Europe's youngest application designer

Europe's youngest application designer computer whiz kid, who was crowned Europe's youngest application designer, has been expelled for hacking into his school's computer system. Aaron Bond, 14, was expelled from King Edward VI College in Totnes, Devon for trying to access confidential information about staff and students and even the vice-principal's financial information. He managed to access details about his peers and edited the Information Technology room booking system and school newsletter before the security breach came to school management's knowledge. The school's principal, Kate Mason, confirmed Aaron admitted accessing the school's Information Technology system without permission on several occasions. "Aaron was excluded from the college in accordance with the serious nature of the offence and the college's behaviour policy and acceptable user policy, which he had signed," she added.

"I am very sorry and if I had known the consequences I never would have done it," The Telegraph quoted Bond, as saying. He claimed that he hacked computers after seeing a list of passwords displayed on a white board in the school's Information Technology room, but the school stressed nobody has access to them. His mother Kate, 36, said Aaron was curious "like any school boy would have been." "I think the security of the school computer system should be a lot better. A 14-year-old boy should not have been able to get into the system.I don't see why they can't give Aaron a second chance," she added. Bond, who has designed six applications used on smartphones and is the managing director of his own web design company. He was among hand-picked delegates at the 2011 Apple conference.

Mobile Services provider

Telecom Services provider as Telenor and Etisalat may be able to make a comeback even if they do not getting spectrum during the forthcoming licensee auctions. The Planning Commission has suggested that a mechanism should be put in place whereby companies without spectrum should be able to utilise unused airwaves belonging to licensed operators. Called dynamic spectrum access, the technology determines locally unused spectrum in real time and then makes it available for re-use by another operator. For example, if Airtel has 10 Mhz of spectrum in Delhi and part of this is not being used during off-peak hours, then it can allow another player to utilise this for a fee. “I understand that modern cognitive radio technologies now available make it possible for service providers other than the Telecom licensee, to utilise those parts of the spectrum currently unutilised by the customers of the licensee,” Mr.MontekSingh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission of Country, He added in a note to the Telecom Ministry.

He added that this mechanism ensures efficient utilization of a scarce resource and it would also improve the value of spectrum in the auction. “Some mechanism can be devised wherein such usage can be paid for,” Mr.MontekSingh Ahluwalia said in his note. For implementing this proposal, the Telecom Ministry will have to shift its position on spectrum sharing. At present it is in favour of allowing spectrum sharing between two licensed operators who have airwaves in the same circle. The Planning Commission's view is that even operators without spectrum in a circle should be allowed to take bandwidth from those who have. According to Government sources, Mr.MontekSingh Ahluwalia has discussed this with the Secretary of the Department of Telecom. “The the Department of Telecom is looking at this suggestion because it is in line with the new telecom policy objectives. But details of this will have to be spelt out ahead of the 2G auction for the benefit of the bidders,” He added a top the Department of Telecom official.

Internet monitoring system solution

Internet monitoring system : inter-ministerial panel has slammed the National Technical Research Organisation for roping in a private company for setting the Internet monitoring system. The National Technical Research Organization has raised serious security concerns on the tie up as the private company was selling similar solutions to other customers in the global market, thus not exclusive to India. “This is a matter of concern as the strength/weakness of Internet Monitoring Probe is exposed to the entire world, thus adversaries to bypass these probes,” the National Technical Research Organization said in its report. The panel has suggested picking the solution developed by the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) since it was developed indigenously. “The National Technical Research Organisation observed that CAIR is a fully indigenous designed and developed solution involving Government scientists and personnel and no component of solution has been outsourced to an outside agency,” the report said. “On the other hand, National Technical Research Organisation claims to have designed the system that has admittedly been developed through Paladion, a private company. This raises serious security concerns for an extremely sensitive solution like this,” it added. Development through outsourcing also raises doubts about the capabilities of National Technical Research Organisation in independent handling of the solution during its operation and maintenance as well as future upgradation without the involvement of the private partner, the report said.

NTRO solution

The panel said it was not happy with National Technical Research Organisation solution either. “during demonstration the software system crashed frequently,” it said. In comparison, CAIR demonstrated the solution with full confidence and answer all technical queries of the members in a convincing manner. The National Technical Research Organisation also discussed the issue with Intelligence Bureau and R&AW who will be the primary users of the monitoring system. The representative of R&AW was also not happy with the National Technical Research Organization solution, while, on the other hand, IB was satisfied with the solution of CAIR. “The committee observed that CAIR has been continuously making R&D efforts since inception for keeping pace with the fast changing Web technologies. However, National Technical Research Organisation has not made any R&D efforts after the induction of their system in 2008. The National Technical Research Organisation also observed that while CAIR could demonstrate all its claims, National Technical Research Organisation was not able to demonstrate all the claims made by it,” the report stated. National Technical Research Organisation has refuted the committee's observations through a letter on January 20. It told the panel that its system cannot be sold to anyone else without permission. But the panel rejected this on grounds that there was no mention of any such restriction on the private company. The panel also sought more information from National Technical Research Organisation by end of that month “which have not been submitted till date.”

Monitoring system

The security agencies are looking to build a system that can monitor Internet traffic on a real time basis. The trigger is the rapidly escalating threat posed by terrorist and criminal elements using data communication, which has brought into focus services offered by the likes of BlackBerry, Skype and Gmail. The solution developed by CAIR is called NETRA which has been developed by 40 scientists.

could limit information - search engine collected information

Online Search engines users disapprove of personal data being collected for search results or for targeted advertising, according to a Pew survey released on Friday that underscored the public's growing concern with web privacy. The survey results come after Internet search company Google said in January it was simplifying its privacy policy and would pool data on users across its services, including You-Tube and G mail. Users cannot opt out of the new policy. It has generated scrutiny from European and Brazilian regulators. The Pew Internet & American Life survey showed that 65 % of users said it was a bad thing if a search engine collected information about searches and then used it to rank future search results. They worried it could limit information users get online and what search results they saw. An even larger 73 % said they would not be OK with a search engine keeping track of searches and personalizing future search results because it would be an invasion of privacy. Just 38 % of Internet users said they were aware of how they could limit information about them that is collected by a website. Google Inc. (GOOG.O) is by far the most popular search engine, with 83 % of search users saying they used it most often. Yahoo Inc. (YHOO.O) trailed at 6 %, the survey found. The survey was conducted from January 20 to February 19 among 2,253 adults age 18 and over, including 901 cell phone interviews. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 2 % points.

Windows application programs

MSI displayed motherboard products that were equipped with Intel’s new generation 7 series chipsets and support Intel’s new generation 22nm CPU and PCI Express Gen3 specification at CeBIT 2012 exhibition that was held at Hannover, Germany on March 6th, 2012. These motherboards included high-end Z77 chipset: Z77A-GD80, Z77A-GD65, Z77A-GD55, Z77A-G45 and Z77MA-G45; mid-end H77 chipset: ZH77-G43; entry-level B75 chipset: B75A-G43. With the adaptation of Military Class III components on MSI 7 series chipset motherboards, Military Class III components provide enthusiasts the highest quality and stability 1. MSI’s Military Class III components have passed seven rigorous tests, conducted by third party laboratories; the tests include extreme temperature, humidity, pressure, vibration and dropping etc., the components received the MIL-STD-810G Military Class Certification. Continuing MSI’s commitment to the product’s stability and durability, MSI’s 7 series motherboards also imported Military Class III components. In addition to importing Highly-conductive Polymerized Capacitors (Hi-c CAP), Super Ferrite Choke (SFC) and Solid Capacitors (Solid CAP), there is also the next generation DrMOS - DrMOS II.

MSI’s exclusive OC Genie II technology only requires one second to generate amazing performance increase, and also release the CPU, iGPU and memory performance at the same time, maximizing under the most stable situation and considerably saving enthusiast’s time for system adjustment. Once enthusiasts have activated the OC Genie function on MSI’s motherboard, it allows the iGPU’s performance to increase by over 36%! This allows enthusiasts to easily enjoy the performance explosion brought by overclocking. This is the world’s first system tool that integrated UEFI BIOS and Windows application programs; it allows you to adjust system settings under different environments through the mouse or even the LCD touch panel. Click BIOS II is also the world’s first BIOS that allows overclocking settings to be saved onto USB flash drives, and even allows overclocking enthusiasts to upload it to the internet and share it for other enthusiasts to use. MSI’s Z77/H77/B75 series motherboards not only support the newest PCE Express Gen 3 specification, which is able to provide amazing 32GB/s bandwidth that has doubled compared to the previous generation, they also support the next generation 22nm process CPUs, allowing enthusiasts to use the newest specifications to gain the best usage experience.