Isro’s record breaking PSLV-C37 mission: These are the 104 satellites on board

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) plans to set a world record by launching 104 satellites on board a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) flight on 15 February. It will be the thirty ninth flight of the PSLV, and its sixteenth flight in the XL configuration, where additional motors are strapped onto the rocket.

Nellore: ISRO got the go-ahead on Monday for its attempt to launch a record set of 104 satellites on a single rocket on Monday. Its mission readiness review committee (MRRC) as well as the launch authorisation board gave the green signal for launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) that will carry the satellites.

The MRRC, led by its chairman K. Narayana and LAB led by Shar director P. Kunhi Krishnan, decided to commence the countdown at 5.28am on Tuesday, and launch the rocket at 9.28am on Wednesday. In its 39th flight, PSLV will launch the 714-kg Cartosat-2 satellite for earth observation and 103 co-passenger satellites, together weighing about 664kg, at lift-off. The satellites will be placed in an orbit 505km above the Earth.

Of the 101 international co-passenger nano-satellites, 96 are from the US, and one each from Israel, Kazakhstan, the Nethe-rlands, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. The weight of all the satellites at launch will total 1,378 kg. The PSLV-C37 will also carry two Isro nano satellites — INS-1A and INS-1B. These satellites carry a total of four payloads from the Space Applications Centre (SAC) and Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems (LEOS) of ISRO for conducting various experiments.

In a show of moral support, youths and students from different schools and journalist associations took out rallies in Nellore for the success of the launch. The school education department is also conducting elocution and essay competitions on the achievements of ISRO.
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Facebook Builds Quiet Anechoic Chambers

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that the company is working its second anechoic chamber as a significant aspect of Oculus Research. The technology giant is currently constructing the facility in Redmond, Washington.

Quietest Place On The Globe

According to The Tech Portal, anechoic means a place that has no echoes. The building is designed as the second anechoic chamber to perform sound experiments. The company revealed that achieving the calm state is challenging and includes a considerable measure of spongy sound material on the dividers and springs under the floor to avoid ground vibrations.

CEO On Tour

The building is run by Oculus's Virtual Reality specialist studying the next-gen virtual and augmented reality. It is led by tech industry veteran, Michael Abrash. As per Venture Beat, the tech giant will start shipping the Rift in March. The Oculus Rift VR headset will be tested in the quietest place on Earth.
Zuckerberg said that the company is working on new ways to make an excellent virtual and augmented reality. He added while wearing the gloves that in the near future, humans can type on a virtual keyboard and can even shoot webs like Spider Man.


Anechoic Chambers History

In 2010, Apple had 17 anechoic chambers to test iPhone models. In 2015, Microsoft announced that the campus in Redmond is well-designed to test VR equipments. Google also unveiled in 2015 that the anechoic chambers work to clarify sound recordings, which can then be utilized for gadget testing.
In the history, anechoic chambers are ordinarily used to test therapeutic instruments, vehicles, flying machine, home apparatuses and in fact, broadcast communications gear. Other companies that are utilizing anechoic chambers, include Edwards Air Force Base, the University of Iowa, Binghamton University, Material Sciences Corp., Canada's Western University, Nokia Bell Labs, Indiana University, Nordic Speaker Manufacturer Seas, Northwestern University, Minnesota's Orfield Laboratories and the University of California, Berkeley.
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Japan looks to create a superfast supercomputer for deep learning

Japan is reportedly eyeing a return to the top of the supercomputer ranks. The county’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to spend 19.5 billion yen ($173 million) on a new super computer, according to budget filings reported by Reuters, with aims of developing a machine capable of 130 petaflops
That number would put the company in the top spot, moving the AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure ahead of Sunway Taihulight, the supercomputer unveiled by China over the summer capable of 93 petaflops. The Ministry already has some fairly big plans for the previously unannounced super computer, utilizing its record-breaking speeds to help the country develop advances in AI technologies like deep learning.
Also on the list (at 130 quadrillion calculations per second, the thing would be fairly adept at multi-tasking) are gains in autonomous vehicle development, medicine and robotics. According to the report, the planned computer would be licensed to domestic corporations for a fee.
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Google warns journalists and professors: Your account is under attack

Google is warning prominent journalists and professors that nation-sponsored hackers have recently targeted their accounts, according to reports delivered in the past 24 hours over social media.

The people reportedly receiving the warnings include Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, Stanford University professor and former US diplomat Michael McFaul, GQ correspondent Keith Olbermann, and according to this tweet, Politico, Highline, and Foreign Policy contributor/columnist Julia Ioffe; New York Magazine reporter Jonathan Chait; and Atlantic magazine writer Jon Lovett. Reports of others receiving the warnings are hereand here. Many of the reports included banners that Google displayed when account holders logged in. Ars spoke to someone who works for a well-known security company who also produced an image of a warning he received. The person said he was aware of a fellow security-industry professional receiving the same warning.



One of the red banners included large white text that stated: "Warning: Google may have detected government-backed attackers trying to steal your password." It included a link that led to advice for securing accounts. Some of the people who received the warning reported their accounts were protected by two-factor authentication, which requires a piece of cryptographic hardware or a one-time password that's sent through a mobile device. Google has been sending warnings of nation-sponsored hacking attempts since 2012.
A Google spokesman, citing this overview of the warnings, said it's possible that the recent flurry may refer to hacking attempts that happened over the past month, as opposed to events that occurred more recently. He said Google officials deliberately delay warnings to prevent those behind the attacks from learning researchers' sources and methods for detecting the attacks. The delays apply only to attack attempts, rather than cases where attacks result in a successful account takeover.

"According to Volexity's data, the threat group sent e-mails from purpose-built Gmail accounts and what may be a compromised e-mail account from Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Science. The phishing e-mails dropped a new variant of backdoor malware dubbed "PowerDuke" by Volexity, and this malware gave attackers remote access to compromised systems. Volexity has been tracking a number of campaigns based on PowerDuke since August, when some "highly targeted" malicious e-mails were sent to individuals at a number of policy research organizations in the US and Europe. The e-mails were disguised as messages from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Transparency International, the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), and Eurasia Group. Another wave of similar e-mails targeted universities in October.

The latest round of e-mails, sent out on November 8 and 9, "were sent in large quantities to different individuals across many organizations and individuals focusing in national security, defense, international affairs, public policy, and European and Asian studies," Adair wrote. "Two of the attacks purported to be messages forwarded on from the Clinton Foundation giving insight and perhaps a postmortem analysis into the elections. Two of the other attacks purported to be eFax links or documents pertaining to the election’s outcome being revised or rigged. The last attack claimed to be a link to a PDF download on 'Why American Elections Are Flawed."
It's not certain that the PowerDuke campaign and the flurry of Google warnings are connected, but there are enough similarities to entertain the possibility. Ars reached out to most of the people who reported getting the warnings, but didn't receive a response before this post went live.
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WhatsApp’s new video-streaming feature spotted on Android beta

Barely a week after rolling out video calling for users across the world, WhatsApp is now looking to add a video streaming feature on the platform. According to reports, WhatsApp users will now be able to view a shared video even while it is downloading as they will have the option of streaming it. The feature is available for WhatsApp beta version 2.16.365 for users on Android. Initially, users could only view a video shared with them after it was fully downloaded.

Now, WhatsApp has replaced the download button with play button that will allow users to stream video while it is still buffering. WhatApp’s new feature is similar to streaming videos online on YouTube where you can view parts that have already been buffered. The feature is experimental for now. However, we can expect WhatsApp to roll out the same for its users soon.
In our case, the feature didn’t work for us, even though we’ve signed up as WhatsApp’s beta tester.
India is a crucial market for WhatsApp given the country has 160 million monthly active users (MAUs), which is close to 20 per cent of WhatsApp’s total MAUs. The messaging platform recently rolled out video calling for Android, iOS and Windows users. The feature is available via simple update, and the UI has been kept pretty simple.
Clearly, WhatsApp is looking at videos as the way forward and working towards this direction. The video calling feature was anticipated, since the first time it was spotted on Android beta almost a year back. The latest video streaming feature will surely save users space in their devices as it will be easier for them to decide whether to download a video or not.
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