'RoboBees' with Laser Eyes Could Locate Disaster Victims

by Charles Q. Choi, Live Science Contributor

Mechanical eyes that shoot laser beams could one day help robot bees fly without crashing into obstacles, researchers say.

These laser eyes could also one day help people control smartphones, tablets, laptops, wearable technology and other mobile devices using only gestures, the researchers added.

Currently, researchers are developing biologically inspired, bee-size flying robots dubbed RoboBees. These devices might one day find use in everything from pollinating crops to locating disaster victims.

Previous research found that robot bees are capable of flying while tethered and moving while submerged in water. However, these machines lack depth perception. This is a major problem, because it means these robots would have a tough time avoiding flying into walls or landing on flowers. 

To tackle this challenge, researchers now want to outfit robot bees with a laser-based version of radar. This technologies, known as lidar — short for light detection and ranging — emits invisible laser pulses instead of the radio waves used in radar. Sensors measure how long it takes reflected light to travel, which makes it possible to calculate the distance, size and shape of objects. And unlike most lasers, these beams are safe for use around eyes.

"Our technology is very similar to what exists in a Microsoft Kinect that comes with the Xbox for sensing your movements for a game," Karthik Dantu, a computer scientist at the University at Buffalo in New York, told Live Science. "These are extremely safe technologies, similar to ones already used in daily life today."

Lidar is currently helping driverless car prototypes navigate their surroundings. The lidar systems on these vehicles are typically about the size of camping lanterns.

"Essentially, it's the same technology that automakers are using to ensure that driverless cars don't crash into things," Dantu said in a statement. "Only, we need to shrink that technology so it works on robot bees that are no bigger than a penny."

Computer-vision expert Sanjeev Koppal and sensor expert Huikai Xie, both at the University of Florida, will develop the tiny sensor that measures reflected light. Meanwhile, Dantu will create novel perception and navigation algorithms to help RoboBees analyze and map their environments.

"Lidar is basically exploiting the 'echo' of a light pulse," Koppal told Live Science. "You can imagine that the echo of a light pulse that leaves a sensor, bounces off an object and returns is really fast. Detecting this quickly, but without complex circuitry and inside a small form factor, is one of the main challenges."

The micro-lidar device will weigh about two-thousandths of an ounce (56 milligrams), Koppal said. The researchers hope to have working micro-lidar sensors and algorithms in three years, Dantu said. Scientists at Harvard University will incorporate the technology into the RoboBees.

The researchers suggested that micro lidar will not be limited to robot insects in the future. Other applications could involve helping people interact with mobile devices using "natural user interfaces" similar to Microsoft's Kinect, which can detect gestures that people make.

"With micro lidar, you can imagine doing natural user interfaces for wearable technologies like smart clothing and smartwatches," Koppal said.

Google uncovers vulnerability in SSL web encryption technology

Three Google researchers have reportedly discovered a security bug in widely used web encryption technology that can be used by hackers to take over email accounts, banking accounts and other services. The bug has been named Poodle and stands for Padding Oracle On Downloaded Legacy Encryption.

The revelation has prompted browsers to issue advises asking users to disable use of the source of the security bug: an 18-year old encryption standard known as SSL 3.0, reported The Huffington Post. This is the third time in a year that researchers have uncovered a bug in the web technology following April's "Heartbleed" bug in OpenSSL and last month's "Shellshock" bug in a piece of Unix software known as Bash. However, the report said that the vulnerability is not as complicated and dangerous as the last two. 

Rent a Tata Nano at Rs. 399/Day Through Carzonrent

India's leading car rental company, Carzonrent Pvt. Ltd and Tata Motors announced their partnership, under which people can hire a Tata Nano for self drive at Rs. 399 per day. As part of 'Myles City-Drive' initiative, Delhi-NCR would have access to 200 Tata Nano Twist units across 43 locations in the city. Customers, who wish to own the car for less hours, can get it at a price of Rs. 99/hour. And if a consumers wants it for a month, will have to pay Rs. 6,999.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Rajiv Kr Vij, Managing Director & CEO, Carzonrent (I) Ltd. said, "MYLES CITY-DRIVE with NANO TWIST will provide the city commuters a license to drive, empowering them to do and enjoy everyday life a little more. This association with Tata Motors is a step forward on Carzonrent's endeavor to build long-term partnerships with auto manufacturers to develop a dynamic ground mobility landscape in India."

Deepankar Tiwari, Head - Institutional Sales, Tata Motors, "The NANO TWIST is the perfect smart city car for zipping through Delhi-NCR. We are delighted to associate with Carzonrent and through this partnership we will reach out to a larger customer base and give them an opportunity to experience the awesome Nano in a self-drive avatar."

Carzonrent's Myles is currently available across 16 Indian cities and offers a wide range of cars from Mahindra e20, Swift, Innova, XUV500 to Mercedes-Benz and now has added the Nano Twist to its fleet. The car rental company currently has 600 Myles cars and aims to expand its self-drive fleet to 5,000 cars by 2016.

Interested customers can book cars through Carzonrent's official website or their android-based mobile application.

Motorola Droid Turbo Back Panel Image Leaked; 3900mAh Battery Tipped

Motorola's much anticipated Droid Turbo handset, the user manual of which was purportedly leaked last week, has once again shown up - this time in a leaked image on Twitter.

The image tweeted by @DroidLanding shows the Droid Turbo's red-coloured textured back panel featuring a camera and two LED flash modules on either side just as expected, a design first introduced with the Moto X (Gen 2). A Motorola logo in the centre and Verizon branding at the bottom are also visible in the leaked image.

Also, as seen in the leaked user manual (which didn't contain an image of the back panel) previously, the Droid Turbo in the leaked image also features a power button and two volume buttons on the right-side bezel.

The image tweeted by @DroidLanding has now been deleted. However, Phonearena managed to get its hands on the image.

Moreover, the Motorola Droid Turbo smartphone is also being tipped to feature a 3900mAh battery that can be fully charged in 3 hours. The image of the battery showed Motorola EQ40 printed on it, which is the same codename used when the handset was approved by the FCC as per Phonearena.

The Motorola Droid Turbo, as per its leaked user manual, features a 5.2-inch display, a 21-megapixel rear camera with dual-LED flash, and features like Moto Actions, Moto Display and Moto Connect.

Besides 4G LTE, the Droid Turbo also features Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi and GPS connectivity options. Qi wireless charging compatibility is also mentioned as one of the features of the handset, along with support for Motorola's Turbo Charger.

A report from August claimed that Motorola is planning to debut 8 new devices before Christmas. However, out of 8, the company has now already introduced Moto X (Gen 2) and Moto G (Gen 2) handsets.

The report claims that the company is also planning to launch the Droid, the Droid Maxx, the Droid Turbo, the Moto X Play, the Moto S and the much-anticipated next Nexus smartphone codenamed 'Shamu' before the end of the year.

Samsung Gear S Tizen-Based Smartwatch Launched at Rs. 29,500

Apart from launching the Galaxy Note 4 in India, Samsung also launched the Gear S 3G-enabled smartwatch that was unveiled ahead of IFA 2014. The Gear S has been priced at Rs. 29,500 (MRP), and Samsung estimates a market operating price of Rs. 28,900.

The Gear S smartwatch is standalone in the sense that it allows users to make and receive calls via 2G or 3G, unlike other smartwatches, and also offers Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi connectivity. Samsung says the smartwatch will always remain connected, and can also switch between multiple networks to stay synchronised with the paired smartphone.

However, to be precise, the Gear S smartwatch is not truly standalone, as it requires one of 20 Samsung smartphones during initial setup, and to download apps.

Running on the company's own Tizen operating system, the Gear S now has a separate slot for a SIM card (Nano-SIM) on the back panel along with the heart rate sensor and four pogo pins.
The Gear S features a 2-inch curved Super AMOLED display with a 360x480 pixel resolution. A dual-core 1GHz processor with 512MB of RAM powers the Samsung Gear S. It comes with 4GB of inbuilt storage and is backed by a 300mAh Li-ion battery, rated to deliver 2 days of charge with typical usage.

The IP67-certified dust and water resistant Gear S shows notifications from text messages, social networks, calendars and other applications independently without the need to access the smartphone. Samsung is also touting S Voice functionality for dictating and voice commands, apart from the onscreen keyboard.

Samsung has included its own S Health app, apart from Nike+ Running, to help users track their health statistics. Also onboard is turn-by-turn pedestrian navigation provided via Here Maps, a 24-hour news service from the Financial Times, and more. The device will be available in Black and White colour variants.

"Samsung is leading this exciting and rapidly developing wearable category through progressive innovation," said JK Shin, CEO and head of IT & mobile communication at Samsung Electronics. "The Samsung Gear S redefines the idea of the smart wearable and the culture of mobile communication. It will let consumers live a truly connected life anywhere, anytime."
Samsung, along with Gear S, also launched the Gear Circle in India - priced at Rs. 8,500. The Samsung Gear Circle is a Bluetooth 3.0-enabled in-ear headset that clasps around the users' neck via a magnetic lock when not in use. The headphone can be paired with the smartphone to make/ receive calls, access music, and take S Voice and other voice commands from users. To alert users for an incoming call, Gear Circle also comes with a vibrating function. The device is backed by a 180mAh Li-ion battery rated to deliver 300 hours of standby time, 11 hours of talk time and 9 hours of music play time.

Xiaomi Mi 4 and Redmi Note to Launch in India by Year-End, Says Barra

Xiaomi has received great response from customers in India, and has been making sales records online with the entire inventory of both the Mi 3 and Redmi 1S smartphones going out of stock within few seconds in each flash sale on Flipkart.

Now Xiaomi's Vice President of International Operations, Hugo Barra, has revealed in an interview that the new Redmi Note can be expected to launch in India within the next two months. He said, "A date is not decided yet. Hopefully we will have devices ready to sell in the next two months."

On being asked about the launch of Mi 4, Barra responded, "We don't have a date for Mi 4 yet. I am going to stick with what I said earlier which is still the plan -launch it late December 2014 or early January 2015. I don't think the Redmi Note would conflict with Mi 4 even if we launch them together."

Considering that Xiaomi is no longer selling its former flagship in India, the Mi 3, the launch of the Mi 4 certainly fits in with the company's strategy as it needs a flagship in its India portfolio to make up.

Barra also confirmed that there will be no further Mi 3 sales in India. He said, "No, we are done with the Mi 3." However for Mi 3 fans, Barra revealed some good news - the company may like it did with 25,000 smartphones on October 6, add the Mi 3 automatically to the carts of Flipkart users who were repeatedly unsuccessful in their attempts to buy the popular phones during the numerous flash sales.

"We always keep a few thousand units as a precaution for replacements. However, once we are sure that we don't need that stock for replacement any more, we may do something to what we did on the 6th October for customers who did not get the Mi 3 even after 5 attempts," he added.

Xiaomi is all set to offer 1,00,00 Redmi 1S units on the sixth flash sale units on October 14. Notably, the sixth flash sale on Tuesday will kick off at 2pm IST on Flipkart for registered users.

New app enables smartphones to understand gestures

London: Scientists have developed a new app enabling users to operate their smartphone with gestures.

The app developed by Professor Otmar Hilliges and his staff at ETH expands the range of potential interactions with such devices and the gesture control significantly expands the range of smartphone functionality.

The app lets the smartphone understand gestures such as movement of your index finger to the left, or right or spreading out of your fingers, or imitate a pair of pliers or the firing of a pistol.

This gesturing wizardry is made possible by a new type of algorithm that uses the smartphone's built-in camera to register its environment and then executes the gesture command associated with the gesture it observes.

The program also recognizes the hand's distance from the camera and warns the user when the hand is either too close or too far away and currently recognizes six different gestures and executes their corresponding commands.

The researchers are convinced that this new way of operating smartphones greatly increases the range of interactivity. The researcher's objective is to keep the gestures as simple as possible, so that users can operate their smartphone effortlessly.

Should we engineer animals to be smart like humans?

Human beings have long believed that it is our unique level of intelligence that separates us from other animals. Our ability for higher learning, creative thought, and – perhaps most importantly – our sophisticated communication via speech and language, defines us as a superior species. However, as we expand our understanding of how the brain works, and use animal experiments to learn more about the genes involved in intelligence, will we reach a point where we can pull other species onto our intellectual plane?
The idea of enhancing animal intelligence may not be as far-fetched as it sounds. Consider a study published last month by Ann Graybiel and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about the relationship between intelligence and genes. The team genetically engineered mice to produce the human form of FOXP2 – a gene known to be linked to the human brain's capacity to learn and process speech – to see whether it would improve the rodents’ ability to learn. Sure enough, when the boosted mice were made to navigate a maze in order to get a reward of chocolate milk, they learned the route faster than the mice without the added human gene.
The results are exciting for anyone interested in understanding the genetic changes in our prehistory that helped us become the wise – or “sapient” – ape. But the nature of this study speaks to another question: whether through fundamental alterations and improvements to mouse brains we could create sentient animals with levels of intelligence to rival our own – a concept known as “uplifting”.

Mice engineered with a certain human gene showed they could learn quicker (Elena Gurzhiy/Flickr/CC BY 2.0)

In the past, uplifting has been explored mainly in science fiction. One of this summer's biggest movies was Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which depicts a civilisation of intelligent primates descended from test subjects altered by scientists hoping to find a cure for Alzheimer's.
And yet the movie has parallels with real research now under way. In 2011, a research team led by Sam Deadwyler of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, used five rhesus monkeys to study the factors that lead people with diseases like Alzheimer’s to lose control of their thought processes. The researchers trained the monkeys in an intelligence task that involved learning and identifying images and symbols. They were then given doses of cocaine in order to dull their intelligence and made to repeat the test, with predictably less impressive results.
What happened in the next stage of the research was remarkable. The same monkeys were fitted with neural prosthetics – brain implants designed to monitor and correct the functions of the neurons disabled by the cocaine. These implants successfully restored normal brain function to the monkeys when they were drugged – but crucially, if they were activated before the monkeys had been drugged, they improved the primates’ performance beyond their original test results. The aim of the experiments was to see whether neural prosthetics could theoretically be used to restore decision-making in humans who have suffered trauma or diseases such as Alzheimer's – but as far as these specific tests were concerned at least, the brain prosthetics appeared to make the monkeys smarter.

(Getty Images)

All this means we may have already entered the era of animal uplifting, says George Dvorsky of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a think tank that focuses on the implications of future technology. "But as for more substantive, impactful augmentations, that's still a way off,” he says. “The kind of uplift that appears in science fiction will require technologies far more advanced than anything we have today.” This doesn’t mean we won’t eventually develop these technologies, he adds, particularly as they will primarily help us use animals to learn about cognitive problems in humans, including neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's.
It’s an important point: even if the idea of uplifting may seem fantastical – and not the sort of goal we should be pursuing – the potential medical benefits in terms of combating human disease and injury suggest further progress down a path that leads to uplifting is inevitable. Certainly such manipulation of animals has advanced enough to become a serious matter to bio-ethicists: in 2011, the Academy of Medical Sciences in the UK reported on the ethics of research involving animals containing human material, and devoted an entire section to brain and cognitive manipulation.
The matter has also become a passionate debate for theorists. Some, like Dvorsky, suggest that the debate should be pushed even further, beyond considering just the medical and scientific advances. He believes in an “ethical imperative to uplift”, arguing that if the technology is developed it should be shared with animals in order to free them from the anguish of 'survival of the fittest' as much as it is to free humans: "As the stewards of this planet, it is our moral imperative to not just remove ourselves from the Darwinian paradigm, but all the creatures on Earth as well. Our journey to a post-biological, post-Darwinian state will be a mutual one."

(Getty Images)

For David Brin, a science fiction author whose novels helped popularise the concept of uplifting, the reasons to pursue the idea are slightly more pragmatic. He hopes that newly intelligent species would help us share the responsibility of protecting the environment. "The oceans of planet Earth are a vast mystery, filled with both physical wealth and unique treasures to preserve,” he says. “We are trying to learn to be good planetary managers, but I doubt we could fill that role all by ourselves, anywhere near as well as if sapient dolphin partners (and critics) were by our side. The same holds for countless other opportunities for both profit and wisdom."
For others the whole idea is far more problematic. Paul Graham Raven, a researcher at the University of Sheffield, believes the pro-uplifting stance represents biological and scientific arrogance and a misguided belief in human superiority over nature, where human intelligence is viewed as the pinnacle of evolution.
This is perhaps the biggest moral dilemma of the whole uplifting debate: even if Dvorsky, Brin, and others believe granting intelligence to other species would be for their benefit, Raven questions whether we possess the moral authority to make that decision for them without their consent. "It assumes we know what's best for species other than ourselves. Given we show little evidence of knowing what's best for our own species, I'm inclined to mistrust that assumption, however well intended," he says.
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How toys will shape future robots

At a recent car boot sale in the UK, Mark Tilden stumbled on something he often looks for at second-hand markets – one of his famous creations. Tilden, formerly a roboticist the Los Alamos National Laboratory, is a toy designer and he was now holding in his hands one of the humanoid bots he invented for children, “Robosapien”. Delighted with his find, he bought it for, “something like five quid”. The bot would give him the perfect opportunity to see exactly how it had been used.

“This toy had been played with to death. I was amazed,” he says. “It was filled with sand, it was filled with Plasticine, it had make-up still on it, rusted batteries – it had obviously been taken into the bath-tub – and that was fascinating because all of a sudden you realise that someone had loved this toy to the absolute extent.” Sure, it had been up for sale, but this bot had a good life.

What was it about this robot that had appealed so much to its owner? It’s a question that Tilden and other roboticists think is important – not just for toy design, but the future of robotics. For too long, robots have suffered from an image problem. They are often perceived as mechanical, cold and threatening in our culture and it’s difficult to reverse that impression. But this view of robots could be changed if they were designed to appeal to us with the same familiarity and, indeed, personality that our childhood toys once possessed.  

Robosapien burps, raps and dances - the secret of its success? (WowWee)

Children’s affection for Robosapien could be explained by the bot’s ability to display these characteristics, argues Tilden. His robot was never designed to seem super smart or unreasonably clever, but to have foibles and quirks that would entertain children and engage their imaginations. For instance, the toy’s 67 pre-programmed functions include belching, rapping and dancing. Seeing the Robosapien as a pal was far more important than seeing it as a hyperintelligent, futuristic machine.

Could other successful toys provide similar cues for robot designers? Perhaps – and it needn’t even be toy robots. Take Cabbage Patch Kids, for example. A highly successful line of dolls, Cabbage Patch Kids appealed to children’s emotional intuition through their insistence on being taken seriously as infants that required love and attention. They needed their nappies changing, as one advertisement explained, and came with documentation like birth certificates and adoption papers which positioned them within a mock bureaucratic world of parenting. As entertainment scholars have noted, it was the emotional responsibilities of owning a Cabbage Patch doll that made them persistent as toys – kids couldn’t put them down because they had a duty to look after them, a duty which they understood instinctively.

Cabbage Patch Kids: deeper than they look (Getty Images)

How do we get from here to robots? A few other toys will help to explain. In the 1990s, the electronic sophistication of toys was burgeoning and offered new opportunities to exploit children’s empathetic instincts. Tamagotchis were small egg-shaped mini computers with a square LCD screen displaying an animated pet.

The onus was on the child to look after this pet by feeding and playing with it. More than 76 million Tamagotchis have been sold worldwide since their arrival in 1996. The phrase “Tamagotchi effect” was coined to describe the strong emotional attachment to virtual agents exhibited by Tamagotchi owners.

Tamagotchis demanded care and attention from their owners (Joi Ito/Flickr/CC BY 2.0)

Newspaper reports at the time marvelled at how children expressed extreme outpourings of grief when their “cyberpet” finally succumbed to that great leveller of all, death. Tamagotchis required children to carry out a duty of care, like Cabbage Patch Kids, but the difference was that the consequences of bad parenting would actually be played out.

The Furby, launched in the 1990s, was designed to evoke similar emotions. Furry, talkative and exhaustingly needy, Furbies yearned for love and care. In this Radiolab podcast, Furby co-creator Caleb Chung explains that Furbies were designed to appeal to human beings’ innate sense of compassion by sounding scared when held upside down, or by quivering at loud noises.

Quaint, you might think, and something that only small children would do. But consider the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who gave funerals to combat robots when they were irreparably damaged. That machines provoke strong emotional connections with us is not the preserve of children.

Could robots be designed to evoke the same affection as toys? (Getty Images)

All of this is now directly informing the work of robot designers around the world. Aldebaran Robotics, headquartered in Paris, has learned a lot from the world of toys.

“When we saw that children were able to have a very strong connection with a Tamagotchi, a very simple device, we knew that it would be possible to create a much stronger connection with a robot that had a humanoid shape, an expressive voice and expressive gestures,” explains Aldebaran’s research director, Rodolphe Gelin. “Toys demonstrated to us that this was possible.”

The company’s most famous bot is Nao – a humanoid robot used in educational settings. Nao is intentionally the size of a teddy bear, says Gelin, so as not to be too large and “invasive”. Nao also has LEDs around its eyes and on the sides of its head that animate to provide further cues, such as blinking, which suggest it is alive. Even simple things, like making sure Nao didn’t have a lot of visible metallic parts, helped to naturalise it.

The Nao robot was designed to be the size of a teddy bear (Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)

Aldebaran has also crammed the robot full of sensing capabilities which mean its behaviour can subtly adapt to the needs of human companions. Cameras and image analysis can distinguish your gender, or mood, for example, and 3D scanners read body language.

Studies that explore how children interact with robots have shown that this level of social intelligence is crucial for supporting long-term relationships with machines. Lola Canamero, a researcher in adaptive intelligent behaviour at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, agrees that children are generally very willing to initially suspend their disbelief when greeting a robot. However, that suspension of disbelief may not last very long unless the variety of interactions can continue to engage the child.

Children soon get bored if toys or robots fail to surprise them (Getty Images)

“If children see that the robot is actually responding to what they do and not just performing random actions, that keeps their interest for much longer and persuades them to continue interacting with the robot,” she says.

The results of all these efforts to improve the social capacities of robots speak for themselves. For instance, Gelin recalls visiting a nursing home in France to ask if the residents there, who had never seen Nao, would be interested in a robot companion. The elderly people scoffed at the idea. Gelin told them he of course understood – but before he left, he pulled Nao out of his bag. The mood in the room transformed. Suddenly the nursing home residents were fascinated and intrigued. “Can he sing? Can he talk to me?” they asked.

It’s this eagerness for companionship that Gelin says robot manufacturers must now appeal.

“What is most important for us is to have a robot which understands your emotion and which can itself express emotion,” explains Gelin. “What one generally imagines for a robot, that he will perform tasks, clean the house, bring you a beer – for us these things will come later. The first thing is to have robots which are accepted at home.”

After all, when we were children, we had a special connection to our toys. They had personalities, could follow us on adventures and proved to be the ultimate companions. Perhaps the most promising robots of the future, then, will just be toys all grown up.

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The secret to staying safe online

Why should I care about online security?
It’s tempting to assume that only big businesses or big celebrities have to worry about their online security. After all, personal information like our photographs aren’t as interesting to anonymous hackers as compromising pictures of Jennifer Lawrence and other Hollywood A-listers, are they?

But the truth is we all have photos and messages we would prefer to keep private, and information like credit card details we would like to keep safe. According to a report by security software-maker McAfee and the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, more than 40 million people in the US had their personal information stolen last year, as well as 54 million in Turkey, 20 million in Korea, 16 million in Germany and more than 20 million in China.

While it would be a mistake to think that the data we store online can ever be 100% safe, it would also be an error to assume that we can’t make our email accounts and the data – including photographs – that we store in the cloud a little bit more secure with very little inconvenience.

I’m pretty sure I don’t store anything in the cloud, thanks…
Many of the celebrities at the heart of the recent leaks may have thought the same. But as cloud services grow it’s becoming common for devices like smartphones to upload user data to remote servers by default. If you’re at all worried about some of your photos falling into the hands of malicious parties it’s probably not a bad idea to check your phone settings to see what data is being automatically backed up to the cloud, and disable automatic uploading.

Still, there’s no doubting that the cloud can be very useful – ask anyone who has lost all their photos and contact information because they lost or broke their phone. Fortunately there are other actions you can take to keep your data in the cloud safe. Probably most importantly, you’ll want to consider using a strong and secure password.

So what makes a good password?
For starters, some computer security experts say that password length is more important than complexity, which means that a 16-character memorable password like “ilovemysportscar” is more difficult to guess than an eight-character unmemorable password like “T9$ey!!q”. This is because there are far more total possible combinations of 16 characters than eight, meaning malicious software must take longer to hunt through all the possible options to find the correct password. One survey found that 22% of “strong” eight-character passwords that contained numbers and symbols could be cracked after 10 billion guesses – compared with only 12% of 16 character passwords.

(Thinkstock)

In his book How to Predict The Unpredictable, the author William Poundstone proposes other tips, such as including avoiding obvious number substitutions – most people substitute the letter “I” with a “1”, for example, which creates a false sense of security. Better would be to create a seemingly random string from the first letters of a phrase you have memorised. (As an illustration, the previous sentence in this paragraph could become: “bwbtcasrsftfloapyhm”).

Alternatively, you might choose a random string of letters and numbers, and use it to create a nonsense sentence. So, the (admittedly too short) password “RPM8t4Ka”, explains Poundstone, might become “Revolutions Per Minute, 8 track for Kathy”.

“I don’t know what it means,” he writes, “but I do know it’s fairly easy to remember.

OK, that’s my email password changed. Am I safe now?
Not completely. Even a 16-character password is useless if you inadvertently hand it over to a hacker. Unfortunately, that’s all too easily done. Use an unsecure wi-fi hotspot, for example, and an eavesdropper on the same hotspot can easily monitor your internet activity and read your passwords. If you’re not prompted to enter a password to access a wi-fi hotspot, there’s a good chance it isn’t secure. It’s probably best to restrict your online activity to basic browsing on these wi-fi hotspots, and perform more sensitive actions (checking email, uploading data to the cloud) on your home wi-fi or using your phone’s secure data network – look for the 3G or 4G symbol on your screen.

(Thinkstock)

You can actually go one step further for minimal extra fuss. Install a virtual private network (VPN) app on your phone, switch it on when you’re on a wi-fi hotspot and it will essentially make it more secure: the app scrambles all of the data from your online activity – including the passwords you use to check email – in a way that makes it unintelligible to eavesdroppers. VPNs aren’t free, though, so privacy comes with a price.

And that should protect me from data theft?
It’s a start – but you’ve still got work to do. We don’t know for sure how hackers compromised the online accounts of the celebrities at the centre of the recent leak. There’s some evidence that they exploited a vulnerability in Apple’s iCloud service to repeatedly guess the user password until they found the correct one. But there is another way to gain access to someone’s account, no matter how strong their password is. If you know the person’s username, you can ask the service provider to reset their password using the “forgot my password” function. To work this particular trick a hacker needs to know a little information about the person whose account they are trying to access – things like their date of birth, their mother’s maiden name, or the first school they attended – so they can guess the answers to the security questions that must be answered to reset the password.

Of course, celebrities will find it difficult to keep this kind of personal information secret, which makes them particularly vulnerable to this form of attack – Sarah Palin’s email account was hacked this way in 2011. But many of us are all too willing to publish online the personal information we rely on to protect our passwords – many of us display our full date of birth on a social network profile, for instance. Navigating the privacy settings on social networks to hide this data is often not easy, but in the interests of keeping your data secure, it’s probably worth taking the time to make sure this sensitive information is kept out of sight of potential fraudsters.

Some people even advocate using false information on social networks – like an incorrect date of birth or ‘un-birthday’ – to keep your identity elsewhere secure.

(Thinkstock)

OK, I’ve done all that. Am I finally safe?
Sadly, probably not. But you’ve certainly made life more difficult for hackers. And there’s one final trick you can use to add an extra layer of security. Many email and cloud services now offer two-factor authentication. With this service enabled, simply entering your correct password on a website won’t immediately offer you access to your account – instead it might trigger an automated call or text message to your mobile phone that requires you to punch in a PIN to complete the sign-in process. The idea is that confirming your identity twice is more secure than making you confirm it just once.

So I have to memorise, or do, yet another thing, then?
As with almost all of these security measures, two-factor authentication adds a little bit of inconvenience every time you want to access your account. Not everyone is prepared to trade convenience for security. But the bottom line is that we each have to make a personal decision about just how seriously we value our online privacy.

Is my personal information ever going to be more secure?
As The Economist noted earlier this year “Securing cyberspace is hard because the architecture of the internet was designed to promote connectivity, not security.” And this will get harder over the next few years and decades, as the “internet of things” begins to flourish – where billions of devices, from cars to household appliances to medical equipment, will be connected to the web.

“The tactic of pumping out new software as fast as possible and then issuing patches later to fix flaws in the code may be tolerable if all that is lost is data, but if it involves personal safety, consumers will be less tolerant,” noted The Economist. And if we want companies to be more proactive in keeping our information safe, then it’s all the more reason why we need to make sure we take enough precautionary steps ourselves.

To find out more about online security, check out at the World-Changing Ideas Summit in New York on 21 October. BBC Future will be covering the event in full – so watch this space.

Intel gains a new ally in China's chip wars - Beijing

(Reuters) - Intel's investment of up to $1.5 billion in two fast-growing Chinese mobile chipmakers has effectively aligned the U.S. giant with a third party - a Beijing government intent on producing a viable domestic challenger to the likes of Qualcomm and Samsung.
For more than a decade, China has targeted semiconductor design and manufacture as a major focus of its industrial policy. Activity has picked up markedly over the past year with a spate of cross-border mergers and cooperation deals.
"We've entered an inflection point where government policy has started to work - it's started to help the local semiconductor industry," said Nomura analyst Leping Huang.
The deal hashed out by Intel Corp Chief Executive Brian Krzanich over 24 hours in Beijing in early August extends Intel's beachhead in China, the biggest battleground in the smartphone industry, and boosts the company's years-long effort to catch up to leading mobile chipmaker Qualcomm Inc.
A key visit during the trip was to Yang Xueshan, the deputy chief of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), who gave his blessing for the deal.
The agreement, unveiled on Sept. 26, gives Intel a 20 percent stake in Spreadtrum Communications and RDA Microelectronics through shares in a Tsinghua University holding company, with the aim of jointly developing and marketing smartphone chips.
China is the world's largest consumer and manufacturer of smartphones yet relies heavily on imported chips - particularly the processors that power the latest devices - made by San Diego-based Qualcomm, South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co, or MediaTek Inc of Taiwan.
China's ramped-up activity also arrives on the heels of revelations about the U.S. surveillance programme PRISM, which has prompted Beijing to undertake a slew of actions to enhance the security of its information technology industry.
For Intel, the world's leading manufacturer of chips for personal computers, the Tsinghua deal offers an additional path into the world's biggest chip market after it was slow to recognize the mobile revolution and design new processors for smartphones and tablets.
Intel spokesman John Mandeville declined to comment.
NATIONAL TARGETS
The China Semiconductor Industry Association estimates that revenue from China's chip industry reached 251 billion yuan($40.98 billion) in 2013, while domestic demand for chips amounted to 917 billion yuan, representing more than half of global semiconductor consumption.
Deng Zhonghan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and National People's Congress, said in March that China's $210 billion worth of annual chip imports exceeds the value of the country's entire yearly petroleum imports.
In June, the State Council offered the country's most comprehensive guidelines for the development of the semiconductor industry, outlining specific revenue targets for 2015 and 2020, with chip revenue set to grow at a better-than 20 percent annual clip, to reach 350 billion yuan by 2020.
An important part of Beijing's effort, analysts and industry insiders say, was consolidation of Spreadtrum and RDA, two companies formerly trading independently on Nasdaq.
The two companies were acquired a year ago for $1.7 billion and $900 million respectively by Tsinghua Unigroup, government-affiliated private equity group controlled by Tsinghua University in Beijing.
As part of its recent deal, which is expected to close early next year, Intel and Unigroup will form a new holding company that contains Spreadtrum and RDA.
Beijing wants the Unigroup companies to become competitive with Taiwan's MediaTek within five years and overtake Qualcomm within 10 years, according to a person familiar with Unigroup.
TRUE PARTNERS
Since taking over in 2013, Krzanich has aggressively positioned Intel to catch up with Qualcomm, the leading mobile chipset maker.
A central part of that strategy is China, where consumers are snapping up low-end smartphones made with low-cost chips from local suppliers like Spreadtrum and MediaTek.
Intel started investing in local operations 20 years ago, and presently operates factories across the country for manufacturing, assembling and testing microprocessors. Intel also has research and development operations in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
In May, Intel said it reached an agreement with Fuzhou-based Rockchip to produce chips for tablets based on Intel's architecture.
"With China, what they want is for you to be a true partner," Krzanich told reporters in September. "We go in and we partner, we build factories, we build R&D and we help local companies."
Intel's deal with Tsinghua Unigroup comes three months after Qualcomm agreed to partner with Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China's largest foundry, to produce some of Qualcomm's smartphone chips.
As part of the agreement, Qualcomm will help SMIC implement its first high-end 28 nanometre manufacturing technology.
It also coincides with a year-long Chinese anti-monopoly investigation into Qualcomm. Critics say the probe unfairly targets foreign companies in order to help domestic companies, which Chinese authorities flatly deny.
Krzanich first discussed ways to collaborate with the Chinese firms during a visit to Tsinghua University in April, where he and Intel China head Yang Xu met Tsinghua Holding's Xu Jinhong, Unigroup's Zhou Weiguo, Spreadtrum founder Li Liyou, who is also a Tsinghua University alumnus.
He made a second trip to Beijing, the whirlwind visit in August, after which the deal fell into place.
"Tsinghua University is an important driving force for the development of national science and technology, and Tsinghua Holdings is a key part of that effort," Tsinghua Holdings Chief Executive Xu Jinhong told Reuters by email.
    Xu characterized the Intel investment as "a new model for cooperation between Chinese and U.S. companies in the chip industry."
Analysts say that Intel's deal will give the Santa Clara-based company a moderate boost by gaining a partner with strong relationships with local phone manufacturers.
The deal should also give Intel enough protection of its intellectual property through licensing arrangements and other conditions, said Scott Kennedy, director of the Research Centre for Chinese Politics and Business at Indiana University.
"There's potential benefits for everyone," Kennedy said.
(1 US dollar = 6.1250 Chinese yuan)
(Additional reporting by Michael Martina and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Alex Richardson and Emily Kaiser)

Russian hackers target NATO, Ukraine and others - iSight

(Reuters) - Russian hackers exploited a bug in Microsoft Windows and other software to spy on computers used by NATO, the European Union, Ukraine and companies in the energy and telecommunications sectors, according to cyber intelligence firm iSight Partners.
ISight said it did not know what data had been found by the hackers, though it suspected they were seeking information on the Ukraine crisis, as well as diplomatic, energy and telecom issues, based on the targets and the contents of phishing emails used to infect computers with tainted files.
The five-year cyber espionage campaign is still going on, according to iSight, which dubbed the operation "Sandworm Team" because it found references to the "Dune" science fiction series in the software code used by the hackers.
The operation used a variety of ways to attack the targets over the years, iSight said, adding that the hackers began only in August to exploit a vulnerability found in most versions of Windows.
ISight said it told Microsoft Corp about the bug and held off on disclosing the problem so the software maker had time to fix it.

 

 

A Microsoft spokesman said the company plans to roll out an automatic update to affected versions of Windows on Tuesday.
There was no immediate comment from the Russian government, NATO, the EU or the Ukraine government.
Researchers with Dallas-based iSight said they believed the hackers are Russian because of language clues in the software code and because of their choice of targets.
"Your targets almost certainly have to do with your interests. We see strong ties to Russian origins here," said John Hulquist, head of iSight's cyber espionage practice. The firm plans to release a 16-page report on Sandworm Team to its clients on Tuesday.
While technical indicators do not indicate whether the hackers have ties to the Russian government, Hulquist said he believed they were supported by a nation state because they were engaging in espionage, not cyber crime.
For example, in December 2013, NATO was targeted with a malicious document on European diplomacy. Several regional governments in the Ukraine and an academic working on Russian issues in the United States were sent tainted emails that claimed to contain a list of pro-Russian extremist activities, according to iSight.
The firm said its researchers uncovered evidence that some Ukrainian government computer systems were infected, but they were unable to remotely confirm specific victims among those systems that had been targeted.
 Still, researchers believe a large percentage of those targeted systems were infected because the malicious software used was very sophisticated, using a previously unknown attack method that enabled it to get past virtually all known security protections, said Drew Robinson, a senior technical analyst with iSight Partners.
ISight said it had alerted some victims of Sandworm Team, but declined to elaborate.
The iSight research is the latest in a series of private sector security reports that link Moscow to some of the most sophisticated cyber espionage uncovered to date.
Russia's Kaspersky Lab in August released details on a campaign that attacked two spy agencies and hundreds of government and military targets across Europe and the Middle East.
(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Tiffany Wu)

Hundreds of alleged Dropbox passwords leaked

(Reuters) - Hundreds of alleged usernames and passwords for online document-sharing site Dropbox were published on Monday on Pastebin, an anonymous information-sharing website.
The anonymous user, who claims to have hacked close to 7 million accounts, is calling for Bitcoin donations to fund the operation.
"We will keep releasing more to the public as donations come in, show your support," the anonymous Pastebin user said on the site.

 

 

 

Dropbox, however, said it has not been hacked.
"These usernames and passwords were unfortunately stolen from other services and used in attempts to log in to Dropbox accounts. We'd previously detected these attacks and the vast majority of the passwords posted have been expired for some time now. All other remaining passwords have been expired as well," a Dropbox spokesman said in an email to Reuters.
Dropbox is a Silicon Valley startup that has proved a hit with consumers and boasts more than 200 million users six years after it was started. It has undergone tremendous growth amid the meteoric rise of cloud, which is expected to continue booming alongside mobile computing.
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden last week advised those concerned about their privacy to "get rid of Dropbox" and cease using Facebook (FB.O) and Google (GOOGL.O).
(Reporting by Supriya Kurane in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

At 3 million sq ft in 5 years, Flipkart set for largest office deal

BANGALORE: India's biggest e-commerce company Flipkart has doubled its demand for office space to 3 million sq ft, barely two months after approaching top developers to lease 1.5 million sq ft. Embassy Office Parks, the equal joint venture between Blackstone and Embassy Group, is said to bag this lease deal which is pegged to be the largest office space transaction in India in at least a decade.

The deal, at Rs 52 per sq ft, is likely to be inked as early as this week. Flipkart plans to absorb the entire office space in two phases, but in a record four to five years. The e-commerce poster boy had short-listed Bangalore-based Bagmane Group and Embassy in a process advised by real estate consulting firm JLL.

Senior officials at Embassy Office Parks declined comment.

Flipkart, which is sitting on about $1.5 billion in cash, has already said that by the end of this financial year its employee strength would be increased to 25,000 from 12,000 at the beginning of the year. In real estate parlance, 3-million sq ft of office space could seat around 30,000 to 50,000 employees.

The breakneck growth of India's e-commerce market and Flipkart's aggression at the top would mean that hiring is likely to remain robust for the seven year-old-company co-founded by Sachin and Binny Bansal.

Rival Amazon has already leased out around 300,000 sq ft of office space at the World Trade Centre in Bangalore, a tenth of the office space requirement that Flipkart is projecting.

The office deal with Embassy Office Parks will see Flipkart being housed in the 106-acre Embassy TechVillage, which has around 500,000 sq ft of space that is yet to be leased of the 1.9 million sq ft developed, with the potential for to develop an additional 10 million sq ft of office space.

So far India's e-commerce leased about 600,000 sq ft space in the first of the ongoing calendar, said a report by consultancy firm CBRE South Asia, adding that office space deals by the well funded startups were rising.

Sectoral experts said that India's real estate sector will gain from e-commerce. CBRE South Asia deputy MD Ram Chandnani said e-commerce will stimulate demand for warehousing/logistics space for building back-end infrastructure, more than commercial office space.

Flipkart faces Rs 1,000 crore FEMA penalty: Report

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate is looking to slap a show-cause notice on e-commerce major Flipkart over alleged FEMA violation, a report by ET Now said on Thursday evening.

The channel quoted sources as saying, "Our investigation is over and our Bangalore team has found evidence of FEMA violation against Flipkart." According to the report, the e-tailer may face a penalty of over Rs 1,000 crore.

A source who refused to be identified said Flipkart had violated FEMA provisions as WS Retail, the holding company, had investments from companies overseas.

Apple's 'Way Too Long' Invite Lands With a Thud

Apple's pretty much annual October new product media event usually is preceded by a cute invitation sent to journalists. The invitation typically includes a phrase or graphic element that provides a vague clue to the secret agenda of the event.

Presumably, this is to drum up excitement and speculation, in addition to creating an ah-ha moment when the audience understands the connection between the invitation and the actual announcement.
This year, Apple's hint is this: "It's been way too long." That is the worst teaser I've ever heard.

What Haven't You Been Doing Lately?

Consider the phrase: It's been way too long since... what? Since we've seen you last? Since we partied like there was no tomorrow? Nah. In Apple Land, the connotation immediately turns to products and product announcements.
Which then naturally turns to this: Which product hasn't been updated in "way too long?" Which product has been neglected? Which product is in desperate need of a makeover?
I don't consider myself a glass-half-empty kind of guy, but I found myself immediately considering the products that Apple has been futzing around with when I saw the teaser invite. Turns out, there are plenty of Apple products that seem stale.
The MacBook Air, which has sported the same basic form factor since Steve Jobs introduced it in 2008, comes to mind. Apple added the even smaller 11-incher in October of 2010 -- four years ago. Sure, there've been some minor upgrades along the way, but it's been four years -- and not even a color refresh.
What's worse, the MacBook Air hasn't had a Retina display. The MacBook Pro with Retina display came out two years ago in October of 2012. Is that way too long? Maybe. It sure feels like it -- but hey, that's not Apple's fault, right? You just can't power a Retina display with a battery in a super light MacBook Air form factor. Laws of physics and whatnot.
The technical challenges aren't the point here -- nor is the waiting game for Intel's next-generation Broadwell processors, which are well suited to being crammed into a shrinking form factor.
There are rumors that Apple is working on a 12-inch Retina-based MacBook Air variant, which it could even offer in Gold, Silver and Space Gray colors, but the point remains: It's been way too long gives the speculation a negative spin, as if Apple has been neglecting a product rather than working feverishly on it and giving it the attention it deserves.

Which Other Products Have Stagnated?

See how easy it is to consider Apple's invite phrase in a negative light? I just used the word "stagnated," which isn't a word you want associated with your products -- like say, the Mac mini, which has been largely ignored for two years. Or the iMac, which has gotten some touchups here and there, but no Retina displays.
Odds are, Apple will update the iMac with a Retina display sometime soon -- but now? Maybe. Neither product gets enough consumer attention to justify being the subject of Apple's teaser, though.
There is only one product that clearly stands out here, and it's the long-neglected Apple TV. The last hardware update was in March of 2012. There have been lots of minor additions and updates to the software, but the ingenuity and power of the hardware itself? For fans of the living room couch, it's been languishing in obscurity.
Finally. That is the first impression that Apple calls up with "It's been way too long."
That's really sad, because in reality, I'm excited and optimistic that Apple will -- finally -- make a serious push into the living room with a more powerful Apple TV and a much-improved content experience.
The phrase, "It's been way too long," could be applied to the way we watch and consume television. It's been way too long since consumers had a really great new way to watch TV. For anyone who pays attention to their budgets and how they spend on entertainment, it's hard to find any reason to be pleased with the bundles offered by our cable and satellite TV services.
So, even though the teaser could be the harbinger of a brand new world of awesomeness, the initial effort to understand it just results in a negative spin for Apple.

Playing Catch-Up

Instead of excitedly speculating on how Apple might make the living room "more comfortable than ever" with a new Apple TV that is now a hub for HomeKit and a whole new world of home automation products, Apple sparked people to wonder if it's been too long for an important new leap for the iPad.
Is a thinner iPad offered in a Gold color with a Touch ID button particularly cool? It doesn't take a genius to imagine a thinner iPad Air or a new coat of paint.
Instead of being excited about how well the Apple ecosystem will seamlessly let you hand off content, notifications, and messages between Macs and iOS devices, the question turns toward a grouchy "it's about damn time my Mac could talk with my iPhone."
The problem is that "way too long" implies an admission of failure -- and it's a failure on Apple's part, because this is Apple's event, after all. Even if the company is saying it's way too long for some other thing going on in the industry, the phrase boomerangs back to Apple.
So what would be more successful?
Apple could have said, "better than ever," or "like you've never seen before" or slapped on an image that implies a natural transformation into something mature and cool, like the hint of a butterfly's wing in the background of the invitation. Apple never would have to explain a butterfly.
"Way too long" fails to suggest that Apple might have invented something new -- or even created an upgrade leap. It suggests that Apple finally caught up to a widely held expectation. I'm pretty sure that's not what Apple was going for.
So yeah -- Apple's worst teaser ever.

Cylon Linux Gives GNOME Fans Glamour Galore

Cylon is a classic Linux distro preconfigured with lots of tweaks -- kind of a Unity-less Ubuntu with bling.

Cylon runs the classic GNOME 3 desktop on almost any hardware configuration made since 2007, but it is more suited to seasoned Linux users. Newcomers to Linux may not make an easy transition.
Still, Cylon Linux is highly usable out of the box. With its installed software, there's little need for supplemental installations. The user experience, however, might be less than appealing for those who are not at home with the GNOME 3 desktop.
I was impressed with Cylon's speed and dazzling animations -- but once the eye candy novelty wore off, I went to the Compiz setting panel to tone down the fireworks.
The classic GNOME 3 desktop is not for everyone. While Cylon's developers did a clever job of tweaking the performance, they failed to make it easy to change default settings for accessing virtual desktops.
Cylon also suffers from a common problem with GNOME 3 desktop environments: It has too many separate settings panels for Administration, System Compiz and Preferences.

Family Ties

Cylon Linux was last updated December 6th, 2012. Due to its lineage from Ubuntu, this version is supported with system updates through 2017. Its current version is 12.04.1 and is based on a kindred connection to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. Its partial rolling update approach keeps pace with the Ubuntu system updates.
Cylon is a relative newcomer and has a much different look and feel despite its obvious reliance on direct Ubuntu branding. Cylon was founded in November 2012.

Under Cylon's Hood

Cylon Linux relies heavily on its Ubuntu underpinnings, but its closeness to Ubuntu is not readily apparent when you start using it.
This distro has a unique appearance. It looks and works nothing like the myriad of other Ubuntu derivatives.
Of course, the Software Center and the Update Manager carry the Ubuntu names and are the same repositories. Even the System Settings panel is strikingly similar.

Look and Feel

At first blush, Cylon's desktop appearance is like numerous other carbon-copy Linux distributions -- but the similarity ends once you get beyond the GNOME 3 panel at the top and the Docky bar at the bottom of the screen.
The big difference appears as a flash in the pan once you start clicking around the menu. It is a skimpy menu, by the way. It consists of a single column organized by category. The contents of each category slide out from the right as you hover over each label.
Expect to spend considerable time scrolling lists of submenus. The main menu lacks any search window. Also, it lacks any favorites panel.

The default desktop view in Cylon Linux includes preinstalled Conky clocks and screenlets plus a Docky Bar on the bottom and a disappointing panel at the top of the screen.

That may be why developers preinstalled the Synapse search and launch tool. The launcher is hardwired to the top panel. You also can access this app by setting a keyboard combination.

Flash Bang

Click on a menu item or touch any category with the mouse pointer, and the flashiness begins. The default visual effect is for a flash of flames that blaze for a fraction of a second and then fade away.
Programs open with their windows upside down and then spinning right side up. By default, the window controls -- maximize, minimize and X -- are in the left corner, just like Ubuntu.
Users familiar with Compiz effects will appreciate how Cylon has the CompizConfig Settings Manager installed and activated. Seasoned Linux users also will be able to change the settings as desired. However, strangers to Linux easily could be intimidated by all of the options.
It is perhaps the combination of the Docky Bar and the brash Compiz effects that set Cylon ahead of other Ubuntu Linux offspring. The level of Compiz settings resembles much of the inherent interface chaos some Linux users experience with the KDE desktop.

Panel Woes

The classic GNOME panel leaves a lot to be desired. Open programs are highlighted on the Docky bar. A few launchers for system tools are anchored to the top panel. But GNOME 3 does not give users any configuration access to this locked-down panel.
Other than displaying a few expected notification icons along with the application and places menus, the panel lets users do little with the wasted space.
Not having the upper panel serve as an anchoring point for personalized applets and pinned favorite programs is a sore point for many Linux users disgruntled with the GNOME 3 interface. Cylon's use of GNOME 3 does little to assuage that design dysfunction.

Cubed Delight

The spinning cube is without a doubt one of the most attractive visual effects associated with using virtual workspaces in Linux. The CompizConfig settings gives Cylon users a huge variety of options for tweaking how the cube performs. Basic cube functionality is preconfigured in this distro.
Hold the left CNTRL + ALT keys down while you press the left or right arrows. This changes the screen view to the spinning cube.
Hold the arrow key down to watch a perpetual spinning cube. Or press the arrow key more deliberately to move among the virtual workspaces.

Missing in Action

As mentioned earlier, one of my main disappointments with Cylon's design is the way it handles access to virtual workspaces. Most GNOME 3 desktops have a hidden thumbnail view that slides in from screen right when touched by the mouse pointer to show activated virtual workspaces. Clicking on a thumbnail gives you full-screen access to that virtual location.
If that feature exists in Cylon Linux, it is a well-kept secret. The feature is not activated by default. I could not find any system setting for it.
Also missing is any setting for the number of virtual workspaces you want to use. I am normally very good at finding such hidden triggers. The fact that I can not find it strongly suggests to me that the feature does not exist rather than is just well hidden.

No Way Out

Either way, this is a major design flaw in Cylon's implementation of the GNOME 3 interface. I was able to send a program window to any of four work spaces by right-clicking on the top border of the application window. This feature exists in most Linux desktop flavors.
However, the lack of the standard access to those virtual spaces for me is a disconnect and a deal breaker. The design fails on several levels.
First, it is awkward to have to find the program icon resting somewhere on the Docky bar and then click on it to swing onto that virtual workspace. Second, it is distracting to have to move fingers off the typing rows to press the three-key combination requiring two hands to spin the cube to the appropriate workspace. Three is the lack of configurable shortcut keys to move among virtual workspaces.
The Ubuntu distro -- and its various alternative desktops -- have these features. So do other Ubuntu-based distros such as Linux Mint.

Yes, Good Exists

Those design flaws aside, Cylon Linux offers numerous features to make it worthy of consideration. Perhaps one of the most impressive features is the well-stocked installed software.
Most menu categories are stuffed with a dozen or more applications. In many cases, the list includes four or five options for the same types of programs. In nearly all cases, users will have little or no need to go to the Software manager to find more titles.
What Cylon lacks in panel applets it makes up for with its ample inventory of Screenlets. Finding and installing what you want is fast and easy.

Cylon Linux is loaded with screenlet options and lots of doodads with a nice gallery of background images.

YPPA is a handy application that makes it very easy to add and manage PPAs, or Personal Package Archives. This tool automates the process and requires just clicking and selecting options.

Bottom Line

If you fancy the solid Ubuntu infrastructure but want something a lot different in user experience, give Cylon Linux a try. The visual effects are impressive and the system is preconfigured to work as installed.

Cylon Linux has a curved Expo View feature that is eye-catching.

However, do not expect Cylon Linux to be a Windows XP substitute. It is intended for use by Linux users who have a liking for more traditional GNOME 3 functionality.

Gadget Ogling: Strange Cameras, Fast Charges, Racing Robots

Welcome, friends, to another installment of Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, a trip through the land of delightful and deplorable gizmos.

Among the items to grab my eye this week are portable chargers and espresso makers, a robot hack, a limited-function radio, and a bizarre-looking camera.

Ratings denote how interested I am in using each item, and are not an indicator of quality or how strongly I recommend you spend money on them. (An early tip: Don't buy the radio thing.)

HTC RE Camera

HTC is stepping so far out of the box with the RE Camera (pictured above), it's almost as if there was never a box to begin with.

Instead of making us stare through a viewfinder, this minimalist device almost demands a return to older forms of photography, while still taking advantage of modern technology.

It looks like a cross between a periscope and an asthma inhaler, neither of which scream style to anyone who might spot it in your hand. A Lytro this is not.

There are some positives, since it can capture 16-megapixel still images and 1080p video while wirelessly transferring the content to a smartphone. It's likely to be more comfortable to use for extended periods of time than holding up increasingly larger smartphones to capture, say, a child's school play performance.

Meanwhile, if one absolutely needs to capture something quickly -- for instance, if a crime is taking place -- the RE Camera might let one snap photos or start filming more quickly and inconspicuously than a smartphone would.

Yet I don't really see this taking off. It can't be easier to use this than to whip out a smartphone and take a quick picture. There's a companion app that can act as a viewfinder, but that seems somewhat redundant when at that point you could take a photo with your phone.

It's a poorly timed move, as well, since GoPro just unleashed a range of new cameras, starting at $130. Shelling out $200 for a simple camera that aims to keep smartphones in one's pocket seems superfluous. Then again, if it stops people from taking photos with their tablets, it might not be such a bad idea.

Rating: 2 Out of 5 Spy Submarines

Pronto Fast-Charge Battery

Carting a two-year-old smartphone around means it's increasingly unlikely the battery charge lasts a full day. I often have to resort to Airplane Mode to make sure I can get through an afternoon away from home and still be reachable in case of emergencies.

It's probably time I picked up an external charger, and the fast-charging Pronto looks like a great option.

When Computers Get a Right Brain

IBM is massively increasing its commitment to Watson, which was evident at last week's IBM Think Forum. IBM recognizes that if it can get a product that thinks first, then it can again take absolute control over the technology market, and every other company will be chasing it again.

It is making some impressive headway, and I agree that the firm that succeeds at this will not only massively change the technology market, but also change the world. The very real outcome is that many of us will find our skills have become redundant -- and when I say "many of us," I include analysts, because we are obviously at risk.
I'll close with my product of the week: Gorilla Glass, which is what's keeping us from having far more broken phone screens and likely helping Apple to avoid having to recall the iPhone 6 (though I still think it should).

The Wonder of Watson

Watson is a fascinating system. I'm referring to this class of systems as "decision engines," because they aim to help people make better decisions. What makes them different from any other tool is that they learn about you, rather than you having to learn as much about them.
Granted, with these early versions, it is kind of a shared experience -- but prior to systems like Watson, all of the effort to learn how to interface was on the user side. With Watson, the end goal is to shift virtually all of this burden to the system.
What this means is that in the near-term future, when you need something from Watson, you'll be able to sit down and immediately be productive rather than spend the weeks to months it typically now takes to learn a new system. Because Watson learns from you, the longer you work with it, the better it becomes.
As more and more Watson computers are deployed, they learn from each other creating sort of a digital Gestalt providing a massive acceleration in the learning process.

Near-Term Expectations

There were a number of examples at the Think Forum of working systems and prototypes that showcased what Watson can do today. For instance, a hospital treating a cancer patient can look at the detailed information captured on the patient and then determine the highest-probability path to wellness. Watson already has information on obscure treatments and illnesses, which it can apply to the solution.
The end result is a customized program that is developed from information gathered all over the world -- both preventing mistakes that already have been made and identifying little known successes to reach an optimal solution.
Watson could provide travelers with an experience similar to what travel agents once provided. For instance, if your plane were delayed or grounded, it would automatically find and recommend an alternate route while you were in transit, which you could execute with one Amazon-like click. When called upon to help plan a trip, Watson could apply what it knows about you and about the various airlines and hotels to create the itinerary most likely to make it trip the best you've ever had.
For help desk issues, it would take customers through custom decision trees defined by the system's ability to diagnose the problem remotely and gauge the technical capability of the caller. That would enable it to provide the fastest resolution for the lowest cost, optimizing on a blend of customer satisfaction and cost containment.
It automatically would identify and report bad trends to decision makers, along with optimized recommendations, both to resolve the core issues in a timely way and optimally reduce the related costs.
Company after company testified at the Think Forum that they were seeing massive increases in customer satisfaction and getting a far better handle on costs from Watson-type technology, which is still in its infancy.

Jobs at Risk

Now with the next range of technology advancements, there are a ton of jobs at risk -- and not the obvious ones, either. Specialists are pretty safe for a while, but folks who provide general services -- like accountants, tellers, bankers, stock traders and, well, analysts -- are kind of screwed in the long term.
Fortunately, this won't happen overnight, and in the near term there will be some great jobs training systems like Watson but, once trained, these systems will be able to train each other almost instantly.
It will be even longer before specialists are at risk, because the costs of training a system like Watson to handle a specialty will likely exceed the benefits for some time. If the specialty is unique, that time could be indefinite.

Wrapping Up: The Future

The Think Forum wrapped up with a look into the future, and it was a fascinating discussion. Watson is kind of a left brain decision engine. It is very strong numerically, but it is kind of an extreme version of Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory. It isn't very empathetic, and it isn't intuitive.
Efforts like neural networking and cognitive computing will close the gaps, resulting in machines that can do more than suggest the top choices in a decision. They will actually make the decision, moving to the next stage and doing the whole job. Fortunately, this right brain aspect is still years off, and until it is ready, people will fill that role.
Two clear job growth areas, for now and in the near term, will be trainers for systems like Watson -- people who understand both a particular subject area and how best to present it to Watson. They will be Watson's right brain partners.

Product of the Week: Gorilla Glass

I was on Fox Business News this week covering the pain of a broken smartphone screen. Toward the end of the show, we tried to break a phone on air, but the phones bounced and didn't break. That was largely because the phones used Gorilla Glass, which is broadly used on smartphones today. It isn't invulnerable -- phones that use it still break -- but they break far less frequently, and as we so humorously demonstrated, it often takes a real boneheaded move to break one.
There was a lot of speculation that the iPhone 6 was going to use sapphire glass, and that would have ended badly. That's because for some screwy reason -- likely to save money -- Tim Cook allowed the iPhone 6 to have an aluminum frame rather than the steel or magnesium alloy frame that other large phones use, and that makes the screen the stiffest part of the phone.
Gorilla Glass bends a little, which is why you have a lot of bent iPhone 6s that don't have cracked screens as well.

Corning's Gorilla Glass

Sapphire doesn't bend at all, and though you'd likely have fewer bent phones, you'd have a far higher number of even more expensive cracked screens.
Much like jewels, if you do get a nick in the screen with sapphire, that becomes a flaw -- and the screen will break on that flaw. So sapphire would have cost more and not held up well at all on a large phone.
Now, if phone makers would just work a little harder on protecting the screens, we likely could eliminate most of the breaks that occur when the phone lands on its corner on something as unforgiving as cement or tile. However, Corning's Gorilla Glass is why far more of us don't have smashed phones, and it turned my spot on Fox Business into a comedy sketch, so it is my product of the week.