Microsoft headset to help blind people navigate cities

A headset that talks visually impaired people around cities has been designed by Microsoft.

It works with a Windows phone and uses location and navigation data with a network of information beacons in urban locations to describe routes.
The headset was tested on a journey from Reading to London, including shopping, bus and train travel.
The charity Guide Dogs, which helped develop the technology, said it could help improve lives.
Of the two million registered visually impaired people in the UK, 180,000 rarely or never go out, according to the charity.
"People living with sight loss face a multitude of challenges every day that can prevent them from getting where they want to be in life," explained Jenny Cook, head of strategy and research at Guide Dogs.
"Currently, visiting a new city is often daunting, even for people with enough confidence to tackle the challenge independently. For others, who rarely leave home alone, the thought of an unfamiliar journey leaves them stressed and anxious and visiting a new area is an impossible dream."

The BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones tested out the headset and describes what it felt like.
Before trying out Microsoft's headset I put on a blindfold, picked up a white stick and went for a short walk along London's Grand Union Canal.
All the way, I was being helped by a tutor from the Guide Dogs organisation - but even so I found it an exhausting and disorientating experience. That gave me some context for when I used the experimental audio system on the trial route in Reading.
At first I found it distracting rather than helpful, a clippety-clop sound echoing around my head plus a repeated ping to say I was on track. But as I hesitantly made my way down a residential street, across a road and to a bus stop, the instructions - "parked cars and overhanging trees ahead" - gave me added confidence and the 3D sound provided me with a somewhat better feel for my surroundings.
For me it was all about feeling a little less scared - but for the visually impaired people who have been testing the technology for some weeks, it seemed to have increased their confidence in taking new routes up to a new level.

The headset is an adapted version of one already on the market. Designed for cyclists, it sits in front of the ear so as not to drown out traffic and environmental noise.
Sound is conducted through the jawbone and the headset gives a series of verbal and non-verbal descriptions.
For someone who has requested a specific route, it will make a series of clicking noises to assure them they are on the right course and it will provide specific instructions such as "turn right".
It also provides information about the route and points of interest.
Greater freedom

Eight people with sight loss have tested the headset and five of those reported feeling safer and more confident wearing it.
Kirstie Grice, one of those to trial the technology, said: "We want to live like normal people. We don't always want to plan ahead to see if we can get community transport or a taxi or something, we want to be able to just jump on a bus and go somewhere and have that freedom."
The idea for the headset, which has been designed in partnership with the UK's Future Cities catapult and Guide Dogs, came from a Microsoft employee.
Amos Miller is visually impaired and realised that technology might be able to help him "enjoy everyday experiences outside of the home" after his daughter was born.
Some experts have questioned if the technology is capable of being rolled out widely as it is to rely on a network of beacons attached to street furniture.
A Microsoft spokesman said: "A lot of the information comes from GPS and annotated maps in the cloud which provide as much, if not more than, the beacons."

Apple malware affects mostly Chinese users

New malware targeting Apple products is mostly affecting Chinese users, warned an online security researcher.

US based Palo Alto Networks said "WireLurker" which is infecting Apple's desktop and mobile operating systems appears to have originated in China and is mostly infecting devices there.
The malware spreads through apps uploaded from a third-party store and can steal information.
More than 400 infected apps have been downloaded over 350,000 times, it said.
"WireLurker is unlike anything we've ever seen in terms of Apple iOS and OS X malware," said Ryan Olson, the company's intelligence director.
"The techniques in use suggest that bad actors are getting more sophisticated when it comes to exploiting some of the world's best-known desktop and mobile platforms."
WireLurker has the ability to transfer from Apple's Mac computer to mobile devices through a USB cable.
The security firm said the malware was capable of stealing "a variety of information" from mobile devices it infects and regularly requested updates from the attackers' control server.
"This malware is under active development and its creator's ultimate goal is not yet clear," the company added.
Under attack News of the attack comes after tech giant Apple's iCloud storage service in China was attacked by hackers trying to steal user information just last month.
Chinese web monitoring group Greatfire.org said that hackers intercepted data and potentially gained access to passwords, messages, photos and contacts. They believed the Beijing government was behind the move.
But, the Chinese government denied the claims and was backed by state-owned internet provider China Telecom, which said the accusation was "untrue and unfounded".
China is home to the world's biggest smartphone market and Apple saw its iPhone sales there jump 50% in the April to June quarter from a year earlier.

Facebook sets up 'dark web' link to access network via Tor

Facebook has created the ability for users to connect directly to the social network via anonymising "dark web" service Tor.

While it was already possible to access Facebook via Tor, the new set-up means all data is encrypted and Tor users are not mistaken for hacked accounts.
Users could access the site "without losing the cryptographic protections" of Tor, Facebook said.
It may appeal to people in places where the network is blocked.
China, Iran, North Korea and Cuba are among countries that have attempted to prevent access to the site.
So too have such countries attempted to block access to Tor itself. China in particular has attempted to implement measures to disrupt the network.
The creators of Tor have been engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with governments to keep the service accessible.
Stop tracking Facebook is the first Silicon Valley giant to provide official support for Tor, a network built to allow people to visit web pages without being tracked and to publish sites whose contents would not show up in search engines.
Facebook's move would prove popular among those who wanted to stop their location and browsing habits from being tracked, said Dr Steven Murdoch, from University College London, who was consulted by Facebook for the project.
He explained users would still need to log-in, using real-name credentials, to access the site.
He told the BBC: "It's quite hard to use a social network completely anonymously, it somewhat defeats the point, unless you're just reading information.
"But just because you want to tell Facebook your name, doesn't mean they should be able to find out your location and your browsing habits."
The crucial change is the new Tor service - accessed through a Tor browser at https://facebookcorewwwi.onion/ - means all communication remains in the anonymous Tor network. Previously, some traffic would leave the closed network and access the open internet, potentially exposing a user's location and other information.
Dr Murdoch dismissed suggestions the move could anger governments who regularly approached Facebook with requests to hand over user information.
"It's not so much protecting people from governments," said Dr Murdoch, "but protecting from people who are spying on communications - that could be anyone from criminals to marketers."
Facebook, along with other major web companies, is currently pushing for permission to be more transparent over government requests it receives.
Dr Murdoch said Facebook's Tor service did not increase the risk of Facebook being used for illegal purposes.
"Preventing Facebook from recording the IP address [location] makes tracing users harder," he said. "But it was possible to access Facebook without disclosing your IP address before."
Security blockage It has been possible to access Facebook through Tor for some time, albeit with some frustrations.
Tor is a network that anonymises users. One of the key ways it does this is by routing internet traffic through several locations - making it hard to track down where the user is browsing from.
But when accessing Facebook, this causes problems. One of the site's security measures is that if a user tries to log-in from an unexpected location, it will flag this as evidence the account has possibly been compromised.

Of course, it could just mean that a user has changed location - holidaymakers often find they must go through additional security steps, such as naming people in pictures, before being able to log-in while abroad.
"[Tor's] design means that from the perspective of our systems a person who appears to be connecting from Australia at one moment may the next appear to be in Sweden or Canada," explained Facebook engineer Alec Muffett, who has led the site's Tor efforts, in a blog post.
"In other contexts such behaviour might suggest that a hacked account is being accessed through a 'botnet', but for Tor this is normal."
It meant accounts were being wrongly locked out. Other problems, such as fonts not displaying correctly, marred Facebook use on Tor.

What is Tor? Tor is a special part of the internet that requires software, known as the Tor Browser bundle, to access it.
The name is an acronym for The Onion Router - just as there are many layers to the vegetable, there are many layers of encryption on the network.
It was originally designed by the US Naval Research Laboratory, and continues to receive funding from the US State Department.
It attempts to hide a person's location and identity by sending data across the internet via a very circuitous route involving several "nodes" - which, in this context, means using volunteers' PCs and computer servers as connection points.
Encryption applied at each hop along this route makes it very hard to connect a person to any particular activity.
To the website that ultimately receives the request, it appears as if the data traffic comes from the last computer in the chain - known as an "exit relay" - rather than the person responsible.

As well as allowing users to visit normal website anonymously, it can also be used to host hidden sites, which use the .onion suffix.
Tor's users include the military, law enforcement officers and journalists - who use it as a way of communicating with whistle-blowers - as well as members of the public who wish to keep their browser activity secret.
But it has also been associated with illegal activity, allowing people to visit sites offering illegal drugs for sale and access to child abuse images, which do not show up in normal search engine results and would not be available to those who did not know where to look.

Piracy raid: German police search homes

More than 400 police officers in Germany have taken part in a nationwide clampdown against piracy, Cologne's Public Prosecutor has announced.

They searched 121 apartments across 14 states in the hunt for people sharing music and films illegally online.
Officials targeted members of a file-sharing forum called Boerse, who the prosecutor says have uploaded movies, music, software and e-books.
At time of writing the platform itself is still online.
Its terms and conditions warn against the sharing of copyrighted material, but recent uploads include Taylor Swift's new album 1989 and recently released movie Gone Girl.
The German police said some of the suspects in the latest raid were willing to cooperate.
"The investigating authorities are hoping to gain further insights into the piracy scene on the evaluation of the evidence," they added.

Beware .. popular free applications to spy on your phone .. "Viber" and "Tiny Flashlight"

shops filled with hundreds of useful applications that help make life easier and solve many of the problems, in addition to spending time and entertainment, and user costs nothing, where tends always users to download free apps, but did you know that these free apps spying you without your knowledge and collect your personal information, the following applications months accused of spying on its users:
Shining handwork Lamp "Scout" Applications "British" newspaper DailyMail has warned of the danger of free applications deployed on the Android system, and the best known and most dangerous lamp handwork Shining "Scout" such as Super-Bright LED Flashlight and Tiny Flashlight + LED applications, which also gives you the lighting you need, record all personal information such as phone and place of his information and personal data, phone numbers and the contents of the text messages the user. Experts stressed that this information be collected and sent to several market research firms and advertising the agencies to track user shopping habits, but also developed a lot of gangs and hackers free applications to spy on users and collect private information concerning their accounts and bank

. "Facebook Messenger" Several reports confirmed that the application of the "Facebook Messenger" also spying on its users, as it allows the privacy provisions of the possibility of the application of spying on users' messages. The report emerged from one of the security companies confirms that Facebook is spying on users and their messages for governments, but facebook administration vehemently denies the charge

. Application of free calls Viber is applied free "Viber" of the most famous applications, which accused of spying on its users for the benefit of Israel, where the application has the ability to access all contacts, messages and records of phones, in addition to the audio recording and image capture and video recording and access to all files on the phone and even calls programs used by the owner of the phone.

Chat application whoshere also spread many rumors which confirms that Whoshere chat application has the ability to spy on his employer and access to numbers, accounts and open a camera phone without the user's knowledge.

Game Angry birds === confirmed leaker Edward Snowden known for some time and the use of the US National Security Agency NSA and the British government for months on a smart phone game Angry Birds, to spy on users, while the developer has denied these rumors.

"Oppo" reveals the thinnest smart phone in the world

After the announcement of the smart phone "Oppo N3" Today,The company "Oppo" revealed  the first smart phones  64-bit, and what is said that the thinnest smart phone in the world, a phone,Oppo R5, which does not exceed the thickness of 4.85 millimeters .

To exceed the framework of the phone, which is made of aluminum, 4-millimeter thickness, and the length of this phone 148.9 mm, while the estimated currently to 74.5 mm, and weighs 155 grams.

The phone offers "Oppo R 5" screen display "Amold" and measuring 5.2 inches and accurately 1080p, the company said that the device offers better brightness, and less reflection and a higher level of accuracy in terms of colors.

Works "R 5" version 4.4 "Kit Kat" of the operating system "Android" with the user interface for the company, "Collor OS 2.0" Color OS 2.0, also works processor "Qualcomm Snapdragon 615" which offers eight cores Cortex-A53, which operates at a frequency of 1.5 GHz, with a graphics processor Adreno 405.

Provides device, which includes a special cooling element has the company "Oppo" developed from liquid metal and a variable phase materials are wasting heat away from the processor 0.2 GB of RAM.

And has the "R 5" Rear Camera accurately 13 megapixel sensor from the company "Sony" industry, in addition to the other front capable 5 megapixel imaging, this can be the background for the camera video recording accurately 2160p at 30 frames per second, and accurately in 1080 at a rate of 60 frames per second and accurately 720p at a rate of 120 frames per second.

And have the device, which supports the fourth-generation networks "LTE", also a battery with a capacity of 2000 mAh / hour of material, "lithium-polymer" Li-Polymer, and supports rapid battery charging technology "or CNN or in" VOOC.

This lacks the phone, because of high thinnest, to the audio port on the rest of the phones, but it is expected that the user can connect to a wireless device speakerphones.

The company intends to "Oppo" Ask a new smart phone "R 5" is priced at $ 500, this is not yet known when it will be.....?

Do you know what is the first phone released by Nokia?

The first Nokia phone is the Mobira Senator, which was released in 1982, has been marketing the phone to phone is used in cars because of the heavy weight of 9.8 kg.

Mobira brand name emerged in 1979 after it was merging with Nokia electronics company called Salora two years later, in the 1981 launch of the first mobile phone from Nokia and then in 1982 was the launch of car phone Mobira Senator.

Leaking pictures and specifications of the Sisley phone from Lenovo

Lenovo next phone was leaked and its details shows and shape, and is evident from the pictures that the design of the phone is similar to Apple's new phone Yvonne 6, so that the thickness of the handset are equal in 6.9 mm.
The leak comes from Chinese site TENAA phone to show the dimensions of 146 × 71.7 × 6.9 mm weighing 130 grams, making it the longest phone Sisley and I know from the iPhone 6 and in addition to the AMOLED screen 5 inches in size and accuracy 720P. The processor 1.2 GHz quad-core memory Random 1 GB internal storage space and 16 GB can be increased by using the cards microSD. 
It also shows that the phone will come with a  rear camera13 Mega and forehand 8 mega pixel camera for selfie pictures. The phone will run Android System 4.4.4 Kit Kat.  

Finnish Prime Minister: "Apple" and "Samsung" destroyed the economy of my country

The Prime Minister of Finland Alexander Stubb  accused  the global giant technology  "Apple" in helping greatly in his country experiencing economic contraction, after the loss of his country's credit rating last Friday.
Alexander Stubb said that the company "Apple", which sits in California, had a significant negative impact on the company "Nokia", which is  a main Industry in his country, adding that the company has suffered from the collapse of several because of the noticeable progress of the company "Apple" than Nokia, along with the acquisition of Finns "Apple" phone instead of Nokia. Stubb said in an interview over the site, "CNBC" that Nokia is seeking to produce mobile phones in order to be competitive for the company "Apple" and the giant Korean "Samsung", confirming the completion of sale of the Finnish company to their phones entirely for Microsoft before, and that after worked together in many smart phones.
 Stubb said that his country was one of the largest suppliers of paper in the world, but the existence of e-books hit the paper market recession, and that the acquisition of all consumers smartphones and read books on them, which led to a lack of production of his paper, which was used by deforestation.
 The Prime Minister explained that his country needs a considerable period to come back to the recovery of economists was experienced in 2008, along with the problems of the mobile phone and paper industries, exports have fallen because of the eurozone crisis and the Ukrainian crisis.

Skype launches application "Qik" for short video messages

Skype the affiliated to Microsoft has launched a new application to send short video clips called Skype Qik. The application supports Android phones and the iPhone and Windows Phone.
The application allows the user to record a video clip up to 42 seconds duration and send it to one person or group of persons. The company said that the user can send the video clip to anyone , in case the person owning the application is received alerting that arrival of a new video clip, or it can send an SMS message containing a link to download the application.  
The video clip last in the reciever device for two weeks before being automatically deleted, and the sender can choose to delete the video clip that was sent from the reciever device at any time. The user can also return to browse videos that have been sent in advance.
   
The application offers a feature called Qik Fliks a feature that allows recording short video clip duration of five seconds can be sent at any time in response to the video clips sent by friends, this small video represents a ready answer of user may need to be sent frequently, like recording for a smile or expression indicating the admiration or anything else.
The application can be downloaded for free for Android and iPhone and Windows Phone.