Nvidia Launches a New Mobile Device Age

Nvidia Launches a New Mobile Device Age

I can see a time in our short-term future when we will need to carry only one connected device, and that device will do everything better than the three devices we are now used to carrying can do. Better battery life, lower cost, less aggravation, and improved convenience will be features of the coming age -- and with Nvidia's announcement, that age starts now.

There was an announcement last week that I think is far bigger than folks realize: Nvidia announced a free Netflix-like streaming gaming service for its Shield products. I think this is a precursor to an event that is similar to what cable did to TVs years ago, and that it will change not only how we use these devices, but also what we use them for.

In a way, this may be the biggest step to something we used to call "thin client" computing, and eventually, it will expand vastly what we can do with products we currently use more for consumption than creation.

I'll close with my product of the week: the new limited red edition of the BlackBerry Passport, one of the devices that eventually could benefit from the new mobile world Nvidia is jumpstarting.

Nvidia's Announcement

Nvidia Announced its Grid online gaming service, which will use a Netflix-like model to supply PC-level games for free to all buyers of its Shield tablets. This means every Shield tablet (and Shied game system) owner will have a subscription to a variety of PC games they can play on their tablets streamed from Amazon's Web Services.

These are full games, and they are running at PC performance levels in the cloud and then rendered on the tablets, which in turn can be connected to monitors or TVs for a larger-screen experience.

With the same level of bandwidth needed for a good HD stream, you will get an experience that will rival and often exceed what you typically would get out of a game system or PC.

Thin Clients Are Back

If you can meet the performance needs of a PC gamer, where latency and resolution are big factors, you can even more easily meet the needs of productivity workers. While this announcement doesn't include productivity software, it showcases what services like this could provide. You could get a full Office, Photoshop, or even engineering workstation experience with a tablet connected to a service like this.

This is like a concept called "thin client computing." Created in the late 1990s, it didn't fly because the clients often cost more than PCs, and lousy network speeds, high latency, and a lack of commonalty among vendors kept the market from stepping to this new model. Thin Clients mostly went where terminals had been hard to replace, and general users found them so annoying that broad adoption never took off.

A lot has changed over the last decade and a half, though. Latency has dropped, and bandwidth has increased dramatically, largely driven by HDTV streaming needs. You now can do relatively cheaply what you couldn't even do well at massive cost in the 1990s, and Nvidia's offering showcases how far we have come. However, I think there is far more coming.

The Future

One of the coolest parts of the Sun Ray One -- the thin client computing system that Sun Microelectronics brought to market -- was the ability to save state. The demonstration showed how you could log in with your ID card, and then wherever you plugged in the card, your stuff would come up instantly in the same state you left it.

The dream was that you'd only need to travel with the credit card-sized card, and everything else you needed would be where you were going.

That didn't work, because folks didn't want to fund Sun thin clients for everyplace you'd want to go. However, you are carrying your tablet or phone anyway, and if you could get that same experience simply by plugging in your tablet to a 4K TV or monitor, you'd be there without the massive cost of having to put thin clients in every location where you might need one. The same ability to remember state is possible with any cloud solution like this.

Granted, given network limitations, doing this on a plane will remain problematic for some time to come, but you wouldn't need to carry much performance with you anyplace else. You'd just need a smartphone or tablet and a good network connection, and you'd have the potential for a full PC experience.

Granted, some of us may shift to larger-screen tablets or decide to carry a portable flat screen display, projectors, or virtual reality headsets (if we ever get comfortable with them) in order to ensure a large- screen experience, but the limitations we generally have attributed to small wireless devices will be a thing of the past.

Wrapping Up: The Future Is Here

Back in the 1990s, we expected the future to be defined by computers that were more like TVs than the computers of the time. Actually, what we envisioned was a lot more like terminals that were largely solid state, and far easier to carry and keep running than the complex things we had at the time.

Nvidia has just taken a big step to giving us that future with this new service, and I think it is the first truly big step into getting us to think differently about what we can do with a connected device and tablets aren't that much different than phones.

Rather than carrying three devices as we move to bigger phones and smaller tablets that can be used as phones, I can see a time in our short-term future when we will need to carry only one device, and that device will do everything better than the three devices we are now used to carrying did.

Better battery life, lower cost, less aggravation, and improved convenience will be features of the coming age -- and with this announcement, that age starts now.

One final thought: Given this service is being provided by Amazon, how long before Amazon takes something similar to all mobile devices?

Product of the Week: BlackBerry Passport Red Edition

Product of the Week

The BlackBerry Passport is so popular, it currently is sold out most places worldwide. For folks who have to type a lot on their phones and want a big screen, it is the only game on the planet -- and it doesn't hurt that the BlackBerry platform is also the most secure in market.

In time for Christmas, BlackBerry is creating a special edition red version that likely will be even harder to get because it is a limited run.

BlackBerry Passport

BlackBerry phones always have been more about work than play, and the Passport is no exception. This was demonstrated last week, when BlackBerry announced its new conferencing service, which treats mobile devices the same as PCs rather than penalizing them with limitations like most competing services do.

In a world where it seems most everyone is trying to copy Apple -- a practice that nearly killed BlackBerry and still hurts most of the other phone makers -- it is great to see a company find its roots and build a unique product.

The fact BlackBerry's Passports are selling out is testament to its strategy, and its red version is an even more exclusive product you can show off.

Years ago, I had a pair of red shoes that I wore just to be different, until I was called into my boss's office at IBM and asked if I was looking to get promoted out of the company. I had to admit that red shoes on an auditor likely wasn't a good judgment call.

Still, I've never been a "one size fits all" guy, and thus the red BlackBerry Passport -- partly because it reminded me of those old red shoes -- is my product of the week. Sometimes it is fun to relish the differences and recognize we really aren't all the same.

When Microsoft Went A-Courting

When Microsoft Went A-Courting

Open-sourcing .Net "doesn't have a thing to do with Linux -- it has to do with SaaS and having a CEO that isn't a whackadoo living in the 90s," said SoylentNews blogger hairyfeet. "Nadella is smart and realizes the value of a programming language is not patents or OS exclusivity but in services and support for the language. ... The more platforms the language can be used on, the better."

Fans of free and open source software perhaps may be excused if they've felt a bit confused over the past few days. Dizziness, headaches and vertigo also have been common.

What strange new ailment is this, you might ask?

Well, it's no ailment, Linux Girl is glad to report. That, however, doesn't mean it's any simpler to remedy.

The cause, it turns out, is none other than the news that Microsoft is open sourcing .Net and also expanding it to run on Linux and Mac OS.

Yes, you heard that right: Steve Ballmer once may have called Linux a "cancer," but today Redmond has a newfound "love" for Linux that can't be contained!

It's making Microsoft behave in strange new ways -- and it's also driving FOSS fans to the blogosphere's seedy Broken Windows Lounge in greater numbers than ever.

Can tequila help make sense of it all? That's one of many questions now being investigated.

'A Chance to Thrive'

"This is big news, and somewhat overdue," Chris Travers, a blogger who works on the LedgerSMB project, told Linux Girl.

Linux Girl

"We live in a world where new programming languages which are open sourced thrive even without being backed by big businesses, and closed source programming languages only survive with help from big businesses," Travers said. "Bing closed source killed REBOL 2.x," for example.

"This move has clearly been in the works for some time -- a large company like Microsoft does not open source something of this complexity overnight -- and I think to some extent Microsoft must have seen the writing on the wall when Sun open sourced the OpenJDK," he suggested.

Meanwhile, "this gives languages like C# and F# a chance to thrive well beyond their current markets," Travers said.

'I Still Don't Trust You'

"I want to be the first to say, 'Thank you Microsoft!'" Linux Rants blogger Mike Stone began. "We really appreciate you open sourcing .Net and taking it cross platform. It's a step in the right direction!

"I still don't trust you, though," he added.

"I love that Microsoft is considering open source, but I have seen no movement towards the GPL," Stone told Linux Girl. "This strikes me as an opportunity to get their software on multiple platforms but tie the developers down to Microsoft."

Moreover, there are no guarantees that Microsoft will keep .Net open source over the years, he pointed out.

"That means that Microsoft could withdraw and leave all applications developed with the intention of being cross platform legally Windows-only," he warned. "I won't put any faith in Microsoft's commitment, and I'll always be looking for their sudden but inevitable betrayal."

'Watch for Greeks Bearing Gifts'

The move reeks of desperation, Google+ blogger Alessandro Ebersol suggested.

"They arrived too late," Ebersol said. "Java already ate the best dishes, and while .Net was a Windows/Microsoft-only thing, Java was everywhere. Good luck trying to be adopted."

Besides, "I would only believe it if it was GPL'ed to protect the creators of the code," he added. "A fragile MIT license can be overturned at anytime."

In any case, "with all the hatred the company generated towards the FLOSS community, they burned the bridge beyond repair," Ebersol concluded. "The bottom line: Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes -- Watch carefully for Greeks bearing gifts..."

'Like a Cat Loves Mice'

Microsoft loves Linux "like a cat loves mice," blogger Robert Pogson quipped. "Sure, they will play with */Linux, but they are not our friends."

What's happened is that the FOSS and Linux communities have defeated "all the barriers to entry that M$ placed in the way of competition since M$ first made a deal with IBM to supply an OS," Pogson said. "You bet M$ is trying desperately to 'make friends' with 'the enemy' now that their position is overrun.

"It's all good," he added. "M$ can still cause a lot of trouble by spending $billions foolishly or they can become a normal business and compete on price/performance. That's not 'love' -- that's accepting reality."

Adapt or Die

The problem for Microsoft is that "open source development packages are starting to get good enough for developers," offered consultant and Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack.

"At my last job, most of the programmers wanted Eclipse rather than Visual Studio, even though the client software was Windows-only, and I had a slowly increasing number move their development to Linux while using Windows for testing," Mack recalled.

"Very few people want to be locked into just one platform, so more of the mindshare is moving away from single-platform languages," he added. "Microsoft must now choose between adapting or dying."

No Warm Fuzzies Here

Part of what's driving the move is also that "the various cloud implementations are very heavily Linux, and even on Microsoft's own Azure cloud, Linux is a strong presence," Google+ blogger Kevin O'Brien suggested.

"Nadella has made it clear he is taking Microsoft in a cloud direction, so he almost has to do this to even stay in the game," O'Brien asserted.

That said, however, "I don't expect Microsoft to be cuddly and nice -- they will do whatever they think is in their best corporate interest," he said.

In fact, "it doesn't have a thing to do with Linux -- it has to do with SaaS and having a CEO that isn't a whackadoo living in the 90s," SoylentNews blogger hairyfeet told Linux Girl.

"Nadella is smart and realizes the value of a programming language is not patents or OS exclusivity but in services and support for the language," hairyfeet explained. "With that in mind, the more platforms the language can be used on, the better, as that adds value to the language and will give you that many more you can sell services to."

The Fall of an Empire

All in all, if anything is clear, it's that "Micro$oft's empire is tumbling down," said Google+ blogger Gonzalo Velasco C.

"I don't know or care about why they are lying and saying they love Linux," he added. "I just hope the GNU/Linux community is smarter than recently (cough, Systemd, cough) and refuses Micro$oft .Net and other infections. GNU/Linux must use only FLOSS tools."

Who Knew Tim Cook Would Fight for the American Way?

Who Knew Tim Cook Would Fight for the American Way?

Ninety-one percent of Americans believe they have lost control of their personal information -- and many also don't trust companies that buy, sell, barter, and combine their habits and activities to better "serve" -- aka "manipulate" -- them, a recent Pew Research survey found.

Along similar lines, they don't particularly trust governments either, as they monitor communications and movement.

This distrust is becoming a big deal.

Edward Snowden shone a spotlight on how the war on terror has been undermining the foundation of a free America through NSA and other government activities -- how, even as the NSA protects America, it erodes what makes America great in the first place. This is the fundamental challenge of our time -- how to protect freedom, opportunity and our country without destroying America's strength, ingenuity, passion, and work ethic through the creation of an all-knowing surveillance state.

It turns out that Apple, under Tim Cook's leadership, is doing a great service for American values, both at home and abroad. Apple is holding up its products as a better way to do business, as well as working to ensure that its iPhones are secure and private -- from criminals and hackers, certainly, but maybe even from the good-intentioned law enforcement world as well.

Enforcement vs. Education

The goal of law enforcement is to enforce the law and deter crime -- usually through punishment or the threat of such punishment. The problem is that although overzealous surveillance can achieve a desired outcome -- reduce or eliminate crime -- it comes with an extraordinarily high cost to humanity: a reduction in creativity, productivity and maybe even joy. Worse, I believe too much oversight results in a dangerous drop in human empathy.

Parents know this intuitively. Parents could wire up their entire home with surveillance cameras, for example, and keep a running feed of their kids' activities. Every time a sister bashed her brother over the head with a doll, there could be instant and just punishment.

The correlation would become clear, but the outcome would be to stifle impulses and decision making. The young girl would learn that if she hits her brother, then she will get punished. She would not learn, for example, that hitting hurts her brother -- and that's not a good thing.

Ultimately, the kid would learn not to hit to avoid punishment, instead of learning not to hit because it's bad for her relationship with her brother and causes him pain, which only matters if the child develops some sort of human sense of empathy in the first place.

It gets worse. If a kid takes a cookie and gets punished, the option of taking a cookie gets removed. If the thought of taking a cookie is removed, the kid isn't gong to think about taking a cookie or what the consequences might be. The choice to ask, to choose a healthier food, to simply reason through a cause-and-effect situation -- all that's gone.

Even though parents sometimes reach their wits' end trying to figure out which child took a toy from the other first and who escalated the conflict by biting, they also know that video monitoring their children is a bad thing.

Meanwhile, the world's population is constantly getting bigger, but Earth is not. Empathy and human understanding will, in the long run, do more for the world than creating a series of impenetrable countries where people's thoughts and actions are directed down increasingly narrow tunnels. Freedom is connected to opportunity and both are connected to creativity -- as well as to the American drive to build, invent and excel.

A sense of privacy is important, because it's connected to a sense of freedom, which is connected to the American spirit. If you mess with privacy, you start messing with a fundamental element of American spirit. I don't think most Americans know how to articulate why they're worried about their privacy -- because most are law-abiding citizens.

The argument, "If you have nothing to hide, why do you care if anyone looks and watches?" doesn't hold up, but it's not because Americans are planning to become criminals. No, it doesn't hold up because most of us sort of know that an erosion of privacy also eats away at the Americans we are inside.

Enter Tim Cook and Apple

Apple is not participating in the vast information-gathering machine that takes data points from consumers and combines them with data from other companies and other agencies, and creates incredibly detailed profiles about who you are and how you likely will act when presented with certain options.

And Apple could do this. Apple could collect and aggregate its customer data and immediately create a multibillion-dollar information-based business to sell to advertisers, to insurance companies, to service providers, to casinos, to banks.

But Apple is not doing this, and I respect that.

In fact, Apple is bucking trends and pressure in order to deliver the best possible product. Apple could have created Apple Pay in such a way that Apple Pay would reward merchants with data and "loyalty" programs. Instead, Apple is not going to get in the middle of how merchants push customers into loyalty programs or try to influence buying behavior.

Apple Pay doesn't fix this -- for example, even if you pay with cash, at many stores you can't get the lower price unless you swipe your store loyalty card to help build a store's customer profile database -- but Apple isn't making it any easier on merchants.

Cook spoke about Apple Pay during a Q&A interview at the WSJD Live global technology conference in October.


"I think it's the first and only mobile payment system that is both easy, private and secure -- so I think we hit on all three key points that the customer cares about," he said.
"I think merchants have different objectives sometimes, but in the long arc of time you are only relevant as a retailer or a merchant if your customers love you," Cook added. "We've said up front, we're going to be very different on this. We don't want to know what you buy, when you buy it. We don't want to know anything -- and so we're not collecting your data. We're not Big Brother."

This is fantastic. Then later, privacy and security came up once again (around the 24-minute mark).

"What our value system is... we believe that your data is yours, and that we're not about collecting every detail about you and knowing what time you go to bed and where you spend your money and what the temperature is in your house and what things you searched on. None of that. We don't read your email, we don't read your iMessages, we don't do any of this. And so we've designed -- we did this years ago -- we designed iMessage such that we don't keep any of it. And so if somebody comes to get it -- a bad guy or government -- we can't provide it," Cook explained.

"If somebody tries to get your FaceTime records, we can't supply it. With iOS 8, we added some things to that to further encrypt it that puts the user in charge. And there's been some comments from some law enforcement types that said, 'Hey, this is not good, we don't have the flexibility we did before.'

"I look at that and say, 'Look, if law enforcement wants something they should go to the user and get it. It's not for me to do that.' Also, by the way, I wouldn't ever do this, but if you design something where the key is under the mat, the bad guy can get that, too. It's just not the good guy," he said.

Cook believes Apple's customers want more private devices and that they don't even want Apple harvesting their data -- so Apple isn't doing that.

"What you do should be clear," he said. "People should understand what you're doing and what the implications are."

Cook as Privacy Hero?

What this means to me is that at the very top of Apple, Cook places a premium on customer trust -- and he's willing to talk about it. He's willing to go on record with The Wall Street Journal and say that Apple is not using your iPhone to harvest data and built a vast treasure trove of information that can be used surreptitiously to manipulate your choices and actions.

Apple's business is creating a fantastic product that you'll buy because it's a great product. As a business tactic, this is critical -- Apple can't expect to sell Apple Watches with health apps and deliver a HomeKit-based home automation hub if consumers think everything is logged for future manipulation.

So Cook is making the right business move -- but I also believe that he believes it's the right thing to do, too. And I respect that more than the smart business move.

There's more, though.

What I find incredibly important is that China eventually will deliver Apple's largest revenue stream -- and China's system of government and business models care little for privacy, freedom, and what an inventive human can bring to the world.

By creating an encrypted iPhone that Apple and governments can't easily break open, Cook is at once making a savvy business decision -- Apple can't sell iPhones abroad if countries believe they're just backdoor keys for the NSA -- but also pushing forward an even more important agenda that illustrates how you can run a business by building a product (and not by creating a user base as a product to sell to other sorts of customers).

In fact, after learning last month that China allegedly was using hacking tactics to get Apple ID data from its own Chinese users, Cook flew to China to meet with a top Chinese government official.

If Cook can use his position at Apple, as well as his own personal beliefs, to influence China to better tolerate freedom in a positive way, I like that -- even if the most callous watcher simply believes that Cook is just trying to protect Apple so it can continue to sell iPhones in China without users worrying about security.

As for privacy, one attendee at the WSJ event asked Cook what might change things -- what might be the tipping point that causes most people to recognize what some companies are doing with our data?

"I think it will take some kind of event -- because people aren't shaken until something major happens, and when that happens, everybody wakes up and says, 'Oh my God,' and they make a change. And so what that event is, I don't know," Cook said. "But I'm pretty convinced that it's going to happen -- it's just a matter of what, and when it occurs.

Nexus 6, the Star Destroyer of Phablets, Goes on Sale

Nexus 6, the Star Destroyer of Phablets, Goes on Sale

Google's Nexus 6 phablet on Friday became available for sale at Sprint stores, as well as on its website and through other Sprint sales channels. Priced at US$696 with a service plan, qualified buyers can purchase the Nexus 6 with no down payment (however, tax will be charged), and 24 monthly payments of $29.

The other three major U.S. carriers have announced plans to carry the Nexus 6 as well, but Sprint is first out of the gate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wk-PY2dBKaA


The Nexus 6, which was unveiled in October, has a display that measures nearly 6 inches diagonally. The AMOLED screen's resolution is 2560 x 1440 pixels, and it is protected with Gorilla Glass 2. That compares to 1920 x 1080 pixels for Apple's super-sized smartphone, the iPhone 6 Plus

As is typical with Nexus phones, this model runs the latest version of Android out of the box -- 5.0 Lollipop -- and promises to have peppy performance with its 2.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor and 3 gigabytes of RAM.

It supports all popular channel access methods -- GSM, CDMA and LTE.

The Nexus 6 will be offered in midnight blue and white.

Other features include hearty built-in stereo speakers, a DSP chip that allows Google's voice-activated assistant to be summoned even when the phone is turned off, a 13-megapixel, f /2.0 Sony camera, and support for Qualcomm Quick Charge. Quick Charge can provide enough juice in 15 minutes to run the unit's 3220 mAh battery for 6 hours. Fully charged, Google rates the run time for the battery at 24 hours.

Great Phone, but...

While the Nexus 6 has garnered some good reviews, almost all come with an emphatic "but."

"The new Nexus 6, which Google produced with Motorola, is in nearly every way a better device than its predecessors," wrote Nathan Olivarez-Giles in The Wall Street Journal.

"The build, display, battery life and camera have all improved. But its most notable feature will be a dealbreaker for some: It is one massive phablet," he declared.

"The Nexus 6 is something entirely new to the Nexus line-up," wrote Greg Kumparak in a review for TechCrunch.

"It's big to the point that it's almost laughable, stretching the definition of what you could reasonably define as a smartphone to its very limits," he observed.

"If that's what you want, however, the Nexus 6 is a very solid phone," Kumparak continued.

"It's fast, it'll get its software updates before pretty much every other gigantor phone on the market, and the battery life is thus far solid. Just know that you'll have to keep a death grip on it, or the device's size combined with its slick texture will almost certainly lead to a very sudden introduction to Mr. Sidewalk," he added.

As ungainly as some reviewers found the Nexus 6, they may change their minds over time, suggested Dieter Bohn, reviewing it for The Verge.

"Using the Nexus 6 is absolutely awkward until, strangely, it's not," he wrote.

"When I show this phablet to people, I get the same glassy-eyed 'I don't need this' look that I used to get when I showed them my big, honking pre-iPhone smartphone all those years ago," Bohn continued. "They all converted. You just might do the same."

Gaining Market Share

With the Nexus 6, Google may be aiming at new markets, noted Carolina Milanesi, chief of research and head of U.S. business for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

"I think that with the Nexus 6, Google may be looking at a device that might appeal to enterprises as well as those users who cannot afford to buy a smartphone and a tablet," she told TechNewsWorld.

In the quarter ending on June 30, 7 percent of phones sales in the United States were phablets, according to Milanesi, although they've gained a double digit market share in China.

"Despite this segment's growth, I do not expect it to be mass market," Milanesi noted. "That said, buyers of these devices might offer a higher return on investment for Google as they tend to be more engaged with their devices."

Others see supersized phones growing beyond the niche stage.

"Three years ago, I would have said this is a fad," Wayne Lam, a telecom electronics analyst for IHS, told TechNewsWorld. "It's not an ergonomically ideal design, but it's a sustainable segment of the market now, and it will become upwards of a quarter of the market in two or three years time."

Small Tablets Doomed?

As phablets become more popular, they may need to be redefined, observed Michael Morgan, an independent mobile devices analyst.

"Right now, whether something is a phablet or not is purely dependent on screen size," he told TechNewsWorld.

"In the future, we'll want to know what's done with that additional screen real estate that makes it more than just a big cellphone," he said. "You see that with Samsung with its screen approach and app switching. You don't see it with the iPhone 6 Plus."

Growing phablet sales could squeeze some segments of the tablet market.

"Between the greater adoption of larger phones and aggressive pricing of larger tablets, it will be tough to compete with a 7-inch tablet in the market," Ross Rubin, principal analyst with Reticle Research, told TechNewsWorld.

"Will the big phone obliterate the small tablet market?" asked IHS' Lam. "Not completely -- but it's going to have a significant impact on it."

Gadget Ogling: A Creepy Echo, Clever Home Connections, Bizarre Smartphones and Flexible 3D Printing

Gadget Ogling: A Creepy Echo, Clever Home Connections, Bizarre Smartphones and Flexible 3D Printing

In a world of connected homes, only one column sifts the gold from the dirt before consumer tech ever makes it to shelves. Welcome to Gadget Dreams and Nightmares.


This week's entries include Amazon's latest play for your living room, a bevy of integrated sensors, a connected coffeemaker, and much more.

As always, each item does have a rating -- but it indicates only how much I care about trying it out. These are not reviews.

Amazon Echoes in the Abyss

Echo, Amazon's newest attempt at a smart personal assistant, is set to take pride of place in your home. The black tower is voice-activated and can play music, as well as provide information and news updates. Also, because it's from Amazon, it can update your shopping list.

It's always on, which means it's continually listening to you, no matter where you are in a room. That's just more than a little unsettling.

Amazon promises that Echo activates only when you say a wake word ("Alexa," which surely will complicate matters for parents with a child of that name), but who's to say Echo can't hear everything? It needs to hear what's going on to understand when it's being called upon.

It's disconcerting to think there'd be a piece of machinery in my home that's connected to the cloud and listening to everything.

It's a novelty, and I don't see it replacing a smartphone or tablet as the go-to provider of information and entertainment. Yet I fear it's a harbinger of near-term lifestyle changes as people simply open their doors and invite the NSA even deeper into their homes.

Quirky Connects Everything

Quirky's smarter home collection is based on a much smarter concept of what a true connected home should look like. Quirky's range of sensors monitor energy usage, track when doors and windows open and close, control heating, and oversee garage doors.

Lightbulb Garage

The connected home is much more likely to align with Quirky's vision than Amazon's. Quirky offers a range of inexpensive sensors connected to the same platform, feeding information into one virtual command center.

The relatively low prices are important too, since it could entice those on smaller budgets to take greater control over their home when they're elsewhere

Cat Tracker Tailio

https://d2pq0u4uni88oo.cloudfront.net/projects/1014954/video-455208-h264_high.mp4

I'll admit, at first I found the idea of a health monitor for cats absurd, but as I learned more, I soon warmed to Tailio. It's essentially a scale placed under the litter box, and it tracks data such as a cat's weight, waste, and frequency of visits.


I wanted to hate it. I wanted to hurl barbs aplenty. And yet, it's entirely useful.

Tracking a cat's weight, which might not be noticeable to one's eye, can throw up all sorts of flags about the cat's health. If such changes are spotted quickly, Tailio can prompt owners to quickly take their potentially poorly kitty to the veterinarian. How can I get mad about that?

I don't have a cat, though, so maybe Tailio can make a version for humans.

Belkin Welcomes Mr. Coffee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uGODQUtxQD4

My mornings are inevitably rushed, because I rise as late as possible before I need to leave. That means there's time for a rushed breakfast, but not for a hot drink in these winter months. I would love a coffee (or tea!) at a drinkable temperature ready for me when I get up.

Better yet, I'd love to have a warm cup almost ready for me when I'm on my way home. So you better believe I'm all in for Mr. Coffee.

Forget the kid-friendly, Easy-Bake Oven-style name, and there's a nifty gizmo here. It's part of the WeMo range too, so it builds into an existing ecosystem.

I'm so eager to try this that I don't even think I'd need the resulting caffeine jolt to perk me up.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Pour-Over Coffees

AKA a Bad Idea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XJuqdaB-kXg


All right, LG, I get it. You need to try something new to differentiate your smartphones in an overloaded market. Anthropomorphizing a group of AKA handsets is not the way to do that.

The phones are even perpetuating outdated gender norms (there's only one "female" phone and it's pink, of course). More than that, these little guys and gals have a mission to save the world from aliens. Why is this necessary, LG?


It's a shame, because these otherwise seem like decent phones, with good specs.

I adore storytelling and rich fictional universes and made-up worlds, but as we've seen with the glut of superhero movies in recent years, not everything needs a backstory. Certainly not smartphones.

Rating: 1 out of 5 YoYos

All-Weather 3D Printing

https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/projects/1370107/photo-main.jpg?1416215484


Flux is a 3D printer that recognizes people might want to use their machine for a variety of purposes. To wit, it's a flexible piece of kit that's customizable.

It comes with a 3D scanner, which is perfect if you're into counterfeit plastic replicas of small items (just kidding, that's pretty neat), and a laser engraving option. Most excitingly, there's a pastry attachment for chocolate, jam, and all manner of other delights. I'm sold.


On the surface, it's a truly a great execution of the 3D-printing concept -- one that hasn't quite cracked the mainstream. Help people fill their donuts on demand, and you've got a winner.

Microsoft Widens Skype World

Microsoft Widens Skype World

Skype on Friday announced Skype for Web, a new version of its VoIP service that can be used in a browser rather than through the dedicated application.

"Perhaps you're sitting at a computer that doesn't already have Skype downloaded," explained Jonathan Watson, a senior product marketing manager with Skype. "Or maybe you're on the go and using an Internet cafe or hotel computer where you can't download Skype at all. Using Skype for Web makes it more convenient to get to your conversations."

To use Skype for Web, users simply sign in on Skype.com. From there, they can connect and start instant messaging directly from their browser. Voice or video calls will require a small plug-in.

Now in beta, the service works with Internet Explorer, Chrome on Windows, Firefox and Safari, but it initially will be available only to a small number of users. It will be rolled out worldwide in the coming months, Watson said.

A Boon for Employees

The new service promises to be "quite useful, because it opens up the number of computers that can use Skype significantly," Roger Entner, principal analyst at Recon Analytics, told TechNewsWorld.

In particular, it will make Skype available for the first time to employees at companies "where the IT department locks down the computer and doesn't let you install software," Entner explained. "I've worked in quite a few companies like that."

In addition to its Voice over Internet Protocol functionality, Skype is also a useful messaging service, he added.

"That's one thing a lot of people don't realize," Entner said. "I have Skype chat channels with 40 or 50 people in them."

Thanks to the Web feature, that's now possible on "all the computers being held hostage by IT departments," he pointed out.

'A Long Time Coming'

Though a plug-in currently is required for voice and video calls, Skype is working with Microsoft's Internet Explorer team to implement the technology necessary for real-time communications on the Web, Watson pointed out.

"With WebRTC, there won't be any downloads or installs -- you can just get straight to your conversation," he said.

"Skype for Web has been a long time in coming," Andy Abramson, CEO of Comunicano, told TechNewsWorld.

"Microsoft is late to the party when it comes to WebRTC," he said. "The optics are not in their favor, so they are trying to do something to correct that."

Firefox and Google Chrome both support WebRTC, while Apple's Safari and Internet Explorer require a plug-in, Abramson pointed out.

In many ways, "this is nothing more than a catch-up play for Skype vs. Google Hangouts," he said.

The Benefit of WebRTC

It could take some time for WebRTC to become commonplace.

"While I think WebRTC services will become more pervasive over time as mobile carriers move all voice, text and data to IP-based LTE networks, mainstream use is years away," said Ritch Blasi, Comunicano's senior vice president for mobile and wireless.

"There will always be early adopters and Skype enthusiasts who will find the browser-based service easier to use -- that's the fundamental benefit of WebRTC," he told TechNewsWorld.

However, "it will take some time for it to reach the scale of use seen by mobile services," Blasi added.

Efforts Better Spent Elsewhere?

In any case, while Skype's availability through the browser "may be of interest to people not already using Skype or other messaging/communications apps," it doesn't really offer any advantage to mobile users or to anyone who has already downloaded Skype on their PC, Jim McGregor, founder and principal analyst with Tirias Research, told TechNewsWorld.

"The company would be better off work working on more distinct features, especially for mobile users," he added, "because the other mobile apps are often preferred over Skype." 

Toyota's Mirai Aims to Kick Fuel-Cell Tech Into High Gear

Toyota's Mirai Aims to Kick Fuel-Cell Tech Into High Gear

Toyota on Monday officially unveiled its fuel cell sedan in an Internet video featuring Toyota Motor Corporation's president and CEO Akio Toyoda. The announcement comes in advance of the Los Angeles Auto Show Nov. 21-30.

The new sedan, dubbed "Mirai" -- which means "future" in Japanese -- can travel up to 300 miles on a single tank of hydrogen, refuel in less than five minutes, and emit only water vapor.

To ensure that its drivers actually can fuel up, Toyota announced that it will collaborate with Air Liquide to develop and supply a phased network of 12 new hydrogen fueling stations in five states in the northeast corridor.

"Toyota's vision of a hydrogen society is not just about building a great car, but ensuring accessible, reliable and convenient refueling for our customers," said Toyota North America Chief Executive Officer Jim Lentz. "I am happy to announce that this vision will expand beyond the borders of California and give customers the opportunity to join the fuel cell movement."

Through this partnership, the 12 fueling stations will be placed strategically throughout the greater New York and Boston areas, in an effort to blanket New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The Next Prius?

Toyota has been in the driver's seat of the alternative fuel movement in the past, notably with the Prius, which it first introduced in 1997. Just as that car helped pave the way for early gas-electric hybrid automobiles, the Mirai could influence development of fuel-cell vehicles.

"It is another attempt by Toyota to weave a blanket to cover alternatives to fossil fuels," said Justin Cupler, editor in chief of TopSpeed.com.

"Along with the hybrid and electric-powered vehicles, this is another option," he told TechNewsWorld.

"There are many benefits that are both tangible and intangible," noted Phil Gott, senior director of long range planning at IHS Automotive.

"For Toyota, they get credits to offset the emissions from other vehicles," he pointed out.

"They also get kudos and bragging rights, and in people's minds they are affirming their leadership that they got with the Prius," Gott told TechNewsWorld. "Of course, they also get the marketing buzz of being among the first to bring a fuel cell vehicle to market."

The Cost of Driving

While Toyota did not announce the American sticker price of the Mirai, its price in Japan is the equivalent of nearly US$70,000.

However, the target price for the American market could be closer to $50,000, based on some reports. That still could be viewed as a lot of money for a car that is just past the prototype stage.

"The initial cost is going to be an issue, so that could be a big deterrent," said Cupler. "It isn't entirely clear if the car or even its technology will ever take off."

However, Toyota does "intend to produce a large number of these vehicles for the American market," added Gott. "The challenge is [not only] the cost, but also the availability of the refueling stations.

"For this car to be reliable, the customer needs to be close to the hydrogen refueling station," he pointed out. "Right now, those are far and few between."

Clean Energy or Not?

Toyota has been addressing the issue by helping to build out the fuel cell refueling station infrastructure. At present, its new "car of the future" can't make a cross-country trek, but earlier this year the company announced a $7.3 million loan to FirstElement Fuels to support operations and maintenance of 18 stations in California.

With the announcement of the stations in the northeast corridor, the infrastructure is beginning to come together, but another issue still may need to be addressed for fuel cell vehicles to be truly successful in reducing carbon emissions.

"Where does the energy that produces the hydrogen come from?" pondered Gott. "While we can produce electricity -- which is used to make the hydrogen -- from sun and wind, most electricity still comes from coal.

"That electricity from the sun could be used to power a home or an office," he added.

"Instead of supporting clean energy, this technology is now adding a load on that sector and reduces the ability to use the solar energy to offset the demand from a coal plant," Gott argued.

"In other words, the newest sources that require electricity should be attributed to the dirtiest sources of power -- so that means that the hydrogen footprint of these cars is actually dirtier than a car running on gasoline," he maintained.

"We need to be realistic when we call these 'clean energy vehicles' and really need to look at this from well to wheel," Gott said, and understand "where the energy for the hydrogen is coming from.

US Marshals Have Their Own Cellphone Data Slurpfest

US Marshals Have Their Own Cellphone Data Slurpfest

The United States Marshals Service is grabbing data from thousands, if not millions, of Americans' cellphones using high-tech devices deployed on five Cessnas, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.

The aircraft operate out of at least five metro-area airports and apparently can cover most of the U.S. population.

They are equipped with DRT boxes, popularly known as "dirtboxes," made by a subsidiary of Boeing.


The DRT boxes gather the IMSI numbers -- a cellphone's unique identifier -- and geolocation data from all cellphones within their range.

The Cessnas reportedly make regular flights.

The U.S. Marshals office referred TechNewsWorld to the U.S. Department of Justice, which did not respond to our request to comment for this story.

A Shame and a Scandal?

"This is really turning our cellphones into true portable tracking devices," Chris Calabrese, senior policy director at the Center for Democracy & Technology, told TechNewsWorld.

"The government is recognizing very few limits on how they can do this," he continued.

"They seem to feel it's OK to do wholesale targeting of innocent people as long as they think there's some kind of criminal out there somewhere," Calabrese said.

"There are some serious and troubling legal questions about this program," Hanni Fakhouri, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told TechNewsWorld.

He called on the U.S. Marshals to explain how the program works and what kind of court authorization, if any, it has obtained to operate it.

It's Only Basic Data

"There's a lot of excitement about this program which is unwarranted, and the fact of the matter is we're still talking about communications that do not have any content," said Darren Hayes, a professor at Pace University's Seidenberg School of Computer Science.

The U.S. Marshals Service "is not connecting to any of your actual communications," he told TechNewsWorld. "It's not like the far-reaching, intrusive communications capture the NSA is conducting."

Nothing Exceeds Like Excess

The use of dirtboxes "does seem like overkill," Hayes admitted.

Drug law violations accounted for 1.5 million arrests in the U.S. last year, and there were 387 violent crimes and 2,900 property crimes per 100,000 people in 2012.

"The issue at hand is that the DoJ is collecting data in bulk without warrants, and without the reasonable suspicion that the people whose data they are collecting have engaged in any criminal activity," said Jackie Bodnar, a spokesperson at FreedomWorks.

"I have not seen any evidence that this warrantless surveillance has been effective at catching criminals," she told TechNewsWorld.

What's a DRT Box?

"DRT" is the abbreviation of "Digital Receiver Technology," a company formerly known as "Utica Systems." Boeing purchased DRT in 2008. DRT makes wireless location and management technologies that emulate a base station to detect and locate wireless handsets in a limited geographic area, according to Boeing.

DRT boxes also are used by the FBI, according to Top Level Telecommunications.

The NSA's BoundlessInformant tool reportedly also uses DRT boxes.

Honesty Is Such a Lonely Word

Americans are concerned about government data collection. Eighty percent of the participants in a Pew Research survey agreed or strongly agreed that citizens should be concerned about government surveillance of communications.

Fears over privacy intrusion are an obvious reason, but Americans also may be concerned about the NSA and law enforcement's being less than honest about what they're up to.

For example, the DoJ essentially lied to an appeals court during a hearing on the constitutionality of National Security Letters, the EFF has asserted.

"We know the NSA stores all the data they collect," Bodnar said, "and there's no reason to expect the DoJ to suddenly be responsible and discard our data." 

BJP launches '3D selfie' technology for J&K poll campaign

BJP launches '3D selfie' technology for J&K poll campaign

JAMMU: Adopting latest technology to reach the masses, BJP on Tuesday launched '3D selfie' technology to woo voters in Jammu and Kashmir.

The party used the technique after successful use of different modes of technology during Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana.

Former Union Minister Chaman Lal Gupta, along with state BJP spokesperson and media in charge Arun Kumar Gupta, got the selfie clicked with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the background and later flagged off the selfie van for other Assembly constituencies.

The former Union minister appreciated the initiative of the party to adopt latest means of technology to reach the masses and appealed to people not to get misled by the "false promises" of parties like NC, Congress and PDP and ensure victory of BJP candidates.
Stay updated on the go with The Times of India’s mobile apps. Click here to download it for your device.

MODERATE COFFEE CONSUMPTION CAN HELP REDUCE DIABETES

MODERATE COFFEE CONSUMPTION CAN HELP REDUCE DIABETES

Washington: A new study has revealed that people who moderately consume coffee have 25 percent less risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The research round up report concludes that regular, moderate consumption of coffee may decrease an individual's risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Epidemiological evidence shows that drinking three to four cups of coffee per day is associated with an approximate 25 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, compared to consuming none to less than two cups per day.
The study has also suggested an inverse association, with each additional cup of coffee reducing the relative risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 7-8 per cent.
Research indicated that caffeine was unlikely to be responsible for this effect. A recent meta-analysis suggested that consumption of both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

USING YOUR PHONE TOO MUCH MAY BE HURTING YOUR BACK

USING YOUR PHONE TOO MUCH MAY BE HURTING YOUR BACK

Washington: A new study has revealed that slumping over the phone may be hurting your back.
According to the study, people spend an average of 2 to 4 hours each day with their neck bent at this unnatural angle while shooting off emails or texts and the success of social media has led to an epidemic of bad smart phone posture.
Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, chief of spine surgery at New York Spine Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine, the average adult head weighs 10 to 12 pounds when it's in the upright or neutral position. However, because of that pesky thing called physics-gravitational pull-the cranium becomes heavier the more you bend your neck.
The study found that bending your head at a 60 degree angle to get a better look at your selfie is putting 60 pounds' worth of pressure on your cervical spine, the portion of the spine above the shoulders. That's more than the weight of the average 7 year old.
The researchers said that the weight seen by the spine dramatically increases when flexing the head forward at varying degrees and the loss of the natural curve of the cervical spine leads to incrementally increased stresses about the cervical spine. These stresses may lead to early wear, tear, degeneration and possibly surgeries.
The study found that tilting your head a mere 15 degrees puts 27 pounds of pressure on your spine; a 30 degree neck tilt could equal 40 pounds of pressure; a 45 degree tilt adds the force of 49 pounds.
The study will be published in Surgical Technology International. 

LIVE LONGER? LESS SEX, MORE GREENS

LIVE LONGER? LESS SEX, MORE GREENS

London, As most of us struggle to juggle work commitments with the demands of family and daily life, new research suggests that slow pace of life is the secret to longevity - even if it amounts to curtailing sex life a bit.
The team of researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) in Israel reached this conclusion after studying the collected literature on 1,014 species of reptiles, including 672 lizards and 336 snakes.They examined their life history parameters: body size, earliest age at first reproduction, body temperature, reproductive modes, litter or clutch size and frequency, geographic distribution and diet.The researchers found that, among other factors, early sexual maturation and a higher frequency of laying eggs or giving birth were associated with shortened longevity.The findings suggest that reduced reproductive rates and a plant-rich diet increase the lifespan of reptiles.
"Reproduction comes at the price of great stress to the mother. She experiences physiological stress, is unable to forage efficiently, and is more vulnerable to her surroundings. This reflects evolutionary logic. We found that reptiles that were sexually mature early on were less likely to make it to old age," explained professor Shai Meiri from TAU's faculty of life sciences.
"Live fast and die young, they say - but live slow, live long is what we find," Meiri added. The team also discovered that herbivores - lizards with a plant-rich diet - lived longer than similar-sized carnivores that ate mostly insects.
Ingestion of a protein-rich diet led to fast growth, more intense reproduction and a shortened lifespan.
"Herbivorous reptiles were thought to consume nutritionally poorer food so they reached maturity later - and therefore lived longer," added Inon Scharf from department of zoology at TAU.
The researchers also found that reptiles in geographically colder regions lived longer probably due to two factors: hibernation, which offers respite from predators and slower movement due to a seasonal drop in metabolic rate. The paper was published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

ANGELINA JOLIE, BRAD PITT MAKE FIRST APPEARANCE AS MARRIED COUPLE

ANGELINA JOLIE, BRAD PITT MAKE FIRST APPEARANCE AS MARRIED COUPLE

Sydney: Actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt made their first red carpet appearance as a married couple at the world premier of “Unbroken” here.
The 39-year-old was joined by husband Pitt as she attended the world premiere of her latest film Monday, reportedly.
The two walked down the aisle in August this year after two years of engagement.
Looking radiant in a strapless, fishtailed Gucci dress, Jolie greeted thousands of fans who lined the streets by the State Theatre here before walking on the red carpet.
“We just feel that much closer. It makes us happy to be married. I don't think we needed it but it just feels like he's my husband," said Jolie.

AUSTRALIA, INDIA EYE FREE TRADE PACT, ECONOMIC BOOST

AUSTRALIA, INDIA EYE FREE TRADE PACT, ECONOMIC BOOST

Canberra: Australia and India will push for a free trade pact between their countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Tuesday, during a State Visit to Canberra by Modi.
Australia on Monday finalised a landmark free trade deal with China more than ten years in the making, significantly expanding ties between the world's second largest economy and one of Washington's closest allies in Asia.
Trade between Australia and India stands at around $15 billion a year, or just a tenth of that between Australia and China.
"We want to go further and that's why the next priority for Australia is a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with India," Abbott said.
"If I may say so, this is a moment in time. This is the time to get this done."
Modi, who addressed the Australian parliament later on Tuesday, emphasised the need to secure greater access for Indian investors.
"We have agreed to speed up negotiations on the comprehensive economic partnership agreement," Modi said. "I also asked for easier access for Indian business to the Australian market and quicker investment approvals."
"We also agreed on seeking early closure on the civil nuclear agreement, which will give Australia a chance to participate in one of the most secure and safe nuclear energy programme in the world."
Australia sealed a civil nuclear deal to sell uranium to India in September and also offered to increase supplies of conventional fuel to help India overcome chronic shortages.
Talks towards the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement began about two years ago after Australia lifted a long-standing ban on selling uranium to India.
Modi on Sunday night addressed thousands of expatriate Indians at a packed 21,000 seat arena in Sydney.
Modi, who arrived on Friday for the G20 economic summit in Australia, where about 300,000 Indians live, urged Indians to boost investment at home.
Australia is emerging as a key source of thermal coal for India's growing number of electricity users.

TWO INFOSYS CO-FOUNDERS FLOAT NEW VENTURE

TWO INFOSYS CO-FOUNDERS FLOAT NEW VENTURE

Infosys' co-founders S. Gopalakrishnan and S.D. Shibulal have come together again to set up Axilor Ventures, a business incubator to help entrepreneurs and early-stage firms succeed in diverse verticals.
"Axilor aims at energising the start-up ecosystem in the country by incubating ventures operating in the e-commerce, healthcare, life sciences, sustainability and clean technology space," Gopalakrishnan and Shibulal said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
After an illustrious career at the global software major spanning over three decades, Gopalakrishnan retired as Infosys executive vice-chairman Oct 8, while Shibulal resigned July 31 as the company's chief executive seven months before superannuation.
"Axilor will focus on scalable, disruptive and technology-led business ideas from budding entrepreneurs and experienced professionals with entrepreneurial aspirations," the statement said.
 In its initial launch stage, Axilor will run three programmes 

India’s First Ebola Patient Has Been Quarantined

India’s First Ebola Patient Has Been Quarantined

Man was already treated and cured in Liberia

An Indian resident who tested positive for Ebola—and was cured—has landed in Delhi from Liberia.

The 26-year-old man is being isolated in a facility at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport, The Times of India reports.

According to the Times, the man had already been treated for Ebola in West Africa, currently does not have symptoms and tested negative for the virus before he flew. However, his semen tested positive for the virus.

He had a medical clearance certificate from the Liberian government saying the had been treated and was confirmed negative from blood tests—that would deem him Ebola-free, according to the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). His blood also tested negative in India. Semen can test positive after clinical clearance for up to three months, according to the CDC. The agency recommends abstinence from sex—including oral sex—for at least six months. If abstinence cannot be followed, the CDC recommends condoms to prevent disease spread.

The patient in India is being kept in isolation in a health facility at the airport until his semen tests negative.

It’s not likely that he poses a threat, given the negative test from his blood, but experts have long been concerned that a spread of Ebola in India could be devastating given the population size.

DHONI'S STAND ON MEIYAPPAN CONTRADICTED BY MUDGAL REPORT

DHONI'S STAND ON MEIYAPPAN CONTRADICTED BY MUDGAL REPORT

New Delhi: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's stand that Gurunath Meiyappan was a "mere cricket enthusiast" supporting Chennai Super Kings has been contradicted by the Justice Mudgal IPL probe committee report.
The report, which was partly made public yesterday, has said that investigations have confirmed that Meiyappan was a team official of a franchisee (Chennai Super Kings).
Dhoni, who had appeared before the committee, had maintained that Meiyappan, BCCI President-in-exile N Srinivasan's son-in-law, was not an official of CSK.
In its first report submitted to the Supreme Court, the Mudgal committee had stated "representatives of India Cements, who appeared before the committee, contended that Mr Meiyappan had no share holding in India Cements and hence cannot be considered as an owner of CSK.
"Further, Mr M S Dhoni, Mr N Srinivasan, and officials of India Cements took the stand that Mr Meiyappan, had nothing to do with the cricketing affairs of Chennai Super Kings and was a mere cricket enthusiast supporting CSK," the report stated.
When contacted, Justice (Retd) Mudgal, who headed the committee, declined comment, saying that the matter was sub-judice.
"I cannot speak on these matters since it is sub-judice," he said.
In the final report, which was released yesterday, the committee said that Meiyappan was "frequently meeting Individual 2 in his hotel room. This strengthens the conclusion of the committee that Individual 1 (Meiyappan) was in close touch with Individual 2."
"Thus the committee is of the view that due to the scientific evidence of voice-matching and testimony of the security personnel, recorded by the investigating team, the finding about the betting activities of Individual 1 and that he was a team official stand confirmed," the committee said in its findings.

PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES SHUTTLERS SAINA, SRIKANTH

PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES SHUTTLERS SAINA, SRIKANTH




President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday congratulated badminton players Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth for their respective wins at the China Open 2014 Super Series Premier event, saying their success is a matter of great pride for all Indians.
In individual messages sent to Nehwal and Srikanth, the president said: "I am extremely delighted and proud that you have won the women's/men's singles title of the China Open 2014 Super Series Premier event."
"Your achievement is an example of what can be accomplished through hard work and dedication. The whole country joins your family and you in celebrating this impressive achievement," he said.
"I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations for keeping the country's flag flying high. My best wishes to you for all future endeavours," the president said.
 Saina Nehwal defeated Japan's Akane Yamaguchi to bag her third women's singles crown of the year, while Srikanth beat two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan to win the men's singles title.

ONE DEAD IN BLOODY CLASHES AT GODMAN'S ASHRAM

ONE DEAD IN BLOODY CLASHES AT GODMAN'S ASHRAM



Bloody clashes, pitched battles and gunfire were witnessed when the supporters of controversial godman Sant Rampal in Haryana's Barwala clashed with police personnel who came to arrest him.
A person died in the crossfire and several more were injured. The injured have been moved to the hospital in 20 ambulances.
The Swami, who is on bail in connection with a killing of a man at his Rohtak Ashram in 2006. He is also wanted in connection with the contempt of court case.
On Monday, Punjab and Haryana high court had again expressed displeasure over the failure of the Haryana government in executing non-bailable warrants against Rampal in a contempt case. It gave the government time till Friday to execute fresh warrants and produce Rampal in court.
To dispel the mobs, the police had resorted to lobbing of tear gas shells. Several persons were reported injured.

ARPITA KHAN'S WEDDING CELEBRATIONS BEGINS

ARPITA KHAN'S WEDDING CELEBRATIONS BEGINS





Hyderabad, The wedding celebrations of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's sister Arpita Khan with businessman Aayush Sharma began at the Taj Falaknuma hotel here Tuesday evening. The celebrations kicked off with the 'baraat' at 4.30 p.m. in the heritage hotel located in the old city area.The 'baraat' included horses and two bands, one from Delhi and one from Hyderabad. {Video: Arpita Khan's wedding in Hyderabad}
It will be followed by the 'jaimala' and 'phere'. There will be party at night, where Salman and his stepmother Helen will perform. Punjabi singers Mika and Yo Yo Honey Singh will also liven up the party.
The wedding rituals are being performed as per Punjabi Hindu traditions.
Salman's father Salim Khan, mother Salma, brothers Arbaaz, Sohail and other family members received the baraat. Top stars from Bollywood and Tollywood, and businessmen were among the 250 guests invited for the wedding. It was not clear which stars are attending the wedding as a thick security blanket was thrown around the hotel.
While police were managing the outer security ring, the actor's personal guards and others were keeping a tight vigil inside the hotel.
Salman booked the entire 60-room hotel for Tuesday and Wednesday. The celebrations will conclude Wednesday with a farewell lunch. Seven folk artists from Rajasthan and many more from Mumbai were specially flown in for Tuesday night's party.
Hundreds of Salman fans, including young girls, gathered outside the hotel to catch a glimpse of the stars. The fans, including some from Mumbai, mobbed the vehicles entering the hotel. The menu for the party includes Deccani cuisine, especially Biryani and Haleem and double ka meetha.
Falaknuma is one of the most beautiful palaces of the Nizam, the ruler of erstwhile Hyderabad State.The palace, which the Taj Group converted into a luxury hotel and opened four years ago, has 60 lavish rooms, decorated halls and a 101-seat dining hall, said to be the biggest in the world.
Its Durbar Hall, embellished with intricately carved wooden ceilings, parquet flooring, regal walnut wood furniture and handcrafted mirrors, had once hosted guests like King George V and Czar Nicholas II.
Located five km from Charminar, Falaknuma - or 'mirror of the sky' in Urdu - is a scorpion-shaped, all-marble palace which was once the residence of Mir Mahboob Ali Khan (1869-1911), the sixth Nizam.
It was Nawab Vaqar-ul-Umra, the Nizam's prime minister, who built the palace in 1893. Impressed by its magnificence, the Nizam bought it for himself.
A couple of suites including the one used by the Nizam are the most expensive. The hotel charges over Rs.5 lakh a night for the Nizam suite.

G20 meeting 2014

G20 summit: World leaders meet in Brisbane

Leaders of the G20 nations are expected to focus on economic growth

World leaders are meeting in Brisbane, Australia, for the first day of the G20 summit.

The two-day summit, attended by the US, Chinese and Russian leaders among others, will focus on promoting growth.

In a speech, US President Barack Obama sought to reassure Asia-Pacific allies of the US' commitment to the region.

Vladimir Putin is expected to face a hostile reception from some Western leaders concerned about Russia's increasing military assertiveness.

Speaking ahead of the G20 summit, the Russian president said US and EU sanctions imposed over Russia's actions in Ukraine would harm not just Russia but the global economy.




Who cares about the G20 summit? In 90 seconds
Meanwhile, President Obama said the US believed that security in the Asia-Pacific region must depend on international law and the peaceful resolution of disputes.

"We believe... that any effective security order for Asia must be based not on spheres of influence, or coercion or intimidation where big nations bully the small, but on alliances for mutual security, international law and norms that are upheld, and the peaceful resolution of disputes," he said.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott previously said world leaders would use the summit to discuss job creation, identifying tax cheats and strengthening the global economy.

Leaders are expected to expand on plans agreed in February at the G20 finance ministers' meeting to boost global economic growth by 2% in five years.

However the crisis in Ukraine and the threat of Ebola are also expected to be discussed at the summit, while campaigners want climate change on the agenda.



"Obviously I would like this discussion to focus on the politics of economic reform," Mr Abbott said as he opened the session on Saturday.

"In the end, though, this is your retreat, it is open to any of you to raise any subject that you wish."

The BBC's Linda Yueh in Brisbane says that while the global economy is the official focus of the summit, the agenda is likely to reflect what the people around the table are concerned about - including Ukraine, the spread of Ebola and climate change.

Our correspondent says the question will be how much can be achieved by leaders of the G20 nations with so much to discuss in just two days.

In early developments:

British Prime Minister David Cameron has outlined new measures to tackle jihadists who fight abroad, in an address to the Australian parliament
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for closer tripartite defence ties with the US and Australia, and urged "tangible steps taken in the area of security and defence cooperation" with Canberra, in a piece for the Australian Financial Review
Brisbane, in the state of Queensland, is said to be taking unprecedented security measures for the summit, with some 6,000 police deployed.

Twenty-seven different groups have been given permits to protest at designated areas near the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, the venue hosting the meeting, and thousands of people are expected over the weekend.

More than 200 protesters buried their heads in the sands of Bondi Beach on Thursday in a demonstration over climate change inaction.

Earlier in the week, the US and China made what US President Barack Obama described as "historic" pledges on emissions, with the US promising greater cuts and China for the first time setting a date by which emissions would peak.

Australia has, however, stood firm on keeping climate change off the agenda of the G20 summit.

The government is facing criticism over its climate policies. Since coming to power, Mr Abbott has axed a carbon tax and overseen a 70% fall in investment in renewable energy.

Eyes will also be on President Putin, amid tensions over Russia's role in Ukraine. Some Australians had called for Mr Putin to be blocked from the summit over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.



Thirty-eight Australians were among the 298 people who died when the plane was brought down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine, by a missile that the West believes was supplied by Russia. Russia rejects the claim.

Mr Abbott, who discussed the issue with Mr Putin in Beijing earlier this week, described Russia's actions in Ukraine as part of a "regrettable pattern" by a nation that was being "much more assertive".

He said he told Mr Putin that Russia should aspire to be a superpower "for peace and freedom and prosperity" instead of "trying to recreate the lost glories of tsarism or the old Soviet Union"

What is G20?

The "Group of Twenty" represents two-thirds of the world's population, 85% of global GDP and over 75% of global trade.

It began in 1999 as an annual meeting for finance ministers and central bank governors following the Asian financial crisis, before evolving to also include a summit for countries' leaders in 2008, after the global financial crisis.

G20 meetings are aimed at deepening economic co-operation and strengthening the global economy.
It comprises 19 countries and the European Union.

At each meeting, the host country invites non-member guest countries to attend. For 2014, Australia has invited Spain, Mauritania, Myanmar, Senegal, New Zealand and Singapore

BREAKING NEWS ON TSUNAMI

Indonesia tsunami alert after quake

A 7.3-magnitude earthquake under the Molucca Sea in eastern Indonesia has triggered a tsunami warning.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a possibility of "hazardous" waves up to one metre (3.3ft) high on coasts within a 300km (186 mile) radius of the quake.

It struck at a depth of 46km northwest of Kota Ternate in the Maluku islands, according to the US Geological Survey.

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

Aside from Indonesia, tsunamis could reach the Philippines, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and parts of Japan and Taiwan, the warning centre said.

The first tsunami waves could arrive within the next six hours, it said, warning that "the initial wave may not be the largest".

Shortly after the first quake, another measuring 6.2 was monitored off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, the US Geological Survey said.

Indonesia lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" plate boundaries, and is prone to frequent earthquakes.

On Boxing Day in 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Banda Aceh triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people, the majority in Indonesia.

whatsapp diverse

WhatsApp blamed for spiralling divorce rate in Italy

LONDON: Intimate messaging with strangers on WhatsApp has led to an increase in divorce rates in Italy, according to a leading Italian lawyer.

"Forty percent of divorce cases that cited adultery have used WhatsApp messages swapped by unfaithful spouses and their lovers as evidence," Gian Ettore Gassani, president of the Italian Association of Matrimonial Lawyers, was quoted as having said in the Times of London.

"Social media has boosted betrayal in Italy by making it easier, first through texting, then Facebook, and now WhatsApp, which is being used widely and has encouraged the return of the Latin lover," he added.

"Lovers can now exchange intimate photos of themselves and we have seen adulterers using the service to maintain three or four relationships. It is like dynamite," Gassani said.

In Italy, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging service.

A 2012 survey found that 88% of the instant messaging market was captured by it.

"The family here is the cornerstone of society, but it has been under attack for years and WhatsApp is the final straw," said Gassani.

Samsung showcases Project Beyond 360-degree 3D camera

Samsung showcases Project Beyond 360-degree 3D camera

NEW DELHI: At its annual developer conference, electronics giant Samsung unveiled Project Beyond, a 360degree camera that can shoot in 3D. The company intends to offer omni-view 3D videos to users of its Gear VR device to offer a realistic virtual reality experience.

"With Project Beyond, the Gear VR will become a gateway to an ever-increasing pool of content that allows users to instantly teleport to places and events they always wanted to see. It frees the users of Gear VR from the limitations and rigours of physical travel, while providing a realistic experience that brings the nuances of an environment to the comfort of the living room," mentioned the company.

The company informs that it uses stereoscopic interleaved capture and 3D-aware stitching technology to capture the scene just like the human eye. The Beyond device can stream real time events, as well as store the data for future viewing

Samsung says the device it showcased is just the first operational version, and 'just a taste of what the final system it is working on will be capable of.'

According to Samsung, the content generated from Project Beyond will be available to all Gear VR users although the camera will not be available for sale immediately.

Besides Project Beyond, Samsung also showcased Flow, a platform that offers capabilities similar to Apple's Continuity. Users can seamlessly move between devices continuing or transferring tasks, and get notifications. The company also showcased the second iteration of its Sambaed health tracker with improved sensor capabilities and algorithm accuracy.
Stay updated on the go with The Times of India’s mobile apps. Click here to download it for your device

The US Government's Tenuous Relationship With Open Source

The US Government's Tenuous Relationship With Open Source

The government has been involved with open source software since before the Internet -- but it is only recently that government use of open source really has come into vogue, observed GitHub's Ben Balter. "A big reason for this is that open source used to be inaccessible to outsiders and didn't have the quality and support large organizations like government have come to expect."

e amount of open source software used by the U.S. government might well be one of the biggest secrets in Washington. Not even purveyors of FOSS, as in free and open source software, know the extent of federal agency adoption of nonproprietary software.

Some in the Beltway Loop contend that open source is very prevalent. Others suggest that open source is avoided because its code is exposed for anyone to see.

One thing seems very sure, however. Most government agencies cling to well-known commercial software for desktop services. However, server-side and specialized software is a mixture of contracted code and community packages promulgated on Github and other open source software repositories.

Just how passionately government agencies support and use open source software may be a question nobody has bothered to pursue. For example, OpenSource.com claims that the U.S. government has directed that open source projects are to be considered equally with proprietary products -- but no government guidance is offered for carrying out that directive.

"The involvement varies. A lot of the initiatives for using open source takes a cultural change," Steve Wallo, chief solutions architect for Brocade Federal, told LinuxInsider.

Who Uses OSS?

Some agencies look at open source for a particular mission. Others look at open source for large scale deployment. So OSS adoption on the federal level is at different stages, said Wallo.

Some of the largest U.S. agencies are known users of open source. For instance, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs often is cited as one of the largest federal users of open source software. If accurate, that would be a significant investment in OSS. The VA is the second largest agency of the U.S. federal government.

Take MongoDB, for instance. This open source next-generation database has a broad list of government customers, according to Will LaForest, Senior Director of MongoDB Federal. That customer base includes the intelligence community, the Defense Department and civilian agencies in healthcare, finance and energy.

"There is actually quite a bit of variation within the government. Some favor OSS as a policy, others "permit" OSS, and some are not open to it at all," LaForest told LinuxInsider.

On the whole, the government is slower than the commercial world to adopt open source, and there are some substantial obstacles to overcome, he said.

Why No Mandate?

Government agencies are big business customers. That puts open source solutions at odds with profit-and-loss calculations of competing vendors.

"For instance, some heavily ensconced commercial sales organizations fight tooth and nail to keep OSS out, as it poses a significant threat to their sales," said LaForest.

One of the more compelling arguments for adopting open source software is its ability to mitigate risk, he said. To some government workers, this might seem counterintuitive, but OSS provides complete transparency into how software functions and is constructed.

Another benefit of OSS is the protection it affords against vendors going out of business. So is the ability to adapt open source software for features that the government needs but that never would be done, based upon broader usage, LaForest noted.

Contractor Conflicts

The federal government is one of the largest consumers of software. Often, a government agency will contract a software project to a software developer.

"It often depends on the contractor. Some will use open source components but deliver what is essentially a proprietary product to the hiring agency," Lev Lesokhin, executive vice president at Cast, told LinuxInsider.

"Some of the health services platform developers are shying away from [open source] due to concerns over quality and security," he said.

Our Way vs. the Open Source Way

The decision making on whether to use customized commercial or open source software rests largely with the contractor and the hiring agency. The system lacks any central office directives.

That results from the heavy load of customization that federal agencies have to do in order to meet their missions. As a result, there is no wholesale move in one direction or the other, according to Lesokhin.

"Some federal contractors have so much experience in a particular software field that they already have their own custom-made packages. Other contractors will use open source as a convenient starting point but will customize it from there," he said.

In many cases, the contractors are coming to their bids with prebuilt software that they can then customize for the specific agency. This gives the government agency what is essentially a proprietary product, according to Lesokhin.

Partly Loving Linux

How prominent OSS usage in government is may depend on your vantage point. Intelligent Software Solutions does a lot of work with the U.S. government and agencies such as the Department of Defense and intelligence communities.

"We use open source a lot with these agencies. They really embrace open source," Wes Caldwell, CTO of Intelligent Software Solutions, told LinuxInsider.

That hugfest with open source extends to the Linux OS on the server side, according to Caldwell, who noted that Linux is definitely one of the mainstream operating systems in that customer base.

One of the biggest players in the open source space among the agencies that ISS services is Red Hat, said Caldwell. RHEL is accredited for government use.

However, there is a dividing line. Linux is used primarily on the server side, but much of the desktop work is still handled using Microsoft Windows.

"I don't know if that is because of convenience. I am speculating -- the convenience of Word, Excel and Powerpoint. These are programs that are used every day by government employees. That is the language that they use," Caldwell said.

No Set Plan

No system-wide set of standards exists for software selection. Each agency does its own due diligence, according to Govcode.org creator/maintainer Diego Lapiduz, who works in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

For nearly four years, Lapiduz has been spreading the word among his federal coworkers about his repository of government-focused open source products. Many people in the government are aware of it now and use it, he said.

"When I first started working for the government, I noticed that people were doing tasks on different software and were not aware of tools available in open source. I started Govcode to communicate with them about open source," Lapiduz told LinuxInsider.

Like Govcode.org, Github provides government agencies with a convenient way to consider open source software. This is a way for people to share, and it allows commonality between agencies to allow people to use open source in a way that other people are using it, according to Brocade Federal's Wallo.

"This push for collaboration among agencies is a change you are going to see," he said.

Up for Grabs

The vetting process for open source vendors depends on the government agency, noted Wallo. For example, the Department of Defense has certain certifications that allow you to play.

"You have to have them. These certifications guarantee interoperability. The certifications have little to do with meeting open standards," he said. "The government tends to favor the proprietary license over open source as a way to guarantee that many people can work together."

However, the government has a plan out there for moving toward open source. There is a date for people to respond about how they are going to use it, Wallo maintained.

"It won't be until a second phase is forced upon agencies to adopt open source and stop paying the [proprietary software] licensing fees, that it will draw a difference in behavior," he said.

Evangelizing Open Source

The government has been involved with open source software since before the Internet -- but it is only recently that government use of open source really has come into vogue, according to Ben Balter, government evangelist at GitHub.

"A big reason for this is that open source used to be inaccessible to outsiders and didn't have the quality and support large organizations like government have come to expect," Balter told LinuxInsider, "but that's all changing as new tools are making it easier for organizations large and small to publish and consume high-quality, open source software."

The type of open source software government agencies use is shifting from low-level system administration tools to customer-facing things like websites and mobile apps. This is a trend that matches a broader shift toward consumerization in the private sector, he said.

Can't Shed Its Dark Side

Many government agencies, colored by open source's history, are still hesitant to embrace open source, both as a software consumer and as a software publisher, Balter contended. There is no question that any government agency has some open source someplace in its software stack.

"That does not mean that it was not an uphill battle to get it there," he said. "There is still a lot of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) around both the idea of open source (that is, anyone can change my code), and its use (e.g., open source violates the Antideficiency Act), that technologists in government are fighting."

Still, government use of open source is increasing exponentially. Recent number-crunching revealed more than 10,000 active government users on GitHub, Balter found. That usage spreads across more than 500 organizations and dozens of countries, all together working on more than 7,500 individual projects.

"You can see some of the more notable projects, but the general trend is that we're seeing government agencies not just consuming open source software, but publishing the software they develop in-house, and collaborating with the public. The White House's 'We the People' petitions platform is a great example of this," he said.

Uncertain Support

The government does not have a lot of experience with open source, noted Balter, and there are lots of reasons all government software is not open source.

On the platform side exists a push for enterprise-grade platforms. That push often is backed by large marketing organizations that can build government-specific features like audit trails or compliance.

"There's also a large government contracting community that, in many cases, does not have the same history of open source participation that you might see in the private sector," said Balter.

On the application side is a history of closed-source workflows, often with no open source developers on the agency side of an engagement. There are also cultural constraints. Government agencies have a strong immune system designed to say no -- from legal to security to privacy to procurement.

"The government has a strong, top-down, command-and-control structure that is the exact opposite of how open source works," said Balter. "Many agencies are not familiar with open source culture and do not have the tools to nurture an open source community. Finally, in many cases, transparency is seen as a liability, especially when they have no way to know the quality of the code."