LG Perluas Kehadiran Android Lollipop untuk G3

Para vendor smartphone kerap meluncurkan update atau pembaruan untuk produknya, termasuk soal sistem operasi (OS). Dalam hal ini, LG akan memperluas update OS Android terbaru, 5.0 Lollipop.

Phone Arena, melaporkan bahwa LG pada bulan lalu meluncurkan Android 5.0 Lollipop untuk smartphone flagship G3 di Eropa. Namun perusahaan asal Korea Selatan itu memastikan akan memberikan perlakuan sama terhadap konsumennya di wilayah lain.

Terbukti, LG pada hari ini melalui akun Twitter miliknya mengonfirmasi bahwa Android Lollipop akan segera bisa dimiliki oleh pengguna G3 di Amerika Serikat (AS). Sayangnya, perusahaan tidak merinci waktu tepatnya.

Dalam tweet tersebut, LG menyertakan sebuah ilustrasi gambar permen dengan keterangan 'coming soon'. "LG akan memperkenalkan Lollipop: sesuatu yang manis untuk #LGG3 Anda," tulis akun resmi LG AS, @LGUSAMobile.

sendiri akan memasuki usia satu tahun pada Mei mendatang. Satu bulan setelah diperkenalkan atau tepatnya Juni 2014, LG memboyong smartphone dengan layar 5,5 inci itu ke Tanah Air.

Mengenai spesifikasi, smartphone ini memiliki layar 5,5 inci dengan resolusi 2560 x 1440 piksel, prosesor quad-core 2,5GHz Snapdragon 801, kamera utama 13 megapiksel (MP) dan kamera depan 2,1 MP.

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Wujud dan Spesifikasi Xiaomi Mi5

Xiaomi tengah menyiapkan event khusus untuk mengumumkan perangkat terbarunya pada tanggal 15 Januari mendatang. Banyak yang menduga bahwa Xiaomi Mi 5 lah yang akan diungkap pada event tersebut.

Xiaomi Mi5 dikabarkan memiliki desain yang tidak banyak berubah dengan Mi4, namun letak kamera depan diubah sedikit ke bagian tengah perangkat. Perubahan yang sedikit mencolok adalah ketebalannya, Xiaomi Mi5 dilaporkan akan hadir dengan desain tipis, rumornya ponsel ini hanya memiliki ketebalan 5,1mm.

Untuk ukuran layar, Xiaomi Mi5 lebih besar dari Xiaomi Mi4 yang berukuran 5,2 inci, namun dengan resolusi yang sama, yakni Full HD (1080×1920). Beredar pula spekulasi yang mengatakan bahwa  smartphone ini akan menggunakan layar Quad HD.

Xiaomi Mi5 didukung oleh Snapdragon 801 dan kamera dengan dual-LED flash untuk kamera belakang yang sebesar 13MP. Dari bocoran AnTuTu benchmark, Xiaomi Mi5 sianggap akan menjadi perangkat yang cukup powerful. Berikut bocoran foto Xiaomi Mi5:

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PayPal App Now Available on BlackBerry 10

Earlier this week, PayPal announced their new app (above) that lets you do things like quickly send and request money, check your balance, and see recent activity while on the go.

You can locate and redeem offers at participating businesses and check-in to pay at your some of your favorite places that accept PayPal. You can even manage your digital wallet (below!).

The app runs today on BlackBerry 10 devices including the Q10, Z10, and BlackBerry Classic in the U.S., UK and Australia. PayPal will be adding support for other regions very soon. Check with their blog for updates.

It’s the latest of our recent cooperative work with PayPal. Several months ago, we introduced a new financing option on ShopBlackBerry called PayPal Credit to help lower the upfront costs of buying a BlackBerry Passport or Classic.

Check out PayPal’s blog post for more details, and download the PayPal app today in BlackBerry World.

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Wearable Tech Data Exchange Hacked

We are living in an era of smart devices that we sync with our smartphones and make our lives very simple and easy, but these smart devices that inter-operates with our phones could leave our important and personal data wide open to hackers and cybercriminals. Security researchers have demonstrated that the data sent between a Smartwatch and an Android smartphone is not too secure and could be a subject to brute force hacks by attackers to intercept and decode users’ data, including everything from text messages to Google Hangout chats and Facebook conversations.

This happens because the bluetooth communication between most Smartwatches and Android devices rely on a six-digit PIN code in order to transfer information between them in a secure manner. Six-digit Pin means approx one million possible keys, which can be easily brute-forced by attackers into exposing entire conversations in plain text. Researchers from the Romania-based security firm Bitdefender carried out a proof-of-concept hack against a Samsung Gear Live smartwatch and a paired Google Nexus 4 handset running Android L Preview.

Only by using sniffing tools available at that moment, the researchers found that the PIN obfuscating the Bluetooth connection between both devices was easily brute forced by them. (Brute force attack is where a nearby hacker attempts every possible combination until finding the correct one. Once found the right match, they were able to monitor the information transferring between the smartwatch and the smartphone.) Of course, this means an attacker would have to be fairly near the victim and log all intercepted Bluetooth data packets. The large-scale adoption of such an exploit could be fueled by the increasing number of smartwatches or smartbands. Weaponizing it could only be a matter of time.

For this proof-of-concept, a Nexus 4 Android device equipped with Android L Developer Preview and Samsung Gear Live were used. The implications of these recent findings are only moderately surprising – we know from past experience that adoption of new technologies does not always go hand-in-hand with better security practices. Part of the mitigation process involves using NFC pairing when sending the pin code or the use of pass-phrases. Of course, there’s always the option of adding a secondary layer of encryption at the application level, but this might shorten battery life due to extra encryption computations.

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Hackers Release a Cache of 13k of Passwords

On Friday, a group claiming affiliation with the loose hacker collective “Anonymous” released a document containing approximately 13,000 username-and-password combinations along with credit card numbers and expiration dates.

The stolen personal information was released in a massive text document posted to the Internet file-sharing website Ghostbin (now deleted), on Friday. The document contains a huge number of usernames and passwords, along with credit card numbers and expiration dates.

The Daily Dot‘s Aaron Sankin has compiled a comprehensive list of sites associated with the username and password leaks, and discovered that the leaks came from the sites run the gamut from pornography to gaming to online shopping. The list of the compromised websites is as follows:
 . Amazon
 . Walmart
 . PlayStation Network
 . Xbox Live
 . Twitch.tv
 . Dell
 . Brazzers
 . DigitalPlayground
 . and see complete list.

Just to be on the safe side, if you have an account with any of these places, you might want to change your password and start monitoring your credit card for any suspicious charges.

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SlipStreaming

In Windows environments, it is common for system administrators to make slipstreamed installation sources of the operating system available on network shares. That greatly simplifies deployment for new installations. Microsoft also usually allows ordering slipstreamed CDs from their website. Newer versions of Microsoft products usually come either already slipstreamed or with a separate CD holding some updates.

Slipstreaming can save time and money. It is possible to add service packs and other updates and patches to the install source, as well as extra drivers. In a Windows environment, slipstreaming all needed drivers onto the install source will save time downloading them from the Internet. However, if newer drivers are available then a new install source would be needed. It also involves more work initially, but can save time later on in reinstallation terms.

This is especially significant for administrators that have to manage a large number of computers, where the default case for installing an operating system on each computer would be to use the original media and then update each computer after the installation was complete, as opposed to using a more up-to-date (slipstreamed) source, and having to download/install a minimal number of updates.

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Google France Homepage Goes “Je Suis Charlie” In Memory Of Charlie Hebdo Victims

Google France homepage now displaying "Je Suis Charlie" badge to honor victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
Google France has added the “Je Suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”) badge on its homepage, honoring the lives lost during the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, France.

Yesterday, the world woke to the harrowing news that terrorists had attacked the French satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo” offices, killing twelve people. The Wall Street Journal reported video footage showed masked gunmen, armed with AK-47 rifles, leaving the magazine’s offices and shouting, “We have avenged Muhammad. We have killed Charlie Hebdo.”

According to The Guardian, victims included eight cartoonists and journalists, two Charlie Hebdo staff and two police officers. Charlie Hebdo famed cartoonists Stéphane Charbonnier, Georges Wolinski and Jean Cabut were among the victims.

In a 2012 interview posted on ABCNews.com, Charbonnier said it wasn’t his magazine’s job to defend freedom of speech, but without it, “…we are dead.”
As a writer, journalist…and citizen of this world, my heart is heavy with grief over the loss suffered in Paris yesterday. (Even in penning this brief post, I have started tearing up once again since first hearing the news.) I am reminded how much I take for granted when it comes to the freedom I have to write, draw, and think out loud.
Along with the rest of the world, I mourn the lives lost during the senseless attack on Charlie Hebdo, and am now forever grateful for the content and the courage of this magazine and its staff.

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Google Results For “Car Insurance” Could Look Different Very Soon

As Google prepares to get into the car insurance business, those search results will get a shake up seen in other verticals

A new report from an analyst at Forrester points to signs that Google is finally getting ready to launch its long-anticipated comparison site for car insurance.

You can read more about the specifics of the Forrester findings in our coverage on Marketing Land, including possible plans to sell insurance itself. One thing is clear, when the service rolls out, the search landscape in this vertical will see changes. We can expect changes similar to those seen in other verticals Google has entered such as travel and shopping.

For a preview of what the SERPS for car insurance queries may look like, we can check out Google UK where the company has been running its Google Compare program since 2012 for car insurance, mortgage rates, credit cards and travel insurance. A search for “car insurance” on Google.co.uk features the Sponsored ad box for Google Compare between the top line ads and organic listings.

This experience looks similar to what we already see in the states for across several verticals including flight, hotels and shopping. The most comparable format, though, is Google’s credit card comparison product.  Once part of Google’s bigger effort to generate leads in the financial sector in the US, called Google Advisor, the credit card comparison is the only surviving piece. Google shuttered the mortgage rate comparison tool in early 2012 and seems to have closed down the bank account comparison tool and Google Advisor itself later that year. The credit card comparisons now live at www.google.com/compare/creditcards. Likely this is where the car insurance comparison will also live, as it does in the UK.

The result below is from Google.com. The disclosure on this box is the same as the one Google shows on all Sponsored boxes. The difference between this listing and the sponsored boxes for flights, hotels and shopping is that there is an actual ad headline. You’ll see the same treatment plus description copy (“51% of our users could save up to £220. Compare over 125 providers”) in the UK result above.

In both cases, the headline changes depending on the search query. On a search for “credit card comparison” on Google.com, the headline changed to “Credit Card Comparison Service from Google”.

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How Google Fails To Enforce “First Click Free” — An Eric Schmidt Case Study

Publications participating in First Click Free should present content without any barriers. So why doesn't it always happen?

News publishers often want to be listed in Google. News publishers also often want to have paywalls or registration barriers. The good news is Google has rules that allow for this. The bad news is that Google routinely fails to enforce these rules. Below, a case study involving content in a major publication authored by Google’s own executive chairman, Eric Schmidt.

I was doing a search today and came across a news story that looked of interest:
When I clicked on the story — a letter that Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt wrote to the Financial Times addressing the EU’s anti-trust investigation of his company — the text initially loaded and then was replaced with a barrier:

In order to read the entire article, I either needed to take a short survey or register for free. The survey, ironically, is powered by the Google Consumer Surveys program, where publishers earn money by displaying surveys on behalf of others.

I shouldn’t have had to do either thing, take the survey or register to read the article. That’s because Google has — supposedly — some pretty strict rules as part of its “First Click Free” program which requires publishers to show the article without any such barriers, if those publishers want to be listed in Google without some type of disclaimer.

The Rules Of First Click Free
The First Click Free program is very specific. If you want to participate — to be listed in Google or Google News — you have to let people in without any barrier to reading, unless you want some type of disclaimer next to your listing. To quote the guidelines:

First click free: We’ve worked with subscription-based news services to arrange that the very first article seen by a Google News user (identifiable by referrer) doesn’t require a subscription. Although this first article can be seen without subscribing, any further clicks on the article page will prompt the user to log-in or subscribe to the news site….

It is possible to limit the number of free articles that a Google News reader can access via First Click Free. A user coming from the domain [*.google.*] must be able to see a minimum of 5 articles per day. This practice is described as “metering” the user: when the user has clicked on too many of a publisher’s articles from Google News, the meter for freely accessible articles on that site is exhausted. If your site meters access on a weekly or monthly basis, you are still responsible for showing a minimum of five articles per day to Google users. Otherwise, your site will be treated as a subscription site.

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To Avoid Liability, Google Limits German News Content To Headline

German news and magazine publishers are determined, one way or another, to get Google to pay them for their content. They’re not upset about the content appearing in Google News or search. They want it to appear – they just want Google to pay for it.
"Google doesn’t want to pay. And there’s no U.S.-style “fair use” copyright exception in Germany".

The publishers had originally sought to enshrine what amounts a “link tax” in German law last year. However they were unsuccessful in establishing such a content toll. They did succeed in passing an ”ancillary copyright” law in the German parliament in 2013.

The law allows Google and other search engines to show only “single words or very small text excerpts” before licensing fees would potentially be applicable. Under the law publishers are given exclusive rights to commercialize and monetize their content.

Because of legal ambiguity surrounding the phrase “single words or very small text excerpts,” Google initially compelled German publishers to explicitly “opt-in” to Google News or be excluded from results as a protection against potential liability. Publishers opted-in but then pursued an anti-trust complaint against Google arguing they were effectively compelled to waive their copyrights.

The German antitrust regulator disagreed. Publishers had a choice about whether to opt-in and thus there was insufficient abuse of market power by Google. The publishers were not forced to be part of the index.

German publishers have also sued Google as a consortium known as “VG Media.” Their stated objective is to obtain an 11 percent share of Google’s gross revenues that come “directly and indirectly from making excerpts from online newspapers and magazines public.”

In view of German publishers’ myriad efforts to extract revenue from Google the company has decided to minimize its exposure by limiting the search and News exposure of the VG Media publishers. As PC World reported, Google has now decided to stop showing news snippets and thumbnail images for members of the VG Media consortium.

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How to Access Your Router If You Forget the Password

Routers protect their web interfaces, where you can configure their networking, parental control, and port forwarding settings, with a username and password. These default passwords can be changed to protect the router’s settings. If you’ve forgotten a router’s password – or if you acquired a used router and don’t know its password – there’s a way to reset the password. You may also be able to forward ports without knowing the password.

Find the Default Username and Password
Before resetting your router to its default settings, you should first try using the default username and password to log in. You’ll need these anyway if you plan on resetting the router to its factory default settings. There are several ways to find this information:

1. Read your router’s manual. Different models of routers – even ones from the same manufacturer – often have different username and password combinations. To locate the default username and password for the router, look in its manual. (If you’ve lost the manual, you can often find it by searching for your router’s model number and “manual” on Google. Or just search for your router’s model and “default password”.)

2. Look for a sticker on the router itself. Some routers – particularly ones that may have come from your Internet service provider – ship with unique passwords. These passwords may sometimes be printed on a sticker on the router itself.

3. Try a common username and password combination. Many routers use the password “admin”  (don’t type the quotes) and a blank username, a blank password and “admin” as the username, or “admin” as both the password and username. You can find a fairly comprehensive list of default usernames and passwords for various routers on RouterPasswords.com. Try to log in with the default credentials after finding them – it’s possible the router was already reset or someone never changed its password. If they don’t work, continue to the next section – you’ll need the default credentials after resetting the router.

Reset the Router to Factory Defaults
Routers come with a button you can press to reset the router to its default factory settings. This resets any configuration changes you’ve made to the router – forwarded ports, network settings, parental controls, and custom passwords will all be wiped away. You’ll be able to access the router with its default username and password, but you may have to spend some time configuring the router again, depending on how many changes you made to its configuration.

The exact process (and location of the reset button) will vary from router to router. For best results, you should consult your router’s manual for any model-specific instructions. However, the process is generally very similar on most routers. First, look at the back (or perhaps the bottom) of the router. You’ll see a special button labeled Reset. This button is often located in a depressed hole, known as a “pinhole,” so you can’t accidentally press it.

To reset the router, you’ll generally need to press this button and hold it down for about 10 seconds. After you release the button, the router will reset itself to the factory default settings and reboot. If the button is located in a pinhole, you’ll need to use a bent paperclip or another long, narrow object to press and hold it. Once you’ve pressed the button down for long enough, you can log into the router with its default username and password.

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What is a Custom Recovery on Android, and Why Would I Want One?

Want to install a custom Android ROM — in other words, a third-party version of the Android operating system — like CyanogenMod? You’ll probably be instructed to install a custom recovery, too. All Android devices ship with a recovery environment preinstalled. This recovery software can be used to restore the device to factory default settings, update its operating system, and perform other diagnostic tasks.

Android’s Stock Recovery
Android devices come with Google’s recovery environment, which is often referred to as the “stock recovery.” You can boot to the recovery system by pressing device-specific buttons as your phone or tablet boots or by issuing an adb command that boots your device to recovery mode. The recovery menu provides options to help recover your device — for example, you can reset your device to its factory default state from here. The recovery mode can also be used to flash OTA update files. if you want to flash a new ROM to your device — or re-flash the factory default ROM file — you’ll need to boot to recovery mode first.

The stock recovery is a minimal, limited system. It’s designed to be ignored, and it can generally only flash OTA updates and ROMs provided by the device’s manufacturer, not third-party ROMs.

Custom Recovery Basics
A custom recovery is a third-party recovery environment. Flashing this recovery environment onto your device replaces the default, stock recovery environment with a third-party, customized recovery environment. This is a bit like flashing a custom ROM like CyanogenMod — but, instead of replacing your device’s Android operating system, it replaces the recovery environment.

A custom recovery environment will do the same things as the stock Android recovery. However, it will also have additional features. Custom recoveries often have the ability to create and restore device backups. Custom recoveries allow you to install custom ROMs. ClockworkMod even offers a “ROM Manager” app that allows you to access many of these features from a running Android system — this app requires a custom recovery installed to function.

Popular Custom Recoveries
ClockworkMod Recovery (CWM) can create and restore NANDroid backups — backups of an Android device’s entire file system. ClockworkMod offers a ROM manager with a file browser that allows you to easily browse for and install custom ROMs via ClockworkMod Recovery and manage and restore backups. It also has other advanced features that will be useful if you’re installing and dealing with custom ROMs.

Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP) is a touch-based recovery environment. Unlike other recovery environments — including Android’s default stock recovery, which needs to be controlled with the device’s volume and power buttons — this recovery environment has a touch-based interface you can use by tapping your fingers on on-screen buttons. TWRP even supports themes. Like CWM, TWRP offers ROM installation and backup features the stock recovery environment doesn’t. CWM and TWRP are the two most popular custom recoveries, but other custom recoveries may be available for some devices.

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Apple Silently Pushes Critical Security Update to Mac Usersfor The First Time

hile Windows users have had automatic updates (for better or worse) for years now, Apple has tried to stay as transparent as possible about its system updates. Mac users usually receive a pop up notification alerting them to download the latest updates but that changed yesterday when Apple pushed an automatic security update to Macs for the first time.

The security vulnerability was severe enough that the United States Department of Homeland Security announced it. The bug has to do with the network time protocol, or NTP for short. NTP allows computers to synchronize clocks but has been used to attack systems by flooding servers with large amounts of data to force them offline.

The update was pushed seamlessly to all Macs without alerting the user at all. The update doesn’t even require a reboot. Apple may use this silent approach for major security flaws in the future, which is good for its users since they won’t have to do anything to stay secure.

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Di Prediksi BMKG, Lokasi evakuasi AirAsia Hujan Serta gelombang Air Setinggi 4Meter

 Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi dan Geofisika (BMKG), cuaca di wilayah daratan dan perairan Pangkalanbun terjadi hujan sedang dari siang hingga besok. Suhu di kisaran proses evakuasi diperkirakan bersuhu 24 derajat celcius sampai 33 derajat celcius.

Tim SAR terus melakukan evakuasi terhadap korban pesawat AirAsia QZ8501 yang jatuh di wilayah perairan Pangkalanbun, Kalimantan Tengah pada Minggu (28/12) lalu. Namun proses pencarian tim terkendala dengan cuaca buruk dari pertama hingga hari ke tujuh pada pagi ini.

Sementara itu, BMKG juga memperkirakan bahwa masih terjadi gelombang yang cukup tinggi di wilayah Laut Jawa, tempat di mana titik-titik Tim SAR mencari para korban dan serpihan pesawat. Gelombang di wilayah tersebut, diperkirakan mencapai tiga sampai empat meter.

Akan tetapi, BMKG memprediksi jika sampai satu jam ke depan sejak 08.30 WIB, cuaca penerbangan di Pangkalanbun cukup baik. Di mana kecepatan angin diperkirakan hanya 9,3 Km dari arah barat laut dan jarak pandang hingga 8 Km dan kondisinya berawan.

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Terbaik Google Play "Game-aplikasi" di Indonesia 2014

Google Play, tempat beragam hiburan favorit, hari ini merilis daftar »Best of 2014” untuk aplikasi, game, dan judul buku yang paling digemari di Indonesia. (Baca: Uyora, Situs Pencari Harga Hotel Masuk Google Play)

»Untuk aplikasi dan game, »Best of Play 2014” menawarkan 30 aplikasi terbaik yang dipilih langsung oleh para Editor Google Play,” tulis Google dalam rilis yang diterima Tempo, Kamis, 4 Desember 2014. Di antara aplikasi yang terpilih adalah Swiftkey Keyboard dan Lumosity, sementara Clash of Clans dan FIFA 15 Ultimate Team mengisi kategori game. Dalam daftar juga terlihat keragaman judul buku yang dibaca orang Indonesia sepanjang tahun 2014, baik dari penulis lokal maupun mancanegara.

Aplikasi terbaik di Google Play untuk Indonesia tahun 2014 adalah SwiftKey Keyboard + Emoji (SwiftKey), EyeEM: Camera & Photo Filter (EyeEm Mobile), Lumosity (Lumos Labs, Inc.), musixmatch Music Player Lyrics (musiXmatch), Expedia Hotels & Flights (Expedia), Timehop (Timehop), OkCupid Dating (okcupid.com), Over (Over), The Economist Espresso (The Economist Newspaper Limited), 7 Minute Workout Challenge (Fitness Guide Inc. )

Game terbaik di Google Play untuk Indonesia tahun 2014 adalah Clash of Clans (Supercell), 2048 Number Puzzle Game (Estoty Entertainment Lab), FIFA 15 Ultimate Team (ELECTRONIC ARTS), Cars: Fast As Lightning (Gameloft), Summoners War Com2uS (Candy Crush), Soda Saga (King), Kim Kardashians: Hollywood (Glu), FarmVille 2: Country Escape (Zynga), Cut The Rope 2 (ZeptoLab), dan QuizUp (Plain Vanilla Games Corp).

Buku terbaik di Google Play untuk Indonesia tahun 2014 adalah 1 1/2 Karyawan 1/2 Bos (Supardi Lee & Noval Ramsis), Kaya dari Bisnis Properti Dadan Darmawan, Coupl(ov)e (Rhein Fathia), Marmut Merah Jambu (Raditya Dika), Jomblo (Adhitya Mulya), Tertawa Bersama Gus Dur (Muhammad Zikra), Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) (Suzanne Collins), Inferno (Dan Brown), The Fault in Our Stars (John Green), dan Solusi Sehat dengan Jus Buah & Sayuran (Redaksi Agromedia).

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Google Membangun Jaringan Kabel Internet Super Cepat Bawah Laut ke Asia

Google baru saja mengumumkan rencana untuk membangun kabel bawah laut baru yang mereka sebut “FASTER” dalam kemitraan dengan lima perusahaan telekomunikasi yang berbasis di Asia.

Lima perusahaan telekomunikasi tersebut antara lain NEC, KDDI, China Telecom Global, SingTel, China Mobile International dan Global Transit, pada dasarnya perusahaan-perusahaan tersebut adalah pemain telekomunikasi terbesar di kawasan ini. Setelah selesai, jaringan kabel bawah laut tersebut akan mampu memberikan kecepatan internet hingga 60 terabyte per detik.

“Untuk beberapa kasus, jalur tercepat yang diperlukan akan melalui laut.” ungkap Urs Hölzle, SVP infrastruktur teknis Google, melalui halaman Google+-nya. “Itu sebabnya kami berinvestasi pada FASTER, kabel bawah laut baru yang akan menghubungkan kota-kota besar di Pantai Barat AS ke dua lokasi di pantai Jepang … FASTER akan membuat internet lebih cepat dan lebih handal bagi pengguna kami di Asia.”

Proyek pengerjaan jaringan bawah laut ini Dijadwalkan akan selesai pada kuartal kedua 2016, proyek ini akan menelan biaya USD 300 juta untuk membangun dan akan membentangkan kabel jaringan dari lokasi di Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles dan San Francisco ke Shima dan Chikura di tenggara Jepang. Upaya Google ini dilakukan untuk meningkatkan jangkauan di Asia yang sejalan dengan tren pengembangan teknologi global. Menurut studi terbaru, Asia memiliki jumlah pengguna internet terbesar di planet ini.

Proyek FASTER ini merupakan kelanjutan dari proyek sebelumnya, kolaborasi dengan Asia pada tahun 2008 (Unity) dan 2011 (South-East Asia Japan Cable, atau SJC) yang difokuskan untuk memperkuat kemampuan jaringan Google dalam kemitraan dengan beberapa mitra di proyek FASTER. “Sistem kabel FASTER memiliki kapasitas desain terbesar yang pernah dibangun di rute Trans-Pacific, yang merupakan salah satu rute terpanjang di dunia,” ungkap Woohyong Choi dari Google yang sekaligus bertindak sebagai ketua komite eksekutif proyek FASTER, dalam sebuah pres rilis. “Perjanjian yang diumumkan hari ini akan menguntungkan semua pengguna Internet global.”

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NASA temukan pegunungan

Gunung tertinggi di bumi adalah Gunung Everest dengan ketinggian 8.840 meter atau 8 kilometer lebih. Lalu, apakah Anda percaya ada sebuah pegunungan dengan puncak yang mempunyai tinggi tiga kali dari Gunung Everest?

NASA baru saja menemukan sebuah pegunungan yang berpotensi menjadi yang tertinggi di tata surya menggunakan satelit bernama Dawn. Tetapi, pegunungan tersebut tidak terletak di bumi melainkan di sebuah asteroid raksasa yang kini ada di sabuk asteroid sekitar planet Jupiter. Asteroid yang disebut Vesta itu memang menjadi objek penelitian utama NASA dan satelit Dawn sejak tahun 2011 hingga 2012 silam. Nah, ketika mulai memetakan permukaan Vesta berdasarkan data dari satelit Dawn, NASA menemukan sebuah pegunungan dengan puncak setinggi 22 kilometer yang terletak di kutub selatan asteroid Vesta.

Peta buatan David A. Williams dan timnya itu akan ditampilkan secara detail di Jurnal Icarusyang terbit pada bulan Desember 2014 nanti. Untuk menyelesaikan peta asteroid Vesta, ilmuwan NASA dari Universitas Arizona itu mengaku menghabiskan waktu lebih dari 2 tahun.
"Peta geologi dari asteroid Vesta memakan waktu dua setengah tahun untuk bisa diselesaikan dengan utuh," ujar Williams. Lewat peta itu juga, Williams dan timnya menemukan bekas-bekas hantaman meteor yang jatuh di permukaan Vesta. Akibat serangan meteor itu, banyak ditemukan kawah berukuran raksasa di asteroid dengan diameter 525 kilometer itu.

Seperti asteroid lain yang tengah berputar-putar di tata surya kita, Vesta menjadi salah satu asteroid terbesar yang cocok untuk diteliti sejarahnya agar ilmuwan bisa melihat gambaran pembentukan alam semesta. Selain itu, asteroid juga dianggap memiliki zat-zat yang dibutuhkan oleh ilmuwan untuk mengetahui bagaimana kehidupan di bumi berawal. Asteroid Vesta sendiri ditemukan pada tanggal 29 Maret 1807 oleh ahli astronomi bernama Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers. Nama Vesta diambil dari nama dewi 'rumah dan hati' dari mitologi Yunani.

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