We all know kids are smart. Just how smart? Well, many are smart enough to figure out how to get into cookie jars, behind locked doors, and they always figure out where you’re hiding the candy. I’m never very amazed when I hear that a young child figured out how to do something that was “childproof”. 
That was impressive, but it’s not quite as impressive as a 5-year-old figuring out a way to get into the family’s password protected Xbox One account.

Kristoffer Von Hassel, who is only 5, decided he wanted to play some of his dad’s more mature games. His dad thought he had covered all the bases by protecting his account with a password, but young Kristoffer found a way around it. Once he entered the wrong password, he simply hit the space bar until the account unlocked. And then he played some big-boy games. He later told a news reporter that he was pretty excited about his discovery.

Kristoffer must’ve eventually fessed up to his dad because they eventually made Microsoft aware of the security flaw. Instead of being angry with the boy, though, they rewarded him for bringing the issue to their attention. Aside from making him a “security researcher”, they also gave him $50, some games, and Xbox Live Gold for a year.

I’m not sure how many times he exploited the password glitch, but one would assume he probably did it several times. Smart kid – maybe there’s an IT future ahead for him.

Galaxy S5 fingerprint scanner hacked

One of the main new features on the Samsung Galaxy S5 was the fingerprint scanner that is fitted to the handsets home button, but we now have news that this has been hacked already.

A few days ago we heard how US carrier Verizon Wireless had disabled the PayPal payment feature via the Samsung Galaxy S5 fingerprint scanner, and it seems as if this may not have been such a bad move by the network.

In testing the feature has been found to work quite well but a German security website H Security has found a way to hack the fingerprint scanner and have provided a YouTube video to prove it, which can be seen below.

They tricked the device by using a lifted print to create a dummy finger that allowed unauthorized access to the Galaxy S5. A similar thing was done to the iPhone 5S but it is more serious on the Samsung handset as no password is needed to access it.

This will also mean that PayPal accounts will also be at risk but we can expect to hear something from Samsung about this, and surely some kind of update to prevent this from happening.

It’s been in the rumor mill for about a year now: Microsoft has been planning to release Age of Empires for both iOS and Android. It is only now, though, that we have official confirmation that, indeed, we are going to see the popular game on mobile. It even has a real title now: Age of Empires: World Domination.

The game franchise is developed by Ensemble Studios, with Microsoft Studios as publisher. First released in 1997, the game has grown so big, so much so that seven other titles have been shipped to market, not to mention three spin-offs.

With the mobile gaming market growing ever bigger, taking Age of Empires to the mobile platform is the logical step for Microsoft, and that is indeed what they are doing.

Age of Empires: World Domination is being developed by KLab, and the game is supposed to be released by this summer. Mobile devices running on Windows (of course), iOS, and Android will be able to run the game.

Unfortunately, this is all the information that has been given to the public at the moment. Even the details of the game play have not been revealed, so if you have been a long-time Age of Empires player, you probably should not expect that it’s automatically going to be what you’re used to.

They did release an announcement video for Age of Empires: World Domination, one that – I suppose – serves both as an announcement and a teaser.

As you can see, all that we can gather from the video is that players can “relieve history’s greatest battles once more”, this time on mobile. Additionally – and obviously – the new game features “an all new battle system reimagined for mobile”. So there goes your “it’s going to be just like the old games” idea. Also, we get to know that the battles will be among Celts, Huns, Vikings, and Franks.

I have to admit, the trailer does make me look forward to the release. You?

Well this is a simple tutorial for everyone who have got almost 
expired whatsapp installed on their smartphones or Tablets. If you don't 
need this post now, I bet 6months plus from now, you'll be looking for 
this particular post to read because by then, your installed whatsapp 
must have expired or approaching expiry date

How Can I Get Whatsapp For Free A Lifetime? 
I'll share only two steps here. For the first steps, you need the 
following requirements; 
Requirements 

==>A device running AndroidOS ==>Another device running iOS e.g iPad or iPhone.

This is how it works. 

1. If you've already installed whatsapp on your android device, delete 
your account completely 

2. Look for an iPhone or iPad that whatsapp has not been install and 
download it afresh from iTunes 

3. Install it, activate your mobile number and verify it

4. Now, use your activated number on your android device or any other 
device and Check your Service time it is extended to Lifetime or 10 years. 

Method Two
=>Open Whatsapp on your Device 

=>Go to settings, click on Account 

=>Click on delete account 

=>Enter your mobile number in the given field and then click on delete 
my account. 

Now that you are no more on Whatsapp, Follow below steps to get 
whatsapp back with extended validity. 

==>Now again open whatsapp and create a new account with new information 

==>Now check your Whatsapp expiry date by navigating to 
>Settings>Account>Payment info. 
You should see extended trial period of your whatsapp account. 

Enjoy! and leave your comments below

New Prototype Battery

Recharge Your Phone In 30 Seconds

An Israeli startup company claims to have created a smartphone battery that can charge in just 30 seconds, thanks to the use of nanotechnology. StoreDot revealed its prototype battery at Microsoft’s Next conference on Monday.

They showcased how a smartphone that has 0% battery, can be revived to 100%, in just 30 seconds. The battery, which is currently about the size of a laptop battery, contains bio-organic nanodots, which are miniscule conductive crystals that aid this super quick charge.

SuperDot is hoping that with further development, it can reduce the size of the product so that the final result will be more like the size of a normal smartphone battery.

Word is that production will begin in late 2016 but Dr Doron Myersdorf, StoreDot’s CEO and co-founder, said that “The only disadvantage is that the industry is not ready for it. “We are talking about a new type of materials that can be introduced into different types of devices.”

So from that you can conclude we won’t be seeing the charger commercially available for some time yet but when it does the company says to expect the charger to cost around double that of a normal smartphone battery.

SOURCE: via YouTube

Help Wanted: computer programmers needed to code and maintain Linux systems.

The Linux operating system and Linux servers are so widely used today that not enough Linux-trained coders and system techs exist. Software developers and enterprise IT departments have jobs but no takers.

To fill this shortage, the Linux Foundation has partnered with edX to offer a free online course to help computer engineers learn Linux.

The growing shortage of Linux-capable programmers is a big contributor to the general unawareness of open source procedures in the software developer community. On the academic front, some universities and secondary school systems are introducing courses developed by the Stem Education Coalition. STEM's mission is to inform federal and state policymakers about the critical role that science, technology and engineering play, and the benefits available to schools from open source technology.

On the job front, some industry leaders are joining forces to jumpstart a Linux of Learning movement to help ease the growing shortage of qualified programmers to take waiting jobs.

"This shortage goes beyond merely not having enough Linux programmers. It is pervasive and goes across every sector of technology -- mainly because Linux is pervasive. Part of the issue is that you can not just take programmers proficient in one area, such as Windows, and have them work on Linux code," Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, told LinuxInsider.

Historically And Accidentally

Today, Linux and the Linux platform are running society. It is staggering how the demand for Linux is growing, noted Zemlin.

For example, literally thousands of televisions sold every day are controlled by Linux. It runs financial systems. It runs the Internet and air traffic control systems. High performance computing -- you name it -- all of this runs on Linux, he explained.

"This is an accident of history. For many years, Windows dominated enterprise technology. Linux has grown so quickly that it caught IT people off guard," said Zemlin.

Growth Factor

Enterprise and software developers are facing a growing shortage of software engineers who know Linux coding. The adoption of Linux and open source software has outstripped the supply of people trained to innovate, create and service these systems.

The Linux Foundation's surveys among enterprise respondents show the No. 1 hiring priority for IT managers is Linux skills. Linux programmers also get paid more than other programmers, according to Zemlin.

"This is a critical shortage. Any scalable way we can lower that market, the Linux Foundation wants to get behind it," he said.

MOOCs to the Rescue

One of the first solutions the Linux Foundation is backing involves bringing free introductory training directly to potential job takers worldwide. If the online learning method proves successful, advanced course offerings will follow.

The Linux Foundation and edX are partnering to develop a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) program that will help to bridge the training gap for IT talent. The basic Linux training course and materials will be available to all enrolled students for free. So will be the cost of taking what, until now, was a US$2,500 course.

EdX recently open-sourced its online education platform and will host the Linux Foundation course. edX is a nonprofit online learning destination created by MIT and Harvard University.

The free Linux course will be paid out of the group's own funding. For example, MIT and Harvard have invested $15 million in edX, and there are other funding streams, according to Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX.

Crowd Interest

"The Linux course the Linux Foundation is offering is fast becoming one of the five most popular courses we offer," Agarwal told LinuxInsider.

The 170 other online programs edX hosts completely online serve more than 2 million students from 196 countries and that number is growing dramatically. The Linux course had 100,000 students sign up in the first 10 days, he said.

The online course approach is making a huge impact on the world. So it is a very natural progression to offer the Linux course. The idea was to experiment with this one, Agarwal added.

Reasons For Learning Linux Lessons

Many computer users and some enterprise executives are not aware of the proliferation of Linux and open source. That is part of the education process the Linux Foundation is addressing. People who do not know about the Linux OS or Linux servers are generally clueless about open source software as well.

Still, the demand for Linux and other open source tools has been growing for years. As a result, there is a need for developing associated skills across multiple industries, said Shravan Goli, president of Dice.

"There is a shortage of software developers in the U.S. The employment rate for these jobs is down to 2.3 percent in the last quarter. The opportunity for jobs is now there for people who come in to get this training," Goli told LinuxInsider.

Linux Driving Jobs Opportunities

That is part of the motivation behind getting more training available online. The need is not just for open source training but for other aspects of software programming as well. These MOOC courses will put a lot of emphasis on open source, the data cloud and Linux, Goli said.

"We are starting to see an increased awareness for the opportunities in the field for learning about software programming. But initiatives are also starting for grass roots efforts to get more people involved, excited and learning coding at a very early stage and ultimately to develop those skills," he noted.

Job ads on Dice are showing career paths for a widespread adoption of technologies at all sorts of companies. Whether it is a retail company or telecom, finance company or automobile company, all kinds of companies beyond the traditional technology firms are leveraging software technologies, Goli explained. That is heightening demand for Linux skills.

Linux Leanings Advantage

Two other technology developments are driving the need for Linux programmers. One is the availability of -- and the ability to collect -- lots of data. The other is the growth of mobile devices, Goli said.

When you combine mobile with data collection and the idea that all kinds of devices need to be available for enterprises all the time, it also is spurring the movement toward cloud technology, he added.

"All of these components have both a combination of a proprietary platform and open source. All of these new demands are consuming the existing computer engineers, so there is a growing vacancy for replacements and new positions," he said.

What You Should Know

The shortage in computer programmers for open source software development and Linux programs is not all that surprising. Any time you have a change in the technology landscape, professionals have to change their skills, noted Zemlin.

"Really, it's the changing of the guard. It is a pervasive changing of the guard -- not just limited to the skills needed for Linux. We are also seeing a demand for a second set of skills. This involves what it takes to work across companies and across industries," he added.

This new skill set is needed for those programmers already in the industry, as well as those looking to start their programming careers. It involves how you present your skill sets in a resume when you participated in open source projects.

"If you are able to get your patch in for the Linux kernel, the odds are you are going to get a job. That requires not only knowing the programming skills to get that code into the kernel, but also knowing how the open source development process works. It also involves knowing how to collaborate with others, which is equally important," Zemlin said, noting that is what Linux of Learning is all about.

Where It Is Headed

The response to the Linux Foundation's first free course offering through edX surprised both Zemlin and Agarwal, and both said the results would need solid analysis before they could point to what should happen next.

"That is very cool. It is not that often we get to fill several football stadiums with Linux fans. I do not know where we will go after this. We will cross that bridge when we get to it," Zemlin said.

Success will be measured by looking at three factors, according to Agarwal. The first one, the volume of people signing up for the course, clearly has already been met.

The next step is to determine whether students feel they have learned significantly from taking the course and can pursue job opportunities. The third part is learning what potential employers feel about the qualifications of the students who have completed the course.

"The hope is that more of the Foundation's Linux courses will be added to our platform," said 

Predicting The Result

The MOOC model has not been proven yet. Ultimately, its success will depend on the end-users' motivation to learn and apply themselves and then to go find the opportunities, said Dice's Goli.

The availability of an online medium to learn Linux is definitely providing the opportunity to many more people than five years ago. Still, it is going to take time to see an impact, he cautioned.

"I do not see this as a perfect solution. It is more of a ground level, grass roots, cultural movement that is happening," Goli remarked. "Ultimately, we are going to see the benefits -- but the overall shortage of professionals, I think, we are going to continue to see

NEW FLAGSHIPS

If you’re in the market for an Android phone, the range of options is rather wider than it was a month ago. Tomorrow Samsung’s S5 will start to sell what will surely top 50m units; HTC’s new One is already on sale; and Sony’s Xperia Z2 has just landed on my desk for review, signalling impending public sales.

None of these devices is, unfortunately, a great leap forward. HTC’s camera appears impressive initially, but ultimately lets it down, Samsung’s plastic design is a problem that many can’t get over, and Sony’s screen is not as good as the other two. That said, the Sony is a lovely looking piece of rectangular design and a superb compromise between all the best options on the market.

If I were to be buying one myself, I’d probably go for the Samsung because it offers the option to connect to the new generation of wearable devices that the South Korean giant is pioneering. But even then, Google’s own Android Wear devices will be out in July.

The point, however, is not which Android phone is best: we are currently on an innovation plateau before the next stage of devices, so they are all simply iterative improvements on their predecessors.

Two points, therefore, arise: if you want a new phone, the reasons not to go for last year’s model at a bargain price are fewer than ever (and don’t forget Google’s Nexus 5 by LG).

But there’s a much bigger theme, too: mobile phones have driven huge profits but are no longer at the cutting edge. Over the next decade there will be a process of making almost every device smart. It’s starting with washing machines and thermostats already, and plant sensors are easily available to put your window box online. The phone is not an end in itself; it’s becoming ever clearer it is only a gateway to an internet of things. Worth noting that Samsung is the company that already makes most of those things and is poised to have the first stab at smartening them up.

Why You Shouldn’t Jog‏

First things first—don’t let this article ruin the joy of a good jog. If you enjoy jogging, you’re more likely to do it, so have at it. A good jog now and then can burn fat and improve cardiovascular health—and it can be done with little risk of injury.

But although jogging has its benefits, it can’t compete with many other workouts—options that burn more fat, deliver better cardiovascular benefits, trigger physiological responses that further enhance body composition, and present less risk of nagging inflammation and overuse injuries.

Here are a few reasons why jogging is not my first choice for most fitness clients.

Is Something Wrong With Jogging?

Mechanics

Jogging offers less reward per risk when compared with running and walking. Of the three, jogging’s angle of force requires the greatest amount of vertical displacement. Conscientious walking and elite-level sprinting translates more force horizontally, engages a broader range of motion and minimizes jarring throughout the body, especially the torso.

Speaking of the torso, a common deficiency in many joggers is posture. A long jog has a jarring effect on the postural muscles, which can eventually result in improper body position. Although it’s possible to minimize jarring by concentrating on form throughout a run, joggers tend to lose form when they “tune out” during long runs. Walkers, on the other hand, usually maintain good form during long walks.

Sprinting produces a much higher amount of force, but this is actually a good thing, since muscle groups surrounding joints create stability when they contract. The quicker the stride, the more stability the muscles are able to provide.

Metabolism

Since sprinting requires more force and a greater range of motion than jogging, it’s more metabolically demanding. We also know that a combination of sprinting and walking increases metabolism better than simple jogging.

Also, sprinting requires more fuel than jogging, which is better for those who want to slim down. When training for body composition, we want to make movements as inefficient (and inherently difficult) as possible. As with any movement, the more you jog, the more efficient you become at it, and the longer you need to run to trigger the same response. Which leads me to my next point.

Overuse Injuries

Despite its inherent flaws as a mode of exercise, jogging can be safe for those who use proper technique. However, the high volume and frequency of most  jogging programs make even the smallest injuries grow significant over time. If a jogger pauses his or her training to heal, his or her aerobic system will begin to atrophy, and all that hard-earned progress will feel like an exercise in futility. That’s why, even for clients who love to jog, Its recommend a routine that taxes the aerobic system without the repeated load on the knee joints.

Specificity

Training specificity is one of the simplest, yet most misunderstood, principles in exercise programming. Every movement you make should get you closer to your goal. So unless your goal is to jog better, you should probably be doing more functional exercises. If your goal is body composition, even the best jogs can’t deliver the results that anaerobic programs can.

Alternatives to Jogging

Get better results faster by training with the following workout programs.

Intervals

By combining sprinting and walking, you get the best of both worlds: tapping your anaerobic threshold, sustaining your heart rate and refining your running mechanics for transfer to sports. This is why we see less jogging on football fields and basketball courts today.

Circuit Training

By ordering your workouts to move from exercise to exercise with little rest, you maintain an elevated heart rate while tapping anaerobic thresholds and activating a variety of muscle groups. Circuit training gives you a solid workout in a short amount of time and offers endless opportunities for customization. This is the cornerstone of most popular group exercise programs.

Swimming, Biking and Incline Walks

Although I may appear to be biased toward anaerobic training, "pure" aerobic training definitely has a place in muscle gain/fat loss routines—i.e., for those who already do resistance training more than three days per week. For this crowd, swimming, biking and uphill walking complement resistance training to enhance body composition and overall fitness. All rely heavily on the aerobic system and are normally safe to perform to fatigue.

Multi-Planar Movements

I am a big fan of multi-planar movements for a number of reasons. The additional muscle activation and movement inefficiency leads to more caloric output and adaptation. Also, multi-directional movements could lead to better joint function and dynamic stability. Plus, I simply enjoy seeing creative movement in some cases; it shows they are engaged in their training. Crossovers, backpedals, and lateral movements of any kind are all solid options.

Sports

If you are a big fan of competitive sports. Staying in the weight room all day can lead to over-developed areas of the body and injuries. Want a muscle strain? Train exclusively in the weight room for a month, then go all-out in a game of basketball. The sports I recommend most are soccer, basketball, tennis, racquetball, football and volleyball, in that order. Notice how all these sports can be seen as forms of interval training?

Uphill Sprints

Sprinting uphill is good for the body because it relies very little on the eccentric and elastic contribution at the joints. As a matter of fact, the exercise is almost entirely concentric force production, a method often used in rehabilitation to strengthen, but not break down, muscle groups.

Having had to have them several times over the course of  life, I can tell you for certain that stitches are no fun. Honestly, the stitches aren’t even the worst part – the worst part is getting stuck with the needle that’s supposed to numb you to the pain of the stitches. But what if there was some way to avoid all that unpleasantness? What if the stigma attached with sutures just vanished overnight and getting stitches was no worse than saying “aah”?

It turns out that researchers are currently working on a type of sutures which doesn’t involve any kind of sewing whatsoever. That’s right – stitches without the, well, stitches. Just how in the world does that work? A team of individuals from the University of Maryland have developed a way to use spray-on stitches to help your body heal after an operation or an injury. While this sounds a bit hard to believe at first, their technique has already shown some signs of success.

Polymer nano-fibers which will be used for spray-on stitches.

The researchers figured out a way to use a biodegradable polymer to replace painful sutures once and for all. After 42 days on the body, the material would (in theory) simply decompose and disappear. So far the team has tested out this technique on animals and they have had good results.

It remains to be seen if this process will ever become standard for humans, but one can only hope for the best. After all, getting injured or having to have surgery is bad enough. Who wants to deal with stitches for weeks after the fact? I’m all for treatments that make healing all that much easier.

What do you think?

Google Chrome Better Gaming Experience

Are you a gamer?  What web browser do you use?  Well, if you haven’t tried it already, you should give Google Chrome a trial run on your PC and see if you like it.  Google Chrome is one of the best desktop browsers currently available on the planet. Millions of people from all over are now users of Chrome.  They have had enough with their old browser and are replacing them with Google’s lightening quick software.

Why is it so popular? For one thing, it is available as a free download and it takes no more than a minute to install and set up. The next thing is it is fast, I don’t mean a little quick, I mean FAST.  We are taking Usain Bolt speed here!

Google Chrome has been around for a long time now and there is a good reason for that. It is lightweight, runs smoothly and easily, and it’s secure and (for me anyway) never fails.

Most antivirus apps are now optimized best for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox security and Google Chrome has some of the best safety measures in place to ensure data privacy and security is top notch. Chrome’s free download does not take more than a few MB of space and once you’ve installed it, you won’t look back.

Gamers in particular prefer Chrome as their browser of choice because it does not take up too many resources whilst running in the background. Google Chrome is perfectly optimized to work along with the latest Flash player from Adobe, Adobe Flash 13.  This means that viewing online media is both easy and stable. Have you ever opened a few too many browser tabs and the next thing you know, the browser crashes? Well, now you can say ‘goodbye’ to those days as Chrome can take as many tabs as you want to open.

Finally, Google Chrome has a wide variety of plugins and customization options, as I have mentioned in a previous article and most of the tools available are free of cost. Themes, wallpapers, productivity plugins and shopping plugins can be added to make browsing a new, fresh and enjoyable experience.

What is your opinion?

Consumers pick up their phones a whopping 100 times a day, according to new research released this week.

US software company Mobile Posse, which provides mobile home and lock screen messaging, has teamed up with Phoenix Marketing International to create a report and infographic detailing mobile consumer usage behaviours.

The profound impact of smartphones has taken the technology, business, advertising, media and retail world by storm, but despite its huge and rapidly developing impact, Mobile Posse felt there was a lack of industry research on the mobile home screen.

This is where Phoenix came in. In order to address this issue, the market research company, which was founded in 1999, set about surveying 1,000 smartphone users about their mobile behaviour, home screen usage and future desires.

The research, which has been bundled into an infographic, found that nearly 50% of consumers pick up their phones to kill time, the average person has nine alerts when they pick up their phone, and daily users of games, news and social sites are three to five times more likely than non-daily users, to proactively ask to be served content.

CEO of Mobile Posse, Jon Jackson, said the study also included existing research and custom research from passive meters, along with new research from Phoenix Marketing International.

This report focuses on how consumers use their phones and what it means in the context of the home screen,” Jackson said.

“This initial report will be followed by one focusing on home/lock screen case studies and another first-ever look at the home screen market.”

Download the full Consumer and Their Mobile Home Screen report here.

Do you look at your phone screen up to 100 times?

Vodafone Group Plc said on Thursday it would add 150 shops and create 1,400 jobs across the United Kingdom during the next 12 months in a 100 million pound ($166.33 million) investment.

The British group said the expansion is part of the company's plans to invest 1 billion pounds ($1.66 billion) in the United Kingdom in 2014 where it serves 19 million customers.

Vodafone last year in June said that it would increase its UK expenditure by more than 50 percent to nearly 1 billion pounds.

The opening of the new shops will increase the total number of Vodafone's branded UK outlets to more than 500, the company said.

It plans to open first of the 150 stores in Notting Hill, Fulham, Walthamstow, Wembley, Ilford, Perry Barr and Bicester.

Vodafone is the third-largest mobile operator in Britain after EE, a joint venture between Orange and Deutsche Telekom, and Telefonica's O2.

British Prime Minister David Cameron supported Vodafone's plans.

"It is a sign that our long-term economic plan to create jobs and build a stronger, more competitive economy is working," he said in a statement.

($1 = 0.6012 British Pounds)

Windows OS Still Dominating The Market

It’s less than a week before Microsoft pulls the plug on Windows XP, but it doesn’t look like Microsoft’s attempts to get people off the operating system has made a significant impact. NetMarketshare just released the latest data on operating system market shares, which only goes to show that the outdated operating system really is still close to the hearts of users.

The report shows that Windows definitely dominates the market, as we all know. At 90.94%, that pretty much leaves everyone else eating Windows’s dust.

When it comes to the various flavors of Windows, however, Windows XP holds a significant 27.69% market share. Windows dominates with 48.77%, followed (far behind) by Windows 8 (6.41%), Windows 8.1 (4.89%), and Windows Vista (2.99%). I wonder who still uses Windows Vista???

Those shares are not that surprising at all, but what’s interesting is the growth of each the operating systems. Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 have grown, collectively, at 0.62 percentage points. If you look at them individually, though, Windows 8 practically has no growth with 0.03 percentage points, while Windows 8.1 has 0.59 percentage points.

Here’s the zinger: Windows 7 has outperformed everyone else with a 1.46 rise in percentage points.

Considering that it has only been five months since Windows 8.1 was released, one could argue that the numbers could change in its favor this year, especially since its growth has been steady, albeit slow. Additionally, we cannot ignore the rumors that Microsoft is working on a free version of Windows 8.1, and if that comes to fruition, the operating system’s adoption rate will in all likelihood grow even more. After all, everyone likes a free deal

As can be expected, Windows Vista’s share has dropped, and while the “say bye to Windows XP” campaign may not have been as successful as Microsoft has hoped, the operating system has dropped by 1.84 percentage points.

Which version of Windows are you using? and Why?

 Microsoft Corp is to give away its Windows operating system to makers of smartphones and small tablets for consumers as it seeks to make more of an impact on those fast-growing markets and counter the massive success of Google Inc's free Android platform.

Microsoft's move, announced at its annual developers conference in San Francisco, is an attempt to broaden the small user base of mobile versions of Windows, in the hope that more customers will end up using Microsoft's money-making, cloud-based services such as Skype and Office.

Up to now, Microsoft has charged phone and tablet makers between $5 and $15 per device to use its Windows system, as it has done successfully at higher prices for many years with Windows on personal computers. Hardware makers factor the cost of that into the sale price of each device.

That model has been obliterated in the past few years by the fast adoption of Google's Android system for phones and tablets, which hardware makers quickly embraced and now accounts for more than 75 percent of all smartphones sold last year. Apple Inc's iPhone and iPad account for most of the rest of the mobile computing market.

By contrast, Windows-powered phones held only 3 percent of the global smartphone market last year. Windows tablets have only about 2 percent of the tablet market, according to tech research firm Gartner.

FREE MONEY BUSINESS

Microsoft's move to make Windows free for some consumer devices bucks a central tenet of Bill Gates' original philosophy, that software should be paid for, which led to Microsoft's massive financial success over the last four decades. But analysts said it is a realistic reaction to the runaway success of free Android.

"Microsoft is facing challenges on the mobile and tablet fronts and need to change their strategy to move the growth needle, this is a good and logical first step," said Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets.

Windows will be free for companies making phones and tablets with screen sizes under nine inches for the consumer market. A license fee will still apply for business devices.

It comes a week after new Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella unveiled new versions of Word, PowerPoint and Excel applications for Apple Inc's iPad. A year's free subscription to Microsoft's cloud-based Office 365 service will be offered on the new devices running the free Windows, Microsoft said.

Both moves show that Microsoft is now more interested in gaining market share for its cloud-based services such as Office on any platform or device, rather than its traditional approach of putting Windows at the center of everything it does and extending its influence from there.

In the new era of mobile computing, Nadella acknowledged Microsoft's underdog status.

"We are going to innovate with a challenger mindset," said Nadella in a question and answer session at the developer conference. "We are not coming at this as some incumbent trying to do the next version of Windows, we are going to come at this by innovating in every dimension."

Nadella did not have a snappy answer to the question of what Microsoft's overarching mission now was, after it had achieved its original goal of putting a computer on every desk and in every home. Instead he elaborated on remarks he made last week about the importance of mobile devices as everything we do becomes digitized and connected to the internet.

"Our vision, simply put, is to thrive in this world of mobile first, cloud first," said Nadella. "Our goal is to really build platforms, create the best end-user experiences, the best developer opportunities and IT infrastructure for this ubiquitous computing world.

SIRI RIVAL

Also at the gathering, Microsoft formally announced it has developed a voice activated phone assistant feature called Cortana, a direct rival to Apple's Siri.

The feature has been rumored for some months and a test version was demonstrated at the event by Joe Belfiore, a Windows Phone executive.

The Cortana service, which can take verbal instructions to search the Web, set alarms, make calls and a host of other actions, is still in beta testing but will soon be a standard feature on Windows phones, said Belfiore.

He announced that the latest version of Microsoft's smartphone software, called Windows Phone 8.1, will be rolled out to consumers as a downloadable upgrade in the next few months, and new phones running the software will be in stores by late April or early May.

Can you imagine being able to recharge your smartphone or tablet just by lying it out in the sun? Well scientists from the Nanyang Technology University (NTU) have created the next-generation solar cell material, which not only converts light to electricity but also emits light.

The solar cell has been developed from the wonder material Perovskite, which could prove to be the answer in producing a highly efficient, inexpensive solar cells. As well as lighting up when electricity is passed through them, the light can be customized to glow various colours.

The discovery came about almost by accident when NTU physicist Sum Tze and postdoctoral researcher Xing Guichuan shined a laser onto the hybrid Perovskite solar cell material. They discovered that when a laser beam was shone onto the Perovskite solar cell, it glowed brightly, which was unusual as normal solar cell materials absorb light but do not generate any.

“What we have discovered is that because it is a high quality material, and very durable under light exposure, it can capture light particles and convert them to electricity, or vice versa,” said Asst Prof Sum, a Singaporean scientist at NTU’s School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS).

“By tuning the composition of the material, we can make it emit a wide range of colours, which also makes it suitable as a light emitting device, such as flat screen displays.

Going  Green

What we have now is a solar cell material that can be made semi-translucent. It can be used as tinted glass to replace current windows, yet it is able to generate electricity from sunlight,” said assistant Professor Nripan Mathews from the School of Materials Science and Engineering.

This could radically change and improve so-called green buildings and the scientists are working on larger scale versions of the materials for use in large-scale solar cells.

Such a versatile yet low-cost material would be a boon for green buildings. Since we are already working on the scaling up of these materials for large-scale solar cells, it is pretty straightforward to modify the procedures to fabricate light emitting devices as well. More significantly, the ability of this material to lase, has implications for on-chip electronic devices that source, detect and control light,” said Dr Matthews.

There is a patent pending on the new material, which cost five times less than the current Silicon-based solar cells.

SOURCE: http://phys.org/news/2014-03-scientists-material-solar-cell-day.html