Sunday, 21 July 2013
A Quick Guide to Keeping Your Windows 8 Computer Free From Spyware
You've just bought a new computer that runs Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system. Everything's going great and smoothly: your new PC runs fast and doesn't overtly display any problems. Then, one day, all of that suddenly changes. Your PC is noticeably slower, and you abruptly notice that you have apparently installed some unwanted programs that you never remembered installing in the first place. What just happened? Simply, you were just victimized with some unwanted spyware intrusion on your computer. Here's how to keep your Windows 8 computer free from this scourge.
Saturday, 20 July 2013
Telescopic contact lenses magnify objects 2.8 times
You will not believe your eyes! Binoculars and other telescopes will be forgotten in a few years. Instead, it could be that we all have the ability to use telescopic lenses and thus significantly improve your vision, up to 2.8 times more than normal! A team of researchers from the Agency for advanced research projects of American Defense (DARPA) has published a study proposing the production of a new type of lens. Better than contact lenses to replace corrective lenses, these lenses no larger than 1 .17 mm can magnify the view up to 2.8 times more than normal. Passing on the outer edges of the lens, the light will "bounce" on a series of microscopic aluminum mirrors before being sent to the back of the retina, where the natural eye sensors receive the image to send to the brain. Tunnel vision may be possible by combining the use of such lenses of the 3D glasses to change the bias to the center of the lenses. These lenses are mainly thought to be used by older people whose eyesight fades quickly. If they seem very promising, they are still a bit far from ready. It should also address some issues such as image quality and especially the choice of materials that, under certain conditions, are not compatible with wearing over long periods. In any case, it makes us eager to see how these lenses can improve our vision and allow us to see beyond our eyes not currently allow. Have a view rivaling that of a raptor, a lynx or even Superman, it would be great!
Samsung unveils 20-megapixel WB110 bridge camera
Samsung's new bridge camera WB110 has a large zoom range and with an optical image stabilizer - for videos, it is sufficient. Samsung WB110: The bridge camera has a 26x zoom and optical image stabilizer. The lens Samsung WB110 features a 26x zoom. Converted into small format extends the focal length of 22.3 to 579.8 millimeters. These dimensions of the built optical image stabilizer are very important because such large focal lengths, no one can hold it in hand without aids such as a stand without shaking. Without stabilizer, the image section will always be in motion slightly. Samsung designed the WB110 from a CCD sensor to its size but the manufacturer makes no details yet. As information for now remains only the resolution of 20.2 megapixels. This would easily be enough for full HD video, but nevertheless, the Koreans have decided that the bridge camera captures only video in HD resolution. The screen on the back of the WB110 is three inches tall, and automatically adjusts its brightness to the lighting conditions of the environment. The light sensitivity of the camera ranges from ISO 80 to ISO 3200. In addition to "smart" recording programs, the bridge camera also holds a Live Panorama function. Samsung plans to release WB110 from July 2013 in market in two colours namely black and red. The suggested retail price is 229 Euros.
Oracle launches 89 patches
On the occasion of its Critical Patch Update, the editor corrects mass, including pourFusion, MySQL and Solaris. As usual, Oracle does not do things by half during its quarterly security. This time, it is not less than 89 patches that are available to address a multitude of flaws in its various products. Nearly half of these patches are considered critical, they fix vulnerabilities that can allow a takeover by a remote attacker. Oracle therefore recommends immediate updates. MySQL products particularly Solaris operating system are particularly spoiled with 33 patches. For the first, the most critical vulnerabilities affect the XML parser and the Outside In particular component used by Microsoft Exchange Server. For the second, they patched the holes in the TCP / IP and iSCSI protocol management. They also retain 21 patches (including 16 critical) for Fusion Middleware. Oracle Enterprise Manager Database families, Hyperion, E-Business and PeopleSoft are also concerned. Recall that the editor said earlier this year that the updates for Java will now be monthly from October. Meanwhile, the general public must now juggle; updates are available almost daily to protect their Web browsers zero-day vulnerabilities.
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
H.625 a next generation video compression solution
Very high resolutions videos (4K, 8K ...) are on the horizon, the current compression solutions no longer meet the requirements in near future. One of the most commonly used, the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding), if it remains effective with Full HD 1080p, but it is not fully capable and fast enough to decode 4k videos. Earlier this year, the characteristics of a new standard for video encoding have been ratified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It is called MPEG-2 or H part H.265/HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) codec is intended to provide a comparable image quality H.264, with a reduced rate by half.
There are two ways to decode a video stream 4K Ultra HD; they are through a software-only solution or use a DSP (Digital Signal Processor or math coprocessor) specialized, often the GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), which will charge thousands of calculations to do. The hardware solution is the most efficient and faster. But it is more difficult to integrate into a mobile platform as an iPad or iPhone, because it will consume resources, including power and generate more heat. The 800 CPU Snapdragon Qualcomm recently introduced one of the most advanced solutions for H.265 video decoding. But none of this component based Smartphone is still available. Sony has announced a Smartphone that uses it, but the Xperia Z Full HD Ultra will be available in September. Rumor has it that Samsung sells soon a Snapdragon S4 Galaxy 800's version, but it is not known when it will be released out. Another competitor announced as Smartphone that can play H.265 videos, a model with a ZTE Tegra 4. He seems to have been delayed because announced for the first half of 2013, it is still not available. The only currently available and mobile terminal using the NVIDIA Tegra 4 is a "Tablet" REGZA Tablet AT703 by Toshiba has released in Japan. Unfortunately, the Japanese manufacturer seems to have passed on the H.265 video because it is not equipped with a HEVC/H.265 player.
One may wonder whether this is due to the relative lack of current or H.265 encoded videos in the case of concerns about the battery life. The software solutions side, many companies are currently working on projects or Player SDK (software development kit) allows developers to use the display H.265 video in their applications. But it is currently mainly available as beta, (i.e.) programs not yet finalized and available. IPhone / iPad especially, many companies around the world are working on solutions. Elecard Russian, for example, developed an SDK for different operating systems (iOS / Android / Windows Phone etc) that allow an ARM processor based mobile devices to play videos H.265/HEVC. German Rovi also announced Main Concept SDK HEVC for several OS including Linux, iOS, and Android. At IBC 2012, demos of the SDK were presented. In China, Strongene developing in partnership with Beijing University HEVC/H.265 a solution called xHEVC. A demo of a client for iPhone and iPad is available for download. And in Japan, NTT DoCoMo announced that its technology to disband read HEVC/H.265 videos.
The first really usable solutions will be created before the end of this year. All major companies are working on projects (encoders or decoders, player, system for H.265 video playback software layers etc) companies that develop operating systems (Google, Microsoft ...) first, and specialists in compression, as the French ATEME that sell solutions encoding or decoding video streams to many TV channels and professional dissemination of content on the Net. Apple's side, the engineers are working on video codecs for QuickTime, which will be built into the operating system. Will it be provided to all codecs owners of Mac OS X, or will he buy as additional codecs, as time QuickTime Pro? This will depend on how Apple sees H.265. If California is seen as a successor to H.264, i.e. as a mainstream solution that will gradually replace the majority of the H.264 encoded video on the Net, there is a good chance it is proposed free of charge to all users of Mac OS X. For iOS devices, a software solution would drive to recent iPad and iPhone (because they have a powerful CPU to decode H.265 format) can play H.265 videos with a simple system update. Apple will probably end up offering iPhone and iPad with a hardware solution to encode and decode this format with more performance than a software solution. The D5500 with the PowerVR presented there might just be a welcome applicant. This GPU decoding HEVC/H.265 videos and manages 4K. No mobile phone manufacturer has not yet announced its use so for. It will be remembered, in fact, Apple has established close relations with the British VideoLogic / Imagination, using its chips for many models of its products since the days of the Apple II GS graphics solutions up to its iPhone and iPad. In addition, Apple is one of the investors VideoLogic / Imagination, who in recent years increased its purchases of action to have almost 10% of the company.
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