Microsoft Poised to Launch Smartwatch With More Battery Life

Let’s accept it, we’re all gadget freaks. We like to update ourselves on the latest gear on the market, be it the iPhone 6 or the latest Galaxy Grand. ‘Till now we had been stuck to phones and tabs, being unable to move beyond them as technology did not permit more. But the wait is over. The global tech market is about to be hit by a new missile. Yes, you are right; Microsoft has finally announced the launch of the brand new Microsoft SmartWatch. Think about never having to reach into your pocket to check your photos, the date, weather forecasts, and of course, the time! The Microsoft SmartWatch is said to have all the basic home screen features of a Smartphone, and should be compatible to run on different platforms.

The features

The Microsoft SmartWatch is said to be the one stop gadget for fitness freaks. It will keep you updated about your heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and much more. It can be connected to most of the latest Smartphones, and of course the Samsung SmartWatch will be updated through the phone.

The downs

The Microsoft SmartWatch will have a battery life of only two days. Now that’s a bummer. We don’t really want a watch, which goes out of charge in public, do we? The Microsoft SmartWatch runs on Windows 95. So we don’t really expect it to be fast. And in this world of hurry, I for one wouldn’t like a machine that can’t do its work in a flash.

Microsoft has had a history with wearable technology. It had collaborated with a brand called Fossil on Spot, which stood for Smart Personal Objects Technology. This was almost a decade ago and Spot ran into some bad business and the project was scrapped. They were said trying to get the watch to update on the stock or the weather.

The way we see it, the tech world is an oligopolistic market and that means more products. Apple and Samsung are said to have been working on wearable technology which can be connected to their respective Smartphones. The Apple CEO Tim Cook has been heard talking about the iWatch but he has also stated that it will need daily charging.

To look at all these products and observe, one would see a race with time. We are trying to feed the buyers with products that will have no use to their daily lives. Will checking one’s heart rate each day really lead to a better living? Or aren’t the stock updates available on your phone already? Are we deliberately confining human body movements? Or is this the next big leap in the world of technological advancement? The choice is yours to make, I however, will not be falling for this one.

Privacy Apps for Online Anonymity

With the increasing usage of internet and reliability on the web, privacy is the first concern in anyone’s mind. When they get online they want to ensure that they have complete privacy. With the smart phones coming up with apps offering anonymous messaging service, the latest attraction is the privacy protection technology, which is claiming to provide expression, location-based confession, and anonymous discussion platforms. Apart from the advantages these apps are offering, there are some serious issues like bullying platform as well as a false sense of anonymity security


Whisper, Yik Yak or Secret, anonymising social media apps like this are basically identifying all your personal data through the platform they run on. Almost all the apps available require accessing a considerable amount of your personal details as well as location information.

These data are often used for geo-locating the user for location sensitive data and post, but it also tracks you as the unique user of the apps through unique identifiers associated with your posts and data. These unique identifiers are specific to the device like the IP address, usage pattern and the phone’s IMEI number.

These unique identifiers can be easily used for blocking any abusive user, tracking software errors, sending push notifications and enable other features of the phones. On the flip side, we can clearly see that the so called anonymity is nowhere available. The service company of the user can be asked for handing over the user data if required by government or law enforcement. The fact is that all the above mentioned anonymous apps have this information mentioned in their privacy statements.


Contrary to some other apps which make no such claims, apps like Whisper who have claimed to provide anonymity is simply incorrect. These companies can, however lure a person based on their security statements and may cause damage which can come back to haunt the user. The truth is that these apps can’t provide the anonymity that you are looking for. The true meaning of anonymity lies in complete identity and technical anonymity.

Anonymity should be something which doesn’t allow the user to be tracked through geo-location, their IP address, usage patterns and other forms of phone identification. This can be achieved through robust usage of technologies like Tor properly.

Till this is achieved, what one should receive is the pseudonymity through which the app developers promise data accessibility harder than before. Lack of anonymity can certainly help and increase the use of bullying. These apps are targeted towards young people and school going children who are particularly susceptible to bullying.

App like Yik Yak has been working out on ways to tackle bullying by blocking the users who use abusive or offensive language and posts. They have been constantly removing negatively rated posts, but still there is a considerable amount of bullying problem.


The Society is looking for apps which will ensure that their children and young people are safe from bullying by building safeguards in the social media technology. Anonymity is very difficult and today’s society is shaping up technology, which shapes up the society in turn. Users need to be aware of the potential problems before trusting any app offering complete anonymity.

Should Japanese Trust The Nuclear Power Again?

Post the March 2011 disaster situation has never been the same in Japan and among their people. Many of the survivors of this disaster currently have no jobs as well as not sure about their future as well. According to the report published in the Japan Times on 9th Sept 2014, there has been a sudden increase in the number of people committing suicides; this is especially regarding the survivors of the disaster.

The report also highlights the fact that there has been a sudden increase in the stress levels as among the survivors currently being treated at the Minami Hospital. This hospital is located just 23kms away from the site of the disaster.

Not the first time? 

If we can remember, this is not the very first time when people have become the victims of nuclear power disaster. Who can forget the nuclear weapons and their bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki? This incident is still fresh in the mind of many people and it will so strong that it out a fear among the people pertaining to the nuclear weapons.

Nearly after 2 decades when people starting to recover from this disaster, another power plant was built called as Fukushima Daiichii Nuclear Power Plant. According to the Assistant Professor in the Laboratory of Nuclear Reactors at Tokyo University, Tetsuo Sawada, lot of assurance was required to persuade people regarding the safety of the power plant.

They were being informed about the safety and the benefits that the country will get through this new plant. So much so that 1955 saw a law being passed commanding that nuclear power should be used only for peaceful purposes. But when it came to common people, they were still not convinced about the nuclear power based on the new law.

According to the professor, a country’ economy is vital for giving assurance to people to accept nuclear power. Post the plant establishment, the Fukushima region saw a great deal of development and increased number of jobs for the people at that time.

There were many people towards accepting the nuclear plant until the Fukushima disaster. Now even after 4 decades, people still can’t trust the government as well as their feeling towards the nuclear power has evolved into complete fear.

This incident increased the perception of the people pertaining to the risks, accidents, environment pollution and complete change in opinion about the law and policy on nuclear energy.

According to the study by Noriko Iwai, people relate earthquake risk with that of nuclear plant distance. If a person thinks that the area they stay has low earthquake risk and live close to the plant, then they object to the abolishment of the power plant.

As per the chief priest in Fukujuji temple, Miharu Town, Fukushima Prefecture, Sokyu Genyu, since 80% of the Fukushima residents are objecting to the idea of power plants, then the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and the Daini nuclear power plant needs to be shut down. But according to the Government and the local scientists, Fukushima is completely safe.

Currently the local scientists and doctors are investing their time to educate the people that the radiation at Fukushima is no longer harmful and will not have any impact on their health. The disaster was not about the effects of nuclear radiation, but was about the shaken trust in the people about the technology.

Although it’s been 3 years since the disaster, the PM of Japan, Shinzo Abe is very keen to start their nuclear power plants. Reopening of the Sendai power plant has been approved by Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority for 2015.

Problems of Apple Users to Use AirPrint through iOS

The iOS is a new mobile operating system made by Apple Inc. and allocated mainly for Apple’s hardware. It is such an operating system, which controls a number of the iDevices of company. Originally launched in 2007 mainly for the iPhone, it is extended to hold up other Apple devices for example the iPod or iPad.

Introduction of AirPrint-

In one of the current version of the operating system of iOS, Apple has introduced a new item called AirPrint. It is made to bring an innate printing support to the platform of iOS and this can be available on version 4.2 or also in some other devices for example, the iPhone, or the iPad. There are some steps that should be followed to use this AirPrint to any type of printer that is linked to a Windows computer, comprising Windows server. With the help AirPrint, it seems simple to get full quality image and file printing from the iOS as well as OS X applications. AirPrint is prepared into most accepted printer systems. The features comprise easy discovery, mechanical media choice, and enterprise-class options.

Problems of the Users

However, though some users claimed that iOS is quite useful to them, there are some others who reported that this new operating system of Apple has caused a number of troubles in case of AirPrint, a tool that lets the iOS to print over Wi-Fi. The problem does not allow the users to print.

From the various reviews on the page of Apple’s forum, it is known from the customer that whenever they update they update their iPhone or their handsets to the operating system they found an error message, that is, URF error and consequently the printing gets halted. In the opinion of most of the users, AirPrint functions with devices that are running through iOS 7.

An online discussion with a Support representative of Apple did very little to solve the current problems of AirPrint. The Apple agent has stated that AirPrint is supposed to work well, and thus, the users must get in touch with AppleCare or they can arrange a meeting with the Apple Genius if they are facing difficulties with the wireless printing. Though, Apple has not given a satisfactory response to the request, a British-American website for news, on the other hand, quoted a statement on a discussion panel, which denotes that Apple might fix the trouble with its approaching version of iOS 8.1

However, there could be a hopeful side in this context. On one of discussion forum about Apple , it is said that the company is already aware of the faults and announced that iOS 8.1 will faults very soon.


There are also some other complaints that a number of printers, yet listed under the list of some popular models of Apple are no longer well suited with the Airprint when they update iOS 8. Some other users reported that the printer itself perhaps needs some modifications of the firmware to work properly with iOS 8.

The Outcome of Blackberry’s Plan

The device manufacturer BlackBerry decides to get closer to its potential clients while creating strengths that extend far beyond the cell phone devices into security.A part of the plan for the growth of the company is to open up the APIs in order that customers can create applications that use BES and many other BlackBerry items.

The company is moreover functioning on a set of controlled principles for communications with the devices by means of BES. It is observed that devices employed in a range of industries previously run QNX, and thus incorporation of BES as a solution would be quite simple

Opinions of John Chen

One of the facts that are the most noticeable about new CEO of BlackBerry John Chen is that he is very frank regarding some of the challenges that can be faced by his company.

In a discussion with The Financial Times, John said that there is only fifty percent chance of success about the comeback plan of BlackBerry and the whole thing depends on how he and his associates perform.

As a whole, Chen gave an optimistic attitude in the conference and elucidated the need to uphold a positive approach in the face of discouraging odds. He stated that losing the major commercial and government clients has definitely hurt confidence but he also declared that his aim was to make certain that

BlackBerry maintained the new customers it acquired by delivering better services as well as products and by concentrating on the heritage by delivering continuous mobile solutions.Chen anticipates getting BlackBerry’s finances stable by the following year and it would be always profitable for the company.

In accordance with the International Data Corporation only some companies have dropped as far and as quick as BlackBerry has. But at present the percentage is below one both domestically and internationally.

A researcher, named YouGov have noticed that the number of people who found the device favorable got gradually decreased and has become almost half since the year 2012.

Comeback plan of Blackberry-

To revive the brand of BlackBerry brand is a really a great challenge to the company. The new plan of the company is to provide a great favor in the sectors such as healthcare, administration and insurance, who want a tool.

And according to Christoph Becker is the most potent device. So far, the largest move of Blackberry has been the release of Passport, which a model pf 3.6-inch in width with a square-like display. The technology editor of Mashable, Pete Pachal regarded the device to be very strange but also appreciate it on the other hand.

The market seems to be attempting to make a development of the Passport. The company sold 200000 Passports on the very first day and hopes to deal more in case of BlackBerry 10 at a quite cheaper rate.