Science and Technology

How to update Norton Antivirus?

2016-09-14T15:05:00.000+05:30

Linux-powered Intel JOULE Is Its Most Powerful Developer Kit Yet

2016-08-25T19:57:00.002+05:30

During the Intel Developer Forum 2016 at San Francisco, California, Intel launched its most powerful developer board till date. Named Intel Joule, this development kit packs an Intel Atom processor and a shocking 4GB RAM. Joule also includes Intel’s RealSense depth-scanning camera that makes it a great choice for high-end IoT and VR applications. This board supports Linux flavours and Windows 10 IoT Core although one can always custom build an OS. It comes pre-installed with Linux Kernel 4.4 optimised for IoT.

There’s no denying the fact that Intel missed the mobile revolution. The silicon giant knows that it can’t afford to miss the IoT and VR revolution and it’s making efforts to leave an impact.

Earlier this week, from the stage of the annual Intel Developer Forum, CEO Brian Krzanich teased the Windows 10-powered open source VR headset Project Alloy. The same stage also became a witness of the launch of Joule, Intel’s most powerful developer kit yet.

It’s being assumed that Joule is named after James Prescott Joule, in the line of Intel’s previous products Edison, Galileo, and Curie.

“Intel Joule is a high performance system-on-module (SOM) in a tiny, low-power package thus making it ideal for computer vision, robotics, drones, industrial IoT, VR, AR, micro-servers and other applications that require high-end edge computing.”

Joule is Intel’s brand new 4-core embedded module. With a small size of 48 x 24 x 3.5 mm, it packs an Intel Atom quad core processor that runs at 1.7GHz with 4GB LPDDR4 RAM and also supports 802.11ac which is the latest WiFi standard. Giving a tough competition to the specs of a desktop computer, Intel Joule also houses an integrated HDMI GPU graphics and 3.0 USB ports for your mouse and keyboard.

This mini-computer also features Intel’s RealSense depth-sensing camera. It’ll allow the makers to create advanced IoT devices that will possess the ability to capture depth-of-field information. This will also give an IoT device the ability to make decisions on its own.

Just like the popular developer board Raspberry Pi 3, Joule supports Linux flavours as well as Windows 10 IoT operating system.

Welcoming a new board to the Ubuntu family, here’s what Canonical has to say:

“Intel Joule is affordable and compact enough to be used in deployment, therefore Ubuntu Core can be installed to make any device it’s included in secure and up to date.”

Intel Joule comes in two hardware configurations. The higher end model comes with a price tag of $369.99. This price is expensive as compared to Raspberry Pi but these two shouldn’t be compared. Unlike the tiny development boards, Intel’s offering is a desktop class device in a small box.

For more information, you can visit Intel’s website and also have a look at the specs on the Intel Ark website. If you’re interested in grabbing Joule to turn your advanced IoT dreams into reality, feel free to visit Newegg.

Did you find this article helpful? Don’t forget to drop your feedback in the comments section below.

Smart City - Future Planning

2016-06-23T14:55:00.004+05:30

A smart city is an urban development vision to integrate multiple information and communication technology (ICT) solutions in a secure fashion to manage a city’s assets – the city’s assets include, but not limited to, local departments information systems, schools, libraries, transportation systems, hospitals, power plants, water supply networks, waste management, law enforcement, and other community services.

The goal of building a smart city is to improve quality of life by using technology to improve the efficiency of services and meet residents’ needs. ICT allows city officials to interact directly with the community and the city infrastructure and to monitor what is happening in the city, how the city is evolving, and how to enable a better quality of life. Through the use of sensors integrated with real-time monitoring systems, data are collected from citizens and devices - then processed and analysed. The information and knowledge gathered are keys to tackling inefficiency.

This article is all about the future planning of a city. Here I've suggested a few ideas that can help in paving the ways for a city's future. Suggestions/Opinions/Thoughts are always welcome in the comments section.

Smart electric meters which monitors electricity consumption and logs to a database. It will automatically turn on/off depending on the dues from the customer. Customers can pay online through an all in one app which I'll be mentioning later in this post.

Running the entire city on renewable energy will help in reducing costs, pollution, etc. Use of fossil fuels should be minimised as much as possible. Having solar panels on trains, stations, houses, metro, etc.. Terrace gardening on every buildings.

Smart waste management system which segregates waste automatically and also follows 3 R's (Recycle, Reuse and Reduce). Having a centralised sewer treatment system will be very much effective in preventing diseases and keeping the city clean.

Street lights should be LED based and must be fitted with CCTVs at uniform distance (at every camera's blind spot) as this can help in reducing the crime rate. Street lights should be having the motion sensing capabilities which turn on the camera and lights automatically. They should be made to turn on automatically depending on the amount of light in that spot and people movement.

Fast and secure WiFi everywhere in the city. This is very much needed for remote monitoring and connecting with everyone. WiFi can be placed in hidden locations like dustbins, trees, etc..
Having elevators and foot bridge in all major crossings on the road as well as train platforms and zebra crossings in minor crossings on the road.

Having smart vehicles with GPS and emergency measures (video calling, etc.) on all public vehicles- buses, trains, taxi, etc. to track movement, find shortest route of travel, monitor traffic, etc..

Improving the city by transferring slums into green Eco-places. Improving living conditions in slums. Having separate pathways for walking and cycling. Promoting sanitation and hygiene. Making toilets in public places. Strict enforcement of rules and fines. Gas and water pipelines to houses. Permeable roads so that water can seep into the soil easily instead of being stagnant. Recycling books from rich to poor schools. Improving schools and educational system. Planting trees.

Using smart signals which have AI (Artificial Intelligence) for smooth traffic flow. Alert system for attacks, floods, fire, etc.. Using IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

An AIO (All In One) app which is user friendly for the citizens through which they can lodge complaints, access govt services, access bills, book tickets, promoting commute sharing, crowd sourcing ideas and opinions, polls, etc..

Taking ideas and suggestions from citizens through the AIO app and also implementing strategies which have been implemented in other cities is one main thing in making cities better.

Cochin International Airport is the only and first airport in the world to run entirely on renewable energy (Solar Energy). Running all commercial establishments on renewable energy will help a lot in conserving energy, make the environment greener, reducing costs and pollution, etc..

Well, that's the end of my suggestions. Suggestions/Opinions/Thoughts are always welcome in the comments section.

Who should be blamed for rape?

2016-06-20T12:00:00.000+05:30

This is how a lot of people go... A female is more responsible than a male if she is being raped or sexually assaulted by any means. Why? Because these are how the excuses/reasons go... Who asked her to roam around late at night with her friends? Who asked her to attend discos and parties which are are not meant for females? She is rather meant to stay at her house and gets herself busy doing household work only. Going to the office every day is not her kind of thing. These are meant only for men. Females don't have the ability and talent like males.

Now coming to the outfit she wears. She should not wear body-hugging tops, low waist jeans, tights, shorts, skirts, skin-revealing clothes and not even sleeveless tops. A girl wears these outfits to seduce men only. There is no fault in those eyes of that male who ogles at females wearing shorts and tights. If she could flaunt her body then what’s wrong with the man? Right?

Ohh yes, there’s nothing wrong, and it’s because she is a woman. It is the biological fault that women had an evolution with this body structure that whatever may be the reason a woman is always responsible for rape and not a man. So, it’s not a big deal. Not a big deal at all if a 1-year-old little girl gets raped, if a 3 years old girl raped. No issues at all if old women of 80, 90 and even 100 years of age get raped.

1. 2-Year-Old Girl Raped - Quite Seductive Than Her Age

A 29-year-old boy gets seduced enough that he could not stop himself from raping a 2-year-old baby girl. Oh right, I forgot that a two-year-old girl maybe sometimes allowed by her parents to roam around freely without her clothes. So, it’s quite natural that the rapist got seduced by her and couldn’t help raping her. The incident took place in HRS layout in South East Bangalore. The parents of the victim are labourers and the accused is their neighbour who works in a private firm. Source

2. 3 Years Old Girl Raped - Her School Uniform Might Have Too Bold To Intensify Him

A 27-year-old school attendant, Nagaraj alias Nagarajappa, allegedly raped a 3-year-old girl on the school campus in East Bangalore on November 26. Investigation revealed that he raped the girl on October 22 too. It seems that the rape convict is quite good with the kids as he lured the girl with chocolate to come with him. He took her under a half-constructed building and raped the girl twice. See, how honest he is! Source

3. 80-Year-Old Woman Raped - The Mentally Ill Woman Was An Easy Prey For Him

A youth, Shankar Singh convicted for raping a mentally challenged 80-year-old woman, in Mansarovam Garden in West Delhi, has been jailed for rest of his life by a Delhi court. The victim was sleeping outside her house when the convict alleged raped her despite being in a persistent vegetative state. What could be a ghastly crime than to rape a woman who could not speak, move or respond? The convict imposed a fine of Rs. 50,000 and got whole life imprisonment. Seriously, is that punishment is enough for him? He deserves death punishment! Source

4. 90-Year-Old Blind Woman Raped

Oh, that is perfect. He lost his wallet. So, it’s quite natural that he was tensed. And most probably out of tension he raped his friend’s grandmother whom he suspected of stealing his wallet. A 90 year visually challenged woman got raped by 27-year-old Prabhu Nadar in Chembur on October 14, 2014, in a drunken stupor. She said she tried her best to fight him but he overpowered her. Where’s humanity when these nasty criminals are not sparing even a blind woman? Source

5. This Is Not The Height Of Brutality. The List Continues With A 100-Year-Old Woman.

Kasey Nesbitt, 35, accused of housebreaking and alleged raping of a 100-year-old woman in Kansas, now held in Sedgwick Country Jail on $250,000 bond. Source

The list is never-ending. So many have been victims. Not every incident comes to light. Victims sometimes go into a coma or are too scared after the incident. So, what do you think? All of them, the two little girl and 100 old women are responsible for being raped?

If you still think, it’s female who is far more responsible than a male for rape then change your mentality. You should be ashamed of yourself for even having such a thought!! Men should control themselves. Why don’t we see a female raping a male when males wear shorts or open their shirts? It’s because females know their limits and it would be good for our society if males will also stay in their limits. Some fools don't even feel guilty after the crime. Males and females are humans. They deserve equal rights. The mindsets and mentality of people have to change first if the world has to become a better place. Crimes against women are very common in the world. It's not limited to specific countries. For the past two years(2014-2016), Venezuela has the highest crime rate (Source). South Africa, Sweden and the USA have the highest rape crimes (Source).

REAL MALES DON’T RAPE.

TEACH “DON’T RAPE” TO MALES RATHER THAN TEACHING “DON’T GET RAPED” TO FEMALES.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMAN IS AN EVERYDAY REALITY. ACT NOW, ALWAYS AND FOREVER BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.

TAKE A PLEDGE TO NEVER COMMIT, NEVER EXCUSE AND NEVER TO REMAIN SILENT ABOUT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN.

SELF RESPECT BY DEFINITION IS A CONFIDENCE AND PRIDE IN FEELING THAT YOU ARE BEHAVING IN AN HONOURABLE AND DIGNIFIED MANNER.

RESPECT YOURSELF BY RESPECTING OTHERS.

Google Science Fair

2016-05-18T00:06:00.000+05:30

Hi There!

My team and I are participating in Google Science Fair 2016. Please give us your support by liking and sharing the link: Solenoid Travel.

Thanks!

How To Discover Your Life’s Purpose?

2016-05-14T14:27:00.000+05:30

Who are you at your very core?

Your appearance, thoughts, feelings, emotions and personality are merely a shell surrounding who you are at your core.

Your shell is your self-definition: the way you define and describe yourself based on the way you have been brought up. Since you were a child, you have been building this shell based around your conditions, environments and the opinions of those who’ve had an impact on your life.

Subconsciously, each of these factors has combined and over your lifetime you’ve created a shell to ‘fit in’ with others the best that you can. You probably compare your shell with others and make changes to it to fit into situations better. Most people do.

The problem is, we’re never content with our shell because in life there’s always someone who has a better shell. And it doesn’t matter how good your shell is, there’s always going to be someone who’s better looking than you, who is smarter than you, who is more popular than you, who is funnier than you and there is sure as hell going to be someone who has more possessions than you. So as long as you’re comparing your shell to other people’s shells, you’ll never ever be satisfied.

Play along with me for a minute... Let’s imagine now that your shell is a brand new model of a Range Rover Four Wheel Drive. You’re sitting at the stoplights on a highway and you’re in the driver’s seat. You are the driver of this shell. You are feeling really good about yourself. You think, ‘Whoa, this car is awesome! It’s got that brand new smell, the seats have beautiful leather trim, the exterior looks great, it goes from 0 to 100 in six seconds!!!’ The car is perfect. You’re sitting up straight, smiling, thinking how great this all is.

Then, right along beside you drives a brand new shiny red Ferrari Enzo. You see this car pull up to you, and suddenly you sink into your seat as you realize how great the Ferrari is. ‘Whoa, that car is so much better than mine. Have a look at it, it looks amazing. Take a look at that red paint. Gee, listen to that fierce grunt the engine makes. It goes from 0 to 100 km/s in 3 seconds. It’s worth close to a million dollars; I’m only worth about $100,000.’

Suddenly, Ferrari makes you feel inferior.

If you race against that Ferrari, who’s going to win? The Ferrari, of course. You’re delusional if you think you can beat it. As long as you are on the highway, the Ferrari will always beat you.

But what if you take the four-wheel drive and the Ferrari to an off-road dirt track that has lots of potholes and steep hills. If you race the Ferrari, who’s going to win now? You are, obviously.

What if you were a Semi-Trailer and you challenged the Ferrari to a race – who would win then? The Ferrari would of course. Again, you would be delusional to think that your big truck could beat it.

But what if you put one thousand kilograms on the back of the semi-trailer and the same on the Ferrari. Who’s going to win now? You will of course.

You are the driver of your vehicle, the shell that is made up of your body and mind. But you are never going to succeed or feel fulfilled so long as you drive your vehicle on the wrong track.

If you see that shiny red Ferrari and think to yourself that you’ll never be anything like it, the truth is, no, you won’t. You’ll never shine like the Ferrari until you drive your vehicle on the right track – ‘your track’.

Thinking back to childhood once more, do you remember the students at school who were labelled the ‘dumb’ kids because they always did poorly academically? They were the ones who used to sit at the back of the class and muck around. They were terrible in Math, English, etc.. They’d always fail their tests.

But if you put these kids in a workshop or got them to use their hands, they were geniuses, artistic and creative. They weren’t dumb; they were just on the wrong track for their vehicle. They thrived once they were put into an apprentice or artistic job. They thrived when they found their right track.

And so will you. If you’re not thriving right now, it’s not because your shell isn’t good enough. It’s not because you’re not smart, good-looking, funny, or don’t have a likeable personality. It’s because of the unique traits that make you who you are don’t match the current track that you are on. You weren’t born to fit a mould.

Without taking the time to figure out exactly who you are, where you want to go and how you’re going to get there, you could spend a lot of your time blindly going after pursuits that in no way align with your strengths. The satisfaction you’re searching for will be overlooked. Spending your most precious hours chasing things that you don’t really value will fill you with deep regret as you get older.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” —Albert Einstein

Philosophers often talk about people having their own unique genius. I think the genius that Einstein was referring to is not an innately special talent or a genetic lottery. The genius he refers to is a genius who matches their shell with the right track. Your genius has always been there, but it will only shine when you find your track.

TCP vs UDP

2016-05-07T21:00:00.000+05:30

There are two types of Internet Protocol (IP) traffic. They are TCP or Transmission Control Protocol and UDP or User Datagram Protocol. TCP is connection-oriented – once a connection is established, data can be sent bidirectional. UDP is a simpler, connectionless Internet protocol. Multiple messages are sent as packets in chunks using UDP.

	TCP	UDP
Acronym for	Transmission Control Protocol	User Datagram Protocol or Universal Datagram Protocol
Connection	TCP is a connection-oriented protocol.	UDP is a connectionless protocol.
Function	As a message makes its way across the internet from one computer to another. This is connection based.	UDP is also a protocol used in message transport or transfer. This is not connection-based which means that one program can send a load of packets to another and that would be the end of the relationship.
Usage	TCP is suited for applications that require high reliability, and transmission time is relatively less critical.	UDP is suitable for applications that need a fast, efficient transmission, such as games. UDP's stateless nature is also useful for servers that answer small queries from huge numbers of clients.
Use by other protocols	HTTP, HTTPs, FTP, SMTP, Telnet	DNS, DHCP, TFTP, SNMP, RIP, VOIP.
Ordering of data packets	TCP rearranges data packets in the order specified.	UDP has no inherent order as all packets are independent of each other. If the order is required, it has to be managed by the application layer.
Speed of transfer	The speed for TCP is slower than UDP.	UDP is faster because there is no error-checking for packets.
Reliability	There is an absolute guarantee that the data transferred remains intact and arrives in the same order in which it was sent.	There is no guarantee that the messages or packets sent would reach at all.
Header Size	TCP header size is 20 bytes.	UDP Header size is 8 bytes.
Common Header Fields	Source port, Destination port, CheckSum.	Source port, Destination port, CheckSum.
Streaming of data	Data is read as a byte stream, no distinguishing indications are transmitted to signal message (segment) boundaries.	Packets are sent individually and are checked for integrity only if they arrive. Packets have definite boundaries which are honoured upon receipt, meaning a read operation at the receiver socket will yield an entire message as it was originally sent.
Weight	TCP is heavy-weight. TCP requires three packets to set up a socket connection before any user data can be sent. TCP handles reliability and congestion control.	UDP is lightweight. There is no ordering of messages, no tracking connections, etc. It is a small transport layer designed on top of IP.
Data Flow Control	TCP does Flow Control. TCP requires three packets to set up a socket connection before any user data can be sent. TCP handles reliability and congestion control.	UDP does not have an option for flow control.
Error Checking	TCP does error checking.	UDP does error checking, but no recovery options.
Fields	1. Sequence Number, 2. AcK number, 3. Data offset 4. Reserved, 5. Control bit, 6. Window, 7. Urgent Pointer 8. Options, 9. Padding, 10. CheckSum, 11. Source port, 12. Destination port	1. Length, 2. Source port, 3. Destination port, 4. CheckSum
Acknowledgement	Acknowledgement segments.	No Acknowledgment.
Handshake	SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK	No handshake (connectionless protocol)

On Children

2016-05-01T12:57:00.000+05:30

Pre-Reading Activity:

What do your parents expect of you?

What do you expect of your parents?

Have you ever felt your parents are too possessive/demanding? Why?

On Children

-Kahlil Gibran

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."
And he said: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backwards nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Explanation

Parents should be aware that a child is a gift from the abundance of existence and it is eternal life itself. Just as we have seen eternal life flowing through mountains, through forests and through plains, children are born as sons and daughters as Life's longing for itself. Life longs to reproduce itself, and parents are its servants who carry out that master plan. Parents do not create them and hence cannot possess them. Parents may have brought them to this world, because they have been chosen to serve as 'passage' or vehicle to bring the children to this world. They are only the medium through which life expresses itself. Children are closer to the very source of life than old people. Furthermore, children have their own thoughts because thaw have the free will to do as they please.

Parents should not treat their children as their puppets but shower their love as much as they can and take good care of them as we do to someone who is given to our charge. Parents should take care of their needs only and should not impose their thoughts and ideas on them. They should not do so because our children belong to the future whereas parents belong to the past generation.

Parents' days are over. Parents may try to be like their children but their past acts like a barrier. On the contrary, children belong to the future. Since parents belong to the yesterday and their children belong to the tomorrows, parents cannot conceive of their future. Hence they should not burden their children with their dead past, their scriptures and their saints. The children will have their own scriptures and saints, parents should only give them as much love as they can. The present is a meeting point but also a point of departure. Every day the gap between parents and their children will become bigger and bigger. And so, parents should not thrust their part as an inheritance on their children. The children have their own future and parents should let them grow according to their own potential. The children are closer to existence than parents are. Since life looks forward and does not linger on, parents should let their children build their future, realize their potential and resist the temptation to force their children to be like their carbon copy.

God uses parents as his instrument to send 'living arrows' to the Earth. God or the Supreme Being is the archer, the parents are the bows and the children are his living arrows. An arrow does not have its own power nor does is create its own path of direction. Both these are provided by God. The archer is God and the path is infinity. Just like the archer, God decides the mark on the infinite path for each child as its destination and using the parents as bows, shoots the arrows. Like an archer, God bends the bows (which are parents) testing them for stability. The bows must help the arrows to reach their destination. Existence wants parents to bend like a bow before their own children because they have to travel far and they have to give them strength. Parents should not despise the tests God provides in the image of children, for these tests only make God love the parents more. Existence loves both parents and children because parents are also children of the same existence. God loves not only parents who are stable, but he loves children who as arrows will be bows in the future and shoot their own arrows.

The bow has to be able to withstand the force of its string being drawn back. To do this without snapping in two, the bow also has to have strength. This tensile strength allows the arrow being held on the string to be released with optimal energy as it creates balance through resistance and tension, not unlike the kind of discipline parents try to adjudicate in the making and breaking of boundaries for children either at home or in the classroom. Such discipline uses rules and regulations as guides that will hopefully enhance a child's sense of freedom by engendering a balanced sense of responsibility within him or her as well.

God, the archer, loves parents who give their children roots to grow in and the freedom to fly when their time has come to do so. He loves those who slowly step back and set them free as their children grow up, encouraging them to learn from their own experiences, and to dream their own dreams. He expects parents to do all they can to help their children to fulfill their own highest potential. The archer expects wise parents to tell the children in their case that they are the children of God and that therefore each child is as precious and unique as the other. Further, God expects parents to respect their children because they know that even when a child is still living in a smaller body than their own, it has nonetheless come into their world as a fully developed soul and spirit in its own right, who may have a long history of evolution behind it that could have taken more lifetimes than those of its parents.

God expects wise parent to tell their children that they have come into this life to learn, evolve and grow some more through their own experiences. When their children go to school, wise parents point out to them that they are learning for themselves and for life itself, not only for this lifetime but for Eternity. He expects wise parents to explain to their children the laws of the universe and that because of this, whatever anyone sends out to life has to return to them. Finally, God expect parents to teach children by their good example. In conclusion, this is an illustration how love works in the intimate relationship of parenthood.

Follow me

2016-04-10T19:44:00.000+05:30

Follow me:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AravindVNair99

Facebook: https://facebook.com/AravindVNair1999

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/AravindVNair

Instagram: https://instagram.com/AravindVNair99/

Quora: https://quora.com/profile/Aravind-V-Nair-2

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/AravindVNair99