How to Secure Your Facebook Account

Facebook has become an important and integral part of our lives and it is necessary to safeguard online especially on the social media platform. A hack into the Facebook account will result in revealing wide range of sensitive and extremely personal information about a user to the hackers which can ultimately lead to financial, identity or emotional loss of varied kinds. Here are few smart ways to secure the Facebook account without any hassle.

Turn your account secure

Account protection begins with optimizing the passwords. Make use of numbers, letters & special characters while creating a password and for security question ensure it is known only to you. You can also set the two factor authentication system for logging into your Facebook account by going to the Settings.

Check for suspicious activity

Going to the Facebook Settings page will allow you to keep a tab on ‘from where’ your account has been accessed at any given point of time. If you has gained access to your account without your knowledge then you will be able to gain knowledge about it from here and even take steps to thwart such attempts in future.

Get a grip on your privacy

Privacy is an integral part of the cyber security of the internet users in the modern world. Facebook offers wide range of features and security measures built right into its platform which helps in safeguarding the members from the hackers, marketers as well as stalkers to a great extent.

It is extremely important for the Facebook users to think twice before sharing anything on the Facebook without choosing the setting which states who can see the posts. The setting is pretty simple opting for ‘Public Posts’ will allow your posts to be seen by everyone on the web. Clicking on the Limit Past Posts will help in hiding the older posts from the public view.

Be sensible with using the Facebook

Simply restricting who views your posts, personal information and profile on the Facebook is not enough. In order to turn your Facebook account highly secure it is vital that you apply some common sense while interacting with strangers, suspicious links, offers and other things on this social media platform. Secondly stay away from sharing critical personal information in the public domain like on Facebook pages and profiles needlessly. If you don’t want to proclaim your whereabouts then turn of location search on Facebook.

Thirdly giving every little details of your daily routine or lifestyle like where your work, when is your birthday, favourite movie, pets name, family address unknowingly through posts, location tags will only help in losing your identity.

Anyone closely following your social media activity will be able to pretend to be you with all the information you have shared online. Don’t forget to pay attention to the computers or different browsers you use in order to access the Facebook. Make sure the system or browser is up-to-date and has a robust antivirus at work.

How to Protecting Bulk Power Systems from Hackers

Consistency Measure of Electricity Grid – Escalating

Consistency measures of electricity grid have been escalating to new norm since it tends to include physical security together with cyber-security. Fears to any of them could trigger instability resulting to blackouts as well as economic losses.

Several tend to take it for granted of turning on the light. Though in reality, the energy drawn from the electrical grid in brightening homes, freeze food as well as watch TV is said to be a part of a complex together with a widespread system. Comprehending the susceptibilities of the system and the dependability is a vital step in improving its security.

Fresh research headed by scientists from Michigan Technological University explored in the so-called scenarios wherein the hackers tend to exploit the security flaws implementing a disturbing plan of cyber-attacks. Recently the Journal IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid had published their work. Chee-Wooi Ten, lead author, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Tech stated that the fundamental problem was an opening between physical equipment and intangible software.

 Improvements in smart grid technology like smart meters in homes, management systems for the purpose of distributed energy resources such as wind together with solar production with instrumentation system in power plants, control centres or substations, creates improvements in monitoring as well as access for hackers.

Convenience/Cost Reduction Streamlines Process

Ten had commented that `ten years back, cyber security did not exist and the same was not spoken about and was not an issue. He jokes that people presumed that he was crazy for suggesting the possibility of power grid hacking. He further added that now with events such as in Ukraine last year together with malware like Stuxnet, hackers could plan a cyber attack which could result in larger power outages, people would begin clutching the severity of the issue.

 He further pointed that the hackers focus on specific areas of the control network of power infrastructure and targeted on the devices which tends to control it. Mechanized systems are inclined to control most of the grid from generation in the transmission for usage.

According to Ten, the convenience as well as the cost reduction of automation streamlines the process though without solid security means, it could also make the system susceptible. The interconnectivity off the grid could also result in cascading impacts leading to blackouts, equipment failure and is landing with the areas isolated and cut off from the maid power grid.

Connections/Asses Flaws Utilising Framework

Ten together with his colleagues arrived at connections and assess flaws utilising framework which would regularly assess the block of a power grid as well as its interconnection with their adjoining grids. With the use of quantitative systems in arranging cyber security protection would ensure power grids are operated in a much more secured and safe manner.

Ten also mentioned that it is like measuring blood pressure. He added that one tends to know that their health is at risk since it monitors systolic and diastolic numbers and hence one would work out more or eat healthier. The grid requires established metrics for health also; a number to gauge if one is ready for this security challenge. After gaining an understanding of the weaknesses of the system, it tends to get a lot easier to be strategic and shoreline security risks.

Tens says that in the future, improving regulations with particulars to match actual infrastructure requirements, providing cybersecurity insurance could be beneficial.

From the Butterfly's Wing to the Tornado: Predicting Turbulence

Flap of Butterfly's Wing could Generate a Tornado

An old saying states that in Brazil, the flap of a butterfly’s wing could generate a tornado in Texas, weeks thereafter. However, chaos theory state that is essentially impossible in computing precisely how it could take place and Georgia Tech scientists are making headway in getting math around the swirly occurrence behind it and called it turbulence.

Latest development from the Georgia Institute of Technology by physicists could probably help improve weather forecasts extending their range by making improved use of masses of weather as well as climate data. Turbulence could bend like a puff of air, swirl past a river bend or even churn as a hurricane. Although its curlicues may seem accidental, turbulence leaves down signature patterns which the physicists have been investigating.

 It is said that they have established a simple mathematical model which has assisted them in showing how turbulent flows tend to evolve over internals. Moreover, in a novel experiment, they have verified their predictions substantially in a two dimensional turbulent flow produced in a lab. The new Georgia Tech research suits the origins of that proverb.MIT, meteorology professor Edward Lorenzhad invented more than 55 years back, while he had recognized that the tiny forces had influenced major weather adequate in throwing long-range forecasts for a loop.

Theory of Relativity

The name of his paper, `Predictability: Dose the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wing in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?’ got transformed into the well-known slogan. The professors in Georgia Tech’s School of Physics, Michael Schatz and Roman Grigoriev together with graduate researchers, Balachandra Sur and Jeffrey Tithof, had published their research result online in the journal Physical Review Letters on March 15, 2017 and the research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

While the scientists, for hundreds of years, had utilised math in order to get a hold on the falling apple of Newton, in verifying the Theory of Relativity and speculate the existence of the Higgs boson, turbulence was like wet soap in the understanding of math. However for all its elusiveness, turbulence tends to influence with visibly coherent, recognizable, recognizing shapes. Fluid swirl tend to rapidly form themselves and thereafter seem to shift or disappear though they tend to reappear obstinately at various areas, generating transient as well as varying and still repeat the patterns.

Exact coherent structures – ECS’s

According to Grigoriev, people have envisaged these patterns in turbulence flows for centuries though they are finding methods of relating the patterns to mathematical equations describing the flows of fluid. Some of the recurrent patterns had drawn the attention of Grigoriev and Schatz which are known as exact coherent structures – ECS’s.

The physicists were given convenient entry points in computing predictions regarding what turbulence would do afterward. Regarding exact coherent structures, visually in turbulence, they tend to show up as brief moments when patterns seem to stop changing and it could be like the flow is for the time being is slowing down.

An ECS to an unqualified eye does not seem much different from the rest of the swirls and curls though one could be trained to spot them. As per Schatz that is precisely how they go about locating them and they watch the turbulence, continually taking snapshots. The flow moves around, moving around and they look out for the moment when it tends to slow down the most and it is then that they pick out a snapshot.

Flow of turbulence reliable patterns reflect dynamics

He further informed that they feed that in the mathematical model which indicates that they are close showing what the math looks like at that point. The math solution defines a point in the turbulent flow which could be worked with to figure out a prediction of what the turbulence would be afterwards.

In order to comprehend what an exact coherent structure is dynamically we should step back from what turbulence seems like visually with bunches of curls and swirls and rather look at a turbulent flow as an individual physical entity by decoding it into a crude metaphor – a swinging pendulum with a few marked peculiarities.

Rather than picturing the bottom point of a normal swing of the pendulum, the equilibrium as a steady point in a firm swing now the equilibrium is at the top most point, with the upside-down pendulum and it is unstable. Moreover, it does not swing in just two directions but in all directions. The flow of the turbulence reliable patterns tends to reflect dynamics which are back-and-forth-to-and-fro though in all types of variations.

 As the symbolic pendulum seems to swing up towards its peak, it tends to come near but never a complete stop. Rather it seems to flop over some other side. This near-halt point is equivalent to an exact coherent structure though there are some more bends in the metaphor.

Harnessed to Define Dynamics

Grigoriev had informed that if initial dynamics were ever changed slightly, an inverted pendulum can swing past its unstable equilibrium at the peak or it could halt and then start moving in the opposite direction. Similarly, the turbulent flow can evolve in various different manners after passing by an ECS.Numerous exact coherent structures with various qualities tend to turn up in a turbulent flow. Schatz had mentioned that usually people prefer to lookat steady things which seem to be unchanging like the evensymmetric normal pendulum and turns out to be unstable patterns which form a rough core alphabet which is used in building a kind of predictive theory.Withthedynamics of loose inverted pendulum now image eachexact coherent structure as a town on a map. With paths it seems to guide the turbulent flow `traffic’ toward, from, as well as each town like roadways. Grigoriev had mentioned thatthe road around as well as between towns do not change with passage of time which allowsforecastthe evolution ofthe flow. ECSs seems to occur frequently just like clockwork withthe likelihood of opening of refining predictions at regular intervals. Exact coherent structures arealready known to be existent.Schatz has commented that no one has done demonstration before in a lab experiment on how they can be harnessed to define dynamics, the behaviour evolving in time is the same,is certainly what is needed for prediction.

Using a Smartphone to Screen for Male Infertility

Male fertility tests are not as simple and easy to perform as the female counterparts but latest innovation made by some researchers is all set to change the game. Most of the at home male fertility tests allows users to just check upon sperm count but it leaves a wide range of other characteristics which also effects the fertility. One of the major important characteristics usually left aside in the so called in-home male fertility tests includes sperm motility which signifies how much energetic are the sperm cell while they move around.

Researchers behind the automated male fertility testing system

The researchers at the Brigham & Women’ Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital had successfully developed a completely automated system which can effectively help in performing certain male fertility tests. This particular system is remarkable in accurately measuring the concentration of the sperm as well their motility ration by simply using a smartphone. It also requires some of the snap-on components which are quite cheap in nature.

The functioning of the automated system is quite simple wherein the users are required to place the semen sample in a disposable chamber of the snap-on component. The snap-on component is designed with precision and care and doesn’t’ looks odd at all rather it appears like a usual smartphone case. There is a disposable microchip placed in the component and the light source for effectively measuring the part of sample is the smartphones camera. The smartphone camera helps in illuminating the semen sample while sensing equipment placed in the component does the rest of the work.

A special app is required to be installed on the smartphone which in later stage makes use of the image and helps in carefully evaluating the number as well as activity of the sperm cells in the sample. However this isn’t the first of its kind male fertility testing system as there is already a similar technology called YO sperm test system which happens to be sold directly to the consumers.

How this technology works? 

Researchers have made use of as many as 350 clinical sperm specimens to analyse the results and improvise the technology with each iteration. They had made use of unwashed and processed liquefied semen in order to conduct tests. The sample were kept at less than 5-s which ensured lower processing time and helped in getting accurate results with about `98% accuracy. Under the World Health Organisation the test were conducted to ensure its integrity as well as the efficiency of the technology for global usage in the upcoming days.

Their research has also shed light to the fact that by simply integrating few microfluids along with the optical sensing accessories in the modern advanced consumer electronics smartphone can help in developing the remote semen testing equipment without much hassle. Therefore they opted for bringing the amalgamation of the technology on the smartphone which can be easily access by millions worldwide and an app has been developed to provide quick and accurate fertility test results right from the sample within shortest amount of time.

Google Play Gets a Free App of the Week Section

Back in 2012, Apple started ‘free app of the week’ as a means of promoting some of the best titles in App stores. Google decided to follow Apple’s footsteps and has recently launched their own ‘free app of the week’ section. This new and exciting section is available on Google Play and has been launched, but not yet in India. However, this mega-tech pioneer has not yet committed to making this free application section, a full time feature. Google Play is currently testing their new approach to marketing apps only in the US, and will keep the format going for a time period of four weeks.

Free apps available 

One of the attractive features they had added on Google Play prior to this recent update was a unique feature that was greatly liked. This innovation allowed developers to display sales of their apps and other free offers on Google Play. While the recent ‘free app section also features a free download version of Card Wars by Cartoon Network for free which normally costs around $2.99. This is available on both mobile and desktop version.

This move is a wonderfully innovative approach that not only allows popularity of Google Play but gives an innovative platform to new developers. This program by Google is called the pilot program. Cartoon Network was approached by Google for offering the proposal of joining this latest venture by Google Play. Even though, CN was not thinking of running a sale, they agreed to participate in it.
Editorial selection process

An editorial selection process is being held by Google for deciding which apps will be featured in their new ‘free app of the week’ section. This editorial process is far better than some algorithm which will lead to the display of popular apps that have already been up for sale. For this program CN is giving some its popular apps for free but Google recompensing the publisher of the apps, for these downloads.

Tried and tested method 

Although, Google has decided to take up this new venture, it is not exactly ‘new’ for the company. As, back in 2015 Google had already tested the model by offering free apps in the family section. However, the format was a tad different, and Google Play was only offering free applications from PBS kids.

Well, this is also not something new for the Android users as they’ve already had the experience of downloading paid content for free. Amazon Underground was a program launched by Amazon in 2015 where Android users were able to download premium apps for free from the Amazon Appstore. App publishers in an effort to increase their Google Play ranking and for boosting downloads also sometimes offers exciting sales.

Google, however, has decided to not make comments on this business model surrounding the ‘free app of the week’ venture. A spokesperson has however stated that it is Google Play’s constant endeavor to offer their customers with the best services on Google Play. Considering the shining success of Google’s earlier efforts to boost app rankings, this new venture will be quite successful.