Meet Kirobo Mini, Toyota's adorable new companion robot

Toyota’s Robot – Companionship For Lonely People

Toyoto, the Japanese car maker has unveiled a robot which tends to provide companionship for lonely people. The doe-eyed robot is said to be only four inches tall and speaks in a high-pitched baby voice. The robot known as Kirobo Mini could also have a role as a baby substitute in Japan where the falling birth rates seems to have left several women barren. The Kirobo Mini sale prices is said to go for £300 in Japan.

General Manager in charge of the project, Fuminori Kataoka has stated that its value tends to be emotional and could be a faithful companion for the home or the car. He commented that `Toyota has been making cars which have a tendency to have a lot of valuable uses. However, this time we are just pushing emotional value’.

The Kirobo Mini features a camera, microphone together with Bluetooth that connects to a smartphone and needs to be installed with an exceptional software application. The Kirobo Mini robot is said to be launched in Tokyo, near the company headquarters in central Aichio region next year, before a schedule nationwide rollout. Presently there are no plans of selling the same outside Japan.

According to Kataoka, several people in Japan tend to live alone comprising of the elderly and young singles who seem to need someone or something to communicate with.

Softbank Corp Launched Pepper Humanoid

Mr Kataoka further commented that `this is not smart enough to be called artificial intelligence and the same is about the existence of something you can talk to. It tends to wobble a bit and is meant to compete with a seated baby that has not developed fully, the skills of balancing itself and this susceptibility is meant to invoke an emotional connection.

He goes on to add that a stuffed animal would not reply back though people do talk to it. But if it talked back, wouldn’t that be better? Isn’t this better than talking to a box?’ The awareness of companion robots has already been accepted widely in Japan. The Japanese technology and telecom company Softbank Corp had launched its £1,500 Pepper humanoid last year and the first batch of 1,000 had been sold instantly and so far had sold 10,000 in Japan.

Toyota Heart Project

With robotic experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the process of launching Jibo, a robot which tends to resemble a swivelling lamp, companion robots are being created in the United States also. Artificial intelligence is said to be a progressive part of the car production industry with the development of self-parking and eventually self-driving vehicles.

The aim of Kirobo Mini is to make people feel less lonely and had been developed as part of the Toyota Heart Project which is an initiative of helping in the development of artificial intelligence for improvement of the future world. It has been named after the Japanese word for `hope and talk, gesture besides responding to its owner’s emotions with the use of artificial intelligence and a camera that surveys its surroundings.

It is said to be so small that it can be placed in a car’s cup holder in a distinct, baby seat-like container, Toyota characterizes it as a cuddly companion which is always on hand for a heart-touching communication. According to Tribune reports it can turn its head towards people, laugh as well as talk to them though cannot recognize people.

G Suite: Google Apps for Work Updraded

Google Apps for Work is a suite launched by Google which includes Google’s popular web applications like Google Drive, Gmail, Google Hangouts, Google Calendar, and Google Docs. This September, Google renamed Google Apps for Work as G Suite. The name actually goes with it as it is a suite of collaboration software tools and cloud computing productivity and software offered by Google on a subscription basis.

Some features of G Suite

Google Apps for Work is not only renamed, it is also reframed. The renaming of the Google Apps for Work to G Suite was done to reflect the software’s mission in terms of putting the emphasis on collaboration, according to the company. G Suite contains the same apps which Google Apps for Work contained. G Suite also works the same way but with some differences.

The main difference in G Suite is that its utility is played by the machine’s intelligence. This simply means that this application will do all the repetitive and mechanical tasks quickly which used to take up your lot of time. The programs in G Suite have become smarter than before.

The smarter programs in G Suite

The first program to get smarter is the Google Drive for android. This will allow quick access in Drive on Android, which means, it will help you to pull out the files you need immediately whenever you would open Drive. Google Hangouts is also made easier to set up. Also, Google Calendar is made advanced by enabling Smart Scheduling.

This new version of Google apps for Work, i.e., G Suite has also added Explore to Google Docs, Slides and Sheets. In short, G Suite has made working with the apps very easily and quickly.

Some new information about G Suite

The main advances that G Suite made are –

• Quick Access – This will cut off about 50% of the time you would need to search a file form the Drive. It works with the machine’s intelligence which helps it recognize the file you need before you complete your typing. Quick Access is available with G Suite for all Android users. 
• Smart Scheduling in Calendar – In G Suite, ‘Find a Time’ lets you set up meetings or appointments much faster in Google Calendar. Also it helps you to find a room or place for your meetings. 
• Explore – Explore is nothing but Work Assistant. Explore will help you work better and faster in Docs, Sheets and Slides by bringing you the design tools, insights, and research recommendations faster. 
• Team Drive – G Suite will provide more granular control over team access to content. This is for early adopters only. 

Some more features will add on with these features as time passes on. G Suite has advanced working with the Google applications on Android by making it faster, easier and much better. This G Suite is very effective for those enterprises that rely upon machine learning capability as G Suite works with machine intelligence. G Suite is an interesting place for them to start with.

Have hackers turned my printer into an offensive weapon?

It was just last month that is in September one of the largest net attacks took place with pinpointed a renowned OVH a French hosting firm and a blogger. This single attack is believed to have comprised of over one trillion bits of data. Both of the hacking events marked a change in the methods used by hackers who survive by breaking into websites which hold widespread data add this form of attacks is known as Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS). The data was sent to the targets through and other such "smart" devices which were hijacked by the hackers.

Can I tell if my webcam/DVR/printer is attacking someone? 

Well to be honest, not easily. If you are a medium of bombarding someone else, your internet speed may slow down however it may not be noticed at times of normal browsing while it may be evident when it comes to video or music streaming or games which will lag. For those who are tech savvy, they can make use of software’s which keep a tab on the flow of data packs on their home network, however this is not easy if you are unaware of what you are doing exactly.

Could I get in trouble for letting my webcam attack someone? 

In terms of legality, you can’t get into trouble with the police however it is believed through researches that a hacker can get into your internal network through a webcam hack and keep a tab on everything else. So in such a case you have an intruder which is best if gotten rid of by taking the necessary action.

Why are malicious hackers using these devices? 

That’s because it is way easier to hack in comparison to PCs or servers and these devices tend to make use of default passwords and fail to have any kind of security software in place. And to the benefit of the hackers, there are endless numbers that stay on all day long and it is a task to both update as well as secure. In modern days it is extremely easy for hackers, they are able to target vulnerable devices and put together an army of their own to create a botnet without having to rent hijacked machines like in the past.

What kind of devices are they scanning for? 

Web-associated cameras are especially prominent however outputs are likewise being completed for advanced TV recorders, home routers and printers. All these have a fundamental processor inside that can be subverted to pump out attack packets. Brian Krebs, the blogger who experienced an assault an IoT botnet, has ordered a rundown of gadgets known to have misused his webpage with information. Large portions of the login names and passwords for these gadgets are anything but difficult to-crack. On 1 October, source code for one IoT assault was freely shared, driving some to propose that numerous more malignant programmers will now begin checking for vulnerable gadgets. This guide made by security firm Symantec demonstrates where Europe's botnets are facilitated. Turkey is home to the vast majority of the commandeered devices and PCs.

How new are these types of attacks? 

The main DDoS assaults were seen on the web in 2000. The primary influx of information bombardments was gone for betting locales which were undermined with being thumped disconnected unless they paid an expense. The greater part of those coercion endeavors utilized commandeered PCs to send information. Presently the ascent of the Internet of Things that is populated with brilliant gadgets has commenced recharged enthusiasm for these sorts of assaults. Security scientists have cautioned about the perils of unreliable IoT gadgets for quite a while yet they are beginning to be utilized for critical assaults sooner than numerous individuals anticipated.

Google Reveals Pixel Phone

Google’s New Smartphone Under Pixel Brand

Alphabet’s Google is likely to reveal the new smartphones at an event held on Tuesday which is said to be the latest attempt by the company to sell consumers on Google patented device as well as to test Apple AAPL 0.43% at the high end of the market. Analysts have predicted that the San Francisco product launch would be showcasing the other hardware initiatives of Google GOOGL 0.30% comprising of voice-controlled speaker system known as Home with a view to contest Amazon.com’s AMZN – 0.32% Echo device together with a virtual reality headset.

The most enthusiastically awaited smartphone released under the Pixel brand will be replacing the Nexus line. Though most of the vendors besides Apple tend to use Google’s Android operating system, the company has been toying with several methods in building its own hardware without isolating the manufacturers. Since 2010, Google has sold Nexus phones though the devices have attained little power in the market controlled by Samsung Electronic SSNLF 24.00%. The analysts are of the opinion that the uninspiring sales is due to poor distribution since the phone are not naturally available through the network carrier which most of the U.S. network consumers tend to depend on.

Google – End-to-End Experience

Google had also owned the Motorola smartphone business temporarily before selling it to the Lenovo Group.Google had to struggle to make a distinction with its devices since its mobile software had been made available very extensively according to analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.

He added that Google wanted to have this end-to-end experience though it was not clear that people really wanted that. The cost of the new Pixel phone is likely to be over $6000, which makes them at the high end of the market where Apple is said to be the prominent competitor.

Dawson seems to be more optimistic regarding the Home device which was unveiled at the developer conference of the company this year that tends to work with home entertainment systems, responding to voice commands. The device is said to signify a significant move in an escalating battle with Google and the other tech giants in launching the dominant `digital assistant’.

Alexa/Siri – Competing for Control

Alexa, Google Assistant of Amazon and Siri of Apply have been competing for control since most of the individuals tend to search the web making online purchases through voice commands that could ultimately replace keyboards as well as touch screens as the main means of monitoring digital devices. Though Amazon had been the first to market, Google could take over most of the sales in the nascent category, as per Dawson.

However with smartphones, the distribution could be a challenge.He also added that Amazon had the benefit of being capable of putting this on the home page of the biggest e-commerce site in the world. Ben Bajarin analyst of Creative Strategies stated that he too anticipates Google to discuss its virtual reality headset, Daydream at the event.

He also commented that the company would also disclose plans of combining its Chrome operating system for laptops as well as its Android mobile software thereby assist developers in building more devices.

You Can All Finally Encrypt Facebook Messenger

Facebook – Secret Conversation

Whatsapp had put up a code with the addition of new layers of security to the apps of billion users with the creation of the largest end-to-end encrypted messaging network in history. WhatsApp’s parent company Facebook has now eventually provided it users using its other hugely famous chat app with the opportunity to catch up. As informed to WIRED, a spokesperson of Facebook had informed that the company had completed rolling out `Secret Conversations’ to 900 million Facebook Messenger users in the last few weeks.

The chosen feature enabled users to encrypt their messages in order that no one could read them with the exception of the two individuals at each end of a chat and not even Facebook or law enforcement of the intelligence organizations. A description stated in the app that when users had initiated their first encrypted conversation `your messages are already secure, though Secret Conversation are encrypted from one device to another’.

While the updates of the software of the company for iOS as well as Android have not been clearly mentioned the feature of encryption, those who tend to update their Messenger app would now find the choice of `secret option towards the top right area of the `new message’ screen.

Opt for Snapchat-Style Termination

Moreover the feature also permits the transmitters to opt for Snapchat-style termination time for messages which may vary from five seconds to a day. Users who have updated the app have the facility of sending or receiving encrypted time-sensitive messages and hence users are recommended to update as early as possible.

Secret Conversation tends to use the Signal encryption system which seems to have a healthy status in the security community. It had been established by the non-profit Open Whisper System that had implemented the encryption layer first in its own Signal app before teaming with the other companies to include the procedure.

The new security mechanism had been first announced by Facebook and had been tested with beta users in July. Google had also recently launched the Allo messenger which included the encryption choice.

New Feature – Strong/Simple Encryption

The new layer of encryption of Facebook Messenger needs to be enabled manually for each conversation instead of being changed on by default since it is in the Signal app or WhatsApp. The conclusion could be a measure of a negotiation with the purpose of assisting Facebook to prevent legal as well as political difficulties.

The default encryption of WhatsApp for instance seems to have already placed its parent company in an uncomfortable spot at least once when the authorities of Brazil had arrested an executive of Facebook in the country for his negligence in helping police decrypt WhatsApp messages that had been send in a drug trafficking case, by criminal suspects.

However, the opt-in move has brought about the scorn of privacy advocates when Facebook had announced Secret Conversation, such as the tweet from ACLU technologist Chris Soghoian. Considering it or not, the new feature of Facebook tends to bring in strong, simple encryption to hundreds of millions of users.

The spread to the other ultra-popular messaging services, with the combination of end-to-end encryptions, stopping investigations has never been easy.