0

2019 Week 5 Tech and Science Update

Weekly Tech News Update

US Polar Vortex

United States has been crippled under extreme cold weather – phenomenon known as polar vortex. School, office and many other services has been closed. Moren than 20 people died. People has been instructed – not to stay outside, not to take deep breath and even not to talk, as the extreme cold air can cause serious damage.

What is Polar Vortex
Polar vortex, is a circulation of strong, upper-level winds.These winds tend to keep the bitter cold air locked in the Arctic regions. The wind normally surround the northern pole, moving in a counterclockwise direction – a polar low-pressure system.  Some times this vortex can move down farther south. Which makes that region cold.

 

Singapore HIV Health Record Exposed

Personal health information of 14,200 Singaporean citizens has been exposed. This is the second time it happen.Singapore’s Ministry of Health confirmed that these  people are all  HIV-positive.

The records were exposed by Mikhy K Farrera Brochez. Mikhy has been living in Singapore for eight years and last year he was deported for fraud and drug-related offenses. He said he gained unauthorized access to the ministry’s HIV Registry, his partner Ler Teck Siang. Ler Teck Siang used to a top the level management of the Ministry of Health’s National Public Health Unit.

It was not sure where Mikhy K Farrera Brochez posted the records. But Ministry was able to stop the process.

 

0

2019 Week 4 Tech and Science Update

Weekly Tech News Update

A Protein in The Blood Identified That Could Predict Alzheimer

Researchers developed a simple blood test that shows evidence of brain damage due to Alzheimer’s almost seven years before any kind of cognitive changes occur. Research was conducted at German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Tübingen and Washington University at St. Louis.

Samples of blood collected from 243 people all in their in their 40s or 50s. A protein called “neurofilament light chain”, was the main target. It provide structural support to neurons. High levels of this protein in the blood typically indicates brain damage. People of took parts in the research – had some amount of neurofilament light chain in their blood.

But people who has Alzheimer’s gene in their systems started getting more of this protein in their blood. At a faster rate than those who dont have the Alzheimer’s gene. If all goes ok, this test could be used to identify patients who will develop dementia in future. So these people can start taking anti Alzheimer drug even before things go bad.

 

Google Hit With $57M Fine by European Union

Jan 21, 2019 Monday France’s The National Data Protection Commission fined Google 50 million euros ($57 million). According to the commission for ad personalization for users, Google shows “lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent”. This is one of the biggest regulatory enforcement action.

Commission mention in their report that – Google donor properly informed their
users why they collect data for advertisement. And user need to spend time to find – how and why Google use their data. In response to this fine. Google said they are studying the decision and planning their next step.

Learn more  –  How Google Collect and Use Our Personal Information

0

2019 Week 3 Tech and Science Update

Weekly Tech News Update

Latest Data Breaches Exposes 773 Million Emails and Passwords

The latest breach was discovered by Troy Hunt, who is the Australian regional director for Microsoft security. This could be the largest breach yet to be made public. The stoeln email address was uploaded to a popular cloud service called MEGA. It’s not clear how long the the information was in public domain. The list also include credentials from more than 2,000 websites. Security advisoer asked everyone to change their passwords.

Password Maker

Here is a tool to create unique password without any effort Linkmeshin Passwordmaker.

 

On the Moon in a Mini-Biosphere Potato, Cotton and Rapeseeds Have Sprouted

This is first time in history, biological growth experiments was done on the lunar surface. Chinese moon lander Change4 has a mini biosphere made of special aluminum alloy material. It has water, soil, air and thermal control inside. Cotton, rapeseed, potato, and arabidopsis seeds ware used in the experiments. It also contain eggs of fruit flies. The plants produced oxygen and by photosynthesis produce food. Which help to sustain the fruit flies. So when everything grows it mimic a mini earth environment.

 

Authorities can’t force people to unlock devices with their faces, fingers or irises

California USA magistrate judge Kandis Westmore has ruled that authorities can’t force people to unlock devices with their iris, faces or fingers.Even with a warrant law enforcement doesn’t have the right to force people to unlock their phones. As biometrics are equal to passcodes. Here is the ruling –

“If a person cannot be compelled to provide a passcode because it is a testimonial communication, a person cannot be compelled to
provide one’s finger, thumb, iris, face, or other biometric feature to unlock that same device.

The undersigned finds that a biometric feature is analogous to the 20 nonverbal, physiological responses elicited during a polygraph test, which are used to determine guilt or innocence, and are considered testimonial.”

These ruling are only applied in USA.

0

2019 Week 2 Tech and Science Update

Weekly Tech News Update

Scientists Can Hack Photosynthesis to Grow Bigger Plant

Photosynthesis, the process by which green plants turn water and carbon dioxide into the food we eat and the air we breathe. Scientists at the University of Illinois found a way to genetically modify this process. Modification was done on tobacco plants.

And now the genetically modified tobacco plants grew up to 40 percent bigger than ordinary tobacco plants. Plants uses an enzyme called RuBisCO, that capture carbon dioxide from the air and then convert it into plant matter or energy. But sometimes this process does not work properly. Instead of carbon dioxide, it uses oxygen.

To correct this – the plant must “detoxify”. it by producing toxic compound. As a result, the plants spend lots of energy on this and nothing left for grow. To rectify – without modifying the enzyme, scientists insert genes that simplify and speed up the detoxification process. So plants have more energy to grow bigger. If this technology works in food crops, then it will certainly help the farmers all over the world to grow more food.

 

Mysterious Signals Have been Picked up From Distant Galaxies

A Canadian telescope picked repeating radio waves. The signals are coming from a galaxy located 1.5 billion light years away.Origin of the waves is unknown. The signals are known as “fast radio bursts” or in short “FRB”.The observatory known as CHIME, located in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. It scan the entire northern sky each day, has four 100-metre-long, semi-cylindrical antennas. scientists have detected about 60 of these waves. There are numerous theories about what could be causing these waves. Here are few –

Spinning Neutron Star
Dead stars become fast spinning neutron stars. They can create fast radio bursts or FRB. But why – scientist don’t know that yet.

Merging Stars
Two dead stars or neutron stars are merging and that can create fast radio bursts.

Blackhole
When neutron star breaks, they become black hole. Another neutron star may fall in to that black hole or other dark matter
hit another can create fast radio bursts or FRB.

Alien
Fast radio bursts or FRB Signals are coming from an alien spaceship or from a distant planet populated with little green man.

Consumer Electronics Show 2019

2019’s Consumer Electronics Show or CES took place in Las Vegas (Nevada) USA from January 8 to 11.It’s the biggest gathering where one can see the latest consumer technologies. This year it was no different. From health care to smart home technology – companies proudly shows their latest and greatest. Here are some of them.

Hyundai has shown off a small model of a car called “Elevate” it can activate robotic legs to walk at 3mph (5km/h) over rough terrain.While Mercedes-Benz’s shows their autonomous Vision Urbanetic concept car.

Philips Hue has new weatherproof motion sensor for front porch and three new lighting fixtures and Elecpro US:E will help to get in to your house by facescan if you left your house inside the house.

A treadmill developed by Verde, where you run and generates electricity for your smart home at the same time. And a boxing robot called BotBoxer teach you how to box.

IBM’s new global weather forecasting system called “Atmospheric Forecasting System”.It updates every hour and provides more accurate forecasts even for a smaller area. LG brings a new impressive ceiling to wall curve tv.

0

2019 Week 1 Tech and Science Update

Weekly Tech News Update

Germany Victim of Massive Political Hacking

Contacts, private chats and financial details of Hundreds of German politicians, including Chancellor Angela Merkel,were put out on Twitter.Leak include every political party except the far-right AfD. Celebrities and journalists information were also leaked. According to Justice Minister Katarina Barley -“serious attack…The people behind this want to damage confidence in our democracy and institutions…” It was not immediately clear who was behind the leaks. Some reports suggested a lone leaker might have had access to sensitive data through their work.Twitter shut down an account on Friday.

Blood Pressure Medication Recalled Over Cancer Concerns

80 lots of Blood pressure medication has been recalled over concerns it could contain elements that can cause cancer. They contain a trace amount of N-nitrosodiethylamine OR NDEA. Here is the list – Amlodipine Valsartan Tablets USP, Valsartan HCTZ Tablets, USP and Valsartan Tablets USP. Medicine was developed by Aurobino Pharma USA, Inc. If you are taking any one of these drugs, then contact your physician soon as possible. Aurobino Pharma has not received any reports of adverse effects related to the drugs at this time. Last November 2018, 6 other blood pressure medications also have been recalled.

 

Breath Test to Detect Multiple Cancers Early Begins Large Trial

Researcher are using exhaled airborne molecules to detect cancer. For the last two years “Cancer Research UK” has been researching on this filed. Their research has created a device called “Breath Biopsy”. Patients need to breath into the device for 10 minutes. This way the device will collect sample. The collected sample will be later analyzed in Owlstone Medical’s laboratory in Cambridge. At lab the collected sample will be compared with samples collected from people who has no cancer. If the patients samples are different the good sample, then that will be an indication that the patients have OR may have cancer. Almost half of cancers are diagnosed at a late stage. Early detection will save life.

 

0

2018 Year End Review

2018 Year end review

We are waving goodbye to 2018. It was an eventful year. Here are some of the most memorable events.

Facebook
Through the year Facebook was (still is) in hot water for its data sharing policy. Mark Zackerberg was grilled by American Congress members in an open hearing on April 2018.

Apple
It was a good year for Microsoft and bad for Apple. At one point Apple’s stock was dropped to 6.6%.

Microsoft
Microsoft made several changes in their product, while Apple’s iPad Pro received a mixed emotion from consumers.

Google
Google decided to shut down the Google+ in 2019 after a huge security flaw that exposed their user data.

Security and AI
Talking about security,  Ransomware was still a powerful menace throughout the year.
Ransomware was one of the biggest disaster of 2018. But AI kept made significant improvement.

Tesla
SpaceX launches a huge Falcon rocket to outer space with a Tesla Roadster electric car as a payload In Feb 6, 2018.

Finance
Bitcoin had a bad year. Price keeps falling throughout the year. Analysts are hoping for a recovery in 2019.

Notable Deaths

Paul Allen
Co-founder of Microsoft dies on October 15 in Seattle of complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was 65.

Stephen Hawking
March 14, 2018 Professor Stephen Hawking died peacefully at his home in Cambridge at the age of 76.

Nancy Grace Roman
Also known as ‘mother’ of Hubble Space Telescope. She was also NASA’s first woman executive. Nancy died December 25, 2018.

Larry Robert
He led the team that created ARPAnet and was also the program manager. He made plan on computer to computer network should work. Larry Robert died 26 December 2018.

0

2018 Week 52 Tech and Science Update

Latest technology news

Hackers Steal North Korean Defectors Information

Database of a South Korean resettlement agency called “Hana Center” has been compromised.Database contain personal information like name, date of birth and address of nearly 1000 people who defected from North Korea. Identity or origin of the hackers has not been identified yet. Authorities this is the first large scale information leak of North Koreans.

There is wide spread fear the family, relatives and friends of the defectors. As these defectors are declared dead or missing and the North Korean governments doesn’t know anything about them. But with this latest incident, now they will know. Analysts say there are some concerns.

 

Amazon’s Alexa crashes on Christmas Day

Amazon proves it’s Alexa is the most popular device of 2018. During the holiday many people were trying out their Alexa at the same time. As a result, many of the devices were only responding with “Sorry, I’m having trouble understanding you right now.” This happen in some parts of Europe. People also could not turn on lights or play holiday songs.

Amazon’s Echo Dot is the most popular speaker listed in Amazon’s best seller page. Alexa app is also the top downloaded app in the iOS app store.Surprisingly Google home app is in the sixth place, right after the Fitbit app. Alexa Service is working normally now.

 

Microsoft Fix IE Bugs but Breaks Lenovo Laptop

Microsoft has released an update to fix Internet Explorer. The patch will fix a flaw that hackers are already using for targeted attacks.The company did not explain any detail about the attack. Google discovered the flaw and alerted Microsoft.The flaw affects IE11 for Win 7 and Win 10.For specific versions of Windows Server that are using IE9 and IE10.

But right after the update – certain Lenovo laptops stop working. The machine will not boot if it has less than 8 gigabyte of RAMs.A workaround has been issued to let the laptop boot again. Microsoft promises they will release a proper update soon.

 

Saturn is Losing its Iconic Rings

Saturn is famous for its iconic rings. The rings are made up of chunks of ice and rock are the brightest rings in our solar system.It’s very wide that it can fit six Earth in a row. Either by UV radiation from the Sun or by meteoroids, the rings are under constant bombardment. As a result they are falling towards Saturn.Saturn’s rings ware formed around 200 million years ago (only!). Since then this bombardment is happening. Scientist have calculated in next 100 million years, these rings will be completely disappear.

One good thing, in our life time, Saturn’s ring will be there with its full glory!

0

Hackers Steal North Korean Defectors Information

Latest technology news

Database of a South Korean resettlement agency called “Hana Center” has been compromised.

Database contain personal information like name, date of birth and address of nearly 1000 people who defected from North Korea.

Identity or origins of the hackers has not been identified yet. authority this is the first large-scale information leak of North Koreans.

There is a wide-spread fear the safety of the family members and relatives of the defectors living in North Korea.

0

Week 51 of 2018 Science & Tech News

Latest technology news

Elon Musk Unveils Prototype Highspeed Transport Tunnel

Elon Musk has unveiled the prototype underground tunnel in Los Angeles. The goal is to create a network to ease chronic traffic congestion. The prototype tunnel is only a mile (1.6km) long now. The cars can travel at speeds up to 150mph (240km/h) inside the tunnel.

So how the Highspeed Transport Tunnel will work?

Elon Musk said “The profound breakthrough is very simple: it’s the ability to turn a normal car into a passively stable vehicle by adding the deployable tracking wheels, stabilising wheels, so that it can travel at high speed through a small tunnel,

The way the loop will work is you will have main arteries that are travelling at 150mph and when you want to go to an exit, you will have an off ramp.So you can travel the vast majority of your journey without stopping at 150mph and only slow down when you get to your exit, and then automatically transfer from one tunnel to another. It’s like a 3D highway system underground basically”.

 

New Lenovo Phone has Snapdragon 855, 12GB RAM & 512GB storage

Lenovo’s Z5 Pro GT will be the most powerful Android phone on the market once the phone is released in January 2019.
The phone will cost around $640 US. Here are the specs for Z5 Pro GT –

  • 12GB RAM,
  • 512GB storage, with no SD card slot. Too bad.
  • 24mp camera (dual).
  • Screen size6.39 inches
  • Plus, all the other amenities that a smart phone should have.

Lenovo also had a similar phone Lenovo Z5 Pro, which was released in November. But Lenovo’s Z5 Pro GT out-shined the previous one. Too bad, this phone does not support 5G.

 

Very High Levels Chemicals Found in Great Barrier Reef Turtles

The Great Barrier Reef the 2,300km-long ecosystem, is the largest living thing on Earth. Located off the coast of Queensland in northeastern Australia, this ecosystem is even visible from outer space. It’s home to countless species of marine life. For years scientist have conducting numerous research in this place.

List of Chemicals
In a recent five-year long study scientist have found alarming levels of certain chemicals in turtles. Study found high level of cobalt, antimony and manganese in turtle’s blood and food. In some areas cobalt levels are even higher than other. Cobalt is essential for human and other life forms, but high levels of cobalt can be toxic. Turtle’s health are in poor state now.

The research was launched after a mass stranding of green turtles in 2012.

0

Paul Allen Microsoft co-founder Dies Aged 65

Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft Dies on October 15 in Seattle of complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was 65.

His sister Jody described him as a “remarkable individual on every level”. He was indeed a remarkable person.

He was investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Entrepreneur

At the time of his death Paul worth $20.3 billion (US). He founded several organizations and extremely active in humanitarian work. Here’s a small list –

-Stratolaunch a space transportation company.
-Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence
-Allen Institute that focuses on bioscience.
-Vulcan to manage his business and philanthropic interests
-Museum of Pop Culture – $100 million museum for music and pop culture in Seattle.

Philanthropist

His notable philanthropic works –
-$100 million to help fight the Ebola virus in 2014.
-$30 million to house Seattle’s homeless in 2017.

Co-founder

When the Microsoft was founded, in 1975, the computers were known as microcomputers.

To distinguish between the desktop computers from the big business computers of the day. It was Paul Allen who came up with the name Micro-Soft. Which means a company that develop software for small computers.

Rest in peace Paul.