On December 20, 1990, British scientist Sir Tim Berners-Leehosted the first website in the world on his NeXT computer at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). Today marks its 25th anniversary. The page which was basically an explanation of how hypertext worked went public little over 8 months later in August 1991.
After inventing the World Wide Web in 1989 as a way for institutes around the globe to share information, Berners-Lee launched the first website with a description of how to set up a server and how to access content shared by others. However, it’s safe to say that this plain page laid the groundwork for much of the internet as you know it — even now, you probably know one or two people who still think the web is the internet.
The Web has evolved greatly since then, with powerful apps, services and limitless sources of information about any topic you can think of. It’s fascinating to look at the humble beginnings of the internet as we know it and see how far we’ve come.
CERN still has the original server that hosted Berners-Lee’s first online creation; in 2013, it reinstated the site to its original address.
Are you a regular YouTube viewer and everytime you reaches for the mouse to play, pause, forward, or rewind YouTube videos, locate the cursor, direct it to the right button/link, and click — but it’s so much more convenient to tap a single key on the keyboard instead. That’s why you need to know these handy one-key YouTube shortcuts.
So checkout some important YouTube shortcuts that’s going to save your valuable time. You can use these shortcuts on Windows, Mac, and Linux, across Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. They also work on YouTube videos embedded on other websites, but their behavior might sometimes be erratic.
The K key allows you to play/pause YouTube videos, just like spacebar does. Sandwiched between the J and L keys, it functions like the Play/Pause button found in media player controls on various keyboards.
The 1-9 keys allow you to skip to certain percentages in the video, so pressing 1 takes you 10% into the video, pressing 2 takes you 20% into the video, etc.
• 0 Key
The 0 key takes you to the start of the video. This works both when you’re playing the video and when you have paused it.
So do these YouTube shortcuts really save your time ? Tell us if you know some other YouTube shortcuts that you think convenient to regular YouTube viewers. We’d love to hear from you in the comments!
If drones are going to become the commercial vehicles that the industry hopes, they need to be able to fly for much longer and to recharge quickly. So a new fuel is coming into the world and with it drones can fly for hours.
What’s this new fuel, how it help drones to fly for hours?.
The new fuel is a hydrogen fuel cell has been developed that can extend flight time to several hours — rather than the typical 20 minutes. The range extender can also be recharged in just two minutes, as opposed to one to two hours.
Loughborough-based Intelligent Energy, which developed the range extender, hopes it will accelerate the commercial possibilities for drone use.
“Drones are one of the most exciting new technologies. Even with advanced batteries their value is limited. For commercial use, they need to offer better flight times and range,” — said Julian Hughes, who works at Intelligent Energy.
Hughes claimed the cell could lead to drones being used for inspection of offshore platforms, search and rescue, aerial photography, and for deliveries.
Flytrex, makers of commercial drones, released the “world’s first” personal delivery drone this year. The drone can carry parcels about the weight of a smart phone for up to seven miles. Its average flight time is 32 minutes. DJI commercial drones also have flight times of around 15 minutes.
The hydrogen range extender isn’t the first instance of drone flight times being extended to hours. Back in July solar-powered drone AtlantikSolar broke the world record for endurance in unmanned aerial vehicles under 50kg when it flew non-stop for 81 hours.
Intelligent Energy has been testing the hydrogen fuel cell against hybrid energies for over a year and concluded the hydrogen cell was better than the hybrid options.
The fuel cell was also used to power the “world’s first” manned hydrogen-powered flight earlier this year.
What do you think about this new fuel going to power up future drones ? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!
A new major vulnerability in Grub2 bootloader has been in found in Linux computers that can can be exploited under certain circumstances, allowing local attackers to bypass any kind of authentication (plain or hashed passwords). And so, the attacker may take control of the computer.
Pressing the backspace key 28 times can bypass the Grub2 bootloader’s password protection and allow a hacker to install malware on a locked-down Linux computers.GRUB, which stands for the Grand Unified Bootloader, is the bootloader used by most Linux computers system including some embedded systems. It has a password feature that can restrict access to boot entries, for example on computers with multiple operating systems installed.
This protection is particularly important within organizations, where it is also common to disable CD-ROM, USB and network boot options and to set a password for the BIOS/UEFI firmware in order to secure computers from attackers who might gain physical access to the machines.
Without these boot options secured, attackers or malicious employees could simply boot from an alternative OS — like a live Linux installation stored on a USB drive or CD/DVD — and access files on a computer’s hard drive.
Of course, it’s also possible for an attacker to remove the drive and place it in another machine that doesn’t have these restrictions, but there can be other physical access controls in place to prevent that.
Hector Marco and Ismael Ripoll, two researchers from the Cybersecurity Group at Universitat Politècnica de València, found an integer underflow vulnerability in Grub2 that can be triggered by pressing the backspace key 28 times when the bootloader asks for the username and lockdown your Linux computers.
To do this, the researchers first modified an existing boot entry to load the Linux kernel and initialize a root shell. Then they used it to replace a Mozilla Firefox library with a malicious one designed to open a reverse shell to a remote server whenever the browser is started by the user.
“When any user executes Firefox, a reverse shell will be invoked,” — the researchers said in a detailed write-up of their exploit, which they presented last week at the STIC CCN-CERT Conference in Madrid. “At this time all data of the user is deciphered, allowing us to steal any kind of information of the user.”
Modifying the kernel to deploy a more persistent malware program is also possible, the researchers said. “The imagination is the limit.”
An attacker which successfully exploits this vulnerability will obtain a Grub rescue shell. Grub rescue is a very powerful shell allowing to:
Elevation of privilege: The attacker is authenticated without knowing a valid username nor the password. The attacker has full access to the grub’s console (grub rescue).
Information disclosure: The attacker can load a customized kernel and initramfs (for example from a USB) and then from a more comfortable environment, copy the full disk or install a rootkit.
Denial of service: The attacker is able to destroy any data including the grub itself. Even in the case that the disk is ciphered the attacker can overwrite it, causing a DoS.
The vulnerability, which is tracked as CVE-2015-8370, affects all versions of Grub2 from 1.98, released in December, 2009, to the current 2.02. Ubuntu, Red Hat, Debian and probably other distributions too, have released fixes for this flaw. Users are advised to install any updates they receive for the grub2 package as soon as possible.
Technology giant Google hopes to bring its Project Loon to India, which will offer affordable internet access to millions, soon even as the government holds the view that the project will interfere with cellular transmissions of mobile operators in the country.
Speaking at the Google for India event, the company’s CEO Sundar Pichai said: “Project Loon will launch balloons in the sky to help reach out to rural areas.”
The service will provide high-speed Internet for the first hour before downgrading to a lower speed post that. The service however will remain free throughout the access period. When asked about the expected speed, Gulzar Azad, Google’s head of access programs – India, refused to divulge details on the speed but said that users will be able to watch HD-quality videos during the first hour, adding that the speed will be faster than what the average speeds in India are.
Google also said that it is expanding its program with Tata Trusts to connect women in rural India through a fleet of Internet bikes. The program has reached 1,000 villages so far and aims at a target of 3 lakh villages nationwide within three years.
Elaborating the same, Google Vice President (Access Strategy and Emerging Markets) Marian Croak said the company is “passionate” about building and deploying new Internet infrastructure around the world.
“One of the technologies that we have in our portfolio is Project Loon. It’s a project that we are working on with local telcos all across the world. “And we are testing these high altitude balloons which literally act as almost like floating cell towers… To connect people in hard to reach regions that are scarcely populated and we are working to hopefully bring Project Loon to India in rural communities that have very few people connected to the Internet,” — she said.
The statement assumes importance as Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had recently told Parliament that Google’s Project Loon will interfere with cellular transmissions of mobile operators in India.
“The proposed frequency band to be used in the Loon Project of Google is being used for cellular operations in India and it will lead to interference with cellular transmissions,” — Prasad had said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on December 11.
Croak said the company is working across the world with local carriers, operators and suppliers and does not carry out the project on its own.
Google, under its Project Loon, is using big balloons floating at a height of 20 kilometers above earth surface for transmission of Internet services. It has already tested this technology in New Zealand, California (the US) and Brazil. As per Google, each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 40 kms in diameter using a wireless communications technology called LTE or 4G.
To use LTE or 4G, Project Loon partners with telecom companies to share cellular spectrum so that people will be able to access the Internet everywhere directly from their phones and other LTE-enabled devices. Google uses solar panel and wind to power electronic equipment in the balloon throughout the day.
So what do you think Google’s Project Loon service, Does it will help us to stay connected to our loved ones from any part of India? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!
Apple is indisputably one of the largest electronics manufacturers in the world, so every component utilized in the iPhone is considered big business. And now Apple Inc. opened a production laboratory in northern Taiwan where engineers are developing a new advanced display technology – reported by Bloomberg.
Apple currently sources the display technology used in their computers from companies like Samsung, Sharp and LG. However, as the company has done in the past with many other components, it’s working on bringing its display development in-house.
At least fifty people are said to be working at the Longtan building, previously used by Qualcomm for its Mirasol efforts, and are developing thinner, brighter, and more efficient LCD screens. Apple has reportedly hired local staff from Qualcomm and Taiwanese display maker AU Optronics of assisting to develop new advanced display technology.
Apple also wants to move to OLED [Organic Light-Emitting Diodes] display technology, according to the report; the Apple Watch is Apple’s first product to feature an OLED screen, with the rest of the company’s product line using LCD at this point.
Last month Nikkei reported that LG is ramping up OLED production capacity in anticipation of the 2018 iPhone model, while Nikkan Kogyo recently claimed that Japan Display has similar intentions. OLED screens, which don’t require a backlight, can be thinner than LCDs and are more easily curved.
Admit it, you’ve thought about walking away from Facebook at one time or another. Perhaps you’ve gone so far as to shut down your account, swearing never to return, only to meekly log back in a week later. Researchers from Cornell University have found four key reasons why people make the pledge not to log in to Facebook but ultimately could not resist the allure of Facebook’s social network. So why we are addicted to Facebook ?
What are some of the factors that prevent users from logging off of Facebook permanently? A newly published paper from Cornell Information Science researchers explores that question and points to four themes that significantly influence the likelihood of a return to Facebook. Written by Information Science and Communication Researcher Eric Baumer, along with Ph.D. student Shion Guha, Emily Quan, MPS ’15, and professors David Mimno and Geri Gay, “How Social Media Non-use Influences the Likelihood of Reversion: Perceived Addiction, Boundary Negotiation, Subjective Mood, and Social Connection” was published Dec. 3 in Social Media + Society.
If you have thought about leaving Facebook, you’re not alone. Popular media and academic researchers alike have recently become interested in people who don’t use technology. This includes people who intentionally avoid social media like Facebook, as well as those who simply don’t have access. In many cases, though, there’s not a clear split between users and nonusers. People who leave social media and then return, what Baumer and colleagues term “social media reversion,” provide the opportunity to understand better what’s at stake when people use – or don’t use – sites like Facebook.
Survey Report – Why we are Addicted to Facebook ?
Using survey data provided by 99daysoffreedom.com – an online campaign that encouraged participants to log off Facebook for 99 days – the Cornell researchers honed in on those who made the pledge but ultimately couldn’t resist the allure of Facebook’s social network. The group’s research found four main factors that led to reversion:
Perceived addiction – Those who feel that Facebook is addictive or habitual were more likely to return, according to the group’s research. One participant described this habitual aspect by saying, “In the first 10 days, whenever I opened up an internet browser, my fingers would automatically go to ‘f.'”
Privacy and surveillance – Users who felt their Facebook activity was being monitored were less likely to revert, while those who use Facebook largely to manage how other people think of them are more likely to log back in.
Subjective mood – In a good mood? You’re less likely to renege on your pledge to stay off Facebook.
Other social media – The group found that Facebook users were less likely to log back in if they had other social media outlets – like Twitter, for instance. Those who reflected on the appropriate role for technology in their social lives were more likely to revert. In many of these cases, people returned to Facebook but altered their use, for example, uninstalling the app from their phones, reducing their number of friends or limiting the amount of time spent on the platform.
The team’s findings were drawn from more than 5,000 surveys issued to participants by Just, the Dutch creative agency that founded the 99 Days of Freedom project. These surveys were sent to project participants on days 33, 66 and 99 and were intended to gauge each user’s mood throughout the Facebook detox. A sampling of this data was then shared – with permission from Just and the survey respondents – with the Cornell research team.
“These results show just how difficult daily decisions about social media use can be,” says Baumer. “In addition to concerns over personal addiction, people are reluctant about corporations collecting, analyzing and potentially monetizing their personal information. However, Facebook also serves numerous important social functions, in some cases providing the only means for certain groups to keep in touch. These results highlight the complexities involved in people’s ongoing decisions about how to use, or not use, social media.”
Do you agree with above survey reports and also why are you addicted to Facebook ? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed a new untraceable SMS text messaging system, that is even more secure than the Tor anonymity network. MIT researchers claims that using this untraceable SMS system users can create truly anonymous communications.
A team at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) who developed this untraceable SMS text messaging system says — “it provides a strong mathematical guarantee of user anonymity, while, according to experimental results, permitting the exchange of text messages once a minute or so.”
The researchers have named this untraceable SMS system “Vuvuzela”, which is a reference to the noise-making devices used by fans at football matches around the world. The idea behind the system is that, like a stadium full of vuvuzelas, it creates a lot of spurious “noise” that makes it difficult to pinpoint the sound being made by any individual vuvuzela.
How Untraceable SMS System Works
In its basic structure, the system sends messages through three different servers that are each designed to unwrap three different levels of encryption. While this obviously makes it harder for someone to intercept a message and to see its sender and recipient, CSAIL says that an adversary who compromises the integrity of the first server can still “know that two users whose messages reached the first server within some window of time have been talking.”
And this is where they so-called vuvuzela techniques help. When the first server receives a message, it will simultaneously send out a series of “dummy” messages to other locations with encrypted destinations. Once the second server receives the actual message, it also sends out its own dummy messages at the same time it passes on the message to the third server. The idea here is that even if a person has compromised part of the process, they will still find it impossible to discern who is sending and receiving messages.
“So statistically, it’s almost impossible for the adversary to determine even whether any of the messages arriving within the same time window ended up at the same destination,” — CSAIL explains. “Those statistical guarantees hold even if two of the three servers are infiltrated. As long as one of them remains uncompromised, the system works.”
