Friday, December 30, 2016

Amazon files patent for flying warehouse


Amazon has filed a patent for massive flying warehouses equipped with fleets of drones that deliver goods to key locations.
Carried by an airship, the warehouses would visit places Amazon expects demand for certain goods to boom.

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Gadget Ogling: Heightened Hearing, Toasty Toes, and Glass Speakers


Welcome to another edition of Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, the column that breaks down the latest in gadget announcements to determine if they'd be naughty or nice additions to your stocking.

Friday, December 23, 2016

Samsung May Unleash a Beast


Hot off the rumor mill on Wednesday is news of a new feature Samsung may include in its upcoming Galaxy S8. It's dubbed "Beast Mode," and that's just about all that is known about it so far.
Spotted in an EU trademark application, Beast Mode would apply to smartphones, mobile phones and application software for smartphones, noted Galaxy Club, a Netherlands-based blog.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Waymo Offers Glimpse of Autonomous Chrysler Minivans


Wayno, the standalone venture that emerged from Google's self-driving car project, on Monday unveiled a fleet of 100 Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans with the latest high-tech sensors, telematics, and other gear designed for fully autonomous operation.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Yahoo Suffers Major Data Breach Deja Vu


Yahoo on Wednesday revealed that Net bandits stole data associated with 1 billion of its user accounts -- one of the largest data breaches in Internet history.
The theft, which occurred in August 2013, is distinct from the theft disclosed earlier this fall, in which 500 million accounts were compromised, Yahoo CISO Bob Lord explained.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Apple AirPods Finally Good to Go


Apple's new wireless AirPods are finally available.
The company on Tuesday began taking orders for AirPods at its online store, and said it would start delivering the US$159 earphones to customers, Apple Stores, resellers and carriers next week.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Responsive Web Design – Ideas, Technology, and Examples

Responsive Web Design – Ideas, Technology, and Examples

Monday, December 12, 2016

Microsoft and Intel's Project Evo Ups the PC Game


Microsoft and Intel on Wednesday announced Project Evo, their highly anticipated collaboration to create the next generation of personal computers. The project aims to expand on new advances in artificial intelligence, mixed reality, advanced security and gaming,
Terry Myerson, executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group at Microsoft, unveiled some of Project Evo's ambitious plans at the Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) event in Shenzhen, China.

Friday, December 9, 2016

Microsoft, Qualcomm Tuck Windows 10 Into ARM Devices


Microsoft on Wednesday announced the compatibility of Windows 10 and native Windows apps with ARM-based processors, including Qualcomm's Snapdragon, which currently powers a large percentage of Android devices.
One of the highlights at this year's Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) event in Shenzhen, China, the new partnership will make it possible for Windows applications, peripherals and enterprise solutions to run on new mobile, power efficient and always-connected cellular PCs.

Monday, December 5, 2016

Apple Drone Fleet to Gather Maps Data


Apple has assembled a group of robotics and data-collection experts who will use unmanned aerial vehicles -- that is, drones -- to obtain data for updates to its Maps app, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Apple, Google and others in the cartography space currently collect a lot of their data using motor vehicles equipped with high-tech gear.
"That's a very expensive and time-consuming process," said Sam Abuelsamid, a senior research analyst at Navigant Research.

Friday, December 2, 2016

Mistakes and Solutions for Converting More Site Visitors to Sales and Leads


From content-based sites to SAAS and ecommerce, Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) can reduce marketing costs and improve your site’s performance.
CRO that’s poorly executed not only wastes money and time; it might even prove very harmful for your business. Optimization and testing mistakes happen more often than you would think – and can prove to be really expensive.

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Why customers run away from you?


There will always be one reason or the other why customers will run away from you. Either as a prospective or an existing customer, there will always be a reason.
However, it is very good for you and your business to try as much as possible to limit those things that will make customers run away from you.

Monday, November 28, 2016

$5 PoisonTap Tool Easily Breaks Into Locked PCs


Proving once again that you can do a lot of damage with a little investment and a lot of ingenuity, security researcher Samy Kamkar recently managed to take down a locked, password-protected computer armed with only a US$5 Raspberry Pi.
The low-tech cookie-siphoning intrusion is one of Kamkar's simplest hacks ever. He previously has unlocked car doors, garages, wireless remote cameras and other devices, with MacGyver-like precision.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

One of the Best New VR Things: Buying a Car


I had a fascinating experience last week. I got to see and experience the new Jaguar I-Pace, the company's electric answer to the as-yet-unannounced Tesla Y SUV, long before I'll actually get to see the prototype. I didn't just get to see the car -- I got to understand intimately why the car was created and what went into its design. I got to experience aspects of the vehicle viscerally, without actually getting into it.
My experience was possible due to an alliance between Dell, HTC and Jaguar. It dovetails with a project that Nvidia and Audi have undertaken to showcase cars in dealerships without the dealerships actually having to floor the car. It opens the door, ironically, to an even more localized experience than Tesla has with its store front dealerships.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Friend Finder Data Breach Exposes 400M Swingers


Hackers have stolen information of more than 400 million users of Friend Finder Networks, which runs several adult dating and pornography websites, LeakedSource reported earlier this week.
This is Friend Finders' second breach in two years. Last year, hackers accessed 4 million accounts, exposing information on users' sexual preferences and extramarital affairs.

Friday, November 18, 2016

GoPro's Drone Initiative Crashes With Karma Recall


GoPro's ambitious plans to be a player in the fledgling drone market crashed last week when it had to announce a product recall due to Karma UAV units falling from the sky.
The company needed to resolve a performance issue related to loss of power during operation, it said. It indicated it would resume shipment of Karma at some point, but didn't suggest when.
The Karma recall likely will have a significant financial impact on GoPro.
"With the amount of competition in the consumer drone space, it is imperative to satisfy demand, or that demand will shift to another product," said Michael Blades, a senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
"The longer Karma is sidelined, the less chance it has of grabbing significant market share," he told TechNewsWorld.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Google Clamps Down on Sneaky Malicious Sites


Sites that repeatedly violate Google's safe browsing policies will be classified as repeat offenders, the company said last week.
A small number of websites take corrective actions after Google displays alerts on their landing pages warning visitors that they're harmful. However, they typically revert to violating the policies after Google goes through the process of verifying that they're safe and removes the warnings.
Google verification procedures may launch automatically, or webmasters can request verification through Google's Search Console.
Webmasters of sites classified as repeat offenders won't be able to request additional reviews through the Search Console for a period 30 days under the new rules, which went into effect last week.
Google's warnings will appear on those sites during the 30-day period.
Google will notify webmasters of sites established as repeat offenders with an email sent to their registered Search Console email address.
Sites that host malware or malicious links after having been hacked will be exempted from the new policy.

Monday, November 14, 2016

HTC Vive goes wireless with expensive VR add-on



Given the massive investment in VR, it was only a matter of time before someone figured out how to get rid of one of its biggest limitations — the tethering cord. Whether you’re using an HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, or one of their lesser-known competitors, they all rely on a cable to relay high-resolution video, and sometimes other information, in real time. Startup TPCAST is changing that, with a $220 wireless accessory that will work with the HTC Vive when it ships early next year

Friday, November 11, 2016

This NASA astronaut voted from space


(CNN) From infinity and beyond, he found a way to vote.
Shane Kimbrough, a NASA astronaut currently living on board the International Space Station, filed his ballot in Tuesday's presidential election, according to a Tumblr post by NASA.
NASA told Yahoo News that Kimbrough filed his ballot in the 2016 election from the space station sometime over the past few days.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Facebook Messenger boss admits bots are a work in progress


Facebook has admitted that until now its Messenger chat bots have been somewhat rudimentary.
The company, which launched chat bots for Messenger back in April, purposefully prevented users from discovering businesses within the app because the technology wasn’t ready, a top executive has said.
“The first websites were really bad, the first apps were terrible. And the first bots weren’t great either,” David Marcus, vice president of Facebook Messenger, told the Telegraph at technology conference Web Summit.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

How Mark Zuckerberg lost $3 billion in a single day



Mark Zuckerberg had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

The Facebook founder suffered a $3 billion loss in the value of his Facebook stock on Thursday, one of the largest single-day losses ever for an individual investor.
Facebook shares plunged 5.5% after the chief financial officer warned investors that the company expects revenue growth from advertising to "come down meaningfully."

Monday, November 7, 2016

Virgin becomes last major UK 4G network


Virgin Media has launched its first 4G tariffs, the last major UK network to offer high-speed mobile internet plans.
The network said it would "zero-rate" both WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, so using the apps would not count towards customers' data usage.
However, the apps will stop working if customers use up their data allowance by other means, to stay within EU net neutrality rules.
Price comparison site Uswitch said 4G alone would no longer entice customers.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Bustling' web attack market closed down


A "bustling" marketplace that offered tools and services to mount massive web attacks has been shut by its owners.
The marketplace, on the Hack Forums website, was notorious for making it easy it launch attacks that knocked servers offline.
The section was "permanently shut down" because several attacks known to be co-ordinated via the forum caused web-wide disruption.
One regular victim of attacks arranged via Hack Forums welcomed the closure.

Security bug

"Unfortunately once again the few ruin it for the many," wrote Jesse LaBrocca, founder of Hack Forums, in a message explaining why the section was being closed.
"I'm personally disappointed that this is the path I have to take in order to protect the community," he wrote. "I loathe having to censor material that could be beneficial to members."
Mr LaBrocca hinted that the whole site could be shuttered if the web attack section was not closed, adding a reference to "recent events" that had prompted the decision.
The "recent events" are likely to be the attacks of 21 October that briefly took down popular websites such as Reddit, Twitter and Spotify as well as many others.
Analysis revealed that historic amounts of data had been used to cause the disruption.
An attack tool called Mirai is known to have launched the tidal waves of data that made sites hard to reach.
Source code for this tool was shared on Hack Forums shortly before the attacks took place.
Mirai helped malicious hackers launch what are known as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks by hijacking insecure webcams and digital video recorders and using them to send endless data requests to targets.
As well as the big attacks, the Hack Forums marketplace also gave people access to so-called "booter" and "stresser" services.
These low-cost DDoS services were often used by gamers keen to knock rivals offline or to inconvenience people that malicious hackers wanted to harass.
Security journalist Brian Krebs, whose site has been regularly hit by attacks carried out by cyber-thieves he has exposed, said he was glad the Hack Forums market had gone dark.
"The removal of booter services from Hack Forums is a gratifying development for me personally and professionally," he wrote.
"My site has been under near-constant attack from users of these booter services for several years now."

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Sentence in Japan's first Pokemon Go death criticized as too lenient



A Japanese man found guilty of killing a pensioner while driving and playing the Pokemon Go game on a mobile phone has been given a 14-month prison term, a sentence that was immediately criticized as being unduly lenient.
Keiji Goo, a 39-year-old farmer, was convicted on Monday of negligence resulting in the death of 72-year-old Sachiko Nakanishi and for causing extensive injuries to Kayoko Ikawa, 60, in the city of Tokushima on August 23.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Sony cuts annual profit outlook by 10%


Sony has cut its annual profit forecast by 10% due to one-off costs from the sale of its battery business.
The Japanese electronics giant will sell the unit to Murata Manufacturing and said it expected to book impairment charges of 33bn yen linked to the sale.
The firm now expects operating profits of 270bn yen ($2.6bn; £2.1bn) for the year ending March, 30bn yen lower than its previous forecast.
Sony is scheduled to release its first-half results on Tuesday.
The announcement was made after markets had closed in Tokyo. During the trading session its shares had closed 1.9% higher.

Friday, October 28, 2016

Google earnings crush targets to drive Alphabet profits higher



Google parent Alphabet surprised Silicon Valley with better than expected results for the last quarter, as advertiser spending on mobile ads catches up with users shift away from desktop computers to smartphones.
Google revenue grew by 21pc compared to the same quarter last year, reaching $18.3bn net revenue compared to analyst expectations of $18bn.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Movidius brings its computer vision tech to the world’s largest security camera maker


Soon your security camera will be able to tell whether it’s the mailman at the door or a thief.
Computer vision is opening up the capabilities of video surveillance technologies that give sensors the ability to understand what they are looking at in the world around them.
Today, Movidius announced an expansive deal with Hikvision, the world’s leading video surveillance company, to begin bringing its low-power Myriad 2 visual processing units into the company’s cameras. Soon those security cameras can begin actively monitoring the spaces they are set up in with all of that analysis happening in real-time on-device.

WhatsApp video calls return to the beta app


We've been waiting for WhatsApp video calls for a while now, and it looks like the feature could finally be getting close. There have been reports this week that video calls have returned to the beta of the WhatsApp app. The feature first appeared in the beta back in May, but was yanked not long after for reasons unknown. The feature's been spotted in the beta versions of WhatsApp for Android, iOS, and for Windows Phone, but unfortunately, to actually make a video call, both parties must have the beta app installed. Hopefully this means video calling will be available sooner rather than later for WhatApps's billion-plus users. The only confusion is why it's taken the company so long.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

In a historic moment for AI, computers gain ability to generalize learning between activities


With the many meteoric victories artificial intelligence has scored in the recent past, it’s easy to forget the story line has basically been one of evolution rather than revolution. The deep neural networks upon which the likes of Apple’s Siri and Google Now are built have been in existence since at least the late 1950s, when the Frank Rosenblatt pioneered a multi-layer neural network called the perceptron and suggested additional layers with mathematical notations.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

The best ways to sell your big data projects to the CEO

 

CEOs work an average of 57.8 hours per week. They spend over half of this time in meetings, on the phone, on conference calls, or attending public events or business meals—and this doesn't even account for travel. Meanwhile, the business cranks on and trends continue to emerge in markets that demand immediate strategic attention.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Microsoft AI Beats Humans at Speech Recognition


Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence and Research Unit earlier this week reported that its speech recognition technology had surpassed the performance of human transcriptionists.
The team last month published a paper describing its system's accuracy, said to be superior to that of IBM's famed Watson artificial intelligence.

The error rate for humans on the widely used NIST 2000 test set is 5.9 percent for the Switchboard portion of the data, and 11.3 percent for the CallHome portion, the team said.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

8GB of RAM? It could be ready in time for the Samsung Galaxy S8




Samsung announced today that it is introducing a new generation of  dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) packages capable of 8GB LPDDR4 DRAM for mobile devices - both a first of its kind and a potential feature of the Samsung Galaxy S8, the company's next flagship smartphone.
What does that mean? According to Samsung, next-generation mobile devices outfitted with such a chip are better suited for tasks such as dual-camera use, 4K UHD playback, and virtual reality. (Daydream, anyone?)
Samsung also adds that its new RAM package can deliver could grant tablets the type of capacity to handle multiple operating systems via virtual machine operation - a feature oft considered exclusive to dedicated PCs.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Big Data and Analytics: Creating New Value


The massive amount of data available from connected devices creates an unprecedented opportunity for increased optimization of products and services -- and, consequently, revenue. The deep investment in big data gathering and analytics is fueled by an ability to create added value for companies based on actionable business insights, and to create added value for consumers by providing lifestyle benefits. While gathering and analyzing data comes at a substantial cost, the return can be great for businesses and impacts almost every facet of business operations. Targeted and Timely Marketing Big data's marketing promise is companies working together on analytics for tailored marketing capabilities that reach the right people at the right time.

Fake News Taints Facebook's Trending Topics

Facebook's Trending Topics section recently has carried a number of trending stories that were either "indisputably fake" or "profoundly inaccurate," The Washington Post reported this week. The news feed six weeks ago ran a false story claiming Fox News had fired anchor Megyn Kelly for being a closet liberal who supported Hillary Clinton. Facebook removed the story, apologized, and promised to do better. It appears that despite that commitment, the Trending Topics section is not yet problem free. Trending Tall Tales In an experiment conducted over several weeks following Facebook's promotion of the fake Megyn Kelly story, the Post recorded which topics were trending for it every day, on the hour, across four accounts.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Gadget Ogling: Google Embraces a Hardware Future

google-pixel-phone
Welcome to Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, the column that's taken just enough time away from pondering how many major email providers have built tools to let the government scan everyone's messages to pore over Google's latest hardware.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Portalys Services


Web Designing

We design to your imaginations. Our designs for websites and applications are unique in the industry. Our Web Designs are a mixture of Creative Skills and Technical expertise. We use latest technologies like CSS3, HTML5, jQuery, XML etc. to build websites. Our dedicated team of website designers produces optimum websites that load fast and are easy to use. A well designed website should have the best Graphic User Interface (GUI) and we keep this in mind while designing a website.

Graphic Designing

Graphic Design is a creative process most often involving a client and the designers. It is our firm believe, based on experience, that the client and the designers can, together, create awesome designs. While working on Graphics we follow artistic and professional concepts that focus on visual communication and presentation. We know how valuable and priceless your brand is. The graphic design of your website, logo, business card and advertising are what people see when they look at your business. And as it is often stated, The First impression is the last impression.

Portalys Profile

Portalys SARL is a Lebanese software company specialized in desktop and online solutions.

We have more than 15 years of experience in providing solutions to clients in Nigeria, China, UK, USA, Australia as well as Lebanese Governments, Municipalities and organizations.

A team of highly experienced developers, graphic designers, copywriters, testers and project managers ensure quality and timely delivery of your projects.