Google's thermostat could spy on your home life

WEST GERMANY, 1972. Security services are hunting down the Baader-Meinhof gang. Knowing that the guerillas favour high-rise apartments as safe houses, they gather data on energy use, looking for apartments that consume little or no power most of the time but pay their rent in full. It pays off: one apartment fits the profile and leads to a series of arrests.

You don't have to be a police target to be nervous of what your energy use says about you – from the hours you keep to your TV tastes. That's why Google's acquisition of a company called Nest rings alarm bells (see "Nest thermostat acquisition is Google's home invasion").

Nest makes smart thermostats that learn your behaviour and adjust the heating accordingly. Convenient and helpful – and a potential invasion of privacy.

Nest's founders say they have no plans to share data on their customers' behaviour. But few believe that will last, given that Google's entire business model is built on scooping up data and repackaging it for advertisers.

On the plus side, the super-connected smart home seems closer. But the NSA spying scandal looms large, and we will need guarantees that what happens behind closed doors stays there.

Why Eating a Little Slower Could Help You Lose Weight

If the stomach actually takes 20 minutes to “figure out” that it’s full, then what does that mean in terms of weight loss? Will slow eaters consume less food because the stomach has enough time to communicate with the brain that it’s full? Our Nutrition Expert Lisa Moskovitz weighs in on the matter.

 

EXPERT'S TAKE

Lisa Moskovitz, RD, CDN: Have you ever forgotten if or even what you just ate? If so, you are probably one of millions who suffer from "fast-eating syndrome." While eating quickly might prevent being late to an important meeting or appointment, it certainly won’t do much to prevent packing on the pounds.

Recent research suggests people who eat slowly tend to consume fewer calories and stay fuller longer than those who eat quickly [1]. According to another study, the quicker we eat, the less time we give our bodies to register fullness [2]. Speed eating impacts the effectiveness of a gut hormone responsible for signaling the brain that you have had enough. As a result we end up eating way more than we would have, which can lead to excess body fat storage or weight gain.

On the flip side, eating at a slower pace increases the response of an anorexigenic, or satiety hormone, called Peptide YY (PYY) and Glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1). Bottom line, the slower we eat, the more time we give our body to feel satisfied.

Here are some top strategies to slow eating pace:

• Portion control:
  • With less food in front of you, the chances of over-eating are reduced, even if you race through the meal.
• Eat every 2-3 hours:
  • Eating small frequent meals prevents speed or over-eating related to extreme hunger. Consistent eating also increases metabolism.
• Drink between bites:
  • Instead of scarfing it all down at once, take sips of water throughout the meal to naturally help slow your fork action.
• Chew food:
  • Pace yourself by taking at least 10-20 chews before you swallow.
• Focus on the food:
  • Put down your phone and close your computer for just 20 minutes while eating. This may be all it takes for your body to recognize its hunger-fighting hormones are kicking in.

How To Block Ads In Android Apps, Games And Browsers

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Ads are a necessary evil. Many websites and applications are providing you with free service, free content and free software because someone else is paying them to keep them up. Thus, the service provider has to serve ads to you in return for the income that is keeping them in business, and in development. As the user, you reap the benefit of using the product for free.

However, sometimes the ad placements can be really annoying, contributing to not-so-appealing user experience. In this post we will look at methods to block ads from showing up on Android. You can block ads from appearing in apps and games, or only on browsers

The methods here may work for both rooted and non-rooted devices. It will be specified for each method. Before we begin, you need a File Manager, e.g. Astro File Manager. Any other file manager will work fine.

Disclaimer: Attempt ad-blocking at your own risk. We cannot be held responsible for any effects on your device resulting from these methods.

1. Adblock Plus (ABP)

This method uses ad-blockers (apps) to block all ads in your device, including the ads shown in various apps and games. There are many ad-blockers for Android, thanks to the ever-growing Android developers. The top two would be Adblock Plus (ABP) and AdAway; we wil discuss the former, but you can install AdAway if that’s your preference.

Using Adblock Plus

We’re going with Adblock Plus as it is an open source project and has the option to allow non-intrusive ads. This method works for both rooted and non-rooted devices. Installing an ad-blocker app requires your device to allow applications from unknown sources.

Sideloading is required as Google has removed ad-block apps from Google Play Store. You need to sideload any ad-blocker, i.e. install ad-blockers using its APK file and not from Google Play Store.

Follow the given steps to set this configuration:

1. Go to Settings > Applications (or Security on 4.0 and above) on your Android device.
2. Navigate to the Unknown sources option.
3. If unchecked, tap the checkbox, and then tap OK on the confirmation popup.

Your Android device is ready to install ad-blockers.

Installing And Configuring Adblock Plus

1. Open a browser in your device and download Adblock Plus for Android. Your device will receive the APK file: adblockplusandroid-version.apk.

2. Navigate to where your downloaded files are kept, then tap on the file and install. (If you open the APK file using a file manager, select Open App Manager and then click on Install.)

3.1 On rooted devices: after installing, open Adblock Plus. It will request for super user permissions. Allow super user permissions to Adblock Plus and you are good to go.

3.2 On non-rooted devices: you need a few more steps, to manually set up proxy in your Android. You will need to follow the instructions here as instructions are different for Android versions up to 3.1 and 4.0+.s

Now Adblock Plus will start blocking ads. You can set more options in Adblock Plus like ads filter lists, non-intrusive ads, etc in Settings.

Adblock Plus – Browser Extension

Adblock Plus is also available as a browser extension for Firefox. With this method, only the ads shown on web pages inside the browser are blocked. Ads in apps or games are not affected. This method works for rooted as well as non-rooted devices.

Setting Up Adblock Plus (Extension)

1. If you are not using Firefox as a browser on your Android yet, get it here. Run the browser on your device and go to the Adblock Plus add-on here. Add it to Firefox and Install it.

2. Restart Firefox and browse ad-free. You can set more options in Adblock Plus by going to the Menu > Adblock Plus and going through the options you can configure.

2. Block Ads Using ‘Hosts’ File

This method uses ‘hosts’ file to block ads. This method blocks all ads in your device, including the ones shown in various apps and games. This method works only for rooted devices.

What Is A ‘Hosts’ File?

‘hosts’ file is a plain-text file in an operating system to map hostnames (like anything.com) to its IP address. Whenever you try to launch a website using its hostname, the operating system will usually search the ‘hosts’ file to find the corresponding IP address first.

If the search is successful, then its mapped IP address is used; otherwise a query is sent to DNS (Domain Name Service) to find the IP address of that hostname.

Setting Up ‘Hosts’ File

1. On the computer, open MVPS (or pgl.yoyo.org or hostfile.mine.nu) on your browser. A plain-text page will open. Save this page as the name hosts in the computer.

2. Using Bluetooth or a USB connection, copy this hosts file from your computer to your Android device. Note the file path.

3. On your Android, open the file manager in your device and copy the hosts file to /etc or /system/etc.Accessing this location may require you to ‘allow super user permissions’ to the file manager.

4. Rename the original hosts file (if present) to a .txt or .bak extension. Paste the saved hosts file here. Reboot your Android and your Android is now ad-free.

Wrap Up

Although ads are annoying, they are also a great way to try out new apps, products or sites. Allowing non-intrusive ads is a way to be exposed to these new and sometimes great apps via ads. Alternatively many apps offers you the option to buy an ad-free version of the app, so you can support your favorite apps without being annoyed by the ads.

Web mystery: China Internet traffic winds up in Wyoming

China has an estimated 591 million Internet users, the most of any country. On Tuesday, much of its Web traffic was redirected to IP addresses that belonged to a company that, as of last year, was located in a single, 1,700-square foot home located in a quiet neighborhood in Cheyenne, Wyo., according to The New York Times. 

The company, Sophidea Inc., was one of thousands that Wyoming Corporate Services helped set up in the single-story home. They included, according to a 2011 article in Reuters, a number of shell companies, including one that handled money for the jailed former prime minister of Ukraine. (Wyoming Corporate Services, the registered agent for Sophidea, moved last year to a different building in Cheyenne, reports the Times.)

How did Chinese Internet traffic end up all the way in Wyoming? 

The Great Firewall
First, it's important to understand how China's Internet is monitored.

Most Web traffic never leaves the country. When it does, it travels through six physical gateways or, perhaps more cynically, chokepoints.

"That is how they essentially are able to set up the Great Firewall," Sarah Cook, senior research analyst at human rights organization Freedom House, told NBC News.

This kind of centralized system makes it easier for the governments of countries like China, Iran and Vietnam to censor Web traffic, but also makes them more vulnerable to both natural disasters and man-made disruptions like glitches and hacks.

It's not entirely clear what happened in this instance. China's official Xinhua news agency cast suspicion on hackers, but some experts think the harm could have been self-inflected.  

"This isn't the first time there have been these kind of glitches," Cook said. "These kind of things tend to happen when they are trying to upgrade the capabilities of the Great Firewall."

Why Wyoming?
Not much is known about Sophidea. But hundreds of millions of Chinese Internet users were also redirected to Internet addresses registered to Dynamic Internet Technology (DIT), a company that produces an anti-censorship tool called FreeGate meant to help people evade barriers like the Great Firewall or Iran's "Filternet."

The Chinese government is not too fond of the people who create this software, according to Cook.

"These guys keep a pretty low profile," she said. "Some of them are engineers who work at big Internet companies and volunteer their spare time to help in this cat-and-mouse game against the Chinese censorship system."

DIT has ties to Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been banned by the Chinese government. The irony, according to Cook, is that China might have inadvertently sent traffic to the activists they were trying to stop.

"One of the government's main focuses, especially when they're upgrading the Great Firewall, is try to block these circumvention tools," Cook said. "I could see a situation where the firewall was trying to block traffic, and it backfires and accidentally sends traffic to those locations instead."

Regardless of whether the glitch was caused by hackers or a mistake on China's part, the fact remains that many of the companies and individuals responsible for this software don't want to be found. Hence why they would register an IP address at a small Wyoming house, described by Reuters as "a little Cayman Island on the Great Plains."

The situation isn't likely to change anytime soon, Cook said: "I do think that this kind of incident or other glitches are likely to happen at some point in the future so long as the policies stay the same."

strange facts

The most used letter in the English alphabet is 'E', and 'Q' is the least used! There are more than 50,000 earthquakes throughout the world every year! The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'!    Dogs and cats, like humans, are either right or left handed... or is that paws?! The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven!
	Nose prints are used to identify dogs, just like humans use fingerprints!
Bulls are colorblind, therefore will usually charge at a matador's waving cape no matter what color it is -- be it red or neon yellow! Apples are more efficient than caffeine in keeping people awake in the mornings! Smelling bananas and/or green apples (smelling, not eating) can help you lose weight! A hard working adult sweats up to 4 gallons per day. Most of the sweat evaporates before a person realizes it's there, though! The average ice berg weighs 20,000,000 tons! The poison-arrow frog has enough poison to kill about 2,200 people!   A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court! After eating, a housefly regurgitates its food and then eats it again!

Billion-dollar call: Waiting for Rosetta to phone home

With hours to go until we know whether the first space mission designed to land on a comet can succeed, tensions are running high at the European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt – the European Space Agency's equivalent of NASA's famous mission control.

                                                     

                                                    The tension is rising at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany

I am spending the day here with the scientists and engineers at the heart of the comet-chasing Rosetta mission, and so far, it's been all about the wait. "I'm not calm, I'm not excited, I'm somewhere in between," says Roberto Porta, a member of the spacecraft operations team.

Rosetta was scheduled to wake up at 1000 GMT today, after spending more than two years in a power-saving hibernation mode. Porta will be responsible for detecting the signal the wake-up was successful, which is expected later on today, at 1730 at the earliest. At stake is a billion-dollar mission to land on a comet – humanity's first ever attempt to do this – to investigate the origins of life on Earth.

Why does it take so long to find out whether the wake-up call worked? Assuming the spacecraft's alarm clock went off as programmed this morning, it will have triggered heaters that warm up Rosetta's star trackers so that the spacecraft can work out where it is. The gradual heating of these vital instruments will take about 6 hours.

Total autonomy

The spacecraft must then stop itself spinning – it had to spin during hibernation to stabilise itself while its thrusters were turned off, work out where it is and find Earth to send home a signal. At more than 800 million kilometres from Earth, the signal will take 45 minutes to cross the space between.

To add to the tension, Rosetta must do this all for itself. No command can be received because Rosetta isn't listening. Its radio was turned off 31 months ago, along with most of the spacecraft's instruments and sub-systems, to conserve power.

"I'm confident that everything will work but still I'm very nervous," says Alois Eibner, who designed the hibernation mode for Astrium, the company that built the spacecraft. It was Eibner who pressed the button to send the signal to place the spacecraft into hibernation back in July 2011.

The earliest the signal is due to arrive is between 1730 and 1830 today but the wait could be much longer: the spacecraft is programmed to restart the 7 hour sequence at any point if something trips one of its internal software checks.

Harpoon landing

In May, Rosetta is designed to rendezvous with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko and follow it for more than a year sampling the tail material, mapping the surface and sending a washing-machine-sized craft, Philae, to land there in November – equipped with a harpoon which it will use for an anchor

Watch a video of how the Rosetta spacecraft will orbit the comet

The data will help to determine if the water in Earth's oceans, and themolecules that made life on Earth possible, came from comets.

Although everyone is hoping for the signal later today, a crisis will not be declared until Friday if a signal has still not been received. "Today is the first big day for Rosetta," says Alvaro Giménez Cañete, ESA director of science and robotic exploration, "But first Rosetta needs to wake up – and it will."

Stay tuned for updates later on today.

Vertical Jump: The Surprising Way to Boost Your Fitness

What does it mean to be in shape? Is it short-shorts and stamina on the trails? Is it more plates on the squat rack than a Thanksgiving dishwasher? Well, you can have all of these and still lack the fast-twitch power it takes to have a good vertical leap. Exercises increasing your “vert” are also great for increasing cardiovascular endurance, boosting strength, and generally improving athleticism. Read on for 10 tips to fly higher (and get fitter at the same time).

 

SPRING TRAINING — YOUR ACTION PLAN                                                                      

1. Keep it simple. Before upping the ante, it’s important to have a strong foundation; that is, plenty of leg strength. While many vertical leap guides and tutorials provide countless, often intricate exercises in order to improve jump speed, agility, and overall vertical leap, the power’s simply got to be there first. So, if you can’t squat 1.5x your body weight (a good benchmark for strength, according to Greatist Expert and trainer Jordan Syatt), start withbasic squats and related exercises, such as box jumps, deadlifts, and other exercises across the vertical plane. Those who are more advanced can then move to lateral and other more minor movements, Syatt suggests .
2. Stretch it out. Athletes of all levels often underestimate the importance of stretching. But frequent static stretching has been found to increase vertical leap and other fast-twitch power exercises. Stretching increases range of motion (flexibility), which allows for further activation of muscle groups. Too much flexibility won’t help power, but a solid stretching routine will help vert[1]. Those who think stretching is for yogis… might get dunked on by a yogi.
3. Jump around. Jumping rope is believed to improve many athletic functions that lead to a higher vertical, such as explosiveness and timing. It also strengthens muscles in the lower legs that might not be as engaged during other exercises, such as squatting. Bonus: Jump ropes are cheap, portable, and light, and can be used virtually anywhere. And don’t just skip in place — try mixing in some trickier plyometric moves.
4. Get up, get up, get down. While weighted squats can improve leg strength and help increase your vertical, all you really need is you. Weightless squat jumps are dynamic and athletic, improving strength through actual performance of jumps with maximum effort. Or, to kick things up a notch, try “The Hundo,” a popular squat jump variation where you perform 100 squats, jumping with maximum efforts every ten. This exercise can also help you work on your landing by adding turns and other tweaks.
5. Don’t force it. Before and after we jump, we “coil” — or bend down — allowing us to transfer energy into and out of a jump. Greatist Expert and trainer Rob Sulaver says make sure you can manage the force before and after a jump by incorporating pauses. “Squat. Hold. Jump. is a good place to start,” he says.
6. Put your hands up. Quick fixes are hard to come by, we know. And though research varies on how much arm swinging can impact maximum vertical leap, results consistently indicate that upper body training as well as proper arm-swinging technique can in fact increase maximum vertical leap [2]. The key is to swing your arms downward during a pre-jump knee bend, in order to maximize the upward force created when you swing your arms upward during the jump itself. Exercises that enhance this motion include cleans and snatches and kettlebell swings (see #8).
7. Go hard. A recent study has found that core training can help improve both maximum squat load and vertical leap [3]. Oh, and it’s time to set one thing straight: abs are abs, and the core is much more (we’re not just talking six-packs, but also the obliques, lower back, and hips.) Exercises such aswoodcutters and medicine ball slams are great for activating the core in ways that are useful for vertical leap. Perform these after more foundational exercises, such as squats and deadlifts, which engage other core areas as well.
8. Start swinging. Kettlebell swings are great for getting up high because they involve dynamic weight transfer on planes that are similar to those during actual jumping. Also, kettlebell swings are low-impact and low-pressure in comparison to squats and other exercises.  
9. Get low. All the above exercises mainly focus on the muscles above the knee. So what about the gears and tires down below? While it is beneficial to focus on muscles such as the calves, shins, and those in the feet, not too much time should be allocated to focusing specifically on these, as they’re all engaged and strengthened with virtually every vertical-increasing exercise. For a time-efficient approach to training these lower areas, start with calf raises and toe taps, which can be added to any workout, or super-setted.
10. Think big. Not convinced vertical leap training should be part of your regimen? Well, you can train for strength, power, speed, or stamina, but for a solid combination of all of these, try diversifying your workout. (Check outKelly Baggett’s Vertical Jump Development Bible for a wide variety of techniques.) Depending on your fitness level and goals, the key is mixing things up. (Sorry Ice Cube, life isn’t a track meet or a marathon. It’s both.)

Remember, not all of these techniques are best for everyone. Pick a few based on your goals, and be patient! Results won’t come overnight.

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Electrical burn causes star-shaped cataracts in patient's eyes

The New England Journal of Medicine

After an electrical burn, a man developed star-shaped cataracts in his eyes.

A 42-year-old electrician in California developed star-shaped cataracts in his eyes after a serious work-related accident caused electricity to run through his body, according to a new report of the case.

The man's left shoulder came into contact with 14,000 volts of electricity, and an electric current passed through his entire body, including the optic nerve — the nerve that connects the back of the eye to the brain.

"The optic nerve is similar to any wire that conducts electricity," said Dr. Bobby Korn, an associate professor of clinical ophthalmology at the University of California, San Diego, who treated the patient. "In this case, the extreme current and voltage that passed through this important natural wire caused damage to the optic nerve itself," Korn said.

Four weeks after the accident, Korn evaluated the patient, who was experiencing vision problems. An examination showed the man had "striking cataracts in both of his eyes," that were star-shaped, Korn said. A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye.

The reason cataracts sometimes take on a star shape is not fully understood, Korn said. In animal studies, damage to the eye's lens from electricity first appears as small bubbles called vacuoles on the outside of the lens. These bubbles then coalesce to form a star-shaped cataract, Korn said.

Four months after the accident, the man had surgery to remove the cataracts and implant a new lens, and his vision improved slightly after the operation, Korn said. But the damage to his optic nerve still limited the man's sight, Korn said.

Korn explained that the eye is like a camera: If the lens is damaged, it can be replaced with a new one, but if the "film" — in this case, the optic nerve and retina — is damaged, "then you'll never get a good picture," Korn said.

Now, 10 years later, the man still has poor vision in both of his eyes, Korn said. But he is able to commute on public transportation and take classes at a community college using assistance, Korn said.

The man's case is reported in the Jan. 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.