Hacker copies fingerprint from a photograph Independent

Geek uses commercially available picture of a German minister to clone her biological data.

New techniques could allow hackers to copy fingerprints using only a photograph. Fingerprint technology is hoped to be one of a range of new forms of biometric security, but the discovery by a member of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) shows even personal biological data might not be safe from hackers.

Jan Krissler, who is also known as Starbug, said that he had used commercially available photographs of German defence minister Usula von der Leyen.

While hackers have previously been able to copy fingerprints from any object with a polished surface, like a plate of glass or a smartphone, that had been touched, the discovery seems to mark the first time that such a hack has been done without even needing to steal objects carrying the data.

He demonstrated the technology at a convention for members of the CCC, a 31-year-old network that claims to be Europe's largest association of hackers.

Krissler took the photos from a press conference in Germany in October. He said that he presumed that politicians would wear gloves to stop use of similar technology by malicious hackers.

Fingerprint technology is already used to secure Apple and Samsung phones. It avoids the need for a password in most cases — making logging in much quicker and easier, but also giving anyone with the correct fingerprint the ability to access personal data and make purchases. The technology was even used to identify voters in Brazil's most recent elections. Similar technology that recognizes finger veins has been introduced by Barclays for business customers and at cash machines in Japan and Poland.

Global electronics company Hitachi, too, manufactures a device that reads the unique pattern of veins inside a finger and works only if the finger is attached to a living person.

In 2013, trials at Southampton General Hospital's intensive care unit indicated that vein patterns are not affected by fluctuations in blood pressure.

168 Foxconn workers arrested for trying to enter Chennai plant

More than 150 employees at Hon Hai Precision Industry Co's Chennai factory were arrested on Monday as they attempted to force entry to the mobile phone plant earmarked for closure at the end of the month.

Hon Hai, which trades as Foxconn, announced on December 11 that it would close the factory, coming close on the heels of a similar move by Nokia and delivering a second blow for the government as it seeks to beef up the country's manufacturing sector.

Hon Hai is the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronic goods and counted Nokia as a major client in India. Its plant in southern India employed about 1,700 workers.

About 168 workers were arrested, including 16 women, when they tried to enter the factory, said E Muthukumar, president of Foxconn India Employees Union.

A Hon Hai spokesman declined to comment.

Vijaya Kumar, superintendent of police at Kancheepuram district, said the arrests were a preventative measure and that the workers were likely to be released soon.

The employees had been trying to gain entry in protest at the lack of any formal notice of closure, the employee union's president said.

It’s app-ening: Tech will transform aam aadmi

           The multi-billion-dollar valuations of Flipkart and Snapdeal are no pricing bubble, but a signal that India's technology boom has begun. The next five years will see a flurry of technology innovations that will transform the country as much as cellphones have over the past 15 years. This will be enabled by the availability of low-cost smartphones, the digital identity that Aadhaar has provided to hundreds of millions of people who lacked any documentation, and a host of exponential technology advances. A billion Indians will be joining the global economy during this decade.

There is a lot for Indian entrepreneurs to learn from Silicon Valley. But the bigger opportunities are for them to leapfrog it by solving the problems of the many rather than of the few. The same infrastructure lacuna that enabled India to create Aadhaar—lack of all technological legacy to have to worry about—offers it an opportunity to implement changes inarguably for the public good and to show the world how to create an entirely new digital infrastructure in areas such as the following.

Microsoft wants to pilot White-Fi tech in India

NEW DELHI: Satya Nadella, global CEO of Microsoft, urged telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to allow the US software major to pilot its 'White-Fi' technology to provide internet connectivity in remote villages in the country at a meeting in the capital on Friday.

Microsoft's White-Fi, or television White-Space technology, works like Wi-Fi on a bigger scale to provide wireless connectivity across a 10km radius at a speed of up to 16mbps, by using chunks of airwaves lying between spectrum kept untouched by broadcasters to avoid interference or disturbance between transmissions.

Nadella, who is in the country on Christmas holidays, also discussed with Prasad other ways in which Microsoft could partner in the government's Digital India initiative. He was accompanied by the firm's India head Bhaskar Pramanik.

"We have asked Microsoft to put forth concrete ways in helping achieve various social objectives under Digital India such as raising digital literacy," Prasad said.

A person privy to the discussion told ET, "The minister assured Nadella that the government would welcome all possible technological solutions to bring broadband connectivity to remote areas."

During his visit, Nadella also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley.

The Hyderabad-born Nadella said Microsoft was committed to setting up data centres in India to promote the cloud first and mobile first strategy as a means to empower every citizen and business in the country.

ET was the first to report that Microsoft had filed an application with the wireless planning and coordination wing in October to deploy White-Space technology for a pilot project in Bangalore.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was the first global CEO to speak to the telecom minister for deploying alternate technology — in its case, solar drones — for last mile connectivity, followed by Google, which offered to provide inexpensive internet access across India through a network of helium-filled balloons, and now Microsoft.

While Facebook and Google are yet to put in written requests to the government, Nadella on Friday told Prasad his company is eagerly awaiting the government's approval to begin the pilot.

The White-Fi technology has already been successfully implemented in the US and Singapore and is being tested in Kenya, the Philippines, South Africa and Tanzania, among others. It works on chunks of unused spectrum available in broadcasting bands in the lower frequencies from 200MHz to 700MHz.

The government's Rs 1.13 lakh-crore Digital India initiative envisages delivering e-services such as health and education to every nook and corner of the country over broadband by 2019.

Despite the government laying a nationwide optic fibre network, reaching homes, schools, hospitals and other institutions may require wireless technology, especially in hard-to-reach areas. This is where the technology giants such as Facebook and Microsoft hope to deploy their respective technologies.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella meets PM Narendra Modi

Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella (left) during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Friday . PTI

Nadella, son of a retired IAS officer and currently in India on a vacation, made the most of his visit by meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, finance minister Arun Jaitley, communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and other senior government officials on Friday.

“In every meeting, of course, both ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ are top of mind and for us, top of mind in terms of our contribution to India,” Nadella said after his meeting with Jaitley.

A mobile and cloud (Internet)-connected world can empower every individual citizen, business organisation and institution in India, he added. “So, I am looking forward to be a part of both the Digital India and ‘Make in India’,” Nadella said.

“I have requested him to consider electronic manufacturing in India. I have also requested that Microsoft, which has a great profile in the field of social services, digital literacy can promote it in India. We had a very purposeful exchange,” Prasad said after meeting Nadella.

The Hyderabad-born CEO also highlighted that the company is making huge investments in its data centres, the capacity of which could be expanded, depending on the requirement.

Microsoft is keen on collaborating with the government in providing last mile internet connectivity, especially through the wi-fi technology, a government statement said. Technologies of interest to Microsoft includes the white space technology that can be used to provide wi-fi with speeds upto 16 mega bits per second (16 Mbps) in public places. It is being mainly used by state broadcaster Doordarshan.

This was Nadella’s second visit to India after taking over as the global CEO of the technology giant earlier this year.

Edit Microsoft Office files via Gmail!!!

Google updated Gmail with a new feature which allows to edit Microsoft Office documents from within inbox.

When Office files are emailed as attachments, Gmail now will include an “Edit with Google Docs” options. Selection of this options automatically converts the documents and opens it in Docs, Sheets or Slides.

“We realize that as a Docs user, you still sometimes have to work with different file types, so we often launch updates to make it a little smoother for you,” the company wrote on Google+. “It’s now even easier for you to edit Office files where you often come across them — as attachments in your email.”

This will let for those who don’t have Microsoft office installed, Google notes it’s also benefiticial for collaboration as all changes are automatically synced to the cloud and collaborators can keep tabs on the most recent version of that document at any time.

Google also updated the list to support for fifteen new Microsoft Office file types, which includes .pps and .ppsx presentation files along with templates and macro enabled files.

Company also claims that it has also improved its ability to convert charts, tables and graphics within documents.

There is provision for Users who wish to open and edit Microsoft Office files in Drive without converting the file type can also do so, Google points out with the Office Editing for Docs, Sheets and Slides Chrome Extension. This extension allows users to open and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files in Google Drive, even if they don’t have Microsoft Office Installed.

Google plans to open own campus in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Internet giant Google plans to open its own "permanent and big" campus in Hyderabad and is set to sign an MoU with Telangana government shortly to take up the venture.

"We are likely to sign MoU with Google. They are likely to open their campus here in Hyderabad. It will be the third campus they will have after the US and the UK," Telangana IT, electronics and communications secretary Harpreet Singh told PTI here.

Google currently operates from rented premises here but wants to move to a "permanent campus", he said, adding the tech major would sign an MoU with the state government shortly.

He, however, declined to go into further details of the proposed venture, saying a press conference is scheduled to be held shortly on this but added that it would be a "big campus".

Singh also said Cisco, Airtel, Vodafone and a Taiwanese company, among others, have responded to the expression of interest floated by the government on proposed venture to make Hyderabad a Wi-Fi enabled city. "

Many of them are partnering and coming," Singh said, adding the Taiwanese firm, in fact, was behind making Taipei a Wi-Fi enabled city.

But he said the companies that have evinced interest have sought information such as detailed maps of the city, including roads, and some clarifications with regard to certain specific points. "So, we are preparing the replies; we will give it to them".

"It will take time (to make the city Wi-Fi enabled) because business model is the critical issue. Making Wi-Fi is not a big problem ... but how to monetise it ... is the key issue," he explained.

Singh, however, said the contract for this venture is expected to be awarded in the next three-four months after floating the request for proposals and the bidding process.

After that, the successful bidder is expected to take six months to roll out the infrastructure, he said, indicating that the city is likely to be Wi-Fi enabled only towards the end of next year.

On the proposed Rs 30 crore incubator facility for technology start-ups, he said its designs have been completed and the process of tendering is in progress.

The 70,000 square feet facility will have 800 seats, housing an expected 500 start-ups in different stages of growth, he said.

"We are planning to formally inaugurate this building on June two (on the first anniversary of Telangana State's formation)."

As for software exports from Hyderabad, he noted that it was Rs 57,000 crore or roughly ten billion dollars in the year 2013-14. "This year (2014-15), I think it's (going to be) 12% (more). We may do slightly better (better than 12% growth)," Singh added.

How To Earn Upto 300USD Per Day With MyLikes

My Story, MyLikes and its Legality

This tutorial is about a Social Web Called "MyLikes" MyLikes is one of the best social network i ever see because it will give you money for your shares and posts. But here is a logic if you follow it you can earn much and massive. I saw my a proof of my friends who was already working on MyLikes.com.  He is earning almost $263/Day as he was old with MyLikes so he told me MyLikes giving about $1000/Day am surprised how any social webcan giving out such a great money.  His screenshot is below.

I saw a proof of another member of a group i joined. He give out a screenshot of his PayPal Transication.

I tried tried and finally i got success, now i can earn as much as i want ;), because i know how to use MyLikes safely. This tutorial is specially for the beginners see my next posts about MyLikes to make huge money.

Step by Step Method Of MyLikes

All you need just must have or a facebook page having about 50K+ Likes or twitter account having 20K+ Followers more Likes/Followers will give you much more money.

STEP # 1: First of all goto http://mylikes.com/publishers/signup sign up with Twitter/Youtube/Email Account.

STEP # 2: After Sign up just sign in to mylikes.com > Setting> Connected Accounts; and connect all social accounts.

STEP # 3: Now its the time to move forward, just visit http://likes.com/partner you will see here alots of posts and many things here's a screenshots. (NOTE: Every image has two side i hope you will use its good one's, Turn on family safety, Actually here's a small trick if you share family safety posts/ no adult posts it will build your audience and you will get visits more than all.)

STEP # 4: Now its the time to choose right and share posts on your domain. Choose Royalities posts, because royalities posts are those which are more reshared with which you can gain more than ordinary post. You can share ordinary posts too if that was interested it helps you to build your audience. Click on Share > Get Link > Then Copy Link > Share On Your Social Networks, such as facebook, google+, twitter, reddits and much more (I will recommend you to short copy link via Goo.gl or Bit.ly)

STEP # 5: Here is another way to make money, by creating a gallery if more and more people reshare your gallery then here are many chances to come in royalities. In royalities you can earn more than all your resharer makes money by sharing your photo. Adding videos are another great option, to earn more than a gallery. For example; If your gallery gives you $0.005/View Video can give you $0.009/View.

STEP # 6: Another method to make and get $14/ 1k views, just upload your own video and promote it and you will get earned with that. But you must will have to know that here is a rule after MyLikes will put a small promotional video inside your video after 1mint its mean if you have upload an video of any product or anything you want but note must be unique. Just upload any video to MyLikes and you have done. MyLikes employes will edit your video they will put there message inside your video and will upload to Youtube for you, on your channel. 

NOTE:

• My recommended steps for earning. STEP # 4 & STEP # 5 if you can do Step # 6 better then Step # 6 is best then adding videos of others. 
• Rules of MyLikes are very strict you must needs to read and follow before get ban and waste you money. Must see FAQ and there rules here FAQ for Social Publishers & FAQ for Video Publishers.
• Use Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Reddit, or likes.com for getting Traffic to your posts. (Must needs follow MyLikes rules before posting on social website.)

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge launched at Rs 64,900

NEW DELHI: Samsung has launched Galaxy Note Edge, the first smartphone in the world to have a display on the side in India, at a market price of Rs 64,900. It will be available for sale from January first week through select retailers in "charcoal black," and "frost white" colour variants.

The display curves on the right edge and looks like a stripe that can display additional information as the user operates the phablet. The curved display is secured inside metal brackets and the left side is curved slightly as well.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge sports a 5.6-inch Quad-HD+ (1600x2560 pixel) Super AMOLED display. The phablet boasts of a unique design wherein the right edge of the screen is curved and provides quick access to frequently used apps, alerts and device functionality.

It is powered by a 2.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor. The smartphone features a 3.7MP front camera and 16MP rear camera. It has 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage, expandable up to 128GB via MicroSD card.

The phone runs Android 4.4 KitKat. It also comes with additional software optimized to make use of the accompanying S Pen stylus. Users can multitask in multi-window mode, which supports minimizing apps as floating widgets. It also has text selection and crops selected areas on the screen for later viewing. The S Note app gets its own widget, so that users can access the core functions of the stylus as soon as they unlock it.

The Note Edge supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2X2 MIMO). NFC, Bluetooth 4.1 (BLE),ANT+, USB2.0, MHL 3.0 and IR LED connectivity options. It has a 3000mAh beattery with support for quick charging.

Samsung had announced that Galaxy Note Edge would be available in selected markets only as it was a 'limited edition concept.'

Other than India, Galaxy Note Edge is expected to be launched in Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Australia, Russia, Singapore and Italy.

"Samsung continues with its legacy of pioneering extraordinary innovations and setting new benchmarks in the mobile industry. The Galaxy Note Edge is a stunningly beautiful device equipped with a unique curved screen which not only makes the smartphone distinctive but also delivers a unique way to access information and optimizes functionality," Asim Warsi, VP, mobile & IT, Samsung India, said.

Infosys to 'follow' Google, Facebook in evaluating employees

BENGALURU: Infosys is in the midst of putting together a staff appraisal practice that includes some of the best practices followed at new age companies, including Google and Facebook, and will start evaluating employees from October next, a move some experts believe if executed well, could help the country's second largest software firm retain the tag of preferred employer in the country.

One of the benchmarks Infosys will take into consideration to evaluate its over 160,000-employees will be on feedback from its over 900 clients. The new system will also see an individual's performance being judged by his team members and in many cases, even subordinates in the team. Significantly, Design Thinking, the creative and systematic approach to problem-solving, will be used to implement these 'futuristic performance measures,' according to a senior executive.

"Today, we have a 360 degree feedback for senior people — both internal feedback, and in some cases, through external feedback," said Srikantan Moorthy, HR head. "Already, more than 2,500 people have gone through this process, some of whom have got feedback from clients. If we have to extend it for 160,000 people, we have to use Design Thinking in articulating the solution before it gets rolled out."

Although Google and Facebook keep details of their HR practices close to their chest, some experts said the companies use a lot of analytics to find the right candidate for a job or for a promotion. Further, in many cases, they even seek client feedback on an engineer's performance at a particular project. "When we talk about HR practices, developmental plans and promotions are components. So, we are looking at best practices at various companies at what they do and create a more futuristic perform ance management system that will last for some time. That's what we are working on," Moorthy told ET in an interview earlier this month.

For now, homegrown technology firms, including Infosys, rely on data analytics when it comes to hiring prospective employees. But the biggest challenge haunting these companies is to retain talent as many junior engineers at these firms leave the company, with the attrition rate being the highest in the band of employees with two to five years' experience. Infosys had an attrition rate of over 20% for the second quarter ended September 30 while its city rival Wipro had an attrition level of close to 17%.

"We will be applying Design Thinking principles to engage with employees to get feedback, articulate the problem, develop the right model or solution before rolling it," said Moorthy.

For this reason, some experts dub this thinking at country's second largest software exporter as a step in the right direction.

"Indian companies for a long time have seen employees at lower levels as replaceable, but with raising costs, higher training costs, we see a change in thinking happening, also in India," said Holger Mueller, principal analyst and VP at Constellation Research.

Since Infosys tasked its first nonfounder chief executive Vishal Sikka to help the company match up with industry-matching growth numbers of 13% yearly growth, Sikka has kicked off various steps to motivate employees. From rewarding them with more number of promotions and even doing away with the variable pay component for entry-level employees, Infosys also started with the first kind of crowdsourcing initiative, 'Murmurations' to motivate employees.

For all these reasons, the management believes that the company should be able to bring down attrition to 13-15% by as early as June next year.