Windows 8.1 arrives: 16 new features

Microsoft is releasing its long-awaited Windows 8.1 upgrade as a free download this week. It addresses some of the gripes people have had with Windows 8, the dramatically different operating system that attempts to bridge the divide between tablets and PCs.

Windows 8.1 still features the dual worlds that Windows 8 created when it came out last October. On one hand, it features a touch-enabled tile interface resembling what's found in tablet computers. On the other, there's the old desktop mode where the keyboard and mouse still reign. The update adds some new finger- and gesture-friendly shortcuts for touch-based apps, while restoring some respect for the desktop mode that a billion PC users have become accustomed to.

The Window 8.1 update is free for current owners of Windows 8. Check out the new features in Windows 8.1

Google Glass

Google Glass (styled "GLΛSS") is a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display(OHMD) that is being developed by Google in the Project Glass research and developmentproject,^[7] with a mission of producing a mass-market ubiquitous computer.^[1] Google Glass displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format,^[8] that can communicate with the Internet via natural language voice commands.

Google Glass Explorer Edition

Also known as                      Project Glass

Developer                             Google

Manufacturer                       Foxconn

Type                                      Augmented reality (AR), Optical head- mounted    display(OHMD), Wearable technology,  Wearable computer

Release date                         Developers (US): February 2013^[1]
                                                                Consumers: 2014^[2]

Introductory price              Explorer version: $1500 USD
                                               Consumer Edition: $300-500

Operating system                Android^[3] (4.0.4^[4])

 Power                                    Lithium Polymer battery (2.1 Wh)^[5]

CPU                                                          OMAP 4430 SoC, dual-core^[5]

Storage capacity                16 GB Flash total^[5] (12 GB of usable memory)^[6]

Memory                                               1GB RAM (682MB available to developers)

Display                                 Prism projector, 640×360 pixels (equivalent of a 25 in.        screen from 8 ft. away^[6])

Sound                                     Bone conduction transducer^[6]

Input                                      Voice command through microphone, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor

Controller input                Touchpad, MyGlass phone app

Camera                                  Photos - 5 MP, videos - 720p^[6]

Connectivity                         Wi-Fi 802.11b/g,^[6]Bluetooth,^[6] micro USB

Weight                                  50g

 

 

               

                

Smartphones can identify you by your touch

US-based scientists have developed a new software that can enable your touchscreen smartphone to identify you simply by the unique way you tap and swipe on the device.

The software, Silent-Sense , developed by Cheng Bo and his colleagues at the Illinois Institute of Technology, has demonstrated 99% accuracy in tests.

It uses the phone's built-in sensors to record the unique patterns of pressure, duration , fingertip size and position of each user when interacting with their phone or tablet, Bo said.

Machine learning algorithms then turn this information into a signature that identifies the user — and will lock out anyone whose usage patterns do not match, New Scientist reported.

The system's accuracy can be further enhanced by enabling the smartphone's accelerometer and gyroscope to measure how much the screen moves when you are jabbing at it.

They can also pick up on your unique gait as you walk while using the screen.

In tests, a group of 100 users were told to use the smartphone's touchscreen as they would normally.

SilentSense was able to identify the smartphone's owner with 99% accuracy after no more than 10 taps. Even with an average of 2.3 touches, the software was able to verify the user 98% cent of the time.

The software stops checking the smartphone user's identity when apps and mobile games are being used. However, to maintain security, it automatically switches on whenever more sensitive applications, such as email or SMS, are accessed, the reaserchers said.

Communications Network using Quantum Cryptography

'Uncrackable' communications code developed

microprocessor-CHIP MAKING

The Making of a Chip

Tianhe-2, World's fastest Supercomputer

Sponsors	863 Program
Location	Guangzhou, China
Architecture	Intel Xeon E5, Xeon Phi Kylin Linux[1]
Power	17.6 MW (24 MW with cooling)
Memory	1,375 TiB (1,000 TiB CPU and 375 TiB Coprocessor)[1]
Storage	12.4 PB
Speed	33.86 PFLOPS
Cost	2.4 billion Yuan (390 million USD)[2]
Purpose	Research and education

In June 2013, Tianhe-2 topped the TOP500 list of fastest supercomputers in the world.It was built by China's National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) in collaboration with the Chinese IT firm Inspur.

                     Tianhe-2 consists of 16,000 computer nodes, each comprising two Intel Ivy Bridge Xeon processors and three Xeon Phi chips for a total of 3,120,000 cores.This represents the world's biggest installation of Ivy Bridge and Xeon Phi chips. Each of the 16,000 nodes possess 88 gigabytes of memory allocated to the Ivy Bridge processors and 8 gigabytes to the Xeon Phi processors. The total CPU plus GPU memory is 1,375 TiB (approximately 1.34 PiB).

World Largest Laptop...

World Largest Laptop...