According to ZDNet, one gigabit speeds, which US incumbents like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T could not match, were Google Fiber's main selling point to attract users.
This forced incumbents to boost speeds in areas where Google Fiber was available, but its coverage was limited and remained stagnant for five years until last month, when it revealed plans to expand to five more states.
Now, Google Fiber seems ready to reignite competition. The ISP's CEO Dinni Jain says he wants to offer affordable access to multi-gig speeds and claims that a colleague recently got 20Gbps download speeds in Kansas City when testing the service, the report said.
"We used to get asked, 'who needs a gig?'," Jain was quoted as saying.
"Today it's no longer a question. Every major provider in the US seems to have now gotten the gigabit memo, and it's only going up from there - some providers are already offering 2, 5, 8, even 10 gig products," he added.
Google Fiber currently offers a symmetrical 1gbps service for $70 a month and last year started selling a 2/1Gbps download/upload service for $100 a month, with 1TB of cloud storage.
"In the coming months, we will have announcements to dramatically expand our multi-gigabit tiers. These will be critical milestones on our journey to 100 Gig symmetrical internet," Jain said.
Now, her hilarious replies to all the congratulatory messages are winning over the internet.
Among the many congratulatory messages, one was from Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson who messaged the wrong account. She wrote, “Congratulations to @liztruss as she assumes the role of Prime Minister of the UK. Sweden and UK will continue our deep and comprehensive cooperation. Important for our citizens, economies and security."
Replying to her tweet, Ms Trussell wrote, “Looking forward to a visit soon! Get the meatballs ready.
The Right of Centre UK news and current affairs magazine also tweeted Liz Trussell, writing: "Congratulations @LizTruss on becoming the new UK PM! Best person for the job!"
"Agreed," she replied.
Similarly, Caroline Lucas tweeted, “@LizTruss still doesn’t get it – Boris Johnson did not get Brexit done, his myriad mistakes over Covid cost countless living, & he leaves having disgraced his office. Meanwhile, she’s campaigned as a right wing ideologue & will govern as such – which is a disaster for all of us.”
To this, Truss replied, “I love cakes.”
Now, her hilarious replies have become the talk of the town. Soon, people realised that it was the wrong Liz Truss and pointed it out.
Worth mentioning, Liz Truss, who has won the leadership battle within the Conservative Party, will succeed Boris Johnson after defeating Indian-origin former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. She was born in Oxford in 1975. Her father was a mathematics professor at the University of Leeds and mother was a nurse.
Ms Truss, 47, will become the third female Prime Minister of the UK after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.
Millions of devices are at hacking risk as Internet is facing one of the most serious vulnerabilities in recent years. Thousands of attempts are being made to exploit second vulnerability in Java logging system called 'Apache log4j2'.
'Apache Log4j' is used in many forms of enterprise and open-source software, including cloud platforms, web applications and email services Apple iCloud, Amazon, Twitter, Cloudflare and Minecraft etc. are vulnerable to the 'ubiquitous' zero-day exploit.
Though Apache has now released a new security patch, threats remain. "It allows threat actors to control java-based web servers and launch remote code execution attacks," said cyber security researchers at Check Point Cyber security firm Sophos said it is already detecting malicious cryptominer operations attempting to leverage the vulnerability.
At present, most of the attacks focus on the use of cryptocurrency mining at the expense of the victims. Researchers at Microsoft have also warned about attacks attempting to take advantage of 'Log4j' vulnerabilities including a range of crypto-mining malware.
The announcement came during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat.
"Bhubaneswar Me wi-fi services will be a game changer for youths. This will be Bhubaneswar's entry into the list of global smart cities with 500 hotspots. I urge the youth to utilise this world class facility," CM Naveen said.
Elaborating on the implementation of the project, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner, Krishan Kumar said, "There are plans to create 500 hotspots in the city. The implementation will be done in 3 phases and the scheduled date of completion of the project is December 2019."
In the first phase, hotspots have been installed at 100 locations and the project is expected to be completed in next 5 to 6 months, Kumar informed.
'Bhubaneswar Me' Wi-Fi services will offer 250 MB free data every day. Moreover, there are different top-up plans for extra data priced at Rs 20 for 1GB/day for 7 days, Rs 30 - 2GB/day for 7 days, Rs 40 -3GB/day for 14 days, Rs 50- 4GB/day for 14 days and Rs 60 for 5GB/day for 28 days.
The State government is planning to extend the services to places like Sambalpur, Berhampur, Rourkela and Puri.
“…the World Wide Web became a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter”
Time Magazine, 2006
When the Time Magazine named ‘You’ as the person of the year in its famous annual list of newsmakers in 2006, it arguably generated some polarizing responses. Whatever it did, it did spot a ripple, which over the decade has become a tidal wave ever eroding the established pattern of media content creation and consumption.
If television content was made ‘for’ the people, proliferation of reality shows showed us how it became ‘of’ the people and the current pattern makes it no less ‘by’ the people with user-generated content leaving their footprints on the air waves. The democratization of television content is happening now!
A few days back an incomprehensibly peeved follower of our Twitter handle broke us the news that we are airing abstract user-generated and social media-sourced video clips which for a news channel is a gross digression from the preamble of news reportage.
The case that was being made here was of the increased number of shows on news channels featuring user-generated content sourced from social media and other platforms. Viral videos, shocking videos, funny videos et al along with photographs have now made their way on to the small screen. These are being capsuled into dedicated programs and are now broadcast regularly with increased frequency.
Also Read: Rise of the Pandal Enterprise
But branding it as ‘insane’ and criticizing its telecast would relegate it to some entity or individual’s whims and fancies – which it is anything but. It is a phenomenon which we all are a part of and a television channel is only one of the mediums that manifests this trend which is too pervasive to ignore.
“It is not an experiment. We have observed how user-generated content is garnering higher TRPs for us. A significantly successful long-running program like News Fuse is a great example which has made us realize that there is a great deal of interest among the viewers. There is a huge demand to which we are catering to,” reveals Jayant Seth of a leading Odia news channel.
There is no doubt that it is demand driven, and in this cutthroat sector not to respond to such changing needs of viewers is like running a huge risk and running the course towards insignificance.
There are two sides to this phenomenon – the demand and the supply side. Both are governed by a number of factors. Let’s try to understand the demand side. An independent Brand and Input consultant, Sudhir Mishra makes an interesting observation, “People these days are demanding more from a news channel. They are not interested in daily run-of-the-mill news feeds. It has become too mundane for them. They want something different, creative and funny to break the monotony of the incessant deluge of news feeds.”
Also Read: The invasion sweeping our breakfast plates
This brings us to the question: has anything gone wrong with news? Well, one thing has changed – the way and the amount of news that is served up to us. This is led by a technological change. In fact given the pace, it’s all encompassing and permeating effect technology has been more a revolution than a change. Advances, both in hardware and software has created an ecosystem where an individual is easily hooked on to the relentless flush of information, data and news. Smart phones, apps and social media ensure that the information that we have signed up for is accessible at our fingertips. In fact these changes have rendered traditional mediums of news delivery gray. If news at 7 PM or 9 PM on the news channel seems dated, then the morning news paper seems to be a historian’s compendium. As soon as news breaks, a notification breaks into our screens. There is more likelihood that by the time news is served up on our plates by newspapers and channels, one would have already received, consumed, and shared it in some form or other. Hence, popularity of user-generated content can be largely attributed to its quality of being a break from the mundane.
Now a look into the supply side of the story reveals why user-generated content is so widely used and broadcast? As discussed above, the strides that have been made in terms of hardware and software have empowered an individual like never before. If information is being fed to an individual in spades it is being generated in truckloads. Individuals armed with smart phones and other gadgets have been at the forefront of this crusade. If shooting a snap or a video has become easier, sharing it has become equally effortless.
With all these changes, a sense of empowerment has dawned upon individuals who now feel that they can make their voices heard and seen, in more ways than one, and that too with a mere click of a button.
“People now want to see what they and their likes are trying to say and show. There is a huge motivation among individuals to create content and see it broadcast in whatever medium is available. From a broadcaster point of view, it all boils down to Television Rating Point (TRP). We follow what our ratings indicate and there is no hiding the fact that viewership trends are forcing us to air user-generated content. In fact it is very easy to adapt to this change. The content is readily available and there is virtually no production cost involved,” says Jayant.
So where are we heading to? “New things will come up and people will lose interest and latch on to something else. Things will get mundane and more so because everybody else is following and emulating it. But the whole idea here is doing something creative and thriving to build a creative niche,” Sudhir Mishra points out.
There is no doubt that we have arrived here because things moved on. While discussing with many of the professionals from the industry, one would realize that things will continue to move on and move out.
Mohanty, who represented India in two Test matches and nearly 50 one day internationals in the late 1990s, lodged a complaint with the cyber cell of the Crime Branch seeking immediate action and blocking of obscene posts on the internet.
Sources said abusive languages along with pictures of Mohanty and his wife were found posted on internet. Similar posts trolling other cricketers like Natraj Behera and Biplab Samantray were also found on different websites, informed sources.
As per an FIR lodged at the Raighar police station, one Pranab Chakraborty kept physical relationship with the 14-year-old girl of his neighbour and shot the whole incident before posting it online. The video went viral on the internet. The girl is a Class-X student.
"The girl had gone to the house of Pranab to pluck flowers. The youth later took her inside and made an obscene video with her. He also blackmailed her with the video before posting it online. We demand strong action against Pranab," said the uncle of the minor.
Acting on the FIR, police arrested Pranab and seized a mobile phone and an obscene video clip from his possession. Investigation is on into the incident, police said. "Besides rape case, complaints have lodged against Pranab under the IT and POCSO Acts. He will be forwarded to court today," said Raighar police station IIC Narendra Kumar Majhi.
About 35 per cent of those in the age group are aware of Internet, said the report named "AfterAccess: ICT access and use in India and the Global South". It was published by Lirneasia, a policy and regulation think tank in collaboration with the Cellular Operators Association of India.
"The lack of Internet awareness is a considerable problem in India, with just 35 per cent of the 15-65 (years) population aware of what the Internet is. The level of use is thus even lower at 19 per cent," said the report.
On the findings of the report Chief Executive Officer of Lirneasia Helani Galpaya said: "India has only connected around 20 per cent of the adult people who you would expect to be on line. So that's pathetic... and the contradiction is, this (India) is one of the most affordable markets in the world."
The report further showed that out of the total Internet users in the age group of 15-65 years, around 27 per cent mostly spend time on social media.
It is possible to control these robots remotely -- to spy on camera feeds and even send commands to move the robots around, according to a study presented at the 2018 Robotics Science and Systems conference in Pittsburgh, US.
For the study, a team of researchers from Brown University in Rhode Island, US, carried out a worldwide scan in search of hosts running the Robot Operating System (ROS) over three different periods in 2017 and 2018.
They found as many as 100 exposed systems running ROS, up to 19 of which were considered to be fully operational robots.
The findings are a reminder, the researchers said, that everyone needs to be mindful of security in an increasingly connected digital world.
"Though a few unsecured robots might not seem like a critical issue, our study has shown that a number of research robots is accessible and controllable from the public Internet," the research team said.
"It is likely these robots can be remotely actuated in ways (that are) dangerous to both the robot and the human operators," they added.
ROS is the dominant platform used in research robotics, which can be thought of like a robot's central nervous system.
The platform aggregates all of a robot's various components -- its cameras, sensors and actuators -- and ties them to a central computing node.
"ROS is a great tool for robotics research, but the designers explicitly left security to the end users," said Stefanie Tellex, a roboticist at Brown University and a study co-author.
"It doesn't require any authentication to connect to a ROS master, which means if you're running ROS and it's not behind a firewall, anyone can connect to your robot," Tellex added.
The researchers said they performed the study to highlight the fact that the security holes in ROS can easily be overlooked.
More than 98 per cent of China's 122,900 registered poor villages will have access to the internet by 2020, according to a plan published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The ministry will work to provide both broadband and 4G data network to the villages, and encourage telecom operators to offer special discounts on network charges to provide quality internet services at a low cost, reported Xinhua news agency.
It also plans to ask cell phone producers to develop more low-priced, easy-to-use smart phones.
China had 1.08 billion 4G network users at the end of April, while fixed-broadband subscribers to the country's three major telecom operators -- China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile -- reached 366 million.
Internet users will represent 46.8 per cent of the global population and mobile phones will be the primary device for Internet access, used by 2.73 billion people, the firm added.
The number of Internet users in India is expected to reach 450-465 million, said the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and market research firm IMRB International. The report said overall Internet penetration in India was currently around 31 per cent.
Developing digital markets in Asia-Pacific region, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa will see the fastest Internet user growth from 2017-21, driven by widening mobile broadband coverage and smartphone adoption.
By 2019, more than half of the world will access the Internet regularly and in 2021 more than four billion people will be online.
However, Internet user growth will fall from 6.1 per cent this year to 3.5 per cent by 2021 as Intenet use hits saturation, the report said.
Meanwhile, tablet penetration among Internet users will decline this year.
About 32.9 per cent of Internet users worldwide will access a tablet this year, down from 33.2 per cent in 2016.
Facebook has been testing this feature since last year and after responding to feedback and adding more partners, the company rolled it out in the US on iOS, Android and desktop.
"Today, we're taking the time out of finding what you want to eat by officially launching the ability to order food for pick-up or delivery, directly on Facebook," Alex Himel, Vice President of Local, wrote in a blog late on Friday.
"People already go to Facebook to figure out what to eat by reading about nearby restaurants, and seeing what their friends say about them. So, we're making it even easier," Himel added.
Facebook combines options from several food ordering services so users do not have to search through multiple places to find what they are looking for.
From local spots to national chains, Facebook would connect a user with old favourites and new discoveries and order food by checking the ratings by friends.
Users can browse restaurants nearby by visiting the 'Order Food' section in the 'Explore' menu. Browse for food options and select 'Start Order' for takeout or delivery services.
"One of the reasons that IoT is particularly exciting for India is due to the job creation. It is estimated that about 10-15 million jobs will be created through IoT," said Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary in the Department of Telecommunications.
Sundararajan was speaking at the second edition of IoT India Congress 2017, organised by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) India, being held in the city.
"A bulk of these jobs will be created not by large companies but by startups," she said.
While on the contrary, according to research and consultancy firm Zinnov's study in 2016, IoT is likely to lead to 94,000 job losses in the country by 2021, and a total of 120,000 jobs could be affected.
"IoT represents a paradigm that can overcome the deficits that India has been facing in terms of agriculture, healthcare, transportation, garbage disposal in our cities etc.," Sundararajan said.
According to the industry experts, about 65 per cent of startups in India are working on different aspects of IoT.
"The PM (Narendra Modi) has made it clear at the Champions of Change event (held in New Delhi on August 17 for entrepreneurs) that the government's role is only to facilitate and support. There's no point in government actually getting into these areas," Sundararajan told IANS on the sidelines of the event.
"There will be a regulatory framework set by the government which will outline how security will be dealt by the startups working on IoT," she said.
She added that India is becoming one of the world leaders in the IoT field.
"We have a lot of capability in software and most of the technological inventions are driven by software. If we marry that with the telecom capability, India can definitely be a leader in IoT space," the telecom department official said.
"With a vision to be a leader with regard to IoT, the government is working on security and data protection. Both security and data protection are going to be two of the most important areas on which government is working on right now.
"Once we have a full-fledged data protection law, the draft of which is expected by the end of this year or early next year, it will have a lot of impact on IoT as a lot of it has to do with privacy," Sundararajan added.
She noted that getting the next-generation networks, broadband and new technologies to the people of India would be the first and foremost mandate of the government.
"The new telecom policy will address the need to create an ecosystem of devices and support systems," Sundararajan added.
Talking about 5G entering the country, the bureaucrat also expressed that in the coming few months, the entire telecom in the country can be expected to get upgraded to 4G.
"I don't think it's going to happen overnight. Once the companies get upgraded to 4G initially, they will start getting ready for the 5G rollout, but there's still time ahead," she said.
"The new telecom policy will also see what quantum of investment is needed for technologies like 5G," Sundararajan added.
The second edition of IoT India Congress 2017 is being held over two days starting Thursday.
It will explore the application of IoT in fields of healthcare, manufacturing, telecom, smart living, Ganga river rejuvenation and financial inclusion through the participation of companies in these sectors.
"IoT can have a huge impact on our country in terms of the number of jobs it can create and the new business opportunities it gives way for," Shekhar Sanyal, the Country Head and Director IET India told IANS on the sidelines of the event.
"The IoT India Congress brings all the industry players onto the same platform and allows them to work together and bring forth solutions to the problems being faced by the world," Sanyal added.
Companies like General Electric, Philips, Tata Group, IBM, Microsoft and Accenture are part of the event to discuss the changes IoT can bring to the industry.
"We are partnering with CBN and Fiberstar to bring high-speed public Wi-Fi to hundreds of locations across Indonesia," Google said in a blog post on Friday.
"Soon, we will be bringing Google Station to even more places around the world. We are also continuing our work to expand Google Station across India," it added.
Google, in collaboration with Railtel, has rolled out free Wi-Fi service at several railway stations in India, offering high-speed internet to millions of people.
Google launched its first free WiFi services at Mumbai Central station in January 2016.
The company would continue to deploy high speed Wi-Fi in 300 more stations across the country.
With over 391 million users, India is already the second highest country in terms of mobile internet users.
According to the report titled 'The $250 Billion Digital Volcano: Dormant No More', the users are expected to grow rapidly to 650 million mobile internet users by 2020.
At the same time, data consumption by 2020 could potentially increase 10 to 14 times.
"Firstly, by 2020, 4G enabled devices are expected to grow six times to 550 million devices, constituting 70 per cent devices in use. Secondly, reliable high speed data is becoming both ubiquitous as well as mass affordable," said Nimisha Jain, a BCG partner and co-author of the report.
High-speed mobile internet adoption is set to reach 550 million users by 2020, almost 85 per cent of the total mobile internet users, the findings showed.
Average data consumption is projected to reach 7-10GB per user per month by 2020.
"Innovation is what leads to sustainability and sustainable growth in the current entrepreneurship ecosystem will enable India to chart its own success story," added Geetika Dayal, Executive Director, TiE Delhi-NCR.
Researchers at Google's Project Loon -- part of the company's X research lab -- said it was now able to use machine learning to predict weather systems, meaning the firm has a greater control over where its balloons go, making it possible to focus on a specific region, rather than circumnavigating the globe, BBC reported on Friday.
"We can now run an experiment and try to give service in a particular place in the world with ten, twenty or thirty balloons," Astro Teller, head of Alphabet's X unit (formerly Google X), was quoted as saying.
"Real users" will be able to use the system in the "coming months", he added -- but he did not specify where the initial roll out would take place.
Under the project, the firm will suspend a network of huge, tennis-court sized balloons that will beam down connectivity.
The balloons float in the stratosphere around 11 miles high. By raising or lowering altitude, the balloons can be caught in different weather streams, changing direction, the report said.
"By using machine-learning algorithms, Google might have cracked a way to predict weather with enough accuracy to make it possible to hover balloons over a relatively small area for a long period of time," the report noted.
Teller said that Project Loon was one of the more "mature" moonshot ideas at the company and Google was in "no rush" to make Project Loon a stand-alone business.
Last year, Teller said the connection had advanced to deliver about 15mbps internet access.
In nine different experiments with more than 1,000 participants, psychologists found that if subjects received information through internet searches, they rated their knowledge base as much greater than those who obtained the information through other methods.
"The internet is such a powerful environment, where you can enter any question, and you basically have access to the world's knowledge at your fingertips," said lead researcher Matthew Fisher from Yale University.
"It becomes easier to confuse your own knowledge with this external source. When people are truly on their own, they may be wildly inaccurate about how much they know and how dependent they are on the internet," he added.
In one experiment during the study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, people searched online for a website that answers the question, "How does a zipper work?"
The control group received the same answer that they would have found online, but without searching for it themselves.
When later asked how well they understood completely unrelated domains of knowledge, those who searched the internet rated their knowledge substantially greater than those who were only provided text.
Prior to the experiment, no such difference existed. The effect was so strong that even when a full answer to a question was not provided to internet searchers, they still had an inflated sense of their own knowledge.
"The cognitive effects of 'being in search mode' on the internet may be so powerful that people still feel smarter even when their online searches reveal nothing," said senior author professor Frank Keil.
By Sandeep Sahu
India has come a long way since the time bees and flowers were all that one got to see by way of love making on the silver screen. With the advent of the internet – and, not to forget the ubiquitous, all-purpose mobile phone - sex is now all over the place in the virtual world. And it has predictably had its fall-out on the real world too. Sex is no more about two amorous individuals spending some intimate moments in a private space. It is now completely in-your-face. Just having sex, it seems, is not enough of a ‘kick’ anymore. It has to be displayed like a ‘trophy’ won in a match.
Take the case of Pranab Chakravorty of Raighar in Nabarangpur, a place that one instantly associates with poverty, malnutrition and everything else that is wrong with our development model. But what this 24-year old youth (now arrested) has done is symptomatic of what the advent of the mobile phone and the internet has done to our countryside. Not satisfied with having trapped his 14-year old neighbor, a girl student of class IX, into a physical relationship, he posted the video shot on his camera online for the voyeurs of the neighbourhood - and the world at large - to go gaga over.
In another example of the perversion that has crept into our society in matters of sex, a group of youths was arrested in Bolangir for forcing a college going boy and girl talking to each other into sex, recording the scene on their mobile camera, making an MMS of it and selling it to anyone interested for Rs 300 a piece! [As if to prove that such perversion is not limited to a few individuals, they were apparently doing ‘brisk business’ before the police spoiled the ‘fun’!]
Even more revolting was the case in Sambalpur, which was decided by the court a few days ago. Five youths were sentenced to life imprisonment by the court for gang raping a college girl, recording the abominable act on their mobile camera and making it viral on the net back in 2013. One of the convicts was an auto rickshaw driver, who had dropped off the girl and her boyfriend at a place before rushing back to gather six of his friends and returning to the place for the ‘conquest’. The charge sheet said the youths overpowered the girl’s friend and took turns to rape her while others gleefully shot the entire sequence on their mobile cameras.
One could go on and on. Such cases are too numerous in the state to be recounted in an article like this. Just how deep the rot has gone can be gauged from the fact that the CBI raid on Kalia, a Bhubaneswar builder, alone unearthed over 400 (Yes, you heard that right!) sex videos, many of them cases of rape. Odisha’s unenviable reputation as the poorest state in the country has clearly not prevented it from going the way of its more illustrious counterparts when it comes to the perversion sweepstakes.
So, what exactly is it that has led to this perversion, this uncontrollable desire to flaunt sexual ‘conquests’ as some kind of a trophy? Is it the result of watching too much porn of the kinky kind? Is it the new age definition of ‘fun’? Is it the desire to make some money while indulging in sex? Is it man’s way of getting even with women, who are becoming increasingly assertive?
It is for sociologists and psychologists to study the phenomenon in all its dimensions and the factors that have spawned it. But it is time for parents, guardians and teachers to open their eyes to this cancer that is eating into the vitals of the society and do a rethink on whether they are giving the right kind of upbringing to growing up boys. And for lawmakers to think if the existing laws are adequate to deal with the malaise that has clearly taken deep roots in the society.
Shanghai on Saturday claimed to have the world's first district with 5G coverage and a broadband gigabit network. It conducted trial runs of the 5G network, backed by telecom services provider China Mobile.
"Trial runs of the 5G network started on Saturday in Shanghai's Hongkou district, where 5G base stations had been deployed over the last three months to ensure full coverage," the China Daily reported.
Shanghai's vice-mayor Wu Qing made the network's first 5G video call on Huawei's Mate X smartphone, the first 5G foldable phone.
The city aims to build over 10,000 5G base stations by the end of this year and the number of 5G base stations could cross 30,000 in 2021, said Zhang Jianming, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Economic and Informatisation Commission, the telecom and industry regulator.
5G, the next generation of cellular technology, will have download speed 10-100 times faster than the 4G LTE networks.
In February, Shanghai announced a 5G deployment programme at Hongqiao Railway Station where users would be able to watch live broadcasts of town hall meetings and experience lightning-quick downloads of high-resolution movies as and when 5G-powered phones and tablets become available.
"Shanghai also plans to nurture over 100 innovative companies, specialised in exploring 5G-related application scenarios, whose industrial output is expected to reach 100 billion yuan ($14.9 billion) by 2021," Zhang was quoted as saying by the China Daily.
Chinese premium smartphone player Huawei is leading the 5G race globally with its massive investments in R&D, but is facing the heat from some Western countries, particularly the US. They allege that Huawei's 5G network could pose a national security threat.
According to Huawei, Mate X would be launched by mid-year and considering India as an important market, it would be introduced here soon after.
(With IANS inputs)
Each attack represented an attempt by a person or computer to log in to an account with a stolen or generated username and password, according to a new edition of the "State of the internet/security" report from Cloud delivery network provider Akamai Technologies.
Canada comes close third for attacks. However, India and Canada are greatly overshadowed in volume compared with the US, said the report that focused on credential stuffing -- or breaching of databases -- attacks.
The US witnessed 1,252 crore hacking attempts in 2018, compared with 120 crore in India and 102 crore in Canada.
These attacks targeted a range of sectors, from media and entertainment to retail and gaming. Hackers target large video and entertainment brands, because access to verified accounts could be sold or traded in underground marketplaces, Akamai report said.
In the video media sector alone, three of the largest credential stuffing attacks in 2018 increased from 133 million to nearly 200 million, the study said.
"Credential stuffing attempts can advance to full-blown account takeovers and compromises because people tend to use the same password across multiple websites -- or the passwords they are using are easily guessed, and they generated credentials," the report said.
The market for stolen media and entertainment accounts is thriving. "The media, gaming, and entertainment industries are prized targets for cyber criminals who are looking to trade in stolen information and access. The accounts are sold in bulk, and the goal of hackers is to move their goods by volume, rather than single account sales," the report said.
It is time to say good bye to belly fat and welcome a flat tummy.
Heart-healthy diet
A diet rich in fibre & low in saturated fats -- could play an instrumental role in reducing fat, suggests a study.
While dieting may help in fighting abdominal obesity, intermittent fasting, high-protein diets, green tea and the "Paleo" diet, all lack high-quality evidence. None of them has shown to be more effective than other types of energy-restricted (reduced-calorie) diets, the researchers claimed.
Injecting carbon dioxide
Carboxytherapy is an efficient method to reduce fat, in which carbon dioxide gas is injected into fat pockets, according to Murad Alam, lead author of the study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
The new technique is a safe, inexpensive gas, and injecting it into fat pockets may be preferred by patients who like natural treatments, informed Alam.
Non-invasive fat reduction has slowly become a sought-after method by patients.
Physical exercise
All we need to do is 20 minutes of weight training to reduce abdominal fat that mostly men tend to gain with growing age, a research suggested.
Combining weight training along with aerobics lead to better results in terms of maintaining a healthy weight and waistline, the findings showed.
Exercise can help you in the fight against internal, visceral fat that you cannot see or feel, but can lead to insulin resistance, diabetes, heart disease and inflammation, suggests a study.
Canola Oil
Scientists have found that canola oil helps in reduction of abdominal fat as Vitamin K and Vitamin E have the ability to dissolve fat.
The oil is also contains Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids and has potential to reduce concentration of triglycerides and thus reduce chances of heart attacks and strokes. It also helps in brain and immunity development and regulation of blood pressure.
Less trans fatty acids and saturated fatty acids in canola oil, reduces the risk of coronary heart disease. There is good and bad cholesterol in our body. If bad cholesterol remains high, it may lead to life-threatening health conditions. Monosaturated fats in canola oil reduces bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol.
Keep an eye on what you eat
Keeping a track of what you eat is one of the best ways to prevent the unwanted belly fat from getting stored in our body.
Counting the calories, keeping a food diary and taking pics of your food are some of the efficient ways. This will help you become more aware of your calorie intake and allow you to change your weight loss diet if needed.
According to multiple studies, people who track their food intake are more likely to achieve their weight loss goals in a short span of time
Milk
Drinking at least two servings of any type of cows' milk everyday is more likely to have lower fasting insulin, indicating better blood sugar control -- risk factors for metabolic syndrome, a study claims.
Metabolic syndrome is defined as the presence of at least three of five conditions that increase the risk of excess belly fat, diabetes, stroke--high blood pressure, heart disease, high levels of blood sugar or triglycerides, and low "good" cholesterol levels.
The results showed that children who had less than one cup of milk per day had significantly higher levels of fasting insulin than those who drank less than or at least two cups a day.
Water consumption
Last but not the least, water is considered to help in achieving a flat stomach. It may help with weight loss by increasing metabolic rate temporarily.
Drinking water may increase the total energy expenditure by up to 100 calories per day for a person. Having water before meals can make one feel fuller, so he/she will ultimately eat fewer calories.
Water also helps in relieving constipation and reducing belly bloating.
[caption id="attachment_324956" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Source: File Photo[/caption]
(With Agency inputs)
Started in 2017, Microsoft's Airband initiative streamlined efforts to set up Internet access across the US.
This time the company is focusing on areas with significant underserved populations and it will start with Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa that have regulatory interest in solving connectivity issues.
"Extending Internet access to 40 million people around the world in the span of three years is a big task -- but it's informed by our ongoing work in connectivity, experience with partners and engagement from development finance institutions," Shelley McKinley-Head of Technology and Corporate Responsibility, Microsoft, wrote in a blog post on Monday.
Earlier, the firm did this on a project-by-project basis spanning Africa, Latin America and Asia.
"In the US, we formalised our connectivity work in 2017 by launching the Airband Initiative, with the goal of bringing broadband connectivity to 3 million people in rural America by July 2022, and today marks the formalisation of the international work within the Initiative," McKinley added.
A five-judge bench headed by Justice N V Ramana also asked the J-K administration to restore Internet services in institutions providing essential services like hospitals and educational places.
The verdict came on a batch of pleas which challenged curbs imposed in Jammu and Kashmir after the Centre's abrogation of provisions of Article 370 on August 5 last year.
(PTI)
"The Internet is good resource for kids to prepare school reports, communicate with teachers and other kids and play interactive games. But online access also comes with risks like inappropriate content, cyber bullying and online predators," the CERT-In said in an advisory.
Using applications and websites, it said, attackers may pose as a child or teen looking to make a new friend.
Also Read: COVID19: Cyberattacks On Firms During Coronavirus Pandemic Rises
"They may entice the child to exchange personal information, such as address and phone number, or encourage kids to call them."
"Parents should be aware of what their kids see and hear on the Internet, who they meet, and what they share about themselves," it said.
The Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) is the federal agency to combat cyber attacks to guard the Indian cyber space.
With the country-wide lockdown in place to contain the spread of coronavirus, schools and teachers have begun offering online lecturers and class work to students even as many are using it for entertainment and extra-curricular activities as going out is not an option.
The cyber security agency also advised some healthy cyber practices that should be followed by children and parents in the cyber world.
For children it suggestions include thinking carefully before posting pictures or videos of yourself. Once you have put a picture of yourself online, most people can see it and may be able to download it, it is not just yours anymore, it said.
Also Read: Cyber Harassment: Supermodel Natasha Suri Files FIR Against Man
It also suggested that one should never reveal personal information, such as address, phone number, or school name or location and use only a screen name and not share passwords other than with their parents.
Also, never respond to a threatening email, message, post, or text and always tell a parent or other trusted adult about any communication or conversation that was scary or hurtful, it said.
The best practices suggested by the agency for parents include setting a rule that the child should browse in the living room or in the presence of an adult and keeping devices in a common area, by locating all computers, TV and devices in a common area so that parents can ensure that the child does not view unsuitable content online.
Consider two-factor authentication for devices and lock the device home screens with a pin. As online communities are here to stay, so consider starting social network safety talks early, it said.
Spend time online together to teach your kids appropriate online behaviour. Going online with your child gives you the opportunity to see the apps or games your child plays, or the videos he watches, it said.
It also advised parents to filter content and avoid the chance of the child encountering inappropriate content by mistake and also adding parental control software to family devices.
Teach the kids that the internet provides anonymity and their online friends may not really be who they say they are and never agree to get together in person with anyone met online without parent approval and/or supervision, it suggested.
Take your child seriously if he or she reports an uncomfortable online exchange, the advisory said.
"Check your credit card and phone bills for unfamiliar account charges," it said.
(With Agency Inputs)
The satellite broadband company will double the internet speed to 300 Mbps this year.
The company currently promises speeds between 50 and 150 Mbps for the Starlink project that plans to deliver high-speed internet through a network of about 12,000 satellites. The company has already put over 1,200 of its Starlink satellites in orbit.
Responding to a follower on Twitter about the launch of the service, Musk said on Friday: “Yeah, should be fully mobile later this year, so you can move it anywhere or use it on an RV or truck in motion. We need a few more satellite launches to achieve compete coverage & some key software upgrades.”
“Service uptime, bandwidth & latency are improving rapidly. Probably out of beta this summer,” he added.
SpaceX has sought approval from regulators in the US to connect its Starlink satellite Internet network to large vehicles including trucks and ships.
The request, filed with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), marks a move to expand the Starlink satellite Internet network from rural areas to other sectors.
Musk has clarified that SpaceX is not connecting the Starlink satellite Internet network to Tesla cars.
“Not connecting Tesla cars to Starlink, as our terminal is much too big. This is for aircraft, ships, large trucks & Rvs,” he said in a tweet.
SpaceX is currently offering the beta version of Starlink on pre-orders in India for a fully refundable deposit of $99.
As of November 2019, 433 million active Internet users in India are of the age of 12+ years old and 71 million are in the age bracket of 5-11 years who access the Internet on the devices of family members, according to the report titled "Digital in India" which is set to be released this week.
Based on data from the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2019, the research also found that nearly 70 per cent of the active Internet population in India is daily users.
"While nine out of 10 Internet users in urban India access the Internet at least once a week, in rural India, there is an addition of 30 million new users who access the internet daily compared to March 2019," said IAMAI.
In India, close to a third of users access the Internet for more than one hour during Sundays/holidays versus a normal working day.
The time spent on the Internet continues to be higher in urban India compared to rural India.
According to the report, with better connectivity, quality of service, and affordability of mobile Internet, there could be an increase in rural consumers spending more time on the internet in future.
Interestingly, the report found that 26 million new female Internet users were added by November 2019 which is a 21 per cent increase compared to that of nine per cent increase in male users.
While the proportion of male Internet users in rural India is more than double than female internet users, however, usage of Internet among females in rural India is growing at a fast clip with 31 per cent increase in Internet population in November 2019 compared to March 2019.
The research showed that mobile continues to remain the device of choice for accessing Internet in both urban and rural regions.
(IANS)