Phone Security

Precautions
There are precautions you can take
regarding cell phone security and we’re
here to share them with you. Ultimately,
we want everyone to be safe from
hackers, security attacks and thieves and
the first step is to learn about what you
can do immediately to prevent these
things.
1. Use the Home
Screen Lock
The easiest thing to do first is to use
your home screen lock. Most cellphone
have this feature so you can set a
password to unlock your phone. This
password can be a pattern drawn or a
code entered. This type of security
measure prevents any layperson from
picking up your phone and having
immediate access to it. Unfortunately,
professional thieves are able to hack into
your phone past this security measure. So
although using a home screen lock may
prevent snooping family and friends it will
not protect you against other suspicious
people.
2. Check Your
SmartPhone Privacy
Settings
Most of us are anxious when we get a
new smartphone. We jump straight into
using it without ever checking the default
settings. These settings can control how
much information is shared, when it
should be shared and whether it’s shared
on an unsecure connection. Find your
phone’s settings and check to see what
they are set to.
3. Surf Prudently
We all surf the web on our smartphones
and just like surfing the web on a
computer, there are still pop-ups, scripts,
malware and other viruses that can be
contracted on your device. Making a
purchase with your credit card or logging
into your financial account through your
phone can be catastrophic. Text on
mobile phones is extremely small and it’s
easy to go to the wrong site and enter
your credentials. These sites could be
malicious so be extra cautious when
entering your personal data.
4. Use Only Secure
WiFi Connections
Unsecured Wifi can always be dangerous.
You should never enter any personal data
if you are on an unsecured network.
Information sent through these networks
can be intercepted and “spied” on by
anyone. Once your data is hacked people
can access your email, user names and
passwords, online banking information and
more. If you must use an unsecure Wifi
connection, keep your activity to things
that you wouldn’t mind being shared or
work only with sites that provide SSL
security.
5. Limit Who Uses
Your Network
Even if you have a secure personal
network connection you’re not safe.
Obviously this is better than an unsecured
network but that doesn’t prevent people
from hacking your network. It’s not fun
saying “no” to the person asking for
access to your network but for your
safety you should. Keep your network
trusted by granting access to the fewest
number of people possible.
6. Consider Using a
VPN
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) can help
protect your device when you are on
public Wifi. VPN’s work by directing all
Internet traffic from your phone through
an encrypted pathway so that
eavesdroppers cannot access personal
information that is sent through non-
encrypted methods. VPN’s ensure that
passwords remain hidden and also allow
users the option to access network
resources remotely through their phone.
7. Backup Your Data
It’s important to back up data on all
devices periodically to prevent loss.
Backing up your smartphone is easy for
the most part. Just plug your phone into
a computer and click “sync data”. Again,
make sure you are on a secure network
when you do so or backing up your data
could be dangerous.
8. Keep Track of Your
Serial Number
It used to be said that keeping track of
your mobile phone’s serial number would
give you the chance to disable your
phone in the event that it was stolen.
Whether this trick actually works on more
modern smartphones is still up for debate
but it is definitely worth knowing.
Typically, you can find your phone’s serial
number by dialing *#06# . This should
result in a 15 digit code displaying on the
screen which is your phone’s serial
number. If your cellular phone is ever lost
or stolen and you know you will not be
able to get it back, call your cellular
phone provider with this number. By using
this serial number your phone company
will be able to block your phone
completely making it unusable to anyone.
Even phones that utilize a SIM card
system like AT&T can be disabled and will
not be reactivated even with a new SIM
card. The downside to this tip is that
there is no real way to tell which mobile
phones it works on or whether a cellular
company would be willing to follow
through with blocking the phone

How to Prevent Malware From Infecting Your Computer

1. Install Anti-Virus/Malware Software.
This tip may go without saying, and I
almost just casually mentioned it in my
opening paragraph. However, I have seen
many computers—especially home
computers—that don’t have anti-virus/
malware protection. This protection is a
must-have first step in keeping you
computer virus free.
2. Keep Your Anti-Virus Software Up to
Date. Having protection software is the
first step; maintaining it is the second.
Free anti-virus software is better than
nothing, but keep in mind that it’s not the
best solution. Microsoft does provide a
security package for “free.” It’s free in
that if you have Windows on your
machine, you are granted access, but you
did pay for your Windows license. Many
users aren’t aware of this program, but
it’s actually decent protection.
3. Run Regularly Scheduled Scans with
Your Anti-Virus Software. This too may
seem like a no-brainer, but many of us
forget to do this. Set up your software of
choice to run at regular intervals. Once a
week is preferred, but do not wait much
longer between scans. It’s difficult to
work on your computer while your anti-
virus software is running. One solution is
to run the software at night when you
aren’t using your computer. However, we
often turn off our computers at night, and
so the scan never runs. Set your anti-
virus software to run on a specific night,
and always leave your computer running
on that day. Make sure it doesn’t shut off
automatically or go into hibernation
mode.
4. Keep Your Operating System Current.
Whether you are running Windows, Mac
OS X, Linux, or any other OS, keep it up
to date. OS developers are always issuing
security patches that fix and plug security
leaks. These patches will help to keep
your system secure. Similarly, keep your
anti-virus software up to date. Viruses
and malware are created all the time.
Your scanning software is only as good
as its database. It too must be as up to
date as possible.
5. Secure Your Network. Many of our
computers connect to our files, printers,
or the Internet via a Wi-Fi connection.
Make sure it requires a password to
access it and that the password is
strong. Never broadcast an open Wi-Fi
connection. Use WPA or WPA2
encryption. WEP is no longer strong
enough as it can be bypassed in minutes
by experts. It’s also a great idea to not
broadcast your SSID (the name of your
Wi-Fi network). You can still access it
with your device, you will just have to
manually type in the SSID and the
password. If you frequently have guests
who use your Internet, provide a guest
SSID that uses a different password, just
in case your friends are evil hackers.
6. Think Before You Click. Avoid
websites that provide pirated material. Do
not open an email attachment from
somebody or a company that you do not
know. Do not click on a link in an
unsolicited email. Always hover over a
link (especially one with a URL shortener )
before you click to see where the link is
really taking you. If you have to download
a file from the Internet, an email, an FTP
site, a file-sharing service, etc., scan it
before you run it. A good anti-virus
software will do that automatically, but
make sure it is being done.
7. Keep Your Personal Information Safe.
This is likely the most difficult thing to do
on the Internet. Many hackers will access
your files not by brute force, but through
social engineering. They will get enough
of your information to gain access to
your online accounts and will glean more
of your personal data. They will continue
from account to account until they have
enough of your info that they can access
your banking data or just steal your
identity altogether. Be cautious on
message boards and social media. Lock
down all of your privacy settings, and
avoid using your real name or identity on
discussion boards.
8. Don’t Use Open Wi-Fi. When you are
at the local coffee shop, library, and
especially the airport, don’t use the “free”
open (non-password, non-encrypted) Wi-
Fi. Think about it. If you can access it
with no issues, what can a trained
malicious individual do?
9. Back Up Your Files. The best thing
you can do is back up your files— all of
them. Ideally you will have your files (your
data) in at least three places: the place
where you work on them, on a separate
storage device, and off-site. Keep your
files on your computer, back them up to
an external hard drive, then back them up
in a different location. You can use a
backup service or simply get two external
hard drives and keep one at work, at a
friend’s house, at a family member’s
house, or in a safe deposit box.
Why is data backup important? Check out
10. Use Multiple Strong Passwords.
Never use the same password, especially
on your bank account. Typically, we use
the same email address or username for
all of our accounts. Those are easy to
see and steal. If you use the same
password for everything, or on many
things, and it is discovered, then it takes
only seconds to hack your account. Use a
strong password. Use lower case, upper
case, numbers, and symbols in your
password. Keep it easy to remember but
difficult to guess. Do not use dates or
pet names.

Introduction To Robots
What is the first thing that comes to mind when
you think of a robot?
For many people it is a machine that imitates a
human—like the androids in Star Wars,
Terminator and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
However much these robots capture our
imagination, such robots still only inhabit Science
Fiction. People still haven't been able to give a
robot enough 'common sense' to reliably interact
with a dynamic world. However, Rodney Brooks
and his team at MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab
are working on creating such humanoid robots.
The type of robots that you will encounter most
frequently are robots that do work that is too
dangerous, boring, onerous, or just plain nasty.
Most of the robots in the world are of this type.
They can be found in auto, medical,
manufacturing and space industries. In fact,
there are over a million of these type of robots
working for us today .
Some robots like the Mars Rover Sojourner and
the upcoming Mars Exploration Rover , or the
underwater robot Caribou help us learn about
places that are too dangerous for us to go. While
other types of robots are just plain fun for kids
of all ages. Popular toys such as Teckno, Polly
or AIBO ERS-220 seem to hit the store shelves
every year around Christmas time.
And as much fun as robots are to play with,
robots are even much more fun to build. In Being
Digital, Nicholas Negroponte tells a wonderful
story about an eight year old, pressed during a
televised premier of MITMedia Lab's LEGO/Logo
work at Hennigan School. A zealous anchor,
looking for a cute sound bite, kept asking the
child if he was having fun playing with LEGO/
Logo. Clearly exasperated, but not wishing to
offend, the child first tried to put her off. After
her third attempt to get him to talk about fun,
the child, sweating under the hot television
lights, plaintively looked into the camera and
answered, "Yes it is fun, but it's hard fun."
But what exactly is a robot?
As strange as it might seem, there really is no
standard definition for a robot. However, there
are some essential characteristics that a robot
must have and this might help you to decide
what is and what is not a robot. It will also help
you to decide what features you will need to
build into a machine before it can count as a
robot.
A robot has these essential characteristics:

Sensing First of all your robot would have to be
able to sense its surroundings. It would do this in
ways that are not unsimilar to the way that you
sense your surroundings. Giving your robot
sensors: light sensors (eyes), touch and pressure
sensors (hands), chemical sensors (nose),
hearing and sonar sensors (ears), and taste
sensors (tongue) will give your robot awareness
of its environment.
Movement A robot needs to be able to move
around its environment. Whether rolling on
wheels, walking on legs or propelling by thrusters
a robot needs to be able to move. To count as a
robot either the whole robot moves, like the
Sojourner or just parts of the robot moves, like
the Canada Arm.
Energy A robot needs to be able to power itself.
A robot might be solar powered, electrically
powered, battery powered. The way your robot
gets its energy will depend on what your robot
needs to do.
Intelligence A robot needs some kind of
"smarts." This is where programming enters the
pictures. A programmer is the person who gives
the robot its 'smarts.' The robot will have to have
some way to receive the program so that it
knows what it is to do.
So what is a robot?
Well it is a system that contains sensors, control
systems, manipulators, power supplies and
software all working together to perform a task.
Designing, building, programming and testing a
robots is a combination of physics, mechanical
engineering, electrical engineering, structural
engineering, mathematics and computing. In
some cases biology, medicine, chemistry might
also be involved. A study of robotics means that
students are actively engaged with all of these
disciplines in a deeply problem-posing problem-
solving environment.

Charles Babbage - Father Of Computer

                                            Charles Babbage, Known as Father Of Computer  

Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie

Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie (September 9, 1941 – c. October 12, 2011)

was an American computer scientist who "helped shape the digital era."  He created the C programming language and, with long-time colleague Ken Thompson, the Unix operating system. Ritchie and Thompson received the Turing Award from the ACM in 1983, the Hamming Medal from the IEEE in 1990 and the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton in 1999. Ritchie was the head of Lucent Technologies System Software Research Department when he retired in 2007. He was the 'R' in K&R C and commonly known by his username dmr.

Motherboard

Douglas Carl Engelbart

Douglas Carl Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineerand inventor, and an early computer and Internet pioneer. He is best known for his work on the challenges of human–computer interaction, particularly while at his Augmentation Research Center Lab in SRI International, resulting in the invention of the computer mouse,and the development of hypertext, networked computers, and precursors tographical user interfaces.

Engelbart was a committed, vocal proponent of the development and use of computers andcomputer networks to help cope with the world’s increasingly urgent and complex problems.^[8] Engelbart embedded a set of organizing principles in his lab, which he termed "bootstrapping strategy". He designed the strategy to accelerate the rate of innovation of his lab.