Horizon Media's own Snapchat to determine which day the company used the platform the most (Tuesday, it turned out.)

Once it was live, Allgood tweeted a Snapchat of the filter to Horizon Media, and crossed his fingers the approach would grab the company's attention. And it did: within hours, Horizon Media sent an enthusiastic tweet in response, and by 4 p.m., requested Allgood come in for an interview the next day.

Though Allgood said initially on his blog the company told him all its summer internship spots were filled, Horizon Media eventually offered Allgood a paid summer social media internship― via Snapchat, of course.

When Horizon sends you a snapchat (after my interview in their LA office) to let you know you made the team in NYC! pic.twitter.com/IslZ3Y5ZBd
— Graham Allgood (@causeitsallgood) May 19, 2016

So a word of advice for any college students still looking to land that dream summer internship ― better Snap to it.

Google Beats Oracle And Saves $9 Billion — “Fair Use” Of Java APIs In Android

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 May 2016 08:28:00 +0000

After a two-week trial, a federal court ruled that Google’s Android operating system doesn’t infringe Oracle’s Java APIs. While Google has saved $9 billion in damages, Oracle is preparing to appeal again in Federal Circuit Appeals Court. For the time being, this win is a great news for open source community and programmers who use free and open programming languages to make innovative products.

In 2010 database company Oracle sued Android-owner Google, saying that Android mobile operating system infringes Oracle-owned Java copyrights. Oracle said that Google’s reimplementation of 37 Java APIs is illegal as they are protected by ‘fair use’.
In the latest developments, Google has won the latest round of this legal battle. On Thursday, a jury found that Google didn’t violate fair use doctrine by declaring code and the structure, organization, and sequence of Java APIs.

This battle, that has been going on for the past six years, could have cost the Android-owner about $9 billion in damages.

Google’s Java implementation didn’t reuse Oracle’s copyrighted code. But, to ensure compatibility, Google used a list of function names, also called application programming interface (API), with the same names and function.

Google’s lawyers cited a 1995 ruling that stated that a company didn’t infringe copyright when it created a spreadsheet and organized its menus just like the popular spreadsheet Lotus 1-2-3.

A win for open source and programmers!

This case is also important for open source community because it helps clarify the current copyright rules that tell programmers what “things” they can borrow for their work under fair use. It’s a win for the software developers who are dependent on open and free programming languages to make innovative products.

In the world of programming, very often programmers mimic certain characteristics of other software to ensure functionality. Sometimes they duplicate the command sequences and its characteristics, with different code, to make them compatible with all machines.

However, Oracle is almost certain to appeal the same to the Federal Circuit Appeals Court in near future. Given the Federal Circuit’s track records, there’s a decent chance that lower court’s decision will get overruled.

Have something to add? Feel free to share your comments with us.

Thai fashionista recreates designer gown with bags of prawn crackers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 May 2016 08:23:00 +0000

A 28-year-old Thai woman has become an Internet sensation overnight after she posted her own version of a high fashion gown that's made from bags of prawn crackers.

Sine Benjaphorn is a plus-size model and owner of a clothing store in Ratchaburi, a province west of Bangkok, Thailand. The gown that she chose to replicate was a peach layered gown that Thai actress, Chompoo Araya wore to a L'Oreal event during the recent Cannes Film Festival.

According to Benjaphorn, she was inspired after seeing pictures of Araya and went out to buy bags of prawn crackers - a popular savoury snack - to sew them together. The end result from the colour down to the layering and wavy texture is uncanny.

After posting a side-by-side comparison of her posing in the gown on the streets with Araya's red-carpet picture on May 12, Benjaphorn's post quickly went viral on Facebook, with many netizens praising her for her talent - both in design and comedy. .

I'm shocked. I never thought this many people would share my photo. And I'm on every news channel, Benjaphorn told reporters.

This peach gown is not Benjaphorn's first attempt at recreating a celebrity's iconic look. She has also dressed up as Katy Perry in her "Roar" music video and Claire Danes in her much-talked about Zac Posen gown that she wore during to this year's Met Gala.

Microsoft and Facebook to build a high-speed underwater cable connecting the U.S. to Europe

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 May 2016 08:13:00 +0000

Facebook and Microsoft on Thursday announced that they are teaming up to build a subsea cable across the Atlantic Ocean.

In a blog post, Microsoft says that the goal of the cable is to “help meet the growing customer demand for high speed, reliable connections for cloud and online services” for Microsoft, Facebook and others.

Construction on the new “MAREA” cable will start in August and is expected to be completed in October 2017. The cable system will be 6,600 km (4,100 miles) in length. Microsoft and Facebook say this is “the highest-capacity subsea cable to ever cross the Atlantic.”
The estimated design capacity is a staggering 160 terabits per second
And it’s fast. Its estimated design capacity is a staggering 160 terabits per second. Operated and managed by Telefonica’s Telexius, this will be the first subsea cable system to connect the United States to southern Europe.

The cable will go from a data hub in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to Bilbao, Spain. From there, it will connect to various network hubs in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

This isn’t the first time tech companies have invested in subsea cable systems. Back in 2014, Google announced a partnership with five Asia-based telecom companies to build a subsea cable connecting the U.S. with Japan.

[[mashable]]

Vietnam Allegedly Restricted Facebook Access During Obama Visit.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 May 2016 08:11:00 +0000

It was a big deal for the people of Vietnam when the President of the United States visited their country earlier this week. But sadly, posting about the event on Facebook proved rather difficult.

Reuters cites sources from two activist organizations—Access Now and Viet Tan—that both claim Facebook was “restricted and at times blocked” in Vietnam during the presidential visit. Those interventions were apparently in place for the duration Obama’s trip, from Sunday to Wednesday.

The restrictions were, according to the sources, put in place so that people were unable to organize protests via the social network. Reuters explains that it’s not the first time that Vietnam has blocked Facebook—apparently it did so earlier this year when protests broke out over fish stocks and ahead of parliamentary elections.

Nor is it alone. China, Uganda, Turkey and North Korea have all been known to censor social networks in the past.

[Reuters]

Tim Cook Saw an iPhone in a 17th Century Painting—Here's What He Missed

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 May 2016 17:38:00 +0000

Tim Cook is many things: executive businessman, native Alabaman, multi-millionaire. Unfortunately, we can’t all be everything, and Tim recently revealed two things that he is most definitely not: art historian and someone who makes good jokes.

You see, it all started on Tuesday, when he was talking with former Dutch politician Neelie Kroes at Amsterdam’s Start-Up Fest. Kroes asked Cook—who is, of course, the current CEO of Apple—if he knew where and when the iPhone was invented.

“You know, I thought I knew until last night,” Cook answered, according to CNBC. “Last night Neelie took me over to look at some Rembrandt and in one of the paintings I was so shocked. There was an iPhone in one of the paintings.”

He was referring to “Man Handing a Letter to a Woman in the Entrance Hall of a House,” a painting that dates back to 1670, a date, which, silly Tim! predates the iPhone by roughly 337 years.

In the painting by Pieter de Hooch (not Rembrandt, as Cook guessed), a man appears to off to the right side, holding what is ostensibly a letter but what can be sort of maybe imagined to be an iPhone, if you squint at it after a few beers.

Here’s a closeup:

But Tim! Oh, Tim. There’s so much more to this painting than the iPhone.

Like the girl with the selfie stick in the background:

And a Stormtrooper in the window:

And the bluetooth headset:

But we can’t blame you neglecting to notice those details, because you were clearly too distracted by this.

They’re watching you, Tim. They’re always watching you.

Scientists Create Artificial Life, Then Are Assholes to It in the First Trailer for Morgan

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 May 2016 17:28:00 +0000

The idea of humans being dicks to the advanced technology we make isn’t exactly new, but it’s a story that at least looks to being used to particularly spooky effect in Morgan, the feature debut from director Luke Scott (son of Ridley Scott).

The titular Morgan is a rapidly-maturing synthetic being, played by The Witch’s Anya Taylor-Joy, and after the scientists behind her creation suddenly decide that this rapidly-evolving being shouldn’t be treated like a human being, Kate Mara’s “troubleshooter” is called in to investigate. Naturally, things go awry, because when will you learn, supposedly smart scientists!? Still, this looks like it could be a fun ride, despite the familiar premise. Morgan hits theaters September 2.

The Most Absurd Lie Ever Told About Salt

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 May 2016 15:42:00 +0000

Salt. It shows up in our idioms about as often as our food. Even the word salary is derived from salarium, the term for a Roman soldier’s earned ration of salt. But one of the most ridiculous lies perpetuated about this humble mineral is that in ye olden days, salt was more valuable than gold due to its function in food preservation. YouTube historian Lindybeige explains how this is all just a big misunderstanding.

According to trade documents from Venice in 1590, 33 gold ducats would buy you a ton of salt (ton the unit of measure, not the hyperbolic large quantity). Similar figures exist from ancient Egypt showing that, no, salt was never worth more than gold. Duh. With the obvious stuff out of the way, there’s a reasonable explanation for the gold < salt notion.

The same Venetian trade documents reveal something interesting about the demand for salt: only one of those 33 ducats actually equated to the cost of the salt itself. The rest went towards transportation, tax, and profit. And people paid it gladly because salt was a necessity for survival. Those enormous markups suggest that at one point in time the salt trade was probably more valuable than the gold industry.

So the next time someone says “salt used to be worth more than gold” you can pedantically explain to them that they’re right, but not for the incredibly stupid reason they’re suggesting.

Japan Just Made Computer Programming A Compulsory Subject In Its Schools

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 May 2016 14:55:00 +0000

With an aim to improve children’s creative and logical thinking, Japan has decided to make programming a compulsory subject in its schools. To start this program from 2020, the Japanese government has constituted panels to decide the programming syllabus and incorporated the matter in its growth strategy agenda.

Starting with the primary schools in 2020, computer programming will be made a compulsory subject in the Japanese primary schools. It will be followed by the implementation in middle schools in 2021 and high schools in 2022.

Japan aims to make computer programming a common subject like science and integrated studies to make children ready for the bigger challenges.

In Japanese cities like Takeo, Koha, and Ibaraki Prefecture, programming classes are already mushrooming to assist the schools. The Japan News reports that volunteers and businesses are contributing effectively to this mission.
Interested In Learning To Code? Get Started Here
To decide the syllabus of the programming classes being introduced in the schools, the Japanese education ministry has constituted a panel.

A similar trend has also been observed in China where Chinese parents are teaching coding at a much earlier age. Going one step ahead of Japan, China has started teaching kids the basics of coding even before they reach preschool.

Interested In Learning To Code? Get Started Here

However, these developments in the Asian countries isn’t a new phenomenon. Long back in 2000, the Israeli government made programming a compulsory subject in its high schools. Britain came up with the same type of rule for children aged 5 or older.

It would be wrong to assume that the United States government is unaware of the importance of teaching programming in schools. In January, President Barack Obama announced a plan to invest $4 billion in the computer science education.

Should our children be taught programming as a basic subject at an early age? Share your views in the comments below.

Interested In Learning To Code? Get Started Here

Excellent WhatsApp Tips And Tricks

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 May 2016 12:22:00 +0000

Whatsapp tips and tricks that you must use to have more enjoyable on Whatsapp, Whatsapp messenger is a popular Online messaging service app available for Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Nokia, Java Mobiles, WhatsApp for PC also available now, that is truly biggest 200 million per month active users which is more substantial than other messenger like Viber.
Whatsapp, among the hottest mobile phone messaging app, experienced intense level of competition from the likes of WeChat and Line but kept its ground using its several features that makes sure users have a secure, reliable and realistic messaging expertise.

The reputation of WhatsApp has developed a lot popular that a lot of WhatsApp tricks and hacks on the online and also many users are looking for these amazing WhatsApp tips and tricks to use in their smartphone and surprise their friends. So many of our audience also requested us to write about best WhatsApp tricks and tips. So, here are a number of tips, tricks and apps to have more from Whatsapp.
THESE ARE TRICKS BELOW:

How To Install WhatsApp On Mobile Without Mobile Number

Step # 1: Be connected your device Via Wi-Fi or modem to the online to that you simply need to install WhatApp. And also visit the official site of WhatsApp By Just click here and get WhatsApp Application. Right after Download Set up it to your gadget.

Step # 2: Just after the installation of WhatsApp Application you’ll view a WhatsApp welcome display screen. Then simply click on agree terms and conditions. Displayed under in screenshot.

Step # 3: Just after “Step # 2″ it is going to ask you to confirm the mobile number. Now type in the mobile phone number that we’re going to talk about in “Note” section over and click ok. Now the verification are unsuccessful but you might get a verification code soon to verify.Which means that this is the trick here.
Please note: Wait around for 10-15 mins to get confirmation code. So be patient. If you receive the Text message then simply click on call me to confirm. Just a call from WhatsApp arrived to your smartphone and following that verify the code. Which is finish now you can gain access to whatsApp on smartphone without any mobile number.

How to Hack the Conversation of Your Friend

Perhaps you have ever before believed that it is possible to hack Whatsapp conversation of the your close friends? It appears actually awesome and an elegant things right? Then ok, i’ll explain to you this awesome trick through which it will be easy to hack your friends Whatsapp chat.
The first and the main element that you should do is, navigate to the MICROSD card and then just click on the Whatsapp and afterwards on the Database choice. Immediately after you are done for just a the first step you’ll get two files such as,
-msgstore-yyyy..dd..db.crypt
-msgstore.db.crypt
Right after getting these two data files, you need to simply do is get these data files from your friends mobile phone and then you can be very easily can read their chat conversations that they’ve done with their friends.

How To Create a Fake Conversation

Found the fake conversations among some celebrities existing on Facebook? Possibly needed to try to do that by yourself? By making use of an application like WhatSaid you can actually make fake chat conversations and enjoy with your friends. Please don’t make use of it to mess up somebody’s life.

How to Disable WhatsApp Last Seen Time Stamp

A few of you might need to disable this timestamp for personal privacy reasons. You possibly can disable this time-stamp on both apple iOS and Android operating system mobiles.
Last seen time-stamp give us an some notification about when the user, who you need to chat was on the online. Is definitely excellent feature but the aspect happens to be actually pretty frustrating because it shows if you are online or not. You are unable to hide your self from your close friends and they will continue chatting along with you.

Get WhatsApp notifications On Desktop

If you’ve ever missed a WhatsApp message while working on your desktop, you’ll know how annoying it can be. If you’re using Android, there are a few ways to make sure that you never miss a WhatsApp message again. You can use Pushbullet, which includes notification mirroring alongside a lot of other features, but if all you want is notifications on your computer, check out Desktop Notifications.

Just install Desktop Notifications on your Android phone, then install either the Chrome or Firefox extensions depending on your choice of browser. Link the extension to the app using the code provided and you’re good to go; you’ll now get WhatsApp (and more) notifications on your desktop.

Fur Affinity Art Gallery Website Taken Down by Hackers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 May 2016 11:45:00 +0000

A widely followed online hub of furries community called Fur Affinity disappeared from the web. Hackers deleted everything on their website which contains content including art submissions and user profiles from Fur Affinity website, which actually is an online gallery that allows users to upload music, art, and written content. The furries community is a group of people having a keen interest in anthropomorphic animal characters like foxes and wolves.

The hackers have also gained access to personal user data, such as encrypted passwords and email addresses which made a easy job to access accounts of several users. A user having the profile name Fender clarified that the passwords have already been reset. Fender also revealed that the site has been facing issues since early on in May.

If you changed your password since the site went live on the 18th that information is safe.
— Fur Affinity (@furaffinity) May 21, 2016

Users at an anonymous convention were selling the site’s source code on USB sticks and the same day their site was hacked again. Then in the next attack the site’s content was deleted by the attackers. However, the site’s security team prevented key data like notes and journals from being deleted, according to Dragoneer the site’s admin.

We have received thousands of emails requesting help with accounts and staff are actively responding. We will assist you as soon as we can.
— Fur Affinity (@furaffinity) May 23, 2016

As they were having a backup of all the data deleted by the hackeers the team was able to restore Fur Affinity on 11th may, hence the damage is less.

This 14-Year-Old Boy CEO Rejected $30 Million Offer For His “RecMed” Innovation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 May 2016 11:37:00 +0000

Taylor Rosenthal, a young innovator from Alabama says that he has turned down a $30 million buyout offer from a large company. He is the founder of a RedMed, a company that makes first aid dispensing vending machines. Rosenthal came up with this innovative idea when he was working on a eighth-grade project.

A 14-year-old boy has come up with the innovative idea of a first aid dispensing vending machine. This genius boy, Taylor Rosenthal, from Alabama, has said that he rejected a $30 million buyout offer from a “large national healthcare company.
It looks like the young inventor is ready for the big leagues. He is also the youngest person to ever get accepted for giving a demo at TechCrunch Disrupt.

Rosenthal launched his startup RecMed in 2015. He has already gained $100,000 in angel investments. This first aid dispensing machine was started as an eighth-grade project when he was a part of a Young Entrepreneurs Academy class.

Talking about the source of inspiration of this business idea, he tells that he needed to come with a business idea in that class.

Every time I’d travel for a baseball tournament in Alabama, I’d notice that kids would get hurt and parents couldn’t find a band-aid, he told CNN Money. I wanted to solve that.

To solve this problem, initially, he tried to set up a pop-up shop that would sell first-aid kids to the players. Realising that this isn’t the best model, he prepared a new design and took some advice from his parents, who already work in the medical industry.

By December, he was successful in obtaining a patent by preparing a prototype that worked.

Now, he plans to sell the machines for $5,500 each. These first aid kid dispensing vending machines come with first aid kits and basic medical supplies like gloves, plasters, gauze pads etc. that cost $4-$11.

Over the summer, Rosenthal plans to deliver these machines to beaches, stadiums, and amusement parks. As a start, Six Flags theme park has already placed an advance order for 100 machines.

Flashlight App Available In Google Play Store Spreads Malicious Ads

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 May 2016 14:00:00 +0000

An extremely popular flashlight application for Android devices which is available from the official Google Play Store is showing malicious ads that try to fool users into installing potentially harmful applications on their android devices, according to the Trend Micro security researchers. While apps that show ads are very much found in the Google Play Store, this app shows ads with a scareware tendency that tell users that their device is infected.

Well experienced users who are aware of such ads will uninstall this app without clicking into the ads, but less experienced users might click the ad which will lead them to download another app, a so-called virus remover or antivirus which is harmful to the device. Security experts call these types of apps PUAs (Potentially Unwanted Applications).

Some of the reviews about this app from users in the official Google Play Store :

Currently the app is still available on the Google Play Store, where Google reports that users installed the app over 100 million times. As most phones don’t have a built-in flashlight functionality these days , which is why users tend to install one from the store where it is available for free. So have been taking advantage of these over the year crooks have often used games and flashlight apps to distribute malware to users. It’s a fact that over 0.15 percent of all Play Store app installs in 2015 contained malicious code.

A cameroonian Hacker Stole $2 Million Worth of Airline Tickets Through Phishing

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 May 2016 13:55:00 +0000

An African hacker, Eric Donys Simeu, 32, of Cameroon pulled off a massive phishing scam that saw him making off with over $2m (£1.38m) worth airline tickets. According to the US Justice Department, Simeu sent out numerous targeted phishing emails between July 2011 and September 2014 to employees of various air travel firms.

The emails were specifically sent to impersonate official communications, in order to trick the victims into opening fake websites and logging in with their official details. The hacker targeted those employees with access to GDS (Global Distribution System) network, which is generally used by air travel and tourism firms to access airline severs to buy or sell flight tickets.

According to the US officials he obtained the GDS login credentials for two companies which includes one from Atlanta, Georgia, and another from Southlake, Texas. After logging into the GDS network he issued numerous airline tickets, which he either used for his personal travels or resold to customers in West Africa at a fraction of their real price.

Simeu was arrested by the French police in September 2014 when attempting to use one of his own fraudulent air tickets to travel from Casablanca, Morocco, to Paris. The US finally extradited Simeu and the case is still being investigated by the FBI and the Justice Department.

Donald Trump Hotel Collections Website Taken Down By The Ghost Squad

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 May 2016 13:49:00 +0000

The Ghost Squad hackers recently conducted a powerful Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDoS) on the Donald Trump Hotel Collection website forcing it to go offline and display the Cloud Flare’s version for the home page. Till yesterday whoever tries to access the website where confirmed with a message saying that the site is offline, but now the services has been restored and the website works normally.

@HackRead - https://t.co/yZbFPgzRYr - #Offline By #GhostSquadHackers Meanwhile @Cloudflare Protecting Pro ISIS Sites pic.twitter.com/ZmRbG1eYzx
— ✘Ba̐nnedOͭf̮fline✘ (@BannedOffline) May 20, 2016

BannedOffline, one of the attackers from Ghost Squad announced to that the groups reason was to target Trump’s hate mongering and the use of Cloud Flare protection which has been pointed out for protecting websites spreading hate and terrorism.

As the site uses CloudFlare’s Always Online™ technology you can continue to surf a snapshot of the site and as soon as the site comes back, you will automatically be served the live version.

The statement given by the Ghost Squad to the HackRead reporters in an exclusive interview :

We Chose To DDoS His Hotel Collection Website Because Of A Statement He Said In His Speech I will build a great, great wall, on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall”. Also, on TV today, he apologized acting like he did not mean anything he said about Muslims or Mexicans. Words do not go away when you say something mean you obviously mean it then regret it sooner or later. Also, we have noticed CloudFlare has their mind on protecting websites that contain explicit material such as animal p*rn and isis supporting sites. This Is Only The Beginning Though As We Have Future Plans For Hillary Clinton And His Main Website.

Google Maps Driving Mode Is Your Essential In-Car AI

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 May 2016 08:48:00 +0000

You’re probably used to getting turn-by-turn directions to your next destination with Google Maps, but there’s also a pretty-well-hidden Driving Mode just for... well, driving. It alerts you to traffic problems, directs you to nearby gas pumps and stores, and is useful for those times when you already know your route or don’t even have a destination in mind.

Google launched Driving Mode earlier this year for Android but it’s kind of tricky to find: in Google Maps, choose Start driving from the app menu or make use of the 1x1 widget (under Maps). Your screen fills up with your current position and nearby traffic conditions.

If it’s close to commute time, you’ll see ETAs to your home or work (if you’ve added them to Maps). Driving Mode also shows ETAs to places you’ve recently been to or searched for. If you like the timings, you can hit a place to navigate to it in the normal way.

For example, say you just got out of work and want to quickly know whether it’s worth heading home or going to the gym first. Driving Mode tells you with some driving time estimates and you can make your choice; as you motor around, the ETAs update.

As in the “standard” navigation mode, you can search for nearby gas stations, restaurants, supermarkets, and more through the search button. Again, these results stay on screen until you dismiss them, so if you’re circling around looking for a place to eat then the results keep updating as you move.

For those times when you know where you’re going but still want traffic updates, Driving Mode is helpful; it’s also useful when you’re touring around an area without any particular destination in mind. No word yet if the feature will make its way over to iOS.

India Just Launched an Adorable Mini Shuttle Into Space

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 May 2016 08:42:00 +0000

India is joining the reusable space race. Its space agency has today launched a 22-foot space shuttle, that will be used test the country’s plans for creating a spacecraft that can be used multiple times.

The 1.75-tonne un-manned spacecraft—known as Reusable Launch Vehicle—will travel to 43 miles above the Earth’s atmosphere then descend back to the surface of the planet. This particular shuttle isn’t expected to survive the landing. Instead, it will gather data about the speed and intensity of re-entry, and test the craft’s autonomous landing capabilities.

This mission is the result of five years of work and $14 million of investment, according to the BBC. It’s hoped that the country will be using a full-scale reusable spacecraft within the next 10 years.

India joins a long line of folks—not least the private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin—trying to build a reusable space craft.

Top Websites That Use Audio Fingerprinting To Secretly Track Web Users

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 21 May 2016 16:33:00 +0000

Despite browsing incognito, blocking advertisements, or hiding your tracks, some websites monitor and track your every move online using a new web-tracking technique called Audio Fingerprinting.

This new fingerprinting technique can be utilized by technology and marketing companies to deliver targeted advertisements as well as by law enforcement to unmask VPN or Anonymous users, without even decrypting the traffic.

Researchers at Princeton University have conducted a massive privacy survey and discovered that Google, through its multiple domains, is tracking users on nearly 80 percent of all Top 1 Million Domains using the variety of tracking and identification techniques.

Out of them, the newest tracking technology unearthed by the researchers is the one based on fingerprinting a machine’s audio stack through the AudioContext API.

All of the top five third-parties, as well as 12 of the top 20, are Google-owned domains," the researchers note. "In fact, Google, Facebook, and Twitter are the only third-party entities present on more than 10 percent of sites.

The AudioContext API is not collecting audio played or recorded on a machine, but rather harvesting the audio signals of the each machine that is then using it to reveal unique browser and device combinations.

The method has nothing to do with the device's microphone, as it relies on the way a signal is processed.

A third-party tracker uses the AudioContext API to send low-frequency sounds to a user's computer and then measures how the computer processes the data, creating a unique fingerprint based on the hardware and software capabilities of the user's computer.

Here's what the researchers explain:

A script from the company Liverail checks for the existence of an AudioContext and OscillatorNode to add a single bit of information to a broader fingerprint. More sophisticated scripts process an audio signal generated with an OscillatorNode to fingerprint the device. This technique appears conceptually similar to that of canvas fingerprinting. Audio signals processed on different machines or browsers may have slight differences due to hardware or software differences between the machines while the same combination of machine and browser will produce the same output.

Check Your Audio Fingerprint

The researchers, Assistant Professor Arvind Narayanan and graduate student Steven Englehardt, have created a live demonstration page of the technique. So, if you want to check your audio fingerprint, you can check on the demo page.

The audio fingerprinting technique is not widely adopted but joins a number of other approaches that could be used in combination for tracking users as they browse the Internet.

To carry out measurements to track the trackers, the researchers said they used a custom piece of an open-source software called OpenWPM, which loads sites in Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer, collecting data on the tracking loaded on each page.

Another widely used method to track online users is fingerprinting technique based on the HTML Canvass API and WebRTC local IP discovery.

From last few years, many websites and third-party trackers are utilizing the fingerprinting power of HTML5 Canvas, which is a HTML element used to dynamically generated an image in your browser’s web page.

For the detailed study, you can read this full PDF full here.

Over 117 Million LinkedIn Accounts Have Been Put On Sale By Hackers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 21 May 2016 13:14:00 +0000

According to the lastest report over 117 million LinkedIn email addresses and passwords have been stolen and been put up for sale on the Dark Web. In 2012 LinkedIn suffered a huge data breach were more than 6 Million users accounts login details, including encrypted passwords were posted online by a Russian hacker.

The hacker, who goes by the name “Peace”, told the Motherboard reports that the data was stolen during the LinkedIn breach of 2012. At the time, only around 6.5 million encrypted passwords were posted online, and LinkedIn never clarified how many users were affected by that breach.

Peace is selling the data on the dark web illegal marketplace The Real Deal for 5 bitcoin (around $2,200). Even if a user changed their password following the 2012 hack, they could still be using the same password elsewhere on the web, leaving their accounts open to cyber criminals.

Since the passwords have been initially encrypted with the SHA1 algorithm, with “no salt,” it just took ‘LeakedSource‘, the paid search engine for hacked data, 72 hours to crack roughly 90% of the passwords. LeakedSource provided Motherboard with a sample of almost one million credentials, which included email addresses, hashed passwords, and the corresponding hacked passwords.

n 2015, Linkedin also agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit over 2012’s security breach by paying a total of $1.25 million to victims in the U.S, means $50 to each of them.

Your Smartphone Is Still Spying On You After Turning it Off – Android

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 21 May 2016 13:11:00 +0000

Security experts have recently found that your smartphones are spied even your phone is switched off.Security researchers have unearthed a new Android Malware called PowerOffHijack. PowerOffHijack because the nasty malware has a very unique feature – it hijacks the shutdown process of user’s mobile phone.Next time you turn off your Android phone, you might want take the battery out just to be certain.

After pressing the power button, you will see the real shutdown animation, and the phone appears off. Although the screen is black,your been spied.According to the company, PowerOffHijack malware infects devices running Android versions below 5.0 (Lollipop) and requires root access to perform the tasks.

PowerOffHijack malware has already infected more than 10,000 devices, mostly in China.PowerOffHijack malware has ability to silently send lots of premium-rate text messages, make calls to expensive overseas numbers, take photos and perform many other tasks even if the phone is supposedly switched off.

Note: Simple method to get rid of you being spied is by taking out the battery after u switch off your smartphone.

Changing Time And Date Setting To Jan 1, 1970 Will Brick Your iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 21 May 2016 10:37:00 +0000

A simple bug in iPhone founded by Zach Straley on YouTube shows that if you set the time and date to January 1, 1970 will brick your iPhone.

The iOS device will fail to boot, stuck at display of Apple logo.
This glitch got lot of attention on reddit with people experimenting on their iPhone devices to see if it worked. This glitch works on any iOS device that uses a 64-bit processor and is running iOS 8 or newer, including iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. To avoid this, simply let your iPhone automatically set the time.

For people who tried this for fun and got their iPhone bricked had to visit to their local Apple store and replace their iPhone under warranty.

Other way to fix this problem is to wait until the battery die and then plug the charger in iPhone and reset. You can see blue screen for about 3 seconds after few minutes. This worked for few people and didn’t work for others.

Facebook Sued For Illegally Scanning Users' Private Message

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 21 May 2016 10:24:00 +0000

Facebook is facing a class-action lawsuit in Northern California over allegations that the company systematically scans its users' private messages on the social network without their consent and makes the profit by sharing the data with advertisers and marketers.

According to the lawsuit filing, Facebook might have violated federal privacy laws by scanning users' private messages.
Facebook routinely scans the URLs within users' private messages for several purposes like anti-malware protection and industry-standard searches for child pornography, but it has been claimed that the company is also using this data for advertising and other user-targeting services.

The plaintiffs, Matthew Campbell, and Michael Hurley argue that the Facebook is scanning and collecting URLs-related data in a searchable form, violating both the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California Invasion of Privacy Act, reported the Verge.
Facebook argues that the company scans users' private messages in bulk, and maintains the URL records in an anonymized way, which is only used in aggregate form.
However, according to a technical analysis done on behalf of the plaintiffs, each URL-related message is stored in "Titan," a private message database that displays the date and time the message was sent, along with the user IDs of both the sender and the recipient.

However, it turns out that Facebook used this practice in past, but the company claimed to have stopped such practices a long time ago.

We agree with the court's finding that the alleged conduct did not result in any actual harm and that it would be inappropriate to allow plaintiffs to seek damages on a class-wide basis, a Facebook spokesperson told CNET.

The remaining claims relate to historical practices that are entirely lawful, and we look forward to resolving those claims on the merits.

However according to the plaintiffs, Facebook is still continuing to collect links from users' private messages.

Facebook's source code not only reveals that Facebook continues to acquire URL content from private messages, but that it also continues to make use of the content it acquires.

Meanwhile, you can check out the lawsuit here. The lawsuit was originally filed in 2012 and for now, the case is expected to proceed.
Plaintiffs have until June 8 to file an amended complaint, following a scheduled conference toward the end of the month.