#64 How to Convert a USB Charger Into a Linux Computer

In this article, I’m going to tell you about how to make a little Linux computer from a USB charger. I absolutely loved Chris Robinson’s article on NODE and I instantly thought of sharing this DIY with our Powertechknowledge readers. It’s a truly portable Linux computer, and I came across it yesterday when I was reading some Linux news on the web. 

Read more articles about Linux computer http://powertechknowledge.blogspot.in/2015/09/60-worlds-first-9-computer-chip-is.html

In the past, Chris has made projects like handheld Raspberry Pi powered Linux terminal and this Linux computer project is even smaller. This Linux computer fits inside a modified USB charger plug and runs on a very small power.

This design uses ODROID-W development board, which is Raspberry Pi and Raspbian compatible. You’ll also be needing a USB charger with US, UK and EU attachments make it usable in all countries. Other materials include a WI-Fi adapter, a micro SD card and few other small things.

Assembling all these requirements isn’t much tough if you have a basic knowledge of soldering.

You just have to plug in the charger and stay in the WiFi range. Chris writes that you can use if for applications like running a personal file/media server, a TOR relay, a Bitcoin node, your personal VPN, a silent motion alarm with the RPi Camera, a pentesting tool, or simply a remote use Linux system.

Besides WiFi, you can use a USB ethernet adapter to connect it physically. Since, you’ll be working with electrical components, follow instructions of Chris closely.

If you are interested in making this little Linux computer from a USB charger, follow this link for NODE’s detailed tutorial.

Did you like this portable Linux computer from a USB charger DIY? Tell us in the comments below.

#63 Apple to launch iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in India on October 16

It will be the fastest ever launch of the Apple iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in India after their global launch. It will also be made available in 140 countries by the end of this year.

Apple has announced the launch of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in India on October 16. The Cupertino-based tech giant confirmed the launch date of iPhones yesterday through a post. The October 16 launch will make it the fastest ever release of iPhones in India, after their global launch. Both the devices were launched globally by Apple on September 9 at an event held in San Francisco. The company has also announced the launch dates for various other countries as well as sales record for the newly launched iPhones.

The October release date might help Apple cash in on the Diwali festival season in India. The company has not said anything about the pricing of the smartphones, but it is expected to be priced around Rs. 65,000 for the base model. Interestingly, there were reports earlier that the devices are already available for pre-orders in grey markets, with prices rising above Rs. 1 Lac.

Besides announcing the launch date for India, Apple has announced that the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will be launched, starting from October 9, in more than 40 countries including Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan. The company further said that the latest iPhones will make their way to more than 140 countries by the end of this year. Additionally, Apple said that it has sold more than 13 million iPhones this time, and that too within three days of their launch. It broke the record of selling 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices, set last year.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook said, “Sales for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have been phenomenal, blowing past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple’s history. Customers’ feedback is incredible and they are loving 3D Touch and Live Photos, and we can’t wait to bring iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to customers in even more countries on October 9.” 

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus comes with various new features and improvements. The phone features the 3D Touch technology that senses the pressure of the touch on the screen to perform different tasks accordingly. Other features include Live Photos, 12MP I-sight camera, 5MP FaceTime HD camera with Retina Flash, and the latest A9 chipset. 

#62 Facebook clarifies on Digital India profile picture allegations

Facebook says that it was a mistake from one of the engineers, and the division class 'Internet.org profile picture' in the code is not linked to Internet.org.

Facebook has issued a statement clarifying allegations, stating that the Internet.org profile picture debacle was a mistake on one of its engineers' end, who had used the string ‘Internet.org profile picture’ as an image descriptor. The code is now being changed to clear the confusion. The allegations put on Facebook claimed that the company’s profile pic changer tool for people to support the Digital India campaign is actually to support the Internet.org platform.

The official statement was given by a Facebook spokesperson to Huffington Post India, which says, “There is absolutely no connection between updating your profile picture for Digital India and Internet.org. An engineer mistakenly used the words “Internet.org profile picture” as a shorthand name he chose for part of the code. But this product in no way connects to or registers support for Internet.org. We are changing the code today to eliminate any confusion.”

Yesterday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced a tool which lets users change their profile picture to a photograph bearing a tri-colour filter to show support for the Digital India initiative. Many used the tool to show due support. But, soon after its introduction, various reports appeared on the Internet, stating that using the tool directly resulted in supporting Internet.org, instead of the Digital India initiative. The reason behind the claim is a screenshot of the source code of the page which shows a style class in the code, named as "internetOrgProfilePicture".

At the moment, Facebook is defending itself and denied the reports, although it has been part of numerous controversies surrounding the Internet.org platform. Earlier, it was reported that Facebook users in India were seeing a pop-up asking them to support Internet.org. The controversial issue surrounding the pop-up was that it gave users options to select ‘Yes, I’m In’, and ‘Not Now’, instead of ‘No’. There have also been allegations on Facebook that Internet.org is against Net Neutrality, as it allows a user to access only those websites and services which are selected by it. Incidentally, Facebook has renamed the Internet.org to Free Basics, and opened its platform for all developers in order to make it more transparent. 

#61 Know About Masdar City – The World’s First Zero-carbon City

With the growing demand for new technology, comfort and luxury, pollution have arrived as an unwanted guest with other technological advancements.

In today’s world, it is almost impossible to think of a place, which is free from pollution. Masdar City has the determination and courage to stop this unwanted guest.

Technical Things:

Masdar City is a planned Zero-Carbon city project in Abu Dhabi, UAE. It is being constructed by Masdar, which is a subservient to Mubadala Development Company. The city is being designed by British architectural firm Foster and Partners. The project began its footsteps in 2006, with a goal to complete the first phase by 2009, but got delayed until 2015 due to global financial crisis.

The city is planned with a proposed budget of around US$ 20 million. It is designed to house around 50,000 people and 1500 business centres in 6 km. sq. of the area, and is located near the metropolitan district of Abu Dhabi. The architects have designed the city, keeping in mind, the comfort and ease of pedestrians and cyclists. The city’s Wayfinding system, in layman's terms, it can be understood as, how the flow of commuters progresses in a city, is developed by End Point and City ID.

Masdar's developers have done a wonderful act of engineering, keeping the city cool even in the desert area. They’ve built a 148ft high wind tower, which sucks cool air from the top and releases it into the streets of the city, thus, maintaining the temperature at around 15 to 20 °C even in the hot deserts of Abu Dhabi. The city is made slightly above the ground in order to keep the temperature low. Also, the buildings are made very close to each other decreasing the amount of sunlight entering the streets.

Masdar City has terracotta walls around it, that isolate the city from hot winds and sand of the surrounding dessert.

Commuting around the City:

Masdar City’s main commuting will be facilitated by Public Rapid Transit (PRT) systems, as there was no room for personal vehicles in the initial design. However, due to high costs of deploying underground PRTs, the revised plan has accumulated the need for personal vehicles. The mass transit in the city will be carried out by electric and clean-energy vehicles, keeping in mind, the Zero-Carbon motto of Masdar City.

Powering it up:

Masdar City is fully dependent on solar and other renewable energy resources for its energy needs. For that purpose, it has a 54-acre field with 87,777 solar panels currently installed in addition to the rooftop solar panels installed all around the city. Another amazing thing, the city will have no electric switches or water taps, motion sensors will be there doing the task for you, thus, saving around 50% power and resources as assumed by the city planners.

The lead architect, Gerard Evenden said, “When we started this project, nobody had really looked at doing projects of this scale. Then you realise it’s much more efficient to build your solar field on the ground in the middle of the desert. You can send a man to brush them off every day, rather than having to access everyone’s buildings individually, and you can make sure that they are running at their absolute peak. It’s much better than putting them on every building in the city.”

Apart from the energy saving plans they have, Masdar will be committed to recycle and reuse around 80% of the water used in the city, “as many times as possible”.

#60 World’s First $9 Computer CHIP is Shipping Today

If you found $35 a lot to spend on a Raspberry Pi for a computer, you would have loved the $9 computer CHIP. CHIP houses a 1GHz All winners R8 single-core processor, 4GB on-board storage and 512MB DDR3 RAM coupled with WiFi and Bluetooth built-in.

Earlier this year, Next Thing Co. launched a kick-started campaign to fund this project, and now its team has announced that the first CHIP computers are shipping to the Kernel Hacker Backers.

The world’s first $9 computer is an innovative open hardware project, powered by an open source software. The specifications of an entry-level computer and the price tag of $9 makes it one the best platforms for developers.

Currently, Next Thing Co. is shipping the Alpha CHIP and its shipping without any firmware. However, there are detailed instructions for flashing the software onto the CHIP.

If you’ve backed the project earlier at the Kernel Hacker Backer level on Kickstarter, you’ll be getting two CHIP computers. The second batch of CHIP computer will ship in mid-October.

Apart from the earlier mentioned hardware specifications, CHIP features a composite video port, a USB port, a micro USB port and other developer pins for hooking up hardware.

If you’ve missed the chance of grabbing a CHIP on the Kickstarter campaign, you can pre-order CHIP from the Next Thing Co. website.

#59 Internet.org is Now “Free Basics by Facebook”, Zuckerberg Launching “Special” Wi-Fi in India

The social networking website Facebook has struggled to create an environment of consensus among the masses for its free internet initiative Internet.org. The company has said that it is working on new ways to enhance the internet connectivity in India.

Along the similar lines, the company has renamed its controversial Internet.org app as Free Basics. With the help of its app, Facebook aims to provide certain free data services and websites to the mobile users.

A few months ago, amid widespread controversies, Facebook opened up the Internet.org platform to the developers. Currently, this moonshot project of Zuckerberg includes 60 new services focussed on productivity.

The new app Free Basics of Facebook is also equipped with stronger security measures and aims to get more users online all over the world.

“We’re making this change to better distinguish the Internet.org initiative from the programmes and services that Facebook provides, including Free Basics,” says Internet.org Vice-President Chris Daniels.

He adds, “Anyone currently using the app will be able to continue using the Android app though it will now be called Free Basics by Facebook in Google Play.”

The previous Internet.org web URL is now redirected to Freebasics.com.

In India, the social networking website is also piloting an Express WiFi service that will encourage the local entrepreneurs to set up WiFi hotspots in various areas.

“We help them in terms of technical solutions, business model and marketing,” said Munish Seth, Country Manager Facebook Connectivity Solutions India. Facebook has already set up such hotspots in partnership with ISPs in parts of Uttarakhand and Bangalore.

Are you excited to use these services? Tell us in the comments below.

Also read: http://powertechknowledge.blogspot.in/2015/09/55-stay-informed-stay-away-from.html

#58 Here’s How You Can Track the FBI Spy Planes

The report revealed that the companies that sell “spy planes” become a part of the public record and the FBI uses this data to track the buyers. To cover its operations, the FBI has created front companies for that. But, here is the place where FBI left a loophole in its “FBI Spy Planes” show off.

A technologist in Los Angeles, John Wiseman, figured out a way to track these FBI spy planes. When you need to fly planes in the U.S., you fill out certain forms. Just because these companies are in the public domain, their record is public and they could be tracked on radar.

If you are persuaded to know, you can track these FBI Spy Planes easily. Wiseman used these public records to know about the routes of flights, their real-time location by using a customized radio receiver that does this magic by picking up the overhead transmissions by aircrafts. The Associated Press reported that Wiseman has posted his findings in a blog post.

He writes: “N404KR was a plane that I saw a lot over Los Angeles. I didn’t have position info for it, but the fact that I saw it in the air for hours at a time was unusual. Most planes are going from point A to B, and are only overhead and in range for a few minutes.” Later he came to know that this plane belonged to FBI after going through various media reports. On further tracking down, he found that the plane was registered with few fake looking companies.

He wrote on Hacker News about the FBI Spy Planes: “I decided to check my database for planes that have squawked 4414/4415 or used one of the suspicious callsigns: I found 8 aircraft in the past 2 months, several of which exhibit suspicious behavior.”

If you want to track FBI Spy Planes, Brian Abelson working at a public data analysis tool Enigma has created this easy way to access those public records of the planes. By using the information of FBI’s front companies, he has made a database of 84 spy planes currently being used by the FBI.

You can also look for the paths by entering the planes’ registration number on sites like FlightRadar24 and FlightAware.

An FBI spokesperson said that “the FBI’s aviation program is not secret.” However, it’s still unclear that if the agency obtains warrants for such flights of FBI Spy Planes.

For more updates and interesting stories, read more articles in powertechknowledge.

#57 What is Google’s New and Upcoming Service Called “YouTube Red”?

Do you remember YouTube’s very own music-focused, subscription based service called Music Key that was launched about a year ago? Well, it didn’t perform well against the competitors like Spotify, Apple Music or Rdio. However, the company is aiming to rejuvenate things by rebranding it.

Interestingly, Google has recently updated its YouTube app that includes a text describing a product called YouTube Red. It’s a service that enables background and ad-free music playback, a feature that was absent in the Music Key subscription service.

This was spotted by Android Police, writes that the rebranding is shown as a notification only when you are leaving a video playing in the background and you switch to another app. This is also shown as a pop-up when you re-open YouTube later.

Take a look it in the screenshots below. To see these changes, you must be having the latest version the Android app on your device.

It should be noted that Music Key still has the “beta” tag associated with it and Google could be planning to relaunch the service as YouTube Red. It’s possible that Google aims to do a lot more that music with YouTube Red and this possible rebranding is just the first step.

The next week, on September 29, Google is holding an event and it’s expected to launch heavy weight products like new Nexus phone as well as Android Marshmallow. We can also witness the launch of the much-awaited YouTube ad-free subscription service and new Chromecast.

It’s expected that YouTube Red will be playing a bigger role in the upcoming Google Movie.

What do think about this rebranding? Did you like the name YouTube Red? Tell us in the comments below.

#56 Turn Anything Into A Phone Using RePhone – World’s 1st Open Source Modular Phone

Recently, we saw the advent of RePhone kit that reminds me instantly of Google’s much-awaited Project Ara modular phone. RePhone is developed by Seeed Studio and it has launched a KickStarted campaign to get the funding for this project.

RePhone helps you to create your phone in few minutes with its slim modules, customizable phone enclosures and accessible software. With the help of open source components like RePhone Core GSM + BLE module or RePhone Core 3G model, you can add cell connections to your phone.

Apart from these core modules, there are 8 more modules – a 5×7 LED board, an NFC board, a GPS board, a 1.54-inch touch screen, an audio board, an Arduino-compatible microcontroller, a GSM breakout board and a basic sensor board. 

You can hook up these modules together with a varied choice of connectors ranging from soldered wires and FPC ribbon cable to conductive thread. You can even just breadboard them.

RePhone comes with a rich library for hooking into Arduino IDE, Lua and JavaScrip, along with detailed examples to teach everyone develop things easily. They also provide a complete SDK based on Eclipse IDE for C/C++ developers to work with complex applications. 

If you are not into programming, no problem. There is an easy drag and drop feature for files. Just download them online and put them in your RePhone.

With the RePhone modular smartphone kit, you get its cool Kraft paper foldable case that has DIYing written all over it in bold letters. You can make your RePhone, call your friends, listen to music and by connecting it to IFTT, you can setup logic to convert it as an IoT device.

The KickStarter campaign of RePhone was launched this week and we hope to see RePhone as a great DIYing tool in near future.


Did you like the RePhone modular phone? Tell us in the comments below.

#55 Stay Informed, Stay Away from Facebook Dislike Button Scams

As a result of great anticipation surrounding the Facebook Dislike button (read empathy button), scammers are quick to find ways to fool the users. While Facebook users are anxiously waiting for the new feature, new scams are spreading, claiming to bring the Facebook dislike button earlier.

  Powertechknowledge: It’s reported that scammers are taking advantage of Facebook Dislike    button anticipation and they’re using the Facebook users. These scams trick the users into believing    that clicking on some links would provide them an early access to the dislike button.

For blog readers who aren’t aware, Facebook CEO announced that his company is working on some new feature like a “Dislike” button. Later, it was revealed that it would an Empathy Button that would be consisting of some popular smileys.

Hackread has reported that scammers are taking the advantage of this anticipation and they’re fooling Facebook users. These scams trick the users into believing that clicking on some links would provide them an early access to the dislike button.

Since this dislike button is soon going to be out for testing, scammers are seeing this as an exploitable opportunity to bring in the users to malicious websites. Each time scammers are able to bring users to those annoying websites, scammers get paid.

Besides these, the Facebook dislike button, scams are able to install malware, spyware, or adware on PCs.

At the end of some surveys, you are asked to enter your usernames and passwords. As a result, your profile is spammed with via private messages, or some shady links on your timeline.

Stay informed. Stay safe.

#54 How to Crash Google Chrome With These 16 Characters in 2 Seconds

Due to a bug in Chromium engine, you can crash someone’s Google Chrome browser just by adding a NULL char in the URL string. The bug was discovered by Andris Atteka and he has explained in his blog.

   

He demonstrated the bug using 26 characters length string, but you crash Google Chrome is using just 16 characters.

How to crash Google Chrome with these 16 characters?

Just copy and paste the following string in your Google Chrome (Chrome 45 or older) address bar, hit Enter and watch your Chrome tab or the whole Chrome browser will crash:

http://b/%%30%30

Be careful, this step will crash your browser instantly!!

The browser crashes even if you hover over the hyperlink given ahead using your mouse pointer: http://b/%%30%30

Why does Chrome browser crash?

“It seems to be crashing in some very old code. In the Debug build, it’s hitting a DCHECK on an invalid URL in GURL, deep in some History code. Given that it’s hitting a CHECK in the Release build, I don’t think this is actually a security bug, but I’m going to leave it as such.”

In my tests, the code affects both Windows and Mac. The bug also affects Opera and Vivaldi browsers, as both are built over the Chromium engine. However, it didn’t affect Chrome for Android.

This bug was only a local DOS issue, so Mr. Atteka didn’t get covered into the company’s bug bounty program.

Such bugs have been observed in the past and were quickly fixed.

Did this bug crash your Google Chrome? Tell us in the comments below.

#53 Student Breaks NASA's Fuel Efficiency Record, Make a Special Ion Space Drive

NASA’s High Power Electric Propulsion, or HiPEP system, holds the current record for fuel efficiency. It allows 9,600 (+/- 200) seconds of specific impulse. But, this record is reportedly broken by an Australian student who has made a new kind of ion space drive.

Paddy Neumann, a PhD student at the University of Sydney, has broken NASA’s current record for fuel efficiency. He’ll be presenting the research at the 15th Australian Space Research Conference late this month.

Ion space drives are the systems that throw particles backward, providing great forward thrust to a spacecraft. According to Australian newspaper Honi Soit, Paddy Neumann , a PhD student at the University of Sydney, has touched the mark of 14,690 (+/-2,000), breaking NASA’s record.

Neumann has applied for a patent and his results will be presented on 30 September at the 15th Australian Space Research Conference. The claim made by him is pretty amazing, but we’ll have to wait for his research paper that will provide support to his claims.

This new kind of ion space drive uses a new type of fuel. NASA’s HiPEP system use Xenon gas, whose ions were emitted at high speed and it pushed the aircraft forward. The thrust received was directly proportional to the amount of propellant the aircraft carriers.

On the other hand, the Neumann’s ion space drive uses a variety of metals. These metals produce ions when they are struck by an electric arc. According to the reports, he has achieved his record-breaking result with Magnesium.

“As it runs on metals commonly found in space junk, it could potentially be fuelled by recycling exhaust satellites, re purposing them into fresh fuel,” the newspaper writes.

Neumann has developed this ion drive with Professors David McKenzie and Marcela Bilek. This team is will present the research at the 15th Australian Space Research Conference later this month.

Did this news about the new fuel efficiency record of new Ion Space Drive excite you? Tell us in the comments below.

#52 Google announces event for September 29, might launch Nexus devices

Alongside, Google is also expected to announce public availability of Android Marshmallow v6.0, and a next generation Chromecast. 

Google has announced and sent out invites for a September 29 event in San Francisco. It has not revealed much information regarding what the event will be about, except for the teaser line, “tasty new treats and much more". But, if rumours are to be believed, Google may unveil the upcoming Nexus smartphones, public availability of Android Marshmallow, and the new Chromecast.

Two new Nexus smartphones are expected to be launched this time, made individually by LG and Huawei. Latest word suggests that the phones may be named LG Nexus 5X and Huawei Nexus 6P. There have also been a number of rumours regarding the device specifications. The LG Nexus 5X is expected to come with a 5.2-inch Full HD display, powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 sacs and 3GB of RAM. The phone is also tipped to come with a 12.3MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera, along with a 2700mAh battery pack. It might be priced at $399 (approx. Rs. 26,300) and $449 (approx. Rs. 29,600) for the 16GB and 32GB models respectively. The Huawei Nexus 6P is expected to come with a larger, 5.7-inch Quad HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 sacs and 3GB of RAM. It is also expected to come with a 13MP rear camera, 8MP front camera and 64GB of internal storage. Both the Nexus smartphones are expected to feature USB Type-C ports, and fingerprint sensors. Android Marshmallow v6.0 is expected to come pre-loaded on them. 

Google is also expected to announce the Chromecast 2 in the event. It is expected to have better WiFi support to enable faster connectivity. Other new features expected on it are social media and image feeds. The company might also unveil Chromecast Audio, which will allow Chromecast to connect with speakers via an auxiliary cord. Apart from under-the-hood changes, the new Chromecast is also expected to feature updates in its design.

#51 Microsoft working on Azure Cloud Switch, a Linux-based OS

The operating system is not for PCs and laptops, and is aimed towards users of enterprise and cloud services 

Microsoft is working on a Linux-based operating system, the Azure Cloud Switch (ACS). The announcement was made through an official blog post by Kamala Subramaniam, Principal Architect of Azure Networking. As per the post, the ACS is a “cross-platform modular operating system for data center networking built on Linux.” 

The blog post mentions that there are various types of switch hardware platforms available in the market. It states the difficulty to configure hardware with completely different types of software. To tackle this, it has come up with the Linux-based ACS. It will provide a unified platform for running different types of networking devices with the same software. It will also enable the company to debug more efficiently. Further, the ACS believes in Open Networking, and this will enable it to "use and extend" Open Source, Microsoft, and Third Party applications. The blog post concluded by mentioning that Microsoft decided to talk about ACS in public because the company believes in the approach of separating the switch software from switch hardware to gain popularity in the networking industry.

The software is not aimed at general PCs and laptops, and only aimed at enterprise and cloud-based services. It is not the first time that Microsoft is using rival technologies. Earlier this year, the Redmond-based company had announced its partnership with Cyanogen, where the custom ROM-maker will distribute various Microsoft apps and services. Additionally, it was reported yesterday that Cyanogen is reportedly working on deeper integration of Microsoft’s virtual assistant, Cortana, into Cyanogen OS.