"COMPUTER CHIPS ARE MADE FROM SILICON, HOW?"

Silicon is the 14th element on the Periodic Table. Silicon fundamental constituents is,one proton heavier than aluminium and one proton lighter than phosphorus. So it is one of the major component for Computer Processors. After oxygen, it’s the second most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. So we can’t find just around us. It Cannot be find in pure state,virtually comes as a components with other elements. It commonly found as silicate(Sio₄) which is one silicon and 4 atom bounds and Silica (Sio₂) which is 1 Silicon atom bound with 2 oxygen atoms. Silica, in a rough and highly contaminated form, is the primary component of sand. Feldspar, granite, quartz, and more are all based on silicon-oxygen compounds.

Silicon Components has variety properties that can bind with other atoms tightly in complex arrangements. Silicates like calcium are primary component of Portland cement, the main binder in concrete, mortar, and even stucco. Some silicate-rich materials can be heated to produce hardened ceramics like porcelain, while others will fuse to form the world’s primary form of glass, soda-lime glass.

Silicon is also used for Other trace addictive substance like cast iron,which uses both carbon and silicon to make iron more resilient and less brittle. silicon is also the major structural component of the synthetic material. Conductors have low resistance while electric current can easily pass. While insulators have high resistance, the electrons will be block. For a transistor it require semiconductor to switch on or off. The best semiconductors for industry can be treated with a wide variety of “dopant’s” to finely adjust their resistance, as needed.

Silicon isn’t the only semiconducting substance on Earth which is available in all over the world.We don’t need to export from the African mines. Growing enormous, near-perfect silicon crystals is one of the primary skills in modern computer chip manufacturing. These crystal has been divided into thin wafers,then engraved, processed and treated in different ways before dicing into commercial processors. It’s possible to make superior transistors into carbon and exotic materials like germanium etc.

Silicon crystals are made in 300 mm diameter cylinders, but research is fast approaching the 450mm threshold.These keep the production cost down after that? There might finally be no choice but to abandon silicon for something less abundant and easy to work good news for processing speeds, but almost certainly bad news for your wallet.

Silicon alien life

The core structural molecules that make up our bodies (proteins, amino acids, nucleic acids, fatty acids, and more) are built on skeletons of carbon atoms. This is because carbon has the property called tetravalent. Oxygen can stable two chemical bond and nitrogen has three. Tetra-valency is a powerful basis for building molecules that are both strong and geometrical. If we know the Periodic Table the elements in vertical column has similar properties. This is why science fiction authors have spent so much time and ink of the idea of silicon-based life; being tetravalent itself, silicon is the most plausible alternate structural element in totally novel forms of life. Silicon is happy to bond with other atoms like carbon such that it can be double lock into a single substance.

Silicon is much more abundant on earth than the carbon. It has to be reason that we are organic (carbon) based ,rather than Silicon. And that the reason comes back to periodic table. Elements which are lower than Periodic Table have heavier nuclei and large electron shells. Silicon is larger and heavier than the carbon which is used for recombinant DNA. Silicon is less widely than the carbon such that silicon based life could be less chemically diverse, or require silicon enzymes to force chemically less-desirable compounds into existence.

Silicon is going to pop up the exponential historical trend in computing power technology. It will remains the substance of choice in many fields. At the very least, we are not anywhere near abandoning its use as a building supply, since silicon compounds are the basis for the rock that makes up the vast majority of the Earth’s crust.

"HOW DOES HPC WORK?"

 

The High-Performance Low-Down

Supercomputers are extremely fast and capable of calculations and running simulations of dazzling complexity. From the earliest designs until today, successive machines have always been about improving on the previous machine, sometimes by orders of magnitude in speed and performance. Computer engineers have been able to pull off some impressive tricks to make computers increasingly faster.

How Fast is Fast?

1. Whether you call them HPCs or supercomputers, they are FAST! All computers are based on large numbers of tiny switches called transistors, each flicking between on & off and storing & manipulating numbers far faster than human beings can. The rate at which the switching happens is dictated by clock speed – the gigahertz or GHz you hear about on adverts and in computer shops. But mainly that’s just a marketing trick. Not all processors work the same way, and some of the newest processors in laptops, desktops and mobile devices like tablet computers don’t have clock speeds as high as those from a few years ago. That’s because they work smarter – not harder. The best measurement has always been the number of instructions or operations a chip can carry out in a given time. For home machines, this is usually measured in Millions of Instructions Per Second (MIPS), but for scientific computation the measure is Millions of Floating Point Operations Per Second (Megaflops, MFLOPS).
2. The very first commercially available microprocessor, the Intel 4004, could carry out just under 0.1MIPS. A reasonably priced laptop PC bought in 2012 could rate at over 100,000 MIPS – more than a million times faster. Rating the modern chip for scientific computation comes up with a figure of 50,000 MFLOPS – not bad! But one of the fastest supercomputers around today – Japan’s K Computer – can do over 10,000,000,000 MFLOPS. That’s the equivalent of 200,000 laptops’ power in a single computer.

Making Sense of the Numbers:

1. Take something like processing a home movie and adding 3D effects. Of course, you have to have the skill to be able to use this software, but even if you do, you generally have to wait around for the computer to do its work. It’s telling that when film makers set out to make a movie consisting of large amounts of CGI – computer graphics imagery – they turn to supercomputers. A single frame from the film Avatar, which was wholly produced using computer graphics techniques, could take an incredible 30–50 hours to render on a standard desktop PC – imagine how long it would take to make the whole film this way, when there are 24 frames per second. Using supercomputer clusters incorporating 1000 processing units, this time is cut down to three-and-a-half minutes per frame. Using more processors means it takes less time.
2. There are even on-demand supercomputers specifically designed for generating 3D graphics, such as renderfarm.fi. Computer graphics are one of the areas of human industry that continues to drive supercomputer development.

"ELECTRONIC PILLS - COLLECTING DATA INSIDE THE BODY"

After years of investment and development, wireless devices contained in swallowable capsules are now reaching the market.

• Companies such as SmartPill based in Buffalo, New York and Israel-based Given Imaging (PillCam) market capsules the size of vitamin tablets.

• These pills contain sensors or tiny cameras that collect information as they travel through the gastrointestinal tract before being excreted from the body a day or two later.

• These new electronic inventions transmit information such as acidity, pressure and temperature levels or images of the esophagus and intestine to your doctor’s computer for analysis.

• Doctors often use invasive methods such as catheters, endoscopic instruments or radioisotopes for collecting information about the digestive tract. So device companies have been developing easier, less intrusive ways, to gather information.

• Digestive diseases and disorders can include symptoms such as acid reflux, bloating, heartburn, abdominal pain, constipation, difficulty swallowing or loss of appetite.

• “One of the main challenges is determining just what is happening in the stomach and intestines.” says Dr. Anish A. Sheth, Director of the Gastrointestinal Motility Program at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

• Doctors can inspect the colon and peer into the stomach using endoscopic instruments. But some areas cannot be easily viewed, and finding out how muscles are working can be difficult.

• Electronic pills are being used to measure muscle contraction, ease of passage and other factors to reveal information unavailable in the past.

"ERASING BAD MEMORIES: WIPING OUT UNCONSIOUS TRACES IS POSSIBLE"

 

Bad memories are not only part of our conscious mind, they also leave a trace in our unconscious. But now, new research shows that actively trying to forget an unwanted memory can help erase this unconscious trace.

• In a new study, researchers showed people pairs of images, and sometimes asked the participants to try to forget the first image of an object. The researchers wanted to see whether such willful forgetting could change how easily the participants could later identify an image of that object, this time hidden almost imperceptibly behind “visual noise,” or a scrambled image of the object.

• Generally, after people have seen an image, say of a coffee cup, they can more easily identify another image of that coffee cup even if it is masked by such visual noise. That’s because the brain does a bit of work to set up a mental representation of the coffee cup the first time around.

• However, in the study, it turned out that participants had a harder time identifying an object within the background noise if they had tried to forget the first.

“Basically, you’re shutting down regions that would ordinarily play a role in seeing that object, just to keep it from coming into the consciousness,”

“The side effect of doing that is that whatever memory traces of the coffee cup were there, they are weakened, and later on, when you have to detect the cup in visual noise, you find just a bit harder.”

Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight

The mental representation of an object, for example, the first coffee cup, is believed to be stored in the visual cortex, the parts of the brain that actually do the “seeing,”. This kind of memory trace is distinct from a conscious memory that a person can recall.

Learning To Forget

“I certainly don’t think that it’s something that you can do in one shot. I think you have to keep at it,”

“It could be that things work a bit differently if we waited a bit of time,”

In future studies, researchers are planning on asking people to suppress memories from their own personal life, to see whether the same effects exist for memories that are long engrained in the consciousness.

"A HOUSE THAT WALKS"

• A new prototype house walked around the campus of the Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridgeshire, England.

• The eco-friendly house is powered by solar cells and minature windmills, and comes with a kitchen, a composting toilet, a system for collecting rain water, one bed, a wood stove for CO2 neutral heating, a rear opening that forms a stairway entrance, and six legs.
• A collaborative effort between MIT and the Danish design collective N55, the house walks about five kilometers an hour similar to the walking speed of a human.
• The legs reguire a software algorithm to calculate the movement and position of the legs to provide stability over varying terrain.
• The house can turn, move forward or backwards, or change height as required and can be programmed with GPS waypoints for traveling to destinations.

"MESSAGING APPS ARE TERRIBLY INSECURE".

It’s likely that every single day, you use a messaging app to communicate with friends and family. It’s also likely that the messaging app you’re using is  unequipped to protect your privacy.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has just released a scorecard featuring 39 messaging apps ranging in popularity from the relatively small Silent Phone and CryptoCat to the ubiquitous iMessage and Facebook Messenger. The scorecard measures the security of each app using seven different criteria.

That includes the questions … Is your communication encrypted in transit? Is your communication encrypted with a key the provider doesn’t have access to? Can you independently verify your correspondent’s identity? Are past communications secure if your keys are stolen? Is the code open to independent review? Is the crypto design well-documented? and Has there been an independent security audit?

Spoiler alert – it’s not good. The messaging landscape is woefully insecure.

In fact, only six applications garnered a perfect score: ChatSecure, CryptoCat, Signal/Redphone, Silent Phone, Silent Text, and TextSecure.

Every other app failed in at least one of the aforementioned areas.

“Many new tools claim to protect you, but don’t include critical features like end-to-end encryption or secure deletion. This scorecard gives you the facts you need to choose the right technology to send your message.”

Out of the most popular apps to be rated, Apple’s iMessage and FaceTime had the best security score (five out of seven).

Services like AIM, Blackberry Messenger, Secret, and Yahoo Messenger were only able to garner one check mark – for messages being encrypted in transit.

Popular apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat, Skype, and Facebook Messenger only grabbed two checks.

“We’re focused on improving the tools that everyday users need to communicate with friends, family members, and colleagues,”

“We hope the Secure Messaging Scorecard will start a race-to-the-top, spurring innovation in stronger and more usable cryptography.”

“Getting a perfect score here is more the first step than final victory. We still need usability studies, metadata protection, independently commissioned audits, and other measures of security before we try to get the whole network to switch to one of these options,”

"HOW COMPUTERS CAN TEACH THEMSELVES TO RECOGNIZE CATS"

• A Network of 16,000 computers trained itself to recognize a cat by looking at 10 million images from YouTube videos. Today, the technique is used in everything from Google image searches to Facebook’s newsfeed algorithms.

• “What it’s about is allowing the computer to learn how to represent information in a more meaningful way, and doing so at several levels of representation,”

• “There are many ways you can represent information, some of which allow a human decision maker to make a decision more easily,”

• Similarly, deep learning allows a computer (or set of computers) to take a bunch of raw data — in the form of pixels on a screen, for example — and construct higher and higher levels of abstraction. It can then use these abstract concepts to make decisions, such as whether a picture of a furry blob with two eyes and whiskers is a cat.

• The self-learning approach has led to dramatic advances in speech- and image-recognition software. It is used in many Internet and mobile phone products, and even self-driving cars.

"HOW TO IDENTIFY HACKERS?"

5 Smart Ways To Identify Hackers

The internet is an integral part of our daily lives. We use it for communication, searching for information, making payments.

To avoid a similar fate, read on for the most common methods used by hackers along with tips on how to avoid being duped:

1. Spoof Emails

• All netizens use email for work or personal use. This also makes it one of the easiest methods to contact someone and entice him her with schemes.
• The most common fraud emails include those about winning lotteries or a wealthy prince looking to invest money through you or regarding inheritance from unknown persons.
• Emails like these from people you don’t know should be red flags. Then there are mails with attachments that can install spyware or viruses when you open the attachment.
• The simple way to be safe against email fraud is to neither download attachments nor send details to unknown senders.

2. Fake Websites/Apps

• You could be scammed by visiting fake websites or installing fake smartphone/tablet apps.
• Many times, it’s the bank websites that get duplicated — they may even look exactly like the original and will ask you to input your login ID and password to proceed. If you place these details, the creator will use them to access your account.
• The easiest way to detect a fake bank website is to see the browser address bar. Check that the website address has ‘https:’ before the name. This means that the site uses a secure certificate (all bank websites use this).
• In terms of apps, check for the developer name (usually written below the app name in the app store) and read reviews on any banking app in detail before installing these apps. Only download banking apps from the official app stores.

3. Ads That Are Too Good To Be True

• If you see a product available at a price which is way below the regular asking price, it is bound to be some sort of scam. You can get discounts online, but when something is listed as 80 or 90% off the retail price, it’s a red flag.

• People putting up these deals usually ask for money upfront which is another red flag. Keep in mind that these products could also be stolen or imported products being sold, so if you actually find a genuine product make sure to take a copy of the ID proof of the seller.

4. Key Loggers

• A key logger is software installed on a computer that records each and every keystroke you do on the keyboard.
• A fraudster can find your login details for various sites, just by accessing the entire log of your key presses. Public internet cafes are an easy target to install these key loggers to get crucial information from unsuspecting users.

• There is essentially no way to detect if a keylogger is running in the background so if you must use a public computer, avoid typing usernames and passwords on the keyboard.

• Use virtual keyboards instead. Most bank websites have these. You can also pull up the onscreen keyboard in Windows and use that to input the username and password.

• Windows 8 users can search for an on-screen keyboard in the start menu while older Windows users can go to Start menu > All programs > accessories > ease of access > on-screen keyboard.

5. Credit Card Detail On Phone

• There are many advertisements sent by banks to avoid this issue. No one from your bank will ever call and ask for your credit card details over a phone call.

• Any call claiming to be from the bank and asking for bank details is a red flag.

• You should not share information regarding credit cards or netbanking with anyone over the phone, even if the caller knows a fair bit about you.

"BIG TRENDS IN IT AUTOMATION"

Is your company getting too big to avoid automation? It might be time to consider workflow automation.

Ben Rosenberg is the president and founder of Advanced Systems Concepts, which is a provider of ActiveBatch enterprise job scheduling and workload automation, which allows IT organizations to automate and conquer IT boundaries by simplifying the development of business processes into workflows that improve service levels and reduce the cost of operations.

Automation will change the way virtual and cloud environments are managed. Cloud and virtualization are accelerating the demand for automation. Why? Because running jobs and processes across diverse machines and infrastructure requires resources. In virtual and cloud environments, resource allocation is key for the execution of workloads and to receive the savings associated with cloud computing. Bringing virtualization and the cloud into the automation equation is an elegant way to automatically allocate resources to workload processing where and when they’re needed, and to return those resources for use elsewhere once the workload is completed.

Self-service automation will serve the entire organization. Business processes are increasingly interlinked and reliant on IT technologies. The concept of self-service automation is simple: The end user of a business process can choose from a service catalog within an IT automation solution and initiate the process themselves – without the need to involve someone from IT operations. For example, a business analyst needs an updated report from a BI solution. The process of updating such a solution could involve multiple IT technologies, but with IT automation, that’s something the business analyst doesn’t need to worry about.

A single automation engine will emerge as an automation solution. IT automation is made up of a number of disparate automation solutions that can trace their roots back decades, such as batch processing, runbook automation and workload automation. The idea of IT automation is to bring all these foundational pillars under one roof into a unified and centralized automation solution that accounts for all these plus a number of complementary technologies and capabilities, such as infrastructure monitoring, running IT processes on-demand and automating the resources associated with cloud computing. This concept of a “single automation engine” has come to full maturation. Look for leading vendors to focus their offerings around this concept in 2012 and for the foreseeable future.

Automation will reduce the cost of IT operations. The number of disparate technologies comprising IT departments is growing, but staffing and budgets remain the same. IT automation will begin to serve as the catalyst to drive efficiency and reduce the cost of operations through the automation of time-consuming and resource-intensive processes, and through the reduction of errors from manual intervention and scripting. IT automation has been delivering these results for years, but in 2012, with automation moving to center stage and widespread adoption, its value will really become evident.

Automation will automate big data and data integration. Businesses, both big and small, are increasingly relying on data to make critical decisions in near real-time. As the volume of data increases, so does the number of disparate data sources that feed into data warehouses and business intelligence solutions. IT automation will become a linchpin in 2012 that automates the integration and movement of data between these disparate sources to improve data quality and reporting.

"THE CREATIVE LIFE AND WELL-BEING"

The Creative Life is full of new possibilities, discoveries, exploration, experimentation, self-expression, and invention. It’s a habit, a way of being, a style of existing. But is the Creative Life full of well-being?

Depends on how you define well-being.

In recent years, psychologists have taken a deeper look at well-being. The traditional approach to well-being focuses on hedonic pleasures and positive emotions. However, while positive emotions often accompany happiness, the mere experience of positive emotions is not necessarily an indicator of happiness, and the presence of negative emotions doesn’t necessarily decrease one’s well-being. This deeper approach to well-being, often described as “eudaimonic well-being”, focuses on living life in a full and deeply satisfying way.

1. Autonomy (“I have confidence in my opinions, even if they are contrary to the general consensus“)
2. Environmental mastery (“I am quite good at managing the many responsibilities of my daily life”)
3. Personal growth (“I think it is important to have new experiences that challenge how you think about yourself and the world”)
4. Positive relations with others (“People would describe me as a giving person, willing to share my time with others”)
5. Purpose in life (“Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I am not one of them”)
6. Self-acceptance (“I like most aspects of my life”)

Amore recent study dived deeper into the relationship between the Creative Life and happiness. They found that creativity was not significantly correlated with overall life satisfaction. Nevertheless, they found that various creativity styles were associated with intrinsic motivation— a love of creating for the sake of creating, and not for external rewards.

In particular, the following four aspects of the Creative Life were all associated with intrinsic motivation:

1. Specific strategies to facilitate creativity (“I often let my mind wander to come up with new ideas,” “I take walks to come up with new ideas,” “I typically create new ideas by combining existing ideas,” “I am always thinking (fantasizing) about how to do everyday things differently”)
2. Strong belief in unconscious processes (“I believe in unconscious processes that facilitate my creative work,” “I have been able to use many ideas for creative work that have occurred in my dreams”)
3. Use of all senses for creative work (“I tend to use my visual sense a lot in my creative work,” “I tend to use my sense of smell a lot in my creative work,” “I tend to use my sense of taste a lot in my creative work”)
4. High need for solitude (“I am secretive about my new ideas,” “I physically isolate myself from other people when I am working on creative ideas”)

But perhaps most tellingly, the researchers found that creativity was more strongly related to the sum of positive and negative emotions than measures of positive or negative emotions alone. This suggests that the capacity to experience intense emotions– both positive and negative– may be central to the Creative Life.

The Creative Life

While the Creative Life is not directly associated with traditional conceptualizations of happiness, the Creative Life appears to be associated with a more deeply meaningful life. – See more at:

• The Pleasant Life is what people tend to think of when they think of happiness: a life full of positive emotions and joy, and lacking challenge or struggle. The Pleasant Life is mainly about getting what you want and need. It is associated with feeling good in the moment, and being a taker more than a giver. In contrast, the Meaningful Life is linked to self-expression, and doing positive things for others. Certainly, there are factors that contribute to both the Pleasant Life and the Meaningful Life– including feeling connected to others, feeling productive, and not being alone or bored– but there are also some key differences between living a pleasant and meaningful life.
• The Meaningful Life is associated with increased stress and anxiety, but it is also linked to greater integration of the past, present, and future, resiliency, and the ability to cope with life’s inevitable difficulties.

The Creative Life may not always be pleasant, but stick with it, because it can ultimately lead to a deeper and more meaningful sense of well-being.

"THE ART OF THE SHIFT"

 

To manage for disruption we need to realize that it is the mastery of one model that hinders our adoption of another; our drive for competence that renders us inept.

• In an age of disruption the only viable strategy is to adapt. Today things move too quickly to stick with old paradigms once their time has passed. Once outdated platforms fail to solve new problems, they will be overtaken with blazing speed and we must either make a shift or get left behind.
• Changing our mental model of how the world works is an exceedingly hard thing to do.
• we need to unlearn old ones. The tried and true, for all of its charms, will eventually be disrupted and, if we are tomanage for disruption, we need to master the art of the shift.

The Making Of A Model

We spend a good portion of our lives learning established models. We go to school, train for a career and hone our craft. We make great efforts to learn basic principles and are praised when we show that we have grasped them. As strive to become masters of our craft we find that as our proficiency increases, so does our success and status.

Traditional models come to us with such great authority that we seldom realize that they too once were revolutionary. And that, strangely enough, is what led to its fall from grace.

The Rise Of Best Practices And The Establishment Of A Mental Model

When the individual scientist can take a paradigm for granted, he need no longer, in his major works, attempt to build his field anew, starting from first principles and justifying the use of each concept introduced. This can be left to the writer of textbooks.

The “Special Case” That Just Won’t Go Away

Thoughtful practitioners realize that all rules have exceptions. Most of the time, these can be worked around fairly easily and the model stays largely intact. We adapt to particular situations with reasonable dexterity, making allowances for distinct sets of facts and then moving on. These, we regard as “special cases” and rarely give them much thought.

Faced with a challenge, we hone our model and redouble our efforts.

The Beginner’s Mind

In earlier times, we could put some faith in the status quo. We could begin a career, rise up through the ranks and attain some level of prosperity and prestige. We were judged largely by our progress through certain stages of life and career: from adolescence to adulthood then retirement; entry level on to mid level, then finally senior level executive and so on.

Once we begin to understand the challenge, the solution becomes clear: We need to learn how to unlearn. It takes a beginner’s mind to see a problem anew, without the constraints of history, doctrine and mental model. That’s when we can shift from a culture of performance to a culture of change and disruption becomes an opportunity instead of a threat.

"ARE WE RUNNING OUT OF INTERNET? "

 

The internet is running out of room – but we can save it

• The meeting sparked headlines warning of a “full” internet and the potential need for data rationing, but the reality is more nuanced. The crunch is real, caused by fast growth of online media consumption through the likes of Netflix and Youtube, but physics and engineering can help us escape it. The internet just needs a few tweaks.
• Fear of a capacity crunch stems from a hard physical truth – there is a limit to the amount of information you can cram down any communications channel, fibre-optic cable or copper wire.
• This limit depends on the channel’s bandwidth – the number of frequencies it can transmit – and its signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

Digital Traffic Jam

The information capacity of optical fibres – the light-carrying pipes that form the backbone of the internet – can be increased simply by increasing the power of the light beamed through them. This boosts the signal that encodes, say, a Netflix show so that it dominates over the inherent noise of the fibre, making it easier to read at the other end.

• Researchers have spent decades finding ways to amplify signals, increasing the capacity of fibre already in the ground and keeping up with the growth of internet traffic.
• But that trick has hit a dead end. If you up the power beyond a certain point, the fibre becomes saturated with light and the signal is degraded. This limit means fibres as we currently use them are nearing their full capacity. “You can’t get an infinite amount of capacity in a fibre
• This technique analyses interference within the fibre as light travels through. It then rapidly calculates how the light was distorted, allowing the recipient to clean up the signal at the other end.
• New fibres that contain multiple cores for transmitting data, effectively many fibres in one. These are more difficult to make than conventional fibres because the cores are tiny and must keep their shape across kilometre-long cables, but they’re capable of handling much more data.

"GET TECHNOLOGY WORKING FOR YOU?"

Technology is a conundrum; a confusing and difficult problem or question, indeed! It is the double-edged sword that simultaneously arms you with the powers of productivity and the perils of procrastination. It gives you the WORLD in the palm of our hand yet may prevent you from listening to the person standing right next to you. Technology is a gift that can sometimes feel like a curse. It is becoming more simple and easy to use, yet with increasing complexity and capability. Such is the irony that is technology.

There is hardware to buy, storage to manage, accounts to setup, passwords to store, accessories to buy, data to synchronize, apps to update, emails to read (or not), receipts to save, alerts to acknowledge, more accessories to buy, software to upgrade, documents to scan, to dosto do and of course calls to take, voice messages to listen to, texts to read and AGBeat articles to clip and share. There is no end to what you can do (and not get done) when you use and interact with the latest and greatest technologies available to you.

Be An Early Adopter of Relevant Technologies :

• While you don’t want the influence of technology to overrun your life, you need to be able to embrace it to the extent that it can benefit you personally and professionally; to the extent that it can help you to do what you do more effectively and efficiently.
• One way to do that, starting today, is to become an early adopter. An early adopter is simply anyone who learns about a new technology that seems like it could be of value, and jumps right in to test it out to see how well it works.
• A word of caution though – beware of the never-ending rabbit-hole of NEW. Just because a device or application or gadget is NEW or popular it doesn’t mean it is for you. In fact, when discussing technology it is particularly useful to keep in mind that less is more. Having an overwhelming number of devices, accessories, applications and programs will likely tend to unnecessarily complicate your life rather than simplify it.

Keep It Simple… Without Getting Left Behind :

Frequent interaction with technology (hardware, software, applications, cloud computing) throughout each day is not just the norm, it is often a necessity. An inability to understand and effectively utilize and embrace both old and new technologies can disqualify you from being able to work within certain industries and professions.

Through some experimentation you too can determine the approach that will work best for you.

• Eliminate unnecessary alerts and distractions: If technology ends up distracting you more than it focuses you, then it is not to your benefit. It owns you rather than you owningit. I choose to turn off all audible and vibration alerts on my computer and mobile devices with the exception of phone calls, text messages and certain work emails. I often close unused programs and windows when not in use to remain focused on the task at hand. I work best when my desk or work area is clear of clutter and visual distractions.

• Remember that multi-tasking is a myth: This statement alone may possibly launch a wave of controversy so I will devote a future article solely to this subject. Yet it is true. Computers can multi-task; people cannot. You and I can switch tasks, but can’t do two things effectively at the same time. Obviously you can do certain things simultaneously, and we all do, but when it comes to using the mind, focusing and being productivity, don’t kid yourself into thinking that you are being productive when you bounce from one thing to the next in a flurry of busy-ness. Being busy and being productive are two entirely different things. They are not synonymous, unfortunately. Set your priority and focus on it until complete. Then set your sights on the next one. I think we all inherently know this is the surest path to productivity, yet it is difficult to consistently do it. We live in the age of distraction after all.

• It Only Takes Half a Dozen of…Whatever: Jim Rohn certainly knew what he was talking about when he said that it only takes about half a dozen things to make the difference in our lives. If we look closely at what really matters, what really produces results, it would be about half a dozen things! And since the subject is technology, I’m here to tell you there are probably about half a dozen apps and/or software programs that are essential for your business success. The take away? Start deleting some apps, removing some programs and freeing up some space in your life.

• Use It Or Lose It Baby: This statement is so true in all facets of life, isn’t it? If you consistently workout, you get stronger; you have more energy! Find ways to consistently use technology. By creating daily habits related to technology that serve you well you can find creative ways for making your life more simple, productive and fun. Enjoy the process of learning and growing with all the advances in technology. If you are overwhelmed by it all, just devote 10-15 minutes a day to practicing and working with whatever it is that happens to intimidate you. You could also take a local class or online course to gain a better understanding and increase your confidence with technology.

• Implement Your Social Media Strategy: Social media platforms can be a huge time suck if left unchecked; though they can also be a great way to meet people and to provide value for others. You need to be strategic and mindful with the way you approach social media to ensure you are not just wasting time. There is a lot to it so keep it simple and if you need to, work with one program at a time until you are comfortable enough with it to add others into the mix. I still consider myself somewhat of a social media novice, but my current approach is based on using content that I’ve published in various blog formats to then be pushed out through the social media networks that I have accounts with. That gives me a chance to share something of value and to hopefully create some dialogue with others related to the topics that I have written about.

The ultimate take-away I would hope you remember from all of this is that you own your technology; it does not own you. You can setup and configure your devices and applications to either work for you or against you. You can let technology drive you crazy, or you can utilize it efficiently to help drive you towards your goals with greater speed and precision. The power lies in your hands.

"IF YOUR PHONE IS PRIVATE? USE THESE 10 TIPS TO KEEP IT PRIVATE !!"

Smart phones have come a long way, so has the extent of security and privacy issues related to them. We are now increasingly dependent upon smartphones for making all-important call or send out the text.

Since you do so many things on it, the smart phones are very personal devices with a lot of personal data on them. This means they are also a massive privacy risk. Your data can be leaked by apps through internet or someone can have a glimpse of it while you are showing an interesting image to a friend on your phone. 

So How Can You Minimize The Privacy Risk?

To tell you the truth, there is no such thing as 100 per cent privacy while using a smart phone. But, if you remember certain important tips and tricks, and follow them right, chances are that you could at least reach 75 per cent, may be more and that’s a significant margin in the online world.

Here are 10 Key Tips and tricks to Improve Smart phone Security:

All Important Security Pin/Password/Pattern

• This is one of the most primary steps to ensure your smart phone is locked for anyone except you, at all times. However, as basic as it may seem, most people are too lazy to set it up. Setting up a screen lock is very important, as is setting it up right. Make sure your pin/password is not lame enough as say 1234, so that anyone can crack it in first go. At the same time, don’t make it so confusing that even you don’t remember it. It’s totally your call.
• Ideally, you should select a combination of numbers and alphabets.
• In addition, set your screen lock time somehow between 1-5 minutes of non-use.
• The above said is not a full-proof plan to secure your smart phone. Those with some technical know-how can unlock your phone in a few steps. But it’s the very basic that you could do, and so you must.

Every Phone Now Has A Free Tracking/Wiping Service. Use It!

• Every smart phone OS, whether it be Android, iOS, BlackBerry or Windows Phone comes with some kind of remote tracking and wiping tool. Android phones have what you call a Device Manager, while iPhones come with Find My iPhone and so on.
• Essentially, these tools/services come into play when your phone is lost/misplaced or stolen. Using these tools, you can remotely lock, track, and even wipe your phone data using a computer and Internet. The trick here is to have these tools up and running on your smart phones at all times.

Download Some Kind Of File Lock App

• There has to be something on your smart phone, whether it can be a chat, a picture or anything for any matter, that you would want to save from prying eyes at all times, even from close ones. There may be some apps that you don’t want others using your phone to access. A file lock app comes handy in such situations. There are many good ones available in app stores.
• Download and install them, then password protect the data that you wish to hide. Only you or someone who has the password can then access them.

Set Up A Guest Mode/Parental Lock On Your Phone

• Android 5.0 Lollipop and iOS 8, the latest iterations from Google and Apple come with something called as Guest Mode. Basically, the trick is to restrict access to the content on your Android/iOS smart phone when you’re giving it to somebody.
• Using the Guest Mode, you can create a separate user profile on your smart phone and assign it with the apps and content that you deem fit to be accessed by someone else. Once you have this profile up and running, next time you hand over your phone to someone you simply have to enable Guest Mode and he/she will gain access to this profile, hiding all the other stuff.
• The normal profile will be password protected and cannot be accessed until it is typed right.

Update Your Smart phone Software Regularly

• Software developers release periodic updates to their software, improving upon an already existing version. These improvements include security and stability updates as well. 
• Therefore, as and when updates (no matter how big or small) come up for your OS, for instance, make sure you update it, and have latest version running on your smart phone at all times.
• It’s more important from a security point of view, since these updates may have some fix for some security issue that might be plaguing an earlier version. Also, software developers tend to push out fixes to security bugs (as and when something is detected) therefore it is highly advisable to update your phones periodically.

Beware Of Installing Apps From Untrusted Sources

• Android smart phones have something called an Unknown Sources option in security settings. Checking it allows you to install third-party apps from sources other than Google’s official Play Store. You don’t have such an option in the iPhone, and you need to jailbreak it if you want to install third-party apps.
• Ideally, you must not do either of these. Always install apps from trusted sources, meaning the Google Play Store and the iTunes Store. Apps therein meet the desired standards of official safety and security. Everything else is just calling for unnecessary trouble.

Keep Your Location Settings In Check

• Every smart phone now comes with a built-in GPS or location tracking feature. Essentially, these keep your apps and services like Google Maps and others live and active at all times. While, it may seem convenient to have your location settings open for such apps, even others like Facebook, Twitter etc, there may come a time when you don’t want others to know where you are.
• But more than anything, you wouldn’t want your apps to know where you are, at all times. It is possible to individually allow/deny apps to ascertain your location. You can control your location settings, even shut it off completely.

Public Wi-Fi Is Dangerous, Avoid It

• Public Wi-Fi, or the Wi-Fi you get at places like some restaurant, coffee shop or whatever is the breeding ground for some of the most dangerous cyber attacks.
• Miscreants who have good technical know-how tend to use these networks to push man in the middle attacks. Basically, using some cyber sorcery, hackers can gain access to your smart phone (in the event you’re connected to the public Wi-Fi network) and can do a lot many dangerous things, ranging from gaining your online passwords, to getting access to your confidential bank records. While you must refrain from using the smart phone for sensitive dealings, the truth is we are doing it a lot these days.
• Therefore, the one way to ensure your security is to avoid public Wi-Fi networks.

Turn Off Wi-Fi/Bluetooth When Not In Use

• Many people have their Wi-Fi on at most times. As and when some Wi-Fi network becomes open, they like to have it up and running on their smart phone to save on their data charges. It’s not safe to do this.
• Also, having your Bluetooth on when you don’t need it is also calling for trouble.
• Hackers may use an available connection on your phone to access your files. Therefore, have these on only when you need to use.

Backup Your Data

This is more the precautionary step in the event your smart phone does get lost or stolen. Have a backup of all your data/contacts/documents ready at all times. Ideally, you should have it in some physical drive, but saving it up in the cloud is also a handy option.

"23,000 TOWERS TO BE INSTALLED TO ADDRESS CALL DROPS ISSUE"

The government is “serious on the issue of mobile call drop of plaguing BSNL” and taking steps to address the problem, Union Minister for Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said:

• “We are serious on the issue of mobile call drop of BSNL. Steps are being taken to address it. A meeting on it has been held at the departmental secretary level. Additional spectrum has also been given,” Prasad told reporters in Patna.
• The Minister said he spoke to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to decide whether there could be any incentive for ensuring that mobile call drop does not happen.
• He also said 35,000 new mobile towers have been planned across the country to address the call drop issue.
• “Of the 35,000 mobile towers, we have already installed 12,000 in the last one year,” he added.
• Prasad said that the financial health of BSNL is improving with the NDA government at the Centre.
• “BSNL had achieved a profit of Rs. 10,000 crores in 2004 when the NDA government was there. It showed a loss of Rs. 8,000 crores after 10 years when the UPA government’s tenure got over in 2014. The telecom company has now added 47 lakh new customers and its revenue is up by 2 per cent in the last one year during our government at the Centre”.

"MICROSOFT DELETES OLDER ASK.COM BROWSER TOOLBARS"

Microsoft deletes older Ask.com Browser Toolbars

Microsoft delete the security software of older version Ask.Com browser and step head to Oracle software of new Version. This has been done because of long-bundled with Java even in the face of users’ complaints.

Oracle has sidestepped Microsoft’s new policy by changing its Java installer so that it adds a Yahoo browser tool to Internet Explorer (IE).

Microsoft has set security for their products for its different version such as Windows Vista, Windows 7 & Windows 8.1. Later the Microsoft has announced Ask.com is the security software in their app store for all version. It also been set as icon in the Internet Explorer as a new page.

Last month, Microsoft warned developers that as of 1st June 2015 its security software would finger programs that engage in “search protection,” lingo referring to programs that “prevent or limit users from viewing or modifying browser features or settings.”

Microsoft published the criteria it would use to define “search protection” in December 2014, and at the time said it would switch on detection and deletion on Jan. 1, 2015. For whatever reason, the deadline was extended: About three weeks ago Microsoft said that the trigger date would be 1st June 2015.

According to the deadline Which has been passed the Microsoft has remove his older version software and switch into the Oracle bundles with the Windows and OS X versions of Java.

Ask’s toolbar comes in versions for IE, Apple’s Safari, Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox

Ask.com confirmed that its latest toolbar was immune from detection, as Microsoft said. According to sources with knowledge of the Oracle-Ask partnership, the latter had worked with Microsoft for several months to make its toolbar compliant with IE’s new rules.

Microsoft updated the news in Email – Statement that “After multiple renewals over the course of several years, we did not extend the relationship upon expiration of the most recent deal.”

Users have complained about the bundle of years, even going to the trouble of initiating Online petitions were thousands have called on Oracle to stop.

The Yahoo tool behaviour seemed to break one of the Microsoft rules it spelled out last year: “Our objective criteria states that a program should not … circumvent user consent dialogues from the browser or operating system,” one of those rules asserted. Yet Computer world never saw a message from Windows or IE to confirm the change to IE11’s search engine.

Microsoft isn’t the only browser maker to put the hurt on toolbars. Google has been bashing them for ages, stressing the high gripe volume from Chrome users about the category; limiting in-browser apps and add-ons to those distributed through the Chrome Web Store, where they can be vetted; and warning customers about dubious software that changes the home page or search engine.

"USING IT INNOVATIONS TO STREAMLINE BUSINESS OPERATIONS"

Although technology trends seem to come and go with frightening regularity, some have a lasting impact on business. These are ones that change the way businesses operate and provide dramatic improvement for those that adopt them.

• Such technologies help organizations become operationally lean, agile and responsive, increase effectiveness and improve outcomes. Innovative technology also empowers executives, managers and workforces to operate their business more effectively. 

• But deciding which technologies to adopt and where to apply them requires thought and planning, and for many it is hard to know where to start and how best to ensure that they are not falling behind in competitive global markets.

• This confusion is multiplied when six game-changing technology innovations appear virtually and simultaneously; each category requires its own approach to evaluation and selection of products, and this says nothing of the complexity of combining them.

• These technology innovations – big data, business analytic, business collaboration, cloud computing, mobile technology and social media – can enable new computing methods for the lines of business and IT in any industry as they strive to unlock full value from people, process, information and technology investments. Gaining this knowledge is not so easy task;

• It requires thorough and wide-ranging research to find the best (and worst) practices that organizations need to understand as they try to increase their competency and effectiveness. 

• The Business Technology Innovation benchmark research explores in detail how companies can make technology deployments and use these choices to gain a competitive advantage and streamline operations.

• The research identified and quantified the ways in which organizations use each of six technology innovations across business and IT.

• It also explores the value of using these technologies to create more effective processes, and assesses the maturity of organizations’ current use and the benefits of deployment.

Bring your IT systems up to modern standards with our advanced information technology solutions.

IT services that can streamline your company’s operations :

• Database and data warehousing
• Software development
• Portal / web development
• Microsoft messaging solutions
• Systems engineering
• Network architecture / operations
• Virtualization design / operations
• ERP / HCM

"7 LAPTOP SECURITY TIPS AND TRICKS FOR YOUR TRAVELS !!"

7 Laptop Security Tips And Tricks For Your Travels!

LAPTOPS are becoming an essential item to pack when going away but they’re expensive and delicate. Here are some top tips to follow to keep them secure.

Not only will you need to look after the physical wellbeing of your laptop but keeping your data secure is also very important. Be vigilant by taking heed of these seven security tricks:

1. Bag it – Keep the laptop in a sturdy bag that’s specially designed for laptops. The sleeve should be well-padded and the bag TSA-compliant. The bag should be collapsible and expandable (depending on contents), and easy to wear near your body for extended periods.

2. Don’t part with it – Pretend your laptop is a baby. In public, you wouldn’t leave your baby unattended while you went to the toilet or moved around in your location. Likewise, take your laptop with you wherever you go in public, even if it’s just one aisle over.

3. Hang the “Do Not Disturb” sign – If you must leave your laptop in your hotel room when you’re out, put up the “Do Not Disturb” sign. The fewer people in your room, the less likely your laptop will be stolen. You can also put the laptop in the hotel’s safe, though that’s no guarantee of security, either.

4. Use a cable lock – Though a persistent thief won’t be deterred by this in a setting where nobody will notice him, it can indeed keep him at bay if the laptop is in a busy public place. Find out if your company provides cable locks. Otherwise, you can purchase them online.

5. Software leash – A stolen or misplaced laptop can be located with software. For best results in the event your laptop gets stolen or lost, register with one of these anti theft tracking services prior to your trip. My Laptop GPS is good.

6. Don’t be nice – Yes, don’t be nice enough to let a stranger use your laptop.

7. Use a VPN – VPN stands for virtual private network, and it’s very effective at providing data security when you use a laptop in public (airport, cafe, hotel) where the network is open season all season for hackers. You’ll be protected when you’re on any site. Ask if your company can give you a VPN when you travel. Use Hotspot Shield.

"WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN HIRING A DEVELOPER?"

A web developer can be one of your most critical hires. After all, that’s the person who will create the online face of your company and enable you to interact virtually with your customers.

So, it’s especially important that you hire the right talent the first time out. Otherwise, you risk hurting your business, as well as wasting time and money seeking a replacement.

Here are five tips that can help in the selection process:

1. Hire For DNA First, Then Work Experience. 

When I hire web developers, their personal DNA is the most important consideration. While experience is important, the bigger predictor of success is someone’s innate DNA and how it fits your company. Are drive, determination, persistence, curiosity, important to you culture? Or, are you more low-key and relaxed about time management and deadlines? Whatever characteristics make up your culture, you want to ensure that the web developer will fit in.

For example, a brilliant web developer who has worked at a large financial institution may not do well at a start-up. Why? A start-up typically requires traits like versatility, adaptability, risk-taking and a self-starter personality, but these may be less important at a large company.

So, make a list of your company’s DNA requirements. Do you foster an environment of relentless drive? Do you want great team players? If you come up with five requirements, make sure the interviewee matches at least three. Hiring for DNA also can help you to start to define a company culture and ensure that your team will work well together. Of course, it’s easy for some people to fake it in an interview, so you may need to evaluate them in other ways to ensure they’re a good fit.

2. Try Out A New Developer With a Small Project First.

Although you might think you’ve identified your ideal candidate, just to be sure you should give him or her a small, non-critical project. That can let you observe the person in action and provide additional information beyond the job interview.
You can see how efficient the candidate is in delivering products and how buggy the final product is. Did he or she go above and beyond to get the product delivered? How creative was the solution? How well did he or she work in a team and communicate problems and delays?

3.Pick A Developer With Aptitude, Not A Particular Skill Set.

In the tech space, skills become obsolete every two years, give or take. So, it’s better to hire a web developer who can learn new technologies easily rather than someone who knows a specific technology now but may not adapt when a new one comes along.

The easiest way to detect whether someone will adapt well to change is to ask questions that will reveal whether a Web developer has a love for learning. For example:

• What new programming languages did you learn recently?
• What are your go-to places for learning new technology tips and tricks?
• What are your favourite technology conferences?

4. Don’t Ask Trivia Questions About Programming. 

These are examples of trivia questions you want to avoid asking when interviewing web developers:
Who is the primary creator of the Java programming language?
In what year was PHP released?
What is the origin of the Python scripting language’s name?

While such information may seem useful, trivia questions are often a terrible way to determine if someone is smart. They just single out people who can memorize things.

As a rule of thumb when I conduct technical interviews, I never ask questions that can be easily searched for and found online. Instead, I focus on open-ended questions and listen. What I look for is how much passion candidates show in their answers and how well they communicate and explain technology terms.

Some examples of open-ended questions:

• How do you manage conflicts in a web application when different people are editing the same data?
• Which design patterns have you used, and in what situations?
• Can you name any differences between object-oriented design and component-based design?

5. Hire Slow, Fire Fast.

Take your time when hiring, but if you realize the person isn’t working out, let him or her go as fast as you can. An ineffective web developer can be disruptive to the entire team and potentially the entire project.
For Example, I made a significant hiring mistake a few years ago and let that person stay on for far too long. Although he was a talented lead developer, he’d sometimes disappear for days, missing important deadlines. Missing deadlines can be especially detrimental to start-ups where resources are tight and the ability to develop and improve products quickly and efficiently can make or break them.

The fire-fast rule may be difficult to follow in small companies where there’s often a feeling of everyone being in it together and forming close friendships. But don’t let that stop you.