Thursday, October 28, 2010

WiFi Direct To kill Bluetooth?

With the increasing usage of digital media content like photos, videos and music, file transfer across devices has almost become a part of our daily lives. Now in current times if you want to have a file transferred across a device wirelessly  the choice  you have is Bluetooth, WiFi and in some cases 3G. The easiest way is through bluetooth, Just search the device and send the file but its quite slow. Wi-Fi is a lot faster but you need to add the device to your Wi-Fi network first, so it becomes quite cumbersome if you have a new device like your friends cell phone or something and if you don't have a Wi-Fi router you cannot do a file transfer.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Firesheep lets anyone hack into your social network accounts on public networks

After the Toorcon 12 hacker conference in San Diego on Sunday, public and Open WiFi networks cannot be trusted for security any more. Eric Butler, a freelance web application and software developer from Seattle, WA revealed to the world a free Firefox Plug-in called "Firesheep".
This plugin take advantage of the a security issue which is very prevalent across an array websites which include Facebook and Twitter. When logging into a website you usually start by submitting your username and password. The remote server then verifies the information to see if an account matching with the provided information exists and if so, replies back to device with a "cookie" which is used by your browser for all subsequent requests or information transfer.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Good Bye Dish Anntena: Flat Antennas As Satellite TV Signal Receivers

With the advent of the Satellite TV age our eyes have got accustomed to seeing satellite dishes on roof tops, near windows in apartment buildings and even those compact dishes on some cars and camper vans. These are actually a kind of nuisance to the surrounding considering the fact that they spoil the beauty of a structure and not to mention the amount of dirt they collect over time and people don't even bother to clean them.

But with a new technology developed by a recent PhD graduate from The Netherlands University of Twente it is days over for the dish antenna. Marcel Van de Burgwal has designed a microchip that allows for a grid array of almost flat antennas to receive satellite signals. With the inspiration from the LOFAR project which uses an array of antennas located across the northeast Dutch countryside linked together to form a virtual radiotelescopy dish.

Friday, October 15, 2010

India (DRDO) to Develop its Own Operating System for Security

The recent virus attacks that took place in Iran by a virus called Stuxnet which can enter crucial installations like nuclear plants and other installations has posed a great threat to countries and systems all across the world. It takes advantage from a security hole in the Windows operating System. Stuxnet is capability to reprogram the programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and hide the changes.This poses a grave threat to government and military installations. So it has become very important to create a secure operating system environment for such kind of installations.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Facebook adds new security features

Facebook has become a part of life for a majority of its users. We share so much of our personal information on it that we cannot afford to let our account fall prey to hackers and identity thieves. So I would first suggest you to make passwords stronger by using a combination of letters (captial and small) numbers and if possible symbols and please make sure you passwords is at least 8 characters in length.
Its best to create a new Email ID for facebook or use and Email which no one or very few people are aware of,cause your account can only be intruded if the intruder knows your login email in the first place.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Casio's new PRIZM (fx-CG10) graphing calculator

The world is moving forward very fast with technology we find big manufacturers and companies releasing new ground breaking products now and then.
Almost every tech professional in this world might have used a Casio scientific calculator at some point in his life and yes calculation have their limitations but that's about to change. This past week Casio unveiled a new calculator the "PRIZM (fx-CG10)" the worlds first calculator to feature Picture Plot function that enables users to plot graphs over curves and other familiar shapes in real life, such as the parabola of jets from a water fountain etc.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Recon-Zeal Transcend goggles with GPS and head-mounted display

Winter is coming and its time for some wild winter sports when the first snow hits the mountains. But wait if you're a winter sports fanatic have you heard about the new Recon-Zeal Transcend goggles?
Yes! display technology innovator Recon Instruments and sports lens developer Zeal Optics came together to create the worlds first and only goggles which feature GPS and a head mounted display.
These goggles provide its user with real time display/feedback of speed, latitude/longitude, altitude, vertical distance travelled, total distance traveled, chrono/stopwatch mode, a run counter, temperature and time and add all that with GPS capabilities USB charging, Data transfer with a user friendly interface.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Low cost Webcams to monitor vital signs

Technology has always been bringing about improvements in our way of life and our heath care systems. In the future the most important tool for a doctor the stethoscope will just turn redundant.   How??
A  team at MIT media labs has come up with a very interesting system to monitor and check vital signs of a person/patient without the need of any physical contact or sensors. 

How it works?
The system works by simply putting a person in-front of a low cost camera like a webcam and gives exact and accurate information about pulse rate of the person.The system works through a complex video imaging system called  "Non-contact, automated cardiac pulse measurements using video imaging and blind source separation". Developed by Ming-Zher Poh, Daniel J. McDuff, and Rosalind W. Picard. 

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Facebook Redesign likely!?

The popular social networking site Facebook is holding an event at its headquarters in Palo Alto, CA. Invitaions have already been sent to big tech news giants.
There are reports that just like twitter revamped it look a few weeks ago facebook will get a new look and have new features and a revamped chat service. Reports say that there has been a state of "Lockdown" at Facebook HQ since last two months or so working on this new design.

Some reports say Facebook has already started rolling out the new design to it users.
There are also rumors that Facebook will integrate video calling powered by skype.
But we can only wait and watch as to whats going to come and we hope its going to add more value and a much simpler user interface.

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