China hits an Internet milestone with more than half of its population now online
China now has 688 million Internet users, a record figure. The new data for 2015 from the state’s China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) shows that’s not the only major milestone.
For the first time ever, China has more than half of its population online — 50.3% of them.
Mobile web access accounted for a record high proportion of total netizens. The country’s 620 million mobile Internet users in 2015 mean that 90.1% of all web users access it from their phones (when they’re not logging on from other devices like laptops and desktops).
The chart shows that China’s Internet users have nearly doubled in number since 2009. The number of people accessing the web from their phones has grown faster with the nation’s smartphone boom, more than doubling since 2010.
As huge as the numbers are, there’s still room for growth. With an estimated 73% of China’s 1.355 billion population aged 15 to 64, the country may eventually have about one billion netizens.
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This article originally published at Tech in Asia here
Chrome's new tool can help developers make websites more secure
What exactly does that little green lock that occasionally appears on your browser's address bar mean? It means security, and Chrome is making it easier for developers to see how to make their websites more secure for users.
According to a Chromium blog post, the open-source browser project that Google basesChrome off of, a new security panel will be coming to Chrome Developer Tools that gives developers a breakdown of what they need to do to earn the coveted green lock.
For users, the green lock means peace of mind — when sending over important data like payment or personal information on the Internet, the green lock ensures the data is encrypted and there are no third parties looking at your information.
On Chrome, the green lock means that a website meets certain security standards, including having a trusted server certificate, a secure and private connection, and secure subresources. The new update allows developers to view whether each of these standards is met or not, which lets them figure out how to make your information safer while browsing their site.
This security translates to an “HTTPS” instead of an “HTTP” in the URL, which signifies a secure-connection protocol over the network.
“HTTPS preserves the integrity of your website and ensures connections with your users are encrypted,” Google employees Emily Stark and Lucas Garron wrote in the blog post.
Not only does the green lock make your web-surfing safer, it factors into Google Search results. According to a 2014 blog post by Google, websites with an HTTPS protocol receive a ranking boost in search results, which further encourages developers to shoot for that green lock.
The security panel is currently available in beta for developers to check out and will be rolling out more widely in the coming days.
Loon Copter is a drone that can fly and go underwater
The first prototype of the Loon Copter was tested in early 2015; a newer iteration is a semifinalist in the UAE Drones for Good Award, a competition whose finals are held in Dubai in early February.
Possible uses for such a versatile drone are many, including reconnaissance as well as search and rescue missions. Its advantages over traditional vehicles are many; for example, it's faster than a submarine and it can easily hover over an area of interest.
There's also room for improvement. The Oakland University team says priorities include extending wireless range underwater, underwater navigation and hull redesign for more efficient diving.
In 1963, French engineer Jean Bertin presented a 1/12 scale model of his idea for an Aérotrain, a jet-propelled monorail train which would float on a cushion of air to eliminate friction and allow for unprecedented speeds.
Bertin built four prototypes of his Aérotrain, from a half-scale, 30-foot version with room for four passengers, to a full-sized, 75-foot version with a car for 80 passengers.
In 1974, the latter prototype, the Aérotrain I80, set a world speed record for overland air cushion vehicles, reaching a mean speed of 259.5 miles per hour and a peak speed of 267.4 miles per hour.
Plans were made and contracts were signed for the Aérotrain to enter service in the Paris area, but when funding dried up and Bertin died in 1975, the project was scrapped, leaving miles of elevated test tracks abandoned in several locations in France.
The Aérotrain was a forerunner to modern maglev (magnetic levitation) trains, which use magnets to float above the rails and reach speeds of up to 270 miles per hour.
http://neonotix.com/
Jaguar has a new wildcat: The 200-mph F-TYPE SVR
Jaguar announced Tuesday evening that it will be unveiling the 200-mph F-TYPE SVR at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
The car will take the uproariousness of the F-TYPE and turn it up to — not 11, that's too few — let's say 37.
Either way you slice it, the wildcat will do 200 mph and 0 to 60 mph somewhere in the realm of 3 seconds (not official — my approximation).
Jaguar F-TYPE SVR
IMAGE: JAGUAR
Delightfully, it won't be a wild concept car or anything like that. Rather, Jaguar will send it to dealerships — in both coupe and convertible form — and into the garages of some very lucky and well-heeled buyers this summer.
Another thing about the SVR aside from its blistering speed, stunning paint job and raucous exhaust note will be its daily usability.
Google Glass disappears from Twitter and Facebook
It was a good run, Google Glass. An early wearable technology sensation, you were on nerdy heads everywhere and had even managed to invade less geeked-out spaces like fashion runways, TV shows and even movie premieres.
But that was a long time and many memes ago. Google has rolled up and packed away much of the Glass consumer program, and on Tuesday it euthanized most of its Google Glass social accounts, including Twitter and Facebook. The action was first spotted by 9to5Google and confirmed by Mashable when we checked the accounts and found that not only were they dead, Google had cleaned them out.
The move comes almost three years after Twitter first built Twitter for Glass, a Google Glass app that let you tweet text directly from the headset. Google also appears to have shuttered its Google Glass accounts on Google+ and Instagram.
Google Glass for consumers may be dead, but Google is, apparently, still hard at work onGoogle Glass 2.0. At least that's what everyone believed after Google posted a series of images on the Federal Communication Commission web site late last year. They depict a slightly redesigned Glass body, but there's no detail on how this version will attach to your head. Most believe that whatever Google does with future versions of Google Glass, it'll continue to target business and enterprise, where the company had the most success with the original Google Glass.
In the meantime, Google Glass' social presence and whatever Google shared with the world about it ambitious wearable are little more than a memory, pretty much like Google Glass itself.
http://neonotix.com/
How Cortana solves the issue of 'lost in translation' for small business owners
What do you do when your biggest goal turns into your worst nightmare?
For small business owners, international growth is one of the major markers of success — proving their business model is strong enough to be effective on a larger, more diverse audience. But taking a company abroad also comes with some challenges that can quickly derail the fantasy of global expansion.
What cultural customs does your brand need to respect? What's the currency exchange rate? What's the time-zone difference? What's the prevailing language, and if not your own, how do you deliver your brand promise and values in a way that is meaningful to the new consumer?
In the absence of hiring a (costly) global business consultant, these questions — and a laundry list of others just like them— can easily get lost in translation.
That's where Cortana can help.
Now available on all Windows 10-enabled devices and laptops, Cortana is the genius companion you never had.
Of course, she didn't study at the London School of Economics, but Cortana has the perfect set of skills to work alongside small business owners in pursuit of lean yet effective growth.
A worldly personal assistant
Cortana is great at retrieving and processing information. So instead of wasting time searching the Internet for the currency of Brazil or shipping regulations in Russia, users can simply ask Cortana a question and she'll comb the Internet to find the best answer. Cortana can also make web browsing easier: Now featured within the Edge browser, Cortana can quickly make sense of any unfamiliar words or concepts with a simple click.
With Cortana's help, researching the intricacies of new, international markets doesn't have to be as daunting as they might be.
What's more, like any great assistant, Cortana helps users manage their busy lives. So when a small business owner is tracking shipments across the Pacific, Cortana will make sure he stays on top of the business back home — like making sure he gets to his 3 o'clock meeting with investors, or reminding him to update the company website.
Parlez vous… everything?
But perhaps the biggest challenge with setting up and running an international business — more than being time intensive — is the communication gap that can exist between stakeholders. Whether the task at hand is coaching members of a satellite branch, answering customer service queries or retrofitting the brand promise for the new audience, there is truly no substitute for quick, effective translation.
Luckily, thanks to Microsoft Translator integration, Cortana can speak many languages.
Microsoft Translator is a real-time translation platform that has already been adopted by Skype and several multinational companies like LinkedIn and Adobe. And now, it's available at the touch of a button for Windows 10 users.
Translator is especially useful with Cortana because of her voice command capability — so instead of typing out a word or phrase (although you can do that too), users can issue translation commands as spoken questions and receive immediate answers.
Ready to take on the world?
For a globally-minded small business owner, it's hard to beat the wide range of benefits that Cortana can bring to the table. Combining advanced personal assisting with real-time translation, Cortana is the ultimate international business partner.
