Everything That You Need to Know About Snapping

Marketing and sales plays a major role in a business to get it flourish. Snapchat is one that application that has become popular among the teens within short period of time. You must be amazed by couple of facts about the Snapchat that,

• It was founded in 2011, as a class project at the Stanford University. 
• Over 20 million snaps were sent per day in October 2012. 
• In the mid year of 2013 that is around in the month of June, over 200 million snaps were sent per day.
• Today in the present time around 400 million snaps are sent per day. This is around 1,750 percent in just a year.

Teenagers response to snapchat’s leaked images

Secretly several thousands of snapchat images and videos were hacked by the third party applications but the recent news confirms that the hacked images and videos have been released by the third party online sites after reserving them for long period of time. The most shocking part of the news is that total of over 90,000 personal snapchat pictures and 9,000 snapchat videos of the teenagers have been leaked online. The users of the snapchat were mostly aged between 13 and 17; news is confirmed by the officials.

But can the snapchat alone be questioned for this negligence? Another app that is being investigated is the Snapsave. Snapsave is an android application that allows users to save their snapchat pictures and videos.

The snapsave application

When the representative of snapchat Georgie Casey was questioned about the leaking or snapping of the pictures, he replied, “Our application has nothing to do with it and we have never logged usernames or password and neither the snapchat runs on a cloud setup.”

Another popular app which came into limelight was Snapsaved which is similar to that of snapsave. Snapsaved impersonated the original app which allows the users to save their pictures permanently. This snapping scam has not only affected the common people but its impact has also affected several Hollywood celebrities like Rhianna, Kate Upton, Jennifer Lawrence, and Kim Kardashian. The nude pictures of these popular celebrities were also leaked.

Many users have downloaded the leaked images claiming that the images downloaded by them were not searchable unlike any other images from viralpop.com. Several cases and objections have been logged against the app but the app is constantly declining the responsibility for the snapping of the leaked pictures issuing a statement snapchatters were victimized by their usage of the third party apps to save the pictures, a practice that we prohibited in our terms and conditions of use.”

The popularity of the snapchat among the teenagers can be easily revealed by a fact that universal studio’s production movie; Ouija’s 19 sec promotional trailer was launched in the snapchat as Universal Studio’s have been collaborated with the snapchat. According to the news the movie Ouija got massive opening, topping the charts and made over $20 million in its first week and 75 percent of its visitors were under the age of 25 years and 61 percent of the visitors were female.

3-D-Printing Bio-Electronic Parts

Print Functioning Circuitry from Semiconductors

With 3D printer making a prototype or spare part out of metal or polymer, researchers at Princeton University have taken a step in expanding the technology’s capabilities by creating a way in print functioning electronic circuitry out of semiconductors as well as other materials.

They are also trying ways of combining electronics with biocompatible materials and even living tissues that can pave the way for new implants. According to Michael McAlpine, assistant professor at Princeton states that with cartridges that are full of semiconductor `inks’, it can be possible to print circuits of all types of tasks and to demonstrate it, the researcher printed a light emitting diode within a contact lens.

The display circuitry and processors in computers do not have the provision to 3-D printing since they need several complex components fabricated on the nanoscale though it could be utilised in making medical devices or implants incorporating electronics.

 For instance, researchers could print a scaffold for growing nerve tissue according to McAlpine and suggests that if they could print LEDs with circuits within the scaffold, the light could stimulate the nerves where the electronics could be used to interface with prosthetic arm

3-D Printing – Bio-Electronic Ear

McAlpine had used 3-D printing last year, to make a `bio-electronic’ ear which was made from living cells together with supportive matrix of gooey hydrogel and had conductive ink which was made from a suspension of silver nanoparticles that formed an electrical coil and could receive radio signals.

Thereafter his group worked to expand 3-D printing to semiconducting materials which enables a printed device to process incoming sounds. Semiconductors seem to be the key ingredient of information processing circuits which can be used to detect as well as emit light.

McAlphine’s team, to broaden the 3-D printing palette, built its own printer and several of them in the market presently, are only designed to print plastic The bionic ear, for example had features on the millimetre scale. In order to make LEDs they had to go to the micrometre sale.

Quantum dots were taken to make the LED by the Princeton researcher, semiconducting nanoparticles which emitted bright light in response to electrical current. Besides this, two types of metal were also used to make electrical leads and contacts for the device together with polymers and silicone matrix in order to hold it together.

3-D Printing - Various Development 

While printing with so many inks, the challenge was that they bled into each other and hence the researchers had to ensure to suspend each material in a solvent which would not mix with either of them. His team had made a cube of eight green and orange LEDs which were stacked 2 x 2 x 2 and printed the LEDs on contact lens after they were scanned in order to make the shape of the printed devices matching to the curvature of the lens surface.

McAlpines’ team are not the only ones working in expanding the possibilities of 3-D printing. Chemical engineer, Michael Dickey from North Carolina State University in Raleigh who was not involved with McAlpines’ work, states that `most 3-D printing is like a glorified hot glue gun just printing polymers.

His group developed a liquid metal which can be printed into stretchable, self-healing wires while a professor of biologically inspired engineering at Harvard, Jennifer Lewis has developed 3-D printing for tissue engineering on combining various cell types in complex patterns including blood vessels.

Sony Malware May Be Linked To Other Damaging Attacks

Identification of Technical Evidence at Sony Corp’s Hollywood Studio

Researchers of Cyber security have identified what according to them is technical evidence linking massive breach at Sony Corp’s Hollywood studio with the attacks in South Korea and the Middle East. Kaspersky Lab, a Moscow based security software maker stated that it has uncovered evidence that all the three campaigns could have been launched by one group or it could have been facilitated by an individual organisation who are well versed in working with destructive malware.

Cyber attackers had damaged thousands of computers at Saudi Arabia’s national oil company as well as Qatar’s RasGas with virus known as Shamoon in 2012, which is one of the most destructive campaigns till date and Iran has been blamed by the U.S. officials.

A year ago, over 30,000 PCs were affected at South Korean banks as well as broadcasting companies by similar attack that cyber security researchers were of the belief that it was launched from North Korea. Kurt Baumgartner, Kaspersky researcher informed Reuters that there are `unusually striking similarities’ which are related to the malicious software and techniques in both the campaigns and the Sony attack on Nov. 24 in which a malware was dubbed `Destover’, was used.

Perpetrator Access to Confidential Information 

The attack had crippled the computer systems giving the perpetrator access to confidential employee information which also included the executive salaries. The attack is said to have used a so called wiper virus which can erase data and has the capabilities of bringing down networks with thousands of computers thereby preventing companies in conducting their business.Similarities were described by Baumgartner in depth in a technical blog which was published recently on Kaspersky’s website.

He stated in an interview that `it could be a single actor or it could be that there are trainers or individuals who float across groups’. According to him he states that the evidence indicate that the hackers from North Korea were the cause of the attack on Sony though it is unclear whether they work directly for the government.

Several of the cyber security researchers are not in agreement with Kaspersky’s interpretation of the technical evidence. Symantec Corp. a California based company had stated in a blog post that it also sees similarities between the attacks against Sony and the Shamoon campaign and attributes it to being copied stating that there does not seem to be any evidence that the same group is behind both attacks.

Critical Infrastructure At Risk

Chertoff co-founder and executive chairman of The Chertoff Group, which is a global security consultancy based in Washington commented in an interview that `either for political or economic reasons at some point, sophisticated actors are going to be more willing to use destructive malware.

He adds further that Sony attack shows that critical infrastructure is at risk and the potential for cyber weapons to be deployed continues to increase. Cyber security companies fear for more destructive attacks in the forthcoming months.

Chief executive officer, Ron Gula, for Tenable Network Security Inc., which is based in Columbia, Maryland comments, `if attacks like those against Sony continue against other U.S. companies, 2015 could be a year of disrupted services’.

Smart sports equipment turns phones into coaches

CNN

What if you have just won the match and walking proudly out of the court and meet the other person, who has just lost the match. You think he will also storm out of the court in anger and grab his water bottle but, instead you find him picking up his phone and checking in the mistakes that he had made during the match.

New discovery

Now we have new range of tools available in market which will allow you to check on the speed of a pitch, the arch of a basketball toss, the quality of a serve and the speed of a pitch, the strength of a putt. These tools are not meant for professional players or even touring golfers. These professional level tools are meant for using as part of the casual sports, starting from a beginner’s level to league level. So what makes this gadget so unique? It is the technology behind these tools which is mainly the amalgamation of increasingly affordable and small sensors such as gyroscopes and accelerometers. Every smartphone is loaded with these sensors giving boost to the developing fitness tracker industry. These sensors have already the total experience biking and running by coming up with different apps like Strava and other wearable apps like Fitbit. Now, companies are installing these unique sensors in different kinds of existing sports equipments like running shoes, tennis rackets, golf clubs and basketballs.

Similar technology is being used by Babolat, which has been making tennis rackets for nearly 20 years. Year 2013 saw a completely new kind of racket being launched, which was priced at $ 399 called Pure play drive. This was the very first kind of connected racker having a trio of sensors hidden in the hollow handle of the racket which has the ability of tracking down the vibrations and the movements of the user. The sensors have the unique ability to track the exact spot where the ball touched the racket, the spin was given by the players and the force it hit the racket.

All these statistics are sent to smart phone app that will reflect this through easy diagrams. The app has been equipped to track even the length of the game and even the total shots, misses and hits. Similar types of tools are coming up for different range of sports. Another example will be the 94Fifty Basketball even though looks like real ball, it has the ability to measure the intensity of dribble, the arch of each shot, and the speed as well. Adidas has also developed football which has the ability to collect information about every kick. But the main point to remember is that these sensors are meant for practice matches are not for the team games.

Professional athletes have always relied on the phone camera and now even the beginners are starting to depend on the smart phone cameras for a quick slow motion replay. One of the biggest challenges is that these sensors need to turn the raw data into understandable information. Well now people can expect every action of their sports activities to be tracked with the increasing usage of sensors.

How Are You Planning To Save Money in 2020 with out Checkbooks and PIN Number

Image credit:FNB

I don't think anyone of gives much importance to the checkbook and its mere existence. Frankly speaking, the checkbook can be clearly called out dead. We have practically moved over to cards and no longer depend on carrying out checkbook for any banking or monetary transactions.

If you are among the people who are always worried about someone following you in the ATM or peeping over your shoulder to get a glimpse, then the days of getting worried are coming to an end. You will no longer have to pay high fees to carry out transfers between the banks. As if now, we can see how the banking has improvised over the years.

But in the coming years, we can actually forget about all these problems. We can expect our finance and banking control to take change drastically. According to Gi Fernando, founder and investor of Free Formers, the continuous growth and increasing space in the technological world has started scaring everyone. The company currently works on digital training to unemployed adults and businesses. As per Gi, the technology will take over the banking and finance in such a way that it would be out of the recognizable limits.

So, going by the predictions what are the things that we might not require in the coming 5 years:

Card readers and PIN numbers: 

With increasing number of companies opting for biometrics, clumsy card readers and outdated PIN numbers will become history. So we can certainly expect retinal scan, belt buckles, fingerprints, contact lenses and watches to completely replace our traditional card readers and pin numbers. According to global lead banking analyst at Ernst & Young, Steven Lewis, biometric usage will increase over the years. We can certainly expect eye scanners and fingerprints will become more prevalent. A simple example would be a buyer entering a store and picking up what they want and simply paying through their wearable device.

Banks: 

According to Fernando, even though physical banks will be available in the future but many of them will exist in the coffee shops, cafe and supermarkets and even pop-up stalls. This new banking environment will serve the purpose of making people meet face to face. So, in simple, although there will be bank branches, they will start to look more or less like Apple store.

Checks and Cash: 

It doesn't matter how advanced we get in terms of technology, cash will always have it's place. Even though it will be a long time for cash to fade out, but shopping for clothes and groceries over smartphones and other contactless payment method will gain lot of importance. But the same can't be said for checks as the use of checks have declined over the past couple of years. With the advancement in technology, people might find it hard to completely switch over the financial usage methods.

Wire transfer: 

There have been an increasing number of private companies venturing into the money transferring and the trends can be expected to grow in future as well.