Shahid Nawaz

Monday, August 6, 2012

Ten facts about Curiosity's journey to Mars

NASA's Curiosity, packed with sophisticated instruments, touched down on Mars on a quest for signs of whether the planet has evidence of past and present habitable environments. Moments after landing, Curiosity beamed back its first three images from the Martian surface, one of them showing a wheel of the vehicle and the rover's shadow cast on the rocky terrain. The craft's descent through Mars' thin atmosphere, a feat called the most elaborate and risky achievement in the annals of robotic spaceflight, turned out to be short-lived cliffhanger, much to NASA's relief. Here are a few things to know about Curiosity:

1.The purpose of the $2.5 billion mission is to look for evidence that Mars - the planet most similar to Earth - may have once harbored the basic building blocks necessary for microbial life to evolve. It represents NASA's first astrobiology mission since the 1970s-era Viking probes.

2.It has been equipped with 10 scientific instruments, including two for ingesting and analysing samples of powdered rock delivered by the rover's robotic arm.

3.The robotic lab sailed through space for more than eight months, covering 352 million miles (566 million km), before piercing Mars' atmosphere at 13,000 miles(20,921 km) per hour -- 17 times the speed of sound -- before starting its descent.

4.The $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory, the formal name of the mission deploying the Curiosity rover, was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, Nov 26, 2011.

5.Curiosity will spend two years exploring Gale Crater and an unusual three-mile (5 km)-high mountain consisting of what appears to be sediments rising from the crater's floor.

6.The craft's descent through Mars' thin atmosphere, a feat called the most elaborate and risky achievement in the annals of robotic spaceflight, turned out to be short-lived cliffhanger, much to NASA's relief.

7.Curiosity, encased in a protective capsule-like shell, utilized a first-of-its kind automated flight entry system to sharply reduce its speed before landing. Then it rode a giant supersonic parachute, a jet-powered backpack and a never-before-used "sky crane" to touch down inside a vast impact basin called Gale Crater, located near the planet's equator in its southern hemisphere.

8.The rover comes equipped with an array of sophisticated instruments capable of analyzing samples of soil, rocks and atmosphere on the spot and beaming results back to Earth. One is a laser gun that can zap a rock from 23 feet (7 meters) away to create a spark whose spectral image is analyzed by a special telescope to discern the mineral's chemical composition.

9.Weighing in at about a ton, Curiosity is too big for the landing bags and thruster rockets that were designed to let previous probes to Mars touch down gently down on its surface. Instead, engineers designed a complicated landing system that navigates through the thin but unpredictable atmosphere, deploys a massive parachute at supersonic speeds and fires up a rocket-powered descent platform. The platform holds an aerial crane to lower the rover on a tether to the surface of Gale Crater and fly away.

10.The landing marks a major milestone for a US space agency beset by budget cuts and the recent loss of its 30-year-old space shuttle program. he last time NASA sent a rover to Mars, it sent two - Spirit and Opportunity, which were dispatched to opposite sides of the planet to hunt for signs of past water. Both outlived their three-month design lives by years. Spirit succumbed to the harsh environment in 2010. Opportunity continues to operate.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Hackers' next target: Your eyeballs

Iris scanners aren't as hack-proof as we thought they were.

LAS VEGAS (CNNMoney) -- We know that cybercriminals are attacking our networks and computers every day, but the next thing they come hunting for might be your eyes.
Some passwords for critical systems are gradually being replaced with biometric identifiers like fingerprints and iris scans, which supposedly offer a safer way to log in. Biometric information can't be stolen in a phishing attack, for instance, because the markers are unique (and physically attached) to each user. It's a foolproof system, right?

Ha.
It turns out that fingerprints and iris scans can be hacked just like a password, with a clever bit of reverse-engineering.
When biometric data is entered into a computer, the system doesn't store the actual fingerprint or iris scan. It records a digital template that serves as a trimmed-down representation of the biometric information. When a user goes to log in, his or her characteristics are matched against those templates, and the match is given a similarity score. If it's high enough, the user is let inside.
Last year, researchers at the University of Bologna in Italy were able to reconstruct a fingerprint from the digital template stored in a computer. They were so successful that they were able to build gummy finger versions of the prints that could be pressed up against a reader and used to fool the computer into letting them into someone else's account.
Iris scans shouldn't be susceptible to reverse-engineering, because the human iris is far more complex than a fingerprint and offers extremely low false positives in a scan. It's possible that your fingerprint comes close enough to matching mine, but the chances that your iris could be confused for someone else's are incredibly slim.

Yet new research shows that building an eyeball from a digital iris template is just as plausible as creating a fingerprint from a template.
At the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Javier Galbally, a researcher at the Universidad Autonoma of Madrid, Spain, showed how his team did it.
Iris scanners take an image of the eye, stretch the iris out into a rectangle, and then create a template of 0s and 1s called an "iriscode." In image form, it resembles a series of black and white pixels in a long, narrow rectangle. It looks nothing like an actual iris.
But don't tell that to an iris scanning system. By making an image out of the stored iriscode, stretching it into a circle, and feeding it back into the system, Galbally's team was able to get into the system with an 87% success rate.
The iris scanner didn't even care that the background was completely white, with no eyelid surrounding the reconstructed image. In other words, the scanner didn't look to check that the image it was looking at was really a human eye. That's a huge vulnerability, Galbally said, and one that iris scanning systems should fix.
The growing popularity of biometric scanners have raised concerns that bad guys are going to start gruesomely chopping off fingers and cutting out eyeballs to break into critical systems. (Hey, it worked in Demolition Man.)

Monday, June 18, 2012

Microsoft announces Surface: new family of PCs for Windows2012

LOS ANGELES — June 18, 2012 — Today at an event in Hollywood, Microsoft unveiled Surface: PCs built to be the ultimate stage for Windows. Company executives showed two Windows tablets and accessories that feature significant advances in industrial design and attention to detail. Surface is designed to seamlessly transition between consumption and creation, without compromise. It delivers the power of amazing software with Windows and the feel of premium hardware in one exciting experience.

Conceived, designed and engineered entirely by Microsoft employees, and building on the company’s 30-year history manufacturing hardware, Surface is designed to seamlessly transition between consumption and creation, without compromise.

Surface: A New Family of PCs for Windows

June 19, 2012

Conceived, designed and engineered entirely by Microsoft employees, and building on the company’s 30-year history manufacturing hardware, Surface is designed to seamlessly transition between consumption and creation, without compromise.

Download: Web | Print

Do you know your processor

What's a Core i7 and why is it better than an i3? There's also Core i5? And what about AMD? Figuring out your processor is half the battle of buying a PC.

What are cores?
In simple words, a core is the part of the processor responsible for carrying out calculations needed to execute programmes. When a chip has multiple cores, it means it can process multiple instructions at the same time, thus increasing the software's speed.

Intel has three main Core families...
Core i3: Has two cores and Hyper Threading (HT) - a technology that simulates more cores than actually exist on the processor. This improves performance of programs that can utilize the extra cores. The i3, however, lacks Turbo Boost for extra muscle when needed. Ideal for average users.

Core i5: Has four cores, but no HT. Consumes a little more power than i3. The i5 comes with Turbo Boost that allows for an increase in clock speeds in the range of 300 to 400MHz. For example, if the processor has a speed of 2.8GHz, Turbo Boost will push the speed up to 3.1GHz. Ideal for power users

Core i7: Has four to six cores, with HT. The least power-efficient, but the most powerful. Ideal for professionals who work in 3D or edit multimedia.

Don't forget AMD
While AMD doesn't have Intel's raw performance, it's still good enough for everyday tasks and comes at a cheaper price. Of the lot, two AMD processors deserve mention.

The A 3870K: Has four cores and is part of the Fusion series. It promises better graphics at budget prices. Ideal for average users who want a bit of a gaming boost.

The FX 8150: Has eight cores and is part of the Bulldozer series. Not power-efficient and a bit slow in less demanding tasks. But works great in intensive processing tasks like video encoding and 3D modeling. Ideal for a professional on a budget.

The new processors What is Ivy Bridge?
Every year, Intel comes out with a new class of processors. The new Ivy Bridge is the third generation of Core i processors, and can be identified by model numbers that begin with 3. In terms of performance, Ivy Bridge processors average 10% faster than last year's Sandy Bridgeprocessors. They are also more power-efficient.

And what is Trinity?
Trinity is AMD's new architecture, replacing the current A series Llano CPUs like A3870K. They can be identified by model numbers that begin with 5. They will be slightly better in general computing like web-browsing or office work, but offer vastly better performance for 3D gaming.

Satyan Gajwani to be the new CEO of Times Internet; Rishi Khiani plans own venture

Satyan Gajwani, Director, New Media at The Times of India Group will be taking over as the CEO of Times Internet (Indiatimes) from Rishi Khiani, the present CEO of the company. Gajwani has confirmed the news to India Digital Review saying that Rishi Khiani is moving ahead on an entrepreneurial journey. Though the official timings of this shift in leadership could not be confirmed, Gajwani tells us that Rishi Khiani will remain a part of TImes Internet till August 2012.

“I will be taking over as CEO TIL from Rishi. Rishi's been a great leader, and it's a disappointment to see him go, but we wish him the best as he starts back on his entrepreneurial journey. He's going to still remain close to us, working officially with us through mid-August,” Gajwani has said.

In August 2009, Times Internet had appointed Rishi Khiani as Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining Times Internet, Khiani was chief operating officer at Web18. Khiani had joined Web18 after he had sold his web design and technology firm UrbanEye to Network18 in 2006. Khiani was instrumental in Indiatimes’ winning the Internet and mobile rights for the Indian Premier League, launching Gaana.com, revamping Indiatimes.com, TimesofIndia.com and EconomicTimes.com, among others.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

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Sunday, May 20, 2012

What makes Noida preferred BPO destination

With the BPO sector logged in as the fastest growing industry in the country, companies are looking for greater talent pools and locations to expand their operations. According to industry estimates, around 2.5 lakh jobs will be created inIT-BPO sector alone. A hot destination for establishing BPO business due to various reasons, Noida seems to be all geared up to support the seemingly unstoppable growth of the sector.

Noida is already the fourth largest destination for BPO industry in India with more than 400 IT-BPO companies. In 2008, Noida accounted for 8.6 per cent of the total IT-BPO exports. According to recent data, this industry in Noida created 1.3 lakh direct and 4 lakh indirect jobs. Though there are problems like shortage of power, talent and poor infrastructure, which act as an obstacle, companies have a host of other reasons to establish business in Noida.

Why Noida?

"The reason why we have set up our company here is that the real estate prices are low as compared to other leading IT-BPO destinations. Also, the low cost of operations make Noida an ideal destination for BPO companies," said Pavan Bagai, president and chief operating officer, EXL.

The Nasdaq-listed company, approximately employs 18,900 people globally, of which close to 15,000 are in India. The Noida-based BPO EXL Service Holdings Inc, reported a 43 per cent rise in its first quarter revenues to $105 million, up from the same period last year, backed by an increased cash flow from numerous acquisitions.

"Noida has a rich talent pool, sound infrastructure and its connectivity through Metro within NCR is very good. All this attracts investors towards this place," he added.

The popularity of Noida among employees is as much but due to some other reasons. "Like me, many people from North India come to Noida and Greater Noida in search of jobs," said Parvesh Kumar, an employee with Vcare Corporation. "It (BPO) is a growing industry that can absorb people in hordes, people readily move here in search of livelihood. I have been working with this company for the past seven years and would like to continue in this industry for the rest of my life."

BPO-specific education model

According to Nasscom, facilitating the development of BPO-specific education model would increase employability and tap talent pools. Also, as the report mentions, this would help in capturing the huge addressable market of 280 billion in the next five years.

"It's not only about BPO industry, it's true for all professions. Be it engineering, medicine or any other profession, you need to be presentable. So, either after class 10th or 12th, students should be given an opportunity to develop their soft skills. Also, there should be some kind of short term course, if not full time, to train people according to the requirements of this industry," said Mr. Kaveesh Kapoor, Chairman, Thee Zorba Outsourcing Pvt Ltd, a call centre which has 70 employees in India and an annual turnover of Rs 1.25 crore.

People working with BPOs feel that time has come when students should start looking at this industry as a career option. "My career in this industry was unplanned," said Abhishek Kumar, an employee with EXL.

"I joined out of compulsion to work in a big city but I have found in the past two years that it is an industry which is growing at a very fast pace. We have courses for engineering, medicine, IT etc. Similarly, there should either be full time course or training programmes for BPO industry. Some sort of training before people enter this field would take this industry to a new level," he said.

Training modules

Training will help people in deciding which way to go. "Though both belong to the same industry, requirements for a domestic BPO is different from an international one. Since these two cater to two different cultures, a know-how of technological skills along with the ability to deal with the people of different cultures becomes a must. Also, people working here should be able to cater to different temperaments of individuals and should have the appetite to listen to the problems and solve them," said Jay Singh, who after working in the BPO sector switched to IT.

"Training will help people decide whether they want to stay here or move to other sector as many people switch in a short period of time due to wrong decisions," he added.

"I have been running this company for the last nine years and I have seen that those who are not satisfied with their management, medicine or other jobs join BPO company to earn big bucks. Structuring a course specifically for this industry will make this sector more systematic and give stability to employees," added Mr Kapoor of Thee Zorba Outsourcing.

Doctors, engineers and lawyers are also moving in this industry as it is growing day by day. "We recieve applications from both experienced professionals and freshers. We have hired people who have BPO experience as well as from other sectors. We have employees from diverse professions such as management, accountancy, medicine, law," said Mr Bagai.

Infra woes

If talent shortage is one problem, lack of supporting infrastructure is another. Power shortage, law and order and women safety are major issues. "It is human tendency to crib about things and it is happening in Noida. We have the best infrastructure in the country. Industrial township of Noida and Greater Noida are well established and we have provided everything for the smooth functioning of the city," said Mangal Sen, General Manager, Noida Authority. Talking about the law and order situation of the city, Mr Kapoor said, "Fault lies with the people as sometimes people engage in unwanted activities and later blame the government," said Mr Kapoor.

The Only Facebook Number That Matters: $104.2 Billion

Facebook became a $104.2 billion company Friday in much the same way it became the world’s biggest social network and a cultural game-changer: by stubbornly forging ahead despite criticism and calls that it couldn’t be done.

Last week, rumors turned into full-blown financial news stories that the initial public offering was getting a lukewarm reception in road-show presentations to investors in New York City, Boston and Palo Alto, Calif. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was criticized for wearing his trademark hoodie to the event in New York and skipping the event altogether in Boston, and some analysts said Facebook could open with a value as low as $75 billion.

And yet, by this week Facebook had raised its expected share price and was making more shares available to meet demand. By the close of markets Thursday afternoon, Facebook had set its opening share price at $38 (after considering levels as high as $40). Whatever happens in trading today, Facebook will be the third-largest IPO in history and will net the company $16 billion.

“It shows tremendous confidence in the guy wearing the hoodie,” Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, told Bloomberg. “He hasn’t specified how he’s going to do it, but he’ll have to do it to justify this price.”

Market Cap Now More Important than Number of Registered Users

But share price doesn't really matter. The most important number for now is that $104.2 billion. The $100 billion marker is symbolic, as is so much that surrounds Facebook’s evolution into a publicly traded company. Beyond the hoodie, Zuckerberg has been sending all sorts of signals that he’ll be a different kind of CEO, from his decision to not travel to New York to ring today’s opening Nasdaq bell, to celebrating the IPO not with champagne but with Red Bull (the company had one of its famed hackathons last night).

And while $104.2 billion can (and will) change as Facebook ebbs and flows through the ups and downs of being a publicly traded company, at least for now it makes the eight-year-old company more valuable than all but a handful of U.S. companies. Facebook is bigger than McDonald’s, bigger than Citigroup and - also symbolically - bigger than Amazon, arguably the biggest success story from the first dot-com boom.

“Facebook is here to stay,” Navin Chaddha, a managing director of the Mayfield Fund, a venture capital firm, told The New York Times. “It’s a virtual economy where people are spending more time than any other Internet property.”

Still, its stock is still highly speculative, leaving investors unsure of what to do. A steady stream of them have been interviewed on cable television and all make the same basic point: Invest in the company and you may see it wither, much as Groupon, last year’s IPO darling, did. Skip putting money down, however, and you may kick yourself if Facebook ends up like Google, which now trades about 100 times higher than its IPO price.

At its open this morning, Facebook was trading at 100 times its earnings for the previous 12 months. By comparison, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index trades at 14 times earnings. People who run the price up today are mainly buying into the hype, and may be too late: The true short-term winners are the company’s early investors, people who bought shares on private exchanges and Zuckerberg (his stake is now worth about $19 billion).

“It could take many years to calculate Facebook’s impact,” Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising company WPP, told The New York Times. “There’s a lot of pressure for them to monetize their content and demonstrate productivity, but you can’t do it overnight.”

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Satyameva Jayate_Episode 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFVonpyoCsY