Now that's a very strange suggestion. Nevertheless, it makes sense.
Give it a read, share your thoughts! URL: medicalxpress.com
E-paper isn't such a new concept as many may think so, but actually it first appeared in the 70's at Xerox's research center with the creation of the first electronic paper, Gyricon.
Since then, many researchers have worked on the concept and as new technologies were developed, e-paper came to be a much richer technology itself. And after many companies have worked on their own e-papers (including LG, Samsung, Lucent and Xerox just to name a few), the idea of interactive e-papers was for the first time implemented by Roel Vertegaal, the director of Queen's University Human Media Lab. His interactive e-paper is, in fact, much more than just e-paper, it's an interactive "paper computer". A smartphone with a flexible display called PaperPhone.
Quoting their article, it's "a smartphone designed around a 3.7'' electrophoretic display. The PaperPhone features an array of thin film bend sensors on the back of the display that allows triggering of software actions on the device". These bending gestures can be recorded into the device during a calibration mode by training a k-Nearest-Neighbor (kNN) algorithm - a machine learning algorithm used for pattern recognition - and using 5 integrated bend sensors placed on the back of the paper, allowing bends up to 45 degrees, but requiring a minimum bend of 10 degrees for detection of bend gestures.
The not-fully-wireless PaperPhone has a single, thin cable connecting the display and the sensors to an external device (E Ink AM 300 kit) with a processor responsible for rendering the images on the flexible display and to an Arduino microcontroller, that obtains data from the bend sensors. The external device and Arduino are connected to a laptop running a software that processes the sensor data, recognizes it and sends images to the display.
The PaperPhone runs Android and has five of the typical applications available on mobile phones: Icon Navigation, Contacts, Music Player, Book Reader and Map Navigation. Each application tested to respond to a set of pre-defined or user defined gestures
It may not be fully wireless or touch sensitive (even though a touch-sensitive paper doesn't sound like the best idea), but the PaperPhone brings to reality a whole new concept of computing and may be the starting point to a whole new branch of smartphones. Remember, this is a prototype, not a product. This doesn't have to be pretty, it only has to work.
That said, watch the video on the source and be amazed. The world's first interactive paper computer is set to revolutionize the world of interactive computing. |
The smartphone prototype, called PaperPhone is best described as a flexible iPhone – it does everything a smartphone does, like store books, play music or make phone calls. But its display consists of a 9.5 cm diagonal thin film flexible E Ink display. The flexible form of the display makes it much more portable that any current mobile computer: it will shape with your pocket. |
Being able to store and interact with documents on larger versions of these light, flexible computers means offices will no longer require paper or printers. |
The invention heralds a new generation of computers that are super lightweight, thin-film and flexible. They use no power when nobody is interacting with them. When users are reading, they don't feel like they're holding a sheet of glass or metal. |
An article on a study of interactive use of bending with flexible thinfilm computers is to be published at the conference in Vancouver, where the group is also demonstrating a thinfilm wristband computer called Snaplet. Read more at www.physorg.com |
A new technique was developed by a group of researchers from the University of Southern California in the US and the National University of Science and Technology in Pakistan proposes a much more secure way to protect data, also supporting plausible deniability. A filesystem-based technique.
What's better than encrypting data so others can't open it? Hiding it so no one will even know it exists. And technically, it doesn't, thus the plausible deniability support.
Let me explain that better:
The simpler of the approaches to the method (2 were presented) is done by embedding the message to be hidden into the arrangement of the clusters of a file. This is done by analyzing the bits of the message and arranging the clusters of the file into adjacent clusters if the next bit of the message is similar to its previous bit and non-adjacent clusters if the next bit of the message is different from its previous bit. Information including cluster location for posterior reassembling is also included in the clusters.
This way, not a single bit is added to the disk, thus providing plausible deniability of any data existence and without anything extraordinary to arise suspicion (since all there is in the disk is fragmented and non-fragmented clusters of files), it makes it a difficult job for disk investigators and forensics to spot the hidden message, since the only way to do so is by having the key that points to the first cluster of the hidden message.
Plus, as written in the paper abstract "Finally, we show that even if an investigator gets suspicious, he/she will incur an unreasonably high O(m^2) complexity to reveal an m bit hidden message."
And about the size of this message, the authors estimated that an amount of about 20MB of data can be hidden into a 160 GB hard drive. And that's a very reasonable amount. The study was made on the disk fragmentation levels of 52 drives.
The message's physical absence, its possible size and the complexity of the search to find it are all very great points (just to name a few), but there are a few downsides as well. Possibly the strongest ones being: As written in the paper, "Defragmentation or deletion of a cover file from the filesystem will result in loss of the hidden data" and the other is the very unusual fragmented clusters on a new filesystem (since a new filesystem comes pre-filled with a regular pattern, a excessively fragmented file would appear unusual).
Bottom line: a somewhat flexible, highly secure technique that's easy to destroy and support plausible deniability. This is definitely a very interesting work. Concealment of sensitive information on digital transmission and storage media is becoming increasingly difficult due to the growing sophistication of network and disk forensics tools. As data encryption using traditional cryptographic techniques is easily detected during forensic evaluations, information hiding provides an additional layer of security over encryption by hiding sensitive information inside an innocuous medium |
In order to ensure evasion during forensic investigation, covert channels–a subclass of information hiding techniques–hide sensitive information in media that are neither designed for nor intended to transfer information |
In this paper, we propose a novel information hiding approach to evade disk forensics. The proposed approach uses fragmentation patterns of an existing file in a filesystem to hide sensitive information. Under the proposed approach, the distribution of innocuous storage units (clusters in a filesystem) represent hidden information. Thus, even when a user is forced to release all the contents of his/her hard disk, a forensic investigator who is scanning the device for the presence of suspect information can neither detect the boundaries of hidden information nor its contents. Only a user with the correct key can extract the hidden information. |
Information hiding versus encryption |
Encryption has been the predominant method to secure sensitive information on digital transmission and storage media. However, encryption is ineffective in most forensic investigation scenarios because the presence of encrypted content can easily be detected by a forensic investigator. As an example, Fig. 1 shows the sample entropy of clusters on a USB disk containing different filetypes |
Steganographic versus covert channels |
While the two main information hiding classes of steganographic channels and covert channels are both designed for evasion, it is important to differentiate between them. Steganographic channels hide information in innocuous looking messages communicated over a medium |
An example of steganography in a communication system can be implemented through the method of “chaffing and winnowing” in which the legitimate message is embedded among a large set of deceptive messages |
Covert channels, unlike their steganographic counterparts, use media that are neither designed for nor intended to transfer information |
More precisely, covert channels use entities that are not normally viewed as data objects to transfer information between two parties |
The forte of covert channels lays in transfer of information through media that was not designed to transfer information. A well-designed system generally contains very few entities which may be exploited for covert communication. Hence, as opposed to steganographic channels, communicating parties over a covert channel cannot optimally select or control the behavior of these entities. Therefore, the capacity of covert channels is in general substantially lower than the capacity of steganographic channels. Read more at www.sciencedirect.com |
A long entry but definitely worth the time to read it.
In a nutshell: "Cambridge researchers have created a website that combines the Facebook profiles of fans of companies and public figures with personality testing to create what they are describing as a “revolutionary” new marketing tool."
It does sound like a revolutionary marketing tool in a way but can it be called "accurate"?
They mean to draw profiles based on crossing information such as age, sex and satisfaction with life, with what company the individuals like and what public figures they are fans of. So far so good, it's all numbers. But then, we all know the vast number of fake profiles and the important fact that people lie. They lie about their age, they lie about what they like and for sure, many other things. Now knowing that, can the profiles drawn by the website be called "accurate"?
I don't know how the data is analyzed or how social media analysts work with the information gathered, but to me, as an "outsider", this sounds like an important factor.
To all the social media experts out there, marketing professionals and everyone with an opinion: what do you think? What do Barack Obama, Adam Sandler, and the animated comedy Family Guy all have in common? How about David Cameron, Eva Mendes, and the former Ultimate Fighting Champion, Chuck Liddell? And what links Shrek, McDonalds, and David Beckham? |
The answer is that each group attracts the same type of personality on Facebook – at least, according to a newly-launched website, http://www.likeaudience.com , which has been designed by two researchers at the University of Cambridge who believe that it could “revolutionise” marketing. |
For the first time, it means that companies, politicians, celebrities and anyone else with a Facebook presence can investigate not just how many people “like” them – they can also draw up a detailed profile that includes information about their average follower’s personality, IQ and satisfaction with life. Other data such as the gender balance and average age of their fanbase is also made available. |
In addition, users can examine what people with similar profiles also like on Facebook. For example, a quick search for Barack Obama reveals that his typical fan is middle-aged, relatively happy with life and a relaxed, steady-going individual. Similar people tend to be fans of Adam Sandler, Bob Marley, Family Guy and the Angelina Jolie action thriller, Salt. |
“What people like, follow or recommend to their friends is related to their personality, intelligence and other psychological factors,” Kosinski said. “This means that we can accurately estimate the average personality type that constitutes a typical fan of a person, company or thing.” |
“Never before have we had access to such comprehensive behavioural data about consumers. We think this will revolutionise marketing, because it introduces a completely new dimension by adding scientifically robust personality tests to other demographic information.” |
The information is only used for LikeAudience if the respondents agree to it when they use the app. It is also completely anonymous and cannot be linked back to the participant. A sample entry, for instance, might read: “Female, 34 years old, extraversion 4.5, openness 3.5, likes Lady GaGa”. Individuals are never identified to ensure privacy. |
This is one of the best I've read in the past few days. As usual, another awesome xkcd comic strip.
This comic makes a funny joke illustatring an unusual real life situation using the famous characters in cryptography.
A quick explanation: Bruce Schneier and Ron Rivest are cryptographers who often use characters named Alice, Bob and Eve (among others) to exemplify cryptography in different situations.
Alice and Bob are the ones having an encrypted communication and Alice is often the one who sends a message to Bob in the situations used by the authors. And Eve, is often the eavesdropper who listens to the messages sent between Alice and Bob, a passive attacker.
Well, now that you know the background, check it out and have a laugh. Or not... I'm pretty sure this won't be any funny to anyone who has no idea of what I'm talking about here. Still, enjoy!
Wish I could go comatose and hallucinate vividly right now and then maybe suffer amnesia about the whole experience later.
Not the usual kind of post but this is good material and can be helpful to many people.
Wether they're starting in programming or migrating to C/C++ from some other language. This is essential not only to C/C++ programmers but to any programmer, really.
So here it is, and have fun.
Also, check the other MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) courses. You'll find some very interesting things around there. 6.088 Introduction to C Memory Management and C++ Object-Oriented Programming |
We will take you through a tour that will start with writing simple C programs, go deep into the caves of C memory manipulation, resurface with an introduction to using C++ classes, dive deeper into advanced C++ class use and the C++ Standard Template Libraries. |
This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month. |
This is very exciting, but still depending on the Higgs boson (or "the God particle" as known by the Media), which is the only elementary particle in the Standard Model that hasn't been observed yet, but may hold the key to represent the origin of mass in the other particles.
I'm no physicist, but for what I've read around, I guess this is the closest we've ever been to time travel. As in, a theory that has an actual chance of being proved right.
The Higgs singlets are explained in the Abstract of the article written by Chiu Man Ho
and Thomas J. Weiler named 'Causality-Violating Higgs Singlets at the LHC' as:
" We give a simple model in which such time-traveling Higgs singlets can be produced by the LHC, either from decay of the Standard Model Higgses or through mixing with the SM Higgses. The signature of these time-traveling singlets is a secondary decay vertex pre-appearing before the primary vertex which produced them. The two vertices are correlated by momentum conservation."
Exciting, isn't it?  If the latest theory of Tom Weiler and Chui Man Ho is right, the Large Hadron Collider – the world’s largest atom smasher that started regular operation last year – could be the first machine capable of causing matter to travel backwards in time. |
“Our theory is a long shot,” admitted Weiler, who is a physics professor at Vanderbilt University, “but it doesn’t violate any laws of physics or experimental constraints.” |
One of the major goals of the collider is to find the elusive Higgs boson: the particle that physicists invoke to explain why particles like protons, neutrons and electrons have mass. If the collider succeeds in producing the Higgs boson, some scientists predict that it will create a second particle, called the Higgs singlet, at the same time. |
According to Weiler and Ho’s theory, these singlets should have the ability to jump into an extra, fifth dimension where they can move either forward or backward in time and reappear in the future or past. |
“One of the attractive things about this approach to time travel is that it avoids all the big paradoxes,” Weiler said. “Because time travel is limited to these special particles, it is not possible for a man to travel back in time and murder one of his parents before he himself is born, for example. However, if scientists could control the production of Higgs singlets, they might be able to send messages to the past or future.” |
Illustration of singlet time travel theory. When a pair of protons collide in the Large Hadron Collider, the resultant explosion may create a special type of particle, called a Higgs singlet, that is capable of traveling forward and back in time. It would do so by leaving familiar three-dimensional space to travel in an extra dimension. (Jenni Ohnstad / Vanderbilt) |
Security has been for a while now and will always be a matter of extreme importance.
With everything that we're going through lately, with the tension between USA, China, Government, private companies and Anonymous rising with a huge 'cyber-revolution' tension. (Don't get me wrong, I share their ideals) Privacy and security of data in the cyberspace is something that even the most common internet users worry about these days.
A system to help you gain control of your data on the web is a good thing. Even though in the article it sounds a lot like a 'product' trying to be sold, if it's more than that, then it is a good thing to make people more comfortable about throwing data out there.
People just can't forget that not even the best security technologies and techniques will keep their data safe if they don't practice the most basic information security rules. A virtual 'guard' that gives you greater control over your personal data has been developed by experts at Newcastle University. |
The unique system works by creating a user-controlled gateway – an extra level of security through which anyone has to pass if they wish to use or share data relating to a particular individual. |
Initially, the system is being trialled using photos on Facebook and Picasa, but the next step will be to protect financial information held by banks and even GPS tracking data that gives information about the location of an individual via their mobile phone. |
Maciej, project lead, said that with so many people now storing their data on the web it was important to provide them with new mechanisms that would help to secure this data but still to allow them to share this data in a controlled fashion. |
“Allowing people to share their photos across different social profiles such as Facebook or Picasa in a flexible way can be very useful," explains Maciej. |
Our system crosses these application boundaries and allows users to be able to share their online photos with individuals from various applications no matter where their pictures reside |
As well as opening up new possibilities for sharing information, the next step will be to use the so-called SMART AM system as a virtual gateway or barrier, protecting individuals’ data from unwanted viewing, such as GPS tracking via mobile phones. |
Maciej explains: “Allowing certain applications to track your location can be extremely useful. |
“But you don’t necessarily want to leave yourself open to anyone who might be wanting to use that kind of information about you |
With our system the user could control what types of services should ‘see’ them in cyber space and which should not. |
“It’s about taking control of all this information we have about ourselves out there on the Web. |
“With the increased amount of services available on the Web, the end user is no longer able to easily control access to their distributed data and is often paying the price in both privacy and convenience. Our system allows us to share it more freely while retaining control.”
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