Cloud Computing Explained

The cloud; a modern-day expression of ultimate globalisation, or just a slew of servers somewhere? Why Cloud? The language of the cloud may be unequivocal, but don't expect that to last long; within a few years you'll put cloud costs next to other utilities such as water, gas and electric. The cloud catches our imagination, and is fast becoming the stuff of life itself. But what exactly is it?

What is 'the cloud'?

"The cloud is a collection of interconnected IT services and infrastructures that are accessible via a network, thank heavens we have a definition for it. From a user's point of view, anything that backs up and syncs data that's accessible on multiple devices can be said to be a cloud service. Familiar products that use the cloud include Google Drive, iPlayer, Apple's iCloud, Amazon's Cloud Drive, its new Cloud Player and its Kindle Cloud Reader and apps, Spotify, and Sony's next PlayStation. Plus there's a whole host of online storage and backup services such as SugarSync, SkyDrive and Dropbox. Although we're most interested in what it can do for all of us, even these brands offer cloud services to private companies that enable them to slim down both their own IT operations and desk space. After all, if everything is stored remotely on the cloud, who needs an office?

Where is the cloud?

The cloud is real, and nothing like a cloud. It lives primarily in wealthy, cooler parts of the world, far away from floodplains and even flight-paths. Stored in office blocks or warehouses, the world's major data storage centres are primarily in the US and Europe, though there's growth in Asia and Australia.

"The world's largest technology companies tend to dominate the sector, but most are very secretive about the number and location of facilities they have, because they don't want to give away competitive advantages. Google, for example, is known to have at least a dozen major facilities in America, but is believed to have many more, as well as an increasing number of locations in Europe and Asia."

What we do know is that around 90% of Google's data is stored in the US and Europe (in Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Dublin), though it also has warehouses in Russia, South America and Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan). Storing your iTunes collection on Apple's iCloud means renting space at its data centers in Oregon, North Carolina or California, while status updates on Facebook reside in, strangely, almost exactly those same places, as well as Virginia and, soon, Sweden.

Microsoft puts its data in its US heartland (its facility in Washington is larger than 10 football fields), though it does have one data centre in Dublin, while the exceptions to Amazon's US-centric strategy include Dublin, Japan and Brazil.

Tweets, meanwhile live on Twitter's servers in Sacramento, California and Atlanta, Georgia. "Although the locations of 'cloud islands' are often clearly identified in terms of where the underlying services or data centres are located, these locations may be compounded across national boundaries and cloud can be potentially everywhere. A bit like the internet, then.

How does the cloud work?

Take store 'n' sync service Dropbox as an example. Its software is installed on 250 million devices, with its 50 million users saving one billion files every couple of days on its cloud servers.

All of that data is encrypted and kept on Amazon's Simple Storage Service in multiple data centers across the US. The idea is that you work away on your PC at home normally, but every file or folder you link to Dropbox is automatically - as in, almost constantly - backed up to a Dropbox server.

You can access your Dropbox account from any web-connected computer, but in terms of remote working it goes even further; load Dropbox onto your netbook, tablet or smartphone and you can access the latest version of any given file. Make changes to a document and that version now becomes the version accessible on your desktop PC. It takes a while to get used to it, but there are fail-safes; conflicting copies of files from different machines are clearly labelled (if, for example, you work on a document on two different devices, one of which isn't connected to the web, so unable to sync). Dropbox keeps snapshots of every file change over the last 30 days, so can retrospectively restore files, too.

The key advantage of this kind of service is that it integrates totally into your devices, and is pretty much invisible. That is why we love the cloud - and why Dropbox-style services of some sort are now touted by every web brand you can think of.

What is cloud computing?

"Cloud computing offers both data hosting and applications, so consumers are free to access this from anywhere." Nice in theory - no need to buy an HDD or even software - but despite the efforts of Samsung's Google Drive-powered Chromebooks, cloud computing proper hasn't yet caught on.

The software and technology that enables us all to work solely through a web browser is here, but since an 'always on' web connection isn't guaranteed, the Chromebook idea only really works if you're stationary. For now, that defeats the object.

Is the cloud clean?

It could be, but it isn't - yet. In the long run, as well as saving time and money, some think that the cloud will have enormous environmental benefits. "Cloud computing brings the potential to outsource and eliminate almost every non-mission-critical complexity in an IT infrastructure.

Gone from even relatively small offices will be control rooms housing banks of servers, in need of cooling. And though the cloud does mean huge data centers somewhere on the planet, we're talking massive economies of scale.

"When people around the world share their music or photos on the cloud, they want to know that the cloud is powered by clean, safe energy. "Yet highly innovative and profitable companies like Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft are building data centers powered by coal and acting like their customers won't know or won't care. They're wrong.

How secure is the cloud from fraud?

Your data is someone else's hands. That's the cloud in a nutshell, and it creates a possibility that our personal and financial information is vulnerable to fraud. But don't get paranoid. Most individuals will store information on the cloud for sharing purposes or backing up data. And this is probably right, though it has to issue a word of caution, telling us: "Individuals should still be sensitive to the nature of the data they are storing in the cloud."

For Example, Even though it was quickly rectified, but during July, Russian hacker Alexey Borodin changed the DNS settings on Apple's In-App Purchase Program, which allowed Mac users to avoid the payment process and steal in-app content. "It was not Apple's first DNS hacking incident, and is unlikely to be its last, "The difficult nature of detecting DNS attacks means that they could be likely cyber-crime choices for terrorists."

8 NEXUS 6 Tricks You Didn't Know

Ever since Google’s Nexus 6 was announced last year, it’s become one of the most polarizing smartphones ever to be released. In the past, Nexus smartphones have been modest and (mostly) affordable, but the Motorola-made Nexus 6 takes a different stance. It’s big, powerful, and features one of the best Android experiences on the market today. Looking past its flaws, the sleek design, crisp screen and the promise of timely updates make the Nexus 6 a great purchase. If you’re a recent adopter of the handset, we’ll help you get the most out of your shiny new device. Today, we’ll be taking a quick look at some of our top tips and tricks for the Nexus 6! The Nexus 6 comes unlocked directly from Google. While that may a standard for Nexus devices, this one in particular can work on most US mobile carriers. 

1. Data Management: When using a multimedia-centric smartphone with 4G LTE capabilities everyday, it’s very easy to reach your data cap very quickly. The Nexus 6 has a convenient way to easily keep track of data usage. First, head to your notification shade, then pull down once more to get to Quick Settings. Next, tap the Mobile Networks setting icon. It will immediately show you a quick overview of your data consumption. From there, you can access your data settings, set a data limit, and even check out which apps are using the most data.

2. Battery Status: The 3,220mAh cell in the Nexus 6 may be larger than your standard smartphone’s battery, but it’s also powering a giant, 5.96-inch display. Despite the proclaimed one-day battery life, many users still struggle to last an entire day on a single charge. Fortunately, there are some ways to combat that problem. One way is by turning off the Ambient Display mode which pulses a dimmed screen as notifications come in, not unlike Motorola’s own Moto Display feature. Personally, I find the Ambient Display feature to be really helpful, but if you turn it off, Google claims your phone will get an extra 80 hours of standby time. 

3. Wireless Charging: The Nexus 6 has Qi wireless charging capabilities, though that feature was omitted on its original spec sheet. Despite the omission, it is in fact on the device, and offers an easy way to get a supplementary charge while you’re at a desk or bedside table.

4. Water Resistance: Another feature not originally listed on the spec sheet is the fact that the Nexus 6 is water resistant. Like the Moto X, it features a nano coating that doesn't necessarily come with an ingress protection rating, but it is at least somewhat protected against the elements.

5. UHD Recording: The 13MP rear-facing camera not only means you can take high-resolution images, but also high-resolution video. While it’s not enabled by default, you can enable it by launching the Camera, the choosing Settings>Resolution and quality>Back camera video>UHD 4K.

6. Updates and Notifications: Lollipop’s new notification and sound settings might take some getting used to, but they do come with a really helpful feature called Downtime. It’s basically a ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode that you can put on a set schedule. To set this up, head to Settings>Sound and notification>Interruptions, then head to the bottom of the screen. Here you can schedule Downtime by selecting the days of the week and start and end times.

7. Notification LED: Another lesser-known fact about the Nexus 6? It actually comes with a notification LED. It’s hidden beneath the top earpiece speaker, and is unfortunately turned off by default. But with a little elbow grease and determination, you can get it working. You’ll need to gain root access, then download Light Flow from the Google Play Store. 

8. Bigger Keyboard:Since the Nexus 6 has such a large display, it makes sense to employ a different keyboard to use some of that extra room. Of course, you can always download a third-party keyboard from Google Play, but there’s also a larger layout built directly into the Google Keyboard.

Long-press the comma key to jump into the keyboard settings, head to ‘Appearance and layouts’, choose ‘Custom input styles’, and add another keyboard. Select ‘PC’ as the keyboard layout, then enable it in the Language settings. The next time your keyboard pops up, tap the globe icon and you will have a keyboard with a dedicated number row. If you aren't fond of the new number row, switching back to your old keyboard is as simple as pressing the globe key again.

How MOORE's LAW has changed the World...

It has been 50 years since Gordon E Moore, co-founder of the Intel Corporation, made the observation that became known as Moore's Law. Moore looked at the elements - transistors, resistors, capacitors, and diodes - being used in chips at the time (approximately 60), and based on their use in the preceding years, came to the conclusion that the industry would double these elements every year for 10 years until they hit 60,000 per chip.

Moore lays down the law

Ten years later and Moore's prediction proved very accurate, leading a colleague to coin the term 'Moore's Law', but at this time Moore revised his prediction to a doubling every two years. Ultimately transistors came to be the dominant element in chips, becoming the most useful measure of an integrated circuit's complexity.

But Moore's Law wasn't just about the quantity of elements and a chip's resulting performance - Moore was also concerned with economics. His original prediction was based upon the number of elements within each chip where cost per component was at a minimum. Interestingly, in the past ten years, increases in transistor numbers have come to be more about cost than performance, with transistors being made smaller in order to keep costs down - although this further miniaturization has resulted in performance gains in any case. Moore's Law economics in action!

Although Moore's first and second predictions were, initially, a means of chronicling the industry's progress, over time Moore's Law became something of a driving force, encouraging semiconductor manufacturers to keep pace with the Law. Today, there are billions of transistors on chips, and this magnitude has a great deal to do with the existence of Moore's Law. It is said that the semiconductor industry still uses it to guide its planning and to set targets for R&D.

Major impact

This being the case, Moore's Law's impact on our lives and the progress of business and industry cannot be overstated. The way we communicate has changed irrevocably over the past few decades. If Moore's Law hadn't been adopted by the semiconductor industry as a call to arms, would we be working on our own individual computers, making business calls on smartphones or travelling to meetings in today's computer-controlled cars (if we bother to travel at all - videoconferencing has never been more sophisticated)? Unlikely. And there'd almost certainly be no internet without Moore's Law. Gordon Moore has helped to determine our technological reality and is arguably even more (no pun intended) influential in indirectly shaping our futures than Arthur C Clarke - and that's some achievement.

So, what helped Moore's Law to gather momentum in the early years following the 1965 publication of Electronics magazine? Of course, the invention of the integrated circuit, which instigated and influenced Moore's article has a huge part to play - without it there would be no Moore's Law, I'd be typing this piece on a typewriter and TechRadar Pro would be a print magazine. We have Jack Kirby at Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor to thank for the 'birth' of Moore's Law and for keeping it alive ever since. But there were other contributions to the Law's early development.

Will it last?

How long can Moore's Law go on for? As mentioned above, Moore reckons there'll be an end to it. Also in 2010, the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors predicted that transistor-per-chip growth would slow by 2014, projecting that the Moore's Law doubling would shift from every two years to every three. Of course, the growth of nanotechnology could restore Moore's Law to its doubling-every-two-year predictor. However it might be sustained, as it did before, Moore's Law will have to evolve to survive. As we've seen, developments in semiconductor technology will continue to occur, but this won't necessarily mean that costs will continue to fall - Moore's original economies.

Other measures of the Law will have to come into play, meaning that it will morph into what some in the semiconductor industry call "more than Moore" and 'Gentleman Scientist' Chris Mack calls Moore's Law 3.0. Mack cites the cell phone camera as an example of 3.0 in action. These cameras incorporate image sensors directly onto digital signal processors using large vertical lines of copper wiring called through-silicon vias, so uniting non-logic functions that would previously have been kept separate from the chips themselves. Assuming Moore's Law continues to have an impact on technology, what might the future look like? However you want it to look, basically, especially if nanotechnology becomes more influential. Cyber body parts, brain implants, wearable tech that interacts with your body biologically - our lives are set to change again and again thanks to Moore's Law as we keep living in what feels like the future. And as Moore's Law evolves to keep up with the technological evolution, there are no limits to where the semiconductor will take us. Here's to the next 50 years.

SPIDER SILK : TO GROW HUMAN HEART

Humans have been making use of spider silk for thousands of years.  The ancient Greeks used cobwebs to stop wounds from bleeding and the Aborigines used silk as fishing lines for small fish.  More recently, silk was used as the crosshairs in optical targeting devices such as guns and telescopes until World War II and people of the Solomon Islands still use silk as fish nets

Now with a new research doctors might one day use the stuff to grow a new heart.

 Researchers have grown cardiac tissue on spider silk that can beat like natural heart tissue. The elasticity and non-toxic nature of the material make it perfect for growing human hearts.

MIPT researchers found that genetically engineered fibres of the  protein spidroin, which was the construction material for spider webs, has proven to be a perfect substrate for cultivating heart tissue cells

Scientists at the Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology examined if lab-grown silk proteins could be used as a mesh to grow cardiomyocytes, the cells that form heart tissue. Cardiomyocytes were seeded on electrospun spidroin fiber structures and cultured to form confluent cardiac monolayers.The spidroin fiber meshes were found to be directly suitable for the adherence and growth of the cardiomyocytes and represent a much needed material for bio-scaffolds.

Previously, the group used synthetic polymeric nanofibers but recently decided to assay another material-electrospunfibers of spidroin, the cobweb protein. Cobweb strands are incredibly lightand durable. They're five times stronger than steel, twice more elastic than nylon, and are capable of stretching a third of their length. The structure of spidroin molecules that make up cobweb drag lines was similar to that of the silk protein, fibroin, but was much more durable.

Researchers have already used spidroin to grow cartilage and tendons as well as bone implants, so the Moscow scientists wanted to see if spidroin engineered in their lab could be utilized to cultivate cardiomyocytes, the cells that make up heart tissue.

They found it to be an ideal material; the fibers are five times as strong as steel and twice as elastic as nylon, capable of stretching another third of their length

for their experiments, the researchers seeded a spidroin fiber matrix with neonatal rat cardiomycetes. Within 3 to 5 days, a layer of cardiac cells had formed. Follow-up tests determined that this tissue was able to contract synchronously and conduct electrical impulses, just like normal heart tissue should This  monitoring, was carried out with the help of a microscope and fluorescent markers

so with this research we can probably grow a human heart,or we can also say that we are progressing towards our goal  of growing a replacement heart or other organ from a patient's own stem cells, which can then be transplanted without fear of rejection and eliminating the often dangerous wait for a suitable donor organ.

Internet Neutrality & Dream of Open Internet

Lately a lot has been said on Net Neutrality, but what it really means and once it is implemented what it holds for the common end user. There are some pros and cons, in the dream of world where Internet is neutral.

Net neutrality (also network neutrality, Internet neutrality, or net equality) is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.

Examples of net neutrality violations include when the Internet service provider Comcast intentionally slowed peer-to-peer communications. In 2007, one other company was using deep packet inspection to discriminate against peer-to-peer, file transfer protocol, and online games, instituting a cell-phone-style billing system of overages, free-to-telecom value-added services, and bundling.

Network neutrality is the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. The best way to explain network neutrality is as when designing a network: that a public information network will end up being most useful if all content, sites, and platforms are treated equally. A more detailed proposed definition of technical and service network neutrality suggests that service network neutrality is the adherence to the paradigm that operation of a service at a certain layer is not influenced by any data other than the data interpreted at that layer, and in accordance with the protocol specification for that layer.

The idea of an open Internet is the idea that the full resources of the Internet and means to operate on it are easily accessible to all individuals and companies. This often includes ideas such as net neutrality, open standards, transparency, lack of Internet censorship, and low barriers to entry. The concept of the open Internet is sometimes expressed as an expectation of decentralized technological power, and is seen by some as closely related to open-source software.

 Proponents often see net neutrality as an important component of an open Internet, where policies such as equal treatment of data and open web standards allow those on the Internet to easily communicate and conduct business without interference from a third party. A closed Internet refers to the opposite situation, in which established persons, corporations or governments favor certain uses. A closed Internet may have restricted access to necessary web standards, artificially degrade some services, or explicitly filter out content.

Different Web companies are in the favour of Traffic shaping which is nothing but  the control of computer network traffic in order to optimize or guarantee performance, improve latency, and/or increase usable bandwidth by delaying packets that meet certain criteria. More specifically, traffic shaping is any action on a set of packets (often called a stream or a flow) which imposes additional delay on those packets such that they conform to some predetermined constraint (a contract or traffic profile). 

What's Eating Your SMARTPHONE's BATTERY ?

Today, we will dive into a few built in Android tools to help identify if there is a rogue app that is eating up your battery. For the advanced user, dedicated to getting the absolute most battery life out of their device, today’s article may be a little basic for your needs.

Before we begin

We are not doing anything that requires any third-party apps today. However, we will be working from our typical stock vanilla Android 5+ Lollipop device. Your manufacturer or carrier skin may have eliminated, hidden or simply overwritten these tools with their own offerings. Nonetheless, the theory of what we will discuss today may still work for you, even if the exact steps do not.

What’s eating my battery?

If you are still reading this, I suspect you have experienced, as I have, the battery on your Android device dropping rapidly for no apparent reason, or just dying faster than normal. Perhaps your device went unused all day, but died in a few short hours anyway. This is sadly a fairly common experience that can be caused by any number of things, including Android’s built-in services or the apps that you have installed. There are many things you can do to identify the cause of rapid battery drain, from the built-in battery usage graph all the way up to advanced apps and debugging services and tools for developers. Today, we will keep it simple, looking at a few features built into stock Android.

Battery usage graph

In addition to the simple battery level indicator in the top bar of your Android device, your OS keeps careful tabs on which apps are using up your battery. This info is presented in a fairly general format when you head into Settings -> Battery.

When it really boils down to it, the info is a tad confusing if you are researching a rogue application. Aside from the idiosyncrasies of the basic Battery usage chart, this is a great place to start, and may reveal your rogue application that is eating up your battery.

RAM usage in Apps

Aside from the actual battery usage list, you may be able to hunt down a problematic app in your running apps list. Head into Settings -> Apps, then swipe over to the Running tab.

What you see is a list of the apps that Android reports as currently loaded into RAM on your device, thus, the apps that are ‘running.’ Although this view does not offer actual battery usage, assumptions can be made with the visible RAM usage numbers, as well as the up-time counter.

Have a look for a rogue app that is eating up too much RAM or has been running for far too long and you may find your battery killer. I wouldn't outright recommend using the force stop button here, as this is akin to killing processes in your Windows Task Manager, kill the wrong one and the system will crash. Instead, check the app itself for a proper quit button, change settings to prevent background processes/syncing or swipe back to the left in the Apps Settings and stop or uninstall the app in your list of installed apps.

Developer Options – Process Stats

Taking things to the next level, there is a feature within Android’s Developer Options called Process Stats which, in its own words, provides “Geeky stats about running processes.”

This list of running apps is interesting to look at, and a little more detailed than the other tools, but perhaps less practical for the average user. What you see here is the exact breakdown of what the app is doing, or at least how it is using RAM.

Look through the list, be sure to hit the menu button and swap Duration and Stats Type to see all of your foreground/background/cached apps and services.

What’s next

As you can imagine, the steps we took today are not very advanced or effective for fine tuned battery saving management. There is also plenty more that can be done and surmised from the tools presented. We do hope that you find the reason for your battery drain concern using one of these methods, and that it is an obvious concern with an easy fix – like a rogue app that you will happily uninstall.

Before you jump into external measures, have a look through Developer Options for more tools that might help you. For example, you may turn on Show CPU usage and look through the list of running apps for something that shouldn't be.

ANTIBODIES TO FIGHT HIV DISCOVERED

 Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) have discovered a new vulnerable site on HIV that antibodies can attack to prevent infection

1       An antibody (AB), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large Y-shape protein produced by plasma cells that is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique part of the foreign target, called an antigen.

        

The new target, on hiv according to researchers offers a stable mark for vaccine design, increasing the potential to find a vaccine that can provide broad, lasting protection to people around the world.  Dennis R. Burton, professor in TSRI’s Department of Immunology and Microbial Science and scientific director of the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center told that they have discovered a new potential site on HIV where antibodies can attack.till now only few vulnerable sites has been known, but with discovery of this site they are expecting good results with a vaccine. A team of scientists led by Dr Burton, identified and described a promising new set of bNAbs saying that two of the antibodies in the series could block infection by more than two-thirds of HIV strains found in patients worldwide

The identification of bnAbs has been a major turning point for HIV vaccine research:

The existence of bnAbs hints that the human immune system is capable of developing antibodies that can work against HIV’s many different forms. bnAbs can be isolated, so scientists can learn about their structure and functions in detail. The places on the virus where bnAbs attach (see illustration) indicate potentially vulnerable locations that research can target with vaccine

A team of scientists led by Dr Burton, identified and described a promising new set of bNAbs saying that two of the antibodies in the series could block infection by more than two-thirds of HIV strains found in patients worldwide

“What is interesting about this study is that scientists identified a target which can generate antibodies against the same target but on many different strains of the virus no matter how many times the virus changes,” says Dr Sebina a Ugandan Cellular Immunologist based in Australia

3BNC117, it belongs to a new generation of broadly neutralizing antibodies that potently fight a wide range of HIV strains. “What's special about these antibodies is that they have activity against over 80% of HIV strains and they are extremely potent,“ said Marina Caskey from the Rockefeller University . Scientists said 3BNC117 shows activity against 195 out of 237 HIV strains In the latest study, uninfected and HIV infected individuals were intravenously given a single dose of the antibody and monitored for 56 days. At the highest dosage levels, 30 mg per kg of weight, all eight infected individuals treated showed up to 300-fold decreases in the strength of the virus measured in their blood.

The researchers now think that by generating this target (antibodies) in the lab and making loads of it, purifying it and making it safe, the may be able vaccinate patients who may generate stronger antibody responses against the virus or in healthy individuals prior to them getting infected, just like other vaccines.

Things To Know Before Installing Windows 10

If you are thinking about installing Windows 10 on your computer (laptop, tablet or desktop)? If so, we've put together a list of 5 things you need to do before installing Microsoft's latest operating system.

Deciding whether to update the existing version of Windows or go for a clean install will impact on the entire installation process. Some devices, especially with a low amount of on-board storage, can only do a clean install. I prefer a clean install for two main reasons; it saves space and removes any risk of conflict that might arise. Plus you won't be able to roll back to Windows 8.1 from Windows 10 anyway.

Also, do make sure that you noted down your product ID key for Windows and have a boot disk handy, just in case the Windows 10 experiment doesn't go according to plan. Regardless of your installation process, you will need to download the Windows 10 Technical Preview ISO, either 32-bit or the 64-bit one, the former for systems with less than 4GB and the latter for those with more than 4GB.

If you don't know what an ISO is, it's probably not a good idea for you to proceed further - note that this isn't my advice, but Microsoft itself. The Technical Preview of Windows 10 will expire in October 2015 which will give you ample time to play with, tweak and evaluate whether the OS will be a good fit for you. You can always contribute to the Windows Insider Program (WIP) if you are encountering any sort of issues. WIP provides you with a standard forum where you can query other Windows 10 users, and fairly often get answers directly from active Microsoft-vetted members.

After that, you will either need to buy it, or get it for free by upgrading from an existing installation of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. Microsoft has already confirmed that it will be releasing the final version of Windows 10 sometime in the summer, perhaps coinciding with the next iteration of its business suite, Office 2016.

 If you don't have a Microsoft account already, do create one as it will allow you to save your existing settings and all your files to the cloud (on Microsoft's OneDrive), files that you will then be able to recover after installing Windows 10. Create that account BEFORE you start the installation.

You don't actually need a Microsoft account to install Windows 10 (but then you will probably need to document your login details); the vendor made it more difficult to complete the installation of Windows 10 without getting one first. Getting your own Microsoft account also means that you will get 15GB of online storage, which you can double if you link your phone or tablet (Android, Windows or iOS). Note that your browser's details are likely to be separate if you're using Chrome or Firefox, so you will need to have logins or save these separately.

It's unlikely that you'll need to actively search for and download drivers since Windows 10 usually does it pretty well. However, do make sure that you know what the components inside your computer are, just in case. Having that list makes it easier to troubleshoot afterwards; use an application like AIDA64 to find these out.

It's also worth compiling a list of all the applications you might want to install after you (hopefully) have installed Windows 10. I usually trust a nice little updater called Ninite with my installation troubles which essentially batch-installs a list of popular applications.

The applications are mostly open source ones and are always the latest official versions - they have been tested for malware, won't badger you with any questions, and will say no to toolbars and extra junk. One of the oft-forgotten aspects of installing Windows on a computer is connectivity. You need connectivity to get hold of the latest drivers and very often, you won't be able to have access to Wi-Fi. I usually use a USB NIC which plugs into any USB port, and is very handy in a number of situations (especially when you have an Ultrabook).

Other accessories that might come in handy include a wired keyboard and a wired mouse (if you're looking to install Windows 10 on a tablet) as well as an Ethernet cable. If you want to get Windows 10 for cheap, you can always use the upgrade route, grab a cheap Windows 7 license online and update when Windows 10 becomes available.

New Windows Browser SPARTAN hits Windows Phones

The newest build of the phones Technical Preview finally includes Microsoft's new browser, Project Spartan. The Internet Explorer alternative recently became available in the latest build of Windows 10 as well, but this is the first time it's appeared publicly on phones.

Internet Explorer 11 is still the default browser, but it now exists alongside Project Spartan in Windows 10 for phones. Project Spartan has the same new rendering engine available on the desktop, with the same support for the latest standards and the same strong focus on interoperability with the modern Web."

This build of Windows 10 for phones is currently available to Windows Insider members in the "fast ring" for releases, and on a ton of new devices - the full list is laid out on the Windows Blog.

Multiple apps have been revamped as well, including the phone, messaging, mail, calendar, people, maps and app switcher apps, and a slew of bugs have been fixed. You'll find that this build has new design for Windows phone version, with the address bar on top, and a small actions bar at the bottom. You'll also find early versions of the mobile reading view and reading list. Other features will light up in future flights. Read more over here.

Did You Just Buy a New ANDROID Phone ?

So, you just got a new Android smartphone — that's pretty exciting! But once the initial awe of this new gadget wears off, you realize you actually need to use that phone. But that's what we're here for — with a little research you'll have your new Android up and running, and you'll be a pro in no time at all. Read along with us and see the first things you need to do with your new phone.

Where to get started -

First thing's first — you'll need a Google Account to get started with your Android phone. If you have Gmail you have a Google Account already, and if not you can make one either online or when you first set up your phone. This single account unleashes the power of Google Play for apps, but also Gmail, YouTube and sync in Chrome. Also buy a screen guard and a cover for your beloved mobile.

• Just as important, let's talk about security. Set up Android Device Manager so you can keep your data safe if your phone is lost or stolen.
• Coming from an iPhone? You'll probably want to know how to get your iTunes music over onto Android.
• Once the music is on the device, check out some our favorite music player apps.
• Don't care for the look of your phone's software? Consider a third-party launcher to customize things a bit.
• You'll probably spend some time in Google Play grabbing some new apps. Check out our app reviews for information, read our weekly list of app picks every Sunday to see what we're all using and browse the app gallery for all of the apps we recommend.
• For further learning, read all of the basic help and how-to posts we've written on our main How To page.

Where to ask for some help

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How MOORE'S LAW is Failing Now...

MOORE’S LAW, WHICH holds that processor advancement is derived from transistor scaling, is commonly believed to be dying as semiconductor design bumps up against the limits of physics. It’s debatable whether this is indeed true, but one thing is certain: Major computing shifts such as  big data and cloud are placing heavy new demands on computing systems, and the tech industry’s traditional slow approach of moving to a new chip technology every couple of years is failing to keep up. 

What’s needed is a new wave of post-silicon innovation to scale the servers in data centers so they can handle today’s unprecedented workloads. That’s much of the rationale for the creation of the OpenPOWER Foundation, a technology movement started by Google, IBM, NVIDIA, Mellanox and Tyan in 2013 and now backed by 111 companies and other organizations in 22 countries.Members gathered in San Jose this week for the first OpenPOWER Summit and unveiled 10 hardware advances that demonstrate OpenPOWER’s impact as a breeding ground for new technology, These include the first commercially available OpenPOWER server, the world’s first custom POWER chip and a new high-performance server initiating a roadmap that will culminate in the worlds most powerful systems to be delivered to the U.S. government.

It’s time to move beyond processor-centric design to a new paradigm that takes into account software, post-silicon materials and most importantly, the benefits of an open, collaborative ecosystem. No one company alone can tackle the new types of systems the world will need for the growing number of hyper-scale data centers. That’s why  the OpenPOWER initiative makes IBM’s POWER hardware and software available to open development and allows POWER intellectual property to be licensed to others.

Call UBER for an AUTO now !

India’s taxi app hailing war is heating up. This morning, details of Ola’s latest $310 million funding round surfaced, and just hours later, Uber has introduced its first service that allows cash payments in the country.

UberAuto is a new category for hailing auto rickshaws that is debuting in New Delhi. Uber said it is “a cash-only service for now,” with fares calculated using existing transport regulations. The service works just like hailing any other kind of Uber vehicle (it’s much like the rickshaw service Ola runs too). Users open the app, select UberAuto from the options, and wait for a driver to confirm. Customers can hail autos even when there is no credit in their Paytm wallet — the payments service that Uber integrated in India — since the focus is on cash.

Uber has been running its service in New Delhi under a ‘no profit model’ in the aftermath of the alleged rape of a passenger. UberAuto continues that approach, and passengers will not have to pay booking fees or a service charge on top of the fare. This service is an interesting addition for a couple of reasons.

Auto rickshaws are, as Uber said above, an important layer of the transportation ecosystem in India cities. They are the cheapest and most ubiquitous way to get from A to B — so, in that respect they compete with Uber’s service for passengers. Getting auto rickshaws on the Uber platform is a big win from that point of view, because it increases the reach and appeal of Uber’s service, encouraging more consumers to download its app.

Of course, once a new user has the app, there’s the possibility that they might, in time, ride with other types of Uber vehicles — which return higher margins for the company than a rickshaw. Cash remains an important payment method across Asia, in spite of the convenience of cashless payments. That’s true for e-commerce, and likewise taxi rides. Cash-only fares will help extend Uber’s appeal to new demographics. From there, again, there’s the possibility that these new customers will, over time, use Uber’s more premium services.

Uber serves 11 cities in India, which makes the country its second largest behind the U.S.. As we've said before, the company is making a huge push into India. Ola remains the market leader with its coverage of more than 40 cities and towns nationwide. But Uber is focused on India’s biggest cities, where it is rapidly expanding its breadth of services, which numbers four different rides in New Delhi: Uber Black, Uber X, Uber Go and (now) Uber Auto.

How To Do Faster Internet Browsing on Google Chrome

Well, who minds speed while browsing the Web? However, we don't always get lucky with speed as far as Internet and data speeds in India are concerned. To address the Web speed woes of consumers, Google had come up with a Chrome browser extension—Data Saver, a service which was available only on mobile devices. However, now even PC and desktop users can avail the benefits of this browser extension.

The Data Saver extension is available to PC users since March 23rd. They can download it from the Chrome Web Store and install it on their devices. However, the extension would only work on Chrome 41 and above. It is worth noting, that this extension doesn't not work on secure (HTTPS) sites and during Incognito mode. Mobile users have been availing the benefits of Google's Data Saver feature since January 2014. Not only it helped users save some bandwidth, but also ensured that Web pages are loaded faster. In addition, this feature also boosts security as Google claims that when Data Saver is enabled, Chrome uses Safe Browsing technology to protect you from malware and phishing attacks.