Get ready for the Galaxy S5: Could be unveiled in January 2014

Numerous reports have suggested that sales of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S4 have fallen well short of the company’s internal projections, and Samsung might not be confident that its universally panned smartwatchand new curiously curved smartphone can pick up the slack. According to a recent report from South Korean news site Naver, Samsung plans to launch its next-generation flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone well ahead of schedule. The site claims the phone could be unveiled as soon as January 2014 ahead of a release in February. Samsung’s Galaxy S III and Galaxy S4 each debuted in the second quarter.

Naver says Samsung is rushing the phone out because Galaxy S4 sales have been weak, and the company hopes the various new technologies in the Galaxy S5 will help turn the slump around. Of course, Samsung just posted record-shattering unaudited third-quarter earnings that included at least $9.2 billion in operating profit, and Galaxy S4 sales certainly had a lot to do with the company’s monster quarter.

The report also makes mention of a 64-bit, eight-core Exynos processor for the Galaxy S5, as well as a 16-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization. Earlier reports suggested that the Galaxy S5 might finally feature a metal housing in place of the flimsy-feeling plastics Samsung typically uses, which would absolutely be a welcome change.

Facebook policy change opens users to the world

Facebook users who prefer to lurk in the shadows will not be terribly pleased to learn of a new change toFacebook’s privacy settings that is currently in the process of being rolled out. Facebook users until now have had the option to hide their accounts from the website’s search service. Enabling the setting would mean that their profiles would not be included in search results even when people search for them by name. This will no longer be the case once Facebook removes the privacy option in question, however. Facebook says that the new change will only impact a single-digit percentage of its user base, but we’re not sure how comforting that is. Considering Facebook is currently home to about 1.2 billion users, that means this change could impact more than 100 million people around the world.

Robot walks, breathes with artificial parts

Indeed, technology can provide aesthetic prostheses for people who have lost parts of their faces

Now, a team of engineers has assembled a robot using artificial organs, limbs and other body parts that comes tantalizingly close to a true "bionic man." For real, this time.

The artificial "man" is the subject of a Smithsonian Channel documentary that airs Sunday, Oct. 20 at 9 p.m. Called "The Incredible Bionic Man," it chronicles engineers' attempt to assemble a functioning body using artificial parts that range from a working kidney and circulation system to cochlear and retina implants.

The parts hail from 17 manufacturers around the world. This is the first time they've been assembled together, says Richard Walker, managing director of Shadow Robot Co. and the lead roboticist on the project.

Walker says the robot has about 60 to 70 percent of the function of a human. It stands six-and-a-half feet tall and can step, sit and stand with the help of a Rex walking machine that's used by people who've lost the ability to walk due to a spinal injury. It also has a functioning heart that, using an electronic pump, beats and circulates artificial blood, which carries oxygen just like human blood. An artificial, implantable kidney, meanwhile, replaces the function of a modern-day dialysis unit.

Although the parts used in the robot work, many of them are a long way from being used in humans. The kidney, for example, is only a prototype. And there are some key parts missing: there's no digestive system, liver, or skin. And, of course, no brain.

The bionic man was modeled after Bertolt Meyer, a 36-year-old social psychologist at the University of Zurich who was born without his lower left arm and wears a bionic prosthesis. The man's face was created based on a 3D scan of Meyer's face.

Beer Fridge Causes Blackout For Mobile Network Service In Australia

A mobile network blackout across several neighborhoods near Melbourne, Australia, and Telstra technicians tracked the interference to a beer fridge in the garage of Wangaratta resident Craig Reynolds.

Technicians believe electric sparks emitted from the refrigerator’s faulty motor generated enough radio frequency noise to knock it out the cell network.

A spark with a large enough magnitude, according to engineers, would interfere with the 850mHz spectrum, which carries mobile voice calls and internet data to smartphones and tablets.

Greg Halley and his crew are black-spot detectors for the telecom company, and tracked the interference using “Mr. Yagi” antennas, named after their Japanese creator. After locating the address, Halley said, they just knocked on the door.

Reynolds was shocked to discover his beer fridge could do such damage. “I’m amazed something like that could knock out part of the network,” he told the Herald Sun. “I’m going to run and see if my fridge is all right next time there’s a problem with the network,” he said.

Upgrading from Windows Sever 2003

Upgrading from Windows Server 2003 to 2008 got tricky, so I thought I should share some points to have in mind when upgrading

1) You cannot upgrade an x86 version (processor architecture) to an x64 version (processor architecture)
2) If you have an x86 version of Windows Server 2003, you'll only be able to upgrade it to an x86 version of Windows Server 2008
3) You can upgrade to an equivalent edition if the processor architecture is the same 
4) You can upgrade from Standard edition to Enterprise edition as long as the processor architecture is the same
5) You can upgrade to Datacenter edition only if the previous operating system is running Datacenter edition and the processor architecture is the same
6) You cannot upgrade Windows Server 2003 to any Server Core Installation option of Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2
7) You can upgrade from a Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008 to a Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008 R2 so long as the processor architecture is x64
8) To Upgrade from Windows server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 requires that at least Service Pack 1 is installed on the Windows Server 2003 host
9) For Itanium-Based System: Although Itanium is a 64-bit architecture, it's not the same as the x64 architecture. Hence, you cannot upgrade from or to an Itanium version of Windows Server 2008 R2 unless your existing version of Windows is the Itanium edition of Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008

Frozen Android phones give up data secrets

This is an interesting one - Freezing an Android phone can help reveal its confidential contents, German security researchers have found.

A team of researchers froze phones for an hour as a way to get around the encryption system that protects the data on a phone by scrambling it.

Google introduced the data scrambling system with the version of Android known as Ice Cream Sandwich.

The attack allowed the researchers to get at contact lists, browsing histories and photos.

Android's data scrambling system was good for end users but a "nightmare" for law enforcement and forensics workers, the team at Erlangen's Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) wrote in a blogpost about their work.

To get around this, researchers Tilo Muller, Michael Spreitzenbarth and Felix Freiling from FAU put Android phones in a freezer for an hour until the device had cooled to below -10C.

The trio discovered that quickly connecting and disconnecting the battery of a frozen phone forced the handset into a vulnerable mode. This loophole let them start it up with some custom-built software rather than its on-board Android operating system. The researchers dubbed their custom code Frost - Forensic Recovery of Scrambled Telephones.

The Frost software helped them copy data on a phone that could then be analysed on a separate computer.

A chilled phone also helped their hacking project. Data fades from memory much more slowly when chips are cold which allowed them to grab the encryption keys and speed up unscrambling the contents of a phone.

PhD student Tilo Muller told the BBC that the attack generally gave them access to data that had been put in memory as users browsed websites, sent messages or shared pictures.

The researchers tested their attack against a Samsung Galaxy Nexus handset as it was one of the first to use Android's disk encryption system. However, they said, other phones were just as likely to be vulnerable to the attack. The team are planning further tests on other Android handsets.

While the "cold boot" attack had been tried on desktop PCs and laptops, Mr Muller said the trio were the first to try it on phones.

"We thought it would work because smartphones are really small PCs," he said. "but we were quite excited that the trick with the freezer worked so well."

The German research group is now working on defences against the attack that ensures encryption keys are never put in vulnerable memory chips. Instead they are only used in the memory directly attached to a phone's processor.

Web based 'brain' For Robots Goes Live

Robots confused about what they encounter in the world of humans can now get help online.

European scientists have turned on the first part of a web-based database of information to help them cope.

The online "brain" is Called Rapyuta, it describes objects robots have met and can also carry out complicated computation on behalf of a robot.

Rapyuta's creators hope it will make robots cheaper as they will not need all their processing power on-board.

The Rapyuta database is part of the European Robo Earth project that began in 2011 with the hope of standardizing the way robots perceive the human world.

Instead of every robot building up its own idiosyncratic catalogue of how to deal with the objects and situations it encounters, Rapyuta would be the place they ask for help when confronted with a novel situation, place or thing.

In addition, the web-based service is able to do complicated computation on behalf of a robot - for example if it needs to work out how to navigate a room, fold an item of clothing or understand human speech.

The system could be particularly useful for drones, self-driving cars or other mobile robots who have to do a lot of number crunching just to get round, said Mohanarajah Gajamohan, technical head of the project at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

Cisco Technical Support right from your BlackBerry

A friend drew my attention to this and I think it's really cool- The Cisco Technical Support mobile application, it provides access to Cisco's rich technical support content right from your BlackBerry smartphone.  But it's only available on BlackBerry 10. This app was released 20/02/2013 and has the following features: 
1) Manage Cases (requires valid support contract)
2) Access to all your open Cisco service requests
3)Click to connect with your TAC Engineer directly via phone or email
4) Add notes & photos to your support case
5) Access to all case notes and a summary of attached files
6)Send a request for status update, or to close your case
7)Access to all RMAs (Return Material Authorization) associated with your support cases
8) Track replacement RMA parts
9) Click to call the on-site contact and field engineers via phone for related RMAs

If you want to learn more about  a Cisco Support Contract and the benefits of having one, just click on this link  http://www.cisco.com/web/help/reg/ben/sc_ben.html

PlayStation 4 Console Announced by Sony

To thou lovers of PlayStation – PlayStation 4 is coming out soon, Its hardware is designed to offer superior graphics as well as new social features including the sharing of recorded game play clips. It will succeed the PlayStation 3, which went on sale in 2006. The PS4 will eventually compete against Microsoft's still-to-be-unveiled Xbox 360 successor and Nintendo's Wii U.

Sony described the machine as being like a "supercharged" PC. It runs off an x86-based CPU (central processing unit) - similar architecture to that found in most desktop computers - and an "enhanced" PC GPU (graphics processing unit). Both CPU and GPU are designed by the US firm Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). It comes with the new DualShock 4 controller, which includes a touchpad, a "share button" and a lightbar, which allows a separate camera to track its movement. The new controller (below) features a touchpad and a light so its movement can be tracked by a camera

"This is a complete controller upgrade with touch, share and better responsiveness," said Brian Blau, an analyst at the tech consultancy Gartner. "The new controller is the key to a better PS4 experience. It has the ability to share content easily, and brings in a component of touch that allows even more ways to interact with games."

The console also includes new hardware dedicated to video compression to make it a more social device. Users will be able to pause a game, select a few minutes of recorded video of their most recent activity, and instruct the clip to be uploaded to a social network. Another new feature is that gamers can let one of their friends connect to their machine and take control of their character to help if they have got stuck, or allow several friends to watch their live progress as spectators. This facility uses technology from Gaikai - a cloud-based service Sony acquired last year for $380m.

And here is the bad news- Sony has decided not to make PlayStation 4 backwards compatible which I believe is disappointing and means that people who own a PS3 will essentially have to start their gaming collection from scratch. “PlayStation 3 games - and indeed PSone and PS2 games - will be available to download at some point, but most likely at an additional cost, which might turn consumers off,” said Alex Simmons, UK editor-in-chief of the gaming site IGN.  

Skype launches limited video messaging trial

Skype soft has launched a video messaging service that allows its subscribers to deliver recorded clips to Skype contacts for playback when they come online. The service is initially available for users running Skype on Android, Apple's iPhone and Mac OS X computers and is part of the Skype Premium package that costs $10 per month. Non-subscribers are being offered 20 free messages over the next three months to try the service. Each message can be up to three minutes long and the feature is available through the "plus" button in Skype apps running on supported systems.

"We're looking for feedback," said Chaim Haas, a spokesman for Skype. He said users can connect with Skype through Twitter and its Facebook page.

Skype inadvertently disclosed the feature in December when it updated its terms of service to include a description of the video messaging service.

The full service will be launched later this year.

Cloud Computing - Internet Evolution

Cloud computing provides the means through which every resources — from computing power to computing infrastructure, applications, business processes to personal collaboration — can be delivered to you as a service wherever and whenever you need.

The term "cloud" in cloud computing refers to  the set of hardware, networks, storage, services, and interfaces that combine to deliver aspects of computing as a service. Cloud services include the delivery of software, infrastructure, and storage over the Internet (either as separate components or a complete platform) based on user demand. 

Cisco Introduces StadiumVision Mobile; Ground-Breaking Delivery of Live Video to Mobile Devices in Sports & Entertainment Venues Around the World

Cisco has introduced StadiumVisionMobile, a ground-breaking delivery of live video to mobile devices in sports & entertainment venues around the world.The solution uses an intelligent and high-density Cisco Connected Stadium Wi-Fi network to bring high-quality video straight to the latest smartphones and tablets with minimal delay. Global sports and entertainment leaders the Brooklyn Nets (Barclays Center), Real Madrid (Estadio Santiago Bernabéu) and Sporting Kansas City (Sporting Park) are the first to be implementing StadiumVision Mobile in their venues.

More than 10 billion mobile devices are projected to be in use by 2016, and 71 percent of mobile data traffic is expected to be video by that time as well. Teams & venues around the world understand that fans are demanding to be connected, engaged, able to interact and given all-encompassing multimedia experience via their mobile devices. StadiumVision Mobile delivers those demands. 

When integrated with an in-venue app, the solution delivers live video and data feeds with minimal delay and offers multiple channels of unique content such as a replay channel, an alternate-view channel (a view of the bench during timeouts), and a data channel (for stats, trivia contests and multi-player games). These options create a more interactive and personalized experience and open business opportunities for the venue and teams through targeted advertising, sponsorship activations, promotions, branding and more. The solution was developed with an open interface to meet custom software requirements and seamlessly integrate with in-venue apps.

Information Technology Job & Career Fair in Nigeria

The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) is Nigeria's foremost network of Information Technology (IT) practitioners with membership strength of over 10,000, comprising IT professionals, Interest Groups and Stakeholders.

A lot of Computer Science & related courses graduates today find it difficult to access or get gainful employment after graduation. Unavailable employment opportunities for qualified graduates, inadequate information of business opportunities available in the profession, lack of employable skills and ineffective techniques for securing available jobs in the labour market are some of the major factors contributing to the lack of employment.

Nigeria Computer Society believes that the IT industry could put more people to work than a combination of three or four different sectors of the economy could do, thereby, instituting confidence in our school system, graduates and boosting our economy.

 NCS invites members of Nigeria Computer Society to partner with NCS in an Information Technology Job Fair to urgently tackle this critical area that may spell doom for our country

See the Schedule of the Job Fair after cut...

Cisco Live London, 2013

Cisco Live is Cisco's flagship annual technical, educative, technology evolution, networking & thought leadership event for IT, networking & communications professionals. Cisco Live conference provides education and visionary opportunities to explore new possibilities

The most recent Cisco Live took place at Excel Centre, London, UK from the 28th of January to the 1st of February 2013. Attracting over 5,000 attendees.  The show included technical breakout sessions, Keynotes from Cisco executives and hundreds of exhibitors. Over 1000 Cisco Partners joined Cisco's own experts to showcase the latest networking & communication technologies. Cisco Live is a dedicated hub where one can discover the tools, capabilities & services to extend existing network & help one embrace latest business practices

Have got a friend who was one of the attendees, was told it was simply amazing, just click on the link below to take a look around Cisco Live London and see what is possible through technology insight and strategic perspective 

http://newsroom.cisco.com/feature-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1134479  

For more information on Cisco Live , go to http://www.ciscolive.com/global/

The next Cisco Live is going to be held in Melbourne, Australia from March 5- March 8  2013....Watch out !!!

Yayy!!! The State of Osun to Host Nigeria Computer Society 2013 International Conference

The Host for the NCS 2013 International Conference was unveiled at the just concluded National Information Technology Merit Awards (NITMA 2012) organized by the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) on December 14, 2012 at the Civic Center, Victoria Island Lagos, Nigeria.

In his remarks at the gathering, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Governor of Osun state, commended NCS for its developmental role in IT and for organizing such an inspiring event. He outlined innovative technology based initiatives of the Osun state government, inviting IT stakeholders to partner. Aregbesola, stated enthusiastically that his government is focused on making Osun state the IT hub of Nigeria.

He also confirmed Osun state’s readiness and acceptance to host the next NCS Conference scheduled for July 2013. “The government and wonderful people of Osun State looks forward to hosting NCS members and other delegates/resource persons to the 2013 NCS International Conference and AGM in Oshogbo”, Osun State, Nigeria.

Summary and Future Recommendation on Cognitive Radio Network

Few friends have shown interest by requesting for more information about Performance Modelling & Analysis of Secondary Users in Cognitive Radio Network that I posted, so I thought I should share more about it.   

                                 Summary & Conclusion of the Project

    The project looked into a number of discrete event simulations to analyse the performance of SU users under different conditions. The traffic patterns and behaviour of SU and PUs are characterized by using PRP M/M/1, M/GE/1 and GE/GE/1 queuing network models, the comparison of simulation results of these models show that performance of SU user in CR network is affected by different traffic patterns in terms of inter-arrival and service times of both PU and SU calls. PRP M/GE/1 is modelled to study the impact of multiple transmission channels on the performance of CR users and results show that the PU performance degrade with increased number of channels. In the course of attempting to improve SU performance, effects of three different channel selection algorithms (shortest SU queue, random selection and next SU queue) are studied and results reveal that the shortest queue algorithm gives the best SU performance. Furthermore, two different spectrum hand off strategies (always stay and always change) are studied and results show that the

performance of SU in a multi channelled system is improved when they decide to change channel rather than stay in the SU queue of its current channel when pre-empted. For both real time and non-real time SU traffic, the performance measures studied are mean delay, throughput, mean number of SU in queue, forced termination probability, and call loss probability.

       Finally a comparative analysis between model proposed in this dissertation and that of an existing work is carried out and results show that the model proposed in this project gives better SU performance in terms of Mean system dwelling time and gives the same performance in terms of SU call blocking probability.

                                             Future Work

CR technology is working towards efficient use and management of radio spectrum in order to overcome the problem of spectrum scarcity. In this dissertation, the SUs are assumed to be aware of the state of the channels through some spectrum sensing algorithm, this work can be extended by incorporating and actually implementing spectrum sensing algorithms and also it can be used as a block to investigate performance of SU where they are allowed to share the channel with the PUs as long as they don’t go beyond some tolerance. This should reduce the frequency of pre-emptions by PUs and invariably improve SUs’ performance.

Sooner or Later - IPv6

IPv6, it's being implemented in some computer networks already, so, I thought I should write about its addressing and expressions

Ipv6 was originally created as a solution to IPv4's inevitable, looming address-exhaustion crisis, we are indeed running of of IPv4. There have been controversies over if its really worth upgrading from IPv4 to IPv6, personally I think the benefits of IPv6 over IPv4 is worth and outweighs the stress involved in migrating from IPv4 to Ipv6. Asides from the obvious larger addresses , the processing speed is increased, routing is much more efficient and scalable, less consumption of bandwidth as broadcast is eliminated in IPv6 and to top it all, IPv6 by default has been flavoured with IPSec- a feature that provides end-to-end security. IPv6 is really going rock our world with all these features

Now, lets talk about its addressing and expressions. Below is a sample of IPv6 

                 2001:0db8:3c4d:0012:0000:0000:1234:56ab

Performance Modelling & Analysis of Secondary Users In Cognitive Radio Network

Bored again..*smiles*.. Thought I'd share my project's abstract on Cognitive radio networks 
An investigation into the feasibility of improving the performance of secondary users (SU), co-existing with primary users, in cognitive radio network using different queuing systems to model and study their behaviours. Cognitive radio technology is envisaged as a solution to problem of scarcity of spectrum due to increase in the usage of wireless communication devices. However researches have that the available spectrum is underutilized, dynamic spectrum access (DSA) employing Cognitive radio technology is regarded as a promising solution to improve spectrum availability and efficiency. Cognitive radio has the capability of allowing the SUs to opportunistically explore the spectrum without interfering with the operations of the licensed users (PUs) while working towards increasing the spectrum efficiency and throughput of SU. This project investigates different possibilities of improving the performance of secondaryusers in cognitive radio network in the presence of primary users. It starts by studying the performance of secondary users in cognitive radio network with single and multiple channels under different traffic conditions using the pre-emptive resume priority (PRP) M/M/1, M/GE/1 and GE/GE/1 to characterize the traffic conditions. It studies different types of channel selection scheme and performance of SU is analysed based on the schemes. In addition, the study also considers and analyse different spectrum handoff strategy in multiple channelled systems. Furthermore, a comparative study between a model proposed in an existing paper and one proposed in this dissertation is carried out. Finally, conclusions are drawn on which handoff strategy and channel selection scheme gives best SU performance and the model proposed in this dissertation provides better SU performance than that of the existing work.

Keywords: Call loss probability Cognitive radio technology, Delay, Forced termination probability, Non-real time, Performance analysis, Queuing Network model, Real time.

Tablets' Review

For a short time, apple sat at the top of tablet tree, the iPad  reigned supreme while tablets running android operating system struggled to match the quality of apple devices. Now, there's a whole host of android devices that can just about match the iPad and crucially, they are all cheaper than the apple's premium offering. Just to make things interesting and the competition fierce, Microsoft introduced a tablet called "Microsoft Surface", this tablet was created to address the difficulty of creating content on tablets due to the lack of keyboard or mouse plus processing power and apps which seamlessly integrate with software you might find on a desktop pc. 

Apps to help you lose & maintain weight

It's the second month in 2013, are you still committed to your New year's resolutions? Losing and maintaining weight are some of  the most common resolutions, which I believe could be really time consuming in terms of mapping out your meals, looking up for calories information for all your foods, planning out intense workouts. But these days, who has the time? Although you have to invest some hard work to lose and maintain weight, it doesn't have to be too time consuming. There are some apps that can help you keep track of what to eat, plan meals, map out work out sessions and more. Below are some free apps I came across.

My Pilates Guru
This is a free app that works better in conjunction with the My Pilates Guru book to give you a complete health package but the app itself is quite rich in exercise and can be filtered by category  (i.e neutral spine & pelvis, stomach, joint mobility, stretching etc) and by level (i.e beginner, intermediate & advanced). It can be use to create, save and adapt your own sessions, monitor your activity and progress.

 

I personally recommend this app, you can download it to your iphone from app store 

Scholarships ending soon

Here is a list of scholarships in different fields in IT degree ending soon....Hurry & apply..!!!

Google Anita Borg memorial scholarship for international students in USA

2013-2014 College of Science International Scholarships at Swansea University in UK

2013-macs Malaysia Undergraduate Scholarships-at-heriot-watt-university-in-uk

2013 Boeing scholarships for Undergraduate and Postgraduate-students-in-australia

staff research position at institute IMDEA Networks in Spain

Scholarships for European Masters course in-software-engineering-emse

2013 Msc, Phd fellowships at Heidelberg University in Germany

Phd Research positions at University Carlos III of Madrid in Spain

2013 Informatics International Masters scholarships at University of Edinburgh in UK

2013-14 International Postgraduate Research Scholarships IPRS at University of Adelaide- in Australia

Apple emerges top mobile vendor in the US

Apple's financial result for its 13-week fiscal 2013 first quarter ended December 29, 2012 has helped push the company ahead of Samsung as the top mobile phone maker in the U.S. for the first time ever, according to Strategy Analytics. That’s for all mobile phones, not just smartphones, with the Cupertino-based firm selling a whopping 17.7 million iPhones during Q4 2012 versus Samsung’s 16.8 million. Together the two companies accounted for 66% of the market.