Welcome to C#

Welcome to C#

C# is a powerful language that is generally called a Component Oriented Language. Now we have heard of Object Oriented Languages, but what is a Component Oriented Language? Though the difference is unclear and thin, the reason why this new concept has become associated with C# is that a new technique was to be introduced that would develop software combining some pre-existing features (OOP) and welcoming some new components. Some of the components are:

• Properties
• Methods
• Events
• Attributes (Metadata-Data about Data)
• Assemblies/Packages

Another major characteristic is the introduction of Separation Of Concerns (SOC) and the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). SOC is Separation Of Concerns via partial classes in C#.

Versions in C#

The following  are the versions so far. The data is from C# Indepth. Please visit or follow the book to learn more about the various versions.

C# version 1

C# version 2: As said previously, in this version, Generics, Nullable types(), anonynous types and Iterators(blocks) were introduced.

C# version 3: As said previously, implicit typing, object and collection initializers, anonymous types, automatic properties, lambda expressions, extension methods, query expressions were introduced.

C# version 4: As said previously, dynamic typing, optional parameters, named arguments and generic variance were introduced.

C# version 5: As said previously, asynchronous functions, caller info attributes, a tweak to foreach (one of the examples is Parallel.Foreach (with Lambda expression)) and iteration variable capture were introduced. Caller info attributes is a very new concept and an interesting one too. These attributes track information about the calling methods/properties and many more.

A small incident to share, I always wondered why C Sharp?? Is it a kind of successor to C++ or what? I always wondered and I feel many beginner developers would be wondering. Thanks to Wiki the data warehouse for every bit of concept in the world for letting me understand why? Without any delay, straight from the WIKI,

The name "C sharp" was inspired by musical notation where a sharp indicates that the written note should be made a semitone higher in pitch. The sharp symbol also resembles a ligature of four "+" symbols that thus implies that it is an increment of C++.

Now let's get along and start learning from the basics.

Camel and Pascal Case Notations

Every time a developer gets into these concepts, but sometimes beginners like me would wonder what these actually are. Camel case is used for naming fields whereas Pascal case is used for naming properties and function names. In Pascal case, the starting letters in the multiword name are capitalized whereas in Camel case except the very first letter is all capitals as in the following:

• Pascal Case: GetSumFromNumbers.
• Camel Case: getFirstNumber.

Working with Variables, Operators and Expressions

Before getting into the variables, let's get into what an identifier is. Identifiers are the names that are used to identify elements in the program. In C#, there are the following conventions to be followed:

• Only letters are allowed (it may be uppercase or lowercase), digits and underscore(_) characters are allowed. 
• An identifier should always start with a letter.

For example, _getSum, GetSum, Get_sum are valid identifiers. Just to remember or keep in mind everytime that C# is case sensitive so getSum and GetSum are different and provide different meanings. Keywords, there are many keywords that are predefined in C#, for more info on the keywords, use the following link: C# keywords Now let's get back to our topic of discussion, variables. A variable is a location with memory or storage location that stores/holds a value. A variable in a program holds a unique name, its like madatory to provide it a unique name. A variable holds temporary information. A variable is used to get the value that it holds after assigning. In the following I specify the naming conventions to be followed when declaring variables specified by the Microsoft .NET team:

• Underscores are advised not to be used.
• Variables names that differ only in capitalization should be avoided. Like, abcTest or AbcTest used in the same file and at the same time. This would also mean identifiers with the same name and different case should be avoided.
• It is advised to start the name with a lowercase. This would be consistent throughout since it would lead to easy maintenance.
• Camel case notations should be used, for example, abcTest, myVariable, as such.
• Declaring Variables is easy and simple. Usually the keyword var is used when the type is to be implicitly decided. If any datatype is already used during the declaration of the vriable, then it is explicitly typed.

As in the preceding piece of snippet, you can see the statement ends with a semicolon ";" that simply marks the end so the compiler knows that the statement ends there. The Equals operator is used to assign the value to the declared variable. C# also uses the same the operators that we as developers have been using in other programming languages (+(plus), -(subtraction), *(asterix/multiplication), /(divide) and also the modulo operator(%)). These are, as we know, called the arithmetic operators. We cannot apply the arithmetic operations on datatypes except int (integer type) in a similar way.

However using explicit conversion, a string can be converted into integers. For increment the values, the increment and decrements operators are also strongly followed in C#. 

Understand your first C# program

As we all know, every program follows a common rule that is Input, Process and Output. Let's have a go at it. 

When we run the preceding program, we get the following output. I am showing the output step wise, so that you get to understand the importance of the Console.WriteLine and Console.ReadLine.

As we see in the image, the console window opens when the project runs and asks for the first name. As we see in the program, first comes Console.WriteLine(), then when the user enters the name Console.ReadLine(), it plays its role and stores it in the variable memory firstName

As we see in the image, the console window opens when the project runs and asks for the last name. As we see in the program, first comes Console.WriteLine(), then when the user enters the name Console.ReadLine(), plays its role and stores it in the variable memory lastName.

Now when a final Enter is pressed by the user trying to understand what the program is doing. Yes, it gives the desired output. It concats the variables where the names/values entered by the user are temporarily stored in memory. {0} {1}, this actually contains the values entered by the user when asked and as said previously concats the input and displays the full name as the output. This could also have been done by using the "+" operator like:

There are many libraries that can be used in your program. These libraries need to be specified at the top of your program, in other words where the Namespaces are and they are used using a usingkeyword. :D Yes, so many use! When on the console window, something needs to be displayed, Console.WriteLine() is used and when we need to take the Input from the user and store it in memory, Console.ReadLine() is used. This is a simple and basic difference. The {0} used in our program, acts as a simple placeholder where the dynamic values are used by specifying the argument at the end. The many the arguments, the many the placeholders to be used. 

Conclusion

Thanks guys for having patience and reading through this. This is what I could cover in the first part and will continue some more interesting topics in the second part. Let's learn, let's explore and let's share.

Method Overloading in Java with examples

Method Overloading in Java with examples

Method Overloading is a feature that allows a class to have two or more methods having same name, if their argument lists are different. In the last tutorial, we discussed constructor overloading that allows a class to have more than one constructors having different argument lists.

Argument lists could differ in –

1. Number of parameters.

2. Data type of parameters.

3. Sequence of Data type of parameters.

Method overloading is also known as Static Polymorphism.

Points to Note:

1. Static Polymorphism is also known as compile time binding or early binding.

2. Static binding happens at compile time. Method overloading is an example of static binding where binding of method call to its definition happens at Compile time.

Method Overloading examples:

As discussed above, method overloading can be done by having different argument list. Let’s see examples of each and every case.

Example 1: Overloading – Different Number of parameters in argument list

When methods name is same but number of arguments are different.

               

In the above example – method disp() has been overloaded based on the number of arguments – We have two definition of method disp(), one with one argument and another with two arguments.

Example 2: Overloading – Difference in data type of arguments

In this example, method disp() is overloaded based on the data type of arguments – Like example 1 here also, we have two definition of method disp(), one with char argument and another with int argument.

               

Example3: Overloading – Sequence of data type of arguments

Here method disp() is overloaded based on sequence of data type of arguments – Both the methods have different sequence of data type in argument list. First method is having argument list as (char, int) and second is having (int, char). Since the sequence is different, the method can be overloaded without any issues.

               

Let’s see few Valid/invalid cases of method overloading

Case 1: 

Result: Compile time error. Argument lists are exactly same. Both methods are having same number, data types and same sequence of data types in arguments.

Case 2:

Result: Perfectly fine. Valid case for overloading. Here data types of arguments are different.

Case 3:

               

Result: Perfectly fine. Valid case for overloading. Here number of arguments are different.

Case 4:

Result: Perfectly fine. Valid case for overloading. Sequence of the data types are different, first method is having (int, float) and second is having (float, int).

Case 5:

Result: Compile time error. Argument lists are exactly same. Even though return type of methods are different, it is not a valid case. Since return type of method doesn’t matter while overloading a method.

Guess the answers before checking it at the end of programs:

Question 1 – return type, method name and argument list same.

               

Answer:

It will throw a compilation error: More than one method with same name and argument list cannot be defined in a same class.

Question 2 – return type is different. Method name & argument list same.

               

Answer:
It will throw a compilation error: More than one method with same name and argument list cannot be given in a class even though their return type is different. Method return type doesn’t matter in case of overloading.

Symmetric-key algorithm

Symmetric-key algorithms are algorithms for cryptography that use the same cryptographic keys for both encryption of plaintext and decryption of cipher text. The keys may be identical or there may be a simple transformation to go between the two keys . The keys, in practice, represent a shared secret between two or more parties that can be used to maintain a private information link. This requirement that both parties have access to the secret key is one of the main drawbacks of symmetric key encryption, in comparison to public-key encryption (also known as asymmetric key encryption).

Types of symmetric-key algorithms

Symmetric-key encryption can use either stream ciphers or block ciphers.

·         Stream ciphers encrypt the digits (typically bytes) of a message one at a time.

·         Block ciphers take a number of bits and encrypt them as a single unit, padding the plaintext so that it is a multiple of the block size. Blocks of 64 bits were commonly used. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm approved by NIST in December 2001, and the GCM block cipher mode of operation use 128-bit blocks.

Implementations

Examples of popular symmetric algorithms include Twofish, Serpent, AES (Rijndael), Blowfish, CAST5, Kuznyechik, RC4, 3DES, Skipjack, Safer+/++ (Bluetooth), and IDEA.

Cryptographic primitives based on symmetric ciphers

Symmetric ciphers are commonly used to achieve other cryptographic primitives than just encryption.

Encrypting a message does not guarantee that this message is not changed while encrypted. Hence often a message authentication code is added to a cipher text to ensure that changes to the cipher text will be noted by the receiver. Message authentication codes can be constructed from symmetric ciphers (e.g. CBC-MAC).

However, symmetric ciphers cannot be used for non-repudiation purposes except by involving additional parties. See the ISO/IEC 13888-2 standard.

Another application is to build hash functions from block ciphers. See one-way compression function for descriptions of several such methods.

Construction of symmetric ciphers

Main article: Feistel cipher

Many modern block ciphers are based on a construction proposed by Horst Feistel. Feistel's construction makes it possible to build invertible functions from other functions that are themselves not invertible.

Key generation

When used with asymmetric ciphers for key transfer, pseudorandom key generators are nearly always used to generate the symmetric cipher session keys. However, lack of randomness in those generators or in their initialization vectors is disastrous and has led to cryptanalytic breaks in the past. Therefore, it is essential that an implementation uses a source of high entropy for its initialization.

Reciprocal cipher

A reciprocal cipher is a cipher where, just as one enters the plaintext into the cryptography system to get the cipher text, one could enter the cipher text into the same place in the system to get the plaintext. A reciprocal cipher is also sometimes referred as self-reciprocal cipher. Examples of reciprocal ciphers include:

·         Beaufort cipher

·         Enigma machine

·         ROT13

·         XOR cipher

·         Vatsyayana cipher

Commercial Bank first to launch NFC-enabled premium credit cards for both Visa & Mastercard

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has become the first bank in Sri Lanka to offer Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled credit cards of both Visa and Mastercard, two of the leading brands in the sphere.

Formally launched in Colombo on Wednesday, 23rd November, Commercial Bank’s Visa Infinite, World Mastercard and Visa Signature branded NFC credit cards are targeted at premium customers, the Bank said.

Near Field communication is a set of communication protocols that enable the chip mounted on the credit card to establish contactless communication with a portable device such as a smartphone or NFC enabled point-of-sale unit, by bringing the two within about 4 centimeters of each other.

NFC enabled credit cards are more secure than those with magnetic strips, and their contactless communication capability means that holders of NFC-enabled cards need not relinquish their cards to third parties when making a payment via a terminal or device with the same technology.

Speaking at the launch of NFC-enabled credit cards from Visa and Mastercard, Commercial Bank’s Managing Director/CEO Mr Jegan Durairatnam said: “Commercial Bank is proud to be the first bank in Sri Lanka to launch NFC enabled credit cards from both Visa and Mastercard brands. These cards are designed to offer the most premium facilities to customers who enjoy the finer things in life.” Mr Durairatnam also remarked that the Bank was particularly proud to bring two competing giants in the cards business on to the same platform at a launch event. 

The first two NFC-enabled credit cards issued by Commercial Bank were presented to Mr Indra Silva and Mrs Nisreen Jafferjee at the launch event.

Holders of Commercial Bank’s NFC-enabled credit cards will be eligible for numerous exclusive benefits local and internationally, including upgrades at premium hotels, access to premium airport lounges, premium travel experiences, offers at gourmet restaurants, special shopping offers and concierge services, the Bank said.

NFC technology evolved from radio-frequency identification or RFID, the technology used by shipping companies, in large warehouses, and in superstores to keep track of goods. It uses electromagnetic induction in order to transmit information over a short space so that by simply scanning a container, a staff member can know what it contains.

The NFC standard has three modes of operation: the peer-to-peer mode that lets two smartphones swap data, a read/write mode in which one active device picks up info from a passive one, and card emulation, in which an NFC device such as a smartphone can be used like a contactless credit card.

The only Sri Lankan bank to be ranked among the Top 1000 banks of the world for six years consecutively, Commercial Bank operates a network of 251 branches and 650 ATMs in Sri Lanka. The Bank has won multiple awards as Sri Lanka’s Best Bank, Best Trade Bank, Strongest Bank, Most Respected Bank from a number of local and international institutions and publications over several years and has also been adjudged one of Sri Lanka’s 10 best corporate citizens by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce for several years.

Commercial Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 18 outlets, Myanmar, where it has a Representative Office in Yangon, the Maldives, where the Bank opened a fully-fledged Tier I Bank in September 2016 and Italy, where the Bank launched its own money transfer service in November 2016.

what your web browser is telling websites about you

Interested in knowing what information a website has access to about you as soon as you visit a page? Here are a couple of websites that will show you what information you are leaking as you browse the internet.

Your web browser holds a lot of information about you, and this information is available to websites who want it. Want a peek at the sort of information that a website has access to? Read on!

If you are interested in the sort of information that your browser can offer, there are two websites that you can visit.

The first site is called " Click."

Not only does this site show you the information that your browser is leaking about you and your computer, it also watches what you do. I won't spoil things for you, but I encourage you to turn up the volume (there is a little mild profanity so perhaps headphones is a good idea), and explore the page.

How many of the achievements can you unlock while on Click? Let me know!

The other site you can visit is Webkay.

This site is less playful than Click, but it presents the data that it gathers about you in a much clearer manner, going as far as explaining what is being collected, and also offering some advice to help you prevent some of the data leaks from happening in the first place.

If you're not used to maintaining your privacy while browsing the web, you might be surprised just how much information websites have access to. If you're already switched on in terms of privacy, bask in the glory of being able to tour around the web without leaving too many footprints.

PHP 7.1 has been released!

PHP 7.1 has been released!

New Features:

- Nullable types

- Void return type

- Iterable psuedo-type

- Class constant visiblity modifiers

- Square bracket syntax for list() and the ability to specify keys in list()

- Catching multiple exceptions types


Any more details

shows over 30 years glimpse of the planet,Google Earth updated

Google has rolled out an update to its Google Earth Timelapse feature that was introduced back in 2013. The update brings "four additional years of imagery, petabytes of new data, and a sharper view of the Earth from 1984 to 2016," according to Google.

The Google Earth Engine Programme Manager Chris Herwig added in the official blog post that Google collaborated with the Time.com website to show the updates made on the Earth's surface over the years.

The update brings sharper view using the same techniques Google used for its Maps service. "Using Google Earth Engine, we sifted through about three quadrillion pixels—that's 3 followed by 15 zeroes—from more than 5,000,000 satellite images," added Herwig.

It has been mentioned that Google created 33 images of the entire planet, one for each year and encoded these 3.95 terapixel global images in to 25,000,000 and more overlapping multi-resolution video tiles.

On a related note, Google Maps recently got the ability to monitor live status of crowd at a given place. There's also a Time Management feature that gives users information on how long people stay at a given location.

There's also a new section which shows the work hours for different departments and special services. For instance, the feature will display the exact time a department opened/closed for work instead of just the main opening/closing time of the complete building.

Several other additions have been made by the company in its Maps application such as offline availability, showing parking status, multi-stop support and more. 

Nokia challenges Apple, Samsung again

Nokia smartphones are poised for a comeback after former managers at the Finnish company licensed the handset brand from Microsoft and struck up partnerships with Google and phone manufacturer Foxconn.

Nokia was once the world's dominant cellphone maker but missed the shift to smartphones and then chose Microsoft's unpopular Windows operating system for its "Lumia" range.

Nokia quit smartphones in 2014 by selling its handset activities to Microsoft to focus on mobile network equipment. Microsoft continued selling Lumia smartphones under its own name but this year largely abandoned that business, too.

HMD Global, led by Nokia veteran Arto Nummela, wants to launch its first Nokia smartphone in the early part of next year using Google's (GOOGL.O) Android operating system.

Success will require a dash for scale by stealing business from Apple (AAPL.O), Samsung (005930.KS) and dozens of other players in a cut-throat industry.

"Consumers may be carrying different smartphones now, but are they really in love and loyal to those brands?" said Nummela in an interview.

The Nokia consumer brand lives on as the badge on cheaper, entry-level "feature phones" sold mainly in Asia, India and Eastern Europe, though Microsoft invested little to market the name in recent years. Smartphones typically cost anywhere from ten to 30 times as much as these basic phones, which sell for as little as Rs3,090.06.

"For a new entrant, having an established brand provides it with an instant on-ramp," said mobile phone analyst Ben Wood of CCS Insight, who suggested that phone vendors with weaker brands should not take the new challenge lightly.

"The barriers to entry for the Android phone space are low," said Wood. "What HMD has is the Nokia brand and management experience. The key to its success will be driving scale."

CEO Nummela, who was once responsible for Nokia's sales and product development, does not lack ambition.

"We want to be one of the key competitive players in the smartphone business," he told Reuters.

HMD President Florian Seiche previously worked at Siemens (SIEGn.DE), Orange, HTC and Nokia. Chief Marketing Officer Pekka Rantala is a former CEO of Rovio, the maker of the Angry Birds game, as well as a Nokia veteran.

"We are not going to skip any markets in the long term," Seiche said, adding that HMD had already set up offices in 40 locations around the world.

NO FUNDING FROM NOKIA CORP

HMD is owned by Smart Connect LP, a private equity fund run by Jean-Francois Baril, who was once in charge of Nokia's world-leading supply chain management system. Other HMD managers have put in money of their own.

HMD on Thursday took over the feature phone business that Nokia Corp (NOKIA.HE) sold to Microsoft. It has a licensing deal with Nokia giving it sole use of the brand on mobile phones and tablets for the next decade. It will pay Nokia royalties for the brand and patents, but Nokia has no direct investment in HMD.

HMD is building its smartphone operating system in partnership with Google and all its Nokia devices will be manufactured by Foxconn (2354.TW) of Taiwan, the world's largest contract manufacturer.

Nummela says his team's enduring relationships with phone service providers and retailers could help HMD quickly convince owners of Nokia feature phones to upgrade in markets like India, Indonesia and Russia.

The Nokia name is still on a tenth of the feature phones sold around the world, though in recent years it ceded ground to Samsung and TCL (000100.SZ), maker of Alcatel-brand phones, as well as smaller players, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics.

Shipments of Nokia feature phones plunged 40 percent in fiscal year 2015 and HMD must reverse that decline while trying to break back into the smartphone market, where hundreds of vendors compete by selling phones that can be hard to distinguish.

"The feature phone is the essence of the business," Wood said. "Don't be under any illusions that this market is over."

ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE WORK

One of the most important and essential pieces of software on Windows computers nowadays is antivirus software to protect you against malware, exploits and hackers. With new advanced malware being released every day used to compromise privacy, blackmail the owners of infected machines and send spam, antivirus software is more important than ever. Most malware is designed and spread with a financial motive, ransom ware for instance which encrypts all files on your computer and demands a payment in Bitcoin for the decryption key.

Malware is often spread through infected websites that contain malicious software, phishing e-mails and online downloads. In many occasions users are infected by their own actions, for example opening a malicious attachment in the mail or downloading a file from the internet. But sometimes there isn’t a single thing you can do to prevent infection, for example by visiting a mainstream news website which is infected with malicious software. On these occasions your antivirus software becomes really important. Antivirus protects your privacy, your precious and priceless files and business processes for a price from Rs1,551.3,- to Rs6,205.21. But how does Antivirus work? What does a full system scan and a quick scan do? How does antivirus detect a virus? Why does it update all the time? In this article we will be answering these questions and more.

HOW DOES ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE SEARCH FOR MALWARE?

Antivirus software uses multiple ways to detect malicious software. Antivirus scan uses full system scans, quick scans and on-access scans to search for malware. We will have a look at the different scans available, what they do and how to use them.

FULL SYSTEM SCAN

The full systems can may run for a long time and scans all the files on your hard drive, network, system memory and other storage devices for malicious software. Modern systems often contain a lot of files and therefore a full system scan may run for a very long time. A full system scan is very useful when you’ve just installed antivirus software and you want to check if your computer contains any malicious software. Another reason to run a full system scan is when you suspect an infection which has gone unnoticed until than or if you want to check the system for dormant malware with the latest virus definitions. For the purpose of dormant virus detection most antivirus software schedule a full system scan weekly after the virus definitions have been updated.

QUICK SCAN

Most antivirus software offers a function called a quick scan to check the start-up items, system memory and boot sectors for malware. Depending on the used antivirus software the quick scan also checks for malware on locations which are often used by malware, for persistence mechanisms for example. The quick scan uses only a fraction of the time and resources a full system scan uses. Therefor you can run a quick scan anytime you like without having the anti malware software slowing down your computer.

ON-ACCESS SCANNING

The on-access scan or real time protection is probably the most important scanning mechanism used by antivirus software. An on-access scan is run every time an executable is executed and a file is opened or downloaded, regardless of the file type. The antivirus software will run the on-access scan before the application interface or file is presented to the user. A great benefit of on-access scans is that security flaws in applications are also being caught by the antivirus software. For example it will detect malicious flash files when vulnerabilities in flash are being exploited. For this reason it is advised to never turn off on-access scanning on your antivirus even if it impacts your computer performance. A lot of malware infections have great impact on your system and it might cost a lot of time, effort and sometimes money to remove the malware and make sure it has been completely removed.

HOW DOES ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE DETECT VIRUSES?

But what mechanisms does antivirus software uses to detect a virus and distinct them from non-malicious files? This is done by using virus definitions for known viruses and by employing heuristics to detect new or modified viruses. Read on to know what virus definitions are, how antivirus uses them to detect malware and how antivirus employs heuristics.

VIRUS DEFINITIONS

Antivirus software relies heavily on virus definitions to detect malware on your system and this is the most traditional way of detecting malware on your system. Virus definitions contain signatures which are used to determine the kind of malware. New malware is released every day and so are virus definitions. The bigger antivirus software vendors have dedicated antivirus labs where new malware is researched to develop new definitions and signatures for them. This is a costly process because millions of new malicious software is released every year. Without the latest virus definitions it may be impossible for your antivirus software to detect the latest malware. Most antivirus software vendors update malware definitions multiple times a day for this reason. Another method for antivirus software is heuristic based detection which we will explain in more detail.

HEURISTICS

Heuristic bases detection is used in combination with virus definitions to detect malware which is based on known and modified malware. Even without virus definitions for the modified malware the antivirus software is able to recognize variations of malware and put it in quarantine. Antivirus uses generic signature detection for this purpose and can be explained as malware with different fingerprints but exactly the same malicious code. Another method for antivirus software is file analysis for example to see if an executable has instructions to alter or delete certain files. Regular software does not try to modify or delete important system software and therefore this action could be considered malicious behavior and should therefore be considered malware.

FALSE-POSITIVES

One big downside of heuristic based virus detection are false positives. False positives is when antivirus flags files or programs as malicious or marks them as a threat when they are not, it is just a false alarm. In normal daily use of your computer you should rarely encounter false positives. But with so much software around it may be possible to run into a false positive. In general it is advised that if your antivirus software claims a file to be malicious, consider it malicious too. If you want to be 100% sure if you’re facing a false positive, you can upload the file to Virus Total for analysis. Virus Total will scan the file for you and show you how other antivirus software think about its contents.

WHICH ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE SHOULD I BUY?

There are a lot of antivirus software vendors who offer even more antivirus software. It is advised to go with proprietary antivirus software instead of free software. The paid antivirus software offers better protection to infections, exploits and hackers than free virus scanners. Currently the award winning antivirus vendors are Bit defender, ESET, Norton, F-Secure and Kaspersky.

Facebook buys Pittsburgh-based facial analysis

Facebook has bought a facial analysis software firm linked to Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University, a move that will help the social media giant boost its artificial intelligence-powered facial recognition technology.

Details of the deal weren't revealed by Menlo Park, California-based Facebook or FacioMetrics, the Carnegie Mellon spinoff.

Facebook says FacioMetrics's software can be used to monitor the emotions of medical patients, assess audience reaction to a public speaker, or even detect drowsy drivers.

It also will enable Facebook users to express themselves through special effects that can manipulate photos and videos with facial images. This is something rival Snapchat already does to some extent—it has special filters users can add on to selfie "snaps" they take of themselves. The filters change depending on your facial expressions. For example, a dog filter will not just add on dog ears but show a giant panting tongue instead of your own when you stick out your tongue.

FacioMetrics has developed software called IntraFace, which can be downloaded onto mobile phones and enables users to do real-time facial image analysis. The company's CEO is Fernando De la Torre, an associate research professor at the school's Robotics Institute.

Microsoft joins the Linux Foundation

Fifteen years ago, Steve Ballmer memorably declared Linux was a cancer. Now, Microsoft announced it was joining the Linux Foundation. That’s not a completely unprecedented move, given that Microsoft has been getting steadily chummier with open source software over the last few years. There’s a Linux Bash shell integrated into Windows 10’s Anniversary Update, after all. But joining the organization responsible for maintaining Linux and for funding various open source projects? That’s a true 180 from where the company used to be.

Microsoft also launched a beta of SQL Server for Linux, while Google just joined the .NET Foundation, PC World reports. Microsoft is releasing a version of Visual Studio for the Mac, although this is based on Xamarin, not a straight port of Visual Studio. Samsung has a preview version of Visual Studio for Tizen, which will allow .NET applications to be built for Samsung’s non-Android hardware. If you wanted to blow someone’s mind from 2010, try telling them that Microsoft will help build Linux, Samsung wants VS support for Tizen, and Google has added .NET after spending so much time and effort investing in Java.

Microsoft’s move to embrace Linux is undoubtedly driven by changing macroeconomic conditions around the PC business. For decades, as the dominant server and consumer operating system, Microsoft had very little reason to play nice with others or work to emphasize invulnerability. The explosion of the mobile market and the company’s complete failure to penetrate it has left it little option but to seek other types of collaboration and cross-platform support. Building products that work seamlessly across both Linux and Windows is one way for Redmond to ensure it remains relevant across the data center and server markets.

“Microsoft is hitting all the right notes in terms of aligning its developer business with an ecosystem much broader than Windows,” IDC Program Director Al Hilwa told PC World. “Joining the Linux Foundation is a natural progression of this strategy and one that might still generate a double take if it wasn’t for all the actions the company has already taken in terms of supporting Linux in Azure and with SQL Server.”

SQL Server should be available on Linux by the middle of next year. Those of you hoping for a suite of consumer-friendly cross-platform announcements may need to wait a little longer — there’s no indication that general application compatibility at the consumer level is coming to either operating system, and certainly no known plans to make APIs like DirectX 11 or 12 cross-compatible. Of course, some would argue that Vulkan supersedes the need for such support in any case, but we’ve heard similar arguments about OpenGL versus DirectX (pre-DX12) for over a decade. Even after Valve’s work to bring Steam to Linux, Linux gaming lags behind its Windows counterpart.

Hide Your Ip Address And Protect Yourself Against Spyware And Hackers

Your computer's Ip is it's unique identification online. Once your computer conveys with another computer it shares it's Ip. Frequently your pc maintains exactly the same Ip next day of day, for several weeks at any given time. A large amount of your activity becomes simple for other computer systems to log and monitor.

Identity thieves may use your Ip to watch that which you do on the internet. They even intercept financial information, including logon IDs and passwords. Since id theft is among the quickest growing crimes, it is just prudent to do something to avoid online monitoring of the activities. Hiding your Ip is an excellent method to thwart identity thieves, spy ware and cyber-terrorist.

The normal method to hide your Ip using their company sites is by using proxy servers. Proxy servers are, basically, intermediate servers which exist involving the computer and also the computer in the receiving finish individuals message. That computer in the receiving finish of the message sees your message from the proxy server, not your pc. Thus, your computer's Ip is hidden.

In addition to assisting to thwart identity thieves, proxy servers also hide your real Ip from forums, blogs or any other services that track your Ip. If you've been blocked by one of these simple services, hiding your Ip using a proxy server may be the only method for you to restore access.

You will find free proxy servers and along with compensated proxy servers. You will find several software packages will search free of charge proxy servers. These programs will test the proxy servers to find out if they're presently functioning and just how rapidly they are able to retransmit your communications. However, you need to know that some free proxy servers might be run by identity thieves who're really monitoring your activities while pretending to become carrying out a helpful service.

It is almost always far better to choose a recognized and reliable service that's been running a business for several years. A few of these services will help you to see the Internet free of charge, while some charge for browsing.

The majority of the free websites may have difficulty dealing with some or many software. So, should you communicate for your bank or any other lender with an application that runs on your computer or use every other computer software that accesses the web, you might want to make use of a compensated service. These types of services usually charge a regular monthly fee to assist support numerous fast servers rich in bandwidth connections to the web.

Most compensated services permit you improve your Ip periodically. Some permit you to log out and log in for their service to modify your Ip. Other services supply you just one Ip for a whole day.

Regardless of the preferred method you utilize to cover your Ip, you'll be online more safely with less anxiety about identity thieves, spy ware and cyber-terrorist. Happy, safe and sound surfing