Keep texting even when phone‘s battery is down

Researchers, led by an Indian-origin scientist, have developed a new technology that lets wireless devices communicate with each other without relying on batteries or wires for power. 

The new communication technique, called "ambient backscatter", takes advantage of the TV and cellular transmissions that already surround us around the clock. 

Two devices communicate with each other by reflecting the existing signals to exchange information. The researchers built small, battery-free devices with antennas that can detect, harness and reflect a TV signal, which then is picked up by other similar devices. The technology could enable a network of devices and sensors to communicate with no power source or human attention needed. 

"We can re-purpose wireless signals that are already around us into both a source of power and a communication medium," said lead researcher Shyam Gollakota, from the University of Washington. 

"It's hopefully going to have applications in a number of areas including wearable computing, smart homes and self-sustaining sensor networks," said Gollakota. "Our devices form a network out of thin air. You can reflect these signals slightly to create a Morse code of communication between battery-free devices," said co-author Joshua Smith. The technology can also be used for communication — text messages and emails, for example — in wearable devices, without requiring battery consumption. 

The researchers tested the ambient backscatter technique with credit card-sized prototype devices placed within several feet of each other.

China hit by ‘largest ever‘ cyberattack

China has been hit by the "largest ever" attack on its Internet structure, crashing the country's .cn servers, according to a government-linked agency.

The national domain name resolution service came under a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack for around two hours early on Sunday, the China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) said in a statement.

Domain name resolution is a key part of how the Internet works, converting a website name into a set of digits -- the IP address -- that computers can recognize. The service in China focuses on websites with the .cn extension.

DDoS attacks are attempts to overload a server with a huge number of requests, so that it interrupts or suspends its functions.

A second wave of the assault in China two hours later grew into "the biggest of its kind ever", CNNIC said, without giving any indication of who might have been responsible.

"The resolution of some websites was affected, leading visits to become slow or interrupted."

Washington has repeatedly accused China of waging hacking attacks on the websites of US government agencies and businesses.

But Beijing has denied the accusations, saying China itself is a victim of Internet attacks.

Scientist controls another man's brain via internet

Scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have conducted the world's first non-invasive human-to-human brain interface in which one person was able to control the motions of another person via internet. 

Using electrical brain recordings and a form of magnetic stimulation, Rajesh Rao, a University of Washington professor, sent a brain signal to his colleague Andrea Stocco, causing Stocco's finger to move on a keyboard. 

While researchers at Duke University have demonstrated brain-to-brain communication between two rats, and Harvard researchers have demonstrated it between a human and a rat, Rao and Stocco believe this is the first demonstration of human-to-human brain interfacing. 

"The Internet was a way to connect computers, and now it can be a way to connect brains. We want to take the knowledge of a brain and transmit it directly from brain to brain," Stocco, a research assistant professor in psychology at the UW's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, said. 

Rao sat in his lab wearing a cap with electrodes hooked up to an electroencephalography machine, which reads electrical activity in the brain. 

Stocco was in his lab across campus wearing a purple swim cap marked with the stimulation site for the transcranial magnetic stimulation coil that was placed directly over his left motor cortex, which controls hand movement. 

The team had a Skype connection set up so the two labs could coordinate, though neither Rao nor Stocco could see the Skype screens. 

Rao looked at a computer screen and played a simple video game with his mind. When he was supposed to fire a cannon at a target, he imagined moving his right hand (being careful not to actually move his hand), causing a cursor to hit the "fire" button, researchers said. 

Almost instantaneously, Stocco, who wore noise-cancelling earbuds and wasn't looking at a computer screen, involuntarily moved his right index finger to push the space bar on the keyboard in front of him, as if firing the cannon. 

Stocco compared the feeling of his hand moving involuntarily to that of a nervous tic. 

"It was both exciting and eerie to watch an imagined action from my brain get translated into actual action by another brain," Rao said. 

"This was basically a one-way flow of information from my brain to his. The next step is having a more equitable two-way conversation directly between the two brains," said Rao. 

Rao cautioned this technology only reads certain kinds of simple brain signals, not a person's thoughts. And it doesn't give anyone the ability to control your actions against your will.

India: Talent hotspot for global cybercrime industry

India is fast emerging as a talent hotspot for the global cybercrime industry amid slow hiring in the traditional software industry, the lure of easy money, and lack of law enforcement, according to computer security experts.

Work such as hacking into computer networks and creation of malware is being outsourced to cyber-mercenaries in India through underground marketplaces. It is possible to rent botnets - computers controlled by a hacker - to launch disabling attacks to bring down websites for as little as $2 (Rs 125) per hour. 

"Increasingly, India is becoming not just the victim but the host country with regard to cyber attacks," Jagdish Mahapatra, managing director for India and SAARC at anti-virus maker McAfee, told ET. The process has become so organized that some of these hacking services come with Live Chat customer support, according to McAfee. 

In 2012, McAfee Labs identified at least 850 separate bits of ready-to-download malware hosted on computers in India. In the first quarter of 2013, the number had jumped to 1,100. India is ranked eighth in the world in terms of number of attacks originating here, a report by Akamai Technologies in May said. 

"Blackhats can make a lot of money, so I'm not surprised that we're beginning to see cybercrime markets emerge in India," said Oxblood Ruffin, a Canadian hacktivist based in Bangalore. In Internet security language, a blackhat refers to someone who exploits vulnerabilities in computers with malicious intent or personal gain. In March, Norwegian telecommunications services provider Telenor reported an intrusion into its computer networks. Cybersecurity company Norman Shark traced that attack to India and documented it in a whitepaper titled 'Unveiling an Indian Cyber-attack Infrastructure'. 

India has the 'skills'

"You have underground hacker forums where people post their hacking requirement and you can bid for them and have the money transferred to a PayPal account via a service called Perfect Money," Sarvaiya said. While ethical hackers could earn 30,000 a mon-th legally, cybercrime fetches more than $2,000 (Rs 1, 30,000) a month. 

Perfect Money functions as an e-currency. The currency units can be transferred between customers, whose identities can be hidden. The units can be redeemed for cash - in dollars or euros - or gold by third-party exchange services. 

The hacker forums cannot be accessed via standard web browsers - what is required is a special browser called a Tor Browser that allows access to the 'hidden web' where these blackhat hackers operate. 

The forums look like a social networking site designed by death-metal fans. Attempts by ET to contact hackers on these forums were not successful. 

Some of the traits that made India the hub for sourcing technology services are also contributing to the rise of this new dubious trade. "You need software skills; the country has that capability. Then you need motivation, which is the money, and the knowledge that the Indian legal system is likely to not be able to prosecute you. These are cross-border computer crimes, our laws have not reached that point," said Dinesh Pillai, CEO of Mahindra Special Services Group. 

There is no estimate of the number of Indian hackers for hire. And security industry professionals said while they knew the number of attacks from India was rising, they could not pinpoint individual attacks that could be attributed to Indian hackers. 

"It used to be the eastern European countries that had the skilled manpower to provide hackers for hire, but now we can see that moving to emerging economies like India and Sri Lanka where job opportunities have shrunk," said Diwakar Dayal, who leads security sales for Cisco in South Asia. 

Hackers are also emboldened by the belief that they are unlikely to get into trouble with the law. While there are sections in the IT Act that govern hacking, cross-border crimes are hard to police even in the real world. 

"We have the requisite laws to try and punish such cross-border cybercrimes, even if they are committed by foreign nationals. But it becomes practically difficult due to the need for information sharing and reciprocity (in case of extradition) between countries," said Dipak Parmar, founder of Cyber-IPR. 

Experts said a number of steps need to be taken if the rise in this type of crime has to be stemmed.

"The government's cybersecurity policy is a step in the right direction, but internet service providers also play a role. Network security across the board has to be strengthened in the country," Cisco's Dayal said.

3 things you may be doing wrong on Facebook

There are millions of Facebook users worldwide; however, many of them might be unaware of the fact that they are using the popular social media site in a wrong fashion. 

Those who use the site and post messages on their Timeline or their friends' Timeline might be unaware that what they post on timelines is still visible to others and none of it is 'private' and is visible to friends of friends or whichever customized settings one is using. 

Either one should directly send a message to the concerned person through clicking on the Messages link to the left of news feed and clicking on a new message button or going to the particular user's profile and clicking on the message button near the top right of the page, Fox News reports. 

Another usually done yet mostly unrealized feature is that of 'oversharing'. Most of the users do not realize that sharing everything on the social media might be a good way to let out all the updates of their lives but can also damage real-life relationships. 

The report said that if a user wants to post pictures of self, or photos with certain friends, settings should be either customized in a manner that other friends or family aren't offended or better still not post them at all. 

Apart from oversharing, the feature of putting in too much information in photos is risky. Smartphones today are enabled with embedded GPS info into photos which can let those who know how to extract the info get sensitive data about where the photos were taken including one's house, kids' school or other important locations. 

In order to turn off the feature, users can right click a photo and choose Properties and in the Details tab, click the 'Remove Properties and Personal Information' button for Windows. 

The report further added that in order to turn off the GPS feature while clicking photographs, iPhone users can change the Privacy Location Services from the Settings tab while Android users can change it from the Location Services tab and turn off the feature when not needed.

Soon, travel with Google‘s taxi service

Technology giant Google is planning to create a fleet of driverless 'robo-taxis' to pick up and drop off passengers. 

The ultimate goal of Google's self-driving car project is to create a 'robo-taxi' that picks up commuters on demand. 

Such a system could transform transport systems around the world, doing away with the need for most people to buy cars, company executives believe. 

They also believe that it would reduce the number of road accidents as well as having environmental benefits, 'The Times' reported. 

Google's move to create a driverless vehicle of its own comes after the company held talks with major manufacturers in recent months, hoping that carmakers would build vehicles that incorporated Google's self-driving software. 

Since the launch of its self-driving car project in 2010, Google has created self-driving systems that have been installed in both a Toyota Prius and a Lexus RX. 

Cameras, sensors, radars and the company's own software has been added to the cars. Such vehicles have been given the green light to be tested on British roads before the end of the year, website 'cnet.co.uk' reported. 

However, it is believed the carmakers have been reluctant to enter a partnership with Google, not wishing to give the technology giant a foothold within the motoring industry. 

Frustrated by the lack of progress, Google is understood to have turned to designing its own cars instead. 

Last week the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that Google was close to reaching a deal with Continental, one of the world's largest car component makers, to supply parts for its vehicles. 

The robo-taxi system is being created within Google X, the department that develops futuristic technologies, including 'Glass' - a pair of high-tech spectacles that sends information straight to the eyes.

                                                                                              

Hacker Transforms Google Glass in to cool drone controller

Developer Blaine Bublitz has hacked into Google Glass to give us a controller option which can be used to fly a drone. Ever since the ‘wearable smartphone’ was released for developers, we’ve been seeing all sorts of apps being created for it. But the most notable have mainly been augmented (AR) applications, if not simpleon-screen ones which usually require some sort of verbal command in order to work as intended.

Google itself implied that tasks like clicking a picture, sending a message, translations and so on would probably need verbal input to function. In case of AR apps like Field Trip, your locationdata is used to automatically display information about interesting landmarks in the area. But Bublitz’s creation is a little different in terms of how it works.

Mainly using Google Glass and JavaScript, the developer has made it possible to steer a Parrot AR Drone, notes DVICE. The flying robot was shown to be controllable via simple head movements. Of course, the controls are not strictly smooth considering that the project still has some way to go. It should be good enough for tech buffs who’ll settle for its ‘impressive potential’ though.

If you look at the video, at first glance, it may seem like the drone is obeying mind control. But that’s not it. Anyone interested in the nitty-gritty details of the experiment can take a look at the developer’s page. Not awed by this story? You’ve probably been exposed to Emotiv’s Kick starter project which allows users of their headgear to deliver mental commands like push levitate, rotate and so on to move compatible objects.

But after you’ve crashed your nth drone due to your lack of concentration, a wearable which understands your head jerks and tilts, may probably sound like a better option.

Your face is the new credit card

No more swiping cards! A new technology that allows customers to use their facial features instead of swiping a credit card to purchase goods has been developed by a Finnish company. 

The technology provided by Uniqul, works by recognizing the customer's face and then linking it to the individual's bank account. So instead of swiping a credit card to purchase goods, the customer gazes into a camera. 

Uniqul claims its service is secured with military-grade algorithms, 'The Australian' reported. Uniqul's Ruslan Pisarenko said the technology — which is due to roll out next month — has the ability for transactions to be completed instantly and can even distinguish between identical twins, 'News Limited Network' reported. According to Pisarenko, "the face is a PIN and it's more like a complete way to identify a person.

But in some cases where the system is not 100% accurate, it will ask a person to input their PIN as security," he said. There is no payment card involved, nor is a mobile or wallet needed. Customers sign up to the technology by registering their identification and bank details. Once the items are scanned through the customers' details will flash up on a screen and they click "OK" to confirm the transaction. 

The new tech is similar to facial recognition identification which is used by international travelers at airports in Australia. The company is getting ready for deployment of the system in Helsinki, news website goodnewsfinland.com reported. 

The company said its patent pending technology allows to reduce time spent on transactions close to zero seconds.

Indian develops tech to make software unhackable

A unique system has been designed by researchers that will encrypt software in order to make it impervious to reverse-engineering.

UCLA computer science professor Amit Sahaiand a team of researchers have developed a system which will only allow someone to use a programme as intended, while preventing any deciphering of the code behind it.

This is known as software obfuscation in computer science and it is the first time it has been accomplished.

Sahai said that the new system puts up an iron wall making it impossible for an adversary to reverse-engineer the software without solving mathematical problems that take hundreds of years to work out on today's computers.

The researchers said their mathematical obfuscation mechanism can be used to protect intellectual property by preventing the theft of new algorithms and by hiding the vulnerability a software patch is designed to repair when the patch is distributed.

The key to this successful obfuscation mechanism is a new type of multilinear jigsaw puzzle. This new technique has paved the way for another breakthrough called functional encryption.