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The most Advanced Stand up comedian of all time!

20 Creative Facebook Profiles

Facebook is a monster of a site with over half a billion users! Many of the users try to make their profile more creative than the everyone else’s and when the new facebook profile layouts came along late last year so did the creative profiles, and here is 20 of our favourites.

Alexandre Oudin

Jason Keiter

Thibaut Le Brasseur

John Robert-Nicoud

Antony Legrand

Jayden

Jon Yang

Chris Williams

Nir Refuah

Rob McCann

Adz Zafe

Jack Smith

Tamara Lynn Luke-Kwan

Chris

Cyril Boggs Serrano

Imran Latheef

Lexy Page

Nicolas Pittet

Marc Laurnt-Atthalin

Jack Smith

Think Before You Buy 4G

If there is any single truth about modern life, it is the fact that our smart devices just keep getting more powerful. As the devices get more powerful, they develop a hunger for more bandwidth and bigger chunks of data. Of course, the good news is that our devices do more for us than ever before, and they serve us in ways that seem to increase daily. But we have to pay the price.

That price is in service from a data provider and from any of the major carriers available in the area. Currently the majority of users buy data at 3G speeds, and they don’t usually think about how much data they get for the money – it is after all 3G, a standard that is clearly defined by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). And the “G” stands for “generation”, so you would think that going from 3G to 4G would be a no-brainer, right? The standards are defined by the ITU, and it is the next logical generation of mobile data capability.
Not as Advertised
But not all is as it seems when it comes to wireless carriers and 4G. In fact, things are downright shifty. Take, for example, AT&T’s 4G network. The big change in AT&T’s network is in, you ready for this – the name. Apparently some executives at the AT&T marketing department decided that 4G would sell better than lowly 3G, so AT&T was born.
Now, the network that AT&T runs is HSPA-plus, but as early as September this was their 3G network. Since then AT&T has a big new slogan – “The nation’s fastest mobile broadband network” – and a big new 4G sign on their website. When new AT&T phones roll out this year, you can expect 4G to be prominently displayed. Now, AT&T is spending a lot of money to put Long-Term Evolution (LTE) in place ahead of its original 2013 schedule, but customers will not see a difference until that time.
AT&T is not the only carrier to re-brand their current 3G network as 4G, and in fact, they are not even the first. Earlier T-Mobile USA, who uses the same HSPA-plus technology as AT&T, re-branded themselves as a 4G network. The ads that soon followed bragged on their 4G technology at the expense of other carriers, particularly AT&T. Ironic, isn’t it?
Especially when T-Mobile’s new ad is “America’s Largest 4G Network”, which it isn’t no matter how you try to define it. In fact, while AT&T has plans to roll out LTE, T-Mobile has no immediate plans in the works. The only advantage they have is in the short term, being the first to rebrand their existing HSPA-plus 3G network.
The 4G Description Loophole
But how can wireless carriers so easily rebrand existing technologies as 4G, when the ITU is defining exactly what makes 4G. Well, therein lies the rub – there isn’t a firm definition as to what exactly makes up 4G. The group is working to formalize one, but in the meanwhile (last December, to be more exact), they gave the go ahead for the branding of advanced 3G as 4G. And the carriers jumped at the chance.
Will the Real 4G Stand Up
In the meanwhile, Verizon and Sprint have products that could be considered real 4G technologies. Sprint has a 2 year head start with rolling out its WiMax technology to customers, and Verizon rolled out LTE in December. Both of these technologies are superior to HSPA-plus (which, as you remember, was originally branded as 3G).
Caveat Emptor
When it comes to 4G, the consumer is left bewildered and unsure of exactly what they are buying into. As it is, the expectation of what speeds should be 4G is as fuzzy as the 4G definition itself. So what should a buyer expect?
The best advice at this time is for the consumer to not put a lot of weight into the 4G tag, especially when it comes to AT&T and T-Mobile. When these networks get around to rolling out their advanced products, hopefully sometimes in 2012 for AT&T, then perhaps it may mean something. Until then, don’t let expectations of the 4G label rope you into new contracts or expectations. Especially when it comes to new contracts, which may even extend far enough to make the 4G claim eventually real. It’s nice of you to foot the cost up front

Google topples Nokia from smartphones TOP spot

(Reuters) - Google Inc's Android dethroned Nokia's Symbian as the global leader in smartphone software during the last quarter of 2010, ending a reign that began with the birth of the industry a decade ago.

The reshuffle underscores how quickly Google, which offers its software to phone makers for free, has raced to the top of the smartphone market ahead of Apple Inc's rapid ascension. Google and Apple have revolutionized the smartphone market, sending Nokia scrambling.

In the fourth quarter, phonemakers sold 32.9 million Android-equipped phones globally, roughly seven times more than the year-earlier quarter, compared with Symbian's sales of 31 million, according to Research firm Canalys.

The numbers also highlight Google's success in battling Apple, whose shipments of its popular iPhone increased to 16.2 million from 8.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, when it almost doubled Android's 4.7 million shipments.

Unlike Apple or Nokia, Google does not make its own phone hardware, but instead offers its Android operating system free to other phone makers who can adapt it to suit their devices.

As a result, Android has become the standard software for many phone makers. U.S. phone maker Motorola Mobility Inc has even managed to stage a comeback of sorts by focusing solely on Android after years of heavy market share losses.

Hit models from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, HTC Corp and LG Electronics Inc also helped Android in the quarter as phone companies in many regions aggressively promoted Android phones.

Aside from smartphones, Google also gained on Apple in tablet computers, where its market share rose to 22 percent in the fourth quarter, while Apple's share fell to 75 percent from 95 percent, according to Strategy Analytics.

GOOGLE PUSH INTO APPS

In fact, only Nokia, Apple and Research In Motion Ltd have so far resisted using Android software.

Google said in October that mobile revenue, which includes mobile advertising, reached an annual run rate of $1 billion. While this is tiny compared with the $26.85 billion total net revenue analysts expect this year -- mostly generated from Web search related ads -- Google has made no secret of the fact it sees mobile playing a central role in its future.

Outgoing Chief Executive Eric Schmidt recently wrote in the Harvard Business Review that all of Google's strategic initiatives for 2011 revolve around mobile.

In particular, Google has moved to take on Apple in mobile applications, an area in which the iPhone maker has prevailed.

A big part of Apple's success in selling iPhone is its ability to attract hundreds of thousands of third-party software developers to create apps for everything from weather forecasts to weight-loss.

While Google has also courted third-party developers, its Android Marketplace still lags far behind Apple's in size.

Ankit Fadia........ a fake Geek!

We all know who Ankit Fadia is. He is self proclaimed child prodigy in ‘hacking’ , a self proclaimed ‘world famous’ expert is computer security and  digital intelligence consultant (digital intelligence? Does he mean AI. I never heard this term getting used anywhere in print other than by Mr. Fadia though I agree its a perfectly meaningful amalgamation of the two official sounding words ‘digital’ and ‘intelligence’) .

However that picture of Ankit Fadia is very likely untrue and let me present a few findings so that you can decide for yourself. Please understand that the findings are either my own of collected from various websites. Wherever I have gathered info from any site, I shall mention the link so that you can find out. The information provided here is true to the best of my knowledge (and googling skills). And I request you to point out if I am wrong. The views expressed are my own and issues in public interest. I shall be constantly updating the information on this post as and when I gather more information on Mr. Fadia. Hence the v 0.0.1 at the end of the title. 

So lets begin with his profile on http://www.hackingmobilephones.com/courses/about.php . I will highlight the interesting parts in blockquotes and add my view and/or proof below.

1.His profile on http://www.hackingmobilephones.com/courses/about.php

a.Milestones in Ankit Fadia’s LifeAGE 14 Published his first book titled The Unofficial Guide to Ethical Hacking which became an instant bestseller worldwide, sold 500 000 copies and was translated into 11 languages.

My opinion: Have you read that book? Here are the reasons why the book sucks

• Most of the so-called hacks are in Windows (98). Show me one hacker/cracker who uses Windows. If you ain’t using Unix/Linux/Solaris you ain’t no hacker mate. Why? Coz Windows hasn’t got half the tools and features that one requires to do a successful system penetration. For a deeper understand read a book on the Hacking Exposed series.
• Registry hacks and tweeks are passed off as hacking
• At many places credit has not been given to the person who found the exploit. For that matter, most of the exploits were very very outdated by the time the book published. Even in his Certified Hacking Courses by Reliance, he shows exploits which have been patched several years ago and are therefore useless
• Many of the exploit code given in his book have errors and some very obvious ones. :p

b.AGE 16 After the Sept. 11 th attacks, cracked an encrypted email sent by the Al-Qaeda terrorist network for a classified intelligence agency.

• Again only Ankit Fadia says he has done that. No other sources including any intelligence agency has corroborated the statement.
• Most intelligence agencies like NSA have expert cryptanalyst with PhDs and super fast clusters to get their job done. They wont require a 16 year old. Cryptanalysis is a serious job. Just read Applied Cryptography by Bruce Schneir or Introduction to Cryptography by Tanenbaum to get an idea how challenging it is. It would be like putting the control of India’s Moon Mission in the hands of a monkey instead of ISRO’s Madhavan Nair.

c. AGE 21 Widely recognized as an Ethical Hacker, Computer Security Expert and Cyber Terrorism guru. Written 13 bestselling books, delivered more than 1000 seminars in 25 countries, received 45 awards, provide certification courses on Computer Security, is writing a script for a movie, runs his own consulting company and is a senior at Stanford University.

• Best selling books? By whose standards? I don’t find him anywhere in New York Times, Book Sense, USA Today, Publisher’s Today. A sales figure of 3 million as he proclaims is nearly a third of what Mein-Kampf or Catch 22 reached  and his books did that in a fraction of the time. Sounds shaky, doesn’t it? Does to me
• Most of his books have been published in India only. Other than The Unofficial Guide to Ethical Hacking, Network Security: A Hacker’s Perspective, Hacking Mobile Phones,Email Hacking, Windows Hacking most of his books are hard to come by. Also Windows hacking is nothing but a compendium of  Registry Hacks readily available from the Internet. Do read the comments on his books at amazon.com and you will get a clearer picture.
• Almost all the content in his book are copy-paste work from the Internet, that would even put the laziest Computer Science student to shame.
• The best I can say about Mr. Fadia is that he is a very good salesman because time and again he has convinced his publisher to publish his books. Thats no mean feat considering the shit that he peddles as ‘hacking’.
• Its been mentioned time and again that he runs his own consulting company but I have never come across the name of the said company.

2. Again, as per http://www.hackingmobilephones.com/courses/about.php his clientèle includes Google, Citibank, Shell, Volvo, Thai Airways, UOB Bank, PT Cisco Systems, Bank of Thailand, Bangkok Public Bank, Amari Hotels, BlueScope Steel, Jumeirah International, Wipro, Singapore Health Promotion Board, Infosys, Satyam, Schering Ltd.

My opinion: This list seems too good to be true. It exceeds clientèle of various well know security consulting firms. Again, none of the above mentioned organizations have corroborated Fadia’s claims.

3. Widely celebrated in international media publications, Fadia is also regularly invited by BBC Radio World News, London to share the latest updates on virus outbreaks, loopholes and cyber crime trends.

My finding: I searched the BBC site to find one reference to him being on the said show. Guess what I found? Nothing. Nadda. Zilch.  So if anyone can give me the link to any of his interviews on BBC, I will agree. Until then, let it hang in balance.

4. For his outstanding contributions in the field of computer security globally, Fadia has been honored with numerous awards namely: Indo-American Society Young Achiever Award 2005, IT Leader Award 2005, Person of The Year 2002, Limca Book of Records, Hall of Fame Award, Outstanding Young Achiever’s Award, Silicon India Person of the Week, Embassy State Award, Best Speaker Award (4 occasions), Student of the Year 2002-03 and many more.

My findings on his awards:

• Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award: A search on https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/communities/mvp.aspx?name=ankit+fadia yields nothing about Mr Ankit Fadia
• Indo-American Society Young Achievers Award: The award exists but nowhere is it mentioned that he received it ever.
• CNBC Young Turk : I have not been able to verify this. Tough it is probable he did come on the show.
• Person of the Year India 2002, Limca book of records: Again a search on the site yields nothing about any Ankit Fadia
• Gold Medal 2003 from Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, Singapore: I could not find anything on it. So its neither proved nor disproved.
• Asian American Outstanding Achievement Award Nominee at Stanford University: Again he claims to be a nominee which cannot be proved unless I contact Stanford and ask them. Their site only maintains list of people who have won the award or a nominee for the current year. There is no list of nominees for previous years.You are requested to kindly dig up about the other awards. I am bored now.

5. Fadia is also a consultant to many universities in India, Singapore, China and USA on the design and structure of their computer security courses.

My question: Will Mr Fadia be so kind as to provide references and/or links to universities for which he designs courses? You will find this thing occurring over and over. Fadia never provides links or references to many of his achievements. Isn’t that strange? I have gone through profiles of various researchers and they all provide links and references wherever possible.

6.According to Wendy McAuliffe at ZDNet UK, Fadia’s Hacking Truths website was judged “second best hacking site” by the FBI, though no ranked list of “hacking sites” has been published by the FBI.

7.In April 2000, Rediff.com published an interview with Ankit Fadia. Anti-India Crew (AIC), a Pakistani hacker group noted for defacing Indian Government websites, rubbished the claims that Fadia had made in the interview. Fadia had claimed that his alert to a U.S. spy agency had prevented an attack by Pakistani hackers. However, he never divulged the name of the agency, citing security reasons. AIC and another Pakistani hacker group WFD defaced an Indian Government site, epfindia.gov.in, and “dedicated” it to Fadia in mock deference to his capabilities to hack or prevent hacking. AIC also said that it would be defacing the website of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), www.cbec.gov.in, within two days and challenged Fadia to prevent the attack by patching the vulnerable website. AIC maintained that Fadia should stop calling himself a hacker, if it succeeded in hacking the CBEC website. AIC kept its promise and defaced the CBEC website after two days. At another defaced website (bhelhyd.co.in), AIC termed the claims of Indian media about Ankit Fadia as “Bullshit”.

So why is he famous?  There are various reasons.Firstly, masses are computer illiterate. They see computer security as some sort of dark magic wheres it is a systematic process, a science. Hence these people can be easily fooled by the FUD campaign that are done by the likes of Ankit Fadia. They instill fear and show some nice tricks that fool everyone into a false sense of vulnerability. While I would not be so naive as to suggest that Internet is very secure but many such ‘independent’ security experts make tall claims and demonstrate their attacks in a very controlled environment on a weakened security set up that just asks for a break in.

The other aspects that contribute to such fakes getting attention is obviously shoddy journalism. They print whatever might catch readers’ attention and a child prodigy in computers does that like nothing else in a ‘idol crazy’ nation of ours. Most journalists are either too lazy or do not have the necessary competence to evaluate his credentials.

As to why Reliance does a Ankit Fadia Ethical Hacking Course. The answer is simple. It sells. And it seems the certificate given by Reliance are not valid either. Read this http://lists.sarovar.org/pipermail/plus-discuss/2006-April/000288.html I am sure about the current status of the certificate.

And Ankit Fadia is neither the first nor the last of these fakes. Go to http://attrition.org/errata/charlatan.html for a larger list.

You may also read this email sent to FSF mailing list http://tutorial.web4all.in/archives/fsf-tn/2006-April/000293.html

Honda..... Walking into the Future!

Offering up a completely different take on cutting-edge technology contributing to the advancement of human mobility assistance, Japanese car manufacturing titan Honda has revealed a wearable solution that users ride while walking.

Appearing much like a bicycle seat standing atop a futuristic pair of oddly angled mechanical legs, the experimental assisted-walking gadget attaches to the user’s shoes and provides support through the seat for both body weight and joint stress reduction.

Unveiled this past Friday, Tokyo-based Honda Motor Company sees the gadget as being potentially viable for workers on its car-making production lines, or by workers at a wide variety of other manufacturing facilities.

Case in point, to demonstrate the assisted-walking technology in action, Honda showcased a video of employees wearing and walking the contraption in order to navigate a production line and even peer beneath cars.

Capable of helping its wearer to walk up stairs and comfortably remain in crouched positions, Honda engineer Jun Ashihara also claimed the device will be useful for people who stand all day and also those who are constantly mobile or making deliveries.

“This should be as easy to use as a bicycle,” said Ashihara in an AP report. “It reduces stress, and you should feel less tired.”

The assisted-walking technology comes complete with an on-board computer, motor, gears, a battery, and embedded sensors designed to respond to the wearer’s movements by pushing upward on steps to deliver powered momentum. When squatting, the device similarly pushes against the wearer’s bottom in order to provide a platform of stability.

According to Honda, it plans to gather valuable user feedback by introducing prototype testing onto one of its production lines before the end of November. Pricing and full commercial availability has not yet been confirmed.

Beyond the obvious benefits associated with assisted-walking technology in fabrication facilities, Lindsay Scott of Help the Aged commented that Honda’s vision appears to be “a hugely exciting development.”

“The Japanese are at the forefront of this kind of technology as Japan has one of the most rapidly ageing societies in the world and it'll be fascinating to see how this develops,” she said to The Scotsman.

Dancing Water!

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