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Saturday, December 12, 2015

10 Android apps that make iPhone users jealous

he best thing about android is the apps have more wide range and freedom when we compare it with iPhone.In recent days, naturally every app is avaliable in all the platforms but there are some apps which have good interface are available only on Android platform as they do something which apple wouldn’t allow.

There are wide range of new apps, an app that lets you message your friends while still watching Netflix, an app that lets you hack your smartphone’s LED lights for custom notifications, you’re guaranteed to find something new.

Just remember you can’t recommend this to your friends using iPhones.

1. Muzei (“living Museum” on home screen)

Muzei is an app that changes your home screen wallpaper into different famous work of art every day. It is a live wallpaper app which can access your photo album if you like to use your images. One can defocus and focus image on home screen just by double-tapping on screen.

2. Hover Chat (message in Facebook style)

hover-chat

Hover chat is a messaging app that helps you to continue conversations without disturbing your work or watch a movie. It allows you to choose contacts to get floating chat bubble on receiving a message with the required size and a transparency. It is similar to Facebook at keeping minimized bubble but the extra features of this is bubble can be placed at any point of the screen whereas Facebook’s snaps to one side of the display or the other

3. Google Keep (Powerful tool to pin what’s on your mind)

It is a flexible note-taking and reminder app. You can transcribe you your tasks in the form of pictures are you can record voice memos on the go which will transcribe data for you. You can color-code you notes according to your priority.

4. Light Flow (Customize your notifications)

lightflow

Light flow helps you to assign a custom color to LED light for notifications for every event like a text, email, phone call, calendar reminder, or even when you’re running low on battery.

5. Cerberus (best anti-theft app)

cerberus-android

Cerberus does a lot more than just let you track your stolen device. You can control it remotely using the website or via text message, sound an alarm even in silent mode, wipe everything, lock the device with a code, record audio from the mic, see a list of sent and received calls, and even hide the Cerberus app so the thief doesn’t notice it.

6. Lux (have full control on your phone brightness)

lux-app

Lux lets you tweak your phone’s brightness settings. You can adjust the screen’s brightness below zero for reading at night, and there’s Night Mode that can be turned on automatically at sunset.

7. Sky Maps (fun and informative)

Sky Map was created by Google to help people learn more the stars above them. By pointing your phone up to the sky, you can see what constellation you’re looking at.

8. Link Bubble Browser ( new way of using browser)

Link Bubble Browser is all about saving your browser time. It helps you to continues browsing without waste of time as when you click on a link it loads that page on background which save your time. Once it’s done loading, just tap the link bubble and you’ll see the fully-loaded page.

9. Mighty text (message from computer with your android number)

mighty-text

Mighty Text is an app that allows you to send and receive SMS text messages with your computer or tablet. It is a great when you’re in work mode and can’t glance at your phone. It also works from within Gmail.

10. UCCW (ultimate custom widget)

UCCW allows you to design your own widget for your home screen. You simply choose from one of the many skins to create your own look, and then you can choose what the widget displays, with options for text, images, weather, clocks, calendar, battery info, missed calls, Gmail, and more.



Saturday, November 14, 2015

Think twice about android root

UC Riverside engineers have found that Android roots can be easily abused.
Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - Riverside

In recent years the practice of Android rooting, that is the process of allowing an Android phone or tablet to bypass restrictions set by carriers, operating systems or hardware manufacturers, has become increasingly popular.

Many rooting methods essentially operate by launching an exploit (or malicious code) against a vulnerability in the Android system. Due to the fact that Android systems are so diverse and fragmented and that Android systems have a notoriously long update cycle (typically due to the hold time at mobile carriers), the window of vulnerabilities is typically very large.

This creates the opportunity for business of offering root as a service by many companies, but at the same also creates opportunities for attackers to compromise the system using the same exploits.

Rooting comes with plenty of advantages. With full control of the device, users can do everything from remove unwanted pre-installed software, enjoy additional functionalities offered by specialized apps and run paid apps for free.

But, it also comes with potential significant disadvantages, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering has found.

In a first-of-its-kind study of the Android root ecosystem, Zhiyun Qian and two student researchers set out to (1) uncover how many types and variations of Android root exploits exist publically and how they differ from ones offered by commercial root providers and (2) find out how difficult it is to abuse the exploits.

They found that few of the exploits could be detected by mobile antivirus software and that are systematic weaknesses and flaws in the security protection measures offered by commercial root providers that make them susceptible to being stolen and easily repackaged in malware.

"This is a highly unregulated area that we found is ripe for abuse by malware authors looking to gain access to all kinds of personal information," Qian said. "And, unfortunately, there is not much users can do except hope that a security update gets pushed out quickly by Google, vendors and carriers, which they usually aren't."

Qian has outlined the findings in a paper, "Android Root and its Providers: A Double-Edged Sword," which he will present at the 22nd ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security in Denver from Oct. 12 to 16. The paper is co-authored by two graduate students working with Qian: Hang Zhang and Dongdong She.

Rooting is a response to that fact that users or mobile phones and tablets are not given full control over their devices. In the Apple and iOS ecosystem, rooting is known as jailbreaking. In this paper, Qian focuses on Android because the system is more open and has more developers and models, making it a better area for research.

Development of root exploits generally fall into two categories. Individual developers or hackers often identify vulnerabilities, develop and make public exploit tools. In addition, there are commercial companies that develop exploits. These take the form of apps, which are typically free, that users voluntarily download and then click on to activate the exploits.

"This is a really a phenomena in computer history, in which users are essentially voluntarily launching attacks against their own devices to gain control," Qian said.

Unfortunately, he added, as his findings show, attackers can acquire such exploits by impersonating a regular user. To make matters worse, large commercial root providers have a large repository of root exploits, which gives attackers a strong incentive to target such providers.

In his research, Qian and the student engineers focused on seven large commercial root providers, one of which they studied more in depth. They found that one company had more than 160 exploits, which they subcategorized into 59 families. That 59 figure is almost double the number of exploits (39) they found publically available from individual developers.

"If we were able to do this," Qian said, "hackers can definitely do it too."

Have an apple-shaped body? You may be more susceptible to binge eating

This study marks the first investigation of the connections between fat distribution, body image disturbance and the development of disordered eating, say its authors.

Women with apple-shaped bodies -- those who store more of their fat in their trunk and abdominal regions -- may be at particular risk for the development of eating episodes during which they experience a sense of "loss of control," according to a new study from Drexel University. The study also found that women with greater fat stores in their midsections reported being less satisfied with their bodies, which may contribute to loss-of-control eating.

This study marks the first investigation of the connections between fat distribution, body image disturbance and the development of disordered eating.

"Eating disorders that are detected early are much more likely to be successfully treated. Although existing eating disorder risk models comprehensively address psychological factors, we know of very few biologically-based factors that help us predict who may be more likely to develop eating disorder behaviors," said lead author Laura Berner, PhD, who completed the research while pursuing a doctoral degree at Drexel.

"Our preliminary findings reveal that centralized fat distribution may be an important risk factor for the development of eating disturbance, specifically for loss-of-control eating," said Berner. "This suggests that targeting individuals who store more of their fat in the midsection and adapting psychological interventions to focus specifically on body fat distribution could be beneficial for preventing eating disorders."

The study, titled "Examination of Central Body Fat Deposition as a Risk Factor for Loss-of-Control Eating," was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Berner is now a postdoctoral research fellow at the Eating Disorders Center for Treatment and Research at UC San Diego Health. Michael R. Lowe, PhD, a professor in Drexel's College of Arts and Sciences, was a co-author, along with Danielle Arigo, PhD, who was a postdoctoral research fellow at Drexel and is now an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Scranton; Laurel Mayer, MD, associate professor of clinical psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute,; and David B. Sarwer, PhD, professor of psychology in Psychiatry and Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania as well as director of clinical services at the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders.

Mounting evidence suggests that experiencing a sense of loss-of-control during eating -- feeling driven or compelled to keep eating or that stopping once one has started is difficult -- is the most significant element of binge-eating episodes regardless of how much food is consumed, according to the researchers.

"This sense of loss of control is experienced across a range of eating disorder diagnoses: bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and the binge-eating/purging subtype of anorexia nervosa," said Berner. "We wanted to see if a measurable biological characteristic could help predict who goes on to develop this feeling, as research shows that individuals who feel this sense of loss of control over eating but don't yet have an eating disorder are more likely to develop one."

Using a large dataset that followed female college freshman for two years, the researchers preliminarily investigated whether body fat distribution is linked to body dissatisfaction over time and increases risk for the development or worsening of loss-of-control eating.

The nearly 300 young adult women completed assessments at baseline, six months and 24 months, that looked at height, weight and total body fat percentage and where it's distributed. Participants, none of whom met the diagnostic criteria for eating disorders at the start of the study, were assessed for disordered eating behaviors through standardized clinical interviews in which experiences of sense of loss of control were self-reported.

In this sample, the researchers found that women with greater central fat stores, independent of total body mass and depression levels, were more likely to develop loss-of-control eating and demonstrated steadier increases in loss-of-control eating episode frequency over time. Women with a larger percentage of their body fat stored in the trunk region were also less satisfied with their bodies, regardless of their total weight or depression level.

The findings indicate that storage of body fat in trunk and abdominal regions, rather than elsewhere in the body, is more strongly predictive of loss-of-control eating development and worsening over time, and that larger percentages of fat stored in these central regions and body dissatisfaction may serve as maintenance or exacerbation for loss-of-control eating.

"Our results suggest that centralized fat deposition increased disordered eating risk above and beyond other known risk factors," said Berner. "The specificity of our findings to centralized fat deposition was also surprising. For example, a one-unit increase in the percentage of body fat stored in the abdominal region was associated with a 53 percent increase in the risk of developing loss-of-control eating over the next two years, whereas total percentage body fat did not predict loss-of-control eating development."

According to Berner, more research is needed to explain the mechanism behind these findings, though she speculates that there are a number of reasons why this might happen.

"It's possible that this kind of fat distribution is not only psychologically distressing, but biologically influential through, for example, alterations in hunger and satiety signaling," she said. "Fat cells release signals to the brain that influence how hungry or satiated we feel. Our study didn't include hormone assays, so we can't know for sure, but in theory it's possible that if a centralized distribution of fat alters the hunger and satiety messages it sends, it could make a person feel out of control while eating."

The findings may apply to other disordered eating behaviors beyond loss-of-control eating, but more research is needed. "Body fat distribution hasn't been studied in disorders characterized by binge-eating behaviors as much as it has in anorexia nervosa," said Berner. "The participants in our sample didn't develop eating disorder diagnoses within the two year period that we studied them, but this study suggests that future research should investigate whether individuals with greater central fat stores are more likely to develop bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder."

Top 5 Best File Compression Tool

File Compression Tool

A file compression tool is a software that can be used to compress a larger file into smaller size and volume. The compression tool reduce the file size on disk or to combine multiple files into a single one (the archive) reducing the size in the same time. Thus, by compressing you can keep more files in less space.

File compression is specially helpful for saving time and hard disk space or when you are trying to send files in email.

Today we are going to list out someBest File Compression Tool for PC which will help you to reduce size of files and also increase disk space.

17-Zip

Top Best File Compression Tool

7-Zip support both 32 and 64 bitoperating system. It is a open source light weight software. You can use 7-Zip on any computer, including a computer in a commercial organization. You don’t need to register or pay for 7-Zip. It support almost all archive formats like .zip, .tar, .rar, .gz etc. For ZIP and 7-Zip is able to provide high-compression ratio that makes the strongest point for 7-Zip. It is one of the Best File Compression Tool.

It is a powerful file manager for compression and decompression with plugin support. This compression tool is good for users with average compression needs. It has clean and simple interface. It can easily create .tar and .gz archives that are used mostly in Linux and Unix environment. 7-Zip supports more than 80 different languages.

2PeaZip

Top Best File Compression Tool

PeaZip is one of the Best File Compression Tool. PeaZip is specially designed for windows and compatible with all version of Windows. This software has a clean design and is user friendly. It cancompress and merge two files together. PeaZip provides the same speed as WinRAR but its plus point over WinRAR is that it is an open source software which is available for free even for commercial use.

PeaZip is capable of handling almost all famous archive formats like .zip, .tar, .rar, .gz etc. PeaZip provide youstrong encryption, authenticationwith the help of encrypted password manager.

3B1 Free Archiver

Top Best File Compression Tool

B1 Free Archiver is available for free for both personal and commercial use without any cost. It is a multi-platform software utility. It is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. This tool is capable with almost all archiving formats likezip, jar, xpi, rar, 7z, arj, bz2, cab, deb, gzip, tgz, iso, lzh, lha, lzma, rpm, tar, xar, z, dmg etc. It provide 256 bit encryption. B1 Free Archiver is simple to use.

4IZArc

Top Best File Compression Tool

IZArc is one of the Best File Compression Tool available for Windows. IZArc is compatible with all versions of Windows and available for free for commercial use without any cost. It support compression and Decompression of files and also supports AES – 128 bit – 192 bit – 256 bit encryption schemes offering more security.

IZArc is compatible with a huge number of archive formats includingtar, upx, xz, zip, wim, gz, pea, lha, cdi, war, iso, c2d, tgz, tz, lhz, uue, nrg etc. You can very easily compress and decompress files with IZArc.

5WinRAR

Top Best File Compression Tool

WinRAR is available for both 32 bit and 64 bit processor. It has clean and simple interface. It provide you tolock the file or folder using apassword manager. It also provide searching capabilities to search a particular file. It does everything very quickly. It is available in more than 40 languages. It support rar, war, zip, iso, 7zip, nrg, cdi, tar, hgz etc file formats. It also provide repair to damage files. WinRAR is one of the most powerful compression tool for Windows. WinRAR is not completely free. It is available for a 40-days trial period only. WinRAR is one of the Best File Compression Tool available for Windows which is available for all version of Windows.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Blood sample new way of detecting cancer

With the use of a blood sample equivalent to one drop of blood, a new RNA test of blood platelets can be used to detect cancer.

A new RNA test of blood platelets can be used to detect, classify and pinpoint the location of cancer by analysing a sample equivalent to one drop of blood. Using this new method for blood-based RNA tests of blood platelets, researchers have been able to identify cancer with 96 per cent accuracy. This according to a study at Umeå University in Sweden recently published in the journalCancer Cell.

"Being able to detect cancer at an early stage is vital. We have studied how a whole new blood-based method of biopsy can be used to detect cancer, which in the future renders an invasive cell tissue sample unnecessary in diagnosing lung cancer, for instance. In the study, nearly all forms of cancer were identified, which proves that blood-based biopsies have an immense potential to improve early detection of cancer," according to Jonas Nilsson, cancer researcher at Umeå University and co-author of the article.

In the study, researchers from Umeå University, in collaborations with researchers from the Netherlands and the US, have investigated how a new method of blood-based RNA tests of the part of the blood called platelets could be used in detecting and classifying cancer.

The results show that blood platelets could constitute a complete and easily accessible blood-based source for sampling and hence be used in diagnosing cancer as well as in the choice of treatment method.

Blood samples from 283 individuals were studied of which 228 people had some form of cancer and 55 showed no evidence of cancer. By comparing the blood samples RNA profiles, researchers could identify the presence of cancer with an accuracy of 96 per cent among patients. Among the 39 patients in the study in which an early detection of cancer had been made, 100 per cent of the cases could be identified and classified.

In follow-up tests using the same method, researchers could identify the origin of tumours with a so far unsurpassed accuracy of 71 per cent in patients with diagnosed cancer in the lung, breast, pancreas, brain, liver, colon and rectum. The samples could also be sorted in subdivisions depending on molecular differences in the cancer form, which can be of great use in the choice of treatment method.


Apple’s Going to Fix Television for us All

Apple's Going to Fix Television for us All

What better way to make a big debut than to claim you’re revolutionizing the way we watch TV.  Has Apple really done it this time?

This past Monday, Apple released the fourth generation of their Apple TV.  Reviews are already pouring in, and they are mixed.  Expectations were high, and the new inclusion of Siri added to the excitement of the release date, which was officially just last week on October 26.

Here is what people have discovered, one week in.

Universal search is still great

Apple TV is a streaming device- so, like all the others out there, it is only as good as the streaming apps it utilizes.  But the problem with most devices is that although you can sign into any app you like (Netflix, etc), you have to search each one independently to find something.

Have you ever wasted 45 minutes scrolling through what Netflix has to offer, only to end up with nothing?  Universal search helps solve that issue with genre searches.

So, if it’s gritty urban mayhem you are after, simply type it into the genre search.  Your Apple TV searches across all your apps at once.  You will then be able to choose from a pleasing array of John Carpenter Movies (“The Thing”), Spike Lee classics, and every crime-lord film ever made.

Better yet, just tell Siri. This is the new feature that received a lot of pre-launch hype.  Just speak to your TV to arrive at entertainment bliss.

We welcome Siri aboard, but wish she could do more

Siri now works with Apple TV, but it does have limitations.  For one, you cannot use Siri dictation to type in fields.  This is incredibly annoying since the iPhone Remote doesn’t work with the new TV.

That means you are stuck punching in one letter at a time with the remote that comes with the Apple TV.  It’s no better than your Dad’s old Sony TV remote…each letter you type requires some serious navigation before you can hit it.

At least now it’s a trackpad instead of left, right, up and down-arrow buttons.

Imagine a Wikipedia-like explosion of information on each film/TV show page

Now, when you call up a TV show or film, you will get a whole lot more information.  There will be reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, links to similar movies, and info about cast & crew.

Genre-based listings in the App Store

Imagine writing a book, then hoping to sell copies in your local bookstore, which arranged its inventory alphabetically.  Nobody would find your book unless they specifically knew to look for your last name on the shelves.

That is what it was like for app developers on all previous versions of Apple TV.  There were only three places to go in the store: “Featured”, “Purchased”, and “Search”.  You had to be happy with simply browsing “Featured” an experience similar to perhaps walking into a video store and shopping by methodically examining the contents of every single aisle.

Thank goodness Apple added categories to the App store.  It’s much easier to find new apps, and it’s going to get even better once Apple adds more categories beyond the present two (“Entertainment” and “Games”).

The content discovery process still seems archaic, but at least it’s a step in the right direction from a user experience perspective.

No 4K Streaming- but Roku and Amazon have it.

Early adopters of the 4K Ultra High Definition TVs will not be able to experience pixel nirvana if they use Apple TV.  That’s because unlikeRoku and Amazon, Apple did not see fit to include this capability with their latest device.  Not very cutting edge of Apple!

The New York Times loves it, but that doesn’t mean everyone will

The Apple TV is available in two versions: the 32 GB model (£129) and the 64 GB model (£169).  Fans of the 32 GB version include no less than The New York Times.

…the best TV streaming device you can get for your money
The New York Times, on the new Apple TV

The tech writers at NYTimes.com are not easy to excite, but they did get their hair bristles up because they think this new TV will “make a difference”.

How?  They loved the user interface, improved and expanded access to third-party apps and games, the addition of Siri, and the ability to stream Apple Music, check this out: The New Apple TV Invigorates the Set-Top Box.

That works well for people who are already Apple customers, but for anyone who has no connection to Apple Music and Siri, those notes don’t exactly strike a happy chord.

And expanded apps are great, but forget about it if the app you want is unapproved by Apple (which is the case for many). Here are 10 already approved from MacWorld article.

Finally, for the many who have become part of Amazon’s digital catalog of streaming content, perhaps through Amazon Prime, you can forget about Apple TV, too.  As a competitor, of course they are totally blocked. Amazon is a major player in this area, and if you are blocking them, that is pretty constraining.

So much for the “final fix” for TV.  There are some nice new things, but this is no revolution. 

Is Apple Really Building a Car?

Is Apple Really Building a Car

The automotive industry is preparing for war.  They have got wind of a huge new threat on the horizon, and they are buttressing their reserves for the fight to come.  And as well they should, for the opponent is indeed a Titan.

Most people would never guess where this new competitor in the automotive industry is coming from.  The source originates in companies which until now were deemed neutral in the war of auto market share…in other words unrelated.

That new threat is tech.  More specifically, it’s Apple.

But is the threat real?  Sorry, Dodge, Toyota and Ford: most believe it’s very real. One analyst puts it at a 50% – 60% chance that we will see Apple cars on the road within a short time (1).

Furthermore, the public seems to be ready for a shakeup, too.  65% of 18-34 year olds would be willing to buy a car from a tech company.  81% of consumers in India are ready to drive an Apple car, according to data from Statista:

This chart shows the willingness of consumers to switch from their current car brand to a tech company (e.g. Google, Apple).
This chart shows the willingness of consumers to switch from their current car brand to a tech company (e.g. Google, Apple).

You will find more statistics at Statista

So yes, it’s a real possibility and here are the compelling reasons why that is so.

Introducing Apple’s very serious Titan Project

Some analysts say the automotive industry it overdue for a shakeup, and this could just be it.   Apple plans on rolling out the iCar in 2019 to a select 200,000 buyers.  That’s far away and it’s only a few cars, but it definitely could be the wedge that eventually leads to that final chop for the automotive industry as we know it today.

Apple is, after all, known for turning entire industries on end.  Look what the iPod did for music.  The iPhone for cell phones.  And let’s not forget the Mac.

Titan, as the new iCar project is aptly named, is labeled within the Apple company as a “committed project”, which means that yes, it’s going to happen and yes, automotive companies are right to brace for new competition.

Just this week, Titan was given permission to triple its workforce, according to the Wall Street Journal (2).

Apple and Tesla

The rumor mill is working overtime lately on this subject, but recently an Apple employee sent an email to Business Insider hinting that Apple was going to “give Tesla a run for its money” (3).

Not only that, but it seems that many Tesla engineers have switched teams and left Tesla for Apple.  It is even rumored that Tesla is a viable target for an Apple takeover.  That’s one way to enter the automotive industry: buy your way in!

The iPhone Can’t Carry Apple Forever

Currently, the iPhone is carrying the profit load for Apple.  Roughly three quarters of the operating profit of the company comes from iPhones alone (4).  That percentage grows with each passing year, putting Apple in a more and more vulnerable position.

The Apple Watch was supposed to alleviate the burden on the iPhone but so far it’s received lukewarm interest from just a tiny subset of enthusiasts.

The iPad didn’t really turn out to have long-term market strength, as interest continues to wane.

The Apple Car represents for Apple a welcome diversification, so they are completely serious about making this car happen.  They are even reaching out for help…

Apple probably can’t do this alone so look for partnerships

The highly active Apple rumor mill has it that the tech giant has been meeting with BMW (5) for assistance on Titan.  BMW’s current line of electric cars, the i3, isn’t the huge success they hoped it would be, and a partnership with Apple may be just what they need to compete with the likes of Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt.

BMW’s i3 has a carbon fiber shell, which may indicate the direction Apple will be taking with the iCar.

Apple will also need an experienced hand to help them with the regulatory issues that come with manufacturing and selling cars.  Chances are, they won’t go that alone, either.

Finally, they will even need help with manufacturing: isn’t it unlikely that they will build their own plant?

It’s about getting a car on the road, not about invention

Google may be brewing up some magic with its driverless cars but for now Apple is all about being practical and getting some cars on the road.  While Google’s crazy invention division is about the future, Apple’s Titan Project is about market share and profits.  Apple has some driverless car experts on the payroll but for now the car coming out in 2019 is not expected to be driverless.

One last thing

Finally, the mystery and speculation arise from Apple’s never having officially announced it is working on an electric car.  So all we can do for now is gather clues and engage in speculation.  It does, after all, fit right in with the way Apple loves to shroud its milestones in mystery and drama.

What we will be hoping for – in the meantime – is an exciting shakeup of the automotive industry, one that fits the new ways we think about cars, transportation, and car ownership.

References

 
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