Best travel apps to plan the perfect vacation

Summer holidays are upon us and it’s time to plan a holiday! But how do you plan the perfect trip without an expensive travel planner doing all the work for you? Thanks to this little device called the smartphone, you now have access to millions of free travel advisory apps that can do everything from planning your destinations, tickets, hotel bookings and even advising you on how to pack for your trip. So if you are in a DIY mood and want to plan your summer getaway yourself, let these apps do the job with you.

Start with Google
 
The Google search app is the best place to start, if you’re not convinced on the destination you want to visit. Google has just announced its ‘destinations’ feature, which is integrated with Google flights and hotel search. Search with Google on your mobile phone for the continent, country, or state you’d like to travel to and add the word ‘destinations’ in your search to see all available flight and hotel prices instantly. You can also get vacation ideas from Google by searching for a destination and something you’d like to do there, like “spain surfing,” “new zealand hiking,” or “colorado skiing.” Google will suggest spots that fit with your hobbies and interests. Sounds like the perfect start to your plans?

Head to Airbnb

Hotels can get extremely expensive during the holiday season and pricey hotels can really damper your travel plans. Check out the Airbnb app. Airbnb has locals from a particular city or area renting out their own houses/rooms for a reasonable cost. You can find great stay deals that suit your budget and correspond with renters through the app’s in-built messaging feature. Having personally used Airbnb successfully, I can recommend the service to all those who want a staycation in a budget.

Find Tripit

If you are planning your whole vacation yourself, you still need that one comprehensive itinerary to keep track of all your bookings. That’s where Tripit comes in. A lot like Google Now services, Tripit collects all travel data including flight info, cab bookings, hotel bookings and more from your emails and then compiles all this data into a comprehensive itinerary. You can then get all your bookings in a single glance on your smartphone.

Get together on MyPoolin


Travelling with friends and want to pool in and book your tickets/hotels? You and your friends can create a money pool on the MyPoolin app and everyone can pay their own share. The collected amount remains safe and secure for the group. MyPoolin has partnered with the likes of Makemytrip, and allows users to spend the collected amount anyway they like. Users can get a cash code and use it on MyPoolin partner websites, get a prepaid MasterCard delivered to their doorstep or get the cash transferred to their bank accounts. Time to start collecting that money?

Fly with App in the Air

When travelling on a holiday, you often have to take multiple flights. Keeping track of these flights can be extremely annoying. Well, not anymore. App in the Air has an extensive database of airlines and provides real time flight status reports even when you are offline. Moreover, App in the Air also guides you with check-in, boarding, takeoff and landing information of most flights. 

Speak using iHandy Translate

iHandy’s Translate app is one of the best translation apps I have used. Travellers often find themselves lost in translation and that’s when a translation app can be quite handy. Users can simply input what they want to say in their own language and the translate app will change it into the language of your choice. The app can also speak out the translated text, helping you communicate with strangers on the roads, give directions to a cabbie or maybe even show off a little.

Convert using XE Currency

When travelling abroad, most of us lose track of our expenses because of conversion rates. So to keep a constant check on your wallet and how much money you are spending, download the XE Currency app. XE Currency lists almost all world currencies and uses live currency rates to give you accurate results.

Get some rest with LoungeBuddy

Ever felt like sleeping between flights? Wanted to take a shower before getting on a long duration flight? LoungeBuddy is your answer to getting that much needed break at the airport. Most international airports have dedicated sleep & shower lounges for passengers and the LoungeBuddy app helps you find them with a simple search using the airport’s name.

Start packing with PackPoint travel packing list

Packing for a long trip can be confusing and you may miss out on some vital things you need on your vacation. Enter PackPoint. The app is easy to use. All you have to do is enter your destination and period of stay and the app guides you through a list of activities that you may want to take up at your destination. Keeping your choices in mind, the PackPoint app suggests what you should pack and what you can afford to leave out. The app also checks the weather forecast of your travel city and recommends appropriate clothing and accessories needed for the duration of your stay.

What happens in the journey from Space Station to Earth

Life in space is difficult. There’s literally nothing to hold you down, and you need to exert an extra amount of pressure to accomplish tasks that are otherwise next to conditioned reflexes on Earth. Commander Scott Kelly spent 340 days out in the International Space Station (ISS), creating a record that has surpassed previous records by a massive margin. He braved the pioneering task set out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to study the effect of long-term living in space, and in process of accomplishing it with stunning grace, Commander Kelly saw the blooming of flowers in the middle of nowhere, celebrated Halloween, and even played pranks on co-astronauts.

All of this was certainly strenuous, as a single wrong calculation may set off years of planning. The most difficult bit, however, is the re-entry to planet Earth. The journey from Earth to space is a saga of exiting our natural habitat in a cockpit surrounded by tons of steel, imbibing high pressure levels, and surviving in microgravity. The landing back home, however, is an incredible few minutes of decimal perfect calculations and forces that can go as high up as 9g. Before we discuss this further, here’s a glimpse of the soft landing that astronauts undergo when they return from the ISS. The clip has been put together by the fabulous folks at the European Space Agency, showing the Soyuz’s landing back on Earth, decelerating from a speed of nearly 28,000 kmph, to a standstill on ground.

It is here that you realise that the landing procedure involves an incredible amount of in-cabin pressure. The International Space Station traverses outside the Earth at a speed of about 28,000 kilometres per hour. Once the landing program is decided, the ground is inspected by an on-ground team, who can travel on any harsh terrain. Weather forecasts and ground situations are analysed, the landing trajectory is decided, and preparation begins to bring the astronauts back home. The astronauts then go through a simulated landing procedure inside the Soyuz simulator of the ISS, emergency landing schedules, latest statistics and data from the Space Station, and every other knobs and dials are placed at the perfect points.

The landing module detaches from the space station at about 120 cm/s, and after an interval that sees the ISS and the module safely away from each other, engines are engaged to thrust the landing module into orbit. This thrust is done at exact points in orbit, so that the module does not overshoot the calculated landing trajectory. The de-burning procedure is then engaged, introducing the module into the Earth’s atmosphere. The purpose of the de-orbit burn is to increase speed, that changes the trajectory to the exact optimum. As the module enters the atmosphere, friction with the upper layers leads to extremely high temperature levels outside the module, burning up the outer surface of the landing module. The astronauts are insulated from this heat by protective layers, led from the front by a heat shield that protects the retro thrusters and the outer bearing of the module.

"If calculations are wrong, cabin pressure can go as high as 9g"

The engines on the front face are re-engaged to present a thrust against the momentum, controlling the speed of the module to ease the re-entry. This burning is essential to offload resources and set the correct trajectory, and the precise duration of engine burn is set to 4 minutes and 45 seconds. The next bit is the separation of the entire landing vehicle. At an altitude of 140 kilometres, the vehicle separates into three separate parts - the orbital module, the landing module and the instrument compartment. While the landing module continues on the trajectory, the other two modules disintegrate and burn up in the atmosphere. The next bit is the automated control of the module’s rotation to optimise the trajectory, which is crucial in fixing the right amount of pressure level. Even at the correct trajectory, astronauts inside the landing module experience pressure levels of 4g. If the path is calculated wrong, the pressure exerted by the atmosphere can go up as high as 9g.

In the following few minutes, after the landing module gets its trajectory right, it begins its drastic deceleration. From the orbital speed, it decelerates to 800 kmph, at an altitude of about 10.5km. After this speed is attained, parachutes are deployed to halter its momentum even further. The parachutes are an aspect on which the astronauts do not have any control, and after its deployment, the module also loads of the heat-insulating shields and extra fuel and combustion load, to prevent any chances of explosion upon ground impact.

The final round of impact are the retro engines, which deploy when the module is 70cm from the ground, to ensure soft landing. This, however, is anything but soft. The astronauts’ seats are lifted to prevent the impact from shattering the bodies. This is the heaviest impact point in the module’s trajectory, which also prevents the module from toppling over. The retro engines kick back at the module to break its motion, bringing it to a halt.

The ground impact team monitors the entire trajectory from the ground, and stands by the landing zone. Helicopters and rescue vehicles reach by the module right after the impact, and the astronauts are brought out of the cockpit soon after, to the breath of fresh air - a world that was miles away only a few hours ago. As for Commander Kelly, he smelled fresh air and normal gravitational force for the first time in nearly one year.

Welcome back, Commander

iPhones may feature OLED displays by 2017

Apple may be planning to introduce iPhones with OLED displays in 2017. According to a news report by Nikkei, Apple had earlier planned to use the displays by 2018 or 2019, but the company now plans to ship OLED iPhones by next year. In addition, it was earlier suggested that Apple was planning to introduce iPhones with a curved OLED display. However, this report claims that the company will not be introducing the curved design, as it is introducing the displays sooner than expected.

Back in December 2015, Apple had reportedly been in touch with LG Display Co. Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to manufacture OLED displays for upcoming iPhones. As per the report, the three companies were in the final phase of signing the deal and added that LG and Samsung were planning a capital expenditure of around KRW 15 trillion. There were also reports that Apple may be working on OLED and micro-LED technology in its new laboratory in Taiwan. It was suggested that the company is developing flexible OLEDs for use in iPhones and iPads. The laboratory is also tipped to be developing micro-LED displays.

New smart glasses allow users to type via a virtual keyboard

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have developed smart glasses that offer users a virtual keyboard to type text. The glasses, called K-Glass 3, comes with a stereo-vision camera located at the front of the device. The two lenses of the camera work similar to the way human eyes work, and can sense depth. This allows users to surf the internet and type text using the virtual keyboard, or even play a virtual piano in thin air.

Additionally, K-Glass 3 uses a pre-processing core to use stereo-vision as well as seven deep-learning cores to speed up real-time screen recognition. The researchers say that the camera’s vision algorithm has an energy efficiency of 20 milliwatts on average, allowing it to be used for 24 hours without interruption. The multi-core processor becomes idle when it detects no motion from the user. The team uses deep-learning  multi-core technology that is dedicated for mobile devices  to recognise gesture inputs. This has improved the glass’s accuracy with images and speed, while also shortening the time needed to process and analyse data.

MIT Research has ultra-thin solar cells lighter than a soap bubble

A team of engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a concept of incredibly thin photovoltaic cells that are lighter than a soap bubble. These solar cells are only a laboratory product as of now, and can be placed anywhere - balloons, shirt sleeves, on mobile devices, or, as MIT states, inside a soap bubble. The cells have about 1/50th the thickness of a hair strand, and is so light that you stand at the risk of blowing it away with a single breath.

Although it may take years to move the concept to the commercial forefront, the concept lays proof of more widespread and easier harvesting of solar energy in future. With constant efforts being laid underground for promoting clean energy alternatives, the minuscule chipsets can be serially arranged to harvest enough power to operate helium balloons, household lights, and even automobiles. The engineering team at MIT Research, instead of relying on separately fabricating the solar cell and the protective base layer with the glass or plastic substrate, forged the three together. This led to negating the inefficient objects that lower the power-to-weight ratio of standard solar cells, and as MIT Professor Vladimir Bulovic puts it, “The innovative step is the realization that you can grow the substrate at the same time as you grow the device.”

In this incredibly light solar cell, the team of engineers used parylene, a commonly-used flexible polymer, as both the substrate (the middle layer) and the overcoating, while the primary light-absorbing layer was made of an organic compound called Dibutyl phthalate (DBP). The layers are “grown” or fused together using vapour deposition techniques inside a vacuum room in room temperature. This is yet another advantage of the tiny solar cell against the traditional ones, which require harsh chemicals and high temperature environments to forge.

The researchers laid more importance to the point that this may not be the only configuration for manufacturing the cells, and quantum dots can also be considered as an efficient alternative to DBP, and these can be laid on to other substrates like fabric or paper, for practical implementation. The output demonstration showed power generation of nearly 6W/gram, which is nearly 400 times higher than the conventional silicon solar cells.

"We think it’s a lot of hard work ahead, but likely no miracles needed"

This new concept technology may have the massive potential to revive solar energy from its present state of expensive alternative. Solar energy harvesting matured before it peaked in the labs, and as a result, failed to fulfill its potential as widely-usable clean energy resource, until now. With the latest technology, the solar cell chips can be placed practically anywhere, on any surface, and with the right combination of materials and circuitry, generate enough power required to power everyday livelihood. The days may be far away, but the MIT team is sure of its future. “How many miracles does it take to make it scalable? We think it’s a lot of hard work ahead, but likely no miracles needed.”

We certainly hope so, Prof. Bulovic.

Uninstalling Facebook from your iPhone may improve battery by 15%

Uninstalling the Facebook app from your iPhone may improve the device’s battery life. According to a report by The Guardian, removing the Facebook app from the phone can save up to 15% of an iPhone’s battery life. The report also says that the app was consuming around 500MB of storage. This included the 11MB that the app takes, while the rest of cache.

As per The Guardian, after a week without the app, it was noted that the iPhone had 15% more battery by the end of the day as compared to when the app was installed. Instead of the app, it is suggested that the users access the social media service via the mobile site on Safari. It was noted that using the service via the browser was “almost as good as the app.” However, there was no ‘share-to’ feature and users will have to manually share picture via the ‘post photos’ button on the mobile site. Other features, such as ‘Instant Articles’ were also not available.

The test was conducted on an iPhone 6s Plus and the Messenger app was left installed. To ensure that it was not an isolated case, other iPhone users were asked to conduct a similar test. All of them reported reported similar results when they used Facebook via the Safari browser rather than having the app. The report also notes that results may vary with the iPhone 6s due to its smaller battery, but it’s possible that this will extend the battery life of any iPhone. A Facebook spokesperson said that the company was investigating the issue.

Last year, the company had admitted that its iOS app was draining iPhone batteries faster than normal. Ari Grant, Facebook’s Engineering Manager posted an explanation for the problem on his page. He said that the company had “found a few key issues” within the app and had found places for improvement.

Google Public Alerts will now offer flood alerts in India

Google has announced that its Public Alerts service will be available for floods in India. In a post on its official blog, the company has stated that users will be able to get flood alerts as well as river level information via data provided by the Central Water Commission (CWC). This information will be available in more than 170 areas, where the CWC has active observation stations. These alerts will be available on Google web search, Google Now cards in the Google app, Google Maps and on the Public Alerts homepage on desktops and smartphones. Clicking on the alert will give additional information such as a map, expected timeline, tips on how to stay safe, and more.

In its post, Google stated, “We’re constantly working to improve our Google Crisis Response tools to make critical information more accessible around natural disasters. Through Public Alerts we show relevant official weather, public safety and earthquake alerts to give people the information they need to make informed decisions in times of crisis. For example, cyclone alerts which we introduced in 2015 show information about the cyclone’s projected area of impact, estimated time of arrival, and advice on what to do to stay safe”

It is heartening to see technology companies coming together to help those affected during disasters. During the floods in Chennai, Facebook activated its Safety Check tool for those affected by the disaster. This allowed people to mark themselves or their friends ‘safe’, and offered a way to reassure family and friends.

Back in 2014, it was reported that Google had partnered with Twitter to incorporate tweets from disaster-struck locations into its Public Alerts service. If a disaster alert was sounded, it would include relevant tweets in Google Now, search, Maps, and the Public Alerts Website. The company had said that the aim is to have tweets help answer questions in emergency situations.

Bill Gates memorised employees' number plates to monitor work hours

Billionaire Bill Gates may be known for his philanthropy now, but in the beginning of his career, the co-founder of Microsoft was reputed as a tough boss. In an interview with BBC’s Desert Island Discs, Gates admitted that he was “fanatical about work” when he was in his twenties (Gates started Microsoft when he was 19) and used to memorise his employees’ number plates so as to track their work hours, based on their arrival and departure times in office. According to Gates, he worked weekends regularly and “didn’t believe in vacations” till he met Melinda, his wife to be at the time.

Further, when Microsoft was still a young startup, Gates would monitor the movements of people he employed. “I had to be careful not to try and apply my standards to how hard they worked. You know, I knew everyone’s license plates so I could look out in the parking lot and see when did people come in, when were they leaving. Eventually I had to loosen up, as the company got to a reasonable size,” said Gates.

Gates had started Microsoft with his friend Paul Allen, in 1975, after dropping out from Harvard. According to Gates, while he was “a little more intense than other people”, he wasn’t more intense than the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Gates called Jobs an “incredible genius”, while discussing their friendship with each other.

Well, both Microsoft and Apple have come a long way since then, with the latter being the most valuable company in the world. Microsoft on the other hand, has been coping with the mobile ecosystem, trying to improve Windows’ hold on the platform. The company has high hopes with Windows 10 and products like Hololens. Microsoft has been losing the mobile battle to both Apple and Google though.

Microsoft plans to house future data centers below the ocean surface

Microsoft, the Redmond based tech giant, has just tested a prototype of a fully self-contained data center that has the ability to operate under the surface of the ocean. The aim of this under-water data center is to cut down on the air-conditioning bill for data centers of the future. Cold storage is crucial to data centers that house thousands of servers which cannot afford to go offline or crash due to heating issues. Housing these data centers under water could help in keeping their temperature in check.
 
Microsoft just concluded the 105-day trial of this data center capsule, which was placed 30 feet under-water in the Pacific Ocean, near San Luis Obispo. This data-center was controlled by Microsoft's Redmond offices and the trial was a successful one. The data center capsule housed 100 sensors to measure pressure, humidity, motion and other parameters, during the testing period. According to The New York Times, this project by Microsoft is code-named 'Project Natick' and could use huge steel tubes, linked by fiber optics, placed on the ocean floor. The self-contained data centers are also expected to generate electricity through turbines that capture the ocean current.

Microsoft researchers believe that these under-water data centers will make web services run faster. They also believe that by producing these self-contained capsules, the company could deploy new data centers in just 90 days as compared to the current time period of 2 years. 

Source: The New York Times

ASSOCHAM study shows stark tele-density difference across India

ASSOCHAM, or The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, has released data from a study conducted on the tele-density distribution among the states of India. Tele-density refers to the number of individuals presently using a cellphone or a connected device, among every 100 individuals. An important study in light of the recent influx of affordable mobile devices and the advent of 4G network, ASSOCHAM states that while states like New Delhi, the capital city of India, stands at a tele-density figure of 238, other states like Bihar, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha all have tele-density figures of below 70, hence stating that despite the recent telecom boom, India as a nation is far from being entirely well-connected.

As of the study’s date of publication of January 31, 2016, the national tele-density average stood at 81.82. Delhi has showed the highest rate of connectivity at 238, while the second highest is a surprise entrant in Himachal Pradesh, where most of the area falls under relatively difficult terrain. Himachal Pradesh has returned a figure of 123.19, quite impressive a figure for its geographic location. Other states that have returned satisfactory tele-density figures include Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Punjab.

However, the study has pointed out a stark difference in tele-density. In face of the states with prospering tele-density, Bihar has a tele-density figure of 54.25, Assam has 55.76, Madhya Pradesh has 62.33 and Uttar Pradesh has 62.74. Among other states that have tele-density below 70 is Odisha, too. ASSOCHAM’s paper states, “The Digital Divide is clearly visible between different states with some of the eastern states not finding favour with the telecom service providers. The reasons may vary between the lack of infrastructure like power availability to even indifference in terms of business opportunities. By no stretch, Madhya Pradesh can be considered a backward state. However, with a large land mass, the infrastructure like towers and cables could be an issue.”

The recent times have seen a rise in the telecommunications sector, in multiple facets. The Government of India has given a major push towards technologically advancing India, with movements like Make in India  and Digital India  drawing a number of big names to the country. One of the notable participants of the Digital India programme is Intel, who is providing groups of technology innovators a space to bring connectivity and technology to rural areas. Home-grown technology is also a major focus in recent times, with Make in India seeing Moto, Xiaomi and manufacturer  Foxconn set up assembly units  across India.

"There is a stark digital divide, meaning that India is not completely well-connected, yet"

4G network spectrum is also taking flight, with Airtel’s 4G services already existent for over two years. Vodafone is rolling out its own service, and Reliance Jio has unveiled 4G with welcome offer, in 2016. Other network services to aid India’s connectivity scenario include Google’s Railwire service to bring public WiFi hotspots to railway stations, BSNL’s plan to set up 40,000 public WiFi hotspots to connect remote areas, and technology companies like Lukup Technologies coming up with Lightup, a light-powered network transmitter and receiver that acts as a wireless network provider to areas where laying fiber lines is difficult, both logistically and economically. Google’s Project Loon is also scheduled to arrive in India, after having been given the green signal.

ASSOCHAM’s study highlights a key point of concern for India, and highlights the need to further spread the network to deeper corners of the nation, which remain out of the connected environment to date. Technological awareness is also a key area, which can go hand-in-hand with better infrastructure.

Google will soon beam internet from solar-powered drones, just like Facebook

According to a leak revealed by The Guardian, Google is secretly testing solar-powered drones that will have the ability to deliver data 40 times faster than 4G. The tests are being carried out at New Mexico's Spaceport Authority and the drones reportedly use millimeter wave technology to transmit data. The secretive project has been codenamed SkyBender and Google is using 15,000 Sq Ft of space to house the drones at the Gateway to Space terminal designed by Richard Foster. The tech giant also has its own flight control centre, seperate from Spaceport's terminals.

The SkyBender system is using an "optionally piloted" aircraft called Centaur along with solar-powered drones. The drones have been developed by Google Titan, which is a collaboration between Google and Titan Aerospace. The SkyBender project is yet another attempt by Google to deliver internet through unmanned aerial vehicles across the world. The company is also working on beaming the internet through floating air balloons under  'Project Loon'. Project Loon is Google's ambitious plan to provide internet to remote and disconnected areas with ease. In light of Google CEO, Sundar Pichai's visit to India in late 2015, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had announced that the Indian Government is in an in principle agreement to pilot Google's Project Loon. Prasad also spoke about a partnership between Google and BSNL for the proliferation of Project Loon to remote areas in the nation that have low connectivity.

Facebook is also working on a solar-powered fixed-wing aircraft called 'Acquila' to provide internet connectivity. The Aquila has a wingspan of a Boeing 737, but will weigh less than an average car. Being lightweight is extremely important as this propeller driven aircraft will be powered using solar panels and is expected to stay airborne for about 3 months. It is now for us to see how tech giants of the world slowly take charge of expanding internet connectivity to remote areas. Let us know what you think of Google's and Facebook's plans of becoming internet service providers in the future.

A massive planet on the outer fringe of our solar system?

In 2003, Caltech’s leading astronomer Mike Brown spotted Sedna, a dwarf planet at the outer edges of the solar system. The planet had an extremely elliptical orbit, which makes its closest approach to the Sun at 76 AU (Astronomical Unit, 1 AU=distance between the Earth and the Sun), and the farthest it gets is 937 AU. Across the next 12 years, five more such planets were spotted, with similar orbits, giving rise to a belief among scientists that there is a bigger entity out there, with greater gravitational impact.

After much chalkboarding and numerous astronomical calculations, the scientists came to a consensus on the presence of Planet X — a 9th ‘planet’, large enough to assert its gravitational dominance to clear out debris from its neighbourhood and hold dwarf planets in position. However, its orbit is unusual, far-flung and elliptical, and it orbits the sun once in about 20,000 years. Alongside, it directly interacts with the outer dwarf planets once in every 50,000 years. As a result, it has to be massive, about four times the size of Earth and 10 times its mass.

Scientists presume, during the solar system’s young days of about 4 billion years ago, most of the gaseous planets on the outer edge of the solar system had rocky cores. Had Planet X remained in the inner circles of the solar system, it would have possibly gathered up ice and gases to become a giant, like Jupiter. However, the space was so congested that all the planets could not have expanded to the fullest, and Planet X, with its outer orbit, got eliminated. At that time, the solar system had a gaseous nebula on its outer edge, that deviated and slowed the planet down in its natural course, which may have given it the irregular ellipse of an orbit that it currently traverses in. Additionally, it spins in a direction away from the rest of the planets. While the eight solar system residents revolve around the Sun, only a point of Planet X’s elliptical orbit comes near the Sun.

The evidence has not been spotted, and scientists predict that it may take as long as 5 to 15 years, till Planet X gives us a sight. The scientists are out to welcome back one of our own, not counting the dwarf planets, or ‘plutoids’, as named since Pluto was demoted to the status of a dwarf planet in 2006. Incidentally, it was Prof. Brown who passed the judgement on dwarf planets, leading to the unceremonious demotion of Pluto.

You can now browse Facebook on Android through Tor

Social networking giant, Facebook, has added Tor support to its Android application. The feature is an extension of a collaboration between Tor and Facebook, which allowed users to access the desktop version of the social network using Tor. Kate Krauss, spokeswoman for the Tor Project, said that this would allow users to choose whether their location data is shared or not. Calling it a convenience for some and lifesaver for others, Krauss also noted that everyone needs more privacy and almost everybody is on Facebook today. Krauss’ statements came through an encrypted messaging app, called Signal.

While the move has Android users covered, Tor itself has no plans to support Facebook’s iOS app, said Krauss. In a blog post, Facebook said that the social network has a “sizeable community” revolving around the feature, which was launched originally in 2014. This has prompted the need for Facebook to add support for Tor to its Android app as well. To use Tor on Android, one must download the Orbot proxy app, which will connect you to the anonymity network. You will also have to update Facebook’s app settings in order to ensure that you have Tor support.

Tor came into mainstream knowledge after Edward Snowden used the network to conceal his identity, while revealing information about the US government agency, NSA, spying on its own citizens via the Internet. In fact, the Tor network was originally funded by the US government, as a defense project, but has come under fire from multiple quarters recently. The anonymity network hides your computer’s IP address, thereby making it really difficult to find the true identity of users.

Proponents of Tor though argue that anonymity on the Internet is of paramount importance, especially considering the vast amounts of data that one can access through it. User data has for long become the most important asset for governments and companies, including Facebook, who have been doing their best to gather as much data on users as possible. The best example of the usefulness of such data is in the success of Google, which entered the game much before others and has now built a literal monopoly over the search market.

New technology the root cause of future threats: Stephen Hawking

Imagine 2066. A genetic virus, engineered to spread infertility across mankind, threatens the very basis of the growth of mankind — giving birth. Everyone is being affected with this virus, spread by a sentient authority who have pushed the few unaffected individuals into the very corners of a burning city. In the middle of this seeming apocalypse, a child is born — a gaping flaw in the AI roadmap of the authority who are on the hunt to kill this newborn child. There is no bloodshed, only a microscopic virus disabling humans from reproducing. How long will we survive, then?

Such is the effect that the advancement of new technologies may result in, according to Prof. Stephen Hawking. There may be “new ways things can go wrong” in the survival saga of mankind, said Hawking, while speaking at BBC’s annual Reith Lectures on January 7. He commented upon the advancement of technology in terms of automation and artificial intelligence, stating that an increasing number of threats, in form of both natural and artificial calamities, will be posed against mankind as a result of the progress that we are making. Such calamities and catastrophes may include nuclear warfare, unnatural global warming and genetically engineered viruses. (Remember Children of Men?)

Hawking alarmingly stated that a “disaster” on Planet Earth is almost certain to occur within the next 1,000 to 10,000 years. However, that may not necessarily spell the end of humanity, because we would have found a new home for ourselves by then. However, the Professor joked, “we will not establish self-sustaining colonies in space for at least the next hundred years, so we have to be very careful in this period.”

Sounding this note of caution in the middle of delivering a lecture on the nature of black holes, Hawking’s suggestion is to recognise the dangers that our technologies may impose, and take steps to control them. After all, progress for progress's sake must be controlled, to ensure that the worst do not creep into our genes.

ISIS terrorists using new Android messaging app called 'Alrawi'

After being banned from instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, Terrorist outfit ISIS has developed a new, encrypted messaging app called Alrawi. The Alrawi app was red flagged by a counter-terrorism network called Ghost Security Group, which had also dicovered ISIS's communication over Telegram. Ghost Security Group is a counter-terrorism organization that combats extremism on the digital front lines of today using the internet as a weapon. Their cyber operations consist of collecting actionable threat data, advanced analytics, offensive strategies, surveillance and providing situational awareness through relentless cyber terrain vigilance.

The new Alrawi app will not show up on Google Play Store, but can be downloaded from other back alley platforms available online. Texts sent on this app are encrypted and cannot be intercepted by the authorities. Also, there isn't any big company or founder behind the creation of the app, hence securing it from a potential shut down by security agencies. Apps that are a potential security threat are usually deleted or banned from App stores across ecosystems, but security on the OS level is still thin. Acts like these demand a stronger level of safety when it comes to the security of mobile handsets and their operating systems. 

Apple Watch patent shows magnetic band transforming to case, stand

Apple filed a patent with the Patent and Trademark Office which reveals a new design for the Apple Watch wristband. The new feature of the wristband is that it is a magnetic wristband. The new magnetic feature of the wristband will help secure the watch when it is worn by the user, and when it isn’t being used, it can turn into a protective case for the Apple Watch. The magnetic Apple Watch band can also be used as a stand or can magnetically attach to a MacBook, iMac or even a kitchen fridge. 

According to 9to5Mac, “In the standard band configuration, the band would be held closed in a similar way to the Milanese Loop. But it would also be possible to roll the band to form an upright desk stand, or to wrap the band around the Watch itself to serve as a kind of protective case for use when the Watch is packed away.” The website goes on to say, “As Macs are aluminum, a magnet would not normally stick to it, so the Mac attachment concept would also need matching magnets or a ferrous metal plate in the Mac to make it work.”

Whether the wristbands will be compatible with the existing Apple Watch or will be a feature exclusive to the second generation Apple Watch is something that is yet to be seen.

Source: 9to5Mac