How DNSChanger Malware Works.

DNSChanger is malicious software (malware) that changes a user’s Domain Name System (DNS) settings, in order to divert traffic to unsolicited and potentially illegal sites.

Beginning in 2007, the cyber ring responsible for DNSChanger operated under the company name “Rove Digital” and used the malware to manipulate users’ Web activity by redirecting unsuspecting users to rogue DNS servers hosted in Estonia, New York, and Chicago. In some cases, the malware had the additional effect of preventing users’ anti-virus software and operating systems from updating, thereby exposing infected machines to even more malicious software.

FBI has since seized the rogue DNS servers and the botnet’s command-and-control (C&C) servers as part of “Operation Ghost Click” and the servers are now under their control. To assist victims affected by the DNSChanger, the FBI obtained a court order authorising the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) to deploy and maintain temporary legitimate DNS servers,

Tech Giants to use NAC-Tech test for hiring.

In a move to filter the 'quality' of engineering graduates hired,  software majors TCS , Infosys, Wipro, Accenture, Cognizant and HCL have agreed to use the NAC-Tech test or the Nasscom assessment for competence in technology test

According to ET Now, this test will serve as a pre-requisite for entry level hiring in the technology sector. Industry body Nasscom has been pushing for the adoption of this initiative. This has been done in light of the fact that huge retraining costs are incurred by the IT companies. 

Mobile radiation lowered September 1, 2012.

If you are worried by the radiation emitted by cellphone towers around you, there is some good news. From September 1 this year, India will lower the level to one-tenth of the prevailing standard - from 9.2 w/m2 (watt per square metre) to 0.92 w/m2. The decision follows a report of the inter-ministerial committee formed by the ministry of communications and information technology to study the hazards posed by EMF (electromagnetic field) radiation from base stations and mobile phones.

Dr R S Sharma, deputy director general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), who represented the health ministry on the committee, said the new norms will place India among the more radiation conscious countries. "India's current radiation exposure limit (9.2 watt/m2) for mobile towers is higher than countries like Russia (0.2 w/m2) and China (0.4 w/m2). In USA, Canada and Japan, however, the radiation exposure limit is much higher (12 w/m2)," he said.

Users can send Email via sms : Google

Gmail users can now send and receive their emails via their feature phones, thus doing away with the need of a smartphone or constant internet connectivity. However, this service will currently be available in Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya only but is likely to be launched in other regions later. It will help the search giant reach out to a larger audience in countries which do not have much mobile internet penetration.

Change the MAC Address of your NIC .

The following guide will show you how to correctly change your Network Card’s MAC Address using the Windows Registry. Below are several different methods to accomplishing this and I am sure that one will work for you. These methods can be used in both Windows Vista and Windows 7; I have not yet tested them in the Windows 8 environment.

Method One:

1. Access your network connection properties and select the configure option. 

2. Select the Advanced Tab and then select Network Address. From here you need change the Value to custom and enter your desired MAC Address. Remember that this can only be twelve numbers in length.

Download Microsoft Office 2013,Customer's preview for free

Microsoft  has unveiled the customer preview of the new Microsoft Office, optimised for the Windows 8 and touch-based devices like tablets. The next release features an intuitive design that works beautifully with touch, stylus, mouse or keyboard across new Windows devices, including tablets.

Microsoft Office 2013 responds to touch as naturally as it does to keyboard and mouse. Swipe your finger across the screen or pinch and zoom to read your documents and presentations. Author new content and access features with the touch of a finger. You can use a stylus to create content, take notes and access features. Handwrite email responses and convert them automatically to text. Use your stylus as a laser pointer when presenting.

Hack & Password Cracking with GPUs, Part III: Tune Your Attack

You've built the hardware, installed the software and cracked some passwords. Now find out how to fine-tune your attacks.

In the first two parts of this series, I explained what hardware to get and then described how to use the hashcat software suite to perform dictionary and brute-force attacks. If you have been following along, by this point, you should have had plenty of time to build your own password-cracking hardware and experiment with oclhashcat. As I mentioned in my last column, password cracking is a pretty dense subject. In this article, I finish the series by describing how to tune and refine your attacks further so they can be more effective.

Use More GPU Cycles

The first area where you can fine-tune your attacks is to put more or less load on your GPU. The -n option, when passed to oclhashcat, changes how much of your GPU will be used for an attack. The documentation says that this value is set to 80 by default; however, on my computer, it seemed like the default was set closer to 40. When I first ran a brute-force attack, the output told me I was using around 70–80% of my GPU. Once I added -n 80 to my oclhashcat command, I noticed I was using between 96–98% of my GPU and had added an extra 40,000 comparisons per second:

Hack & Password Cracking with GPUs, Part II: Get Cracking

Your hardware is ready. Now, let's load up some software and get cracking.

In Part I of this series, I explained how password cracking works in general terms and described my specific password-cracking hardware. In this article, I dig into the software side of things and describe how to put that hardware to use cracking passwords. I also discuss the two main types of attacks: dictionary and brute-force attacks. As I describe each attack, I also give specific examples of how I used the software to attack phpass, the hashing algorithm currently used for PHP-based software like WordPress.

For the purposes of this article, I created a sample WordPress blog on my server and created a few custom accounts—some with weak passwords and others with truly random passwords. Then, I went into the database for the site and pulled out the phpass password hashes for each account and put them into a file that looked like this:

Hack & Password Cracking with GPUs, Part I: the Setup

When the Bitcoin mining craze hit its peak, I felt the tug to join this new community and make some easy money. I wasn't drawn only by the money; the concepts behind Bitcoin mining intrigued me, in particular the new use of graphics processors (GPUs). With a moderately expensive video card, you could bring in enough money to pay off your initial investment and your electricity bill in a relatively short time.

Then Bitcoin tanked. That's okay though, because I hadn't gotten around to building my mining rig yet, and what's more, I found an even more interesting use for Bitcoin mining hardware: password cracking. Bitcoin mining and password cracking are quite similar operations, and a GPU can crack passwords much faster than a CPU or even a small cluster of CPUs. In this two-part article, I explain how to set up and use a password-cracking computer. In this first piece, I focus on the principles behind password cracking and the overall hardware setup. I'll cover the specific attacks and command-line examples in the following article.

Hide your entire Hard Drive.

What do you do when loads of data on your computer needs to be cleverly hidden away from inquisitive family members or office colleagues? Software such as folder lockers, encryption utilities and others do a decent job, but is a costly method and leaves traces. We will show you a simple trick with which you can hide your data easily from others. This trick is very simple works against casual snoopers, but will not prevent a skilled spy from finding it! To do it, all you need is a separate partition to store all the data you want to hide.

Step 1: Create an additional partition and format it. Windows Vista and 7 users can use the Shrink Space option from the Disk Management Utility to create a new volume without repartitioning the hard drive. Windows XP or

How to build Your Own File Server.

Build yourself a secure file server using any old computer with a couple of hard drives and store all your data centrally.

Every office that generates large amounts of data needs a file server so that users can access it all from a central location. The sole purpose of a file server is to provide the users on the network with files. Additionally, file servers can also provide data to other users over the internet via a website or FTP service. A file server is nothing but a simple computer with ample storage space, running a server operating system and configured with data backup or synchronizing software. The hardware is usually designed using special purpose processors, RAM, motherboards, hard drives, power supply units and cabinets so the server is able to be powered on 24x7. So they have to be rugged and efficiently cooled too.

Remote Access from a Smartphone

Using this simple trick you can access your PC at home or office from anywhere in the world via an Android phone or tablet, iPhone or iPad.

There may have been several occasions when you were at home, on holiday or travelling and urgently needed to access your office PC for some important documents. Or you may have kept some files to be downloaded on our home PC and now you need to shut down the PC from a remote area (office or outstation). What do you do? How do you gain access to your PC? You have the option of asking a colleague or family member to help you out, but what if you have some confidential data on your PC and would not want to compromise on privacy? Well, there is a way to gain access to your PC via the Internet using the Remote Desktop Protocol or RDP. But this involves setting up a live IP address, which is visible all around the world. You can possibly do this for home, but what  about your office PC, which is behind a firewall or a proxy server? You would not be able to gain access as easily.

Is Autorun.inf a virus ... Learn here.

 The word "virus" itself poses a scare in our minds. Whenever we hear this word we suddenly get panicked, Oh my God!!! My PC has a VIRUS!!! If don't react like this, then either you are too smart or you are a complete dumb. But nevertheless after reading this article you will not be that dumb. Today we are discussing on AutoRun.inf which often is called as a virus. Well, that is not exactly true. Lets us learn why is not true.

What is AutoRun.inf?

AutoRun.inf is a simple text file containing a small script which is used to auto-execute or auto-play, as we normally say, a CD/DVD containing a movie or a software or ISO.

Micromax X259 solar phone launches in India at Rs. 2,499.

Micromax Informatics Limited has launched a 'green phone' X259.Priced at Rs. 2,499, X259 comes with a built-in solar panel and allows users to charge their phones using solar energy. According to the company, the phone automatically gets charged through solar power on exposure to sunlight.


The smartphone is especially targeted at rural areas where power cuts are high.

Back in April, Micromax had revealed its plans of launching a phone with built-in solar charger. The Micromax X259 is a dual-SIM phone, featuring a 2.4-inch display with 240x320p resolution and 118mm X 50mm X 16mm dimensions. It has a 0.3MP camera. Micromax's X259 multimedia features include audio and video player and FM radio with recording. The device supports GPRS and Bluetooth. The X259 comes with a 1,000mAh battery, which is rated to deliver 4.5 hours of talktime and 200 hours of standby time.

BlackBerry 10 OS to bring video chat feature within BBM.

Beleaguered Research in Motion (RIM) has high hopes of its BlackBerry 10 OS, which expected to release in the first quarter of 2013. BlackBerry 10-based smartphones are likely to be boosted from by an improved BlackBerry Messenger social networking tool, which will come with video chat capabilities – a feature that BlackBerry users have been missing out on for long.

At RIM's annual shareholders conference, CEO Thorsten Heins said BlackBerry 10 will come with various new and improved features, such as video chat within BBM. Speaking about the upgraded messenger service, Heins added, “It's still the major used social network in Asia Pac, which will upgrade that experience to a whole new social networking experience based on BBM.”

Do a security check-up for all your passwords.

You probably don't need to on account of last week's password breach. But this incident —following earlier security failures at LinkedIn and eHarmony— should be all the motivation you need to give your passwords a check-up.

The breach did not involve Yahoo's core consumer operations, such as its eponymous Web-mail service or its Flickr photo-sharing site. Instead, it affected Yahoo Voices, a library of articles, photos and videos cranked out by outside contributors that went by the name Associated Content until Yahoo bought that site for a reported $90 million in May of 2010.

In an apologetic post on its corporate blog, Yahoo explained that hackers got access to "an older file containing approximately 450,000 email addresses and passwords" predating that acquisition.

Back then, Associated Content let users sign up with logins from other sites, including Yahoo and also Google's Gmail and Microsoft's Hotmail. That company failed to take the basic step of encrypting this account database.

400,000+ login credentials dumped online : Yahoo! Voice hacked

Hackers belonging to a hacking collective called D33Ds Company have retrieved and dumped login details of more than 400,000+ user accounts in plain text. A post on Trustedsec stated, "The passwords contained a wide variety of email addresses including those from yahoo.com,gmail.com, aol.com, and much more." Interestingly, the post adds that the affected website is a sub-domain of yahoo.com, and that the compromised server may be Yahoo! Voice a.k.a Associated Content. "The affected website was only named as a sub-domain of yahoo.com. However, digging through and searching for the hostname, the attacker forgot to remove the hostname “dbb1.ac.bf1.yahoo.com” (credit to Mubix for the hostname find)," Trustedsec wrote. The most worrisome bit here is that the passwords that were stored were completely unencrypted, and as you're reading this, 400,000+ login credentials (comprising usernames and passwords) have been exposed.

It has been brought to light that the hackers used a union-based SQL injection attack to get away with the information stored in the database. The post on Trustedsec also put forth a glimpse of what the data leaked online looks like (can be seen in the image below). 

Facebook to launch a Job Board.

Facebook are to launch a job board aimed at businesses wanting to attract staff from the 950 million potential candidates on Facebook.

Facebook has been used by businesses vetting new employees for some time, and many prospective employees have regretted posting those out-of-it party pictures when trying to impress a new boss...

Use Profile Pictures And Pages-Events As Emoticons In Facebook

Facebook chat is the most commonly used today to chat as he has excluded all other players in the market that claim to be a social network. The platform with over 800 million users a lot of very interesting emoticons that are used on a regular basis. And one of the new feature is that when you are chatting with any of our friends at Facebook and if we want to use the profile picture of any Facebook (including non-friend), page or event such as emoticons, you can do so by following these simple instructions :

1.Connect to the URL for the profile, event or page that you want to insert as smileys. Note that, in the address bar of your browser, you will see an ID or the nickname / name  related to profile / page : it will be what we will need to enter the emoticons.

Semantic Search using knowledge graph : Google

Meet the Knowledge Graph, a brand new information seeking technology that will enrich and forever change the act of “searching”. Google has designed the Knowledge Graph in such a way, that it almost reminds us of artificial intelligence. The Graph will be able to “understand” the relationship between the words submitted into the search query and will not simply view them as a random line of characters.

Google has rolled out a minor update to its Search by Image feature, which will enable the search engine to better detect image subjects and provide users with new and more related content. Google had launched the Search by Image feature last year. 

“I’m Watch”.. the smartwatch powered by Android.

The operating system Android, apart from mobiles and tablets, now can be found in watches! The Italian company Blue Sky announced a new watch called I’m Watch. The name,we speculate that is selected to remind the users that they can use the device to watch the time, among all the other functions it offers. In fact,  I'm Watch is an Android smartwatch which acts both as a connected display for your smartphone and also as a wristwatch , allowing the user, after linking it with the smartphone, to make calls but also to install applications!

Install Ubuntu using a bootable pendrive.

If you want to install   Ubuntu , here I give a brief and 100% tested tutorial on how to create a Ubuntu Bootable USB Pendrive to install Ubuntu.

Get a Backup Copy of your Web Browser's data.

In normal web browser we store lots of data in browser. It might be password, some form details and even bookmarking few websites! All these are meant to be for future reference. At some time, maintaining them is not so easy!

Even though technology has grown, maintaining data has been a tedious task! However browsers like Chrome and Firefox have started making it possible through sync feature.

The simplest way to backup (even restore) all your web browsers is use FavBackup.

It is easy and simple to use. This as a application offers backup options for a wide range of browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari and Flock.

Mozilla to Launch its own OS for Cellphones.

Mozilla ,  best known for its Firefox web browser, announced at the start of July that it would be releasing its own mobile device operating system, Firefox OS, on smartphones in Brazil beginning in “early 2013.”

At the time, Mozilla explained it would be partnering with a variety of device and chip manufacturing companies to produce smartphones running Firefox OS and that the entire project was an evolution of Mozilla’s stated “goal of building a complete, standalone operating system for the open web,” announced back in July 2011 under the name “Boot to Gecko,” a reference to Mozilla’s Gecko layout engine, which powers the Firefox browser.

Now Mozilla has elaborated on its plans even further, with Andreas Gal, Director of Research for Mozilla, explaining to TPM just why the company thinks its completely open source, entirely web-based and cheap mobile Firefox OS devices will succeed and win over customers.

Even you can cheat the Nasty Keylogger : A Simple Trick.

Keylogger also known as Keystroke logger are nasty little spyware tools which records your keystrokes without being known to you in real time. Keyloggers are normally IT organizations to troubleshoot technical problems with computers and business networks. But some people use it to steal your passwords, credit card numbers, etc. which is a huge security issue. Detecting a keylogger on a computer is difficult. If you suspect that your computer have a keylogger then you can scan it with a anti-keylogger tool such Super Anti Spyware or Malwarebytes. But what when you are on your friend's computer or in a cyber. You never know what that computer would have and you can't really scan that computer with any anti spyware without their permission unless you do it when no one is watching you :p but I suppose that won't be an ethical idea though. So what will you do now? Here we give a simple trick to cheat those extra smart keyloggers.

Root your Samsung Galaxy S III .

If you have bought yourself a Samsung Galaxy S III and now want to root it, read ahead and this quick How to will help you gain root access to your new phone. Here is a list of what you require.

Samsung Kies for the drivers from Samsung's site

 Odin for flashing the root files

The root file 

Let’s get started. 

Turn your Windows 7 Laptop into a Wi-Fi Hotspot.

Sharing your Windows internet connection of your computer has been a tough job.But if you are using Windows 7 then this problem is solved .Thanks to a new Windows 7 feature called Virtual Wi-Fi. The idea is a simple one: the operating system can virtualize any compatible wireless adapter, to make it appear as though you've as many additional adapters as you need.

Once this Virtual Wi-Fi (Learn More about Virtual Wi-Fi ) is set up , then any Wi-Fi compatible device that can connect to you - another desktop, laptop, or an iPod Touch, say - will immediately be able to get online, by sharing your internet connection through a duplicate of your wireless adapter.

Windows 8 to be released in October 2012.

Microsoft has announced that it is all set to release its new operating system, Windows 8, towards October end. Release of  Windows 8 is part of the software giant’s effort to ramp up its operating system for a variety of devices. The announcement came at Microsoft’s annual Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto.

Communications manager Brandon LeBlanc said the company “confirmed that Windows 8 is on track to release to manufacturing (RTM) the first week of August” and “will reach general availability by the end of October.” Windows 8 will be available in 109 languages across 231 markets worldwide, he noted.

New App for Facebook : App Center

Facebook has launched its application centre -- App Center -- in India and six other countries, a move that will help users to find games, music services and media content easily. 

The social networking giant had launched the App Center in the US last month. 

“The App Center is now available to 100% of users in the United States, Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. People in these countries will see the App Center bookmark in the left navigation menu on Facebook.com and in our iOS and Android apps” – says Drew Hoskins in his blog."App Center makes it easier for people around the world to discover the best apps and games for them, wherever they are," Hoskins added. 

Windows is going to launch Server 2012 in August.

Closely following a similar announcement for its Windows 8 operating system, Microsoft also said it will RTM (release to manufacturers) its next-generation operating system for the server, Windows Server 2012, next month.

The company made both RTM release announcements at its Worldwide Partner Conference, being held this week in Toronto.

DNSChanger server switch-off today could mess up your internet.

The FBI will switch off servers used by cyber criminals today, potentially leaving thousands of people unable to access websites.

It's all to do with domain name servers (DNS) and an ongoing battle between the FBI and a gang of Estonian cyber thieves who spread malware named DNSChanger.

At its peak, DNSChanger found its way on to around 4 million computers around the world and switched settings to make each computer look up domain names on the gang servers.

How to run Linux command in Browser.

Linux commands are very similar to Unix one as Linux is a clone of Unix, But if you want to run the Linux commands in Windows or Mac or any other OS Apart from the Linux then you have to either install the Linux in your system or use some 3rd party tools which are sometime unsafe to use.So if you just want to learn Linux command without facing any installation of Linux then here is something Interesting for You. Yes learn the Linux commands and run it into your browser.

First of all here see the Linux terminal ( a real one ).

How to Remove Facebook Timeline.

Facebook Has updated almost every profile as time line and people gives the positive as well as negative response too. Many of people wanted to remove that and want their old profile of Facebook but they can’t cause Facebook does’t give this option. So there is a very nice tweak i found that is very helpful for those who want to remove their Facebook timeline. In this post i am going to tell you the steps and tool needed to remove that shit from your Facebook Profile.

There is a extension available for the Firefox and Chrome (coming soon for safari) called “timelineremove” extension. Just install it and activate it and enjoy your old profile. Here i am describing you the steps with a image for better navigation.

How to create Google Chrome Extension for your website.

Since the launch of Google Chrome, it’s been chaos in and around the web. Why Chrome is so popular? It’s simplicity and easy to use and users experience is so easy and no wonder to mention, millions of extensions. So, do you want to create one for your blog for free? Well as a developer its not available. But if you can show case it to your friends and publicize about the same. To publish your chrome extension you will need a developer license which will cost $5 per extension which I learn at coupon site of havahart wireless coupons and oakley signs discounts.. But always you can promote it for free with the help of Dropbox. Only thing is it won’t be published.

So lets get started: In this tutorial I will teach you the most easiest way to create Google Chrome Extension using JSON script. 

Install Android in Computer .

Android Operating System is just becomes the Tradition in the Current Software era, Its due to its open source availability and Features that it Provides.Probably All Major Mobile Companies are Making the Android Based Phones. Now here the question comes in my Mind that “can i install android in computer” or “is this possible to run android in computer” without using any emulator and various programming tools. Here i found a simple trick to install android in computer. As i said above android is open source, means you can do various tweaks in that Under the GPL license and Release it to public. So here is some Geeks of android who tweak it and made it for the Computer, Yes an Android OS for computer. You can download it and use it for free. So Before going to install android in computer, i want to say that there is two ways to do it.

• Burn it on USB and Boot it in Computer.
• Use Virtual Machine to Run it within the PC.

So for Demonstration Purpose i am using the second method. In this tutorial i am using the Vmware 8As my virtual machine software, You can use other too as the task of all the Virtual machine software is same. So First of all download the Android Package from the Link Given below (i Hope you have the Vmware, if not then Google it.):

Customize your Desktop..Install Jarvis Theme In Windows 7

Many of us get bored with a look and feel of the Windows 7 as it have the old start button and else part with a little customization and this frustration result the customization. There is many themes we do use either which is officially developed by the Microsoft or by the third party organisation. But the main factor is to feel something new and that we do by using third party tool. Well here I got something very interesting and a it is great gift for the Iron Man lovers. Yes in Iron Man as we know Tony Stark has it’s superb fully fledge computer known as “Jarvis” and that Have really very cool interface. Anyway we are not going to make this interface at all but we can do a little to feel something like “Jarvis” interface.

Here see my desktop after customization.

Well Deviant Art has the monopoly in the customization of the look and feel of almost all the operating system and including windows, Linux and Mac.

Former Nokia employees to launch MeeGo smartphone

A Finnish startup, formed by former Nokia employees and using technology ditched by the handset maker, plans to launch its first smartphone later this year, entering an already crowded market. 

The startup, Jolla, will use MeeGo software, created by Nokia and Intel in 2010-2011, for its products. 

Japan Restarts Nuclear Reactor as Report Lays Blame for Fukushima.

After a two-month hiatus from nuclear power, Japan restarted one of its 50 functional reactors on Thursday just as a report on the Fukushima disaster strongly criticized nearly everyone involved.

The reactor restart, at the Ohi plant in Fukui prefecture in the western part of Japan, comes after widespread protests over nuclear plants' safety. But Japanese officials say they need at least some nuclear power in order to stave off blackouts over the summer, and insist that the Ohi reactor has passed substantial safety tests before the restart.

The new report, from an independent commission of experts, though, will do little to assuage fears surrounding the continued use of nuclear energy. In panel chairman Kiyoshi Kurokawa's preface to the report, he calls the Fukushima crisis a "profoundly manmade disaster -- that could and should have been foreseen and prevented." Kurokawa's message is a striking look inward:

Karnataka Becomes The First State To Adopt The Intel Future Scientist Program.

Intel India today announced the launch of Intel Future Scientist program in the state of Karnataka, aimed at enabling the next generation of innovators to have a solid   ground in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The Program is designed to help science teachers present their curricula from an inquiry-based perspective to help foster a spirit of research and innovation among their students.

Through this Program, Intel India aims to reach out to seven districts across Karnataka training 500 teachers and 5000 students. Four specially designed Mobile Science Vans are being sent on a Vigyan Yatra to reach out to all Science Centers through colleges of education in the state.

Yahoo! India Sets Up Grid Computing Lab At IIT Madras.

Yahoo! India R&D in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT- Madras) today announced the launch of Yahoo! Grid Computing Lab at the IIT- Madras campus. This cluster of high-end servers at the lab will allow researchers to access web-scale data and conduct research on big data and cloud computing systems.

Cloud services empower companies to dramatically improve agility and innovation at web scale. As more companies are moving their services to the cloud, it has emerged as an important area of research to explore new approaches in the field.

Wireless Solar Charging Made Easier.

Anybody with a smartphone dreads the low-battery warning that initiates a mad search for an electrical outlet. But engineers at Princeton University are developing technology that could lead to widespread wireless charging stations for all our electronics. Along the way, this technology could also help build better sensors to monitor the health of both humans and buildings.

Wireless chargers operate through inductive or capacitive power transfer. An alternating current creates an oscillating electrical or magnetic field, which induces power at the receiver. “We’re looking for an opportunity to create ubiquitous charging stations,” says Naveen Verma, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Princeton.

Verma and his team presented the work last week at the IEEE Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits, in Hawaii. The research focuses on using the same material—thin films of amorphous silicon—both to make solar cells and, for the first time, to build circuits to handle the electricity the solar cells produce. The combined solar cells and circuitry could be made on large sheets of plastic that could be molded or wrapped around everyday objects, from buildings to patio umbrellas. Amorphous silicon has its limitations.

Indian origin scientist unlocks some key secrets of photosynthesis.

K. V. Lakshmi, Rensselaer assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology and scientific lead at the Baruch ’60 Center and her team have provided important information on a specific portion of the photosynthetic process called photosystem II. 


 The paper is  published  in the recent edition of the Royal Society of Chemistry journal, Energy & Environmental Science ("The structure and activation of substrate water molecules in the S2 state of photosystem II studied by hyperfine sublevel correlation spectroscopy"),

It has been a major challenge to directly observe the individual steps of the solar water-splitting reaction that takes place in photosystem II, Lakshmi said. 

This finding provides new foundational research into how plants efficiently convert energy from the sun and could help inform the development of a new, highly robust, and more efficient generation of solar-energy technologies. 

Start-up attempts to convert Stephen Hawking's brainwaves into speech.

An American scientist will be unveiling details of work on the brain patterns of Stephen Hawking, which he claims could help safeguard the physicist's ability to communicate.Prof Philip Low said he eventually hoped to allow the 70-year-old to "write" words with his brain as an alternative to his current speech system which interprets cheek muscle movements.Low said the innovation would avert the risk of locked-in syndrome.Intel is working on an alternative.

Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 1963. In the 1980s he was able to use slight thumb movements to move a computer cursor to write sentences.His condition later worsened and he had to switch to a system which detects movements in his right cheek through an infrared sensor attached to his glasses which measures changes in light.

Since the nerves in his face continue to deteriorate his rate of speech has slowed to about one word a minute prompting him to look for an alternative.The fear is that Prof Hawking could ultimately lose the ability to communicate by body movement, leaving his brain effectively "locked in" his body.