how to prevent the exploding laptop batteries

In this medium, quite often we read cases of how a leaking battery can overheat and eventually cause a fire and should be withdrawn by the manufacturer. Fortunately, now comes a new technology that can prevent the Li-ion batteries are installed on a laptop or cell phone on fire or explode.

Name STOBA technology. The technology was developed by a research institute named Taiwan ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute), and will likely be marketed in the first quarter of next year.

More technology prevent phone laptop battery explosion.

When Li-Ion battery shorting, the battery temperature will rise rapidly, which can reach 932 degrees Fahrenheit. This is why the battery is flammable or explosive. Stoba prevent fire or explosion by being positive and negative side of battery. If the battery temperature reaches 266 degrees Fahrenheit, Stoba changed from a porous material into a film and had to stop the reaction.

Currently the battery manufacturer is testing STOBA. Stoba expected to be present on the market in the first quarter of 2010. Use of Stoba also expected to cause an increase in manufacturing costs by 2-3 percent.

READ MORE - how to prevent the exploding laptop batteries

Low Cost Windows Phone

While the tech community remains crazy over Windows Phone Mango, an update of which was released to manufacturers for testing two weeks ago, they now begin to speculate what is the next step of this mobile OS.
Rumors about the so-called “Windows Phone Tango,” which serves as an in-betweener for Mango and “Apollo” (Windows Phone 8), have been circulating lately. According to Mary-Jo Foley of ZDNet, her sources claim the Tango would most likely appear in lower-priced handsets–mostly by Nokia–and apparently target the Asian market “largely or even exclusively.”

Foley, meanwhile, believes that Tango will most likely be a minor release, as Microsoft saves its effort and energy for Windows Phone 8, which is said will be available by late 2012.

READ MORE - Low Cost Windows Phone

Found: A Batch of DNA Molecules That Seem To Have Originated in Space

In what appears to be seriously big news from a team of NASA-funded researchers, scientists have found evidence that some building blocks of DNA--including two of the four nucleobases that make up our genetic code--found in meteorites were created in space, lending credence to the idea that life is not homegrown but was seeded here by asteroids, meteorites, or comets sometime in Earth’s early lifetime.

This is big news, of course, because if the ingredients for life were brought here from some external source, there’s always the possibility that the same thing has happened elsewhere in the universe--possibly many times over.

Scientists have been extracting fragments of DNA from meteorites for decades now, but there was never really hard proof that those pieces of biological molecules were native to the extraterrestrial object rather than terrestrial contamination that occurred when the object slammed into Earth. So while the idea of DNA riding aboard extraterrestrial objects has been floated before, this is the first time we’ve been presented real evidence backing that notion.

The idea isn’t that these building blocks are just passengers aboard meteorites, but that the chemistry inside asteroids and comets can actually manufacture the essential building blocks of biology. And a liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis of sample meteorites and the environments where they were found seems to confirm this.

Here’s the basic gist of the findings: The LC and MS analysis separated and analyzed the component parts of the samples and found adenine and guanine, two of the components of the double helix that make up the code that tells our cells what to do. They also found hypoxanthine and xanthine, which don’t factor in to DNA but are used in other biological functions.

But more interestingly, the researchers found three nucleobase-related molecules: purine, 2,6-diaminopurine, and 6,8-diaminopurine. These last two are rarely used in biology, but they are like analogs for nucleobases--the same core molecule but structurally slightly different. That’s really important because if the meteorites were terrestrially contaminated, they wouldn’t be there (because they are not used in biology). But if the chemical processes going on inside an extraterrestrial object really are churning out prebiotic stuff, then you would expect to see all kinds of nucleobases--the ones used for biology, and others that aren’t.

Moreover, analysis of the Antarctic ice and Australian soil around where the meteorites were found showed the amounts of the two nucleobases as well as the hypoxanthine and xanthine to be drastically lower. If the contamination were terrestrial, one could expect equal amounts of the molecules (or less) to be present in the meteorite samples, certainly not more.

It’s a pretty convincing case, though one that will undergo a lot more scientific scrutiny. If comets and asteroids really are churning out the ingredients for life, it certainly changes our picture of life in the universe, and the possibility that other rocks out there might be harboring their own biological systems.

READ MORE - Found: A Batch of DNA Molecules That Seem To Have Originated in Space

Analysis: Apple going after Google in tablet spats?

Apple Inc's increasingly effective patent war against rivals like Samsung Electronics may mask its real target: arch-foe Google Inc.

The maker of the iPad and iPhone has sued three of the largest manufacturers of Google's Android-based devices -- Samsung, Motorola and HTC -- for multiple patent infringements across multiple countries, pointing out "slavish copying" of design and "look and feel."

And the courts are beginning to listen: recent success in blocking sales of Samsung's latest Galaxy tablet in most of Europe and Apple's challenges to the Korean giant in Australia reflect an aggressive effort to defend its top position in the red-hot mobile market from the runaway success of Android.

While the lawsuits don't take direct aim at the operating software -- yet -- many of the features under contention are connected to and enhanced by it. Apple CEO Steve Jobs once referred to the software as being the soul of any device when he introduced the company's iOS 5 system in June.

Brian Marshall, an analyst with Gleacher & Co, said Apple is starting to flex its patent muscle with some early success but its real battle is with the Android software. "Apple doesn't really care too much about the actual OEMs."

Apple's lead is now under siege in smartphones from Google's free Android software, already the world's most-used mobile system with 550,000 devices activated every day.

Its momentum could be hampered by successful patent infringement lawsuits against adopters like Samsung.

"The way Google gets sucked into it is through the marketplace," Ron Laurie, managing director and patent consultant at Inflexion Point Strategy, said.

Any injunction won by Apple, if enforced, could mean that Android may be forced to take out the offending feature from its software design. "That would make it less attractive and people would go elsewhere," Laurie said.

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has said rivals are responding to Android's success with lawsuits "as they cannot respond through innovations."

HIGH STAKES

At stake is a booming one-year-old market that analysts are already predicting will eclipse the decades-old PC market in a matter of years, a market that Apple fears Google's software could eventually dominate the way it now leads the smartphone arena.

The tablet market is expected to grow from under 20 million tablets last year to over 230 million in 2015.

While Apple is still the leader by far in the tablet market, research firm Informa expects tablets running Android to catch up with Apple's iPad and surpass it in 2016.

Samsung, experts say, has the best chance of attacking the iPad's commanding hold on the market. Apple's 75 percent share is expected to fall to 39 percent in 2015, when Android's will grow to 38 percent, according to Informa.

A less visible benefit of Apple waging and winning patent battles against the likes of Samsung, HTC and Motorola would be that Android may effectively no longer be free because of potential licensing costs that need to be paid to Apple.

Android's major vulnerability lies in the patent arena. Being a fairly new entrant in this market, Google hasn't built up enough intellectual property in the way Apple or Microsoft has.

"All this will end up making Android less 'free', Jean-Louis Gassee, venture capitalist and a former Apple executive, said. "But by how much? Five dollars a handset, no problem. Fifteen dollars -- then it is trouble."

Apple knows the power of licensing -- from the losing side as well. It recently forged a cross-licensing patent deal with Nokia, agreeing to make a one-time payment in hundreds of millions of dollars and pay continuing royalties.

But it is Google that had been caught off guard in the patent battle, being historically and philosophically opposed to gathering them as a defensive or offensive move. But that is changing with Google now in the hunt for key patents.

This has sparked an expensive arms race between technology giants as they try to outbid each other to stockpile on valuable patent portfolios up for grabs.

In the high-profile tussle for 6,000 wireless patents from bankrupt Nortel Networks, Google kicked off the tug-of-war with a stalking horse bid of $900 million -- far greater than anyone expected. But Apple -- allying with Microsoft, Sony and others -- swooped in to snap them up eventually for $4.5 billion, a price tag that sent shockwaves through the industry.

Google's chief lawyer, David Drummond, last week lashed out against Apple and others, accusing them of "a hostile, organized campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies, waged through bogus patents."

In the wake of the injunction against the Galaxy in Europe, Apple is seeking a similar ruling against Motorola's Xoom in German court. It won a preliminary ruling last month from a U.S. trade panel that HTC infringed two of Apple's patents.

But Apple is not the only one enforcing patent rights on Android mobile devices. Microsoft recently settled a suit with HTC over the Taiwanese company's Android devices. Oracle is seeking billions of dollars from Google for infringing on Java patents through its Android system.

Analysts expect Apple to continue to be the aggressor.

"It's clear that the tablet wars are going to be fought on many, many fronts," Michael Gartenberg, technology analyst with Gartner. "Clearly lots of companies are seeing opportunities here who don't plan on ceding the market to Apple, and Apple is using everything in its arsenal to defend itself."

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Edwin Chan, Gary Hill)

from: reuters.com

READ MORE - Analysis: Apple going after Google in tablet spats?

Minebea Cool Leaf Keyboard Set To Hit Shelves

If you’re a regular keyboard user–and if you’re here, let’s face it, you probably are–then you know firsthand the perils of same, with all that repetitive stress injury likelihood and such. But the folks out at Minebea are not only about to improve the looks of your standard keyboard, but they might do a number on helping your wrists and fingers out, too, with their Cool Leaf touch screen keyboard.

It’s been a long time since we last heard about Minebea’s Cool Leaf system, and the last time we did, they were really just concepts. But now the concepts have made that oh so necessary leap from concept to actual product, and they’ll be available a whole lot sooner than you might think.

First off, a word on the keyboard itself. Basically, this is a standard keyboard, except all the keys have been removed and replaced with spaces on a touch screen, thus allowing you to tap your fingers to spaces on a touch screen instead of actually pressing down keys with resistance. Word is that Minebea has actually extended the concept out to include remote controls and calculators, too, but it’s the keyboards we’re concerned about. The first model will, not surprisingly, be Japanese, and it will offer a 108 key layout. It’s also only compatible with Windows based computers, so Apple folks, I’m sorry but you’re out in the cold, at least for now. Word is, though, you’ll be getting a separate version a little later on. Just when, though, is as yet unclear but I don’t look for you to be without too long.

The first ones will hit Japan May 13th for 26,000 yen (about $318.55 in US dollars), and word is that versions will follow in several other languages, including French, German, Italian, and of course, English, by the end of July. Sounds like it could be worth a look, if a bit expensive, and maybe it will even take some strain off your wrists and fingertips.

READ MORE - Minebea Cool Leaf Keyboard Set To Hit Shelves

Panasonic S10 New Laptops For 2011

The Panasonic has launched its new laptops for 2011, dubbed as s10 premium edition w/ssd toughbook which is running on Windows 7 OS. The Panasonic has added modern feature in Panasonic S10.

It comes with more attractive look and it has 12.1-inch display screen which provides amazing quality image and video experience. This one built-in 15.5 hours battery life, and other awesome features such as a Core i7 2620M processor, 640GB HDD or 256GB SSD Hard disk drive and four gaga byte RAM.

Additional Detail:

* Core i7-2620M vPro @ 2.70 GHz
* 4GB DDR3 SDRAM
* Intel QM67 Express chipset
* TFT display
* 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth ver.2.1 + EDR/Class 2LAN
* DVD Multi Drive
* PCM Intel High Definition Audio, Integrated Speaker
* SD Memory Slot / PC Card Type II, and more

READ MORE - Panasonic S10 New Laptops For 2011

USB or ROBOT?

In market there is no dearth for USB gadgets now here is a latest usb mecha dubbed as the Incubot voltron and nikobot. Both arrives with awesome design and simple features. Each usb mecha comes in their respective stark white boxes and are disembodied to disclose the twain gaga byte USB within.

If you are a especially observant reader, you would observe both voltron and shiroi have been staples of incubot in the ago. Two models will be launched, at this time. And all special edition USBs are available in their own Incubot item page. Are you looking for the new kids? If yes then recently USB gadgets is best that are obtainable in paint job to suit their Japanese-centric relief purpose.

READ MORE - USB or ROBOT?

Gold USB

Here we are talking about new gadgets accessories of computer, it is available in world-wide market. The latest gold ingot usb gadget is made with gold and it is look like gold bar.

The gold usb gadget is its high end gadgets accessories for PC which is available in gold color, this wooden four gaga byte usb thumbdrive is covering with superb gold leaf. It is manufactured in Kanazzawa urban in Ishikawa Prefecture, where approx ninety-nine percent of country gold leaf manufactures occurs.
Other Features:
# Gold Ingot USB Memory
# Windows 7 / Vista / XP, Mac OS X 10.4~10.4.11/10.5~10.5.6/10.6 OS
# 4GB memory
# Material: Japanese bigleaf magnolia Gold leaf
# Dimensions: W26xH82xD11mm

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Hacker can shut down Apple MacBook battery

Forget computer viruses and worms. What's maybe the worst thing a hacker could do to your laptop? Access it remotely and shut it down -- or maybe even blow it up.

Which is why famous Apple hacker Charlie Miller wanted to do just that.

"I don't want to wake up one day and have my computer blow up," said Miller, who is an avid user of Apple products. "I want to be the one looking at that -- not the bad guys."

How would a person blow up a laptop without even coming near it? By tampering with the software that runs its battery, said Miller, who demonstrated a way to hack into an Apple laptop battery and shut it down, but fell short of actually making it explode.

Apple did not respond to a CNN request for comment.

Miller explained his hack in a presentation at the Black Hat security conference Thursday in Las Vegas. After the talk, he sat down with CNN to talk about Apple security, hacker ethics and why long passwords can be annoying.

The following is an edited transcript:

CNN: Tell me what you were able to do with Apple's laptop batteries.

It's sort of complicated, but the way batteries get charged in your laptop is there's a little chip in your battery and the computer talks to that chip to figure out what's going on. That chip will tell it how much charge it has, how much charge it needs, how much charge it should give it -- that sort of thing. What I figured out was how to change the software that runs on that chip.

When it comes from the factory, they don't want you messing with it, so they set up passwords and stuff to prevent you from doing that. There's two passwords, actually, and Apple didn't change those, so you can just find documents on the Internet that said what those were and then I could change the firmware on the chips to make it (the battery) do whatever I wanted.

So what does that allow you to do?

Well, you could make it not work anymore. You can make the battery to where the computer doesn't even know it's plugged in. ...

My goal was to see if I could make one blow. I never did that. There's lots of different protections to stop that from happening, and also I was a little scared to blow one up in my house, you know.

Why blow it up? Why was that the goal?

I approach it like, what can people do to me, right? So I don't want to wake up one day and have my computer blow up. I want to be the one looking at that -- not the bad guys.

So I found this thing where Apple didn't change their passwords. Well, now they're hopefully going to change their passwords, right? So then next time I buy a laptop from Apple I won't have to worry quite so much that someone will do something (bad).

I released a tool that you could run, if you're particularly paranoid, that would fix this problem.

Is this the first time a hack has targeted a battery?

No one that I know has ever looked at it -- or no one has ever published anything about it. You carry this thing around with you, and it has a chemistry set in it.

Other people go into a store, and they think about what to buy. I think about how to steal stuff. I don't (actually) do it -- that's just kind of how I think.

You target Apple products primarily. Tell me why you've chosen to do that?

That's a good question. I started this gig four years ago -- and so back then the Apple products were way easier to break into than, say, Windows.

Really?

Yeah, they were very far behind in security.

That goes against the common perception.

Yeah, I know. People thought they were secure when they weren't. And when I told people that, no one would believe me.

So the reason I started is it was easy. But since then, with (OS X) Lion coming out, it's caught up. Now it's not any easier anymore. I either have to find something else that's easier to work on -- or whatever.

Do you like Apple products?

Yeah, I have an iPhone in my pocket right now. That's another reason. If I use it, I want it to be secure. I don't want Steve Jobs having a commercial saying it's secure -- I want it to actually be secure. That's my job to figure out what's secure and what's not.

Currently, do you think Apple products are more secure than their counterparts?

(Apple) iOS is definitely more secure than Android. Lion is basically comparable to Windows 7. You can nitpick on those two, but they're basically both really good.

Android is lacking a couple of features that iOS has, so it's behind.

Do you have any security tips for iPhone users?

Make sure to set a passcode for it. Otherwise, if someone picks up the phone, there's nothing there. So set a passcode. It's not going to protect it forever, but at least it's some barrier for some kid that picks it up.

Don't jailbreak your phone if you care about the security of it -- because that breaks all of the security. Make sure to configure for remote "locate and wipe," so if you lose it you can either find it or blow away all of your data on it.

How long is your mobile password?

It's four digits, which Dino (fellow Apple hacker Dino Dai Zovi) showed in his talk you can break in 18 minutes. So if I don't get my phone back in 18 minutes I'm in trouble. I've tried longer ones, but it's just impractical. I couldn't stick with it.

How did you get into hacking in the very beginning?

I've been into computers and thought hacking was cool. I got my Ph.D. in math from Notre Dame and I got hired by the NSA (National Security Agency) to be a cryptographer. But when I got there, I didn't really like that, so they had a training program in computer security, so I learned the basics of my training there in an internship.

Where do you do your work?

At my house. I work out of my house. I'm a consultant. I spend half my time doing consultant work and the rest of my time doing research -- like this kind of stuff.

Where do you live?

St. Louis.

How long did it take you to do the battery hack?

It took about seven months -- it took a really long time. Most of my research projects are like two weeks, or a month or something. But this one was so far from my comfort zone, and there had been so little written about it that it really took a long time.

So basically you're giving away information about how to break things in an effort to make it more secure. Some people might be confused by that.

I mean, people think that -- like with my battery thing -- that if people didn't talk about this, no one would have ever found out about it. And that's just not the case.

No matter what we talk about here, there's always bad guys -- or guys who are trying to do this to make money -- that are just as smart as us. And there are way more of them.

All we can do is present to everyone what we know. You can't defend against something you don't know.

Do you feel paranoid using Apple products knowing how many flaws you've been able to find in them?

A little bit. But they've gotten so much better. Like the iPhone. For the first year, when the iPhone came out, it was horrible. It was awful. It had no security in it, basically -- at all. And then when the second iPhone came out it was much better. And since March it's had basically every feature a security guy would want.

It's not just me. I think it's everyone saying they want more secure devices.

Do you work with Apple?

Not exactly. I have a cordial relationship with them. I shared with them my paper on the battery stuff like three weeks before the talk. But then again, if they would have told me not to do it I would have said, "Go to hell." I don't want to be their adversary. I want to have them fix stuff -- and I want them to get better. I try to share with them.

Are they working on this battery thing?

Unfortunately, there's not a lot they can do except start again and get it right.

Have hackers ever targeted you?

If they have, I haven't caught 'em.

I'd be pretty easy to hack, I think. I don't practice the best security myself. I'm impatient. So anytime security is going to add a lot of hassle I'm not going to do it.

I'm the cobbler whose kids have no shoes or whatever. And everyone knows exactly the software I use, the hardware I have, so it probably wouldn't be that hard.

I just try to be a really nice guy so no one wants to go after me.

READ MORE - Hacker can shut down Apple MacBook battery

App from FBI, what this?

When they're not hunting bad guys, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has designed a smartphone application for concerned parents.

Child ID, the first mobile app made by the FBI, provides parents with a place to keep information about their children handy in case of an emergency.

Parents can create separate entries for each kid, complete with photos, height, weight and other descriptive details. Then if a child disappears at the shopping mall, for example, a parent can quickly reference the info from her phone when filing a report to police.

The app also has buttons for calling 911 or the national missing children hotline, as well as for transmitting the data about a lost child over the Internet.

For anyone skittish about creating dossiers of their family within software conceived by the feds, the FBI lists an "important note" stating: "the FBI (and iTunes for that matter) is not collecting or storing any photos or information that you enter in the app." The data is kept in the device's memory and only transmitted when using the app for sending a report, the FBI says.

Child ID debuted Friday as a free download for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch owners. The FBI plans to release versions of the program for other phones later, the government agency said in a statement.

While the FBI is a newbie when it comes to building mobile apps, several other U.S. federal agencies have already released applications. The Internal Revenue Service, the Office of Personnel Management, the State Department, the Transportation Security Administration and the White House all have apps. Many are listed on USA.gov.

The U.S. government seems to favor Apple's mobile platform for many of its software releases. Aneesh Chopra, the White House's technology chief, told the blog Switched two years ago that he uses a BlackBerry for work and an iPhone as his personal device.

READ MORE - App from FBI, what this?

8 Year Olds in Hacking

Horman already had seen the lock-picking videos on YouTube. But it was a different thing entirely for the 13-year-old puzzle-lover to get lessons in lock picking and computer hacking at an event sanctioned by adults.

The world's largest gathering of computer hackers -- DEF CON, which is happening this weekend at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas -- held its first-ever hacking classes for kids this year, at an event appropriately called DEF CON Kids.

Sessions in hacking were designed for kiddos ages 8 to 16.

A common parent's reaction to something this might be: They're teaching them what?! But hear these hackers out. Their intentions are good.

Take Horman's uncle, Adam Steed, a computer security professional in Salt Lake City, Utah, who brought his nephew to these training sessions because he already was fascinated with games and coding. (He actually has written his own computer game, called "Blooks," in which players "try to build as many buildings as you can while avoiding enemies," he said.)

"You can watch lock-picking videos on YouTube, but where do you hear the ethical side of this?" said Steed, the uncle. "Not on YouTube."

He added: "I would rather someone learn in a controlled environment. They're going to learn it anyway."
Massive hack attack hits U.S., U.N.
Massive hacking operation
RELATED TOPICS

* Hacking
* Internet
* Computer Security

Horman, the video game-writing nephew, sat attentively in the second row of a small classroom on Saturday, fiddling with a Rubik's Cube during sessions with titles like "Secrets Revealed," "Meet the Feds" and "Google Hacking."

That last class title is a bit misleading, since instructor-hacker Johnny Long focused more on non-technical hacking -- looking at people's laptops over their backs in airports; picking locks with toilet paper rolls and pen caps; and digging social security numbers out of corporate trash bins -- instead of actual search-engine hacking.

Long went to great lengths to remind the kids in attendance that the point of the class was to teach them what bad guys might be doing -- and how to avoid breaches in their own security or privacy.

"Don't let me catch you guys stealing toilet paper and breaking locks," he said. "If you do, it's not my fault."

Horman said he would only pick a lock if his family got locked out of their own house or car. That's happened before, he said, so that skill might be handy.

"Our family has had some trouble with locks," he said, smiling. "Let's say the younger ones love playing with the key and slipping them under the door."

In the "Meet the Feds" session, representatives from NASA, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Agency and the Navy told the kids they were smart to pick up hacking skills early because the government needs employees who can hack.

Several kids raised their hands to ask about hacking as a career path.

Part of the potential confusion about DEF CON Kids comes from the very term "hacker," which people here use to refer to anyone who has the skills needed to modify computer software and hardware. Some hackers extend the domain further, to locks and such.

Those skills could be used for criminal activity, but quite a few DEF CON attendees are actually computer security professionals -- the "good guys" trying to make the Internet less vulnerable to attacks by computer criminals.

Still, all this talk about malicious hacking made 10-year-old Dennis Mikhaylov a bit nervous.

"I'm getting a locker next year," he said after one of the class sessions. He's about to start middle school. "I thought it was cool, but now I'm afraid someone might open it."

Mikhaylov said he'd deal with this by keeping any valuables, which he defined as anything with his address on it; textbooks; and his Nook e-reader, which he apparently carries around all the time, out of that school locker.

The DEF CON Kids event also included a competition, where kids went around the hacker conference trying to break codes and solve puzzles.

Isabel Holland, 10, made up one-half of a team called "Sonic Death-Monkeys," a name she says is "weird" but went with because the boy who was her partner chose it.

"You have to, like, find people, and it's really hard because they're all over the place," she said of one piece of the challenge which required her to search out hackers.

Her dad, Bo Holland, from Austin, Texas, said it's cool for kids to get a chance to see how the technology and video games they use all the time actually work.

Ultimately, it will make the kids safer, he said, especially in this age of social networking, when the collective memory of the Internet has no expiration date.

"You're building up your reputation and it's not going to go away. If you do bad things, that's going to stick with you," he said.

He added: "You can say, 'Oh, we don't want to hear how this (hacking) stuff works and that's scary ... but it's really important kids know how to protect themselves."

READ MORE - 8 Year Olds in Hacking

(Mashable) -- Cable and Internet provider Comcast is launching a new program to offer discounted Internet service and computers to low-income families.

The program, called Internet Essentials, will "provide low-cost access to the Internet and affordable computers as well as digital literacy training to families with children who are eligible to receive free lunches under the National School Lunch Program," according to the company's blog.

Internet service provided through Internet Essentials features download speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 384 Kbps. The plan costs $9.95 per month (plus tax) and is available for families that:

-- Are located where Comcast offers Internet service (currently in 39 states)

-- Have at least one child receiving free school lunches through the National School Lunch Program

-- Have not subscribed to Comcast Internet service within the last 90 days

-- Do not have an overdue Comcast bill or unreturned equipment Upon enrollment, new customers have the opportunity to buy a "netbook-style laptop computer" for $149.99 (plus tax).

It supports wired and Wi-Fi Internet connectivity and includes the Windows 7 Starter operating system and Internet browser software. Comcast has launched websites in English and Spanish to promote the offering. The program will continue to accept new customers for "three full school years," according to the product's FAQ page.

While this project seems like a goodwill initiative on part of the giant communications provider, it is actually a byproduct of the Comcast-NBC merger, in which the company agreed to "increase broadband deployment in low income households" as one of a number of conditions to the acquisition.

Whether Comcast plans to continue the program after the terms of the condition expire or not, we hope this initiative helps push the United States one step closer to closing the digital divide between the "haves" and "havenots."

© 2010 MASHABLE.com. All rights reserved.

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Recent solar flare may disrupt your GPS

Editor's note: Amy Gahran writes about mobile tech for CNN.com. She is a San Francisco Bay Area writer and media consultant whose blog, Contentious.com, explores how people communicate in the online age.

(CNN) -- We're nearing the peak of the 11-year solar cycle, so double-check your GPS and watch where you're going.

On Thursday, the sun unleashed a massive solar flare (see video of the flare and how its effects have been moving toward Earth). Solar flares can disrupt radio communications, including devices that use Global Positioning System technology, such as cell phones, airplanes and car navigation systems.

So if you're relying on your GPS for driving directions, to find your location on your phone's mapping tool or for any other purpose, have a backup navigation system handy, such as a printed map.

Even more important, pay close attention to where you are and where you're going. Don't rely solely on your GPS to give you directions.

In 2006, research from Cornell University proved that solar flares can cause GPS devices to lose signal. This can cause these devices to temporarily misrepresent your location or otherwise malfunction.

"If you're driving to the beach using your car's navigation system, you'll be OK. If you're on a commercial airplane in zero visibility weather, maybe not," said Paul Kintner Jr., head of Cornell's GPS Laboratory. In fact, the Cornell researchers warned in 2006 that 2011 would probably see lots of GPS disruption.

In addition, solar flares can disrupt power systems.

This week, National Geographic reported: "Under the right conditions, solar storms can create extra electrical currents in Earth's magnetosphere -- the region around the planet controlled by our magnetic field. The electrical power grid is particularly vulnerable to these extra currents, which can infiltrate high-voltage transmission lines, causing transformers to overheat and possibly burn out."

Across the nation, electric utilities and grid operators are preparing to respond to such problems.

John Bogdan, director of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center, told The Associated Press that a number of such blasts is expected over the next three to five years -- and the biggest flares are yet to come. On a scale of one to five, he likened this week's flare to "probably a two or three."

This week's flare (called a "coronal mass ejection") registered M9.3 on the "Richter scale of flares," about the highest level in the "medium" category. Larger flares that fall into the "X" category can cause global radio blackouts, but large M-class flares also can cause radio disruptions.

This is one of a series of recent bouts of severe space weather, as the solar cycle approaches solar maximum in 2013. Other major flares came in February and June, and more may follow. A good place to follow solar activity is SpaceWeather.com.

In the meantime, keep those maps handy.

The opinions expressed in this post are solely those of Amy Gahran.

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Survey finds smartphone apps store too much personal data

An uncomfortably large percentage of mobile applications are storing sensitive user account information unencrypted on owners' smartphones, according to a new survey of 100 consumer smartphone apps.

Some 76% of the apps tested stored cleartext usernames on the devices, and 10% of the tested applications, including popular apps LinkedIn and Netflix, were found storing passwords on the phone in cleartext.

Conducted by digital security firm ViaForensics, the testing occurred over a period of over eight months and spanned multiple categories, ranging from social networking applications to mobile banking software. The firm tested apps only for iOS and Android, the market's leading mobile platforms.

User names ranked highest on the list of discoverable data. App data -- the term ViaForensics uses for private information exchanged using the applications -- came in second place, with such data recovered from 69% of tested apps.

Mint.com's iPhone and Android apps, which are used for maintaining financial account information, were found to store user transaction history and balance information on the phone.

The Android version of the Mint app stores the user's PIN on the phone unencrypted, ViaForensics found.

"We're already working on ways to make this experience better," said Jason Yiin, lead mobile engineer at Mint.com, in an interview. "At the moment, if users are highly concerned, they can log in and out of the application each time they access it on their phones."

Yiin also points out that if an intruder accesses your PIN, they won't be able to manipulate any account information or move assets between accounts. The intruder will, however, be able to see account balance and transaction history information.

In June, based on ViaForensics' early findings, Netflix promised a security update at a yet to be specified date. But LinkedIn says it is satisfied with the security of its app.

Apple's iOS-based apps scored consistently higher marks than Android apps in ViaForensics' tests. That doesn't surprise security analysts, who say Apple's Keychain security architecture for storing user credentials is stronger than Android's Account Manager.

"Right now, Apple does a better job on iOS in providing an API where app developers can use a pretty decent mechanism to protect stored information," says David Campbell, mobile security consultant at Electric Alchemy. "Currently, that doesn't exist on Android."

Google makes no bones about its platform's security.

"We dispute the claim that this data is insecurely stored on Android devices," a Google spokesman told Wired.com. "The data is not accessible by default unless the phone has been rooted to gain full privileges, which Android actively protects against and would result in similar exposure for any platform."

Earlier this year, German security researchers Jens Heider and Matthias Boll published a paper detailing how to partially circumvent keychain protections in a six-minute procedure on an IOS device.

In any case, developers too often choose not to use the operating system's security resources to begin with.

"What we have is a strong developer community who are good at coding on the whole, but not necessarily experts in security," independent security analyst Ashkan Soltani told Wired.com. "A developer writes an app, and he's just trying to get it off the ground as fast as he can."

With two lucrative emerging mobile platforms, early traction is crucial for app developers competing for space. Apple's App Store menu is closing in on a half-million applications available for download; add the Android Market to that, and you've got another 250,000 titles. App developer teams aren't always focused on security first, especially when some of them consist of a handful of engineers.

"The main thing lacking in mobile development is approaching the platform with the understanding that these are essentially small computers," Eull said. "Computers that are easily lost, and can travel through countless hands afterwards."

Even if you haven't lost your phone, downloading apps can be a crap shoot. The Android Market allows anyone to submit apps for download, with no vetting process to separate the wheat from the virus-infested chaff. That makes for lots of opportunities for malware to sneak in, a common enough occurrence for Google's patrons over the past year.

Three out of ten Android users will encounter a web-based threat on their device this year, according to recent findings from Lookout Mobile Security.

Of course, there are the issues that come with owning a smartphone at all, apps or no apps. In April, two researchers discovered an unencrypted file stored inside Apple's iOS software which stored a list of iPhone 4 owners' locations for a period of over ten months. Dubbed "Locationgate," the discovery turned into a full-blown privacy fiasco for the company.

The file -- "consolidated.db" -- compiled geolocation data from when users' smartphones came into contact with a new Wi-Fi network, or when a user accessed an app on the device that utilized GPS services. It was later revealed that Google's Android platform collected similar geographic data, though in a much more limited capacity than Apple.

Fortunately, some app makers are listening.

After ViaForensics contacted a number of the offending app's parent companies, several issued updates remedying the security concerns. Financial institutions like Bank of America, USAA and Wells Fargo -- all of which arguably have access to a user's most sensitive data -- issued quick fixes to their applications, now scoring a "pass" rating on ViaForensics' tests.

Ultimately, it's safer to take preventative measures than rely on app developers to change their ways.

Apple's MobileMe program includes a remote-wipe option, which lets you erase everything on your phone if it's lost or stolen (Mint.com's app also includes a remote-wipe option). And at the simplest of levels, installing a six-digit PIN on your device is a no-brainer.

"It's a hassle to punch in a PIN every time you want to use your phone," says Eull, "but its even more of a hassle for someone who wants to crack your device."

Though as Ivan Sze noted in an Android forum post, a lock screen PIN isn't the end-all be-all for a dedicated data thief: "Lock screen password entries aren't designed to be formidable security barriers -- it's just to make it inconvenient for regular people."

"It is entirely possible to develop secure mobile apps," said Andrew Hoog, chief investigative officer at ViaForensics. "But it takes the time, energy and resources to do it."

READ MORE - Survey finds smartphone apps store too much personal data

Super Aircraft Demonstration

Historically, vertical flight has required a compromise between hover performance and forward speed. If you look at efficiency vs. speed image on the right; the desired helicopter attributes (good hover efficiency, low speed controllability, low downwash, hover endurance) fall to the left of the plot. High disk loading aircraft such as Harriers and JSF, fall on the right of the plot: while fast, their hovering capabilities are limited, and their operational costs tend to increase due to the required power loading. Sikorsky is focused on creating an aircraft that operates to the right on this scale: providing more speed without compromising the essential attributes that make helicopters valuable.

The Sikorsky X2 TECHNOLOGY™ demonstrator aircraft will incorporate several new technologies and demonstrate them in a flight environment। These technologies include an integrated Fly-by-Wire system that allows the engine/rotor/propulsor system to operate efficiently, with full control of rotor rpm throughout the flight envelope, high lift-to-drag rigid blades, low drag hub fairings, and Active Vibration Control. In addition, the aircraft will be used as a 'flying wind tunnel' to determine the main rotor to propulsor aerodynamic interaction, shaft angle optimization for performance, and blade tip clearance for a range of maneuvers. This will allow optimization of the X2 TECHNOLOGY™ suite for future products.Sikorsky is well on its way in completing the design of the X2 TECHNOLOGY™ Demonstrator with important milestones right on the horizon. We are excited about what it means for Sikorsky, and most importantly, what it means for our customers - more options.

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