Protective Measures Against Malware

The Internet is a wonderful place but it can be dangerous too. People young and old can get lost in the web for hours and having the time of their lives but there are hidden dangers to its use, too. Of course, it all has to deal with cybersecurity. And it is no easy feat knowing how knowledgeable, skilled, and ingenious modern-day hackers are. No amount of data protection can get in their way if they want something so bad. Over recent years, the rise of malware has been so prominent in the tech sector that it has crippled businesses and organizations by the thousands in various parts of the globe. Sometimes, you wonder why people just don't give up and read a book!

If you are someone who knows your way with technology and is savvy when navigating the web, chances are you own your own tech device as well. It can be a smart gadget or a computer or laptop. You are not simply using these gadgets but you have to care for them too because they are somehow mighty expensive investments. However, you can’t tell when your device becomes at risk for malware. The risks are especially high if you are using computers running on old operating systems that do not have what it takes to fight off these tech nightmares.

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Does It Make Sense To Worry Over An Eclipse?

For the longest time, mankind has been coming up with various superstitions and nonsense beliefs if they can’t explain something logically or scientifically. We try to make sense of everything that’s happening around us, so many freaks out when something happens that is out of the ordinary. An eclipse is something that has captivated us for years and left us in awe on the many mysteries that surround us. There have been numerous stories and myths but nothing really factual aside from the fact that there are instances during the moon’s orbit between the earth and the sun, it blocks the sun casting a shadow onto the planet.

People believe a long list of Eclipse-related superstitions but why do you think these stories became popular in the first place? Pregnant women are advised to avoid it because it is bad for the unborn child. People are also advised not to look at it directly even with sunglasses on as it can harm your vision. Sorry to burst your bubble but eclipses aren’t really a big threat to us. Well, you should actually feel relieved. The sun’s radiation may be even harmful than eclipses and we get exposed to sunlight every single day, yet we don’t make a big deal out of it.

On Aug. 21, a 70-mile-wide ribbon from Oregon to South Carolina called the "path of totality" will experience a total solar eclipse. Large swaths of farmland in the Great Plains and Midwest will be plunged into darkness for 2 1/2 minutes, and temperatures will drop about 10 degrees in the middle of the day.

But as millions of people look up at the sky, many Midwest scientists will turn their eyes and cameras toward the plants and animals on the ground. And they're not sure what will happen.

"It's never really been studied systematically," says Angela Speck, director of astronomy at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Speck says different parts of the Earth experience a total eclipse about once a year, and that makes tracking changes in animal and plant behavior challenging.

(Via: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/08/17/543741919/will-the-eclipse-make-crops-and-animals-flip-out-scientists-ask-really)

Not just solely obsessed with unfounded doubts and stories, scientists now look somewhere else during eclipses – down. Given that there are certain changes in our surroundings as the moon covers the sun for a short period of time, they want to know more about its effects to living things on the planet like plants and animals. It makes perfect sense because even if plants can’t talk, there are certain movements that indicate how plants cope to changes in the environment. Scientists want to know how plants will cope to the sudden darkness and drop in temperature because it hasn’t been fully studied in the past.

Crickets will chirp, cows will march back to their barns and swarms of once-busy honeybees will fly hurriedly home to their hives when a total solar eclipse sweeps across the U.S. next week.

The sudden darkness that comes when the moon momentarily blocks the entire sun on Aug. 21 will cause some animals to experience a range of reactions, including confusion, fright and excitement, experts say. While animals like insects and bats behave as if nighttime has simply come early, other more intelligent animals — chimpanzees, dolphins and llamas — appear to stop and stare at the sky, showing signs of understanding a celestial phenomenon is occurring, or at least that something is off.

“The smarter animals freak out,” said Dr. Douglas Duncan, the director of the Fiske Planetarium at the University of Colorado. “I think it’s likely that really smart animals react differently.”

(Via: http://time.com/4882733/total-solar-eclipse-animals-react/)

Animals also act a little strange in response to these changes like eclipses no matter how short it may seem. But of course, various animals react differently. Smarter animals pause for a while and direct all their attention to the sky, as if understanding that a phenomenon beyond our power is happening that very moment. Meanwhile, not so intelligent animals cower in fear and wait for the sun to shine again during solar eclipses. Unlike plants, scientists have already spent a great deal of time studying animal behaviors in response to these scenarios.

Now, is an eclipse really something you should be alarmed of? Learn from plants and animals that have been more observant of their surroundings than humans do. These things happen and are normal. While we don’t always get the answers we want to hear, it is safe to say now that life will go on as usual after eclipses happen. It’s been that way for millions of years. The best thing you could do is to enjoy the experience and learn from it because not everyone gets to see an eclipse in their lifetime.

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Supercomputer To Mars

We all know that computers are crucial to space exploration. How can you fly anywhere without it? Even planes use sophisticated aviation technology to take us from one destination to another, what more to take people to space. Ever since man landed on the moon, we haven’t really achieved much when it comes to space exploration. Things have pretty much stagnated, to say the least. It’s probably why news about sending supercomputers to Mars is exciting everyone right now because it may be the breakthrough we have all been waiting for over the years.

It is not at all impossible for us to develop computers just for this purpose when consumer tech goods are actually pretty advanced these days. Many experts are hard at work in developing this supercomputer that will soon set foot in Mars to ensure the comfort and safety of astronauts sent to explore the red planet. Supercomputers are needed in space to speed up research that is slowly inching its way at a snail’s pace. Although we are not new to Mars, it is undeniably farther than the moon and the environment may be a bit more hostile too. Hence, distance has a lot to do with how well gadgets work out there.

A mission to Mars requires sophisticated computing capabilities to cut down on communication latencies and ensure astronauts’ survival. To advance this mission, HPE and NASA launched a supercomputer into space on the SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft.

This supercomputer, called the Spaceborne Computer, is part of a year-long experiment conducted by HPE and NASA to run a high performance commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) computer system in space, which has never been done before. The goal is for the system to operate seamlessly in the harsh conditions of space for one year – roughly the amount of time it will take to travel to Mars.

(Via: https://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/article/supercomputer-sent-space-accelerate-mission-mars-9484975)

Many things have changed and improved ever since man first went out to space. These achievements encouraged scientists to push the technology even further and the very same thing may also happen if this mission to Mars proves to be successful. It can propel space exploration even further and be instrumental for us to achieve even more in the future.

NASA and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) are sending a supercomputer into space.

The not-so-shrewdly named Spaceborne Computer, scheduled for launch today from Kennedy Space Center, is part of a year-long experiment.

The high-performance commercial machine will, fingers crossed, operate seamlessly in the “harsh conditions” of the cosmos.

In space, where no one can hear you scream, limited computing capabilities are sufficient for a visit to the moon or hanging out in low Earth orbit. But travel a bit further into the ether—to Mars, for instance—and it becomes much more difficult to keep in touch: It could take up to 20 minutes for someone on the Red Planet to contact Earth, and another 20 minutes to receive a response.

“Such a long communication lag would make any on-the-ground exploration challenging and potentially dangerous if astronauts are met with any mission critical scenarios that they’re not able to solve themselves,” Alain Andreoli, senior vice president and general manager of HPE’s Data Center Infrastructure Group, wrote in a blog post.

(Via: https://www.geek.com/tech/hp-supercomputer-headed-to-mars-on-spacex-rocket-1711877/)

Upgrading the computers used in space is the only way to further the exploration of space especially that conditions aren’t always great. This partnership between Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and NASA promises better computing performance that will not only help astronauts work more efficiently in the vast realms of outer space but allow experts on the ground to monitor their work and maintain regular communication with the team. Space experts and both those from HPE are hopeful that through this, advance computing will be made possible in space and pave the way for other discoveries and advancements to be made sooner rather than later.

Supercomputer To Mars is republished from The SoulVisual Blog

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Ecologists Lose Funds For Environmental Efforts

The onset of global warming and climate change has made the majority of the population more aware of the state of the environment nowadays. It has triggered the public to contribute more when it comes to environmental conservation efforts in an attempt to salvage what’s left of the planet. While many participate in such activities, more actually do not and even contribute to the rise in carbon footprint especially in progressive first-world countries that are highly dependent on technologies fuelled by fossil fuel.

It is depressing to think that there are government institutions in the world that do not support the fight to save the planet from its ultimate doom now that climate change is already our reality. Most countries set a budget for its environmental/ecological efforts but it is not always that big as compared to other services provided by the government like healthcare, education, infrastructure, etc. Without enough money, ecologists and environmentalists will have a hard time enforcing projects and initiatives they have laid out to protect the environment. Hunters, poachers, loggers, and miners will be able to do their deeds freely because there won’t be enough manpower to keep them at bay.

Every year since 1990, ecologist Glenda Wardle of the University of Sydney has ventured to the same expanse of desert in central Australia to take stock of its flora and fauna. But this year may be the last time Wardle can collect data from the 8,000-square-kilometre site in the Simpson Desert. The consortium that operates her research area and 11 other long-term sites, comprising more than 1,100 individual field plots, will stop funding this network by the end of the year because of budget cuts and shifting priorities, say its leaders.

Without this money, which covers a large portion of the operating costs at these sites, 6 of the 12 will probably close, says ecologist David Lindenmayer, who is the science director of the network and is based at the Australian National University in Canberra. This would break time-series data that scientists have collected over decades, he says.

(Via: https://www.nature.com/news/ecologists-protest-australia-s-plans-to-cut-funding-for-environment-monitoring-network-1.22453)

We are all probably thinking that all first-world nations got their act together but we are greatly mistaken as Australia appears to have reduced its funding dedicated to saving the environment. You are probably asking why considering that Australia in itself is a continent and a big part of its land mass are final frontiers of nature not to mention it has the Great Barrier Reef that is highly at risk as well today. It’s actually the same thing happening in the United States especially since President Trump assumed office early this year and he does not think highly about the environmental issues we are now facing.

The Jersey Shore needs every single dollar of funding from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and cuts proposed by the Trump administration have the potential of undoing years of environmental protections in the state, according to Congressman Frank Pallone (D-6th).

Pallone joined state and local elected officials, Barnegat Bay environmentalists and members of the public for a press conference at the Mantoloking Bridge County Park on Thursday morning to demand protection for EPA funding.

In September, the House of Representatives will vote on a budget that would cut seven percent, or $.5 billion from the EPA, which would “devastate the agency,” Pallone said.

(Via: https://jerseyshoreonline.com/ocean-county/politicians-environmentalists-rally-epa-cuts/)

Considering the extent of the damage today, you can’t just easily reverse climate change in a few years or so especially that not everyone cooperates and our demand for energy and other non-renewable resources continues to rise as the population balloons. First-world nations actually produce the highest carbon footprint on land because of the various industrial, manufacturing, commercial, and other related industries yet they are still battling issues regarding environmental funding. The United States is in a much bigger mess with a president that entirely believes climate change is just a hoax and even managed to sign the country out of the Paris Agreement.

While it is true that we need everyone’s active participation to save the planet, it does not mean that you can’t do your part in your own little ways. Carpooling or using public transportation, recycling, reusing, and reducing your garbage, using eco-friendly materials, reducing energy consumption, etc. are just some of the things you can do by yourself on a daily basis. It may not have that big of an impact but over time you’ll realize how much you were able to contribute to saving the environment and eventually the planet.

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Target’s New Apparel Line For Children With Disabilities

Parents of kids with disabilities know very well how challenging it is to raise a child with special needs. From special and intensive care they require as infants that only continues to become more taxing as they grow, life with a disabled child is no walk in the park indeed. Fortunately, society is trying to be more accommodating now when it comes to their special needs. There are establishments and institutions that are focused on the care of these kids and many businesses offer various types of support to meet the slightly more sensitive needs of children with disabilities.

As businesses become more competitive and everybody is considered a customer, entrepreneurs are starting to realize that they can tap various individuals to widen their customer base. And children with disabilities aren’t an exception. Target now offers an apparel line entirely dedicated to them. And best of all, they are quite affordable too with prices ranging from $4.50 to $7. These apparels are especially suited for kids with special needs as they addressed common requests by their parents like having fewer embellishments and tags.

Target is expanding its clothing line for kids, this time catering to those children with special needs.

Stemming from the success of Target's private label, Cat & Jack, the retailer has rolled out a sensory-friendly selection for kids with processing sensitivities.

The pieces include heat-transferred labels in place of tags, flat seams, and one-dimensional graphic tees, all designed to minimize discomfort when in contact with the skin, Target wrote in a blog post.

Target said it plans to expand the line this fall to include "adaptive pieces" that address the needs of children living with other disabilities.

(Via: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/18/target-debuts-apparel-line-for-kids-with-disabilities.html)

This new offering by Target is a great relief to parents who have a child with a disability at home as it makes shopping for their kid’s clothes way easier than it did before. These kids often have to use diapers too despite their age and the new apparels offered by Target ensured that they got this issue covered. Not only are they able to diversify their product line but they also lighten the burden of already stressed out parents that just want to spend even less time shopping so they have more time caring for their children that are unlike normal kids. FYI, these children with disability-friendly apparels are carried by their Cat & Jack house brand that you can also purchase online.

The new line includes pieces with heat-transferred labels in place of tags, flat seams and graphic tees designed to minimize discomfort when in contact with the skin.

Target is the first major retailer to launch a line specifically designed for special-needs children. Previously, the market was limited to smaller specialty stores or websites catering to families of children with autism and other sensory challenges. These children are often especially sensitive to clothing tags, exposed elastic bands and scratchy material.

According to the Center for Disease Control, one in 68 children has been identified with an autism spectrum disorder.

The new line was designed by Target's internal design team, including Stacey Monsen, a Target designer and mother of a 7-year-old daughter with autism.

(Via: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/08/target_unveils_sensory-friendl.html)

These are just some of the things people without disabilities take for granted. But for those kids with special needs and their parents, it is already a big help to lighten the burden of caring for a child that is more demanding than the others. This is a great move for Target in showing the community that they take their customer’s feedbacks seriously and they will go the extra mile in uplifting the lives of their consumers in whatever way they can. Other businesses should be more sensitive to the needs of other people with special requirements in life especially now that technology is advanced and almost anything is possible. Just a few tweaks on certain products to make them disabled-friendly can go a long way in brightening someone else’s life.

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Should We Be Worried About The Trump Administration’s Science Priorities?

Advancements are made because of extensive and well-funded research and development studies and trials. It is the only way to innovate and improve our lives. Both the government and the private sector invest heavily in R&D for almost the same reason, with the latter openly doing it for monetary gain. Meanwhile, the government pushes forth these initiatives to improve the production and delivery of basic services and to perhaps discover better products or medical treatment to most diseases that have been plaguing mankind as of late.

In both cases, R&D is an investment in future capabilities and technologies that are aimed to uplift people’s lives and change the way we live (hopefully, for the better). A country like America has always been at the forefront of major technologies, advancements, and innovations that the world has been blessed with over the last century and that is still the case until now. However, we all know how politics affect these issues and the federal state’s science-related initiatives depend on who's sitting in power at that moment.

The White House released a four-page memo (pdf) this week detailing its science budget priorities for fiscal year 2019, citing U.S. military superiority, security, prosperity, energy dominance and health as its top five focuses. The document makes no mention of environmental science or climate change—both top priorities under Barack Obama’s administration—but it does include commitments to basic research and aging-related health.

It should come as little surprise the Trump administration’s science priorities emphasize investment in military might to the exclusion of climate and clean energy. But some saw this memo as a relatively positive development, including Obama’s former science adviser, John Holdren. “There is much more to praise to in this document than to complain about," he says. “The fingerprints of input from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) are evident on this document.”

(Via: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-administration-rsquo-s-science-priorities-ldquo-better-than-feared-rdquo/)

It is a trying time for the United States given how unorthodox of a leader President Donald Trump is. Many are freaking out as to the various budget cuts he has implemented so far and the extreme travel bans and restrictions that have been in effect since he assumed office. For instance, he’s significantly reducing the EPA’s budget and may even ultimately get rid of the agency for good over time aside from signing the US out of the Paris Agreement, a rash decision considering that climate change is wreaking havoc with everyone right now.

Last summer, just weeks after being crowned the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump scored major political points by visiting flood-ravaged southern Louisiana. The flooding was America’s worst natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy, and yet, President Barack Obama had not yet interrupted his vacation to tour the damage. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, hadn’t visited either. Victims felt ignored. But some saw hope in Trump. “It just lets you know that somebody on the national level is doing something,” flood victim Sandra Bennett told the New York Times. The Rev. Bill Engelhart told the Los Angeles Times, “[Trump] really cares, and this is his way of showing it.”

A decision Trump made Tuesday, nearly a year to the day after his Louisiana visit, suggests otherwise: He signed an executive order that, among other things, rescinds flood protections for federally funded buildings and infrastructure. First reported by E&E News, Trump’s order undoes an Obama-era executive order that required new public infrastructure projects—like subsidized housing, hospitals, and fire departments—to be built a few feet above the “100-year floodplain,” or the height at which there is a 1 percent chance you’ll experience an enormous flooding event. The requirement accounts for future sea level rise predicted by “the best-available and actionable science,” the order reads.

(Via: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/climate_desk/2017/08/trump_revokes_obama_era_environmental_building_standards.html)

There are two sides in every story. Well, three actually. There are each side’s story and the truth. Now, talking about bigger issues like the environment is undeniably complicated. Add to it the conflicting opinions of people makes reaching an agreement doubly harder. And when politicians insist on their own truth rather than hearing out everything regarding all the environmental issues affecting not only the country but the entire world today, it makes the entire nation wonder and worry at the same time as to what the future holds.

But despite his many flaws, President Trump still won the election fair and square and everybody should at least give him the benefit of the doubt and wait for him to bring to life his promise of making America great again. He may have issues with the environment and many others but surely he won’t get in the way of progress and development that is brought about by a well-funded and supported research and development efforts considering he is an entrepreneur himself.

Should We Be Worried About The Trump Administration’s Science Priorities? Read more on: The SoulVisual Blog

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New Trends In Web Designs

The web is constantly changing. Technology is fast advancing that what we are using today may soon be rendered obsolete in the next few years. This is especially true when it comes to web design. Companies try to out-win one another with their clever tricks and online magic to boost brand relevance in a competitive market that has always kept everyone on their toes. You just need to remember that a good web design is more user-friendly and enhances the overall customer experience whenever they access your site. Hence, it pays to keep yourself updated on what’s in and what’s not, not only to make your website look good but more so to increase profit because you are running a business after all.

This is even more imperative now as the world becomes increasingly global where time and distance are no longer that big of a hindrance to people and businesses as it once was. At a day and age dominated by social media and smart gadgets, it is but a must to ensure you can immediately connect to people in a platform they love using. Entrepreneurs that succeed in building their brand into something even greater grasp the importance of establishing and maintaining a strong online presence but you can only do that with a web design that users won’t have any difficulty using that likewise delivers all the key concepts you want your consumers to know and understand.

In a time when Google and Facebook dominate web traffic and publishers are struggling to keep pace, pageviews have never been more important. But how can news organizations compete with the duopoly?

Apparently by going back to basics.

According to a study conducted by the Engaging News Project — an initiative of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas, Austin — redesigning a website's homepage could increase pageviews and the amount of time users spend on the page. But the results were mixed.

The study was conducted in conjunction with the launch of two major news organizations' redesigned homepages, one Canadian and one American. Around the same time, nearly 1,000 Canadians and 1,000 Americans participated in online experiments, in which they were randomly shown either the old homepage or the updated one, and then asked questions about their perception and recall.

(Via: https://www.poynter.org/2017/want-more-pageviews-this-study-found-testing-new-homepage-designs-could-be-a-good-place-to-start/469381/)

While most companies already have web pages of their own, it still pays to reach a bigger audience through social media and by meeting certain criteria of search engines so that the public are more aware of the brand even when they are browsing other sites or simply browsing their social media news feed. The world has become so much smaller and it can be a good thing for you and your business if you know what tools to use and how to use them right.

There are scores of website designing platforms that develop and design websites using simple means; however, the results do not match industry standards that are successfully set by large companies, who are ready to pay thousands of dollars for the services of website and graphic designers.

These factors have created a new demand for advanced technology requirement, where any website designer can create spellbinding websites using AI. Through the use of AI, web designers can create compelling websites through complex algorithms of codes and logics.

In this new AI technology, all one needs to do is to answer a series of questions that are asked by the AI assistant. This assists the system in evaluating key nuances of your business and its ultimate nature, along with blueprint of the website you require for your business. With scores of hours of algorithmic programs, it successfully suggests the perfect and ideal combination of layout, design, branding, and content, which will surely help your website attain large amounts of traffic as well as provide leads in the future.

(Via: https://www.businesszone.co.uk/community/blogs/danishmaniyar/artificial-intelligence-meets-web-design)

We all know that nothing is set in stone when it comes to technology. The ones we are using right now that seem mind-blowing will soon become obsolete as newer advancements are made as the days and years pass by. Web designers continue to develop and innovate better, easy to use, and advanced web designs that meet the requirements of businesses today and what the people are comfortable in using. You might gush over the web designs of today but you’ll sure be laughing at your silly self several years from now when more artificially advanced designs become the norm because they are already in the works now.

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