GOOGLE BIG FAILURE IS BEING RESURRECTED

Google announced that it is updating the much-maligned product with a new version, known as Google Glass Enterprise Edition.

In a blog post discussing the new version, Jay Kothari, project lead at Google Glass, noted the many cases in the workplace where Google Glass is already helping.

“GE was one of the first businesses to experience the benefits of Glass in the workplace,” Kothari wrote, adding that there are more than 50 companies using Glass, including Boeing, Volkswagen, DHL and a host of others.

“Based on the positive feedback we’ve received from these customers in a special program we’ve been running for the past two years, we’re now making Glass Enterprise Edition available to more businesses through our network of partners.

The latest version of the wearable headset is getting some upgrades, including a bump in the camera. It now has an eight megapixel camera, up from five megapixels. It also will have a longer battery life, a better processor, an indicator for video recording and improved Wi-Fi speeds.

It also looks radically different, with Glass EE now being decoupled from integrated frames so it can work with all types of eyewear, including industrial safety glasses.

Domino's Franchise Trainer Stewart Lyne models a new Google Glass in the kitchen.
Domino's is trailing Google Glass for its employees as a way to speed up efficiency and remain connected at work.

“The new units cost around the same as the earlier Explorer Edition for developers and consumers — $1300 to $1500 — but are now optimised for different scenarios, with better networking and security support and more flexible options for frames including prescription lenses,” Jackdaw Research analyst Jan Dawson said in comments obtained by Fox News.

Regarding Google’s push towards the enterprise, Mr Dawson said he has “always felt like this space was a much better fit for Glass-like products than the consumer market.

By reducing the amount of back and forth workers have to do accessing checklists, viewing instruction manuals or sending photos from tablets or laptops as they assemble machines, Glass has reduced machinery production time by 25 per cent and inspection times by 30 per cent.

In 2012, Google unveiled the first version of Google Glass, garnering widespread attention, but it soon fizzled as a consumer product because of privacy concerns and its unattractive aesthetics.

People who wore it were termed “glassholes” because of the creepy nature of using the device. Google went so far as to write a best practices for using it, including listing the “dos” and “don’ts” of using it in public, even mentioning the term “glasshole” in the post.

Sources :
FOX

YOU CAN NOW USE YOUR PENIS AS YOUR PASSWORD

 

Operating with the belief fingerprint scanners and facial recognition technology is passé, webcam platform CamSoda has made it possible to use your penis as your password — about time!

As of today, the dick-ometrtics platform will give men the chance to use their penis for something more practical while positioned in front of the computer.

To use the service, users will need to supply the website with a picture of their old fella, which will be stored in the system to assist the proprietary penis recognition tech.While the concept is probably not the best to use while commuting on a train during peak hour, CamSoda’s vice president Darren Press said it has its advantages.

“In order to ensure personal data is safeguarded against unwarranted individuals, biometrics have become progressively popular for its ability to provide a layer of security that is impenetrable,” he said, making me laugh at his choice of the word impenetrable.

Mr Press added that dick-ometrics takes biosecurity to the next level.Like a fingerprint and an eyeball, which are two of most commonly used body parts in biometric technologies, the penis has many, many differentiating factors like size, colour and vein protrusion.

However, unlike fingerprints and eyeballs, penises are not exposed to the public a lot of the time and mostly kept under clothing and shared with loved ones — presumably who are trusted.In order to not discriminate, CamSoda said it has plans to develop similar technology for women, but something about it smells fishy.

CamSoda was founded in 2014 and features live broadcasts of adult superstars and models “performing” in a camera-filled house.It must be mentioned that CamSoda has a history of trolling, with a video of a woman being ravaged by a shark turning out to be a publicity stunt for the smut site.

Sources :

http://mashable.com/2017/07/13/camsoda-dickometrics-penis-password/#ZYzVh7wBNaqm

SOON YOUR DNA WILL BE USED TO STORE MOVIES AND AN OPERATING SYSTEM

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Humanity may soon generate more data than hard drives or magnetic tape can handle, a problem that has scientists turning to nature's age-old solution for information-storage -- DNA.

In a new study in Science, a pair of researchers at Columbia University and the New York Genome Center (NYGC) show that an algorithm designed for streaming video on a cellphone can unlock DNA's nearly full storage potential by squeezing more information into its four base nucleotides. They demonstrate that this technology is also extremely reliable.

DNA is an ideal storage medium because it's ultra-compact and can last hundreds of thousands of years if kept in a cool, dry place, as demonstrated by the recent recovery of DNA from the bones of a 430,000-year-old human ancestor found in a cave in Spain.

"DNA won't degrade over time like cassette tapes and CDs, and it won't become obsolete " said study coauthor Yaniv Erlich, a computer science professor at Columbia Engineering.

HOW IT WORKS
Erlich and his colleague Dina Zielinski, an associate scientist at NYGC, chose six files to encode, or write, into DNA: a full computer operating system, an 1895 French film, "Arrival of a train at La Ciotat," a $50 Amazon gift card, a computer virus, a Pioneer plaque and a 1948 study by information theorist Claude Shannon.

They compressed the files into a master file, and then split the data into short strings of binary code made up of ones and zeros. Using an erasure-correcting algorithm called fountain codes, they randomly packaged the strings into so-called droplets, and mapped the ones and zeros in each droplet to the four nucleotide bases in DNA: A, G, C and T.
 The algorithm deleted letter combinations known to create errors, and added a barcode to each droplet to help reassemble the files later.

To retrieve their files, they used modern sequencing technology to read the DNA strands, followed by software to translate the genetic code back into binary. They recovered their files with zero errors, the study reports.

Cost still remains a barrier. The researchers spent $7,000 to synthesize the DNA they used to archive their 2 megabytes of data, and another $2,000 to read it. Though the price of DNA sequencing has fallen exponentially, there may not be the same demand for DNA synthesis, says Sri Kosuri, a biochemistry professor at UCLA.

But the price of DNA synthesis can be vastly reduced if lower-quality molecules are produced, and coding strategies like DNA Fountain are used to fix molecular errors, says Erlich. "We can do more of the heavy lifting on the computer to take the burden off time-intensive molecular coding," he said.

Sources:

https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.pcmag.com/news/352167/researchers-store-full-computer-operating-system-on-dna&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiC9dTsiPDUAhVF2hoKHRtuCBAQFggjMAI&usg=AFQjCNEn19Kc00DNRNS08i-6mZny56Qv_A

WHY MICROSOFT IS EATING UP APPLE MARKET SHARE QUICKER THAN EVERYBODY THOUGHT

Remember when buying a Mac meant that you got cutting-edge technology? Nowadays you're overpaying for old, stale ideas wrapped in "thin and light" aluminum shells.But Microsoft has made the PC interesting, relevant, and fun again. It began with Microsoft showing OEMs what a modern system should look like with the release of the Surface and Surface Pro line, then the Surface Studio. And now we have OEMs jumping on board the "Always Connected PC" bandwagon, which may finally bring cellular access to portables in a meaningful way.

Even Windows 10 S, Microsoft's cut-down, streamlined edition of Windows 10 -- a Windows RT reboot -- is an example of Microsoft thinking out of the box, Sure, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but there's nothing wrong with that.But while Apple's billions aren't tied to the success or failure of the Mac, the desktops and portables are still part of the ecosystem, and having devices that support the iPhone and iPad is still important because it keeps people in the ecosystem.

Windows 10 is on a rapid, free-of-charge update cycle, based around the Windows Insider program designed to ensure that Microsoft focuses on features that users actually want, rather than ones they don't want.

And Windows 10 is aggressively pursuing the sort of influential customer who used to be steadfastly in the Apple camp.
It now has a Linux subsystem built right into it, that for this web app developer at least makes Windows my platform of choice for the first time ever.

 If there are no new Macs, people will start to look elsewhere, and that weakens Apple's grip on users.But if Apple has dropped the ball, and can't keep the Mac offering updated, it seems that Microsoft, along with its army of OEMs, is ready to fill the void.

sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-windows-is-beating-apple-2017-3

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PREDICTS PATIENT LIFESPANS

Computer's ability to predict a patient's lifespan simply by looking at images of their organs is a step closer to becoming a reality, thanks to new research led by the University of Adelaide.

Researchers from the University's School of Public Health and School of Computer Science, along with Australian and international collaborators, used artificial intelligence to analyse the medical imaging of 48 patients' chests. This computer-based analysis was able to predict which patients would die within five years, with 69% accuracy -- comparable to 'manual' predictions by clinicians.

While the researchers could not identify exactly what the computer system was seeing in the images to make its predictions,the most confident predictions were made for patients with severe chronic diseases such as emphysema and congestive heart failure.The next stage of their research involves analysing tens of thousands of patient images.

The researchers hope to apply the same techniques to predict other important medical conditions, such as the onset of heart attacks.The next stage of their research involves analysing tens of thousands of patient images.

sources:
https://www.studyfinds.org/ai-predict-lifespan-longevity/

UBER WANTS TO START FLYING YOU TO YOUR DESTINATION

           

Still, even if the technology is reasonably far along, bearing in mind spatial practicalities, air space legislation, and safety regulations, it seems reasonably safe to say that seeing these vehicles in common commercial use within ten years is an ambitious goal. We're having enough trouble with drones at the moment.

Holden's solution to this would be to use rooftop spaces as takeoff and landing pads, adding that he believes that VTOL aircraft could be used commercially within the next decade in a system similar to UberPool.

In terms of research into the technology behind these aircraft, most of it's being done by the military with The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the US working on something called the VTOL X-PlaneA new way to commute

The benefit of VTOL aircraft is that they don't require any kind of runway to take flight, however, they do still need a good deal of space to operate safely – something which can be quite hard to come by in busy cities.The company's head of products, Jeff Holden, spoke with Recode at the Nantucket Project conference, telling the publication that the idea behind the service would be to offer customers "as many options as possible to move around."

After announcing its very first fleet of driverless cars, Uber has reinforced its commitment to stay at the forefront of innovative inter-city transport by revealing that it's researching short-haul flights using vertical takeoff aircraft.

sources&credit:

https://www.fastcompany.com/40411555/ubers-flying-taxis-will-first-take-to-the-skies-in-dallas-fort-worth-and-dubai

THE DANGERS OF USING CLOUD STORAGE

One of the driving forces behind the race to zero for cloud storage and services is the rapidly dropping cost of physical storage medium. Bought in bulk, the likes of Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, can obtain gigabytes of storage media for a few cents. I might not be able to buy at that rate, but a 2 terabyte hard drive which I can attach easily to a home network is a very small investment for the peace of mind they can
offer.

Accessibility
There's also the simple fact that I want access to my data when I want it. Placing vital data in the cloud is bad enough, but many services are looking to have the data available exclusively in the cloud and when you can't prove who you are, then you'll get locked out of the data.The cloud can be a great addition to your digital toolset, but like all elements, it should be used with care, be used responsibly, and the pros and cons should be weighed carefully.In a world where online storage is everywhere, it is becoming more important to take responsibility and store my own data at home, free of outside influences. I’ve looked at the options in the cloud, and none of them quite matches what I’m looking for.

Longevity
What if the company you are depending on their cloud service is bought by a bigger company and it's business strategy changes?No matter what happens, my workflow will be disrupted to suit the new owners business practices.If the manufacturer of my networked hard drive goes bankrupt, my hard drive at home continues to work.

Security
Why would I buy all this storage when it is available online for free? Sometimes the old rules of thumb are correct – if you’re not buying something, you’re not the customer. Offering free storage and the use of cloud services means that a company is going to have to monetize my use of its service at some point. The old-style method of making money was to charge the user a monthly fee, but the race to the bottom is whittling down that option.

Conclusion
The cloud can be a great addition to your digital toolset, but like all elements, it should be used with care, be used responsibly, and the pros and cons should be weighed carefully.

 sources:
https://www.crowdreviews.com/blog/dangers-using-cloud-storage-top-9-major-risks/Accessibility

PEOPLE WHO HACK THE HACKERS AND WHY THEY DO IT

       

Attacks, where hundreds to hundreds of thousands of otherwise innocent computers and devices can be directed to attack one targeted victim, can be devastatingly hard to stop — not just for me, but for anyoneThe sustained flood of malicious network traffic consisting of billions of unwanted digital bits can knock all but the biggest and richest companies (think Google) off the internet.Once they start, the victim (in this case, me) can be kicked off the internet for several days.

Rogue hackers aren't such a threat,this is not to say that all malicious hackers are dumb. That’s not the case. It’s just that the vast majority aren’t overly bright; they are average. In a given year, it will be seen that maybe one or two smart hackers do things that no one else has ever done before.They simply use tools, techniques and services that other smarter hackers previously created. Far from being the mythic hackers that Hollywood celebrates, most are regular, run-of-mill rubes who couldn’t code an emoji icon.

If you want to meet a really smart hacker, talk to a cybersecurity defender. They have to be experts in their technology and able to figure out how to stop all the threats that are trying to take it down. They are the hidden Henry Fords and Einsteins of our digital society. While the media is portraying rogue hackers as the smarter element, the defenders are tightening the net and helping to stop and arrest more of them than ever.

And, as I said before, you don't have to be smart to be a successful hacker. Any kid or crime syndicate can do it. All you need to know is a few tricks of the trade.

The secret of hacking
The secret to hacking is there is no secret. Hacking is like any other trade, like a plumber or electrician, once you learn a few tools and techniques, the rest is just practice and perseverance. Most hackers find missing software patches, misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, or social engineer the victim if it works once, it works a thousand times.It’s so easy and works so regularly that most professional penetration testers (i.e., people paid to do legal hacking) quit after a few years because they no longer find it challenging.

There’s no official count of hackers in the world, but the number is easily in the upper tens of thousands.Luckily, most of them are on the good side.A critical mass is starting to build and within the next decade online cybercriminals will likely to become as rare as traditional bank robbers. They will still exist, but there will be far fewer of them and they will be far more likely to be identified and prosecuted.The people who hack the hackers

The people who fight hackers and their malware creations cover the gambit of computer security jobs, including penetration testers, fixers, policy makers, educators, product developers, security reviewers, writers, cryptographers, privacy advocates, securers, threat modelers, and other computer security wonks in all fields.

        

TECHNOLOGY IS MAKING THE WORLD MORE UNEQUAL

                               

Here’s the bad news: technology –specifically, surveillance technology – makes it easier to police disaffected populations, and that gives badly run, corrupt states enough stability to get themselves into real trouble.

Here’s the good news: technology specifically, networked technology – makes it easier for opposition movements to form and mobilise, even under conditions of surveillance, and to topple badly run, corrupt states.Inequality creates instability, and not just because of the resentments
the increasingly poor majority harbours against the increasingly rich minority.

Everyone has a mix of good ideas and
terrible ones, but for most of us, the harm from our terrible ideas is capped by our lack of political power and the checks that others – including the state – impose on us.As rich people get richer, however, their wealth translates into political influence, and their ideas – especially their terrible ideas – take on outsized importance.But this inequality-instability contains the seeds
of its own downfall.

Letting small elites enforce their cherished, foolish ideas as iron-clad law eventually produces a state so badly run that it collapses, either through revolution or massive reforms.

Smart unequal societies prevent collapse by convincing their elites to hand over some of their earnings to the rest of the country, producing broadly shared prosperity and a sense of national solidarity that transcends class resentments  for example,Sweden.

Technology is not preordained to save us from inequality, but without a free, fair and open network with which to rally and marshall the forces of justice, the battle is lost before it’s even joined.Futures like mine aren’t predictions, they’re landmarks on the far horizon. By keeping our eyes on them as we cross the difficult, unmappable terrain ahead of us, we might reach them – or find something just as good along the way.

THE DEATH OF SNAPCHAT AND WHY IT'S LOSING TWICE AS MUCH MONEY AS IT DID LAST YEAR

                                     

   
The company’s losses ballooned to over $2.2 billion, but most of those were one time expenses related to stock bonuses paid out after a successful IPO. CEO Evan Spiegel got a sweet $750 million on his own. But even if you ignore that massive hit, Snap’s losses basically doubled. It burned through $104 million in cash in the first quarter of 2016, and lost $208 million during the first three months of 2017.

Snap reported its earnings for the first time since becoming a public company in March of this year. Its daily active user count clicked up to 166 million, a 5 percent increase over last quarter, up 36 percent from this time a year ago. That puts it behind Instagram Stories, a competitor launched by Facebook that copied heavily from Snapchat and has already passed 200 million users. It also means Snap hasn’t found a way back to the rapid growth it saw in years past.

Investors were not pleased with the slowing rate of growth, and the company’s shares were down nearly 25 percent in after-hours trading. Financially the company continued to increase its revenue, which grew nearly 300 percent to just under $150 million in the first quarter. Of that around $8 million came from sales of Spectacles, its one hardware product. But it’s still a long way from achieving a profit, and even then that revenue figure came in under Wall Street expectations of $158 million.

All the red flags that were present then continued to appear today, putting the company in the tough position. It will have to convince investors it can find ways to boost user growth or secure a path to profitability or its stock price will suffer the same fate as Twitter. That in turn can quickly make it difficult to attract and retain top talent.

MIRACLE MATERIAL MAY MAKE SMARTPHONES UNBREAKABLE

Most parts of a smartphone are made of silicon and other compounds, which are expensive and break easily, but with almost 1.5 billion smartphones purchased worldwide last year, manufacturers are on the lookout for something more durable and less costly.Researchers, including those from Queen's University Belfast in the UK, found that by combining semiconducting molecules C60 with layered materials, such as graphene and hBN, they could produce a unique material technology, which could revolutionise the concept of smart devices.

Any smart device made from this combination would benefit from the mix of unique features, which do not exist in materials naturally.This process, which is called van der Waals solids, allows compounds to be brought together and assembled in a pre-defined way.

The material also could mean that devices use less energy than before because of the device architecture so could have improved battery life and less electric shockOne issue that still needs to be solved is that graphene and the new material architecture is lacking a 'band gap', which is the key to the on-off switching operations performed by electronic devices.

However, the team is already looking at a potential solution - transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs).These are a hot topic at the moment as they are very chemically stable, have large sources for production and band gaps that rival Silicon.

USING BACTERIA TO CREATE SELF-VENTILATING SHIRTS

Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a prototype of a wearable that vents itself automatically in response to sweat and it does so using bacteria.

The garment with bacteria-triggered vents represents just a stepping stone on their way to creating shirts that do something even better: produce a pleasant smell when you sweat.However, when the person wearing it starts to sweat, the bacteria on the inside (closest to the skin) absorbs moisture and relaxes, causing the latex to bend away from the skin and—ahhh— open up a little ventilation flap.

What’s more, the system works whether the bacteria are alive or not but there’s one thing they haven’t done with the clothing yet, wash it. They need to figure out ways to ensure that the bacteria stay attached to the fabric of any wearable beyond the prototype stage, perhaps by causing bacteria to bond chemically to a fabric or even integrating bacteria into the threads of a fabric.

Why wash clothes anyway ?
Talking about washing clothes leads Wang to ask a question that many children and teens have probably also wondered: why bother to launder your clothing in the first place? To do that, they’d need to find a way to get the microorganisms to stay on or in the fabric; they’d also need to ensure the bacteria or yeast would have a reservoir of energy even when they don't have a food source.

Imagine, if every time you went to the gym, microbes like yeast could consume your sweat and release a smell like bread? After all, a bready aroma might be nicer to sniff at the gym than, you know, the odor of that sweaty person on the treadmill next to you.

WHAT 5G MEANS FOR YOU,YOUR FAMILY AND ALL BUSINESSES

The next generation of wireless technology is closer than you think. Over the past few years, a coalition of companies, industry associations and regulatory bodies from across the globe have been working together to advance the regulatory environment, develop and test 5G technologies and establish a broad ecosystem around infrastructure and device readiness.

When that future arrives, 5G capabilities will revolutionize our wireless networks. Mobile users will experience networks an order of magnitude faster than what we have today. Thanks to sub-millisecond air latency, the network will feel instantly responsive while simultaneously supporting ten times as many devices at significantly lower power consumption profiles. These are the foundational requirements to enable the rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT).

Enhanced business communications
high-speed, low latency connectivity is only possible through a wireless connection. With Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), 5G will solve this problem and extend broadband connectivity to the businesses underserved by fiber or other broadband links.
Whether it’s a hospital, a school or a business simply seeking a reliable Internet solution, 5G promises to provide easy, fast and reliable services that will enhance productivity.

Connectivity tailored to every industry
With Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), 5G will solve this problem and extend broadband connectivity to the businesses underserved by fiber or other broadband links.
While 5G networks will inevitably enhance pre-existing services, they will also drive new application and service capabilities to enhance businesses in every industry.
Architects and engineers, for example, will no longer need to rely on flat, two-dimensional blueprints displayed on computer screens. They’ll be able to project 3-D models directly onto their workspace, using portable devices to dynamically address evolving project challenges. Leveraging 5G networks, the wide-ranging benefits of AR and VR applications will empower industries from healthcare and retail to education and public safety.

Expanding capabilities with IoT’s potential
As IoT-enabled devices start to play a larger role in daily life, enterprise networks won’t just support smart phones,laptops and tablets,they will also enable sensors, appliances, light bulbs, climate control devices, digital displays, and wearables of all kinds. Within cities, public networks will soon handle utility readers, parking meters, street lights, and fire hydrants.
5G networks will be an ideal choice to manage all of these devices since they can enable machine-to-machine communications for up to a million devices per square kilometer.

AND....
Just imagine how 5G will transform the streets of your city on a Monday morning. As urban planners monitor the traffic grid through IoT connected traffic lights, drivers will no longer have to worry about traffic bottlenecks during the morning commute. As they drive, they may pass an autonomous delivery truck that seamlessly avoids traffic obstacles and road closures as it makes the morning rounds.And within each delivery truck, packages containing IoT-connected sensors will automatically notify customers as the truck approaches the delivery destination.

HACKERS SAY THEY DEMAND 50,000$ RANSOM FOR STOLEN DATA

A pair of malicious hackers say they
demanded that Bell pay a $50,000 US
ransom to prevent stolen customer data from being shared online, according to a person claiming responsibility for the theft.

The breach is the latest in a string of high- profile malicious hacks that have held large corporations' data for ransom. In April, a person or group who went by the name "thedarkoverlord" leaked the latest season of the Netflix TV series Orange Is the New Black , more than a month before its premiere, after the streaming service declined to pay up.

Bell previously told customers that "there is no indication that any financial, password or other sensitive personal information was accessed."
The pair demanded Bell send $50,000 US in bitcoin within 14 days of the email's receipt. In exchange, they claimed they would honour a signed contract promising "video and cryptographical evidence" of the data being "securely deleted."

Some hackers will report vulnerabilities they find to companies — sometimes in exchange for payment, or for altruistic reasons — but try to avoid doing things that might be deemed illegal, such as taking user data.The Bell breach does not appear to be one of those cases, as exodus says their actions were "highly financially motivated."

Which smartphone has the best camera?

Smartphone cameras are now amazingly good, and if you buy a top-end smartphone, it’s increasingly hard to take a bad photograph with it.Some manufacturers have improved the
front-facing camera to target people who mainly take selfies.

Some phones are waterproof, like the Apple iPhone 7 and the Samsung Galaxy S7.have added 4K video facilities. Many offer HDR for high dynamic range images, and some use “stacking”, such as the Google Pixel (it captures a short sequence and combines the results into a single image).

Some have dual lenses and dual sensors and combine the results, like the LG G6. Some phones shoot 4K video or raw images, possibly by using accessory software to extract the image data
before it has been processed.Possible options The Nokia 808 PureView smartphone, launched in 2012, really boosted progress in smartphone photography. Its 38-megapixel sensor captured an amazing amount of detail, and changed the perception of how good a smartphone camera could be.

The 808 and its Windows smartphone
cousin, the Lumia 1020, are still competitive today, though they have been surpassed by more recent models.
Today’s better smartphone cameras typically have f/1.8 lenses and 12MP 1/3in sensors providing a resolution of 4032 x 3024 pixels.That’s the specification of Apple’s iPhone 7, so
try to match or beat that. The Google Pixel –which may have the best smartphone camera – has a slightly bigger 12.3MP 1/2.3in sensor and
an f/2.0 lens.you want something cheaper, the OnePlus 3T has a 16MP 1/2.8in sensor and an f/2.0 lens.

Samsung has also had a couple of goes at the genre with its Samsung Galaxy K Zoom and older S4 Zoom smartphones. Both have 10x optical zoom lenses, much like compact cameras. The most recent example is the 21MP Kodak Ektra ,
which was launched in Europe last year and in the US this week.However, if you’re serious about the photographic aspect, consider buying a good compact camera and a cheap phone. Not only do
you get better results over a wider range of subjects and situations, the camera h handling is dramatically better. This includes faster zooming, framing and shooting.

IF YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT TRANSFERRING/BACKING UP ALL YOUR APPS AND DATA TO YOUR NEW PHONE/ANOTHER PHONE,DON'T FRET,

No one wants to spend forever moving all their stuff to a new phone. Here's a quick and painless guide to get you up and running fast:

Moving to a new phone can be a pain. For all the ways that Android outperforms iOS at tight integration with cloud services, Google still has some ways to go when it comes to getting all your stuff off of your old phone and onto the new one.
However, with the right Google tools, third-party apps, and perseverance, you should be able to squash most of the misery that usually comes with prepping for a new device.

First things first: make sure you’re signed in to your Android phone with your Google account.
Head to the Settings and then find Backup and reset (the categorization will vary by device).
Make sure Back up my data and Automatic restore are both flipped on and that your Google account is linked. The former ensures that your application data, Wi-Fi passwords, and various phone settings are sent to Google servers. They’ll be at the ready for you when you sign in to a new phone. This way you won’t have to re-enter passwords to networks you’ve already saved. Yes, that means Google probably has all the world’s Wi-Fi passwords.Some device makers, like Samsung,
offer their own backup solutions.
If you have a Samsung device, you can also use the Back up my data option to your Samsung account. This will save your text messages, phone logs, contacts, or email accounts that you’ve used with Samsung’s apps.

Get your music ready
You don’t want to start from scratch with music. It’s easiest if you use a streaming service: Just install Spotify, Amazon Music, Groove, or another favorite.
Yet even if Google Play Music isn’t your streaming service of choice, it’s the best way to transfer music to your new phone.
This is done best through your computer. Play Music will save up to 50,000 songs in your own personal music locker. You can play them them on any device where you sign in to the app. It’s like iTunes without the bloat.
In the browser, go to the settings and then upload your music to the desktop version of Google Play Music.

Photos:Keep those sweet memories safe
The other key piece to look at right now is Google Photos Backup. This will send all your images and videos into the safe arms of Google Photos . You’re granted unlimited storage, as long as you can put up with a little compression. Otherwise any content will count against your Google Drive storage, which includes 15GB to starI still feel the strongest option is to keep your critical data in a Google account as the primary home for your email, photos, and contacts. Microsoft, Dropbox, and other services work great as standalone Android apps, but given that it’s Google’s operating system, going Google will always have its own perks.

Transfer SMS and MMS messages
Moving over text messages is usually the wonkiest and most inconsistent part of this process. My main advice is this: use an over-the-top service . With Facebook Messenger or Hangouts all you have to do is sign in and voilà! All your messages are right there. Same goes with WhatsApp, which just launched backup with Google Drive .
If you’re dead-set on moving your SMS and MMS messages, a favorite solution of mine is SMS Backup & Restore . It takes some patience to work through the options. Also, the design is more suited to Android Jelly Bean, but it gets the job done. The app will offload your messages to a microSD card (if your phone has one). Otherwise, export them to a PC and then use the app to restore them on your new phone by using Android’s ability to connect to a PC .

Apps can be easily backed up using ESFILE EXPLORER from play store for android users and App store for iphone users

Some software to ease the move
Some phones may offer more of a helping hand when it comes to moving over your stuff. Samsung offers its own app called Smart Switch , which promises to move your messages, contacts, photos, and more over to a new Galaxy phone.
I still feel the strongest option is to keep your critical data in a Google account as the primary home for your email, photos, and contacts. Microsoft, Dropbox, and other services work great as standalone Android apps, but given that it’s Google’s operating system, going Google will always have its own perks.

GOVERNMENTS TRYING HARD TO KILL INTERNET FREEDOM

If you’re reading this, you’re one of the 3.6 billion-odd people who use the internet. But an increasingly concerning number of governments are treating access to the internet like a service that can be switched on and off on a whim.

After millions of years of evolution, we have arrived at the point where the development of technology ensures the supremacy of humans to the detriment of most other species. Even so, Nature still applies the “survival of the fittest rule, so the supremacy is not universally beneficial. This means humans have a quality of life that ranges from luxurious to pitiful. Some humans use technology to oppress,others become oppressed through being denied access to technology.

The internet:
Without getting into the debate of the internet with a capital I or a small i, we have seen a widespread tendency of governments depriving their citizens of access to all internet services like the way Brazil Government did to WhatsApp and Cameroon Government did to Web pages to appear in French but not English

Freedom:
In this technology-enabled, communications-networked world, the word “freedom” is integral to the expression of rights. Freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom from slavery, freedom of access to information… however, inherent in the need to stand united is the requirement to give up some freedom of choice by handing the power of the individual over to the collective leadership.Individuals agree to be constrained by the rules of the community, to adopt standards of behaviour that are limited to the defined norms. They even agree to be punished for stepping outside the boundaries.

l wish to conclude without much into it but a short piece of what needs to be improved and prevented if it has transpired to your Country. Thank you,let's meet again tomorrow.

NEW HOT IT JOBS employers are looking for desperately

Given that the IT job market is
in constant flux, with new technologies emerging so quickly that hiring managers struggle to define those positions -- let alone give them a title.IBM, for example, has a director of blockchains , and Ford Motor is among many companies looking for GPU cluster engineers. "At the same time, traditional IT jobs are morphing, requiring new abilities", says Tim Herbert, senior vice president and researcher at CompTIA. Network admins, for example, must learn cloud skills, and security specialists are using machine learning to defend their networks.

Here are some of the jobs will be hot in the not-so-distant future:

1.Cognitive computing engineer/ machine learning specialist:
IBM’s cognitive computing initiative, best known for Watson, the computer program that became a "Jeopardy" champion, has given birth to the cognitive systems engineer, a title whose responsibilities have yet to be fully defined.The demand for cognitive computing skills is gaining enough steam that institutions of higher
education are paying attention.The skills needed to succeed in cognitive computing go beyond the obvious knowledge key to any big-data-related specialty.

2.Blockchain engineer:
Bitcoin’s core technology, the blockchain, is proving the most intriguing to could-be
employers. More than 200 companies and open source projects are seeking to apply blockchain technology to applications such as trading platforms, secure identification cards, self-executing contracts, and many applications in
financial services. Promises a salary of $150,000 to $170,000 for an engineer with experience in Python, Bitcoins, and distributed systems.

3.GPU cluster engineer:
GPU computing improves application
performance by offloading compute-intensive portions of the application to the GPU, while the remainder of the code still runs on the CPU.That advantage is key to companies like Facebook,China’s Baidu,and Experian that deal with enormous data sets.The minimum skills needed include:1+ years [experience with] GPU, parallel programming toolsand language extensions etc.as well as a broad array of programming skills, among them C/C++,Perl, Python, Java, OpenGL, OpenCV, CUDA,MATLAB, and more.

4.Virtual reality engineer:
Virtual reality is no longer the sole province of game makers. That means someone with the right experience and skills can write a ticket to places as diverse as The New York Times, one ofthe first newspapers to begin using VR (and Google Cardboard).Here is the skills you’ll need: Objective-C, C++, Computer Vision, C, computer graphics, mobile application development, OpenGL ES, C#, OpenGL, DirectX, WebGL, and digital image processing. Samsung, for example, recently announced two new phones, but what drew more attention at the Mobile World Congress was its Gear 360, a camera for recording virtual reality videos for its Gear VR headset. it is clear that serious money is pursuing virtual reality technology and there will be opportunities for skilled IT workers to exploit.

5.Internet of things architect:
One billion, 2 billion, who knows how many billions of devices will be connected to the red-hot Internet of things?the IoT is top of mind for many
innovative companies .

6.Computer security incident responder:
Cyber security specialist has long been on the hot jobs list."security incident response professional"?  is the guy who can deal with the effects of an attack
or an exploit, and he needs a broad understanding of security information and event management .The increasingly sophisticated nature of cyber attacks and the ability to use new technologies such as machine learning algorithms to analyze, understand, and counter those
threats has fundamentally changed the nature of the job,which now requires the ability to cull evidence from a wide range of sources. Skills you’ll need in order to be considered include a knowledge of networking fundamentals (all OSI
layers), protocols and packet analysis, encryption and tokenization technologies, and experience writing PL/SQL or SQL scripts.Since this job is built on a foundation of conventional skills, you’ll also need information security certifications such as CISSP, SANS, CEH,
or related certifications

LINUX IS TOO POWERFUL FOR WINDOWS 10 S, SO MICROSOFT BLOCKED IT

Microsoft said it created Windows 10 S as a way for students and even mainstream users to add a bit more security to their Windows 10 experience. Windows 10 S only runs apps that have been vetted by Microsoft and appear in the Store.

If Windows 10 S will only allow apps that can be downloaded from the Microsoft Store, it can run the new downloadable Linux apps, right? Wrong!
Here's why: Microsoft is actively blocking "command-line" apps that run outside the safe environment of Windows 10 S, Microsoft senior program manager Rich Turner wrote in a blog post on Thursday.

And it's not just Linux. Examples of other low-level apps that won't run under Windows 10 S include the Windows Console, Cmd/PowerShell, or Linux/Bash/WSL instances. Linux does,however.

And in Turner's words, those apps won't run on an operating system "that has been deliberately constrained to prevent just these types of apps and tasks from running!" Though they install just like a traditional Windows 10 UWP app, they behave like command-line tools that run outside the UWP sandbox and the secure runtime infrastructure, Turner wrote. Fortunately, there is a solution: Windows 10 S contains a built-in upgrade path to Windows 10 Pro available for a limited time

The question becomes a bit thornier, though, if Windows 10 S does in fact take off in the classroom. It could be hard to encourage kids to code, and then hack, without giving them access to low-level functions.

Apple is bowing down to windows

Apple this week updated macOS Sierra to version
10.12.5 with more than three dozen security
patches, and a change that lets users install
Microsoft's latest version of Windows 10 on their
Macs.
Sierra 10.12.5 "adds support for media-free
installation of Windows 10 Creators Update using
Boot Camp," the update's brief release notes
read. Creators Update was the name Microsoft
assigned to Windows 10 1703 , the upgrade
issued last month.
Boot Camp, which is baked into macOS, lets Mac
owners run Windows on their machines. A
Windows license is required. Boot Camp, while
not virtualization software like VMware's Fusion
or Parallels International's Parallels Desktop,
serves the same purpose: Running Windows
applications, including custom or mission-critical
corporate software, on a Mac personal computer.
Previously, Mac users were forced onto a
circuitous road to put Windows 10 Creators
Update into Boot Camp. According to a Microsoft
support document published before the upgrade
was released, Mac owners first had to install an
.iso of 2016's Windows 10 Anniversary Update,
aka 1607 , to Boot Camp. Once 1607 was in place,
they could then upgrade Windows 10 to 1703
from within Boot Camp.