Firefox Disables Loophole That Allows Sites to Track Users via Battery Status

We are living in a society, where the science and technology have taken a great leap forward and developed the most outstanding invention of the computer and the internet, which have now become such an issue that a little bit of touch of these can be seen in almost everywhere in our life.

The web surfing in the computer or other devices, with the help of the internet, is a very common issue in our life and people of almost all color, class, nationality are now accustomed with these technological advances, which cannot be avoided, due to its useful characteristics. To cater the web world, the user needs to take the help of a browser that can play the role of perfect vehicle in surfing process.

The Firefox is one such browser, which is considered as one of the most popular ones and being used by millions of internet enthusiasts, across the world. It is popular, not only for the colorful look or name but for the user-friendly features, which are time to time developed by a strong professional team. Recently Firefox disabled one of its features, considered as a loophole because it allows various websites to track the specific user through the status of the battery use.

The Issue at a Glance

The battery status feature of the Firefox is having some loopholes and these are now being fixed or disabled by the organization to provide a sigh of relief for its millions of users from being opened to the users, who want to get the details of the internet user. Some of the features of this fixing of loopholes are as follows: 

•  The said feature is known as “battery status API’ that allows various websites to request information about what amount of battery life has left of a specific visitor and these are; whether the device is plugged in or not, what time the battery will take to be exhausted and the percentage of remaining charge. 
•  The browser is having the features that were helpful for websites to offer some of the lesser energy sensitive versions sites for their visitors, who are having less battery power remaining e.g. a mapping site may download a smaller amount of information or a social networking website could put out of action its auto-playing video. 
•  Only in 2015, the Guardian, renowned newspaper of international repute, reported with various instances that researchers have discovered that someone can easily abuse the specific feature, which may helpful in tracking down the browsing on the internet. 

Now Firefox has disabled this battery status feature in a bid to help their potential users to get rid of the problem of getting tracked by other sites, which is a great threat to their personal security and dignity. Although they have already repaired this loophole, there are others in the market of browsers, who are now considering of repealing some of their features, which may help the internet lovers to get proper immunization from internet threat of being tracked by any websites or personnel of questionable identity.

Researching Industrial Components before Buying

Your factory relies on a host of equipment and parts for its successful daily operations. When one of your machines breaks down, it is essential that you get the required parts quickly. However, you do not want to sacrifice speed for quality. You can find high-quality industrial components and more for your business by shopping online today.

Resources for More Information

As knowledgeable about machine parts as you may be, you still could benefit by having more information about them available to you during the purchasing process. Some of the parts may be a bit unfamiliar to you; others may be items that you have not used in quite awhile. You also may come across components that are entirely new to you and the machine shop market. You can learn everything you need to know about them by using the resources found on the website.

You can click on the pictures of the parts for sale to get an in-depth description of what each item is used for and with what equipment it is compatible. For example, if you need a hose valve, you may want to know what sizes hoses it can be used with and what hose manufacturers recommend it.

Likewise, you may want to see the part in action before you buy it. The website has videos showing the parts being used and also describing how they should be added to machines already in your shop. This visual information can help you use the parts safely and effectively, saving you money and protecting your shop machinery.

More Help

The website also has a live chat ready to help you get fast answers about parts you want or need to buy. The chat agent can direct you to the right components to buy for your shop and also give you pertinent information like the parts number or recommended compatibility. You can access this help by clicking on the Resource Center link at the top of the page or by clicking on the live chat window at the bottom right side of the website.

Your factory's daily success and profitability depends on the quality of parts you use to repair and upgrade your machinery. You can get the components needed for repairs and more by shopping online. You can also learn more on using this gear properly by using the online resource center options.

Microsoft Attacks Google's Windows Hack Alert

Google leaves Microsoft red faced by revealing a potent security flaw found right in its popular Windows operating system. Google has published a report which gives insight and remarkable details into the security flaw which has yet to be fixed by the Microsoft. It should be noted that Google has already given a deadline of seven days to Microsoft for fixing up the flaw but Microsoft simply failed to play by the rules. Google has stated that it was necessary to reveal the flaw to public as it was being actively abused. Microsoft reiterated by stating that alert which only ends up in causing more harm because it will still need more time come with a suitable security patch.

The flaw revealed by Google

Google has revealed a major flaw in the file named Win32k.sys which is utilized by the Microsoft’s Windows operating system to display graphics. Any kind of alteration or moderation to this file can create havoc for the users which leaves the display system is jeopardy. Deleting or altering this file results in system errors with the notorious blue screen of death. This has been known by all the major security experts and operating system users as well as technicians but the flaw revealed by Google brings showcase a vulnerability which can utilized by the hackers for their own personal gains.

Google has quite frankly laid down the roadmap for any hacker to exploit this vulnerability through using a ‘security sandbox escape. This simply means that if a hackers gets acess of any Windows operating system the he will get the ability to alter other computer function sin order to cause more problems for the end users.

Why Google chose to reveal the vulnerability? 

Google has a policy which has been active since 2013 and it states that Google will offer 60 days to the developers to fix up the flaw identified by it, only in the case if no one making active use of the flaw. But if it’s found that the vulnerability is being utilized by hackers or other then Google will offer just 7 days before making the flaw public.

Similarly Google has given seven days to the Microsoft to come up with a fix for this vulnerability but they failed to do so. Microsoft has stated in its defense that it isn’t feasible to come with right solution and fixing parameter with an imposing aggressive timeline. It has also been stated by Google that users can safeguard themselves from this flaw through limiting the exposure by the using the Chrome which is not effectively exposed to the vulnerability.

Tech community is divided in this debacle

Cyber security experts are left scratching their whether the decision taken by Google is right or wrong given the fact that revealing the flaw will still require a security patch from Microsoft and Microsoft requires time to develop it. A security expert has stated that bringing flaw public without knowing who are the attackers and targets can aggravate the situation further.

Samsung Electronics to Acquire Artificial Intelligence Firm Viv

Samsung Acquiring US AI Platform Developer Viv Labs Inc

Recently the tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd had mentioned that it will be acquiring U.S. artificial intelligence – AI platform developer Viv Labs Inc. which is a firm run by co-creator of Apple Inc’s Siri voice assistant programme. Samsung had specified in a statement that it intends to integrate the AI platform of San Jose based company known as Viv, into the Galaxy smartphones and develop voice-assistant services to home appliances together with wearable technology devices.

The financial terms had not been disclosed. In order to make artificial intelligence adequately good in enabling consumers to interact with their devices much more naturally especially through voice, the technology firms have been locked in an increasingly heated race.

 Alphabet Inc’s Google has been considered to be the leader in AI though there are others such as Amazon.com, Apple and Microsoft who have also launched their own offerings comprising of voice-powered digital assistant.Samsung being the top smartphone maker in the world is also eager to differentiate its devices from phones to fridges by combining AI.

The achievement of Viv could benefit the Korean firm showing its effectiveness when the Google’s new Pixel smartphones equipped with the U.S. firm’s voice powered digital assistant tends to threaten Samsung together with the other smartphone manufacturers who seem to be mainly dependent on the Android operating platform.

Teach System in Creating New Apps

Samsung’s executive vice president, Rhee In-jong informed Reuters in an interview that Viv brings in a very unique technology enabling them to have an open system where any third party service and content providers could add their services to our devices’ interfaces. Rhee stated that Samsung needs to really revolutionise how its devices operate, moving in utilising voice instead of touch and that they cannot innovate using only in-house technology.

The chief executive of Viv and co-founder Dag Kittlause, a Siri co-creator together with other top managers at the firm would be continuing in managing the business independently after the acquisition. Rhee also informed Reuters that Samsung would continue in looking for acquisitions to strengthen its AI together with the other software capabilities without mentioning any targets. Viv’s AI platform enables developers to teach the system in creating new apps or to utilising the prevailing one and build an open ecosystem of intelligence.

Envisaging Future Beyond Apps

Kittlaus had mentioned in a statement that at Viv they are building the simplest system to talk to devices and services everywhere. They are envisaging a future which is beyond apps where one could get what they need instantly and easily irrespective of where they could be or what device is nearby.

Analyst at Edison Investment Research Richard Windsor told IBTimes UK that Viv is very good at interpreting and understanding natural speech and understands context with regards to earlier asked questions. It can unravel multi-part complex questions. If this tends to work as advertised, it would be better at natural language than Google Assistant.

Viv runs everything in the cloud which means the dislocation of the phones on Android of Samsung and everything else on Tizen could be less of an issue than what is at present. But this has placed Samsung in a position to compete directly against Google whose focus is to have its Google Assistant front and centre of every Samsung Android device according to Windsor.

3D Printing Technology to Create Shock Absorbing Skin

3D Printing Technology – Custom Shock Absorbing Dampers/Skins

Robots have a tendency to break and often it could be due to improper padding to protect them. However scientists of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT – CSAIL have come up with a new technique for 3D printing soft materials which tends to make robots safer as well as more accurate in their movements.

For instance, after 3-D printing a cube robot that moves on bouncing, the researchers prepared it with shock-absorbing `skins’ which utilises only about 1/250 of the amount of energy it transfers to the ground. The 3-D printing technology had been utilised to create custom shock absorbing dampers or skins in order to safeguard drones and robots.

Known as the `programmable viscoelastic material – PVM technique, the printing method of MIT provides object with the accurate stiffness or elasticity they may need. According to the MIT, the inspiration for the project had come from a predicament. Common damper resources usually tend to have solid as well as liquid assets which are made from compact, cheap and readily found items like rubber or plastic, but these seem difficult to customize. They cannot be created beyond specific sizes and dampening levels which are already in place.

Cube Shaped Robot – TangoBlack

This issue had been resolved by the team by utilising 3D printing technology in creating a bouncing cube shaped robot from a solid, a liquid together with a flexible rubber type material known as TangoBlack+. Besides absorbing shock, the cube robot is said to be capable of landing more accurately in consideration of its skin.Daniela Rus, Director of CSAIL who had supervised the project and co-wrote a related paper, commented that reduction tends to make the difference in preventing a rotor from breaking of a drone or a sensor from cracking when it tends to hit the floor.

 These materials permit 3-D print robots with visco-elastic properties which can be recorded by the user at print-time as part of the process of fabrication. MIT informed that the technology could be utilised in expanding the lifespan of delivery drones such as the ones that have been created by Amazon and Google. It could also be engaged on a more practical level for performing tasks like helping to protect phone or cushioning heads in helmets and the feet in shoes.

Skins Enables Robot to Land Four Times More Accurately

The skins also enable the robot to land almost four times more accurately recommending that related shock absorbers can be utilised in helping in lengthening the lifespan of delivery drones.The new paper was presented at IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Korea written by Rus together with three postdocs with lead authors Robert MacCurdy together with Jeffrey Lipton as well as third author Shuguang LiThe cube robot comprises of a rigid body, accompanied by two motors, a microcontroller, battery together with inertial measurement unit sensors.

Four layers of looped metal strip seem to serve as springs which tend to propel the cube. Hod Lipson, professor of engineering at Columbia University and co-author of `Fabricated: The New World of 3-D Printing’, states that by combining multiple materials in achieving properties which are beyond the range of the base material, this work drives the envelope of what’s probable to print. On top of that being able to do this in a single print-job, raises the bar for additive manufacturing’.