Goodbye, Wi-Fi! Li-Fi Just Got Tested And It's 100 Times Faster!

Goodbye, Wi-Fi! Li-Fi Just Got Tested And It's 100 Times Faster!

Things are going to get very interesting in the coming months. The way we access internet can completely change forever. Well, that's what scientists are telling us anyway. Remember this word - 'Li-Fi'; it's going to be used very often soon enough. What is it you ask? Li-Fi is a wireless technology that transmits high-speed (insanely high-speed) data using visible light communication, or VLC. So imagine switching on a bulb in your room, and it'll not only be a source of light, but will also transmit wireless internet to your phones and other devices. Madness, I tell you.   

Scientists claim that they are achieving speeds of up to 224 gigabytes per second in the lab using Li-Fi earlier this year. This would mean a revolution in the world of videos. Now, scientists have taken Li-Fi out of the lab for the first time, testing it in offices and industrial environments  in Tallinn, Estonia. They are claiming that they can achieve speeds of up to 1 Gb per second at a work environment. Just to put that into perspective, that is 100 times faster than the average Wi-Fi speeds that we currently have around the world. 

The technology uses Visible Light Communication (VLC), a medium that uses visible light between 400 and 800 terahertz (THz). It works basically like an incredibly advanced form of Morse code - just like switching a torch on and off according to a certain pattern can relay a secret message, flicking an LED on and off at extreme speeds can be used to write and transmit things in binary code. 

"We are doing a few pilot projects within different industries where we can utilise the VLC (visible light communication) technology," Deepak Solanki, CEO of Estonian tech company, Velmenni, told IBTimes UK. 

"Currently we have designed a smart lighting solution for an industrial environment where the data communication is done through light. We are also doing a pilot project with a private client where we are setting up a Li-Fi network to access the Internet in their office space.”

Invented by Harald Haas from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland back in 2011, Haas demonstrated how the flickering light from a single LED could transmit far more data than a cellular tower! 224 gigabytes per second! 18 movies of 1.5 GB each getting downloaded every second. Hmm, not bad eh?

There are more positives than just speed. Think about it, because light cannot pass through walls, you don't have to worry about your pesky neighbour trying to hack into your internet and stealing data. It's a lot more secure. Experts, however, don't feel that this will phase out Wi-Fi. Instead, the two technologies could be used together to achieve more efficient and secure networks.

"All we need to do is fit a small microchip to every potential illumination device and this would then combine two basic functionalities: illumination and wireless data transmission," Haas said. "In the future we will not only have 14 billion light bulbs, we may have 14 billion Li-Fis deployed worldwide for a cleaner, greener, and even brighter future." If this technology does pan out, and it comes to India, it would mean everyone who has an LED light bulb would have access to the internet. 

Source : http://www.indiatimes.com/

‘Go India’ Smart Card for Train Tickets

‘Go-India’ smart card scheme has been launched on pilot basis on two sectors i.e. New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah. At present, the Go-India smart card enables passengers to pay for reserved and unreserved tickets. The smart card can be used at nominated Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS)/Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters and at Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) on these two sectors for issuing tickets. The salient features of the Go-India smart card are as under: 

Initially, the card can be get issued by paying minimum Rs.70/- where passenger will get Rs.20/- balance.After that, card can be recharged for Rs.20/- or in multiple of Rs.50/- upto Rs. 5000/-.

Maximum limit on Go-India smart card is Rs.10,000/-.

Go-India smart card has life time validity. In case of no usage in six months from the date of last transaction, smart card will be temporarily deactivated which can be activated again by paying Rs.50/- as activation fee.

The scheme is intended to reduce the transaction time at the booking counters for the convenience of passengers as it facilitates cashless transaction.             

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

I T Modernization Project Update -14 ( December, 2014 )

Aadhar enabled bio-metric attendance system – Early leaving is also to be treated as late coming…

"As per existing instructions, half a-day’s casual leave should be debited for each day of late attendance, but late attendance upto an hour, on not more than two occasions in a month"...

Govt introduces Aadhar enabled bio-metric attendance system

The Centre on Friday decided to phase-out manual attendance system and use an Aadhar enabled bio-metric attendance system (AEBAS) in all its offices.

“It has been decided to use an Aadhar enabled bio-metric attendance system in all offices of the central government, including attached and sub-ordinate offices, in India,” said an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Aadhar is a 12 digit individual identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India on behalf of the central government.

The system will be installed in the offices located in New Delhi by this year end.

In other places this may be installed by January 26, 2015, it said.

The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) will provide technical guidance for installing the system, the order said.

The equipment will be procured by the ministries or departments as per specifications of DeitY on Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D) rate contract from authorised vendors.

The expenditure will be met by the ministries or departments concerned. “The manual system of attendance may be phased out accordingly,” it said.

The bio-metric attendance system is only an enabling platform. There is no change in the instructions relating to office hours, late attendance etc. which will continue to apply, the order said.

As per existing instructions, half a-day’s casual leave should be debited for each day of late attendance, but late attendance upto an hour, on not more than two occasions in a month, and for justifiable reasons may be condoned by the competent authority.

“Disciplinary action may also be taken against government servants who are habitually late. Early leaving is also to be treated in the same manner as late coming,” the instructions said.

All central government ministries and departments have been asked by the DoPT to follow the orders which comes into force “with immediate effect”.

Source: DDI News

8 Surprising Facts about Google

Google has become an essential part of our lives.  We have often heard people saying let’s “Google it.” Users can search for the information they desire by entering keywords and using operators. In March 2007, Google was noted as the most visited website, having over 528 million visits for the month. Here is a list of 8 interesting facts about Google

#1. Fact 1:

When you sit down at your computer and perform a Google search, the machine checks  the google index to determine the most relevant search results to be delivered to you. Google's search engine is a powerful tool; it takes over 200 factors into account before delivering you the best results for your query. Google uses a special algorithm called the Googlebot to generate search results.

#2. Fact 2:

Google owns a cluster of domains such as, Gooogle.com, Gogle.com, and Googlr.com, which directs to Google.com. Interestingly, Google also owns 466453.com, which is strange. Take a look at your telephone keypad, and match up the numbers to the letters “4 GHI 6 MNO 6 MNO 4 GHI 5 JKL 3 DEF,” that is “466453= Google.” So if you type any of these knowingly or unknowingly, it doesn’t take you to some strange page, you will still land up on Google.com.


#3. Fact 3:

When Google was founded in September 1998, it served ten thousand search queries per day. Currently, there are more than 2 million Google searches per second. The search engine finds a trillion unique URLs on the Web, crawls many billion sites a day, and processes numerous searches every month. Current Google search volume estimates are delivered through statistical analysis.

#4. Fact 4:

Google takes on the best projects that could change the world for millions of people. In 2012, Google introduced the Cherokee language in Gmail. While Google has continuously expanded its language support for Gmail and its other services, this was the first time that Google added a Native American tribal language to its list. As part of this effort, Google also added Cherokee to its recently launched virtual keyboards for Gmail. This has been helping the younger generation to communicate with the elders.

#5. Fact 5:

The concept of the Google Doodle was formed on August 30, 1998 when company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin placed a simple stick-figure drawing behind the second "o" in the word “Google”. This first Google logo art was planned as a message to the website's users that the founders were "out of office" at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert.

#6. Fact 6:

Advertising is one of the biggest drivers of the search giant’s revenue gains. In 2013, about 91% of Google's $55.5 billion revenue was derived from its advertising programs. Google's AdWords allows advertisers to display their advertisements in the Google content network, through either a cost-per-click or cost-per-view scheme. The sister service, Google AdSense, allows website owners to display advertisements on their website and earn money every time the ads are clicked.

#7. Fact 7:

Google's search index is more than 100 million gigabytes in size. It would take 100,000 one-terabyte personal drive to contain the same amount of data.

#8. Fact 8:

Google might be the only company with a clear goal to reduce the amount of time people spend on its site. The company uses a policy often called Innovation Time Off, where Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20 percent of their work time on projects that interest them.

What is a megapixel?

Digital cameras capture images as pixel elements, known as pixels. Simply put, a megapixel is equal to one million pixels.

Digital images are made up of thousands of these tiny, tile-like picture elements. The more pixels, the higher the image resolution.

Resolution relates primarily to print size and the amount of detail an image has when viewed on a computer monitor at 100%.

Elements of picture quality

The number of megapixels is only one aspect relating to the quality of a camera, or the actual quality of a photo it is capable of producing. Factors such as camera sensor and processor, and the optical quality of a lens, play equally important roles.

Other elements determine the quality of photos and prints. They include:

§  Good lighting of a subject

§  Proper focus and exposure

§  Image clarity (lack of blur due to camera shake or incorrect shutter speed)

§  Shooting at the highest resolution and quality camera settings

Photo was taken with a 1.4 megapixel camera. The resolution is suitable for a 4x6" print. Click to enlarge.

Photo was taken with a 1.4 megapixel camera.
 The resolution is suitable for a 4x6" print. Click to enlarge.

If you buy a digital camera with too few megapixels for your printing and editing needs, resulting prints will become degraded.  A photo made into a large sized print from a camera with a low megapixel count will look fuzzy, or pixelated. So will a digital image that is cropped too much.

Viewing images at 100%

A mistake many people make it judging the quality of an image when viewing it at 100% on a computer monitor. The image rarely appears tack sharp. However, when reduced in size for displaying online or printing, a quality image more often than not looks just fine.

Determining the number of megapixels

Deciding the number of megapixels you need does not have to be confusing. Don’t let a salesperson push you to buy a digital camera simply because it has a high megapixel count.

Before purchasing, keep the following in mind:

§  the maximum print size you plan to make

§  if you do a significant amount of cropping when editing or cropping in-camera

Minimum megapixels for quality prints:**

Printed at 300 dpi

Max Print Size	Minimum MP	Resolution
4 x 6″	2 megapixels	1600 x 1200
5 x 7″	3 megapixels	2048 x 1536
8 x1 0″	5 megapixels	2560 x 1920
11 x 14″	6 megapixels	2816 x 2112
16 x 20″	8 megapixels	3264 x 2468
16 x 24″	12 megapixels	4200×2800

** Unless you buy a used digital camera, it’s near impossible to find one today with a megapixel count of under 10 megapixels.

 Source : http://www.digicamhelp.com/