Thursday, 4 August 2016

Who can't tweet about #Rio2016

Olympic

Trouble for Utilising Hashtag #Rio2016


Could one get into trouble for utilising the hashtag #Rio2016? It would possibly depend on who or what one could be. It could be used as much as possible in posts regarding a favourite athlete. However for companies it tends to be a different issue. The United States Olympic Committee had been accused of `intimidating’ firms which were not official sponsors, in preventing them from joining in the social media conversation regarding the forthcoming games.

Similar to any most important sporting event, the coordinators of the Olympic take a lot of precaution in protecting the right of corporate sponsors who tend to invest billion dollars for the game. Ahead of London 2012, those working on the opening and closing ceremonies had been briefly forbidden from buying chips since McDonalds had retained an exclusive sponsorship contract to be the solitary chip retailer in the park.

However, from then, a new regulation has enabled them to go much further in their quest of safeguarding the Olympic image. The first US applications to trademark hashtags were submitted in 2013 and though it is incredible in stopping ordinary people from talking about the event online utilising registered hashtags, it is now likely in restricting what companies may tend to do.

Prevent Ambush Marketing


Organisers of the Olympic tend to duly add hashtags to a list of trademarks which they had already secured with the use of Rio 2016 in order to endorse chemical products, egg incubators and varnishes. The Sports TV network ESPN has now reported that the USOC had sent letters out to many companies in advance of the Rio Olympics cautioning them that their online accounts should not place any Olympic results, share or re-tweet anything from the official Olympic account or even utilise official hashtags together with #Rio2016 as well as `#TeamUSA’.

 It is an effort in preventing the `ambush marketing’ wherein companies that have not paid for Olympic rights skilfully associate themselves with the games in trying to gain additional focus for their products. The same has been disapproved but since the hashtags seemed trademarked to be broad; there is a possibility of huge social media discussion regarding the events in Rio with several debating that companies are not advertising if they want to wish Team USA good luck.

USOC Excessively Forceful & Absurd


Professor of Law at Santa Clara University, Eric Goldman, is of the opinion that the USOC approach is excessively forceful and absurd. He had informed that he thinks that attempting to tell companies that they cannot use the hashtag #Rio2016 or #TeamUSA in their tweets, most of the time they are going far afield of what the law permits and when companies tend to use the ambiguities of trademark law in trying and squelching socially beneficial conversation, he calls that bullying.Several of the companies who had been under attack by the USOC state that they were being heavy handed.

 However, Sally Bergesen who tends to run the clothing company Oiselle had raised another issue. She had landed in trouble with the US Olympics Committee after posting an image of one of the runners they sponsor, when she was qualified for the Olympics. The issue was that the athlete had been wearing her running number which seemed to feature a tiny image of the Olympic rings. The outcome was that she received an email from the USOC stating that the post constituted Olympic advertising and the public would get the impression that the company was an official sponsor.

Long Term Sponsors of Individual Athletes Be Given Branding Rights


In her email, Sally stated that the email ordered Oiselle to eliminate the photo within 24 hours, though it seemed to remain there at the time of writing. Nonetheless the company had blacked out portion of other Olympic photos in its account. Sally had commented that her company and others like it had sponsored and supported athletes for the complete four year cycle when the attention had been marginal.

However, the money they had invested was not recognized by the Olympics when they had supported them in reaching their goal. She further stated that they estimated that it cost around $300,000 in order to get an athlete to the Olympics and the USOC contributed possibly 1% of the cost. So according to her they were more of Olympic sponsor than they were at that time.

They may have a beautiful stadium but if it was about beautiful stadiums and no athletes then many people would not have come and watched the event. She debates on long term sponsors of individual athletes to be given more branding rights and she has a surprising supporter, in the form of athletes themselves. Nick Symmonds is said to be a US middle distance runner and two time Olympian.

He had campaigned against the Olympic Rule 40 that also tends to restrict what sportsmen and women seem to post on social media at their time of limelight. The USOC had informed BBC that `corporate social channels which are not official Olympic partners need not engage in surprise attack advertising which is the reason that they have communicated to those companies. Rule 40 from the Olympic Charter is clear and US trademark law is as well’.

Wednesday, 3 August 2016

Study Opens New Realms of Light-Matter Interaction

Light-Matter Interaction

Interaction between Light & Matter – Within Fractions of a Second


A latest MIT research could reveal new areas of technology depending on the forms of light emanation which had been presumed to be restricted or at least unlikely to be almost inaccessible. According to the researchers, the new approach may cause some kind of interactions between light and matter that would generally take billions of years to occur, will take place instead within fractions of a second under special circumstances.Based on theoretical analysis, the conclusions were reported recently in the journal Science in a paper by MIT doctoral student Nicholas Rivera, Department of Physics Professor Marin Soljacic, Francis Wright Davis Professor of Physics John Joannopoulos and post docs Ido Kaminer and Bo Zhen.

Defined by the laws of quantum electro dynamic, the interactions between light and matter seem to be the basis of an extensive range of technologies comprising of lasers, LEDs and atomic clocks. Soljacic explains that, from a theoretical point of view, `most of the light matter interaction processes tend to be forbidden by electronic selection rules that restricts the number of transitions between the levels of energy we have access to. For instance, spectrograms that are utilised in probing the essential conformation of substances indicate a few bright lines against a typically dark background.

Electrons in Atom Have Distinct Energy Levels


Kaminer says that with this new research, they demonstrate theoretically that these constraints could be raised, utilising confined waves within atomically thin, 2-D materials. He added that `we display that some of the changes which normally take the age of the universe to happen could be made to happen within nanoseconds.
Owing to this, several of the dark regions of a spectrogram tends to become bright when an atom is positioned near a 2-D material’. Electrons in an atom is said to have distinct energy levels and when they step from one level to another, they tend to give off a photon of light which is a development known as impulsive emission. However, the atom in itself seems to be much smaller than the wavelength of the light which gets emitted, around 1/1,000 to 1/10,000 as big, considerably impairing the interactions between the two.

Shrink Light to Match Scale of Atom


The researchers have shown in their study that the habit is to shrink the light so that it tends to match the scale of the atom. The significance of enabling a complete range of interactions specially transitions in atomic shows that transmit of absorbing or emitting light; it is the use of a two-dimensional material known as graphene wherein light can intermingle with matter in the form of plasmons, which is a kind of electromagnetic oscillation in the material.

These plasmons that look like photons though have wavelengths which are shorter hundreds of time, seems to be confined narrowly in the graphene which makes some type of interactions with the matter in several kinds of magnitude than they would in ordinary resources. This supports various phenomena which are generally considered unreachable like the simultaneous emission of various plasmons, or two-step light emitting transition between energy levels, according to the team.

This system could assist in simultaneous emission of two photons which are entangled which means that they share the same quantum state although they seem separated and such generation of entangled photons seems to be an important element in quantum devices like those which could be utilised for cryptography.

Tuesday, 2 August 2016

How to Protect Your Identity Playing Pokémon Go


Pokémon Go

Privacy Specific Tips

If one tends to be a secret agent, you would possibly be staying far from Pokemon Go due to its location tracking gameplay. Kristan J. Wheaton, Mercyhurst University intelligence studies professor had recently posted a privacy tip list on his blog which he reports was shared with him by an intelligence source. Irrespective of its origin, the list comprises of some practical advice for the player who tend to be apprehensive regarding their privacy and some basic safety tips like being aware of the surroundings, only availing the game from the official app stores and not playing while driving. The following are the privacy specific tips which an average player may not consider:

  • Keeping in mind that the game needs GPS and a data connection to work, you should refrain from playing in any area where you would not want your location to be known. One should also remember that your location history could make it easy to identify you; hence if you tend to play the game during your usual routine, chances are that someone could be spying on you and figure out who you could be. 
  • Avoid using personal Gmail account to play the game. You could either create a throwaway email account or sign up through the Pokemon Trainer Club. By utilising your normal Gmail account, it not only links your personal information with your Pokemon Go activity but it could also expose your Google credentials to the app owner. 
  • Select a screen name which is unique and not linked to your other online accounts. Presently one cannot view other players or information regarding other players through the interface, apart from the name of the trainer and Pokemon name at gyms or the trainer name that tends to place attractions at Poke Shop. But this feature could be added in the near future, according to the tip sheet. 
  • Refrain from essentially using the improved reality functions which tend to make it seem like the digital critter standing right before you which would seem like it reduces some of the fun of the game, but the things the camera tends to see could end up revealing identifying details. Moreover also be cautious in taking images of Pokemon in the game, where the location from where you may have taken the photo could be implanted in the metadata of the image.
Huge Security Risk

Pokemon Go has drawn multitudes of players within day of its release and the mobile game has also involved apprehensions regarding how susceptible the personal data could be in the hands of apparently nonthreatening applications. Security bloggers had noticed in the last few days, that the game which seemed to be a free download and made by Niantic Inc. in partnership with the Pokemon Company together with Nintendo had requested permission to use the smartphone camera as well as location data of the player and also to gain full access to the Google’s account of the user, inclusive of email, calendars, photos, stored documents as well as any other data linked with the login. Censors had instantly called the game a `huge security risk’ which was invading the privacy of the individual where a Democrat, Senator Al Franken had recently expressed his concerns over the issue.

Microsoft's latest Windows 10 Insider preview build could be RTM


Windows 10
Microsoft is likely to sign off on the Windows 10 Anniversary Update code very soon and the recent test build No. 14393 for PCs and phone could be the one which may end up as release to manufacturing - RTM.Several Microsoft viewers for the past week have been wondering on which of the latest Window 10 Anniversary Update test builds could be the right choice.

Microsoft executives are not in favouring of using release to manufacturing – RTM or RTW – release to Web, anymore since Windows 10 is a constantly updated service though several of the users still tend to use the RTM convention in referring to the build which eventually will go to `normal’ who are not in the Windows Insider program. Few have been wondering that the present Windows 10 Anniversary Update test build for PCs and mobile could be the RTM release.

The officials of Microsoft would no longer be calling any of these test builds `RTM’ nor would they likely let anyone know which of these near-final test builds are `soup’. In the case of the update of Windows 10 of November, Microsoft had released the RTM build on November 5 and that release, the first major update to Windows 10 had been commonly available on November 12.

RTM On Windows 10 PCs


Sources have informed that the internal goal of Microsoft is to sign off on an Insider preview test build by July 20to have the second main update to Windows 10, the Anniversary Update and ready to be made available on August 2 on PCs, phones, tablets together with other device as intended. The 14393 preview build has no new features though has some remaining resolutions for both phones and PCs.

Windows Insider chief Dona Sarkar, in the notes regarding the new build, states that those having problems with their cameras on Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book while running the new Insider builds need to see a driver update in order to fix this soon through Windows Update.

Being part of the Windows Insider program provides the user with early access to Windows 10 updates through its different phases of its growth much after its release. Most of this analysis is based on the build 10240 which had been available on July 15 and is a Release to Manufacturing – RTM version. RTM would also be on Windows 10 PCs and could be purchased online or in-store.

RTM – No `Windows 10 Insider Preview’ Text on Desktop


RTM does not seem to have the typical `Windows 10 Insider Preview’ text on the desktop and also tends to have been released to all in the Windows Insider program even those who did not want the new updates. Even when Windows 10 is released, the Windows Insider program tends to continue and Microsoft will release Windows 10 updates, first to the members of the program.

Though it seems natural that Windows 10 is well-thought-out as `finished’ by reviewers and consumers. Microsoft does not subscribe to this point of view and states that it would carry on developing the OS with additional tweaks.

Friday, 29 July 2016

Google Rolls Out the Final Android 7.0 Nougat Developer Preview

Android

Google Rolling out Last preview of Android 7.0 Nougat


Before its overall release scheduled this summer, Google has begun rolling out the last preview of Android 7.0 Nougat. This release is said to be the fifth and the final preview release providing developers as well as beta testers with the `near final system images’ for supported devices of Nexus, the Pixel C as well as the General Mobile 4G Android One. No mention on support had been made by Google for the Sony Xperia Z3 in this preview since it had done in past releases.

With the updates the developers are provided with the final user interface and APIs for testing their apps as well as making sure that they are ready for Android changes in behaviour like the battery and memory optimisations with Doze on the Go, Project Svelte of Google’s background optimisations together with security linked with permission changes.

Some of the features that end-users would probably experience, while utilising Android apps are, running apps side-by-side, the ability to reply directly to messages within the notification interface and new Unicode 9.0 emojis. The preview still has various stability problems and bugs in Android Nougat features though Google is presently one stage away from the public release.

Supported Devices Enrolled in Android Beta Program


These comprise of MapView probably being blank or out of attention when resized in multi-window mode and the `Do Not Disturb’ mode could activate a reboot. Google has been fixing a screen zoom problem which tends to affect multi-APK apps through a upcoming update to the services of Google Play and lending support for the Vulkan graphics API, which is a low-overhead API for high-performance, 3D graphics.

Lastly Google records crashing issues when the Google Maps are used and Android Auto would be fixed in an update to Maps in the forthcoming weeks. Devices that are supported are enrolled in Android Beta program of Google and would be receiving the latest preview as over-the-air update and when you have installed the new software, you would be on the latest Developer Preview.

You could also join in the bandwagon by going to android.com/beta or you could grab and flash the update manually. The new build is NPD90G on all devices. Lastly any fans or developers who have been conducting tests on the Android 7.0 Nougat preview and tend to have technical queries regarding the platform of Google, the Android engineering team would be available to answer all queries at Reddit AMA.

Near Final System Updates


The last Nougat preview brought with it bug fixes across the board as anticipated. Developers were informed that this release would give them `the near-final system updates for the entire supported preview devices’. Hence investigating apps against this restatement could be helpful in getting their software ready for the consumers.

The concluding N APIs are being shipped in this Developer Preview and one will also find the latest system behaviours together with the UI packed in. Google has mentioned that the official release of Android 7.0 Nougat would be later this summer which means that it is likely when we will see the nexus device launch since Google usually launches new Android types with new hardware.