The golden age of TECHNOLOGY !!!

In an article in 2006, tech columnist John C Dvorak asked: "How many people realise that we're living in a golden age, the Golden Age of the Internet? It won't last; golden ages never do. Some of it will remain, but there's evidence that much of it is headed for the trash heap of history." That's an overstatement of course. All golden ages (if that is indeed what we are living through) have their dark sides. In the internet's case, that dark side means spam, phishing scams, viruses , and a lot more.

It has been quite sometime that I kept looking for the best resources to follow , in terms of the daily news . To start with , I subscribed for a newspaper "The times of India " - the Ranchi edition . Bored of reading about Jharkhand politics (a fair share of the first page contents ) I went for "Business line" next (by the  Hindu !! ) , but then it had too much of business news :P , Next in line was The google news , but finally i think i  have settled with the google-chrome add on for "times of India" . Trust me its a good one . Just open your google chrome (note that an an updated version of chrome might be better) , go to chrome web store -> news and weather -> news reporting . Now try finding the times of india add-on and add it to chrome . The next time you open your google chrome go to apps ("apps" and "most visited appear at the bottom ") and launch TOI . You will find a smooth interface to all kinds of news . Hope you like it too , I definately do :) .

Coming back to the tech world lets first look at something positive, Windows-8 seems to be grabbing a lot of attention . Microsoft looks to have added quite a bit to it. Here is a list of  changes we will see :

1. It will replace the Start Menu with a Start Screen - with tiles that contain shortcuts to applications - similar to the Metro interface seen on its Windows Phone 7 OS.


2. To allow for better security, Windows 8 utilizes a new system that incorporates pictures and gestures in user authentication. It's a simple concept: Users will first need to select an image on which to perform a gesture. The gestures could be tapping on something in the picture, encircling something, or drawing a line between two points.
   A "password" would then comprise any combination of these three.


3. With Windows 8, you will even be able to take the entire operating system with you. Enterprise versions of the OS will be capable of running off a flash drive or portable harddrive .


4. A "refresh and reset" option  resets your installation to its initial state. It deletes all your personal data and software, leaving a fresh Windows 8 computer that you can even hand over to someone else .


5. Secure Boot, which will ensure that the system being booted has not been tampered by malware. Another anti-malware feature in Windows 8 is a technology it borrows from Internet Explorer (IE), called SmartScreen. SmartScreen checks URLs entered in the browser against a database of malware links, and in IE9 this feature was extended to downloaded files.


6. Conflicts while copying are also managed better. If while copying from one folder to another Windows detects multiple conflicting files, it can show you a detailed list of files in both the folders and the differences between them, along with the option to skip files that are exactly the same on both sides.


7. Lastly , it is trying to redesign its iconic windows logo  . The new windows logo will not be much different though . It has a slightly angled blue block with a thin white cross in the middle, making it look like a window instead of the 4-colour wavy flag in the past . This is the new logo , below is a history of changes in its logo .

                              

For full coverage , you can visit this page . This is where i learnt some of  these .

Unfortunately , Google  seems to get into news for all the wrong reasons these days . For long  it has drawn scrutiny and pressure from consumer advocates for the way it handles personal information. To add to this there has been a rift between twitter and goolge  with twitter claiming that google is trying to use data from google+ and twitter to display in its search results and i completely agree that its not a good user experience . I have tried using g+ these days ( just to find how google expected people to move towards it  ), only to find a number of people in my circles in g+ added to my Gtalk list  , which i found really bad !!! Recently , Apple  has  claimed that "Google bypassed privacy settings of  safari ,the most widely used browser on mobile devices and the default browser on iPhones and Mac laptops .

We are only in the second month of 2012 , but there has already been reports saying that 2012 could turn out to be the  Year of war against cyber crime . Check the reports yourself . With all these i sometimes wonder  -

 Will the technology in near future be radically

      different ???  What will be its new look ???

To end with , I cant stop myself from mentioning this . It may sound like another Rajinikanth joke, but if reports are to be believed , a new website dedicated to the superstar runs 'without an internet connection !!! You can find the "times of india" report here .You may classify it as technology  or a piece of comedy , but I tried it , probably because i love rajnikanth jokes too  , and trust me it worked :D. Try it yourself . I bet you will at least have something to make fun of :P if not more .