5 tools to safeguard your digital privacy

Source: DNA-18th-December-2016

http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2016-12-18&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2

How Israel's digital libraries became a success

New Delhi: At a time when the Indian government has been largely focusing on imparting education through digital means, Israel, which had a similar kind of Internet reach a few years ago, has nailed the concept of digital libraries.

The concept of digi-libraries that started in Israel five years ago is a major success now, offering educational content to students, schools, academics, researchers, and reading material like newspapers and blogs to the general public.

Talking about how the concept became a success, Hadar Miller, Chief Information Officer at the National Library of Israel (NLI) said, “The concept of digital libraries started about five years ago, when we felt that there is a need to connect the entire country through one reading and learning platform. The digital library in Israel is not only catering to academic audience, it is for general public also. It reaches out to three sections - the academics and researchers, students and school teachers and to the general public.” “When we started the digital library we invested a lot on building the social applications like mobile based apps and coordinated with Google so that it is accessible to anyone from everywhere,” he added.

Talking about how India can take a cue from their library, he said: “In Israel also, we did not have good Internet connection till a few years ago, but technology develops at a gradual pace. Also, connecting with Google and making the web-search option accessible will be a good idea.” The digi-library also shares a rich cultural heritage of India-Israel relations, through information on Israelis who migrated to India and Indians who settled in their country. “A lot of Indian students are showing interest in research and study in Israel and a number of them research in Hebrew as well, for them, the digitized version of Hebrew comes in handy,” added Miller.

Resource: DNA-17th-December-2016

http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2016-12-17&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2

NASA reveals scary 3D simulation of CO2 build up

Global warming is on the rise and NASA has data to prove it. A 3D representation produced by the space agency's Goddard Space Flight Center reveals an alarming truth: Carbon dioxide is rising and it is slowly heating up our planet.

NASA credits the rise in carbon dioxide emissions to the overwhelming dependence on fossil fuels like petrol and coal. The amount of greenhouse gas generated has been steadily rising ever since the Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century. “Scientists have tracked the rising concentration of heat-trapping carbon dioxide for decades using ground-based sensors in a few places. A high-resolution visualisation of the new combined data product provides an entirely different perspective. The visualisation was generated by the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, using data from the agency's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite, built and operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California,” said NASA in a statement.

According to NASA, around 50 per cent carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels remains in our atmosphere while the other half is absorbed through natural processes like photosynthesis. “However, those seemingly simple numbers leave scientists with critical and complex questions - which ecosystems, especially on land, are absorbing what amounts of carbon dioxide? Perhaps most significantly, as emissions keep rising, will the land and the ocean continue this rate of absorption, or reach a point of saturation?” NASA said in a statement. The NASA video - titled ‘Following Carbon Dioxide Through the Atmosphere' – shows the circulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide from September 1, 2014, to August 31, 2015. The data collected by NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite - built by the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory - was combined with a high-resolution weather model to create the 3D simulation. NASA hopes that the video will not only help spread awareness but also help determine the future of Earth's climate and carbon flux - the exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere, land and ocean. The video can be found on NASA Goddard's YouTube channel.

Source: DNA-18th-December-2016

http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2016-12-18&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2

New WiFi tech uses only a pinch of power

The utility of mobile devices lies in their ability to access the Internet while keeping a synchronised track of relevant user data such as contacts, status updates and more. However, the downside of this always-on connectivity is the tendency for wireless connections to put undue strain on mobile batteries, becoming one of biggest utilisers of device power. WiFi is a known culprit in this case, especially because it is generally left active over the course of the day. This is now poised to change. Researchers from the University of Washington's Networks & Mobile Systems Lab led by CSE professor Shyam Gollakota have proved it possible to create WiFi signals that use only a tiny fraction of the power - one ten thousandth - compared to the current standard. The technology is being called ‘Passive WiFi', and could be a boon to extending the battery life of a range of mobile device like cell phones, laptops as well as the multitude of IoT appliances and gadgets making inroads into consumers' lives. The trick behind this technology's minuscule power utilisation is in separating the analog and the digital parts of a typical wireless circuit. The digital part of a WiFi component converts binary information from a laptop or smartphone into a signalling standard that conforms to WiFi transmission. The analog part modulates this digital information into high-frequency waves that comprise the wireless signal - this is the part that utilises the majority of the overall power drawn by a WiFi card. In the new system, the researchers relocated this higher-power analog component to a mains-connected device that sends out a wireless signal across a given area. This signal is then absorbed or reflected by digital switches integrated into devices, which serve to propagate the WiFi packets. The efficiency of this approach rises as the number of devices around the transmitting unit increases. Initial tests clocked data speeds of up to 11Mbps across a 100-foot range, and was also shown to be backward compatible with existing wireless devices like smartphones and tablets. All the while, the test devices functioned using 10,000 times lower power - levels that make it an order of magnitude more efficient than even Bluetooth.

Source: DNA-14th-December-2016

http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2016-12-14&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2

Blast-proof batteries invented

Ionic Materials Ever since its inception in the 1990s, Lithium-ion batteries have been the prefered choice of manufacturers, finding their way into a range of portable devices that require a rechargeable power source.

Applications have ranged from powered banks that propel vehicles to slivers of battery that are used in slim smartphones. However in recent years, it is clear that liquid Lithium-ion technology is quickly becoming outdated and is struggling with sustaining the pace of today's fast-moving technology sectors, especially the smartphone market. The push to pack devices with higher capacities and make them last longer have led to rampant cases of unstable batteries. These last several months have especially witnessed high-profile cases of batteries exploding either due to being faulty, punctured or damaged.

Michael Zimmerman of Ionic Materials, an expert in polymer innovation and semiconductor packaging, has spent the last four years developing a possible solution to power hungry devices. The result is the first solid lithium polymer battery that will never explode even if you literally take a hammer and drive a nail through it.

The new generation of batteries use flexible polymer packaging that enables the units to be used in unconventionally shaped molds.

The endeavour was possible owing to a $3 million contract granted to Ionic Materials by the United States Department of Energy. “My dream is to create the holy grail of solid batteries,” said Zimmerman. He plans to build a consumer version of the product within the next two years.

Unlike other electrical technologies such as processor or even storage, the rate of innovation in the battery space has significantly lagged. Even as far back as across the past 150 years, the number of battery technologies that have been assimilated into mass production are barely in the lower single digits. From lead acid, to zinc-carbon, to nickel-cadmium to lithium ion, the capacities as well as recharge characteristic improvements have not been dramatic.

Liquid-based Lithium-ion batteries had caused quite the commotion over the past year - anyone familiar with Samsung will know that their flagship smartphone - the Note 7 - didn't quite bring in the revenue and more importantly the reliability that the company expected. On the contrary the company reported a loss estimated to be about $5 billion, all due to the faulty batteries used in these flagship devices. Since the first report of the smartphones exploding, Samsung has launched its own investigation into the matter. Unfortunately the company was unable to locate the precise cause of the combustible batteries but experts believe that a safety defect caused the two electrodes to internally touch one another, causing the batteries to overheat and explode.

Source: DNA-14th-December-2016

http://epaper2.dnaindia.com/index.php?pagedate=2016-12-14&edcode=820009&subcode=820009&mod=1&pgnum=2