Project Novena: World's First Fully Open Source Laptop Now Available
Project Novena is alive and kicking, promising to bring you the
world’s “almost” fully open source laptop. And it doesn’t just have open
source software, but open source hardware. Hardware with open designs
for anyone to manufacture and implement as they deem fit.
That’s what Project Novena’s Andrew “bunnie” Huang and Sean “xobs”
Cross, two Singapore-based engineers, who care enough about open source
products so as to go ahead and build something like Project Novena --
not just laptops, as we mentioned in the headline above, but other form
factors of computing devices. The Project Novena laptop looks like a 13-inch hobbyist device with
a full-HD 1920x1080 display, 240 GB SSD, and 3000 mAh battery. It
weighs just 1.36 kgs, according to the Project Novena laptop’s claimed
specs.
According to the project’s page on Crowd Supply,
Novena is claimed to be “a 1.2GHz, Freescale quad-core ARM architecture
computer closely coupled with a Xilinx FPGA. It's designed for users
who care about open source, and/or want to modify and extend their
hardware: all the documentation for the PCBs is open and free to
download, the entire OS is buildable from source, and it comes with a
variety of features that facilitate rapid prototyping.”
Project Novena’s currently offering its open source motherboard,
all-in-one desktop, laptop, and premium laptop labelled Heirloom. Right now, the Project Novena laptop is priced at US $1,995, which puts it out of reach from most mainstream customers.
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USB 3.1 Type C to Feature Reversible Plugs
USB Implementers Forum (USB IF) has
revealed that the new USB 3.1 Type-C connector will come with
symmetrical plugs so that there is no confusion for users while plugging
the ends into devices. The new cable will also deliver a number of
improvements over existing cables and connectors.
The USB 3.1 Type C will offer a number of improvements including faster speed. The current USB 3.0 connector can transfer data at up to 5Gbps (bits per second) while the Type-C connector doubles that to 10Gbps. The device will also have the ability to charge and power devices. The specifications of the USB Type C device are expected to be finalized by July and USB IF is expecting products to ship with support for the new connector by the end of the year.
SC to Samsung CEO: Appear in Ghaziabad Court
Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee, who is facing an arrest warrant, the Supreme Court has directed him to appear before a Ghaziabad court in a $1.4 million dollar cheating case filed against him. A bench of justices C K Prasad and P C Ghose, however, directed that the arrest warrant issued against 72-year-old Lee for his non-appearance in the case before the trial court will not be executed for a period of six weeks.
"However, the warrant of arrest issued against the petitioner (Lee) shall not be executed for a period of six weeks from today (March 31). "In the meanwhile, the petitioner shall appear before the trial court in seisin(hearing) of the case and seek bail and/or exemption from appearance in accordance with law," the bench said.
A complaint was filed by an Indian company, JCE consultancy, against Lee in the Ghaziabad court for allegedly cheating it of $1.4 million. Lee had then approached the high court and the Supreme Court for quashing of FIR against him but his plea was rejected by both the courts earlier.
Microsoft to Launch Outlook Web App For Android
Microsoft has announced a new Outlook
Web App for Android. The company stated the announcement in a blog post
but did not provide an exact release date. The Outlook Web App would let
users experience all of the Microsoft Office 365 features including
three new, 'Clutter', 'Enhanced Document Collaboration', and 'Groups'
features. The Outlook Web App has already been available for iOS users
since July 2013.
According to the blog post, Clutter will
allow users to clear unwanted emails. "People need a simple - but
accurate - way to manage the high volume of email messages they receive.
There should be a way to separate out the unimportant items from
important ones without having to set up and manage large numbers of
inbox rules... which can get complicated very quickly," states
Microsoft's Steve Chew in the blog post.
Users can also change the settings and mark some emails as important which will show up as top priority in the mailbox. Enhanced Document
collaboration "includes full integration with OneDrive for Business,
allowing you to easily share files stored in the cloud as attachments in
your email."
The Office Online
feature, offers direct email integration, and will let users "view and
edit documents side-by-side with the original email conversation." The
app also offers improved Group collaboration and now users can
perform "real time co-authoring" using Microsoft Office Online. The blog
post adds that, "Images are also shown in this same side-by-side view,
allowing you to read the contents of the email as you browse the
pictures you've received." The Outlook Web App Groups are Public in
default but can be made private through settings.
SanDisk Announces World's Fastest SD Card in India
SanDisk announced a new SD card in India today called the SanDisk Extreme PRO. The company claims that it offers fastest speeds of up to 250MB/s write speeds for continuous burst mode shooting and transfer speeds of up to 280MB/s. The new card will also allow high-quality 4k video recording.
The card will come with a lifetime limited warranty and also include a one-year downloadable offer for RescuePRO® Deluxe media recovery software, which helps photographers recover their images in case of accidental deletion. The Extreme Pro will be available in April and the 16GB and 64GB versions will cost around Rs.8300 and Rs.26900 respectively. SanDisk is also giving an Extreme Pro card reader/writer for Rs.4700 through preorder on the company's website. It will be available in April as well.
SanDisk says that the new Extreme PRO is optimized for the next generation of high-end DSLRs and pro video cameras that support the UHS-II standard. The card will also enable users to take RAW and JPEG images in succession due to its fast write speeds. It will also offer the highest video performance available for sustained video capture of 30MB/s (U3), allowing capture of cinema-quality 4K, 3D and Full HD videos. The SanDisk Extreme PRO card reader/writer will feature a USB 3.0 interface and support transfer speeds of up to 500MB/s.
Toshiba Introduces Fast Wireless Power Receiver IC
Toshiba has made the “TC7763WBG” which
is a wireless power receiver IC (Integrated Circuit) for mobile phones,
mobile accessories and wireless game controllers. The wireless power
receiver IC has a charging time that is the same as charging with a
cable. This Toshiba chip adheres to the Qi
wireless charging standard, which makes it compatible with many other
devices and chargers which use the same technology. The circuit is able
to achieve a maximum output power of 5 watts, which make it at par with
wired charging solutions. The wireless charger is free of any exposed
charging ports, that is an advantage with demand increasing for
waterproof portable products, such as wireless video game controllers
and smartphones.
"We are seeing a strong interest in wireless power technology for
products like smartphones, game controllers, and other portable devices.
Besides the advantage of charging a device without the use of a cable,
one interesting and emerging application is for mobile waterproof
gadgets where a device is fully enclosed in its housing with no exposed
connectors. Customers are demanding a quick way to charge their portable
electronics and this chipset provides a convenient and effective way to
satisfy their demand."
Heartbleed Bug: All You Need to Know
Heartbleed is a catastrophic bug that affects thousands of sites and services across the internet, but what is it, and what do you need to do about it to protect yourself from cybercriminals? According to security researchers, around half a million sites worldwide are rendered insecure by the bug. "Catastrophic is the right word," commented Bruce Schneier, an independent security expert. "On the scale of 1 to 10, this is an 11."
Heartbleed has grabbed the attention of the world’s media, but there has been a lot of misinformation bandied around. Here’s a quick rundown of the important bits you should know about.
Heartbleed is the nickname given to a bug in a piece of security software used by almost every secure website on the internet.
It is a flaw in a software package called OpenSSL, which is used by banks, shops, email providers and a plethora of other services across the web to secure a connection between the user and the service. Web servers that use SSL securely send an encryption key to the visitor, which is then used to protect all other information coming to and from the server.
Most people will recognise this secure connection as the little padlock symbol in the top left-hand corner of the web browser.
What is Heartbleed & How does it work?
Heartbleed affects the encryption technology designed to protect online accounts for email, instant messaging and e-commerce. It was discovered by a team of researchers from the Finnish security firm Codenomicon, along with a Google researcher who was working separately. Heartbleed creates an opening in SSL/TLS, an encryption technology marked by the small, closed padlock and "https:" on Web browsers to show that traffic is secure. The flaw makes it possible to snoop on Internet traffic even if the padlock is closed. Interlopers can also grab the keys for deciphering encrypted data without the website owners knowing the theft occurred. The problem affects only the variant of SSL/TLS known as OpenSSL, but that happens to be one of the most common on the Internet.
MS Office for iPad Launched; Office Mobile Now Free for iPhone, Android Phones
MS Office suite for Apple's popular tablet iPad has finally ended. Newly appointed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in his first press conference announced launching Office for iPad, which includes Word, PowerPoint and Excel. The Office suite is already available for download via the App Store. In the meanwhile, Microsoft has also made its Office Mobile for iPhone and Android phones free.
With the free versions of the apps,
users can read Word, Excel and Powerpoint files. Microsoft says the
documents will look as good as they do on desktop, or even better on the
iPad.
While highlighting need for mobile cloud and related tools, Nadella in a lengthy blog post
says: “We’ve offered Office on the Mac for more than 20 years. Taking
the next step and making it available for iPad users too is another way
Office delivers on its promise to give anyone the power to make things,
and make things happen, any moment of the day.”
With Office 365 subscription, users can install Office for iPad apps on
up to 5 tablets as well as 5 copies across Office for your PCs and Macs.
Facebook to Use Drones, Satellites to Provide Internet Everywhere
Facebook Inc is harnessing drone,
satellite and other technology in an effort to spread Internet to
under-developed regions. The social networking giant stated that it has
hired aerospace and communications experts from NASA's Jet Propulsion
Lab and its Ames Research Center for its new "Connectivity Lab" project.
Facebook had started Internet.org in
partnership with some other companies, last year to spread the internet.
The company is working experimenting with drones that are capable of
beaming internet from the sky. The organization aims to bring down the
cost of internet connectivity.
"In our effort to connect the whole
world with Internet.org, we've been working on ways to beam internet to
people from the sky," Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook.
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Mobile Data Traffic Sees 87% Jump, 3G Data Traffic Leaps by 146% in 2013: Study
A report by Nokia Solutions and Networks
reveals mobile data traffic in India grew by 87% in 2013 driven by the
growth of 3G. It added that 43 percent of the traffic was generated by
3G services. According to a recent study, 3G
data traffic has increased by 146 percent in India last year, while 2G
data traffic increase by 59 percent. Nokia says that by 2020 mobile
network will see 1GB of personalized data per user per day.
The report found that large cities were
the highest contributor of 3G traffic in India last year contributing
half of all mobile data traffic in India. Smaller towns accounted for
nearly 31% of the total data traffic. “Both categories indicate a big
demand of high- speed services, giving operators a huge opportunity to
offer superior connectivity to their customers,” the study said.
“In some of the major urban centers the
average data consumption per user is as high as 1GB per month,
indicating the rising popularity and uptake of 3G across India,” said
the study. “In addition, premium tariff reductions in 3G services in
early 2013 led to an increased migration of high-end 2G customers to
3G.”
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'Dendroid' Rat Malware Targets Android Devices in India
The Indian Computer Emergency Response
Team (CERT-In) has issued a warning asking all Android smartphone users
to be beware of a deadly virus ‘Dendroid,’ that can compromise the data
stored on their phone.
CERT warns that “the malicious
application” allows cyber criminals to “completely compromise the
affected smartphone and control it remotely.” RAT malware or Remote
access toolkits provide a variety of spying options. The Dendroid Tool
Kit can invade your privacy, by taking photos with the infected device's
camera, enable audio, record videos, steal pictures from the device and
much more.
CERT advises users not to install and
download applications from untrustworthy sites and exercise caution
while clicking on links from trusted/untrusted sites and install Android
updates and patches as and when available from Android device vendors.
Android phone users have also been asked to keep a check on data usage
and unusual increase in mobile bills and battery usage.
"Avoid using unsecured and unknown Wi-Fi
networks. There may be rogue Wi-Fi access points at public places used
for distributing malicious applications and make a practice of taking
regular backup of Android device," the advisory said. “It has been reported that a malicious toolkit called Dendroid is being
used to create Trojanised applications that infects Android-based
smartphones. The malware is created by modifying the required
permissions by any clean APK (Android Application Package) with Dendroid
RAT functionality that allows detailed management of the infected
devices,” says an advisory by CERT-In that comes under the Department of
Electronics and IT.
Facebook Reaches 1 Billion Active Users on Mobile
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed
today that the company has reached 1 billion active monthly users
milestone for mobile devices. Facebook confirmed the number of active
users for mobile was up from 945 million in December out of a total of
1.23 billion users. The company also confirmed that Instagram now has
more than 200 million users, up from 100 million when Facebook acquired
it nearly two years ago.
Mark Zuckerberg revealed the statistics during an investor call to discuss the acquisition of Oculus Rift,
a Californian company which specializes in virtual reality products,
for around $2 billion. The deal includes $400 million in cash and over
23 million Facebook shares. Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, stated that Oculus' technologies could "change the way we work, play and communicate".
In a recent statement released, Facebook
said it plans to expand the use of Oculus technologies to include
"communications, media and entertainment, education and other areas". Facebook also recently confirmed that more than 375 million users play Facebook connected games
every month. The social networking giant also confirmed that gets more
than 735 million referrals per day. The data includes gamers on both
desktop and mobile devices.
Microsoft and Computer History Museum Release MS-DOS and Word Source Code
Software giant Microsoft and Computer
History Museum have published the source code for MS-DOS and Word for
Windows for public view. Both the source codes are available for
download on the Computer History Museum's site. The source code from MS DOS 1.1 and 2.0
and Word for Windows 1.1a has been made public under a non-commercial
license that forbids re-publication in another place on the Web.
MS-DOS was initially written by Tim
Paterson of Seattle Computer Products and released first in August 1980.
Microsoft hired Paterson in May 1981 and bought the software for
$75,000 in July, and renamed it MS-DOS. The software firm released the
first DOS-based version of Microsoft Word in 1983 and Word for Windows
in 1989. Within four years of its launch Word for Windows generated over
half the revenue of the worldwide word-processing market.
Roy Levin, director of Microsoft
Research, wrote in a blog post. "From those roots we’ve grown in a few
short decades to become a company that has sold more than 200 million
licenses of Windows 8 and has over 1 billion people using Microsoft
Office. Great things come from modest beginnings, and the great
Microsoft devices and services of the future will probably start small,
just as MS-DOS and Word for Windows did."
Microsoft is ending its support for Windows XP on April 8th. The company has started showing pop-up alerts from March 8
to XP users intimating them about the deadline. The OS that supports
over four million government computers in the US alone and end of XP support will make the systems prone to exploits and malware. The move will affect banks the most as more than 95 percent of the world's ATMs run on Windows XP.
Vodafone Teams Up with Disney India to Launch Vodafone Games and Apps
Vodafone India has teamed up with Disney India to launch Vodafone Games & Apps. Through the tie up, users will have access to premium games and apps on both feature and smart phones - Where's My Water?, Where's My Mickey?, Where's My Perry?, Toy Story : Smash It!, Brave, Chennai Express, Disney Utility Apps including Mickey Planner, Donald Photo booth, Goofy Weather and many more.
In addition to this, the platform will
also offer personalised features like rating and reviews, loyalty points
along with smart recommendation. For every rupee spent, customers can
earn a loyalty point that can be redeemed for purchasing more apps and
games. One of the highlights of the new service
is users can pay for apps and games through their Vodafone account,
doing away with the need of using credit cards for payments. Another
interesting feature of Vodafone Games & Apps is ‘Try and Buy’ that
allows sampling of content for free.
“The launch of Vodafone Games & Apps will bring across best of
premium content on an interactive platform. Our association with Disney
India will help us build a successful gaming business. Following the
launch of Vodafone Music and Vodafone Sports few months ago, it
complements our strategy to expand our digital offering and tailor it to
mobile internet users who are increasingly consuming content on the
go,” said Vivek Mathur, Chief Commercial Officer, Vodafone India.
Nokia to Unveil 'More Lumia' Devices at Build Conference
Nokia isn’t yet a part of Microsoft and that’s why it’s announced a new event to show off even “more Lumia” devices next month. ZDNet says that Nokia is having a press event on April 2nd in San Francisco to talk about a new line of devices that will be unveiled just before Microsoft’s Build developers conference. Nokia made some minor waves earlier this year when it launched its first-ever Android-based phones at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona although it’s very likely that the company will come back to Windows Phone for this upcoming event, especially since it will come just before Microsoft is set to unveil Windows Phone 8.1.
In addition to the new Lumia devices, Microsoft is expected to reveal more information about Windows Phone 8.1 platform. According to reports, the new WP 8.1 will feature a personal digital-assitant rival to Google Now and Siri, codenamed "Cortana." It also is expected to include built-in VPN support, updated camera functionality, IE11 and more.
