08Apr 2014 by Startbit Solutions Pvt. Ltd. No Comments

Windows XP operating system’s Support ends Today

Internet and Media, News
Support for the venerable Windows XP operating system ends this Tuesday. It means that there will be no more official security updates and bug fixes for the operating system from Microsoft. Some governments have negotiated extended support contracts for the OS in a bid to keep users protected. Security firms said anyone else using the 13-year-old software would be at increased risk of infection and compromise by cyber-thieves. Statistics suggest 20-25% of all users have stuck with XP despite the fact that there have been three major releases of Windows since its debut in 2001. Some of those existing XP users have struck deals to get security fixes from Microsoft while they complete their migration away from the ageing code. Anyone currently running Windows XP already faced a disproportionate risk…
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07Apr 2014 by Startbit Solutions Pvt. Ltd. No Comments

NASA would develop a ‘GitHub for astronauts’

Internet and Media, News, Social Responsibilities, Software Development, Techniques
If you have studied rocket science, NASA would enable you to make your own space craft! From April 10, the US space agency is set to reveal its enormous database highlighting where to find software for more than 1,000 of its projects. "NASA would offer a searchable database of projects," Daniel Lockney, technology transfer program executive at NASA, was quoted as saying in a Daily Mail report. We have collected a large amount of software projects, everything from design tools to robotic control systems, Lockney added. NASA would develop a 'GitHub for astronauts' by hosting the actual software code in its own online repository, which will be found at technology.nasa.gov. The data can be accessed free of copyright, but special clearance would be needed for anyone who wants to access…
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05Apr 2014 by Startbit Solutions Pvt. Ltd. No Comments

Virtual Currency Sales is now allowed on eBay

Internet and Media, News
To promote a trustworthy marketplace and ensure compliance with applicable regulations, eBay updated its Currency Policy in February. The updated policy clarifies that listings for Bitcoin and other similar virtual currencies must be listed in the Virtual Currency Category in the Classified Ad format. In terms of mining gear and mining contracts, those can be listed as auction or Buy It Now.   eBay, & PayPal, has added a new Virtual Currency  to their sales site, allowing users to sell virtual currency like bitcoin, as well as miners, and mining contracts. The category is sparsely populated right now and the listings are all classified ads, suggesting that eBay wants buyer and seller to hash out their sale outside of the company’s jurisdiction, thereby reducing risk of become liable for scams and fake sales. The company…
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05Apr 2014 by Startbit Solutions Pvt. Ltd. No Comments

Is Firefox’s future under threat?

Blog, Internet and Media, News
The survival of her company, which pledges to make the web a better place, is at the mercy of one of its main competitors, Google. If you haven't heard of Mozilla, you almost certainly know - and perhaps use - its most famous product: the Firefox browser. Since 2002, it has been steadily gaining market share against Internet Explorer (IE), Microsoft's pre-loaded, oft-criticised equivalent. It now has about half a billion users, a huge number of which are evangelists for the software. Many even help create it - it is one of the largest open-source projects on the net. Google likes this. So much so, they pay Mozilla millions of pounds every year to secure a piece of prime real-estate on Firefox's default homepage encouraging users to perform a Google…
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04Apr 2014 by Startbit Solutions Pvt. Ltd. No Comments

Indo-American Develops Paper Microscope “Foldscope”

Internet and Media, News, Techniques
An Indian-origin scientist has developed an incredibly low-cost microscope made almost entirely out of a very unlikely material - paper. The Foldscope, developed by Manu Prakash from Stanford University, contains three stages - a specimen stage in which the slide is placed, an optics stage that holds a ball lens and an illumination stage that contains an LED light. In order to view the specimen sample, users have to place their eyebrow against the paper with their eye close to the lens, in a fashion similar to the use of a traditional microscope. Magnification and image panning are controlled by the user's thumbs, including sliding to view different parts of the image and using a simple flexing mechanism to control magnification, according to 'The Stanford Daily'. Field testing has revealed…
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02Apr 2014 by Startbit Solutions Pvt. Ltd. No Comments

Now LinkedIn email addresses exposed

Internet and Media, News, Techniques
The email addresses of LinkedIn users can easily be exposed via a web browser add-on tool, it has been revealed. Sell Hack is available as a free extension to the Chrome browser that, once installed, will pop up a "hack in" button on LinkedIn profiles. Users can then find the email address associated with the account even if they are not connected. LinkedIn said it was taking legal action over the plug-in and advised users to uninstall it. Sell Hack insisted that the the tool was created for marketing professionals and that all data is publicly available. On its website it said: "We just do the heavy lifting and complicated computing to save you time, We aren't doing anything malicious to LinkedIn." But the social network for professionals did not…
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31Mar 2014 by Startbit Solutions Pvt. Ltd. No Comments

Internet access via Facebook drones

Internet and Media, News
The Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg  has announced to connect the two-thirds of the world that has no net access, using drones, satellites and lasers.It will put it in direct competition with Google, which is planning to deliver net access via balloons.Both of the net giants want to extend their audiences, especially in the developing world. Details about Facebook's plan were scant but it will include a fleet of solar-powered drones as well as low-earth orbit and geosynchronous satellites. Invisible, infrared laser beams could also be used to boost the speed of the net connections.Last year Facebook and other technology companies launched internet.org to help bring net access to the huge swathes of the globe that are still not connected. Aerospace experts: The social network has already teamed up with telecoms…
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28Mar 2014 by Startbit Solutions Pvt. Ltd. No Comments

Microsoft Office is now available for iPad

Internet and Media, News
Microsoft has finally started offering an iPad edition of its Office software suite.It was announced at the first launch event hosted by Satya Nadella since he became chief executive of the firm. Three separate productivity apps are available - Word, Excel and Powerpoint - each of which has been optimised for touch-based controls.Within hours of the launch, Word became the most downloaded application for iPads in Apple's app store.The Excel and Powerpoint apps were the third and fourth most popular free app downloads, respectively, in the store.The popularity shows that customers are interested in accessing Microsoft's signature Office products in their new, easier to use incarnation, compared with the web-based alternatives provided before. Mr Nadella said that the announcement was part of a strategy to empower people "to be productive…
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27Mar 2014 by Startbit Solutions Pvt. Ltd. No Comments

Facebook buys virtual reality gaming firm “Oculus”

APPS, Internet and Media, News
Facebook has bought the virtual reality technology firm Oculus VR for $2bn [£1.2bn], it revealed on Tuesday. In a surprise announcement, the social networking company said it had paid $400m in cash and the rest in more than 23m shares, currently worth $1.6bn [£970m], plus an additional $300m pegged to future performance. A detailed company statement said that Facebook recognised how Oculus had built a solid following among game developers, but that virtual reality technology would expand to other industries from communications and entertainment to education and media. "Mobile is the platform of today, and now we're also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow," said Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. "Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play…
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15Jan 2014 by Startbit Solutions Pvt. Ltd. No Comments

Snapchat hacked, 4.6 million usernames and linked phone numbers published

Internet and Media, News
[caption id="attachment_742" align="alignnone" width="585"] Snapchat hacked[/caption] Details of 4.6 million users of the popular mobile photo-sharing service Snapchat have been leaked, if a new website called SnapchatDB! is to be believed. A new website called SnapchatDB! is now live with tagline, "Bringing 4.6 million users' information to your fingertips..." The site is said to be made by a team of hackers who have posted downloadable 4.6 million usernames and phone numbers of Snapchat users. As of now, the leaked database on the SnapchatDB! site has listed downloadable phone numbers with the last two digits obfuscated. However, the site by the anonymous hackers clearly said that, "For now, we have censored the last two digits of the phone numbers in order to minimize spam and abuse. Feel free to contact us…
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