Don't Know ? Just Ask Cortana..

Tech giants like Apple and Google have given lot of importance to Voice assistants. With the SIRI coming in, Microsoft wants to ensure that it isn’t late for the party and has given Cortana a big push in Windows 10. Cortana was showcased at Windows 10 event held at Redmond. The biggest highlight was Cortana will be coming to desktops as well. At the core, it is similar to what we saw in Windows Phone, but now Cortana is more skilled at natural language, handling your daily appointments and so on.



Improved search is the first and foremost feature of Cortana.It can look up specific Word files or Presentations. It also lets users search for contextual information. For instance, you can look for “videos from September.” It can also go beyond your computer and search for videos or docs from Microsoft’s cloud service – OneDrive.

Another key thing needless to say Cortana learns its users’ tastes and preferences, just like some other voice assistants. There’s a new feature called Notebook that keeps a tab on all the saved information. It also keeps a track of the sports scores, travel, weather and such similar information that you may be interested in. It’s in the Notebook, that you can add other things that you expect Cortana to keep a track.

Sources say Cortana is integrated with Spartan Browser, given that Google has integrated voice-search in Chrome as well. Cortana will bring predictive search into the browser. Cortana also takes dictation. Yes, you can simply dictate an email, now. You can also ask it to play music. In case you are on a page of a hotel/restaurant, it instantly pops up the menu or Maps with directions. In the search bar, it also helps with generating auto complete.

Cortana needless to say just the right move as Windows 10 is expected to bring seamless experience across all Microsoft devices. Microsoft’s move to bring Cortana to desktops  makes perfect sense as voice-assistant are being seen as the future of search.

Google's driverless car . Is it real ?

The Google self-driving car is for real ? The cute Tata Nano lookalike works on sensors and software, and one can reach their destination by just at the push of a button?

Google has been confusing customer with tidbits about the new technology driverless car. but it wasn't until this week that it revealed what this futuristic technology would actually look like.The car comes without a steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brake pedal, as the car driver won’t need any of it and reaches a maximum speed of roughly 40 kilometres an hour.

Google says that 100 of these prototypes will be built in the Detroit area, and the company expects them to be on the road by next year. Currently being tested around the company's Californian headquarters, the prototype could offer a whole new paradigm for driving where vehicles are operated by a single push-button and function like an automatic taxi service — not autonomous cars

Do we really need driverless vehicle? Is it safe? Google’s prime reason to build a driverless car is – Safety. The search giant points out that 1.2 million people lose their lives due to traffic-related incidents, and more than 90 percent of these accidents are due to human error. With the self-driving car, it aims to ‘step up road safety and transform mobility for millions of people’. The self-driving technology is crafted to never get distracted and navigate the car as naturally as possible. It expects the car to be courteous, get defensive and drive as you would expect it.






There's still a whole load of questions that need to be answered before these sorts of vehicles become anywhere near the norm, but announcements like this mean we're learning more about what a self-driving car might mean.

Small intruders
The sensors made cannot detect small intruder like animals or beasts, it is unclear that how long the braking mechanism will function effectively.

Feels like theme park ride
The aesthetics and design gives it an appearance of theme park rider

Google's cars will still need a steering wheel - for legal reasons
Despite the fact that the car is being advertised as having no controls, Google will have to include both pedals and a wheel when they test the vehicles on California's streets thanks to the state's laws. This tension between what a car is and what it isn't

How it works?

Firstly, the self-driving car needs to know where it is or what’s around it. Google has included several sensors that act as the eyes and ears of the driver. Firstly, for location, the car uses GPS data, but GPS isn’t always accurate and hence the car uses other sensors like laser to help identify the precise location and depth by gauging the environment.

All the information is then processed by Google’s software that plays a vital role in driving. It differentiates between the objects and classifies them using colour coded boxes. For example, cycle will be red, pedestrians in yellow and vehicle in green or pink. The software then needs to classify these objects appropriately by differentiating them depending upon their shape, movement pattern and so on. For instance, it can detect if a cyclist is in the bike lane and so on. It also takes under consideration that humans usually feel a little uncomfortable when next to large vehicles like trucks. So, the software distinctly marks larger vehicles. So, it keeps the car farther from such vehicles, just how a driver would.

The software is also designed to match speed with traffic and also anticipates other vehicles cutting in. The software is also capable of detecting and navigating in construction zones, taking naturalistic driving into account. The software is also capable of detecting and navigating in construction zones, taking naturalistic driving into account.

The car has two seats and some space for passengers’ belongings. “On the inside, it is designed for learning, not luxury, so its light on creature comforts, but will have two seats (with seatbelts), a space for passengers’ belongings, buttons to start and stop, and a screen that shows the route—and that’s about it

Though driverless car have many advantages like safety, cost, also have cons like speed limitation, stability and reliability.

 Google currently collects data on consumers through its search engine and email services, which it sells to third parties. Braga a Canadian tech journalist, says that the self-driving car could provide Google with even more personal information. They'll now have this extra data. They'll know things like, 'Stacy goes to the gym every Thursday,'" Braga said

It's a whole other set of data that could be exciting or terrifying

Oops HTTP or HTTPS ??

Most of internet websites depend on third party vendors for secured socket layer(SSL) However, before entering your payment information such as credit card details, PayPal username or password it is important to be sure that the page is secure by checking for HTTPS at the uppermost part of the page

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a communications protocol for secure communication over a computer network, with especially wide deployment on the Internet. This is actually the first element you spot on any URL and it is used to send information over the web.Technically, it is not a protocol in and of itself; rather, it is the result of simply layeringthe Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) on top of the SSL/TLS protocol, thus adding the security capabilities of SSL/TLS to standard HTTP communications. The security of HTTPS is therefore that of the underlying TLS, up to dateencrypt the data flow between client and server

Why use HTTPS?

What HTTPS does is provide encryption, which blocks authentication, and sniffing thereby preventing spoofing. The first indication of whether a website is secure for processing your information over the web is by checking the presence of prefix HTTPS.

 HTTP is insecure and is subject to man-in-the-middle and eavesdropping attacks, which can let attackers gain access to website accounts and sensitive information. HTTPS is designed to withstand such attacks and is considered secure against such attacks.

Things to check in HTTPS

Though HTTPS is secured network , we need to ensure that the antivirus that we are using is quality one and the datebase is up to date. This is because a virus infection can enable intruders of your payment information to get hold of everything you input into your computer. That is why it is advisable to never save your private information like bank account details, social security, and credit card number on your computer. Instead, put such information in your head or in any other safe place

.

A virus has the potential of secretly installing a program into your computer. This places your information in a vulnerable position of being retrieved by the public. Many people do now know that you may be using webpage that has HTTPS yet has an error on it. Use the secure webpage with caution. Check if the left lower hand corner of the page has a yellow triangle normally with an explanation point on it. Yes, the website may have an SSL but it may be improperly installed. Do not overlook such errors and compromise your information simply because you spot the prefix HTTPS.

How to go HTTPS ?

First and foremost, make sure that the SSL certificate is properly installed and it is working. Then go to the admin dashboard and point the cursor on Settings. Proceed by clicking General. You will see WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL).Replace the default HTTP:// for both cases with HTTPS://. Do not forget to save the changes by clicking on the save button.

Firefox With A New Add-on -Smart Address Bar

If you think searching on Firefox is time consuming  compared to Google Chrome, you are mistaken now Firefox have developed a new add-on -Smart Address bar , which will provide the  Omnibar Bar features of Chrome to Firefox.


Smart Address Bar makes the URl of the browser to a faster and more intelligent search tool.After the installation of add-on , you restart the Firefox and is done, now type the first few letters of the search item in URl and now we can see the Bar displaying intelligent and specific search results in a dropdown list view with the search words highlighted and underlined for better clarity.

It may even pull up the history of your browsing to display the exact thing and more accurate results.With this feature you can now reduce the typing to half and can additionally discover new and interesting things based on the predictive algorithm that interests you.


All you have to do is to install add on and type first few letters of search and voila !!    you get the search item predicted in the drop-down list.When you click on one of these address bar opens with result in same tab,you can scroll and find what you want.


This add on is easy to use  and it gives accurate and speedier browsing experience and one more interesting thing is it is not consuming much memory when compared to opening another tab in Chrome or using another extension in Chrome.