Internet Security- Take care of your computer's safety yourself!

Internet Security

We love using internet, we love all the convenience it offers us in our day to day life. But due to all the internet threats that online security faces these days, the comfort level that we could attain with the internet is affected adversely. These days these threats are most prominent while making online payments. And security breaches during these online money transactions is when we users suffer the most losses. Hence it is very important to make sure that all these transactions are safe form us consumers side atleast.

So what are the precautions that us consumers can take while making online payments?

There are a lot of things we consumers or users can do to ensure the safety of our online money transactions. It is safer to use wired network than wireless one while transferring money over the internet. Make sure the sites on which you choose to make payments are certified; in https, the 's' stands for secure and ensures safety of your transactions on that particular site. Keep changing the passwords regularly, don't repeat them for other sites and never write them down anywhere. A password should never be too obvious, like your date of birth or name. To make it complex try to include a variety of characters (letters, numbers and any other acceptable ones). Also never click on links to go to a site, always type the address in the web browser yourself to avoid being led to a fake site. Monitor your transactions on the sites that you use to make online payments closely and frequently. And in case of any suspicious transaction listing, inform the site's authority and close all the payment options immediately. Lastly, install on your computer an anti-virus and anti-spam software by an authentic firm and update it regularly.

Along with us taking these measure, its perhaps more reassuring to know that the sites that offer these online payment methods are also taking measures to make the transactions safe as well. Well they do! To make it easy for their consumers to verify their security, they put up safety certificates on their site. Some online businesses send an additional PIN number to the customers mobile phone every time a transaction has to be made. As mentioned earlier, they also use the most complex encryption. There is also a private key available these days, which is unique to one customer. This is required besides the public key to decrypt a data and transfer anything online.

With the rapidly growing technology these days there is always a scope for improvement. With this growth the businesses trying to protect online transactions as well as the hackers, both are getting smarter. Hence these businesses with the aid of their government should do their best to be one step ahead of the hackers and fight against new viruses, provide new certifications and keep on updating their customers on any new developments. These firms should also try and send educative emails to all their customers on these safety issues, something which only some of them do and others should have done long ago.

Google tools- Google Earth

Google Tools - Google Earth

Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographic information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a company acquired by Google in 2004. Have you ever used it? If not then you should try it, its pretty awesome!

As you all probably know, Google Earth creates its maps by superimposing the images of the earth obtained via a satellite imagery, satellite photography, and 3D Geographic Information System (GIS).

Google Earth Not the Same As Google Maps!

So you might ask, "Then what is the difference between Google earth and Google Maps?". A lot of people claim that there is no difference between both the applications. But in reality there are a few differences that make them apart, even if they are not very major ones. For one thing, Google Maps can be accessed and used on the web browser itself. Whereas, Google Earth needs to be downloaded on your computer to be used. Also, while both Google Earth and Google Maps use satellite imagery to share geographical information, such as the location of a building or driving directions, Google Earth provides a more powerful, interactive user experience and offers more tools for learning about a location. The Google Earth experience is one of fast, fluid flight- zooming and rotating and tilting imagery to view the geographic data you're interested in. You can wind along hairpin turns, view buildings in 3D, and fly to businesses near your favorite location. Google Earth also has another additional feature that Google Maps lack. This feature allows users to easily measure distances and areas, draw lines and shapes and even import your own data.

While we can see that Google Earth seems to the better among the two, Google Maps is also popular among consumers. This is because both applications received quite revolutionary functions that lured a considerable number of consumers. While Google Maps received Street View, that innovative feature which shows street-level panoramas from several US cities, Google Earth was updated with Flight Simulator and Sky, two abilities which provide a different perspective over the satellite imagery included in the downloadable tool.

Moreover, Google Earth has a lot of hidden goodies which were not presented by the parent company so you might have some surprises while using the downloadable software solution.

Some Interesting Features of Google Earth

1. Flight Simulator:- Since Google Earth v4.2, a flight simulator has been included as a hidden feature (on version 4.3 and above it is not a hidden feature any more and can be accessed from the Tools menu). The Google Earth flight simulator features the ability to fly to any supported locations of the world. The pilot can choose any location to start a flight or attempt to land a flight in the world. Fly time is not very accelerated, as it takes the F-16 at highest speed at least 60 minutes to fly from coast-to-coast in the US. Aircraft can land on any level surface in the world (including under the ocean in Google Earth 5.0) as long as the aircraft is below 250knots and is falling at less than 610 m (2,000 ft) per minute when touching ground. However, with an extremely low descent rate, aircraft can land at as much as 600 knots. This requires an extremely long runway distance to stop safely. When landing at any speed higher than that, such as 700 knots, the aircraft's virtual nose gear will compress so much into the virtual fuselage that the simulator will tell the user that the plane has crashed. Here is a video on how to get started with the flight simulator.
2. Sky Mode:- Google Sky is a feature that was introduced in Google Earth 4.2 on August 22, 2007, and allows users to view stars and othercelestial bodies.
3. Street View:- Google Street View provides 360° panoramic street-level views and allows users to view parts of selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level.
4. Ocean:- Introduced in version 5.0 (February 2009), the Google Ocean feature allows users to zoom below the surface of the ocean and view the 3D bathymetry beneath the waves. Supporting over 20 content layers, it contains information from leading scientists and oceanographers. On April 14, 2009, Google added underwater terrain data for the Great Lakes.
5. Historical Imagery:- Introduced in version 5.0, Historical Imagery allows users to traverse back in time and study earlier stages of any place. This feature is very useful for research purposes that require analysis of past records of various places.
6. Mars:- Google Earth 5 includes a separate globe of the planet Mars, that can be viewed and analysed for research purposes. The maps are of a much higher resolution than those on the browser version of Google Mars and it also includes 3D renderings of the Martian terrain. There are also some extremely high resolution images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera that are of a similar resolution to those of the cities on Earth. Finally, there are many high resolution panoramic images from various Mars landers, such as the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, that can be viewed in a similar way to Google Street View. Interestingly enough, layers on Google Earth (such as World Population Density) can also be applied to Mars. Layers of Mars can also be applied onto Earth. Mars also has a small application found near the face on Mars. It is called Meliza, and features a chat between you and an automatic robot speaker. It is useful for research on Mars, but is not recommended for normal conversations.
7. Moon:- On July 20, 2009, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, Google introduced the Google Earth version of Google Moon, which allows users to view satellite images of the Moon. It was announced and demonstrated to a group of invited guests by Google along with Buzz Aldrin at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

So what are you all waiting for, go and check out Google Earth for yourselves. It is pretty incredible! Who knows what the future of Google Earth is like?

References:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-Earth-vs-Google-Maps-65440.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Earth

Microsoft Surface Technology - What Is It And Can It Help E-Learning?

E-learning, has started a new era in the field of education. Learning has enhanced as a result of the introduction of the internet. Now we have access to a library with the access to an internet connection. Also due to the introduction of internet on mobile devices, the internet and hence all the resources with it are literally available to us any time and place. Now with the invention of the Surface Technology by Microsoft, the quality of education could be excepted to rise another level. Here are a couple of demo videos of Microsoft Surface for you all!

Microsoft Surface (codename Milan) is a multi-touch product from Microsoft which is developed as a software and hardware combination technology that allows a user, or multiple users, to manipulate digital content by the use of gesture recognition. This could involve the motion of hands or physical objects.

Features of Microsoft Surface

Microsoft notes four main components being important in Surface's interface: direct interaction, multi-touch contact, a multi-user experience, and object recognition.

Direct interaction refers to the user's ability to simply reach out and touch the interface of an application in order to interact with it, without the need for a mouse or keyboard. Multi-touch contact refers to the ability to have multiple contact points with an interface, unlike with a mouse, where there is only one cursor. Multi-user is a benefit of multi-touch -- several people can orient themselves on different sides of the surface to interact with an application simultaneously. Object recognition refers to the device's ability to recognize the presence and orientation of tagged objects placed on top of it.

The technology allows non-digital objects to be used as input devices. In one example, a normal paint brush was used to create a digital painting in the software. This is made possible by the fact that, in using cameras for input, the system does not rely on restrictive properties required of conventional touchscreen or touchpad devices such as the capacitance, electrical resistance, or temperature of the tool used (see Touchscreen).

The computer's "vision" is created by a near-infrared, 850-nanometer-wavelength LED light source aimed at the surface. When an object touches the tabletop, the light is reflected to multiple infrared cameras with a net resolution of 1024 x 768, allowing it to sense, and react to items touching the tabletop.

Surface will ship with basic applications, including photos, music, virtual concierge, and games, that can be customized for the customers.

A unique feature that comes preinstalled with Surface is the pond effect "Attract" application. Simply, it is a "picture" of water with leaves and rocks within it (a lot like a screen saver used in Windows XP or Vista). By touching the screen, users can create ripples in the water, much like a real stream. Additionally, the pressure of touch alters the size of the ripple created, and objects placed into the water create a barrier that ripples bounce off, just as they would in real life.

Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface