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

Error message "VB.NET"

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

World‘s first smartphone for the blind, made in India

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

Plastic iPhone shell appears in leaked photo

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