User Support Editorial Report – January 2015

Latest Technology

Quantum Credit Cards:

In a report issued last month, a team of scientists from the Netherlands is proposing a security system for credit cards and passports that would leverage the power of quantum physics. Dubbed quantum-secure authentication (QSA), the technology uses a strip of nanoparticles on the card that would be virtually impossible to hack. Read on…                               

Tips & Tricks

Best Free Panorama Software
How to Resize Icons in Windows 8.1
Backing up the Outlook Address Book
Rename Email Accounts and Mailbox Folders
How to Manage Attachments in Outlook 2013

 Computer Safety

Make Your Entire Internet Life More Secure in One Day:

From chat encryption to secure backups, time to find the easiest ways to make your online life secure without causing too much inconvenience..  Read on…

 

 

Bonus Video of the Month

User Support Editorial Report – July 2014

2015 Top 10 Tech Tips for Resolution

We computed your Top 10:

1. Check your backup procedure: Backup solutions are not a “set it and forget it” process. Definitely need to verify the process is still working and that the destinations drive(s) are functioning.

2. Check your anti-virus software program: Make sure it is up to date, that it is scanning regularly. (Microsoft Security Essentials is available to small businesses on up to 10 PCs for free)

3. Tidy the desktop: Clear off old icons, files, and folders.

4. Organize: Keep your computer software all in one place and easily accessible.

5. Insurance: Inventory all your computing hardware.

6. Establish one location: Use one notebook, one folder, whatever it may be, for all your User ID’s, login passwords, email passwords, router settings and anything to do with computing.

7. Change passwords: Time for a better password then yesterday. Help keep the bad guys out of your account by using both your password and your phone. Always sign up for 2-Step verification.

8. Replace power strips: Use a power surge protector. Power strips are great for plugging in lamps, speakers, pencil sharpeners, but not your monitors, routers, backup drives, computers, etc.

9. Replace worn devices: All computing devices fail.

10. Maintenance your computers: Every 3-6 months – clean out temp files, patch it, updated it, stop unwanted startup programs, check the antivirus and backup process.

These 2015 Top 10 tech tips for resolution have been brought to you by tech3Support. Happy shiny new tech year. Best of luck with your other resolutions too.

Robot Pilots

In this video, the pilot is itself a humanoid robot, learning how to fly an airplane in a flight simulator. With a panel of controls in its mechanical fingers, the PIBOT uses visual information, presented on a computer monitor, to inform its flying.
Right now, the concept is limited to piloting simulators, but the researchers hope to have PIBOT actually steer a plane some day.

Tianhe-2 | Supercomputer

For the third consecutive time, Tianhe-2, a supercomputer developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology, has retained its position as the world’s No. 1 system with a performance of 33.86 Pflop/s (quadrillions of calculations per second) on the Linpack benchmark, according to the 43rd edition of the twice-yearly TOP500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.

Here is the complete Top 10 List:

http://top500.org/list/2014/06/

 

The Kilobot Project

Harvard researchers designed the Kilobot, a low-cost robot designed to make testing collective algorithms on hundreds or thousands (“kilos”) of robots. Each robot has the basic capabilities required for a swarm robot, but is made with low-cost parts, and is mostly assembled by an automated process.

In addition, the system design allows a single user to easily and scalably operate a large Kilobot collective, such as programming, powering on, and charging all robots systems. The researchers are now using the Kilobot swarm to investigate algorithms for robust collective behavior, such as collective transport, human-swarm interaction, and shape self-assembly, as well as new theory that links individual robot capabilities to achievable swarm behaviors.

via: A Low Cost Scalable Robot System for Demonstrating Collective Behaviors

Jibo: The World’s First Family Robot

Muscle-Powered Bio-Bots

Engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign demonstrated a class of walking “bio-bots” powered by muscle cells and controlled with electrical pulses, giving researchers unprecedented command over their function.

“This work represents an important first step in the development and control of biological machines that can be stimulated, trained, or programmed to do work. It’s exciting to think that this system could eventually evolve into a generation of biological machines that could aid in drug delivery, surgical robotics, ‘smart’ implants, or mobile environmental analyzers, among countless other applications.”

via New Bureau | Illinois

DNA Nano Device Sequencer

A multidisciplinary team of Brigham Young University scientists has developed a way to significantly reduce cell death when introducing DNA into egg cells. The researchers have created a microscopic lance that delivers DNA to the cells through electrical forces.

“Because DNA is naturally negatively charged, it is attracted to the outside of the lance using positive voltage,” said Brian Jensen, BYU professor of mechanical engineering. “Once we insert the lance into a cell, we simply reverse the polarity of the electrical force and the lance releases the DNA.”

Read more…

Brigham Young University News

“Luke Arm” Receives FDA Approval

After nearly eight years of development and testing, this robotic arm for amputees has been approved for commercialization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The “Luke Arm,” whose official name is DEKA Arm System, is one of the most advanced robotic prostheses ever built. Its creators nicknamed it the “Luke Arm,” after Luke Skywalker’s ultra-advanced bionic limb.

What makes the DEKA Arm unique is that it can carry out multiple, simultaneous powered movements, and its wrist and fingers can adjust its positions to perform six different user-selectable grips. In addition, force sensors let the robotic hand precisely control its grasp.

 

via IEEE SPECTRUM

Meet MiP: The Cool New Balancing Robot

MiP is a balancing robot with Gesturesense technology. You can control him with a wave of your hand or with an App available for iOS and Android

Read on: MiP