Our modern technology could be wiped out by a massive solar storm

In nowadays most of us can't imagine our lives without technology. Especially without the satellites that we need for communications, internet, TV...

Just imagine how would the world look like if most of the electronic devices that we have are useless.

The biggest danger for the satellites are the solar storms.

The latest example came in 2005, when X-rays from a solar flare disrupted satellite-to-ground communication and the GPS system for about 10 minutes — threatening satellite-guided air, sea, and land travel.

But none of those storms come close to the scale of the 1859 monster, known as the Carrington Event.

In 1859, before all that monitoring equipment was put in place, an astronomer spotted the flare before the storm reached Earth.

At 11:18 a.m. on 1st of September that year, the English astronomer Richard Carrington stood in his private observatory recording sunspots on an image of the sun projected through his telescope onto a small screen.

"Two patches of intensely bright and white light broke out," he wrote in his report, "Description of a Singular Appearance seen in the Sun," for the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

"My first impression was that by some chance a ray of light had penetrated a hole in the screen attached to the object-glass, by which the general image is thrown into shade, for the brilliancy was fully equal to that of direct sunlight," wrote Richard.

If a Carrington Event happened today, the world would likely have to deal with the simultaneous loss of GPS, cellphone reception, and much of the power grid. The global aircraft fleet might have to coordinate an unprecedented mass grounding without satellite guidance. Unguarded electronic infrastructure could fail outright.

"Humans in space would be in peril, too," NASA wrote. "Spacewalking astronauts might have only minutes after the first flash of light to find shelter from energetic solar particles following close on the heels of those initial photons. Their spacecraft would probably have adequate shielding; the key would be getting inside in time."

The best available estimates suggest a modern Carrington Event wouldcost humanity $1 trillion to $2 trillion in the first year and take another four to 10 years to achieve full recovery. A 2007 NASA estimate found that the damage to the satellite fleet would cost between $30 billion and $70 billion.

Fortunately, Carrington Event-level storms seem pretty rare, occurring perhaps once in 500 years. But we have no reliable way of predicting when the next one could happen.

source: Business Insider

10 Surprising Things You Didn’t Know That Your Smartphone Could Do

We use our smartphones for many ordinary things every day, because they are more like mini computers. Do you know that you can use your smartphone for more great things than playing games, listen music, taking selfies, etc. ?

In this post you'll find out for 10 things that your smartphone is capable of.

1. Light up your living room

You can turn your device into a dimmer you don’t have to install by syncing Cree’s Connected LED Lightbulb syncs with your smartphone via an app. Further, you can also fix the amount of time the light stays on without even being in the room, saving you money all through the year.

2. Remotely lock, unlock, alarm and even start your car

Do you always lose your keys? The Viper SmartKey system lets you to replace your car keys with your smartphone. When enabled, you can lock and unlock your car (and even deactivate an alarm) without even taking your smartphone out of your pocket.

3. Accept credit/debit card payments

Square Register is a revolution that’s disturbing the current old, fixed transaction system. It takes the advantage of the smartphone’s mobility to allow you to accept any credit card payment anytime, anywhere. The buyer signs on the smartphone to authorize payment and prevent potential fraud.

4. Monitor your heart rate

Forget investing in a Jawbone or a Fitbit to monitor your heart rate. Just download and launch the Instant Heart Rate app on your smartphone, place your fingertip over your device’s camera lens for 10 seconds and you are done. You will get a detailed report right on your screen.

5. Work as a sci-fi thermal camera

Once available only for the military and other professionals, Seek Thermal now offers you the thermal technology. It is a tiny camera that attaches to your smartphone, so that you can get a thermal image of anything around you, showing you a temperature snapshot of your environment.

6. Check whether your remote’s batteries are dead when it stops working

Your smartphone’s camera is very sensitive to IR radiation. So, if you wish to try it for yourself, just use a common IR remote control. The infrared beam generated when a button is pressed will show as white or purple light in the viewfinder of your camera app. When your smartphone stops working, you can use this trick to find out if a remote control’s batteries are dead.

7. Reverse search images and photographs

If you are using an Android device, the Google Goggles app allows you to search an image captured with your smartphone’s camera. You can find information on products, recognize famous paintings or learn more about a historic landmark.

8. Scan and digitize your old negatives

You can use your camera’s negative effect or take advantage of some of the many specialized apps like the Helmut Film Scanner, if you want a quick and dirty way to digitize (or just view) your old film negatives.

9. Project a cool augmented reality map on the windscreen of your car

If you are driving in the dark, the rain, fog, or just unfamiliar conditions, download Hudway, enter your destination and put your smartphone on your dashboard. Your smartphone will display a GPS-enabled map on your windshield without the need of any extra equipment.

10. Work as a DIY (Do-it-yourself) microscope

You can turn a smartphone into a DIY amateur microscope by just putting a drop of clean water on the camera lens. The drop of water, which obviously embraces a round shape, acts as a lens, allowing the camera to focus from a distance of under half an inch.

If there are more cool stuff like these and you know about them, let us know in the comments below.

source: TECHWORM

Battery invented by accident has the ability to last for 400 years

Battery last longer than the human life


Sometimes when the scientists work in the labs, they have accidents. Nobody wants to have an accident in a lab, but what if the accident leads you to new research or new invention?


Researchers from the University of California, Irvine have accidentally made a battery that can last up to 200 000 cycles of recharging and can last up to 400 times longer.
This discovery could bring us closer to batteries that can be charged thousands of times, without the need for any replacement.

The original idea of the research was to create a solid-state battery by replacing the common liquid in the lithium batteries with much thicker electrolyte gel, according to their study published in the journal ACS Energy Letters. They also substitued the lithium in the batteries with gold nanowires for electric storage.

"We started to cycle the devices, and then realized that they weren't going to die," said Reginald Penner, a lead author of the paper. "We don't understand the mechanism of that yet."

The Irvane battery technology uses a gold nanowire, no thicker than a bacterium, coated in manganese oxide and then protectes by a layer of electrolyte gel. The gel interacts with the metal oxide coating to avoid corrosion. The longer the wire, the more surface area, and the more charge it can hold.

"[The gel] does more than hold the wire together. It actually seems to make the metal oxide softer abd more fracture-resistant. It increases the fracture toughness of this metal oxide that is doing the charge storage," Penner said.

The UCI nanobattery was tried out in test conditions over a three month period, producing a "94-96% average Coulombic effeciency," according to the researchers. No loss of capacity or power and fracturing of any nanowires was recorded by the test.

UCI doctoral candidate Mya Le Thai was the one who made the accidental invention areality when she coated a set of gold nanowires in manganese dioxide, then applied a, "Plexiglas-like," electrolyte gel. These nanowires usually degrade after limited use, as their fragility causes them to crack during charge and discharge loads. However, when the researchers at UCI tested Mya's versions, they found they were almost entirely intact and ready for further use.

"Mya was playing around, and she coated this whole thing a very thin gel layer and started to cycle it," said Penner. "She discovered that just by using this gel, she could cycle it hundrets of thousands of times without losing any capacity."

"That was crazy, because these things typically die in dramatic fashion after 5000 or 6000 or 7000 cycles at most," he said.

The researchers suspect that the gel caused the metal ozide in the battery to plasticize, providing its nanowires new-found flexibility and longevity to the battery.

"The coated electrode holds its shape much better, making it a more reliable option," Thai said. "This research proves that a nanowire-based battery electrode can have a long lifetime and that we can make these kinds od batteries a reality."

If new found technology is applied to present consumer electronics, it can create a battery that can last 400 times longer than the common lithium batteries. But, the UCI nanobattery is still in its development stage, and it will still be long time before it is made commercially avaliabe. However, once it is avaliable, it could make a major difference to computers, smartphones, and appliances in the market in terms of providing power to the devices.

The study was conducted in coordination with the Nanostructures For Electrical Energy Storage Energy Frontier Research Center at the University of Maryland, with funding from the basic Energy Sciences division of the U.S. Department of Energy.

source: TECHWORM

Have you ever wondered why big brands dropping A, B & O from their signs and logos?

When we take a walk in our town, some of us may have noticed that the letters A, B and O are missing from the logos and signs on the big companies. 
I saw that too, but I thought that the letters are missing by mistake or because of some problem. But this was the reason.

NHS Blood and Transplant organisation, along with PR agency Engine Group has launched the 'Missing type' campaign. NHS has undertaken this campaign to make people aware the benefits of blood donation and its importance of saving lives.

As a part of this campaign, NHS has asked big brands to omit the letters that signify blood types from their logos and signs viz, blood types A, B and O. NHS says that the reason behind the campaign is the decrease in the number of people donating blood. They are doing so in order to draw attention towards the alarming fact that there has been a 30% decrease in the number of blood donors in the past decade.

Big brands and companies like Tesco, Mirror, McDonalds, Starbucks and Hardrock Cafe have agreed to be the part of the campaign to make people aware of blood donation. Various companies have agreed to support the noble cause in the hope that their participation will attract attention of the public at large.

The campaign aims to encourage more and more people across the world to donate blood because every 2 seconds, there is some person on earth, whose life can be saved by your blood.

The NHS plan to get big companies to drop A, B and O from their signs and logos has had the desired effect according to officials as within 10 days of the campaign launch, 30 thousand new donators have registered themselves.

If you have still not seen the missing A, B and O from the signs and logos of top brands, now is the time to spot the same and donate your blood. Your blood can save a human life.

Tell us in the comments below what was your opinion about the missing letters on the logos.

SOURCE: TECHWORM

The Earth could be destroyed even by the thousands of light years far black holes

For the universe we can say that it's an interesting and a beautiful place, till when we remember that there are lots of threats for our planet.
The death of the sun, the dangerous asteroids and even the thousands of light years far black holes could destroy the Earth.

In the last epizode of "Kurzgesagt", they explain that the black holes can throw out extremely strong energy pulses that are called flashes of gamma radiation -  or "death from the space". The pulses can be thrown out anytime and anywhere.We can just hope that we won't become their target.

Gamma rays are electromagnetic waves that carry energy, just like the visible light. But unlike light, they are very, very powerful. 

One photon of gamma rays has energy more than 1 million photons of visible light together and can cause disruption in our DNA. 

Fortunately, the Earth is protected from most gamma radiation from space by ozone. But those are ordinary gamma radiation, while the glow of gamma rays is extremely strong.

It looks like to gather energy from every star in the range of 100 million light years, that means to absorb the energy of thousands of galaxies, each with billions of stars and all that power to be concentrated in one laser. That's how flash of gamma radiation looks like.

So far it is known two types of flashes of gamma radiation - long and short. The long ones last about a minute and it is thought they originate from the breakdown of a supernova into a black hole. The short ones last only second and scientists believe that they arise when two binary stars merge to form a black hole.

Both cases end on the same way - with the formation of a black hole surrounded by a magnetized disk of gas left over from its parent star (or stars).

As explained in the video, the rotation of the black hole raises the magnetic field which in forms a funnel that spews hot jet of particles that travel at the speed of light. The gases inside the funnel create two extremely focused beams of gamma rays, which spew out of a black hole, like a laser gun.

These flashes of gamma radiation occur everywhere in the Universe - NASA's Space Telescope "Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope", registers an average of one per day. But as far as we know, so far in our cosmic neighborhood, none was directly aimed at us.

Luckily, because even if it occurs at a distance of several thousand light years, gamma splashes could completely wipe our ozone layer and to leave the planet - and most complex forms of life, burned by solar radiation. Watch the video to see how it looks like in action.

In fact, the destructive force is the reason why some scientists believe that we haven't seen yet signs of life somewhere in the universe.

And what is most frightening, the flashes of gamma radiation are moving at the speed of light, such can currently travel toward us, and we can not get any sign that alerts us until it hit us - and  wipe us .

The best 10 free antiviruses in 2016

The threat of being infected by a virus or malware is bigger and bigger.There are diferent type of viruses, some of them can steal your personal information and data.

Most people prefer to have paid antivirus software, but there are people who have free antiviruses. If you are looking for free antivirus, here is a list of the top 10.

Best Free Antivirus Software Of 2016 for computer virus protection:

10. FortiClient 

Platform: Windows XP or higher; Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) or higher; iOS 5.1 or higher; Android 4.0(ICS) or higher

FortiClient is an effective and efficient top Free Antivirus which boasts of web filtering, a firewall, network optimization and parental controls. It also provides very good phishing detection and even includes a VPN Client. With no per-seat license fees, FortiClient with its on-access /resident protection enables users & guests to work efficiently anywhere, without compromising on their security.

Although it’s designed to work with a network appliance, FortiClient 5.0 also functions as a standalone antivirus, with parental control and VPN client thrown in. Although the network optimization seems only to be effective for FortiGate Devices and it is also less effective at blocking certain malicious URL’s. Moreover, the functions of the VPN Client and Parental Control system are also limited.

9. AdAware Free Antivirus

Platform: Windows XP or higher

Lavasoft’s AdAware has been a pretty reliable spyware tool. It offers smooth installation, non-intrusive notifications along with detailed  custom scanning. The UI of the latest version has  been vastly improved as compared to the  previous version. Several features have been  incorporated such as Sandbox emulation, scheduler, and a command line scanner. That being said there is a lot of scope for  development of the rootkit detection and phishing protection provided by the Antivirus.

Trying to meet the expectation of the users, Lavasoft gave Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ 11 a total user-interface makeover and a new antivirus engine partner. The new UI looks pleasant with a nice change. But looks like the product lost a little ground in malware blocking. Adaware free antivirus made it to the 9th position in the list of best free antivirus for 2016.

8. Qihoo  360 Total Security 

Platform: Windows XP or higher (Windows 10); Mac OS X 10.7 or later including OS X Yosemite; Android 2.2 and Up

Based in China, Qihoo 360 offers a wide range of comprehensive, effective and user-friendly Internet and mobile security products aiming to protect the user’s computer and mobile devices against malware and malicious websites. Supported by cloud-based security technology, the 360 sets itself apart from all other best Free Antivirus software through the usage of three different AV engines comprising of Qihoo’s very own ‘checksum-based’ engine; a machine learning QVM engine and a BitDefender local engine. These comprise Qihoo’s own ‘checksum-based’ engine in the cloud; a machine learning QVM engine. It provides a sandbox too through which one can check out for the threats posed by unknown programs.The program lacks out in providing a parental control system, Firewall or Backup facility.

Though Qihoo 360 Total Security Essential scores very well on hands-on tests and in tests by independent labs, but only if you change its default configuration to enable all antivirus engines since some of its features need to be enabled manually.

7. Comodo Antivirus 

Platform: Windows XP or higher (Windows 10); Mac OS X 10.4 or above; Android 2.2 and Up

If you are one of the antivirus users who are intimidated of using technical computer inputs or afraid of the complexities of an antivirus which works more manually than automatically then, this Comodo antivirus is not for you. If we had to rate this antivirus upon the usage by the advanced computer users then surely this antivirus has galloped better positions. But, on the range of the overall scenarios, Comodo still need to automate more of its security features.

The Comodo Antivirus includes a full range of detection engines for viruses, rootkits, spyware and other malware. It uses Comodo’s proprietary Defense+ technology thereby guarding your system of all unknown files by treating them as a threat. It also provides On-Access/Resident protection, cloud-based protection, and an automatic sandboxing function. Since the program occasionally asks for User input it may not be suitable for amateur users. The Host Intrusion Prevention System and phishing protection still have a long way to go.

 6. Avira Free Antivirus  

Platform: Windows XP or above; Mac OSX 10.9 (Mavericks) or higher; Android 2.2 or up;

Ranked as one of the best amongst the best Free Antivirus software, Avira boasts of exceptional detection and blocking rates. Its small footprint makes it ideal even for older PC’s. Offering seamlessly fast scans it also boasts of anti-malware protection, anti-spyware protection, browser protection and cloud-based scanning as well. Although one could find the interface too cluttered and the installation and execution process to be quite slow as compared to other Free Antivirus software.

According to AV-TEST testing company, one of the best antivirus testing websites from Germany, Avira offers the strongest protection against both widespread and zero-day malware. But you might see a performance impact on your PC with this antivirus if your RAM is too less. But, Avira Free Antivirus’ effectiveness against malware and a good range of features — including a mobile portal and child-safety settings — make it the best choice for family PC.

5. MalwareBytes

Platform: Windows XP or higher

Malwarebytes is one of the most widely acclaims and highly appreciated malware detection solution. It is pretty small, lightweight and doesn’t require signatures as well. It also shields Java and perhaps is one of the most effective software against zero-day attacks that have never been seen before. One of the best features of MalwareBytes is the behaviour-based detection of the virus on a PC.

The biggest drawback with it is the requirement for proactive antivirus software that can work alongside it. It just acts as a complement to your regular antivirus program. There is also a major lack of features in the free version as compared to the Premium version. But that being said, Malwarebytes still is one of the premier and most reliable products when it comes to catching the newest, most cutting-edge threats that other antivirus companies may not have caught yet.

4. AVG Antivirus 

Platform: Windows XP or higher; Mac OSX Mountain Lion or Later

Definitely, AVG antivirus is one of the most popular best Free Antivirus software, AVG needs no reckoning. Furthermore, the 2016 version has been revamped to provide a better user interface, a cloud-based scanning system and the ability to block infected links besides the usual detection and eradication of viruses. It is also one of the smallest Antiviruses and also provides script malware protection. Besides, protection against the malware, it also provides website ratings which make makes it easier for a user to decide if the website is safer to access or not.

The excess of advertisements may prove to be irksome. Phishing protection could be improved as well.

3. Avast Free Antivirus  

Platform: Windows XP or above; Almost all Mac OSX versions

Avast Free Antivirus is known for its friendly interface, good performance and unique, if relatively sophisticated, set of features. However, only a friendly design not sufficient for ranking higher in terms of antivirus protection or extra features. However, you may want to consider Avast Free Antivirus if you already use other Avast products, such as Avast Free Mobile Security for Android.

2. BitDefender Antivirus Free Edition  

Platform: Windows XP or up; Android 2.3 or up

The BitDefender Free Antivirus is one of the most unobtrusive antivirus available on the Internet today. It provides for a Real-time Shield, Active Virus Control, Intrusion Detection, Rootkit scanning and HTTP scanning as well. The newly introduced feature of Profiles, which adapt the software for particular tasks like watching movies, playing games or general office work has improved its user-friendliness by a huge margin as compared to the previous versions. Moreover, it even includes online banking protection, a 2 way firewall and a parental control system. Although, poor technical support combined with the difficulties faced in installing on systems that are already infected by malware may cause problems to the average user.  Its tiny main window and unobtrusive style are great if you want a strong, silent, and free antivirus solution. It hardly lets its presence felt over the computer and provides best computer virus protection.

It’s time to tell you about the best free antivirus solution for Windows

1. Panda Cloud Antivirus Free 

Platform: Windows XP or above; Android 2.3 or up

The Panda Cloud Antivirus takes Free Antivirus to a whole new level with its cloud-based scanner. The software is also lightweight and runs on a local cache when the network is unavailable. It offers effective phishing protection and impressive detection rates combined with top-notch rootkit blocking. With features like On-Demand malware scan, On-Access Malware scan, Phishing protection and malicious URL blocking, it does not only provide protection against different kinds of malware on a PC but also provides the best protection against the online transaction. Only not-so-positive side of this antivirus is that it will auto-quarantine files which it believes to be dangerous.

Editor’s Recommendation: I would prefer Avast over other free antivirus hands down. The plethora of features that it boasts of sets it apart from all others. Effortless installation, an all-encompassing heuristic search engine and on access protection pack quite a punch. Its features such as real-time protection of files, email, P2P transfers, web surfing, instant messages and even suspicious behavior are a notch above your average Free Antivirus software. It has been praised for its performance and light use of system resources and has also proved itself efficient in catching malware as well. Further developments made in the 2015 version to enhance the user interface merit Avast its place on the top of our list.

If you think that another antivirus should be added in the list of the top 10 free antiviruses tell us in the comments below.

SOURCE: FOSSBYTES

5 Myths About Phone Charging that aren't true

Today most of us has a smartphone. We use it for many things for example: making selfies, taking photos, listening music, accessing our facebook accounts, messenger, e-mail account and for other stuff.

Often when we need our smartphone for something, the battery dies. Then we become mad to the phone. We must charge the phone batteries every day, because the battery isn't like the batteries on the old Nokia's phones, charge it once and will last a week.

There are lots of myths about charging our smartphones, so in this post I will tell you 5 of them that aren't true.


Myth 1:Don't use your smartphone while it;s on charge.

Truth: You can use your smartphone while it's on charge, as long as you're using a quality charger that's in good condition. In other words, as long as you're not using a sketchy third-party charger, you can use it all you want. If you are using the manufacturer-approved charger and battery, you should be fine.


Myth 2: Using non-brand or off-brand chargers will destroy your smartphone battery.

Truth: To an extent! While non-brand or white-label brands are good, it's the inexpensive knockoff chargers that you must avoid at all costs. The bottom line is that if the charger is sold in a reputable store, then it's safe (all non-brand chargers are approved by a governing body). Please note that while off-brand chargers are obviously not as good as the official thing, but it works just fine. However, knockoffs hardly even get the job done.


Myth 3: Don't leave your smartphone charging all night, as it kills the battery.

Truth: Your smartphone is smarter that you think. Once it's fully charged it stops charging. That means the battery isn't even in use at all. Your battery life will last longer if you keep your smartphone charged between 40% and 80%.


Myth 4: Switching your smartphone off is good for your battery.

Turth: Even machine need breaks like humans. In order to maximize battery life, experts agree that turning your smartphone off at least once a week help preserves your smartphone battery, especialy when you go to bed at night.


Myth 5: Don't charge your smartphone until it's completly dead.

Truth: Waiting until your smartphone is dead before recharging is called a 'deep charge', which is actually bad for your battery. Instead, charge your battery as it reaches 40%. Your battery has a finite number of charge cycles, and everytime it completly died, that's another cycle out the window.


In addition to the above, also note that heat will ruin a battery. Lithium-ion batteries heat themselves, and get hotter while they're being charged. Similary, extreme cold weather conditions can also have a negative impact on a smartphone's life, and a cold battery will die faster than usual in low temperatures.


Your smartphone will be safe if you keep it within its recommended tempertures;

Samsung guarantees that its smartphones can function anywhere between -4 and 122 degrees. On the other hand, Apple says that 32 degrees Fahrenheit is the lowest recommended temperature for an iPhone's environment.


Techquickie has a pretty neat video that explains some of these myths in detail.





SOURCE: TECHWORM