Prize Bond Rs,7500 Draw on
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Monday, 22 July 2013
Prize Bond Rs,7500 Draw Guess Hints, and Results
Prize Bond Rs,25000 Draw Guess Hints, and Results
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BBC to Launch Five New HD Channels
 Posted: 20 Jul 2013 05:00 AM PDT NASA has announced that it has successfully tested a 3D printed part for a rocket engine. The technique called selective laser melting (SLM) was used and resulted in the part being produced quicker and cheaper. The California based Aerojet Rocketdyne were able to make an injector component, a part that is used to deliver liquid oxygen and hydrogen gas to an engine’s combustion chamber.  Using the SLM method, a computer-designed object is turned into a real part by using high-powered laser beams that melt and fuse thin layers of metallic powders into the designed shape. According to NASA an injector component would normally take a year to make but by using this technique, they have been able to cut production time to less than four months and reduce the cost by more than 70 per cent. The test part is not full scale, it is smaller than what would normally be used in a full-size rocket but it is still big enough to give proof that the part is able to withstand the pressure and heat it would be exposed to. “Nasa recognises that on Earth and potentially in space, additive manufacturing can be game-changing for new mission opportunities, significantly reducing production time and cost by ‘printing’ tools, engine parts or even entire spacecraft,” said Michael Gazarik, Nasa’s associate administrator for space technology. The space agency are also exploring other techniques. It has asked researches at Washington University to explore the possibilites of producing 3D printed objects from lunar rocks. It is also testing a process called electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3), which uses a computer controlled electron beam gun in a vacuum that then welds metal wires into complex shapes and patterns. All these techniques are making steps towards NASA’s astronauts being able to produce spare parts in space, thus saving more time and money during space exploration. |
BBC to Launch Five New HD Channels Posted: 20 Jul 2013 03:00 AM PDT The BBC has announced it plans to launch five new high definition channels by early next year. There will be High Definition versions of BBC News, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC Three and BBC Four. These channels will be available over rooftop aerials via Freeview receivers as well as cable and satellite services. This news coincides with the regulator Ofcom‘s announcement that is making it possible to launch a total of 10 new HD channels using airwaves freed up by the switch off of the old analogue TV signals. ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 had no statement at this time as to whether they intended to take advantage of Ofcom’s move. Surprisingly BSkyB said it had no plans to launch an HD service on Freeview. BBC’s director general Tony Hall said “BBC One HD and BBC Two HD have already proved to be highly valued by our audiences and I’m delighted that we’re able to follow this with the launch of five new subscription-free BBC HD channels by early 2014…These new channels will allow us to showcase more of our programming at its very best.” Currently there are four HD channels offered over Freeview, which launched its High Definition service in 2010. They are BBC One HD, BBC Two HD, ITV HD and Channel 4 HD. These include variants of the BBC One HD service for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  Two of the BBC’s new channels, BBC Three HD and CBBC HD, will utilise existing unused capacity, and CBeebies HD and BBC Four HD will share a channel since they will not be broadcast at the same time. As a result there is still the potential for up to a further eight new HD channels to be offered over Freeview as a result of Ofcom’s move. Transmission company Arqiva will provide the infrastructure behind the new Freeview services, having being awarded a licence to do so by the regulator. It will handle other applications for the added capacity. The company has indicated that up to 70% of the UK population should be able to receive the new channels over their aerials. The 550-606MHz spectrum band being used was freed up as a result of the UK’s digital TV switchover, which was completed last year. Ofcom has said it reserves the right to take back the bandwidth from December 2018 if it needs to prevent a “capacity crunch” caused by the roll-out of future mobile broadband services. The BBC has indicated it also wants to launch English regional variants of its existing BBC One HD service as well as Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland editions of BBC Two HD. This would not need any of the new capacity, it would, however, need to be approved by the BBC Trust. Currently more than 50% of homes in the United Kingdom are already HD-enabled. The BBC said it expected that figure to grow a further 40% to around 90% by 2019. |
UN Warns on Mobile Cybersecurity Bugs to Prevent Attacks
BOSTON — A United Nations group that advises nations on cybersecurity plans to send out an alert about significant vulnerabilities in mobile phone technology that could potentially enable hackers to remotely attack at least half a billion phones.
The bug, discovered by German firm, allows hackers to remotely gain control of and also clone certain mobile SIM cards.
The bug, discovered by German firm, allows hackers to remotely gain control of and also clone certain mobile SIM cards.
Hackers could use compromised SIMs to commit financial crimes or engage in electronic espionage, according to Berlin's Security Research Labs, which will describe the vulnerabilities at the Black Hat hacking conference that opens in Las Vegas on July 31.
The U.N.'s Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union, which has reviewed the research, described it as "hugely significant."
"These findings show us where we could be heading in terms of cybersecurity risks," ITU Secretary General Hamadoun Touré told Reuters.
He said the agency would notify telecommunications regulators and other government agencies in nearly 200 countries about the potential threat and also reach out to hundreds of mobile companies, academics and other industry experts.
A spokeswoman for the GSMA, which represents nearly 800 mobile operators worldwide, said it also reviewed the research.
"We have been able to consider the implications and provide guidance to those network operators and SIM vendors that may be impacted," said GSMA spokeswoman Claire Cranton.
Nicole Smith, a spokeswoman for Gemalto NV, the world's biggest maker of SIM cards, said her company supported GSMA's response.
"Our policy is to refrain from commenting on details relating to our customers' operations," she said.
Becoming the SIM
Cracking SIM cards has long been the Holy Grail of hackers because the tiny devices are located in phones and allow operators to identify and authenticate subscribers as they use networks.
Karsten Nohl, the chief scientist who led the research team and will reveal the details at Black Hat, said the hacking only works on SIMs that use an old encryption technology known as DES. The technology is still used on at least one out of eight SIMs, or a minimum of 500 million phones, according to Nohl.
The ITU estimates some 6 billion mobile phones are in use worldwide. It plans to work with the industry to identify how to protect vulnerable devices from attack, Touré said.
Once a hacker copies a SIM, it can be used to make calls and send text messages impersonating the owner of the phone, said Nohl, who has a doctorate in computer engineering from the University of Virginia.
"We become the SIM card. We can do anything the normal phone users can do," Nohl said in a phone interview. "If you have a MasterCard number or PayPal data on the phone, we get that too."
IPhone, Android, BlackBerry
The mobile industry has spent several decades defining common identification and security standards for SIMs to protect data for mobile payment systems and credit card numbers. SIMs are also capable of running apps.
Nohl said Security Research Labs found mobile operators in many countries whose phones were vulnerable, but declined to identify them. He said mobile phone users in Africa could be among the most vulnerable because banking is widely done via mobile payment systems with credentials stored on SIMs.
All types of phones are vulnerable, including iPhones from Apple Inc, phones that run Google Inc's Android software and BlackBerry Ltd smartphones, he said.
BlackBerry's director of security response and threat analysis, Adrian Stone, said in a statement that his company proposed new SIM card standards last year to protect against the types of attacks described by Nohl, which the GSMA has adopted and advised members to implement.
Apple and Google declined comment.
CTIA, a U.S. mobile industry trade group based in Washington, D.C., said the new research likely posed no immediate threat.
"We understand the vulnerability and are working on it," said CTIA Vice President John Marinho. "This is not what hackers are focused on. This does not seem to be something they are exploiting."
VOA
July 21, 2013
QR Code Hacks Google Glass
 Posted: 21 Jul 2013 07:00 AM PDT Another security weakness has been found with Google Glass. Using a QR code, security analysts at Lookout were able to force the Glass device to perform certain actions, such as sharing a user's screen or joining wireless networks, without the user’s knowledge. Google Glass is set to automatically process any QR code that the device's camera detects; this is to help achieve the minimalistic design and interface. The moment Glass recognizes the command that the QR code contains, Glass executes it. All a hacker has to do is create malicious QR codes that commands Glass to do any number of actions. This is where Lookout created a QR code that forced Glass to initiate a Glass-cast, which is what a Google Glass user can see with a device connected via Bluetooth, without the user knowing. Theoretically, this could allow a hacker to completely spy on everything someone sees, including personal information and data, such as an ATM PIN or another secure data password. Lookout pointed out to PC Mag that this is not too threatening as it first appears to be, as a hacker would need physical access to a pair of Google Glass in order to pair a device with Bluetooth. The hacker would also have remain pretty close to the user to keep getting the feed. The QR code designed to force Glass to connect to Wi-Fi network, however, is a much more troubling problem. A hacker could monitor everything a user does with Glass while connected that network or even hack the device completely. For those of you unfamiliar with QR codes, they are those squares with black pixels that can be scanned with a smartphone or similar device. These are becoming more and more common on advertisements. A hacker could create one, print and copy it and post the copies anywhere. Someone could easily be tricked into scanning the code and giving up control of their Glass. Finding security issues has been an important part of the Explorer Edition of Google Glass and Google has been quick to fix these issues. In other news; another hacker successfully jail broke Google Glass a few months ago in May and pointed out some very serious security flaws that Google was able to address. Just two weeks after Lookout presented this QR code vulnerability to Google, the company updated Glass to prevent the device from automatically executing a command. Still, Google did not see QR codes as a potential avenue for an attack. Users should only scan a code if they know what it is going to do, right? Try telling the auto feature of QR scanning in Glass that! |
Rumour: Apple In Talks to Buy Xbox Kinect Sensor Company Primesense Posted: 21 Jul 2013 03:00 AM PDT Industry leader Apple is reportedly looking to acquire the Israeli fabless semiconductor company Primesense. According to local newspaper Calcalist, the Cupertino company has made an offer around the $280 million mark, to buy the company responsible for the 3D sensor found in Microsoft’s Kinect devices, following discussions over the embedding of its technology inside future Apple products.  In the past, Primsense worked with Microsoft to include its technology, chips, and designs inside the first Kinect accessory for the Xbox 360 games console. Primesense’s 3D-scanning technology is used in more than 20 million devices around the world, including sensors that can be used in both smartphones and tablets. Primesense technology can also be found in new portable scanners which are capable of generating finely detailed color 3D models of interior spaces. This is not the first time Apple has looked to purchasing an Israeli component maker. Back in January 2012, the company confirmed it had acquired the flash storage company Anobit in a deal worth in the region of $400 Million. While Primesense in the past, has been focused on the gaming world and what it encompasses i.e. technology surrounding the gaming environment, the company’s more recent projects include working with technology forerunners ASUS to provide the 3D sensing technology for its WAVI Xtion PC which allows you to enjoy PC content on the big screen with a wave of your hands through the Xition Portal, for intuitive entertainment in the living room. The future development of 3D motion-activated games are also rumoured and the company has also collaborated with various companies in the retail field as well as various industries in the fields of robotics and healthcare. |
Saturday, 20 July 2013
Nokia Lumia 1020 Price.
| Nokia Lumia 1020 Price in Pakistan. |
The New Nokia Lumia 1020 Posted: 13 Jul 2013 04:00 AM PDT Nokia have unveiled a new handset, the Lumia 1020, which boasts a feature that allows users to zoom in and reframe their photos without the risk of decreasing image quality. The Lumia 1020 comes with a 41-megapixel sensor and offers highly detailed photos at up to 38MP resolution. This isn’t the first time Nokia have used a 41-megapixel sensor in a phone. The Pureview 808 was launched last year but it did not appeal to many people, mainly due to the fact that it was running the old Symbian operating system. However, Nokia’s new handset runs on Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. With more than 160,000 apps, hopefully it will prove more popular. It is not just photos that benefit from the extra resolution, but also the video recording capabilites. The user can zoom in four times while recording a 1080p high definition video and six times in a 720P version,without losing any quality. To help prevent shaky videos, the lens system has been mounted on ball bearings. A gyroscope and motors help to counteract any movement so the overall finish is alot clearer and more stable. What The Analysts Have to SayNokia have said that the handset is perfect for people who want to “shoot first,zoom later”. But with stiff competition from Samsung and Apple, is it enough to keep pace?The market research company IDC carried out a survey of smartphone owners to determine what drove them to purchase a particular handset. Of the 23 features suggested, camera resolution came 15th in the list, with people placing more importance on audio quality, battery life, device security and browsing. This suggests that perhaps the handset won’t be the most popular. Nokia have priced the Lumia 1020 at $300, on top of a two year contract. This high price tag will no doubt mean the handset will undergo some scrutiny to make sure it lives up to the cost of purchase. Francisco Jeronimo, a mobile phone analyst at IDC said that “For an amateur or professional photographer who needs a quality camera on the move, this is the best option available on a smartphone. But to be able to compete with Apple and Samsung, Nokia will need to price it aggressively and to increase activities in the stores to show consumers how much better the camera performs against the competition.” “Failing that, the Nokia Lumia 1020 will become a niche product for a niche segment – professional mobile photographers.” The Lumia 1020 goes on sale in the US on July 26, while parts of Europe and China can expect a release date before September. |
WiFi 802.11ac: What You Need To Know Posted: 13 Jul 2013 03:00 AM PDT Recently 802.11ac WiFi devices have started to emerge, but just what is WiFi 802.11ac and How fast is it? 802.11ac is a supercharged version of 802.11n, which is the current WiFi standard, offering link speeds ranging from 433 megabits-per-second (Mbps), through to multiple gigabits per second. To achieve these speeds which are dozens of times faster than 802.11n, 802.11ac works exclusively in the 5GHz band, uses a huge amount of bandwidth (80 or 160MHz) and operates in up to eight spatial streams (MIMO) and a utilizes technology called beamforming.  How 802.11ac works: At its core, 802.11ac is essentially an updated version of 802.11n, which itself introduced some very exciting technologies that brought massive speed boosts over 802.11a and g. Whereas 802.11n had support for four spatial streams (4×4 MIMO) and a channel width of 40MHz, 802.11ac can use eight spatial streams and has channels up to 80MHz wide, which can be combined to make 160MHz channels. Even if everything else remained the same, this means that 802.11n has 8x160MHz of spectral bandwidth to play with, vs. 4x40MHz, this is a huge difference that allows 802.11n to squeeze vast amounts of data across the spectrum. 802.11ac introduces 256-QAM modulation (an increase from 64-QAM in 802.11n), which fits 256 different signals over the same frequency by shifting each signal to a slightly different phase. In theory, this quadruples the spectral efficiency of 802.11ac over 802.11n. Spectral efficiency is a measure of how well a given wireless protocol/modulation/multiplexing technique uses the bandwidth available to it. In the 5GHz band, where channels are fairly wide (20MHz+), spectral efficiency is not so important; in the cellular or mobile bands though, channels are often 5MHz wide, which makes spectral efficiency very important. 802.11ac also introduces standardised beamforming (802.11n was non-standardized, which made interoperability an issue). Beamforming is essentially transmitting radio signals in such a way that they are directed at a specific device. This can increase throughput and also reduce power consumption. Beamforming can be done with smart antennae that physically move to track the device, or by modulating the amplitude and phase of the signals so that they destructively interfere with each other, leaving just a narrow, not-interfered beam. 802.11n uses this second method, which can be implemented by both routers and mobile devices. Finally, 802.11ac is fully backwards compatible with 802.11n and 802.11g, this means you can buy an 802.11ac router today and it will work with your older WiFi devices. Just how fast is WiFi 802.11ac? Well there are two answers: the theoretical max speed that can be achieved in the laboratory, and the practical max speed that we will receive at home or in the office, surrounded by lots of signal altering obstacles. The theoretical max speed of 802.11ac is eight 160MHz 256-QAM channels, each of which are capable of 866.7Mbps — a total of 6,933Mbps, this is slightly short of 7Gbps. That's a transfer rate of 900 megabytes per second! which is more than you can squeeze down a SATA 3 link. In the real world, due to channel contention, you probably won't get more than two or three 160MHz channels, so the max speed comes down to somewhere between 1.7Gbps and 2.5Gbps. Compare this with 802.11n's max theoretical speed, which was 600Mbps. |
New Nokia Lumia 1020 in Pakistan.
The New Nokia Lumia 1020 Posted: 13 Jul 2013 04:00 AM PDT Nokia have unveiled a new handset, the Lumia 1020, which boasts a feature that allows users to zoom in and reframe their photos without the risk of decreasing image quality. The Lumia 1020 comes with a 41-megapixel sensor and offers highly detailed photos at up to 38MP resolution. This isn’t the first time Nokia have used a 41-megapixel sensor in a phone. The Pureview 808 was launched last year but it did not appeal to many people, mainly due to the fact that it was running the old Symbian operating system. However, Nokia’s new handset runs on Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. With more than 160,000 apps, hopefully it will prove more popular. It is not just photos that benefit from the extra resolution, but also the video recording capabilites. The user can zoom in four times while recording a 1080p high definition video and six times in a 720P version,without losing any quality. To help prevent shaky videos, the lens system has been mounted on ball bearings. A gyroscope and motors help to counteract any movement so the overall finish is alot clearer and more stable. What The Analysts Have to SayNokia have said that the handset is perfect for people who want to “shoot first,zoom later”. But with stiff competition from Samsung and Apple, is it enough to keep pace?The market research company IDC carried out a survey of smartphone owners to determine what drove them to purchase a particular handset. Of the 23 features suggested, camera resolution came 15th in the list, with people placing more importance on audio quality, battery life, device security and browsing. This suggests that perhaps the handset won’t be the most popular. Nokia have priced the Lumia 1020 at $300, on top of a two year contract. This high price tag will no doubt mean the handset will undergo some scrutiny to make sure it lives up to the cost of purchase. Francisco Jeronimo, a mobile phone analyst at IDC said that “For an amateur or professional photographer who needs a quality camera on the move, this is the best option available on a smartphone. But to be able to compete with Apple and Samsung, Nokia will need to price it aggressively and to increase activities in the stores to show consumers how much better the camera performs against the competition.” “Failing that, the Nokia Lumia 1020 will become a niche product for a niche segment – professional mobile photographers.” The Lumia 1020 goes on sale in the US on July 26, while parts of Europe and China can expect a release date before September. |
WiFi 802.11ac: What You Need To Know Posted: 13 Jul 2013 03:00 AM PDT Recently 802.11ac WiFi devices have started to emerge, but just what is WiFi 802.11ac and How fast is it? 802.11ac is a supercharged version of 802.11n, which is the current WiFi standard, offering link speeds ranging from 433 megabits-per-second (Mbps), through to multiple gigabits per second. To achieve these speeds which are dozens of times faster than 802.11n, 802.11ac works exclusively in the 5GHz band, uses a huge amount of bandwidth (80 or 160MHz) and operates in up to eight spatial streams (MIMO) and a utilizes technology called beamforming. How 802.11ac works: At its core, 802.11ac is essentially an updated version of 802.11n, which itself introduced some very exciting technologies that brought massive speed boosts over 802.11a and g. Whereas 802.11n had support for four spatial streams (4×4 MIMO) and a channel width of 40MHz, 802.11ac can use eight spatial streams and has channels up to 80MHz wide, which can be combined to make 160MHz channels. Even if everything else remained the same, this means that 802.11n has 8x160MHz of spectral bandwidth to play with, vs. 4x40MHz, this is a huge difference that allows 802.11n to squeeze vast amounts of data across the spectrum. 802.11ac introduces 256-QAM modulation (an increase from 64-QAM in 802.11n), which fits 256 different signals over the same frequency by shifting each signal to a slightly different phase. In theory, this quadruples the spectral efficiency of 802.11ac over 802.11n. Spectral efficiency is a measure of how well a given wireless protocol/modulation/multiplexing technique uses the bandwidth available to it. In the 5GHz band, where channels are fairly wide (20MHz+), spectral efficiency is not so important; in the cellular or mobile bands though, channels are often 5MHz wide, which makes spectral efficiency very important. 802.11ac also introduces standardised beamforming (802.11n was non-standardized, which made interoperability an issue). Beamforming is essentially transmitting radio signals in such a way that they are directed at a specific device. This can increase throughput and also reduce power consumption. Beamforming can be done with smart antennae that physically move to track the device, or by modulating the amplitude and phase of the signals so that they destructively interfere with each other, leaving just a narrow, not-interfered beam. 802.11n uses this second method, which can be implemented by both routers and mobile devices. Finally, 802.11ac is fully backwards compatible with 802.11n and 802.11g, this means you can buy an 802.11ac router today and it will work with your older WiFi devices. Just how fast is WiFi 802.11ac? Well there are two answers: the theoretical max speed that can be achieved in the laboratory, and the practical max speed that we will receive at home or in the office, surrounded by lots of signal altering obstacles. The theoretical max speed of 802.11ac is eight 160MHz 256-QAM channels, each of which are capable of 866.7Mbps — a total of 6,933Mbps, this is slightly short of 7Gbps. That's a transfer rate of 900 megabytes per second! which is more than you can squeeze down a SATA 3 link. In the real world, due to channel contention, you probably won't get more than two or three 160MHz channels, so the max speed comes down to somewhere between 1.7Gbps and 2.5Gbps. Compare this with 802.11n's max theoretical speed, which was 600Mbps. |
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