PHP vs. Node.js: An Epic Battle for Developer Mind share

It's a classic Hollywood plot: the battle between two old friends who went separate ways. Often the friction begins when one pal sparks an interest in what had always been the other pal's unspoken domain.

In the programming language version of this movie, it's the introduction of Node.js that turns the buddy flick into a grudge match: PHP and JavaScript, two partners who once ruled the Internet together but now duke it out for the mind share of developers. In the old days, the partnership was simple. JavaScript handled little details on the browser, while PHP managed all the server-side tasks that existed between port 80 and MySQL.

It was a happy union that continues to support many of the crucial parts of the Internet. Between WordPress, Drupal, and Facebook, people can hardly go a minute on the Web without running into PHP. But then some clever kid discovered he could get JavaScript running on the server. Suddenly, there was no need to use PHP to build the next generation of server stacks.

One language was all it took to build Node.js and the frameworks running on the client. "JavaScript everywhere" became the mantra for some. Of course, the ending isn't written yet. For every coder crowing about the purity of Node.js and the simplicity of JavaScript everywhere, there's another who's happy with the deep code base and long-understood stability of PHP. Will the old codger beat back the server-side upstart? Will JavaScript topple its old friend to achieve world domination? Put another batch of popcorn in the microwave and sit back.

7 tips to improve the way you search online

As the internet continues to grow with every passing second, the amount of content available online — such as text, pictures and even high-definition multimedia — keeps on increasing. The biggest problem we face, however, is accessing all this information when we need it.

1. Meta search:-For better results, it is recommended that you use at least two or three search engines. But for most of us, querying different services can prove to be cumbersome. In such cases, it makes sense to use meta search engines, which pull data from multiple services, eliminate duplicates, and use their own algorithms to reorder the results. 

Here you could look at:Dogpile.com (queries Google and Yahoo)Zapmeta.com (Altavista, Entireweb, Gigablast and Yahoo, among other services)Search.com (Bing, Blekko, DMOZ aka Open Directory and Google).

2.Natural language search:-

Most search engines rely on keywords to carry out searches. But if you're looking for a service where you can ask questions in spoken English, try Ask.com. This engine understands queries in natural language to give you exactly the kind of result you were looking for.
Type "How large is a whale," for instance, and the site returns with "Whales reach lengths of 100 feet and can weigh up to 200 tons..."

3.Social search:-

Searching websites is one thing, but trawling blogs, social networks and tweets for content is quite something else.
Here, our favourite tool is Icerocket.com. Simply type your keyword or phrase, and you can then select from any one of its tabs: Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, or Search All for results. It's a great way to keep an eye on what's trending on the interweb.

4.Image search:-

Bing, Google and Yahoo let you search images, but you might want to try Tineye.com, which is a 'reverse' image search engine.
You can upload a picture, or send a web link to its servers, after which Tineye uses image identification technology to tell you where the picture came from, how it's being used, if modified versions exist and it even identifies higher resolution versions.

5.Video search:-

If it's online videos you're looking for, try Blinkx.com. This service helps you find clips from hosting services, v-logs, news channels and more.
You can search by category (news and politics, sports, science and nature, technology, movies, and celebrities), keywords and sometime even by content (like song lyrics) — and with your results, Blinkx also suggests possible channels to which you can subscribe.

6.Kid search:-

Kidrex.org is designed exclusively for youngsters and leads to content that's safe for kids.
Alternatively, most search engines provide filters that block content that might not be suitable for children. Bing, Google, and Yahoo have their SafeSearch option, which can be found under 'Preferences' on the respective sites.

7.Medical search

iMedisearch.com is a customized Google engine specifically built to search medical-related resources. But unlike Google, which cannot distinguish between reputable and non-reputable medical sites, iMedisearch only displays data from credible websites that have been carefully selected by a practicing clinical pharmacist.
Additionally, the site separates results based on users — whether general public, physician or nurse — to deliver relevant and accurate results.

Voice Calling Buttons Show Up in WhatsApp iPhone App

Soon after Android users began reporting the rollout of the WhatsApp free voice calling feature, iOS users with the latest version of the app are now reporting the presence of call buttons. Independently verified by NDTV Gadgets, the two new call buttons visible in the WhatsApp iOS app (v2.11.15 - currently available on the App Store) for now only bring up the standard iPhone dialler, rather than placing a VoIP call through WhatsApp. This should change when WhatsApp finally rolls out the functionality.

One button, near the contact name within a chat conversation, features the phone symbol, while the other is present on the left side below the top pane, and reads 'Call'. The new buttons are definitely a new addition to the interface, and seem to be independent of the regular call feature via the dialler, which is still accessible when the user opens a contact's info page and navigates to the phone number.

Notably, the rollout of the new interface with the call buttons for the WhatsApp iOS app is much wider than last week's Android rollout of the fully-functional voice calling feature to some users. Anyone can download the latest version of the iOS app with the functionality from the App Store, but of course, the feature is not yet operational on iOS.

On the other hand, the WhatsApp for Android app currently available on Google Play or the company's site does not feature the new call buttons, or offer the voice calling functionality to all users. Users who do report seeing the new functionality, say a Calls tab and a New Call symbol are visible, as also seen in the screenshots and video shared by users.

Instagram for Mobile and Web Now Endlessly Loops Videos

Facebook-owned Instagram has updated its Android and iOS app with automatic video loop feature, somewhat like Twitter-owned micro-video sharing service Vine. The company updated Instagram for Android (version 6.14.1) on Wednesday last week and iOS (version 6.5.0) app on Wednesday this week.

Videos in users feed now auto-play muted, and loop endlessly. Users have the option to unmute the video. On the Web in the meanwhile, videos don't auto-play but still do loop endlessly once they are started. The "What's New" section for both Android and iOS Instagram app includes only one change and that is "videos now automatically replay in feed", alongside assuring users that "This won't affect how much data the app uses."

The feature is being speculated to be very useful for advertisers on the network. The social networking giant appears to be making some serious efforts to make good use of videos, as earlier in December too, Facebook had introduced the auto playing functionality for the eligible video mobile app-install ads in News Feed, a feature which according to company that will help marketers spread the word even more. Announcing the feature the company had noted, "As more and more people upload, share and discover video on Facebook, marketers are realising the value of video at every stage of the buying cycle, from awareness to conversion."

China to Toughen Military Checks to Fight Internet Spying

China's military will toughen ideological background checks on its troops and strictly control their internet and mobile phone use in an effort to combat spying by "hostile forces", state media said on Wednesday.

China and the United States frequently trade accusations of hacking and internet spying, increasing tension between the two countries, and Communist Party rulers in Beijing have tightened controls on ideology and speech, saying hostile forces from the West pose a threat to Chinese culture. The guideline issued by China's powerful Central Military Commission and carried by the official People's Liberation Army Daily said military personnel were forbidden from blogging and using online chat programmes.

"Some Western countries have intensified plotting against our country with 'colour revolutions', an online 'cultural Cold War' ... trying in vain to uproot the spirit of our military officers and soldiers," a commentary in the PLA Daily said.

China's education minister said last week the country must remove "Western values" from its classrooms. In late December, President Xi Jinping called for greater ideological guidance in universities and urged the study of Marxism.Political and ideological education must be implemented to improve the military, the guideline added. The armed forces must also toughen measures to prevent the leaking of secrets, it added.

ESA Rules Out Philae Lander Flyby for Rosetta Spacecraft

The European Space Agency (ESA) has ruled out a special trip for the Rosetta spacecraft to find the lost Philae lander that went silent when its batteries ran out just days after its bumpy landing on the comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

According to a post on the agency's Rosetta blog, the team will stick with plans to fly over the body of the duck-shaped comet February 14, away from Philae."There is unlikely to be another opportunity for a dedicated lander search until later in the mission, possibly next year," said Fred Jansen, Rosetta mission manager at ESA.

It has been almost three months since the ESA scientists heard the last peep from Philae that landed on the comet November 12 last year.Amateur and professional planetary scientists have scoured pictures of 67P looking for signs of the lost lander, but its exact location remains a mystery.

Last month, mission scientists debated changing the manoeuvres that had long been planned for Rosetta, which is currently orbiting 67P.Some hoped to switch Rosetta's trajectory to launch a search for the lander from a distance of just six km above the comet.

Rosetta's swoop at six km should generate bright, shadow-free images and high-resolution data about the comet's composition, the blog read.

Drone Maker Plans Software to Block Washington Flights

The Chinese maker of a drone that a hobbyist crashed at the White House says it is taking steps to ensure that cannot happen again.DJI Technology Co. said Wednesday it will send a software update this week for its drones' navigation system that will block them from flying over Washington.

The crash of the 50-centimeter-long (two-foot-long) Phantom quad-copter prompted questions about whether the White House and President Barack Obama were adequately protected against a potential threat.A DJI spokesman, Michael Perry, said the software update was planned for coming weeks but its release was moved up after the White House incident.

DJI drones use a GPS-linked onboard navigation system that already is programmed to block them from "no fly" zones around some 700 airports worldwide, according to Perry.A U.S. government intelligence agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, said the man who flew the drone into the White House was one of its employees but the flight was not work-related. His name was not released.

DJI, based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, is privately owned and does not release sales details but industry analysts say it is the biggest maker of drones for civilian use. Perry said the Phantom is the most widely used civilian drone in the United States.

Obama Finds Bipartisan Support for First 'Big Data' Privacy Plan

The White House is working with bipartisan sponsors on a bill to protect data collected from students through educational apps - the first of President Barack Obama's "Big Data" privacy plans to gain traction in the Republican-controlled Congress. Obama has pushed to do more to protect privacy in an age when consumers leave a trail of digital footprints through smart phones, personal devices and social media - information that can be collected, analyzed and sold.

He has proposed action on a series of laws to address "Big Data" concerns, but most have yet to find momentum.That could change, given public concerns over privacy and cybersecurity that have been amplified by high-profile hacking of credit card data at companies such as Target and Home Depot, said top Obama adviser John Podesta.

"I think there's much more pressure now to move legislation and we're certainly going to use all of the resources we have, including the president's time, to ensure that the Congress takes this up," Podesta told Reuters in an interview.

In the next couple of weeks, Indiana Congressman Luke Messer, the chairman of the House of Representatives Republican Policy Committee, and Democrat Jared Polis of Colorado, an Internet entrepreneur who founded a network of charter schools, will unveil a student privacy bill. "Protecting America's children from Big Data shouldn't be a partisan issue," Messer said in a statement. "I'm glad to work across the aisle to find the appropriate balance between technology in the classroom and a parent's right to protect their child's privacy."

Nasa's New Horizons Spacecraft Sends First Historic Images of Pluto

Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft has sent its first stunning images of Pluto as the probe closes in on the dwarf planet.

New Horizons was more than 203 million kilometres away from Pluto when it began taking images, the US space agency said in a statement.Although still just a dot along with its largest moon, Charon, the images come on the 109th birthday of Clyde Tombaugh who discovered the distant icy world in 1930.

"My dad would be thrilled with New Horizons," said Clyde Tombaugh's daughter Annette Tombaugh, of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

"To actually see the planet that he had discovered, and find out more about it - to get to see the moons of Pluto - he would have been astounded. I am sure it would have meant so much to him if he were still alive today," she added.

The new images, taken with New Horizons' telescopic Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), are the first acquired during the spacecraft's 2015 approach to the Pluto system which culminates with a close flyby of Pluto and its moons July 14.Over the next few months, LORRI will take hundreds of pictures of Pluto, against a starry backdrop, to refine the team's estimates of New Horizons' distance to Pluto.

As in these first images, the Pluto system will resemble little more than bright dots in the camera's view until late spring."Pluto is finally becoming more than just a pinpoint of light," said Hal Weaver, New Horizons project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

Microsoft Launches Universal Office Apps for Windows 10 Technical Preview

Microsoft at its 'Next Chapter' event last month had revealed the touch-optimised version of Office apps for Windows 10 - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook - or rather, the Universal Office apps. Now, the company as promised has released the trio of Word, Excel and PowerPoint Universal apps for desktops, laptops and tablets running the Windows 10 Technical Preview.

The latest Universal Office apps are optimised for touch and mobile use, and are currently available to download via the Windows Store Beta that comes with the January Technical Preview of Windows 10.

The 'universal' claim is that the apps are the essentially the same across devices, requiring developers to make only minor changes to support different form factors. The company has also promised that in upcoming weeks it will release the preview for the same apps on smartphones and tablets running Windows 10.

Announcing the news via a blog post titled "The next chapter of Office on Windows", Julia White, general manager for the Office Product Management said, "Today, we're excited to announce that Word, Excel and PowerPoint are now available for technical preview on PCs, laptops and tablets running the Windows 10 Technical Preview."

Unfortunately, the official blog post has no word on the availability of a new Outlook app for the technical preview. Venture Beats quotes a Microsoft spokesperson, "Outlook Mail and Calendar for Windows 10 will be available in the Windows 10 store at a later date, but we have nothing more to share on timing."

US Health Insurer Anthem Hit by Massive Cyber-Security breach

Health insurer Anthem Inc, which has nearly 40 million US customers, said late on Wednesday that hackers had breached one of its IT systems and stolen personal information relating to current and former consumers and employees.The No. 2 health insurer in the United States said the breach did not appear to involve medical information or financial details such as credit card or bank account numbers.

The information accessed during the "very sophisticated attack" did include names, birthdays, social security numbers, street addresses, email addresses and employment information, including income data, the company said.Anthem said that it immediately made every effort to close the security vulnerability and reported the attack to the FBI. Cyber-security firm FireEye Inc said it had been hired to help Anthem investigate the attack.

The company did not say how many customers and staff were affected, but the Wall Street Journal earlier reported it was suspected that records of tens of millions of people had been taken, which would likely make it the largest data breach involving a US health insurer.

Anthem had 37.5 million medical members as of the end of December."This attack is another reminder of the persistent threats we face, and the need for Congress to take aggressive action to remove legal barriers for sharing cyber threat information," US Rep. Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas and chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, said in a statement late Wednesday.

Wipro to Co-Develop Cyber-Security Tools for Energy, Utilities Sectors

Global software major Wipro Ltd will jointly develop cyber-security solutions with the US-based SRC Cyber LLC for the energy and utilities sector."We have formed a global alliance with SRC Cyber to co-develop IT security products and provide consulting services to serve enterprises across the energy and utilities industry value chain," the city-based company said in a statement Wednesday.

SRC Cyber, a subsidiary of the New York-based research and development firm SRC Inc., provides solutions that help customers enhance their security posture, reduce risk and improve operational efficiency. According to an industry study, 70 percent of companies across 10 countries had at least one security breach, which resulted in loss of confidential information or disruption to their operations" in the past year.

"We will collaborate with SRC on cyber innovation to build the next generation solutions for the global energy and utilities market. Our innovation will use recent advances in physical-cyber convergence to roll out a suite of products and services for securing operational assets in the sector," Wipro chief technology officer Radha Swaminathan said in the statement.

The joint offering will provide customers with solutions and services, ranging from strategy development, compliance adherence, operations optimisation to project delivery."Our security consulting and energy domain expertise, combined with SRC's products and services, will deliver solutions that will help customers in the sector address current and emerging threats," Swaminathan noted.

How to Make Calls, Send and Receive SMS From Your Computer Using an Android Phone

The launch of iOS 8 in September brought a number of very cool features, with Continuity perhaps topping the list of enhancements. It allows you to make and receive phone calls and send and receive text messages using your iPad or Mac, as long as they're connected to the same Wi-Fi network and Apple ID.

This is quite handy if you're working on your Mac and don't want to switch back to the iPhone just to check a text or to receive a call. If you're using a Mac and an iPhone that's a great feature to have, but Android users need not feel left out either. AirDroid gives Android users most of Continuity's features and allows some things that'll make Apple users jealous.

Continuity also has a feature called Handoff, which allows you to pick up where you left off with apps. Whether it's finishing an incomplete message on Mail or a document in Pages, these automatically sync across Apple devices with Handoff. Third-party apps such as Google Chrome also support this feature, but this is only available if developers choose to add it.

AirDroid doesn't have anything like Handoff and doesn't let you receive phone calls. It can mirror your Android device's screen to your computer if your phone is rooted.

This feature is useful if you want to use your phone's apps on your PC. If your phone is not rooted, you only get notifications for text messages, phone calls, and from other system apps. Airdroid 3 lets you send and receive text messages, make and reject calls, receive notifications and transfer files via your computer.

You control the phone using a Web client, so you don't have to install any software, and can use the app simply by visiting a webpage on either your PC or Mac.

1. Download AirDroid on your Android phone.
2. Open the app on your Android phone.
3. The app will ask you to create an account, but it is not needed. Just tap the tinySign in later button at the bottom.
4. Now AirDroid will ask you for permission to show notifications on your computer in real time. Tap Enable.
5. This will take you to the system settings for access to notifications. Tap AirDroid Notification Mirror service.
6. A confirmation pop-up will appear. Tap OK.
7. Now hit the back button on your phone to return to AirDroid. The app will now display a URL - http://web.airdroid.com - on the phone.
8. Open the URL in any Web browser on your computer. You'll see a QR code in the browser window.
9. On AirDroid on your Android phone, tap the QR code image next to the URL. This will open the camera.
10. Point the camera at the QR code in the browser window on your computer. The Android app will vibrate when it has scanned the code.

Facebook's New Challenge: Sell Wall Street on Spending

Facebook Inc's big spending plans are facing a tough reception on Wall Street.The Internet social networking company, which has dazzled with two years of breakneck revenue growth, is struggling to win support for plans to pump billions of dollars into infrastructure and businesses ranging from virtual reality headsets to satellites.

Facebook shares fell about 2 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday, after the company beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter revenue target and discussed aggressive 2015 spending plans. The stock has fallen 7.6 percent since late October, when it first outlined these plans.

"Expectations for Facebook are already very high and perhaps some commentary around aggressive investments can spook investors a bit," said Colin Sebastian, a Robert W. Baird & Co analyst.

Facebook said on Wednesday that 2015 capital expenditures will range from $2.7 billion (roughly Rs. 16,593 crores) to $3.2 billion (roughly Rs. 19,666 crores), a sharp increase from $1.83 billion (roughly Rs. 11,246 crores) in 2014.While Facebook slightly narrowed the range of its expected increase in 2015 operating expenses, the projected level remains well above previous levels.

Facebook's staff grew 45 percent to 9,200 employees in 2014 through hiring and buying a string of companies. The hiring shows no signs of slowing down, with listings for more than 1,200 positions posted on Facebook's website earlier this month.The spending spree comes as Facebook faces intensifying competition with Twitter Inc, Google Inc and a host of well-capitalized Web startups such as Snapchat.

"They're looking at a lot of investment around data and video and search which are expensive," said Evercore ISI analyst Ken Sena, noting that Facebook was doing a good job convincing investors about the need to invest.

How, and Why, Apple Overtook Microsoft

When Microsoft stock was at a record high in 1999, and its market capitalization was nearly $620 billion (roughly Rs. 38,31,445 crores), the notion that Apple Computer would ever be bigger - let alone twice as big - was laughable. Apple was teetering on bankruptcy.

And Microsoft was so dominant in personal computers, then the center of the technology universe, that the government deemed it an unlawful monopoly. This week, both Microsoft and Apple unveiled their latest earnings, and the once unthinkable became reality: Apple's market capitalization hit $683 billion (roughly Rs. 42,20,769 crores), more than double Microsoft's current value of $338 billion (roughly Rs. 20,88,755 crores).

At Apple's earnings conference call Tuesday, its chief executive, Tim Cook, called the quarter "historic" and the earnings "amazing." Noting that Apple sold more than 34,000 iPhone 6 every hour, 24 hours a day, during the quarter, he said the sheer volume of sales was "hard to comprehend." Apple earned $18 billion in the quarter - more than any company ever in a single quarter - on revenue of $75 billion (roughly Rs. 4,63,481 crores).

Its free cash flow of $30 billion (roughly Rs. 1,85,392 crores) in one quarter was more than double what IBM, another once-dominant tech company, generates in a full year, noted a senior Bernstein analyst, Toni Sacconaghi. The stock jumped more than 5 percent, even as the broader market was down. A far more subdued Satya Nadella, Microsoft's chief executive, who is trying to transform the company and reduce its dependence on the Windows operating system, referred to "challenges." Microsoft's revenue was barely one-third of Apple's, and operating income of $7.8 billion (roughly Rs. 48,202 crores) was less than a quarter of Apple's. Microsoft shares dropped over 9 percent as investors worried about its aging personal computer software market.