How to Make Google Forget Your Most Embarrassing Searches

My Activity – A Timeline showing Google’s Stockpile of User

With each search one tends to make or YouTube video watched, Google tends to know you much better while the search giant quietly collects information for a personalized profile it seems to use in serving you targeted ads. However a new tool known as My Activity makes it stress-free than ever to see what information Google seems to be stockpiling regarding the user and delete thing which you would rather forget. Some insight has been provided to bring about an awareness regarding this new tool and how it could be helpful in managing your privacy.

`My Activity’ is basically a timeline which shows what Google has been saving regarding your online activities going back as far as Google has been tracking them which is found at myactivitygoolge.com. When you have arrive here, you will find a big chronological list of things done using Google’s service, the searches done, videos watched on YouTube etc. You could also search through the data trove to check up a specific record or activity which Google has save such as the time you searched for a particular information or filter the timeline by data or type of activity.

Easy to Erase Google’s collected data

If you do not prefer Google recalling your search or when you have indulged in watching video, it is easy to erase. At first you need to find the record intending to delete, which is made simple with the search bar towards the top of the page. Once you have located your online record in the timeline, you could open a little menu by clicking on the three vertical dots towards the right side of the record. Opt for delete choice on the menu and Google will forget it.

You could also delete the things in bulk by clicking on the three dot menu at the top of the timeline and select `delete activity by’ and choose a date range to delete on the next page. If desiring to have a complete blank slate, you could select the `All Time’ option. You could also stop Google’s data collection whenever you desire. In order to lock things down, you could go to myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols wherein you could tell Google to stop saving information regarding things like your searchers, YouTube watching habits and location history.

Google’s Privacy Checkup

If you are looking through your My Activity timeline and you tend to be a little suspicious, it would possibly be worth running through Google’s Privacy Checkup and this feature which can be located at myaccount.google.com/privacycheckup utilises a simple interface to assist in managing not only what data is saved by Google but also the information regarding the user could be public through the services like Google+.

The search giant tends to make its revenue from distributing targeting ads that is made easier by the collection of data which they have regarding the online activity of the user.That would mean limiting the data they save would possibly result in you viewing ads which tend to be less relevant to your choice. Moreover beyond ads, Google also uses the data to help in personalizing their products to the liking of the user. This could provide a more convenient online experience.

Sucking Robot Arm Wins Amazon Picking Challenge

Team Delft’s Machine – Won Latest Warehouse Bot Competition

Team Delft’s machine, has won the latest warehouse bot competition of Amazon, a robotic arm which tends to combine a suction cup, a `two fingered’ gripper together with a 3D depth sensing camera, with its rivals at both the tasks. One comprised of choosing products from a container, picking them up and placing them on a shelf while the other did the action in the reverse. Amazon tends to use robots in moving goods with its buildings though depends on humans to stock the same on shelves.

Chief technologist at Amazon robotics, Tye Brady had commented that `their vision is humans and robots working alongside each other. It was inspiring to see 16 top teams with so many different approaches to the same problem and that they saw the advancements robotic technology had made since last year’. The Dutch winners had been awarded $50,000. They rivalled against two teams from Japan and five from the US countries who were known better for their robotics research, at the contest in Leipzig, Germany. There were various items representing some of the blockbusting products of the retailers that were used in the Amazon Picking Challenge.

Stow Task/Pick Task

A combination of various shapes inclusive of soft clothing, a boxed DVD, a bottle of water and a toothbrush were represented. Twelve various items were put in a red plastic box, in the `stow’ task and the robots were made to pick them out in an orderly manner, placing each one at a predetermined place on a shelf. While in the `pick’ task, a dozen specific products to be lifted, off the shelves, comprised of a combination of goods and packed in boxes.

 In some cases, the other items seemed to have been intentionally placed in the way of the target which seems to be tougher of the two tasks. In both the instances, the teams were given only a computer file defining the range of objects involved and instructions for which it should be moved, five minutes before to the start and once the task had started, the robots had to act independently. There were points deducted for damaging any item, dropping the items from a height of over 30 cm and leaving an object extending more than 0.5 cm beyond where it belonged on the shelf.

Variation in Time – Unable to have Single Picking Strategy

Delfts’ team, Kanter van Deurzen had clarified to BBC that due to the variation in items, one could not have a single picking strategy. Usually in industry, you would have a suction cup or a mechanical gripper intended for one kind of item or part. Here they had to handle dozens ranging from simple boxes to a T-shirt and a dumbbell with each needing a different approach. It had really been a big challenge to do all this with a single arm, to have to recognize how the items were focused on and to avoid collision with the other objects on the shelves.

 The Dutch team had come closer to a flawless score in the stow task but its only error was that when its arm’s suction cup had picked a small pack of glue, it also seemed to pick up a bottle-cleaning brush which then had dropped down on the floor. More errors were done in the pick task and initially secured points with the Japan’s Team PFN. However, Delft had been given the benefit since it had taken 30 seconds less time in making its first pick.

17 iPhone Tricks to Make Your Life Easier

There are several cool iPhone features which seem to be hidden beneath the surface which many seem to be unaware of them. They are some of the paramount iPhone hacks the user does not know and how one could locate them.

1. Charge your phone quicker with a single button press

There is a technique of speeding up the re-juicing procedure which is quite simple. This can be done by just going to Airplane mode and by knocking out all your Wi-Fi searching, data draining communication skills of the phone which takes the strain off your battery when it is being powered up. But if one is facing time constraint and looking to eke out every bit of juice then the extra 4% you would be adding in 30 minutes linked to the mains would be much of a difference.

2. Save seconds off with searches 

At times, getting where one requires to go on the internet is connected to speed and accuracy, a thing which tends to be missing when one is compelled to knock out type-heavy web addresses. In order to save on time, one could hold down the period icon while editing out an address to bring up a short-cut series of URL suffixes and there are several quick hits shortcuts which can be utilised.

3. Learn precisely what your phone knows about you 

Though it is disturbing, one iPhone tends to gather data on the user in the background, whether it is the app being used the most, how much data one may be churning through or where one may be. To get some insight, you could go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Frequent Locations. Here you will find where you have been as well as how long you have spent at each place.

4. Replace toolbox essential 

One may have filed away the Compass app together with the Stocks and Find Friends app in a folder - `Crap I can’t delete. You need to put it back since it has a secret second function which could be helpful with your DIY duties. On swiping left in the Compass app provides a very useful level, a digital bubble gauge which can check if the shelf is really in level.

5. Lock the focal point of your camera

It is a known fact that tapping the screen while taking a photo would be setting the point of focus of the camera and each time one moves the camera on picking a focal point, it tends to disappear. But not anymore, since instead of only tapping the screen you could press for a second or two till an `AF Locked’ box tends to pop up. You could now twist, turn and swing it around without losing the focus.

6. Creating custom vibrations

In customs one could select a contact of your choice and hit on `Edit’ where one will see a `vibration’ option. On selection of this, it would provide you with various options inclusive of the Create New Vibration tool. Making your custom-made buzz is now as easy as tapping the screen to the beat of one’s choice.

7. Correct Siri’s pronunciation 

Sometimes Siri may get the wrong pronunciation of people’s name. If Siri tends to get some words wrong you could tell it the correct pronunciation. It lets you check if it has got the right pronunciation

8. Close three apps simultaneously 

If one needs to close multiple applications in haste you could drag three fingers up on the multitasking menu to discard the clutter faster which means that the phone needs to be functioning faster in less time.

9. Set your music on timer 

If one enjoys listening to soothing background music while drifting off to sleep, you may possibly wake up at 3 am to some unwanted tunes and hence you could set your music to turn off on a timer. Going to the Clock app, you could slide along to the Timer option and under the `when time ends’ tag you could switch out the alarm opt for a `stop playing’ tag. When the time touches zero, this would turn off the tunes whether it is through Apple Music or Spotify.

10. Take a photo without touching your phone 

An old though a good iPhone hack could be using your volume control buttons in order to capture an image which would end in saving your meaty paw obstructing the screen while attempting to hit the touchscreen controls. However if one intends to be removed further from the photo capturing shutter controls you could hit the volume button on a pair of well-matched, connected headphones which would provide the same effect.

11. Save data allowance by limiting app access

If your 2GB data allowance tends to be getting low you don’t have to go back on your on-the-go Netflix viewing. On the contrary you could select which apps tends to get demoted to the Wi-Fi-only B list. You could go to Settings > Mobile Data wherein you could make the decision of one app a time.

12. Improve battery life 

Apple’s connected quick access for key data and services; Spotlight has been offering instant access to the latest breaking news, social updates and sports scores. However all this could be eating on your battery life, unless you turn off Spotlight features for some app for more life per charge. You could go to Settings > General > Spotlight Search and limit what could be pulling in data without your knowledge.

13. Improve your signal; know where to look for it

You could type #3001#12345#* in your iPhone’s dialler and hit call to launch the hidden Field Mode tool wherein the sub-surface menu tends to turn your bar chart-based signal indication into a more direct numerical based indication signifier

14. Use phone like an Etch-a-Sketch to erase

The latest iPhone actions could be erased by giving it a good shake. You could skip the unending backspace knocking with a firm handset shake though a pop-up will ensure that you want to delete before your typing is erased.

15. Find our precisely how long you have been waiting for a reply 

If one has been endlessly checking the phone for a text reply and wondering how long it has been since the message has been sent, there is an easy option of knowing details. You could swipe in from the right hand side of the screen in a messaging thread which indicates the exact delivery time for each message send and received.

16 Share your family tree with Siri

If referring parents by given name tends to make one feel awkward, you could teach Siri on what you could be chatting about. You could ask Siri to call your dad and the digital PA would ask who the father could be. When a contact has been assigned to the parental name, each time when asked for pops, you would be supported up by modest fuss-free calling.

17. Swipe right to retreat

Living without a dedicated back button for iPhone owning Android converts could be a complex adjustment to make. While the iPhone may not have a pervasive command, for putting things back, there seems to be easy way of heading in the wrong direction. Among the various apps from Safari to Mail, through Messages, swiping on the screen from left to right would send you back to the earlier page.

Google's "Project Bloks" is Like Legos, But For Code

Project Bloks – Tangible Programming

An important 21st century skill of being able to code or comprehending the basics of how programming tends to really work seems to be getting more critical. The issue is that the code seems as abstract as things tend to get, which is the reason why Google’s leaping in a world with its new `Project Bloks’ of tangible programming. Project Bloks is an open hardware platform meant for developers, researchers and designers in the creation of physical programming experiences for children.

 The fact is to remove the technical obstacles for people and groups to enable them in creating a system of providing `new ways to teach computational thinking to kids. Google is of the belief that with more people having access to the same simple method, physical toys and products which teach kid on programming would come faster than before. The two types of Bloks are the `Base Boards – little square blocks that tend to pair with pucks. The pucks are little things like dials or switches which are simple and obvious that takes input from a programmer and the Base Board they tend to be on, translating this input into code.

Brain Board accumulates inputs from Pucks

Each setup also tends to have a `Brain Board that accumulates all the input from the different pucks as well as their Base Board and connects it to whatever the entire system seems to be controlling irrespective of it being a light or a remote control toy or a speaker or whatever. Project Bloks is said to be an open source party and developers all over can come up with their own pucks together with Brain Boards and devices which will work with them.

Though other smaller businesses could be struggling to get the developers on board, Google would not face much trouble in doing so. Project Bloks is in progress and is in active research.To inform the further development of the project, more researches have been conducted during summer on the opportunities for tangible programming as well as the Bloks platform.Users can sign up through the company’s website if interested in participating.

Brain Board Built on Raspberry Pi Zero

There is no doubt that Google would be assisting in bringing about more awareness to the growing trend of physical computing toys and most prominently introduce lots of children to the challenge and the joy of programming computers before they are old enough to even consider a line of code much less to write one. Bloks is basically like programming with block of Legos which begins with a puck that can have various forms. It is used to interact with an object.

 The puck tends to have instruction which may vary from `turn on/off, move left, jump, play music’. When one places the puck on the base board, it reads these instructions through a capacitive sensor. One could connect various base boards together most of which tend to end up attached to the brain board.

 The brain board are said to be built on a Raspberry Pi Zero, providing power as well as connectivity. According to the new Bloks website from Google, a modular system for tangible programming made of electronic boards and programmable puck that permits you to send instructions when connected together to the devices.

Help Design the PowerEgg Drone and You could net Yourself a Cool $3,000

PowerVision’s PowerEgg – Compact Portable Drone

PowerVision, UAV and drone specialist launched a latest design initiative – the PowerEgg Design Challenge to perceive who could design the best outer shell for its compact portable drone – the PowerEgg. The winner would get to see their design go into production as well as bag $3,000 as a prize.PowerVision Robotics is famous for its innovations in industrial robotics and the company now intends to enter the consumer marketplace. Having its headquarters in Beijing, PowerVision has revealed its egg-shaped aerial vehicle which would be easy to fly and very much portable owing to its exceptional design.

 PowerVision had chosen an oval shapefor its drone for aesthetic as well as functional motives. PowerVision CEO, Wally Zheng had stated that `we think the oval shape is not only clean and pure but also has structural and functional benefits. This simple yet vital design means that this is more than a flying robot but a work of art. PowerVision is on the lookout of giving graphic designers from across the world irrespective of them being student or an experienced professional, with the opportunity of creating the design which would embellish the recognisable folding egg design of the drone. The contest had been launched on June 22, 2016 and would be running all through July closing on August 7.

Special Chassis to Move Around& Transport

The PowerEgg was initially unveiled in February 2016 where the product of nearly two years’ worth of research and development tends to combine a 360°panoramic 4Kcamera on 3-axis gimbal, real-time HD video transmission up to 3000m together with advanced optical flow sensors for the purpose of easy indoor navigation. It is said that the arms, feet and rotors of the PowerEgg tends to fold back in the special chassis enabling it to move around and transport it with ease.

The winner of the contest would be receiving a $3,000 top prize together with royalties from the sale of PowerEgg consumer drone presenting their design. The second and third place winners would also be getting a special drone and royalties with a$1,500 and $1,000 prize respectively. Ten runner-up entrants would be receiving $200 Amazon gift voucher and $300 gift voucher for buying a PowerEgg through the PowerVision website.

Oval Chassis/Four Larger Propellers

Wally Zheng commented that `to celebrate the launch of the first consumer drone, PowerVision is excited to promote the creativity of users through this PowerEgg Design Contest and that they are looking forward to seeing the creative new designs.The egg shape sets the drone spaced out from the other four axis drones which adopt an x-shaped design. The drone comprises of an oval chassis having four larger propellers which collapse into the body of the device.
This mechanism enables the drone to double into the body of the device and the mechanism permits the drone to fold up into a compact shell thus making it easy to carry it along. When it is folded, the drone seems to be adequately small to fit in a standard backpack. The company intends to begin shipping in its new drone somewhere during the second quarter of 2016. The availability along with the pricing has not yet been disclosed.