Windows 10: User experience better, more advanced and more comprehensive

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A new Windows OS is in the making. Its prototype was shown off recently in California and it soon will be made available through Windows Insider Program for preview for developers and members before it is finally released for the general public some time next year. Windows 10 OS (yes, there will be no Windows 9) is full of surprises, but also treads on familiar territory with the focus on offering a more universal Windows OS. To begin with, the new operating system is designed in line with Microsoft’s new strategy which focuses more on cloud and mobile platforms. So, when it came to naming the product, Microsoft decided 

against naming it Windows 9. The

 company feels Windows 10 is a major leap and calling it Windows 10 conveys the message better.  Enterprise first Microsoft considers enterprise users as its most important customers. Windows 8 failed to impress many as it had very few things in common, in terms of design and use, with the previous operating systems. The focus was more on touch and the new tile interface and the old desktop experience was also given a new look and feel. If Microsoft was lauded for its innovation, it was also slammed for not keeping a balance between the old and the new. A lot of users felt more at home with a full-fledged PC and not a half breed tablet PC. Windows 10 brings that familiarity, known to users of Windows 7, back. It is going to be familiar to all Windows users no matter which Windows OS they are coming from, and is going to be compatible with all the apps and tools running on previous versions of Windows. Multiple devices, one experience The existence of multiple devices of multiple sizes is a dilemma that present day corporate world has to live with. For enterprise, managing so many devices can be a formidable challenge, unless they all can be handled through a single platform. Windows 10 is that single platform that can run on multiple devices of different screen sizes, offering a tailor-made experience on all. Windows 10 allows its users to manage all devices including PCs, tablets and mobile with one mobile device management interface. Security is another concern that enterprise wanted to be addressed better. Microsoft claims that Windows 10 is more secure than its predecessors as it separates and protects corporate data from personal data across all devices. Improving the experience The pace of evolution in tablets and mobile has been relatively more rapid as compared to PCs. Windows 10 is built on the premise of making the user experience better, more advanced and more comprehensive. Bringing back the old was not enough, so new features were added as well. Some notable features include: 

Start Menu- Leaving out the Start Menu in Windows 8 was a move that did not go down well with the Windows faithful. The new OS brings it back. And it doesn’t come alone but with some elements of Windows 8. A live tile inventory has been added with the Start menu. The inventory can be customized,  so can the apps on it but the most interesting feature is the ability to resize the Start  Menu.   

Title Bar- Windows 10 also brings back the title bar, and runs in a manner similar to the classic Windows apps. Users can drag it anywhere on the screen, resize and close it or minimize it. One can also lay out two or more than two Windows apps side by side, and keep them open simultaneously. 

Task view- A new button called Task View on taskbar has been added, enabling a user to move across swiftly from one task to another. This is going to be handy for users, as it gives 

them a glimpse of all apps running in the background, and allows seamless movement from one to another. 

Shortcut keyboard- The keyboard remains the most popular mode input mode on PCs. Windows 10 introduces a higher level of integration with keyboard. Professional users can jump to apps and control a great deal of action on their PC with their keyboard and achieve higher productivity in lesser time. 

From type to touch automatically- The touch aspect which confused many users in Windows 8 has been better handled in Windows 10. A convertible or hybrid PC will automatically shift to a tablet mode the moment a keyboard is detached. 

The new OS seems one of the most comprehensive reworkings of Windows we have seen. It attempts to bridge the gap between the past and the present editions of the OS, even while focusing on enterprise and attempting to improve the desktop experience. The consumer version of Windows 10 is expected only in the latter half of 2015, but its technical preview is available for download. Stay tuned for more news in this regard. After all, there’s a new Windows in tech town! 

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Benjamin Franklin :A penny saved is a penny earned

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Franklin was a statesman, diplomat, writer, scientist and inventor, one of the most versatile and talented men in colonial America and a leading figure in the American struggle for independence.Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on 17 January 1706. He attended school only briefly, and then helped his father, who was a candle and soap maker. He was apprenticed to his brother, a printer, and began writing anonymously for his brother's newspaper. Franklin and his brother quarrelled, and in 1723 Franklin ran away to Philadelphia. After 18 months in London, Franklin settled in Philadelphia, establishing himself as a printer. He bought the 'Pennsylvania Gazette', which he edited and which became one of the American colonies' major newspapers. He also wrote and published 'Poor Richard's Almanack', an astronomy journal.

By 1748, Franklin had made enough money to retire from business and concentrate on science and inventing. His inventions included the Franklin stove and the lightning rod. He demonstrated that lightning and electricity are identical with his famous kite experiment. Franklin also became more active in politics. He was clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly (1736-1751), a member of the Assembly (1750-1764), and deputy postmaster for the Colonies (1753-1774), reorganising the postal service to make it efficient and profitable.

Franklin was also involved in many public projects, including founding the American Philosophical Society, a subscription library and, in 1751, an academy which later became the University of Pennsylvania.

From 1757 to 1774, Franklin lived mainly in London where he was the colonial representative for Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts. His attempts to reconcile the British government with the colonies proved fruitless. On his return to America, the war of independence had already broken out and he threw himself into the struggle. In 1776, he helped to draft, and was then a signatory to, the Declaration of Independence. His illegitimate son William, royal governor of New Jersey between 1762 and 1776, remained loyal to Britain, causing a rift that lasted for the rest of Franklin's life.

Later that year, Franklin and two others were appointed to represent America in France. Franklin negotiated the Franco-American Alliance which provided for military cooperation between the two countries against Britain and ensured significant French subsidies to America. In 1783, as American ambassador to France, Franklin signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the American War of Independence. He was extremely popular and well known in France, but in 1785 returned to America. He continued to be deeply involved in politics, helping to draft the Constitution. Franklin died in Philadelphia on 17 April 1790.

Benjamin Franklin Famous Quotations

Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days. 

A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats. 

A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave.

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle. 

A penny saved is a penny earned. 

At twenty years of age the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment. 

Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead. 

Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others. 

Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is. 

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. 

I saw few die of hunger; of eating, a hundred thousand. 

I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up. 

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. 

It is the eye of other people that ruin us. If I were blind I would want, neither fine    clothes, fine houses or fine furniture. 

Life's Tragedy is that we get old to soon and wise too late. 

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

The first mistake in public business is the going into it. 

There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self. 

There was never a good war, or a bad peace.

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10 Things you didn't know about sleep

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264 Hours is the longest Documented stretch that anyone has stayed awake

In 1964, a San Diego student named Randy Gardner stayed awake without any kind of stimulants for 11 days, experiencing phantom sounds and visions the longer he went without sleep. When he finally fell asleep, he slept for nearly 15 hours. No long-term ill effects were reported.

Artififial lights have changed our natural sleeping patterns

 

 Without them, we would sleep in two blocks each night. We would fall asleep around 10pm and wake up a few hours later, going back to sleep after an hour. Psychologist Thomas Wehr found people revert to sleeping this way if isolated from artificial lights for more than a few weeks.

Some animals only send half their brain to sleep

In dolphins and whales, for instance, this gives them the ability to surface for air and be on the lookout for danger while still technically sleeping. Ducks are also able to sleep with one eye shut and one-half of their brains asleep, allowing some of the birds to stand watch while others in the group rest.

Female sleep is the key to a happy marriage

Psychiatrist Wendy Troxel of the University of Pittsburgh recently found that a woman’s ability to fall and stay asleep had a greater impact on marital satisfaction than her daily interactions with her husband. The same effect was not found for men in relationships.

Sleeping rhythms can affect sport performance

Researchers at Stanford University and the University of Maine found that circadian rhythms  the natural cycles that govern when we’re awake and when we’re sleepy have an ‘outsized effect’ on professional sports: athletes at their peak circadian rhythms have an unseen advantage over their opponents.

Therapy may be better treatment for insomia than sleeping pills

Psychologist Charles Morin of Laval University in Quebec found that people who used cognitive behavioural therapy to deal with sleepless nights reported much better overall sleep quality than those treated with sleeping pills alone.

The world have vastly different sleep patterns

Jodi Mindell of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Avi Sadeh of Telaviv University found that 95 per cent of babies in Vietnam sleep in their parents’ bed, compared to 15 per cent in Australia. In New Zealand, the average bedtime for an infant is 7.30pm; in Hong Kong, it’s 10.30pm.

Dreams tend to follow well defined patterns

In his lifetime, Calvin Hall, a psychology professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, collected more than 50,000 dream reports from anyone who’d share them. Using Hall’s database, researchers identified that we tend to dream about the things that make us anxious. Adults tend to dream about other adults, while children are more likely to dream of animals.

Sleep may help us to learn new skills

 After having people play the video game Tetris before they went to sleep, Robert Stickgold of Harvard Medical School found that test subjects tended to dream about the game that night. Those subjects who dreamed about the game showed the most dramatic improvement once they played it again the next day. 

 

16-19°C is the ideal temperature for a good night's sleep

 Research in Lille, France arrived at this figure for someone sleeping in pyjamas and covered by sheets. If they sleep naked, the ideal temperature jumps to 30-32ºC.

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The 10 Busiest Airport

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10 Hong Kong International Airport

 Chek Lap Kok,  Hong Kong 61,287,045 passengers in 2012

09 Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, USA

61,408,414 passengers in 2012

08 Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, France

62,974,437 passengers in 2012

07 O’Hare International Airport, Chicago, USA

68,007,716 passengers in 2013

06 Los Angeles International Airport, USA

68,373,700 passengers in 2012

05 Dubai International Airport, UAe

68,915,702 passengers in 2014

04 Tokyo International Airport

70,366,151 passengers in 2014

03 London Heathrow Airport

72,968,534 passengers in 2014

02 Beijing Capital International Airport, China

84,178,434 passengers in 2014

01 Atlanta International Airport, USA

94,630,445 passengers in 2014

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Top 10 Fastest Planes

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10 F-15 eagle

Top speed: 2,679km/h
Manned Mcdonnell Douglas,  Boeing, Space  & security,  USA, 1972

09 MiG Foxhound

Top speed: 2,999km/h
Manned Mikoyan, Soviet Union, 1975

08 XB-70 Valkyrie


Top speed: 3,308km/h
Manned north american aviation, usa, 1964

07 Bell X-2 starbuster 

Top speed: 3,369km/h
Manned bell aircraft, USA, 1955

06 MiG-25 Foxbat
Top speed: 3,492km/h
Manned Mikoyangurevich, soviet Union, 1964

05 SR-71 BlackBird 

Top speed: 3,540km/h
Manned Lockheed, USA, 1964

04 X-51 WaveRider

Top speed: 6,276km/h
unmanned Boeing, USA, 2010

03 X-15

Top speed: 7,274km/h
Manned US Air Force and NASA, USA, 1959

02 X-43A 

Top speed: 12,144km/h
Unmanned NASA, USA, 2004

01 Falcon HTV-2

Top speed: 20,920km/h
Unmanned Lockheed Martin,
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and US Air Force, USA, 2010

Developed to test the limits of long-duration hypersonic travel, the Falcon HTV-2 is a  rocket-launched, unmanned but fully manoeuvrable plane that’s capable of flying at Mach 20. Not that anything can be remotely described as ‘long-duration’ at these kinds of speed; a plane travelling at more than 20,000 miles an hour would cover the distance between New York City and Los Angeles in around 12 minutes.

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