Being Judgemental

What drives you to trust some apps but not others? #QuestionYourself #PrivacyConcerns

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 May 2018 15:04:00 +0000

Apprehensions are cropping up lately about web privacy, mostly for people who can’t survive without using a wide range of mobile apps throughout the day.

Recent research advocates that faith and continued usage of such applications may hinge on acuities about how they utilize personal data and whether it pursues your input before providing expected services.

Researchers further indicate, that reactions may also be contingent on how conversant users are with technology space.In a research assignment on a prototype app which recommends eco-friendly stores, users considered it more reliable and convenient to use if they perceived that they were consulted about the distance and type of the shops they prefer, a method popularly known as ‘overt personalization’.

It can be deduced logically that usability of this app diminished when covert personalization was implemented, for example when it automatically recommended stores without inquiring and verifying their preferences.

Now this idea may seem easy but, it’s not reasonable every time to ask user’s preference because this would interrupt the seamless usage and it would expect them to choose for too many variables, researchers point out. One of the feasible option is to ensure that users have a crisp and crystal-clear know-how of exactly how the software is utilizing their data to deliver services.

Prominently professed transparency is whether users can identify that the application explicitly informs how and why it is gathering your data and it is directly related with improved product engagement and user involvement, researchers point out. In this context transparency can also translate to reduced concerns around privacy.

The researchers, who presented their findings at the CHI Conference in Montreal, identified a connection between a user’s technical acumen and their ability to grasp overt personalization and data transparency.

The researchers advise that since users’ technological skills may impact how they experience features, like privacy settings, app designers must understand their customers’ technical know-how and limitations when developing an app.

Further, designers should also prompt hints about their information usage more noticeable for casual users. Well, as a user though, one must always review the details of privacy control and it’s possible impact on their PII – Personally Identifiable Information & PHI – Protected Health Information.

Destroy what destroys you! #UnderstandAnxiety #FightYourFears

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 May 2018 02:34:00 +0000

When you hear the term ‘Anxiety’, a notion of uneasiness begins to vibrate in mind. Many a times the studies have depicted its adverse impact on the mankind, but even today a major segment of the global population underestimates this evil.

This feeling is perceived as a part and parcel of life in crucial circumstances. However, it should not be accompanied by irrational fears and daunting illogical concerns. It is perhaps evident why it could be linked to a category of mental disorder. Anxiety should be dealt in a holistic manner as it is a cascading effect of various factors, including an individual’s situation, the surrounding and the hereditary make-up.

"Your mind is your prison when you focus on your fear."

There are many situational attributes, such as anticipation of appalling repercussions, ambiguity related to probable unfavorable or shattered options, complex & decisive prerequisite and so on, which might be traced back as one of the instrumental elements in the propagation of Anxiety disorder. The symptoms of this ailment may range from minor physiological disruption to aggravated mental soundness.

Often, it is observed that people with this disorder are unable to govern their behavior aptly for the optimal course of needed action. It may disturb the mental harmony, thereby leading to erratic behavior, sometimes. The consequences could be catastrophic if not marshalled adequately.

Your combat approach signifies a crucial role to deal with this discord within your mind. Your progressive outlook can endow you with an advantage to tackle the anxiety disorder effectively. Developing a progressive stance is quite difficult, especially in anxiety ridden situations. Being vocal about the situation with your closed ones would certainly preclude you from aloofness and encourage you to navigate the bright picture.

Anxiety haunts everyone and worries perpetuate to clutter your thoughts. Meticulous introspection of the event with a coherent rationale should be the framework to be embraced in such proceedings which may be aided by circumscribing yourself with different viewpoints of presumably reasonable family or friends.

It often bolsters you to break the shackles of emotions and to consider the merits & demerits associated with a probability more factually. Our body and mind are interlinked, hence it is recommended to everyone to get engrossed in any recreational activities. They not only invigorate you to stay vigilant, but also prompt you to have a clear vision for the evaluation of required nuances, followed by the mindful state.

Deliberate attempts can even prevail over the proliferating anxiety of the unknown. The eating disorder is frequently coupled with anxiety. Various researches have established the magnitude of a balanced diet on the mental well-being. Magnesium rich food is found to be beneficial in this scenario. If none of the mentioned practices proved to be salubrious in your situation, you can always seek out for counselling sessions by psychiatrists.

In a nutshell, always stay optimistic and converse well to evade the shackles of this terrible monster!

Did we account for the actual cost incurred from fossil fuel pollution? #KillerCarbon #PledgeToChange

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:38:00 +0000

Leaders across the globe consented to draw a benchmark by limiting global warming below 2°C to circumvent calamitous effects of man-induced climate change, at the U.N. climate summit in Paris.

By the decree of our science, to achieve 50% probability of continuing below 2°C, about 1,000 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (or roughly 300 billion tonnes of carbon) can be released till 2050, and must be restricted to zero afterwards.

Current stats reveal that we are emitting 36 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. However, the latent greenhouse gas emissions confined in identified fossil fuel reserves which are eligible for extraction are almost 3x higher than our forecasted carbon budget, which loosely translates to the fact that 66% must be kept contained and should not be unearthed.

The discussion consequently revolves around, which emissions reduction route is the most optimum for maintaining temperature below 2°C. The research of various fraternities such as economists, fossil fuel corporations, and environmentalists, is that the best cost-effective method to achieve this is to postpone the heaviest emissions reductions for next few decades, and further catch up by trusting profoundly on as-yet technically and cheap unviable negative-emissions technologies. Though, a critical number has been ignored in this conventional calculation: 6.1 million.

Every year, 6.1 million pre-mature deaths occur due to air borne pollution. However, to impeding mega cities, air pollution is a rising public health emergency that impacts almost everyone in our day to day lives. In fact, the magnitude can be estimated with the approximation by the Health Effects Institute that only 5% of the global population are fortunate enough to live in zones with air pollution levels under safety norms. Although, recent research indicates that there may not be any risk-free level of air pollution at all in developing nations.

The bigger question is that why is this numeric figure bears importance in the context of climate policy? For a single reason, one common perpetrator is accountable for most of both climate variation and air contamination: it’s none other than, fuel combustion!

Burning coal, natural gas, oil and biomass for regular uses ranging from heating, cooking, electricity & transportation releases thousands of gas and associated particles, a chunk of which disturb the climatic balance or are detrimental to the health, or both. Climate change can also deteriorate breathing air quality in the coming days.

Numerous health experts have underlined a massive prospect for global leaders to strategically design policies & initiatives that will concurrently challenge climate variation and air contamination. Many common examples comprise of replacing the most carbon-intensive and polluting sources such as coal and diesel-powered engines with lower-emission or renewable replacements, reforming urban areas to promote easier and safer commute by foot, bicycle, and public transportation, and gradually moving towards a more looped and sustained economy.

Although, the climate improvement effects of these changes are lasting and spread globally, the benefits on human health are instant and local.

So, let’s pledge to reduce our carbon footprint as much as we can for a healthy future!

#OldRituals may not be as useless as they seem!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 18:34:00 +0000

One always challenges old traditions and rituals by simply disregarding them as a superstition or by classifying them as 'Not Compatible' with our generation.

To caution this notion, this is perhaps one of the best examples to point out that, we must review all our age-old traditions with a magnifying glass and then take a decisive call on whether to pursue them in future or not.

Numerous mountain forests in Humboldt County, California haven’t witnessed a fire in almost hundred years. You might mistake it for a blessing as other regions of California has been struck with unforgiving wildfires in recent years however, if you were to believe Native American tribes they have a different story to tell.

'It seems, sometimes a controlled fire is exactly what a forest needs!'

California's Karuk Tribe, with approximately 6k members, is struggling to get its ritualistic rights reinstated which involves burning selective patches of forest sporadically.

After observing forest fires, US regulators believed that igniting the forest was an action which is ‘uncalled for’ in all conditions, and thus, began complete prohibition of purposeful burning rituals, including all traditional activities of the aboriginal people.

To their surprise, it was discovered that precise & controlled burning of forests can aid in averting hazardous wildfires by converting flammable leaves, shrubs, and wooden shreds from the forest base to ash. Interestingly, various research from past three decades discovered numerous ecological benefits of this practice.

Countless flora and fauna, including vulnerable or scarce species, profit from consistent fires in the forest. Various examples to support this idea are:

Controlled burns help seeds from wild blue lupine germinate (This is vital food for the deteriorating frosted elfin butterfly population)
Threatened Kirtland’s warbler hinges on the warmth from fire to affect the cones of jack pines to open, and they also clear out the forest floor which aids fresh jack pines to grow.
Controlled fires can even help stop the spread of already burning wildfires

Even though local native populations were conscious of the benefits of controlled fire burning practice, in 1911 the United States approved a federal fire suppression policy under the Weeks Act.

The credence back then was that fire can only be damaging and harmful. Although, over the past couple of decades as controlled burns has been understood rightfully as a preservation instrument, tribes like the Karuk have initiated campaigns to regain their rights to set up ritualistic controlled fires.

The latest development can now be observed positively as an environmental assessment draft with the US Forest Service for a scheme that would reestablish ceremonial fires & burning. With the collaboration of state and federal agencies, the Karuk Tribe has been following a united fire management procedure that would, partially, permit them to recommence periodic fires on Offield Mountain a spiritually important site that was once an abode to a traditional annual ceremonial burn.

This change in understanding and adopting older methodologies literally states that we should always try and learn the reason of all activities and traditions our fore-fathers followed as sometimes Old is Gold!

#IFM: "Make in India" is now pushing the accelerator hard with European Union in the front seat!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Jul 2017 16:06:00 +0000

The establishment of an Investment Facilitation Mechanism (IFM) has been declared with the intent of motivating and facilitating the European Union investments in India. This could be a milestone for the “Make In India" Campaign.

Certainly, it should add new dimensions to the economic road map of the country by providing an opportunity to have insights about the deadlocks which EU faces in India, while launching or getting their operations in full flow.

Commenting on this initiative, Tomasz Koslowski, Ambassador of the European Union to India said, "establishment of the IFM is a right step in the direction of strengthening the trade and investment ties between the EU and India".

The Nodal body for FDI (Foreign Disinvestment) mentioned that IFM would be regarded as a forum to discuss and understand the perspective of EU investors regarding their feasibility of starting or continuing operations in India. It may also lead to the analysis of existing government processes & guidelines and thereby putting across the amended procedures for the efficacious creation of hassle free or minimal obstruction ridden policy in this direction.

The European Union representatives and the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion) are supposed to meet and contemplate on the issues or nuances which can be ameliorated and further be accompanied with the steps for the transparent, impartial and congenial trade environment in India.

"IFM has been established with the key objectives of paving the way for identifying and solving the problems faced by WU compoanies and investors with regard to their operations in India"Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary of DIPP said.

In a nutshell, the clearly stated objectives and the much-needed involvement of the DIPP are the strong foundations of IFM. Ultimately, it signifies the applaudable step in construing the present trade landscape of the country. However, it must go a long way in terms of the implementation of the newly formed guidelines which would never be easy in the context of Indian policies.

“Rome was not built in a day”- Likewise, IFM would also triumph over all the shortcomings by its analytical approach gradually but you need to wait and watch, maybe with a bucket of popcorn!

Are you also a believer of pseudoscience? Natural may not be that healthy after all!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 12:59:00 +0000

Fitness and "well-being" are the latest swag for which people are becoming crazy these days. Online communities are also quite hell bent upon blindly following this trend.

It has been observed that these inclinations often turns into fanaticism and gullible gentry gets tricked into doing something ridiculous. But occasionally they can also turn out to be hazardous.

This was witnessed quite recently when a woman apparently had to visit a hospital after livestreaming herself eating a toxic plant, which she misidentified for aloe vera. Consumption of raw aloe vera is a prevalent health trend, and livestreams of eating healthy herbs and shrubs became predominantly fashionable among youth in China in past couple of months.

This specific case of a 26-year-old Chinese blogger filmed herself with two huge stalks in a video named "aloe vera feast". In a short video clip which is now viral, starts with her getting ready to bite into one of the stalks. Once she cuts a chunk she can be heard mumbling "not bad," and then comes another bite and another comment, "Wow, very bitter. So bitter," and that is when the livestream cuts out.

Unfortunately, the leaves she ate were not aloe vera and were cut out from the agave americanaplant, which is poisonous and it can make your throat burn with irritation. Numerous reports post this stated that she suffered with burns and sores in her mouth and throat.

However, there's not much evidence that eating raw aloe vera actually does miracles, in fact it can actually give you the runs if you consume it raw. It's a bolt in the blue, clearly, if you confuse aloe vera for something actively toxic. Any which way, it's an important aide-mémoire that pseudoscience can be dangerous, and that natural doesn't essentially means harmless.

"The underlying assumption is that if it's natural it's healthy and safer than things produced by humans. But that just isn't the case. It's a fallacy," Tim Caulfield, who is a key member of Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy at the University of Alberta, said.

A few natural or pseudoscientific "wellness" practices are safe; However, there are also times when it can get risky, and the above livestream accident is just the latest example. From yellowish-brown "teeth necklaces" that are a choking threat for babies to Gwyneth Paltrow's endless course of dicey wellness recommendation (like sticking a jade egg up your vagina or purposely getting stung by bees), these inclinations frequently evade any kind of scientific guidance or screening as such businesses exploit the innocence of consumers.

There have been a couple of fatal cases as well, such as for the parents whose son expired after they attempted to use echinacea to fix his meningitis, or the "wellness warrior" blogger who died after trying to treat her cancer with coffee enemas, which for sure are fatal. It's high time now that we learn from these incidents as, well-being craziness goes from mock-worthy to tragic when such upsetting stories surface.

Well it's true...Electricity charges are now negative in Europe!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 17:41:00 +0000

It's been too breezy across Europe past few weeks. The extent can be imagined by the fact, that the high wind force on wind turbines across continent has created new wind power records.
To start with, renewable energy source generated greater than half of Britain's complete energy demand for the first time since time immemorial.

Strikingly, with offshore wind providing 10% of the entire demand, energy charges were thumped to the
negative for the lengthiest period till date! The obvious reason for this is that UK is known for the world's largest wind farm, and the biggest wind turbines, so there is really no wonder that this new record was established by them.

"Negative prices aren't frequently observed," Joël Meggelaars, who works at renewable energy trade body WindEurope mentioned in one of his conversation.

Certainly, there were a couple of instances recently during which Denmark's resource of wind energy single-handedly surpassed native requirements roughly around 137% overnight when demand was way lesser when compared.

In entirety, an estimate of 2% of Europe's whole energy supply was being generated and supplied by offshore wind on a single day.

"That's a very high level," said Meggelaars.

Generating energy higher than your country can consume can always benefit the economy as it can be vended on to their neighbors, as is commonly seen for Danish supplies to The Netherlands, Germany and Norway.

This update followed recently shared news that, global, renewable energy sources supplied a whopping sum total of 161 GW of power in 2016 and at a charge that was 23% cheaper compared to 2015.

Indubitably, one of the key aspects about renewable energy sources such as wind is that it is highly variable, and conceivably undependable. Consequently, even today a large number of countries still put their faith on more foreseeable sources of energy like natural gas, nuclear, or biomass to supply their "bare minimum"—the lowest demand on the power grid till date.

A Change of Character might prove fatal for #AdblockPlus! #DeceptionSoFar #Disappointed

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 07:28:00 +0000

AdBlock Plus, one of the widely used ad blocking facilities by one and all, declared that they would begin selling ads, incongruous to their undeterred mission of blocking them!

Content publisherscan now mark their advertisements as whitelisted through their new exchange application, which is currently in beta stage by paying some designated amount.

The adverts are payable as leaner, cleaner and less intrusive compared to the ones AdBlock Plus is usually used to shut out, and these whitelisted ones will be displayed instead of a site's standard ad placement frames.AdBlock Plus proprietor Eyeo targeted to move in the direction of this kind of commercial model for a while now with the extension of its "acceptable ads program" that whitelists the ‘worthy’ one’s it judges based on the fee paid by the vendor.

The whitelisted ones will be contracted out to several other mobile ad blocking and desktop applications and related services, and they will get a cut from Eyeo as a conventional give-and-take for display the ads.

Although a couple of privacy experts and consumer advocates condemned this change of taste for a lack of transparent values. Eyeo had formerly assured to unveil a nonprofit, independent board as a mediator of which adverts will make the cut, but such strategies are yet to materialize.

AdBlock Plus' till now has been promoted to us as an unpaid service to block advertisement, but with this initiative even they can't generate money and there is your conundrum. Thus in retrospect, ad blockers are never completely dissimilar than the ad networks they claim to loathe.

It seems the online ad industry's biggest trade group, the (IAB) Internet AdvertisingBureau, has paralleled its business model to an extortion racket.

AdBlock Plus' turn as an advertising seller does not seem to be quelling these tensions much. The general sentiment among publishers seems to view the new program as something akin to a hostage situation.

Although with an entirely different perception, Eyeo contemplates that publishers should be glad with this change of personality for Adblock as it will provide new prospects to buy ads for disaffected readers who previously generated no money for their websites.

“There are two ecosystems of online consumers out there right now: the one composed of people who block intrusive ads and the other where people do not," AdBlock Plus co-founder Till Faida stated."The Acceptable Ads Platform lets publishers reach the former group without changing anything about how they’re reaching the latter."

Publishers might point out that such a strategy also involves buying twice as many ads as they might otherwise.

Faida also framed:

“We’ve been waiting years for the ad-tech industry to do something consumer-friendly like this, so finally we got tired of waiting and decided to just do it ourselves,” Faida said.

#ShopTheLook: Google is going to introduce new feature to search & shop by outfit. But why Instagram is not happy?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 13:55:00 +0000

The only intimidation Google Search faces today is that the mainstream content produced today exists inside social applications such as Instagram & Snapchat which cannot be indexed easily to display in searched results of available engines.

Additionally, when Google gets a hold of encapsulated content from your social network, it is almost impossible to fetch any background from the image, which is vital if Google intends to monetize these searches with advertisements.

Although it looks like Google Search has now figured out a solution, for starters they picked fashion-related content. Google just released a piece named Shop the Look to fetch and display outfits shared by fashion bloggers in their search results.

Google is obtaining matter from rewardStyle’s LIKEtoKNOW.it, an establishment that allows fashion bloggers to monetize their content from their blog articles. This is brought to life by helping bloggers share followers an affiliate link to purchase the products highlighted in their featured posts.

But the real question is how Google intends to consume this content and the linked product information?

Essentially, users can search Google for an outfit, like “party dress”, and the engine will fetch in pictures from fashion bloggers that indexes with that outfit description. Further if you tap on one of those pictures it will extract a gallery with all individual items of clothing displayed in the picture, along with a link to buy it.

Grippingly, Google is incorporating Shop the Look with its Shopping campaign ad product, which means retailers can design an ad for an article of clothing to potentially appear in these results.

This is quite huge for Google as they could theoretically snip a lot of search traffic away from Instagram, although it’s a boon for the fashion bloggers who utilizes platforms like LIKEtoKNOW.it to earn their share. By incorporating their matter (and affiliate links) in search results, there articles can reach more audience.

The partnership with rewardStyle is yet to mature, as the two firms haven’t concluded a revenue sharing agreement yet but it’s harmless to accept that if a particular item is bought on Google the affiliate income should be shared by Google, rewardStyle and the blogger who designed the article from the scratch.

Why Facebook is shutting down their data centers periodically? #Precaution or #Stress

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 09:46:00 +0000

Facebook has always been the one, to think outside the box and take bravest methods to challenge its infrastructure’s resiliency.

Facebook's data center team frequently closes down there complete web operations to observe how its application will perform and to understand how it can perfected.

Jay Parikh, the company’s head of engineering and infrastructure, gave his 2 cents from what his team has concluded till now from these mock shut downs.

The notion to practice these stress experiments was conceived after Hurricane Sandy inflicted mayhem on web infrastructure on the East Coast in 2012. A lot of data centers broke down and were not functional for lengthy periods.

Facebook data centers windswept the tempest, its two East Coast sites in North Carolina and Virginia are quite distant from the storm prone areas but as a preventive measure this team speculated what might befall if the social network connectivity is broken from multiple data centers due to adversity of comparable magnitude.

Handling this typical situation is not so easy and thus, a new swat team named Project Storm is created, although the episodic “massive-scale mock drills” typically involves the complete engineering squad and “a lot of the rest of the company,” Parikh said.

Pointless to mention, it is not a piece of cake. Every distinct Facebook data center routes tons of terabytes worth traffic per second, consumes tons of MW worth power, and runs multiple of software related services.

“This is a pretty hard problem, and it’s really hard to decompose this and figure out how are we going to solve this, how are we going to build a more resilient service,” he said. “Things didn’t go that well the first couple of times we did this.”

Even though Facebook users didn’t observe that something went off beam, “but we learned a lot.”

The biggest learning they had was that traffic administration and load balancing were “really, really hard” during such an outage.

Additionally, Facebook established an automated Runbook that comprises of each and every phase for shutting down data center or for booting it up. The Runbook includes both programmed and physical tasks.

To keep track of their performance throughout each drill, the squad times themselves on every specific activity to identify the scope of improvement prospects. “You really want to time this kind of, like a pit stop, at a race,” Parikh said.

#SpaceTech: Why NASA had to organize a Treasure Hunt for robots?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 08:38:00 +0000

Recently, a couple of robots contested in a complicated treasure hunt conducted by NASA.

Concluding phase of NASA’s Sample Return Robot Challenge had 7 rover-style robots putting effort to independently discover, grab, and carry hidden mockups (colored stones scattered across a verdant field) for a whopping prize of $1.36 million.

A robot which is able to figure out, sort and collect remarkable samples autonomously will have amazing possibilities in space investigation.

The robot-war was organized at Massachusetts’ Worcester Polytechnic Institute and was streamed live by NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center with fervent commentators and a digital scorecard.

Enthralling final, which embodied the finale of 5 years of struggle between forty teams, the first 7 robots had to independently discover 10 unidentified mockups, which stretched from easy (a painted rock) to a challenging (a “non-ferrous object”) one, and further they had to return them to a specific base location.

In this course they must navigate over varied topographies and escape impediments such as tall grasses and shrubs during their 2-hour assignment, accumulating points for each rock cautiously brought back to base. Additionally, they were not permitted to take advantage of any guiding systems like GPS which is available only on Earth.

In a concluding presentation, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden appreciated the variety of ideas and teams who partook. This challenge was unrestricted and was intended to lure scientists from regular world and budding entrepreneurs.

“Some are students; some are professional people in other lines of work; there was a one-woman team as well,” said Bolden.

“I think that is what the program was all about—it’s trying to take citizens and help them understand that they too can be engineers.”

The winning team collected 5 samples and accrued 11 points with a somewhat lazy 6-wheeled robot.

Though the contending rovers were evidently designed for space, the contest was also envisioned to drive innovation in technology that should also be expedient back at earth.

In his dialogue, Bolden emphasized the prospective usage of the West Virginia University Mountaineers’ robot to aid in pollinating plants in case there are scarcity of honeybees to do this job!

#WELT From Samsung: An innovative way of fitness tracking or a casserole of nonsense?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 04:33:00 +0000

This device is perhaps a modified version of fitness tracker wrist bands and buzzed the tech world back in January ’16 and by September it is somewhat ready for it’s show-time.

Accompanied by its arrival on the list of trending gadgets in market, the merchandise is expected to have an estimated delivery date of January ‘17. Agreed, it’s not the best-selling achievement of the SGNL, but it’s quite along on its course to meet the defined goal with a couple of months left to go.

This gadget was designed and created by a derivative of Samsung, a small hardware startup committed to incorporating fitness tracking into a regular belt. It may not be the first company to do so, but it is deemed to be the stoutest execution thus far.

Critically, challenging question obviously is Why? In a world of easy to wear fitness tracking gadgets which are already in place, would anyone need that kind of integration in the object whose principal utility is stopping your pants from slipping down?

Well to be honest, I’m skeptical. What this belt does introduce is the proverbial table vs additional form factors which is the capability to monitor your waist-size. Well it is quite clear that the world is closing on obesity with much higher rate than ever and the information offered up by this device may be catalytic to motivate owner in shredding more or may also kick down the confidence a notch there by inducing a teeny tiny factor of depression and negativity.

Overall, it is up to you to decide whether this detailed info on your health & BMI can actually help you in planning your activities or may hamper your normal routine in a drastic way.

Also Read: Gigafactory From Tesla: The Dark Horse On Which Elon Musk Bets All His Fortune!

Although, one cannot disagree with the fact that SGNL’s intentions are good and perhaps in the longer run a lot of consumers may also agree with them!

#NewGameInTown:The TurinGame - Get ready to Strategize and pick your Brain!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 14:43:00 +0000

A plethora of apps are launched into Android platform each day. It’s like an ocean with fishes ranging by popularity and reputation trying to make their mark. With unprecedented competition, the app developer is pushed to the limit as lack of speed or usability is not tolerated. The obvious reason is the impeccable standard set by existing leading apps available in the market.

Though design and user experience go hand in hand, the idea still remains the crux for any new project. Variety and simplicity are what actually gains traction and popularity these days. One of such marvelous endeavor is TurinGame; it’s an unpretentious mind boggling game which involves mathematics and can be played by anyone with basic knowledge of arithmetic.

Even though the prerequisite is rudimentary knowledge, it challenges the player in optimizing the moves to defeat a smart bot algorithm. The initial impression is a simplistic charm but the inherent challenge that the game unravels gradually, gets the player on their toes.

“Strategy is the key”

Each move has to be worked out within your mind before execution as a wrong move can be disastrous for the player from the ruthless bot algorithm.

How to Play:

TurinGame, the evident and conspicuous impression given by the name is justified by the game play. You are given with an infinite tape with numbers ranging from 1 to 9. Your goal is to find out results based on these numbers by performing arithmetic operations on them. The permitted operations are plus, minus, multiply and power. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

Now comes the part where the strategy comes into picture. Operations can only be performed on the tape head. Tape head is basically the set of the middle two tape elements which is essentially any two tape elements that occupy the middle two positions at that point. This is variable as you would have rightly guessed!

When you swipe left or right, the tape moves elements from right or left to occupy the tape head. You can only perform operations (the aforementioned four arithmetic operations) on the two numbers on the tape head. So to make results, you strategize your moves so that numbers are moved into the tape head and operations are performed to build results incrementally. There are 5 results that have to be made in any order. In the single player mode you compete with the computer to make each result alternatively and each move increments your total moves. Once all the results are made, whoever has the least number of total moves, wins the game.

It also features a multiplayer mode which enables you to challenge your Facebook friends who have logged in with the app or basically anyone available online. The multiplayer mode is a different ball game altogether. You both compete for a race against time as opposed to finishing the game in the minimum number of moves via alternate turns.

It’s an incredibly addictive and challenging game; the reviews corroborate that. A glance at the leader-board reveals the sheer amount of time people have spent on the game. Feedback paints a portrait that the game was loved for its innate simplicity. One remarkable aspect is that it’s not something that whiles away your time, it definitely has some value attached to it with the workout it offers for your brain. The game is in its nascent state and definitely deserves more adhesion. So do try it out and share it with your friends and family.

(Sponsored): Download the Game Here!

DropBox: Security issues continue to haunt from the grave! #BeSafe #Hacked

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 06:52:00 +0000

Dropbox is compelling a lot of users to modify their passwords after determining a set of account details connected to an old data breach.

Dropbox pens on their website:

“The next time you visit dropbox.com, you may be asked to create a new password. We proactively initiated this password update prompt for Dropbox users who meet certain criteria”.

This is applicable to all the users who signed up in their accounts before mid-2012, and their password has not been changed since.

Dropbox proactively sent emails to their affected users, updating them on the issue. “This is purely a preventive measure, and we're sorry for the inconvenience,” the email informs.

“Our security teams are always watching out for new threats to our users. As part of these ongoing efforts, we learned about an old set of Dropbox user credentials (email addresses plus hashed and salted passwords) that we believe were obtained in 2012. Our analysis suggests that the credentials relate to an incident we disclosed around that time,” Dropbox writes.

Dropbox in an email by Nick Morris, a Dropbox spokesperson, said, “We don’t disclose specifics of our investigations for security reasons”.

The crux here is that one should avoid using the same password on multiple services and enable two-factor authentication. This way, even if your account is impacted by a hacker or other breaches, the damage could be contained.

On their website, Dropbox writes the credentials are related to a formerly revealed incident from 2012.

#StayInTheLoop: Wanna know who mentioned you on web? Google will report it for you!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Aug 2016 06:32:00 +0000

Google released a latest piece in Google Search feature where you would be notified whenever your name is mentioned on the web anywhere across the globe. This will be brought to you by courtesy of Google’s new feature ‘Stay in the Loop’ embedded in Google Search interface.

Feature in discussion is expected to deliver a report to your listed Gmail account with the details of when and where your name was sought for. Users in India can already sneak a taste of this new item as it is already rolled out here.Although, it is noteworthy that ‘Stay in the Loop’ will be active only until you are signed in to Google and permission is granted to Google to store your web and app activity, as per the report from Venturebeat on Sunday.

This feature will add a new widget on the Google homepage, which will be available at the bottom of the first page of search results and will aid a user to quickly create a new Google Alert for mentions of your name across web.

Perhaps, people who search themselves a lot can benefit by this practical move from Google. Any user can modify their personal settings such as email frequency, languages, source types regions, to decide whether to send only the finest results and which email address to propel alerts to.

The best part is that the user need not fret about the notifications popping up recurrently. You can tailor the available settings and most importantly the sources such as news, blogs, video or discussion.

#Gigafactory from Tesla: The dark horse on which Elon Musk bets all his fortune! Precarious, you ask?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 Jul 2016 17:56:00 +0000

Do you remember a high tech factory full of heavy machinery and state of the art technology in a stranded desert? Yes, you must have seen action movies with similar projections of contemporary villain’s secret operation base.

What if, you find yourself in the middle of a similar desert, on a scorching summer day and you really see a factory over there? Obviously you will wonder who on earth would dare to build something here and expect profits.

The answer is Elon Musk!

The next big investment from Tesla (approx $5BN) and Musk’s brainchild is Gigafactory (A net zero energy factory) which is supposed to be an enormous building with all amazing facilities where one could just dream of working.

Many authors and publishers pin pointed numerous stories by quoting over ambitious Musk and his plans. However,Tesla's Gigafactory is perhaps the finest example on which one can literally estimate Elon Musk's ambitions.

The design of this factory will ensure it to be the biggest construction around the globe by footprint and, if Tesla’s plan bears fruit in time, in due course it will produce ample batteries to source 150 gigawatt hours of batteries per year. This should be sufficient for 1.5 million Model 3s. Tesla has faith that they can design 35GWh of batteries per year by 2018, which would be comparable to 500,000 Model 3s.

Musk says:

"It takes a massive amount of effort to improve the inverter efficiency by a few tenths of a percentage point. You have to really wrack your brain and try super hard and take a lot of risks to improve efficiency by a few tenths of a percentage point."

This Gigafactory scrapes the ground in dimensions huge enough, to encompass 100+ soccer fields with 2-4 floors of factory floor and additional work space layered on top.

Although, as per Tesla, this idea is far more than just a mere battery factory. The accomplishment of the Gigafactory is quite precarious for Tesla's prospects and the implementation of Musk's desire to rescue us from threatening impacts of global climate change and associated calamities.

"We consider [the factory] to be a product. The factory itself is the machine that builds the machine," said Musk. "It actually deserves more attention from creative problem solving engineers than the product that it makes."

Musk claims that smearing industrial inputs to optimize the production process is a superior choice for consumption of man-hours rather than fighting for the last few bits of efficiency in his cars. He gives an analogy to compare that it is 5-10 times more fruitful compared to the struggle one has to put on the product that's actually being created.

Musk named an example where his engineers improved the production station's time from 200 seconds to a single second.

Yamada quoted:

"We really wanted to contribute to the sustainable world, that’s number one. The second thing is that I think we really change business relationship between two companies: from the buyer-supplier relationship to one team."

But one can mull over the fact that, why in a god forsaken desert? Well, a major reason includes the fact that Nevada has been quite liberal with tax breaks in recent years. Additionally, Tesla is also working with the University of Nevada to design battery-related engineering syllabus and courses to generate a pipeline of talent.

It is anticipated that this will prove beneficial to both Tesla and its fellow companies.

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Can’t deny the fact that the idea of Gigafactory and its execution is going to be a legendary step for technology and conservation of energy in the last few years of this decade.

#GooglePlay: Now you can share your purchased apps with your close ones! #CoolNews

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 15:06:00 +0000

Family Library is the next big thing by Google, launched recently which will enable us to share our purchases on Google Play Store as of now with 6 other users. Android lovers can now share their downloaded apps, games, movies & TV shows with their close ones without paying any additional amount.
Additionally, all the apps can now be used collectively across several Android machines, like smartphone, tablets, laptops or TV. The icing on the cake is that all your movies, shows and books can also be shared across iOS devices.

Principally, the Family Library plan will enable up to 6 people to share one Google Play account, without any additional payment. Though there are no extra charges for act of signing up for the Family Library plan, however users must punch in their credit card credentials for future shopping.

This new scheme is fairly comparable to Google Play Music Family plan, with this new plan of Family Library, Google essentially permits one to share a bigger chunk of their purchased content.Luckily, this family Library plan also enables you to organize the content that you share with other members in your Family Library plan.

This feature actually provides child filter on the items that you share with others and gives control on apps you would like to keep sequestered.Also, since you will be sharing your Google Play account with others, it gives you the authority to approve each member’s purchase, filter and parental guidance again!

With this Google Play music family plan can also be shared with your family and friends. On this plan, up to 6 members can stream songs of their choice with a charge for $14.99 (Rs 1,000 approximately) per month.
This new plan is now been released in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the UK and the US. We would also like to remind that Apple, in 2014, introduced the idea of Family Sharing plan to share content on iTunes but this one was for free.

#Impulse: First flight to cover the globe fueled by Solar Power! #CleanTech

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 Jul 2016 15:56:00 +0000

Biggest solar-energized aircraft, Solar Impulse 2 which already left Cairo, and will now be completing its world tour, as per, BBC. The estimated time for aircraft to reach Abu Dhabi is about 48 hours which is the kick off point where the circumnavigation began in March 2015.

BBC News updated:

“We thought it was going to be an easy flight because it’s always good weather between Egypt and Abu Dhabi across Saudi. But actually, it’s extremely difficult to find a good strategy”.

Piccard, the pilot informed that the warmer, thinner air above the Saudi desert implies Solar Impulse’s engines need to toil harder to advance the machine. This system also demands wary management of the power assets in the plane’s lithium polymer batteries, to safeguard sustenance throughout dark hours, BBC quoted the pilot.

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The Solar Impulse already tracked close to 30,000 km in its pursuit to be crowned as the 1^st solar flight to cover the globe without using any fuel, by running on the energy from our Sun. The Cairo-Abu Dhabi flight entails the 17th and final stage in the flight plan, which comprised passages of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Piccard switched pilot duties with his friend and business partner Andre Borschberg.

Innovation: Now we can store data on atomic level with probable fetch speed of 1Mbps ! #Amazing #Tech

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 16:41:00 +0000

Ability to store more and more data on smaller physical units has been a mind boggling challenge for engineers since mankind took the leap of technology. In this context, researchers from Delft University of Technology (Netherlands) fashioned a re-writable data-storage device proficient in saving data at the single atom level which will represent single bits of information.

Nature Nanotechnology, is qualified for storing data as compressed as 500 TB per square inch. Hypothetically, the design is capable of storing complete US Library of Congress in a 0.1-millimeter wide cube however, the first demo maxed out at 1 kb.

Scholars of this subject were able to manipulate single atoms for almost 2 decades, but there are numerous glitches that impeded implementation of atomic-scale memory. Firstly, atoms are quite unstable due to thermal trepidation usually witnessed at room temperatures. Further, there is the issue of figuring out an appropriate material and procedure that enables the recognition and tweaking of these atoms.

The targeted experimentation is executed in this approach by taking advantage of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), which is a vital instrument for imaging and manipulating surfaces at atomic scales.

The idea is derived from its inception in the year 1990, physicist Don Eigler notably spelled "IBM" with 35 xenon atoms by this STM, but our researchers from Netherlands implemented the notion in an inverse manner.

Instead of organizing atoms in different manners, their storage grid is established on atomic vacancies which are the spaces within the layer where atoms should reside.

Steven Erwin (Naval Research Laboratory), who works as a computational materials scientist, says:

"In contrast to the xenon atoms of ‘IBM’, these spots are not atoms but rather their absence i.e., vacancies in a layer of chlorine atoms deposited on a copper substrate. The vacancies can be easily and reproducibly manipulated by moving one of the four adjacent atoms using an STM tip.

The overall layout is a 12 × 12 array of rectangular blocks, each block consisting of a grid of dark spots whose positions vary like the beads on an eight-stringed abacus"

Although, there is a major bottleneck of speed i.e., in this procedure reading a block of memory back has a turnaround time of approximately 10 minutes.

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However, the team is hopeful that as per the maximum bandwidth available with STM electronics, ideally this may be enhanced up to 1 mbps which would change the landscape of memory storage principles in a major way.

Innovation: Yoky Tag can help you locate valuables with your smart phone #Gida #Bluetooth4

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 12:57:00 +0000

Gida an Indian start up headquartered at Bengaluru released a small wireless design innovation named ‘Yoky’ tag, on Monday. This tag can be glued to the swags which one always tends to misplace such as your car keys, power bank, earphones and wallet, etc.

Further, in case you are not able to locate those valuables Yoky can track them on the display of your smartphone devices. Yoky tag is available in Rs 999 per device, reaches a full range of 150 feet, and compatible with smartphones that must have Bluetooth 4+ and iOS 8+ or Android 4.3+ versions.

The Yoky tag has a in-built 32-bit ARM cortex SoC, three-axis high precision accelerometer and a 500mAh battery that can be replaced. This battery power lasts for at least a year.

The mechanism on which Yoky tag operates is by upholding a wireless connection with the smartphone, using Low-Energy attribute of Bluetooth. As soon as the connection is activated, users can locate the tagged items and whenever the connection is disrupted, the phone as well as the tag raises an alert.

Although, the Yoky Tag requires Bluetooth to be switched on almost all time, you should not get anxious about the damaging impact it may have on your smartphone’s battery. Bluetooth 4.0+ is tremendously energy proficient, and Yoky chose to use it for exceptionally short durations (unlike mp3 stream service) naturally ensuring less than 1 percent battery consumption over a complete day.

The device will toot noisily if device owners are about to miss their smartphone and the phone will raise a beep if the tagged item is left with Yoky.

Bonus feature of Yoky tag is that, you can also locate your smartphone by shaking the tag thrice. Some additional features to garnish the platter are a fitness tracker which measures steps, estimates distance and calories.

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This app can be downloaded without paying a dime and it can link up to 8 tags at any single point in time.

#Google is quite late in the day to introduce gender equality in the list of emojis but better late than never!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 16 Jul 2016 15:36:00 +0000

Google is finally balancing the scales by maintaining gender equality by introducing a new batch of emojis. This change provides range of emojis which showcases the miscellany of jobs around the world and the female fraternity is also represented in multi-skin tones.

Google informed 11 new emojis which will identify women in various professions. Earlier emojis for this section incorporated such characters in very less numbers. The ones which were already available are the one with a crown, with a haircut and a bride. Google finally took a call to change this for good.
The new careers which these emoji’s represent are a teacher, mechanic, scientist, chef, a woman working in IT, a doctor and additionally a rock singer. We also do have a female bodybuilder, a female detective, a female cyclist.

Earlier in May 16’, Google gave a proposal to release this new collection of emojis to the UTC-Unicode Technical Committee, who are responsible for approving official emojis.

Google states that these new additions are going to portray “the pivotal roles that women play in the world.” And after that being said Google wore its thinking cap and worked with Unicode to design these new emojis. Unicode approved to add 11 new emoji representing different professions for both women and men with diverse skin tones.

To add pepper to the party, Unicode will also be introducing male and female versions to already existing 33 emoji. So, going forward we will be having emojis representing jobs that will always have a male and a female equivalent.

Although, these new additions will be out on the devices in the upcoming versions of Android. This proposal is a schematic plan from Google to ensure girls are not left out in this era of technology. Google is also planning a new assignment which will educate girls, coding via conception of emoji-powered stickers.

#PokémonGo: Just a viral game or a window for dangerous security threats? #Entertaining albeit #Unsafe

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 15 Jul 2016 08:45:00 +0000

The newly released and broadly location-based smart phone game app Pokémon Go has quite already surpassed Twitter in terms of daily organic traffic. The average time a user is spending on this gaming app has augmented intensely, beyond the average time spent by users on the Facebook app.

Recently, TechCrunch reported that Pokémon Go along with Twitter and Facebook’s popularity, but it has also dominated the total number of app installations than app Tinder.

By July 7 2016, the app had been downloaded on more Android smartphones than Tinder. SimilarWeb quoted:

“Pokémon Go managed to surpass Twitter in terms of daily active users on Monday and now sees 5.92 per cent of the US Android population engaging with the app on a daily basis”.

Meanwhile, survey solutions giant SurveyMonkey pursued Pokémon Go’s peak everyday active gamers and concluded that Pokémon Go bagged the “biggest mobile game in the US history”, threw out popular mobile games CandyCrush, Clash Royale and Minecraft to the end of the curb.

The report also informed that Pokémon Go is now going for touch down with Snapchat on Android and may also surpass Google Maps on Android. This app has not just caught everyone’s eye with its accomplishment but may also invite security threats.

As per Trend Micro, Pokemon Go is a vulnerable threat to data security to all its users as the app gets “complete access” of their Google account, which allows the company to read all users’ emails.

While relishing the game, the user is exposed to a lot of dangers, it also presents imminent life risks, the company said, adding that Pokemon Go’s real-world game play has already been connected to several robberies as convicts have used this game to trace and trap planned burglaries.

How this game works:

This app leverages GPS abilities of your smart phone in association with Google Maps to “pin point” its characters in real world places, which users will attempt to find using their device as a guide. Once you are in close propinquity to the “located” creature, you can then use your smart phone’s camera to “view” and “capture” it.

“This works with you using your device as a viewer to ‘see’ the creature near you by looking at an image from the camera with the creature superimposed on it. You then ‘capture’ the creature for points by throwing Pokéballs at it on the device’s screen,” Trend Micro stated.

The Pokémon Go is offered on Google Play and Apple’s App Store in the US, Japan and Australia, Philippines, New Zealand and is coming soon in India, Singapore, Germany, Taiwan, Indonesia and Britain.

#FunnyOrNot: Excessive usage of Laughter Track in SITCOMS. Is it a Psychological game?

noreply@blogger.com (Snowhite) — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 16:02:00 +0000

The question is targeted towards the over usage of a ‘Laughter Track’ on every cue where director wants to guide the audience and pave the way for laughter

It literally dictates ‘Dude, you need to laugh… like right now’.

It seems either the show designers and story writers are not confident enough or they think audience is too dumb to respond to their jokes (not applicable to 'Friends'). But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The usage of a laughter track (LT) in sitcoms to create a psychological impact on the audience has not been new. It is been in existence to set up a ground for the comic element and to prepare the spectators to burst out in laughter whenever needed since 1950 introduced in 'The Hank McCune Show'.

And subconsciously viewers are trapped in this vicious game of allurement. But I believe it is not that, audience doesn't get the comic element; rather more of a trend, LT acknowledging the fact that laughter begets laughter. In BBT it is a slight possibility that users might not catch the intended joke as the context could be specific to Physics,Star Trek series and so on so, here LT can be used to at least suggest that this was the moment. In a live show, viewers rely on cues from their fellow neighbors to hint them when something is amusing. The sitcom audience doesn't have this option, so LT comes as a savior and fills the gap.

Sitcoms aren't the only instance when cues come in handy. Suppose, if you're reading the paper while you've got the live IPL or FIFA match, you are likely to look up at the screen if the crowd cheers or boos. The transformation in crowd noise, indicates you that something significant just happened, and you might want to pay attention to figure out what. Similarly, a LT tells you that something funny came up. But a laughter track does more than indicate ‘LAUGH NOW’. It creates a mood and prepares audience to be more receptive.

Sitcoms may love to use LT, and viewers may have grown to admit them as part of a program's background noise, much like the music/effects used in a soap opera (applies to HIMYM-'no offence').

Hence, this is still a known way of putting the bait in front of the audience to create an environment and thereby supporting the idea presented in the sitcom. In my opinion if LT actually works to support the intended humor then it should be used with caution and producers must not overdo this as it may eventually defeat the sole purpose.

EyeFluence: Fasten your seat belts for a new era of vision based control for your devices! #Innovation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 12:53:00 +0000

Can you imagine blinking your way through a movie to adjust volume or replay the awesome action sequence?

Imagine, if you could control your computer screen with your eyes and its movements? Yes, that’s the dream of an upcoming start up Eyefluence, and they have targeted the untouched area of technology for hands-free navigation in geek world.

The squad is generating prototypes, and verifying their capability using the enhanced VR glasses armed with latest cameras which can gauge where the user is focusing on the screen at any point in time. Users should be able to hit the icons with one look.

The geniuses behind this amazing idea gave TechCrunch a preliminary glance at their equipment.

Jim Marggraff, founder and CEO said: The technology “moves as fast as you can think.”
He stated that contrasting to other eye-tracking technology, Eyefluence works “without winking and without waiting.”

They are exploring the bio-mechanics zone which they contemplate will reflect their ingenuity. They assert that they have created something entirely new which operates on “eye-brain connection.”Rumor has it that, Eyefluence will be working with huge enterprises to incorporate their niche technology into new products, but as of now this is a completely classified.

Additionally our creative head, the CEO foresees that his technology is going to find place in individual as well as enterprise level applications. He evaluates that as of now approximately 40 million users are unable to access the system due to physical challenges, thus opening unlimited possibilities and amazing scope of usability.

“We are working with the major manufacturers of head-mounted display devices,” is all Marggraff could share about their integrated reality and enhanced VR.

It may sound similar to Google Glass but to be honest it is as straightforward as comparing apples and oranges!

Eyefluence’s immediate competitors in current arcade are Vuzix and Tobii who are targeting the same market segment. But the early bird is definitely going to win the race.
The promising aspect for Eyefluence is that they have got a kick start of $21 million to start with from Intel Capital, Motorola Solutions and few others.

Check out the innovation in action here.

Twitter CEO's Account Hacked - And They Talk About Our Security! #Irony

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Jul 2016 07:41:00 +0000

The misfits OurMine took a couple of responsibilities for a multiple high-status Twitter account hacks, but the most recent one was the epitome of embarrassment for the organization.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey went into a pickle when his own account was hacked for a short period of time early today, and to add bolt in the blue OurMine tweeted a hyperlink to their website along with a pinch of sarcasm, "testing your security".

Additionally, a Vine clip was also attached that has been removed shortly after its broadcast (Engadget captured the glimpse at the tweet and clip before they were deleted.)

It's not yet clear though, how CEO’s account got hacked into, in spite of the fact that earlier, Twitter decided to lock down a couple of accounts on some services after a couple of million passwords (rumor has it that it happened from 3^rd party integrations) were leaked.
Akin to this, other attempts include Google's CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook wizard Mark Zuckerberg. Although, Dorsey would be the dirt in the eye, which is going to bother Twitter for quite a long time.