* Google : Sept 4, 1998
* Facebook : Feb 4, 2004
* YouTube : Feb 14, 2005
* Yahoo ! : March 1994
* Baidu : Jan 1, 2000
* Wikipedia : Jan 15, 2001
* Windows Live : Nov 1, 2005
* Amazon.com : 1994
* Tencent QQ : February 1999
* Twitter : March 21, 2006

Who R Using Win 8 ??
Some Keyboard Shortcuts 4 them...
Windows key – brings up the Metro start screen. You can start typing to search for an app, just like the Win7 start menu.
Win + D – brings up the old Windows desktop.
Win + C – brings up the Charms menu, where you can search, share, and change settings.
Win + I – opens the Settings panel, where you can change settings for the current app, change volume, wireless networks, shut down, or adjust the brightness.
Win + Z – opens the App Bar for the current Metro application.
Win + H – opens the Metro Share panel.
Win + Q – brings up the Metro App Search screen.
Win + W – brings up the Metro Settings search screen.
Win + F – brings up the Metro File search screen.
Win + K – opens the Devices panel (for connecting to a projector or some other device)
Win + , (comma) – Aero Peek at the desktop.
Win + . (period) – Snaps the current Metro application to one side of the screen. (Right side)
Win + Shift + . (period) – Snaps the current Metro application to the other side of the screen. (Left side)
Win + J – switches focus between snapped Metro applications.
Win + Page Up / Down – moves the current app to the other monitor.
Win + Tab – opens the Metro application switcher menu, switches between applications.
You might notice that we didn’t show screenshots of how all these shortcut keys work, and there’s a reason for that: you need to test them out for yourself to really learn how they work.
Win+X – lunch kind of start menu, very useful
Windows Key + Print Screen saves a screenshot into your Pictures folder. It’s quite handy.

HERE ARE BEST WEBSITES FOR DRIVERS.
1- www.driverzone. com
2- www.opendrivers .com
3- www.notebook-dr iver.com
4- www.notebookera .com
Note- First 2 websites are best for your laptop drivers

Someone has made your fake account….Don’t Worry…..Tracingfacebook user..
First you got to find out the IP address of that User.
To Do so we will be using “netstat” command in windows. If you want to know the IP address of a specific person on facebook or orkut or any chat service, there is only one way: Just invite or ping him for a chat and while chat is ON open ‘Command Prompt‘ on your PC (Start >Run>cmd).
note: before trying this make sure you close all the other tabs in your browser. and only facebook is open. also if possible delete all the history and cache from your browser.
When command prompt opens Type the following command and hit Enter.
netstat -an
And you will get all established connections IP addresses there. Note down all the suspicious IP’s.
The Next Step is to Trace that user using his IP address.
To do so we will be using IP tracer service. Go to the below address and paste the IP address in the box that says “lookup this ip or website”. and it will show you the location of the user.
http:// www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/
It will show you all the information about that user along with his ISP and a Location in the MAP. Now in the MAP Just click on “click for big ip address location” in the big picture you can actually zoom in. and try to recognize the area. If any serious matter just note down the ISP details in that page and contact them about the IP. they will respond you.
Other netstat commands:
-a Displays all connections and listening ports.
-e Displays Ethernet statistics. This may be combined with the -s option.
-n Displays addresses and port numbers in numerical form.
-p proto Shows connections for the protocol specified by proto; proto may be TCP or UDP.
-s option to display per-protocol statistics, proto may be TCP, UDP, or IP.
-r Displays the routing table.
-s Displays per-protocol statistics. By default, statistics are shown for TCP, UDP and IP; the
-p option may be used to specify a subset of the default.

Cybersecurity: US needs to build partnership with India

Times of India 

The US needs to build up partnership with India on cybersecurity issues, eminent American experts have said, noting that New Delhi faces threat in the cybersphere from Pakistan, China and non-state actors.

"The Indians' primary concern in cybersecurity is with Pakistan and Pakistani non-state actors or state-sponsored actors launching some kind of attack against India. Their second concern is Chinese espionage," James Lewis, Director and Senior Fellow, Centre for Strategic International Studies' Technology and Public Policy Programme, told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing.

"One of the things that works in our favour is they aren't particularly friends with the Chinese all the time, and they worry a lot about it. So we have an opportunity to work with India. The thing we have to avoid in doing that is giving the impression that we're trying to contain China," he said.

"The Chinese worry about this a lot. We do need to build up partnership with India, but we have to do it in a way that doesn't appear to be deliberately trying to contain China," Lewis said in response to a question during a hearing of the Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on 'Asia: The Cyber Security Battleground'.

Karl Rauscher, Chief Technology Officer and Distinguished Fellow, at the East West Institute, said New Delhi's decision to create this National Cyber Coordination Centre is in the right direction.

Noting that India is recognised as the leading producer of international spam, he said: "Their co-ordination with external experts to root out these botnets and sources of spam is really critical not only for India but for the rest of the world, particularly English-speaking countries."

Congressman Steve Chabot said, "Cooperation with India is an important aspect of US efforts to rebound towards Asia, especially in regards to trade and military cooperation."

How to stop receiving ads on Gmail

Google users have been irked with the site sending them advertisements through emails in the Gmail account which appear along the legitimate emails.

According to the Huffington Post, Google has recently included the feature of sorting emails as per their content in Primary, Social, Promotions and other categories and puts all the ad mails into its designated place.

However for those who want to get rid of ad emails from their inbox, they can simply click the 'X' on each ad to remove it and Google , as it records the ad response behaviour, will soon realize the kind of ads a user does not want.

Additionally, one can also click on the gear in the top-right on the main Gmail page and under the menu, click on 'Configure inbox' and just uncheck the box next to 'Promotions' and if wants to get rid of Gmail's new tabs altogether one can uncheck all of the boxes except 'Primary'.

The report added that when the Promotions tab is disabled, the ads would still show up in the inbox and Google will show the ad one way or another.

Your face is the new credit card :

No more swiping cards! A new technology that allows customers to use their facial features instead of swiping a credit card to purchase goods has been developed by a Finnish company.
The technology provided by Uniqul, works by recognizing the customer's face and then linking it to the individual's bank account . So instead of swiping a credit card to purchase goods, the customer gazes into a camera.
Uniqul claims its service is secured with military-grade algorithms , 'The Australian' reported . Uniqul's Ruslan Pisarenko said the technology — which is due to roll out next month — has the ability for transactions to be completed instantly and can even distinguish between identical twins, 'News Limited Network' reported. According to Pisarenko, "the face is a PIN and it's more like a complete way to identify a person.

But in some cases where the system is not 100% accurate, it will ask a person to input their PIN as security," he said. There is no payment card involved, nor is a mobile or wallet needed. Customers sign up to the technology by registering their identification and bank details. Once the items are scanned through the customers' details will flash up on a screen and they click "OK" to confirm the transaction.
The new tech is similar to facial recognition identification which is used by international travellers at airports in Australia. The company is getting ready for deployment of the system in Helsinki, news website goodnewsfinland.com reported.
The company said its patent pending technology allows to reduce time spent on transactions close to zero seconds.

3D Printing Grows at 2014 International CES

Business Wire India  

 The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® today announced its new 3D Printing TechZone for the 2014 International CES®, showcasing the latest advancements in 3D printing technology from top companies in the category. The 2014 CES, owned and produced by CEA, is the world’s leading innovation event and is scheduled to run January 7-10, 2014, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Following its initial launch, the 3D Printing TechZone sold out more than 3,000 net square feet of exhibit space and has since expanded by more than 25 percent to meet exhibitor demand. The new TechZone currently features nine exhibitors, including 3D Systems, Makerbot Industries, Sculpteo, and Stratasys Inc.

“Exhibitor demand really drove our decision to formalize this 3D Printing TechZone, as it’s quickly becoming one of the more dynamic and innovative categories within our industry, while also becoming more accessible to consumers from a price perspective,” said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, International CES and corporate business strategy. “The sell-out response to this TechZone speaks to the strong interest in this category and the desire from leaders in the field to showcase their new products on the CES show floor.”

The 3D Printing TechZone will be located in the Las Vegas Convention and World Trade Center (LVCC), South Hall 3, and will feature 4,400 net square feet of space. The new TechZone will showcase additive manufacturing processes transforming 3D printing, from prototype use in the medical, aerospace, engineering and automotive industries, to more compact units that are making 3D printing more accessible for today’s consumers.

The 2014 CES will feature 20 market-specific TechZones highlighting innovation across 15 different product categories. Companies interested in exhibiting in the new 3D Printing TechZone should contact Aurelie Cornett at ACornett@CE.org or 703-907-5245.

Registration for the 2014 CES is now open. For more information on the 2014 CES, visit CESweb.org.

Note to Editors: The official name of the global technology event is “International CES.”Subsequent references to the show can be shortened to “CES.” Please do not use “Consumer Electronics Show” to refer to the International CES.

About CEA:

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $209 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also owns and produces the International CES – The Global Stage for Innovation. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA’s industry services. Follow CES online at www.CESweb.org and through social media: http://www.cesweb.org/social

UPCOMING EVENTS

CEA PlugFest19September 8-13, 2013, Milpitas, CA

DMW VideoSeptember 18, 2013, New York, NY

CES Unveiled LONDONOctober 1, 2013, London, UK

CES Unveiled PARISOctober 3, 2013, Paris, France

CES Unveiled TEL AVIVOctober 7, 2013, Tel Aviv, Israel

2013 CEA Industry ForumOctober 20-23, 2013, Los Angeles, CA

17th Annual CEO SummitOctober 23-25, 2013, Rancho Palo Verdes, CA

CES Unveiled NEW YORKNovember 12, 2013, New York, NY

CES Unveiled LAS VEGASJanuary 5, 2014, Las Vegas, NV

2014 International CESJanuary 7-10, 2014, Las Vegas, NV

you try to use Data Source Configuration Wizard to create a connection to Access or a SQL data source. When the wizard reaches the Choose Database objects page, you may receive one of the following error messages.

"Could not load type  'Microsoft.VisualStudio.DataDesign.SyncDesigner.SyncFacade.SyncManager'  from assembly Microsoft.VisualStudio.DataDesign.SyncDesigner.DslPackage,  Version = 9.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKey Token=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"

sol:

The error message is caused due to an incomplete installation of Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2008 which could result in a mismatch between the file versions of Microsoft.VSDesigner.dll and Microsoft.VisualStudio.DataDesign.SyncDesigner.DslPackage.dll. The former is updated to Service Pack 1 version and the latter will have the RTM version. This problem is more likely to happen in environments wherein you install different edition of Visual Studio side by side and you upgrade one edition and not the other. For example, you have an installation of Visual Studio Express release version and Visual Studio Team Suite release edition installed side by side and then you only upgrade the express edition to Service Pack 1 but leave the Team edition at RTM level, you will get the first error discussed in the symptoms section

*To resolve the first error message, install Service Pack 1 for all the Visual Studio 2008 editions on the affected system

The world's first smartphone for blind people is here. Soon, they will be able to read SMSes and emails on this phone, which converts all text into Braille patterns. 

"We have created the world's first Braille smartphone," says its innovator, Sumit Dagar, whose company is being incubated at the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship, located in IIM Ahmedabad campus. "This product is based on an innovative 'touch screen' which is capable of elevating and depressing the contents it receives to transform them into 'touchable' patterns," he says. 

Dagar, who is a post-graduate from the National Institute of Design (NID), says he was motivated to develop the device when he realised that so far, technology was only serving the mainstream and ignoring the marginalised. He is collaborating with IIT Delhi on making the prototype, which is currently being tested at L V Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad. 

"The response during the test has been immense. It comes out as a companion more than a phone to the user. We plan to do more advanced versions of the phone in the future," Dagar adds. 

Dagar started the project three years ago while studying interaction designing at NID. After working with a couple of companies, he gave up his job to concentrate on his technology, formed a team of six people and started his venture, Kriyate Design Solutions. Currently, the venture is being funded by Rolex Awards under its Young Laureates Programme, in which they select five people from across the world every two years and fund their projects. 

How it works 

· The smartphone uses Shape Memory Alloy technology, based on the concept that metals remember their original shapes, i.e. expand and contract to its original shape after use. 

· The phone's 'screen' has a grid of pins, which move up and down as per requirement. The grid has a Braille display, where pins come up to represent a character or letter. 

· This screen will be capable of elevating and depressing the contents to form patterns in Braille. 

· All other elements are like any other smartphone.

Posted By: rihan khan

This morning a single photo of what very much appears to be the fabled low-cost plastic iPhone. This device has been said to be appearing later this year in a collection of colors for a price that will allow Apple to not only sustain iPhone sales on the whole, but to expand to markets previously unavailable to them due to the cost of producing the standard iPhone. This case may well also be just that – a case.

What you’re seeing here is the back of what’s very much intended to look like an Apple product, at least. If you have a peek at the camera lens hold and flash bulb hole, you’ll see that there’s also a microphone hole in-between. You’ll see a printed-on ink Apple logo as well as the standard “iPhone” lettered-logo in their regular places, while the left-hand side of the device appears to have slightly updated places for buttons.

This setup shows the new iPhone – if that’s what this is – to be working with volume knobs and a lock switch not unlike that of the iPod touch units of the past. This case also appears to be a bit thicker than the iPhone is currently, leading us to believe that this will either be a high-capacity model using a massive battery or that it is, again, just a case for a future iteration of the standard model.

Another possibility is that this photo has been forged entirely – keep your wits about you and make sure you’re questioning everything that appears with an Apple logo on it in this time before the launch of Apple’s newest product. Head down to the Apple hub we’ve got set up for more information on the possibilities this summer and stay tuned as more colors arrive!

[via Tactus]

Plastic iPhone shell appears in leaked photo is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear. 

Posted By: charitra swaroop

Cannot insert explicit value for identity column in table ‘tblTestTable’ when IDENTITY_INSERT is set to OFF.

by Vijay Modi

Suppose you have a table in MS Sql with two Columns.

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[tblTest](
[Test_Id] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
[Test_Name] [varchar](200) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT [PK_tblTest] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
(
[Test_Id] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON, FILLFACTOR = 90) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]

Now you are inserting the three values in this table:

Insert Into tblTest(Test_Name) values(“Test1″)
Insert Into tblTest(Test_Name) values(“Test2″)
Insert Into tblTest(Test_Name) values(“Test3″)

So your table will look like as follows:

1 Test1
2 Test2
3 Test3

Now you are deleting second row of the table using the following syntax:

DELETE From tblTest where Test_Id=2

Now you table will looks like the following:

1 Test1
3 Test3

Now you are going to insert a row with the following query:

Insert Into tblTest(Test_Id,Test_Name) values(2, “TestTemp2″)

when you execute this query, you will face the following error:

This error is coming when we have a Identity Specification is ‘Yes’ and IsIdentity is also ‘Yes’, Identity Increament is set to(1/2/…).

So you are unable to insert this type of row, because sql know that the Test_Id is the Identity_Column and so you cannot insert the value which already inserted. So to resolve this error, you have to set the Column_Identity ON by using the following syntax.

SET IDENTITY_INSERT tblOrderItemStatus ON

Then try to insert the row using the above same query, which was as following:

Insert Into tblTest(Test_Id,Test_Name) values(2, “TestTemp2″)

Now you need to reset the Column_Identity OFF. You can do it just by the following syntax:

SET IDENTITY_INSERT tblOrderItemStatus OFF

Is it resolve your problem. Howdy buddy?….

If the internet was a person, it would be beginning to feel its age this year as it gets into its 30s, with a mid-life crisis looming. As it happens, the internet has never looked better: it's faster, bigger, better and richer than it was in its 20s.
But there are people having a midlife crisis on the internet's behalf. Governments want to change how it is governed, how it works and, most disturbingly, its openness. So, it is worth taking a moment to outline the first principles of the internet that have made it successful, why they are worth preserving and what we can expect if they are preserved.

Bob Kahn and I began work on the design that became the internet in the 1970s, motivated by the spectacular success of the Arpanet project, funded by the US Defense Department , in which small computers sent data 'packets' across dedicated telephone circuits. It was a homogeneous network connecting inhomogeneous computers: different operating systems, different word sizes, different computational capacities.

We met in 1973 at Stanford and started working on a design to allow up to 256 networks to be connected in such a way that the host computers would not need to know anything about the layout of this super-network . At the same time, every host computer would be able to talk to every other one despite their different operating systems and other differences. We also worked on a detailed design of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and began implementing and testing it in 1975.

We were sure that this was powerful . The packets we were using to transport data were remarkably adaptable : they could be transmitted over any digital communication channel , bringing with them any information that could be digitised. The network was not designed for a particular application and this has allowed it to support applications that weren't predicted in the early formulation of the internet's design.

We didn't , for instance, anticipate the hand-held mobile. We did anticipate an 'Internet of Things' — more on that in a moment — and personal computing. We even foresaw notebook computing, whereby a computer that isn't powerful can perform tricky tasks by drawing on the internet. We didn't have to imagine it. Alan Kay had shown a notebook-computer concept around 1968 he called FLEX and Xerox Parc built the Alto personal computer along with the Ethernet in the early 1970s. They were living in a world that others would not experience for 20 years.

The system Bob

 and I designed, alongside collaborators from Europe and Asia who visited our lab in the mid-1970 s, has since grown by factors of a million or more on all dimensions : a many million times more users , a million times more hosts, a million times more networks, all connected a million times faster.

But the numbers aren't the only difference . The internet era is different from the telephone era for at least two reasons: it allows groups to communicate , coordinate, collaborate and share information, and it supports every medium of communication invented, all in one network. People can discover each other without knowing who they are and they can find groups with common interests.

The institutions spawned by the internet and which regulate and build the internet are similarly meritocratic and diverse. The Internet Society , Internet Architecture Board, Internet Engineering and Research Working Groups, Internet Governance Forum and Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers : all of them are run by many 

stakeholders who together decide policies and standardisation. It is a meritocracy that respects ideas more than institutions. It values openness and sharing of information, freedom of choice and expression.

Of course, the internet can be abused and people harmed from that abuse . Protection of personal information should be a high priority for all internet application providers. We also need to educate people about what can happen when they share information on the internet: once it is available to anyone, it is possible for someone to upload to other sites or to capture and store the information . Any country that gets the internet soon finds out that some harm comes from people who are in other national jurisdictions. We will need to find ways for international cooperation to deal with abuse.

But as we do figure out better ways to make cyberspace safe to use, we must preserve the very properties that have made it so successful: freedom of expression, transparency and openness, participatory policy and technology development.

 This post is a follow up to Derick’s great post. I could not agree with his view point any more., but it struck a chord with me.  There is more to it. To actually call yourself a software engineer you need to take into account a few aspects of what an engineer should do.

You’re Not Paid To Type

Typing code into a code editor or text editor is not what a Software Engineer is paid to do.  At least, it is not the primary reason this profession exists.  Yes, part of the job is to write code in any number of languages and platforms. As Derick pointed out, it is more then writing code, it is about writing tests, and making sure the code you do type works as designed and can be easily maintained.

All that being said, the actual act of typing is simple and quick.  There is training in keyboard typing and methods to increase how many words per minute one can type. So, does typing more code constructs per minute mean you should to get paid more money?  If you turn out more code then the engineer sitting next to you, have you created more value?  See where I am going with this.  Typing is easy, and typing the wrong code is really easy.  I have seen organizations that are fearful of missing deadlines and dates. Its so unhealthy that the developers think they need to start writing code NOW, but they don’t really know what they are supposed to be creating. They do know what to create in the general sense, but they rush intp writing software without knowing most of the details.

You are paid to THINK, so start doing that

So, my main point of this post is that Software Engineers are paid to Think.  You are paid to think about what is the correct code to create, how is should be constructed to lower the total cost of ownership.

If you only change one thing about the way you work this year try this.

  If you normally get your requirements verbally, trying writing them down.

Write down your requirements or technical plan in the easiest manner possible. That could be on a whiteboard, you could annotate a screenshot of an existing screen, you could use pencil and draw the changes to a print out of a screen shot.  Just do something in terms of thinking about what needs to be done before you start typing.  If you do write down what you plan to do, you can actually communicate it to other developers. You can have someone else review it and think through the problem.  You can also show it to the person who will decide if you created the correct software, imagine getting some feedback on what you want to build before you mess it up?

The two most valuable ways I have found to write down what needs to be created are Screen Mockups and Sequence Diagrams. Now, I have been in the web space for a long time, so if you are not creating websites, or web applications, you may find that there are better ways to write down what you need for your particular design problem.  Either way , try to write it down. If you are writing mockups today, then add a sequence diagram for the more complicated problems and see if it helps.  I know it helps me and the developers I work with.

Posted by Eric Hexter 

 Social networking giant Facebook has opened registration for its third annual Hacker Cup, set to begin from January 25.

The top prize will be $ 10,000 (approx. Rs 5.5 lakh) as against $ 5,000 (Rs 2.75 lakh) last year and as many 25 of the best hackers will be taken to Facebook's headquarter in USA, a statement said.

The Facebook Hacker Cup is an annual worldwide programming competition where hackers compete against each other for fame, fortune, glory and a shot at the coveted Hacker Cup.

"The competition will be held in two rounds starting with an online qualification, out of which 25 of the best hackers are then flown by Facebook to their headquarters inMenlo Park, CA," Facebook said.

"The preliminary round will be held between January 25 and February 16 while the onsite final round is scheduled for March 22-23, 2013.

Contestants will be judged on accuracy and speed as they race to solve algorithmic problems to advance through up to five rounds of programming challenges," it added.

Last year, the Hacker Cup attracted 8,000 participants from 150 countries, with the winner- Roman Andreev, hailing from Russia, Facebook said.

"Hacking is core to how we build at Facebook. Whether we're building a prototype for a major product like Timeline at a Hackathon, creating a smarter search algorithm, or tearing down walls at our new headquarters, we're always hacking to find better ways to solve problems," Facebook said in its Hacker's Cup page.

Facebook said that those who registered for a previous year are automatically registered for the competition year, however, they still need to check their information is up-to-date.

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokiasaid it will cut over 1000 IT jobs, including 820 employees who will be transfered to HCL Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services, as part of an already-announced restructuring.

It said 300 jobs will be cut altogether, and that most of the reductions would be in Finland.

HCL Tech has recently entered into a long-term, global IT infrastructure management outsourcing services agreement with Nokia. The scope of this engagement includes datacenter, network management, end-user computing services and cross-functional service management across Nokia's global IT infrastructure operations. As part of this engagement, HCL will be deploying its MTaaS and MyCloud solutions. HCL has also been delivering global service desk and desktop management outsourcing services for Nokia since 2009.
TCS has been operating in Finland for about 10 years, servicing clients such as Nokia Siemens, ABB and Telenor.

The job cuts are part of Nokia's plans to cut 10,000 jobs, including 3,700 in Finland.

Nokia will offer employees affected by these planned reductions both financial support and a comprehensive Bridge support programme. These are the last anticipated reductions as part of Nokia's focused strategy announcement of June 2012.

The majority of the employees affected by these planned changes are based in Finland. Nokia is beginning the process of engaging with employee representatives on these plans in accordance with country-specific legal requirements
.

http://www.techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/Nokia-to-transfer-820-jobs-to-TCS-HCL-Tech-16743?mailer_id=1412&utm_source=Mailer&utm_medium=TG_batch&utm_campaign=digest_news_2013-01-18&email=rmuthukumarece89@gmail.com&activity_name=tgdailynews_2013-01-18&dt=&auto_login=cm11dGh1a3VtYXJlY2U4OUBnbWFpbC5jb21AIyRAIyQzNjM3OTJAIyRAIyQxMzU4NDU1NzMw&src_type=autoLogin

Internet activist and programming star Aaron Swartz has died, his family has confirmed, committing suicide in New York while facing a potential $1m in fines and up to 35 years in prison over federal charges around computer hacking. Swartz died on Friday at the age of 26, his uncle and his legal team independently confirmed to MIT’s The Tech.

The programmer was integral in creating RSS, and created a company that later merged with popular internet destination Reddit. However, more recently he was investigated for hacking JSTOR, the subscription-based journal service, and extracting its database with the intention for public release.

Swartz was a vocal open-access campaigner, and had form in turning to hacking when demands for public data went unheard. In 2008, he wrote software to extract and collate information from the Pacer directory of federal judicial documents, the NYT reports, in protest of the service’s $0.10-per-page fee for retrieval. Swartz’s app snagged around 20m pages using free library accounts.

The government opted not to press charges, but Swartz was less lucky after breaking into JSTOR. Then, he physically breached security, installed a laptop running custom software, and pulled 4.8m documents from the database. Although JSTOR did not pursue the hacktivist itself, US attorney Carmen M. Ortiz didn’t feel so accommodating, and Swartz was indicted back in July 2011.

For more on Swartz – and the impact his work on free-data, and the world he leaves behind – we’d recommend Lawrence Lessig’s piece “Prosecutor as Bully.” BoingBoing’s Cory Doctorow also has a must-read tribute to Swartz, including information on the organization, DemandProgress, Swartz helped establish. Finally, Swartz’s partner, Quinn Norton, has a piece that’s well worth reading.

Open-access activist and internet hero Aaron Swartz dies is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear. 

Source:http://www.techgig.com/tech-news/editors-pick/Open-access-activist-and-internet-hero-Aaron-Swartz-dies-16700

 Facebook is preparing to launch a new feature for its Messenger app which allows users of the social networking site to place free voice calls tofriends.

The feature is so far available only to smartphone users in Canada and is buried within the latest update to the app, but it will eventually allow users to make free internet voice calls, known as VoIP calls, to any Facebook friend.

Experts are saying it represents an attempt by the world's largest social network to dominate the social world by taking on the default calling function in mobile phones, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

The new feature comes at the same time as Facebook Messenger rolled out a new feature worldwide which allows users to record and send a voicemail-type message to friends.

Working in a similar way to video messaging in the company's Poke app, users press and hold a red record button, speak their message, and it appears in line as part of the conversation.

TechCrunch writer Josh Constine imagines a range of uses for the function, from messaging while driving to recording the waves lapping at a beach to send to friends.

However, its addition to the Messenger app seems merely to make it an 'even more complete app' he writes, adding that he expects video messaging to soon be added as well.

One-tenth the size of the US, but with very similar demographics and mobile usage trends, Facebook is using Canada as a testing ground in advance of rolling out the feature in other markets, the paper said.

By clicking the 'i' icon in the top right of a conversation in the most recent update to Messenger, users reveal a 'free call' button which allows them to contact any friend also within the test region.

However, while Facebook is not charging users for the service, the call is not technically free since it will use data on users' existing mobile plans.

TechCrunch said that the move into voice messaging and VoIP can be seen as an attempt by the social network to take on the default, mobile network operated calling function on smartphones.

 Internet and other components of information communication and technology (ICT) industry annually produces more than 830 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, and is expected to double by 2020, a new study has found.

Researchers from the Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications (CEET) and Bell Labs explain that the information communications and technology (ICT) industry, which delivers Internet, video, voice and other cloud services, produces about 2 per cent of globalCO2 emissions -- the same proportion as the aviation industry produces.

In the report published in journal Environmental Science & Technology, researchers said their projections suggest that ICT sector's share in greenhouse gas emission is expected to double by 2020.

They have also found new models of emissions and energy consumption that could help reduce their carbon footprint.

The study said that controlling those emissions requires more accurate but still feasible models, which take into account the data traffic, energy use and CO2 production in networks and other elements of the ICT industry.

Existing assessment models are inaccurate, so they set out to develop new approaches that better account for variations in equipment and other factors in the ICT industry.

They describe development and testing of two new models that better estimate the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of Internet and telecommunications services.

The researchers suggest, based on their models, that more efficient power usage of facilities, more efficient use of energy-efficient equipment and renewable energy sources are three keys to reducing ICT emissions of CO2.

FOI...

This article discusses the habits which would need to be avoided if a person wants to become a good programmer.

Introduction and background

The information technology is not a new term now. For a common person, this is the field which guarantees good money and life (in the context of INDIA). People working in this industry are looked up-to and generally considered intelligent than others. 

After working for quite some time in this industry, looks like the above points are coming very close to being a myth.

Definitely this industry has been life changer for many and also big employer, foreign currency grabber but by large it would be interesting to know what’s the reality at ground level.

Many would comment that the quote about intelligence is overrated and this is just another industry with revenues in dollars helping for mammoth turnovers.

The common minimum ingredient of this industry is a programmer (or a developer or coder) who is the one writing the programs which are supposed to make things happen. As in every field of life, there are good programmer and bad programmers. The other hot topic in this industry is whether this industry possesses chunk of good programmer or not. Many wouldn’t agree.

So, what makes a good programmer? This is debatable point and to make things simpler, let’s see this the other way round i.e. discuss the top 10 enemies which can prevent oneself from becoming a good programmer.

Objective

To know about the DONT's if anyone wants to become a good programmer.

Description

Programming world is a confusing world. There have been so many languages, technologies, platforms, infrastructures to choose from which doesn't make life of a programmer easy even though they are supposed to. In the scenario where business needs are outscoring the engineering practices, the programming has become a real complex thing increasingly challenged by time and budget. There has been lot of research into software metric to measure the performance and quality but it still not straightforward to categorize programmers and probably say who is good or bad. Following are list of points which if we can ensure while programming, would definitely result in better code quality, better planning and better professional life. These points are picked up from real incidences which always keep happening with considerable frequency and it is observed that such incidences leads to poor quality, performance and higher costs. These points are not just related to technical skill but rather the attitude, awareness, behavior.

1. Is it computer or my program: When something goes wrong there is a tendency to term that it must be something wrong with computers or something else other than me? It’s funny but it omnipresent statement one hears. Barring few cases, it’s always the program doing something wrong rather than computer. If we take environmental, infrastructural attributes into account while programming we won't end of saying this. This is the biggest enemy.

2. Its working on my PC: This is probably mostly used age old statement and many have encountered it umpteen times. It is hard to believe but it happens all the time that the programs work well on developer’s machine but fail after deployment... Do we program for our own pc or our programs are intended to run only on the developer’s machine? Surely not and this is caused by insufficient programming skills and not enough knowledge of working environments, necessary settings etc.

In most of such cases, mostly the programmer has forgotten to update the deployed environment with some settings/ configurations, some component missing etc. rather than anything else.

3. Finger pointing: I have just changed it but I didn’t cause this error, it must be somebody else who might have worked on the same stuff. This is a statement one would hear all the time and it’s generally the first reaction one would hear when asked about some error or fault. In reality, something is changed and the original functionality is also lost then these statements are made. This is quite intriguing that something is changed and before a change things were working and still the programmers say this. This depicts the lack of ownership as well as understanding and escapist attitude. Given the complexity and difficulty to find the facts, many are encourage saying this.

There is a small remedy to overcome this and which is the practice of performing unit testing and take my word, life would be easy.

4. Skipping the validation of user input: While programming for user interactive applications / programs, one tends to skip the validation of user inputs under the assumption that he has coded for it and it shall work. The minimum check which is like confirming the data entered in GUI doesn’t exceed the data type and lengths defined in the database. No wonder, many of the defects and also the program crashes arises out of lack of such validation.

It is better to always ensure that the data types and lengths on GUI matches with the ones defined in data source and also it handles the common pitfalls which can spell doom for hackers. 

5. Not estimating (or planning) the work or tasks: Most of the programmer (especially junior ones) has urged to jump into coding without estimating the work. Estimation is just not important from planning perspective but it gives an opportunity to revisit the scope as the estimates are bound to scope.

There might couple of tasks challenged by time and/or budget which can be performed well without estimates but not     all. Whatever may the work or tasks if it is estimated, then it ease out planning, controlling and monitoring and also         given an avenue for asking the help before it is too late?

6.   Swallowing the exceptions: Exception handling is still a mystery for many programmers and when he/ she don’t know how to handle the exception or there is lack of good exception handling mechanism, the exceptions are swallowed means not action is taken after the occurrence of such exceptions or errors.

     Today's programming languages offers far more sophisticated mechanism in the form of try-catch-finally. This           swallowing mostly results into application crashes putting programmers into awkward position.

7.   Blindly copying and pasting: In today’s internet era, everything is available on internet and code snippets are not exceptions to this. With super-efficient searches, it is possible to locate code snippet which can do one's job.  

   

Probably it can't be called wrong to copy such code snippets and use but unfortunately the usage is always coincided      by blindly copying or retrofitting which results into partial solutions not taking into account the existing scenario. Also      one has to remember that such code snippets needs more rigorous testing than your native code to make sure that it      is doing what is needed. Another example is copying from code samples or others code which generally skips the understanding curve resulting into inferior quality software and it is also difficult to change such program and   maintain too. So copying and pasting is unavoidable but it would be better to invest some time to understand what it is doing and what is expected to be done and perform this with sound judgment.

8. Not being latest: The technology paradigm is characterized by the continuous changes and improvements. While working hard and long, many programmers are not able to synch them up with such changes and improvements. This may result in inferior solutions or far more time investment than could be justified. Also there are many changes happening on software engineering front where new methodologies like Agile, XP are introduced which can address many pertinent challenges in development life cycle.

9.  Lack of Documentation/ comments/standardization: No denying the fact the programs are written to be executed by computers but they are also written which could be understood by others. Many programmers shy away from writing enough comments or documentation which can help others about why, how and when something is done. Essentially this makes other programmer not attempting to understand and write something which would add to confusion. There are many instances of coding horrors, coding mess, coding chaos which have one thing in common and i.e. lack of documentation and standardization. Essentially the programs shall be human readable.

10. Speed well than accuracy: This is a trap for even the proven programmers. Many programmers think that the programming is 100 ctr races and one has to be lightning fast to win this race and in the process the quality, accuracy is sacrificed. This catapults into more work (many would want this for continuity of their business) which is not good of one looks at cost and time. Accuracy could attain more priority and speed with accuracy could be the motto.  

Summary and Conclusion

This topic is exhaustive and complex to discussed and addressed on one write-up. Still these 10 point are put forth to touch base the perennial challenges in software industry. There may be more apt points and detailed discussions but hope that this write-up could help to bring some really interesting practices to the fore.

Source:http://www.dotnetfunda.com/articles/article2098-10-enemies-of-being-a-good-programmer.aspx